A short drive, but a world away....

It's amazing how close vacation can be. The dorm doesn't have hot water. One of my friends was checking into the hotel a half-block away and inviting us over anyway. So I got to enjoy a bath. In a different environment. And eat room-service cheesecake. And watch TV. And now things just seem so much nicer. Despite being back in the brown and beige and slightly moldy smell...

if you could only take....

I realized at some point that coming here I answered for myself the question of "If you could only take three books with you to an island where you'd live for the rest of time, what would the be?"
Not that this is the rest of time, but that I couldn't pack a lot, scratch that, my normal amount of reading material. And I don't really have access to a library. Not buying books. Not borrowing from other people here. Just the three (or four) here.

I thought I'd share.

1. The Bible (I brought NIV) -- Because really, it has the basics of so much literature. So many stories I haven't read. Good stuff.
2. Thurber: Writings and Drawings (one of those Library of America books) -- Because it's my favorite, make-me-laugh, bedtime book. For years. I really should re-cover it.
3. Life Prayers -- Because it was a gift from work. And it has prayers and meditations that I hadn't read yet. And because I stuck in the cards from work people, so it makes me smile.
4. (if you count it as a book) My journal -- Because I have to have something to process in that's just for me.
   

"you play trumpet?"

After hearing my name and that question, I was surprised at how quickly I was able to place the speaker. I only played during middle school, so figuring out what time frame and what location he'd known me in went pretty quickly.

I hadn't seen him since we left middle school, so there was the brief exchange of paths since then. I was curious why he chose to do this. When he returned the question, I pointed to our shared past. "Why weren't you in my honors classes back then?" My classes did not reflect the race makeup of the school, but it's clear that people can be successful despite not being in them (or not successful even though they were there).

Just a reminder of the small world. The way the world shifts. And the reason why I'm here.

oh give me a home....

and get me out of this unhealthy environment.

cross fingers for sleep

The one night when I hoped to get to bed early, there's a fire alarm. I'll still be asleep by 11. But :-P (Ah well, was warned it was coming. And turned out to have other work that I was doing up until the drill anyway.)

I hate goodbye

Subject says it all.

Whether the relationship's been short or long. Whether the break's a week or unknown. Just blah.

ready, set, crash

It's been crazy. Check. But I'm glad I've done the things I've done. I've been able to identify new faces so much. And I think my group will be amazing.

Happy details:

• waking up from nap while on layover (using nalgene for a pillow=sign of exhaustion) and seeing guy I'd met earlier this week arriving to be on my flight
• shuttle pulling up and seeing another guy from our group coming straight at us (turns out he was heading to his car, but he was more than happy to help. excellent)
  
• surprise hug from behind from classmate
  

Life lesson

In reading the phone book yesterday, because I felt like it was a good way to get to know the area, the following ad caught my eye.

"Don't hump it! Pump it!"

Anyone really able to explain what this means (in non-sexual terms)? Because I couldn't figure out why people were humping "it" to begin with. To avoid you uneducated guesses, I'm not saying what the ad was for. Hehehe.

it's already this late? but it's so early.

Don't think I like deadlines that much. And certainly not when they involve saying goodbye. And definitely not when there's too many of them at once. And that's kind of the case right now.