Funny bits and the weekend

Well, today was kind of eventful.
The first exciting thing began with when I went to go check on the chickens. They laid 9 eggs over the weekend, but one of them had a good scratch in it, so I threw it over the fence. There were still 8 eggs, and I knew that I couldn't hold all 8 eggs in my hands and then open the kitchen door, so I carefully arranged the eggs, 5 in my left hand and 3 in my right, went up to the door, and knocked on the door with my elbow and yelled for Taylor. She came to the door to let me in, but Riley decided that she wanted to come in, too. Taylor and I tried to get Riley out of the way, but I dropped and egg in the process. Great. Now what do we do? Taylor went for the paper towels, which would have been the best idea, I think, but I dumb idea came into my head instead. (I'm telling this story because I know that it's funny, and I would get a chuckle from it if I heard it from anybody else. Taylor and I laughed so much during and after the whole ordeal, though. And, my disclaimer, yeah, I know that his was stupid, but it sounded cool in my head...)Why don't we just wash the egg away? I went and got a pitcher of water and tried to splash the egg out the door. It worked a little, but not enough, so I tried another pitcher. Taylor pipes in, "What about the water hose?"
"Yeah! Get that!" Boy, this was going to be fun. Taylor gets the hose. We bring it inside and get enough slack so that I can get behind the mess. I yell for Taylor to turn on the hose and shpyew! Away goes the egg mess after eh, about 10 seconds of spraying it all. I yell back to Taylor and the water stops. We're laughing the whole time at the hilarity of it all. I throw the hose outside, look at the kitchen floor, and see the flood of water that was left. The water was creeping along and showed me how uneven our floor was - the water was gently moving south towards the hardwood hallway!! Gah!! I rush upstairs to the linen closet, grab 6 big towels, run backstairs and I start throwing down the towels over hardwood. Taylor comes in from turning off the water, sees what's up and I throw more towels to her to put on the floor. We laugh, laugh, laugh and try to control the flood.
Of course fix everything, and when things settled, we looked at the floor, covered with towels, and laughed some more. I took pictures. The End.

Highlight #2: Kate and I went swimming. We had fun and talked about whatnot. I went to go check the filter buckets and saw some frogs. Kate doesn't like reptiles or amphibians, and she was not happy with the frogs. I wasn't happy either, when I found that they were dead. Live frogs are a lot easier to handle than dead ones. Dead ones are just... gross, stinky, and dead. Not only were there dead frogs, but there was also a big, black thing in the basket. It looked like a mouse, and I was not happy. I did not want to stretch my hand into that contaminated water (yes, I had been swimming in it for a while, but that's irrelevant.) I went into the kitchen and got the tongs so that I could grab the basket with them. I did this and saw that there was indeed, a black fuzzy small rodent. I yelled. And squealed. And made many other girlish disgusted noises. Kate says that she's not afraid of mice (???) and so she uses the tongs to take the basket over to the edge of the fence and dumped it out. It was thoroughly gross. Guh-ross. It took a while to stop with the disgusted noises. I asked Kate why she was ok with the mouse/shrew/mole thing, and she said, "Because it is a creature. Like an animal." She meant that it was like a mammal. Reptiles and amphibians = no for her, but this is a cute furry thing that has even been domesticated. I'm fine with domesticated rodents, but icky wild rabid ones, I can't take. Especially not that one that woke me up and scared me last month.

Today, I also fixed the internet, tried to fix the VCR, and I made a Korean dish with my sister for dinner. Alice calls it Pokempop. (Ha, that looks like Pokemon!) It's tasty, even though I was very suspicious of it when I first heard the ingredients. Rice, onions, carrots, bacon, ketchup, and oyster sauce. I don't know how that sounds to you, but it's really, really tasty, and I wish I could've shared with you tonight so that you could taste it. Kate also made mashed potatoes and they were very good, too.

Tomorrow, I go back to work after a lovely, lovely weekend. It was so wonderful. It was so great to see Nathan again, and then to be with his family, and then even to meet much of his extended family! His uncle Shannon, the man who conducted the wedding, came and talked with Nathan and I for an hour or so at dinner one day, and we had such an enjoyable conversation. And, I feel much closer to Nathan's parents now, too. They are so great. Sharalyn's wedding was perfect. And the joy I received from being a small part of it and just witnessing the wedding is going to carry on for a long time.
Sunday's lunch was fun, especially the part when someone saw that Peking House didn't open for another 15 minutes. Mitch announces that this is ok, because he has tin whistles! Here we have Mitch, Dan Taylor, Jared, Ross, Nathan, Taylor, Kate, and I waiting in and around Mitch's pick up truck bed. Mitch and Nathan pick up the whistles and the other guys keep tempo. Randomness at its best. It was very fun. And so was lunch. I go to sit next to Mrs. Schmidt and we had a good time. It was all so, so good. I am thankful for my beautiful weekend.

Where am I?
One moment, I'm mulling over the problems that face me today and tomorrow, the next, I'm looking for distraction in The Cheetah Girls 2. Talk about lost.
Back to the problems thing, though... It's problems like these that give me a picture into why some people give in or give up so soon. How sad. I am thankful that I have found hope. And, I have more than that, as well. I have tangible blessings and people who love me.
Today, I just wanted to run away to the woods for two days or so. I wanted to fly away. Get away ad get to where I want to be.
Well, I'm going to stop now because I don't want to be emo. And I really could, if I kept on. Except for the self-mutilation. That just makes me squeamish.
Ok, bye.

Wwaaah! I just want to be pitiful!!!

When I got to work on Saturday, I made 8 of us. Eight is a lot of people to be in that small pizza shop, but Chuck said that Saturdays are our busiest days besides Friday. Nonetheless, there were many times when more than two people were taking a smoke break at a time.

There was a 25-ish looking man in jeans working on pizzas who I didn't recognize. I asked Ramone and found out that he's new. About an hour after I got there, another new kid comes in. So, I'm a veteran now! *high five from Ramone* So now I'm on the make line (the pizza assembly line that starts with sauce, then cheese, and the rest of the toppings). I'm on the sauce/cheese, new 25-something guy is on the cheese/pepperonis, and Noah is on the pepperonis when he's not up front with the customers. It wasn't till a few minutes after we began talking that I found out new guy's name, which is Morgan, but I wanted to go ahead and type out his name for you so I don't have to be confusing anymore. So, Morgan asks me how long I've been working... Do I like it here, stuff like that. I ask him some question, (I forget what it was) and he says that he's just trying to stay awake. I say, "How come?" (As in, "why is it so hard to stay awake?")(Oh, and this guy's got a pretty thick Southern accent. You'll have to imagine that when you read what he said.) "Well, I've gotten 3 hours of sleep in the last two days.""?? How come?""Well... my wife left me. She slept with my best friend, and she left with without a dime. And I didn't have a job until now" Woah. If that doesn't make me wish I hadn't asked, I don't know what would."Oh no. I'm so sorry." Because what else could I say?
So I'm feeling sorry for poor Morgan, but I'm still unsure about this character. I was so glad when Noah came back to the other side of the make line from taking orders and started asking me about my boyfriend. I felt kinda bad for talking about dating around Morgan, ok, I felt really bad, but I was glad that I was able to make it clear that I'm not I'm not looking around. And, I just liked talking with Noah about this subject, because we seem to have some of the same ideas about dating and about global warming. (He asked my opinion about it last week. Totally out of the blue.) But, even though we're from different extremes on the spectrum of ... standards? morals? lifestyle. That's the word I was looking for. Noah and I have completely different lifestyles and upbringings, but he is an understanding fellow, and everyone at Little Caesar's is accepting as well, and they don't make me feel very weird for being different from them. I'm going off track. ... Back to what I was saying, my conversation with Noah was just good and refreshing. And I like talking about Nathan.

Turns out, I'm not the only one wary of Morgan, because I overheard another co-worker tell Heather that he looked like he was capable of murder. A laughable joke with no basis, but still, I think I could view him as a shifty kind of person. Or, he could be a helpless man looking for a new way to live life. I noticed that he doesn't cuss like a sailor like many of my other co-workers, and that's cool. So perhaps he's not all bad. How awful of me, talking about him like I'm writing some juicy tid bit for a tabloid. But, my suspicions still stand, and they will until they are discredited. And then I'll get to write about that, too!

The other new kid is Trevor. There's not much for me to write about him. He fits in with the rest of the crew very well. In fact, he knows three of the managers.
So, Little Caesar's is losing its novelty, and now the time for good impressions is over. I must still work hard and do my best. I don't think that that will be too hard. Besides, it's not that hard of a job, and it's very easy to shut myself off from people there if I want to, and I do want to, sometimes. Like when they are talking of things that I would rather not hear about or if I would rather just think or pray. Here, one can be as social or as unsocial as one wants. Of course I feel much better after a good social day, and to be totally unsocial just seems bad, unbeneficial, and snobbish. (Just wanting to clarify)
---
Alice left for Korea today. There's no crying face, so this will have to do. I miss her already. And when she gets back, it will be time for me to go back to school. I'll get to spend time with her again, though, on Fall Break and Christmas Break. Oh! I just remembered a note that she taped to my bedroom wall that she said I could not read until after she left. I'm going to go read it now, because I've been waiting for it for about 12 hours now.
Ah, she is a very sweet girl. Her note is happy, and she left me the rest of her gourmet dark chocolate!!! This is good chocolate, too. It's in a special tasting box, and the chocolate is divided into very small pieces. The chocolate is from places like Peru, Ecuador, Ghana, and the Ivory Coast. It is amazing. The Ecuadorian was my favorite, and I ate pretty much all of it last night. The Peruvian chocolate is gone, now, too. ^_^ It's one of those things that I'm glad you weren't here to share it with. Right now, I only have to share with Taylor, and we'll have to keep it a secret from Mom, or else she'll want some. ha.

I have a picture of the four of us girls. Taylor, Alice (with her eyes closed), me, and Kate!



And that's all for now.

Mas/Yeshyo/More

(Originally posted on Xanga, Sunday, June 08, 2008 @5:24 PM)

Here I am again! I take comfort in the fact that, if you're getting annoyed with getting so many subscription emails, it is your own fault.

I'm kinda stoked, because I've been learning a lot lately. My eyes have been opened to many things, and some of these things make me never want to turn 20, but others make me want to be brave and bold. I'm only about a month into the summer, and I've taken so much. What a summer this will end up being, then! I think that this is the kinda of summer that people mean when they say, "Pray that God will teach me things this summer and that I will learn a lot... that I will learn to trust him, and that I will learn how to be a better person, etc." Kind of funny, because I thought that I would be doomed forever to the mostly uneventful summers, the incredibly normal kind with a normal summer job or two, and hours lazing by the pool. God says, "Well, surprise!" Or rather, "Here, think fast!" It is very true that I haven't been given anything I can't with his help. And of course, family and friends help very much, too. So, here are a few more highlights since the last time I updated:

I have worked three days now at the pizza place. I've learned more about making pizzas and I think I've learned almost I need to about working the register. I think I've learned how to handle the restaurant owner. Funny, but he doesn't interact with new people much, and he's hasn't talked to me many times at all. He never introduced himself to me, but he has spoken to me to let me know that sauce needs to be made or that pepperonis need to go into the oven. He has used my name only once, and that was to get my attention when I started to go out the door without clocking out. I like it when people use my name when speaking to me. I don't really like it when someone says only, "Girl," to get my attention. Yeah, Freeman was calling me this to let me know that the crazy bread needed to be dealt with. That was odd. Ah, but this was even odder. Well, I wouldn't first choose "odd" to describe this, instead I would use "sad." This was sad:

Background: Melvin is my age, I'm sure, and he has only one more day of experience than me. He has been very polite and he is without a doubt the most respectful worker there, not only to me, but to the other workers. He seems to be a quieter type, but I seem that way to people, too, so that really is irrelevant. The store owner, Patrick, told us to make 8 tubs of sauce, so there we are, making sure that we do everything right and trying to keep the mess to a minimum. Melvin starts the conversation. He asks me, "Do you have any children?" just like how I would ask you what your favorite color is. Take that in. My mind ran around for few seconds, thinking about how this is how Melvin begins a casual conversation. This is a completely valid question, because so many my age and my status do have children. This is the norm. This broke my heart. I was somewhat shocked to be asked this question, I mean, I've never been asked such a thing before, and I was also semi-shocked to realize this was completely normal. I told him that, no, I don't have any children. I ruminate on all of this for a few more seconds, then I thought that it would be polite to continue the conversation. Often I will ask someone a question that I wish they would ask me, or something like that, so I turned the question around, to be polite. And, I was curious about what he would say.
"Do you have any children?"
"Yeah, I have a kid. He's gonna be 3 in a few months."
Woah.
Just woah.
Are you getting this? Can you understand how I am taken aback by this? Do you see how broken this is? How this is not good? I feel stabs to my soul when I really think about this. When I think about Melvin and the many, many like him who live right next door. It is hard for me to express what is in my mind because it is so jumbled there. I feel bad for this guy who has a child somewhere. He's working two jobs, he told me, to pay for school. I bet he doesn't get to see his kid much. He must think about him a lot. Why else would he ask me about kids? I wish that I could help, but I really can't do anything. I know that, by the world's standards, I'm not expected to do anything, but I still wish that I could help him somehow, and I can't.
Being so close to people like this, like the people at Little Caesar's, like my engaged co-worker from my job last summer who was pregnant, like my friend who had a miscarriage before she got to college... It is really something. Part of growing up is learning that the world is full of filth. Full of evil. Full of mistakes. People are hurt and they want to be helped.

Of course I know that God is the cure and that He really can heal all of this, everything. I am not hopeless, I am just responding to what I have seen and heard.

So... Dad and I have taken Kate up to Pigeon Forge to help her with lodging and her job and things, but things went very wrong, and things were completely shot for Pigeon Forge. She has come back to stay with us, and we are hoping that she will be able to find a job here. Kate and Alice get along well, as do the rest of us. So now, we have three continents represented in our house. It's pretty cool. Today, I was sitting at the lunch table with Kate and Alice. Kate is very inquisitive (I appreciate that about her. Not afraid to ask questions.), and she was asking Alice and I about traditional things from our countries and things. I am glad when I am able to explain something to her. Sadly, Alice is going back home for two months or so. Taylor is going to cry, I'm sure, and my parents and I are going to miss her a lot, too. I don't even want to think about what it's going to be like when she goes back to Korea for good.

Last night, all 6 of us went to the community theater to see Into the Woods. I was very excited to see it, because I enjoyed it at Bryan so much. It was cool to see it again, but I was sort of critiquing the performance the whole way through. (Not too much, though. I was able to enjoy it.) I was thinking to myself, "Ah, Katrina was better than this lady... Molly delivered that line so much better... Wesley was so much funnier... Jennilee's voice was much stronger... and Nathan was far more handsome. Oh! And that part wasn't as scandalous!" As you can tell, I liked the BC production much better. I am biased, but I still think that this cat just wasn't as good. And neither was the set. Or the lighting. Or the special effects. Here's something funny, though: For Cinderella's birds, the narrator would come out onto the stage acting all silly while holding the mobile that held the birds. It was very funny. And the prince's songs were still very funny, too. I had forgotten how naturalistic the play was, though, and I think my excitement about the play was a bit misleading to my parents. The show began at 8, and we were all exhausted when we got back home around 11:07. Nevertheless, I was still was able to have a good phone conversation with Nathan that night. That was last night. Well then, I guess I'm all caught up. Oh, except for today.

Today was a very encouraging day at church, which is surprising. I've been seriously considering finding a new church, and I have already began my search. Because of Kate being here, though, Dad asked me to come to our normal church today, and I am now glad that I did. I go to my father's Sunday School class which is now more like a middle aged couples class, and I have felt out of place there for many a moon. Today, though, I was able to add much to the conversations, and many things that were said struck me as very interesting or just wonderful. Many things that were said jogged my mind to think of places where I could apply these things and that was encouraging. Now I just want to make sure that I remember those things when I need them again. (I did write most of what I want to remember down on a piece of paper. Very good things that I need right now.) The worship/preaching was also very encouraging. This was the Sunday after VBS, and all of the children from VBS were on the stage leading us in songs that they had learned and other fun praise songs. It felt alive, and I loved that. People were getting excited and it was fun. The sermon was on Psalm 150, and that was good. So, this was good. And then we went to eat at Olive Garden. It has been a good day. I do wish that I could go to a 7 o' clock singles church group get-together, instead of having to work 6-9, but hopefully I'll be able to go a different time. Aw man, I totally ruined the whole good paragraph by ending on that sour note. Well, that's honesty.

Overall, I am doing all right. There have been many things that have come up that worry me, and they are very discouraging. I am glad for today, and for good times with friends, because these times clear up some of the note-very-pretty things. So, please, shoot up a prayer when you think of me. Pray that I will be a light at my job, that I will know what to say when the 8-year-old I babysit want to tell stories that include demonologists and ouija boards, and that I will be unselfish with my things and with my room. And you can also pray that Kate gets a job soon.

Thanks for reading! Come back and see me.

Now, I am off to Neverland! Oops, I mean, off to get ready for work! Maybe I can pretend... OH!! One more thing! I really like this story, here we go: So, 2nd day of work, Mike was talking to me, asking me about what kind of music I like, etc., and he asked what my favorite band was (would that be what or who my favorite band was?) and I told him that it was Relient K. I did say that they were a Christian band. He said that I should bring them in sometime. We listen to ipods or CD players while we work, and I'm not the hugest fan of screamo, so I decided to bring in Fivescore (RK's newest CD) next time I came in for work. So... yesterday, I came up to Chuck, the manager and tried to come up with a way to get my music on the speakers. (We were listening to a Hits station that day.) "Chuck, this is the second time I've heard this song today. Would it be ok if I were to put in a CD that I brought?"
"Well, you'll have to ask Patrick. He's the one who has it on this station. He puts it here because we turn the CD player up too loud. So, ask him." Hm. Ok. I've never really talked to the man, but I supposed it was worth a shot. I came up the same ploy and brought it to him when I worked up the courage. He says, "Well, you'll have to ask Chuck. He's the one to has it on this station. I sure don't listen to this stuff..." Ha! All right, so I say to Chuck, "How was that?" I like to think that it was the sweet, innocent look on my face that broke his resolve, but whatever. So I put in my favorite CD and we listened to it! Chuck asked me about it some, and I was sure to inform when my favorites began to play. It was good, and it was cool to be able to work to my comfort music.

K, that really needs to be the end, because I have to eat before I go to work... and I have about 20 minutes before I have to be out the door.
So I'll just end it quick and painless.
Like this...
Bye!

Worries::dispelled

Today, I began my training at my new job, Little Caesar's. I've made it out alive from my first day, and it was great! Really, I had fun, I learned, I talked, I began friendships, I got flour all over me, and one of my coworkers asked me if I had ever in my life been under the influence of drugs. That was Ramone. When he told me that he thought that I was quiet, I decided to change his mind. I did start out by saying that I was being quiet, well, because I didn't know anybody and that I didn't know what to talk about. He offered his big hand and said, "I'm Ramone."
"Well, I know that..."
"I'm black."
"K, I know that..."
"I'm male."
"Ok, I know all that, but I don't really know you!"
Ha. Ramone and I talked about school and things. Being raised, differences between us, my grades from high school, why he was so famous in our town, his girlfriends, my boyfriend, how much BBQ sauce should I use to fill up the little cups, etc. He's a funny, laid-back kinda guy, and I had fun talking with him.

Little Caesar's is different from Bryan, different from the ideal job my parents would have picked out for me (rated PG-15 for language and drug use), but I like it. My coworkers are friendly and fun. They're accepting, so far, and it's just really relaxed and low-pressure. Much different from freaking out over the printing machine and watching film orders pile up like last summer. Course, last summer paid better, but I'm ok right now.

So now, I am in dire need of a shower. When I got back into my car to drive home, I noticed that my eye lashes felt weighed down with flour, my black shirt and converses were a mess, and my nails were caked with dough. I wanted to write before I head off, though, so I could make sure that I wrote down the important things. Like Kate! Kate is from Russia, and she came here last night. Dad and I are taking her to her job in Tennessee tomorrow. She's a wonderful Christian girl, and we are friends already. I wish that she could stay longer and that I could get to know her better, but we may able to see her later in the summer. When I was reading some of the Russian on her baggage labels, she told me that my Russian accent was good. Those of you who know me can imagine how happy and proud that made me feel. I wish that I could learn more Russian. I wish that I could know another language as well as Kate and Alice do. It's almost too late for that, and I would have to work really hard to do that now. Makes me wish that I had started studying much earlier, or, that I had stayed where I was being taught Spanish in 3rd and 4th grade. Well, I'll solve this problem... I'm going to move to another country. Off to... oh... why not Europe? See, in Europe there are all of those languages in one small-ish continent. Then I wouldn't have to go far to get to Ukrainian, Spanish, and other languages! Then Devon can some stay with me when she moves to Switzerland.

Is it not interesting how different everyone's personalities are? How one person can dream only of far off places, odd little villages, and new languages, and then others can't imagine leaving their beloved homes and the familiarity. Wow. Really, God is so, so, So creative to have made each person different from the next. That is amazing to me.

I'll be driving through the beautiful state of Tennessee tomorrow. Up by the mountains, even, but I will not be stopping by Dayton, and I am a bit sad, for there is an incredibly handsome young man there who I would very much like to see. (Blast, is it "who" or "whom?"... I want to say... "whom.")

I think that that is all that I need to say right now. There is nothing else pressing. Very well, then I bid you Paka.

Hello, summer! How strange you look.

"Blog in your native Indic scriptConvert English characters to Indic script as you type! Learn more about transliteration on Blogger." Wow! Very cool. Makes me wish my native script was Indic.

Right now, I am listening to old rock and eating dry Cheerios. The Cheerios remind me very much of Millie. The music reminds me very much of my childhood. I found this song on Imeem from The Jetsons Movie that I really liked watching. I was so excited to find it, and when I first listened to it, it brought back a flood of memories.
http://www.imeem.com/coolg1986/music/0X3ufIrO/tiffany_you_and_me/
I've found songs from the first Christian rock band, Petra, and I remember listening to it with Mom in her Honda that I always hated because I thought it smelled bad. When I listen to one of those songs in particular, her favorite, I can always hear her voice singing along. That's special. I'm very happy to have been introduced to other 80's music by my parents, and I've found some new favorites.
For the record, my parents are very, very cool.
And summer is here. Can you believe it, I finally have a job? After 3 weeks of upsetting searching, I am now going to be employed at a pizza place, besides babysitting and possibly tutoring. Definitely out of my normal comfort zone. I bet I'm going to come home smelling like pizza... But I am SO thankful to finally have a job! Tears have been spilled because of the lack of job and the hopeless feeling about finding said job. I think I'll be ok now.
I downloaded a new BIOS program from Toshiba that should clear up my "intermittent blackout" problem. I hope this works. No blackouts so far!
A Russian girl, Kate, will be spending a few days with us next week. That should be cool. And Erin's coming for a night before she heads out of the ATL airport.
There have been rodents in the basement, on the other sides of my walls. Dad's already killed one, but there's more. They are very unpleasant and they have kept me awake before. Nasty little vermin.
My Cheerios are gone. I will go and get an Italian ice out of the freezer soon. I'm planning on going outside with that snack and taking my Robin Hood book with me. It's been good. Sometimes, when I'm reading outside, I will even try to get some sun on my legs. I think my legs are the faintest bit darker. Psh.
Someone slap me and tell me to pick up my violin. I haven't played him since before school ended. I am an awful violinist. Charlie Daniels must be very upset with me. I bet I have hurt his feelings, but, as I've said before, he would take me back in a flash, I'm sure.
Have I ever mentioned how deliciously green it is around my hoe in the summer? There are thousands of trees, and I am beginning to think that my love for all things green may never have been if we didn't move to this house in the woods back in 1998. How lovely!
Alice is going back to Korea for a while. :( We're going to miss her for the 2-ish months. It will be good for her to see her parents and friends again, though. I think her mom really misses her.
I am getting over my missing of college life, I think, and that's good. I do miss my friends still, of course. And I miss Nathan very much. But all is well. I'll just have to make sure I don't listen to th soundtrack from The Village, and I should be all right.

Welp, that's about it for now!

Pray for China

(Originally posted on Xanga, May 19, 2008 @ 4:07)

No me gusta job searching.
I was going to some minor ranting about my displeasure with looking for a job, until Alice, beside me, begins to talk about an earthquake in China. After some research we found that the May 12th earthquake has left 35,000 people dead. There are so many, people are having a hard time removing the bodies and disease is spreading. I believe it hit worst in Sichuan where it read a 7.8 on the scale.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufj_NnboRVg&feature=relatedhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Sichuan_earthquakeI was uninformed until Alice mentioned it to me. Now you are informed, too.