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| My summer and my future scholastic activities and endeavors have
been in limbo for quite some time, now; I've constantly been back and
forth between nursing school, massage-therapy school and the completion
of my English Lit degree. Well, ladies and gentlebodies, Flannery Jane
has come to a conclusion at last. I'll be attending summer school at
Manatee Community College, enrolled in an Anatomy and Physiology I
class, and upon completion of that course will be added to the waiting
list for MCC's esteemed nursing program. It could be up to two
semesters before I actually begin the nursing courses, but in the
meantime I will be finishing some of the lower-level science classes
and also taking some of the classes I will need when I go back to
school for my Lit degree. The nursing school should take me about a
year-and-a-half to complete, at the end of which I will have completed
all of the requirements for my RN. At that point, I will likely be
transferring to University of South Florida, Sarasota campus, to finish
my Lit degree and/or my Bachelor's in Nursing.
A lot of school
ahead of me, but I'm glad for it. I'm dying to get back to the academic
grind--strange, huh? If taking this semester off to work has taught me
anything, it's the value of a college degree and having a lucrative,
marketable skill, besides waiting tables. (I simply can't take any more
of it than utterly neccessary.)
Thank you, all of my dear friends
who have been praying for me and cheering me on during this rough
semester and the one prior. I appreciate you so much and miss you all,
dreadfully. I'll be in Nashville at the end of May (for a veeery
exciting event!), so if any of you will be in the area, give me a call!
Take care of yourselves, there are only a few days left in the
semester!!! A pittance, my dears... Chins up. ;) God bless you. "Never, never, NEVER give up!" | | |
| I HAVE to get a new job. Post-haste. Turns out my bosses are not only vindictive witches, they're also racist biggots... Fun stuffs.
On a very much lighter note, I'm doing much better than before, in terms of managing my life and self. I'm going to attend MCC this summer, and get Anatomy & Physiology I out of the way. (This will be beneficial, whether I decide to pursue the English major this fall, or nursing school.) My academic path is up in the air--I'm awaiting my acceptance decisions from USF and New College, so we'll see where I end up. If i get accepted to NC, I'll pursue my Lit degree this fall, in most likelihood. If I don't, I'll probably be starting nursing school. Both things I want to do, just the deciding of chronology is in limbo. I'm saving my money, and wish desperately that I could use some of it to travel this summer (preferably europe or KC), but that won't happen. I WILL get to go to Nashvegas at least once, possibly three times between now and July. Will and Beka's wedding May 20 is a given, and the two trips in question are an IHOP conference at the end of April, and a The Call gathering in July. Please, God. We'll see how this all fits into school and work plans. I also don't know if I'm going to be able to spend as much time there over the week of the wedding as I'd hoped--I was planning on a week, but it's looking more like a couple of days. Achdulibe.
So God's been showing me that I've been bogged down by my perception of all of these things I'd have to DO before I could get back to where I need to be in Him, and back to the level of prophetic living I've experienced before. But the truth of the matter is that He's a God of Grace, who's not waiting for me to finish off a checklist of tasks before He'll take me back, but waiting for me to just run to Him unabashedly and say "Here I am, I found you again. Oh, let me love you more." It's a really great realization--freeing, at the least. I miss that feeling of freedom. It's been a while. Now, if I could just get past myself... Thank you, Jesus.
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| I recieved perhaps the most thoughtful and meaningful present of my life, the other day. I was really not doing well, and having a hard time with who I am and where I'm at. Wondering if I would ever do the things I dream of doing, see the places I read about. And wondering if I would ever be able to make it in school. I was walking Rocket (our beautiful black lab) down by the seawall, and stopped in at Aunt Susan's to give her a belated "Happy Birthday" hug. We got to talking (of course), and she asked how I was doing. I told her, and also explained that I was discouraged because most of my closest friends are going to Europe for various reasons this spring and summer, and I'm feeling as if I'm the one that wants to go most but can't. She teared up, and said "Honey, you ARE going to do those things. You will. You have to persevere and trust. But wait, I have something I want you to have." She ran into the house and returned, flipping through the pages of a very old book. I thought, "Ooh, that's cool--I love old books." But then she plucked something from between two particular pages, and I saw the real gift. "This is a piece of heather from the heath around the house that is the actual inspiration for 'Wuthering Heights'. I picked it from the moor when I was there in 1972, before I married Wyatt. I got off the bus and hiked by myself through the heath, and when I got there, it was just as desolate and wildly beautiful as Bronte described it. I want you to keep it before you, as a reminder of what you're working for and an encouragement that you're actually gonna get there!" She also gave me the postcard she sent her sister and brother-in-law at the time, with the picture of the house and moor. I cried. She cried. It was amazing. Don't laugh at me, any of you--anyone who took Brit Lit II last fall knows that I HATED that book, but came to respect it as a beautiful, neccessary thing. I will resolve to see school the same way. As another wise friend notes, it's what you have to do, "to get the union card". Susan called it "the rote scales you have to practice, before you can get to the concerto". I will choose to view school as something that is hard, but ultimately more than worthwhile. In fact, there are many things that I'm realizing I valued highly at school, some of the very things I complained about. I even miss writing papers for Dr. Jones and Impson. So all of you know that pretty much the only things I did when I was in school are A) procrastinate, B) complain about what I should be doing, C) ask why I needed a degree anyway... Well, now I have the answers. I know I need a degree, because first and foremost, I work with a bunch of people in the restaurant that didn't get their degrees, and now are eternally sorry for it. I know that as hard as lit classes are, they bring me alive. I know that procrastination and complaining are only helpful if you're trying to flunk out. (Or get a breath.) In any case, I know I'll never be the perfect student, but I am DYING to be back in school. I've applied to New College and USF for fall, and am looking at a couple more places. Even, to my own surprise, looking at readmittance. I recieved five official pieces of mail today, three from "EdFinancial" and two from New College. I was desperately hoping that the rather large, oversized envelope from New College contained an early acceptance letter of some sort. Or even the small one. But they were simply more info on the college and thanking me for my interest. The three, can I count THREE, "EdFinancial" envelopes contained updated info on my student loan repayments, which are coming due soon. WHY?! Well, six months from the date you are no longer full-time... Yeah, yeah, yeah. I am "muchly" annoyed. (Thanks, Beka.) But why not send me the three different (but oh, so the same!) communications in ONE envelope?! Such a waste. Don't get me wrong--I know the trees would have been cut down anyway and used by someone else... but still. I'm doing well at the job, still really enjoying the people I work with, but not making as much money as they promised I would in season. First of all, even though a gazillion tourists and snowbirds have arrived, it's still not as busy as in recent years. Hm. Maybe it's that they heard I was here. Anyway. Anyone coming to visit me for spring break? (hint hint, vill&beszq.) Hang in there, guys--not long now! | | |
| Application to New College is due Thu, so it's being sent tomorrow. It will then be out of my hands... Just putting the finishing tweaks to my "withering frickin' hearts" paper... (anyone in brit lit 2 last year knows what i'm talking about. boo.) so we'll see! I'm really hoping my recommendation letter is sent, that will be the hugest thing. (i know it's not a word people. CHILL.) <that's my pep talk to myself>
hope everyone's having a spectacular week. job at Lynches is stiiiill going well. working tomorrow, one of the only people who didn't ask off for valentine's day. that's because tomorrow i'm celebrating "international musk-ox day" instead--and i believe that my time will be better spent in trying to convince my employers that we should take the musk-ox burgers off the menu... yea.
this is brilliant. so the greeks have the whole "siesta" thing down right after all. yea naps.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/02/13/news/nap.php
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| The first two days of work have given me a taste of what it will be like at Lynches. (Does it strike anyone else that there is absolutely no apostrophe anywhere in the name of Lynches Pub & Grub? Hm...) So far, I'm realizing that I will probably really like working there. There definitely are nitpicky boss ladies (the "large-and-in-charge" types, as my brother calls them), but overall they're more motherly than anything. And the other servers are great. Kasey is the only other female server I've met, she trained me. She's nice, laid-back, a New College student. The other servers are all guys, which I can be very thankful for, especially after working exclusively with women for the past three weeks... Guys are just generally easier to work with. Anyway, Luis and Bernie are Mexican brothers from SC, great guys--students at Ringling and MCC. Muda is from Bali, he's hysterical, and always happy--he has the greatest laugh. Pedro is the night cook, and has officially made me his girlfriend. Now, when he asked me to be his girlfriend (the second time we met), I wasn't sure at first what he said, because we were speaking in Spanish. I thought he was asking me if I had a boyfriend already, but we soon got that cleared up. Turns out, I remember a whole lot more of my spanish than I thought I would. Thanks, Ms. Pascucci.  Good crowd so far.
Da Bears lost... But I don't think I could have seen them lose to anyone but ol' Dungy. Prince made the entire thing worth watching for me, Purple Rain was too ironic for the day.  Even Pierce noted the cool effects (with the shadow projected on the fluttering sheet, etc), in the middle of his Prince-dissing session. His purple guitar was amazing. The only thing I regret is that he didn't sing our song, Michal. (KISS  )
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