I could do some of the things I've always wanted to.

"Oh! Do not attack me with your watch. A watch is always too fast or too slow. I cannot be dictated to by a watch."

Jane Austen

"What very mysterious things days were. Sometimes they fly by, and other times they seem to last forever, yet they are all exactly twenty-four hours. There's quite a lot we don't know about them."

Melanie Benjamin

Time.

Time time time.

That is all that has been on my brain today.

Kyle came to visit me, and I got a ticket. That seems like a long time ago, but not a long enough time until I have to pay it.

I want Christmas to come, but that seems far far far away.  Kyle also did a bit to sprinkle Christmas in July for me, which may ease my patience some.

And then my project! I feel like I don't have enough time to finish, I feel crunched for time, and yet I feel like while I sit here running sample after sample it will be forever until I get to bed.
Secretly I might not go to bed tonight, but pretend you didn't see that mommy & abbey, because I know you'll be worried both of you. AND to stave off your irritations in advance, I'll be fine, I'll sleep tomorrow, I just want to get this done.

And I want to go home to see my family and my friends! But that means leaving a different family and new friends here. So I feel like its too much time and not enough time all at once.

And HAVE YOU EVER TRIED TO HOLD YOURSELF UP IN A PLANK FOR A MINUTE? I promise you, it will probably feel like one of the longest minutes in your life to date. And not amount of thinking about how great your stomach is going to work can really get you out of that thought process.

But really its just a measely little minute. Sixty seconds. 360 of those minutes have passed since I arrived in lab this evening, and yet I can't make it through one as a plank.

Its weird. VERY WEIRD.

Okay so all that weirdness aside, LATELY I have had so much going on that I haven't had time to update and I'm sorry don't hate me!

Firstly, Kyle did come to visit. And the whole time he was here all I did was complain about magnets, AND SO HE SENT ME A PACKAGE WITH SOME AND SOME CHRISTMAS IN JULY!! Wonderful!! Right up there with the post card from katie, which made my life wonderful! I love mail, so if you want to send me some mail, I will love you forever and ever and just ask me for my address in a non-private forum and I'd be happy to get it to ya.

I really love Christmas.

Like, I think more than you people know.

Christmas smells nice, and it feels nice, and you get to wear your favorite clothes, and have lots of fun surprises for the ones you love, and you hopefully get to see the ones you love, and everything just feels crisp and fresh and like a new beginning (probably cause it symbolizes, you know, the beginning of baby Jesus). I mean, I really really really want it to be Christmas.
Like now.

On another note, I've decided that this is the summer for new things. I'm spending the summer away from my home for the first time in my life, this is the longest I've ever not been in Texas, this is the farthest I've ever been from my family, this is the first time in LITERALLY years I've been in the same city with my sister for more than a week, AND SO.

I've begun watching movies that I've always wanted to see and never have.

This is one of those long, drawn out, fabulous processes where you really have to sit and watch the movie.

You cannot just lightly brush off the movie while you do something else.

THIS is a serious sit down and watch this movie kinda thing, you know?

SO I started with Casablanca.  Amazing. Better than I EVER dreamed it could be.  And with all the times its been quoted, I really thought I had the end figured out BUT I DIDN'T AND IT WAS SO MUCH BETTER AND MORE INTENSE AND WONDERFUL THAN EVER.

Then I moved on to Roman Holiday. Wonderful, absolutely smashing.  I always get these little irks about me where I want to go off on an adventure but theres never anything to DO really, and so it just doesn't seem like a good idea, and then I end up sitting at home and watching other peoples adventures on my computer.  BUT SHE WENT ON ONE.  And it was the perfect love story, because especially at the end it was so real and perfect.

And so began my love affair with Audrey Hepburn.

Sabrina.

Then Breakfast at Tiffany's.

Followed closely by Funny Face.

And then I immediately planned an Audrey marathon to commence with my mother the day after my return in the great state of Texas, complete with the aforementioned usual suspects, and a dash of My Fair Lady. I'm soooooo excited.  In the process of permanently procuring these for my own personal collection.

Then I watched Shawshank Redemption, Silence of the Lambs, and Hannibal.  I feel so cultured! And this all started in the month of July! I also watched Gambit, which was a surprisingly awesome movie, and started Charade but couldn't finish because of lab things

Now however, I'm TOTALLY caught up in lab things. Which is good for watching things you've seen before, but not good for things like The Green Mile, The Godfather parts one and two, Saving private Ryan, and Dead Poet Society.  All of these things require my full attention, and all of these are on my list.

Also my decision is official. I'm getting netflix. I just don't know what I'll do without the constant influx of movies from those around me when I leave the island. Its happening.

I miss Texas, but I know I'll miss the island when I leave. My roomie went home this weekend (abandoning me to the terrors that are our creepy house and all of its weird noises a.k.a. robbers, ghosts, ghouls, and/or creepers) and got me AN EXCELLENT PIECE OF TEXAS TO KEEP WITH ME FOR THE REST OF THE SUMMER. Its a Texas key chain. Are you jealous? OP YOU SHOULD BE.  Also Ian left for Hartford Connecticut for the weekend, too, and he got me a shot glass!! Supposedly he was trying to find me something run and yale-y so I could be like Rory Gilmore, but he couldn't find anything. Is it sad that I'm that transparent? All I ever wanted was to be like Rory Gilmore.

That was a joke.

Kind of.

And in any case, though it was sad that she was gone, I did get to spend quality time with my sisters dog, who was my growly protector for the weekend, and I WANT A PUPPY. REAL BAD.



OKAY ladies and gentlemen, I REALLY hope that was enough to satiate your desires for Melissa on this lovely Summer day, and I hope you enjoyed that stream-of-consciousness rendition of my week, via my brain from the hours of 4:30-5:30 a.m.

Love Love Love,
Melissa