My Summer To-Do List
My Summer To-Do List
- sell my house
- quit my job
- plan a big party
- move to Pennsylvania
- change my last name
It’s true… Tim and I are getting married! 
what I’m up to
I’m not Susan Sarandon, so what you are about to read might not seem very glamorous or interesting, but I thought I’d write my own version of Reader’s Digest’s “What I’m Up To” column. Sarandon’s answers appeared in the February 2010 edition. Mine appear below.
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WHAT SHE’S READING
My bookclub is preparing to discuss “The 19th Wife” by David Ebershoff, so I spent part of this evening curled up on the couch with a copy from the library. The book is historical fiction with a modern-day murder mystery thrown in, and not surprisingly, it’s about polygamous Mormons.
I was also reading it over lunchtime today, and it was hard to tear myself away to head back to the office!
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WHAT SHE’S LISTENING TO
I put almost 600 miles on my car every other weekend, so Tim gave me an old iPod to help pass the time. I especially enjoy listening to episodes of This American Life, but I also get a kick out of podcasts from How Stuff Works, which explain everything from contagious yawning to cannibalism to why toothpaste makes orange juice taste so terrible.
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WHAT SHE’S PLUGGING
I’m not a fan of anything that makes the trip to PA even 15 seconds longer than necessary, so a few weeks ago, I became the proud new owner of an EZ Pass transponder. It’s a white plastic device that sticks to my windshield with velcro, and it allows me to cruise right through the toll plazas without stopping. It’s hidden behind my rearview mirror, so I never even see it. The best part? Tim added my Subaru to his EZ Pass account, so now HE pays my tolls.
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WHAT SHE’S WATCHING
If you thought I was going to say LOST, guess again. I don’t really watch TV, so it’s a little hard to tell you what I’m watching. I think the last thing I watched on TV was The Daily Show… last week.
On my computer screen, however, just a few minutes ago I watched a TED Talk by Jane Chen on “A Warm Embrace That Saves Lives.” Chen describes a design for safe, portable, low-cost, life-saving incubators to be used for premature babies in the developing world. Her most intriguing comment: “As infant mortality is reduced, population sizes also decrease, because parents don’t need to anticipate that their babies are going to die.”
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WHERE SHE’S SURFING
I live practically in the shadow of the courthouse (OK, actually a few blocks away), so I like to stay current on what’s happening downtown by reading the Downtown Hburg blog. It’s a great way to find out about new restaurants and stores that are opening, as well as other events taking place downtown.
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The Devil Went Down to Georgia
Every time I hear the song “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” — for example, on the radio this morning on the way to work — I remember the first time I heard that song. It was the summer of 1996, and US gymnast Dominique Moceanu was performing her floor routine in the Atlanta Olympics.
And of course I can’t think of the 1996 Olympic Games without also remembering two other things: (1) the bombing in Centennial Olympic Park and (2) Kerri Strug’s vault in which she landed on her already-injured ankle, winning the gold medal for her and her teammates, the Magnificent Seven.
If you don’t remember this, maybe you weren’t a teenage girl that summer.
Anybody else eager for the Vancouver Olympic Games to start? Can’t wait!
Here Speeching American
One of the gifts I received for Christmas this past year was a book called “Here Speeching American: a Very Strange Guide to English as It Is Garbled Around the World.”
The authors describe the book as “an excursion into the twilight zone of perilously flawed English communication overseas,” and they claim that “all of the examples of fractured English are (most painfully!) true — plucked from actual hotel room signs, travel brochures, restaurant menus, advertisements, and more.”
Before I share some of my favorites with you, it’s important to include this note from the introduction: “We want to stress that language mangling is universal, and knows no specific country or culture. Native English speakers, of course, are guilty of the same egregious errors in foreign languages.”
So without further ado, here are some of my favorite instances of language mangling.
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At the Cashier’s counter kindly note that personal cheese are not accepted. –helpful hint included in Imperial Samui Hotel guidebook, Thailand
If you wish, you may open the window. Do not open the Window. –sign on window, Westin Chosun Hotel, Seoul
Don’t Eat The Animals –sign at Phuket Zoo, Thailand
Pls. fall in line outside to avoid suffocation. Thank you for your cooperation. –sign outside public toilet, Philippines
LVNLTATLON
Mr. Cao Yong requests the horrour of your Presence at the Inouguration of the Painting Exhibition of himself. Beijing Artist Gallery. –invitation to art-gallery opening, Beijing
Water not potatoble. –sign on Italian train
You Want It, We Had It. –sign at Japanese electronics shop
Upon presenting this ad with a US $50 purchase. You will receive our complimentary gift package consisting of: 3 hand embroidered handkerchiefs, 2 hand embroidered guests towels and one embroidered hot roll. –ad in the Curacao Gazette
Seafood brought in by customers will not be entertained. –restaurant sign, Langkawi, Malaysia
For those of our customers who are vegetables, we are able to offer a plate of hot mixed vegetables. –from Italian restaurant menu, La Patata, Tokyo
Not to be used for the other use. –from Japanese food-processor instruction manual
six things I love right now
1. The yellow candle on my desk. It’s a small spot of warmth and joy in my gray, boring cubicle.
2. The EMU men’s basketball team. Sure, they lost to Bridgewater last week, but they’re ranked #11 in the nation in Division III… and I’m planning to watch them play again tonight.
3. Tim’s kids — not only because they’re cute, sweet children, but because if Tim didn’t have kids, I wouldn’t have written construction paper and glitter on my shopping list for this evening.
4. Today’s lunch — a fried egg, grits, and a thick smoothie. Yes, lunch. At home. In the sunshine. Perfect.
5. Colors — my blue sweater, purple scarf, and green purse… with black pants and a black coat to keep things from getting too crazy.
6. A new computer. My previous computer here at work had a bad habit of rebooting without even a moment’s notice. After this happened about five times (over a long time), I told the IT department yesterday that I was finished with the machine. Voila! Today I have a new one.
don’t do laundry on Wednesdays
I used to do laundry on Saturdays.
Then I started dating Tim.
Tim lives in another state, so we only see each other on the weekends.
Now I do laundry on Thursdays.
Except for this week.
It’s Wednesday.
And I’m doing laundry tonight.
I’ve conditioned myself to think that doing laundry = I get to see Tim tomorrow.
Twice I’ve had to remind myself that tomorrow is only Thursday.
Twice I’ve felt disappointed.
Note to self.
Don’t do laundry on Wednesdays.
Who’s YOUR architect?!
If I had to guess, I’d say that the architect who designed this house was named Alexander, because that’s a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad home design. Seriously, who would want a front entrance like that?! The house just screams, “We have a garage! And a window! We don’t NEED no stinkin’ friends!” I’d post a link to the blog where I found this photo, but, well, I’m mocking them.
decade in review
Now that we’re squarely in the new year, the sale flyers in the newspaper are filled with tacky pink and red gift ideas, the abundance of Christmas cookies has become a distant but still pleasant memory, and I’m somewhat more likely to write 2010 instead of 2009.
It seemed most popular to do “decade in review” posts when the old decade was only a day or so behind us, but since it’s “only” the twenty-fifth day of the first month (doesn’t that sound so Old Testament?), I figured it’s not too late to slip in such a post. Besides, this will round out a trio of year-end review posts here on my blog. For those of you who are just now joining us, here are links to (1) and (2).
As I started thinking back over the last decade, it quickly became clear that a summary of those years is the same thing as a summary of my entire adult life. Yikes! When I realized that I might be posting a list of all of the major life events and transitions since college, I paused a bit to consider whether I really wanted to do that. I finally decided that I do — mostly because when I’m rich and famous, someone somewhere is going to want to write a biography of me, and I figured the least I could do is to provide an initial outline for their manuscript. Ha!
What follows is a pretty basic list of what I’ve been up to for the past 10 years. If you haven’t talked to me since college, or if you only met me recently, this should quickly bring you up to speed. If it seems a little dry and boring, well, I’d agree. All of the normal, fun everyday social events are absent from the list. It’s primarily a list of significant memories surrounding jobs, travel, homes, purchases, and family changes — things that are significant enough that I will always remember what year they happened.
2000
- graduated from Eastern Mennonite University with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration
- spent nine weeks in Trinidad & Tobago (except I never actually went to Tobago)
- moved to a townhouse in Harrisonburg with four friends from college and officially became a Virginia resident
- turned 21
- began working as the communications staff person for Virginia Mennonite Conference and Virginia Mennonite Board of Missions (now Virginia Mennonite Missions)
2001
- moved to my own tiny basement apartment
- made the difficult decision to leave Big Spring Mennonite Church, where I had worshiped for the past four years, to seek a church closer to where I lived
2002
- put a hole in the wall of my bathroom when I passed out in the shower. (All I have to show for it is a scar on my eyelid.)
- became a member of Mt. Clinton Mennonite Church
- traveled to Albania
- began taking two years of tap dance lessons
2003
- became an aunt for the first time
- bought a piano – my first major purchase
- bought a house
- mourned the death of my dear, sweet cousin Janeth to cancer
- began taking seminary classes on a part-time basis (in addition to my full-time job)
2004
- sold my Chevrolet Corsica and bought a used Subaru Legacy Outback… which cost only slightly more than my piano
- rented out my cute house to awesome tenants and moved into an apartment with concrete block walls
- began working as the Residence Director (RD) for the Roselawn dorm at EMU
- started a two-year term as a youth leader at church
- became an aunt to another cute little boy
2005
- in addition to being an RD, I began my current job as the Assistant Registrar at EMU
2006
- apparently I didn’t do anything new or noteworthy!
2007
- finished my 3-year stint as an RD and became full-time in the Registrar’s Office
- moved back to my house
- took my first solo vacation and visited the west coast (of the US and Canada) for the first time
- became an aunt to yet another sweet little boy (that makes three!)
2008
- grieved the drowning of my friend Matt Garber (who had worked for me as a Community Advisor one year)
- visited California for the first time
- voted for Barack Obama, the first time I had voted in a presidential election
2009
- stopped taking seminary classes when I was a little over halfway to a degree
- turned 30
- met the love of my life
- participated in the City of Harrisonburg Citizen’s Academy
time-sensitive pasta
While I was eating leftover lasagna and catching up on some blog reading over lunchtime just now, I remembered something I’ve been intending to post since Thursday night.
That’s right, folks. Someday just after breakfast, that box of dry lasagna noodles is going to take a sudden turn for the worse…
bookclub: the first year
According to my calendar, my bookclub will be meeting again next Wednesday. According to the location of my bookmark, I’ve only read a couple pages of the book… which does not explain why I’m sitting here blogging instead of curling up on the couch with a good book.
At the end of 2008, I pulled together a few friends who were interested in joining a bookclub, and in January 2009, we met to discuss our first book. The group of a half dozen people we started out with dwindled to four as Bruce and Bess each made life transitions, but rumor has it that a few new people will be joining us next week.
When people find out I’m in a bookclub, they almost always ask what we’ve been reading… and somehow I can never seem to remember the most interesting books we’ve read. So in case you were on the verge of inquiring about our reading list, here’s a list of all of the books we read and discussed during the first year, along with very brief descriptions.
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen – a novel about a young man who drops out of a veterinary program at Cornell and inadvertently joins a traveling circus.
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin – the story of Greg Mortenson, a mountain-climber turned humanitarian who built schools in remote areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo – my first official bookclub FAIL. We were scheduled to discuss this during the busiest month of perhaps my entire life and I didn’t even START the book. Oops.
The Known World by Edward P. Jones – a historical novel set in Virginia that explores the lives of black slave-owners. (Most of us would have been content to give up on the book partway through.)
Life of Pi by Yann Martel – a novel – the story of a boy who is shipwrecked and then stranded on a boat in the Pacific Ocean for 227 days.
I’m a Stranger Here Myself: Notes on Returning to America After 20 Years Away by Bill Bryson – pretty much what the uber-long title says it is. A very humorous book!
Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner’s Semester at America’s Holiest University by Kevin Roose – a fascinating account of the semester that the author spent at Liberty University before returning to Brown University. ** Winner of the Rachel’s Favorite Book of 2009 Award **
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick – the story of an orphan who lives in the walls of a train station in Paris. It’s a 550-page novel, but I read in just one hour. Hint: it has a lot of pictures. Also, even though it’s technically a children’s book, our group loved it!
Ella Minnow Pea: a progressively lipogrammatic epistolary fable by Mark Dunn – takes place on the fictional island of Nollop, named after the man who supposedly created the pangram “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.” Letters are gradually omitted from the story as it progresses.
Patron Saint of Liars by Ann Patchett – a novel about a pregnant, married young woman who decides to go to a home for unwed mothers.
