It has been a long time since I have posted on here. Here's why:

This past month was pretty much devoted to my thesis. This paper started out with the intention of being about 15 pages long (my professor's estimation). However, as time went on, we realized that more and more things needed to be commented on. Thus, my "15-page paper" became a lovely 40-page thesis in under a month, on a subject which I had no previous experience with (a linguistic analysis of Middle English through literature). On top of all of that, of course, I was also planning programs as an RA, helping to move people out, trying to keep up with my other three classes, and preparing to graduate. To say the least, it was quite busy.

So that is why a number of things which should have been done did not get done, including blogging and sending out graduation announcements. But it has been good and God has been good through it all. I did feel a bit like I would go insane at some points, but now I have a little bit of time to pause and reflect before continuing on. 

So... graduation. Graduation was definitely interesting. I was happy the week leading up to graduation because my sister Sarah came down the Wednesday before (after my last final) and spent some time with me getting to know my campus and my friends. Didn't really do much other than going out to eat and working on packing up. And shopping. A little bit of shopping. 

The rest of the family came down the night before (the rest meaning those expected, one aunt and uncle on my mom's side and the rest of my immediate family). They arrived and we played a card game at the hotel before calling it a night. I freaked out at a little after midnight because I was considering my graduation outfit when I realized that I didn't have a stoll (the little drape-y thing that goes around your neck). I thought for a frantic few minutes that I had forgotten to buy an important part of the graduation ensemble and called my friend Sarah and ran over to her room in my graduation robe. But we didn't have stolls for our graduation. Whew. Graduation morning was beautiful -- great skies, no rain. We had had lots of rain the week before, so our graduation ended up being indoors, in the WAC. Not cool, in my opinion, but understandable. My family got there early and had their seats well-planned, which was nice. We grads lined up in front of Ellis and paraded across campus to get to the WAC. Once we got there, we went into the gym through a line-up of our professors to our seats. The ceremony was nice, though I think the main speaker and our Provost were the only ones who spoke well at all. And, ta-da!, I graduated cum laude. 

This Fall, I am hoping to be attending a certain fabulous school (those who know me should know the identity of it).  I have been accepted, of course, but now I need to figure out how to pay for the first year (no funding for my studies 'til the second year). So we'll see how it goes. I'm now visiting my sister Sarah, who is trying desperately to keep me from getting into a "Graduated Undergrad Funk". To tell the truth, right now I'm just exhausted and want to lie around on a couch for a few days doing nothing. But, it is good to have people to do stuff with, so I'm thankful to her for her efforts. Will write more later. 

-- Amy

R.I.P., 28-squared.
I don't know how well you can see the picture, but this was 28-squared. In the brick pit on campus, there was a set of bricks in the southwest corner (exactly twenty-eight squares from the south and 28 squares from the west) which were just a bit loose. You couldn't pick them up, but they wobbled, and you could stand on them and just wobble back and forth. I liked this very much and it was my happy place on campus. Whenever I felt unhappy or unlucky, I would go and either step on them in passing or even just stand on them and wobble to and fro. I know this is weird, but it's what I do. I took this picture last year before I went to England so that I would have my happy spot to look at while I was away. Anyways, I particularly needed some cheering up the other day, so I decided to go to 28-squared. What I saw was very sad. Apparently, the college finally decided to fix 28-squared. They reset it in new cement. It stood out with obvious new cement and it didn't wiggle. It didn't budge. It just was there, sad and unmoving in the rain. It's so ridiculous, but I realized something: I really like to appreciate the little things and it's little things which make me happy. But this also means that it doesn't take much to make me sad. So Rest in Peace, 28-squared. I will miss you.

What a wonderful day!

First of all, all should note that yesterday, for the first time ever, I beat my friend Sarah at a chess game!!!! Granted, it was her birthday, but I had warned her earlier that I wasn't going to just let her win. So it was fair. I was very happy about that.

Secondly, today's just a wonderful day. Got up, had a good Quiet Time, and am feeling optimistic.
Hooray!

As the frost of Winter begins to melt at the warm breath of Spring, I feel that the frost on my heart has begun to melt as well. I don't remember when that frost came, but it's been slowly creeping around my soul for some time now. The Prince of Winter tried once to ambush me suddenly with the frost, hoping to sometime turn it to stone, but he realized that my heart couldn't be conquered by such an outright show of force. So he came at me sideways. Little doubts, little whispers.
Now I hear the Lord of Growth and Spring call me back again. But how to react? I've been slowly taking my heart from Him. He whispers answers to my questions, yet I ignore and run away from them, afraid of what they entail. Then I realize how much of my life has been dominated just by that: Fear. It is my impediment which ensnares my feet from moving, ensnares my heart from caring.
Heard an excellent sermon last Sunday. The pastor spoke about the difference between commitment and conversion. Commitment is just words, but conversion is true transformation. I look at my life recently and I see fear. I don't follow my Lord with the love of a daughter to a father -- I don't do things for Him because I want to please Him. I follow Him through fear. I do things because I fear His wrath and anger.
Alot needs to be revamped. This house needs to be torn down and a new foundation built. I have seen my idols and have tried to get rid of them on my own. However, as my sister Sarah told me, I see that I need to stop treating the symptoms and start treating the disease. I need to pursue the Cure. Will this surgery be enough? Will it remove enough of my disease to get to the heart of the matter? This story needs to stop being dedicated to the Master and instead needs to be written by Him.

Wow! What a week! I had a Roman Civ. paper due on Tuesday, a midterm in the same class on Thursday, (originally) three articles to write (ended up I only needed to write one, the others got cancelled), hosted a prospie last night, and was just running around all week. And now it's done! Well... not entirely. This next week I have an RA Inservice on Sunday, an Old English Test for my Ind. Study on Wednesday, an Annotated Bib. due in Human Impact on Thursday, and a Latin Elements test in Etymology on Friday! Whew! And yet, I don't feel nearly as stressed as I was this past week. I think it's because I hadn't gotten alot of reading finished for Roman Civ. and had to catch up a bit, whereas I've been keeping pace with all of my other classes pretty well.
Thursday was a fantastic day. I finished my midterm and simply felt free and happy. Listened to a presentation in Human Impact, went to Fellowship for Dinner, where I got to talk with Melanie about Oxford, and finished off the day by inviting residents to take a quick break from studying to watch some tv and eat chocolate chip cookie dough and chocolate (of which I have an abundance left over from Valentine's Day).
Friday was likewise wonderful. Had my Ind. Study in the morning, Etymology in the afternoon, then came back and cleaned up my room before picking up the Prospie at six. Went out to eat at Domoyaki, watched Dollhouse, and introduced the Prospie to Firefly. It was a fantastic day. I just really like it when I feel that things are busy, but under-control-type-of-busy.

All's well. :-). Am looking forward to this time next week when I'm on Spring Break and going home for a week!

-- Amy

It's a warm and rainy today, so I've opened up my windows to let the air and sound of rain in. Nobody's blasting their music today, so I get to simply enjoy the sound of the rain.

Am thinking that I'll have to pull my application for University of Edinburgh... They're asking for a Degree Certificate (which I don't have yet) and a full-fledged research proposal (which I definitely don't have yet). I hate to put all my hope of returning to the UK on one grad school, but I talked with Dr. Resinski and she agreed that that would probably be best. "Their starting ramp is just not matching up with your starting ramp" as she said. Luckily, Edinburgh didn't ask for any application fees, so withdrawing my application wouldn't take away money.

Read the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew today and got thinking about the passage where Jesus says that if your right eye causes you to sin, you should gouge it out. Of course, I think that he's using it as an analogy (yes?). It got me thinking about my DVD collection and television watching. Is this a source that I should cut off? We'll see.

Have been playing the computer in games of chess alot recently and have been very happy that I've been dominating. However, the computer has made idiotic plays, so I guess I shouldn't be too happy about it.

Tomorrow is Pay Day! Is it sad that I'm far more excited about this than the 14th? I have to be on duty this weekend and am thinking of getting a group of my single lady friends together with some cookie dough to watch a couple of "chick flicks" this Saturday. I think that would be lovely. (starts humming "Wouldn't It be Loverly?" from My Fair Lady)

-- Amy

Well, not too much has been going on this week -- it has simply been a good week in general. I've gotten work done, hung out with friends, and have talked with my family plenty. I do wish that I could go home this weekend, but that's just a silly impulse. Tomorrow's the 20 year anniversary for our church which we have attended for 10 years, and I'd like to go. But a 14-hour round-trip drive is just not very practical on the weekends. It's just a bit strange, having lived in England last year. Then, there wouldn't have been the slightest possibility of going home on the weekend at all, I couldn't even go home on the bank holiday weekends. Yet here, home is only a 7-hour drive away. I keep thinking "I could go! I have a car! I can drive there! It's not like I have to hop on a plane for 10 hours!" Yet I know that I shouldn't. I don't quite know what gets me in these moods. :-)



In other news: I tried out a new hairstyle yesterday and got 4 unsolicited comments! That made me a little happy, as vain as it sounds. Also, today has been absolutely beautiful! We had sunny skies and the temperature was around 60. Was able to go around without my coat on, which was fantastic. Because the weather was so nice, I opened up my windows for a bit and did a little bit of knitting. However, I had to close them after awhile, because it became cloudy and colder, and the music from Martin was disturbing me. But praise God for beautiful days! I loved it!

-- Amy