Sorry my blog is so dang boring, guys! Life's been pretty much in a rut lately. A good rut, but a rut nonetheless. I'm happy.

I love living in my new apartment. That one conference talk about making your home more like a temple--the one I slept through and have only heard of through blogs? My home is like my temple. I love being home more than anything in the world. It's great to be closer to work. My roommate is perfect for me--she doesn't try and make me talk when I just feel like hanging out in my room listening to music and reading a book, which happens more often than not. We hang out and watch "Gilmore Girls" at night. Things are working out great.

The new kitty is great--not cuddly, but I got a cat, what was I expecting? She does seem to have an abnormally small head for the size of her body....But only at certain angles. She can open her treat cupboard and begs for treats probably 10 times a day. She's fun.

I love being able to cook for myself. I'm trying to eat more organic, in-season, locally-grown foods. Living in Southern California is great as far as that goes. Farmers Markets and Trader Joes and Whole Foods, all really close to where I work and live and go to the temple? I'm okay with that.

Once I get my master's degree I'd love to move somewhere else--the East Coast? Boston? New York? I don't know. Somewhere different. But for now, San Diego is a great place to be. My rent is low enough that I can pay cash for school. I can't praise that highly enough. Since I'm paying off my undergrad loans at the same time, I'd love to be able to pay everything off by the time I graduate so my options are more open. I hate having debt. I know some people can live with it, but it makes me feel insecure. I would probably feel more secure if I had some savings saved up, but I know my job is secure for at least the next year, probably even for the next five years if I want to keep it that long. Savings will come next.

My new obsession? Epidemiology. I suppose that follows sort of directly from my obsession with gruesome car crash and disease stories. I can't get enough of disease. I started a book about the 1918 influenza pandemic the day before the news about the Swine Flu hit the news, and I can't put it down. Except to work on my final paper for the semester. It's not huge--a 20 pager (I can't believe I think a 20 pager is doable. If only I could go back to my college freshman self and say that the 8-pager I was agonizing over was nothing!)--but it's due on Sunday night and I want to get it done before then. And then back to the diseases! Any good recommendations for books about diptheria? Tetanus, maybe? I always accept book recommendations.

Church is...okay. I don't really have any good friends yet. There's one girl I've done a few things with, but she goes to work when I get home, so weekends are the only really available times to do things, and my weekends are already pretty jam-packed. I did just get a couple of callings: Relief Society and choir pianist, as well as Gospel Doctrine/Temple Prep teacher, and I'm excited to be a teacher again. I haven't taught since, what, my sophomore year of college? I like teaching in church and I don't get to do enough of it.

Music I can't stop listening to: "My Girls", Animal Collective; "Hysteric," Yeah Yeah Yeahs; "We Used to Be Friends", The Dandy Warhols; Bon Iver; The Decemberists "The Hazards of Love" album (I highly recommend this one).

I feel like I have so much stuff I enjoy doing on my own that I don't even have room in my life for a boyfriend now. Which is good, because I don't have an prospects on the horizon. There's this one guy at the temple who I've had a crush on for a year, but he's shy and I can't figure out how to approach him, so he isn't really a prospect as much as a hope that I can find someone I can talk to and am actually interested in. But I don't really care right now. Number of books on my Goodreads To-Read list: 330. Number of movies in my Netflix queue: 244. With the option to grow if I decide that I like the many TV series in there with only the first season requested. It's not like these are particularly highbrow things to do with my time. But I love them. Life is good!