present-day emily

It's one in the morning, I should be in bed, but I had to stay up to watch Conan and I find my creativity is at its peak at ridiculous hours in the morning. Plus, I'm bound and determined to keep up with my blogging (reminds me of snogging...hee hee...for all of you Harry Potter fans).

Let's see, a lot has happened, as it usually does. Too much to remember to write down, but I'll try. I finally finished up work as a Petho (what I affectionately referred to myself as while working in the lovely industry of pet product retail) last Saturday (Aug. 6). I'll miss some of the people I work with and getting to be around the animals, but I really won't miss all of the crap that went with the job (as most jobs have their associated crap). So now, I'm trying to hang out with my friends, take road trips, and get my act together before I have to make the big move...I'm leaving good old Grand Forks on the 21st, which gives me 11 days, well, now 10. I know I shouldn't be counting down, but it sits there in the back of my head, taunting me.

I've moved most of my stuff to my parents' house in Valley City, now I just have to figure out what I'm taking with me, which is stupid ridiculous. How am I supposed to know what I'll need this year? I have no idea, so it's kinda like flying by the seat of my pants, which is fun and adventurous, but it also makes me nervous. Sure, you can always buy something if you need it, but I really can't. One of the tenets of LVC is simplicity...not spending a lot, being conscious of others and your surroundings, what you're using and how you're using it. Aka...emily will be poor. :) The program is also built around intentional community..spending time with the people you're living with, learning about other faith backgrounds and life experiences. I'll be living in a house with 5 other girls...I now know their names, where they went to college, and where they'll be working, but that's about it. I'm excited to meet them! I was also very excited to learn we'll have an in-house washer/dryer (some houses have these things, some don't), a tv (who knows if we'll have cable...again, simplicity!!), and 5 bedrooms, but only 1 1/2 bathrooms...between 5 girls. Right. Is this some sort of joke?? lol...I'm sure we'll manage.

I learned about the house in a letter from our local support committe, made up of old LVC alums and other people around our community who are there if we need any help. They also help furnish the house and have things like kitchen supplies already there for us, so we won't have to worry about it...thank you soooo much!! Everyone sounds really cool and there's even a lady originally from North Dakota, so we'll have to talk about 'home' every now and again. ;) If you have any questions about LVC, let me know, I'll explain!! The easiest thing to say is that it's kinda like AmeriCorps, if you're familiar with that. Anyway, I digress.

Since I got done with work, I'm trying to cram everything possible into a little itty bitty amount of time. So far, it's alright. Walking around Target today, I realized I need so much more stuff, and that's just dumb. No stuff...stuff is bad....but I need it!! I'm most worried about going to Seattle for our big orientation...we'll be there 5 days, and we're 'sposed to bring only enough that we can carry on a crowded city bus (they're making us galavant around Seattle on buses...dear Lord, help us all...look for my picture on the evening news, people).

Oh my, oh my...this is truly going to be my biggest adventure yet, and that's why I'm letting you all read about it...there's bound to be a lot of funny situations and hopefully I'll get some pictures up here, that way you can see my good-looking mug ;).

Speaking of funny situations...I went running tonight (I've turned into a running junkie; I feel like butt if I don't go running and I subscribe to Runner's World, so you'll hear a lot about my running) to get a few frustrations out. Of course it was dark, but you know, I figured I would be okay running down University Ave (So it was stupid of me, thanks...I even took it one level higher by having headphones on...I think I was begging to get mugged), which is kinda of well-lit. No, not really. But anyway, I'm running along, having myself a grand old time, just passed a couple possibly cute boys (again, it was dark, couldn't tell), not watching where I'm going, when..BAM!!...catch my left foot on a rise in the super uneven sidewalk (another danger in running in the dark...come on Grand Forks City dept...work with me here!!) and go sprawling on the ground. In the process, I scraped up my knees and part of my hands. Plus, to top it all off (besides the guys I just passed probably laughing their arses off at me), my music source got smooshed in the fall. Good thing it was rather cheap, but still..no tunes! Bargle. So, I kept running up University to Christus Rex, where I threw my sports radio in the trash, at which point I looked down to see blood running down my legs. Sweet...a battle wound!! As my MSN name said earlier, I fought the sidewalk and the sidewalk won. Oh well. I just turned myself around and ran back home. Another thing you'll learn about me: I tend to be accident-prone. Let's just say I've driven myself to the ER more than once...oops.

And finally, before I drag myself off to bed, I have some exciting news. Well, for me, anyway! I got my nose pierced yesterday!!!! :D and I LOVE IT!! I've wanted to have it done for about a year and a half now, but couldn't because of Petco company policy. So as soon as I was outta there (took me 4 days!!), I went to get it done. I'll write about my whole experience tomorrow, but it's really surprising to me how many people don't notice it. It's not a huge piercing or anything, but I don't think the people who know me really well would peg me (pun intended!!!) to be the one to get a piercing. My mom doesn't know about it yet. but I'm sure she won't freak out (well, I hope not!). Anyway, as the guy who pierced me said, "As soon as you get one, you can't stop", so stayed tuned for more....