As of this past friday night, I am now a resident in Arlington, MA. At least for the summer anyway. I have a nice little cozy spot in the basement of Julie's house. I have my own little tv and dresser and bookcase and beside table, its all quite peachy. My only complaint is that it gets pretty cold at night and in the morning. Julie's parents haven't been here since I got here, so we'll see how things go when they get back on tuesday. I'm sure it'll be fine.

This morning I went to Trinity Church for service. I'm so proud of myself! I left the house at 10 past 8 to start making my way to Copley Sq. If you know me well enough, you know that I am not a morning person, but it was worth it. Trinity is so gorgeous... and they're almost done with taking down all of the scaffolding in and around the church. I can't wait till it's all down, it'll be gorgeous. I also got to say hi to Mike (Dangelo), which was fun, he's such a great guy. I must admit that I was surprised by how high church the service was. It was so easy for me to fall into the rhythm of the service, being raised Roman Catholic and all. It was really nice though, I thoroughly enjoyed the service.

My classes start either this upcomming tuesday or next monday. To review, I had a lot of problems registering for classes at UMB, and by the time I tried registering for the third time, both the lecture and all of the labs were full. Option number two: Northeastern. I registered for the class, but apparently that was just an application. There wasn't even a section to submit payment. They said I would get something shortly in the mail, but I still ahven't recieved anything. I tried to call them, but every time there was no answer and the person's mailbox was full. So I'm pretty much in the dark. I've decided that I'm going to crash the UMB A&P class in hopes that someone will drop it and I can get in. The lecture is really no problem, but I'm really worried about the lab. The lab that I wanted to be in also starts on tuesday, so that could be a problem. Wish me luck with that.

It's time to go and be more prodcutive, so here's a little something to leave you occupied... Merriam-Webster has published a list of favorite non-words, here are the top ten:

1. ginormous (adj): bigger than gigantic and bigger than enormous
2. confuzzled (adj): confused and puzzled at the same time
3. woot (interj): an exclamation of joy or excitement
4. chillax (v): chill out/relax, hang out with friends
5. cognitive displaysia (n): the feeling you have before you even leave the house that you are going to forget something and not remember it until you're on the highway
6. gription (n): the purchase gained by friction: "My car needs new tires because the old ones have lost their gription."
7. phonecrastinate (v): to put off answering the phone until caller ID displays the incoming name and number
8. slickery (adj): having a surface that is wet and icy
9. snirt (n): snow that is dirty, often seen by the side of roads and parking lots that have been plowed
10. lingweenie (n): a person incapable of producing neologisms
link

If you're as big of a geek as I am, you will probably appreciate this website that shows you how to mess around with Amazon.com images. Enjoy!

I was all set to spend the night bumming around my house watching tv and whatnot, when my sister calls me. It turned out that she and Paul rushed for tickets tonight for both Wicked and Spelling Bee, and actually won tickets to both, so she gave me the tickets to Wicked.

So after rushing in to NYC to make it to the show on time (the show started at 8pm and my sister told me at 6:40pm), Emma and I got to the theater with 15 minutes to spare. In normal rush style, our seats were great. Second row, all the way to the right. There really wasn't anything to obstruct our vision, except for the occasional actor/actress, so no complaints from me.

The show was absolutely great though! It stunk that Idina Menzel wasn't there anymore, but I thought that the cast did a really great job. Fiyero's voice was a little too poppy, but his main role was to look pretty, and he did a good job of that. The Galinda/Glinda, whatever, was really funny, and we even saw an understudy. The set, costumes, and coreography were all really good too. Not to mention the story that was so great and really creative. I want to read more of this author's works now. The spin that he put on the original story was really imaginative.

Man, I love Broadway.

For the third time this year, I took a trek down to Philly to volunteer at the St. Francis Inn. Man, I really love that place... the people, the atmosphere, everything! I served at the 4:30pm meal there today, and then after cleaning up, I went to the normal 6:30 service that they have. Instead of the usual prayer time, it was actually a mass, which was really nice. Father --- (I can't remember his name) gave a really good homily about how if you live through Jesus everyday, then no day is "ordinary." (Today was the first day of ordinary time, hence where the sermon came from.) There was no hanging out afterwards with the FVMs, because the team dinner was tonight. That was a little sad, but I still had a great time.

So here's a little update on the wonderful FVMs. Matt's going back to college next fall to finish up his last two years; journalism if I remember correctly. Tim is going to be moving to Haiti for two years to work at a school for deprived children. LJ (who was actually there today, gasp) got accepted to the Washington Theological seminary, and will be on his way to becoming a lay minister. And Dan... still doesn't know what he's doing. But that's okay. Making decisions is overrated. Anyway, their year at SFI is up on July 22nd, so I'm going to try to get back down to Philly one last time before that.

Everyone else at the Inn is the same, for better and for worse probably. All of the brothers and sisters are great. Haha, I don't think Fr. Bill remembered ever meeting me before, he's getting old. I saw Carlos, who recognized me, but forgot my name, as always. I still can't completely figure out what his situation is, but it's probably not my place to know. I served a few families today, and the kids were all so cute. I was joking with this one girl who was probably 11 or so about how all of the FVMs are weird. :) It was good times.

So... will I be working at the Inn after I graduate? Who knows for sure. That's two years away after all... but it's quite tempting...

reasons I like being home

• Rice! ...and other good food, but mostly rice
  
• showering without flip-flops
• taking over starbucks with the crowd
• sleeping in my own room
• walking around the house in a tee-shirt and underwear
  
• free laundry
• going to diners at 2 o'clock in the morning
• driving around without worrying about getting lost
• running into people from high school (usually something I like, but not always)
• being doted on by mom and dad, and occasionally kat
• catching up on gossip
• listening to Star 99.1
  
• remembering that even though I haven't seen or talked to most of these people in months, we can pick up right where we left off

Yay for Teaneck, and yay for New Jersey :)

Last night I dreamt that I was in some foreign country and it was Christmas eve. I was with John and some other people at this random church. (Lizzie and Dennis were originally with us also, but at this point were somewhere else.) We weren't inside, but just chilling out in a jeep by the entrance of the church. I don't know why we didn't go in. And all I wanted was to get to Holy Trinity Church for service. I climbed up on the top of the car to see if I could see the church, and I couldn't, so I went inside this random church. I sat for a while, and they were really nice and stuff. But all I wanted was to get to Holy Trinity, and started to cry. The people sitting by me noticed that I was unhappy, and when they found out that I wanted to get to Holy Trinity, they just stood up and made an announcement asking if anyone knew the way, and then everyone offered directions... and then I woke up. Strange dream.

PSF: a year in review
Yesterday PSF had its annual year-end-BBQ and last service of the year. sniffsniff. oh those are just my allergies... :) It was a bit sad though, I'm really going to miss the seniors and Laurie. At least a few of them will be around next year, and I've already decided that I'm going to fly some of them back for the retreats next year. So lets think back to september... :dooDOOdooDOOdooDOOdooDOO:

The fall semester definitely had it's up and down times. Chris came to be our new chaplin, and he was amazing. Great sermons that totally related well to the college scene. Unfortunately, good things didn't last that long and he had to leave us in December. :( That was sad.

After dealing with my fledgling guitar playing for a while, John, aka Tex, came and has been totally rocking ever since. He's definitely not Andy, but John is so great in his own way. He's young, and energetic and so pumped about God, he brings such a great energy to service. Oh, and he also gives us lessons, which are so much fun. His goal is to eventually have us be self-sufficient. Maybe if I just suck on purpose, he won't leave...

I don't think I can really sum up everything that went on this year, some things are probably better off staying in my memories. This year was really great though. I'm not saying that we didn't have any drama and that there weren't some rough spots, but over all, I really love PSF, and I really love the people. I leadership for next year is absolutely wonderful, even though we won't be too productive at meetings :) but that's a-okay. Another great year with PSF!

Reasons why I dislike Medford P.D.
~ They ticketed my car because I violated the "alternate side of the street" parking rule, a rule for which they have no signs about ANYWHERE on the street
~ They towed my car because apparently there was street cleaning this past wednesday night, and my car was parked on the street. They actually improved and put up signs, but when did they put up the signs? Wednesday morning. Big help that is.

case in point: So we're trying to created this good relationship between Tufts Students and the city of Medford, because we are essentially residents of Medford/Somerville during our four years at tufts. The least they could do is inform us about things. We have free programs for the kids that live in your town, not to mention all the community service projects that we run. You think the least you could do is give us better notice about street cleaning.

I know I'm a fool for complaining about something as insignificant as parking tickets (even though this will probably cost me upwards of 150), but dammit, it feels good to complain sometimes.

Update: So I went with Matt to pick up his car, and the tow-guy said that Tufts was the one who wanted the streets cleaned, and apparently they announced it by announcing on loudspeakers right before they towed. Right. Since people actually live on Boston ave where the cars are parked. ::scowl::

But in efforts to end on a good note, I went to AND with Emily tonight and I love Trinity Church. I'm really excited about going there for service this summer... :)

Countdown Spring '05

Finished
~ ASL final exam (I think it went well, but I'm beyond the point of caring.)
~ ASL final expressive (ditto.)
~ IO Psych final (Felt good, Hal is a pretty lenient grader anyway)

Still to come
~ Theory final (fri)
~ Theory composition (fri)
~ Stats final (mon)
~ EN 2 final (wed)
~ EN 2 project (wed)

arrival date in T-neck: Friday the 13th!!!

It's hard to have your mistakes and wrong-doings pointed out to you. Especially when you're not exactly sure why you reacted the way you did, or even when particular events happened. Hopefully they are something to grow from. Unfortunately, I seem to be stuck in a rut in one particular area of my life. Is it something that I need to change about myself? Or maybe I just need to be more accepting and patient of certain things that people do, or don't do. Just one more thing to add to my list of things to work on this summer.

This summer shall be interesting though. June will be super busy with classes (I'm definitely going to UMB) and my new job, and FOCUS... Ah, my new job, I haven't really talked about it yet. So it has been decided that I am going to work for Cater Boston this summer with Julie this summer. I've been wanting to try out the food industry for a while, and this seemed like a good way to get started, since it is really hard to break into the industry. It sounds like it could be fun, and I get $11 an hour. Definitely not complaining about that. I'm still not sure if I'll be working at the Music Library at all, but that'll be more moolah, which is never bad.

In addition to the things mentioned above, I also want to sing with this Harvard summer community choir, and take voice lessons, and guitar lessons, and go climbing... the list really goes on. As I said, it's going to be an intersting summer.