Day 27, Mineral makes the map!

Where were YOU during the 2011 Virginia earthquake?

I was at school, and, as many of you probably experienced, the ground began to tremble under my feet. I did not like it at all.

We seminary students trooped outside and a guy reported "Epicenter Mineral, Virginia!" That brought it home. (Since it actually is my second home...)

Five months ago Dominion Power reported that the North Anna Nuclear Power plant was designed to withstand an earthquake of magnitude 5.9 – 6.1.

Yesterday (as you know) was a 5.8, the epicenter right by the plant.

Good-NESS close call. Praise the Lord for a crisis averted.

DAY 26

Today I went to school. My Greek professor is so old. I love him! He knows my name and I've never had him before. After Greek I talked to my Hebrew professor. It was good. I can neither confirm nor deny that I cried during half of it...

Somehow he convinced me (mostly) to stay there at the school. After talking to him I went to register for classes and see about a payment plan. The girl in the office told me I needed to pay 20% immediately. I'd forgotten my checkbook and can't charge that much money, so I told her nevermind, I just won't go to school. She thought I was being rude and trying to get my way; I insisted, NO SERIOUSLY, this is a door closing and I will take it! I'd been waiting for something to happen to force my decision. No luck, she gave me until Wednesday to pay. I went outside and cried. Sometimes (always) I wish God would make decision-making easier. But then I wouldn't pray so much.

Later in the evening I got to "teach" Hebrew for about 5 minutes in class. Half the markers were dry when I tried to write on the board. Here's an excerpt from an email I received from my Hebrew professor at midnight tonight: (I'm sure he won't mind.)

I'm sorry for the bad marker you got a hold of. That is completely my fault.

I will try to ensure that every marker is flowing with ink for the remainder of our classes.

Hahaha... Can you see how great this man is? If you ever want to learn Hebrew, I'll introduce you to a great great teacher.

יְבָרֶכְךָ יְהוָה וְיִשְׁמְרֶךָ

יָאֵר יְהוָה פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ וִיחֻנֶּךָּ

יִשָּׂא יְהוָה פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ וְיָשֵׂם לְךָ שָׁלוֹם

The Lord bless thee and keep thee;

The LORD make His face to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee;

The LORD lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.

Shalom.

25th DAY

After church, the roommies convened on the pink couches and watched 27 Dresses and The Proposal and then the beginning of Bride Wars. I locked and padlocked the door at about 7 PM (to keep the boys out). Roommate time is golden.

24th Day - Bondservant Alison

Hello there. Today I was a bondservant, and Kristen was Master. The day was spent entirely indoors--Kristen on the big couch, me on the small couch. We ate delicious breakfasts. Shortly after that I went to my room and read CS Lewis' "The Weight of Glory." I got distracted later in the day and forgot about her for a while. At 4:00 I came back to the living room to find her starving. Oops. I made her a pizza, which she liked much better than yesterday's hotdog. TV movie TV appletinis. I fought with Kristen because I didn't think she should have an appletini being in her condition. I realized later it was I who should have not had an appletini, being on steroids. Oops. Kristen is a kind master.

23 - Victory is Mine

This morning Kristen and I hung out at the hospital for a while. She went under the knife, and I journalled under the sun, on a bench outside. Later I joined her during recovery and read to her the news, movie reviews, cnn Life articles on dating. The nurses made us laugh, and we concluded they have a great job, waiting on people and cheering them up. Later on I assembled Kristen a hotdog that she hated. I wanted to say I cooked it, but according to Kristen rolling a hotdog around in a frying pan doesn't constitute cooking. However, she was nice enough to call it "interesting" instead of "garbage." I consider this a great victory.

TWENTY TWO IS MY LUCKY NUMBER

I was BORN on the 22nd. A guy asked me to homecoming on my birthday in 9th grade.

I thought he was the cutest thing ever, and his basketball number was 22. We went to homecoming together but I was too scared to talk to him, and he actually had a crush on a friend of mine.

Moral of the story: Lucky numbers are usually picked for dumb reasons. Lucky numbers are stupid.

Day 21 - Attack of Poison Ivy

The poison ivy is attacking me, limb by limb, and every 3 in. square has been hit. My doctor couldn't take me until Friday so I went to Urgent Care. I waited for an hour to see the doctor and I had absolutely nothing to entertain myself--cell phones weren't even allowed on AIRPLANE MODE. When's the last time you sat and did nothing but wait for an hour? I went to my car and brought back a pad of paper. (Remind me to always travel with a good book in the car.) I thought maybe I'd doodle or write out some prayers, but that's a little weird when you have people sitting directly beside you, and you know they've got a direct line of vision and nothing else to do. I abandoned that idea after about 30 seconds.

I considered asking everyone in the waiting room what was wrong with them. HAHAHA. One guy had cut himself while cooking hotdogs (i overheard him tell the lady at the front desk) and had this rag wrapped around his hand, ew. Without it being cold season, everyone else looked like they were doing just fine. I probably did to them, too, unless they caught a glimpse of the back of my legs before I sat down.

Now I'm on steroids. I thought I'd need to find guys to help me move. NOT ANYMORE!!!