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.