I didn't flunk

I didn't flunk my Greek exam. I didn't do as well as I would have liked, though. I need to work harder (if that's even possible). I think I studied more this past week than I studied for my whole undergrad career! ha. Oh well.

I went home this weekend. I preached at a neighboring church. The service went long and I don't feel too good about that. Not that it's my fault. We sang a lot of hymns. Oh well. I myself don't mind going over, but some people from "my" church came because I have a reputation of getting people out early. Then, we ended up staying late. Oh well. I got a lot of good comments on my sermon, so that was good. I'm always amazed that when I go to other churches and shake hands at the end that so many people say, "Thanks for being here this morning. We hope to have you back!" It's nice to know that people think I'm doing a good job. Unless they're patronizing me. But, I'm going to choose to believe they're honest about what they say.

Anyway, I didn't do any Greek this weekend because the Prof. said at the end of class Friday, "Your assignment for this weekend is to NOT do ANY Greek at all." So, I took his advice. I got some much needed sleep. I turn stoopid when I'm lacking sleep, and that was most definitely the case. So, I slept in on Saturday and woke up refreshed. Then, I got back to the Mothership tonight and took a nap. But people kept calling me and interrupting. Ah well. Hopefully I'll be able to sleep tonight.

YS, Ma, and I went to lunch today. The food was good. I left my leftovers in Sis's fridge to give to "Howard" for lunch tomorrow or something. He's such a cute kid! He's trucking all over! Last Sunday we had to coax him to walk, and now he just gets up and does it like, "Yeah, I walk.. How 'bout it?!" When I got home Friday, I peeked around the corner and saw BiL's mom (who is babysitting him until the real babysitter gets back from vacation) and said, "Hi!" And he heard me and came right for me. I love that kid like crazy. I felt bad for leaving today without getting to tell him goodbye and give him lubbins. I don't think I'll be going home for a while.

Ok, well, with that, I think I'm going to go now. I'll talk to y'all later.

Gadzooks!

I think I may have just flunked my first Greek exam. The prof. handed out the test, I looked at it, and the entire singular second declension just flew right out of my head. I'm just hoping and praying to at least get a "C" on it.

On the brighter side, though, I totally aced my vocab quiz yesterday. 100% A+. Yeehaw. Maybe I still have a chance! :) Anyway, we have to go back around 11:00 and see how we did. I'm REALLY looking forward to that! One week down, four and a half to go!

Here or there.

Well, I'm coming along in Greek; not as fast as I'd like, but I'm getting there.

YS called me today. I wasn't in my room to answer it, though. I tried calling back, but she didn't answer, so I called Sis. Mom is going to live in a nursing home on Friday.

I don't know how I'm feeling about this. I think I'm probably blocking it so that I can stay focused on Greek. That may sound callous, but I can't change Ma's situation. OB is taking a job where he'll be travelling all around doing carpentry work at places pretty much all over the country. No one else is able to do what he's been doing. I wish he'd given us more time to get things worked out, but what can we do? Things did work out. Hopefully Ma won't hate us for this.

I gotta go do some studying now. Have a nice day.

It's all Greek to me.

Greek started today. I've been chatting with a few "upperclasspeople" about it. They've given me some valuable insight. But, I'm totally not getting some of this. I think I've got the alphabet down pretty well, but some of the other rules are just above me right now. So, my question is for those who have BTDT, should I be worried if things aren't flying right into my cognition right away?

Oh, and by the way, I only am on the computer because I took a break to write a sermon for Sunday, and because I think I was focusing too hard on it for a little while there. It's been about two hours, so I'm going to get back to my work. Comments, suggestions, and encouragement are strongly welcomed! Later, Gators.

Yo, Adrian!

Hey. I'm back at the Mothership. Got back about an hour ago. Greek starts tomorrow, so we're having an opening worship, light dinner, and orientation time. Should be interesting.

There's no crying in baseball.

The only really hard part about leaving this morning was kissing the boys goodbye. Especially because Howard was being a stinker in church today, so BiL took him out to the fellowship hall. Then, at the end of the service when I was heading back to shake Pastor's hand, he saw me and excitedly yelled for me. I laughed. Pastor and I chatted for a brief second, and then I went to see him. I love that kid. Anyway, after next Sunday when I preach at a neighboring church, I plan to not go home for a while. It's time to really dig into this "living here" thing. Yup. That's the plan.

Chinese Food and Peanut M&Ms

Ok, but definitely NOT together. Ha.

Last night, one of my bestest pals and I hung out. I went to his apartment complex and went up the stairs to walk to his apartment, but as I rounded the corner, I almost knocked this guy over the railing. He apologized, I apologized, and all was good. When I got to my pal's apt, he said I could come in and then he asked, "So, did you see a wiry, nerdy lookin' kid on your way up?" I said, "yeah, why?" and he said, "He's my new roommate!" My pal and this kid are moving ~100 yards from "Dan's" teeny weeny apt to a 2 bedroom one. I'm happy for him.

Anyway, I digress...

"Dan" and I hung out for a little while. "Cole" came back and we all chatted for a bit. I apologized for about knocking him over the railing, and he laughed and accepted my apology. After a bit he had to go. Dan and I went and ate at a Chinese Buffet! I LOVE CHINESE BUFFETS!!!! I was kinda upset because I hadn't gotten to one on my break, and that was one of my goals. So, Dan let me pick where we went, and we both had a hankerin'. So, it was good stuff. After dinner, we went back to his apt. and hung out for a while. I love hanging out wtih Dan. "Dan" is the same friend who went with me to the helicopter ride, our first skydive, hiking, and a variety of other activities. I have a lot of really awesome friends. I'm so thankful for them.

Then I came home and ate a bunch of peanut M&Ms.

Fuddy Duddy

Sorry for being such a stick in the mud lately.

Letting Go

Things change. Sometimes the change can bring positive things for us; sometimes not. Sometimes the changes can even make us angry or regretful. I learned in CPE that change=grief, and I believe this to be true. We also learned that new grief often taps into old grief. I'm learning more and more that this is true, and that the grief doesn't have to be about death. It can be about the loss of a memory or a feeling or any other number of things.

I guess I'm just sad that as years go by, I'm not able to recall voices or smells like I used to. I'm also sad that other people lose their ability to realize the importance of recalling these things. But, it's not like I can rewind and get these things back. I just have to keep trucking on, knowing that it's not the end of the world.

This post seems to be remarkably vague, but I'm just thinking about a lot. Thanks for bearing with me.

I didn't get a college degree for nothin'!

Just a note that I'm thrilled about:

I'm TOTALLY smoking the people tonight on Jeopardy!

It's a big deal to me because one of my life goals was to defeat the computer at SNES Jeopardy. I've been able to do that, but I still like knowing the "questions" in response to the answers they give. Anyway, that's all I have to say.

Love

So, as I was finishing up my last post, I decided to do a little bit of reading of my own blog. As I was doing that, Howard started crying. Sometimes he does that in the middle of the night, but usually he stops fairly quickly. Tonight though, he just kept crying and it was getting worse. I went up there and picked him up out of his crib. Tonight was the first time I've ever done that in the middle of the night. He was so upset, but I don't know why. There is a twin bed in the nursery where he sleeps, but no chair, so I held him and we laid on the bed. I turned on his little radio thing that plays "Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee" and projects a scene onto the ceiling. He quit crying pretty much as soon as I started holding him, but I could tell he was still upset. He was doing that thing with his breathing where he would breathe in a quick breath because he'd been crying so hard. Anyway, we laid on the bed and he sucked his little thumb and fell back asleep. Then, I put him back in his crib and realized that I needed to come back down here and sign off the Internet. But, I thought, "Man. I love that kid so much that it doesn't even bother me to have to go into his room and hold him for 15 minutes while he calms down in the middle of the night." I love a lot of people, and I love them deeply, but my boys have a special place in my heart. I didn't know I could love that deep. Thanks be to God for the gift of special children in our lives, and for allowing us to be a source of love and comfort for them like God is for us.

Fun

So, after a week of watching the boys, I got to leave the house tonight for something other than my nightly walk. Sis, BiL, Howard, Sunscreen, and I met BiL's sister and her man at the driving range. I'd never been to a driving range before, but it was really fun. We grabbed our golf bags and "bought" buckets of balls, and whacked around for a couple of hours. Not to sound conceited or whatever, but I was totally impressed with 85% of my hits or so. I'm not too good at distance, but I was pretty consistent in where I hit. So, yeehaw. Plus, it was just a lot of fun.

After teeing around for awhile, we went back to BiL's sister's house and ordered food. I ate way too much, but it was the wonderfulness of Mexican food! Yeah. It was really good. I'm only slightly bummed because I hurt the back of my knee while hitting golf balls, and my head hurts, but all is well.

I'm kinda looking forward to heading back to the castle. I miss my room, my computer, and doing things I've not done before. I miss intelligent conversation and the promise of new friendships and becoming better friends with some of the people I've already met. And, I'm also anxious to get back because I thrive on routine. Before the routine is established, I have a tendency to get a bit nervous. But, once I'm into a routine, I'm totally cool with it, and can even roll with the punches. But, I just want to get into learning Greek and meeting people and what not. From what I've heard, Greek is a really great bonding time. I hope so. I would really love to make new friends and cultivate relationships that are akin to the friendships I made during CPE.

And, I'm also totally looking forward to my good friend Jacki's wedding in a few weeks! It seems so strange that my friends are getting married, but I'm SO happy for them! I could not see myself married at this point at all, but we're all different people.

Anyway, I hope your "Friday the 13th" wasn't too bad. It's weird the way certain days can remind you of things. From now on, Friday the 13th will remind me of the man who died at Restaurant last year. I'm not a superstitious person, because as I've said before, "Good and bad things happen everyday," but it's just one of those thorns in my side, I guess.

I'm off for some sleep that will hopefully rid me of this headache. Hasta.

hmm

Ok, not much is going on. But, I tend to feel guilty if I don't update every couple of days or so.

I think I might be getting sick again. My throat feels funny. Boo... At least I was well enough to go skydiving last week. That's the main thing. Oh, speaking of skydiving, I was out for my walk tonight, and I passed a vehicle with a skydiving bumper sticker. I laughed a little and then noticed someone was in the vehicle, with the windows down, so I stopped and had a brief conversation with her. She's not the skydiver; her husband is. Sis is going to scold me for "talking to strangers" again. I'm always talking to strangers and every night as I go out for my walk she says, "Don't talk to strangers." Ok Sis....

I've been watching the children during the day. Howard is starting to walk a little bit. He's almost 15 months old, so it's kind of late. But, hey, he's the firstborn so we'll give him some leeway. Also, today I was sitting on the floor with him and he came up to me, pulled himself up, climbed into my lap, and gave me a big hug! That is so sweet. Then, tonight, I was lying on the couch and he climbed up there and crawled up to my head and gave me a big kiss. I love that kid so much. I love Sunscreen like mad too, but he doesn't do anything except eat, sleep, poop, fart, pee, cry, and occasionally smile. He also wakes up at about 6:30 in the morning, so I'm NOT happy about that... But hey, what are you gonna do?

Um, not much else is happening. Summer Greek starts on the 23rd. I'm slightly nervous, but I think I'll be able to do fine. I picked up French in high school fairly well. Plus, one of my CPE mates said that if you know English well, Greek shouldn't be too bad. I'm an English fanatic, so maybe I'm in luck...

And, with that, I need to be going because Scrubs is going to be on soon. I got hooked on the show this past semester because the CPE house only had about 5 channels, and Scrubs was the only good thing on t.v. it seemed. So, now I watch it whenever I can. :) So, have a good day.

Recap

So today was a pretty good day. Sunscreen was baptized today! YS and I got to be sponsors again. When we were going up to the font, BiL handed the little guy to me and I got to hold him while Pastor seashelled the water onto his head. Some of the water got on my elbow and it was really cold, but Sunscreen didn't cry or anything. He got a face like he might and I whispered, "It's okay, little buddy." to him and he quieted down. I was a smiling fool. Baptisms make me happy.

After church, Sis, BiL, Ma, and I went to the nursing home to visit Grandma. She's doing really well for being 93 years old. She was in "church" when we got there, but they were finishing up. While she was waiting to be ushered out, she saw us waiting and she blew us kisses and waved. My grandma is so darn cute. She is kinda forgetful and she walks with a walker, but I think she's doing remarkably well for her age. I love her a lot.

After we were done visiting Granny, I took Ma home and tried to use OB's comp to upload my skydiving video. It didn't work. Macs confound me, but my computer, nor Sis's computer has DVD capabilities. Hopefully I get something worked out. I did, however, upload some of the stills to my MySpace and Facebook accounts if anyone wanted to look me up on there. I'm so excited to share the stuff that I can hardly contain myself.

Oh, and OB said that Ma rebounded well enough to not have to put her in a home yet. The neurologist said that if she acquired an acute infection, it could mimic a sudden, steep dropoff. So, she was probably sick last week or something. But, she's a little bit better, so that's good. I just hope OB realizes his boundaries before he burns out.

Oh, and for the last few weeks, I have been doing a short bike ride before my walk. I ride it up the street to the end of town and then ride it down the street. Because this town is built on a river, up the street is uphill and down the street is downhill. I get going really fast on the downhill and it's a blast. I just wish I didn't have stop signs because I'd be all about riding like a psycho. But, my bike doesn't have brakes, so I need to be extra careful.

And, Sis goes back to work tomorrow, so I start babysitting the children by myself. I'm worried that I'm going to be exhausted by the time July 22nd rolls around, but I hope that it will be good exhausted. And with that, I need to be going. Have a delightful day.

Technical Difficulties

So, I've been trying to upload my skydiving video to YouTube all day long, but to no avail. So, the question is, does anyone have the know how and time to explain it to me? I haven't been able to figure out all that I need to figure out on my brother's mac computer. So, while Macs are great, they are foreign to me. If all else fails, once I return to the Mothership, I'll at least post pics. Sorry for the delay. I WISH I COULD SHARE THIS STUFF, ALREADY!

Yeehaw, Woo, and other exclamations of excitement!

So, I went skydiving today and I lived! It was totally awesome. I posted about my first skydive back in August of 2006. This time though, I got the video and pictures. So, I'm willing to sacrifice my anonymity so you all can see it if you so desire. But, it's not uploaded onto the net yet, so be patient with me. :) Have a great day!

Tomorrow is the big day!

I'm kinda nervous. I was so excited for the day for the redemption of my second tandem, and now I'm nervous. I think it's because I'm going all alone and thus will have no one to prove anything to. Oh well. I am excited. I know that once I plop outta the plane I'll be laughing and wooing, but all the stuff before that is what has me nervous. I think I was like this the last time, too, though. :) Oh well.

This whole thing makes me think about how none of us is guaranteed even our next heartbeat or breath. So, why should I be worried about things that can kill the body but not kill the soul? Eh? Well, nonetheless, I love you guys! I even appreciate those of you who I don't know in real life. You're so supportive and thoughtful. But, I honestly believe all will be well, all shall be well, and all manner of all things shall be well. But, like I said, we have no guarantees. Human life is fragile. So, all my friends, family, CPE people, Pastor, and congregation! I wub ya! :) See you after I come down!

Hmm

I think I might have tonsilitis. :( No fun.

Hopefully, I'll feel better before Friday.

Why? Because I plan to FINALLY do my 2nd tandem skydive!

That, and my nephew's 4th birthday party is that day! Yeehaw.

I hope I get better soon!!!