Autumn Relief

I am currently sitting on the second floor of the Ace Hotel, contently sipping my Stumptown coffee, textbooks and notebooks sprawled across one of their black tables, lit dimply by a single lamp. Fleet Foxes is playing over the sound system, and there's a steady hum of baristas steaming and making coffees downstairs. This is one of the things I look forward to most about Autumn and being in college. 

The last four weeks of my life have been filled with busyness just over the limit of being considered healthy. It's good to be busy and have things to do, but for the last month, I've gotten an average of five hours of sleep a night (for the regular me, eight hours of sleep is a minimum for functioning correctly in every-day life), have always had the next thing on my to-do lis in my mind, and have developed what seems like permanent dark circles under my eyes (good thing I have Bare Minerals!). I asked my mom a few nights ago if I looked tired, and she retorted lovingly with, "Um. Duh." Yeah, I'm worn out.

Last night, I wrote rules for myself. Other than Friday nights, I'm only allowing myself one day of the week out, and my personal curfew for going to bed is now 10:30. I also pulled out of a big commitment I've involved myself in for the last two months. Simply by doing that, a huge weight was lifted off of my shoulders. Also, my dear friend Avena is here from Seattle for a few days, which, in a weird way, has really relaxed me. Last night we had appetizers at Greek Cuisina, then went to Portland City Grill for sushi and virgin strawberry daiquiris. We walked the rainy city streets, took pictures, and got home late, but it felt good to be with someone who gets me on many different levels than lots of people. And now I'm rambling.

The moral of this blog is this: I've been worn out, I'm determining myself to not be so, I'm at the Ace, and am already feeling quite relieved.

Boom.