ch ch ch changes...

it's been a long time, friends. but...say it for me..."absence makes the heart grow fonder." right? cliche. i'll admit that, but then i've never been one to shy away from an aptly placed cliche (see title). i've got a whole list of excuses as to why i haven't updated in so long. i could promise i'll do better from now on. i could explain why things are different now. but does it really matter? "let's forget the fact that you're a little late showing up to the party and just embrace the fact that you showed up at all" (sam seaborn).

let's also embrace that other party i've joined...the party of the gainfully employed. i've been working at avendra for a little over a month now. most of that has been with horrific overtime. horrific in the sense that it was a lot of time in a place of business. it was fantastic in the amount of money i made. yes, friends. i've joined the fiends of business. i'm a hypocrite. you'll find that may be a theme with me. dang it.

hmmm...what else is new? i've joined the singles ward. an interesting little group of individuals. i work at the temple on friday evenings. i take an asl class at the community college. i am working on a graduate certificate program in epidemiology through the university of north carolina chapel hill. you'll be hearing more about this. diseases are very interesting. how they are spread can be equally interesting. did you know in 2002 an outbreak of west nile virus was eventually traced to donated organs?

chris is in spain now. my single, maryland-based, understands my feelings about marriage and family and wanting to do something with my life and our country etc., fantastic little brother is very far away. and he's going to go to morocco. i'm a little jealous. i guess i'm feeling a little stagnant, and i'm watching him be so much of what *i* want to be. but i'm proud of him. i'm proud of his goals, his progress, who he is. i'm glad that we were able to spend some time together after i got home and before he left. i'm glad that he watched the funniest simpsons episode ever with me. and that he shared his music. and that he, after much trial and tribulation, got windows on my mac so i could take my stupid epi class. he's a good brother. okay. now i'm over that.

i have to go do some homework now. wahoo. but "i'll be back" (see, what did i tell you?).