Crap. This is going to be hard.

After going to my first anatomy class today, I realized that there is only one for for the next six weeks and word is-

GOODBYE. See you in six weeks.

We had a three hour lecture today on the nervous system. I was all there the first hour. I was 80% there the second hour. But by the third hour, it was down to like 40. I felt like I missed every other thing he said. It was impossible to write (OR type!) as fast as this man was talking. And I realized, that I have a LOT of studying to do.

So please understand that I am not dead, I am studying. See you sometime in the middle of August. :)

Suprise! You are going to PA school in three days.

-God

WOW!~ Now, I LOVE suprises but this one was just about too much for me. I think I have called and emailed half the world and Summer is finally back from Belize- its now all good to post the whole story on here.

Last Tuesday afternoon after work, I got a voicemail from the PA program. Just to "call them back," which is probably the most mysterious message they could have left. Unfortunately, it was 5:04pm, so calling back that night proved fruitless. I tried to calm down and not imagine that they were calling to tell me that I got in.

Wednesday morning at 11am, I found out the reason for the call. The school had not been able to contact a girl who had a prerequisite missing, and I was now #1 on the wait list. Although it wasn't an invitation to attend, it still shocked my pants off! I was totally suprised!

By Friday, I hadn't heard anything new and was about to DIE. I finally emailed the head of the program and asked if he knew what the heck was going on. He emailed me back three little words: "Call me now." So after getting ahold of him, the conversation went something like this...

"Hi Dr. McNeill."
"Hi Erin! What are you doing on Monday?"
"Well, I'm supposed to go to work..."
"Want to go to PA school instead?"

Most of you have already heard this story but I don't think I have EVER been more excited in my whole life!!!!!! I am actually going to PA school TOMORROW.

AHHHHHH!

Arkansas

So Ashlie, Evie and I went to Eureka Springs and Kings River over Memorial Day weekend.

We went up to the top of a lookout. The view was great-

But the stairs were a little steep.

Unfortunately, all the canoeing and kakying pictures were on the waterproof, non-digital camera. To be posted once scanned.

Reunions

I have been meaning to put pictures up forever and am just now getting around to it!! Here are the Johnson's with their adorable crew, Elly and Soren.

The big Q came to visit the same week. Boo to Memphis!

Edmond Christian Church Old Skool Reunion 2007, baby.
Rebecca, Holly, Chris, Casey, me, Tara and Summer.

Mina!! I went to visit my Afghan language helper from Fort Worth.

Divorce Settled

Just so everyone knows, my parents divorce was settled last week and they should be signing the papers and whatnot sometime this week. This is going to amazingly lower the amount of stress in our fam. Thanks to everyone who has been so supportive. Please continue your prayers as my mom moves into a new house sometime this summer.

Intertwining Threads...

So I really have been surprised to find that in the last few months, my political apathy has all but disappeared. Maybe part of it is having hours and hours of free time at work every day to research '08 presidential hopefuls, along with all the issues and their views... maybe part of it has been realizing that our current president is perhaps a great fellow but a really, REALLY horrible president. I find that the more things I know about his administration the more scared I am that he still has a year and a half to lead America.... yikes! I have also found that many of the issues that bothered me on so many levels are also important to many Americans, and that if we could just elect a leader who believed in them, too, then we could maybe fix this giant mess.

And I think that perhaps, just PERHAPS, there is someone. There may be an answer for America, instead of military tribunals and illegal extraditions, instead of torture and wiretapping and tax cuts for the wealthy- instead of going to war with the entire Middle East- maybe there is a candidate who has a real relationship with Jesus, who cares for the poor, who cares about immigrants, who cares about the environment, who will evacuate Iraq, who is rational and fairminded and has a knack for bipartianship... perhaps Barack Obama is the answer.

Spanx

While discussing something totally unrelated at work, I found out about spanx. These new hot undergarments are set to silence anxious party-goers minds about unwanted lines and cellulite. Check it out!

Being Settled

I moved the first of six times last July 17th. It was moving all my stuff back to Oklahoma from Texas. I had only been there two weeks when when I moved to Holly’s house in another country for two weeks. Then I moved to my team leader’s house in Afghanistan for two weeks, then I moved to Dr. H’s house for three months. Then I went to Dubai for a week, and moved back to my mom’s in Oklahoma for four months, then finally moved into my apartment 2 months ago.

Part of all this moving was, in the last eleven months, having fourteen different roommates. This was an amazing glimpse into human nature that taught me a considerable amount about flexibility. I think I have become one of the most adaptable persons in the whole world.

No matter how little you bring with you, living in someone else’s house brings with it all kinds of crazy things. There are the wonderful things- like learning how to cook delicious foods from your roommates or getting to live in a house with a fishpond and a swimming pool for free. And then there are the really hard things, like waking up to find out that breakfast is served- and its rice and sardines. Or the strain between being a single person and having a separate life while you are living with a family.

I think the main thing I am thankful for now, is that I don’t believe the Lord will ever give me the *opportunity* to experience all that ever again. As thankful as I am for the insight and maturity it brought, it feels so good to be settled! So good.

Today is June 1st, 2007. And it is six months to day that I left Afghanistan.

Blood Diamond and Hotel Rwanda

Don't read this post if you haven't seen the movies and want to.

Blood Diamond was an amazing movie. More than anything I've seen before, this movie reminded me of what it is like to live in a place where, instead of bling-bling, its "bling-bang," as Leonardo DiCaprio put it so succinctly. Not that Kandahar was anything like Sierra Leone- it was nowhere near that scale of violence and bloodshed. But watching the movie transported me back to a place where human crises are happening on a totally different scale than America. There's a part in the movie where the rebels take over Freetown, shooting, looting, and burning everything. Forcing child soldiers to shoot up drugs after they kill women and other children. And then I remember my day today.

Strangely enough, there was some twisted comfort for me in realizing that Afghanistan is not the worst place on earth to be. There are still places in Africa that are much worse, where things a thousand times more horrible are happening.

And a week after watching Blood Diamond, I watched Hotel Rwanda. Now, if you have avoided Hotel Rwanda thinking it might be a little too intense for you, just watch Blood Diamond first. It will sort of numb you to the atrocity.

And isn't that what many of us are searching for? We don't want to feel guilty after seeing a movie like that, so many of us aren't watching those movies and documentaries. Like me, who refuses to watch Invisible Children and then go buy a twenty dollar pair of shoes. There's just a level of horrific pain that is much easier to pretend does not exist and buy the shoes.

And this is my huge struggle in life right now. After seeing everything I saw last fall, and movies like Hotel Rwanda and Blood Diamond, how do I come back and live in a place like America without being guilty?

And I mean that, exactly. Not without feeling guilty: without being guilty.

That Old Itching Feeling...

Its coming back... that old itching feeling to get out of the United States.

I have been trying and trying to suppress it. But after eight years of leaving the country once a year or more, I am about to go crazy!! "Its May and so it is OBVIOUSLY time to plan a trip somewhere, right???!!?" My mind won't quit asking this question. I am trying to tell her no over and over again but this crazy lady keeps bringing me back to websites like cheapoair.com and lonely planet.

Don't even mention to her that she probably won't be leaving for FOUR years. That would make her really mad.

A Little Wedding Music

I have decided to start a business. After being self-employed for a year and a half (in the eyes of the government, anyway) I realized recently that it would be really easy for me to go back to being self-employed again and start a business on the side as a wedding violinist.

After all, 14 years of private classical instruction shouldn't go to waste and I have played hundreds of concerts and events, including professional violin playing for weddings and funerals.

I will still be a receptionist, though. Receptionist by day, violinist by night. Well, hopefully. Who knows what kind of market there is in the OKC area for wedding musicians? I wonder if there is anyone else on the planet who makes ten dollars an hour at one job and a hundred dollars an hour at their other job?

Snippets on Iran (According to the BBC)

On Anti-Semitism

Although Iran and Israel are bitter enemies, few know that Iran is home to the largest number of Jews anywhere in the Middle East outside Israel. There are approximately 25,000 Iranian Jews whose cultural roots in Iran go back 3,000 years.

On US-Iran Relations

“In Russia, they eat ice cream in the winter because its warmer than the air.” (Iranian Foreign Minister, responding to Condolezza Rice’s niceties in Egypt last week)

On the President

“They held portraits of Mr Ahmadinejad upside down to mock him and then set them on fire.” (BBC reporting on a recent student protest against Iran’s president at Tehran’s largest university)

On Women

“[The moral police] are stopping pedestrians and even cars - warning female drivers not to show any hair - and impounding the vehicles and arresting the women if they argue back.” (BBC reporting on a recent Iranian crackdown on women’s dress)

On Cosmetic Surgery

Since the revolution in 1979, Iran has become one of the world's leading centres for cosmetic surgery with three thousand plastic surgeons operating in Tehran alone. Dr Navab explains that some of his patients are indeed congenitally ugly…

On Public Opinion

"I want the whole world to know that they oppress us and all we can do is put up with it." (15 year old Iranian citizen Tofiq)

*go to BBC Middle East for a more complete look at what’s going on in Iran, as this is skewed :)

Speaking My Mind

I rarely ever like a book enough to promote it on something like a blog. BUT, as Guitar Hero recently received a plug, it seemed like a good time to do the same for a great book. And so for all my friends who are evangelical Christians, check out Speaking My Mind by Tony Campolo. Here are some chapter titles to give you an idea of what the book is about:

-Are Evangelicals Sexist?
-Are Evangelicals Addressing the Gay Issue All Wrong?
-Are Evangelicals Afraid of Science?
-Are Evangelicals Too Militaristic?

Of course, if you aren't an evangelical, you have probably already said yes four times and don't need to read it. This is more of a book for those of us who would like such a thing as an evangelical left to exist in America but have had the microphone hogged by the religious right. We're not all like the televangelists.

Shout out to Maziel for recommending it.

How I Recently Became Addicted To a Video Game and Became a Hero at the Same Time

All of us would like to be heroes. Not all of us would like to be addicted to video games. But regardless of which goal you'd rather achieve, here is a quick 3 step program for GUARANTEED SUCCESS:

1) Go to local electronics store.
2) Purchase Guitar Hero.
3) Play.

If you haven't played it, go find somewhere to do so. This game WILL make you feel like a guitar hero! Everyone I know who has played it is almost instantly addicted. I have never really been into video games. (Other than Sonic the Hedgehodge when I got a Sega in middle school. But that game was not really worth all the time I spent playing it.) Besides the outrageous fun Guitar Hero provides, I also think it actually could help improve people's ability to play regular instruments by using the part of the brain I know I use to play violin. Maybe its a love for music that has turned a video game into my most recent hobby/obbsession. Or maybe there's just something about being a hero.

A New Address

I also moved last week and have a new address. It is:

157 Stonebridge Blvd.
Apt #421
Edmond, OK 73013

A New Job

I got a new job! Its as a receptionist with a health supplement company. This should be much more manageable, time-wise. And I might get more free pomegranite antioxident juice out of the deal. Its forty hours a week, Monday through Friday, 9am-5pm. And all I do is answer telephones! Yay!

I am thinking about looking into getting certified to teach biology for the state. More info on that to come.

I'm a Quitter!

I quit my job. I felt horrible, really. But it wasn't worth it. No amount of money is worth working ten to fourteen hours, three days in a row, even if you have two days off after that, and the management won't change your schedule. Not worth it.

I am thinking about becoming a marine biologist and looking for rare starfish in Africa. (What a stable life I lead...)

How Not to Spend a Monday

Yesterday I was waiting tables during lunch, out on our open air deck. Its gorgeous, especially at sunset, as it has a great view of lake. However, during the middle of the day, its also nice if its not too hot. Yesterday was perfect. A good looking couple around thirty years old sat down with no idea of the awful thing that was about to happen.

I took their order, got them drinks, et cetera et cetera; and then... a man who had been sitting inside the restaurant saw the couple out on the deck. He strided quite purposefully up to their table and started freaking out. He was angry and pointing... and at first managing to keep his comments at a low volume so no one else could hear.

I walked back out to give another table something and by this time, the man was red-faced, and getting louder and louder with his accusations. The woman was now standing up, trying to lower his hands and calm him down. "We're just having lunch! We're just having lunch!" She kept saying. I walked back out to avoid making things more uncomfortable and felt bad for everyone. The other man remained silent and didn't say a single word the whole time. The husband eventually left.

I, unfortunately, couldn't leave, and had to keep waiting on this couple. They stared down and hardly spoke a word to each other after that. It was extremely embarassing for everyone.

I felt like I was watching a weird, real-life version of Cheaters. The entirety of the waitstaff had a lively conversation following this incident regarding what they would do if their spouse cheated on them. I, for one, felt sick to my stomach. What a horrible situation for everyone involved! So messy, so painful, and no way to really even try to fix it. Unless they are lucky.

Then, without knowing what it was about, I happened to watch Lost in Translation last night. Well, its about two married people who meet in Tokyo, and take a bunch of small steps until they end up falling in love and cheating on their spouses. Wow. What a reminder that few people in our society value monogamy anymore.

Its time to watch The Notebook or go to an old folk's bingo night.

Spring Camping

The job has been going well and I've been getting lots of stuff for the apartment. Its kind of fun buying things but its really weird to go from owning practically nothing to owning lots of things. Since I am going to wait and reapply to school, and hopefully get in next year, I'll be in the States for probably five years and it makes sense to get these things now.

But without a roommate who owns things, you have to actually buy them. They seem really unimportant but... well, without an iron, all your clothes are wrinkled. Without towels, you have to air dry. Without glasses, you have to drink from the faucet. The list goes on and on of why all these 'things' really save time and hassle, and we do actually own them for reasons. (Just kidding about the faucet.)

I'm going camping today. The leaves are only tiny once a year and I'm off to enjoy them... enjoy your spring too. From a friend's letter-

"A good year is determined by its spring."

Bahama Breeze

Well, I bypassed all those other professions and decided to work somewhere a degree will not come in handy. Sorry that your votes are obsolete. This time its Caribbean food and drink... I got a job at Bahama Breeze. This week has been crazy busy with orientation. I am not super excited at the prospect of going to bed at 2am four nights a week, but its a profitable job and hopefully I won't be there a long time. As soon as someone else calls and wants to pay me more to do something less physically draining, I'm out. This is NOT normally the way I roll but at the time I applied for this job, I realized it might be awhile before the more serious jobs called and I was bored after not working for three months.

Plus, there are a ton of young, crazy people there. That's fun compared to working in a lab... at least hopefully it will be for awhile.

On a different note, I also got a car and have been buying furniture. I'll have a party after moving in... evites to come.