The Wedding

was fabulously wonderful, beautiful, joyous, etc.

Ken and Barbie (better known as Craig and Erin) tied the knot yesterday. I hope to post some pictures soon for all you Cairo people who were unable to be there.

Ed and I had bets going on each other to cry before the other. We both won and lost. Neither of us cried. Him because he is a guy and guys just don't cry at weddings. Me because I was thinking evil/mischevious thoughts the whole way through the ceremony, which left me trying to stifle the urge to laugh out loud.

The reception was not too big, but fairly posh. Open bar (sweet!). Full dinner, not just munchies. They had a DJ and we all danced the night away. I had forgotten how much I love dancing. Guess I'll just have to go out and do some more dancing tonight for New Year's Eve!

Today we leave for Chicago. The we includes myself, Sara, Esther, Ed, Markus, Julianna, and 3 or 4 more people involved with the wedding that I really don't know. We will be staying in a hostel, which will be cost efficient but probably quite a change from the Radisson I have been staying in for the last three nights. There is talk of us going to listen to some 80 year old sax player tonight, but who knows what will happen. It's Chicago on New Year's Eve. Who knows if we will even be able to find the place. So, I plan on being spontaneous :) and up for just about anything.

So Far, So Fun

I needed this trip so bad. I needed to be out of Augusta. I needed to be with friends. I needed a break from work. I needed to be around other single people, just so I would remember that being single does not make me a freak (it's odd that I would have to go to a wedding to feel good about being single, but that's just how my life is right now).
Anyhow, Sara and I left Wednesday evening and stopped in Nashville for the night. My assessment of Tennessee is that the friendliest people in the world live there. The next day we took on the remainder of the trip. All was going swimmingly until we got to Illinois. I was driving. I had been holding the urge for a potty break for about an hour, when we hit standstill traffic on the interstate due to some terrible truck accident that had happened the previous night. I held it for as long as I could (at least another hour) until I could hold it no longer. I swallowed my pride, let Sara take the wheel and headed for the bushes while all the knowing eyes followed me. About 45 minutes later Sara had to do the same. And, believe it or not, I had to do it a second time before it was all over. We moved two miles in two hours. I kid you not. It was hellacious. I experienced a feeling I had never experienced before. My kidneys actually ached and my bladder actually felt exhausted. I seriously considered investing in some adult diapers so that I would never have to hold it again. But after that was over, it was smooth sailing again.
We met up with Esther and Edward at the hotel. We are staying at a really nice hotel. I keep expecting them to ask me to leave. Anyways, we wandered around today and went to the rehearsal dinner this evening. It was nice. Seeing my old Cairo buddies is like heaven. I am so glad I got to come. That is all for now. Hopefully I'll get to write again soon, but no guarantees.

Hi-ho, Hi-ho

it's off to Iowa I go!

Sara and I embark on our journey tomorrow as soon as I get off from work at the daycare and I am soooooo ready for this trip. Well, I should be back in about a week. So y'all have a happy New Year's (I gotta get all my southern out before I go up North).

Merry Christmas!

Hope you all are having a relaxing holiday. Mine has been really nice. My family began our official festivities last night with apple pie, ice cream and the Muppets' Christmas Carol. Sara got into town last night around 11:00pm, so I picked her up from the airport and upon arriving at my house, we promptly went to sleep (in my nice, newly organized and decorated room). This morning my family all came over to me and Mary's house for gift exchange and a pancake breakfast. Having every0ne over was really nice and my family all chipped in and bought Mary and myself a tv for Christmas. We previously only had a 9 inch tv, which you basically needed a magnifying glass to see. So now we are enjoying an extra 10 inches on the tv screen. We watched Little Women and The Never Ending Story this afternoon. We napped. We did a little cleaning. Now we are over at my parent's house and soon to be enjoying our Christmas dinner. So I am just soaking in all of this time where I don't have a schedule or a list of things that have to get done today. Very nice.

End of the Year Review

At the end of each year, it can be fun to look back over the past year and think about your accomplishments, the events you managed to survive, your struggles, your victories, your funny stories, your close calls and even your failures. Today I started my list of such happenings. Here's what I got so far, in no particular order.

*Finished painting my room and got it set up so that it actually looks like a bedroom and not just two mattresses on the floor, two suitcases with clothes spilling out in every direction, a CD rack and an alarm clock. (This was finally completed today. . . yay!)
*Completed my first year of teaching (and still loved it by the end).
*Successfully down-sized all worldly possessions to fit into two suitcases, a guitar case and a carry-on bag.
*Wrote 5 new songs.
*Resided in my parents home for 2 months and we all lived to tell about it.
*Survived a terrorrist attack.
*Hosted my first family Christmas in my own home (well, that hasn't quite happened yet).
*Moved three times and maintained sanity (for the most part).

7 Christmas Thank-Yous

7. Thanks Esther for coming to visit me this week. You gave me something to look forward to for the last month or so.

6. Thank you Sara for coming to spend Christmas with me this year. You make me feel not so lonely.

5. Thanks Alice for spending so much time with me since I've been back from Cairo. You have been my sanity.

4. Thank you so much Mary for switching cars with me while I go on my road trip to Iowa. You are the best sister a girl could hope for!

3. Thank you Craig and Erin for getting married. You have given me the opportunity to have time off work, go on a road trip and see some long lost friends.

2. Thanks Jeff Miller for being such a good pastor. Your last sermon helped me feel slightly more ok with the fact that I'm not really giving many Christmas presents this year.

1. (Obviously) Thank you God for the original Christmas and all of its implications. Wow, just wow.

6 Christmas Complaints

6. Traffic at the Target Shopping Center.

5. The fact that materialism has enough of a hold on me to make me feel guilty that I don't have money to buy expensive gifts for my family and close friends.

4. My boss doesn't believe in Chirstmas bonuses.

3. Too much sugar.

2. The intensified feelings of loneliness.

1. The depression that follows this season due to weight gain and over spending.

5 Christmas Wishes

5. That I my job hunt in Chapel Hill would take some sort of direction and I would actually feel like I was making some headway.

4. That days would be extended from 24 hrs. to 26 hrs., so I could find time to practice guitar and violin.

3. That my house would magically clean itself.

2. That Santa would pay my gas bill.

1. That Sara and Esther would decide to come live with me again (either here or in Chapel Hill would work just dandy).

3 Christmas Confessions

3. I have only actually bought 1 Christmas present so far. I got Mary covered. I guess if I'm only gonna have one, she is the one I should have a gift for. She is both my sister and my roommate and she puts up with my mood swings.
2. My other sister, Julie, made Christmas cookies as a present for our friend Pat. . . I snitched three of them after I got home from work one day.
1. I desperately want to go and see "The Holiday". It looks like it will be a completely over the top chick flick with a high cheese factor, so sue me. . . I really want to see it.

Perhaps the newness of having a job has worn off entirely. . . but I really wish I didn't have to go to work today. Part of it is just that Esther is in town and I just want to spend all the time I can with her before she leaves. Part of it is that I'm pretty sure that my boss doesn't like me at all and that always makes for a fun work situation. I'm not entirely sure what I did to earn this dislike, but she seems to think I am in cahoots with the teacher from the three year old class to try and overthrow or at least undermine her authority. Yes, yes, you heard/read me right. And why wouldn't we be forming an underground posse to take over the daycare? I mean it seems perfectly reasonable to me.
Anyhow, something is definitely wrong with my car (thank you very much Gunn Automotive). I am highly suspecting that there is a leak somewhere in there dripping out my clutch fluid. The good news is that it is driveable for the moment. More good news is that I do have some money saved up to handle this. The bad news is that if I don't get it fixed asap. . . it is not road trip worthy. More bad news is that if I do get it fixed asap, there is a chance that it might eat so much into my savings that I won't be able to afford my road trip.
Also, the screen on my cell phone has disappeared. There is a short or something and I have to see if I can get it fixed or buy a new one. So if I don't call you and we need to talk about something for any reason. . . call me, because I probably can't find your number on my disfunctional phone.
On top of all that, my gas bill this month was $451. So that sucked royally and basically negates the fact that rent at my house is really cheap. I mean I found it particularly unbelievable due to the fact that we DON'T EVEN HAVE HEAT IN THE DOWNSTAIRS SECTION OF THE HOUSE (thanks to the lovely person who stole our heating and air unit). So it costs that much to heat two rooms upstairs apparently. On top of that we haven't even been showering at our house. We've been showering at my parent's house (that is until this past weekend when I finally had the money and motivation to buy a shower curtain). Neither do we have a dishwasher or a washing machine, so really $451/month to have heat in our bedrooms. Why did I leave Egypt? Somebody please tell me. Sometimes it just feels like you can't win.

Esther is here!!!

and I am happy :)

Woo Hoo!!!

Miraculously, my computer is now working ok with Beta. . . for the moment. So maybe my posts won't be quite so few and far between.

A few more recent events from my life over the last three weeks. . .
1. I am now certified in fire safety, CPR and first aid. It was a requirement for my daycare job, but good skills to have in general anyways.
2. I got asked out on a date by my CPR instructor. He was, however, the typical completely-out-of-the-question type of guy that always seems to be drawn to me. This one was about 50-55 years old and married with two teenage kids. Why me? Why, why, why? I mean, do I really look like I'm interested in adultery, particularly with someone who is old enough to be my dad. Don't answer that question.
3. I am chomping at the bit to go to Chapel Hill. I am getting kinda sick of just having that transitional feeling. The past eight years of my life have just been one transition to another. Maybe that's just the way life is and maybe that's good. Maybe if I felt too settled I would get bored/depressed/discontent. Don't really know for sure, but at the moment it is kinda frustrating and hard to really be here in Augusta. It's hard to really put work into a house that you will leave in a few short months. It's hard to be motivated at a job that you know is short-term. It's hard to begin new friendships with people you know will not be a part of your life not too far down the road. All that said, I do know that being here for now is a good thing in many ways. Family. Old friendships. Preparation for the move and the church plant. And there is always the fact that we can find meaning and purpose in life anywhere and at anytime, I believe, if we have our eyes and ears open for it. Now I just have to beat the temptation to close my eyes and ears.
4. I had car troubles this week. . . or I thought I had car troubles. About a week ago my clutch started acting funny all of the sudden. I began to worry that it was giving out and needed replacing. Perfect timing for car trouble. . . Christmas time. Oh yeah, I have nothing better to do with that few hundred dollars but fix my car. So I waited for my paycheck last Friday and then I took my car into the shop and had them look at it. They said nothing is wrong. I know I'm not crazy. My clutch is acting weird, but if the experts are telling me that it's ok and I don't need to pay them gobs of money. . . well, I'm inclined to believe them. So hopefully it is fine and my clutch doesn't give out on me anytime soon.
So I think that's about it for me here lately. Hope life is treating you all well.

testing. . . testing. . . is this thing on?

The Long Awaited

I know I haven't posted in like three weeks. I miss posting, but whaddaya do when your computer is seemingly incompatible with the new Beta setup. I just have to wait for access to other computers. So for the now, posts will be few and far between. As they say in Cairo. . . malesh.
So the update with me is as follows. . . my dining room table now has legs. We also have a Christmas tree up and a few strands of lights up outside. Hence, my house is feeling more like a home and less like a hole. Which is really great since I am about to have a couple of guests for the holidays!!! Esther is coming to stay with me on Saturday and she'll be with me for about a week. Shortly thereafter, Sara will come and stay with me for Christmas before we embark on our greatly anticipated road trip!!!!
In other news, my hours at work have changed. I am now working at the daycare from 6:00am (YUCK!!!!) till 2:00pm. My tutoring job generally goes from about 4:30-7:30, give or take a half hour. So I am basically a zombie by the end of the day. . . just ask Rodger and Angela how I was at kinship last night. But the catering job has slowed down for me. They have only called me to work once in the last month. I'm enjoying having my weekends to play, but I am missing that extra cash.
Another important bit of info for you is that my sister Julie is having a girl!!! She found out the gender about a week ago. They already have a name picked out, Eliana Grace. I'm not sure if I spelled it correctly, but whatever. Well, I gotta jet and get to job number two. Hopefully it won't be another three week stretch before the next post.

For Future Reference. . .

Under no circumstance should you ever, ever, ever put athlete's foot medicine in your eye. It is a bad idea. I know, I tried it this morning. Seriously. I woke up this morning with irritated eyes. Half asleep I scrambled around in my purse for my eyedrops. I pulled out what I thought was my eyedrops and put them in my irritated eye. The feeling of my eye being burned out of its socket told me that something was not right. Whilst screaming bloody murder and wishing for death to come, I grasped the tiny bottle and took a closer look at it. Athlete's foot medicine. Dear Lord, I am an idiot. I immediately shoved my entire head under the faucet. After about five minutes the burning sensation was gone entirely. My eye was super bloodshot for about 3 hours, but now it seems to be just back to the original level of irritation I was experiencing when I first woke up.

On a completely unrelated note, this weekend my brother and sister-in-law gave me and my little sis an old dining room table they weren't using anymore. However, my brother lives in Columbia. So when he pulled up at my house, got the table top out and realized he had forgotten a key part of the table (the legs), there was not a chance that he was just gonna turn around and go get them. So for the time being, if anyone is interested in Japanese dining. . . come on over!

The Real Problem

So I haven't posted or even commented for about a week and it has not been for want of trying. The real problem is that the computer I was working on was not functioning up to par. The immediate solution. . . try another computer and voila. . . I can post! Yay!
Anyways, happy belated Thanksgiving to you all. I had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I woke up early as always, because I am basically incapable of sleeping in. I fed and gave meds to my parents' animals as my parents went to spend Thanksgiving with friends. Then I went back to my place and spent the morning with my little sis, which was really good. We get so busy that we barely see each other much less have actual conversations. We ate breakfast together and did a little cleaning together. The two of us then went over to my older sister's house to watch the parade. Then all of us went to my brother's house in Columbia, SC. We had a great meal, played board games,played with the babies and watched tv. I fell asleep at 9:30, completely exhausted. I spent the night at my brother's. So here I am. . . awake hours before anyone else will stir, sipping my coffee and blogging. Hope your Thanksgiving was as peaceful and contenting (if that's a word) as mine.

Theraputic Shopping

As it turns out, all the ucks I had this past week had an easy cure. . . shopping. Well, not just shopping. . . sale shopping. 10 new articles of clothing for under $50. That equals a feeling of satisfaction about all the great deals I got. That equals a feeling of excitement when I get up in the morning and think "which of my new clothes will I wear today?". That equals excellent bonding time with my friend Alice. Aaaahh, time and money well spent.
And. . . the new James Bond movie is really, really good. Go and see it. Also time and money well spent. Well. . . not my money. A friend bought my ticket. Thanks Pat!!

Week of the Ucks, the Dumb Ucks

This week at some point, my bosses both at the daycare and at the tutoring agency have let me know in one way or another that there is something lacking in my work. And that just kills me. Sure I need to know if I am making mistakes, but I tend to always take critisism so personally.
On the bright side of things, I don't think my "mistakes" were that huge. At one job I think the only problem that my boss had was that she didn't think I was friendly enough. Mind you, not to the parents or children at the daycare, but to her. She had got it in her head that I was upset with her for some unknown reason. Bizarre. At the other job the mistakes pointed out were small deviations I have made from procedure and (hopefully) it's not that big of an issue. But I am worried about it. If it turns out that they are really unhappy with my work and I lose that job. . . I might just die. Sure, it is not my main source of income. Though it is good money for the hours put in, I only work at that job about 9hrs/week. But the point is that I love that job. I really enjoy that job. I can't really say the same about my other job. I don't hate my other job and I have certainly had worse jobs in the past, but I must confess that my heart is not in heating up pre-cooked corndog nuggets. So I do that job everyday just for the sake of working and making money, but my part-time job is my heart. I love working one-on-one with students. I love watching those students, most of whom are struggling academically, actually feel good about their work and their achievements. I love building relationships with the families of those students. I love, love, love that job. So I hope that I am just worrying all for naught. I hope I am over-reacting.

p.s. 10 points for anyone who can name the movie referenced in this post's title. Hint: musical.

The Switch

I keep trting to switch to this new version of blogger and it won't let me. It's so annoying. Everytime I sign on to my blogger account they hassle me about switching, but when I try to do it. . . the computer just stops at the sign on page and refuses to go any further. What's up with that? Meantime, blogger won't let me comment on people's blogs that do have the new version. So, Mark and Kareem, I have had several comments for your blogs that have just gone unposted and I am so aggravated about it. Sigh.

Anyhow, the latest is that I am not going to NYC, much to my dismay. I couldn't get the full time off work that I would need to be able to do NYC. However, I did get part of the time off and I can still go to Iowa for my friends' wedding and do New Year's eve in Chicago. So all is not lost. So I am still pretty pumped. Road trip with Sara. Meeting up with at least 7 of my other good friends from Cairo (possibly more). New Year's Eve in Chicago. Plus, Sara is gonna spend Christmas with me and my family!! Yay!!

4:44am

I suppose I should be making a wish, but I never believe in that stuff anyways.
Now I guess I can't blame this one on my sis or anyone else. I just woke up at 4:00am unable to sleep any longer. Don't know what's up with that, but I am not liking it. So here I am on the internet (the insomniac's best friend. . . well, that and Walmart).
I am planning a road trip that I am very, very excited about. Hopefully, the day after Christmas I will fly with Sara to New Jersey. There we will meet Esther and Edward. We will go into NYC for a day to do some shopping and catch a musical. Then the four of us will drive to Iowa to go to our friends wedding (Craig and Erin, aka Ken and Barbie). The wedding is Dec. 30 (I think). Then the four of us plus at least two other friends we will meet there (Markus and Julianna) will all go to Chicago for New Year's Eve. So with all that in mind, I thought this to be fitting. . .

You Are New York

Cosmopolitan and sophisticated, you enjoy the newest in food, art, and culture. You also appreciate a good amount of grit - and very little shocks you. You're competitive, driven, and very likely to succeed. Famous people from New York: Sarah Michelle Gellar, Tupac Shakur, Woody Allen

What American City Are You?

I can't wait for my road trip!!!!

A good day

Today was good. Real good. Nothing really amazing happened. I just got to spend time with my good friend Alice and work on my house and have a violin lesson (this is my second lesson and I'm sucking big time, but I figure everyone does when they first start). Then after all of that I went out for pizza and beer with Alice and Bee Jay (her husband and my best guy friend since I was 11). It was awesome. Plus I got nine hours of sleep last night (which almost never happens), so I felt significantly less cranky.

4:21am

It's 4:21am and I can't sleep. I woke up around 12:30am a little upset because my sister had brought someone in our house and they were being loud and they woke me up. So then I laid there for the next hour trying to sleep and sort of drifting in and out of consciousness. Eventually, I was awoke again by the sound of the tv downstairs. My sister's company had left, pressumably. So instead of going to bed, she put on a dvd. Girl Interupted. So it wasn't even a nice quiet peaceful happy sort of movie that one would want to fall asleep to. No, this movie is full of people screaming and being generally psychotic. So I gave up on just falling asleep and picked up my crossword puzzles. They usually can wear me out enough mentally that I just fall asleep. But not tonight. After solving an entire crossword puzzle, I tiptoed downstairs to find my sis sound asleep on the sofa. I turned off the dvd, but still knew that I would not be able to sleep even now that it was peaceful. Once I am awake, I am awake and that's all there is to it. So after 2 and a half hours of being awake, sleep was just not gonna happen. So I worked on my room for about an hour. Then I got in the car and went over to my parent's house to have some internet time. So here I am.
It's 4:31am and I can't sleep and it would be pointless to even try at this point. I would just be falling asleep only to wake up again.

A New Link

I just added a new link to a brand new blog. Heather and Kelvin are a Canadian couple that I worked with in Cairo. They were not only two people who I worked with, they were/are good friends of mine. Heather always reminded me of my older sister, Julie, and therefore instantly won a high place in my heart. They would invite me over to watch movies and Heather and I would end up staying up all night watching chick flicks and eating junk food. It was great. I like to think that I partially inspired them to start this blog. They, along with all my other colleagues, would see me in the computer lab daily checking on my blog for comments and writing away about the Cairo experience.
Well anyhow, they are still in Cairo. They are still working at the same school. They will have lots of interesting stories and anecdotes to share.

Did I Mention. . .

Did I ever mention that I live in the ghetto? A few weeks ago, somebody came into our backyard and stole our heating and air unit. I'm not talking about a window unit either. The unit for the whole of the downstairs. That is just rediculous. Just thought that was amusing and it might amuse you at least half as much as it amuses me.
FYI: our land lord replaced it and we have heat. Hooray!!

Friends

My pastor did a sermon at church on friendships/community. It made me think and question and that is a good thing.
Do I open up with my friends? Do I hold them at arms length? Do I write people off if they don't perform to my standards? Am I trying to do a performance for my friends? Good questions to ask. Bad that I don't think I am getting all the correct answers to those questions all the time. Bad that I honestly don't think I will change much. It all seems too far rooted in me. I put up walls to protect myself from I'm not quite sure what. I constantly feel the need to be seen as strong and independent. I struggle to admit my weaknesses and failures with even my closest friends. I am generally not transparent with my friends. Not a good sign.

yuppieville

Sitting at the metro, sipping coffee, typing on my laptop and talking on my cell phone. I am a yuppy. But it's cool. I'm avoiding my house in the ghetto and all the little gangsta trick-or-treaters. So I thought I'd borrow my mom's laptop and go to one of my happy places (that is any place that has coffee and free wireless connection).
I've been missing Egypt quite a bit lately. Today at my parent's house I swear I heard the call to prayer. Nearly everyday I close my eyes at least once and I'm in Dahab again. I see it like I am there still. I'm in a hammock on the beach just taking it all in. The Red Sea. The Sinia Mountians. Saudi Arabia. I have to go back. Maybe it's not gonna be soon. Well, honestly it isn't gonna be soon. But I will go back. Perhaps it will just be a visit. Perhaps it will be more than a visit. But I have to go back. . . that is all I know. The only fear is that it will never be the same for me. Of course it wont't be the same when I go back. Of all the old friends I had there, very few of them will still be there by the time I make it back. But will I be able to handle the changes? Will I love Egypt reguardless? Don't know. Only time can tell I suppose.

Rapunzel


Tommy Feeding Some Random Kid

Ummmm. . . My Sister's Boyfriend?

Festivities

Halloween was fun. I went to a party with my little sis and her boyfriend. I was Rapunzel. Mary dressed up as our brother Tommy. Jonny made a stunning girl. After the party Jonny and I went to the Blue Collar Blue Heart show at the Soul Bar and Mary went to bed (it sucks to not be 21 yet). Pictures will hopefully come soon.

Coffee and Internet!!! Is it my birthday or something?

Today is the first day I have had all to myself in about two and a half weeks. No work. No commitments or obligations. Just me getting to decide moment by moment what it is that I feel like doing. Oh sure, I could be working on my house (Lord knows I could be working on that everyday for the next year). I did also remember that my church was doing an outreach this morning, but I just remembered that about five minutes ago and I think they have already started like an hour and a half ago. So I am here at R. Gabriels enjoying a coffee, a cinnamon scone and internet access thanks to my mom's lap top and R. Gabriels wireless connection.
I don't have much to blog about, since it seems that I do nothing but work these days. Maybe I should give you all an update on my new job, but I don't feel like talking about work right now. But one thing I do feel like talking about is autumn. I love this time of year in Georgia. The weather is flawless. The days are a perfect combination of sunshine and breezes. The evenings are cool, but not too cold to keep you from taking a nice walk around downtown or on the riverwalk (just remember your jacket!). Occasionally, there is the rainy day (like yesterday), but even that is poetic for me. I just get inspired to curl up on my sofa with a warm blanket, a hot chocolate and my cross word puzzles. Sigh. Everday should be autumn or spring.
On a completely unrelated subject, I apologize if you have tried to reach me over the last two or three days. I am living in two houses that are about 20 minutes away from each other. My phone charger was at the house that I haven't been to since Wednesday. So the phone has been dead since Thursday afternoon. But it is charging as I type and I should be in contact with the rest of the world sometime very soon.
Well, that's about that. I am going to see if I can brainstorm up an idea for a Halloween costume. I think I am going to a party tonight. Yay! I love dressing up.

Open Mic Night

I've played at open mic at the Blue Horse Music Hall three times now and every time it just gets more and more interesting.

The first time I played there was a total of four people who performed and probably a total of 15 people in the entire place. It was pretty boring outside of the fact that I got a decent recording of two of my songs for only $10.
The second time there were at least ten acts to go up and a decent size crowd in the audience. I didn't get a recording that night, but I did make some new musician friends. The Blue Horse provided a stage for a wide variety of musicians that night. There were the typical open mic-ers, you know the solo singer/songwriters like me. There was a guy who got up there and performed some rap music he had written. There were a couple of duos. There was a 65-year-old man who got up and performed a John Mayer song and an Amy Grant song very badly. There was also a full band that came and played. It was fun and interesting. The only thing that would have made it all better would have been if I had gotten another recording, but alas, something had gone wrong in their equipment and nothing was recorded.
So last night, I went again. It was probably about seven different acts that got up to perform and the word interesting doesn't quite do justice to the night. Well, one of the acts was a husband and wife duo. The wife shared with us a story about how her husband just that day had killed a deer with a spear in the yard. That was interesting. Another act was guy who got up on stage to perform "spoken word". For all of those who aren't quite sure what "spoken word" really means, it appears to mean that you just get up on stage and rant and rave for an extended period of time. The guy was funny though and certainly interesting. Then there was the three piece band that apparently covered a Rebecca St. James song (this is according to my friend Alice, but I don't know for sure). But the kicker was the poet. This guy got up there and shared six or seven of his poems with us. The first two were fairly graphic, sensual poems. But I told myself to just consider it "art" and "expression" and let it go. Then he prefaces the third poem by announcing that this poem might be considered offensive to some people. Nothing could have prepared me for what followed after that. MIGHT be considered offensive!!! MIGHT!!!! My question is on what planet might it not be considered offensive!?!? It was beyond words disgusting. Talk about awkward. When it ended I didn't know whether to clap out of politeness or cry. So I basically just sat there with my jaw on the floor. All of his poems after that are a blur. Maybe they just seemed much more normal after that. Maybe my mind just blocked the rest out. Don't know, just hope that guy gets some things sorted out in his mind/heart/spirit/whatever.

Harder to Blog

Starting about seven or eight days ago, my life went from being pretty boring (in that I was only working 6 hours a week) to being pretty busy (working anywhere from 10-16 hrs/day). You all know about my tutoring job and now you all know about my lunch lady job, but I picked up another job as well. On the weekends I am working with a catering company and serving at their events. Last weekend I did a rehearsal dinner and a wedding reception. It was really fun. It did make Friday a rediculously long day. I was basically working from 8am to 12:30am, but I was ok with that. I was ok with that because it feels so good to have some income. I was ok with that because the people I was working with were quite entertaining. So anyways, all that to say that finding time to blog is becoming more difficult. Also, I moved in with my little sis and we don't have internet. So I have to visit mom and dad to get my computer time. The down side of this is that I will probably be posting less. The upside of this is that when I do post, hopefully it will be worth while and not just me being bored.

Also, the Blue Horse was fun. Sorry I didn't reply to you on the cost Jenn. The Blue Horse open mic night is $5.

Tomorrow

Tomorrow night I'm going downtown to the Blue Horse to play open mic. I think Rodger is going to play too (he had to check with his spousal unit before he could commit). So come on over and hangout with us. It starts at 8:00pm.

Dum da da Dum

drum roll please. . .

He's British.
He has a beautiful wife and two sweet daughters.
He enjoys a good fart joke.
He dislikes post-its.
He is an incredible guitarist.
He's the worship director at my church in Cairo.
He's my newest blog buddy!!

Everybody go check out Mark's new blog!!!

Miss you big time too Mark!

The Reason for the New Blog Title

I have finally got myself settled into a job. I am working at a preschool as the lunch lady/person who does anything and everything. It is a good feeling to have this area of my life a little more settled.
Tonight I am going out with my mom and sisters to celebrate at Bees Knees. I am so freakin' relieved.
But knowing that I am now a lunch lady, I constantly have the "lunch lady land" skit from SNL running through my head. I keep imagining myself as Chris Farley hugging a huge, dancing sloppy joe sandwich.

The Curse Continues

I have this unnatural way of drawing weirdos to me. It's like some kind of magnetic force or gravitational pull. I didn't notice it so much when I was in Cairo because everything around me seemed a little bit strange and you really come to expect the unexpected there. But now that I'm back in Augusta and back in my "normal" settings, I realized today that I have still not lost my touch.

Today I went to Walmart to shop for a mini-trampoline. Whilst browsing the sporting goods aisles, I noticed an old man staring at me. Now this man truly was old. Not like just kind of older than me, we are talking like 75+ years old. So I politely smile at him and say hello. He says hello and asks me if I am married. I say no. He starts to say something more, but I cut him off and said that I didn't really want to be married either. Then he says, "oh, ok" and walks off. Now, I just hope and pray that the man was out bride hunting for his grandson or even his son would be not all that weird. But if this little old man is going to walmart to pick up chicks, that is just all too scary and hilarious at the same time.

Real Life Farckle

About a month ago my home group had a fun night. We played two games: Cranium and Farckle. Farckle is a dice game. It is a game based on how much of a risk taker you are. It is a game of chance. You may take a risk and win big or take a risk and end up with nothing at all. You can play more conservatively, but it is unlikely that you will be the winner. Usually conservative players come in somewhere in the middle at the end of the game. Whereas the risk-takers occupy the winning and losing slots.
This week I feel like I am in real life Farckle. I have been on a job hunt for about two months now. At the end of last week I was offered a job at a place that was not my first choice of places to work. It's not the type of job I want to do. The pay would be not so hot. The hours would be part-time. But on the other hand it wouldn't be a bad place to work, just not my first choice. I told the girl I would get back to her, as I was still interviewing at a few more places. So Monday I interviewed at a preschool, which is a job I am really interested in. The interview went well, just one hitch. The hours they needed someone to work interfere with the job I already have tutoring. However, she did know of another position open at one of the daycare's other locations. So she faxed my resume to the other location and the director there told me a little more about the job. The job is basically as the daycare lunch lady. The daycare is all the way out in Grovetown. I know it is probably not going to pay much. The only really good thing about this job is that the hours they need are perfect for me. The only other thing that keeps this job on the table for me is that it might open a door for me to work in an actual classroom as a sub and maybe even as a teacher. I interview with them tomorrow. Also I put in an application at Norrell Staffing today, because I know that Club Car has positions open. The good thing about club car: it's better pay than the other places, it would be fulltime, the hours would work well for me and I would get to work with Pat (possibly the most fun and exciting thing about this job). The bad things about club car: test driving golf carts will be boring beyond belief and it has absolutely nothing to do with education and will therefore not add much to the resume I am trying to build. The other thing about club car is that it is not a done deal. Norrell told me to call back in a few days to check up with them. So what if I wait a few days and lose my other two job opportunities and then Club Car doesn't even want me! Then it's back to the drawing board. Or should I play it safe and settle for one of the other two jobs I won't really like and that pay squat? I dont' know what to do. I just know I need a job real bad.

And You All Thought This Day Would Never Come. . .

I got a cell phone today. Now all of you may welcome me to the 90s.

Crossing My Fingers

I have an interview on Monday at a preschool/day care. I'm praying to leave the interview with a job.

I am scraping the bottom of my financial barrell. I have about $2.00 in my checking account. I'm doing a yardsale on Saturday in hopes of raising some gas money to tide me over till I get paid for tutoring. If you are in the Augusta area and into yardsales, come by and contribute to my cause. :O)

The Truth About Being a Woman

The truth about being a woman is that for two weeks of every month aliens invade your mind.
The truth about being a woman is that you spend half of your life feeling like you are not yourself.
The truth about being a woman is that you will spend so much energy fighting mental battles that you may be left with little energy or will power to do much else.
The truth about being a woman is that you feel like you have to hold your breath and pray that you can just keep it all together until the "aliens" leave.

Sometimes I hate hormones. They are the enemy.

Me and Mary

Will took this picture of me and my little sister at church the other day. I love my sister a whole lot.

My niece and nephew at my niece's first birthday party.

New Song

I'm gonna write a new song.

It will be called "I Spend Too Much Time On the Internet Because I Don't Have a Job and I'm Avoiding My Parents".

The Dream Cycle

I go through a cycle with my dreams. I'll go for two or three months and not remember having a single dream. Then I'll go for two or three weeks remembering a dream or two or three every night. Last night I had a dream/nightmare about having an arranged marriage with a guy I knew like 10 years ago. The delimma was that I was of course not inlove with him. Then a guy I used to work with proposed to me with a butter knife instead of a ring. New dilemma: I didn't love either of the guys. I liked guy #2 better, but somehow thought that marrying guy #1 was "the right thing to do". So I show up for my wedding with guy #1 and guy #2 gets pissed at me and is out of the picture. But then guy #1 never shows up, and I don't have to marry anybody. Don't you just love a happy ending:)
The truly scary part: reality tv has poisoned my mind so much that I am dreaming it.

Really Weird

1. I think my nephew called me "Aunt Dad" today.

2. Last night I had a dream. There were no particularly outlandish events in the dream. Just me walking around in a city that I did not recognize as being anyplace I have ever actually been. The weird part was that the entire dream was in Arabic. And I am not fluent in arabic, so I could not understand what people were saying. I just caught a word or two every now and again that I knew. Weird, weird, weird.

Slow Start is Better Than No Start

I got my first paycheck from my part-time tutoring job. It is for the amount of $24.00. Not much to start with and I don't get paid again until the end of October. But on the upside, I love what I'm doing and I just got my second student today (so that will be a guaranteed $192 at the end of next month and more if I get more students between now and then). Holy crap, I am definitely qualifying for poverty status here. I need a full-time job, but I am not gonna freak out about this. It is going to come together. It is going to be ok.
Oh! And I did get on the substitute teacher list for Augusta Christian. We'll see how that goes.

And the next step is. . .

In just 9 months I will be leaving Augusta again. See Rodger's blog for more info. I'll be a little sad to leave family and friends, of course. But I am going to be moving up there with a group, so that will help. Despite having to leave loved ones (yet again), I am mostly really excited about the whole thing.

The House

I previously mentioned this house that me and my little sis will be moving into. So this is the post where I talk about the house.

The house is old as the hills. The house is big. The house has four bedrooms. The house has a huge kitchen. The house has no stove (much to my dismay). The house has a big backyard. The house has bugs and spiders and God knows what else currently living in it (soon to be evicted!). The house needs some new windows. The house needs lots of painting. The house needs floor work done in at least three of the rooms. The house used to be occupied by druggies (I am convinced). The house needs to be disinfected from top to bottom. The house is more than me and Mary know what to do with. Wish us luck!

Yeah sure

Your Reputation Is: Mystery Girl

You're the girl that everyone is trying to figure out. Men are attracted to your intriguing persona - and women want to copy it!

What's Your Reputation?

Fear Factor

Today I faced rodents, roaches, spiders, various insects I don't know the names of and porn. Yes you heard me/read me right. . . porn. I went to clean this house that my sister is about to move into and eventually I will move into also. The place needs a lot, a lot of work. But I'm not gonna get into that right now. So anyways, we are working and listening to music via her dvd plaver and tv since we didn't have a cd player at the house yet. While we were cleaning we ran across a cd left behind from the last residents of this house. It was a burned cd that had "Black Reign" written on it in marker. Out of curiousity we popped it in the dvd player to see what kind of music it was, only to discover that it was a dvd and not just any dvd. Porn. Shocking. I threw it away. Mary's friends think I'm a tight wad, but I don't care.

All this to say that I think I should earn an award for all the stuff I went through today or at least that medicinal glass of wine. Too bad I still have no money.

Sweet Jesus

I am officially not ok.

I was cleaning the kitchen this morning and a mouse/rat/whatever fell from the light fixture/fan to the floor, convulsed for five minutes and died in front of me. Then I freaked out and cried. Then I swept it into a bag for my dad to deal with when he gets home.

It could be worse. The rodent could have ran up the stairs and up into my room. That would be worse.

So. . .

I'm feeling a little down tonight and I dont' know why. Wish I had a bottle of wine for medicinal purposes, but I am too broke to spend money on wine.
I played at R. Gabriel's tonight and it went ok. Not bad. Not great. But ok. It was good for me to play there becuase it forced me to come up with two hours worth of music and I haven't had to do that for quite awhile. The down side of that is I had to pull together so much music that I couldn't thoroughly practice every song, which led to a mediocre performance. And honestly I wasn't really happy with it. But it's still good for me.
After I played I went downtown to see the Avett Brothers, only to discover that the show was $15 and, as I mentioned earlier, I am too broke for that s#@t.
I've also been feeling a little stressed this week for a number of reasons. (1)My little sis. There is always some drama going on with her and this week it was about 5 or 6 mini-series of dramas. (2) I started my tutoring job this week and it's going really good actually, but there is always that anxiousness that goes along with just starting ajob and wanting to everything right. (3)My room is in a state of chaos (still) from all the jank I got out of storage. (4)My parents are starting to drive me crazy a little bit. I am actually proud of the fact that we've made it this far without getting on each others nerves up until yesterday. That's like a month and a half. That's really good. (5)I'm running out of money and, although I do have this tutoring, I am making very little money thus far and I am starting to freak out. (6)Honestly, I am feeling lonely.
So this wasn't a very fun post, but it's where I'm at right now.

My Space

I finally got my myspace to be something worth looking at.

The Next Reminder

I'll be playing at R. Gabriel's this Friday from 7-9pm. It's free! It's kid-friendly! There's no excuse. Come and see me!

As a side note. . . I'll be going to see Blue collar blue Heart play at the Soul Bar this Thursday, if anyone would like to join me just give me a call or send me an email or something. Also, after I play at R. Gabriel's on Friday I will be going down to the Mission to hear the Avett Brothers. If you haven't heard these guys you are missing out. They are great. Let me know if you want to join me for either of these two outings.

The Nutshell (Part II)

Yesterday in a nutshell. . .
I spent most of the day going through our storage unit and dragging out all my shiznit. When I was in college I shared an entire house with one other girl and later moved into a good sized apartment with the same girl and two others. When I moved home after college I had lots of stuff. Stuff that I had no place to put in my old room at my parent's house. So we got a storage unit and all my stuff and all my parent's Christmas stuff went in there. Then I moved in with my sis. Then I moved in with Will and Sarah. And in all of these places I basically just rented a room. So my stuff stayed in storage. Then I made an unexpected move to Egypt when I got a job there while on vacation. So my family and Will and Sarah graciously packed up all my stuff and put it into storage. A year and a half comes and goes and I can't remember what I used to have and don't have now (except my cds). But I do know one thing. . . the time has come for me to go through all that stuff in storage and see what is trash, what is yardsale/goodwill worthy and what I can reclaim for myself. But I made a vow that none of it is to go back into storage.
So yesterday I got this unbelievable load(s) of stuff and drug it all into my parent's living room. It took me, my dad and Julie two trips with my dad's Saturn and my mom's Matrix to get it all. I could not believe the amount of stuff I had. Unbelievable. So I sorted out a lot of trash and a lot of yardsale stuff. The rest I hauled up to my room. This is all stuff that I would ideally like to keep. But it is still going to be way to much stuff. I know that on a closer look more of it will go in the trash or to goodwill. All I know is I have a lot of sorting through and sifting out ahead of me. However, I must say that opening these boxes is a little bit like seeing old friends again (especially my cds, books and coffee mugs). It's kind of fun rediscovering my old belongings. It just sucks that I can't keep it all.
Last night I went to a show at the Blue Horse Music Hall. It was like so freakin' good. I wish I had a financial income because I wanted to seriously buy some cds. It was Meagan Coffee (from Atlanta) and Jay Clifford (from Charleston). I had never heard either of them before. . . well not that I distinctly remembered anyhow. It turns out that Meagan is a part of one of the Atlanta Vineyards and I actually had heard her on their worship team. And what's more is that she and I used to go on youth retreats together. It is such a small world. Then it gets even better. She does this one impromptu song in her set. The lyrics were all about Augusta, GA. They went something like this:
Augusta, Georgia
I've only been here three times before
Augusta, Georgia
I confess I got lost on the way here
blah, blah, blah
irrelevant lyrics that I don't really remember very well. . .
I had my heart broken here once
(spoken) Shawn Meece
blah, blah, blah
more lyrics I don't remember

All this to say that I know Shawn Meece. He used to date one of my best friends in high school and I thought he was such a player. And of course I was right. So anyways I had a good time talking with Meagan after the show and reminiscing over the old days of Shawn Meece and youth retreats. Good stuff.

The Nutshell

So this week in a nutshell. . .
I began training for my new job and I really think I am going to love this job. It's basically doing mental activities with kids. These activities are supposed to teach the kids how to focus, recognize spelling patterns, memorize, reason, use logic and all that good stuff. So it is basically like I am doing things of the same nature as crossword puzzles, logicproblems, acrostics, cryptics, etc. AKA Things I like to do in my spare time anyway. So getting paid to do these activities with kids is fine by me. I can't wait to really get started.
I played at the Blue Horse Music Hall's open mic this week. It went well. Here again the booking guy wasn't there that night (seems to be the story of my life), but one of the other guys that works there took my info and said they might want to have me come back and be an opener for somebody else. We shall see. Anyhow, this is a really good place to play. They have a studio in the same building and they record everything, so at the end of the night I gave them $10 and they gave me a cd with my two songs on it. Pretty spiffy if you ask me.
Last night I went back to the Fox's Lair so that the lady that does the booking could hear me. I don't think she liked me. I played about 8 songs and when it was over I went to the bar. She told me I had a nice voice and asked me if I wanted a drink. I got a miller lite and that was the end of our conversation. It was a little discouraging, but whatever. I'm going to still keep showing up at their open mics from time to time. I know my guitar playing needs to improve before I can really be good. So maybe if I keep practicing like a crazy person it will eventually get there and they will all be like "Oh my gosh Dottie you have to play here every night and we have to pay you lots of money!" Just kidding, but I do have alot to learn and get better at.
The really nice thing about the two places I played this week was not the music, but the people. At the Blue Horse I hade a small group of friends that came out to hear me and hang out. It was good. And at Fox's Lair my friend Pat was the only one that came with me. He got up and played too and it was wonderful (despite whatever he might say). He played one of my favorite Counting Crows songs and that made me smile. Also at the Fox's Lair, I made friends with this cute little borderline old guy. When he first started talking to me I was a little hesitant. It would not have been the first time an old man hit on me. But this dude was openly talking about his "life partner" so I knew I had nothing to fear (but fear itself). I sat there and just let him talk. It was great. I got like his whole story about struggling with owning a business in Augusta and fighting cancer and losing his parent's and how great his son is and everything. I love this guy. I hope to see him again sometime.
So that was a big nutshell, but that was my week.

The Conference, the Reminders

I don't have much new to write about. I went to a conference in Marietta over the weekend and it was great. I could talk forever about this conference and the things that happened, but I would sound a little crazy and it might not make sense to anyone but me. . . so I'm not going there. But I will say that I got to stay with a very old buddy of mine, April, and her husband, Conrad. She used to be my youth pastor way back when and she now lives in Marietta. It was so great to catch up with her and so many others that I hadn't seen for years.
Tonight I went to a songwriters guild that my church is doing. It is very cool. A great idea.
Later this week I will be playing a little here and there. On Wednesday, I am playing at the Blue Horse Music Hall for their open mic (and I'm a little nervous). Then on Thursday night I will be going back to the Fox's Lair to play at their open mic so that their booking person can hear me play. Wednesday's event starts at 8:00pm and costs $5 to get in. The down side of this is that I only play two songs. The upside of this is that you get to hear lots of other people from the area play a bit and you might hear somebody you really like. Thursday's event starts at 7:30 (I think) and is free. This upside of this is that (1)it's free and (2)I get to play however many songs I feel like playing. The downside of this is that I won't be able to get down there until around 10:00pm because I have training for my job until 9:30pm. So if you go to work in the early morning you probably won't really want to wait around for me. But if you want to and can make it to one or both of these, I appreciate the moral support.

Fox's Lair, Part 2

So I played a few songs at open mic last night at the Fox's Lair. It was fun. It was the first time I've played anywhere besides church in quite awhile (since I last played at Dorothee's apartment, I think that was last spring). They want me to come back and play for the girl who does their booking, with the hope of either opening for some of the musicians they already have booked for Fridays and Saturdays or hosting their open mic every Thursday night. Yay! I hope it all works out well!
p.s. I am out of town for the weekend at a conference. Talk to you all when I get back!

Don't know what to say

Today my pastor at my home church in Cairo died. It was such a shock to everyone. He was not old or sick. But life isn't always predictable and none of us are promised tomorrow.

Fox's Lair

On Wenesday night I am going down to the Fox's Lair on Telfair Street to play at their open mic. I might have a buddy to go with me (Pat??? Rodger is bailing this week. Are you gonna bail too??) or I might be going solo. So anyone who has nothing better to do. . . I'd love to have someone to enjoy a nice, cold beer with. Any takers?

Watch Out for Those Sting Rays, They'll Getcha Everytime

Let us all take a moment of silence as we remember the late, great Steve Irwin (the Crocodile Hunter). May he rest in peace.

I never thought. . .

I never thought I would be half-way to drunk off three glasses of wine and looking up Jesus on Myspace.com.

Reverse Culture Shock. . . But Not Really

Since I came back to the States about three or so weeks ago, I have not really had any problem adjusting back to the culture. I was warned and worried that this would be an issue, but it really hasn't been that big of a deal. But yesterday I have to admit I experienced something a little bit weird. It wasn't really reverse culture shock. It was more like in my mind I had superimposed my Egypt culture shock on Americans. Let me explain.
While in Egypt it became instinctive for me to tense up anytime I was walking down the street and a guy I don't know was walking towards me. You see the guys there could be so openly sleazy that you never knew what you were going to get. Would they make some horrible, gross comment? Would they grab you? Would they expose themselves to you? Or were they just going to continue staring at you like they have never seen a white girl before? So I would automatically brace myself for whatever may or may not transpire.
Last night I was at First Friday in downtown Augusta. For the first time, I noticed that I was tensing up whenever a guy I didn't know was walking towards me. It became really obvious because there were tons of people down there and I was getting rediculously tense. A bit of a system overload. By the end of it I just so badly wanted to go home. Weird, weird, weird.

I'm slack

Which Ninja Turtle Are You?

You are Michelangelo...You are fun-loving and free-spirited, and you always know how to bring a smile to your friends' faces when they are feeling down. You are also a bit of a slacker.
Take this quiz!








Quizilla |
Join

| Make A Quiz | More Quizzes | Grab Code

Quote of the day and FYI

"I can't exercise in the morning. It takes three cups of coffee before I can even believe in God." -Dan Wager

FYI #1
Julie is hanging her work up at R.Gabriel's tonight and it will be up there for the month of September. Come check out my incredibly beautiful and talented sister's work!

FYI #2
Julie is pregnant again!!!! But it's very early in the pregnancy, so pray that things go well and all that.

Bill Mallonee

Bill Mallonee is incredible. I went to his show here in Augusta tonight at the Blue Horse Music Hall. It made me be glad that I was right where I was tonight. No desire to be anywhere but where I was at that moment.

Just so you know

I am playing in the Open Mic competition on Wednesday September 13th at the Blue Horse Music Hall and at R. Gabriel's on September 22 (I think it's a Friday) from 7-9pm. I'll probably remind you all again during the weeks of the performances. Hopefully it will go well. I am trying out some new songs. Wish me luck.

The Thing I Love About My Dad

He doesn't drink coffee, yet every morning he makes coffee for my mom and me before we even make it to the kitchen. :)

Making Headway

In the start of this new chapter in my life, I have many decisions to make. Where to live, where to work, where to call my home church, who to live with, what to do with my non-working time, etc. It's all kind of overwhelming when you start to think about it all at one time. So I do what I can and pick the top two or three most pressing questions and try to get those figured out before I move on to the next. Some of you may have already known this and some may not have known, but I have been seriously considering going out to CA to live with the Kauffmans in Monterey. Sara and Rosemary are going to a church there that has no one to lead music/worship. So I would go out there with the intent of volunteering for this position and getting a job and paying on my student loans and possibly go back to school. All of this to say that I have made the decision to not do this. This past week some opportunities have come up for me to be involved here and I really feel confident that this is the way for me to go. Lots of reasons, but I won't get into it all. Let it suffice to say that I am happy to stay in Augusta for at least another year or two. So one question is finally answered. Where will I live? Augusta, GA. And, actually, one or two other questions have been answered as well. But I'll give you more on that later.

Do You Remember The Time When. . .

My day with my old college roommate was great. We caught up on all the latest, ate Mexican food, took a siesta, shopped and had dessert with two of her friends. And the whole day was filled with the game "Do You Remember the Time When". For example:
Do you remember the time when. . .
1. I mooned the security camera in front of our dorm.
2. we were at this restaurant and tried to get a guys attention and ended up looking like idiots becuase we accidentally threw a bracelet under the piano and four waiters had to come and move the piano just so we could retrieve the jewelry.
3. we took goofy pictures all over campus.
4. we painted the youth room for the church we worked at and the pastor hated it.
5. we drove 3 and a half hours to Augusta and another 3 and a half hours back all in one night just because I was really missing my friends there.
6. you got really mad at me because I blabbed my big mouth to some guy and told him that you used to like him (it wasn't that bad. . . afterall, he liked you too).
7. our choir director threw a shoe at Marvin.
8. that creepy guy pulled us over just to ask me to dance with him (weirdo!).
9. I almost exploded on the spot (and not in a good way) when the same creepy guy walked up and kissed me during our Baptist Student Union meeting.
10. we went trick-or-treating in Carrie's neighborhood. We were around 21/22 years old and it was my first time trick-or-treating ever.
and the list could go on and on and on. . .
I've missed you so much Jess! It was great to spend the day with you!!!!

Unexpected Road Trip

Yay! I'm going to see my college roommate today! I got an email from her this morning. I was so excited to hear from her. I called her and it turns out she is now working in Covington,GA. So now I am on my way there to spend the day with her. Yay!!!

A Story I Wasn't Going to Share

I had a really embarassing moment the other day. I was in the middle of my interview and I farted. It was audible but not really, really loud and my interviewer was talking at the time, so I'm hoping that she just didn't hear. But whatever.
I wasn't gonna share that story, but I emailed a freind and told her about it and she asked why it wasn't on my blog and so I thought "ok I'll post it." We've all been there. Right? Or am I the only one that manages to fart out loud at embarassing times (while you're in the library or during a really quiet and intense part of the sermon your pastor is giving)?

Deja Vous and Spiritual Giftings

It turns out that the job I thought I had I actually don't know if I have it. No worries though. It will all work out. But I did go in for some basic testing and an interview for the job (all of which I think went well). I should know either way in two or three weeks. In the meantime I am still job hunting and trying to make myself useful here at my parent's house by cleaning, running errands, mowing the lawn and babysitting for my older sister.

Going back to the interview. . . I went to the office for Partnership in Achievement for my interview and testing. And lo and behold their office was in the same building as where I used to go see a shrink when I was a kid. It was weird. I walked in the office entry and suddenly I was eight years old again and waiting to go see my therapist. In fact the room where I did testing for the job was the same room that I used to meet with him in. Total deja vous (not sure if I spelled that right).

On a completely unrelated note, I did a test on spiritual giftings last night. I was a little suprised at the results. I expected leading worship to be my number one gift, but it was (according to this test) number two. What was number one, you ask? Celibacy. Well, I have to say that I didn't see that one coming. But after I thought about it and read the definition and all that. . . it started to make sense. It says, "the gift of celibacy is the special ability that God gives to certain members of the body of Christ to remain single and enjoy it and not suffer undue sexual temptations." I guess I qualify for that. I guess I'm okay with that. But I'm not sure that really ministers to other people. I mean I guess it does indirectly, but generally I think it just means that I'm ok with my marital status or lack there of.

Anyhow, tied for number three were missionary, wisdom and service. Tied in fourth was pastor and hospitality. After that it got to the gifts that I was not really great in on down to the gifts that I have absolutely no gifting in. Let's put it this way, if you are looking for an apostle or someone to interpret tongues for you. . . I'm not your girl.

Snakes on a Plane

The other night I was watching tv with some friends. It was a news program, but it was one of those news-with-a-comedic-spin shows. So they start talking about this new movie coming out "Snakes on a Plane" (yes, the trailors show that it will be as stupid as it sounds, see Pete's blog on it from July 5th for more). So anyways, it turns out that the phrase "snakes on a plane" is now a phrase we can use in everyday conversation. Apparently, "snakes on a plane" is another way of saying "that's life and it stinks, but what can ya do about it". They used an example on the news show.
person 1: How are things?
person 2: Well, I spent the night with a hooker and contracted an STD.
person 1: Dude, that's snakes on a plane.

So I vowed that I would start using this phrase in conversation. I succeeded!

Me: So Mary, how are ya?
My little sis: oh, I feel horrible. I've got cramps and I'm all bloated and my back hurts.
Me: Geez, that's snakes on a plane.

Korean Cowboy

Today I saw a full grown Korean man walk into a coffee shop dressed head to toe in cowboy gear. Cowboy hat, cowboy boots, tight jeans, snakeskin belt, belt buckle and clean, fitted white T-shirt. All he needed was chaps, boot spurs and a horse. I sat there in awe as he ordered his coffee and then left. I didn't know whether to laugh, cry or applaud the man for his bold fashion statement.

Yay!

I got a part-time job tutoring kids. So that's something.

blogger block

Been itching to post something for the last two days, but nothing in particular to say. I joined a gym. I shopped the clearance racks at Target and Kohl's. Filled in online applicaions. Faxed my resume out. Became a regular at Panera Bread. Talked to Sara today, which is always a highlight for me. Still trying to catch up with old friends. Still missing my friends in Egypt. Wondering what my next step should be. Sure there is stuff going on, but none of it seems to be really exciting at the moment.

Baby Dedication

This was my first Sunday back, so I got to see some of my good friends I had been dying to see. My nephew was dedicated at church this week. My brother, sister-in-law and niece came to Augusta to have breakfast and go to church with us. So it was ideal picture time, the whole family together and dressed fairly nice to boot. I'll post some pictures if they turn out nice.

Now I am off to Myrtle beach with my mom and little sis. Not sure about having internet access, so it might be Wednesday before you hear from me again. Have a good week!

A Little Slice of Heaven

Tonight I experienced a little bit of what heaven might be like. Me and my little sis sitting on the dock by the river, smoking cigars, drinking wine and talking. It was a really good talk too. We talked about life and our goals and the journeys we've been on over the last year and a half while we've been apart. She listened to me talk about Egypt and I listened to her talk about her struggles and victories over the last few months. I've always felt close with Mary, but I think this is the closest I've ever felt to her. She's grown up a lot. She's seeing things more clearly. Listening to her talk was actually really inspirational to me. She is such a gem.
Also, I got to see a few more old friends (Pam, Von, Tera, Adam, Erin, Jeremiah, Miles, Brandi and Jenn) briefly tonight and that was really nice. Old friends are great!

When I'm feeling blue



All I have to do



Is take a look at you



Then I'm not so blue

An unlikely pair

I went out to breakfast with my mom this morning. We looked like such an unlikely pair. I was in old, worn-out jeans, my black "ZAO" t-shirt, a black bandana and ratty flip-flops. She was dressed head to toe in pink. . . pink heels, a long pink flowery skirt, pink scarf tied around her waist and (the ultimate) a pink t-shirt that said "pink power".
Sometimes I wonder if I am really related to her, then I look in the mirror and realize I am her spitting image (almost) and I know it must be true. . . I really am her daughter.

A Quick Hello

I'm just writing a quick update on my whole moving-back-to-GA-and-moving-back-in-with-my-parents-experience.
It is really good to be back with my family. I've spent time with all of them except my brother-in-law and my brother and his family. I'll hopefully see my brother and family tomorrow, and Jim. . . maybe I'll cook dinner for him and Jules tonight. Anyhow, everything is going well with my family, which is actually truly suprising. Little sis has a decent job and doesn't seem depressed and isn't constantly surrounded by the most horrible "friends" imaginable and isn't in jail. . . what else could you ask for? Older sis is doing great with her baby and hubby. Mom and dad are on a crazy reprieve and haven't done anything completely outlandish yet. I came home and felt like I had stepped into the wrong household. I felt like my family is actually kind of getting normal and stable. It's just so wonderful and weird.

I've seen a few friends, but not too many. I figure I'll see alot of them at church this weekend. I've seen my buddy Angella and her mom. Angella is my oldest friend outside my family. We have been giggling and acting like idiots together since we were 11. Seeing her and talking to her is like a breath of fresh air. It was her birthday on the 7th, so we went out for dinner on the 8th.

I've spent some time with Lisa and her family. Lisa is one of my most supportive friends and a very old friend as well. She would do absolutely anything for me. She has been my crazy friends since I was 13 and she was 12. It was her birthday yesterday, so I spent the whole day with her and then went with her to her parents' place for dinner. Her dad is already trying to set me up with somebody. Good Lord help me.

I stopped by my old job and saw a few friends there as well. It's good to catch up with people.

Well, I think I'm gonna go be productive now and clean my parents' house and fun stuff like that.

Congratulations!

A big congrats to Emma and Wale on their recent engagement!!!!!

I Miss You Guys Already

Me, Esther and Revo


Me and Wale


Me and Travis (aka "so and so")


Matthew, me and Chelsie

Midnight Plane to Georgia

I am now back in Augusta. The flight was fine. Long, boring, exhausting but now it's over. I'm back with my family (except my brother). They are all getting along!! This is really nice.
My life feels like a blank page right now. I have no definite plans that go beyond the next two days. No job. No place that is really my own. But right now, I am content. Content with the feeling that things here will go well. All the puzzle pieces will come together. I miss Cairo and my family there, but I feel confidant that I will find my niche here soon and the U.S. will start feeling more like home and less like a foreign country to me.

The Gypsy and John Denver

Well, I'm off to the airport in about 6 hours. I've been packing and cleaning most of the day. I must say that I really do feel like a gypsy. I can fit all of my belongings in two suitcases (and these aren't even the really huge suitcases), one carry-on bag and a guitar case.

I tried to post some pictures from my party the other night, but this computer is slow, slow, slow. So pictures will have to wait until I am at a speedy computer.

For the last month this John Denver song has been playing through my mind. . .

My bags are packed I'm ready to go
I'm standin' here outside your door
I hate to wake you up to say goodbye

The dawn has broke, it's early morn
The taxi's waitin', he's blowin' his horn
Already I'm so lonesome I could die

So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you will wait for me
Hold me like you'll never let me go
'Cause I'm leavin' on a jet plane
Don't know when I'll be back again
Oh, babe, I hate to go. . .

So long Cairo. I'm sure this is see you later and not goodbye. I'm just not sure how long the later will be.

Good Night

Tonight was my official going away party. I had such a wonderful time with my friends. A big thank you to Chelsie, Esther and Revo for pulling it all together (Chelsie, I am so sorry about that picture frame). A big hug to all of you who came.
The night was great. Lots of good people came. We danced to 80's music. We played pool. We smoked sheisha. We took lots of pictures. We talked. I got to talk to Sara on the phone. I played guitar. I cried when I had to say good bye to Emma. This was a really, really wonderful farewell for me.

Silver Lining?

This week, my pastor delivered a sermon entitled "It Will All Be Worth It". We are in the middle of a series of teachings out of the book of Romans. This particular message drew from Romans 8:18-30 and was basically about suffering, waiting, hoping and the good times. For someone who has gone to church nearly every Sunday morning and Wednesday night of her life, this message actually gave me no new information. Sure, I have heard it before. I memorized bits and pieces of Romans in my growing up years. Not to mention that everyone (Christian, Muslim, Jew, Buddhist, Agnostic, Atheist, etc.) knows that life is not easy. We all experience suffering at one point or another. I think of this passage in Romans as being a guide to coping with the suffering.
Anyhow, yesterday, as I sat in my plastic chair under the tent I call "church", I listened nicely to the sermon, but did not expect to really "get anything out of it". Come on, let's face it, sometimes that's just the way it happens. Don't get me wrong. I am not saying that it is the fault of a boring pastor. I am not saying that once you learn a scripture, memorize it and hear x amount of sermons on it, you can never learn anything else from it. I am saying that sometimes we go into church with earplugs in. We might be preoccupied with things going on at work, home or elsewhere in life. We might be avoiding the voice of God because of a guilty conscience. We might be tired. We might be sick. We might be experiencing any number of excuses we use to be lazy about our striving towards being Christ-like. I know. I know because I've been in church my whole life. I know because I've listened to upwards of 3500 sermons, sunday school lessons and bible studies (not to mention the reading done on my own). I know about the "earplugs" because I use them more frequently than I would like to admit. But I have the conviction that God has given us the Bible as possibly the strongest, most reliable way to hear from Him. I believe that everytime we open it's pages, everytime we hear the words from it spoken He is trying to speak to us. We just need to take the earplugs out.
So back to the sermon, towards the end of the message, my pastor added in a personal story (these always help me to relate the scriptures to "real" life). He refered to a difficult year in his family. I won't go into the details (it's not really the point anyway). But he asked his sister (who is still in the midst of very difficult circumstances), if she could redo the last year, would she change the events that took place. She said no. She would not change even the most difficult parts of it because of how close it brought her to God.
I might be reading into this woman's life too much, but she probably feels a sense of amazement that she has gone through these circumstances and come out stronger. She probably feels that she now has a story to tell people about how God really works in real people's lives (it's not just the stuff of story books and legends!). She probably has a sense of wonder about the last year. She might look back on it and think "how in the world did I survive this without losing my mind?"
Our own lives are this way from time to time. For me, my most recent period of "suffering" (I put suffering in quotes because my suffering can hardly be considered as such compared to so many others suffering) was after I graduated college. I finished my bachelors in music after five years of school. I did two years in my hometown University and then transfered to a private (a.k.a. very expensive) college for the last three years. I knew that going to this school would mean student loans, but I simply had to go through this very specific program that not many schools offered. Well, long story short, I came to the end of the program only to realize that not only would I hate doing the occupation I thought I would go into, but I would not do a very good job of it either. So I did like so many other music majors do. . . I moved back in with my parents and started working at a coffee shop. It was a year and a half of working at a coffee shop and then at a health food store. It was a year and a half of making little more than minimum wage alongside high school dropouts. It was a year and a half of moving to my parents' house to my sister's house to my church friends' house. It was a year and a half of wondering "what am I doing with my life, why did I even bother with school, did I make a huge mistake???" I worried over it, got frustrated over it, but eventually said to myself "I don't understand why these are my circumstances, but they are. All I can do is keep doing the best where I am at and trust God. Maybe someday I will understand all this, maybe I never will, but either way I believe that there is a reason for it."
So then my period of "suffering" ended abruptly when I came to Egypt. Suddenly, life was exciting. Suddenly life was a challenge. Suddenly, life had meaning and a distinct purpose. I still didn't understand why I had the last year and a half of feeling like crap, but it was over and done. But yesterday, in my plastic chair, I had a revelation. Maybe I had to experience the suffering in order to experience all the joy I've had in my time in Egypt. Think about it. If I hadn't been so miserable in GA, would I have made such a rash decision to move to Egypt? If I had a job I actually felt attached to in GA, would I have abandoned it in order to stay here? And even if I had still decided to come to Egypt, how could I have appreciated the sense of purpose in my work here if I had never known what it felt like to have absolutely no sense of purpose?
It's really nice when that light bulb comes on in your brain and suddenly things that have been puzzling you for, well, years become more clear and understandable.

Carefrontation

Whilst reading the precuationary information for the drugs I'm taking, I discovered that one side effect from my nasal spray is anorexia. So just for a heads up, if you hear me incessantly talking about how fat I am or refusing to eat. . . it is time for a carefrontation. Pry the nasal spray from my bony fingers.

Misery Loves Company

I hope all of you are feeling better than me. I have a cold and it is pretty much miserable.
It started last Saturday. I had two days of feeling fine except that my voice was completely gone. Then it really kicked in. My voice got a little better, but I started to feel sick. You know, the achy, runny nose kind of sick. Then it got worse. The sweating non-stop, headachy, congested to the point of being unable to breathe kind of worse. Finally, I broke down last night and bought some drugs to ease my pain. They are working ok and I am starting to feel like a person again.

There are a couple of things about being sick that just baffle me. One is how you constantly feel dirty when you are sick. It doesn't matter if I just brushed my teeth five minutes ago. My mouth feels covered in grimy film stuff. It doesn't matter if I showered an hour earlier. I constantly feel greasy and sweaty and generally gross. Why is that?

The second thing that happens is that I go mental. I can't remember anything. In fact, I can't remember when I last showered or brushed my teeth. . . so that might have something to do with why I feel so nasty. Also, I am like manic-depressive. Yesterday, I sat over at Chelsie's house watching movies all day long. I was sitting there by myself either laughing hysterically at the movies or crying hysterically. Good thing I was by myself.

Alright, I'm outta here. I will go brush my teeth and shower now, while I still remember to do it. Remember that sick people love to have sympathy. If you get the time, send me an email or give me a call. I love you guys and gals.

God, the Church and Me

I will preface this blog with this statement: I love the church. I know that there are many parts of the church that are imperfect at best and completely screwed up at worst. But for better or worse, the church has been a huge part of my life for, well, my whole life. The church has been where I found community, where I learned about so many things from theology to spirituality to social interaction to my own strengths and weaknesses.

Currently, I am struggling with the pending changes soon to take place in my life and situation. And once again, my church family has been there supporting me through this whole process. How have they been there for me you ask? Well, really the list could probably go on forever. But a few examples are when my community here does things like throwing a going away party for me, when individual friends go out of their way to spend time with me before I leave, when people show real concern/excitement about my next step in life and how I'm feeling about it all or when a friend looks you dead in the eye and genuinely says that they are going to miss you. The church community here has made me feel truly appreciated and loved. They have prayed for me and with me. They have been my family this last year and a half. But the church does not stop here in Maadi. I have been supported and loved all the way across the Atlantic Ocean. There is, of course, my family family. And they let me know in every skype conversation and every email how much they love me and look forward to my return. Then there is my church family in Augusta, which is mostly spread between the three Vineyard churches there. They do their best to support me through the distance in emails and in just reading and commenting on this blog. And really, it means a lot to me. Then there is the Kauffmans. They are my second family. I wish I could marry in, but both of their sons are too young for me. Anyways, they are there in emails, offering possible options for the next step in my life and praying for me. How much support and affirmation can one girl get? So all this to say. . . I love the church and have no idea what my life would be like without it.

So a few days ago I was sharing with my freind Emma how scared I am about going home and about leaving Egypt. So she suggested we get together and pray before I left. We set up a time and place, which was this morning at the church. So at 10:00 am this morning, Esther, Emma and I all sat down to pray. Emma shared some scriptures she thought might be relevant to what was going on in my life and I talked about all my doubts and confusion. We prayed and at the end of it, I really did feel more at peace about the move back to the states. Partially just because I had someone to talk out loud to and tell them my reasons for going back, which in turn reminded me of my very good reasons for going back. Partially it was the prayer. Emma and Esther prayed about things that I had not even thought to pray about. They prayed about real challenges I will be facing that I had not even considered. And I prayed out loud things that I have been praying silently for the last month. Why does it seem that there is some sort of power in saying things audibly? God can hear our silent prayers too, so why do the silent and audible prayers not feel the same? I'm sure it has more to do with me than it does with God, but I still don't get it. Anyhow, God really gave me some peace through this time and spoke to me through Emma and Esther.

One main idea that really stood out to me during this time was that as a Christian, my identity is really found in God. It is a simple statement that I have heard and known as long as I can remember. But even in the simple things, I need reminders from time to time. My identity cannot be found in another person. My happiness cannot be based on how much money is in my bank account. My feelings of worth and value cannot have their foundation in a title I'm given or a position I hold or any other status symbol. My contentment cannot rely on where I live or what jobs I am currently doing. My sense of self cannot even be defined by my knowledge or past experiences. It is really only to be found in God. All the others are temporary solutions. They change, they fail, they let you down. Then you are left feeling confused, frustrated and disillusioned. So if I am finding my self and defining myself in God, I won't be measuring my happiness by whether I am living here or there, by whether I am teaching or making coffee for a living. I will be happy and content no matter what the circumstances are because God is God and He doesn't change. So the concept is simple, but the exocution of it can be hard. We'll see how I do with that.

A second idea that was impressed on me during this time was a simple sentence that Emma prayed for me. She said that God would use me in peoples' lives by me just being me. I am naturally a doer. I have to being doing things, proving my worth, and pulling my share. That is not a bad thing altogether. But sometimes I do put too much pressure on myself to perform and if I can't meet these standards of performance I then feel like a failure. This is not good. This is not what I believe God intended. Emma's prayer reassured me that the pressure is not all on me. God can and will use me by me just being who He has made me to be. I don't have to put on pretenses of being perfect or super holy. God will use me even with my flaws. I don't have to be involved in 17 different areas of ministry for God to use me. I am even free to take time off from "ministry" and God will still use me.

A third reminder I got from God was given to me through Esther. She prayed for my relationships within my family. Esther has known me a long time. She even lived with my family for a little while. She knows the ins and outs and all the dynamics that go on in my family. In particular she prayed for my feelings of responsibility within the family. I have somehow deemed myself the glue that holds things together. I am the mediator, the go between, the peacemaker. When things start to fall apart, I feel responsible, like I have somehow let the family down. When my little sister feels unhappy with her life, I feel guilty because I am not right there to cheer her up. But the reality is that when I am there, although she is glad to have me there, she is still unhappy with her life. Her life is not my responsibility. Her life is not my responsibility. Her life is not my responsibility. Her life could not be my responsibility even if I wanted it to be. I have to tell myself this over and over and over. As soon as I really accept this truth, I will feel a huge load off my shoulders. But honestly, I still am carrying around feelings of guilt about this and I don't know how to let go of it. I'll get there someday. Sigh.

Match Maker, Match Maker Make Me a Match

Let me start this blog by saying that Chelsie Pridmore and Dottie Lee are a terrifying combination. Of all the girl friends I have, I think I plot more evil schemes with her than with anyone else. And that's really saying something, because I have had some scheming friends in the past.

Chelsie and I already made our mark in Maadi Community School with our practical jokes. So now that it is nearing my time to go, we simply had to have one more ultimate practical joke. And oh, this one was brilliant.

Only a week and a half ago, the church got a new youth leader and a new youth intern to come out and start working with the youth here. They are nice guys, but my first experiences with them have just been a bit different than I normally would have with people I am just getting to know. So it had been this weird sort of mix of thinking that these are completely nice guys who would fit in great in our circle of friends, yet still feeling uncomfortable around them (it's just too long of a story for me tonight). Anyhow, Chelsie has had a few conversations with them about how they didn't want people setting them up or match making them. And we all know how it is in the church. There are like 20 single girls for every single guy. So I can only imagine the scenarios that arise from these circumstances.
So Chelsie and I invited Travis and Kelly (or should I say "so and so" and "so and so #2") over for dinner and some games of pool. We told them that we would get a group of people together and it would be a fun, relaxed, hang out night. In our defense, when we invited them it was completely innocent and with pure intentions. But our evil sides quickly got the better of us. So we told T and K to come over at 6:30. We told two of our unsuspecting girlfriends (Adiam and Alexa) to come at 6:45. Then everyone else we invited we told them to come over at 7:15-7:30. We spent half of the day in preparation. Grocery shopping, cooking a nice meal, picking out the nicest table setting, placing candles all over the apartment, buying a flower arrangement, picking out the evening's sound track (Toni Braxton, Enrique Inglesias, the Dirty Dancing soundtrack, Seal, etc.). Chelsie and I dressed up nicely and did make up, and generally made the effort to look like we had gone out of our way to look nice. We set the table for four, lit all the candles and waited for our guests/victims to arrive. T and K were supposed to arrive first, but it turned out that the girls (A and A) came early (at 6:30) and the boys were a few minutes late.

So the four of them are there with us in the kitchen. I'm cooking, Chelsie's getting drinks and then she shoos them out of the kitchen, insisting that I can't get my cooking done properly with all these people in the way. So they move out to the living room, while Chelsie and I stay in the kitchen. I might mention that the two girls don't really know each other, nor do they know the guys. Chelsie and I really are the tying factor, but I give them credit that they made pretty comfortable conversation for being practically strangers. So then we serve the meal. At this point, they are realizing that there are six of us here but only four place settings. They are like "aren't you guys gonna eat with us?" And Chelsie just replies with something like "no, we just really wanted to do something special for you all tonight" (all the while Seal and Dirty Dancing are playing in the background). It was apparent that at the least, Travis was catching onto what we were doing and maybe Kelly was too. Poor Adiam was completely confused. Alexa was just happy to be eating. So we scurry back to the kitchen. Chelsie did a marvelous job of making the evening weird and awkward. She would occasionally go back to the dining room and offer them more salad, drinks, etc. I, however, could not bare to look at any of them without laughing. Back in the kitchen, Chelsie and I giggle and then we try and come up with a good way to just end the joke. We decide that we will change back into our jeans and t-shirts and fix out plates and just go sit down at the table with them. No sooner do we change than our next guest rings the doorbell. It's Matthew. We grab him and bring him straight to the kitchen. We are explaining to him what is going on when Esther arrives. So she comes to the kitchen too. They get a brief overview of the scheme and we all fix our plates and sit down at the table. A minute or two passes, before we just tell them what was going on and we all have a good laugh about it. After that we only had one more guest come (Shariff). The night was really fun. We told some of our most embarassing moments (Matthew won with his story of having diarrea in front of an entire Indian village). We played pool, smoked sheisha and just enjoyed each others company.

Luckily for Chelsie and I, none of these people were offended by our rediculous schemes. It was all good fun and makes for a good story. Yay. I am happy.