Friday, April 28, 2006

my friend nat gets the gypsy itch.
i don't have that. i have the get-settled-in itch, the find-permanent-places-to-put-my-stuff itch, the same-view-from-the-window itch. i have not been well-rooted since the jurrasic period.
almost four years ago, i moved out of my parent's house to the girls dorms at cbc. i had one roommate, i lived there for eight months, and then i moved home.
four months later, i moved back to cbc campus, this time to live in the joan st house. i had six roommates, i lived there for eight months, and then i moved home.
four months later, i moved into the meadowwoods townhouses with my best friend robyn and two other girls. one of them left halfway through the year, and was replaced. the replacee and the other 'other girl' had given us the impression that they would be in the area through the summer, so robyn and i had counted on living in meadowwoods for at least a year. however, in late february the girls told us that they might not be around, but that they would find out asap so that we could locate alternate roommates to keep rent down. march flew by, and by early april they still had no definite answers, so robyn and i (with more spite than practicality) moved out ourselves. she had a place to stay with her boyfriend and his friends for the two months before she left for camp, but i was stranded.
luckily, God was on top of things, and my friend laura got married and moved out of the basement suite where she lived with kelly and marcy. elise was set to move in there in the fall, but for the summer it was just the two of them. and rachel makes three.
as the summer drew to a close, and i began to have thoughts of fall housing, nat (refer to first sentence) and i decided to combine our efforts and find a place. september 1st drew near, and we still had nowhere to live. nat was at a friend's place, but i was being given the boot shortly. my dear friend ashley offered me her spare room, and, tiny and public though it was (it boasted the suite's only bathroom, and no closest), i moved in until nat and i could find a place. two months and many headaches later, we were still homeless (of sorts), nat had the gypsy itch, and moved to edmonton, and ashley was moving to chilliwack.
at this point, two of the girls in one of my classes offered me a spare room at their place, to crash as long as i liked or to stay permanently if i chose. i chose. that is how i ended up at the mt waddington house, dump of all dumps, where the people are spectacular and the appliances temperamental, a rat lives in the walls and all manner of things call the garage home. i had four roomates (five, if you count derek, which we did), then three, then six, then an indeterminable number as our house became abbotsford's cheapest hotel.
this morning, i left the mt waddington house to move back in with my parents. with my sister, more precisely. for the time being i am sharing her room, her dresser, her closet space. it was a grumpy move. i threw out or gave away a third of my belongings, and packed the rest up in purloined boxes. joel, best of boyfriends, helped load it all into the van, but the reverse was my sole responsibility when we got home. if there's one thing i've learned in my excess of moves, it's always a challenge to move into a place where people already live. my sister, bless her, had cleared out two of her dresser drawers and a fragment of her closet, and moved the couch out of her room so that i could put my bed somewheres. my parents, bless them, gave me a closet in the hall to use as mine, and two shelves in the garage to store the rest of my earthly belongings. everything i own is cramped and tucked and out of reach. everything is the opposite of handy.
no lie, i was not as grateful as i should have been as i lugged and hauled and shoved and stacked each of my boxes and bins into a tinier-than-ideal space. i was sulky and worn, like a toddler after too much excitement. moving is not exciting.
i wanted my own room. i wanted to move all of my boxes into that room and leave them there, set up my bed and take a nap. i did not want all of my things in the garage, so that the book i want right now is buried beneath four tons of paraphanalia. i did not want to cram all of my essentials into two dresser drawers and one small closet, and have everything orderly when my sister got home from work. i wanted a glorious unpacking mess, and for it to be out of everyone's way but mine. i hate to be a bother.
at the same time, i am living, rent free, in a reasonably large and resoundingly vermin-free house, with a functioning dryer, a dishwasher (most blessed of appliances), a comprehensive decorating scheme, and my dear papa is cooking my birthday steak right now. all inconveniences aside, i am stationary. barring disaster, i will remain here for at least one settled, rooted year (except for the three months i spend in thailand).

Sunday, April 16, 2006

samuel kings final

ok, so i went through all 4 books and picked out most of the people that i thought might be examenable, don't quote me on these, and we don't need to know where they're found, i just included that so if you don't like my description you can look them up yoselfs. i figure by now we should all know who nathan and bathsheba are, and the like, so they're obviously not in here...anyway, happy studying.
raych

Obscure people that might be mentioned:
- Elkanah - Hannah’s husband (1 Sam. 1)
- Peninnah - Elkanah’s other wife - she was cruel to Hannah (1 Sam. 1)
- Hophni and Phinehas - Eli’s wicked sons (1 Sam. 1-2)
- Kish - Saul’s father (1 Sam. 9)
- Agag - king of the Amelekites who Saul brings back, though he should have killed him, which is why God tears the kingdom from Saul’s hands (1 Sam. 15)
- Eliab - David’s oldest brother, who Samuel sees first, and also who mocks David for wanting to kill Goliath (1 Sam. 17)
- Ahimelech - the priest David goes to when he is fleeing Saul who gives him food and Goliath’s sword, and who is later murdered by Saul (1 Sam. 21-22)
- Abiathar - the son of Ahimelech who escapes and serves David in his flight (1 Sam. 23
- Nabal the Calebite - refuses to help David, but his wife, Abigail, helps David and becomes David’s wife after Nabal dies (1 Sam. 25)
- Achish - the king of Gath who David shelters with and fools into thinking he is on the Philistine’s side (1 Sam. 27)
- Abner - Saul’s cousin and the commander of his army who sets up Ish-Bosheth as king, and then leaves him for David and is killed by Joab
- Asahel - Joab’s brother who chased Abner and was stabbed through by the butt of his spear (2 Sam. 2)
- Abishai - Joab’s other brother, never says much, usually commands part of the army
- Ish-Bosheth - the son of Saul who is set up on the throne after Saul dies, and who is killed by two of his own men
- Uzzah - puts his hand on the ark to steady it and is struck down by God (2 Sam. 6)
- Mephibosheth - crippled son of Jonathan who David shows kindness to (2 Sam 9, 19)
- Ziba - servant of Mephibosheth who slanders him to David (2 Sam. 9, 15, 19)
- Amnon - son of David who rapes his sister Tamar and is killed by her brother Absalom (2 Sam. 12-13)
- Tamar - Absalom’s sister who is raped (2 Sam 12)
- the wise woman of Tekoa - sent to the king by Joab to intercede for Absalom (2 Sam 14)
- Ahithophel - David’s counsellor (and possibly Bathsheba’s grandfather) who leaves to support Absalom, and then kills himself when his advice is not taken (2 Sam. 15-17)
- Hushai - sent back by David to frustrate Ahithophel’s advice to Absalom (2 Sam. 15-17)
- Shimei - curses David as he flees, and then begs and receives forgiveness when David returns (2 Sam. 16, 19)
- Ahimaaz - son of Zadok, David’s priest, who desperately wants to take the news of Absalom’s death to David, even when Joab tells him not to (2 Sam 18)
- Sheba - convinced Israel not to follow David, was besieged by Joab, and killed by the city he took refuge in (2 Sam. 20)
- Gad - the prophet who goes to David and tells him to pick one of three punishments for conducting a census (2 Sam. 24)
- Abishag - the virgin found to sleep with David and keep him warm who is later asked for by Adonijah to be his wife (1 kings 1)
- Adonijah - son of David who put himself up to be king, asked for Abishag, and is killed by Solomon (1 kings 1-2)
- Benaiah - kills Adonijah, Joab, and Shimei for Solomon and is given Joab’s place at the head of the army (1 kings 2)
- Hiram - king of Tyre who supplies Solomon with cedar for his palace and temple (1 kings 5)
- Huram - does all the bronze work for the temple (1 kings 7)
- Ahijah - the prophet who tells Jeroboam that he will be king, tells Jeroboam’s wife that his son will die (1 kings 11, 14)
- Rehoboam - son of Solomon who rejects the people’s plea for a lighter load, so they reject him (1 kings 12)
- Man of God from Judah - comes and prophesies against the alter in Bethal, is deceived by the old prophet, and is killed by a lion (1 kings 13)
- Abijah - son of Rehoboam, bad king, reigned in Judah 3 years (1 kings 15)
- Asa - son of Abijah, good king, reigned in Judah 41 years (1 kings 15)
- Nadab - son of Jeroboam, bad king, reigned in Israel 2 years (1 kings 15)
- Baasha - killed Nadab and all of Jeroboam’s family, bad king, reigned in Israel 24 years (1 kings 15)
- Elah - son of Baasha, reigned in Israel 2 years (1 kings 16)
- Zimri - one of Elah’s officials, killed him and Baasha’s whole family, reigned in Israel 7 days, was besieged by Omri and killed himself (1 kings 16)
- Omri - bad king, reigned in Israel 12 years (1 kings 16)
- Ahab - son of Omri, married Jezebel, was really evil, etc.
- Obadiah - valid prophet during the time of Jezebel, was told by Elijah to tell Ahab where he was (1 kings 18)
- Ben-Hadad - king of Aram who repeatedly attacks Ahab, and who Yahweh delivers into Ahab’s hands (1 kings 20)
- Jehoshaphat - son of Asa, king of Israel who goes with Ahab to fight Ramoth-Gilead where Ahab dies (1 kings 22)
- Micaiah - prophet who lies to Ahab, and then tells him the truth regarding his battle with Ramoth-Gilead (1 kings 22)
- Zedekiah - prophet who says that Ahab will gore the Arameans with horns, slaps Micaiah and calls him a liar (1 kings 22)
- Ahaziah - son of Ahab, bad king, reigned in Israel 2 years, falls through a lattice and sends to prophets of Baal to see if he will recover, Elijah finds out and tells him he wont (1 kings 22-2 kings 1)
- Joram - son of Ahab, slightly less bad king, reigned in Israel 12 years (2 kings 3)
- The Shunnamite woman - provides for Elisha, so God grants her a son, but he dies, and Elisha brings him back (2 kings 4)
- Naaman - commander of the army of Aram, gets leprosy, goes to Elisha who tells him to wash in the Jordan and be cured (2 kings 5)
- Gehazi - Elisha’s servant (2 kings 5, 8)
- Hazael - officer of Ben-Hadad who murders him and becomes king (2 kings 8)
- Jehoram - son of Jehoshaphat, bad king, married Ahab’s daughter, reigned in Judah 8 years (2 kings 8)
- Ahaziah - son of Jehoram, bad king, reigned in Judah 1 year (2 kings 8)
- Jehu - commander of Israel’s army, killed Joram and ran out Ahaziah, had Jezebel thrown down, killed all the prophets of Baal, reigned in Israel 28 years (2 kings 9-10)
- Athaliah - mother of Ahaziah who killed off all her family and ruled Judah for 6 years (2 kings 11)
- Jehoiada - priest who sets up Joash as king and instructs him (2 kings 11-12)
- Joash - son of Ahaziah, good king, reigned in Judah 40 years, restored the temple (2 kings 12)
- Jehoahaz - son of Jehu, bad king, reigned in Israel 17 years (2 kings 13)
- Jehoash - son of Jehoahaz, bad king, reigned in Israel 16 years, went down and wept over Elisha when he was dying, recaptured towns from Aram (2 kings 13)
- Amaziah - son of Joash, reasonably good king, reigned in Judah 29 years, challenged Jehoash and was beaten (2 kings 14)
- Azariah - son of Amaziah, made king after the people killed his father, good king, had leprosy, reigned in Judah 52 years (2 kings 14-15)
- Jeroboam - son of Jehoash, bad king, reigned in Israel 41 years (2 kings 14)
- Zechariah - son of Jeroboam, bad king, reigned in Israel 6 months (2 kings 15)
- Shallum - assassinated Zecharaih, reigned in Israel 1 month (2 kings 15)
- Menahem - assassinated Shallum, reigned in Israel 10 years (2 kings 15)
- Pekahiah - son of Menahem, bad king, reigned in Israel 2 years (2 kings 15)
- Pekah - officer of Pekahiah, assassinated him, bad king, reigned in Israel 20 years, attacked by Assyria (2 kings 15)
- Hoshea - assassinated Pekah, bad king, reigned in Israel 9 years, betrayed Assyria and so Israel was exiled (2 kings 17)
- Jotham - son of Uzziah, good king, reigned in Judah 16 years (2 kings 15)
- Ahaz - son of Jotham, bad king, reigned in Judah 16 years (2 kings 16)
- Hezekiah - son of Ahaz, good king, was ministered to by Isaiah, became ill and prayed to be healed (2 kings 18-20)
- Manasseh - son of Hezekiah, evil king, reigned in Judah 55 years (2 kings 21)
- Amon - son of Manasseh, bad king, reigned in Judah 2 years, assassinated by his officials (2 kings 21)
- Josiah - son of Amon, put on the throne by the people, good king, reigned in Judah 31 years, found the book of the law and renewed covenant
- Jehoahaz - son of Josiah, bad king, was taken to Egypt
- Jehoiakim - son of Jehoahaz, bad king, rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar
- Jehoiachin - son of Jehoiakim, bad king, reigned 3 months, surrendered to Nebuchadnezzar and was taken prisoner
- Zedekiah - Jehoiachin’s uncle, bad king, reigned 11 years, rebelled against Babylon, was taken prisoner, Judah was taken into exile

Saturday, April 15, 2006

it's almost...done?

final projects are over, papers are all done, two exams are down. all that remains is to study for my last (and by far most terrifying) exam, find that take-home exam in the disaster that passes for my room and finish it, fill in any gaps in my practicum journal and whip up my final report, write my valedictorian speech by saturday, have robyn's shower planned by sunday, nail down my two practicums for may, buy a plane ticket to thailand, and pluck my rampantly over-grown eyebrows.
and do laundry, which may prove challenging, since our 'new' dryer is broken. the old one tumbled, but generated no heat, and it took 11 hours to dry a load by sheer force of movement. grace came to 'take a look at it' (what she thinks she is going to do by looking at it, i have no idea. grace is no mechanic), and said in her most disapproving tone, 'oh, you should never put anything on top of the dryer!' as if to imply that that was why it was not working. at any rate, she said she'd send sheldon by in the next day or two to fix it up. six days later, sheldon comes by with a new dryer (which suspiciously resembles the old dryer in every way, right down to the dent in the door) and the boys help him install it (thanks, boys). the new dryer, needless to say, does not work.
count yourselves blessed, all ye with functioning appliances and rat-free garages! oh yeah, there's one more quick story i have to tell. so i went to get the mail from the garage the other day, and to get to the mail slot you have to squeeze between the pool table and the pile (smaller now than it's been) of garbage bags. so i open the door and yell and stomp until the rat makes his whereabouts known, and then i slide over and grab the mail. no sooner do i turn around than a rustling is heard in the garbage bags. we've known all along that there is probably more than one rat, but we call them 'the rat' because it depletes their power. anyway, there is suddenly very obviously more than one rat, because i can still see the one peering down from his perch, and now something else has trapped me behind the garbage. i can't get out through the garage door, because that was stuck open until we stuck it shut, and i can't get it open again. so i stood in the garage and raged, and chelsea stood in the doorway and screamed, until i summoned the courage to dart between the garbage and the pool table and into the house. from now on, i get the mail armed with a broom.

Monday, April 10, 2006

is this a better picture, jane?


how about this?
or this? as you can see, i'm quite photogenic.

samuel-kings paper - 1

rachel - 0

this paper ate my soul.

i have two assignments due tomorrow, i figured i could just get them done after this paper was finished, like i'd just hand it in and then jump right into the next assignment, no big deal, like i'm some sort of super-student. i am not a super-student. i am a fragile, wasted shell of a girl who has used up her last brain cells, and has nothing to give for her remaining classes.

and my paper's not even good.

i dont know if it sucks because i've been staring at it for days and its arguments aren't making sense to me anymore, or if it really, objectively sucks.

i guess we'll find out.

Saturday, April 08, 2006

i guess since i have this thing, i should be blogging

so, my best friend is getting married, and this wedding (along with my samuel-kings paper) is consuming my life. this is her -->
and i love her, but i am never being a maid of honor again. so anyways, here i am with this huge paper due and it's saturday, and i have to be in burnaby by sunday morning for more wedding stuff (which i DONT mind doing at all, robyn, i love you, but i have to set up the story) and the greyhound busses leave at 3:30 (when i am at a shower for another girl) and at 9:35 (says the schedule). i don't know HOW i'm going to get to the greyhound station, because joel's at an athletics banquet all evening (this is joel), and i asked chelsea to drive me to work yesterday and hate to ask favors 2 days in a row. so benny boop (this is ben) says he'll drive me and we leave in plenty of time and get to the station at 9:20, and the ticket counter is CLOSED but the two guys waiting for their bus say i can buy a ticket on the bus, so we scrounge through ben's truck to find me enough change to buy a ticket, and then ben leaves to take amy to walmart, and i sit down, and the two guys ask me where i'm going and i say vancouver, and they say, that bus just left, like 5 minutes ago and i probably swear a bit at this point, and phone ben and amy who come back from walmart to get me. then ben offers to drive me to surrey so i can catch the skytrain in to burnaby, and amy comes too because she knows the way, and we stop at a gas station and amy buys a slurpee that she doesn't even want, and we get some free licorice. we talk about our lives and what horrible mistakes we make and how good God's grace is, and then they drop me off at the skytrain. the car is fairly empty when i get on, and i sit at the opposite end of the threatening-looking man, and then three polish guys get on and sit in my space, and they chat me up all the way home, which i don't really mind because the threatening-looking man keeps sending me threatening looks, and it's only we five in the car and if they weren't there it'd only be we two, and i'm not down with that idea. i get off the train and it's raining. hard. my parents got a new house number just after i moved out and i don't know it, and they both have new cell phone numbers (as in, new to this past year or so) and i don't know them either. in fact, the only cell phone number i know is my sister's, and she's in vancouver for the night (i know this because i phone her). anyways, i end up walking home, and it's only a 10 minute walk if you can cut through the mall, but the mall is closed because it's 11:15 by this point, and so it's a 20 minute walk in the pouring rain, and this guy follows me for probably 6 blocks, and i wish i had those polish guys back, but then my sister phones and as soon as following-guy sees me on my cell phone he turns around and heads away and i breathe easy. and i tell her that i'm walking home in the rain and she tells me that she loves me and then somehow everything is ok. and now i'm going to sleep on the couch with my dog (this is my dog)

Thursday, April 06, 2006

it is true

i have switched over.
i actually just wanted to see if this blog is easier to post photos in.
it is.
i actually also don't want to write my term paper.
i suppose i will go blog on myspace that i now blog here.
when i blog.