. . . I was born. I was good at two things as a baby: laughing and sleeping. I am still good at those two things. As far as I can tell, life just keeps getting better.

I am so excited to hear that Rachel Maddow is getting her own show on MSNBC, starting in September! She'll be on after Keith Olbermann instead of that shouty lawyer guy who's on now. This is great news for anyone who likes real news coverage: Maddow is a policy wonk, not a pundit. And she's not full of herself like Olbermann. Nor does she shout like Chris Matthews. Nor does she stumble over the teleprompter while making sexy faces like some of the daytime newsbimbo hosts. I'm hoping she'll be the savior of Cable TV news. Read more about her offbeat path to cable news host in this awesome article from The Nation.

Friend: John Adams on HBO. I am dying now that my free HBO preview is over. LOVE IT.

Enemy: 3/4 length sleeves. Seriously — What is the point? I want a short sleeve or a long sleeve. I don't want an in-between sleeve. Right now all I want is a normal cardigan sweater in navy blue or brown that I can throw in my bag in preparation for the upcoming alternating hot and crazy over air-conditioned season. Why can't I find one? Why do they all have to be cropped or shrugged or bedazzled or 3/4 length? Gah.

I graduated! Freaking finally!!!!!!!! Now, just six months till I start hacking at those enormous loans. . .

. . . and it is amazing.

In the meantime, my new job is challenging and exciting although currently quite stressful; I had a lovely birthday and am loving my first month of being 26; our new place is amazing but still pretty much in disarray; I am getting used to the braces but I would really like them to be gone already; and an old friend moved to town and reminded me of my roots, who I used to be and who I am now.

About year ago, I was waiting in a movie theater lobby with my friend Pat. A Queen song was playing, and Pat said, "Sometimes I think about the world, and I get sad that Freddie Mercury isn't in it." I have been thinking about that a lot lately. Freddie Mercury was the first, and I think only, star that I really felt connected to on a deep level. Sure, as a kid, I was into Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston and Paula Abdul (all of whom turned out to be so remarkably stable!) and I wanted to meet them so they could take me shopping or whatever. But as I grew older, my musical tastes shifted. I started listening to Queen right before Freddie Mercury died. The tabloid covers announcing his death are emblazoned in my memory — I felt cheated out of ever even having the ability to fantasize about being his friend. Even as a fantasy-prone kid, I knew there was no use in pretending to be friends with dead people.

So, why did I feel such a strong connection to Freddie Mercury? Because when I was about ten years old, I realized that I would never be a Paula or a Whitney or a Mariah. I connected with freaks and misfits and queers. And Freddie Mercury was, arguably, all those things, with bad teeth to boot, and yet he could charm and excite tens of thousands of people at a time. He was my hero. Lindsay ("You're the best friend that I've ever had. . ." ) and I used to listen to Queen together all the time in middle school when we both began to realize and appreciate that we were unusual. But there was one poppy, happy song that I was never really into as a kid that I have been listening to nonstop lately. And that is "Don't Stop Me Now." Every time I listen to it, I get a teeny bit sad that Freddie Mercury is not in the world anymore. But I get excited that I am.

So I am plugging along (or rather, unplugging along) quite well through Low Impact Week. I have not watched any more TV and everything else is going smoothly as well. I have made some transgressions, mostly forgetting reusable bags and yesterday I left a light on for hours — something I never do.

Also, yesterday I came across this amazing site which I found through Lighter Footstep, which I found through No Impact Man. This site is incredible! Not only do the recipes look mouthwatering, but grocery lists are included. How awesome! Thank you, Veggie Meal Plans!

Yesterday I did nothing out of the ordinary in terms of low impact-ness: just walked, worked, took the stairs, ate leftovers for lunch and joined my friends for our weekly Monday night dinner. I am getting used to the quietness of the unplugged TV and to eating dinner at the dinner table instead of hunched over the coffee table, watching Seinfeld reruns for the nineteen millionth time. I told Albert he could plug the TV back in to watch The Daily Show if he wanted, but we were doing other things at eleven so we didn't bother. I didn't feel like anything was missing, so I guess I'm not a TV addict after all. See, I thought so: I can quit anytime I want!

Once again, I woke up late. I had two slices of toasted local bread and a huge cup of non-local, but fairly traded coffee. I read the newspaper much more slowly than usual, probably because I didn't have the television on in the background. I walked to a nearby restaurant to meet a friend for lunch (and I forgot my dorky pedometer - damn!). I was trying to avoid restaurants this week, but my friend is moving to the West Coast on Tuesday and we wanted to celebrate. When I returned, Albert and I borrowed a Prius from Philly Car Share to run some errands. Since we were out, we stopped at Trader Joe's for to stock up on some goods. Although the stuff we got was not quite low impact, we thought it would be better than taking the car out again at a later date. One of the items we bought was Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap. We have gone from conventional liquid soap to J.A.S.O.N. liquid in a large plastic bottle to Whole Foods bar soap wrapped in plastic and now we have reached fairly traded organic soap wrapped in recycled paper. Will we ever make our own soap? I kind of doubt it, but who knows.

When we returned, we made a truly fantastic meal: Caesar salad made with locally grown romaine lettuce, cheesy garlic bread made with Claudio's local mozzarella and Sarcone's local bread, and pasta in a sauce made from local tomatoes and mushrooms (and onions and peppers of unknown origin).

I decided to plug the TV back in to watch the Democratic presidential debates and I didn't feel guilty about it because it seems like a good way to watch TV. I read about the debates in the morning paper and decided it would be worth my while. (It wasn't — no one said anything interesting.) When the debates were over, I unplugged the TV again. I am going to try to keep up this TV routine all summer. Not because I think there is anything wrong with TV, but because I am uncomfortable living in a quiet space, and I'd like to give that a try.

Yesterday I slept late-ish. Albert had to work in the morning and stopped by the farmer's market. He returned with bread from a different local bread person, and a bag of awesome sugar cookies. He then made us egg sandwiches with the new bread and the local eggs. We normally buy cage-free eggs for $2, and these eggs cost $3.25. People swear there is a huge taste difference between fresh, local eggs and eggs raised a million miles away, but I really can't tell. I can, however, tell a huge difference with fresh bread versus store-bought bread (which just so happen to cost about the same amount).

I took the train to my friends' baby's birthday party and on the way back, stopped at Sue's Produce. I got local mozzarella and local mushrooms. I also grabbed a few peppers which were not specifically marked as imported, but I am guessing were not local since I have not seen any peppers at any local farmers' markets. (No, I don't know what's in season when. I don't know how anyone who doesn't garden keeps it all straight since our grocery stores provide the illusion that everything is fresh and available, all the time.)

We ended up walking to our friend's house (about 5,000 steps — pedometers are dorky but addictive!) where we consumed a delicious and mostly local meal: veggie burgers on Metropolitan Bakery bread; farmers' market tomatoes in a delicious tomato salad with home-grown basil; local goat cheese from Sue's produce; and farmers' market strawberries and rhubarb in a strawberry-rhubarb crumble. We took the El back home, did some more reading and fell asleep.