Life After Undergrad

Meanwhile, in Walmart ...

2010-04-02T22:02:00.002-04:00

Sweet, look who's updating her blog JUST in the nick of time to keep her promise! I feel like Obama -- YES I CAN update every month.

(OK, no more comparing myself to Obama. However, here is a hilarious -- and surprisingly on key -- country song about him: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_W57aBMYKvU)

So I bought a battery for my garage door opener at Walmart yesterday. I've done this before and bought exactly the same kind. I got home, put the battery in, pushed the button and it didn't work. I pushed and pushed and pushed, pointed it toward the door this way and that and even turned the battery over even though I knew that wasn't the right way.

Today, I went back to Walmart to get my $3.77 back. The lady at customer service tried to do a return but ran into some weird problems and had to call over another guy. He had no idea what to do so off she went to a manager.

You know when you expect to spend no more than two minutes on something and it takes 10?

I started reading all the signs posted behind the customer service desk, played with the snap on my wallet, checked my phone for the time, then turned around to face all the checkout counters since there was more going on behind me.

I wondered how many Walmart employees are there because there are no other jobs. I wondered if the constant beeping of the scanner gets on their nerves or if they eventually tune it out. I wondered why they couldn't just give me $4 back and be done with it.

The lady came back. "It's rollback time," her pin said. I wondered if she hates wearing it.

I eventually got my money back and left without another battery. What if there's a whole bad batch going around and I have to bring it back again and read more "get your prescription here" signs? I'll only live here another month anyway.

By the way, when did Walmart stop giving out smiley face stickers? Maybe they got tired of peeling them off the buggy handles.

F for Me

2010-03-02T21:56:00.007-05:00

You would think that a writer could keep up with her own blog. "You write for a living," people might say and have said. "I bet it comes easy." Yes, my friends, it does in fact come easy, but unfortunately time is fleeting and fills quickly with other to-dos.

"I have a late meeting; I'll be too tired when I get home."
"I need to call Mom/Pete/Sarah/Ester."
"I have to catch up on my Bible study."
"My bathroom needs to be cleaned, and since it's mine, I guess I'll be the one to do it."
"I love this show. I'll do it tomorrow." And so forth.

So I get a F, but I'd like to think it's for effort. I told Sarah earlier that I'm starting my blog again, and she was impressed. "Most people, if they let it go that long, they never go back," she told me. So there. At least I'm not like most people.

I've thought of at least a million and three things to write on here since my last post a bazillion days ago. Things about school, people I meet, work, things I hear on the radio, disappointing trends, "The Bachelor," wedding plans and the like. Most of those ideas stayed in thought form and are now too foggy to recall.

So, although I am disappointed in my own time lapse, I will prevail. Yes, here I go, delving back into the thought-provoking depths of blogging with a humble, yet attainable, goal of writing at least once a month -- not for anyone particular, not on deadline, just for the sheer joy I get from keeping an online diary of sorts. (That doesn't mean my life has been joyless the past several months, mind you. I just don't always have the motivation to write about it. ... Or I forget.)

Maybe I am motivated now because I got to talk to Mike Minter today about setting goals, or maybe it's the "This American Life" episode I heard about quitting that ruffled my feathers. (I think the quitting lady was supposed to be motivational, but motivating the audience to quit, which I didn't buy into. She seemed a little selfish. Another episode about a 5,000-mile cross-country bike ride, on the other hand, was completely refreshing, even if the guy did it because he thought he would die in six months and is still living almost 20 years later.)

But I digress.

Because there are several random things I want to put into words, as is often the case, I will again turn to the trustworthy bullet format. My new boss says it's easier to read anyway.

1. I'm always tired at work, and I think it's because I have no natural light. (That, or I'm anemic. http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/understanding-anemia-basics Maybe I should buy some iron supplements.) There are windows around the building, but the only bit I can see from my seat is through a massive peep hole four times the size of anyone's eye. I am actually concerned that it is affecting my health. My boss told me to get more sleep, but I get plenty. Pete told me to drink more water, but I drink the same amount I always have and wasn't this tired before I started working there or the Observer for that matter. I couldn't see any windows at the Observer, either. I'm fine on my way to work, when I'm out of the building and once I get home, but as soon as I put my things on my desk in the morning, I yawn. It's like clockwork. It's hard to focus on work when you're so tired, so I proposed that we cut a hole in the roof above my desk to make a skylight. The roof is caving in anyway, so perfect. I'm not as open to having a window in the wall across from me because I'm afraid I'll upset someone with an article and will have rotten eggs thrown at the glass. That, or people will look in when they drive by, which would be just as distracting as being tired. I also proposed a yoga break, but a few people in the newsroom said they wouldn't want to see some of our co-workers do yoga.

2. I will be married in exactly two months. Pete and I went to Hilton Head last weekend to work out some details, and I decided I want to have a house there, or at least a tent on the beach. I am so excited that I can't fall asleep sometimes. We still have to figure out music, give the green light on flower arrangements, finalize a reception menu and take dance lessons, but I absolutely can't wait. I made Mom tell Mamaw that we're having alcohol at the wedding, so that's a small weight off my shoulders, too. (Mamaw wanted to know why we couldn't just have punch.) Pete has been a big help with planning and so has Mom. I'm glad we didn't push to get married last fall, although I am increasingly more impatient.

3. We are also looking for a place to live, which is both scary and exciting. I don't want to feel like we've settled here, although I do think we'll eventually move up north. It's hard to pass up buying a home right now because there are so many cheap places, and we could get the tax credit. I'm ready to start our lives together, but I feel a little blind going into it since I've never bought a house before. I suppose we will grow wherever we're planted. At least we're in it together.

4. I really enjoyed work today. I've always liked my job, but the past couple of weeks have been a bit stressful. Today was different. As I posted on Facebook earlier, a grandmother called and nearly cried when I told her I would mail her a copy of her grandson's picture in the paper so she wouldn't have to drive 15 miles to pick it up. Another lady asked me to have breakfast with her one Saturday simply because she wants to meet me in person. She calls me when she wants events put in the paper. I interviewed another man whose father was an alcoholic and abused his family. He turned his life around and is running for the state Senate. ... I also keep a stack of "fan mail" in my personal archives. Compliments from readers or sources mostly. They make me feel better when I'm having a bad day and remind me that I can do my job and do it well. There are so many interesting stories to be told, and I love telling them. Some stories touch people's lives, get them involved, make them laugh or cry or call me the next day, having no idea who I am, to tell me they enjoyed reading an article. Even calling people back when I say I will makes a big impression on them, and I like knowing that I'm making a difference, even if it's just for a few minutes. I needed that today.

5. A couple of weeks before I graduated, I couldn't believe the end was so close. I briefly thought about auditing a class this semester, then decided that I needed to pare down my commitments for a while. I was excited to wrap up the assignments, but knew I would miss it, and I was right. I'm still there for my Bible study and I still have my friends, but I REALLY want to continue making an effort to stay connected. The first Wednesday of the new semester, it was weird not being in class. I was happy not to sit in class for three hours, but I also felt like I was missing out. I was back on campus a couple of weeks later to meet Stephanie for lunch. Standing outside the building, it was like being with an old, comforting friend. People talk about spiritual nourishment, and that's exactly what SES gives me. I miss immersing myself in the people and discussions there, but I still have so many opportunities to learn and share what I already know.

6. Hilda's dogs are driving me insane. They're dirty, spoiled and annoying as heck. Hilda is truly a caring, compassionate person, but I've never hated an animal so much. It's not that I don't like dogs; I just don't like THESE dogs. They were sick a while back and I was so hoping that they would keel over, but then they got better. Punishment. They get treats for everything and whine or bark constantly, then get sick and throw up on the carpet. I feel bad disliking them so much, but how much can a roommate take? I guess it could be worse, but I'm not sure how. (This entry seems inconsistent with #5, but I'm not sure how to approach this one with a positive, polite attitude.)

Circle of Faith

2009-08-27T22:52:00.002-04:00

Two weeks into my last semester, it's really hitting me how much I'll miss SES. Sure, I'll keep in touch with some friends, continue reading Christian books and find Bible studies to go to, but I'm not sure it'll be the same. I won't be in class every semester, challenging my faith two or more times a week, and I'm afraid of losing that built-in support system.

That's not something I get at work, in most of my relationships or in some of the churches I've been to. (Thankfully, I think my church now is the best one I've ever had.) Most of the friendships or work relationships I have with people are surface level: "How are you?" "Fine, and you?" "Yeah, I'm good." "Nice weather we're having." "Sure is."

Of course, there are moments, especially in a newsroom, where we'll get into deeper topics that actually have some meaning, but it's not the constant stimulation and rejuvenation that seminary has given me.

I just got back from class and I'm still on a mini emotional high if that can happen. I would be on a regular emotional high, but I'm tired. ... We had chapel tonight and I chatted with Alex (the school's president) for about 10 minutes afterwards. He's always meeting and talking with the big whigs of apologetics and Christian thinking, but he's so humble. It's refreshing, and I know I'm not always like that. (He's having dinner with Chuck Colson in New York in a few weeks and was almost apologetic about it, like he's not worthy.)

Anyway, it's absolutely amazing how God has used him and all the doors that have opened up for him. It's exciting to think I might have similar doors opened, but it also makes me impatient because sometimes I want them all right now. I want to travel and I want to write about religion and I want to use what I'm learning to reach as many people as possible.

I love my job and I know we should "bloom where we're planted," but I still get restless. I wonder if that's selfish -- if I'm trying to force my own wishes instead of listening to God's. ... Hm, I just remembered that I bought a book on the Alaska cruise called "How to Listen to God" by Charles Stanley. Maybe it's time to crack that baby open.

Tonight, Alex was saying that it doesn't matter how many people know our names, but how many people know Jesus' name. I keep telling myself I want to make a difference, but then two things pop into my head:

1. Do I want to make a difference so people can point to me and say, "Look how much she knows," or do I want to make a difference so people can say, "Look what God has done"?

and 2. Maybe I am making a difference -- the Christian girl writing for a secular newspaper, finding that religion comes up every week and taking an opportunity to discuss her own faith. Or the reporter who proved to you that there are decent reporters out there who do care about the people, not just the story.

I keep thinking of another quote I heard that says something like "some people are so anxious for a door to open that they fail to see the open window that's been there all along." I'm sure I botched that, but you get the idea.

I told Alex that I still want to be plugged in to the seminary post-graduation. It's fed me spiritually in a way I never knew existed and I don't want to lose that connection. I know part of the idea is to prepare us for "the outside world," but I still hope I can hold fast to that circle of faith.

Swinging in the Rain

2009-08-12T19:52:00.004-04:00

Today is my day off. It always seems like my days "off" are just as busy as my (on?) days, but no matter; today I got to swing and it made me feel 4 again. (Or 11 or 15 or any other age that I've loved to swing, which is all of them.)

Although I've spent a good portion of the day doing work -- putting together a presentation, cleaning my bathroom, buying Drano -- the 8 minutes I spent swinging this morning were refreshing. I had just dropped Pete off at the airport (it's guy's weekend, better known as "mancation," at his cabin in MN) and I decided to go for a walk. It was drizzling and overcast, but so much better than the 100 degrees it was yesterday.

So off I went. On the way back, I eyed the swingset as I got closer, finally plopping my red shorts onto a soggy swing and taking hold of the slippery metal chains. This was about the time I would've been checking my e-mail at work. ... Who wouldn't make that trade?

Across the pond was a dad fishing with his son. The dad kept looking over and I imagine thinking "she's too big to be on a swing." Or maybe he was just wishing he could swing, too, without looking childish in front of the boy. No one is too big to swing.

Now it's 8:15 and almost dark outside and I'm wishing I was back on that swing because my sloth of a computer is driving me nuts. How am I supposed to put a presentation together if each slide takes half a lifetime to pop up? And somewhere along the line, my desktop background decided to turn black.

Maybe it's a sign from God that I should do something else.

P.S. Just in case you forgot how tall I am or the fact that I generally look dreadful in anything yellow, the picture below is not of me.

Alaska cruise 8 - "Until We Meet Again"

2009-07-22T16:57:00.004-04:00

Thursday, July 16

I knew on the first day of our cruise that the week would go by too fast. Still, I find myself writing the last entry thinking, "I can't believe it's almost over."

With legs about twice as long as Mamaw's, I don't know if she'll ever travel with me again. Her feet hurt a lot and I heard "slow down" more than once. At the same time, I saw the twinkle in her eyes more than I heard "slow down," so I think the amount of time she had fun outweighs the amount of time she secretly cursed long hallways and endless flights of stairs.

Today we slept in until 10, although we lost an hour of sleep with the time change. While Mamaw got ready, I did two loads of laundry (so I wouldn't smell up my suitcase), then we had a late lunch. My lunchbox isn't going to cut it after this cruise.

We sat through a staff farewell (tear), then packed our suitcases. Beefore we knew it, it was 5:30 and time for our last dinner on deck. "Yes, we will feed you 'til the bitter end," the activities director said.

By 7, we were docked in Victoria, British Columbia, and made our way to a bus to go to a lighted tour of Butchart Gardens. We were on the same bus as the ladies from dinner.

The gardens were absolutely beautiful. 67 acres of all kinds of flowers, trees, arbors and water fountains -- a Japanese garden, the sunken garden, Italian Garden, rose garden and Mediterranean garden. It reminded me of Biltmore's gardens but better. We also saw the Big Dipper! (Or Little Dipper, I don't know which. ... How do you know the difference if you don't have the other one to compare it to anyway?)

When we got back, it was 11:30 and time to board the ship one last time. We'll be in Seattle around 8 a.m.

I think Mamaw is overwhelmed with so many things to do and keep up with right now, but I have a feeling she'll be traveling more. She's already ready to come back. I told her we should go up the east coast next ... or Paris.

As our dining room steward, Sonny, said today, there are no goodbyes. "Until we meet again," he said. I like that.

Alaska cruise 7 - The Travel Bug

2009-07-22T16:41:00.004-04:00

Wednesday, July 15

Mamaw has always wanted to travel. I asked her what's the farthest she's ever been from home prior to this trip and she said she went to New York when she was about 13. She also went to D.C. in 1985. She called that "a few years ago."

So I guess she's had the itch to travel more since 1945, minus the D.C. trip. Mom gets the same kind of restlessness, as does Dad, so I blame my travel bug on them.

Papaw, on the other hand, is a self-proclaimed homebody. "I think it's 'cause he's bashful," Mamaw said. He stays busy doing things, whether helping his brother in the country, mowing the yard, tending to the vegetable garden or watering the flowers, but doesn't like to stray far from home.

... Which is why I'm really glad we're on this trip. Before the cruise even came up, I told Mamaw about a year ago that I was going to take her on a trip somewhere. Well she's ended up taking me, but I'm honored to be invited and so happy to spend this time together. I'd love to go on extended trips like this with everyone in the family -- Papaw, Mom, Dad, Seth, Emily, etc.

Living away, (although not that far), I miss out on a lot of things and feel like there's so much I don't know about my family sometimes. Thank goodness Mom fills me in. She's my Tennessee newspaper.

I also feel like I miss out on some lessons all these people could teach me. I've tried to go home more this year, but it's still not the same as living nearby. If Pete and I move away, I'll probably see them even less. This is where I wish our families lived in the same state.

I'm getting off track. ... Today has been pretty restful. We didn't have to get up early again, but had a good time on a Misty Fjords and Wilderness Explorer excursion. Our ship docked in Ketchikan, then we took a boat about an hour out to more untouched land -- misty fjords just like the brochure said. We also saw a bunch of harbor seals. I bet they'd make good pets if you had the space.

While on the boat, we got complimentary hot chocolate and either clam chowder or vegetarian chili. I had the chili because it smelled too good to pass up.

I slept most of the way back, then we rushed through a few gift shops looking for one more souvenir. We only had 40 minutes before we had to be back on the ship and this was our last stop in Alaska.

Even though I've passed the opportunity up several times now, I'm kicking myself for not getting the Alaska shirt I wanted. I didn't want to spend the money, but it was cheap and now I keep seeing people on deck wearing it. It was my favorite color, too. :(

We again went to the Rotterdam Dining Hall for dinner and I'm really going to miss the ladies we've been sitting with. I'm going to look the girls up on Facebook.

Before another Bible study started, we went back to the room. Mamaw had left her glasses there and we found them on the "eyes" of probably the only moose we'll see here. The staff always comes in to tidy the rooms and add different towel creatures during dinner. This was by far the best.

Still not the best part of the day, though. That goes to the midnight chocolate buffet. Could God have created anything greater? With violin and cello music in the background, Mamaw and I made our way through plate after plate of cakes, cheesecakes, truffles and chocolate covered strawberries. Chefs added ice sculptures, a chocolate fountain and fruit fountain to the display. We sat with Toni and Heidi (the two other ladies from dinner) and Mamaw finally got a picture with her new friend and the friend's daughter. The lady's last name is Hutcheson, but I don't know her first name.

By the way, Mamaw has officially misplaced the most items I've ever seen in the time we've been here. I think it's because we have so many papers to keep up with and all our luggage and clothes are crammed in the closets. She's "found" three things she thought she lost in one of her suitcases. (I keep telling her to let me get the suitcase off the shelf because it's heavy, but she insists she can do it. "I'm big and strong," she told me earlier this week. "I'm not sure about the big part," I said.)

Last stop -- Victoria!

Alaska cruise 6 - Happy Birthday times Three

2009-07-22T16:31:00.005-04:00

Tuesday, July 14

As much as I've loved our excursions and look forward to two more, it was nice to stay in and relax today, also known as Mamaw's birthday.

We started out with breakfast in the room. I've realized how much I like to be served. Then we took our time going out on deck, but it was incredible when we did. There were chunks of ice everywhere in the water and ginormous fjords. Still no goats, bears or moose sightings. We were again blessed with good weather, although I did get some use out of my toboggan and scarf.

Lunch was next and we both got ice cream cones afterwards. Mmm. We've also had some great dinners in Rotterdam -- king crab, New York strip steak with green beans and mashed potatoes, etc. As luck has it, we sat beside the ladies Mamaw met yesterday and they exchanged addresses.

Our next plan of action was to grab a book and find a quiet place to read, but we both fell asleep before we left the room. I slept for about two hours. I could've slept longer, but the activities director made an announcement about the captain's reception at 4:45. It was already 4:35, so I jumped up and got ready. Most people were dressed up and headed to the Mondriaan Lounge to hear a short presentation by a handful of men in charge of the ship. We watched a jazz band play before going to dinner.

I'd given Mamaw all her birthday cards earlier. At dinner, I told a guy it was her birthday, but that she didn't want to be sung to. She'd warned me several times.

By dessert time, a couple of waiters brought over a small piece of chocolate mousse cake and ice cream for everyone at the table. Mamaw's plate had an edible "Happy Birthday" greeting. The other ladies at the table and I sang "Happy Birthday" quietly to not attract attention.

Later, however, we went to the piano bar to hear Babbie Mason, who asked if anyone had a birthday so she could determine who to give one of her books to. I raised Mamaw's hand and Babbie, along with the audience, sang to her. Wendy and Maureen (the mother and daughter from our dinner table) were also there. So, ha, she still got her song. :)

It was great, too, because Mamaw told me later that she wanted that book. After the concert, Babbie signed it and sang a Stevie Wonder version of "Happy Birthday" with her sister.

Mamaw also got a free DVD from Jerry Vines when he heard about the special day.

So in the end, I think she's had a really good day full of surprises. I'm happy to be a part of it.

P.S. I had a dream about checking my e-mail, but it's still nice not to have the distractions of cell phones and the Internet. ... And to get paid vacation.

Alaska cruise 5 - Saddle and Paddle

2009-07-22T16:29:00.003-04:00

Monday, July 13

Today is Mom and Dad's 25th anniversary and I hate that I'm not around to celebrate. I hope they got my card. They'll also be seeing an announcement in the local paper this Sunday, so I hope they like it. (Thanks, Andy!)

Otherwise, today has been amazing. My first stop was the Scagway port at 8 a.m. where I met 9 others to take a bus to the Yukon, then canoeing on Spirit Lake. The ride up took an hour and a half, but the scenery was incredible. Crystal clear water and sunshine everywhere. Everyone keeps telling us how lucky we are to have such great weather.

I'm pretty sure I've seen pictures of Spirit Lake before, but actually being there was amazing. I paddled with a lady named Phyllis. The water was only 4 to 5 feet deep where we went and we saw moose tracks all over the bottom of the lake. (It was named Spirit Lake because when the wind blows through, it makes a whistling noise and the natives thought they could communicate with their ancestors' spirits.)

Once out of the lake, we had lunch at a little restaurant. I had a salmon salad sandwich, soup sort of like minestrone and apple pie -- all made by the lady who runs it. Then it was off to the barn where we grabbed helmets for horseback riding. I got a horse named Spirit. Emily loves horses, especially the movie "Spirit," so I got her a red horseshoe with the horse's name on it as a souvenir.

The ride was fantastic. Last time I went riding was with Pete in New Zealand where it hailed on us and my saddle came loose. But this was a very easy ride through a wooded area, by a river, then back up the mountain. There are moose, bears and elk in the area during other parts of the year apparently. I think the guide said they've moved up the mountain by now.

On the way back to Scagway, we passed Bove Island and listened to our guide tell stories about the Gold Rush in Alaska and Canada. I don't think I would've liked to be one of the scavengers.

Then several years ago, he said, one guy cleared some trees along the Alaska Highway to make room for a home. Authorities told him he couldn't cut them down and to put them back, so he placed them in the ground upside down. I was on the wrong side of the bus to get a picture of that one.

I was exhausted by the time I got back, but headed out once again after I got clean. Mamaw was on her second excursion. I bought Dad's souvenir and two photo scrapbooks. I'm giving one to Mamaw tomorrow for her birthday. I also got pictures of where Sarah Palin grew up and a guy's backyard where he's created a lawn mower cemetery for locals' old mowers.

Once Mamaw got back, we swapped stories. She didn't like the second trip as much because the bus driver backed up when she was trying to put her things overhead and she fell in the aisle. She was fine, but the driver made her fill out papers about the incident for liability. Everyone asked if she was OK and one lady kept offering her Excedrin. She doesn't like to cause a fuss, but I feel bad that I wasn't there. She did befriend one elderly lady from Decatur, Ga., and her two daughters.

Our Bible study was really good tonight, too. Jerry Vines spoke about doing things for God's glory, not men, and storing up heavenly treasures instead of earthly ones. Then we watched more comedy by Geraldine and Ricky.

At 11 p.m., we went out on deck and it was beautiful. Still light enough to see things, although my camera didn't want a photo of the lighthouses to save its life. Tomorrow's passage is supposed to be even prettier.

Alaska cruise 4 - I Know What You Mean

2009-07-22T15:52:00.004-04:00

Sunday, July 12

Pete has always told me how beautiful Alaska is. After he spent last summer there, I could tell he missed it, but oh do I understand why now. Before this trip, I thought a person must be pretty special to want to live here. It's cold, it stays light or dark all the time and it's far away from everything. But it also gets warm (we've had weather in the mid-60s to low 70s), you have a ton of space and the air is so much clearer. Far from Charlotte's irritating humidity.

When Mamaw and I made it on deck this morning, we were surrounded by snow-capped mountains and green trees. It was one of those moments you know you need to soak in because it just doesn't happen that often. I must've taken five pictures from every angle, but I wanted to make sure I captured it (even though that's impossible to do entirely).

When we got off the ship in Juneau, we rode the tram up to Mount Roberts. I could handle that view every day. (Although I say that and still wonder if I could ever be content in one place my whole life.) Then back down the tram and a little bit of shopping before we boarded a bus for our Photo Safari by Land and Sea excursion. Our guide didn't look much older than me, but is a professional photographer. She's moving to Colorado this fall to do more work on a documentary.

Anyway, she and another guide, Mike, took us out on a boat for sightseeing at Auke Bay. She gave us some camera pointers and we spent most of the time trying to photograph humpback whales. At one point, there were several to raise up out of the water at one time, not far at all from another tourist boat. I saw it, but of course missed it with my camera. The guide (Jennifer) told us they were feeding on herring. There was also a baby humpback whale that kept jumping up and we decided he was showing off.

We had a chance to photograph bald eagles, too, but I'm not a bird person. I did, however, breathe in the pine smell as much as possible. Reminded me of Christmas.

The next stop was Mendenhaal Glacier. I don't remember the exact number of feet, but it's moved a LOT since 1916. (Did it move before that? I don't know.) There were markers where the glacier used to be and it's about a mile or so farther out now. It leads to the Juneau ice fields, which are HUGE. (According to the Hawaiian guy, Juneau is also the second largest city in the nation, but much, much less populated than most.)

The guide also offered walking sticks to everyone on our rainforest walk. Mamaw took one and I told her she looked like Moses, especially when she passed between two big rocks.

It's amazing how different one state is to another. And how massive everying in Alaska seems to be. Humongous mountains, crisp air and wildlife everywhere. Absolutely gorgeous. I told Mamaw I could get used to celebrating the Sabbath this way.

Tomorrow we have more excursions planned in Scagway. Mamaw looked at her schedule earlier and didn't realize she'd have to get up early again to be at the port in time. "Oh my mercy, that's 8:10!" she said. "I'll have to go home to get a rest."

Her first stop tomorrow will be a White Pass Summit train ride, then a trip up another mountain to a suspension bridge. The latter is dubbed "bridge and bake" on her ticket. "We're gonna bake a bridge," she predicted.

Well I have to go now. She's already asleep and getting up earlier than I think she needs to. She said she'll need more time if her hair "doesn't lay right" in the morning.

Alaska cruise 3 - Better Busy Than Bored

2009-07-22T15:39:00.004-04:00

Saturday, July 11

I'm exhausted. As Mamaw said earlier, the people on the ship certainly don't want you to be bored.

So this morning I got up early, planning to meet a group to go on a mile walk around the ship. There was no one there when I got to the meeting place and I soon found out that it was 9 a.m., not 8 a.m., and I had missed it. My cell phone hadn't changed yet. We also missed breakfast and had to get room service, but it made for a relaxing morning.

At 10:45, we went to a presentation where a lady gave us inside tips on shopping at the ports. Most of it was about jewelry, but interesting all the same. Since we had a late breakfast, we skipped lunch and went to a Charles Stanley book signing, then to a presentation about the history of Juneau, Scagway and Ketchikan, Victoria, B.C. The presenter is Hawaiian and said there are more people on his island of Oahu than in all of Alaska -- "the last frontier." So excited to see the places in person.

Then it was time for Mamaw's birthday gift. :) A foot and ankle massage at the spa. She said it helped a lot, so yay! The masseuse is Australian and it made me miss Australia. I have a feeling this cruise will give me the same feeling as when I went there -- you think you'll get the travel bug out of your system for awhile, but it just makes you want to travel more.

After the spa, I went to the gym for awhile and Mamaw read a book in the waiting room. The treadmill I was on overlooked the ocean and it was hard to run straight when the ship rocked.

Then off to dinner with live violin music. Of course as soon as I walked over to take a video, they started playing the theme song to "Titanic." How original. ... And not the best song to play when you're in the middle of the ocean.

We also had a Bible study and heard Stan Whitmire play the piano and Greater Vision sing. We wrapped up the evening with a comedy skit. I was a little apprehensive about that part because it involved a ventriloquist, but the lady had us laughing every two seconds. Her name is Geraldine and the puppet is Ricky.

Now it's so late I don't even want to look at the clock. I'm watching Larry King Live -- a special on Michael Jackson. We have church at 8:15, so I guess I gotta get some sleep. Next stop -- Juneau!

Alaska cruise 2 - "I Could Get Used to This"

2009-07-22T15:16:00.004-04:00

Friday, July 10

Mamaw: "Well this is it."

Me: "Isn't that what you said that time you were driving and you thought the truck was going to hit you?"

Mamaw: "Oh yeah, I forgot about that. ... Well this is a different kind of 'it.'"

Mamaw and I left the hotel to board the bus this morning, grins plastered on our faces like kids going to Disney World. Once to the port, it was a long process to check in -- one which included a brief health survey with a list of embarrassing questions to which anyone answering "yes" must be abnormally secure. Then it was finally time to board and even the most elaborate cruise commercials hadn't prepared me for the first view inside. Rich-colored carpets, shiny railings, grand staircases and a really tall organ in the middle of the 4th deck.

We first ate lunch in the Lido Restaurant, which has a great view of the ocean. It'll be hard not to have dessert with every meal. Then exploring on deck where we decided only a hammock would make it more perfect. "I could get used to this," Mamaw said.

When our room was ready, we crammed in our luggage and unpacked to make more space. Small but cute. We won't spend much time here anyway. By then it was time for dinner, so we made our way to the Rotterdam Dining Hall. We share a table with four other women -- a mother and daughter from New York and an aunt and niece from Oregon. We also have a window seat and watched mountains, boats and lighthouses pass by as we ate dinner. I had almond crusted salmon with zucchini and carrots.

Charles Stanley spoke at 8:15, so we listened to his sermon about developing intimate relationships -- being the friend, spouse or family member people need and really investing time and effort into the relationship.

We made another trip outside awhile ago, but it's now so foggy you can't see anything. It made me think of when Titanic hit an iceberg.

Tomorrow we're on the ship all day, but there are several things planned. Everyone here is really nice and we met a couple of ladies who live five minutes from me in Matthews. Small world. ... I still can't believe I'm on a cruise.

Alaska cruise 1 - Everything But the Pillow Mint

2009-07-22T15:02:00.005-04:00

I got back from Alaska last Friday after a weeklong cruise with Mamaw. Here are the journal entries I wrote during our trip -- parts 1 through 8.

I'll also include some pictures later on, but for a more complete album, go to http://travel.webshots.com/album/573683590rtVkNv?vhost=travel.

***

Thursday, July 9

I never pictured Mamaw in Seattle. Or even myself really -- too much rain. Yet here we are -- Mamaw dead to the world in her bed beside me and me writing this after flying across country and exploring Washington for an entire afternoon.

Her idea to take an Alaska cruise started a few months ago. She saw an ad in a monthly In Touch Charles Stanley magazine and "felt like the Lord just spoke to me."

"We should go to Alaska," I said when she told me about it. I meant it, but sort of forgot about it until she brought it up again a week or two later. After weeks of planning -- her getting a passport, me reserving plane tickets and several phone calls and forms later, we've done it. Just 19 hours before our ship departs. I'm just as excited for her as I am for myself.

When we got to our room, the only thing missing was a mint on the pillow. Poofy white covers, a flat screen TV, a basket of snacks and a view of a theatre and The Cheesecake Factory from the 10th floor.

I debated how to fit all the free snacks in my bag while rummaging through a king size Kit Kat, Hershey bar with almonds, cashews, expensive potato chips and a glass jar of Gummi Bears shaped like a Gummi Bear.

Having skipped lunch, I popped open the chips and chomped away. That's when I saw a slip of paper with the title "May we tempt you with something?" Turns out the chips were $4 and the rest of the goodies were just as ridiculously expensive. I would've left the rest and asked them to charge me $2, but I didn't think it would fly. I was also upset to see the label on an enticing liter of water -- "A charge of $5 will be billed to your room if consumed." I took my empty Dasani bottle to the bathroom sink.

Once we got settled in, I called Andy, then Papaw, to let them know we were here. It was about a 5 1/2 hour flight and we're now 3 hours behind. I handed the phone to Mamaw and Papaw said he missed her already. She told him not to get hurt while she's gone.

Then we walked about 5 blocks down to Pike's Farmers Market by the water. Lots of pretty flowers and smelly fish for sale. Then to Etta's for dinner where we both had a bowl of clam chowder. Afterwards, we took the monorail to the Space Needle. Standing underneath it, I thought how amazing it is that I traveled such a long way in such a short time today. That and Frasier.

Oh yes, and I completed the evening with a fabulous ice cream cone that was less expensive than the chips.

Country Bumpkin

2009-06-13T22:17:00.007-04:00

After a quick Google search for the definition of "country bumpkin," it seems there is no universal agreement. Just know that for my purposes, I don't mean it as "awkward, simple rustic person" (courtesy of Free Dictionary online), but in the most polite, bless your heart way. The kind of way that makes me think of honest country living, complete with banjo songs about the three-legged dog Skip, first kisses behind the football bleachers and summer evenings sitting on the patio, drinking sweet tea.

Having said that, I think my mom is a country bumpkin. I told Pete awhile back that I think she should start a show like "Prairie Home Companion," but set in Tennessee. She always has a story to tell about something silly that happened at home or work, and the funny part is that she doesn't even mean them to be silly.

For example, we were talking probably a month ago about mosquito bites and she started telling me about how she got "eaten up" one night when she was playing outside as a kid. Her eye and lip swelled from the bites and Mamaw was so worried that she prayed over Mom and anointed her with olive oil. I laughed so hard I nearly fell over. (I remember having a similar laughing attack shortly after I met Pete and he thought I was having a nervous breakdown. That made me laugh harder.)

Then a few weeks ago, she was telling me that she had to sell tickets for a beer tasting and felt bad inside. I don't remember what it was for (maybe work, but she works for Second Harvest Foodbank, so I'm not sure where alcohol would have come in), but it reminded me of when she worked at the grocery store and said she felt the same way when she rang up alcohol. She took a sip of alcohol once when she was younger and cried about it all weekend.

Shortly after the alcohol story, I called one night and a tornado was going through their town. Mom was outside with Dad and I think Seth, watching the dark clouds move over the house. I told them they're like that one family you see on natural disaster shows who watches the storm instead of seeking shelter. Meanwhile, Emily was upstairs in the bathtub, yelling downstairs for someone to bring her toys in so they wouldn't get blown away. "Shouldn't you get her out of the bathtub?" I asked. "Yeah, I should get offa here," Mom said before proceeding to tell me how Emily is getting cranky because her permanent teeth are coming in. "I think that's partly her problem," she said. Somewhere in the conversation, she added that Seth is doing lawn care for a nearby school and mowing for a lady named Pansy.

She also started a bunco night with some friends back in the fall. I don't know if she's played recently, but she was all excited the first time because she won $7 (even though I think she lost). One of the ladies she was playing with was nervous that the cops would bust them for gambling, and Mom thought that was funny.

It would be even funnier if you could hear her accent when telling these things. (Think "iiiiice" and "britches.") Ladies and gentlemen, my comic relief, my mother. Bless her heart.

P.S. Mom - I mean all of the above in the most loving way possible. Thanks for making me laugh and for always reading my blog.

Red Hat, Blue Sky

2009-05-06T21:18:00.007-04:00

I decided two days ago that I'm going to be in the Red Hat Society when I hit 50. I might even join the Pink Hats when I'm in my 40s. I recently looked up the society online out of pure curiosity and clicked on "What do we do?" The answer? "We do exactly what we wish to do." That, combined with the pictures of road trips and massive Red Hat gatherings, sold me. They even have a Queen Mother, how fun! I wonder if I could make my own title. The only thing I'm not sure about is the purple dress with the red hat. I don't like not matching. Although that's part of the point, so I guess I can comply.

I've also made it my long-term goal to become a runner. I say long-term because with my summer class starting in less than a month, two books and a presentation to do beforehand and three classes this fall, I've decided I can't handle much more. Betsy (editor) pointed me to this great Web site where she downloaded pod casts to help her train for a 5K. It's called the Couch to 5K Running Plan.

http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml

I settled on the running goal because I went running a couple of weeks ago and was not impressed with my endurance. I think it's much easier to run on a treadmill, but I like running outside more. I'm also planning to work on the arms. :) Watch out, difficult-to-open glass jars!

I should also give an update on the wedding planning. You get the brief version because I still have to study.

So Pete and I went to Charleston several weeks ago with his parents to look at venues. We found some good stuff, but decided against a few places because of price, then went back to Charleston a few weeks ago to look at the Citadel Beach House. We didn't know about it before or we would've looked at it the first time around. I really liked it at first, but Pete was concerned about the upkeep, and the more I thought about it, it concerned me, too. Plus, we didn't feel like we were anyone's priority.

Now we're planning to go to Hilton Head when he gets back. He's in MN visiting family right now and hopefully having a wonderful time. :) There's a place there called the Sea Pines Resort and it's a little pricey, but seems really nice and I think people there would really help us with the planning, which they should for the cost. That would be great since we're not exactly close. It's about a 4 1/2 drive. So I'm crossing my fingers we'll have a date in a few weeks or so. I've almost been to the point lately where I think, "This is a lot of work, lets just pick a church and be done with it," but I'm only getting married once and I know I'd regret it. I've told Pete he can plan the honeymoon since he's not crazy about the beach. (More crossed fingers for honeymoon money, haha).

On another note, I'm starting a "favorite things" list on here. There are lots of things to get annoyed or frustrated by during the day, but that doesn't do any good, so the list is mostly to remind me of all the little things that make me happy. There's always room to remind yourself of the blessings in life. Feel free to comment and add your list!

Uncomfortable Christianity

2009-04-02T23:40:00.006-04:00

I can't begin to describe the comfort it gives me to be a Christian and know that there's an all-powerful, just and compassionate God who loves me and guides me, is merciful and forgiving. It's comforting to know that there's more after death than being cooped up in a casket and that I have a purpose in life until then. And I feel safe saying that I can handle anything that comes my way as long as I have my faith and a personal relationship with Christ.

But sometimes it feels like someone is rubbing sandpaper against my heart.

One of my bosses is an atheist -- a down-to-earth, patient and intelligent atheist. My co-workers and I have gotten into a few conversations about religion and I honestly think that sometimes he's searching for us to say something that will convince him there is indeed a God.

I've also been e-mailing two Chinese students through a program at school. We've gotten to know each other and every week, we have a different theological question to discuss. The guy says he believes in God, but the girl doesn't think God exists because she says she hasn't seen proof. I've definitely used what I've learned in class to answer their questions and it's a wonderful feeling to be able to explain some of the deeper parts of why I believe the way I do. We've had some great discussions about where we come from, our purpose in life, what comes after death and so on. Even if she doesn't come to Christ through my e-mails, I hope I'm at least planting a seed. And even though the guy says he believes in God, I don't know that he's necessarily a Christian. I think he probably believes in a higher power, but that that power is the one and only God whose Son died for our sins, I'm not sure.

During one of our exchanges, we watched an online video that asked people what their purpose in life is. It made me want to cry to hear people say "do well in school" or "have fun then become worm chow." Then what? It's great to do well in school, share your happiness, do good things and blah blah blah, but all that means nothing apart from God. It's even frustrating sometimes to have so much proof for His existence around us and still so many people who are blind to it.

Today, I watched another video about Heaven and Hell. Several people said they were probably going to Hell, but they weren't worried because that's where their friends will be.

Although it makes me that much more anxious to be the kind of witness I feel I should be, I get impatient. Why can't they see that it makes complete sense to have a Creator? Why can't they see that there's more to life than going clubbing and drinking themselves senseless? Why can't people see that God is loving? I've heard people say several times that when things are going well, it's because of something they've done, but when things turn sour, oh, that's God punishing them again.

A couple of days ago, I sent a message to one of my friends from high school. We were never close, but I wanted to say hi and see how she's doing. I got her message back soon after and, no joke, I'm really afraid she could be borderline suicidal. She's been through a lot and put herself through a lot. She said she's homeless right now, which probably means she's staying with friends. I'd love to offer her the guest bedroom here, but 1 - it's Hilda's house and she'd need to charge rent and 2 - I'm actually afraid to. She has a lot of issues going on from drugs and problems in school to unhealthy relationships and anger management issues, but I feel like this is the perfect time to reach out. I told her to call me if she needs me and to let me know what I can do for her. I have no idea how she'll respond. ... There's so much sadness and hurt in the world that it can be a real burden just to hear about it. I haven't yet mastered giving all my worries over to God.

Occasionally, I'll write a quote or Bible verse on my dry erase board. Right now, I have one taken from 1 Tim. 1:6, 12. "Fan into flame the gift of God. ... For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline. ... (I) am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him for that day."

So many people groan, roll their eyes or ignore anything that has to do with the Bible, God and Christianity. And you know what? Sometimes it's understandable. Red-faced, suspendered preachers yelling about fire and brimstone and telling girls not to wear pants don't help. People like Joel Osteen who preach the Bible but not the Gospel don't give us a good name. And televangelists who take people's money certainly leave a bad taste in the mouth. So-called Christians who support gay marriage and abortion aren't exactly setting a good example, either.

But all the people I just mentioned -- from the druggies to the cynical to the downright misinformed -- are the ones who need to hear about God the most. It's the most important thing in the world. It's urgent. Even now, I sometimes get embarrassed voicing my religious opinions in front of non-Christian friends or feel like I'm being too goody-goody, but believing in God should be the last thing I'm embarrassed about. Look at how much He's done for me and I can't stand up for that? How ashamed I should be to hang my head or keep my mouth shut.

One of my favorite verses is Luke 11:33. "No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead he puts it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light."

God's Word does no good if we're selfishly keeping it to ourselves. How many lives could be changed if we left the light in plain sight?

I suppose it's better for us to be uncomfortable in situations like these. It would be a greater cause for worry if we could listen to these things and not be moved to do something about it.

Lunch Break

2009-03-24T22:59:00.002-04:00

I've noticed a lot of pregnant ladies walking around lately. I think they're really cute until it gets to be about 7 or so months into it and then it just looks uncomfortable. It makes me never want to have kids. There should be some way you can just skip that part. I guess that's adoption.

So I had one of the best lunch breaks ever on Monday. It was REALLY nice outside ... mid 60's and sunny ... and Pete rode his motorcycle over to meet me for lunch. We went to a park close to my work and ate outside and then I got to swing! It doesn't get much better than that. That beats the break room any day.

I'm also looking forward to this weekend. His parents are meeting my parents (as Nichole would say, "the meet and greet") and then I'm tagging along with his family to the Biltmore. Charleston might also be in the weekend plans, but I'm not sure. Either way, I'm off Friday and Monday, so yay vacation days! (Well, one technically isn't since I work next Saturday, but anyway...)

Class was fun tonight, too. One of the professors led chapel and talked about his trip to the Grand Canyon last summer. He gave a bunch of evidence for the flood and had some great pictures. Then he talked to our class for another 45 minutes or so and I realized how many questions I still have about how old the earth is and where exactly the Ice Age and dinosaurs fit into the picture. There will never be enough time to read all the books I have on my list, but I suppose I can try.

You Rock

2009-03-12T00:05:00.008-04:00

Hilda gave me a bat to put under my bed yesterday. She said it's just in case anyone ever breaks in. ... Whaddya bet I forget it's down there if that happens? I think I'd be more likely to call 911, then escape through my window or something. Well maybe I could at least break the window with the bat. :)

So Pete and I went to visit my family in TN last weekend and got everyone to play Rock Band. (Minus Seth because he had a headache. ... Which I'm sure we made better by attempting to belt out "Heartbreaker" and "Say it Ain't So"). Emily decided the drums are her thing and my suspicions that I'd be a horrible singer were confirmed. But it was a lot of fun. I like when you finish a song and it says "You Rock!"

I've also noticed that Emily has formed some odd habits. Funny quote by Emily after drinking a capful of lemon juice: "Makes ya wanna pucker up like you're about to take a kiss!" (I guess she's more into receiving than giving).

Sunday, we cooked out at a local park. I told Pete it was windy, but as a former Fargo resident, he laughed at me and said that was nothing. I settled for breezy. He also laughed a couple of weeks ago when schools were closed for predicted cold weather. Even Seth was out of school when there wasn't snow on the ground. For the longest time, one of my biggest fears has been hitting a deer while driving, but now I'm also afraid of driving in the snow if we move up north. Maybe I could put tennis rackets on the bottom of my shoes and walk there. Or get a sled dog. I wonder if they really respond to "mush." Hmmm...

On the bright side, I'm working on some great projects at work. One is about '80s and '90s fashion and the other one is about farming. I visited a farm today and got to sit in a ginormous combine and look inside a grain bin. I can't make stuff grow, so I doubt I'd be a good farmer, but maybe I could have some lambs or something. I'd have to sell them before they become sheep because their wool gets nappy. I told Pete I couldn't have any horned animals.

P.S. I just finished a take-home midterm about an hour ago. One down, one to go. Woo woo!

P.P.S. The exercise ball experiment isn't working. I think it's actually deflating from non-use.

Shoulda Lived in the '20s

2009-03-03T21:58:00.002-05:00

When I lived with Sara, I routinely got sucked into garbage television that was nevertheless entertaining, if not only to make fun of it.

Since moving in with Hilda, who only has basic cable, I don't have as many possible shows to get attached to and not much time to do so if I did. At least half the time I'm in front of the tube, I'm watching my "Golden Girls" DVDs. ... But last night, I could NOT tear myself away from "The Bachelor" as ridiculous as the show is. I hadn't watched any of this season's episodes until then and was completely glued.

If you watched it, you know why, and if not, maybe I've persuaded you to look it up online. :) Either way, I advise you to not watch next season because you WILL get attached. How are such stupid, fake shows so addicting?

I should've lived in the '20s before television. ...

P.S. I just saw a commercial for Humira, an arthritis medication, and it shows X-ray slides of what can happen if you don't treat arthritis. Having four crooked fingers (although it's barely noticeable), it really scared me. What if I have premature arthritis and wake up one morning with 10 crooked fingers? Another reason to stay away from the TV.

Things That Don't Make the News

2009-02-26T23:50:00.003-05:00

We have some strange story requests in the newsroom. Occasionally, people will walk into the paper and request to speak to a reporter about a story idea. All three of us reporters have had some doozies. Within my first two weeks of working there, I had a girl come in and tell me all about her baby's daddy, how his pregnant ex-girlfriend kept taking out restraining orders on her and how the court system is full of corruption.

Jason had a lady talk to him for half an hour yesterday about how one of her relatives routinely beats up her grandson, even though the department of social services has been to the house four times and found nothing wrong.

But Billy might win the battle. A few months ago, he had a guy come in (walking in, I should add) and tell him that he was paralyzed and planned to ride his bike around town with a big banner that read how awful one of our state representatives is.

Shortly after that, he said a sweaty guy came in to talk about something going on in town. He said his sweatpants were unzipped the whole time (and didn't know sweatpants had zippers) and couldn't focus on what the guy was saying.

Then today, a lady called him with another possible story. She told him her kitchen window was dirty, so a bird didn't realize it was a window and crashed into it. She said it left "an imprint in the reflection," whatever that means, and wanted to know if we'd want to cover it as a "human interest" story. After he hung up, Billy said it was neither human nor of interest and Jason and I should be glad we didn't answer the phone.

As a sidenote, one of my friends from 5th grade just found me on Facebook. I was going through her friends to see if I recognized anyone and it seems like she's kept up with a lot of people from that school. It kind of makes me wish I had stayed there and grown up with the same people throughout middle and high school. ... But then again, I've had a pretty darn good life since then anyway. :)

The Exercise Ball...and Prayer Group

2009-02-25T00:07:00.004-05:00

I bought an exercise ball last summer. I think I’ve used it five times. A couple of months ago, I put it in my bedroom floor between my bed and bookcase so I’d see it every day and remember to use it.

But you know when you put something in a particular place as a reminder, then it becomes another part of your space so you completely forget about it? It might as well be a staple item just like my bed and bookcase.

So now I have a new plan. I wrote “EXERCISE BALL!” in big block letters on a pink post-it and stuck it right beside my alarm clock. If I run into the same problem, I’m thinking about taping it to the bathroom mirror. … Right where my face should be so there’s no way to overlook it.

In other news, I talked to Mamaw a few weeks ago and she was telling me about her prayer group. She teaches a Sunday school class and has a sort of "prayer chain" going with the church ladies. When I called, she almost didn't pick up and told me she was afraid it would be another lady wanting to talk for three hours. I found it amusing.

By the way, if you haven't noticed, this entry is quite a bit shorter than normal. Here's another thought I've had: if I make them shorter, maybe I'll be more consistent and actually update this more. Is it too late to make another New Year's resolution?

Nike

2009-01-12T23:12:00.005-05:00

I am the queen of many things, including quotes, lunch packing and post-its. (I've also earned the name Cleaning Fairy by a few friends who have had their dishes done when I visit). The names serve me well, but I admit I've failed as far as the last one goes. I can't tell you how many times I've written "blog" on a pink post-it or in big letters on my dry erase board, yet I log on and see that I haven't written on this thing in two and a half months.

In an effort to prove that I can, in fact, keep a blog, I am updating. ... Just do it, right? Unfortunately, I am going to miss a lot of things because even the mental notes seem to expire.

First and foremost, Pete is now a Charlotte resident and lives about 100 times closer than he did two months ago. I know he misses his friends, family and snow, but it's also nice to be within driving distance and make weekend plans. He was also incredibly blessed with a job, offered to him the same day he interviewed in November. (My professors might call that a "divine appointment.") He's now a site manager for a law firm in Charlotte and lives less than half an hour from me.

On the homefront, Hilda is still job searching, so prayers are appreciated. There's part of me that thinks, "OK, you could have a job by now, even if it's not something you really want," but then I feel bad because I'm not the one in that situation. Either way, I couldn't ask for a better, more gracious roommate. I've had some doozies.

This past weekend, Pete and I went to TN to surprise Dad for his birthday. Mission accomplished; he was surprised indeed. We also went on a family bowling excursion and I was way out of practice. How embarrassing. Even Emily beat me, although she used the bumpers. ... I also got to watch her draw while I was home. She tried to draw my portrait when I was in for Christmas and made my eyes really far apart. She writes me and Pete about five notes every time we're in; they all say "to tif and pete, from emily," usually followed by three or four "I love you's" and some Hello Kitty stickers.

Mom recently got a job with Americorp and likes it a lot better than Food City. I'm happy for her, although I will miss the Food City stories about croissants falling off the buggy and busting open.

Seth is also doing well and just got his first vehicle passed down from my aunt an uncle - a Grand Cherokee. He did something to the muffler or something to make it louder and more macho. Mom doesn't like it. I told him it will make it difficult to sneak in if he misses curfew.

In other news, I found out Friday that I'm getting a scholarship to pay for one of my classes! It'll save me about $900, which is a huge load off; I'm soooooo happy. I start back to school next Tuesday.

Well, that is the really, really abridged version, but I will try my darndest to write on here more often. I miss doing it.

Eye Declare

2008-10-31T22:41:00.003-04:00

I was eating Pop-Tarts Tuesday morning when I had a panic attack. "What if I'm going blind?" I thought as I took a swig of milk. (Osteoporosis isn't welcome here).

The day before, I noticed that my computer screen and the newspaper looked blurry out of one eye. That night, I took out my contacts and it was the same way...So after I finished my Pop-Tarts the next day, I gave the eye doctor a call and made an appointment for Wednesday.

When the doctor came in, I said, "Hi, how are you?"

Doctor lady with a concerned look on her face: "I'm fine, how are YOU?"

Ok, the exam hasn't really even started yet, minus the air puff, and she already looks concerned; that can't be good. To spare all the details, she thought it was some kind of infection, so she sent me to another eye lady down the road. Not exactly my idea of a day off, but it IS my vision.

When I got there, a lady who looked like a mix of Farrah Fawcett and Victoria Osteen took my chart and pulled out a pen. "So when did the sudden vision loss occur?"

Wait a minute, vision loss? It's a little fuzzy; let's not jump to conclusions. I told her that sounded harsh, so she modified: "When did the sudden decrease in vision start?" I told her 2 days ago, then she proceeded to ask me a bunch of questions I had already answered on the form, some which, I might add, have nothing to do with my eyesight. "Do any of your relatives have asthma?" "Do you suffer impotence?"

The second lady doctor finally came in and Amanda told me not to worry because she's Canadian. I told her I'd feel even better if she was Asian, but we both decided we'd never seen Asian eye doctors.

She looked concerned, too, so her team of experts proceeded to torture my poor eye for approximately two hours and 13 minutes. First they kept asking me what the eye chart said, knowing full and well that I couldn't read it, then tested my peripheral vision by asking me how many fingers they were holding off to the side.

After three rounds of "one, five, one, two, five," they told me to press my forehead and chin against the metal thing and stare at the little red light so they could basically blind me with photographs for 20 minutes.

Then the camera guy said, "Does the light bother you?" Only when you shine it in my pupil like that. Then they injected dye into my arm so they could see the blood vessels in my eye better or something. The guy told me that 5% of people become nautious and that if I was going to have an allergic reaction, it would happen within two minutes of being there. Then he asked if I was ready.

Sure, why not? It's only my day off and you already look red because of that silly little light. As if having crappy vision isn't bad enough. ... I was glad Amanda was there, though; she made me less nervous.

I ended up not having nausea or a seizure, but I was hungry and felt light-headed, so he asked me if I wanted some juice. I said yes and he brought me a strawberry Juicy Juice that expired last December. I told Amanda to put it in my purse so he would think I drank it.

When we left, Amanda and I met Zach at Applebee's. My eyes were still dilated, so everything was really bright. I asked the waiter if he could close the blinds. The food was good, though. I left my Juicy Juice on the table when we left.

...Today, I was back in the office to make sure my eye isn't any worse. Being Halloween, some of the staff members were dressed up and the guy in the camera room looked like Paul Bunyan. Then I think they forgot about me for awhile because I almost fell asleep in one of those chairs while they were looking at pictures of my eyeball in another room. Eventually, they released me and I didn't have to pay co-pay again.

So in the end, I'm not going blind, but I am supposed to use these drops 4 times a day in hopes that it will go away and have some blood tests done whenever I remember to call the doctor and schedule it.

The Art of Being Spontaneous

2008-10-12T20:38:00.010-04:00

I was on my way home from church when I called Sara.

Me: "Can you make sure I didn't leave my fall skirts there when I moved out?"

Sara: "Yeah. ... Do you want to go to the Renaissance Festival?"

Me: "I want to, but I can't today. I have two papers to work on."

Sara: "Don't you want to go with me? Don't you want to be spontaneous? When was the last time you were spontaneous?"

Me: "... I don't remember. ... Sara, don't ask me to do something I want to do when I have papers to work on."

Sara: "But I don't want to go next weekend and the next week is the Halloween one and the next week it's almost over."

Me: "But then I'll come home and still have two papers staring me in the face."

Sara: "... I kind of feel bad for you."

Me: "Thanks. Let me call you back in five minutes."

So it was nice to be spontaneous for a day; I need to do it more often. One of my biggest problems is that I don't know how to slow down sometimes, and stucture gets boring anyway.

Although now I'm at home, it's 9 p.m. and I've done precisely nothing on my papers. I guess my prayer in church for God to give me motivation for my papers didn't work too well. They're due the 20th and the 22nd, but this Saturday I'm going hiking, so that day is shot, and I usually don't feel like working on homework during the week. At the same time, I don't have class this week, so I don't feel TOO horrible. It was too nice outside to stay in anyway.

Later, I called Mom in a tizzy because not only am I missing my skirts but I'm missing my scarves and leggings. Emily wanted to talk to me.

Emily: "What are you doing?"

Me: "I'm stressing out because I can't find my clothes."

Emily: "What did you do with them?"

Me: "I don't know. That's the problem."

Emily: "You know what I would do? Get something to eat, then think about what you did with them."

Me: "I already ate. Now what do I do?"

Emily: "I don't know."

Me: "Out of ideas already?"

Emily: "Yeah."

So there you have it; even a six-year-old's advice won't solve my problem. But if you see any Gap skirts or a batch of colorful scarves floating around somewhere, give me a shout.

Good Idea, Bad Idea

2008-10-11T00:03:00.006-04:00

You know when you're on the brink of doing something that you KNOW you'll regret, but you do it anyway? I was just on a friend's Facebook profile and saw that she had several albums from places she'd traveled to recently. Italy, Germany, Slovakia, Capri, etc. Before I even clicked on one, I knew I would hate myself. I was right.

BAD IDEA.

I can't begin to describe the urge I have to travel more. It's like an addiction. It's like I'm completely consumed by it and can't get it out of my mind. Have you seen the movie Sister Act with Whoopi Goldberg? She's a showgirl disguised as a nun who teaches her class how to sing. At one point, she tells one of the characters, "If you wake up in the morning and can't think of anything but singing, you were meant to be a singer." Or something like that.

That's sort of what this is like. I know I've been to some places -- Australia, Montana, Minnesota and Canada -- but I want to travel EVEN MORE after seeing them. I want to go to Alaska, New York, Greece, Ireland and Africa. I don't know why I'd have such a strong passion for something if I wasn't meant to do it.

It's not like I hate being home. I love having a place of my own to come in the evening, a familiar place to wake up to or a place to visit my family. I love getting to know the people around me and being plugged in to a community. Nothing is quite like home...And I certainly don't want to live out of a suitcase. But I want to see these places SO badly I can hardly stand it. I think I'd have a heart attack if I felt like this 24/7.

P.S. Good idea: if you join the Blizzard Fan Club, make sure you print your "free 16 oz. Blizzard" coupon the first time it comes up on the screen. Otherwise, you might have to contact technical support and explain why you didn't read the directions, then hope they'll send you another one.

A Diversion from the Political

2008-10-03T21:14:00.012-04:00

I can't believe it's October. Where did that come from? It was just August a minute ago, and now it's time to stock up on Halloween candy.

Speaking of candy, I went to the vending machine at work a few weeks ago and something was out of place. Behind a row of 3 Musketeers was a blueberry Nutri-Grain. Now you can't tell me that number six in line for C10 didn't get screwed over...But I guess it made number five's day.

That reminds me...I had a craving for chili, chips and cheese several nights ago, so I stopped at Food Lion after work. The chili and cheese were on sale, so I got two of each, then remembered I needed notebook paper. I was checking out and thought, "Hm, which item doesn't fit?"

Well, I think since I've been a loser and haven't written on here in over a month, I'll put the rest of my thoughts in list form. (Plus, all I do now is write for work or class, so it's nice to not worry about making things coherent).

1. I talked to Sarah awhile back and she and Topher were getting ready to go to the Olive Garden...it was never-ending pasta bowl night or something. I told her, "You know you're in college when you go to a restaurant for the never-ending pasta bowl."

2. There was a huge spider crawling toward my desk at work today. I think I attract bugs. I'm not kidding. It seems like every day for the past week, I've found some sort of ugly bug around the house or at work. Last week, there was a granddaddy longleg in my bathroom and I had to run out in my bath robe and grab my bug-killing flip-flop. There's a certain one I use because it's heavy duty.

3. I'm disappointed in the basic car wash. I pay $6 for the thing, drive in the little building, put my car in park and it's like a light rain. Unfortunately, because I park under a huge tree at work, a light rain is not going to get all the bird crap off my car. (I swear they only aim at mine. There's not a speck of uncleanliness on the van across from me). Last time I was in the car wash, I noticed something else. You know how a little sign lights up to let you know what's happening to your car? It usually says things like "clear coat" or "rinse." So I was sitting in my car, staring at the soapy stuff on my car when the light came on: "car soaking." What?...This isn't a bubble bath; it's a basic car wash. "Car soaking" is just another way to say "we want you to think you got your money's worth." Don't lie; I know what I paid for, I know I'm cheap.

4. A couple of weeks ago, Deborah went with me to the Indian Trail Pow Wow. I like the guys' dancing the best.

5. When I go into work in the morning, I grab a newspaper, take out the sports section and pretty much ignore all the advertisements. But I recently noticed one of the ads in our paper for a funeral service. There was a picture of the guy in charge of the place and I promise you he looks SO much like Bill from the game Guess Who. One of my co-workers agreed. Amazing.

6. I got to cover a trial this week. The details of the crime were pretty disturbing, but it was really interesting. As a side note, I don't think we should have to pay for the incarceration of a non-citizen.

7. I recently joined the Blizzard Fan Club at Dairy Queen. Pete told me that if I did, I would get coupons for ice cream, so obviously, there was no other option. I got an e-mail from DQ that said "you're one of us now." Well, I may not have been popular in high school, but by golly, I knew I'd fit in somewhere.

So I just got off the phone with Mom and she told me Emily fell off the monkey bars a few days ago and hit her head. I remember getting blisters on my hands in fourth-grade from playing on the monkey bars so much during recess. I would rub dirt on my hands to give me a good grip, swing on the bars until a big blister formed in the center of my hand, then go inside with the other kids and wash it with Softsoap. Our teacher always bought the kind with the plastic fish or dolphin on the inside of the pump.

Mom's birthday is coming up and while we were talking, she also told me how generous Emily is becoming. Dad asked her if she'd like to chip in her money for Mom's birthday gift and she said, "No, I'll just use your money." Look out, future boyfriends.

In other news, Pete came to visit me last week. :) I feel bad that I had to work half the time, but I really appreciate him giving up time he could've been working on projects at home to come all the way down here.

Last Wednesday (the day after he got here), he went to class with me, and Thursday, we made spaghetti. Over the weekend, we were in TN to see my family. Visiting my family is pretty different from visiting his family...but both are fun. Saturday, we all went to play putt-putt, and Sunday, Mamaw, Papaw, Andy and Austin came over for lunch. Nothin' like home cookin'. Pete made a lemon layer cake, too, which got "rave reviews." I'm sure he'll hear compliments for years to come.

Following good conversation on the way home Sunday night, I had to work Monday. I think that was taco night...Hilda said the kitchen smelled like a Mexican restaurant. By Wednesday, he had to leave again and it'll probably be a couple months before we get to see each other again. Maybe November will sneak up on me like October did.

Cloud 9 Makes My Cheeks Hurt

2008-08-27T22:22:00.013-04:00

I've been smiling so much the past 6 days that I must have the strongest face muscles ever. I've been thinking of a good way to start this entry for awhile now, but since I couldn't come up with a good intro, I'll just dive right into it. I got engaged on Thursday!

Most people who read this will already know that, but just for the record...Here's how it went: Perfect day only made more perfect by a sweet proposal in the hammock, followed by me saying "oh my gosh" five million times and needing to be pinched for fear it was a dream.

10 minutes later:

Me: "What if you change your mind?"

Pete: "That's silly."

Me: "What if you get mad at me and then change your mind?"

Pete: "No."

Me: "What if you want to kiss other girls?"

Pete: "You'll let me won't you?" Sly grin, followed by, "That's ridiculous."

Me: "... I thought you wanted to wait til you were 29!"

Pete: "You fell for that?"

Me: "... Yes."

For those I haven't told, we're going to wait about 2 years so I can finish grad school. I'm hoping that will make the planning more fun than stressful, too, because that's how it should be. Everyone else seems just as excited as I am.

Mom: "I'm going to have a son in law!"

Emily: "Can I be flower girl?"

Sarah: "You're engaged?! I'm so happy for you! Tell Pete I approve."
Sara: "WHAT?! Oh my gosh, I feel old." (But she's excited).

Alex: "Yaaaaaay!"

Mamaw: "I knew it!" (She always has "feelings" about things).

Papaw: "You know Mamaw can see into the future."

There are several more, many of which are along the lines of Mamaw's response. Of course, none top my mile-wide smile...I'm sure I'll have much more to say about all this over the next couple of years. :)

Until then, I have a bunch more to write about from this past week. I went to visit Pete in Minnesota for 9 days and every day was action-packed. Saturday was Steve's wedding (one of his best friends), Sunday was a Twins game, then Fargo, and Monday was Winnipeg, Canada.

I'd never been to Canada before, so Pete made sure I got a stamp in my passport. For future reference, Canadian grocery stores are way too expensive, but you do get products with French on one side. That night, we found a campsite that came with a pet chipmunk that we named Jean Pierre. The first night got really cold and uncomfortable because we were sleeping on the ground in the tent with no sleeping bags, but the next night was much better.

On Tuesday, we went down to the beach area at the campsite and I got to swing! Then we went through the Manitoba history museum and walked around town for awhile. That evening, we got lost trying to find a park that had free music, but we finally found it and got an earful of American 50s tunes.

Wednesday, we were back in town. We passed an auto place that advertised "free mustard," but unfortunately, I didn't get a picture. I did, however, get several of Chinatown. We stopped in one Chinese restaurant and I didn't like it very much. The food was alright, but the atmosphere was a little annoying. The waitresses kept coming around the table with carts, asking if we wanted anything on it. I personally prefer to order and be left alone, but it's still good to have a new experience.

On the way back into the U.S., ("Welcome to the United States" said the sign), we encountered some rude Customs guys. Getting into Canada was a lot easier than getting out. I was driving at the time to give Pete a break and turned the car off when we came to a stop. Well, I'd just started eating a Kit-Kat and realized that it would melt in the heat with the car off. While the Customs guys were looking in the trunk, I took another bite, then one of them came back around to the window and asked what we were doing in Canada.

I tried to chew faster, and answered with my hand over my mouth. "We were camping."

Mean Customs man: "You're going to eat while I'm talking to you?"

Number one, we've already told you what we were doing there. Number two, you saw I had candy in my mouth. I guarantee you he wouldn't have said it the way he did if I were a grown man.

Then they asked whose car we were in. Pete said it was his mom's. "Does she know you have it?" Pete said later that he should've told him his mom didn't know, but she wouldn't mind. Some welcome.

I suppose it wasn't the best idea to be eating while they were inspecting, but I bet they would've done the same if they had a melting Kit-Kat. Lighten up, lads.

Then they were critical of how we know each other since I have a NC driver's license and he has a Minnesota one. I told Pete they must've had a slow day.

Thursday (engagement day!) it was back to the cabin. That evening, I attempted to swim in the lake with Pete. I must say that my graceful dive (i.e. awkward plunge) into the water would have put those Olympic divers to shame. I acquired two humongous bruises in the process, then couldn't catch my breath to even laugh.

For a minute, I thought Pete might retract the engagement. To put it out of my mind, I thanked God for two things: that I took the ring off beforehand and that I was wearing a life jacket. Lesson learned: don't step onto the back of the boat when it's slippery.

Next was another attempt to steer the boat while Pete water-skied. (Ok, we seriously need to find something I'm good at. I only have boring talents like editing papers and cleaning). It was clear that I need more practice, but at least he didn't drown.

Finally, it was time for s'mores over a bonfire. You can't go wrong when chocolate is involved.

The next day, Friday, we cleaned up the cabin and headed back to his house for a dinner out with his family. That was a lot of fun and everyone had something to celebrate.

Then Saturday, I went to my first state fair with some of Pete's friends...he was there, too :). Go figure that it would be five states away from my own. I also tried cheese curds for the first time, and although I can't deny their tastiness, I still think they need a different name. "Curd" is so foul.

Later on, it was off to a Vikings game, but sadly, they lost in the last five seconds.

On the last day, Sunday, Pete took me to Minnehaha Falls. I want to live there for a week. Then came the sad part...the flight home. :( That's never as much fun as the flight there.

The plane ride was interesting, though. I had one more chapter to read in my textbook for class (on contemporary cults), so I decided to read it on the way home. That posed a small problem, though, because it was on satanism and I didn't really want to open to that chapter in such a confined space, so I kind of held my book at an angle until I was past the bold "Satanism" on the first page.

There was also a really annoying guy sitting diagonal from me. He said things like, "Chaz, baby," when he answered his phone and I think he'd had one too many drinks.

By the way, it occurred to me that the women's restroom is full of advice. Before my flight, I made a pit stop and had to wait in line. As each woman came out of a stall, she said something to the ones in line.

"That one doesn't have toilet paper." "You have to make sure that one flushes all the way." "There's water all over the floor in there."

I'm not up to speed on restroom etiquette, but I didn't give anyone advice in return. For some reason, I like to keep to myself in the public restroom.

Small Hair Crisis

2008-08-07T22:19:00.003-04:00

I'm not sure if a crisis can be small, but anyway...

Yesterday was my day off since I have to work Saturday. Woo hoo, right? No. The first half of the day went well...I met some of Hilda's family (Hilda is the roommate), picked up a wedding card for next weekend and dropped a few things by Ahn's Alterations. Pete has informed me that Asian ladies do some of the best alterations, so I'm not worried.

So family, card, alterations, no sweat. Then I had a hair appointment that I've been looking forward to ever since I made it. (Fine, it's just been a week, but who cares?) I went to Aveda, which I've been to many times and I always like my hair when I come out...Plus, it's cheap, so even better.

THIS time, it took 2 1/2 hours. Hair doesn't take that long. Maybe if I was about to get married or something, but just a little change here and there on a Wednesday afternoon should not take more than an hour.

I was all excited because I brought pictures and the girl seemed like she knew what she was doing. She had a cool "Carpe Diem" tattoo. "Seize the day;" this will be a good haircut.

Wrong. After stupidly leaving the girl a tip, I left looking like I'd held my head out the window as I drove 90 miles an hour down the interstate. I thought the cut was decent, but there was no style to speak of because she did it wrong.

I had a few annoying things happen between then and this morning, but this entry will just be about my hair. :)

This morning, I figured it would look better after I washed it, but I was wrong again. After holding a mirror to the back of my hair, I freaked out and decided I wasn't going to work until I fixed it. (I tipped this chick?!)

I headed to "Today's Cut" ("for tomorrow's look," the door said) and told the lady I hated my hair. It was uneven and had a big poof at the bottom.

"How much do you all charge?"

Lady: "$35 for wash, cut and style."

Me in my head: "WHAT?! That's almost a tank of gas and twice what I spent yesterday! Are you crazy?"

Me in real life: "...............................................(large sigh) OK."

I realize I should have gone somewhere else, but I didn't want to drive around forever, comparing prices, when I needed to get to work.

Between yesterday and today, a total of $52, 3 1/2 hours and 3 inches shorter later, I headed to work. I told myself it looked ok and I would not, after all, make a secret trip to Aveda to strangle my former hair stylist. ("I want my tip back, you carpe diem maniac!")

So I guess I should have waited to write yesterday's entry because now I have another pet peeve. I hate when I have a vision of how something will look and it turns out nowhere near that...

Alas, I shall rock the look and hope it grows on me.

P.S. To all the ladies, go see Mama Mia. I thought I was in an alternate world watching Pierce Brosnan sing, but you can't see the "Dancing Queen" scene and have a bad day.

Pet Peeves

2008-08-05T22:44:00.004-04:00

Last week I had to go to the eye doctor to find a new pair of glasses and realized that I was due for an appointment anyway. I came back a few days later and I want to know something. Why make an appointment for something if the person you're seeing makes you wait for 20 minutes? I have yet to meet a doctor that doesn't make me wait at least 10 minutes.

The lady I saw was extremely nice (which of course makes me feel bad for saying the previous), but another annoying thing is that she kept talking...I'm not kidding, the entire time. It's like when I call customer service for Verizon and the people will NOT shut up. "Ok, just hold one more moment. Thanks for your patience. Yep, here we go. Here it is. Alright, now let me just do one more thing. Thanks for holding. Ok, ma'am, this is it. Just a moment."

My head was already in this weird metal mask thing and she kept asking me random things, then telling me how wonderful I was doing. (It's blurry; why is that great?...I hate getting the letters wrong in the first place). Plus, it was 8 something in the morning and I don't officially wake up until 10:27.

Here's another pet peeve: ungrateful nit-pickers. We got a press release at work yesterday about free movement classes for disabled children. No one asked us to do an article, but I thought it was interesting so I talked to the people in charge. The lady who founded the organization was SOOO happy to have the publicity and after it ran this weekend, I e-mailed her a copy like she asked.

Well my co-worker is friends with one of her volunteers and she told him today that her boss was unhappy about the article. We should have used "children with disabilities" instead of "disabled children." Let's take a poll...Who says it's the same thing?

"They're children first, then disabled," she told her volunteer. "That's why I should have read over the article before it went to press."

One. You can't do that. As a courtesy, we could offer to read back a few quotes to be used, but it's the editor's job to read it before it's printed. Two. Free publicity; why are you mad? I told my co-worker that I wish we could retract the article and run a big black space.

I kind of hope she'll e-mail me so I can respond. I wouldn't be nasty, just explain why we write "disabled children." Besides it being AP form, I didn't write "children who are typically-developing," either; it was "typically-developing children."

This was after I was cussed out by a guy's mom for putting his name in the paper. I'll try to give you the brief version. So there was a murder in 2006 and 11 people were charged. The guy was killed because he found a bloody car on his lot and the mob thought he killed a guy who was at the time missing. One of the guys charged pleaded guilty in May and got off on probation. Two weeks ago, he assaulted a guy again and his jail time was activated. Well I wrote a short article about it and the mother of the guy who was originally missing (and later found dead) called me and called me names for putting his name in the paper.

WHAT? It's only been in several newspapers a million times now and he wasn't even charged with anything. He was a victim. She told me the newspaper is shaming him for putting his name in there and I was confused. I am incredibly sorry for her loss and I'm sure it's difficult for her, but she doesn't need to call me names for it. When she was done ranting, it went silent and I asked if she was still there. I don't think she hung up, but she didn't say anything, so I hung up.

Of course, if I'm offended by that, I'm in the wrong business.

Alright, I think I'm done. I just told Pete yesterday that things can always be worse, so that's something to keep in mind...By the way, "alright" is apparently "all right" according to AP style. Whatever; I like my version better.

On a different note, I love my new place! (Here is where I give my family a shout-out for making the trip to help me move. Don't know what I would've done without them). I was a little nervous about moving, but I really like the lady I'm living with and it's nice to be in a house instead of an apartment. (I've decided I only get nervous when I go to a vending machine. I hold my breath after I punch in my selection because you never know when it'll get stuck). We went out with one of her friends last night to get dinner and they're really funny together. And extremely nice.

I'm also excited to be in a place with sidewalks! I have yet to go for a walk, but I will soon. Maybe not tomorrow because it's supposed to rain...which is good I guess because my car is dirty. Although the dirty car is really just a testament of my faith. Faith that it will rain.

Oh, that reminds me. Mom said Emily has a favorite singer now. Enya of all people. Maybe she'll be refined.

One last thing: if you have time, check this Web site out: http://www.alphadictionary.com/articles/yankeetest.html.

My aunt sent it to me and it tells you how southern (or unsouthern) you are. I got 81% Dixie, which surprised me. It asked me if I still use Confederate money. I told my aunt I use Debit.

National Cheesecake Day

2008-07-27T22:34:00.013-04:00

I'm a horrible person and haven't updated this thing in about a century, but it's good to know that there are people out there to remind me to do it...Plus, I have a super reason...I've been waiting to put some things on my external hard drive so I can delete things on the internal one and download some pictures to go on here.

Of course, I don't have such a great reason for taking so long to do those things...

So this past week hasn't been great to say the least. I don't feel like getting into it, but the bottom line is that it's been lonely and I've been a little disappointed in some things. But thanks to Pete (Pablo), I'm getting over it and now it's time to fill you in on the last few weeks of Tiffany life.

Well I went home over July 4th and that was a lot of fun. It's interesting when one sibling is just learning to ride a bike without training wheels and the other is passing me up in height. (I told Seth the peach fuzz above his lip was distracting me. I also told him he's becoming a mini Papaw because he wears jeans and white T-shirts with the sleeves cut off. Now all he needs is some starch in those jeans). Emily also hula hoops and jumps rope now, which is just about the funniest thing I've ever seen...By the way, Seth rarely smiles in pictures now, but Mom said he strums on his guitar when he's on the phone with girls, so it's relevant.

On July 4th, we bought our own fireworks and it's too bad that I wasn't taking a video on my camera when Dad lit one and it zoomed into the garage. He's lucky it didn't hit the car. I don't think he knew that it was a spinning firework until it went off.

The next day, we went to Jonesborough to watch him play in the community band. There were some characters out that day. Oh, and a mini pony!!!!! I love those things. I got Seth to take a picture. After eating dinner with the band, watching some concha dancing and looking at a bunch of shiny tractors, we walked around a bit, then settled into our seats to listen to the band and watch fireworks. The neighbor's grandson couldn't keep his hands off Emily and his grandmother said he was going to get kicked out of school.

That Sunday, I got to go on a motorcycle ride with Papaw and my dad and we went down into "the country," even though I consider the majority of TN to be "the country" compared to here. That's a good thing; I like space.

Ok, so the following weekend (July 11-13), Alex, Sarah and I got to go to Wilmington. We tried to get Sara to go, but she was a bum and didn't go. (She just told me it's not nice to write that about her). But we love her anyway and it was a wonderfully fantastic trip...Although Alex made a face on my back in seashells, then brought over two jellyfish to where Sarah and I were sitting because she's Alex...We love her, too.

I also got to see my friend Nichole from Australia. We hadn't seen each other in a year, but we picked right up where we left off and it made me miss traveling even more.

Oh, I'm forgetting one of the best parts about the trip: we only spent $88 each. :) Sometimes it's good to stay in a crappy hotel.

On Wednesday, I celebrated my half birthday (or really just a reason to get everyone together). There were just a few of us, but it was good to see a couple of people I rarely get to see.

I think I'm up to speed now. Last night I went to a cook out/birthday bash for a former co-worker from the Observer. I hadn't seen my old co-workers for five months since I left, so I'm glad I got to spend some time with them. They're exactly the same; I miss them.

...I think that's the most abbreviated version of three weeks I've ever written, but at least I'm trying. Oh yes, and I'm moving this weekend. Half of me wants to move and the other half doesn't. I like living with someone I know, but I need to be closer to work. This other place is in Indian Trail and only 10 miles from work (instead of 30) and 5 and a half miles from the seminary, so I'll be saving a lot on gas.

Sara just told me she's going to cry herself to sleep at night.

Me: No, you're not.
Sara: You're probably right...But I will miss you...Where am I going to find a roommate? I want to live with someone I know and like. What am I going to do? What if the cars don't sell?...

I'm not sure where the last part came from. I told her she sounds like a stressed out adult, then I turned around and saw that she was stretched out on my bed with a blanket over her head. I take that back.

Well I do believe it's time to end my lazy day with bedtime. Say a prayer for me...I have a textbook to read in the next few weeks and I'm not going to have much time to do it. This is what I get for thinking, "It's still July; I have until September." I guess it just hit me today that it's the END of July and all my weekends are now full until my other two classes start.

P.S. As we are in the thick of hurricane/tropical storm season, it's occurred to me that there's never been a Hurricane Tiffany. (I looked it up). Does anyone know if you can put your name on a waiting list? It was obviously a good choice for jewelry and light fixtures...

P.P.S. Wednesday is National Cheesecake Day. Being a die-hard Golden Girls fan, I thought that was pertinent information.

Confabulate

2008-06-28T21:17:00.012-04:00

Two things I've learned in the past week: number one, confabulate is another word for "discuss," and two, I like plums.

So life has been good to me lately. My work days have been going by quickly and nicely and I have a lot to look forward to. Let me back up to last weekend. Alex G. and I went to the Biltmore Estate...first time ever...and it was incredible. It took us about an hour and a half to walk around one of the multiple gardens and another hour and a half to walk around the 4-story house. They were setting up for 7 weddings that night. Crazy.

OH! And there was a nun with a pink cowgirl hat!!!

After that, we drove to the winery, but skipped out before the wine tasting because there was a long line and we had to get back to meet my parents for dinner. We met them at McAlister's and the conversation was quite entertaining. The only down side to the day was that I wore some new shoes that I had yet to buy heel gel things for, so there were blisters on the back of my feet and I started walking funny.

The next day (last Sunday), I went to Symphony in the Park with some friends. There's a free symphony concert by Southpark Mall on Sundays during the summer. We got rained out, but it was still fun. I got to use an orange peeler for the first time ever. Sara went with me the week before and it was also a LOT of fun. We rolled up to the Taco Bell drive-thru around midnight last time and all the lights were off. We were bummed because it's supposed to be open til 2 a.m. Chris said he bet it was still open so he drove up to the intercom thing. The lady working the drive-thru said hello and the rest of us gasped. There was someone there!

Oh, I got a couple of my grades back from last semester. I got through Aquinas with a B! I came out with an A in New Testament survey, but I'm still waiting for my other class. The summer class on contemporary cults went well, too. It's my favorite so far.

By the way, the professor went on a tangent one day and let us in on a little secret to quit smoking. He said he used to have long hair and smoke in high school and one day, he and his friends were standing around outside when some girls walked by. There was ice on the ground because it was winter and when the professor took a step forward to talk to one of the girls, he slipped and fell to the ground. The cigarette burned the back of his throat and he swallowed it. He said he had some really weird indigestion for about a week and never smoked another cigarette.

OK, ready for some REALLY exciting news now?...I bought a yoga ball!!! Yay, I'm excited. I wish it was a pretty color instead of gray, but oh well.

So next weekend, I'm going home for the 4th of July. That should make for some good pictures on here. The weekend after that, I'm off to Wilmington with the girls! We're trying to convince Sara that she needs to come. She said she'll be tired becuase she'll be at camp with people from work all week, but we told her she doesn't have a choice; she has to come.

P.S. Thought of the day: Why do oatmeal raisin granola bars have "oatmeal" in the title? It's a granola bar, so of course it has oatmeal, and none of the other flavors have "oatmeal" in the title...chocolate chip, peanut butter, etc....So why can't it just be called raisin?

The 10 Month Itch

2008-06-08T21:17:00.003-04:00

It's been almost a year since I came back from Australia. I came back July 6 I think. For probably a month after, it was great to be home and see friends and family, have a car and make money again. But for the past I don't know how many months, I've been having withdrawals. Not just from Australia, but traveling altogether.

Before I went, I was getting really restless, ready to get away from work for awhile and distance myself from drama on the home front. I wanted to see something new, meet new people and ride down a different road. I did all that and for awhile I thought I was "cured," that I was content again and had, in a sense, "gotten it out of my system."

But now I just want to travel even more. I've said this to Pete a lot lately, but it's true. I can't stop thinking about what I'm missing. What's going on in such-and-such place while I'm eating breakfast? While I'm at work?

When I look out my bedroom window, I see another apartment building and some trees. And I'm sure while I'm looking out the window, someone somewhere else is doing the same, but what is that view like? Of course, if I was anywhere else, I'd still be missing whatever is going on here.

It's not that I'm dissatisfied with my life here; I like my job, especially doing something different every day, and it's nice to be close to friends. I missed having someone familiar to talk to while I was gone and I missed a lot of little things...like recognizing brands at the grocery store or knowing where I was going. I don't want to make it sound like I'm unhappy; I'm just restless again and it's a little frustrating.

It's frustrating because I feel like I should be content where I'm at. I have a good life and I can't complain. It's also frustrating to tell friends that I want to travel more and hear that it's not practical. Geez, kill the mood in five syllables or less why don't ya. "It's expensive to travel." "When are you going to take off work?" "Yeah, I want to travel too, but it's not gonna happen."

One of my favorite quotes is "remember that at any given moment, someone would love to be in your shoes." (I made it up!) I tell people that a lot and it's certainly true. I can't forget that I have it good here and that I have to be somewhere, right? So why does this traveling thing constantly nag at me?

Sometimes I'll go through pictures from Australia or see some of the people I met there on Facebook and my heart sinks a little. There were things I didn't enjoy while I was there and people that I don't miss, but overall, it was exciting, a breath of fresh air.

Right now, I have a calendar of Ireland and I catch myself staring at it all the time. I want to go there, I think, and I make a mini itinerary in my head.

At the same time, while I was abroad, I realized that it's not nearly as fun to travel without someone. When I say I want to travel, I don't mean by myself. If I had my way, I'd take my family one place, my friends another and so on. It means a lot more when there's someone to share it with. In fact, there was a guy in one of my classes a couple years ago who modeled. He'd been all over the place and posed the question, If you had one year to live, would you spend it with your family or traveling around the world? He said he loved going to all the different places, but it just wasn't the same without someone to share it with.

As much as I want to go everywhere, it wouldn't be very fun by myself. There wouldn't be anyone to laugh with, get lost with or pose for pictures with.

Maybe if I traveled some more, I would find that it's not as great as I thought it would be. It could be like the straight/curly thing. If you're born with straight hair, you'll always want curly hair and vice versa. (I'm just now coming to terms with my own and that took 22 years). Say I got the opportunity to travel with whatever job I have, and then determine that I'd rather be at home...But I have to know.

I want to see all the states and I want to go abroad again. What I don't want to do is let a busy work schedule or money overrule my desire to do those things. I hate hearing people share something they've always wanted to do, but have never acted on.

Now, I guess I should clarify something. I don't want to live out of a suitcase, either. I just want to take some trips here and there and remind myself that there is life outside of Charlotte (or wherever I am at the time). There's too much world to only see a small portion of it.

At work, we have to type up birthday, funeral and wedding announcements. I've typed up several now and it's amazing how many people seem to stay in the same small town their whole lives. "So-and-so got married to so-and-so Saturday. Her parents are from Unionville and his parents are from Unionville. In fact, their grandparents are from there, too. After a honeymoon five miles outside town, the couple will reside in Unionville."

And that's great if that makes them happy. Personally, I think I'd feel claustrophobic.

There are a lot of people who do what they love regardless of how impractical it may seem. I tell myself that if it's God's will that I travel, I will travel. There will be a way. Maybe I'll travel a lot all at once, maybe I'll travel for work or maybe I'll just get to plan a lot of vacations, but I suppose we'll find out. I guess I just hope that sometimes God values passion over practicality.

Hot Like Wasabi

2008-06-06T18:13:00.002-04:00

It is so freaking hot. Inside, outside, in my car...hot hot hot. Sara came home yesterday with an oscillating fan. She said her parents have a fan I could use, but I'm not sure where I would put it. And I don't think our air conditioner works very well. It's on, but you can't feel it. Maybe it's faith-based...

Today I've had the day off. I love my days off. I still got up early because Deb and I had plans to go to the pool, but she was passed out and didn't hear her phone, so I caught up on e-mails, listened to music (Beach Boys anyone?) and finished watching Mulan.

Maybe I should explain the last one. Sara has had a rough week, so last night I said we should watch a movie. She said nothing about love...which drastically limited our selection because I can be a sucker for the sappy stuff and she's a hopeless romantic...and has a lot of Disney movies, which, of course, all end with princes and princesses smooching in front of a sunset.

So we settled for Mulan, although it still ends with the military guy falling for her, but anyway...We didn't get very far until Sara took a phone call, then I took a phone call and before I knew it, it was 1:30, so I finished it today. I've found that it's difficult for me to start a movie and not finish it. I always hated when we didn't finish movies in history class.

Then I went to visit Sara at work and to see Amanda. We had plans to go to the park with her dog, but like I said, it's too hot, so we stayed in and had a chat. We talked about how Oscar (the dog) likes to eat flip-flops, her boss who doesn't do anything, how Monroe just got a Starbucks, summer vacations, fitting in with married couples, spelling bees, the hampster named Jim and stealing things.

The last thing has come up several times recently and everyone seems shocked that I stole things in first grade. My teacher, Mrs. Glandon, had a bonus word every week and if we spelled it right, she would let us choose a Blow-Pop from a huge drawer in her desk. (For a brief time when I was little, I wanted to be a meteorologist because I could spell it...Plus, I liked putting the velcro sun and raindrops on the weather board). Well, I figured out that if I crouched down behind the counter at the front of the classroom when she got everyone in line to go to the bus or car lot at the end of the day, then I could sneak another Blow-Pop. Always the watermelon ones. I would pretend I was tying my shoe and wait for everyone to leave, then make my way to the big drawer.

A couple times it was locked and I remember being disappointed. Or sometimes all the watermelon ones were taken and I had to settle for grape or cherry, and cherry is just not the best flavor out there.

After awhile, Mom asked me where I was getting all the Blow-Pops. "I got the bonus word right," I would say. Which was at least partially true. I mean, maybe we didn't have a bonus word THAT day, but we most certainly did at some point in the week and I always got them right. I remember my first-grade self had to start being careful how many I brought home so Mom wouldn't be too suspicious.

Oh, I forgot she reads my blog. Well, I'm sure she caught on anyway.

It wasn't until fourth grade that I got more confident and took a purple rabbit's foot keychain from a girl named Lindsey. She had long blonde hair and I was jealous. I'm not sure if that's why I took it, but I remember wishing I had her hair. I don't know if she ever noticed I took it, either. This is when we had cubbies and it was pretty easy to walk over, undo the keychain from her backpack and slip it into mine. I still have it, too.

Ok, that's enough. For anything else I've ever taken, I plead the fifth...

I forgot to write last time that I went to a high school a couple weeks ago to talk about being a journalist. There's a career-oriented class at Monroe High School, and one of the girls wants to be a reporter. I was all excited and even made some note cards, but when I got there, I found out the class is mandatory. That right there says a lot.

Besides the one girl, no one cared what I had to say. I tried my best, but to no avail. I don't think I'd like teaching high school.

Speaking of class, I start my Contemporary Cults class next week. I'm looking forward to it, but it's going to be an extremely busy week. Work for 8 hours, then class for another 4 1/2 every day and then on Saturday. But it's just one week.

I'm also trying to plan a beach trip with "the posse." I'd like to go to Wilmington the weekend after July 4, so we'll see. It would be nice to have all the girls in one place again.

June Bugs

2008-06-01T16:45:00.003-04:00

Sara gave me a pass for a free one-week trial at Lifestyle Fitness and yesterday I decided to try it out. This morning, I could barely lift my arms to wash my hair or reach the cereal. At least I know it had some effect...I went back this morning :)

This morning, Deb went to church with me. There's a couple from the church that had a baby awhile back and headed to India shortly after to be missionaries. We found out that their life savings was depleted yesterday when their bank card was stolen. There's a chance that they'll get the money back, but that's several thousand dollars that they don't have now. If you remember, say a prayer for them.

After church, I had lunch with Alex G. We went to Jimmy John's, then Manifest...a music/movie store where I realized just how many movies I haven't seen and just how slim my music selection is. We're talking about going to the Biltmore Estate in a couple weeks because he bought tickets for my graduation and we haven't been yet. I'll just have to remember to load up on allergy medicine beforehand...I've seen pictures of the massive gardens.

So a couple weeks ago, Pete came to visit before heading to Alaska for the summer. (I contemplated sneaking into his luggage, but I think his bag would've been over the weight limit). We got to double up with Sarah and Topher to go to the Olive Garden one night, and saw Prince Caspian the night it came out.

One of the nights, I made dinner while Pete made a Boston Cream Pie. I think I had the easier part. Then I scolded him for doing all the dishes. I felt like a guest in my own apartment.

Oh, and I have a new car stereo! (Again, thanks to one of the most thoughtful and giving people in the world). It sounds great. No more headphones while driving, which of course isn't exactly smart.

So now the most thoughtful person is helping his uncle build a house a few time zones away and I'm sweating out the end of spring in muggy Charlotte. Sara said no AC til June, but I couldn't sleep and had to turn it on yesterday. May 31, June 1...same thing.

Oh, and I went to a band concert Friday night. I wrote an article a few weeks ago for work about a high school band that's celebrating its 75th anniversary. It's the 3rd oldest band in the state and has some interesting background stories. Anyway, I told the band director I'd try to go, so I headed that way after work Friday. I'm really glad I did; it was something different.

Well I need to go to the grocery store before meeting up with Deb again.

Til next time, happy June!

Quote of the day: "If you want a rainbow, you gotta deal with the rain."

P.S. Are June bugs named after the month? And if so, why June? I'm partial to January myself ;)

Someone's Behind...And It's Me

2008-05-11T22:30:00.005-04:00

Oh dear, I haven't updated this thing in about a month. Whoops. Well now I am, so 10 points for me.

Ready for some random thoughts from the past month or so?

So I went to Tennessee a couple weekends ago to see Emily's first tee ball game. Mom said she got hit in the head with a ball a couple weeks before that and wanted to quit. But clearly she didn't.

And Seth drove me around. That was slightly weird. I forgot to look at his permit, though.

At work, a co-worker and I were talking about the name of some church in the area. It was called something Primitive something Church. They wash each other's feet. I told him I was going to visit and bring along my foot bath.

I've also decided that I don't have a green thumb. I try, but it hasn't been working out for me. I was attempting to grow a plant that Pete gave me, and it was doing pretty well, but it never bloomed and then got droopy. He told me I killed the love plant...(Like the love fern from "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days"...which, coincidentally, is what's on TV right now).

Oh guess what! My first semester is over! Yay...I don't know when I'll find out what my grades are, but I did pretty well on the papers I've written so far.

Emily told me today that she's graduating from kindergarten. That would be really sad if a kid failed kindergarten...Although I think I got a "N" on my report card in kindergarten for "needs improvement" in group work. To say I was shy is an understatement.

This past weekend, I went to Chapel Hill for a journalism conference with people from work. We were supposed to meet at 5:30 in the morning, so I only got about 3 hours of sleep the night before, but it was a lot of fun. And I learned some stuff, which is nice.

Today, I caught up with cutting all my articles out of the paper. It took FOREVER. Before that, I cleaned the apartment and did laundry, so I think that makes up for yesterday when, besides going to the grocery store, I got nothing accomplished...which was GREAT.

Tuesday, I get a visit from Pete! For a week and a day. We'll see how bored he gets while I'm at work. Maybe I'll invest in a body double and see if my boss notices.

By the way, he just graduated so yay again! So did Sarah and Alex. Triple congrats.

But now I'm tired, so I'm hitting the hay. Au revoir.

P.S. I just saw this thing in the paper about a lady having 18 kids, from 20 to 9-months-old and all home schooled...WHY?!

20 Pages and Then Some

2008-04-14T23:00:00.003-04:00

I FINISHED MY PAPER, I FINISHED MY PAPER, I FINISHED MY PAPER!!! That icky 20 page minimum Aquinas is done and turned in, mwa ha ha. It was 20 pages and a paragraph, too; I'm an overachiever.

I also finished the other two papers for the same class, so no more Aquinas homework EVER...Although I don't know if I can spend an entire weekend writing about philosophy and metaphysics again. It was kind of painful...and I do mean an ENTIRE weekend...well ok, minus the two hours that I ran errands on Saturday. But other than that, Friday night until today at 5:30, nothing but sitting in my office chair with a pile of 12 books in my floor. Sara is my alibi.

So now I just have two more papers and an exam til the end of the semester. Next weekend, though, I'm going to go home to Tennessee. It's Emily's first tee ball game. Mom told her she was going to sign her up for tee ball awhile back and Emily said ok, but if she doesn't like it, she's going to "sign down."

I also plan to investigate this love letter matter that I've heard about. (Seth is writing love letters now and I can write about it because he doesn't read my blog).

Oh guess what. I get to sit in on a murder trial in a few weeks! Is it bad that I find that exciting? Probably. It's not like I'm happy that there was a murder, though. It's actually even more sad than usual because this little 15 year old boy got killed for no apparent reason while visiting a friend. Four people were charged.

Ok, now it's time to let everyone else in on an interesting topic from class. We had a discussion a couple weeks ago about heaven and hell and there was a point brought up that I had never thought about. Hell is the ultimate picture of God's love.

God allows us free will, so if people reject Him, He is not going to force them to accept Him. He lets us choose, so if we decide we want nothing to do with God, He will give us that (Hell - eternal separation from Him). Of course, that's not at all implying that hell isn't just that...But interesting stuff, huh?

I Think I Missed Something

2008-04-10T22:43:00.003-04:00

Mom always tells me that I have an exciting life, but there are a lot of times that I disagree. I work and go to school and start all over again. Of course there are things I do outside of that, but not enough. I passed a gas station on my way home today and saw three college guys standing by a car, joking around. And I thought, "I think I missed that era."

Aside from studying abroad, I feel like I didn't have much fun in college...and even when I was abroad, I was taking classes.

I pretty much hated middle school, I didn't enjoy the majority of high school and now I'm in grad school, wondering if I really want to get a master's. What I really want to do is travel around the world and spend more time with friends and family and Pete. (Don't you feel special, Pete? You have your own category).

I'm kind of tired of hearing about all the fun everyone is having and all the dates my friends and co-workers are going on. I keep thinking, "When is my time?"

I hope this doesn't come off as complaining about what I have. I am extremely blessed to have my job and I'm really enjoying it. I'm blessed to even have the time to go to grad school right out of college and I'm blessed to be at such a good school. But lately, I feel like I could be a lot happier.

I just got back from class awhile ago and didn't come home in the greatest mood. I'm just not that into the classes I'm taking. I go to class after working all day, sit in a chair for 3 hours and try to listen to a lecture while, in reality, I'm probably spacing out two-thirds of the time. I honestly DO try to pay attention, but I'm just not interested in a lot of things.

Just a couple weeks ago, I signed up for a class over the summer and two classes in the fall. I'm really looking forward to the summer one...it's on cults. :) But it's interesting. I can actually apply it because there are so many false teachings out there and I highly doubt I will have problems spacing out. And I think when I get to take the class on apologetics, I'll really enjoy that, too. But this whole "Old Testament Survey" and "New Testament Survey" and talking about all the Greek translations simply don't pique my interest.

So anyway, I'm wrestling with a few options concerning grad school right now and I still have that paper to write since I couldn't bring myself to do it last weekend. In fact, it's the long paper plus a short paper and I'm hoping my classmate was wrong when he mentioned there's another short one, too. As my editor would say, "It's not a sexy thing to write about."

Speaking of, I'm on writing probation. Since I always write too much, my stories are supposed to be 20 inches or shorter for awhile. I don't know what 20 inches translates to, so I don't know how else to explain it, but it can be hard to do if you have a really good story.

It's not a bad thing, though. I'm not in trouble; I'm just learning to tighten up my stories. And my boss agreed that having too much to write in itself is not a problem; it's just cutting it down.

I did get some great feedback on a recent story, though, and that made me feel good. I interviewed a lady whose husband died of Alzheimer's at the age of 40. I was worried that the editor had taken out some of the important parts of the story, but I sent her both an original copy and a hard copy and she said she was so touched that she cried.

Oh, and I have also decided to invent a sweet tea that doesn't have an after taste. It'll make millions. Maybe that's how I will fund my trip around the world.

P.S. I should also mention that Pete has informed me, after reading my last entry, that a toilet is not an appliance, but a fixture. That's why I write and he fixes things.

Curses

2008-04-06T14:14:00.003-04:00

I just left a comment on a friend's wall that I'm having doubts about my pursuit of higher education. I should be working on a 20-25 page paper about a philosopher that I don't understand and the pile of books in my floor make me want to cry.

Sara, on the other hand, is standing in my doorway, still in her bathrobe, sucking on an ice cube and telling me that she's going to paint her nails...and is now laughing hysterically because she put the ice on my neck and I had a delayed reaction.

She said we should be sitting on islands, eating popcorn and chocolate. I'm going to add strawberries to that list.

I've never been so unmotivated to write a paper in my life. I know that once I make an outline and cite my sources, I'll feel a little better, but can you blame me for not wanting to spend a Sunday afternoon making sense of Aristotle's metaphysics?

In other news, I got pranked on April Fool's Day. My editor put a post-it on my desk that said to call Mr. Lyon for details on a story, so I did. A voice recording came on and I pressed 9 for the operator. I told the lady I was calling for a Mr. Lyon. "I'm sorry," she said. "You've been pranked...This is the zoo." I felt like an idiot and then decided to pass along the number to Mom.

I also got a new toilet yesterday. I know that doesn't sound very exciting, but my old one was driving me nuts, so I have to tell everyone about my new appliance.

...Oh my gosh, I need to get out more.

Poodle vs. Rooster

2008-03-30T22:58:00.004-04:00

Yes, I know. You've been checking my blog every 5 minutes to see if I've posted. I'm sorry to disappoint.

Just to quickly explain the subject line, we have a dispatch radio at work and a couple days ago, the lady came on the radio and said that the cops had been called to a house because a lady's poodle was being attacked by a rooster. Only in Union County. We said it was too bad we didn't have a video camera, or we would have put it on YouTube.

Speaking of work, I've had a few really fun articles to write lately. One about a couple that's been married for 32 years and won a national Old Lovebirds contest...another about a high school student who just wrote a book and one about an old house that was turned into a Sunday school. For the last one, when I went to the house, a bunch of church ladies showed me around and one of them had a 9 year-old daughter. I was asking her daughter some questions about how she liked the new Sunday school and the girl was really talkative. She was trying to get her words out and said it's hard to be in front of a reporter for the first time. I was just thinking, "You're closer to my age than anyone else here."

But the people at the church were SOOO happy to show me around and extremely grateful for having the story about the building be in the paper. It's nice to see that other people appreciate what I love to do. That's the kind of story that gets me excited to go to work.

Oh and as a sidenote, one of the ladies was from Kingsport. Small world.

So this past weekend, I got to go to Minneapolis for Easter to visit Pete. I told him I've never built a snowman in March before...It was a very healthy snowman, too. Prune eyes, grapes for a mouth and a carrot nose...(except from the back it looked like he had a brain tumor because the snow wasn't cooperating). And since it was built by a southern girl, I gave it a scarf to keep it warm.

Pete said it looked like it needed to go on a diet, but I say snowmen are supposed to look that way. It makes their jolliness more convincing.

We went to a Good Friday service on Saturday...(just seeing if you were paying attention...of course it was on Friday) and back again on Easter Sunday. I think the best part of the service was when all the little kids went up to the front for story time and the lady handed out little bags of candy. There were probably 50 kids or so (maybe I'm exaggerating but I doubt it) and they all stood up at the same time when the lady said she had candy to give them. Then they turned around and got that "I don't remember where my parents are sitting" look on their faces before running back up the aisles. One boy yelled, "Jelly beans, jelly beans!!!" all the way back to his seat.

Then we went to an Easter gathering with his family. They're all really nice, but his 7 year-old godson informed me that he's never going to have a girlfriend because they have worse cooties than boys. I'm sure there will be some mind-changing not too far in the future. ;)

As usual, my trip went by way too fast, but it was fun and I got an Easter basket from his mom. :)

To jump to this weekend, I worked all day yesterday (since I didn't work Monday) and then went to a banquet for SES. The school hosted a conference this weekend and Alex (the president of the school) had asked me to give a testimony. I'm attaching it to the end of this entry because Mom wants to read it.

I felt refined at the banquet because the tables were so fancy. I didn't know I was going to get dinner. They even had cheesecake at every place setting, but I switched my blueberry cheesecake for a strawberry one before anyone sat next to me. Another guy who is in one of my classes gave his testimony as well and we both got great feedback. There were probably 100 or so people there. Josh McDowell was the guest speaker and everyone got a copy of his latest book, too.

Afterwards, I went to Starbucks with my classmate and I'm jealous of all the places he's traveled to! But it gives me motivation to go myself.

Today, I've been a bum. I woke up at 8:30, realized I didn't have to get up for at least 45 minutes to go to church and didn't open my eyes again until 12:38. I haven't gotten enough sleep lately so I don't feel too guilty. I had Pete tell me what he learned in church today so maybe that counts.

Then I cleaned the apartment and played Scrabble online with Pete for awhile, even though Sara told me I was "lame." I told her I'm not and she changed her description of me to "funny." Unfortunately, I lost the game, but I still say it's because he got to use the word "ravioli."

Finally I decided to do some homework, and I just finished reading a couple of chapters and memorizing verses. Only 5 more weeks of class left!

*********************

Here's my testimony from yesterday...although I did memorize the first paragraph:

(First I just want to say that I took a public speaking class and was told that I shouldn’t sound like I’m reading, but since I wrote my testimony yesterday, I haven’t had time to memorize smooth transitions…So I hope you don’t mind).

Two years ago, I started getting letters in the mail from seminaries, beckoning me to join their student body made up of smiling young professionals with Bibles glued to their hands.

In the trash they went. Letter after letter, week after week…I probably opened one of them just to make sure I hadn’t accidentally applied to a school I didn’t know about.

I would stand at the mailbox and say to myself, “I don’t want to go to seminary. That’s for preachers and other mission folk. Why do I keep getting these things?” I had never expressed interest in seminary and certainly didn’t intend to end up in one.

Last fall, in my last semester of undergrad, I had plans to go to Chapel Hill for grad school to get a master’s in journalism. But that wasn’t God’s plan.

In September, a guy in the Baptist Campus Ministry at UNC Charlotte told me about a writer’s conference at SES. “Where?” A few weeks later, I was listening to people talk about writing with a Christian world view and met Alex McFarland.

I told him I had wanted to go to grad school for journalism but had also thought about a master’s in religion because it had always interested me. I know it’s an expression, but I promise you his eyes lit up. “Well, y’know…” he said. “We have a grad program here…Let me get you a pamphlet!”

This is my first semester at SES and I’ve thought about quitting more than once. My first week here was spent in a Thomas Aquinas module. We talked about things like, “Can reason unite being with change and multiplicity? Either being or non-being is the reason for change, or being or non-being is the reason for many!”

My vision got blurry and I started to plan my escape. I thought, “No, no, no; I must be in the wrong class. I won’t press charges, but I’m pretty sure it’s illegal to think that hard after dinner. Is this a joke? I knew that camera was in here for a reason.”

For six consecutive evenings, the question, “What was I thinking?” begged an answer.

But at chapel the next week, Alex addressed the new students. He said that a lot of us in the room may be thinking we are not smart enough to be here and everyone is ahead of us…Yep. He said we may be thinking we’re not as spiritual as the other people here and don’t belong. That, too. And he said we may be wondering what we’re doing here when we have rent to pay and a job to tend to…And by then I thought, “Alex McFarland has been reading my blog!”

Grad school is not easy. It’s a lot of work. A couple weeks ago, I was told three times in one weekend that I have no life. And when I tell people I’m going into journalism and getting a master’s in religion, I get a lot of people saying, “What are you going to do with that?” Personally, I can think of plenty. But what I’m learning here is not just preparation for a test; it’s preparation for every day of the rest of my life and absolutely invaluable.

On Tuesday, I found out one of my bosses is an atheist. Like a lot of people, he grew up in the church, but eventually shed his religious beliefs. Overhearing a conversation he had with a coworker (who went to a local Bible college), I was discouraged at best. It was sad to hear why my boss believes there’s no God and almost worse to hear my coworker’s attempts at changing his mind.

I sat there, trying to form the perfect response in my head and after awhile, a quote I read in one of my textbooks came to mind. I shared the thought with my boss and he disagreed.

Even though he seems set in his ways, I have a new mission. I’m not going to tell him to repent every day or bake him a “Jesus loves you” cake, but I can set a good example and be prepared not only to defend, but share my faith.

Nothing can stop us from fulfilling God’s plan and God’s plan for me was to go to seminary. There’s no way I could describe how God has changed my life the past year in the few minutes I have up here, but I know that He has placed me where he wants me…And that seems like a pretty good reason to go to class.

Enough already

2008-03-09T21:19:00.005-04:00

In the past week, four friends have told me that I need a life. Three of them were last weekend when I felt guilty for going to a movie instead of studying. And sadly, I realized yesterday that even though I dusted, mopped, vacuumed, did laundry, cleaned my bathroom, put dishes away, went to the grocery store, took the recycling, caught up on e-mails and made a couple of phone calls, I still felt bad for not doing any homework. So basically, I'm incapable of taking a third of a day for myself without feeling guilty for it. I think my friends might be right...

Except it's not that easy. Last weekend, I had a whole paper to write plus a rough draft for another class and reading to do. When things involve research and a lot of thinking, it's not that easy to just get up and go to a movie whenever I feel like it without thinking of all the other things I should be doing instead. Now of course not every weekend is like that, but I almost envy my friends who have time to be bored.

I think I've done a little better this weekend. Today, I went to church and then just hung around the apartment until this evening when I went to look at a couple houses for rent. No textbook cracked open, no Word document opened, no research done...Just me, Sara, flipping through crappy movies on TV and my Cadbury egg. Does that count as having a life for awhile?

Speaking of looking for places to live, I was highly disappointed in my selections today. I'll spare the more boring details, but in the end I found myself in the passenger seat of a Gator, holding the landlord's dog while crossing a pasture that separates the owner's property from a tiny little depressing house with concrete walls and carpet that smelled like smoke. The last guy who lived there was a Katrina victim who was dying of cancer and I'll bet anything he died in the house. It gives me the creeps.

On the bright side, the property was furnished and had horses grazing in the front yard, but still, no thanks. The second property, owned by the same people, was a disturbing orange color right off of a main road that will be undergoing construction soon. A lady and her two kids live there now and they make a silly family. When she opened the door, she greeted the landlord, then looked at me like, "Who are you?" with her eyes and nose scrunched up. I almost said, "You know what, I'm really not interested in living here anyway. I don't need to waste your time." But I don't say things like that, so I just introduced myself and after a few awkward moments of her hesitating to let us in, she moved aside and let us through the door.

While I was standing in the doorway, her daughter gave me a full-out scowl and seriously scared me. I was so ready to get out of there.

It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't exactly taken care of either. Messy and one bathroom for three bedrooms, not to mention a crappy layout. And I know I must sound really picky, but honestly, you don't have to be very picky to turn these places down. I was surprised because the landlord's house was really nice and when I talked to the couple earlier, they made the places sound great. Of course, I guess they wouldn't say, "Yeah, the houses are really small and smell funny" over the phone.

Anyway, my search continues and hopefully I'll be able to find a roommate that doesn't keep changing her mind on what she wants.

Class is going better, though. I'm finding the material more interesting, although I still feel like everyone else knows a lot more than me. There have been several occasions when someone in the class will quote some scholar, author, "great thinker," etc., etc.

"As so-and-so says..." And the teacher always knows who they're talking about. I don't.

On a different note, life has been a little depressing lately. Just this past week, all these young people have died, and working at a newspaper, I hear about all of them. First, the student body president at Chapel Hill was shot to death around the same time a girl from Georgia was found dead. Then, two high school students were taking an unofficial skip day from school and ended up having a wreck. One died and the other is in critical condition. If he lives, he'll be charged with manslaughter. Next, there was a fire is Salisbury and two firefighters died. At least one was a volunteer firefighter and just 19. Then a lady in Matthews...the assistant town manager or something...died when a tree hit her car. And today, Mom told me that someone's son was also in a car wreck and died at just 20.

It makes me think that people are lucky if they can get through life without getting cancer or being in the wrong place at the wrong time. There's way too much life to be lived to be the victim of some careless decision or random act of violence. It's kind of scary.

However, I heard the best story ever on Friday and it was one of those "there must still be some good in this world" moments. I get to write an article about it tomorrow, but I'll give you a sneak peek: There's a bus driver/Vietnam veteran in the area who is called Cross Man. He sculpts crosses and gives them away for free. The way he got into it and the hundreds of people he's reached is incredible...That's all you get for now, but I'll post the article on here when it's done.

To keep with the lighter note, I got my car window fixed today! All the car places I was calling were going to charge me a minimum of $75 and since I already had the window, that seemed like too much to pay. But a guy at church fixed it for me today thanks to Mom talking a lot. (I mean that in the best of ways). She called the pastor to ask a favor and mentioned that my car was broken into and my window needed to be replaced. Lo and behold there's a guy at church who could help me and wasn't even going to charge me...but I paid him anyway because it's the thing to do and I was very grateful. Now if we can just do something about the $3.17 gasoline.

One more thing: I've found a downside to my job...school board meetings.

How much can happen in a week?

2008-02-24T21:11:00.004-05:00

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?

Almost Famous

2008-02-15T19:23:00.003-05:00

Guess who was front and center in the newspaper today! I was, I was! I've had two articles in the paper now: one about a court TV show and one about a high school play. You can check them online at www.enquirerjournal.com. I'll have two coming out on Sunday.

I'm going to be covering most of the court stuff for the county, but I told the editor that I love doing features, too; hence the story about the high school play. Here's a run-down of what I've been up to:

Monday, I got to work at 8:30 (which means waking up at 6:00 cuz it takes me a long time to get to work) and as soon as I got there, the editor and I walked up the street to the courthouse. She introduced me to a lot of people and when we got back to the office, I started writing an article.

Tuesday was long. 11 hours of work. Again, I got to work at 8:15, put my lunch in the fridge and walked up the street to the...well I forgot what the building is called, but it's by the courthouse. I got to sit in on the first taping of the court TV show, which is going to be on the local station in the county. Basically, it's to educate people on the court system...I promise it's not as boring as it sounds. Then I had lunch with a Superior Court judge and felt a little out of my element in his white Lexus, but he was really nice and answered a lot of questions for me.

Wednesday and Thursday I worked on a couple different stories. Wednesday is when I went to the high school. It's an artsy school, so they have big productions. I walked in wearing my heels and carrying my laptop bag because that's what I take to hold my notepads, pens, etc. and I felt really old. When I walked around to the auditorium, I didn't see the drama teacher I was going to interview, but a bunch of students were sitting at tables across the room. I walked over to one table and asked if they knew where the teacher was. They didn't, so I told them what I was doing.

Their reaction: "We're going to be in the paper?!" It was great. I sat down to interview a few of them and the first guy told me I look "kinda young to be a reporter."

But it went really well and I got to sit through some of the dress rehearsal. One of the photographers came while I was there and took some great shots.

Today, I finished up a few things and drove down the street to the senior center to interview someone on financial planning for retirees. The center is right next to my favorite house on the street. It's a huge white house with bay windows and I think a porch. One of the photographers lives 2 houses down and told me today that the Belk family used to live there...Belk department store. The photographer almost bought it in the 80s because he's in real estate, but ended up not getting it. He said it's two stories, plus a huge attic where they had a "skating parlor." Like a skating rink, but smaller. I plan to put the house on wheels someday and plant it somewhere else so I can live in it.

I told him to kick out the people living there now and let me rent it for $400 a month. He said the house has had several owners because after people buy it, they decide it's overwhelming. Too bad the Brady Bunch isn't still around.

Anyway, right now I'm getting ready to meet some of my coworkers and Sara in No-Da for the gallery crawl. No-Da stands for North Davidson and on the weekends they open the art galleries and some places have live music. Then off to the airport to pick up Pete! I hope he has better luck with his luggage than I did.

Adios!

Gracious

2008-02-05T21:42:00.000-05:00

I'm fed up with mainstream entertainment. Today, I caught an episode of this new TV show called The Millionaire Matchmaker. It was completely ridiculous. There's a woman named Patti who runs a business out of matching millionaire men with women who have been screened beforehand. This is what I gathered from today's episode: Patti is so far from being qualified to match people that I honestly think a five-year-old could do a better job. She actually said on camera that her business' goal is to "sell love," which is wrong in so many ways to start with. She has a couple of girls who help her screen millionaire applicants, which just means they make sure that the guys have a lot of money in the bank. Then all the desperate women who know about show send in pictures of themselves so Patti and her crew can weed out the pool based on looks. "No, too plain Jane," etc.

Next, Patti meets with the millionaires to find out why they aren't married yet and sets out to fix whatever quirks are keeping them from walking down the aisle. On today's show, both of the guys seemed sweet, but one needed some help with his rocker wardrobe and one was...to be blunt...boring and asked too many questions. Ok, so they need to call up their moms or get a good female friend to give them a few tips. They certainly don't need some matchmaking service to "fix" them to fit into what a millionaire "should" be like. Patti told one of the guys that he needed to move into an upscale home to find love.......

What?

The guy owned two really nice properties but chose to live in a house with his old college roommates when he was in the area and asked Patti if he really wanted a girl who only liked him for his upscale homes. As for the house, it could use a little cleaning and I understand that a grown man still having two roommates is a little eh, but I felt sorry for the guy being yelled at. I thought he was going to put up a fight, but at the end of the episode, he was looking for an expensive condo.

But back to the matchmaking process. So once the ladies weeded out the plain Janes, they picked 12 women to meet the two millionaires to see if anyone clicked. If so, they went on another date. I don't understand. There's no natural setting, there's a ton of pressure and maybe...just maybe...the guys would have clicked better with a non Baywatch-looking girl.

But what really got me is when Patti told one of the guys that he had to decide to fall in love before it would happen. I almost changed the channel. I probably should have, but I was enthralled with the superficiality of the show...

What's worse is all these commercials for psychic love readings. "Are you and your lover meant to be? Text love to 6637."

"Call 1-800-555-3476 for your free reading to see what this year has in store for your love life."

"Want to see if you're a match made in heaven? Text your name and your lover's name now to find out."

Or what about the ads for chat lines featuring some unrealistic female talking on the phone in lingerie? First of all, who wears lingerie if they're alone? Second of all, I guarantee you that the majority of the people who are that desperate do NOT look like that.

What's the customer service number? I'm going to tell them what's what. Are there really people out there who are going to break up with their boyfriend or girlfriend if an absurd text tells them their love score is 3 instead of 10? Where are these people? Can I whack them across the head and tell them that all that stuff is so foolish it's not funny?...

I'm also sick of hearing the same five songs on the radio. It's either hearing people talk all day, two million obnoxious car commercials in a row or some crap music that someone gets paid for. I'd rather count the number of illegal drivers that pass me on the road. By the way, I've decided that Charlotte has some of the worst drivers EVER. I know I'm not perfect, but sometimes I think everyone is just trying to kill me. It's like bumper cars without the giggles...

In other news, I got a new job! I start working as a full-time staff writer at the Enquirer-Journal in Monroe on Monday. Eight-thirty in the morning in fact. Ew. It already takes about 40 minutes to get there...But that should be the only day that I'll have to be there that early. I'm going to meet some judges and media reps at the courthouse that morning and then work on some features. It's a big weight off my shoulders because I had no idea how I was going to pay for everything coming up. Rent: $350 a month, tuition: $382 a month for 4 months (for two classes), cell phone bill: $50 a month, Texaco bill: $100 this month. Then groceries and whatever else I may need, plus things that Dad calls "unexpected expenses." I've also added a category called "things I forget about." Oil-changes, haircuts and new tennis shoes go here. I'm sorry, when does my money get here? I thought I signed up for direct deposit; they must be forwarding it to someone else. It all seems pretty indirect to me. Twenty-three hours a week just doesn't cut it...expecially when a fourth of it goes toward taxes, so this job is a good thing.

Plus, I've decided that people annoy me a lot at my current job. A communications major probably shouldn't feel this way. But honestly, I talk to some customers and literally have to take a deep breath and wait for the redness in my face to fade away before I can speak. There are some crazy people out there, and I think most of them are on my call list. Whoever made patience a virtue never worked in customer service. I suppose I should get used to it.

I told Sarah that I've probably brought it on myself. For the past year, I've prayed for more patience and shoot me now if God didn't take me seriously. Any time I'm behind a slow driver or call a customer who forgot to put in her hearing aid, I can't help but think, "Alright, God. I know I asked for patience. Fine, so I did." Gosh darn it.

After I ran into an incredibly rude dental assistant last week and almost lost it, I figured I must still need work.

As far as school, it's going pretty well. I turned in my first paper yesterday! It was on epistological literature in the New Testament. It took me two days (the two days before it was due), but would have taken me one if I hadn't been distracted by nice weather and gotten frustrated with the footnote option in Microsoft Word. And it only had to be 6-8 pages, which isn't much at this point. Mine was two lines over 8 pages, so I figure I'm in good shape for the other four papers I'll have to write for that class.

To end this entry, I have a story! A couple weeks ago, one of my co-workers called a customer who told her why she wanted to cancel her subscription. The customer has a brain tumor - terminal - her husband was recently laid off and their insurance won't cover whatever she needs to have done. I don't know all the specifics, but the doctor told her she has a year to live without treatment and two years with it. He suggested she not have treatment because the insurance won't cover it and it's terminal anyway. (Hopefully he didn't tell her that so bluntly). So anyway, when my co-worker got off the phone and told us all of that, we were completely silent. What would I say to someone like that when I'm sitting here, annoyed that I have to talk louder for a customer who's hard of hearing? When I get frustrated that it takes longer than usual to get to work because of some road construction? It really puts things in perspective.

I started thinking that if I was told I had a year to live, my outlook would probably be different. I would have more fun, worry less and stay on the phone longer with friends and family. I would roll down the window more, play the music louder and completely embarrass myself at a red light by singing at the top of my lungs. I would give more things away, go barefoot more and finally write all my quotes in one book. I would visit every relative I know of and spend a week with each of them and never once accept that I had a year to live. I think the whole world would be different if we all lived like it's the last day on earth.

I also know that God can work miracles and often does. My pastor told a true story a few weeks ago about a friend of his who had a cancerous mass on his abdomen. The guy's friends and family prayed for him again and again and when the guy went back to the doctor, the doctor looked him in the eye and said the cancer was gone. Just like that.

A girl in our church had lyme disease and awhile back, the pastor and all of the deacons in the church prayed over her and anointed her with oil during the service. This past Sunday, the pastor updated us on the girl. The disease was affecting her vision and when the girl's mom took her to the doctor, almost all of the disease in her eye was gone.

I may not know what all the technical terms are and maybe I'm not explaining it 100 percent correctly, but if those aren't miracles, I don't know what is.

The New Testament and Inconsiderate Dental Hygienists

2008-01-21T23:05:00.000-05:00

So I finished my first seminary class this past Saturday. One down, 11 to go. Of course, I thought I had to take 13 classes altogether, so I guess it's not so bad. The class didn't get much more coherent after the last entry I wrote. By Thursday, though, I understood a good chunk of it, so I'm assuming that's what my paper will be on...But there were still conversations during class on things like "thisness" and "whatness," and by Friday night, I was just ready to come home, relax and treat myself to some "Triscuitness."

That's not to say that the entire class was a bore or that I regret taking it. Not so. I know it will be helpful for future classes and we had some quite interesting discussions. For example, we briefly brought up the point that God doesn't have arms. Let me explain...

We were talking about God's spirit and how he does not have a "body." Now, Aquinas goes into elaborate detail about this, and it's quite possible that he defines a body differently from how you or I would. But anyway, some people in the class had come to the conclusion that God doesn't have arms, for example, or any other part that would be considered of the body. I don't know. When I think of God, I have this vision in my head of a huge Bible my family used to keep on the coffee table when I was little that had a picture of God on it. I think He had a goatee. But there are also several passages in the Bible about how His light is so bright, we can't look upon Him. So then my mind goes to a vision of God as some ginormous Tinkerbell ball.

I told Pete about this discussion and he brought up the point that we were created in God's image. I knew that, but hadn't thought of it during class, so it bugged me til the next day when I asked a guy in class about it. No one was arguing that we aren't created in His image, but this is the way my classmate described it in a nutshell: God created us to have similar characteristics as Himself, and in doing so, we have bodies to express or embody those characteristics...Or something like that.

Of course, he explained it much better than I did...(He was one of those I mentioned earlier who's read every author under the sun). I'm still thinking on it, though. Obviously, when Jesus was born, it was God in human form, and the Bible also talks about us having perfect bodies when we are in Heaven, so I don't know whether I agree with some of my classmates...However, as a sidenote, I think it would be great if I could have a perfect body sans the present elbow scars from bike wrecks.

In the end, some of the information at least clipped my forehead as it passed over, so I suppose something stuck. I also found out from a guy in that class that I don't have to write a thesis! Niiiice.

Yesterday, I started my second class. This one is on the New Testament. There are two classes on the New Testament, but I'm taking the second one. It should still make sense, though, because I asked.

Now I just have to figure out how to pay for everything. Before class yesterday, I met with the Dean of Women and came to the conclusion that I would be stupid to try to take more than two classes per semester. That means it's going to take me two years to get my master's and I really just want to be done with school. I know that there's not much difference between a year and a half and two years, but I was a little down after she explained all the work involved and I sat there wondering how I'm going to balance class with work.

But then we went to chapel during class. Chapel is like a half-hour long devotional plus announcements. It's once a week and this week it happened to fall on Monday. Alex, the president of the school, was the speaker and I needed to hear what he had to say.

He said that a lot of us sitting there were new students and we may be thinking one of three things:

"Oh, I'm not smart enough to be here. Everyone else is so ahead of me..." or

"I'm not as spiritual as the rest of the people here. I don't belong." or

"What am I doing at SES? I have rent to pay and two jobs to juggle. This isn't worth it."

Which is funny because the last thing was exactly what was on my mind after meeting with the Dean of Women.

But Alex went on to say that we have to remember God WILL provide. We are at SES for a reason; God has called us to be there. And if we're doing God's will, there's nothing to stop us.

Which I knew, but it certainly doesn't hurt to be reminded.

In my class last week, the professor was talking about how he became a teacher at SES. Years ago, a girl shared her faith with a friend, who later became the professor's roommate. One day, the professor was looking for a book in his roommate's room and ran across a book on Christian philosophy. He eventually came to know Christ, became a professor at SES and has had many opportunities to share his faith. The roommate went on to hold a high position for a Christian organization. Just from the one girl sharing her faith, countless lives have been affected, and she has no idea.

Regardless of how tough things may be now, if this is where I am supposed to be, I can't argue. It would just be nice if things were simpler sometimes. I need one of those Easy buttons. Take me back to the days when the only things to worry about were whether I would have time to ride my bike when I got home or whether the lady at the entrance to Wal-Mart would remember to give me a smiley face sticker.

In other news, I was looking for a birthday card for my brother a couple days ago and got annoyed. Ninety percent of birthday cards are about all the "terrible" things that come with age, or say, "it's ok to be old; we love you anyway." Why are birthdays such a horrible thing? I hope no one ever gets me a card like that. Birthdays should be fun. Of course, I did just buy Dad one that said something like, "Age is only in your mind...The trick is to keep it from creeping down the rest of your body." But I thought it was funny.

Ok, I'm finally up to date now. Today, I had a dentist appointment, and I remember them being a lot more fun when I was little. Back then, I got to use bubble gum fluoride and pick something out of the "treasure chest." Today, the hygienist poked and prodded at my gums and then told me behind her paper mask, "Ohp, that one's bleeding!" Ya think? Stop poking me! She was nice enough, but then told me that I don't floss well enough.

My least favorite part was the X-rays. Why in the world do they insist on sticking hard, plastic squares in your mouth that have the roughest edges ever, then ask you to smile while they take a picture? It doesn't help that the dentist office I go to has windows in all the rooms so anyone can walk by and see you in a reclining chair with plastic in your jaw, smiling at the wall.

When the actual dentist came in, the hygienist told her that I said I floss everyday, but I don't seem to be doing it well enough. Tattletale.

I Got This

2008-01-15T00:11:00.000-05:00

Maybe I'm too practical. I had my first class today and I forgot that it has a lot to do with philosophy...which I used to think I was interested in. It was definitely a little deeper than your average "if a tree falls and no one is around to hear it" question.

When I first got to SES (Southern Evangelical Seminary), I had to stop by the business office to pay for the class. This is the only one that's due up front since it's only a week long. $765 gone just like that. Ouch.

Then I made my way to a small classroom upstairs. I was the only girl until another one came in, followed by two female staff members that are also taking the class. A few people looked close to my age, but within five minutes three people sitting near me found out it was my first class and made comments about diving right into the deep end. Whoops.

When I got the syllabus, the only thing that stuck out to me was "20-25." The number of pages that one of my research papers has to be. There's another 4-5 page paper due, but that's not a big deal. I think the longest paper I've written to date was 15 pages or so, and I'm pretty sure that included a reference page. But what's five more pages, right?

The class itself was pretty interesting, but I think it should be against the law to make a brain think that much after dinner time. We talked about Aristotle and Plato so that we could form a foundation for talking about Aquinas, who, I found out, was a genius at a very early age, wrote a ton of books in a four-year span because the pope told him to and was overweight...which I didn't picture in my head. So basically it was evident that God was on his side or he never could have done half the things he did in such a short time. One guy in the class said he probably wouldn't have gotten any of it done if he had been married. Then another one asked how he was overweight because he chose to live in poverty and walked everywhere. Those are my kind of questions.

Then we talked about things like: "Can reason unite being with change and multiplicity?" "Either being or non-being is the reason for change, or being or non-being is the reason for many." On the other hand, maybe "non-being is an impossible principle of change or difference."

By the end of it, my vision was getting blurry and I hated the word "being." I just sat there and tried really hard to figure out how this is going to relate later on.

One exciting thing is that I actually heard terms that I learned in my rhetorical theory class a couple of years ago, which shocked me. I didn't think I'd ever use that class for anything. I also met Nora, the Dean of Women and she seems really nice. She said one of the professors is planning a trip to Israel this summer. I want to go!

Although the question "What was I thinking?" crossed my mind more than once during the class, in the end, I know this class will be helpful. When the professor was talking about everything Aquinas did, thought and wrote, I got excited and I'm anxious to see where it goes. I just hope I don't feel like I'm way behind everyone else. One guy who sat in front of me said it's been a long time since he's read Aristotle and the guy next to him said he's in the process of reading Plato again. I don't even have time to read my travel magazines.

But the 4 1/2 hours went by pretty fast, so that's always a plus.

Retail Therapy

2008-01-13T22:27:00.001-05:00

This morning, I went to church for the first time in about a month since I've been out of town so much lately. It was actually kind of lonely because I went by myself...which I usually do, but sometimes I get tired of going alone. Recently, my friend, Xi has been going with me. (I'm pretty sure that's pronounced "Chi," but I've never been 100% sure). She couldn't go today, though, so hopefully next week.

I love my church, but a lot of the college students get to hang out outside of church and I'm almost always working...so I feel out of the loop sometimes. And it's not like my family is here to go with since they're a state away, but oh well. It was good to be back anyway.

Afterwards, I went to American Apparel with Sara. I really don't understand their clothes. There are a few cute things, but you know when you see someone in public and think, "WHERE did they get THAT?" Well, possibly American Apparel. But I give Sara points for finding something cute. She called it retail therapy and I decided it helped me, too, to get out of the house. It's been somewhat lonely this week because a lot of my friends have been at work, out of town or sick or live far away.

Then we headed to Northlake Mall and stopped by Sephora to use our gift cards (thanks, Sarah!) It was overwhelming. I've never seen so many cosmetics in one place. I picked out some foundation primer stuff that's supposed to minimize pores and do some other things and asked Sara why I can't just have perfect skin to begin with. "Because then something else would be wrong with you." I like that answer. When I told Sarah what I bought with the gift card she gave me, she told me that my pores aren't visible. That's a true friend...even if I disagree when up close.

I finally treated myself to a caramel apple with M&M's. That's what I usually get at the Renaissance Festival, but since I didn't go last year, I figured it was time. It took me the whole trip home to eat it (even after handing Sara two slices) while I wondered if the sugar in the caramel and M&M's canceled out the healthy bits in the apple. Probably.

But I was proud of myself for only spending $13 the whole day.

As a perfect cap to the day, Sara and I made a trip to the grocery store to buy ingredients for a fancy pasta dish. One of the recipes we were going to decide between called for capers and we had no idea what we were looking for. But for future reference, they come in a can and look like miniature hermit crabs. We bought a basil plant, too.

The outcome was linguini with red clam sauce. It was good! Why does a meal always take half as long to eat as it does to make? And twice as long to clean up?

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Why do people constantly return to the refrigerator with hopes that something new to eat will have materialized?

Last Week of Laziness

2008-01-11T21:45:00.000-05:00

I usually feel like a complete bum when I'm not being productive, but I admit it's been wonderful to be lazy this week. I've gotten to watch a complete show instead of the first 10 minutes and even put together a full lunch. Unfortunately, today is my last day to enjoy it.

My first seminary class starts Monday: Great Thinkers -- Thomas Aquinas. (That's pronounced "A-qwine-us" by the way). I stopped by the school's bookstore today to get the book for the course...1093 pages and the font is NOT large. It's a compilation of his writings and to be honest, all I know about the guy is what I read on Wikipedia. I remember talking about him briefly in a high school history class, but I guess I didn't retain the information. Hopefully by Monday, I'll know enough not to feel stupid in class. This is my only class that will meet every day next week. They call it a "module." Monday through Friday it will meet from 6:00-10:30 in the evening and Saturday it will meet 8:00-4:30. Then I'll have the rest of the semester to do the coursework. The other two classes will start January 21 -- one on Monday nights and one on Thursday nights. I'm hoping to get my degree in a year and a half. It all depends on when classes are offered, but keep your fingers crossed.

...A couple of days ago, I picked Sara up from campus, and it was weird to see all the students walking around and not be one of them. I know I still have class coming up, but it's different. And I don't think you're supposed to skim the textbooks in grad school.

In the middle of this, I'm in the process of getting a new job. I had an interview yesterday, but that's all I'll say about that until I find out whether I got the job or not. Don't you just love suspense? ;)

I do know that I'm getting bored with my current job. I'm working in a call center at The Charlotte Observer newspaper and I figured out yesterday that I've been there for about 2 years. I love the people I work with; they make it fun and bearable. And I even love my supervisors, the flexibility, hours and pay. But frankly, it's boring. It gets harder every week to sit still for four hours and call ungrateful customers. A lady I work with told me I need to get a yoga ball to sit on so I can bounce up and down and get my energy out. And it may sound stupid, but I swear there's something in the air that makes me tired. I can be wide awake when I get to work and as soon as I sit down at my desk, I yawn. I'll probably be at a doctor's appointment 20 years from now and they'll tell me that I have some crazy disease that was caused by some fungus in the air at the Observer.

I would miss the people I work with if (or when) I quit. We have some interesting conversations while we dial. Although a lady in the telemarketing department just had a baby, so the ladies in my department started talking about child birth a few days ago. Mom, Dad, if you're reading this, you may want to rely on your other two kids for grandchildren.

Speaking of, Sara and I watched Super Nanny the other night. If I had EVER acted like the kids on there, I would have been grounded for life. I didn't need a nanny; I just needed to be called by my first AND middle name..."Tiffany Cherie!" Oh no, what have I done?

Well, I'm going to be smart and get to bed soon. I have to work tomorrow morning :( Who's idea was it to work on Saturdays anyway?

This Whole Adult Thing

2008-01-06T23:39:00.000-05:00

Right now, I'm sitting on the couch, watching Pride and Prejudice with Sara and munching on a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios (I bought one, got one free). I'm quite full and grateful that the pilates commercial isn't on like earlier when I treated myself to a cookie while the perfectly-sculpted and air-brushed pilate women did a 360 rotation on the screen in spandex. Why don't commercials for exercise equipment come on when I'm eating an apple?

I've been meaning to start this blog for awhile now, so I can finally cross it off my list of things to do. There's a point when I get so many things on my to-do list that I end up throwing it away because I get overwhelmed, which may defeat the purpose of having a list in the first place...this isn't one of those times, but I was reminded of that.

...Ooooh, pretty scene in the movie. I want to stand on the top of a cliff in the sunshine. This is the newer Pride and Prejudice and I've never seen this version before. I watched Bridgette Jones last night. The second one. I wanted to watch the first one, but of course Sara doesn't own that one. Gosh. Although Sara is so much like Bridgette Jones they could be twins. There's a funny skiing scene, too, and having just recently attempted skiing myself, I had to laugh out loud. (Sometimes I feel stupid for laughing out loud when I'm home alone, but not this time).

So yesterday I was on my way to Target and heard this commercial on the radio about starting the New Year. I don't know what product it was advertising, but it started out with, "Is this going to be another year of feeling depressed, bloated, sleep-deprived and spiritually numb?" Wow, how depressing. I hope not. It was probably for another weight-loss program since that's what 96% of commercials are about now anyway. Why can't we all just take multi-vitamins and be good to go? Of course, I forget to take mine a lot, so maybe that's why.

Since I'm on a commercial kick, I might as well mention another one I've seen recently: flavored Brita water. What? How does that work? You just attach a Brita thing on your faucet and push a button to get strawberry-flavored water? That's too sketchy for me...and not at all natural.

Hm, perhaps I shouldn't have started watching this movie. I'm really tired, but of course there's no way I can go to bed until the end. It's like one of those darn Lifetime movies...It's been a long day. I got back from New Year's in Minnesota yesterday, but my luggage didn't, so the airport people had to deliver my bag this morning, which means I spent the whole morning/afternoon doing laundry from this past week. Then Deborah and I went to see a play that had a good story but was incredibly boring. And I have now decided that even musicals can have too many songs. After that, Deborah went with me to Home Depot and Bed Bath and Beyond (to buy pretty bath towels). Then off to the grocery store I went to find a short supply of 1% milk and spend way too much time in the card aisle.

Finally, back home, but not before being stopped at one of those annoying "no turn on red"s. Sometimes I sit at those, wondering why in the world I abide by the rule when absolutely no one is around. I suppose there are a lot of things I do for the sake of following the rules that are at times extremely inconvenient. The only thing that keeps me from turning on red is the fear that there's a cop lurking around just waiting for me to try to be sneaky.

Well I hope this first entry has been at least 2% entertaining. I figured since I never wrote a wrap-up entry on my Australia blog, I might as well just start a whole new one. Why not, right?