New Years

So, it's new years eve. After a 10 hour drive (complete with an inexplicable...illness), it's a miracle that it is 9:40 pm and I'm still awake. I've stayed awake long enough. Be ready tomorrow for a list of all the awesome faithwalkers events!

Two days of doing nothing and I still didn't update this thing!

Hello.

In approximately 7 hours me and three other women are heading to Missouri. Missouri! I'm so excited. And so tired.

This morning I set my alarm for 6:30 - not because I had anything to do...it just seemed like 6:30 would be a good time to make myself get up. So now it's 10 and it feels like I have bricks attached to my eyelids.

I got an ELO cd tonight with a gift card...I didn't know what to get, but when I saw a 20 track ELO greatest hits album for 9.99 I knew that it would be the best decision to make.

While I was in the itunes music store, I saw something in my recommendations area that struck me as odd. It said:

"You bought Abba. We recommend: Jennifer Love Hewitt"

Huhh.


The other week I was at Target and I walked by this mom pushing her cart with son. Her son said to her "Mom, are you a woman?" She seemed unphased, but a little annoyed. She replied: "you just asked me that, what did I say?" He replied "no?"

A few minutes later I saw this man pushing a cart and toddler son. The toddler was making grabby noises at something within his reach. The man bent down and said informatively to his son: "that's a millenium falcon"

I laughed out loud after both instances. Especially the latter.


Going to bed.

Merry Christmas! Holly Jolly!

Pictures!

Things I don't need anymore

my backpack

my TI-83 (still has the strawberry shortcake sticker on it from 9th grade)

my bus pass

my student id

my ipod (just kidding...?)

pencils

MB

Ananth gave us a really hard final today. It threw me for a loop and, economics nerd that I am, I cannot deny that I really had fun with the challenge!! Econ 4721 is going down in history as one of my favorite economics classes at the U - right up there with 1004!! No one saw that one coming!



I also can't even believe how much macaroni I just ate.

Amazing

It's amazing how much I don't like studying.

Last night I wanted to eat some homemade macaroni so I boiled water as soon as I got home and I sat down and said to myself "okay, get through your homework assignments and flash cards as fast as you can, and as soon as you're done you can pour the noodles in the hot water" So I speed-studied and then I watched The Ring 2 and ate the most delicious macaroni and cheese ever. (Thanks Nicole for teaching me how to make it! Who knew Velveeta had such a delicious purpose?)

And right now I'm in class an hour before the final. Here I am. Sitting in Blegen 145 at 12:30. I'm the only one here. Sitting. With my laptop, my ipod and my nalgene...and my calculator and a pen. Legs crossed, in my work clothes. There's my backpack right next to me. Making a blog.



Oh. One thing. My new car. That rig is too big for me. Backing out of spots requires much more reverse-drive-reverse-drive action. And the windshield - holy cow. Who knew windshields came that big? I feel like a giant. Or like I'm normal sized but driving this humongous rig. Or robotic driving vehicle.


I'm so excited for my new job, y'all! But even more, I'm really looking forward to Faithwalkers! And that roadtrip with the girls in my giant rig.

I think I'm going to name my car "Rig" or "Malbs." Or perhaps, "Malbs, Christine's giant rig." What do you think?



Ben and Sarah and Lee and other FTAers reading this - how do you feel about a small group blog? we could call it fta.blogspot.com or something that fta has stood for.blogspot.com. Everyone on the blog could post whatever they want? Okay, I may have swiped this idea from Jodi, but why not, right?


The lights just went off!



Oh, I forgot to post about this I think, but earlier this week I accidentally threw my paycheck away, so I had to dumpster dive. That's right, if you were hanging out in the Lauderdale Hollows parking lot and saw two legs shooting diagonally out from the dumpster, that was me - diving headfirst into piles of trash. It was pretty humiliating. The strange part though was that I was actually pretty okay at it. One of those hidden talents that you never really realize you have until you're put in a position where you'd have to use it. The maintenance guy (the one who wants very badly for me to go to graduate school) came out and helped me out with his big old trash pole. We didn't find it, but he told me to call my work and then take a shower. Advice well taken.

I'm going to do some of that Money and Banking studying now.


Much love,
Christine

I guess I forgot to blog about this, couldn't tell ya why.

My cost-benefit analysis teacher went to China for a conference two months ago. They wouldn't let him come back because of something on his Visa. So he's still in China. And so, we've had a replacement teacher who says things like "Unless you really screw up I'll give you an A. I don't care, it's not my class"


Poor Fanchang stuck in China.



What if I went to Texas in January? Why not, right? I have a car.

My weekend

So it started when ACNielsen called me and told me some very nice news on Friday...

Then Saturday I bought a 2005 Chevy Malibu Classic (quite a contrast to old Red who, by the way, breathed his last breath on the way to the car dealership...what a way to go). The car dealer said to me as it was being towed into the lot that he wants to set it up in front of the dealership with a hummer driving over it. That would be so incredible!

Then yesterday I graduated. Jess and I escaped the massive crowd of graduates to go to the bathroom and drop off her jacket, and in that process got shuffled to the front of the line...where we quickly realized we were going to be the very first people to walk into the auditorium. Front row seats, accidentally!

You just never know

So tonight I was driving to Caribou after work. I got off at Excelsior and pulled over because my heat guage was...showing that my car was very very hot. So I pulled over and there just so happened to be a movie theatre right there...so I went to see a movie while my car cooled down enough to add coolant. I wanted to see Walk the Line, but I also wanted to just not think. So I saw Yours, Mine, & Ours.

Okay, let's get down to brass tacks. I was the only person in the movie theatre. The only person. I laughed, I cried - I feared nothing. Giant empty theatre, me, and a Dennis Quaid family comedy.





The only person in the theatre.

This is truly momentous

I was doing my Money and Banking homework tonight. I got it done pretty quickly, then I printed it out. Then I looked at it and realized that it was the last official homework assignment I'll ever do for the rest of my life.


17 years and it has all came down to this - a 1.5 page paper on monetary policy.


I wouldn't have had it any other way.

Clint Eastwood

Scariet Man Alive

Marriage and boots

So today I was sitting on the bus looking down at my snowboots. My backpack was sitting on the seat next to me, and I was sitting cross-legged and somewhat diagonally. I was thinking about how much room I was taking up and that made me think about marriage. I realized at that moment that being married must be a lot like having a conjoined twin. So on the question of marriage, I say a resounding "no thank you."

Speaking of which, the other day I got some snowboots from a thrift store. Purple and tan, cowboy shaped, 1980s, snowboots. Lee and Karl both saw the identical boots on their mothers 20 years ago. These are the first shoes for snow I've had since I was 10 years old. Take that winter!

It's been awhile

Pictures! If you want to see an enormous version of any of them, just click it. Click it or ticket. (Thanks Rachel for that cd again!!!)

Lee and his parents, you absolutely can't tell them apart:


A montage of Rachel and I in our room at the retreat:


Maren looking at her pregnant picture and Sarah and Rachel wondering what's going on up north:


Rachel and I playing Apples to Apples:


The sad truth:


Maren and I at the Cube when ODYC did their acoustic show:


Shubs and Mare-bear:


Sarah and I with our pigtails:


I don't know where this picture came from...:


conjoined! in the temporary sense


hahahaha:


If Will was in a scary movie, I imagine he'd look not unlike he does in this picture:


Maren as Karl:


Will as Karl:


Karl as Karl:



More great pictures from Halloween:


Greece:


I wasn't here for this ghetto Karl madness, but I certainly heard about it:


Sarah, me, Stephen, Beth, Rachel and Tian after Joy and Chris' wedding:


Me displaying one of my unexpected talents:


Jimbo and Jess playing DDR at Sarah's:


The boys during the lap sitting exercise:


Monetarily true:


Uncle Ronnie and Daddy 50% smiling and 100% watching the game:


My mama, Aunt Linda and bro-i.-l. Darrick on the swing (where else would we gather??):


My aunt Linda and I:


My cousin Tommy and his wife Emily:


Darrick pretending to prepare to carve the turkey:


Melanie taking a picture of my Uncle Ronnie watching football:


My sister, about to punch out my lights: