just a regular work day. relax. don’t think about the million work things you need to get done before you leave the office today. don’t think about the presentation slides you still have to prepare, or the emails you have to reply to. don’t think about the 5 hour flight you are taking tomorrow, or the fact that you haven’t packed for 9 days in texas yet. don’t think about packing your apartment and moving out and moving on when you return from your trip, or the fact that Everything Is About To Change. just relax, and take One Thing At A Time. tackle each task as it arrives, and then move on to the next one. be patient and focused. in this way, it will all get done, one by one, and before you know it, everything will work out.

I will accept the things I cannot change, and use my courage and determination to change the things I can.

stress stress stress tears more stress more tears. and a smile every now and then.

…you pick up just the right book to read, at just the right time in your life.

i’m pretty good at winning stuff. i’ve won movie tickets, raffles, centerpieces at work parties (hey, i didn’t say i was good at winning *quality stuff— i said *stuff,) concert tickets (hot 97.7’s Hot Day in the South Bay 1993 holla!) and all sorts of other random crap. latest case in point: @jillsmo’s snark giveaway. thanks to being number 14 (my birthday, BTW— no random coincidence there) on her excel spreadsheet, i am the winner of this book. yay!

being a total bookworm, i am (obvs) very excited. i didn’t just enter the giveaway because i like getting free stuff (although i really, REALLY like getting free stuff) but because i am curious about autism anyway, and it looks like an interesting read. it’s such a mysterious and fascinating condition… i’ve known a few people with autistic children, although they were more like acquaintances, so i couldn’t really ask them the good questions. i am still undecided as to whether or not i plan to have kids, but seeing as how i turn 33 tomorrow and there are no children on the immediate horizon, autistic children could be a realistic thing to consider, should i decide to squeeze one of those things out someday. i remember reading some statistic awhile back about the rate of potentially having an autistic child drastically increasing with the mother’s age (if anyone knows the actual stats, please feel free to comment,) and honestly, that scares the shit out of me. (nevermind the whole being-responsible-in-every-possible-way-for-another-human-life-at-least-for-the-next-18-years-but-more-like-for-a-lifetime business. yikes.) anyhoo. i love biographies, i love to read, i love to win, and now i really love @jillsmo. and since it IS my bday tomorrow, i can consider this an early birthday gift :)