24 hours from now

I will be in between times and flying at enormous speeds over the Pacific Ocean. Yoawsas!

monday morning musings

This weekend has gone by quite quickly and the college campus has changed just as rapidly. Saturday morning I drove up to South Bend to pick up Katie, and it was so wonderful to see her. We hung out for most of the day, doing random errands and touring the apartment that she, Miriam, Becca and eventually Jess will live in. It was so gorgeous, a spiral staircase, loft, hardwood floors, just lovely. But really the best part was reconnecting with Katie, who I hadn't spent serious time with since spring break of my sophomore year! Other best parts of the day were seeing Meryl again and all the other returnees. It feels so weird to be helping everyone move in and seeing the campus prepare itself to return to normal, yet I am going to miss everything on campus this fall. Speaking of China SST, I have been having a rather up and down last few days. Although I remain excited, I think I am finally getting all those nerves and anxiety that others had been having earlier. Up until just this past week, I was excited as the next person, other than the gradual lessening that comes with long times of waiting, I was roaring to go. But now I am getting all these random fears and such, which I think are directly related to how I haven't been able to sleep as well these last few nights. I have trouble getting to sleep, just lying there thinking. Then I have weird stress dreams and can't sleep past 8am. Now I think there are some other explanations for that, but it has been disconcerting. Yet at the core I remain very much excited to leave and head out on the big SST adventure. Oh and rather unusual highlight from Sunday occurred with Meryl and I were messing around with my iTunes. We heard a large thunk, almost as if someone had knocked quite hard on the glass door in the kitchen. I went out to investigate and there sitting right next to the glass, just about 10 feet from me was a beautiful Cooper's Hawk. It just sat there staring into the glass, it didn't seem able to see through the glass, but just its own reflection. Meryl snuck off and got my camera, and so I crept closer and closer taking picture, both Meryl and I were within about a yard from the door, when finally it moved away, perched briefly on the deck posts, before sailing off. Such an amazing bird, and it was great to see one of the predators that had helped us actually harvest from our garden this summer.

things accomplished today

-uploaded a bunch of cds to the computer, but I haven't yet synced the iPod -I did the load of laundry and dried it outside -cleaned out a few boxes, although I really should take a final peek at the ones behind the couch in my room -visited CVS and spent way more than I was expecting on some allergy pills -didn't visit the library, but then the books aren't due for a little bit -packed some, still have the final stuff to do, but that shouldn't be too hard to finish up tomorrow -I didn't put my other clothes away at all -still didn't shave the legs -visited Katrina in the lab -thought about China -happily ripped open Amazon package this afternoon -played a full 1000 point game and a 500 point game with the family, of which Jonathan and I won both -I also baked some wild rice bread, and helped Mom make a real feast for supper. We had sesame noodles (my contribution), fresh bread, my Wisconsin Gouda cheese, tilapia fish from Honduras, green beans, fresh tomatoes, and 7 day pickles, it was amazing! Then I biked over to the college with my family to see Jonathan's dorm room and gave them a tour of Aurora, which will be where I will be living next Spring.

things to do today

-upload several cds to computer, then update iPod -do load of laundry -clean out few remaining boxes -visit CVS for tolietries -return books to library -pack (such a simple word, but such an enormous task) -put away non-packed clothes -shave legs (yeah I was planning on waxing, but then all of my waxing buddies backed out and shaved, so I guess that's what I will do too :O ) -visit Katrina in mac lab -think about China (not really a need to do, because I do this a lot anyways) -wait impatiently for Amazon shipment to arrive -play a last game of Tichu with the family

iPod and other events/purchases

I am beginning to realize how many purchases I have made this summer all in the name of China. I have purchased luggage, shoes, sandals, pants, shirts, iPod..... Oh yes you read that correctly, I am now the proud owner of a beautiful little 20gb iPod. Thanks go Jonny Meyer and his ethusiasm for the new color iPods, I purchased it for 200 dollars and can now run around life with the soundtrack of my choice. Although I have been doing some thinking about how ridiculous it is that I would desire so badly a device that for 20 years of my life I was perfectly fine without. I do try to resist commercialism in some of its forms, but I have to admit I would probably be even worse about technology than I am now, if I actually had steady income. Just think about it in the past 3 years I have purchased a computer (actually the parts for one that was then put together by my brother), two digital cameras (one broke), and an iPod. I guess I am more mainstream than I would like to think. In other news the countdown for China is getting smaller and smaller, I feel like there are a million things to do, and I am beginning to get anxious that I will somehow forget one of them! must make myself a to-do list, yes, right as soon as I....

packing and bumming around

I arrived home from the Boundary Waters road Trip on Sunday evening and have yet to do anything very substantial in the whole prep for China deal-o. I did however make a packing list, which seems to have been a good idea, we'll see how much I end up adding to it over the coming days. As for the road trip, it was a lot of fun. On our way through Wisconsin, Jess and I decided that you can't drive through Wisconsin and not stop at a Cheese factory, so we found this one in Mauston and I bought some really good kurds and amazing Gouda! Both of which were devoured around a day into our stay at Wilderness Winds. Driving up on Thursday went okay, considering we had a minor detail just into our trip that added around an hour (called Abby forgetting her luggage) and then some heavy rains in northern Wisconsin. But I think it went pretty well considering I drove the entire way, and Jess made a fantastic navigator/driver supplier of water/etc. We finally pulled into camp to be met by a rather unofficial customs block and a strange man requesting our licenses and registration, and of course it only took Jess and I a little bit to demandingly inquire if this was Becca or Zeb's doing. The appearance of Becca shortly after pointed the finger towards Zeb. The strange man and Zeb's partner in crime was Nathan, a staff member, who on the plus side provided valet parking. Friday was spent helping out with various things around camp, and doing a lot of dishes! But it was nice to be there and to actually help out, even if in a very small way. Then on Saturday Zeb, Becca, Jess and I went into Ely, walking around, hitting up the library and various shops. We packed a lunch, but then for supper went to the Northern Grounds Cafe, quite the tradition and a wonderful meal. Then we went to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which I enjoyed a lot more than I had expected. There is nothing like going into a movie with rather low expectations and then enjoying it greatly. Johnny Depp was amazing, and also amazingly unattractive, an impressive feat for a man with his looks to pull off. :) Then on Sunday we left at the absurd hour of 5:30am for the drive back, which surprisingly enough was my idea. Not usually one to favor waking up early, I decided that the benefits of an early start out-weighed my wish to sleep. With another stop at the Cheese Factory in Mauston, we headed home, fairly uneventfully and I arrived home around 7:30pm after dropping the other three off.

20 more random things about me

51. I have never broken a bone. 52. Despite only going rock climbing three times, I think I would enjoy it a lot if I got to do it regularly 53. I am a world class procrastinator 54. I hope to live overseas for a good portion of my life 55. I am deep down a brown noser when it comes to Professors, but only the ones I genuinely respect 56. I like to go bike riding, especially in a skirt because then it blows all around you and makes me feel elegant 57. I love big cities, but that's probably because I haven't ever lived in one 58. I love to browse the travel section at Borders 59. My biggest food weakness would be for the orange chicken at the food court at UP mall 60. I cut off my younger brother's dreads recently, which is one of several times I have given him haircuts, even though I don't really have any skill in that department 61. I like goodwill shopping to a point, but recently have been enjoying the ease of online shopping 62. Last night as I was trying to go to sleep I had this supreme doubt/fear that God doesn't exist 63. Most of the time I believe in God, but not always the church 64. Except my church, I love Assembly Mennonite 65. If I can find a way to get to Australia before I graduate from college, I will have been to all the continents except Antartica 66. My family has owned the following pets: Katie, a stray cat, Duke, a dog we took care of while his family was gone for a year and half, and Sheba, an older dog we had for probably 3 years or so before she got hit by a falling garage door. 67. Number of simultaneous crushes I have had this summer: 3, actually an increase, although if you took high school into consideration that number would be quite higher. 68. I like Renaissance Fairs and attended one last fall 69. I love the internet and finding random people's blogs 70. I was staying at a friends' house during the blizzard of 1992, and therefore got to have the experience of being snow shut-in. We dug tunnels and jumped off the hay loft.

so it has come to this

my weekend has come full circle because I am once again sitting in the GC computer lab writing a maple scholars thing. I met with Jan on Monday and although she liked the paper it was evident that we hadn't been on the same page regarding what I was to write. So here I am writing an argumentative outline, partially of my own accord. Jan said it was up to me if I wanted to write something or not, but I mean if I put in the time today it will save me even more time when I get back. It really does make complete sense, yet it still kinda sucks. In other news I was unbelievably non-productive this weekend, which was fun. But yesterday I ripped up and re-sewed an old tee-shirt that was a favorite of mine. Unfortunately it was really big, so I cut it down to size and had fun with it, so now it is actually a wearable shirt! It says Women's Work underneath a picture of the traditional Last Supper, except all the disciples are famous women from history and Jesus is not represented. I got it on my first SOA protest in high school, but never wore it much before this. I am looking forward to tomorrow, because I get to go babysitting and earn some money (which I might put towards a new swimsuit, because my current one is literally falling apart, unfortunately this implies swimsuit shopping, never a favorite thing to do) and then after babysitting I will head up to Chicago and then on Thursday Jess and I will drive to WW!

hanging out with my parents on a saturday night

yes I am that cool Today was a relaxin' doing nothing sort of day. I guess in a kind of recovery from my intellectual summer :) I basked around for most of the morning, did a little bit of laundry, read, contemplated biking over to the library and after decided against it read for a while, took a nap, had an amazing garden lunch, the whole corn on the cob, soybeans, potatoes, tomatoes thing where everything on the table was growing and fresh only a few hours earlier. Then I watched Intolerable Cruelty with my parents and straightened my hair using the straightener I got from Goodwill for less than 5 dollars. It was actually quite a find, and I am still debating whether it would be worth taking to China. Oh and what I am currently really excited about is this Wednesday when I will drive up to Chicago and then leave the next morning with Jess to head up to Wilderness Wind. There I will hang out with Becca and Zeb for a while then the four of us will drive back. Should be a blast! Yah for road trips and WW!

maple scholars is no more.......la la la

feel to sing a little happy song with me, because I am indeed singing! My song goes something like this: Maple Scholars is no more, is no more, is no more. Maple Scholars is no more, now I can have free time. (sung to the tune of Mary Had a Little Lamb) In other news, I went to Blimpies for lunch today with Jonathan and then we went to Goodwill for a little pant shopping on his part. Its kinda fun to do the older sister thing and help him pick out clothes and let me tell you we found some killer bell bottoms, they were so awesome we thought that they were a girls at first, but no male bell bottoms, it doesn't get much sexier than that. Jonathan is gonna go buy them tomorrow when the Goodwill has a 50% off sale. Well this will probably be my last post from the beauty of TI connections, seeing as I will be moving my computer home, but hey its been great while it lasted. See you on the dial-up side.

paper, paper, paper

Well folks, the paper is almost done, which is kinda awesome! I just have to do some things with the endnotes, and read through it. I mean it isn't amazing, but it isn't pure crap either, and at around 7 pages it meets my personal goal of 6-8 pages. So let the rejoicing begin in just a few minutes, oh and then I get to clean and move out of my room! yippy!

you know what's really annoying?

a fire drill, whose siren has been known to pierce ears, when it's raining! currently I am: working on the poster thing in the computer lab what I wish I was doing: some combination of sleeping and reading what I will be doing for the rest of the morning: working on poster thing/writing paper thing happiness level once maple scholars is done: through the roof, dude, through the roof

oh and I almost forgot

I leave for China in 3 weeks........deary me!

loungin and writin: two mutually exclusive activities

Today was a good day, I did the babysitting thing for the R family. The three kids are now old enough that babysitting is much more like just hanging out. So essentially I put in 8 hours of lounging in the pool, reading a book, watching Hercules, playing Uno and War, making lunch, and just chatting, not bad work for 50 dollars. But on the other hand, my paper is not any further along and it is now Wednesday afternoon. I am having such a killer time getting inspired, but then tomorrow morning I will have to be inspired because I need to create some kind of poster in which to present my oral history findings. It is interesting that when talking to Jan all my ideas for my paper seem so clear and writable, but when I stare at this screen they all run screaming from my mind. oh and as an excellent form of procrastination I have been rereading Phil Pullman's Dark Material's series, currently on the Amber Spyglass, such a good series

the family thing

This past weekend I spent at Highland Retreat Center in Virgina with 60 other Hess family members. My mom had 5 brothers and 5 sisters so I have quite a large family on that side. I had a blast, as I usually due although the number of attending cousins my age was probably the lowest I can remember. I was the only one of my siblings there, Joel, his wife Nicole, Jared, Eric, his wife Katie, Dan, his wife Amy, and Emily were all not there. But the cousin's babies more than made up for it. All of Paul and Nancy's grandchildren were there and so were Jake and Norlene's. There is nothing like a bunch of 3 and 4 year olds running around to make a 21 year old feel quite old. Once again my uncle Wishart led a group of us Hesses as a choir, which was a great experience. There is nothing like singing with a bunch of family. However what struck me the most was Grandma. I hadn't seen her in almost 6 months, so it was sad to realize how quickly she is aging. She is shrinking in height and moves so slowly now. Although she still doesn't always use her cane, she probably should be using it. Seeing Grandma slowing down is definitely the hardest of all my grandparents aging process. Grandma is probably the grandparent I feel the closest too, plus unlike Grandpa Hess I have vivid memories of her in her active years. I think it was some time in high school where during the summer Hess reunion, she sneakily started a water fight that became almost legendary. But what really struck me as looking around the circle at all my family members on Sunday morning was that all these people came from just two people. I mean every single person in that roomed owed their life (or the life of their spouse) to her. What a fascinating idea that one person can produce an entire tribe.

6 minutes to blog

So I am back from PA/VA and no frantically working on THE PAPER, the same one that is driving other Maple Scholars wild with delight. Trip back was kinda crazy, missed a flight, flew standby, spent the night at Jess's house in Chicago, kicked it off early in the morning with a train downtown to catch the other train, all to be picked up by Charles (one of Jonathan's friends) at the South Bend Airport. Then I got the checksy from the eye doctor, no 20/20, but pretty darn close. Which is good enough for me. So now I wisk myself away to the newly reopened library to bury myself in book dust and key clicking, which will some how transform themselves into a paper!