lundi 18 août 2008
Alphabetical, numerical and more
I forget if it was at church or in a book that I first heard about the idea of using lists as a form of journalling. I guess it's obvious that I really enjoy making lists; my brain seems to be conditioned that way :) Although I don't yet have ambitions of going through any of the lists of the bests (whether in books, movies, travel, etc.), I like the idea of charting one's progress and keeping a record of them.
When I first got to Montreal, I had this strange and urgent need to go and buy a journal even though I rarely write in them (the last time - apart from mandatory school assignments - being high school). Right now, there are only two entries from the past three months but I'm thinking of taking it up again with a new format: lists. Given my track record on here and in my paper journals, I'm hoping this will inspire me to write more!
Libellés : lists
dimanche 4 mai 2008
Wishing and hoping
In continuing the spirit of list-making on this blog, here are my (clichéd) plans and dreams for this summer which thankfully, are a lot less academic than what I had on New Year's Day. So without further ado, this summer, when I'm not working I would like to...
- Read some of the books that I've picked up over the years
- Improve my French
- Learn how to garden
- Cook and bake more
- Finish getting rid of things I don't need (hello church garage sale!)
- Paint my room
- Finish reading the Old Testament history books
- Enjoy some BBC Classics from the public library
- Maybe learn how to drive standard
- Arrange the recipes I've collected into some orderly fashion
- Learn how to hem and sew buttons on, all of those basic skills
- Recycle past schoolwork
- Find black strappy sandals to replace my beloved pair from nine years ago (I've not let go of them just yet)
- Walk around downtown and take in some summer festivals
- Go to the farmer's market (as previously mentioned)
- Eat homemade ice cream with Grandma
- Get pictures developed from the past two years
- Have barbecued/grilled corn on the cob (Yum, I did this in southern California!)
- Soak my feet in a lake in the mountains
- Climb a tree
- Spend as much time as I can with people
Wow, I could go on and on but that might get boring and/or tedious. Of course, this list will mostly be for when I'm in town; I have a completely separate list for when I'm out east :)
Libellés : everyday life, lists
samedi 9 février 2008
Patience is a virtue
I quite like making lists (believe me, I have a notebook full of them!) so I thought I'd share a few things that I have been waiting for lately:
1. For my flu to go away - and to stay away for the rest of the semester.
2. For my hair to grow back to normal; this might take another year.
3. For a free day when I can sit down and fully complete all of the requirements for this one particular course that's been driving me nuts.
4. For graduation day... although I feel a bit bittersweet about this one.
5. For people to stop giving me a quizzical look about why I'm still in school :) (Actually, I get more people asking me how many years I have left - now I can say none!!)
6. For my books to arrive in the mail (umm, happy Valentine's Day to me?).
7. For a chance to visit Grandma.
8. For the day that I will no longer have to write book reports/reviews! I love reading books but I'm getting tired of going through them for the sake of writing some sort of paper afterwards to appease my profs.
9. For some time to finally go to H&M in town (now I just have to stop saying the store name in French!).
10. For the day that I will no longer have to carry student ID with me; okay, I guess I will miss the U-Pass.
11. For another free day this week when I can sit down and write the introduction to my thesis so as to get the ball rolling. (Okay, this ended up taking several days, and did not actually happen until the beginning of April - how sad.)
12. For reading break when I will hole myself up in my room and most likely listen to all of the music on my computer while plugging away at the copious amount of writing I'll have to do. (It's over already?! What happened to this copious amount of writing I spoke of - why is it non-existent?!)
13. For some time this summer to try a bunch of new recipes and to cook a whole lot more than I've been able to as a student.
14. For the month of May in which I will completely sort and purge everything I own, hooray! (Almost there!)
15. For... life? I feel like I'm stuck in a perpetual limbo right now and I'm having a hard time seeing past the books and papers. My friends were talking about whether they should go into grad school right after they finish their undergrad degrees and although I do recommend it, I have to admit that I am beyond the state of weariness at this point. That is all - back to daily living now, which mostly comprises of the lack of sleep ;)
Libellés : everyday life, lists
mardi 1 janvier 2008
Happy 2008!
I can hardly believe that another year has passed by and that I'm already embarking on a new one! Although I've been quite occupied during the past year, it has been simply wonderful. I'm quickly learning that a full life is very much a rich life (as viewed retrospectively, of course). In looking back at some of the experiences that I had in 2007 - much of which has not been chronicled on this blog unfortunately - it's been really neat to see what God has brought me through.
The beginning of my winter semester was spent preparing for my return to Montreal during reading break for the third time, which was such a blessing. I was able to reconnect with my friends and to make some plans for my summer internship. However, I also spent the majority of the winter semester nursing a horrible cold/flu/something that I caught while in la belle province, which did not leave me until classes were finished in April. While that wouldn't be too much on its own, I was also taking the heaviest courseload ever, so it was definitely a time of reliance on God. Let's just say that the end of the semester couldn't come soon enough :)
Then I went straight into a spring course, which had its own equally demanding requirements. I ended up having to take all of my research and work across the country while I was doing my internship. Thankfully, I was able to finish everything on time for that class so that I could spend a more intense time in language and cultural study in Quebec. Summer went by really quickly, but I suppose being away from home can do that! I was able to relax a little bit at the end of the summer by going to New York with my best friend and then coming back for my last year of school. It certainly felt like I was going non-stop from schoolwork to more schoolwork, so the week in NYC was a nice reprieve.
This last semester, I ended up with a lot of work but I know that I was able to invest a greater amount of time and energy into each individual project, making each class more worthwhile. However, I had to postpone a class in order to do this, and may very well end up paying for it this year (and not just in terms of monetary value)! Oh well. I have about six courses left to finish up before I graduate, and I am praying that by the grace and strength of God that He will enable me to do what I need to do before April comes. I'm glad that the fall semester was not as intense as it allowed me to get involved with a great Bible study; honestly, the relationships that have emerged from this group have helped sustain me as I've been moving into my thesis year/semester.
So right now, I'm wondering what's next for this new year. I have no clue what will be happening after April other than that my best friend is getting married in July; at this point, that's the only thing that is certain after graduation :) Until April, I plan to be:
- working on my thesis (even more pages this time, ahh!)
- taking a class on pastoral ministry
- taking a class on church missions
- completing a distance ed course (sigh, not again!)
- auditing a theology course from my undergrad (I guess 2 1/2 months is enough)
- continuing my involvement with the weekly Bible studies
- savouring each moment I'm at church
- helping with wedding activities/duties/etc.
- planning a wedding shower
- balancing thesis reading with fun reading, if at all possible
- singing with some lovely seniors at a residence
- somehow getting back into regular devotionals (ugh, I'm sad that this won't happen until after I'm done school)
- spending more time with the other seminarians before we all part ways
- figuring out summer plans, namely travel plans!
- arranging to take French classes, somewhere and sometime
- meeting with former missions professors as often as I can
- dreaming about certain missions plans that my friends and I are concocting
- and praying lots more as I don't know how I can do any - especially not all - of these things without God in the midst of everything :)
"In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." - Philippians 1:6
