Right, so... when I looked to see about updating my blog I realized that I haven't blogged since Thanksgiving break! To make up for this appalling lack of random information about my life (reading about which I'm sure is one of the highlights of your day ;) ) I've decided to throw in extra length and fill you all in on everything that has happened up 'till now. (You see what I've done here? I've not committed myself to doing anything more than what anyone expected me to do with a blog which had fallen behind, but because I've told you it's a special post, your minds all suddenly think I'm such a wonderful, generous person. Telling you the reasoning behind it won't dispel it either, just watch.) To add to this formula for chaos, I'm forcing myself to finish the whole post before I go to sleep. Thus, as time goes on (depending on how loudly my muse talks) this whole thing might get quite amusing before it's done. Okay...without further ado: let the data dump begin!
Lets' see, after returning from Thanksgiving break, I returned to studying with the added pressure of finals approaching. However, for the first time in the semester I was without real serious work to do on a play, and thus had evenings available. On the other hand, I could no longer use "I have rehearsal" as the be-all end-all of all excuses, and therefore I had to develop a social life. I think I was more or less successful, because as the halls decorated for Christmas, I managed to discover the group decorating third lobby, and inserted myself, thereby becoming the only Brethrenite to make paper snowflakes. How shockingly masculine of me. In all seriousness it was great fun and third lobby looked very Christmassy.
I think I ended the last post by commenting on how clean our room was. Yeah.... after a week or so... well, Brandon's laundry exploded. Quite literally. The whole front entrance to the room was covered in laundry. Lyss Gorman gave the the fantastic idea to box it up and hide on as many halls as possible. Practically giddy with excitement at playing an actual prank (I don't get to do it very often, having been homeschooled with a sister who has a nasty habit of walking in on the "set up phase" of any prank I intend to pull) I did exactly that. However, my curse returned, and Brandon walked in right after I had finished putting his laundry in boxes.
Brandon: "Umm...why did ya'll put my laundry in these boxes?"
Me: "Umm...It's a secret"
Brandon: "What kind of secret?"
Me: "The kind that ends with your laundry on several different halls."
Brandon: "Oh. That would have been dissapointing."
He then proceeded to grab his coat and go to see Zombieland.
Well, the laundry WAS already boxed up, and Brandon wouldn't be expecting us to do it... so I looked at Isaiah, shrugged, and said "What the heck?" We then proceeded to hide them anyway. 1 went to Caledon, one to Jungle, one to the phone booth in Third Lobby, and one to Catacombs. It was quite amusing. As a testament to just how much laundry Brandon has... he didn't notice that he'd missed one of the boxes when he retreived them. A week later Catacombs forgot where they came from and started giving them away. Neil came in sporting a new striped shirt, and Brandon looking stunned, asked
"How did you get my shirt?"
Neil: "Yours? I got this from Catacombs."
Brandon: "FUDGE!!"
He then ran out of the room.
Laundry capers aside, the last few weeks of the semester were a lot of fun. We had the cast party for Man Born to be King, which Katie did attend, and we all saluted her and called her a good sport (which she was). Once most of the partygoers had to return for tests or study sessions, those of us left settled on watching a movie, suggested by Mitch. It was called "Time Bandits" and it was the sort of movie my sister would have really liked. Nonsensical, crazy, but somehow funny. The most basic plot summary I can give is that a British boy is kidnapped by a band of midgets who are planning to steal the wealth of all the world by the use of a map of time which they stole from God. Meanwhile Satan, from inside a castle builty of LEGO bricks, plots to escape and take over the world "with an understanding of digital watches." Unsurprisingly, it was written by Terry Gilliam.
We also had a party with Caledon and the Olivers down in the RD appartment, where we watched "Joyeux Noel". Unfortunately it conflicted with Movie Night at Professor Hallstrom's. I was sad to miss it, but I still had a blast with the gang down in the Oliver's apartment. Speaking of Brethren-Caledon events, Me, Mike Turner, Bowser, and Graham "Donut" Svenson (as Brandon Flynn calls him) joined basically all of Caledon in celebrating Michelle Vrogindewey's birthday by going to see the Christmas lights at Rock City. My camera was actually charged and ready to go (which in my case is rather odd) so I brought it along and put the pics on FB...including one of me pretending to kiss Audrey Brown under some mistletoe we didn't know was there until right before people started taking pictures. This unfortunate photo has been described as "me as the missing link","me after having been punched in the gut", and "proof I've never had a girlfriend." I regret posting it now, but oh well. Too late now.
Finals week arrived, and with it the knowledge that after finishing them, I could go home! I made it through Arabic on Monday, and had a great conversation with the fantastiv Prof. Haddad afterward. Tuesday Old Testament was far better than I expected, while Wednesday's PE essay was pretty straightforward. Thurday's accounting test went okay, but was the only one of my finals I didn't feel fantastic about when I left the room. All in all, not a bad finals week.
Friday saw me bound for the airport at 7:00 A.M. with Brandon Gross, Brandon Flynn, and Katherine Jarret. However, the sheer volume of luggage, while cleverly packed, meant that I spent most of the ride to the airport getting to know Brandon Flynn's guitar very well, and only saw the right most half of our trip, as the rest of my face was obscured by the aformentioned guitar. I was very glad to get a ride though, especially as finding the airport was a bit of an adventure. Eventually, we involved a gas station manager (whom I couldn't see) and pulled into the aiport.
Not like I was particularly in a rush though. I had eight hours to kill in the gate before my flight left. I read the entirety of Orson Scott Card's "Speaker for the Dead" (fantastic by the way) then was forced to listen to two hours of "Days of Our Lives", since the airport gate only had one channel showing on the tv's, and there was a tv wherever I went to try to escape. Eventually I simply decided to try to figure out how that show has lasted so long. I still don't see what all the fuss is about. It was obvious to me from the beginning that Stefano didn't kidnap the Brady baby and that forcing him to take truth serum would only prolong the time that Julia had to get away with the child. Meanwhile Terry's attempts to make up with her husband were an obvious attempt to spite Susan, whom she suspected of some vaguely unspecified marital infringement. Quite silly really. It finally ended, and I got a sandwich and hoped for better television. Deal or No Deal came on next and for a brief moment I thought this could be an interesting hour or so. Alas, this was a more recent episode, and the personality disorders among the contestants were so flagrant that it was embarassing to watch. Are there no people on that show that know when they're sharing too much information? After this, daytime TV disappointed me once again by subjecting me to the Dr. Oz show. I do NOT need to know that much about feminine baldness, UT infections, and how to avoid sun damage to my stomach region.
After my plane arrived, I got to spend an hour relaxing and enjoying the silence, which only 6 straight hours of actually paying attention to daytime television could make me do on a plane. On a lighter note, I got to point out interesting landmarks and things out the window for a woman who had never flown before, and was very excited to see the Washington monument from up high, and to be able to warn her family about traffic without having consulted the news first. My plane landed in D.C. three hours before the biggest snowstorm in 119 years (or more, that's just when we started counting things like that) struck. We had about 18 inches of snow, plus some icy accumulation. That might not seem like much (or it might sound like the end is nigh, depening on your position relative to the Mason-Dixon line) however, our county was not prepared to handle such snowfall, and the roads became rather impassable. Our dog, however, could have used his tail as a propeller he was so happy.
My sister took the opportunity of having me snowed in to introduce me to her new favorite show. It's a british car show called Top Gear. At first I was skeptical. Then I watched an episode where the three hosts: Richard, Jeremy, and James, are tasked with purchasing vehicles and driving from the south end of Vietnam to the north end in as little time as possible. Just to give you a taste of the utter hilarity that was this show, I present to you what you might hear if you tuned in half way through.
Jeremy: "In case you are just joining us, Richard and I have driven into this cave on a pair of boats which we build from the motocycles we've driven the length of Vietnam in. We're searching for a bar which is quite obviously not here, and we've just realized that we have no reverse gear." They also were forced to keep their original motorcycles running thoughout the whole trek, or face having to ride a motorcycle painted with the stars and stripes and blaring Bruce Springstein's "Born in the U.S.A." through Vietnam. The bikes miraculously stayed in near-perfect condition, give or take half the engine or so.
At my urging, my family went to see "The Screwtape Letters" in D.C., while I stayed home and watched the dog. Friends and deluded Bryan attendees Christina Morgan and Marianne Sterne were apparently also there, and somewhere along the line of conversation my sister mentioned Brethren's newest pastime: plunger catching. Isaiah got a brand-new plunger as a gift from his secret santa, and somewhere along the line we had the idea to stick it to the ceiling. We then started trying to time it so that we could catch it when it fell. Since it was anyone's guess as to when it would fall, we could be standing in the ready position for five seconds or five minutes, all the while staring at a plunger stuck to the ceiling. Apparenlty Christina said something to the effect of "Tell that idiot that the next time he's so bored he decides to stick a plunger to the ceiling that he should just call me!" I am thoroughly chastised.
Thus arrived the first white Christmas I can remember having. For another first, I actually sympathized with my parents about having to get up at 6:30 to appease my excited sister. After a few minutes I was alert enough to meander downstairs and open gifts with my family. My sister got me a "college survival kit" complete with gloves, a snickers bar, meds, cereal, and some popcorn. My parents gave both me and my sister several Wii games (including Mario Kart!) as well as the entire "Ender" series and the whole "Bean" series by Orson Scott Card. I am very happy. We spent most of the afternoon however, playing "Band Hero", which I got from my Grandmother and which is basically Rock Band with better quality instruments and less grunge. My sister made sure we played "Mr. Roboto", "Whip It", and a song by David Bowie. I, on the other hand, stuck with songs like "American Pie", "When I'm Gone", and "Pretty Woman".
I got to see a lot of old friends, including the Bernitts, with whom I spent a combined total of about five days I think, at either my house or thiers. Last night we had a game night for old NCFCA alumni, which was a blast. We played a game I learned at the Chalk Circle cast party (I think I've mentioned it here. It involved a lot of odd question-answer combinations). Highlights included:
Q: What would you do if your car started flying instead of driving?
A: I would have to adjust.
Q: What would you do if Sandra Bullock walked in the door and asked to talk to you?
A: I would turn to the dark side.
We then played Catch Phrase (at Christina's insistence :) ) and Apples to Apples. Overall, we had a great time, and I promised not to stick any more plungers to ceilings. I also got to give Marianne and Christina the presents I'd meant to give them a long time ago, when they first arrived at Bryan college. They were T-Shirts which bore the Bryan logo on both the front, and in a slightly larger version on the back. At first they were thrilled, until they realized that under the words "Bryan College" on the back, my mom had helped add "because not everyone can go to Covenant". ZING!!!
I figure I'll jump on the end-of-the-year bandwagon and offer a thought or two about 2009. Since I spent a third of it in high school, a third unemployed, and a third a college, I figure I've had an experiencial year. I'm thankful to God for all of my new friends, and I'm glad he's allowed me to keep in touch with old friends. I'm hopeful for next year, and I look forward to the new things he's got in store for me. (whether or not that's wise, I'll find out in the coming year.)
I think that about brings us up to now, hopefully I've atoned for my neglect of this blog over the past month. I can finally go to bed! Good night all, and have a great new years.
