Winning at Life

Some fun/goofy examples of how I'm winning at life that will simultaneously update you on my life.  :)

1. Wearing shorts under pants so that, while in the middle of an intense game of ping pong with Klevi, you can take your pants off.
2. Struggling with a draft of a paper, playing The Wall by Pink Floyd, and suddenly having a completed draft.
3. Wearing four pairs of shoes in one day: boots, brown loafers, green converse, and tennis shoes.
4. Giving my first tour of the semester!
5. Writing a soc paper about worship team
6. Worship team in general.  :)
7. Not napping today.

Failing at life:

1. Not napping today.  Or sleeping much at night.  Oh wait, that's not failing, that's just Grinnell.  Bring it hell week.  :)

Some Small Things

1.  I'm twenty-one.  Whooo!  Shot of rum + jaegerbomb + college hoops = my first experience at a bar.
2. I celebrated my birthday by spending all day doing nothing.  It was glorious.
3.  The women's tennis team and everyone else at the La Cabana restaurant sang happy birthday to me.
4. I'm pretty sure I'm an honorary math major.
5. A couple math major friends asked if I could solve a problem for them.  I said it was 42.  Appreciative chuckles followed.
6. While they struggle and I laugh at them, I'm writing this blog and also reading about the emergence of the American family.  Win.
7. I have read about variables, qualitative data, quantitative data, and experiments WAAAAY too many times in the last 3.5 weeks.
8. It is 8 days to Lent.  I'm torn between beginning to fight my candy addiction now or ravenously shoving my remaining candy down my throat.
9. I'm not a fan of the patriarchy.
10. Sleeping 12+ hours and drinking "energy tea" leaves me hyper.

I hear you have a birthday . . .

The birthday celebrations began tonight with a SURPRISE.  I walked to worship after a lovely dinner with worship team, only to be greeted by balloons and a neon-green poster wishing me a happy birthday! 

In the three seconds it took me to process the situation, my thoughts went something like this:

Whoa, the piano is unlocked!  They unlocked it ahead of . . . Tayler’s blowing up balloons!  Yay decorations . . . ohmygosh it’s for me!  Ahhhhhh!

Worship went really incredibly, and they closed it by surprising me with Happy Birthday and then everyone prayed over me, which was really nice.  Then I went around the circle giving lots of hugs, and then (because there’s more) Abby baked brownies to share!  So delicious. 

After worship concluded I headed to the stats lab (still there actually) to do the rest of my homework, and I really loved walking through Noyce with a neon green poster and three balloons.  J

May the celebrations begin.  Oh, and did I mention I’m done with school at 10 tomorrow?  And that I don’t have much homework over the weekend?  Let the celebrations partayyyy begin! ;)

Les Mis!

Over break my mom took me to one of the greatest things ever – the off-Broadway production of Les Mis.  It was such a beautiful, breathtaking performance that, thinking back on it now, it takes my breath away.  I’m in awe of so many amazing voices, and it’s remarkable how many emotions come through the music and the body posture.   I cried for pretty much the last forty five minutes. I don't think I will ever forget such a powerful performance - so thank you Mom!

It kind of makes me want to take up violin or something again so I can play in an orchestra.  There are so many awesome songs to be played!  And then I could hear those beautiful voices all of the time.

Each time I listen to the soundtrack (did I just find it online?  Maybe.  Complete with videos?  Possibly.  Is this good?  Probably not) a new song affects me or touches me in a different way. 

You should listen to:

I Dreamed a Dream (just get past the actress talking!) or this version is pretty great too!

Master of the House

Bring Him Home

Funny story . . .

Today in my seminar class* everyone showed up by 2:15, the time it starts . . . except for my professor.  After about two minutes, someone said, "Sue Ferguson is never late."  We all agreed.  Someone shared that the only time she was late was when a giant blizzard prevented her from coming to school.

Our fears were soon stilled when a woman poked her head in the classroom.  "Um . . . Professor Ferguson is stuck in the elevator.  She said to start the discussion of Stack."

We burst into laughter and proceeded to not talk about All Our Kin, the ethnography by Stack we completed for class today.  Stuck in the elevator?  Really?!?

Also, little big moment:

I made it through the entire two-hour class without picking out a split end.  Yay me.

* My sociology seminar is about the Family.  It's great.  The readings are so interesting.  It's by far my favorite class - I think it's rather interesting that my favorite classes are usually the most challenging ones . . .

Basketball

Today I watched a bit of the women’s basketball game, since the gym is conveniently located across from my final destination, the weight/cardio room.  I saw a bad free throw attempt, a weak block-out while on defense, and a little pushing and shoving and I thought, “Huh, I could make the team.  And I miss basketball . . .” 

In the process of reaching for my phone to text Dad, to inform him of this revelation, the Grinnell center collapsed to the ground and proceeded to writhe in pain from the terrible ankle sprain she had just sustained.  

And thus concluded my dreams of basketball.

Big little moments in my life

You may wonder what that means.  It means that it’s okay for me to celebrate the little things I do that have a positive impact on me, in some way, shape, or form.  They may seem small to others, but for me they’re progress, and I think it will help me to share them.  J

      

1.       I saw my food (packaged food, no worries) container was a bit dirty in the bottom.  So I immediately went to the bathroom and washed it.

      2.       I only ate two things of sweet-hearts.  And no caffeine after dinner.

In other news, here’s my schedule. 

	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
8:00		Stats	Stats	Stats		Stats
9:00		Soc 248		Soc 248		Soc 248
10:00	Church?				Captain’s
11:00					Practice
12:00			Tour
1:00		Methods		Methods		Methods
2:00			Seminar		Seminar
3:00	Rehearsal		Seminar		Seminar
4:00
5:00		Zumba		Zumba
6:00					Dinner
7:00					Prep
8:00					WORSHIP!
9:00				Bible Study
10:00