Journal

1/7/05

Well, I hope everyone had a simply marvelous Christmas. Mine was very merry, very fun, very long, and very stretching. I thought break was meant to be a brain break, but my brain has been whirling in circles for days. God has evidently wanted me to learn a lot, and I'm realizing all over again how I am not in control- a lesson I seem a little recalcitrant in learning. But he has been incredibly gracious to me and given me excedingly abundantly above all that I could ask and imagine. I'm rested and ready to use what little I can of my brain in this next semester. (I will focus.) I don't think I've ever been ready to go back to school before... I will attempt, in one hopefully short, entry to record three weeks of my life. (Why, in American English can we not say things like "me life." It sounds so quaint, but I suppose that it's bad grammer even in Ireland.) Let it suffice to say that I love Christmas very, very much.

My big present was a futon, I've never been so emotionally moved by a present. I actually had tears in my eyes. For those of you who have never had to survive a whole semester in a dorm room with no soft place to sit (my bed is lofted and there is barely room for me to lie down let alone sit.) you have no idea the joy that can fill your heart when you receive a piece of furniture. I felt thrilled. And then I felt old. How many young people cry with joy over getting furniture? Obviously college is aging me more rapidly than I would like.

We made all the rounds to all the family, seeing friends I haven't seen in years (did you know that the food at U of I is better than at Purdue. Man, if I had really focused and prioritized my life I could be going there, and majoring in harp performance, with my dear friend Keturah, rather than eating at Purdue and studying ears. Boy did I mess up...)

Break was filled with sleeping in, playing games with the family (did you know that I've run the world's record mile, invented a new energy source, won a Pulitzer Prize, written a best seller, and gotten a Nobel prize twice? I did. That's what I did with my "LIFE." What about you?)

I also had several ice skating adventures. I believe I went a total of three times. The first consisted of maintaining my balance while my dear brother's friends whirled around me. The second was a quieter, but much more fun outing with all the Blake kids, and the Bankes siblings, dragging in a Butram just for good measure. The Blakes, Bankes', and Butrams had a wonderful time, and although it is rumored that a certain Blake behaved rather flippantly, it is supposed that she is forgiven. The third time was with a church group. I wasn't supposed to know anyone, but I wound up knowing two, and as a result had a wonderful girl's night out.

Lavinia, Mandy, and myself went shopping right before Lav left. We went everywhere and did the most absurd things. I ate Arnie's pizza for the very first time and touched the side of a bus in traffic. (I've always been told that you are to keep your hands inside the car when you are in traffic, touching the bus seemed like a dangerous, thrilling thing to do...) We played dress up in Claire's. Did you know that you're not allowed to take pictures in stores in the mall? All well, they were already in my camera. I wasn' going to obligingly delete them. They may come in handy when I plan a heist to clean out Claire's. Now that would be a haul...