Today is going to be quite a day...

Today I have my portfolio review and interview
with Pennsylvania College of Art & Design...
I am nervous and excited and there is really and truly
nothing left to do but load up my work and present it!
I am not accustomed to this feeling...
I am usually dealing with a nasty case of
Procrastinitus right down to the wire...
But if My Art doesn't work out perhaps
I could become a Poor Poet for hire!
Or maybe not...

I am not sure if I have shared this one on here yet or not... but just in case, here you go... I love it..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZdoSG0IdNE

Amazing.

Don't mess with Grandma... serves him right...

I Like The Fun Theory...

I hope this kind of thing becomes contagious.

Super Sufjan

I hadn't heard of Sufjan Stevens until about halfway through my time in Dublin. The first song of his that I heard was Casimir Pulaski Day. I wanted to cry. Listen to the lyrics... the song is about his girlfriend and it is a true story.





And here is a newer one that I only just heard today... I do not see myself giving up Sufjan's music anytime soon...

I Love this State...

Today I went with my Aunt LaRue to her Ladies Bible study. Her friends took this opportunity to show their Love and Enthusiasm for their Home State, as well as to welcome me into the fold!
Here are a few photos of this wonderful Texas experience... (I didn't take photos of the actual study but I promise that happened too)

They had an "Honorary Texan Certificate" ready for the Ladies to sign!

Texas shaped everything!

Delicious Texas Shaped cake on Texas plates!

Presenting the Certificate

Kisses from Jefferson!

Seven wonderful Big Sisters in Christ.

It's true. Everything really is BIGGER (and Better) in
The Great REPUBLIC of TEXAS!

HalapenYO

For anyone who has ever eaten a Jalapeno, anyone who has ever spent 10 minutes straight chugging milk and eating bread to quench the inferno causing irreversible damage to their taste buds... this is a must see video...

(please click on the link below)

MVI_2961.avi

This is why I should watch Friends...

Over the Hill and Through the Woods!

So just a couple hours ago my mom told me that she and I need to leave tomorrow for Texas to give my Grandmommy a helping hand. She just got her knees replaced and needs help around the house and considering the fact that I am not really tied to much here in PA at the moment I happen to have the perfect opportunity to get to know my grandmother better.

My mom and I will be leaving around 7 tomorrow morning. My mom will come home on Monday and I am going to be down there as long as she needs me. I will be helping around the house and running errands and really just anything she might need. I will be taking my drawing things and my cowgirl boots... I am not sure if I will have internet access so I may not be able to post on my blog or on facebook... but that might just be what the doctor called for.

Please pray for safe travels and that my time down there would be a help and a blessing.

New Friends and New Possibilities...

So, lately I have been a bit directionless, so to speak. Since returning to the States the process of readjusting and the process of getting a job and the process of figuring out what the next year or so might look like have really been overwhelming. I am not the kind of "Go get 'um" type of girl... I am not exactly business minded. I am a procrastinator (which has been driving my family nuts, for good reason). I am very bad at doing things I do not want to do. My brain is usually floating off to some distant country that I have yet to explore and the people there that I would meet and learn about and love...

So in short... I have been in quite a rut this summer...

But, through a series of what would seem to be absolutely happy random events, I may have found some of the direction that I have been searching for... And what makes this even greater is that I in no way believe in Random.

While I was in Dublin, I hosted a girl in my apartment for a weekend, while she was on her way back to Scotland. Her name was Eliza. We really and truly hit it off. That weekend was one of those events during my time in Ireland that God gave me exactly what I needed when I needed it. As it turns out, Eliza and her family live about 30 minutes from my family here in PA. We determined that we really had to hang out once we were both back home. So last week I went down to meet her again, and it was so great. We got to catch up and we both learned even more how much we have in common. It has been such an encouraging thing. So I got to meet her family and a girl that is living with them, Steph. Last week Steph and I only got to talk a little but we hung out a few days later and as God would have it, Steph and I also mesh super well AND she attends the Pennsylvania College of Art & Design.


In the past couple weeks I have gotten back into my painting and drawing and I am realizing more and more how much it is a part of me... and that I really might want to continue my art education. So I have been looking into the PA College of Art & Design and instead of the queezy gut feeling that I have always gotten from looking at admissions sites for colleges, I have actually been feeling like there is potential and possibility there for me. Now don't get me wrong, the whole idea of it still scares the crap out of me, but this time it is different. Better. Exciting and Encouraging.

So I am hoping that over the next few months I can really continue to dive back into my art and begin to rebuild a portfolio... It would be really great if I could actually get a job in the meantime to help support myself and afford at least some of the expensive supplies that are needed for all that I am wanting to create. I am thinking that I will work and paint and draw and try to go either in spring or next fall.

I am going out again later today to fill out even more applications... I hope that something will work... but even if it doesn't soon I do have my paints and pencils here to comfort me again. I had forgotten how wonderful and comforting creating a new painting or picture really is for me.

"So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them."
Genesis 1:27

Finally!

My Sister

This is my sister... For those of you who are not familiar with our family, this may surprise you. But in reality her sweet little girl suit is quite convincing, but not real. She is actually a large bronze body builder that spends his days bent over in confusion...
You can see her appearance in the new movie Night at the Museum II:

I heard it was fun... I am afraid to see her on the big screen showing off her big bronze.... guns. Maybe when I grow up I might find the courage...

Convincing isn't it?

A Near Death Kind Of Experience

Warning : if you are of the Male persuasion you may want to skip this one...

So yesterday I was pretty sure I was gonna die. No Joke.
I won't go into all the awful details but this notion was encouraged by the fact that my *ahem* "Lady Troubles" were about 20 times worse than the usual agony in addition to the fact that I am battling some sort of stomach/head/cold THING...

(*disclaimer- I have no idea how medically accurate any of this might be... but it must be close)

It came on kinda slow in the beginning but around noon it was as if the bone marrow from my spinal column was leaking into my abs. And then a whale took up residence in my empty bones and my muscles and tendons turned into silly string, I felt so weak... and every now and again an invisible knife fish critter with spiral blades and razor fins swam around and through my insides, slicing and stabbing random bits of my gut and lady parts. And then the nausea kicked in. I had eaten a small bowl of cheerios earlier in the day but apparently they were gone by the time my body had decided to heave the contents of my stomach to the surface. Let me just say that dry heaves in the middle of the day AT HOME are worse than barfing up an entire meal consisting of pizza, nachos and cheese dip and salsa, coca cola, beer, cake, and ice cream... at 2 in the morning in a foreign country, WITHOUT your mom there to give you a glass of water and a wet washcloth for your head.... so maybe I exaggerate a bit, I am pretty sure there are zero razor fishy things inside my gut and there most certainly is not a whole whale in my bones... But I still didn't share all the gory details, Be Thankful. But if anyone can please tell me how to return the marrow to my bones please let me know?

But I am so thankful for my family... My mom, my dad, and my sisters helped me with my barf bucket and pain pills and Midol... they got me tissues when I broke down in pain filled sobs, they refilled my hot water bottle bear with freshly boiled water. They got pillows and blankets for me, water and cold washcloths.... I am so blessed.

Thank God I am feeling less wretched today... I am still on the mend but I can see a big bright light down the tunnel. And maybe even a few flowers and butterflies...

Did I say I was a Procrastinator? Yes, I believe I did.

Wow... so it is now the end of August and I am only just getting back to the blogosphere...

Since being back home my world has done a few back flips and somersaults, and might have upchucked a couple times. It has been quite an adjustment and still, bigger and newer adjustments seem to be needed daily, but that is life I guess. It hasn't all been difficult or negative. Maybe "challenging" is the nicest word for it all. Major Family Dynamic shifts and readjustments. Major Personal Life Goal shifts and adjustments... I am still trying to wrap my brain around so much that has happened but now I am also trying to grasp what exactly I am walking into, the rest of my life...

But here I am, taking bites too big to chew, once again. When will I learn to take life in moderation? Can I? I'm not sure right now. I love the whole "jump head first into adventure" kind of lifestyle but I can't seem to pick my feet up and find the next adventure. But the thought of waiting makes me kind of sick to my stomach.

Once again, I am in that weird place between oil and water. Suspended in my own personal vortex of indecision. Oh Dear God, I hope it doesn't last long...

Home

I am home. I will post more later... after my brain, body, mind, and heart all catch up to whenever the heck I am. Jet lag is a jerk. But it is so good to be home... I love my family and our house. It smells like home. That may sound weird to some people but I walked in and it smells like I really am HOME. I didn't realize I even had a true sense of smell but this was unmistakable.

well, I am going to go nibble on the 2 lbs of PUPPY CHOW my wonderful sisters made for me... oh yum yum yummers!

3:40 AM

So it is 3:40 in the morning and I THINK that I am ready to go... there is always that little feeling that there are loose ends to tie up but I think that at this point, I don't really care enough to snoop around and find them...

Peri and I have gone all night doing random things around the apartment while loading episodes of Lost. Lost is our "thing" so it is only appropriate that we have a Lost night right before I leave... Of course it is about a group of people that CRASH LAND on an Island... at least they were in the South Pacific... If I crash land (and survive) I would have to brave it on Greenland... or become very empathetic with the survivors of the Titanic. mmm the North Atlantic... Oh Good Lord...

But I am confident that the worst thing that might happen is that I will get stuck YET AGAIN with a seat that won't recline... every transatlantic flight I have had I have been unable to push my seat back to get a snooze in... But hey, I have a few things in perspective now and that ain't so bad.

So please pray that my flights will go smoothly and that God will carry me home in one piece.

Kate in Dublin, Out.

I Hate Paper

I have a filing problem, as in, I don't. I hate paper and spending more than a few seconds thinking about where it should go gives me a tummy ache. So, thanks to this problem of mine, every time I have to pack to go someplace I end up with a huge stack of random bits of paper that I have to sort and go through just in case there is anything important in the mix of old grocery and to-do lists and unreadable receipts.

Since I am leaving the apartment at 4AM this Thursday I should have sorted through my common paper mountain last week... so naturally I am doing it now... just about 28 hours before I need to be outa here.

Hi. My name is Kate and I am a Class A Procrastinator.

I feel weird.

I feel super weird after watching this movie...
I heard a couple things about it. I was told that I would like it (I am guessing because I tend to really enjoy Super Hero movies)... Instead I feel super weird and I have no idea how to react to what I just saw. I feel kind of all wobbly and top heavy inside... I feel weird.
I think I need I need a pedicure.
And my mom's Velveta Chip Dip.

Red High Heels

I just got back from a wonderful evening with two really wonderful girls that I have come to know and love during my time here in Dublin, Becca and Ellisha. Myself and Becca both needed to justify the purchase of our fancy heels for the New Years party we attended... So naturally we all went out to a "fancy" dinner! We had a great night filled with perfectly random conversation to match the yummy and random food we had (Tapas?).

I love these girls and I am going to miss them a lot.

Ellisha, Me, and Becca
(I am the Giant)

just a 2 am thought...

I am so glad the airport people don't make you step on the scale when you check in... "excuse me Ma'am, you will have to pay for your *ahem* 'excess baggage'..."

But if they did this add would make me feel better...

Conservation of Mass-Energy

Conservation of Mass-Energy:

The total energy in a closed or isolated system is constant, no matter what happens. Another law stated that the mass in an isolated system is constant. When Einstein discovered the relationship E=mc², in other words that mass was a manifestation of energy, the law was said to refer to the conservation of mass-energy, which says the total of both is retained, although some may change forms. The ultimate example of this is a nuclear explosion, where mass transforms into energy.

Fact: I just broke this particular Law of Physics.

I am so impressed with myself. If you had seen the massive piles of crap that I had to pack into 2 1/2 suitcases (the half being my carry-on) you would believe it. I am very happy that I can check the 2 larger ones... but I am still quite proud that I was actually able to get everything packed...

Tonight Peri and I are hosting a movie night... Since we work with a church we have churchy things on hand for nights like this. In this case, a projector. And the way our living room is arranged it's perfect for projecting a movie onto an entire wall for a night of cinematic adventure. We also can thank my dad for bringing a glorious amount of American Oreos for me when he came to visit. I will need to get some milk and maybe a few other snacky things for tonight but I am excited for the chance to share some Oreos with the friends I have made here. I hope it goes well as this will be kind of my last big thing before I leave Dublin and Ireland. I don't want it to be sad but goodbyes are never great.

Friday Night

All day I was fully intending to use this evening to get one full bag packed, finished, ready to fly. But instead, I have been devouring a spur of the moment purchase... or two, reading and trying desperately not to fall asleep, and answering several emails and messages of varied importance. I am terribly tired and I have no idea why. I hate inexplicable exhaustion and I am all too familiar with it.

And there is, of course, the over hanging guilt that I still haven't finished sorting through the hundreds of photos I took the other day... which happened to be Saint Patrick's Day. in Dublin. and I was here. in Dublin. I know. If I don't sort and post them up on facebook and on here before I fly home it will NEVER happen. I am very good at totally forgetting something like that.

So anyway, I'm just gonna Cowboy Up and get some clothes sorted and folded into my big red suitcase... I might have to plug in my ipod and play some dance music though... Norah Jones is my enemy tonight...

Not Saint Patrick's Day

I have SO many St Patrick's Day photos and videos that I have decided that I am just going to do what I do best... put off sorting them and posting them until the last possible minute and post totally unrelated things in the meantime... like these youtubes below... The first one brought a tear to my eye (in a bitter sweet cute way) and the second gave me a bit of a belly chuckle...

KITTENS!

This is almost too much for me to handle at this hour... I laughed. A lot.



This too... Oh my heavens...

En Route to Dubai!

I just got back from the Post office where I sent off Flat Katie to my Dad in Dubai. I hope everything gets there in one piece. It was so much fun to have another excuse to go around taking photos of Dublin. Knowing that my little friend Katie will have a great project because of it makes me that much happier to have been involved! So off to the Middle East she goes!

Flat Katie and I in front of my Big Blue Dublin Door.

Meet Peri, My Pyromaniac Roommate.

So there were plenty of candles in the apartment... including this homemade one that had seven wicks... SEVEN.

Peri worked her Caboose off to free the wicks from the melted wax and lit it for an evening of Lost...

It was like a lovely little fire... it gave quite a cozy atmosphere...

Peri was so proud...

But when the heat of it began messing with the ambiance and it appeared to be growing a bit out of control...

Peri tried... and failed to blow it out.

It was a bit frightening... so she got a little cup of water and...

THIS happened... Life Note taken. water, camera, face and self-sustaining flamethrower candles do not mix well...

It was awesome folks. The flame jumped about 2 feet in the air... Below I have a video... I didn't get the initial leap of flame but I did get some of the cool blue sparky things after...

everything is amazing and nobody is happy

Curses on the Jolly Mexican Man!

Grocery shopping whilst hungry is a tricky beast... I have just REdiscovered this fact and I am beginning to feel the consequences in my tummy... walking back to the apartment I ate about half a bag of tortilla chips... the jolly Mexican man on the front inspired me, but now his thick face and joyfully pudgy fingers serve as a warning for next time I feel the urge to run for all the snackies!! Although running may just be the trick!


I also got a box of Pop Tarts... I haven't eaten a pop tart in ages and the boxes over here remind me of Tide Detergent so I never really made the effort to reach for a box (if the box was a technicolor headache like in the States, well, lets just say I wouldn't have any more space in the cupboard). But to lighten things (pun sooo intended) I behaved when looking at the breakfast cereals (or lunch or dinner cereals if you like). I bought a box of Special K. Yes. The Mom cereal.

(notice the bread bag says "Healthy Grain... Sandwich")

Flat Katie!

Some wonderful family friends have sent me their daughter's Flat Stanley Project... Flat Katie!
I still cannot believe that I am old enough to be the recipient rather than the sender...

I am having much more fun with it than I expected... I know I must look like a crazy person to strangers walking by as I hold a little flat person at arms length and take a photo... all over Dublin. But I really don't care, I want Katie to have the best Flat Stanley photo collection in her class... (and yes... I have actually figured out the add photos thingy)

Flat Katie in with the 46A Bus that I take down to Dun Loaghaire (pronounced Done Leary) every Friday.

Flat Katie with the James Joyce statue right next to the Spire.

Leprechauns!

Duke Special

A music video that a couple of my friends are in... and it's a catchy tune too!

powerful pancakes...

Yesterday morning, at approximately 5:13 AM my phone rang. In my foggy, confused state I leaped out of bed, turned on the light, made my bed and answered the phone. I was probably reaching for my jeans when I realized that it was my dad calling from Dubai. I had that terrible feeling that I had woken up hours late for something and someone was calling to ask me where I was. I was so relieved to realize it was my dad's voice on the other end. I miss him so much but it is good to know he arrived safe and sound. I don't remember anything from our conversation except that he remembered that it was super early here... we said I love you and I collapsed back into bed and fell into a much more restful slumber than before. I love my Daddy.

Yesterday was my second class in my creative writing course. We had to bring in enough copies of our first writing assignment for everyone. I had it finished and printed out and when we began reading a couple of the others out loud I began to realize I had hit the mark of telling a humiliating story about my life but I had absolutely no humor to balance it out. The 4 essays that were read out loud, all of them included some kind of humor... and they were more like embarrassing moments, not humiliation... I was relieved that I wouldn't have to read mine out loud in front of the class, but they do have a copy of it to read on their own. I am nervous for my teacher to return mine to me next week all marked up and with a frowny face sticker.

After class I came back to the apartment and while Peri was getting ready to go I read the other papers that I brought home. To my amazement I hadn't crashed and burned as horribly as I thought. I might even have fallen in the middle ground somewhere... how did that happen? My brain already hurts... I clearly need this mental exercise. And it is quite shocking to me that I might not be the last one to cross the finish line.

When Peri and I were ready, we walked down to Mark's flat for Sam's (one of mark's flatmates) Pancake Party. I never say no to pancakes, if I can help it, and these were really good pancakes. When we arrived in front of the little apartment building I realized that because I keep forgetting to top up my cell phone, we were unable to call anyone inside to alert them to the fact that we needed letting in. I found a little rock on the street and backed up until I could see people in the window. Mark was standing right next to one. Perfect. I brought my arm back and totally chickened out before I tossed it. Instead I opted for jumping up and down and whisper yelling Mark's name. It worked. I was impressed by how many people they managed to fit in their living area and the compactness of it all made for some great conversation with some new faces, all of which were enjoying delicious pancakes with all sorts of new and mysterious toppings. They had run out of maple syrup before Peri and I arrived but they had nutella, jams, and golden sugary stuff... I chose lemon juice and sugar, crepe style, and I was not disappointed.

Sam had this as a fundraiser for the Tearfund. Mark explained that it is a charity/ organization that works with local churches around the world to help local communities. (something like that) And lemme tell you, it was a great idea.

So, after an exhausting but fun day Peri, Katy (who showed up for pancakes) and I came home for some sweet deep sleep. Have I mentioned on here how much I love sleeping? It is such a wonderful way to spend the night... with your pillows all in the perfect spot and your body totally relaxed after a long day full of tension. mmmmmm yeah...

Dad- Dublin to Dubai...

I just got back from dropping my dad off at Dublin Airport... I hate goodbyes.
This terrible lump in my throat and this sadness is not something that I want to never feel again. It shows me just how blessed I am to have so much love in my family... it hurts us so much to be far away and across oceans from each other and in some kind of backwards way I am terribly thankful for it. I am realizing that I will forever be my parents child... their baby, and I never want that to change.

I cried the whole bus ride back to the city center and then more on my way to my apartment. People stared. I didn't care. I have just said goodbye to my Daddy and I don't know when I will get to see him again. I have every right to cry. I miss him so much already. I have felt homesick before but I didn't realize just how much more it was possible to miss my family or how much I already did. Seeing my Dad has stirred some of this up in my heart and mind... It is so backward the way that works sometimes. And here I am using up all of the tissues I bought to last over the next month. I'm a messy crier. I use a lot of tissues.

I love my Dad.

I love my Dad.

Friday morning my dad arrived in Dublin for a long weekend visit. It is so great that we get these few days to hang out before he goes to Dubai. I have really and truly missed hanging out with my Dad. He is one of the few people on this earth that can really understand me without some sort of explanation... sometimes it seems he knows me better than I do myself. He understands my jokes and laughs, in a way that only he can. He has his "dad laugh" with smiling eyes that are so much like a safety blanket from my childhood that I will never give up. I love my dad and it seems that I have been missing him much more than I thought.

>=/

Right now I hate facebook. With a fiery burning passion. the end.

Creative Writing...

Last night I began a creative writing class in the Irish Writers Center, which happens to be only a few doors down from my apartment. Very convenient. I am going to be honest. I am super nervous. I like knowing, now, what I am getting myself into, but it is still very intimidating. The teacher is an American and there are several other Americans in my class of 18ish. Not what I had expected or really wished for but it is what it is and the class is already paid for. No turning back. I am very excited for this chance to exercise the squishy gray stuff inside my skull, and believe you me, it is going to quite the workout. I have several reading assignments as well as a writing assignment already and it involves a memory of our own (simple, right? wrong.)... I have a terrible memory and so, unavoidably, I am already going nuts.

So if you will excuse this super short post, I am going to go sift through my brain for a legit memory... I wish I could plug my external hard drive into my head... just kidding... I don't, really. But that doesn't mean I don't need to.

Grape Nuts and Chickin Scarpariello

It seems that I may be recovering/past the worst of this illness, whatever it might have been from this weekend. I sure hope so...

But I still have this nagging homesickness that I will never get used to. In all of my time at L'Abri in Switzerland I felt, maybe, a total of 25 minutes in feeling homesick. I'm serious! And that was kinda spread out, 5 minutes here, 10 there... but the life I am living here in Dublin is so drastically different from L'Abri that I shouldn't be taken by surprise with this overwhelming longing for home. In the past few days I have been craving foods that you can only get in the US or recipes that ONLY my mom makes right. Grape Nuts and Chicken Scarpariello... yeah. There is also the FEEL of home. It's like that warm safety blanket while watching a scary movie. At the super creepy parts you get your feet off the floor and you pull your knees up close to yourself underneath the blanket. It doesn't matter what is playing, you are wrapped in your blanket, nothing can touch you. But sooner or later you are gonna have to stick your legs out again and walk up to bed. And sometimes it's going to be dark...

I wish I wasn't so gloomy right now. The sun is actually shining right through my curtians and I have the window cracked, it feels so nice outside... It may even feel like spring... but it is too soon for that. But the air feels so wonderful that I am willing to deal with the obnoxious city ruckus to have the breeze in my room.

Anyway... I am now getting super distracted by a million little things floating around in my brain as well as a million little things I have to do today...

Goodbye forever.

So. I am out of commission again... I hate how I keep getting sick. This time is the worst of all... my nose, my throat, a bit of my stomach, even my eyes... and headaches too. Sorry to whine on here but I am just plain miserable... I came here to be a help and to be of service to these people here at Abbey Church. Since I continue to get sick I am anything but that. I cannot be a help to anyone when I could very well get them super sick. I hate this illness, whatever it is. I am really hoping it is a 48 hour fluey thing... I don't know. A girl can hope, right?

But see, I have a predicament. Someone close to me here says that I really should go to the doctor tomorrow... I cannot tell you how much I don't want to go to the doctor. I want to get better so badly but can't I do that without going to a doctor? If I broke my leg, sure I would go. If I suddenly went blind, sure I would go. But this? I don't think I have ever gone to a doctor for a sore throat, fever, headache, or nose... and I keep getting this stupid thought that going to a doctor in Ireland will somehow be different than going to the doctor in the States.

I suppose I am kinda scared... not about being ill but about this particular new experience... I wasn't really scared at all when I got on the plane to fly over here (but now that I have been watching Lost that might be a bit different next time) and I haven't really felt fear since I came here (besides the creepy feelings when walking up to my apartment all by myself at night)... But I am afraid of doing something so simple as going to see a medical professional. Silly I know, but that doesn't change how I feel.

LOST

Last night Peri and I sat ourselves down and started the first season of LOST. Needless to say, I have succumbed to being just one of the masses who cannot tear their eyes away from that show. I had been told countless times that I would love it... but who has time to let themselves become addicted to yet another TV show? Not me. And especially not now... but alas! Me thinks it is now too late. Four episodes in and there is no turning back.

Last night I dreamed, quite vividly too, that I was stranded on an island with a random selection of folks. Ah! I have often wondered how I would do in such an unlikely although very real sort of situation... my morbid curiosity with the show prevents me from stopping. If I am terribly honest I think that I would be pretty level headed. Those of you that know me may not agree at first but if I were to really bunker down and remember that my God is in control, no matter how out of control things might seem, I think I would be an asset instead of that unbearable girl who just stood there in the middle of the wreckage screaming her head off. I can't stand it when people scream. It is absolutely no help whatsoever to yourself or those around you. It exacerbates the tense and dangerous atmosphere. It is that strange middle child between Fight and Flight: Fright and it makes no sense.

I have had a couple emergency situations as a babysitter and in one case the mom was actually home... it is a very long story but in a nutshell: she froze up and my 15 year old self was left to do the thinking. I called 911... I kept the kids together and all the while this mother was in a dazed panic. Of course, I will never forget the adrenalin that took over my veins and the feeling of my heart crashing against my chest. The prayers that began pouring out of me, mentally, while I held the little girls close to me until the police arrived... but despite the fear and overwhelming desire for self-preservation I stood my ground and braced for the worst. I went through every scrap of self-defense I had ever retained and made my peace with God. So I suppose I am a fighter after all. Translate that to a plane crash on a strange and mysterious island and I believe that I would be able to help...

Oh boy... I really enjoy movies and TV shows that get you thinking about stuff.

Again.

I was sick again.
I recovered again.
I didn't get the sleep my body so craved, again.
And guess what?
I think I am sick... AGAIN.
Sometimes it just isn't fair that while you are recovering you are vulnerable for more sickness... I have spent most of my life dealing with allergies and colds... I really don't know what it is truly like to not have some sort of issue going on with my nose... but head colds and body colds... I suppose I should count it as a blessing that it can get worse than my usual sniffling and sneezing. If I didn't get miserably sick every now and again (ha! again...) then most of the time I would just feel plain miserable.

It is cold outside. It is icy and snowy and sleety... and all sorts of unnatural chills are just running amuck here in Dublin, preying on the unsuspecting residents and citizens. As I was leaving church I made a joke about starting some fires up here in my apartment, you know, for warmth... we don't exactly have any fireplaces... but where there is a will...

Thermal socks? check.
Big fluffy fleece blanket? check.
Flannel PJs? check.
Hot water bottles? check.
True Story: things could be worse. Thank you Jesus, for a cozy apartment and hot water bottles and tea... and flannel... and fleece...
hmmm tea, soup and Vitamin C. That's all good stuff right? oh, and a book... I need a good read. Any suggestions??

High Definition

I want and NEED new glasses very very soon. My current pair of spectacles are just riddled with issues...
1- they are old
2- they are covered with scratches and never look clean no matter how hard I try to clean them.
3- one of the arms is about to reach it's breaking point after three repairs that required bending the metal.
4- I am super bored with them... and that is the death blow.

I am thinking about getting another plastic pair. I broke my favorite glasses in 2007 while I was visiting a friend in Germany... they were plastic and beautiful.

I love getting a new prescription... when you put a new set of lenses in front of your eyes you realize that you have only been seeing half of everything. Colors come to life. Trees, instead of having green around the top, actually have leaves! and those big patches of green in front of houses and in parks, hundreds of thousands of individual blades of grass! candles are no longer blurry little splotches of yellow that flick back and forth, the flame holds a vast spectrum of yellows, oranges, reds, and even blue... To see the world in "High-Def". It is always an exciting thing for me.

Bats, Dolphins, and Submarines...

So, I just decided that it makes me terribly sad when people have an aversion to cheese. How on Earth can you NOT love cheese, in all it's glorious forms? Brie, cheddar, Gouda, Blue, Feta... Wensleydale??
Also, I love food. Just in general. Have you heard about the two types of people: those who eat to live and those who live to eat? I am wholeheartedly and irrevocably the later.
I love the movie Ratatouille... it inspires me. If you haven't seen it you need to. right now.

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I am amazed by how much freakin time you can waste on the internet... namely on facebook. Good Gravy, it is crazy. 3 hours can go by and I will have absolutely NOTHING to show for it. And I get to see the god-forsaken hours of the morning much more often than they were meant to be seen... except by bats. Oh Good Lord! I am turning into a flying rodent! Without the wings... and the sonar... although the sonar and the wings might be kinda cool. Since I am already going blind maybe I could begin to develope sonar! Bats, Dolphins and submarines! I am going to join that club of awesomeness... soon enough.

hmmm guess what super power I wish I had... telekinesis. because if I was telekinetic I could also make myself FLY... and then I wouldn't need to turn into a bat in order to touch the sky... *sigh*

John

So, John Schuchman just told me to blog about him... he is a bit crazy about this blog business...
I must add that the instantaneous of this internet stuff is incredible at times... at others it can be just plain crazy.

right or left?

Lately I have been having incredibly frightening dreams in which I am driving on the roads in South Florida and the roads around my parent's house in Eastern Pennsylvania. Everything is normal except one very important detail. The side of the road I am supposed to be driving on is constantly being switched back and forth from the right to the Left. sometimes I am on the Left side of the car and sometimes I am on the Right, but I am always driving... today I was on the bus again, on my way to and from Dun Laoghaire (pronounced Dun Leary... I know.) and I realized that I will have to refrain from getting behind the wheel of a car for at least a couple months after returning to he states. I am so mixed up and backwards and upside-down when trying to remember how the roads are back home.

You couldn't pay me to drive here in Dublin. No way. good grief.

A Snowy Death in Dublin

So I kinda feel like death at the moment... and I just got back from running a couple errands out in town. It is snowing and sleeting and just pain terrible outside. Freezing temperatures that I was told only happen in a blue moon... well, somebody please check to see if there is a very large blueberry in the sky tonight because all the snowy cloud cover is going to prevent me from checking myself.
I got back up to my apartment and I feel much too warm to have just come inside from the nastiness out there... perhaps soup might do me some good... except I don't have anymore soup. sad. I might have to just settle for a Vitamin C effervescent thingy instead... vitamin c is super good for you when you're coming down with something, right? mmmm and Hot Chocolate... yeah... that is always a good idea.

In the Candy Cafe

Right now I am sitting in the corner cafe that sits only a few doors down from my apartment, here in center city, Dublin. For the past 4ish months since I came here to work with Abbey Church I have become quite the regular. I usually get the same bagel sandwich and a coke. I am trying to branch out (today I am eating a BLT) but the bagel is just so yummy! I am getting to know the small staff of employees, made up mainly of immigrants from eastern Europe and Asia. I make a point to smile and ask how they are doing before I order my food or drink. I think they have begun to notice. That is one of the things that bothers me about cities. The anonymity and fast pace give people the opportunity to be more rude and less caring with each other in simple, everyday activities, without being that odd Jerk who happens to stand out of the crowd. The fact that common courtesy and kindness are the unusual qualities in city life makes me sad.
Even though I grew up on the fringes of Ft Lauderdale, Florida, a very large city, I have never really experienced "The City" the way I am here. Dublin really isn't that big, by world city standards I suppose, but living in the very heart of it you wouldn't be able to notice. There may not be skyscrapers and New York accents but what it lacks in Big Appleness it makes up for in the hustle and bustle of daily life.

Even though I am really enjoying my time here in the heart of this incredible city I have already determined that City Life isn't for me... I also know that I couldn't live out in the middle of nowhere either... I am not a huge fan of suburbs, but the convenience of suburban life is really appealing. You can get fresh air when you need it and you're not smacked in the face with the smog and car exhaust of the city every time you step out your front door. People tend to be nicer and there is a stronger sense of community. I like that.
I guess I have all the time in the world to figure out where I will be living someday. Quite frankly, I don't want to settle in any one place for very long. I am well on my way to being a sort of nomad and it thrills me to think of all the places I will see and go. The people I will meet along the way and the stories I will hear. I can only hope that I can share at least a little of the incredible love that I have been given with each of them.

The Beginning...

In this blog I will be recording the random and very honest thoughts that happen to bounce around inside my brain from time to time as I live, laugh, learn, and love my way through this life.

I am a silly girl and it is only by the phenomenal Grace of God that I am capable of any thoughts at all. So I figure that while I can, I will share these thoughts with y'all. I am far from a finished product, constantly learning and being refined and honed into the creature I am meant to someday be. I know that I will probably change my mind about many things throughout my blogging experience...

I have no idea what my future holds but what I do know is that my future was molded by the very hand of God and that He will guide me and carry me on my way. My current location is Dublin, Ireland. Wherever I end up in the coming days, weeks, months, and years of my life I hope to share a little piece of each with whoever you are. I want to see every corner of this World that we have been given. I want to smell, taste, hear, see, and touch all of the magnificent things there are in this life. I want to cry with you, laugh with you. Sing with you, dance with you. Stand rapt in awe with you, scratch my head in confusion with you.

I am a student of Life.
Welcome to my journey.
I hope you enjoy and learn something new...