So it's been a while since I've composed a blog post on a topic pertaining to writing, and as this was originally intended to be a writing-focused blog, I figured I should remedy this. So I am here to discuss with you a topic that is currently very near and dear to my heart:
Word Vomit.
I swear, this has more to do with writing than my stomach flu a month ago.
One of the biggest points of NaNoWriMo (the challenge that I take part in every November because it appears that I just so enjoy the sensation of failure in epic proportions) is to get people to actually step out and write something that they want to write instead of waiting for some magical moment of inspiration that may never come. If you have a story in your head, sometimes you just gotta take a leap of faith and write the darn thing! Critics say that NaNoWriMo is a negative influence on writers, encouraging lousy planning and poor writing, putting the focus on quantity rather than quality and taking blows at the respect for our art.
And it's true, sometimes my NaNo work is all for the word count, a lot of it becomes more free-flow writing than plot and character development, and just pushing the cursor forward becomes what my sister-in-law and I dubbed in November 2011 as "Word Vomit."
But now that I have shamelessly declared my half of a NaNo Novel as "Rubbish" and banished it to the deepest recesses of my hard drive to be read when I want a good laugh, I have turned to my Paper and Ink Child and, with great anticipation, am closing in on the completion of a First Draft.
And here and there, I am encountering "Word Vomit."
When a series of life circumstances thrust me into the dark abyss of Writer's Block at the end of 2010, I pulled out of it by committing to write at least 500 words a day of something besides journaling. Some of these chunks are actually still in my Paper and Ink Child. They got the story moving again, and without them, this poor baby of mine would surely have died, and the coroner would have written the cause of death: "Failure to Thrive."
I have a prewrite for my novel (a list of scenes that probably makes little sense to anyone besides me) that I've been holding to, and most recently I have found that my instances of "word vomit" occur when I've left my novel to occupy itself for several days to a couple of weeks. I miss it, start dreaming of scenes to come, and finally spew something into the word document that mostly still resembles the prewrite just so I can get to the part that I really want to write.
Through the process, I have come to decide that Word Vomit isn't an all-together negative thing. It gets a novel moving, it creates progress in a first draft. And by the end of the first draft, I'll have a better idea of how the book is supposed to flow, I'll know some of the specifics that I'm missing right now. And then I'll be free to revise the ever-living daylights out of it. When that time comes, I shall be happy to scrub every trace of vomit from the document and fill it with flowery air fresheners to chase away the stench.
Until then, you must excuse me. I need to go chase my cursor into the battle scene that I really want to write right now!
Friday, January 13, 2012
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Happy New Year!
Well, it’s been yet another crazy year! But then, I suppose that time in life between graduating high school and establishing yourself as an adult is full of crazy years. Over all, 2011 was a hard and painful year, and I’m pretty ecstatic to put it behind me.
The year did have some good points though. I turned two decades old this year! I also watched my little brother start high school. I entered into the amazing world of Slam Poetry! Between that any my New Year’s Resolution last year, I conquered the writer’s block that 2010 left me with. That alone makes 2011 worth the trouble. I failed NaNoWriMo again this year, but I came out of it with a new passionate love for my Work In Progress, so even that wasn’t a total loss!
God changed every facet of life as I once knew it this year. I’m not in school for the first time since Kindergarten. I’m working full time for the first time in my life. (I also still love my job like crazy, just for the record!) I moved to go live by myself for the first time in my life—and not only that, but in a different state! Hey, if you’re gonna do something, you might as well do it all the way.
I’ve learned about spiritual warfare this year. I’ve done battle with demons and have enjoyed Christ’s victory over them. Through it all, God started to teach me just how many choices we as human beings face, and how many of those choices boil down to picking between the lies of the world and God’s Truth, and these choices are found from things as big as choosing a life-changing path at the fork in the road to things as small as picking an outfit before going out in the evenings. And sometimes, choosing the Truth isn’t easy, sometimes it doesn’t even feel good. Saying that it’s “best in the long run” grates on my nerves now after this past year, because there were so many times that I couldn’t see the “best in the long run,” and the fluffy idea that the "right choice" would make life better in some distant future that I couldn’t even catch a glimpse of didn’t seem worth the pain right now. But when I look at my life when I was choosing lies and compare it to my life right now—well, John 8:32 makes a whole lot more sense to me now.
I learned a lot in 2011 through all of the trials and tribulations that it brought me. I don’t regret the pain and struggles of 2011, because they helped me fall deeper in love with my Abba Father, my First Love. I’m beginning to trust Him a little more than I did a year ago. Well, okay, a LOT more! But I still have a long way to go. I will learn many new things in 2012, and I’m sure that it will bring hard times of its own. But I am excited to continue pursuing the life God has placed me in and finding the new joys that this year will bring!
The year did have some good points though. I turned two decades old this year! I also watched my little brother start high school. I entered into the amazing world of Slam Poetry! Between that any my New Year’s Resolution last year, I conquered the writer’s block that 2010 left me with. That alone makes 2011 worth the trouble. I failed NaNoWriMo again this year, but I came out of it with a new passionate love for my Work In Progress, so even that wasn’t a total loss!
God changed every facet of life as I once knew it this year. I’m not in school for the first time since Kindergarten. I’m working full time for the first time in my life. (I also still love my job like crazy, just for the record!) I moved to go live by myself for the first time in my life—and not only that, but in a different state! Hey, if you’re gonna do something, you might as well do it all the way.
I’ve learned about spiritual warfare this year. I’ve done battle with demons and have enjoyed Christ’s victory over them. Through it all, God started to teach me just how many choices we as human beings face, and how many of those choices boil down to picking between the lies of the world and God’s Truth, and these choices are found from things as big as choosing a life-changing path at the fork in the road to things as small as picking an outfit before going out in the evenings. And sometimes, choosing the Truth isn’t easy, sometimes it doesn’t even feel good. Saying that it’s “best in the long run” grates on my nerves now after this past year, because there were so many times that I couldn’t see the “best in the long run,” and the fluffy idea that the "right choice" would make life better in some distant future that I couldn’t even catch a glimpse of didn’t seem worth the pain right now. But when I look at my life when I was choosing lies and compare it to my life right now—well, John 8:32 makes a whole lot more sense to me now.
I learned a lot in 2011 through all of the trials and tribulations that it brought me. I don’t regret the pain and struggles of 2011, because they helped me fall deeper in love with my Abba Father, my First Love. I’m beginning to trust Him a little more than I did a year ago. Well, okay, a LOT more! But I still have a long way to go. I will learn many new things in 2012, and I’m sure that it will bring hard times of its own. But I am excited to continue pursuing the life God has placed me in and finding the new joys that this year will bring!
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Adopted!
My name is Gracie Lynn, I'm a two-year-old kitty and I have a story to tell! My new mommy says that everyone has a story to tell, so I figured she wouldn't mind too much if I borrowed her blog: she already thinks it's cute when I sit on her fingers while she's trying to type!
I lived in the humane society for a long time. One family adopted me, but then they changed their mind and brought me back. Feeling abandoned and unwanted, the humane society people did this annoying personality test (as if you can peg the kind of cat a kitty is in five to ten of the first minutes with her in a brand new place), and my timid, shy response led them to label me as a "Secret Admirer," a cat who would stay out of sight a lot until I got to know you. Then they put me in this cage that was clean, but small, and lots of people would come press their faces up to the glass to look at me, ooh and ahh, and then walk away without taking me home.
One day, a woman saw me but didn't stop to ooh and ahh. Instead, she ran and returned with another girl, a tall one with long, yellow hair. That girl smiled at me, her hand up against the glass not pointing, but more as though she wanted to pet me. I got up and rubbed against the glass to show her how badly I wanted to be petted. But then, she ran away! I knew she'd be just like the rest! I thought to myself as I crawled back into my box to sleep. I saw her walk by a couple more times holding a strange black circle in her hand, but I ignored her. I couldn't stand to have my heart broken one more time.
About an hour later, one of the humane society ladies came to get me. "Come here, Grace," she said. That was my name at the time: just Grace. She brought me into a room a lot bigger than my cage, but it was full of people! The first woman who had brought the one with yellow hair was there, two other men, a teenage boy, and another woman, all of them watching me and talking about me! The humane society woman left me in that room full of strangers, and I was so scared! That was more attention than I'd had in a long time, and I wasn't sure if I could deal with it! I kept trying to get through the door, I meowed as loud as I could to try to get the woman to come back, but nothing worked. "Come here, Grace," the girl said, reaching toward me. "My name is Kaycee." Out of options, I decided to go ahead and check out this girl with the long, yellow hair, who had now moved down to the floor to see me.
She took me in her lap and petted me, and as I started to fall asleep after such a long day, she started calling me "Gracie Lynn."
The woman came back in and talked to this crowd of people. She must have said something bad, because Kaycee looked up at the older man with wide eyes. They came to a conclusion, but I could tell that she was upset. I sat with the other girl while the one with long hair wrote on a clip board, then Kaycee took me back. Everyone else got up and left, but she was hesitant as I continued to nod off in her lap. "I don't want to leave you!" she kept saying.
She finally did though. For whatever reason, she left me there. But something told me that she loved me anyway.
The next day, the humane society people gave me a bath with some smelly, blue shampoo. Then I caught a cold, probably from being so wet! But after a few days, I was feeling much better. Then that older man came back! They put me in a box and the man took me home! On the way, he had this black device that he held up to the box, and I could hear Kaycee's voice. "Hi, Gracie Lynn!" she said. I stopped meowing and looked at the box, trying to figure out where the voice was coming from. "It's okay, Gracie Lynn, I'll see you soon!" she promised.
The man took me into this room where I would be safe from the dogs that roamed the rest of the house. I could still hear them walking on the hard wood floor outside the door, see their noses as they sniffed under the door looking for my scent. I spent a lot of time under the recliner in the room until the people in the house finally took it out. I don't think they appreciated me sharpening my claws on it. I'm still not sure what else you would use such a thing for besides for a hiding place and scratching post.
The first girl who had found me visited me one evening and brought in a laptop. It had a strange, moving picture on it that kind of reminded me of Kaycee, and I could hear her voice coming out of it. I didn't understand how the girl could fit into these strange devices. "Hey there, Gracie Lynn!" she said as if she could see me. "Aww, I miss you, Baby!"
The family visited me often in that room over the next couple of days, and I started to warm up to them. They seemed to like me, and I could only hope that they wouldn't change their minds and take me back.
Then and elderly couple came, and they put me in a wire cat carrier. I could see a lot more out of the cat carrier than I could the box, and they put my special blanket from the humane society in it. At first, I was afraid that this was the day they would take me back, but we were in the car for a much longer time than we had been leaving the humane society. I was starting to wonder if I would ever get out!
Finally, we arrived at this tiny little building. The couple brought me inside where I was greeted excitedly by none other than Kaycee! She was there, and not just in a strange, electronic device again!
She keeps calling me Gracie Lynn. I like my new name, it sounds pretty. Kaycee says that she wanted to give me her name now that she's adopted me, but that her last name sounds funny and "hopefully" won't be the same for the rest of my life. So she gave me her middle name instead. I've been exploring my new home, and besides the sticky bug trap that I got my paw stuck in (I was so scared until Kaycee gently pulled it free, and then I had to lick all of the sticky out of my fur!) it's a pretty cool place! I'm happy to finally have a place I think I can call "home."
I lived in the humane society for a long time. One family adopted me, but then they changed their mind and brought me back. Feeling abandoned and unwanted, the humane society people did this annoying personality test (as if you can peg the kind of cat a kitty is in five to ten of the first minutes with her in a brand new place), and my timid, shy response led them to label me as a "Secret Admirer," a cat who would stay out of sight a lot until I got to know you. Then they put me in this cage that was clean, but small, and lots of people would come press their faces up to the glass to look at me, ooh and ahh, and then walk away without taking me home.
One day, a woman saw me but didn't stop to ooh and ahh. Instead, she ran and returned with another girl, a tall one with long, yellow hair. That girl smiled at me, her hand up against the glass not pointing, but more as though she wanted to pet me. I got up and rubbed against the glass to show her how badly I wanted to be petted. But then, she ran away! I knew she'd be just like the rest! I thought to myself as I crawled back into my box to sleep. I saw her walk by a couple more times holding a strange black circle in her hand, but I ignored her. I couldn't stand to have my heart broken one more time.
About an hour later, one of the humane society ladies came to get me. "Come here, Grace," she said. That was my name at the time: just Grace. She brought me into a room a lot bigger than my cage, but it was full of people! The first woman who had brought the one with yellow hair was there, two other men, a teenage boy, and another woman, all of them watching me and talking about me! The humane society woman left me in that room full of strangers, and I was so scared! That was more attention than I'd had in a long time, and I wasn't sure if I could deal with it! I kept trying to get through the door, I meowed as loud as I could to try to get the woman to come back, but nothing worked. "Come here, Grace," the girl said, reaching toward me. "My name is Kaycee." Out of options, I decided to go ahead and check out this girl with the long, yellow hair, who had now moved down to the floor to see me.
She took me in her lap and petted me, and as I started to fall asleep after such a long day, she started calling me "Gracie Lynn."
The woman came back in and talked to this crowd of people. She must have said something bad, because Kaycee looked up at the older man with wide eyes. They came to a conclusion, but I could tell that she was upset. I sat with the other girl while the one with long hair wrote on a clip board, then Kaycee took me back. Everyone else got up and left, but she was hesitant as I continued to nod off in her lap. "I don't want to leave you!" she kept saying.
She finally did though. For whatever reason, she left me there. But something told me that she loved me anyway.
The next day, the humane society people gave me a bath with some smelly, blue shampoo. Then I caught a cold, probably from being so wet! But after a few days, I was feeling much better. Then that older man came back! They put me in a box and the man took me home! On the way, he had this black device that he held up to the box, and I could hear Kaycee's voice. "Hi, Gracie Lynn!" she said. I stopped meowing and looked at the box, trying to figure out where the voice was coming from. "It's okay, Gracie Lynn, I'll see you soon!" she promised.
The man took me into this room where I would be safe from the dogs that roamed the rest of the house. I could still hear them walking on the hard wood floor outside the door, see their noses as they sniffed under the door looking for my scent. I spent a lot of time under the recliner in the room until the people in the house finally took it out. I don't think they appreciated me sharpening my claws on it. I'm still not sure what else you would use such a thing for besides for a hiding place and scratching post.
The first girl who had found me visited me one evening and brought in a laptop. It had a strange, moving picture on it that kind of reminded me of Kaycee, and I could hear her voice coming out of it. I didn't understand how the girl could fit into these strange devices. "Hey there, Gracie Lynn!" she said as if she could see me. "Aww, I miss you, Baby!"
The family visited me often in that room over the next couple of days, and I started to warm up to them. They seemed to like me, and I could only hope that they wouldn't change their minds and take me back.
Then and elderly couple came, and they put me in a wire cat carrier. I could see a lot more out of the cat carrier than I could the box, and they put my special blanket from the humane society in it. At first, I was afraid that this was the day they would take me back, but we were in the car for a much longer time than we had been leaving the humane society. I was starting to wonder if I would ever get out!
Finally, we arrived at this tiny little building. The couple brought me inside where I was greeted excitedly by none other than Kaycee! She was there, and not just in a strange, electronic device again!
She keeps calling me Gracie Lynn. I like my new name, it sounds pretty. Kaycee says that she wanted to give me her name now that she's adopted me, but that her last name sounds funny and "hopefully" won't be the same for the rest of my life. So she gave me her middle name instead. I've been exploring my new home, and besides the sticky bug trap that I got my paw stuck in (I was so scared until Kaycee gently pulled it free, and then I had to lick all of the sticky out of my fur!) it's a pretty cool place! I'm happy to finally have a place I think I can call "home."
Sunday, October 9, 2011
A Mother's Conundrum
I am the proud mother of a novel going through some intensive editing, a WIP that's being a little stubborn but I'm sure will grow out of it... And an evil stepchild of a NaNoWriMo idea that I'm trying to relinquish custody of so I can have a better one.
For those of you who may not know, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. It takes place from November 1 to November 30, and the goal is to write a novel at least 50,000 words long (we're talking 1,667 words every day for an entire month! It's intense!). You're allowed to prewrite the crap out of your story, but you can't write a word of the actual novel until November 1.
It was a decent idea that I was trying to work with, but I'm just not feeling it. It was kind of forced from the start, and it's just too close to nonfiction for my liking at the moment. Not to mention that my original inspiration grew out of the developmental phase that inspired the idea in the first place (sidenote: I still love my new job!). But at the moment, I'm working with my two other paper-and-ink children, I can't just abandon them, push them away and tell them to wait! You know uncompleted novels, they just don't understand!
But at the same time, November is just a few short weeks away, and if I can get a workable idea going on, I think I have a shot at it this year!
*head, desk*
So, I'm off to sift through some old notebooks and documents coated in technological dust deep in the back files of my hard drive, do several more writing prompts, and hope to have something I can work with soon!
For those of you who may not know, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. It takes place from November 1 to November 30, and the goal is to write a novel at least 50,000 words long (we're talking 1,667 words every day for an entire month! It's intense!). You're allowed to prewrite the crap out of your story, but you can't write a word of the actual novel until November 1.
It was a decent idea that I was trying to work with, but I'm just not feeling it. It was kind of forced from the start, and it's just too close to nonfiction for my liking at the moment. Not to mention that my original inspiration grew out of the developmental phase that inspired the idea in the first place (sidenote: I still love my new job!). But at the moment, I'm working with my two other paper-and-ink children, I can't just abandon them, push them away and tell them to wait! You know uncompleted novels, they just don't understand!
But at the same time, November is just a few short weeks away, and if I can get a workable idea going on, I think I have a shot at it this year!
*head, desk*
So, I'm off to sift through some old notebooks and documents coated in technological dust deep in the back files of my hard drive, do several more writing prompts, and hope to have something I can work with soon!
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Where God Guides, He Provides!
My days of unemployment are OVER!!! Praise Jesus!!! I've been in free fall for about a week, but I knew God would catch me!
I had an interview at a place called Apple Tree Children's Center one day, and it went well, but not quite phenomenal. I was given a quick tour of the place, and it seemed just a tad chaotic, smelling strongly of clorox trying valiently to cover up dirty diaper... and failing. I was told that they would be doing interviews all week before making a decision, and my first thought was: "Shoot, competition. I'm SOOOO not getting this job!" I came out of that interview and returned a phone call, and BAM! I had an interview the next day with [company name removed in the interest of not getting sued after reading scary official stuff about confidentiality in employee handbook]!
That interview went even better! It was a tad nerve wracking at first: it was a small office with a desk on either side and a chair in the middle. There was a manager at each desk and me in the chair, and both of them asked questions at the same time. That chair totally felt like a hot seat! All of this in addition to the fact that they asked me to bring a copy of my degree with me... you know, Associate's in Liberal arts? The one that has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with early childhood education? Yeah, that one. A friend told me that that's pretty standard when the degree has nothing to do with the job, which made me feel a little less foolish about it, but still underqualified. But the two were best friends, "work wives," they called it, and since the interview was all about me, I was invited and welcomed into the whole thing until it felt more like a conversation than an interview, and I was almost sad when it was over. They were thoroughly impressed, and they promised to call that afternoon for a second interview this morning.
I went in this morning, and this interview was more like a chance to see how I do with the children and see if I'd be better in the infant room or the toddler room. It was supposed to be a half hour in each room, but they were having a crazy day with tours and a surprise visit from a Higher Up from Chicago, so I was only in the infant room for about fifteen adorable but slightly awkward minutes (the teachers in there were pretty obsorbed in taking care of the dozen babies all over the room), then I ended up being with the toddlers for over an hour. That was the most fun I've had in a long time! I got to know the names of about half of the class and I helped coral toddlers from here to there. I was on the floor with them, replacing shoes ("Everybody needs TWO SHOES!" I said about ten times, tapping the little ones' toes), reading to them, talking about pictures, clapping with them when they fit the blocks together right, and trying to keep them relatively contained as they waited to go outside while one of the teachers counted them.
Then we went outside. There was one little girl who was brand new to the school, and she was used to that time of day being nap time, not play time. So I got to hold this adorable little girl in a pretty yellow dress as she snoozed in my arms. In the interests of the upcoming afternoon naptime, one of the teachers finally came and woke her up to try to get her to play for a little bit. Shortly after that, I had another little girl snuggling with me in my arms. It was later explained to me that she's in a not-so-good home situation. When one of the managers finally came out to get me, she was shocked to find this little girl locked onto my hip, refusing to let go!
I was offered a job on the spot, and I automatically said yes! So allow me to introduce myself: My name is Kaycee, I'm a toddler teacher at [a top secret company that I apparently cannot name in a blog for fear of financial ruin], and I haven't started work yet, but I'm already in love with my class! To celebrate, I went and put some gas in my car and went to Starbucks for a Strawberry Smoothie, because there are actually some paychecks on the horizon!
I had an interview at a place called Apple Tree Children's Center one day, and it went well, but not quite phenomenal. I was given a quick tour of the place, and it seemed just a tad chaotic, smelling strongly of clorox trying valiently to cover up dirty diaper... and failing. I was told that they would be doing interviews all week before making a decision, and my first thought was: "Shoot, competition. I'm SOOOO not getting this job!" I came out of that interview and returned a phone call, and BAM! I had an interview the next day with [company name removed in the interest of not getting sued after reading scary official stuff about confidentiality in employee handbook]!
That interview went even better! It was a tad nerve wracking at first: it was a small office with a desk on either side and a chair in the middle. There was a manager at each desk and me in the chair, and both of them asked questions at the same time. That chair totally felt like a hot seat! All of this in addition to the fact that they asked me to bring a copy of my degree with me... you know, Associate's in Liberal arts? The one that has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with early childhood education? Yeah, that one. A friend told me that that's pretty standard when the degree has nothing to do with the job, which made me feel a little less foolish about it, but still underqualified. But the two were best friends, "work wives," they called it, and since the interview was all about me, I was invited and welcomed into the whole thing until it felt more like a conversation than an interview, and I was almost sad when it was over. They were thoroughly impressed, and they promised to call that afternoon for a second interview this morning.
I went in this morning, and this interview was more like a chance to see how I do with the children and see if I'd be better in the infant room or the toddler room. It was supposed to be a half hour in each room, but they were having a crazy day with tours and a surprise visit from a Higher Up from Chicago, so I was only in the infant room for about fifteen adorable but slightly awkward minutes (the teachers in there were pretty obsorbed in taking care of the dozen babies all over the room), then I ended up being with the toddlers for over an hour. That was the most fun I've had in a long time! I got to know the names of about half of the class and I helped coral toddlers from here to there. I was on the floor with them, replacing shoes ("Everybody needs TWO SHOES!" I said about ten times, tapping the little ones' toes), reading to them, talking about pictures, clapping with them when they fit the blocks together right, and trying to keep them relatively contained as they waited to go outside while one of the teachers counted them.
Then we went outside. There was one little girl who was brand new to the school, and she was used to that time of day being nap time, not play time. So I got to hold this adorable little girl in a pretty yellow dress as she snoozed in my arms. In the interests of the upcoming afternoon naptime, one of the teachers finally came and woke her up to try to get her to play for a little bit. Shortly after that, I had another little girl snuggling with me in my arms. It was later explained to me that she's in a not-so-good home situation. When one of the managers finally came out to get me, she was shocked to find this little girl locked onto my hip, refusing to let go!
I was offered a job on the spot, and I automatically said yes! So allow me to introduce myself: My name is Kaycee, I'm a toddler teacher at [a top secret company that I apparently cannot name in a blog for fear of financial ruin], and I haven't started work yet, but I'm already in love with my class! To celebrate, I went and put some gas in my car and went to Starbucks for a Strawberry Smoothie, because there are actually some paychecks on the horizon!
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Settling In and Making Observations
I filled out a job application today right before I went into an interview. It asked for my current address and my previous address, then for any other addresses that I have lived in the past five years. I was very happy that I officially have my new address memorized! Then it asked how long I've lived there. "4 days," I answered. I put in the address for my parents' house in Nebraska. It asked how long I lived there. "15 years," I answered. The recruiter looked over my application and she said, "So, what brings you to Coralville? It looks like you've been in Nebraska for most of your life!"
Let me tell you about our apartment! It's all hard-wood floor--buckling in places and not totally flat. Except for the bathroom, which has actually a pretty nice linoleum floor, and the corner of the kitchen behind the trash can and stove, where there is about a square foot of space that is peeling black and white checkered linoleum. There are archway type things from the kitchen to the dining room and then from the dining room to the living room. These archways are not straight. The doors aren't quite aligned correctly, all but one of them has some kind of fascinating, quirky problem. And my favorite window in the apartment is the one at the end of the living room... that sits at almost a 45 degree angle. I love the place! It's got character and personality and attitude! (Daddy calls it a dump... He missed the potential!)
But moving in has been going smoothly. The little apartment is starting to feel a little bit more like home, after learning its various quirks and how to deal with them, and some much needed deep cleaning. My rubber gloves and I have become very close friends! My roommate and I are slowly putting everything in its place and finding places for everything, adding our own colors and personal touches to the place, and it's looking pretty good, all things considered! Still waiting on Internet, so I may be blogging and facebooking from Starbucks for a while.
Driving around here is fascinating. There is no shame in tail gating or cutting people off, but I've been warned that cops around here will write tickets for going 1 mph over the speed limit. And parking? Holy cow! I'm hoping that with time I'll learn where I can park, where I can't, and perhaps I'll find a few places where it's free. And you have to check the meters before you start feeding them... Some of them have a 1 hour limit, and if you give it more than that without realizing the limit, it eats your money and won't give it back, but will still expire in one hour. And driving through campus is a nightmare! And seriously, anybody who complains about motorcyclists has never experienced moped drivers in Iowa City. One of them almost took off my driver's side mirror this morning!
On the job front, I had an interview this morning (as mentioned above) that went pretty well, and another tomorrow. I'm desperately hoping to be working by the end of next week, I don't like this unemployment business! I'd rather know when my next paycheck is coming, and while the time off of work has been kinda fun, it isn't quite worth the uncertainty. But where God leads, He provides, so I'm trying to not worry too horribly much about it. Trying. Really hard. *whimper*
I've got a few places to go meet people, I have several names and faces now, so perhaps this "new friend" gig will start progressing soon, too! Church was hard on Sunday, simply because it wasn't MY church. It wasn't home. I missed MY church family. But I really think that the church I visited has the potential to be my new church family
One step at a time, things are moving forward and looking up. Every day feels like a step in the right direction!
Let me tell you about our apartment! It's all hard-wood floor--buckling in places and not totally flat. Except for the bathroom, which has actually a pretty nice linoleum floor, and the corner of the kitchen behind the trash can and stove, where there is about a square foot of space that is peeling black and white checkered linoleum. There are archway type things from the kitchen to the dining room and then from the dining room to the living room. These archways are not straight. The doors aren't quite aligned correctly, all but one of them has some kind of fascinating, quirky problem. And my favorite window in the apartment is the one at the end of the living room... that sits at almost a 45 degree angle. I love the place! It's got character and personality and attitude! (Daddy calls it a dump... He missed the potential!)
But moving in has been going smoothly. The little apartment is starting to feel a little bit more like home, after learning its various quirks and how to deal with them, and some much needed deep cleaning. My rubber gloves and I have become very close friends! My roommate and I are slowly putting everything in its place and finding places for everything, adding our own colors and personal touches to the place, and it's looking pretty good, all things considered! Still waiting on Internet, so I may be blogging and facebooking from Starbucks for a while.
Driving around here is fascinating. There is no shame in tail gating or cutting people off, but I've been warned that cops around here will write tickets for going 1 mph over the speed limit. And parking? Holy cow! I'm hoping that with time I'll learn where I can park, where I can't, and perhaps I'll find a few places where it's free. And you have to check the meters before you start feeding them... Some of them have a 1 hour limit, and if you give it more than that without realizing the limit, it eats your money and won't give it back, but will still expire in one hour. And driving through campus is a nightmare! And seriously, anybody who complains about motorcyclists has never experienced moped drivers in Iowa City. One of them almost took off my driver's side mirror this morning!
On the job front, I had an interview this morning (as mentioned above) that went pretty well, and another tomorrow. I'm desperately hoping to be working by the end of next week, I don't like this unemployment business! I'd rather know when my next paycheck is coming, and while the time off of work has been kinda fun, it isn't quite worth the uncertainty. But where God leads, He provides, so I'm trying to not worry too horribly much about it. Trying. Really hard. *whimper*
I've got a few places to go meet people, I have several names and faces now, so perhaps this "new friend" gig will start progressing soon, too! Church was hard on Sunday, simply because it wasn't MY church. It wasn't home. I missed MY church family. But I really think that the church I visited has the potential to be my new church family
One step at a time, things are moving forward and looking up. Every day feels like a step in the right direction!
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Changes
So the plan was to go to the University of Iowa, get an English degree from the most amazing schools for English majors in the country, meet my future husband, and live happily ever after. It was a great plan.
The best way to make God laugh is to tell him your plans.
Turns out, there is no reciprocity between Iowa and Nebraska as far as tuition goes, and no mercy for the little college girl with big dreams that her parents can't afford. I was $17,600 short for the year and couldn't get a loan--yes, I was willing to go into that kind of debt for this kind of school! I came to this realization last Friday morning, and as if to confirm the impossibility of life at that moment, my car, my Ford Tauris named Arwen who has served me so faithfully for four and a half years, clicked and grinded and breathed her last that afternoon. And thus, for the first time since Kindergarden, I shall be taking a year off of school. I am devistated. I know, I'm wierd. But I'm okay with that.
But I'll be doing something else for the first time since Kindergarden: moving. With or without school, I'm still moving to Iowa, where I shall be living in an apartment for the first time in my life, out on my own for the first time in my life, and working full time for the first time in my life (eww!). However, without classes, I'll have the time to read and write on a scale that I have never been able to achieve before. (I'm working really hard to focus on the bright side right now!) And hey, after finding a new church (since I'm leaving my old one behind in Nebraska... *sob* does a church fit in the trunk of a Cavelier?), the Future Husband plan isn't totally out of the question, right?
I'm stepping into a whole new world... and no, not just because it's Iowa, but that is a pretty large factor. And I have NO CLUE what I'm doing. It's new and it's scary and it's not what I wanted, but you know what? God know's what He's doing. Even though it sure as heck doesn't look like it now. Sometimes I swear he suddenly got really busy and forgot that he was supposed to get me through college, but I know that that's not the kind of God I serve. He has plans to prosper me and not to harm me, plans to give me hope and a future. Christ came that I may have life, and have it to the fullest. And while that's tough to believe as I face full time employment and no school (since when is 40 hours a week to pay the bills "life to the fullest"?), it's something God promised me. Looking back at where I've been, it's the times that I leaned on nothing but belief in Him that I was best off. Every time I tried to trust something else, it only got me in trouble.
So God, I sure hope You know what You're doing! I trust You. Move in a way that I've never seen before!
The best way to make God laugh is to tell him your plans.
Turns out, there is no reciprocity between Iowa and Nebraska as far as tuition goes, and no mercy for the little college girl with big dreams that her parents can't afford. I was $17,600 short for the year and couldn't get a loan--yes, I was willing to go into that kind of debt for this kind of school! I came to this realization last Friday morning, and as if to confirm the impossibility of life at that moment, my car, my Ford Tauris named Arwen who has served me so faithfully for four and a half years, clicked and grinded and breathed her last that afternoon. And thus, for the first time since Kindergarden, I shall be taking a year off of school. I am devistated. I know, I'm wierd. But I'm okay with that.
But I'll be doing something else for the first time since Kindergarden: moving. With or without school, I'm still moving to Iowa, where I shall be living in an apartment for the first time in my life, out on my own for the first time in my life, and working full time for the first time in my life (eww!). However, without classes, I'll have the time to read and write on a scale that I have never been able to achieve before. (I'm working really hard to focus on the bright side right now!) And hey, after finding a new church (since I'm leaving my old one behind in Nebraska... *sob* does a church fit in the trunk of a Cavelier?), the Future Husband plan isn't totally out of the question, right?
I'm stepping into a whole new world... and no, not just because it's Iowa, but that is a pretty large factor. And I have NO CLUE what I'm doing. It's new and it's scary and it's not what I wanted, but you know what? God know's what He's doing. Even though it sure as heck doesn't look like it now. Sometimes I swear he suddenly got really busy and forgot that he was supposed to get me through college, but I know that that's not the kind of God I serve. He has plans to prosper me and not to harm me, plans to give me hope and a future. Christ came that I may have life, and have it to the fullest. And while that's tough to believe as I face full time employment and no school (since when is 40 hours a week to pay the bills "life to the fullest"?), it's something God promised me. Looking back at where I've been, it's the times that I leaned on nothing but belief in Him that I was best off. Every time I tried to trust something else, it only got me in trouble.
So God, I sure hope You know what You're doing! I trust You. Move in a way that I've never seen before!
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