I swear I'm losing my mind

I'm playing in that string quartet on Sunday, so I went to play the piece that we need to practice the most...the only one I borrowed from the library...and it is missing. I'm so mad. It was the one piece I was trying to keep track of the most...I have everything else. Nothing else is missing. I'm really frustrated and now it will be hard for me to sleep.

Long time, no post

I have been really busy at work lately, mostly because I haven't had time to be in my office. I found out on Wednesday that I get to have gum tissue removed. That will happen on Dec. 3. It's a friday. I get to drive myself, but they said I would be sore.

I am going to two sporting events this weekend, and playing in a string quartet. I'm going to the UCSB v. SDSU basketball game at SDSU on Friday. I'm going with a Gaucho alum I met at church and some of his friends from college.

GO GAUCHOS!!!

Then Megan and I are driving to Fresno on Saturday for Duncan's last college home game ever.

GO FRESNO!!!

Then we're driving straight back. Our dad wants us to ride with him, but it will be quicker if we ride up from SD. He sounded a little mad about it on the phone, but whatever. It's our choice. I really don't want to go an hour out of the way if we don't have to. This is just typical family stuff though. Then I'm playing with a "thrown together, last minute" rehearsal with a quartet I'm playing with on Sunday. Should be interesting.

Anyway, sorry I haven't written anything in awhile. Don't worry, be happy...the blog will become regular again after the new year. Until then, you can await with glad anticipation and be surprised when I post again. I'm aiming for at least twice a week. Love you guys.

Dang it!

I must have a lot on my mind, because I left my ATM card in the ATM machine last night. Dang it! I'm back from Texas, and working again [sigh]. These next two months are going to fly right by.

(that rhymed)

:)

Texas Part 1

My harrowing Texas experience:

Dad dropped me off at the airport at about 9pm so that I could pick up my rental car so that I could drive from Houston to Austin.

Problem 1: There are two airports in Houston, I thought I was flying into the other airport. My directions from Houston to Austin were incorrect. I drove around Houston for 45 minutes before I actually got to the correct freeway. And I had to pay about 3 tolls for going the wrong direction. By the time I was on my way, it was after 10pm.

Problem 2: Earlier on Saturday, I had dropped my cell phone, and it was not working correctly. I didn't realize that my phone wasn't working correctly until about 1/3 of the way to Austin and not until midnight. So I pulled into a gas station in the middle of Texas and went to use the pay phone. I didn't realize that pay phones these days only work locally. Then I realized that I didn't have my cousin's number...I was trying to make my way to her place to sleep. So I called my Grandma collect, and got Danielle's number, and then tried to use the pay phone until I gave up and bought a phone card at the mini-mart that was attached to the gas station. It took about 25 minutes for me to make those calls.

Problem 3: With the exceptions of all the incorrect turns I took in Houston, I missed an additional 2 turns, which set me back even more. At least I usually knew when I was heading the wrong direction, and I would either turn immediately around, or get out and ask. I left Houston at about 10:45pm, and finally got to Austin at around 2:30am. I was very tired.

Even though I made it here, there were a lot of things that could have gone wrong. I kept praying for safety and provision, that God would calm me down and get me where I needed to go. I am so thankful I made it here safely, and I'm glad I don't freak out when I feel like I'm lost. I knew which direction I wanted to go, and went. Although I had never taken this route before, and needed to ask for help along the way, I made it to Austin. See y'all later.

PS. If you try to call me, leave a message, as I am able to check my messages, but can't call out very well.

Busy!

I have an announcement to make. I am no longer bored at work. Sheesh. I got slammed this week. It is mostly because I will be at a meeting in Claremont on Thursday, so my coworker and I are leaving EARLY in the morning to get up there. Then on Friday, I'm flying to Houston, TX for Duncan's football game, followed by a trip to Austin to visit my cousin, Danielle and my other cousin, Christian, who is visiting the same time I am! Then I drive back to Houston for a seminar on preserving photos and audio/visual materials for archives. Should be fun!

Other interesting things I did today:

• Stood in line for an hour to vote
  
• Went to archives
  
• Made a new friend at the archives, he works in the building where the archives are housed
  
• Ate at Taco Bell for lunch
  
• Paid my bills that I couldn't afford to pay earlier
  
• Trained my student workers to do some of my job while I'm gone
  
• Went to orchestra
  

On Monday, I went to have my wisdom teeth evaluated for surgical removal. Yep. They gotta go. But I only have two wisdom teeth, the other two didn't grow in. So does this mean I'm only half as wise as the rest of you??? Wait, don't answer that.

I have a few *concerns* with having this surgery:

1. I bruise easily
   
2. I hate being in pain
   
3. They are putting me under
   
4. I have to find someone to drive me there and back, and supervise me the first 24 hours after the surgery is done
   
5. There is no good time for me to be in pain for any extended period of time
   
6. I will have to pay about $400.00 to have the surgery. Basically, this means that I'm PAYING MONEY to be in pain. Ironic, isn't it. Do you think I have this kind of money? No. Can I save this much before surgery? Maybe, if I make some major adjustments to my budget, and/or if I decide to take on more debt.
   

Surgery is evil.

God Provides

Just when I was down to my last few dollars from my last paycheck, I got a card in the mail from my friends who just got married. I played one song on cello at their wedding, and I told them that it would be fine with me if they just paid my gas for the trip up and back. I did not get the money at the wedding, and figured they forgot. I let the issue go and forgot about it.

The card in the mail had a check from the wedding, and it was significantly more than I expected, right when I needed it the most. I almost cried in relief because until I got the check in the mail, I didn't realize how much of a financial strain I was under. I've had a few unexpected expenses this month, and those are always tough to deal with. I'll be alright, and it was good of God to remind me that He provides what I need.

Back to the Future in French

Failed my French quiz from last Wednesday. I just didn't study. Didn't know what I needed to know. Oh well, I'll do better on the next one. We're watching Back to the Future in French. I understand a smidgeon of what is being said. I forgot that movie came out in the eighties.

Holy Halloween Haunts Batman!

I apologize to my 2 faithful readers...I haven't been able to post in the last few days because things have finally started to get a little busier. I was feeling overwhelmed with things yesterday, but I think I got everything done.

My boss is sending me to Texas for a seminar on preserving archival materials, and it happens to coincide with one of my brother's football games. The seminar and the game are at the same university! So I get to go to the game, and work is paying for my plane ticket. :)

I worked on my halloween costume for the costume party I'm going to on Saturday. I'm going to be Robin, the boy wonder, the lesser half of the dynamic duo. I sewed the "R" patch on my vest last night, and created my utility belt. It looks good! If I had a digital camera I'd take a picture for you guys!

Funny Story

Funny Story: Got home on Monday night, and the neighbor's cat was meowing at their door. So I opened the screen, knocked, and no one answered. Tried the door knob, it was open, and I let the cat in. Then the 8 year old who lives there and I had a conversation through the front window.

"Is that your cat?" I asked.
"No, that's not our cat," he said.
"What?!!" I said, with increasing anxiety.
"You have a cat, right?" I asked.
"Yes. That's him," and he pointed inside, "But not that one." He pointed the other direction.
"Do you want me to help get him out?" I asked, feeling guilty for opening the door in the first place.
I was confused. Apparently, so was he. His older sister and brother came to the door. We started chatting. They opened the door, and I looked inside. I pointed at the cat. "That's the cat I let in."
"Oh," said the girl, "that's our cat."
"Ok, good, because that's the one that I let in your door," I said.

Moral of the story: Don't mess with other people's pets, even if the pet is a very persistant cat.

Mellow

As I witnessed another loss for Fresno, and with the report that Duncan was hurt, and the news that he was getting discouraged, I began to wonder how much of his identity is tied to football. Megan is thinking the same thing and told me she tries to talk of other things when they talk to each other.

It made me start to think about my own identity, and maybe why I sometimes feel depressed or discouraged is because I have this idea in my head that I should be able to do more, to accomplish more, and to be more successful. In a way, I think I have tied my identity to what I do, and not to who I am as a person. Maybe God is trying to teach me through the job I have now is that my identity is "so much more" than what I do, and my identity in Christ should be the only thing that matters. And as I continue to seek His will for my life, he will lead me in the right direction, no matter what my job happens to be at the time.

It was hard for me to sit through that game tonight, and my prayer for Duncan is that he would put his identity in Christ as well.

Football is just a game after all, it isn't life or death, even when the loss is hard to take.

The Sox Rock!

I don't feel so great today. I don't think I have the flu though. I'm half tempted to leave work a few hours early today.

I AM excited that the Red Sox won. Adam left me a message last night. It went something like this:

Hi Robyn, I was just calling to see how you were doing and to let you know something. I don't know if you heard, because it just happened yesterday, but Duncan tweaked his hamstring so I wanted to ask you to pray for healing for him, because I don't know if he'll be able to play on Saturday. It's only a tweak though, so it might be ok. Anyway, I'm so excited that the Yankees are losing right now. I'll talk to you later.

---

At my community group, we watched the ALCS game between the Red Sox and Yankees. I'm excited too. I'm totally on the Red Sox bandwagon.

Allergy Season

I went to a different community group last night, all girls... it was good, but now I'm going to pay. I should have stayed in to do my French homework...we have an essay due in about an hour and a half, and I haven't done mine yet. I was too tired to do it last night, and I think I have figured out that my extra-sleepyness was due to some allergy medication I took yesterday. I took some more today because the weird weather is making my nose run, but it is a gamble as to whether I want to have a stuffy nose or be extra tired. Anyway, so now I have to try and do my homework before class AND get everything done that I need to get done for work. Today is a busy day.

Verifying sources

After some extensive research this morning on the correct name of the extra skin on your elbow, there are numerous spellings of weenus...wenis...weenis...but none of them showed up in the dictionary.

We have the Oxford Reference database here at the library, and according to the Oxford Reference tool, this word does not exist.

So I must come to the conclusion that this is slang, and though I heard the word on the radio, there is no REAL proof anywhere online that this word is correct. However, if you check the slang dictionary at www.urbanslang.com, you will find a few entries for this word as submitted by users of their website...but still not verifiably accurate in my opinion.

Note: DO NOT look up this word at a public computer... the urban slang site contains some questionable language, so don't look at it if people are going to be looking over your shoulder.

So, even though the word doesn't exist, you can still use it in a sentence.

Conversations-8

Chelsea, my step-sister, came into the library last night.

"ROBYN!" She yelled at me in a whisper. We were in the library. "Don't you want to do something with student life?" she asked me.

"Yeah," I said slowly, "what about it?"

I may have someone for you," she told me excitedly,

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well," she began conspirationally as she sat down on the stool at the reference desk, "Do you know Brandon? He went on a retreat with us this weekend. He's thirty."

"Does he work in community life?" I asked her, "I thought he was older."

"Yeah, you know him?" she asked me with surprise.

"Yes. Funny story actually," I told her, "He graduated from the same grad program at the same time I did. I have seen him once or twice, and whenever I'm around him, I sort of feel like a loser."

"Why?" She asked with an indignant look on her face.

"Cause he has a great job in the field and I'm still working at the library" I said.

"Oh...well, he worked at the same place for like 10 years," she told me. "He came from a place where he knew everyone, and came here. He told us at the retreat we went on that it has been hard coming here because he just doesn't know as many people. I think I'm gonna set you up. Would you be interested in dating him?" she asked me.

"I don't know," I responded. "It seems to me that if he had been interested in the first place, he would have pursued something after we first met. But he didn't. Plus I thought he was married or had a girlfriend."

"Well, he doesn't. He's single," she informed me. "And I think he needs more people to hang out with. He hangs out with my friend Jeff all the time."

"Where does he live?" I asked, "Does he have a church he goes to regularly?"

"He lives in Flex," She told me, referring to the on-campus apartments. "And I don't know where he goes to church."

"What made you think of him for me?" I asked, curious.

"Well, he is a Christian, and after our quiet time, he seemed really sincere," she told me, "AND he knows a lot of random information. Like, did you know the flabby part of your elbow is called a 'tweenus?'

"No its not," I contradicted, "Its called a 'weenus.'"

Chelsea started laughing..."No way."

"I'm serious. You better go look it up." I said with a straight face.

One of Chelsea's friends had been listening in to the conversation. "I'm gonna look it up!" he said. He went over to the computer."

"See?" Chelsea said, laughing, as if to indicate that Brandon and I had things in common.

Chelsea's friend came back. "She was right!" he said, referring to my knowledge of the weenus.

"Yes!" I said, and I put my arms up in a gesture of victory. "I was right!"

Chelsea started laughing really hard. "That's so funny! I think you guys would be perfect for each other."

"Well, do you want me to tell him about you?" She asked.

I said, "Well, I always thought that the guy I started dating would be my friend first, so if he's interested in making some new friends and meeting people, then yeah, tell him I know a lot of people around our age. It's going to be hard for you to introduce us because we've already had an initial meeting."

"Hmmm," She was thinking.

"You could tell him that he was wrong, and that I was right..." I said helpfully.

"Yeah!" she said excitedly. "Okay, I'm gonna do that. I gotta study."

Chelsea walked away from my desk and started talking to her friends. I had to tell her to be quiet about three times. But I love her.

The Lost Parade

The sun is sinking down,
On the lost parade,
And all along the dirty streets,
Tattered banners wave,
A hollow victory song,
Is ringing in my ears,
Drowning out the voices that we fear.
--Randy Stonehill

This song resonates with me. I'm not exactly sure why.

At homecoming, the parade was all of 5 minutes long. If you blink, you'll miss it.

Homecoming

I'm picking Megan up at about 11:30 to drive back home. We are meeting Adam, Duncan, (my brothers) and Tracy (Duncan's girlfriend) for the parade and then I think we're all going to the high school football game. I know, we are such geeks. I asked Adam (who teaches at the high school) if I should wear my old letterman jacket. He laughed at me and said, "Don't be one of those people!" I did find my old varsity swim sweatshirt. It used to be my favorite. You can tell. It is a little threadbare. I got it my freshman year of swimming, but I love it! I haven't decided if I'm going to wear it though because when I wear it, people think I'm still in high school.

Now that I have thought about it... no. I'm not wearing it. Also on this weekend's agenda...I hope I have time this afternoon to get out to Pasadena. There's a great music store there that has the best selection of sheet music I have seen anywhere. I'm hoping to get out there so I can pick up some Christmas music. I think we (my string friends and I) are going to try and play Correlli's Christmas Concerto and hopefully a version of "Hark, Hear the Bells." I want to go look and see what's available, cause that will determine what we play. I also want to get a Christmas quartet book so that I can pull together some friends and play for the people in my complex...make it an outreach event.

Anyway, I also got most of Sunday off, so I'm excited about the extra time I have on Sunday. My boss told me not to worry about making up the hours because there's a non-holiday break and the library is closed, which messes up my schedule, and I inevitably get to work overtime even though it doesn't show up on my time sheet that way. It is going to be a fun and busy weekend.

Interview

I just got called about the interview I had last Friday. I didn't get the job. Yet another rejection. But I think I am relieved that I didn't get this job. The way that the interview was set up was that I had to go through three sets of interviews. The first two were fine. The last one was not. And I kind of knew after that third meeting that I probably wouldn't get the job. The interviewer was very negative and it actually put me in a bad mood afterwards.

In the city

At my Bible Study, a friend of mine came and shared about some transitions that are taking place in her life. She is in ministry full-time and was working with high school students, but is now going to be working more with business professionals through a new ministry that believes that if cities can change, it will have a significant impact on the rest of the world. This will be a great new place for her to be.

Some of the guys in our Bible Study were asking her about how she would meet high-schoolers because she is 30-something (but doesn't look like it). She shared about her small groups, meeting with them, talking about boys at her high-school Bible Studies, etc. It was so funny because at the end of the evening, what did us girls start talking about? Boys of course. As long as girls are meeting together in groups, or even one-on-one, they will be discussing boys...no matter their age.

My friend in ministry is still single, but is desperately trying to expand her circle of friends so that she can meet someone. Our church is so small and there aren't a lot of thirty-somethings who come. Gen X is still missing in action in the small church community here. So I'm going with her (as long as her other friend can't make it) to the Air Show at Miramar and her hope is that she can meet some guys.

I decided that I would pray for her for this. It is a significant concern of her heart, and I know that she is frustrated.

Tripped up!

So I just went to lunch, and on my way back to the library, I tripped on the stairs...I was headed down. My shoe just turned over, and I lost my balance. It is a darn good thing I was holding onto the handrail, because in trying to get myself balanced, I tripped again. I'm so glad I wasn't seriously injured...I'm just shaken up a bit. I could have easily fallen down the stairs, flat on my face.

More Stuff

I just realized that I don't have to go to class on Friday. It is fall break. So if I want it, I can have a true day off. Problem is that we're closed Sunday, so I have to make up those hours somewhere else. Icky. My schedule really gets messed up when there are non-holiday breaks.

You know what I've decided? Sleep is good. I feel better about life when I am well rested. When I'm tired, I start getting stressed out. Anyway. Hope everyone has a great day.