Tidbits

I swear, I always forget everything I want to add to a blog post, and I'm sure this time will be no exception. But, I will put down what I remember.

1) The weekend of my birthday, Grandma Linda took me out for my birthday, and we had a girls' day out at the mall. We had a good time shopping together, and I got some shirts and a bathing suit.

2) In less than a week's time, we've attended two graduations, one for two peers of Seth and Mandy, and another for cousin Gabe. Attending Gabe's last night, I don't think I've ever been at a graduation that large; we Cunninghams made plenty of noise cheering for Gabe, as there were around forty of us taking up parts of three rows.

3) On Sunday we had company over for lunch: the Strevels, Alex, and then some of the Price family. We had a blast with them.

Well, that's all I remember, though I could have sworn there was more. We're looking forward to the church's annual Memorial Day picnic on Monday, and Seth, Dad, and I are looking forward to a three-day weekend, as crunch time is upon us.

Skype and Turning 21

Ok, well now I'll finally post about the big event of turning 21. The stress of Friday melted away from everyone when we went to the Bowmans' house for dinner. We all had a blast, and we kids learned a dance called the "clumsy lover". I think there's hope for me to overcome my clumsiness and two left feet yet. We kids also spent the night with them then the next morning went with them to help a family from our church move. It was a really nice weekend altogether and very providential, I believe, that we fellowshipped with fellow church family on the same day everyone was stressed out and worried. It was an excellent way to loosen up and be relieved of the day's burdens.

And now, on to the main event. I woke up on May 4th not feeling any different, just groggy and not wanting to get up to go to work at 5:45 AM. Work was normal that day with nothing extraordinary happening. After work, Seth and I came home to find my birthday dinner. I had had a tricky time figuring out what I wanted Mom to make, so I settled on salisbury steak (more like hamburger cooked in a kind of broth and onions then set on top of French bread), which was absolutely delicious. Dessert was sort of humorous, actually, because I had been thinking of banana pudding a few days earlier but had not said anything, and that was the dessert Mandy chose to make (and it also was excellent). My birthday present came on Thursday, as I was fully expecting to have to wait for it because it was a big-ticket item. That evening, while Seth and Mandy were off at youth group, Mom and Dad went out for a few hours then came back with a box. And, inside it, was a beautiful HP laptop, the same one Mom has. I stayed up a little late to get a few things installed, but the next day I had fun installing the rest. I absolutely love my new laptop. I now don't have to switch between computers carrying my hard drive if I want to work on something, and... I also have a webcam!

So, yes, I did install skype on my new laptop. I'm not giving out my username for just anyone, so if you want it (I'll only give it to people I know) either e-mail me or leave a comment (I control the comments, so I won't post ones about your usernames).

So, a big thank you to my family for my new "toy". I love it and am looking forward to using it for school this fall.

A Stressful Day

Ok, one of these days I'll get to posting about my birthday, but right now I'm not really in the mood. Today I was reminded why I really dislike cities.

A few weeks ago, I made plans to attend the orientation at Georgia State so I could take care of some things there and get introduced to the campus. We had it all worked out, and everything seemed to go well this morning when Mom dropped me off. Orientation itself as ok, though the campus itself is a labyrinth set in the middle of the labyrinth of Atlanta (not to mention being right next to Grady Hospital and Cabbagetown). Still, it was uneventful, and I did everything I wanted, except for one thing that I may have to do later. I signed up for classes, and it all worked out perfectly so that I only attend them on Tuesday and Thursdays, something I really wanted to do, so I was relieved. However, the worse was yet to come.

Mom called and asked where I was so she could get me, but I had no clue because of the campus' design. While I tried to guide her with the map that I had taken (I thought it would be helpful for figuring out buildings and such, but it wasn't), my phone died and so I stood on the corner of a street for several minutes until finally Mom and Mandy found me. We had slight trouble getting out of Atlanta, then I realized how stressful the whole morning had been. Mom had spent two hours trying to get onto the right highway after dropping me off, and then she had had to call Dad again after my phone died. To kick myself for past mistakes and indecisions, I treated Mom and Mandy to Zaxby's for lunch then helped straighten up the church before the big cleaning day tomorrow.

Make no mistake; every time Mom goes downtown, she ends up getting lost; we joked that we should buy her a GPS. But, then again, Atlanta was very poorly designed, with several one-way streets and the like... not to mention the location of the GSU campus. Mom and I both agree that we should blame the Yankees for it; after all, Sherman burned the city to the ground and forced us to re-design it Yank-style. So, we're blaming it on the Yanks. And also on my inability to drive, which is becoming very crippling and frustrating at the moment.

So, today was a stressful day. While I'm looking forward to starting my classes in August and commuting via a bus, still today didn't go as well as I would have liked. But, it's all in God's hands, and I pray He will sanctify all of us through it.

Removing Blog Posts

Ok, before I post about turning 21, I wanted to let you know that the posts of my time in Houston have been removed from the Ramblings blog. This was a decision made by myself, though it has been on my mind for a week. Looking back over those posts, I am ashamed to say that I lacked discretion in talking about the time I spent working in Texas and in some of those posts was doing nothing other than letting myself vent over issues that I should not have. So, I apologize here, to my readers and to Barker Cypress, for those posts. I copied them on a word document, but I will not be posting that anywhere else on-line or showing it to anyone else.

So Far...

Nothing monumental has happened since my last post. Work continues to keep me busy; Seth is now working at Radiant too, and it'll be competition time for us... hehe. Our boss Andrea's got us busy, as we've got four hundred time clocks to build by the end of June (not to mention other peripherals that we've got to make as well during that time. But, with four temps including myself and Seth working in our area, I think we'll manage). Not sure if I'll manage waking up at 5:45 AM each morning and going to bed at 10 PM (too early for me and my night-owl ways).

I'm working on getting ready for Georgia State in the fall. I've applied for financial aid and have determined that living on campus is out of the question (the bus seems to be my transportation, but we'll have to see). Next Friday I'm going to an orientation downtown, where I hope to sign up for my classes and become accustomed with my new campus. Journalism majors are required to have a minor, so I'm choosing anthropology (it fascinates me, and it's more of something for me to have fun with then actually do something with).

I can't believe I'll be 21 tomorrow. I don't feel like 21; sometimes I don't even feel like I'm 20. And, no, I'm not planning on having a celebratory drink or anything like that; being a tee-totaler by choice because I don't like alcohol, nothing much will change in that regard. I'm not making any big plans for my birthday, as I've got work on the brain (work pays for college), beyond the usual stuff that we do for everyone's birthday (favorite dinner cooked by Mom, favorite restaurant on another night).