Nothing in particular...

Natalie just posted 100 interesting things about herself on her website. I read them all and thought, "Well now, that's a novel idea. I think I'll do the same." And then I realized that I'm feeling too lazy right now to do that, and instead I'm more in the mood to just write little comments about each of her 100 things. While it might spur lively webversation between her and I, it would probably prove to be rather boring for the rest of you, most of whom probably don't know Natalie.

So, in other news... I'm going attempt to make it to power-yoga again at 5:30 tomorrow morning. Don't be deceived. I know that the phrase "5:30am power yoga" evokes certain mental images of self-disciplined, pulled-together, trim and toned morning women with, what appears to be, a lack of ribs (how else do bend like that?). Such is not the case. Not my case, at least. That is the image I would like to live up to, but really, I'm just a wannabe. I barely drag myself out of bed at 4:50am one morning per week, and stumble into class, half-conscious. By the last 10 minutes of class, the cool-down period, when you lie in corpse pose and "clear your mind of worries and tension," I'm either struggling to stay awake, or just getting started prioritizing my worries and tensions for the day.

Last Thursday the instructor said, "Close your eyes, and go to wherever you want to be." So I took myself to Greece. I was sitting in the sunshine, among red potted geraniums on the roof-top patio of my whitewashed, blue-shuttered house stacked with hundreds of other matching houses on the side of a hill in a dense, car-free island village, looking out over blue seas. It was eutopic for about three and a half seconds. And then I thought, "Why am I here? How am I paying for this gorgeous little house? If I'm blowing all my money, just kicking it here on the Mediterranean, how am I going to pay for grad school? Am I going to go grad school? When? Should I be in school now? Shouldn't I at least be working? This is far too perfect to be responsible. Should I even be here? Did everyone at home think I shouldn't be here? Was this a bad idea? Should I have stayed in Rapid? Is my little sister mad that I bailed on my middle-school girls just when she became a middleschool girl? Who took my job at the clinic? Will I get my job back if I go home? Do I need it back? Do I miss home? What if something happens to my grandparents while I'm out of the country? What if something happens to anyone while I'm out of the country? "

So I came back to poweryoga at the gym in Rapid, because going to work was suddenly not seeming like a stressful activity at all. So, see? I'm not what you think of when you think of "5:30am poweryoga." Not at all. If I can do it, so can you. Except that I maybe can't do it tomorrow. It's almost midnight. I'm out. Night.

"Adventures in Academia"-Episode #326

A little brain teaser for you problem solving types.

Facts:
#1) You are five credits short of receiving a bachelors degree from State University A
#2) You are currently registered for two classes at State University A
#3) You wish to drop both classes at State University A due to scheduling and commuting conflicts, and instead...
#4) You wish to enroll in two correspondence classes from State University B (referred to State University B distance education enrollment and application website)
#5) To drop all SU-A classes, you must officially un-enroll as a student at SU-A (referred to Dawn in the registrars office)
#6) You may not graduate from a university from which you have unenrolled (referred to Pam in enrollment office)
#7) You may not drop or add any SU-A classes because you have a block on your WebAdvisor (online registration, bill paying, etc.) because you did not pay your tuition for the two classes you do not intend to take but were not able to drop because you have not filled out an "un-enrollment application" for SU-A (referred to Candice in financial services office, who referred to Dawn in registars office who referred to Pam in enrollment office who referred back to Dawn in registrars office)
#8) To take classes from any other university but A your final semester, you must have written permission from the dean of the college of your major (referred to Holly in College of Arts and Sciences, who referred to Dawn in regisrars office)
#9) SU-B may not enroll you in any classes because of the WebAdvisor block (referred to "Student Help Line" at SU-B, referred to Pam in enrollment)
#10) Apparently Pam, Candice, Dawn, Holly and SU-B are forbidden to communicate directly
#11) The official drop/add day is Thursday. You have less than 48 hours to solve this problem.

Your education hangs in the balance. If you succeed, you walk in May and receive your college diploma. If you fail, you go to jail (i.e., another "extra" semester at Black Hills State.) Do not pass go, do not collect $200. Best of luck to all of you.

Two beautiful things:

#1) Last Sunday I went for a walk in the woods on this mountain bike trail that takes you kind of south of the monastary and branches off in about 8 different directions. I was meandering along and stumbled upon a lone Christmas tree - all decked out in tinsel and garland and handmade ornaments. A little worse for wear, but still hanging in there in the middle of January, in the middle of the woods.

#2) Yesterday I was second-hand shopping with Emily. We were scrounging for costume jewelry and whatever else struck our fancy at the Cornerstone Thrift Store. The place has little funding and just moved in some shelving units donated from another store that closed recently. All the shoes are now nicely paired up on shelves that are labeled "Non Fiction," "Romance," and "Novels."

I guess you could say I'm easily amused. Perhaps that means I'm simple minded. Regardless, I think I've got an advantage over people who don't care.

I regret to inform you...I am a closet pacifist.

I'm not typically a combative person. I don't like conflict, especially with people I love, and I've discovered that one of the best ways to avoid conflict is to keep your mouth shut when you disagree with people. This not always right, easy, healthy, or honest, but it keeps people happy. So if peaceful, relatively shallow relationships are what you're going for, it gets the job done. Unfortunately, despite my natural inclinations, I strongly desire to be honest and sincere and do the right thing - which can often lead to tumultous, though much deeper, relationships.

I have a professor who makes this statement: "Relationships create roles. Roles create responsibilities." (I tried to disprove this theory for quite a while, and hurt my mom very much in the process. I've since realized he's right. Unless we are hermits, we inherantly have inescapable relational responsibilities.) These responsibilities sometimes require us to openly counter the opinions or actions of the people we care about the most - (sometimes responsibility just sucks) not because they are just stupid, or because we are always right, but because sometimes we can just see things from a different perspective, or are the only ones who will buck up and tell them the truth.

Solomon said in Proverbs that wounds from a friend are better than kisses from an enemy. So. that's my self-motivating essay for the week. I figured that if I published it somewhere, I would feel more obligated to act accordingly.

That's all. Thanks.

I won't lie to you...

it's been a tough weekend. A tough week. Even in the grand scheme of Marci things -my whole life - it's been one of the tougher ones. But through it, I have seen God's faithfulness, up close and personal. Just the way he sees our individual needs, in the moment, and meets them - meets us where we are...even if that's in the middle of the dark, or a bunch of crap, or our own self-loathing, it just blows my mind, every time. So anyway...what I started out today say was this: that if someone held a gun to my head and forced me to choose a theme song for my life...just one, I'd think I'd pick this one:

Blessed Be Your Name, by Matt Redman

Blessed Be Your Name
In the land that is plentiful
Where your streams of abundance flow
Blessed be your name

Blessed Be Your name
When I'm found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed Be Your name

Every blessing you pour out
I'll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in
Still I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

Blessed be Your name
When the sun's shining down on me
When the world's 'all as it should be'
Blessed be Your name

Blessed be Your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there's pain in the offering
Blessed be Your

You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord Blessed be your name

"The Night the Road Won" (or, "Marci's Jeep Fantasies Crushed")

I come to you this evening, humbled. A woman whose pride has been wounded. I have been known, at times, to boast of my night-time four-wheeling escapades. And I boast, because in this game, that I like to refer to as "Geo/Aveo vs. long-neglected Black Hills National Forest Logging Road," (or "500 lb., cheaply-made city vehicle with ridiculously small tires vs. 'is that really even a road? ' ") I always win. But tonight folks, tonight...the tables were turned. Tonight was the night the road won. We tried. We kept trucking along, valiantly, despite some very large rocks, very deep ruts (puddles deceptively covered with a thin layer of ice) and Andrea nearly hyperventilating because of my mad tree dodging skills. Two and a half hours, 42 miles, and 3 different attempted routes. Three impassible routes. One completely dead-ended, with tree's so thick only a skinny hiker could have gotten through. Another had some random, very hostile looking, tire-slasher contraption embedded in the dirt from tree to tree, across the trail (and yet, completely unmarked as private property or anything of the sort,) and the third ended at a small drop off with a 6 foot boulder at the bottom. No matter how determined I was, there was no way I could force the little Aveo could go any further. I accepted defeat, hung my head and (*sigh*) turned back. Not much to show for the night except a decent sized battle wound paint scratch on the drivers-side door, and probably a "slightly scuffed" under-carriage. Tomorrow, I intend on obtaining a map of Forest Service four-wheeling trails and old logging roads, so that I can see where I was and why exactly the stupid psuedo-roads didn't go anywhere. Seriously, roads that go nowhere? That's like very mean practical joke.

Well, we arrived back home safely. I don't want to sound like too sore of a loser, so I will add that it was a splendid adventure. Or at least I thought so. Andrea's a real trooper, but I think the evening took years off of her life. Kudos to her for tolerating my hair-brained schemes. With that, I'm out. Night.

The party's over.

Back to the daily grind. I love my job, but having time off makes me realize just how much fun NOT working can be. Ah well. Eating is great too, so as long as I feel that way about it, I'll keep working. It will also be good to have less time to spend money - an activity I've grown quite accustomed to in the last couple weeks. Well, I of course have plenty of amusing, clever, wise things to say tonight, but I must get a long to bed, so you'll all have to wait until a different time. Au revoir.