The lights are on...

...and no one's home! I'm leaving very very very VERY early (ie. I have to be on the road at 3:30a) tomorrow to drive to Santa Barbara, then fly from there to Illinois for a few days! Some of us seem to be pretty excited about it. I'm excited to actually be there and spend time with everyone, but I'm really trying to decide what to do about the whole leaving so early thing. I HAVE to go to FIGHT tonight, and stop in on rehearsal after that, and even if I had the entire evening completely off, I'd have to be asleep at 6:30p in order to get 8 hours in before driving. I don't know about you all, but 6:30p is almost the precise middle of my day - unless I took some major knockout meds and was already feeling VERY crappy (which I'm not) there is NO way I am getting anywhere near a decent amount of sleep tonight. So I may or may not actually be conscious when I finally arrive in the Midwest.

I do have the second Wendelin sock, my mp3 player, my digital camera, and I'm going to try to hit the bookstore tonight to get a new book to read without airport prices. If not, I have a few options at home that I either haven't gotten around to yet or really enjoy reading again.

I finished my beret this morning! I don't have pics yet (check back this evening, if I get everything else done), but it's okay. It didn't turn out quite how I wanted it - I was really afraid that I was going to run out of yarn, so I just did the bare minimum of rows on it. It makes for a wearable, but very shallow, beret. Of course, I ended up with PLENTY of yarn left over, so when I get home, I might actually frog back to before the decreases and add another inch or so to it. I'd like to be able to pull it over my ears a bit if I need to - it IS for Solvang in September, after all.

Let's see, what else before I go? Oh yeah!!! I have an official, set-in-stone, if-you-are-one-second-late-you're-screwed date for my black belt test! It will be Friday, July 25th. The physical fitness test will start at 5:00p, and the actual testing will begin at 6:00p, with the results announced at the belt ceremony the following Monday, July 28th. It kind of sucks that it's on a Friday instead of Saturday, as now I'm have to ask if I can get out of Hot Mikado rehearsal early, whereas that Saturday is one of the few all year that I actually get completely off, but if that's what needs to happen...25 days away!