Walking across the bayou bridge on my way to lunch or dinner I always stop to look at this little turtle on one end. He lives in the shallow part of the water near the cafeteria. It makes me really happy when I notice other people doing the same thing.
These last two weeks have been very busy for me, but I've still had lots of fun things going on. Caroline and I were sitting in our room, and she declared how she really wanted to play with puppies. So, we went of to find the pet store. Unfortunately, the puppies were not available for petting at that time, but we still had a lot of fun going around the rest of the store. We met the owner of the place and talked with her for a good while as she chased about birds and sprayed down chameleons. After that we decided that s'mores were the best idea (We'd been talking about them eariler) so we drove down the street to Target. After getting "enough marshmallows to last four years" we called Ashley, from down the hall and had a good laugh as chocolate went all about our faces. Ashley never having tried s'mores before.
Thursday Caroline and I decided to try out racket ball at the activity center. As we all know, I'm not athletically inclined, but we still had a great time, cracking up at ourselves. It consisted mostly of Caroline hitting the ball and me flailing. Friday we went again. Caroline hit the ball, I hit my knee with the racket. It made the same cracking sound. Caroline hits the ball, I whack my shin. But overall, I'm getting better, and it's a really fun game. Though neither of us really knows the rules of it. I'll have to look those up soon.
But yes, other than these brief times, studies consume most of our free time. I really am enjoying my classes. We still haven't had any word back from Dr. Mills on the research worker scholarship thing, but I am loving Atms. Last night was the AMS (American Meteorological Society) game night. Lots of people, very entertaining.
With all that's been going on though, my mind keeps coming back to the lady at the pet store. When asked if she was having a good day she threw her hands up with a huge grin and said, "Honey when you survive cancer twice, every morning you wake up it's a wonderful day." And I can't stop thinking about this. This lady loved where she was. She loved the animals and reptiles and fish, and people she worked with. She had that spark in her, that energy in living. And I keep wondering if it always takes something as drastic as cancer to spark that in someone. That Wake up and live! is what seems to be missing a lot. Everyone is so caught up in life, that they don't see it. I don't know if that makes entirely clear sense. But, I just keep thinking, Yes, I want to wake and say, Here I am, everyday is a wonderful day! Because, I am terribly happy with what I'm doing and where I am, and everything about me. I wouldn't want to forget that. No, I do not want to forget that. I hope you have a wonderful day, and week, and life.
9.06.2007
8.25.2007
295 Dots On a Map
(So yay. I'm moving the blog here. I'll think about putting in all the old archives, but for now, it's just a clean start.)
I have two weeks to plot the exact locations of all the hail storms that have occurred in the last thirty years in three of our parishes and with that hopefully get the chance to get a scholarship to work as a Regent Scholar Research worker to do more of that and look for trends in the Northwest regions of Louisiana. Oh thank you school, I’m now entirely immersed. It has definitely begun.
My first impressions of my classes are hard to put down. And probably somewhat boring, but if I may, here are a few thoughts and events that have occurred in this last week.
First off, my roommate, Caroline, is really great. We get along well, pick up our stuff, don’t have schedules that would cause conflict to arise in getting ready in the mornings, and enjoy hanging out together. She drove me around town to show me the close main streets I’d need to know and things like where the bookstore and Wal-mart are located. I’m entirely happy that I got paired with her.
As I walked into my first class, I admit I was a bit nervous. My pulse was quick and I don’t think it was due entirely to the fact that I had halfway jogged up the staircases. (All of the staircases have an odd number of steps, which really bothers me. Eh, yeah, I know.) However, everything went smoothly and I have found that it is super pleasant around here. My tire blew out the night I moved in and when I went out to look at the damage the next morning I was overcome with people helping me out. Some girl’s father just came up and put the spare on for me. He even went and got the air compressor he keeps in his car so that the spare could be aired up. Several other people approached, bringing water and all sorts of moral support I guess you’d say. Everyone holds doors and smiles at you and changes tires around here. It really is wonderful.
…
I always find myself feeling incredibly awkward when I run into people I know and I have food with me. I don’t know why, but I get embarrassed. It could be lunch time and I’ve got a sandwich with me I and someone walks up to say hi to me, and they look at my food, I feel like I have to explain myself. Isn’t that ridiculous! I mean, everybody has to eat, but unless I’m in the cafeteria or a restaurant or something, I feel like I have to spout out some explanation for carrying food with me. I am usually able to hold it back, but the desire is still there. Hah.
Sitting here looking at all the tiny crevices in the skin of my hands while I type reminds me of when I was a young kid, playing in the mud in the back yard. Heather and I would mix up the dirt we dug up with water, squishing it with our feet. Then we’d stand in the sun until the mud dried and became cracked and flakey on our feet. Like how they depict dinosaur skin to be like. Running around made chunks of it fall off, but if felt cool. The hard mud cracked in a pattern like a close up of the back of our hands.
Ah, I’m getting sidetracked. I have more to tell later. For now, I’m off to record more hail storm coordinates. Peace and have a wonderful time. ^_^
I have two weeks to plot the exact locations of all the hail storms that have occurred in the last thirty years in three of our parishes and with that hopefully get the chance to get a scholarship to work as a Regent Scholar Research worker to do more of that and look for trends in the Northwest regions of Louisiana. Oh thank you school, I’m now entirely immersed. It has definitely begun.
My first impressions of my classes are hard to put down. And probably somewhat boring, but if I may, here are a few thoughts and events that have occurred in this last week.
First off, my roommate, Caroline, is really great. We get along well, pick up our stuff, don’t have schedules that would cause conflict to arise in getting ready in the mornings, and enjoy hanging out together. She drove me around town to show me the close main streets I’d need to know and things like where the bookstore and Wal-mart are located. I’m entirely happy that I got paired with her.
As I walked into my first class, I admit I was a bit nervous. My pulse was quick and I don’t think it was due entirely to the fact that I had halfway jogged up the staircases. (All of the staircases have an odd number of steps, which really bothers me. Eh, yeah, I know.) However, everything went smoothly and I have found that it is super pleasant around here. My tire blew out the night I moved in and when I went out to look at the damage the next morning I was overcome with people helping me out. Some girl’s father just came up and put the spare on for me. He even went and got the air compressor he keeps in his car so that the spare could be aired up. Several other people approached, bringing water and all sorts of moral support I guess you’d say. Everyone holds doors and smiles at you and changes tires around here. It really is wonderful.
…
I always find myself feeling incredibly awkward when I run into people I know and I have food with me. I don’t know why, but I get embarrassed. It could be lunch time and I’ve got a sandwich with me I and someone walks up to say hi to me, and they look at my food, I feel like I have to explain myself. Isn’t that ridiculous! I mean, everybody has to eat, but unless I’m in the cafeteria or a restaurant or something, I feel like I have to spout out some explanation for carrying food with me. I am usually able to hold it back, but the desire is still there. Hah.
Sitting here looking at all the tiny crevices in the skin of my hands while I type reminds me of when I was a young kid, playing in the mud in the back yard. Heather and I would mix up the dirt we dug up with water, squishing it with our feet. Then we’d stand in the sun until the mud dried and became cracked and flakey on our feet. Like how they depict dinosaur skin to be like. Running around made chunks of it fall off, but if felt cool. The hard mud cracked in a pattern like a close up of the back of our hands.
Ah, I’m getting sidetracked. I have more to tell later. For now, I’m off to record more hail storm coordinates. Peace and have a wonderful time. ^_^
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