Rogers State Report

     This has been an incredibly long week. Like, I woke up this morning and figured up what day it was, and I thought, "It's only WEDNESDAY?"

     Some of that might be the headache I've had since yesterday morning. And probably a lot of it is panic from the onslaught of switching completely from one environment to another. It kind of reminds me of how the hoboes would leap onto the trains as they were moving out of the station during the Great Depression. That's about what classes have felt like so far, three days in. The level of knowledge and expertise on everything feels miles and miles ahead of wherever I am right now. And that's really scary, running to catch up to the train everybody else is on.

     And, fittingly, I suppose, since I'm (I guess?) a Hillcat now, my nerves have been on a feline edge all the time. Especially at night. There's lots of unexpected intruding noises at random times, so my fur stays bristled and ears and whiskers are on high-alert swivel. And I've done that asleep-to-flying-toward-potential-threat-awake thing three to four times a night. Some of that is just not being used to the patterns of neighbors walking through the hallway and slamming doors, and some of it is an instinctual reaction to smells when the heater has been on too long. Oh, yeah, there's a thermostat in my apartment-dorm, which is nice. If I could just figure out how to work it properly...
     It's MUCH better than Ross. (But then again, anything would be.) Except you can't complain about the horrible conditions to the other people in the building you know, and so the natural tight-knit community aspect isn't there, because there really isn't much wrong with the housing conditions. Really the only thing I can think of off the top of my head is that six reflective surfaces in three rooms is too many.

     And there's the fact that the higher elevation there is, the more wind is likely to be blowing there. And that... in Tahlequah I got used to cold weather. (Which doesn't mean I exactly like it now, but I can live with it.) But wind is a different story. I'm a very small-sized person, and if it's strong enough, wind will actually move me from one place to another. (I know this from experience.) Besides, wind is bitingly cold, and that's worse, because it's harder to fight and there isn't really a good way to keep warm. (See Hans Christian Andersen's "Little Match Girl", for example.)

     Folks seem polite, which is nice, I guess. And the dining hall is more cheerfully-designed and seems more professional than the NSU caf. Haven't met anybody yet, but I didn't expect to right off, that takes a long time.
     I think I may have finally figured out why Timothy was prey to "stomach troubles and frequent illnesses", according to Paul in 1 Timothy 5:23. (I've always wondered what he suffered from, and why he was often sick, and why was this detail included in the Bible?) Timothy probably was daily overwhelmed and unbearably tense from the stresses that come from trying to do everything it took to run a church adequately. And from what little we know, he was an only child(no siblings are mentioned), and only children(even more than oldests) are very hard on themselves, striving for excellence in all they attempt. And so he probably would have interpreted "adequately" as "perfectly", which is probably impossible. And then the fact that it's an act of service for the Lord, that probably added to the intensity and strife, so.... This could be way off-base, but it seems like a reasonable conclusion that comes while dealing with a lot of terrifying homework, a massive headache, upset stomach and slight nausea. And being an oldest.

     Anyway, that's about it.... the NSU BCM gang is pulling everything together for spring, and while I had the TV on the first half of the College Football Playoff title game(to catch the new Age of Ultron preview), I missed the preview, didn't really care about the game itself, and then Ohio State beat Oregon. Brad Paisley and DC Talk make for a good soundtrack to study by.