End of Summer 2014

     Summer's almost over already. Well, for me, anyway, because I'll be a counselor at church camp next week and then turn right around and begin the new semester the week after that.

     It was very good to be at GBC on a regular basis again and encourage/be encouraged by the folks there. That's something I really miss when I'm in Tahlequah.

     Mostly stayed at the house, unlike most of the folks posting on FB and stuff about the different places they've been to. But through books, I've visited early 1900's Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia(everything Lucy Maud Montgomery), late 1500's England(Sackett's Land) and 1840's Alaska and San Francisco(Sitka, Louis L'Amour), the mountains of far western North Carolina(Mitford series, Jan Karon), not to mention Chincoteague Island ,Virginia(Marguerite Henry) or Harmony, Indiana(Philip Gulley) or jaunts across England and the Middle East with Agatha Christie.
    Explored a South American cave in this adventure story(first part linked) that Ash and I worked on. And also got a bit farther on a handful of other projects.
     Made several pilgrimages to the rather-unfamiliar territory of the movie theater, which is always a really interesting experience, and from there went back to D.C. with The Winter Soldier and saw New York with The Amazing Spider-Man's new adventures.  And explored the sometimes-bizarre world of imagination with The LEGO Movie. Through Netflix and DVDs, went to WWII with Captain America, saw Greenland for the first time with Walter Mitty(strange movie, but good), visited New York again with The Avengers and again in the Amazing Spider-Man movies, as well as trying to figure out "...but What About Bob?" The Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs sequel was unnecessary(though the first was surprisingly good). New Mexico in Thor, Tennessee and Miami in Iron Man 3, and London in Thor: The Dark World. Elma, Texas again in The Big Green. Paris with The Aristocats. Chicago for both A League of Their Own and While You Were Sleeping. And PBS is fantastic, with specials on the National Barn Dance radio show, the early years of TV sitcoms and Saturday night movies of the week like Fiddler on the Roof or The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. 

     Spent a lot of time with Amy, getting pretend haircuts and pretend grocery-shopping and Hot Wheels or driving PlasmaCars, reading The Animals of Maple Hill Farm and other books to her, that kind of thing. That's been nice.
     Ping pong with Courtney and Caleb, lots of that, and then quite a bit of volleyball on the new court we set up in the yard. (Regulation-size court and everything, we'd been talking about it for years before actually setting it up. It's pretty awesome.)
     Trevor's really liked sharing a room the last couple months.

     Rags has been happy that I've been home for a while. And her kittens have been great to have around, they really like Amy and allow her to drag them around for some time longer than you'd expect. Full of personality. Licorice has always been very curious, a careful observer of life and growing up to be a laid-back tomcat. Drysa is beautiful and she is very aware of it, but she also likes hunting and pouncing things. May and Glory are kind of like twins, and both just those types that you really enjoy knowing.
     Of the bucklings, Thor is the calmest, most easy-going goat you could imagine. (I'm biased, though - Nubians have always been my favorite goat breed.) Shenanigans is a handful, really lives up to his name. Trick is something else....he might be a handful when he grows up, too.

     Well, it's a beautiful July day outside, sunshiny and cool, so I'll wrap this up and go spend some time outside in nature. 

Joy to the World

     Joy to the world, the Lord has come; let Earth receive her King! He comes to make his blessings known far as the curse is found, far as the cure is found...

     Well, I really like Christmas songs. And I really like that that hymn. And most importantly, the J key is now working, since my laptop keyboard has been replaced. So I'm jumping for joy and singing "Hallelujah!"....and all those other J-words.

     Thanks, Dad.  (And Logan.)

Missing Sunshine

     It's been a year.
     Seems like a lot's happened.
     Or maybe it's only that "the curtain falls down and everything goes dark, an' that means time passes", as Andy Griffith said.

     And I know she was only a dog. But she was my dog.
     And it still really, really hurts.

     There's not really much else to say.
     I survived two more semesters of school, with straight-A's intact, and got to know some folks from the BCM a little bit.
     And there's been Rags. She's sitting on my arms right now as I'm typing this paragraph, half-asleep and purring. She's a very good cat, and I wish I could take her to Tahlequah with me. She even sometimes obeys when I tell her to do something, which is proof she's a wonderful cat, since as everyone knows, cats are their own masters and will only occasionally do something for someone else out of altruistic motives, and only because they really like that person.
     Banjo and Captain are all right, but neither is a real Race-of-Josephy dog. Banjo is extremely timid and spends most of the day hiding under the bed, and then exuberantly bounding all over the place too overstimulated to think when he's happy. It's like he has two settings; Petrified and Ecstatic, with no in-between. Captain is super friendly to everyone and loves to be petted, but doesn't aspire to any great ideals.

     The backyard is full of half-grown goat bucks, cats who spend their time either playing together or lounging as only felines can, chickens of all colors and sizes and ducks, whose very existence is entertaining. So that's better than an empty yard. But it's not quite the same.

     Yeah, life keeps going on. There's still work to do, projects that need to be completed, small bits of joyfulness, deep places of frustration and loneliness, and mostly the rather flat expanse of everyday experiences. That's not to say that it gets any easier; it seems like things get harder the longer you travel. But you get through everything, leaning heavily on the Lord's help and the prayers of other siblings in Christ. And you kind of just try to take it one hour at a time, and then when that hour is gone, start over with the next. Guess 2 Corinthians 12:9 could kind of be a summary of this last year, as well as Philippians 3:12-14.

   It's just kind of been a hard, long week, with the Fourth of July and most of the family sick, then the one-year anniversaries of Skeet and Sunny, and trying to get everything ready for camp and then everything for school.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2

     So I've written a review of the first trilogy(and those are spectacular movies). And  then when The Amazing Spider-Man came out, we(as a youth group) had to go see it. And so, since we(as a family) missed the sequel the first time, we thought we'd go see it at the dollar theater. Which me, Mom, Courtney and Trevor did yesterday afternoon. But first we re-watched The Amazing Spider-Man before we left. It turned out to actually be a very well-made film. True, like I've said before, the acting was overdone and the storyline was shallow, but it was an action movie more than anything else, and being so, the other aspects could be forgiven, somewhat. My favorite scenes are still the ones where Peter asks Gwen out, and then Aunt May commenting that Gwen was pretty right after Captain Stacy's funeral.

     In an interview between the first and second films of the rebooted series, Emma Stone said that while Peter was the muscle of their team, Gwen was the brains. And that's a very good summary of their interaction and roles.

     TASM2 opens with the same scene as the first, but from a different perspective, focusing on Richard Parker, instead of four-year-old Peter playing hide-and-seek like the first movie. (I love that trick of storytelling.) As I said about two years ago, "It's a darker, more realistic world....The dialogue feels more true-to-life, which somehow loses points, even though technically it should be better."
     After dropping Peter off at Uncle Ben and Aunt May's, Richard and Mary hop onto a private jet and plan to stay as far away from Oscorp as possible. An assassin murders the pilot and an intense fight follows, including a pistol going off, someone hurtling through a window, and a massive file transfer, before the plane crashes.
     Fourteen years later, Peter has been bitten by one of Richard's leftover spiders, Uncle Ben's been shot, Captain Stacy has died and Curt Connors has been incarcerated for his actions as the Lizard. And Peter's gotten used to this do-gooding Spider-Man gig. It keeps him busy, though. So busy, in fact, that he nearly misses his own high school graduation, a fact which valedictorian Gwen isn't too happy about. But there was this Russian thug named Alexei Sysetevich hijacking an Oscorp armored truck. During this chase, Spidey both delivers, well, amazing snarky commentary(sorry, I couldn't help it) to the criminal and saves the life of a pathetic Oscorp engineer named Max Dillon.
     During the fight, Peter sees a vision of Captain Stacy and remembers his wishes for keeping his daughter safe. Peter is twisted between his striving to keep his promise and yearning to be with Gwen. Exasperated from this well-worn internal battle, she breaks up with him that night.
     Harry Osborn comes back to New York to see his dying father Norman, who in addition to bitterly expressing his disappointment in his son, also tells Harry that he too has the hereditary retroviral hyperdisplaisia disease. Norman gives Harry a cube which apparently contains his life's work. Norman dies the next day.
     A now-Spidey-obsessed Max is pitifully lacking anything close to a life, feels invisible, and is extremely, unbearably sensitive(he makes Danny Rebus from The Electric Company look normal). Especially annoyed at no one noticing (or caring) that it's his birthday, a slip while doing maintenance work becomes a massive catastrophe. It's a big headache for top people at Oscorp, given the already-shaky investor confidence following the Connors episode. Following an awkward board meeting where newly-installed CEO Harry meets the board members and an even worse reunion scene between Harry and Peter, some unnamed board member hushes up the Dillon accident, citing the already-shaky investor confidence levels after the Connors episode.
     Gwen tells Peter that she might move to England for school, as she's one of the finalists for a hugely prestigious Oxford scholarship. While they're talking about it, Max, now a human power station, wanders into Times Square and inadvertently causes a blackout. The police show up, and Max defends himself animal-like, scared and with no idea what's going on, lashing out at anyone seen as a threat. Spider-Man attempts to calm him down, but those efforts fail when he doesn't remember who Max is. Enraged, Max, now calling himself Electro, attacks everything in sight, and the police fire at him, which doesn't help matters, and Spider-Man has to rescue the numerous civilians watching the scene. Electro is taken to the Ravencroft Institute for the Criminally Insane, where he's experimented on by a German named Dr. Kafka.
     Harry decides that Spider-Man's blood could possibly save him, but is turned down both by Peter and Spider-Man, and the Oscorp board fires Harry after framing him of covering up Max's accident. Harry's assistant Felicia tells him about secret equipment that could save him, so he makes a deal with Electro to get inside the building. In the Special Projects hidden lab he finds a glider and flightsuit, as well as antivenom, tentacles, a rhino-like exoskeleton and mechanical wings. This all hurriedly creates the Green Goblin, and Harry races off to find Spider-Man.
     Throughout the movie Peter's been trying to uncover more about his parents' disappearance(Aunt May doesn't much like this) and he discovers a hidden subway station lab where Richard hid the information about his work, knowing that Oscorp would use it as a biogenetic weapon. Gwen finds out she got the scholarship and plans to head to England immediately to get a head start on her studies. She gets stuck in traffic, which gives him time to say "I love you" dramatically, They get back together and make plans for him to come with her when they see Electro heading to the main power grid to take the entire city's power and they rush away to stop him.
     With Gwen's smarts and Peter's skills, they defeat Electro by overloading his electricity charge, only to have Harry/Green Goblin come sailing in and kidnap Gwen as revenge for Spider-Man not cooperating with a blood transfusion. The following fight takes them to a clock tower, and in the melee Gwen hurtles towards the ground and Peter tries to save her, but she dies.
     Months pass, and Peter is still deeply grieving her loss, he's stopped crime-fighting he's been so depressed. Harry is in Ravencroft, his condition improving, and plans are made to take out Spider-Man for good. Inspired by Gwen's graduation speech and a little boy's courage, he gets back into the superhero game by again taking on that Russian thug Sysetevich, now dressed in a heavily-weaponized rhino-themed exoskeleton. The end.

     I enjoyed it(but it's hard to not like superhero movies, unless it's The Fantastic Four or X-Men), but this was a strange movie. Several times I had to stop and wonder, "Wait....what's happening?!" There were way too many undeveloped characters, and there were huge plot holes that were skipped over or extremely poorly-connected. (Like Norman's death, how Peter-Gwen-Harry knew each other, or why Peter was under surveillance.) And most of the dialogue from the previews was absolutely nowhere to be found, which is always extremely annoying. Norman dies immediately, and Harry rapidly becomes the Green Goblin and then just as quickly is in jail. It's the second movie of a planned quartet, so that obviously leaves lots of questions unanswered, but still....this story was not very well done. And it's really long....two hours and 21 minutes. I did like Max, though, his character was well-written.

     There were some good bits of dialogue, though; like Peter and Aunt May arguing over whose job it is to wash his clothes. Or when Spider-Man knocks on the door of the runaway semi. Or repeatedly calling Electro "Sparkles". Gwen's graduation speech is good, and when she says that yes, he is Spider-Man, and she loves that, but she loves Peter Parker more, and that makes all the Spidey stuff worth it. Or when she accidentally screams out "PETER!" to a retreating Spider-Man and then instantly clamps a hand over her mouth, looking horrified. And I really liked the way they filmed her falling and then him standing by the grave as the season change.

     Peter says at one point in this film,  about Spider-Man, "I like to think he gives people hope." And he does. Andrew Garfield's portrayal is different than Tobey Maguire's, but it's a completely different take on the same character. Garfield plays a better Spider-Man, but Maguire was a better Peter Parker. But they're two different takes on the same story. So that's all right. And Spider-Man, and all superheroes generally, gives people hope, inspires them to keep going, keep fighting, trying to improve their speck of the world.

Song on May Morning

     This poem was written in 1632-33 by John Milton, and I found it in a 1909 copy of the Vol. No. 4 of the Harvard Classics "Complete Poems in English" series.

"Now the bright morning-star, Day's harbinger,
Comes dancing from the East, and leads with her
The flowery May, who from her green lap throws
The yellow cowslip and the pale primrose.
"Hail, bounteous May, that dost inspire
Mirth, and youth, and warm desire!
Woods and groves are of thy dressing,
Hills and dales doth boast thy blessing.
"Thus we salute thee with our early song,
And welcome thee, and wish thee long."

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

     Yesterday afternoon me, Courtney, Trevor and Dad went to the dollar theater in Tulsa to see Captain America: The Winter Soldier for the second time.

     This movie, of course, is the sequel to Captain America, and also in a sequel to The Avengers, as everything else is in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is tied back somehow. It also ties in extremely closely with the first season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., which is an incredibly amazing feat of scriptwriting. In my opinion, it's one of the best MCU movies so far, right up there with Iron Man 3. 

     Steve Rogers is living in a Washington D.C. apartment now and working for S.H.I.E.L.D. as he struggles to adapt to the modern world of today two years after the Battle of New York. Not so much the technology; more like the societal attitudes and shifted alliances and ethics of people in general. The Internet is very helpful for things like that, and the food is much now than it was back in his day, where they boiled everything. (He mentions these in conversation.) Running is a good way to get away from thinking about problems for a bit, I've found. Steve knows this, too, and on one of his early-morning gallops he repeatedly sails by this guy and chats with him afterward. This other guy is former military, too, his name's Sam Wilson, and he's working at the VA as a PTSD counselor. They chat for a bit, until a text on Steve's phone signals it's time to get to work.
     He, Natasha Romanoff and the S.H.I.E.L.D. special-forces unit(S.T.R.I.K.E., led by Agent Rumlow) head to a ship called the Lumerian Star, which has been captured by French mercenaries led by Georges Batroc. Agent Sitwell is one of the many hostages aboard this vessel needed to be freed. Cap and the S.T.R.I.K.E. team take out the mercenaries effectively,  while the Black Widow has a mission of her own to complete: extracting S.H.I.E.L.D. data from the ship's computers. And, also in a self-tasked role, giving Cap a hard time about getting him to date somebody.
     "You know, I bet if you asked Kristen out, from statistics, she'd probably say yes." "That's why I don't ask." "Too shy or too scared?" "Too busy!"
     A pretty ticked-off Steve angrily questions Director Nick Fury at the Triskelion(S.H.I.E.L.D.'s bureaucratic headquarters) about Natasha's information retrieval, and Fury explains about Project Insight; a plan to use three upgraded and improved Helicarriers linked by satellite designed to take out threats before they ever happen. Steve's not too happy about this new method of warfare. (It seems very NSA-like. And when the movie came out in April, the NSA leak stuff had been only a few months before, so still very fresh on audience's minds.)
     Once Steve leaves, Fury attempts to access the files on the memory stick, only to be told that they had been sealed - by himself. Suspicious, he asks longtime friend and member of the World Security Council Alexander Pierce to delay Insight's implementation.
     On his way to a meeting with Commander Maria Hill, Fury is ambushed by a company of fake D.C. police and a mysterious man with a metal arm known as the Winter Soldier, a ghost-like assassin with over two dozen kills over the years. Fury escapes to Steve's apartment, only to be shot by the Winter Soldier. Cap's neighbor Kate the nurse turns out to actually be S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Agent 13, assigned to protect Steve. She gets Fury to the hospital, but the wounds are too bad and he dies at 1:03 a.m. Fury gave the flash drive to Cap, who hid it in a hospital vending machine.
     Pierce commands Steve to divulge Fury's intentions and reasons for coming to the apartment, an order Cap refuses. Pierce declares Steve Rogers to be a fugitive and sics the S.T.R.I.K.E. force after him and Natasha. They find a clue via the flash drive and a nearby mall's Apple store that directs them to Camp Lehigh, New Jersey, which they then travel to after avoiding the hunters.
     At Camp Lehigh, where Dr. Abraham Erskine's super-soldier experimental training was conducted, Steve and Natasha find the secret base of operations for S.H.I.E.L.D., and inside the bunker basement they discover a supercomputer with Dr. Armin Zola's preserved consciousness. Dr. Zola recounts the rise of HYDRA throughout the years, as they've been hidden in plain sight ever since the beginning. A missile destroys the building, and Steve and Natasha barely escape.
     They go to Sam Wilson's apartment, with nowhere else really to go. "Everyone we know is trying to kill us." "Not everyone." Over breakfast the three of them devise a plan, to steal/borrow Cap's old suit from the Smithsonian and get Sam's Falcon flight suit.
     Those tasks completed, the trio sets out to interrogate Agent Sitwell, who explains that Zola created an algorithm that predicts future threats to HYDRA, which is the base of Insight. The new quartet, counting the now-detained Sitwell, is ambushed on the freeway by the Winter Soldier and Rumlow's S.T.R.I.K.E. team, an intense fight follows. They escape to a safehouse with Commander Hill's help, where they discover(much to their relief) that Fury is still alive, though heavily wounded. There they come to the difficult conclusion that in order to stop this HYDRA takeover, S.H.I.E.L.D. basically has to be blown up. The first step of that plan is to bring down Project Insight through replacement of the Helicarrier's targeting chips.
     Steve reveals the HYDRA plot to everyone at the Triskelion during the Helicarrier launch, and from there, everything S.H.I.E.L.D.-related is in major disarray, to say the least. (Trying not to spoil Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. here....but if you haven't seen it, by all means, WATCH!!!!) Natasha leaks all S.H.I.E.L.D. documents and files out to the general public, which instantly starts trending. Fury shoots Pierce, and Steve and Sam manage to replace the chips of two Helicarriers before the Winter Soldier destroys the Falcon's suit and grounds him. Captain America and the Winter Soldier struggle inside the third Helicarrier before the final chip is replaced, and Hill resets the targeting so that the ships will destroy each other. As they're crashing down back to Earth, bringing the Triskelion down in the wreckage on the way, Fury and Natasha rescue Sam, and in an effort to save his old friend, Steve quits fighting the Winter Soldier and is thrown out into the Potomac River.
     The unconscious Steve is pulled form the water by the Winter Soldier, who then slips away. The Black Widow is brought before a Senate subcommittee and explains her actions, both as KGB and S.H.I.E.L.D. Hill interviews for a job at the Human Resources division of Stark Industries, and Steve's neighbor starts over with the CIA.  Fury creates a new disguise and burns most unneeded personal articles, intent on staying in the shadows to take out the other HYDRA cells that must surely be in Europe. Rumlow is hospitalized and well-burned  following the explosion. Steve and Sam decide to go after the Winter Soldier, while the Black Widow sets off to piece together as best she can a new life and identity. "Will you do me a favor; call that nurse?" "She's not a nurse." "And you're not a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent." "What was her name again?" "Sharon. You'll like her. She's nice."

     There's a lot of good quotes to think about scattered throughout this movie. Like Sitwell's commentary on the digital book that is the 21st century. Or Steve and Natasha's conversations about truth, lies and ethics. After purposely knocking herself out with her stingers, Black Widow muttering "Ow....that does sting." This is a very hard story to summarize without giving too much away; as all terrific tales are a challenge to sum up. There is too much, as Inigo Montoya said.
     My three favorite superheroes are Captain America, Spider-Man and Iron Man, I think. (Does Phil Coulson count as a superhero?) Steve's just kind of easy to relate to, somehow. (I've taken a couple of those "Which Avenger are you?" personality tests and gotten Captain America.) And Dad, Courtney, Caleb and Trevor all make weekly comments about finding a girlfriend or getting married. So has Amanda, too, for the last several months, she's been Black Widow-like trying to talk me into going on a date with somebody. Guess I kind of have Steve's attitude on those types of things.

     In the mid-credits scene, Baron Von Strucker is talking to someone else at a secret HYDRA base somewhere in Europe, one of many. They have Loki's scepter, and have been running experiments with deadly results. There are, also, two prisoners that survived: the crazed twins Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch(played by the Olsen twins' little sister). "HYDRA and S.H.I.E.L.D. are two sides to the same coin....one that is no longer currency. This isn't the age of spies anymore. Not even the age of heroes. It is the age of miracles....and there is nothing more horrifying that a miracle." This sets up nicely into Avengers: Age of Ultron next May, and Guardians of the Galaxy(in early August) will also set it up in some way. So that could lead to superhero discussions with other Marvel fans like Ash, Jon, Mr. DeSpain or the Perrys.
     The end-credits scene features the Winter Soldier, in darker versions of almost the exact same thing Steve was wearing earlier(that seems significant in some way), visiting the Smithsonian Captain America exhibit, staring at the Bucky Barnes memorial.

This Month's Events

      This has kind of been a long, tiring and stressful month.

     Broken vehicles, broken laptop, sick goats, medical mishaps, a pack of rampant coyotes, and a bunch of other things have all added up to where we're all exhausted. And next month doesn't look too much better - with Independence Day(4th), the one-year anniversaries of the passing of Skeet(8th) and Sunny(11th), and the three-year anniversary of Sport's passing(17th). And school starts early this year, on the 28th.

Wish I was in D.C.

     This time three years ago, I was exploring around the monuments and museums of our nation's capital. It was part of Youth Tour, and our group met up in Oklahoma City on a Friday afternoon to get started.
     We got to this hotel where we were all going to stay the night, got registered, and then sat nervously chatting with our parents or observing our fellow travelers while our parents talked to people they knew. Then there were a couple of meetings to sit through and a fancy banquet and posed group photos, all of which were a little awkward and uncomfortable for everybody. We started talking later that night, getting to know each other, and attempting to puzzle out which counties were covered by which co-ops.

     The next day, we woke up bright and early, dressed in our matching T-shirts(an old lady commented that we looked like a bunch of penguins), and set off for the airport, where we then nervously went through security and took a quick course in alphabetization of last names. It was a good way to meet people, like Adam, Tauri, Brandi, Aubrey and Lorene. Once we landed in Baltimore, we explored the Harbor, sampled new restaurants that we'd never heard of(like Five Guys), and marveled at all the trees. On getting to D.C. we saw the Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam Wall, the WWII Memorial, and a statue of Albert Einstein. When we finally got to our hotel(which was FANCY), a bunch of us immediately got in minor trouble for being too loud. There was a piano there in the lobby, and Tosh started playing it, and the rest of us naturally started singing along as soon as we figured out what she was playing. Fun memory.

     On Sunday we toured Arlington Cemetery, which was a somber experience, but important. From there we went to the Smithsonian campus, hustling around to see what we could. Will, Brendan, Chrystal, Claire and I examined the Air and Space Museum, the Museum of Natural History and were thoroughly confused by what we saw of the Art Museum. We also nearly walked into a gay parade, were sidetracked by PETA advocates(with hilarious results) and merrily iaywalked across busy streets. Some highlights of what I saw included Kermit the Frog, Dorothy's ruby slippers, the flag that flew over Fort McHenry(inspiring Francis Scott Key to pen "The Star-Spangled Banner"), and the Hope Diamond. Our buses then took us to a dinner theater where we saw a musical production of Happy Days, and then back to the hotel to watch the Dallas Mavericks beat the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals.

     On Monday we attended a meeting with all the other states, took pictures of the White House, ate at Hard Rock Cafe, toured Madame Toussad's wax museum and went to Union Station for a bit(got lost for a bit there) before going for a boat cruise/dance on the impossible-to-pronounce Potomac River. Most of us snapped pictures and compared accents with Minnesotans when we weren't hiding in the corner or swapping pins and stickers.

     Tuesday had us going to Mount Vernon(which was cool, but we disliked the tour guide), the Iefferson Monument and the Newseum. Had some bus trouble, as one broke down and the other got kind of lost trying to find us, which delayed our getting to the Marines' Sunset Parade. And it started raining. Like, pouring. Here we were stranded on the side of the highway a thousand miles from home in a massive city, which definitely wasn't in the plans. So we played Ninja to kill time, which was great, and a handful of us were tagged as "the Spider-Monkeys" due to our playing style. (Me, Aubrey, Agatha and Maty).

     Wednesday we were shown around the Capitol building and we also saw the Holocaust museum before going shopping and looking around Ford's Theatre.

     Thursday most of our Senators and Congressmen spoke to us for a bit and answered our questions, and then it was time to go back to Baltimore to explore the Orioles' home park before getting back on the plane and heading home. Our flight was delayed about an hour due to bad weather, so we passed the time by playing word-games and find-the-stick-figure hiding in the magazine pages.

     Once we got home, I wrote a recap of the trip, which was printed in the next month's issue of Oklahoma Living magazine(link can be found here). Some of us met up last summer for a reunion, it was neat to see folks again. And then a couple more of us were interviewed for an Oklahoma Living article on college survival last March, which was a really neat experience. (That story can be found here.)

     There's so much I could keep writing, but most people, not having gone on Youth Tour, would get a little bored by my ramblings. So I'll just sum up by saying this: It truly was the experience of a lifetime, and I loved being a part of it. Wish I was there. maybe someday I might get to return to some of those sights we saw.

Fill in the Blanks Quiz

The following is one of those fill-in-the-blanks quizzes that used to be so popular as Facebook quizzes a couple years ago. You take your phone or some other music-playing device(in this case, Pandora), and use the song titles as the answers to the questions. Posting because I'm kind of out of ideas for interesting reads.

1 - If somebody asks if you're okay, you say...
"Out of Summertime" - Scotty McCreery.
Strange answer.

2 - How would you describe yourself?
"Moments" - Emerson Drive.
Hmm....it's a great story song, anyway.

3 - What do you like in a girl?
"Draw Me Close" - Kutless.
"Frowns in thought"...this is a sadly appropriate answer to this question, which is why most of modern Christian music is terrible.

4 - What is your life's purpose?
"You're Gonna Miss This" - Trace Adkins.
Don't quite understand how this could work as a life's purpose, but that was the song that came up, so...

5 - What's your life motto?
"Another One Bites the Dust" - Queen.
If that's supposed to be my life motto, then I'll attach a Henry Ford quote onto it: "Success is the progression of going from one failure to the next without losing any of your enthusiasm."

6 - What do your friends think of you?
"So Small" - Carrie Underwood.
All right...

7 - What do your parents think of you?
"Jump" - Van Halen.
This is one of those answers that doesn't make any sense, no matter how hard you struggle to invent a reasonable explanation.

8 - What do you often think about?
"Letters From Home" - John Michael Montgomery.
When in Tahlequah at school, yes, actually.

9 - If you were a superhero, what powers would you have?
"Don't Stop Believin'" - Journey.
I'll take it. But how, exactly, are faith and determination superpowers?

10 - What is your life story?
"I Can't Go There" - Kenny Chesney.
Makes sense as an answer. And this song has been stuck in my head all week, for some reason...

11 - What do you want to be when you grow up?
"Famous in a Small Town" - Miranda Lambert.
Sounds like a reasonable goal as far as achievability.

12 - What do you think of when you see someone you like?
"American Honey" - Lady Antebellum.
Okay...? It fits the question, I suppose. This is a nice song to play.

13 - What will you dance to at your wedding?
"The One I Love" - R.E.M.
I don't think that would work too well...

14 - Your biggest fear is...?
"The  Government Can" -Tim Hawkins.
This works really well.

15 - Your biggest secret is...?
"Kiss the Girl" - The Little Mermaid soundtrack.
 Yeah, sure...

16 - Is there anything you want right now?
"You're My Better Half" - Keith Urban.
I wouldn't mind.

17 - What's your opinion of your friends?
"The Call" - Matt Kennan.
Gosh, that's kinda dark...it's a great story song, though.

18 - You're auditioning for American Idol. Your audition song will be...?
"Pride(In the Name of Love)" - U2.
Weird song choice.

19 - This is the tune that needs to be parodied ASAP:
"It's a Hard-Knock Life" - Annie soundtrack.
No, it doesn't! It's just fine the way it is.

20 - Where would you like to live?
"I Can Only Imagine" - MercyMe.
Yes.

21 - Your instant reaction to tripping:
"Nothing But the Blood of Jesus" - Randy Travis.
Not really...

22 - Your next dog's name:
"What Does the Fox Say?" - Ylvis.
NO.

23 - What type of disaster will you face next?
"My Front Porch Lookin' In" - Lonestar.
This isn't a disaster, but it sounds all right.

24 - Explain the reasoning behind your current relationship status, please.
"Gone Country" - Alan Jackson.
This doesn't answer the question at all.

25 - This song will be played at your funeral.
"Stand By Me" - Otis Redding.
Considering I instantly think of Pumbaa getting smashed by all manner of heavy objects whenever I hear this song, seems like a good answer. (I was a 90's kid, it was a short right after the previews before the movie on The Big Green VHS tape.)

26 - If you play an instrument, maybe this song ought to be learned next:
"Don't Forget to Remember Me" - Carrie Underwood.
Maybe...

21

     Yesterday wasn't much different from any other normal day, but it was a good birthday.

     Woke up at seven and spent about forty-five minutes with the kittens, then checked Facebook, Twitter and email before eating some toaster waffles for breakfast. Read a book and cleaned until everybody wanted to open presents. Books are always terrific gifts.
     I got three Agatha Christies that I hadn't read yet; the other three straight-up non-mystery novels she penned as Mary Westmacott, and then three Jan Karons, two of Father Tim's quotes-notebooks and then a collection of highlights from the series. Also a S.H.I.E.L.D. T-shirt and a gift card I'm probably going to get a pair of those Chaco sandals with.

      Worked out with Mom, Trevor and Courtney, then we began snacking on the cookie cake. Trevor and I practiced our target shooting with his new Nerf pistol(a 21-gun salute?) on pop cans sitting on the ping pong table. He and Caleb needed help with one of their video games, and after that got a bit farther along on a short story about soccer that's coming along slowly. (Not much time to write during the school year, and also working on an Indiana Jones-ish adventure story with Ash.)

     We got Chinese for dinner and finished up the day with a game of Ticket to Ride. There was ping pong, of course; and I listened to the Thunder game on the radio; that was rough. (Spurs won by 28, now up 3-2 in the West finals.) FB-chatted with Amanda and Jessica.
     There were a ton of "Happy Birthdays" on FB, my phone kept buzzing with new notifications and emails all day. It was really something. From church, YT, camp, the homeschool group, BCM people....it was really awesome. Also phone calls from Nano and Dayla, a card from Grandpa and Robbie and a text from Harry. Felt very loved. Tim said that he wanted me back as a counselor again if possible, so looks like I'll head back to Missouri in July.

     Today has had more time with the kittens and Rags, reading one of my new books, doing laundry and getting my twice-a-year haircut so far. Tomorrow everybody else will head to the Buckmasters for a chicken-slaughter, and I'll skip that and go to a writer's conference in Wagoner instead.

   

Around the House

     Amy made history tonight. But first....

     Rags is meowing piteously to her now-outside-kittens (Agent May, Drysa, Glory and Licorice), it's so sad to watch. Freckles has been keeping an eye on them pretty well, but it's still hard for her to deal with.

     Captain did another heroic thing this morning: Fighting off and chasing away a coyote.

     Courtney, Caleb and Trevor went to a youth group get-together at the Buckmasters' last night and had a very good time, Courtney then spent the night with Libby while Caleb went to the Coxes' for a sleepover.
They're EXTREMELY EXCITED about camp registration forms being sent out; as are most of their friends. Courtney's also super eager to go back to Mexico in two weeks, and Dad's wondering what that will be like.

     Trevor's burned foot is healing, it's just going slower than he would like.

     This post has a "Sniffing Around the Place" tone to it. Which  wasn't exactly intentional, but it's seemed like it needed to be written, and as Sunny and Copper aren't here...Banjo doesn't have the self-confidence, and Rags is too out-of-sorts to give it a try.

     We were looking at pictures of Sunny recently, me and Amy, and we came across one with her and Sport looking at the camera. Amy points and says, "Sport!' "That's right, that is Sport." I smile, marveling. She lives so much in the present, it's hard to gauge exactly how much of the past is saved as memories. So that was really cool to see.
     We've spent a lot of time together so far this summer; which she loves. I'm like, one of the coolest people to ever walk the face of the planet to her, which is kinda neat. So we've played catch and dollhouse and Hot Wheels and read books and gone on imaginary grocery-shopping and hair-cutting trips(lots of those), and just generally that kind of thing. This morning we were sitting on the couch and she looks at me. "Where you 'tomach go?" Mom laughs and says, "He's just skinny, not as easy to notice as the rest of us."
     And tonight she lost a tooth, so she was the first of any of us to have both front teeth missing at the same time. She handed the tooth to me for safekeeping and proudly marched around showing everyone the new gap.

     Caleb watched The Big Green this afternoon, Trevor's been watching The Lone Ranger and MacGyver. 

     Dad's been busy rebuilding the flatbed trailer, and Mom's been harvesting vegetables from her garden and feeding animals, etc.

     At the moment, Trevor is busy making an elaborate decoy of a stuffed man on the floor. Why? "So that in case a bad guy breaks in, and it's completely dark, he'll think that it's a real person and shoot 'em, and that'll wake us up and then I can spring my trap on him and he'll be knocked out!" The decoy is even wearing shoes and wide-receiver gloves. (This is one of many common Caleb/Trevor occurrences around here, where Courtney or I usually point out the obvious(and to them, irrelevant).plot holes in these schemes. Usually it involves them taking a painstakingly long, detailed process of attacking the intruder and saying strange things while doing this. The villian always says "Oh, you're just kids" and then stands perfectly still and allows them to beat him up and run him away.)
     
     Steven's sermon yesterday on time in general was very good. Ten Ways to Destroy Your Child's Imagination was last week's super-interesting nonfiction read.

Books That Need to Be Written

     These books, as far as I know, don't actually exist. But the subjects sound interesting, and I love puns, so...yeah.

"Rugs and Carpets", by Walter Walls.
Walls covers all aspects of this topic of floor-drapery, including Middle Eastern history, the Industrial Revolution and today's modern business. 241 pages, hardback.

"Glory Be! Amen, Brother! and Other Religious Sayings", by Holly Lujah.
Why do older folks sometimes shout agreement during a sermon? How can "Bless your heart" mean such different things whether Grandma says it to someone she doesn't like or a good friend? These and other questions are answered in Holly Lujah's newest title. 143 pages, paperback.

"Early Videogames", by Mrs. Packman.
Pong. Galaga. Dig Dug. Donkey Kong. Space Invaders. Frogger. All classics of the industry that evoke pleasant memories and wistful yearnings for a world with less connections. Interspersed are interviews with gamers, in addition to the business decisions that formed the way we see video games today. 302 pages, hardback, paperback or Kindle edition.

"Safety Tips", by Justin Case.
This world's a dangerous place at times....maybe Mom was right about all those things you never listened to. 54 pages, paperback.

"Lions, Tigers and Bears", by O. Myers.
This charming picture book explains how a small cat learns not to be afraid of bigger animals, in announcing their ballgames. 41 pages, hardback.

"Quilts", by Blaine Keys.
A fascinating coffee-table book ideal for those winter nights during a storm when the power goes out. Examines patterns and how their names came to be; as well as the mechanical process and social connectivity of creating quilts. 314 pages, paperback.

"The Big Book of Basketball Stats", by R.E. Bounds.
Every conceivable hoops fact imaginable can be found in this book, as well as a great many inconceivable as well. What year did Abe Saperstein form the Harlem Globetrotters? How important was George Mikan's influence on professional basketball? How far-out was the ABA's original 3-point shot? Find those and many more sports-bar stumpers inside the pages of this book. 422 pages, hardback.

"Ajax vs. Comet" and "Clorox vs. Tide", both by Dee Tergents.
In these books on cleaning materials, the author examines the creation of artificial grime-removal solutions and the branding wars that resulted as marketing has become ever more important. 224 and 253 pages, respectively, both available in paperback or Kindle editions.

"Bad Singers Found Here", by Cole Showers.
Ever wonder what happens to all those American Idol contestants who fail miserably in auditions? Or what made them try out in the first place? Showers on these questions and more in his book which came about, incidentally, in the bathroom, while pondering why good(and delusional) ideas come when least expecting them. 226 pages, available in hardback, paperback, Kindle or audiobook versions.

"COWS!", by Bo Vine.
Everything is covered here, from mating to milking, heifers to Holsteins, castration to curing meat. Stanchions, slaughter, breeds and brands. Cattle drives through Texas and Wisconsin milk-producers. 347 pages, hardback or paperback.

"Town Drunks", by Otis Campbell.
The definitive word on the subject; examining the town drunk's role in small-town society and politics, as well as in popular music, movies and TV shows. 245 pages, hardback.

"The History of Church Clocks", by Father Tim E. Pieces.
Not many know of the interesting twists and turns of how their local church's clocks came to be. Here are laid clues for future sleuthing laid throughout as the author relates the accounts of six such clocks. 361 pages, hardback or paperback. His son Reese S. wrote a book called "Bite Sized Candy"(224 pages, paperback), which if purchased together save 21% the retail price.

"Opera Music", by H.I. Notes.
The complete beginner's guide to opera in textbook format. 674 pages, hardback.

"The Encyclopedia of Pool", by Bill Iards.
Iards puts a masterful new spin on the game associated with gentlemen, murders, con artists, back rooms, and seedy bars, shooting into the game's role on slang and literature, among other things. We chalk it up as a masterpiece. (Disclaimer: Some sections caused our staff to break down loudly.) 477 pages, hardback or paperback.

"Camp Memories", by Lottie Goodtimes.
Remembrances of tales of summer camp or church camps throughout the country. 197 pages, paperback.

"Snoopy: A Biography", by Bea Giles.
From his beginnings at the Daisy Hill Puppy Farm to coming to live with Charlie Brown and the Peanuts Gang, all the way to piloting the Metlife blimp and appearing in Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade; America's favorite beagle's life story is presented with personal insights from family and friends. 362 pages, hardback.

Not Much Happening

     There probably should be lots to write about, but I can't really think of much of anything interesting or newsworthy to tell.

     Reading Mitford, watching Amy and Trevor, cleaning, ping pong....

     Amy turned seven on Friday, she LOVED all the attention and presents and cake, just the fact that it was her birthday.

     Dad, Caleb and Trevor went camping last week.
     Rags' kittens are old enough to be outside now; they haven't quite adjusted just yet. She seems relieved, though.

     Went to Westville yesterday, it was good to see Nano.
   
     There are lots of things going on in May. Lots of folks I know slightly graduated from NSU recently, Brenna graduated high school last week, and Dylan Steeley graduates this week. Dylan Underwood and Grace Discher got married last Saturday, Daniel and his fiancee Chrissy get married this Saturday, and James Hoover and Chelsea are getting married next week. And Mrs. Hollis is organizing a writer's conference coming up soon.

     Feels like I ought to be watching Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. right now.

Sophomore Year in Review

     This guy at the campus library last week asked if I was graduating. People do that a lot. And then they look surprised when I say "I'm a sophomore." Almost(but not quite) as astounded as they did last year when I'd say "I'm a freshman."
     I just said that people say that a lot. The guy nodded. "You just kind of have that look."  People say that a lot, too. Is it a haggard, I'm-so-done-with-school expression? Or more a general aura of serious focus on getting the current task completed? Rushing around everywhere at top speed, maybe?

     Well, whatever it is, I'm about halfway to graduation. And then? Who knows?
     Folks say college gets easier and goes by faster the closer it gets to the end. I disagree. It gets harder, life gets harder. And time simply becomes an abstract concept you lost track of ages ago, so you're never quite sure how that's supposed to work.
     This school year began with trying to cope with Sunny being gone, which hasn't been easy. And then in late October Copper, too... I caught a horrible sinus infection and voluntarily skipped two classes in one day, and then a couple months after that I got the full-blown flu(Missed TWO FULL DAYS of classes there). In between, I got an array of every small little thing you can catch. Had an hour-long dinnertime conversation about going to the bathroom. Gotten lost on a road trip. Took a personality test. Watched from the sidelines at a square dance. Crashed into pals at the skating rink. Been snowed in by blizzards during both Bedlam and the Super Bowl. Didn't get to attend church as much as would be ideal. My braces came off.  There were much-needed coffee runs at McDonald's with friends. Watched the Olympics often. And I was interviewed for a magazine article on college survival.

     Starting to get used to living with the family again, Trevor enjoys sharing a room. And Amy LOVES having me back. Lots of ping pong and board games, especially a new one called Ticket to Ride. It's kind of like a Settlers of Catan blended with Monopoly. Pretty awesome. Except it makes me want to visit all these places like Seattle, Portland, Duluth, Winnipeg, Atlanta, Santa Fe and Nashville...and all those places in between. Like coming back from Louisville from T4G a couple years ago, we stop at this little gas station in the middle of nowhere early on a late April Friday morning. I run in and grab a couple local newspapers, then pause. "Where am I?" The clerk, a grim-faced middle-aged woman appearing to have a bad day, her face softens as she smiles and says, "Why, you're in Floyd's Knob, Indiana, hon." It's just really interesting seeing different parts of the country.

     Looking back over these posts, I've mentioned the BCM a lot. This year has been long and hard to get through, but God is faithful, and He's the director; things will always go according to His script, accomplishing whatever He has mapped out for the story to go. And one of those tools He used was those BCM people. I once heard somebody say this, which has stuck with me; "Maybe sometimes leaders don't know they're supposed to be leaders until somebody shows them how."
     Watching the way Samantha led SWAT, or Daniel P. and Ricardo guiding the worship team, Michelle sort of keeping watch over everything and Bob and Deb making sure things are running smoothly, that's been really something to see and learn from.
     The basketball tournament was interesting, but I wasn't expecting to go. I'm short, skinny, and I have a strong survival instinct, none of which is very helpful when it comes to basketball(or sports in general). But they needed a sixth player, so that was why I went along. Kind of a backup player as far as the worship team, there are much better guitarists than I am. But I'm the only person who plays mandolin, so that's another small bit I can fill.
     Intensely watching the Thunder. The occasional ping pong battles, or snarky-comment-filled games of pool with Jacob and Elizabeth. Jamming out worship music with a half-dozen other guys, or the "Did that really just happen?" moments during rehearsals of the program. Hanging out in the office late at night, or McDonald's coffee runs for conversation and stepping back to appraise things. Napping on the "Softest Couches on Campus" in the living room. Reacting to storm-related crises. Friday fellowship with the Lunch Bunch.
     The Thursday-night Bible studies were beneficial, diving deeper than the ordinary Monday-night meetings. There were times where I didn't feel like showing up but went ahead anyway; those seem to be the times God uses especially to remind you of some truth you'd forgotten or sin that needs addressing.
     Much like anywhere else I find myself, I kind of stuck along the fringes of each group of people. That will be reflected with my official status of Shadow in fall as Holly and I will technically be working under Susan with leading SWAT, but I may continue on the worship team, and Stephen's thinking of teaching me how to operate tech-stuff, too, for if they need someone else to jump in and help. So I'm not exactly sure what I'll be doing in fall, but looking to help out wherever I can.
     So I guess what I'm saying is that the BCM is kind of a campus-church, not perfect by any means, but a collection of believers seeking to grow in Christlikeness and encourage one another to hang onto their faith. It made this year a lot easier to deal with.

     Class-wise, a lot of the courses I took this year didn't teach me that much by themselves, but making the connections tying them together gave me a deeper appreciation of how wonderful and magical this world we live in is, and appreciation and thankfulness to the One that created it that we can be a part. Example: Food intake can affect our bodies and minds, which causes changes in the brain and actions that can be studied as psychology. Psychology, of course, has a huge impact on great literature, both the reading and writing of it, creating tales and understanding them. The most practical modern way to do that is through journalism, and all writing of any kind in English is heavily influenced by Latin, in nearly every way imaginable. Finally, by words one can influence changes in eating habits and attitudes.
     Prof. Semrow's Literature class was amazing; getting to study Hemingway short stories and poetry twice a week, and the fact that she cared about the stuff she was teaching, and homeschool-mom-like tried to teach her students to examine things critically on their own, question some things in the educational system, for example, that could be improved. It was so great that I emphatically recommended Susan also take it with Prof. Semrow, and she loved it, too. Dr. Faulds was terrific; I loved taking his Latin classes, and wish there were more. (Actually, I would love to take almost any course either of them taught.)
    Mrs. Bowin's psychology class was interesting. I disagreed with a lot of her theories and ideas, but she was all right with that. In a way, she was a lot like my high school drama/speech teacher Mrs. Jackson.
     Basic Editing was maddening at times, but so worth it and enjoyable. Dr. Eversole drilled AP Style into our heads to where we actually can work with it, after being introduced in Cassie's Basic Writing class the spring before. And I've always really enjoyed editing/critiquing things for some weird reason, so that was good.
     Nutrition and speech were both rather pointless and unhelpful.
     Basic and Advanced Video Production were both stressful. But they also taught me how to use editing software and worked on my sanctification and improvisational skills through dealing with unexpected challenges and getting the job finished as best I could. And it introduced some of the lingo, terms and expectations in working with broadcast media.

     Read through Ephesians, Colossians, Ecclesiastes, Ruth and 1 John pretty often, studying how our lives as believers ought to look. The prayers and encouragements of my GBC family was invaluable; the Coxes; the Merediths; Mr. Dugas, Carolyn Osborn, Mrs. Pickard, Ryan McNeil, many others I can't think of right now. One day just as Christmas break was ending, Mrs. Meredith gave me a hug and said, "You know, Wesley, we've been watching and praying for you over the last two years, and I just wanted to say we're so proud of the man you've grown into! It's just...." she shook her head. "It's a blessing."
     There's been Edgar Guest and Rudyard Kipling poems to serve as inspiration to keep going, and that Emerson poster on my wall.
     Captain America: The Winter Soldier was amazing, as was the first season(now renewed for a second) of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Blimey Cow's Messy Mondays has also been a frequent weekly bright spot.
     Encouragement, laughter and advice have come from Daniel, Jon, Ash, Amanda and Jessica. And it's been great to have Grandpa and Robbie so close by, or Louise and Harry.
     If there were a playlist of songs fitting this school year, like I did last year or for graduation, besides the obvious hymns, that would probably include Steven Curtis Chapman's "God is God", "Magnificent Obsession", "See the Glory", "Declaration of Dependence"; Big Tent Revival's "Two Sets of Joneses", Rich Mullins' "If I Stand", Taylor Swift's "Long Live", Eli's "Stand", Relient K's "Be My Escape" and "Sadie Hawkins Dance", and Miranda Lambert's "New Strings". There's others I could add, but that pretty much covers it, and I can't remember many other significant tunes.
     There's been Rags all along, though, and now her kittens. That's been very important, to have those animals there in life.
     Squeaked by with straight A's again, so that's another mission completed.

     Read through Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death the other day, and working on C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity, really enjoying those. Not sure what else I'll find to go through, but it's good to have time to read non-textbooks.

May Daze

     I'm feeling a lot like Kansas right now. (It's a Laurie Keller reference; from The Scrambled States of America. Look it up sometime; it's in the children's picture-book section of the library.) How do I know this? Because I"M NOT FEELING HAPPY AT ALL!
     Sorry for the shouting, but it's part of the quote; it simply must be shouted. I'm feeling frustrated and worn-out at the moment. And really hungry.
   
      Monday was a night to remember, for sure. It started out pretty typically; with school and classes and everything. There was a picnic scheduled for Ja Li Si's birthday, which was moved into the BCM basement due to rain. So the "Plan B(asement)" worked out pretty well; we just spread a couple blankets on the floor and had the picnic indoors. And we picked out the design for next year's SWAT shirts.
     The Monday-night meeting(known as "Impact" for some reason I don't know) was scheduled to be held outside, since it was the last one of the semester, but then the weather decided to be all Oklahoma and rain on us. After pouring down and drenching everything in sight, leaving every flat surface a three-inch-deep puddle, the rain cleared out and BCM leadership was faced with a quandary: Hold it outside as scheduled and brave the rain, or play it safe, hold it indoors, and risk the weather turning nice again? The meteorology team of Stephen, Ashleigh and Justin studied their radars and predicted the rest of the storm would miss us, but everyone else wasn't exactly sure. If they were wrong and it started raining....most of the technical equipment would probably be ruined.
     So Stephen and Justin and I found some brooms and team-swept the stage of the ampitheatre curling-style while waiting on word. They decided to take another look at radar and talk to other people, while Susan and I decided to clean the water out of the seats while waiting on word. It was hard work, yes, but it was so much FUN! (I GOT TO clean SOMETHING!! And it was NECESSARY!!)   And besides, whether we used the space or somebody else did the next day, someone needed to clear it out. It felt like home; like I was in the family room cleaning up after a flood or ripping up carpet. Anyway, when we'd gotten almost finished we get word from Daniel P. that Project Outdoor Impact was a go, so it was minor touch-ups and getting set up without missing a beat schedule-wise.
     It went all right, except for a chilly wind freezing everyone. After cleaning up, there was a bunch of ice cream in the fridge that needed to be eaten, so....well, you can't waste perfectly good ice cream. Especially when there's peanut butter sandwiches and chocolate syrup and other toppings to accompany the ice cream. Bob revealed that the intensity of the set-up was because, well, it was a set-up, in a way. A sort of test of the ability to take calculated risks and trust leadership, and then as a team accomplish that goal to see what the results might be.
     Anyway, the ice cream was then cleaned up and most people left; leaving me, Stephen, Elizabeth, Michelle, Jordan, James, Ja Li Si, Ashleigh, Bucky, Haley A. and Caitlyn. So Bucky and James tried to teach two-step lessons, I found myself DJing the small dance party that resulted, and then eventually with it being close to midnight, and nobody wanting to leave until it was officially Ja Li Si's birthday, Jordan grabbed James' guitar and we had a 90's/early 2000's singalong. (Picture a bunch of folks doing "Sadie Hawkins Dance", including the part in the chorus where you sound like a pack of barking seals.)

     Everything after that has been working frantically on final projects. (And exhausted spacey looks between studying and sleeping.)
     This morning we had our final presentation for MMP, and so are anxiously awaiting final grades on that. And then the afternoon was filled with beginning shooting for my music video for the Advanced Video Production final. I think most of the shots I got were crappy and I'll need to redo them all. But I'm not sure, because the computer lab was locked early, so I couldn't upload the files yet once I checked the camera back in. And that's after switching cameras midway through due to technical freakout problems.

     Finals next week; and then moving out and heading back for the summer. Probably I ought to work on the recaps of this school year.
     Amanda's been pestering me incessantly in an exasperating little sisterly/friendly way without end.
     I've had a lot of Mitford quotes running through my head recently. Among them: "No rest for the weary, and the righteous don't need none!" (Mitford saying, originally from Uncle Billy)
"I like you. You're simple." "I'm probably the only woman in the world who would consider that a compliment." (Father Tim and Cynthia)
and "Philippians four-thirteen, for Pete's sake!" (Mitford saying, originally from Olivia Davenport)

     Also tons of Captain America quotes, from both movies. (NEED to see Winter Soldier again....) And the sequel to The Amazing Spider-Man comes to theaters tonight. And the Thunder will probably lose to the Grizzlies in an overtime game and be eliminated from the playoffs. Don't get me started on the Donald Sterling or Oklahoman-headline stories...

     And my birthday is four weeks from today.