479,001,600

I obviously haven’t been anywhere in a while because I forgot my toothbrush on this overnight adventure.

Okay. So, I’m looking for a situation change: namely job & location. I have some leads on all accounts. I am so hopeful about this. I would really like it to work out. So all prayers are welcome, as nothing is sure yet.

I had to put my dog down today. He wasn’t old, and it was completely unexpected. I’m a little lost right now. At least, as Elle has told me, St. Francis can take care of him now. He’s in better hands than I ever could be.

Can I just show this to the lady who asked me how I can go to a Jewish school?

Living through a few days where the possibilities just seem endless & amazing. While that is occasionally terrifying, it’s also really nice. I’m hoping these days stick around a little while.

So, I mentioned to a coworker that I got in to nursing school, in a fairly large city. She said something along the lines of “I wouldn’t want to move there, it’s so much more expensive.” And then spent some time describing how dangerous the city is.

I paused and for a few minutes kinda let this get to me. And then I thought to myself, “Fuck them! I lived in Yemen!” Really, I’m going to let a few people saying how dangerous an American city is affect my life? Because if I did that, I wouldn’t have gone to Morocco or Yemen. I wouldn’t be planning on returning to the Middle East or have the Russia dream I have now. I want to work in the Rural Middle East. Heck, if I listened to some people around here, I probably wouldn’t have started covering because it might be dangerous.

So, I went out to check the mail today. I got to the mailbox and saw the one lone business envelope. Bill, I thought to myself. When I pulled it out I was shocked to see the logo of the nursing school I applied to ages ago.

I sent in the application in late July or so, but they recommended having them in by early June or even May. I didn’t finish everything, like the second letter of recommendation or transcripts from my alma mater until early August. I wasn’t even sure why I was sending it in because I knew it was late and the school’s assosiations make it pretty prestigous. I figured it would be a quick turn around to my rejection letter. “Class is full, we don’t need you.” And when I saw the envelope, it was small. When you get in to college the first time ’round, little envelopes mean ‘rejected’ because all you need is a letter, big envelopes mean ‘accepted’ because they need to send all the financial aid and housing and EVERYTHING information.

So, I’m feeling down. I expect rejection. I see the small envelope and I think, “Damn! Took them long enough.” and then I look at it, and there appear to be boxes, a grid on a sheet. That’s weird right? A rejection letter with a grid?

So, I open it. I see my address & the greeting, but the first line is hidden in the fold of the paper.

OPEN!

I got in!

I GOT IN TO NURSING SCHOOL!

My start date class is full, so I’m waitlisted there, but if I dont’ get in to that class, I am guaranteed a spot in the next class (which won’t start until Jan 2011) Which sounds forever in the future. I am, however, making plans for what I can do between finishing my prereqs (which should be done in the spring) and that January.

I think I’m still going to apply to the other nursing school I’m looking at, but at least I GOT IN! (commence screaming) and, it was my first choice school.

Now, to work out the details of getting to class for the prereqs and moving to another city.

So, some days my social awkwardness reaches amazing levels. Last weekend, when I went with N, my postulant friend to another church where she was preaching, quite a few of us went out to lunch after the service. N & her husband, me, the priest and her husband, and a couple other ladies as well.

Anyway, we’re all sitting there, and as happens with long tables and lots of people, there were several conversations going on. I was talking with N & the priest and I wanted to say something about headcovering. And I started my story, and I think I finished it, but the point was lost. Because as soon as I mentioned the scarf, it just opened the gate to the one question, the only question anyone ever asks.

We were talking about being Episcopalian and how most people around here are completely unaware of our church. They mostly have no idea who we are, what we stand for or how we do church. I was wanting to say that I always find myself in a bit of a conundrum of how to answer when people ask about my scarf. They want to know what church I belong to, and when I say “The Episcopal Church” I can assume that they have no previous experience with it. I never know if I should clarify with a “But I’m the only one in my church who covers” or to leave it alone or what.

I was still in the thought process of how to verbalize this point when I was cut off (not necessarily rudely) by the priest who, like most Episcopalians, is much too polite to ask about headcovering without a previous introduction to the topic, now feels free to ask, “So, why do you cover?” when that was not the point of the story at all.

And so I trip through a few words along the lines of “It’s a personal devotion” and I’m slammed with a feeling of inadequacy because I’ve been covering for a year and I can’t answer the basic “So, why do you cover?” questions from other people, yet I long to actually talk to people who understand. While we might not all agree on the whys of our covering, there is still an underlying understanding and we can talk about these whys, but maybe even more importantly we can talk about the question of ‘what does this mean for us, now?”

Or, maybe all that last part is just a make believe fantasy because I’m in serious need of some community.

I’ve been thinking of bike riding recently. Well, more than thinking, really. Obsessively reading about biking. Frantic googling of bicycle commuting. Much as I did before I started headcovering. I wound up justifying that through faith and setting a specific date and just doing it.

I have no faith justifications here [though one could say that being good stewards of God's creation might lead one to bike commuting, I'm not going that far, especially as Little Blue Death Bucket gets 40+ mpg's (no kidding)] The incessant fear that LBDB might AT ANY MOMENT just stop going, never to be revived is really the biking stimulus.

I’m really interested in any form of transportation where I can look at it when there’s a problem and say “Hm… maybe that thing that used to be here is now over here.” I’m all about self-sufficency. I might not be the type of person who always took apart things to see how they worked, but I always kinda wanted too. I was always just a little afraid I’d never get them back together.  Seriously.

I recently replaced the rear tube on the bike (which needs a rockin’ name, BTW.) Rode it a very little bit and it had some problems, and while I was trying to take the wheel off the bike later the tube totally exploded. I don’t like exploding things. In fact, I don’t like balloons because they might explode. So, I put a new tube in that same night, but I haven’t taken the bike out yet, partially because I’m lazy but also because I’m just a bit afraid it might explode.

Though none of that is really the point of this post. The point might be, I’m obsessively reading about bike commuting, so why don’t I just go somewhere by bike? Uber-lameness is the only answer I can think of.

I’m off Monday. I can do this.