of endings

Woke up this morning in excruciating pain again. I get the feeling this is going to be a regular occurrence for the next few weeks. Ulgh. So. Not. Looking. Forward. To this.

In other news, one of my pain medications is also used as an anti-depressant. So, I might not be depressed in the next few months? Haha… interesting.

I stumbled around my room, bending over like an old pregnant woman. It’s depressing. I used to totally take it for granted that I could just bend-in-half to do, well, just about everything. Bending straight down from the waist is super convenient. For getting ready in the morning, cleaning your room, getting up out of bed, and numerous other things. You have no idea how much you use your abdominal muscles until you can’t or don’t want to because it causes pain. For me, I can use them, it just hurts a lot because it causes me to use the nerve that is affected by the shingles. It also hurts to slouch. Who knew.

Headed to church – I thought, on time, but I got there 5 minutes late for worship practice, for which I was kinda bummed about, but it wasn’t an issue at all. Still bummed though. Then after practice I walked around a bit and got some coffee at the coffee shop. Bud was really depressed. It was surprising. He was on the verge of tears the entire time I was getting my coffee.

Then I saw Kali, and she was already a mess. It was sad to find out that her Dad let her down and bailed on the whole song for the special offering that they were going to take for her to go to the Masters Commission up in Minnesota in a few weeks. So between that and the fact that I was leaving – this was my last Sunday at church, she was pretty down.

I found myself telling people not to be sad. I mean, I wasn’t crying. Did that make me a heartless person? (Or was it just that I’m on this anti-depressant/pain-killer? Lol) or is it because I know it’s foolish to get worked up over goodbyes? I have no idea, because it’s not like I don’t get worked up over goodbyes. I mean, I am going to miss all these people so much. Good gravy, yes, I am. It’s going to be hard going back to Oregon after having been here all summer. I haven’t been away from home and away from everyone I know in Oregon for this long since I went to Belhaven a few years ago. But even then, that was for school, and I didn’t really get to know a lot of people in the community like I have here.

Then during worship, I was supposed to play a solo of the chorus of a song… but I realized three notes in that I wasn’t supposed to play it at that exact time. Whups. But I just went with it anyway and finished it because if I stopped mid-way everyone would notice. Trick of stage performance: never let people think things happen unintentionally. The show must go on. haha.  Sooo I sat down at the back during announcements right after that feeling kinda like a dork, but oh well. The only people who knew were the worship team.

Then right as Pastor Dan was starting up his sermon, he gave a shout-out to me about how they have loved my playing and will miss me, as it’s my last week here in Shenandoah. It’s amazing how sweet all of the people here are. It’s one of the things that always manages to catch me off guard.

Then after church I passed around some bracelets that I had hand-made in the last few days for all of them. I’ll miss them a lot. Some of them had a harder time accepting my departure than others. They all wanted me to stay forever. There was a lot of hugging, and me consoling them that it would be alright, and then Danny wanted to give me something that he had been wanting to give me every day for the last week. His old guitar. Yup, this kid has the hots for me. I had to convince him that I could not take it because it was his instrument, and because there was zero way I could get it back home with me on top of everything else.

Before Kali left, I made sure to give her the package I’d assembled for her, which included a notebook/journal, some of my favorite pens for her Master’s program, and a really good book for her to work through.

I could really go for some chicken nuggets right now. Why I am telling you this, I have no idea.

Then after more and more and more goodbyes and hand-shakes, and hugs, Erica wanted to do something for lunch when she found out that I had no plans. So she, Ashley, Tricia, and her brother Michael, and I went over to El Portal (where everyone goes after church because it’s kinda the only restaurant in town) for lunch. We saw a lot (and I don’t just mean like two or three, I’m talking like 10-20) of people from church there.

Then after lunch, I came back home. Erica had handed me a box and I opened it when I got to my room. A hilarious Hoops and Yoyo talking card, and a beautiful scarf were inside. So sweet.

Then I set to work cleaning my room and organizing things more (yes, I do continue to destroy it on a daily basis, thankyouverymuch). Then I vacuumed. I can’t do that enough, it seems. As it’s Sunday, there isn’t a whole lot of much I can do for the rest of the day. I visited with Jan a bit, watched a movie on my computer, tried to update my blog, but fell asleep for a few hours, and woke up only to find that I’d managed to type some garbled nothings while I was asleep.

Tomorrow is Monday. I’m hoping to do a few things tomorrow. I believe the plan is still for me to meet up with Susannah on Tuesday for lunch in St Joseph or something like that. So pretty much everything else that I want to do in Shenandoah has to be done tomorrow. Which, isn’t a whole lot, but still.

Weird how things come to such a close like this.


Recent updates:
August 17: "of an epic all-nighter"
August 20: "of roat tripping"
August 21: "of misery and a bowling adventure"

of misery and bowling adventures

Woke up this morning in a Benadryl coma of sorts, but also in excruciating pain. I had no idea what was going on. I have this bug bite on my back, but it’s like it circled around to the front. I couldn’t figure out what the deal was. But it was to the point that this morning I could hardly move or breathe without crying. I’d like to say that I’m pretty tolerant to pain, but this was a lot of it.

I decided I didn’t need to be up just yet, so I decided that more sleep might help me and that I might just be over thinking everything.

20 minutes of aggravated and painful attempts of sleep later, I woke up in tears and decided that I should at least probably call home. Maybe it sounds extreme, but I’m sorry, I just don’t want to die or be stuck in Iowa with health complications. Not cool. So I talked with dad for awhile before realizing that I should try calling Nanch&Co’s to talk with John, because, he’s, well, a doctor, and should know about these things. I felt slightly ridiculous while I was on the phone, because I just don’t have health issues – ever. And the fact that I was kinda sobbing on the phone was awkward, but it hurt a lot and I couldn’t stop it. He asked if I could drive over to their house to have him look at my apparent bug bite and evaluate me in person. After getting off the phone I wasn’t quite sure if it was the best idea to, you know, drive in my current state, but I figured that I was able to drive last night, what is stopping me from driving 3 miles to Nancy&Co’s? Granted, by this point, I had figured out what makes it hurt more and less, and worked through it all. Pretty much doing whatever I could to get my mind off the whole thing.

Once there, John took a quick look at my side and said he pretty much had me completely diagnosed over the phone but wanted to see me in person just to confirm things. He said I have shingles. Which is related to the chicken pox, but only contagious by the rash. It’s like the chicken pox virus kinda just hangs out and chills in your nervous system until something triggers it to come out of hibernation such as low immune system, emotional stress, among other things. It then follows the nerve around from the spinal cord and to the surface of this skin, most often around the waste. With this in mind, it’s kinda awesome. I can totally tell that it’s messing with my nerve (hence the pain), but also: it’s following my nerve! It’s kinda cool. Yes, I’m a total nerd. But it’s cool that it totally traces my nerve from my back around to my stomach. I mean, it’s not a good thing, but it’s really fascinating.

Painful, yes, very. But cool to think about. Annoying, even more so. And now… at this point in time: not awesome. But I’ll deal. Because John’s a doctor, he set me up with some prescriptions right there, which was awesome. One for an anti-viral which won’t “cure” it as shingles has no cure, but it will help by slowing down the reproduction cycle of the virus allowing my body to eliminate it sooner. He also gave me some pain prescriptions which won’t stop the pain, but help it not be quite so miserable. I’m just glad, if nothing else, to know what the heck is wrong with me. I tend to over-think things sometimes, and at first I had no idea if I might have a hernia, or even a kidney stone? Good gravy, it could be anything, but thankfully, it’s just shingles (and as annoying as that is, at least it’s a fairly standard thing with a basic solution). But also: this whole thing is yet another way that makes me feel like this is Peace Corps: Midwest Edition

So after filling my prescriptions at Walmart that John gave me (which, btw: the fact that he is family and a doctor and was willing to help me was seriously a blessing. It’s awesome to know that God is watching out for me that way… still not completely sure why I have shingles… and now, but I’m sure it will all work out soon enough) I hurried home to get ready for work. Now, I wasn’t sure if I should even go to work because of having shingles, but I felt bad for having called in late and missing work before (as much as I say it doesn’t bother me, I like being responsible and a good worker, and yes, it kinda bothers me when I’m late for work). But after being at work for less than 5 minutes, they sent me home. Understandable, I suppose. I’m not upset in the slightest, really. It’s more of just something to occupy my time than anything else.

So instead of work, I just came home, took a pain pill and took a nap as it’s kind of the only way to not be aware of the pain at the moment. The meds don’t do a whole lot for the pain. They just slightly take off an edge.

Around 6, I headed over to the church because the youth group was going bowling up in Red Oak. We all piled into one of the church vans and headed off. It was only about a half hour drive, but some kids pulled out their ipods, others sang, others played road trip games or just generally talked about everything. Once in Red Oak we hit up the Taco Bell/KFC (same building) before going over to the bowling ally for cosmic bowling. Oh yeah.

I never used to be a huge aficionado for bowling, but anymore it’s something fun to do. I’m still pretty miserable at it, but regardless, it’s not as boring as it used to be for me when I was younger (the games used to talk foooor evvver when I was little).

Maggie was so much fun to talk with, and she brought her friend, Sarina, who is a foreign exchange student here in the sates for a year – she’s 15, and incredibly sweet and gorgeous.

I loved hanging out with the kids at bowling. It reminded me of being a counselor at YMA. Maybe I never went bowling with the kids (did with the counselors though), but I could generally be goofy, and they thought I was awesome, which made me laugh. They loved my stupid dance moves to the fun music that was blasting around the room, and I fell at one point because well, the combination of the floors and the bowling shoes were just no bueno for a gravity challenged person like me.

Danny was being hilariously ridiculous the entire evening. I could tell there was more than just a friendship interest in me. He’s only 18, and pretty sweet, but downright girl-crazy.

Ashley, Erica, and I had a good time laughing with each other and at the kids. It was fun, but tiring. It wasn’t so bad for me because I guess I’ve learned how to bounce around my energy and pull at it when I’m even really tired.

After playing two games, we headed back to Shenandoah. Luke kindly serenaded us the entire journey back to various worship and TobyMAC tunes  (a capella of course as we took the van that had AC but now radio).

On my way back home I stopped by HyVee to pick up a snack of some ice cream. Saw Mandie. It was great to see her again. She has a new hamster called Everything-Nice. Sooo that makes it so she has Sugar, Spice, and Everything-Nice.  Two bunnies and a hamster. She told me a few stories about her pets and their latest adventures in her house, which was adorable.

Wow, tomorrow is my last day at Shenandoah Assemblies of God. I can’t believe it. It’s going to be so weird to just… leave. I’ve gotten to know these people pretty well over the last few months

of special desserts

I went to bed at 9:30 last night for if nothing, for the reason that I could.

In other news, I brought enough clothes along with me for 2 weeks (give or take) worth of clothes to wear. I have gone over 4 weeks without doing anything related to laundry. So, needless to say, I did some laundry today. So weird.  I’d forgotten a lot of the clothes I’d brought along with me because it’s been so long since I’ve seen them. And… I still have grease and dirt stains on that shirt from – fixing the Fiero with Josh? Crazy. He’s been gone for forever… I haven’t done laundry since then? Wild.

…anyway!

Out of a combination of boredom and my veterinary/general-animal-nerdyness, I picked fleas off the dogs for about 20 minutes. Poor. Dogs. They are literally miserable. Lexx is losing his fur like mad. It actually makes me mad. But there really isn’t a whole lot of anything that I can do about it.

I’m so looking forward to being back in Oregon. As much stress as I will have and as much things  as I will have to do once I return, I am looking forward to going back.

Cleaned my room pretty well before vacuuming. Hopefully that might help with some of the insect issues I am having. Hopefully…

Went out and fed the chicks. Around 2/3 of them are outside running about and having a jolly good time in general. Jessie has not managed to devour any more thanks to the electric fence and our dogs are leaving them all alone, which is a miracle in itself.

Church tonight was good. We watched more of the video series on Romans. Pretty darn awesome. Oh! And they surprised me with a kind of a going away dessert/hangout session after church. All the ladies brought brownies, cookies, or rice krispies (someone brought this awesome cookie/cream cheese/fruit bars), and we all hung around and talked for a while. It was really special. I’m going to miss all of these people a lot. As much as Iowa is deficient on thing so to do, it is not short of awesome people.

Talked with Erica and Pastor Dan about helping with the youth bowling event planned for sometime later this weekend up in Red Oak. Should be fun.

Then headed home and made a few more bracelets for myself and friends here while skype vidchatting with Cory.

In the realm of skyping… I will have to say that even though I am well aware that my friends all have lives, and that I have talked with a few, and texted a few more since I’ve been here, I am very sad  that i haven't been able to actually be in contact with many of my friends from Oregon over the time I've been in Iowa (yes, you have lives, and I have one too, but srsly. It’s not the dark ages people!!! Facebook, skype, email, aim, google talk, text, cell phones… contact me… somehow sometime). How depressing is that. No wonder I’ve been down for the last few weeks. I’m an extrovert. I get my energy from being around people. When I’m not around people, or don’t hear from them. I die inside.  

BUT! I am super excited to see you when I’m back in Oregon, because, well, lets face it, I haven’t seen or heard from you in 3forevers (actually, 10 weeks), so of course I’m going to be a little more than excited to see (and finally talk) to you again. I miss you all bucket loads and far more than you can even imagine. So lets forget this nonsense of not talking and communicate peoples!!! lets hang out like, all the time when I'm back in your neck of the woods, eh?

of epic an all-nighter

Soooo last night, yeah, somehow I managed to stay up for the duration. I don’t know how it happened. But it just, well, did. I was up at 12 and knew i’d probably be up for a few more hours, but once 2 hit after skyping with Kim, and her wondering why she was up at midnight, I was up at 2, I wasn’t sure how much longer I’d be awake. I was hoping to go to bed soon, but my mind was still racing like crazy

(don't ask me about the lines, i have no idea why they are there... they're driving me crazy)


Then 4 came along. By this time, I had made the final decision to add more excitement and spice to my life by coloring my hair again. I kinda freaked out when I pulled off some of the highlighting kit after awhile, but the funny thing was that I knew that would happen. I mean, it’s what I was hoping for, it’s just that the initial shock is always there to surprise me with the: holy chamois: my hair is blonde. But I like it. Then I showered and skyped with kim while making more bracelets some more before cleaning my room. And then cleaning my room and then putting more things up on my walls, and then kim went to bed and I kept putting things up on my walls and kept cleaning, and doing random things on my computer, cleaning more, organizing more, putting more things up, bumming out on my computer more. It just didn’t make sense to go to bed. I mean, seriously, I wasn’t tired.

Then my alarm went off at 6:00am to get ready to meet Annette for our bike/chat date. Woah. 6? Already. How insane is that. I mean, I wondered if I might end up staying up the whole night, but I never really thought it would really, really happen, and I didn’t do it intentionally. I just wasn’t tired.

So I did my best to wrap up the cleaning, get… dressed? and head out on my bike to meed up with Annette just on the other side of the Nishna/Airport and Hwy 59 intersection. Of course, leave it up to loser me to stumble half way through that intersection with cross traffic nearing the signal. Fail. But thankfully I had my lights on, so I made it through safely because they saw me there.

Then Annette and I biked back over to the church and decided to just stay there as it might rain were we to bike around or sit at a park (plus, it was deathly humid). After a few hours of talking on the couches at the church, I biked back to the farmhouse. The whole way back I had started to feel the whole you’ve-been-up-for-too-long kinda thing and was quite nauseous. But I made it safely back to the farmhouse and went straight to bed. Napped for five hours before heading to work. I was so confused about what day it was and what time and all that when I woke up from my nap. It was around 2pm, but it was kinda overcast (very Oregon weather) and looked pretty much like it could just about be any time of day.

Worked 4-8 with Philip, Jenny, and Amber and we generally had a good time. Between Amber laughing at all my stupid sayings and jokes (surprises me every time), and Philip is awkwardly a high school football player, so everything is flirting from him. But we have a good time, between the laughing, jokes, fake-complaining, the occasional (and annoying) gossip about the co-workers and regular customers, making of set-ups, and rag throwing/hitting, it’s always fun.

Looking back on it all, I realize that I had slept in until noon the day before my epic all-nighter (my second on record), so really, it was no worse as if I had stayed up til 3 after getting up at 6 the same day. Which I’ve done before (more times than I would like to say). So the whole staying-up-all-night isn’t nearly as awful or epic as some might like to think.

of mornings...

Argued madly with alarm clock that mercilessly kept going off every 2 minutes for 40 minutes. Yes, I did it to myself. Yes, it’s dumb. But I need to be getting up earlier. And it’s the only way I can get myself to do it because I’m the only one in my room – I mean, I can’t really ask anyone else here to wake me up at 6. I could have a friend call me, I suppose that might work, yeah, but at the same time, all my friends back home are still in bed at that hour (unless they are still up… lol) and I don’t know many people out here who are up that early.

Got up, and decided to try to find something to eat downstairs. I really wanted coffee, but I didn’t want to… drink whatever that concoction is that is in that pickle jar… then, I found it. The money item. Blueberry muffin/pancake mix. Brilliance in a box, right? Wrong. Yes, we might have had all the two ingredients needed for this stroke of genius, however, we lacked a few items. Namely: a pan to make them in, a spatula to flip them with, and syrup. How ridiculously lame to an amazing discovery is that? So I just drove down to the MD Lounge and got myself some coffee when I failed to even find some tea that wasn’t a weird flavor (like white chocolate – white chocolate TEA? Seriously? So weird and so not feeling it… I really wanted some Awake or Earl Grey… depressing).






EDIT:
Posts that have been recently uploaded:
July 30: "of friends, biking, and decisions"
August 10: "of the art of bumming"
August 11: "of school bashes and missing Oregon"
August 12: "of airplanes and shooting stars"
August 13 (today... erm, well, this very post, haha)


...i am still 14 posts behind. but no worries. i really want to get them up, so hopefully that will happen in the next few days (homework, and some other stuff, but gotta get this stuff in because I'm not going to get it in when i'm back in Oregon and it's going to be too hard for me then b/c i'll just miss this all in general. might as well just bite the bullet and get it out now, lol)

of school bashes and missing Oregon

Meant to get up early, didn’t, felt super sick to my stomach, which is majorly lame and I couldn’t eat anything which made it worse but I had to work anyway, and I didn’t feel sick enough to just… you know, not go, and besides, I just don’t do that anyway. I only don’t go to work when I’m basically dead. So, I went to work, and worked for 2 hours. Donna asked me if I was going back to school because apparently Philip mentioned something about it to her. Ha. That made quitting easy. I didn’t have to break it to her any way. She just straight up asked me if I was, and if it was back in Oregon. Yup and yup. So I left her a note saying when I’d be leaving and when it starts and all that.

After work, I went to the Back to School bash at ShenAG for a few hours where they were giving out free backpacks loaded with the respective school needs for elementary and middle school students. There were loads of tables full of previously loved clothing for the taking, and haircuts given by some of the local ladies. There was also a table full of cookies donated by HyVee, and some orange drink donated by the McDonald’s in town. They also had face painting, but no one was volunteering to do that, so Kali and I painted some faces. I mostly painted few flowers on some girls. They absolutely loved it. Girl after adorable little girl kept coming up to me to have a flower painted on their face.  I don’t know or think that I’m like, a fantastic artist, and I was shaking up the wall because I hadn’t really had anything to eat all day, but they actually didn’t turn out too bad, especially considering my current state of health, and the fact that we were using washable watercolor paints (lol).

Then I went home, bummed around for about an hour, worked on my puzzle for a bit, watched another back episodes of Chuck (you know, I really probably should be listening to podcasts instead of watching these…) and then got ready to head back to church for worship practice before the Wednesday night service. For some reason I was super exhausted and had a miserable case of the hiccups.  Quite the comical combination if I do say so myself.

Some dude came to fix the upstairs (closet) bathroom while I was home. I was super confused about it, but it looks better/awesome now. He put up the mirror and put a piece of wood (paneling) in front of the sink, so it looks better now. No awkward place to store the cleaning supplies though, lol, but that’s alright though. I’ll live.

Kali said that her friend that was providing her with an extra ticket to the MercyMe and Newsboys concert up at the Iowa State fair on Thursday had another extra that I could use if I wanted to go. I said I’d be down, and we were to meet up in Bedford at 2:30pm to carpool up to the state fair. Awesome and super fun, but I’d either have to switch my shift at work, not go, or dip out early… potentially awkward.

But then she texted me later, not long before church, and said that the dude actually passed the extra ticket on to a friend that he knew, instead of saving it for me, which is a disappointment (people…), but honestly, I’m really not upset about it. I seriously have not been this un-upset about something in a long time. I can still go to work, and then work on homework and other stuff here.

Church was good, we had some missionaries from Mexico speak about the work they’ve been doing down there, and they will be heading to the UK shortly.

As per usual anymore the time I spend at church is filled with several short but rather awkward conversations with Bud, and with a few other people who try to get me to stay there in Shenandoah to play my violin at the church. Bud even went so low to say that he’d steal my violin. No one I consider a friend of mine would ever say that. No one says that and lives. No one.

Drove home after church and made myself some wraps because Jan has started feeling better and getting over her cold, so we now have some food = awesome. Thennnn I watched more Chuck, bummed around online, played with my puzzle some more, texted and called a few peoples. Talked for awhile with Josh, which was fun because we haven’t actually talked in awhile, but he had to go before too long because he didn’t want to wake up his roommates (found out that he cohabitates with some of his fellow missionaries, which is awesome, but they’ve been basically fasting for the last few days because well, they’ve been short on funding and that’s at the bottom of the totem pole. Which is sad, but reality folks. He’s afraid I won’t have time to talk with him when I move back to Oregon in 2 weeks, which might and might not be true. I do have friends back home, but it’s not that I won’t want to keep in touch with my new friends from Iowa – it’s a weakness I have. I miss people like crazy-insane. I’ll miss everyone here quite terribly once I’m back to the good ol’ OR. And I don’t even mean that lightly. Even though I’ll be crazy busy with school and state fair and teaching, I’m going to still want to keep in touch with all of my friends – those from school and those from everywhere else around the world, lol. Duh.

I need to send in my internship update… hmm awkward.

Played some unfortunate phone tag with Kara… drat. We srsly need to actually talk soon, lol. Emailed mom a bit. I miss hommmeee. Can’t wait for normal food. Like Burritos, wraps, pork steak things, salad, meandering through the garden in the cool of the evening, lying on the pavement with the kitties, driving through the Gorge, cruising around downtown in my bombtastically awesome Subaru, mountains, rivers, lakes, oceannnn, fruit trees, negative humidity, cool evenings. 

Yup, I miss it.

I thought I might.

When I was planning on coming out to Iowa, I kinda figgurd that I’d miss Oregon after awhile and enjoy it all the more once I returned. Sometimes being away like this is a good thing. You stop taking things like the awesomeness of Oregon for granted.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m actually kinda liking Iowa. It’s just that at times, it’s in the evening, and I’d like to hang out with someone, but I know no one to hang out with, and it’s too hot to go out on a bike ride, and we live over a mile from town and this road is super straight and boring to walk along, and infested with mosquitoes, and everything in town closes at either 2pm, 5pm, or 11pm… so the options dwindle as the day progresses, which is lame.

And then it gets even more lame (spell-check wants me to correct this to “lamer” but I like it the way it is) when I try calling friends from back home, only to remember that they, like, but also unlike me, have lives – work, school, friends, family, church. And don’t answer their phones… or call me back… and they aren’t available for skype-chatting like they say they want to be. But I can’t let myself be upset, because the truth is that they have lives! And I can’t be mad at them for that, lol. I knew communication was going to be difficult when I was planning to fly out here back in May, so I’m dealing with it. It’s frustrating, because as much as I want to hang out with people, like, all the freaking time when I get back to Oregon, I have no $$ to do anything or go anywhere (gas and all that…), and I’ll pretty much be hitting the ground running. As of this moment, I’m not even completely positive that I’ll even be going back to my parents house before I rocket off to the Oregon State Fair for the startings of my AgEd program.

of the art of bumming

I think I’ve generally been able to perfect the art of being a bum… today I slept in til 11, then I moseyed around and finally started to clean my room (and by clean, I mean legit cleaned. I haven’t cleaned it so much since I’ve been here, basically), I worked on my puzzle a bit, only to later realize that it is too big for this card table that I hoarked from the downstairs area, so I tried working on it more on it, but then decided to move it back to the floor. Well, that’s not entirely true. I now have it on the backside of my Alice in Wonderland poster that Kim got me for my gradumation (it would be up on my wall, did this town have anything to put thins up on the wall with), and it actually doesn’t even really fit on it… it’s a panoramic shot, lol.

Talked to Lydia on the phone for awhile… I miss her a lot (“a lot” is too short a phrase for the extent that I miss her). Then I went down to HyVee because I was bored and hungry (we have little to no food… I’m talking broiled hamburgers and one uncooked one left uncovered on the same plate together, spoiled salad greens, numerous varieties of beer, diet Mountain Dew, diet Coke with Lime, water, Gatorade, light Gatorade, HyVee brand cinnamon Life cereal…. Yeah I think that’s about it besides some milk, orange juice, and assorted sauces and salad dressings. I was going to get something to eat, but I ended up just going for some ice cream. Found the HyVee brand for $1.48/box. So picked up Cookies and Cream and Butter Crunch. I wanted cookie dough or mint chip, but I didn’t see either. And while I was there I remembered that I had another handy-dandy frozen Totino’s in the freezer to pop in the new, fancy schmancy toaster oven.

I still need to figure out what I want to do for my birthday. Aunt Jan said they’d be down with doing whatever I want, but I don’t know what it is… and I have to work 4-8 on my birthday… AND it’s on a Sunday. So that rules out a lot of the day.

I still need to quit my job – if nothing else then simply after yesterday, I have nothing wrong with just leaving it as it is. As much as I didn’t like working back at the MD Lounge in Oregon, it was actually decent compared to the super crappy management and constant blame-shifting that goes on here. Misery.

For the rest of today, I ended up attempting to update my blog (hence, this post, finally, after a ridiculous amount of delay), but… mostly I just watched too much back episodes of Chuck and ate too much ice cream, worked on my puzzle a bit, and missed hanging out with people, working out and being generally active in life.

It’s so retardedly hot anymore. It’s pushing 100 every night – for the whole night (like, you know… from sunset to sunrise? Yeah… 100 outside during those hours), and just gets hotter during the day. It’s frustrating. I can’t do anything outside. It’s too hot to even go for a midnight run or bike ride to the park to sit on the swings (even though the park actually closes at 10 and I have been kicked out by the cops before… haha).

Sometimes I wonder what people would think and/or do if they knew if I was a secret agent or a spy or something. I mean, really? How many people come to small town Iowa for the summer? And work on forming friendships and relationships with the people in town, get involved with the library, go for road trips around the area, but don’t really do a whole lot else? I mean, seriously, I could be top secret undercover if you didn’t know better. Ok, so, by you reading this, you automatically know that I’m not undercover (I wish…), but there are times when I just take in everything. Seeing who is where, how many of this and another thing, how things go down, watching how things play out, thinking about various ways they could potentially play out if I wanted them to be that way… etc, etc, etc, lol. I am a dork…

of getting back to things and birthday parties

NOTE: there are at least three posts that I'm currently working on updating/writing about that will show up on their respective days so that this blog remains mostly in chronological order. Sooo, I'll get those up and letcha know so you shouldn't just read the most recent one! there might be more new ones below that you've missed!!! (not that i have a huge fan base... or any response or interest in my blog at all, but it's easier than an email update every so often that i probably would never keep up with.... /rant).


Today I got up, blogged about yesterday (see below) and then oh-my-goodness, I exercised. CONCEPT!!! I miss it so ridiculously much, it's not even funny. I've gotten so ridiculously out of shape in the last like, 3 weeks, it's pathetic and down right depressing. Lotsa crunches, pushups, 8-count grande-plies (aaaahh feel the burn you ballet dancer!)... among other things. Next in order was shower. Yup, it was marvelous. Then I had some cereal before listening to more music (I'm not even sure if I really need to be blogging about this as I almost always am listening to music, but you know, the generalities of shuffling through various songs on my itunes takes up too much of my time.

I spent a good amount of time deciphering between the differences in B.o.B. (ft. Hayley Williams)'s Airplanes (5:11) and Airplanes pt2 (3:01) and Moby's Extreme Ways (3:57) and the new Extreme Ways (Bourne's Ultimatum) (4:22). It was entertaining and insightful. I like them all and I like each one for different reasons.

Then I went to work. It was pretty basic. I worked the computer and some veggies. I'm still not completely proficient on "bread" just yet, but I'm sure they'll have me on that soon enough. I also found out that the store will be closed from Sunday through Tuesday. The exact reason, I'm not entirely sure... my one guess is that the National Guard in town is having this huge shindig catered by Subway, and we might be near-to-completely out of anything afterwards. Again, I don't actually know the real reason, but that's my current guess, lol.

After work, I came home and ate lunch while poking around on my computer a bit before changing to go to Robby's 16th birthday party over at Nancy&Co's (what I feel like I always call their place... or at least when I'm thinking about it; don't ask).

I had a really good time over there again. I should seriously visit more often than I do. It's kinda lame of me. Robby had the whole evening planned out just perfectly. We were to play three rounds of Bingo in 25 minutes, then we were to order pizza and proceed to play other various games (with their respective directions and proper number of players laid on the top of each box) for the next hour and half or so while we waited for the pizzas to arrive. Haha... there were even prizes for the bingo games. aka: candy. Jan won the first round, grabbing the Reese's, I took the second game, choosing the Mixed Berry Skittles, and Nancy claimed the third round. After that, candy was passed around to everyone present (me, Jan and Jim and their family). Then I went over to the living area and played Boggle with Nancy and John while the rest of them played Chinese Checkers at the table. A short while after the pizzas came (and we interrogated each other throughly about the ridiculous lot of three letter words we'd found), Robby opened a few gifts and we had pizza. Then we headed downstairs and watched a movie called Next, which features Nicholas Cage and, lacking names: a character from 30Rock who has this thing for Jack, and Ellen (the girlfriend... who was a "wait an see") from Elizabethtown. It was interesting... not awesome, but not horrible either. Nancy and I spent most of the movie finishing up her current puzzle. Super fun. I should borrow some while I'm still in town. I'm a nerd, and a nut, I know, but I love putting them together. Half-way through the movie, we breaked to have rootbeer floats. Never, ever bad.

After the movie was over, we talked for a bit while Nancy and I continued working on the puzzle a bit more - we were so close to being done!!! it was a little more than exciting to say the least, then Jan and Jim were getting up and heading out, so I followed suit because, well, it's only logical that I head out with them considering they were my ride, I live with them, and yeah... just made sense. Plus I wanted to call some people (am I turning into a phone person??!? weird...).

But it was weird, they never looked at me or said anything to me, but I hurried out the door behind them, but when I got out the front door, they just jumped in the car and took off without me. It was the weirdest thing - although, not super unlike what happened when I'd first gotten in the car back at the farmhouse before we were leaving to go to Nancy&Co's. Jim had no idea I'd jumped in the back seat, so we sat in the driveway, Jim talking to Jan about the garden for like, 5 minutes before he noticed I was there. I mean, I guess I could have said something, but there really wasn't anything for me to say, and I wasn't like, sneaking around, it was obvious I was there...so weird. Anyway, he drove off with out me... well, more like, leaving me running after the car, and then standing in the road, wondering what in the world had just happened. So ridiculous. So then I called Jim, and he didn't answer - I was actually surprised he even had his phone with him. Had he not, I probably would have gone back inside, or walked down to McComb park and called a few friends anyway before just walking home.... as it's really not more than 2 miles. Annoying, but nothing impossible. After trying to figure out what was going on, Jim just stated that he had assumed I was going to stick around... or something like that. and just waited up at the stop sign for me to walk up to them. awesome. I was kinda upset on the drive back, but I tried not to let it really get to me. He probably just wasn't thinking about anything but his computer work that he wanted to hurry up and get back to (I mean, they left Nancy&Co's so fast that Jan even forgot her shoes...).

Once back at the farmhouse, I called Aunt Linda and we had a fun conversation just about some stuff. I mean, I had called because they live up in the area where Josh is now, but like, I dunno... it's almost more that it just made me think of them when I found out that they live in the same area. Not that I want to like, use them or anything, but that I legit miss them -- I mean, yeah, I miss Josh a whole freaking crap-ton too, but that's really and honestly why I called. It was awesome to talk with her. I'd realized that I'd really not had a legit conversation with her since.... ever? So it was kinda trippy to actually talk with her about what I'm up to with school and life and all that. Before too long though, she had to go because she had to be to work super early, but it was still good to talk, and because of all that, I was thankful to have called when I did and not any later.

Then I kinda guess I just bummed around more on my computer, researching this-and-that and stuff-n-such. I was going to call a few other people, but just didn't find the motivation as no one really ever calls me back (with the exception of Danielle -- she's off the hook until next month, love you girl!). Around 10:30 or so, I took of on my bike just because I was bored and wanted to get out of my room. Before I headed down Airport Road, I did feed the chicks though. they're getting so big!!! I really need to take  more pictures....

In other news that's not super relevant. I'm spending an ungodly and extremely unhealthy amount of time on facebook. It's bad. I mean, any more, I'm just there begging for something to do. But it's not true. I have other stuff I could be doing. So I should look into doing... that other stuff. Like, now. Yup. done.

oh, and might I add that the cicadas have really started to set in? I heard this weird noise for the longest time tonight and couldn't for the life of me figure out what in the world it was... no, it wasn't that water bottle, or that other one, or that other one, no it wasn't music, or the fan... yup. a bug. outside. like, super ridiculously far away. dumb. that's all.

Oh, and tonight, after that late-night biking adventure, I decided I need to be biking around more than I already do. Yes, it's -- it's almost 2?!?! i thought it was only just 1. Wow... mega lame, but that aside, I used to bike in the morning, and that hasn't happened in awhile. Must restart.

I watched a ton of Bill Nye the Science Guy clips on YouTube. #1, always hilarious and classic, but #2: remind me of people, places, things... and yeah. from Oregon to Japanese Chinese food.



...any more brill ideas about me going up to Minnesota?
Anyone?
Anyone?
Bueller?

No...?
drat...

on to plan...

um... H?

otherwise: plan primero: God. as He is pretty much the ultimate of awesomeness.

of spontaneity, realizations and questions

monday? no, it's tuesday. good grief.

I've realized I need to afford more grace with people here, and that I need to get things back together and keep up with the original way things were planned when I got here instead of bumming around so much.

Today I got up, showered and all that as normal, bummed around a bit on the computer, cleaned my room and vacuumed it (needed it), listened to too much music (wait... is that even possible? I think not...), then went to the library and dropped off the movies I'd picked up a few days before (Elizabethtown, which I'd watched, and the first of the Narnia installments, but I'd not watched it because I didn't find the time). Then I went to Walmart to look for some sticky-tack to finally (!!!) put up stuff on my walls... but, alas! they do not have it there. I don't understand it, really. It was so weird. So... I don't know quite what to think about that as of now. I could make a cool collage, but I'm lacking anything to put it up with... perhaps it will just have to wait til I get back to Corvallis....

As I'd talked with Kali about hanging out the day before, she shot me a text saying she was free and interested in doing... something. There's not a real whole lot of anything to do here in Shenandoah - this, as more time goes on, I am realizing more and more. So we resorted to spontaneity, which went well, I would say. We talked a bit about what I'd been up to in the last few days, and she said she had a long story about her past that was kinda associated with people I'd been around recently. Small town. People know everyone. Everyone's lives are connected in one way or another. I love hearing peoples back stories, because it gives more depth and meaning to why they are where they are today, and why they are who they are. But I don't force it out of people, and she offered it, so we picked up some ice cream at McDonald's and headed out to Manti Park to walk and explore a bit.

Once we got to Manti Park and after walking through this incredibly mosquito-infested forested area, the trail opened back up to a grassy area surrounded by acres upon acres of corn. There was a small, super old cemetery there, which we checked out for a bit before walking further in the grass and sitting down to just talk. It was a really good conversation - deep, and flowing all over and around topics on life and faith and God and family and such. Then we goofed around a bit more and I shared some about where I live back in Oregon, and some of the silly things me and my friends from OSU do together. Then after awhile she wanted to go down to Brown Shoe Store (or something like that) downtown because they were having this big sale. Ulgh, on the walk back through the forested area, I got hounded by mosquitos. It was horrible. I must have to have sweet blood or something. I just don't get it.. Super obnoxious to say the least.

After finding out that Brown's was closed, we drove around town a bit, found this awesome old barn that looked like it was from an episode of Wishbone before we headed over to Walmart to well... hangout, because, like in Hood River, that's what you do in a small town. Hang out at Walmart. They don't really have the fun downtown area with parks and awesome views downtown, so no one really hangs there.

After bumming out at Walmart for a bit, we went over to Casey's and picked up some sodas before finding our way back over to the church lot, where we'd met up a few hours before. Then we just kinda sat outside the car and blasted some christian rock music before heading our separate ways for the day. It was fun to hang out, and I'm really glad we did.

Then I was about to head back to the farmhouse, but I just didn't have the motivation to do that... there really isn't much for me back there, and I didn't want to just bum around on the computer for the next few hours before going to bed. So, I went over to McComb park. Once there, I called a million people, but no one answered, which was lame. Then I called Kelly, and we talked for an awesome-tastic 10 minutes before she had to hang up to finish her last corner and unload the combine (she was at work). Then I called dad and we talked for around an hour. It was awesome to talk to him, and I found out that Aunt Linda and Uncle David live up in Chanhassen, MN. I hadn't realized that's where they lived... I'd figured it was somewhere like, super far north, but no!!! I'd love to visit them, and plus, I dare say that's not far from the vicinity of where Josh is.... which would be mega awesome beyond the world to see him again before I go back to Oregon. Especially up there, because we pretty much ran out of anything to do down here in Shan... haha.

Then I went home, and watched part of a show with Jan on Hulu - haven't done that in a long time... then I went upstairs. I wasn't super hungry, as has been the case for a few weeks now. Lame, as I'm not a fan of feeling nauseous all the time, but otherwise, I don't really care because I don't really notice. After I was upstairs, I hit up the computer and chatted with Stephanie and Erin on fb for a bit. It was awesome to talk with them. I miss them a whole freaking lot.

But the weird thing is that the longer I'm here, the better things are... I don't really know how to describe it. Shenandoah is really boring, and there aren't many people in it, and there's not much for me to do, and the garden is kinda well, not needing any work hardly anymore, but I'm loving Shenandoah Assemblies of God, and some of the people I've met there, and the more I realize it, the more I'm going to miss it when I leave. It's going to be hard to pack up and go back to Oregon: where my life is planned out like processed cookies for the next year.

I meant to go to bed soon after going upstairs as I was actually quite tired, but somehow, I managed to stay up with that all too common problem/addiction that I have: music. Yup. I am still up and it's almost 2. I had planned to get up and go for a run and be generally productive tomorrow, but goodness knows, I'm not even going to attempt to get up at 6 tomorrow after being up so late.

I looked up bus, train, and airfares to Minneapolis... it's all about the same. The great debate is: should I go? and if so, how long? or should I not go?

To go or not to go: that is the question.

of county fairs and epic adventures

Hmm, long freaking day.... got up, showered and mostly just bummed around my room. Had such a good time last night. Woke up just thinking about it all and listening to TobyMAC some more (new album: Tonight = awesome). Then after awhile Jim came upstairs and said they were planning on going to either or both of the county fairs in the area today.

I had to pick up some stuff at the library -- really, really, really wanted to watch Elizabethtown, so I was hoping it would still be available when I got there, and I really wanted to have it to watch on Sunday after church because I'm going to be super, super, ridiculously bored when Josh leaves for Minnesota after church on Sunday. Because after then, there will be no random outings or drives, or random shenanigans to look forward to. Lame.

Anyway, after dropping off a few items and picking up Elizabethtown, the first Narnia movie and another book, we headed out to Clarinda via Hwy 2 to hit up the Page County Fair. There was hardy a crowd, no parking fee, and you park on the street (or wherever), but there were animal barns galore! First off we walked through the cows and then tried to find the open class building to find John's (Dr Bowery) photographs, because apparently he'd won "best in show" of sorts. We finally found it in the 4-H building - actually, the only building with static things... it was super small, which kinda made me sad considering the fair should be about the same size as the Hood River County Fair. We found his pictures, which were definitely the best ones there, and he'd won a "champion" award on one, and the rest "blues" which is awesome. Best in his category/class. Not bad :) Then I looked around more at the rest of the displays in the building, but Jan and Jim were itching to get out and look at the animals. Once out in the barns, Jim asked just about everyone if they had a Dexter cow, which is the breed he wishes to purchase for the farm here eventually. I figured that no one did, and that the kids wouldn't likely even know what he was talking about (yup), but it was worth asking about, I suppose. We walked through the pig barn, the small animal barn with chickens, turkeys, ducks and rabbits, and the cattle and sheep & goat barn. They have a really nice show ring. Only one, but it's super tricked out. I was having show-ring envy, haha. But it had to be covered and super nice for the risk of rain that they get out here during the summer, whereas the Hood River fair doesn't need such a cover because it pretty much never rains much during the fair.

Then we felt like we'd seen everything there was to see. Jim asked if we wanted to stay for the carnival, but really, it was just two really, really small rides for little kids, so we headed out. Once in the car, Jan suggested we stop for something to eat on our way out of town, so we stopped for Chinese food there in Clarinda. It was quite good, but I actually think that Jan and I were given the wrong plates of food - not much difference, really, chicken, spicy, good... yeah, we didn't really care, and I didn't say anything and I don't think Jan even noticed, lol. whups. There was and advertisement for The Snoopy play which would be showing in a few weeks - we might just have to try to go to that here in Clarinda when it's playing.

After lunch we headed all the way over to the Fremont County Fair over in Sidney. This fair was about the same size (?) maybe a bit smaller. The sun was shining over there though, unlike when we were out at Clarinda. Same, only one, small building for all the static displays (I think Hood River has like... three, yeah?), building for horses, another for cows, and the last for small animals. It was really pretty there. The fairgrounds are in the same location as the Sidney Rodeo (which is in like, a week!). There was a talent show going on after awhile, and all the 4-Hers were dancing and goofing around on stage. It was cute.

We drove home after that and I just kinda bummed around for awhile. I was super tired, but didn't want to nap in the car... just because I didn't want to. Got home and was no less tired, which was lame. I knew that Josh might text me around the hour of midnight to help him work on his car because he was up in Sioux City alllll day talking to people about JSAW (Jesus: Snow-Asphalt-Water) schtuffs (to start skate ministries and get the word out about their organization and to raise funds). So, I bummed around on my computer for a bit before picking up a few snacks in town before all the stores closed up for the night and went home and took a nap at like, 8 for a few hours. Got up again later to the dogs barking at... goodness knows what and bummed around on my computer for a bit and then texted Josh for a bit because he was still on his way back town from Sioux City but wanted me to run by the church to see if the garage was still open because that's where the Fiero was parked and needing to be worked on (he'd taken the Impala up to Sioux City). Locked. No bueno. Tried all the doors. Drat. So we went about deciding if we should wait til morning, or try to see if someone was up and would open the door for us. I ended up getting ahold of someone - felt kinda bad for the late hour, but we got the door open, which was awesome. It was to be a long night working on the car, but I was down for the epic adventure (as I called it, because, I mean, as hard and stressful as things can be when you're doing them all night can be fun... somehow, don't ask for a better answer to that, lol).

Josh was still around an hour out of Shenandoah, so I went back home and read Captivating for awhile before he called because he was super tired on the drive and only about 10 minutes out from town. Poor guy, he'd been up since seven that morning from driving up to Sioux City, was up super late the night before from having gone to Blue in Omaha, and was up the night before that when we went to Tarkio and skating around town after we got back. So we talked for awhile and then I headed over to the garage to help him with the car.

We go in the garage and move some stuff around to make more work space around the car and set up my stereo system to help us work by rocking out to some awesome music (Phil Wickham anyone? yes please!). He was kinda grumpy from the drive and being frustrated about the car in general needing the work, but after I handed him a Pepsi I'd picked up earlier (snacksss) he improved, lol. Oh the miracles of Pepsi late at night. But then we were both bummed out when we couldn't find the part we needed to get the car apart. Really frustrated, actually, because this would mean that it would delay his departure for Minneapolis til later. As it was he had been hoping to leave Sunday right after church, but this would put him out several more hours to go to the store to get the part during church (as stores in town are really not open on Sunday here in SmallTown, Iowa, with the exception of a few hours mid-day) and then work on it after finishing up worship at the end of service.

So, frustrated about that, and tired, we call it a night - to be continued the next morning... we were at the garage til around 3am trying to get various different ways to work, but the spindle is so busted and bolts are broken which is majorly no bueno, so we have to get the new ones on before he can drive up to Minnesota.

of normalcy and Omaha adventures

Today I got up and really hit into my homework before getting ready and going to work. Four hour shift. I'm moving up in the world. Haha. While I was there, Donna called me to the back saying how she really liked my work ethic. I'm fast, a quick learner, and I retain stuff, and I'm not stupid about things, and I'm energetic with the other employees and happy and polite with the customers. She wants to start giving me closing shifts, and then eventually opening shifts, and more hours over all. Sweet.

Got home, finished watching Black Hawk Down while eating lunch and then attacked homework. It took me longer than I was hoping, but it's alright. I got that done, showered, cleaned my room, and got ready to go out with peoples from church to go up to Omaha. ETA: 7:30pm. Happy hour at Blue starts at 10... or so we thought. Once we got there, at 9:30, we found out that it didn't start until 10:30, but they let us go with it anyway, which was awesome. We just had to wait about half an hour or so. It was such a hip, trendy, and urban place. Everyone was super tricked out and dressed up. Stilettos up the wall. It was intense. But I kinda liked it. It was fun. There is a place upstairs called Red (same restaurant, obviously, lol), but it's the bar and night club. We stayed down in Blue and ate outside. Needless to say, it was quite the experience - not to mention lots of fun.

It was me, Josh, Josh's mom, and Mandie, a girl from chruch. Josh was his normal skater self, his mom was sweet, and definitely his mother (lol), and Mandie is this super sweet, super bubbly and giggly girl. She kept whipping out her batman mask (it's actually for kids halloween costumes), and looking at people with it on while we were driving up to Omaha. Slightly ridiculous, but awesome none the less.

On our way to Omaha, we went through Emerson and then went over this old bridge that goes over the Missouri river to get to Omaha through the southeastern route through Bellevue. We passed by the Bellevue Masters Commission, which is an Assemblies of God school of ministry that both Josh and Mandie attended. Blue is located down in the old town area of Omaha. The streets are the original brick cobblestone, and the buildings are super old and awesome looking.

Blue had AMAZING sushi. Thinking back on it, I think I've only actually had sushi twice or something like that, but regardless, I've never had any that was this good. It was awesome. Not to mention the good company and exciting atmosphere.

After our late dinner, we walked down to Dodge Park, where we walked along the water for a bit, and Josh boarded for a bit, then we kept going over down to the Missouri River and walked along the boardwalk for quite awhile. We walked for awhile, Josh boarded for a bit but walked with us for most of the way. Then we walked up onto the pedestrian bridge and walked most of the way across it. We chilled out there for awhile. It was so awesome. Everything on the bridge was massive, and it was swaying slightly with the wind. So. Tight.

Then Josh boarded back to the car, and we walked to where we were he was to pick us up. The street we stopped at was just outside this restaurant that had a live jazz band playing on the deck. It was fun. There may or may not have been an impromptu improvisational dance session by yours truly.

Then we made the drive back to Shenandoah. Josh played some more music, and we found out that we're both ridiculous music junkies. He even likes Moby and Massive Attack. I about flipped out. It was awesome. He played a ton of popular Christian music. I was impressed. Also, he has so much drive and passion for it. It was so awesome. I know so many Christians who are so mellow or luke-warm, or even cold towards Christian music, that it was almost like a breath of fresh air to notice that about him. No, more than that: he couldn't seem to get enough of christian music. I loved it. It made me realize that it really is good music, no matter what other people think about it - and I really shouldn't let other's negativity affect my love for it. Done: listening to more good Christian music now. Looking at Josh at first glance, one would probably not think he was super intense about God or Christian music. Such is the beauty of Jesus Followers. We may not dress as the "quintessential christian" but we are who we are because God has made us that way, and it's that part of us which allows us to be open to non-believers, and share our love and passion for Christ with them.

We're hoping to hang out again before he leaves for Minnesota on Sunday after church. His Fiero needs some work before he leaves so he's going to work on that a bit tomorrow night (he's a grease monkey). The bearings on the wheels are busting off because the engine he put in it has too much torque or something. Might go over to chill and help out or something, we'll see... :P

of sandwich artistry and evening adventures across state lines

Got up today around... isn't important. I got up today and started in on my homework. Did some reading and watched a video for about an hour before getting ready and heading to work for my second day.

Now, I can officially say, I am a sandwich artist.

First thing, they put me on veggies. So I put all the veggies everyone requested on their sandwiches and slathered on the mayo... and man, people like they're mayo. It's disgusting. It kinda reminds me of the ladies in the back of McDonald's back in Oregon, how they have to keep everything stocked, first in-first out for everything (typical), and it was kinda funny because they thought they were going to have to teach me everything, but it's pretty basic. First in, first out, keep everything stocked, keep your ears open for the hard-to-hear customers, and the toaster oven, and the microwave, and stay out of peoples way, and tell the person at the register what people ordered, especially if it's extra meat or cheese, welcome everyone who walks in the door, learn the different kinds of sauces, figure out how to assemble salads, put sides of onion and sauces together for people.

Then after awhile, it started dying down, so Donna showed me how to work the first half of the line where you select the respective kind of bread, cut the bread, and assemble the sandwich based on the desired kinds of meats and cheeses, and then use the microwave or toaster if they so desire. It was kinda stressful, but I just took it as it went and tried to be kind to the customers and just let them know I was still learning the ropes of everything, and they, for the most part (except for two customers, one who was this old lady who wanted double meat and was super picky and impatient and I happened to be the only one working at the time, the other was this Indian dude, and I couldn't understand a thing he was saying, but he wanted no meat... or something like that, lol), were pretty good about being kind and patient (although, I will have to say that I was pretty quick, and my manager kept being surprised with my work, and how fast I was catching on to everything, and how I would ask to do other stuff... that's, well, normal, like sweeping and checking the lobby, lol).

Got home and watched part of Black Hawk Down... man, I still need to finish that, and then went to worship practice. Josh and I kinda just poked around on our instruments, made faces at each other, and joked around while the other ladies were trying to figure out the proper keys and timing to some of the pieces that were pretty straight forward for us, so we were kinda bored.

After worship, Josh mentioned that they were still going to this place called Blue that had been mentioned on Sunday, I said I was down, even though I didn't really know what it was... lol, then he realized he'd forgotten to save my number to his phone, so I called him, and we were both sitting in our cars, watching each other, laughing at me, who was having the worlds hardest time getting my sunglasses on and to stay on my face and I mentioned how I was off to the library to work on homework (oh-the-joy), and you know, such a thrilling thing, then he said that if I was interested, he had some things around the area that we could do after I was done. So I shot him a text after I was done at the library and headed home. We were going to go up to Bellvue, Nebraska, but ended up hitting up the BK Lounge (good old McD Lounge was closed for construction... the nerve), then we headed south for Tarkio, Missouri. I kept thinking he was saying "turkey" or "Tokyo" but no, Tarkio. Ridiculous name for a city, but anyway. He told me a few of his crazy stories from when he was in high school and before he was a Christian, not unlike corn-boarding, but a bit more extreme, but he'd repaid all his debts; but it was sad, as much as he want's to turn around and help the community of Shenandoah, he made such a negative name for himself back then that it's kinda stuck that way, even though he's changed a lot since then.

They have the most amazing amount of windmills there!!! It's insane. We drove up next to one and I got to stand under it. It was turning, and it was awesome. So cool. So huge, and the stars were out... yeah, it was awesome. Then we went on into Tarkio itself. Every street in that town, is named for what's on it. College? Yeah, that's the super creepy old Tarkio College that used to be a legitimate school, then got run down and then was reused as a mental hospital, and now there's just nothing but beautiful, but creepy old buildings - especially at night. It's super dark. Apparently they have a super intense library that's still full of books. So cool, but also soo sad. Park street had a park, and we hung out there for awhile after going down Main street a bit and picked up some sodas and snacks at a store. Josh stuck his finger in the radiator fluid to check if it had been leaking... it was hot. Really hot. I felt bad. But um, yeah, not such a good idea.

On the way back to Shenandoah, he talked about driving on Route 66, because, you know, everyone wants to do that, right? He was hoping to find that... city from Cars, Radiator Springs, yeah? Haha... yeah, but I said something about how he might not want to go there because it's probably too hot anyway. awkward. hilarious. i'm so mean sometimes... Anyway, he said that Route 66 was actually really boring and super horrible; it was full of potholes and at times the pavement would drop away and you'd be driving on gravel for miles on end of boring Nebraska prairie. Then he explained some to me about Blue and the historic area of Omaha along the Missouri River, and some things he did after he became a Christian and was at a ministry program.

It was really fun to hang out and see a bit more of the area. Goodness only knows I would have spent that time just plunking around on my computer, so it was awesome to get out of the farmhouse and hang out with someone.

of work, church, and chicks

Today... today, today, today, today. What did I do? Lol, goodness.

Got up, checked on the garden a bit - the plants really need to be put on something like a trellis of some sort. It's pathetic, and I'm not above thinking that some of the plants have some sort of ...something. Plus, the rain we get is just so torrential that it blasts the top soil off everywhere, and it's all flown all over everything and moved about, it's quite weird (so is this sentence).

After that, I checked up on the chicks and went back up to my room to clean it up a bit (it's been demolished again since), then showered (so far that water bottle barrier has worked with Lacy), and got ready for work. Work. Weird. What is also weird is that I felt like I did when going to class... I rushed around my room getting ready with enough time, but I was so distracted by the world that I was rushing out the door with just enough time to squeak in the door early.

Got there, and was kinda nervous about it. I've had so many first days of work that I've been humiliated to the worlds end and back. But I walked in the door and three ladies were standing in a back corner, smiling and waving me back to the employee door. It was kinda cute. Then my manager looked at me, said something about me being super small and skinny and needing a smaller shirt than they had available for me, passed me my work shirts, apron, visor, and employee handbook. Then the set me to work slicing green peppers, onions (goodness, it was horrible! they are so potent. I felt like Julia Child, in tears, but dramatically slicing onions), then doing dishes, and then cutting more cucumbers and assembling properly weighed teriyaki chicken portions.

They were all super surprised at how well I was working and learning everything and not asking mindless questions. They kept noting "how the manager actually hired someone had a brain!" They couldn't get enough of how good of a worker I was. I didn't really get it, I mean, I just did what they wanted. It was super basic, and everything, although much less organized and also smaller than the McDonald's I used to work at, I was still pretty new to the whole thing. But it wasn't too bad. Just don't cut myself, and do what they tell me to do. Basic stuff, really. But apparently they get a bunch of bums or something... no idea. Regardless, I'm not sure if it's something special for this place, or that it was my first time, or what, but I got a complementary sandwich, which, I got to assemble myself.

I am a sandwich artist.

Well, okay, not quite just yet. They don't officially have me on that part of the store yet, as I was just doing prep stuff in the back, but I'm sure I'll be able to move up in rank soon enough. Haha...

After work, I ate my sandwich, read a bit for my class (goodness only knows I have to the other side of the world and back left to read), watched part of the new Sherlock Holmes movie (so good), and then took a nap. We were going to the Fremont County fair as the a/c went out around noon today, and the only place that has window units in stock is in Nebraska City, which is just past Sidney, which is where the fair is. But as it turned out, Jim ended up needing to work a computer job down in Farragut, and Jan took off for the pool (good choice), and the a/c place would only be open til five, which didn't leave enough time for everyone to come back to a central location and head out. So, that was a wash. But I ended up being able to play at church again tonight. I biked there because... I guess because I thought I would have to when I was heading downstairs, but when I got outside, both cars were home, but I wanted to go out on my bike anyway. It was hot out, but I didn't really mind. Jan came to church tonight :) She really loved the music, and I'm really glad. She stayed through the rest of the service and said that she'd like to come again.

Josh longboarded to church in skinny jeans... like girl-ish skinny jeans.
that's all.


After church, I biked home because I had biked there and all, then checked on the chicks. They're basically growing by the minute. It's crazy. Every time I go in there, they're bigger. They need a new coop soooooon. Gave the more food because they've been eating like mad-birds again. Also refilled the smaller waterer. Jim gave them some fresh grass clipping to play around in. They've also been sleeping a lot. I go in there and they're all in this massive chick-pile of sleepyness. It's pretty much adorable.

Made an epic Mexican-ish salad for dinner. Fantastic. Now to write one of my papers before heading to bed.

Was asked to come into work tomorrow at 12. That's all I know. Um... yeah. lol. I'm kinda excited about it. Gives me something to do and a way to get out of the house without spending money and all that. Plus, the ladies I worked with today were super fun and friendly.