Fall Break

It's hard to believe, but last Wednesday was the beginning of fall break for me. And what a wonderful break it was. I left Wed. afternoon. Two friends from the math lab, where my GA is, went with me, so that made the trip way faster. We left about 2:45 and after dropping them off at their family's houses, I finally met up with Tricia, Holly, and Aaron at 8:15. We went to this great BBQ place. I know they were starving, so it was great of them to wait. Then afterwards we went to Denny's and got pie and coffee. So good. I love dessert and coffee after a meal. :)
The next day I went to school with Trish. That was a blast. Her kids love her. That we look alike was confirmed by all of her students. Some mistook me for her and some of them were doing double and triple takes between the two of us when they walked into class and saw me. I told them some about Korea and they aske questions. One kid asked me how to say blood in Korean. I was obliviously about to answer, but Trish was signalling to me that I should not, as he was making a gang reference. ha, I'm totally naive about all that stuff. Also, the word for blood in Korean is "pee", so it was good I didn't go there. Since they had the next day off, she did a game day with them, so we played games with them the whole time. She is doing an amazing job teaching them. Definitely a job that will wear you out. She is invested in those kids even after being there a short time, and they know it. That day was her birthday, so I would tell the kids and they would get excited (usually about half of them) and sing her happy birthday. Right after the day ended we went to a gas station and got some dp and peanut butter m and m's to celebrate and went back to her apt.
We walked around the pool, which is in the center of her little commune ha/apt. complex and visited with her friend Adrienne for awhile. I had met her at ACU a couple of times, but didn't really know her. She and her husband are awesome. There are a lot of cool people at this place. It's a great atmosphere -- safe and quiet, especially considering that Trish lives in the hood.
For dinner, Holly made soup, that was very tasty and we watched the Office. After that, Holly (aka Andy) and I (aka Michael Scott) womped up on T and A in Spades, again!!!! We also got to see and play with the new puppies. They are adorable! Little Jessica Jr. is especially cute. Yes, I named a dog after me. They let me, and what better name?
The next day Trish and I got up and went to get a bagel and coffee at Einstein Bagels. Delicious!! As usual, food plays a big role in life enjoyment -- that's why I'm mentioning it. The coffee was vanilla hazlenut. We then went to White Rock Lake aka Exercise Maniac Land to exercise. By the time we got there, I was hyped up enough on coffee and Tricia's inspiring talk about running, I decided to run/jog. I went maybe a 1/2 mile to a mile and walked the rest. The people who exercise there are serious about it, so for a brief time, I experienced the rush of being one of them plus the beauty of the lake. It was a nice time. Then came the aftermath of having sprained my foot or something. I'm not sure what I've done to it, but it's still sore and kind of swollen. Walking the next morning at the lake and then at the fair didn't help, I'm sure.
We met Alex for lunch at Freebirds, a burrito restaurant and had a really nice visit with her. We sat there for several hours talking and catching up.
Next we went on to Holly and Aaron's to meet up with Nat, Ethan, and Holly G. They got there an hour or two after we did. Holly G's little puppy is way cute also. We played card games for awhile and then had dinner. Amazing spaghetti. Seriously, it is some of the best I've had. David got there towards the end of dinner. The rest of the evening we hung out and played games and ate great pumpkin pie and drank coffee. I haven't laughed so hard in awhile as I did while we played this name game that I love (now called Dumb Freakin' Boo) and brought back Write a Book. It was hilarious. Matt and Brittany got there just in time to hear the books that had been written. It was great to see them.
Next day Trish and I went to the lake again to exercise while D slept in. We came back and woke him up so we could walk around the corner to "Taco Joint" and get some breakfast tacos. Wow, we ate out a lot. It worked out well though, as T has just moved into her apt. and is getting settled in still. Came back and got ready to go to the fair and everyone came over so we could walk over. It was about a mile walk from her apt. to the fair, so wasn't bad except for T and Matt, who went back to get T's ID so she could get into the fair. They really did a lot of walking that day. The shows were fun. Most everybody didn't care for the light show, but I really enjoyed it that evening. The huge flames were amazing. Anything that is timed well with music and lights is entertaining to me. Even if it's not timed well, I wouldn't know! I enjoyed it. The food was also a big highlight. After hunting for forever I found the Fried Guacamole which had been recommended by a couple of people. It was actually fried avocado chunks, so it was kind of a let down. The chicken-fried bacon was surprisingly good and so were the spicy olive bites. Those were excellent. Also, the turkey leg was so good. I didn't get all of these, but just tried them. The corn dog I started the afternoon out with was the best corn dog I've had. Again, mixed reviews, by others, but I really enjoyed it. At the end of the day we finally found the building that had the crafts and canned goods. I always like to see how talented people are and think that maybe someday...probably not, but it's fascinating to me what some people can do, especially with quilting.
By the end of the day my legs were about to fall off. I haven't walked that much in forever. We went back to T's and then over to H and A's where we hung out for awhile before D and M and B went back to Oklhoma. It was nice to sit. I think we depleted H and A's coffee during the weekend. We had that and some pumpkin bread she had made. Holly knows how to bake. I've never had anything she's made that wasn't good.
Trish and I spent the night there so we wouldn't have to drive up in the morning. We all went to church at The Branch. Chris Seidman (sp?) had a good lesson on forgiveness. He covered a lot of material and then had kind of a lengthy invitation, but the principles were good. In my opinion. :) On a different note, he reminds me of Jim Carrey. A dramatic, articulate, and entertaining speaker. After church we went to the BBQ place once again. Then it was time to go. I went to pick up the friends and made it back to Monroe by 8:45. I fell into bed exhausted. It was a really, really wonderful fall break. Just what I needed to make it to the next little break, which will be in a couple of weeks. Couldn't have more fun family to hang out with. I'm planning to go visit friend Heather in Nacogdoches, TX and I think (dare I hope?) Rachel is coming also?!!! Can't wait! If you've waded through all this wordiness, have a great rest of the week!

"I believe in the sun..."

I really like this song. Supposedly the chorus was found on the wall of concentration camp. For some reason I'm being blocked from putting the video straight on here. Probably because I'm not doing it right. :) Oh well, just click on the link.

This song is a great reminder that faith/belief/trust is a decision or an attitude, not the way you feel. By the same token, belief is more than logic.

http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=0fe7e0f4f3b9f5f402f5

Happy Day

Tofutti has done it again. They have one of the best dairy free ice creams I've tried. I went to Brookshires (pronounced Brook-sures here rather than Brook-shires) to pick up some groceries and decided I would look again for Tofutti sour cream and cream cheese. This store has a pretty good selection of gluten free foods and organic foods, but not so good on dairy free. I still couldn't find what I was looking for, so I think I'm going to put in a request at customer service. Do people do that? I'm going to try. Anyway, as I came to end of the ice cream isle, after looking longingly at the whole row, I found a huge selection of sorbet and dairy free ice cream!! I've tried the Cuties made by Tofutti before and they are good. They had a lot of those and also pints of "frozen dessert" in different flavors. They had a couple of other brands too, but I wanted to try Tofutti and it didn't let me down. I got vanilla fudge and indulged in a delicious milkshake tonight. Yummm.

This may be interesting to like 2 people besides myself, but oh well. My camera's still broken, so that's the reason for the off-centeredness. As another side note, my kitchen coutertops look like that, but a brighter/darker color of green than you can see in the picture. The picture makes it look like a gray marble something, but it's not. It's green.

The weekend is here. Celebrate with some ice cream!

Respite for the old tailbone

Here's my new chair!!

This is the building I live in. My apartment is the door you can fully see on the left.

This is the building right next to mine that burned three days after I moved here.

Here are the Sawtooth mountains near Stanley, ID. Kind of random.

And here's one more picture of my little chair. :)

Friday

TGIF!!! Fridays are extra nice now because I don't have class on Fri. It's like having two Saturdays. Because of that I should be getting tons of work done, but I've been finding little things to do to occupy my time instead of homework and reading: check e-mail, check facebook, read blogs, eat a little snack, check e-mail, listen to the radio (particularly Sean Hannity sp?), eat lunch or another snack, check e-mail, check facebook, go to the store, go check my mail, maybe text message a few people in between all of these things, and maybe do a little reading or homeowrk in between. Very lame. I think I'm going to begin limiting myself to one e-mail check a day. I got into this habit of over-checking all of these forms of communication when I was in Daegu, got out of the habit while I was at home, and now I'm back in the habit. This bad cycle happens for two reasons. One, it helps me feel connected to people even if I'm not, and two, it helps me delay the work I need to do. So, no more! Maybe I'll limit my check to twice a day + try to actually respond to people instead of just checking it. Okay, enough on that.

Here's what's been happening. We're supposed to get some wind and thunderstorms from Hurricane Ike, but it's not supposed to be as bad as Gustav. Yesterday, the tank on my toilet overflowed while I was gone for an hour, so I came back to a slightly flooded bathroom. It was an easy fix. Something had come out of place in the tank. Anyway, when I went to tell the office about it, they asked me what color of chair I would prefer for my apt. They had two to choose from, from corporate that are in good shape, that they're giving away if people need it, so I willingly took this cute little blue chair. God is so generous!! I really love this little chair. I also love the management at these apts. The maintenence man observed that I could use some furniture when he was in doing a work order and his wife and step-daughter, the office manager, all jumped on board. They are great.

Today is Fri. so I went to Happy Hour at Sonic and got a DP. Chrissy, everytime I go to Sonic now, I think about what my mom told me about Cooper thinking the trip is to get water. Do I have the story right?

The college/young professional class at church is studying A Purpose Driven Life. Looks like it's going to be a good study. I've tried reading it before, but couldn't get into it, so maybe reading a chapter a week will work out better. They do "house church" on Sun. night which is the same as a small group/care group/cell group/whatever you want to call it. Everybody's been very welcoming. My expectations for finding a church I liked were low coming here, although I was hoping to find one I could get involved in quickly. I had a definite negative stereotype of what churches are like in the South. This place is Christ-centered, sincere, warm, welcoming, open-minded, and very mission/outreach oriented. And I love the musical worship. Really great. Don't get me wrong, it's not perfect, but I'm thankful to find a place so quickly. Now it's time for me to get disciplined and plug myself in. Recently, I've talked with several people about the importance for community. No doubt I've written about this before, but I'm going to again.

Not a single person was created in isolation. We weren't born into it. We can't survive in it. Relationally, emotionally, spiritually, mentally, and even physically (have I missed any?), isolation is cancer. When people let themselves become isolated, it often (usually?) destroys the relationships they did have. Isolations cuts people off from understanding others, which in turn creates more isolation and often a lot of pain for all parties involved. Part of the problem a lot of people have with wanting to be part of a community -- church, town organization, spending time with family, spending time with co-workers, etc. is that they've been poorly treated in their socializing experience. That is unfortunate, but it does not mean that it's not valuable to have solid relationships with people who care about you and who you can mutually care for. I'm not talking about constant interaction, but everyone can use and can benefit from having people -- at least one person, but two or more is better, I think -- they can depend on. The key factor I saw last year with my clients that I think determined their poor mental health, was poor socialization they experienced. Problem #2 was that I, as one worker, could not meet the needs they had for relationship. These people did not have the skills to create meaningful relationships and the majority of people they knew had no desire to create meaningful relationships with them. Many people who are isolated are surrounded by people physically, and do not experience real community. Real relationships and real community comes out of mutual openess and trust. It doesn't happen overnight, and it's not something that just happens to you. It's something that has to be created or developed. It's something you have to be intentional about. I'll put an end to these thoughts, but get out there, out of your comfort zone, get to know people, and let yourself be known. This has very much been a pep talk for myself. There's no pressure I would put on any of you, that I'm not having to forcefully put on myself. I'm no expert at putting myself out there and it's difficult everytime I do it, but it's always, always worth it.

"Allllllligator! Allllllllligator! Can be your friend, can be your friend, can be your friend too..."

http://www.thenewsstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008809040314

I was mostly joking on my last blog, but the next day I read this in the newspaper. Where this guy was found is 2.36 miles (I had to look it up) :) from my house. When I came for the interview in the spring, people told me that alligators don't live in the area of the state so much. Yesterday, though, after I was talking with some people about this, they said that yes, there are alligators in the bayous around here. Fishermen see them frequently. I've traded in possibly seeing a bear or mountain lion for seeing an alligator. All those years in the mountains, I never did see a bear like I hoped to. Since I don't have the hope of seeing one now, I've exchange that hope for seeing an alligator in real life. Not at the zoo. And not outside my door. But I wouldn't mind seeing one swimming in the bayou, or walking through the neighborhood at a distance. I'm glad my new phone is a camera phone. I'm ready!!!! Bring it on!

The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain...

It is raining, raining, raining here. Yesterday afternoon the wind and rain started and it picked up throughout the night. I (not a big fan of storms) didn't sleep so well. The normal amount of bright light coming through my window wasn't there because the power was out and everything was really quiet except for the rain and wind. It's interesting all the noise electricity makes that you don't notice until it's out.

Because of the severe weather predicted and I guess the general chaos the hurricane has created, they cancelled classes today and tomorrow. I was excited at first. Now I'm getting kind of bored. It's a good chance to catch up on reading, on the plus side. This afternoon I went to the mall to walk some and to Sonic for a DP since I was experiencing a little cabin fever. :) I got home just before the deluge started around 4:30. It's been pouring hard for the last 4 hours. There was a flash flood warning until 10:30 this eve. but they've extended it until tom. morn. For the most part, I don't think there's been a lot of wind damage here. Some of the siding on an apt. building across from me is halfway off and making an annoying scratching sound as the wind is trying to tear it off, but other than that, I haven't seen too much debris around.
A lot of the southern parishes aren't letting residents come back until Fri. because they've got to clear the streets of debris, and in some parishes they have to get the water and sewage systems in working order again. Another interesting reason I heard they don't want residents to go back yet is because with the flooding there may be a lot of alligators, snakes, and other varmints wandering around -- in and out of yards and houses. Hopefully we won't have that issue here. :) I was imagining walking out of my apt. and seeing an alligator and then I imagined one somehow getting in my apt. and me having to throw a blanket over it and wrestle it back out the front door while at the same time trying to call the police or animal control or whatever. No, this is not a strange dream. This is my strange train of thought that I'm going to blame on sitting in my apt. for several days straight and listening to too much Gustav coverage. Did you guys hear the story several months ago of the lady, I think in Florida, who found an alligator in her house? Stories like that have also contributed to my overactive imagination. I know some of you can come up with way better alligator stories than mine, so if you think of one -- or more than one, please share. I'm in serious need of some entertainment.
I was going to write more, but I'm going to go ahead and post this because the lights have been flickering. Time to get my little pocket radio out. Talk radio is becoming my good friend. With the exception of Albert? Arthur? Greg? somebody Norry? I think he's the new late night Art Bell? I'm not a fan of him. I decided last night the wind was better than listening to him. Okay, I really am through. :)