I've killed a lot of spiders and seen even more bugs here. Seriously, though, the spiders are ridiculous. In the corners, on the stairs, inside my bag from Target. I don't freak out as much when I see them. I just try to keep tissues around handy so that I can quickly grab one and go for the kill. Because I'm all about the kill. No commercials, no mercy! Too, too many.
I went to dinner tonight with a friend from CO, even though I have a paper due tomorrow morning, and even though I'll see him when I'm back home this weekend. He's just here for a couple of days, and it was fun to see him and chat about friends back home whom I miss terribly...three days! God willing, all goes well, I will be back on Colorado Springs ground in almost exactly three days from this moment. Sigh. Can't wait. Twill be wonderful. And even if it's not, at least it'll be dry. (Sorry, I'm just a bit bitter at the moment - I did laundry yesterday, and had to hang a few things to dry, and here it is well over 24 hours later and a few of them still feel like they're holding on to a bit of moisture. Maybe it's just my imagination. But I know they were still wetter than damp last night when I went to bed, more than 10 hours after washing them. That doesn't happen in Colorado.
I overslept today. Well, not exactly, because I still woke up in time to be ready an hour before class, but I had wanted to wake up (or start waking up...) before 7. As it was, I opened my eyes and looked at the clock at approximately 7:52. Either I absolutely didn't consciously wake up when my alarm went off, but managed to turn it off, or it just didn't go off this morning. Happens from time to time. Luckily it didn't bite me in the butt this time around...sigh. It's just never a good way to start the day, you know?
I just killed another spider in the bathroom. That's two tonight. At least a couple yesterday, I think. And they're all different kinds, too. It's just gross. Gross gross gross.
Man, I can't wait to go home on Friday.
I need to learn how to do cables. There are so many cute patterns out there I'd love to try, but then I get to the required materials, see the cable needle, and click away from that pattern. One of these days, I'll figure that out. If I had to choose between that and learning to crochet, I'd pick cabling. Man, I love to knit. In my dream life, I'd live near RMNP, work there in some capacity, and knit at night, maybe making a little money from that. Oh, and play violin in a symphony. On the occasional weekend. Yup. True story.
(Funny, and sort of related to the above paragraph. I took one of those Myers-Briggs tests the other day. In the past and recently I've scored as an ISTJ, which mostly fits me, I think - fictional characters who share the same personality type include Puddleglum, from Chronicles of Narnia, and Eeyore. But then I took this other one, and scored as ISFP, which describes me even better in some ways. Which is weird, because those last two are opposites in the two different personality types...but in the career suggestions for ISFP, which is almost sort of hippie-ish and definitely artsy and whatnot, one of the suggestions is Forest Ranger. And that's funny, because I'd never expect to see that on a list of career suggestions, even though it's something I'd love to do if I could. Anyway. Personality tests are quite interesting sometimes.)
Ok, so the above was all from yesterday (Tuesday). And once again, I forgot about it, so now I'll just add more.
Dudes, guess what? I got a big box of yarn today. And even better, I got a package of bamboo knitting needles in the mail today, too. Sweet. My goodness how I love to knit. And I'm so happy I found this fantastic afghan knitting book. Some great patterns there. And I found a great type of yarn with which to make said afghans. And they're really easy. And it's so great.
Also great? That new Ken Burns documentary, on the National Parks, is available online. I just watched like 15 minutes of it, and man, I'm in love. And also itching to be back in nature. It's hard to find the silence of nature around here. I need Colorado so badly. Sigh. I need those mountains. Soon. But all too short... But also, I love the music I've heard thus far. I bought the soundtrack to Ken Burns' Civil War documentary (my favorite song, Ashokan Farewell, is on there, and that's probably at least 73% of the reason I bought it). I might just buy this one too, someday. I'm just excited I can watch it online, though. I had been looking forward to it, but have no means of watching TV here, so yay.
I think I'll finally post this now...
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Serenity.
My room feels nice tonight. And not just because of the cool, rain-scented air we've got going on here. I have two candles lit - the newly acquired Pumpkin Spice and this cheapo scentedless candle, one of those tall skinny ones with just the plain white candle inside, and a pretty picture on the outside (mine is a guardian angel picture). I just have one lamp on, so the light's pretty low. I have my classical music playing (Concierto de Aranjuez for Guitar and Orchestra is currently playing, and it's one of my favorite pieces. Thais: Meditation is also one I absolutely love, and it was on just a bit ago). And I have my bed newly remade, pillows newly rearranged, and - here's the clincher - my mattress is finally off of the floor. After a solid month of sleeping on mattresses directly on the floor (an air mattress the first week I was here, then this twin mattress once we moved in to the house), I finally have a bed frame. It's all of like, I don't know, six inches off the ground now (maybe more; I'm really bad at measuring things, but it's about the distance from the tip of my middle finger to the beginning of my wrist. All right, I measured because I'm ocd like that. Approx 7.5 inches), but it just feels so much nicer. Nice not to have to fall into my bed, practically, but I can actually sit down on it like I would a chair, and not the floor. I mean, I had grown accustomed to the bed as it was, down there on the floor, but it's definitely nice to have the frame now. It looks nicer, and cozier, and it makes my room look better.
Tonight, I'll go to sleep content with that.
Tonight, I'll go to sleep content with that.
Falling.
I went to Target tonight.
Spent a lo-ot of money. I hadn't been to get things in awhile, so I had to get some food supplies, some toiletries, and some other various items. With a few exceptions (which, maybe, were probably not the smartest things, but I'm just so weak when it comes to Target clothes...sigh), all stuff that was necessary for me (seriously, had practically no food) or the house.
I also got two 8 pound hand weights, which i'm pretty durned excited about. I still have yet to exercise, oh, at all since getting here, and I can tell, but I'm really feeling crappy about my arms. My big ol' arms. So I got some weights to help combat that. One of these days I'll start incorporating a daily walk or something into my life, I hope. Ugh. I think a big part of it is that I can't get away from cars and traffic and life anywhere around here. I loved going to Palmer Park, because it was at least a little bit cut off. And we have the greenway around my house, which is still in the middle of a neighborhood, but nowhere near busy streets or anything. I don't know. I just don't like it around here, so I try to stay not outside as much as possible. haha.
Sigh. I wish I liked it here better. I'm just not cut out for living here. So I've decided to think of the next two years of my life (unless magically something causes me to do an about-face regarding DC in general) as time off of purgatory, or something like that. Something to offer up, I guess, unless I a) decide it's really not for me and go off to find something else to do, like live in the mountains and become that crazy mountain woman, or b) decide I actually really love it here and thus can no longer consider it something to offer up.
Whatevs. That's life.
(Sorry about the whatevs. I don't really ever actually use that in serious conversation. It just slips out at random moments here and there on occasion.)
_____
Ok, it's now Saturday. I went back to Target, got my sweater. Also found a few of the items that were on my list last night but I couldn't find then. So that's good. And I bought a candle. A Yankee Pumpkin Spice candle. It smells delicious, and wonderfully Fall. And today? Today finally feels like fall. Wonderfully like fall. I love fall, I really do. There's something so cozy about it - it gets cooler (theoretically), you pull out sweaters, wear sweatshirts, maybe put more blankets on the bed. Thoughts of the Harry Potter movies (particularly the first one) dance around in my head, since it's witches which = Halloween which = fall. Not really in that order, but all those things mix around in my head like that. It's funny, I don't really care much for Halloween itself, the day, dressing up, having to answer the door a bunch of times, etc, but I like the season leading up to it, the decorations (well, the more fall-like ones, not the spookier ones), the fall-ness of it all.
All this said, today's cooler fall-like weather makes me yearn even more for being back home. Where I would be more likely to get cool fall-like weather consistently. Not guaranteed (it is Colorado, after all), but much more likely. Plus the hominess of the season makes me miss my home. And I'm sure that'll just get worse as we get closer to Thanksgiving/Christmas/winter. But, it is what it is. I'm here, for now at least. But every inch of my heart is still there. I don't even know what I'll do when it's not very wintry/cold here and Colorado is getting pounded by winter storms. At least Notre Dame generally had worse winters than Colorado.
One disappointment: I forgot to get my Bigelow's Vanilla Chai Spiced tea. Very upsetting. I've been out for almost a week now, I think, and since I gave up coffee for the 40 Days for Life again, I'm drinking a lot of tea these days. Plus I've had a cold since last week, so I was drinking more tea because of that too. But I'm all out of my favorite kind, and don't have a lot left that I often feel like drinking, and I don't know when the next chance I'll have to go to the store will be...SIIIIIIIGH. Woe is me.
Well. I'm about to go on my first driving expedition since coming out to DC. Luckily it's only 1.5 miles or so. Haha. Wish me luck!
Spent a lo-ot of money. I hadn't been to get things in awhile, so I had to get some food supplies, some toiletries, and some other various items. With a few exceptions (which, maybe, were probably not the smartest things, but I'm just so weak when it comes to Target clothes...sigh), all stuff that was necessary for me (seriously, had practically no food) or the house.
I also got two 8 pound hand weights, which i'm pretty durned excited about. I still have yet to exercise, oh, at all since getting here, and I can tell, but I'm really feeling crappy about my arms. My big ol' arms. So I got some weights to help combat that. One of these days I'll start incorporating a daily walk or something into my life, I hope. Ugh. I think a big part of it is that I can't get away from cars and traffic and life anywhere around here. I loved going to Palmer Park, because it was at least a little bit cut off. And we have the greenway around my house, which is still in the middle of a neighborhood, but nowhere near busy streets or anything. I don't know. I just don't like it around here, so I try to stay not outside as much as possible. haha.
Sigh. I wish I liked it here better. I'm just not cut out for living here. So I've decided to think of the next two years of my life (unless magically something causes me to do an about-face regarding DC in general) as time off of purgatory, or something like that. Something to offer up, I guess, unless I a) decide it's really not for me and go off to find something else to do, like live in the mountains and become that crazy mountain woman, or b) decide I actually really love it here and thus can no longer consider it something to offer up.
Whatevs. That's life.
(Sorry about the whatevs. I don't really ever actually use that in serious conversation. It just slips out at random moments here and there on occasion.)
_____
Ok, it's now Saturday. I went back to Target, got my sweater. Also found a few of the items that were on my list last night but I couldn't find then. So that's good. And I bought a candle. A Yankee Pumpkin Spice candle. It smells delicious, and wonderfully Fall. And today? Today finally feels like fall. Wonderfully like fall. I love fall, I really do. There's something so cozy about it - it gets cooler (theoretically), you pull out sweaters, wear sweatshirts, maybe put more blankets on the bed. Thoughts of the Harry Potter movies (particularly the first one) dance around in my head, since it's witches which = Halloween which = fall. Not really in that order, but all those things mix around in my head like that. It's funny, I don't really care much for Halloween itself, the day, dressing up, having to answer the door a bunch of times, etc, but I like the season leading up to it, the decorations (well, the more fall-like ones, not the spookier ones), the fall-ness of it all.
All this said, today's cooler fall-like weather makes me yearn even more for being back home. Where I would be more likely to get cool fall-like weather consistently. Not guaranteed (it is Colorado, after all), but much more likely. Plus the hominess of the season makes me miss my home. And I'm sure that'll just get worse as we get closer to Thanksgiving/Christmas/winter. But, it is what it is. I'm here, for now at least. But every inch of my heart is still there. I don't even know what I'll do when it's not very wintry/cold here and Colorado is getting pounded by winter storms. At least Notre Dame generally had worse winters than Colorado.
One disappointment: I forgot to get my Bigelow's Vanilla Chai Spiced tea. Very upsetting. I've been out for almost a week now, I think, and since I gave up coffee for the 40 Days for Life again, I'm drinking a lot of tea these days. Plus I've had a cold since last week, so I was drinking more tea because of that too. But I'm all out of my favorite kind, and don't have a lot left that I often feel like drinking, and I don't know when the next chance I'll have to go to the store will be...SIIIIIIIGH. Woe is me.
Well. I'm about to go on my first driving expedition since coming out to DC. Luckily it's only 1.5 miles or so. Haha. Wish me luck!
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
The grass is always...snowier?
So, people back home got snow on Monday. The last day of fall. Snow. We here in DC have been..."enjoying"...70s and 80s, sunny, and humid weather. Currently, it's in the low 40s back home, feels even colder apparently. Currently here, it's after 10pm, still 77 degrees, and 80% humidity. It is awful. It probably feels even worse to me because I know I could be enjoying cold and snow were I not here. But here I am, here where it doesn't snow, here where it doesn't get very cold, here where it's humid. Bleh. Oh well. I'm here. I have a little fan by my bed so I don't have problems with sleeping. I just wish I could put my nice warm comforter on my bed and snuggle down into the covers on a cold cold night. Do they even have cold cold nights here? I heard some stories tonight about how on one occasion, there was like 1/8 inch of snow on the sidewalks at CUA, and the groundspeople were out with their snow plows and snow blowers. For 1/8". We're definitely not in Colorado anymore...
Anyway.
I wrote a post the other night about some stuff. I probably won't end up publishing it, though, because it's all just me complaining about how I don't know what I'm doing here or why God brought me here or what his plan is for my life. Oh, and lamenting my singleness. (Sorry, but going to a wedding where you're practically the only single person there tends to highlight those feelings.) If you want to read that basic subject, but dragggggged out for like 18 pages, let me know. Haha.
Question: If a person were, theoretically, knitting a Christmas blanket (all theoretical, of course), would it look better to have the dominant color be red, or green? Theoretically, in this blanket, there would be a strip of dominant color, then color 2, then white, then dominant, then white, then color 2, then a big strip of dominant, and then repeat from color 2 on, a few times. If that makes sense. I mean, all theoretical, keep in mind. I just don't know if having the red be dominant would be like DUDE, RED, but I don't know if having the green would just be too not Christmasy enough. I think either one would probably work, but...yeah, I don't know. Obviously, this is a huge, earth-shattering issue that must be dealt with. I'm thinking I'll probably go with the...um...red? maybe? hm.
Yeah, I don't have a whole lot else to talk about. Right now what's going through my head is: I've been terrible at doing my reading, but it just has yet to grip me in the slightest. I'm really hot, and it's really humid, and I'm not looking forward to going to sleep in this. I have a headache, so I need to go to sleep. And all I want to do is knit. I wish I could make money off of knitting, and then I could just do that. Until I get carpal tunnel syndrome. Or arthritis. Or lose my hands in a skiing accident.
Anyway. I'm going to go to bed, dreaming of snowy Colorado (even if it isn't exactly "snowy" yet. Just cold. Mmm, cold would be so nice...), and warm knit blankets.
Anyway.
I wrote a post the other night about some stuff. I probably won't end up publishing it, though, because it's all just me complaining about how I don't know what I'm doing here or why God brought me here or what his plan is for my life. Oh, and lamenting my singleness. (Sorry, but going to a wedding where you're practically the only single person there tends to highlight those feelings.) If you want to read that basic subject, but dragggggged out for like 18 pages, let me know. Haha.
Question: If a person were, theoretically, knitting a Christmas blanket (all theoretical, of course), would it look better to have the dominant color be red, or green? Theoretically, in this blanket, there would be a strip of dominant color, then color 2, then white, then dominant, then white, then color 2, then a big strip of dominant, and then repeat from color 2 on, a few times. If that makes sense. I mean, all theoretical, keep in mind. I just don't know if having the red be dominant would be like DUDE, RED, but I don't know if having the green would just be too not Christmasy enough. I think either one would probably work, but...yeah, I don't know. Obviously, this is a huge, earth-shattering issue that must be dealt with. I'm thinking I'll probably go with the...um...red? maybe? hm.
Yeah, I don't have a whole lot else to talk about. Right now what's going through my head is: I've been terrible at doing my reading, but it just has yet to grip me in the slightest. I'm really hot, and it's really humid, and I'm not looking forward to going to sleep in this. I have a headache, so I need to go to sleep. And all I want to do is knit. I wish I could make money off of knitting, and then I could just do that. Until I get carpal tunnel syndrome. Or arthritis. Or lose my hands in a skiing accident.
Anyway. I'm going to go to bed, dreaming of snowy Colorado (even if it isn't exactly "snowy" yet. Just cold. Mmm, cold would be so nice...), and warm knit blankets.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Thoughts
...from a stuffy Friday.
(Stuffy-nosed, that is.)
First, I have to mention this - my mom made me these chocolate-marshmallow-peanut butter rice crispy bars that she sent me with my box of birthday stuff. She wanted to use up all these old (really, really old) marshmallows that we had, and it's funny, because I can definitely taste the oldness of the marshmallows. But the thing is, I think I like them better because of that. I kind of love old marshmallows. Once you get past the hardness of them, they're quite tasty. Anyway. I love them. And I really do enjoy these bars extraly because of that factor.
Ok. Now. I just got back from my first-ever Red Sox game! It was in Baltimore, and we won (Baltimore is pretty bad, so I would have been extra sad had we lost to them, at my first in-person Red Sox game ever), and Jonathan Papelbon was the closer! I love him. So, exciting. Took some pictures. Maybe someday I'll post some of the pictures I've taken since I got here.
AND, my little brother and sister-in-law who came up from Virginia for the game and wedding etc this weekend, gave me my birthday present which was a nice Starbucks travel mug, which is perfect because I've been looking at getting a new, probably Starbucks, travel mug recently. And now I don't have to get one! Yay.
Now, I'm off to watch an episode or two of The Office (season 5!) and start a new knitting project (anyone need anything? A pink scarf, perhaps? Eh, I may just keep this one myself, who knows), then taking a big ol' swig of Nyquil and putting my little self to bed (my roommate has been sick with some sort of cold the past week, and of course, I started feeling it yesterday when I woke up. Luckily yesterday was the worst, mostly sore throat, and today it's just in my nose. But still less than fun, and hopefully one more round of Nyquil and a good night's sleep will get rid of the worst. Plus, I've started taking vitamins again, and I'm sure that can only be helping too).
Cousin's wedding tomorrow. Hopefully catching at least some of the Irish between that and the reception, maybe at parents' hotel room. Then reception. Probably open bar. Should be interesting with my...alcohol-loving family. :-) Love 'em.
Goodnight, lovelies.
(Stuffy-nosed, that is.)
First, I have to mention this - my mom made me these chocolate-marshmallow-peanut butter rice crispy bars that she sent me with my box of birthday stuff. She wanted to use up all these old (really, really old) marshmallows that we had, and it's funny, because I can definitely taste the oldness of the marshmallows. But the thing is, I think I like them better because of that. I kind of love old marshmallows. Once you get past the hardness of them, they're quite tasty. Anyway. I love them. And I really do enjoy these bars extraly because of that factor.
Ok. Now. I just got back from my first-ever Red Sox game! It was in Baltimore, and we won (Baltimore is pretty bad, so I would have been extra sad had we lost to them, at my first in-person Red Sox game ever), and Jonathan Papelbon was the closer! I love him. So, exciting. Took some pictures. Maybe someday I'll post some of the pictures I've taken since I got here.
AND, my little brother and sister-in-law who came up from Virginia for the game and wedding etc this weekend, gave me my birthday present which was a nice Starbucks travel mug, which is perfect because I've been looking at getting a new, probably Starbucks, travel mug recently. And now I don't have to get one! Yay.
Now, I'm off to watch an episode or two of The Office (season 5!) and start a new knitting project (anyone need anything? A pink scarf, perhaps? Eh, I may just keep this one myself, who knows), then taking a big ol' swig of Nyquil and putting my little self to bed (my roommate has been sick with some sort of cold the past week, and of course, I started feeling it yesterday when I woke up. Luckily yesterday was the worst, mostly sore throat, and today it's just in my nose. But still less than fun, and hopefully one more round of Nyquil and a good night's sleep will get rid of the worst. Plus, I've started taking vitamins again, and I'm sure that can only be helping too).
Cousin's wedding tomorrow. Hopefully catching at least some of the Irish between that and the reception, maybe at parents' hotel room. Then reception. Probably open bar. Should be interesting with my...alcohol-loving family. :-) Love 'em.
Goodnight, lovelies.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Satisfied.
How was my birthday, you might be wondering.
And if you're not, well, why not?
It was really excellent. I woke up earlier than I wanted to, but it worked out ok. We got our fridge fixed, which, yay, now we have a fridge big enough to keep things like milk! and yogurt! and leftovers! and a Brita filter pitcher!
So that's good.
I got to go to the 12:10 Mass at the Shrine, after taking the metro (it's a discounted rate in the late morning/early afternoon hours, which is nice), and I knitted on the metro, which was fun. Mass was wonderful and beautiful. I'm lucky; I was born on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, which is a bigger feast than regular feasts, or...whatever. I forget all the correct lingo. But it takes precedence over ordinary time, which means the priest wears red vestments, AND there are two readings and the Gospel, not just one reading and the Gospel as is the case with most weekday Masses. So I get extra readings on my birthday. Sort of exciting. Anyway, it was a beautiful liturgy, as is to be expected. Highly enjoyable.
I hung out on campus for a bit after that, talking with some of the second years (including my two second-year roommates) who were eating their lunches outside before their 1:30 class. That was fun. Then I went to get a Pumpkin Spice Latte from the campus Starbucks, because they're delish, and last time I tried to get one (Saturday), they were all out (lots of extra people on campus on Saturday because of the Eucharistic Congress - all those nuns drank my pumpkin spice). So I was really looking forward to a birthday Pumpkin Spice Latte. But then they were still out, or out again, or whatever. Either way, I didn't get one. Again. Sigh. So I didn't get anything, and planned to head home. But then I remembered I was going to see if the bookstore had gotten in a book I needed that they didn't have when I got my books the first time around, and which the cheapest copy I could find online was like $74. So I got in a fair bit of walking today, there and then back to the metro. It was good.
Took a little nap in the afternoon, knitted a bit more, did some of my reading, etc. Had dinner with the roomies tonight, which was fun - they're such great girls, all of them. And we seem to get along like gangbusters (sorry, I never really say that, I don't even know if that's the right phrase), so far anyway. Lucky lucky me. Oh, and then the Patriots won tonight, although it was pretty darn close. Too close. But still a win.
OH! And I got an interview for that job I really want, this Wednesday. Still obviously no guarantees, but at least getting an interview is better than being cut outright. I think. Maybe not, because maybe now I have false hope...well, I know better than to get my hopes up. Prayers for that appreciated, though!
Oh, and sad, Patrick Swayze died today. I liked him. And he was married to the same woman for 34 years, and married just once. Pretty rare nowadays. Anyway. It's weird, because I hadn't really thought of him in awhile (probably the last time was this summer, or spring, or, ok, apparently it was January, how weird, when there was a Barbara Walters special on him, and I just remember watching part of it, and I almost cried when he and his wife were talking about the inevitable, because they obviously loved each other so much), and then this evening I went to the grocery store with my roommate Monica to get some stuff for dinner, and in the checkout line one of the tabloid magazines had a picture of him on the front cover, in a wheelchair looking very frail and not Patrick Swayze-ish, with the big headline over it saying something about "Goes Home to DIE". Maybe not those exact words, but something that dramatic. Gotta get people to buy it, right? Anyway. And I thought, huh, I wonder how accurate that headline is, and if that picture is real/unphotoshopped/whatever. And then a few hours later I hear that he died. Well. Prayers for his soul. And for everyone else who died today, because those others who did who we'll never hear about are no less important than Patrick Swayze.
What a rather depressing note on which to end my birthday blog post...
How about a song that makes me happy. Ok, the music video has disabled embedding, so you'll just have to listen to this one, and/or read along with the lyrics. Because that's all it is. But the song makes me happy.
OH! And then this one. Yeah.
Happy birthday to me! (It really was.)
And if you're not, well, why not?
It was really excellent. I woke up earlier than I wanted to, but it worked out ok. We got our fridge fixed, which, yay, now we have a fridge big enough to keep things like milk! and yogurt! and leftovers! and a Brita filter pitcher!
So that's good.
I got to go to the 12:10 Mass at the Shrine, after taking the metro (it's a discounted rate in the late morning/early afternoon hours, which is nice), and I knitted on the metro, which was fun. Mass was wonderful and beautiful. I'm lucky; I was born on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, which is a bigger feast than regular feasts, or...whatever. I forget all the correct lingo. But it takes precedence over ordinary time, which means the priest wears red vestments, AND there are two readings and the Gospel, not just one reading and the Gospel as is the case with most weekday Masses. So I get extra readings on my birthday. Sort of exciting. Anyway, it was a beautiful liturgy, as is to be expected. Highly enjoyable.
I hung out on campus for a bit after that, talking with some of the second years (including my two second-year roommates) who were eating their lunches outside before their 1:30 class. That was fun. Then I went to get a Pumpkin Spice Latte from the campus Starbucks, because they're delish, and last time I tried to get one (Saturday), they were all out (lots of extra people on campus on Saturday because of the Eucharistic Congress - all those nuns drank my pumpkin spice). So I was really looking forward to a birthday Pumpkin Spice Latte. But then they were still out, or out again, or whatever. Either way, I didn't get one. Again. Sigh. So I didn't get anything, and planned to head home. But then I remembered I was going to see if the bookstore had gotten in a book I needed that they didn't have when I got my books the first time around, and which the cheapest copy I could find online was like $74. So I got in a fair bit of walking today, there and then back to the metro. It was good.
Took a little nap in the afternoon, knitted a bit more, did some of my reading, etc. Had dinner with the roomies tonight, which was fun - they're such great girls, all of them. And we seem to get along like gangbusters (sorry, I never really say that, I don't even know if that's the right phrase), so far anyway. Lucky lucky me. Oh, and then the Patriots won tonight, although it was pretty darn close. Too close. But still a win.
OH! And I got an interview for that job I really want, this Wednesday. Still obviously no guarantees, but at least getting an interview is better than being cut outright. I think. Maybe not, because maybe now I have false hope...well, I know better than to get my hopes up. Prayers for that appreciated, though!
Oh, and sad, Patrick Swayze died today. I liked him. And he was married to the same woman for 34 years, and married just once. Pretty rare nowadays. Anyway. It's weird, because I hadn't really thought of him in awhile (probably the last time was this summer, or spring, or, ok, apparently it was January, how weird, when there was a Barbara Walters special on him, and I just remember watching part of it, and I almost cried when he and his wife were talking about the inevitable, because they obviously loved each other so much), and then this evening I went to the grocery store with my roommate Monica to get some stuff for dinner, and in the checkout line one of the tabloid magazines had a picture of him on the front cover, in a wheelchair looking very frail and not Patrick Swayze-ish, with the big headline over it saying something about "Goes Home to DIE". Maybe not those exact words, but something that dramatic. Gotta get people to buy it, right? Anyway. And I thought, huh, I wonder how accurate that headline is, and if that picture is real/unphotoshopped/whatever. And then a few hours later I hear that he died. Well. Prayers for his soul. And for everyone else who died today, because those others who did who we'll never hear about are no less important than Patrick Swayze.
What a rather depressing note on which to end my birthday blog post...
How about a song that makes me happy. Ok, the music video has disabled embedding, so you'll just have to listen to this one, and/or read along with the lyrics. Because that's all it is. But the song makes me happy.
OH! And then this one. Yeah.
Happy birthday to me! (It really was.)
Birthday.
I waffled for awhile, but then decided to open the box of birthday presents from my parents last night (after midnight). It would have been fun to open with people around, like my roommates, but then I would have had to wait until dinnertime tonight. Could have done that, but...whatever. I got some good stuff. First, the card from my parents made me cry a little bit, not in a "oh I miss them and wish I were home" kind of way, but a "I'm so glad I have such wonderful parents who love me so much" kind of way. Aw.
So, what kind of loot did I get? Well, first of all, from my brother and sister I got The Office season 5, which is fantastic. I almost bought it the other night when I saw it in Target, as I think I mentioned, but my roommate said "Don't do that, what if someone got it for you for your birthday?" Since it just came out Tuesday, I was doubtful anyone did, but I was proven wrong. And happy to be wrong. :-) Super exciting. I got a lovely Garden of the Gods calendar, a book of Colorado wildflowers (yay!), a thing of nutmeg (haha - the spice, not my dog), which was quite amusing, some almond Kisses, and a few other things that just show how well my family knows me. And that's always nice, right? So, all in all, pretty great.
Today, I'm hoping to: go for a run, go to the noon Mass at the Shrine, be here to get our fridge fixed, and...oh, yeah, I guess get some reading done...hahaha.
I'm a very lucky girl, and I know that. Here's to a great 24 years (so far!) on God's wonderful earth.
So, what kind of loot did I get? Well, first of all, from my brother and sister I got The Office season 5, which is fantastic. I almost bought it the other night when I saw it in Target, as I think I mentioned, but my roommate said "Don't do that, what if someone got it for you for your birthday?" Since it just came out Tuesday, I was doubtful anyone did, but I was proven wrong. And happy to be wrong. :-) Super exciting. I got a lovely Garden of the Gods calendar, a book of Colorado wildflowers (yay!), a thing of nutmeg (haha - the spice, not my dog), which was quite amusing, some almond Kisses, and a few other things that just show how well my family knows me. And that's always nice, right? So, all in all, pretty great.
Today, I'm hoping to: go for a run, go to the noon Mass at the Shrine, be here to get our fridge fixed, and...oh, yeah, I guess get some reading done...hahaha.
I'm a very lucky girl, and I know that. Here's to a great 24 years (so far!) on God's wonderful earth.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Good.
I guess I've been doing a generally bad job here conveying how I'm doing lately.
I'm doing pretty well, I think.
It's always hard for me to pinpoint how I'm doing, because for the most part, most of the time, I just am. I'm living, I'm keeping things going, I'm being here. And here is what it is. There are obviously moments of the extreme in either direction, but I like to try to keep things pretty even and balanced.
Anyway. Yeah.
Tomorrow is my birthday, so that's cool I guess. Can't say I'm really specifically excited about it, but my roommates seem determined to make me have fun (by doing an ice cream social with people tonight over at our house, and making me dinner tomorrow night), so that's nice of them.
I don't know if I'd say I'm necessarily happy to be here, away from Colorado, my friends, my family, my home, starting a new school that is very heavy on the intellectualism, but the thing is that God wants me to be here, so I'm here, and that's all that really matters in the end. I know that makes it sound sort of blase, and like I'm just going to be suffering through these next two years, but that's not really the case. Yes, I do need to work on my being happier about being here, especially because God wants me to be here and I should happily and joyfully do whatever it is that he wills for me, every day. So I am trying to work on that. And it helps that all the people I've met are just wonderful and fantastic, and I'm lucky enough to be living with two second years who already have a whole passel of great friends who have kindly let me into their (large and extensive) group. It's making everything a whole lot easier. Fo' shizzle. (I'm sorry. I'll never say that again.)
In short, let's just sum it all with: yay.
I have not exercised, like, at all since I've moved to DC, and that's kind of a bummer, but I'm still getting used to everything. I do really need to start doing that again though. I miss going on my almost-daily hour-long walks with Nutmeg. (I also just plain miss Nutmeg.) My problem is it just doesn't seem very palatable to go for walks around here. But I still need to. Walks/runs. Whatever. Just gotta start. I'm starting to figure out where things are in relation to each other around here, which helps. I didn't want to go for a walk around the neighborhood and get lost and have no idea how to get back, but I think I'm past that now, I hope.
Anyway. It's good. Plus, my parents are coming to town this week, on Thursday, and my little bro is coming up on Friday, and I'll see lots of extended family at a wedding on Saturday, so that'll all be nice.
All good things.
I'm doing pretty well, I think.
It's always hard for me to pinpoint how I'm doing, because for the most part, most of the time, I just am. I'm living, I'm keeping things going, I'm being here. And here is what it is. There are obviously moments of the extreme in either direction, but I like to try to keep things pretty even and balanced.
Anyway. Yeah.
Tomorrow is my birthday, so that's cool I guess. Can't say I'm really specifically excited about it, but my roommates seem determined to make me have fun (by doing an ice cream social with people tonight over at our house, and making me dinner tomorrow night), so that's nice of them.
I don't know if I'd say I'm necessarily happy to be here, away from Colorado, my friends, my family, my home, starting a new school that is very heavy on the intellectualism, but the thing is that God wants me to be here, so I'm here, and that's all that really matters in the end. I know that makes it sound sort of blase, and like I'm just going to be suffering through these next two years, but that's not really the case. Yes, I do need to work on my being happier about being here, especially because God wants me to be here and I should happily and joyfully do whatever it is that he wills for me, every day. So I am trying to work on that. And it helps that all the people I've met are just wonderful and fantastic, and I'm lucky enough to be living with two second years who already have a whole passel of great friends who have kindly let me into their (large and extensive) group. It's making everything a whole lot easier. Fo' shizzle. (I'm sorry. I'll never say that again.)
In short, let's just sum it all with: yay.
I have not exercised, like, at all since I've moved to DC, and that's kind of a bummer, but I'm still getting used to everything. I do really need to start doing that again though. I miss going on my almost-daily hour-long walks with Nutmeg. (I also just plain miss Nutmeg.) My problem is it just doesn't seem very palatable to go for walks around here. But I still need to. Walks/runs. Whatever. Just gotta start. I'm starting to figure out where things are in relation to each other around here, which helps. I didn't want to go for a walk around the neighborhood and get lost and have no idea how to get back, but I think I'm past that now, I hope.
Anyway. It's good. Plus, my parents are coming to town this week, on Thursday, and my little bro is coming up on Friday, and I'll see lots of extended family at a wedding on Saturday, so that'll all be nice.
All good things.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
What?
This morning, I went to Mass at the Shrine at 8:30am. Because of the Eucharistic Congress, and all the nuns who had come for it, the Mass had lots of nuns in attendance. Our closing hymn was Hail, Holy Queen. My friend and I were sort of hoping that all the nuns would break out and sing it Sister Act style.
For some reason, that didn't happen! Crazy.
For some reason, that didn't happen! Crazy.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Catholic.
Just a couple things, because it's late (again), I'm tired, and I'm waking up early (again). (I swear, I haven't had a good/full night's sleep for I don't know how long. My fault, because I stay up way too late all. the. time, but you know. That's the way I role.)
I saw a ton of nuns tonight. That Eucharistic Congress I mentioned, apparently it attracted all the nuns in a very wide radius. Or, a lot, anyway. I'm not that accustomed to seeing nuns, since we have like three in the entire Colorado Springs diocese. It's all a very different world here, even more than ND, being surrounded by lots of priests (including in class), and the occasional nun wandering around campus, and then now with this, oh my goodness the nuns. But they're all so very very joyful, it's pretty awesome to see them all. At the same time, the more I see nuns and think "Shouldn't there be a part of me drawn to that?" I search for it and just can't find anything resembling a call to it at all. Maybe I'm suppressing or ignoring it, but I don't know. I really don't think that's my vocation. (But then, what is my vocation? That's an entirely different discussion, and I already poured it all out to my poor mom tonight and won't make you all suffer through that.)
I did have a nice chat with a wonderfully cheerful nun this afternoon, after the Institute's opening Mass in the Crypt (celebrated by Cardinal Ouellet, which is pretty cool). (Although, I didn't know it was all that cool, other than, hey, Cardinal, until a few days ago when I heard some people talking about him and how great he is and how he's one of those who people say could be the next pope, or whatever.) (I don't really know much about Catholic heavyweights. Nothing compared to a lot of the people here. Again, I blame Colorado Springs, but whatever. I'm here to learn, right?) Anyway. Yeah. Nuns, cool.
Anyway. Yay nuns. Also, after the talk that was tonight, there were fireworks, as I also mentioned. And my goodness, they were wonderful! Unexpected to see a fireworks show, right outside a huge Catholic church, on a fall-feeling September night, set to beautiful Catholic music (some of which - specifically Greensleeves, which I realize isn't specifically Christmas but is played at Christmas, and Handel's Messiah - were very Christmasy), but there it was. A great show, too. Very impressive, especially considering it's for a Eucharistic Congress. Man, Catholics are weird.
But awesome, too, and I love being surrounded and enveloped by Catholicism, and Catholic people, and wonderfulness. (It's also nice that all the people I meet here are pretty much on the same plane of things, and share very similar values. I guess the Institute attracts a certain type of person.
Annnnddd....there was one other thing. The point of this post. Darnit.
Oh, yeah. I want to get myself one of those wooden saint bracelets. For some reason, lots of the girls at the Institute wear them, and I want to fit in. Haha, not really, I just want one. They're quite cool. It's nice that we have an entire Communion of Saints to turn to, isn't it?
I'm in a weird mood tonight. Long day. Too much thinking/introspection/hopelessness. Tomorrow will be another long day - Mass in the morning, then Eucharistic Congress pretty much all day (including a talk by one of St. Gianna Molla's daughters! I'm so psyched for that. Did I already mention she was talking? Probably). I'm already up much later than I should have been, since I'm waking up...well, early. Sigh. Sunday! I can sleep in Sunday. Unless everyone at my house decides to go to the 9am Mass...hope not. Anyway. Yeah. So, I'll be on campus until the afternoon, at which point we're going over to our "brother house" a couple of miles from ours to watch the ND game. Then swing dance lessons at our house...then I'll probably skip out on actually going swing dancing because...yeah. That's just a long day. Anyway. Crazy weekend. Good, I think, but crazy.
My birthday is Monday. Just throwing that out there.
I saw a ton of nuns tonight. That Eucharistic Congress I mentioned, apparently it attracted all the nuns in a very wide radius. Or, a lot, anyway. I'm not that accustomed to seeing nuns, since we have like three in the entire Colorado Springs diocese. It's all a very different world here, even more than ND, being surrounded by lots of priests (including in class), and the occasional nun wandering around campus, and then now with this, oh my goodness the nuns. But they're all so very very joyful, it's pretty awesome to see them all. At the same time, the more I see nuns and think "Shouldn't there be a part of me drawn to that?" I search for it and just can't find anything resembling a call to it at all. Maybe I'm suppressing or ignoring it, but I don't know. I really don't think that's my vocation. (But then, what is my vocation? That's an entirely different discussion, and I already poured it all out to my poor mom tonight and won't make you all suffer through that.)
I did have a nice chat with a wonderfully cheerful nun this afternoon, after the Institute's opening Mass in the Crypt (celebrated by Cardinal Ouellet, which is pretty cool). (Although, I didn't know it was all that cool, other than, hey, Cardinal, until a few days ago when I heard some people talking about him and how great he is and how he's one of those who people say could be the next pope, or whatever.) (I don't really know much about Catholic heavyweights. Nothing compared to a lot of the people here. Again, I blame Colorado Springs, but whatever. I'm here to learn, right?) Anyway. Yeah. Nuns, cool.
Anyway. Yay nuns. Also, after the talk that was tonight, there were fireworks, as I also mentioned. And my goodness, they were wonderful! Unexpected to see a fireworks show, right outside a huge Catholic church, on a fall-feeling September night, set to beautiful Catholic music (some of which - specifically Greensleeves, which I realize isn't specifically Christmas but is played at Christmas, and Handel's Messiah - were very Christmasy), but there it was. A great show, too. Very impressive, especially considering it's for a Eucharistic Congress. Man, Catholics are weird.
But awesome, too, and I love being surrounded and enveloped by Catholicism, and Catholic people, and wonderfulness. (It's also nice that all the people I meet here are pretty much on the same plane of things, and share very similar values. I guess the Institute attracts a certain type of person.
Annnnddd....there was one other thing. The point of this post. Darnit.
Oh, yeah. I want to get myself one of those wooden saint bracelets. For some reason, lots of the girls at the Institute wear them, and I want to fit in. Haha, not really, I just want one. They're quite cool. It's nice that we have an entire Communion of Saints to turn to, isn't it?
I'm in a weird mood tonight. Long day. Too much thinking/introspection/hopelessness. Tomorrow will be another long day - Mass in the morning, then Eucharistic Congress pretty much all day (including a talk by one of St. Gianna Molla's daughters! I'm so psyched for that. Did I already mention she was talking? Probably). I'm already up much later than I should have been, since I'm waking up...well, early. Sigh. Sunday! I can sleep in Sunday. Unless everyone at my house decides to go to the 9am Mass...hope not. Anyway. Yeah. So, I'll be on campus until the afternoon, at which point we're going over to our "brother house" a couple of miles from ours to watch the ND game. Then swing dance lessons at our house...then I'll probably skip out on actually going swing dancing because...yeah. That's just a long day. Anyway. Crazy weekend. Good, I think, but crazy.
My birthday is Monday. Just throwing that out there.
Seven Quick Takes Volume III
I haven't done one of these in the last few weeks, thanks to the craziness of August/September thus far. But I'm back to it now!
1. Tonight (writing this on Thursday) is the first NFL game of the season, and I'm super-excited because it's on NBC and NBC has it streaming live online! And it's pretty decent quality, too, which is fantastic. Plus, it's the Steelers, which is always enjoyable. I like them. Susie + football = love.
2. I mailed five letters/postcards today. A few of which I've had written for awhile, but just haven't gotten around to sending yet, or had to get postcard stamps for. There's a post office thing on campus (not quite as extensive as the post office on ND's campus, but much more conveniently located than the one at ND, and I'm sure they have all the important things there), so I bought a sheet of whatever price stamps I need for postcards yesterday. Now I'm set for awhile with my letter-writing campaign. Yay. I have fun stationery to use, too. But I could always use more/more variety! :-)
3. I bought a small bookcase at Target to put next to my desk. I'm excited to put it together/set it up. I don't know why, but I think it'll be fun to have a bookcase. Plus, it's a better system than my current one (all my schoolbooks are either in a pile near my bed, or in the bag they gave me when I bought them). Plus it'll look prettier. I just have to move the box full of boxes that were used to ship my stuff to me. I kind of want to keep them, especially the biggest one, since it's pretty sturdy and is quite large, and I don't know what I'll be doing at the end of the year, so it might be a good idea to keep. Flattened, of course. So, that needs to happen, and then I can set up the bookcase and put it where those boxes are. It'll be exciting!
4. I still haven't put up any of my posters or pictures. Well, I did hang my favorite picture, but only because I love it so much and bought that picture cheap from work this summer and have been looking forward to hanging it up here ever since, and the walls still had some nails in them so I just used one of them. I also hung another framed picture I have, of St. Cecilia, on another leftover nails. But I haven't put in any of my own nails to hang up the rest of the stuff, and I need to figure out how I'm going to hang up my posters and such. (Don't really want to do thumbtacks, tape hasn't worked so well, guess maybe I'll get some of that blue sticky stuff?)
5. At Target tonight, I walked up to the checkout lanes and at the end of one saw a whole display of THE OFFICE. And then I thought, wait, why is that there? Season 5 isn't out yet. Then I realized that it comes out September 8. Then I realized September 8 is already passed. And then I got really excited, and grabbed it to buy it, and almost did, and then figured I should wait until a) someone gets it for my birthday (heh heh), or b) I get birthday money. Mmm I'm so excited to get it!!!
6. It's the 8th anniversary of 9/11. I didn't really realize that today is 9/11 until I was at Mass yesterday, and on this sheet they print out weekly with the songs and responsorial psalms for weekly Mass every day I happened to turn to Friday's listing, and saw that Friday is the 11th. And it was just a weird moment, for some reason. I think there's a part of me that believes 9/11 should always be a big, somber, important day, to remember. But another part of me knows that that can't (and, really, shouldn't) happen. It's good to remember. But it's not good to dwell. Pray, and ponder, and honor those killed that day. Do they still do that thing where they go down to Ground Zero and read the names of all those killed? If they do, how long are they going to do that? I mean, on the one hand, I can see how it might be a comfort, might be a good way to honor them. I don't know. I guess I can't really say anything, since I didn't lose anyone that day, and was only affected in a more distant way. Anyway. Yeah. 8 years. Can't believe it's been that long.
7. I'm going to this this weekend. Well, some of it. I'm pretty excited. One of the Saturday morning workshops is given by one of St. Gianna Molla's daughters! How lucky for me that this is going on right where I go to school. Purdy cool. (Plus! Fireworks! Outside the Shrine! How cool is that?)
1. Tonight (writing this on Thursday) is the first NFL game of the season, and I'm super-excited because it's on NBC and NBC has it streaming live online! And it's pretty decent quality, too, which is fantastic. Plus, it's the Steelers, which is always enjoyable. I like them. Susie + football = love.
2. I mailed five letters/postcards today. A few of which I've had written for awhile, but just haven't gotten around to sending yet, or had to get postcard stamps for. There's a post office thing on campus (not quite as extensive as the post office on ND's campus, but much more conveniently located than the one at ND, and I'm sure they have all the important things there), so I bought a sheet of whatever price stamps I need for postcards yesterday. Now I'm set for awhile with my letter-writing campaign. Yay. I have fun stationery to use, too. But I could always use more/more variety! :-)
3. I bought a small bookcase at Target to put next to my desk. I'm excited to put it together/set it up. I don't know why, but I think it'll be fun to have a bookcase. Plus, it's a better system than my current one (all my schoolbooks are either in a pile near my bed, or in the bag they gave me when I bought them). Plus it'll look prettier. I just have to move the box full of boxes that were used to ship my stuff to me. I kind of want to keep them, especially the biggest one, since it's pretty sturdy and is quite large, and I don't know what I'll be doing at the end of the year, so it might be a good idea to keep. Flattened, of course. So, that needs to happen, and then I can set up the bookcase and put it where those boxes are. It'll be exciting!
4. I still haven't put up any of my posters or pictures. Well, I did hang my favorite picture, but only because I love it so much and bought that picture cheap from work this summer and have been looking forward to hanging it up here ever since, and the walls still had some nails in them so I just used one of them. I also hung another framed picture I have, of St. Cecilia, on another leftover nails. But I haven't put in any of my own nails to hang up the rest of the stuff, and I need to figure out how I'm going to hang up my posters and such. (Don't really want to do thumbtacks, tape hasn't worked so well, guess maybe I'll get some of that blue sticky stuff?)
5. At Target tonight, I walked up to the checkout lanes and at the end of one saw a whole display of THE OFFICE. And then I thought, wait, why is that there? Season 5 isn't out yet. Then I realized that it comes out September 8. Then I realized September 8 is already passed. And then I got really excited, and grabbed it to buy it, and almost did, and then figured I should wait until a) someone gets it for my birthday (heh heh), or b) I get birthday money. Mmm I'm so excited to get it!!!
6. It's the 8th anniversary of 9/11. I didn't really realize that today is 9/11 until I was at Mass yesterday, and on this sheet they print out weekly with the songs and responsorial psalms for weekly Mass every day I happened to turn to Friday's listing, and saw that Friday is the 11th. And it was just a weird moment, for some reason. I think there's a part of me that believes 9/11 should always be a big, somber, important day, to remember. But another part of me knows that that can't (and, really, shouldn't) happen. It's good to remember. But it's not good to dwell. Pray, and ponder, and honor those killed that day. Do they still do that thing where they go down to Ground Zero and read the names of all those killed? If they do, how long are they going to do that? I mean, on the one hand, I can see how it might be a comfort, might be a good way to honor them. I don't know. I guess I can't really say anything, since I didn't lose anyone that day, and was only affected in a more distant way. Anyway. Yeah. 8 years. Can't believe it's been that long.
7. I'm going to this this weekend. Well, some of it. I'm pretty excited. One of the Saturday morning workshops is given by one of St. Gianna Molla's daughters! How lucky for me that this is going on right where I go to school. Purdy cool. (Plus! Fireworks! Outside the Shrine! How cool is that?)
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
Whirlwind
So, what's been going on in the life of Susie this past week?
Let's see.
Paint three rooms in new house/hire carpet cleaner/hire cleaning company prior to moving in: check.
Move into house: check.
Discover that mosquitoes in Maryland happen to love me (and seem to be telling all their friends): check.
Have one roommate be unable to move her things into her basement room because the carpet downstairs still smells horribly like cat pee: check.
Have a bunch of ridiculous craziness go on regarding several issues with the house...and some other things...including sewage backing up into the showers on Sunday morning, and some tense time in which we thought we might have to start looking for a new place to live: check.
Still have readings and a paper to do in the midst of moving in and dealing with problems with the house: check.
Etc. I could go into more detail, but some of you have probably heard enough of this stuff, and others who haven't...well, just know that it's been crazy. Ask me the details if you're interested.
Oh. I twice now missed 09:09:09 on 9.9.09. Oh well. It still happened twice, anyway. Kinda cool. I'm all about September, but 10.10.10 will be cooler, because who actually writes "09/09/09"? No one. So not all the numbers are the same, because also no one writes 9/9/9. But 10/10/10 is much better. Even if I hate to give October the edge. (Although, that is the birthday of one of my new friends, so that's cool. I know a lot of excellent people with October birthdays.)
Also, I read something today by a certain "priest" (well, I guess those quotations are incorrect, because he is still a priest) who teaches theology, of all things, much to my chagrin, at my beautiful alma mater. "Eucharistic adoration, perpetual or not, is a doctrinal, theological, and spiritual step backward, not forward." and "Notwithstanding Pope Benedict XVI's personal endorsement of eucharistic adoration and the sporadic restoration of the practice in the archdiocese of Boston and elsewhere, it is difficult to speak favorably about the devotion today." He called it an "extraneous eucharistic devotion" and seems to think that the Mass is all a Catholic needs. Sure, maybe bare-bones that's true, but the beauty of our faith is that there are so many supplementary devotions to enrich what we get at Mass. Bleh. Whatever. Anyone who really practices the faith knows not to take anything he says seriously. I hope. (Problem is those who don't really practice the faith but are looking into it and/or simply believe anything someone with a "Fr." in front of his name says.)
Uh...anyway...I guess this post wasn't as interesting (or as long) as I expected. Oh well.
Let's see.
Paint three rooms in new house/hire carpet cleaner/hire cleaning company prior to moving in: check.
Move into house: check.
Discover that mosquitoes in Maryland happen to love me (and seem to be telling all their friends): check.
Have one roommate be unable to move her things into her basement room because the carpet downstairs still smells horribly like cat pee: check.
Have a bunch of ridiculous craziness go on regarding several issues with the house...and some other things...including sewage backing up into the showers on Sunday morning, and some tense time in which we thought we might have to start looking for a new place to live: check.
Still have readings and a paper to do in the midst of moving in and dealing with problems with the house: check.
Etc. I could go into more detail, but some of you have probably heard enough of this stuff, and others who haven't...well, just know that it's been crazy. Ask me the details if you're interested.
Oh. I twice now missed 09:09:09 on 9.9.09. Oh well. It still happened twice, anyway. Kinda cool. I'm all about September, but 10.10.10 will be cooler, because who actually writes "09/09/09"? No one. So not all the numbers are the same, because also no one writes 9/9/9. But 10/10/10 is much better. Even if I hate to give October the edge. (Although, that is the birthday of one of my new friends, so that's cool. I know a lot of excellent people with October birthdays.)
Also, I read something today by a certain "priest" (well, I guess those quotations are incorrect, because he is still a priest) who teaches theology, of all things, much to my chagrin, at my beautiful alma mater. "Eucharistic adoration, perpetual or not, is a doctrinal, theological, and spiritual step backward, not forward." and "Notwithstanding Pope Benedict XVI's personal endorsement of eucharistic adoration and the sporadic restoration of the practice in the archdiocese of Boston and elsewhere, it is difficult to speak favorably about the devotion today." He called it an "extraneous eucharistic devotion" and seems to think that the Mass is all a Catholic needs. Sure, maybe bare-bones that's true, but the beauty of our faith is that there are so many supplementary devotions to enrich what we get at Mass. Bleh. Whatever. Anyone who really practices the faith knows not to take anything he says seriously. I hope. (Problem is those who don't really practice the faith but are looking into it and/or simply believe anything someone with a "Fr." in front of his name says.)
Uh...anyway...I guess this post wasn't as interesting (or as long) as I expected. Oh well.
Attention.
Verizon internet was installed this morning.
Susie now once again has regular, reliable access to the wonderful invention that is Wireless.
Expect a loooooong post soon, because once Tuesday is over (which, as you might notice, it is), the rest of my week is nearly delightful, and I don't have class until 1:30 tomorrow afternoon (and I've already done the reading for it). IE: I can waste time blogging tonight and feel (relatively) guilt-free.
And I'm looking forward to it.
Susie now once again has regular, reliable access to the wonderful invention that is Wireless.
Expect a loooooong post soon, because once Tuesday is over (which, as you might notice, it is), the rest of my week is nearly delightful, and I don't have class until 1:30 tomorrow afternoon (and I've already done the reading for it). IE: I can waste time blogging tonight and feel (relatively) guilt-free.
And I'm looking forward to it.
Friday, September 04, 2009
Where things stand
(Post-composition edit: this was not intended to be so long, nor so whiney, but that's what it devolved to. Please continue if you would like to hear a rundown of exactly what's not going perfectly right in the World of Susie these days. These confusing, crazy, overwhelming days.)
So, I spent a good portion of today over at the house with two of the three roomies. We finished painting (did I mention that yesterday? I can't remember where I complained about what). We got there as the plumber was there fixing the downstairs shower (still has to put in the tile tomorrow morning, I guess), and as the carpet cleaner guy was just pulling into the driveway (previous tenants had cats. And it was obvious). House cleaners showed up shortly thereafter, and went to work. Refrigerator guy showed up at some point in the afternoon (unfortunately wasn't as successful as others there today; there's more wrong with the fridge than was originally thought, and he has to order parts, so, yay, we won't be having a working fridge for probably several days, at least - annoying because this should have been dealt with before we moved in. But whatever). We got bedroom #1 touched up, and bedrooms 2 and 3 were painted during the course of the day/evening/night. (Painting is more time consuming than one might think...) Carpet cleaner finished, seems to have helped tremendously, but only time will tell. Got some odor remover stuff to sprinkle on and vacuum out just in case. House cleaners did an amazing job. Particularly in the bathroom I'll be using (which was just plain gross, despite the previous tenants' claims that they had gotten someone to clean the house. Maybe we misunderstood, because there's no way a professional could have come in and left things like they were), and thankfully in my windowsills, which sported lots of lovely mounds of dust and many bug carcasses, including the biggest hornet I've ever seen. I should have taken a picture. Disgusting. May still want to brush out my closet a bit, do a little quick cleaning in there, but mostly should be fine. Once I get past the "this whole house is ridiculously cobwebby/buggy/gross" feeling I'm still having...
Anyhoo. Everything's set and ready for the move in tomorrow. Looks like I'll for sure have a desk, a dresser, and at least a mattress if not a bed frame. And - glory of glories! - my boxes showed up this evening! I was getting pretty down about everything by around 5pm, when fedex still hadn't shown up, and I wasn't looking forward to...anything in the next week, really, and then it looked like I wouldn't even have my stuff until Tuesday (since Monday is a holiday, I figured if I didn't get my boxes today I wouldn't until Tuesday). And then around 6pm, I happened to look out the window, and there was the fedex truck sitting there, one box out already, and it was practically the best sight I'd seen all week. All seven of my boxes got there, and I haven't checked, but it seems like everything should be in good enough condition. Thankfully. Thank you, Lord! It was good to see that. So, I'll have at least enough furniture, even if I don't have a bed frame yet, and even stuff to put into/on that furniture! Sweetness.
The only thing. Well, a few things. First, I hate that I'm missing the ND game tomorrow. Actually, I might be able to finagle it so I can go over to the house of an ND grad who's friends with my roomies, depending on where we are in the move-in process. The game isn't until 3:30, so we'll see. But, either way, we don't have a TV at our house, and sigh. I guess it'll be good for me, but still. I'm going to miss that. And we won't have internet until Wednesday, when the Verizon guy can come. That's the earliest they had, I guess since Monday is a holiday (curse those holidays...except not really). That's just a huge bummer. Not only because I'm addicted, and feel so disconnected from people when I don't have constant internet access (sad, I know, but whatever), but also because I have a paper for Thursday's class to do, and we have to turn them in by 11:30am Wednesday, and "turning in" involves emailing the prof. Actually, Father, since he is a priest and all. Anyway. That means I gotsta get the reading done ASAP and then I guess I'll have to bring in my laptop to class on Tuesday, or maybe just find somewhere with wireless on Monday, and just try to get it done. Definitely not ideal, since I have limited times I can be on campus, and I'm busy with class/mass/choir practice/class from 9:30 to 3:30 on Tuesday. Bleh. Oh, plus, this paper is based on three readings, two of which come out of books that I can't get in time since the bookstore doesn't have them, so I have to borrow my roommate's copy, but hers are currently all packed away, obviously...bleh.
Have I mentioned that I can't wait until...oh, let's just say, until the weekend my parents get here. By then hopefully things will have calmed down and things will be settled and I'll be done with all this.
I'm barely keeping my head above water right now, though. And then there are money issues on top of everything, but I won't even go into that right now. I'm trying not to think about that stuff at the moment. That, or the fact that I really need to get new contacts but stupidly threw out my last box after it was empty, thus throwing out the prescription number I'm using, so I don't know what my prescription is, so I can't order more contacts without going to the eye doctor, which I don't have money for. Oh, plus, I'm a bit concerned because I don't have Word, which I haven't needed since I got this new laptop but now sort of do, and am just going on a wing and a prayer that it'll work fine if I use google docs and export it as a Word document, because I think you can do that...since I don't really have the money to get Word, either (it is ridiculous how expensive that thing is).
Yeah.
Sorry. My word of the week/month has been "overwhelming" or some variant. That's been my answer to everything. "How are you surviving your first week?" "Well, I'm a little overwhelmed, but it's good." "How are you doing so far?" "Well, I'm pretty overwhelmed, but it'll be fine." "What did you think of your class?" "Well, it's a little overwhelming, but it's interesting." But the truth is, overwhelmed really doesn't do justice at all to what I'm feeling. It is so much above and beyond that. I just have no idea to begin to describe how it all feels. Maybe I don't even know, exactly, because I'm just so overwhelmed by it all. (Plus, there's the fact that I never like the "How's x going/what'd you think of that class/how are you feeling" type of question. Most of the times the person asking really doesn't want to know, even if I were able to formulate an answer to do adequate justice to whatever I'm feeling.) I'm sure compared to lots of experiences in life, this all is nothing. But right now, being in the middle of it, it kinda sucks. I just hope things get better. I don't do well with change right away, and a lot of the time it takes me awhile to adjust, so I expect that they will, but I don't know. I've gotten no less than ten bug bites while at our house, after spending approximately three minutes standing outside it a couple of nights ago, and then while sitting outside it for not much longer than that. It's immediate - I go outside, I get bit. So I'm a little bitter to the place, just because I hate mosquitoes. I can get through entire summers in Colorado managing to get maybe three mosquito bites. I'm here for two minutes and every mosquito in a twelve mile radius immediately swarms my legs. Color me not amused. (I know, it has nothing to do with the house, it's just...the east coast. But I've seen far more spiders than I ever care to in the last few days at the house. Again, product of the area, and the fact that the previous tenants obviously weren't the most...conscientious, I guess, people.)
Oh, plus, my phone's been really weird since I've been here. I don't know if it's just reception issues certain places I go, or (likely) the fact that my temporary room is in a basement (I have some reception, but not full), or my phone in general, but I've had a few people tell me they called me and my phone never rang. Or I'll get just a voice mail, but no missed call. Or I'll get a missed call, then the voice mail will come through later. Or I'll get a text several minutes after it was sent. Nothing huge, thankfully, but annoying. Plus I seem to have discovered that my phone doesn't charge when it's plugged in and I'm talking on it at the same time...I notice that it gets pretty hot when I'm talking on it for longer than a quick chat. Not sure what that's all about. I might just start charging it every night, so I don't have to worry about it running out while I'm talking on it or something. We'll see.
Anyway. I can't believe I'm not going to have internet at my house until Wednesday. It's terribly inconvenient. But, I'll survive. At least I can bring my laptop to school and use it there. And now I don't have to be tied to my lovely wonderful classmate/temporary housemate, who's been wonderful letting me trail around with her all week (even when we take the metro, her house is still like a mile from the station so she drives and parks there), so I can go in early and/or stay a bit later. Although, not too late, because I'd rather not walk by myself to or from either station (near campus or near our house) when it's dark. Anyway. Sigh.
Sorry I'm such a rambling mess again tonight. But at least I'm (emotionally) better than last night's crazy post. Although, that one was nothing compared to my real journal. Haha. I'm not very good at sucking it up, or offering up my suffering...God obviously knows I could stand to work on that, so he's giving me ample opportunity.
Anyway, with that, I must to bed. Lots of moving and unpacking to be done tomorrow. Joy. (Thankfully, I'm rooming with two great second years who have lots of wonderful friends who are coming to help, plus one of the roommate's parents are coming down with lots of stuff, and lots of food, which is just so wonderful of them! Despite what it may seem I think from the tone of this entire post, plus the last few days...I know I'm lucky.
But is it too much to ask for things to be perfect?)
So, I spent a good portion of today over at the house with two of the three roomies. We finished painting (did I mention that yesterday? I can't remember where I complained about what). We got there as the plumber was there fixing the downstairs shower (still has to put in the tile tomorrow morning, I guess), and as the carpet cleaner guy was just pulling into the driveway (previous tenants had cats. And it was obvious). House cleaners showed up shortly thereafter, and went to work. Refrigerator guy showed up at some point in the afternoon (unfortunately wasn't as successful as others there today; there's more wrong with the fridge than was originally thought, and he has to order parts, so, yay, we won't be having a working fridge for probably several days, at least - annoying because this should have been dealt with before we moved in. But whatever). We got bedroom #1 touched up, and bedrooms 2 and 3 were painted during the course of the day/evening/night. (Painting is more time consuming than one might think...) Carpet cleaner finished, seems to have helped tremendously, but only time will tell. Got some odor remover stuff to sprinkle on and vacuum out just in case. House cleaners did an amazing job. Particularly in the bathroom I'll be using (which was just plain gross, despite the previous tenants' claims that they had gotten someone to clean the house. Maybe we misunderstood, because there's no way a professional could have come in and left things like they were), and thankfully in my windowsills, which sported lots of lovely mounds of dust and many bug carcasses, including the biggest hornet I've ever seen. I should have taken a picture. Disgusting. May still want to brush out my closet a bit, do a little quick cleaning in there, but mostly should be fine. Once I get past the "this whole house is ridiculously cobwebby/buggy/gross" feeling I'm still having...
Anyhoo. Everything's set and ready for the move in tomorrow. Looks like I'll for sure have a desk, a dresser, and at least a mattress if not a bed frame. And - glory of glories! - my boxes showed up this evening! I was getting pretty down about everything by around 5pm, when fedex still hadn't shown up, and I wasn't looking forward to...anything in the next week, really, and then it looked like I wouldn't even have my stuff until Tuesday (since Monday is a holiday, I figured if I didn't get my boxes today I wouldn't until Tuesday). And then around 6pm, I happened to look out the window, and there was the fedex truck sitting there, one box out already, and it was practically the best sight I'd seen all week. All seven of my boxes got there, and I haven't checked, but it seems like everything should be in good enough condition. Thankfully. Thank you, Lord! It was good to see that. So, I'll have at least enough furniture, even if I don't have a bed frame yet, and even stuff to put into/on that furniture! Sweetness.
The only thing. Well, a few things. First, I hate that I'm missing the ND game tomorrow. Actually, I might be able to finagle it so I can go over to the house of an ND grad who's friends with my roomies, depending on where we are in the move-in process. The game isn't until 3:30, so we'll see. But, either way, we don't have a TV at our house, and sigh. I guess it'll be good for me, but still. I'm going to miss that. And we won't have internet until Wednesday, when the Verizon guy can come. That's the earliest they had, I guess since Monday is a holiday (curse those holidays...except not really). That's just a huge bummer. Not only because I'm addicted, and feel so disconnected from people when I don't have constant internet access (sad, I know, but whatever), but also because I have a paper for Thursday's class to do, and we have to turn them in by 11:30am Wednesday, and "turning in" involves emailing the prof. Actually, Father, since he is a priest and all. Anyway. That means I gotsta get the reading done ASAP and then I guess I'll have to bring in my laptop to class on Tuesday, or maybe just find somewhere with wireless on Monday, and just try to get it done. Definitely not ideal, since I have limited times I can be on campus, and I'm busy with class/mass/choir practice/class from 9:30 to 3:30 on Tuesday. Bleh. Oh, plus, this paper is based on three readings, two of which come out of books that I can't get in time since the bookstore doesn't have them, so I have to borrow my roommate's copy, but hers are currently all packed away, obviously...bleh.
Have I mentioned that I can't wait until...oh, let's just say, until the weekend my parents get here. By then hopefully things will have calmed down and things will be settled and I'll be done with all this.
I'm barely keeping my head above water right now, though. And then there are money issues on top of everything, but I won't even go into that right now. I'm trying not to think about that stuff at the moment. That, or the fact that I really need to get new contacts but stupidly threw out my last box after it was empty, thus throwing out the prescription number I'm using, so I don't know what my prescription is, so I can't order more contacts without going to the eye doctor, which I don't have money for. Oh, plus, I'm a bit concerned because I don't have Word, which I haven't needed since I got this new laptop but now sort of do, and am just going on a wing and a prayer that it'll work fine if I use google docs and export it as a Word document, because I think you can do that...since I don't really have the money to get Word, either (it is ridiculous how expensive that thing is).
Yeah.
Sorry. My word of the week/month has been "overwhelming" or some variant. That's been my answer to everything. "How are you surviving your first week?" "Well, I'm a little overwhelmed, but it's good." "How are you doing so far?" "Well, I'm pretty overwhelmed, but it'll be fine." "What did you think of your class?" "Well, it's a little overwhelming, but it's interesting." But the truth is, overwhelmed really doesn't do justice at all to what I'm feeling. It is so much above and beyond that. I just have no idea to begin to describe how it all feels. Maybe I don't even know, exactly, because I'm just so overwhelmed by it all. (Plus, there's the fact that I never like the "How's x going/what'd you think of that class/how are you feeling" type of question. Most of the times the person asking really doesn't want to know, even if I were able to formulate an answer to do adequate justice to whatever I'm feeling.) I'm sure compared to lots of experiences in life, this all is nothing. But right now, being in the middle of it, it kinda sucks. I just hope things get better. I don't do well with change right away, and a lot of the time it takes me awhile to adjust, so I expect that they will, but I don't know. I've gotten no less than ten bug bites while at our house, after spending approximately three minutes standing outside it a couple of nights ago, and then while sitting outside it for not much longer than that. It's immediate - I go outside, I get bit. So I'm a little bitter to the place, just because I hate mosquitoes. I can get through entire summers in Colorado managing to get maybe three mosquito bites. I'm here for two minutes and every mosquito in a twelve mile radius immediately swarms my legs. Color me not amused. (I know, it has nothing to do with the house, it's just...the east coast. But I've seen far more spiders than I ever care to in the last few days at the house. Again, product of the area, and the fact that the previous tenants obviously weren't the most...conscientious, I guess, people.)
Oh, plus, my phone's been really weird since I've been here. I don't know if it's just reception issues certain places I go, or (likely) the fact that my temporary room is in a basement (I have some reception, but not full), or my phone in general, but I've had a few people tell me they called me and my phone never rang. Or I'll get just a voice mail, but no missed call. Or I'll get a missed call, then the voice mail will come through later. Or I'll get a text several minutes after it was sent. Nothing huge, thankfully, but annoying. Plus I seem to have discovered that my phone doesn't charge when it's plugged in and I'm talking on it at the same time...I notice that it gets pretty hot when I'm talking on it for longer than a quick chat. Not sure what that's all about. I might just start charging it every night, so I don't have to worry about it running out while I'm talking on it or something. We'll see.
Anyway. I can't believe I'm not going to have internet at my house until Wednesday. It's terribly inconvenient. But, I'll survive. At least I can bring my laptop to school and use it there. And now I don't have to be tied to my lovely wonderful classmate/temporary housemate, who's been wonderful letting me trail around with her all week (even when we take the metro, her house is still like a mile from the station so she drives and parks there), so I can go in early and/or stay a bit later. Although, not too late, because I'd rather not walk by myself to or from either station (near campus or near our house) when it's dark. Anyway. Sigh.
Sorry I'm such a rambling mess again tonight. But at least I'm (emotionally) better than last night's crazy post. Although, that one was nothing compared to my real journal. Haha. I'm not very good at sucking it up, or offering up my suffering...God obviously knows I could stand to work on that, so he's giving me ample opportunity.
Anyway, with that, I must to bed. Lots of moving and unpacking to be done tomorrow. Joy. (Thankfully, I'm rooming with two great second years who have lots of wonderful friends who are coming to help, plus one of the roommate's parents are coming down with lots of stuff, and lots of food, which is just so wonderful of them! Despite what it may seem I think from the tone of this entire post, plus the last few days...I know I'm lucky.
But is it too much to ask for things to be perfect?)
Thursday, September 03, 2009
Would much rather just skip it this year
My birthday is in 11 days. I hate that I'm not going to be home for my birthday. Hate it. Back home, I have people who love me, and I could have a really great party with all my friends over and just have a ton of fun. The people here, those I've met seem really great, especially the girls I am living with (both temporarily and for the next year), but they're not great friends (yet), because those things take time. Especially for me. So instead of being among those near and dear to me this year, I'm going to be among people I barely know at all. And that really just is not fun, and I'm not looking forward to it. Birthdays are dumb anyway. Especially 24th birthdays. What's so special about that? ...sigh...
Sorry. Today's been a tough day, and realizing that my birthday is so soon isn't really helping. I miss everyone back home immensely. I hope things get better here soon. I know they will; or, I assume they will anyway, but I'm impatient. I've only been here a week, and I haven't even moved into my house yet, so of course things are crappy right now. I just...I don't know. Even once we move in this weekend, I don't know if I'll have a bed or not, so I'll probably still have to be on the lookout for that, and some other stuff, and I'm still going to have to get essentials that I didn't want to buy out in Colorado and lug to DC (laundry detergent, boxes of tissues, food, etc), and I don't have a car which is fine for getting into and around the city, but presents a bit of a problem for going to other places (ie, grocery store). And I haven't had a good night's sleep in over a week, and who knows how I'm going to sleep especially the first few nights in the new place. And the first ND game of the season is Saturday and I won't be able to watch it because we're moving in that day, plus we don't really have a way of watching TV anyway which means I don't know how I'm going to watch any football at all this year and that sucks. And we probably won't have internet for at least a few days (which means, lucky you, no more posts like this for a least that long).
And in case anyone was planning on leaving a comment, I'm not looking for sympathy. I'm not looking for "Oh, it'll be great once you're settled, you're where you're supposed to be, blah blah blah" not helpful. I just want to vent. I'm sick of hearing comments to that effect any time I complain about anything. I've heard all that many, many times. Seriously. That's not the issue here. True or not. So...yeah. Sorry.
I probably shouldn't even post this as it's very much just one of those emotaposts, and I only wrote it because I couldn't fall asleep despite being tired because I'm too...teary, bleh, but I think the tiredness is starting to overcome the rest of it. Which is good, because it's late, and I have a morning class tomorrow.
Sorry. Today's been a tough day, and realizing that my birthday is so soon isn't really helping. I miss everyone back home immensely. I hope things get better here soon. I know they will; or, I assume they will anyway, but I'm impatient. I've only been here a week, and I haven't even moved into my house yet, so of course things are crappy right now. I just...I don't know. Even once we move in this weekend, I don't know if I'll have a bed or not, so I'll probably still have to be on the lookout for that, and some other stuff, and I'm still going to have to get essentials that I didn't want to buy out in Colorado and lug to DC (laundry detergent, boxes of tissues, food, etc), and I don't have a car which is fine for getting into and around the city, but presents a bit of a problem for going to other places (ie, grocery store). And I haven't had a good night's sleep in over a week, and who knows how I'm going to sleep especially the first few nights in the new place. And the first ND game of the season is Saturday and I won't be able to watch it because we're moving in that day, plus we don't really have a way of watching TV anyway which means I don't know how I'm going to watch any football at all this year and that sucks. And we probably won't have internet for at least a few days (which means, lucky you, no more posts like this for a least that long).
And in case anyone was planning on leaving a comment, I'm not looking for sympathy. I'm not looking for "Oh, it'll be great once you're settled, you're where you're supposed to be, blah blah blah" not helpful. I just want to vent. I'm sick of hearing comments to that effect any time I complain about anything. I've heard all that many, many times. Seriously. That's not the issue here. True or not. So...yeah. Sorry.
I probably shouldn't even post this as it's very much just one of those emotaposts, and I only wrote it because I couldn't fall asleep despite being tired because I'm too...teary, bleh, but I think the tiredness is starting to overcome the rest of it. Which is good, because it's late, and I have a morning class tomorrow.
Wednesday, September 02, 2009
Life's like that sometimes
So, the past couple of days, particularly yesterday afternoon and today, the homesickness has started to creep in. I mean, I'm pretty used to this whole thing, having done my undergrad at a school nowhere near my hometown, requiring multiple hours of travel (usually at least six, on the low end, if flying, including the commute to and from airports and the 2-ish hour long flight). But I've never really enjoyed that part of it. I really hate being away from my family, and I really hate being away from Colorado. Sure, it's good to go places and see new things, I guess, and that's all well and good, but I've never been the type to have a wandering spirit. I guess God just wants me to branch out, and He keeps pushing me to these far places. (I just hope He always brings me back to the one place that really centers me...sigh. I don't want to be kept away from there for much longer. I mean, once I get my master's, I'll have lived outside of Colorado for six of the 23 years we'll have lived there at that point. That's like...a fourth? of the time. I don't know. Just, too much.) Anyway.
Point is, homesick. Overwhelmed. Too much newness. Too many new faces. Not bad faces, of course, not bad newness necessarily, but...too much. I just want something familiar and comforting, you know? And right now I don't even have my own room. (Yes, technically, I'm in my own room in the house where I'm temporarily staying, but I don't have anything else and am still living out of suitcases, and can't really "set up shop" so to speak because I'm just moving it all again in a couple of days anyway.) Plus there's not really anywhere to set it up anyway.
I finally got a cup of coffee today, which was really glorious (even more so because the Pumpkin Spice Latte! is back at Starbucks, which I just adore, and I got myself one of those, and got it free because a couple of really good friends got me a starbucks card as a going away gift, yay, and there's a Starbucks on campus, of course, as any good college has), and I went to my one Wednesday class, and it was fine, and yeah, everything's a little weird trying to figure out...everything, but I'm working on it. Anyway, I'm just completely randomly rambling here. Sorry. After class I had some time to kill because I was meeting up with the roomies a couple of hours later to go to dinner together then go over to the house and have a walk-through with the landlord and former tenants. So first I walked over to the bookstore where the books for the Institute classes are sold, and got yet one more compendium (luckily, only $10, and very small - but there are still more books to buy, apparently, long story), and then I did what I've been looking forward to the most, the thing I've been most excited about coming here for - I went to the National Shrine.
I know some people have their issues with it, and the number of Marian shrines there, and the HUGE rather angry-looking Jesus mural on the very back wall, but I just love it. And I love being back on a campus with a church that has a bell! Rings out the time, the 15 minutes dings, rings when Mass is starting, yay. So, I went in there. I went in the bottom level because I wanted to get something at the gift shop, which I did, and for which I had to walk through their little food court area - it's incredibly nice! Very soothing music playing, soothing lighting, pretty classy-looking (all the tables have vases with flowers in them!). Good study spot, probably, although not during peak food hours...but yeah. Anyway. After my venture into the gift shop, I wandered down near the crypt area for a bit - actually, that's not true, I knew exactly where I was headed. Like I said, there are shrines to Our Lady of everything you can imagine, but I have a particular fondness for Our Lady of Lourdes. (And, wonderfully, the church that a lot of the students/young adults I've met seem to go to is St. Bernadette, which I was pretty excited to hear.) And they have a very lovely, very peaceful shrine to her set up right near the Crypt Church. Imitation grotto and everything, several rows of pews and kneelers. Even old-school confessionals (though I don't think they're used anymore). So I went straight for that, remembering it from the one time I was there before, during the March for Life 2008. I just knelt there for a few minutes and prayed and let the peacefulness wash over me. It was beyond wonderful, really. I just felt so incredibly refreshed sitting there. And it dawned on me that maybe all the negativity I had been feeling was partly a result of someone not wanting me to be at the Institute. (That someone being the devil.) But sitting there, I knew that I'll be able to get through it, no matter how difficult it is, because God's right there with me. Sounds corny, I know, but it's true. He wants me here for a reason, so whether or not I really want it isn't that important. What is important is that I'm here, and cheerfully so. I'm going to try to work on that. God doesn't always (or ever?) call us to follow the easiest path, that's for sure.
Also a certainty: I will be visiting the shrine to Our Lady of Lourdes often. And, hopefully, going to Mass over there a lot. Their crypt church is really beautiful, and a lot smaller than the upstairs main church, so a bit more...intimate, I guess. That's where the Institute's opening Mass is held, next week sometime. Anyway. It's good stuff. I'm so glad I have that place nearby, and I hope I take advantage of it very often.
After that I went to get my ID, so now I'm really official. (It's like the most boring ID ever. But still kinda cool.) And then my roommates and I went to dinner, and to see our house, which looks pretty good (especially considering a bunch of boys have been living there the last two years). A few things still need to be done, some cleaning that the landlord is letting us hire a cleaning service for (and he's paying for it, thankfully), etc, but I think it'll be pretty good once it's all said and done. I do need to get a rug for my room, though. It's all hardwood floors. But yeah. Cool. The kitchen is pretty nice. Anyway.
So, I just noticed that I have the largest blister I've ever gotten on one of my toes. I was wearing not necessarily sensible shoes today, especially for the amount of walking I did today, but they are still really comfortable. I know I'm pretty tall as it is, but I still love wearing heels. I can't help it. It makes me feel so much more feminine, and I like that. So, oh well. What's a couple of blisters, anyway? (Actually, I think I got approximately six today - one each on my smallest toe, the toe next to it, and the big toe, on both feet.) The one on my left big toe is rather large in diameter, more than half an inch, but it's popped or whatever. They all are except the one on my fourth left toe, which is the large one I mentioned. Probably not quite half an inch in diameter, but like a quarter centimeter high. Haha. So weird looking. Anyway. Probably much more anyone ever needed to know about my feet blisters. I guess tomorrow might be a little bit more painful than today...
Speaking of, I think I might need to get a new bag. The one I'm using now I bought for freshman year of college, if not a little bit before. It's a little..well-worn. And it might be good for me to get one that distributes weight a little bit better, or something, because man my back is feeling those compendia I have to carry around. We'll see, though. It's just so heavy. Sigh. Oh whell.
So, wouldn't you know it, but a group of Catholic young adults in the area (including one of my roommates, her boyfriend, and some of their friends/some of my new friends) are going camping in a few weekends - the weekend I'll be in Colorado. Isn't that just the way it goes, though. Oh well. I need to buy tickets for that trip soon. I want to wait until I have been to every class first, and get syllabi, and figure out what time I can leave/come back. It'll be nice to visit home again.
Sigh. It feels like it's been a long day, and I didn't even leave the house until noon. But then, I didn't get back until after nine, too. I still have a bit of reading to do for tomorrow's class, and some sleeping to do.
This was a much longer post than I was expecting to write. Funny how that happens (all the time). Well, no one can accuse me of not updating so people can follow along with whatever I do in DC. (Now if only ANYONE I know in real life regularly kept up a blog, so I could know what's going on with other people I care about...alas, I appear to be the only one blogically inclined in my group of near and dears. I always wonder what that says about me...)
Well, until tomorrow, or later.
(Oh, also, if someone wanted to make me wonderfully happy, they could go through the movie Return to Me, or find the song list somewhere, and put together a CD of all the music they use in that movie. I don't think the soundtrack has all, or a lot, of them, especially not the versions they use. It's a lot of Dean Martin/Frank Sinatra, that's all I know. That, and it's wonderful. Anyway. Yeah.)
Point is, homesick. Overwhelmed. Too much newness. Too many new faces. Not bad faces, of course, not bad newness necessarily, but...too much. I just want something familiar and comforting, you know? And right now I don't even have my own room. (Yes, technically, I'm in my own room in the house where I'm temporarily staying, but I don't have anything else and am still living out of suitcases, and can't really "set up shop" so to speak because I'm just moving it all again in a couple of days anyway.) Plus there's not really anywhere to set it up anyway.
I finally got a cup of coffee today, which was really glorious (even more so because the Pumpkin Spice Latte! is back at Starbucks, which I just adore, and I got myself one of those, and got it free because a couple of really good friends got me a starbucks card as a going away gift, yay, and there's a Starbucks on campus, of course, as any good college has), and I went to my one Wednesday class, and it was fine, and yeah, everything's a little weird trying to figure out...everything, but I'm working on it. Anyway, I'm just completely randomly rambling here. Sorry. After class I had some time to kill because I was meeting up with the roomies a couple of hours later to go to dinner together then go over to the house and have a walk-through with the landlord and former tenants. So first I walked over to the bookstore where the books for the Institute classes are sold, and got yet one more compendium (luckily, only $10, and very small - but there are still more books to buy, apparently, long story), and then I did what I've been looking forward to the most, the thing I've been most excited about coming here for - I went to the National Shrine.
I know some people have their issues with it, and the number of Marian shrines there, and the HUGE rather angry-looking Jesus mural on the very back wall, but I just love it. And I love being back on a campus with a church that has a bell! Rings out the time, the 15 minutes dings, rings when Mass is starting, yay. So, I went in there. I went in the bottom level because I wanted to get something at the gift shop, which I did, and for which I had to walk through their little food court area - it's incredibly nice! Very soothing music playing, soothing lighting, pretty classy-looking (all the tables have vases with flowers in them!). Good study spot, probably, although not during peak food hours...but yeah. Anyway. After my venture into the gift shop, I wandered down near the crypt area for a bit - actually, that's not true, I knew exactly where I was headed. Like I said, there are shrines to Our Lady of everything you can imagine, but I have a particular fondness for Our Lady of Lourdes. (And, wonderfully, the church that a lot of the students/young adults I've met seem to go to is St. Bernadette, which I was pretty excited to hear.) And they have a very lovely, very peaceful shrine to her set up right near the Crypt Church. Imitation grotto and everything, several rows of pews and kneelers. Even old-school confessionals (though I don't think they're used anymore). So I went straight for that, remembering it from the one time I was there before, during the March for Life 2008. I just knelt there for a few minutes and prayed and let the peacefulness wash over me. It was beyond wonderful, really. I just felt so incredibly refreshed sitting there. And it dawned on me that maybe all the negativity I had been feeling was partly a result of someone not wanting me to be at the Institute. (That someone being the devil.) But sitting there, I knew that I'll be able to get through it, no matter how difficult it is, because God's right there with me. Sounds corny, I know, but it's true. He wants me here for a reason, so whether or not I really want it isn't that important. What is important is that I'm here, and cheerfully so. I'm going to try to work on that. God doesn't always (or ever?) call us to follow the easiest path, that's for sure.
Also a certainty: I will be visiting the shrine to Our Lady of Lourdes often. And, hopefully, going to Mass over there a lot. Their crypt church is really beautiful, and a lot smaller than the upstairs main church, so a bit more...intimate, I guess. That's where the Institute's opening Mass is held, next week sometime. Anyway. It's good stuff. I'm so glad I have that place nearby, and I hope I take advantage of it very often.
After that I went to get my ID, so now I'm really official. (It's like the most boring ID ever. But still kinda cool.) And then my roommates and I went to dinner, and to see our house, which looks pretty good (especially considering a bunch of boys have been living there the last two years). A few things still need to be done, some cleaning that the landlord is letting us hire a cleaning service for (and he's paying for it, thankfully), etc, but I think it'll be pretty good once it's all said and done. I do need to get a rug for my room, though. It's all hardwood floors. But yeah. Cool. The kitchen is pretty nice. Anyway.
So, I just noticed that I have the largest blister I've ever gotten on one of my toes. I was wearing not necessarily sensible shoes today, especially for the amount of walking I did today, but they are still really comfortable. I know I'm pretty tall as it is, but I still love wearing heels. I can't help it. It makes me feel so much more feminine, and I like that. So, oh well. What's a couple of blisters, anyway? (Actually, I think I got approximately six today - one each on my smallest toe, the toe next to it, and the big toe, on both feet.) The one on my left big toe is rather large in diameter, more than half an inch, but it's popped or whatever. They all are except the one on my fourth left toe, which is the large one I mentioned. Probably not quite half an inch in diameter, but like a quarter centimeter high. Haha. So weird looking. Anyway. Probably much more anyone ever needed to know about my feet blisters. I guess tomorrow might be a little bit more painful than today...
Speaking of, I think I might need to get a new bag. The one I'm using now I bought for freshman year of college, if not a little bit before. It's a little..well-worn. And it might be good for me to get one that distributes weight a little bit better, or something, because man my back is feeling those compendia I have to carry around. We'll see, though. It's just so heavy. Sigh. Oh whell.
So, wouldn't you know it, but a group of Catholic young adults in the area (including one of my roommates, her boyfriend, and some of their friends/some of my new friends) are going camping in a few weekends - the weekend I'll be in Colorado. Isn't that just the way it goes, though. Oh well. I need to buy tickets for that trip soon. I want to wait until I have been to every class first, and get syllabi, and figure out what time I can leave/come back. It'll be nice to visit home again.
Sigh. It feels like it's been a long day, and I didn't even leave the house until noon. But then, I didn't get back until after nine, too. I still have a bit of reading to do for tomorrow's class, and some sleeping to do.
This was a much longer post than I was expecting to write. Funny how that happens (all the time). Well, no one can accuse me of not updating so people can follow along with whatever I do in DC. (Now if only ANYONE I know in real life regularly kept up a blog, so I could know what's going on with other people I care about...alas, I appear to be the only one blogically inclined in my group of near and dears. I always wonder what that says about me...)
Well, until tomorrow, or later.
(Oh, also, if someone wanted to make me wonderfully happy, they could go through the movie Return to Me, or find the song list somewhere, and put together a CD of all the music they use in that movie. I don't think the soundtrack has all, or a lot, of them, especially not the versions they use. It's a lot of Dean Martin/Frank Sinatra, that's all I know. That, and it's wonderful. Anyway. Yeah.)
Tuesday, September 01, 2009
I'm gonna be a huge theo nerd by the time I'm done
The first sentence of the course descriptions for one of the classes I'm taking: "This course elucidates the constitutive elements of a metaphysics of love necessary to undergird John Paul II's nuptial anthropology." I wonder how many times I heard the word constitutive today. Or anthropology. Because I heard them both. A lot, it seems. (And neither of the two classes I had was the one I just quoted from!) The description I just quoted is for my Being as Gift: Philosophical Foundations course, for which our first round of readings, for our first class on Thursday, consists of Plato's Theaetetus, Symposium, Phaedrus, and The Apology; Martin Heidegger, Was ist das--die Philosophie?; and Ferdinand Ulrich, Der Mensch als Anfang. Plus one more without an interesting title or author (George Grant, "Thinking about Technology").
So...yeah.
Apparently this is what I signed up for, right? (It's not so bad - those readings are only 37 total pages in my course compendium for that class. And they're not two pages side by side per page, like a lot of these articles and such, so that's even better.)
Already today I've had multiple "What the heck am I even doing here?" moments. But it's cool, I guess. I mean, it's cool that everyone here is pretty well dedicated to the same thing as me (hence the reason we've all chosen to further our education at the Pontifical JPII Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family...). Still though. It's all really...foreign. I don't like foreign. I guess soon, especially once I'm moved into my own room in our own house, I'll start getting into a better routine, and maybe things will start feeling more familiar, easier, better, etc. And if not, I'll get to see my parents (yay!) and brother and lots of extended family in just a couple of weeks, and I can retreat into the familiarity of family for a little while. And then just a couple of weeks after that, I'll be coming back to CO for the wedding, and I'll get to see a lot of friends then, and it'll be loverly.
Also, I'm feeling more and more painfully tired as the day goes on, thanks to going to bed early and subsequently tossing and turning for a couple hours, then getting a not-entirely restful 5 or 6 hours of sleep, then waking up in time to allow plenty of extra wiggle room in the commute in case it was slow or crowded or who knows, then having two 2-hour classes, and going to Mass in between (which was quite lovely, of course), and not having any coffee at all. Coffee must be part of the Tuesday equation from now on, that's a non-negotiable. Especially after fitfully sleeping the night before. And it was so disappointing too, because I tried to go to bed early last night. My body was having none of that, though, even though I did feel tired. I hate to say it, but I wonder if it had something to do with the large coffee I had at 2 yesterday afternoon...my coffee schedule has just been all off the past few days/weeks. Hopefully I can get back into a normal coffee routine when we're settled in our house.
Hopelessly addicted, seriously.
So...yeah.
Apparently this is what I signed up for, right? (It's not so bad - those readings are only 37 total pages in my course compendium for that class. And they're not two pages side by side per page, like a lot of these articles and such, so that's even better.)
Already today I've had multiple "What the heck am I even doing here?" moments. But it's cool, I guess. I mean, it's cool that everyone here is pretty well dedicated to the same thing as me (hence the reason we've all chosen to further our education at the Pontifical JPII Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family...). Still though. It's all really...foreign. I don't like foreign. I guess soon, especially once I'm moved into my own room in our own house, I'll start getting into a better routine, and maybe things will start feeling more familiar, easier, better, etc. And if not, I'll get to see my parents (yay!) and brother and lots of extended family in just a couple of weeks, and I can retreat into the familiarity of family for a little while. And then just a couple of weeks after that, I'll be coming back to CO for the wedding, and I'll get to see a lot of friends then, and it'll be loverly.
Also, I'm feeling more and more painfully tired as the day goes on, thanks to going to bed early and subsequently tossing and turning for a couple hours, then getting a not-entirely restful 5 or 6 hours of sleep, then waking up in time to allow plenty of extra wiggle room in the commute in case it was slow or crowded or who knows, then having two 2-hour classes, and going to Mass in between (which was quite lovely, of course), and not having any coffee at all. Coffee must be part of the Tuesday equation from now on, that's a non-negotiable. Especially after fitfully sleeping the night before. And it was so disappointing too, because I tried to go to bed early last night. My body was having none of that, though, even though I did feel tired. I hate to say it, but I wonder if it had something to do with the large coffee I had at 2 yesterday afternoon...my coffee schedule has just been all off the past few days/weeks. Hopefully I can get back into a normal coffee routine when we're settled in our house.
Hopelessly addicted, seriously.
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