3 outta 4 ain't bad

that's right folks. i am officially done with three out of four of my classes for this semester. at first i was kinda irritated that 75% of my teachers were requiring my finals ... errr ... i mean, integrative papers before reading week. especially since i had two papers due for one class last thursday and two big papers due for other classes on friday. but it has worked out just fine. one of my friday papers went from 10 pages to 1 page. sweet, huh?! and, my thursday class extended the deadline to today. so, what i did was write the two that were due and then also write the third one that is actually due may 10. can you believe that?! i actually wrote a paper before the night it was due! like 11 days before! so, now, all i have left to worry about is my sci.fi. paper. i haven't yet decided which option i'm doing. i'm either going to write a short sci.fi. story (but i have no ideas) or i'm going to do book review type thingys for each book we read. this would be fine since i did all my reading ... it's just that now they're not so fresh in my mind. but it will work out in the end. so, what does this mean for now? i am going to have a wonderfully relaxing reading week! the relaxation is all the more cemented because my work hours were cut back a lot this week. (i would have preferred to work but i'm not above having my days completely free!)

in other news, my friend adam thompson is in princeton! i've known adam since high school. well, i knew of adam in high school. we went to the same camp and were on the same councils but never really became friends until he attended my college. i thought surely if adam had followed me all those places, he would come to princeton too. alas, he goes to seminary at garrett in chicago. he's here for the youth forum and i'm happily letting him bum off me. so, if you see me hanging out with a guy you don't recognize, you should come meet adam!

how could i have forgotten??!!

i forgot until just now, three weeks later, one of the very most exciting things i was looking forward to because i was turning 25. besides being a quarter century, i am now able to rent a car without having to pay the extra money per day for being under 25! i'm a bona fide adult!!! my theory is to always enjoy the age you are. in fact, i go so far as to say that the age you are should be your favorite age. this helps me not to long for days gone by and to never be ashamed of growing older. one of the ways i keep this mentality strong is by thinking about what's exciting for every age a person turns. that's why it's so important that i just now remembered the car rental thing!

and i'm procrastinating starting all the papers that i have to crank out.

american idol gives back

friends, this is important. i know that some of my friends don't watch american idol, and at least one of you thinks it's ridiculous. but, ridiculous or not, they are doing something innovative and charitable tonight. for every vote that is cast tonight, they will donate money to charities in africa and in the u.s. also, if you don't want to watch the show or vote for someone, they have an option to donate at their website. you can find out more information here.

a fun game i just thought of!

so, as i was doing my daily blog read, i thought some of the comments i was reading would be really funny out of context. so, i decided to grab random comments from other peoples' blogs and post them here. hope you think it's as fun and/or interesting as i do! and, if you want, you can try to guess which comment came from whose blog. i'm pretty sure all the ones i took them from are over on my sidebar. they are not necessarily from the most recent post on the websites, but they are within the three most recent. p.s. any spelling, grammar or punctuation errors in these comments are not mine. they are direct quotes!

"i love hard times, too!"

"I cannot believe there will be no more Rangers someday!"

"Ok, so yes, in the past, headshots have been of the head only."

"…and Keens are pretty awesome too."

"nightmares aren't usually that scary when you have the chance to kick ass"

"Have you ever been to Gas, Kansas?"

"Good luck on your visit with those strangers tomorrow!"

"I bet the Mythbusters would say it was ok."

"I might get the Dinosaurs, but alas.."

"I thought the world’s supply of Spandex had run out years ago!"

"and i'm worried that if i follow their directions i am going to end up with some shiny shit hanging out of the front seam of my jacket!"

"what seems to be the problem with black on black shoes?"

"Would you like a scone with that?"

"werd."

i've decided

today, friday april 20th, i have no obligations. i don't have class. i don't have to work.

i didn't know what to do with myself today.

sure, there are plenty of things i can and should do in the princeton area: finish cleaning my room which would mean hanging my last two pictures and organizing my dvds, go get a haircut, go to the gym, read for classes, write thank you notes.

the problem is that even if i do those things, i still think that i'm going to have a lot of sitting around time. and i don't want a special day like this that comes around so infrequently to be wasted.

so, i'm pretty sure i'm going to new york. i don't have plans for what to do there yet. i'm probably going to go to a museum because i have never been to one in nyc (the one time i tried to go to the met, it was monday and the museum was closed). i might stop by the tkts booth and see if there's a show i would like to see. mostly, i'm going to just explore.

there are two reasons this may not be the best plan: i'm short on funds. i have to work at 8 a.m. tomorrow. i'm not a morning person. i will be cranky. and going to new york usually means i'm going to get back fairly late.

here's why i'm disregarding those reasons: i'm going to pick up my paycheck before i leave. i just had a credit increase on one of my cards (that's not really a good reason to disregard ... actually it's a bad reason but i'm going to pretend for now that it's not). i can handle and get over crankiness for tomorrow. i won't have to interact with many people until 10. it's worth it to not just sit around all day and watch the squirrels outside my window.

it's a gorgeous day outside and deserves to be properly and thoroughly enjoyed! besides, i can do the other things i need to do tomorrow...

if there's anyone else that feels like a jaunt to nyc, call me and we can meet up!

peace out ya'll!

kyledawn = published photographer?

during my routine morning email check, i saw that i had an email from someone with a very foreign sounding name. while i do have many foreign friends, this was not a name i recognized at all. well, it was actually an email sent through flickr by a dutch publisher. or someone making a book. they wanted to use one of my italy pictures in the their book!

"It is a richly illustrated, up-market book meant for entertainment during the summer holiday, containing games, photos, stories, places to be, etc. It is a small-scale project by a well-known Dutch weblog www.geenstijl.nl, to be published only in the Netherlands. The expected print run will be 4000. We are hoping to include your photo and hereby want to ask permission for usage."

it sounds very exciting to me! i would love to have one of my pictures published! but for some reason, i have this funny feeling that there is something i need to check out or be clear on or something that i'm not thinking of. what could be a problem with doing this? what do you think?

white as snow

though this is not my typical easter song that i long to sing, it is what is stuck in my head because of the snow i was greeted with as i was leaving church. it was one of my very favorite songs that we sang at camp.

white as snow
white as snow
though my sins were as scarlet
Lord, i know
Lord, i know
that i'm clean and forgiven

through the power of Your blood
through the wonder of Your love
through faith in You i know that i can be
white as snow

momentary lapse of intelligence

today at work, emily and i were telling some of our co-workers that seminarians don't always act as the world probably thinks they act, e.g. drinking, cussing, etc. so, as an example, i said "yeah, on my visiting weekend they were having a yoga party!" they all looked confused for a minute. and i was thinking to myself, doesn't this fit what we're talking about ... that my first impression of seminary life was the quintessential party. then they started saying: "i don't know what a yoga party is", "i've never heard of that" and "what would you do at a yoga party". i couldn't believe not a single one of these had heard of it. then one guy says "so, you just go and do yoga?" me: "ummm, i meant toga party"

reflecting on 25 years of life

or, what have i done with a quarter century?!?!

i have attended 6 schools for a grand total of 22 years.
i have had 9 jobs ranging from sandwich artist to recording artist (um, well, at least i helped record books for the blind!)
i have been in a total of 13 countries.
i have been to 39 states.
i have lived in 5 places for longer than 3 months.
i have owned 3 cars.
i have learned to count to 10 in 7 languages and have formally studied 6 languages (some of those two things don't overlap).
i have been sung to in english, spanish, german, hindi, bulgarian, polish, latin, greek, hebrew, malay, chinese, japanese, french and many african languages.
i have been the aunt to the two cutest doggies in the world.
i have owned one cat.
i have played games, jokes, the piano, the flute, the french horn and innocent.
i have read thousands of books.
i have watched thousands of movies.
i have slept too much and not nearly enough.
i have been in and out and in debt again and again.
i have two degrees thus far and am edging closer to two more.
i have had 5 roommates and 1 honorary roommate.
i have hosted 3 super bowl parties and loads of other kinds of parties.
i have spooned, forked ... have i knifed? don't know if i'm that fast.
i have seen the beauty of the open prairie, the majestic mountain, the immense sea, the dense rain forest.
i have slept in my own bed, on the ground, under the stars, in tents, in planes, in cars, in cabins, in dorm rooms, in a waterbed and in church (maybe, just once).
i have ridden tricycles, bicycles, motorcycles, horses, an elephant and i'm pretty sure a camel.
i have had countless crushes.
i have written hundreds of poems.
i have painted a score of canvases.
i have hoped.
i have wished.
i have prayed.
i have been disappointed.
i have been inspired.
i have been in awe.
i have laughed.
i have cried.
i have laughed so hard i cried.
i have made innumerable friends around the country and the world.
i have loved my mother, father, brother, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandmothers, grandfathers and all the greats, seconds, and in-laws in between.
i have been part of soccer, tee-ball, softball and swim teams.
i have been in gymnastics, dance and art classes.
i have had one friend for 20 years, who even though is a stuffed wrinkle dog, is a very real presence in my life.
i have waxed and waned in my relationship to God but never disbelieved.
i have told many, many stories.
i have played not nearly enough jokes.
i have written hundreds of pages.
i have forgotten a lot of details.
i have cut myself, burned myself, bruised myself, scarred myself, broken myself.
i have been quick-witted and slow on the uptake.
i have had more shoes than one person needs in a lifetime.
i have been told i've made a difference in someone's life.
i have had so many people make a difference in mine.
i have lived approximately 9,131.05497 days. or, 219,145.319 hours. or, 13,148,719.2 minutes. or, 788,923,149 seconds. (i don't think leap days have been figured into this. not sure...)
i have so much more to remember.

overall, i am pleased with where i have been, what i have done, who i've experienced.
thank you to all who are part this list; my past, present and future; my life.
here's to adding more years and making more lists and doing the things that make life worthwhile!

what i learned today

too much and too little wine.
do not give him any, he cannot find the truth.
give him too much; the same thing.
-blaise pascal, pensees

man, oh man, i love april fool's day!

here's an account of my wonderful day yesterday.

to start things off, my friend megan instant messages me and says "what story are you going to try and convince me of today?" i had no idea what she was talking about. this plays into the story later on.

finally, on my way to work, i realize that megan asked me that because it was april 1st, my favorite day of the year.

well, i didn't plan any good pranks to do at work and i wasn't super quick thinking yesterday i guess. so basically, all day i did the whole "what's on your shirt" bit. even though it's the oldest trick in the book, i still had fun doing it!

then i went out and had a lovely dinner with emily. there's no tricks in this part. which, actually, emily should be grateful that i hadn't yet hit my fooling stride even though it was 7 in the evening.

so, when i was heading home, i was quick thinking of something to fool krista with. i had it all planned that i would tell her that i got so mad at work and quit because they kept me way too late. which was sorta true. they did keep me 45 minutes late but i was going to let krista think the dinner time with emily was part of the keeping me late time. it was so lame that krista wasn't home when i got home because i was all prepared to storm in. so, krista was not a victim either.

oh but krista did help me think of things to do to my other friends! i decided that penny would be a good person to prank. so we decided that i should call her and tell her my car broke down and i needed her to come give me a jump. i conveniently had it so that my car broke down outside cold stone creamery. penny didn't answer when i called so i left a desperate message and waited.

i finally decided what to do to my friend megan. because i had forgotten when she talked to me earlier, i thought it would be a grand idea to convince her that it wasn't actually april 1st but was only march 31st and that tomorrow was actually my fave day of the year. so i called her and again had to leave a message.

then i wondered what i could do to my friend ann in kansas. i had a couple ideas that would have me telling her i would be missing her wedding this summer, of which i am a bridesmaid. i called and again, left a message.

i began to wonder why in the world my friends wouldn't answer calls from me on april fool's day! it couldn't be that they all know i don't usually make phone calls and i'm notorious for loving this day, could it?

then penny called. and i sold my story. then i had to rush over to cold stone before she got there. on the way, i had a brief panic that cold stone wouldn't be open because i intended to treat penny to ice cream after the prank since i actually made her leave whatever she was doing and drive halfway across town. but it was open. so i got out and popped my hood and waited.

well, what could i do when i was waiting ... i couldn't listen to my radio cause that would mean my car would be on. so, i called my friend laura b. for another prank! i recently borrowed some muffin tins from laura so that i could make cupcakes. so i said to laura "what would you do if i told you i completely burned up your pans?" she asked me what happened then asked if i had put in the paper wrappers. i asked quite innocently, "they have wrappers?!" then i added that i thought you put them on afterwards! oh gosh, she totally bought into it. she asked if my mom ever made cupcakes and i said, no, in fact she only made cake. then i asked how full to fill the paper wrappers. of course, she said half. i then said i had filled the tins full. she made a comment about how my kitchen is probably a mess and i said indeed it was and it was really smokey too. and, i say, to top it all off, APRIL FOOL'S!!!! hahahaha! i totally got her!

so penny arrives while i'm on the phone with laura. penny pops her hood and gets her jumper cables out before i could get out of my car and stall her. so, she asked me if i knew how to jump my car, and i said indeed i do but was glad to hear that penny wasn't exactly car literate. so i spend some time 'wondering' if the corrosion from the battery acid was going to be a problem. then i made something up about flooding the engine and asked penny if she would try to start my car. of course, it starts up immediately. first, i duck my head behind the hood to hide my giggles and then call out "well, it seems to be working now!" penny gets out and looks at me a bit weird before i let it out ... APRIL FOOL'S! penny had a great reaction. oh it was marvelous to watch. then i let her in on the fact that i was going to treat her to ice cream too.

while in line at the ice cream place, megan calls back so i start my spiel about how tomorrow is april fool's day and that we need to think of something to do to our friend ann. and megan, very briefly tries to say, no, today is april fool's day. but i keep on. and she buys it! i was really expecting more of a fight or having a hard time convincing her. but megan quickly reverts back to march 31st and starts suggesting things to do to ann! well eventually, i had to pay, so i had to cut short my trick on megan and tell her i had got her. to her credit, megan says she wasn't feeling well at all so maybe she wasn't thinking properly. whatever, she's still a fool!

after ice cream with penny, i get home and have a message from my friend ann. i think quick about which trick i'm going to pull on her because i know that she would get pretty mad at me if i were to actually draw out one where i couldn't come to her wedding. so here's what i decided: i call her and say i have a question about the wedding. "would you hate me forever if i couldn't come?" ... she waits like the longest five seconds ever before she says "what" (and that 'what' had the most amount of venom in it that i've ever heard!). then i'm all, april fool's! i'm only kidding! but actually, i have a real question. then i tell her that a boy had asked me on a date and i was projecting and wanted to ask her if i could bring a date to the wedding. she totally fell for it. TWO IN A ROW! BACK TO BACK! oh how i adore my gullible friends!!!!

and my last prank was actually the most minor. i changed my facebook status to "in a relationship" because those are the most interesting and get the most comments from people. i just left it at that. very low-key. i captured one victim that way before i went to bed. elise totally wins for being the only facebooker to be fooled on april fool's day. but i forgot to change it back before i went to sleep so i got two more foolish ones this morning. jenni and emily got the leftover residuals of my pranking via facebook and i had to kindly explain to them that i was actually only foolsing them!

last night, i couldn't sleep well. maybe because i was still chuckling over my pranks. (seriously, i laugh the most ever on april fool's day while committing the pranks and while remembering past pranks. i think it's the most fun i ever have by myself!) anyhow, i found that was unable to get up this morning for my 8 o'clock class. well, i chatted with emily later in our other class together and she told me that dr. capps had said that we could write a 1 page paper instead of our 10 page final. but the bad news was that we had to sign up for it and we could only do it today. the truth is that we can do the 1 page paper but emily april fooled me because we didn't have to sign up. then later tonight, krista fed me the same story. but i totally burst her bubble and told her that emily told me it was an april fool's joke. but here's the thing friends, while i greatly admire your efforts, i think the rule applies that you can only fool on april 1st. otherwise, things could get way out of hand. i'll let it slide this time because i inadvertently broke that rule by leaving my facebook status on too long. but for future notice, pranks are only allowed on the specific day set aside each year for fooling.

anyone else have a good time pranking? tell me what you did! or did you get pranked? let me know how so that i can maybe add it into my repetoire for future use!!