Christmas - break?
December 13th I finished the last of my final projects. I worked hard for three weeks on the two that I had. For Pentateuch I wrote a dialogue between Hagar and Sarah about God's inclusion of foreigners. It was for a creative project, and was one suggested. But the dialogue did give it a funky feel. Combining creative and academic writing is harder than I thought! I think next time I will stick to one or the other! Then for Theology and Pop Culture, I wrote a bible study using Grey's Anatomy. It was suppose to be 12-16 pages. However, the last two days of class we shared a little bit of what were doing, and after hearing other projects, and seeing a music video one student did to the Killers, "Are We Dancers", I felt the bar was raised a notch farther than I was aiming. So, the paper ended up being 22 pages. I felt it took that long to get out everything in quality, and had a hard time shortening it (and just hope I don't get docked for the length!) For some reason (perhaps the added "creative" element to both projects) it took me a really long time to finish my finals. Even if they were a bit more enjoyable to write than others.
Then I started Christmas break. Three weeks off to relax and catch up on all the errands I had put aside during the last month of the quarter. Or at least that was my plan. Classes start up again in less than a week, and I still am wondering where all the time on my break went!! My roommate and I hosted two parties during my last weekend working on finals. Bad idea. I was convinced I would be done by then, and we wanted to do them back to back to get them out of the way. Luckily, I have got great friends who cleaned my house, decorated and cooked for me so that I could study (seriously, how great is that?!) I also had two friends in from out of town that I got to visit with. My friend Heather married the man of her dreams in June. Unfortunately, he lives in England, and now so does Heather. She was here for a week (partly during the finals). We spend many late nights up talking and laughing and did our marathon Marshalls shopping day that we are known for. It was painful to say 'goodbye' but I was able to tentatively plan a trip to visit her in August.
I also squeezed in two trips during my break. One to Monterey, California to visit a friend in the military. It was my first trip to that part of California, and I would be lying if I didn't say I fell a little bit in love with the area. That was actually the first three days of my break. It was a really great. I slept in late, and took some strolls along the beach listening to the sea lions, took a mini spa day, and did some Christmas shopping along Cannery Row and a great antique shop I found near there. Then I came home to work over Christmas. Christmas is never dull in the hospital. I think its because if you come in during that time, you are really sick. And that was my experience this year. Strokes, trachs, tubes, lines... lots to keep me busy. I spent a few days sick myself, and nursing myself back to heath, and by the time I did, I was off to Seattle to spend my Christmas with mom (Christmas Eve and Day I actually worked 13 hour shifts, so my christmas celebration was actually December 27th). It was a great trip as always with family. We got my stepdad a guitar and all the stuff to go with it so he could learn to play. I think that was one of the best parts of Christmas this year - watching how excited he was as he glued himself in front of the instructional DVD and trying to find the fingering on the frets.
And now I am home, and finally getting to my errands. Christmas cards are finally going out. (I guess better late then never?) My place will hopefully get organized and my books stashed away. And then the quarter starts itself all over again!