quote of the day

Brooke: "Remember when it was fall and we did stuff?"

Brittany: "Everytime I hear Mighty Ducks I think cartoon."
Me: "That's Darkwing Duck."

alkjsdflja;slk

I think this has every bit to do with the rain outside and yes that's rediculous, but I'm just so over school. I haven't touched my thesis paper since last May. My plan was to have it done by December. oops. I know I shouldn't be this way because I often come across those people who practically wish their life away because they want to move on to some new job or marriage or kid or fun activity for the weekend. I usually want to punch those people in the face and then blog about how everyone needs to calm down. But sadly I am that person, today at least. Truth is I've loved grad school. I couldn't have made a better decision with my life, I've been having a ball. But when you teach the same class twice per semester, no matter how much you love rock climbing and undergrad students, it starts to get old. One of my current classes takes SO much busy work that grad students straight up don't have time for. I feel like I'm constantly working on stuff for that class and it will never end and it's annoying. Pretty sure I'm just ready to not be a student anymore. I'm a different kind of student as it is, but still the same idea. As a result of all this unmotivation and negativity towards school, I tend to live for the weekends. As for this weekend, the roomie and I will be going to Raleigh to live with Brooke and meet Lauren Conrad. That's right. We get to say what's up to the Laguna Beach/Hills star who I've followed on Mtv since high school. I get it, not everyone appreciates this and it sounds totally lame. But Lauren isn't some drama queen from Jersey. She's actually really talented and stuff. We will more than likely profess our undying love for her and she'll realize we should be best friends. I've actaully dreamed that before....

quote of the day

Erin (text message): "So I had a really disturbing dream last night that you were pregnant and Erica was crazy."

Getting Younger

I limped into work this morning with an ankle/foot injury. Not from fighting a bear or jumping from a building or something cool. It's from kickball. One of my fave professors asked me to be on her kickball team because a lot of the team is going to be out for this one game. People, this made me happier than anything could. See back in my day, on Limestone Elementary's field day, the 5th and 6th grade class played each other in the most competetive game of kickball you've ever imagined. It was insane. The 6th grade teachers usually cheated because lets be honest, a 5th grade win is so not cool. So 6th grade rolled around and it was finally our turn to be on top of the kickball sport but we lost. To this day I'm convinced they cheated. We talk a lot at work about how getting old is a horrible thing and I get made fun of for still eating chicken fingers and fries and I get yelled at for being in my 20's. I can't help it that I love kickball and drink soda at breakfast and still dress up for halloween. Life's just more fun that way.


Quote of the day:
Co-worker: "Getting old hurts. Shutup Katie."
Me: "But I have a kickball injury."
Co-worker: "Are you 5?"

White people go to Jacksonville

Yep I'm that blogger that comes home from a mission trip and talks about how awesome it was and how it changed my life and stuff. So get over it. 7 of us manchester creekers went on down to Jacksonville Florida and helped out with 2nd Mile Ministries. They're an urban ministry serving in the worst neighborhood in the city. Actually the neighborhood that we stayed and served in has the highest murder rate in Florida and it's the worst school district in the nation (based on test scores). Most of the groups that come down to help out are in the minority in the neighborhood and people usually ask, "Where did you get all these nice white people?" I felt like that was the same reaction for our group as well. A lot of the community folks walking past us as we did our street projects would stop and ask which group we were with and would thank us for doing the work which I thought was really cool. I've done urban ministry before, and usually the thing that tugs at my heart is the reality of how much "stuff" I've got compared to someone else. It's good to be thankful for my stuff and my family and friends and my living situation, but this time that fact really didn't stick out. What got at me was the parable in Matthew 25 when Jesus teaches that what we do for his people is really what we do for him. What I've learned about parables is that He cares more about our hearts than anything else. I don't expect to change the world or expect to see complete justice for the poor or oppressed people in this world, but I can and should have a heart for the poor and oppressed and care about injustice because God does and He hasn't forgotten about them. He hung out with those people when He was here. The people that don't have it all together, the people who don't have anything at all really. When you go into the urban areas, you want to change their situations and fix all the problems. I would've loved to have gone down to Florida and seen some lives changed but it didn't happen. But I think that we all saw that Jesus wants our hearts to form more to His and care for the things he cares for. So that's a good week indeed.

Mickey

I've grown in love with Rock Hill for several reasons and I'll spare you most of them. I don't know if it's because I work for the City or because I'm just that awesome (not likely) but I've gotten to know a lot of the community folk. Like Mickey. Mickey is the nicest old man who wears a bow tie and greets me as I walk in the door at chickfila on Cherry rd. A couple of months ago he was asking me what I wanted to do with my major because he didnt really know what it was. Like I tell everyone, I said that I was going to own the Panthers and he laughed and said really seriously that if I put my mind to it, then I could. Tonight I walked in for my free chicken sandwich and he said "where have you been lately? I thought you'd ran off to own the panthers!" Isn't that awesome, that he remembered that? I love that. I love being a regular at cherry rd. and at Moe's and Kinch's across the street from my work. As I was walking home from small group, my ghetto-fabulous neighbor who sits on his front porch everyday saw my guitar and asked if I played and said: "You got some cd's out and stuff?" See the more I stick around here, the more I feel like I fit in. Not just because of Winthrop or because it's some big cool city, but because of the relationships I've made. I told my boss the other day that I'll either be the Director of Parks and Rec one day or the Mayor. The one they had before Dougie was a woman, so I think it would be cool. I recognize that I have a long way to go to reach that goal though. I should probably graduate and pick a high school football team. We have 3 high schools here, and I'll always cheer for Gaffney no matter what. It's just that everyone has a team and they kind of force you to choose a school for the typical friday night football conversation. This is going to make me sound like a total lame head, but everytime I hear a song about a hometown I get all emotional because I love Gaffney so much and miss something about it every week (if not daily). But if I can't be there, I'm glad to have this town where the community mascot is a frog and where people like Mickey know your name.

quote of the day

Rachel: "Do you want something that's not coffee? Hawaiin punch?"
Me: "You have it in cans? I'm gonna marry you! And we'll have these in our fridge!"
Olivia: "I thought you were gonna say have hawaiin punch babies!"