Despite it being in the thirties outside, I am keeping the slider open for the fresh air. It�s grey and appears to have turned from rain to snow. I would far rather it be cold than hot, but it�s almost April, people! I think I could live with choosing a home in a place where the temperature never goes above seventy-five.

It may be the weather, the fact that I slept too much last night, or that I�m PMSy, but I feel kind of creaky and inflexible. Emotionally, I�m peachy, but physically, I just feel sort of brittle. I managed to split my bottom lip open last night while applying the requisite lip balm. It was the kind of split where you can just feel it pop and it hurts like crazy immediately afterward. Luke kissed it to make it better and I went to sleep after finishing balm slathering.

I think I have decided that I won�t be getting my period yet again. I�ve put it off since November and I like not bleeding. It�s not hurting me, as women go years without menstruating when on Depo-Provera with no problems and there are studies that say that menstruating less means less cancer and various other reproductive issues. I don�t smoke and I don�t have any cancerous tendencies or habits, so I�m merely eliminating an unnecessary inconvenience. When I went to the emergency room about a year ago for an upper respiratory infection, the nurse gave me a hard time about skipping periods. I wanted to smack her, as her information was clearly outdated. Why it�s important to them when I menstruate, I have no idea. It�s important for PP to know, as I look to them for my reproductive health, but there�s absolutely no need to know when my last period was if my throat hurts and I�m coughing to the point of straining abdominal muscles.

Instead of watching television in bed last night, we read. Luke kept on with Stupid White Men and I continued to plow through The Devil in the White City, an account of the first known serial killer in the United States and how it coincided with the Chicago World�s Fair in the eighteen-nineties. It�s very literate and is making even me run for the dictionary on occasion. I love that. It�s been a long time since I had to go out of my way to figure out what a word means. I�ve got a Post-it� note from my little Levenger readers kit as a bookmark with the words inculcate and postprandial scrawled on it.

post�pran�di�al

adj.

Following a meal, especially dinner: took a postprandial walk through the woods.

in�cul�cate

tr.v. in�cul�cat�ed, in�cul�cat�ing, in�cul�cates

1. To impress (something) upon the mind of another by frequent instruction or repetition; instill: inculcating sound principles.

2. To teach (others) by frequent instruction or repetition; indoctrinate: inculcate the young with a sense of duty.

I am on the whole enjoying the book, but I wish that the author would be a tad more linear. He alternates chapters on the development of the World�s Fair and the serial killer, so I can liken it to reading two books at once. It is all too easy to forget where you left off. I was told upon receipt that it was boring, the previous reader stating, �less Fair, more serial killer, please� but I don�t mind learning about both in equal amounts.

We plan on going to the Wisconsin Film Festival on Sunday. M gave us a pair of vouchers for any film we care to see, but since Sunday is the only day we�re available, we�ve decided to try first for the Oscar nominated Spellbound (as I am a former National Spelling Bee contestant), and if that one is full to capacity by the time it starts, Spun with Jason Schwartzman of Rushmore fame in a tale about crystal methamphetamine addicts.

Bah, I forgot that tonight is the Tori Amos concert, which I am too poor to attend. It would have been ninety-two dollars for two tickets, and though I probably could have conned Andy into taking me, I never thought to bring it up when he was here and tickets were still available. I saw her once at a huge venue when she was on tour with Alanis Morissette (we left prior to Alanis since Tori was opening) and, though it was one of the best performances I�ve seen, I�d still adore seeing her in a smaller, more intimate setting like the Madison Civic Center or the Providence Performing Arts Center, where I saw Live and Stomp, among other things. Instead, I will sit home and watch television, maybe doing some more reading since I�m only a scant one hundred pages in and have to pass it on to G when I�m done.