My hands smell like onions and I should be studying for a midterm...

But I thought I'd check in here instead :) So much more fun.

I just got back from a WONDERFUL fall break and preached my first sermon last Thursday. I ran a 25:39 -3 miler this afternoon with two great running buddies (one has 4 legs :). There's a really great vegetable dish cooking in the oven, one I'm going to be sharing with my Sunday School class tonight at our potluck (hence the onion thing). And yes, I should be studying for a midterm. I studied yesterday and earlier today and I'll study again when I get back from dinner. So I'm taking a short break to write a blog on possibly one of the most gorgeous days we've had here in a while. No rain, blue skies, whispy white clouds, cool breeze, 66 degrees, leaves changing color...

I think I want to re-decorate my room...

Lawsamercy

I'm pretty sure that at one time, that was actually "Lord of mercy" or "Lord have mercy," but it's been mashed together as the South tends to do. Quick updates on my life (Lord have mercy):

So. AGGHHH! Better now, thanks :)

I've decided to run another 1/2 marathon. After decidedly deciding that I was NEVER going to run another mile in my life. I just can't not run. Can a fish really not swim? Can a scorpion really not sting? Can a frog really not hop?

I really like Greek. It's hard and all, but kind of fun :) All of my classes are pretty okay, actually, so far. Except preaching which makes me want to throw up more and more every time I go. Every word in every book I read makes me more and more nervous! Why would anyone want to do this week after week??! I can't even come up with one sermon!

I realized my Kingdom of God description is that, in the KOG, no one will be just another Jew in a ditch (read Thurman, "Jesus and the Disinherited"). My main ethic stems from respect for human dignity, seeing that we are all children of God, and wanting right relationships with each other, with God, and with the earth. That for me is the KOG and what evangelism is about for me. Showing people a God through whom comes deliverance (salvation in Greek means rescue, being saved from whatever binds you) and with whom you can be restored and redeemed. A holistic salvation instead of just "soul salvation," which is dualistic anyway and I'm not a Gnostic, so...

Lawsamercy.

"...and went to volleyball camp most summahs!"

Word, I am excited about the return of The Office and 30 Rock. They're great shows, but they also celebrate the end of the school week and all us seminarians get together to eat cookies and chips and salsa and lay on the floor in a cramped apartment. Oh, days...

So classes start on Monday. Blech. I don't realllly mean bleeecchh, but definitely buhhhh. To clarify, I really do want to learn and grow and see what's in store. I just don't want to be graded on it. I feel like I'm old enough to NOT have someone evaluate my abilities and worth on a percentage scale. My performance determines my ability to continue and frankly, I just don't want to perform. I cannot imagine writing a paper or studying for a test or preparing a sermon (oh yeah, did I mention I'm taking Preaching this semester? Shoot me now). I don't want to, I don't care to, but I have to so I guess I will.

P.S. (and this is totally random)

I bought new soap and new shampoo and conditioner today. Something about that just makes me almost giddy with excitement :)

“Look at you, thinking outside the socks!"

Do you ever have those days, weeks, MONTHS where you feel like you're suddenly more clumsy and absent-minded than before?

Today alone I

1. broke the arm of my professor/boss's chair. Like snapped it off.

2. splashed Raspberry Ice Crystal Lite all over my shorts (that's the flavor that stains everything instantly).

3. sprayed a huge patch of the wall with anti-stain stuff while attempting to get to the stain before it set. Just shot right out the nozzle onto the wall, completely missing the shorts.

4. ran into an open cabinet, one I had just opened.

5. hung up on my sister in mid-sentence. Just clicked the off button. I was the one talking.

And the day's not done! Oh the possibilities...!

I'm all alone, there's no one here besiiiide meeee!

This is the first time ever that I've lived by myself for any sort of extended period of time. Both roommates will be back within the next couple weeks, which will be nice. When you live by yourself, there's just no one to talk to and there are no built in playmates! Plus, there's no one with whom to split the bills. And somehow you don't seem quite as lazy if you're lying around with other people watching 3 hours of TV as it does when you're alone. However, there are some perks to solitary confinement...

I can keep the place as clean (or messy) as I want! For me though, it's mainly just clean.

I can walk around in my underwear. Which, even if you have roommates, is fine if you're running from the dryer to your room with the pants you plan to wear. But it's usually frowned upon when you're just hanging out. Although Alanis Morrisette does advocate walking around naked in your living rooooom.

The temperature is always exactly right.

There's always space in the cabinets and in the fridge, and you don't have to constantly navigate around your roommate's 3-week old casserole that's growing moldy.

I can watch 4 episodes of Gilmore Girls without feeling like a sloth. Oh wait. Both my roommates and my good friends will watch 4 episodes with me...ok, so that's a moot point.

Even though there are some upsides to having a place all your own, I still like having people there. It's nice to say "good night" to someone and grunt "good morning." Plus, it's easier to talk someone into going for a reaaaally late night Frosty if they're already in the house, lying on the couch watching the same show as you. Just sayin'.

I'd lose my mind if it wasn't decidely stuck inside my head

I seem to be losing things a lot lately. Well, only two things, but that's a lot for me! I lost my Runner ID tag (somewhere in Nashville? in the car? I brought it for the 1/2 marathon, but didn't wear it, and it didn't come home with me). And I lost my phone somewhere in Kampala. Agghh!!

I'm not absent-minded. I don't usually lose things. I mean, there is that one pair of sunglasses that lose themselves repeatedly, but they usually show up a few months later. They're currently missing (have been for about 4 months), but I have faith in the system.