Things to be thankful for...

As of today, I've been married to Michael for a year and a half. That's a very good thing.

He brought me roses. They're beautiful and made my difficult day a little easier.

Ben's coming today. I don't think he planned it this way, but I like to think of it as an anniversary gift and Christmas gift and (what the heck?) birthday gift all rolled into one.

I really like my new massage therapist. She's kind of like a counselor and she makes me feel good about me.

I think, maybe, possibly, I'm less dizzy today. (It's really more of a wishful, hopeful, than a for sure thing.)

Only two more days before I fly home. Not drive, fly. Huzzah.

I'm planning on playing Boggle for my students' final exam. This will be more fun than an exam. At least I think so. And they probably will too, since it's for bonus points or something. I haven't figured it all out yet, but it means I don't have to grade a test.

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel: I'm closing in on finishing grading these book reports.

Those are very good things.

There is no subject.

I want to go home. My mom's ginormous Christmas tree is up. Actually, it's only 11 feet this year. Dino thinks it's too small.

Plus it's been really foggy here for the last three days. This does not lend itself to me feeling good about life.

And today I just want to cry a little. Mostly frustration. What is it about plagiarism that is so appealing to English students? Anyone have ideas on what to do about this issue? I have at least six plagiarised papers. That's not good, folks.

I made cookies this week. They're good, but I'd rather be home.

Funny that I still think of my mom's home as home. Really, I should grow up soon.

A week from now, after a week of testing (but not for me, I'm not giving a final.) and packing and Ben being here for a visit, I'll be home. That sounds nice.

I wish you could all see how crooked our little Christmas tree is. It makes for good times.

No, thank you.

Today I had my students journal about one of their heroes, or someone they admire. One of my students wrote about me. I don't know whether she was kissing up or being serious. Either way, it felt really, really nice. Especially after the last couple weeks of difficulty.

Who knew?

Ah, yes...

Since my computer will not allow me to either read or post comments on anyone's blog, I will now respond to Katie's book selling story with a story of my own. A favorite story.

I took some music history class at Union. It was badly taught. I realized this pretty quickly into the class. We watched a lot of videos and didn't learn much from the lectures. I had already purchsased the book for said class, and it was too late to return it for the full refund. I didn't take the book to class. I got an A- in the class. I could have gotten a 100% in the class if I had taken it out of the shrink wrap. Especially because he gave open-book quizzes and tests. But I decided that it was worth it, just to make the point, and because I'm ridiculously stubborn, to not unwrap my book.

So on book sell back day I sold back my book still in the shrink wrap. I didn't get any extra money back or anything, but I like to think of it as a moral victory.

The end.

My brain is fried

This week I want to quit my job. Everything is too frustrating and too hard. I yelled in class. For seriously. More than once. Why will they not listen? Today's classes actually went better. This is in comparison to Tuesday's classes, after which I nearly cried. So better is used figuratively.

My students have a rough draft a paper due tomorrow. It's basically a book report/analysis. I had them talk about the book in their journal today. About ten of them have not started reading it yet. The final draft is due a week from today. This is all very discouraging to me.

And yet, most of my students claim to like me. If this is true, then why do they insist on being so disrespectful? Then, the students who cause the most disruptions come up to me and ask me if they can have extra credit to bring their grade up. I try to gently tell them that maybe paying attention in class and turning their work in would bring up their grade. And that I give quite a few chances for extra credit every week, but they do not take advantage of it. That would probably help their grade too.

If Tim is reading this, Happy Birthday.

Testing, 1... 2... 3...

I'm singing special music for church tomorrow. I'm pretty sure I'm doing Labor of Love. I'm really nervous. I think I haven't had a special music since graduation. That was a long time ago folks. And to be perfectly honest, this song is not in my best vocal range. But I'm going for it anyway. These people don't know what my best vocal range is, so they won't know it's not my best. Then maybe they'll never ask me again. That would be good and bad.

I remember a time in high school when I no longer got nervous about special musics and solos because I did them so often. I even had a whole vocal recital of about eight songs that I sang all by myself. Not nervous. College and real life changed all that. I'm out of practice.

Other than that the plans for the weekend are going to a camp somewhere pretty close to here to see John and Wendy. Talk about camp next summer and old times. They're having a big Adventist camping convention there. So all the camp bigwigs will be in town.

Also I'm planning on getting the Christmas tree. Very excited.

Also, I really like this win, lose or draw thing we've got going. It's fun, even though I'm no good at it.

Happenings

I walked to school this morning. I couldn't see the top of the mountain because of all the cloudiness. It made me sad. So I'm praying it will get sunny again soon cause the grayness is not good.

I've been wanting to get a Christmas tree. There's a Christmas tree farm about 30 minutes from here so I'm planning on getting one there on Sunday. They don't open until the first of December. What's that all about? Christmas tree sellers should be open the day after Thanksgiving. That's what I say, anyway. And I'm excited because for my birthday last year my mom got me a lot of little angel ornaments. (My name is Angela, I like angels... you get the idea.) A lot of them came from 10,000 Villages, a store I visited for the first time over Thanksgiving break and I love. I wanted to buy everything. I didn't. So my heart is yearning to decorate for Christmas, but I have to wait for the tree.

We're having some kids over for supper tonight. I don't know why this stresses me out but it does. We're making yummy black bean burritos and my old stand-by: spinach and artichoke dip. Yum.

I found a book store that is closing. All hardbacks $4, all paperbacks $2. Hurray! And I bought bright red Keds. They're cheerful and make life a better place to live.

Now I have to go make a test for class tomorrow. And try to figure out a way to make my students stop talking in class.

Things that make you go...

Amazing that being home for four days makes me want to always be home.

Amazing that I haven't actually lived at "home" for more than five years.

Thanksgiving break was great. Normal. I helped my mom pick out a new winter coat. The last one she bought was more than 10 years ago. Before that - about 35 years ago. That's one thrifty woman.

We celebrated Christa's birthday. I won't tell you how many it was. But whoa, I still think of all of the Schafer kids as kids, but we're not.

I watched a couple of movies in the theater, something I haven't done since we moved to Pennsylvania.

Enjoyed time with old friends.

Really enjoyed time with family.

Played games with the new family - in-laws.

It was all the way it should be.

Happy Thanksgiving to me.

(Also, I haven't heard any news about the bloodwork that I had done. I figure no news is good news, right? And the dizziness has been a little less.)

I don't feel like writing a whole other post about this so it's just going to get tacked on to the end of this one.

Parent teacher conferences went really well. I was able to make most of them positive. I had one student who had a D first quarter and an A+ second quarter, so it was fun to see that improvement. The parents were mostly really supportive. So my huge fears I guess were unfounded. Of course, we'll have to wait and see how it goes next time...

Not sure about this...

Riddle me this... do you think it's a bad thing that I've started talking to my students about how I don't think I'm a very good teacher? I've discussed this with at least three of my students in as many days.

And riddle me this... why won't they stop talking in class? Do I have so little authority that they don't care at all what I say?

Also a riddle... I don't mind vamping for time at the beginning of class. Sure, go get your book from your locker. We can't start without you and you won't be back for three minutes. That's three minutes I don't have to fill. Why can't I be a teacher that has so many important things to say that I need the whole class period to fill them? Who am I kidding? That will never be me.

Some of my students tell me I'm a good teacher. I assume they're kissing up. Or just trying not to hurt my feelings. Then they tell me about other teachers they've had and I think, okay, maybe I'm not that bad.

In other news: I haven't been dizzy today. First day in more than a week. Do I still need to get the expensive bloodwork done? Probably. Dang it.

Also in other news: I was playing volleyball last night at Rec and jammed my left ring finger pretty bad. I can't wear my wedding ring. And it hurts like the dickens. I think maybe my body has prioritized this pain over the dizziness. So when the pain goes, the dizziness comes back. We'll wait and see.

Also: Thanksgiving break starts on Sunday at 12:30. Sunday mornings I have parent/teacher conferences. How do I have a parent/teacher conference? I don't know what to say. What do these people want to hear? I've never been to one of these. Do they teach you how to do this in the education program? Also, I think all the parents will see that it's all just a facade. This me as a teacher thing. So that's my self doubts for today.

I'm glad we have a break very soon. I want to cry. It's a mixture of the pain and frustration. I'll be okay.

You spin me right round, baby, right round

Well.... the dizziness continues. It's generally not quite as bad as last Thursday. Teaching this morning was more difficult again. I think it's because I have to bend over a lot to help the students with their grammar, and then the standing up straight again really throws me for a loop. So yeah. I'm going to call a doctor for real this time and hope that I can get in to to see him soon. It wears me out. All the dizziness.

Other than that, we're now watching season one of 24. Mostly I miss Grey's Anatomy. Every time someone gets shot or beat up I wonder about internal injuries and what Dr. Burke would do. Maybe Dr. Bailey could assist. In any case, this show shouldn't be located in Los Angeles. All the best surgeons are in Seattle, for goodness sake. Yeah, I'm a loser, I know.

Really, I've mostly been worried about the dizziness and exhaustion. That's what's going on in my life. It's taking over. But Thanksgiving break starts on Sunday. That's only five days away, and I'm going home. So that's good news.

How 'bout that?

So yesterday I had a very weird and disconcerting experience. I was dizzy all day. I woke up and got out of bed and almost fell to the floor. Also while I was trying to get dressed. And everytime I turned around semi-quickly. And looking up after looking down for a few seconds. This was really annoying in class when I was trying to hand back papers, read a test, grade the same test, read journals, and anything else having to do with teaching. But it didn't stop there. Oh no. All day the dizziness continued. I thought I was going to die. Or that maybe, after all, I was pregnant. So I broke my rule. I called a doctor's office. I generally try not to go to the doctor unless I think I am near death. And this didn't quite qualify because I just called the doctor's office. And I talked to a nurse for a few minutes. She thought it was really strange too, since I don't have a headcold, am not congested and have had an earache only once in my life when I was five. That was a while ago, so it didn't seem to have anything to do with this.

She suggested I get my blood pressure checked in case I was having a stroke. I tried but couldn't find a nurse. She also suggested maybe taking a decongestant, in case it was a cold induced thing.

So instead of those things I went home and laid on the couch for a while and read and went to bed early. And today I'm not dizzy. It's a wonderful feeling. I woke up this morning and was fully expecting to fall when I tried to get up, but I didn't, and I haven't and I hope to never experience something like that again. So yeah. Halelujah.

I've had so many weird and random health problems, maybe this will become one of the weird recurring ones. Since I haven't had the cysts since March maybe my body came up with something to replace them. I might prefer the dizziness to the cysts. At least it's not mind numbing pain.

I just wanted to say...

That I feel like the world could be a good place. Maybe people aren't as crazy as I've thought they were for the last six years. My faith in humanity and democracy is restored.

(At least until the next election.)

Like whoa.

I realized last night that probably, you all think my news is that I'm pregnant. Amusingly, that didn't even cross my mind when I wrote that. So no, I'm not. Pregnant, that is. At least, if I am, I certainly don't know about it, and it would be very surprising considering the type of birth control I'm on. Almost fool-proof. Probably TMI there, huh?

Anyway, my youth pastor from back home, Pastor Mike, is here this week for a week of prayer type thing called FOCUS week. So I chatted with him last night and we just caught each other up on life. I remember many Friday nights at his house. Good times.

Also, we gave Shelby the tomato juice bath last night. She still stinks. And I think the hoodie I'm wearing today smells like skunk. But I'm cold. So it's either stink and be comfortable or stink less and be cold. Right now I'm opting for warmth.

It was good to see Shelby a nice orange-ish red color. I sang songs to her like "Shelby is the color of a red balloon and she likes to play and she likes to run and she likes to chase skunks every day." (That was a modification of the color song that we used to sing in Oral and Written, in case anyone was wondering about the tune.) She didn't care for the song. She mostly stood and shivered because we let her sit in the tomato juice for ten minutes. Then we bathed her with her regular doggy shampoo. Still with the stinking.

Anyway, that's what's going on. So if you wanted to know I was pregnant, too bad.

Eww.

So on Saturday night Shelby got sprayed by a skunk. It was not pretty. And she hasn't been back into the house since. So not only is she stinky, she's also covered in burs. She doesn't look very happy. But we did try to call her away from the skunk and she wouldn't obey, so you know, I feel a little bad for her, but not too bad.

She did get about two feet into the house. And so the entire house got stunk up. I febreezed everything ten times. And lit about 15 candles. And made some popcorn. And sprayed perfume. Yep. Still stinks at the front and back doors. I don't understand that because she wasn't anywhere near the front door.

Other than that, life is busy. We had senior recognition this weekend and I had to get up and give a welcome. I don't like speaking in front of large groups of people, so that was a little nerve wracking, but not too bad. Someone pulled a fire alarm during the sermon on Sabbath. I helped decorate for the senior dinner with parents extravaganza. Sunday was the staff recognition dinner.

I'm thinking about getting a master's in school counseling. Because my favorite part of my job is when kids come into my office and just talk to me about what's going on in their lives.

There's other news, but I don't really want to post it publicly, so if you want to know, you'll have to call or email.

The battle

Last week was unreasonably hard. Tracking down students to make them turn assignments in so that they wouldn't get a bad grade. It's hard to give students bad grades. Especially when I like them so much.

Then it was cloudy and grey all week. And the weather turned cold which made my body hurt all over. Seriously, I think I'm going to get arthritis any time now. But the greyness and coldness just made it really difficult to feel good. Plus, since it was so cold and windy, we're talking Nebraka-ish wind here people, I wasn't walking to and from school as much. All of this and more made me break down a bit on Thursday. Lots of crying ensued. Friday was a little better. I felt on the verge of tears, but I don't think I actually cried. So I decided that was improvement. The weekend was better. It got sunny again, even though it was still windy.

On Saturday night we bought season one of Grey's Anatomy. On Sunday we bought season two and a new DVD player, because our other DVD player went on the fritz. And then Michael opened it up to try to fix it. Apparently not a great idea. But we were able to get our DVDs out of the machine so that was good. I don't know what we'll do when we finish season two.

I taught a short communication session to a group of sixth, seventh and eighth graders yesterday. We played the telephone game and then had them split into pairs. One person had a picture and described it to the other person who had to draw it just on the description, they couldn't see it. So they had fun and I told them that communication is the key to life.

I'm looking forward to going to my mom's house at Thanksgiving. I'm homesick. We
should be there three weeks from today. Wow, that's soon. And yeah, time is flying.

Now I have to plan for three days of classes this week. So yeah. Peace.

New list

Over homeleave number two:

*Got my hair cut. Woohoo! I have bangs and more layers and goodness. Don't even bother asking for a picture. Digital cameras hate me.

*Went shopping. Also got some free makeup. They have a store here called Ulta. They have all this girly stuff - makeup and hair stuff from just about every brand. It's fantastic.

*Signed up for my Educator's Discount at Barnes & Noble. Yeah, buddy. 20% off of resources used in the library or classroom. Maybe I'll lend those books out to students... yeah.

*Got application for a new passport. We're gonna travel.

*Tried to get PA driver's license. Went on the wrong day. Stupid DMV.

*Went to D.C. Michael's first time. Went to the Holocaust museum, Lincoln, World War II, Korea and Vietnam memorials. Ate some really good Thai food. That was heaven.

*Stayed at Mama Yancer's house. She wasn't even there. Which was too bad, it would have been nice to see her.

*Found a Gap Outlet in Gettysburg. Went haywire. Bought lots of stuff. Total cost for five shirts and two pairs of pants: $38. (No tax on clothes in PA: awesome.)


Homeleave was again wonderful. Grades are due tonight at midnight, which makes me want to cry a little. Mostly because some students refuse to turn things in on time and I don't want to give them bad grades. This is turning out to be impossible. Also, I'm sleepy. But life is good. I'm sure of it.

Update. Or something.

Had a wonderful weekend with friends. Still recovering. Have been a little sad ever since they left. It's awesome to have friends that I can just pick up with and have no awkwardness or weirdness. Just carry on like nothing has changed. What's good, and I hadn't realized this until they were here, is that I haven't really missed Union since I got here. Which must mean I'm enjoying my job. Because last year I missed Union like whoa pretty much all the time. So that's good gnus. Even though while they were here, I just felt like driving back to Nebraska and setting up camp.

In related gnus, kind of, homeleave starts today so we have a few days off to get things done. Like get our gnu driver's licenses and register to vote, take the dog to the vet. I don't even know what else, but I think we're going to try out the Thai restaurant. Which I'm very excited about.

So that's the update.

Building

I'm getting very excited about having visitors. Sure, I'm not really cleaning my house, but anyone who knows me knows that this is not one of my higher attributes. But I did have dreams last night that my guests were here and we were having fun together. So that's good. And I'm thinking about what to feed everyone. And I've decided not to worry about the bathroom situation or the lack of beds. (Thanks, Katie)

Too bad Ben is sick. And that I can't comment on his blog. Apparently my computer is revolting against comments. I don't think it even lets me comment on my own blog anymore. It's messed up and slow. Who knows. Anyway. Ben, I hope you feel better soon, because I want to have fun.

The maple tree in my front yard is glorious. I talk to it and exclaim at it daily. Also, I've been walking to and from work more. Sure, it's only half a mile, but it feels good. Anyway, I enjoy the walk, and winter is sure to come soon and make me not want to walk anywhere at all or even to go on living, so I'm going to enjoy the walks while they last.

busy busy busy

Michael comes home tomorrow. I'm glad. Mostly. I will miss having the whole bed to myself. That's a lot of space to spread out in. But I do miss him. Not being paranoid and completely petrified of my shadow makes being without him a whole new experience. However, I'm getting irritable, and I think it's from the missing him.

In other news, my first week of teaching English is over. I gave my first test. A lot of people did not do well at all. Others aced it. Is this what normal teaching is like? I went over it in class and everything. There's no reason that anyone should have failed. But spelling seemed to be especially difficult. Why is this? I think I'm not very good at understanding because I always loved English and Spelling and reading and writing and all those nerdy things. My students mostly don't.

Anyway, I'm busy covering Michael's supervision duties this weekend. Which means no real weekend. I do have Sunday morning off. So maybe I can get some reading and unpacking done then.

This school year is just flying by. Next week Ben and Leslie and Justin and Shelley come to visit. I'm very excited. Although, we only have one bathroom and no extra beds. This house is a lot smaller than our last house. So that presents some challenges. But yeah, excited about that. And then the Wednesday after they leave is the beginning of homeleave. So hurrah for the quickness of time.

Also, we're thinking about working at camp next summer. That would be wild. We would be way old staff. And I've been away from camp for three summers. I hardly know anyone there anymore. But it would be fun and we'd be close to family for the summer. So that's the craziness for today. It's bound to get crazier.

Good times

I like buying books. Even when they're not for me. It's fun to try to find the best deal on the internet and get good books. Or at least books that I think are good. I think I'll buy some more today. Basically whenever I get a new shipment in I go to amazon or barnes online and buy more. So far they haven't told me to stop.

I taught my first English class yesterday. Tomorrow I'm giving my first vocab test. Apparently, I'm hardcore. Or something. You know what's great about the month of October? I only teach eight times in the entire month. I love this A/B schedule thing they've got going here. I had a few frustrations my first day, but overall, not too bad. I think the Juniors listen a little better than the seniors.

So Michael's gone for a leadership seminar in Atlanta. I really did well my first night alone. (He's gone till Saturday.) I think maybe it's partially living in a duplex that makes me feel safer. In any case, my heart wasn't beating frantically all night and I slept well. So whatever it is that's making me feel alright, I'm glad.

Surprise!

So, yesterday I found out that the seniors and their sponsors (that's me!) are going to CUC this weekend for college days. I think I am the last person to find out this kind of information. I'm pretty low on the totem pole right now. At least I'm adding another Adventist college to my list of places visited. Besides the 16 states I've visited in the last year.

Today is a Project Impact like day here. Community service and all that goodness. I'm going to a nursing home this afternoon with some students. We're going to play games and tell stories and that kind of stuff. I think. Once again, I only found out about this on Monday. Low on the totem pole.

Now that I'm in Beta, they give me options to label my posts. But all of my posts are just about random stuff. So it seems kind of pointless.

Things we did over homeleave...

*Got the car tuned-up and oil changed and all that stuff.

*Bought and assembled (twice) an island for the kitchen.

*Bought groceries. (You'd be surprised how difficult this is to do in a regular week.)

*Got Shelby a flea dip and a flea collar. It was getting out of control for a while with the scratching. She was keeping us up at night.

*Unpacked and cleaned a lot of our house. We can actually get to the closet in the second bedroom now. It's pretty full. I have a lot of clothes.

*Hung pictures, etc. on the wall. It feels a lot more like home now.

*Rented several movies, about the first time we've done that since we moved here.

*Got paid, woohoo! (And also realized that I'm not making as much less at this job as we anticipated. That is subject to change, I'm sure.)

*Ate at Olive Garden. It's endless pasta bowl time. The most wonderful time of the year. Too bad they won't serve the spinach alfredo sauce anymore.

*Toured Gettysburg. Much more interesting than when I went as a junior in academy. For starters, I actually wanted to learn something this time. Really enjoyed it and the yummy picnic lunch I made. (Superlink salad was included.)

*Went to New York city for the first time ever. Went to Times Square, Central Park and the World Trade Center site. Used the subway. Not as dirty as expected. Ate at a little Italian restaurant near Times Square. Had the pesto fettucini. It was yum. Also had some gelato later. It was awesome. Note: Central Park is amazing. Amazingly huge. Could not find Central Perk. Which doesn't mean it doesn't exist. New York is completely overwhelming. And we only went to Manhattan.

*Chaperoned students back from New York. That was fun on a chartered bus. Trying to get everyone there at the same time. Also, we were a little late. That didn't help. See, the bus schedule said we would leave at 5:30. So we got there at 4:45. We thought that would be good, but apparently not. Next time we'll know.

Now I need to figure out what I'm doing this week in Foreign Foods and start planning English.

Conclusion: I like homeleave. The next one is in three and a half weeks.

I think a change will do you good.

So it's official (I think). I'll start teaching Junior English two weeks from today. Shockingly, with more time to prepare than between when I got hired for Home Ec and when I started teaching. I'm excited and nervous. But I guess if all else fails, we'll read out loud a lot.

Have you ever heard of Garrison Keiller? He has this radio show, among other things, and the highlight (at least for me) is The News from Lake Wobegon. In one episode that my family used to have on tape, he talks about this woman who went to Alaska. The people in these Alaskan towns ask her if she knows how to do something, and although she doesn't she always says yes. And then she does it. And then she learns whether it's something she can actually do or not. That's pretty much how I feel right now. Sure, I'll teach. We'll find out later whether or not I can do it well or not. Next they'll probably ask me to teach calculus. I'm pretty sure it's a big no for that.

Kind of ironic that last year I lived in a place where no one knew how to speak correct English and this year I'm going to try to teach it.

The end is oceans and oceans of love.

A huge thanks to Ben for my new layout. Isn't it beautiful? What a nice surprise. There are no words. Friends are wonderful.

Also a big thanks to all of you for your thoughts and prayers. The trip was good, and it was wonderful to be with family. Even a family as complicated as mine. All of my grandparents have been divorced and remarried and there are uncles and step-uncles and half uncles. And cousins that I haven't seen in more than ten years. Which made it especially interesting to be around them for the first time as an adult and for one of the first times in my life to see where I make sense. My sense of humor, the little comments I make, so do all my (4) cousins. It was strange and good.

It was also good to be with so many people who loved my grandma. And to see my grandpa, who hasn't changed. He's just as funny and witty as ever.

Anyway, I'm back now for a short week of school and trying to get into the swing of things again. I may be teaching Junior English soon. I'll let you know more on those developments as they come.

If you could...

My grandma died last night and I'll be traveling today to get to her funeral, which is tomorrow, and traveling back on Friday. If you could keep me and my family in prayers, I would very much appreciate it.

Yup, even this.

Right now, the words keep ringing in my head... "This too shall pass". I'm not even sure why. It's not a particularly bad day, it's not a particularly good day either. I guess it's because my student worker who is also in one of my classes got switched to my other class and she's upset about it because all her friends are in the class she's being switched from. So I was trying to put a positive light on it but she was having none of it. So my last resort was to tell her that "This too shall pass". Which indeed is true. A year from now she'll probably be in another state and have many other things to worry about and probably won't even remember this.

I'm feeling a little less overwhelmed. Really it just depends on which day you ask me. But the Senior Retreat went really well and I felt like I bonded with a lot of the students. So other than the constant rain for two days and the general frigidness, it was good. And now I can say I camped through hurricane Ernesto. (It had calmed down quite a bit by the time it got to us, but still.)

We're cooking for the first time in class today. Bruschetta. Thought I'd start with something easy. We'll see if it actually is easy or not. In about two hours the fun begins.

Here it is

Tomorrow morning we leave on Senior "Retreat". We're camping till Sunday. Somehow, this doesn't seem very "retreatish" to me. No electricity, no running water. As a bonus, it's supposed to rain.

Otherwise, the new location is nice. A lot of things are overwhelming right now. Maybe it's the sheer amount of things that overwhelms. Can't be sure yet. In any case, there's a lot going on that I don't even have time to talk about at the moment. Let it suffice that I miss my friends and family. But that I'm making new friends and for the most part enjoying my new job. The end.