Merry Christmas, and how are you?

Well, I am fine. Thanks for asking! It has been so crazy since my last entry. I spent a few days at home with my parents without my Nathan. I missed Nathan, but it was really nice spending time with Mom and Dad. Then Nathan came in and we spent some time with his family and Nathan's nephew, who is barely 2, I think, called him Uncle Nathan! And nobody told him to! He just remembered. Nathan was so pleased. Then Nathan and I went back home to teach class and Nathan had to work. I stayed with him, it was fun. Then after Nathan got off of work at 11 the next night Adam. Nathan and I drove down to Lake Charles to crash and visit with Katie, Andy, Daisy, and Joe the next morning. So that would be today, when we went to this great playground with the best slide I've been on for some time. It was awesome. So then my Mom picked me up in Lake Charles so Nathan could visit longer before driving back to Natchitoches and so9 I could be in Lafayette when Ann comes into town! I can't wait! But then, Katie and Andy and Daisy are coming to Lafayette too, so that when Ann leaves, or goes to bed, they can bring me to Natchitoches and they can see Nathan again.

Crazy.

Nathan gave me two bikes and a tree and a my little pony. Her Name is Butterscotch. I like butterscotch. He's so sweet. He hates Christmas trees. Silly Nathan. (:

Bye!

Christmas Eve Eve Eve

One year and ten hours ago from right now, my brother was still alive and laughing. Did you know that he was laughing in the hour before he died? He was smiling when he died too. That was just like him though, generally a happy person and laughing in the face of death. Take that, death. Mom, Dad, and I just finished decorating the christmas tree and when it was all done, we just sat around in the dark with the christmas tree glowing in the corner, just talking. Most of it was about Michael. It was really nice just to sit and talk to them without the tv or anything noisy on. Michael loved christmas trees. When he was little he used to roll himeslf around (he couldn't crawl) until he was under the christmas tree and he's just look up through the branches at the lights. I didn't know he did that until fairly recently. I remember doing the same thing when I was little. I still do it. That might be part of what I love about christmas trees. They're just so peaceful. I miss him so much. We had a good cry together in the hallway looking at the pictures of him. He had a hard road. He was close to death more times than most of us were really comfortable with. But he was so happy. He would fall horrendously ill more than most, but he would smile, and laugh, and cheerfully chew on his fingers. That's more than I can say for some people that are a lot more healthy than he was. He was so strong. I hope I'm that strong. My kids won't ever know him. I always thought they would. He taught me so much. I'd hoped that he'd be there to teach them too.

Kelley, I love you.

Dead people, grades, and hopefulness

The funeral went well. We were 15 minutes late, but then, so was the widow, so they didn't start without us. Charlie was very appreciatave of every friendly face he saw, and every word of support sent long distance. Pleh, I'm glad I'm not in his shoes, but he will be well with time. In a very selfish way the funeral was somewhat bitter sweet for me. It seemed a fitting way to spend my time so near December 22nd. Michael has a small headstone now. It's temporary, but nice. I still haven't seen it. My mother has a whole garden in the back that she dedicates to him. In the garden there's a small statue of a young boy that the neighbors bought for it. We have great neighbors. Poor Charlie.

I got all my grades in. All A's and one B. My high school and middle school teachers would probably defecate themselves if they knew that this will be the 5th time in a row that I'm on the dean's list. Heh.

My sister is in the interview process at Alaskan Airlines. So far it's looking pretty good and the odds at least aren't against her. If this works out, Kelley will be working in a happy and stimulating environment whose perks will make vacations of legends when weilded alongside Nathan's employee discounts. Yeah buddy.

Charlie's Daddy

We found out what happened to Charlie's dad. He was driving back from Shreveport and, presumably because of a heart attack, he crossed the median and ran into an eighteen-wheeler. The car burned up and there will be no open casket. It would be quite reasonable to believe that somewhere between the alleged heart attack and impact that if he wasn't already dead he was at least quite unconcious. He has had a good deal of heart trouble in the past, so we're pretty sure that's what it was.

Charlie is a mess right now, but he will be well with time. If anyone wants to come *cough- Daisy and Joe* below is a link to a map with directions, they are really simple. For those of you who can't come we will give Charlie your love and support. He really needs it right now.

Directions to funeral home - the actual address is on that page, too. The starting spot is the hotels.

The wake will be held from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm, on the 15th (Wednesday) at the Rose-Neath Funeral Home in Many. The funeral will be at a currently undisclosed church, also in Many at 11:00 am on the 16th (Thursday).

I'll be praying for all of our ailing and grieving family and friends. Screw December.

screw you too, December

My sleep schedule is comepletly destroyed. Over the past 24 hrs or so I'v ebeen sleeping and being awake at about 2-5 hour intervals. But I think I did okay on my tests, I just gotta wait for grades to come out. I hate waiting on grades. Now I can just let my brain leak out of my ears for a while until next semester and give it one last push and it will all be over. *sigh*

Speaking of it all being over, (yeah, I'm terrible) keep youselves and loved ones tucked away in safe and healthy places, December is upon us once again. My condolences to Katie who felt the wrath of this deadly month a short while ago. I sincerely hope your Dad is feeling better. Charlie, Nathan's karate instructor and a close friend of ours, called today (yesterday by now) to inform us that his dad had died. We don't know any of the specifics yet, we hadn't heard that he was sick, so we have no idea what it was that killed him. I Didn't really know him that well, but the few times I met him he was a very nice and helpful man. A few years ago he drove14 hours straight to Albuqerque (sp?) and then back again a couple of days later so his son's karate school could compete at the USKA National tournament. The las time I saw him was at Carlie's wedding and he looked so happy and proud.

Rest in Peace Mr. Luther.

Everybody, please be safe and take care of yourselves.

studying, and by that I mean Thief 3

well, I passed the exit exam and I officially have an A in my two easy classes. I have two finals left, they both require a lot of studying and they'er both on Monday. So obviously I should be making a journal entry instead of studying, right? Of course.

It's really kinda sad that knowing that the next couple of days will be crammed with, um, cramming just makes me sad that I probably shouldn't convince Nathan to play Thief 3. I LOVE Thief 3. Thief 2 kinda dragged and had a dissapointing ending, but Thief 3 is different from Theives 1 and 2 in ways that just make me happy. in fact the whole Thieving experience is better than it used to bebecaus before, we'd always play late at night, because you should, and I was always sleepy and uncomfortable. Now that I can easily see the moniter from the bed, I get all cozy under the covers and kind of shiver with excitement when Nathan turns on the Thieving! (it's really kinda sad, I actually do shiver) The new monitaur is nice and big, so it makes it that much better! I will be so sad when we beat it, cause then we'll be all out of Thief. We might play Thief Gold which is basically a newer better version of Thief1, and maybe some fan missions, but it won't be the same. I'll miss you Garrett. There's just something about you and that hood.

stick-around-for-one-more-semester exam

Well I just finished my exit exam that I've been agonizing over for the past few days. Now this is probably Dr. Williams' fault, but it was so easy! He didn't teach us the exam, but he did thouroughly inform us about the things we should prepare ourselves for. Thank you Dr. Williams! It was kinda wierd. Because it wasn't a test based out of just one book but most of the books in the psychology cirriculum, and the questiones were written by most of the professors in the psychology cirriculum, there was no pattern. No one particular style. So for any given item, Dr. Williams would tell you to familiarize yourself with a word or concept, so you look it up, pick out the key points and burn it into your head. Then for the test you find out for that item it was actually asking about one of the points that seemed peripheral at the time of study, but you get it right because the brain is wonderful and remembers wierd little things like that. I think that's part of why I'm in this field, brains are funny.
So I just passed my exit exam, but do I exit, no. It's kinda wierd. I'll be taking one of the classes covered on the exam next semester. I'm glad it's pertinant information now. Depending on my finals, there's a good chance that I'm one large step closer to graduating with a 3.0. Yay! Now I just have to read half of my book for "history and systems of psychology" (that would be the first quarter and the last quarter), then remember everything ever covered in "Ancient philosophy" and I'll be good to go.
I've really enjoyed reading everyones diaries lately. It's been nice being able to see how everyone's doing. It's nice to know that we didn't all just drop off our own edges of the world.
Well, I have to go find out if I'm having a first aid final now, so this ends here.

fireworks

well Daisy and Joe just left. It was really fun having them around. They brought the puppy, she's sooo cute. We went to the bridge on the bypass to watch the fireworks. We parked our cars in that area that looks like it was going to be a road and the bridge was going to be widened and watched them from a distance. It was kina funny to me because that was the exact spot I parked once before to watch a thunderstorm in the distance. I think that was back before Nathan and I were even dating. I felt the thunderstorm from my dormroom and went to the Church Street bridge to watch it. I was by myself and parked on front street and walked on the little side walk to the center of the bridge and watched the lightning flash across the sky with traffic wizzing a few feet behind my back. I really felt alive. But the lightning was rolling away and I needed a better spot. So I drove to the place previously mentioned and sat on top of my car, Johnny. With the exception of the cars driving by every here and there, I was all alone. It was just me, the lightning and thunder, and peace. I don't really do that kind of thing very often anymore. Things are different. I never have time. I don't think that means that I wouldn't though. I think, if given a moment and the right circumstances, I'd still drive away to be with the lightning. I'd probably ask Nathan to come. It'd be a bit different. But then, he might not want to come and I'd still go. Yeah, I'd still go.

*sigh*

I got a little bit of bad news today. I did not, in fact, win the powerball jackpot of $127,000,000. Oh well. We'll get 'em next time. Now I have to spend the rest of the week, um, procrastinating. Shortly thereafter I'll be cramming for my advanced general psych final. It's a bit scary 'cause it has nothing to do with my grade in that class. If I get a perfect score or get everything wrong it will have the same effect on my AGP grade. That's because for our final we're taking the psychology exit exam. That's right, if I do poorly that's 5 wasted years. Actually I bet I can just take it again. And I'm not really worried. It's just that it's important. I'm not used to important things happening in class.
In other news, Daisy and Joe might come up for a few days, while I procrastinate. Joe's hurt his back so he can't work right now, so what does he want to do? Play in Natchitoches of course! It makes me happy. I hope they do come. I want to sleep a lot. I'll do that tomorrow afternoon, maybe.