hallway

My unit theme is "vulnerability." There are birds on telephone wires and a long-armed felt "God" and framed paintings and mirrors with stuff painted on them and profile silhouettes and peacocks... it all makes sense. I'll talk about it at our first unit small group.

Without Mike, Danielle, and Anne, I wouldn't have finished. There was too much work. Too much detail. Life lesson learned... again. Anne, Kayla, and I are trying to stay awake. We all went to bed at 4.

SALT was long but beneficial. Sometimes training is "common sense," but how many people would put certain "common senses" into practice in the moment if it's not fresh on their minds? I liked the diversity presentation. I like diversity. Uniqueness. Individuality. Go figure.

I saw Kylee in Baldy today and, in our conversation, she told me to update my blog. Here we go.

I feel as though I'm standing on a set of train tracks and every department at IWU has tied pillows and cushions and padding around my little body. I can see the train coming. It's filled with books and classes and freshmen.

Hoonkkk Hoooonnnnk Hooonnnn--BAM.

retreat

all of the RA staffs went on a camping retreat yesterday and today. so much bonding can happen in "suck it up" conditions. let me see if i can give a quicky summation...

-we played kickball and won. i had nightmarish flashbacks of elementary school.

-we played red rover and won. EVERYONE had nightmarish flashbacks of elementary school.

-we played ultimate frisbee, loved it, and lost. i sacrificed my leg, zac sacrificed his hand, and julie sacrificed her body... but no cigar.

-we went to the lake beach and swam/read/played volleyball

-we borrowed something and hung it on the flag poll

-we had worship times

-we talked about our families

-we (minus Danielle and I) gagged in the bathrooms

-we played loaded questions

-we made a fire, roasted marshmallows, and burned loaded crescents

The weirdest conversations have sprung up among our staff. The stuff that comes out of people's mouths is far too lengthy and FAR too weird to jot down. They are a hilarious and admirable group of people. This year is going to be choice.

ketchup

A lot of productivity has been going on since I flew out to Indiana. Training, relationship building, and general preparation. I will definitely, definitely be posting stories and fun things like that. But for now, I'm going to give a quick run through of what I'm DOING here. We've got training and activities planned everyday. They are showing us how to do everything: operate a fire extinguisher, identify weed and drug paraphernalia, reflect on our spiritual lives, identify personality disorders and emotional needs, understand the role of the different university offices, fill out paperwork for x, y, and z... packin' it all in.

North's Eastside is also building and establishing relationships with South's Eastside, our brother dorm's staff. We've been watching movies, playing cards and kung fu, and going out to eat with them. I like all the intentional relationship building with so many groups of people.

We met with Bronson Pasco today and Eastside's goal was to try and see if we could be the people to establish a nickname for him. Despite our planning (literally) and clever/blunt lines of attack, we failed in tagging Bronson with "BroJo." Short for Bronson Johnson. Johnson is not his real middle name, it's Daniel, but we speculated that it might be Johnson. So since we're just going to call Bronson by his real name, we've decided that anything that's a failure is a brojo. Since we failed with our plan. Bronson is going to be a great leader -- he was very personable and wanted to get to know as many people as he could personally. He's going to be a good replacement for B. Hill.

My room is looking great. We're consolidating space -- I love the innovation that's going on.

I'm excited to do hall decs and not as excited about resident phone calls.

watch fish; eat fish

The Monterey Bay Aquarium is nationally ranked and world renowned. It's also an hour-something away. You know what other things are an hour something away? The beach, the mountains -- hiking, skiing, surfing, shopping -- sometimes I just take a moment in honor of California. What a cool place to live. :) Horn-blowing aside, Kim, Matt, Spencer, and I went to the aquarium and gaped at jellyfish, otters, sharks, baby sea turtles, and the sea bird aviary. Our post aquarium thoughts were as follows: clam chowder --> tide pools. I can't get OVER how good Monterey chowder is. I can't get over it, can't go under it, can't go through it; I guess I'll have to eat it. And I did.

Christine and Jessica joined us for preparing food of epic (EPIC) proportions. We made pan fried tilapia with mango salsa, loaded mashed potatoes, lightly seasoned broccoli, and brownies. Christine helped Spencer capture the whole thing for Dorm(Cooked), Jessica DJed, and Matt and I chopped and stirred. SUCH a good meal. We didn't eat until 9 pm, but it was SUCH a good meal. SUCH... good.

Christine did me the nicety of chopping my hair off again. Maybe I'll grow it out after this? Maybe semi-permanent the brunette again? So many questions.

Say "AH"

I'm not a big fan of the dentist. But, as my father optimistically says, once he doesn't have a job anymore, I won't have insurance. And THEN how will my teeth get cleaned? Good point, dad. Good point.

It was one of those "horror story" dentist things. Man, the writer in me would love to take those escapades and twist them into a Patrick McManus-esque tale of toe-curling woes. But I'll abstain. I hadn't been to the dentist since 2007, so I guess I had it coming. I was in that funny leather chair for maybe 4 hours. The former two were waiting and the latter two were a minty swirl of drilling, filling, and cleaning.

There's something humbling about holding a mirror as someone points to a grove in the back of your teeth and says, "See that? That means you're incapable of the neanderthal task of brushing your teeth." It's even more humbling when your response is limited to a garbly, drooly "Guhh huhh." I'd like to say, "I promise, nice dentist lady, I go to college. I got a respectable SAT score. I have talents and abilities and assets outside of my genetically inherited deeply grooved teeth!" But somehow it ends up boiling down to "Guhh huhh" and a slight nod.

Am I the only person in the world who is thinks about choking at the dentist? My mouth is open wider than that toothy sand hole monster in Return of the Jedi. There's 20 fingers holding pokers and drillers and suckers right above its' abyss... what's stopping anything from falling right down home plate and stabbing my uvula like some sick pinball game? Maybe just me. But I feel like my tongue is playing goalie... just in case.

The whole right side of my face was numb today and I could've have been more of a child about it. It was fascinating. I took a drink of water and one side of my tongue said, "This water is cold" while the other said, "This water is warm." Half of me couldn't taste or feel or pronounce anything. It was like my body was Goldilocks with a MPD.

The whole time I was having work done in my mouth, I was thanking God. I was thanking him for the anesthetic, the ability to go to the dentist, the ability to save my teeth from future pain... how lucky am I that I live in America and can just have these things done? We're SO lucky. I've touched briefly on my Haiti trip, but I need to jot down specific stories soon. Will do.

Side notes: Dad's computer is dead. Again. Poor dad. He needs a new one. Again. That's really bad. We played Liverpool rummy. Mom and dad tied. It was fun :) I'm teaching myself how to knit. It's easier than I thought it would be. Peace an' blessings.

Watch this and this.

This is how I picture summer

Note to self: commandeer Calvin and Hobbes comics and bring to school

summer goodbyes

This might not make any sense to you. But you're probably in here somewhere.

• Goodbye to Zack, goodbye to Chelsea, goodbye to Nick, goodbye to Nick's house. Check check check check.
• Goodbye Matt, goodbye Spencer, goodbye Christine, goodbye Jessica, goodbye family. Soon to come.
• Goodbye house? Goodbye Graham? Goodbye church? Yet to know.

EDISPILF

• Hello Kelly, Kayla, Allison, Anne, Kylee, Emily, Emily, Emilie, Lindsay, Shara, Katelyn, Amber, Brittany, freshmen...!
• Hello Baldwin, McConn, North Hall!
• Hello humidity, lightening bugs, fall trees, thunderstorms, snow!

With Kim/Matt/Spencer/Anna helping, Nick's stuff was packed in no time and we feasted lavishly on steak and LEGIT potatoes. We then played one of my new favorites, hand and foot. Chyeah, I'll be taking that to Indiana. I made my last official drive down Norry (Nori? Norrie?) tonight. We'll have to find other reasons to drive it now. I'm excited to walk to Nick's next summer, though!

I smile and nod

He's 61, likes India more than America, doesn't much care for his kids, hoards money, follows his late-father's advice, and apparently drinks a little too much at clubs on weeknights. All this I gathered from a 20 minute Bart conversation, but I never caught his name.

It started out amusing and uncomfortable. He told me how to remember fundamental rules of algebra, he told me to get married, and he told me to take advantage of America. I smiled and nodded, hoping agreement would snuff the conversation. He went on to say that the money you make is only for yourself... that he had 4 wives and had been with many women... that if his children didn't love him, f**k them... and near the end of our conversation, I realized I was still apathetically nodding along. I did not agree. As his stop rolled around, I regretted agreeing with him. This guy needed Jesus and I smiled and nodded at his life apart from Christ. I showed tolerance instead of love. I wonder how often I do that?

Nick did an EXCELLENT job blogging about today. Take a gander.

haiti crumbled

The drive from our hotel to the orphanage was about half an hour. It was a half hour of observation, exhaustion, despair, and eventually, Scripture reading. "Pressed but not crushed -- persecuted, not abandoned" repeated in my head over and over. But I didn't believe it. I still can barely wrap my mind around it. It was pressed, crushed, persecuted, abandoned... it was ruined and dirty and hopeless.

I was looking at the context of that verse just now, and it's flavor is different from what I was taunted by, "But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you."

It's not what everything appears to be, but how we see it -- how we react and in whom we put our trust. The situation is futile without Christ, but it IS futile so that (meaning it has a purpose) Christ's power can be revealed. When Haiti crumbled, God humbled millions and exalted Himself. I am one of those millions.