Doing something useful

I was going to start this entry by mentioning smugly that I got up before 10 this morning, but that statement might make most of my readers hate me! I realize that I get to sleep in pathetically late most days of my life, and I do feel very lucky about that, indeed I do. Will it help if I say that the first thing I did this morning after rising was run up a large hill? I'm trying to re-insert the habit of a daily run, which was so easy in Wells where all my days were structured the same way. We'll see how it goes here...
Also trying to insert routine into a life that needs it. Get up, run, work on the computer, practice clarinet, that sort of thing. There's no need to be lazy just because there's no actual money coming in, now is there? I got the get-up-and-run part down today, but mostly I've been surfing the net and looking into educational possibilities for the fall. Since I've been lucky enough to inherit a little windfall from Grandma Jenkins, I've decided that I'm going to put some of it away and spend some of it on schooling. Here are some of the things I want to study: Spanish (VCC has cheap Spanish courses so that one's easy), ear training or Orff (also at VCC), and film scoring. Haven't found any good local courses in that yet, but Berklee College of music in the states has on online course that sounds terrific, so I may go that route. Now, all that sounds fabulous, but of course I'll have to work as well, so we'll see... I just feel so lucky that I have the freedom, and now the funds, to plan this sort of thing.
The cleanse progresses- day4 today- and the worst of the cravings may be over. I actually feel more energetic and less grouchy today; less inclined to wail at the sight of another.carrot.stick as opposed to the giant bag of Skittles I really want to consume. The fact that I'm losing some weight doesn't hurt either, although I know it's mostly water.

Random weird thing I did yesterday: went to the airport! It started as an innocent trip to Richmond to start using my SLR camera again- but it's bloody hard to walk around that part of Richmond- it's pretty much assumed you'll have a car. So anyway, a couple of bus rides later I'm at the Domestic Arrivals terminal, and 10 minutes later I'm strolling into International Departures like a seasoned traveler, not a girl with too much spare time on her hands. And I swear to you, if I'd had any money at all, I would've jumped on a plane right then and there. Because it's easier to take off to another part of the world than make things (work, love, etc) happen at home. Also, my appetite is truly whetted by Istanbul and Mexico- I want to travel, dammit!
Anyway, I stayed on the ground, and here' s my one decent picture from the wilds of Richmond:I love these squawky tricksters: one day I'd like to exhibit a whole series of crow pictures. These guys kept following me as I walked down the alley- I think they wanted to pose!

Oh, and lastly, I rented "27 Dresses" last night because I felt like watching something a bit more, um, feminine than most of the stuff J & I watch together... What has happened to the romantic comedy?! Katherine Heigl was alright, along with wotsisname, James Marsden, but the "writing"? The "plot"? The clever and snappy dialogue? Where was it? Ok, so for me it started when the same team who made the marvelous "4 Weddings & A Funeral" went on to make the abysmal "Love, Actually"- and it's gone downhill from there! And I hear pretty mixed things about the SATC movie, so that will be a wait-to-rent at best. Most of the crap that I see previews for isn't even worth checking out. Anyway, feel free to debate and discuss, all 2.7 readers o' mine. My favorite RC's: "Truly, Madly, Deeply" (despite its terrible title), and "Amelie" (because anything by Jean-Pierre Jeunet is worth watching and because hell, I'd do Audrey Tatou). What are your faves?