Tuesday Countdown, 4...

Items 1,2, and 3:
Some great songs and stories from childhood -
http://www.potw.org/archive/potw22.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWnuGcI8QwU&feature=player_embedded#!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2I5fYC8EXKk&feature=related

Item 4:
I hope the above made you laugh at their silliness, shake your head at mine, or do the Spanish "ohhhhhh!!!" laugh that Jose always does when he comes across something cool by sight or ear.

Item 5:
Songs and poems; books and games; friends and family; and on and on; sharing all these as memories and experiences link us together, even though we're in different continents, states, and towns.
Imagining one of Grandma's (or Ruthie's :D) quilts, we could be the several pieces of cloth, with the thread being those experiences that have bound us together. When there's enough thread to hold, and when done right, without bunching or overspacing, our family fabric is knit together, and we in the process.

For most of you who I know read this, I have had lots of time to get to know you.
For those of you who only have a few stitches between us, or to whom I am totally oblivious, know that it can and will grow with time, as we share experiences, as was previously mentioned.

In both cases, my goal is to ensure those knits and knots between you and me are how they should be. I certainly am not fully aquainted even with Johnny and Andrew, who I've probably spent the largest portion of my life with, excepting Mumsy, who had me for the first few years. But I want to be sure that our knits will hold for the long departure.

So what knitting experiences could we have together? What do you think we could do, as one-on-one? Let me know by email pwease. I've only got 4 weeks left until I leave on my mission, so now is our chance.

Not that I die after that, or that your chance is forever gone; but now is the best time to enforce those stitches before we part for a while, and before I get really busy. I certainly expect to still be connected to every one of you while I'm gone, and when I come back, no matter how far away you still are, or the circumstances of your life.

Like I said, distance isn't the big decidor (this is a word?) in this quiltdeal (this is not a word, nohow, noway) and so our stitches will continue to pull us together, if we keep providing life with the thread.

:D
Love you all!

Silly me: didn't notice that spellchecker wasn't on
Silly Billy: rimes! (hehe...)
PS (Don't forget, I've given you a specific request, if you read care-fully)
PSS (I hoped you guys enjoyed the poem and songs. I did)
PSSS (I only remembered them because of Ruthie, so thanks to her)

PSSSS, shush Richard,

we're tired of your rambling.

Dokie day,

Love you all too. :D

I have a confession to make

It is not really Sunday the 25th, 10:07pm. In actuality, it is Monday the 26th, 1:33pm central time (meaning 2:33pm EST). I am at the Blackstone Chicago Public Library using their free internet. Internet should be at the apartment by Wednesday evening (fingers crossed).

So...I'm here! And I really don't have much of interest to report. The drive was relatively uneventful (no 15 ft dinosaurs or sprawling castles). I arrived Thursday just before 5pm here (6pm there; getting the hang of it?). I parallel parked on S Dorchester St, and it took me so long a little kid walking past with his mother stopped to watch the whole thing. Today I did a better job though. It seems I can learn! Christine showed me around part of the U of C campus Friday, and it's really rather pretty. There are lots of trees everywhere, and the architecture is beautiful. (Though I will have to ask Richard as to whether it is legit, or just facade. Wouldn't want to confuse the two you know. What what.)

It is really quite amazing how very bored you can get without the internet on hand (especially when you left the majority of your books packed several states away in the bottom of a small closet). Being reduced to solitaire and tile games for the majority of Saturday, it makes one realize that computers have really just become a vehicle for accessing the internet. And we used to spend hours playing pinball and that hover-car version of capture the flag on our old black Compaq. Not any more I guess. But never fear! I am perfectly capable of keeping myself productively occupied. Richard's scarf is over half-way done. I've also started up quilting again (by which I mean I did it for approximately 25 mins yesterday for the first time in months).

And now I'm on to more job searching. Hope everything is going well. I miss you all!!

VVTB,
Ruth

Announcement

Hello everyone!

I'd like to make an announcement to you all.




I just realized I don't have anything to announce. So, strike that first bit.


I do have some things to relate however! Work is well (if assignment-packed and time-pressed). School is going pretty nicely, though I'd like to spend more time considering and digesting my readings, my schedule is such that I kind of just have to wolf them down and get started on the next to-do item. Assignments are rather labor-intensive, but nothing outside the possible-with-effort range

Social life has been jam-packed with all sorts of stuff, sometimes so much so that I long for the time to catch up on sleep or clean my room a bit, but it's been great to see friendships grow stronger and to be able to support friends who are going through rough times. Few friends have moved, I'll miss them. Some have had birthdays, I've celebrated with them. Some have had crisis or urgent needs, and I've been grateful that they trust me enough to turn to for some small things.

All I seem to do here is talk about how incredibly busy life is. Lets see... Something less boring, something about me... 
My favorite class this semester so far has been Adolescent Psychology. Pretty amazing stuff. Quite practical.

Well, that's plenty.

Feel free to shoot me a call any night. If I don't answer, I'll make sure to call you back as soon as I can.

I love you all, please take a moment and think of how cool you are, and how much you deserve the high fives I am mentally giving you right now.


Love,
Joseph

Tuesday

Hullo.

Things from today:
Ate Mumsy's wonderful cookies ... check
Ate Grandma's wonderful blueberry muffins ... check
Ate Grandma's awesome chicken cordon blue ... doubly checked
Got to see/hold Harrison ... check!, (also, be it noted that he is a Very Cool Baby)

I think family has mostly been on my mind. Grandma and Granddad shared a bunch of family stories yesterday, on about every subject. Then today, getting to see Josh and Allison, and meet Harrison, reenforced those thoughts on family. For those who I will not see before I leave, know that I love you :D and wish I could be with you now.
But I'll come back soon enough.
I most likely won't be the same Richard,
but look on the bright side,
maybe I'll get a little more bearable
:D

Silly me: scared poor Harrison with my face
Silly Molly: loved coming around for scratching and food :D

Love you all!

Jambo!

Jambo!
I am in Tanzania and loving it! There are so many animals. Last night I found an African Hedgehog by my banda, and there was a toad in someone’s shower. I’ve heard they have dung beetles here and I really want to see one, because they’re huge. There are so many birds here, and they’re a bit bolder too. I enjoy listening to them in the morning.
I’ve gone on two game drives so far, which were incredible. I saw elephants, hippos, zebras, giraffes, wildebeest, baboons, etc. Some of the more interesting things I saw were Ground Hornbills, Dwarf Mongooses, Kingfishers, an African wood owl (which is huge), and dik-diks (tiny antelope).
Swahili is going well. Not fluent yet, but I feel that I’m pretty good for a mzungu (a white person, literally “wanderer”). I can go out and ask a few questions, but not too many. The kids are really great here. Whenever we’re walking they run out and want us to pick them up, hold our hands, play with a ball made out of plastic bags.
Classes are great. There is a little confusion about assignments and there’s a lot of readings, so I’ve been kept relatively busy. On top of everything else there is to do here I’m pretty much doing something sun up to sun down. I’ve got three papers due next week that I haven’t started on, so I need to get on top of that.
The weather in Tanzania is really unpredictable. Mornings will be freezing but I’ll be baking by noon. It’ll be threatening to rain, even drizzling a little and then fifteen minutes later the sun’s out and everything’s dry.
I’ve been being kept really active here, a lot of soccer and volleyball. The kids around like to run with us and I’ve also had a martial arts class from one of my banda mates.
I don’t think culture shock has come quite yet, at least if it has I haven’t noticed. I’m doing great and am loving Tanzania.

Notice: Tuesday

A thunder cloud, a rhino, and a peace sign pin. Headphones, knitting supplies, legal advertisements.
Crickets, the fans, Ruth and a muffled Christine, and my croaky sighs.
Residue of toast, spagehtti noodles, butter, and seasonings.
Edges of Ruth's bedhead boards, glasses on my nose.

We soak in so many things, all at once, without even noticing sometimes.
It would be almost impossible for us to delve into everything around us.
Admittedly, we try; but there is so much of it, and so little of ourselves.

I'm sure Ruthie or Joseph
can go into further detail,
on our brain capacity,
and so forth.

There is a hierarchy of importance in everyone's life, where we choose.
What is deserving of attention now? And then? What about tomorrow?

And then when something is gone, we miss it.

I write this last statement because I soon leave work,
and will greatly miss the people who are there.

But still, there is exciting enough of a future.

Sorry it's so unfocused and uncoolnness. Silly me :)
I'll be coming out to visit family soon :D

Love you all, and will miss you greatly

A rambling introduction to knitting

Writing: a subject which deserves more time

Writing.

I think I considerate to be the highest art form.

Not to disrespect the amazing realms of music, sculpture, painting etc., but writing is just amazing. It's not only information and instruction packed into dense knowledge saturated jewels, but it's also the transmission of experience and sensation in a scope beyond anything else. I guess oral poetry and music can incorporate literature as well, so we'll throw them in too.

I sometimes feel as if when you're writing, you're playing an instrument, only the instrument is your reader's brain. You cannot just play whatever you want, you have to work with what's in his head, or give him new information and build on it. You might write a war story, but every person who reads it will be different. Some will have experience with war, some will not. For those who don't, you will have to relate it to things and experiences they have had, and expand those to convey the emotions, questions, physical and mental sensations of your scene. Recreating experiences that hundreds will relive. And some will understand, and others won't. Some people have minds and experiences that lets them experience and enjoy Jane Austen, others resonate more to JRR Tolkien or Kipling or Thoreau or Harry Potter or whoever. The author picks up an experience, and lets you live it yourself. And because you live it, your experience will be unique and different from the author's. You may even understand it better, or experience it more intensely than the original author.

But when you write, if you do it well, you can teach. You can change the people who choose to read it.

What writing has changed me? Has anything I've written changed someone else?

And then there was Tuesday - Richardo

Ola a todos

I would say more in Portuguese, but I'm thinking that's my limit :-/

Sorry...

I have a few items of business.

1- Andrew is safe in Tanzania - yay!!!!!
2- Other Andrew Business - I know he only gets internet once or so a week. Should we do some rescheduling so he can post? I dunno when that day is.
3- Johnny, no more football games for you!
4- Joseph, none business for you; you already too busy
5- Adri, I'm sorry.... You could be a night person like me, and smeel like a candle!
6- Ruthie, COME HOME! 'Nuf said
7- Dad,
8- Other Persons I have excluded who feel They should have made it on this list, I know who you are, that you are awesome, and that you should be on here (And if you're related, I luv you too!!!!)

Work marches on. Still on the 8 hour shift, but tomorrow is a random 12 hour shift day (They throw those in to keep us on our toes :D)
Working on Portuguese a little. I plan to make a sweep across West Virginia and Virginia two weeksish before I leave for Brazil, so if you want me to visit a particular set of days, lemme know.

Also, I love you fams!!!
and non-fams too I suppose.

Silly me: smeels like Madagascar Vanilla (Andrew, maybe you can confirm this for me; just take a quick sidetrip and bring back some)
Silly Ruthie, Adri, Johnny, Joseph, Andrew: Are getting lives of their own :( aka, they aren't at home right now.

Love you all :)

It's 9:22 here but it's 10:22 there- Dri

Today was a pretty awesome labor day. It all started with me sleeping in until 8:30!! yes! 8:30!! "what?!" you say, "Adrianna, has turned into a morning person?!" Yes, I have. It was a sad sad day, when I couldn't keep my eyes open past 11 T_T
But, don't worry! I'm sure the regular night owl me will be back next semester :D
Anyhoo, back to labor day. After that the weather was super amazing today!! So, I went for a walk/jog with my cousins's great dane named Abby(she's she's probably the best behaved dog I know! and she's really sweet :)  )
This was followed by a fun lunch with grandma and aunt colleen ( her name is fun to type, I just did it about 5 times) And to finish the day we had everybody come over for dinner, and we had home made ice cream and jumped on the new trampoline (for everybody who didn't know... :D... johnny broke grandma's previous tramp!) and blowed bubbles and chased kids around and sat in the screen in porch and laughed until it got dark.

Today was a good day :)

bɪzi

WHAT Happened?!


Life got busy with a capital "bɪzi" (except for the fact that you can't really capitalize IPA characters, and anyway, that's a whole word, not the first letter, so urging the capitalization of the whole word by giving a twist to the common idiomatic expression would be unconventional, but maybe appropiate? Just cause it was THAT busy).

Could I be more specific?

Ok.
I moved, work started, 8-12 friends and acquaintances moved, set up activities fair, classes started, went to meetings, bought textbooks, changed classes, returned books, executed kickoff activity, bought new books, read books, got furniture, went to DC, cleaned church, did homework, missed wedding, am tired.

Maybe I should go back to generalizations.

Life has been busy.

Though to tell the truth, it's been busier than it had to be for me, because I have finally taken some time to just spend time with friends. The start of a new semester, combined with jobs, moving myself and various ward members, new classes, etc, has made for a lot of shake up, and many of my friends have moved to other states (geographical, not metaphorical) and stages of life (metaphorical, not literal). I'm glad I got to spend some time with them before they left.

I wasn't able to meet with everyone. In particular, I have a few friends and one dear brother with whom I was unable to hang out with before their departure for various points across the US and Africa.

Things will hopefully settle down at least to the point where I can stay on top of schoolwork and job. I keep rooting for you all in the meantime, and love to hear from you.

Risas y abrazos,
Joseph