Hello everyone, I know I'll be seeing most of you at Katie's party tonight but I wanted to make one last post before the year ended and I forgot to post something on my birthday (also, what better time then now to post the above album?). So here I am in my sister's kitchen at 5:30 in the morning.

Christmas was very un-Christmas this year in the Mickle household, no one went to the trouble of setting up the tree or putting out any decorations (with the exception of a three building snow village thing on the bookcase). But that's life. It was OK. My birthday on the other hand was nice. Katie and Leah called - thank you! - and later I went out with my brother and older sister to Joy Wah for dinner (Meghan and Mom were working, Dad was gambling) and I wasn't even carded. Which was disappointing but the drinks there are excellent. The food too. Delicious.

Speaking of Joy Wah our plan for a twin birthday buffet drinkfest sometime after New Years was canceled because 1. we didn't have the money to reserve the space, and 2. there was a logistics problem with there not going to be enough drivers/cars/sleep places to safely have that kind of party. Some other time perhaps.

Drinking drinking drinking, that will be our agenda. Jessica, you will be allowed juice of some kind.

I don't know, I am just so happy that semester is over with and I can walk boldly into new plans. 2008 will be something special.

My cold has been a wonderful roller-coaster. It never got to as bad as those first two days where I slept, by rough calculation 17 hours the first day and on the second day I was a zombie. But oh well, it has been a regular cold since then. Just alternating sniffles, runny nose, sore throat, coughing etc. at will. Some days I will be almost all better but it comes back.

The school situation has been dealt with as effectively as possible under the circumstances. Long story short, I was able to get an administrative drop on the two classes I was going to hands-down fail. So my GPA won't take a complete beating but I'll earn only 9 credits this semester (around mid-terms I got a normal drop on another class). So yeah. Next semester things will work out.

What I have been doing with my time that I haven't been doing essays and things for those remaining classes is re-reading The Catcher in the Rye as well as J.D. Salinger's three other published works. I hated Catcher in high school but I finally get it now. It's hilarious and brilliant, even if it drags near the end. Another point for Mr. Bone. Who knows maybe A Separate Peace will win me over one of these days.

Nine Stories is great too, obviously, I think we can all remember Troy raving about "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" sort've sequels to that story are Raise High the Roof Beam Carpenters & Seymour: An Introduction and Franny and Zooey. I realize that it's all very cliché to brood around and read Salinger or any other 'important' writer but it was a great help. Roof Beam & Seymour (they are two novellas) was half-good. "Roof Beam" was a pretty funny story but didn't win me over and "Seymour" was waaaaaaaaay to self-conscious and irritating. It was like reading someone else's journal who doesn't have a particularly exciting life.

Franny and Zooey though...damn. It's about a brother and sister who have grown up and have both realized the world isn't a magical place. I just highly recommend it, the topics it covered (college, religion, family communication) were all so relevant to me and what I've been thinking about I'm really beginning to doubt that whole 'everybody's unique' jive. If Catcher is taught to all high-schoolers Franny and Zooey should be taught to all college juniors.

edit: oh yeah, Troy and Dustin were here for a few hours this afternoon.

Well in lovely turn of fate at the time of year when I should be at my peak condition I have caught Shawn's horrible sickness. It lasts for weeks (he's in his third, no improvement thus far). I just woke up with it this morning at 11am. I was supposed to be up at 8am. I staggered to Huden and back and felt exhausted after only an hour of tinkering with the internet. Planning meetings with faculty.

I went to sleep for four or so hours. I woke up with a worse sore throat and a headache and even more exhaustion. Someone brought Little Caesars but I couldn't eat a bite. I've been drinking water and orange juice and have eaten a dry orange.

There was some drama at the radio station. Power struggles and bruised feelings that I was invited to as being just another EC meeting.

I can barely keep my eyes open, for the past few hours I've tried and I know oversleeping will not help but I can not stand this. It's bad enough I tried making some inroads on my depression bullshit but wow things magically didn't get better. They're not worse, but eh.

So. I will be failing some courses. Just how many if not all is the question of the hour.

edit: pity me boohoo.