Saturday

This morning I woke up at 9, without an alarm. Just in time, too; I had been lying awake for only two or three minutes when my intercom phone buzzed. Strange. I looked out the window to see the postman. (My window is right next to the door, which defeats the purpose of having a bell. People usually just knock on thewindow.) I buzzed the door open, more to let him know that I was coming then to let him in, and pulled on a robe, more for the possibility of running into a housemate in the hall than for the postman.

Hooray! A package! I put it in the middle of my floor to admire it for a while, and thought to leave it that way. I got back in bed and read a chapter or so of Wuthering Heights. No... too tempting. I opened the package before the shower.

Shirts, socks, belts, posters, Valentines! I put the Valentines things on a shelf, ran to the shower, got dressed.

Ahh, Saturday.

For breakfast, I sat at my table, with a pot of earl grey tea (drunk out of my "Smart women, thirst for knowledge" mug), and a plate with bread, peanut butter, and hagelslag, on a place mat. I felt so very civilized. I listened to Stravinsky's Rite of Spring while I ate, and sent Simon an email afterwards.

What a good day for me! Very productive, although so far I haven't done a lick of schoolwork. First, I watched several episodes of "Psych" and "The Office" and listened to pick-uppy pop music while I hung my new posters. (This really took a long time, it involved a lot of thought and consideration.)

When I had hung all the posters, I sat on the bed and finished Wuthering Heights. About time! (I started reading it in October, for my Great Literary Works class.) And what a sense of accomplishment.

By that time (it was getting on six o'clock) I was getting hungry, as I had skipped lunch, so I made myself a nice hash with the last of my potatoes, an onion, some mushrooms, and a bit of ground beef. It was missing the ketchup and the egg, but I threw in some paprika and lots of pepper, and that was pretty nice.

I ate dinner on my bed (naughty naughty, I know!) while I watched "Les Poupees Russes". This is a movie that I have had since October and never yet watched. It was one of those movies that makes you feel all smug and satisfied afterwards. It was also inspiring. Several nice story ideas now...

Then I washed the dishes, and Dilyana just stopped by - the only human contact I have had today, except for borrowing Laura's scissors through her window, two shy and awkwards hellos with Maurits in the kitchen, and an "Enjoy your dinner" from Lucian on his way out as I was chopping mushrooms.

I even sent out the email invitations for my Valentine's party.

Ah yes, very satisfactory indeed. And now I will devote some time to... my journal, or Sense and Sensibility, or Dutch, and perhaps later I will go out with some girls from Roggeveen. Or maybe I will just sit and feel cultured. Probably a better idea; even my horoscope in Dilyana's Bulgarian magazine (which Iliana translated) said that I should be careful about spending my money on drinks, and it is too true!