tomorrow, i walk.

It's been a rough couple of months but here I sit on the verge of receiving my college diploma tomorrow (cum laude, might I add). It's a little anti-climatic to know that the past 4 and 1/2 years have lead up to this one day tomorrow. I'm proud of myself for making this accomplishment. I think that's what matters in the end.

My poor room feels so empty right now, though. I began packing up my life once again today to move back to Guntersville. It's not as bad as it sounds. At least I will still have a little privacy and somewhat of my own place to go to. I just don't think I could handle living at home again with nearly 5 years of independence behind me. I will miss my roommates. They really are some of the best roommates someone could have and our little "roommate christmas" tonight reminded me of that. I mean, Sheree got me a SLINKY! Pretty cool, huh? I just really hate that I have to pack up and leave everything that Montevallo has come to mean to me. It's scary. There's the prospect of leaving for Africa in three months. I turned in my final transcript today which should be the last of the many, many things I had to do to acheive my dream of becoming a Peace Corps volunteer. I really hope I hear back soon from my Placement Officer or just to get an invitation in the mail. Gives me butterflies in my stomach. I have plenty to occupy my time in the meanwhile. Pack tonight, graduation tomorrow, move saturday, and then off to New Orleans for a semi-senior trip. Then Christmas. I'll be so happy to see all my family again and to actually be able to spend time with them rather than rushing around preparing for my next semester. No more classes. Sheesh. I'll never quit learning, that's for sure. I already have a good line-up of books that I want to read before I go off to Africa. My goals before March are to learn French, take a few Red Cross classes, take the GRE, and relax. I think I could do all that.

Anyways, bon nuit for tomorrow I graduate!

on the downhill slide

I'm having some post-show blues. It was beautiful and it was sad to see it come down but this means that the next chapter of my life is less than a month away. It's a scary thought to leave Montevallo after calling it home for over 4 years. It won't be too hard to leave because not many of my friends will be here after December. I don't think about it too much because I'm busy trying to finish up this semester right. Probably the most difficult project I really really need to finish is my Studio Photography portfolio. It was the class I really put off a lot of stuff to finish my show. In the past week or so, I've really caught up and even finished a few prints. I don't really have a whole lot to do but once it's all finished I'll be DONE DONE DONE. Walk across that stage and grab my degree. hootie--hoo.


In a Peace Corps update...I heard from the Placement Office and they told me they needed an updated resume and my final transcript. I faxed my resume on Friday and plan on sending them my final transcript as soon as I get my grades on Dec 10th. Let's cross our fingers and hope that I hear back from them soon after that. I would love to be able to share the news by Christmas.

in sadness, there is also grace

Just a couple of short days ago, my Aunt Sara passed away from cancer. It breaks my heart to know that such a wonderful and loving person such as her has left this world but I am comforted by the fact that she is no longer in pain and has joined in that heavenly kingdom of God. In honor of her memory, I have decided to take donations at my show for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation (http://cms.komen.org/komen/index.htm) as well as give 25% of my sales from selling seven of my pieces at the show. I know that she would have done all in her power to be at my show and I am saddened that she is not able to be with us any longer. For all who knew her, she was an angel. So many times in the past few years she has fed me and taken care of me when I had a hard week and needed some family time. She was a really great aunt as well as a sister, a daughter, a mother, a grandmother, a wife, and a friend. She will be greatly missed by all that knew her. I make this post with a heavy heart but I hope that all who read it will be moved in such a way that they will remember those who have suffered and who have been lost to cancer. Give generously to those who are working hard to find a cure and live everyday as if tomorrow you may have no more.

all my hard work!

it feels good to be healthy!

Exactly a week ago I received my letter from the Office of Medical Services that told me I was medically qualified to be in the Peace Corps. Phew, what a big weight lifted off of my shoulders. After being stuck with a million needles and visiting every doctor of every kind, I am glad to be through with it. It wasn't so bad since now that I know I'm still a healthy 22 year-old.

The wait now begins for my invitation.

It's been kind of a rough week for me. First our power went nuts last weekend. Casualties of the surges included my poor TV, our cable modem, our wireless router, and Arthur's computer. We almost lost the microwave but somehow it pushed through. We still don't have internet which stinks because I would've updated a lot sooner. I've also caught some sort of cold which doesn't help. My senior show is coming very quickly (try three weeks) and I need to be healthy to get through all the stress it is causing me. I hope to have every thing framed and done with before Halloween so that I won't have to worry about it and I can concentrate on other things like graduating. The rain that came today seems to be helping with the cold so maybe it was just a seasonal change thing and I can be back on my feet by next week. Hopefully more coming soon about my invitation!

patience is a virtue.

For almost a year I have been patiently waiting to become a Peace Corps Volunteer. These last few days I'm sure will be pure torture waiting to hear back from the Office of Medical Services on whether or not I have been medically cleared. Then, waiting for the invitation.

I can tell you its not easy to wait around for a dream to come true. It's sort of like watching water boil...you have to busy yourself doing other things while you wait. I think I might have gone overboard on the whole "busy" thing. School is enough to nearly keep me busy 24/7 but then I decide to have a social life on top of that. Hey, if I'm going to leave my friends and family for two years I want to squeeze lots of quality time in. I am enjoying the good moments like playing poker over at Jake and Meagan's until 5am or going to Elkmont last weekend with my mom. It's the moments where I have a million and one things to do while I all I want to do is sit on my butt and do nothing that are terrible. As optimistic as I am, those moments often end up being pretty good too (but mostly in hindsight). Peace Corps is floating somewhere around in my thoughts while on the forefront I'm worried about my upcoming senior show and graduation and all the things that come with being an adult. I really wonder sometimes where I find the time.

It's going to be hard to sit still and wait while all my PC stuff is sorted out but I've got some good friends to pass the time with and maybe even a good book to read.