Moving On

Hi guys! So yesterday I had this crazy realization that I wanted to start a new blog. And so I did! And here it is.

http://purpsinpurleland.wordpress.com/

There you have it. I will be doing all of my crazy rambly things there, and not here. So if you enjoyed my crazy rambly things here I suggest you follow me over there. If you don’t feel like following me over there, you can stay here, I won’t mind. But it will be very boring. Unless you like reading through four years of old blog posts. Then I guess you could have a good time. 

So yeah! This isn’t goodbye, this is just a “I’m going over here now.” I guess. Hope you guys join me!

 

4 Years Later

So this is what I get for not posting in a while. I come back and they’ve changed the format on me. Ah well, I guess that’ll happen from time to time. This is, after all, the first time they’ve changed it in at least four years. That’s right, guys, I’ve been blogging for four whole years now, and I have to say, I’m a little embarrassed.

I’ve discovered a phenomenon that I didn’t think of before. People make new blogs all the time! They just up and make a new one, even though they have a blog that is still perfectly good on the same site. This is something that never occurred to me, that you could just do that. But, several of my friends have done just that. This is apparently something people do quite frequently and here I am still on the blog I made four years ago.

This is not a criticism of anyone in any way, mind you. This is just an observation. It seems to me that there are pros and cons to keeping or leaving one blog for another. I must admit I’ve thought about it. Upon discovering that this was a thing I could see why it would be appealing. You’re more experienced, so you can build a better blog than the one before it. It will be cleaner, less cluttered with old ideas, more focused on what you want and best of all, it won’t have all the embarrassingly bad post from when you were a freshmen in college. These all seem like really good things to me.

However, I find myself very reluctant to leave this place. If I made a new blog it would be on this site, of course, but it wouldn’t be this blog. It wouldn’t be my dragonlovespoon. With one S. I learned fairly recently that my husband (Let’s just revel in that phrase for a moment… And we’re good) first read it as “dragon loves spoon” instead of dragon lovespoon. He was very confused. He was still confused after that, actually when I told him what it really was. I had to explain to him the story behind the dragon lovespoon at my first shower, which was good because he might have been asked about it for a game. Though that card was never actually read.

Anyway! This new format is weird. I’m interested to see how it will post. I’m used to more space between paragraphs naturally being put in so I find myself double entering as I type. Changes are hard! What I was trying to say was I’m kind of attached to this blog. Sure my new readers can look back and read all of the really awful post that I made as a freshmen and laugh at my poor writing and such but they can also see how far I’ve come and how much I’ve grown as a person and as a writer. I’m big into history and this blog is full of history. It has my story from my unfortunate freshmen days through my graduation and beyond. It houses my memories and it makes me smile sometimes to go back and read what I wrote two years ago, three years ago, and remember.

At the same time, I’m moving up and moving on. I’ve finished my college education and I’m building a new life with the man I love. I guess I have a lot of thinking to do about this blog and where it will or won’t go. I love it very much, but it may be best ended here, at the end of the four college years it saw me through. The site has changed and so have I. Maybe it is time to say goodbye.

I dunno, this is not at all what I thought my four year post was going to be. But, I suppose it never is. Thanks for listening to my ramblings once again.

 

Simple Pleasures: Catching Fireflies

While driving home with my fiance one night a few weeks ago I noticed blinking lights as it began to get darker. I can’t explain to you why but there is something about those tiny lights that brings me to smile. I can’t help but feel for a moment that I’m Anne Shirley dreaming of fairy lights in the trees. I’m speaking, of course, about fireflies. No, dear, not the show, not the song, and not the Batman villain. I’m speaking of the little bug that has brought joy to children in all sorts of places, and continues to bring me joy to this day.

It’s not summer until the fireflies come out. But we never called them fireflies. Not that I remember. To us they were lightning bugs and they were the signal that we were truly safe from school and summer had come at last. I grew up on a farm with two large fields behind the barn and an orchard of sorts consisting of two apple trees and many many chestnut trees. My fondest memories of summer are still running through the trees with my siblings, carrying an empty and cleaned peanut butter jar with holes poked through the lid. The holes were very important for the lightning bugs to breath. They always ended up dying, though, no matter what grass or leaves we put in with them to eat.

Catching fireflies is an art form that any child can learn. It’s not hard, and I’m pretty sure it’s universal where ever lightning be found. There’s just something so alluring about that little blinking light in the darkness. It’s there only a second; a single flash just off the path. But you run to that spot anyway, to see if maybe it’s still there. It almost never is, and it’s almost too dark to see that little body suspended in midair, but you squint your eyes and wait for that next little flash to let you know it’s still there. And this time, you’re closer. You can reach out and grab it, if you’re fast enough. But you have to be gentle, too. You don’t want to squish you’re new found friend.

When I was growing up there were two bugs that gave me so much joy; lady bugs and lightning bugs. Lady bugs would invade our house every winter, gathering around the spots on the ceiling right above the lamps. There would be loads of them and every winter we would name each and every one of them, even if we could never remember all their names, or keep straight which one was which. The thing about lady bugs is, though, they small pretty bad. And you have to wash your hands after they crawl on you because then the smell is on your hands. Lightning bugs are not so. Lightning bugs are superior in this way. You catch your little friend and he crawls along your finger, lighting up every so often before taking off again, at which point you can gently recapture him, if you’re quick enough.

I’ve been trying for a week now to find a way to explain why these little bugs make me so happy and I’ve been failing. I don’t know what it is about their brief luminescence that makes me smile. It’s a simple pleasure, looking out in the pitch black to see a thousand twinkling lights in the trees. I think it is my favorite reminder of how awesome our God is. No human can do that. No matter how hard we might try, we can’t decorate the trees with fireflies. All the flashing lights in the world will never simulate it as beautifully as what God causes every night. I think that’s why I smile when I see that flash of light as I’m walking through campus after camp. That’s why my heart thrills as I watch them light up the side of the road on my drive home. They are little dots of cheer in the night. Little reminders that there’s always a bit of light.

 

Confessions of a Cartoon Junky

So, I graduated last month. Yeah, crazy, I know. I graduated from college with a BA in writing and while many of my friends have been looking for jobs, preparing for grad school, or, you know, writing things, I’ve been doing no such thing. What have I been doing, you might ask? I’ve been watching cartoons. Yup, three weeks out of college and this is what I’m doing with my life.

To be fair, I’ve been planning a wedding between episodes of the Justice League, but even when I’m doing that I’m watching cartoons. I sit in the living room and stuff invitations while watching Batman: The Brave and the Bold. I put on an episode of Wolverine and the X-men just to see how it is while making lists of books that I’ve borrowed. I sort out my clothes for packing while watching episode after episode of the Justice League. I think I’m addicted.

You’ll notice a pattern, I assume, with the cartoons that I’ve been watching. They are all superhero cartoons. Mostly DC right now, but I have a long history with Marvel cartoons as well. I’m a Marvel girl. I’ll take Captain America over Batman any day. GASP! Yes, I said it, I like the Captain better than Batman. Once you’ve gotten over that shock, we’ll continue. Take your time, I can wait. You ready? Alright then. I have a thing for superhero cartoons. Why? Not entirely sure. I wasn’t into superheroes growing up, I didn’t really read comic books until recently and I have very little experience with most characters in either universe to the point where my fiance has to explain his excitement over the revelation of the next marvel/x-men characters to come into play. I’m learning, slowly. I would like to experience the comics eventually, but there is something about the cartoons that really captures me.

You might be saying to yourself, “Aren’t you a little old for cartoons, Farkas? You’re 22, after all. Shouldn’t you be watching big kid shows?” I should, but I’m not. I’ve found that this is a thing I do when I graduate something. I try to go back. This is a little different from my last graduation experience. This time I have something to look forward to. However, there is still that urge to go back and relive a piece of my childhood. This is not that piece. Actually, I didn’t really watch cartoons as much as other kids. We didn’t have cable so we got Arthur and Dragon Tales and Saturday morning cartoons which we often missed because of soccer. This is something I’m catching up on.

To those who know us, it will not be surprising that this is one of Logan and my favorite date night activities. We enjoy watching cartoons together. Possibly the only show we’ve finished together in the two years we’ve known each other is Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. We’ve also started two versions of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I’ve actually refrained from starting cartoons because I want to watch them with him. We are geeks, no doubt about that. He will occasionally tease me with the sequel to a particularly bad Avengers animated movie that happens to be on Netflix. I refuse to subject myself to it, but that is a rant for a different time.

The Justice League has been my latest conquest on Netflix. It’s actually my second trip into the DC universe, the first being Young Justice. Seems a little backwards, doesn’t it? Well, I guess it is. Young Justice is a relatively recent show that was cancelled for dumb reasons. Some say it’s because too many girls watched it, some say they weren’t selling enough action figures. Whatever the reason, it was a rather sad day and I’m not sure what to do with it now. The first season is on Netflix and the second I found pretty easily on the internet, but I only got half way through. This is a thing I am learning about myself, I can’t handing political twisting. I hate it when you take a hero and try and make them out to be some awful person for doing what’s right and trick everyone into believing not only that, but also that the bad guys are actually the good ones when they are so clearly sinister. Seriously. How many times have these heroes saved the earth?  Anyway, that’s pretty much the entire second half of Young Justice and on top of that, since it was cancelled as far as I can tell, it doesn’t have a solid ending, which I’m not sure I could take.

So that was my first taste of the DC universe and I kind of liked it. So what else could I watch? I didn’t really know anything about the other heroes besides Batman, of course, and I couldn’t watch the Animated Series because I’m saving that for marriage. Why? Because he has the DVDs. So where is the logical place to start? The Justice League, naturally, where all the big DC heroes come to party. And by party, I mostly mean angst. Except Flash. He’s just there for the party. Moving on. I have rather been enjoying my time with the DC universe, though I would like to see more of it outside the seven we see in the first run of the Justice League.

This brings us to Batman; The Brave and the Bold. While this version of the DC universe is very modernly for kids, I have found that I kind of enjoy it too. I get excited when I recognize characters in the universe, like Jaime as the Blue Beetle. This is one of the reasons I love comic book universes, I think. You have these characters that float around and appear in everything and when you’re watching something in that universe, chances are one of your favorites will pop in, even if only for a little while. That moment of recognition gives me a happy feeling inside. It’s like Captain America appearing for that one moment in Thor 2. That little reminder that this isn’t an isolated world, That they have friends out there. I like universes that I can know.

Speaking of live action comic book movies, you might still be wondering, why cartoons? Why not the live action movies or the comics themselves? Or the live action TV shows, for that matter. They make those now. While I have thought of watching Arrow, and might take a look at Flash when it comes out and probably will watch the Marvel series on Netflix when they start showing up, there is just something special about Cartoons. I have a few theories on the subject; proximity, childishness, and suspension of disbelief.

Comic books are a halfway between visual and literary mediums. They are something I’ve been fascinated with since high school when I took a workshop on the subject. I wrote a paper my sophomore year of college arguing that they are a legitimate form of literature. So here’s how they link up with cartoons. They are a drawn visual art form, and cartoons are a drawn visual art form. Crazy, huh? But really, it’s like bring a book to life, only better, because they look the same. As has been seen in the Marvel movies recently, sometimes comic book costumes don’t translate into reality very well. Changes have to be made and while I believe they are for the better for that medium, the cartoon allows you to experience living, breathing superheros they way they were meant to be.

This leads directly into suspension of disbelief. They can do amazing things with special effects nowadays. They can make Iron Man fly and Flash run at light speed and Hulk smash with ease. But there’s always that niggling feeling in the back of my mind that says, this is a trick, this is unnatural. And of course in the moment of the movie you don’t think of that. You’re too pumped from watching Hulk whip Loki around like a rag doll to care, but it’s there. That sense that they used computers to make this happen, or wires or foam cutouts or something. But with the cartoon you believe that Wonder Woman is flying, just because it’s a cartoon and anything can happen. It’s entering a world that isn’t ours; instead of bringing the superheroes out here where we are, we go in to them. They can do absolutely anything and I’ll say, yeah, okay, I believe that. Wonder Woman has like a thousand feet of rope and is using it to pull a spaceship away from an asteroid, sure, why not? Hawkeye never runs out of arrows, duh, he’s Hawkeye. Anything is more believable in cartoon form.

This brings us to childishness. Actually, the older cartoons were a bit more adult than I remember them being. It’s subtle, but I’ve caught a sex joke or two in there. Anyway, I’m basically a kid. My husband-to-be has commented on how getting me to eat vegetables is like cooking for a five-year-old, which is basically what he’ll be doing. I’m excitable, I like fluffy things, I sometimes talk in a high-pitched child’s voice just because I can, I practically become a four-year-old when I’m sleepy and whine about having to go to bed, even though I’m falling asleep on the couch. I giggle, I dance in public, I run down the halls with my arms out like an airplane and I like cartoons. I am a child. Sure, sometimes I can be twenty-two. Occasionally I want to watch the sadistic BBC show that exists solely to cause me emotional pain, but sometimes it’s nice to return to the simple things. The show where good wins over evil, if not in the next half hour, by the end of the next episode. Are the characters perfect? No, but the grow and we grow with them and that’s what I love about cartoons. They lead by example that sometimes the little things matter most, that everyone needs a little faith, that when you’re wrong you say you’re sorry and you move forward. Superheros are great for this. They show what people are capable of, how they handle responsibility and power without abusing it, and how we as average humans should respond to people in need. They’re flawed, sure, but they do their best and win or lose, that’s enough. It’s that simplicity that I love most about cartoons.

So there you have it, I’m a BA with a cartoon addiction. It may sound a little weird to admit that this is what I’m doing with my life post graduation, but after the senior year I had, I think I’ve earned some good, mind-numbing down time with a good show. So I’ll enjoy my superheroes battling aliens from outer space and super villains with random unexplained powers and glowy crystals as I snuggle my cats. This seems like the best plan for wasting time before my wedding.

 

College Highlights

Well, here I am. One week of classes, one week of finals. A 20 page paper, a debate, two tests, two one acts, a feature of some mysterious kind, and a presentation stand between me and graduation. I am graduating college. This is a thing that is happening. With all the talk about the wedding and plans for the summer I kind of forgot this was going to be a thing. And now it’s two weeks away. A little less at this point. I’ve spent three years of my life at Geneva. I’ve evolved from a lonely commuter transfer student to a full on Genevite, complete with on campus family. How things have changed.

I came to Geneva in the fall of 2011. That’s weird to think about. I managed to transfer as a sophomore with a hodgepodge of core and elective credits and absolutely nothing for my major. I chose writing because it’s what I’ve always wanted to do and Geneva was a Christian college that happened to offer it, and happened to be within easy driving distance of my house. Thus I commuted. I transferred with three wonderful women, Danielle, Dakota and Natalie, who became my closest friends sophomore year. Dakota and I watched movies every Friday after class. I spent lots of nights sleeping in Danielle’s apartment, where I met my now fiance. Natalie and I had countless lunches together, commiserating about commuter life.

Spring 2012, I was supposed to go to Ireland. You all remember this, I’m sure. I built it up enough on here and in my heart. Dakota and Jess and I were to go together. I would have met Grace a semester earlier, probably befriended Lindsey that much sooner too, but instead I spent the first part of my first spring break at Geneva in bed with a bucket and a bottle of white tea. I was heart broken, but Geneva was there to support me still. The rest of my spring break was spent working in the library to keep my mind off my disappointment. When we came back to class my friends sympathized as much as they could and Dr. Copeland was kind enough to excuse me from class, basing my grade solely on the paper, which he gave me an A on. Geneva reminded me that even in sad times God is good.

Later that semester I started Contra dancing. I knew absolutely no one, but Kate and I went anyway. And then Kate dropped off and I was alone. Until Logan. You all know the story by now. He took pity on my once and God railroaded him into dating me. I am so very thankful He did.

For only going to Geneva for three years, I feel like I made up that lost year with the summers I spent working at the library. I was so excited my first summer to work in the library for six hours a day, four days a week. So much time spent in the library! The first month wasn’t so bad, sitting at the desk, shelving, the usual library duties. Then Maymester ended and inventory began. I thought it would be great. I was looking forward to scanning all the books with the super cool scanny thing. And then we started it… and then the dusting… and the cleaning projects… And I still loved it. It tedious and messy and a pain in the butt, but I enjoyed the time in the library and working with the staff. I ate lunch with Natalie sometimes. The only thing I didn’t like was opening. Every morning, getting up at 6:30 to be at the library to open at 8. Not a fun time, man, not fun. The following summer I had seniority, though, so I didn’t have to open. It was lovely.

Junior year I attached myself to Twirls and started a Bible study with my transfer girls. I broke into the theater as an ensemble member in The Little Prince, my first production with Mindy. I found a family in the theater. I also claimed Twirly’s couch as my own. I met spent my first weekend with Logan’s family over fall break, and freaked out about what to pack. I was introduced to the RP church. I joined Midsummer because Mindy wanted me as a fairy, and I wanted to see if I could get into a Kuhns play. I claimed the tree as my own. I cried at the theater banquet.

In the spring I lost my Grani, the best car I ever could have hoped for. I then spent a week, where else, but on Twirly’s couch, during which time I ran from all the zombies, got turned into a zombie, then back into a human again just in time for the final mission in which there was more running from zombies, much shooting, several socks were thrown and Alex led us to victory at safe point. We didn’t lose so much as one member of our team. All of us made it. The other group was not so lucky. It’s funny how HvZ week takes on a sort of epic movie-like quality when you look back at it. Nothing but nurf darts were fired, but I can hear the bullets in my head as we ran for the square of safety. I can hear the soft music playing as I stood in the rain as a human after being a zombie. Hearts pounding, heavy guitar playing, the whole bit. It was an intense week. It’s something you only get once. I didn’t play this year.

I guess this is the part of the show where I confess something about myself. I won’t say that I came to Geneva to find a man… but that’s kind of why I came to Geneva. There, I said it. I wouldn’t go so far as to say I wanted the “ring by spring” but I was hoping to find a good Christian man, since looking else were was not a thing that was happening. I was alienated by the size of my church and CCBC is not a place to find men who love Jesus. So, while the main appeal of Geneva was it’s writing program and the proximity to my house, there was that thought, as always, that maybe here I would find the one. And I did. It wasn’t until I decided to stop looking at God brought him to me, but it was here. It was Geneva. This brings us to the summer between Junior and Senior year. Twirly can attest, I was ring crazy. And our plan was vaguely the summer after I graduated. At some point it was just a matter of when the ring would appear. And again, you all know the story. He gave me his great-grandmother’s ring. It is perfect and antique and memorable and perfect and I love it.

So with the date set, I entered into my senior year with half my eye on the wedding and half of it on graduation. This brought on the Dan Williams year. Dr. Dan Williams, as I would learn somewhere around the middle of the semester and have yet to bring myself to call him in public. This year has been interesting, if nothing else. The only writing teach at Geneva now is quite crazy and I’m not convinced he knows where the line is between reality and fiction. He likes fiction, a lot.

My wonderful fiance got me a PS2 for Christmas. Which, in hind-sight, might have been better left at home. Twirly and I spent the entire semester playing through Kingdom Hearts I and II. I am still quite in love with those games. My fiance is probably quite confused by this as the plot is not really a thing. You wander from Disney movie to Disney movie, looking for your friends and killing heartless to save the worlds. There’s a bunch of other stuff that goes on too, and Twirly will never forgive Sora for not kissing Kairi after she saved him with her heart. I can’t explain my love for this game, I guess, but I enjoy it entirely too much. I also defeated Sephiroth. So there.

Spoon River and The Odyssey, were the plays of the year, both draining in their own way, but both beautiful too. Spoon River was heavy, The Odyssey was long and filled with Kuhns but we made it through and they both turned out great. I missed out on the one acts this year. It was a little disappointing not to get to act for my last chance at Geneva. But I wrote a script that Haley took and made a beautiful play out of. I got the best cast I could have ever wished for made up entirely of some of my favorite people. They were brilliant and beautiful and I have so much love and admiration for them.

And that brings back to now, to my final weeks as a Geneva student. MGN is fast approaching, the theater banquet will soon be here. Before I know it, I’ll be scribbling furiously in my blue test book for poli sci and slipping a very thick packet of paper into Morton’s mailbox and then I’ll be done. I will graduate. This is a thing that is happening, guys. And I am so very thankful that it’s happening here. Geneva has been a huge blessing to me. It has brought on some of the harder moments of my life and some of the most brilliant. I would not trade my time here for anything in the world.

 

So Long to the Theater

I’m done. I have acted my last. I’ve completed my last run in the Studio Theater. I never have to act for Dr. Kuhns again. That might sound a little harsh, but for those who have worked with Dr. Kuhns on a play, you can understand my relief. I, like all those involved in our latest production, The Odyssey, have poured out my being for the past two months and now we are finally done. I’m done.

But the end is a bitter-sweet achievement. I will never get the chance to act at Geneva again, and that is a very sad thing to me. I have loved very nearly every minute of my time in the theater, working especially with Mindy in every play I’ve been in, save the one acts last year. I wouldn’t even be in the theater if it weren’t for Mindy.

Of course I’m going to tell you my story. Coming to Geneva my first year was a theatrical flop. I tried out for Alice the first semester and was passed over for every part. Going to see the show was like watching a party I wasn’t invited to. The second semester I auditioned for She Stoops and got to read only once, which I would come to learn was a typical Kuhns audition for someone he doesn’t know. I didn’t know about the one acts until they were out.

I’m a little surprised with myself for trying out Junior year. I’m going to say it was Mindy again who drew me back. The theme of this post is pretty much going to be “Mindy is my favorite.” As disappointed as I was not to be part of Alice I really enjoyed the audition process and while I had very few expectations going in I wasn’t disappointed when it came to reading for it. It’s nice to be handed a script and treated as though you’re worth listening to. The Little Prince was my first Geneva play. I was in the ensemble and I had four whole lines. I got to be an apple tree, and a dessert flower.

Midsummer was my first Kuhns play, but again, I wasn’t in it because he wanted me. Mindy was in charge of the fairies and so a fairy I became. The first thing I was told about my part; “You’re the purple fairy, of course.” I was also the only fairy to wear pants. It was a good time. The only time I actually worked with Dr. Kuhns. I got to climb in and out of a fabulous tree from which I could watch the rest of the show. We did henna and wore bindis in our Colonial India Midsummer. It was beautiful.

One acts came and I found myself with my first major speaking role. Four weeks later we put on our little Overtones with a rather rough beginning, but by the end we were a definite crowd favorite.

Spoon River marked the beginning of my last year of acting and my last Mindy play. It was dramatic, tragic and a little funny at times. Mostly it was emotional and I loved it. I didn’t care that it didn’t have the comedy some of the guys were looking for, I was thrilled to be doing something different, something with weight. And it was beautiful. I can still recite Theodore the Poet, though I have to use a Scottish accent or I can’t remember the words.

And then there was the Odyssey. Oh Dr. Kuhns, you and your over ambition. It probably sounds like I really don’t like Dr. Kuhns right now. This is not the case, I assure you. He’s a good director and his plays are always fantastic in the end… just not until then. I’m once again convinced that I wouldn’t be in the Odyssey if Mindy weren’t co-directing, and really, let’s be honest, that’s why I wanted to be in the Odyssey in the first place. I was tired after Spoon River, we all were. And I remembered Midsummer all too well. And I knew poli sci was imminent and taking on a Kuhns play was crazy while taking poli sci. But I wanted to work with Mindy. I wanted one last play with her, so I tried out.

My casting as Nausicaa will always be a sort of puzzle to me. I wasn’t called back for the princess; I didn’t even read for her. But I got a call telling me I was going to play the island princess and I took it. It didn’t feel real at first. Our rehearsals were very disjointed. It wasn’t until the last three weeks when we put it all together that it sort of felt like a real play. Again, Mindy was amazing, making nine ensemble dresses plus four character dresses all on her own, and they were all gorgeous. I’m not sure we would have been ready for opening night if Mindy hadn’t been running the last two weeks of rehearsals. Again, love Dr. Kuhns, but acting with him takes forever. He also roars. I will always appreciate Mindy’s calm, even when she’s irritated. I will also always laugh at Kuhns’s way of demanding we go faster and then telling us to slow down.

But it’s over now. We have finished the Odyssey, survived for the most part and now we can rest… well, mostly. One acts are in four weeks and I’m sure we’ve got lots to do, but I’m not in them, so I don’t have to worry so much. I will get to watch my words take shape, though, as my script is performed by the best cast I could have asked for. Seriously, we got everyone we wanted; the perfect group. I can’t wait to see what they, and my lovely director, do with it.

And we’ll see if I can get through it with tearing up. Not the play, there’s no hope of that from what I hear. Didn’t got to see the auditions, but I hear they were beautiful. It’s the end of the year that I’m worried about. I’m prone to weeping as it is and leaving the theater for good will likely be more than I can handle. I was promised no sentiment at the end of the Odyssey, almost got out okay and then Martha… and Mindy… and several others. Dang it, girl’s dressing room. Luckily we were all so tired it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. There will be no escape at the banquet, though. I’ll just have to make sure I have all the tissues.

 

The Great Chill Continues

Hey guys, guess what. It’s still cold! Yeah, shocking, I know. Who’d have thunk it would be cold in February. 😛 We’ve been averaging about 20 degrees here for the past few weeks. We had one day when it got to 40 and that was CRAZY! And probably spoiled us for cold weather again. Eh, you win some you lose some. The cold isn’t so bad, I suppose, it’s not unbearable at least. Anything above 0 I can stand I think. However, I would like it very much if it would warm up enough to melt some of the snow.

We seem to be getting everything this winter; bitter cold and obnoxious amounts of snow. Seriously, we have ALL the snow. Not just us, either, everyone seems to be getting snow. There’s snow in Texas and Georgia. What nonsense is this? We haven’t seen snow like this in years and you know what? I don’t think I’ve missed it.

When I was a senior in high school we suffered a near complete shutdown due to the amount of snow we suffered. I can’t remember how much it was exactly but two or three feet might be a low estimate. I do remember shoveling out the driveway so my dad could get to work. I remember digging out the cars and stripping as I did. Silly Farkas, you don’t need six layers to shovel snow, the physical exertion will keep you warm. We missed most of the week of school and to make it even better they declared it a state of emergency so we didn’t have to make up those days either. It was a good time, really.

That was before I could drive, or rather, while I was in the process of learning so I didn’t have to drive. That was before I had a fiance who comes up to see me in the snow every weekend at least whom I worry about every time. That was before I had to walk to campus and everywhere else every day, attempting to navigate under shoveled sidewalks and giant snow piles produced by snow plows clearing the streets and patches of ice left behind. I have to say, my appreciation for snow had significantly decreased from when I was a kid. Even when I was a senior in high school I was less fond of it than when I was a child. This is a sad realization.

I have very fond memories involving snow. I remember sledding with my dad and siblings. One year he pulled us up the road on the old wooden sled on Christmas day so we could ride down it. That might be a meshed up memory that didn’t really happen, but that’s how it is in my mind therefore it is reality. I remember rolling giant snowballs for an overly optimistic snowman that never took shape. I remember making snow forts and digging burrows out of the plowed piles by the field. I remember attempting to “snowboard” at the neighbor’s house up the pasture from us. It was a good time. I went sledding last year with some friends and while we did have a good time, I don’t think I enjoyed it as much as I did when I was a kid. There was much more snow in the eyes than thrilling speed feeling. Maybe I should have worn my useless goggles that I stole from my brother. I am still convinced I could be a Digi-destined.

Maybe if I weren’t covered in college I might go out and build a snowman, or if I had proper snow playing gloves. But the unfortunate reality is, I have no time. I’m losing my childhood and it makes me rather sad. I’ve come to the realization through this ramble that I am getting old. I’ve also decided that I should fight against it. I am going to make a snowman this year before the snow melts. You are all charged to hold me to it. I’m counting on you!

 

This is Real

So…. I’m getting married. This is an actual thing, you guys. I’m planning a wedding, a real one, with real flowers, and cake and my grandmothers wedding dress hanging on the wall. This is an actual thing that is actually happening. And suddenly, finally, six months in, it’s finally starting to sink in; I’m marrying the man of my dreams.

I know what you’re thinking. “Farkas you’ve been engaged for like six months now, we’ve known since August you were getting married, what’s the big deal?”

Well I’ll tell you what the big deal is. I’ve sent out most of my save-the-dates. My brides maids have started ordering dresses. My soon-to-be sister-in-law just got her converse for the wedding. Yes, we’re wearing converse and it’s going to be awesome! My favorite director and good friend is making me a reception dress for which I have the pattern and we’re going to get fabric for over spring break. We have a venue that’s going to let us bring in mead for a traditional Irish toast. I have ushers and readers and we’re starting premarital counselling sometime this month. I ordered the book for it and everything. We met with the lady who is going to bake our cake and I will someday, hopefully soon, manage a meeting with my florist, provided we find a time that actually works out as planned (sorry about that Julie).

But on top of all that, the thing that has really actually made this whole thing feel real, is the registry. That’s right, I actually have one of those now. Sure we sort of started one when school first started. We looked at some stuff online and even picked some things we wanted. But it wasn’t real, then. I have to be able to see things a lot of times before I can decided what I want. I like having my options spread out around me so I can look and feel and touch and trying to shop online for things I couldn’t feel was super stressing me out. So we waited and waited and waited for a time when we had enough time to go up to the mall and actually look at stuff. I will admit, I also kind of wanted to go to the store so I could use the fun little scanny gun you see in the movies when people are doing registry stuff.

We didn’t get to use the fun little scanny gun. BUT we did get to use a neat iphone. It took us a while to actually get it to work, but that’s what we get for not remembering our password. 😛 Okay, that’s what I get for deviating from the original password. Anyway, once we actually got signed into the registry and started on our registry scanning adventure things went quite a bit smoother. c: We scanned towels and pillows and all the kitchen things and it was a jolly good time. We didn’t manage to get to our second store, but we did make a lot of progress in the two or so hours we spent wandering the upper floor of JCPenny. It was a good time.

It’s really strange how suddenly it’s all starting to come together. For months after we got engaged it was like nothing had really changed. Sure there was some super stress over finding the venue and we did go and look at the church where we’ll be getting married and they approved our application to use the space and that was all well and good and exciting, but then I went back to school and planning took a back seat while I army crawled through all the ridiculous writing assignments with the play on my back. Even over winter break when I got a few weddingy things done, ordering save-the-dates and escort card ideas and what not, it was still less real than it is now. We just picked a whole bunch of stuff to fill our apartment. People have postcards with our faces on them hanging on their walls so they don’t forget that our wedding is July 12th. If this were an episode of Pokemon Ash would have his hat on backwards. We’re getting married in five months. There’s nothing for it now except to wait for the “OH CRAP” panic mode to set in.

 

The Great Chill

Global Warming, huh? That’s what they say. Melting the polar ice caps and such. Right. I don’t know about you, but I’m experiencing some global freezing right now. Or at least county freezing. I suppose the rest of the world might be fine, but Beaver County is currently quite thoroughly chilled.

When I left my apartment today it was -20 degrees. Or at least that’s what it felt like. Apparently it was only -10. So much better, I know. Point is, it’s freaking cold outside. I can’t remember the last time it was this cold, if it ever was in my life-time. I suppose it’s possible, but I don’t remember it. We’ve been spoiled here the past couple of winters. We haven’t suffered from this kind of cold in a long time. I don’t even think it got down to the teens last winter and certainly never into the single digits. And we thought it was cold then.

The strange thing is, this is actually normal. This is the way it used to be back in the day. We hear all sorts of stories from those who have been around longer than 20 years about the old winters with ALL the snow and ALL the cold and now it’s our turn to experience it… I don’t like it. The snow isn’t so bad… when you don’t have to drive. I’m okay with it snowing on, say, a Saturday… next year, when my fiance is my husband and doesn’t have to drive an hour to see me in bad weather. There has been much anxiety over snowy late night drives. But the cold is something I can’t stand. You know it’s bad when my fiance is complaining. He runs much warmer than I do and even he thinks it’s too cold here.

Unfortunately for me and everyone else on campus, Geneva does not agree. My mother asked me today if I had classes this morning and couldn’t believe that I did. To be fair it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. The wind wasn’t blowing really so the cold just kind of seeped in rather than blowing right through my six layers of clothing. I did, however wear all the clothes, just in case. I seem to have left my black leggings at him, which is unfortunate, so a pair of thick tights were worn under my paints with knee-high fuzzy socks. For my top I had a cami, long sleeve shirt, 3/4-length shirt, a long sweater, my heavy winter coat and the usual blanket. I thought about wearing another sweater over my shirts, but some rather unfortunately placed buttons on my outer shirt prevented the seventh layer. Two scarves and my pom-pommed ear-flap hat completed my subzero outfit. It worked rather well, actually.

I keep telling myself only another month and a half until spring. And February is short, so it shouldn’t be that bad, right? It’s not really that long… I have yet to convince myself. Ah well, it’s just another thing to count down to, on top of the wedding. And it’s supposed to warm up again towards the end of the week. After this 30 degrees is going to feel pretty balmy.

 

Cats on My Feet

I am convinced that there is nothing better in all the world than having cats sleeping on you while you work. This quite possibly could be my most favorite thing and I can only get it when I’m home.  I’ve been very spoiled as the cats have quite thoroughly invaded. Not a day went by during break that I didn’t have a cat in my room nearly every minute. Going back to school sucks.

My room is off limits. When I’m away at college the door is shut and the cats are not allowed in at all. It’s this mysterious other room for them that only opens up briefly when I’m here. I’m not sure if this is the only reason they enjoy my room so much or if there are other reasons, perhaps the fact that I’ve spent a good portion of my later break just laying around in here playing video games and being sick has something to do with it too. Who knows? But one thing is certain, they really like my room. I’ve been known to attract all three cats at once, simply by being in here. Emma, the biggest of the cats, has changed spots several times. She started at the foot of my bed on a black blanket, of course (Emma is white). She then moved to the basket at the foot of my bed and from there the comforter on the floor by my closet which I meant to put away, of course and never got to. For the last week or so she decided her place was on my bed with me, sleeping directly in the center.

Jam, in response has also traded spots several times. He is a ninja cat and can slip in and move around without me noticing he’s even there. This leads to problems when he slips into the closets. >.> Anyway, he’s a bit more restless than the older Emma cat and moves around more regardless. His favorite spot is on the air mattress that was tossed in my room for safe keeping, I assume at some point. It’s all folded up and in a bag, which might be why he likes it. Jam has a thing for bags. He’s been known to curl up inside a plastic bag, or anything bag like, for that matter and just chill. Or play, he likes to play in them too. He also likes to take Emma’s spot. Why? I danno. He took the basket when she abandoned it and then the blanket and now he’s sleeping in the middle of my bed. The past couple nights he’s been popping in to sleep with me a bit when he’s free from Erin’s room. Jam is the one who likes to sleep on me. He’ll curl up on my feet or in my lap when I’m playing video games or situate himself against my back or in the curve of my legs when I’m asleep. I like have Jam around.

Pepper is a bit of a spaz. He likes to be all up in your face. His favorite spot tends to either be right on your chest, up under your neck, on your head, or in the corner with my clothes in it. The only corner left that doesn’t have a bed in it. I like Pepper, he’s a sweet cat, very friendly, but he’s the last one I want to show up at night when I’m trying to sleep. He has a very slimy nose. He also only has three legs. He’s not much for jumping, but he can climb like nobody’s business and when he wants attention, he’s going to get it, one way or another. He’s also the most vocal of all of the cats.

As any cat person knows, when you leave a place full of cats for one that does not have any cats you start to see things. It’s already started for me. I sometimes have to do a double-take when I see something black out of the corner of my eye or my foot moving at the end of the couch. I’m moving back into the apartment today and I’m really going to miss my kitty cats. Right now all three are hanging out in my room. Jam is sleeping right beside me, Pepper is sleeping on a bag and Emma is just sort of sitting there, contemplating her options. I feel I shall have a rather sad existence for the next week until I get used to being without them again. How does anyone live without cats?