when it rains, it pours.

I finished the bit of homework I absolutely needed to do. I watched an episode of a television show that I admit, is a guilty pleasure. I actually shut down my computer, a rarity. I got ready for bed. I checked that my alarm clock was turned on and set to the correct time. I turned off my lights. I laid down. I was ready to rest.

I was ready to rest.

I was going to go to sleep.

I got out of bed. I turned the lights back on. I hoisted my computer up onto my lap and turned it on. I listened to the sound of it coming back to life as I drummed my fingers across the keyboard. And I started to write.

There are very few nights where I feel inspired to write something right that second. They primarily happen during the summer, when I'm feeling free and when the actual necessity of sleep doesn't crowd my daily or nightly habits because I know I will get to it at some point. My stress level at those times is usually quite low. My imagination is flowing because of books or music or stories I've been reading or listening to or sharing. I can't wait to write something down, and I have to do it at that exact moment or else I will lose it.

That is what I'm feeling right now.

Writing soul, it's been awhile.

Thanks for returning.

If you could stick around until I finish my play script, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Now back to sleep.

Today I'm running on

caffeine...
and big dreams
It's been a really inspiring morning.

photos google images and weheartit.com

wanna see my new social life?

Here they are! :) My bus core and the new source of multiple emails a day, texts, calls and excited jabber about getting this and that donated and applying for this or that grant and planning a community service project in this city or a housing location in that place.

Planning for this Pay it Forward tour is the most fun pain-in-the-side thing I have ever done. It is constantly on my mind, taking up more lines on my to-do lists than school or anything else combined. If I didn't believe in it as much as I do, it would probably be easy to stop now. Instead, I'm thinking of how amazing this experience is going to end up and I get a big smile on my face and a giddy feeling and actually call one of my core or another friend who loves me just to say "WE ARE GOING TO DO IT!"

I'm really excited tonight. My core has been rocking at getting things set up and donated so far this week (AND ITS ONLY TUESDAY!) I was a little apprehensive about getting everything done after we spent all of last weekend "Up North" in Gilbert, MN learning about planning and all of the little things you kind of forget about doing to make a tour actually happen. It's really going to come together, though, and I couldn't be happier! I know this tedious process of emailing corporations and cold-calling businesses and other people is all a part of the amazing end result, but remind me of that true fact if I start venting about it at some point in the next 44 days. (Because I'm sure I will want to at some point.) Please and thank you.

feeling: overwhelmed.

from here

It's been an overwhelming start to the semester. Stories and other random chatter coming again soon, when I have more than a few minutes to relay them. All I know is that if I can make it through all of the things I have going on in the next few months, I will be ready for anything.

Oh! And even though last semester was (to date) the hardest I'd had (this one is going to win that by a landslide) I made the Dean's List! My tech-savvy mom scanned the letter and emailed it to me letting me know yesterday. It was a nice bright spot to my day so I thought I'd share.

Please bear with me if there are a little fewer posts this semester, though! There is so much I want to share, but since the Pay it Forward tour I am leading is a mystery tour, there is also so so much I cannot share in order to keep the cities and activities a surprise!

Help The Manly Minnesota Milers!

Here we are, disapproving of AIDS. (photo and caption taken from manlyminnesotamilers.org.)

Today, I'm doing something I've never done before - promoting really cool people I ACTUALLY KNOW (okay, I only legitimately know one of them, but I'm sure they are all wonderful people) and offering a little something something if you DONATE TO THEM. I'm serious.

I am calling out to all of you to help these manly men do their part to help fight AIDS in America. They are embarking on a cycling adventure, called the AIDS/LifeCycle which is a 7-day bike ride from June 6-12, 2010, culminating in 545 miles for each of them to bike.

Here's a little excerpt from their website:
"Our goal in attempting this feat, despite our incredible out-of-shapedness, is to convince a bunch of people to help us raise a grand total of 12,000 bucks for AIDS charity. If our calculations are correct, which they are, then that's about 8 bucks per mile."

Wade, the miler on the right in the photo above, is my friend and the person I donated to. (You have to pick one person on their team, but all of the money goes to the same cause.)

As a bonus, if you donate and leave me a comment or email me at janaetime AT yahoo DOT com (janaetime@yahoo.com) with your name/address, I will be sending you a thank you AND a CD full of amazing music, including a few of Wade's favorite songs. For real. Donate to them, I send you a letter and CD. Easy and awesome. Make me proud, friends and family.

Thank you all so much!

please please can i go?

AH! I just finally sat down and looked at the Coachella lineup this year and it is INCREDIBLE. Do you want to know what I have been listening to this last year? Well, most of the bands in the poster. Granted, there are some I have never heard of, but I'm sure they are incredible.

If I could go, I wouldn't miss: Vampire Weekend, Grizzly Bear, Passion Pit, She & Him, Muse, Matt & Kim, Phoenix, MGMT, Hot Chip (which I just recently listened to thanks to my friend Beth), Yeasayer, Ceu, Dirty Projecters, The XX, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Tokyo Police Club, Corinne Bailey Rae, Pavement, Jonsi, Julian Casablancas, Yo La Tengo, Mew, I'm getting dangerously close to listing half of the bands present...I think you get the idea. It's a dream of mine to attend Coachella one day. Anyone want to go next year?! I'm much too busy in March to even dream of going this year...but if you are not and can fathom this amazing lineup, tickets go on sale 1/22. More info here. It will be amazing, no doubt in my mind.

Does anyone know of any banquet halls I can rent?

In Sioux Falls, SD? For around 50 people? Get at me if you have any suggestions. I'm on the prowl and seeking help.

Also, it's my last first day of school of my undergraduate career. Perhaps I'll snap a picture when I get home tonight with my backpack. I very gracefully ran out of my house without my coat zipped in order to catch the bus this morning, so obviously there was no time for that. At least I haven't slipped or anything. Yet.