Senior Year . . . Again

Today has been my third Senior Year. Most of the world doesn't get even one Senior Year, and here I am wondering what to do with this, my third. I have not grown so attached to this place that I start the semester with a dull melancholy of the sort that settle upon me as Bianca and I rolled into Spokane in Fall 2004. My reaction is more like "What!?" I just had Senior Year two years ago, and now I have to do it all over again. The desperate meeting of course requirements, the savoring special everyday moments, and the ever present question of what I am going to do next year. The last is the main difference between this Senior Year and all the others. I knew I would go to college, I knew I would go to seminary, but now I'm more or less clueless. Options abound, limited mostly by my debt load, my determination to no longer live in a dorm, and the conviction that whatever I do next needs to be directly related to some aspect of the larger calling toward which I sense my life is headed. At this point all I can do is research, pray, and take the GREs.
I wish I could say I'm taking it easy this year, but alas there are requirements to fill and money to earn. I'm taking 16 credits and working 15-20 hours/week. My classes look good so far though, and if they live up to my expectations the year will be fruitful and not too overwhelming.
I'm taking:
Church and State in Modern Europe
Gospel and Culture: The African Experience
Old Testament Readings in Greek and Hebrew
Educating Congregations for Mission
Friendship, Love, and Justice
American Religion and American Literature
With the help of my new coffee press and variety of delightful coffees, I just might even stay awake for all those classes.

25

In honor of my first full day as a 25-year-old, here are 25 things I am glad to have accomplished during my first 25 years:
1. Learned to walk;
2. and talk;
3. and read;
4. tried nasty liquor and got over it;
5. became a beer snob;
6. learned Latin;
7. remained friends with my Latin buddies;
8. finished 6 years at D'Evelyn;
9. stopped hitting my sister;
10. learned to like rice;
11. figured out I'm allergic to bananas;
12. gave competitive sports a fair shot;
13. learned to be okay with sucking at sports;
14. read the whole Bible;
15. figured out why I'm Methodist;
16. love Jesus;
17. all those WRUMC mission trips;
18. learned to install dry wall, sub-flooring, siding, gutters, doors, tile, etc.;
19. went to Whitworth;
20. lived with awesome roomies;
21. travelled;
22. taken risks;
23. stayed in touch with college friends;
24. made good friends at Seminary;
25. drank enough coffee that I'm probably 25% caffeine.

And since there's much more to go, here's 25 for the next 25 years:
1. Graduate from Seminary;
2. live in Eastern Europe for at least 1 year, more if I like it;
3. earn a PhD;
4. finish the darn ordination process;
5. become fluent in at least 1 spoken language;
6. play with my friends' babies;
7. be a good wife if I'm married or a good single woman if I'm not;
8. write a book;
9. pay off student loans;
10. be discontented with the status quo;
11. live in intentional community;
12. live in an urban area;
13. See a Broadway show;
14. participate in international relief work of some sort;
15. visit friends as often as possible;
16. live green;
17. dress like a grown-up (sometimes);
18. hike a 14er;
19. get the hole in my ear drum fixed;
20. be faithful;
21. travel more;
22. don't get sucked into the academic vortex of prestige and name-dropping;
23. learn to cook;
24. pastor a church;
25. and whatever else God wants for me.

Thanks y'all, for making it a great 25 years!

Unleashing my Inner Extravert

It's difficult, when I really don't think I have an inner extravert. So new student move-in day is an awkward combination of excitement about meeting new people and finding out who from Whitworth shows up at Princeton, and anxiety over constantly trying to be friendly and outgoing and helpful. I'm a Deacon, which is like MCs were at Whitworth but with even less of a clear job description. So yesterday and Wednesday our job was to run up to people's cars as they arrived to move in and help them unload. It's a little crazy. I think we scared a few people, a see of people in maroon shirts hauling stuff out of cars and vans and u-hauls. It'll be good to get settled into a routine and have pictures on my walls.

Dude!

I finished reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows this morning (that's right, I got up early before Church to read it). I feel like I did after the series finale of Friends; like it's the end of an era. I have nothing deep to say on the topic, but I really liked the books and want to re-read them now. Sadly school is about to start so I won't have time for that.
Maybe once school is in gear I'll actually have something remotely interesting to blog again ;)

Since I've been back

• 2 Starbucks drinks
• 3 Salads
• 2 Plums
• 2 Peaches
• 3 Cans of Diet Pepsi
• 1/2 of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows (and don't dare spoil it)
• 3 Trips to Target, 2 of them to help out international students
• 1 Beer (Sam Adams Oktoberfest is a winner)
• 1 Day I've remembered my Malarone

It's nice to be back, mostly to be with people. The thing about Seminary is that almost everyone has had an interesting summer. Chaplaincy, camps, churches, and other things that don't start with C.

I'm staying in my friend Geila's apartment while she's home in Michigan, loving having a bathtub and a kitchen and plenty of space. But I'm also eager for friends to return from summer adventures and for the fall schedule to get going. I start work tomorrow, and it'll be nice to do something familiar at which I am competent.

I've also been sorting and labelling Ghana pics and will notify folks when they are ready on my kodak gallery. It'll be both educational and entertaining ;)

Living a Lie

In Ghana people have a name based on their day of birth. Most people can be called by either their day name or their first name interchangeably. So I am Miranda and Abla. Abla means Tuesday born. That's what I thought I remembered from my last trip. My first day here when people were asking I said my day name was Abena, which is the Twi form of Abla. Upon consulting a 1982 calendar however, it appears that I was actually born on a Thursday, which I think makes me Akosia or Akuia. I don't have the heart to tell anyone, so as far as Ghana is concerned 9/16/82 was a Tuesday.
I return this Friday! So be expecting phone calls next week, after I've slept and eaten non-fried food and read/seen Harry Potter. Priorities, people!

I Knew It!

According to my tin of instant NesCafe:
"Experts agree that 4 cups of coffee a day is moderate amount and quite safe for most people from a general health point of view."
Moreover,
"From morning onwards, a cup of coffee puts you in great shape and helps lift your mood."
[Which is to say, it suppresses your appetite and is a legal stimulant.]
See, it says so, right there on the label!

It's the Little Things . . .

Dairy
Brewed Coffee (not instant NesCafe)
Taking a walk
Food that's not prepared with palm oil
Salad
Fuji Apples
Reliable electricity
Bluegrass music
Silence
Guitar
a Hot shower
being barefoot
people not waiting on me hand and foot
jeans
running
eating only 2 meals per day
movies
Harry Potter
being called by my nicknames (other than "white" in Ewe and Twi)

I could also do without:
Adults speaking to me in Ewe or Twi or Hausa or myriad other languages and then laughing because I don't understand, but not bothering to teach or translate.
Children being ordered to bring me a chair anytime I come out side.
Starchy lumps of staple foods.
Speaking blaring at noise-distorting levels at all hours.
Being an anomaly everywhere I go except Chicken Inn, the most international restaurant in Accra.

Um, okay enough whining. I'm doing okay, and there are good things too. But I'm just past the halfway mark and I hadn't posted in a while, and a list requires less thaught than anything else I could think of. Peace out, yo.

Tid-Bits

Most of the signs here are illustrated, which is great unless what you're selling is medication for diarrhea, gonorrhea, hemoroids, hernia, and impotence. Awkward.

My sleep patterns have shifted. 8pm to 4am. Cool.

I'm reading Seven Storey Mountain, the autobiography of Thomas Merton. I'm still in his adolescence, which is a little boring. But he becomes a monk eventually, so then it will get good.

I loves me some mango and fried plantain, but not together.

Why are ethnic babies just plain cuter than white ones?

I miss y'all. Reply to my email and write me :)

I'll try to put up some pictures eventually.

And Off I Go!

Tomorrow morning Claire and Dave pick me up and the journey begins.
2 days to California, 3 days in California, then 10 weeks in Ghana. I'm thinking Friday to Tuesday will be some the most disorienting and fun days of my life thus far. I'll be updating when I can, and sending update e-mails as well. So keep me in your prayers and feel free to send email and snail mail.
And I'm so excited to see many of you in the next few days!

The DaVinci Code

This past week I read the book and last night I watched the movie. Overall: unimpressed. Granted, I was reading it more to be in touch with popular religious movements than for enjoyment, but really I just didn't think it was a very well-written book. Dan Brown did manage to spin a confusing web of intrigue, blending a tiny bit of history with a whole lot of fiction, but for the most part his stuff was so far out there that I couldn't see what about it people think is fact. My biggest gripe is that he writes Church history as if it started with the Council of Nicea, which is depicted as a big political conspiracy. The church history enthusiast in me could really go off on that point, but I'll restrain myself.
As for the movie, I was even less impressed. The screenwriter turned Langdon into a skeptic and even a man of faith, which I suspect was in part to make the movie less controversial than the book. Also, part of what made the book a natural choice for conversion to film is all the grand art and architecture, but the movie was filmed in such a dark color scheme and minor plot points changed in such a way that the grandeur and beauty didn't come across at all.
So that's my rant. If you read/saw it and want to talk about it let me know (after all, I'll be seeing most of my lovely readers next week!).

In summer break news, I'm back at my parents' place for a few days after a week in the Springs with Claire and Dave. We stained a deck, did a lot of shopping (yay excuse to buy fun dresses!), watched movies and relaxed a whole lot. Tuesday we hit the road for Cali!
It's been great getting to catch up with a lot of friends here from high school, church, college, and even PTS. Now my life turns to laundry and packing. Ugh, packing.

And now it is summer break

Classes were over 3 weeks ago, it's true, but I've been working my little tail off catering. My feet might never forgive me. So it hasn't really been break time yet. One day I worked 14 hours, but that was followed by Whitworth fun time featuring Bill and Bonnie Robinson and hot wings, so it wasn't that bad.
Yesterday I flew to the great(est) state of Colorado, where I have no time commitments, and only a handful of things I really need to get done in the next two weeks. There are friends to see, thrift store skirts to buy, dvd's to watch, walks and hikes to take, and, if last night is an indicator of things to come, 1/2 of my time will be spent sleeping. I also started reading The DaVinci Code. I figure as a future 'woman of the cloth' as it were, I should probably be familiar with it.
So here's to two weeks of mountainous splendor.
If you're in the state (Denver or Colo Spgs) give me a call or something :)

The Simple Single Life

You know at the beginning of the movie The Wedding Planner, where J-Lo sets her little tv table and puts her little meal for one on it and turns on Antiques Road Show, and we are supposed to think that's cute but a little pathetic?
Well, yesterday evening I walked through the rain to Wawa to purchase easy mac, which I came back to the dorm and microwaved then added hot dog slices. I set this on my floor alongside a Diet Pepsi and a cookie and ate this lovely little dinner whilst watching Elizabethtown on my laptop.
And I did not in the least feel lonely or pathetic.

Lest you think this is a part of my life that is actually lame and pitiable, let me assure you that I did go out to dinner at Applebee's with friends this evening. But sometimes all I really want is a bowl of Kraft Mac 'n Cheese, a Diet Pepsi, and a good movie, all by myself.

48 Pages in 4 Days

I am survivor of the madness that is finals week!

There is this big room on our floor called the Oratory, which is part of the original building and is still used for dissertation defenses and department meetings. But during reading week we have a tendency to invade and make it our own, mostly because our own rooms have gotten so messy that we don't have space to spread out books in a conducive paper-writing fashion. I took up a little over half of the long table on the right, and there's Rachel in her corner on the left. As you can see, my books have spilled over onto the floor, there are several empty coffee cups and Diet Pepsi cans, and a tube of pringles. These are not exactly the healthiest days of the year. We did get fruit and candy for the girls on our floor though, so we at least had access to nutrients. So that's where I was planted for four days writing 2 big papers and 2 littlier ones.

Now that finals are over, we have become slightly wacky. Just slightly.

This is dedicated

to anyone who ever had a Mohrlang class with me, or any other class where I finished the exams first and freaked everyone out by making them think they were out of time. Today it took me 2.5 hours to take my Minor Prophets translation test, which consisted of translating about 12 verses of Hebrew with the unlimited aid of a dictionary. For the record, that's a long time. Apparently I'm not that good at Hebrew. Oh well. Also for the record, all those times I finished super fast, it didn't always mean I did well, it just meant I knew it when I didn't know an answer so I didn't bother thinking about it.
Well, one exam down; 2 papers to go. I'll be free as a bird, and officially done with my middler year, as of 5pm Monday. Until that time Habakkuk's rhetoric and the Catholic view of Scripture and Tradition are my loving companions here in my hovel of studying. And maybe a bottle of Dos Equis.

The Insanity

PJ the travel agent booked my flight to Ghana today.
I leave from San Francisco on the 17th on a red eye to JFK, where I will spend 10 hours before hopping on the direct flight to Accra.
And yes, this was the best and cheapest option.
I'll spare you the rant about the new exploits of the field ed office and the nightmare it has been to work with them, mostly because there are a lot of expletives involved.
But I have an itinerary and I have everything I need to apply for my visa except passport photos, so I guess that means I really am going to Ghana.
I worked 7 hours of catering today, so my feet are killing me and I'm about to go to Denny's or someplace to work on one of my final papers.

Oh, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to stay here and work instead of Mississippi.

Decisions, Decisions

I ask you, my loyal and trustworthy companions on this journey called summer break, what should I do the week of May 21?

Option A: Go to Mississippi to do Katrina relief
This option involved driving to Mississippi with my friend Erin, working there for a week with other Seminary folk, then driving on to New Mexico, where I would need to be picked up.

• Pros: Do good work in Mississippi; get to know people I might not have otherwise, including some of the facilities staff.
• Cons: Driving, eating, and staying in Mississippi all cost money; 5ish days of driving across the country.

Option B: Stay here and work PDR (aka Catering)

This option involves staying here to make some much-needed money by serving catered dinners for the events happening that week.

• Pros: Money saved and earned; a little extra time to move out of my room; flying home might be cheaper than driving; Bill Robinson will be here.
• Cons: It seems a little schmucky to choose money over a mission trip; it might throw off some other people's plans.

Thoughts?

And now I can sleep

This week was busier academically than finals will be for me. I had my 15pg Field Ed appraisal, a short paper, a 25 minute presentation on the development of Sola Scriptura during the Reformation, a group presentation on Cross-Cultural Translation of parables, and my normal Hebrew assignment, all on top of working more than usual. But as of yesterday at 12:30pm the sun was shining bright, the Southern Society BBQ brought everyone out to the quad, and I am practically done until finals. This week I just have one short paper, then we have reading week, then finals, during which I only have 1 exam and 2 papers. So today I slept until 10am, and it was marvelous.
Yesterday afternoon Geila took me and Rachel to get our travel immunizations, so my arms are all pumped up with Meningitis, Polio, Tetanus, and Typhoid. Then we ran around town picking up presents and food for our lovely friend Sarah's 28th birthday party (I'm the 2nd youngest of my group of friends here), and at last eating and playing the night away.
Today I will be working catering during lunch, than catching up on Gilmore Girls, then going to hear Geila preach at her church, then going to see Hot Fuzz. Ah, the joys of Sabbath!

The Nomad Illness

I've been sick for a week now, and it's the wierdest thing. On Easter I woke up with a sore throat, but not a big deal; Monday I missed most of my classes thanks to nausea and soreness, and I drank SO MUCH vitamin C and other such healing things; Tuesday I was still icky, but not as bad; Wednesday and Thursday I was a little congested, but felt fine overall; Friday I woke up with a sore throat, a runny nose, and no voice; same thing yesterday and today. Yuck! So I'm not at church this morning because I can't talk. Instead I am watching the freak storm going on outside my window. Stupid Noreaster! It's supposed to be Spring by now.
In other nomadic news, things are falling into place for this summer. I'm going on a mission trip to Mississippi with school folks to do Katrina relief the third week in May, then driving with my friend Erin from there to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where I will either be picked up by an obliging friend or parent, or else taking a train or bus or something up to Denver/Co. Springs. Then I'll have a few weeks with family and friends in CO before wedding -> Ghana craziness ensues. The Ghana plans, by the way, are not yet all worked out in large part because the field ed office doesn't think we're capable of booking our own flights. Grrr.

Easter Weekend

Kyna was here! Yay! We walked ALL OVER Princeton, including the cemetery, the "museum," the University Art Museum (which is really quite a respectable collection, including Monet, Gaugin, Worhol, and other notables), the University, the Battle Field, and Firestone Library. It was delightful to walk with a good friend and show off the town. We also went to the Easter Vigil Service on campus and Sunday morning service at my church, but decided to forego the 5am service at the University Chapel. Two services full of Alleluiahs is sufficient, I suppose.

I celebrated Easter dinner at my Field Ed supervisor's house with her family (husband and 2 kids a few years older than me) and my friend Laura, a PhD student and former intern at the church.

After dinner I both felt the onset of a wicked cold and started writing a paper. By this morning the cold had fully set on and I had an extension on the paper. So today I've had about 3000% of my daily allowance of vitamin C, a little Sudafed, and some tea, plus a few extra hours of sleep. There's something nasty going around campus, so I really hope that's not what I've caught.

But whether I'm sick or not, Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed!