Mingling Toil with Peace and Rest

Well, my PBR paper needs two more pages and a bibliography… but I’m sick of it, so I’m going to ignore it for a while.

But really, it’s not as bad as all that. After all, I am actually getting to write my PBR paper, which is more than I could have hoped for before the holiday. Heh… I had actually planned to write it before Thanksgiving, so that I could just relax over break. Needless to say, that idea went “the primrose way to the everlasting bonfire” what with Hoedown and the ever-present Macbeth. I did succeed in gathering sources – which I touched for the first time to shove them into my bag to drag them home with me.

But my time at home has been quite productive and restful. I’ve filled out a bunch of paperwork, applied for a job, and researched and written three of five pages. Not to mention visited with extended family, met with a childhood friend, gone shopping, seen a movie, and relaxed in the comfort of my home.

I am thoroughly convinced that time here runs more slowly than time at school. Here, I wake up at 9, mosey into the kitchen, have a leisurely breakfast, read the paper (o luxury!), and still get a bunch of work done before lunch. So, that is to say there’s been a lot of rest thrown in with the work :). Just the comforts of home are enough to make any work happy: Mom, Dad, and the D; Indy sleeping at my feet or wanting to go for a walk; real meatloaf; watching Lost on a good TV with analysis during the commercials; hot buttered rum; the big cushy chair next to which my computer resides; not having to walk through the elements to get a meal; nice, cool nights to make my down comforter worthwhile; the peaceful non-crowdedness of a complete house with only three people and one dog living in it...

It is a most excellent thing :).

"The acoustics in here are wonderful!"

[Hmm... third post in as many days. Something must be the matter... :)]

To a person, the speakers we have in chapel praise the acoustics of the place. With this inevitable remark, students turn and smile at each other knowingly – the acoustics of the place are actually horrendous, particularly for plays and concerts. But, in my opinion, any idea is worth entertaining at least once… and if every speaker makes the same comment, perhaps we ought to listen. Does Town Hall have good acoustics? No. But I do think that our speakers recognize something we don’t.

I’ve worked normal 8-5 desk jobs for the past four summers. I know what it is to work in an office. And guess what? In many offices, you can’t just flip on some music and work away (it would disturb others). And you certainly can’t wear headphones (that’s highly unprofessional). You can take a ten to fifteen minute break for a quiet time, if you so choose, but it must be quiet.

Here at school, however, we get to go to chapel and belt out praises in our low-ceilinged Town Hall – every morning. We often treat it as a burden, but to those who do not have this opportunity, it is an incomparable treasure. They don’t get to start every, single day with praise and worship. So they come up to the podium, sometimes teary-eyed, and say how nice it is to sing with us in a room with such great acoustics.

Good acoustics or no, let’s enjoy what we’ve got while we’ve got it.

An Ending

Well, the play is finally over… and my work in that respect is finally at an end. No more Saturdays spent sewing. No more cutting and pinning and seaming and hemming. No more scrunching and calculating to fit as much as possible on one piece of fabric or in one hour of time. Yet I am left with various memories…

…of browsing (and rebrousing, and rerebrousing) Walmart and Hancock’s to find the perfect fabrics for the various items of clothing – O the joy of finding Macbeth’s tartan and Hecate’s greenish thing.

…of sitting in the Red Hill lab all day, listening to Pirates or Wolgemut or Phantom, drinking coffee, hearing of Em’s latest history research, and matching plaids ‘til I went cross-eyed.

…of the mild panic at not having something to lengthen the rough tunics with the weekend before the play – and the overwhelming joy of finding it at Jo Ann’s in Sterling.

…of a strange and late night spent drinking mugs of Sunkist and stuffing socks with gourds.

…of girls who liked to dance in their dresses and guys who wanted to buy their cloaks.

I think, in the end, one could call it a success :).

*and there was great rejoicing*

In the past two days, my life has flipped upside down. But it was upside down to begin with, so the change has been a welcome one :).

First: The need for a job next semester has been lurking in the back of my mind – but has been put off due to costume work, trying to do academics around costuming, and a certain insane faith that God would bring something along. Well, bring it He has. Last night, as I was dressing hurriedly before the play started, my mom called to tell me that I’ve got an internship with the NGA! This will satisfy my internship credits for next semester and provide money (which is a very happy thought). I had meant to intern with them this fall... but due to time delays and lost transcripts, it didn’t work out, and I had to punt. But my application remained on file, and I guess someone picked it up. So, I’ll get cleared and get to start my job next semester… just when I’ll need it most. :)

Second: My family had decided to break with our tradition and go to Gatlinburg for Thanksgiving, much to my displeasure… but there wasn’t much I could do about it. Well, it seems that, due to my grandfather not feeling well, we will be staying home and following our normal routine. While the cause is not at all welcome, the result is marvelous. It means that I can sit in my dear armchair at home as I fill out applications, complete security forms, and write a paper. We will all be there (the D wouldn't have been, otherwise), and it promises to be a restful, comforting Thanksgiving. Which is just what the doctor ordered.

Funny how the things I need most always come at just the right time – not a moment too soon, but never too late, either… :)