They like me

"I would like to invite you to be a live in volunteer for the summer, attached is a packet that should help you get an understanding of expectations.

Please let me know if you will accept the position and if you have any other questions."


Eeee!

Eddie

Many weeks ago, I rented a tent from Baylor for my backpacking trip. When I got it I opened it and laid out the tent to make sure everything was accounted for, and wrapped in the tent I found a shell. I thought it was really random and kind of cool and so put it in my pocket. When I got home I took it out of my pocket and put it on the counter in my restroom. There is has sat for many weeks, just taking up space. That is until . . .

On Sunday morning I took a long shower. When I stepped out, I noticed that my shell was not where it had been for the past month, but was instead perched on top of my soap dispenser, in such a way that gravity should cause it to fall. I tried to take it off, but felt some resistance. Something inside the shell was suctioned to my soap! Well, I did take it off and looked inside and saw a bunch of gray gooiness. Apparently, all this time there has been something alive in the shell! Later in the day I checked on the shell only to find it was somewhere else on the counter. I was really amused at this point and decided to give it a name--Eddie.

This morning Tinsley and I caught the creature in the act of moving. It's a large snail! It's so gross and green and gooey and has four antennae. It was traveling up my soap dispenser again. I researched snails this morning and found out some of them hibernate in the winter, and so that must be what Eddie has been doing all this time. I also went on a website about keeping snails as pets and looked up what different kind of food they eat. So now, he is sitting in an open tupperware container with a carrot placed next to him (I'm on campus). I took a picture of the set up before I left so I can be sure to know if he moved or not in the mean time.

Pretty exciting stuff.

Revelations



I had a couple revelations earlier this evening while studying at Common Grounds

Revelation 1: A  random guy that I think is cute is not going to ask me out.  He's not going to walk over, say something witty and flattering, and then whisk me off my feet.  I blame the movies for believing this. This is a freeing revelation. 

Revelation 2: I don't need everyone to like and approve of me and to think I'm cool.  (I've had this revelation before, but I think I need to have it everyday for it to really stick.)

Revelation 3: Just because my hot tea becomes cold doesn't mean it's bad.  It has just become cold tea and I can tolerate drinking it.  (This is not a metaphor, though I'm sure there is one in there somewhere.  Maybe you can find it?)


edit: The "random guy" in revelation one is not a specific person. Just random cute guys in general.



Did it

So I did it. Last night I preformed at Common Grounds' open mike night, thirty whole minutes of just little me. I don't really know how I did, because I was in my own head the whole time and felt kind of like I was on a different planet. People said I did well, but of course they did. I did mess up a few times but at least I did it.

I'm very full of puppy chow.

Adventure!

I got my car inspected today, which I've been meaning to do since February. It took less than ten minutes; I can't believe I didn't do it sooner. People are silly like that.

I'm in the midst of planning my hypothetical backpacking trip for my real Backpacking final. It's to Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado and will be hypothetically occurring this July. We're in the midst of day three right now and we're exploring Glacier Gorge's trifecta of glacial lakes. I had never heard of the word "trifecta" before today, but apparently it means "a run of three wins or grand total events." I guess there are three sweet lakes. We're having a good time, but are starting to get a bit smelly, as we are three days going without a shower. And we're just halfway through.

I want to take this trip for real. If you haven't noticed, I've recently been bitten by the outdoor adventure bug. I want to be outside and I want to have an adventure. This summer I want to work at a farm, last week I went hiking at Cameron Park, a couple weeks ago I went backpacking with my class (I think that is where the bug bit me) , and now I'm dreaming of a sweet backpacking trip. Let's have an adventure!

In other news, I changed the strings on my guitar all by myself for the first time last night. It was good bonding with ol' Martie. Since we bonded so much, I gave him a name--the aforementioned Martie. He's a Martin guitar. I think he appreciates it, and the new strings. They're so clean and squeaky. And I'm super excited about Wednesday.

Outside

I have lots of dirt under my fingernails.  Yesterday I harvested at the Farm and today I planted flowers at an elementary school with UBC. It was fun.  It made me want a yard to plant flowers in.  If you have a yard,  you should take advantage of this nice weather and go plant some flowers soon.


I talked to the people at the Farm yesterday about this summer and was informed that they will be accepting one female spot for this summer.  There's hope!  There's also about five other girls applying though.  So there is only a little hope.  I think I should know by next Wednesday.   I sent in my application earlier today.  

And I did end up going hiking Thursday at Cameron Park with Melissa and Claire.  It was fun; we brought lunch.

So it seems I've been spending a lot of time outside lately.  I like that.

Arrriba!

Happy Diadeloso!

Diadeloso is Baylor's "Day of the Bear." It's a tradition whence class is canceled and general merriment ensues. Basically.  That is why I am not in class right now.  I have plans to go hiking in Cameron Park, but it may rain.  So that's a bummer.  I printed out a trail map and everything.

Last night I was talking with some of my peeps about our bucket lists (bucket list=what one wants to do before one hits the proverbial bucket).  I thought of some and don't want to forget them so I thought I would share them with you. So, in no particular order
  • Sky Dive
  • Become a certified yoga instructor
  • Go backpacking by myself
  • Open (or help someone open) a business
  • Scuba dive
  • See the Lascaux cave paintings in France (at the moment they aren't viewable to the public, so that might be a tricky one)
So that's my list so far.  What's something that's on your list?
Oh!  And my bucket list for this semester (i.e. things I want to do before this semester hits the proverbial bucket) includes playing at Common Grounds' open mike night.  Well, last night I signed up.  Next Wednesday from 10-10:30 I will be playing and singing at CG.  Thirty whole minutes! Just typing that put butterflies in my stomach.   It'll be fun; I'm excited.

Rejection

So another idea for the summer is to take a/some studio art class/es at Baylor. I don't actually need anymore, but it would be fun. And I actually know a lot of people staying in Waco for the first half of the summer. I don't know. We'll see.

It's easy to just give up on yourself. To taste rejection a few times, and then just throw in the towel. Freshmen year here I rushed and that didn't turn out like I planned. A couple weeks later I tried out for a choir and was turned down (I don't know what I was thinking. I do not have a choir voice and I can't read music). At that point I thought to myself, "Well, maybe this is a sign. Nothing is sticking here, so maybe I'm just not supposed to be at Baylor." But my friends were sticking, UBC was sticking, I didn't really want to go anywhere else, and I just banished the thought from my mind.
Last semester I spent my time stretching my wings and pushing my boundaries and taking adventures and I left Italy feeling like I could do anything. This semester I'm feeling significantly less invincible and realizing not everyone wants me. I talked to Tinsley about it this morning. She applied for a position in an organization she's apart of that she didn't get and, while putting on mascara, we pondered the tendency we, as people, have of tasting a hint of rejection and from that deciding that we will always fail and should just give up. But we don't think that about other people. I know that she's not a failure and she knows that I'm not a failure, so really we're just being illogical about ourselves.

That goes for you too. You're not a failure.

Ok, I'm at the SUB right now and there are ants crawling all around my computer so I think I will leave soon. It's freaking me out. And this post is long enough. I also understand the tendency in people to mentally check out when they see a really long blog post, because I do that myself.

So I'll check out now instead.

Done

So I went camping last night with strangers (see last post). It was enjoyable--nothing too exciting. It was rather chill and now I want to go backpacking for reals. We hiked for about two hours yesterday, set up camp, had dinner, chatted around a flashlight (fires were not welcome). went to sleep, woke up (obviously, I mean, here I am), hiked for about thirty minutes, and then we were out. I was not even gone twenty-four hours. I want to go backpacking for a week. As part of our final for our class, we have to plan a backpacking trip to a United States national park. Maybe I'll actually take mine. Wanna come?

Now I'm at Common Grounds at on awkward table that I never sit at. It's rather crowded here; I guess people are getting all their work done before a new week starts. I didn't actually buy a drink, so maybe I should feel bad about taking up a table. I don't really.

Gerg

16


I don't know if that's a good or bad thing.

So I didn't get that internship at the Kimbell this summer. Major bummer. So of course now I'm questioning my whole course in life. Yadda yadda yadda--normal college-student stresses and fears and general questioning of everything. I won't bore you with that. I'm looking into the World Hunger Farm now. There's possibly a spot this summer for a live-in volunteer, they say. I'm going there tomorrow so we'll see how that works out, if that's even what I want to do. Gerg. I don't know exactly what "gerg" means, but it feels right.

I've recently gotten into the Indigo Girls. I know I'm about ten years too late, but I'm ok with it. Today I learned the song "Closer to Fine" on the guitar. Now I will drive my roommates crazy with it. And they will love it. Love it I say!

And here's a picture from the aforementioned outdoor service, taken whilst we were picnicing afterwards. (You can click on it for a closer look.)


This weekend I get to go camping with strangers. I'm in a Backpacking class but I going camping with a different section of said class. So I'm not actually looking forward to it, though I'll probably end up enjoying myself, because I like outside. Maybe I'll come back with a new bestie. Or enemy. Probably just a bunch of new acquaintances. Think of all the new people I'll get to say hi to on campus!

What do you guys think I should do this summer?

Outside

Although Italian made a shocking come-back, hermit has won out on my poll. Today I will give some thought as to what my next poll will be. Stay-tuned!

Today is a beautiful day and I am once again at Common Grounds. I'm sitting outside today though, which is nice. Most of today I have been outside, actually. UBC's church service this morning was outside at a little park near the suspension bridge (if you're familiar with Waco. Well, it was there whether you're familiar with Waco or not. That reminds me of the comedian Dimitri Martin, "I went into a clothes store and a lady came up to me and said, 'If you need anything, I’m Jill'. I thought, 'Wow, that's amazing! I've never met anyone with a conditional identity before. Who are you if I don't need anything?'”). UBC encouraged everyone to ride their bikes there and bring lunch and a blanket; I did both of those things. And frisbees were involved. It was a wonderful way to start a Sunday. Then I rode my bike here and have been working since. I've gotten a lot done.

My roommates and I have this tradition that every Sunday night we get blizzards at Dairy Queen. It is convenient because we live within walking distance of a Diary Queen and so some of our blizzard-guilt is alleviated by the fact that we walked there and back. We are also usually joined by various guest stars, meaning other friends or siblings. It's something we all look forward too--the ice cream and each other. I'm looking forward to it right now.

(A little black bug was just crawling on my computer screen and I thought it was my mouse arrow and that I was going crazy.)

Summer?

It's such a beautiful day and I have such a lot to do, but here I am writing in my blog. I'm at Common Grounds--I know, very unlike me (sarcasm). I rode my bike here since it is such a pretty day, it was a little hard though because my backpack was so heavy (thanks to the weight of this laptop I am typing on). Today, I can taste summer, so I having a hard time becoming motivated to work on school. I do other things instead like work out or ride my bike to Common Grounds or write in my blog. Stuff like that. I can also taste summer in my Arnold Palmer, which is a drink here--a combination of iced tea and lemonade. Oh, also, I watched Scream 1 and 2 last night. I usually watch the Screams at some point every summer (I have the box set) ergo I am in summer mode.

Now I'll take a creepy picture of myself. You can see what my new haircut looks like unstyled. (I'm not obsessed with myself, I promise.) I had to not look like I was posing for a picture because I am in a public place. It would be cool if I could take a picture with my laptop pointing out, so then I could take creepy pictures of other people. Steve Jobs should work on that.
I'll have to give him a call. Ol' Stevie.

I harvested yesterday at the World Hunger Farm. The spinach was out of control!! Some of the leaves were bigger than my hand. It's yummy spinach too, my roommates and I bought some of it over a month ago and are still eating on it. Yum

Hair

I cut my hair today.

I took a picture of it for you on my laptop. I felt silly posing for it though because Claire and Rach are here too, and that is why I'm laughing . . . because they were laughing at me (or with me, I suppose, since I was obviously laughing too). I didn't mean for the hair cut to turn out some Katie Holmes-y
but oh well. I enjoy having my neck and shoulders free of hair. It's something relatively new for me. It's freeing.

I enjoy change.

Bailey's Day

I have been feeling very satisfied lately.

But enough about that. Happy Birthday Bailey!

Way to be born. Way to live through two whole decades! I hope your next decade is astounding. You're within your third decade now!


That's all I had to say.

Happy April!

Yesterday was a really good day, so I'm having high hopes about today. Class was normal, and afterwards I met some girls from UBC at Common Grounds. We've decided to start a new group called "Intra" that would be involved with meeting the needs of UBCers. I feel like, at UBC we do a lot of discussion about theology and social action and community service and have fun groups (like I went to a new UBC Yoga group last night) but we don't really talk a lot about each other. I want UBC to be more than just another activity people are involved in, but a family. A place people can find support. So we going to start some sort of prayer request system via Intra and contact people who want to be contacted or to talk to someone or whatever. I'm supposed to make an announcement about at Church on Sunday. Scary.

So that's a new fun idea in my mind. I also went to a lecture on campus yesterday by Wilma Mankiller, former chief of the Cherokee Nation. She talked about the changing roles of indigenous women and leadership of women in general. It was interesting. She's an amazing woman. She has been awarded 18 honorary doctorates (soon to be 19), among many other awards and honors she has received.

So that was cool. I also went to that UBC Yoga group, like I mentioned. It was fun doing Yoga at church. At first I felt like I was at a church sleepover or naptime group as we moved all the furniture out of the backside and laid out our mats and took off our shoes. It was neat.

And now I have a new day on my hands. And a new month! We'll see what happens.

And Bailey turns 20 tomorrow!