You know you and your boyfriend are complete music nerds when he spends the night, you two wake up early in the morning, go to the music building, practice separately in the two concert halls (cause no one's using them and why not take advantage of the amazing sound and reverb?), and then play through Bluecoats chorales together.

OH YEAH. WE'RE THAT AWESOME.

That's YOU, President Obama!

Sugar Bowl!

At Millersville University, there's this restaurant called The Sugar Bowl. It's basically like a little shop that sells amazing-smelling greasy food: pizza, Stromboli, mozzarella sticks, hot sandwiches, waffle fries...you get the idea.

The Honors College here does a fundraiser/community service event where students from the Honors College volunteer for 2 hour shifts, get a driver, pile into a car, and act as the "delivery boy" for The Sugar Bowl all over campus.

Last night, Megan, Paul, Andrew, and I all piled into Norma's car and took the 12-2AM shift. And as if that weren't fun enough, we all coordinated and wore "ugly sweaters", and Megan, Norma and I all wore our awesome boots. We looked freakin' fantastic (or weird...however you choose to look at it, haha).

Delivering food turned out to be really fun. Driving around in a car packed with friends, playing loud music, yelling directions at a driver who doesn't know her left from her right, and then running up to dorm buildings/off-campus houses and delivering the food. We encountered quite a few interesting people...which is kind of like DER, cause who else would order a whole bunch of food on a Saturday night after midnight? There were these two drunk guys who offered us a handful of popcorn instead of a tip, and then the one guy who signed the receipt to authorize his credit card crumpled up the signed part and tried to throw it away. There was a house that REEKED of pot...ugh. We delivered to some people we know in Diehm and one of them was high as anything and the other was drunk...those two paid in quarters. Another house where you could smell the beer even before you opened the door...yeah, just a lot of drunk people. But hey! Because they were drunk they didn't wanna think about making change so we got a bunch of tips cause they just would hand us a twenty and say keep the change.

Good times. :)

Norma and Megan!

Me and Paul!

Our group! From left to right: Paul, Andrew, me, Norma, and Megan.

Boots! Left to right it's Norma, me, then Megan.



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Psalm 118:17

I started attending S. Mennonite Church when I was in 3rd grade. When grades 6-8 were combined as the middle school group, I met a girl named Emilee, a year older than me. Her mom, Wendy, has been my spiritual mentor for years and I've spent a couple nights at their house, bonding with the family and staying up late watching "The Devil Wears Prada" with Emilee. On retreats, Emilee and I were roommates and in church we sang duets together. We weren't best friends, but we did get very close.

Emilee has been struggling with lung cancer for the past couple of months. It's been a roller coaster...one day getting a report that she's improving, another finding out more devastating news. Last night, her family visited her at the hospital and said their goodbyes...she's not expected to live much longer.

This is the latest update from her dad, written around 9 this morning:

"For weeks now, Emilee has been saying that her goal was to be back at home by November. It's November 1 (All Saints Day) and Emilee is slowly making her way "home." Her dear, little heart is working extra hard to stay alive but she is now receiving 75% of her oxygen from the BiPap machine.

I don't think any of us will ever know just how much Emilee has wanted to live. Last night with my (Jim) family and Wendy's sister gathered around her bed (while others prayed next door) she told us to make a circle. We did and then she pointed at three scriptures mounted on the walls (Psalm 118:17 "I didn't die, I lived! And now I'm telling the world what God did," Mark10:27 "With man this is impossible. But not with God. With God ALL things are possiible," and Ps. 118:13 "I was right on the cliff edge, ready to fall, when God grabbed and held me.")

She took the verses and placed them on her body and asked us to pray them back to the Lord. We did. My sister, Jen, said that she thought it was Emilee's way of saying, "God, I'm going to ask you once more to heal me and to make me whole." We also sang worship songs to encourage her faith and our faith.

Emilee reminds me of Jacob who wrestled an angel and who wouldn't let go until he got a blessing. She hasn't received the blessing that she had asked for but today she anticipates the blessing of an eternity spent with her Lord.

There are no words to say just how much it hurts to watch her slowly fading away and becoming less responsive by the hour. We're glad to see her struggle with this horrible cancer coming to an end and we're grateful for the hope that Christ has given her to pass from this life into the presence of God. The void that she will leave behind in our lives will always be with us. We are humbled that we have had the privilege of knowing and loving her during her almost 20 years on earth."

Please pray for her family...

Quote of the night: "Mitt Romney just doesn't know a thing...he could be a woman and he wouldn't even know."

Bluecoats Ohio Audition Camp

Today I paid the online fee for the Bluecoats Ohio Audition Camp at the end of November.

I texted my parents with the exciting (partially exciting because it's Bluecoats, and partially exciting because I paid for it with my own money which I earned---I'm very proud of that) news, and my mom asked if it felt "real" now. My answer was no...it's felt real ever since I downloaded the audition packet over a month ago. The anxiousness and nervousness and eagerness and enthusiasm is what keeps building up every day.

I don't think I've ever wanted anything this badly before in my life. I don't think I've ever worked this hard for anything before in my life.

I am determined to make it.

I am also struggling with self-doubt, fear...worrying that I won't be enough.

But every morning I keep waking up and practicing at 7:00AM, and every day I make something just a LITTLE bit better.

I have six weeks to be good enough to get a call-back. And then I have about a month until my second audition, when I find out if I've made it.

I can't wait. :)

RIDICULOUS AND FULL OF POOP

I was stumbling the other day, and this article (http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/ALlulr/www.menshealth.com/mhlists/best_sex_tips/printer.php) came up under my "relationship" category.

IT IS RIDICULOUS AND FULL OF POOP.

First of all, sex tips on the internet are insane. Have a good relationship and actually communicate with your partner.

Second of all, these are STUPID!

Their idea of a perfect compliment: "The best compliments are the ones that involve multiple senses. "You have beautiful breasts" is nice. "You have beautiful breasts—they feel so soft and warm in my hands" is that much more intimate."

AWKWARD! No one wants to hear that!

"Shop for cologne she likes"...and what if I don't like cologne?

Start sex in a new place: "The kitchen. The bathroom. Quebec City." Quebec City????

Have sex in a forest: "New Place to Have Sex III: a national park. If the missus likes to vocalize, pitch your tent in Alaska's Denali National Park, where 6 million untamed acres and a crowd-thinning permit system leave little risk of waking the neighbors. She'll gasp in delight when the midnight sun bathes the Big One (that's Mt. McKinley, buddy) in salmon pink light." There are SOOOO many things wrong with this! Alaksa's Denali National Park? Yeah OKAY. My girl's loud so let's buy plane tickets to go tenting in Alaska. Gasp in delight when the midnight sun bathes blah blah blah...if this were an English paper I was grading, I would write AWK AWK! next to that sentence.

And who the heck decided a sex position should be called Yab-Yum???