The Myth & The Majesty

This is a long day. I have this incredible desire to write but my brain won't cooperate. After the retreat and taking care of some school issues, I came home and continued to unpack. Ran a couple of errands ... and I'm still unpacking. Things have been rather dull since about 3:00. My body's starting to shut down. I suppose that's expected when you forget to eat (I never used to do that ...), but the end result is all that matters right now. I still have a mess, but I need some sleep pretty soon. Not shockingly, I've been thinking pretty hard about classes and the next few months. I'm struck by how much things have changed. For instance, there was a group of people that I hung out with freshman year. There are still a few of us (three, really) that hang out; for the most part, that original group has scattered. Some of them have graduated and gone on to bigger and better things; some have dropped out and changed paths. A few of them are actually still h...

Yes indeed, folks, it's August. Not just August, but the end of August -- school's starting. That's really all I need to say about that. Need to say, yes. Want to say -- well, there's more. I'm feeling the money drain, as one does when certain organizations (or offices) don't file the proper paperwork and certain money sources are then left untapped. (I have a scholarship that hasn't gone through. A crucial one, as far as "Ashley's ability to exist" goes.) All in all, though, life is good! We had an IV retreat last night/today, and that was great; the refocusing was especially helpful. My 4:00 class isn't meeting until Wednesday, so I have some time to do some more moving. (Hey Techies, don't forget -- we have a new school email system, and everything goes there instead. Egads.) And I got the worst of my textbook buying over with. Goooood stuff. Let's see ... Profound thoughts are running low. I need some sleep first, I ...

ARGH!! My arms are covered in welts. They itch. I look like I was attacked by a swarm of sadistic mosquitos. Yes, yes, I know. Too much information. But it's driving me crazy, and making it very hard to concentrate on anything. For me, packing takes concentration, especially when I don't actually WANT to do it (which is most of the time). Semester starts in four days!

I'm tired, and I'm sad. In the last two weeks, I've climbed Storm and Harney (in one day, on only three hours of sleep, which I do NOT recommend), finished my schedule for school, backed into someone's car (egads), spent five days on a lake in Minnesota, been a volleyball champion and and ultimate Frisbee runner-up (never saw those coming!), been to the zoo for the first time since I was in middle school, made some new friends, said goodbye to others, and driven to and from Minneapolis in an 18-hour period to drop off Anya at the airport (the saddest part of the summer yet). I have NOT achieved ultimate enlightenment, cured the common cold, slept more than six hours at a stretch, or figured out what to do with my life after December. Honestly, I think enlightenment might be the easiest of those options. The summer is all but over. It's sad to see it, even with the knowledge that the semester will be fun and exciting. There have been plenty of ups and downs, and extr...

** This is an old post that I finally finished. Enjoy! ** Summer is wrapping up, and today my sister and I tried to kill ourselves. No, I take that back. I shouldn't joke about things like that. In all honesty, we were just rather cruel to our bodies. Last night, a large contingent of us went to Sturgis. And ... it was Sturgis. Nothing too terribly exciting, really, but fun for people-watching. (For those not from around here -- it's the end of rally week. Sturgis hosts a bike rally every year that brings in thousands of bikers -- there are something like 50,000 extra people in Sturgis at any given time. It's crazy time in SoDak.) Anyway, we got back around midnight. At 3:50AM, my alarm clock went off. Tired, clumsy, and bedraggled, we gathered in the parking lot and started the hike up Storm. At 5:51AM, the sun rose and made all of our tiredness worth it. Gorgeous. Hike back, breakfast, and at 8:00, my parents and brother show up. We pack some lunches and hit t...

Um, folks? It's August. I'm baffled. I swear that the summer just started ... Holy mackeral. This semester (my LAST ONE) is looking promising. Should be quite interesting, if nothing else ... I've got a pretty slack class load (especially considering the school I'm at ... humanities = slack classes), but I'll probably manage to stay pretty busy with IV stuff. Fun fun. Plus there's the new house (yay!) and the part where I try to figure out what to do with the rest of my life ... Egads. In other news, Jars of Clay is releasing a new CD on September 5th!! It's called "Good Monsters," and there's already a single out on the radio. I'm hooked, and it won't be released for another month ... I refer you to their MySpace page, since their regular website hasn't been updated (how odd). Okay. Well, there's not a whole lot more to report (work is work, and the rest of life seems to still be yet to come), so I do believe I'll l...