Finally the temperature here is starting to plummet... I thought my room was going to be a sweatbox all year, but now it's pleasantly crisp, and perfect for curling up in piles of blankets. Even though I don't like everything about winter, I think I will definitely miss it. Maybe that's why I'm transfering to Northern California instead of Southern California. Aside from the fact that the former is far too full of distractions to really promote my college career, it's also so crowded, and it never really gets cold. At least in NorCal I'll be but a short drive from winter, and I like that. It hasn't snowed yet, so I'm still waiting for that. This year, now that I have a digital camera, I fully intend to snap about a billion pictures of everything. I think it's really changed my photographic style, having a medium that doesn't require cash flow for development of pictures... I think it's made me more free to take pictures of things that may have seemed insignificant before...

So wanna know how much of a nerd I am? I'm sitting here, on Thanksgiving day, all of my friends are gone until Monday, and even my roommate has left until late tonight, and I'm listening to Christmas songs. I love Christmas songs. They make me think of home, and my family, and my little sister, and that glow that seems to fill everything at Christmas time. The irony here, of course, is that I'm not Christian, I'm Pagan. It doesn't even matter, really, though... The songs are still as pretty to me now as they were when I was a kid. Maybe more so. I suppose I feel about Christmas songs the way I feel about my family as a whole. Even though there's often conflict between us all, on some rediculous level, there's still something inherantly beautiful about them, and about being around them. Even though my family is really good at hurting one another, I still like to know that they're near, and it's still really hard to be 2500 miles away from them, in Pittsburgh, with no way to be home for Thanksgiving.

Mitch Ellykins talked to her mom about the whole transfering thing, and it looks like everything is go. I'm really excited that she wants to transfer with me. She's honestly one of my best friends, up in the top four. Pretty good considering she's got some pretty stiff competition from my friends at home. I think the fact that we're doing this together will make it much easier to transition from one school to another. Plus Humboldt's art department is roughly 10 times the size of Chathams, at least course offerings wise. McQ is starting to look into a bunch of different schools, which I think is good. I would love for her to come with us, but I can't help feeling like she might be doing it for the wrong reasons. I know she'll make friends wherever she goes, and if it's close enough, I will definitely go visit her whenever I can.

New on the Chatham-Exodus bandwagon could be.... ... My favorite professor?!?!? I told him I was transfering, and we got to talking about Humboldt, and he asked if I knew of any openings in the English dept. We ended up looking it up after class, and it turns out there are 2 openings. He even looked up the salary scale. I don't know how serious he is about it, though I would be absolutely beside myself with glee if he starting teaching at Humboldt. He's the most inspiring teacher I have ever had, and that's saying quite a lot. Not to mention the fact that Chatham is trying to force him into retirement, which I think is a big pile of bullshit. The man loves teaching, you can tell by the way he teaches. All professors should fight retirement as fiercely as he does... It really says something about his dedication to the profession. He's the reason I'm going to London again, even though I could be going to Italy (where I've never been before.) Hopefully Humboldt will have the sense to hire him.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I might post later today, I might not, but hopefully everyone else is enjoying this day with their families.