31 December 2010

Nearly packed

I've been at work, but not hard at work - I've actually been relaxing most of the time. But nevertheless, I am pretty much done packing. I'm on target for package weight, and things are looking pretty good. It's hard to believe that in just a few days I will be leaving for Botswana. I think the weirdest part is the realization that I'll be gone for such a large chunk of time. It will be about a month and a half longer than the time I spent in Bodie, and I highly doubt that anyone is going to come and visit me this time around. :) But other than a bought of nervous disbelief, I'm rather excited to be leaving soon and I really can't wait. The weather here has been helpful: it warmed up and even got all rainy today. Perhaps it's not as warm as it will be when I get there, but it's rather warm for winter, I'd say.

26 December 2010

Happy Christmas!

I just updated my travel blog, Learning (in) Tswana, and I couldn't help but write a bit for this one too. Can't help it, because I have to be so monotopical and formal for that one. Well, as formal as I can be, anyway. :) I have seven days from now before I'll be flying off to Botswana. My prayers include a swift journey with no delays, and I am hoping dearly that I will not get stuck in London with snow... Things are coming together pretty well for the trip. At church we asked some recent travelers to Africa what they did for malaria pills and they said they had extras that they would gladly give me. And they're the good kind, with few side-effects, and that you only have to take one day before and one week after. Perfect for any weekend trips I may take out of the safe-zone of the city. They've enough that I could take two such trips, and a purchase of a pack of my own will gain me a few more.

I got a Lonely Planet Botswana-Namibia guidebook for Christmas: very excited about that, it's got a whole big section on Gaborone, where I'll be, and what to do there; and I was excited to see a map of the city and realize that the UB campus really is just a couple kilometers away from the downtown. I purchased myself a Christmas present from Barnes and Noble, The Joyful Christian - a collection of 127 C.S. Lewis readings, one for each day I am in Botswana. I wanted an encouraging book and I asked God to make it obvious which I should pick up for myself, I figure having the exact number of readings to ponder each day of my journey was pretty significant. After all, 127 is a rather strange number to pick for an anthology.

Perhaps the most joyous part of my time home so far has been seeing family and friends - particularly my nephew Garrett, who is most enjoyable, and whom I am betting will choose "hello" as his first word, because he's almost got it already. But I have also enjoyed seeing friends, like my dear Erin Cooke, and cousins that I haven't seen in quite some time - or which I just saw at Thanksgiving. Either way it happys me very much. :)

Now, I've got just one more week before I go. My packing list has been approved by my parents, and I will officially start packing tomorrow, along with the laundry that has been piling up next to my bed. Of course, I also have to finish unpacking from school (it's mostly done, it just needs to be properly stored), and it wouldn't hurt to go through my clothes drawers and weed out anything that I can get rid of, considering that my t-shirt drawer is barely staying shut at the moment. I am so excited to be going, and at the same time I can't believe that this is really about to happen. If I think about it too hard, my heart starts to race! It's all so thrilling! Anyway, I'd best be getting to bed - I've a big week ahead of me, and I don't want to be too sleepy to get everything taken care of that needs be!

22 December 2010

Fantastic news!

This morning as I was lying in bed we got a phone call. When I came downstairs for breakfast my mom greeted me with fantastic news: my dad got called back to work! He'll start back on the 3rd of January, which means he'll have to hurry back home to bed after dropping me off at the O'Hare airport on the 2nd, but I don't think I'll mind too much. It's not like I don't know what to do with myself in Chicago... The only catch is that health insurance won't start again until I'm en route to Botswana, so it won't be much help in getting malaria pills for any out-of-city travel that I do while I'm there. But I figure that's a small price to pay in the long-run. What a blessing that my dad can go back to work, and what a blessing that he got to spend this summer visiting my sister, his sister, myself in Bodie, getting work done around the house, around Grandma's house, and at church, being able to donate so much of his time and skills for others, and being able to spend all this Christmas with his new grandson Garrett - all without taking any time off or using any vacation time.

God is good. All the time.

17 December 2010

Finished and Through

I'm waiting for my episode of Dharma and Greg to load, so I figured I'd type a bit. The last 24 hours have had such mixed emotions: the success of my final run as Frostine the snow-woman; my panicked attempt at studying for the Cell Bio exam; saying goodbye to Marlee for a really long time; making homemade whipped cream and drinking hot cocoa with Bekah while watching Jesus Christ Superstar on youtube; taking my Bio exam and getting it done with; lunch with Professor Ayot at Tre Kronor; and now packing up all my things to move out tomorrow, with goodbyes to random friends at intermediate moments throughout. It's weird because usually when people leave at this time of year, they'll see each other in a month. I won't see anyone for at least six, and possibly nine. Crazy.

15 December 2010

Almost there!

I am so close to being done! Yesterday I wrote my Pre-Study Abroad Seminar paper, last night I finished my 1960s term paper. All I have to do today is write my essay for the Mexican History exam and prepare my answers for the 1960s exam, both of which will take place in actuality tomorrow. After those it'll be just one more, cumulative, Cell Biology exam and I'll be done! Mind you, that's the biology exam that my professor informed me I could get 19 questions wrong out of the 100 that will be on there and still have an A. Woohoo!! The end is in sight!!! I can't wait for this week to be over. There's so much non-school things I have to do and want to do before I go to Botswana. This finals week is really just an obstacle right now. I want to do be busy doing other things... like Christmas shopping and packing!

By the way, for those who are interested: I'll be posting on a travel blog (I'll still post here more regularly, don't worry) while I'm in Botswana. You can find that here.

10 December 2010

The Wall

I think I've hit it. After a semester of hard work and determination, I think I've finally come to that point where I just don't want to do my work anymore. Funny, I'm just a week away from completing everything, and now it hits. Sure, it was setting in over the last couple weeks; creeping up slowly until I found myself sitting on a couch, surrounded by books, and doing... absolutely nothing of consequence.

But I suppose it was bound to happen eventually, and, as every year, I'll get through it. I'm so excited to be done this year. I feel like this year, especially, I have accomplished so much academically, and to see the fruits of my labor will just be this grand, phenomenal thing.

I've got a lot to do before the end of the semester, and yet I don't think it's all that bad. My senior thesis needs to be all ironed out and turned in on Monday; I have to write an essay for that darn pre-study abroad class for Wednesday; my 1960s term paper needs to be completed for Thursday, along with an essay for Mexican History; and that's about it, aside from exams. This semester is going to finish so fast. And in three weeks from Sunday I'll be flying out from O'Hare...

Time is going so fast.

07 December 2010

Then one morning you just wake up...

... and realize that it's finally here. After all the fall, all the death and decay, there's something beautiful and new. And you know that when this clarity clears away, some brand new bit of life will come springing up from the ashes of what was.

It's finally winter, and I realized that I hadn't posted in awhile, so I thought I ought to. It has gotten cold, but I did not even realize it. I was walking around in 13 degree weather with just a down vest and a sweater to keep my arms warm, finding it curious that my face was somewhat bitten by the air.... I was under the impression that it was still in the 50's - or at most the 40's - and I still feel that way, despite my temperature gauge informing me that it's currently 20 outside. I suppose I don't really care how cold it is - at this point I'm just happy to be out there every chance that I can get.

This Sunday I cooked some traditional Dutch food and told the story of Sinterklaas to my roommates, who left their shoes by the front heater for him and found them full of candy the next morning. :) On Monday night I presented my senior thesis. Granted it's still 4 pages too long, I at least have it completed, which is nice. I also picked up the motherlode of books that came in for me at the library and commenced the writing of my term paper for 1960s and American Culture. I figure if I write two pages a day this week, I'll be able to edit it and print it out on Saturday and be done with it, just like that. That way I'm not too overwhelmed. Things are finally coming to a close this semester in my classes, and I am so looking forward to finals week and being able to relax and not have work to do.

Next semester, next summer, and next year loom large in my mind. I am excited for Botswana - I started a packing list during presentations in my capstone class! I've started to drift into daydreams about flying there and what I'll do and what I'll see, who the people will be like that I meet, praying that God will give me a good roommate and friends who enjoy the sorts of recreational activities that I enjoy so that I'll have someone to go on adventures with, praying that I'll pick up the language right away. Lots of little occurrences happen to me now - little realizations - like when I realized that it might not be easy for me to find a church service in English, depending on how common the language is down there, and I might really have to stretch myself in that regard.
I am excited for next summer and the hopes that I have for it. I sent out my application to Bodie last week, and I'm hoping that there will be a spot open for me there, that the car-sharing idea Cecile and I came up with will work out, that I'll be able to explore new wilderness - but also to save money for my last year of college. And I hope that a second summer working there will be just as good as the first, even with all the changes that will have taken place by the time I settle in once more.
I am excited for next year, recognizing that it is my last year of college. I can't help but think about all the possibilities there will be. Questions bounce around my mind, however. Big questions. Questions of where I'll live: if I'd rather get an apartment of my own than live with several other people, rather finish in December or stick out the extra semester so that I can soak up extra opportunities. Is it worth the cost? I think it is, but I suppose I cannot be completely certain. Could I get an internship my last semester? something big? the Native American Cultural Museum? The Field Museum?
Forgive me for getting excited, but I can't help but think beyond that either. What will I do when I graduate? Go back to Bodie for another summer, possibly. But then what? Get another SCA internship? Go to NMU for an environmental sciences degree? Start applying for positions? Do I try and find a state park in Michigan, or explore state park systems elsewhere? Or do I aim for the National Park Service straightaway? What about the parks in Canada? And when am I going to go on that National Parks road trip I've been planning? How does that fit in with all of this? Of course, those are the kinds of thoughts that I need to let hang out to dry for now. I can take them in later and see what they washed out like. Because really I don't need to start thinking about all that until a year from now, when I'll be sitting in my home, enjoying the rest and recuperation of finals week and the lead into it once more.

29 November 2010

Out of the woods.

Currently listening to Dashboard Confessional, Swiss Army Romance

It's a blustery, rainy, cold night in Chicago. I'm back in the city, this time for the last time - well, sort of, in the non-permanent sense. Anyway, it's the big haul. The last few weeks before the end of the semester. I have a senior thesis and a term paper to finish (okay, I haven't started the term paper, but I still have to finish it either way), a presentation to give and a lab report to turn in. And heaven knows it's all going to be done before I know it.

I can't help but be a bit reflective. It's been a rough-and-tumble semester. I waited so long for a beautiful fall, but was greeted so often by warm days; when I wanted snow, I got bitter, biting cold and now a driving rain. All things beautiful in their own right, but my raincoat doesn't keep me warm in the cold, and my winter coat doesn't keep me dry in the rain. I have found that my flannel only goes so far, and, having worn it so much, it is sadly wearing thin. Do I get a new one? do I wear this one 'til it dies? 'til it is so threadbare and sad that I simply can't bear to put it on anymore? And of course, the all-consuming question: how could any other one be the same?

There is a distinct gap wherein faith and fear fight for first. But I don't think one can completely dilute the one without having some consistency of the other.

I've learned a lot about myself this semester. I've learned what I am capable of, both good and bad. I've learned the things I should and shouldn't do - with my time, in my relationships, in academics. I've been offered opportunities and I've turned opportunities down. I've been bitter and I've been blessed. I would say that fall semesters in general are rough times for me, but I can remember rather enjoying my first fall semester, and that gives me hope that perhaps next year will be different. After all, it'll be my senior year, and I'll be taking pretty much whatever classes I want. But I have to wonder: coming back from a semester in Africa, and most probably another summer in the Sierras, what would make me come back to the city? I'm not sure it can ever be as good for me as it was - or that it ever was at all. I will see this through, but I will be so glad when it's over and I can go back to my rural areas and woods.

23 November 2010

Thanksgiving

Tonight I'm staying up an extra hour to get things taken care of before tomorrow. Tomorrow will be a big day: laundry and homework in the morning, finishing packing, then off to the library for a last long haul of writing before the weekend. Once I've worn myself out there, it'll be back to the apartment to type up all that I've written tonight and tomorrow and send it to myself, then off to Ohlson or some similar locale to print it off before I meet up with Kathleen and crew to head south, east, and north to Michigan. Yep, it's going to be a big, busy day.

My goal was to have my term paper done by Monday, but the sheer amount of work made me realize that I should aim a little later. So the next goal was to have it done by Thanksgiving break. As it turns out, a surprise ear infection rearing its ugly head on Monday morning would take away a day's worth of writing, and other related events would have similar effects on how much time I was able to spend in the library today. So, in all likelihood, I won't finish this paper tomorrow. Kind of sad, but at least I'll be able to edit all of the beginning and rework it and everything this weekend, which will bring me that much closer to the final product.

So, all this being said, I believe it is time for me to head to bed. Tomorrow is waiting, but I have to fall asleep first. And with everything that needs to be done, it'd be best if I could get a head start.

:)

21 November 2010

6 weeks.

Six weeks from today I will be in Chicago, boarding a plane that will take me to London. I'll wander around Heathrow and wherever else until 5 o'clock and then fly half a day down to Johannesburg. I'll switch planes and fly an hour to Botswana, to Gaborone. Where hopefully someone will meet me...


Six weeks from now, hopefully I will have found that mysteriously disappeared skillet....

18 November 2010

Eventide E-lliteration

The clot of exhaust from a warming car engine has a sick smell to it when coupled with the bite of a crisp, cool November night. It is a night with skies that may as well be clear but for the splotches of gray that crisscross the scattering of stars, visible on this unique night that can only be contained under the ambiguous heading of "early winter in Chicago". Winter is not here yet, as is plain by the lack of snow and the sun that breaks through every-so-often from somewhere beyond the clouds. Yet it is clearly November. That is, the season of crispness: when one looks out or walks out or is out and, looking up at those solid white walls of clouds, seemingly without variation or shift, a single word comes to mind. Bleak. Not that I don't like bleak. In fact, there is something enticingly beautiful about how the red brick and the leafless trees' silhouettes stand so strongly against that white background, stoic symbols of life in a world that could be confused for dying. It is a beauty that they don't have in evergreen places, and I wonder if they would appreciate it.

All this is to say that the night is average, and so is the day, but I am seeking out the beauty in it just the same. I spent four hours in the library today. Certainly not the most time I have ever spent, but perhaps the most so far this semester? at least in one sitting. It was going to be three, but a meeting was shortened and it became four. Just the same, I only wrote three pages in that time, so I suppose it didn't really matter. Anyway, it was really just a precursur for tomorrow - a warm-up, if you will. My intention is to spend the whole day in the library tomorrow: from about noon until they kick me out at ten in the evening, if I can last that long. I have to admit that my library stamina does not appear to be what it used to be. Still, I am quite certain that sheer determination and will shall win the day. I have every intention of finishing the first draft of my senior thesis by Monday, when presentations begin. And while I am rather certain that it is not actually going to happen, I have resolved myself to pushing as hard as I can to get as close to completion as possible. My secondary goal, of course, is to be finished by Thanksgiving break. That way I can go home and nestle myself in a cozy place with a big mug of cocoa and go over the whole thing with my editor-red pen that, by then, I will have acquired in one way or another. That way, perhaps, I will be able to call my work "done" by the end of that weekend, more or less, and, with the exception of a few later revisions, I will not have to worry about it for the last couple weeks of the semester.

I can set those two weeks aside for writing my 1960's term paper from start to finish. I'm sure that would be appreciated.


P.S. I should say that I much appreciated the insightful comments on my poll. They are being mulled over, I can assure you. :)

15 November 2010

Poll: Cast your vote!

So I'm taking a quick survey here...

Having been without Facebook for a couple months now, I've been thinking recently about whether or not I should start anew with Facebook, or just stay Facebook-free. If I did get another Facebook account, it would be a blocked/invisible/private/what-have-you account, and I would just add my family members, and maybe a couple close friends, and I would have it for the sole purpose of the ease of sharing pictures and video and the like. On the other hand, I could just stay away from Facebook altogether and go through various other media to get pictures and video to my family, whether that be youtube, picasa, or the like.

So here's your chance: I'd like to know what you think about this. Give me a well-rounded answer, cast your vote, and perhaps influence my decision. :)

14 November 2010

A good day

Today was good. Apart from waking up feeling really achy and having to spend an hour waiting for ibuprofen to kick in, things went along pretty well. I finished my box of Cocoa Wheats for breakfast with a glass of pomegranate-black currant juice on the side. Eventually I got around to dressing myself... in cold-weather biking clothes. :)

I rode to Borders and spent half an hour trying to find a copy of Backpacker Magazine and waiting for the feeling to come back into my fingertips. (I actually couldn't find it, and so spent most of the time trying to pick one of the half dozen cycling magazines instead, and just when I had finally made up my mind: I went around the corner and found a whole stack of Backpacker Mags!) That being done, I got back on the bike and pedaled up and around (having completely lost my sense of direction in the bookstore) and managed to successfully come across the new Aldi on California. It was SO nice! I got to park Charlie inside this cart mud-room of sorts. I picked up a lot of groceries, then pedaled back to the apartment, nice and slow, weighed down, but no longer cold, just taking in the scenery.

I joined Melissa and friends for a brief run to Target, where I picked up what I couldn't find at Aldi, and ice cream as well. After an afternoon nap, I holed up in the basement of the library, surrounded by my books for roughly four hours. When I emerged I had written four more pages and had crossed off another two boxes in my outline/plot-line diagram, and was officially done with the designated Part 1 of 3 in my senior thesis. Hooray!

Feeling rather accomplished, and being on that side of campus already, I decided to go to collegelife, where I was very weirded out by Steve Kelly's discussion of sex in marriage - awkward! Eventually the message was good, but there were so many times that I did not want to be in that room. Back at home again, I scooped up some ice cream in a bowl, went into my room, wrapped myself in a blanket, and watched an episode of Dharma and Greg. Now I'm off to bed. In the morning I have to type up an abstract real quick and the give-and-go of the week will start once more. But for now, I'm going to snuggle up in bed with an extra blanket or two and enjoy some well-earned shuteye.

12 November 2010

Uncertainty.

When I played the piano it was strange. A feeling that I had been harboring for a long time became true to life: the music in my head has stretched itself beyond my own abilities. For quite some time now I have been feeling this, but it was not until last night that it became absolutely, blatantly apparent. After I had exhausted my attempts I found myself lying down on the Hump, my waterproof bag and raincoat beneath me, staring up at the eerie orange clouds and the depthless night sky that lay beyond them. It was no longer raining, but everything was wet, and so was I.

I've wracked my brain for the last several days, trying put a finger on it. I'm not quite sure what, of course. But there's just something not right. I've begun to wonder at my being here - if it's really where I'm supposed to be or not. Strange, I know, as I have always been the one to have the life philosophy that wherever you are is where you're supposed to be. I've been touting that one along with me for some three years and I'm wondering if I was wrong. But it doesn't make sense if it's not right, and so I hold onto it anyways. After all, I learn something new in every situation, no matter how bad, that I get myself into. And every new scar makes the skin stronger. Every new impact serves only to harden the bones.

Tonight I'm sitting the security desk at Carlson Tower. It's a long night, but I'll get paid for it. In the meantime, I watching/listening to "The Secret Garden" on youtube. It's a good movie for how I've felt lately.

Something I stumbled upon

Check this out. I watched these guys' first video blog entry on youtube this morning - it was a side link and, curious, I clicked it. I'm amazed. And curious. I think I might try to keep up with these fellows and see what they're up to and how.

09 November 2010

Still Fighting It

Currently listening to: Still Fighting It, Ben Folds.

This song always makes me nostalgic for something, but I'm never quite sure what. Perhaps it's that memory of my first car, that rusty old 1987 Chevrolet Celebrity station wagon I so affectionately called Simba. That memory where I was driving down Airline Hwy, both front windows hand-rolled down, the cool breeze and warm, decomposing autumn air working their way through and around, my midback-length hair billowing in the current, my left hand following the imaginary curves of a surf in the wind, the blind stereo turned up, and this song calling out the windows as I drove past trees alive with color and roads so familiar to me on my way towards home.

Perhaps that's it.

08 November 2010

Oh, puke.

This weekend I got the stomach flu. I spent all early-morning Sunday in the bathroom. I spent the rest of Sunday on the couch. I tried to go to class today, but I failed and ended up coming home and crashing on the couch again. I'm starting to feel better, but I'm not bouncing back as quickly as I feel like I did when I was a kid. I suppose that's what happens when you get older. I'm currently trying to finish a bowl of cold Ramen noodles that Marlee made for me at about 4 o'clock. Four hours later, and I'm almost done.

Hopefully tomorrow I can eat some real food.

05 November 2010

Fall has flown.

It's one of those cozy nights in the Fort. Marlee, Bekah, Sara, and I are all busy in the Great Hall, each doing their own work, exchanging random tidbits of conversation. Heaters are on and off intermittently - it really just depends on what room you're in; of course, the Outpost has the window open and the heater off, and it's quite comfortable, for Bekah and myself, at least.

Today is that infamous 5th of November, and I'm considering going to the various lounges around campus to see if anyone is watching the movie. Or perhaps I'll just stay inside and enjoy an evening with the roomies. I think I might be leaning towards the latter. It's quite nippy out there to try and find a V for Vendetta showing. But I do love that movie.

I received the admission letter from University of Botswana (which I will start referring to as UB from now on, for the most part), and I just got done emailing them my flight arrival so that I can hopefully be met at the airport and whatnot. I'm getting really excited for next semester - it's becoming more and more real with each passing week, it seems!

Of course, for now I need to focus on making it through this semester. Primarily, right now, my senior thesis, which is coming along quite nicely but, at 5 1/2 pages, is still shy of being even 1/3 of the way done. But the work is coming along, as I said, and I really am enjoying the writing. I just wish that I had the time to spend all my time working on writing it, when in reality I'm running around going to classes, running errands, and doing homework for other courses. No matter. I'm sure it'll get done, as they always do, and I'm sure it will be good, as they always are. And this time next year I will be delighted to look back and know that I don't have to worry about writing my senior thesis anymore. But for now... I suppose I'd better get to work and do something productive tonight.

:)

02 November 2010

Off to the Races



The votes are coming in for state elections, and I have to admit that I'm a bit surprised. Not only did Michigan vote in a Republican governor, but it would appear that (from the not-yet-complete-and-up-to-date results online) republicans took most ofthe other positions too, including state representatives and state senate positions. Granted this could change once they get everything tallied up, but I suppose Michiganders have finally gotten sick of the poor choices democrats have made for our state. Hopefully the change will be good. I'm a bit skeptical about this Rick Snyder dude - after all, he's a businessman, not a politician - but perhaps he's what we need to get the jobs back. He at least talks like he knows the roots of the problems and how to fix them. I just hope he's right, for all our sakes.

Well, that's it on that little note. Now a bit of show off: I carved a pretty great pumpkin for Halloween, and I just wanted to share.

I think it's a face I tend to make, so perhaps that's why I find it so funny. But I love carving pumpkins - I think it's probably one of the few holiday things that I enjoy as far as decorations go. Probably because you get something from it (yummy seeds!) and you can get rid of it when you're done instead of having to store it in a box somewhere 11 months out of the year. And what's more, they're different and new every year!

Of course, I'm sure it doesn't have anything to do with any sort of bias I might have because they're called Jack-o-lanterns... :)

30 October 2010

Inside on a beautiful day.

Today, I declared, would be a research day. And it was. But unfortunately, unlike the previous few days beforehand, today has turned out to be absolutely gorgeous weather-wise. And I spent all that time in the basement of the library, surrounded by a vigorous lot of books, scribbling on college-ruled notebook pages as I listened to Band of Horses and Cat Power on my ipod mini until the battery died. Lines from Bright Eyes pop to mind, "I'm hunched over a type writer / I guess you'd call that painting in a cave." In case you were wondering, yes, I am writing my senior thesis in a physical, tangible notebook, using real pens and everything. I got roughly three and a half pages written in four and a half hours; that's over 10% of my final paper! Always good to be optimistic.

But I do think I got some good work done on it today, and I paced myself, stopped when I felt that I wasn't going to write as well anymore. I got one third of the first part of three completed - and I mapped out where I was going with things so that I would be able to keep better track of how stuff flows and what I should be researching and looking up next, et cetera. The trick will be citing all the sources properly when I type it up and making sure that I'm not forgetting to utilize any of the sources that I have. It may sound kind of odd, but the deal with history papers is that the more sources you can use, the more work people think you've put into something, so if something is in two books, you cite it from the one you haven't used as much, and so forth. I've got this whole paper-writing thing down - I just wish I could focus more.

Not that I can't focus, but just that I know I have to write another term paper (though certainly not as big) for my 1960s and American Culture course, and our Pre-Study Abroad seminar requires a research paper (albeit a small one) on something to do with our host country, and I'm going to have to write a full lab report for Biology soon, and there's always all the little papers that come up in the course of things... I kind of wish that I could have nothing to do except write my senior thesis so that I would be able to do my absolute best on it. But I guess such a setup doesn't really exist ever.

Anyways... it's a beautiful day outside, and I'm going to go get my homework taken care of for the week, because Lord knows it's not going to get done tomorrow!

26 October 2010

Papers up to the knees...

Ok, maybe that's an exaggeration. But I'm feeling the homework load on my shoulders this week, for sure. It was nice to not think about homework all weekend at home, but I'm paying for it (as I knew I would) this week. I've got a mid-term due on Thursday, a Biology ethics paper due Friday, and I should start writing my senior thesis this week if I can. Not to mention the non-paper aspect of doing the reading for my Thursday classes. Let's just say that I'm going to have to be super-productive in these next couple days.

So right now I'm working on that BIO ethics paper. I've got my first paragraph done, but the important part is the research: this thing only has to be 5 pages, and I'm certain I could spit it out if I went into the zone for 2 hours. Maybe even less. It's funny - all the freshmen in that class are balking. The professor reminded us last week like it was a big deal, and I couldn't help but chuckle to myself that 5 pages is nothing. It requires no prep, and not much effort to push out a 5-page paper. But when I was a freshman, it sure seemed like a lot. Nowadays I can hardly get myself to write a paper that is less than 5 pages!

Anyway, the non-tutoring is up for tonight, so I'm going to go home and probably plug in my laptop and go at it on this paper. It'll be tough, though. Bekah's mom just flew in for the week, and I'll be so tempted to just chill and talk with her. But when I'm done in two hours... then I'll let myself relax a little bit.

24 October 2010

Growing up

Currently listening to Hem, "Half Acre".

It's funny how things change.

Mom and Dad are wondering if I'd move into Mike's old room and sleep on the double bed.

My brother is married and he and his wife just bought a new house that everyone is working on fixing up - mostly painting and the like.

Every time I come home I am more disgusted by all the stuff that clogs my own room. I just want to be free from it all.

Television is disturbing - I don't think I can watch it at all anymore, and I'm glad we don't have one in our apartment.

Cars are scary, and have so many things that can go wrong with them. I've seen three recent crash scenes in my driving around the past few days. I feel increasingly less interested in having one - at least out here, where things are closer. I wish there was a decent public transit system in place around here. I can remember being a kid and thinking that cars were neat, that there was something intriguing about highways and byways.

I can remember the days when I wanted a cell phone so bad - when I thought it was cool when all the other kids got new phones. Now the company is trying to strong-arm me into getting a new phone. The salesman is a despicable materialist tool, thinking he's so cool because he's got this awesome phone and that I'm dumb and should just get a new one, but he's completely oblivious to the fact that hundreds of women are being raped and children abducted to fuel this country's blind desire for new electronics. He's just another American, capitalist fool.

Is that what growing up does? Does it make you look back on things that were once intriguing to realize that they are ugly and deformed? Does it take the mask away from the monster?

And yet there are things that I appreciate more, now that I'm older. I can feel so much in the breath of air that flows in an autumnal breeze, whistling about, shimmering sunlight, quaking leaves, the smell of damp and earth. There is no way that I can hug it tight enough to me. I take joy in answering a phone that's bigger than my head, feeling its healthy weight in my hand, twirling the chord with my other. I wish I could have a landline at school. I can't wait 'til I can actually have a landline of my own. My own plot of earth to plant and harvest. My own little home to heat in winter and decorate with drying herbs and summer harvests the rest of the year.

I am feeling out the future, starting to make tentative idea-plans as to what will be, where I will go, and what I will do. I have learned what I do not like, and I have learned to love what I do. If this is growing up, I suppose it's not so bad; in some ways I know more of what I want to have from life than I ever understood before.

22 October 2010

Home again, home again, jiggidy jog.

I'm home. It's a good feeling. I can't help but stare at all the trees that light up like fire against the blue skies as I drive down rough rural roads. It's so beautiful here. Finally I can breathe again, it seems. One thing that I can't get over is the fact that we have sunrises here. It may sound strange, but I feel like there is no sunrise in Chicago - I've woken up before the sun many times, and it just gets steadily lighter. There's no morning glory, no radiant color changes. I always thought it was strange, that I was missing something, or that maybe I was confused about what sunrises actually should look like. But I'm back here and I know there's no denying it: we have sunrises here in Michigan. I'm not sure what does it, or why it's different, but when the sun come up over here, you can't miss it: golden and orange, pink and yellow. Clouds break and golden-yellow beams stream down, and just like that, you have a sunrise.

It's rather impressive.

20 October 2010

Learning

Today was an interesting day. I went to Bio this morning and took our second exam - think it went alright. Afterwards I went to REI to purchase a backpack - and yes, I got the red one. :) The fun part was that I decided to make the whole transaction in an Irish accent. It was a lot harder than I thought at first, because I ended up talking to about five different sales people, and I'm pretty sure each of them heard another locality of the UK... needless to say, it's been awhile since I've done this and I'm definitely a good deal rusty. I'll have to work on my skillz.

In the afternoon when I got back, I had a learning experience with one of my roommates. We had a bit of a spat about something, and she's really good at talking things out - I'm not. But I figured it out and was able to talk to her and show her my view and then we ended up hugging and apologizing for hurting each other. Kind of cheesy, but it felt good. I'm learning to be an adult. It's hard, but I think it's the better way of going about things. Because otherwise I would've been upset when I went to Jazz Band, and there's no need being in a bad mood when you're playing good music!

After rehearsal I asked Joe if he could "teach me how to solo" - he just kind of brushed it off. I'm not sure what he wants, it's like he wants me to solo, but he wants to work with me, but when I say I want to work with him on it, he just blows me off. Anyway, I suppose I'll have to try and figure it out myself for now. We'll see how that goes. But I am proud of myself: for the last two days now I've managed to get a half hour of practicing in. I've been reading up on this simple living stuff, and they've got a lot of good things on how to get stuff done that you need to get done during the day, so I'm trying to put it into practice, and I think it's working. :)

19 October 2010

The heat is on (again)

This may sound a bit redundant, but they turned the heat off when we had that warm spell a couple weeks ago, but since it's dipped down into the cold range for a week or so they hadn't turned the heaters back on - which meant that we were alternately freezing our little butts off in this apartment! But this morning all that seems to have changed: in fact, our dining room sounds like it's about to take off into outer space any minute now... :)

This morning my 1960s class was cancelled. I now have an extra hour and 40 minutes. Yay! I think come 10 o'clock I'll go to the practice rooms and work on my concert band stuff, considering our concert is next weekend.

I proposed my new topic to Prof. Ayot last night and it went over really well. In fact, when I told her I was changing my topic, her response was to go into a spiel about how she was so happy because she knew I was capable of something more, but she had been holding back from telling me, and on and on.... Needless to say, it was a well-greeted proposition.

17 October 2010

Thank Goodness

I've been stressing a lot about my senior thesis lately. I know, it sounds weird, because I'm a junior, but it's not that I'm thinking ahead, it's that I'm taking the Capstone course right now. Finally I came to the realization this past week that the reason I was having such a hard time with researching for my thesis was that I wasn't really "feeling" the topic I had picked: negative effects of corporatization of agriculture in America. Yes, I'm passionate about it, and I believe that buying local is the way to go, but I was feeling too much opinion and too little academia, which was making it difficult to find good sources.

So last night I decided that I needed to relax my brain and then come up with a new topic: one that I would be interested in and would be able to passionately, enjoyably research. And I did just that. I wrote some letters, read some a real book, and relaxed. The result: a new topic popped into my head. Then this morning, as I was developing it, the thing took on a life of it's own and became something with a positive point and something exciting to research.

Now my thesis paper is "Battles Lost and Won: Development of Water Politics and the Restoration of the Owens Valley". That is, I'm going to write about how the concurrent events of Owens Valley and Hetch Hetchy Valley were both conservational battles lost to big cities, but how Hetch Hetchy became the proverbial Alamo of anti-damming environmental activism, which led to a shift in water politics and policy, eventually allowing the Owens Valley aqueduct to be revisited and setting the Owens Valley on the road to restoration.

Yeah. I'm excited to write about this.

16 October 2010

Texters beware!

Today is a beautiful day. The breeze is blowing softly, the sun is shining brightly, the fall leaves are crackling melodically. It's saturday, and I'm busy doing saturday things: laundry, cleaning, homework, errands. Last night I made myself an ordered list of things to take care of so that I wouldn't waste any time trying to figure out what I should be doing. I think it was a pretty good idea - a planned day seems to be far more productive than an unplanned one. It's a good discipline. And I'm trying to learn some better self-discipline these days.

But on a side note, and hence the title of this post, can I just say that I hate it when people text me? I tell all of my friends that I don't have texting, so they shouldn't text me, and yet some people still do. And when people who aren't my friends text me, it's insulting - they just assume that I must have texting since I have a phone. Forcing me to pay money to read what they say, when they could've just left me a message for free, or even called me and held a real conversation! It's disgusting. Forgive me for ranting, but it bothers me so much: I really think I'm just going to stop opening texts altogether. I don't want to pay for other peoples' disregard and assumptions.

So, back to fall. Next weekend is Fall Break, and I'm super excited to go home. I'm going to do most of my packing this weekend, I think, so that I won't waste time on it during the week. Not that I'll be completely done, but just so that I don't choose to waste time on packing when I should be doing something else later in the week. I've got to bring back all sorts of clothes that I won't be wearing now that the weather is turning colder, as well as books that I've finished reading, and anything else I can spare. I want to make it as easy as possible to move out at the end of the semester.

I suppose that's all I have to say for today. Most of my words were spent in that rant. Besides, my laundry should be done now, and once I take care of that it'll be off to other things!

14 October 2010

Flying

So there's this bird named Jay who now has tickets to fly to and from Botswana next year.

Just thought I'd share that.

:)

11 October 2010

A good day.

I would say that, overall, today was rather successful.

This morning I woke up, ate a good breakfast, dressed up, and went out. I brought Jen Pope my paperwork for studying abroad and she faxed it in for me this morning. Dad's been working with a travel agent and we should have my tickets booked by the end of the week. Botswana is becoming more and more of a reality every day.

Today I discovered that you can get a locker in the library for a $10 deposit, and I jumped on it. I only wish that I had known about these lockers last year when I was hauling ridiculous amounts of books back and forth from my dorm room to the library. Now I can leave the research in there at night. I have to admit, I'm pretty stoked about that; so is my back.

The day passed a bit wistfully: nothing in particular got done, nothing in particular was left undone. I'm going to have to work hard to crank out a good 7-8 pages of who-knows-what for my capstone course, but I'm sure I'll be able to buckle down these next couple days and get whatever-it-is done. My Vietnam Film Project, technically watching and analyzing episodes of M*A*S*H, is coming along quite nicely, and I'm sure I will easily put out 4 pages (if not more) by Thursday. And then I'll have to start thinking about my research topic for that class.

The day ended in a nice, relaxing grocery round with Marlee: Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, and Jewel. I bought just a few essentials at each place: food, bandaids, deodorant.... Now I'm charging and resyncing my trusty ole tank of an ipod and getting ready for bed. It's been a good start to my new life so far. :)

10 October 2010

Craziness - Done.

We did it!

Now on to start my life anew....

09 October 2010

Into the Fray

Here it goes! The weekend is here, time is bearing down on me: now is the call to get a crap-ton of homework done and to execute a successful event on Sunday. I'll let you know how it all turned out once I reach the other end of the tunnel.

08 October 2010

Nearly through!

The weekend is here, and that means that I am almost through this crazy time. And boy has it been crazy. But it's like falling dominos now: things have started, and they'll all just play out to the end, and then I will be done and able to step back and look at the design they created when they all fell into place like that.

Enough prose. Today is Friday, and that means Biology, Yoga, lunch in ARA, and working on a lot of stuff. I need to work hard today, because I'm a bit behind in some things, or not as far along as I'd like to be in others. I've got to put up flyers for the Falling Whistles event on Sunday. I've already got one half of the campus, now I just need to get the other! :) I could ask for help, but I figure it's a) not that hard, and b) easier to do myself than to contact people and wait for them to get back to me (or not) about whether they can do it (or not) and then wait for them to pick up the flyers (or not)... you get the idea. Then, of course, it'll be Cornerstone today from 4:30-7pm. And after that: more work. I might watch a M*A*S*H episode or two with Bekah. I actually have to watch them for a movie project that's due on Thursday of next week. Kind of exciting.

Saturday will be more work during the day, a band concert in the evening, I might swing by the North Park vs. Wheaton soccer game, and then a work shift from 10-12 in Hanson, during which I plan on getting a fair amount of reading done. Well, as much as can be done in two hours so late at night.

Then Sunday is the big day: the day this event either goes down or doesn't. I find it somewhat hard to believe how much things have fallen into place in these very fast-moving two weeks. I just hope that things fall into the right place, and certainly that the technology works well for us. I would not be happy if mics and LCD projectors decided not to cooperate... Anyway, I'll work all day on stuff, setup will be at 4pm, and the event will start at 5pm, go for a couple hours, and then I instructed Spoo to escort me home and make sure I get right to bed when it's all over and done.

Because frankly, I'm exhausted. And I want next week to be different. I think I'm going to work this weekend on created a schedule of when I do what, in general, and try to stick to that schedule religiously so that I get some discipline in my life and in my time, and so that I can free up some more time on the other end of life for relaxing and hanging out and just being with people. Like that rather awesome girl Emily I met last night: we should hang out, and I'd better make the time. Or even my roommates - I just don't relax and spend time with them as much as I'd like to be. But until then... I need to survive this weekend.

05 October 2010

Busyness!

I'm working tonight. Sitting the student security desk in Carlson. Big whoop. But it gives me lots of hours, which means I'll rake in a decent amount at the end of this pay period. This is also the last time I get to sit the long-haul in Carlson for the month. Sad. But I've got plenty of other things on my plate.

Things are falling into place nicely for the Falling Whistles event on campus. For those interested in coming, it'll be Sunday, October 10th, at 5pm, in H-23 (the top floor of Hanson). Falling Whistles will be the main event, but Little Things will also be there selling jewelry and to present a little bit on what they do. It should be good. I just hope we get a good turn-out. But of course, that's not until Sunday.

On Saturday we've got the Concert Band concert for kids with autism/special needs and their families. I'm... mostly prepared. I need to find some way to squeeze in practice time between now and then so that I can polish up those licks and funky measures. Today in band my clarinet didn't want to play anything properly above a high C... thanks for that. So I'll also have to be looking into that one in what little time I have.

I'm sure that I'm just stressing and everything will turn out fine. I really need to relax. I can't wait to get this weekend over with so that I can take a step back and reassess.

03 October 2010

Autumn is all around!

Currently listening to:
Empire of the Sun, Walking on a Dream
Miike Snow, Animal
Del Barber, 62 Richmond
Sufjan Stevens, The Lakes of Canada

Autumn is here, and I love it. This is my favorite time of the year, for sure. Cool breezes, warm rays of sunshine, and a certain crispness to the air that can only be described as the smell of Fall. Every time I look through our kitchen to the trees behind our back porch I have to smile: their leaves have become yellows and oranges, a dying fire of color in a world that slips towards winter. It is a time that needs to be savored to the uttermost.

I'm trying to figure out what to do with my life right now. Not in the grand scheme of things, but in the current scheme: day to day, using my time in a way that will make me feel good about myself. I have deleted my Facebook, and that feels good. I've wasted a lot less time on the internet in the last few days, and rediscovering the patience to read peoples' blogs and actually feel a bit more seriously connected to what's happening in their lives is a refreshing discipline. Trying to find that healthy balance between homework and socializing is tough, but I'm working on it. The hardest part is muscling in the exercise aspect of things. I've been looking at a very clever and helpful website recently for tips on simplifying your life. It's been useful: things like trying to make a list of my top 5 priorities and figuring if things are actually worth it or not. Currently, my list is something like this:

Friends & Family
Nature
Music
Good Grades/School
Exercise

Obviously, these are some broad categories, but I could say that they are all important to me. Not that I'm an exercise-aholic, but certainly cycling and hiking and the like have always been a big part of my life, and yet where are they when I come out here? Nature is a huge part of my being, and yet I connect so little with it when I am at school. And I wonder why I can have such a hard time here. What's happening to my priorities? It is indeed true that something's got to give, and I think I know exactly what things they are.

Change is imminent. It is happening. It is on the air: that crisp, cool, autumn air that whistles through these gray Chicago streets. It's in these leaves which burst into flame and then fall to the ground. Indeed, it is here. It has already begun.

02 October 2010

The heat is on!

It's a lovely, fall day. Cold, windy, and the heaters turned on in our apartment, making it sound like an engine room. I worked a morning shift for security, then crashed and slept until 11:30. Now I get to bundle up, and then I'll head off to the block party for some free ribs that'll hopefully still be there. I can't pass up bbq ribs - they're so delicious!! Autumn colors are settling into the trees, and I am wishing I had less to do so that I could spend more time in the woods. But for now, I've got to eat some lunch, get ready for Homecoming Pep Band, play that, do homework, get groceries (possibly), and go to the Homecoming Dance at the Field Museum with my roommates. Tomorrow will be a very work-heavy day after all this, I can assure you.

01 October 2010

A new coat of paint...

Last night I deleted my Facebook, and in honor of that (along with the recognition of my previous blog template on several other blogs) I decided it was time to give my own blog a new coat of paint. I hope you like what I've done with the place. :) When I get some more time I think I'll update what pictures I have on the side bars too, but that'll have to wait for now.

So I've finally done the deed, and I have to say that I'm feeling pretty free already. Aside from the habit-breaking part - kind of like a smoker who has quits by throwing out all their cigarettes - I feel good about myself, and I'm encouraged that I'll be using my time a bit more wisely now. Not having a Facebook is going to make my life a whole lot simpler. Now I just need to figure out what else I can get rid of...

And that's an honest statement. In the next 1.5 weeks I will be going crazy, because research paper prep, Concert Band concerts, theatre performances, and a Falling Whistles event that I'm planning, are all going to come to a head. On the same weekend. The same three days. I might die. Honestly, though, how do I get myself into these situations? I want to do everything that I'm doing, and I'm excited for all of them - they just all happen to happen at the same time. So does that mean that I'm doing something that I don't want to do, have to cut out something that I want to do, or that I'm just unlucky enough to have everything all happen at once!?

The question of the week.

25 September 2010

Project 24

Check out The Half-Naked City and see my most recent appearance in North Park's annual Project 24! :)

24 September 2010

It's official!

I have officially been accepted to the University of Botswana for next semester!!!!! I'm super-excited, and now busy with filling out paperwork, et cetera. Hopefully I can keep on top of things: in the last week I have given the wrong dates to my current boss, nearly double-booked myself for a meeting, and accidently scheduled my new job for when I have class (luckily class is cancelled that day, so I'll be able to sit in until something else gets figured out). This weekend I am in Project 24, which will perform tomorrow, and then I'll spend all Sunday doing my homework, which will include lots of reading + the writing of a paper that's due next Thursday. I'm going to bed soon because I'm trying not to get a cold. In two weekends the Nordic Play Festival (or whatever the official title is) will be going on, and I will be involved as much as possible; that's also the weekend of the Concert Band concert for special-ed kids and their families; and the weekend of the Falling Whistles event that I'm trying to plan to host on campus. It's going to be another crazy weekend. And in the meantime, I'm working a security job, a tutoring job, offering to work at whatever else comes up, trying to do homework, have a social life, go to African Student Club meetings at 10 o'clock on Wednesday nights and sleep enough to function in my 8am lab the next morning.

Something's got to give.

21 September 2010

A Gift:

Today a nice boy gave me a pretty flower.
This pretty much makes my day.
:)

20 September 2010

Another week

Today's been outrageously productive in such a short amount of time. But that's what happens when you've got a lot to do: you budget your time a lot more strictly. I've taken care of printing, delivering, scheduling, typing, cooking, and retrieving today, and it's only half past noon! This week is looking pretty busy on its own. I've got to finish reading Anne Moody's book today for tomorrow - I don't think it's going to happen, but I do think that I'll get close! Today and tomorrow I'm on a team that is interviewing the candidates for the new Urban Outreach coordinator (my new boss, essentially). Tomorrow morning Bekah and I are going to breakfast at Tre Kronor with Scot McKnight, which we are both excited for - you miss being in his classes, really. Wednesday will be another busy day, starting when I wake up at 6 and going until the African Student Club meeting at 22. Thursday I'll be sitting the Carlson security desk from 17:30 to 22. Friday will be another trip to Cornerstone, the first time I'll get to see my friend Sam's baby, and the annual Project 24 event will begin at 19 and go culminate in a show at 19 on Saturday. After which I will be student security in Hanson from 22 to 0:00. And that's my week in a paragraph, excluding classes, homework, and private meetings. Should be a good one!

17 September 2010

First Cornerstone: Success!

Currently reading: Coming of Age in Mississippi, by Anne Moody

We had our first trip down to Cornerstone tonight, and it went great! Seventeen of us went down, and we rounded up 18 kids to play with us. All the new things that Karissa got us over the summer were a hit: a new checkers board, card games of "go fish" and "crazy eights", even a miniature "connect four"! It was a great night, and the kids were outrageously well-behaved. Hopefully the weather stays good and we'll go to the playground next week. It's nice to be back in the swing of things - I feel like Cornerstone is the last piece into my weekly puzzle for things to feel like a routine again.

This week has been pretty crazy, what with papers and presentations, catching up on homework that I didn't do because I was at the UMin leadership retreat over the weekend... but the last few days have been VERY productive. Thursday I gave a presentation on Aztec agriculture and the importance of corn. I started a little slow, but then something clicked and I went into Bodie interp-mode. I sat back and listened to myself and thought, "Wow, I've gotten a lot better at this over the summer." I was telling them all these stories, sounding all knowledgeable, pointing things out on the slides behind me, and even playing off the audience to see what jokes and stories I should or shouldn't tell! So things you learn in a ghost town really can be made applicable to daily life. :)

Otherwise, I've just been very productive: running around, getting stuff done. I've been making to-do lists and actually crossing all but one or two things off of them by the end of the day, and it's because I actually wasn't able to do them, not that I just didn't get them done. So that's encouraging, but I have to say that I am ready for the weekend. I've got a fair amount of work to tackle this weekend, from reading, to writing, to researching, to creating the preliminary bibliography for my capstone paper... it's going to be a doozy! But at least I'll be around and able to get things done.

Tomorrow morning my plan is to get up, do some reading, bike over to the Farmer's Market, maybe do some homework/reading at Dell's (which I still haven't seen yet!), come back for lunch and maybe go swimming at Northeastern (another thing I haven't done yet!), do some more homework, and in the evening I'll work the security shift at Hanson. Should be a good, laid back day.

But enough on that: I have to get going. I wasn't able to fold my laundry before going to Cornerstone, and my room is a mess!

13 September 2010

Auntie Jay!

I'm an Auntie!!!!!!! As of about 9:30 this morning, I am an aunt to the yet-to-be-photographed Garrett Casey Mekkes! I couldn't be more excited, and I just had to share my joy! :)

10 September 2010

Going camping... ish....

This weekend is the UMin leadership retreat at Lake Geneva in Wisconsin. I have to admit that I'm pretty excited. While this makes my new homework routine of work on the weekends, rest during the week a little off-kilter, it'll still be a great time and I'm excited to see what we've got going for us this year. I've decided to branch out a little bit more this year, and I've signed up for Tribes, which is the new incarnation of small groups. I'm not exactly sure how it's going to be now compared to how it was before, but I suppose I won't really know the difference! Still, I'm excited for the new experience.

Church-wise, things are shifting (yet) again. I'm thinking about trying out (yet) another one. What seemed nice last year, this year just seems like I'm not able to plug in how I want. We'll see where that all goes, but I'll be sure to keep it posted. I have to say that "church shopping", as it's termed, has got to be one of the hardest things to do - especially when you're an out-of-state college student who isn't always around. Sometimes I just want to give up on finding a church out here, but I know that if I can dig into a good one I'll be happier than just sitting in the back row at NP Cov and not talking to anyone. What can I say? I'll just soldier on in this like I do in everything else.

Every now and then my mind gets snagged on financial thoughts. This weeks it's been thinking about study abroad and how in the world I'm going to pay for that. (Clearly, only with God's blessing.) I'm working on scholarship applications right now. Yesterday I spent some time looking at flights: turns out that different websites can have DRASTICALLY different prices. I found websites that actually offered roundtrip flights to Botswana for $1400 ($1600 after fees and whatnot) when other sites only offered $1600 and $1800 flights, not including the fees! Crazy! I told Jen Pope I was feeling overwhelmed and she gave me a couple coupons for different sites for $25 or $30 off. Not much, but a small consolation. It's the thought that counts, after all. I've been trying to brainstorm other ideas for raising the funds that I need: becoming a pop can smuggler over the Michigan border is probably my best one so far. Only problem is, I don't have a car to smuggle them with, and it wouldn't be worth it to just take one bagful. Still, I thought it was pretty creative, reverting back to can collecting to raise money. I think that I should do some sort of fundraiser something-or-other... maybe I'll make a bunch of necklaces and sell them to Buffalo Exchange or some similar store. The whole Time vs Money thing is always an issue with stuff like that, though. Perhaps I could do an impromptu baked goods sale or something. Cheap pancakes in the apartment or the like. $2 a stack. We've got enough dishes....

06 September 2010

Cooler weather, longer weekends

Currently listening to: Pandora - Bluegrass genre station.

This has been a weekend of getting stuff done and getting nothing done all at once. I have been very productive on some fronts: my T/Th class homework is completed for the week, I've gotten the Cornerstone mailing list for the year pretty much made up, emails in the inbox that needed action have been taken care of, etc. On the other hand, I've wasted a fair amount of time in mostly enjoyable ways: watching Star Trek with roomies and neighbors, "testing the waters" - so-to-speak - at a new-to-us Forest Preserve and seeing a doe, a fawn, and even a 7pt buck, playing games, and taking catnaps in the breeze and sun. A whole lot of napping took place this weekend.

Marlee has inspired me to join her in a practice of making and working toward six goals for every six-week period. I've been thinking about it all day, and I think I have come up with my six for this six weeks:
1. Settle into a good weekly exercise routine.
2. Search and apply for scholarships to help pay for study abroad.
3. Carve out a healthy balance between homework reading, personal reading, music practice, and spending time with my friends.
4. Delete my Facebook and develop a communicative and social life without it.
5. Get organized and pack up things that I can send home.
6. Start on research for my term papers.
Pretty simple, but some of them will still be harder than others in the midst of everything as it goes. So today is day one, and hopefully I'll have accomplished these goals by the time 18 October rolls around. We'll see how it goes!

03 September 2010

Sea cows?

Currently Reading: Numbers 4-6

This morning I thought I'd pick up where I left off in Numbers this summer, and lo and behold, the strangest thing occurs: the Bible starts talking about the hides of sea cows. Manitees? in Israel? I'm confused. I think I'll ask Bekah about this phenomenon, since she's the one who convinced me to read Numbers anyway. :)

So, life in general. My plans are underway to delete my Facebook account. Something in Pastor Judy's chapel message on Wednesday, combined with what she said at chapel chat afterwards about Facebook specifically, just pushed me over the edge: I have to drop it. So I'm going to, and I'm ramping myself up for it. At the end of this month, I'm going to put an end to it, and that'll be that.

Last night I went to the North Park Theatre Company meeting. This year is going to be great, and I'm a little bummed about the things I'm going to miss out on by not being here next semester, but that's one of the many prices you pay to study abroad. Still, this semester will consist of two, one-weekend projects that I will totally be able to give the time to and participate in. One of them is my usual, typical, Project 24, which I love. I'm thinking this year I might put "writer" down as my first option and see where that goes. The other is a Nordic play festival that will be one weekend, script-in-hand performances of recently-translated Nordic plays. It sounds awesome, and I told Chad Eric so. I'm actually pretty excited for that one, just because it sounds so neat and I'm so interested as to what it's going to be like.

Classes are going well: I've made it successfully through my first week. I've got my morning dose of Intro to Cell Bio today, and then I'll be set loose for the long weekend. My goal is to get as much homework done as possible so that I can relax a little more during the week. I've been getting up at six o'clock in the morning these past couple weeks, and I'm hoping to keep the trend going so that I can have some morning time to myself to wake up slow, do some reading, etc. My goal is to not have to do homework in that morning time, because I want that to just be a time for me. I feel like that's something that was really lacking from my last few semesters, combined with personal, recreational reading. So this year I'm trying to remedy that as best I can. We'll see how it goes.

My attempts at finding work have bottomed out, and it looks like I'll have to be content with the few hours I manage to pick up this semester with my security job. Which, come to think of it, is not a bad thing, considering that I have plenty of other stuff that I want to do and be involved with, while staying on top of homework, and hollowing out some me-time. God is shutting doors to take care of me, I think. And I'm really going to have to trust him a lot in these next few months and the next year, because as it is: I know that paying for study abroad is COMPLETELY out of my power right now, and if the funds all show up, it will only be because God's hand is taking care of it for me. In the meantime, I'm applying for as many scholarships as I can find and just praying that he blesses.

Ingenuity and creativity are also areas of my life that have suffered from school. I'm trying to remedy this with little things: creating my own (free!) pencil holder for my desk out of a cereal box and tropical blue duct tape; writing a memoir on my time at Bodie; giving more time to song-writing and story-writing; and trying to relearn (if I ever really knew it to begin with) the art of doodling in and around my notes. Of course, on the flip side, this semester I will be writing an average-sized paper for Cell Bio, a decent-sized paper for Mexican History and Culture (probably on ancient agriculture and the importance of corn in particular), a term paper for 1960's & American Culture (not sure what that'll be yet - brainstorming will occur this weekend, but ideas have popped into my head as polar as national and state parks or the rise of punk music out of the era of peace and love), and a capstone research paper for my History Senior Capstone Seminar (which I have no idea what it's going to be on yet, but again, brainstorming is going to occur this weekend). So this semester, like most semesters as a History Major, is going to be a lot of reading and a lot of writing. But at least it's all in English this semester, so it shouldn't take me too long!

01 September 2010

el primer de setiembre

Currently reading: Mind of the Raven
Classes are in full swing, more or less. The apartment is fairly moved-into and I am, for the most part, unpacked, although I do need to go through some things over the next few days. We have everything an apartment could need, minus a cheese grater. It has been terribly hot and sticky these last few days, but finally this morning things have broken a bit with a nice, lengthy rain. Still, the humidity index is pretty high. Little gifts from Bodie have been coming in the mail for the last two days, and I'm hoping for one more today: first an envelope with a 2011 calendar, a cd with pictures on it; then a box with some clothes of mine, the gift of an awesome compass and a book about how to use it; the next box should have the rest of the clothes that I left behind. I'm enjoying these little prizes, but I'm a bit more interested in the moment at that last shipment of textbooks that I'll hopefully be getting SOON. Cornerstone sign-ups went well, and the interest meeting is tomorrow night. I'm hoping for a good turnout - we'll see. I've pretty much figured out a good, varied work-out schedule for the semester, so I'll start putting that into action somewhat this week, but mostly next week because I'll be taking some of the exercise classes at Helwig (yoga, boot camp, and spin class) on some days, and those don't start 'til the seventh. But I'll start some of it this week. This semester is going to be pretty heavy on the reading, as most of my semesters here have been, what with being a history major and all.... but I'm hoping that my slightly increased reading speed from this summer will help me to get through things with perhaps a little less stress than the last couple semesters. Enough rambling for now, I suppose. Really, I'm just chipping some time. I miss Bodie - especially the weather, at the moment - but I am so bound to return next summer that it's not that bad: more like something to look forward to than to look back on.

27 August 2010

Simplifying...

I've been busy, but nothing too bad. I've moved into our 5-person apartment in Chicago, and I brought less than I have any other year, it seems. I have learned better this summer how to live simply, and I already have plans to send some things back home in some way or other. At least in October's fall break, if not sooner. Perhaps my brother may come visit me before then... we'll have to see. While home I had my great day of purging, and while I did not get through everything, as I had hoped, I managed to take out three boxes of yardsale/goodwill, two bags of trash, and one box of misc. trash & recycling. It was a good day. I got through two dressers (and pretty much emptied the one), the vanity, two boxes under the bed (which was the height of overwhelming, let me assure you), and some miscellaneous floor items. The room still needs a lot of work, and it almost feels like I've barely made a dent in it, but things are actually much better than they were, for sure. Our little apartment, while shockingly cluttered and unorganized at the moment, is making good headway, and the living room and kitchen, at least, are looking like actual living spaces. Bekah and my bedroom is coming along quite nicely, although both of us still have some work to do, and the decorating hasn't been more than considered as of yet. We've got today to arrange what is already here before Sarah moves in with the final haul, and Marlee comes back with my bowl chair, the coffee table top, and some other items. Today is to be filled with meetings and errands, and I hope to have a job by the end of it all. We shall see! Anyhow, I need to be getting off to just that. I have spent my morning finishing reading "The Hobbit" and deleting old internet accounts of various and sundry... Bekah is up now, so I think I'll get her to go to the Post Office with me!

06 August 2010

Finishing another chapter...

The latest chapter in my young life is coming to a close. I have spent the summer working as an intern at Bodie State Historic Park in California, about an hour and a half + from Yosemite National Park. It's been a great summer, and I've learned a lot. I have decided that this really is the sort of thing I want to do after college. What exactly I will do with it or where I will take it is still rather up in the air, but I at least have this certainty that I was waiting for for what seemed like so long. I love being outside all the time, everyday. It's a grand feeling, and a good one. I feel like I'm more alive, more fit, more at peace with myself out here than I am crammed into the city. I have learned the importance of communication, and I've been challenged on several assumptions, by my boss especially. Out of such challenges have come thoughts that I have already considered, but which are rising up within me with a new fervor. I have every intention of deleting my facebook account. I have officially decided, and I'm posting it here, not on Facebook. I'm thinking that I will maintain this blog weekly or bi-weekly so that people who want to stalk me still can, but I refuse to let myself spend a lot of time on it. I'm also sorely desirous of a landline phone. I await the day when I will have my own home, and a landline number, and I can change my phone to a pay-as-you-go that I'll just throw into my bag when I travel or go out somewhere in case of emergency. I am also strongly considering going vegetarian. Not because I don't like meat, but because I don't approve of the meat market. This would not be a very strict decision: I'm thinking I will cook vegetarian for myself, but I will eat meat if others offer it to me (don't want to be rude!), and I will support in particular the eating of hunted-from-the-wild meats or ethically-raised meats. Unless I know where a restaurant gets its meat, I think I will start eating vegetarian at restaurants as well. Since I don't eat out often anyways, that won't be too much of a problem. This is all in the works a bit, but I'm thinking that when I get back to Chicago I won't buy any meat for my freezer and that'll be that. Finally, and most importantly, I am amping myself up for a serious purging: when I get home I'm going to rid myself of stuff. Once and for all. I've got it all planned out, and I'm already telling my parents to get boxes ready for throwing away and goodwilling. My goal is to get rid of as much as possible: everything that I don't need or haven't seen in a year and haven't missed. I'm going to have to work hard, push hard, push through the difficulties that come with such a proposition for myself. I will enlist the aid of my mother and try not to get upset with her when she tells me to get rid of things. And with any luck, I will hardly have anything left but the essentials by the time I'm done. I'm looking forward to this, really - or maybe I'm looking forward to the end result. I can't imagine how it'll feel to see that room clear of junk and to know that all that weight is off my shoulders. It'll be the first time in years. Literally. And how I need it all to be gone. How I need to push through and overcome all this crap that's been weighing me down for all these years. I can hardly wait to get home.

13 April 2010

Escape route.

I needed to waste some time, so I thought I'd do a quick post here. I'm writing my paper on Judaism and the Environment. It's onto 3/4 of page 11 right now, with a 12-15 min/max range. Due tomorrow. The goal is to get it done before we watch Firefly tonight. With that being so close, you'd think I would want to be working, but I've been doing that for almost three hours now, and I just need a quick respite. I've got only two more sections to research and write, then the conclusion, and I'll be done! But it's almost supper time, so I think I'll be taking a break for now. Perhaps I'll figure out what books I'll need for this next section, then give it a go once I get back. I'll have about 2 hours from once I get back 'til Firefly. I'm going to be so glad when I'm done with this thing!!!

08 April 2010

Unmotivated.

I'm in the library for the second night in a row. But nothing is really hanging over my head today, I forgot to bring my notebook with tips for reworking my philosophy paper, so I think I'll probably call it a night. I wrote the introduction and the conclusion, and that'll do me. I got distracted - looking at Washington pictures, thinking about things, actually listening to my paper-writing Sufjan Stevens music. I think tonight I ought to give myself a little break. Maybe I'll watch a movie. I'll be busy at work all weekend, anyways.

06 April 2010

In the mail!

Today I sent out the paperwork for my internship.
Yesterday I booked flights to and from my internship.
Today I got my birthday card in the mail.
Yesterday I got to listen to an awesome thunderstorm roll through.
Today I got soaked to the skin on my way to my 8am.
Yesterday I stayed up later than I intended, but not late at all.
Today I got everything done that I needed to check off my list.

Tomorrow is looking pretty good too. :)

02 April 2010

Home.

There's this great quote from Juno, towards the end of the movie, after all the craziness has gone down, where she pulls up to her home, picks and smells a purple crocus, and narrates something to the extent of: "I never realize how much I love home until I've been somewhere really different for a long time." I've been a lot of different places lately, and I'm now home for the first time since the day after Christmas. But I could say I'm home for the first time in years for how much I've changed, and for how much I've regained. I haven't been home and feeling this internal and boundless joy for so many, many years. I'm listening to Noah Gundersen right now, and the line just went by, "Settle down, young boy, relax, and settle down, young boy, get that load off your back..." Oh the loads I've carried. I don't know why I did it.
I love my home. It's not perfect, it's not the best home ever, but it's my home, and I love it. I love that I got to go to church with Grandma tonight. I love that I get to play Ultimate with my friends tomorrow afternoon. I love that the wind is blowing on my face from my open window. I love that Sunday I'll be in church with a hundred people that I love and who love me. I love that I get to spend Easter with my extended family, eating a big meal and goofing off with the cousins. I love that I was able to chill with my parents all day today. I love that I got to hang out with my brother and his awesome fiancee last night. I love that I'm making very few plans for this weekend so that I can just go with the flow and see where the winds take me. I love that everything I smell here is familiar and close to my heart - every time I walk into a room or a familiar building. It's all a part of me, and I accept and cherish that, whatever may have happened there, the good and the bad.
So those are my reflections for now. I'll be back on Facebook after Sunday, and chances are that this blog will fall into disarray. But what of it, it's just a fun outlet to be poetic in my prose. It's been a good 40+ days. I can't say that not being on Facebook "changed" me. I can't say that it dramatically altered my perspectives on life. But it did make me aware of how much time I spend on it, or waste on it, and how much others are relying and relaying on it more and more.
Me, I like writing letters. :)

Love,
Jay

31 March 2010

Sleep-deprived.

Too much work, too little time. I've been hovering on the edge of not enough sleep, and to top it off I slept terribly last night. Now I'm going to bed, waking up for an 8am, then when I get out of classes at 13:30 I'll be packing for Easter Break, and shortly thereafter getting on a train to (HOM). I need this break. It's going to be so nice to rest!

28 March 2010

Sunday night

Just got done watching Fellowship of the Ring (extended version). It's been awhile since I've sat down and watch the LotR trilogy - not since the one-day marathon of last spring semester. I love those movies. I want to read the books again this summer. I think I might. Anyways, while I was watching I started getting this little plot cooking in my head... I might start writing again. I've been having a hard time of it lately, but I think it's just because I'm out of practice. I'm getting a pretty good idea of how this one might go, so we'll see if I can finagle something out of it.
In the meantime, I've got a Philosophy paper to finish, philosophy reading to do, and a book to read for Jesus class, all for Tuesday; some readings that need to get read for Monday; and another book that needs to be read by Thursday; so I'd best be getting back to work.
And I wonder why it is I don't write much anymore....

25 March 2010

Accepted!!!

Today I got a call from Ranger Jim at Bodie State HIstoric Park in California.

...

I've got an internship this summer. :)

24 March 2010

African Fashion Show!!!

I just got off the runway about thirty minutes ago. That's right: I was part of the African Fashion Show this year! They had me in makeup, with a braid and an afro and everything. It was so much fun! And I even had a friend tell me that I was their favorite! Yes! I definitely had a blast tonight, and I'm just so excited, I can't get over it!

At midnight registration opens for classes, so Marlee and I are staying up for that. I'm going to be exhausted tomorrow, and who knows what my hair will look like!?

:)

22 March 2010

Something new?

This morning I was reading a chapter in the Jesus Creed on Peter and conversion being a process and not an experience. There was a challenge in the companion guide to live today as one series of nods of the soul to the Spirit, as one step in the conversion process. One day. And I thought: how often do I actually focus and carry through the day all that I've been learning in my relationship with Christ? In answer: why do I think it takes me several weeks, and often months to solidly implement changes in my life? So today I'm challenging myself to focus on what I've been learning, to dwell on it all day long, to ponder and apply, and see where God leads me.
Let's go.
:)

21 March 2010

Hmm...

I'm just really having a hard time figuring out where God wants me right now.

19 March 2010

Friday = Weekend

So I was in bed by 10:30 last night, with my term paper draft completed and ready to go. Problem was, I didn't actually fall asleep until after 4am. But it's a beautiful day outside, I bought some picture hooks at Target so I'll be hanging up my Christmas present from Michael within the hour! I also bought some seeds to put in the dirt that plant left behind. I still feel kind of bad about plant, but on the bright side: decay = nitrogen in the soil, so it should help out the new growth. Maybe. :) Now I'm doing laundry, contemplating taking a nap in this gorgeous sun, and just taking it easy for a bit. I think I'll take it easy tonight, and hopefully go to bed and fall asleep early. Emphasis on the latter part of that sentence. I'm thinking I'll accept the internship at Bodie, and I'm starting to get real excited about it, I just have to ask a couple more questions before I can be absolutely sure. I'll keep you updated.
:)
Much love,

~Jaclynn

17 March 2010

Second post today. Crazy.

I got offered the internship at Bodie. I'm so excited! I'm going to call tomorrow, I think, to ask some more questions about the specifics, but I'll probably accept. It makes me feel nervous/excited/hopeful. It's hard to believe that I'm actually doing something beyond staying home and working the bike shop this summer. It's actually here, right at my fingertips - all I have to do is say "yes". Wow.
I don't have my 8am tomorrow. I think I'll sleep in until 8am. That'd be nice. I'm thinking about tomorrow, and I think I might've accidentally overcommitted myself again. I'll have to work really hard during the time I have. A.k.a. no computer for me!
Starting now.
Goodnight!

Best Birthday Ever!

So, you know how I was mentioning all the great things that happened yesterday? Something even better occurred to top it all off! We went to watch Firefly - Marlee had actually reserved the lounge for us - and Holly kept stalling, but I wasn't sure what was going on. We were waiting for Bekah, who was babysitting, I figured (and was told). Finally Bekah came back, and then we went down there, and when we came around the corner (Holly, Bekah, and I), there was a bunch of people! and an apple pie!! and ice cream!!! And everyone yelled, "SURPRISE!" It was awesome! I've never had anyone try to surprise me for my birthday before, I was practically tearing up when they started singing to me! It was a good night: we ate our pie and ice cream, then watched an episode of Firefly in the lounge, chatted a bit, and went up to bed. Yesterday was amazing.

Today I'll be doing work - I got some more PHIL reading, and some BTS reading, and now some SPAN reading out of a book that I don't yet have... We'll figure that one out later, I think I'll focus on the other two first, plus practicing for Concert Band, too. After that, I'll be working on my term paper draft - 6-8 pages of which are due on Friday. I should have all Thursday evening to work on it, though, so I'm not worried yet. And I think I'll aim to go to bed earlier tonight - I've been pretty tired since coming back from Washington, and I think I just need to get an extra-solid night of sleep to get my internal clock back on track. But I'd better get to work: it's Chapel in a little over an hour, then lunch, and then a couple hours before class and Jazz Band. Anyways, this post just went from mildly interesting to super-bland and dull. I'll catch ya'll later.

16 March 2010

First SCA touchback!

I got a call from the SCA today, complete with phone interview! It was really encouraging. He gave me a better description of the position and the location, too - both of which sound great! This is such an answer to prayer, after saying at Tea Time yesterday that I was starting to feel like I was on a wild goose chase with this whole thing. But my hope is renewed with the morning, and I have to say that this has been a FANTASTIC birthday so far! :)
I let myself sleep in a bit this morning, then went to my 8am with Bekah and Sarah. Apparently Bekah told Scot that it was my birthday, so when McKnight started the class, instead of saying "Let's start off by saying the Jesus Creed," he said, "by singing Happy Birthday!" Then the whole class, all 50 or so of them, lead by Herbert, sang Happy Birthday to me. I'm sure I was red, but I was so happy. I love it when people sing me Happy Birthday. Philosophy class went by fast today, my new Cultures of Spain course seems interesting - kind of like a history class in Spanish. :) I talked with my brother and my parents after classes, and then, taking my free unexcused absence from band, Marlee, Kathleen, Holly, Michelle, and I went to Montrose beach to look for seaglass. We were very successful. Today was just gorgeous outside! I let myself get some ice cream at supper, and now it's homework and then watching an episode of Firefly with the girls. It's gonna be a great night, nice and relaxing.
So many random people have been wishing me a Happy Birthday today. I love it. :)
Birthday's are the best - you just feel so much extra love.
Thanks for today, God. You're the best.

:)

~Jaclynn

14 March 2010

Returned

Back on campus, bout to watch the first episode of Firefly with Bekah, Holly, and Marlee. Feeling tired, but not ready for bed at the same time - time change + daylight savings time stuff = weird internal clock. I'll probably post some pictures once I get them loaded up, either tonight or tomorrow. We'll see. Right now I'm focusing on chill.

09 March 2010

Spring Break check-in

Just wanted to leave a brief note real quick and let you know that Spring Break is going well, that Washington is amazing, and that I think my lungs are going to be extra-clean after this trip. Hopefully the city air upon our return won't shock my system.
Saturday - hiked up Mount Si, then back down.
Sunday - went shopping in North Bend and Snoqualmie at cute little shops, and the North Bend bike shop.
Monday - went to Mount Rainier and snowshoed at Paradise.
Today - hitting up Seattle and Pike's Place Market
Tomorrow & Thursday - Olympic National Park
and then... ???

05 March 2010

60B - Listening and Working

This morning Bekah and I went out to Tre Kronor for breakfast to spend our winnings. It was good - we haven't had time to really sit and talk one on one in awhile. Afterwards we went for a walk and talked about some hard stuff, it was a good time.

Now I'm listening to my combination Elizabethtown/Garden State soundtrack playlist. I love this music.

Today will consist of finishing my Zambia thank you notes (don't tell me, I already know)

Doing some reading for classes so that I won't have to bother about it when I get back

Finishing packing for Washington

And then it's off to WA for an epic Spring Break. It'll be so good to have a rest from things to do. I can't wait to be in nature again, and without chores and homework and classes nagging on my mind - God and I have some serious conversing to do.

This will be my last post before I leave, so I hope everyone stays well, and wish me a great trip!

~Jaclynn

04 March 2010

Spring break is so close...

I'm in the library right now, working on some preliminary research for my dialogue term paper - the first draft of which is due at the end of the week after Spring Break. Ridiculous. This guy obviously has never assigned term papers before and has no idea how they work. Whatever. I'll do the work and get it done. Maybe I'll even write a real crappy draft so I can look like I improved. Actually, that's probably not possible. But anyways...
I've bored myself about as much as I can with this for now, I think. I've got other work to do before I leave tomorrow, and I wouldn't mind getting it done tonight.
The National Parks pass still hasn't come in the mail, and I'm really hoping that it gets here tomorrow so that I can pick it up and pack it along!!
In the meantime, my open evening will consist of finishing thank-you notes for Zambia (hopefully I'll mail those out tomorrow), charging batteries for Spring Break, reading ahead in Philosophy, and reading for my Jesus of Nazareth class. Have to admit, the last one is the most appealing, but hey, that's why I saved it for last! :)
Now I'd better get to work - I need to use the time I have the best that I can. Because twenty-four hours from now I will be doing final packing stuff and going out to an airport to get on a plane to Washington.
Woohoo!!

03 March 2010

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!

I found my driver's license(s)!!!! This makes me so happy! I really wasn't going to be able to be worry free until I located those darn cards! Today I decided I would start to clean the room - and I mean seriously clean and organize it - after my crazy hectic schedule. I was under the bed, pulling things out, when a little glimmer caught my eye. Sure enough, my licenses had fallen behind the bed and were sitting between my sleeping pad and the wall. All this time, and they were right at my feet! Ridiculous! Needless to say, I won't be putting them anywhere but their designated drawer from now on. I must have forgotten about them and knocked them off the bed without realizing it. I don't even remember putting them on the bed, but whatever. The important thing now is that I found them!!!! Yay!!!
On other notes: it feels great to have a clean room, and I'm doing my best to work and organize what I've got to work with here. It's been so busy lately, my room has really fallen into disarray. I just spent the morning cleaning my desk - oh boy! But it looks so much nicer now, and I've gotten a lot of stuff tidied up that I should have taken care of before.... but I think that it's a pretty well-proven principle now that when I'm stressed or busy I don't clean. Yeah. Painfully obvious.
At least I make my bed now. :)

01 March 2010

The SCA... in the works...

I just called up the contact at Isle Royale to follow up on my SCA application with them. I think it went well, but we'll see. Hopefully they give me a call back soon! I would love to get an internship there - it's been my dream to go to Isle Royale ever since I first heard about it! Well, hopefully they call me back, and hopefully they like me... :) In the meantime, I've got some reading to do for my Tuesday classes.

28 February 2010

And... done!!! :)

I did it! Successfully I have conquered the 10 days of craziness!
I feel amazing - as in amazingly tired!
Things finished with a bang: the One Acts closing night was spot on, the crowd was awesome; Mike and Tiffany made it out alright last night. This morning we had Tre Kronor for breakfast, then we all went to the Garfield Park Conservatory, which is 100% free and absolutely beautiful. We loved it there. The Jazz Band concert today was phenomenal. I played really well (with a couple screw-ups, but it happens), and Michael even said that I sounded extra good up there today. I definitely think that my skills are improving, and I'm pretty happy about that. I'll have to keep practicing. This past week I was able to get a pretty consistent practicing schedule in place. Hopefully I'll be able to keep that up. We ended tonight by going to George's Ice Cream and Sweets and celebrating the passing of the epic 10 days with ice cream, and then splitting paninis for supper (dessert first, ya'll!). It was altogether a great weekend, and a nice little visit with Mike and Tiffany.
Now I'm holed up in the dorm room, cozy as a hibernating bear. I'll be in all night, I think. I don't feel like going out - all I want to do is relax, listen to some Del Barber, read a bit in my big chair, curl up and go to bed.
Tomorrow: I'm sleeping in.

'Night all,

~Jaclynn