You listen to it twice, cause the dj is asleep....

I'm having a Regina Spektor lyric moment. Just bear with me and I promise it will pass.

Although my week started off fairly badly-- I had an allergic reaction to something that has had me looking like an itchy lobster for the last two days-- I'm feeling rather good about the rest of the week.

On the radio, you hear November Rain
The solo's really long, but it's got a good refrain

Tomorrow will be filled with after-work prep cooking, where my mom and I will be making bread and black raspberry ice cream, followed by the second annual pre-thanksgiving bar hop (minus last year's ER visit) and hanging out with Dominic, (I've missed him so.) I'm also going to have to throw in a trip to the store so I can buy the correct batteries for my camera (I got the wrong ones last time.)

There are quite a few WIPs that need documenting-- the revitalized cardigan, the one-row scarf, the Uzume socks, the frogged and restarted Pirate Mittens, and the Embossed Leaf socks I started the other night. I am loving that pattern-- simple, pretty, and a pretty darn quick knit. Then again, that could just be because I stayed up way too late the last couple of nights wanting to knit just one more repeat.

As for Thanksgiving, we always tend to have a spectacular time, so I expect things to be about the same this year. The rest of the weekend will be filled with house guests in the form of visiting friends...which means I should probably be cleaning my house right about now.

Meh, too late now.

You laugh until you cry
You cry until you laugh
And everyone must breathe
Until their dying breath

In other news, I seem to have developed a freakishly introverted streak of late and I'm not sure how to feel about it. Having always been an outgoing sort of person, the fact that I now get anxious when walking into a room of people I don't know, or barely know at best, is a little disconcerting. It's even starting to happen in places full of people I know well, which really freaks me out. I know I'm being ridiculous when I do this, and even tell myself so as it's happening, but that doesn't seem to start my breathing from getting shorter when faced with groups. At least I did pretty well at knit night tonight. I managed sit in a room with people I don't know and make conversation without hyperventilating! That's progress, right?

Motivation, such an aggravation....

Right now I should be making pizza dough, doing dishes, finding places for the dozen-or-so bags of chips that were left over from last night's superbowl shindig, and generally getting things put in order before my friends show up in a couple of hours.

So what am I doing instead? Sitting here reading things on the internet. I'm not sure if it's my completely dysfunctional need to leave things until the last minute, or that I have a had ZERO motivation today. I think it might be a combination of both.

I think it's also some other stuff that I'm just not ready to deal with yet. Right on the heels of one big scary decision, another one came along, and I haven't had enough time to properly mull things over. This seems to be the year for making some pretty big changes I think.

Okay, I've squandered enough time. That pizza dough isn't going to make itself.

Warning: If it hasn't been made obvious yet, I write the way I speak. And I speak in parentheticals.

Do you have those friends that you can spend hours with, without ever getting bored or needing some other distraction (ie, a movie or a game or some other form of entertainment)? I do, and I am so grateful for it. I also consider myself lucky in that two of those friends are miraculously dating eachother (which means I get two for the price of one!) and another one of those is my boyfriend.

The four of us (myself, E, and our friends Jen and Mike) spent the night hanging out, having drinks, and basically shooting the shit, and it was quite honestly one of the best nights I've had all week. Sometimes I feel bad and/or neglectful of our other friends, since we hang out with these two so much. At the same time, I don't.

I even got to briefly teach Jen about spinning! I've been (very) slowly teaching her how to knit, but I'm beginning to think spinning might be more her thing.

In other news, I've come to a decision about the things I was mulling over yesterday. Basically, I was offered a really big, but kind of scary, job opportunity. I mix paint for a living, for one of those big-box hardware stores. I have been offered the option to go to a smaller, more local store a couple of times. This time, I was made a really good offer. The manager of this smaller store wants me to come work there and eventually take over his job when he moves on, which is going to happen within the next six months. On one hand, this is an amazing opportunity, and would eventually mean making almost twice as much money as I do now while doing something that I enjoy and am good at. On the other, I'm terrified that I will be biting off more than I can chew. Managing my own store would be the biggest responsibility that I've ever had in my life, and I'm scared shitless that I will fall flat on my face. But after a lot of thought I finally had to ask myself, "what is life without taking risks?"

So I think I'm going to fight my fears and go for it.

To sum up, I am feeling very good about today.