If you came to (my) house...

My friend TulipGirl tagged me and I usually don't get these things done... But this time I am going to do it! You can check out her list here.

Obviously, I just moved into a new apartment so a lot of this is subject to change... maybe I'll come back and do it again in 6 months.

If you came to our house. . .

You would see:
Several of my art quilts, piles of boxes and rubbermaid tubs, a bright blue living room with a big print of a DeGrazia ballerina above the mantle, the 3 kitties

We’d probably feed you:
Roast Beef from my parents' farm or Chicken Alfredo or Calico Beans for dinner if it is warm out

Biscuits and Gravy for breakfast

And offer you this to drink:

Homemade fruit smoothies

We’d undoubtedly ask if you’d read:
Whatever we’re currently reading

We’d want to play this music for you:
Astor Piazolla tangos, Ella Fitzgerald, whatever is on my laptop or ipod

We’d want to tell you the latest about:
What’s happening at church or school

We’d probably suggest a game of:
Word Thief, Canasta, Sequence

We might would definitely show off:
The latest projects we are working on… the cats

We might get on the computer and show you:
My sister’s children, pics from my travels

If it was a long enough visit, we might watch:
Not sure… don’t have a TV;-)

Prayer Request

To all my dear praying friends who read this blog:

Today I found out that the sister of a dear friend and co-worker of mine was raped this past weekend while at a party. She is 20 yrs old and has done all the right things, including going to the police and gathering her family around her. Please pray for justice and peace in this entire experience. Pray that the family will be able to be a support and encouragement to her as they sort this all out. Pray for my friend that she would have wisdom and be able to care for both her sister and herself. This is one of those things that always happens to someone else, but now it has come close to home. Pray also that I might be an encouragement and support to my friend.

Not original... but at least it is a post

My good friends over at Conservative Intelligencer posted this video recently and I thought it was too good to pass up. Enjoy some hilarious and totally accurate commentary on the current use of language.

Accidental Poem

This one came up in an IM today at work. This is what happens when you IM with your coworker while he is sitting next to you in class.

sorry... can't help it
at least I don't screech
my sleep deprived brain can't handle Indigo being smart
its just too much
It is like Jonatan being a good ole boy
overloads the synapses

A little background: Indigo regularly laughs and talks so loudly in class that she disrupts everything. The other instructor reprimands her regularly. So I laughed at a face another instructor made and Indigo informed me, very properly, that I was being too loud. It was too much, coming from her, so I just busted out again. Then my acerbic co-worker IM'd that my laugh was as bad as Indigo's singing, etc. Then the above poem happened. Oh, and Jonatan is one of my very sly 9th graders that will look me in the eye and insist that he is working hard when I just saw him playing cards with another student.... Then today he shakes my hand as if there was never a conflict betwixt us regarding his work or any other possible issues. Just too much!

Brief update

Just wanted to let you know that I honed my resume, wrote a fabulous cover letter and applied for two more positions at DePaul. One is as an Administrative Assistant to the Multicultural Student Affairs office and the other is Program Assistant for the Study Abroad Program. Both would be an excellent fit for my skills and experienc AND it would enable me to go to my first program of choice: DePaul's Masters of Arts in Liberal Studies. I am hopeful and praying hard. I know that I have a strong chance if I can get an interview... Now we just have to wait and see.

Also, it looks like Sara and I are going to try and move the weekend of May 16-18. Our lease isn't up until the 31st and I will likely camp out at the apartment until the 30th so I don't have to commute from Lincoln Square, but we need to get everything moved before Memorial Day Weekend because we would like to use that time to go to Berea's graduation. So, if you are around and would like to help.... We feed well!

Poem #30

Today is the last day of National Poetry Month. The final prompt for this month is to write about an ending. That is something I should know quite a bit about.... there are a lot of things ending or closing in my life right now. My job ends May 30th, my lease is up May 31st, Sara and I stopped being roommates a few weeks ago, other relationships are ebbing and flowing... But I still find this poem hard to write. Even going back to earlier closures don't seem to help. I would skip it except it is the last prompt and I haven't been too faithful as it is. So here is my attempt:

The end

Turning the last page
Emptiness knocks me down
Like that huge wave in the
Bahamas--turned topsy-turvy
My sunglasses and contacts
ripped from my face
left me blind and vulnerable
on a foreign beach. The epilogue
completed--not a single word left
leaves me hollow and floundering
reaching for a life preserver in
the waves of loss and confusion.
She sucked me in--tossed me
into an articulate oblivion of
personality, philosophy and beauty
to no end.
My gluttonous reading has left me
gorged and unsatisfied
The End cut off all hope of escape.

Grad School (and life) Update

There has not been much on this blog lately besides my often ineffectual attempts at poetry. However, I do need to update on the grad school situation. As of right now I have gotten into all the programs to which I applied. This is an exciting development considering that I got into NONE of them last year. My preferred program is DePaul's Masters in Liberal Studies. It would allow me to take courses in a variety of disciplines and explore many interests while still doing a literary thesis in preparation for a PhD program.



The only problem is that DePaul's tuition is a bit pricey. I think I mentioned earlier that I was hoping to get a job there in order to have my tuition waived. Well, I just found out today that I am not being considered for the position that I felt most confident about--Administrative Assistant to a law professor. That was disappointing in the extreme. There are still 3 more jobs that I might still be considered for. I am also on a waiting list for an English TA position. The way I see it now, I need a job at DePaul, a job with tuition reimbursement or a job that pays me about $10,000 more per year than I originally decided that I needed. I have submitted resumes for jobs that pay that much... It is really just a waiting game.



On the job front, I have submitted resumes for every job that I can find and I am going to try and look for more this week. That is about 30-40 resumes floating in cyberspace waiting to be read and considered. Thank God that I believe he is sovereign in these things because I don't know how I would arrange things if I had to figure it all out.



On the apartment front I picked up keys from Beth this weekend and started looking at paint colors for the living room and bedroom. Beth is having a graduation party this weekend, but after that I am going to break out the paint and get going. I am excited about moving... but not about the 3 flights of stairs all my worldly goods have to be carried up!