Last-minute lollygagging

Tomorrow's the big day and I am so stupidly excited, I don't know how I managed to fall asleep within 30 minutes of turning out the light each night. And for the first time in what seems like a long time, too, I've been hacking away at the preparatory pieces little by little so that today, the day before I head out, I've only got a load of laundry to do and some notes to type up. I debated in my head whether or not to do that second load and decided, yeah, it's nice to come home to an entirely clean arsenal of clothes and sheets. That, and the thought of spending a full day Netflixing- again- seems better if cut down in half. NB: a little bird told me how to reconfigure my phone to get the American Netflix selection, and wow! Is there ever a lot more- and better- stuff to choose from. I'm having a blast working my way through it, but K isn't as crazy about it as I am. 'American Netflix?' she sniffed. 'Ain't nobody got time for that!'

I'm also pretty excited for the conference on Friday/Saturday when I'll get to talk about philosophical/logic stuffiness with other kids. For someone who's used to the people she talks to about this getting glazed looks in their eyes and slowly backing away to the nearest exit, this'll be a really good opportunity for me to connect with others and keep my interest sharp. Also, I'm allotted forty-five minutes- half to talk about my paper, and half to answer questions about it. Do you have any idea how much of a Christmas gift this feels like for me? The chance to prattle on for half an hour about my philosophy of logic paper? I just hope they have a roll of duct tape ready for the halfway mark!

What's with this so-called Spring this year? It seems like everywhere's been getting snow and frigid temperatures, when last year (which, admittedly, was a huge abomination) people were wearing bikinis to work, it was so hot. And I know, I know- Spring doesn't hit us the same way it does Western Europeans, but when you hear reports of a week of temperatures in the double digits, you get your hopes up only to have them dashed by a very large low-pressure system coming in from the American midwest that cancels all of your plans by dumping snow, rain, wind and below-zero temperatures right on your front step.

Side note: I've been so excited about Spring this year that, like every year, I swear to myself I'm not going to miss the trees growing fuller. Each year, I vow to take daily notice of them; each year, I fail to do so. However, this year I've got a plan (which has already failed six times): everyday, I go outside and take a picture of the same two trees. It's my goal to put them in a photo album and look at the progression of growth each day so that I can finally go, 'Aha! Two weeks ago, the branches were nubby and bare and now there are leaves on them that definitely weren't there before.' But like I've said, for this to work I've actually got to remember to go outside and snap the trees and I haven't. So far, I've got nine pictures and today will be the tenth once the sun moves a bit and the trees aren't half-covered by shade.