I survived! And I do believe I passed all of my classes. As I move out of my room, my passing thought is this:

I will never purchase a toothpaste designed by candy manufacturers

I' ve also started reading a book, written by these guys, about praying continually. It's good so far;) I'll let you know what it is later... and if you want to guess based on my vast clues, you can email me.

Five dollars from Nate soon, based on a bet I won. O yeah:) He was attempting to cheat, too! My roommate Andrea went to sleep at home at 1 am, then came to UCU and went to sleep at 6 am. Nate heard the first, and got a bit confused, and bet that she came in at 1 am. Fortunately I had witnesses, otherwise he probably would have gotten out of it.

This guy named Chad used to own my phone number. I still get calls for him occasionally... including one from his grandmother last week! I've had the phone for almost a year and a half, for goodness sake! So Ben recommends that I start pretending to be Chad's wife, or claim to be Chad myself, or claim that he died last night.
Sadly though, ideas like this are extremely funny... until I think about actually doing them. Then I worry about hurting people. True, some pranks are harmless, but I don't want Chad's grandma freaking out, thinking he got a sex-change operation.

Draw-ins...

Why?!

Architects and artists have 24-hour draw-ins for entertainment. They get together, pick a pseudo-project, then go at it around the clock. To me, this sounds too much like the Real Thing-- as in, I probably won't get any sleep the next two nights. I thought that the only reasons architects pull all nighters was to meet a deadline and complete copious amounts of work... but I'm noticing that they also do it by choice! Is it some mad addiction? If so, I'm along my way to becoming a raving genius, without the genius part. Yes, frightening:) Oh voy. Well, at least I have the Hobbit on CD to keep me company these long coming hours.

"Perhaps this is the moment for me to make a forceful remark about my left toenail or the age of the sun, I thought flippantly." --MREG, Laurie R. King

Quote of the day! Sadly enough, though, I'm surrounded by people who say quippy things all the time--random, blonde, erudite, or just plain clever and fun-- but I can never remember these things to write down. I'm sure part of the value is in context and ambiance and all that, but still, shouldn't the real things I hear and experienced be memorialized, much more than movies, songs, and books by people I've never met?

Whatever:) This weekend was fresh air, to be followed by three days of high drudgeon (sorry, I just played Balderdash). Especially last night: imagine fifteen sorority girls at a miniscule ice skating rink-- laughing, screaming, playing tag, moonwalking, spinning, accidently skating into walls, totally overwhelming the few junior highers (and acting more immature, too), older couples, and local disc-jockey, winning most of the raffle drawings, and basically dominating in wintery splendor and high spirits. Looking back even now we shake our heads a bit sheepishly, but then smile because it was a rocking cool time. Until five minutes before Megan badly sprained her ankle, and they took her away on a stretcher. That's the first time I've seen that tough girl crack. She's amazing. But she's healing, and that's good.

This was followed by a sleepover at my parent's house:) I stayed up way too late, but it was worth it for the conversations we had. My goodness. Sometimes I forget what a blessing it is to live with these wonderful girls, partly because I'm rarely at leisure here and too often feel like a stranger where I live, but partly because I just plain take it for granted.

The guys, of course, performed their annual prank on our house. It consisted of 31...um... deeds? that they actually typed up and gave code names, like "winter fashions" and "can I take your coat?" and "tugboat." And they're all labeled, so when we find them we can check them off the list. IE: "Invisible Van Gogh" was renditions of some of Van Gogh's works drawn up so that you can only see them using a blank light. There was chicken bollion in the shower head, flour on the fan, and radishs in our stockings.

Anyway, I really should go to bed so that I don't snore too loudly in church. There was a guy/girl UCU party tonight, and earlier I babysat five kids to earn some money, and ended up telling off a four-year old, but I'll spare you that. I probably won't post again 'til my project is over (also sparing you my worries and whines, and saving the triumph), but pray for me if you think of it, and I'll pray that you may be filled with the desire and practice of seeking God's face.

More quoting other people, places, and things

But this one is a little closer to home.

Tim Goddard, my old friend from Lake Retreat Christian Camp and Conference Center (I was a camp counselor for a couple of summers, in case you didn't know) keeps a pretty hefty, mainly political blog that I drop in on occasionally. If you can't tell quickly enough, he's republican.

Skimming through this morning, I came across an entry written the day after Thanksgiving that made me say, "Yes! Precisely! The soul of the matter has been delved and delineated!" Tim, you hit the nail on the head with your words, and if you're reading this, thank you. So without further adieu, Tim's entry:

"Theoretically, as a Christian, Easter should be my favorite holiday. It is, after all, the only thing that makes Christmas worth celebrating. It's the Big Deal, the Whole Point, the Crux of History. And yet, I enjoy Christmas far more than I do Easter.

There are two minor reasons for that, and one major one. The first minor reason is that Christmas is longer. I can wish you a merry Christmas almost a month in advance, and you'll not think me all that strange. If I wished you a happy Easter a month before the day itself, then you'd think I was nuts.

Second, Easter is more familiar. Because it is the whole point, Christians celebrate it every time we sing, every time we are baptized, every time we take communion. The whole year is a constant celebration of Easter.

But while valid, these reasons don't explain the draw that Christmas has for me. That reason is a bit more complex.

The human spirit is filled with a desire for the epic, the awe-inspiring. We desire things that are greater than ourselves--this is why The Lord of the Rings is such a popular book and movie. This is why American presidents always describe the wars they fight as being a part of a battle for freedom that is older than the nation itself. This is why the one thing that Americans truly envy of Europeans about is the fact that they have ancient castles, cathedrals and keeps all around. This is why the British can't bear to do away with the monarchy. We like awe, we like greatness, we like the majesterial, we like, in essence, the epic.

But there is something greater than the epic. When the epic meets the everyday, that is where true greatness lies--that is what truly stirs our soul. This is why the Lord of the Rings is more popular than the Silmarillion, and why standing on an ancient spot is a thousand times more thrilling than reading of the events that happened there. When majesty intersects the mundane, that is what makes us see visions and dream dreams; that is what, as C. S. Lewis said, makes us desire to experience the whole universe at once; that is what makes us imagine that all the majesty of reality could one day meet us at our doorstep.

And that, after all, is exactly what happened. The Incarnation is the very definition of the mighty intersecting the meek, and of the great encountering the small. For what is greater than the Infinite, and what smaller than the Finite? Who more powerful than the Creator and Sustainer of the Universe, and who more helpless than a newborn baby?

This is why I listen to Christmas music incessantly, why I've decorated even this page with garish decorations, and why I look forward to the next month with a glee that is both childlike and older than the mountains. Because what I celebrate this season, the ultimate collision of epic and the common, stirs my soul and calls me, too, to experience greatness, and it's a call I hope to never shirk.

So have a merry Christmas season, everyone, and may all your common intersect the epic along the way."

Although I do have to add this reason: I love celebration and ritual. I've probably written about this before, but people seem to revolve around events-- the wait and anticipation and preparation, then the Coming and the grand joy of the Coming and remembrance. Celebration gives us a reason to be with people and to take a common hope; and ritual ties together what might otherwise seem to be the meaningless occurances of life into a thread with depth, purpose, and complexity. Christmas abounds with both celebration and ritual, if we choose to take ahold of it. As Tim says, a whole month full. And yes, this ritual recalls where the epic meets reality, and this celebration calls all to take part in the wonder.

So anyway, school speeds along. I took a midterm this morning (a midterm, a week before the final!) which I studied for from 2-3:30am, and from 6:45-7:45am this morning. And I'm so glad I did, cuz quite a few questions on the test I had just read about. Meanwhile, I'm writing a paper for the same class on waterproofing foundations, which I hope to send off to Katie Ferguson the Editor later today. It's one of the more dull papers I've written, but I have made it a bit more colorful by calling the authors of several books incompetent, throwing in some adjectives, and titling it "Ziggarats can be seen today, by Your Mom." No, just kidding on last one. That was Ben's idea.

Then there's also my drawings for my studio class. They are currently being peopled, from pictures of my compatriots at UCU. Now that I've been de-idiotified, I've been working like mad, and it's slow going. I think Monday and Tuesday next week are going to be some full time working days, but I'm ready for the last push. Then all I have is two finals to study for, one of which should be extremely easy for me (I got 99% on both of the midterms in that class!) and then I'm done! Whew! God continues to grant me strength and refreshment of my soul, which is most excellent.

Ben and I looking tough

I'm getting festive, as you can see.

I think my name in Spanish means, "Smooth" (the translation on my Shampoo bottle gives "Liso" for "Smooth". And the feminine of "Liso" is "Lisa"!) . Not a surprise, really...

Children's books that never made it

Katie emailed this to me:) And these are my favorites:


1. You Are Different and That's Bad

5. Hammers, Screwdrivers and Scissors: An I-Can-Do Book

7. Kathy Was So Bad Her Mom Stopped Loving Her

8. Curious George and the High-Voltage Fence

11. Some Kittens Can Fly

13. Grandpa Gets a Casket

14. The Magic World Inside the Abandoned Refrigerator

17. Strangers Have the Best Candy

20. Things Rich Kids Have, But You Never Will

21. Pop! Goes the Hamster...And Other Great Microwave Games

22. The Man in the Moon is Actually Satan

23. Your Nightmares Are Real

25. Eggs, Toilet Paper and Your School

Revelation from the superiors

So yesterday I asked one of my professors a question about my project, and he looked at me as if I was from Mars. Well, from Mars and speaking Marsish, and had just lost my puppy and he was the bearer of the bad news. "Lisa, what do you mean?"
Fortunately, way fortunately, I had not screwed anything up! I was just on the verge of screwing up. Badly. Stephen, my prof, went and got another professor to further explain the matter to me. About ten minutes later, Judith (the other prof) walks in and says, "Do not scan your drawings back into the computer. Photocopy them as line drawings, and push down the tape well, and then render them. There, that was easy!" And she turned and left the room.
So yeah, my professors now think I'm a little slow (Stephen asked if I'd been attending lecture) but at least I've been set straight, and now things make a lot more sense:)

Also yesterday, my pixie gave me a countdown to Christmas calendar with chocolates in it! Yippee!! And today, she gave me Reese's pieces. *bliss*

Last night, I was a little disturbed by John's rendition of "Gaston" from Beauty and the Beast. I think that he's just a little too proud of his chest hair. Nuff said:)

Yeah for my little sis, Cheryl! She's doing hair for her next school play. I guess she has quite the reputation for doing hair. For homecoming, she earned enough money doing hair at five bucks a head to pay for her dance pictures! She's now keeping a portfolio of the styles she's done. The whole thing's a bit too "beauty shoppe"ish for me, but it's definitely her thing, and I'm proud of her for honing in on a talent:) Just as long as she doesn't do it for a living... (j/k... she does want to be a teacher)

I'm currently alternating between struggling with stress, and struggling with not caring about schoolwork (read: my life:) I want to stay at school, because here are the Christmas lights, and all the UCU wintery social events, and the lovely anticipation and glitz. But... where's the time to enjoy it? Two weeks left of school. Then I'll be on my way to seeing LOTR, and running away for a couple nights to Nate's cabin (with Ben and a few of our friends) and going to Cali to visit relatives, and Urbana! So I'm praying that I can honor God in this time, by being diligent and joyful.

I'm also praying for "friends" in the architecture department. There are lots of people I hang out with everyday, but I focus on my work and ignore them much too easily.

Anyway, I hope this update has been correctly informative, not just about "stuff" but also reflecting my heart at this time. Maybe not:) But I'll work on that. Season's greetings and all that!