Updates

The best thing ever happened today! I found a convenience store in the neighbourhood adjacent to mine that sells cream slush! Woo hoo! Now I don't have to go to small towns several hours away to get cream slush - I can walk for one! And cream slushes are amazing - they're slush and ice cream mixed together, and the creaminess takes the sugar edge out of the slush. Mmmmm!

I'm finally almost over that cold that I caught. I got my voice back after two days, but for another week and a half it made me miserable. I cancelled my brunch plans, but made it to my coffee date. That was my first time talking in two days and I croaked through our conversation, and I was glad to be in the presence of a friend with whom I didn't have to be polished. I felt totally unsocial when I went back to school so there wasn't a lot of chitchat. I made it through choir to with varying levels of participation. My diaphragm hurt from coughing. I bought some cough medicine, but I credit it with making me feel really depressed. The bottle cautions, "Not for use by persons... under treatment for depression or using antidepressant medications," which I am not, but maybe I should have heeded the warning anyway. I felt awful, emotionally and physically, all week. (Granted, being sick could affect my mood on its own and I didn't feel stable even the day before I started taking the cough syrup... But I think the cough syrup played a part too.) But on the positive side, being sick got me in the habit of drinking bazoodles of water and enough tea to float a boat, and I hope to try to keep that up to some degree and perhaps kick my water "allergy."

So I'm back in school now. I really like my classes. Here's what I'm taking/doing:
- World Civ - Currently we're learning about Islam, and then we'll go on to Judaism over the last two thousand years, and then China. The prof for this class is so amusing, and I really like history. But it's early in the morning, and so far I've been late for every class...
- New Testament Backgrounds - This class looks mostly at intertestamental Judaism, and I didn't realize how interesting that would be. We're reading parts of the Apocrypha and the Dead Sea Scrolls. And my two good friends are in this class with me, which is wonderful. It's a lot of reading and big assignments, though. And I'm currently kind of nervous about my ability to do homework - my last two semesters have been pretty slack, so I haven't really written a paper in a year!
- Greek Exegesis - We're down to only two students in Greek now. I miss the guy who dropped it, but I'm so glad that it's required for the other guy who's still there so that they can't cancel it on us. Every second class we just meet in the prof's office. This class deals with matters of translation other than just the Greek, and so far we've learned about textual criticism. It's been interesting, but I miss straight translation.
- Trinitarian Theology - I'm just auditing this one, and that's such a relief since the prof told us in the first class that this will be the hardest version yet. The friend with whom I took my other theology classes is auditing it too, and the experience is so pleasantly nostalgic. After class the prof came up to us and told us that it's a pleasure to see us in his class together again. That meant so much to me - that he respects us and he's glad we're there.
- Choir - I got a B+ in choir last semester. That's disappointing for me - it actually brings down my GPA. It may be because I was slightly late for many rehearsals, but I can't help but take it more personally and wonder if it's because they don't like me or I'm not valued there. Plus, my two closest friends in choir decided it was too much for them, and I respect their decisions but now I feel alone.
- Thesis - It's hard to be really motivated to work on it... But I've got a bit to show for myself. I'm not proud of my progress, but neither am I worried. Yet.
- Practicum - Leading a small group will count, and I also need to do some research for my prof. I could have picked the topic (within pre-Reformation mystics), but I don't really care enough to choose so today she suggested Madame Guyon. Sounds good.

It was hard getting back into school mode. I think that's mostly because I was sick - my head was in a fog and I felt incredibly socially inept. I was so uncomfortable in my surroundings. I feel like I've grown out of the social realm of my school. Today that didn't feel so acute, and I'm glad.