Woman Problems, Weddings, Getting Dusty, and Finding the Meaning of Dust

I apologize for my absence, but vacation and just general chaos have gotten in the way of blogging. I'm finally relaxed after having to leave work early this afternoon, as I found myself in quite a bit of pain. Normally I don't leave work early for a little pain, but my reproductive system was on meltdown mode, as it decides to do every once in a while, and I found myself going to my boss, who told me to, by all means, go home.

After a very hot (yes in the middle of July) bath, and taking a fish oil pill (I took too much naproxen sodium already today), and having dinner brought to me in bed, I finally feel better. Thanks mom for the great dinner (and the not so great genes)!

Anyways, vacation was a blast. Both weddings went very well. I especially enjoyed both the food and the low-key ceremony of the Vegas wedding and the UGA flagline reunion of the Georgia wedding. If I wasn't at a wedding, I was hiking with Jon (and sometimes Jon's friends) in Utah and Colorado national parks and monuments. I kept up very well (and complained little once I realized that people do rarely see mountain lions) on strenuous hikes and I survived camping (with an air mattress). The state parks were well-kept and I longed for their shower facilities later in the week when I was all dusty with desert sand. I enjoy not being too girly, but also not being too hard core, but rather somewhere in the middle (obviously this is my own opinion on myself, and might not be other's). You won't catch me at the mall every weekend, but you also won't catch me peeing in a pit toilet infested by large crickets (I will squat in front of a large audience before that ever happens again... and I'm dead serious).

Anyways, now that people know about my feminine problems, and fear of large bugs, and falling into pits of sewage, let's move on...

I don't know what kind of hole I was living in to not know about the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman. I'm kind of glad that I'm reading it now though, instead of as a teenager because they're so literary (Paradise Lost anybody?) and complicated. It's difficult to tell who's good and who's bad in the books at times. I love the main character Lyra, because she reminds me of a mix between Hermione Granger, Vicky Austen, and Meg Murray. Plus the concept of dæmons is amazing. He's such a fantastic story teller. I totally recommend the series, especially if you're a bit more, um, open minded about religion (and realize that he's not attacking religion, but an oppressive earthly component of religion). If these books are approved and hailed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, then I'm going to read them. If Laura Mallory only knew about this one, she'd think Harry Potter was something to be taught in Bible class (although again, I think they're too long for her to actually read).