Super Slooper Nepal

Hey.  In a few days I'm leaving for Nepal!!!  So I've started a blog for the adventures there.  You can follow it here: http://sloopernepal.blogspot.com/

Got Snow? Add Mountain Bike.

This is an article I wrote for this year's last Collegian.  Enjoy.

      After the last CABL Bonfire at the Tiger Canyon saddle, eight of us - Stephen, Aaron, Josh, Ryan, Carlton, Lauren, Michael, and I - camped out beside the fire.  We had a night of minimal sleep due to an unidentified snorer, but woke to a beautiful, sunny morning and readied for a day of mountain biking.  The trail ahead would take us nineteen miles from Tiger Canyon to South Fork, and Carlton and Lauren would drive our two vehicles around to pick us up.  Erik - who is not into sissy adventures - left College Place at an early 6:30 am, riding his mountain bike 26 miles to catch us at the trailhead.  He arrived at 10:30 and then the seven of us hopped on our bikes and headed up the gravel road.

From the beginning, large patches of snow covered the road, forcing us to walk our bikes from time to time.  No big deal, we thought. We’ll be out of the snow in no time!  Continuing on, however, it became obvious that this snow was going to cause us trouble.  The intermittent “hike a bike” turned into continuous “hike a bike” through deep snow.  We took turns breaking trail, which involved making both a footprint trail and a bike trail alongside.  The warm, sticky snow stuck to our tires, and gummed up our frames.  Our feet sloshed in our soaking shoes, and our toes numbed and froze - Josh and Ryan nearly cried on account of their cold feet.  Every couple of miles we stopped to eat some Pringles or a piece of an Easter Bunny lollipop and wring the water out of our socks.  Our pleasant bike ride was quickly becoming less and less enjoyable.  However, the optimism of the group remained high.  “Just one more mile and we should be out of the snow,” we encouraged each other.

After climbing a steep hill to the top of the ridge, we paused to enjoy the view, which brought to our attention the fact that all the hills were snow-free except the slope we had chosen.  We attempted to get excited about our descent, but a quick reality check laid out the many snow-covered miles still before us.  Some of us were still able to make jokes as we trudged on, but after several episodes of losing and re-finding the trail, our energy, moods, and food supply began to dwindle dramatically and we eventually tramped on with little talk.  After one quick stop, we suddenly realized the time was nearing four in the afternoon, and we decidedly rushed on in an attempt to beat the sunset.  Heaving our bikes over fallen trees and traversing along slippery hillsides, the icy snow cut into our legs with every step.

Eleven miles into the trek, we hit our first patch of rideable dirt.  It was glorious!  It was as if the snow just stopped at the notorious plane crash leaving us beautiful, unmolested single-track.  The rest of the ride proved relatively uneventful, besides the occasional flat tire or Aaron-over-the-handlebars-missile.  Well, it was uneventful for most of us.  Three miles from the end, and 42 miles from the beginning of his trip, Erik got an unfixable flat which forced him to jog the rest of the way.

Spady had an appointment and could not make it to the pick up point, so a lonely Carlton greeted us just after six in the evening at South Fork’s parking lot.  He had spent the day reading a book and hiking leisurely.  After loading our mud-caked bikes into the back, eight smelly bodies piled into the six seats of the pick-up.  I was one lucky girl!  Although we nearly suffocated in the body-odor-smog filled cab, we managed to make it home where we enjoyed much-needed showers and Taco Bell.

This was supposed to be an angry picture.  And in all honesty... we weren't terribly happy at this point.

 Here we have Michael getting unstuck from a crash, Ryan riding down in the snow, Josh trying a rock route, and I'm preparing to ride down the snow... which was pretty sweet, but very short-lived.  This picture is a perfect illustration of how most of the trip went.  An adventure for sure, but probably not one I'd choose to go on again :)

my children

So this afternoon I was discussing with my boss whether or not I would have to ride my bike for cycling class in this current downpour.

Karri: Yeah, the seat will be all wet.

Me:  That's the least of my concerns.  When I'm sitting on it, it'll be the driest spot and the rest of me will be soaked.

Karri: No, but I mean right now, it's getting wet.

Me: No Karri.  My bike is like my child.  He doesn't sleep outside.

Karri: Um, well dear, then can I remind you that you ran over your child??

Me:  Oh that was the other bike!  My other child...

HAHA.  Maybe I should wait on the whole mothering thing...

Insignificant yet Noteworthy

Some days are just great.  Yesterday for example.  And I don't know exactly why it was so great, except for some little things.  Remarks that made me smile for no reason as I walked to work.  Incidents that caused me to actually laugh out loud, to myself.  Sunshine that inspired me to sing on my way to class.  Random thoughts that compelled me to twirl while I talked to my dad on the phone.  Cupcakes and ice cream bars that I had to ignore for 2 1/2 whole hours before I could enjoy them.  Yummy rice and curry at Laura's house.  An awkward comment transformed into something hilarious.  Intelligent conversation with quality friends.  An email from Nepal.  Completely unexpected compliments from three different people I normally don't spend much time with.  People who are so supportive of what I'm doing next year.  And the possibility of doing something maybe slightly illegal in the near future.  But I'd never do anything illegal, so forget I even mentioned it ;)  My point is, it was one exceptional day.

A time to bike and a time to not bike...

There is a time for everything,
          and a season for every activity under heaven:
A time to bike and a time to not bike.

For example, this last week I rode my bike every day except Monday.  On Sunday I rode 22 miles with my dad in the hills above my house.  On Tuesday I took my mountain bike to the bike track with a couple of friends, and after getting drenched by a thunderstorm, we ended up doing about 10 miles of storm chasing.  On Wednesday I did a shorter 14 miles as a nice study break.  On Thursday we rode 29 miles up 5 mile hill and Scenic Loop road, where Rod and Curtis tried to kill me.  (They think I'm never working hard because they can't hear me breathing, when in reality I'm near death trying to keep up with them.)  Then on Friday, Tommy Poole and I decided to ride our bikes to the SM retreat.  It's about 43.5 miles to get there, and then I decided to ride a few more up towards Bluewood to make it just over 50 miles that day.  And yesterday, Sabbath, we rode those 43.5 miles back.

That's about 169 miles, and 11 hours and 27 minutes of riding.  And quite frankly, I'd like to do just about anything but sit on a bike seat right now.  What a good week!

Unrelated to this week, this is a stencil I made one time and then I later spray painted with it.

the unexpected

On Tuesday I was lucky enough to sit between Sarah and Andrea during Chapel.  I just love hanging out with these two, but I'd say we were all a bit happier than normal.  We were all riding the wave of excitement that happened on Monday.  There was a lot of laughter, smiles, joy.  Sarah - she got accepted into LLU's school of nursing AND gets to go a quarter earlier than she expected.  Andrea - she's dating for the first time!  And me - I'm headed to Nepal!

On Monday night, I was going to go to bed early at 9:30 so I could get up early and study with a fresh brain...but I decided that the company in the reference room was better than my own lonely company in the morning.  So at 9:31 pm, I was still in the library when I received a phone call from an "Unavailable" number.  My first thought - "Is this Nepal?"  I went sprinting out of the library, and answered Banepa, Nepal.

Long story short, they've asked me to come work in the physical therapy department at Scheer Memorial Hospital.  As soon as school gets out.  Which is 5 weeks from today.  The reason for this is because the physical therapist who currently works at Scheer is leaving at the beginning of August.  So, they want me to learn as much as possible before she leaves.  Then, I'll be the physical therapist? Or something, I'm not really sure.  But I'm incredibly excited!

No more studying happened after that phone call.  Nope.  Party!  I couldn't have wiped the smile off my face if I had tried.  I told everyone I saw... jumped around my room...maybe even shrieked a little bit.  Then I went to ice cream with a friend until 11:30 at night.  I slept all of about 4.5 hours that night.

By now, the giddy part of the excitement has worn off.  I am, however, incredibly distracted all the time.  In the middle of my World Religions test I am thinking about trekking and climbing.  In between classes I wonder what my apartment will look like.  All the time I wonder if I am really going to be the physical therapist.  Or was he joking?  Really?

And then there's the other half of me.  I'm leaving in June?  I had so many plans for this summer.  I was going spend my last summer with my parents and my brother.  I was going to enjoy working in the orchard... driving tractors, being dirty - all the time, racing around on the fourwheeler, riding my bike through the hills above my house, harvests - cherries, blueberries, peaches, raspberries, blackberries, pears, apples (in that order).  I was going to do a lot of mountaineering, like every weekend.  I live for this lifestyle...and I've been craving it for months now.  But working in physical therapy in Nepal is SUCH an amazing opportunity.  It's my other dream.  My emotions are so split right now.  The end of that discussion is that I have not yet officially decided when I'm leaving...but it's within 6-8 weeks.  Crazy!

Lastly, it's just incredibly remarkable how this has all worked out.  Last week I was emailing Loma Linda about the possibilities of getting back into the program for this year.  This week, I have a sense of direction again.  Something to look forward to!  It's interesting too, because last week my time with God was almost non-existent.  On Monday morning, I told God, "OK, I'm starting over.  This week is going to be better.  We're actually going to spend time together."  And that evening, God sent a phone call from Nepal.  Not only a phone call, but a job opportunity that is a lot better than the one I had hoped for. I guess it just confirms that when you "Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, all these things will be given to you as well."  I'm pretty excited about life right now!

The school and the hospital

one of those days

It's one of those days.  It's been a really good day....in many, many ways.  I went running, worked out at the gym, rode my bike, went rock climbing for Ben's b-day...and even went on a date.

But I also had a meeting with Jeanne about Nepal.
Well, it's not looking promising.  I'm not giving up yet, but I've heard from two different sources that there are no teaching positions in the school at Scheer Memorial Hospital.  None of the full time missionaries have any students in the school, so they are not having SM's teach at the school.  I don't even understand entirely what that means.

But like I said, I'm not giving up yet.  I'd really like to work in the hospital in Nepal, actually, this has been my goal all along.  But in the past this has not been an option, so....

I haven't looked into any other SM options very seriously.  Because I want to live in Nepal.  I'm obsessed with the country.  Which brings me to another point.  I've never even really wanted to SM any place besides Nepal.  Do I want to SM?  Do I want to travel for a year?  For a quarter?  Do I want to learn another language?  Would I want to do any of these things by myself?  Do I want to go to PT school this year?

I called my mom this evening.  She wants to know what I'm doing with my life.  I told her everything about today.  Probably shouldn't have.  If I'm spending so much time exercising and going to birthday parties...am I studying?  Mom, not every day is like this.  "Jenny, if you decide to go to PT school next year, I am going to freak out."  (She thinks I will decide a week before it starts, and she has good reason to believe I would make a decision that last-minute-like.  However, Loma Linda wouldn't let me decide that late...)

I want to go to Nepal.  And I am oh so tired.

They don't care what you know

until they know that you care.

Father Daughter Bonding Time

Way back on President's Day Weekend, I made homemade vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup at home.  I had a houseful of friends, and I made a LOT of ice cream.  Apparently no one else eats ice cream like I do, and we have a huge tub left over.  My parents forget it's in the freezer when I'm not home, but I always pull it out first thing when I arrive.  My mom laughs and my dad rolls his eyes when I announce my need for ice cream.  "I've been thinking about it during the whole drive home!"  But as I drizzle hot chocolate syrup on top, I always ask, "Anyone else want some?"  Almost without fail, my dad will serve himself some as well.  He rarely eats ice cream when I'm not home, but he'll always eat some with me.  It's our time.  We eat ice cream, shivering in fleece jackets, and talk about....things.  It's like going on coffee dates - I'm not a coffee drinker, but I'll always have a date over ice cream.  Yum.  I pretty much love my dad.

PHOTO: When the cranking gets hard...

dirt, fire, sunburn, mountain

"Something about your face is really odd."

Having just walked inside after mowing in the orchard and torching our burn pile, my face was covered in dirt.

"Mom, this is what how my face looks every summer."
"No, but something's different.  Are you sunburned too?"

Oh yeah, and that too.  You see, on Thursday, I climbed my second mountain this week, and got sunburned for the second time as well.  However, it was only my face that was sunburned; my neck is still quite contrastingly white.  Cover my red face in dirt, and apparently it looks quite odd.  haha.  I will not post any pictures, in hopes that I can even out my skin color during the rest of break :)

There's something about hard work that is really satisfying.  Climbing mountains and working in the orchard. And during the last week, I've realized how much I am ready to start living this lifestyle again.

Last Sunday, the day before finals, I got the opportunity to climb Fife's peak with my dad and a couple guys. Don't hate me... Wouldn't you do something crazy the day before finals if you could?  I killed myself during Dead Week to pull it off, and I'll probably never get the chance to do it again.  It was a good, non-technical, begin the season climb.

PHOTO: DAD, ME, RITTENHOUSE ON FIFE'S PEAK

Then, just after I arrived home on Wednesday night, I checked the weather in the mountains.  I completely forgot about my garlic bread in the oven, I got so excited.  I texted Ryan Gratias, "The weather on Rainier for the next two days is perfect...just sayin."  After a rather lengthy discussion about weather conditions, time off from work, whether or not I could climb - being a girl, and me getting increasingly frustrated, it looked like I'd have to climb some mountain by myself.  I thought about soloing Rainier.  My dad hit me with a load of reality on that idea.  (And that's a good thing, sometimes I think only a 1/4 of my brain functions when I get excited about climbing.)  I decided instead to go climb St. Helens since I'd never been there before.  I figured everything out and packed up all my stuff, and then Ryan texted me again at 11:45pm.  Complete change of plans.  If I could get ahold of some ice tools, I would climb Chair Peak with Ryan and Brandon.  After a ton of thinking, praying, phone calls, and pointless driving to different places, I got what I needed to climb the North Face of Chair Peak. So with not nearly enough sleep and barely any food in my stomach, we set off on one of the most perfect days of climbing ever!  We summitted with beautiful views of the Olympics, Adams, Rainier, the Stewart range, Glacier, Baker, and so many more.  The sun went down just as we started our second rappel off the mountain.  It was my first experience with ice climbing, and will definitely not be my last.  We managed not to die on route :) and not to die falling asleep on the drive back.

This morning I somehow managed to groan out of bed at some early hour, eat breakfast, and head out to work in the orchard.  Hair up, jeans with holes in the back side, scarred steel-toed mud boots, driving tractor, and a face covered in dirt...I'm ready for summer.  Ready for a lifestyle of manual labor and mountaineering.  Of course, I'm not by any means rushing Spring - it's going to rock too!

THIS BURN PILE IS FAIRLY SMALL IN COMPARISON TO SOME WE'VE BURNED.

PS: I love torching things.

Willpower and the 'Slacker' Brain

Deadweek.

A few weeks back, in my Human Development class, I learned of some pretty interesting research.  In one room, people were given either a 2-digit or a 7-digit number to remember by memory.  They were told they would then walk down a hall to another room to repeat the number to someone else.  What they did not know was that the actual part of the study took place in the hall.  They were met by another person, carrying a plate of chocolate cake in one hand and a plate of fruit in the other.  The people were asked, "Would you like a this yummy plate of chocolate cake, or this healthy plate of fruit?"  Almost without fail, all the people trying to remember a 2-digit number took the fruit, and all the people with the 7-digit number took the chocolate cake.

You see, we have two different brains at work: the rational brain, and the emotional brain.  When you only have two things on your mind, you can make a rational choice: Calories, sugar, high fat content, think about your waistline, think about your cholesterol, it's not good for your health.  But when you have 7 things on your mind, the rational brain clearly has too much to manage.  So the emotional brain is much more likely to take control.  It says a lot about how inadequate our reasoning is.

You can listen to the discussion on this study here:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122781981

Oh deadweek.  Please don't eat me alive.  I think I have more than seven things on my mind.

beauty from the outside in

This morning at work I was talking with this guy about the weekend. Among other things, he slept from 1:30 am Sunday morning until Sunday afternoon at 4:30 pm.  "What! You lost an entire day!"  First, I don't know how this is even possible...I can barely sleep in 'til 8:30 am, if I'm lucky.  But secondly, this conversation led to a discussion on being a light sleeper vs. a deep sleeper.

I commented on how for the last two days, my roommate and I have woken up to sun shining in our room. It's glorious!  A pleasant change from the morning fog.  He said that his blinds are always closed to keep it extremely dark, and that's why he can sleep in so late.  He went on to say, "I can't ever leave my blinds open because I live in town and people can just walk right up to my window...and they'll see my TV, my X-box..."

He may have made some other comments, but I don't remember.  My brain started going crazy.  Your blinds are ALWAYS closed?  Even in the daytime? Oh, you are missing out on so, so much.

MAYBE not everyone is affected by the weather as I am, but I have a hard time believing that.  

Yesterday I took a decently long bike ride.  All by my lonesome, but I didn't feel lonesome in the slightest.  The sun was shining.  I was riding through the hills, through brown wheat fields, through green winter wheat fields. Snow capped the tips of the mountains while flowers poked up out of the ground in my valley.  Birds sang, bugs flew into my face. Farmers plowed fresh dirt to the surface of their fields and horses ran alongside me as I rode.  (OK, maybe the horses were just staring at me.)  I felt alive! For the first time since, well, probably since last weekend.  But the point is: I felt even more alive because the sun was shining.  You couldn't have wiped the smile off my face.  Nature, life, was happening!

I get a little bit of this feeling, this life, this energy, every morning when the sun shines in my room.  I even sing a little bit, it makes me SO happy.  I feel like some of the beauty from nature outside can shine into my room. This morning's conversation with this guy made me thankful for the way, and the place where I've grown up.  I've never lived in town. I've never owned an X-box, and I've never owned a TV anybody would want to steal.  It makes me wonder, Is it more important to protect these silly possessions, or to live a little each morning as the sun shines in through the window?  I feel a little hypocritical saying this, because I own nice things too.  Maybe I'm just blessed for never having lived in a place where I felt unsafe.

I'm still not sure how to think about this.  But I know I am blessed.  And I know he's certainly missing out on something when he lives in his darkened room.  The sunshine!

PS:  Everyone should get the chance to ride a bike in the country.

Accepted!

Drinking celebratory milkshakes from the Iceberg.  I got accepted into Physical Therapy school at LLU. Now, will I go there next year?  Probably not.... only time will tell.

Cousin Bond

Lately my cousin Jacob has started emailing me.  A couple summers ago, I emailed him a few times, but never with much response - he could not bother checking an email.  Now, he writes me every couple days, sometimes multiple times a day, and gets quite impatient when I do not respond within the same time frame.

“But Jacob, I have 5 tests and a paper this week.”  Doesn’t register.  He’s 11, and he just had like five days off from school because of a massive snow storm.  I wish a foot of snow closed school here.  He’s in Kentucky, and they’d have a snow day if there was one inch.

Jacob and I have this bond.  I can’t really describe it any other way.  We’re just close, and nearly ten years of age difference doesn’t matter.  We used to be neighbors; only 11 rows of peach trees separated our houses.  We’d tramp over all 35 acres of orchard playing with nothing but imagination.  Jacob and I drove dump trucks in the mud and raced on tricycles and wagons.

For the last few years now my cousins have lived in Guam, and now they’re temporarily in Kentucky.  Very few things have changed since we’ve been apart.  He no longer has an imaginary friend, and we no longer hold hands when we walk.

Jacob and I only hang out for a few weeks each year, but man, we really make the time count.  This last summer we worked together in the orchard for a week or so before Sasha’s wedding.  It was pear harvest and I drove tractor with a bin trailer on the front.  Jacob rode on the front in the bins, or on the forks on the back.  I wish I had pictures of that.  It was a party.

I miss his contagious laugh and his “let’s have fun” attitude.  I wish I had a way to get him a plane ticket up to visit.

Man I miss that kid!

Quarter tank? No problem.

There's this little familiar orange light on the dashboard of my car.  It starts out as a little glimmer, and brightens into an almost glaring "You're about to run out of gas!"

It seems that nearly every time I drive from College Place to home, in Yakima, I have about a quarter of a tank.  Which is about exactly how much fuel it takes to get home.  I don't know how it always works out that way, but it does.  And my thought process goes something like this: Well, gas is way cheaper in Yakima, and I'd really rather not take the time to put in like 2 gallons of gas, so.... I think I can make it.

Today as I drove down Whitman and turned onto College Ave, I looked at the gas gauge. Oh. Quarter tank?  Whatever, I can make it.  It's not windy and I don't have a bike rack on top of the car.  I'll be fine.

I've only actually run out of gas once.  It was Thanksgiving of my freshman year, and after sputtering around the last two corners of my driveway, the car used up the last drop of gas as I coasted into my driveway.  Couldn't have been more perfect!  As I put the car in park and my brother came out of the house, I was cheering and yelling in my car.  My brother thinks I'm crazy to this day.

The next year at Thanksgiving, while headed home from college, I tried to make it home but only made it to the first gas station in Yakima as my car started sputtering on the freeway.

I've come up with a system.  When my fuel light comes on, I actually still have ~2.2 gal of gas left in the tank.  Figure in my gas mileage and how many miles left until my destination - I know whether or not I'm going to make it.  Roughly.  But I've done that so many times, I've gotten pretty confident...and today, I didn't even calculate it.

I was passing though the smelly cow plantations of Sunnyside when the fuel light came on.  Oh psssh! No problem!  It's not even going to be a close call!  

5 miles away from home.  OK, this is getting close.  I'm not sure if I'm going to make it.....Ah! No! Not a red light, I'm going to have to accelerate all the way back up to 60 from a stop? No!  I turned down my music so I could listen to my car.  I slowly, and successfully, accelerated from the stop light. Three minutes later, I turned off the highway, and the car didn't sputter.  (I have to admit, at this point, I was close enough to home...and I WANTED to see if I could run out of gas just as I pulled into my driveway again!  I don't know if this is bad for the car...but it's not a diesel, so...?  I accelerated really fast, took all the corners really fast...)  As I turned into my driveway, it sputtered, but came back to life.  Again on the second corner, it sputtered but came back to life and I parked my still-running car.

Success or no?  I made it home, which was my goal.  But I didn't time it quite perfectly this time.  haha Oh well.  I don't know if anyone else really enjoys running so close to empty, never really knowing if you're quite going to make it.  I love it!  It's kind of an adrenaline rush in its own little way.

Quarter tank?  Whatever, I can make it - I'm invincible!

from start to finish

At supper somebody asked me how my day had been.  I wasn't entirely sure how to respond.  I said something to the effect of: it was pretty good.... a little weird though.  Weird.  I don't know how else to describe it.

I ran this morning in the fog - the first time in a long time without pain in my calves.  Yes!!

I sat in my first class wishing my teacher actually understood what he was talking about.  It was a long class period.

I went to work, when my boss found out a close friend of her's died this morning.  I didn't even know the guy and I felt like crying.  Death seems so weird to me right now.  I feel like I hear about it so much more often than I used to - and that's probably just because I'm getting older.  (Death isn't a typical topic for little kids - Thank goodness!)  But really, I didn't used to know people who had died; I didn't have close friends who had nearly died in car accidents, my grandparents hadn't died, people didn't get murdered while running...  Anyhow, answering the phone at work was suddenly more difficult, as I had to concentrate on smiling so the person on the other end thought I was just thrilled to help them.

I checked my email and found out my uncle who lives Nepal just had a heart attack.  Thankfully he didn't have complete occlusion and was able to get from Banepa to Kathmandu in about an hour (which is a record time).  He had a stent put in, and they found more occlusion on the other side, which will be removed later.  He probably won't be able to travel for another month, and after that he'll likely return to the States to have the second surgery.  The crazy thing he was quite healthy and had no risk factors for heart problems... and neither did his brother, who just died of a heart attack over Christmas break.

I sat in the library this afternoon, wishing I was outside doing something to keep my blood flowing and my heart pumping.  Instead I situated myself on a creaky wooden chair, drank blueberry tea, and studied for two tests. Which surprisingly didn't seem all that bad.

I intermittently texted my brother, making plans to go home this weekend. I called my mom to tell her we were coming and she was so excited!  My parents are just amazing.  Nobody else in the world cares about EVERYTHING I have to say.  I can't wait for yummy home-made bread and family worship.  I can't wait for my dad to teach me how to use the lathe in our shop.  I can't wait to go skiing.

I found a package in my mailbox today from my aunt and uncle in Portland. Among other things, they sent me this foaming soap, peppermint flavored. It's amazing.  It smells like something I used to eat or drink when I was a little kid.  The problem is, the specific synapses for that memory have almost stopped firing because I haven't tasted it in years.  And it's driving me nuts because I just can't quite remember exactly what it was.  Ah, what a memory, if I could just remember it!

I relaxed to Ingrid Michaelson almost all day, either in my earbuds while studying or in my head as I did everything else.  I hummed everywhere I went.

While studying productively for the first time in a few days, I was disappointed to leave at 6 pm. Why on earth did I register for an evening class?  6-8 pm?  What?  At that time of night I can usually think of at least one good reason to skip class :)  But I went today because, well, I skipped last time.

Tomorrow evening I am going to the Banff Film Festival showing at Whitman, which I expect will be inspiring as always.  I'm still not sure how to feel about today.  Weird, huh?

frustration

frustration |frəˈstrā sh ən|nounthe feeling of being upset or annoyed, esp. because of inability to change or achieve something
       The picture on the left indicates the way I feel on the inside. The picture on the right shows what I might look like if you were to see me right now (and if I was about 15 years younger). Depending on who you are, I'm likely to even cover it up with a smile.       It's funny how those things that hurt, that make you cringe, that make you clench your teeth and your fists...those things have the greatest ability to just re-open themselves at the most inopportune times.       Just when you thought you had gotten over it, it spills out....once again. Actually, it's not that funny, I don't know why I said that.       But it will be better with some sleep. Which I think I am going to do now, because I'm not getting anything accomplished.

Top 10 Things About Today

1. the sun shining in our window this morning
2. air warm enough to wear only a thin sweater
3. the sun shining on my face
4. Zach G trying to convince me to come back to camp so we could hang out more
5. the sun shining on my back
6. getting a text from Sarah during my PT interview - "Go jenny go! I've been praying for you!" (actually, I got it afterwards:)
7. the breeze coming through my OPEN window
8. a good conversation with my mom
9. Becky stopping by my work, just to say hi
10. Melinda walking in the door and throwing a pint of ice cream at me!

Can you tell?  Today was a SUPER good day.  It's all about the little things!  Oh, and did you notice the sun was out for the first time in 2 weeks????!

people

-A late-teens boy, desperately trying to impress the girl sitting next to him
-A middle-aged man thrilled about how much better this day is than the day before
-A couple of teenaged guys discussing whether or not one had to have skills, or balls, or "skilled balls"
-And their ditzy girl tag-along who wondered if the sun shining through the clouds was the moon
-An outgoing professor from the University of Puget Sound
-A man in his 40's, stoked to have the week after New Years' off from work
-A thirteen-ish year old punk dressed up as McDonald french fries, literally
-An awkward group of overdressed people, uncomfortably not saying a word
-A girl in her young twenties, appalled at the prospect of the snow-covered lingerie tree
-A discontent, spandex clad ski-racer type
-A guy about my age, who introduced himself as being gay, and after a long discussion about how gay he was, almost shamefully took it all back - "No, I'm really not gay.  But he is..." (pointing to his friend)
-An adolescent girl, embarrassed by her friends' behavior, pretending to stare off absentmindedly

Oh, the people you'll meet when you ride the singles line at White Pass. It makes a day of skiing THAT much more enjoyable.