Monday, June 29, 2009

How are you?

"Good... but tired."
"Exhausted."
"Fine... but sleepy."
"Tired... but otherwise just fine."
"Stressed."

I'm looking forward to the day when I can honestly respond to this simple greeting with a "Great!" or "Well rested and completely stress free!". Will that day ever come?

(Two and a half weeks until my summer classes are over!!)

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Storms

Growing up, as soon as the slightest hint of a storm arose, we turned on The Weather Channel and stepped onto the front porch to witness the exciting event! This week I have enjoyed and endured tremendous storms! Wednesday night, while I was at home church, a major (red and orange on the radar) came through north Dallas (where my church was meeting). The strong winds, heavy rain, and lack of electricity cued many in our group to take shelter in the bathroom for about an hour!

The rains kept coming all through Wednesday night and Thursday morning, enough to make the speed of the vehicles on the highway less than 10 mph. Alas, I was late to an orientation meeting for practicum. The clouds continued to pour out heavy water droplets which completely drenched me from head to toe on the 10 meter stretch from my parked car to the school building.

The storms seemed to have passed, and Friday morning, after dropping Mom and Dad off at the airport, I left for Mason to attend my dear friend's wedding. That night, the evening before the wedding, we watched with awe the lightning strike from afar. However, the sky above us swiftly changed from a lovely pink/purple glow to a dreadful grey shade. Sprinkles started to sputter on the windows. The rain quickly turned from light pitter-patters to clashes, clungs, and thwacks against the glass windows of the house... and the cars. The pleasant thrill of the storm began to dwindle when we heard the windows busting in the house with loud crashes. After that, each clang and skush caused us to flinch as we considered our cars which were enduring this calamity with no protection.

When the storm ceased, we picked up golf ball and lemon size hail from the ground and from the back seats of our cars. Five vehicles did not quite make it through the storm without having their windows give in to the pressure of the falling hail. Fortunately, my windows (or rather, Mom and Dad's since I drove their car) stood firm; however, a golfball-like-car with countless dents will be awaiting Mom and Dad's return to the States.

Friday, June 5, 2009

A Chronic Case of Hiccups

Hic-cup. /hIkVp/: noun. small nuisance in life which interrupts the regular breathing pattern of one's typical daily schedule.

In my one year of living in Dallas, I have experienced many hiccups. Last semester went rather smoothly, so I was beginning to think that my diaphragm was contracting and relaxing at a normal pace with no unusual twitches. However, this summer semester, the speed of my respiratory cycle has been rapidly increasing with my excessive school/work load. In addition to my irregular breathing pattern, I had an unfortunate hiccup this week.

Upon finishing my class discussing cognitive rehab, I walked out to my car to see that the passenger window had been busted and the inside of my car was ransacked. My nifty GPS, CD player, CD's, digital camera, and purse had all been taken.

After crying from the initial shock and disappointment of this unfortunate event, I can now laugh at the absurdity of the situation. This poor thief is probably disappointed that the purse did not contain my wallet or anything valuable. The Bible on CDs, Ray van der Laan, and Chronicles of Narnia CDs will probably not be of any interest of his/hers nor will these bring in any significant profit. And the camera, which was dropped at Warwick castle in England four years ago, is held together by a hair rubber-band and is only considered valuable by me. It's a lose-lose situation and a very big bummer.