10 Minutes in the Life of Mr. B

{Mr. B is one of our nicknames for Bluebonnet :) This is a little story about what he did this morning that I found amusing. The pictures were taken afterwards to recreate the scene.}

This morning soon after I got up Bluebonnet flew to the bathroom to sit on the towel rack and talk to the budgie in the mirror, as he often does:

I was busy doing other stuff at first and didn't notice what he was doing, but he evidently flew down to the counter and dropped one of "his" pencils (pencils are his favorite toy ever :D) off the counter and into the sink:

(If you can't tell, he's actually holding the pencil in his beak in this picture)

Anyway, when I started paying attention again he was talking to the broken hand mirror that sits on the counter:

Then he ran over to the edge of the counter looking for his pencil on the floor (where he usually drops it to):

Not finding the pencil there, he checked in the only other logical place he could think of - the sink!

Knowing that he couldn't go into the sink to play with the pencil, he ran back to his budgie friend in the mirror. But being the ADD budgie he is, he soon ran over to his other pencil on the counter. I had purposely tucked it behind some other stuff to make it more difficult for him to drop it over the edge:

Well he was a determined little fella. He hopped on top of my retainer case to get to it. After a couple tries, he got it out from behind the stuff:

And then, he carried it clear from about here to the edge and dropped it over! I've never seen him carry a pencil that far before - strong little budgie!

As soon as he had dropped it to the floor he flew down to join it. Again he lifted it clear off the ground and carried it for a little ways! About that time he realized I was watching him and so he got completely distracted ;-)

As I was taking pictures for this post, he did some other funny things. One of them was evidently stepping on the pencil which caused it to roll away from him. Since he's a rather timid little creature (he only weighs an ounce, after all!) he jumped when the pencil went rattling across the counter. I'm pretty sure this picture caught him in the middle of the jump :)

Here's a picture of him in the act of dropping a pencil over the edge of the counter. I don't know why he thinks it's so fun to make a pencil fall...but he does it a lot. Whenever I get home from being gone for a couple hours I find pencils on the floor throughout the house :D

A little later, he decided to take a shower. He takes showers by running around on my hands and arms while they're in the sink under the faucet on spray mode. He had a pretty good shower too! So afterwards he was a wet little budgie. You know the wet dog smell? Well it's true for birds too ;-)

The End. Thanks for reading! :D

Bluebonnet - the best little birdie ever!

This post is dedicated in honor of my pet budgerigar, Bluebonnet. This summer sometime (probably in July), he turned five, and August 25th was the 5th anniversary of the day I got him from the pet store.

My grandma and aunt were visiting from Sacramento, and they wanted to give me an early birthday present. So we were sitting out in the living room talking about it, and Mom was like "Why don't you get a pet bird?" I, of course, loved the idea, because I love animals and especially birds. I just wouldn't have guessed that Mom would be willing for me to get one! (And I would guess that sometimes she wishes she hadn't suggested it! ;-) )

So we got on the internet, did a little research, and discovered that budgerigars, also known as budgies or parakeets (they are actually a type of parakeet) make good first time pet birds. The next day we visited two pet stores, and I fell in love with a cute little (he really was littler than the other birds!) blue budgie. We brought him, a house (what I call his cage), food, toys, etc. all home, and that evening got him situated in his new home. The poor little guy was very scared, understandably!

Two days later we were already taking him out of the cage and having him sit on his playground. Much later, I learned that you should ideally go much slower than that when trying to tame a budgie. But I didn't know better, and thankfully Bluebonnet was very young and so he did great. I remember how we would give him spray millet on the playground so that he wouldn't immediately fly back to his house (I guess his wings weren't clipped very short!). We had to get a few things straightened out right off the bat. He did not eat pellets like they said he would - he wanted seeds! I also had to get him a different water bottle. But once we got those things switched around, he was happy.

We put his house out in our den where I spent most of my time doing schoolwork. Whenever Nathan or I walked in the room, we would tell him "Hi!" We talked to him a lot too. I don't remember too much more about "the early days." In November he had his first molt (molting is where a bird loses a lot of its feathers and new ones grow in). I did a little research and discovered that a bird's first molt is typically when they are 3 months old, so that's how I know about when he hatched. I think it was also in Novemeber that he said his first words: "pretty birdie!" He also soon learned how to say "Hi!", so whenever any of us came into the room he would greet us :)

[I'll add more to this later - I've got to go for now]

Time Machine!!

Hope you all are ready for a marathon, because that’s what I’m going to try to do – to get you all caught up on the last month and a half! So hang on to your seats…here we go! [The brackets are comments made from outside the time machine, knowing what I know now :D]

Thursday, September 17
Worked on revising my essay for English Comp. which was due the next day. Also made a “map” of the block I had described for the assignment. Stayed up a little past midnight.

Friday, September 18
Turned in the “Map of a Block” essay…did our first day of in class reporting for News Writing, had a “library day” for OTS, and left for Breakaway at about 6.
This is Sarah – she and I are in a couple classes together and we sat together on the bus ride.
Breakaway is the yearly student retreat. We went to Camp War Eagle, about two hours away I think…east and north of here. We had a main speaker (one of the Student Ministries workers I think…not a student anymore) who talked about osmosis – being filled with Christ and then going and spreading Christ’s love to our culture. We also had smaller groups that we met in to discuss what we were hearing. My group was mostly girls who are now in my Passion group (the small campus Bible study groups). I had a runny nose all evening/night…not exactly fun (the second half of my cold had definitely caught up with me).

Saturday, September 19
Spent the whole day at Breakaway. Sadly, it was kind of cold and rainy. L Another girl and I were going on a walk in the morning and we saw these two deer!!! They weren’t very scared of us at all and we just got to watch them for several minutes before they left – it was fun!
We had another big session in the morning and also met with our “breakout groups,” a group of two or three small groups led by a faculty member from JBU. Then all afternoon was free time. Camp War Eagle is amazing…it has a rock climbing wall, miniature golf, shooting ranges, archery, a skate park, etc. etc. etc. etc….. It wasn’t all open while we were there, but I was definitely impressed! Like I said, it was rainy all day. If it hadn’t been raining and if I hadn’t been feeling lousy, I would have gone on the Blob.
That’s the Blob. :D
Instead, I took a nap, did a little homework, played some sand volleyball, and also played some a couple card games.
We had more sessions after dinner, then left Camp War Eagle at about 10:00 pm and I got to bed about midnight. I was definitely very tired.
Here’s a picture of my small group. All but one girl is in my Passion group.

Sunday, September 20
I spent the morning babysitting at a church. If I hadn’t been gone all day Saturday I would definitely have contacted the lady and told her I couldn’t go…I still had somewhat of a runny nose and a horrible headache. Another girl and I were taking care of seven 4 and 5 year olds if I remember correctly. They were pretty good and a couple of them were down right sweet. It was nice to be around little kids again, but it would have been even better if I had been feeling 100%!
I think I took a nap after I got back to my room. Don’t remember what happened the rest of the day. Oh wait…I had to work my four hour shift in the caf because I had been gone on Saturday.

Monday, September 21
Nothing special comes to mind…and my journal entry doesn’t help any.

Tuesday, September 22
I think this was the day when the chapel speaker was a former professor from JBU. He was basically telling his life story. He and his college sweet heart got married, but then she got Multiple Sclerosis. For a while, he, as he put it, “deserted” her at an emotional level. God worked in his heart though, and he is now very devoted to her. His wife is now confined to a reclined wheel chair, and he still takes care of her every day. I think she’s had MS for almost 30 years. It was really neat to hear his story.
Spent two hours reading newspapers in preparation for a news quiz we might have had the next day. Also spent two hours watching Battle Over Citizen Kane which I had to do for Mass Media…so I didn’t get as much other homework done as I would have liked. In English Comp. class that day we were talking about evil…it was quite an interesting discussion…all about predestination vs. free will etc.

Wednesday, September 23
Went running that morning – two miles in 20:43. I sent in an application for an outside scholarship [which I didn’t end up getting…], but didn’t get a whole lot of homework done. Worked that evening and had my first Passion meeting. The first couple weeks we took turns telling our testimonies so we could get to know each other better.

Thursday, September 24
Ran again that morning…and got a much better time! Two miles in 19:53, then another mile on the treadmill in 9:40. Got back my essay from Comp. class, and I got an A :D

Friday, September 25
MY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!
Went running again that morning – I forget how far or what time. I had gotten several cards in the mail, so I decided to put them all on my door. I really should have gotten a picture, but I didn’t. L Oh well. Had my first college test – for Mass Media [I ended up with an A+ thanks to a few bonus points]. Dad and Mom and Nathan got here about half an hour before I had to go work in the caf…so we went out to grab a bite to eat at Arby’s, then they took me back to campus and went to set up camp while I worked. After work they came back to get me and they all got to see my room (since it was open dorm hours!). I don’t think we had a campfire that night…but I can’t remember for sure.
We camped at Natural Falls State Park in OK, the same park where we honors students had our cook out Labor Day weekend.

Saturday, September 26
A TERRIFIC RELAXING day!!!!!!!! Went for a walk with Dad after I got up, then went for a run with Nathan…4th day in a row of running…I hadn’t done that in a long time! We definitely had a cross-country style run…ran down a really steep hill and then Nathan expected me to run back up it!!!!!!! NO WAY. I walked up. At the end we tried to cross a creek across the trail and I got one shoe full of water……it was still fun and definitely worth it. We went about a mile and a half or so.
After breakfast I took my family down to see the water falls…they admitted later that when they got there Friday night and set up camp they were wondering why in the world I had wanted to go to that state park….and they’re right. There isn’t much at all to the park that’s easily visible. It’s once you hike down the trail a little bit and see the falls that you recognize the park’s beauty.

(by the way, that’s one of Nathan’s pictures…he got lots of really good ones!!!)

We went on several long walks that day in the park. I think we hiked every trail they have :D After lunch I opened my presents. Here’s what Nathan gave me:
That’s a picture of my budgie Bluebonnet. It’s already been kissed several several times :D
In the afternoon we went back to campus. Mom took a nap, Dad used my laptop, and Nathan tried to fix my bike…..the pedal had broken and we were trying to get it off in order to replace it. We couldn’t get it to budge though. [a couple weeks later one of the guys here was able to get the old pedal off easily using a better kind of tool, so I finally got my bike back].
We went to Braum’s and got some really yummy ice cream. That night we had a camp fire, cooked hot dogs and smores and enjoyed the stars and being out camping. It was GREAT!

Sunday, September 27
We all went to a church here in town together. For my Honors Orientation class, I had a group project coming up where we were supposed to learn about an assigned neighborhood. The church was in my neighborhood. Sarah (in the picture above from the bus ride) is in my small group for Honors Orientation, so she went with us. After church we went out for lunch at a restaurant in town. I had to work at 4, so I said farewell to my family. I was SO glad they had come :D (a picture of us all at the falls)
Work was pretty fun. For the first time I did a 4 hour shift without having to vacuum the whole place! I scanned people’s cards as they came in during dinner. After The Gathering (Sunday night student-led chapel) we had a little surprise birthday party for Brooke (the Resident Director of my dorm). A couple of the guy RA’s blindfolded her and made her get in a box which they then carried up the stairs….so here’s Brooke explaining it all to one of my hall mates and her sister.
And here’s me with my RA Steffi.

Monday, September 28
Didn’t get a whole lot done….was feeling a little overwhelmed with stuff that I needed to do.

Tuesday, September 29
Had a much better day – “Did pretty well on homework today and feel pretty happy about what I did” (quote from journal). Got to watch Up on the Quad that night – it was really really fun to see that!!!!!!!!

Wednesday, September 30
Got some laundry done that morning, ran about 1.75 miles (around the cemetery a couple times) and read some of Jack’s Life (a biography of C.S. Lewis) for Gateway while I waited. I love it when I “have” to read easy fun books for classes!!!! :D I was able to get quite a bit of homework done that day, so that was nice.

Thursday, October 1
Had a pretty busy day and didn’t get as much homework done as I probably would have liked. After chapel I was able to borrow a friend’s car so I could go to the local animal shelter. Our mid-term assignment for News Writing (due 10/26) was to write a feature story about a certain place, and my place was the animal shelter. So I spent about an hour there trying to get an idea for a story. I came up with two or three really good ideas that I was looking forward to writing about. [The people I needed to talk to for those ideas ended up being unwilling to talk to me…]
Took a nap before English Comp, and afterwards my group for Honors Orientation went to our neighborhood to walk around, talk to people, and learn about the area. We had three people in our group, Sarah, Taylor, and me. It went ok. I would have liked to talk to more people, but we talked to everyone we saw (only two people). It felt awkward enough to walk up to people and start asking questions…it would have been worse to knock on someone’s door. We ate dinner at a little Mexican fast food restaurant in the area.
That night I worked for quite a while on my essay that was due the next Monday in Mass Media. That’s also when I got my bike fixed.

Friday, October 2
That was a VERY long day…..I had classes from 10:00 am–5:00 pm with only one hour of break. That was because we had a special homecoming chapel, then I had a “Friday session” to go to for Gateway, then my four regular classes. I went running before all that and finally got back up to 3 miles (in 30:45!). I hadn’t been able to get myself to go three miles since I had gotten sick a couple weeks before.
That night I worked and then I packed for our English Comp. weekend field trip.

Saturday, October 3
I had to get up at 7 in order to get ready to leave for our field trip at 8. My teacher was half an hour late…but so was one of the students. The rest of us were waiting in the cold for half an hour, so we weren’t overly thrilled about that and the early hour. Once Dr. Himes got there all seven of us plus our luggage piled into the mini-van. That class only has seven students in it, but one of the girls couldn’t come.
After a three-four hour drive (during which we all slept quite a bit and I got some studying done) we got to Morrilton, AR, the first stop on our trip. We looked around at the train station turned museum there, as well as got a little tour of the town, visited a really really old cemetery and looked at the local library. The library had a pet hamster who rolls around in his ball all day – I found that hilarious! Then we went to Hattieville, where Dr. Hime’s mother was born and raised. His cousin now lives in his grandma’s old house. Here is a picture of Dr. Himes:
And here’s a picture of the class and Dr. Himes and Mrs. Beeson. She was the school teacher when Dr. Hime’s mom was in school.
We visited the local gas station/store, saw a little demonstration of how to grind corn, then went to the old (three room) school house. We ate dinner there around a campfire with most of the local folks, then Dr. Hime’s uncle and some other men played some bluegrass for us – it was lots of fun!
After everyone else left we sat around the campfire for a while. Then Dr. Hime’s cousin showed up to take us to a “haunted bridge.” It wasn’t really all that scary… We slept at the school house that night.

Sunday, October 4
We went to the local church that morning for Sunday school, then headed back to Siloam Springs. I slept part of the way but was also able to get some more studying done. Got back to campus at about 2:30. English Comp. is definitely my smallest class, and it was fun to have a weekend to get to know the other students better. One of the girls, Emily (wearing the turquoise shirt and standing on the left in the picture) live on the same floor I do and we often work together at the caf. She’s one of my best friends here :D Finished my Mass Media paper for the next day, then did my four hour shift at the caf.

Monday, October 5
Went running that morning – was able to go three miles again and had a really fast finish. I might have lost track and gone 3.1 miles…my time would seem to indicate that (I think it was about 31:30 or something). I went another .5 on the treadmill just to prove to myself that I could. Didn’t get much homework don until after I finished my classes for the day. I went to Emily’s room to do some homework because I couldn’t seem to concentrate in my room. It seems kind of crazy, but I often get more done when I’m in someone else’s room or even outside.

Tuesday, October 6
Wasn’t such a good homework day because four hours of my time (other than class) had to go toward other stuff…a two hour documentary that I had to watch outside of class for Mass Media, my first CEF Good News Club, and a meeting with my HO group about our presentation. It was all good stuff and mostly fun. I was so happy to spend an hour with some preschoolers during the GNC :D And the HO group meeting was a great time of exchanging ideas. I think my group had terrific dynamics.

Wednesday, October 7
Another girl (Aubrey) and I went running that morning. We were planning to run the course for the 5k that was on the 10th, but the girl who knew the route wasn’t feeling well. So Aubrey and I just went for a run around town. We ended up going 3.7 miles in about 42 minutes, definitely my longest run ever, in distance or time!
That afternoon I had my mid-term for Gateway. [Didn’t end up doing so well at that (as in I got a B on the test…). It was kind of a hard test though…it was multiple choice with “choose the best answer” which is really annoying.]

Thursday, October 8
My HO group went back to our neighborhood again that day. We were hoping to volunteer at a ministry called “Hunger and Thirst” that feeds homeless people, but they didn’t end up needing any help that day. After we got back to campus, Sarah and I spent an hour or so working on the powerpoint for our presentation the next day.

Friday, October 9
I had my Old Testament Survey test that day. [I got an A on it.] My HO group also did our presentation. I think it went well. We were the first group to go, so we didn’t really know what we were doing for sure…but I like how it turned out. Talked with a friend from back home for almost an hour that night…until nearly midnight. It was a lot of fun :D

Saturday, October 10
I RAN MY FIRST 5K THAT DAY!!!!!!!!! It was a fundraiser for the “Titus Task,” a local ministry to financially help people adopting children.
I went with three other JBU girls (Aubrey, Cassie, and Emily). We ran it “together,” but we weren’t always with each other…actually the only one I saw during the race was Aubrey. She caught up with me at about the 1.75 mile mark and was past me half a mile later. We got a picture of the four of us together, but it wasn’t on my camera and Facebook is being weird so I don’t know if I’ll be able to put it on here or not… It was pretty cold that morning – about 40 degrees or so and all cloudy. So we were happy when we finally started running (they had a bunch of kids/walkers do a one mile fun run first).
I ended up getting a flat 31 minutes, which I was pretty happy with. I had been hoping to get it under 30 minutes, but after having a couple down weeks I was content with 31. From about 2.25-2.75 miles was definitely the hardest part. Right at the end though there were a couple of spectators from JBU who knew who I was so they were hollering at me “come on Esther, you can do it!” which was great :D
Afterwards we four girls went to a rummage sale that was supporting the same cause. When we got there they were doing “everything you can fit in a bag for $5” so I bought several shirts and some other things too. We ate lunch together, I took a shower and a nap I think, then I had to work at the caf. The sun came out beautifully that afternoon and it was much warmer.
That night my knee swelled up pretty bad and was like a bad bruise…Thankfully it’s better now. I’m still not convinced it was because of the running, even though there’s a pretty high likelihood of that.

Sunday, October 11
Went to Fellowship Bible Church that morning with Aubrey and Cassie. I think I have decided that’s where I’m going to attend. The preacher is definitely more topical than I’m used to (all the churches I’ve visited here are like that…), but there’s a Sunday school class afterwards that’s really solid and that I really like.
Had to write a paper on The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe that was due for Gateway the next day. I had been hoping to write it on Saturday, but I was too tired.

Monday, October 12
Had a not so good day homework wise……….partly because I “lost” three hours in addition to my regular classes…two to watch another two hour documentary for Mass Media (it was our fifth one of the semester…all outside of class and all requiring a one page reaction paper) and one for “Women of Walker,” the monthly girl’s meeting for our dorm. That night Mrs. Smalley from the Center for Relationship Enrichment here on campus talked about relationships between girls. It was really good, but I wished I could be two places at once! (doing homework AND listening to her)

Tuesday, October 13
Did a little better with homework that day… I was definitely looking forward to Fall Break by then! Other than that I don’t know.

Wednesday, October 14
Didn’t get much done…after class Emily and I were studying together for our English Comp. mid-term the next day. One of the other students in the class would walk by and see us and join us uninvited…I wouldn’t have minded, but it caused a distraction that we (or at least I) could have done without. Ate dinner, worked in the caf, etc.

Thursday, October 15
The English Comp. mid-term went kind of okay. My teacher started off by telling us that we had as much time as he needed…so I was taking my time! We had to fix all the problems we could find in 10 sentences, do some matching of definitions and examples, then write a couple short essays. So I’m done with all the grammar stuff and about half done with the first essay, and he tries to tell us that we have 10 minutes left…….well, that really got me going faster. Thankfully he gave us a little more time than that since he had told us we could take as long as we needed. But my second essay definitely suffered from that, because he was still breathing down my neck ‘I need to go, come on Esther, I’m sorry, I’ve got to go, finish up’…. [I got an A on the test, so I really really don’t have anything to complain about…it’s just that my perfectionism qualities were very very rankled].
That evening I interviewed one of my News Writing classmates for her make-believe obituary that we had to do for class. She survived being hit by a car when she was 15, so she just used that as her cause for death. It was really neat getting to know her better…by interviewing her for her obit… That night I had to write an essay for the next morning for OT Survey about Saul, David, and Solomon and the cultural changes during their reigns…it was interesting, but kind of difficult.

Friday, October 16
I don’t remember when I packed…it was probably that morning though. Anyways, all day I was looking forward to heading home after classes!!!!!!!!! I had found another girl going to Dallas from JBU, so I rode with her. We got a later start than we had intended, about 4:30. Met up with Dad and Mom in Allen because the girl I was riding with was headed to The Colony.
We got home about 9:30 and I so could not wait to see Bluebonnet again! Nathan went in to try to wake him up before I came in, but it wasn’t working too well and I couldn’t wait any longer. My little budgie definitely perked up in a hurry when I came in the room though! It had been eight weeks since I had seen him, and he was SO thrilled. So was I.

Saturday, October 17
We spent most of the morning looking at pictures from some of Nathan’s summer activities that we had never been able to see and mine from JBU. Got my mid-term grades for my class and were happy to see that they were all A’s except for one B (the Gateway because of that test). I was happy to be home, being with my family and my bird all day. I even got to go to Ministry Group that night!

Sunday, October 18
I was so happy to go back to my home church and see everyone there…and to work in the library again! It was funny…when I went in Mr. Maness had his back towards the door, so when he turned around I said good morning and he said good morning and then he realized who I was …it was funny. :D
We looked at more pictures after lunch, then Nathan and I went running together! It was my first run since the 5k, because I had wanted to let my knee settle back down. We went two miles in a not very fast time…I think it may have been 19:30 or something along those lines.

Monday, October 19
That day was my ‘see all my friends that I can!’ day. I started off by having breakfast with Mrs. S – I really miss being in her classes and being her TA L Mom and I did some shopping and I was able to get a couple new tops that I really like! I dropped Nathan off for classes, then went to see a friend who had recently gotten her own horse. Then I went to see one of my best friends, Mollie. Her birthday had been on Thursday, but she didn’t know I was coming home – I wanted to surprise her!! And I did :D We had a lot of fun talking. Stopped by another friend’s house for a couple minutes, then had to go get Nathan from classes. That evening after supper I walked over to see a family I babysat for pretty consistently for the past year. One of the boys is 2 and the other one just started school. They were both really excited to see me and I was happy to see them too!
Dad and Mom and I watched a couple I Love Lucy episodes and an episode of Emergency! for another Mass Media assignment. That was one of the more fun ones though! I was going to work on my paper that was due on Friday for English Comp. that night, but the Word document didn’t ever open up…and then my computer wouldn’t go into hibernation….little did I know what was coming next…….

Tuesday, October 20
I was bound and determined to get some homework done that day. So I started up my computer soon after Nathan left for his Richland class. But it wouldn’t boot up. It just got stuck on one of the start up screens. I was on pins and needles trying to do other homework stuff until Nathan got back….only to find out that he couldn’t figure out what was wrong with it!
[To make a long long story very short, my computer had a virus. Don’t know how, but it did. Before we found that out, we thought I’d have to completely reinstall Windows, so Nathan kept my hard drive in Dallas to back up all my files first. That’s when he found the virus. After he deleted it, he mailed the hard drive to me. I had taken the rest of my laptop back JBU, so once I got the hard drive on Thursday the 29th I was able to just plug in the hard drive and it worked perfectly!!! No reinstall needed!!!!!!]
The other girl from JBU and I left the Dallas area at about 5 pm and got back to campus at 10:30 or so.

Wednesday, October 21
So I found myself entirely without a computer and needing to have a rough draft of a 4-5 page paper to take to class the next day…understandably I wasn’t too happy about that. Thankfully they have plenty of computer labs here! There’s one in my dorm on my floor, one in the Walker Student Center (which my dorm is actually connected to!), and one in the library. I basically lived in one of those three whenever I wasn’t in class that day. I stayed up until 12:45 trying to write the paper and still didn’t have it done. I was VERY down in the dumps.
Thursday, October 22
That morning before chapel I spent another couple hours on my paper and finally finished the rough draft. I sent that one off to Mom to see what she thought of it because I felt half asleep when I wrote most of it and didn’t trust myself on it very much…
Sometime Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday I also had to write the obit for News Writing. Don’t remember when I did that.

Friday, October 23
Don’t really know what all happened that day…other than the fact that I was only in my room for tiny bits of time in between things because I was living in the computer labs. Spent a good chunk of time revising my paper. Dr. Himes expects us to do lots and lots of revision, so I was really glad I had emailed my paper to Mom…because the girl in the Writing Center Thursday night didn’t give me much help at all with anything that needed revision. Thanks to Mom and Nathan, every single page of the rough draft was pretty heavily marked up :D (and Dr. Himes has us turn in a copy of our marked up rough draft so he can see it!) [I will hopefully get this one back on Tuesday!]

Saturday, October 24
Since no one that I wanted to interview from the animal shelter would talk to me, I ended up spending a couple hours at the shelter just hearing about interesting stories from the last couple years that I would somehow have to turn into a feature story….
Talked with Nathan for a long time that evening…poor guy…my phone battery died on us while we were talking for the second time in two days. At least both times I was able to give him a little bit of warning!

Sunday, October 25
Went back to Fellowship that morning…ended up having to walk there and was 10 minutes late. I had a list that said a shuttle would come to campus, but it never showed up as far as I know. So I had to walk the mile or so to get there instead. But it was worth it!
Spent the evening writing a paper on The Horse and His Boy for Gateway, in a computer lab of course! The worst thing was that the computer lab in my dorm is FREEZING (it’s 10 degrees colder in there than in my room!) and I don’t think the regular computer labs were open… So I gave up for the night because I was too tired.
Oh yeah…I also had to spend two and a half hours in the cold lab before dinner writing my feature story about the animal shelter for News Writing. I was decently pleased with how it came out…I don’t know yet what Prof. Warner will think of it though! [I will get it back tomorrow!!!!]

Monday, October 26
Finished up the paper for Gateway that morning, turned it in at Gateway and turned my feature story in. Spent quite a bit of time in the library doing some reading for a couple of my classes.
I found out that I haven’t been working enough work study hours. I was on the schedule for eight hours a week, but we usually finish 15-30 minutes before I get all my time. So in order to get all the hours I can this semester, I will have to actually work 10 hours a week. So I picked up a shift Monday night to add to my Wednesday and Friday nights and Saturday afternoons. That day was my first time to work Monday night, and I was in the dish room for almost three hours. Definitely not what anyone would call fun. Got some more homework done after that, then headed to bed at the early hour of 10!

Tuesday, October 27
Spent nine hours in bed, but got up tired and was tired all day long. Part of the problem is that my back was really really bothering (I think partly from working in the dish room) me and so I didn’t sleep very soundly. I took my laundry all the way over to the Honors Center (about half a mile from my dorm – but it’s free there!!), only to discover that the washer was out of order. I ran anyways…went about a mile. Ended up getting most of my homework done for the day!

Wednesday, October 28
Spent another nine hours in bed, with the exact same result. My back was still complaining. So I was tired, my back hurt, I was fighting a headache all day, it was a bad day in at least one other way, and to top it all off Mom had lost her phone so I couldn’t call her…..suffice it to say there was a whole bunch of “stuff” going on and I felt the most homesick I have felt since being here. Thankfully the sun was shining though and there was no rain in the sky!!!!!! I sat outside and just enjoyed it for an hour or so. I had taken studies with me, but I felt more like I just needed some quiet time. It did me good.

Thursday, October 29
Only got seven hours of sleep that night, but woke up feeling so much more refreshed!!!!!!!!! I had seen the day before that the washer at the Honors Center was working again, so I took all my stuff back over there and got it going. Went for a run while it was going – about a mile and a half in 16 or 17 something. And I found a $20 bill in a rain puddle!!!!! Running pays! :D
Had a much much better day than the day before, even though it was overcast and a little rainy – at least it was warmer than it had been recently!! And then to make a good day even better, my hard drive arrived in the mail and my computer worked perfectly!!!!!!

Friday, October 30
Didn’t get much homework done that day…I had my second test in Mass Media. After my classes I went to the “Medieval Faire” that one of Dr. Hime’s other classes was putting on because I could get some extra credit for English Comp! I worked that night, then did some pleasure reading before heading to bed.

Saturday, October 31
I “slept in” until 8:30 (all my college peers think I am absolutely nuts to think that being up until 1 is staying up really late and that staying in bed until 8:30 is sleeping in…….) I went running that morning…ended up with two 1.5 mile runs, one on the little track (a 15:23) and one on a treadmill (a 15:45). It felt pretty good! Breakfast, showered, did some homework, and ate lunch.
Then Kaley (my roommate), Grace (her friend who lives in the next suite) and I went bowling. We had tickets for a free game that expired that day, so we figured we’d better go use them! I didn’t do very well…but I hadn’t been bowling for ten years or so, and only two or three times before that! After we got back I did some homework out on the Quad because the weather was gorgeous. Worked in the caf that evening…and got an “extra” hour of sleep because of the time change.

Sunday November 1
Today I went to Fellowship with Kaley and Grace. That’s where they’ve decided to go too, but they don’t stay for Sunday school…at least not right now. So I think I will ride with them to church and then walk back after Sunday school…that’s what I did today. The weather is still beautiful. We’ve had so much rain here this fall, but now the last few days have been clear blue skies without a single cloud and nice warm temperatures. After I got back from church I made myself a picnic lunch out of some leftovers I had brought back from working in the caf, then headed outside to enjoy the sunshine!!!! I was out there for four hours doing homework, and I concentrated a whole lot better than I usually do in my room! Ate dinner, then started working on this long awaited for update. Went to The Gathering (the speaker was ok…but he had a couple annoying habits and I didn’t agree with everything he said…and I caught myself not paying attention a couple times), then came back and am just now finishing this up! So I had a good day today :D

more catch up....

Sunday, September 13
That morning one of the churches in town was doing a community service day, so I decided to pitch in. When I walked out of my dorm building, I realized it was raining...I probably should have gone back in to get a jacket, but I didn't. My group was picking up trash around the town for two hours. It was fun...I even found 60 cents worth of coins! Thankfully it wasn't raining very hard at all, just an off and on drizzle. My feet got really really wet though, and I didn't have anything to change in to.
After we got back to the church we had the church service (they had been hoping to have it and a picnic at the park, but didn't because of the rain). I really enjoyed the pastor's message and I may end up attending that church. I haven't really decided yet. Afterwards, we had a potluck.
I took a nap that afternon because I had gotten up early. When I got on Facebook after my nap, I saw that Nathan was on...so I asked if he had time to try out the web cameras Dad had bought, so we did! We had kind of tried it a couple times before I left, but it didn't work right. It did this time though! So I had my first web cam "call" home :D It was nice to be able to "see" everyone again, including Bluebonnet! I'm pretty sure the little guy recognized my voice (which he doesn't seem to do over the phone), because he got REALLY excited. Sadly, I had to get off after about 30 minutes to go to dinner :(

Monday, September 14
I don't think I was overly smart that day.....I had kind of had a scratchy throat when I went to bed Sun. night, and I still had it all day Monday. I think I was kind of coming down with something from having sat in wet clothes (especially my socks/shoes) for two hours in an air-conditioned building Sun. morning. I decided to go running anyways (mistake #1), but only went a short distance.
Had classes and such...tried to drink lots of water. That afternoon there was a blood drive on campus, so I decided to go donate blood (mistake #2!). I didn't have a fever or anything. I had donated last September and been just fine, so I figured it would go fine this time too...not. Just as the nurse came over to unhook me, I just about passed out. So they lay me down and put me feet up and all that...I felt better after a little while so they sat me up, but then I felt like I was losing it again, so they put me back down. The nurse said I was really pale, so they gave me something to eat and drink and all. It took about 20 minutes after I finished before they would let me leave...and I still felt a little lightheaded.
That night we had our "Women of Walker" night. A JBU alum who now lives and works in India came and talked to us. It was really neat to hear her story. She ended up marrying a man in India and now has a daughter. They work with orphans and have 8-10 staying with them at any one time. Later that evening we all got to meet our Passion group (small Bible studies on campus), so I was really excited about that! A couple of the girls I kind of know from the Dallas area, and one of the girls is in my Gateway class, so I think it will be a great group!

Tuesday, September 15
Had my first homework freak-out that day........in the morning I started typing up my notes from Saturday about the block for the essay that was due on Friday. Then, when we got to class (English Comp.), the teacher spent several minutes talking about what a tough grader he is and how we have to take time to revise and we'd better not wait until the day before it's due to write it and so on so forth....so I freaked out. Got back from class and spent most of the evening (from 4-11) writing the essay. I didn't get much of my other homework for the day done because of that...but at least I finished up the rough draft for the essay and that made me feel much better!
I still kind of had a scratchy throat for part of the day, but by the evening it was gone and I was pretty sure that I had escaped without getting completely sick.

Wednesday, September 16
I tried to go running that morning....but it did NOT work. Between being kind of sick and giving blood on Monday, I just didn't have enough energy! I went one mile, but was feeling like I was just going to go to sleep running...so decided to quit!
Classes went well. For Mass Media we started watching some of the first silent movies...it was pretty funny to see what they would pay to watch - movies of people jumping into the ocean, of people crossing a street in New York, etc. For News Writing, we wrote our first story in class and I really enjoyed it. Writing news stories seems kind of easy...you have all your facts and parts of the story on a sheet of paper and you just reorganize it to tell the story...I got an A on that assignment, but the professor was going around looking over our shoulder suggesting changes we should make...so it seems a little bit like cheating...but not really.

[Well, now I need to head for class.......I have my first test this morning. Thankfully it is my first class (Mass Media and Culture) so I can get it over with. The teacher has basically told us exactly what's going to be on the test about five times, so I feel decently good about it. My family is headed to see me...I am SO excited to see them!!!!!!!!!]

Bluebonnet

For those of you who don't know, I have the sweetest pet in the world - a budgerigar (aka budgie, a type of parakeet) named Bluebonnet. :D He has probably just turned 4 (we got him on August 24 of 2005 and he was probably 4-6 weeks old). He is a turquise blue color, and he is the most adorable little bird!
ANYWAYS, he and Nathan were over at the table playing/talking to each other.....Bluebonnet said something (he often makes up his on phrases such as 'be a sweet birdie' 'pretty Blue Jay' etc.). Nathan said 'you're so silly!' to which Bluebonnet replied 'that's ok!' :D Isn't he adorable????? I should say that he learned "that's ok" from when he gets scared/worried about something and we tell him 'it's ok' to calm him down.