*The Usual Disclaimer* You know the drill. I just took the dictation, so don't blame me.

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Like the fact that I will always, ALWAYS be accident-prone. Yesterday I fell down the stairs at Ikea, and today I woke up with giant purple bruises all down my left side. Ouch. My dad says there should be a law against me going up or down stairs, as stairs have been a problem ever since I was three years old and tumbled head over heels down the stairs at my grandma's house. At least when I was smaller I bounced back faster. And was just bouncier in general.

In other news, our apartment is almost completely functional! We still have some boxes hanging around here and there, but the couches are unburied, and we can sit in them! It's the little accomplishments like that that keep us going.

My mom came for a visit and helped us with some things around the apartment last weekend. It was nice to have her around. I wish we didn't live quite so far away from the homeland...

I'm considering applying to Yale School of Drama for next fall. It seems like nothing more than a crazy notion at this point, which is actually fine. I'll worry about the implications if I actually get accepted.

I have GOT to get involved in some theatre. I'm going slightly crazy without a creative outlet. I know I keep saying this and nothing ever happens, but that doesn't make it any less true. My latest ridiculous idea is to just start my own theatre company, expressly for the purpose of writing and developing new works. Granted, it's not all that ridiculous, because this is something I've been wanting to do ever since directing the Eastern New Play Workshop production of The Jingle Man. It's the idea of starting it now that's slightly ridiculous, especially since I'm entertaining the notion of going to Yale in the fall... But I'm getting way ahead of myself.

In more practical news, I have an interview on Wednesday for a seasonal associate position at Macy's. It's admittedly not the way I would prefer to spend my holiday season, but it would mean some very much needed extra cash. Actually, not even extra cash. More like missing cash. We'll see how that goes. Of course, if they hire me it will mean that all three Nicklas sisters have combined forces with Macy's... I wonder if some sort of second rate superhero will be born out of it. Our powers combined create... Mistress Macy's! The Macy's Maven! The Mystical Mace! Hmm... Maybe not...

Well, we're in the apartment. It's a total wreck, but it's ours, and that's what really matters. I actually think it's going to be pretty great once it's in order. It's just taking a long time, because with me working and Kristoffer in school now, we only have a couple of hours at the end of the day to work on things at home. But it's slowly starting to come together.

We're heading north this weekend for a family function on Kristoffer's side, so we're using it as an excuse to visit the Nichols' and the Waltons in Maine. It should be fun! Not so much the driving part, but hey.

Speaking of driving, I've been driving the stick shift to work on my own for about a week and a half now. I wouldn't exactly say that I've successfully learned to drive stick. But it's getting better. Ever so slowly. I still don't really like it, and I'm pretty sure that I would take back an automatic in a heartbeat. But I'm not dreading the commute quite as much as I used to. So I guess that's a start.

So, for various reasons, we've acquired a lot of stuff. Part of it has to do with combining two "households". Part of it has to do with Kristoffer having a tendency to rescue furniture and other assorted items from the side of the road. Part of it has to do with the fact that for whatever reason, when people move away, they give us their stuff. As a result, we have, well, a lot of stuff. Now that we're finally getting settled into our own place, we're actually starting to go through it and realize how much of it there actually is. And how many repeat items we have. For instance, somehow we have three blenders. And we didn't even get the one on our registry! Granted, a lot of the stuff is sort of undesirable, which is why we're going through it.

Fortunately, our friend Christine is moving to England permanently (see, I told you they all leave) and is thus having a bunch of yard sales over the next few weeks. So we're helping her out and also bringing our own stuff to sell. This past weekend we made $1.50! Woohoo! Haha. We didn't really have a whole lot this past weekend. I think that by the next one we'll have compiled a fairly decent amount of stuff to bring. So hopefully we'll make a little money. Lord knows we need it.

Speaking of which, I'm looking for either a second job or some other source of additional income. My latest idea is to become a mystery shopper. So far, baby-sitting, retail, and theatre jobs haven't worked out. So I'm thinking, mystery shopping might be the way to go. My dad did it for a while and enjoyed it. And you get free stuff! In addition to being paid. So I need to get on this. There's just so much to do at home! I come home and I just can't think about anything except endlessly attacking boxes and bags and laundry and whatnot. Then I go to bed and I suddenly remember, "Oh crap, I was supposed to do (blank) tonight." Oh well.

Speaking of theatre, Kristoffer and I did help out with box office for the Fringe production of Cross-Cultural Theatre Initiative's Everyman last Saturday. It was fun and good to be involved in something, however briefly. And it was a good production. Very Fringey. Also, we got to see Rachel and Elliott and Jessi, all of whom we hadn't seen since being back in the States. It was great to see them. Hopefully once we get out from under the madness of our apartment, we'll actually have a social life again. We did get invited to the cast party that night, so I guess that's a start. =)

God, I miss theatre! I have got to do something about it. I just don't know what yet.