My dad drove me back to Maastricht on Sunday. The roads were pretty awful; we’d gotten a ton of snow the night before – on top of the masses that had already come down earlier. You see, when I wished for snow over the holidays every day from April through November, I couldn’t possibly have known that I would get THIS MUCH. Some parts of the autobahns were cleared, some weren’t, but we still made pretty good time. And so I wrote my dad an IOU and thanked my guardian angel for never ever ever failing to make things happen.

Now I’m back in my apartment – this pretty, little place of mine – and uni’s started back up again. The new course only lasts four weeks, just like last year’s January course. Technically, it’s an easy course because it’s all about finding a topic that interests me, doing research, and writing a 12-page essay about it. And it IS easy- in the sense that this is exactly what I love to do and so it’s not as much of a forced struggle. Plus, this is the last course before the specialization phase begins – meaning, it’ll go from general arts and culture studies to media culture studies for me come February 1.

We had the first meeting yesterday (from 4 to 6pm, by the way, which is just wrong; uni should always be taking place in the morning, if you ask me), and we sort of had to introduce our topic or general ideas or concerns or whatever to the group. The tutor really seemed to like my idea which is: the role of 24-hour news networks in times of war, more specifically the positive role Al Jazeera could play for US military involvement in the Arab world if US officials would only understand the network’s significance within the region. (As always, I’ll spare you the details). Of course, the Media And War theme’s been done to death but I’m hoping the Al Jazeera notion/perspective may bring something new to the table.

On a completely different note, I’ve started my new diet yesterday (down 35 lbs. by June is the goal, in case you didn’t read the last post; another 35 lbs. by the end of the year). Nothing fancy, nothing hip. Just good ol’ Counting Carbs. And I’m doing it because my brother is living proof that it works. I didn’t do extensive online research or buy any books; I know that – like with any other diet – there’s probably a billion theories out there as to why counting carbs is bullshit. But I’m just going to do what worked so well for him, and see if it has the same positive effect on my weight and my health. Simple as that. As it were, I never drink sodas or juices, I rarely ever have sweets or chocolate, I don’t eat a lot of meat, I can’t remember the last time I ate at McDonald’s – I’m a healthy eater, generally speaking, but I still always ate TOO MUCH of what I ate, and a little too many products that had the bad, bad carbs hidden in them. So, all in all trial and error as always, and then hopefully a MADE IT entry in June.

And! Oh! This is good. Get this: I bought a new wallet. This is epic, folks. (Remember when everything always used to be epic? Do people still say that?) I’ve had my old wallet since my then-BFFs gave it to me for my FIFTEENTH BIRTHDAY. That thing’s six years old, and looks it. And it’s humongous. And if that weren’t bad enough, it’s made of a non-descriptive beige jeans-y fabric and has some weird tribal sign on it. I KNOW. Horrible horrible horrible. Though I guess it was probably cool in ancient 2003 when I turned fifteen? The new one is smaller and red and made of reeeaaally smooth leather. Which, I’ll have to admit, sounds just as strange typed out as the old one but trust me, it’s pretty awesome.