what made me happy this week

1. Driving the wooded highway this time of year into work, it just fuzzies my heart to watch the leaves turn. About half a mile from where the main road branches off to join the freeway, there's a big pocket of tall thin trees that have all turned a lucious yellow. I pass them on my left and they just make me smile. They make me think I'm in northern New Mexico. This week was grey, rainy and chilly. The turning trees, particularly that pocket, kept me happy inspite of the meteorlogical drear. It's like they drink in sunshine and radiate it for us when the sun doesn't care to grace us with his presence. How I'll miss those leaves when it's winter and we have no terrestrial sunlight!

2. The deadline for submitting my intent to graduate was yesterday at 5PM. HEAR THIS: I, "she who puts the 'Pro' in procrastination,"actually got the paperwork in like 20 hours ahead of time. This is major for me. If it's due at 5, my norm is to get it to you at 4:57. Yea, me!

3. Keeping a secret from my dog: next week, she gets to go herding two whole days in a row! ... and with other dogs, too! I'm sure that'll be good subject for another post ... so long as I remember.

4. There's a local radio station that plays "old timey" popular music during the 7 o'clock hour on Saturday nights. It's a neat collection of scratchy recordings. Last night, I heard some song from the teens or 20s that I'm pretty sure was the inspiration to the theme song for "The Itchy and Scratchy Show." The tune was exactly the same up until the crescendo of their song. I laughed. If only the writers of the original melody had known that 80 or 90 years later someone would hear their tune and picture a cartoon cat and mouse beating each other with mallets!

in other news ...

I will be receiving a practice Spanish exam, as I have opted to test out of my language requirement for my degree. All it is is a translation test. Now all I have to do is be as good at Spanish as I was back in 1997 or 98 when I was easily 30%-40% fluent. um ... si tengo "stock" en Univision, es lo mismo que comprender la idioma con fluidesse, no? (See, Pissed Off? It's not just you who worries about exhibiting a mastery of a foreign language?)

The print deadline for a small monthly out of state paper for which I proofread has been pushed back till midweek. Everytime deadline is pushed, I'm always afraid it's because I'm not turning around the articles fast enough. But I think there are other factors at work here, because I have only received about 2/3 the normal amount of articles I usually get, so far, by this time of the month.

My parents are back in the city of my nativity this weekend for a conference. I'm somewhat jealous. I'd love to spend a day just to sniff out the old haunts of my youth. ... and to pick up some shredded beef barbecue sandwiches wrapped in too-thin butcher paper that you then eat in old school desks placed against the back walls of the joint. Seriously, my mouth is watering just thinking about it.