How much can happen in a week?

Here's my latest theory: Monday comes around faster than the other days. I don't have much to back that up yet, but I'm working on it.

For now, I'm going to put this past week in chronological order...

Last Friday, Pete came to visit for a belated Valentine's Day. We went to a special V-day opera on Saturday night and you could tell everyone there had this great appreciation for opera. One song I thought was particularly bad and at the end, everyone went wild with applause. "What? That wasn't even good." But overall, I was surprised that I enjoyed it so much. Something new. Although I admit I liked the ones in English a lot because at least I knew what they were saying.

However, getting to the opera was another story. In short, Charlotte roads are crap. What other city has 4 Queens Streets that all intersect? And what other city has a 5th street on one side of town, then a dead end and a continuation of the same street on the other side of town? I find the fact that we have one street named two things especially annoying. A street can be named Franklin Dr. on one side of a red light and Lancaster Road on the other.

But anyway, we were about half an hour late to the opera for the above reasons. And at one point, I was trying to pull over to the side of the street, but got too close to the curb and scraped my hubcap off. Pete put it back on, but it rolled off the next day. HOWEVER, my little Toyota got valet parked at the opera. I thought that was funny, pulling up half an hour late with a missing hubcap and having someone open my door and park my car.

On Sunday, we went out to the parking lot to go to church and realized my car had been broken into. I didn't know whether to cry or scream so I just stood there. The back window on the driver's side was shattered...the little triangular part...and my face plate and iPOD were gone. I was SO mad at myself because I always take my iPOD inside, but had forgotten to grab it out of the glove compartment. And I should have taken the face plate inside with me. But of course I didn't.

Thank God they didn't like my choice in music, though; they left my CDs. I was angry knowing someone was in my car and knowing that I'd have to shell out money for a new window. But what upset me the most was that people even resort to breaking into cars in the first place. I told Pete I wanted to punch them in the face, but he said that wouldn't be good, either...especially on a Sunday, I said.

I put a bag over my window and taped it after Pete put my car back in order. They had left everything on the front seat where they were going through my stuff. The last thing I felt like doing was going to church, but we went anyway...again, half an hour late. But I needed it.

Then we made a trip to Sara's parents' house to Shop Vac all the glass out of my backseat. On the way back home, we passed a security officer at the front of the apartment complex and I thought, "Where were you last night?" I know they can't be everywhere at once, but I always see them at the entrance and never walking around.

I filed a report and told the police that there are security cameras on the property, so keep your fingers crossed.

Mom told me they probably sold my stuff already, but if by some chance I get it back, I should spray it with Lysol. "People like that probably don't wash their hands," she said.

But THEN, a few days ago, I was at a red light in the turn lane and a tractor trailer was on my left side in the lane to go straight. I couldn't see around him, so I was just sitting there and all of a sudden, he starts turning right, around my car. I looked back and it looked like the bed of the truck was going to hit me, so I started to back up. Too late. He scraped my front bumper and I was MAD. I was on the phone with the dentist's office and yelled into the poor girl's ear. I apologized and told her what had just happened, then continued to make an appointment. Then I started thinking that I should get his license plate number in case there was any damage, so I got behind him and repeated the number to the girl on the phone so I could write it down later.

It ended up just being a black scratch around the corner of my bumper, but I was thinking, "What else is going to happen to my car?"

...But back to last weekend, Sunday night was a lot of fun. We had a cook-off! Sara's boyfriend, Adam, came over and the guys made dinner. There's something to be said for a guy who lets you put a pink, flowery apron on him for kicks. We all had a good time and it was nice to have a dinner that wasn't put together in five minutes like I usually do for the sake of time.

Monday, Pete had to fly out at 6:00 in the evening, but like the street names, the Charlotte airport is ridiculous. There was a long line at security, but he got to the gate at 10 til and they had already shut the door. I was on my way to class by then, so I picked him up after class and he flew out at 8 on Tuesday morning. Let me just say that that was the shortest weekend I've ever had...Unfortunately.

On the bright side, my editor asked me if I want to write a column. Um, of course I do! I was thrilled. I'm working on some ideas for a religion column in the paper, which will be right up my alley. I actually just wrote one of my favorite articles so far about a news anchor in Charlotte who's decided to become a full-time Baptist pastor. It was front page today!

And I think it was Tuesday that I went to the clerk's office at the courthouse and heard a great story. I was in line at the cashier window to buy a copy key (which looks like a magnet) and the guy in front of me was paying a fine. He said a cop had pulled him over because he wasn't wearing his seatbelt and later that night, someone T-boned the guy's car. He said he wouldn't be alive if the cop hadn't pulled him over. "$100 well-spent on a lesson well-learned," he said.

As for school, it's going pretty well, but a lot of the lectures aren't as interesting as I thought they'd be. I have trouble focusing when the class is discussing things like, "Are the saints part of the church?" I honestly don't care and after a lengthy internal monologue, I decided it doesn't matter. I started spacing out last week because I'd rather be learning things that I can apply to my everyday life. I'm really interested in apologetics, but what we're learning right now doesn't address that very much.

Although tonight, I was reading about how both Catholics and Protestants view the sacraments, particularly baptism and communion, which was interesting. I can actually use that.

Oh! But I made an A on my first paper! It was on the epistles, but it was pretty easy. I have another one due Monday and then the next Thursday. Wish me luck!

I also need to start my paper for the Aquinas class I took back in January. The professor is kind of driving me nuts. Even in class, he struck me as domineering and someone who likes to be right all the time...which I wasn't expecting in seminary. He was nice and all, but I've been trying to get my paper topic approved by him for the last few weeks and he takes a long time to get back to me. I had called him about my topic, but didn't get a call back, so I e-mailed him a couple days later. He finally responded, then suggested I talk to his assistant who wrote a paper similar to the one I want to write. So I talked to the assistant guy, got a better handle on my topic and e-mailed the professor again to try to set up a time to meet, like we were supposed to.

He e-mails me back, telling me to schedule something with his assistant. So I call the guy again and the professor only has office hours for 2 hours a week and I couldn't make the times. Anyway, the assistant talked to him and told me that the professor wanted a thesis statement, which I had already kind of given. But I add to it and e-mail him again.

You know what I got today? Something about my topic is fine, but covers a lot and TO LET HIM KNOW WHEN I HAVE A THESIS AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

Oh my gosh, what do you think I've been doing? Furthermore, I'm not going to have a lot of details until I actually start working on the paper, which isn't due until April. I was annoyed.

Wow, this is a really long entry. I applaud you if you've made it this far. I bet most of you skimmed the first few paragraphs and gave up.

One more story...I was planning to go to a musical on Saturday night, but decided not to for 3 reasons: 1- Mom and Dad came to Charlotte and I wasn't sure when they were heading back, 2- I needed to get some work done and 3- It would save me 10 bucks. Well as soon as I decided that, I stopped at a gas station on my way home and swiped my card at the pump. Just then, a guy came up with a gas can (I don't know what they're called) and asked if I could spare some gas. He said he hadn't gotten paid that day like he was supposed to and he and his dad were almost out of gas, but he only had a dollar on him. I handed him the pump, wondering if I was being scammed. But I don't think I was.

He put right at $10 in and I stood there, knowing that I had just witnessed a "lesson" of sorts. A lot of expenses have been coming up lately, so I've been trying to save money where I can. But no matter how rough I have it at the moment, there's always someone in more need and at the end of the day, it's just money. It's a material thing of no eternal value. Then I thought of Dad's friend who has cancer and probably not very long to live (the reason they were in town). How can I possibly fuss over $10 when I'm extremely wealthy in so many other areas?