Hi sweetpeas! Extensive, bullet-point-style update ahead! About time, right?

Fall is here. Still. Beautiful, beloved fall. I enjoy every second of it. This season’s weather is simply my kind of weather. I’m trying to be outside as much as any reasonable person can be when it’s pouring down rain. The family apparently has had to stay home for over a week with the flu now, all three of them. No surprises there. They always get sick in the fall, and so does the entire world, it seems like. I never do. How can you get sick when it’s so perfect outside? Also, I think I’ve actually done really well as far as healthy eating goes – tons of grapefruits and oranges and apples equals tons of vitamins equals NOT SICK. Heh. So far, anyway. I probably totally jinxed myself right there.

I want to go to Paris. Which is of course hardly a news update. I mean, it’s like- a given; people, as a rule, want to go to Paris. You know I’ve been saving up money for Kentucky. And I’ve done some writing on that story I started a few months back and in the past week or so the storyline has taken me to Paris. So, naturally, I was overcome with this huge wave of amazing memories from when I was there for only about three days back in 2007. And now I kind of maybe possibly want to spend the KY money on a Paris trip. It’s just a crazy idea at this point, of course. Who knows what might happen between now and next summer? I’ll probably end up having to buy a new laptop with the money instead because I accidentally DROPPED IT INTO A BUCKET OF NOODLE SOUP I HAD SITTING AROUND. Stranger things have happened.

Nadine came to visit me, uh- a while ago. Maybe last weekend. We went to see the World Press Photo Exhibition here in Maastricht. It wasn’t quite as amazing as last year but still plenty fascinating. I have a dormant passion for photo journalism. It’s not really something I’d want to pursue professionally or anything but every once in a while I catch myself thinking how interesting and influential a job it must be. I don’t remember what else we did that day. But I do remember dropping Nadine off at the bus station that night and then taking a city bus back to my apartment, and feeling happier than I have in forever as my bus crossed the broad river; it was dark and all the lights looked overwhelmingly pretty on the water.

In rather shocking news, Sandra was slipped cocaine into her drink at some club here in Maastricht. I wasn’t there with them but sheesh, I didn’t know people actually did that. Of course you’re not supposed to leave your drink unsupervised in the first place – I mean, that’s like the number one rule they already teach you in kindergarten, right? Sandra kind of beat herself up about that afterwards, too, because, yeah, that really was pretty stupid of her. But she’s not even sure whether someone actually put the drugs into her drink or if she accidentally grabbed someone else’s drink but in either case she ended up with a fun mix of vodka and cocaine in her blood which made her legs and head stop working which made her hit the ground pretty hard about three times which, in turn, made her have to come to uni two days later with a concussion, a black eye and a broken hand, still feeling dizzy and unable to read or see straight. It also made her have to explain a few things to the hospital staff because even though marihuana is legal here in the NL, cocaine is not. GOOD TIMES.

I met with Sarah from uni at the library today because she wanted to copy some of my notes, etc., etc., and she asked if I maybe felt like going to the movies or out for a drink or whatever, just to do SOMETHING. The conversations basically went like this:

Sarah: Want to come see a movie?
Kat: Nah, I’m good. Thanks for asking, though.
Sarah: Why not?
Kat: Just don’t feel like it.
Sarah: But don’t you get depressed when you’re just home alone all weekend?
Kat: *blinks*
Sarah: You don’t? But HOW CAN THAT BE? WHY WHY WHY?

Her face had KAT MUST BE LYING TO ME written all over it. I’m used to that reaction. People generally can’t understand that a whole free, cozy weekend by myself is pure bliss to me. They immediately start looking for reasons to explain this strange behavior as if there had to be a reason other than THAT’S WHAT I LOVE TO DO- like, Is it me? You can totally tell me if you don’t want to hang out with me! Or, Are you broke? I can pay for your ticket/drink/first cocaine experience! And then they move on to investigate how a strange person like me spends such a weekend- all, But what do you DO? It’s exhausting and I don’t get it. I genuinely like being alone and I like being home. I don’t know why that is so hard for people to grasp. But then I don’t understand why anyone would want to spend every damn weekend drunk at some club or just hanging with people when you could spend that time all cuddled up at home doing things you actually enjoy doing. It must be horrible to have that pressure of having to “do something” just because it’s a Friday or Saturday night. I realize that saying that makes me just as ignorant and narrow-minded as everyone else but seriously: I don’t get it.

Uni still sucks. Well. Not right now. It’s going kind of okay in spite of the super ridiculous workload. But the Outlook On Things To Come is totally depressing. The whole deal of spending a semester abroad next year, making up courses and exams- I don’t know what’s going on with any of that. It’s so confusing and impossible to predict. I like to make plans. I’d find it calming to know that, say, less than a year from now I’d be living in Vancouver or Oslo instead of being bored here in the same old spot. I requested an info catalogue for undergrads from East London University, just to check it out, and it came in the mail today. Everything sounds so amazing. Not only in London but at all those other partner universities as well. It bothers me to constantly have this feeling of impending doom, of knowing that it likely ain’t gonna happen for me. I just like working towards something. And by working towards, I of course mean WAITING FOR something. And by something, I of course mean getting to live abroad. And by getting to live abroad, I of course mean getting to TELL SOMEBODY ABOUT living abroad. It’s a whole big issue. Try not to worry about it.

But I got my exam back- you know, the take-home one I wrote when I didn’t have The Internet at my apartment? The one I finished a day early because I wasn’t distracted by The Internet? The one I was really, really worried about because, uhm, HELLO, I am me, I don’t finish exams early? Turns out, it’s an 8. Which is basically an A-. Which is simply unheard of when it comes to me and uni. I am beyond thrilled. TAKING THE TOY AWAY DOES WORK. I now feel extra good about my decision to not have The Internet at my place for at least until Christmas; my brother took all cords and cables with him when he came down to see me over a week ago. (With his new car, by the way! So cool!) It’s sad because I don’t get to read your blogs anymore, and sometimes it just sucks to not be able to quickly look things up. But OHMYGOD, The Internet is just evil and stupid and I don’t want it in my home anymore. Trying to resist the constant temptation to do random crap online failed majorly. (When I got my laptop back, I didn’t go outside/skipped uni for a week and watched all five seasons of House online, only pausing occasionally to eat or sleep. THAT’S THE KIND OF STRONG-WILLED PERSON I AM.) It had to go. And I’m glad I took that step.

So. What’s new with you?