Life Is Good

My last shift at the infodesk for a while, at least a year and 3 months and it feels good!

I have successfully, I want to say wasted but that really isn't the word, used up maybe is a better word. I have successfully used up 2 1/2 hours by surfing the net and updating my profiles. Life is good! I haven't even played any addicting internet games yet.

My parents came last night. It was late when they got here. Well late for them, 10:45pm ish. It's going to be different getting use to living in the same house that is for sure. Or at least the first few weeks will be a little bit of a strain. I did purposely fill a lot of time to help ease the transition a little more. This move makes me a little nervous but I think will be the best in the end. If worse comes to worse I go and hang out in Sioux Falls.

I am down another 4 lbs. So that's awesome. That now brings me to a total of 40lbs lost. It feels so much better to eat healthier and get exercise. I have struggled my whole life with weight and not knowing what I was doing wrong. I am so thankful for the tools to educate myself more and the people around me to help support me. I am closer to my goal of 15 in 4 and I am still on track even though I would be very happy with where I'm at now. My short and long term goal is just to be healthy.

One of my best friends from High School sent me his itinerary for his flight home for my wedding. I am so excited to see him and spend time with him before the wedding. He will get into Aberdeen on the 15th. I just want some good catch up time. He has lived in DC since the Fall of 2000 and it has been a couple of years since we have really had some good catch up, talk time. I really miss that catch up time. I think my favorite part about this wedding is hearing about the people who are really making an effort to come and who I get to spend time with.

So moral of the story is... Life Is Good. or at least right now... and I will take that for the time being. Some more of my little apartment to pack up and tomorrow is moving day. On to the next new adventure. As much as it is hard to move on and to go through change it is always fun and exiting to wonder about the future and the wonderful people God will place along the way.

My sorta day off

It's been a good day. I had all morning and afternoon off to get some things done that needed to be done. I slept till 9:15am. Tried to sleep longer but it's hared when I am use to getting up at 6:45 every morning. I did a little packing, I watched a fun movie, Derailed. It was a little slow but in the end really good. I went through papers that needed to either be thrown or filed. It feels good to get rid of piles and to throw things.

I went through some old picture albums. I love pictures. Well, most of them I love. There are always those old bad pictures when you were a kid. I wonder why my mom let me leave the house looking like that. And the glasses. Yuck and Yuck. They were always too big for my face. I'm going to make sure and dress my kids better then that... not that they have to be fashionable but really, not looking like I did sometimes. It's always fun to reminisce and look back years past. That's the best thing about pictures, they bring back so many wonderful memories.

And now I'm at work from 3:30-9:30. I'm just glad I had the day off.

Weird People Day

Oh the jokes people make that they think:
a) are funny
b) are unique
c) I need to hear

It's been one of those days. The afternoon has gone faster, which is always a wonderful thing! BUT more people have been around and weird people with weird questions. The phone has also been mostly weird phone calls... I think it is just weird people day.

Yup... it's officially weird people day.

Gotta love working the desk... or not.

Minute by Minute

I did some wedding stuff.... let's be honest, not a lot to do.

I read a little bit of my book....but I have ADD for some reason.

I looked through my planner again to see if anything jumped out at me that I need to do in the next few days...that maybe I can do while I sit here at the desk. No such luck.

I talked to Sean for a while...

I read from the bible...

I drank some coffee...

Gosta go to the bathroom.. that should waste 2-3 minutes.

And it's only 10:40am! AAAAHHHHHH! What am I going to do till 3:30pm.

Thoughts for the moment

It's going to be one of those days. I might blog several times today out of pure boredom.

I longed for classes to be done. To have all my homework done and be able to sit around and do nothing. This isn't quite what I had in mind....

I was thinking along the lines of watching movies, sleeping in, having a lot of time to pack... this whole sitting around at work thing has got me going nuts. I am a very capable person. I just wish I could use that. But I guess I shouldn't complain, nothing is better then craziness.

WELCA is here yesterday and today. WELCA stands for the women of the ELCA. The sad thing is they are all older women. Doing their old lady thing. Are there no young women in the ELCA? I shouldn't complain.. they give me some money every year.

That's all for now

Poopy.. what a word

I'm so tired of this job at the information desk right now. I'm tired of this school.... I'm tired of all the bs that goes on here.

I'm tired of being the information desk, but not having the information to do my job. But expecting to have it. I'm tired of always being around people, I find myself not wanting to hang out with people after I have sat at the desk all day.

I have had people here crying because they are going to miss people who are leaving on internship. The... what could have been blues. Which just makes me want to cry also because of the poopy day.

Just as I was totally down and wanting to cry myself, I just got the best compliment. Someone came up and told me that I look like a girl on a tv show, who I think is very good looking. On Brothers and sisters the sister they didn't know they had.

3.5 more hours here at the desk and then I can go curl up and not deal with people for the night. What a mostly sucky day! What was I thinking when I scheduled myself to work everyday. Granted the money will be nice and I will have a long break, probably complaining because I'm bored, but I just need a little break. To get away from school and this community for a while.

Maybe I'm just itching for a change in pace. Different scenery. The summer has always been a time of change for me. I just haven't felt the change yet except the packing part. I can feel it on the horizon but I can't quite grasp it yet. Soon and very soon I suppose.

A Joey From Friends

I met a Joey from Friends. Yup, that's right... an online minister. I had a wedding yesterday that I was the coordinator for and the groom's brother was a Joey. I knew that there had to be one or two somewhere, but I had never really met one. And let me tell you he really was a Joey. He thought he was so cool and called himself a minister, which kind of pissed me off because that has some type of religious connotation with it, which he had and wanted none. I'm going to school for 4 years after undergrad to call myself a minister.. don't take that away from me. Call yourself what you really are... a Joey from friends.

The Process Has Started

The process of packing up my live again.

It's been close to a record. I have lived here for 1 1/2 years. Feels like forever since I usually average a year at one place.

So many changes in the next 4 months. All of them I am ecstatic for, but still a lot to take in. I'm finished with my 2nd year of seminary. How did that happen? Will the next 2 years go by that fast?

I have started packing up my things. Getting ready for the move and the life which is to come. Some it's easy and I know I want to keep. The DVD's and the pictures.... all things I want to keep. The knicknacky things I have collect throughout life need to be weeded through. Decisions if I should store them some where or sell them. Everyone of them have a story. Everyone of them has meant something to me in my life. Is that part over and I need to move on? I know there are such great and wonderful things to come and that to enjoy all of them sometimes we have to let go of others to allow room, but it still doesn't make letting go easy.

Saving the World One Phone Call at a Time

Sitting at the infodesk again. 2-9:30 Not super happy to be here but I guess, such is life. I took a couple of benadryl and I think that is part of the problem. It helped with this crazy eye thing that I have going on and relieved some sinus pressure, but now I can't keep my eyes open. I took a little nap after I took it. I love those naps when you sleep so hard that you drool. I just wish I could have enjoyed it a little bit longer.

People keep calling so I'm saving the world one phone call at a time! I am helping with a wedding this weekend and the crazy bride called the infodesk. She is almost too overly planned. The wedding is suppose to be outside so it's just too much of a hassle really. So many what ifs that just make people crazy. NOTE TO SELF: don't do that. Normal is okay. They also have some family problems which I am so thankful that I don't have to deal with. Not only do our parents get along and are still married, but they like each other too.

BUT, to treat myself tonight I brought some fun things with me to work.
1. a fun book... maybe I can get lost in a fun book and enjoy myself.
2. two pieces of left over pizza to reheat.. pizza is always good no matter what
3. popcorn.. to eat later when no one is around and I might take in the episode of Grays which I didn't get to see -- I brought some headphones to listen.

I can do all this because I only have ONE more thing left. The worship vocab quiz which I am having a really tough time caring about right now, imagine that. Between 10:30-11am tomorrow I will be free for the Summer... well except this job. Money is a good thing to have for that summer though so I need to work while I can.

Change and Randomness

1 hour, 15 minutes of classes left.

1 paper (Confessions), 1 test (worship) left.

I'm sitting in a class that I already have my final in for. Even harder to pay attention then normal. I am so focused on being done I haven't even been able to think about leaving in a little over a week. I won't be back here for over a year. Life is changing again. I need to pack up my apartment again. What goes where. What do I want to keep. It's going to be like the day I packed up my barbies and childhood toys. It was a wonderful day because I was growing up and it was a milestone, but it was really sad because my childhood was coming to a closure. I need to do the same type of thing when I pack up in the next week. There are a lot of things which I have from high school, dorm life, singleness. I need to give somethings up and put them in the rummage sale this summer. I will be merging my things with Eric's things. I can't carry around all of my randoms anymore. I have needed to do this for a while, to throw things that I will never use again or give them up, but it's still hard to do. Life is changing.

So funny story... maybe a little crazy too.... random if you will....
I just got done paying for gas in Jasper, MN and was getting ready to get in my car. This guy in his mid 50's says "hi" and wants to talk about the day. Okay, I can do this. He asks me where I'm headed.... Okay I can do this also. Sioux Falls, SD I say. He asks me why I'm headed there... It's a small town, I can still do this. My finance lives there I say. He asks me what we have planned for the night.... little weirder but I can still do this, still small town talk. I tell him that Eric has some sort of surprise for me. He goes into how he doesn't like surprises. So I tell him that I think it has something to do with eating. He says, "well, maybe he doesn't like to kill full girls. (he pauses for a breath) Well, have a good day!" WHAT?!?!?!?! ... I say "you too", get in my car. Ask myself, "what just happened there." I drive off, making sure I look in my rear view mirror to make sure he is not following me.

Who says something like that? How totally random!

In Sight

5 days left until classes are done. 7 days until this semester is done. Only One More Week!

I'm starting to cross assignments off of my final list. Always feels good. I tackled my Prophets final today.. done and done. I tackled the written part of my Worship final today... done and done. And I took some me time...done and done. Watched a little bad day time soaps. Solved a few crimes on Law and Order. All in a days work!

I am just afraid that I will loose my ambition tomorrow. Must find a way to keep it!

Left on the to do list:
-Confessions final paper (shouldn't be too bad.. but haven't seen it yet)
-Prophets post responses to group member's posts (This Sat.. pretty simple)
-Jesus the Savior final Essay (this one might be a stinker)
-Worship Final on the 17th (just over the terms)
-Take a long nap and watch a bunch of movies!

The finish line is so close! It's defiantly in sight.

Communication

Opened the OCC at 10:30am

At 12:09pm what's happen so far is:

- ZERO phone calls
-One guy taking a picture of the Narthex
-One family of people (old people) came in and video taped commons area
-one housekeeping person
-4 pages of a paper written and I got payed for it

Yup.. that's it....
Good thing EMS had stuff booked in it that no one showed up for and I had to be here at 10:30.... I love communication, I just wish more people did it!

That's all.. carry on

It's green outside.. which means SUMMER!

11 more days till classes are done.... so much to do but it feels manageable right now. The problem is that when things feel too manageable I wait to the last minute. So this weekend I have set goals for myself. I need to get at least one paper done and a half of another one done. Pretty reasonable I think. I'm starting to think that my life is about goals.

I am looking forward to this summer when my life will not be marked by goals.... well papers that is. I am so hesitant to plan too much, or take away from my somewhat carefree summer. This will be the last summer, and the first one in a long time, which I will be able to do what I want, when I want, and how I want.....or at least have the illusion of that. And that sounds so good to me right now. I am helping out with VBS the first weekend of June (which I wanted to do.) I told my mom I would paint the living room for her (which I love to do.) I am going out to camp to hangout with the kids and the horses for a week or maybe a few, we will see how the summer goes. I am going to work on wedding stuff, hopefully not doing this last minute so it will be fun to do and not stressful. I just look forward to having some Sarah time. I want to read a book or two. Harry Potter comes out in June or July.. I can't remember, so I will read that and I need to read the last book which came out to prepare for the last book. I wan to get back into my R.R Martin books.

I am still hovering at about 35lbs lost so far. I'm okay with that. Every time I get discouraged I bring myself back to the fact that I have already lost 35lbs and how much more healthy my body already is. I know that my insides thank me and that's really what this is about. I really don't want to get caught-up in the need to just look good but how to live a healthy life style... that includes my boundaries and saying "no." Which I think is the hardest thing for me so far.

I should stop using all my words here and actually write a paper on my theology of pastoral care. It will go something like this... Jesus love you, God is good, be good to others because Jesus has given you salvation and the Holy Spirit to guide and help you. Amen. So why the need for the 4-6pages :)

Am I that way?

I'm done with my last contextual education meeting of my life. Done and Done.... but not without a lot of pain first.

It had to be the worst meeting EVER. It was 4 pastors sitting around talking about their programs for the homeless and how wonderful they are. Throwing around statistics, talking about Africa and the problems. Amazingly most of them didn't even take a breath in between sentences, I think mainly so that no one could interrupt them so they could hear their own voice.

What I learned from today is that I don't want to be like that... it's not for me. To watch those pastors act that way made me ashamed. It even turned me off from being a pastor, taking that title. They talk about others but are so focused in on themselves.

Am I that way? I kind of feel that way right now. I have so many obligations that I feel like either I don't have time and/or others have to work around me. Maybe it's just the end of the school year thing, maybe it's the wedding, maybe...