Working/The Plague of Texas

I have finally reconciled three work schedules and am finally working at all of them. I don't do much else, but I am working. Yay!!

Last Saturday, I worked at the home football game on the third deck in a trailer full of shirts, hats, stuffed animals, and other memorabilia. By the middle of the third quarter, I wished the game would end soon. It wasn't too busy or too slow. It was warm but not unbearable outside. What was the problem? Moses sent the plague of locusts to Texas, and they were all at Kyle Field. Every shirt and hat was covered with inch-long crickets, moths, gnats, and other creepy crawlers.

By the fourth quarter, I was swatting in every direction like a madwoman. When the alumni left their seats at the end of the game, I heard tons of horror stories about crickets landing on people's faces and shirts and crawling down people's shirts and about people's needing to basically brush and groom the backs of those in front of them because of all the bugs. Yuck!!!

Above is a picture from Texas A&M's student newspaper depicting the conditions at the game. Yes, all those black things are crickets. The headline above this picture read, "Bugging Brazos County." I'm glad I'm not the only one. Tracy tells me that in late October the bugs will go away. Needless to say, I'm counting down the days and praying for seagulls to come and eat all those nasty crickets. What did I do to upset you, Moses?

Widowed

Friends, family, and loved ones.

I want to announce that I am unofficially a widow for the next nine to ten months. College football season starts in September and the NBA Finals end in June. I say again, I am a widow.

Although I admit that I enjoy a few games with him (BYU wins, Notre Dame losses, USC wins, and Texas Longhorn wins), after two games a day, I'm done with football for at least a week. When he watches sports, Tracy becomes a machine. He can't get enough football and basketball.

So, here's to all those good times I had with him. I'll remember him, and I look forward to seeing him again in nine months. Until then, I live with this guy. I guess he'll do until I get Tracy back.

A coerced sports spectator/commentator shows his enthusiasm.
The enthused spectator/commentator caught in action.

Laboring on Labor Day

Today I went to work and Tracy went to school just like any other Monday, but it isn't another Monday. It's Labor Day.

I'm confused. Aren't we supposed to have Labor Day off? Isn't it a national holiday? I found out that Labor Day was created to celebrate "the social and economic achievements of American workers" (United States Department of Labor) and give the working man (or woman) one day's rest he (or she) rightfully has earned. Even though I've worked at my new job for only one week, I worked well over forty hours (actually closer to fifty hours) doing rather frustrating tasks with people not too eager to help out. Why does Texas hate the common worker?

I'm happy I have a job--don't get me wrong--but getting a day off is always nice.

I got another job at the Texas A&M Writing Center, and coordinating two schedules is way more difficult than I thought it would be. But again, I'm grateful for my jobs, and I will work hard. Too bad I don't have a holiday to celebrate my labor!

New Job, New Possibilities

Sorry I haven't posted anything in a long time. I've been waiting until I had something to post. Although I have been working on our apartment pretty much every day, there's only so much you can do without spending money, which we are avoiding right now until I get a job.

I've searched high and low, applied for any and all kinds of jobs, had to take the SAT to be considered for a job (but that job didn't work out), and almost given up hope that I would one. But, thank goodness, I got one. I'm working for the Texas A&M Bookstore. I'm excited. It should be fun. And a few other probably possibilities have shown up as well, so I could have two jobs. Plus, I'm pretty sure that even if I find one or two other jobs that have me work forty hours a week I can still work at games and special events for the bookstore. (My co-workers, 99.9 percent of them students, don't want to work during the football games, so I get to.) So this is great!! Yay!!

Because I have had relatively no work for the past six months (should I consider tutoring at the WSU Writing Center for four hours a week work?), I'm ready to work, work, work!!

I'll update the job situation when I know more myself.

Warm Texas Welcome

Whew! Moves are hard, but we've had a lot of wonderful help. We're moved in, unpacking, actually putting stuff on the walls, and starting to feel a little more at home. But even before we set foot in our apartment, I noticed: We're definitely not in the West anymore, Toto!!

If any of you doubted or wondered, Texas really is different from anywhere else in the country.

1. The stop lights are not vertical like the rest of the country--you know, red on top, yellow in the middle, and green on the bottom. They're horizontal--red on the left, yellow in the middle, and green on the right. WEIRD!!! Well, I was weirded out. They are horizontal because they are more stable on the poles against hurricane-force winds.

2. Although the scenery on the highway was pretty boring (mostly bushes and dead grass), there were a few interesting roadside gems. Tracy saw armadillo roadkill, which I wish he had pointed out to me! There were several stretches where oil rigs were just by the highway. You'd think in this land of oil plenty, gas would be cheaper than $2.50 per gallon!! But oh well.

3. Native Texans are really friendly, want to know your whole life's story, and will tell you theirs. On our first day in College Station, Tracy and I went to Denny's, and our waitress called me "hun" and "dear" probably about ten times. She told us stories about other customers she's had and about table manners (no one should start eating without everyone's food present--which we already do anyway).
Tracy's professor bought a used truck down here for his son, and after the car was checked out by an old mechanic, we went with his wife to pick up the truck. Just during the phone call, the mechanic covered topics ranging from restaurants in town to movies to the house he grew up in to what church they would attend.
One of the guys who helped us move in offered his old (being not exactly new but not yucky or ugly) couch to us. Yay for having a couch!!

4. Even the traffic signs are friendly. On the highways we'd see signs that would say, "Please help prevent forest fires," "Drive friendly," and "Maintain your vehicle." Such polite reminders! But my favorite sign was this one.


5. And this sign leads us perfectly to the next thing that makes Texas different--state pride. We stayed at Fort Stockton our first day of driving, and they had waffles on the breakfast table. I like waffles, but these are a little silly.


And state pride is huge here!! The guy who installed our internet talked about Texas football with Tracy for fifteen minutes and probably would have stayed longer if he didn't have other appointments.

While I hope I don't adopt all the Texas quarks, some aren't that bad. The last new fact about Texas is that we live in Brazos County. Brazos is Spanish for "arms"--for those who struggle remembering high school Spanish. So, Texas has received us with open arms, and we are grateful for our safety and for all those who have helped us move at all stages.

Yee-ha!!! Texas, Here We Come!!!

After months of "moving," we are finally getting to Texas on Friday! I don't know about Tracy, but I am having so many emotions right now: excitement, relief, anxiety, a little apprehension, a little homesickness (for my family--already), and hope.

Excitement--Tracy will be going to a school that focuses on sedimentary geology--Tracy's focus--and prepares most students for jobs with oil companies. We know the Lord has had a hand in our lives to provide this opportunity. It will be interesting to see how school goes for Tracy and, when he's done with school, whether he'll be able to get a job in Texas.

Relief--For the past two months, I haven't known what my next apartment will look like. Although I have had fun planning for several new decorations and home projects (thanks Mom and Karen), I will be so happy to get into my new home and actually carry out those plans.

Anxiety and apprehension--While College Station is a much bigger city than Pullman and surely will be a little easier to adapt to, I am still nervous about finding an editing job. And I had such high hopes for Pullman, which were pretty crushed when we got there, that I can't let myself get too carried away in hoping and imagining what our life will be like in CS.

Homesickness--I have always been attached to my family. I never looked forward to getting away from my family in high school, and I cried when I went to college. I cried when I didn't spend my first Christmas with them, and I call home at least every week, if not way more often. So after spending two months with my family, I find it hard to say good-bye to them, even though we are coming back for Christmas. This move is a good, needed part of our lives, but getting what we want is sometimes complicated.

Hope--We have hope that things will work out for us. The Lord has provided so much for us in our lives, and we know that as we try our best and do what we are supposed to do, He will help us. We have many hopes about our future that we will work hard to accomplish.

We are ready for the ride!! Bring it on, Texas! Yee-ha!!!

Two Years of Marriage: The Beginning of a Masterpiece

Today is our second wedding anniversary. Looking back at our marriage so far, Tracy and I seem to sigh, look at each other with exhausted expressions as if to say "whew," and then smile and laugh.

We've been through and done a lot these two years. We've moved twice, lived in three states (four including Arizona for two months), finished school (me), started grad school (Tracy), started new jobs, finished old jobs, dealt with physical problems (my surgery), dealt with financial problems, had a death in the family (Tracy's aunt), and had two new nieces born (one on both sides). I won't lie--we've had hard trials, frustrating arguments, tough decisions, and physically and emotionally painful moments. But we've also had meaningful discussions, sweet reconciliation, sincere expressions of love and kindness, increased closeness, and priceless laughter.

I had an professor at BYU who told me that marriage isn't work; it's art. At first, I just thought that was her marriage. Her husband taught psychology. He knew how women worked more than most men. But I realize what she meant by that now. When an artist creates a piece, he or she spends hours and hours on it, using carefully calculated techniques, paints, and strokes. It is, in a way, work, but the artist doesn't see it as work. The artist keeps in mind the beauty of the end result. He or she uses the goal to guide what strokes, colors, and brushes to use during the process. So while the artist is working to create his or her piece, it isn't work in that the beauty of the piece compensates for the work put into it. I think marriage is beautiful only when we have put time and effort into making it as such. So it technically is work. But we need not see it as tedious or annoying.

Having been married only two years, I can see that our artwork's canvas still has a lot of space and potential left. (The above painting isn't ours, even though it is pretty darn cute.) We're trying to keep the goal in mind, but we're enjoying the little moments along the journey. We love each other and are grateful to everyone who has helped us long our way so far. We are also grateful to the Lord who has blessed our marriage and has helped us through those hard times, so we can get back to those precious happy moments.

Well, Tracy, two years down . . . and eternity to go!!