Wednesday, August 31, 2011

whaaaa...??!

Found out my Philo friend is a football player. That may or may not sound like a big deal, but football is HUGE here on campus and I never even realized he was part of that. haha. :P

I had a great night as an ALTOOOO at choir. and then dinner afterwards... chicken gyro and spanikopita and spinach salad with feta and mandarin oranges. Did I ever mention I was on a small mediterranean kick? :P

Kathryne

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

so. much.

...everything.

overslept this morning, but it turned out okay.

In Philosophy we tackled the "Does God Exist" question. Or at least we pretended. My professor chose THE WORST arguments to consider for his existence (including the Ontological Argument... shoot me). Can't wait to see what he pulls out for the other side. But the thing with discussions like that is that they highlight the views of different people in the class. One kid and I had a good discussion after class... he apparently wants to go into ministry after graduating. It was kind of obvious, in a really great way.

Then I did a bunch of stuff like go to the library, commit dining hall treachery & outright disloyalty, go to a planetarium show, and then commit dining hall treachery for the second time in one day. That's bad.

Tonight was Activities Night. There were 250+ tables set up with different clubs and such. It would be SO EASY to overcommit. And as much as it hurts, I am giving up the women's a cappella group, the student newspaper, and all other number of fabulous things so as to be able to to student ministry, swing club, and Russian Choir. And chorale, but I get a credit for that. :)

And now I have like 5 hours of homework (exaggeration! don't worry Mom!) to cram in before I go to bed.

Kathryne

Monday, August 29, 2011

One Night with the Sopranos

Had my first chorale practice today.
What. an. experience. SO CRAZY AMAZING. The other people there know what they are doing, and half of them have perfect pitch. Not I, said the Kat(ie). It's really an incredible thing to lend your very small voice to something so big and perfect.

That said, my voice is too small for the soprano section. High Gs are a regular occurrence for them, and a stretch for my vocal chords. So I transfered. The alto section is little(r than soprano) anyway. I think I will fit in there.

Also, as of now, I know of 3 other Katies on my floor. I have met 4 OTHER Katies in my classes/meetings etc, and this is not counting Katherines or Kathleens or Kaitlyns. There are way too many Katies. Sometimes I am afraid I will lose myself in the mix of them all...

Kathryne (to you!)

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Church and stuff

I think I must have found the only church in the midwest that plays Sovereign Grace Music. WHOOO! :D

The group that went over to church was cool. As was the "awkward freshman circle" at the Chorale picnic. First practice tomorrow! I am so excited!! :)

Today I got my introvert time. It was lovely. The fingertips of my left hand continue to be in pain. But according to T (worship leader at ISI-- campus ministry thing), playing the ukulele makes one popular. haha.

Kathryne

Friday, August 26, 2011

Calluses

Vienna plays about as much guitar as I do ukulele. So today we had an epic fail jam session. And I begun to develop some (really, really painful!) calluses on the fingers of (yes, Mom) my left hand. (because I always hold my ukulele the correct way.)

Tonight we are going to play trivia. It begins at midnight. I think I need to take a nap first.

Kathryne

EDIT: We did not go to play trivia. Instead we went to somebody's room and ate goldfish and played Super Mario. We are college students. HOORAH!

Thursday, August 25, 2011

there's a party...

...outside my dorm. it is really loud. I don't like that kind of music. but I am pretty sure that the 2,000-3,000 people milling around on the quad DO.

Today was chill. Only one class. Got to go to the library-- LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. and walk around campus with Vienna, and get lost and be incapable of using the maps we both have and so resort to the compass on my phone. a smartphone is worth it for that ;)

Kathryne

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

crazy Wednesday

I have lots of classes on Wednesdays.
I think they will become my insane days...
8:30-9:20 International Relations
9:35-10:25 Physics (in Art & Archaeology)
10:40-11:30 Swimming (yeah, I know)
11:45-12:35 Statistics
1:55-2:45 Russian
6:45-8:30 Chorale
8-11 Swing (okay, so I'll miss some of it... priorities, right? like a class with credit?)

It looks less crazy then it feels, I guess. But today I had to get books from the bookstore (semi-off-campus) AND wait for my football tickets (FOR.EV.ER.)
I also am bemoaning my lack of practical footwear. My flats give me blisters on the backs of my heels and my right pinky toe. It even tears off band-aids. My flip-flops give me blisters on the inside of my big toe. My ugly heavy duty flip flops give me blisters on top outside of my feet. Walking barefoot on 95-degree concrete and asphalt gives me blisters on the soles of my feet. It's really lose-lose-lose-lose. And I tried everything so I do have blisters everywhere. haha.
This campus is bigger than it seems, and I have to walk all over it on Mondays and Wednesdays (especially Wednesdays).

Today I had a total I <3 COLLEGE moment when, after waiting for football tickets, a group of girls from my dorm went to dinner and spent an hour discussing the difference between Theology and Philosophy, presuppositions, and poetry. It was so beautiful.

Also, I discovered that my English-major/swing buddy also shares my taste in music (go Spektrites!), books (Madeleine L'Engle and C.S. Lewis, anyone?), and sunsets. :)

Kathryne

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

first day of classes

Free bagels this morning! Who doesn't LOVE free food? (if you answer "me" to that question, you are not and never have been in college.)

then I had Philosophy.
My teacher has requested us to call him either "Josh" or "Mr. T." (does this give you a mental picture of this class?)
He adresses us in our class emails as "Hobbits." (picture getting clearer?)
He wore a wrinkly untucked button-down, jeans, and sneakers with hot pink laces to class today. (If you can't see it by now... that's sad.)
He said that next week we will discuss the existence of God.
I think I may not be on his happy list, if he has such a thing.

then there was lunch. not free. :(
I am not a vegetarian, but I have been eating like one. it's rabbit food, all day long. none of the meat looks appetizing, so I eat spinach salads with loads of sunflower seeds and raisins. usually accompanied by apples with peanut butter and pita bread with hummus. yay protein!!

Russian was great.
my professor taught the first twenty minutes IN Russian. I didn't understand much. we watched Russian Sesame Street :)

then we had Opening Mass. it was cool. but there were soooooo many people (the whole school + faculty + staff)

now I have my first night of homework! yay!

Kathryne

first day of classes

Free bagels this morning! Who doesn't LOVE free food? (if you answer "me" to that question, you are not and never have been in college.)

then I had Philosophy.
My teacher has requested us to call him either "Josh" or "Mr. T." (does this give you a mental picture of this class?)
He adresses us in our class emails as "Hobbits." (picture getting clearer?)
He wore a wrinkly untucked button-down, jeans, and sneakers with hot pink laces to class today. (If you can't see it by now... that's sad.)
He said that next week we will discuss the existence of God.
I think I may not be on his happy list, if he has such a thing.

then there was lunch. not free. :(
I am not a vegetarian, but I have been eating like one. it's rabbit food, all day long. none of the meat looks appetizing, so I eat spinach salads with loads of sunflower seeds and raisins. usually accompanied by apples with peanut butter and pita bread with hummus. yay protein!!

Russian was great.
my professor taught the first twenty minutes IN Russian. I didn't understand much. we watched Russian Sesame Street :)

then we had Opening Mass. it was cool. but there were soooooo many people (the whole school + faculty + staff)

now I have my first night of homework! yay!

Kathryne

Monday, August 22, 2011

the calm before the storm...

(I hope not)

Today I went to a bunch of mandatory seminar things about how not to get your identity stolen or be a victim of assault. I also ordered textbooks, and was almost-late for no less than THREE different events! Three! that's terrible! but I was rather wrapped up in my occupation of the moment (respectively: looking for textbooks, looking for cheap textbooks, and trying to find my way around campus) each time.

I did go to see As You Like It on "God Quad" with Elliot. That was cool. Then we talked about the wonder that is Hamlet and the horror that is anything by Catullus (Latin nerds unite!)

Kathryne

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Frosh-O part 3

We attacked Fisher with water balloons. It was quite nice. And serves them right, yelling in my window at 2am!

and a lot of other stuff happened, including a game of Ultimate Frisbee which was very fail on my part, but one of the other girls on my team and I were talking and I discovered we have similar amounts of athletic aptitude (that is to say, none at all when it comes to objects hurtling at one's head through the air, but we both like to swing dance!)
and I had Chorale auditions. I was classified as a soprano, which was surprising... I am a solid mezzo. G-G, two octaves... could go either way, but I suppose they like my head voice? sight reading didn't really happen though. I'll find out on Tuesday.
and we played three-legged capture the flag with Siegfried Hall. that was interesting. running around for 30+ minutes with my ankle tied to a guy's and hanging onto his waist for dear life is not always my first idea of fun. but I met a cool kid named Pat, and we talked about a lot of stuff. eventually the topic turned to religion and philosophy... he is a skeptic. the statements he made sounded like they came right out of my Apologetics textbook, but of course I couldn't remember any of the "correct" responses. so we just talked. it's kind of neat to be able to discuss these things on an intellectual, logical basis while still taking the role of faith into account in that logic.

also, heard from a few people back home.

Kathryne

PS- I am intentionally omitting references to my family leaving. still unsure about my feelings there.

Frosh-O part 2

Whoooooo DOMERFEST.

Domerfest is like the NCCS Winter Formal, but with 25 times the number of people in about 5 times the amount of space. And probably like 50 times the noise, but that's beside the point. But don't worry, we got to wear shorts and t-shirts.

Yesterday I was feeling slightly depressed, like, where are all the people to be my friendsssssss... :(... but today I am slowly starting to remember names and figure out who people are and what they are like. Today I met a girl named Charlene who is also non-denominational Protestant and into personality profiling.
Also, I think I asked for a guy's number tonight without realizing what implications that seems to have in this SUPERINTENSELYCHARGEDGENDERRELATIONS campus. Oops. :P

Also, right now I have an entire guys' dorm chanting outside my window "Fisher loves Lyons!" ...with a trumpet accompaniment. It is almost 2am.

This is Frosh-O. :)

Kathryne


PS- also found a good use for those random glow sticks with no connector pieces! (that was done without looking, btw. I feel pretty proud of myself :) )



Saturday, August 20, 2011

Frosh-O part 1

Freshman Orientation.

My bubble is officially being popped in a slow, torturous, agonizing process of public self-humiliation by mediocrity. hah.

But I am moved in and organized and oh-my-goodness-this-is-my-home-now. Color me weirded out.

Kathryne

Thursday, August 18, 2011

sleep and skype

today was pretty cool. Finished Till We Have Faces, and am now looking up essays on it and cros-referencing it with poetry by Oscar Wilde... life is good :)

I got up early this morning and hung out with Megan and Faith. We left my grandparents' house around noon, for a really crazy car ride. Kristen takes caffeine intravenously, I am pretty sure. The same craziness came out on Skype tonight... oy. :P

ANDANDAND I have a rough draft of one of the songs for the CD finished! yay! and it's one of my favorites :)

Kathryne

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

official.

My entire life is right now in the car in the driveway of my grandparents' house :)

Today has been pretty good. Driving most of the day... time for a two-hour nap, texting/emailing some good friends, and re-reading Till We Have Faces...! :D yeah. And neighbor-Megan and her sister Faith (who is also on her way to her first year of college) met up with us at my grandparents' house. It's been fun.

But as of now I am officially a college student no longer living with her parents (8 months out of the year), which is rather scary and rather exciting. Also, 600th post!

Kathryne

Last day.

Tomorrow I am officially no longer living in Maryland. Tomorrow will also be my 600th post. apropos, no? :)

Today I had some of the most bittersweet goodbyes, with some of my very closest friends. But they all without fail managed to make me smile regardless.
And Megan gave me my graduation present, and I'm pretty sure I jumped up and down a little... I would tell you what it is, but I think Rachel still reads my blog (do you?) ;)

Kathryne

Sunday, August 14, 2011

still bad at watching movies. and goodbyes.

Last Sunday School with my daddy teaching... really, really perfect send-off. And then church. And then family pow-wow about the next two days. And then watching The Return of the King. And then some swing dancing in tight quarters.

I really love my friends.

Kathryne


PS- no, I did NOT cry at the giant spider... it was the elephants. I swear.

Saturday, August 13, 2011

thrift therapy

...is much better than retail therapy, and it is alliterative!

I failed my drivers test again (booo... forgot turn signals and looking over my shoulder for traffic and yada yada on the lot test, and the points added up... although I did a pretty fabulous parallel parking job if I do say so myself), but then I went shopping with Kristina. That was great.

And I bought myself a pair of totally impractical but very fun and cheap shoes. yay!


...and I got Skype. if you care, email me and I will send you my username.

[intentionally refrains from discussing one of the worst goodbye-nights ever. church tomorrow is going to be icky. LotR afterwards promises to be ickier for that same reason.]

Kathryne

firsts and lasts and way too manys

Firsts:
-Making "Japanese woodblock prints" out of meat trays.
-Leaving Dan's party with Megan, without asking my parents. Or going directly where we told everybody else we were going (small detour).
-Dancing blues... like the legit kind, not just east coast with a little smaller bubble.

Lasts:
-WORKING AT DAYCARE HALLELUJAH.
-Swing dance :(
-Seeing about 15-20 different people :/

Way Too Many Times Already:
-Sleeping through my alarm.
-Getting to work late.
-Texting at work when I am not supposed to have a phone on.
-Awkward sip. :)
-Giving details of my life and/or schedule to those who could hardly be pressed to care less.
-Forgetting to dance while my feet are moving... good grief...
[ETA: staying up too late on the computer while forgetting that I have to take a driving test in the morning.]

Kathryne

Thursday, August 11, 2011

weather

so pretty today.

and my second-to last day.

WHEEE! :D

also, did not fail parallel parking today, and got to watch the most gorgeous sunset I've seen in MD for a while now while in the process of not-failing.

Kathryne

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

just best friends, is all

work = not worth mentioning.

after work = LOVE. Got to see Megan, Rachel, Marina, Lisa (aka Mrs B) for coffee and college discussion. I swear Marina and Lisa are/ought to be professional counselors or something. Then Marina and Megan and I wandered Barnes & Noble, drooled over all of the lovely planners and notebooks (I do NOT need more notebooks, I do NOT need more notebooks... but, man, I want more notebooks!), found some presents for people who apparently or not needed presents... it was a good evening.

(also, I bought myself Till We Have Faces. finally. I <3 that book, so much.)

Kathryne

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

seesawing

Lame = spending two hours parallel parking* and failing while one of your good friends is having his 18th birthday party.
Amazing = a dad who will put HIS plans on hold to spend those two hours with you, including acting as a human traffic cone. In the rain.


Kathryne


*or at least trying really hard

Monday, August 8, 2011

"YOU'RE SO WEIRD."

they spontaneously switched me to the Pre-K class this afternoon. And then they switched me back. I was sad. (that they switched me back)

And I had a recording session with other-school-Megan, which was amazing, and AAAHHHH, and gorgeous sounds coming from there, and AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH. And then we had a future-choir-leadership meeting at Panera, which I was actually prepared for, and we finished early, and then we just hung out, and I love these people so much <3

Best moment of the evening:
Aaron crashes all our plans. Surprise. haha. On the way from NCPC to Panera, Aaron is driving in his family's minivan in front of Megan's car (holding herself, me, other-Megan, and Doug). It would appear from his driving that he is slightly intoxicated, or else a little more than slightly. We think he is doing it on purpose. When we get to the stopsign leading off of the church road, Megan sticks her head out of the window and yells,
"YOU'RE SO WEIRD."
At this point the little old lady in rubber gloves picking up trash on the side of the road looks at Megan, stricken. Her face contorted just a little bit. As the rest of the car sits in stunned silence, Megan practically collapses.
"NO, no, not you!!"
Immediately accompanied by a cheesy grin and thumbs-up.
The lady does not appear comforted at all.
At the thumbs up, the shock wears off of the rest of us and we just lose it. Doug is laughing so hard he's sweating (and his eye is twitching). Other-Megan is pretty much shrieking. I am laughing so hard I can't breathe with anything other than belabored gasps about once every 20 seconds.
I have never seen anyone turn out of a quiet church road onto a main-er road with a blind spot caused by the mass of trees obstructing the line of vision as eagerly as Megan, tonight. Just saying.

Kathryne


PS hand-carved mahogany peanut butter dispensers :)

Sunday, August 7, 2011

ND Send-off!

Today I attended the ND Club of Maryland Send-Off Picnic. For such an official-sounding name, it was a rather small event.

As I ought to have guessed, most people there were rather preppy, into football, and Catholic. But I wore my happy hippie skirt (one of several! :D), and I was okay with that. I met some cool people, including a guy who wants to study English. His name is Eliot. I think. He is not on Facebook under that name, so we will see. But we raved a little about Hamlet and agreed to find each other at the Shakespeare festival the first week of school. I also met my dorm "big sister" Megan. I know too many cool people named Megan.

I'm definitely getting excited.

Kathryne

Saturday, August 6, 2011

nothing at all :)

Today I had no schedule except to get a trim on my hair. It was pretty great :)

I also finished leveling the vocals on the first song for the CD. yay!

Kathryne

Thursday, August 4, 2011

waaaaahhhhh

Overslept 80 minutes. There goes any hope of

  • doing devotions
  • washing my hair
  • eating breakfast not-in-a-moving-vehicle
  • looking human
Of course, one of the kids today (Ethan, age 6) informed me that I look very much human... at least, I look like a boy today. Thanks Ethan. Please don't ever call me "Daddy" again.

Then I got to see my Megan (which always makes me smile). And then I did recording with Page. After Megan left, we had a text conversation which looked like:
K: After spending like 40 minutes on Amazing Grace, we are onto BtL and all is well. You left your tumbler here, bt.
M: Okay so I left my cup at NCPC so if you see it, you can just leave it. My dad is going over there tomorrow and he will get it :) thanks
K: OMG TELEPATHIC
M: Oh my gosh I swear I didn't see your message when I sent that. Our telepathy is kicking back in :P
K: lol
M: Ok that was just creepy on so many levels...
K: I am literally giggling, and that is bad because Page is recording a serious song.
Kathryne

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

today

got to wear my preschooler bow, which made me happy, although my mom and Kristen both disapproved.

and got to see Christine, which made me happy.

and we ate caramel macchiato ice cream, which definitely made me happy.

Kathryne

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

getting stuff done

Finished "Adam" (Ted Dekker)

Also recorded all of Kevin & Hannah's stuff!

Kathryne

Monday, August 1, 2011

forgetfulness

I forgot one of the biggest little things that made me smile yesterday:
I am washing my hands in the bathroom at church, and two little girls come in with their mom to use the bathroom. As she tries to herd them into stalls before the service starts, they insist on staring at me. I love the kids at church, and thinking they are Bible Force-ers, I smile and wave at them in the mirror. The mom says to them, "Okay girls, you have to go potty now. You can stare at the pretty singing lady later." And I say, "Oh, are they in Bible Force? I've been in there for three years now, but I don't recognize them."She replies, "No, they are almost old enough for that. They just know you from adult church. You are like a rockstar, and they like your hair."
The girl still staring immediately turns bright red and slams the stall door.
:P In such times I do like kids. haha.

As for today... I get to turn off the computer, read a book, and go to bed early. How awesome.

Kathryne