Of Marshmallows, Fantasy, and "Country" Music

Sigh. . .I've actually just spent like 4 straight hours reading a book for a journalism test tomorrow and doing my econ homework. I'm getting burned out (I'm never that productive!). Maybe it's cuz of that 2 and a half hour nap earlier. ;) And I still have more reading to do for that class (groan).
At the dining hall tonight we had a dessert that the signs labeled "marshmallow treats." And yes. . .they were rice krispy treats. That is just so weird! I understand that "Rice Krispy's" is a name of a brand, and chances are the cheapskates don't use the real stuff, but "Marshmallow treats" keeps making me expect little marshmallow snowmen with candy eyes or something. Maybe I have been studying too much.

Last night I remembered that I wanted to order the King of Attolia (by Megan Whalen Turner) and the last of the Wren books (by Sherwood Smith) from amazon, and I wanted them shipped to my dorm, so I decided to spend enough to get free supersaver shipping. Well, when I picked out another book I discovered that most of their fantasy/sci-fi books are get 4 for the price of 3! Of course, the two books I originally wanted are "kid's books" or something and so they don't count; I ended up ordering six fantasy books. :D (or is that a :P ?)

I found a new music group that I really like. They are called "The Spares" and itunes calls them country, but I don't usually like country at all and I like them, so I'm not sure that that is right. Anyhow, they led the worship at my church this past Sunday, and I bought their CD "Hand Me Down." It's really great! I've listened to it waaay to may times already.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy sigh. . .this morning Rollins (my dining hall) had a special valentine's breakfast. There were supposed to be heart-shaped pancakes (which there weren't), but I had a decadent breakfast of normal pancakes doused in a dark chocolate syrup and covered with semi-sweet morsels. Highlight: strawberries with tons of a warm chocolate glaze. I felt like Kaylee (if you don't get this, YOU NEED TO SEE FIREFLY). It's such a nice day here, all warm and sunny; so, of course, I have a two hour science lab this afternoon in a room without windows. Go figure.
Ha! The journalism school just sent out an e-mail encouraging us to go to a lecture on "the important topic of nanotechnology." On valentine's evening? They're got to be kidding. Even people like me who aren't dating have better things to do! (I'm hanging out with friends and watching Scrubs.) Hee hee, nothing like priorities.

Maybe I'll Be a Steerswoman Next Halloween. . .

Wow. I just finished the 3rd of 4 books in a series, and found out that there will be more that haven't been published yet. The author took a ten year break between 2 and 3, so that doesn't look particularly encouraging. Oh, the books are The Steerswoman's Road (two novels in one: The Steerswoman and The Outskirter's Secret), The Lost Steersman, and The Launguage of Power (which I haven't started yet). They are set in a medieval-like society, but one quickly discovers the the "magic" of the world is actually technology. Only the wizards know how to use this "magic," and they guard their secrets jealously. On the other end of the spectrum are the Steerswomen, explorers and chroniclers who give knowledge freely to any who ask. A steerswoman must reply truthfully to any question she is asked, and a person must give an answer to any question she asks. Believe it or not, these books actually tied into my science course (a very little) and made it more intriguing for me. Okay, I didn't mean give a lecture about these books, but oh well.

On Monday night, I went to "Waffle Night," which is a chance to hang out at our RUF leader's house. It was a "rip-roaring good time" (LOL). The party was made up of our campus minister and his family, our RUF interns, and about seven students.

[My posting was just interrupted by the sounding of the fire alarms. To paraphrase what Jayne from Firefly so eloquently stated, There's nothing more deceiving than a low down dirty (pause) deceiver. . .especially one that pulls fire alarms.Well, I might was well update the "Fire Alarm Stories" archive. Several people were out there in flip-flops; that would be so horrible! It's really freeezing out there. One person "saved" their guinea pig by bringing it out in its plastic ball. And one of the guys (whom I do not know) in the small huddle I was in mentioned that he pulled the fire alarm in his dorm early first semester. He even used a hanger to avoid any possible ink packs. We brought up that this crowd was probably not the best place to boast about this exploit, but he laughed it off and was not repentant. In hindsight, I think I should have slapped him, as some small revenge for all the people he inconvenienced. I really wish I would have. When our hall coordinator finally got our attention for announcements, she was greeted with a very loudly shouted F-word. This probably does not put us anymore in her good graces. It turns out it was a scheduled fire alarm, which in good because it means it wasn't a prank, and bad because it was really really cold out and very mean to do it at this time.]

Back to Waffle Night. Basically we ate waffles and had a good time; the funniest/craziest thing we did was go around the table telling scar stories. A very odd, but also strangely cool, tradition. I (personally) really like my scars, maybe because they look impressive and I was too young to remember the pain. I think, though, that it's because I've read too many books where the neat characters had interesting scars. And people seem very impressed when I tell my stories, and wince or gasp very nicely. Maybe that makes up for the fact that I faint when I have blood drawn. Anyhow, "Scar Wars" was really fun, and it was awesome because it was so different from all the other "What is your major?", etc.

Only 3 more episodes of Battlestar Galactica (first season) left. :(

Estoy Muy Triste

Yesterday my Spanish class found out that our teacher is leaving. She's got a new job, and can only keep one of her two classes. The university chose to have her keep her other one (go figure). The really depressing thing is I know someone in the other class, and she doesn't appreciate the teacher at all. Sigh. So today we had a new teacher. Homework, class format, etc. is all going to be different now. It's hard not to compare our new teacher to Grisel, and start out miffed. She seems nice enough, but it's different, and we all know how much I like change. :P

In other news, I bought a "Serenity" poster at a poster sale.

Rocheport, MO

Yesterday I woke up, did four loads of laundry, and dueled with a washer (I lost). I also ran out of meal tickets, so I decided rather than trudge somewhere to get meals (or just pay the dining hall) I would eat snacks for lunch and dinner. But when my friend Libby called at 1 o'clock and invited me to go out to lunch with some other friends, I figured it was meant to be. So I walked through the rain (without my umbrella) to her dorm, then to another girl's car and off we went. It was a very nice (albeit a bit cramped with four people) sportscar. We headed to Rocheport, a town about 20 minutes away, Pop. 208 (Plus 1!), as the sign announced.
As we turned down the small streets, Libby was ecstatic "Look! Isn't that fence amazing? This is such a wonderful place!" While the rest of us looked around and saw many, many antique stores but no restaurants. Anyhow, after some "I think it's around here somewhere's" (you can't get too lost in Rocheport), we found the little restaurant. The menu was so small it was just written on a whiteboard, and as the rest of us looked suspiciously at the weird combinations of pasta or crabcakes with sauces we were unfamiliar with (hey, I'm a picky eater), the other girl peppered Libby with questions, while the lone guy in our group pondered "What's shit-take?" (that is, Shittake mushrooms). In the end I ended up ordering two desserts, carrot cake and apple pie, which was probably the oddest order the lady had ever received. But she laughed. While we waited for our food, we colored on the paper tablecloth with crayons, Libby drawing a crazy picture of the guy (he's in the Navy) on a very funny looking boat, while he responded by adding Libby in among the aliens he had already drawn. I just doodled some girls, who Libby declared to be the characters from Little Women, and we spent a few minutes trying to remember their names, discussing the movie, and agreeing that we needed to read the book again.
Afterwards we walked to one of the Antique stores, where I bought something (but it wasn't for me). The store has very cute little bags and purple tissue paper. Then we all piled back in the car and returned to Mizzou. Ummm. . .the end. So this story doesn't have a climax. Live with it.

Horoscopes In A Klutz-Centric Universe

For my science class, we did a little fun experiment. Basically, we proved that Zodiac signs do not determine personal characteristics (duh!). Anyhow, it got me thinking. I imagined a world where horoscope predictions were true, and I decided that it would not help certain klutzy people like myself. For example:

You will have a special encounter with a person you know.

You careen head-on into a casual acquaintance, making a complete fool of yourself.

Your financial situation will change.

A soda machine eats your dollar and provides no soda.

You will escape the rut of boring ho-hum existence

You fall down a flight of stairs.


etc. and so on. The only thing more powerful than fate is Klutziness.

From The Chronicles of the Princess, Semester Two: Week One

Well, my day started off just lovely: after my second class I sliced my thumb on the bathroom door. As slices go, it's not the bad-enough-to-need-stitches-kind, but it is certainly the wow-that's-a-lot-of-blood-is-it-ever-going-to-stop?-variety. It would be my left thumb, too (go ahead and smirk, right-handers :P). It's rainy and cold here today, and my long journalism class was, of course, on the other side of campus. And I spilled pizza on my shirt at lunch. But enough tales of woe and sorrow: it is the weekend! Let us make merry and rejoice!

My classes this semester run the gauntlet from predictable to horrible to wonderful. My Theology of JRR Tolkien class (the only redeeming class on my schedule) is taught by an amazing professor. He's retired, and doesn't even get paid to teach, but that's never seems to have stopped him. This year the university offered him any class he wanted, so he made this one up. For the first class, he read us a portion of the Ainulindalë (the Middle Earth creation story) while playing some of Hayden's "Creation." For fun he travels the world trying to see every species of penguin in the wild (he just got back from one of these frozen trips). The other class he teaches is called "Music and Mathematics." As I said, he's awesome.
The not-so-great class is my Honors science course. The main professor (the lectures will be taught by a variety of professors, most of whom seem really nice) is rather intimidating; she seems fair but very stony. Her comment on the first day that she hates to let students out early didn't reassure us any, either. Apparently a lot of the class will be geology, and at the end will be a group project, part of which is identifying age, etc, of a spot near campus. So after class, I went up and asked what if one did not believe in millions of years. We ended up arguing (umm, "discussing") evolution for the next half hour. To be fair, she doesn't say that science equals atheism, but believes that ethics and especially metaphysics should not be mixed up with science. Anyhow, she thinks that evolution is the most viable theory, and that every other argument has vital flaws from a scientific perspective. Of course I don't know enough to really contradict her. So now I'm doing extra research to try and defend my position. As if I didn't already have enough to do.
My Econ T.A. is from Georgia--not the state, the country. His accept is really interesting. So far I've had teachers from China, Puerto Rico, and now Georgia. Exciting.

The other day I found out that itunes had added the rest of Loreena McKennitt's albums! I was so happy; I downloaded 2 of them and have listened to her rendition of Alfred Noyes' poem "The Highwayman" almost constantly since them. Sigh of contentment . . .I love story-poems set to music. One last note: Mr. Eubanks has started a really cool blog called "Writers Read," it's a great place to get book reviews (and I'm not just saying that cuz I'm part of it!) The address is www.writersread.blogspot.com
And I'm horrible with adding links, so there isn't one. Sorry.

My Long Sojourn in Internet-Free Lands

Technically I had internet at home, but between the slow dialup and fending off my siblings clamoring for their turns, I decided I had a good enough excuse not to blog (that, and the fact that my blog's title specifically mentions adventures in college). Hopefully my brain is enough awake to at least start to chronicle some of the things that have happened to me lately.

I'm going to breeze over Christmas break (Firefly episodes, reading fiction till 2am, Firefly Episodes, trip to the art museum, Firefly episodes. . .), but I can't resist at least mentioning my recent escapades in retail. As you may (or may not) know, I got a job, thanks to Lukas, as a seasonal cashier at Target (not that it was his idea to let me handle money). It's pretty funny/odd/different being introduced and having people's eyes widen when they realize "Oh, you're Lukas' sister!" Before all my siblings had to put up with being known as "Lee Anne's brother/sister." The tables have turned. Sigh. . .soon I'll come home, and their friends will go "We didn't even know you had an older sister!" But I digress.

Einstein once said that genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. I'm trying to think of some similar witty remark to cover retail, but it's not coming. I know the perspiration is in their somewhere. So are blood and tears (and I'm not kidding about the blood!) Hmm, Neither holidays, nor schedules, nor shoving people out of line will cause us speed up. . . Oh well. In honor of this lovely period of my life, I have come up with some Plastic Bag Awards to give to some very special customers.

Best Practical Joke
It's Target Policy to ask a guest if they need a gift receipt if it looks like it might apply to something in their purchase. Before the holidays, you pretty much just ask everybody. What's really funny is how predictable their reactions are. Everyone pauses for a second, and stares at their purchases as if they are trying to telepathically connect with the items ("Oh wise item from the planet of Mattel, you do desire that I should request a gift receipt for you?"). Most people make up their minds, and go back to being their brusque or painfully slow selves. But some people just think this situation is just too funny. Notably dads. First time this happened:
Me: Do you need a gift receipt for anything?
Customer: [long thoughtful glance at items] Maybe for the laundry detergent.
Then thee dad grins, elbows one of his kids (if they are with him) and laughs at his wittiness. First time, it was kind of funny. Second time it happened (with a completely different customer!) it was even funnier. They think that they are being so original, yet they all pick laundry detergent. I'm not kidding.

But the prize for best joke goes to one particular customer. I'm scanning the items, trying to be a "fast, fun, and friendly cashier" (read: impossible), I've said hi, then this dad just says "Umm, I was harassed by one of your employees, and you need to give me a 10% on my entire purchase." The next two seconds were filled with more thoughts than I've ever had at one time before: ohmygoshdoIcalltheheadcashiermaybehe'dliketoopenaTargetcardandsavetenpercentthatwayIknowIcangivediscountsonsingleitemsbutonawholeorderthisisgoingtomakethistranactionslowandgivemeabadratingWHATdidhejustsay?
Some of this complete confusion must have showed in my face (I hope my mouth wasn't open), for he look at me, slightly worried, and said "You know I was joking, right?" Rush of relief and quick drop of adrenaline. He kept looking worried, and apologized, and I think I managed at least a wan smile while assuring him that it was quite all right and really very funny. Afterwards, that is.


Oddest Combination of Items
(A man is checking out) A turquoise bra, a kid's baseball glove, and a household object. Yeah, that was surprising. Of course, after a few minutes he was joined by his wife and son, which went a long way towards explaining things, but STILL.

Craziest Request
It's always funny to see what people open in the store and then pay for. For example, a lady checking out with a HUGE (open) bag of M&Ms: "You may want to put those in a separate bag so they don't spill. My daughter would be so embarrassed [conspiratorial smile] but she's not here, and after all, sometimes you just have to have some chocolate. . ." Other crazy open items: Kleenex box (obvious, due to the girl blowing her running nose as she checked out) feminine products ("We had an accident") and the usual array of sodas. But the absolute craziest was when three twenty-something girls came to check out. They dumped their pile of items on the belt, then said:

Spokesgirl: Can you just ring up the tags? They're all here. I'm not sure if you can or not, but she's kind of wearing the items
Other Girl [pointing at third girl, our Target product model]: It's the shirt, and the bra, and the belt. . . Are you going to make her take them off?
Me[slightly floored]: That's okay, I can just ring up the tags.
Spokesgirl [huge smile] Thanks so much. I wasn't sure if you could do that.
Me: I'm not sure I can either; I'm new, but I will anyway.
Girls: [smiles and giggles]
me (to myself) was it really that funny?
"Bye," "Thanks," etc.
Definitely Unusual.

You can run, but you can't hide

Okay, so the two things I wasn't going to miss about Wildwood were 1) the retreat 2) Humanities finals. Well, earlier in this semester I committed to an RUF retreat, so that lovely escape went out the window. Yesterday and today I've had not one, but TWO humanities finals.
Yesterday I sat down for two hours of franticly-written essay questions on the Ancient World. Today I'm going to have to do the same for Western Civ. Why did I pick so many honors courses (rolls eyes?)

But in a few short hours I'll be through with my first semester of college! Hmm, and back to sloooow internet connection at home.

Behind Every Great College There Is. . . Conspiriacy Report #1

[dramatic music playing] I recently discovered that my college has entered into contract with a shadowy organization that dictates principles of school life, restricts our freedoms, and subtly tries to indoctrinate the students. What is this organization? Is it a pact with the great Master of Lies himself? No. Is it bowing obeisance to a group of highly intelligent rats? Not that I know of (hmmm. . .I'll have to investigate that some more). Is it a devious plan to allow a totalitarian dictator to take over the world? Not really. It is [dramatic flourish] COKE!

Yes, believe it or not, Coca Cola governs what we drink at community meetings. How did I stumble upon this piece of pertinent information? I went to a community meeting for 4th and 5th floors, and some friends and I were talking to our PA afterwards (there was food--always helps encourage participation) when she said something along the lines of "I wish there were more choices of soda, but almost all of the coke products were out." Another girl laughed and said "Why didn't you just get some other kind of soda?" My PA replied, totally serious, "We're only allowed to buy coke products with community funds [in term of soda]." I think all of our jaws dropped open. Apparently Coke donates generously to residential life, and one of the terms is (of course) a monopoly of coke products.

I guess that would explain the lack of Dr. Pepper in the dining hall, and why campus is almost completely free of Pepsi products(you can still buy it at, say, Mizzoumart, but not in vending machines, or dining halls, or food courts, etc.). Personally, I'd much rather have Coke than Pepsi, but for people who prefer Pepsi it would be kind of horrible. So, the moral of this story is: Forget about asking all those questions on college visit of "What are classes like?" or "How's the technology on campus?" Just keep your eyes open around soda machines and whisper surreptitiously to your guide "So who are you really working for?" Because being stuck inn Pepsi land for four years would nbe most unpleasent.

When (Wardrobe) doors close. . .

Well, we've just finished our last reader's theatre sunday school of the semester. It's always slightly sad to see things come to an end, especially something as fun as Narnia. The white witch has been defeated, the Pevensies are safely home, and my time as Wolf/Creature #1/Mr. Tumnus/Mrs. Beaver is over. It's amazing to think that I've been going around wishing people "Merry Christmas;" time sure has flown. Maybe coming home will be something like stepping back through the wardrobe door into England, finding out that I'm not quite all grown up yet. Then again, maybe not. It'll probably be more like entering Narnia again to find that Cair Paravel is in ruins ("Look what we did to you're room, Lee Anne!") and that centuries have gone by ("Wait--you did WHAT while I was gone?").

YESSSSSSS!

I just sent in my last paper of the semester!!!! Now I have to study for finals, but right now I'm going to take a loooong nap. I've had seven assignments due in the last two days. :P It's been exhausting (after all, I had to squeeze time in there to watch 'Firefly' episodes too. . .) Oh, lovely weekend!

Life, the Universe, and Fire Alarms

I just got back from a dorm event called "NOT AGAIN," talking about the dangers of pulling fire alarms, how serious it is, etc. Most of us went cuz they were offering free hot chocolate and snacks and money for the top floor attendance (our floor came in third, which wasn't bad). Yes, we are still having multiple false fire alarms. Apparently they tend to get worse during finals week. Just what I needed to look forward to. The evening had some serious overtones, though. They showed videos about how students have died in fires and I even started to cry (well, tear up. and I did have my contacts in).

This past weekend some fun things happened. I helped out with a community service project. Each floor competed in a food drive, then had to build something out of the cans. Our floor (thanks to the brilliant plan of my roommate, Amber) build a replica of Jesse Hall and the Columns. Basically it was Amber, Jason, our PA Laura and her boyfriend Kevin, and myself (I termed myself "creative consultant"). They let me make the columns, but I was told not to touch the building. Hmm, I wonder why. . . (LOL, actually a smart idea). I came up with several special touches, including stairs out of paper and a flag for the top of the building. We used Christmas lights to represent the Quad. We had a lot of fun, and the end result was amazing. Lots of people stopped by to complement it, and Jason freaked out when girls called it "cute." I told him not to worry, it was stately. But I teased him about it anyway.*Wicked Grin*

I went to the Nutcracker ballet and a play this Saturday. The Nutcracker was, well, The Nutcracker. The youngest daughter was called Maria, not Clara, which surprised me. My favorite parts were the Spanish and the Arabian dancers (who were amazing, by the way). The play was at our Corner Playhouse, which is about a ten minute cold walk from my dorm, but worth it. This was the second play I've gone to there. It's small, but the plays are really fun. This time it was "a dark comedy about the dark ages" called "Incorruptible." It's about these monks who have the bones of a saint, but are totally out of money, When another abbey claims to have the bones of the same saint--and their bones are working miracles--they are at their wits end of what to do. The Pope was skipped over the promised visit to visit this other place, and their saint's bones aren't working miracles, so our monastery has nothing to draw in pilgrims with. When they find out that this is because a one-eyed minstrel dug up a body and sold it to the other abbey, they realize they have found a way to make money. Subsequently, they empty their churchyard by selling the bones of "saints" to all these other churches. Only problem? They're too successful. After they've sold seventeen heads of John the Baptist, etc. they realize they are in trouble. Again. It's really quite a funny play, and doesn't make fun of the church so much as of self-serving people. Well, it doesn't provide good examples, but the end--surprisingly enough--sends the message that faith can work miracles.

Attack of the Evil Foam Beads

[Spooky Music Plays] The girl is sitting on her bed, quietly reading, then gets up to get something from her closet [spooky music gets louder]. You, because of the spooky music playing, want to yell out "NOOOOOO! Don't reach down!" but you're too late: she pulls back her hand to find it covered in tiny white spots about a millimeter wide. Frowning, she tries to brush them off, but they now stick to both hands. Gasping, she steps back as the room is enveloped in a flurry of tiny white whatever-they-ares, covering bed, floor, desk, and clothes. She tries to scream, only they fall down here throat, choking her. . .

K, so maybe it wasn't quite that dramatic, but certain facts about this new microscopic life form are true.
1. They came out of my computer lap-desk pillow thing.
2. They have very powerful and subtle attaching properties.
3. They multiply rapidly (at least, they spill rapidly), and survive by attaching themselves to anything within site.

Right now, two days later, there are still at least a hundred around my desk, not to mention the stragglers on my bed, floor, coat, shirt, backpack, etc. They would actually make very good spy cameras or bombs. . .
My roommate suggested that we empty the rest of the pillow (this was only about 1/100 of it) on somebody: a new tar-n-feathering. [Wicked Grin] Or put them over someone's door, have them dump everywhere like confetti, only wicked-sticks-around-so-you-can-never-get-rid-of-it-tiny-white-dots-confetti. I suggested calling someone in and saying. "Help! there are all these bug eggs, and I don't know what to do. aaahhh! one's hatching!"

Ooh, fact number 4: They have ability to fill human minds with devious tricks.

Cold as a Witch's Behind

It seems like this week is going to deal with extremes. After that lovely burning heat wave, yesterday the fire alarm got pulled twice. Have I mentioned that it was freezing out? I was just getting back from class the first time, and I was only wearing a light jacket. The second time I was in the dining hall getting ready to drink some hot chocolate, only to get whisked outside into the frozen tundra devoid of warm anything. Without a coat. :P The second time was for a "legitimate" reason; some smokeguard didn't work and set off the alarms in Rollins. Of course, then overreacting people pulled the one in Gillett too. Thankfully the Black Culture Center across the street let us take shelter there, although I'm afraid we were a rather noisy influx of people blocking the hall and foyer (not me, I was reading a book).

Other news of a frozen kind:

We had some snowflakes today!

In the middle of last night, one of my friends and FIGmates heard her air conditioner making weird noises (she had it on cuz of the annoying heaters which are right next to her room, not to mention the one in her room). So she got up to look at it and turned it off. In the morning she saw that it was covered in ICE! Like everywhere. Weird, huh?

Hot As Hades

I must have a homing device that draws misadventures to me. Riding back to college, I was kinda tired, but I figured that things would start off smoothly with a quiet evening before starting my last two weeks of classes. Ha.

I enter my dorm room to a blast of heat so hot it would put a volcano to shame. I wince, and suggest to my roommate that we turn the heat off now (it was required to be left on over break). "It is off," she replied. "I've had the air conditioner going for the past four hours." It is really impossible to discribe how hot and miserable our room was/is. My roommate had it much worse. When she got here,
the knob almost burned her hand
the temperature read 104
and six hours later it's still over 90.

I hope you're getting the picture of how miserable it is in here. I reached into my can of chocolate and nuts, and found all the chocolate completely melted. Our walls are actually hot to the touch. I got a shower and the shampoo was extra liquidy and annoyingly warm. My clothes felt like they'd just come out of the dryer. You sweat just sitting on your bed. In other words, it's completely-totally-beyond-hellishly-miserably-Mount-Doom-like-hot.

Oh, and it's not just our room. The whole building is like this.

Cleaning

I think I'm allergic to dust.

At least, dust that attacks in rampant masses of evil armies when I sweep my dorm room.

I Love Fridays

It's Friday!!!!!! Yes!!!!!! Only one week till thanksgiving break and Harry Potter (LOL, you know what I'm looking forward to). I'm way tired right now; I'll probably crash this afternoon and nap (I still have a big paper to do this weekend--blech!) Last night was crazy. I went to a play ("Under the Shadow of the Sword") with my friend Libby, which was a ton of fun, then got back a little before eleven to finish writing *another* paper. Just guess what happened next--yup! The fire alarm went off. This time the fire truck didn't even bother coming; there was only a police officer and he said that the next time it gets pulled they are going to go through the building room by room. None of us are sure what that will accomplish other than to punish us and keep us outside for several hours. (Note to self: create a fire alarm emergency kit of everything you need) Yeah, so I was up late and had an 8 o'clock class this morning--which I actually went to for once (and they didn't even take attendance--which they did last week when I skipped :P). I swore I wasn't going to pick one next semester, but then I found out that there was a 3 credit course on "The Theology of JRR Tolkien" that I have to take. It was full, but I just got a seat yesterday! I'm excited.
This week in the reader's theater of narnia for sunday school I get to play two parts: the Wolf, and Creature #1. I did mention that I'm helping out with the kids' sunday school at my church, right? Normally I'm in the Krazy Kindergarteners room--25+ kids and only a few helpers. So, life is just dashing along at a quick pace-- I can't believe the semester is almost over! There's only like a total of 3 weeks of classes left! Wow. . .

Life

Wow. For once I am at a loss. I can't think of anything hugely misadventurous that happened to me lately. Well, except. . .

I went on the RUF retreat this weekend, and I forgot to pack:
any long sleeved shirts (yes, it was cold)
soap (I had shampoo though)
my contact case (and I had my contacts in)
my medicine
cds or a book

I actually packed ahead of time, too (rueful grin). No, I'm not at all spacey.

This week I've been busy as usual writing papers, drawing pictures on Bebo, and going on my first date.

Heterosexism

Where to start? So much has happened. I need to write a ton of papers before I leave on the RUF (Reformed University Fellowship) retreat tomorrow afternoon. Let's see. . .

Today my FIG (freshman interest group) class went to a special interactive theatre sketch called Heterosexism. It starts off as a group of students (actors) working on a project, when the topic of homosexuality comes up. There's the obnoxious Christian, an African American girl who loses her temper at the said obnoxious Christian, a guy who is accused to being gay all the time but isn't (he's also nominally Christian), a girl who's a Christian but ashamed by their reactions, and a reserved Hindu girl who's lesbian. Anyhow, there's a ten minute skit, after which the audience gets to ask the actors (still in character) about their reactions, and they interact together or alone based on the questions the audience raises. The point was that everybody responds wrongly, so it wasn't just picking on Christians, but I still winced because none of them really seemed to have a true Biblical perspective.
Anyhow, this is were it gets really interesting. There's one student actor "missing" from the group; they start the skit over again and anyone from the audience who wants to try to fix the scenario before it escalates into the shouting match can call out "Stop!" and go down and take the place of the missing student. The audience member then interacts in the same skit, only with a (hopefully) different ending.
So. Understand that I'm with my FIG, two of which are bisexual, and I'm sitting next to one of them. The last thing I want to do is have them hate me, because then I'll never have a chance to reach out to them. Anyhow, first replay starts, and one of my figmates jumps up and goes down to join the club, and just announces that she's bisexual, which shuts all the actors' characters up pretty effectively. Another girl from my FIG goes down and tries a conciliatory approach. (Yes, there are other students in the audience besides just our FIG). I know that they're probably only going to go through this one more time, and I really can't just sit there with not a single decent Christian response but plenty of straw men floating around, so I of course open my big mouth and go down to the stage. (It's not a large stage or anything; it's really small and it's a small audience). Still, I wish I could ever stop my legs from shaking when I get up in front of people. I can't remember everything I said, and I don't really want to, because chances are it was disjointed and very flawed. But I did my best to communicate that Christians can respond in loving ways, affirming that every individual is an imagebearer of the Living God, even while standing firm on their convictions. Mostly I tried to show the "obnoxious christian" how his approach (screaming cuss words and acting hypocritical) is not the correct response.
Anyhow, I did what I could. I just hope that I said the right things. But we don't always know, do we?