Just your shadow...

Call me crazy, but I miss this kid a whole heck of a lot. It is sort of strange to miss someone who isn't around for the huge majority of my life...I managed to go two years without seeing him (though we still keep in touch fairly well), spend 4 hours with him, and now miss him more than I did before (which was already a significant amount). I don't feel like I need to venture any guesses as to what this all means (though I am Captain Overanalysis), but it's just sort of weird...It's sort of like how you don't realize you're hungry until you notice that it's 2 hours until Second Breakfast, and then your stomach begins to churn.

On another note, people on campus don't recognize me. Dave, Doug, and others have all done double- and triple-takes today as I've walked around. I don't know if it's because my hair is so blonde, my skin is so tan, or because I lost some weight in Israel...perhaps it's the combination. At any rate, it's sort of funny to edge towards anonymity when I just finished out the school year knowing virtually everyone.

I was doing some offhand research today to find out prices for A) Philly in November and B) New Orleans in February/March. And, Mom asked me to bring my availability home for the year because they're planning an Alaskan cruise for the family! Hopefully I can still do Valentour, and possibly Israel, even with this other stuff. Anyway, I discovered that I can fly to Philly rather cheaply on Southwest, should I choose to do so...But, Tom and I were talking today, and we're going to possibly drive there together, which would then cut down costs...plus, it's only about 6 hours to get there, and a road trip with Tom Moore would be fantastic!!!! As for New Orleans, I found a plane ticket for only $142 round trip on Delta, leaving from Cincy. Now, Cincy is 4 hours from Pittsburgh, so it might seem like an inconvenience...however, I know plenty of people down there (it's only 35 minutes from Oxford and my undergrad, after all), so I could easily visit with people and have free housing while there!!! So, my current plan (pending the approval of everyone else involved, of course) is to drive down to Cincy on Mon. Feb. 27, hang out that day and the next, catch my flight to New Orleans on Wed. Mar. 1, and spend a few days there (tenatively, I'd fly back on Sun. Mar. 5). Then, if I didn't get to see everyone I wanted to in Cincy, I could do so at that time (since I'd still have another week of Spring Break). Plus, I could also go to Indy and visit Roommate and go to James' wedding!!! Brilliant! I'm also going to check prices out of Chicago to New Orleans since I can always go see J, Mat and Rach, and that would be fantastic.

I love to travel...it's so wonderful.

I got an email from Dr. Gagnon today. He's going to finish writing comments on my paper and have it in my mailbox tomorrow! Hurray! He also wants to meet up to talk about my trip and all, so that should be fun. Also, I saw Dr. Jackson today, and after offering me warm greetings, he asked if we could meet over lunch to talk "business." And, according to Tim, Dr. Sunquist has been circulating my emails to people who are interested...which explains why Tim knew about our finding a duck and a mask on the trip.

My cable box is messed up. I called Comcast and they're sending someone out on Friday morning, which means I have to have the back of my t.v. and my box accessible for the dude. Not a big deal, except that I have to move all of my biggest books out of the way (Lexicon, Concordance, Dictionary of Paul & His Letters, etc.). Oh well. They can just crowd the rest of my living room, along with my suitcases and clothes and papers. This world would be a better place without so much stinking paperwork!!!

I went up to the park again today, but opted to run around the reservoir instead of going down the trails. I went around twice, plus walked to and from the park, all adding up to about 3.1 miles. The weather was much better today--still hot, but not quite as sticky. I'm enjoying this park routine--I think it will stick until the weather gets colder and I have to start going back to the weight room again...But it's always fun in there anyhow--I can always count on laughing with Debbie about something, and waving to Josh sometime in the middle of lifting weights.

On that note, both Josh and Kate get into town tonight. Though I just spent 5 weeks with Kate, I hope to see her and say goodbye before she runs off to India...and I hope to see Josh because I haven't talked to him at all in the past 2 months and he is one of my really good friends.

Well, I'm off to go help Brian with some insurance thing for his new job. Brilliant. I love my life. :0)