Don't Worry, I Still Exist

I know it's been over a week since my last post and I apologize; it wasn't intentional. This week has been kind of crazy. Add together one test, two essays, a very time-consuming project at work and for one reason or another not a whole lot of sleep and the sum is not pretty. I've been pretty much a basket case since Wednesday. Fortunately, as far as I can tell it hasn't gotten in the way of my classes or work; it's just made me a little less fun to be around. Well, I just hope y'all didn't miss me too much.

This week has really just been a bizarre week. Tuesday and Wednesday were two of the ugliest, rainiest, most depressing days I've seen since I've been here. Tuesday night I couldn't sleep the storm was so loud. Wednesday I got absolutely drenched on the way to a meeting with a teacher, despite the fact that I was wearing a raincoat and carrying an umbrella. Two days of just miserable weather.

And then, Thursday came. You know, the weather can change so rapidly and so sharply down here. There was no...transition of any kind between monsoon season and two of the most beautiful days I've ever seen. Blue skies, lots of sun, a light breeze...and best of all the storm must have brought in a bit of a cold front, because the temperature right now...perfect. It's odd, it takes days like Tuesday and Wednesday to remind you how lucky you are to live in a place like this when the normal, beautiful weather comes back.

I really hadn't noticed the change on Thursday, having not slept a whole lot the night before and just trying to make it through the day. I got to the end of my shift at work and walked outside, and it was like a revelation. Days like yesterday honestly just make me happy to be alive. Even on Valentine's Day....




And then I log on to the internet and I hear about what happened at NIU yesterday, and my short-lived elation disappears from whence it came. I'm not going to say much about those events, because this really is not the right forum. But I feel compelled to say something.

After Virginia Tech, I was shocked and appalled, but...it quickly slipped to the back of my mind, a single, anomalous, horrific event. To see it happen again...it breaks my heart. That people can do such things to each other and to themselves...This message goes out to all those affected by the tragedy: the victims, their families, and all of the other students at NIU...my thoughts are with you. Hang in there.