updates on life...

I figured I'd write a quick post about what's going on in my life these days, for those who care or don't know. I have my second (of three) teacher certification exam tomorrow, which shouldn't be a big deal. Then I have next week totally off, then I start my internship on August 1, which is cool but a little scary. I'm glad I'm interning in the fall though because I get to do the teacher preplanning stuff, which should be quite helpful in a lot of ways. My good buddy Holly interned in the spring, and then even taught for real for a year, and still hasn't had a preplanning period, and she says she really misses that. My only regret, and it's a small one, is that the week of preplanning doesn't actually "count" for anything. Meaning that I do an extra week of internship in comparison to those who do it in the spring. But I think it'll be beneficial enough to make up for that. And what's a week really anyway? So that's that. As of August 1st, I'll be working a full-time job with no pay for 15 weeks. Oh boy.

Other than all that stuff, nothing's really particularly new. I have completed FOUR entire books this summer, and I'm in the middle of two different books of short stories. That's a HUGE accomplishment for me, for those who don't realize. I think what happened, other than boredom, was that I knew reading is a beneficial activity (I'm especially compelled to say this as a future educator) but when I looked at my own life I realized that I pretty much never read for my own enjoyment. The only books that I have read cover-to-cover in the past ten years have either been assigned to me for school or ones that I read for church or something. So I decided to become a reader. Not one of those die-hard crazy people, like a lady I saw the other day who had her book out in the movie theater before the movie started, but just a person who is in the habit of reading on a regular basis. So yeah. The titles of the ones I have finished are as follows: Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggars, Girl Meets God by Lauren F. Winner, and Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller. I'm in the middle of The Harliquine Tea Set, and other short stories by Agatha Christie (which I had started reading a long time ago and then set aside), as well as Nine Stories by J.D.Salinger. I started Catcher in the Rye (also by J.D.Salinger) but didn't like it for the fact that he cursed every other line, and it was just flat out distracting from the story. His short stories are good, but some of them have abrupt or anticlimatic endings. Overall, not bad though. Agatha Christie has long been my favorite author, but I am starting to appreciate things about her that I never thought about before. For example, in contrast to Salinger and many other writers, she is equally as good at her short stories as she is at her long ones. Rob and I discussed the other day how most writers seem to have trouble switching from long to short stories or vice versa. Christie can do it though. So anyway, enough about that. I would highly recommend all four of the books I read to anyone. All but Cat's Cradle are memoire-ish. A.H.W.O.S.G. (as it is abbreviated at the top of every page of the book) also uses a few more choice words than I would actually prefer, but they come in sperts, so I was able to get over it. Besides, parts of it are completely hilarious. Girl Meets God and Blue Like Jazz are both Christian memoires, but in a really true-to-life sort of way that is very refreshing to read. So thanks for joining me for Meg's summer book review! Didn't expect this to be this long!

So other than that, the summer's been nice. Hot, but nice. Quiet times have been really good for me lately. I'm realizing more and more the importance of accountability and the joy of sharing with other people what I'm learning from God. Rob and Krissy have made these past two weeks really good. Speaking of, Rob and I have been together 8 months now, which is kinda crazy! We always talk about how sometimes it feels like forever, and then again it'll feel like we just met. It's cool how good relationships feel like that. Friendships seem to go that way too sometimes.
I'm on a fruit kick right now. I realize that I'll never actually eat as many vegetables as I should, so I figure I'll do as good as I can with fruit. I like fruit.
"The group" from church has started up playing Ultimate Frisbee again on Sunday afternoons. They've only gone out two weeks so far, neither of which have I joined in on. The first week was raining, and last week was unbearably hot. I might be a sport and play this week. But then again, if I do it once, I'll never be able to get out of it again. It's just not my thing. We'll see.
Rob and I have gotten to hang out with Holly and Kyle a bunch lately, which has been really fun. I'm so glad they're back. Holly spoke at Fusion this week, and it was incredible. It's cool to see how much God has done in her life.
After my test tomorrow, there's a chance Rob might get hooked up with a kiyak (sp?... that can't be right) so we might go out on the water for a while. That'll be fun.
I think I'm out of random things to tell you about, so I'm gonna go now. Have a relaxing weekend! Later!

take...

Take my life and let it be consecrated Lord, to Thee;
Take my hands and let them move at the impulse of Thy love,
at the impulse of Thy love.

Take my feet and let them be swift and beautiful for Thee;
Take my voice and let me sing always, only, for my King,
always, only for my King.

Take my love my God I pour at Thy feet its treasure store;
Take myself and I will be ever, only, all for Thee,
ever, only, all for Thee.