Sunsets of Late

I've been bouncing off the walls all day!

I went to vote this morning.
I got there at 7:30.
I needed to be at a meeting at 9:00,
so I thought that when I got to the poll
I would be all anxious and worried about getting to work.
Instead, when I got to the church where I vote
and I saw the line,
I was overwhelmed with joy.
People were participating!
Democracy in action!
And I was so glad to be a part of it.

People in line were nice, too.
It was a fun little place to be.
Folks were chatting, sharing newspapers, smiling.

I was stir-crazy all day.
I jumped around in the office.
I ran up two flights of stairs from our offices to the ICU.
I had to go run around
at the park after work.

I love to vote.
I love election day.
It's like Christmas
except the whole world changes,
which is how Christmas should be
but not how it is.

But today,
I am HOPEful!

Things I think are awesome:

1) You can buy a chicken suit at Target.



2) Gas at the QT down the street is $2.37.

3) My roommate's cat eats her dry food one tiny piece at a time.
Paw in bowl, one piece knocked on floor and consumed. Repeat.

Drill, Baby, Drill

In 9 hours, I'll be having a root canal. I must say, this has never been on the list of things I hope to experience in my lifetime.

So I've been taking some medicine since I saw the dentist last week in preparation for the Big Drill. I was about to take one of the pills the other night while I was on call. I dropped the pill, and it rolled under the desk in the chaplaincy sleep room.
Now, this room has only been in use for a year and a half, but I guarantee you no one has vacuumed under that desk in the time that has elapsed.
So, I dropped quickly to the floor, grabbed the pill, blew it off, dusted it off, and thought:
"Eh, 5 second rule???
Well hell, it's penicillin!!!"

Meet me in St. Louie... especially if you were a US-2 from 2001-2003

words of wisdom from the scripted mouth of Sandra Bullock

"Beginnings are scary.
Endings are usually sad.
But it’s the middle that counts.
And you need to remember that when you find yourself at the beginning.
Just give hope a chance to float up.
And it will, too."

8:35am

I tried to go to sleep just after 2 last night.
I got back up and wrote the evangelism essay instead.
I haven't read it yet this morning, but I bet it's a 2am essay.

I got 4 essays completed yesterday.
I had hoped for more than that, but
I have about half of the others started.

This, my friends, is a lot of writing.

Chugging along...

some pictures from a while ago when I went to Florida, because it's the middle of the night and I don't feel like writing anymore...

Countdown to CrunchTime

I have 9 Leadership essays, 1 Theology essay, the brief "Personal Growth" section, an analysis of my sermon video, and some forms left to complete. All is due tomorrow by 5pm.

I'm in a coffeeshop writing, and I look up when I'm trying to focus a thought. I keep accidentally looking right at this one guy. I bet he wonders why... but he's right in front of the window!

It's strengths and weaknesses day (most of the leadership essays ask for them), so I'll be sure to include "work well under pressure"...

One Crazy Week

I'm writing my commissioning essays right now. They're due next week, so of course I'm feverishly typing this week. I've completed at least 6 essays this week and am nearly done with a few more. I have big hopes for my quick typing skills today.

Monday, I was getting ready to go to work, and I put some stuff in the front seat of my car. I shut the passenger door, and the back windshield just FELL IN. I walked around the car like 3 times going "What? How does that happen?" Luckily, insurance covered it and a fella came out and fixed it that day.




Tuesday, I got home from being on duty at the hospital and my fish, Fritz Hundo, had died. He had looked pretty bad for a couple of days. My mom was offering her condolences, and I said "He was a good, solid fish." She couldn't stop laughing. She said that was a ridiculous thing to say about a fish. But really, he was a good solid fish. He was pretty, with flowy tails. He was active, flipping around in the water and stirring up the plastic "rocks" in the bottom of the bowl. And he never seemed to mind when I made fish faces at him.

All my childhood dreams come true

Unicorn

Conference, Day 1

So, I drove down south for Annual Conference. I'm staying with my friend Lauren from college, and her two cute boys -- Gunnar and Fielder -- and her husband Tate. They live right across the street (like little neighborhood street) from a lake, which is lovely, and they're only 25 minutes from the conference center.

The day yesterday was filled with wandering around and meeting new people. I sat with my minister Clarke during the afternoon session. We had a break between some reports and Randy Maddox's lecture on "Living The Wesleyan Way." During the 15 minute break, Clarke introduced me to 5 people (including the heads of Extension Ministries, Mission, and the Order of Deacon, as well as one new D.S). With one minute left before Maddox took the stage, Clarke says "Hey, want to meet the Bishop?" and he leads me up ONTO THE STAGE. The Bishop has gotten out of his chair to go to the podium to introduce Maddox, and Clarke stops him so we can meet! The Bishop was very kind and gracious, and after shaking my hand and saying how glad he was to meet me and how excited Florida is to be getting me, he stepped to the side and called the session to order! I scampered quickly offstage...

Bonus Material:
Top 3 musical moments of my day (in no particular order, and keep in mind that "top" does not equal awesome and is perhaps more akin to absurd/disturbing):
1. Babyface's version of "Fire and Rain" on the radio
2. a high school drumline marching in to accompany the praise band
3. a plea for episcopal reappointment in hymnody -- "Be Thou Our Bishop", complete with 3 verses

Spuggles' Last Stand

This morning, Lance, Chad, Ogle (briefly) and Greg came over and we packed Sara's furniture and boxes into a moving van.
This afternoon, Sara, her dad, Allen and I went to the Braves game -- the first one Sara'd been to this season. When we discovered that she'd never been to the Varsity, our dinner plans were made.

the sky was green for a while

I started feeling a little off last Wednesday,
but nothing to speak of.
Sunday night I started wheezing and woke up with a sore throat.
Last night, I sounded like a frog and/or a pre-pubescent trucker.

I stayed home sick today.
Here's how it went:

89 ounces of water
8 episodes of Gilmore Girls
6 mugs of hot green tea
2 fat free fudgecicles
1 tornado warning

Some pics from Rome

Some pics from Florence