Five-Sense Friday

And here we are again. These are heady days, full of ideas and hopes and anxieties and dreams. Amidst it all, I have been...

seeing: the shining, colorful lights bedecking our Christmas tree, put up on Christmas Eve and glowing through to Epiphany; hundreds of pages of dissertation notes representing thousands and thousands of pages of reading; my face in a salon mirror, suddenly framed by a modern bob, and inches of soft hair on the floor around me

hearing: J's Christmas playlist, finally on repeat after a month of the Advent playlist; the quiet of an apartment where I do my Work, alone; dear voices on the telephone

smelling: roasting vegetables; fake pine to help trick us into believing the tree is real; the sweet steam of chai rising to my face as I take a sip

tasting: pizza, and roasted butternut squash with feta, and endless cups of tea, and more ramen noodle lunches than I care to admit (I do add frozen vegetables -- some nutritional value there, right?), plus chocolate from stockings

feeling: the tension humming through my body that signifies possibility and transition, excitement and fear, as I prepare to visit a new city, to present at an intimidating conference, to meet with potential colleagues, to wear my suits and stockings with confidence, to speak my piece with all the honest joy and interest I possess