Of course, I could go to bed right now instead of writing this, but I'm trying to get back in the habit of writing every day. Christmas vacation made me lazy, and now I'm trying to get back into the swing of things. In other words, I force myself not to sleep in order to do crazy things like keep a web journal.

As I dragged myself out of bed at 8 this morning I was definitely regretting agreeing to go shopping for a suit with Jason. The early start and the prospect of a day of pawing through racks and racks of menswear rapidly became quite far from compelling. Sleeping more and drinking coffee (for which I had had no time before meeting Jason at 9) seemed like the far more enjoyable options.

I was stuck, though- I had agreed to it, and there he was in his little red car waiting for me. Well, I couldn't very well let colorblind Jason go shopping for his interview suit on his own, now could I have?

We were at the Mall of America (I know, I know, I wasn't going to go there anymore. God, that vow is getting hard to keep.) by 9:15, and the place was deserted. Well, not exactly... there were hordes of morning fitness walkers striding laps through the consumerist monolith. Strangely, though, the metal gates were pulled down in front of all the stores. A map kiosk soon informed us of our error- stores didn't open till 10 am. So much for the early start.

The 45 minute delay was a blessing in disguise- it gave me the chance to get some desperately needed coffee, which in turn kept Jason from having a cranky shopping partner. We also ended up having a really good discussion, which ranged from planning our dream houses to queer issues (Jason's gay) to catching up on each other's winter breaks.

Once the stores opened and Jason had made a few returns on Christmas presents, we started our suit-finding mission. We were quite the sad pair- he's colorblind, and I had never shopped for men's clothes in my life. We were in luck, though: We found a great suit that fits well and looks good on him in the very first store we tried. And for 50% off! He didn't want to buy without checking out some other places too, so we put the suit on hold and went off to experience the 'best customer service in the world' at Nordstrom. While the service was good, the prices were outrageous, and we set off to check out a few more stores. Nothing measured up to the first suit, though, so we went back to buy it.

There we were, all finished with the shopping mission by noon; I had figured it would take at least till 3 pm. The whole ordeal was much less torturous than I had anticipated, partly because of the brevity of it and partly due to the desertedness of the mall (who shops on Tuesday mornings?).

We went back to Jason's place, made lunch, and watched a movie that Jason had rented. _The Wedding Banquet_ was pretty good, if a little predictable. Towards the end I found myself calling out what would happen next with a surprisingly high degree of accuracy, but it was still an entertaining movie, if only for the value of the slight datedness of it- cell phones were huge back in the early nineties, and there are some funny haircuts to be found as well.

Hey Kiddo, Dad says to tell you to give notice at Breadworks that you will not be working after the end of semester break. It just so happened that we got our copy of your grades in yesterday's mail. He noticed that they weren't as good as you had hoped or expected, and when I mentioned to him that you were concerned that your second job was impacting your studies, he decided that it made sense for you to quit. We will come up with your spending money; we'll just have to decide how and when. If you can work a little extra between now and then so you can build up a bankroll, that would be good. I hope this news brightens your day. Love you, Mamuu

Well, the email makes it sound like my grades were terrible- they're not, just not exactly what I want or am capable of (and no, I'm not going to tell you curious folk the details). I'm so overjoyed! I've been contemplating quitting the bakery for quite some time now, and now my parents have decided to endorse (and fund!) my leaving the job.

I can't tell you how happy this makes me- I've been really stressing out about the combination of keeping my grades up and working enough to pay tuition. Officially, I am a full time student who also worked 25 hours a week last semester. I didn't actually work quite that much because my RA job is paid as a salary, not hourly, but when I combine that with my participation in QU and Amnesty, that's really a hefty amount of commitments.

Now, however, comes the task of actually quitting the job. You see, I've never given notice at a job before in my entire life. Until now, my jobs have been temporary, with an understood finishing date, or I simply had to leave, like when I left for college. With the bakery, I don't have any pressing reason, except my own desire. I'll still have to walk past the place almost every day. I can't help feeling like it's kind of a sticky situation, and I feel bad for putting my boss, who has always been great to me, on the spot to find a new employee.

I can do it, though, and will. I like to think about it this way- 20 years down the road, which would I regret more? Quitting a job, or dealing with the potential consequences, relating to grades and stress, of keeping it?

The latter, I think, could be far worse.

Listening to: Yo-Yo Ma's recording of Bach's Suites for Solo Cello