7 Quick Takes: Life Update Edition

1) Life is crazy. It's busy, and I cannot belive that the time has passed so fast, and so much has happened that I'm not at the beginning of Week 4 of my third term of my Freshman year of college. It's nuts.

2) Work is work. I'm working just enough hours, on a pretty great schedule, and I like it a lot. It's a neat gig at a frozen yogurt joint not too far off of campus. The place is fun, and the pay is worth it.

3) Classes are really pretty awesome this term. I love everything I'm taking, and I'm learning a lot across the board. Actually staying on top of reading is really making everything a lot more fun and engaging. Biggest lesson so far was in my Lit class, 'we don't have to believe what they [the narrators] are telling us'.

4) the weekend I cleaned, and it felt like I was getting my life back in order. Having a made bed, and a clean desk and a closet where things are where they should be makes life so much more bearable and leaves room for focus.

5) friends-I don't know where I would be without them. I now understand why people name their children after the friends they met in college. With family not immediately here, friends make up your family, and we hold each other together. I am SO BLESSED!!! (and yes, it really is worth the capitals)

6) I spend quite a bit of time at the Newman Center, the Catholic Student Center right off of campus. It is wonderful, and offers so much for all areas of my life. They feed me, pray with and for me, talk with me, and occasionally do super random stuff like host a talent-less talent show called coffee house where we might, per say, dress up like we're from different decades, go dinosaur hunting, help Mario & Luigi unplug Ash's toilet, and cook with Julia Child and her sister Gulia Julia. Newman is amazing.

7) Food: not much happening here. Dorm food is dorm food, however, when I'm working and don't have time to come back to the dorms I sometimes venture in the student food bubble right off campus. Today I had two amazing pieces of pizza from a local spot on Alder, and they were just incredible. Let me tell you, Sy's Matters. Ü

The Tombs of Lazarus

you know this feeling
that goes beyond words
you've stood
in the middle of this pain
tears streaming
chaisng each other
out of your heart and
down Your face

he was your friend.
someone you loved
someone you couldn't picture life without
and even though You know
he will rise
before the story's end
still, You wept

so now I feel
with the ache of loss
hinting, creeping around my heart
that you are here
-quietly-

Your presense that comfort
my heart is longing for
not pushy
or self-seeking
the spiritual equal
of a most trusted friend
wrapping their arm on my shoulder
You are there
the hurt is still there
but so are You

7 Quick Takes: Another Beginning

Weeks 1 and 2 flew by so fast that I decided in the interest of my sanity to combine the two of them to one 'Quick Takes' which highlights the best and brightest spots of the past two weeks.

1) SURPRISE!!!

Tuesday of week one, after a day in which I spent a lot of energy working with my computer and the UO tech desk and the HP people I was walking back to my room tired and super frustrated when. And it was raining. And then, as I turned the corner around the LLC....I saw, standing by the basketball court, in her red coat, holding an umbrella...my mom!!! I was shocked, and ecstatic, and I could barely believe she was there. It was a total surprise and I needed it so bad. Admittedly, I started crying. We got to spend the evening together, and we went out to eat and got to just talk and hang out, something we haven't gotten to do as just the two of us in a long time. It was amazing.

2) DINING ROOM!!!!

(I like capitals, and these things are really exciting to me, don't judge)

Following the day that my momma visited I finally got to work a shift at The Dining Room (read more here) with the lovely Kala Haley, the amazing woman who got me involved there in the first place. We had been looking forward to it for over a month, and were both super psyched to be on bar together, serving up coffee, juice and milk while singing away. aaaa. love!

3) JOANNA!!

(bright spots really should be capitalized anyway)

I have a new Thursday tradition, coffee with the lovely Joanna, a friend of mine. It is particularly wonderful, as we meet at Cafe Roma, another place that I love and just sit and talk about life. Week 1 she explained the elections to me, as her passion is ASUO and then last week we just kinda chilled. She is super legit.

4) SUPER LEGIT SATURDAY!!!!

(you've got to understand, this was so ideal)

The first Saturday of term started out with brunch at Barhart (always a good start to a Saturday) with an upper-classman friend, then the very first Saturday Market which was awesome {squirrel alert: Saturday Market is just so Eugene. It features local artists, farmers, and musicians and people from all walks of life swarm downtown for the amazingness}, walking and talking with a friend, randomly surprising someone else, back to the dorm, then Mass just because I felt like it, then dinner and some homework with a random God-moment included. It was epic.

5) FRIENDLY!!

(she is too far away for any interaction not to be exciting)

After what felt like a lot longer than it actually was I happened to be on the book of faces at the same time as my best friend who is currently in Greece on her study abroad. It wasn't really anything super big, but it was exciting to get to chat with her when I miss her so much. For the world, she is having an amazing time, and thankfully taking lots of pictures.

6) FIRST FRIDAY!!

(this reminded me of the best part of home)

I knew I was going to the city with some of my friends, but I didn't want to miss a First Friday Mass, because I have a streak going of four or five months now. Unfortunately, I forgot to turn my alarm clock on. So, I woke up at a quarter till seven, and decided to take the insane stance of "let's go anyway!". I high-tailed it down to St. Mary's on my bike, arriving during the psalm (not bad for bed->church in under 20 minutes). It was just wonderful, and then, biking back to campus later...it felt like summer. It felt like those incredible summer days that live now in my memory, coming back home after morning Mass on my bike. It was truly exceptional.

7)ADORATION!!

(hello, it's Jesus, capital letters are a given)

Tuesdays 9:30-10:30, Newman. Date with God. 'Nuff said. Peace.

7 Quick Takes: NOLA Style

Ok Aimee, again with the lateness. But, better late than never. This spring break I went to New Orleans on a Mission Trip with the St. Thomas More Newman Center. It was an amazing experience, and here are a brief 7 Quick Takes from places that meant something to me on the trip.

1) Camp Restore

We stayed here, in East New Orleans (I think), at a facility created by a Lutheran church for the specific purpose to house volunteers that have come to rebuild the city. We slept in what I believe were grain cars. They are slightly larger than boxcars, both length-wide and width-wide. The one that the girls stayed in housed us all in eleven bunkbeds, lining 3 1/2 of the four walls, with a couple of walking feet in between. It was definitely cozy. And the food was ok, especially considering they were feeding 100 plus people every meal. My favorite memories from here though were from our casual group bonding times. There were a couple of excellent games of Mafia, and one night where we had an ultimate showdown in Bump. Camp Restore was our home base throughout the week, where we went "home" every night.

2) St. Peter Claver

This is the Catholic Church in the 7th Ward (again, I think) that we went to for Mass on Sunday. It was cool to see how Mass is still Mass and yet is still different by region. There was much more of what I would call "Southern Baptist"-style preaching during the homily, and their choir was robed and super super legit. Plus, the church was gorgeous and all the people were incredibly friendly. It was an amazing way to start off our trip.

3) The Cathedral

Sunday afternoon we went down to the French Quarter and got let loose for a couple of hours. I ended up wandering around with Therese, one of our permanent community members who came to celebrate her 50th birthday by giving of herself to New Orleans, and Mary, an undergrad also in my department. We walked around the French Market, and then meandered the streets, winding up towards the end in the Cathedral Square. One of my favorite memories was just praying inside the cathedral, which is a tourist site as well as a legitimate church. It was really cool, just spending a little time with Jesus while I could tell there were people walking around in the church, and I could hear the crowd and jazz music from outside, and still it was like there was just the two of us in the midst of all the noise and excitement of life.

4) The House for Novices

Technically this is named after a saint, but I don't remember which one. What I do know is that it was a large, old house that was originally a home for girls, and turned into a day care and is not really rather run down. However, what I remember most about it is what it is going to be, a home for novices for the Sisters of the Holy Family. We worked here for a day and a half, doing various work, but mainly working on the floors, ripping out small-ish areas of linoleum, carpet, tile and almost everywhere the tar that stuck the tile to the floor. It was hard work, slow and tedious, but it was good to be able to give, to make an investment in the future. Plus, there was a lot of working together, talking and bonding.

5) Dillard University

Monday night, after our first day at the House for Novices, we went to the alma mater of one of the Keila Whittington, one of the associate women's basketball coaches at UO and the main coordinator of the New Orleans aspect of our trip. At Dillard, some of the students told us what it was like for them during Hurricane Katrina. In all honesty, I wasn't particularly looking forward to this when we went; I was tired and just not really feeling like sitting through what felt like yet another presentation about what happened during the hurricane. However, this was one of the talks that definitely changed my perspective about the entire event. When the students talked about what happened to them and their campus-their home, I could imagine it as my home. Some of the things they said reminded me of UO, and I could put myself in their shoes, could see it happening to me-even though, as other people on the trip pointed out, the likelihood of a disaster like that in Eugene is almost nil-I just understood the sense of home that they were talking about.

6) The Overgrown Lot with the Gate

Thursday and Friday we spend working in the Lower 9th Ninth Ward, the area that was worst hit by the flooding when the levees broke. Some parts of this neighborhood were 20 feet under water, it was a complete disaster. When you see videos of people being helicoptered out of the flood area, it was in this neighborhood. Even now, it's hard to reconcile the fact that it's been five whole years since Katrina. What used to be a vibrant community is a ghost town, with one or two occupied houses per block, and many many lots that have nothing on them, save maybe foundations and steps. The one lot that really got to me though was the lot that we pulled up to when we first arrived, right next to the Lower 9th Ward Community Center. It was completely overgrown, except for a rusted gate and a foundation and steps. When I looked at it, I could feel that this was not just a house, it was someone's home. Someone came back to no home. Their life had literally floated away. This just struck me to my core, the idea of someone coming back, and holding onto that gate as they stare at what used to be their home, sobbing. It is a feeling that will stick with me from now on, I know.

On a redeeming note, the last thing we did on Friday was to clear this lot, mowing it down and trimming it up. I swept off the top step, even though I know it didn't do much practical good, and by the time someone sees it it will be dusty and dirty again. Still, I think in a spiritual sense it mattered. It was my way of saying "welcome home, here is a place to come home to, here is a place to start again".

7) Frenchmen St.

The last place I have to include on this list is Frenchmen Street. It is located downtown in/near the French Quarter and it was the most legit New Orleans place we went. The bars there are open to 18 and over, and card at the bar for drinks, so only people who are 21 can get alcohol. But, we got to hear some incredible live music, and hanging out, getting food, talking and listening to the bands felt so chill, so adult. It was a blast, and definitely one of my other favorite favorite memories of the week.