clean room + cheesecake = happy girl!

i cleaned my room this morning so if anyone wants to stop by and hang out . . . there's actually a place for you to sit now! i vacuumed even. so fresh and so clean clean! i have cheesecake (and other snacks) too! my cheesecake didn't go bad . . . i think, i hope. my family is good to me!

my eye and nose hurt

so, last night i was in bed with the lights out and everything and there's a knock at my door so i answer it but decide it's not necessary to turn on the lights. well, i found my way back to the bed all right and i go to lay my head on the pillow. i misjudge. instead, i slam my open eye and the upper part of my nose into the bed frame. much pain. there was a flash of white light in my eye. scared me. thought i might be blind. i seriously checked to make sure i could still see out of that eye before i tried to go back to sleep.

anyway, my eye still hurts today and it kinda gave me a headache. really hard to read my homework with that malady.

another detriment to homework doing is that i got up at 5:34 this morning. i picked up some friends at the airport with very minimal difficulties (there was much rain and a pointless road-rager and a little bit of lateness but nothing big). then, joanne and i went to a church called 'praise' (i think) . . . it was at somerset presbyterian church. still not quite sure about the distinction even though joanne explained it to me. after we got back from church, i napped (sort of) until 6:18 when i got up to go downstairs for our feast. larissa graciously provided wonderful food and there was marvelous company. good times, good times.

gotta go study for greek since i can't finish the book i was reading. and then . . . beautiful sleep!

the past two nights

just wanted to share a quick update of how i'm surving without having an open cafeteria!

yesterday, after work, krista and i went to wal-mart. was kinda nervous to go out on black friday but it wasn't too bad. totally funny experience with wal-mart greeters! krista and i ate at on the border. i love that place! i decided i don't really like the alcohol that's in margaritas. our waiter was so charming.

then, i went to the movie 'sideways' with jenny. well, we bought our tickets then we walked over to a place called 'friendlys' and got some ice cream (i got a monster mash!) and then we watched the movie. wasn't impressed with the movie. because i am so lazy right now, i'm going to include an excerpt from an email i sent to jenny about my reaction to the movie instead of writing a new one. "an article i'm reading said that both thomas haden church and paul giamatti should be considered for oscar nominations for this movie. i balk. i scoff. i am concerned for people who think that was a high caliber performance. i mean, they didn't do poorly i guess. i didn't really like either of them. and i decided why i didn't think that paul giamatti's character should hook up with anyone: he's depressed. he wants a fixer. that's not something that is going to produce a healthy relationship. depression is not cured by a woman. sorry. okay, i'm done ranting. i really was kinda disappointed with the movie. i was correct in thinking that most of the funny parts were in the previews. and, what was up with the full-on frontal male nudity?! that never used to happen. true, i used to say that it wasn't fair that only women were naked on the screen but i didn't really need to see the guy that close up!"

okay, now for tonight's coping with no cafeteria. thanks to my friend tabea, i was invited to professor taylor's house for an evening of wine and appetizers. i made this dish i learned about in germany (even though everyone tells me it's a french dish) with fresh mozzerella and tomatoes. and because i didn't have fresh basil, i used some sage that i found in the kitchen downstairs. the evening was a good experience. i was glad to meet professor taylor. i want to take one of his classes now. professor rivera-pagan was there with his wife. it's good to see professors outside the academic environment. professor rivera-pagan was so endearing when he told the story of how he and his wife got together. most of the other students there tonight were international students (everyone except krista and me). i was glad to be around international students again. they were such a huge part of my life at southwestern and i've been missing what international students really added to my life.

well, i must go to sleep now. i have to go pick up joanne and joe at the philly airport in the morning. i have to get up at 5:45!! aaaaaaaaack! anything for my friends . . .

thanksgiving

from left to right: karen (in yellow), kari (a family friend), me, tammy, irene, janice, colleen, a cousin (i feel totally bad that i can't think of his name right now), on the floor: leo (janice's husband), riley, and thomas

sorry the photo is dark . . . forgot to edit before i saved.

i wasn't able to fly to kansas this thanksgiving because i flew there in october and being a seminary student, i don't have much money. i am sad that i didn't get to spend thanksgiving with my family. especially, since my brother is in iraq so my parents didn't have any kids at thanksgiving. i also feel bad for my cousin jeannette because she had to deal with all the aunts and uncles all by herself;) nah, my family is good (you don't have to 'deal'). but, i was invited to spend thanksgiving with my friend tammy, whom i met this summer in washington (aforementioned in a previous post). if you don't know tammy, she's an awesome girl . . . a bit crazy but lots of fun! and, you can see that she belongs to the right family!

so, i had to work on wednesday until 5 and then after that i was driving up to staten island. by the way, my co-workers kept telling me that staten island was going to be the place where i would see the stereotypical new yorker . . . made me happy! i kinda got started later than expected but it was all good in the hood. it was kind of disconcerting driving up there because it was all rainy-like and it was dark and i had to read directions and there was a significant amount of traffic and this kansas girl was wondering about the stigma of driving in new york. it turned out quite well. i loved crossing the bridge!! staten island was really easy to drive in; much easier than new jersey.

well, i get there, and they open the door and i get introduced to colleen (the daughter) and then colleen (the mother) says 'no i'm colleen' and they went back and forth and i was confused but then i figured it out. tammy's mother was awesome. she loved the candle i brought (kinda glad cause i was worrying about what i should bring). then, i met lots of people but i think i got their names down pretty fast. it's helpful when everyone has a distinct personality. let me tell you that i LOVE the owens family! they are so wonderful! there are seven kids in the family and they're irish catholic (if you want to think in stereotypes). they were so much fun! on wednesday, we stayed up until 4 a.m. talking. quite interesting conversation . . . nothing my family would ever probably talk about. i did hear an ontological argument based on the beatles. i mostly sat back and took it all in. when i finally did talk, i think i used big words (i.e. consubstantiation and transubstantiation) and i hope they didn't think i was trying to sound all intellectual-like, because i wasn't. it's a little known fact that the more tired i get, the bigger the words i use. so, if i ever use a lot of multi-syllabic words in a sentence, i'm probably really tired.

well, this blog entry isn't really turning out like i was hoping because i'm not being very articulate so i decided to resort to just listing some of the highlights (and cause i'm getting tired and have to pick people up early at the airport in philly)!

-every time someone new came, they would introduce me by saying "this is kyle, tammy's friend. she's from kansas. her brother is in iraq."

-there was hours of dancing and singing . . . loved it!

-i really like the big family atmosphere

-we didn't go to the parade because we thought it was going to rain

-i forgot my pajamas

-i heard the word 'youse' a lot. never thought i would hear that and think it sounded right! loved it!

-one of tammy's sisters has met a lot of famous people

-the kids in the family usually each make a dessert . . . that makes for a great sugar overload! especially after the 'pizza' made with cookie dough, chocolate chips, hershey's nuggets, and marshmallows

-we played trivial pursuit (my favorite game!) and tammy and i totally kicked butt! amazingly, i was the only one prior to the game that knew a twit was a pregnant goldfish. i thought everyone knew that;)

-when it was time for me to go, i didn't really want to leave

-i went back a different way to new jersey and didn't have to pay a toll (that was exciting for me; not really to anyone else!)

-it took me a long time to remember how to post the above picture

-i can't explain how great thanksgiving was even though i couldn't be with my family

a tragedy

i can't imagine the depth of loss ann must be feeling now. no, nobody/nothing died. except ann's chances of seeing u2 live for free in new york city. ann loves u2. she LOVES them. ever since we have been here, she has been talking about going to a u2 concert. and then, come to find out they gave free concerts yesterday only an hour away from us. oh, the tragedy! the injustice! [insert further lamentational exclamations here] it sucks. it just plain sucks that she didn't get to see them. i mean, 'that's a once on a lifetime thing'. i appreciate u2 as well and would have enjoyed seeing them but i am not as enamored with them as ann. my empathy stems from me imagining the eagles giving a free concert near to me and i miss it. you get a feeling in the pit of your stomach. like you completely missed something that would have changed your life. despair.

alas.

random thoughts while chatting on messenger

paul simon is one of my favorite songwriters.

i want to go to another country soon. it's been a long time since i spent significant time out of the u.s. i was looking at a world map yesterday (it was weird, it was a new one with more accurate dimensions) and i decided i needed to go to asia because i haven't been more east than the czech republic. i love the world!

i miss doing philosophy. i mean philosophy . . . not theology. my philosophy class here is theology. granted, i couldn't really expect to find a purely philosophical class at a seminary but i miss my aristotle. i miss the kind of philosophy that totally messes with my head and makes me really think critically.

i'm not altogether made for seminary. i really have a hard time concentrating in classes. i don't want to do work. i really just prefer to get into in-depth conversations with friends.

however, i did actually speak up for the first time in a class. kinda funny, the guy sitting next to me said 'uh oh' when i started talking. made me laugh. too bad i didn't say anything profound.

realized i wasn't sure how to spell genius. what's that tell you?!

i miss southwestern college and all my peeps there.

i'm excited about thanksgiving. i'm going to staten island to have thanksgiving with tammy, a girl i met this summer while working at sol duc, and her family. we're going to the macy's parade! that's something i never thought i would see in person. and, she promised me lots of singing at her house so i'm excited!

i have a song on my media player and i don't know where it came from. it's called 'somebody told me' by the killers. kinda like the rock beat mixed with the techno business. i also have franz ferdinand's 'take me out'. that one always makes me wanna dance.

was going to give my friend mark the 'award of the day' yesterday for his psychoanalysis on my dream of brad pitt. (i got to kiss brad pitt in my dream and he was a really bad kisser). mark suggested that i wanted a brad pitt figure in my life but he was too hard to attain so i came up with the defense mechanism of him being a bad kisser so i wouldn't actually want him. i was less impressed with taggart's psychoanalysis that said it was because brad pitt was gay.

well, i better quit posting random thoughts because i must make another entire post about ann's agony and then i have to shower because i have to take ann and nicole to the airport.

the joys of not having morning classes

i get to be up later than usual and not have to worry about being tired tomorrow since i get to sleep in. and by 'usual', i'm not referring to nights when i have a paper or other important assignment due the next day because as you may have learned about me . . . that would be when i stay up all night, with an occassional nap, and not actually really sleep at all. another benefit is that i'll have time to go to the post office and bank on a monday. i need to send my parents their thanksgiving gift. see, i can say that because i'm pretty sure that my parents don't know how to get to my blog and it'll still be a surprise for them. that brings me to a query i was having: does anyone have parents that blog? i'm curious to see if any from the baby-boomer generation has gotten into the blog scene.

another thing i want to tell anyone that cares is that i read an entire 323 page book today. yes, it was a children's book but still . . . that's an accomplishment! love lemony snicket!

having a good day

i went to mt. pisgah ame church (african methodist episcopal) this morning. it was such a good experience. the people were so welcoming. true, it was obvious that i was a visitor since i was the only white person but still, they were glad to see me and i appreciated that. the pastor had a good message about the love of God trimphing over labels (jew, gentile, black, white, etc.). kinda funny, he had a three point sermon and only had time to share about one point! i was very impressed with the youth there as well. for the youth time, they had all youth 17 and under go up. and then, they asked if any of the youth wanted to share anything with the congregation. one girl went up and she was so honest about her struggles in front of the entire church. i was amazed at how brave these youth were and how supportive the congregation was of them.

after church (which went til 1:15 . . . thankfully i ate some mini donuts before church so i didn't get the hunger thing that usually happens during church), i was walking back down nassau and decided to try a new place for lunch: iano's rosticceria. their pizza looked good (as did everything else on the menu) but i was in the mood for a hoagie. umm, i think the guys misunderstood what i was trying to order and gave me a chicken cheesesteak instead of a grilled chicken sandwich. it didn't matter . . . it was soooooooo good!

so, i get back to my room and realize i'm having a pretty good day! i got to talk to nicole and megan (that's an old pic . . .) and i realize how blessed i am to have them as friends. you know what . . . i know some really awesome people!!

now, i'm chillin', listening to some good music (ben harper and matt wertz . . . whoa! didn't know matt was from kansas city!). i'm revelling in the fact that most of my classes this week are cancelled and i don't have any homework. think i'm going to read the new lemony snicket book: the grim grotto.

p.s. do you see how much more i post now?!

the problem with mini donuts

the problem with mini donuts is that they are so small that you can eat them quickly and you don't know how many it takes to fill you up . . . so you just keep eating them.

a happy happy new post!

well folks, i am no longer irritated. my life is back on track (for the most part).

first, my blog is not being dumb anymore. in fact, i'm very, very pleased with it. jenny did an excellent job with all the html mumbo jumbo that i don't have a clue about. thanks to ann who played us some music while we were fixing it (correction, while jenny was fixing it and i was watching). does anyone know where there is a music store so i can buy some new guitar strings? they are not up to par, to say the least.

second, i fixed my turn signals. ha, that's a funny story. so, today, i decided to take one more look at my fuse box to see if i could find a problem there before i had to pay for anything (how i expected to know a problem when i saw it . . . i don't know). so, i'm pulling some fuses to see if they're burned up and then i notice a fuse laying on the floor that had not been pulled by me. so, i put it back where it went and guess what: my turn signals worked!! i must have inadvertantly kicked the fuse box and knocked out that fuse. i couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of it all . . . i mean, i drove around for two weeks or more irritating people (and myself) and the solution to the problem was on my floor the whole time.

third, i heard my favorite non-God-oriented christmas song on the radio today: i want a hippopotamus for christmas! love it and i love that there is christmas music before thanksgiving. i can't get enough. except for stupid jingle bells . . . it gets stuck in my head all year long.

well folks, let me know what you think of the new setup and be expecting to hear a lot more from me now that i'm not frustrated everytime i look at my blog!

p.s. point of clarification: i do not think i am permanently clever. i think good blog names are permanently clever and that should be the standard to strive for. because i am not permanently clever, i had to make my blog name what the standard is and not anything that i actually had to be clever about.
maybe that clarified and maybe that muddled and maybe you really don't care at all!

another p.s. i had a funny discussion with my brother kade while my blog was being silly so i didn't actually make a post about the discussion like i was going to. but i will tell you now, my brother thinks he's the fonz. you know . . . arthur fonzarelli from happy days. ehhhhhhhhh. yeah, my brother thinks he's that cool.

apparantly i'm irritated today

even though my blog is irritating the snot out of me by looking dumb, i feel there is something i must tell you.

new jersey drivers make me crazy!! i feel that the only reason necessary to honk is if there is imminent danger (or if you're waving at a friend . . . ). it irritates me to no end when people honk simply because they are impatient or because they are angry. it just makes me angry. if people honk out of spite, it makes honking less of a valid form of expressing danger. it's like 'the boy who cried wolf'. when, there is actual danger, no one will believe the honk.

there, i said it. i feel so much better now.

although, i must admit that my turn signals are still not working so people do have a right to be mad at me but i still don't feel they must honk at me every freaking minute. oh, i can imagine the curses spoken on the highways of new jersey about the stupid kansas driver. things like: 'there's no place like home dorothy' and 'you're not in kansas anymore' and 'do they even have paved roads in kansas'. i am working on the problem of fixing my turn signals. but i can say they honked even when i followed all the traffic laws to the letter. and i can say that honking is overrated. it does nothing but make other people mad. maybe this is the goal . . . to pass on the irritation. but, honestly, does that make anyone feel better?

no cider saturday

nicole, krista, and jenny at the restaurant where we didn't do anything

so, we drove to new hope, pa yesterday because we heard it was a magnificent drive and nicole was recommended to a hotel for some cider. well, the map they gave us wasn't exactly the best and my navigating wasn't altogether successful. it's okay, we still made it to new hope. it really was a cool town (what we saw of it!). we ended up crossing the delaware river four times in the process of getting there. that was fun . . . i shared how i wanted to jump off bridge and swim in the river. they all thought i was nuts. so, after arriving in new hope, we had to drive another 6.5 miles to find the black bass hotel that was recommended to nicole. it was pretty cool! apparantly, the bathroom lighting made jenny look stunning! but, alas, the restaurant did not have the cider yet. so, we decided to go back to new hope and find something there. but, alas (again), we did not have time to stop because i had to make it back to work at the papery. it was kind of disappointing to not have fulfilled our quest but it was still a fun crackbaby trip (the working definition of a crackbaby trip is: a random road trip usually with a specific destination but not the most economic decision and usually is spur of the moment. i'll have to ask megan if this is an okay definition . . . she is the originator of the term).

my pal the ocean and me

i'm trying to figure out how to post pictures on my blog. this is my test. this is a pic of the day i randomly drove to the ocean because i had been away from the water too long! it was calling to me . . . yes, i am a kansas girl obssessed with the ocean. anyone know how i can make the text wrap around the picture?
me and the ocean . . . we're friends.

my second blog - i think i'm going to make it!!

my blog is like a shiny new toy to me . . . or a new pet. i just want to look at it and it's a continuous form of entertainment for me. and i've only had it for eighteen hours!!! i'm afraid i might become obsessive compulsive about posting. that fear is what has held me off from doing my second post. that whole paragraph might have just made me sound like a lunatic for those who don't me but such is life, i guess.

good news! i've had 85 hits so far and 2 comments! woot!!

i went to the post office this morning and i just have to say that the lady at the window was kinda rude. no, she was really rude. and not just to me. she was rude to the cute little old lady in front of me too. i just wish the lady in the window would smile once . . .

so, after that i went to the yummiest place on earth to have lunch: panera! (we're seeing if i can make a link all on my own without help!) so, i saw three people at panera from princeton (david, adam, and josh). adam is one of those veteran bloggers with a super cool site. he said he was going to add me to his site. that would make me feel like i really made it in the blogging world.

okay, i must go. we're driving to new hope to see pretty leaves (isn't it past peak time?!) and get cider. more about that later!

why permanently clever and perpetual procrastinator

okay, i have been debating since i came to seminary whether i wanted to join 'the cool kids' and start a blog. back and forth i went with the issue. finally, the epiphany: a blog is going to help me procrastinate. if you know me, you know how important procrastination is to me. if you don't know me, procrastination is important to me. but now, i have to tell you my self-imposed rule. i cannot blog more than one time while i am procrastinating doing homework. if you ever see that i have posted at maybe at 11:00 p.m. and then at 2:06 a.m. and then post at 4:42 a.m. all in the same night/early morning, then you must say 'you have broken the rule and you must be reprimanded'.

now for the title. permanently clever. i was talking tonight at dinner about how i had been contemplating starting a blog but then i was scared that i wouldn't think of a super cool name like those i always see on other blogs (these super cool other blogs are the ones that have tempted me to start my own . . . p.s.). anyway, my pal emily said that i have clever names on messenger and i told her that those names may be clever but they are never permanently clever which is the ideal for a blog name. and then everyone looked like the shining light of God (you know . . . with the whole heavenly 'aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh' thing) and they exclaimed "that should be your name!"

so, i gave in. welcome to my blog. i'm a blogger. if only they could see me now . . .

if you're reading this, i'm assuming you got to me because of a link from my cool friend jenny's site. if you're reading this and you haven't come through jenny, i am amazed and triumphantly glad that you have found this on your own. welcome to all. feel free to come back and peruse my future rantings, epiphanies, and other miscellaneous moments of my life. much love to you all!