The Straight and Narrow Way

Pretty much the BEST group in the world!

Weekends in Rhode Island rock!

Happy Valentines Day!

This covers everyone. Hurrah for mass communication. :)

The Course of Pranking Never Did Run Smooth

This post is actually written from a computer, for once. I guess you could say my phone has gotten me at least slightly more into the habit of posting, and when something too good for 1000 characters and 1 picture comes across my path, I must get me to the press room.

Just such a something did indeed come across my path in recent days. It all started last week. Since Rachel was publishing an article with testimonies from the seven first-years in TOR (our church magazine), she wanted pictures of each of us. We were to get them to her by the end of the week. Sadly, we did not succeed (at least, the guys didn't), but that is not the point of this post. Saturday evening we finally got around to taking the requisite photos. Craig got out Clyde's handy dandy Nikon D70S, and we all pretty much lined up for a photo shoot. We all got pictures. They were good.

But there is so much more to the story than that! You see, we didn't just want to send Rachel boring old portraits. No, we wanted something original and lively! With this in mind, we all settled down around my computer while I clicked and dragged and typed until our pictures looked like this:






Rachel was highly amused when she opened the folder. "They were too good not to share," she said, and they quickly found their way to the Fairwood kitchen bulletin board.



We all laughed, of course, but we didn't know just how far Rachel was willing to go to share our hilarious photos. The next evening, we were stunned when she showed us a copy of TOR... with our edited pictures!

Good grief! Imagine the embarrassment and devastation! I was pretty stunned, to say the least. What would the magazine's faithful readers think of Fairwood's first-year guys? Would they call us names? Would they complain to the editors? What about my reputation? I went to bed and sobbed all night.

Let me correct myself: I MIGHT have sobbed all night, had it not been for the fact that Rachel pointed out (after allowing just a brief period of unutterable anxiety) that this was only a rough draft, and the official copies - the REAL ones - would be published with the much less original - but, oh, so much more acceptable! - traditional portraits which we had included in a subfolder.

Well, relief was ours, and the end of the story was a happy one for all. We got our laugh, and Rachel got hers. But the moral of the story is this: never play a prank on someone without evaluating what he could do to get you back.

My New Skill

I did something this evening that I don't think I've ever done before: I typed in my sleep!!! It all started when I was writing a historical fiction paper for Exodus class. I was telling the story of some of the plagues from the perspective of one of Pharaoh's Hebrew slaves, and boy was I struggling! The fact is, I was tired, and the more I wrote, the less I could think. Slowly, subtly, I felt myself drifting into slumber as I typed. I could not resist...

When I woke up a half hour later, this is what my screen said:

"Hark, Pharaoh, thou evil lord of an iniquitous nation!" Lifting his famed rod toward the heavens, Aaron spoke with assurance and power, his voice trembling with emotion."

Just kidding. Here is what my paper really said:

kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk
kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk....

Et cetera. Nineteen pages of et cetera. And to think I wrote nineteen pages in my SLEEP!!! Who knew I could multitask so well?

What I Love

Singing John Rutter and Felix Mendehlsson in the library with Craig and Gretchen. That's what I did for several blissful hours this Sabbath evening, and I really can't think of anything I would rather have done.

Lest you think that experience insufficient to perfect a Friday evening, before that I spent an enjoyable hour or so listening to Mr. M. read "The Hobbit" and watching little Jamie be adorable. He (Jamie, that is), sat on my lap for a while, and that notched my joy up another level. Even had he not been there to charm with his cuteness, the reading itself was so good. I am sometimes amazed by how much I have forgotten of "The Hobbit" - a book I have read multiple times. The story is practically new to me now, and Mr. M. is a wonderful reader.

Also, we had chocolate cake for Sabbath treat.

All this is to say that my Sabbath has been nearly perfect so far. I feel incredibly peaceful and relaxed, and I hope this Sabbath brings you a similar experience.

Shabbat Shalom!

A New Avenue in Bloggerville

So, here is my very first blog post from my new cell phone. I can only write 1000 characters of text, so such posts won't be long; but I can send pictures, and everyone knows that a picture is worth 1000 WORDS!!!

I know this picture may be a bit painful for some, but I'm posting it anyway because I really like it. And I like Craig. He's great. He's so great that he gets to have his picture on my blog.

Well, I thought by this time I would pretty much have used up my words for the post, but no! There are still more than 400 characters available! Perhaps if I want to hone my phone-typing skills, I will actually start posting from my dear little dorm room in the middle of the night, but no promises. Blogging promises are excessively dangerous. I do now have that option, and the picture posting option, though, and perhaps - just perhaps - I will take advantage of it.