the week's highlights

it's been noted that i've dedicated myself to topics of the love and marriage nature in recent blogs, so i am responding with a commitment to avoid such issues for at least the next two entries (it's very difficult to write about anything without mentioning love. isn't love the very essence of life? *sigh* but i'll do my very best to satisfy my three-person audience).

so what's new ... the highlights of the week thus far have included:

• getting my IL driver's license. i had to take a written test since my last license was from WI. i nearly failed, but that wasn't my problem. they asked the most ridiculous questions! for example, you tell me how a round yellow circle clearly signals railroad tracks ahead. ridiculous. the lady passed me, drew a check on my test, but looked up, caught my eye and said, "you make sure you study the signs." i kept her stare and replied - unhesitating - "you show me a plain, round, yellow circle anywhere in the city of chicago, and then i'll study your signs." for crying out loud ...
• finding out i am actually, finally, knock-on-wood, getting my own office. it's small, that's for sure. but it's mine. during our stand-up staff conversation yesterday, i felt for a moment that i'd be relegated to the worst cubicle hole for a fourth year in a row. i'm situated in a spot in the office that - while it offers an ear to every single conversation in the office - also offers an ear to every single conversation in the office. that and my walls are the lowest in the office, so every now and then a co-worker will snap her fingers at me to get her a pen and paper if she's having a conversation with someone right at my desk. gotta love that kind of respect. so anyhow, i'll be ordering office furniture soon enough and am hoping to create a welcoming space, a creative and engaging environment, a workspace that says, "you belong here." exciting ...
• discovering that i have no pigment in my retina. or at least, i think it's my retina. regardless, some part of my eye doesn't have any pigment in it, which is the reason my optometrist never has to dilate my pupils. he says that they're already so big. that plus the fact that my eyes are so blue is the reason that i will forever get red eye in photos. he also said i should never ever leave the house without sunglasses or a brimmed hat. this is exciting news. i have always envied old women for their crazy, large, eclectic hat wearing skills. and now i have an excuse to join them in their stylish accessorizing.
• seeing the most beautiful rain clouds i have ever seen. on the way home this afternoon, these gorgeous, smoky gray, smooth, curvy, skin-like clouds swam into a sea of ash gray cumulus clouds. it was breathtaking. and dreamy.

actually, they're still out there. so i think i may sneak out on my porch and watch them dive through the sky a bit more. no use dreaming of it if the reality of it is beckoning you. i'm just saying ...