I want to be back in Florence...

I feel like I have accomplished more so far today than I did during the entire weekend -- and it's only 10:30. I knew I stayed home for a reason. I figured school would be a waste, what with so many people taking the IB math test, and I didn't want to be at school if I didn't have to. So, for once in my life, I followed through with something spontaneous that has led to my personal happiness!

I'm realizing I never updated about my weekend, because I was so busy. Not much to say about Sunday, but Saturday was awesome fun. In the morning, I went shopping with Katie for supplies for our birthday party, and we ended up at Goodwill where I found this awesome dress -- for $10! It's really simple black satin spaghetti strap dress that's form-fitting around the bust and stomach but past the hips, the skirt flares out really wide. So to recap: pretty much in perfect condition, gorgeous, simple but in an elegant way, and only $10. My day was made.

Then we decided to go to lunch at Chipotle because we had coupons. So I'm sitting and eating a wonderful burrito and I get a call from Rick. Turns out his grandmother wasn't feeling well and wouldn't be able to use her tickets to see the matinee showing of The Light in the Piazza at Orange County Performing Arts. So Rick and I went instead. Have I mentioned that these are good tickets? Orchestra, D17&18. To die for. The musical itself was really good -- not like anything I've ever seen before. Not fantastic or to die for, but still worth watching.  Best part was the fact that a large portion of the singing and speaking was in Italian, and I understood most of it! 

Um...yeah. That's about it. Now I'm trying to study, but I figured I'd reward myself for having worked so hard this far. I'll probably get back to chemistry before lunch...I'm making flashcards for the Paper 3 topics, so that on Thursday night when I don't want to review them, I'll have something to force me to.

The trouble is...

The problem with me and writing is that I'm a perfectionist.  Perfect example of this:  I made 3 typos in the first sentence of this post, and instead of just leaving them for the spellcheck to catch, I had to go back right after I made each one and fix it.  It means I don't forget, but it also means that I lose my train of thought, so that the stream of consciousness approach to life is immediately lost.  I have to be typing quite quickly in order to maintain a constant speed and be able to not look back at the typos, but it's difficult.

This is why this is a problem:  I've got less than a week to write that short story for Julie, but I keep not wanting to start it because I don't know quite how it starts.  I know all about the characters, I know exactly what happens to the greatest extent that I can without having written the damn thing, but I can't bring myself to write it.  It's almost like I don't want to write it, which is a complete lie, because I love the concept of this story and I know it won't leave me alone if I never write it.  But it's more than that...there's something that keeps me away from it.  A lot of somethings, in all honesty.  School, procrastination, friends, family...all of it takes me away from my writing.  And I haven't been freewriting as much because when I'm freewriting, I feel like I'm procrastinating and I should be doing something else.

And then I waste time complaining online or to myself or to my family that this is so hard and I don't know when I'll find the time to do it when actually all I need to do is shut up, sit down, and WRITE, dammit!

Also:

Fitzwilliam's CD/DVD drive keeps popping open unexpectedly.  For instance, I was just typing on Word and without my touching the eject button, it opened.  It's done this before -- in fact, it's how I named him -- but never quite as frequently.  I've had this happen at least four times already today, and it's starting to make me wonder if maybe I abuse him too much by bringing him to school every day in my backpack.  He really needs his own case.  Anyone know of a good place where I could get him one that's small and easily portable?