Returning to the fold

Jess on June 8, 2008

So i’m back from the mountaintop that was the Rotary Youth Leadership Academy of 2008.  It was pretty awesome!  We got rained out of the ropes course which made me sad because that’s my favorite part and I had vowed to jump off of the pole this year, but the Hunger Banquet was facilitated better than I’ve ever seen it done before and the culture walk was also really great.  I really like those two activities and I think for the most part the kids were far more open to things and their emotions than they have been in years past.

In what turned out to be good news, Kyle and I got a phone call in the middle of the week that we could not get into the CEE session that we wanted which was a weekend in July but instead had to go to the one this weekend, thus we went. It was fantastic. We both got a whole lot out of it and we both think that it was worth a whole lot.  Basically, I think anyone considering marriage should consider going to an engagement encounter, through whichever faith… or they should even have them for atheists.  i learned so much about kyle and about myself and about us and what it means to be married this weekend.  i really feel like our relationship is really wonderfully different from when we started the weekend…  it’s much better, we love each other more, and we’re  more capable of open dialogue.  I’ve never felt so close to someone.  And I like that this relationship we’re putting so much effort into.  It’s things like this weekend that confirm to me that we’re different than our past loves.  And that he is exactly who I should be with.

my last bout of summer camp fever

Jess on May 31, 2008

Like any good director, Dave had us pick up our books with our RYLA schedules about a week before school got out.  Included is a lot of great descriptions of what goes on at RYLA and what he has tediously planned over the course of the last year.  Like any good counselor, tonight I opened my book and read it cover to cover.  I say this in jest partially cos I’m probably one of about 10% of counselors who did this and also because if I were really a good counselor I would have done it when I got the book.  Instead, I was impressed when i picked up the book from the office only a day or so after it was announced that they were available there.  It should be noted this only occured because I had a meeting in the office.  I opened it, noticed he got the dates wrong on the schedule, and made fun of him for that a few nights later.  Then I put the book in a sack in Kyle’s car.  When Kyle and I got back from Lubbock, he told me to take my sack with me.  I then sat it in a chair until Wednesday when i tried to shove it in my closet and found it too full to fit into one of my cubbies.  So, logically, I went through the sack to figure out if i could rearrange it to shove it into the cubby and forget about it for a long while.  I found the notebook for RYLA and though “Oh, i’ll need that in a few days.”  And I set it on my dresser.  After reading it basically cover to cover tonight, I’m so excited for RYLA.  People seem to think I’m crazy for doing something affiliated with college now that I’ve graduated, but I just can’t explain what  fun I’ve had the past few years at RYLA and how much I feel like I missed out on something by being sick all through it last year.  RYLA is simply awesome.  And I have very high expectations for it again this year.

In addition to RYLA being exciting, summer has been pretty great though so stressful trying to plan a move and a wedding and finishing up my last summer at work and all of those things.  I have been reading more, though, which was basically my goal.  I finished Xenocide last week.  I was slightly disappointed by the ending.  Maybe it was just too fiction and not enough science for my liking, or maybe I just don’t quite get the need to start a twist in the series this late in the third book.  It’s very good though.  We also listened to about half of Choke by Chuck Palahniuk on the drive to Lubbock and back.  I’d forgotten how much I liked it when I read it, and most of the subject matter, so it was a good refresher.  Now I’m working on Naked by David Sedaris.  He is fantastic.

In Antarctica

Jess on March 13, 2008

I’m probably due for an update but unfortunately there isn’t too much to update or too much on my mind.  I’m a little stressed out because NPTE is this weekend and Kyle is in Seattle now, rerouting to Tacoma tomorrow and he’s pretty stressed because they’re basically being stuck in a room forced to research for the last two days and debate doesn’t even start until Saturday.  I’m also embarking on spring break and a new project at work that is mostly just stressing me out at this point.  I think it’s really feasible that we’ll get it done quickly, but it’s hard to say.  And I only have until sometime Tuesday.  It will be good to have the extra money in my paycheck at least.  Also, i’m working on this student repository to set up by the time i leave campus.  It’s proving to be a bit more daunting task than I expected and I’m kind of overwhelmed by how quickly the semester is flying by.  Also, I have yet to hear from Iowa.  I have a good feeling about that… but I just wish they would get around to sending me the email or updating their website or something.  I’m starting to have a hopefully irrational and sneaking suspicion that they have lost my application.  Hopefully that is not the case.