whoa!

whoa! tomorrow's july! what's going on???

statistics

Inspired by a friend’s tally… (it can actually be fun to sit down and think about)

*20 moves, (soon to be 21), 8 moves were to/from or intra-college/Annapolis moves
*18 residences
*9 single family homes, 5 apartments, 5 rooms in 3 dorms
*8 cities
*7 states (AL, NJ, PA, IL, KY, NC, MD)
*total non-family roommates: 5 (all female)
*total family roommates: 4
*total pet roommates: 3 (all dogs)
*most roommates at one time: 3 (once)
*fewest roommates at one time: 0 (four times)
*former roomies I’m still friends with: all 5
*instances of a roomie bailing on me: 0
*instances of me bailing on a roomie/roomies: 1
*longest in one state: 7 years
*longest in one city: 6 years (twice)
*residences under a year: 11
*shortest in a state/residence: 2.5 months
*evictions: 0
*favorite cities: Annapolis, Lexington, Newtown
*least favorite cities: York, Naperville
*most cramped home: historic Annapolis, Maryland Avenue, 2 bedroom, 1 bath for 4 people. Gotta love those creaky floorboards!

Since everyone is always amazed at how much I drive…. (and travel…)

• Countries traveled to: 20
• Canadian Provinces traveled to: 5 (Ontario, Quebec, Alberta, B.C., Yukon)
• States traveled to: 48
• States not traveled to: 2, Hawaii & Oklahoma
• Most States seen on any one trip: 24
• Major Road trips taken in U.S.: 5
• Total drives of 8+ hours: too many to count
• All-night drives: 5-6
• Total drives between Lexington and Annapolis: 21 at least
• Total weeks of living out of a car or suitcase: 16
• Longest stretch without a shower: 8 days
• Longest travel time: 8 and a half weeks
• Longest road trip: 3 and a half-4 weeks
• Longest distance driven on one trip: 10,000+ miles (almost twice)
• Longest consecutive interval of driving: 28 hours+, Seattle to St. Paul
• Times pulled over: 2
• Interval between being pulled over: less than 15 hours
• Traffic tickets: 1 ($20.00)
• Cars traveled in: GMC Explorer van, Toyota Corolla (Dart), Subaru Forester (Atlas)
• My infamous traffic violation, uncaught: going 75 in a 50mph construction zone in Houston during rush-lunch hour
• Favorite drives: Going-to-the-Sun highway, Glacier Nat’l Park in MT; Route 1 in CA
• National Parks/Monuments/Sites visited: 36
• Favorite time to drive: graveyard shift (midnight-6am)
• Trick to staying awake: Frappuccinos and tootsie roll pops and good dialogue
• Favorite place: I can’t even try
• Place I would never live: Whittier, Alaska
• Where next? Pensacola, FL; Miami, FL; Belarus and Lithuania

poetry

so now i am sure i have weirded everyone out with my poetry, but just think of the exciting possibility that i might want to weird you out even more and put more poetry on my blog! you might just be that lucky. i like alienating people... just kidding....

but lucky are the unlucky they say. at least, i read that phrase the other day. so jesus seems to say, for blessed are they who suffer, mourn, thirst, and pray...

i met up with two Johnnies on Saturday. Emily Schrick (A '04) and Laura Manion (A'04) , the first is here to stay, down at UK; the second was just passiong through along her way, I think she was headed for PA.

we went to Joe Bologna's, the most excellent pizza place in town, and grabbed coffee at the Jo-Beth Cafe.

surreal it is, i might add. meeting up with Johnnies who i have not spoken to in a year, and yet, Johnnies we are still, and able to understand all our little nuances of language and jokes and the ongoing dialogue.

i joined my church on Sunday. (Hooray!) another interesting development in my life, another step, a leap of faith, and ever hopeful and joyful i feel about it.

poetry? we, the ekklesia, the koineia, we are the poetry.

mmm...

Thanks Stuart!

ode to a beer

you drive me crazy with your foamy expression
stealing away my pent up frustration
soothing my inner rumble and growl
i pursue your longneck by a sudden prowl
aimed at capturing your essence,
but your taste only leaves me in a state of transcedence
alaskan glaciers and canadian rockies overtake
the quintessence of this root i cannot mistake
as i find myself drastically elevated
my mind, my thoughts, i cannot contain it
i try to soak the flavor in slowly, savoring
the time that remains, as the waters are gushing
beside my campsite in a world of summer travels gone-by
but soon the brown bottom meets my eye
i smile in joy, in jubilation, in sheer satiation
but the lingering taste is a cruel tantalization...

it's an odd year. 23 that is. summer has weird weather. big, dark storms sweep through and disappear moments later.
i had a wonderful weekend. flowers from laura on friday blew my cover at work... now they're trying to devise a way to make it up to me. visit from joseph all weekend was fabulous. how i miss the unexpected and surprising conversations and moments. truly delightful. i even tried a bourbon ball. how i missed having that while being from kentucky is beyond me. it's not like i avoided trying one like karen who avoided trying ale-8 for years and years. ahh, the stubborn meadors.
now it's back to paper pushing and pebble punching or whatever ingenious phrase you come up with to refer to the daily office grind. and i longingly gaze out the window.