playing hard to get with me all night

It's black history month and all, but I'm fresh out of living black authors who I've actually read. If I can make it over the river and through the woods to my parents' house this weekend, I'll look in my old book of books I've read. There have to be some black authors in there. The trouble is that I don't set out to read black authors. I just read authors. I just read good fiction, and some of those people are black. Some are Indian. Some are Japanese. You get the picture. Speaking of books, I need to check out out on my kindle from the library, juuuust in case the power decides to go out. Why are there so many trees? My car. My apt. There are so many trees that could land on them. What if I'm in the car or apt? I read an Anne Tyler novel where the main character's wife got killed in her own house because a tree fell through the roof and then the main character started hallucinating her.

Anyway, looks like it's going to be a code red tomorrow, but I have to work anyway b/c Friday is a due date. It's the first time in a long time that there's been a traditional due date and I think everyone's a bit rusty b/c they keep asking me all the questions. I mean all the questions. And I can never articulate them correctly. Why can't I talk? I can only write. Only write.

Mike Posner is stuck in my head. I don't think it's cool to like him anymore, if it ever was cool. I've never been that cool. I read Glamour articles about Taylor Swift.

can i have a reading room full of light and books, like this?

short track! short track!

I always forget how entertaining men's short track is.  People going down left and right. Everyone graceful and controlled. Pulling off spandex suits. Yes, I should be asleep by now.

Men's 1500m, final heat

Going to cut down to one scoop of sugar per cup of tea. I drink a lot of tea. I dreamed about ice cream, so I made the dream come true and bought it.

feel the Olympics addiction coming on

Been struggling to churn out a post a day on black writers for Black History Month. Mostly struggling because I don't make an effort to remember author names and I'm trying to stick with living writers. I think it would be so boring to rehash the same classic authors over and over. I mean, I love Chekhov, but the man's been dead for years; give me someone who's heard of the internet and used a cell phone. Yes, I know Chekhov is Russian and definitely not Black. He was just the first dead author I thought of, is all.

Still doing the Winter Shape Up 2014 program. I've almost made it through 2 weeks. Tomorrow I just need to do the workout video, take a shower, and then it's off to the Wizards game with AC. I also want to buy some Turkey Hill ice cream, which I just realized is $1.98 this week. I went to Shoppers today, but didn't even look down the ice cream aisle. I had eaten only a biscuit all day, so I was weak. I couldn't even find it in me to have a pleasant bland look on my face. It was that situation where you stand and your vision goes red and you feel like you're swaying. Why did I do that? I woke up and read a book for hours instead of sensibly eating something. In my delirium, I accidentally bought pork sausage. Ew. I wanted turkey! I didn't realize it until I'd eaten two. I was wondering why it tasted different. Ew. Ew. Ew.

Sochi opening ceremony

Olympics time differences are throwing me off. I guess watching the Winter Olympics was easier the last time around when they were in Vancouver. You could watch it live then. I read that Sochi is 9 hours ahead of EST, but for some reason I can't get my head straight concerning when I should actually watch. Does all the action happen while I'm asleep? So far I've managed to watch only reruns, but at least since I'm so anti-web surfing these days I'm not getting spoiled. I really just care about the figure skating (not ice dancing), the snowboarding, and the speed skating. I caught some athlete stories and also saw Apolo Anton Ohno, who isn't competing but announcing this time around. He got ridiculously famous thanks to the Olympics, and I used to have a crush on him back in 2002 in Salt Lake. I thought he was so much older and cooler than me - turns out he was 19. My mini-crush has stayed steady over the years, but will always be mini due to his facial hair, haha. I'm superficial like that. I also caught a rerun of Evgeni Plushenko skating in the team event mens short program, and it was cool to hear his name pronounced with a Russian accent. I'm totally saying it wrong. So wrong. He's 31 and I hate how they're calling him old.

Loving the Kdrama You From Another Star/My Love From Another Star. I've gotten into the ritual of watching the week's episodes Friday after work. I sqee'ed so hard after the end of episode 15 yesterday. I adore the female lead (she makes me laugh, she makes me cry, she makes me jealous that she can pull off so many avant garde fashion choices). I adore the male lead (he's a grumpy old man in a 26 year old's hot body, always grumbling about kids today). I adore the second male lead (baby!). The best scenes are the ones where the two leads are together. I love when the occasional super-addicting Kdrama comes along. I've been wanting to watch "I Need Romance 3," only because Sung Joon is sexy in every picture I see from that show, and I liked the female lead in Two Weeks, so it must be good. I've always thought Sung Joon was kind of tall and awkward, and the only thing that made him sexy was his voice. Even in "Can We Get Married?" I thought of him as kind of awkward and adorable more than someone who gets your heart thumping. I'm sure hoping those pictures aren't lies because I am prepared to adore his character.

Superbowl XLVII... and here I keep thinking it's 34 every year

Half-watching the Superbowl. Or I was. Not much of a game this year. I mostly turned it on b/c it reminds me of my father. He doesn't watch sports as much as he used to, but he always watches the Superbowl. This year he's stuck in San Fran.

Was 50 and cloudy and a gorgeous day to be outside today. I meant to run for 30 minutes, but I wound up walking/wandering around outside for an hour and 15. I covered 4.78miles. I needed it! Tomorrow it's back to cold and snow and slipping around.

Spent the weekend engrossed in Tartt's "Goldfinch" novel; still not done, but I'm moving along. The main character frustrates me sometimes though - it's hard to put myself in his place and think of his actions as reasonable. At the point in the novel I've reached, I'm tired of him b/c his first instinct is to lie. Lie. Lie. Lie. He's no good for the people in his life, a screwed up childhood only gives you so much leeway.

Tomorrow's plan is to make it through work as best I can. Looks like it'll be a boots kind of day again, as another snowstorm blows through the East coast. Meh.

velvet... purrrr

It's very rare that I taste coffee and think it's awesome, but I had Zeke's Coffee for the first time this morning, a light roast, and I was surprised into saying out loud "This is good!" Why was I drinking Zeke's coffee and reminiscing about the NPR news story I'd just listened to on the drive up? B/c I was being an ambassador for EG's book reading in April. It got me out of the apt, I met a friendly person, and the rich parts of B-more are so gorgeous I just gawk at all the cool houses. And then on the way back, I stopped by Arundel Mills and their Loft outlet. Got 5 awesome pieces from the clearance section that I can't wait to wear; even a black velvet pencil skirt, although I'm not sure how long the velvet trend will last. And it seems to only be a trend in men's suits,

Choi Jin-huk at the Blue Dragon film awards

Lee Seung-gi at the 2013 MBC awards

And Mackelmore(right) at the Grammy's

but hell, it was 99 cents! Okay, $4... Then I went to Naturalizer and finally found a pair of black shoes I can wear with dress pants for work. They're a black patent leather menswear affair, and they cost more than all the clothes, but I'm willing to pay more for good shoes. My feet must be pampered! All in all, basically I spent the Christmas Benjamin my mom gave me. I do want to head out to the Lancaster outlets in mid-February to check out Pendleton - their coat sale last year was To. Die. For.

In Winter Shape-Up world, today was yoga day (for flexibility). I appreciate when I'm forced to relax. Tonight will center around my hair.