Today has been good. Got lots done at work, the cd with the conference documents arrived and is on its way to be distributed, so I feel like I'm *finally* done with this project! I felt so relieved! A co-worker told me that I looked a lot thinner, as well, which was a nice surprise. I've felt good this week so far.

Went to Polish, had a good class, then went to a new spa and wellness store and found some lavender bath stuff. I plan to do some cleaning at the end of the week and reward myself with a long, relaxing bath. The woman rubbed some really yummy balsam into the back of my hand- it smelled lovely, like grapefruit and something else. I love stores like that!

After that, I picked up Indian food for dinner, then headed home to the furballs. Fed and played with them, set the timer for some games, then settled down to dinner and a video, something fun and silly with Michelle Pfeiffer in it. Now I'm watching the tail end of USC/Oregon St. and some college football recaps. Everyone's chilling out on a chair or couch, and the weather is clear.

I've enjoyed today.

It's been one *long* month. Two intense weeks of conference, followed by a visit from parents and about two more weeks of conference follow-up work. Add in some stress about other things in life, and I'm soooooooo ready for October to end! Haven't been online much this month because I've done nothing but type for work, so the last thing I wanted to do when I got home was do more of that. My tendons are dead, I think. So I've been trying to take things easy, not overdo it.

Hope everyone has been well.

Things are going better now. I've got a pretty sweet setup for the next two weeks. A couple friends went on vacation and asked me to cat-sit. So not only do I get kitty therapy from three wonderful felines, but I get a nice place to just relax for a while and all the free ESPN I can watch. Let me tell ya, after 8 months without, it's been *heavenly* to be able to watch hockey and baseball and NFL and college football! I think that's one of the things I miss most about being here- not having my sports. So I'm making the most of my "mini vacation" and enjoying everything to the fullest.

Polish is getting better- managed to have an entire conversation with my landlord on Saturday morning and actually understood what he said. He told me my Polish was very good, "super". And today, the cleaning lady and I chatted a bit and she said that I speak beautiful Polish. I still think there's lots of room for improvement, but the classes must be doing something!

Somehow, Japanese is coming to me a lot more easily, too. I find myself watching anime or listening to J-rock and understanding a lot more without picking apart the lyrics or latching onto one or two words I know. Maybe Polish and Japanese are complementary languages for better learning? It'll be interesting to see how it goes next March!

I'm excited for December to arrive- a friend of mine is going to get me a ticket to watch HC Sparta play Pardubice, so I'll get to see Hašek play! Sadly, I never managed to see him in a live NHL game, so this will be a nice experience. And I'll get to spend some more time exploring Prague. I'm considering this my birthday gift to myself.

I guess that's about it for now....