Three Cheers For Summer

So let's here it! It was fun, it was prosperous, it had educational experiences I'll remember and learn from the rest of my life, and now it's all over and we all go back to school. I do, anyhow. And I really think an insane work week is the perfect way to launch into the school year, no? It wasn't all that bad, really; the weather decided it finally wanted it to be summer, and a nice, sunny, cool, breezy one at that. A little more humid Friday, but still quite bearable, and we were roofing, too. Yesterday, on the other hand, was quite beastly. Very hot, very humid (started at 0825, was soaked and dripping by 0900), and it probably didn't help that I worked a twelve hour day. I've mostly recovered, I think. I relaxed all afternoon - wiped and reinstalled my friends laptop (yes, I love windows), read, and listened to the last of the National Folk Festival on Maine Public Radio. Great stuff - Vishten, Solas, others I can't remember the names of - and I wish I could have gone up . . . but there's next year, I suppose.

Ah, yes, school. Which paperwork for I have some yet to do (parking permit, aka 'Hunting License'), books to get, since I haven't had time this week.....ah, yes. And the 0600 alarm time. (Sing ho! for eight-o'clock classes, aye, Sing hey! for the dawn o' grey . . .) Which reminds me, I have my own car, or will in a couple weeks. Grey (no, gray...I dunno, which?) Volvo 240 sedan, '87 I think. In awesome condition, but as yet without a name. She really needs one, too. Randy is tentative at the moment, partly due to the fact that our family has just re-read the Melendy books (Elizabeth Enright), which are just totally awesome anyway. (And yes, Spiderweb for Two _is_ definitely the best one, but only if you've read all the others first. In order. And I'm starting to ramble....) But Randy seems a sort of Volvo-y name to me for some reason, I dunno why. So does Betsy, though, or other such names. At any rate, I'm still working on it.

So, off to take care of what last minute details I can before tomorrow morning, and hope I don't forget anything and that all my forms got in on time. College, here I come. And I know I'm forgeting something just now, but I haven't any idea what or what it's related too at all....darn. Maybe it's time to give my brain a break.

The Timeless Question Persists

What are rainy Saturdays good for? Dreary, they are, or at least this one. The sort of day that's only just lighter at nine o'clock than at seven and persists in being so all day. Aside from some pinkish bits of sky right now. I sorted more stuff in my room, I made a couple brackets to hand a power strip on the back of my guitar amp, plowed through a bit more of Xenocide (Orson Scott Card), weekly house cleaning. Slept in, because I stayed up until about 0030 reading 'The Tale of Despereaux; being the story of a mouse, a princess, some soup, and a spool of thread' (Kate DiCamillo). Nothing like staying up late with a book and a good piece of your birthday Cheesecake - prime topper for a halfway decent Birthday. Especially after attending a Portland Sea Dogs game yesterday evening with my youth group, which was a lot of fun. Sea Dogs won, which was a plus. Not a half bad way of beginning my last year as a teenager, I suppose.

All in all it's been a decent week, perhaps a bit mundane. Or seems so in light of my current mood, anyhow. Blurry would be a better word. Spent Monday making a large dent in clutter, Tuesday being oriented to SMCC (which was interesting, and occasionally helpful), work the rest of the week, and Dad's Ordination service Wednesday night. Had a pile of the family here for supper and didn't get to spend very much time with people on the whole due to my getting home just about in time for it, but it was quite good nonetheless.

And so was my week. Shadowed by the moment in which I am currently, but my week nonetheless. It may be a small world, but it's plenty big enough to get lost in, seem like you're a nebulous region without an immediate purpose. To feel rejected by some, which overshadows acceptance by others and gives birth to the conception that no one really knows who you are; that you may not even know yourself. Obnoxiosly persistant feeling, it is.

We interrupt this broadcast...

....to bring you earth-shattering news! Rumor has it that the website of Yorse Troolie was updated today, and may possibly have been responsible for recent Geo-Climactical disturbances on the eastern seaboard. 'It's....unbelievable', said some random spokesperson. 'I mean, we though there might be something coming, but not this soon, or this big.' Speculation is rampant in the scientific community, but at this time the event is believed to be a fluke, and certainly not malevolently initiated. When contacted by reporters, the party responsible merely remarked that it was awefully late, and he should really get to bed because he might have to work tomorrow. He did hint, however, about possible further clarification at a future date.

Nondescript Sentience

Here I be, typing on my blog at midnight. What a life, eh? Sitting here in the dark, waiting for my hair to dry and listening to the crickets barely audible above the noise of my window fan and wanting to go for a long walk in the dark to listen to the wind and the crickets and smell the air. But I need sleep. So I sit here instead. Wonderful logic, that.

Finished 'Speaker of the Dead' tonight, thoroughly enjoying it. It tends to be a rather painful book at times, but very good nonetheless. Also took a night shower, as it was very hot and humid today and I helped Dad move some old railroad ties and other hunks of tree. The sort of weather in which you just stand and sweat; you don't have to do anything. Just stand there and the humidity clings to you and drips down the middle of your back like an impish tendril purposely trying to annoy you.

So here I sit, contemplating life and trying to make my brain define lines instead of gray areas, waiting, because I hate going to bed with wet hair. It ends up pretty weird in the morning if I do that. I should really go out in the woods one of these nights, lie in our field and look at the trees and stars. It might do me some good. To be alone, get away from some of life for a bit and work out other parts, and just know that the universe is still wheeling away just how God put in motion, that everything on Earth is like a dandelion, and that I, of all people, am loved and cared for by the Creator of the universe.

Weekends Are Nice, Yo

Friday night, nothing to do and too much to do, and I don't have to work tomorrow. Yeah. I didn't think my room could get any worse, really, but it's managed to do so anyhow. Lil' Bro Kiddo got out some Lego's, some papers got dumped, etc. I have a box of books on my bed - instead of stacked there or on Claude (my old regular chair) and stacks of books on the desk. At the moment, bunches of Robin McKinley from the library and Orson Scott Card (the entire Ender and Ender's Shadow series) borrowed from my friend Mikael. (Good stuff. Read it. Ender's Game is first.) And then there's just the whole lot of other junk just around and not where it's supposed to be, wherever that is.

(...we were meant to live for so much mo-o-ore, yeaeaheaheah...)

Eh, sorry. Switchfoot is awesome. Then, so is Take 6. Different ends of the musical spectrum (slightly, anyway - rock and jazz-a-capella), but equally awesome.

Ooo. Back from spinning around a couple times in my new desk chair (a real one!), Zippy. Like with wheels and it spins and is nice and comfy and cost me a whopping six bucks at Goodwill. Everyone, this is Zippy. Zippy, everyone. (This is fun....I'm feeling sort of like Wooton Basset (from Adventures in Odyssey) right now.

And tomorrow, I get to go do errands and stuff again. Bank (first college payment due, Goodwill (just because it's there and I will be, too, and the local drug store for a new nail file. Lost mine while we were camping. *sigh* Ah, well. It had a good life. And maybe look at a car, too. Fun fun fun (to borrow the colloquialism).

Sing Ho! for the Weather.

Gee, I love hot humid weather. Heat I can stand, but heat coupled with air nearly humid enough to be mistaken for fog, that is what I don't like. Cold and foggy I can deal with (and enjoy somewhat), but the heat just drains your energy like edarotaG. Or something.

I didn't go to work today because when I woke up it was raining. And thundering. So decided to sleep in a little, and, of course, it decided to stop raining about 0900-ish and just look slightly ominous and unpredictable. And it hasn't rained since. In fact, the sun is shining (as much as it does on very hazy days, anyhow), and I was going to see if my boss was down at the site but managed to not be able to. Lost track of time doing errands and didn't have time to swing by before Mom needed the car, and made Mom late for her meeting to boot. (This is what we have watches for, people!)

So it's been a not quite tops day so far . . . although I have gotten some more stuff sorted in my room. Major reorganizations are not precisely my forte, but it really really really need(s|ed) it in order to have workable space for both myself and my brother, room for school books, etc. Really amazing how much miscellaneous stuff I had stashed around here. So far this afternoon I've recycled a six-eight inch stack of old catalogs and papers I had around for no apparent reason. I've also got most of my stacks sorted and filed into folders, though I don't have the folders filed properly yet, just a stack. I'm still mulling about precisely how I want to organize my Office (the shelf above my computers now designated for filing papers & correspondance of any sort, emvelopes, stamps, bank deposit slips, etc.).

Other than that, I'm just enjoying inside out of the sun, Earthsuit at a pleasant volume to be heard over computers and window fan, and the lunch I just ate now for some reason. And now, back to organizing. Stacks of books on my bed, and a general lot of stuff scattered about and begging to please be put _somewhere_else_.

Ah, Life.

Yes indeed. Back to work for a couple weeks, after vacation and before school, and hope it doesn't rain like they say it's going to the last half of this week. Inclement weather is not conducive to such activities as siding houses. This is nearly the only solid week I've got left free to work, too. Next week I've got school orientation Tuesday, My Dad's ordination Wednesday, and my Birthday is Friday. The week after that is mostly free at the moment, but I expect to fill it up a bit getting ready for classes and such. On top of this most interesting summer, I get to figure out the whole college thing this fall, to boot.

Ah, yes. Life. Our speck of time on earth which seems so long, so short; so inconsequential at times, but so important. And scary. That you might mess it up. Or what will happen if you have. But that, I suppose, is what forgiveness and grace are for.

In the words of Andrew Peterson:

'Give us faith to be strong
Father, we are so weak
Our bodies are fragile and weary
As we stagger and stumble to walk where You lead
Give us Faith to be srong

Give us faith to be strong
Give us strngth to be faithful
This life is not long, but it's hard
Give us grace to go on
Make us willing and able
Lord, give us faith to be strong

Give us peace when we're torn
Mend us up when we break
This flesh can be wounded and shaking
When there's much too much trouble for one heart to take
Give us peace when we're torn'

And, thank God, He does.

Well, Here I Am

Now what? I suppose this to be an experiment in something or other. Online journalling, something to do. A digital pen pal of sorts, perhaps; just one that doesn't write back. I guess I'll find out.

I will admit, there is a sort of sense of prowess and, well, power which comes with owning a blog. Not unlike having a website, really, just a different purpose, and usefull or useless as it may be. Usefull or useless as it *will* be, probably. Who in the wide, wide world would be interested in my (at the moment increadibly) confused life is beyond me. But what do I know. I'm just a silly human, and there are millions like me. And who knows. It's a mad world.

So, here's to whatever this beast becomes; that which is called a blog.