Junior/Senior Banquet and the Antics of the Gray Cat

So, let's just be clear. It has been a LONG week for me! The Junior/Senior Banquet was this past Sunday, which of course meant that the whole week leading up to it was full of dress checks, trips to the mall, and time spent convincing boys to ask girls to the banquet. In the space of one week, I made four trips to the mall, which is about 20 minutes. On Sabbath, Becky departed for Alabama to evaluate Oakwood, where she will be until Thursday. I had the pleasure (and I say that with all sarcasm) of supervising open campus for two hours in the afternoon. This is, of course, on top of being on duty in the dorm, a state-of-being which will last me until Thursday. So, then it is finally Sunday and everyone is rushing around getting ready for the banquet. I had to drive a couple of my girls downtown, then drive back to campus, eat breakfast, get some cleaning started in the dorm, and then take another couple of girls to the mall. This time it was to get their hair done. I had planned to get my oil changed while waiting for them, but instead I spent the time running all over the mall trying to find Spanx for one of my girls, who had of course left this acquisition until the last moment. She had planned to go on mall trip, which if she had asked me, I would have told her that was an impossibly because of her grades. Anyway, instead of dealing with her irate sister, I just bought the darn things for her myself. After that, I rushed back to the dorm and realized that I didn't have time to pick up the girls that I had taken to the YMCA downtown earlier in the day. After several frantic phone calls, I found them a ride and moved on. The dorm was still not ready for the boys to arrive and the time was drawing near. I got the curtain put up in the doorway to the chapel, which is wear the girls are supposed to come from when it is announced that their date has arrived. Many, however, decided to forgo this tradition. The boys arrived, they were announced, the girls showed up, flowers were exchanged, pictures were taken, the lobby was crowded beyond capacity, and then they departed and I could breathe again.

Later that night, I was sitting in my office and, rather surprisingly, the juniors and seniors began to return to my lobby. The boys were allowed to escort their dates home, but apparently no one told them that they weren't supposed to hang out. Either that, or they figured I was perfectly capable of supervising them all on my own without any warning. If I hadn't been in my office, the lobby would have been fully of unsupervised teenagers. Eventually, I told the boys it was time to leave and the girls headed back to their rooms. I got a text from one of them saying that she couldn't get out of her dress and could I please help her. After investigating, I tried tugging the zipper, pulling it with pliers, and in the end I had to cut her out of the dress! I only had to cut a little bit of the lining that was stuck in the zipper, but still, rather eventful.

So, on to the Antics of the Gray Cat. This cat is like my own personal obnoxious ghost. It only shows up at night and it annoys the heck out of my cat, Georgia. It appeared the first time a couple of months back and just hang around outside for like two hours at about 1 o'clock in the morning. It just sits and stares and Georgia, which causes her to go meowing around the apartment, scratching on windows. The first time it happened, I was still awake and it kind of scared me because I couldn't figure out why Georgia was making such strange noises. When I got up to check and saw her staring out the window, I looked and there was this gray cat. Well, last night, it appeared again. This time at around 4:45 am. I think it even made an appearance in my dreams, but somehow had become a gray bulldog. Anyway, I woke up to find Georgia in my room scratching on my plastic window for all she was worth. When I went to look, there was the cat, watching her. I picked Georgia up, which was quite a struggle since she was adamant about wanting to get at that cat, and closed her in her own room. She scratched at the door for a few minutes, but eventually gave up. About an hour later, she woke me up again with more insistent scratching and I finally got up and let her out. I assume that by that point the gray cat had disappeared, because I didn't hear anymore from Georgia during the night. I'm hoping the cat just stays away, because Georgia really puts herself in a tizzy over it.

The Randomness of My Life

This morning, on a day on my vacation, I get a phone call before 9 am informing me that a whole crew on contractors would like to see my apartment. Since vacation meant time to finally do some thorough cleaning of the place, which of course I have not yet gotten to, I rush to throw on some clothes, pick up some of my messier areas, and try to make the place look as presentable as possible in 5 minutes. About 7 men then proceed to come in and stand around in my living room and, who knows where else, as I sit just outside so as to be as unembarrassed as possible. And did I mention? Oh yes, it has started to snow...again!

Now, I didn't have amazingly great plans for today. I had hoped to go see a movie, which we canceled because we're a bunch of wimps who don't want to try driving around in the snow. But on top of that, I had to deal with these contractors at practically the crack of dawn. (Okay, a bit of exaggeration, but if you've ever been around my while I'm on vacation, I do not appreciate being awoken before 9.) And there were mostly very kind and polite gentlemen, except that one of the fellows, who is not a contractor but an elder from the conference, I have had to deal with before and he has left a bad taste in my mouth. Today's semi-politeness did not really make up for the last few times when he was rather rude to me. You try getting 50 teenage girls to clean up after themselves, buddy!

Anyway, apparently I just needed to vent a little. I feel a bit better and hopefully someone can find my pain amusing. :)

Dutch Bros. Love

So, this morning, in a state of exhaustion after a late night and a morning that consisted of several phone calls before 8:30 am, I was considering coffee. And then, I had the most wonderful epiphany! In two weeks time, I will be flying to Portland, a major metropolis in Oregon, the birthplace of my beloved Dutch Bros.! I can have Dutch Bros. in just two weeks after 7 months without. Oh, happy day!!! I just thought I'd share such a glorious epiphany with all, especially since, Portland being the large city that it is and me being part of a group, I might have to tread on the kindness of one of the many people who plans to visit me while there and have them pick me up some Dutch Bros. Love! :)

After months of contemplation...

Okay, well, not so much. I just didn't feel like I had much to say, so its actually more like "After months of silence...".

But anyway, it's February now and the day before I turn 23. We're having what weather reports deem a "wintry mix", which I take to mean everything unpleasant about winter thrown together in one day: snow, slush, ice, rain, cold, icy rain, and anything else you can think of. It's simply disgusting.

I have less than four months left in my school year and although I'm ready to head home, I'm not ready to think about leaving these girls. I've come to love them and I can't imagine not seeing them everyday. Plus, from my past experiences, I know how unlikely it is that I'll stay in touch with many of them and that is just down right sad. But, since I don't feel like thinking about that the day before my birthday, I'm going to move to a happier subject and share some of my more recent adventures.

Georgia, my cat, got an eye infection, which requires that I put goopy medication in her eyes twice a day for ten days. Let's just say, she's not a big fan of this. One of my girls has been helping me with this by wrapping Georgia in a towel, what we like to call a "kitty burrita," and holding on to her while I maneuver the goo. It's highly entertaining, but by the end I think poor Georgia's going to hate both of us.

I recently agreed to join one of this year's six mission trips. I am now the female sponsor for the trip to Portland, OR with about 2o students to help the homeless. We're going to be working with Bridgetown Ministries, which provides several services for the homeless of Portland. I'm really starting to look forward to the trip. I've never been on a mission trip before, so I'm excited that it worked out for me to go on one this year. Plus, several people have shown interest in making the much shorter trip to come and see me in Portland, which will be great! :)

Well, hopefully from now on I'll be better about keeping this up-to-date. If you check it and see me lacking, nudging is always helpful. :)