Jul 9, 2005

nothing better to do...

My plans for this morning got cancelled, so as I'm waiting on Rob to finish jamming with the guys at the Vine, I'll fill out this survey.

1. What time did you get up today? around 9:00, but napped when plans were cancelled
2. Diamonds or pearls? diamonds
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Mr. and Mrs. Smith
4. What is your favorite TV show? I guess The O.C.
5. What did you have for breakfast? Cheerios... actually "Publix Toasted Oats"
6. What is your middle name? Michelle
7. Favorite cuisine? Mexican or Italian
8. What foods do you dislike? green beans and various other vegetables
9. What is your favorite chip flavor? Cheddar
10. What is your favorite CD at the moment? I keep coming back to Jack Johnson "In Between Dreams"... other than that, I listen to mixes mostly
11. What kind of car do you drive? 2004 Honda Civic, "Bret"
12. Favorite sandwich? I think it's called the Engenieer from Firehouse Subs... turkey with mushrooms
13. What characteristic do you despise? when a person can't speak without their comments being saturated with cynical sarcasm
14. Favorite item of clothing? Jeans (or a watch if accessories count!)
15. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? probably back to London
16. What color is your bathroom? white with light-colored wood wainscotting (sp?)
17. Favorite brand of clothing? Old Navy, anything from Target
18. Where would you retire to? I don't know... maybe Tennessee
19. What was your most memorable birthday? hmm... 16th, 21st
20. Favorite sport to watch? ha
21. Who do you least expect to send this back to you? I don't know
22. Person you expect to send it back first? I don't know
23. What fabric detergent do you use? Rob's :)
24. When is your birthday? September 16
25. Are you a morning person or a night person? Night
26. What is your shoe size? 8
27. Pets? not at my house... but a dog, cat, and bird at my parents' house... my dog is Toby, a Yorkie; my cat is Kitty, usually referred to as Miss Kitty, and she's enormous; my bird is a white dove named Daisy.
28. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with us? none that I can think of
29. What did you want to be when you were little? a singer (really little), then an optomitrist (in high school)
30. What are you today? still a student. soon to be a teacher... if I can get a job
31. What is your favorite candy? MilkyWay Midnight
32. What is your favorite flower? Orchids

Jul 7, 2005

poetry...

(Yes, this is my third post today.)

When I first started at Flagler I took a British Literature class with Dr. Todd Lidh, who is an incredible, fun teacher. Anyway, in that class I discovered that I really enjoy the poetry of John Donne (1572-1631). Ever since then, I have meant to go buy a book of his poetry, especailly since I sold back my Norton Anthology of British Literature. I finally got around to doing that last week before the road trip. I think John Donne is cool because we learned a little about his life in connection with the poems he wrote: his earlier poems are about love and life and death, but all from a very "worldly" perspective. Some even a bit scandelous (sp?). But then he became a Christian and got to know God and became involved with the Church, and it is so evident in his writing. I like his earlier poems, but I especially like the ones after his conversion, mostly the Holy Sonnets. Anyway, for today, here's one of his earlier ones that I like.

Lovers' Infiniteness

If yet I have not all thy love,
Dear, I shall never have it all;
I cannot breathe one other sigh, to move,
Nor can entreat one other tear to fall,
And all my treasure, which should purchase thee,
Sighs, tears, and oaths, and letters I have spent.
Yet no more can be due to me,
Than at the bargain made was meant.
If then thy gift of love were partial,
That some to me, some should to others fall,
Dear, I shall never have thee all.

Or if then thou gavest me all,
All was but all, which thou hadst then;
But if in thy heart, since, there be or shall
New love created be, by other men,
Which have their stocks entire, and can in tears,
In sighs, in oaths, and letters outbid me,
This new love may beget new fears,
For, this love was not vow'd by thee.
And yet it was, thy gift being general,
The ground, thy heart, is mine; whatever shall
Grow there, dear, I should have it all.

Yet I would not have all yet,
He that hath all can have no more,
And since my love doth every day admit
New growth, thou shouldst have new rewards in store;
Thou canst not every day give me thy heart,
If thou canst give it, then thou never gavest it:
Love's riddles are, that though thy heart depart,
It stays at home, and thou with losing savest it:
But we will have a way more liberal,
Than changing hearts, to join them, so we shall
Be one, and one another's all.
first and last...

Okay, so I'm the last one to do this survey, but clearly I have nothing to do today, so here it is.

Firsts:
First best friend:
Allison Adams, first and always
First car: 1994 Nissan Sentra. He was good to me.
First date: What you think is a date at one point in your life doesn't necessarily seem like a date later in life. So here are the options: Eric in 5th grade... I invited him to a dinner at my school... how cheesy. Daniel in 8th grade (he was much older than me... three years)... various places during our three-month pseudo-dating relationship. Then there's the unofficial going-on-a-date-with-your-good-friend thing where it's a date but without any romantic aspect (aside from maybe an unmentioned two-way crush)... 11th grade with Adam (also three years older) to Ichetucknee with friends Jessie and Daniel... even though not romantic, definitely the best one up until that point. FINALLY the first thing actually even resembling a real date was Junior year of college with Andrew (this time younger... that didn't work)... we went to Jonny Carinos with Greg and Laci. THE END.
First kiss: Andrew. (I got a late start. I'm glad.)
First break-up by you: long story
First break-up by them: Eric
First screen name: meglee786 (my origional aol account... i was the last person on the planet to get the internet at my house!)
First self purchased album: haha... i think it was the Lion King soundtrack! no joke!
First funeral: One of my dad's uncles I think
First pets: Sweetpea (white mutt that looked like a small greyhound), and Cindy (mom's beagle-mix)
First piercing/tattoo: ears / no tattoos, although I consider one some days... it'll never happen though
First true love: Rob Stone :)
First enemy: Nicole Goodman... teacher's pet... everyone hated her
First big trip: what's big? North Carolina when I was like 6 with my parents. Chicago in 9th grade with band. First really big trip, and first time flying: London and Paris with choir, 11th grade.
First musician you remember hearing in your house: Everybody else had cool answers to this. I think mine was probably the Gathers, or some other Southern Gospel music group.

LASTS!!
Last car ride:
last night, home from Fusion
Last kiss: last night
Last Hookup: Depends on your definition of hookup... none, in the "adult" sense of the term.
Last good cry: probably a few weeks ago when I was really sick
Last library book checked out: A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggars, along with a Time photography book and a random little book called Bitter with Baggage Seeks Same where the creator/author made little diaramas with toy chickens and made up a one-sentance story to go with each of them. It was pretty dang funny.
Last movie seen: I can't keep track anymore. In the theater, I think it was Mr. and Mrs. Smith
Last beverage drink: water
Last food consumed: leftover pizza and a little chocolate candy
Last crush: Robert Stone
Last phone call: I called Ann from work this morning to find out when I'm supposed to work
Last time showered: yesterday... i haven't changed out of my pjs yet today
Last shoes worn: My black and pink Airwalks last night
Last cd played: last night in my car, Jack Johnson's newest (can't think of the name right now), but woke up to Mae
Last item bought: umm... a sandwich wrap from Blimpie yesterday
Last annoyance: the state of our kitchen yesterday
Last disappointment: remembering yet another girl I graduated with who has a baby
Last time scolded: can't think of anything for scolded, but nagged by my mom on Tuesday night about school finances
Last shirt worn: wearing my Fusion conversation-starter question T-shirt
Last website visited: Megan Smith's livejournal
things i forgot...

Last night as I was journaling a similar entry as the last one in my real journal, I realized I left out a few details that are worth mentioning. First of all, on Saturday I shot a rifle. It was the very first time I'd ever shot a gun, and I was admittedly a little nervous about it, not knowing how easy or hard it would be to hit my target. The six of us had a target shooting challenge where the winner was promised $20. We had small paper bullseyes attached to a tree stump to aim at. We each took two practice shots, and then we got six shots each. The targets have a bullseye and then concentric circles labled 1-5 extending outward. The goal was to get all shots inside the 2 or better. While I did not win by any means, I did manage to get all my shots in the 2 to 3 range, save one stray shot that hit the lower corner of the paper. Maybe it's a little hick to say, but it was really fun.

Rob and I have started watching the first season DVDs of "One Tree Hill" so we squeezed in as many episodes as we could while we were at the cabin. It's a pretty good show as far as high school dramas go, but not as good as "The O.C." in my opinion.

One of my favorite things about Saturday was driving the mountain roads with windows down and worship music blaring. There's something special to me about being able to experience God's beautiful creation while singing praises to Him. The weather was perfect and it was just a wonderful experience.

What I miss most about the time I spent in Georgia last summer is being able to watch the fireflies at dusk every day. I was thrilled to be able to see them again this weekend. They really amaze me. I'm convinced God made them just to give us pleasure.

Well, that's about it for the trip. Since I've been back in town I've been trying to get in touch with my work (which only consists of the store owner and one other lady) to find out what days I'm supposed to work. I finally got hold of "the other lady" (Ann) this morning, and clearly there was some miscommunication because I was supposed to go in yesterday but didn't know, and she didn't know that I was out of town on Monday (although the owner knew) so the store hasn't been open since Sunday (we're closed on Tuesdays anyway). Woops. I figure (a) it's not my fault because the owner lost the calendar so we couldn't adequately plan ahead last week, and (b) it's not that big of a deal because I opened two extra days last week while the owner was out of town. So that's the minimal amount of drama that's going on in my life this week. So I'm only working on Friday I guess. Anyway. Tonight will be my soon-to-be world-famous enchiladas for me and Rob. Yummy. I'll post again when exciting things happen.

Oh... ps, I'm reading the book Girl Meets God and it's really, really good. I highly recommend it. It's about a girl who is born to a Jewish father and Southern Baptist mother, neither of whom are "practicing." When she's old enough to decide, she converts to Orthodox Judaism, but later feels God's call on her life and converts to Christianity. The book is basically an honest look at her faith struggle. It's so good. Anyone could relate to her struggle on so many levels.

Later.

Jul 6, 2005

i'm back...

Sorry for the lack of posting recently. I was out of town for a Fourth of July vacation with Rob. We went up to spend some time with his family in their cabin in Suches, Georgia. We left on Friday after we both got done with work and stayed through till Tuesday afternoon. It was a wonderful time of relaxation and fun. The cabin is up on a mountain, so the last leg of the trip there (around 2:30 am) was a winding one. I spotted several deer, but Rob was unable to catch sight of them, as he was more importantly watching the road. We were greeted by Grandma Jessie and Mrs. Barbie (Rob's mom) and headed directly for bed as soon as we walked in the door. The next morning Rob's Uncle Keith arrived prior to the two of us waking up. Saturday was spent seeing the area, and more or less just bumming around the fire and the cabin. Sunday we attended a church service at the lake, which is apparently a regular event for those who are staying on the mountain. We then headed down to the valley, Dahlonega, to get lunch at a Mexican restaurant. The afternoon was relaxing, then later that evening we went to the Woody's home (long time friends of the family) for a barbecue. It was a good time. It was cool to see a bunch of families who have been friends for an incredibly long time all together and enjoying each other's company. Probably the coolest part of the evening was towards the end when everyone gathered inside around the piano and we all sang old hymns together for hours. It's such a connecting thing to me when families sing together. It was really neat. Monday, the Fourth, we said goodbye to Grandma Jessie and Keith as they were leaving, and then the four of us went into Dahlonega for "Family Day" where they have a bunch of tent vendors and what-not set up in the town square. I think the event was smaller than it normally is, but it was still fun. And while there, Rob surprised me with a really nice Willow Tree figurine that he says reminds him of us. I really like it... it was really sweet of him. We went back up the mountain and waited for the rain that had settled in again to stop, but later in the evening we went to see the fireworks, but again had to make accomodations for the rain. The fireworks were entertaining, if nothing else, because it's at the local school and they set up all the fireworks on their outdoor basketball court and a bunch of guys run around and light them by hand, all while this countriest-of country man talked to the crowd on his karaoke-type microphone. I was certain one of the men with lighters was going to die before the night was over. Especially when they had to do an all-of-a-sudden finalie, setting off hundreds of fireworks at once to get them finished before the rain began to pour. After getting home and drying off, Rob and I played team Rummy with his parents (girls v. guys) and had a great time laughing and joking around. He and I both agreed it was probably the best time of the trip. Tuesdsay we ate lunch at the Mexican place again and then headed for home. It was a great trip. I would close this post out with a better summary statement, but I'm about to be late for my leadership meeting, so I have to go. Later.