get out of town!

My mandatory vacation is drawing closer and closer, and I'm more than ready for a road trip. T-minus 24 hours and counting. Orlando, here I come.

firehouse prayers

Yesterday was hectic. I spent the morning at work going through hundreds of student files and creating new intake packets for the entire next year (hey, my boss is using me while she's still got me--it's only another week before the big lay-off). Inside the office the phone kept ringing, the computers were slow, and the paper shredder was constantly roaring in the background. Outside it was hot and sticky, and a very loud team of landscapers/earth-drillers/concrete levelers had set up camp right outside my door.

I spent afternoon sorting boxes of artifacts gathered and never labeled in the 1970s, and then hauling buckets of water away from the dig site (stinkin' thunderstorms!) while simultaneously dodging a couple of very irritated spiders. Today my back and shoulders are still sore, but I managed to get rid of the mud and grime.

Between the two I got lunch. Ah, lunch (and all food in general)--the salvation and momentary solace of an otherwise busy day.......Yeah, right. I decided to hit up Firehouse subs, because sandwiches are delicious. Plus, last time I went they gave me this nifty punch card that gives me a free sub if I buy six (the hole-punch is shaped like a little fire hydrant!).

Wow, I'm typing a lot in parentheses this post.

Anyways, I only had a half hour to get my food, eat it, and get to Drayton Hall, and the line was abysmally long. Two TVs were set up in either corner of the restaurant, and the volume, in my opinion, was louder than necessary--though I suppose it had to be in order to be heard over the shouting of orders and low mumble of conversation. Plus that stupid bell kept ringing every time someone opened the door. I took my spot in line, trying not to check the my cell phone for the time every two seconds, and noticed in front of me a cute elderly couple. He wore a button-up shirt with red, yellow, and blue classic race cars on it, and she wore gold-sequined sandals. There was an air of calmness about them, an innate patience that seemed to encompass their own little world. His voice was low and kind, and the two were incredibly considerate of each other as they ordered and selected a table.

I almost forgot them as I hungrily waited for my order (I was going to have to eat it on the road, and was thinking bitterly that they'd better not put any stupid pickles and onions on it), but after a moment the flutter of motion caused by the waiter delivering their sandwiches caught my eye. The couple set their sandwiches carefully in front of them, and then reached across the table and clasped each other's wizened hands. Oblivious to the blaring television sets, the hustle and bustle, and nosy strangers, they closed their eyes an offered an unmistakable prayer of thanks to heaven.

They opened their eyes and began eating, and my name was called, so I took my food and was gone. But now I was smiling. I don't know who they were, or even what religion, but theirs was a small and unexpected act that reminded me of the many, many things I have to be grateful for.

Like my sandwich, sans pickles and onions, for starters. :)

Winning doesn't suck.

This morning, on a whim, I actually called the radio station when they said "Call now!" I expected a busy signal, but the phone rang. I thought this was strange, and even checked my phone to see if I had dialed the wrong number--but it was right, and soon enough the morning DJs answered and said, "If you can talk for 25 seconds about the subject we give you without any long pauses, ums, uhs, ergs, etc., then you're a winner." My subject? Tweezers. Yeah, tweezers. 25 seconds doesn't seem that long, but it was hard--which surprised me, because I can talk.

I don't know what I said, but I just kept on talking, and I won tickets to see Darius Rucker and Dierks Bentley in concert--with the possibility of an upgrade to front row seats! To be honest, I'm not a die-hard Rucker fan, but maybe he'll play some Hootie songs. :) And I do like Dierks Bentley, so it should be a fun night. Any way it turns out, it's always nice to get something for free.

My Apologies, Haggai

Last night I was flipping through my Bible and a slip of paper that I had placed between pages some time ago fell out. It was a scripture reference for a verse in Haggai, but upon seeing the letters my mind quickly and subconsciously made the jump to Hagrid.

Is it a good sign when you automatically assume that there's a book of Hagrid? Apparently I spend more time reading the Book of J. K. Rowling than I should.

motorcycle monday

If you think a typical evening in the Anderson home involves eating dinner, watching a little TV, and then hitting the hay, you obviously don't know my father (or any of us, for that matter--we're pretty loud). Dad always does things on his own time-table, and even more often he does things out of the blue. He's been known to say things like "I'm leaving for Florida in fifteen minutes if you want to come," or to ask "What do you think is down this road?" as he's turning onto an old dirt road very much like the one that Belle's dad and the wary Phillippe take in Beauty and the Beast.

So, yesterday my dad decides to buy a motorcycle. It's random, and kind of out of nowhere, but not really surprising. It doesn't run. Not surprising at all.

It's also not surprising when Dad calls at 10:30 at night and asks me to come down to the Home Depot parking lot with the towing cable. The truck he rented to get the bike home had to be turned back in to the store by 10:00, and he didn't have time to make it to the house before then. So Dad, Jillian, and the motorcycle are at Home Depot, and I need to bring the towing cable.

Eventually it works out that Dad comes and gets the cable, because I have no idea where it is. Back at the Home Depot, we analyze our options with the mutinous motorcycle. We try to jump it, push it, pull-start it--but nothing works. It's humid and we're sticky and the bike's not budging, and straggling Home Depot workers look at us strangely as they trickle out to their cars. Soon it's 11:30, and we've only managed to move across the parking lot. The bike is heavy, and almost falls on Dad as we're attempting another pulling maneuver, and then it almost falls again when it stubbornly refuses to go up on its kickstand, which turns out to actually be not a kickstand, but a prop used for working on the bike.

I'd like to say that eventually we got it home, and could count the whole enterprise as a success. But it's still in the Home Depot parking lot, and I have a feeling we'll be making another visit after work today, hopefully with better supplies.

As inconvenient as it all is, this is the stuff memories, and life, are made of.

:)

The Great Outdoors

Sometimes, when I'm super-extra bored at work, I read every single article on CNN's homepage. Today, the seemingly pointless enterprise actually paid off, because I found an article that I'm really excited about! No, it's not about Obama's visit to Saudi Arabia, though that is interesting, I suppose. It's an article about the amazingly awesome thing the National Park Service is doing on certain dates this summer--free admission, to all parks!

If I'm being completely honest with myself, I know that I won't actually be able to visit all the parks. I probably won't even be able to make it to one, though I'll keep my fingers crossed for a quick trick to the Smoky Mountains. But to all my friends out in the wild west, where a ton of parks are close by, please go, so I can live vicariously through you.


Seriously, look at these pictures! It's crazy to think that so much of the country used to look like this, before all us people moved in and needed houses and food and such. I'm so glad there are places like these left! (pics, in order: Yosemite, Smoky Mountains, Grand Canyon).

Mr. Golden Sun

I haven't blogged in a really long time, and I'm sorry. I just have so many other important things to do, like...well--like thinking about what I'm going to eat for lunch. That takes more energy and concentration than you'd think. Okay, not really, but I don't really have an excuse, so I made one up. Why yes, I am the ideal role model for children.

So, I've done some calculations (I hope you can follow my sophisticated mathematical reasoning):

June 2, 7:30 AM: 71 degrees

June 2, 8:00 AM: 78 degrees

June 2, 9:00 AM: 82 degrees

I'm sure you see the pattern. If the temperature (Fahrenheit, by the way--I don't do that Celsius mess) continues to rise at this rate, then according to my calculations by noon today it will be approximately 11,000 degrees, also known as the temperature of the surface of the sun. It's been nice knowing you.

But even more alarming than the temperature, folks, is the date. It's only June 2nd. This indicates that by mid-July temperatures will have reached a staggering 27,000,000 degrees, aka the temperature of the sun's core. It may even be hotter. Now, some people would be upset by this. I, however, am just glad that it's finally Earth's time to shine and show that ol' arrogant sun that he's not such hot stuff anymore.

Okay, seriously though, here are some quick updates on my wonderful life. I am getting laid off from my wonderful job--but not until the end of the wonderful month. So that's news, I guess. I still haven't officially picked a graduate school. I'm dragging my feet because neither place seems right. Why didn't I apply somewhere in Australia? I've got a pretty sweet internship at Drayton Hall, and it would be even sweeter if they paid me. I'm taking my car in to get the AC looked at on Friday, and if they can fix it, that'd be pretty sweet as well. Not that there's any point, really--I don't think a puny little AC unit will have much of a chance when it's 27,000,000 degrees. I'm just saying.