Much madness is divinest sense--

To a discerning eye--
Much sense--the starkest Madness--

Emily Dickenson, I am so feeling your vibe today. As it is midterms this week, everyone has, understandably, gone completely insane. And I absolutely love it. Tuesday night's study break involved Todd locking himself in our room, and then Adam and Todd together locking themselves in our room. I'm not sure how it became so popular, but it was fun. We also turned the prayer room into Dave's new bedroom by putting Polly's extra mattress on a couple of chairs. And then we all sat on it together and laughed about the stupidest and most random things. I can't help but wonder how insane we'll be come finals week if midterm was this bad.

Midterm tests are behind me now, and I seem to have survived. I still have papers to write, but they look manageable at this point. Genesis still seems a bit overwhelming, but I'm just going to have to work through it. The course listings for spring semester have been posted, and I'm discovering that it has become incredibly difficult to put together a decent schedule. Tomorrow I begin the process of speaking to professors about what I should take now, and what can wait until next year. It's crazy to think that I only have three semesters left to finish my major and minor (I guess I've decided to keep theology, and Dr.s Hiigel and Greg are delighted to have one more).

I've given myself the goal of finishing the reconstruction of my first book by the time my writing group meets this Sunday. I think I can do it, since I'm only about a page from splicing the new into the old. I'm terribly excited to see what the result of this reworking will be for the story as a whole. And I'm excited to see what my fellow writers think of it. Haveing this writing group to hold me accountable for actually working on my story has really given me the push I needed to get writing again. I'm so glad I found them.

Oh, I also think I finally figured out why I don't want to teach English, but that's a rant for another post. Right now I really ought to get back to my etymology paper. Once I have that emailed in tomorrow, I'll be headed home for fall break. Woot! I can't wait to slow down for a few days and catch my breath.

-Kim

fiercely treading water

Okay, I really should be writing my American Lit paper right now. Well, either that or going to bed. But I figured that I should at least tell you about the weekend before I dropped completely off the radar. Homecoming was pretty much amazing. Friday night was the scholarship recognition banquet and the variety show. I got to sit by Roger Frederickson at the dinner, which was great--I was afraid I'd get some old donor who would be hard to talk to. Then the variety show was great--the usual silliness and some real talent thrown in. I think the entire freshman class of girls is crushing on Adam after his performance of a song he wrote. He also tied for first prize, though he's been very humble about the whole thing. Sam put an actual saddle on the cougar statue for the cougar ride, which was too cold to be any fun.

Saturday we went flying. Seriously. The Experimental Aircraft Association out of Tea invited us to come take a ride, so we did. It was awesome, except that my ears started hurting. Darn sinus issues! Anyway, we went to the game that night but didn't stay for the whole thing because it was cold. And besides, we needed time to get ready for the dance. Our group went all out for the theme "dancing through the decades." I wore the amazing green dress and Brittany curled my hair, and Dianna was freakishly cool in her 80's garb. I really don't know how else to describe it. The dance itself was probably the best dance I've ever been to, because it was fun the whole time and they only played a couple of rap songs. And everyone kept telling me how amazing I looked, which I actually didn't know how to take.

This morning started far too early. The choir and band both performed at the services at First B. I was running back and forth all morning, but it was actally pretty fun. I don't know how it happened, but I really was awake by the time we started. I've been slowly crashing throughout the day, though. I took a bit of a nap in the comfy chairs in the library basement since nobody wanted any help from the writing center.

And now, I wish you all a marvelous week, because I don't expect to be posting again for a while. I have a crazy number of papers and things due this week, and Tartuffe is this weekend. I will probably go insane, but as long as they don't catch me, I'll be back to my normal life in time for midterm.



-Kim

But you can't die without corners!

So, it's homecoming week here at USF. This means that life is crazier than ever, but it's fun crazy. (Crazy? I was crazy once! --Steve has been trying to get me to do this one all week. Hehe!) I've actually misses many of the activities, though I did put everything else on hold to help with and be at the Bebo Norman concert on Tuesday night. Tonight's activity was one of the theology profs doing free characatures at dinner. I got one, of course, and it seems I look like Velma from Scooby Doo. Then Dianna and I had one done of us together, and we somehow got labeled as Velma and Barbie. Figure that one out if you can.

Today I also got my costume for Tartuffe. Far anyone who hasn't already heard, things changed quite a bit, but they still want me to play. Instead of doing a ballroom scene on stage before the show starts, they want me in the lobby playing simply to set the mood. So of course I have to be in costume. The one we found that fit me is really something. I can't decide if I look more like a circus act or a circus tent. The skirt is all sorts of wild, shiny facrics, and the top has shiny silver sequins criss-crossing the front. So there's really no way to miss me. It should be a good time, and I hope that my family can come see me do it one of the nights we perform.

Oh, and I may have found a bit of breathing room in my project schedule. I've pretty much given up on finishing Jane Eyre. It's a lovely book, and I intend to read the whole thing someday, but I do not have the time to devote to the last 300 pages. That being said, I have a paper due in American lit next Tuesday which I have yet to start, but as it is a simple literary analysis, it shouldn't be a problem. I also have to research a word and prepare an abstract by Tuesday. I slip of the tongue at Sankofa last night may have given me my answer: I accidently called God graceful instead of gracious. But graceful originally meant "full of grace." So perhaps that could be an etymological study. Oh yes, and there's my term paper for Genesis. I need to have all my research done by next Thursday (originally due Tuesday) so that I can have my outline and bibliography ready to hand in. This is the one that is frightening me the most. I want to really dig into the subject, because I really care about it, but I'm fairly certain I won't be able to give the project the time it really deserves.

In other news, grandma is recovering well from the surgery. She's been at home for the past week and continues to impress her doctors.

Oh yes, and my brother is getting married. If you were to read his blog, you would have heard no mention of it, as he hasn't updated since August. I'll leave it up to him to spread the details, but I just wanted to get that out there. Oh, and now that they've settled on a date in June, I need to make sure that it doesn't conflict with my prayer in the wilderness adventure after school this spring. Note to self: talk to Dennis tomorrow.

-Kim

One Amazing Weekend

I have the most amazing bunch of friends ever! I'm just gonna throw that out there. Yesterday I had a great, though busy, day seeing grandma and my parents and going to the symphony in a group of girls. It was an amazing time. And then, to top it all off, Jesse gave me the most amazing gift. He had me come up to his room and find a card on the windowsill signed by a bunch of my friends, just thanking me for being me. And then I turned around to see the amazing green dress that I fell in love with at the store two weeks ago. I still can't believe it. I don't see why anyone would spend that much money on me "just because." He told me that the people who signed the card may or may not have had any idea what he was planning, but I've been thanking them all with hugs anyway. And now I'll thank them again. Thank you Dianna, Mae, Elaina, Sam, Audrey, Adam, Karen, Jason, Lindsey, David, Jesse, Shane and Todd. And than you squiggle, whoever you are--perhaps you whould practice your penmanship.

Today I had another amazing afternoon. I met for the first time with my new writing group, which seems to have named itself Emerald's Baby, in light of events the day we first met. There were only four of us at Caribou Coffee, but it was a great way to start. Nate had his manuscript which was almost finished--one chapter left before going back for revisions. His novel is about pirates, and therefore automatically fun. Dale commented that "pirates are the new monkeys." Dale himself had brought mostly older works, but they got passed around as well. Caleb has no career but writing and, therefore, has a great number of manuscripts, both completed and in progress. I was somewhat intimidated at first, being the youngest in the room and the only female, but they're great guys. They all said that my stuff was really good. really good, they said. Caleb said it was publishable, and Dale liked how detailed the imagery was--he said he could see everything and then later he commented that the bears were haunting him and he wanted to read more. Oh, and one of the best things was when I was first trying to describe the story concept, Caleb asked me if it was like Redwall. Yes! I've given up using that analogy because nobody knows what I'm talking about, but he knew.

And now, after an empty session at the writing center, I'm just chillin with Dianna and Audrey, who I haven't seen since last week even though she lives next door. I miss my friends when they aren't around.

But that pretty much sums up my amazing weekend. I hope you liked it.

-Kim

Medical Update

Hey there. I just thought you'd like to know that Grandma's doing a lot better. She is recovering well from surgery and should be coming home by the weekend. The mass they removed was cancerous, so she'll have six months of chemo ahead of her, but she's spunky enough to get through anything.

College life remains busy. I'm trying to put together 30 minutes of 16th-Century dancing music for the show Tartuffe, which opens in just over two weeks. I think it will come together, but it's gonna take a lot of work. Next week is homecoming, as if we needed more things to do. Oh, and I've finally heard from the fella organizing the writing group about planning a time for us all to meet. Yay! It'll be good to talk to those folks again, and show them what I've got. Anyhow, I'm just wasting time right now that could be spent on homework, so I'll be signing off.

-Kim

Come home running

Hi. It's me again. I do still exist. The lack of post signifies not an uneventful week, but a week so full that I barely had time to breathe, let alone commont on it here.
Grandma June had surgery again. This time it was to remove a tumor that had blocked her intestine. She seems to be do well now that the surgery is over, but it's still hard for me to believe that this is happening again. Last fall it was her heart. For some reason it's affecting me more this time, and I'm not even sure why. Perhaps because the news is still so fresh and incomplete. This happened only yesterday and I haven't gotten to see her yet. And a lot of my friends still don't even know. And now I'll just be selfish for a moment. This came at the end of a week that was already busy enough. On Friday I finally realized exactly how many things I have going on the month of October, and I felt like my head was going to explode.
But so far today is helping with all of this. Jordan Kjesbo was back in town today (I have no idea why) and leading worship. At the close of the service he played one of my favorite songs ever, "Come Home Running." I haven't heard it in ages, since no other worship leader does it, and he's been away at school. But today, when I needed it, there he was to comfort me with music. I probably should have thanked him for it, but Dianna seemed to be in a hurry to leave, and I needed to check my voicemail for word from my parents. So I guess I'll say it here: thank you, Jordan Kjesbo, for lifting my spirits today. And thank you Dianna, Jesse, Amber, Audrey and all the rest of you who are praying for Grandma June. It really means a lot.

-Kim