the oddity of familiarity

Yesterday was the first time I've been to Queen Anne for over 4 months. Honestly? It was weird. I lived there for 5 years, but it felt so long ago.

And yet, the oddest thing to me was that I recognized a lot of the cars on Queen Anne Avenue...the blue Toyota with the Texas license plate. The silver Mazda that looks like mine but is one year older. The list goes on and on.... I drove past these cars every weekday last year, and it provided a weird sense of solidarity that I never experience in Boston.

I love living in Boston--I have no regrets, which is a somewhat new feeling. After four months, I still experience a nearly overwhelming excitement when I step off the T at Government Center and see Faneuil Hall. I love it there. But I do miss the solidarity of home.

one of my favorite christmas carols

O holy night! The stars are brightly shining,

It is the night of our dear Saviour's birth.

Long lay the world in sin and error, pining,

'Til He appear'd and the soul felt its worth.

A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,

For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.

Fall on your knees! O hear the angels' voices!

O night divine, O night when Christ was born;

O night divine, O night, O night Divine.

Led by the light of Faith serenely beaming,

With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand.

So led by light of a star sweetly gleaming,

Here come the wise men from Orient land.

The King of Kings lay thus in lowly manger;

In all our trials born to be our friend.

He knows our need, to our weakness is no stranger,

Behold your King! Before Him lowly bend!

Behold your King, Before Him lowly bend!

Truly He taught us to love one another;

His law is love and His gospel is peace.

Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother;

And in His name all oppression shall cease.

Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,

Let all within us praise His holy name.

Christ is the Lord! O praise His Name forever,

His power and glory evermore proclaim.

His power and glory evermore proclaim.

another math problem.

fighting exhaustion/waves of sleep + cramming for tomorrow's final = failure to learn.

exempt. phew.

exemption exam: passed.

a&p and audiology: cramming after some much needed sleep.

bring me sunshine

Bring me sunshine, in your smile
Bring me laughter, all the while
In this world where we live
There should be more happiness
So much joy you can give to each brand new bright tomorrow

Make me happy, through the years
Never bring me, any tears
Let your arms be as warm as the sun from up above
Bring me fun, bring me sunshine, bring me love

Bring me sunshine, in your smile
Bring me laughter, all the while
In this world where we live
There should be more happiness
So much joy you can give to each brand new bright tomorrow

Make me happy, through the years
Never bring me, any tears
Let your arms be as warm as the sun from up above
Bring me fun, bring me sunshine, bring me love

Bring me sunshine, in your smile
Bring me laughter, all the while
Let your arms be as warm as the sun from up above
Bring me fun, bring me sunshine, bring me love

all hail guard dog Willow!

During this lovely week of finals, I've not been studying much. Oops. Instead, I proceeded to move in to my brothers' home to puppy sit my sister-in-law's Dachshunds while they're both gone on business/school trips. Yesterday was spent moving my huge suitcase from Fenway to the North End, settling in, grocery shopping, and....watching three zombie/slasher/thriller movies with my older brother. SO much fun, but not conducive to passing my classes. Oh well.

So, after three wonderful movies last night, the Dachshunds and I headed up to bed. I was rudely awakened around 4am to Willow's angry barking. The typical response came quickly, but then I heard lots of male voices in the alleyway. Groggling stumbling to the window, to my surprise I saw 6 cops and some guy standing next to our gate! Now, from everything I learned last night and from an extensive repertoir of zombie/slasher/thriller films, I quickly woke up Nick. You never know, right? Who wants to die alone in a boiler room? (my hat's off to Freddie Kreuger...)

Anyway, it turns out someone had called the cops because they'd seen someone trying to hop fences and oddly enough, they caught the guy at our fence! Or something. We're still not entirely sure what happened, but I was very glad for my guard dog Willow.

advent: the arrival of a notable person, thing or event.

aka...Jesus, grace, incarnation.

welcome advent.

8 days!!!

All that is left!

1 Exemption Exam.

1 A&P final.

1 Audiology final.

All that's been done:

too much to even recap...

but i'm 7 days away from being done with 1/5 of grad school.

discoveries

yesterday i went running in an effort to lower my level of stress (ahh!! finals!! the worst ever!) and to explore my neighborhood. i discovered some things i had no idea existed two blocks over.

one, the museum of fine arts is literally across the back bay fens from my apartment. in less than ten minutes, i could be staring at the american art wing! and for dirt cheap because i'm a student! future activity!

two, there's a very impressive memorial to the korean & vietnam war boston vets. there's also an interesting statue there--i want to research it, because the statue (lady of justice, i think?) is holding a gun with an olive branch. interesting.

three, i watched leaves skate over ice...i've never seen that before. it was beautiful.

four, violently shivering, i marveled at how birds are designed as i watched a canada (and maybe even canadian haha) goose flip over and partially submerge itself in the water.

five, it's wicked pissah cold in boston!

maybe it's because it's finals, but maybe because it's genius. Bones 5.6. I've rarely laughed so hard.

Plus, I adore Wendell. New favorite character.

dedicated to eb.

tonight i received wonderful news: my dear friend erin and her husband are moving to boston!

i'm in shock. i've known for months that this was a possibility, but didn't let myself truly believe it just in case something changed. i can hardly believe that now it's actually happening!

my moving to boston was a whirlwind for me--i knew it was where God was calling me to. so i came, with little thought of the consequences and only thoughts of obedience. however, about a month before i came, i realized what moving meant: many friends would be thousands of miles away. of course i have my sister-in-law and brothers and sjb, which continues to bring me great comfort. but now, eb, my dear wonderful friend, will soon be in this city with me!!!

for four years, we lived within 20 feet to 3000 feet away of each other. it's now been over a year and a half since we lived on the same continent. and now, in a few weeks, we'll be in the same city once again! i'm overjoyed and grateful.