And so much for posting digests. The first week of the Boundless Summer Challenge was “Relationships Week.” Meaning, most of the challenges had to do with “significant others,” as if that kind of relationship constituted 9/10ths of the relationships in life. No comment on how unimpressed I was by this beginning. But I did it anyway (mostly). I won’t post the notes I wrote on Facebook here. Instead, a few links with a few thoughts: First/second challenge involved reading 38 pages of dating advice . Really. No, I don’t agree with some of what he said. The guy advocates a courtship model, essentially, and some of it comes across as if he’s saying “this is what the Bible says, no ifs, ands or buts” though he does say that good Christians disagree on interpretations. I think he’s legalistic, but he does make good points about where dating as commonly practiced tends to fail us. Third challenge was to memorize Romans 12:9-13: Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what ...

I sat down earlier to write a blog post, and nothing came to mind, so I decided not to (again). Then I did homework, contemplated how little time I have left here (less than 5 weeks till we board the plane), and watch a Simpsons movie on TV. And then I logged onto Facebook. And saw that one of my good friends just got engaged. She's younger than I am!!

So odd. Today, the third person in my group of students today revealed she didn't realize I had siblings. If she had thought about it, she may have realized it, since she had seen her when we met at the airport to leave the States, and I had said she was my sis. Once before, I was hanging out/prepping for a presentation with a couple other students in my group, and for some reason I mentioned my sister (or maybe my brother) and they, too, told me they had thought I was an only child. Now, we've been studying the differences between "warm" and "cold" cultures in one of our classes--one difference being the emphasis on relationships that warm cultures (like here in Central America) have, versus the emphasis on doing things or getting work done that cold cultures (like that of the United States) have. It occurred to me that this sort of thing would never have happened in a cold culture. I couldn't have been in a group of twelve students for six weeks withou...

I said goodbye to a good friend of mine today--a gal I know from my college. She worked not too far from where I live this summer, but between our crazy schedules I saw her only once this whole summer. So we had planned on hanging out for awhile today, before I leave the country and she goes back to our college. Unfortunately she ended up having more to do today than she thought--last week at her job (a camp) and all--so we only got to talk for a few minutes when she came to borrow a book. It was a quick goodbye. I said goodbye to my roommate last weekend, when I left her house late at night to return home. I won't get to see her, either, until after I return from studying abroad. That goodbye wasn't so quick, thank goodness. We plan to keep in touch over the internet while I'm gone, and for that capability I'm grateful. They're some of the few people I feel completely comfortable around.... I trust them that way. I don't want to lose their friendship. In...

I got to see my roomie this weekend!!! See, ever since she got to come and stay over at my house... last summer it was, I think, and one other time too--we've been trying to arrange so I can stay over at her house, and it finally worked out (after trying since this spring!). I got there Saturday afternoon and stayed until late Sunday night (got home just two minutes before midnight) and had a wonderful time. My roommate's pretty cool. She likes reading and word stuff, just like I do, but she's much more into the psychological aspect of EVERYTHING (she's a psych major, so it's to be expected) and likes to wonder about the mental stability of everyone around her. It amuses me to listen to her psychoanalyze everyone's actions and reactions. :P And now... I leave in two weeks, six days. Wow...

*yawn* I'm very tired. The only reason I'm still up and online is that my family isn't home quite yet. So, on to the news of the wedding! It was beautiful--the bride wore this lovely dress with some very nice beading. The groom was so funny. The two of them did a "sand ceremony" in place of lighting the unity candle; I liked that very much. At the reception we started with some desserts (little cookie things, mostly) as an appetizer... it was odd. But once the dinner was actually served (after the wedding party got there), it was quite delicious. The rolls were the best part... but I've observed that the rolls are generally the most appealing thing at a catered dinner, anyway. Not to say that the other food isn't great, of course; but the rolls are just--well, they're rolls. And rolls are wonderful. The best part was seeing my friend get married, of course; the next best part was seeing all my other friends that got to come see our friend get ...

I wanted to title this one "Observations upon the economy, engagement, and work environments" but that's just a little too long for my taste.... but observations they are, notwithstanding any title change, and here they follow. 1. My itty bitty town's largest employer announced today it will close in a year. This little town practically subsists upon the tax revenues from this particular business. And now... the town's already facing deficit issues, and this will only exacerbate the problems. Not to mention the twelve hundred or so who will soon be unemployed. Throw in a union and you have quite a little mess. 2. My pastor's daughter got engaged to her boyfriend of... three or four years! I knew it was coming, and probably this summer was my guess, but his asking her on the top of the Eiffel Tower at night was a perfectly lovely way to do it, in my opinion (and in probably everyone else's too!). (She was on a school trip in Europe, and he flew there f...

My roommate is now dating someone... a good guy, and her co-lead in the school musical. Also, one of my other girl-friends has just started dating her SI leader (the guy who leads a weekly study group for her history class). It's gotta be something in the air... like allergies. I'm immune, apparently.

Ah. The satisfaction of two things well done. #1: My roommate's father makes cubic puzzle toys that come apart into group of different shapes ( like this ). The one my roommate had here in our room took me about half a minute to solve--which impressed her--so she brought back another one her dad made. This second puzzle toy was harder, in that it could only be solved one way, whereas the first had several different solutions. I fiddled with it half of yesterday afternoon, off and on, to no avail. I took it to work with me, and after getting all my actual work done, I fiddled with it for fifteen minutes straight... and solved it! Then, my friends wanted to try it, so it came apart again. And I couldn't figure out how to solve it again, until I fiddled with it for about ten more minutes here in my room again and managed to put it all back together. A twice-solved puzzle. (Ever consider how little-used the z is in the English language? That's why pizazz and dazzle and...

Yesterday was absolutely gorgeous ( as I effused ), and today is nearly so, though there is no sun. So I went out with a couple friends and we meandered through the woods until we reached a stream. Then, the male part of the three of us proceeded to build a small but usable bridge over part of the stream, using rocks and fallen branches and abandoned concrete blocks. I would say that "we" built the bridge, but all that we girls did was supervise, stay out of the way of the splashing, and skip rocks. :-P It took probably half an hour for my friend to get a bridge that would hold up--in fact, after I crossed it, he had to add more concrete blocks because of some collapsing--but in the end, he was satisfied, and we safely returned to our respective destinations.

Me gusta mucho... escribir cartas a mi amigo, en español. (I love writing Spanish letters to my friend!) Last week an old friend of my family e-mailed me (as she's been in the habit of doing) and asked if I would correspond with her son, who's in Spanish II in high school. "Of course," I joyfully replied. Since then we have sent three or four e-mails back and forth (on each side) and his mother writes that he is enjoying the correspondence immensely. I, on my end, am also very pleased to have begun it. I get a lot of practice this way, you know, and I'm being extra careful so I don't mess his verb conjugations up (or his vocabulary, for that matter). It takes longer than I would like to write one of the e-mails, but not too long I don't think. And I'm getting a lot better as I get back into the habit of actually creating written works of Spanish instead of simply deciphering another's Spanish writing. In fact, I should be writing another one...

I did finish "War and Peace" before classes started.... but what can one say about such a long, classic, amazing book? The characters... I could understand all their emotions, so well that I felt like they had been my own at some point. That's how well Tolstoy wrote the characters. And it was fascinating to recognize a predestination-type worldview... over and over, in his essay portions, he said that one man was not the cause of a change in the course of history; one man could never be that cause. The millions of men that make decisions, and the millions more that carry out those decisions (or, just as often, ignore them completely) are, in Tolstoy's world, merely instruments of an inexorable path that history itself lays out, as if history were a being, moving men's hearts and beasts as it wills. Last night I and several friends participated in a campus version of "Family Feud." I never felt so ridiculous in my life, but it was great fun. This im...

And now for your sporadic update on the life of the ReaderSis! 1. I just went on midterm break last week... it was busy, but lovely. I love visiting my family. :-) I also love playing guitar for my church, so I did that over break too. (As part of the praise team... there are very few guitar players at church that will just look at the songs on Sunday and play them with minimal practice.) Those two things are probably what I miss most about being home. 2. I also got my hair cut over midterm break! And I love it! See, my hair has some natural curl... not too much, but just enough that I can sport a layered look and it actually looks good. I've gotten several compliments on my new haircut. And I don't have to do much with my hair in the morning. 'Swonderful. 3. I'm working on a paper now, about the bailout that Congress passed three weeks ago. It's fairly interesting. And as a result of some of my research, I'm now much more aware of the state of intern...

Friends of mine recently broke up, amicably I think. Apparently college romances come and go; and maybe that's the nature of it. But still. On the flip side: apparently a friend of mine did a very chivalrous act recently, and got himself in the young lady's mother's column . Read the whole story, but the gist of it is: ...No, what expired was the idea my 16-year-old daughter would have an escort to her Homecoming, a mere two days away. The date, let's call him Dudley, "Dud" for short, canceled, his excuse being something along the lines of, "My new girlfriend doesn't want me to go ... I am a spineless wimp ... sorry I didn't call earlier, like a month ago, and I am an idiot ... OK, bye." ....Thursday night our phone rang again. It wasn't Dud; it was Bobby. He asked if he might have the privilege of escorting my daughter to her Homecoming. Big points for Bobby, at least 100. Bobby showed up Saturday night, in a crisp gray suit. 50 point...

This is what happens when I and my roomie happen to hit the sack at the same time. God is playing a game with Moses.... "Knock knock!" "Who's there?" "I AM!"

To tell the truth... I forgot my laptop at home last weekend... therefore, I have had less access to the Internet than I would like, and have needed to use it on other things (such as homework). But I have it now! Friday night... or perhaps Saturday morning... I spent hours playing poker. Now, I'd never known the first thing about poker till Labor Day, on which date I played a few rounds to learn, at a friend's house. (At least now I know the rudiments of Texas Hold'em.) So after watching a movie on Friday, we all decided that we didn't want to watch yet another video, and broke out the poker chips instead. I had some nice multicolored piles by 1:30, when we had to leave the apartment for the night (visiting hours... such is life on a Christian college campus, you know). At one point the owner of the poker chips was sure I was bluffing--when I actually did have a pair of kings in my hand--and I pretty much took all his good chips and left him with some ones and ma...

My sister got "Enchanted" out from the library this week, but she watched it last night without me... and I wanted to see that again! (I've only seen it once.) So this morning I invited Bee over for a little me-and-her movie time, and we watched it. (She likes it very much.) The Prince Edward character is just annoying; the Queen gets the best lines (in proportion to her speaking role!); and I like... oh, what WAS the girl's name? You know, the star of the show! You'd think I'd be able to remember that. Giselle, that's it. I like her hair best when it's sorta curly, but not up in an '80's-style poofy 'do. I don't like her name at all. Evelyn would've fit better, I think. Bee and I love the big dance song in it, the one in the park with the steel drum band! :-)

Heh, it's been awhile apparently. But I did start my job!! Second shift isn't conducive to my internet presence though; seeing as we have dialup, I have to spend as little time as possible online during the peak calling hours, which leaves open only the hours during which I'm at work or sleeping. But that's what the library is for, right? :-P Quite a bit has happened... The car died. My poor little car. :-( Well, not mine really. Just the old family car that I got to tool around in. I started my job, as I mentioned. Not too bad. Easy. Keeps me on my feet, that's for sure! And I whistle or sing a lot while I'm working. Somebody actually noticed it last night and asked what I was singing. Got to see three of my best friends from college! And I'll get to see one of 'em again the weekend after this one. I don't know how I'll survive in the meantime. :-P Camp is coming up... so I'll be absent (again) for a few days. And I just found o...

My goodness, was April 30th really the last time I posted here?? Well plenty has happened in the first ten days of May. I had my last class day of the year; had not one, not two, but THREE days of choir concerts (well, two days were tours to area schools and the third day was the actual hour-long concert); attended two concerts in which I actually did not perform (one conglomerate band concert and one large choir concert); finished a video project of which I'm quite proud; and generally had plenty of time on my hands even after I'd done all the work I was supposed to do! I even got time to sing with friends again, hanging out after the band concert. We had four parts at one point, and we blended really well! Fortunately everyone reads music better than I do, so I can simply sing the soprano part that I know and the rest can do whatever they want with harmony. :-) We've had really good weather for awhile now too.... until about two days ago. It got dreary and drizzly, so...

You know, it's nice to be home after awhile. I get to keep my sister up telling her all sorts of stuff about college... mostly stories about the events and people there. I daresay most of the people at college have little idea how much I tell stories about them! But I believe I have told the principal characters , and I don't think they mind much. And of course the stories are purely for enjoyment; I don't think they reflect badly upon anyone. I also get to look around for summer jobs... am trying again to get involved with the local paper, and I signed up with a temp agency earlier this week. I liked the lady at the temp place--she was very nice and intrigued by my journalism/Spanish combination of interests. And lastly, I get to fool around on my mother's sewing machine (which actually functions, as opposed to my broken one) and refurbish pairs of hand-me-down jeans... pics coming soon. You won't believe what I've done. :-)