Heat Spells, Whining, and Breakdowns...Not Just Any Menopausal Lady, It's My Car Ernestine

This past week I was able to go down to Cleveland and merely have a chill week. I read books all day long, which is my idea of a dream vacation. Even though I'm in college, my favorite type of books are still children's/young adult books like The Bridge To Terebithia and The Chronicles Of Narnia, they're just so much more interesting and creative.

I also did some long overdue drawing. I'm rather proud of it as this could be the first art project I've actually completed in less than a year. Or actually ever.

Check out that behemoth

Today, I was wrapping up my Cleveland expedition by attending a friend's wedding in Georgia--only about 2 hours away. Yet, obviously, my cranky car Ernestine had different plans.

About an hour into the trip, Ernestine started having one of her hot flashes again and as the car's temperature started climbing until it was hovering on the top red line that marks "DANGER! THE CAR WILL DIE!!!!"

Frantic, I pull off the nearest exit and stop at the nearest building: a motel. After hitting my head against the steering wheel, muttering "Why me?" I go inside to ask for help.

Unfortunately, the hotel clerk didn't speak english, here proceeds the following conversation:

Me: "Hi, I need some help. My car overheated and I was wondering if you knew anyone who could look at my car."

Clerk: {blank stare}

Me: "Car." {Nod of understanding} "Broken." {Nod of understanding} "Help?" {Nod of understanding}

Clerk: "I no can help. But take this. Find help." and she proceeds to give me one of about 100 yellowpage directories. "They free. Take one." {She leaves}.

After I called a few mechanics who told me that it would cost money to tow my car so they could look at it, I gave up for a while and went next door to the Long John Silver's for a drink. It was at this time that I dubbed this summer, "FML summer".

By this time the wedding had already started and I was still an hour away so woefully, I made the decision to do what I could to just try and get home.

This has not been Ernestine's first time to have an onset of overheating, yet each time is interestingly different. The last time it happened was when my sister an

d I were heading back to school after Christmas. That time, Ernestine decided that she wouldn't overheat as long as she was going faster than 40 mph. However, once we hit stop-and-go traffic, we ended up taking a 2 hour long detour so we didn't have to keep stopping and thus, murdering the car.

After such experiences, we now carry a ridiculous amount of car coolant. So, I ended up taking the coolant and pouring a ridiculous amount into Ernestine and praying that she would live until I got home (a 3 hour trip from here).

Now, the unfortunate problem with Ernestine is that once she has overheated and has been turned off, many times she doesn't start back up again until even hours later. Not wanting to be stranded again and possibly after dark, there was only one chance of going directly home.

As air conditioning also happens to lead to overheating cars, I had to drive without the AC on. In 96 degree weather. In the world's most humid place. I felt like the Thanksgiving turkey, having to roast in the oven for hours.

Then, it started raining unexpectedly. Just as I had decided to roll down a window that once you roll down, doesn't roll back up.

After sitting in a pool of my sweat and having been rained on, Ernestine

and I started to smell pretty rank. It's always a bad sign when one is repulsed by their own scent. By that time, I was so happy to be home that I couldn't have cared less.

Thus affirming that name, "FML Summer".

After smelling myself

Confession Time

Whenever I'm home alone, I put my speakers on as loud as possible then I rock out like nobody's business to Justin Bieber.

Never Accept A Favor Without Knowing What It Is: Life Lessons For Today

Sometimes, just to get to know each other, people ask questions like, "What has been your most awkward moment?"

I hate this question, not because I have to share a story about humiliation but because literally almost every day of my life has an awkward moment involved somewhere.

Like today, for example:

I got a phone call from a close family friend, asking if I could do her a favor. She even pulled out the "I've known you for a long time, I really need this" card.

Sure, no problem, I've got your back.

"Well, we're hosting a foreign exchange student from Australia for a few days and he doesn't know anyone, do you want to come eat dinner with us and just talk to him?"

Boy with foreign accent? I'm there!

So I drive over to meet my friend and the Aussie. Dinner with them went fine, we were all chatting about life, asking the Aussie questions about Australian things, blah blah blah. I noticed Aussie boy didn't say much but as my friend is a conversation dominator, I didn't think much of it. Afterwards, we went back to my house and talked some more, when both my mom and my friend (the host parent), both suddenly had something come up, and before I knew it, they were gone.

As in left.

The two of us together, alone.

And that's when all the pieces came together: blind date

Oh crap.

So, I just keep talking to the Aussie, hoping and praying that soon someone will return. When I say "talking," what I really mean is, "I ask The Aussie questions and he answers in one word".

And this happened for four hours. Four hours. 240 minutes of this. Question: one word answer. Question: one word answer. Question: one word answer. Ask if he wants to do something, reply: whatever. After the interrogation, it has been decided that 1) This guy is nice but has no personality whatsoever and 2) That explains why we have nothing in common whatsoever. We decide to watch the Soccer World Cup. The last two hours pass in almost complete silence. Barely a single word passes.

Not only is this happening, but the kid's also sick with allergies (pretty much to anything in Tennessee), so as I'm having a one-sided conversation, the Aussie has red, watery eyes and has to blow his nose every few minutes. The guy's in pain yet while I offer something for help, all I get is: No, it's quite alright.

Usually, if something as awkward as this happens, I make up some excuse that I have to leave.

But wait, oh yes, I'm at my house. There's no escaping the torture at all. I'm trapped.

Finally, my friend comes back and says thanks for everything, something came up, blah blah blah, whatever I'm on to you. And when they leave, all I can do is give her a glance, summarizing the whole night: You owe me.

Unexpected Summer

It's hard to describe how the past month has gone; in one sense, it's been horrible. I couldn't go to either Thailand nor work at Camp this summer, and seeing pictures of both on the Internet broke my heart. And not only have I still been dealing with blood clots but this past week as I went for a routine CT scan, they found "something unclear" in my chest, so I'm having to do a PET scan tomorrow.

Yet, somehow, it has been a most fantastic summer.

Since I have nothing to do, I wake up and watch the sunrise, then later at night, I get to watch the sunset. I was worried about not making enough money this summer for school in the fall, but people have literally come out of nowhere and offered babysitting jobs to me (seriously, two ladies who live down the street from me who I have never met before stopped me while I was walking my dog and asked for my number). I now babysit 4-5 times a week for different families.

I mentioned previously that I had gone to the beach with my youth group. While I was there, God did nothing but astound me daily. Many of the youth that were graduating from high school were the ones in middle school when I was in high school. I got to watch as the once obnoxious middle schoolers were now adults, worshipping God with a maturity that I don't even see in adults most of the time. Students, who have grown up into leaders, as some girls I mentored prayed for me and asked me every day how I was feeling. Out of the 200 students there, I got to watch as 40 of them accepted Christ and there's been a revival going on in my church for the past two weeks.

I had planned my summer with a "go, go, go" attitude. Before all this happened, I counted only 8 days of actual free days in my summer. While none of my previous plans were "sinful" or bad for me, they weren't what God planned for me. Blood clots were God's way of telling me to slow down and listen to Him.

A lot of worship songs talk about God's comfort and how He takes fear away. I think I finally understand them. There's still worry and pain, but there's also the peace that transcends the fear, like when I was little and a dream scared me and my mother would just hug me and tell me it was going to be okay.

Currently listening to: "Season" by Jenny & Tyler

New Design!

I ended up changing my layout because the other one wouldn't let people comment and because I can't have something stay the same for a long time. I like this new one but it hasn't grown on me yet. But I will be changing the pictures once I figure out what I want. I mean, there really isn't much better to do at 7:30 in the morning than learning CSS and HTML codes.

I'll be writing about my week later, but I will say that although my summer is nothing like I had planned it, I couldn't have planned life better. I guess God really does know what He's doing :)

Beach Week '10

I spent this past week in Panama City Beach for my church's youth camp. The weather was gorgeous, I got a fantastic tan, and God was there, loving on each of us. While the beach was incredible, the most memorable experience was the 10 hour bus trip filled with middle schoolers where somehow Andrea and I had gotten surrounded by middle school boys.

Here are some snippets of our conversations:

"Did you know cows pee out of their butts?"

"When is the best time to french kiss?"

Colby to Andrea: "Who are you texting?"

Andrea: "My best friend, Kelsey."

Colby: "Is she hot?"

Andrea: "Yeah"

Colby: "Can I date her?"

Andrea: "No, she prefers older guys."

Colby: "Aw, can't she be a cougar just for me?"

A girl talking on the phone to her parents, updating them on her brother: "Yeah, he's fine. No, he's not twitching that much."

Update on Colby and his lady skills as we see him talking to a girl:

Me: "Hey Colby, what's her name?"

Colby: "My super hot princess"

Jonah: "What do you mean you don't know what an (enter name of a military helicopter is here) is? What about a (enter name of a gun here)?"

Andrea: "Let me give you a hint: we're girls. We live with our mom. Even our cat and dog is a girl. We don't learn about that stuff in my house."

Jonah: "Come on, who are you guys? You must be living underneath a rock!"

Andrea's text to me: Well Jonah, do you know what a freakin' tampon is? Yeah didn't think so!

When we stopped at a mall to eat dinner, Shelbi, another college girl on the trip and I are sitting at a table when we're approached by two of the middle school boys:

Justin (who is completely smitten with Shelbi): "Don't worry Shelbi, I know how to treat a girl right. I'll treat you with respect and I'll even go shopping with you!"

Shelbi: "Well, then we obviously need to go shopping now!"

Me to the other boy Hayden: "So, Hayden, what about you?"

Hayden: "I'd take you on a date and I only have $3. But don't worry cause I got potential. How do you feel about racing lamborghinis in Italy in about 10 years?"

Andrea and I escaping the intense questioning by taking a little snooze

P.S. Did you know you can't feel someone lick your elbow? Yeah, we tried it