fun and games.... (part 2)

Eh, well, this post is prohibitively long and wordy. That's because it's mostly unedited (mostly).

Saturday, February 10, 2007

This morning I woke up at about eight-thirty, pale morning sunlight seeping into the room. Jenny was lying asleep on her bed with her arms spread out, snoring quietly. I lay in bed for awhile and then crawled out, tiptoed around the room, and got dressed. I went downstairs at about nine o’clock. Stephen and my parents were the only ones up. Stephen and I joked around with the comics. I made myself a cup of tea. Laura came downstairs a bit later, and the two of us sat at the table, eating cereal and talking. She decided to make cookies, and brought down a whole collection of cookbooks for us to look through. We decided on chocolate-dream-delight cookies (or some such thing), though we didn’t have the requisite peanut butter and white chocolate chips. So we scavenged the cupboard, when we’d finished our oatmeal and cereal, to see what we could find. Our search resulted in four bags of chocolate chips, marshmallows, and half-a-dozen M&Ms. Laura went to work with what she had, and soon the smell of chocolate cookies was coming through the house.

I sat upstairs with Stephen, who was playing Freelancer on the computer in the schoolroom. Small noises had begun to come from my room and Stephen’s room—it was ten-thirty, and the girls were just beginning to wake up. I sat on the sofa next to the computer, teasing Stephen for his earnestness about the game, and admiring the gorgeous graphics depicting unknown galaxies and solar systems. We weren’t trying to be very quiet. Eventually, Tara came pattering out with a hairbrush. She curled up on the sofa next to me, a bit bleary-eyed and sleepy. I got Curly out of his cage and let him run around the floor. He crowhopped and chuckled, chirping happily at us. Alisha came out and joined us, and then Jenny emerged from my bedroom—she still had her pajamas on, so she’d wrapped herself in her sleeping bag. She flopped down on the schoolroom floor, bundled in the thick blanket, laughing.

Eventually, everyone got dressed. I asked the girls if they wanted to go for a walk to San Born Lake—we had about an hour until lunch. Going downstairs, we found that my mother had just returned from her weekly grocery shopping trip. The kitchen was full of plastic bags. Jenny wanted an apple to eat, so I grabbed the prettiest Jonagold from the refrigerator. Alisha and Tara asked for granola bars. We invited Laura to come with us, and the five of us piled outside into the pale winter sunshine. Jenny produced Tara’s sack of chocolates from the back seat of the car, and we marched down the street, sucking chocolate, while Jenny munched her apple. We walked out to San Born Lake, climbing the hill and coming out suddenly from neighborhood to open field. We walked at a leisurely pace around the lake, slogging through several thick mud spots. We went down to the beaver’s dam, crossed the little stream where it ran through thick mats of cattails, and climbed the bank on the far side to look down at the small pond, thin ice covering the shallow green water. Our coats were smattered with fluffy cattail seeds. Jenny and Laura ran out into the field on the other side of the bank. Alisha climbed halfway up a big mulberry tree. We all ran into the field, bounding through the thick grass. Tall stalks crunched under our feet and waved over our heads. The grass was springy underfoot, golden roots and leaves from summers and summers piled in the warm bowl of the meadow. We explored the remains of an old house under the bank, chunks of concrete, strips of metal, rusted mattress springs, tyres, an old oven. A clean north breeze blew under thin silver clouds over the pale blue sky. All colors were pale, bleached, thin blue shadows etched on the trail as we climbed back to the trail. As we walked up onto the dam over silver cottonwood leaves, we saw a heron fly over the upper pond, its huge grey-blue wings beating strongly over the water. We crossed the creek on the little bridge, and, coming out of a juniper wood, Tara spotted a dead raccoon sprawled on the ground. Its skeleton was grotesquely twisted, a tuft of striped fur still clinging to its tail, its lips drawn back in a snarl.

Alisha decided that she wanted to do more exploring, so we plunged into the woods again. She led us through the thick juniper thicket. Needles whispered under our muddy shoes. Whippy branches sprang back in our faces, and little poky twigs poked our heads as we bent under the low branches. The sunlight was almost gone in there, filtered out by thick dark branches. When we finally came out of the woods, we played around for awhile in the parking lot, standing on the posts along the edge of the parking lot and taking pictures. Someone was fishing on the peninsula and listening to the radio. “We could have a dance party right here,” Jenny joked. Laura grinned at Jenny’s silliness. We walked up through the meadow again. It is refreshing to me, body and soul, to come out of a gully and see the great sky arching over a broad open field.

Back at home, we scraped off our shoes at the back door and bundled inside, flopping down in the living room, our cheeks red from the cold air. Jenny and Alisha talked on their cellphones while Tara and I caught our breath. It was lunchtime. After lunch, while Laura brushed her teeth, the girls drew funny pictures on the whiteboard: big-eyed people from Tara(like beautiful Anime characters), funny little pigs and puppies from Alisha, a silly sketch of our basketball game by Jenny. When Philip and Laura were ready, the six of us crammed into Jenny’s car. She drove us, with Philip’s guidance, out to the Markums’ house, where the robotics team works. Philip sat in the front seat and piloted us while Laura, Tara, Alisha, and I were crowded in the backseat. Jenny and Alisha decided that my siblings needed to be culturally educated, so they turned on MaryMary for a couple of songs. As we turned off the highway onto the dirt road, we drove through a cloud of aromatic smoke where some men were burning the junipers next to the road. Dust puffed over the car.

Then we turned off into the Markums’ driveway. Philip hopped out to open the gate for us. We drove down the muddy driveway and parked next to the Parnells’ car. The yard into which we had pulled was a scrappy place: old machinery sitting here and there, clumps of juniper and oak trees, a low heap of gravel on which some kid had left some old rusty Tonka trucks, a couple of large, flop-eared goats tied under a tree, a camper, a mobile home, some piles of hay…. We walked past a shed where three horses were standing, shaggy in their winter coats. One of the horses trotted out of the shed and cantered past us. A big hound sniffed my knees, and another large dog barked at us from under a tree, wagging its tail. We walked down a plywood boardwalk to the big workshop, shaped like an Army quonset hut. Philip opened the small door, and we found ourselves in a dark room full of machinery and oddments. The workshop itself was built as a room inside the quonset hut—there were things stored on its ceiling under the belly of the curved roof. The workshop was crowded with machines, tables, shelves, sawhorses, etc. A couple of windows let in light on the smeared white walls. Everyone inside the room stared at us: a contingent of scruffy-looking boys and men (Mr. Markum and his sons, Sam Parnell, Mr. Brown and his son, etc.). The robot was settled on a couple of sawhorses in the middle of the room. Philip went straight to work on the electronics. Laura showed us around, leading us over to their two old robots, stored in a corner under some insulation. Sam and a couple of guys were busy working on the mill. Laura pointed out the two lathes and the molds for pouring plastic gears. Metal shavings lay piled everywhere, glittering underfoot and heaped on the floor with gritty red dirt. On one wall, between the windows, hung a whiteboard covered with design scrawls. Jenny talked with Mr. Brown a bit, and we looked around before leaving Philip and Laura to their work. Jenny, Tara, Alisha, and I trailed out of the room, squeezing between the equipment, out from the smells of gasoline and metal and hot plastic, into the cool afternoon air. The goats baaed stridently at us as we went to the car. Alisha, Tara, and I all rode the gate open so that Jenny could drive out.

We drove back into town. We took Main Street south into the downtown area and parked by the bank. The four of us took our knapsacks out of the trunk and walked down the sidewalk to Aspen Coffee, the coffeeshop close to Mr. Parnell’s office. As we stepped up over the creaking wooden threshold, the door tinkled shut behind us. Jenny and Tara went to the counter to buy drinks, while Alisha and I settled down at a table. All of us were pretty drowsy. Jenny asked for a quarter to buy some coffeebeans, so I made little stacks of quarters on the smooth tabletop. She returned with a handful of glossy dark beans. Alisha sucked them appreciatively. Tara and Jenny both sat down with Styrofoam cups full of coffee, creamy foam fluffing over the edges. Jenny pulled out her Spanish homework. Tara read, and Alisha wrote in my journal. I booted up my laptop. A guy in a black cowboy hat with a neat grey goatee sat by the windows at a table, working the crossword puzzle in the newspaper. An older woman with short silvery hair sat at a high table in the corner with the light from the window streaming down onto her open Bible. We sat and studied quietly. I rubbed Jenny’s back, and we chatted about classes and things. We spent a quiet hour in the coffeeshop, the murmur of conversation and the bitter smell of coffee making a warmly familiar atmosphere.

At about four-thirty, we packed up and left. We drove through the downtown area, past the library, and over to the Seretean Center. We parked in the old lot between the Seretean Center and the firehouse. Then I took us on a short tour of the east side of campus, at least as much of it as we could comfortably see in half-an-hour. I pointed out Old Central with its “Darth Vader” tower covered in weatherbeaten green shingles. I pointed out the art building across the street from the Seretean Center, with the grey-white-blue metal statue pointed like a breaching whale on the plaza outside it. Then came Morrill Hall, the English department, with its Classical front: the long flight of Roman steps, the line of elegant columns, the arched windows. Then the Business building next to it, all three of these across the street from us. We walked past the language building with the two saucer magnolia trees on either side of the door, the two trees covered with fat waxy buds. Past the Classroom Building, past the Student Union, past the clock, out onto the long lawn below the library. Clear sunshine shone warmly on the Classical and Modern brick buildings. Edmond Low Library stood at the north end of the lawn, magnificent with its long banks of windows. The bell rang from its high tower. “Can we go to the library?” Alisha asked in excitement. “Can we take pictures on the stairs?” Tara inquired. Jenny, Tara, and Alisha ran up the sandstone stairs to the balcony above the patio on the Student Union. I ran through the formal garden, following the path between the carefully-patterned beds full of ruddy nandinas, to take a picture of the girls on the balcony. Then I ran up to join them. Alisha and Jenny sprawled on a bench, pretending to be thinking about life. Tara and I laughed at them and took pictures. It was warm in the sunshine despite the cold. Campus was very quiet—I think we only saw one person the whole time we were on the portico.

We ran down the broad curving staircase and skipped along the sidewalk to the library. We had to go around the library to the north doors, shivering in the shadow of the building to get to the doors. We went exploring through the building, running up the narrow central staircase that runs in a tight shaft through the core of the building. Our footsteps echoed in the stairwell. We tiptoed through the silent study area on the fourth floor to peer out of the Venetian blinds. The good dusty smells of books and old carpet made my nose itch. After our brief tour of inspection, we pattered downstairs again and out into the sunshine. As we crossed the lawn, Tara took a picture of Jenny pointing in delight to the model oil derricks on top of the old petroleum engineering building. Tara, Jenny, and I sprinted back to the car while Alisha brought up the rear.

After further adventures, we drove back to my house. At home, we found that Grammy had come for supper. The girls introduced themselves to her while she set the table. Supper was spiced up by Jenny’s presence, of course. My grandmother asked them their majors. “Guess,” Jenny asked. “You’re… a drama major?” Grammy asked. The four of us burst out laughing. “No, no, I’m petroleum engineering. Sorry. I really do like it when people can’t guess my major,” Jenny said as the laughter died down. Grammy asked the girls about their schooling, and the girls in turn asked her stories about her own life. It was enjoyable to listen to the personalities bounce off each other, the friendly laughter and silly stories. “Hey, have you ever chewed tinfoil before?” Jenny laughed. That brought out my father’s story about lighting aerosol, etc. After desert, Jenny, Tara, Alisha, and I went upstairs to watch Glory Road on the upstairs computer. Jenny had to do some research on the internet for her Spanish homework before we could use the computer, so Alisha drew a unicorn on the whiteboard while Tara and I played with the guinea pig.

When Jenny finished, she betook herself with her books and papers to Stephen’s room, where she sprawled out on his double bed to study. Alisha, Tara, and I sat in the schoolroom. Alisha and Tara both had studying to do, while I worked on today’s journal entry. We all thoroughly enjoyed the movie. The movie was about two hours long, so it was nearly ten o’clock when we finished. Time for the girls to leave. They packed up their duffle bags and knapsacks and said their good-byes. Laura and I walked them outside to the car. I sent Laura off for a shower and waved them good-bye.

fun and games.... (part I)

Now Playing: "Come Away with Me" by Norah Jones. Track 6, "Shoot the Moon."

These posts will be long, but they're for Tara, Alisha, and Jenny, so go figure....

This morning Rachel and I ate breakfast in the caf together, which was pleasant. We talked about Honors and other things. After breakfast, I studied Music History for about two hours, until it was time for Music History class.

After class, I walked over to Zink Hall to pick up my Poetics portfolio, which has been languishing in the office since last semester. I was so happy to have it in my hands again! A warm reminder of those last three weeks of school, sitting in the Penthouse making little designs to illustrate the poems.

I ate lunch in a booth by the window, reading Pamela. Only when I was nearly finished did I realize that Alisha, Tara, Mary, Daniel, and others were sitting across the caf at a long table. So I picked up and joined them. Rachel and Asher showed up, too. For awhile we all sat around, talking. As Tara and I left together, Tara said, "E--, would you like a short break from studying?" "Sure," I said. We drove off campus, our goal: to buy flowers for Alisha.

Stepping inside the store, we were met with two large carts full of flowers. Thanks to Valentine's Day, we had no trouble finding enough flowers to choose from. Big daisies in yellow, white, and purple; baby's breath; lavendar; asters; gladiolas, their tall green spikes bearing cream-colored flowers. Along the florist's counter was a bank of other flowers, roses in all colors, tucked into lucious bouquets with lavendar, baby's breath, ferns, etc. There were tulips in pots and cut tulips, their buds half-open and waxy. It was comforting just to lean over and smell the flowers, to touch the silky petals lightly, to admire the delicate veining on the curved petals of the roses or the glossy sheen of the fern leaves. We chose three bouquets for Alisha--one of yellow, one of white, and one of purple daisies. Their long, thick stems dripped as we carried them to the cash register. As we left the store, a fat old Black lady with very bad teeth laughed at us. "Aw, you brought me flowers!" she crooned. "You can have one if you want," Tara said kindly. "No, no, honey. Have a good day!" the lady laughed.

Back on campus, we ran up to the room to write notes for Alisha to go along with the flowers. I pulled out my colored pens--kindergarten colors, bright red, blue, green, and yellow--and then Tara left. I studied for a couple more hours, until my brain felt as thick as oatmeal, and as lumpy. :o) Rachel came in halfway through, and we sat at our desks, studying. Eventually, I decided to call it quits, and lay down on my bed for awhile.

Rachel and I went running. I showered and then wrote e-mails to people. Six o'clock came sooner than I wanted it to. Right after I'd turned off my computer, the phone rang again. "E--!" Alisha said on the other end. "I know, I know! I'm running out the door right now," I said, somewhat out-of-breath. "Don't run out the door just yet because we're just leaving, and we have to go pick up Tara first," Alisha warned me. This whole adventure is like a comic strip! I leaned back and laughed. Rachel and I said good-bye to each other. I gave her a ridiculous little poem that I'd written during Lyric class when I was bored (a completely useless piece of verse, except if you want to laugh). She laughed, "Maybe if you got bored in class more often, you'd write more amazing poetry!" She went off to eat supper, and I sat alone in the darkened room.

The phone rang again. "Hi, E--," Alisha chuckled on the other end. "Can Tara come up and put her violin in your room so that she doesn't have to drag it around all weekend?" "Sure," I said. I ran downstairs to let Tara in. Then the two of us went outside, where Alisha and Jenny were sitting in Jenny's car in the Lottie parking lot. I piled my things into the trunk, shoving knapsack and little red bag on top of knapsacks, sleeping bag, coats, and duffle bags. I clambered into the back seat next to Tara. We had a brief conference on where to eat supper, which resulted in us driving down 15th Street to Qdoba, a new Mexican restaurant.

Never having been to this place before, I asked Jenny's advice on what to get. She suggested the pesto burrito, so Alisha, Tara, and I all ordered one--Jenny just had queso and chips. The restaurant is set up like a Subway sandwich shop in some ways. You get to watch the people make your food. A brisk little Hispanic woman, chatting away with her two comrades in Spanish, smacked rice, pinto beans, pesto sauce, and sour cream together on a big, leathery tortilla, wrapped it all up in foil, and put it on a plate. The four of us sat together in a booth, talking and eating. The burritos were fat, the flour tortillas almost as leathery and sticky as sushi seaweed. But they were deliciously good, too. The restaurant was mostly empty. A couple of TVs, tuned to the sports channel, played on either side of the front door. The walls were bright yellow, red, and green, in typical Tex-Mex fashion.

After supper, Jenny drove us out to Broken Arrow, a drive of about twenty minutes along the expressway. The place we were looking for turned out to be a sprawling megachurch complex: GraceChurch, complete with a flashing signboard out near the highway. We fumbled our way through a maze of parking lots in the dark. Jenny dropped us off at the door (she had been invited out to supper with one of her other friends) of one of the big buildings, and Alisha, Tara, and I went inside.

We found ourselves in an atrium, and going through that, in a spacious activity room. The size of three basketball courts, it had a battery of cameras and lights hanging from the ceiling, focused on a stage on the middle basketball court. On the far court an elementary school basketball game was going on, but on the court closest to us, the TCS girls were playing the Grace Eagles, and losing by about twenty points. We paid for our tickets and had our hands stamped in red ink. We clambered up onto the bleachers in front of my mother, Stephen, Daniel, and the Parnells--the usual peanut gallery.

After the game ended, the boys played. This game was a lot of fun to watch: Grace's boys' team is fairly good, but TCS is better. Tara gasped as Ben seemed to shoot and miss, though in reality he was tossing the ball at the basket for Josh to leap up and dunk in. Josh's tow-colored head appeared for a fleeting instant head-and-shoulders above the tall post players as he jumped up and caught his brother's pass for a successful basket. Philip got some good rebounds. It was amazing to watch the boys weave through their opponents' defense.

At half-time, Alisha called Jenny. Tara, Laura, and I walked around a bit. We tried to take pictures, but Laura made funny faces. The game ended with TCS winning by about twenty points. After the game, everyone left pretty quickly. Alisha called Jenny to see whether she was coming any time soon. Alisha, Tara, and I stood around in the atrium, waiting for her. The people in charge of the gym walked by and asked if we were alright, so we assured them that we were just waiting for our ride. We took silly pictures of each other—Taraheld her camera up so that we looked as though we were making fish faces, and we practiced our martial arts kicks. When Jenny finally did show up, being chauffered by her friend, she realized that she didn't have her keys. Thankfully, she managed to find them. We got on the road laughing.

We stopped at a little gas station on the edge of the highway. GraceChurch is on the edge of Broken Arrow, and the gas station was surrounded on three sides by woods. Black trees loomed up, a stark wall against the fluorescent glare of the gas station lights. We went in for a bathroom break and so that Jenny could get some caffeine to keep herself awake. Alisha, Tara, and I admired the extensive selection of chocolate bars. Alisha gave Tara her coat to hold, and Tara stood on one foot with her arms out and a huge grin. “I’m a little teapot, short and stout…” she started to sing. “Sorry, but the stout part doesn’t work!” I laughed. Alisha bought a package of Skittles, and Jenny filled a Styrofoam cup with English toffee and French vanilla coffee. As they made their purchase, they asked the woman at the counter, a fat Black lady named Peaches, if she could give us directions back to Highway 244. “No, honey,” she chuckled, “but I can ask.” She dialed up someone on the phone and handed it to Jenny. Just then, an older man came in. “Hey, do you know how to get to 244?” Peaches asked. The chap was a truck driver with very brown skin and at least two days’ grey stubble on his face. His sleazy jacket and jeans added to his air. I turned my face away and laughed quietly at the incongruity: The four of us, college students, girls, in our heavy coats, standing in the sleek, brightly-lit gas station, asking an overweight Black woman and a greasy truck driver for directions. “Drive safe, y’all!” she called after us as we left. We got back onto the Broken Arrow Expressway, which joined up with Highway 244. Jenny’s little car zipped along the smooth curves, streetlights flashing on the dusty gold. Inside, we were warm, listening to MaryMary and “All American Rejects” and who-knows-what-else. Tara produced a box of chocolate-covered graham crackers and some dark chocolate candies. The citrus smell of Alisha’s Skittles mingled with the warm bitter smell of Jenny’s coffee. As we passed the exit for the university, four or five people in a white car pulled alongside us. They rolled down their windows, shouting and waving at us. “Do we know those people?” Alisha asked in disgust. Jenny let them pull past. We drove across Tulsa, the car’s shadow gliding across the concrete, and came out in the dark fields on the other side.

We got into Stillwater at about eleven o’clock. Jenny was talking about all the things Spencer had told her about. “He said that there’s this war monument that glows psychedelic colors,” she said. “I know where that is,” I replied. “Really? Can we go see it?” she asked enthusiastically. “Won’t your parents be worried? Do you want to call them?” put in Alisha with concern. “Probably not. They’re probably in bed,” I said slowly. I guided us through the dark streets, down the long curving back road along Boomer Lake, and over to the pier on the east side where the new war memorial was put up last year. The small parking lot was dimly lit, and there was an empty car parked in the lot. “Hmm…. Looks shady,” Jenny said. “We’re not actually going to get out, are we?” asked Alisha. “I am,” I laughed. Jenny and I hopped out, and Tara and Alisha followed more slowly. When the car doors opened, cold air blasted us. The night was freezing cold. An Arctic north wind scoured over the lake, whipping the flags on their metal posts down the pier. The water by the pier was frozen, and sleepy geese floated on the edge of the ice. We ran down the pier. The weights on the ends of the flags’ ropes clanged against their metal poles, the silk cloth flapping in the stiff breeze. The war memorial is at the end of the point, past the flags and benches. A statue supposed to look like flames, carved out of polished granite, is the war memorial—a stone platform with these flame-like things coming out of it. Lights were set in the platform, glowing different colors as they shone up on the flames. “Oh! It is psychedelic!” Jenny laughed. She hopped up on the platform among the “flames” so that the constantly-changing lights glowed on her. “Looks like an 80s dance floor,” she joked. Tara took a picture of the two of us standing with the memorial. Then we scurried back to the car: the night was bitterly dark and cold. As though air and water were all congealed black ice.

We drove to my house through quiet streets. As we climbed out of the car in the driveway, I heard an owl hooting in the woods down by the creek. We unpacked and walked up to the front door—it was unlocked. We tiptoed inside, and I escorted our troop upstairs. For four girls loaded down with stuff, we were amazingly quiet. Everyone in the house was asleep, of course. Tara and Alisha put down their things in Stephen’s room, and Jenny and I dumped our stuff in my room. We changed into pajamas and sat around in my room for half-an-hour or so. Jenny flopped down on the airmattress on the floor, lying on top of one sleeping bag and pulling her own sleeping bag over herself. She snuggled down and went to sleep. Alisha, Tara, and I sat on my bed. We looked at my books (made fun of Elsie Dinsmore, which Alisha and I despise, and Jenny likes) and at my scrapbook. Jenny lay under her sleeping bag with her blond hair sprawled all over the pillow, one tanned shoulder sticking out from under the blanket.

It was nearly one o’clock in the morning when Tara, Alisha, and I decided to go to bed. We said good-nights, and then the three of them went over to Stephen’s room to sleep. I crawled under the covers on my own bed—the bed still warm from the three of us sitting on it—and went to sleep quickly myself. The orange street light shining through the window over the shutters patterned the white wall with black branches.

basketball

Last night at nine-thirty the RUF corec intramural team had a basketball game. We used the middle court in the gym, so we were all crowded along the sidelines, players and “cheering squad” alike. At first I thought that we were going to be playing the Newman Center, and, as Andrew mentioned awhile ago, “Reenacting the Reformation.” But when it was time for the game to start, the Catholic team moved to a different court, and instead Team ABC started to warm up. I must admit that I trembled in my boots at the sight of them. Team ABC is probably the best team in the corec league. They’re all Black players, men and women, strong, self-assured, experts at playing basketball, with baggy shorts and dewrags to add to their insouciant air. As usual, RUF had a larger “cheering squad” than our opponents (RUFfians are like hobbits: they like to socialize, and they like to eat, though there was no food involved at this event), but as the night went on, more and more people showed up to cheer for ABC—mostly basketball players on the TU varsity team. When the tallest post player on the TU varsity team showed up, everyone on both sides laughed and cheered. “Hey, check in for us!” Joanna shouted, and he grinned down at us from across the scorekeeper’s table. Kevin, Asher, and Daniel were there. Andrew hobbled along the sideline, giving instructions. Leslie, Joanna, Alisha, Nicole, Crystal, Jenny H., Amy, and Eleanor all came. Eleanor sat on the floor with her eyes half-shut, just watching. Our actual squad of players was about as large as it’s ever been: Brandon, the Davids, Spencer, James, Tara, Jenny S., Hannah, Jessica, and myself.

The game started with ABC getting the tip, of course. As the game progressed, it became more and more ridiculous. ABC obviously could have whipped us, as the saying goes, but they didn’t. Instead, they joked around, flashing big grins at each other, tossing crazy passes, going up for silly lay-ups. When they actually used their skills, they were impressive: smooth three-point shots, sleek lay-ups. Our team actually played pretty well, though we had some pretty silly stunts on our part as well. Tara has really improved her defense and was almost fearless playing against the huge muscular Black guys. Hannah, with her lean, swinging stride, swept around to shoot on the wings. Between Spencer and Jenny S., we amassed quite a few points under the basket.

Everyone was just having a good time. Joanna stood on the sidelines and laughed and laughed. The Black girls were all pretending to be lazy, lounging half on the court when they weren’t in the game, and complaining of being tired. At the end of the game, Jenny S. managed to put in a couple of sweet little under-the-basket shots, which put us ahead two points to win, forty to thirty-eight. Both teams were cheering—the RUFfians in amazement, ABC hooting in mockery, joshing each other for letting us win. As the buzzer went off, everyone erupted in cheers and shouts. We all poured out onto the court, teams mixing and mingling—there was plenty of back-slapping, hand-shaking, and high-fiving. The RUF girls piled onto Jenny S. for a group congratulatory hug. The big Black guys whacked her shoulders companionably and grinned down at all of us. The girls slapped our hands and cheered, “Good game.”

After ABC left, we stayed on the court, talking, shooting around, playing three-on-three. Spencer declared that he wanted to celebrate with mead, a scop, and an epic poem to make it all complete. “You should write an epic poem about this!” he suggested. The announcement that the gym was about to close went off, and he said under his breath, “And be turned into a meadhall!” Kevin and Joanna and I laughed at him. We all hung out, celebrating and having fun. Andrew sat on the ground next to Eleanor. “That was weird, almost surreal,” he said, shaking his head. “They so totally gave that to us. I don’t think they meant for us to win. They were being really nice to us.” It was ten forty-five, and I was tired, so I said good-bye.

It's snowy outside, so...

... I'm seeing WHITE RABBITS this morning!

:o)

In which frozen foods are discovered to be surprisingly tasty.

Now Playing: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King soundtrack by Howard Shore. Track 17, "The Return of the King".

Ooh, look! All the commentors suddenly came out of the woodwork! I'll have to try short funny posts more often.... *grin*

Sorry to disappoint, but this will not be a short post (probably), nor will it (most likely) be funny.

To start the depressing tale, I have a cold. Not a dreadful knock-down-drag-out cold like the one I had most of last semester, but a measly little beast that makes me sniffle all through my classes and makes my flute sound fuzzy when I try to practice. It was frightened away for a little while this morning with a large mug of chamomile tea (courtesy Robin W.) and a thick slice of Laura's sweet sticky challah bread while I wrote e-mails and studied. I slogged through Lyric class, having a rather difficult time paying attention.

So after class I tried to console myself with some flute practice, but that wasn't much better. Though the Bach Sonata in E Minor makes me happy no end whenever I play it. After practicing for an hour, I went to the caf for lunch, and sat with Nicole, Rachel, Amy, Kathryn, Leslie, Spencer, and others.

After lunch, I studied for awhile, and then went to British Novels at two o'clock. Amanda usually sits next to me, and while the class is getting settled down, we always have pleasant little conversations together. I had a difficult time paying attention in class because I was dreadfully tired. After class ended, A.C., Amanda, and I walked together as far as the gym. Amanda then went to her apartment, but A.C. and I went into the gym together--she for a cup of coffee, I for a brisk jog. I listened to the third sermon by Pastor Edward Donnelly on Hebrews 12:1-2. Excellent sermons. Every time there's a particularly vivid point that catches my mind's eye and gives me something to ponder on and wonder at for the rest of the day. Today it was Christ as priest again. Pastor Donnelly talked about how the High Priest would go behind the veil, and about how the Jews appreciated the High Priest greatly when he was unseen. But they rejoiced most when he returned from behind the veil because it meant that he had lived in the presence of God. Pastor Donnelly talked about how Christ is our High Priest behind the veil, making intercession for us, and about how we should delight in Him though He is unseen. But Christ will be seen again, will come resplendent from behind the veil, and then we shall see Him as He is.

After I ran, as I was climbing the stairs to the room, I met Rachel coming down the stairs. She was going running herself. We greeted each other cheerily in passing.

I showered, and then called Tara. She sounded sleepy on the phone, and I winced, realizing that I'd woken her from a nap. Nevertheless, I hurried downstairs and drove over to the Penthouse. "Sorry! I guess I woke you up!" I apologized as she hopped into the car. "That's what you were supposed to do," she chuckled. We drove over to the Albertsons on fifteenth street to buy food to take to Esther's house for supper this evening. The Albertsons on fifteenth street is what I call the "candy land" Albertsons. The walls are decorated with big colorful cut-outs of cats and dogs and candy and stuffed animals, etc., and the signs over the aisles are in bright ice cream colors, and the different departments are all labeled with their own large canopies. It's like being in a child's picture book or in a dollhouse--oversized bread and candy and vegetables and fruit hanging overhead. We went to the frozen foods section. Tara chose a Freschetta pepperoni pizza for supper. Our main purpose, however (being good little hobbits :o), was to buy dessert. We chose two packets of frozen, pre-cut cookie dough: one packet of peanut butter and chocolate cookies, and one packet of caramel-chocolate-walnut cookies. The grand total of this extravagant affair turned out to be ten dollars and thirty-eight cents. With our grocery bag in hand, we marched out of the store and drove back to campus to pick up Alisha, who wanted to come visit Esther, too.

The three of us drove down to Esther's apartment at fifty-first and Yale. For those of you who have never had the exhilarating experience *cough* of driving on the surface streets in Tulsa, you're not exactly able to break land speed records getting from one place to another. We were able to go the speed limit until the first place where the Broken Arrow Expressway crosses the surface roads, and then we stopped and sat for awhile... and sat... and sat.... The same process had to be replicated at the next crossing. More sitting.... The endless rhythmic flicker of brake lights from the long line of cars in head of us, and the tangled snarl of traffic that always seems just barely to avoid gridlock. We reached forty-first street, and Tara called Esther to tell her to turn the oven on. "We'll be five minutes!" she chirped cheerily. I laughed wryly--it took us about ten minutes before we were pulling into the parking lot behind the apartment complex where Esther lives.

The three of us climbed the narrow, rickety flight of stairs to the second floor. A rather loud, creepy chap stuck his head out of the first floor apartment and said hi to Alisha, startling her. We rapped on Esther's door, and she let us in, locking the door behind us. The smell of cigarette smoke lingered on the air even inside the apartment. The apartment was small and rather dim. A hodgepodge of furniture and knick-knacks, pictures and clothes, was scattered about. Esther's lean black cat prowled around, sniffing our shoes, waving her sleek tail in the air, batting the straps on Alisha's knapsack, play-fighting with my hand, and generally making a joker of herself. Esther perched on the dining room table, and the four of us chatted for a bit.

Tara slipped the pizza onto Esther's pizza stone and put it in the oven to bake for twenty minutes or so. Then we had the pleasure of figuring out how to bake the cookies. Esther didn't have any baking sheets, so we used a muffin-top tin, a glass casserole dish, and a glass loaf pan. Tara and I sprayed the dishes with cooking spray and arranged the little rounds and squares of dough. "We have to try some of the dough!" Tara said, so Alisha cut a couple of the squares of peanut butter and chocolate cookies into quarters, and we each had a bite. "Un-cooked cookies," Tara said happily, smacking her lips. While we waited for the pizza to cook, Tara spied a packet of marshmallow snowmen sitting on Esther's table, which she'd given to Esther to decorate awhile ago. So Esther opened them, and we used a couple of food coloring markers (green and red) to draw faces and clothes on the little plump spun-sugar snowmen.

Pretty soon the pizza started to smell good. Tara pulled it out of the oven. Waving a pizza slicer dangerously in the air, she cut the pizza into quarters and slid them onto plates. It wasn't a very big pizza, so the quarters were just the right size for each of us. While the cookies were in the oven, we sat on the living room carpet and ate our pizza, chatting about school and movies and such. Esther put the cat into her bedroom to keep her out of trouble. The pizza was hot and doughy, satisfyingly warm. When the cookies came out of the oven, they were somewhat peculiar-looking. The ones that had been in the class dishes came out looking like "pigs-in-blankets", as Alisha said. A bit on the gloopy side. But the ones in the muffin top tin were, aside from being a bit swaybacked, quite alright. And they were all tasty. We ate them piping hot as we stood in the kitchen, blowing on the gooey chunks of chocolate. Each of us had three cookies, which left plenty for Esther to enjoy later by herself.

Tara had to be back on campus to practice for RUF worship tonight, so we had to leave at six-thirty. We said good-bye to Esther and hurried out to the car. The night was cold and crisp. Our breath plumed out behind us. In the car, I turned on the heater. Tara shared cinnamon mints with us as we drove back to campus. Fluorescent lights flashed as we drove down the busy streets--restaurants, businesses, banks, gas stations, shops, hotels, hospitals, like a glowing coral reef.

Back on campus, I dropped Tara and Alisha off at their apartment. Then I drove back to Lottie. I wrote for a little bit in my room before RUF, and then walked to RUF alone across the frosty grass.

I went to find a seat on the far side of the room, and ended up sitting between Amanda and Rachel in a cracked armchair that ate me alive whenever I sat down in it. Tonight John preached about the first chapter of Jonah: about fearing God and trusting Him to know when His mercy is appropriate; about how God's mercy extends farther than we expect, and because of this, we fight against His mercy. About how God's mercy has come and found us, and we must therefore show it to others.

After RUF, I talked with Jenny briefly. We arranged our own "not-a-date" for Friday night (supper and a basketball game!), when everyone else in RUF will be going on Not A Date. "There's no one else I'd rather go on a date with other than you--well, almost no one else," Jenny laughed as we parted ways. "Yeah! I'd hope there would be someone else!" I laughed back at her. I talked with Crystal and Nicole about Hobgoblins tomorrow night, with Mary about earrings (admiring her pair of dangly blue-and-silver earrings). As I left, I said good-bye to Alisha in the hall. I walked out into the night alone, praying for Alisha and Esther. As I crossed the grass, I heard someone running behind me, and then Rachel was walking beside me, striding confidently, her cheeks red and her breath streaming out behind her under the moonlight. We walked up to our room together, and now we're sitting at our desks, working. I've finished my trek through the LOTR soundtrack and am listening to Sufjan Stevens, "Illinoise!" now. Optimistic orchestral pop with Christian themes. Thanks, Kevin, Crystal, and Philip. :o)

Time for some sleep now. May God be with you all.

hooray for roommates and puns!

Last night, I noticed Rachel’s Calculus book sticking out of her knapsack lying on the bed. “Oh, is that the Calculus book with what looks like a violin on the front?” I asked, recognizing it because Elizabeth and Philip are using the same book. “Yes,” she said, “it’s a violin's f-hole, but it’s also an integral sign.” “They were arguing as to which one it was: Philip said it wasn’t a violin, but an integral sign, and Elizabeth said that it was a violin. I couldn’t help thinking it looked like both,” I laughed. “Hmmm….,” Rachel mused. “I’m not sure why they chose that particular shape for the violin’s f-hole. As far as I can tell, it would only have to do tangentially with math."

And then we both burst out laughing.

pictures

Pictures from the RUF Bible study supper are up on photobucket!

Check an old post for username and password.

a colorful day

Now Playing: Bach, "Prelude and Fugue in A minor".

Yesterday morning I had a Music History II quiz at eight-thirty. The morning was lovely--it felt like something from March or April, with the sun shining daffodil yellow through thin clouds, and the water beginning to melt again from drifts of dirty snow. After the quiz, in the North Lab that has the grilled ceiling painted like gold stars on a dark blue sky, I studied for a little while in the upstairs student study room. No one else was there. The bare branches of the trees made beautiful latticed patterns behind the rippled glass windows, and the early morning light streamed silver over the bookshelves with their heavy volumes of dissertation abstracts. I had a meeting with the study abroad director at nine o'clock, which only took about half-an-hour. We went over a few questions and talked about the basics of the application process. I went to Tyrrell and practiced for an hour.

I read for awhile and then went to Music History at eleven o'clock. More on Handel today. We watched some video clips about Italian singers and such. After class, I swung back to Lottie, very happy under the bright noon sunshine. The sky was clear blue, and there was a warm south breeze. I met Nicole and Tara in the Lottie lobby at noon, and the three of us piled into my car to drive down to Jamba Juice at sixty-first and Yale (though we thought it was seventy-first, and so had to do some doubling back). It being the noon hour on such a lavishly sunny day, traffic was absolutely dreadful. Wherever the Broken Arrow Expressway crosses over the surface streets, traffic was backed up for a long way. Pretty soon this got rather tedious. All three of us were tired, so we had some difficulty keeping conversation going. We inched down the road until at last we were well away from the Expressway. We entered the district of hospitals and medical complexes, where tall towers of concrete and glass loomed over fancy restaurants and shopping malls. Jamba Juice is in a strip mall on the edge of this district.

As we entered the shop, the smell of ripe citrus and the clicky sound of a mandolin greeted us. "Nickel Creek" Nickel Creek was playing on the radio, "The Lighthouse" and "Out of the Woods". There were two people working the counter, a guy and a girl, both younger. The three of us stood debating for awhile, staring up at the colorful signboard on which the various drinks were listed. I finally ordered a berry-bannana smoothie for myself and a berry-lime smoothy for Jenny S., who had requested that I buy something for her since she wasn't able to come with us. I perched on a stool and waited while the other two ordered their drinks. Behind the counter, I could see a big metal basin full of oranges, a platter full of carrots, and another platter containing long green growing wheatgrass. The two employees were soon busy throwing ice and yogurt and fruit together, and the whir of blenders crowded out Nickel Creek. Very soon, we each had our drinks, and walked back out into the sunshine to drive to campus. Back on campus, we went to the caf to eat together. I had a chicken salad-sprout-avocado wrap, which was delicious with the last of my smoothie. We sat around and chatted for a bit, and then went our separate ways.

I took a short nap, worked on a paper for British Novels, and went to orchestra at three forty-five. Today we played "Russlan and Ludmilla" and a Bach fugue transcribed for orchestra. The conductor has been giving us new pieces every day, trying out different numbers to see how they sound. After orchestra, Rachel and I ran in the gym. I find that I'm able to take longer strides now, smoother, more effortless, so I think it's time to go faster.

After running, I showered. By then it was about six-fifteen, time to go downstairs to meet Tara. Tara, Rachel, and I were to drive together to Joanna's house for a Bible study dinner--the RUF guys' Bible study had arranged and organized to host the RUF girls' Bible study. All the other girls were late, so Jenny H. rode with us, too. The evening star hung clear in an aquamarine sky as we drove down the dark streets to the house.

Joanna's house was full of people and children when we arrived. She has several siblings, and the house looks like a great place for kids--lots of books, colorful posters about reading on the walls, a huge treehouse out back, etc. The walls in every room were painted a different color. In the large room at the back of the house, three tables had been set up. The boys were busy cooking in the kitchen next to this large room. Daniel was slicing bread, Spencer was setting out cups, Andrew (perched on a rolling chair because of his ankle) was overseeing the cooking, and David was pouring a thick stream of sticky brown rice into a bowl. Syneva and Amanda were already there. I glanced around the room as greetings were being said. The creamy brown walls had shelves on them, and there were pictures perched on the shelves--photographs, watercolors, etc., pictures made and painted by Joanna and her siblings. Meanwhile, everyone was saying hello and admiring one another's clothes (this mostly among the girls :o).

When the boys were ready, we took our seats. By Spencer's decree, no girls were allowed to sit beside one another. Tara, Nicole, Rachel, and I sat every other seat at one of the tables, gingerly sliding our knees under the elegant white tablecloth. Kevin, Daniel, and a chap named Stephen joined us. Daniel prayed for everyone, and then we ate. The boys had made an excellent supper, concluding with pie for dessert.

After supper, various people pitched in to help clear the dishes away. The boys shook out the tableclothes and folded up the tables. I was feeling a bit woozy, so I sat down in a corner to watch the proceedings. Rachel and Nicole left. Once the floor was clear, Syneva put a CD of swing music on the CD player. James and Eleanor were, of course, the first on the floor. Eleanor's heels clicked on the honey-brown hardwood, her skirt spinning out as James twirled her in circles. Joanna's parents danced some, and Joanna danced with one of her brothers. Syneva and Amanda danced together, Syneva pursing her lips and laughing. Almost everyone was dancing to the fast, cheerful swing music. As the evening went on, Syneva and Daniel taught the guys some new steps. Alisha danced with David, with Joanna's littlest sister perched on her hip, a three-way dance that made everyone laugh. Alisha and Tara danced together, kicking their legs in and out, holding hands and flinging back their heads with laughter at their own silliness. It was funny to watch the older girls dancing with Joanna's little sister--a tiny brown-haired, big-eyed scrap of humanity whose greatest joy in life seemed to be dancing. She hopped back and forth to the beat, smiling happily while she held hands with Alisha, who had to kneel down to do some of the fancier steps with her. Syneva taught Tara and Crystal a zig-zag step, the three of them flinging their heels in and out. The room was full of noise and people dancing and people standing about and talking.

At about ten o'clock, it was time for everyone to leave. I drove Tara and Syneva back to campus, dropping Syneva off at her apartment. Then I went up with Tara to the Penthouse. We settled down to watch the end of Clouds of Witness. Though the actor for Lord Peter may not be perfect (he's a bit old!), he is an excellent actor, so both of us try to be forgiving. This story was one of the longest and most convoluted of the ones I've seen yet, but both Tara and I really enjoyed it.

While we watched the movie, Alisha and Jenny S. were in and out. They stopped in to drop off their things, and then left to go do "shenaningans"--i.e., drive out as far as Owasso to look at the stars. They bundled up in thick coats and took along a sleeping bag, leaving Tara and me in the quiet apartment. They came back about an hour later, laughing at themselves. "We're such chumps! It's cloudy outside! And it's starting to rain!" Jenny laughed as she stuffed her coat back into the closet. Alisha sat down in her pajamas to watch the end of the movie with us. We paused it briefly to look at pictures from the party from Tara's camera, and for Jenny to show us her new dress, a fluttery burgundy affair with a nicely swishy skirt (dancing is very much in vogue in RUF!). Tara and I both cheered when Lord Peter showed up in the nick of time, and the story ended satisfactorily.

After the movie finished, I lingered to chat for a bit, though it was after one o'clock in the morning. Jenny was just pulling her smoothie out of the freezer and scraping off the top layer with a spoon. Finally, I put on my shoes and said good-bye. I drove my car back to the Lottie lot, and walked across the dusty street through a lightly-falling rain. Rachel was asleep in the room, of course, so I prowled about, putting on my pajamas, and then went immediately to bed.

the sun is back!

Now Playing: Psalm 68E on the New Song "Stronghold" CD. I'm sitting in the Penthouse, listening to this CD on Tara's CD player. She's curled up on the fat sofa at the other side of the living room, munching Pringles potato chips and reading Moll Flanders, with the deep orange glow of the lamp glowing around her head.

This morning, Rachel and I went down to Nicole and Mary's room for prayer. Nicole stayed curled up in bed while Mary bustled about, getting herself dressed. Rachel almost fell asleep on Nicole's bean bag. We sipped hot black tea while we shared prayer requests, and then prayed for one another. After prayer time, I frantically sent e-mails until I had to dash off to Lyric at nine-thirty. The morning was pleasantly cold, bracing, with a bright blue sunshine. Clear ice had caked on the sidewalk where yesterday's melting water had frozen over the bricks. In Lyric today, we talked more about images, especially in 13th and 14th Century lyrics and in Andrew Marvell's poem "The Garden". After class, I went back to my room to study and work on the paper for Lyric, which is due Thursday. I rattled off some revisions before hurrying to the cafeteria for lunch.

The cafeteria has been undergoing a series of minor problems. They've had to dig holes in the floor a couple of times now. It's a bit startling because, looking down into the hole, you can see only six inches of concrete foundation before the dirt sets in. Also, the roof leaks like a seive. I sat at a big table with Rachel, Mary, Nicole, Amy, Jenny H., James, Daniel, Hannah, Leslie, and others. Everyone cycled through at various times, so lunch was made up of a series of sporadic conversations--complaints about classes, exclamations of exhaustion, etc.

Lunch being finished, I studied for a little while before British Novels at two o'clock. In Novels, we are working on Defoe, especially focusing on his theories of marriage. After Novels, I walked over to the gym with Crystal and Amanda. I went into the lounge in the gym to meet with Alisha.

I was a bit early, so I perched on the windowseat in the spacious lobby for awhile. People kept passing through: Football players come to buy sandwiches at the little shop in the corner of the atrium, sleek girls purchasing coffee and smoothies, employees changing shifts and watching TV on the big screen (their desk is at one end of the atrium, and the TV is at the other end). A group of rowers jogged past the window on the sidewalk outside; a smattering of Indian students, loaded with heavy knapsacks and jabbering in their own language, sauntered by; an Asian man with a bag of food slouched past; some long, lanky guys on the track team loped along the street. The brilliant afternoon sunshine glared through the far windows, high on the walls over my head, filling the lower part of the atrium with cool blue shadow.

Alisha bought cranberry juice for the two of us, and we perched on the windowsill among our knapsacks and coats for a nice long chat. Just as we were settling down, though, A.C. came in. She ordered a cup of coffee with fluffy cream on top and joined us. We chatted for awhile about classes and such, and then A.C. went off to buy a newspaper. After she left, Alisha said with a little smile, "She's an interesting person." We had a long, serious conversation, about many things--"cabbages and kings and pigs with wings".

Anyhow, while we talked, the sun drifted slowly down the warm goldenrod wall, flashing in the window, reflecting over Alisha's face, throwing blue bars of shadow from the window panes across the atrium. It slid over our feet, across the floor. It patterned the wall of John Mabee across the street with the delicate inlaid tracery of blue shadows from the bare oak trees, until the intertwined silhouettes were swallowed up in a cool blue gloaming.

Alisha and I left the gym at about five-thirty. The sun was setting behind the skyscrapers downtown. The flock of crows that always flies east in the morning and west at night was flying west across the sky, big black wings against blue. The half-melted ice caked on the intramural field gleamed faintly like water on soggy green grass. Alisha and I went to the cafeteria and picked up meals-to-go, and then walked across the lawn. On the way, we stopped by my room so that I could pick up the first part of Clouds of Witness, a Dorothy Sayers mystery DVD. We went by Alisha's old room on the way. The door happened to be open. Glancing in casually, both of us winced: The room was a mess, with clothes everywhere, the furniture topsy-turvy, the bed a wreck, and nasty posters of Rap singers plastered on the walls in place of Alisha's maps and drawings.

As we crossed the lawn, Alisha pointed out a long ripple of brilliant crimson and purple cloud on the aquamarine sky--as though the sun in its setting had left behind a fiery eddy on the sky. The wind licked my bangs back, and Alisha laughed that they were sticking up just like the cloud. We went through John Mabee on the way, stopping to say hi to Andrew and Asher and Bob.

In the Penthouse, we found Tara reading. The three of us sat down to watch the DVD while we ate our suppers. Tara ate a bowl of Froot Loops, and Alisha and I unpacked our meals from the styrofoam cafeteria boxes. Jenny S. came banging in a bit later and took a shower. Tara and I laughed at Lord Peter's funny mannerisms.

Alisha and I went to RUF at seven-thirty. I sat down on the edge, by myself. Daniel was sitting on the sofa in front of me, and he was courteous enough to engage me in conversation until RUF began. Tonight a guest pastor, Ricky Jones, preached. The sermon was quite good, about following Christ and the sacrifice of faith.

After RUF, I talked with Syneva about the upcoming TSS concert, listened to Jenny S. joke around, leaned on Alisha, roughhoused with Charis a bit, etc.

I came back with Tara to the Penthouse. We finished our Lord Peter DVD, just the first part. Because Jenny and Alisha weren't back yet, Tara persuaded me to stay. So I sat down here at her computer at the table to write up this entry. Tara is still curled up on the big overstuffed leather sofa. But now Jenny and Alisha are back. Jenny ate supper at the table, and is studying Spanish now--complaining while we tease her, of course. :o) Alisha has just curled up with Tara on the sofa to do her devotions. We've been listening to the New Song CD, which I'm loaning to Tara, but it's over, so now Alisha has put on the Master and Commander soundtrack.

Each of us buried in our work, but connected by the music. Tara's flower pictures all over one wall, Alisha's maps all over another wall, Jenny's Cardinals baseball posters all over another wall, and Tara's door plastered with photographs of RUFers.

sliding along

Now Playing: "Come Away With Me" by Norah Jones (courtesy of Tara--thanks! :o).

When I started to open the shutters after I dressed this morning, the draft blowing under the windows was so cold that I left the shutters closed. A cruel wind was skirling along under a bleached sky, creaking in the branches of the trees. I finished reading a section of an Honors textbook, wrote some e-mails, had brief devotions, etc. Stephen was playing Freelancer on the computer in the schoolroom, while Philip worked on Physics homework in his room. Laura puttered in and out with the guinea pig. My father stayed home from work today, and my mother was doing laundry and assembling the yearly family-and-friends letter. After I finished my little things, I curled up on the couch in the schoolroom to play Guess Who with Laura. Philip, taking a break from studying, watched us, egging Laura on. Our hang-out time in the schoolroom was interrupted when my mother announced that Philip was supposed to take a family portrait of us for the annual letter. Dutifully, we trooped downstairs. Philip set up his tripod in the living room, and we stood against the pull-out doors the way we always do, grinning grotesquely. Laura was getting restless and contrary, so for the last one, my father yelled a Curly “Three Stooges” line, which made all of us laugh.

The ordeal over, we all bundled ourselves up to go sledding with the Carrolls. Bridget rang the doorbell at about eleven-fifteen, and we stamped outside, dragging the toboggan behind us. Our toboggan is a hand-me-down from whoever owned our house last—a simple aluminum rectangle with a curved nose and a rope for steering or pulling. Mrs. Carroll, smiling and red-cheeked, helped Philip to load it into the back of the Carrolls’ big suburban. Then we clambered inside, finding places here and there among the Carroll kids. Emily was bundled up in a snowsuit and looked like a little green marshmallow with a pointed top. Bridget and Laura giggled happily together. We drove over to the soccer fields on the north side of town. These soccer fields also double as baseball diamonds and have chain-link fences running around them. They stand under a network of steep dams, which run on the north and west sides of the fields. To the south and east of the dams are the soccer fields; to the north is a series of lakes and ponds, and to the west is a high, open pasture with houses on the far edge. The dams to the west are much further from the soccer fields than the dams to the north—the northern dam is steep and has only a few yards between its foot and the fence, whereas the western dam is slightly shallower and has a broad open space before it descends in another steep slope to the fences. The dams are tall, steep, earthen affairs, perhaps two or three stories tall (though I’m a bad judge of height). At the soccer fields, we bundled out of the car. The sun glaring off the frozen sleet dazzled my eyes. This is peculiar stuff: it looks like snow (though it doesn’t have the same fairy-tale sparkle), but it’s hard, almost impenetrable, like ice. The surface is all bumpy, textured—not as smooth as an ice skating rink, but almost, like walking along the top of a utility table.

We dragged our toboggan, the Carrolls’ sled, and their snow saucers out of the trunk, and began to haul them up the lowest part of the western dam. In the shelter of a stand of trees, the sleet was not as deep and had been chipped away by many other people climbing the dam. Emily got Philip to pull her on the sled. Carrying one of the snow saucers, I nearly slipped as the wind caught the round plastic surface like a sail, tipping me sideways. The others were having similar troubles, and all of us were sliding on the sleet. But it was grand fun, too. Wrapped in scarves, coats, mittens, hats, and gloves, we looked like a party of fat aliens traipsing over the surface of the moon. At the top of the dam, the boys immediately tossed down their snow saucers, scrambled aboard, and went whizzing down the dam, howling and laughing. Bridget and Laura took the sled. Emily was eager to follow, so she and I curled up together on one of the snow saucers. Mrs. Carroll gave us a push, and down we went. Breathless, I laughed, clutching Emily’s tubby shape to my chest so that she wouldn’t go flying. The slope rasped under the plastic saucer, and at the foot of the dam, we hit a bump, which sent us airborne for a foot or two until we slammed down onto the sleet and skidded out across a flat space. It was a rough ride for one’s spine and haunches, but great for one’s adrenaline. Emily and I picked ourselves up and proceeded to climb the dam again, taking great care on the slippery surface. We could skate along the top of the dam, where the crest was somewhat flattened. Bridget went so far on the sled that she managed to fly all the way across the open space, down the next slope, and to the fence around the soccer fields.

We all went over and over again. There were a couple of other families sledding at the same time, with younger children. I went down with Emily again, and then with Bridget on the sled. The steep slope was quite forbidding at first, especially on the sled, and I screamed in Bridget’s ear as we zipped over the ice. Everyone was having a blast. The boys kept climbing up and then whizzing down, over and over, nonstop. Their plastic snow saucers made strange sounds as they whirred over the ice, like the sounds you hear in Star Wars films during space flight. Philip and Nathan raced each other on the snow saucers. Stephen spun out on the toboggan. William skated along the top of the dam between times. The cold north wind chafed the blood into our cheeks. Mrs. Carroll stood at the top and laughed and laughed at us—laughter seemed to bubble out of her, sheer joy. She went down on one of the snow saucers, losing her elegant black hat in the process. Stephen, coming up as she went down, grabbed the hat before it blew away, but Mrs. Carroll just laughed and shouted. When the boys moved to the steeper northern slope, and Laura and Bridget were playing with the toboggan, Mrs. Carroll and Emily went down on their seats. Emily had so much padding on her that she couldn’t feel the jounces, and giggled and chirped happily. My eyes were used to the glare, now. I trudged up the dam, digging my toes into holes that Philip had kicked where the ice was thin, and then zipped down on the saucer, turning backwards and gasping in surprise at the bump at the bottom. Swishing out over the open space was almost like flying.

After about an hour of bright sun and cold wind, I was beginning to get tired, and my bones ached from the cold. Laura and Bridget had gone down the second slope and run themselves into the fence. Laura had banged her head hard on a fencepost and was woozy for a bit. Mrs. Carroll and Emily went over to investigate what the boys were doing on the northern slope. Bridget and I skated around on the ice, while Laura lay on her back, pretending to be a frozen mummy. Then Bridget noticed that her mother was shouting and beckoning to us, so we started to make our way over the ice towards them. It was a long way, hauling the toboggan, the sled, and a snow saucer or two, but we made it without mishap. It turned out that the real mishap had already happened: Nathan, sailing down the north dam, had stuck his leg out to prevent himself from running into the fence at the bottom, and had clipped his shin on one of the fence posts. Philip helped him to lie down on the toboggan. Mrs. Carroll couldn’t tell whether Nathan’s leg was broken or only badly bruised. [N.B.: It turns out that the leg was broken cleanly. Pray for the poor chap!]

Our gleeful party became a rather dismal trek over the ice, back to the car. Philip hauled Nathan on the toboggan at the head of the procession, and the rest of us brought up the rear with the red snow saucers. Mrs. Carroll teased Nathan gently about amputating his leg. “Are you going to cut off his leg?” Emily asked, worried. “No, no,” Mrs. Carroll laughed, “Though that may be what daddy will say.” We all piled into the car, and the Carrolls drove us home. At home, Logan had come over to eat lunch. We tramped inside, stripping ourselves of coats and scarves and gloves, and sat down to a lunch of grilled cheese sandwiches and hot soup. It was comforting to be inside out of the wind. After lunch, I made sure that I was packed and ready to return to Tulsa. Just as I was leaving, the Carroll children arrived: Mrs. Carroll had brought them to stay with us while she took Nathan to the doctor for an x-ray. I said quick good-byes to my parents and then went outside so that Logan and Stephen could drive me back to Tulsa. The drive to Tulsa was fairly uneventful.

In Tulsa, walked back to Lottie alone—from behind the library, across the lawn. In the room, I unpacked, and then walked to the music annex for an orchestra rehearsal at three-thirty. Hardly any of the string players were present, but most of the woodwinds and brass were there. The rehearsal went fairly well.

Afterward, I walked back to Lottie. The evening was blue and cold, with the chilliness that makes every shadow seem to be an icicle. Rachel and I ate supper together in the cafeteria.. It was good to get to spend time one-on-one with her again. After supper, I wrote e-mails and studied a bit for Lyric. At about seven-thirty, I walked downstairs to Nicole and Mary’s room. Nicole, Mary, Crystal, and Tara were all hanging out there. Mary made tea for herself, Crystal, and Tara. Crystal was examining The Action Heroine’s Guidebook, one of Nicole’s books. She read humorous (and rather risqué) excerpts from it to us, laughing. At eight o’clock, Tara and I walked over to the Penthouse so that Tara could change into exercise clothes before the RUF guys’ basketball game in the gym. We skidded over the ice cautiously. Tara went to the game, which started at eight-thirty. She left me in the apartment to finish typing up this entry.

At about nine o’clock, I walked over to the gym to watch the end of the guys’ game. All three courts were full of people playing. The guys’ game was in full swing. RUF was ahead. It was rather humorous: on the other half of the low wall that separates the exercise machines from the courts, there was hardly anyone sitting. On the half where the RUF team had its bench, about twenty people were perched, cheering, laughing, and socializing. I sat beside Jenny H. and Eleanor at the end of the row while Jenny rubbed Eleanor’s back. I gave Spencer the heads-up about the visit tomorrow, and joked around with him and Jenny S. The RUF guys won handily.

After the game, I walked back to Lottie alone, picking my way carefully over the ice. In the room, I found Rachel entertaining Crystal. They were discussing Aphra Behn, whom we’ve been reading for British Novels. Crystal stayed to chat and work on a paper for awhile. We laughed at people’s foolishness, especially the stupidity of Behn’s characters. Crystal, being a double major in Psychology, has decided to diagnose the characters with being histrionic and clinically insane. Looking ahead, we speculated about Defoe’s Moll Flanders. “Defoe, if you bore me, I will kick your grave!” Crystal said. She decided that I had better do the grave-kicking for her since I’ll be closer to his grave next year, so I imitated the scene: “This is for Crystal! *whack* And for me! *whack* And for Tara! *whack* And for Amanda! *whack*!” Crystal and Rachel burst out laughing. Crystal has left, and the room is quiet.

trust

It's wonderful to wake up in your own room again. I love all my books! It's like sleeping in a library.

We had more ice this morning, but there was thunder during the storm to add some interest. I must say that though this weather is both inconvenient and dangerous, it's a lot more exciting than it was last winter, when we had that dreadful drought for six months. I'd much rather have inconvenient driving conditions than watch the land strangle to death without any precipitation.

Here is an article that my "little" brother Philip wrote. I thought it was brilliant. :o)

Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.”

This semester is my last semester of highschool. Within a few months, I’ll have to decide where to go to college and what to do while I’m there. In addition, there are hundreds of decisions I make about life every day. With all these decisions, God’s Word calls me to trust in Him, to make my decisions leaning on Him for help rather than trusting in my own wisdom.

A Godly example of trust is a man named Ebed-Melech, an Ethiopian who lived in Jerusalem during the time of Jeremiah. Chapter 38 of the Book of Jeremiah chronicles Jeremiah’s arrest and imprisonment in a well filled with mud. It was deep enough that verse 7 could say “So Jeremiah sank in the mire.” However, the chapter goes on to describe how Ebed-Melech approached King Zedekiah, who had just commanded Jeremiah’s imprisonment, and said “My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon, and he is likely to die from hunger in the place where he is.” Ebed-Melech knew that King Zedekiah could easily command him to be killed for calling the king’s action wicked; nevertheless, he feared God rather than King Zedekiah, and sought to save God’s prophet. King Zedekiah gave Ebed-Melech permission to remove Jeremiah from the dungeon, allowing Ebed-Melech to save Jeremiah’s life.

In the next chapter, the story moves to the fall of Jerusalem, at which King Zedekiah and many of the people of Israel were slaughtered by the Babylonians. However, among the people who survived was Ebed-Melech. At the end of Chapter 39, God gives Jeremiah this message for Ebed-Melech: “‘For I will surely deliver you, and you shall not fall by the sword; but your life shall be as a prize to you, because you have put your trust in Me,’ says the Lord.”

Ebed-Melech demonstrates the courage we should have because of God’s goodness. As Christians, God is our loving Father. We have been united to His Son, and thus His words to Christ in Luke 3:22 “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased” are for us as well. In addition, He has promised to work all things that happen to us together for our good and His glory. With these great promises in mind, we also ought to be reminded to trust in the Lord for all things in life.

In the year ahead, many decisions will confront each one of us. Put your trust in the Lord about the difficulties that lie ahead, and rely on Him when each decision arises. He who cannot lie has promised in Hebrews 13:15 “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Trust in the Lord; He will direct your paths!

second verse [not quite] same as the first

Now Playing: Concerto Grosso in G minor, Op. 3, No. 2 by Antonio Vivaldi.

This morning when I woke up at six-thirty, Rachel stayed asleep. After I dressed, I pattered down the hallway to the study lounge to do my devotions. Rain freckled the windows.

After I did my devotions, I studied for the Music History quiz, and then went to the quiz at eight o'clock. The library was just being open. A few students milled around outside the locked computer lab. I stood separate, looking at books by faculty authors displayed in glass cases outside the computer lab doors. At last a woman came to unlock the doors. Unfortunately, once we sat down at the computers, the class realized that we needed a password in order to get into the quiz. Our substitute professor didn't know this and never showed up, so we sat around impatiently for half-an-hour until one of the guys in the class figured out what the password was. The questions on the quiz were mostly random details from the textbook. I was glad when it was over.

Back in the room, I read for awhile, and then practiced my flute. When I left Tyrrell, the rain had turned to pellets which coated the sidewalk and grass with a sleek, crunchy layer. When I got back to the room, I spent awhile figuring out what to do next about the weather. I talked to my father on the phone, and he said that my mother was all set to come get me. Though I was apprehensive, she sounded pretty definite. Then Jenny S. called to ask if I was ready to go out to lunch with her. Since the weather was so cold, we decided to postpone our outing to Jamba Juice and go to Panera instead. I stood outside in the parking lot, the cold wind blowing against the backs of my legs, waiting for Jenny to pull up in her car. Eventually, she did. She bought a new car over the break, a nice little dun-colored car with a moonroof. It drives remarkably smoothly, though it has a stick shift. The car was thick with ice in bubbly pods all over. I couldn't see out the passenger side of the windshield since Jenny had only scraped clear the driver's side. We crunched through the streets, laughing and listening to Alisha's Rap dance music.

Panera wasn't too crowded. We ordered our food and sat down at a long high table near the door, hopping the tall chairs along the floor to scoot them up to the table. I had warm clam chowder and half a tuna salad sandwich. Jenny had clam chowder in a bread bowl. We sat and talked happily together. Jenny asked about my break, and I asked about hers. We laughed at ourselves a lot, discovering that we have a lot more in common than either one of us suspected. I really enjoyed it.

The drive back to campus was somewhat more exciting. We fishtailed a couple of times on the slick road. Sleet pellets pinged against the windshield. Jenny dropped me off at Lottie. Up in the room, I packed up my things. At two o'clock, I ran downstairs to meet Syneva. Jenny H. and Andrew happened to be sitting in the lobby. Then Syneva arrived, and we went up to the room. Rachel was there, packing up her books to go study at the library. I made tea for Syneva and myself. Syneva perched happily in my desk chair, tipping it backwards and cradling her cup of chamomile tea. I sat on my bed, and we talked about the semester ahead. Syneva has a lot of practicing to do to get ready for her senior recitals, and I have a lot of reading and writing to do. We chatted until I looked out the window and recognized Philip trudging through the icy parking lot from the minivan. He and my mother had made it through to come get me. I snatched my belongings and went downstairs with Syneva. We said good-bye, and then went our separate ways: she to Tyrrell to practice, I towards the parking to meet Philip.

The car was full of things--scarves, water bottles, a couple of sleeping bags, jackets, etc. My mother had prepared everything in case of an emergency stranding. The drive back to Stillwater was fairly smooth, thankfully, with only a couple of fishtails to add some spice. We nosed along at fifty mph, my mother driving carefully over the slick roads. When we crossed Keystone Lake, we saw wraiths of steam blowing over the steel-grey waves. The blowing mist rode silently over the water, hiding the distant hills. The beaches were white with snow. Seagulls flew over the water, tipping white wings through the greyness. An eerie, cold scene. On long expanses of open highway, we were the only car on the road, driving through a white wilderness where pellets of sleet dashed against the windows and hissed over the empty hills. Pockets of snow collected in the hummocks between tufts of yellow grass, and drifted over the roots of juniper and oak trees huddled together in knots along the creek bottoms. The highway was lonelier and more desolate than I have ever seen it.

We listened to Nickel Creek and the "Master and Commander" soundtrack, and returned home in about two hours, at five o'clock. The house was cold and empty--Laura and Stephen were both upstairs. My father has gone to his aunt's memorial service in Dallas with my grandparents. Laura and I sat upstairs playing with the guinea pig for awhile. He sure is a cute little chap. He sniffed me all over when I held him, whiskering his nose in my face, and butted his head against my chin in a friendly way. I helped my mother fix supper, and after the table had been set, I sat in a corner of the kitchen, reading and chatting with her. She diced onions, sliced mushrooms, and threw them into a saucepan to sizzle in butter on the stove. We had spaghetti and meatballs for supper. After supper, we took baths. My mother read The Fellowship of the Ring to Philip, Stephen, and me while we waited for Laura to finish showering. Then we had family worship, and after that, we watched the first half of The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club, a Dorothy L. Sayers book turned into a BBC production. By the time we finished the first half, it was ten-thirty, so my mother bundled all of us off to bed.

Thank you to all of you who prayed for safe travel! Please continue to do so: My father is supposed to come back from Dallas Saturday night (and I really want to see him again because I miss him), and I have to get back to Tulsa somehow before classes start on Tuesday. Also, Beth W. and my pastor are traveling, so please remember them as well.

a blustery day

Now Playing: “An Ancient Muse” by Loreena McKennitt. Track 1, “Incantation”.

This morning I stayed in the room and read Making Modern Science and The Origins of Modern Science for Honors. I had Lyric at nine-thirty. In the hall, I ran into Rachel B., who's joined the class (she was in MAW last semester). She's a nice, rather quiet girl, with pale skin and dark hair and eyes. We've struck up a sort of friendship. Tara knows her, too.

Lyric begins to be more and more interesting every time--I have a feeling that it will probably turn out to be my favorite. We discussed a couple of Shakespearean sonnets today. Then I went back to the room to finish up my Honors reading and work on reading for Lyric. To give us writing to contrast to Shakespeare, Dr. L assigned D.H. Lawrence, a British writer from the turn of the last century. I also studied for Music History. I've discovered that I love Vivaldi's second violin concerto. There are only two movements on WebCT, but I listen to them over and over again.

After lunch, I read until British Novels at two o'clock. I arrived early, and occupied my time standing aloof from the group of students hob-nobbing in the hall near the classroom. I inspected a laboratory, to which the door was open, and looked over a couple of bulletin boards on which results from experiments about cliff swallows and bees were posted. In class, we discussed the Restoration, the Glorious Revolution, and Aphra Behn. Dr. S ran fifteen minutes over, which was actually somewhat amusing since she hardly ever does that. I'd forgotten how much I actually enjoy her lecture style: she's very lucid and accessible, less acidic than Dr. A in MAW, and she manages to fit in a lot of information but pacing herself so that the class has brief pauses in which to finish scribbling notes. She really respects the Reformation and what it did for literacy and literature in Europe, so it was refreshing to listen to her talk about that.

After class, I walked over to the gym and ran. Then I took a nice long shower and returned to the room to find Rachel reading. I drifted around the room for awhile, unwinding, before I settled down to read some more. We went to supper together. After supper we stepped across the hall from the caf to the Fishbowl, where the RUF game night was beginning to get underway. Rachel and I sat down on one of the low sofas. On three sides, the Fishbowl has floor-to-ceiling windows (two of those walls face inward, one toward offices, the other toward the caf). On the fourth wall, a blank, the guys were setting up video games: DDR and Wii. In a corner by the fireplace, they'd set up an electric guitar game similar to DDR. There were lots of RUFers milling around, but more importantly, other students were being drawn in from the hallway, not RUFers. A group of large football players came in to play Wii for awhile, laughing raucously with Jason and Andrew. Mattl. challenged some other guys to DDR. It was funny to watch the people playing DDR, hopping over the pads, tapping their feet in time to the heavy Rap beat, mimicking the dance moves indicated on the projected screen. Their bodies jiggled and jumped like grasshoppers. The funniest part was that the guys seemed always to be better than the girls. Kevin, Amy, Jenny S., and Crystal all played at various times, too. The Wii was put through its paces with tennis and bowling, while from the corner, electric guitar hoots mingled with the heavy DDR music.

Hannah sat down beside me on the couch, and we chatted about our classes, getting to know each other a bit better. Sitting on the floor against the couches, Rachel, Mary, Nicole, and Tara played Egyptian ratscrew, shouting and laughing and slapping their cards on the carpet. Leslie and Mrs. K served chips, cookies, and soft drinks to those who were hungry.

When Hannah moved off to talk to the guys, Alisha sat down next to me. Then she went off to talk to our guests, but I stayed slouched where I was. Kathryn and Amy came over. I asked Kathryn about her position as an RA. She told me about how happy she was to be back with the girls on her floor, and about their resolution to get a new fish to keep in their bathroom (the one last semester died). Apparently it's a second floor tradition to have a pet fish in the bathroom.

Syneva and Amanda were the next to cycle through. Mrs. K chatted with Syneva and Amanda while Charis ran circles around us, doing flips over the couch to show off. I sat quietly, watching and listening. In my heart of hearts I want to hold onto Amanda and Syneva. This is the beginning of the end. They will be gone next year. Then I will be gone, and when I come back, Alisha, Tara, and Jenny S. will all be gone, too. When Syneva and Amanda left to get some supper (Syneva hadn't had anything but sugar to eat all day, for which I scolded her), Mr. K asked about my Christmas break, etc. Kevin came and chatted for a bit, and so did Crystal. Jenny and I discussed our planned outing to Jamba Juice tomorrow. The game stereos still blared, people talked and laughed loudly, exclamations, feet thumping the DDR pads, etc. It was eight o'clock, so I decided to go study.

As Rachel and I had walked to the caf for supper, I’d noticed that the star magnolias in the courtyard were starting to bloom. Now, walking back through the dark by myself, I stopped in the courtyard to visit the little trees. Their thick, waxy silver branches danced in the wind, intertwined like Arabic arches. Fuzzy buds stood upright, their thick soft hairs catching the bright lights along the pathway and making halos like green candles in the darkness. High up on the branches, a few buds had unfurled into full bloom, creamy petals veined burgundy. I walked round one pair of trees to where a few of the flowers at my height had begun to open. Stooping to a half-open bud, I caught the sweet, faintly cloying smell. I stood admiring the flowers in the darkened courtyard, the play of the pathway lights off the branches and the fluffy buds. As the wind riffled through the branches, a fuzzy bud bobbed up and kissed my lips. I walked to the dorm quietly, noticing the dampness that had congealed around the big sandstones of the walkway.

Rachel was in the room reading when I came in. She went out to talk to her family on the phone. I sat down to read and listen to Loreena McKennitt, and to write my first response paper for British Novels. I'm very tired.

"After my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see Him with my own eyes--I and not another. How my heart yearns within me!" (Job 19:26-27), and all my dear ones will be there, too, perfect. The best is yet to come....

spring semester 2007, day 2

Now Playing: "An Ancient Muse" by Loreena McKennitt. Track 6, "Penelope's Song".

This morning, I wrote e-mails, read, and then went to Lyric at nine-thirty. Lyric is in Oliphant Hall, which is really the languages/biology building, but for some reason, English classes always get put in there, too. The professor, Dr. L, is a tall, thickset woman shaped like a pear with grey hair and grey skin and glasses. She has a friendly smile. She told us that she didn't want to load too much on us in any given week. We have three or four papers to write over the semester that are all supposed to tie together into one big project at the end. We get to read elegies, so I wrote down on the little information sheet she passed out that I'd like to read some Anglo-Saxon stuff if we could. :o)

After class, I walked out with Tara, who's in the class with me. She went over to Greek, while I returned to the room. I spent the rest of the morning reading the Honors textbook and Shakespearean sonnets for Lyric and listening to this CD. It's not a bad CD, though Loreena seems to have gotten up on her soapbox a little more than usual with the "war-is-bad", "all-roads-lead-to-truth-and-God", "let's-all-be-friends" nonsense. Reading the lyrics just makes me sad because she's obviously hungering for true peace in God, but she doesn't know quite where to look for it. Thankfully, though, you can hardly understand her when she sings, so it's easy just to enjoy the music.

I ate lunch with Amy, Hannah, Leslie, Andrew, James, and Rachel. We all swapped stories from our Christmas breaks. Andrew told us that he brewed five gallons of beer ("I sure hope I don't have to drink all of it!"), and asked me how many pages I'd written. Andrew and James mostly ran the conversation, which was quite silly--telling "horror" stories about broken bones, with the hypothesis that if someone breaks a bone, it can actually be funny as long as the circumstances are funny. Andrew, however, has a phobia about broken legs, so he doesn't find broken legs to be funny at all. The boys sure kept the rest of us laughing.

After lunch, I read some more. At two o'clock, it was time to walk back to Oliphant for British Novels. Dr. S, my advisor, teaches British Novels. The class seems to have picked up the riff-raff of weird English students from the department: many of the usual suspects are in the class. To even that out, Crystal, Amanda, and Tara are all in the class, too. We sit in a row in the third line of desks together. That fact in itself should make the class fun.

After British Novels, I walked out with Amanda. As we crossed the street (I was heading for the gym), we passed a man being interviewed. Someone was holding a heavy TV camera up to his face. "Hurry before he stops talking," Amanda whispered with a giggle, so we hurried past across the camera, behind the man being interviewed. So I guess we're on TV now.

I ran in the gym and took a shower. I had wonderful visions of sitting and reading and drinking apple cider in my newly-washed, newly-elegant state, but just as I was heating the water, A.C. knocked on the door and bounced into the room. So I entertained her for an hour or so. We walked over to ACAC to eat supper together in the Hurricane Hut. I had a delicious chicken wrap and a sweet fruit smoothie.

After supper, I went to the library to pick up some books. For Lyric we were assigned to find a book about lyric, so of course I went hunting in the bowels of the library for The Early English and Celtic Lyric. I found it, right among the Anglo-Saxon books: Ingeld and Christ, Widsith, The Guthlac Poems. The names themselves just delighted me. I wanted to check out all of them at once. :o)

I walked back to the room and studied for a little bit before RUF. As Rachel and I crossed the lawn to John Mabee for RUF, we met up with Syneva, Amanda, and Amanda's mother and two sisters. On the way into the big meeting room in the basement, we were stopped by Leslie, who had been placed in charge of surreptitiously getting people to sign a couple of birthday cards for Mr. K (it's his birthday today). There were a lot of people at RUF tonight. Jenny H.'s father and sister were visiting, and other people had brought friends. I sat in the back next to Di, who's the head of the education department and comes to RUF regularly. After RUF, I hung around, talking with people for awhile. I chatted with Tara, with Jenny H. about the literary society Tara and I want to start, with Jenny S. (we're going out for smoothies on Friday at lunch), with Esther about her work, etc. Josh K. ran around chasing David for doing something, as usual, while Charis bounced from girl to girl, being fondled and cuddled.

When people started to leave, Tara and I left, too. We drove over to Di's house. She'd opened her home for a birthday party for Mr. K. Tara and I discussed our classes and all the books we're going to read. It's encouraging having classes with Tara because she's so cheerful and excited about them, keeping me from being too much of a Puddleglum.

At Di's house, I stood in the dining room and talked with Alisha and Kathryn. People kept bustling in and out, putting food on the table--chips, cookies, cake. When Mr. K arrived, we sang a boisterous happy birthday to him (there must've been about thirty of us crowded into the house, which is a bit larger than the Ks' house). Joanna had stuck candles all over the cake, and somehow Rachel K. and Mrs. K managed to light them all without mishap. Their light glowed and winked on our faces as we sang, with big grins, watching Mr. K, who pretended alternately to be embarrassed and then to be very proud. With the help of his children, Mr. K blew all the candles out at once. He gave a little speech, very touching and warm, thanking all of us for our love. Joanna proceeded to cut the cake, handing out little pieces to everyone. I escaped the crowd in the dining room for the crowd in the kitchen. I ran into Daniel, and we spent awhile talking. Daniel turned to ask Tara a question, giving me a moment to say hi to David and Asher, whom I haven't seen since break. The house was very full of people and food and talk. Everyone seemed to be talking and eating all at once.

It was ten-thirty, so Tara and I decided to leave. David and Asher walked us out to make sure we reached the car safely in this bad neighborhood. The stars were very hard and bright overhead. We drove back to campus, shivering in the cold car, and said good-night. I ran up to the room. Rachel was already asleep. I changed as quietly as I could (keys will jingle just when you don't want them to!), and went to bed myself.

spring semester 2007, day 1

Now Playing: "Thirty Year Retrospective" by Mark O'Connor. Track 14, "Stone from Which the Arch Was Made".

In the morning, I did my devotions and ate breakfast in the room. Then I went to pick up textbooks from the bookstore at about eight-thirty. The morning was clear and chilly, crisp sun on the frozen grass. I entered ACAC through the west doors and passed the Carrellos Coffeeshop booth on my way in. Danielle and Tara were working there, so I stopped by to say hi. The bookstore was already busy, but I managed to pick up all of my books except one (for Honors), which they didn't have in stock at all. With my arms full of books, I walked back to the dorm. It was a pleasant feeling to be able to line them all up on the bookshelf. I don't have as many textbooks this semester as I had last semester, which is nice--both for money and for space. Once that was taken care of, I spent awhile sending e-mails and reading Schaff's History of the Christian Church.

At nine-thirty, I walked over to Tyrrell Hall to practice my flute. People were bustling in and out of the building, but the practice rooms were fairly empty, so I had a nice long warm-up session. Then it was time for Music History II at eleven o'clock. I always get nervous walking into upper-level classes: I feel as though I have no right to be there, and as though all the upperclassmen will be glaring down their noses at me. The class is in the same room as Music Theory I was last semester--the high fifth story room in the tower of Tyrrell. It's a big class--almost all the desks were full. Everyone seemed to know each other, and they were all gossipping and talking full-force. Dr. R substituted for Dr. P today since Dr. P is in France finishing up a teaching time. Dr. R is a plump, short man with a very soft voice. He had some trouble getting the class to quiet down. But he's also very enthusiastic about the music, so it will be fun to have him at least for the first week. We're starting out with Vivaldi, Couperin, and Rameau, all high Baroque chaps.

After class, I walked to the cafeteria for lunch. Hardly anyone was there yet. I sat alone in a booth and read Schaff. David Moore did stop by to say hi. After lunch, I sat up in my room, reading Schaff. I managed to finish Schaff in time for Honors at two o'clock.

Honors is over in Chapman Hall, in the Dean's conference room--the room with the long wooden table and the tall glass windows, through which I watched the elm leaves go gold my first semester at TU during Dr. G's Honors class. Once again, the class was fairly full. James, Rachel, and a lot of familiar faces are in the class. Dr. M, the professor, is an older man with thick, white hair, well-built. He likes to blink when he talks, and he likes to talk a lot. At least he's excited about the subject at hand, though, and the rabbit trails are all related to that (unlike certain other Honors professors I could mention...). Honors this semester is the History and Philosophy of Science, so of course we're reading Darwin. Dr. M was very careful to try to separate religion and science, and talked about how they're at odds. He was also very careful to put "truth" and "reality" on the edge, and begged even us "religious" folks to find some use for Darwin. But then he was also careful to undercut or contradict almost all his statements on the subject, so we'll see how that turns out.

After Honors, I stopped by the room briefly with Rachel, to pick up the mail, etc. Then I walked to orchestra. On my way out the door to orchestra, I ran into Eleanor, Jenny H., and Amy. Loud greetings and happy hugs all round. They'd just come back from a lab in Kep. I walked on to orchestra alone, and hung about uneasily in the hall outside the room. The room that the orchestra uses to practice is actually in the band building, where the old gym, the swimming pool, and the athletic offices are. It's tiered, with lockers round the edges, and instruments and black instrument cases lying about in the corners like a colony of sea lions. I greeted Syneva and Kevin happily when they arrived, but I still felt like a piece of lost baggage. I could feel everyone eyeing me curiously: most of these music people know each other already. When Dr. W, the conductor, bustled briskly into the room, I stopped him on his way to the podium. "Dr. W," I began. "Dr. W," he laughed, "How sweet. Mr. W will do." He remembered my e-mail and told me that he wanted me to "read with the ladies" today. So I hauled myself up through the maze of chairs and stands and instruments to the flute section, where three girls were warming up. I already know Laura (first flute) and Jennifer (second flute), but I hadn't met Mary (piccolo) before. They made room for me so that I could share a stand with Jennifer. We started off running through the last movement of Tchaikovsky's "Little Russian" symphony. Dr. W led it very fast, and I was lost, of course. I tooted as quietly as I could under the orchestra and tapped my foot furiously. When we finished the run-through, and the conductor settled down to drill the strings on their bowing, I had the chance to look at the music a bit. It actually isn't hard at all, especially since I have second part, so when we picked up again with full orchestra, I had an easier time of it. Then we read through a Beethoven overture, in which the same thing happened. Dr. W worked with the strings mostly, trying to get them to play together and do proper dynamics. Thankfully the viola section has expanded from two to four ("Santa sent some violas!" Dr. W said), so that's some progress, though some of the violins have disappeared over the break. The third piece, by Doppler, is Laura's flute concerto. Dr. W only needed one second flutist for this, so I quietly departed.

On my way out, I found myself walking with Kevin, who also wasn't needed. I asked him about his family's trip to Italy over the break. We got about as far as Zink when we heard Alisha and Kathryn shouting at us, hurrying over the green lawn in the cool evening shadows. They'd been playing socketball. Alisha's face was very flushed, and Kathryn's dark curls stuck to her forehead with sweat. Then Crystal, Jenny H., and Jenny's sister Julia (who's visiting) ran up behind us. Weall walked along for awhile together through the blue gloaming, jabbering like a bunch of happy starlings.

At Lottie, I went inside with Crystal, Jenny, and Julia. Crystal took me to see her room, which she'd tidied up. She gave me a present, too: a lovely journal with a brocade cover like Asian silk. I was delighted. Weighed down with all my studies, and with the awfulness of my playing in orchestra, I went up to my room, dumped my things, changed clothes, and walked to the gym to run. I ran for half-an-hour and then walked briskly back to Lottie. Orion was shining over the library, and the sunset was hovering behind the skyscrapers, blue like the dim glow of an opal. When I opened the door to the room, the telephone was ringing. Out-of-breath, I picked it up, and heard Tara's voice on the other end. We agreed to meet in twenty minutes for supper. I showered briskly, left my half of the room in a mess, and hurried over to the caf.

In the caf, I found Bob, Kevin, and Amy eating together, so I joined them. Tara and Crystal came, too. We joked around for awhile, talking about Italy, food, our classes, poetry, working out, etc. . I asked Bob if he would be interested in rooming with Philip next year. “Sure!” was his response. Everyone else at the table rippled with excitement. “Tell Philip that we’re all ecstatic at the prospect of having him here!” Kevin said. Tara and I left at about seven-thirty. I walked over to Syneva's apartment to pick up the Music History textbook (which I'm borrowing from her for the semester--who knows what I'll do for MH I my senior year!). Then I went to the Penthouse to see Tara and Alisha. When Tara opened the door of their apartment, I was surprised: they've got furniture! Joanna is loaning them a sofa, a chair, and a TV for the semester. "So now we can watch movies," Tara chuckled happily. Alisha had just emerged from the shower when I arrived. She sat down on the sofa to rub lotion on her arms and legs, while Tara and I sat on the floor. Tara shared her father's soft oatmeal-and-raisin cookies with us. We sat and talked for half-an-hour or so. Mostly Alisha and Tara talked: talked about weird stories about boys, and their friends at home, and strange skin ailments. Most of it was funny and made me chuckle. Derek Webb played on Tara's laptop, reverent hymns and songs. I had a feeling of safeness settle over me again, perfectly content just to sit and listen. No expectations or demands, no requirements--just letting them do the talking, being quiet.

Alisha had RUF leaders' group meeting at 9:00, so when she left, I invited Tara over to the room for the evening. Rachel was there, working on her computer. I brewed tea for the three of us. We tried out the fancy new tea my mother had sent back with me. Licorice spice for Tara and white chai for me. I'm not sure what Rachel had. We talked for awhile about classes and such. Tara was curious about our Honors classes, so we told her about them. She played a Capercaillie song for us, which I liked. In Gaelic, similar to the Irish dance music Mrs. H uses. Now the three of us are working on our computers: Rachel at her desk, Tara and me on the floor. Tara's gorgeous bright red scarf lies splashed over her jade green coat like a dragon's wing.

God bless, everyone!

the last part

The end of "Pearl and Peach" is up on Through A Glass Darkly.

more story

There's more of "Pearl and Peach" up on Through A Glass Darkly.