Gracias a Dios, el dia is almost over!

Oh how I simply dread Valentine's Day. It reminds me of what a misanthrope I really am. I had a pretty decent day in the morning, at least. Had a great time reading my novel (for book club--it's okay, but not one I would have picked) and studying Spanish. I even crocheted a little, as well. Basically, I did things I enjoy by myself. Man, I hate commercialism. I mean, even though I did buy myself some candy for Valentine's.

One thing I've learned about myself through the years is that I'm a callus. I hate romantic anything. I'm not exactly your typical girl. I always have been, and most likely always will be, very tomboyish. But I'm also quite the loner. Only on rare occasions do I like to be around people. But usually, I prefer to be by myself learning things. So I'm a nerd. I don't care.

Even when I do things, it's usually only with close friends or family. People seem to assume that I'm very outgoing. And it's true, I do socialize very well. I just don't care for it. Anyway, this God-forsaken day is almost over. For some reason I'm feeling depressed. Holidays seem to do this to me. Oh well, guess it's time to start another week of work. Hope it's a good one.

Ah, Insomnia!

Okay, so I'm an insomniac. It comes and goes. Lately it's been fairly severe. I don't know what causes it, and I sure as heck don't know why it sometimes goes away. All I know is that my mind races at nighttime. I feel like I'm in college again. Back then I could do crazy things like stay up to 3:00 and then get up at 6:30 to get ready and then be 30 minutes early for an 8:00am class.

It's like I run on adrenaline. Except I have no energy.

Ah, conundrums, enigmas, perplexities, how I'm drawn to them. It's really windy tonight. Maybe that will help me sleep. Usually a good drizzly rain can do the trick. IHOP sounds really good once again for some reason. I never used to like pancakes, but for some reason just lately... I don't know. Anyway, back to what I was saying, it's like my brain is always switched on for some reason. I guess there's nothing wrong with that, but sometimes I think it might be good for it to take a break and get some rest. But then, most of the time sleeping causes weird "nightmares" (yes, I intentionally quotified the word, because they really aren't frightening nightmares, but they are unpleasant dreams; but when I wake up, I never can figure out what element of the dreams were so unpleasant; sometimes those unpleasant dreams can put me in a foul mood for much of the day though).

I'm really not that emotional of a person. I mean, most of the time I feel like I'm just one big callus. I am sort of anxious to get Valentine's Day over with. I've never been much for the mushy stuff. I hate romantic comedies with a passion. I mean, I think I've elevated it to an art form. And I know I have it down to a science. Let's see how many other cheap and easy cliches I can riddle this post with.

Okay, so on that note, I'm reading The Memory Keeper's Daughter for book club. Thus far, it's been a lot better than I expected. But then again, I fear that it will turn into chick-lit. I guess time will tell.

I'm really getting the travel bug. Maybe it's because it's winter. I mean, invierno does that to a person, right? No se. By the way, just a word of caution: sometimes I slip into Spanish here and there. All apologies for that. I am studying the language, and I'm to that point where sometimes the Spanish word comes easier than the English one.

So I finished 1919. Man I'm starting to sound like Holden Caulfield. If I start calling everything a phony and say I ought to go see ol' Phoebe, then I'll know there's a problem. But yeah, finished the John Dos Passos book and abruptly shifted gears to Kim Edwards. As I said, I'm learning Spanish, but I'm already making plans to study German next. Boy howdy. I sure know how to pile the extra work on myself.

Addition

Well, I just haven't had a whole lot of insight to share with the world recently for some cause or other. But I do have some news. My cousin Andre, and her husband, Scott, just bought a Schnauzer puppy last night. And oh my, if he isn't hyper! We've taken some precautions to puppy-proof the house to the best of our ability. Such as closing doors. Used to be that the only way Pierce and I knew that the bathroom (that we share) was unoccupied was that the door was wide open. Now, it's always closed. Let's just hope we each remember to lock the door while in there.

Oh, and something else to be on the lookout for: walking around barefoot. Puppy seems to have taken a dump on the floor of the breakfast nook last night with no warning that he needed let out. Oops. And also, there appeared a mysterious puddle about a foot and a half from the other offering. And human footprints lined the kitchen. We're not sure which of us stepped in it--most likely it was either Andre or myself, though it could have been Pierce. See, used to be, water on the floor was no big deal. Maybe somebody spilled a little water walking from the refrigerator to the table in the breakfast nook. You stepped in it, it dried, no big deal. Now, if we step in anything questionable, it is a big deal.

But the little guy really is a joy. He just loves everybody (though he might try to bite toes) and has been providing us all with some much-needed laughter for the past 18 hours or so. We're all getting to that point in the semester where the pace is picking up. Not bad yet, but a little stress relief can't hurt.