I've got the...

Errrrgh.

This'd be the third night in a row that I'll be up late. And I've been getting up early for long enough that apparently my body's now wired into it. I'll wake up slightly before my alarm, and even if I try to sleep for the last few minutes, my body's having none of it.

I know, there are a lot of people out there who have it worse. I'll shut up and do my work now. :)

Signscout says I have to share this one on the blog. Today, I was chased across a soccer field by a half-dozen people, three of whom were repeatedly calling, "C'mere, Beautiful!" Half of this I understand - the new nickname came out of left field. DEEP left field. Usually, they call me tiger, or horsie. We were playing a chasing game, and since there are six kids and one 'teacher', every game seems to end up being, at some point, "Everybody chase Phirefly!"

I love days like this. :) Big open field, big sunny sky, big poofy clouds, big smiles on the kids, big hearts in the people I like working with. Big joy day. :D

There's something so incredible about living in gratitude. Being thankful for sunshine, honestly grateful for it. The way it feels when you're really hungry, and then suddenly offered food. Being thankful for a really wretched day, because someone recently reminded you how you nearly died, and you wouldn't have known that day. Love for my friends, being so glad they're in my life.

One of the notable blessings for me is having someplace quiet and secure to sleep. It means a lot to me that I have my own bed (not borrowed or a couch), I have my own room, and I can lock my door. There've been circumstances in the past where for one reason or another I stayed at a friend's out of urgency, or slept the night in my car. It's not that I can't sleep in that situation, I actually tend to do just fine there. It just means so much to me that there is a space where I can be, and it's secure. Well, the door deadbolts, anyway - if someone dropped a helicopter on it, it probably wouldn't be ideal.

Oranges. I am coming to love oranges. I don't know what it is, save maybe that for the longest time I couldn't eat them. They evoke happiness on a very deep and simple level. One of my storylines, there's this starving man who comes out of the desert, and he finds an orange, and he's shaking with emotion as he peels it. I haven't been starving, but my favorite lunch at college is a bowl of hot, fluffy rice, an orange, and a square of dark chocolate. Absolutely perfect. Love the orange.

I know what I want to do with my life. Or, at least, what I want to do with the next eight to ten years. This is so cool for me - I've been uncertain, indecisive, and generally worrying about whether I'm on the right path for, I don't know, months at least. Around last Thursday or so, or maybe it was Monday, there was a bit of an epiphany. Last night, I wrote it all down. I'm so excited!

So far, the vision looks like this: Acronym, Acronym, word, acronym, acronym, half-acronym, acronym, two words. It's kind of entertaining. :) Yay letters! Yay dreams! Yay life!