Lots of time has passed, things have happened but I don't feel like writing them now. I've been in the US over two weeks, and have been in nor cal for exactly two weeks. Feels like forever and no time at all. But this is more important right now.

Help Children and Families Affected by Earthquake and Tidal Waves in Southern Asia

Could an update be any more overdue? Somehow I don't think so. So here's the low down. Uni finished, and I spent the next week and a half running around with friends doing anything and everything. Made it to the beach, out to the mountains, and spent a lot of time in the city. It was fun and exciting and happy and sad all at the same time. Last Friday Dec 10 I got in a plane at about 3:15pm in Sydney Australia. Friday Dec 10 at 10:30am I stepped out of a plane in Los Angeles. You can work that one out. I spent the weekend with friends from school. Had a good time, felt a little weird (or more than a little) but I know I'll get used to life there again. Sunday evening I made the trip home and was greeted by my dad at the airport. Two hours later I walked through the door of my house and saw my mom. Slept in my bed that night for the first time since July 20.

So that's very much the short version of the last few weeks. More pictures are up from the last two weeks. Now it's trying to adjust to life here again. This morning I woke up really confused about where I was. I had to talk myself through all my travels, realize I was at home, and realize that this is my final destination for a while. So now I'm sitting here with my laptop picking up some random wireless signal from somewhere. So thanks to whoever is paying to send the signal out, cause I like getting it for free.

Well I'm just killing some time at the library before my LAST exam in Australia! In a few hours time I will finally be free of my studies here and can goof off to my heart's content! I had a somewhat social weekend which was nice after such a grueling week of studying. I had some great Thai food with Leah (though thanksgiving dinner would have been better I have to admit), played at a youth group with Tim and Steve, spent a great afternoon in Avalon for a Christmas light extravaganza, and made it to Hills last night for church. Intermix that with a little bit of studying and it was a pretty rocking weekend.

One momentus occasion for this weekend . . . I tried the Australian phenomenon which is Pavlova for the first time. Let me tell you about pav. It's like pure sugar in squishy form. Sort of like angel food cake, except squishy and basically no flour. It's sugar. Seriously. And I don't get it, because Aussies will always say that American cakes/lollies/etc. are too sweet but yet they eat this pure sugar-cake thing. Talk about a double standard. I - the American - couldn't even finish my slice. Give me a fat slice of rich chocolate cake any day my friend.

Lastly, pictures are up from Cairns. http://pictureoz.blogspot.com

I was thinking last night about how I've done such a crap job keeping this thing up to date while I've been in Australia. I had really good intentions when I left of having this be a document of my time here. So much for that. Honestly it's all a matter of accessability. I don't have easy access to the internet here, which really doesn't cater to the spur-of-the-momentness that a blog often requires. Instead I feel like I'm just catching up every time I post here, which is essentially annoying. So I don't do it. Sorry to those of you who mostly rely on this to keep up with what I'm doing.

So, here is a bit of catch-up. My five days-ish up the coast of Queensland were great. I got to see and learn about Aussie wildlife, see tropical rainforest, eat ice cream made from fruits I'd never heard of, and best of all see the Great Barrier Reef (and Nemo!). The highlight of the trip was most certainly the reef. I got to see it twice; the first time off the coast of Cape Tribulation and the second time off the coast of Cairns from an island called Franklin Island. I had the most fantastic time snorkeling. I realized that was actually my first time in the Australian ocean. It's been too cold in Sydney to hit the water at the beach. I really like swimming in the ocean. I have really huge sand issues. I like to be clean, and I hate having stuff between my toes. But Australia and its beach culture are teaching me that it's okay to feel dirty for a while. The sand eventually will come off, and I will be clean again. It's becoming less of a crisis each time.

I'm sure you really wanted to hear about how I'm obsessive compulsive.

Now that I'm back it's been all study study study for exams. I had my first one yesterday and have my second one tomorrow. Yesterday was fine, quite easy really. Tomorrow's the really big one, and probably my hardest. I've been studying since I got back though, so I'm feeling okay about it. And I have all afternoon and evening today to devote to it. I would definitely appreciate prayers for God's favor though - there are certain essay questions I'd definitely prefer over others and it would certainly be God's grace to see those questions on my test.

Here's a random moment that I actually made a mental note to remember. My favorite part of this week was seeing my roommate from Hong Kong stir her pasta sauce concoction with chopsticks. Italian meets Asian. I love it. I want to eat with chopsticks. It's something I've learned here, and it makes eating very fun. It's sort of like a game, and it makes me eat more slowly.

Tomorrow will be great rejoicing that my essay test is over, and hopefully a trip into the city to The Basement. Friday, yet another trip into the city to meet with a guy about a music dist. website, dinner with Leah (hooray) and wrapping up the night at Hills. Oh, and somewhere in there will be yet another chat with my Jehovah's Witness pal Rosie. I like her a lot. She makes me think about what I believe. Unfortunately she's quite deceived. Wow I just made a little rhyme. I hope one day she comes to know Jesus for who he really is. And with that, I'm off to start studying once again.

I saw little Nemos today swimming in an anemone. It made me very happy. Less than one day in the tropics to go. I think my skin is quite glad about that.

Tomorrow I'm off for Australian traveling adventure number 2. I'll be heading up the coast of Queensland to see beautiful rainforrest and the Great Barrier Reef. My friend told me today not to walk a dog while I'm there because it will attract crocs. I told her I'm not bringing a dog. She said that I should walk with anyone that does have a dog. That's really good advice. She is the smartest person I know. Must have something to do with grad school.

So I'll be gone until Thursday, which I'm now realizing is going to put a bit of strain on my studying for exams. Oh well, you only live once, and you only go to Australia once...or something. Even though I've been here twice.

Yesterday I went to Hillsong Women and the woman who spoke was Canadian. I totally called it once she said "aboat." She talked about thanksgiving and said her family celebrated it. I wanted to ask her if I could come to her house. I'm so sad I'm missing thanksgiving. It's one of my favorite days of the year. For sure my favorite meal of the year. But my Mom told me today that we'll have turkey on Christmas for sure so that makes me feel a little better. Oh Thanksgiving, how I long for you.

Finished my last assignment today and all I have left is exams. A couple of killer exams. I'm going to be studying my head off when I get back. I got a pretty crap grade on an assignment in one of my classes, which means I'm going to have to kick butt on the exam to pull out an okay grade. Don't you just love that kind of pressure. But I'm glad that my value doesn't rely on my performance. God loves me just the same. I have been telling myself that all week. It's been really good. And with that, I'm off to do some more errands and pack and make banana bread. Yes, make banana bread. I'll take it with me and it will be my breakfast each morning. How's that for a money saver.

You know you've been in Australia too long when you start having dreams about cricket. I did. I know. How bad is that. But, in my defense the cricket was really nothing like cricket. In my dream it was an "alternate version" and it was basically baseball with a cricket bat and a baller. So I adapted the dream to my own tastes. But seriously, how weird is that?

It's been a long week, but a good one. I had a fantastic birthday last weekend. It was such a rich day filled with so many great things; I couldn't have asked for more. I had a mini celebration on Sunday night as well with a couple of other friends. Then on Monday my family's package arrived. I have never been so excited to see taco sauce, or reeces peanut butter cups, or jam. It's been fun to give peanut butter cups to people from other countries and see their reactions, because it's a very strong candy. Tuesday was Melbourne Cup Day, which was a great Aussie cultural experience. It's basically like the Kentucky Derby except everyone takes time off work to watch it and it's a bigger deal. Only in Australia would there be a day where everyone takes the afternoon off to spend in the pub/hotel. Well, not only in Australia, but certainly not in America. The last two days have been somewhat boring, filled with uni work and running errands. It was hilarious to see US election coverage in Australia. NBC took over one of the networks here basically and we had continuous live coverage for like 5-6 hours.

Today is a day I've greatly looked forward to though. Tonight Leah and I once again head off to the Opera House and get to see/hear the Mozart Requiem. So much excitement. And we're having a little Mexican Food party (or should I say fiesta) before we head off. Happy day.

Last night (this morning) I got up at 1:15am to register for my classes at home. It was not very fun, I wanted to be sleeping. But I got up anyway and tried to register. Yes, tried. It didn't work. I've ended up having to play email tag with someone at registration this whole morning and now I'm finally enrolled - all done by the reg office, nothing by me. I hope at some point I regain access to my account. What a pain. But at least I have all my classes, so everything worked out okay. I'll be so glad when I never have to register for classes again.

Today has already been deemed a lazy day because I have my lazy, comfy black pants on. Plus I got up at 10 because I was so tired from my failed registration ordeal. And it's raining outside, which just makes me feel lazy. It's not too bad though, it's a lovely spring rain so it's not cold at all. I hope it lets up tonight though, I don't want to be walking around the city in the rain.

I can now officially drink in any country I want to.

Just FYI I deleted the guestbook this afternoon because I'm sick and tired of it being filled with porn. I think anyone who comes here has pretty much learned to stay away from it so it wasn't much of a loss anyway. Sick people.

So once again time has flown by without so much of a word from me. A lot has happened in this past week, and so much of it excellent. Things like cell group, great speakers at Hillsong (including a Ukrainian with a great accent), fun hanging out with friends, a great gig last Saturday night which included the selling of many demos (YAY), and more hanging out. There's some new pictures up from the gig and from hanging out. Beside that I've been working on a couple papers all the bloody time. I can't wait to have these things done and have them in on Monday. I'm about 95% there which is excellent. I've never had such a hard time with a paper my whole life.

So tomorrow's the big day. That's right folks, it's the big 2-1 for Krystle. We'll be having a BBQ at a friend's house so I'm really pumped for that and I think it will be a pretty chill time. I know it's customary here to have speeches on your 21st so last night I was thinking about what I could say to everyone and I totally started tearing up as I lay in bed! Granted Josh Groban was also playing on my computer which is just BEAUTIFUL and emotion provoking...but still! I certainly didn't expect that. But what I realized is that I've met so many beautiful people here who have been so supportive of me and so unbelievably generous.

That is all for now. Hopefully I'll have great stories from this weekend and will actually take the TIME to put some of them up here. We can hope anyway.

Oh, and I've officially spent 1/4 of 2004 in Australia. WEIRD. How did this ever come about?

I just wanted to take the short moment I have to say that God is amazing and it's incredible how quickly he can take my self-absorbtion and completely turn it around. I'm so stoked for the things God is doing right now and the opportunities I have coming up. Just needed to say that. Hopefully more explanation sometime later when things aren't so hectic.

Nothing new is going on really, I'm just bored and feel like I might be able to get some stuff out here. Lately it's just been research and homework for me. Which really is fine considering how little work I've done this whole term. I don't mind sucking it up for the last couple weeks and putting in some hard core work on some papers. It's about time I had to do work. The only other thing of consequence happening is that I'm opening for my friend's band this Saturday which is quite exciting. I'm only going to get to play 3-4 songs but I'm still really stoked to perform and to see my friend's band as well. It's going to be a good night.

Lately I can't sleep. Well, I fall asleep eventually but it takes forever. Really I haven't been sleeping all that well for about a month, but this past week has been especially ridiculous. I had a couple bad nights when it was so bloody hot, and I haven't recovered since. I lay down, and no matter how tired I am I can't get comfortable, and my mind starts to swirl with all these thoughts and half of them don't even make sense. I think about uni and the papers I have to write, or about the gig on Saturday. I've thought about home tons. But I don't really miss it. I just think about it. Like target in my home town. Why in the world is a picture of target popping into my head? Or my grandma's front yard? Or my bedroom? Or my drive to work? I can't get these things out of my head, they're just relentless as soon as I lay down to go to sleep. And I've even tried putting on music to distract me, which normally works. But I caught myself last night thinking THROUGH the music and completely ignoring it. It was Sara Groves even. How one can ignore her music I'm not sure, but I was able to do it last night. I just want some rest. And I want to sleep through the night. I've woken up every morning sometime between six and seven every morning for the past month I think. And this comes after not being able to fall asleep until about 1am. Why am I waking up? Why can't I shut my mind off? Why does everything I think make absolutely no sense? I need rest Jesus.

How quickly time goes by and how little I write in here. My first inclination is to say "not much has happened" but that'd probably be a bit false. Seeming how I've been to an opera at the Sydney Opera House, a major album recording at Hills, and booked a trip to Cairns since my last blog, maybe those things are worth mentioning. Oh wait, I already did.

The opera was astounding. I saw The Barber of Seville and the whole production was entirely mind-blowing. The music was incredible, and the acting and set and lighting were so magnificent and backed the music up so well. I am a sucker for tenors, let me tell you, and it certainly helps that two of the main characters in the opera are tenors. Me gusta mucho. Quick side note - sometimes when I go to Circular Quay I get really excited because I find Spaniards tourists who are speaking in Spanish. Sadly I can hardly understand them as they're speaking so fast with a Spanish accent and my Spanish sucks at this point, but it still makes me excited. End side note.

I've been to a couple things at Hills this past week that have got me really pumped up. I went to Hillsong women for the first time ever last Thursday morning and it was excellent. Bobbie Houston is hilarious. She was telling all these stories about Joel and how he got dropped on his head and all these crazy other things. This girl who goes to Hillsong who's my age also played some songs before Bobbie got up to speak. Apparently she's gone platinum several times over in New Zealand (she's a Kiwi) and her album just came out in Oz recently. She has an awesome voice. Her name is Brooke Fraser, and I bet she has a website so you should check her out (i.e. I'm sure Mel will do this). I got her CD a few days ago at Target (oh Aussie Target you have redeemed yourself...for now) and it's pretty good. Not what I expected, but it's totally grown on me. Though I have to say the CD doesn't quite do her live voice justice. Seriously this girl is awesome, and so completely rooted in God. It's all very inspirational.

Next Hillsong excursion was the recording on Saturday night. To bring back a phrase from my past - it was off the hook. Seriously. Some of the slower songs on that album are amazing. The fast ones are a bit hard to get into as they're pretty much rock songs with worship lyrics, but they can be learned eventually. The whole time I was just so amazed at the hearts of the worship leaders and the people there. Hillsong is a church that is so seeking after God, it's pretty amazing. And He shows up there in incredible ways. After a couple months I'm a bit more "used" to things there; meaning, I'm no longer super distracted by the differences while I'm at church there. So it's been really awesome to be there and worship and seek God 'in the house.' Yeah, God is good.

Last topic, Cairns. Cairns is at the top of the east coast and it's basically this great rainforest/beach place that I'm sure will be hotter than hell but absolutely beautiful. And I'll get to see the Great Barrier Reef, which is such a privledge and something I'm so excited about. I'm definitely learning here that you need to get out and take opportunities. Granted these things are costing me some of my savings and I can't always live like this, but there are certainly times for adventure and this is one of them. I think my life is going to be characterized by more adventure from now on...at least I want it to be.

Now I feel like I must offer explanation as to what my non-serious song is about. The weather in Sydney has been a bit odd lately. Sunday it was gorgeous; I spent the day at the beach. Monday was absolutely weird with near rain but hot weather. Yesterday it poured all day, but Wednesday it didn't rain at all. BUT, it looked like it was about to rain any second the whole day. So, trying to be smart, I took my umbrella with me whenever I went out on Wednesday. I went to the library at Uni for a bit to do a little research, and it's common practice to leave your umbrellas at the entry of the library. There's also a sign posted that says in essence, "We aren't responsible if your umbrella gets stolen." Since it wasn't raining and since there were few people in the library as it's holidays at the moment, my umbrella was the only one at the entry. As I set it down I had this thought that it might not be there when I get back. But I decided I couldn't be bothered to carry it around with me everywhere.

Well, when I had finished what I was doing my worst fears had come true...my umbrella was gone! Luckily it wasn't raining so at least I didn't have to get soaked walking home. But really, who steals an umbrella from outside the library when it's not even raining?! It's not like there was any force of desperation driving them to lift my umbrella. Weird people. So now I have no umbrella, not to mention this was probably the coolest umbrella I've ever had. It was lime green. If I ever see anyone at with it at Uni I'm going to beat them up. So my "serious song" is actually about an umbrella. But not everyone has to know that.

October. That's just messed up. Time has certainly flown. I wrote a song yesterday, though it's not the song I've been meaning to write. This one just sort of happened. It seems serious, but it's not.

Goodbye

You gave me shelter from the rain

I let you be my canopy

I couldn't find you there today

I wonder where you could be

They stole you away

They stole you away

They stole you away from me

No one wants to take the blame

Say I must take responsibility

That's all fine, yeah it's okay

But others' actions can't be changed

They stole you away

They stole you away

They stole you away from me (2x)

I don't know if I'll see you again

But if I find you in the hand of another

Be sure I'll take a stand for you

I promise that I'll make things right

They stole you away

They stole you away

They stole you away from me (2x)

Sydney's weather is really confused right now. It looks like a miserable cold day, but then you step outside and it's like 26 degrees, which is nearly 80f. It's very odd. So I've had a pretty non-eventful last couple of days. I've been trying to organize things again since I've been back from Tassie. I went out to Manly beach a couple of days ago and did a little reading and work. Despite today's weather, it's definitely warming up here and I'm stoked for that. More trips out to the beach for me!

So Saturday morning I was hanging around getting some laundry done and cleaning up and someone buzzes my apartment. It was only like 9:30 or 10 so I was wondering who the heck would be coming by. Turned out it was Jehovah's Witness. So we talked for a couple minutes through the intercom then she ended up coming in and we had this almost hour long discussion. It was really interesting to see where we agreed and where we disagreed and it was also really challenging. I must admit I really admire the Jehovah's Witnesses for how well they know the word of God (though they misinterpret it) and how diligent they are to share their faith. So we ended up talking a bit about the trinity towards the end of our conversation because that's the main place where Jehovah's Witnesses differ from Christianity. It was somewhat frustrating how she could pull out scriptures to prove her point but I didn't know the ones to give in response to her just off the top of my head. I guess that's what happens when you're used to evangelizing and getting into discussions with Christians a lot. She gave me this pamphlet about the trinity and where the doctrine came from and basically why you shouldn't believe it. I haven't looked at it tons but what I have seen is pretty much a bunch of bull ha. I have been looking at Scriptures that do talk about the relationship between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and talk about the deity of Christ. The deity of Christ is definitely vital. JW are missing a huge part there unfortunately.

I came up with a new chord progression the other night that I really like. It's nothing complicated but I really like the sound of it and the melody I came up with. I'm really pressing to try to write some words as I have a sense of urgency about this song. I feel like I have something important to say, but I'm not quite sure how to say it yet. I'm excited for it though. Hopefully something will come soon.

So that's all really, nothing too exciting going on here. I've felt a bit under the weather the last couple days so I've pretty much been confined to my apartment. I'm feeling better today though so hopefully I'll be up to something today. Sorry for no Tassie stories. Don't know if I'll get to those or not, it's just too hard to find consistent internet time.

Just a quick one to say I'm back from Tassie and had a really great time. Though I spent most of the trip on the go it was still so relaxing and so good to get away for a while. I'll try to get some stories up sometime this upcoming week, but it probably won't be much detail. Nothing beats live storytelling aided by pictures. I've posted a lot of pictures at the other blog, but I have about 100 from the trip so posting over there hardly makes a dent. Right now I'm still a bit exhausted, my room feels like a mess, and I'm catching up on laundry. My roommate left early this morning for Melbourne so I saw her for a total of five minutes when I came back yesterday and now I have the apartment to myself until Tuesday. It's pretty nice and a good way to ease back in to Sydney life. So check out the other site for some pictures and hopefully they'll be some stories up soon.

Today's the long awaited day. The day of my midsemester exam! No wait that's not right. Well, it is the day of my midsemester exam, but that's not what I've been waiting for. The point is, it's the last day of school and after today I don't have to go to class for two and a half weeks! This makes me very very happy. Actually it still hasn't hit me fully that after today I don't have to go to class and I have a minimal amount of work to do. Oh, then there's that fact that tomorrow I'm getting on a plane and flying to Tasmania. Right. Maybe I should pack for that. That's one of the goals for this afternoon. Of course it has to be a goal for today sometime, doesn't it. So I have my packing to do, a couple last minute things to buy if I can find them, and that test to tackle this evening. A-ma-zing. I've been here for a long time. I've been through seven weeks of school. The semester is half over. Half of my schooling experience in Australia is over. Absolutely insane.

So this blog is a bit of a goodbye and I should come back with plenty of stories. Whether they'll all make it on here I'm not sure...I haven't decided what mass means I want to tell stories by. Pray for me . Pray I'll be safe and smart and pray for boldness. I really want boldness. Less than four hours to freedom ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Hey I wanted to give a little shout-out to my pal Suzie Q. I'm sorry you're craving tim tam slams and are in a country that cannot provide them. I have a constant supply of tim tams at my apartment, it's quite excellent. Hmm now I kind of want one. Anyway, thanks for saying something, hope you're doing well and I'm stoked you've been reading here.

Well I might as well write about some other things while I'm here shouldn't I? Not a ton has been going on this week, just classes mixed with some hanging out. I got to hang out with Ali earlier this week which was really awesome. I hadn't seen her for a couple weeks so we hung out and played guitar a little bit and just talked. Sometimes it's good to just sit down with someone and have a good long talk. Some serious, some goofing around, some storytelling...It was a good mix. I also found out that the guy Tim I've been hanging out with actually knows Ali and a whole bunch of her friends. Only in Australia, seriously. Turns out I've met several people that Ali works with through Tim and one of his friends, and Tim knows people I've met through Ali. This country is way too small. I like it though.

Last night I went out to Manly with Tim and his bro and a few friends. We got some ice cream and walked down this path down by the beach. It was a nice night (though a little cold with ice cream) and it was good to be out of the apartment for a change. I've been feeling a bit cramped lately. Soon I will be on an airplane and far away from this place. I can't wait, Tassie I'm coming. I've heard it's very odd, I'm stoked to see it. One more week of school until break! Wooohooo I'm so stoked. I can't believe the semester is half over already. I just have to get through this paper and an exam on Thursday which shouldn't be too bad, then it's two weeks of fun for me! Tis all for now.

It almost snowed in Sydney yesterday. Really, I promise. Actually we just had the most amazing hail I've ever witnessed in my life. At my apartment we had about cm sized hail pouring for 15 minutes easily. The ground was completely covered and the power at the intersection by my place went out and cars were sliding all over. It was pretty nuts. But you know the cool thing was it actually put me in the best mood. I was emotional this weekend. Very emotional. It could definitely be classified as an emotional breakdown, possibly even multiple. But when that hail started yesterday it seriously put me in the best mood. It was really weird. Definitely God's grace to me at that moment. I think there's just something about childlike wonder...the fact that I was staring out the window for 20 minutes just watching lightning and hail and all the craziness. It was awesome. Aussies really like to call everything awesome I've noticed.

Yesteray I had this great Chinese dinner with one of my friends and his family and a few other friends. It was actually a potentially very awkward situation but it ended up being such a good time and such a great finish to my otherwise crap weekend. How bad is this, I ate almost an entire like 300 gram Cadbury chocolate bar this weekend. That's like binging man. That's how emotional I was. But today's been a lot better. And it was beautiful outside today, like hot. What's up with the weather, it's seriously skitzophrenic.

Today during my philosophy tut my lecturer called my idea a good one then proceeded to give me a list of books I could use for a paper on the topic. It was totally awesome. So I'm ditching another tut right now (for the third week in a row) and getting those sources at the library. And blogging. Yeah, I was really set to go to this tut today but I just couldn't do it in the end. Next week though. Really, I promise. No, I don't promise. I am such a slacker here...well at least a slacker for me. I've never ditched so much in my life, or not done so much reading. But seriously, none of this stuff is necessary. Or at least I hope not. Maybe I'll be kicking myself at the end of the term, but somehow I don't think so. Anyway I'm certainly over my 20 minute limit on this computer but no one keeps track so it doesn't really matter. One last word though, thanks God for hail storms and Chinese food with new friends and their family.

Oh dear it's about time isn't it. Actually I wanted to post yesterday but blogger was broken so I could not. But here I am. It's September. Does anyone else think that's weird? First of all, why have I been in school for a month and NOW it's September? I guess the weather is starting to look more appropriate for September, except we're supposed to have a high of 9 degrees today, which isn't very September-ish. I'm just very seasonally confused right now, not to mention when I date my lecture notes each day I feel like I'm skipping through the months because they put the day first instead of the month. Today is apparently the 9th of March. No that's not right is it.

Wow I'm not sure where that came from. Anyway, I haven't been up to much; nothing big anyway. Stuff for school has become a bit more demanding, though it's still not all that demanding. I handed in a paper yesterday which sounds impressive, but it's really not. I wouldn't call less than four pages a major accomplishment, though I certainly don't mind receiving easy assignments like that. I have a pretty big paper coming up in two weeks though and a 40% of my grade midterm as well, so the next two weeks are definitely going to be spent doing some work. Hopefully not too much though.

The theme for the past week and a half has been "slow down." For a while I was doing too much and it was totally catching up to me. This week has also marked a renewal of culture shock and missing home. So I've spent more time at home, have been getting to bed earlier (for the most part) and have been telling myself that I don't have to be doing things all the time. I've been hanging out a lot with the guy in my philosophy class that I mentioned on the last post. He's invited me along to a lot of things with his friends and I also went to church with him this past Sunday. He's a really nice guy and he's kinda taken me under his wing. He told me he's just going to keep inviting me to stuff but I should feel free to say no. He wants to make sure I'm okay and having a good time while I'm here in Australia. I appreciate all he's doing so much; he's been a huge blessing.

I don't think anything else is really going on. I've just been going to class (mostly) and doing homework and hanging out. Two more weeks of class until the break and I go to Tassie! I can't believe school's almost half over, but then again that has a nice ring to it doesn't it. That's all for now.

Well I figured I should update since it's been quite a while since I've done so. Things have gotten a bit more busy, though not a whole lot more. I'm not really sure what I was doing last week that prevented me from updating. Nothing I don't think. Anyway another week is gone and mainly it was a lot of schoolwork and those sorts of things. But I had an excellent day on Friday as I spent the whole day with Al. We went to the city for Harry's pies, then had some excellent chocolate and headed out to Bondi and walked along the beach. All and all a wonderful day, capped off with some excellent Mexican food. God bless fajitas, seriously. Australia needs to learn what black beans are though. Really, they're just little black beans folks. It's not that hard. They're so essential to fajita making. They were still good without them, but I did miss their presence in my little tortilla. Or should I say tortillas. I had three. I really liked them.

Yesterday Leah and I saw the Australian Chamber Orchestra at the Opera House and it was absolutely amazing. I seriously can't say anything beside that. We just walked out of there totally amazed and relaxed and just really content. I love going to things like that. I just wish they didn't cost $30. Which I guess really was quite a deal but not everything is that (relatively) inexpensive. Leah and I need to find a secret entrance into the Opera House so we can go there all the time for free. Note to self: find secret entrance.

After the Symphony we had some excellent gellato at the quay before catching the ferry back to Leah's. Soon we were off to church, which unfortunately I was somewhat falling asleep during. I haven't been sleeping very well lately, and I think the lack of sleep combined with the relaxing effects of the Symphony put me out. It was good though; it's good to be in the house of God and hear from God's word even when you don't necessarily feel like being there (or being awake).

Today was an interesting day. Last week I had just briefly met this guy in one of my classes at the Christian club meeting on campus. So today we hung out and talked a bit and it turns out we have heaps of stuff in common. So he came back here on our lunch break and we jammed and played guitars together and had a really good time. We're interested in the same types of music and knew a lot of the same stuff which made it pretty easy. He asked me to play some stuff and for whatever reason I did. Turns out he's in a band and he said if I ever want to open for them I could and it was just really cool to make a connection in that respect as well. He goes to church really close to campus so I think I'm going to check that out this Sunday and see how it goes. It's always good to make friends in classes as lectures can be a bit...wide open sometimes. Other than that, I skipped my history tut today which I think was a great decision. Maybe it really wasn't, but I'm fond of it. That's all for now.

I must say I had a lovely weekend. It was filled with things to do but not too filled. Things started off with Powerhouse at Hills on Friday night which was good. Maybe I should say interesting. I think I had Hillsong culture shock, it's a bit to get used to. An American guy spoke though and I totally forgot I was in Australia until a guy got up and said something after he spoke and I got really confused for a second. After Powerhouse there was a party which was a very good time. There's nothing better than a great party with lots of food, lollies (candy), and non-alcoholic drinks all for free! I got to meet some cool people as well which was really nice. I think I went to bed that night at 1am. Definitely my latest night here by far. Saturday I hung out and did a bit of homework, then I took the bus out to Chattie to meet up with Ali and her homies to drive out to her gig in Newtown. It was a good time and Ali did really well. There was also this amazing group there called Jenani. It's just these two girls but they're just incredible musicians and have a style all to themselves not to mention voices to die for. Plus one of them plays violin extremely well. Ahhh that was definitely my favorite part of the day. They played a long time so that made me happy.

Sunday morning I made the trek out to Leah's, which apparently can take 2 hours by public transport though she's only 20 minutes drive from me. But that's on Sunday with less routes going. I didn't care anyway, it was a nice trip out and a good chance to see some of the suburbs around here, not to mention that I love taking the ferry. I hung at her place for a few hours, then we headed out to her church where I played for worship team with her. I must say I love playing the drums and I miss being able to do it often. It expels a lot of energy, especially nervous energy that I would probably just spend figiting or biting my nails. So that was great and the service was just really good. I love Leah's church because people are really involved and take time to share with everyone what God is doing in their life and what prayer requests they have and all that. After church I went back home with Leah, where she made us extraordinary peanut butter and banana sandwiches. Leah was wonderful with her meals on Sunday, it was legendary. Not long after our meal we went to bed, then she brought me back here today on her way to uni.

I'd like to say as well that I have my most boring classes today but I decided to stick it out and go and it wasn't all that bad. Plus they're having this poster sale on campus right now and I got two great posters for $19! That's like $14US. A-ma-zing! One is black and has a bunch of Beatles album covers on it, and the other is this lovely picture of a boat with a small island in the background. In my short time here the picture of a single, small boat has come to have a lot of symbolic meaning, so I figured this picture would be perfect for my room. Not only is it beautiful, it reminds me of God's love and call on my life. Good stuff. Now it's time for me to stop typing. I've been on the internet a really long time, but it's been productive stuff so I guess that's okay. Stuff like planning my trip to Tassie. HOORAY!

Introducing http://pictureoz.blogspot.com, where you can view whatever photos I've uploaded to my computer and deemed worthy of the public eye.

I would like to say that I did something somewhat compulsive yesterday, but I'm thinking it was a good compulsive. I was checking out some tickets on virginblue.com because I've been trying to figure out what I'm going to do over my break in September. So I was cruising around, seeing if I could find any ridiculous deals somewhere, because Virginblue often does this. Well my friends, who bought a ticket to Tasmania yesterday. I'll give you a hint, she likes to sit in sandwich shops to gain free internet access. Yeah, so I bought a ticket to Tasmania yesterday for cheap as and I'm totally stoked! So today I'm going to the bookshop with pen and paper in hand and I'm going to take advantage of tourist books as if I was in a library. Good deal.

Can we say today is a new day? Yeah it definitely is. I think starting the day with a lovely mocha is the way to go. I treated myself to a muffin and mocha and the shopping centre today for breakfast. I have decided I'm going to do this once weekly as the muffins are great and it gives me a little something to look forward to. I got a Sheryl Crow compilation and the best of U2 1980-1990 for a reasonable price. Then it was off to uni for a philosophy tutorial, formal logic to be exact. Our convener for our tutorial is totally hilarious, I love that guy. Tuts are going to be really fun with him I think. Unfortunately he's only with us for the first half of the semester then we have another guy. I hope he's as cool as this first guy. So I had a lovely tutorial, after which I wandered around campus checking out the various booths that are set up this week. I found out for sure where the Christian club is meeting next week (couldn't find them yesterday) and talked to some people at the Hills booth for a while. I'm going to go to a cell group tonight run by one of the girls at the booth. While we were talking a friend from my complex came up and we all started talking about Hills and cell groups and blah blah. Long and short of it is that she's going to come tonight as well and she's a Christian and I didn't know it! But looking back it very much makes sense that she is. You can see it in her actions and the way she carries herself.

So anyway, here I am, great music to listen to, a bit of work to do, mobile phone finally working again after I sucked it up and bought a charger, and I have bible study ahead of me tonight. What else could a girl ask for? Okay well I guess if they had fresh baked cookies at this bible study that would be about the most I could ask for. Or tim tam slams. But lets not go too far with our dreaming.

Sandwich shop. These people are probably tired of me sitting here without giving them any money. I did get a mocha the other day though. And let me just say, coffee is so much better here. Aussies are so high maintenance with their drinks and it pays off.

Anyway. So we (I guess just "I") had breakdown number 2 1/2 today. I add that 1/2 because the other day I sorta had half of one before I had my whole one. Oddly enough it came for a lot of the same reasons the first one did, having to do with missing and event and feeling abandoned and alone. Imagine that, flying to another country than feeling alone sometimes. Baffling, I know. But seriously, life will be fine, but after a while I just can't take being alone anymore. I need some friends. I need to meet people. Heck, I need a venue to meet people, and I don't want it to be the pub. Answer this, why does it seem like every single time I try to do something that's going to put me with other Christians the possibilities just get smashed. Honestly, tell me it's an attack, because if it's not I'm just going to be pissed off. I can deal with an attack, at least that means something good is happening. But I don't want this to be some sick kind of game. Let's keep bringing Krystle to a breaking point. That's really not cool with me, and I'm not going to be able to handle that. It's just too much heartache.

So I spent the afternoon in my room really not doing anything because I was too emotionally drained. Luckily I can afford that because I don't have very much work to do. But really I'd rather be doing work than sitting there feeling horrible. I know it's going to pass, and I know tomorrow's a new day. God's mercy has so completely been new each morning I've been here, and I'm entirely grateful for that. I just hate these days. And I hate going through them alone and not even having anyone to bounce this stuff off of. I'm tired of listening just to my own thoughts all day long. I just hate days like these. I don't long to be somewhere else really. I don't find myself wanting to pack up and go home, I just don't want to feel like this.

I don't want to be all complaining either but I just needed to get this out. God's really using this time to do major reconstruction on my heart and I'm glad for that, it just goes along with some hard times. Hopefully in another week or two things will start to get easier. Maybe not easier, but better somehow. So I guess I'll try to figure out what I'm going to do the rest of the night. Maybe drown my sorrows in some more Tim Tams. They're good for that.

I'm at the same sandwich shoppe, different seat, and a different attitude than last time I sat here. Things are going well. Classes started this week, and it's hard to believe that it's only Wednesday and I've only gone to class for two days. Each day is so long. Not in a painful way, just in a very drawn out way. I suppose as things get busier though it won't be like that so much.

Thus far my classes here are very similar to how they are at home. The grading however, is pretty different. I like some aspects of it, and dislike others. I definitely like the fact that my history lectures are online and I don't really need to go to that class. I also like the fact that all I have to do is write one paper and take a final. I'm trying to plan and be on top of those kind of things now so I'm not overwhelmed at the middle and end of the term. Seems like all my papers are due the same day, it's pretty lame. I don't think things are going to be very hard though which is a relief.

Last night I saw Spider Man 2 with some friends from my apartment complex. It was pretty good, excellent from an artistic standpoint. In general I'm not a fan of the Spider Man story just because everything's so jaded and his life is always destined to be miserable. Drives me nuts. Anyway, it was good to be out of the house for a bit and with people. It's been hard adjusting to being alone. At home I have my family and at school I'm living with friends so there's always someone around if I need them. Not so when you're living with strangers. I'm sure I'll get used to it though, and alone time is never a bad thing.

I had a really refreshing this weekend. I spent Sunday out at Leah's and it was just a really really good day. Saturday night I took the ferry out to her house and she had The Sound of Music on when I got there. I love that movie, it's my favorite. Sunday we both spent some time with God in the morning which was amazingly good. One of the best times of prayer I've had in quite a while. We went out to lunch with a friend from Leah's church and I got to meet three of her four kids. They were totally hilarious and a lot of fun. I had my first drink since I've been here. Pretty weak and sipped it for two hours. Better to be safe than sorry when a person has ZERO tolerance. We spent the afternoon at Al's, watched Calendar Girls (funny movie) and went to church that night. Church was really good as well, and God used that time to reiterate what He had already spoke to me that morning. I came back to Uni on Monday feeling a lot more peace and a lot more strength.

Today and tomorrow I just have one lecture and it's not until 5pm. My schedule here is definitely very different than it is at home. Ali's coming out tonight and I'm stoked to see her again and hang out. I think that's all I have going right now. Hopefully I'll get some pictures out soon.

Here I sit in North Ryde, NSW at a sandwich shop that has free wireless internet access. How about that, something that's actually free in this country. Who knew. Things are going okay. I think I bottomed out about 45 minutes ago, but things are looking up again. I think I'm just a bit on information overload. We had our last day of orientation today and we got all our timetable information and all that. Basically they've just been telling us a ton of stuff we need to do and after a while it just gets a bit overwhelming. Like, I fully should have gone to the head of English today to ask him a question and I still could I guess, except I don't have his name with me and honestly I just don't think I have the strength left to get anything else done. I got my ID card, my health care card, made sure my address was right in the uni system, started on getting my ISIC...and I think that's enough for one day.

I feel like I've been doing nothing and everything all at the same time. Orientation can be so slow and it's something to do, but ultimately not much. Everyone just feels like they're hanging in the balance right now. I'm craving routine. Got that everyone, I actually want school to start. I can't wait for school to start. I can't wait to have a schedule and go to class and have lunch breaks and go to student life and just try to settle in. Nothing is settling right now. Everything is up in the air. And the uni doesn't help with this. Yesterday they took us out to Luna Park, which is a lame sorta amusement park right on the Harbour. Lame but still fun. So they give us all (hundreds of us) a ride out, but don't tell us how to get back! And tomorrow they're doing the same thing at a footy game, though I asked this time so at least I know in advance that I'll have to improv my way home! Don't they think we have enough stress in our lives right now. Honestly, we're transitioning to another country and culture. I know things will be difficult and we need to have adventures and find our way on our own...but just give us a damn bus back.

Enough of the vent. Things really are okay. Roommates are fine, I have a group of people right now that I can chill with. They all live in my complex and they're American. I do and don't like that. It's good that we can all support each other and understand what everyone is feeling and what we're used to. But I don't want to hang out with just Americans. I can do that at home. But I keep reminding myself that this is just now, and as school starts and I get involved in stuff at Uni I'll be meeting more Australians. And really, I already know more Australians than the rest of the group I'm hanging out with combined. So what if I already knew them before I came?

There's so much more floating around my mind but I just can't process everything right now. And I think a lot of it is along the lines of vent paragraph and I just don't want to go there. During orientation yesterday they talked about culture shock and it's various stages. First was a high, which they labeled enchantment. Next was an extreme low, which they labeled disenchantment. Despite the past hour, I'm probably still in the enchantment stage. The other stage probably won't hit until I hit mid semester and have all this school work coming up and all I want to do is cry. Or maybe not. Let's try to be optimistic here. But really, I know the crash is coming. And I know an entire series of highs and lows are still to come, but that's just going to be life here. I'll love it anyway though, and I wouldn't trade this chance for anything. So this is me, picking myself up by my bootstraps (so to speak) and saying "keep on keeping on." God's gonna get me there. I'd appreciate your prayers. And I know I have so many of them already because I can tell the difference. Thank you. Until then...

Just a quick one to say I'm here and moved in and all that. Orientation starts tomorrow with a BBQ and tours of the campus and those sorts of things. I've yet to meet my roommates, as both times I've been by (and now, to stay) they haven't been here. So odds are they're out for the night in the city or something and I might not even see them until tomorrow. Pretty weird to wake up with a stranger in your house eh? That's all for me, my battery's running low and it's time for me to get off my duff and make some dinner.

My last full day in the United States. I'm 95% packed and I'm feeling pretty good. I felt a bit queasy this morning but that eventually wore off and now I'm just relaxing with the fam. My Grandma's over here too and she's having dinner with us tonight. We're having tacos because I'm going to have serious Mexican food withdrawals over the next couple of months.

I had a pretty good weekend, and it went really fast. Golf and company picnic with my Dad on Saturday, followed by a movie night at one of my friend's house. So I Married An Axe Murderer is the funniest movie. "Heed! Pants! Now!" So many quotable lines. Sunday was my last day at church and pretty cool. I got to talk with a girl I grew up going to youth group with for a while which was great. We don't see each other often at all but it seems whenever we do see each other we're always able to honestly express where we're at. I really like that. That night we saw The Lion King at the Orpheum in San Francisco. It was absolutely incredible. One of the most amazing things I've ever seen. It was enough to bring me to tears during the opening number. It was just incredibly beautiful, and I can't wait to see more performances in Sydney. The Barber of Seville is going to be amazing.

So that's all really. That's all...yeah right. Tomorrow this blog becomes very literally "leaving it behind." I would appreciate prayers as I'm embarking on almost 24 hours of travel tomorrow morning. I'm feeling fairly confident with a pinch (or more) of dread as well. I'm just going to have to buck up and stick it out. So I guess next time you hear from me I'll be on the south end of this planet. Latah mates.

Okay so I'm really antsy and worked up right now because everyone I know is either asleep or not home and I just want to call someone up and say, "What in the heck is up with my day?" but I can't. And that makes me angry and feel unresolved and now I can't go to sleep. But seriously, what is up today? It's just been such a weird day. Lots of bad things. Not horrible, just weird bad things that have left a foul taste in my mouth. Let us start at the beginning.

Today I went to work to pick up my paycheck. There was supposed to be a BBQ. I show up; no one's at the BBQ. Turns out they moved the BBQ to yesterday. No problem. On to probably the worst news of the day: finding out my grandma rode on a Greyhound 24 hours all the way to Idaho to miss her class reunion by a day because she either got told or had the wrong date. It was already bad enough that she had booked this horrible bus ride without telling us...but the fact she missed the main meeting. Talk about a pit in your stomach feeling. Next weird happening: on my way out to camp tonight there was an accident 30 seconds from my house. They just put in a new stop sign at an intersection and obviously someone ran right through it. Yeah, glad we've made that intersection safer. Last weird happening...on my way home from camp I encounter yet another accident. Fireman tells us after a while that they're moving traffic and it will be about five more minutes. Cool. Ten minutes later. Nothing. Another few minutes, the other side of traffic gets to go. Do we get to go? No. I have no idea why. So about half an hour after I'd first gotten there I finally get to go, and they way they have us go isn't even blocked by anything and I'm thinking, "so why didn't we just go up this road half an hour ago?" I'm not sure. But the accidents just kinda freaked me out. Seriously I think I've encountered one accident like that in my life EVER. Then today on both sides of the same trip I encounter two? What's going on here. What is up with today? I am so glad that it's now tomorrow.

Wow folks a week from tomorrow guess where I'll be headed? Things are coming up fast and I can hardly believe it. I half practiced packed today. I got all the way through my clothes and shoes and decided I had enough room that I should be fine when it comes time to really pack. I fit all my clothes and shoes in my amazing duffel bag ($24.95) so with another bag of my choice to bring I think things will work out nicely. And I figure I'm already not going to be able to carry everything anyway, so it doesn't matter how big my luggage is anymore. It's one of those carts for me all the way.

I have a story from yesterday. It's a cool God story. I told it to the campers last night and they really thought it was cool, and on my way home I realized I had left out a minor but cool detail, so I want to tell the story again! Plus it's just a good one. Each night for the past two weeks I've been driving out to this camp to lead worship. I live about 15 minutes away, and basically where I start driving is where the road gets curvey and somewhat dangerous. So I'm driving out there at about 9pm each night, so it's dark and not the best conditions for driving on a windy road. Sometimes as I leave I say a quick prayer for God's protection as I drive. Last night I happened to do so, and I was on my way. Not too far into my drive I got behind a car who was going a bit slower than I would. Probably only 3-5 mph, so it was enough to slow me down but not so much to drive me crazy. I remember thinking, "well this is good, this car will pace me and give me better visibility etc." After five to ten more minutes of driving we were on a somewhat straight stretch of road, and all of a sudden a fawn starts crossing the road. The car in front of me hit their brakes, and I hit mine. We didn't have to hit them hard and the fawn made it across the road and we were safe as well. Then I thought, "well what if I'd been going a few miles per hour faster...would I have hit that fawn? Would I have been able to stop? Would I have missed it completely?" I don't know, but I took it as God's answer to prayer last night. Here's the part I forgot to tell the campers. The car turned on literally the very next street after this incident. So the car was in front of me to pace me up until the deer, then it turned right after the whole thing. Yeah. God story. That's what I'm talking about.

I'm in a weird mood. AL is kicking butt in the All-star game. HOORAY! Leah if you read this please call me. Late.

God is good. He answers prayer, even the little ones. Just wanted to say that. This weekend we're moving my sister back home. My Mom and I are leaving in about 15 minutes and we're going to help her clean the house today, then tomorrow my Dad comes with the truck and we're bring it all home. Tonight I get to see two of my closest friends from school and I'm very excited. It's been a secret from one of them, and I've had the hardest time not getting all excited about it when I've talked to her on the phone. I can't wait to see them tonight. Pray I don't get lost. I'm out until tomorrow night.

Well, unfortunately I haven't grown since my last post, but I'll let you know if anything changes. In other news, I've had a nice, long weekend. We spent most of Saturday emptying out and painting my sister's bedroom, and we spent the evening of the fourth putting it back. We drove out to see my cousin's new house about 45 minutes away and had a nice afternoon there with some family. It went much better than I expected. Generally this is a part of the family we don't see too much (for a reason) but Sunday was really great and it was good to have some time with them. Yesterday was spent doing practically nothing. I was supposed to be in Monterey visiting a few friends, but things kinda fell through. Okay, actually I cancelled. Long story. So I declared yesterday paperwork day and spent some time getting ID documents together and scanning and making copies and those sorts of things. So now I have most if not all of my documents ready to go.

I had this realization about Australia last night. I've been so busy thinking of all the changes and about moving and packing and all those things that I'd sort of forgotten about school. Well, I didn't forget about it, but last night I realized that my summer is almost over. I'm going back to school in a few weeks, and summer doesn't come again for a long time. That hadn't really crossed my mind before. Granted, this is probably going to be so different and challenging and at the same time not challenging (in terms of hours in class) that it's not really going to feel like school. Then again, I will be writing papers. With weird spelling. That's going to be odd. Organized. That's incorrect spelling, isn't that weird?

Today I was running some errands with my mom and we had to go to this luggage store because this piece came off of one of our bags so she wanted to get it fixed. So as we're walking out of the store we see this huge duffel bag that they have sitting right by the door. It caught both our eyes and it had a sale tag on it, so we decided to take a look. We flipped it over and low and behold $24.95! I was seriously expecting something more around three digits. We checked it out, kept looking at each other in amazement, and eventually figured there was nothing to lose. So now I have this great, humongous duffel bag which I'm really excited about. Maybe that's lame but I've sorta been stressing about packing. This is going to make things a lot easier. Now I'm just going to be careful to spread out the weight so it doesn't get too heavy. I think that's all for now.

Whoa exciting news everyone! I am 5' 6 1/2"! I've actually grown since high school! I always said I was 5' 6" and figured I was probably stretching it, but I've grown almost 3/4" since junior year of high school! This is very exciting to me.

I'm not doing so great on the frequent updates. I haven't really done so for months now though so I guess it's nothing too abnormal. Where to start. Well I must say I had a great weekend. My roommate from school came up for a long weekend. We went to the coast, to the city (SF), to the woods, and I got to show her around the city where I live (that didn't take long). Overall we had a really fun time. Since we've lived together it's just so non-pressure to be around her. It was funny, because the whole time she was here it never really felt weird to have her here. When I woke up in the morning it was like...she's here. Of course she's here. That's not so weird...even though it really is. Today was our first full day on our perspective ends of the state which is quite sad. Five months until I see her again.

This week marked the start of my worship leading endeavors at a camp about 15 minutes from my house. A friend of mine is coordinating the camp and she asked me a couple months ago if I could lead worship for this intensive, 3 week leadership camp they started this year. Today was day three, and I'm totally having a blast with them. It's a small group which gives me the opportunity to get to know each person. I already have all their names down. Really it's just the ideal size for my personality. Tonight I went out there earlier than usual because they had planned to be on the ropes course that night. Well, after I was finished up my friend invited me to go along with them on the ropes course, so I did! I mean really, how often do you get a random invite to go down a zip line? So, about an hour ago I was hurtling through the air. Good times. That's all I've really got to say I think. Three weeks and one day to Oz.

I know I know. So I write a post about how excited I am about this gig then I don't even say how it went. And I'm a slacker and didn't post any pictures, but I did forewarn that might be the case so you can't blame me there. Anyway, the gig went quite well. There was a good crowd whenever we started playing, and a good group of people from my church came to show their support which meant a lot. Aside from that, there was nothing really meaningful or amazing about the gig. We came, we saw, we conquered...or something like that. It was all pretty non-emotive for me actually. I'm not sure why that was, but when I finally got there it wasn't a big deal. I wasn't really nervous, I wasn't really excited, I just went out there and did it. No adrenaline, no nothing. I'm still trying to figure out why that might be. Maybe it was playing with people I didn't know, or maybe it was the venue. Maybe it was the fact that there was a lot of pressure with this gig and I was just glad to have it over. Or maybe it was the pain of knowing that $100 was departing from my savings account to pay for the band. Whatever it was, it was a good experience, I think it helped out our church, and now it's over.

This week I've been working at the music store doing stuff on computers. Some people have been gone from the office so it's just been a few of us in there. The camaraderie has been more fun this past week than I ever remember, but besides that things have been very boring. The work they have me doing is just very monotonous, and while I'm very grateful for a paycheck I often come home feeling like a zombie. I'm hoping they have something different for me once I finish this project on Monday.

Yesterday was a monumental day. I talked to all three of my roommates on the phone in the same day. It was so great. This week I've really started to miss people from school for the first time. I was wondering when it would set in, and finally after six weeks it has. One of my roommates just got back from 3 weeks overseas a couple days ago, so it was the first time I have talked to her in a long time. It was great to hear her voice. It made me realize how much I miss her. But hopefully I will be seeing her and another friend in early July. Also, one of my other roommates is coming out here on Thursday. Talking to her last night also reminded me how much fun we have together and how much we laugh when we're together. We're going to have a great time. I can't wait to show her this crazy place.

Lately I've been waking up early in the morning, then drifting back to sleep again. But since I have already woken up once, I tend to sleep lightly during the last couple hours and I remember a lot of my dreams as a result. Score another dream for Australia. I have 2 Australia dreams a week easy. Here's what was going on. It was the first day of classes, and I was trying to find what building my class was in. I went into one building (oddly enough the entire building was one classroom) and discovered that I was in the wrong place. So I got up and walked out, and I think eventually found someone and asked them where I needed to go. They then pulled out a map and showed me another completely different part of campus which looked like it was at least a mile away. So I went walking down this path toward the other part of campus, and the path took me by a beach and some other things. Then somehow I randomly ran across my seventh grade history teacher, so we stopped for quite a while and talked. Then I realized I was missing my classes, and as I looked at my schedule I realized I had another class I'd forgotten about and I was missing that one too. Then finally I think I decided to stuff it. I don't really remember what happened next, but somehow I think I ended up at Leah's or somewhere with Leah. I realized at this point that I didn't know what day it was, and it might have been Friday and I don't even have class on Friday! So I'm wondering what day it is, then Leah tells me that today is Christmas, but not many people in Australia celebrate it so it's kinda hard to tell! So then I'm trying to figure out what day it, because in my dream it's only two days after I've arrived in Australia, which means it should be the 24th. Which still doesn't make any sense, because I'm flying to Australia in July, not December, but somehow in my dream it was December. And apparently it was Christmas, but Christmas isn't a huge holiday in Australia and for some reason the uni decided to add a whole extension to campus like five miles away. Right. These are how irrational my dreams are. I don't really dream about normal things or normal problems. Instead I have these obstacles in my dreams that don't really exist. Like for whatever reason in my dream I could never really be sure of where I was going or where the campus was...like I couldn't look at the map or something. But at least these dreams provide some entertainment as I reflect on them later. Or maybe I'm just sick in the head.

Before I get ready for work I have to say this. The band I'm playing with tonight is AMAZING. We had a rehearsal last night and they sounded so good. I was totally in awe. I'm so stoked for tonight. And to top it off the Lakers lost.

Well, I'm almost through my second full day back on the mainland. Unfortunately, the last two nights of sleep have been a bit restless, but I'm hoping that tonight I'll finally be tired enough to get myself on track. No need for three nights in a row of falling asleep at 2am.

The trip was nice and relaxing. We did a bit of swimming, went out on a catamaran one afternoon, went to the Polynesian Cultural center on the north shore, beat my dad for the first time at golf (95 baby), and spent some time at Waikiki. Overall very relaxing and luckily not too hot. I didn't start breaking out until about our fifth day there, which is a ton better than it's been in past years.

There might be a picture or two to come, depending on whether or not I feel motivated enough to upload then transfer them onto my parent's computer. There might be stories to. Then again, maybe not. All depends on my schedule and more so on my motivation this week.

This week I'm going to be working, which is a huge blessing. I also have a huge gig coming up on Wednesday which I'm really excited about. And I just completely lost my line of thought, so that's all for now.

Hello photoblogging. And hello free storage of the photos. A-ma-zing. Be prepared for more photos in the upcoming months. Actually I might start a different blog that's just photos, I'm not sure yet. Anyway, that little guy down there is my adorable second cousin, who just started crawling this week. He's the cutest, and I'm going to miss him so much while I'm gone.

So the whole week has been a bit uneventful. I spent some time with a few friends which was fun, went to the beach, bought a few things for vacation, read some C.S. Lewis, braved the DMV to get a new license, and rehearsed for my gig coming up later this month. Sounds like a lot but it really wasn't. But finally today is the day, and my Grandma and I are leaving tonight for the city, and early tomorrow we fly to Honolulu. Aloha and mahalo. Those are the only Hawaiian words I know. Well, beside that fish Humuhumunukunukuapua'a. And my friend's middle name is Hokulani. That means something about a star I think. I'm definitely fluent.

I'm most of the way through The Weight of Glory which actually turned out to be a collection of sermons by C.S. Lewis, the most famous being the weight of glory. Beside that one, I really liked his Transposition. It's a great discussion about the relationship between heavenly things and how they relate and filter through our emotions and senses. Sort of hard to explain, but he uses the gift of tongues as an example, then expands to a more all-encompassing level. It's very good, and really philosophical which I love. Seriously, find a way to get ahold of this essay, especially if you're one of my tongue speaking friends (which I think are like the only two people that read this). Lots of good things to think about. There's also a very philosophical one called Why I am not a Pacifist. He uses Scripture but also method and authority to determine what his stance is.

So I guess that's all for now. Maybe I should start packing. I hate packing. It's definitely in my top five list of things I hate to do. I think going to the doctor is above it though.

The cutest baby in the world. 

Well it's a week later, and time for an update. I was a member of the workforce. Notice the past tense. Hopefully sometime soon that will become present tense again, but for now there's not work for me at the store. So hang around the house I will, and lots of reading I shall do. I've read two books in the last week, and I loved them both. I finished up Blue Like Jazz this past weekend, then picked up Wild at Heart a few nights ago and finished it yesterday. Two amazing books. They gave me a lot to think about.

I love to read. And I love to think. And I love to think about what I read. That's what I do. I read, then I think. I love that I have free time for that. I'm just loving a lot of things right now aren't I?

This past weekend I was in southtown for my cousin's wedding. It was a crazy weekend, but I had a blast. Friday was my sister's graduation, so we were all over the place for that, then we had to fly out for San Diego the next morning. I had so much fun with my family. My parents and sister finally got to see my cute as heck baby cousin. Hands down the cutest baby in the world. And that's not even the relative in me talking. He really is the cutest. Poor thing is 10+ months old and can't crawl. He's so close though, and he'll probably start walking not too long after. He's so cute though he doesn't really need to crawl. He can just sit there and look cute, and it definitely makes his mom's job easier.

So that's me. Reading and thinking and trying to get some sleep after this past weekend. It's not really working. I haven't fallen asleep before one for a couple nights now. Maybe tonight will be the night. Now it's off with the fam to see Shrek 2.

I'm a member of the workforce again! Okay maybe not permanently, but in the past two days I've spent eight hours working ("working") which makes for a very happy Krystle. I'm probably going to do about six or seven hours tomorrow too which I'm stoked about. Last night at the store we had a gig/presentation by Greg Bennett. He's done a ton of guitar design and right now he's teamed up with Samick designing guitars for them. I own one actually. They're great sounding guitars for an extremely low price. I'm not quite sure how he does it. So basically last night he would play a few songs (he's a great player) then take some time to talk about different aspects of guitar construction and design. It was ideal for me, being someone who knows enough about guitar design not to get lost, but not much beyond that. He talked about acoustics and also finger picked a ton of stuff. He wasn't the type of player that just blows your mind, but he was super down to earth and inspiring. He played this ridiculous version of Stars and Stripes forever. It even had the crazy piccolo part!

Unfortunately to set up for the event we had to move a ton of bass gear off this stage area in the store and take it across to backstock. Fortunately it's not too far, but moving all that stuff was a huge pain. Literally. Luckily this morning I didn't end up moving any of it back, but I did end up unloading some other gear and I'm definitely feeling it now. I don't ever want to be a bass player. Those amps and cabinets weigh a ton. It's ridiculous. Seriously, these dinky six inch tall heads will weigh more than a medium sized amp. What's up with that?

They're having a huge Marshall event tomorrow which should be really cool. They're going to do it outside and give away some free gear and probably do a lot of demoing. The event will actually be after hours I think and they're going to do a BBQ. Things like this are why I love working in a small town music store. They really make an effort to get the community involved and do a lot of cool and interesting things. Hopefully tomorrow won't involve so much heavy lifting. Luckily I remember a lot of those Marshall stacks having wheels. Here's hoping.

Have I really grown up here? Did I really think this is normal? I've been to a Whole Foods/organic store twice since I've been home. I actually really like Whole Foods but it's too expensive so I'd never regularly shop there. Anyway. I realize Whole Foods is a chain, but still. How many people can I see with dreads walking around Whole Foods? And how many political bumper stickers can I see in one 20 minute drive (because it is a 20-30 minute drive EVERYWHERE). And get this, I started doing yoga last week (no not because I want to worship Satan, I want to be more flexible…make that less inflexible) and seriously EVERYWHERE I go I keep seeing these yoga kit things that have a mat and a tape and this band/rope thing that you can use. I saw it at the bookstore, at two different Target's and I saw it today at the grocery store! This is not normal! And my favorite...the ladies in black. They stand on the corner downtown (yeah, downtown really only has 1 corner) and protest violence every Friday. They wear black. I think this week I saw something about not liking Bush too. But that's practically nor cal's motto.

It's not really weirding me out. Don't get me wrong. I'm not in freak out mode, because this is still home and still somewhat normal to me. You can't undo 16+ years of living here. But I guess the longer I'm away the more I realize how this place really is. You know what else I'm really noticing more than ever - the warfare up here. I know I've also made joking comments about witches and wicca and all kinds of crap going on up here, and I've been aware of that for a long time. But beyond all the really reeeeally out there stuff I'm really aware for the first time about what a spiritually thirsty this place is. Now some people are straight up atheists, but there are tons and tons of people looking for a spiritual experience. Just look at all the yoga mats for sale. Geez. But I've also started to view that in a new way as I consider my own faith. And sadly enough I've found myself thinking about the principles of postmodernism that we talked about in my Luke/Acts class...which I HATED. HATED HATED HATED. I cannot tell you enough. And what's funnier is that I wasn't even there the day we talked about postmodernism! But my roommate and I had a really good acronym for the test to remember that one so I still remember it.

The four principles were mystery, experience, significance, and relationship. So our prof (when I wasn't there) talked about postmodernists longing for each of these things, and made the point that Christianity also has these things to offer. While I was somewhat upset at his seemingly flippant summary of postmodernism, the guy really had a point and I see it now. I'm seeing it firsthand now. Mystery. Christianity is SO full of mystery. So much paradox, so many questions, so much stuff I can't and never will understand. Why did God even bother with all of us? I have no clue. What is God really? I'll never know his fullness. Experience. Man oh maaaaaaaaaaaaan. The fundamentalist in me totally wants to crush this one. "God is not an experience. You can't base you faith on experience. You must be obedient, live a Holy life." Blaaaaaaaaaaaaaah. Yes I know obedience and holy living are crucial. Faith without works is dead. But a person living without grace will soon be dead also I think. Or at least lying on the floor in a heap wondering how in the heck they're going to do all the "work for God" they're supposed to do. Slight tangent, sorry. Enough on that one. Significance. Everyone's longing for it. People want to make an impact, whether it's a good one or a bad one. People are attention hungry. People want to do something that's lasting, something that's outside of themselves. People search for it in all sorts of things - people, work, drugs, sex, business, volunteering, some kind of cause (i.e. impeach bush bumper stickers)...all sorts of things. Relationship. Ok that's pretty self-explanatory I think; I won't go into that one.

Christianity offers all these things. Do you realize that? Maybe you're way ahead of me and you already knew that and you're thinking, "Krystle, why are you assuming I'm dumb. And I don't live in hippie nor cal. Why didn't you stop five paragraphs ago?" But I don't think you're thinking that. At least I hope not. So I'm thinking, if I'm in this area of spiritually hungry, politically interested, organic food eating, Bush protesting society, I'd better learn to be down to earth. I'd better learn that it's not apologetics that's going to convert people. It's talking about God as a REAL, ACTING being, and talking about Jesus as a REAL, LIVING person that has made and makes a DAILY impact in my life. I'd better start talking about him like a person I know, someone who cares for me, someone who I care really deeply about. And I'd better stop being concerned about whether I sound like an idiot or not, because that keeps me from being honest. And a lot of times an honest, "I don't know" sounds way better than some polished apologetic theological BS.

So that's me, a week and two days after being home. I think good old nor cal has something for me the next two months, and I've got something for it too. By the way, a lot of this sudden burst of thinking is also inspired by a book I got Saturday called Blue like Jazz by Donald Miller. Definitely the most unusual book I've ever read, but it's phenomenal. I started it Saturday and finally put it down 50 pages later. This guy has such an unpolished writing style, yet he says everything he wants to say in an unapologetic, honest, and extremely profound way. It's also hilarious. I finally stopped on page 87, now I’m two chapters beyond that. I predict I'll finish it in a few days. It's that good. Check out this guy's writing style.

“At the time I was attending this large church in the suburbs. It was like going to church at the Gap. I don't know why I went there. I didn't fit. I had a few friends, though, very nice people, and when I told them I wanted to audit classes at Reed they looked at me as if I wanted to date Satan. One friend sat me down and told me all about the place, how they have a three-day festival at the end of the year in which they run around naked. She said some of the students probably use drugs. She told me God did not want me to attend Reed College.”

------------------------

“The first day of school was exhilarating. It was better than high school. Reed had ashtrays, and everybody said cusswords.”

How funny is that? And his chapters have subtitles like "Sexy Carrot" and "Penguin Sex." Ok I'm really trying to play the curiosity card at this point. Honestly though, this book is amazing. You should read it.

Unlike Mel I'm really having a hard time getting used to blogger's new format. Really though it's all because I don't like change and it's difficult for me to get used to new things. Eventually I'll be alright. Of course, with how often I tend to update it could be quite some time before I'm used to this. Moving on...

This has been a very non-eventful week, which I mostly like. I'm starting to hit the point of boredom though. I seriously don't know what I did over summer when I didn't work. Why wasn't I bored? Why wasn't I driving my mother crazy? Maybe I was. I called my work earlier this week and they said to call back later in the week, which I did today, but I couldn't get ahold of my boss so I left a message. I haven't heard back from him. Let me woooooooooooork I'm so boooooored. I'd be perfectly happy to water the plants right now. Actually I came to a place last year where I really liked watering in the morning. It can be quite nice outside and my arms got a nice tan out of it.

My recent discovery has been yoga. I'd been turning the idea over in my mind for the last week or two of school. Here's the deal - I am the least flexible person on the face of the earth. Really, I am. So it's been really good to have something that focuses on relaxation, posture, breathing, and strengthening which are all things I need. My back is so messed up and I know it's because of my bad posture and weak stomach muscles. So hopefully this will help me out. I have a really good video with hosts that are nice but not super whacked. I'm excited about it.

I have all my paperwork done for Australia, which is a really weird feeling. I got my visa early this week and I put in a housing application too. Figuring out where exactly I'm going to live is my present challenge, then there's going to be a slight lull until the packing nightmare begins. Last night I had a sort of two-in-one dream/nightmare about LAX. I remember having a dream or two last year before I went, but it certainly wasn't two months before I was going to go. It my dream I had somehow ended up driving to LAX, but had come in a different entrance (I think there's only one entrance) and could not find my terminal. Then somehow I think I was in a terminal that was underwater or something. But I think I could breathe. Then I met up with my parents finally too. It was definitely a weird one. Speaking of flying, I haven't received my tickets in the mail yet which isn't freaking me out but I'm starting to get concerned. I think if I don't get them by Monday the travel agency is going to get a little call. They gave me no time frame on how long it would take so I have no idea if this is normal or if they should have been here by now.

To change subjects completely, I've been doing a bit of deep thinking this week but not so much right at this moment. One thought though. I've been thinking lately about the nature of Christianity and I've been asking, "Wow, is this what it really is?" Sometimes I find it a bit weird. Like the whole God chose a nation, and the whole animal sacrifice thing and the deal with blood and purity laws and all that. Then we have Jesus coming on the scene and dying this unbelievably brutal death that was completely necessary for our atonement and it's just like...whoa. Sometimes it just seems so...I'm not sure. Out there maybe? I guess our culture is so far removed from that it's hard to wrap my head around sometimes. When I was driving home from school my Mom choose a lot of the music, which meant we listened to a lot of old but good music I haven't brought out in a while. Midway through the drive she popped in Jars of Clay's first CD, and a line off the first song really hit me (sorry can't remember the title). You know that line that goes, "Flesh and blood/Is it so elemental?" Well it really hit me for the first time. I'd never really paid attention to that line before but that subject has really been interesting to me lately. It is elemental, and sometimes it's just weird in my head but other times it makes such perfect sense and blossoms into this crazy beautiful intense story. I guess that's part of the mystery. Thoughts are welcome.

How's this for a great homecoming. I have explained to many people at school that I live in a really unusual area and that sometimes this communish place down the street has these weird gatherings and we can hearing drumming emanating from the gathering. Well yesterday after seven hours on the road we're finally approaching my house, and what do I see? Yes that's right, tons of cars lining the streets and people in hippie garb heading toward the commune houses. My mom rolled down the window and said she didn't hear any drumming, but she did hear music. What a welcome back to hippie land.

So yes I'm at home and mostly it's just weird, but the prospect of not having homework and just relaxing is very nice. I enjoyed getting over 6 hours of sleep last night and I'm looking forward to the fact that tomorrow will be the same way. So now it's just hanging out, finishing unpacking (I did most of it yesterday, can you believe that?) and hanging out with some fam tonight. We're going to French food. Yuuuuuuuuuuuuum. Happy Mother's Day!

Last night in the mod. Everyone say bye. Friends was a little too close for comfort tonight. Our place looks like Monica and Chandler's empty apartment...except not nearly as nice and a way crappy oven. I hope I get to go to sleep soon. All I want is my bed.

It's over. Let everyone say "amen." I've started packing up some stuff but I can't really do much because I don't have anything to pack it in. So I guess my parents and I will just take the brunt of it tomorrow afternoon when they get here. I'm okay with that; I'd rather not have it be a long, drawn-out process.

The tests yesterday went pretty well for my taste, and my two today were easy as heck. You gotta love how I prepared for my conducting final for less than half an hour (didn't even practice the song all the way through) and probably got an A. I'm so glad that class is over. I really like conducting but I was so sooo over that class months ago. Probably had something to do with the fact that we had a million assignments that took hours and hours, and the fact that the class is from 1-2:30 which should really be naptime.

So right now I'm sitting here waiting for my friend to call me and tell me she's back so we can hang out. All my roommates are out doing errand type things, and I'm presently done with my packing. I'm definitely in denial still, otherwise I think I'd be freaking out and getting sentimental over anything and everything. I can't wait to watch the finale of friends tonight and have no homework or finals to worry about. Just hanging out with my roommates watching great TV completely stress free. There's nothing better.

I played my guitar yesterday for the first time in ages. I think since I've been back from Easter break I haven't really had the time to even think about playing it. In fact, it had been so long that after about 10 minutes my fingers had already begun to hurt. Yikes. It was a lot of fun though. I was playing for a friend/acquaintance who didn't know I played guitar but saw my Taylor in the corner and wanted to see it. It was cool to talk with her a bit about guitars and other things, but it was also a bummer to find out what we had in common three days before I'm leaving. That sort of stuff is supposed to happen at the beginning of the year so you can hang out and become friends. Darn.

Well, now I'm sitting here with five more minutes having passed still in the same situation I was in five minutes ago. I pulled something in my back/shoulder yesterday trying to throw a basketball over a fence to someone. I was in immense pain. I think it's the combination of writing essays in my really small messy handwriting, slouching at my computer, slouching studying, slouching anytime, and throwing the basketball that did it. I feel like an old woman. Oh wait I am an old woman. And with that I'm out, gotta go put my dentures back in.

My roommates are packing a bunch of stuff from our living room. It's depressing. I actually haven't walked out there to see what it looks like now and I don't really want to.

At this moment I'm officially halfway through my finals in terms of numbers of tests, but I think the bulk of difficulty is greater on the second half. I have the test I'm most nervous about later this afternoon. I've done some good studying with my roommate for the last hour or more and I'm feeling a lot better about it. Still, I'll be glad (and probably angry) when it's over.

This weekend I stayed in Southtown for the last time. I'll be down there again in a few weeks for a wedding, but that's going to be a really quick trip. I can't believe I'm not going to see my cousins for such a long time. The boys are going to be so big when I get back. I'm sad that I'll miss so much. But I know my time overseas will be amazing. I have to keep reminding myself that the pluses and minuses will even out (and I believe do more than come out even). I only have two more nights here at school, one in a hotel, then it's the long drive home. I'm really happy to go. I'm just so over school and work and studying. Give me my own room, a five hour work day, lots of free time to play instruments, and a church where I actually know people and feel involved. Not to mention the air is clean, my family is nearby, and it's not ridiculously hot. Sweet hippieland I hear you calling.

Last night before I went to bed I posted something here but blogger totally ate it! Or maybe my internet ate it. That's probably the case since all my problems can be blamed on the internet here. I cannot wait to go home and have dependable internet, even if it is a little slower. One week. And maybe I'll post again after my test today. Yes, a test. Who gives a test on the last day of class before finals...then still gives a final! There should be rules against that.

Ok I am seriously kicking this paper's butt. I have seven pages and I think I'm pretty much done besides actually writing my thesis statment (so much easier to write after the whole paper is done) and my conclusion. I don't think I'm going to make 8 pages but that's ok, because I think it's a really decent paper. And I'm done. HA

Well, two weeks down, two weeks to go. Today I'm supposed to write an 8 page term paper. Shouldn't be too hard. I don't care too much about how it comes out so that makes things a bit easier. I think it's like 25% of my grade or something ridiculous like that. Oh well.

This is my second to last weekend here; that's quite weird to think about. It's been tough trying to be focused. They give us spring break a month before school gets out, then they expect us to come back and do decent work. Yeah right. By this point we all want to be at home doing nothing. But I'm just going to suck it up and plow through the next two weeks. And besides, this is my last two weeks to spend with the people here for quite a long time. Many of them I won't be seeing until January.

So that's it, I guess I'll stop procrastinating on my paper now.

So I thought maybe I should update, seeming how it's April 18th. I've been back at school for the past week and I'm sitting here wondering how I'm going to get everything done that's due the last week. I have procrastination bad right now. Well mostly just the past few days. I'm hoping to move past it today and finally start on a term paper I've been putting of for, well, all term.

Two more normal weeks of school then finals then I'm out of here. It's hard to believe, I feel like I just moved in. Well, I don't feel like I just moved in, but it definitely doesn't seem like a whole school year has gone by. Last year felt twice this long. Last night (actually this morning) I had a dream that I was with Mel and Al and I think we were in the Sydney area. We went to go see Leah's softball game. I think that was the most unrealistic part of the whole thing - Leah playing compeptitive softball. There was this snafoo in the last inning and for whatever reason Leah didn't get to bat like she thought she would and she was really pissed off. It was kinda funny, but not until I woke up. Then somehow we were on my college campus and I don't remember what we did after that. I think I woke up. Wow and the really funny thing that I just realized is that Leah probably doesn't even know how to play baseball except maybe vaguely from watching it in the states.

And now I'm sitting here listening to awful music from the swap meet next door. I really hate Sunday's here for this reason. It's almost reason enough to make me go to church on Sunday morning rather than at night, but I just can't stay alert for the service in the morning. So I guess it's crappy music for me for the next five hours.

Just a little blog to say I'm at home and it's absolutely beautiful here. LA is so ugly it's ridiculous. I spent a couple minutes in the car on the way home wondering why I could see everything on the hillside, then I remembered that's normal. More later perhaps.

Another service announcement. I found out yesterday that I'm accepted to my program in Australia!!! YAY!!!!

Just a service announcement before I do some homework. If you don't have it already, you need to run to the store and buy sara groves' new cd "the other side of something." soooooooore good. i got it last week, but i'm finally at the point where i've listened to it enough that i'm listening to the words and the music as a whole and it's just amazing. i'm sure you thought sara groves couldn't get any more honest but she has. a-maz-ing. making me want to write.

It's been a crazy week, and it totally flew by which I'm so thankful for because it puts me another week closer to spring break! My trip to San Diego was ok...not as restful as I wish it could have been. I had a lot on my mind, so I didn't really sleep while I was there. On top of that, I woke up Sunday morning feeling absolutely horrible. I made the two hour drive home anyway because I had a mandatory concert I had to go to at 2. That lasted from 2 to 9. Yes friends, seven hours. It was totally miserable, and I didn't even sing half the time because I felt so bad.

Once that was over, I had a massive test to tackle on Monday. I think it went pretty well, we'll see on Monday when I get it back with a grade on it. But since Monday it's been pretty smooth sailing and things have gone fast. The highlight of the week was definitely last night. We took my roommate out for her birthday and had a really good time. The best part was seeing her so excited over her present. This will take a little explaining. My roommate and her family don't really have a lot of money right now, so for the past year+ my roommate has been taking tons of pictures but hasn't had the money to develop them. One roll isn't so bad, but when you have ten sitting around you can't just go get them all developed because it's going to be way expensive. So a few days ago we stole all her film out of her room and took it to Costco to get it developed. She was so happy she started to cry. It was great.

After dinner (Cheesecake factory, yum!) we went to see opening night of Jersey Girl. It was pretty cute. Basically we all agreed that there was one scene that we really didn't like, but the rest of it was good. It wasn't really what I expected, which was actually really nice. Not very much of it was about romance at all, it was more about the father-daughter relationship. So, if you don't feel like spending the money to go see it I'd say don't, but it could be a good one to rent if you're not going to mind one ridiculous scene where they talk about sex and hearing the word "shit" a bunch of times. The little girl is adorable and definitely the best part and Ben Affleck does a good job as well. Definitely had some tears going on during some father-daughter moments.

Time for the most obnoxious part of the week. These kids at the movie theater last night were seriously out of control. They would like run out of the theater. Run! Then there was another group of kids in the back that just talked the. whole. time. Finally about 2/3 of the way through someone finally went to the theator admin. and brought someone in to have them stop, but my gosh it was so bad. I seriously felt like I was trying to watch a movie at a party.

One final note, my friend Margo and I made a whipped cream pact that we're going to go to Europe after we graduate. It's official, we have the pictures to prove it.