Displace Me!

Just wanted to quickly let you all know that I just got back from the Displace Me event and it was AWESOME! I could go on about it forever, but I'll spare you for now. Chelsea, you'd have loved all of the Ugandan baby lovin'. Sam, you would have loved this, too. My informal survey showed that approximately 25% of the people at this event were wearing Converse. Also, I hitchhiked back home. Like, I wrote "U District" on some cardboard and stood along the road until some strangers picked me up. It was awesome. And here's my foot. Later people!

Since you're going to be sleeping sometime anyways...

So. Who's coming with me? Basically, you just come and have a sleep at Magnuson Park this Saturday night, keeping in mind the 1.5 million people in Northern Uganda who have been displaced and often abducted by the LRA (Lord's Resistance Army). Bad times. I always have a hard time figuring out what to do. Because I can't know about this stuff without doing anything. And I try my best to know about this stuff. Anyways, the point of the event is to travel, to become displaced yourself. Walking in someone else's shoes, sort of. There's a simple entrance fee of bottled water and saltines. This event is a small thing to do, but also huge.

DATE- April 28th
TIME - 3pm (being late is okay)
LOCATION - Magnuson Park
7400 Sand Point Way NE
Seattle, WA 98115

www.invisiblechildren.com

Swim Test: 1 Year Later

In the emotional mess known as last week, I forgot about something funny. Friday was the 1 year anniversary of my swim test in Lake Washington. Here is my account, written last year, the day after the test was taken:

Friday, April 21, 2006

Lake Washington is big and is still extremely cold at this time of the year. So, when my crew coaches said that we were having our swim test in the lake, I thought it was a joke. But my team showed up for it at 6am yesterday and it was not a joke.

Knowing how cold the lake is, I couldn't bring myself to jump in right away. So, I watched everybody else jump in. It looked like a scene out of Titanic. Most of the rowers were screaming and convulsing due to the painful cold.

"Get in now!" yelled the coach. I looked at him with fear in my eyes and jumped in. It felt like my entire body was being stabbed at with those pokey things that you stick into the ends of corn on the cob.

Because the scene could have easily been interpreted as torture, our 20 minute swim test lasted no longer than 2 minutes, proving nothing about our swimming abilities.

And that is my horrendous swim test experience.

There you have it folks. Now I must say happy anniversary to Missy, Gen, Erin, and Danielle. Weren't those the good ol' days?

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In other news, things are normalizing a little bit at the Villa. The hardest part was watching the kids react to the news on Friday. Answering so many questions is also hard. Our middle school kids organized a prayer service for tomorrow morning in memory of Nate.

Have you ever listened to the praying of the rosary? It's really soothing. That's what they did at the prayer service put on by the high school that he graduated from.

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I'll end today by quoting the Blue Scholars, who can be classified as Seattle hip-hop, and also happen to be one of Nate's favorite groups to promote... "the lessons might change, but the essence of the message is the same."

I'm not trying to be really deep or contemplative with that or anything. Not that you shouldn't feel free to think about it. I've been listening to them lately and that line always sticks out in my head. Probably because they say it so many times in that one song. I like it, though. By the way, you should check out the Blue Scholars if you like hip-hop that isn't about money and hos. Hahaha, I just said hos.

I'm wearing my sad pants.

Hey dudes. So, I once said that I don't really like to blog about serious things, but I'm going to anyways. My friend/co-worker Nate has been pretty sick lately and a couple of days ago he was found collapsed at his place. He had several seizures. Yesterday he was on life support, no sign of brain activity, and the unofficial report is that he passed away late last night. It was really unexpected and it really sucks.

Sorry I'm a downer right now. I really just need you to pray. Pray for the kids at Villa Academy. Pray for me, especially today. I don't know what to say to the kids.

Believe it or not...

I hosted a bridal shower. This is the proof.
Note that I wore my oldest sweatshirt and my painting pants.
Classy.

Also note the awesome streamers in the background.
All me.

My co-bridesmaids did the awesome food and punch.
That's us down there...

And then we have me and G-ma with Gen Sofie, bride to be.

Ridiculous

My weekend was ridiculous and exhausting in ways both good and bad. Today was a good one, when my sister and I tried fitting a big ol' coffee table into her Jetta. Her Jetta, which also happens to be full of ALL of her earthly possessions, since she is currently homeless - another ridiculous part of the weekend. Why a homeless kid needs a freakin' table is beyond me. The people who we were taking it from were doing some gardening and occasionally look over to see how dumb we looked while trying to get the table in. It took us maybe an hour to move all of her crap out of the car, find a way to get the table into the little car, and then put all her stuff back into the car. But, hey, free table.

I just can't keep this to myself.

1. go to http://www.google.com
2. click on "maps," above the search bar
3. click on "get directions"
4. type "New York" in the first box (the "from" box)
5. type "Paris" in the second box (the "to" box)
6. click on "get directions"
7. scroll down to step #23

In other news, I woke up in the middle of the night (3am) and could not for the life of me fall back asleep. It was strange. I wasn't even feeling tired. So, I did some reading, looked up random Wikipedia junk, and made pretend plans to travel to pretty much everywhere on the planet. Then it was 7am and my roommate got up. I think I kind of freaked her out by being so lively at that hour. If you know me at all, you understand what I mean by that. Now it's past 9am, which is about when things start to be interesting in Seattle, so I think I'll go out gallivanting now. Seeing as I've just been hanging out in my apartment for the past 6+ hours. But first, I'm going to take one more look at that Google Map. It's so funny.

P.S. The Good Karma Comedy Show is TONIGHT!!! Proceeds go to Future Island School in Offinso, Ghana, West Africa. If you're around Seattle tonight, BE THERE! It's gonna be awesome. Cost is $5. Show is 8-10pm at the Ethnic Cultural Center Theater. 3940 Brooklyn Ave. NE.

The night I decided to become a hockey fan...

...was a very long night indeed.

Before tonight I had never watched or listened to a hockey game. Since it is the playoffs and I am moving to the glorious country of Canada soon, I decided that I would listen to game 1 of the Canucks/Stars round 1 playoff series.

Did you hear about that game? The one that lasted for 5 AND A HALF FLIPPING HOURS?

It just ended and I am going to sleep.

Happy Easter

Okay. I have been mumbling about moving to Canada for some time now, and I think I have figured out how it will work.

The moving date is May 19, to Mission, BC, home of Camp Luther. That's where I will be working as assistant to the Colonel until the end of August.

When camp is over in August I am not coming home to Seattle. I'm going to up and move to Calgary, where I'll be a nanny for a 5 year old boy and a 3 year old girl. They officially offered me the job last week and I officially accepted.

Yup. So that is what is going to happen. It is a little weird. Seattle is home and also the coolest city I know of, but four years is a lot and now it is time for me to go somewhere else.

Ouchie

Today I really biffed it on the blacktop for no apparent reason. I was running full speed and downhill, chasing a kickball. I just fell. My forearms are all raw and fleshy now. They really really hurt.

I would have looked like a complete fool if I didn't manage to include an awesome roll/jump in the middle of my fall, allowing me to hop up, get the ball, and throw it in. The kids loved it. After that I went inside to clean off my bleeding arms.

H-Core.

Between two first graders

This is the conversation I overheard yesterday...

First grader #1: "I want to tell you a secret, but you can't tell anybody."
First grader #2: "I won't tell anyone, not even my husband!"

They're so funny.