Bethany

...dutifully picking up sticks from the yard...

Trampoline

...me, bethany and ever chillin...

Singing

...papa, me, allison and evan singing something...

Courtney

...courtney studies her cards...

Ever

...ever performs one of his many talents in our show...

Owen

...sitting around grinning like a buffoon...

Evan

...evan lounges in the living room...

Papa

...padre smirking over lunch...

Dominoes

...a family game of 42...

Hangin' Around

...evan, stephen, bethany, me and owen on the couch...

Storm Damage

...this tree is all the damage we really sustained fromt he storm...

Stephen

...little ol' stephen with another one of his priceless faces...

Hurricane Holiday

i have to admit i had slightly mixed feelings over the weekend. in the midst of praying for people in areas affected directly by the hurricane, and trying to sympathize and comfort friends, another part of me was like, "yessssss, a four day weekend..." :-P

so here's what i did... "we" decided to go to my house instead of staying on campus, because if the power went out i would prefer to be there than cooped up in a tiny hot dorm room. despite all of the warnings, i really couldn't imagine it being any worse than it actually was. perhaps i'm just always optimistic. whatever the case may be, allison, courtney, ever and i ("we") all went to my house for the weekend. we brought tons of snacks and drinks and along with us. on friday we taped up a few windows, managed to clear enough out of the garage to get one vehicle in, and taped up allison's van. then we watched a couple of movies, ate ice cream and brownies, and did the wonderful things that i suppose you are to do when having a party.

on saturday the power finally went out. but that didn't stop us from having fun. we decided to have a talent show, in which i think everyone at least did something. we recited poetry (including the infamous jabberwocky), and sang, accompanied by papa on the guitar. we played the piano and violin, and patriotically recited the pledge of allegiance, with an accent on the "under god" part. ever and i did a short capoeira demonstration with lots of foolish unprofessional moves. had shadow casting competitions, which were a match for any tv station we could have had our eyes glued to. however, that wasn't an option with the power out.

besides indoor activities, we also jumped on the trampoline, before the rain started, while it was raining, and after. ever and i tried to play capoeira on it, but that ended when i tried to jump up and kick over his head, and he jumped just as high as me. his glasses went flying and we gave up on that idea. then in the middle of the storm we decided it would be good to go see how high the creek was, and we all went tearing into the woods. the creek was dissappointingly low, but we satisfied our meager lust for adventure by crossing the creek and chasing cows at kj ranch. we returned and had a soggy photo shoot, which i will document with this post. ahh, there's just nothing quite like singing and playing in the rain with friends. :-P

so all in all, it was a wonderful weekend. we found out that courtney's house (near houston i think) was hardly touched, and only their fence was knocked down, so we were quite happy for her. on sunday everything was quite fine and sunny outside, though power was, and is still out. we spent the morning cleaning up leaves and branches from the driveway. only one tree fell down near the yard, and it fell toward the woods, so it wasn't really a problem. then at last we headed back to campus. we do have power here, which is wonderful. the south side of town doesn't have power, and a lot of people have no water as well. fortunately campus is on the north side. i can't help but wish some of the power would be out here too so they would cancel classes for longer, but that's just wishful thinking. i think that's enough for now. btw, beware of gas station traffic jams... everyone seems anxious to fill up. i wonder how much gas prices are going to go up...

banal \BAY-nul; buh-NAL; buh-NAHL (British)\, adjective:Commonplace; trivial; hackneyed; trite.

How does the poet transform his banal thoughts (are not most thoughts banal?) into such stunning forms, into beauty? --Joyce Carol Oates, "Speaking of Books: The Formidable W.B. Yeats," New York Times, September 7, 1969

Stephen

here is stephen performing for our talent show

Rainy Adventurers

here's the group that ventured out in the rain. starting on the left is courtney r., ever, bethany, evan in the back, courtney y., allison, and your truly.

*Bug-Eyed*

my goodness, things are waaaaay crazay. in the midst of the amazing amount of stuff i have to do, meaning school work, practicing, playing and sleeping, i feel my blog slipping into a subsidiary role in my existence. so what can i say??

last night and this afternoon i had rather a productive time working on music literature. i had a little chat with dr mann to clear a few things up. i even went back to the library to look up a tarnal page number for one little reference. i was sorely tempted to make one up. :-P and i finished my paper for music lit early! isn't that crazy? here it is the night before it's due, and i'm not frantically researching and writing!!!! it's already typed up and in my backpack!

i was late for our flag football game this evening, so i didn't get to play. therefore, i left at half-time since i wasn't all that interested in the first place. i'm pretty sure we were losing. when i got back to steen, the lobby and elevators definitely smelled like vomit. ugh.

now i've got to do a little something constructive this evening.

contemporaneous \kuhn-tem-puh-RAY-nee-uhs\, adjective:Originating, existing, or occurring at the same time.

Hey, No Kissing in Public!

okay, this is nothing important, but i couldn't help chuckling.

Tourists Fined for Kissing in India

Happy Birthday!

today is courtney's birthday! my little sister is 11 now, so congratulations to her. it was a very special day for her, and our whole family because bethany and courtney both got baptized this evening.

i have been feeling really under the weather lately, with a runny nose and lots of drainage in my chest. ugh. unfortunately i have a singing test on wednesday. i'm just praying that i won't have reached the peak of my voice altering illness at that very important moment.

i did manage to get up this morning though, and had breakfast with allison before going to church, which was wonderful. also got the trees watered. who knew that little pecan trees needed so much caring? i guess i did know, but whatever. then i had a rather pleasant nap this afternoon. i got up feeling a little better, and we went to the perry's house for the baptism (in lake nacogdoches). it was all very good, though steve and andrew were almost lost to the suctioning mud on the bank.

now at last, i am done with macgamut (remember that dreadful program?) and i'm hoping for plenty of sleep tonight. one of these days i'll get inspired again and have something entertaining for your amusement. sweet dreams!

hebetude \HEB-uh-tood-; -tyood\, noun:Mental dullness or sluggishness.
While too many Americans slouch toward a terminal funk of hebetude and sloth, Bendians race ahead with toned muscles, wide eyes and brains perpetually wired on adrenaline. --"Wild rides in the heart of central Oregon: Bent out of shape in Bend," Washington Times, August 11, 2001

Zits Strip

jeremy makes me laugh again. any parents who read this... don't be offended. hahaha!

Zits

Not Me...

guess who!!! 

Quiz From Abigail

somehow, this result doesn't surprise me, judging by the questions i was answering. however, i must note that i don't find it very accurate. how bout you, those of you who know me?


Your CD collection is almost as big as your ego,
and you can most likely play an instrument or
three. You're a real hit at parties, but you're
SO above karaoke.What people love: You're instant entertainment.
Unless you play the obo.What people hate: Your tendency to sing louder than
the radio and compare everything to a freaking
song.

What Kind of Elitist Are You?
brought to you by


okay, i guess parts of it are definitely correct. whatever

Yaghhh

i have definitely started to write a new post about 4 times, and every time i end up just stopping and starting over. but i'm quite ready to get something new up here, even if there's nothing interesting.

so this morning i did get to go to church, and allison came with me. or actually i went with her, to my church, since she has a vehicle, a possession i am sadly lacking. afterward we went home and mom gave us a wonderful lunch, which was such a relief from cafeteria food (karen pointed out that the very term "cafeteria food" is an oxymoron).

while eating lunch, we were joking about the lettuce being "hard lettuce" because someone missunderstood "heart lettuce." just as evan made some crack about it i took a bite of of hard lettuce and chomped down on a lettuce bone! it totally stabbed the roof of my mouth and made it bleed!!! agghhhhhhhh!!!!! now it's quite sore. is it possible to live through things like this?

played a bunch of ping pong this evening. it was my first marathon of my favorite sport this semester. aaaaaaand i found out that the sign up time for the ping pong tournament is this friday! woohoo! so maybe i'll actually be able to get in on that this time. well, here comes another week. catchya lata!

inanition \in-uh-NISH-uhn\, noun:1. The condition or quality of being empty.2. Exhaustion, as from lack of nourishment.3. Lack of vitality or spirit.

Yes, It's Me

i ran accross this, and thought it was funny. me with a beard being cool is rather humorous.

Running... Out of Things To Talk About??

i did run again today, and guess what?? i made it three miles this time, in 20 minutes. i may try to do it again in the morning, i'm not sure yet. i still haven't found out yet what the pool hours are. hmmm, note to self that i need to write that down so i won't keep forgetting.

so today i shelled out much money for my last book, history of keyboard literature. the clerk kindly informed me that he would sure hate to have to read a book by that title.

*sigh* there really isn't a story to share with you. someone almost touched my food today at dinner (that sounds weird). i just carried my tray over to the drink fountain and was getting some water and powerade, when a girl's finger suddenly pokes onto my plate and i hear, "what is that?" i swear i thought she was going to grab a nibble of it. my unintentionally curt reply was, "pork," and i walked away to begin the consumption process. and now i can't believe that i just told that as if it was a "story."

played a little ping pong, and was victorious. oh! i also made an awesome five-second recording of voice and whistling. i wish i could post it on here, but i don't know how to do sound files. hmmmm. anyway, i must get going on a little study.

triskaidekaphobia \tris-ky-dek-uh-FOH-bee-uh\, noun:a morbid fear of the number 13 --triskaidekaphobic, adjective and noun; triskaidekaphobe, noun
``Thirteen people, pledged to eliminate triskaidekaphobia, fear of the number 13, today tried to reassure American sufferers by renting a 13 ft plot of land in Brooklyn for 13 cents... a month.'' --Daily Telegraph, January 14, 1967

Sore

i'm actually in quite a good mood, but my legs are a bit stiff. i have been running twice now (this morning i'm not going). my calves are definitely feeling it.

so what have i been doing? yesterday i totally tried to leap all the way up on to ever's top bunk without climbing. after a couple of stupid looking bounces, i backed all the way to the other end of the room (what, three feet away?) and ran with all my might and leaped in the air and encountered the mattress at about my midriff. my feet didn't encounter anything and swung under (over my mattress) and i bounced off with great force and slammed into the dresser. then i just laid on the floor and we laughed our heads off while i nursed my bruised elbow.

guess that's all for now. i should definitely get a video camera out every time one of us thinks aobut doing something stupid, cuz we will probably do it, and it will probably be funny.

The Water's Fine

an amazing thing happened last night. I WENT TO BED AT 10:30!!! that is definitely an incredible thing for me. and, not only did i get to sleep early, i went jogging this morning. that has been on my agenda ever since i got back to school (when i swore i was going to jog every morning), but today is the first day. hopefully the first of many. i only made it 2 miles today. :-/ now i definitely hope to improve that soon. then ever and i totally made a ladder! it took like, 2.5 hours, but it looks really awesome. now he can git his se'f aw duh way up to duh top bunk.

also went to the lake today. the water was fine, the sun was shining, the beach ball was red, and the lake weed was definitely scratchy. but we used it to floss the mud out of our toes anyway. i wish we'd had jet skis. *sigh* ben, what am i going to do with you off at baylor?? oh well, we still had fun splashing around. i feel really tired, but i think i should do some studying. what? studying? you'll have to ask someone else for a proper definition. but here's a definition of a completely different word.

eleemosynary \el-uh-MOS-uh-ner-ee\, adjective:1. Of or for charity; charitable; as, "an eleemosynary institution."2. Given in charity; having the nature of alms; as, "eleemosynary assistance."3. Supported by or dependent on charity; as, "the eleemosynary poor."

Family Photo

every one but mom (taking the picture). clock wise, starting with me in the bottom right, then evan, courtney, bethany, stephen (hidden behind hat), papa (kevin), owen.

Cape ed One

if you're curious about the identity of the good-looking guy in a cape, that's my "little" brother evan. you've seen him before.

Katrina

today has been a great day. i went and participated in a retreat with grace bible church. i think it was actually the second day of a leadership training session, but i really enjoyed it, despite being a little late. we had breakfast (oh yeah, big plus), then played dodge ball, then had a longish "training" time. then lunch. after lunch we had bible studies, discussion groups, more dodge ball a spelling bee (????), and a whole lot of dishes and general clean up. after all our planned activities were over, we headed over to the rec center to see about helping out with the relief efforts. now, for those of you who don't know, you can offer your time right here in nacogdoches to help out some of the refugees from the hurricane katrina. if you would like to help them out for 3 or 4 hours some time during the next week, they would love for you to come and sign up. there have been lots of people willing to help, so you'll probably sign your name for a later time(s) and come back. they can use lots of volunteers, to unload and transport donations (carrying boxes around with trucks is appreciated), play with the kids, assist in meal preparation, etc. just go to the nacogdoches recreation center/public library (north street in nacogdoches, beside java jacks, and almost directly accross from kroger), and there will be plenty of people there to help you get signed up and get to work. and here's a couple of links to give you more info about the disaster in general, and places to make online monetary donations.

Red Cross
Southern Baptist Disaster Relief

remember to pray for all these people with no homes and no belongings. there are people out there with nothing, including food and water, who have lost family members, and are going through a tremendous amount suffering, and quite possibly feeling in despair. okay, that's all i've got. please be thinking of them.

Seedy Characters 

Pocket Malfunction

so this morning had an inauspicious beginning. i jumped on my bike to head off to class, and felt something stuck in the tire. so i stopped, pulled up the loose straps hanging off my back pack, and headed out again. i immediately felt something pulling me back again. then when i looked down, i realized my back tire was completely flat. i went and started to refill it with my tiny pump, but the air just leaked right back out. bleeeeh. then i went chugging to class on foot, which isn't exactly what i wanted to do.

this evening allison and i decided to go donate water for the new orleans people, who definitely seem to be in bad straits. we also put on her "jerome" bumper sticker that i made some time ago. but, speaking of embarrassing situations, i had another one just before we went to wal mart. when we picked up kera i jumped in the back so she could have the front seat, and *rrriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiipp.* uh oh, i hope that wasn't my pants. but what else could it be? so apparently i caught the edge of my back pocket on the arm rest. but it didn't just tear down a seam, it went down the inside edge of the pocket, and about two inches off to the side toward the middle and then down a few inches. aghhhhhhhhhhhh!!!! so right before we go into wal mart i have a huge rectangular chunk of the backside of my shorts hanging off. allison said i should post a picture of it, so i took one, but then decided it was kind of a lame picture, and decided to just write about it. it felt chilly and breezy in wal mart...

capacious \kuh-PAY-shuhs\, adjective:Able to contain much; roomy; spacious.

Out of those capacious receptacles he brought forth a small bottle of Scotch whiskey, a lemon, and some lump sugar. --Ellen M. Calder, "Personal Recollections of Walt Whitman," The Atlantic, June 1907

YUMMY!!!

Hum Dee Dum...

i did, in fact, resolve the unfortunate situation regarding my variable credits course. just as i was hoping i changed the credit over to a one hour violin lesson. i will have to pay a little extra, simply because it's a private instruction course, but it won't be nearly as much as adding a whole nuther course.

today i was wondering what would happen to a person if they actually existed on cafeteria food for too long. the body might shrivel up and die just because there's nothing good in the food. might as well be eating paper or something, for all the nutritional value it possess. but at least while eating i try to find as much entertainment as possible. most recently it came from one of the friendly janitor people dutifully mopping the floor. yep, you know where this one's going. at the time it was about 5:00 in the evening, and the place was packed. there were lines streaming around the whole place. there was one very shiny slick section of floor open between one of the lines and my table... while a few other people and myself were sitting there a girl came around the corner, completely oblivious to the terrain. let me tell you, she wiped out good. both feet just flew out from under her and she landed on her back with her purse underneath. she must have been in a bit of shock, because she laid there for a long time. then she sloooowly got up. then ran to one of her friends and burried her head in her shoulder. a part of me felt bad for her... but hey, gotta have something to laugh about, right?

which reminds me... did i ever mention slipping on the banana? i know it sounds like something from a really lame comedy show or something, but i actually slipped on a piece of banana. this was last semester i think, or maybe last fall, i can't remember. did i already write about it? anyway, i was just cruisin' toward the laundry room to get my clean clothes, being all cool and everything. just as i was about to open the door, my right heel encountered something... actually what felt like nothing, and decided to go vertical. my right foot, still having plenty of grip, didn't quite take to such notions of flight. and great was my fall. twisted my left ankle, and bent the big nail back till it bled, stretched my groin way too much, aaaaaaaand caught myself on my left hand and broke my watch band. not to mention the fact that there was a guy walking along behind me. "you ok dude?" "*gasp* no, my pride's going to be in the ER for this."