Free Fallin'

My entire life is in a state of disarray.

~I can't find the little box containing all my favorite earrings, and if you know me you know that means more than just "I can't find some of my favorite earrings." It means I now have no motivation to put on a cute outfit in the morning, because why do so without the perfectly matching pair of earrings that I have, but idiotically misplaced?

~I haven't done a USA Today Crossword in ages. I think my brain is turning into cheese or creamed corn or something due to a serious lack of intellectual stimulation. Summers... They'll get ya.

~My oldest brother has been married (to someone terrific and beautiful) for three days; it's always weird to lose/gain family members. Change is hard. Even though he wasn't home that much (neither am I), it's just difficult to know that it won't ever be the same again. It will be better, actually, but sometimes our simple minds can't really see the difference between positive and negative change. We'll get used to him being a them and we'll look back and tell stories, prefacing them with, "Before Harrison and Taylor were married...," and it'll seem weird to us that there was ever such an era... right?

(east main photography)

~My room is a mess, and I just cleaned it, like a week ago. I think the mess may have something to do with the fact that I can't find my earrings. I hope so, rather than it being that I left them at the house I slept at the night before wedding.

~Speaking of which, weddings are exhausting. Source of disarray #5.

~Unlike at Asbury, I'm not consistently around people who make me laugh really hard... Some of you know what happens in that case. I'm hoping my trip to Nashville this weekend will help that some.

I haven't written anything in so long I could go forever. Sorry Lauren, for keeping you waiting for so long. Lauren guilt tripped me into blogging, and as you can see, it has proven to be quite therapeutic.

Thanks Lola. You're one of my favorite people.

Camp Life

It's a different world here at Camp Greystone, where:

-Females outnumber males 100 to 1.

-Instead of an alarm clock (or even a watch), you have a bugle to wake you up in the morning. It's called Reveille. If you can guess how it's pronounced, I'll send you a Greystone postcard.

-Everything is pre-planned, scheduled, and/or organized, down to how to clear your table after meals (don't even think about taking your bread board to window 2), which bed the counselor sleeps on, where you sit when you give a devotion to your campers, and how long you have to brush your teeth for.

All the organization is extremely overwhelming. Is that an oxymoron?

We have sat through at least 10 combined hours of meetings in four days and I am now prepared to deal with bee stings, bedwetting, homesickness, bats, thunder storms, and seizures.

Thank goodness. I was nervous that I wouldn't be ready to deal with the girls wetting their beds, considering I'm "Out of Cabin" staff... That'll be useful.

Ahem.

Dear readers,

I am going to Camp Greystone tomorrow to work as a counselor (www.campgreystone.com).

I am quite certain that there will be things there that will be worthy of blogging about, but I can't be sure that I'll have the opportunity to do so.

So, if I don't update until mid-July, it's because I'm basically busy until then, and not because I have taken a not-so-rare-for-me break from blogging.

But, maybe I will have plenty of time to update. Who knows. Let's hope for the best. You can pray for me while I'm at camp that I will have energy, patience and joy. I'm excited about serving and making friends while getting paid to do it! Not to mention that one of my best friends is coming with me. Not a bad set-up, really.

I have to finish packing now.

Sincerely,

Marie-Claire

"Chad? Who's Chad?"

Three weeks ago today, I was done with classes and was in the process of blissfully ignoring the imminent arrival of finals week. I went to a concert, chatted in Subway, ate Wendy's, watched That Thing You Do and didn't study at all.

Two weeks and one day ago, I was arduously packing all my stuff into an Oldsmobile. Stuffing is probably a more apt term. We also did some yelling (sorry Deej) and some whining. And we totally destroyed an electrical outlet. But I digress...

About four hours after we had planned to get on the road, my roommate and I finally headed south, leaving behind Kentucky and another year of college. We drank one of those energy shot things that probably shouldn't be legal, and got into Marietta at 1 a.m., after a 6-hour debrief of our sophomore year. It was a great way to get the summer started.

Now, I feel as though all that was months ago... Cramming for finals, saying goodbye to old and new friends, telling everyone you'll keep in touch and sometimes meaning it, checking your CPO one last time, and looking forward to the summer with X amount of anticipation.

I have nothing deep to say, except that it's weird how quickly half a month went by, but how long ago all of that seems. Funny thing, the passing of time.

Braxton Bragg Was Terrible

Since everyone is blogging right now, I figured I should too. It's one of the finest means of procrastination, and I have been in the library for a combined total of 10 hours today. So I think I deserve to waste time.
Well, actually that's not true; I'm only hurting myself by being distracted. Students (Ahem--me) have this false mentality that studying is something they are obligated to do, and get really mad when they finally realize they have to. Studying is always a good idea (there are exceptions to this, of course--I, for example, studied very little for my French exam this morning, and did very well). But come on, it's not the worst thing in the world to have to review a semester's worth of knowledge. I mean, you could be forced to turn eight-hundred socks inside out, or eat an entire set of plastic cutlery.

I've been sitting here too long.

Study Break

Yeah right, I haven't studied today.

It's a Saturday night and I'm sitting here eating junk food and drinking flat Sierra Mist.

Katelyn is giving us a biology lesson. I don't think anyone really knows what she's talking about, and I have a feeling if we did, we'd regret it

I have one final on Monday and three finals on Tuesday: 8 a.m., 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Who thought of that? Probably the same person who thought of Spongebob Squarepants, paper cuts, and middle school.

Lauren is sitting next to me sketching DJ, who is on the other bed, posing on top of the giant stuffed turtle. Next to her is Anna, who is braiding Katelyn's hair, whose head is laid contentedly and sleepily on her lap.

A week from today I'll be at home.

Or will I be away from home?

Ok I think I know what she's talking about and I wish I didn't.

Speaking of things that I like...

This is Giverny.

It definitely should have been in my last post. It's one of my favorite places in France. And it still looks exactly like that, though perhaps not as blurry.

I'm going home this weekend for the wedding of a good friend. This is the first time one of my friends, close to my age, has gotten married. It's strange to think about. And it's even stranger to think that most of my friends will be married in 7-10 years. Make that 2-3 years, for the Asburians. Just kidding. Not really.

This is an impulse post. I apologize.

Also, college is weird. You make friends, and you love them, and you hang out with them every day, and develop tons of inside jokes, and memorize their birthdays and siblings' names, and then...you separate. What?
...Who decided that was emotionally healthy?