It doesn't seem like I've been here five weeks, but tomorrow Elisa gets back, and the day after that I go home.  Two weeks in I was just about ready to come home.  That was not so good because I'm supposed to be here all of next year.  But time just flew since then, and I can't wait for next year.  Actually, I can wait.  I have a lot of other things I can't wait for between now and next year.  Among them, I hope, coming back here once or twice.  Cheers.

--
Spero meliora.

p.s.

I don't have phones this week.

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Spero meliora.

There was one week since I've been here that the hot water went out three times.  The first time, I decided, you know what, I don't really need a shower this morning.  The second time, I braved it.  Later that day the subject came up at mealtime or something and Luc mentioned that he doesn't usually use hot water anyway because the cold water here is not really that cold compared to the cold water in Quebec.  So the third time I thought maybe he was right and hot water's not all it's cracked up to be anyway.  I found out it was, in fact, too cold, and told him so.  But last week, after throwing the frisbee around for fifteen minutes and playing Ultimate for fifteen minutes, and having to come in and collapse because I could not stay out in the heat, and taking a cold shower and appreciating it, I had to admit that he was right in the first place.  And I've been taking cold showers ever since.

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Spero meliora.

How I found out there are two Adams going through law enforcement.

I called ALERT yesterday and punched in Adam's extension.  It rings, someone picks up, and I hear, "Hello".  (On the other end they claim he answered, "100 wing".)  I was a little taken aback that I didn't get a rank and last name so instead of asking if Adam Bower was there I said, "Hi this is Anna, is Adam there?".

"Law enforcement, this is Adam."

"Well why didn't you answer with your name first off, dude?"

Pause

New voice, "Hello?"  It's my Adam.

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Spero meliora.

Spotlight on Heath

I've been saving this spotlight, perhaps because I wasn't sure all I wanted to say.  Heath Jennings is the building manager and assistant director of the DTC.  Ever since I first came here to work on staff, whether he was leading wisdom search or teaching me how to check in the Sysco order, Heath has reminded me of Dad.  He sounds a lot like Dad and has a lot of the same mannerisms and speach patterns.  He sounds not at all like a Texan (because he isn't, of course, he's from Kansas).  He jokes and teases just like Dad too.  He's the best.

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Nunquam obliviscar. 

Ah lazy Saturday afternoon...now that I've cleaned up all the maintenance dust in my new room, moved all my stuff, and cleaned my old room.  Long story short two other girls need to stay in my room this week so I moved to a little room that was just redone (really, the shower rod was hung this morning).  Maybe it seems like a lot of trouble for less than a week (!!!), but I really like the new room and it has a phone.  In the room.  Enough said.

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Spero meliora.

Last night during kitchen clean-up, the girls found a roach on the wall between the ceiling and the refrigerator door.  As soon as I saw it I reached out with a spatula and crushed it, just as they were in the middle of calling one of the boys over to dispense with it so they could enter the fridge.  I don't think it was still alive, but, since it's legs were wiggling, I'm not sure it was quite dead yet either.  To put it out of it's misery, Trevor scooped it up and threw it at two of the girls, who promptly made sure it was dead.  And today is Thursday.  Can you tell?

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Spero meliora.

Five Worst Things

Fourth, fifth, and sixth floor

Bathtub drains

Pink cleaner

Vacuuming around chairs

Not getting any calls and having no deskwork when I have phones and can't leave my office

--
Spero meliora.

Seven Best Things

Servicing vacuums

Watering plants outside

Brasso

Deskwork

Folding laundry

Clean sinks

The basement

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Spero meliora.

I don't have enough work to do.  Well, I have enough work to do, I just don't have enough to give to two or three other girls.  So I sent them to the kitchen.  What in the world am I going to do tomorrow?  At least having too much help is offset by not having a roommate.  Oh yeah, the girl that was going to come on Monday who was going to have to stay in my room because there was no other place to put her...isn't coming.  Not while I'm still here anyhow.  I was willing to have a roommate.  I was ready to have a roommate.  I just...prefer not to right now.  When I'm here as temporary staff, I don't mind at all because my roommate and I would have the same rules, guidelines, and privileges.  Not so this time since I'm here as fill-in permanent staff and she would have been short-term.  And now, no worries.  Or rather, fewer.

--
Spero meliora.

I have noticed *warning: generalization* that while Baptists play songs much too slowly, Presbyterians tend to play somewhat too fast.  It's not so bad; it just throws me off sometimes at the end of a line when I am used to a longer pause.  But one of the things I really like about the church that the staff attends is the music, so I won't be complaining.

Two new staff girls came in today so I had to keep thinking of things for them to do, but I was glad for the help.  After they went to help Jen in the kitchen at 4:00, I was putting towels in rooms that are to be occupied next week, or rather, trying to, because, grrr, I had to refold almost every one and, grrr,  guest towels were mixed in with DTC towels and it was hot and stuffy upstairs and my back was hurting because I didn't have anything high enough to fold on.  If there's one thing I do well here, it's fold towels.  One of my favorite things is folding towels, and afterwards having bouncy stacks of clean, white, perfectly folded towels.

Long day, but it's all good because I got to play Ping Pong after supper with Luc.  We're all trying to get as much Ping Pong as we can (until we're sick of it) before we have to put it away later this week.  You should see me play.  I get the luckiest shots sometimes.  I played Josh an actual game on Sunday and only lost by three points.  Anyway, Ping Pong is great.  And so's volleyball.  And badminton.  And I bet tennis would be fun too...

 
Spero meliora.

Heidelberg Catechism, Question 1

What is your only comfort, in life and in death?

That I belong--body and soul, in life and in death--not to myself but to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ, who at the cost of His own blood has fully paid for all my sins and has completely freed me from the dominion of the devil; that He protects me so well that without the will of my Father in heaven not a hair can fall from my head; indeed, that everything must fit His purpose for my salvation.  Therefore, by His Holy Spirit, He also assures me of eternal life, and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for Him.

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Spero meliora.

I changed my mind.  Josh is really cool and he doesn't talk too much.  We were talking over dinner last night about Pirates of the Caribbean's coming out that day and somehow Josh and Luc and I decided we wanted to go see it.  Josh arranged for the three of us to take the lightrail across town and get a ride from the station to the theater.  When we got there around 8, the 8:15 and 10:45 showings were already sold out.  We had some difficulty getting there in the first place so we did not want to just say forget it so...we bought tickets for the 11 o'clock showing!  We walked around the mall until it closed at nine, then went to Half Price Books.  I almost didn't get into the movie when we got back (long story).  When we finally got back to the training center it was 2 am.  That might have been the most insane, spur-of-the-moment thing I've ever done, and it was the most fun I've had since the 4th of July.

--
Aut agere aut mori.

Things are definitely picking up around here.  It's still as quiet as ever, but I've been really busy the last few days.  Today I updated the meal count, worked on the laundry schedule, readied rooms for some short-term staff and an overnight guest, walked through rooms to be used for event staff, placed towels, made gift baskets, printed keytags, and entered records of who is staying here this month.  On Monday it will no longer be quiet.  I will gain a roommate and the first wave of short-term staff will arrive.  Oorah the weekend.

--
Spero meliora.

Spotlight on Trevor

Trevor Davies works in the warehouse for the seminar office.  I like Trevor.  He reminds me of Luke, except he's ten years older and not quite as good-hearted and generous.  If someone gets shut in the fridge with the light out, it was probably Trevor.  If someone gets whacked with something...Trevor.  If someone's washing a mountain of dirty dishes before supper so clean-up afterwards won't take so long, it's Trevor.  If someone breaks in in the wee hours of the morning and you don't want to disturb Mr. Bell or Heath because they need their sleep and if you wake them up you wake their wife up, call Trevor.  He'll always be available to help...and tell you that he's glad you're leaving.

--
Spero meliora.

So here I am babysitting the phone again.  Unlike last time, it has rung only once, and it was an inside call from Josh wanting to know if I would like some frappuccino since he'd made too much for himself.  By the way, Josh is a great guy.  I hardly notice that he talks too much.  But anyway, since I haven't had to answer the phone and I finished all my desk work for now, I ended up getting into mischief.  Yes, as you can see, I have no tagboard.  Sorry about that.  I am an idiot.

--
Spero meliora.

I've met some folks
Who say that I'm a dreamer
And I've no doubt
There's truth in what they say
But sure a body's bound to be a dreamer
When all the things he loves are far away

And precious things
Are dreams unto an exile
They take him o'er
The land across the sea
Especially when it happens he's an exile
From that dear lovely Isle of Inisfree

And when the moonlight
Peeps across the rooftops
Of this great city
Wondrous though it be
I scarcely feel its wonder or laughter
I'm once again back home in Inisfree

I wonder o'er green hills
Through dreamy valleys
And find a peace
No other land would know
I hear the birds make music fit for angels
And watch the rivers laughing
As they flow

And then into a humble shack I wander--
My dear old home--
And tenderly behold
The folks I love
Around the turf fire gathered
On bended knee
Their rosary is told

But dreams don't last
Though dreams are not forgotten
And soon I'm back
To stern reality
But though they pave
The footways here with gold dust
I still would choose
My Isle of Inisfree

--
Spero meliora.

I just had the best 4th of July ever!  Heath and Jen took Josh and Luc and me with them to an annual barbecue hosted by a family from their church.  Highlights:

Good food.  Amazing food really.  Five beef briskets slow-cooked since ten o'clock the night before.

Great people.  Real southern hospitality.

I got to wear shorts and go barefoot all day!

Ping Pong.

Holding a pet raccoon.

It wasn't too humid and there was cloud cover most of the day so it wasn't too hot.

Throwing the frisbee with Cody.

Learning that I like volleyball.

The Northeast Texas Symphony.  They had a concert in the park and played Phantom and a medley of all the Star Trek music.

Picnic supper.

Texas-sized fireworks.

Climbing into the van, sweaty and filthy and smelling like a raccoon.

Hearing Jen say, "We're gonna be heathens Anna", as we returned to the training center still wearing shorts.

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Stop for me; I'm a pedestrian.

I got to spend the whole day yesterday with Adam.  We went to church, came back and ate lunch, and played ping pong.  He, of course, beat me, 21-13.  But isn't that amazing?  I got points!  Mostly it was because he would mess up, not because of anything I did.  I'm not good enough to get points on purpose.  Then we took him to the train station and sent him off to Longview.  Now I will not see him again until November.  I drowned my sorrows in Rachel's 21st birthday party when we got back.  It was the first birthday she's ever had away from home.  My twenty-first birthday was also my first birthday to be away from home and I spent it here too.  We had blah blah blah food for dinner and chocolate cake with berries and whipped cream for dessert.  And that's what I'm having for breakfast tomorrow.  Slainte.

--
Spero meliora.

Spotlight on Luc

Luc Maurais is here for the summer and I sometimes almost wish he wasn't.  No, it is not because I do not like him.  It is not because he speaks French.  Neither is it because he could beat me at the quiet game.  I sometimes, almost wish he wasn't here because he constantly reminds me that my brothers aren't here with me as he is with Rachel.  Oh he doesn't say, "You know Anna, wouldn't it be great if your brothers were here?"  No.  I've never heard him string that many words together...in English.  His being such a good brother just makes me wish, even more than I already was, that mine could come down.  Aside from that, he's pretty cool.  It is true that I haven't watched that much ping pong, but he's the only person I've seen dive in ping pong as you would in Ultimate.  Speaking of which, from the one game we've played since I've been here, I'd say he would be one of those people, along with Chris and Alex, that you do not throw past.  So...Evan and John?  Jump on your bicycles and get down here.  Now.

--
Spero meliora.

Apparently, my bathroom is the new happenin' place for cockroaches to chill.  Prior to this, I didn't think I had any feelings whatsoever about cockroaches.  If I saw them in the basement or the kitchen I would kill them and go on with whatever else I was doing.  Now I have discovered that I hate cockroaches, specifically the ones in my bathroom, especially when I have bare feet.  I chased one around yesterday for five minutes before he came out of the corner enough that I could smash him.  I killed his wives later as they were hunting for his dead corpse.  Do not grieve, I buried them together.

Also yesterday, I finished Phantom of the Opera (which is an excellent book that someone should make into a movie), went to TGIF for dinner, played ping pong, and picked up Adam from the airport. Oh yeah, and I used up all the battery in my CD player...but Mr. Bell gave me another one.  Close call, eh.

--
Spero meliora.