On not going back to school when everyone else does

I knew that the reality of being done with college wouldn't hit home until the new semester started. I was right.

My cousin started as a freshman this week. I've been going back and forth to her dorm room to drop off books that I'm renting or selling back...in pants. Going back on campus brings back all of the good memories and the bad memories...like I thought it would.

There are many things about my school that I love...the people, some of the routine and etc (I'm sure I would love the no hose rule if I had had it when I was a student) but at the same time there are many things that I do not miss at all.

I feel kind of strange thoough. Take for instance my morning routine. I don't go in to Streetside until ten. That's not unusual for me during the summer but now everyone is back in school. A couple of days ago I thought about that as I was doing my daily hour of reading. I realized that during the semester while I was in school I wouldn't be sitting in the recliner reading at this time of the day...I would be at school either in class or in the Snack schop working on homework.

I have to say that was a pretty strange feeling.

Here's the irony of the situation. When I do start back to school this coming June, everyone else I know will be finishing school for the semester.

On Stardust and time with friends

God taught me something yesterday...well many things actually. One was that flexibility can be a good thing.
Because I was flexible I ended up going to a movie with my sister and two of our friends to a movie in Spartanburg and I absolutely loved the movie. (I didn't end up accomplishing anything that I had planned to do but I didn't mind at all).

When I saw the preview for Stardust I thought that I might enjoy the movie but since I'm not familiar with the original story I wasn't sure if the movie would descend into contrived endings or campiness. That didn't happen...at least in my opinion.

The storyline was one of the most original I have ever read in a book or seen in a movie. I won't get into the storyline because I doubt that I could portray the plot as accurately as it should be.

For the rest of the night I kept saying how much I loved that movie. I felt like saying it more but for the sake of the sanity of those that I was around (:D) I refrained.

The other great part of the night was spending time with my friends. We had so much fun. Nothing unusual occured...just normal laughing, talking and other such things but it's something that I don't have very often, probably because of my own actions.

My hope and prayer is that in the future God will help me get out of my comfort zone and do stuff like this more often.

On frustration

I am an easily frustrated person. Anyone who has spend a decent amount of time with me (outside of work) knows this without a doubt.

Most often I become frustrated with time...something that is completely out of my control. I like having structure to my routine. I enjoy finishing things that I have to do as quickly as I can so that I can have as much free time as possible. I breathe a sigh of relief when I'm on time for work.

Just this afternoon a few things happened that if I hadn't taken a step back and several deep breaths would have freaked me out.

Yesterday morning my car wouldn't start. Everything was solved. Grandpa jumped my car and it worked fine...until this afternoon.

I came home during my lunch break so that I could work out (though the workout was abbreviated because I was so hot and exhausted from the heat) and when I got in my car to go back to work the car wouldn't start.

Thankfully Daniel was over because he'd just cut the grass so he took me to work. Mom and Grandpa are taking my car to some place (the name escapes me at the moment) tonight while I'm at work to get the battery checked out.

Then as Daniel was driving me over I realized that the key to the white van was no longer in my pants pocket. As of right now I do not know where it is.

I arrived back at Streetside starting to get a little frazzled because I had five pick ups to do and potentially no way of doing them and even if there was a spare van key lying around I had to use up precious time to find it.

I won't bore you and relate every detail of my route this afternoon but I will tell you the breaking point. That occurred when I got up stairs in one of the cardiology offices that I picked up at and saw six longs (the pans we use) displayed on the table. This eating area was upstairs and I had to go down a hallway with a cart as well. I started to freak out then, especially when I noticed that a couple of the holder things were our spares (and last resorts) and would not fit with the others.

I had to take a step back at that point and pray that God would give me grace to finish my pick ups and everything I had to do before I sent to my other job.

I wondered at first what God was trying to teach me. I think I know now.

On having too much free time

My birthday is this Wednesday. I have most of the week off (probably the whole week off) from both of my jobs. Techically I could say that it's because of my birthday but...well, I just happened to be born on a holiday.

As long as I live in America I will most likely never have to work on my birthday.

Usually I enjoy having time off. All through last semester I kept looking forward to my Sundays...the one day of the week where I had no school work to do at all and could relax and feel guilt free. Even more so I looked forward to the end of the semester when not only would I be done with college and all the rules but I could live my life without the "threat" of school work looming over my head.

Did I enjoy the free time? Oh yes.

Did I have second thoughts about taking a second job and possibly losing my evening free time? kind of...yes

Do I wish that my two jobs would let me have more hours so that I wouldn't be bored out of my mind when I wasn't working (and sometimes when I am working)? Yes!

Every so often during days off I try to think though the things that I need to do...like I did before. I've even tried to create a to do list.

That effort failed.

There simply isn't that much that I "have" to do. Come to think of it...there really isn't anything that I "have to do.

I'm taking the Praxis II test sometime in the fall and I have the social studies and language arts study guides so that I could study for those tests. I find it hard to get motivated to do that. I've enjoyed my vacation from studies so far and don't really want to get out there and do research in order to make up my own study guides.

Have you seen some of the questions? Here, I'll give you the first one and you tell me if you woudl be motivated to study for a test with questions like this?

Rather than having to pay for costly fortifications, armies, and navies, this country enjoyed free protection provided by nature. Furthermore, for more than a century, British subjects manned and paid for the costly navy that policed and defended the Atlantic and provided this country cost-free added security.
The country that benefited from the added security referred to above was which of the following?
(A) Germany
(B) Holland
(C) Sweden
(D) United States

I read this question to my mother. She looked at me, gave the answer and said "Even I knew the answer to that one!"

Of course, my mother underestimates her intelligence but still. She hasn't been in school for a while and doesn't deal in the history realm.

I'm starting to ramble here because I'm getting bored (the obvious result of too much time on my hands and not having any money to go do something with)

On going to the doctor

I know. two posts in one day. I couldn't decide what to post on and since I have full speed internet access I decided to do both.

This morning I went to the doctor for a physical.

Mom scheduled one for Laura and when she discovered that I was going to be covered under her health insurance scheduled one for me asked if I wanted to have one.

I figured that since I was going out of the country in July (at the time that's what I thought...the trip's been moved back until late October) I should make sure that I'm healthy first. Afterall, I hadn't had a physical in four years, just before I moved down to Charleston.

I'm praying that the insurance company won't drop me because I'm technically not a full time student at the moment but we'll see how that works out. I'm trusting God to provide.

Anyway.

I got there early. My appointment was for 9:30. I ended up arriving at 9:10 although I was shooting for quarter after.

I thought I might actually get out of there within a decent amount of time because the nurse took me back, took my weight and what not and finished her end of the process before 9:30.

Now all I had to do was wait for the doctor.

[Side note: because the office is affliated with the University some of the nursing faculty must work at the clinic during the summers or what not because I saw one of my professors there. I have to admit that I wasn't a particular fan of hers but I'm just thankful that she wasn't my nurse. :D]

I saw in that room reading the book I'd thankfully brought along with me for more than half an hour (probably closer to forty-five minutes) before the doctor came. She didn't actually do any of the examination stuff then. She simply asked me questions about family history and other such stuff. Then she left again.

I changed into the gown and waited.

When five minutes passed I got my book back out and read for another twenty minutes or so.

The doctor returned (just as I put a piece of graham cracker in my mouth by the way...lol), did the examinations, told me that I'm really healthy, to stay that way and I could go.

I spent an hour and a half of my day in that office just to find out what I already know...I'm healthy.

Well, at least I can count the blessing of health.

On road construction

A few weeks ago I noticed a sign warning everyone that traveled on my road (well, the one that my subdivision is off of) that one of the bridges would be out from 6/12 until 8/21 (or some date close to that).

When I first read that sign I groaned because I remember when the bridge at the other end of the road was out of commission.

I'd just started coming home that way from work and had to switch things up. Of course it wasn't that big of a deal but... I think you understand. Now, about two years later the bridge at the other end is out of the commission just when I started coming home that way from my teacher's assistant job (not now of course because school is out for the summer). Get the picture?

Well, once work started we had to change our routes a tiny bit. On a normal day we don't drive down that way on the road. When I needed to go to the library it was midly frustrating because it felt like I was going completely out of the way. I put up with it though because I knew that I would be gone for a little over three weeks of the time that they were scheduled to work on it.

I have to admit. It was kind of fun to be able to drive on the wrong side of the road in order to bypass the "bridge out" sign.

Unfortunately, my fun is over.

Get this. Two days ago my mom calls to tell me that the sign just beyond our subdivision was down but that the other one wasn't. We couldn't figure out what this meant. She told me that all the construction seemed to be gone from the bridge and that the bridge was paved.

Well, when I left a couple hours later for work I actually had to stop at the entrance to my subdivision to look for oncoming traffic on the bridge side of the road.

Here's what I can't figure out.

The first bridge that was out of commission for work actually took a month longer to finish than had been projected.

This bridge finished in under a month. Construction took barely two weeks to complete.

When have you ever heard of that?

On graffiti

When my mother called me this morning I wasn't expecting the news that she told me.

Apparently this is the season for gang initiations. The fact that this happens in my hometown is surprising enough. Then comes the news that my church was a target.

The doors to the main auditorium and a pillar nearby were painted (to put it nicely). One of the pastors mentioned that it reminded him of his time in Chicago.

I don't know. Doing harm to another person's property...and a church at that...seems so foreign to me...so wrong. Then mom called with more news. Two of the staff members had their front doors painted as well. She asked me to check our front door but thankfully nothing had been done.

This is the part where it gets scary. Whoever damaged the church did not randomly pick that church out of the three churches in the general area. Whoever damaged the church knew the addresses of at least two of the people who worked there.

My stomach sank at the news. Most likely...someone within the church acted as the perpetrator.

See, to me the idea of doing something like this is completely foreign like I mentioned before. I know that is because of the work that God is doing in my heart...the fact that I have grown up learning that things like that are wrong.

The person who did this? Well, if they were a part of my church then perhaps they grew up with the same knowledge.

Chew on that for a while.

On high schoolers

One of the girls that I work with at my new job at Cool Beans is a high schooler. From looks alone I would have guessed that she was in college at least...especially since she had been working at Cool Beans for over a year.

Anyway

If we had been in high school together we definitely would not have run in the same circles. Most likely she would not have considered me a worthy object to make friends with (not that I think that she's snobby or anything but I think you understand).

The past two days (the two days that I've worked with her) some friends have come in and talked to her (there are many...many slow spots during an evening). When this happens I try and busy myself with other work somewhere else in the restaurant so as not to seem obtrusive but of course I end up hearing their conversation.

Wow. Was I like that in high school? I keep thinking that I wasn't but I guess at some point I was to some extent.

Then I got to thinking. All this time I thought that I was of a similar age to her (older of course) but then I realized that I am six years older than she is. Wow. Yeah, it's at times like this I am very glad that I have a college degree and a plan so that I won't end up in a job like the two I have (not that they are bad or anything) for the rest of my life.

Hmm...that's all I have for today.

On the working of God

I failed to trust God this morning.

How do I know this?

Well, first of all and most obviously I almost broke down this morning when I realized/learned that one of my coworkers could have very easily taken the breakfast Paul called me in to take.

I didn't really want to work from seven until ten (I wasn't sure of my Cool Beans schedule yet).

Now we get to the part where God stepped in and opened my eyes to the obvious.

I checked my schedule at Cool Beans and I wasn't even scheduled to work tonight (obviously because I'm writing the entry at the time I would be working) and not just that but God arranged my Streetside delivery schedule so that I had two Spartanburg deliveries, came back to Greenville, took a lunch break and then picked up a mere two very close Greenville locaitons.

The end result?

I finished my Streetside duties in tiem to get home and work out and stillb e done in time to get over to Cool Beans.

I won't bore you with the details. I'll skip right to the good part.

My schedule won't always be like this but for today it was and I think I know why. For some reason (obviously unknown to me) God decided to work very plainly in my life today to put to rest all of my silly fears.

On memory

I normally don't work on Fridays. The volume at work is usually less than half of normal. Yesterday though I did work. (We did have only five or six orders but I took two of them).
I went out to Easley and Liberty, both places that I had gone before. For me, the trip down memory lane came when I delivered to liberty.
That was an office I went to before...a year and a week ago.

How do I remember you ask?

That's where the memory part comes in.

As I delivered there I remembered sitting outside in Big Red (our big cargo van) reading my book on China. There are other details that I remember about that particular delivery but I won't bore you and relate the otherwise inconsequential details.

The fact that I remembered was what struck me at the time. I remembered the exact date because of other associations that I had made such as the association of when I started the book, the office itself and etc.

I've often marveled at my grandfather's memory and wondered how he can remember exact conversations from fifty years ago. (yes he actually does that) I would love to have a memory like that and perhaps I do.

I remember things that my mother doesn't remember (things that involve her as well) and other things like that.

Things like yesterday make me marvel at memory. It really is a fascinating thing. God certainly does work in mysterious ways.

On entering the real world...among other things

Two weeks have passed since I walked across that platform (forgetting to turn and smile at the massive audience) and out of the grips of Bob Jones University.
Yes. In case you didn't know... I am now a graduate of Bob Jones University.

To be honest I don't feel all that different. It is the summer time and I would be doing everything that I'm doing anyway.

Talk to me in September when school starts back up and maybe I'll feel different.

I don't want to talk about normal things in my life...although that is good fodder for writing. I think I'll try to put down something interesting that I come across in my various jobs.

Here's something interesting that happened last Thursday when I was making a delivery for Streetside.

I got to go to the Bank of America building downtown. Now, I have to say that trying the find the correct parking lot for the building is rather confusing. There are three options of parking areas and of course I chose one of the wrong ones. The parking attendant almost made me pay but I wasn't about to (especially since my wallet was in the trunk at the time). I told her I had just pulled in and needed to go to the Bank of America building.

Anyway, that's not the interesting incident that I wish to relate.

Once I got in the building with my loaded cart (which I'm glad that I decided to rearrange the food in my car in order to fit it in) I got in the elevator and headed up to the seventh floor.

Thankfully an employee came along and helped me into the area where I was supposed to go and the room where I was supposed to set up.

Two men sat at the end of the long table closest to the door watching some sort of internal Bank of America interview with an investor or something. They didn't seem to mind the interruption.

Moments later an older almost matronly-looking woman entered the room with finger poised at her lips, shushing me when I wasn't making any noise.

With her voice moderately low she told me that I was early...that I wasn't supposed to arrive until 11:45. Speaking softly I apologized and told her that I was told that the eating time was 11:45.

She didn't let me finish my sentence before she told me to be quiet again.

I gave up protesting and told her I would be as quiet as I could (even though the men didn't seem perturbed that I was in the room).

As this woman was telling me to be quiet I recieved the distinct aura of "holier-than-thou" coming from the woman. In her eyes I was the low-level delivery girl and they were the Fortune 500 investment bankers...obviously better.

I had to restrain myself from thinking poorly of her and wanted to throw in her face the fact that I had just graduated from college with a degree in history only two hundreths away from suma cum laude and was working to save up for my Master's.

I guess this just goes to show you that prejudice still exists and that it exists here where I live.

On falling off the wagon

No. I haven't become an alcoholic or anything (though I could legally purchase alcohol lol)

If you haven't noticed, which I'm sure you have...I haven't posted in over a month.

That's my fault.

I could say that it's because I've been busy (and I was at first) but now I have tons of extra time. I have simply gotten out of the habit.

I'll move on to writing since that is ostensibly what this blog is supposed to be about.

I've been trying to write a poem lately. I have to for creative writing. This is defnitely a stretch for me. I am not a poet by any stretch of the imagination and certainly not by my teacher's imagination.

I chose to write in a sonnet form because I knew I needed some sort of structure in order to get some sort of poetic rhythm. It definitely is harder than it looks. I think I scratched through seven or eight different versions of the first stanza before I got to what I wanted. I didn't change the subject...just the sentence structure and all that lovely jazz.

I have a new found appreciation for poets. It is definitely hard work to create a beautiful poem. For my part I will leave that to those who feel they have talent in that area.

Since I don't plan on ever publishing that poem I'll probably post it up here.

Only thirteen more class days and three exam days until I graduate! (26 until the actual day)

On becoming fluent

One of the desires that I've long harbored is to become fluent in a language other than English. The romance of the concept has always fascinated me...the idea of being able to express my ideas in words other than my native tongue. (I don't know if I'm conveying this as it appears in my head.)

Perhaps this desire arose within me as a consequence of my love of words and how things are expressed. I don't know.

In high school this goal of fluency became much more concrete. I'll know that I've reached that point when I can dream in the other language (at this point in my life it's Spanish).

I think I'm getting close. :D The incident that I will relate in just a moment is what sparked the idea for this post that I should have already posted two days ago.

I go over to my grandparents on Tuesdays and Thursdays in between school and work and this particular Tuesday I happened to spend a few minutes talking to my grandfather about my paper for History of Africa (social customs/ideas in South Africa that facilitated the spread of AIDS) and I don't remember the exact context but I was explaining that there was a "rejection" or "turning away from" of a certain idea. Yet as I started my gesture the only word that came to mind was "rechazo" a Spanish word that roughly translates as the above. Even now, in my mind, only that word expresses precisely what I wanted to express.

You tell me. Is this a sign that I'm becoming more fluent?

On respect

I hear that a lot from my students.

There's only one problem. Even though they may not put it in these words...they demand respect from everyone but won't show respect to a person if that person doesn't respect them. Now tell me? How is that supposed to fly?

It doesn't.

I had two boys literally on each other today and at least one punch thrown.

My group for club is not the best but I'll leave it at that.

Here's my dilemna.

Most if not all of the behavior problems at work come from the root of pride and protecting one's own. You would never believe how angry these kids can get when another says something about the mother. "Your mama" to the extreme.

Their defense when I confront them is always "Well he said..." or "She hit me first..." or... you get the picture.

I think I could talk to them until I'm blue in the face and tell them repeatedly that if someone says or does something unkind to them they walk away and tell the teacher. (Doing something kind in return would be an absolute miracle in the true sense of the word.)

They get this stuff at home too. That's what their parents tell them to do--hit back that is.

Who knows. I guess I just needed to vent.

Coming soon. My short story.

On being sick

I have often said that I make one of the worst patients. I absolutely hate being sick.
I was in bed pretty much all day yesterday because if I got up I'd start to feel nauseous.

I still don't feel that well today which is why I'm at home and not at school. I'm trying to catch up on homework...seeing as how I accomplished absolutely nothing.

This is a blah post but I wanted to get out a little bit.

On writing papers

I know that I’ve had a post similar to this before but bear with me. If I remember correctly, I think I’m heading in a different direction than that post.

I’ve always considered myself to be better at writing fiction than nonfiction or at least I should say that I feel much more comfortable writing fiction than nonfiction. I remember the one time I had to write an article when I was on staff of my high school newspaper...pure torture. Sure, no one had any problems when I was done with it but the process was most certainly torture.

Almost every time I write a paper of any significant length for a class I feel the same way. (Magnify that feeling ten times for my senior history paper last semester). I remember thinking that my freshman English paper was junk and completely inadequate in so many different areas when I handed in. On a rough draft where the average score on the return (and this is average of the student body mind you) is in the D range imagine my surprise when I receive back a paper with the score of 57/60. A. I still didn’t think it was adequate enough but of course I wasn’t about to argue with the grade.

Bringing this in relation to the present.

I am in the midst of the torture sessions in writing all of my papers this semester. (Although I got a big relief this morning when I found out that my Linguistics paper could be written in English...and the presentation too :D... writing papers in a second language is not fun lol).

If I let myself think about all that I have to do and the caliber that I want my end result to be I could very easily become overwhelmed.

Perhaps I bring this all on myself. I can’t help but set the bar high. I think that something inside of my knows that I need to set the bar high in order to keep myself motivated and working. That way, when it all comes back I won’t be utterly disappointed because there was plenty of room to fall before I got below the critical level.

Does that make sense?

I’m sitting here at my computer with my head on my shoulder as I type wondering if that past sentence will seem as confusing to anyone else as it does to me. :D

It’s late so forgive me.

We’ll see how things go.

A minor note (of hope!): I counted the actual class days left until the end of the semester (excluding weekends, and exams and such) and discovered that if my calculations are correct... less than fifty class days remain of my college career! Hah... I think I’ll be doing more than a few of those calculations as the day draws nearer.

(I’ll be getting close to my Hispanic/Mexican roots too... I graduate on May 5th.)

On the scene of conflict

Here it is. Let me know what you think.
I don't like using the terminology "ex" but my teacher wanted us to establish the relationship right up front and that was the only way I could do it and not go over my word count.

“What are you doing here?” Victoria asked. All of her muscles tightened in fear when she looked at her ex. She refused to acknowledge him by name.

“Come on, Vicky,” he said. “Let me in.” He slipped his hand around the partially open door.

“My name is Victoria.” Each word sprung from her lips like bullets. She resisted the urge to slam the door on his hand and hurt him like he’d hurt her. How dare he come here? She thought. How dare he show his face after what he’s done?

“Whatever.” He rolled his eyes and tried to push the door open farther.

Victoria placed her foot against the base of the door. He stepped away.

“I’ve always called you Vicky.” He said as he ran his fingers through his blonde hair.

Freshly highlighted, no doubt, she thought.

“My name is Victoria, not Vicky,” she said. “You didn’t answer my question. Why are you here?” She didn’t look in his eyes.

“Uh...your hair looks kinda wet.” He avoided her question again. “Did you just get out of the shower?”

“Chad!” His name escaped her lips before she could think. Victoria covered her mouth and looked up. His green-gray eyes held her captive just like before.

He smiled with those perfectly formed lips. “I knew I could get you to say my name.” He leaned back and stuck his hands in the pocket of his jeans.

He thinks I’m going to let him in, thought Victoria. That’ll never happen. She’d slam the door in his face if he so much as stepped towards it. She looked at the full glass pane. An image of shattered glass and his face beneath the shards flashed before her. Why can’t he just leave before I start acting like him? she thought.

He smacked his lips. “Nice place you’ve got here. Why haven’t I seen it before?”

Anger seethed within Victoria like the copper pot she just put on the stove.

“I work here,” she said barely keeping the lid on the pot. “You’d better leave before I call the police.”

He laughed and fingered the fringe of that red and blue-checkered shirt he always wore.

Victoria slammed the door and twisted the gold-colored lock. She saw his mouth drop open as he stepped toward the door. Victoria grabbed her phone from the table behind her. When she looked up, he was gone.

On writing short stories

For Creative writing the next large project (I think...a fiction essay is mentioned on the syllabus but I don’t know what that entails) is the short story in two drafts (rough and final of course).
I haven’t written very many short stories over the course of my writing career. Perhaps that is because I don’t read many of them. I’m not exposed to them. I’ve been reading full length novels for most of my life.
Be that as it may... I have to write a short story and I am almost completely stumped as to an idea. Actually as I sit here and type this an idea that I had earlier just returned to me. (I think I’d forgotten it...help me remember Juliette and her father) Anyhoo...
We read a past student’s work today in class (who just happens to bear the name of the university but is not the president :D) and it was pretty good. There were some overall aspects that I didn’t like but could easily learn to deal with them. I absolutely loved the second scene. But one of my biggest problems with the whole thing was the way the story neatly rose and fall. Everything wasn’t resolved of course as a less talented writer may have been tempted to do but something in my craves a full story...novel length.
We’ll see how this project goes.
I almost forgot that I was going to post my scene of conflict. I’ll do that for the next post.

On first tests

I have several of those this week.
One format I really like. My Early National Era teacher gave us the questions a week ago. I'll be e-mailing my essays in to her tomorrow probably. (I'd like to look over them once more).
Other formats I'm not fond of but I have to deal with them.
Tests in this category:
Spanish Lit...tomorrow (I've had her tests before so I know kind of what to expect)
History of Africa...Thursday (This is the scariest one...I'm not at all sure what to expect and my brain kind of gets fried just thinking about it)
Spanish Linguistics...Friday (I'm not sure how this one's going to go but we have a day devoted to review tomorrow)

Now that I've listed all these out for you I do have a point. Wow! (Sorry...I feel sarcastic at the moment and I have no idea why :D)

There's something about the first test that is utterly terrifying yet reassuring. It's terrifying in the sense that I have no idea what to expect but reassuring in the fact that I will prepare as much as I possibly can for the test and if I do poorly it's because I didn't know how to prepare for that teacher. Still, I don't like to do poorly.

Honestly, that's the only little bit of profundity I have in my brain at the moment. Next time I come I'll post my scene of conflict assignment from Creative Writing. (That's a funny thing... I said I would try to tackle it and make it the best I possibly could...prove her wrong... well, all of my Creative Writing assignments have gotten pushed to the bottom of the totem pole. Hah. We'll see how it goes)

On South Carolina winter weather

Today has been such an answer to prayer.
Even though I often laugh at how South Carolinians respond to even the chance of snow (if the power goes out, the milk is going to be the first thing to go :D) I really appreciate the day off that it gave me today.

At school today was supposed to be the Day of Prayer but because of the chance of inclement weather the administration made the decision ahead of time to make the Day of Prayer/half Day of Rest into a full Day of Rest (I know... shock). They would rather reschedule the Day of Prayer for later in the semester and have everyone able to attend rather than miss all of the town students.

That alone caused great rejoicing in my heart. Why? Because I got to sleep in. :D The busier I become... the older I become... the more I appreciate the occasional day of sleeping in.

Then, this morning when I awoke to find that there actually was snow on the ground (and on the street most especially) I pretty much figured that the public schools would also be canceled and I wouldn't have to work today either. :D Yup. That indeed was the case.

I now have almost a second Saturday this week. How lovely is that?

On days like this when there is actually snow on the ground I almost wish that I lived slightly further north where there would be snow on the ground more often and where the snow would stay longer but I honestly don't wish that. I always remember how much I don't like the cold (my fingers take double the amount of time as the rest of my body to warm up and they get cold twice as fast).

Who knows? Perhaps God will have me teaching somewhere up north in a few years. Hah... now wouldn't that be a riot.

Enjoy this day of lovely "winter" weather.