Martin Luther and the Diet of Worms

Happy Anna day!

Yes, i think that's what i'll call it. I think i'm giving her her present tomorrow, but in honor of the occasion, the promised Nathaniel's Graduation Speech. (Rhymes with peach!)

Nathaniel, as we look across the field of your past eighteen and a half years, i see very few prickly, dried-up patches. Your schooling has had plenty of rain and sunshine and dirt. The mowing lines are not obvious, and the mountains in the distance aren't very pointy.

Now you've done a lot of terrible, horrible things. A lot of them. Numbers don't go high enough to count. However, I've gotten kinda fond of you, so though it is very tempting, I will not tickle you as you lie right now on the couch beside me. Besides, you'd just tickle me worse later.

Many moons ago, when Mom was starting to shove knowledge into your little skull, she almost definitely started with the ABC's. Don't you think that's an... ugly babyly horrific way to end?

• A is for AlbAtross, which you Are sometimes.
• B is for Breaking things. I saw you.
  
• C is for developing hand-eye Coordination, A. K. A. playing video games.
  
• D is for Don't eat that banana.
  
• E is for Eat that banana.
• F is for iF only, iF only, the woodpecker cried, the bark oF the tree was as soFt as the skies.
  
• G is for Gradually realizinG that you were mockinG me. Thank you.
  
• H is for i just want you to be... Happy.
  
• I is for It's harder than It looks to be wItty wIth these thIngs.
  
• J is for Joy! Yay!
  
• K is for KicKing and Killing Kings with frostbite.
  
• L is for you being way bigger than LiLLiputians. And even taLLer than i, thank you.
  
• M is for Me, Maggie. It always is.
  
• N is for NappiNg, because you are right Now.
  
• O is for what if yOu were really big? Like a giant?
  
• P is for Purse-holding, which you have not yet done, but i will laugh at you the moment you do.
  
• Q is for answering Questions. Especially the ones like "Where's Mom?" They're very helpful.
  
• R is for making shakes for me, too. The shakes you make taste the best.R
  
• S is for Sylvia Russia, where all of uS are belong to your baSe!
• T is for Thank you for reading This far.
  
• U is for Undertakers, and thanks for not being one.
  
• V is for the Valiant way you... defend me... the castle... from... Vikings. With Vindictive weatherVanes.
  
• W is for Wine, again.
  
• X is for Xenophile-ness, because that's better than the usual.
  
• Y is for You, because i think this is technicallY what this is supposed to be about.
  
• Z is for Zorro. Why couldn't you be more like him? *sigh*
  

Enjoy college.

DREEM

Not much, just the three people i remember. Rachel D was a donut. Rachel E was there to stop everybody from eating her. Paul was there with Rachel E. (hehe) (PAUL DIES is on my mind! And on paper! And textedit.)

Prince Caspian (no spoilers)

Of course, i think everybody reading this blog has read the book, and it seems most of them have seen the movie. (I saw it at 3:50 on Friday. No, P. M.)

Most of the problems in the movie (as opposed to the book) started with Caspian. He's too old, his hair is too long, he's too arrogant. Of course, they did give Peter some pride issues, for interest. He was too perfect before. Couldn't have that, now could we? A whole extra battle scene because of it.

Don't get me wrong, i enjoyed it. Lovely movie, lovely company. Something specific. It was a large-ish group: Mom, Dad, Nat, Me, Nick, Ariksander (great commentary), Anna, Timothy. That last one had to steal a car to get down here, too. Shocking.

BABY

I'll be the aunt of *two* little girls!

UPDATE: Susan Camille!

Is it wroking yet?

I wanna send my posts.

About Sunday (11th)

After church we had some company (Mom cooked, mostly): Assistant Pastor, our friend from Kenya, and his parents. Ha. How many bishops have you had in *your* house?

Later we had a piano recital at Bethel. It was worse than others, but not terribly so. Pretty small, only nine students could come. Mom didn't want to make a program, so we picked numbers out of a hat (a fedora that's my Dad's, was his Dad's, and maybe his Dad's too.) I was number eight, which suits me pretty well. I played Hungarian Dance, page 34 of Alfred level 6 Lesson Book, and i got the tempo wrong, but people said they didn't notice. I'm officially annoyed with being this tall, because my leg was too long to fit properly under the piano.

ANNA DID VERY WELL, whatever she says.

Saturday, 10th of May

Last evening i served company alone. Well, Dad and Nat were here, but they didn't cook any. It was very easy, but company still makes me nervous. Pork roast, baked potatoes, corn (from the freezer, previously from Grandma's fields), and a can of peaches. Grandma canned those peaches. I could tell because she always stacks them neatly. (Company was two seminarians, including the son of the Bishop of the Lutheran Church in Kenya, who we've had over before. They left after supper.)

Last night was a really miserable night. First i had a headache. I was still wearing the wrong glasses, though the ones with untinted lenses, so i assumed that's what it was. I took two ibuprofen… and nothing happens. Ibuprofen *always* works. Great. I drank a glass of water in case it was dehydration, and though it didn't feel like a fatigue headache, i tried resting. It didn't help; if anything, it made it worse.

I was getting kind of annoyed at this point, and it really was a bad headache as far as my headaches go, so i resorted to caffeine: i ate a Hershey's bar and drank two cups of coffee. This reduced the headache to an ignorable level, if not very comfortable.

Naturally this was the most caffeine has openly affected me. I was cranky, bored, and tired but not sleepy. It was ridiculous; it got to the point where i saw black spots while sitting. At least, i think they were black spots. After that i made myself lie down and not do anything, but it was still a long time before i slept, with the occasional stab somewhere above my left ear.

I realize i could have put this in a less pitiable way, but honestly, i'm still tired and i think i want a little pity. Just a little.

NOTE: Blogger won't let me send this right away.

i'm so coo'

• Saturday, 19th of April: I took a ride with Mrs. S. and her two younger daughters to close-to-Semland for her oldest daughter's wedding shower. That was fun. I won some tulips there. That night i went with Naomi (and Sita) to Grandma's for the night.
  
• Sunday, 20th of April: We went to church, of course. I missed Emmaus a bit, but it was a good church. With Naomi and Sita we drove to Nick and Naomi's house.
  
• Monday, 21st of April: At Naomi's, nothing in particular. Fell off their computer chair because Naomi forgot to warn me that it's missing a leg. That hurt.
  
• Tuesday, 22nd of April: Ditto, without the chair.
  
• Wednesday, 23rd of April: And again. Packed everything up.
  
• Thursday, 24th of April: We woke up early, but not quite early enough. We made it in time, though. Just getting out of the car, there was a great guy that took our baggage and put it right on a cart and checked it out and everything. We also got to the head of just about every long line because we had a baby. We did the airport thing and then the flight thing, which Sita just hated. For a while she screamed, for a while she sat on my lap and played with my ipod, in the case, out of the case, in the case, out of the case, until she got frustrated when her teeny fingers weren't coordinated enough to do it all without me. When we got some food, she dipped everything in the chicken dip, i think it was. Her fingers, crackers, cookies, whatever we let her have. The time change was annoying, but not terribly so. Amanda looked very tanned. It was nice to see her again. Palm trees look just goofy. We absolutely stuffed her car, barely fitting in ourselves. Naomi was blocked in by a suitcase. I had no leg room (an obvious problem, as i have legs), and it was not that great. Oh well. We went to a store and Saranita fell asleep in Naomi's arms in the store, so she was obviously tired. We stopped at Amanda's place for a while, where Sita (re)discovered fish and plants. Then we went to the hotel we were staying at for the first half, as Amanda's roommate had a friend over for that time too, and that would be just a little too crowded. Finally Amanda and i went to a play at her college, Bureau of Missing Persons i think it was called, which was really really neat. Really really sad, almost enough to inspire tears, which with plays and literature and movies etc. is saying something. I also got to meet the playwrite, also cool. In the end i was up for at least nineteen hours straight, and i really appreciated the sleep that night.
  
• Friday, 25th of April: This day we drove for a few hours, which did not make us happy. I mysteriously didn't have my book, Saranita screamed, Naomi got carrot stains, and… it really wasn't that bad, but that's the sort of thing i remember from long drives with a baby. We saw the place where Chilton (from the show Gilmore Girls) is filmed, and we saw the HOLLYWOOD letters, and walked around Las Vegas for a long while. We saw the stars in the sidewalk, and the hand & footprints. My feet are almost exactly the size of Harpo Marx's. Heh. Judy Garland had teeny feet! It was amazing. The Harry, Ron and Hermione actors already have their own square. A little later we wandered into a little Audrey Hepburn restaurant. Amanda sang two songs for them. It was neat. And we went home.
  
• Saturday, 26th of April: Part of the reason for the when of the vacation was to see Amanda in a play. So in the afternoon i babysat Saranita (easy, she took a nap for most of the time) and my sisters went, and that evening i went. It was called The Further Adventures of Suzanne and Monica. I won't say much about it, but it was good. Oh, and when i was waiting in line to get in the theater, i almost attacked somebody: a stranger kind of patted me on the shoulder in a friendly way. But then he said "Hey Jess, how are you doing?" and apologized a lot when i turned around and was not Jess. If Jess is reading this (i don't know how), our heads must look the same from the back.
  
• Sunday, 27th of April: This was the hottest day. Must've been in the nineties, and humid. As always we went to church, but it wasn't that great. The readings were great, the sermon was better than it could have been, and the organist was good. (she was Amanda.) Other than that… bad, folk-y hymns, a guitar, drums, a tambourine, even a Diaconal Minister! (basically a woman pastor.) And they call themselves LC-MS… actually, with the things that have been happening lately in our synod, i really shouldn't be surprised, should i? Ugh. I was singing in the choir, but somewhere along halfway through i left to "help with the baby," as i knew i wouldn't go up for communion, the way the service was going. I missed Emmaus a lot. The rest of the day we stayed inside.
  
• Monday, 28th of April: Finally, we went to the beach. It was great. Sita had a great reaction to the sand, not so much to the water. She'd wait and get real excited, then when the water was coming towards her and whoever was holding her, she just freaked out. Screamed and cried and kicked, everything. So we took turns playing in the sand with her. Naomi went first, and Amanda and i went out to meet the waves. The water was very pretty, millions of little lights glistening on each and every wave, ever changing, each pattern giving way to the next, never to be seen again. I loved seeing everything. But the water was very cold that day, and i was not enjoying that. It came up to my knees, and my waist, and it was still too cold. I knew the only way to get used to it, within reason. "Are you going to go under?" Amanda asked. I nodded. The next wave was coming. I ducked, and got very wet. I felt something thin on my face, a bit like a wire… we resurfaced, and i realized: I had forgotten to take my glasses off. (Is this news to anybody?) I said so, and when asked where they were, i didn't know. So. Great. Not only do i lose my glasses for the first time, ever, in my seven or so years of wearing them, i did it by the stupidity of leaving them on, and now they're in the Specific Ocean. What will happen to them? Will they wash up on the beach? Here or in Australia? Will a fish swallow them and choke? Will they simply sit at the bottom of the ocean and slowly erode till there's nothing? It wasn't very fun. I never even named those ones. I moped for the rest of the outing and when we got back to Amanda's place, i donned the one-prescription-old sunglasses i'd brought. So for the following five days, i wore sunglasses, was very cool, and got both suspicious looks and fierce headaches. I called home and asked Mom to schedule me another visit to the optometrist. I also got sunburned.
  
• Tuesday, 29th of April: We went to the zoo. It was very fun, for being dark and slightly blue and slightly blurry. I like the zoo. (too bad it was near the end of the trip, now i'm getting tired of remembering and typing.)
  
• Wednesday, 30th of April: The flight. Naomi and i weren't sitting together for either one (before or after the layover in Phoenix, Arizona), but i switched seats with somebody for the first one. The second wasn't so bad. I bought my own Snack Box, and it was fairly good. We got to Nick and Naomi's in one piece.
  
• Thursday, 1st of May: Not much, i don't think.
  
• Friday, 2nd of May: Drive home. We met Mom somewhere close to halfway. We had really good pizza and shopped in outlet malls. Mom and i went home.