Unite!

I don’t know why, but the second I got on campus, I had one mindset: irritated.

I’m not sure why this was. Even though the bio trip took a lot of energy and I have a nice, slight limp, rash and pretty bad sunburn, I don’t think it was any of these things. Or maybe it was and I just didn’t realize…? But, still, I don’t think so. It might have been the rain or even that fact that my princess water bottle is missing. I really loved that thing ):

I was, for the most part, sharp-tongued and very short-tempered upon my return. I think it rings true that when you believe your day is going to be bad, then it probably will be. That’s how my day began. Thankfully I did what I usually do (if possible) when my mood has turned sour: I sleep. Sleeping can calm me down from any kind mood: excited, mad, irritated, etc. It’s like a cure-all for my moods. So, because of my mood/fatigue, I hit the hay and, 3.5 hours later, I awoke to a better mood.

My eyes/skin/rash still burned and my bottle was still missing (though I know where it went now), but I was in better spirits about it. Thank the Lord for sleep~

So, about the trip itself, I don’t really like blogging too much (because that would take some of the fun of the trip away) but I’ll post a few details:

- Jeremy never saw his shooting star. But, it is theorized, he will when receiving his “first kiss” - it will shoot down from the sky, landing near him. With his space rock, he will make a sword, engagement ring and paper weights for wedding guests. I only hope this comes to pass.

- Spile is a good twenty questions object. At least, it stumped 85% of the hikers on the way to the lake-y thing we hiked to. Poor Jeremy didn’t think this was fair, and maybe it wasn’t. Not even Ruth knew what it was. But! I forgot to tell him this, but next time he plays this game he, too, can impress with his knowledge.

- “Cellular respiration!” “Yaaaay!”

- There are no showers…

- I don’t have good shoes for hiking… at all. I fell at least six times, and almost fell/lost my footing about an additional ten times. I came away mostly unscathed, with only Ruth saying: “If only you had better shoes.”

- Even with good shoes, I haven’t been granted to the gift of grace. Who knew.

- We had to make small groups to make sure that no one was lost during our hike. Me, Jeremy, Ruth and Emily formed a group, naming it J-REC. We even had nature names: J = Thundering Dodo, R = Mountain Goat, E = Splendiferous Sparrow and C = Photosynthetic Cyanobacteria. When we breaked someone, namely me, would shout: "J-REC!" We would then come together and put out fists out while shouting our nature names. We'd then pull back our fists and declare, "UNITE!" Eventually a few professors caught on and started joining our group, as did a few students. Trend-setting. Ur doin' it right.

- The only time of the day I seemed to have phone service was in the back of the tent at four in the morning.

- It was freezing at night. I even busted out my towel to sleep with, not that it made much difference.

- My hiccups are gaining renown fast.

- I learned such phrases from Pam: “Doll”, “Heavens to Betsy!”, “It’s like herding cats!”, etc.

- Brian Hooker (new bio/nurse professor) snores like a freight train.

- According to Jeremy, who was staying in the tent of Larry Siemens, Life Extraordinaire, he awoke to Larry whispering: “You hear that? That’s a pygmy owl.”

- Jeremy understandably hates being called ‘Jer bear’, but Gangsta J Pimpy Foo Yee is fine by him.

- I feel for Ruth, having to had share a tent with me. I awoke early in the morning in search of my missing pillow. I’d been sleeping on something lumpy, a jacket maybe, so I began scouring for my pillow. Instead I grabbed Ruth’s head: “Oh, sorry about that Ruth. I though you were my pillow.”

- Emily lent me better socks. I think I left them rolled up in the sleeping back. Oops.

- I didn’t know I was sunburned until I returned to Simpson and saw myself in the mirror. Oh boy was I surprised.

- I was so desperate for clean hair Saturday night that I dumped really cold water on my head repeatedly. So. Worth. It.

- My eyes burn so bad. Soooo bad. I don’t know why. I’m probably missing a bunch of other things: like the beauty of the hikes, the camp fires, and the no-beavers… but you’ll probably hear those things from me regardless.

I IZ PINK AZ MAI STUFF!

Toodle Pip.

Farming and Other Such Things

“I feel like a farmer’s daughter.”

Or so says Athena. Since I found out picking fruit off of the campus trees is, in fact, legal, I feel safe in posting this blog and not blocking it or anything. So, as I was drifting off into slumber land, I get a call from Athena. I forgot that, earlier that day, I had been invited to their special fruit picking outing. I LOVE fruit. So, upon the reminder, I got out of my comfy PJs, grabbed my Totoro hat and slipped out into the night! Excitement!

I didn’t know exactly how we were going to extract said fruit, but I guess my dear friends from Morgan had some ideas… namely involving a football named “Donald” and launching him into the branches. It took a few times, but it eventually rained fruit for our expedition. On the whole we got plums, another kind of smaller plums, peaches, pears and apples. So, really quite productive. If we’re farmers daughters then, a) Athena is adopted, b) Hannah, Becca and I are adopted or c) Something is not right. Take your pick.

Not much to write about… some things are more fun to experience than to chronicle… but on another note…

And this may be harsh, but sometimes I just want some people to be quiet, PLEASE. It’s hard enough to pay attention in class without your insipid prattle distracting me. Not because it’s interesting - no, no. Just because it is so insanely ridiculous that I want to turn around and hit you with a dictionary. Or a bible. Something! Maybe a bible dictionary! I mean, the things some girls talk about, especially a certain ring of freshman! I really just wanted to vomit. In. My. Spleen. I just had to breathe and listen to music in my head… and it kind of worked. But, still, it was so ridiculous…. END RANT.

Dum dee dum.

BY THE WAY, RUTH: Thanks for volunteering me for Bio treasurer. *sarcasm* I am so lazy, it’s really sad.

Toodle Pip.

Almost There

Stop. Breath. Inhale. Exhale. Stop. Breathe.

Seriously, this day has been that:

Up at 6:40 to finish lab. Didn’t finish it.

Shower at 7:10.

Lab at 8, plus poptart on the way.

In lab until 11:45 today. That’s, count ‘em, almost four hours.

Met with Emily at the lab then went to check my mail (got a book in the mail), then headed up to second floor to make an appointment and then headed to the dorm.

At the dorm by 11: 59.

Texting Becca: “Lunch at 12?”

Becca replying: “12:30?”

Finally agreeing to it. Spending time with Emily in dorm when I get a call from Becca ~12:07: “Want to just go now?” Fine, whatever.

Get there ~12:15. Eating. Bad pasta. Then cereal. Yum and a cookie.

Eating with Anne, Becca and Emily until 12:47 when I head back to the dorm to get my stuff for Biblical Backgrounds (at 1) and World Civ (at 2:40).

Biblical Backgrounds. Doodled. Will get notes from Ruth. Ends at 2:30.

Stay in the same classroom for my next class, World Civ, ten minutes later.

Drooled on myself and talked about the Epic of Gilgamesh to the classroom. Got a piece of chocolate for Becca. Over at 4:10.

Then onto chorale at 4:20. Sat next to Becca for about ten minutes. Then moved to 2nd alto. o_o Never been an alto… I’m usually first soprano. Interesting~ We’ll see how this works out.

5:30, walking from chorale to Becca’s dorm. Watched her eat cheese for five minutes. Bantered about the temperature. Left.

Finally, in my dorm at 6:00. “Ruth, wanna go to dinner?”

And then we did. Anneke named my occasional hiccup “Earl the frog.” Yey.

Came back. Am tired. So tired. No break all day. Not really. Gonna take nap or something…

Yeah~ then some homework. So, so tired.

*yawn*

Toodle Pip.

Whom Then Shall I Fear?

I love conversations that put your faith into perspective. Occasionally I’ll post blogs that are actually meaningful, not just mildly entertaining hysterically brilliant anecdotes of my everyday life. Honestly, a lot of them are a bit insipid, but I don’t like taking myself too seriously. Yet sometimes we have to, because being silly can be silly in itself. Like everything else, moderation is important. Like I said, perspective. Tonight I was granted some. This is very probably my last year in a mostly Christian environment before I am plucked out of my safe haven and dropped into a world that is not just blasé about Jesus, but sometimes against him. I’m not ready to be in such a place. I mean, I don’t want to get ahead of myself and be too serious, but at the same time I don’t want to shrug off every little thing. Jesus died for me, He loves me, He is always faithful when I’m not.

I actually received two bits of revelation today: The first was in chapel. Not only did Matthew Kelly put me in my place, but so did worship. I stared out into the student body and was in awe. I saw the love of Jesus Christ and wept. There is just something about worship that bridges God and I (and I am sure others). It is a kind of fellowship that, for me, transcends all others. It just made me cry to see how insignificant all my problems and worries were. What do they mean to other people? What should they mean to me? I found part of my answer in observing a flock of sheep. It was also brought to my attention tonight that I am not in a good place. I’ve been very complacent, just drifting along the ocean waiting for a plane or another ship and not seeking one out.

There’s a gap from one side of land to the other and no bridge. Probably because I am not building my half of the bridge. It is because I have been neglecting reading the Word and have let my attention waver to such vapid matters. I also realized I am not being a counselor to my brothers and sisters in Christ. Tonight aside, when is the last time I heard or received a praise report? When have I stopped and prayed for someone other than myself? I am ashamed. I’m not helping, and maybe even I’m hurting.

I don’t know what else to say, only that I need to be better. More.

Toodle Pip.

Rare and Unexpected Friends

I don’t have much to blog about, save a few apprehensions about this semester. But I’m already worrying when I’m not blogging, so I’m not going to dedicate this blog to those frustrations. That’s counter-productive and not going to help anything. So, anyhow, I wanted to blog but didn’t really have a topic… and then *bing*! Last night when I was trying to sleep I got the idea: a blog of pictures. You see, I’ve been taking pictures for my blog, but I don’t really feel up to writing about all those small, funny depicted things in my photos. So… I’m going to post the pictures I have in my phone from the Tuesday before I left till now and a small caption or sentence beneath it. They should speak for themselves, as it were.

I’m going to try to do these types of blogs every now and then so that all my beautiful friends can be inclusive in my posts. There are so many things I want to show you; our days iz crazeh. Welcome to Courtney’s Daily Universe:


The first thing I will include is a beautiful show of sisterly love that all you sisters out there can take notes from:

Ladies and gentlemen: Ashley and Brad.

Duhdum.

We are walking by this fanceh car~

Walking s'more.

Can you guess? Wait for it... wait for it...

BLAHWHATEVS(:


Becca thinks very highly of her mini bowling set.

My face when Anne/Becca called my parents vampires.

"Wanna see my Christmas list?" And then she pulled it out of her pockets.

I'm in ur room, stalkin' holdin' ur penngwin~

*sniffles* My last picture with Molly.

Bambi and Totoro... alwehs wachin u

For: Mariah, Canvas used: Anne's shoulder

In meh cloister looking for Mr. Right Captain Von Trapp.

"Turn around, Ruth! Turn around!"

'Tis all. Not as epic as hoped~ But we'll see about more in the future. Maybe more will happen, maybe not.

In closing,

Toodle Pip.

Be My Last

I leave in a few hours. And I don’t know how I feel about it. Conflicted, I guess. I’ve gotten so accustomed to being home that it’s very strange to be leaving. I won’t have my parents or siblings or dogs, and I’ll be left to my own devices. I’m a bit sad because, though chaotic, I really loved being home. I mean, I don’t always appreciate it, but I do right now. I love school, though I love home more. I wish there was some way I could have both. It’s partly the reason I’ve decided to transfer out of Simpson after this year. That and it’s expensive. Anyhow, this blog was actually meant to cover the events of the past few days, rather than my woes about leaving home. So, back to the topic:

Wednesday my sister and Brad were taking me to Little Tokyo in LA as a last hurrah before coming back to school. Usually a trip to LT includes karaoke at Max, stopping at the Japanese market and a bite to eat. However, it went a little differently this time ‘round:

Planned to take the Metro. Thanks to another dazzling fight between Ashley and Brad about appropriate shower times, we missed the train. Ashley and I, riding ahead of Brad, had a conversation like this: “You know, Courtney, next time you need to tell me when you get out of the shower.” “I did… a minute later.” “And you really should have taken a shower after me. I take shorter showers when I’m pressured.” “My mistake… but your shower was, like, really long.” “Actually it wasn’t.” “But it was like over thirty minutes.” “It wasn’t.” “OK.” *eight minutes of silence* “You know, Brad made us late.” “Oh?” “Yeah. His shower was really long and he didn’t even take one right after me. He made us late.” “Okey-dokey.” She just can’t function without blaming someone.

Instead, we hitched a ride with her friend Cynthia.

Cynthia spent 80% of the car ride to LA on the phone with her work. The other 20% was spent on awkward conversation and silence since, for some reason, I was in the front seat and Ashley and Brad were in the back watching Big Bang Theory. Which left me and Cynthia with only each other to talk to. We have virtually nothing in common and spent most of the time making strained small talk. She’s nice and everything, but she’s Ashley’s friend, which is fairly indicative that we have very little common-ground.

We make it to LT and Ash and I went to the market only to find that they rearranged everything. Meaning, the my favorite drink to get there, Suntory Gokuri peach, was missing. Ashley ended up finding it, but it was warm (it used to come refrigerated), so I got something else instead. She’s going to send me up some next time she goes to LT. She doesn’t know it yet, but she will. They’re so good~ tastes just like drinking a peach. So I got some carrot juice, pandas and really, really nasty mochi instead.

On another note, while at the LT market: I was scanning the pocky and saw this strange type of pocky I’d never seen before… Men’s Chocolate Pocky… I don’t really get it. It looks like normal pocky, except that the packaging is an aqua-green and not red. But that’s it. Red isn’t particularly feminine, so I was/am a little confused. Just an interesting note. Men’s pocky. Maybe it’s physically impossible/or illegal for woman to consume it. Wow.

Anyhow, onto karaoke! It was actually pretty fun, though halfway through Cynthia was called into work. Brad and I sang a few Taylor Swift duets and tackled Bohemian Rhapsody. It’s a bit unfair, since Ashley and Cynthia can read kanji, but I looked up the romaji to a few songs and, for Anneke, sang Be My Last by Utada Hikaru. Her. Favorite. Song. Well, not really. Anyhow, it was fun and the best part of the day~

And then Hell broke loose. Brad missed his train because Ashley led us to the metro bus instead of the train. So Brad missed the train he planned to take into Riverside so he could get to some classes he hoped to add. Thus, he was petulant/angry and he and Ash even had a screaming match at the platform. Yes, I was embarrassed and did walk away as if I didn’t know them. People were watching. At one point Ashley marched up to me and announced: “Let’s go, Courtney! We’re leaving Brad here!” She tried to get me to leave him at the station by himself in the heart of LT. Brad has zero common sense. It would be like leaving a twelve-year-old to fend for himself. So, I refused. Eventually it went to angry whispers/arguing between them as we took the bus to the metro train station and bought our tickets. After that, they both deflated and got on better terms and were even enjoying the train home.

I enjoyed the train too. I was listening to my iPod and watching the landscape blur by in what was my first train ride since third grade. But then this thing with her SmartWater bottle started. For some reason, she grabs her empty bottle, starts waving it like a maniac and then slaps me with it. I don’t really know why… it was like when my dog, Molly, who doesn’t usually play, wants to. I don’t have enough data on this yet to offer any kind of explanation. So, she hits me with the bottle. I grab it from her and hit her. Eventually she gets it back and hits me again. I grab it from her and hit her. So, it became this every-few-minute battle of SmartWater. Very interesting. But most of the time she and Brad were watching Big Bang Theory on her iPhone. Although, I got into her Facebook as we were nearing Ontario. This will come into play later.

So, the train is at Riverside, though still moving. We’re on the third level and get up to move to the first. That’s when I fall. I’m not even sure how it happened exactly, only that one moment I’m at the top of the stairs leading to the second level and the next my butt is bouncing down every step to the bottom. It didn’t even hurt or anything at first. It was just a bit embarrassing. Ashley comes up and helps me up. At this point I had a firm hold on the SmartWater bottle up until the last step when I lost my grip and it flies under another seat. The first words out of my mouth were: “Get the bottle!” So Ashley gets it, I grab it and shove it in my purse for safekeeping. After I get the bottle, I follow Ashley down to the first level as the metro is pulling into the station. Curious people asked if I was fine (I was), and then it hits. For some reason, I go from o-100 in nausea right after that. The second the doors opened, I ran out and knocked into another lady. The same lady who told me to tell the conductor I fell. As if he cares. I didn’t have any obvious injuries so I told her I didn’t need to. As soon as I’m out, I’m ready to hurl. I ran to a nearby planter, poised to let go of my lunch. In fact, another lady tries to help me after seeing how sick I feel. But then I remember that I had nothing to eat that day. So I can’t barf. But I want to.

Next, as Brad heads off to class, we’re waiting for my mom to pick us up from the metro station. I’m sitting with my head bent over on the bench, still sick, when Matthew calls. This is where the Facebook thing comes in. All I hear is Ashley screech: “She what?!” and then glare at me. You see, I had typed something like this on her Facebook as a status… “Ai love mai sistah, Courtneh. She grate. Ai love her. Ai give her a kidney! Any day!” This was just supposed to be some stupid, rambling nonsense. But I guess it gave a few people the idea that she had donated her kidney to me. So, that was pretty hilarious. I was falling over in laughter as she began chanting, “I don’t care that you fell anymore. I don’t care. I don’t care.”

Bumper butt. That’s what they’re calling me now. Because my butt bump-bump-bumped down every step. And while I originally was sure I had no injuries, only a few scrapes, the next morning I found out otherwise. I’m not sure what exactly is wrong, only that my hip is not liking me right now. I have to pick up my leg with my hands to get it over a step because it hurts to lift it. If I don’t move, it doesn’t hurt, but any kind of walking of lifting is painful. So I have to basically pick up my leg for it to not hurt when I step over something or get out of the car. It’s great. I’m hoping it will go away soon and that it’s only a sprain or that I tore a muscle or something. At least the nausea is gone~

Well. That’s it. My last blog in Southern California. I leave for Redding, in a little less than four hours. *sigh* So conflicted.

But on a happier note, I forgot a little excerpt from yesterday. As I was listening to One Jump Ahead (reprise) from Aladdin, Eric-a passes by and says to my mom: “When I was in grade school, we used to be in a group at recess and pick a Street Rat and then beat him up.” For some reason, I was speechless. In amazement.

That is all. It was a great four months, Southern California.

Toodle Pip.