"You were born to become a chalk outline." --Murder at 1600

Poor silly band. We hardly knew ye.

What kind of world is it where you can buy a silly band shaped like a chalk outline.

Location : Address not available

"We do not quit playing because we grow old, we gorw old because we quit playing." --Oliver Wendell Holmes

This has to be the saddest thing I've seen all week. The little girl inside of me that remembers seeing the first Toy Story in theaters just wanted to ball when she saw this poor abandoned Woody on the balcony of my apartment this morning. It just feels like Andy forgot him and is off somewhere playing with Buzz Lightyear. I have a feeling my little neighbor left him there and will claim him today, but it still hurts my heart. I really need to see the new one.

Location : 4101-4199 Providence Pl, New Orleans, LA 70126,

Location : 741-747 S Genois St, New Orleans, LA 70119,

"All mileage must be inputed in the reference line from now on." --Sign on the door to the office.

Inputed.  Heh.  Kinda like "slud."

Anyway, at Mended Hearts, we were supposed to turn in one word of encouragement for all of the others, but Sarra said that it could be a phrase.  Well, I took some blank note cards that had a slot for a picture.  I put a piece of paper in the slot (it was very pretty color-coordinated paper), and wrote the one word on it.  On the inside of the card, I wrote a Bible verse corresponding to the word, and a quick note from me.  So, I cheated, but I think I did so marvelously.  Kelly gave each of us a word of scripture, and I also got a quote, which made my heart so happy, and she also put them on construction paper.  It made it feel like a Secrete Prayer Partner gift from camp, so it shall soon be going on my wall as soon as I find masking tape.  Hooray!

I watched the very first episode of "Chuck" last night, and I must say that I like it.  Kim has all the seasons that are out on DVD, so I need not worry about watching more.  We were looking for something to do last night that wouldn't take forever because we were all tired, but not ready to go to bed yet.  A full movie would have been too long, but one episode of "Chuck" was just right.  And Justin didn't hate it like he thought he would.

I have a fantastic bruise on my thigh.  And how did I get it?  In the preschool.  Heroically saving a small child from danger?  No, while cleaning.  I leaned over on a toy too hard as I was sitting in the floor.  Yeah.  That pathetic.

“Nothing's forever. This could stay the same, or it could change again. It depends.” --Greg Anderson

Things that I have forgotten over the summer:

• One must always show one's ID when purchasing things on campus with one's debit card
• The fountain inside the student center is incredibly noisy
• Some people believe that skipping chapel is a one-way ticket to hell
• Drinking two glasses of coke at lunch before a 12:30 class is a terrible idea

Other than that, a thus-far uneventful day at the seminary.  

On the brightest note, though, I saw Jo Lynne today.  She's commuting in from Hattiesburg two days a week right now, and hopefully will be living here next semester.  We ate lunch together and chatted for a while.

Old Testament may actually not kill me, and I can download my books from Kindle or other apps.  My only books, per se, are one text book, and the Bible.  Fancy that!  Right now I need to read Genesis.  I think I'm going to enjoy Old Testament.  I've always liked reading from it (except for 1&2 Chronicles, and books like that...because...well...several hundred pages of family litany, while historically important, are just not my favorite).  My theory as to why I enjoy the Old Testament so much lately, is that we as Baptists have focused too heavily on the New Testament.  I'm not bashing the gospel, or saying that it is not the single most life-changing part of the Bible, because without those passages concerning salvation, the rest is meaningless.  What I am saying is that the Pauline letters are focused on 70% of the time, the gospels 20% of the time, the rest of the New Testament 7% of the time, and the Old Testament about 3% of the time.  Now, while these figures are just a general feeling with no data to back them up, I know that from my experience learning and teaching, and from listening to the experiences of my friends, the resounding feeling is that past fourth grade, we do not focus on the Old Testament at all.

When teaching children, it's easier to teach them simple narratives, rather than airy theories.  For instance, 

"And then, God told Noah that because everyone was sinning and choosing their way over God's way, he was going to flood the WHOLE earth.  He gave Noah special instructions on how to build a big boat, that he called an ark, to carry Noah, his family, and two of every kind of animal in it, so that they would be saved from the flood."

See?  Easy peasy lemon-squeezy.  Teaching them that the church is one body, and each has it's part, and how each part is very important is a little more difficult to translate to a kid-level.  We therefore focus in childhood on those easy narratives which are found mostly in the Old Testament.  

Then, when we grow up, we grow out of those little kid stories, and move on to "more theological things" in the New Testament, and we forget to focus on the vast amounts of wisdom and teachings available in the Old Testament.  

I'm ready for Judges and Jonah.  

" A house divided against itself cannot stand." --Abraham Lincoln

Me and Kim probably won't kill each other. The only thong we disagree on is food which is minor at worst. I think we can do this.

I also managed to get the rest of my stuff out of my dorm with Kim and Justin's help. They're wonderful friends.

We bought an awesome doormat with a big "K" on it. For Kim and Karen.

Location : 625 6th St, Norco, LA 70079,

Location : 740-798 S Genois St, New Orleans, LA 70119,

"All great achievements require time." --Maya Angelou

Well I'm mostly done. Now all that's left are the bits that I was avoiding anyway. I've even started washing the dishes that I need to pack. Mortimer doesn't look too perked up. There's still hope yet. 

Still have to tackle under the beds. Yuck. I hate being a grown up.

Location : 4201-4299 Providence Pl, New Orleans, LA 70126,

"Froyo is proof God loves us and wants us to be happy." --Benjamin Franklin

Okay perhaps a slight misquotation but true nonetheless. (By the way, "nonetheless" is one of my favorite words because you don't have to use spaces yet it's still a correct word.) I awoke unnaturally early this morning with no provocation, only to find that Android wanted to update. I said yes. And lo and behold, froyo. I hadn't been looking at the differences between 2.2 and 2.1 because I was afraid I'd get jealous.  The only change that I knew for sure was that flash was available on 2.2. But guess what!!!! I now have 5 home screens instead of 3. I know that sounds silly but I lurv it. There's also a phone button and a browser button built into the bottom of the home screens.  I've definitely been missing that phone button but the browser button is pretty cool too.

Wow. This is a really long post to make from my phone. I'm getting so much better at typing on it, though only whilst it reposes on my bed. Well it's a start.

Location : 4201-4299 Providence Pl, New Orleans, LA 70126,

" Without hard work, nothing grows but weeds." --Gordon B. Hinckley

But with no work at all you get a brown aloe plant. Honestly, I forgot he was there until I cleaned off my dresser. Poor Mortimer. He's not dead yet, and he may survive yet. Only time will tell.



Location : 740-798 S Genois St, New Orleans, LA 70119,

A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing." --Emo Philips

I think my room is winning. I've taken all of 2 boxes down to my car. Fortunately I remembered that my computer has a TV tuner.  Of course that also give me something to look at rather than pack.

“Those who know nothing of foreign languages know nothing of their own.” --Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Louisiana Lingo time!  Today's phrase is: "come see."

come see (kum sē) v. 1. to look at  2. to join the speaker and peruse the object of the speaker's attention with him.  3. to join the speaker in a conversation.

Example:  What an awesome YouTube video--Karen, come see!

Example:  Karen, I'm confused.  Come see for a minute.

This is quite possibly my least favorite of my newly learned Louisiana lingo.  There are days at work that I feel like I'm surrounded by those seagulls on Finding Nemo that say, "Mine!  Mine!  Mine!  Mine!  Mine!  Mine!  Mine!  Mine!  Mine!  Mine!  Mine!  Mine!  Mine!  Mine!  Mine!  Mine!  Mine!  Mine!  Mine!" all the time, except it's, "Karen, come see!"  "Oh, come see!"  "Come see, come see!"  "Come see Karen!"  "This is so funny, come see!"  "Miss Karen, come see!"  And if I hesitate or tell the speaker no, they become more insistent saying, "Come see, come see, come see, come see..." until you respond appropriately.

At camp Carl insisted that I "come see" and I told her to "go see," and she got confused.  What kills me is that sometimes, it's just a summons to have a conversation, so rather than "Can I talk to you for a minute?" it's "Come see."

"You must empty a box before you fill it again." --Irish Proverb

Kim gave me ten empty plastic tubs last night.  She apparently was concerned earlier in the day that there were still a few boxes at the church that she could have emptied, but did not.  I think I'll manage.  If I do somehow fill them up, I'll use my eleventy-million and four bags to bring things over.

I took a few boxes and a GI-GAN-TIC bag to Justin and Hayden's last night.  I have now claimed the corner of their dining room.  Of course, that should be fine as they have no dining room table currently.  Dave and Sarra offered theirs to them, which I think they should take, but not until I move in upstairs and they have room for it.  Because the corner is MINE.

I'm thinking of annexing Deb's room.  She's not there, and they've cleaned it, so if the door is still open this weekend, boxes might get slud in there while I'm packing (yes, slud, ala Dizzy Dean).  Though, I am afraid that someone important will come along and throw my stuff away, which would make my heart sad, and eyes cry.  So we'll see what happens.

God a magic box in the mail: it puts my computer on the TV.  When I first tried it out, the image was black&white and cycled so fast I couldn't see what was going on--almost like the old days when they scrambled HBO on cable.  Well I fiddled and fiddled with it, and I searched solutions on my phone (I don't have internet right now), and couldn't figure it out, and was about resolved to believe that I wasn't going to be able to figure it out and was just going to have to go to Dave & Sarra's without figuring it out--but then, lo and behold!  A light descended upon the one inch of the magic box that  I had not inspected closely.  The label underneath it said "1/2 ON NTSC; 1/2 OFF PAL."  I thought, "Surely, they wouldn't ship this set to PAL--I mean I bought it from the states, and therefore, it should be set accordingly."  I decided, however, to leave no stone unturned, so I took my longest nail, and jabbed it into the microscopic recess in the magic box, and flipped the two minuscule switches in the other direction, and as if a gin of old had come through weaving his wondrous powers, the picture suddenly appeared clearly on the surface of the TV.   Wondrous magic box.

Too bad I have no internet, and cannot watch Hulu on my TV right now.  It will come in handy later when we have internet and no cable in our apartment.  We'll be able to watch TV-things on the TV.  Only down-side to the magic box is that it does not have anything for audio.  I happen to have been blessed with amazing speakers, so we will simply have to leave them in the living room.

"Camp does alot for kids." --Kim Pierce

I was reminiscing this morning at work about the trip home from camp this summer, so I thought I'd share bits and pieces slowly before I forget them all.  As I feel awkward sharing about minors online, I'll change their names, either to nickname I normally call them, or one that just makes sense to me.

The story that brought this on was really about the last ten minutes I was in the car with my kiddos after coming back from camp. I had one 5th grade girl, a 5th grade boy, a 3rd grade boy, and a 2nd grade boy in my car.  The 5th grade girl is my sidekick, which is why she was in my car.  She had the option to ride in the van with the other girls her age, but chose to come with me.  I have to admit that I might have encouraged her presence, because I wasn't sure that I wanted to ride with just the boys by myself.  So, my sidekick (from here on out referred to as either Carl or Bucky) rode with me to and from camp.

Bucky is a trip.  She is the best mixture of childhood and maturity.  She's not afraid to be silly and play, but she's also reliable and trustworthy.  If I ask her to go do something, she does it without complaint or dawdling.  When we were going to and from camp she was the one in charge of the map and the phone, therefore leaving my hands free to drive.  When someone called, she relayed the messages without error, and gave my responses clearly.  However, she also called Justin to tell him knock-knock jokes.  That's my Carl.

When we first entered Norco, she insisted we roll the windows down.  The air was cool in the car, and for once, none of the boys were stinking it up, so I was a bit confused.  She continued to insist without giving a specific reason why, and since there was really no harm, I rolled down the windows.  She then proceeded to hang her head out of the car and breathe deeply.  She encouraged the others to do likewise, saying, "Come on! Breathe that Norco air!  It smells like home!"  I said, "Carl, all I smell is the refinery."  She responded, "I know!  It smells like home!"

I love my Bucky.

"It's better to be unhappy alone than unhappy with someone." --Marylin Monroe

OK so I'm not exactly unhappy. Just feeling very alone. I have no internet which is never a problem until I'm alone and I want some noise. All of my DVDs annoy me and I am having trouble streaming my favorite videos to my phone. Le sigh.  Fortunately it is still an awesome phone and I can blog from it with relative ease.

Still excited about moving and I just got a msg from Justin saying that I can leave stuff at their place if I want. That will be helpful as I can't move in until Monday. I'll be seeing him tomorrow because we're having dinner at Sarra's.

I know what he and Kim think about us moving in upstairs but I wonder what Hayden thinks. Guess I'll find out soon.

I think I'll stream a book and pack up some more stuff. Hooray?

“Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.” --Khalil Gibran

Arthritis is going to stink.  Alot.  My right ring finger is in excruciating pain.  Typing with it is nearly impossible (I'm typing slooowly without it right now).  The very joint aches in the way that I imagine arthritis to ache, and I have a feeling that today I get a sample of what life shall be like later on.  Which is going to stink.  Alot.

"There is nothing wrong with change, if it is in the right direction." -- Winston Churchill

Change is tough, but change is good.  I will soon be living in Norco, which has been my heart's desire for about 16 months.  Kim and I found a great apartment that is directly above Justin and Hayden's.  This is ideal, not only because we'll be able to share internet, but because it'll be really nice to just be a floor/ceiling away.  Justin is becoming less excited as he realized that it would be who has the bedroom directly above his.  I may have made some mild threats to sing a particularly annoying song at the top of my lungs about a chicken named Theodore at 3:45 in the morning.  It's already Justin's least favorite.

Otherwise, all is well.  Kim and I will almost no furniture at first.  You can tell we're two students moving in together because we're bringing with us two TV's, a mini-fridge, a rocking chair, a mushroom chair, an exer-ball, a fish tank, a PS2 and our computers.  That's pretty much it.  We do actually have some dishes, but not much to cook with.  Between the two of us we have everything to furnish our apartment, they're just several states away.  We'll get them later on, probably next month.  For now, we'll have beds, because Kim is getting hers from our pastor's family, and I'm borrowing a couple mattresses from the church.  The mattress are what's left of the bunk rooms we used to have at the church.  We have turned both bunk rooms into classrooms for Sunday School, so the mattress went up to the attic.

The whole getting setup things is fairly daunting monetarily, but God in his grace has provided, and I shall get through.

More changes: I got my work schedule, and it is pretty sweet.  I will normally have 25 hours, but I will have the option to come in early most days, which will be nice traffic-wise as I will now be driving East instead of West, and driving to Mid-City from the West is not necessarily fun.

I need to go to housing today to straighten things out.  I should maybe jump on that while it's still early.