50 K!

Yep... this afternoon I passed the nano goal of 50 K! Granted, what I have is not organized and has large chunks missing out of it, but I passed and am a winner! So, yeah, I'm feeling very giddy right now.

Tomorrow I'll try to post about Thanksgiving and the weekend with Grandma Linda and Sunny.

Happy Thanksgiving!

A very happy Thanksgiving to you all! Enjoy this day!

How to Buy Tickets

Note to self: when you find tickets for a show you really want to attend, do not wait a month before buying them. We delayed on buying Owl City tickets, and thus there shall be no concert for Mandy, Dad, and me next February. But then, I doubt there were many tickets because the venue was so small. I hope he comes back to Atlanta in the near future.

On a happier note, Celtic Woman finally announced their 2010 tour last night. And they're making two stops in Atlanta in February (ironically, a week after what would have been Owl City). Yes, so I'm feeling very giddy about it right now. I'm waiting to see if a few friends are interested in going, though I think it will depend on the cost of a ticket. If they've gone down from what I paid last year, I'll be a happy camper. So, until then, time to count down and see when the Fox will start selling the tickets. Probably December.... grrr.

Sorry for the Delay

I apologize for the lack of posts, but I'm up to my neck in school and this stupid nano (which has no end in sight and which is making me hate its boring self). There's just so much to post about, but when I finally find the time to sit down, I've forgotten some of it.

Last Saturday, we attended the church's annual Thanksgiving dinner, which is always a great time of fellowship. Everyone pitched in and brought something, and the food was delicious. Mom bought some new gadget that allowed her to make ten pounds of mashed potatoes, and oh, were they excellent! After the meal, everyone, kids and adults alike, was allowed to stand up one at a time and share what they were thankful for. You had a wife thankful that her husband is returning from Afghanistan in a few weeks, husbands thankful for their wives, thanking God for being employed during this tough economic time, and being thankful for attending a good church. After that, everyone pitched in to clean up the church and prepare it for worship the next day. We were the last to leave, as Mom mopped the floor, and we were tired the next day. But, nonetheless, we enjoyed the service. One thing that was especially nice was being able to use our new sanctuary. About a month or so ago, construction finally began on the expansion of our church. They first built the extension on the back of the sanctuary then covered it before knocking down the wall to connect the two rooms. The newer part of the room is not quite finished yet, but sitting in it during the dinner and during church definitely made the entire sanctuary look bigger. Looking at the original size, I'm amazed that we fit so many people into the room; we must have absolutely been like canned sardines.

Now that the extension is connected, it will continue on the front side of the building where the sanctuary will be expanded about ten more feet. The bad thing about this is that today they tore up the bushes and sidewalk in the front of the church, which makes getting to the door complicated and muddy. We're supposed to be using the new door, but it's been blocked off because the extension is not quite finished. As I said, it complicates things.

Oh, before I forget. Thursday was loads of fun. We gathered a small group of peers from the youth group to go to the north Georgia corn maze before it closed down for the season on Saturday. We got dinner at McDonald's then drove an hour and a half to the Cleveland area. We then proceeded to get lost trying to find the road to turn onto, so Mom called Dad for help. With his aid, we figured that there are two roads titled "75" in the Cleveland/ Helen area; idiots couldn't have come up with a different name for it. Anyway, we arrived at the place but found that no one was at the desk. We were tempted to go inside the maze inside anyway, but a guy arrived, so we paid and went inside. The goal of the maze is to put seven whole punches into your paper from little hole punches all over the maze. We had to find these using flashlights. Mandy hung with Christopher and Bethany, Seth and Ben C. were loners, Ben G. and Cliff were together, and I was with Mom. The maze was much muddier than we expected, and our shoes and pants were covered in mud afterwards. Next time, I'll wear tennis shoes and not crocs. Anyway, Cliff and Ben, who finished early, took great delight in sneaking up on the girls and making them scream so loud you could hear them from all the way across the maze (which covered roughly eight acres). Cliff and Ben were cruel to me and Mom by jumping us and making Mom lose her hair clip temporarily. Then, while we were looking for the 4th hole puncher, they covered it up while we walked past. Towards the end, my eyes got used to the dark, so I walked without a flashlight. I found the 4th and 6th hole puncher by myself after I split off from Mom towards the end, and I had to guide her to both of them. After we finished the maze and got a few pictures (which I have yet to upload), we climbed back into the car and drove back to the church. After we dropped off Bethany to go home with Ben, we went to Burger King for a midnight snack of onion rings. We were tired, but oh, it was so much fun! We're planning on going again next fall and maybe even filming another film there, as the place would be perfect for either a sequel to "Curse of the Wood Man" or some sappy horror film.

And the rest of the week is going to be busy as well. Tomorrow we're having some friends over for a movie night to watch the new "Star Trek" (we watched it on Friday, and it was good). I have school on Wednesday (curse the Butler for only giving me one day for Thanksgiving break), then on Thursday we're going to Jefferson to celebrate Thanksgiving with the clan.

Whee!

Tonight, the youth group (including my family) is going to a corn maze in north Georgia. I'm looking forward to it, and I'll see if I can get any pictures, though it may be hard in the dark. Tomorrow Seth and Dad are going to Auburn, Alabama for an economics conference. And Saturday night, we're attending the church's annual Thanksgiving dinner, always a social event of the year. It's going to be a busy weekend.

Nano continues onwards. I am past 34 K, which means 16 K is left. I'm thinking now that I'm going to go far beyond 50 K because I simply have too much left to put in. With "New Moon" coming out tomorrow (much to my disgust), I'm trying to keep my desire to write a better human/ vampire romance story on the back burner; hard to when you have a contest to complete first. Argh!

Disappearing Is Nice...

I've been taking my own sweet time reading Plato's "Republic" for philosophy class because, frankly, it's one of the most boring books I've ever read and there is no set deadline. This afternoon I was going to finish reading Book 2 when I realized I couldn't find it, much to my pleasure. Mom teased me, saying that I probably threw it away but didn't want to admit it. Why would I do such a thing when I can sell it on-line when I'm done with it? Anyway, I was ready to celebrate the book's disappearance when I found it hiding on my dresser. I was bummed out, so I had to sit down and read it.

Also, I thought cockroach season is over down here. Tonight I've seen two cockroaches (possibly three) in the house, and one of them is dead. One of them decided to torment me by sitting on the shower rod while I was showering. I'm officially creeped out, to say the least. I hate those demon bugs. I wish there was a simple way to blast them all at once and keep them from coming back forever.

Party

Tonight we three Cunninghams helped participate in a large surprise party for our friend Leila Bowman. She was completely surprised. Once when she walked into the house and secondly when she unwrapped a suspicious-looking box to find Cliff inside. We ran around outside in the dark with a few flashlights before returning inside for some games. I got plenty of pictures, but I haven't uploaded them yet. I may do it tomorrow.

One good thing about going to a small college is that if the major teacher gets sick, there is no class. I nearly panicked this morning to wake up and find that it was 8:30, and my class is at 9:00. I discovered, though, that the Butler was sick. No classes meant some time to start taking notes for my second paper for Bible class, where I shall be refuting the New Perspective on Paul heresy.

I am also convinced that vitamin D does work. I had a headache earlier that was a warning sign of an impeding fever, but I took a large dose in the morning and smaller doses throughout the day. I'm feeling better and will continue taking them until this cough is gone. Until then, I'm more convinced of its natural remedy.

Results

I had the interview this morning, but sadly I don't think I'm going to be hired. They were looking for someone to help close up at night (which could be anytime between 10 PM to 1 AM) and which 1) I cannot drive to it but also 2) with college I do not want to be out late, especially on the night before morning classes. I'm going to keep looking for work.

We had a very busy weekend. Mom, Mandy, and myself went to the annual ladies' retreat in Helen, and we thoroughly enjoyed it. We had plenty of opportunity to fellowship with everyone else and enjoyed the two lessons, one on repentance and the other on modesty. All in all, an excellent weekend.

The weather here is pretty gross. Tropical Storm Ida (now a depression) is passing over us, giving us plenty of rain (like we need any more after the flooding in September) and a lot of wind, which is blowing the dying leaves off of the trees. As I said before, we're expecting a hard winter. I'm hoping for some nice snow because 1) we're long overdue and 2) I have a music video idea I'd like to try out, but it will only work with snow.

I know I'm rushing the post, but I haven't had much time to sit down and type it. Between college, catching up on nanowrimo (I'm at 18 K right now), and staying busy at school and with shopping, I haven't updated this blog as much. I will try to keep it fairly updated. Otherwise, nothing else interesting has been going on.

God Be Praised!

I have some good news! I have a job interview next Tuesday morning!

What happened is this: on Wednesday after my classes, we went to Toys 'R Us for some early Christmas shopping and saw that they were hiring. I went home and filled out the application on-line, not expecting a response because I have no experience in retail. Well, during philosophy class this morning, my phone started buzzing. It was a local number and since I had turned in the application, I decided to answer it in the hall. The lady was really nice and said that they were hiring temporary workers for the holiday season, and she wanted me to come in for an interview on Tuesday. I was so ecstatic when I heard it. It will be temporary, but it nonetheless will mean pay and experience, both of which are good. And Mom said that if I work well enough, they may decide to keep me on. That is, if I'm hired. But I'm feeling really happy that they called me for an interview because that is a very hopeful sign. As the title of my post says, God be praised for His love!

"You Might Be a Redneck if..."

Mandy lately has been speaking in more southern twang (probably from hanging out with the Greers), and today in the Costco parking lot she came up with a new word that cracked me and Mom up. She said "hawt," i.e. hot, and she spelled it for us.

I guess our southern blood is coming back. Got to get rid of the Yankee accent.

Ugh...

History class is quickly becoming boring. We've spent a ton of time on the Greeks, and the Butler keeps dragging it on. He keeps saying "ok, next class period we'll take about Alexander and his empire." He's been saying it for a week. Needless to say, I'm quickly learning to hate the Greeks. As Mom says, what a teacher's specialty is, they'll spend a lot of time focusing on that. Well, it's true. For Mr. Price it is the ancient world (particularly the Middle East), and for Mr. Butler it's Greece.

Oh, and just a head's up. It's not common knowledge because I'm not fully confirming it yet, but I won't be returning to Christ College next semester (and no, it has nothing to do with the slow classes right now). I'm still working out the details, but I'll probably be going elsewhere next fall with a break this winter (hopefully which I will use to build my income back up). As I said, nothing's been confirmed yet, but it's just a head's up.

Mom and the Eye

For those of you who know Mom, you'll know that she hates eyeballs. She can dissect anything except one of those. Yesterday, Mr. Butler brought in Halloween candy to school (which he took some from his kids) for us three students who were there. Among the candy were two eyeballs made of candy, the weirdest and grossest thing I've ever seen. I mentioned that Mom hated eyeballs, and Ben C. decided to play a little good-natured joke on her. He opened the package (with great difficulty) and approached her as she was taking out the garbage. He held it out and said something like "I found this. I think the kids may have found it somewhere." The look on Mom's face was priceless. Especially when Ben ate it. Mom thanked me for telling my classmates that she hates eyes. It was funny.