Random Sunday Blottings

In no particular order:

• Whew, my brain is tired. I still have 3 more pages of my medieval Spain paper to finish, which I should be able to do -- oh, strike that! -- MUST do tomorrow! We leave on Tuesday! I have had this prof 4 times now, and I already know I'm making an A on this paper...so it's almost annoying that I have to finish it, you know what I mean? My brain's too wiped out to finish tonight, so I'm making photo CDs for my cielo's family.
• We leave on Tuesday for Guatemala, did I mention that? I am SO ready. Absolutely no responsibility except to enjoy myself and my cielo's family for 10 whole days. Nice.
• Thanks to the Spiritual Formation committee at school, which gave out "retreat grants" at the end of the school year, when we get back we are, well, going on retreat, to Santa Fe! I was saying to someone at church this morning that the nice thing about going somewhere you know really well is that you can just really relax and not feel like you have to do EVERYTHING. So we are going to hike some of our favorite spots, shop in some of our favorite spots (if we haven't spent all our "fun money" in Guate!), pilgrimage to some of our favorite spots, eat at some of our favorite spots, and soak at our favorite spot. And just enjoy being alone, together. Thanks, TheologyBabe, for coming up with the retreat grant idea!
• Today was my last day as the interim at HappyChurch. I was a little emotional but made it through until the prayers. One of my favorite people said she had two joys to share. The first was that I had been with them all this time. And the second was that I was coming back to do my internship. People clapped. I wasn't expecting it and teared up a little. In spite of all my anxiety about it, it was a great experience, and they are such a delightful community.
• The pastor tried to beg off preaching on his first Sunday back...wanted me to do it. I will only have been back about 3 days. I told him his church wanted to hear from him...so we're going to share the sermon time, about 5 minutes each of more of a reflection than a serious sermon, offering thoughts about where we saw God at work on our trips. I don't think he was trying to be a jerk, I just think he was overwhelmed at the idea of having to preach 3 days after getting back from his sabbatical.
• Remember the little old lady who told me if I ever spoke Spanish again from the pulpit she'd walk out? Well, on the 26th the choir is singing the dismissal in Spanish in honor of the pastor's return...she sings in the choir but said she refuses to sing it. I just don't get it, honestly. But bless her heart, she has not stirred up trouble. She's just made clear where she stands.
• My mood is a little better since, as Tess put it, "nature helped." I notice I'm still pretty sensitive, though, but the tools for dealing with anxiety that my counselor at school has both taught me and helped me realize I already do have help a lot. Although when you forget how to breathe in the middle of a sermon, you can't really stop and do a series of 10 deep abdominal breathing exercises. Trust me on this.
• Speaking of Tess, she awarded me a "Nice Matters" blog award, saying -- "for her salty honesty, her self-deprecating humour even when she’s having a really tough time, her thoughtful sermons and even her rather strange obsession with baseball." Very cool -- Thanks, Tess! I wouldn't have any idea who to nominate, because I think you're all nice. I don't read not-nice. So, check out some of the ones over there in the right column.
• Didn't sleep well last night. Worked on my paper all day and then finished my sermon and went to bed about 1. We both were so restless, we tossed and turned and had wierd anxiety-panicky feelings about nothing in particular. Even the one cat who sleeps with us (the other one is too snooty, except when it's the dead of winter) was in on it. Wierd.
• Saw "No Reservations" this afternoon in the middle of trip shopping. I liked it. And it doesn't hurt to look at Catherine Zeta-Jones for two hours, either. I'm just sayin'.
• I bought a skirt. You wouldn't think this was strange except that I didn't own any for several years (nor a dress) until I bought one in June. See, my cielo's family is a little more conservative so there will likely be a couple of times when I'll need to wear a skirt to be appropriate (church, for example -- the rest of the time capris are fine). So, I had to buy a couple. The one I bought in June is just kind of plain khaki, way down the leg. The one today I actually kind of like, which is very strange. It has thin vertical stripes of multiple shades of green and blue, an a-line cut, I think you call it, which hits me just below the knee. I tried it on and it felt so strange. But I liked how it looked. Go figure! It is possible that most of you out there who have actually seen me, have never seen me in a skirt. Imagine!
• I finished all the novels I was loaned (Tess, I loved the mystery! I'll send it back when we get back from Guate). So I bought two Jane Austens to take on the trip: Sense and Sensibility, which I read in college, and Pride and Prejudice, which I have never read. I know, I'm an English major and I never read P&P, so shoot me.
  
• All right, the CDs are done, and I'm zonked. Off to bed with me!