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| I really need to go home. This semester has been very interesting; I've taken on responsibilities that Id never dreamed of and faced relational and ethical challenges I couldn't have anticipated. I hate growing up, in a way. I know that you approach certain places times in your life where it would be wrong not to move on-- but it still hurts to look back at what has been lost. But you have to move on: move on and take on new challenges, which you will blunder in, but you have to keep going and slowly smooth out the wrinkles.
I am so looking forward to going home in twelve days. The value of a few old friends and the simplicity of a family should never be underestimated. I hope the end of the semester flies by, but at the same time, I don't want to miss it: the houses decorated with lights, the process of gift-hunting and creativity, the good Christmas music that you hear in malls (like Nat King Cole and Diana Krall and Johnny Cash, not the Hilary Duff and Clay Aiken crappy stuff).
Don't miss it, everyone. | | |
| Greetings from TejasWell folks, I thought I'd give one of my biannual updates to the greater world of xanga. I think last time I updated it was not long before I left college in Colorado Springs, and now it's only two days until I return to CC for another year of fun and adventures.
My summer started out with a month in Germany, blissful days of watching the World Cup and pestering those still in high school and random trips and campouts with fellow alumni... those were a few of the best weeks that I can remember in a long, long, time. I miss all you guys. But those days had to end quickly.
Then in June I went on to Scotland, where I worked in Sighthill, basically the ghetto of Glasgow, at a kids' club all summer and doing detached youth and social work. This I also loved. It was busy and tiring, but very rewarding. And the best part was really being in Scotland again. Since I moved 6 years ago I've only had two quick visits there, so it was really amazing to be immersed in the culture fully again. I got to catch up with my old school and church friends--it's so refreshing in a way after BFA and college life to be in a community which never really changes too much. People and families are basically the same, though older-- so different from the rest of the places I've lived and been. My family came and went, we hiked Ben Nevis and visited old, dear friends in Dundee and Kirkintilloch, and now I've left there too. So now I'm taking a relaxing week with cousins and old friends in Brownwood, Texas... not a bad place to disappear to if you want to relax and do nothing for a week, which is exactly what I needed considering I haven't really had much rest since probably April or something. Off to Colorado in 2 days. I'm excited to see what this new year will bring. Laters...
And... if anyone tried to call me in the last 3 months and my no. didn't work, that's because I was in Europe, and it's working again now because I'm back in the States. So call me. | | |
| Lord TennysonSo yes... haven't been updating much. My Intro to Psych class has been eating my life up for the past little while. I mean, I know I'm tasty and all, but this is a bit ridiculous. it's actually a really cool class, I'm training a cute little lab rat called Lord Tennyson who is black and white and very smart, and we got to do a lab on human brains yesterday, which was pretty sweet. It's really interesting, it's just that the four hours of homework a night plus three hours of class and at least an hour of lab is really killing me. Luckily, I'm almost done, and in exactly three weeks I will be on a plane headed for Germany. How exactly I'm going to pack up my room AND pass Psych by then, AND say proper goodbyes for the summer, I have no idea. OH-- and any of you BFA people, if you know anyone going up to soccer tournament on the 20th or 21st, let me know. I fly in the morning of the 20th and would love to go see some butt get kicked by our boys again (and girls). One more thing. Apparently my Dad couldn't keep his mouth shut and a surprising amount of people have asked my about my airport escapades and stupid mandys... so if you heard a rumour about my going to the airport on the wrong day in Alabama, it's all true. Thanks Dad. | | |
| I'm convinced that the world is microscopic and getting smaller all the time. I used to think that my BFA sphere and my school spere were totally separate, but it's so not true. Life is full of random connections. First, Chris was going to room with a guy at Wake Forest who's friends with a guy on my floor, roommate of one of my good guy friends Austin. Then last month or so I found out that this one kid I know, Nathaniel, is actually the Tebbe's cousin. So strange. THEN today I was looking through pictures with my friends and found out that one of my best friends here, Monica, worked with Brett over the summer. SO weird. The world is so small.
It's block break starting tomorrow. Meaning that I have a five-day weekend. A bunch of my friends are doing cool things like ice-picking and roadtrips to Mexico and doing missions trips in New Orleans. I was just going to go with a bunch of my friends up to my friend Briony's house in Vail for the weekend to ski. But then tonight while procrastinating paper-writing and studying for finals, we decided that we really wanted to do something entirely spontaneous, and so we started looking at plane tickets online. We found a $700 roundtrip ticket to Hawaii, and seriously toyed with the idea of going for a few days and meeting some surf bums on the beach to stay with. We also looked at tickets to London (for those of you that don't know that Les Mis is closing this year), Mexico, Thailand, the Canary Islands, and Florida. Nothing within our price range. of course. Still a beautiful thought, though, to book a plane ticket one night be on the beaches of Hawaii less than 48 hours later. Mmm... Wonderful to be spontaneous. I think we're going to start out in Vail and ski a bit/hang out in coffee shops all day, and then the day after that go to Boulder or Denver or Ft. Collins and visit people and do spontaneous things... Should be fun. We'll see where the wind takes us. | | |
| It's my roommate's birthday. She's turning twenty. I'm barely eighteen. What is this?? Odd. I just discovered an amazing new singer called Joe Purdy. Unknown but phenomenal. Anyone who's a Jack Johnson-type fan should check him out.
Not much time to write. My break... it was good to be in Germany again. So good. It was hard to leave school at first because transition takes so much effort, but of course as soon as I was over the Atlantic Ocean that all didn't matter and I was really excited. First off I saw my family and all my alumni friends-- soooo good. Escpecially those of you from class of '04 that I hadn't seen in way too long. That half of break consisted in swing dancing, "speak-easys", Christmas parties, Scottish ceilidh dancing, hanging out in Peter's basement watching movies and reading Billy Collins, playing Risk, wandering Kandern, getting chauffeured by the wonderful Beck, and taking trips to the the faraway and exotic Zurich (ahem). (oh Zurich) Then my alumni friends left and I lingered late after Christmas... but then I actually got to be around when school was in session, so it was all good. I'm glad I got to see my seniors :) and all my little sisters and brothers. People I saw... here's a quick long list... my family of course, Peter Kent, Beck, all 3 Marcoses, all Woodwards and Holladays, Megan McQuery (Jenny, I missed you!!), Josh Gentile, Rebecca, Kenny (yay! Happy Late Birthday), Kels and Ellen, Angela (I saw the hair when it was still long) and Peter (i gave him a hug in the dark and didn't know he was leaving the next day, so didn't get a chance to talk) Bill Ciria, Chris Adams, Lauren Weist, Jonathan Riddle, Scottland, Reubus, Ian, Brett and Toby and all their girlfriends, of course B and Shelly. Also saw Bryan Beck, which was a very cool surprise. Someone from a different part of my life at BFA. Weird.
So yeah, that was my break in a nutshell. I'm off in an hour to Ponderosa, a camp in the mountains for a BSU retreat for the whole state. My best friend Sunny and 3 really good cadet friends from church are coming, so it's gonna be tons of fun. So many crazy good memories from the last time I was at Ponderosa in August... (E-HA forever) so the ghost of the last time I was there will be hard to shake. Anyhow. It will be lots of fun. I really, really have to go pack. Later!! | | |
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