A Good Finish

This weekend was my last New England quiz meet (not counting Regionals) for a long time, if ever again. Sad. I know I'll see a handful of them at Regionals in a month, or in other contexts, and I'll still "see" them on Facebook. But still, this weekend began my goodbyes that I am saying in the next couple months.

HIGHLIGHTS!

Friday night:
*Hitting the PANIC button on my remote key, thus setting off my car alarm as I opened my trunk. Then when I went to close it, I hit Matt's arm with the trunk hatch. Sorry, Matt.
*We got lost on our way there. Really lost. Like going into downtown Lowell when we didn't have to. I asked a police officer for directions (stereotypically enough, he was at Dunkin's), and then we were looking for VFW parkway, a McDonald's, and... a legit bridge (i.e., one that actually went over water, not a road). We finally found the "legit bridge", and then...made not just one wrong turn, but 2.
*"SLOW--Senior Citizen Zone" and "SENIOR SAFETY ZONE" signs were by the Council on Aging. After taking pictures of these, and following directions from a random person in an apartment complex parking lot, we went back to the original McDonalds.
*There we discovered the road we needed ALL ALONG, and it was next to a LEGIT BRIDGE!!! So frustrating!
*A cold night on the floor--I even had my head inside my sleeping bag! The temperatures were completely opposite from the way they are in my top bunk in Munro.

Saturday
*Quizmastering while ridiculously drowsy--until my hot tea (aka caffeine) kicked in!
*Matt had Jen and I come up after the high school seniors shared what their plans were for after graduation and what quizzing has meant to them, and thanked us for working with quizzing, and all that good stuff. Thanks, Matt for your antics but also your willingness to help!
*Also, a BIG thank you to all the NED quizzing folks that contributed toward my Ukraine trip fund -- the total was $109!!!

Saturday afternoon/evening
*Congratulations to Wolly's JV team (Nick, Emily, Cindi) for making it to Regionals as a JV local team!!! (2nd place)
*Congrats to Robert (varsity) and Nick (JV) for making the all-star teams!!
*Taking pictures of Matt while he was sleeping, and Jen taking pictures of us--I have a look of "I'm going to smile for the camera but I want to make sure I don't drive my car into another car or curb"
*Exhaustion.

unity!

Remember "one in heart and mind"?

Let's live it.

(from my favorite Christmas song)
O come, Desire of nations, bind
In one the hearts of all mankind;
Bid Thou our sad divisions cease,
And be Thyself our King of Peace.

I don't quite get how two people in ministry type positions can have such a falling-out that neither really cares for the other anymore. It doesn't seem to be right, to be a role model but not be striving for unity within the leadership group. It doesn't seem fair that if one of those we are leading is struggling with the same kind of friendship issue but wants things to turn out well, they would have to see a broken role model. Yet humans are broken and fallen people. I know that is what causes that, but it just doesn't seem right.

I am very much like Jane Bennet in Pride & Prejudice, who wants to believe only good of those she knows. (Elizabeth speaking to Jane) "Oh! you are a great deal too apt, you know, to like people in general. You never see a fault in anybody. All the world are good and agreeable in your eyes. I never heard you speak ill of a human being in your life."
I see the good in others for the most part, ignoring their negative qualities, and still treating them as a decent person. It's not till someone points out the negative qualities and what they mean that I notice flaws in others. At this point, I still treat the person the same, but possibly with a bit of skepticism/curiousity in my thoughts.

festival of life weekend!

This weekend was pretty much amazing, since it was Festival of Life and lots of people from my home district came to visit and do competition stuff.

I saw Erlene from Maine, but couldn't remember how I knew her at first. haha oh dear. That's what happens when all these people I know from different places invade campus at the same time.

I got to see Brian Hull, who's one of the major head people (how do you like that title?) of NYC '07. I talked to him some about YIM, and tried to put him in contact with Missa, who's going on the NYC team this summer. Plus I met Dave Curtiss, who was an excellent speaker. I liked the background into Judaism, and the way he talked about the kingdom of heaven reminded me of Brian McLaren's works. He talked about how Christ has saved us TO do something, not just FROM sin, and that we need to help mend a broken world.
"Jesus living isn't comfortable"
"Your good deeds are the very deeds that plant the trees of heaven."

Most of the high schoolers I didn't know, except for Kevin and Alex, and kind of a few others. So I felt like hanging out with the youth pastor types, especially since this year with quizzing I've basically been doing youth ministry. Someday I think it'd be cool to help coordinate stuff for something like FOL, behind the scenes.

Saturday I did a lot of hanging out with the Mosers since Melissa was coaching the (champion) math/sci quiz team....especially Maddox (age 3)
me: "Are you having fun, Maddox?"
him: (in a glum tone) "Yeah...."
I had him on my back during the worship service, and Melissa noticed that he was closing his eyes. Haha. Then when Dave C. got up to speak, and we were sitting down, Maddox wanted a piggyback ride again, but I told him no, not till after the service. He ended up going to his parents in the pew in front of us, with his lower lip in a pouty face. I guess I broke his heart or something. haha.

It was also super to have Leslie and Roger up too, since they're closer to my age. Leslie and I took the T into Boston on Saturday afternoon, and walked from Park Street to Quincy Market, and near the water a bit too. We bought sweatshirts that say "BOSTON" across the front, and wandered around a good bit, running into people from our district. We took random pictures too. :)

I got to talk to Pastor Kevin for a while, about what he thought about evolution vs. creation, and what he'd tell his kids, and some ENC/Olivet stuff. Mostly he was saying that we don't know what went on at the time of creation, and that God's still creating. He also likes Brian McLaren's synthesis of the Bible in The Story We Find Ourselves In. We talked about how my church is gung ho about missions abroad, but yet we don't do stuff in Chestertown. We shouldn't be thinking that the world is out to get us or whatever. It was really cool to hear that his kids learn about God from him and Joy, and that they have spiritual conversations about stuff. Like their 6 year old asking, "If God loves me so much, why do I have these allergies?" Also something that is cool is that he'll be the guest speaker at Regionals Quizzing! Hooray!

We got back from Boston just in time for me to run to the front of Wolly and help hand out medals. That was fun, and at one point, Brian Hancock just accumulated the extra medals around his neck, so I asked him, "Why do you have those?" Kevin answered, "What, you think he doesn't deserve them?" He gave them back later. :)

Saturday night after the service, I said goodbye to people, and then stood there a while with Jen S, Josh B, and Leslie. We figured out that I was the only one in the bunch not certified in First Aid/CPR, and Leslie was divvying up who would do which part of CPR to save me: "You do this, you do that, and I'll--I'm not doing mouth to mouth."

We ran into Bryan, with Coco the Furby. Oh man. That was crazy. Leslie, Josh, and I ended up hanging out with Sam, Roger, and Leif for quite a while (till about 1:30), as the guys played music (mostly Calibrett0 13 songs) and we took pictures and video for them. It was a LOT of fun.

Now, however, is crunch time, as I have a final project paper due next Wednesday, and I'm only about 20% of the way done. Not to mention, my research and plan took a crazy turn today.

boston!

This weekend was pretty much amazing. Thursday night inaugurated the Honors weekend, which meant I got to see Erin!!! It was pretty cool to catch up with her, and we walked around Wolly area, and the beach, talking and stuff. Except she ended up having to stay in another room. :( Funny thing--I started telling her about YIM, and she was like, "Oh yeah! Merritt told me!" Crazy small (Nazarene) world.

Friday night a few of us honors students, along with the KP's, went to Blue Man Group, and saw the Honors students for all of about 30 seconds before we parted ways again. It was a good show--as it went on, I remembered stuff from the first time I saw it.

(me with a Blue Man after the show)

Saturday morning Jen and I joined the group to go to the Prudential Center Skywalk, so we could look out on the city. That was pretty much amazing. I am pretty sure I saw Wolly church from the top!!! Visibility was great: you could see for MILES.

(tweaked image--I'm not sure how the quality is, but that's basically what I saw with just my eyes. The large circle on the left is around UMass Boston. The one farthest on the right is the Keyspan oil thing. The closer small circle is around the two yacht clubs at Wolly beach, and the distant one is of that crane you can see at the Quincy Wal-Mart. The yellow rectangle is approximately where Wollaston is. Pretty crazy, right?)

(Copley Square area, I think this is my favoritest part of Boston...the red roofed building and the one attached to it is the Boston Public Library--HUGE!!!)

(someday I want to live in one of these brownstone types....when I can afford it...this is the Back Bay area)

(Hancock Building)

(we were up there!!! to my Arts and Music classmates, this photograph has a strong vertical composition)

Then we joined up with the MFA group at Park Street and walked some of the Freedom Trail before getting to Quincy Market. I re-discovered the intersection where the Boston Massacre took place (I have a picture from when I visited Boston in 8th grade, but didn't remember where exactly it was).

Dr. Wooster, retelling him asking a pretzel vendor: "I asked him, 'How salty are your pretzels?' '$2.50.' "

Alain, pretending to be Amy: "I always carry my game console in my handbag."

There were other good quotes too, and fun times with Jen...like when we were walking back down Elm Ave, and we linked arms so that one of us faced forward and the other faced backwards. We were singing, "Turn around," and changing directions. We also skipped around Boston. :)

home quiz!

This weekend there was a quiz meet here at Wolly, which was really weird because it was like two of my worlds were colliding. We ate lunch in the caf, and Novice was in Angell Hall. I scorekept for about half the day on the second floor of Wolly, and then for about 5-6 rounds I quizmastered while Leta scorekept. I wasn't agreeing with some of the calls she made, but then when I was quizmastering, I felt like all I was doing was calling people wrong. Ah well. Luke said they were "fair."

Memorable moments from the past 24 hours:
~Joline stealing Preston away from Kerri (in a SKIT!)
Lori: "I'm going to have to speak to my daughter after this"
Andrew: "No, I'M going to have to speak to your daughter"

~Tenny: "Oh, Preston, Preston"

~Jocey, in Prof's office: "Oh look, a guy in a golden chair!" (pulls bookend out, and the books fall) "oops"

~"This bus felt like a capsizing ship as we went over that bump" (Lucas)

~said enthusiastically, "I'm running on pure adrenaline right now. WOOHOO!!" (Becky)

~Jocey about the earlier chapters, "I still got it" and "Hallelujah!"

~I really officially met Alain, and I got to see Nandi for all of about 30 seconds.

~to Becky about 6 yr old Anne pretending she couldn't get up: "She hangs out with you"

~coming back to the dorm and freaking out Magon and Rebekah
Rebekah: "Whose purse is this?"
Magon: "Not mine"
Me, showing up: "Mine"
Rebekah/Magon: "AAAHHH!!"

~Sondra: "Look at your HAIR!"
Joel: "I can't! It's on top of my head!"

~"Why is there a man with an elephant on his head?" (Jocey in Prof's office)

~Joel: "Our worlds are colliding! How'd I get another fork?"

~being amused by a water bottle. Joline was tossing it around on the floor, and managed to get it to stand up. "I bet I couldn't do that again in my LIFE if I tried!" then Matt, Katrina, Joel and I clapped for her and the waterbottle till she DID IT AGAIN!!! hahaha it was amazing.

~Preston: "Let's go! I'm hungry" (right after being really amused by the paddleball toy)
me: "He's probably going to get there, see the food, and change his mind."
Ten minutes later I get to the caf....
Joel: "Where's Preston?"
Kerri: "He left. He wasn't hungry"

~Joel: "I have no problem going back to prison"

~Pastor Steve said some reps from Kansas City are going to come check out MAD's Preteen quizzing program....pretty sweet.

saying it again...

Yes, everyone, I've said this a bazillion times, but I LOVE WOLLY QUIZZING.

Tonight was our last practice before all of us ENCers head out for break. Sadly, it was also Shea's and Jenny O's last practice ever. I'm wicked sad that they're leaving. Shea because there will now be a "Shea-shaped hole" in quizzing, in Science and Religion class next semester, and in life overall. Jenny O because she is cool and from out west and now has named what I'm doing next fall. :)

We "gave each other gifts" in the form of compliments, saying what we appreciated about the group as a whole, or about specific individuals. It was wonderful. Especially the goodies Sondra brought.

First of all, Lucas kept us all laughing...not constantly, but still. He asked me if the little koosh type dinosaur was edible (the one that looked like Jennie's Phillip). Ohhh Lucas. He shared at least 5 times, and Prof stopped him after 5 (or so). One of the times, he couldn't remember what he was going to say (seems to happen a lot?), and said something along the lines of 30
seconds would pass, and then he'd get it wrong, but then remember. Haha.

Second, it was just good for everyone to see that they were appreciated for SOMETHING, even if it's not always said. Like me with my organization and "logic"--"It's a good logic, it's not a mean logic," Luke said. Heh. And then a little while later, I was like, "Hey guys, for all this talk of organization, Jenny O's card seems to have vanished." Then it was found. :) You also had the people who were simply described by their names--Preston and Andrew. :)

So yeah, I'm definitely a "words of affirmation" type person. :) Pastor Mike called me right
before dinner!!!! I haven't talked to him in what seems like eons! I only got to talk to him for a little bit before eating, but I'm going to call him Saturday once I'm done with stuff. I can't wait to catch up with him later.

I can't wait to hear about YIM...though...one of my references didn't get in to them. Hopefully that'll be fine. If God wants me to go, I'll go. Easy as pie, right? I hope so.

I have to study now for Foundations of Ed and Calc 3. Gross. At least the room is quiet for right now. These next few days are going to be some intense days of working and studying. BUT...at least I'm done with CAS for the semester!
Kbye.

Let me just say today was a pretty fun day, and I'm really tired...here's how it went; a real update is coming tomorrow.

7:45 am Woke up, took shower, got ready to leave
8:30 am Left a few mins. early to go to Jocelyn's
9 am Got to Jocelyn's
9:30 or so, left Jocelyn's
10:15 Picked up Ben at Queenstown
10:45 I guess, got Darlene at the Scenic overlook

...parked the car...walked around downtown...a LOT...took pictures...laughed...ate at Chick & Ruth's...etc etc.

Then after that, around 3 I guess we left Annapolis. It took us half an hour to go from the Wawa on 50 to get over to the other side of the Bridge--what should've been maybe 10 mins with no beach traffic. I dropped Ben and Jocelyn off at Queenstown, went to a graduation party at Kristin's, went home, and then *deep breath!* went to babysit for about 2 1/2 hours.

..........edit..........

Wow, I was so tired last night I left my wallet in my pants pocket and forgot that I had put it there...until this afternoon.

Anyway, yesterday was a lot of fun. After getting Jocelyn, we were driving along and she told me to go right. So I went onto the right hand side of the road, but she was still insisting for me to go right. haha she meant left. Almost like Magon that night we were on the beach. We also saw some roadkill, which she thought was an armadillo, but I think it was a chicken....hence you can make some "chicken crossing the road" jokes.

Hmm let's see other interesting stuff....We wandered around downtown, looking in random shops...Darlene saw a little pottery bowl, that was so cute she said she wanted to pet it. They had what I figured were "chopsticks for dummies" but actually it was something to grab toast out of the toaster. We also went to a running store called "Gotta Run."

MD State House

We ate lunch at this "delly" called "Chick & Ruth's". I had a grilled chicken sandwich, Darlene and Ben had hamburgers, and Jocelyn had a "petite" salad--that was the size of a plate. We think the regular size would've been in another bowl we saw at the pottery shop. One time a woman came from behind us and we--well Darlene anyway--wasn't sure where she came from, and then realized she came from inside the bathroom. Haha.

We wandered around by the city docks...and took pictures of the boats in the harbor/river/whatever. Then we walked over to the Naval Academy, and walked to the chapel...that was cool. The stained glass windows on the sides as you walk up all have verses relating to the sea.

We then went back outside, and then down to the John Paul Jones ("I have not yet begun to fight") crypt, where his body is. It's basically this round room (I guess it's right under the rotunda of the chapel), kinda quiet and echoey, where a middie stands by the entrance like one of those Buckingham Guards--"I am going to glare straight ahead and freak you out and not at all break my stare or laugh". When I went there on a field trip years ago, some kids were being loud, so the guy yelled at them. It was kinda freaky.

So...Darlene and I had made it almost all the way around (Jocelyn and Ben were moving a little slower--I guess they were reading more of the stuff), when her cell phone rang. HAHAHAHA. The guy didn't yell at us; I don't even know if he looked our way. So Darlene's digging through her purse, handing me her wallet, her water bottle, her keys. But no cell phone. Finally it stopped, and then she discovered--it was in her pocket. LOL.

Kristin's party was pretty cool. I knew about 5 people there, the kids from QA. Scott's going to UMD to do Communications and Drama. Yay for him. And Megan's going to Washington College (right in town) for Elem. Ed I think.

Last night with Sarah and Hannah, I must have pretended it was Christmas about 5 times. We also threw these little parachute things a bunch of times. It was nice last night that the girls were getting along fairly well, and I didn't really have to sit and play actively with them the entire time (whew. finally had time to sit and rest)

Today John Mark's dad preached again, on the Samaritan woman at the well. This time I liked the sermon--except how he skipped a few verses "because they didn't relate to his sermon".

Oh, and here are some comics I especially liked today:

allnighter

Oh man that was a fun night. A whole bunch of us pulled an all-nighter and watched the sun rise.

At around 6:30pm, we went into Boston to Harvard Square to walk around. We ended up going to Baskin' Robbins and Dunkin Donuts, before just plain wandering around.

Once we got back, I took a nap from 11:15-12:15. Rachel woke me up, and I was so out of it. She poked me and I didn't even wake up right away. Apparently I asked her when she was leaving, and getting up, and said "What the crap" a couple of times. Then I decided I wasn't going to go, so Rachel left. Then I followed her down the hall to go talk to Shawn and Magon. After I got back, I decided I did want to go after all. So I went.

We stayed out till sunrise, and laughed and ate candy and snacks. I came back to campus around 4 am to go to the bathroom, and didn't fall asleep at all while on the beach. We played the "ten fingers" game, aka "Never have I ever..." I got a lot of great quotes.

Pictures can be seen on my facebook account:
http://enc.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2001835&l=dfa36&id=149000082

Erica: "Was that you that changed my background?"
Troxler: "No, it was Jiminy Cricket. Let your conscience be your guide."

Magon, talking about the name Jesus: "How is it a word?"

Pearl: "Are you putting ENC on the same level as Jesus?"

Pearl: "Lightbulbs? Who likes lightbulbs?" (makes camera flash) "How about now? Do you like lightbulbs now?"

Marie: "Goodness gracious Christians"

somebody: "Anna's fish is a [censored]"

somebody else: "I thought I had mono for an entire year. Then it turned out I was just bored."

(I took a picture right next to Marie's face) Marie: "My whole life flashed before my eyes!"

~spin the corn pops

Pearl: "A salty sugary chocolatey snack? That sounds DISGUSTING."

Me: "I wish I had friends" (at this point they thought I would leave it at that) "in other time zones so I could call them in the middle of the night"

~apparently boys make better machine gun sounds than girls

Pearl: "You almost lashed out at me out of habit."

~coming back from the T, I think it might have been Shawn that said, "I'm dumb, okay?" Someone heard "Gollum" from that, and then Preston, from "gollum" heard "You're Allah?"

Leman at 3:24 am (for this one quote I decided that writing down the times would be interesting, but ended up not continuing it): "Well I'm going to lay down in the fetal position"

Shawn: "Sorry Andrew Leman for kicking you in the head."

Troxler, saying this before a question was even asked: "Oh I know the answer."

Pearl: "My toe is falling asleep."

~a raccoon glared Ben and I down on our way back to the beach at 4 am

Troxler, on her sleeping bag: "This smells like chocolate. That's because I'm sleeping on chocolate."

Erica: "I don't trash on me"

Leman: "Are there any fish out there?" (in Quincy Bay)
Pearl: "Yeah, but they have three eyes"

Magon: "Jess, move your head to the left"
(I move my head to my left)
Magon: "That's not your left"
me: "Yes it is"

Easter weekend

Yay! Tomorrow is my last day of classes before break! But, then I have homework to do. Boooooo...
~Western Heritage term paper (Having just written two other papers this week, I think I can manage another one. Maybe)
~Physical Science homework due Tuesday
~reading the below book for Western Heritage

But...good things are happening this weekend:
~Thursday night: South Weymouth's Easter musical
~Friday night: dinner at Aunt Lori's
~Saturday: Marathon Expo with Mark, Ann, Sarah, and maybe Jeff
~Sunday morning: church at South Weymouth
~Sunday afternoon: dinner at Jeff and Dorothy's with Dorothy's family and also Jocelyn
~Monday: watching the Marathon, either in Boston or Natick (at Sarah's brother's place)

I crack myself up....This is the second sentence of my Physical Science paper about the Hubble telescope. (PS Isn't Hubble a funny word to say?) "It has proved to be an advantageous tool to astronomers and a purveyor of fantastic-looking images to amateurs." Why do I use such big words?

I got to talk to my lovely Meghan tonight...she's pretty amazing and I can't wait for her to come to ENC next fall! "Take each day as it comes..." she says.

quote from Under a Cruel Star (p45):
"Some people came back silent, and some talked incessantly as though talking about a thing would make it vanish. Actually, just the opposite is true: once things and thoughts are expressed and described they acquire a new reality, as though by giving them words we give them part of ourselves. After that, they will not allow us to leave them behind."

quotations...!

Talking to Suzanne while she was behind Spange: "How can we find you if you're hiding?" (erm, isn't that the point?)

Me: "If you ever need ribbon, I have a bunch."
Rachel: (no response, then...) "Did I respond to you? Cuz I did in my head"

Magon: "Marie, that's a really nasty looking something something on your spoon."
"We could change our name to Eastern Mormon College"...Matt: "5 rings by spring or your money back!"

<-- Google backwards!

Goings-on of Thursday:
~went to Severson's lecture on cities of refuge and "the church as asylum"
~saw The Blue Light and other stories....GO SEE IT! IT's AMAZING!!!
~talked to Ann who went to Belize with me...I miss them so much....hopefully I'll see her next week and we'll go find people (ahem) during open dorms bwahaha.
~playing cards in Spange...and Sam and I doing tricks that no one else knew:

Shawn: "I'm going to go find someone else Nazarene and get them to explain it to me"

Shawn: "I have no idea what I just said, i'm so tired, stuff just came out of my mouth"
Sam: "Like spit?"

Awww....I was reading an article online about Romanian orphanages, and they had a picture of this little girl peeking from behind a chair. She was so adorable...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060217/sc_nm/orphans_dc
Yeah. Just thought I'd share with you....it was an interesting article too.

****edit****
Oh wow had some interesting adventures tonight....I rode the T into South Station, only to find out my mom was almost back at North Quincy, which I then went to...We got a ride from the hotel shuttle (driven by a Brazilian!), and went to the hotel for a little bit, then I caught the shuttle again back to the T, and went back to ENC.

I also got to talk to Olivia, part while I was in CVS, and part once I got back. It was good to talk to her. :)

Oh! my mom brought me lots of goodies...I'm most excited about a bunch of black ballpoint pens, my Joe Holt CD, laundry quarters, and my "portfolios" of sorts (my compilation of stories/papers I've written since I was a kid up to pre-graduating).

A whole bunch of us hung out in Spange tonight, and it was a lot of fun...

Cameron: "So, Jess, how bout that quiz today? It really ATE MY LUNCH!"

"Let's get mugged together!" (the idea of going on a TWIRP/MOP date to the T station)

Ben: "Who has my hat?"
Josh: "Jocelyn doesn't have it!"

Erin: "It looks like one of those...what are they called?....Ritz sandwiches"

Erin: "Jocelyn, you're the reason I get up in the morning"
Joe: "Is she that loud?"