I may well be getting my first digital camera .

oh my! (You knew it was coming...) Visited campus Thursday and Friday for a big incoming-freshman bash. Went bowling, sat around in the cafe, enjoyed the beginning of a dorm party, ate a couple times in the cafeteria (different building from the cafe), went to chapel and three classes, wore out my shoes (figuratively) on a sort of scavenger hunt, and heard the president speak about one paragraph. (The college president.) And talked to a bunch of people at the various functions. 'Twas enjoyable enough. I met a few girls that I think I'll like - one who will definitely be in my dorm. The only other kid that I knew prior to this big bash found a roommate (but I didn't; I'll survive), who seemed nice enough. A lot of the girls struck me as.... oh, I don't know. And it wasn't that many; they just stood out. Chapel was fine; the most interesting person was the choir director, and for good reason! She was so into directing that her (relatively short) hair flop

Yesterday I headed up with the rest of my family to see my uncle. He's a photographer - has been for years, and took the pictures at my parents' wedding. (He wasn't even related yet!) Anyway, the reason: SENIOR PICTURES. So we spent an hour at an assisted-living community (no kidding) shooting me, in various positions, in various locations, at the little pond outside the complex. The ducks got in a couple of my photos, but I don't think I picked those. Of the six that I did pick, in one you can see the pond and the little stone bridge in the background - Mom says that is the "essence of me" picture, as I am also holding my fountain pen over a book in that. (It's supposed to look like I'm writing in a journal, but the book's actually my darling little copy of Pride & Prejudice .) And, another of my pics featured my wonderful little gold acorn hat. It's the one left-of-center in this pic, beside the pink rain hat: I really should get a pictur

Quoted from Heidi's blog : --Go to Google.com --Click on Maps. --Click on Get Directions. --From New York, New York --To Paris, France. --And read line # 23. Seriously..... or, not so seriously.... In other funnypapers, I dreamed up a one-question multiple-choice pop quiz for you last night! 1. The one and only question: what is a puncher? The choices: A. a remote control B. a device for synthesizing tropical fruit juice C. a hanging exercising bag D. a combination of B and C E. none of the above F. a sleeping bag G. not a sleeping bag H. a person hired by an underworld organization to rough up potential squealers or business associates I. a person not hired by an underworld organization, etc., etc., etc. J. a combination of B and H K. a combination of A, B, C, F, and I EDIT (5/1/2007) :::: I guess it is line 24. My wonderful sis pointed that out.... on the map directions, I mean. Line 23 just tells you to turn onto Long Wharf.

Ho-hum. I'm relaxing after about two-and-a-half hours at a sort of health fair at a local high school. I helped out at one booth - in fact, the booth with two (sometimes three) pairs of FATAL VISION goggles. You know, the ones you wear to find out what it feels like to be drunk. I got to lead one gaggle of kids for about two hours, one after another, in walking down a line and maneuvering around three cones. Worked pretty well, though it was really hot in that gym. (Oh yeah, I helped out because I am part of a 4-H group that does this every month.) Last night, however, was boring. Attended another monthly 4-H meeting for the county, spent two hours stuffing bags with literature for a mock crash, and paying little attention to the mindless babbling around me. It got old.............. I mean, imagine people playing with their cell phones and talking about the most trivial things! And not in an interesting manner. Sometimes trivial things are fascinating, but not this time.

Go read the other post first (the one from today, I mean). It's not that long, really! It just looks long because of the font I use. Anyway, in case you desire to follow the saga of the autographs in the future, you may go find the "autographs" label down on the side under "Nooks in the secretary as recorded by the amanuensis". I just found all the posts and added that label to 'em. Did the same thing with "links", actually. And if you're wondering what an "amanuensis" is, either look it up or don't. If you look it up, you can sound really smart in front of your fellow 4-H'ers (and crack me up in the process, as my sister did). If you don't, you may encounter a joke some day playing on the general ignorance of the meaning of that word. (Something about a pastor and his church-secretary wife going on a cruise, and him telling everybody he was travelling with his "amanuensis", and him getting envious lo

Item #1 in today's dispatch: my cousin sent out a news release to the family - about his first date at college. (In his particular family, there's a running joke that all the aunts have banded together to marry off the nieces and nephews; this release was named a "CALL Report" after the name of the band, CALL, which was derived from the first initials of the four aunts. Fortunately these are only his aunts, not mine, since they are really serious!) (Okay, long parenthetical...) Apparently he took a friend of his out to a banquet, where he won some awards. However, I don't know if it really counts as a date: "It was mutually understood that (my cousin and the girl) went together just for an enjoyable evening because of unfortunate religious incompatibility." So is it or is it not a date? Does it just count as a fun outing? Item #2: no, not the Reagan from the RI. This Reagan is an adopted son of the late President, who also hosts a radio show and

Oh yes, and I read Psalm 86 two days ago. Thought I'd tell y'all that it's my favorite psalm, even above Psalm 1 and Psalm 23 and all the other ones that I like. Well, it is so far. You can look it up if you want to. I think http://www.biblegateway.com is the address of the website that I frequently use.

And I happen to be feeling much better, thank you. :-) About four days ago, my sister got a rather large envelope in the mail... with a frank on it. She received a personalized, signed photograph of our U.S. representative. And two days after that, she received another oddly-sized envelope, this one containing a photograph of Johnny Depp. You can't read the letters in his signature, of course. And I am getting a full scholarship to *insert college name here*! For about four days, I thought I wasn't... and my attendance there was in jeopardy. (My award letter said I was getting just $7,900 a year instead of the thousands more that tuition is. It makes a huge difference with my family, as you may guess.) Now, I had been told in January that I was getting a full scholarship, so I fired off an e-mail to my wonderful admissions counselor (who just happens to share my first name), and got a reply on Tuesday. My letter was wrong... I am getting the full scholarship, and she doesn'

Seriously.... never heard the guy, but apparently a bunch of walking communters in Washington got a free few-minute concert for the taking from Joshua Bell, violinist. (Long article, but very very interesting.) JC from the RI put me onto this. Hmm.... Are we too busy to listen to a bit of violin on our way to work??

I don't feel like doing anything. Unfortunate. Because I know I had several things I was going to blog, and they've all just escaped me simultaneously. You know what I mean? Oh, they're coming back.... we got snow today. AND LOTS OF IT!! What in the world is God up to, I wonder? So, our dining room is filled with... one large vase (the kind that you get with those huge bouquets), two bud vases, and three champagne glasses filled to the max with daffydowndillies (aka daffodils to the uninitiate). I scrambled to pick 'em all last night, between Mom getting home from her 1st job and having supper before we ran to church for Wednesday night services. The poor things were freezing (obviously), but they were still blooming this morning, so I think we've saved 'em for now. Sorry, no digital camera = no instant pictures, or I would show you the profusion of daffydowndillies that has overrun the flat surfaces of the room. So much for spring. But I have faith.

...the goose is getting fat... oh wait, wrong song. I had a whole post typed up last night, but of course, the computer decided to lock up on me. I just had enough time to disconnect from the Internet before I got the "blue screen of death" and had to shut down manually . I cannot wait to get my own laptop. So, I've been a bit sick. Laid down all yesterday morning because I had a slight fever, and boy, does a fever really sap the strength from me! Only a hundred point somethingorother, and I was too tired to do ANYTHING. Consequently I actually had a day of "spring break"! Also, I played touch football for the first time last Friday, and my legs were sore for a few days after that... I got a couple dresses that Friday, too! One for $3, and one for $5.40! (Well, Mom bought the second one. That's going to be my Easter dress.) I love closing sales. At those prices, they even beat Goodwill - sometimes a hard feat to accomplish. I wore the first dress