"Harry Potter is a bitch."

At about 6am Friday, Nashville time, I woke up and freaked out a little bit because I realized I was in Nashville. There was no sleeping after that.

I spent Friday morning on campus taking meetings with various people. I met with Aaron Burtch, who is the transfer counselor. Here is how that conversation went. Aaron: "I guess you got your acceptance letter then?" Me: "Nope." Aaron: "Oh well, it's in the mail." And then some major excitement on my part. What can you get from that? I have officially been accepted to Lipscomb University!

Then I got to see the theatre department's production of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.

The rest of the weekend was spent with CallieAnn, just relaxing. That is just what I needed. 48 hours to just relax and be away from Mitchell. Plus I got to eat Genghis. Yum!

It's possible that we watched 'The Deathly Hallows Part 1' both Friday and Saturday night. It is also possible that we were looking up information in the book, while we were watching the movie. And it is also possible that we discussed what our patronus would be.

Yes, we are two grown women discussing what our patronus would be.

Monday was the Joel Penton presentation. It went really well. I heard a lot of positive feedback from the students. I also had a lot of students who came to the concert that night as well. Ryan Holliday, who came with Joel, performed a concert that night. It was a really great night, and I actually had a couple of faculty members who came out for the concert. I appreciate when the faculty members show some sort of support of what these students are doing.

I had a random thought pop into my head today. I kind of miss doing, "So, Just Say It."

I can also tell I'm not going to be real productive today.

c'est la vie

(The picture is a cardboard cutout of Amy Grant, courtesy of Miranda Giles.)

Finally

It is finally Thursday, which means it is finally time for my not so random disappearance.

Every once in a while I have to get away from Mitchell and do my own thing.

This town is suffocating.

I will say that this week has gone better than last week. I thought last week was never going to end.

Saturday, my parents came home from Vegas. They brought me home a flask. You have to appreciate the irony there. I think I'm going to put my coke in it and take it to family gatherings. ;)

Sunday, we went to Louisville to visit Pappaw. That was kind of rough. I think it's harder to watch someone suffer than to deal with death. I don't want to see him suffer. I just can't handle it.

It's definitely not an easy thing, but we weren't promised life would be easy.

During my Graphic Design class, Monday, I found out that we were taking the final this coming Monday. I can't be there due to Joel Penton coming to speak, so I freaked out a little bit. I asked if I could take the final early or the week after. Here was my professors response, "The test isn't worth very many points, and you have a solid A. I don't think there is anything you could do at this point to not have an A." That right there made up for the awful week I had just had.

Then on Tuesday night I had Physical Science. We were all kind of freaking out because we just started the Physics unit and there are 7 chapters to cover in a 2 week period. The professor basically told us not to worry about it. That the test would be 2 problems and would be set up like a practicum, and we could work with as many people as we wanted. He also told us that we didn't have to do any of the homework, but that if we had already started on it to go a head and put it in our notebook and we would get extra credit. I had already done 3 chapters.


AND I get to leave for Nashville after class tonight.

So really, this week has been much better than last week.

Really?!

What a week.

This was probably the 2nd most stressful week I've had this year.

My week was crazy busy between school, subbing, and SADD.

Then I had to deal with frustrating people all week. Between demands of teenagers, people over stepping their boundaries, my grandfather being in the ICU, and people who just simply don't care.

I won't say a whole lot on the subject because I'll start ranting, but I do want to say this. Unless you are willing to step up and be part of the solution, then you should stop complaining.

I'm really proud of my students this week. They did a great job with the talent show, and they raised $975 for the American Cancer Society. A special shout out to Senora Allen and Tara Ramey who performed in the talent show, and to Kevin Giggy who made the programs for us.

We had a great Emcee: Mike Shannon, and a wonderful group of judges: Deb Shannon, Krystal Shetler, & Sam Craig. Thom Ulmet, who is over the Relay For Life, came to show his support and give out some extra goodies to the students who performed.

3rd place: Julia Heatherly, who sang I Hope You Dance.
2nd place: Rebecca Burris, Abby Holmquist, Melissa Wilson, & Alayna Super, who danced across the stage to Single Ladies.
1st place: Alan Foddrill, who sang Don't Stop Believin'.

All of our performers did very well. Though, I have to admit my favorite performance of the evening was by Dustin Parkes, who played his guitar and sang an original song.

Thank you to all those who came out to support these kids as they helped to raise money for the American Cancer Society!