One-Up the Excitement

I haven't actually typed this out anywhere yet, probably because it's still a little scary, but we'll see how this goes.

Last Saturday was the day to head home. I'd originally wanted to leave after classes on Friday, but Mom talked me into waiting until Saturday morning, so that more of the drive would be during the daylight. So, woke up at five and finished packing, made it onto the Interstate by 7 a.m. And most of the drive was good. Clear skies, dry road, sun shining through all of Wyoming and most of South Dakota. Bitterly cold and windy anytime I stopped for gas, but as long as I was tucked in the car, it was good.

I'd been warned about a big snowstorm that had been circling, hurricane-like, over my hometown and about a hundred miles in either direction from there. After going through Mitchell, there were a few more drifts on the road, but no real cause for concern. Sioux Falls lacked the whiteout-conditions I'd been hearing about, Mankato was all right...Austin was where we hit some problems.

Which might be putting it mildly. Between Austin and Dexter, there was a point when I had to actually apply my brakes so that I wouldn't collide with another vehicle that had started to fishtail, and it put me into a spin that went across the road and through a mile marker. This led to rolling the car twice.

It came to a stop on the driver's side, and aside from some objects in the vehicle whacking into me during the car-blender session, I was unhurt. I called 911, the trucker who stopped to check on me called 911, and my Mom called 911 after I called her. I was in the back of the police car for most of this calling-around, and got to watch the towing guy attach the cables and pull the car back into its proper and upright position.

We found the mile-marker about twenty feet away from my car. Er, the top part of it. The snow was about thigh-deep there, so no one was interested in anything but getting back up to the road.

The car was towed back to Austin (I'm still kind of excited about getting to ride in the tow truck. I think getting to ride in 'the big truck' brings out some little-kid part of everyone), and my Dad and sister took the van - slowly - to get there. Despite how much personality our minivan has developed over the years, it at least can get through snow that our other vehicles probably wouldn't be able to handle.

The airbags never deployed, because very little of the damage had been to the front. The left headlight assembly had been ripped out (possibly the handiwork of the signpost and beginning of the roll combined), the windshield was shattered, both mirrors were punched up, and the driver's door had taken a lot of the weight and had been bent so that it couldn't be opened at all. The roof was the particularly interesting piece - one good-sized hole had been punched in it, there was what looked like a smaller stress tear by the passenger side, and the entire piece was inverted. My sister has pictures, not sure that posting them would be the best idea, though.

But, aside from a bruise or two sustained from flying objects, I'm unhurt. Most of my stuff made it okay, too. Every time I think of it, I'm just overwhelmingly thankful that things weren't as bad as they could have been.

Well, that was exciting.

Friday night, the big excitement for the roommate and me was the concert the next evening, preceded by a big morning rehearsal. Or so we thought. She headed out a little after eleven to track down a boyfriend of hers, and I was already on the phone with Tony.

Somehow in the middle of that conversation, I found myself in some pretty severe abdominal pain. I ended up calling one of my friends (my buddy Ross is perhaps the only one who would still be awake the night before a morning rehearsal), and he drove me to the Emergency Room. Definitely not the way I'd been planning for the night to go - nor for him, but he was a great sport about it. I think brownies may be in order on the line of a major thank-you to him - he also called my Dad and Tony to let them know what had happened.

So, while it's rather impossible for me to be pregnant (Ross was helpfully suggesting that God was taking his cue for the season and picking another virgin for immaculate conception), I apparently should go on some form of the pill now, to reduce the chance of this happening again. I wasn't thinking that this would be something to worry about for another few years, so, if any of the girls have any advice or anything I should probably know beforehand, it'd be appreciated.

It's been quite the semester! Apparently my body's taken 'moving away from home' as a cue to test various things that could possibly go wrong. I don't dare say 'all' the things that could go wrong, because I'm sure there are far more entertaining possibilities that I've yet to experience. Mom's still pulling for me to move back to Minnesota, so, we'll see what happens. At least that way I'd get extra fussing over me when I come out of the hospital. :)

Thanksgiving was a wonderful time with those I love. Mom and I did some shopping, Dad and I worked on some projects, and the sisters and I crossed paths enough times for some conversation. :)

Seeing Tony again was also a source of joy, and it was a delight to spend some time with his family on two of the evenings. Friday evening, we came back to Willow Hill after spending some movie time with my dear friend Rahni ("Howl's Moving Castle" is a slightly odd movie to begin with, and Tony came in the middle of it - I think he was a little confused by the end), and Thanksgiving Day had time for pie before heading over to Chuck's.

In general, I love being in Sheridan. Living on campus is a lot easier than living at home (more expensive, but so much easier), my classes are a blast (and there are much more options for ASL here than at RCTC - a valid concern for me), I have good friends, and I'm surrounded by miles upon miles of lovely mountains and challenging hiking territory. But, being away from everyone is pretty tough.

Fortunately, this excursion happens to be much shorter than the last. I'll be home in three weeks, and then there are four weeks of mayhem to cause before Rochester bids me farewell again!

Kids of the Word takes a break from this week until January 13th, so I'll be missing one group of preschoolers for the next few months. The other group's about as random and wacky as usual - I love my job. :)

I've been informed that the way to go about a job is to find something that you would do without the paycheck, and then find a way to get paid for it. If the greatest focus of your job is getting paid, you're really not going to be all about what you're doing. This usually means that you're miserable, and the people you're serving aren't too happy, either.

I think there are a few jobs where you can manage not to be in direct contact with any people. Forest Ranger comes to mind. I don't think that's one you pick unless you really love the woods, though, so the logic probably doesn't apply.

The weather's been making up its mind about whether it's winter here or not - at the moment, it is simply rather chilly with an inch of snow frosting everything. One of my other Rochester friends is going to school in Washington, and both of us are hoping for a good snowfall when we're back in town over Thanksgiving. :) But, no matter the weather, it will be good to see familiar faces again.

The Difference An Elevation Makes

Sheridan is on almost exactly the same line of latitude as Rochester. Most of the time, we have pretty much the same weather, same temperatures, just about half the humidity in the mountains as on the plains.

Today, my Dad and a work-buddy are building a fence in our backyard in 70-degree weather. I'm happily inside cleaning my dorm room and writing papers, because it's been snowing since very early Friday morning.

It's very wet, beautifully packable snow, too. Actually, I think it stopped coming down sometime this afternoon. Somehow, in my crazy packing job, I remembered my coat and a couple of fleece sweaters, but didn't bring a single hat, scarf, glove, or snow scraper. Fortunately, I had a Frisbee in my trunk, which worked surprisingly well for taking the five or six inches of heavy snow off my car.

Walking back to my house after church (Davis is technically a house, not a hall), I received an invitation to join one person in making a snowman, and another to go sledding. There would probably be more - nearly everyone still here wants to be outside and playing - but we have Monday and Tuesday off for fall break, so nearly everyone has gone home. There are probably twenty students left on campus - we're the ones from far-off places like Nebraska, Minnesota, Germany, Hawaii, and China.

Saskatchewan isn't considered too far to drive, either. :)

We're supposed to be back and happy in the forties by Tuesday, so we'll see how much of this pretty whiteness is left by the time we're back in class.

Music? No, me sick.

Wow, how did a whole week go by without a new post?

Well, the last four days of it, I've been pretty sick, so maybe that counts as an excuse. The other nursing student in my psych class gave me a medical diagnosis of, "The creeping crud." Devin, in our small choral ensemble, picked up the flu last week and helpfully handed out a copy to almost everyone in the choir (supposedly, anyway - not too many people have been missing rehearsals). I'm working with the preschoolers at the Sheridan YMCA now, so it's likely that I picked something up from them. And my mom's online declaration is, "invasive foreign Powder Bowl germs."

But, for having been sick for four days, most of it wasn't too bad. Thursday was positively wretched, and if my symptoms hadn't improved, I was probably going to make a run to the ER. After that, though, I was just feeling kind of under-the-weather and gradually improving. Didn't hurt that I spent about five hours of Saturday watching Scrubs. :)

Now, hopefully I'll be hale and hearty for class tomorrow!

Ultimate!

Well, that's it. Obviously, I'll have to retool my schedule.

I learned today that most of the college group from Cornerstone (and a number of the next generation, too) play Ultimate Frisbee on Sunday afternoons, in one of the pretty areas I'd been biking around. This weekend, I had too much homework to justify joining them, but hopefully there'll be an occasion before it gets snowy, when I'm free on a Sunday afternoon.

Today was another day for shorts and sandals, so maybe the frost will hold off for a few weeks longer than predicted.

And in the ongoing-additions-to-Davis-Hall, we got the blinds in our room last week (no more sheet taped up over the windows), internet's working (although my PC doesn't yet want to find it - doing homework on the laptop right now), and as of tomorrow I'll be able to do laundry!

Get Lost!

I am so, so grateful to Tony for fixing up the bike for me. Exploring a town is much more fun this way. Admittedly, from time to time I'll take a random trail or back alley, and by the time I come out again, I haven't the foggiest notion where I've ended up. But, usually before I go too much further, I'll see another street sign or landmark I recognize.

I-90 counts as a landmark - you can't possibly cross under it without knowing that you've done so, and since it pretty much runs through the college's backyard, I can usually find my way home without too much difficulty.

Thursday night was a little dicey - I went off without any particular destination in mind, though I'd heard that there was a Little Caesar's somewhere in town, and thought that that might be a good thing to locate (mmmm...cheesy bread). The individual in question had mentioned that it was on the other end from the college, so, when I took a very convoluted path involving two different bike trails (one that abruptly stopped in the middle of a...park?), three back alleys, several pretty little neighborhoods, and a few scattered sections that my old road bike would not have handled...I was surprised to find myself facing a Little Caesar's truck. Turns out it's inside one of the big chain stores in town, but at least it's located.

I realized about two minutes later that my class that evening was at six, not seven. I usually eat dinner around six (the cafeteria opens at 5:15), as it's not nearly as crowded then - so, I really didn't have so much time to work with. And since I'd taken such an interesting path out here, I wasn't at all certain of how to find my way back.

Fortunately, everything worked out all right. I spotted a random statue (there are statues on every corner of Main St.), and from there found the college, and simply had to book it on the way back. It was a good time, though. I'm hoping that this warm stretch (it's been in the fifties lately) holds - every time I go out, I see new things I want to explore.

Not Winter Yet!

Today was warm enough for short sleeves and sandals! Perhaps not shorts, but nonetheless, delighted to have it!

Definitely would have been a day for biking, but, I still have to figure out which gas station in town will let me have air for my tires. Yep, the bike pump is also on the list of items I forgot back in MN!

Apparently, it's been a day for napping, too. Ashley and I both took a nap before our noon rehearsal, and we were still tired afterwards. I tried finishing the reading assignment for tomorrow evening's class, and just about fell asleep on the floor with it. Maybe I'll try going to bed early tonight, and see if I can get a fresh start on tomorrow.

Cats DO Dance

I am delighted to have Ashley as my roommate. Yes, she's kind and pretty and a little bit of a goofball, she's a former saxophone and we're both in the same choral ensemble...but she also has a love for musicals.

Last night, she'd asked what Tony looks like, and the first picture my computer found with his name on it...he happened to be in a certain costume. This put her in the mood to watch Cats, so, of course, we did. This just had to be followed by Phantom of the Opera - this involved both of us singing along to it. This needed to be followed by Cats Don't Dance, as it's one of her favorites and I'd never seen it in entirety - but shortly after it started, two friendly people showed up and we all went to the back-to-school dance.

Both of us agreed, upon our return, that the time was much better spent singing to musicals than at the dance.

Random Sheridan Stuff

We had kind of a barbecue/concert tonight, celebration of the first day back to classes and all that. The lead singer for the band had a chat with the new students, and announced, "If you're new to Sheridan, you will probably notice within a few days - this is a town with more banks than fast food places."

Take what you will from that.

Snow fell to 5000 feet last night, almost reaching 4000, some people said. We're at about 3700 feet, so winter might get here before fall officially starts. We'll have to see. :)

Waiting in line for food, I was chatting with a guy who turns out to live about forty miles away from my hometown. He's not a student - rather, it seems that Sheridan was ranked as the #3 place to live if you're an outdoorsman, and that was all the motivation he needed to move out here. I learned about a few cool places to go hiking, but he recommended investigating them soon, otherwise I'll have to go snowshoeing instead. :)

I have precisely zero experience snowshoeing. This seems like the sort of thing best tackled with a friend along - if only for the entertainment possibilities.

The same guy mentioned that I apparently moved to the only town in Wyoming that has whitetail. Pronghorn (pronghorns? What's the proper plural on these?) are everywhere here, moose and elk show up around the next little town, and once you get up into the mountains, there are mule deer. For some reason, the whitetails like this valley, and not much else.

Really, it's quite pretty here. I can hardly blame them.

Didn't Make it Across the Universe

I woke up this morning a little after six, as that's when construction started outside my window. Three or four more buildings were added as housing options this semester, and they were just about finished in time for students to move in - but there's still a lot of work going on outside. Pre-class day off not going according to plan on this count. Ah well.

My roommate is obviously a wonderful, intelligent person - we discovered today that we share a love of musicals. While yesterday was hot and sunny with a bustling air of productivity among the halls, today is rather cold and drizzly, and everyone wants to stay in their rooms, wrapped up under a blanket, watching tv. Hence, "Across the Universe."

This was halted by the nice construction man coming by and nicely offering to make quite a bit of noise. We're able to lock the main door to the girl's floor of Davis Hall, but up to this point, none of us were able to lock our rooms. Tradeoff - I didn't get to see the end of the movie. Perhaps there'll be time later.

I took a walk in the rain today, between prepping for classes and such. I must find an option for sharing photos with you, because there were some very pretty sights to share.