Well, that was an interesting night.  Not only did I have a round of sleep paralysis, but I also had a dream that one of my good friends committed suicide, I was thrown out of my home, and also chased and shot in the back by a pack of angry young neds.  I’ve sorted out what the last one means (I’m still more terrified of my ex — his influence over mutual friends, and the ability to misuse things I’ve told him in confidence — than I’d like to admit… not that he’s a ned or anything).  And the first one is just anxiety about the friend’s situation (they’re okay!).  I can’t figure out the second one though.  It was the most unsettling, though.

Fun night.

To brighten the mood for today, however, I had been having loads of anxiety about my financial aid situation.  I knew being an independent-by-age would help land me some extra money for tuition and such, but I wasn’t sure if it would be enough.  I thought that maybe I was putting too much stock into the whole idea of “finally being 24″.  I come on to check the system for which awards were available now that I got the last of my paperwork turned in… and I landed a big, fat, juicy grant (enough to make up the bulk of my fees), and enough in loans to cover the rest with maybe enough to cover books.  So it is a very Good Thing™ I changed my mind about campus housing, because I wouldn’t have had enough to cover that anyway.  But I am rather pleased that the tuition itself is covered… especially pleased that most of it is in grants.

So… yes.  Project Transferring-to-UK is a success.  Education is go!

Finally got someone to answer their phone today, and it seems I have somewhat of a consultation tonight.  Sylver is dropping by to help me with information on handfastings.  I have a book, Handfasting and Wedding Rituals by Raven Kaldera and Tannin Schwartzstein, and it is a really good resource so far, but real live advice from a real live person is always helpful.
And can I just say I’m still amazed that Project Handfasting was green-lighted?  I had resigned to the idea of only being allowed a handfasting if I were stuck with some spacey pagan nutjob who hadn’t touched on reality since reading Buckland’s Big Blue.  But no… here’s yet more proof that I am The Luckiest Girl On Earth.

…is how much I’ve walked today, according to my w580i.  That’s 4.2mi, translating to a total of 407 calories burned by moving one foot in front of the other all repetative-like.  And I thought my mad-dashes across airport terminals were impressive.  Didn’t want to believe it til I sat down with a campus map and realized how ass-tastic my routes were today.  From #5 to Memorial Hall to POT to B&E to the Student Center to Funk and back to #5.  Next semester’s routes aren’t looking much better.

Sorry, I know “how much I walked” isn’t really blogworthy news.  I’ll get the hang of this again, I swear.

Anywho.  Got all registered for next semester.  My advisor gave me the lovely news that I do indeed qualify for SW322, which saves me 3hrs in the long run… so I opted to take my (bonus) lazy-semester this go-’round.  So basically, I’m taking one course that really matters, two courses I should’ve taken in clown college, and (finally) German.  Yes!  I can finally do more than get a train ticket! Or inform people that my hat is black and white!  Or tell people to hurry the fuck up!
[I'd like a ticket please -- and hurry the fuck up!]

I’m also pleased to report that my student ID photo doesn’t look like ass.

Came home to find my books finally came in from half.com.  I finally bought a copy of A Field Guide to Otherkin by Lupa, and Witch School: Lessons for the Second Degree by some cheesy looking fucker with a gnarly beard.  I really shouldn’t talk about the leader of the trad like that, but my elementary school teachers always told me that I shouldn’t tell lies, so there you go.  But don’t let the cheese fool you… you wouldn’t think that anything called “Witch School” would be serious or valuable, but I really love their approach, and their First Degree program was pretty much awesome.  Nothing I didn’t know already, but you have to go through the motions.
So I flipped through both.  Beelined right for the Angels section in Otherkin… just to see… and yes, I’m in there!  Looked at the TOC in Second Degree and saw there is a section on sex magick.  As always, they have a very solid and mature approach… but I couldn’t read it without flailing (I have a habit of flailing whenever I have one of those overwhelming in-love moments).  Sex is sacred, a union of the God and Goddess, a union of… flail… God… flail… union… FLAIL.

On the subject of sacred sexual symbolism, my lilies opened today   I don’t know if they opened this morning and I just didn’t notice (I was in a sort of rush), or if they popped when I was off burning calories, but it was a very nice treat to see that on returning home.  Ahhh, flowers.  Aaaaahhhh, guys that actually buy you flowers.  I always laughed at the idea of getting flowers, until I actually found someone who believes in ‘em… and they really are special.  All I have to do is look at them, and my face busts.
All I have to do is look at him, and my face busts.
All I have to do is think about him, and my face busts…

That’s never something you really want to hear in a progress report, is it?  I can’t help but be honest, though.  Gathering all my stories and such and throwing them up here is proving to be rather annoying work.  But I figured I should go on and get crackin’ on it, since one of my old friends has already huffed at the lack of reading material, hehe.

Ah, yes.  We do have some things up, now.  A fair load of fiction, and a couple of creative nonfiction pieces up for viewing.  I’ll be working on getting some more nonfiction up, as well as some poetry… then I’ll polish up and expand some of my older pieces.  I’m debating on whether or not I should put up some “scraps” as well.  Not anywhere near stories, but simple scenes that I write down in the hopes that maybe, someday, I’ll turn it into something bigger.  We’ll see.

This has pretty much been my day.  Getting kinks flattened out before sleep, then waking up and working on cleaning up/posting stories.  There was pizza in between.   Yep.  This is the exciting life I lead.

Well, we’re getting there, at least.  I’ve been kicking the idea of public blogging around, again, because… well, I’m actually quite happy with who I am and how my life is right now.  First time in years that I can actually, honestly, truly say that.  I’ve got nothing to hide or be ashamed of, so I kind of want to share my [boring] life with the world. Hah!  I was originally planning on just having my LJ public, but yesterday morning proved that there was still an element of drama on there that I would like to avoid.  I figure, if the drama follows me here on my own personal hallowed ground, we’ll all get a faceful of who the real drama-mongers are.

As ever, work in progress.  I’m planning on adding some of my stories up here… finally getting published was a sort of validation for my efforts, and I’m not shy about my creative side anymore now that it’s finally being appreciated (and not being used as “more proof that Palmer is an unholy and wholly crazy freak”).  Woooot.
No idea what else I might have planned, though.  We shall see as time rolls on by.  Or, if you have any suggestions about things you think I should share, drop me a line, m’kay? We’re discovering things! Together!

For the most part, though… I think this is a blog.  Yeaaaah.