I've just liberated my hair from the corona braid job I use to package my hair when doing aikido. Loose and straight, it normally descends to the area where the bra strap crosses my back; the crinkle-effect from the braiding has it sitting at least two inches above that point.

Put some flowers behind one ear, give me a pair of John Lennon glasses and I'd look just like the 1960's hippy girl my parents warned me against. (All the while, my mother was occasionally bringing into her wardrobe bits and pieces inspired/appropriated from those selfsame hippy esthetics. Go figure.)

I could have gone to an extra weapons session in aikido today, but decided not only did my school work need me more, but so did a couple of friends, who have been dealing with a series of health issues. One of them mentioned that the current problems have kept them from getting the garden in order - mainly pruning things that needed cutting back before the spring growth spurt really got underway. I sorta-kinda volunteered Mr Sweetie, but also - despite my proven dislike of gardening - volunteered myself. We had better luck with the weather than we could have hoped for: bright, sunny (warm!) and with a bit of a breeze to keep things from getting too warm. But no wasps or other flying nasties that usually cut short my own enjoyment of outdoor activities. Too early, still mostly too cold for them, so far.

• I seem to have recovered mostly from the Inner Child temper tantrum that sprung up right at the start of the month. Good. I don't have time for that.
• Wednesday morning was so fired because not only was I too tired and blah to make any refreshments for myself in class, I arrived just in time - I thought - to get myself a cup of coffee from the machines, only to discover that the classroom had been changed. Grrr. The afternoon was better, luckily: Mr Sweetie had a meeting in Leuven later, meaning he'd skip dinner with me, so we had our "dinner" at lunch in a nice restaurant. (It turned out to be so nice that we both simply felt no need for dinner at the proper hour. I didn't even have a sandwich or a snack. That was some meal!)
• One of my classmates wanted to borrow a DVD; my own comfort level went more for watching it with herself and, as it turned out, a few friends in her bedsit. My Neighbors, the Yamadas makes very pleasant viewing with fellow students from the Japanese class! (And, note to local friends: very happy to rewatch if you ever want!)
• Thanks to the list-making (double columned, sorted by course/catagory), I'm mostly getting done what I want. I can see a few "orphans" among my items, but also have made some progress with figuring out other ways to do things - like the calligraphy practice. I realized that I wasn't getting in my daily practice, because it's not really worth it to fire up my writing table for fewer than 20 pages (ink, brushes, paper, all take time, to set up and clean up after). So, why not do 20 pages every 2 days? (Mind, a "page" can sometimes contain as few as 2 characters, or even just a single one - but it's trying to get them right, or at least in the neighborhood, so one really has to slow down... harrumph, this topic itself could easily be a whole 'nuther post! and I'd love to but just not right now, please - my muses - I beg you, have mercy on a slow body and a slower spirit!) Much more satisfying item to cross off - or in the case of this one, a box to tick through.
• The offer to help in our friends' garden gave a lot of focus to my other efforts: yesterday I worked much later than I might have to get through the reading - the concentration on the rhythms and shapes of the Japanese prose made for some rather strange dreaming later on. But tonight, for now, I am done.