Jet Lag = (sarc) Fantastic (/sarc)

So- where have I been? Simple answer: East Asia. First- some quotes from earlier this year.

January 2, 2013

Yesterday night I got a text while I was coming home from work, a text that read 'Hey Tristany, J and I were wondering if you were at all interesting in going to East Asia with us in March? It's a ten day missions trip around easter- it's going to be about $1900 dollars.' Me? Go to East Asia? On mission? It's at once God putting me back where he wants me, and me going someplace I've always dreamed of going. I was uncertain at first, but it was too perfect for God to not have orchestrated it- So I said I was interested and tonight I went to the information meeting after church. I only just got home- and there is NO WAY I'm going to be able to do this on my own. For instance: the price is $1900- which is four hundred more than I've ever raised for missions- and I have to have it all in by February 1st. I have thirty days (more or less) to raise $1900 dollars. I've never heard of that happening that fast. I'm not sure how to even start raising funds- but I do know- I KNOW- that God is telling me that I'm supposed to go to East Asia, that this trip is My trip, and I've been called to go. So I am totally going, and God is totally going to provide. Trust God? I have to- there's no way this going to happen unless he does it.

 January 7, 2013

I'm fully funded for my trip to East Asia! I can't but hardly believe it! I don't know why I'm so surprised- really, I don't. I knew God would come through- I KNEW IT! I always said it, I've been praying for it, I've been telling everyone "God will provide!" -but I never expected his providence to be so soon or so full and so sweet! I'd almost expected it to be a last minute rescue from the jaws of defeat on the 30th or the 31st of this month- not on the 7th!!! I'm completely floored! I mean, this is beyond everything that I'd ever expected! I prayed that God would provide, and while praying I told God that I knew he was going to completely blow my mind with the way he was going to provide- He's amazing at doing things that I didn't expect- and I totally didn't expect this! I've never felt so much like a daughter at a surprise party, whose dad just rolled out the best present ever! I mean, WOW! No way could I have done this. God is SO good.

And now, April 1st, I got off a plane from East Asia to RDU. Wow, these last few days have been unforgettable, incredible, indescribable and completely overwhelming. Where to start? Where to start? So my last post was on the 15th of March, when Dakota proposed. Probably there, but now I think about it, that's a lot of information. Maybe I should start at the very beginning of the trip instead? So- March 21st. That'd be the day before the HCBCEAT (Hales Chapel Baptist Church East Asia Team) rolled out. My Aunt Ellie and Uncle Russ, and their five kids stopped at our house on the way home from South Carolina. It was great fun- I played makeup with my cousins Rebekah and Sarah. I always get really nervous and emotional right before leaving for a trip, so naturally I bottle this up until I have a panic attack. I ended up calling Dakota and crying for a while. He's a trooper! He prayed with me for a while and I felt better. I'm so thankful for how focused he is. He really leads by example. So after I got off the phone with him, I went to bed and got up three hours later. We were at the church by 3am, at the airport by 4am, on the plane by 6am, and off we went.
I was so nervous before we got on the plane- but there's something about planes that just calms me right down. Not sure what it is. I love take off. I love landing too. It could just be the fact that you're actually in the air going toward your destination, or it could be the noise of the engines. I'm not sure. I like airplanes though.
Let's see... 24 hours later, we're in East Asia in our Hotel. It was kinda nice, very humid, a little chilly, and very rainy. I discovered the use of a good umbrella pretty early on. Got one at a 7-11 a couple days in. The city we were in was beautiful. There were trees all over the place- it was like someone dropped a city in a centuries old garden. The people were really friendly too. The first day we just wandered around the city, the second day we went to a college and made some friends. I learned a lot about the culture, and a lot about the differences between America and this area of East Asia. Obviously I can't really say where we went, so that really limits me as to what I can say about the trip. I didn't really get to talk to many people about the Gospel- but I did a lot of praying while God brought people to the others on my team. There were so many people! Every day I ended up in my room sitting on my bed enjoying the silence. I never have handled large groups of people well, and that's all we ever had. Large groups. Very large groups. I'm an introvert, so I was way out of my comfort zone- but that was the whole point I think. If I thought I could do it without God's help, then I'd have done it without God's help.
It was a really good trip, but by the end of it I just wanted to be home. I missed people. A lot. I had no phone useage- so I couldn't call my parents or fiancé at all. The only way I had to communicate was on a borrowed laptop with spotty internet, and no access to my main mail account, so I had to make a secondary mail account and go from memory on the emails. the Good news is that I thought to get Dakota's Email and memorize it- though I was only able to send five emails over 14 days. That was, I think, the thing that wore on me the most. See, I've always had a member of my immediate family on a trip with me, or else I had the ability to call them and talk with them at least once a day. This time I really had no way to contact them other than spotty email on a borrowed machine- and then my parents don't check their emails often. That and apparently I have a whole realm of emotions that I simply write off as weakness or personal failing. Nervousness, missing people, loneliness, uneasiness, being tired, irritation, apparently these are all emotions that I can't have without feeling like a failure. I finally figured out that these emotions are okay- particularly the loneliness one- when we got to the hotel and one of the husband/wife groups, who'd been separated on both of the planes and on the bus and taxi to get to the hotel finally met back up. the husband looked over at his travel tired wife and said "Darling, I missed you like crazy today," She laughed and said she missed him too. 'Well,' I thought, 'If it's normal for Corey to miss Ashlee, and Ashlee to miss Corey while they're going to the same place, than me missing Dakota must be a normal thing too- He's roughly 8,000 miles away now.' So after I gave myself permission to cry into my pillow without feeling like a failure over it, I felt a lot better. Like I said, the distance was the worst part. I started a couple notebooks to chronicle what happened while we were in East Asia, one for my own use, the other was basically a really long letter to Dakota about what I was up to. I found out after I got home that my grandfather did the same for Nana- He was a chief petty officer in the navy, and every time he went to sea he would write in a notebook to my Nana what he was thinking, what he'd been doing, imagining what all she was doing, etc. Didn't know I was carrying on family tradition. LOL.
But yeah, We made a bunch of contacts, checked out a few places that our friends (who are moving there) might live, checked out about four colleges, went to a couple cities, tried all sorts of foods, traveled by plane, bus, train, metro, taxi, and foot (lots and lots of foot). Walked miles and miles every day, went to a couple really awesome malls, and did a lot of praying, growing, and writing.
By the time we started heading home I was so ready to be home I didn't know what to do with myself. Then I finally got off the plane, and we finally started back toward the meeting zone. I was about thirty feet in front of the rest of the team- I was tired, and I was ready to be home- and I was ready to see my family and fiance. Saw my mom with the camera first- she was closer than the other forty people who were waiting for the entirety of the College and Career class. So I walked over and gave her a hug and kiss and she made my mind up about my next target. "You better go find Dakota first! Your brothers have been terrible!" So I look over at the group (Who hadn't noticed me yet because the rest of the team was so far behind.) and Sure enough in the back of the group I spot the top of Dakota's beautiful fuzzy head trying to get away from Jared, who pretty much had him in an arm bar. There really wasn't much competition- I just wasn't sure if I should hug dad first or Dakota- this is the way your brain works when you're tired. So then everyone starts shouting because they see the rest of the team behind me, Jared let Dakota go, and I made a dash for him as he came around the side of the group to see me. Forty six people there, including my Nana, aunt sissy and uncle chuck, mom, dad, and all my brothers, I didn't notice a one of them. In my own little world. And ya know what? Best thing in the world to hear at that moment, "Welcome home love."
And not for the last time, or the first time I said "8,000 miles without you- never happening again. Not if I can at all help it."

Passover, and a Very Important Question

I have to say, I'm writing this on the 29th of May- not the 15th of March- but I still don't quite know how to phrase a lot of this. I still can't believe this entry actually happened some days- I'm almost afraid that I'm going to wake up and it's going to be a dream. It's pretty awesome! So- where to start? The last entry was dated March 9- Which means that I've only got one week between entries. What all has happened? Well, on the 8th Dakota and his family came out to Melody's and hung out for a while. Ms. Joanie was having a very good day- very bubbly, like usual. That's what I noticed anyway- Truth of the matter is that earlier in the day Dakota had to leave for a while to go visiting at the hospital with his pastor, Ray Carr. Well, I didn't know it at the time, but he was also going to a small jewelry store to look at engagement rings. So what was Ms. Joanie so excited about? Her son had an engagement ring in the car outside- and it was supposed to be mine. And I was just happy to see everyone. It was a good night, easy, full of good customers and good company. Dakota and I went to McDonalds after I got off work and hung out until close to 10:30- at which point he looked at his watch and went “Oh, you gotta be getting home,” I kinda pouted a little, “I suppose we kinda have to, right?” well- yeah. Can't stay in McDonalds all night talking, 'sides, he was coming over for passover the next day anyway. So we part ways and go home.
So the next day, Dakota sends me a text asking what time Passover is supposed to start. I basically told him 5:30, but you can come any time you like. He responded that he'd try to be on time, but had a couple things to do, like his mom scheduled him a haircut at 4. Of course, then dad walks by and informs me that Dakota asked him if he'd like to meet for lunch at Chich-fil-a. Now, we've joked this whole time that Chick-fil-a is where we go to conduct all our important conversations. So dad starts ribbing me about what he should tell Dakota if he starts asking thinks like “can I marry your daughter?” “Want me to send him packing?” My response? "What?! No! -No! Don't do that! Geeze, he's my best friend dad!" So off dad goes. he comes back and didn't stop grinning at me all day long. Dakota didn't know that I knew that they'd had lunch together, and didn't know that dad had asked me what I thought (more or less). So off dad goes, and mom and I started getting things together for passover. Em driver came over around four, we got the table set up, and then we waited. True to his word, Dakota was late. Dad hadn't stopped ribbing me all day- he even got Trillian to call me rib me while he was at lunch with Dakota. Of course, I was probably inviting the ribbing- every couple minutes I was back at the door watching to see if he was here yet. Finally, about forty-five minutes late, I glimpsed his car at the top of the hill. Because dad had been ribbing me all day, his reaction to Dakota coming down the driveway didn't surprise me at all. See, he unceremoniously kicked me out of the house with the order "you aren't allowed back in the house til you have him with you," and he locked the door behind me. So I wandered down the walk toward the driveway as Dakota is pulling in, arms crossed and feeling mischievous, with the biggest grin on my face- completely clueless that my dad had more motive behind kicking me out than just picking on me. So here I am, standing at the end of the deck with my arms saucily crossed over my chest, with my face pulled into a perfect smirk as he parked the car beside my truck. “Uh, hi!” He said, more or less falling out of the car as I approached. “Sorry I'm late, mom insisted I get a haircut. Put us a little behind schedule. How're you today?”
I kinda smiled, shrugged, leaned against the back of my truck, “Well, Dad's kicked me out of the house and says I'm not allowed back inside until I have you with me,” I started. He kinda smiled and fidgeted a little, “He did?” I nodded, still smirking slightly. I was feeling mischievous, so I decided to make a passover joke. “Well, if this was any other night, I'd suggest we hop in the car, run away, and go someplace.” see, part of the Passover meal is a question and answer session between the youngest and oldest members of the family, in which the youngest asks “Why is this night different from every other night?” and the oldest replies “We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, and the Eternal, our G-d, took us out from there with a strong hand and with an outstretched arm.” I was just being goofy. Dakota kinda fidgeted a little, "Actually, on that note," he said, turning to pull something out of the car behind him. When he turned around again he had a small blue velvet box in his hand, with the most beautiful ring in the world in it. "So yeah," he said, all nerves. "Would you like to? I mean, run away with me. Sometime. Maybe.”
And time stopped. Everything was so still. The world could have exploded just then, and I'd have been no wiser. I truthfully have no idea what I did. Time stopped, and so did my brain- I forgot how to speak, how to breathe, how to think. I recall going "Oh my goodness-" like, probably fifteen times (just enough to inadvertently get him worried) and then I said something to the effect of "I'm gonna have to call my uncle and tell him I'm engaged!" (see the end of my post entitled 'Still haven't called my uncle')
“So that's a yes?” “Yes! That is absolutely a yes!”
-And I thought I sounded like an idiot when he asked me if I'd like to consider turning it into a courtship- I really sounded like an idiot when he actually asked me to marry him. I mean- wow.
Up until that point, if offered the chance to go back in time and change anything about my past, I'd have told anyone that I wouldn't change anything from my past- that everything works together to make me who I am. Now I'd have to say “Yes- Take me back to March 15^th, 2013- I need to change my reaction when my best friend asked me to marry him. I'd like to shout YES to the sky like a flipping maniac instead of kind of stuttering in shock like a dumb fool.” It kinda looked like a near miss of a huge trainwreck.
Oh goodness, I don't think I've ever been so happy as right now. I mean- this was the perfect night really. The perfect night.

Greenway, Hobbit, Hangin' out

This is a filler post, written after the fact- but aren't they all? Not many are written with so much time between the entries, nor are they so terribly back dated. It's alright though. This is cool stuff- I think I remember pretty well. :) When shall I date this one to? The 9th?
So much has happened! Like, a whole bunch of really fantastic, amazing, unspeakably awesome things! I mean- Awesome. And this is going to be Awesome. But yeah, I'm sitting on the edge of way too much vague goofiness-  I need to choose a day and start describing it.
So, the 9th of March. It's truthfully the 29th of May right now, so details are going to be fuzzy, but I'm going to pretend that it's all been today. On the 9th of March I hung out with Dakota in smithfield pretty much all day. We met at Melody's in the morning, talked for a couple hours- I finally got the story behind his name outta him. His first name is John- but he's never gone by it. John only goes on the important documents and stuff. We had some coffee, and then decided we wanted to walk on the Greenway. So off we went- walked down to it, walked all along it- the whole distance, three miles there, three miles back, almost a mile to get to it and almost a mile to get back to Melody's. We talked about so much! I remember that every once in a while Dakota would look over at me as we were walking and I'd all the sudden forget how to think, blush and have to start my train of thought over. I mean, wow. His eyes are the most intense, the warmest, deepest, eyes I've ever seen. One glance and I'm all to pieces. Completely melted. Over.
But yeah, so after our long, wonderful walk on the Greenway we went to lunch, and then Dakota took me to the Howell Theatre in Smithfield to see the Hobbit. It was a good movie! He even put up with my whining and side commentary! He's wonderful! After the movie we went our separate ways. it was a really good day. I so much enjoy spending time with Dakota. I'm so glad he asked me out. Earlier this year I was really afraid I might have scared him off. Turns out he's way braver than most of the guys I know. Actually, He's probably one of the bravest men I know- and even though he's brave he's not at all arrogant or mean. I mean, it's easy for a guy to be brave and take that to arrogance, and then arrogance turns into aloof cruelty. It's a terrible fate some suffer- but not Dakota. He's so solid and dependable, really up front and open. He's got no questions about who he is or whether he's good or not. He's confidant. I really love that about him. I don't think I could scare him off if I tried- and I may have tried once or twice. The first time he noted the .22 federal shells in my hat I started fishing for things that generally make people reconsider standing near me- like mentioning that I do enjoy shooting, I'm a passable shot, and I've got a firing range in the back yard, and that I usually carry a knife with me at all times. Did not phase him at all. He actually thought it was pretty cool. Then there was the time he was over at the house and I was showing him my german longsword, put it up and came after him with the LARP-er. I said I was going to go get the foam one- he just missed that bit of conversation... so I came at him from around a corner and checked the blow right at his throat- he thought I had the metal one still. took out the table trying to get away from me. he thought he was going to die! lol! He was okay though. -He still came by work the next time I was out there. I was impressed. :) Dakota Massengill has got to be the bravest man I know.

We're totally doing Passover this year!!!

Oh my goodness I'm so flipping excited!!! Yes, you read the title right- We're doing Passover this year. :D :D :D ...Not that we don't do Passover every year, but I'm going to East Asia over Easter this year, so I was rather resigned to not getting to celebrate Passover. But mom just said "If we're going to celebrate Passover, we have to do it the Friday before you leave- that's the 15th." and I'm like "...we're actually going to celebrate Passover?" and she's like "Yeah, we are. So you need to get in touch with Dakota and his folks- we can fit fourteen people around the table." and I'm like "YES YES YES YES YES!!!"
-So now mom and I are comparing china plates, talking about tables and table runners (the blue satin ones from Trillian's wedding [which she left] will be absolutely perfect!), Seder plates, Shabat candles, silver coins, table settings, and which haggadah outline we will use. :D ...the only thing I think we don't actually have is the candle stick holders- but we never have those for some reason or another. I'm so excited. 

Tuesday Night - Barista Rant

I've spent most of the day trying to remember if it was Tuesday, Wednesday, or Friday. This is an important question, because I don't usually work Wednesdays or Fridays- but I work every Tuesday. Of course, I knew it wasn't Thursday because (lameness of all lameness) I knew that Dakota wasn't going to be at Melody's today. That means it's not Thursday. Of course, I knew I was supposed to be working, so that really only left Tuesday... But still, it felt sorta like Wednesday.
Anyway, one of the other barista's posted to Facebook a link to a twitter feed called the Bitter Barista. I'm not going to link to it, you'll have to go looking for it. Anyway, I was reading through it and realized that a lot of my issues that I have with customers that make me roll my eyes are experienced by Baristas everywhere. Things like people who ask for "Very Hot, No foam" Lattes (which is difficult), people who ask "Why's this cappuccino so light?" (When a cappuccino is generally 30% foam), People who order things like a "White Chocolate Mocha with french vanilla flavoring, an extra shot, 2% milk, lots of whipcream and a drizzle, and that crumbly stuff on top. Large." and then complain about the price. I really don't mind those things too much, people know how they like things (except the cappuccino people), and I don't mind making it for them. My only trouble customer today was my usual trouble customer- but he and his wife are usually rude, so I'm pretty braced for their comments. Something's always wrong. last time the shots that I pulled for his Americano looked "Fluffy", the time before I'd wanted to verify that he wanted caffeinated, not decaff (usually people in the middle of the day only get americano if we don't have decaff brewed and they want their coffee NOW) and his wife said he'd punch me in the face if I made him decaff. And he agreed. Okay guys, that was a threat. By the grace of God I was too shocked to say anything, because I'd have probably said something like "um- that wouldn't be good for either of us, because I'd have to call the cops- then you'd be getting your coffee in the slammer. :D have a nice day!" (On the other hand, I'll never forget that he gets caffeinated Americanos. But seriously, what a jerk!)
But yeah- tonight the issue was that she asked for a "Kay" I wasn't sure what in the heck a Kay was, so I asked her to say it again. "a Kay tea!" she sorta rolled her eyes and I'm like "Oh, she wants a Chai! ^.^ -- 0.0 -- Oh. she wants a chai. -_.-" See- I've got Five ways I can make chai back there. and home sister didn't even know how to say what she wanted- no way in heck is she going to be able to tell me which one of the five ways I can make Chai is actually the one she wanted. And she's picky too. So yeah, that was my issue earlier. I asked her if she had had one before, and she said yes, so I guessed that meant that it had to be the Chai Latte or the Chai Tea. So the next question was "Did it have a tea bag, or steamed milk" She had no flipping idea. so I made her a chai latte, all the time mentally daring her or her husband to say a WORD about the way I was making the latte. then I handed it to her and went to fold rags. I wasn't hanging around for them to tell me what a horrible job I did on the chai and how it wasn't what they wanted. Such stuck up jerks. (Dalek Barista says: Decaffeinate! Decaffeinate!) But yeah, other than that it was a good evening. I had a fellow come in around four and get a quadruple shot espresso with four pumps of caramel and whip cream. It was the closest thing to a Macchiato I've ever made. It looked awesome. :) I filed that recipe away in my brain, and one day I shall try it. :) It will be delicious and powerful.

Another Saturday Study Date

You'd think that 10am on a Saturday is a reasonable time to be somewhere. And it is. -My major malfunction is that I can't seem to get up in the mornings these days. But yeah, mornings that I don't have to be anywhere are quickly migrating toward being 9am wake ups whether I like it or not. I suppose I need to give myself a good kick in the pants and just do it. Call it responsibility, and that'll make us feel better. Anyway, So today I met Dakota at Melody's for a study date. Yes, Definition of "study date" is oxy-moronic: It's a date on which you study material for class. But really, we get through a lot of material. I wasn't sure how well those would go at first, but they're actually quite industrious. I'll sit at one side of the table with my textbook and computer, he'll sit at his side of the table with his, and we study. Occasionally one of us will interject about something that makes no sense or something we thought was interesting, but for the most part, we study. Today was a little difficult, the top forty list was playing on the radio and apparently I know more of the songs than I should probably admit (Come on guys, I work at a coffee house) so I kept being distracted by the more upbeat songs. It took me almost four hours to get through twenty-five pages. I felt like a dunce. Dakota covered at least forty pages in that time. But anyway, Victory was achieved, and I'm officially on spring break. So at about 2o'clock we went to Wendy's for lunch- they have a really good value menu. I hadn't realized that. It was a lovely discovery though. We sat in Wendy's for a while just talking about movies and such, then about the third time the Wendy's guy asked if we needed refills we decided to regroup elsewhere- so we went to the Greenway and walked almost three and a quarter miles. Not something I'd have done by me onesy, but it was nice enough with Dakota. The Greenway has a bit of a bad reputation in Smithfield- understandably so, it's well wooded on either side and far removed from people. Vissini: "We are but poor lot circus performers. Is there a village nearby?" Buttercup: "There is nothing nearby. Not for miles." Vissini: "Then there will be no one to hear you scream." And of course, there's a lovely little sign saying that there are no weapons allowed on the Greenway. Because signs like that totally keep delinquents from carrying guns. Silly people. They are called 'Perps' because they perpetrate crimes. Like armed robbery (which is also illegal). So yeah, but it was a fun walk, arm-in-arm discussing social norms vs a christian world view (Also see: things that just make us go "what?") it was a good time. :) I think we've more or less decided we need to go back when spring really gets going, and then again in the fall when the leaves are turning.
But yeah, that was pretty much my day. Came home, ate dinner, played minecraft. It's been a good day. :) I think I need to go and see if my pillow will take me back- I left it this morning after a long fight.

Breakfasts, Geese, ..I kinda want to draw

My last note was about Saturday last week I think, which means that I've got a whole week of stuff to pull from for this blog entry.
Let me think... Saturday I've recounted. I wrote that last post on Monday... so- Tuesday. Tuesday was a fairly normal day. Yet another day that I said "I'm going to get up early and accomplish something before work!" and failed to do so. Work went well- right up until open mic. A couple of the newer guys took up the whole stage with their equipment and played for almost an hour and a half- Mr. Pete didn't get to play. He was almost upset- which is something. I've never seen him almost upset before. I've never seen him anything close to it. The worst I've ever seen was a tired happy. He didn't even say 'night guys!' before he left like he usually does. :/ I felt so bad for him. Of course, I was working, so I probably should have been looking at the clock going "Okay y'all- time to move your junk and let someone else take a turn!" but it hadn't occurred to me that the guys on the stage weren't talking to the guys at the tables at all. Usually it's pretty fluid going back and forth between the players, with people getting up to play with the songs that they know and sitting down if they don't know the piece. :/ Wednesday was Wednesday. I don't recall exactly what happened- but life is good. Corey, David, Kaitlyn, and Ashlee started teaching about the Story in Wednesday Night service. Great fun that. It was nice to watch them go back and forth with what they were sharing- I mean, it was like an oral presentation for a class.
Thursday morning mom and I had been asked to attend a 'Breakfast before Business' breakfast, which was being held in honor of JCC's donors. Mom and I got to go because we helped make the gifts for the donors. You guessed it- bowls and vases. One thing I'll say about my current college- the President of the college is profoundly interested in the arts. He's really big about recognizing all the helpers for events, from background music to waiting staff to photographers. So he asked Kiefer to ask his helpers to come to the meal as well. So here we were, Me, Mom, Kiefer, Leslie and Limbert, four students and a college teacher, in a room full of executives, board members, bankers, stocks persons, etc. The room was probably worth a few million bucks. heck- the table I was sitting at was probably worth over a million (the "Fine Arts Students" were sharing a table with two big name banks.) So I felt a little out of place, but I was hangin' with Kiefer and my mom so I was good. I recognized most of the people who were there just by virtue of them coming into the coffee house so often- however, it's bad when you recognize the guy in the nice suit sitting three chairs down from you as "Skinny Vanilla Latte 16oz with an extra shot." It was a good meeting- didn't drag on forever and a day. About half way through the Keynotes speaker got up and started talking about being Givers. It was basically a sermon about how good it was to give, and great it makes you feel, and how it's great for business. He was the owner of the Zaxby's franchises in the area- though he was based out of Georgia. So he told a story about how he told his Smithfield Manager that he wanted him to "walk across the street to that college and marry them." And apparently his business strategy for marrying the college worked pretty well. I really don't know what the point of that bit was- because about half way through the story a goose poked it's head over the edge of the skylights in the room. See- the room we were having breakfast in has skylights all the way around the edges of the ceiling- and a goose was sitting on the roof outside lookin' in at us. This was the Anatidaephobic's worst nightmare. The funniest thing was that at first the goose was up and down so much and so fast that I wasn't sure I'd actually seen it at first- but then the $100,000 dude beside me whispered to his buddy beside him "did you see that goose?" and I knew I actually had. Well, for about five minutes it kept popping up and down- and then it started staying up, walking back and forth and honking. I mean honking. Loudly. Like, the speaker came to a point in his speech that he was quite for a moment, and the goose honked, and it was audible inside the building across the room where I was sitting. It was hilarious! -and I just knew that if I laughed I was going to be in so much trouble. So I sat there for the duration of the goose antics with my hands clasped in my lap, literally biting my tongue, not breathing, with my head bowed so as to not laugh or disrupt anything. Leslie was laughing- but she was masking it with a coughing fit. that didn't help me, but it was funny. Limbert wasn't sure he'd seen a goose, and couldn't believe it when the goose actually stayed up. So he's whispering to Leslie the whole time. But yeah. The goose left, the keynotes speaker finished by saying he was glad to be married to the college, the Foundation fellow in charge of the funds for the college got up and said "Through the power vested in me by JCC, I now pronounce Zaxby's of Smithfield and JCC man and wife." (a few chuckles, but the goose had tired people out. lol) then he started talking about the people who'd given money, and all that- and then he recognized Mr. Kiefer- He said his name "Kai-fer" not "Kee-fer"- and he recognized Leslie as president of the SCA, and then he recognized Limbert as a first year student. -Then he got all excited and introduced "A mother and daughter team who've been in the Fine Arts program for a while- Mary Roper is an Enrichment Student taking Ceramics II, and her Daughter is a Fine Arts major who will be graduating this semester with her Associates Degree! The Ropers have had five students out here at JCC." -then he made us stand up, and we got a round of applause. It was kinda odd- a little embarrassing- but nice. So that meeting ended after they gave the gifts away. I came home, changed for work, knocked about the house for a bit, then jumped in the car and got to work. Work was also fun- a rather nice older fellow named Henry chatted with me for a little bit, then Babsi our baker came to the front with a new kind of muffin- and he started a conversation in German with her. -And I understood it. Not perfectly, mind you, but I was able to keep up with the conversation. Somehow, afterward, the conversation went to what he'd said to Babsi in German- I smiled and said I'd understood most of it, repeated the high points, and he laughed at me and said I was really sharp. It was great fun. :) When you can listen to a conversation in another language and be able to tell that the fellow is saying he had gone to work in Germany in 1960 with an automotive company, and his job was making joints on the production line- but you can't speak but the basic hello and goodbye. I dunno- I felt a lot smarter than I did previously.
So after that, I was cleaning stuff and Dakota and his mom walked in. He'd said he'd be there early, but I hadn't counted on 3pm early. :) It made me happy. So his mom got a coffee, they sat and chatted for a while, then off she went to the history club meeting with Dakota's younger brother. It was a good day. :) Got to chat with Dakota on and off between rushes, then things started to get slower again and all the rest of the Massengills came in. It was great fun to watch them interact. Poor Dakota was getting ribbed quite a lot- his dad asked "I've seen you watching the Barista- have you got her number yet? Even asked her name?" But yeah. His mom was trying to embarrass him, so she told me that he'd said the sweetest thing earlier- Dakota apparently didn't remember exactly what it was, so she told me. Apparently he'd said that the sweetest thing about me was that I didn't need him- that I just enjoyed his company for having him around, not because I needed something from him. He blushed, I laughed, his mom thought it was the sweetest thing ever.
After work we went to McDonalds at sat for two hours chatting about everything we could think of- then I looked at my watch and saw that it was 10:30pm and I thought "Oh, I really need to be getting home." so off we went.
Then there was yesterday. Yesterday was probably the best day thus far this week. I finally got Dakota to watch the Princess Bride. It was great fun. He came out to the house about three, we had a small sword fight in the rain outside. -found out mom was recording it from the back window- staged the ending of the fight (Dakota won)- then ended up having to chase Jeremiah down for my sword, which I'd dropped when I died. After that, we came inside, dusted out jeans off, and sat and talked for a while. JD was trying to mess with Dakota- so he ended up pretty much in Dakota's lap with his head rested on his shoulder. wouldn't leave us alone. LOL. Then mom and dad got back with dinner, and we had pizza- which was fun. Then we watched the princess bride. JD was trying to keep us from sitting together- he failed completely. I confess I have no idea what my brothers were doing through the whole movie. I was sitting beside Dakota, trying to not give the movie away. lol. ...and I'm using lols and smiley faces. 6.6 ...that reaction didn't help at all. Anyway- he enjoyed the movie, the geekdom is now more fully understood, and all is well. dad was upset because Dakota didn't cry at all during the movie (I didn't think there was anything to be sad about...)
but yeah, that was yesterday. It was great fun. :) I was reading the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe last night before bed- and I totally passed out in the floor. woke up at 1am, crawled into bed, passed out again. Today I pretty much spent cleaning my room. yeah. that's it. cleaning my room. It took a while. lol.