all good things must come to an end... unless you're talking about GOD

Today I had my last appointments with girls on campus, and tonight was our last Cru gathering of the year. I'm excited for the summer (especially Germany with Becky and Michelle!!!!), but I also am sad to say goodbye to my girls and campus life. I think it'll be a sad, sad day when I decide I don't like the college grind anymore. I'm definitely far from that right now!

I should be in bed right now (very seriously)--tomorrow's going to be a crazy and LONG day. Still, I got in a cleaning/packing whirlwind, and sometimes you just don't mess with a good thing. Despite the cleaning part of the whirlwind, my room is still very messy, but I feel like I'm accomplishing something by boxing up the goods and moving them to the hallway. Hopefully the piles will be gone before my roommates get too irritated (the stuff will be gone tomorrow morning, so let's hope that's soon enough!). Although I enjoy dismantling my room on one hand, I find it extremely sad on the other. The end of any era (no matter how fun or awful) seems to be this way for me. I'm a reminiscer.

lost tail update

Yeah, it may seem a little obsessive, but I have an update on the lost tail (err... camera).

Yesterday I went back to the dorm where I thought I'd lost it, and it had been turned in! (HOORAY!) Unfortunately, they couldn't find it... only the case. There is currently a big question--where did my camera go?--and all the staff at Hawkins are wondering it, too. It seems that it was there, and when I actually came to get it, all that was left was the case. I suppose we have a mystery on our hands... or a very sloppy theft from the inside. They said they'll work to track it down... please pray that they do!

Just for nostalgic fun, here's a photo taken with my lost camera... (one of its last ones before this traumatic episode)

eyeore lost his tail...

According to a recent survey (and a survey from over a year ago), I have a melancholy personality. This is very telling. I think Eyeore was also a melancholy, and sometimes I feel like him.

This Wednesday, I did something practially unprecedented for me. I lost my digital camera without knowing it. I think it's gone forever (and although it's just a thing, I feel like a loser for having left it somewhere and not remembered to fetch it back up before leaving...). :( The saddest part of this whole thing is that I lost the pictures I'd been taking this week that were of particular value to me. Ah, those memories! I showed my melancholiness Thursday when I realized what I'd done, and Char said, "Eyeore, you lost your tail!" That is particularly why I was melancholy-feeling. I'd lost my tail.


Tonight after Cru, a few of us went to the park and played on some SERIOUS playground equipment. All people need to experience this one. The highlights included: identifying Orion & the Big Dipper, swinging HIGH, seeing Amy fitting into a toy for 2-5 year olds, and finding Emily's and my name in the sidewalk! SUPER!!!

wild honey

That's the song I'm listening to right now--a Beach Boys classic. That band brings back such great memories from childhood! Theirs was the first cassette tape I ever bought on my own, and Krystal and I had quite a collection by the time CDs came onto the scene.... There's nothing better than the first tape (I still have it). I was in 4th grade then, and would take my (uber-cool) walkman to my sisters' t-ball games and listen to the Beach Boys over and over (and over...).

I remember the star hitter, John K., always wanted to listen to "California Girls" when he was on the bench waiting for his turn to bat. Sometimes I'd let him listen to a song, but which one he heard just depended where I was in the 10 or 11-song cycle. Ah. The Beach Boys were part of a much simpler time in my life!

Tonight, I was checking out the latest stuff on www.homestarrunner.com (which I really haven't been to in months), and my roommate commented that she'd never even heard of the site. I'm shooting these questions out there, please answer them if you have any insight whatsoever:

Is Homestar something that was only popular for the nerds at MTU, or are other parts of the world impacted as profoundly?

Is my roomie simply the exception, or is it better for me to assume students/people recently graduated have not experienced Trogdor and his burnination?

it may not be the next Little Women, but...

I'm writing a book. For those to whom this comes as a surprise... are you sure you know me? I think writing is something that has always characterized me, so the thought of a book being a shock is, well, a little shocking to me.

Anyhow, I've tinkered with many-a-book-idea, but have always come back to children's novels about three little girls (I know that is uber-creative). I won't disclose details, since then you'd think you knew all about my growing-up years, but I'm enjoying the drafting process, and now I really wish I'd taken that creative writing course at Tech instead of (very awful) philosophy. Oh well, though. I can figure out what makes a good children's book... I have read hundreds of them, after all.

Any suggestions would be happily accepted, though. Tips, thoughts, ideas...?

ask him for a baby elephant

Today I finished Blue Like Jazz, and I began writing--only not on actual paper (that came later)--about some things God has done that I have witnessed firsthand. It was pretty amazing to think about all of the people I have seen Him change through His Word and...well... Himself. And the coolest part to me is that these aren't people I just know of, these are people I really KNOW. And these are people who really know me. It's almost too intense for me to bear!

And this summer...?
Casting vision (BIG VISION) is something I love doing, especially when I'm casting vision to (with?) someone who wouldn't have thought quite so big. I'm in the process of trying to get the women I meet with this year to think waaaaay outside of the box when it comes to planning for their summer breaks and their walks with the Lord. These are gals who (I think) don't really see how much God wants to use them in huge ways. At least, they don't see that yet. That's what I'm working on.

great lakes, great times

Michigan may just be my favorite state (anybody with me on "Yes! Michigan!"?)... but probably because I have so much fun when I go there to visit people. It's just chock-full of my buddies!

This weekend was no different--hung out a lot with Stephanie, saw Jean (very pregnant, and now equipped to keep her baby a healthy hue), got some SWEET new bowls (which will be employed in rice-eating...yum!), met a new friend ("belac"--a kindergartener named Caleb), and enjoyed some banter with Greg (still improving his Bad Boy image). Sigh! What a pleasant way to spend a weekend. Not a hoosier in sight (but I do enjoy Indiana, too....)! ;)

On my way home today I had a few entertaining experiences:

• A very smooth guy was at the drive-through at Fazoli's. Greg and I had to laugh (well, it was mostly me laughing) about it. I could definitely imagine him trying to put the moves on some poor girl using his drive-through voice. Funny, but a little pathetic? I will not be hit-on by the fast-food drive-through guy. I refuse!

• Needed some gas in a bad way, but none was to be had.

  Drove 12 more miles...still nothing.

  I began to think I was in the U.P.

  Finally, an exit (Michigan City) with a McDonald's.

  I go for it.

  Many miles later...still no McD's, and there's no way I can make it back to the expressway on what tiny dribble of gas which must be left in my tank.

  ...wait!

  What's that in the distance?

  GOLDEN ARCHES!!!!!

  Where there is McDonald's there surely MUST be a gas station!

  And...

  maybe...

  YES!

  I find gas about 19 miles after I thought my car was going to sputter out and die on
  me.

  Amazing how God can work with loaves and fishes!

• Talked to Brian Hassler (very briefly). This was weird, but pleasant. Still, the phone battery died, so it was short-lived.

• Missed Robert's call from Africa because of my lack-of-phone-chargedness. Why do I always miss the Polka-roo?

I also had a delicious ice cream cone. This did not make (or break) my experience, but it was pretty good. Still, the DQ guy here in Lafayette has skillz that could take any McDonald's ice cream cone maker.

romper bomper stomper boo!

Hmm... I feel like I should make a post of some sort, but I don't know what to post about. It seems that I've been frequently forgetting what I spend my time doing. People ask me how my week has been, and I say, "Um... good, I guess. I can't remember anything that I've done, so it must all be ordinary stuff." This borders on pathetic. I do not have a completely droll life--I don't! I should start remembering that.

melissa's 23!

Today is the birthday of my best friend in 6th grade--Melissa Hewlett. She's now 23. I don't know if that's at all relevant, since I haven't seen her since...11th grade? I switched schools in 7th grade, and didn't see her much except at basketball games and stuff. I think my last Melissa-encounter was at a football game. My team most definitely won.

On the birthday train, my cousin Matt turned 8 (or 9?) a week or so ago. Get this--instead of having a normal birthday party, he asked my aunt if all his friends could bring books to the party "for the orphans". Isn't that sweet? Today I mailed him some suprise bonus books, Maniac Magee and James and the Giant Peach. These two were a couple of my favorites in 4th grade, along with Harriet the Spy (I totally wanted to be her). While I was purchasing my books for orphans, I invested in a copy of Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild. It's so relaxing to read for the fun of it, and to read something that is so simple! I think all of my pleasure-hormones come out when I read. ah. What were your favorite children's books growing up? Inquisitive minds long to know.