So much has been happening in these last few days that I haven’t even been able to blog! But actually, I’ve been pretty lazy recently, so please note that I just backposted blog entries from June and July all at once. Make sure to scroll down!
But in this post, I’m just going to cover everything I can think of that has happened since I got back from my camping trip, with the exception of Batman. Here goes…
packing: I packed up all my stuff just about as soon as I got home. Then I weighed it. My hiker’s bag weighed 35, and my hockey duffel weighed 85…I called to check on overages, and found that 50-70 was “only” $50/bag, but over 70 lbs was $600/bag! So I spent another day unpacking things, weighing individual packets, and then stuffing the hiking bag with the heaviest of them until it weighed 65.8 pounds. Then i threw everything in the other bag, knowing that the average previously was 62. Presuming I didn’t put any more than 12 pounds of extra stuff in the hockey bag, I should be good for tomorrow…
rash: Turns out that on my camping trip in CoMo, I got a bacterial infection from a tick bite! Yay!…It started out blending into my mosquito bites, but then persisted, and dominated my hands and feet and started moving inward. This, according to the interwebs, is called “centripetal.” It had all the features of a “Rocky mountain Spotted Fever” rash, but I never got ill. Since I am uninsured in Missouri, I had to go to nurse practitioner in a walgreens. $60 later, I had a prescription for an antibiotic. And now, the day before the trip, the bumps have more or less receded, except for the ones of my feet and a few on my legs, which have scabbed over and lasted so long due to my itching of them. Bad me!
economic hardship: I wanted to defer my loans, but College Foundation, Inc. had no policy for Fulbright and other scholarships. I did a bunch of legwork and basically found that I could enroll in 8 credit hours next year to be considered a full-time student. F that, I’m not paying that. So I called CFI again, and explained my story, and still nothing. So I mentioned that I only make $1000, and found out that I was qualified for economic hardship. This got even better when I said I couldn’t provide a stub because right now, I am technically unemployed! So I sent off all that paperwork to prove that I am suffering economic hardship because my government stipend is “only” $1,000/month. Contrast this with the fact that teachers in Indo make about $30/month, and will question how I can afford to take so many trips…ironic, no?
wedding: I attended my dad’s wedding to Laura Coulson, nee Bamvakais, on Friday. It was held at Windows Off Washington, a pretty nice venue. It’s in the city museum, and the whole floor was made out of recyclable stuff -even the walls were made of old CO2 containers! Jeff and Theresa werethere, and Aunt Clara, and Don Despain, andFather Joe Gembala, who I talked to for a while, and Dad’s office staff, and Laura’s family. I danced with Faith and John Hunter and Wyatt, my new cousins who are pretty cool. Before the whole thing we took pictures, which should be online in about two weeks, so I’m keeping an eye out for those. Overall, the event went well, and if Dad’s happy I am too.
farm: On Sunday, Idropped Dad and Laura offat the airport, then drove to mom’s and took a nap. When she got there, we drove up to the farm. I saw CAnne, who seems to be doing OK, and Papa Hezzy, who needs to stop smoking. Then I went andsaw Uncle Tom and his dogs, and we walked around and looked at the trees h, Oliver and I planted last time we were up there. Then we went to the garden to see the crops we had planted, and the green beans were doing all right, so I picked a bunch of them, which we ate for dinner. After that, I went up to the house, and mom and I went out to cut down Daisy’s under my grandma’s supervision. I pulled the mule around to dump stuff in, and also fiulled a small mason jar with the remaining good Daisies. After that, I drove the mule to the burn site and emptied its contents, then took it on a spin around the farm on the path. I went all the way out to a little concrete bridge going over a small brook, which was really pretty, then came back. I went in and helped Aunt Sue cook and make another lemon pie…mmm. After a while, mom and I headed out. We listened to the Nightwatchmen on the drive home, and mom seemed to like it. We went to Oliver’s house in Highland, and I saw his kitties, Stanley and Husky, named after power tools. They were very cute, and had cgreat personalities. He also had a turtle Dave gave him named Soup, which was living in a tub. Soup will soon be joined by lucky, who is crawling around the floor of my mom’s house somewhere right now. Anyway, when we finished getting the tour, Oliver drove me home in his “new” jeep, which had no doors or roof, and can only go 55. Still, it was pretty freedomlike. When we got home, I called TJ, and he came over. We drove out to Acid Bridge just to do some backroading, then James and Derek came over, and we watched it rain. Eventually, they went home, and I went to sleep…what a day!
Missouri ID: On Monday, I went to the Department of Revenue with a bunch of paperwork, and applied for my new Driver’s License, so it wouldn’t expire when I was gone. Prior to walking up there, I took a number of online driver’s tests, and was a bit let down when my test consisted of naming 6 signs by picture - I passed with a 100%. And since my name was different on my voter registration and passport, she asked me how I wanted it, and I finally have a diver’s licence with my name spelled “Jonthon!”
Wall-E: On Monday night, my mom and I went to Chipotle, ate, then headed to Showplace 12 again to see Wall-E. It was amazing, again. it always will be.
Cory: When I got home, I drove to belleville, and played rockband and hung out with Cory. He’s been on hardtimes lately, but seems like he is getting back on his feet.
laundry, sewing and haircut: I got home tonight, and my mom cut my hair at 2 and a half, buzzcut. I look like I’m military now. Maybe that’ll help with the heat. Following this, I showered and put in my laundry, which I’m about to go finish folding the second load of. My mom made baked spaghetti, which was very good. The only thing we didn’t get to was stitching my bags…
