Quick Kid Quips

Ben leaves for WSU in three days.

Three days later, an exchange student from Germany will manifest his presence in the room on the other side of the other wall in my bedroom.

Two days after that, I start my senior year.

People still ask me what my plan is.
Did I ever really have one?
I'm less concerned with maps of my future and where all these little pieces fit in and more concerned with the floorplan of knowing that they will make sense, that they will fit. That I will be a success not by scrupulous planning and the weights and measures of others' standards, but that I will be a success by my own devices. I will be a success in every way that God planned and willed for me to be.

Now to get off Defense,
-KL

About as Much Sense as a Nursery Rhyme

It's been almost three weeks since I've posted. I would blame finals, but they're finally over. I would blame APNC, but that's mostly over as well. So I guess I'll just blame will.

Brief run-down:
Finals went fine. Grades were appreciated--even the stupid Russian/Writing History course went well. I think it helped that we had a bigoted, right-wing, nut job in the class who accused us all of being communists. He also threw out candy as prizes during his oral presentation...I don't really have high hopes for him.

We have a youth pastor joining us mid-January. Just in time for the HS retreat at Bozarth--something I and many others were hoping would work out. His name is Stuart and he came HIGHLY recommended. I have spent very little time getting to know him (and even less his wife, Colleen), but his Sunday School lesson was great and all the students enjoyed him and that speaks volumes to me.
I am sorry for the other candidates and their families. We got to know some really great people and I wish them all the best. I wish some could still come hang out.

Work is work. Yesterday I subbed for Brandon, who just had a baby and his girlfriend was in the hospital for popped cesarean stitches. Subbing for him put me on close with KayLea, who is one of the girls they hired this past summer, making her and I two of the newest people there. We've never closed together before. It was insane. Because it was the weekend after Christmas, lots of people were leaving town for home and decided to order giant lists of giant drinks on their way out. I think it's perfectly reasonable to be a bit enraged at the man/family who orders 6 large drinks in the drive-thru then doesn't tip a penny.
Regardless, KayLea and I had fun even in the midst of madness. It was exhausting though.

Speaking of work, my manager has gotten Brandon, Cory and I to start watching Lost.
It's a show I always knew I would watch, it was just a matter of when.
I'm half-way through season 2 and I find it to be "alright".
A list:
What I like--Locke, Sun, the scenery, numbers (though I miss 47), flashbacks, how I feel like I need to be on narcotics to understand certain aspects
What I don't like--anything to do with Jack, Michael, Charlie, Walt's dog, how everything has to be solved with fists or guns. Actually, my list of things I don't like could go on, but I watch the show anyways. So what does that say about me.

Ok, my bloggingness is fizzing-out and I'm being distracted by $5 mp3 albums on Amazon.
Maybe I'll do some sort of "end of the year blog special extravaganza". But if you hold your breath for it, you might die. So don't.

Who said days-off can't be at least semi-productive,
-KL

I Should Just Concentrate and

First, a photo:



That's the small part of my "small group" that was there tonight. It was actually a very good session. Very good. So much laughter. I love it.
Not that I don't love all the other girls, it just makes things less intimate with more voices.

Second, a short story:

So I was talking with my school friend Jordyn (yeah, weird, I have a friend!) and we were talking about facebook and stalking people and I made a comment that the majority of my friends on facebook are middle school girls. She gave me the freakiest look. I admitted I am a creeper, but it's ok because "it's for Jesus".
She then burst out laughing and we changed subjects.

Third, an event:

Michelle and I took a girl from our small group to Artsy Fartsy last night. Sooo much fun! I am not creative in the decorating or painting regard at all, but it was awesome just to spend time with them and laugh at each other. I wish I could do stuff like that more often. I also painted a bowl, I can't wait to see how it turns out.

Fourth, my bowl:



I can't pick it up for two more weeks, bummer.

That's about it. Well, pretty much. But I'm not going there.
Guess in your minds.

-KL

Wanna Leave But the World Won't Let Me Go

I think I hold resentment towards worldly expectations.
Mostly I say this because of France. Mostly I say this because I want to be done with school. And when I say 'done', I mean I don't want to do it anymore, to the point of dropping out.
I know I won't though. I don't quit when it gets hard, I don't drop things that I'm tired of, I just resent them.
Basically, I know I'm smart and I don't think I need a degree to tell me that. Unfortunately the world sees me differently. And I struggle with that.

My ideal life:
I work part-time at Barracuda and make bank in tips.
I have a side-music project which brings in the rest of my money as I produce completely annonymous tracks.
I do Refinery every Wednesday, but don't have to have a Friday music practice because everybody already knows how to play their instruments and they don't have ADD.
APNC ends immediately and we have the perfect Youth Pastor.
School is unnecessary as I learn everything I need to know from outside reading and Wikipedia.
I have dual-citizenship with Canada.
Nobody moves away.


-KL

Take a Breath/Take a Breath/With Me/Blow by Blow

I don't really have anything to say tonight.
Ok, that's kinda a lie. I'm sure I could go on about my life and the random details and adventures which occur within it. But I don't know that I will.

Menial details (I suppose I can at least get away with these):
Finally went to Canada this past weekend. It was good, I had a fun time with Jeremy, Kyle and Maribeth. However, if you happen to go up en-route of Metaline Falls (which is the border entrance closest to Idaho), make sure to get there before midnight, otherwise you will be forced to retreat down the hill and attempt to find a camping spot. There are some interesting ones to be had...indeed.

School is boring. I can't wait to be done. Although I do enjoy my "History of Imperial Russia" Prof. She is a bizarre--in a good way.

Work is good. I can make a pretty amazing latte now, though the designs still turn out as deformed hearts or nonsensical swirls. I found out today that the bosses are also letting Nicci go, which I find to be unfortunate. She is, without a doubt, the hardest worker there and I'm sad to see her go. At first I was really intimidated to work with her, but as the past few months passed and I gave her a few rides home, I really started to enjoy her personality and strength. I could totally think of somebody else I'd rather have them fire (two actually), but I'm not the boss and I'm glad I'm not.

And so that brings me to church...yeah.
APNC -> still searching
Refinery -> starts next week
Youth Worship Band -> oh crap, I need to start that again soon, don't I?!
Albania/Deputation -> 6 hours of sharing and debrief this Sunday (can't it just end already? for once I'm glad I have an APNC meeting that afternoon).
There's probably other stuff, but oh well.
Mostly I just miss the kids and want all the meetings to go away so we can finally get started and get back to being with them.

That's all I'm putting out there for now.



Have a refulgent evening my friends/blog stalkers,

-KL

Damn Sand Ninjas

If I still wrote emo poety, I would post some here tonight. Thankfully, I passed through that phase a long while ago--rather quickly.

This week, all three days of it, has been mundane and trivial. Yay for a college lexicon.

Walking back onto campus on Monday officially closed the door on summer. It really hit me after attending my classes for the day. I felt as though no time had passed between May and now. I simply transitioned from one set of classes to the next. There was no time in-between. There was no summer. No new friendships. No learning and discipleship. No life-changing exeriences. The entire eight weeks, possibly the best in my life, seemed like nothing more than a dream. Albeit, there is little evidence that it ever existed in my 'new' day-to-day life. All I have are the memories, which I'm afraid I cling to way too much. Ok, I went a little too far into myself there. Few steps back. Better.

Things I miss the most:

1. Beginning my day with awesome people and God.

2. Ending my day with awesome people.

3. Sexual innuendos and people to laugh with me at them. Srrsly. There have been sooo many this past week and nobody to shoot me knowing glances.

There are many other things I miss, but I need to move on.

Other items of non-joy in my life:

I took my computer in to get serviced (I cannot be a college student without wi-fi and have a brother that IMs girls for hours on the only other computer in the house) and longish story shorter, it's gonna die. I need to get a new one. Begin surfing web pages for hours, now. I spent about three hours today browsing and have it narrowed down to whatever Best Buy has. So much for a summer's worth of house-sitting...plus. Thanks WSU and Lockheed-Martin for your second-hand junk. Love you too.

My dad is back from Hawaii. After much stress and days of searching for answers, my grandpa is finally in an assisted living facility. He seems to like it. He's a proud and vocal guy, so hopefully he'll stick with it. It also costs about two to three times as much as mainland facilities. I'm not sure if my dad's paying for it or not. From what he's told us, it sounds as if my step-grandma is also not doing well. Her mental capacity is severely declining. There are some funny stories to go with it, but mostly it's just sad. Her daughter is going to visit her in the coming week and see what needs to be done.

On a happier note, only 15 and 1/2 weeks until winter break!

I think my main problem is that there is nothing going on for me right now that gets me involved, that makes me feel like I have meaning. No church youth activities start until the end of September. That's really where I need to be. At least, I think it is. We'll see when the time comes. Until then, I don't know.

Well, I'm sorry this post is really just me harping on everything that is getting me down right now. We all have times like that, no? I'm sure things will be fine in a bit. Until then, I've just got to find something to do. I really want nothing more than to invite people over to my house-sitting place to watch a movie and make cupcakes. Is that too much to ask?!

If you've stayed to read this far, I will leave you with a reward--something I randomly found on the net...just for you.