back to school

yeahhhhh. last post was july 12. let's catch things up a bit...

the second week of july, i helped with vacation bible school at my church. tracy asked me if i would be in charge of music this year. i taught the kids four songs, and at the end of the week they sang them for their parents. i learned that keeping 15 pre-schoolers occupied for half an hour in a hot stuffy room is near impossible. i learned that one has to be creative, excited, animated, and open in order for kids to respond. i learned that it's much easier to go with the flow than to try and make a stink about things that aren't going your way. and in the end, the concert that they sang was amazing... smiles, loud voices, fun... it was really very exciting.

on the 18th, i played gershwin in church. i know, right? gershwin in church? let's just say that it was kind of a different service than we were used to.

on the 22, i went to the doctors. i have been having these really wierd random bouts of nausea, like it'll just come out of nowhere and i feel like i have to vom. so they took blood and i scheduled an ultrasound for my gallbladder and etc etc etc.

on the 24th, brittany, my mom, and her friend judy made the trip to canada. this was our fifth year going up there, and it was definitely the year of adventure. first, our fridge didn't work, so we had to buy a new fridge and get it into the cabin (let me remind you that the only access to the cabin is by boat...); judy's nephew and his family traveled from california to stay with us for three whole days; we gave a guy a tow across the lake when his boat motor died; brittany got a rock imbedded in her foot when she fell/jumped off the dock. i really enjoy going up there because except for the few people with us, there is practically no one around. no neighbors, no lawn mowers, no garbage trucks, no anything. i think my favorite part, though, was when we went outside at night to look at the stars. since we're in bloody wilderness, there isn't any city interference so it gets DARK at night. we would go out and have a 180 degree view of the sky. millions upon millions of stars, including the Milky Way. i saw a total of four shooting stars over the two weeks.

when i got back from canada i finally got my utilities set up for our apartment. since i don't have any credit and my state id is very new, they couldn't prove i said who i said i was. so i had to go through the bullshit of faxing a copy of my passport and birth certificate to the electric company and the gas company for them to get our bills in my name. but i finally got it situated.

yesterday i moved back to school, into my lovely new apartment!! i'm so excited to be living there this year, even though it's hot as balls because it's like 88 outside. i got all my stuff unpacked and organized, and i have to say that the place is actually quite big. i think i am really going to enjoy living there with S.
the only downside is that i haven't been able to connect to the wireless yet, so i don't have internet.

today i went to see w for the first time since i had left. he took me on a tour of the newly remodeled blair hall, which i must say is quite nice. we talked for almost an hour and a half but i could tell he was anxious to get his grant paperwork done and i was preventing him from doing that. he wants me to help him with some projects this year, and i am fully willing and ready to do so. he's got so many great things going on and i wish i could be a part of them. he's starting this program called a Promise Neighborhood, where he's taking a neighborhood-change approach to battling poverty. it sounds like something that i can help with, and something that i believe in, so i hope i can contribute something to the mix.

anyway, since i'm sitting in the music building's computer lab freezing my ass off, i think i'm going to head back to my sweltering apartment. i literally layed on my bed for two hours today with the fan pointing at my head. i don't care - there's really nothing to do because not many people are here to begin with.

until next time...