these happy golden years

three_weeks_for_dw was an absolutely fabulous festival of posting and sharing, but I completely failed to be a part of it. It's three weeks till my sister's wedding and four weeks until the end of semester, which makes me feel just a little bit snowed under -- even though, yes, I'm in Queensland and if it ever actually did snow, we'd likely think it was the apocalypse. I feel disappointed to have missed out on all the joy, but the goal was to give Dreamwidth a boost of enthusiasm and interaction; it certainly did that, so for now I guess I'll just pop in when I can and appreciate the new communities and journals 3W4DW put me in touch with.

Since my life revolves mostly entirely around wedding and school at the moment, a list of randomness, in no particular order:

[001] Last night I stumbled across these adorable shoes, in an incredibly happy bright orange, for $9.99. Not only are they super comfy, but they make me smile just looking at them.

[002] One of my friends linked to this post which discusses the Jewish origins of the Vulcan Salute. Agree or not, it's worth a read, and it definitely makes the old live-long-and-prosper seem even cooler.

[003] The fictional love letters meme is happening joyfully over at LiveJournal. I got a love poem from Keats! ♥

[004] My mum and littlest brother are back in town preparatory to my sister's wedding, and tonight we are going out for Thai. Yay! Last time I had fish with tamarind sauce -- something along these lines, though not a whole fish, thank goodness -- and it was so delicious that I feel inclined to be boring and order exactly the same thing again.

[005] This week's mail brought Salinger's Franny and Zooey and Niffenegger's The Time Traveller's Wife. Both are required reading for school and I just love that I have to make time for reading them. It means I have to force myself to take time out from work, sit on the couch, and jump into another world. It's a good thing.

I've been trying to get back here to post for some days.

My little 30 in 30 meme has fallen by the wayside (but will be resumed). However, each evening, when I even think about approaching a journal entry, I realise I am rather worn out of words. This semester of uni I have my heaviest reading load ever. Quite apart from textbooks (of which there are many, and large ones), I'm also required to read about seven novels. At the moment, I'm juggling Geraldine Brooks' March, Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights, and Flannery O'Connor's A Good Man is Hard to Find. I am relishing them all, only I wish I had a little more time for the relishing. I wish I could read them slowly and give each work the respect and appreciation and sincere, thoughtful mulling it deserves. Because I have a sinking feeling that, with so many wondrous books in the world, I will not go back and give these ones a second going-over -- and they really should have a second going-over. There are many good things about tertiary education, but one of the worst is how much must be crammed into each semester.

Completely unrelatedly, here is a West Wing season 3 picspam which will have you launching an instant rewatch.