I guarantee that this will be the most beautiful version of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” that you’ve ever heard. It’s sung by a Celtic group, performed in Slane Castle, Ireland. I think I actually stopped breathing while they were singing! So angelic!
Archives for November 2009
Thanksgiving 2009
This year, Jesse and I decided to spend Thanksgiving with his Uncle, Fr. Peter Smith. Normally, it would be an 8 hour drive to Wichita, Kansas, but 7 days ago Fr. Peter, his wonderful wife Collette, and his two kids Maria (10) and Nicholas (4), all moved to a suburb of Austin, TX, to take over a parish that just lost their priest to a car accident. So, as of 7 days ago, we now have wonderful family living only 3 hours away from us!!
Not only was it wonderful getting to meet their family, but have you ever been to Austin?? It’s GORGEOUS. It’s been compared to downtown San Luis Obispo since it has the quaint, quirky and fun college town feel (hello UTexas!) but it’s a big city and the capitol of Texas. As far as the terrain, it’s situated right in the heart of the “rolling hills of Texas”. It actually reminds me a lot of where I grew up, only, much much cheaper, and with a big city attached. Apparently the music scene is pretty thriving there as well- it’s called the “Live Music Capitol of the World”.
Lest you doubt me:
Jesse’s uncle Joel lives near his parish in Dripping Springs, a small town about 20 min. to the West of Austin proper. It’s fantastic country out there, just gorgeous:
I'm not even kidding. This is Dripping Springs. Can you believe this is even Texas?
Goodbye Anemia!
I know it’s a little early for New Year’s Resolutions, but I have finally decided to conquer my iron deficiency. Instead of just grabbing a once a day vitamin, I took my friend Heather’s advice and went for 65 mg (the amount she used to prescribe to patients). She also suggested taking it with a high dose of Vitamin C since it helps absorption.
What health resolutions are you guys making? Perhaps we can all collaborate and become super-health nuts this year!
UD Update
I don’t know if I mentioned this on here, but the UD Financial Office is AWESOME. Because of Biola and it’s crap-tacular system, I always assumed that the Financial Aid office was the one who took away your scholarships and tried to get you to pay more money. Huh. Doesn’t really make sense, does it?
So when UD asked all of the grad students to turn in Financial Aid forms, regardless of need, I got suspicious. Should I let them know I exist? Isn’t that similar to shouting up at Zeus, “Hey, I’m smokin hot! Just thought I’d let you know, just in case you get bored!” Excuse my analogy- I just got finished reading Shakespeare’s Venus and Adonis.
But I did it. And it turned out to be the hugest blessing in disguise, because they not only sought out specific government grants, but they applied for and secured one for me! Without any work on my part! Seriously, the biggest thing I had to do was turn in a form with my signature, stating that I accepted the free money. And, since the grant is retroactively applied to the semester I’d already paid for, they cut me a check. I can’t tell you how exciting it was to walk in to the business office and pick up $1300 of free money.
So, thanks to the UD Financial Aid Office, I am now getting my Masters Degree for roughly $300/semester. ROCK ON!!!
As far as classes go, well, it’s that time of the year. If you remember me in your prayers, I have a paper due on Wednesday for the notorious Dr. Crider. He’s famous for drawing a red line through your paper with a note saying, “This is where I got bored and stopped reading. Try again.” I’ve had many of the PhD students warn me about this class, telling me not to take getting a D on my first paper seriously. “Everyone fails their first paper with him”, they say. “Just work hard on the 2nd and 3rd and he will reward that”. I don’t think I’ve ever received a C since that famous day in Ms. Adam’s 11th grade geometry. This class is going to murder the perfectionist inside my head, then parade around wearing the entrails of my crushed self-esteem.
But I am already looking forward to next semester’s classes. I will have a class over Dante’s Divine Comedy on Monday nights (with my professor from the summer Shakespeare class that I immensely enjoyed), a Shakespeare class on Wednesday nights with the resident Shakespeare God, Dr. Alvis (the one I cited once upon a time in a Torrey paper of mine), and a class on the American Transcendentalists (Hawthorne, Melville, Poe) on Thursday nights.
Now, if I could only figure out how to survive this week….
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