a bit of renewed optimism

Maybe more than a bit. Yesterday's prediction held true: that mood seems to have been mostly sleeplessness-induced, and today is much more sunny, if not literally. I didn't manage to stay up very late; I was out by five and woke up for "dinner" at midnight, went back to bed within a half hour and slept through to nine this morning. That's sure to make falling asleep tonight a bit harder, but I've been out and about for most of the day, saw a bunch of people on campus and had lunch with several other ling undergrads. I'm feeling like I'm in the right place again, and it's one of my favorite feelings. At lunch Josh and I were talking about the neighborhood around campus, and though we would both like to be done with school by the end of this summer, we tossed out the idea of finding a two bedroom to share if we end up stuck here longer than that. I'm not too sure how I'd feel about having a roommate again after all this time, but he's mellow and kind and loves to cook, and we have similarly unhealthy sleeping schedules so ideally we would be well-equipped to be patient and compassionate about not making too much noise. It's nowhere near a sure thing, but it's an encouraging thought that even if my long-terms plans don't pan out, I could still find very good things here in town.

On the bus ride home I listened to a TTBOOK podcast about the National Book Award runners-up, and they had some excellent things to say about being a good writer. I'll probably listen to this one again, but the bits that stuck out the first time through were "my readers are much cleverer than me" and "when I'm writing about the ineffable, I find the I must be very precise with the physical details." (The last one is likely a paraphrase; I was getting off the bus and had trouble following each word.) I'm enjoying thinking about being a better writer and being a better person, and how it's hard to do one without the other, for me at least.

Also: I'm taking a creative writing class this semester, advanced poetry, so all this literary energy of mine will double up and earn me some credits. I needed an upper-level elective anyway, and I'm pretty excited about it.