extraordinary

I have now been in Salzburg for over a month. For nearly five weeks I have lived in a hotel and gone to work in an 18th Century palace. I have moved from being overwhelmed by it all to being so comfortable I don't even think about it. It's funny how quickly things become familiar. I have the most beautiful office and work in an absolutely gorgeous library, and just recently I was reminded of how absolutely extraordinary this is. This is not the sort of space a recent graduate is supposed to get to work in! Yet here I am. At our last session I got up the courage to do a bit of actual networking, and the fellow I spoke with said he could hook me up with people who want to put toegther archives in Norway if I would be willing to move there. That's right, Norway. He also is going to introduce me to the state archivist of Maryland, so there's plenty of options.

How do I keep falling into so many wonderful things? The only answer I can find is that my life is being directed by someone who has grander plans than anything I could ever dream up. So I thank God for the blessings, hold on tight, and keep moving forward. At the rate my life experience has been expanding, from local to national to international, I fully expect to end up working in the first intergalactic library and archives by the end of my career. Or institute a proper archives program at USF. Either would be just as rewarding, and just as miraculous.

-Kim

storytelling

Hello there, faithful followers! You've had nothing to follow for quite some time, and I feel very bad about that. It's not that nothing interesting has been happening of late, in fact, it's quite the opposite. I find I am spending all of my time and energy on crazy adventures and have less left for reporting them to the masses.

But I aim to correct this problem!

I have been in Salzburg, Austria for almost three weeks now. My intention had been to blog the day I arrived and put up something every time I experienced anything new, which would have been essentially every day. And actually, a more previous intention had been to start the series of Salzburg posts in the summer as I was preparing, but that didn't happen either--but no more excuses! Although stories from these past weeks will lack the immediacy and emotion they may otherwise have had, I still intend to share at least the highlights of what's been going on so far.

They may be patchy and out of order, but the stories are coming! Stay tuned!

-Kim

Hillsong - From The Inside Out

Last night I attended the evening service at Park Street for the first time in months and learned an absolutely amazing song. Take a listen.

What is a perfect moment?

A perfect moment is sitting on a boat in the evening, the gentle waves of the marina pulling the craft ever so slightly against its moorings, a lulling rocking.



The fading exhiliration of adventure on the water draining stress and tension from muscles still taught from straining on ropes.



Old friends laughing together, coiling ropes and drinking cans of Blue Moon Bavarian White beer.



Recognizing a piece of music on public radio, crying out, "I've played that! When did I play that?", and the rush of joy when the recollection comes rushing back and the strings and organ come pouring out from not only the radio, but out of memory. And when the laughter drowns out the title of the piece, still lost in the overcrowded oblivion of memory, taking another sip and looking up into the heavens, stars winking around the top of the mast, the orchestra in the mind pulsing in time with the lapping of the wavelets on the hull.

gradgitation