GRE words of wisdom, as complied by an expert GRE-taker

1) do not drink a huge cup of coffee before the GRE. This will make you have to pee when you are only half-way through section one of the test.

2) study more than I studied

3) for stress relief during your ten minute break, go to the bathroom and dance the macarena. It works.

4) don't listen to this song before your GRE, because as you are writing your essays, it will not stop running through your head and you'll be likely to start typing, "grab somebody sexy tell 'em hey"

5) do not release a burst of laughter upon reaching a math question that makes such little sense it's funny....the test administrator lady will give you the LOOK.

6) schedule to take your test in a city where afterwards you can hang out with one of your best buds and together you two can shop at Whole Foods, eat cheeseburgers in a renovated fire station, and get caught in a thunderstorm so torrential that it looks like you both jumped into a pool.

7) study more than I studied

Dear GRE's,

you are stupid.
but reviewing for taking you on Tuesday (yeah, this isn't cramming AT ALL) has taught me all sorts of fun things. Like the word ersatz.

ten points if anyone can tell me what that means without dictionary.com'ing it.

Dear future,
I'm glad that you aren't simply determined by the score I get on a standardized test. (because you aren't, right?)

Dear movie my house mates are watching while I study,
I hope you are really boring.

sincerely,
Emily "I hate reviewing high school math" Thompson

monday

yesterday was monday. which is totally my excuse for the events of my morning.

I was in the kitchen eating some breakfast and heard the doorbell ring. which is weird, because no one ever rings our doorbell (nearly everyone in the universe already knows the code to get in the front door). but I was still in fuzzy-morning mood, and didn't go to see what it was, and, within a span of a few brief minutes, forgot that the doorbell ever rang at all.

and when I was running out the front door, semi-late for class, with tea in my hand, my ipod in the other, I also forgot to look at the ground in front of me.

Turns out, UPS likes to deliver humongus packages to your house and likes to put them exactly right in front of the door, in the same space where one might be likely to attempt walking.

and down I went.

Like, face-plant on the sidewalk, ipod and tea and legs sprawling everywhere because I had walked into this box that was about the size of a baby elephant.

And that was only my first step into the outside world yesterday.

Not five minutes later, while I'm still soothing my bruised ego, I'm passing beta bridge and run full on into a girl who is cutting up from behind it. Like walk straight into her. I think my travel mug hit her in the nose.

My reaction? A big burst of laughter. I couldn't even apologize before she walked away most likely thinking that I'm a freak and a half. Because life is just too funny. and Monday's (ok, or every other day of the week in my life) are so full of mishaps and falling down and ridiculous things happening that you don't expect that it's all sort of humorous in the end, isn't it?

here's to hoping you can stand on your own two feet this week. but also that you stumble upon some good laughs.

ps. the only misfortune to befell me today is that I spilled earl gray all over my seat in class this morning. so things are looking up.

Lord, protect my joy

in the deepest caverns of my heart. Hide it there, away from any gust of wind, any whisper of rain. Make it echo through my bones, make it sing louder than any other sound. Let it be my greatest treasure, the light that makes me beautiful, and the gift I most adore. Let me keep it and wear it also, at the same time. Let it be my coat. Let me give it away and never run out. Let it seek me though the deepness of pain, the deepness of regret, the deepness of shame. Build it into castles to explore. And let me reach the heights of it, where everything is shades of gorgeous, and laugh out loud, in the prettiest tones, because it is too much to hold in.

Lord, protect my joy.
keep it as the peace of my soul. So during storms, when the night is deep and the waters high, with eyes on you I can walk on the ocean, run into your arms, laugh and sing because you love me.

NEW NEW NEW

I'm going to seriously FREAK MY FREAK on October 24th when Coldplay releases their new album....seriously. FREAKING OUT TO THE MAX.

They have a few singles released from it already. This one is the most recent, and it's incredible. Of course.

I love poems about insomnia

and I love this one.
as in read-it-over-20-times-today love.
and think that last stanza is killer & heartbreaking & just so freaking good that it makes me almost not want to sleep. except for not really, because it is only 11:30 and I'm such a grandma that I'm already in bed.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Insomnia - by Elizabeth Bishop

The moon in the bureau mirror
looks out a million miles
(and perhaps with pride, at herself,
but she never, never smiles)
far and away beyond sleep, or
perhaps she's a daytime sleeper.

By the Universe deserted,
she'd tell it to go to hell,
and she'd find a body of water,
or a mirror, on which to dwell.
So wrap up care in a cobweb
and drop it down the well

into that world inverted
where left is always right,
where the shadows are really the body,
where we stay awake all night,
where the heavens are shallow as the sea
is now deep, and you love me.

and I'm home

I'm learning to play this sweet song for Young Life club per the request of my teammate...it's a good one.

jesus, lover of my soul





just thought some of my favorite pictures (all by ellen picker) should meet my current favorite hymn. you can listen to it by clicking right here.