8.29.2008

my school work:)

i woke up at six. it always feels like winter at that time of day and i have to remind myself not to bundle. by seven i was on the curb of washington lane and germantown waiting for rusty bus 23 to rumble down the cobblestone. i needed to be at school a little early to figure out my school schedule so i used two tokens (yikes!) and rode 2/3 of the way on the subway--which got me there thirty minutes faster! i only had to ask directions ONCE and even then i was on the right street just had to keep going. I think i may be getting the hang of it. It was a blustery morning but i can always be cheerful in the mornings. whether or not that has anything to do with the opening scene of 'you've got mail' with perky Kathleen Kelly bouncing along the city streets, i don't quite know. but it may:)

graphic design class met at 8:30 am in room 205. i was first to arrive in the beige and white room with a square arrangement of paint splattered tables. It comfortably reminded me of my art classroom in jackson that wrapped around a coffee-infused professor morton (morty) . my professor walked in, a tall blonde woman with beautiful hands, and smiles. She's wearing light-pink, light-weight pink tee with loose fitting cargo floods. so chill. "you're in the right room..let me go get the others"when she returns, there are six transfers following her. tranfers! kindred spirits! this is wonderful. they're all from different places, all adjusting like me to new surrondings but not to the college life, so they're chill and interesting. it's a small class, i like it. we talk and introduce ourselves and i realize i suddenly have somewhat of an interesting story to tell: that i came from the mountains of georgia from a small christian school where there was no public transportation and a sprawling view of six states from my dorm room. i find that i am wholly in love with covenant now that i am far from it and ready at all times to sing its praises.

our first assignement is to arrange black dots on four different white squares. just five dots per square and all with a different idea: random, grid-like, an awkward arrangement and something-else-i-can't-remember. this was endlessly interesting to me. i'm cutting and taping and arranging and thinking to myself that seven hours is suddenly seeming extremely doable. my arrangements are dubbed as 'beautiful' and 'simple but strong'. it's good to know i have some sort of grip on what i'm doing here. she let us out early today..four hours early..and i wasn't thrilled about it. but i took the extra time to grab a sandwich at starbucks (so yummy!) and catch bus 33 to bus 57 and then to north 3rd street to check out new possible housing for myself for later on. pretty darn sketch. two subway trips later and a 15 minute walk i'm sitting in south philly at a small cafe called B2's. brae's working and hookin me up with good food.

i'm starting to like this place.

8.25.2008

look!

i know it's backwards. 
and i know that there are four kyrie faces all squished into a small space.
for both, i apologize:)

8.23.2008

wishing and hoping and praying



...why is it that everybody and everything is so gloriously beautiful only after you've left it?
all im thinking about as i walk through these yet-to-be-personalized streets and watch all these unfamiliar faces stroll by is that i am part the most amazing circle of people and i've lived in the most beautiful places.

i'm thinking...
i miss helen's girly laugh, her princess eyes and her spunk. sienna comforts my soul the way no one else can..annie is precious...katie makes me laugh so hard..liz is so full of life--dandan and mikey are the two best guy friends ever!---i miss davey!! and kiko's cute laugh and vincent's concern and jessie's good words to me.  i miss the WALLBALLERS! chelschels and her pearl earrings and high socks.  i miss emma's humor and my first year fourth southers...scotty..jonnie always waiting in my room for me when i would bustle in and out between classes. always sweet and kind and funny. jess high gushing over how much she loved the howard girls and planning shopping trips we never took.  luke irwin and davey studying in the office we snuck into at night--holding on to a thread of knowledge while they whisked  through all the CHAM slides. 

...as i'm sitting in a dimly lit classsroom learning about my mac.


then i sit and have to write an essay for a placement test...
the salvatores are from heaven. how did i ever find a friend like linnea?  my dad is so good with money and so thoughtful. he's amazing. how did he do it?  how does he do it? how does mom do it? how is she so friendly to people? how can i be more like that?  how did brae do this whole philly independent thing...she is amazing!! i'm so proud of her.  i miss julie drexler! how easily she's is just herself.  i miss ellie's little outfits walking past my door and bethany's art creations and all her encouragements to come here to philly. i start realizing bethany's words were a huge part of me coming here...and tobi!  her and her dark rimmed glasses and adorable cardigans. starbucks with taryn and eric..
 ...i close the test booklet and give it to the stone faced woman at the front of the auditorium..

i find chalice waiting in the lobby for me and hear her talk about how she got a 30$ parking ticket and i rush outside to defrost myself from the stinging AC...

..i can't wait for annie to come visit me. and mrs. kate and all these people who have promised to come. eric's coming in september--my very best friend--how lucky i am to have someone to cares for me so deeply and with whom i feel most like myself.  he's the bounce in my step. i can't wait to visit covenant and see all those darling faces again... to remember how i used to shuffle along those walkways and faded carpets..

..then monica walks by. she just finished her writing placement test too and i wave as she slows down and heads towards me. she's a commuter too and a transfer and just moved to the city from new jersey.  she told me she's sad about leaving her church back home and thinks she'll travel an hour to go back to it every sunday. and suddenly, fifteen minutes into the conversation i feel myself landing in the moment. i'm not thinking backwards about everything and everywhere that i've left behind but just laughing and talking about locking your bike to a piece of art that is NOT a bike rack. 

i'm hoping that someday i'll look back at philly and think it was gloriously beautiful and think my time spend here was much too short because of all the interesting people i found and the cool things i got to do.  right now however, it's only a dream. 

8.20.2008

strange creatures

i understand that all olympic athletes at one time or another seem like a total superhuman. truly. they seemingly have super powers that we are and have always been incapable of possessing. But you know how spiderman is the best super hero? well, i think synchronized divers are the best olympians. they are my favorite super heros. I used to get my kicks from running--but that took forever to be broadcasted so i settled for diving. These people are CRAzy!! standing on their hands and springing off, heads coming inches from the board, getting the exact--i mean, exact people--same movements together, crashing into the water over and over and over again on their heads at 32 miles an hour and all the while looking oh-so graceful and getting they're strong, muscular bodies into the water with only the tiniest splash not to mention totally conquering any fear of heights. And it's alot easier to watch than most sports because the competitors change so often. They're whole performance lasts no more than twenty seconds. and the camera dosen't give them time enough to be cocky (ahem, runners.)
anyway, thats my plug for diving. go look!
and feel totally directionless in life watching fifteen-year-olds earn gold medals in China:)

8.14.2008

the glories of a small town


, originally uploaded by wheresthegiant.

granted, we were an hour early for the movie but even after the movie started we were joined only by an older couple which was funny and we thought they were lost because sisterhood of the traveling pants II was showing. hm.