LIST!

Well, I'm relaxing with a cup of dee-licious caramel truffle coffee (thanks, Bets! And, because I'm a bit of a communist with coffee, my suite thanks you, too.) I'm working up the energy to put the finishing touches on my Schroeder paper. I write a sentence or so about every five minutes and I already have five pages... I should be good, eh?

But the real deal is that I'm going to list how I feel about some things...

1) Pens. My pen philosophy is this: pens are essential, pencils are for wimps who secondguess themselves. In Anne of Windy Poplars, Anne Shirley says something about how she cannot write love letters with a scratchy pen. Now, I know quite a few classy ladies who'd say cantankerous pen be hanged, I'm writing Gilbert Blythe a love letter. I mean, am I right or am I right, classy ladies?

But I think that I pretty much agree with Anne, and quality pens are devoutly to be wished for.

Right now I am a huge, giant fan of the Sharpie pen. I got sucked in by the clever advertising--have you seen the spread with David Beckham and the teeny Sharpie writing?

So far, it's really been a fantastic felt-tip pen that doesn't bleed onto the chisel tip of my highlighters. I guess it could be a love letter pen, but I think it's probably more of a poetry pen, and it adds quite a bit of urbanity to my class notes. Call it good marketing (word up, Bethany) but I feel so cool when I write with a Sharpie pen. I haven't even lost one yet.

2) Best purchase of the past two days? 2$ Disney Princess scented markers from Big Lots, an eight-pack, I think. I might be high as a kite... but... they smell so good. I'm writing all of my German flash cards in Strawberry. P.S. My other philosophy is this: markers are essential, colored pencils/crayons are for weenies who don't believe in vibrancy.

3) Christmas trees. I don't like them. They are messy and a pain and they get lost every year somewhere in the theatre. I'm glad my ideal apartment is too small for them.

4) You know, every day I thank God for my family. I just wouldn't be as interesting without them (not to mention that they are all awesome people and the best family in the world. My dad just gets more cool with age and my mom doesn't age at all. And meine Geschwister are both fascinating and funnier than any sitcom on network television.)

My brother has recently been psychoanalyzing the heck out of Through the Looking Glass and wrote about ten posts on my facebook wall about it. I came home from the holiday party hoping he'd written on my wall, and lo and behold! I love that there are multiple critics in my family. I'm appreciating my family so much that I'm a little sick of it and I'm going to ruin the sentimental moment right now: Mom, I want a coffee maker for Christmas. Also, I will still be blonde.

Suckas. I'm SO back on normal terms with my family.