Lots of Thanks

Busy, kind of crazy break.  But got lots of relaxing done too. 

I worked on Monday and Tuesday, which was good because I got caught up on everything!  On Wednesday Haley and I borrowed Evan's car (Yay Evan -- come up from Princeton and loan us your car any time you want!) and went to Glouster and Bear Skin Neck for the day.  I can't find my camera cord at the moment, so you'll have to wait for photos of the event, but suffice it to say that 1) it poured and we were entirely soaked through, 2) we ignored some pretty obvious road signs to traipse through a private yacht club to get to a light house, and 3) we had a blast! 

On Thursday morning I went with some school friends to another friend/TA/mother of student's house in Methuen.  The food was good and it was fun to be with people away from Boston.  Also, there were cats, so I got some quality pet time in.  On Friday morning we went to the Methuen Festival of Trees.  People decorate trees and then they sell tickets to win the tree and whatever is on/in it.  There were some traditionally beautiful ones and there were some real dogs.  There were also some really creative and weird ones.  Guess which ones I took photos of?

Two trees put together in a frame to look like an hour glass -- pretty neat!  Bumble, the abominable snowman from Rudolph, with rubber organs pinned to him and notes that explain what an MRI machine does.  There is nothing about this that makes sense to me.  Merry Christmas?

A T-Rex with a Christmas tree for a body.  An under the sea themed Christmas extravaganza.  It is conical in shape, so I guess it counts as a tree.  It had a hammer head shark coming out of it on one side and a Moray eel coming from the base.  There was a Manta ray on the other side.  You can see the jelly fish and coral and fish and things.  It's pretty neat.

Here's where the time crunch begins...

I got home at 12:30 on Friday.  Started a load of laundry.  Got a phone call at 1:00.  Packed a bag.  Caught the train at 1:20.  Got to South Station at 2:00.  Wandered aimlessly trying to find "the next building" and get a clue for 12 minutes.  And somehow managed to catch the 2:15 bus to Portland, Maine.  Notice how I didn't say I took the laundry out of the washer...that was a fun treat earlier this evening.

I spent Friday, Saturday, and most of today with Kathleen and her family (extended and immediate) in Augusta, Maine.  It was so much fun!  We played games and ate turkey for every meal (they cooked 44 pounds of it so it was mandatory).  I'd forgotten what it was like to play games with kids.  Everyone is so concerned about cheating, but really the issue is that they want to make sure no one else is cheating more than they are.  It's the whole log in the eye thing.  I also earned a sweet nickname, so you should know that I am now known in Augusta as Mrs. Turnip.  I have a pet turnip named Roofus.  I had so much fun and they were so lovely to be with!  Maine is beautiful and it was so good to be out of the city.

I went to church with Kathleen this morning and enjoyed it very much.  Today being the first Sunday of Advent the sermon was on hope, which is what I needed to hear today.  During the first service they had a mini hymn sing, so we got to sing about 6 additional songs.  Then I went to Sunday School where I met a sweet kid.  We had the following conversation:

Me: What's your favorite subject in school?
Kid: Language arts.
Me: Yeah? Do you like to read or write, or both?
Kid: I like to write.  Last year I wrote a 17 page story about a mutant hamster.
Me: What did he do?
Kid: He fought crime.
Me: Did he have a cool crime-fighting name?
Kid: Michael.

And this is why kids are a hoot.  The second service was also nice, and the sermon was good the second time too.  Plus I got double bonus communion!

Then I ate some turkey, and, while it snowed, I took a nap next to this:

And then I got on a bus and came home.  It was a good week/weekend.  Also, bought my tickets home for Christmas -- I leave in a little over 2 weeks!!  Gotta push through until then.  And the end of this semester marks the half-way point of my degree.  Weird.  But it really is weird how much difference one semester makes in how prepared you feel.

So that's what I've got going on, and I'm thankful for all of it.  Thankful I get to go to school.  Thankful that, for the moment, everybody is relatively happy and healthy.  Thankful that I'm enjoying my classes.  Thankful for friends who take me into their homes.  Thankful, thankful, thankful.

Highlights

Does anybody else remember the magazine "Highlights for Kids"?  Our dentist used to have it in his waiting room.  Someone had always circled the hidden items in the picture search...lame.  Let the rest of us have a go, 7 year old stranger.

Anyway, here are two pictoral highlights from my very long day today:

I got a newer computer at work.  This monitor is twice the size of my last one and now I will be able to see my work from space.  It's a little bit much.

No, no I don't.  But I wish I did -- $1200/month!  And other than the whole "being a man" thing, I totally have all the other qualifications.  This is discrimination!  Also, I kind of hope this is a gag since it looks a lot like a financial bank ad.   ...just went to the website.  Not a joke.  And one of the options is "Share Your Own Sperm".  I wasn't aware you could donate someone else's sperm.  ...wait, just read it again.  It says "Store Your Own Sperm".  That's very different.  Ya know, surprisingly enough, the pricing on that isn't terrible.

I am Making a Concerted Effort

I am making a concerted effort to blog more, partially because I'm not going home for Thanksgiving and partially because spending so much time with family makes me realize how much I don't want to lose that connection.  Grandpa's memorial was as happy as a sad event could be, but the best part was hanging out with family.  There was a reunion of our family band, The Bi-Coastals.  It was honestly one of the most fun things I've ever done, singing with my aunts and uncles and getting to hear my cousin play guitar (we've been cousins for nearly 30 years and this is the first time I hear him play...downright shameful).  So, thus, heretofore I blog more.

Also, I'm crazy on top of stuff.  I just finished a project that's not due for another 72 hours...Sometimes I don't know who I am.  Seriously, who am I?  If I met me on a street corner I wouldn't know me.  For a lot of reasons.

I've been on sound overload lately.  I'm not sure why now exactly, but I've been feeling crabby so I know I have to hide to counteract the crab.  Being forced to talk is exhausting and frustrating.  Probably has something to do with having to dissect all my words all the time.  Seriously, I now do things like stop myself mid conversation to correct a theologically questionable pronoun, sometimes only to find that I've entirely over-thought the conversation (I know you find this surprising) since using 'he' for Jesus is totally okay because Jesus was a dude (Have you ever seen him and Jeff Bridges together?  Makes you wonder...).  Exhausting.  So, Desi, if you're reading this it's not you.  It's me.  I just need some silence.

Yesterday and today were nice because I had the house all to myself (Desi, see above paragraph).  Yesterday I slept in and then Sarah and I went and had Mexican food.  The place didn't serve Pepsi or Coke, because apparently Somerville makes its own cola.  I didn't know.  It's pretty good.  Then I went home and watched the most recent James Bond movie -- I love a good (or bad) spy/action movie!  And then I went to sleep.  At 8.  It was glorious!  Today I went to the reading retreat and got a lot of work accomplished (with headphones in and minimal discussion) AND I got free meals!  It's a win/win. 

Tomorrow is my pre-K Advent event.  So far as I can tell it hasn't been advertised, so attendance may be minimal.  If no one shows up I'm going to trace my hands to make my own Advent wreath...so...stay tuned for that...  After all, aren't we all just giant children?

No Pants Thursday is Two Days Away

Just thought you should know so you can celebrate with me.

So I finished my paper and submitted it last night at 11:20 -- it was due at midnight, so I think I did a good job of getting it done on time.  It usually takes me about an hour to write one page, so for a 10 page assignment you're looking at an all day event, however this time I wrote 12 pages in 7 hours (including proofreading and editing time, which I normally forgo), so that's either a mark of personal growth, or a sign that I wrote a really crappy paper.  I really need to learn to properly outline a paper.  I am working on it.

So, that really was all I had to get done this week.  I'm sitting in the library feeling like I've forgotten something, which is bothersome.

Oh!  I've discovered my new favorite pop album.  It's a couple of years old, but I'm totally digging the Givers In Light album.  I ended up listening to that while writing my paper yesterday instead of the usual.  It's pretty harmonically simplistic, but the grooves are good.  Here's my favorite track so far:

So I ordered this DVD called Essential Yoga for Inflexible People and it came in the mail yesterday.  I think I'm going to go home after work tonight and do it.  I'm getting creaky in my old age and I'm not okay with it.  Plus stretching is just good for you.

I have to do this ritual for my Resource Scarcity & Resilience class and I was just going to do a group prayer, but apparently that's not sensory enough...  So I was thinking about providing some kind of focal/meditation point and doing some kind of intoning thing (which might actually be too sensory).  These are the things you get when you search for "glass aquarium rocks" on Amazon: Nature Shimmer Aquarium Glass Pebbles, The Roots of Rock Drumming Book/DVD, and NFL Buffalo Bills Two Piece Rocks Glass Set.  One of these things is not like the other, and it's the thing I actually need.

I'm working on a Sunday school lesson series for 12-16 year olds for the same class, which, though I've never written curriculum before, is turning out to be a lot of fun.  It's kind of evolving as I work on it and I'm able to incorporate a lot of the stuff I'm learning in other classes into what I'm planning for the kids.

I also have to write an Advent devotional for 4-6 year olds, you know, because Advent is a simple theological concept..  Academic writing, sensory writing, and writing for adolescents and kids...it's stretching my brain in weird new ways.

Emily -- send me some nephew photos stat!  I've got to keep up my cute nephew street cred!  Also, I would like to point out that I haven't gotten a care package from home all semester.  Text me if you need my address, but I'm measuring your love for me in cookies mailed to my house.

Okay, I'm going to go find Chinese food before discussion group.  Go China!

Wait, it's November already?

In three weeks I begin my last year of my twenties.  Weird.  Alternately, as my friend Alex likes to point out, it's the beginning of the 30th year of my life on Earth.  Thank, Alex.  And all I've got to show for it is this ashtray, this paddle-ball game, and these matches...for sure...

Not a banner day for me thus far.  My meeting with my adviser was mediocre and too brief to cover what I needed to.  Class was preachy and boring.  I was struggling to stay awake.  Now I have a 10 page paper to write (due at midnight) and I forgot my headphones.  Hope everyone else in the library likes Vaughan Williams and/or The Hunger Games...

Why those two things?  Well, Vaughan Williams is calming and Fantasia on Thomas Tallis is almost exactly 15 minutes long, so it helps me keep track of the passing time.  I can't explain why The Hunger Games helps me write papers.  Maybe because it makes me thankful I'm writing papers instead of offing my colleagues. 

But this paper is really all I have to do for this week, so maybe I'll get some of my other projects done.  And I have lunch with Sarah tomorrow!  And the lunch I planned for WSA is on Wednesday and then it's over!

I am excited about the classes I get to take next semester though -- couple of worship classes, two travel seminars, and a class on contemporary evangelism.  I'll only have class on Monday and Wednesday, which is pretty darn wonderful.

And now I should really go buy headphones and get back to work.  Scheduled break begins in 2 hours.