I was in my pajamas at 11:00 Saturday night, sitting on the couch. I couldn't wait to go to bed, because I went to my parents yesterday and picked up my way-early birthday present, which was a down comforter with a lovely blue duvet cover.

It's awesome. I've never had a down comforter before. I've slept under other people's down comforters and been in heaven. I really love heavy bedcovers, like you're completely nestled in. It's wonderful.

So I was going to go out last night, but the people I was going with bailed, so I got ready for bed and was waiting to see who was hosting SNL before I turned in. But at 11:15, I got a call from one of my friends here, who was crying so hard she could barely speak, over a boy, of course. So I threw on a sweatshirt over my PJs, pulled on some sneakers, and went over to her apartment, where I stayed until 2:30 a.m., comforting and analyzing and planning.

Then, of course, I was wide awake, so I watched television until 4:00. I actually got awake at 8:30 and entertained the idea of going to church, right up until I fell back to sleep and didn't wake up again until noon.

I had some interesting dreams, though. One of which involved a shirt I need to return to Land's End, which in my dream my mother accidently sent to my cousin as a wedding gift, and I was all embarrassed about the size of the shirt. (I actually need to return it because it's too big.) But in the dream I was all freaked out because I didn't want my cousin to think that I bought her a damn shirt for her wedding.

Anyway. I got up and did some work, then watched a little football, then got dressed and went to the grocery store, where I bought all kinds of stuff to keep me on this latest-thing-on-Oprah diet.

I lost three pounds on it this week. That's kind of cool. The diet is like Atkins, only you can have carbs in balance with protein and veggies at one meal per day. So for breakfast I have bacon and eggs, lunch was mostly hot dogs and celery with cheese, and then dinner has been basically anything I want, as long as it's in balance.

It claims to reduce your cravings, and I found that to be pretty true. Last week, Marissa came into class with the tail end of an ice cream cone from McDonald's, and I couldn't have cared less, when normally that would have made me crazy with drool. I'm not hungry at all between meals, and any temptations I have I just put off until dinner.

There's going to be a follow-up show on Oprah in a couple of weeks, where she's having back everyone from the audience who tested as a carb addict. They were supposed to do the program for a month and see how it worked for them.

So I'll be periodically letting you know how it's working for me.

So far, so good.

I have an instant liking for people who can use words like "fanny" and "loosy-goosy" and get away with it. You just know that anyone for whom those words are colloquial must be good people.

That's another one. Maybe it's just a local thing, but you can pay someone a real compliment in these parts by saying he or she is "good people." You know, like, "I met Sam's friend Jane the other day." "Jane? I know Jane. She's good people."

People who talk like that are people that I like almost immediately. I can't really explain it. I've just found it to be true.

Kind of a cute thing happened in Real Estate Transactions on Friday. The professor was babbling on about something when a cell phone rang in the back of the classroom somewhere. It got turned off before anyone could tell exactly who it was, and some of us in the back sort of whispered and giggled or whatever. The professor apparently hadn't heard it since he had been speaking, but he saw a minor commotion in the back and looked up at us with a puzzled expression.

"Is there something going on that I'm missing? Why is everyone laughing back there?"

No one answered for a couple of seconds, so he said again, "So, there's nothing going on?"

Finally, two or three of us mutter, "Someone's cell phone was ringing."

Not missing a beat, the professor said: "Was it for me?"

I just bought the November issue of Martha Stewart Living today. I love fall, harvest, pumpkin kinds of things. Brown and brick and yellow and orange things. Leaves on the ground, cold breezes, bright full moons with dark clouds passing in front of them. It was that kind of day today.

I wish I had the ability to make that more poetic for all of you. Sometimes I read other people's journal entries and get insanely jealous. People who can put their emotions about really ephemeral things into eloquent words that, if you are in the right moment, can make you understand exactly how they're feeling.

I wish I had that ability. So much of what I say here I think sounds silly, when it doesn't feel silly to me, and I don't think it would feel silly to you, if only I knew how to express it better.

And I'm afraid law school is draining any last hope of that right out of me.

Not only that, but today I sat down to tweeze my eyebrows and when I peered into the mirror, I saw this big, fat, white-as-the-driven-snow eyebrow lash sticking right out at me.

Law school is making my eyebrows turn grey. God help me.