I Admit It: I'm a Bad Blogger

Okay, once again, I find myself playing catch-up on here. I have to apologize again; it's probably a good thing I didn't PROMISE to do better last time, though it was starting to look like I'd be a little better... ack. Well, at least it's going up sometime. Better late than never, eh?

FIRST PRIORITY: Update on the prayer request. Barry has been awake at least a week or so now (updates were a little hard to come by, but the newspaper was able to do a spread on him). On Tuesday, he was moved out of the Intensive Care Unit and into the rehab center. Thanks to everyone who prayed for him. (Kristin Ulmer's article on his recovery is here.)

Work is still going well; with the wet floors in the dishroom, I've proven myself clumsy, but I haven't broken anything or sent any piles clattering all over the floor. The work is still kind of monotonous and long, but it's not too hard, and I have good bosses. Also, Kyle Kurlick started working there, too, so I do most of my work with him, which has been good.

Speaking of work, I've been approved for workship with University Communications!! I've been approved for eight hours a week (which is about what I do in the dishroom when I don't get a weekend, since the weekends are rotated between employees -- with weekends, it's anywhere from about 15 hours to the record 22), and I'd be writing press releases. Mr. Ellsworth, who just started working there, apparently has heard good things, since his employees include Alaina, a section editor for the paper, Heather, the editor-in-chief, and Brad, my FOCUS group leader. Woohoo! Yay for friends in the right places. He's looking at some of the stuff I've written for the Cardinal & Cream now, and he's going to assign me some writing this coming week. I'm going to hang on to my cafeteria job, however, at least through the end of the semester.

Since I've been speaking of the paper... I've had more articles published!
Students provide demonstrations during National Chemistry week
Burke looks back on first 18 years
Christians respond to Depression's effects on other believers
Film Festival reels in features
(There are some typoes in the web versions, especially in that last one, alas...)

I'm going home for Thanksgiving!! Mom's buying me a bus ticket to go home in a little over a week now. I'm really excited, since it'll be the first time I've been home since coming to Union. I'm excited to see Mom and Dad and Mimi, but I'm sure the dog, in particular, will be thrilled to have me back. Before I go, though, Gypsy and Alaina are hosting a pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving dinner next Sunday at their apartment off-campus. This is going to be a fun kick-off to the holiday season. At any rate, I'll be home to watch the B.C. Clark commercial. ;-)

(To Unionites: Sorry if that last bit made no sense. If Josh Wilkinson's been back to Oklahoma during the holidays, he might get it; otherwise... ask me later.)

Academics are going well. I got a 102 on my last history test (Ms. Alexander had written "Next time you should teach this" across the top of the paper) and a 96 on my last math test, which was nice. I just gave Speech #3 in Public Communication, but I won't get the grade on that until everyone's spoken, so it might be Thursday or next week. It seemed to go really well; I was pleased, and everybody else liked it, apparently.

I'm all registered for the Spring Semester!! I'll have a 16-hour courseload, so it'll be one less than the first half of my semester and one more than the second half (since CLU, a 2-credit-hour course, ended halfway through). I'm in Written Composition II (more English core), World Civilizations from 18th Century (History 102... I may declare a double-major with history added), Fitness for Health (PE Core), New Testament Survey (it's a Christian Studies core requirement, but David Kartzinel, Abby Carpenter and I all tried to work our schedules to get into Dr. Poe's section), Arts in Western Civilization (an art history course is required for general core fine arts credit), and Writing for the Mass Media.

I've been pretty busy with a few other things, as well. Brett actually signed me up for Intramural volleyball, and I've been able to go to most of the games (we lost every time, but third-line teams aren't really in it to win, let's face it... in any case, we've all been improving at the game. As it turns out, I'm fairly good at serving). I've also been cast in a student-directed one-act play, so I've been at rehearsals for that. I'm in Danielle Thrower's production of "The Case of the Crushed Petunias," by Tennessee Williams. I play the Young Salesman who crushes Dorothy Simple's petunias in order to sell her on Life (Incorporated). It's interesting, to say the least. It's going to be fun to stage.

I now have an itenerary for the trip to Thailand! We'll be flying from Memphis to Detroit on Jan. 10, and from Detroit to Tokyo, Tokyo to Bangkok. We'll head out of Bangkok to Tokyo again on the 26, then Tokyo to Detroit to Memphis. That's going to be a great trip. I'm really excited.

Okay, that's general updating for now. I'll HOPE to post at least a little sooner next time.