buried under piles

first, piles of water. yes, it's stormwatch 2010 here in socal, but this time it's actually justified. it's raining, it's pouring, the old man is snoring, and all of that. no photo needed as you're either in it or have seen photos of it online.

second, virtual piles. i finally just marked everything as read in my google reader after half a day of trying to catch up. i've cleaned up my email and only have a few outstanding things to respond to. my inbox is back to manageable levels. whew.

next, portfolio pile (with a fun gift from my secret santa on top! :). and uh, my phone got thrown in that pile somehow, too). yes, it's winter break, no i do not get a real break. we have a gateway portfolio due on 1/3 (need to submit in order to continue on in the program). we start classes 1/10. we have another portfolio and a first pass at our thesis statements due 1/14. oh, and sometime before then we have to submit our real first pass at our thesis statements due online w/preferences for thesis prep advisors. as if thesis is not stressful enough, they've decided to start the stress early over the break before thesis prep even officially begins. yay! oh, and the email informing us of the thesis-related deadlines was sent right in the middle of finals. they really love us.

next, a pile of i don't even know what. in this, i found paper samples from french paper co. for the portfolio; a requisition for blood work (routine, no worries) from my primary care physician from oh, over 6 months ago; a few bills; and my notebook from my still-unfinished internship from over the the summer.

yikes. a pile of books i brought back from studio. no, they won't all fit on our shelves, although i tried. in the bevmo bag is a pile (external hard drive) 1 terabyte big that is almost full and needs to be sorted. in the foreground is a pile of drawings that i spent all day scanning yesterday and threw in the recycling bin this morning. whee!

pile in disguise. the one to the left just needs homes for the stuff in it. the orange box is seriously totally full of things "to be filed." but the cute photo of the bear and me on top, plus the happy orange with labels i have yet to write on hide this pile quite well. ;)

tower of magazines pile. this rainy weather is perfect for curling up on the couch with my slanket, some tea, and these magazines. too bad the other piles have priority. what does tater read, or eventually read years later, you ask? fast company, the atlantic, vogue, elle, interview, wired, and i forget what else. thank you, expiring airline miles, for this eclectic pile.

despite my pile of whining above, things are ok. another semester is finished, which means i am one semester closer to graduating. we have the means so that i can choose to study something i love, even if the process/journey is pretty damn difficult. the bear is awesome. our families are doing ok. i'm happier and less crazed than i was this time last year. and it's the holiday season!

ok, back to piledriving. unfortunately, it's not quite as fun as zangief makes it out to be.