Home for Christmas

Howdy Everyone
Well, I'm home for Christmas. Woohoo! The semester is done and now it's time to relax. My Christmas shopping is done, the tree is up, and tomorrow is Christmas Eve, one of my favorite days of the year. The anticipation is I think what does it...that combined with midnight mass, which is hands down my favorite service of the year. This year I'll be at the Cathedral with my parents, so it should be a good service. I really like their new rector, and it will be interesting to hear his sermon. Other than that, I've been catching up on some sleep. I had to get up at 4 am to get to Providence for my flight on Friday, so I was pretty much dead on my feet by that night. It's been nice sleeping in...now to the reading. I may take a break from the Natural History of Make Believe and move on to some Toni Morrison. We'll see. I'd just like to finish this one, but I'm on a chapter that seems to go on forever. Oh well. We took Blaine to see Santa today, which was great. He's such an awesome kid! Other than that, not too much to report. Hope everyone has a merry Christmas!!!!!

Insurance

I hate hate HATE insurance companies. Here are my unfolding dramas:

1. On august 14th, I got back to MA after visiting home and had a sore throat and couldn't swallow anymore. Not knowing who on earth in MA would see me, as my insurance company isn't very common up here, I went to a clinic where I waited for two hours only to be told that they couldn't see me because I had insurance but it was the wrong kind. So if I had no insurance or the right kind, they would see me. The receptionist told me to go to the ER.
So, I went to the ER. There I waited another 2-3 hours (not having eaten at all, as my throat was so sore) only to find out I had tonsillitis. They sent me home on antibiotics.
Then the bills started to come. The physician's bill was paid, but the hospital bill is almost 600.00 . I called the insurance company today and they won't cover it because it "Wasn't an emergency." WHAT????!!! But the fact that the physician's bill was covered might help...the lady is sending it back down for review and then I can appeal if necessary. However, turns out there ARE doctors in MA who would have seen me, I just didn't know of any. So it's now MY fault that I strayed "out of network." You've got to be kidding me. All I know is that I was miserable and needed medical attention, but apparently it wasn't an emergency. So that's saga number 1.

2. Saga number 2 is dealing with my school insurance policy. In September I had to go for an intake evaluation for the mental hygiene clinic, and the doctor ordered some bloodwork. I went downstairs, had it done, and left. Then I started getting bills. After the second bill I called the company (which is provided independently through the school) and they told me just to mail them the bill. OK. I did that. Then I got a third bill. I called them today, and there are apaprently two problems. 1. the ordering physician is not covered by the plan. WHAT? HE'S A DOCTOR AT THE UNIVERSITY HEALTH CENTER FOR CRYING OUT LOUD. Sheesh. And they also say there is no record of my appointment that day. So what, am I just making this up? I have the bill with the ordering physician's name and the date of service on it. Why would I make it up and the billing folks from the lab make it up? And furthermore, it was a doctor at our health center! I KNOW he's approved!

This is ridiculous. The worst thing about all of this is a. it makes me sound like an unhealthy person when I'm not (one was allergy related and the other routine) and b. what the hell would happen in a major emergency? Thank God I didn't have these problems at Harvard. I'm thinking about getting my own insurance policy next year. Hopefully I can afford it.

Snow, Finals, and Books

Well I have one final done, and now only one left to go. OT was this morning...it wasn't too bad, although I don't think I did that hot on the Bible IDs...they were selections totally different from the ones I had studied, but I think I did fine on the essays. I'm not too worried about it, really, and it's over so that's good. Now on to Patristics, for which I'm going to have to study hardcore over the next couple of days. I would study at the library tomorrow, but I work tomorrow night and would prefer not to spend from 9 am to 11pm there. It might drive me crazy, especially considering that I'm working there on Wednesday morning as well. Crazy.

Things are snowy here. Worcester got a ton of snow on Sunday, and New Haven got snow and ice. There was already a bunch of snow on the ground, and now it's covered in an icy layer so that when you step on the snow you don't sink. In fact, you're more likely to fall on your ass than anything else. It looks like everything has been coated in cake frosting. I felt really bad earlier--there was an older gentleman holding himself up with a crutch trying to get his van out of the ice and snow that had plowed him in. Unfortunately I've been having back problems and I don't own a good shovel (don't really need one), so there wasn't much I could do.

Christmas shopping is done, which is good. Well, except for the thing Rick and I are getting Blaine, but I think he's going to pick that up and bring it down with him when he comes for New Years.

I've got quite a reading list for Christmas break. Aside from the summer, it's the one time of year when I can sit and read whatever I want whenever I want and I don't have to read for retention. So I've come up with a list of a few books I'd like to read over break, all of which I've already ordered from the library and will probably pick up tomorrow. Here they are:
Bluest Eye and Beloved, both my Toni Morrison
The Natural History of Make-Believe by Goldthwaite (I'm working on this one now)
My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok
Blood of the Fold by Terry Goodkind
and, if I can get to it, A Brief History of Time by Steven Hawking
Oh and Candide by Molliere (the last two are some of Rick's favorites, so I thought I'd give em a read and see what I thought).

I have no idea how many of these I will actually get through, but I'm planning to enjoy thoroughly my first real Christmas break since I graduated from WKU (Harvard had finals after Christmas, so there were always papers to write and finals to study for during the holidays). On Demand cable and books and family and friends are my plans for the break. Oh and New Year's with Rick. Woohoo!

Now I just have to get that final out of the way....I wish it were take home. Oh well. C'est la vie.

Post 100

I almost have all of my Christmas shopping done. Woohoo! I bought something for Rick he already had, so once it gets here from Amazon I have to return it. LAME. But it's my own fault for guessing on that one. I only have to get stuff for my siblings, but I already know what I'm getting them so it's just a matter of waiting to get paid on Thursday and then going to get the presents. Umm...what else? Bought Harry Potter 5 today...I didn't get a fancy version, mostly because the simple version is so much cheaper. So that's what I got. Other than that I'm just studying.
And I miss Rick.

Papers are DONE.

That's right--I'm done writing papers for the semester. Wahoo! And for all of you naysayers out there who claim I'm always procrastinating, I would like you to note the following statistics:
History Paper: Due 12.12, Turned in 12.5
Ethics Paper: Due 12.21, Turned in 12.10
Colloquium Paper: Due 12.21, Turned in 12.10
That's right, they were all done early. Sweet. Now it's on to studying for finals. On the one hand I'm glad that I have time to study for these finals hard core (we never got that at WKU aside from one half of a day), but on the other hand I'm not looking forward to studying a very few things all day every day for the next week and a half. Oh well. As of 12.20 I am done with the semester.
Just thought I'd keep you updated.

Beer+shaving=bad idea

It's Friday, and it's Advent, and it's been snowing. And it was the day of the Friday fellowship where we decorated the tree in the YDS common room, accompanied by a keg of Sam Adam's Winter Lager, of course. Being a good div student, after work I ewnt upstairs to do my part in finishing the keg (after all, we don't want it to go to waste!!!!). I had a nice time, and my friends were all there so revelry was abounding at YDS (one of the reasons I love the place...great community!!!!). Then I braved the snow, played some guitar hero with Julie, and decided to come to my room to do laundry. After I'd put the lclothes in the dryer, I decided a hot bath would be nice. After three bottles of liquid plumber I had managed to get my drain to work and cleaned my bath tub last night. So tonight was perfect for a bath and my book (I'm starting to understand why Mom used to take baths and read...there's nothing more relaxing!). Anyway tomorrow is the ISM fancy shmancy Christmas party so I have to wear a skirt and decided to shave. So I did, not connecting the fact that a. I'm a clutz and b. I'd had the equivalent of 2.5-3 beers. I proceeded to shave and on my left knee took a generous chunk of skin away with the razor. And then I proceeded to bleed. And bleed. And bleed. Luckily it's tapered off a bit, but geez. Lesson: Don't shave your legs after drinking beer. It's not a good idea, no matter how little you think it hurts.

In other news, the semester is winding down. All I have left is one 5-7 page ethics paper, and OT final and a patristics final. Not too bad. I don't really have classes anymore so I'll spend the next week studying OT and Patristics, and the next week spending Tuesday and Wednesday doing more patristics. Joy. But I do have my schedule worked out for next semester, assuming there's no problems getting into the seminars: OT interpretation 2, Canterbury Tales (grad seminar in the English dept.), Milton (grad seminar in the English dept.), and Reformation Europe. Not too bad, really. Two seminars and two classes with sections. It could be worse, but I think it will be a good balance. Fingers crossed it works out that way.

It snowed today and it's so quiet outside. It's that quiet that only comes after snow...even in Boston it got this quiet when it would snow alot. I like snow, as long as I don't have to drive or go out in it. Luckily I live on campus so there wasn't far to go. But it definitely means winter is here.

Hope you are all having a blessed Advent.

Peace

Checklist, etc.

Here's what's coming up:
12/5- History Exam
History Paper, 8-10 pp (technically now due 12/12 but I'm making myself turn it in by 12.5)
12/7- Coll. paper. Not too bad. 300 words. Whatever.
12/10- Ethics Section
Ethics paper 5-7 pp (not due until 12/21, but again I'm making myself do it early)
12/17- OT final. It shouldn't be too bad. 3 hours, though, which sucks, but she gives out good guidance beforehand.
12/20- Patristics final. This is going to be a beast. A real beast. Tons of stuff on there, tons to review, from 33-451 CE are up for grabs. Sheesh.

So the semester doesn't look too bad from here on out, actually. My bigger papers are turned in, except for history, and the research for that is going well (I'm looking at the historicity of the "Archbishop" episode of Blackadder 1, specifically church-state relations at the end of the 15th century. Really really interesting stuff, actually). The patristics final is the only thing that makes me the slightest bit edgy, and that's only because of the amount of preparation it will take.

On another note, I'm surprised how many people actually care about this writers strike. I watch 3 shows on TV ona regular basis, and really my life wouldn't be over without them. Get over it and stop writing crap. That's my message (not that anyone cares...).

Other than that...I'm trying to get through The Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis. It's good reading but not the kind of thing you want to "get through" for a class. Oh well. And then it's on to Erasmus for next week. And Augustine for Patristics. And I need to catch up on OT reading (but that can really wait until the 12th, when reading period officially starts).

Just thought I would say hey. Now it's back to reading.

Thanksgiving.

I'm back from Thanksgiving. It was good, albeit very very busy. My grandmother was visiting so the whole time home seemed very whirlwind-ish. I'm looking forward to when I can go home and actually relax. I didn't get anything done on the exegesis, but no worries. I'm taking a break from it at the moment, and in the first hour I got 3 pages of 8 done, so I think it's going pretty well. Now that I'm sitting down writing it it's turning out to be much better than I anticipated. Hopefully the finished product will be good as well, but I think using the method from this article we read in class is turning out to be a good way of structuring my argument about the Akedah. Woowoo! I like it when papers come together. It makes them actually somewhat enjoyable to write.

Rick came in this weekend. It was so so so good to see him. I know it had only been 7 days, but it felt like a long time. We went out to Sleeping Giant State Park today and went on a hike. It was beautiful and there were tons of people out, but that's a good thing. We got a nice workout. I took him out for his birthday (which was on Thanksgiving) yesterday. We saw Beowulf, which was actually pretty good, and then went to a Japanese Hibachi restaurant here in town. It was good, and we had fun. We then proceeded to watch Charlie and the Chocolate Factory here at home and drink some beer, and then we slept for 12 hours (I had to be up at 4 yesterday morning because I flew back). So that was good. And we went to Friday's after our hike today. Now I'm just doing some homework.

On another note, I got the Sufjan Stevens Christmas album on iTunes and it's amazing! I'm glad it's the season for Christmas music. I can't fit a tree in here (we're putting up Rick's on Saturday) but I got some Christmas lights and a reindeer doorhanger from Walgreens, so that should Christmas up the place a bit. and I have an Advent calendar that start on 12/1, so yay for that. Other than that...my bathtub is backed up and didn't drain from showers today, so I'll have to skip my shower tomorrow morning I guess and call maintenance. LAME.

I'm off to study again. Buy the Sufjan Stevens if you can. It's really awesome.

Oh and only 12 days left of class. And less than 2 weeks until the Golden Compass movie comes out. Yeehaw!!!

It's freakin' cold.

...

Just thought I would say hello. I'm in the midst of writing my patristics paper. It's not going too badly, and I hope it will continue that way. I would be nice to finish this today and finisht he ethics paper (I'm halfway through that one) tomorrow. Bad news on the exegesis front though, in that I'm going to have to do some research at home as well. But it will really only be a couple of hours a day, and I can do that once people are settling down for the night. I have actual work to do for school this week too, though, including reading a couple of books for classes, so that AND researching a paper probably won't be possible, unfortunately. Luckily the exegesis is only 8-10 pages, though, and I know the method I'm going to use. I just have to figure out what the hell I'm going to say, and hope I don't get home and realize I need certain books. But I've been going over my sources and hopefully I should have everything by Monday (I had to get a couple more books from the library delivered to the Div school, so that should solve that). Other than that...it didn't snow today, like they said it would. But it was friggin' cold last night and it's supposed to be friggin' cold again tonight! (26!!!!). I may have to bust out with the flannel sheets soon, if these keeps up. Last year we didn't even turn the heat on until December, but I guess this year winter may be a little colder. Who knows. Other than that, I should get back to my paper. I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving/reading week. A whole week with the fam, no classes, and I can actually get some work done on that paper without having regular school work in the way. Woohoo!

Swamped

I haven't posted recently as I'm swamped with school. Here's the rundown:
History exam today
Write ethics paper tomorrow
Write patristics paper Saturday
research exegesis next week
write exegesis over Thanksgiving
Research/write history paper week after Thanksgiving
History final and paper due 12/5
After that I only have one 5-7 page ethics paper and two finals left, so that shouldn't be too bad. Write now I'm just trying to crank out writing like a machine. Woowoo.
Other than school, I'm just trying to maintain my sanity. Rick and I went to see Sweeney Todd last weekend in Boston, which was cool. Our 1 year anniversary is the 15th, so we're both taking the 16th off to have some fun. I think we'll probably go somewhere in MA and spend the day looking around. Then it's off to KY for Thanksgiving, which will be nice. I wish I didn't have to work on the paper that week, but oh well. There's nothing I can really do about it. I don't think I can get it researched and written next week, since I'm really only at school for 3.5 days. But I should hopefully get the research done, and then the writing part shouldn't be too bad really. Anywho class starts in about 20 minutes, so I'm going to do some last minute reading. Hope you're not as swamped as I am!!!

I'm running out of title ideas...

GO SOX!!!!!!
I wish I were still in Boston today. Damn. Oh well.

Anyway, lots has been going on here. After much discernment I decided to drop out of the ordination process and switch to an MAR. I realized that I'm called to teach, and that the sacramental offices of an ordained person (which are the only things that set them apart from the laity) don't really play into my calling. So why do it? It felt like a huge weight had been lifted off of my shoulders when I came to this conclusion. Now I'm actually kind of excited about school, starting next semester (ha), in that I can take classes that really interest me and will help me towards my goal (ie religion and literature classes). I'll have to go to the academic dean and switch everything next semester, but it shouldn't be too bad.

Other than that, Rick and I were in Jersey this past weekend for the last VW show of the season. This is one his club puts on, and it's called Dubs of the Dead. People dress up their VWs and then have a costume contest, basically. It was fun, albeit cold. We'd woken up to disgusting weather (although the rain was badly needed) and then it stopped for the show, but slowly got colder. I couldn't feel my nose by the time it ended. Then we hung out with Frank and the guys, as Rick calls them. Watched Disney's 1979 movie The Black Hole. Weird. I find it hard to believe Disney made that movie! And then we watched the Kiss movie special Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park or something like that. I fell asleep during bits of it, but it's a strange strange movie. I love how it makes Kiss out to be this wholesome family fun band.

Anywho I should get going. I have class in about 20 minutes and then studying and lunch and then more class and then I have to hit the books hard. This is the beginning of the end of the semester (I think we only have 5 weeks of classes left, maybe 6) so things are starting to be due. Yikes.

I hope you're all enjoying the fall weather. It seems that it's finally arrived. We had a hard freeze last night (It was only 30 something) and up in Worcester it got down to 29! So stay warm. :)

Nice.

My boyfriend is amazing. Just thought I'd let you all know.

Dumbledore

So apparently Dumbledore was gay and in love with Gellert Grindenwald. Go to www.mugglenet.com to read the story. I'm not sure how I feel about this particular piece of information. Personally, I couldn't really care less if Dumbledore was gay or not, as his sexuality never seemed (to me) to play that big of a role in the text. Also I wonder whether this was interesting information for the kids in the audience. While I realize there's a huge adult following (of which I am most definitely one), they're still kid's books. I feel that with this revelation, conservatives who are ALREADY fighting Harry Potter are going to add this fact to the long list of reasons why the books shouldn't be read. And as we have seen in our society, especially from 2004's election on, issues of homosexuality can make or break an argument (or so it seems to me). Anywho, I guess what I'm trying to say is, why on earth did she reveal this piece of information or even talk about Dumbledore's sexuality? He was over 100. That would be like talking about your grandpa's sex life with the 10 year old grandkid. Weird, JK, weird.

PS For those reading, don't take this as an anti-homosexuality rant, because IT'S NOT. I'm just wondering why JK Rowling felt this was even pertinent information for the audience. It's food for thought, maybe.

Bag

I bought the bag! It's a Timbuk2 custom messenger bag. It cost me a pretty penny, but it should last forever and now all of my stuff won't get SOAKED every time it rains (which also means no more carrying around tons of shopping bags in my backpack in case of the odd rainstorm). I debated for a while on getting it, but decided to go for it. It should last me for a good while, and thus I'll be able to use it here and wherever I do the PhD, and then wherever I work. Yahoo. I'll let you know how it is when I get it...I picked the custom made one. The colors for the already designed bags were ok, but I really like the color scheme I picked out (slate blue, charcoal, and navy, with an orange logo and a black waterproof liner) so I decided to splurge and go for that. not to mention that it will also make the bag easier to pick out if for whatever reason it's left in a big group of Timbuk2 bags. And I like blue. Woohoo.

I overslept today and didn't make it to my morning class. Oh well. I got a really good amount of sleep. And now I'm going to start reviewing for my exam tonight. I went to a group study session last night, which wasn't too bad. I don't do well studying in groups, so at times it was frustrating but I made it through. I'm pretty confident about the terms and the passage ids, I just want to go over my material for the essay (some topic having to do with matter and spirit) before I actually have to write it. The exam is at 6:30 tonight and the professor still hasn't told us where it is. Should be interesting...

Hope you're all having a nice day. It's almost the weekend!!!

Books and Other Stuff

I have my very own copy of the Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church now. It was $109.00 after my discounts, which were many. It's normally $150.00. I know all of you math and science people out there are thinking "that's nothing!" but for religion folk, it's a chunk of change. However, I've already used it in preparing for a history exam, so at least it's started to be fruitful. The thing is awesome; it tells you basically what you need to know about almost anything in the history of Christianity. SWEET. I like it. It's on my bookshelf smiling at me right now. Woohoo!

I must admit that there are many things I wish I could be reading right now but can't as I don't have the time. For example, I want to read Ken Follett's Pillars of the Earth, which is sitting on my shelf, but it has to be either bedtime or Christmas reading. Over Thanksgiving I've got to polish up (hopefully they'll already be written) two papers and read a book. I'm also doing a paper on the Mists of Avalon, so I'll have to reread that as well as any other school stuff I have. But once Christmas break hits, I will most definitely be taking advantage of the massive amounts of reading time I plan on having (especially since I get a real break this year with no finals or Greek or papers to worry about!!!!!!!!!)

I'm debating on buying a new bag for school. I'm finding that the backpack just isn't very handy: it makes my back all sweaty any time I have to go downtown (which may be trivial but I HATE walking around with visible back sweat on my t-shirt...it makes me feel like a 50 year old man at a gym), and next semester I plan on taking at least one if not two classes downtown. Also, my wallett, keys, etc. don't feel as secure because they're on my back as opposed to by my side. And it's not waterproof, which the bag I'm looking at is. I'll let you know if I get it. It's kind of expensive, but I should hopefully be getting a deposit check soon. Maybe with some of that money I'll buy the bag. We shall see.

Other than that...I have a history exam tomorrow, an OT exam Monday, a paper due the next Tuesday (the 30th) and an OT midterm on Halloween. Needless to say, it's crunch time. Luckily the OT midterm shouldn't be too bad...we got questions beforehand AND it's open-note, so I can prepare for it however I want really. The paper also hopefully shouldn't be too horrific, but I haven't read the books yet. Guess I should get on that.

On that note, I'm going to read some Hauerwas now. Peace.

OMG

Oh my God, for those who don't know internet speak. Which, when said in a valley-girl tone, is what I think several people in my history class are saying when they think of the upcoming exam. I personally am not too worried about it. This doesn't mean that I'm not studying for it--I most definitely am. However, having majored in history in college, the format of this test is just about like every OTHER history test I took at WKU, and therefore I'm not too worried about it. It's 50 minutes. He's given us the list of terms AND the essay topic. We just don't know the two text ID's, but as long as you've read the texts you should be find. What are people freaking out about? He's practically given us the test already!

Here's where I got miffed today. The exam was actually last Monday, but because of Div school reading week about 14 Div students were out of town. So the professor agreed to set up another exam date. Well, we met today after class to pick a date, and one person (who has driven me nuts before with her anti-young clergy comments) said "Oh it has to be during the day on Friday." Well, myself and another member work on Fridays. So then a bunch of us were pulling for Wednesday. But everyone complained because Wednesday is a long day for all of us. I'll admit, it's a long day for me too but the exam is only 50 minutes! It's not like I'm sitting some 2 or 3 hour language exam. But this is the kicker. This same person protested to Wednesday night because it would be during Berkeley's Wednesday night Eucharist. I muttered to my friend "We have Eucharist every day, God forbid we go one day without it." THEN, on Thursday afternoon we have BDS colloquium, which is hands down the most pointless class I've ever taken, intro to geology included (as well as all of the 3rd grade). And she said "we CAN'T miss colloquium!" I again said to my friend "An exam would be more productive." He agreed. Anyway it's going to be Thursday evening. A few of us are going to dinner afterwards to celebrate (or, as a friend said, to mourn).

Sometimes I think too many ministers and minister-to-be's have sticks in places they shouldn't be. I sure as hell hope that I don't turn out to be one of them.

Sheesh.

On an unrelated note, I think I may have found part of the reason my left foot goes numb at the end of my runs. It felt today like there's a nerve on the ball of my foot that by the end of the run I'm putting pressure on and it's losing feeling. Hopefully when I get some new running shoes this problem will be solved.

Reading

Hi All
I'm back in classes now. Last week was reading week (a wonderful invention of Yale in which we have a whole week on in October to...read?), so I didn't have class. Rick and I traveled to KY for a few days and had a wonderful time. I'm just sad the trip couldn't have been longer. We were really busy the whole time, and didn't really get a chance just to chill with the fam. Hopefully the next trip (with Rick) will be more low key. I'm looking forward to my next trip home for the same reason. Speaking of which, the US Airways website sucks. I bought my plane ticket last night, thinking I was buying it for a flight out of Boston, and when the confirmation page came up AFTER I had paid, it had sold me a Providence flight I'd been looking at earlier that's 40 dollars more! So I'm not going to use that airline again out of principle. LAME.

As far as productivity this last week goes, I wasn't productive. At all. But that's OK. I needed the break. Now I'm studying for a history exam this week (which, in all honesty, I'm not overly stressed about) and reading like a maniac for classes, my two other exams this month, and a paper due on October 30th. Woohoo.

This weekend I read a book completely for pleasure, though, and it was awesome. I bought Into The Wild, about Chris McCandless (there's a movie by the same name that just came out). The first I'd ever heard of this kid was in an Eddie from Ohio song called "Sahara." Anyway, because of the movie Barnes and Noble as a gillion copies of the book, so I bought one and read it this weekend. It's basically about this 24 year old kid who goes off into the Alaskan wilderness and starves to death. There's obviously more to it than that--he hitched around the US after he graduated from Emory--but it was an intriguing read. It's only 200 pages so I got through it in a couple of days of intermittent reading. I also bought Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. It's supposed to be really good. Once I finish Little Women I'll start on it as my bedtime reading and let you know how it is. Or maybe I'll read the traveling funeral book first (on recommendation from my mom). Needless to say, I can't wait until Christmas break when I can sit around and read whatever I want, and they can all be fiction books that take very little brain power. Sweet.

Well, speaking of reading I have heaps of it to do. I'm on to reading Origen now for patristics, then some Hauerwas, and maybe some more stuff after history.

Oh and happy fall everyone. It actually feels like it now.

Yo.

Wow. I didn't realize it had been so long since my last post. Sorry about that, Mom (as you're the only one who reads this). Things are going well. School is, well, school. I have a paper due next week so I'm kind of scrambling to get it done. Topic: anything you want to write about the patristic period. So I'm doing mine about patristic approaches to what we today consider classical literature. Hopefully. I think I got a lead on material this morning when I was looking some things up in the library, so I hope they pan out. Unfortunately I have to work tonight and tomorrow night from 6-11, but maybe I can get some homework done then so I can work on the paper during the day. Then this weekend Rick and I are off to Ocean City, MD for H2O international. It's supposed to be a blast. I'll just be glad for a weekend at the beach. Woohoo!

On random notes, apparently there were some tornadoes in England last night. Being from a place where tornadoes are pretty frequent, I thought the BBC article was rather amusing. Scared Britons worried by the 60mph (don't they use the metric system?) winds. I guess when you're not used to those sorts of occurrences, it can be crazy. Don't get me wrong, there was some damage and everything, and I'm not downplaying that. I just find the outcries of "Holy cricket! 60 mph? Don't worry, stiff upper lip and all that!" to be somewhat amusing. But maybe that's just me.

And UL lost again this weekend. I'm hoping to make it to the UConn game, but I'm not sure I want to go if we're just going to suffer another embarassing loss. And what will I do if we lose to Rutgers? (that's where Rick went...) I'll never get over the shame. Well, yes I will. I'm a Cardinals fan, so that comes with the territory, I think.

Other than that...I have an Ember Day letter to write sometime soon. I don't know what I'm going to say. Chapel's ok, but not great. Classes are ok, but I feel rather intellectually stifled. It's not that their easy or that they're bad, I just don't have any avenue in which to engage with the material other than my own mind. That's fine, but I'm in a university. One would think I could do that sort of thing in classes. But when there are 100 people in your class, it's rather impossible. Bleh. Hopefully I'll be taking more seminars than anything after this semester, and that should make things a bit better. For now I'll just keep on trucking along.

That's all I can think of for the moment. I just got back from my run, so I'm going to change and cook dinner. Then it's off to work. Exciting, no?

Oh and the leaves are starting to change up here. I think I'll miss peak leaf season as I'll be in MD and then KY, but there are some really gorgeous trees right now.

Anywho, that's all for now.

First Aid

I think I helped save a guy's life today...well, only if there had been no one around and everyone was injured when it happened. Anywho here is what went down...

YDS is on a huge hill, and as I was walking up the hill a friend and I saw a biker going down the hill out of control. We turned to watch him, and his bicycle ran smack into the middle of a mini van, leaving a huge dent and breaking the side window. The guy ended up on the ground bleeding and in really bad shape. Being a lifeguard, I ran over to him, called 911, told whom who I was and started helping. An EMT who saw it came over too. The guy had about a 3 inch gash down the middle of his forehead/head, and the back of his head had a big flap of skin hanging down. Some other guy had a first aid kit so we put on gloves, stabilized his head, and started to clean up some of the blood out of his eyes. While the others were talking to each other, I talked to the guy to see how he was. Luckily, he was conscious and knew who he was, where he was, and wasn't really confused. He also had feeling everywhere, which is another good sign. It was a major head injury, but hopefully he avoided brain trauma. So the ambulances came and got him, and I answered some questions for the cops and that was that. I was shaky all afternoon though, as the adrenaline hit my system and then crashed. It was insane to watch, but I'm glad I was there to help. The firefighters only said thanks to the EMT guy (not that it matters) but the cop did say thanks to me. I mean, hell I was on the scene first. But that's not important. The guy was taken to a hospital and hopefully is recovering.

Lessons learned: Keep First Aid and CPR current, because you'll never know when you need them.
Keep a set of gloves in my backpack, for the same above reason.
And, most importantly,
ALWAYS WEAR A BIKE HELMET. This guy's injuries would not have been so bad (probably) if he'd had one on. I think breaking the window actually helped absorb some of the impact, but sheesh. His head cracked open like a melon.

Keep him in your prayers...

Prayer Before Study

My friend Noel here at YDS sent this prayer to me (apparently Prof. Volf used it at the beginning of Systematics--a class I'm not taking--one day). Anywho, it really is a beautiful prayer, and I think I shall incorporate it into my being, especially now.

Ineffable Creator...

Who, from the treasures of Your wisdom, has established three hierarchies of angels, has arrayed them in marvelous order above the fiery heavens,
and has marshaled the regions of the universe with such artful skill,

You are proclaimed the true font of light and wisdom, and the primal origin raised high beyond all things.

Pour forth a ray of Your brightness into the darkened places of my mind; disperse from my soul the twofold darkness into which I was born: sin and ignorance.

You make eloquent the tongues of infants. Refine my speech and pour forth upon my lips the goodness of Your blessing.

Grant to me keenness of mind, capacity to remember, skill in learning, subtlety to interpret, and eloquence in speech.

May You guide the beginning of my work, direct its progress, and bring it to completion.

You Who are true God and true Man, Who live and reign, world without end.

Amen

Grrr...

I am quite miffed with the KY DMV. WHY on earth does my registration form need a notary????? No other state requires it...this is getting ridiculous.

Weird?

Classes have started, and started well. I had two good classes on Wednesday (OT and History), and the profs were pretty amazing. One of them plays evangelical praise music at the end of every class to remind us that there are many ways of interpreting the Hebrew scriptures. The other was talking about symbols and he ripped up a dollar in front of us. That would normally be ok, if it hadn't been for the fact that I went and paid $260 for his books that afternoon. Sheesh. And then today I had my other two classes and one colloquia (the ISM doesn't meet until next Wednesday). Those were also good. So it looks as though the semester will be pretty intense but full of really interesting stuff, and I should be able to work with my interest in religion and literature in a couple of my course papers. Also, and I may be singing another tune later, almost all of my papers are due before December 1, which at this point in the semester I think will be nice. I have one due on October 4, but because of the Maryland trip the weekend before I'm going to try and get it done a little early. And I don't have any paper longer than 10 pages!!!!!! I don't think I've had that happen since college. Pretty amazing.

So this is weird...my patristics professor lives in the apartment across the hall. The normal prof. is on sabbatical this year, so he's a visiting professor from Notre Dame. And he and his wife live across the hall. I guess this means I'll have to stay on my toes especially in that class, so as not to have to deal with increased awkwardness when I pass him in the hallway...

Clifford is sold as well (finally). Now I can bring Beethoven (my blue 1993 Subaru Legacy AWD wagon) down from Worcester, hopefully on Saturday. The guy who bought it was a total hippie, which was pretty funny. I hope he gets some good use out of the truck, though (he's a painter).

Other than that, it's basically just homework time here. I had to dive right in as I have 130 pages of reading due tomorrow--which I would like to point out I've already finished. But there's other reading to be done so I'm going to try and stay on top of it. I won't get to see Rick this weekend (SAD!!!) because he's in New York state on a business trip; thus I'm hoping to be extra productive this weekend so I can start thinking about the paper that's due in three weeks. Woohoo!

First Day of School

Today is the first day of class here at Yale. The Daily Office for today includes the passage from Mark in which the people elect to free Barabbas instead of Jesus. The student who preached this morning called her sermon "Barabbas and the first day of school." Ha. Not sure what this particular passage means for the coming school year, though. I thought about that as I went in to chapel this morning--how the readings from Mark this week have all been leading up to Jesus's crucifixion (granted, one could claim that his whole life led up to that moment, but in this case I mean that it's the passion scenes that are being read). An interesting juxtaposition, to say the least. I have a meeting with my advisor this afternoon, at which point I will know for sure what I'm taking. But, if he gives the go ahead on the schedule I drew up, I'll be taking Old Testament Interpretation 1, Christian Social Ethics, Christian Theology to 451 (Patristics, basically), and History of Christianity 800-1300. It looks like it will be an alright schedule. Now I just need my loan money to hurry up and be deposited in my bank account so that I can buy books. I think I have about 150 pages of reading due on Friday, so I need the books soon. I'm glad to have homework, though. I've gotten bored just sitting around, and it makes me miss Rick even more. But hopefully with the homework I'll be able to distract myself and knuckle down for school. Anywho, here's to the first day of classes.

Labor Day Weekend

Howdy Folks
It's Labor Day weekend, and I'm in Worcester for the weekend before school starts up. We start on Wednesday, although there's registration and such on Tuesday. I'm not really sure what all that entails, but I don't think it's too complicated. I have to be in chapel that day at 8 AM, so I'm going back to New Haven on Monday night. I was hoping to stay up here and go back on Tuesday, as I won't get to see Rick next weekend since he'll be on a work trip, but oh well. I can't miss the first full chapel of the year, so what are you gonna do? I'm hoping like hell to sell the truck this weekend. The Subaru has just been sitting in Rick's garage because I still haven't been able to get the truck sold. I even dropped the price to 1800! It's not a bad vehicle, and it works, so you can't beat that. I thought I had a buyer this past week, but the guy never got back to me. So now I've got a couple of people who might be interested today, but one of them is also looking at a car with less miles on it that is 1000 but is a '91. That makes me think he'll be less likely to buy my truck, which has more miles and is more expensive. We'll see though. I would just like to get it sold so I can start driving Beethoven (the name for the new Subaru). I don't think I wrote anything about him...He's a blue 1993 AWD Subaru Legacy wagon with 180,000 miles. Automatic transmission, power windows and locks, etc. Hopefully it will be a good car in the snow. Rick swears by them, and he's the car guy so I'm willing to take his advice.

I can't believe school starts this week. Where did the summer go? The leaves up here are already starting to change, which seems a bit early to me. But it has been a little cooler I guess, albeit dry. The grass everywhere is brown and brittle, much like it was in Kentucky when I was home. But fall is definitely on its way. And with that comes school. I'm ready for classes to start, as I hate the waiting around stuff. I think I'm going to be taking Old Testament Interpretation 1, Christian Theology to 451 (Patristics), History of Christianity to 1300, and Christian Social Ethics. They all look to be interesting classes, although the history course has 19 books and a course pack, which frankly I think is ridiculous. And those books aren't at th Div school, they're downtown at the bookstore, so I'll have to make a special trip down there to pick them up once I get my loan money. Oh well, 'Tis the life of a student.

That's about all I've got for now. Just waiting for classes to start and enjoying my long weekend with Rick. Hope everyone has a good Labor Day!

Peace

Orientation

It's BTFO time here at YDS, or Before the Fall Orientation (thank about that theologically, eh?). I'd been told that it was the most awesome orientation ever, but it's really been like every other orientation I've ever been to. It's basically lots and lots of panels discussing things. So I've just basically stopped attending those sessions, and just go to the free meals :). Other than that...I'm hoping to sell the truck soon. I have a Subaru Legacy just waiting for me to drive it. His name is Beethoven. More to come later, but I'm going to watch some Family Guy now. Just wanted to say I'm here in New Haven now waiting for classes to start. Woop woop.

Tool-less Furniture

So. I've been moving in slowly to my apartment in New Haven, and in case you didn't know setting yourself up in a new place is friggin' expensive. Boo. Anywho, I've been on the hunt for a desk. My desk from Cambridge worked ok, but I really needed to upgrade to something bigger as I have a tendency to spread out when I study. Then I thought I'd found a table to use, but it was already spoken for. Thus I have been on the hunt for a good wooden table/desk for 50 dollars or less. The other day I found one for 49.99 at office depot, so I thought hey why not. I bought the desk, and yesterday I moved it into my apartment.

My new friend Julie and I discovered the joy (pysch) of tool free furniture. I have to tell you, as someone who loves putting things together (I spent hours with Legos, Capsella, and K'Nex as a kid) I found this to be the most ridiculous process EVER. You basically just push stuff together and hope it doesn't break. I put together the tv cart today (which required one No. 2 Phillips Screwdriver) and it was much easier and less physically painful than the desk. Seriously, folks. WTF? Julie and I decided that the furniture folks must think if you can only afford a 50 dollar desk, you must not be able to afford tools. It's apparently just one step above not being able to afford food. So anywho we got it together and it was still in one piece when I went to move some stuff in today. Keep your fingers crossed that it doesn't collapse under the immense weight of my homework.

Other than that escapade, I've just been moving things in (and having to buy immense amounts of stuff). I got a new bed, which is SUPER EXCITING! And I got an amazing deal...it's a 1000 dollar mattress and I got it for 300. Hell yeah. The apartment is nice. I haven't spent the night yet (I'm moving officially on Saturday) but it's coming along. The best features are the ginormous windows and the one wall that is floor to ceiling shelving. All of my books in one place! Well, all of my school books, at least. The rest I'm putting on my bookshelves. That's about all that's going on for now. I hope the beginning of everyone's school years are going well!

Sorry for the Delay

Hello everyone! I realize that it's been a month and a half since I last wrote anything. Sorry about that! This summer has been very busy, so I haven't really gotten a chance to write anything. Today is really the beginning of my summer break, as my CPE program ended last Friday. For those who don't know what that is, CPE stands for Clinical Pastoral Education. You work in a hospital and go visit patients and meet with your peers (I was in a group of 6), where you basically discuss your ministry and figure out how you bring yourself, assumptions, prejudices, histories, etc., to what you're doing. It was a really really good experience. I had heard horror stories about it, but I had a really great supervisor and my group was great too. (There was only one person who drove me nuts, but for the sake of confidentiality, etc., I won't say anymore here). But CPE was a 40 hour a week job, for which I didn't get paid, so I haven't had time to sit down and write. I've also been working on my reading list for Yale. Luckily I'm on the last book, although admittedly it is a little boring. I'm trying to keep my motivation for reading it up. Almost done!
I'm heading to KY tomorrow to visit with the fam for a week. That will be really good, and definitely a nice way to end up the summer. When I get back I'll be moving into my apartment in New Haven and then just hanging out between Worcester and there until August 28th, which marks the start of orientation. I've been trying to figure out which classes I'm going to take. One of the classes I had planned on was cancelled, so now I'm not really sure. And another class that could be interesting (and is an elective, albeit one that is in the religion and literature field) conflicts with another class that I have to take at some point. So who knows. I'll let you know what I've got it figured out, which probably won't be until the first week of classes.
Anywho, I've got to get moving. Time to do laundry, run some errands, and get packing for tomorrow!

JCPS and the Supreme Court

So I just read that the Supreme Court struck down Louisville's school desegregation policy. As one of the more segregated cities in the US (if not one of the most), I daresay this will lead to a resegregation of our school system. Now all of the rick white kids can stay safely within their own neighborhoods and never have to talk to anyone who is different from them in any way. Sheesh. I went to elementary school downtown and had an EXCELLENT education. I was always around kids who were different. So a kid was denied his first choice school. Big deal. Whatever happened to the greatest good for the greatest number? I'm sure this kid found another school where he's doing quite well. I didn't get to go to my first choice of college, but I didn't sue. And I had am amazing experience. I have three words for him and his mom: get over it. You don't always get what you want in life, and if you can't learn to live with some situations you'll be awfully unhappy. Grrr. Needless to say I'm a bit annoyed.

Heat and Harry Potter

Howdy everyone. I realized that it's been a while since my last post! Everything here in MA is good, although hot. The heat wouldn't be so bad if people had pools...but oh well. At least it's not 67 degrees. This summer has been going well. Rick and I went to the beach a couple of weeks ago. I tried to post a pic but my camera is being weird, so oh well. Maybe I'll try again. If there's a picture below, it's from the beach. I'm hoping maybe to go back this weekend with a friend while Rick works on his car. CPE is going well. This week marks the halfway point, which is kind of hard to believe but then again not too hard to believe. My truck is acting up again, and no one has offered to buy it and I have no money. So I don't know what I'm going to do there. I had a long talk with my supervisor today about the whole situation. i thought I had a part time job working as a dog-walker but they haven't really contacted me back. I did get an email from them today, though, that said they were trying to work everything out. But if my truck is starting to act up...and I have to go to Boston Monday night for a CPR recert course, so I'll need the truck then as well. It's just kind of a mess. And no one form ISM has gotten back to me about loans. So I'll have to keep calling them. Anyway, that's about all. Rick introduced me to an AWESOME show called Black Adder. It's a Britcom that is basically an historical comedy. My dad apparently has never seen it, which I find odd, but I told him he would love it. It's hysterical! So if you've never seen it, watch it. Rick just got the first season on DVD. We'll probably start watching it tonight. Ummm....Evan Almighty is out now, we're just waiting for it to show up at the drive in, which hopefully will be soon. We were going to go last week to see Pirates 3 but we had gone out to dinner the night before so we opted to stay in, due to money (aka it's cheaper). I heard Pirates 3 isn't all that great, but I would still like to see it. I loved the first 2.
Harry Potter is fast approaching. My thoughts on who will die? Voldemort. Granted, I wouldn't put it past JKR to kill Harry off, but if these books are about the triumph of good over evil, then Voldemort has to be defeated. And Harry has to do it. But I think some of our favorites will die, and in my opinion it's going to be Neville. I think the trio will stick together (and the three of them will find the horcruxes, etc.) but Neville has something in store for him, I think. But who knows. Apparently Kreacher is going to play an important role, so they had to keep him in the 5th movie on Jo's recommendation. As for Snape...I've gone back and forth on this position. When I first read HBP, I thought maybe he was ok, but there was something else going on. However, on a second read I feel he is on Voldemort's side. That may be too simplistic a reading for HP, but he killed Dumbledore. He was willing to save his own skin to kill the man who would have helped Harry most. How can that make him a friend of the Order? Anywho, those are my musings. I hope you're all doing well!
Peace

Graduation, CPE, etc.

Howdy everyone.
Sorry it's been a while, but a lot has been going on! A week ago I graduated from Harvard with an MTS. It's still weird to think that I have a Harvard degree, which, by the way, I can't read yet because it's all in Latin. I'm going to have to get it framed, though, because it's pretty impressive! Graduation was crazy...my mom, sister, brother, and nephew came up for the trip, so that was fun. They got to meet Rick. It was hilarious watching Rick and Blaine get to know one another! As Rick says "he's the most awesome kid in the world." I told him that I'd been saying that all along, but now he can agree with me. Here's a picture of Blaine and I at graduation (I still can't get over how big he's gotten!!!!) Well, I was going to post one but blogger is being slow. Maybe later. Anywho, I had a hood and everything. It was crazy. And someone did a speech in Latin (something about "John Harvard Jedi Knight). Very weird. Very Harvard.

Then it was back to the ol' hospital for CPE. I was on call last weekend (the only weekend I had to be) and it went well. No calls at night, thank the Lord, as I was exhausted from graduation. And my visits during the day went pretty well. I'm glad I have a weekend now though. I told the group yesterday that the hardest part about on call (as I was the first in the group to do it) was not the weekend but the week after. When you've been at the hospital for eight or nine days straight working you're ready for a break. So now I actually have a weekend, although I still have a book report to write. Luckily the verbatim is done. I think we're going to go to the beach today, which is really exciting! I haven't been since I was 11, and we're going to this really cheesy beach in New Hampshire where they apparently have a boardwalk with skeeball and the whole nine yards! And I think there's some big sand sculpture competition that starts tomorrow as well, so we can see some of that.

Other than that, not much is going on. Rick and I are still running, and I've gotten to the point where I actually would like to run and it's not such a pain. And it feels good when we're done with the run. We just bumped our time up to 32 minutes, and we may bump it up again soon. Today we did our hilly route and we went faster than we have been going, so it seemed like a much harder run than it did before, but we're trying to work on speed a little right now. We'll see. I must say, aside from missing my family tons I definitely miss the pool! Although, it was only 50 degrees the past couple of days, but next week it's supposed to be quite warm. A pool would be nice, but there's swimming down at the lake so we may go down there soon as well. I have a feeling that the ocean is going to be freezing! I'll take pictures, though, and maybe I can post some on here, if it's not being slow. What else? Working on the reading list from Yale. I'll start the first book this week. Should be good. Other than that, just hanging out with Rick and enjoying the summer. Hope you are too, wherever you are!!!

Summer Has Started

Howdy everyone
Well, it seems that summer has officially started. Sort of. Graduation is next week on Wednesday and Thursday. My family is coming up for the occasion, which is really exciting. No one but my brother has been able to come and visit for any extended period of time. So it should be great! And they'll be meeting Rick for the first time (except for Nathan) so that will be good as well. We're hopefully going to go on a Duck Tour (as long as I can get tickets) as well as have a cookout here at Rick's house. On another school note....I GOT A B+ IN GREEK! I swear I've never worked so hard for a grade in my life, and I am PERFECTLY happy with a B+. I honestly thought it was going to be worse. So yay for me! Needless to say I was stoked when I found out. And all of my other grades are in, my term bill paid (all 75 cents of it) and now I just have to get Rick to pick up my regalia some time this week or next week. My time at Harvard is quickly coming to a close.
I started CPE today, and it looks like a good group of people. Two are novices in the Order of Assumption, or something to that effect. (monks-in-training, basically). One is a RC nun in the Order of Notre Dame de something. She's a native Bostonian. Another is on track to be ordained in the Unitarian church, and another will be a military chaplain. And then there's me. I'm definitely the youngest, by far, which should be interesting. The program looks like it's going to be a lot of work--writing, lectures, patient visits, etc. But it shouldn't be too bad. I just ordered the books I'm going to do for my book reports--I'm such a geek, I'm excited we're getting to read and reflect on some literature. So I'm doing Merton's No Man is an Island, a book called Clinical Ethics, and C.S. Lewis's The Problem of Pain. I don't really like Lewis that much (while I like the Narnia books for enjoyment their theology is soooooooo wack) but I couldn't find anything else on that list that looked good. So I chose this one...it will let me argue with his take on theodicy :) I'm riding my bike to work this summer. The commute isn't too bad, only 10-15 minutes, and there's a bike rack in the parking garage. The ride home is actually a bit tougher because half of it is uphill, but it should be no problem by the end of the summer! I got my on call weekend (next weekend, to be exact) which I preferred. It means I can get it out of the way early and then I'm free on the weekend for the rest of the summer. Sweet. Other than that...we're supposed to choose which floors we want to work. I think I'm going to request pediatrics and orthopedics. I've worked with kids alot, and I think I could use that experience well in CPE (although the peds unit is small, hopefully I'll get it) and I am going to request orthopedics mostly because A. I couldn't think of what else to choose and B. I think there would be a good chance of encountering alot of young people on that floor. And since I want to minister to young people, mainly, that may be good. We'll see I guess. Who knows if I'll get it or not.
Other than that, not much else is going on. I've come up with a summer reading list:
The Brothers Karamazov (Dostoevsky)
Jane Eyre (one of the Brontes...Charlotte I think...but I'm not looking at it so I'm not sure)
HP and the Deathly Hallows (of course)
and the Thursday Next series.
I'm working on the Brothers book right now...I've started it so many times, I'm determined to get through it this summer, so I'm not going to read anything else until I've finished it (except for the assigned books).
Anywho, that's all for now. Hope you all are doing well and staying cool!
Peace, y'all.

Quick Update

So.
I'm done with school for the year. Weird to think that, assuming I've passed all of my classes, I've finished a Masters degree. Strange. Anyway, I'm in Louisville for a few days visiting the fam, then it's back up to Boston for camping and CPE. Woowoo! Yay for summer!

Three Words.

Papers. Are. DONE.

: )

Why?

Why oh why didn't Jesus and the authors of the New Testament speak Elizabethan English????

On a totally unrelated note...I finished my exegesis for NT. It's done. Yay! And I have two more good paper topics for two papers left to write. And a take home NT final, which I hope to start on soon, and a Greek final (not to mention a quiz or two). Things are wrapping up. I would say slowly, but not really. It just feels like it. But everything will get done. And luckily my papers don't require much outside reading...just close readings of the texts. Hopefully the books I ordered (Indian comic books...cool eh?) will come in on Monday or Tuesday. I kind of need them for the paper.

Spring is finally here, which is good. Bad for my allergies. And the sun has been wonderful, although I'm still used to Kentucky Mays, where it's 80 degrees in May and not only 65. Oh well. I'm not complaining, because it could be much colder. Rick and I went for a 21 mile bike ride yesterday evening (took about 2 hours). At one point I got us up to 22 mph. Hopefully that will get even higher. And we had two really good runs on Monday and Tuesday. I'm hoping that means I'm starting to see some results (aka not feeling miserable while running).

We're going to the circus on Sunday. Yay! And we found another drive-in near his house in Worcester. So that makes 3 total, I think. Which is beyond exciting.

And I get to go home in 15 days. :)

Getting There.

It's been a few days since my last post. Let's see, what's happened? I was in Jersey this weekend with Rick for a car show. It was fun, and the weather was absolutely fantastic! He and his 91 Vanagon won the Vanagon category, which was great. And there were some really awesome VW buses there, especially some pre-1968 split windows that were fantastic. So the weekend was really good. I got some sun, which was nice. Now it's back to work...School is almost done, with only a few weeks left to go. This is both good and bad. Good because I need a break from school. Even though I'll be doing CPE this summer, at least I won't be trying to write a bajllion papers in very little time. It's bad b ecause my papers are due in a few weeks. Ahh! I'm trying not to look at the big picture...just the details. But I have all of my paper topics (almost) finalized and will hopefully be able to start writing the shortest of the three this weekend, and maybe even finish it. I'm only taking that class pass-fail, so it's not imperative that it be a stellar paper. That's about all. Rick and I got my new beater bike up and running last weekend (during the Nor'easter). I rode it today and it's great! He said it must have been a really great bike 20 years ago, and it's still good stuff. He gave me the fenders off of his bike so now I won't get soaked when I have to ride to class in the rain. Woohoo! At least, my butt won't get soaked. The rest of me likely will. The weather has gotten so much better! I took the plastic off of my windows, and now the room feels much less stuffy. It's a little cooler today and cloudier than it has been, but it's better than the 40 degrees and rainy of the last few weeks. The trees are finally starting to blossom (as are my allergies) so that's great. Rick and I are going to forgo our run tonight and bike part of the minuteman instead. It's a 20 mile paved bike path that starts in Cambridge. I doubt we'll do the whole thing (atlhough we may very well...should only take an hour and a half or so...maybe 2), but it's fun and nice. And it's not the hilliest thing inthe world. I did it last year with Dan and Tim, and this year I t hink I'm in a bit better shape so we'll see how it goes. Anyway, I should get back to translating Xenophon. How much more fun could things get? Ha. Oh and randomthought: my nephew is huge and looks almost nothing like the kid I saw 5 months ago. Hard to believe he'll be 1 in less than a month...seems like he was just born!

School=Blah.

Sorry it's been so long since I updated this last. Let's see, where did I leave off? Oh yeah, Rick and I went to Newport over spring break for a few days. It was really really nice. The weather was pretty good (sunny, which is more than can be said for now) and we had a good time relaxing and getting away. We took the bikes with us and just rode into town from our hotel. And on Palm Sunday we went to the tiniest Episcopal Church we'd ever been to. The people were super nice (almost clingy), which I partially attribute to their community and partially to the fact that Rick and I are a young couple and small churches especially get really excited about that. Anyway. School is definitely dragging me down right now. I have so much to do, which is the main reason I haven't updated this in a while. I have four papers due in four weeks. Luckily one is almost done (only another 3 page section to go and then revisions) and I've started researching another. I'm hoping to have two done by next week and then I'll have 3 weeks to do the other two. And Greek on top of all of that. Classes have just started to feel like they're getting in the way of doing the research I need to do, and I'm frustrated because all of this school work is keeping me from spending time with my friends, most of whom will be graduating with me in June. So that's a bummer. It's just very very very stressful right now, and I can feel it wearing on my system. and the weather is horrendous. Nor'easter and now just rainy and cold. It's oppressive. It's almost the end of April and spring still hasn't arrived! The bright side is that in a month I'll get to go home to visit the fam and school will be done for the semester. Blaine turns 1 in May, which is so unbelievable. It will be good to be home for a while...I'm hoping to be there for a week. I haven't seen anyone but my brother since December. They're all coming up for graduation which should be great. I'm excited about showing them Boston, etc. Other than that...I think I'm going to go to bed now. i spent about 3 or 4 hours today translating the rest of the first chapter in Xenophon's Symposium for tomorrow, and started some reading but I keep reading the same paragraph over and over again. So that means it's bedtime. Oh and stay tuned for great news about my brother...I don't know if it's officially public yet, so I can't announce it, but once it is I'll let you know! Hope things are calmer your way, wherever you may be.

Wasting Time

So it's spring break now, and what am I doing? Homework. Well, I should be doing homework, rather. I just though I would tell you all that there's nothing much to report. Awesome. I'm trying to sell my truck, but I've gotten no responses. I'm a little afraid it's not going to sell, in which case I'll just keep it. I was just hoping to switch to something a little smaller and with AWD (in other words, a subaru.) Alas. I made 10 dollars worth of copies today at the library, and will probably do the same tomorrow for this NT project I'm working on. And yeah. That's about it. The weather is nice and not cold or snowy. Rick and I leave for Newport on Friday morning, which is really exciting. And Easter is almost here. Woohoo! Oh apparently Blaine started walking this week. I can't believe it! I'm sure he's HUGE by now.

Spring Break...Almost...Here

I'm tired of Greek. Literally and figuratively. I feel like it's slowly defeating me. Ugh. On a brighter note, spring break starts tomorrow at 10 am (after the weekly Greek quiz, of course). I'm in for a fun filled week of...researching in the library. Woohoo! Although Rick and I are going to Newport, RI next weekend. I hope it doesn't rain...it will be nice to get away for a while, and he says Newport is awesome. I'll post pics when we get back. The sun is out and the snow is melting, so hopefully that means spring is officially here. Umm...what else? That's really about it. Hopefully I'll get alot done over spring break. I need to, so I can get home for Blaine's birthday and not have a ton of stuff hanging over my head. If I could get this project for NT out of the way and get the resources together for that paper, that would be a major step in the right direction. I have about 70 pages of writing due at the end of the semester, not to mention a Greek final, so I'll have to start stepping it up. I guess that will mean staying up later and getting up earlier...joy. Anywho I should go back to studying Greek. It's taking the place of my run today (so I have to make it up tomorrow). Thanks, Greek language. Thanks.
Peace y'all.

YALE.

Yay for Yale. Just thought I would let my readers know (and I am sure that all of you were waiting with bated breath) that I did indeed get into the MDiv program at Yale. Woohoo! As a friend told me, now it won't matter who wins the Harvard-Yale game. Too true, too true.

On a different note, it's March 16th and snowing like crazy. WTF New England? IT'S MARCH!!!!!!! And on top of all of that it is supposed to rain the entire day tomorrow, which as you may know is Boston's official holiday (St. Patrick's day). Good luck to all of you going to Southie to watch the parade in the rain. Drink another beer and maybe being soaking wet in thirty degree weather won't bother you as much as it normally would.

Tomorrow, Tomorrow...

Howdy everyone. I hear from Yale tomorrow, so needless to say my ability to concentrate is significantly less than usual, which makes memorizing Greek vocabulary particularly hard. Sheesh. Just had to get that out there. Other than that...Nathan's been in this week. We went out to dinner last night at Union Oyster House, and then Rick bought us dessert at Quincy Market. It was a really nice evening. Today I think Nathan and I are going to the zoo (mostly because it's warm and sunny and I don't want to waste the nice day) and then tonight the three of us are going to the Celtics game. Should be interesting, to say the least. That's about all here, really. St. Patrick's day is Saturday, but as of now it's supposed to be really really gross. Rick and I were planning on being in Boston, but if it's going to be that gross I don't know if we'll stay here. Who knows. Walking around the city in a rain/snow mix isn't the most fun ever, even if you are drinking copious amounts of Irish beer. We'll see. Anyway, I hope the weather is as nice where you are as it is here! Keep your fingers crossed for me tomorrow...

ADRIANNE!!!!

Adrianne!!!! I couldn't access your blog because I guess it's closed to the public...is there anyway you could invite me to your blog? I'm trying to think of a way to do this without posting emails on blogger...I have tried to getback in touch with you and it never works. So yay! I'm glad you wrote! Anywho I have to go to class. I'm so glad you found me!!!!!!!!!

Up and Runnin'

Howdy folks. Well, it's a week later and I'm finally back to almost normal. I'm still coughing more than usual, especially after walking to class in the cold weather, but I'm feeling like a human being again. Thank God that illness is over...it was horrible! Now I'm just trying to dig myself out of the pile of work that built up around me. Most worrisome at the moment is Greek. I feel so behind...and we have a midterm on Friday. I think the chances of doing well on that exam are very slim. I was given the option to hold it off, but that really wouldn't make things any better, as I have so much other school work to do that I wouldn't really have any extra time to study for the Greek test. I'm just trying to get by in that class at this point. I'll be glad when it's over...I think next year I'll take Hebrew. We'll see.

Speaking of schools I should hear from Yale a week from tomorrow. I'm a little stressed about that...fears that I won't get in, that I was over-confident, etc. Hopefully they will be unfounded fears. We'll see. I'll let you know something once I know something...but pray hard for good news.

On a completely unrelated note, my top dresser drawer broke last night (the underwear drawer, of course). The bottom, which is just a thin piece of wood, had come completely un-nailed form the actual drawer, so basically the bottom out. I tried to renail the whole thing, but I couldn't get the drawer out of the larger frame (I don't even remember how we put the thing together last year) so now the wood is duct-taped to the rest of the drawer. Classy, I know. But I'll just get a new one whenever I move into my place next year.

Ummm...yeah. I should probably start doing some reading, and working on Greek (which makes my stomach hurt just to think about). Peace, y'all.

Strike That

Turns out it is pneumonia after all...I got a call from the doctor yesterday evening giving me the update...he said the radiologist had looked at the chest x rays and found it. Woohoo.

Laid Up

Well, it figures. Saturday it is supposed to be sunny and 50 degrees here in Boston. But what happens to Hilary? She gets sick. Figures. Tuesday morning I woke up with a cough, but figured it was an allergy thing. Went to my seminar and started feeling a lot worse...body aches, fatigue, etc. When I got home my temp. was about 100, so I skipped out on my second class and went to bed. Well, later that night the temp. had climbed to 101 and the cough was worse and I felt like someone had run over me with a truck. So yesterday morning I went to the doctor, thinking I had the flu. I had a fever of 103.1 (I hadn't had a fever that high in a looooooong time) and he thought it might be pneumonia so he had a chest x ray done. He didn't see anything and decided it was the flu. Went home, still had a fever. And Rick hasn't been feeling well so I was afraid I'd given something to him. (By the way Rick has been a superhero to me while I've been sick...coming over to make me dinner and bring me tissues, popsicles, etc. He's the BEST EVER.) This morning I still had a fever of about 101, so that was three days running, which isn't good, and the cough is still around (gotten worse). But I've taken ibuprofen all day and the body aches have gone away, which is nice. Don't know if the fever has officially broken yet, or if it's just down b/c of the medicine. Then tonight I get a call from the doctor, who said the radiologist had looked at my x ray and thought he saw a small bit of pneumonia. So it's not the flu. It's pneumonia. Figures. So I went and got the antibiotic for it. Hopefully the major symptoms will clear up but I have a feeling I'll be coughing for a good while. He told me to take it easy and rest, which means NOT DOING HOMEWORK, for the rest of the week. On the one hand that would seem easy. But today, when I was starting to feel a little better, I just got so bored lying around. I would try to get some reading done (which was a generally unsuccessful thing...couldn't focus) and i understand the need for rest but it's so hard, especially because I know that there's so much work I need to be getting done! Aaahhhh! Oh well. The more I rest the quicker I'll be able to do work.

On a happier note, my brother is coming to visit the week after next. Woohoo!!!

Back from Jersey

Hey Hey everyone
Well, I'm back from Jersey! It was a really really good trip, but really busy. Thus I'm exhausted. I'll write more about the weekend later...but for those of you who knew I was going down to meet Rick's parents and friends, I just wanted to let you know that everything was great. Ok now time for bed...

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!!!

24 Years, etc.

Hello Everyone!
I hope things are going well for all of my faithful readers (all two of you..maybe just one. Mom, you may be the only one who reads this thing) and that you're staying warm. It's friggin' cold up here, and from what I can tell friggin' cold at home too. Oh well, it was going to come eventually. Hopefully it won't be this cold in March, though. Hopefully.

Anyway, lots has been going on. For those who don't know, I turned 24 this week. Yay! Feels pretty much like 23, really. But then again 22 was the only time I really felt any different. I guess next year will be a different feeling, mostly because I won't be able to mooch off of my parents' car insurance anymore. Oh well. I had a great birthday. My family all called to sing happy birthday, and I'm sure Blaine would have had he been awake and able to sing. Then I had class, which wasn't that exciting really, but whatever. And then that night Rick took me out to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. He had them sing me happy birthday and everything. If his camera phone had been on him we would have taken a picture of the delicious dessert, but I'm sure many of you know what the cheesecake there looks like. Heaven. I got some great stuff this year too. Rick gave me my gift a few weeks ago, due to some weird circumstances regarding the return policy, but anyway he got me a brand new bike! It's awesome. My current bike is literally falling apart as we speak (my right brake is broken again, for those of you who know the saga of my bike). So the new bike is AWESOME!!! Rick is so great. : ) And then from the fam I got money to get myself a new pair of midweight hikers,m so I got the low Keen Targhees. Their waterproof and super-supportive, which is nice. I had a little left over, so I may use it to buy a new daypack. I plan to do lots of hiking this summer, as Worcester is in the Blackstone Valley Corridor and there's some great hiking. There's also a package coming from home with some stuff in it, but I haven't gotten it yet so who knows what' sin there (aside from my contacts).

Let's see...classes started last week. I'm taking Greek, Intro to New Testament, Hindu Epics, and Religious Lit. and the Pastoral Imagination. They all look like they should be pretty good. It's especially nice the way my schedule works out because i basically have class on Monday and Tuesday, and then for the rest of the week I just have Greek. Hopefully that will help me get a head start on some research. I actually already checked out four books from the library for one class's research paper, which is a record for me. Woohoo! On a totally different note, I hurt my foot last week. I was running and strained a tendon or ligament or something. It hurts like hell, and I went to the doctor Tuesday but they said nothing was broken, which is a good thing. It's just hard because you're supposed to stay off of it, but I have to do so much walking that it doesn't really happen...so hopefully it won't take too long to heal. I feel like all the progress I've made running and getting in shape is totally gone now because of the injury. And Rick had hurt his ankle and the minute it gets better I get hurt! Crazy. But soon I should be back up and running and back on track.

Valentine's day is next week. I'm SUPER excited about what I got Rick. Although I'm pretty sure he doesn't read this blog, I'm not going to chance it and I'll wait until afterward to tell you what I got him. It's a gift in several parts, and two of them still aren't here! I called the company last week and they said I should have it in time. I'm doubtful. Better get here. I think we're going to go out to dinner for V-Day, but go somewhere that isn't exactly Valentine's Day "material" so that hopefully we'll beat the crowds. Maybe Uno's. Maybe somewhere like that. We'll see. What matters is spending time together.

Then, next weekend...I'm meeting the parents! Rick's parents, that is. I'm excited about the trip to New Jersey. We're going to meet up with some of his college friends and (hopefully) some of his friends from his VW club. I'm excited about meeting his family and friends...he's met many of my friends up here, at least, so it will be good to meet his good buddies. And his family. He'll meet mine at graduation. I'll give you the lowdown on how the trip went next week. It should go well, and I think I'll get along with his friends, from what I can tell, but I'm still a little nervous. I want to make a good impression and everything. So yeah. Busy week, needless to say.

Well, that's about all. I have an interview for my CPE position tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed that it goes well! But for now I'm off to study some Greek and do some reading. Woohoo! Hope y'all are doing well.

Peace.

Hello Again

Sorry it's been about a month since I last posted. In my defense...it's still finals time here at Harvard. Tomorrow is the last day, and of course I have a final. And it's Greek of all things. Ugh. I'm NOT looking forward to it. One would think after that I would be done, however I have applications to finish, etc., but hopefully I can have those done by Wednesday at the latest and then take a week just to relax.

Other than finals things are going well. Rick and I are doing great, which is awesome. We went to the Sam Adams Brewery for a tour...the picture is above. Ummm what else? It seems that winter has finally arrived. So that's...ok I guess. Ha. Rick and I are doing a new running program which has been really great. He hurt his ankle, though, so we've been on hiatus for a week or so. It still looked a little rough this morning. I hope it's ok...I made him elevate it this weekend and put ice on it, and it seemed to help, but this morning he said it didn't feel perfect and he was limping some when he walked. We can't figure out what he did though, as he never turned his ankle or anything while running. Hopefully it's not a stress fracture or anything.

I can't believe I'm about to start my last semester at Harvard. It feels like I just got here...this two year degree seems so short! Hopefully I'll hear from the CPE folks soon, so I can interview and hopefully get the position. The woman who runs it seems nice and Rick and I passed the hospital on the way to CT last weekend. It looks like a nice place. So we'll see. Anyway nothing else going on here. I should get back to studying Greek. Woohoo! Hope you all are staying warm and having a great January.