Gobble Gobble

So, in between the last post and this one, I tried TWICE to do a mobile blog post... obviously neither of those panned out. Ah well. Maybe someday I will figure it out.

Tonight I had my first of four Thanksgivings this year. At work we had a potluck and it was yummy. I gave thanks for being able to eat a free meal that wasn't McDonald's food. Thursday I have a potluck for the Student Social Work Association, and Friday we're getting our Oxford group together to celebrate (2nd Annual Oxford Thanksgiving). And, of course, there's the real Thanksgiving holiday, which I am privileged to be spending with Rebekah's family. :)

I went to the British Shoppe yesterday! It was incredible... real imported goods from the U.K. I called Rebekah and left a message, because I was staring at IRN-BRU, Ribena, Digestives, Hob Nobs, Walkers crisps, and real Cadbury candy. I just wanted to make her jealous. Too bad I have no idea if it had its intended effect. I've only seen her for about 2 minutes since then!

Sadly, Rebekah has about 4 huge assignments/projects due this week, all of which are a sizable portion of the final grade in each class. I can't imagine what that must feel like, but I know I'd be stressing too.

After much debate in the household, we decided that we would decorate for Christmas before Thanksgiving, since we only have two weeks in Abilene after it. What do we have to show for it? Absolutely nothing. haha. We're so awesome. I love us.

Favorite semi-recent quote:

"I don't actually want to be a boy."

- Rebekah

We're Going to the Zoo, Zoo, Zoo

I’m proud to announce that JoAnna and I now have a very special friend: Havar. That’s right, we made it too the zoo today! It’s about time, since we’ve been planning this trip since February or so. Anna, JoAnna and I finally went to the Abilene Zoo to meet the white tiger. Unfortunately, Havar quickly noticed that we hadn’t made t-shirts of him and was very disappointed with us. In fact, he mostly just stared us down or pointedly ignored us.


Yep, folks. There he is.

The giraffes and bears were fun and we fed them some yummy crackers. We know they were yummy because we tested them out just to make sure. The poor female lion was spurned by her man, so that was kind of sad. Oh yeah, and I won a stare-down with a cobra, so you better watch out.

See, we really did test out the crackers.

After tons of fun at the zoo, we had lunch at Sharky’s. Tragically, I threw half of my burrito away. This was going to be my dinner, and Jo happened to think it was absolutely hilarious. She really does just like to laugh at me.

Our activities this week included visualization exercises. They are a lot of fun and very relaxing. JoAnna visualized the person she will end up with: a medium-armed dark-haired gentleman with brown shoes. It worked too, cause within minutes he showed up. Unfortunately she didn’t get his name, so if you fit that description, please come forward and identify yourself.

We’ve both taken up watching Flashforward, and we try to watch it together when possible. However, last week we had to watch it separately, but were both overjoyed when “Charlie” showed up at the end of the episode (well, that’s not his name in this show, but I don’t think that’s really important).

I had a crazy dream the other night and wrote down some key words, so that I would remember it. Now all I have is some strange words that don’t make much sense: museum, trumpet, tornado, walking, cheese sticks. Now I really want to know what that dream was about!

I'll leave you with a lovely quote from JoAnna:

"You look cuddly. I just want to lay down on you."

Midterm

This just in:

There is a new store in the Abilene Mall. At 4 PM on Thursday, October 29, The British Shoppe will be celebrating its grand opening. It sells imported food and gifts from the UK! How awesome is that? Right here in little o' Abilene, Texas, where I would have least expected it... But of course, this makes Rebekah and me very pleased. We may even go to the ribbon cutting ceremony and listen to Abilene's own bagpipers (who knew?)... and possibly win something at the giveaways. Not to mention free samples... Click here to learn more.

Also of note, this past week Rebekah helped me with a video I had to record for my direct practice (social work) class. I was supposed to be demonstrating confidentiality and other contractual notices and different levels of empathy, and she was my client. I don't know how well I did, but I can say that it was funny because the scenario I made up actually described Rebekah during freshman year, apparently... I'm glad she has friends now.

A Knight's Tale

So, just to affirm Rebekah's statement that she and I need to hang out more - I couldn't agree more! We did have some time last night (an hour and a half...) when we were supposed to be doing homework but ended up talking and Wikipedia-ing (just like old times). Really now, are we not the only ones to wonder what Mick Jagger and Elton John ever did to receive knighthood? I understand Bono becoming a "Sir," but really - why is everyone receiving honorary titles? Rebekah and I got into researching the people who have become knights, and I wanted to know if women could be knighted as well. Turns out, they are labeled "Dames" (not very pleasant to the ear, if you ask me). Also, if you are a female married to a man who is knighted, you get the title of "Lady." I have decided that I want to either become a "Sir" or just marry a knight so that I can be a "Lady." I still think that "Sir JoAnna" sounds cooler though. So it's like... Sir Bono, Sir Spielberg, Sir JoAnna... cool, huh? (Actually, in order to have a Sir or Dame title I would need to be either British or a citizen of the Commonwealth... so I'll have to get a move-on on that.) [An incomplete list of honorary British Knights]

Fortunately, Rebekah and I get to spend Monday, Wednesday, and Friday chapels and lunches together. Today while we were sitting on the bench in the Hall of Servants that we usually sit on, she tells me to move because she has to lie down and there isn't enough room with me on there. I tell her that I won't move, as she proceeds to lay her head on my lap. Then, I proceed to bop her on the head with my social policy textbook (this is NOT a light book, folks). Anyway, all this to say... she misses me and loves me a lot. :)

Also today at lunch we discussed how history will be preserved if technology keeps advancing. For example, floppy disks are basically obsolete because many computers aren't even capable of reading them anymore. And since we don't want to kill any more trees in the name of being green and saving the planet (which I like, because the tree is one of my favorite creations in the whole world), we won't be printing or writing everything out. Will we just forget everything that is happening? I think maybe we will have to revert to the storytelling of the oral tradition. That would be fun.

Mission Accomplished

Jo finally watched The Office. It's about time! Anna and I have been trying to get her to watch this show for ages. And now, finally, she is hooked. Mission accomplished.

Here at our our house, we all are just now getting over various illnesses. Because of this I have literally been holed up in my room all week. Jo says this isn't all that different from normal. That may be true as the week before there was a day when I didn't see Jo at all.

JoAnna now has her dream job; she's working at McDonald's. And she really has been hoping for this job for a while now. I'll have to go order a McFlurry from her sometime. The sad news, is that she now has to miss our Disney movie nights.

We all enjoy cooking together in the kitchen. It reminds us of our kitchen-time in Oxford.Jo made brownies the other day and left the kitchen with adamant demands that Alyssa and I not touch them. She'll never know whether I put my fingers in the brownies or not.

I still have to suffer the laughs of JoAnna. We can rarely study in the same room, because one of us will laugh sooner or later. Normally sooner. Recently she was laughing at the way the light was shining on my face. I know, hilarious, right?

Autumn has finally decided to show up. I guess it had really good timing, since Tuesday was officially the first day of fall. It's been down in the fifties and we've had lots of beautiful rain.

I guess Jo and I need to hang out more. We need more material for this blog.

A Tune

I just want to say that I find it extremely amusing that Rebekah whistles as she studies. I am in the living room right now about to start a paper and she is in her room down the hall with her door open reading Tolkien (for a class). She is whistling a tune, but I'm not sure that it is actually a song.

In other news, it rained in Abilene for about four days, bringing along with it lots of fond memories of Oxford - especially being in the kitchen, doing homework, and drinking tea. Today it was even cool enough in the morning to wear a light jacket! That's a step forward for Abilene.

Bogged down with homework, all of us. Blergh.

Autumn, come quickly.

So, we have yet to have a "roommate/housemate night" which is severely disappointing, since we are excited to get together and cook and eat and hang out. I feel like we are all almost always doing homework. We spend all of Saturdays (all two that we've had so far) studying.

Rebekah and I have found a couple weekend nights to stay up until 3 AM talking. Instead of talking in our room, which we no longer share, we do it in the living room. Her mom found a loveseat at a garage sale, and it is SO comfortable. I definitely spend a lot more time in the living room now because of it. She also found us a table and chairs for our kitchen. We had one already for the dining area, but it's nice to also have something in our kitchen so that we don't have to keep going in and out to sit during the lapses in cooking.

We began respecting once again our Saturday night tradition with Anna at The Den. Unfortunately, since I am no longer on a meal plan, I must use Bean Bucks... so in order to get only a frou-frou drink I must pay over $3. Good thing that Pumpkin Latte was yummy. Funny thing - I think we're closer to The Den now that we're off campus than we were when we actually lived on campus. Because Sikes is on the farthest edge of the world.

I'm excited because I have a few brown bananas... which can only mean one thing: BANANA BREAD! Pretty soon we will have delicious banana-y goodness... not that there hasn't been enough baking going on in the house already.

We are ready for cooler weather.

Helen, Gutterball, and the legendary Almond Creme (see 8/24/09 post)