Life coming at me

OK, gonna try to get caught up now. Let's see, what came next?

Start of the semester

So when I came back to Tuscaloosa, I worked that Friday, then took a couple of days to get things in order before the start of the semester. I had to pick up some books and at least attempt to clean my room. I went to my first graduate class that Saturday, and I liked it. I didn't feel like a moron, which was what I was a little concerned about, so definitely a good first step for grad school.

Normal classes started that Wednesday, and I discovered that I had somehow gotten into a class that was designed for students writing their thesis this semester. And then I DID feel like a bit of a moron. I managed to get signed up for another EN class, thanks to a nice lady in the English department office and a nice professor who is going to let me take the class even though it overlaps times with another class.

Well, after that Wednesday, I did not have class again until the following Tuesday, so I just kind of chilled and worked for the rest of that week. I went to my other two classes Tuesday and enjoyed both. The first is my JN 536 class, The Teaching of Journalism. I think I'm one of 3 students in the whole class with a journalism background. I do know lots of people in the class, though; several people from last semester's classes are in there, as well as Justin, one of the guys in my CSE 563 class. I enjoyed talking about journalism stuff from a more educational standpoint. I have to put together a project proposal for that class this week. I'm planning to write a paper on first amendment and self-censorship issues in high school publications. I also went to my EN 510 Writing Professional Nonfiction class that night and got some reading assignments, which I read the same night because they were really interesting.

I really like only having class one night per week. It's nice.

Church

I'll keep this part kind of short. A situation that I had been really frustrated about seems to have been resolved, and I'm happy about it.

Work

We got the newsletter done, FINALLY! I got a nice pay raise this semester since I started grad school. The only bad thing is that I don't get paid until the end of the month, so I've been kind of having to scrape by this month. But it'll be nice when I get the paycheck in a few days.

Personal

Several things here.

First, I was a little sick for a couple of weeks, and Dr. McGee was afraid I had mono. He gave me a prescription for antibiotics, I slept and drank orange juice a LOT, and I'm feeling better now, so it was probably just some kind of infection.

I've been reading like crazy lately, and it's so nice. I finished a couple of Donald Miller books and started on The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning. I also finished up Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher (for my CSE 563 class) and am reading Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder. I got a whole bunch more books over Christmas, so I'm looking forward to doing lots more reading this semester.

Me and Jesus have been doing much better lately than last semester, and I am so glad. I'm still not as consistent as I would like, but I feel like things are getting better. I've been studying the Beatitudes and have gotten some pretty good insight to them, I think.

Atlanta road trip

OK, almost completely caught up!

This past weekend I went to Atlanta with Abe and Josh to visit Lauren. We drove up on Friday and went and saw Michael Warren play at a place called Andrews Upstairs in Buckhead. Our friend Daniel McAlister was playing with him, which was sort of how we ended up going. Afterwards we ate at a place called Loco's and got ripped off by a parking lot attendant. We finally made it to Lauren's around 2 a.m. after getting directions from a drunk guy - he was amazingly good with directions for someone who smelled like whiskey. We sat around and talked (and played with Puck!) for a couple of hours before going to bed.

Saturday morning we all got up around 9 and putzed around trying to figure out what to do for the day. We ended up meeting up with Renee at a place called Sweet Tomatoes for lunch. The restaurant was really interesting. It was an all-you-can-eat salad and soup bar. Really, really good food. After that, we all went over to Renee's apartment for a visit and met her mice. Then we went to Atlantic Station, which is an outdoor mall, for a while. We explored West Elm, which is like a high-end Pier 1, and pondered going to a movie. Lauren's friend Vino met up with us, and we decided not to go to a movie. We also went to Pier 1, Gap (where I bought a green long-sleeved T-shirt for $4) and Express (where Lauren bought $10 jeans, and I got a $4 necklace that's really pretty). We decided to go low-key Saturday night and got some take-out to eat at Lauren's while we watch The Incredibles, which Abe had never seen. We also played Phase 10 and made a late-night run to Wal-Mart for chocolate and ice cream.

Well, we went to bed around 2:30 Sunday morning, but none of us got much sleep because Puck was up all night barking. I felt really sorry for Josh and Abe, because they were in the same room as the dog. After being woken up several times, we all finally got up around 8:30. Lauren and Josh went to Starbucks and brought back muffins and coffee, which was really nice. I had an orange-cranberry muffin and a hot vanilla creme. We went to church at North Point, which is Andy Stanley's church, and I really loved it. He talked about missions, so of course that was right up my alley. We ate lunch at a place called J. Christopher's, which had yummy breakfast food.

We said bye to Lauren and Puck Sunday afternoon, and I drove most of the way back to Tuscaloosa. Josh and Abe were both super sleepy, so I just had a sing-along time with David Crowder for a while until they woke up. We stopped at Dunkin' Donuts in Douglasville, so I was pretty happy. I have a tradition of stopping at Dunkin' Donuts every time I go to Georgia because we don't have DDs in Alabama. I LOVE the strawberry frosted donuts. We made it back into town in time for Bible study.

Now

Hooray, I have officially caught up! Yesterday I worked out and had lunch with Chris and Dianne. The work-out was the first in months. I'm hoping to get back into the habit. I really want to get back in shape. It makes me sad to go in stores where I can only purchase accessories because none of the clothes will fit me (such as Express, The Limited, American Eagle). Don't get me wrong, I'm not hung up on my looks, but I do want to be in shape and healthy. So hopefully now I'm on my way. Last night I went to Bama Bean and had coffee and studied for a while before going home to work on cleaning up my room. Oh, and I ate my first Bratwurst because Josh and Rebecca were cooking them and offered me one. It was good.

I got my room partially clean and enjoyed listening to Matt Redman's session from Passion last year. It was good times. Today is work and class for me. Maybe a trip to the gym later tonight, or maybe I'll try to finish cleaning my room.

I'm not sure that I can sum up the past month in a short post, but I will try to hit the highlights.

Christmas break

Well, I worked the first part of Christmas break and headed to the parents' house on the 23rd. I got to spend a couple of days with my sister Kristy, her friend Beth who came with her, my parents and my sister Amy and her family. Kristy, Beth, my parents and I all played Cranium the night of the 23rd, and we had so much fun. I really enjoy the fact that I can actually do fun things with my parents now. I think this certainly attests to the fact that I really am growing up. It's strange to think that I am officially a college graduate now (even though I am still in college for at least the next couple of years - I do have a degree, though). Anyway, we had a blast playing Cranium that night, and I found out that my mom does a really impressive impersonation of Tina Turner.

My immediate family got together for Christmas on the 24th. That was fun, as always. I loved the fact that everyone got something for Beth so she wouldn't feel left out. Anyway, we ate a bunch of food, opened a bunch of presents, then all kind of sat around, half asleep.

I spent another week at home after this. My dad asked me to do some work for him - he started a gutter repair business, and he needed help with some computer stuff because he is basically computer illiterate. So that took up some time. I also had some time to read, which was fantastic. I read Donald Miller's Blue Like Jazz, which I had heard so much about. God really brought some things into perspective for me. It was a very good thing.

During this week, I also got to spend a lot of time with my mom. We went shopping several times, and she bought me some dishes for the house. I took her out to eat at O'Charley's for her birthday, and we also ate at Zaxby's in Troy one night. I talked to her into watching Finding Neverland with me, and I think she liked it.

The Campbell family also had its Christmas the day before I left town. I really enjoyed it, too. I got to hang out with my cousins, some of whom I had not seen in quite a while. It made me feel kind of old, because some of my baby cousins are starting college and other ones are getting gigantic.

No Comp Gatlinburg 2006

On January 1, I left home for Gatlinburg. I drove up to Atlanta and had lunch with Lauren Davidson, which was SO much fun! I got to see her apartment and meet her puppy Puck. We ate at a Vietnamese restaurant called What the Pho, and it was very good. The smells reminded me of India. We got ice cream afterwards at Brewster's and it was also really yummy.

I drove the rest of the way to Gatlinburg that night. I drove through the mountains and listened to David Crowder Band and marveled at how amazing God is. I had a few good stops in mountain towns and drove through a lot more really fun places. I love the mountains.

No Comp itself was fun and not too exhausting. I slept a lot and didn't get stressed out. Monk and Neagle played the first concert, and it was good, but Shawn McDonald was fantastic! He played our second show. Some of us hung out with him afterward, and I think he was the most random person I've met in a while. We all had a good conversation.



OK, I will update some more later, but now I'm kind of tired, so that's all for now.

Gummy Bears

You may be smooshie and taste unnatural, but you're so darn cute.