Success! We have internet access at the apartment now! Unlimited dial-up. I realize that puts us squarely in the middle of the stone age, and nobody except Kip's grandma still has dial-up, but it's way cheaper than cable or DSL here.
So if you try to call here and it's busy, that's probably why. I just spent two hours online for homework, and here's the sick part--I didn't finish it. I hate tying up the phone line like this, but at least 50% of our phone calls are solicitors anyways.
Chris and I drove over to PO for the wedding of a guy we know from camp. His wedding was the oddest imaginable mix of wacky, unexpected charm and oppressive family values. First, I should mention the motif of cartoons. There were posters of Disney films on the walls of the church, the ushers wore Mickey Mouse ties, and Looney Tunes was playing on the projector screen when we walked in. I took it as a sign of John's playful nature. The groom and his attendants wore white tuxes and fedoras. They looked very slick. We were seated at tables, since the wedding and reception were to be held in the same room. With all this lead-in, I was expecting a very lighthearted wedding ceremony. Oh, how wrong I was. The minister delivered a 30 minute sermon. In it he: talked about Jesus's entrance into Jerusalem; reiterated five times the commitment the two were making to remain faithful to each other; reminded us that Eve was made from Adam's rib, and since man was around first, it means he should be the authority of the house and the wife should be submissive to his spiritual guidance; quoted Paul, saying that the man is the head of the household just as Jesus is the head of the church. The minister was about five minutes into the Adam and Eve part when I realized I'd been sitting with my jaw open and a horrified expression on my face. I attempted to correct, but it just kept getting worse. I only hope that John was as surprised to hear his minister's words as we were.
We did spend a fun weekend with Chris's parents, so the weekend was fun even if the wedding wasn't. Also I managed to get bridesmaid dress shopping done, so that was a big accomplishment. On the drive back, there was water over the roadway and a lot of snow both in the air and on the road in the pass. I had to slow down to 20 mph for several miles, and didn't get back up to freeway speeds until about ten miles from Ellensburg. Chris and I had to muddle through getting the snow chains on and off, which was way harder than it probably should have been. All told, the trip from Seattle to Ellensburg which takes an hour and fourty minutes in good conditions took four hours. But we were lucky. They closed the pass just a few hours after we got through it, and didn't reopen it until the next day.
For those of you who have been hearing my money woes, we're doing much better than a week or two ago. Chris's mom took me grocery shopping to Costco, and bought us a ton of good food. Also, the school finally processed my financial aid and got me my refund check. And best of all, Chris got a job! So things are good, moneywise.
Another exciting thing is that Chris and I met with Steve, our camp director. He was in Cle Elem for something or other and came to take us out to dinner. First of all, having Grumpa Steve decide he wants to buy us a free meal and hang out with us is pretty darn awesome. But secondly, he was able to answer a lot of our questions about the summer, so I feel much more at ease about it than I did. Also, we discussed a lot of ideas for next summer, and talked about hiring, which Chris and I will be very involved in. It got me pumped up about the summer, and I'm already going through a bunch of possibilities in my head. I can't wait.
A week has passed, and still I have little to report. Either it's getting warmer or I'm getting used to the weather, or both. In any case, it's good news.
Chris has me totally addicted to a computer game called Civilization. For those unfamiliar, it's vaguely like SimCity, except that instead of building a city, you're building an empire. Also it's about ten jillion times more complex than SimCity, yet it's more focused and there are definite goals, like developing technology and annihilating enemies. So much fun! Also, a single game lasts approximately forever, so it hasn't been a problem that Chris and I don't have TV. Chris is playing the Incans, who are totally badass. We're battling the Celts and the Babylonians. I'm playing the Americans, which means my character displays as Abraham Lincoln. I named myself Emperess Rena, though, so I'm a really funny looking Emperess. Next time, I'm totally playing as Emperess ShaReRe, preferably with a female character. Or maybe an effeminate-looking guy character.
I always have a little laugh when I look at my blog and realize the last thing I posted was an update to say "Sorry for not posting," and it's been far longer since then than the time between that post and the prior one. If I'd only known then that posting had not been postponed, it would be indefinitely delayed....ah well. C'est la vie.
For those who wondered, yes, I'm settled in at my new apartment with Chris. I got my class schedule all straightened out, and I almost have my finances in order. The weather oscillates between 35 degrees and zero Fahrenheit. It snowed on me while I was walking to class this afternoon. The snow I like, I just wish it didn't have to be so cold to get it. Chris and I have finally succumbed to reality and turned on the heat in the apartment. I'm bracing myself for the terrible electric bill to come (we have baseboard electric heating) but we just couldn't go on like we had been. I was wearing long johns under my jeans, three sweaters/sweatshirts at a time, wrapping myself in blankets, and even wearing gloves inside (all at the same time, mind you) to try to keep from turning the heat on, but it just was too much. I'm still wearing long johns and sometimes two sweaters, but it's become livable. The downside of the apartment now is that we don't have internet set up yet. We're probably going to get dialup because DSL and cable are too expensive here and we're rather broke at present. I'm thinking, though, that internet at home is just one of the many costs of college and we really need to have it. This week I've been trying to manage to get all my online errands done in short snippets of time between classes in campus computer labs, and it hasn't been working very well. Which is part of why I haven't posted. Believe me, this is not the first time I've logged on to a computer to blog and then realized I had something more pressing to take care of.
If a lot of this sounds bleak, I don't mean it to. I am really enjoying living with Chris, and starting a new school is exciting. Tomorrow I'm going job hunting. Also, Chris has finally managed to find a computer strategy game that I like (Civilization 3) and we got a new PS2 game for Christmas that I like a lot also (Katamari Damacy). I may write more another day, but I make no promises, since you can see how well it worked for me before. When we get the internet at the house, I'll be posting more regularly.
And no, I haven't read your blog yet. I haven't read any blogs since Christmas. Too busy/detached from the computer. But I will. Probably when we get internet.
