high-speed puddle-jumping?

I had a really good day today, for no particular reason. It was a deep and persistent good, full of potential: the kind of good that can only be expressed by spontaneously dancing to upbeat songs and smiling with friends as they talk.

This evening, I rode my bike to the HUB at around 8 to study. It had just gotten overcast, but the air was still warm from the sunny day.

When I left shortly after 11, it was raining. Hard.

What could I do? I tossed my bag into my makeshift milk-crate basket, squelched onto the sodden seat, and set off. It took me, oh, thirty seconds of riding through the rain to realize that home was not where I needed to be going right then. So I just rode. All over. I stopped at Mary's for awhile to say goodnight and tuck her in, then continued on my way. I must have wound around campus six or seven times before I finally made it home, dripping wet and hands stinging with cold.

I couldn't stop grinning; it was beautiful.
Happy Monday, everyone.

from distress to dancing

I was feeling pretty unsettled earlier today after figuring out what my schedule would look like this spring. This has come to be my start-of-the-semester ritual, it seems: I sign up for what seems to be a nicely manageable workload; I write it out on a calendar and have a moment of panic as I wonder what I've gotten myself into; and finally, I plunge into the semester and manage to get everything done somehow.

This evening, my panic-time was cut short due to my T/Th night class: Swing and Lindy Hop. Janie, the prof, is the most energetic, fun, and sassy woman you'll ever dance with. I was lucky enough to spend January with her in Turkey - she and her husband, Jim, were our professors for the trip - and now it will be fun to see her in her element. I've never taken a swing lesson before in my life, but I can tell you this: there's nothing like an hour and a half of dancing to kick worry out of your system. It's going to be a great semester.

a return to the (semi-) normal

Tomorrow is the first day of my last semester as a college undergrad. It will be nice to get back into a routine of classes, choir, and homework after 8 weeks away from it all. I should be in bed, but I'm not feeling too tired so I'm munching on chocolate-covered chickpeas, drinking water, and typing.

Turkey was amazing. The people I was with, the places that we visited, the knowledge and insights that we gained... it all combined into an experience that I know I'll be thinking through and learning from for a long time. I'm in the process of typing up my journal, and when I'm done I'll post some of it into a separate blog.

I flew back to Seattle on Tuesday the 23rd. I spent a week at home visiting friends and family, and then came back to Spokane last Wednesday. My roommates didn't return until today, so I've had the house to myself for the last four days. It has been restful and much-needed: last semester was packed, Christmas break was busy, and Turkey (although wonderful) was another month of zero alone time. I'm thankful that I've had this sabbath to regroup before spring semester.

Last night and tonight we had our "choir retreat," which is essentially two 3-hour practice sessions to get us launched into our spring repetoire. It was beautiful. It's hard enough to describe what it feels like to sing with a group like that; to describe how it feels to come back to it after 8 weeks away, or what it's like to sing through the Credo and Sicut Cervus and be a part of their exquisite harmonies, is impossible. It's like coming home.

time to fly...

How time flies. December got absorbed by classes, concerts, finals, family, friends, and Christmas. And now it's January 1, 2007.

In a few short hours, I'm going to be on a plane bound for Turkey. It's highly unlikely that I'll be able to communicate while I'm there... if I get a chance to use the internet at some point I'll give a quick update.

roses, cars, and colors

So, last weekend my friend Rose came to visit me. It was pretty awesome. I got to see a friend who I don't get to see often enough, and she got to see where my world has been for the last three-and-a-half years.

And what was the most interesting thing we did when she was here? We watched Cars. And dyed our hair. Rose, Katie, and I. Neither Katie nor I had ever dyed our hair before. She went for a natural black: I went for a reddish-brown. Rose went a darker brown, and got a haircut to boot.

As you can see, my hair isn't so much reddish-brown as it is ORANGE.

So, I washed it vigorously the next morning and it faded some. Now it's what I like to call a "violent strawberry blonde." In dim lighting, you can't really tell it's been dyed.

So I'm a temporary redhead. My blonde should be back in a month or so.