Thanksgiving

Things I am thankful for: the opportunity to sleep more than five hours tonight, my family, Southern accents, the fact that I do not have a Southern accent, long walks around my neighborhood, puppies (even just online photos of them), babies, small children, silly words, long words, words I don't know, that people around me are willing to teach me words I don't know, books, the ability to look at my book shelves and suddenly be transported back to the time when I read and loved each of those books, nick nacks, hugs, that moment when a book hits you just right, books that are so over read they break, the various things that make up the personality of a person in a room, my mom and the look on her face when I came home for the first time, how my dad and my brother are obviously excited to see me but hide it so well, my dad's goofy waves, familial inside jokes, my home church, laughter, different view points, pictures of friends where they are laughing, ridiculous quotes, best friends and the places we always go to eat, the idea that when I told Kelly "noon" she knew I meant "noon thirty" and that it's ok, driving, public transit, my school, learning (even though my brain is about to explode and all I want is to sleep for the next month), French, Ireland, tenured teachers, crosswords, having Someone to rely on, Brett, and all those who I know I could rely on if I ever asked.

My life seems to be a whirl wind these days. I'm so glad to be home. So glad. I have so much to tell everyone. I have started this nasty habit of collecting pieces of minor drama in my life so that when I go home I will have epic stories to tell. so... Be prepared.

Kate

P.S. I'm also thankful that I have people who will tell me when to shut up when I need to and will call me out if my brutal honesty dips into douche baggery.

My geekiness, explained.

So, I feel if I keep the origins of the name of my blog a secret I will be lying to you all.
But, I also feel if I tell you I will seem like a pretentious douche. This seems to be a problem I have a lot.
I shall explain anyway, I suppose. I took the name from A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, by James Joyce. I mostly chose it because I like the idea of a blog as explaining "the scholastic quidditas, the whatness of a thing." (I can't help feeling like I need a parenthetical citation after that. This worries me.)
That's not the whole story though. Joyce has introduced to me a new category of novels: those that I hate so much, but love so much as well. My copy has all of these handwritten notes in them and highlights, so it feels a little like a stressful kind of home. I know that when I reread it later on and actually understand all the things I'm missing now and it will be even better.
So, in closing, I'm like... a huge mega geek.
And that's part of my quidditas.
Kate