Last posting for a little while...

Well tomorrow I'll be moving to Coralville. I finally have a place to temporarily crash until Kristy and I find an apartment.

I start work on Wednesday. Yeah, it got pushed back, but it's okay. I'll be able to hop a bus Monday morning and see where it takes me, explore Coralville a bit so I can get to know my new home town better; so I'll also be able to see which routes get me to my work the best for the moment.

I don't know the family who's taking me in, but they know some friends of mine, Abby and Tim, and that's more than okay. We're all brothers and sisters in the gospel. Yes, they are members of the Church; that's how Abby found them for me. They attend the University ward.

The reason I'm saying this will be my last posting for a while is because it's going to be a little while before I can post again. The place I'm going to doesn't have Internet access yet. And while I'll be taking my laptop with me, it's more because I don't want to leave it behind with my boxes in Muscatine, but I won't be using it until Kristy and I get our own place and cable and Internet access.

That said, I must away but until we meet again, let me sign off with an Irish blessing...

May the road rise up to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm on your face,
May the rain fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of His hand.

Slan go foill...

Two very different concerts in a 24 hour period/Lucky Stiff cast reunion...

In the space of 24 hours, I went to two very different concerts: The MCC Variety Show last night (for the last time), and the University of Iowa Chamber Orchestra concert this afternoon.

First off, the MCC Variety Show last night also became the Lucky Stiff cast reunion. Scuba and Chase were performing in the show, and Courtney, Keeny, Savannah, Dane, and I were sitting in the audience. In fact, the only ones missing were Lauren, Zach, James (our stiff!), Tyler, Brooke (my friend during the summer and my ride during that time), and Brooke O. It was nice to see the old gang again, especially since I'll be moving soon. However, Keeny will be at Coe College, so she might come down to Iowa City or Coralville, wherever Kristy and I end up settled at, to visit me.

The show itself had the 80's and 90's theme to it. There were parts in it that were hilarious! And I ended up dancing the Macarena with my friends as part of an audience participation thing.

Today, I hit the UI Chamber Orchestra Concert with Melissa. It was quite interesting. First on the agenda was a piece by David Diamond called "Rounds for String Orchestra". And like that one concert Jeremy and I went to together, the movements were fused together with no breaks in between (I for the life of me can't remember the actual term for it!). The next piece was "Evocations for Viola and Orchestra" by Michael Kimber featuring solo violist Christine Rutledge. She was very talented. There are no words. =) And Mr. Kimber was in the audience too!

There was no intermission this time around, so they went straight into the last piece "Symphony No. 40, K. 550, G Minor" by Mozart. At last, one composer I recognized. =D Mozart is one of the few composers I remember from my Music Appreciation days! I'm sure Jan will be happy about that. ;)

After the show, we all stuck around to wait for Jeremy. When he finally came out, we all converged on him. "We" meaning me, Melissa, Kristy (my soon-to-be roommate), Nicki, Amy, Emily, and Nicki's boyfriend. We thought he'd done a good job. He's been a busy guy, but the results are amazing. He plays so beautifully. For those reading this, you might think I'm being biased because he and are friends, but I'm not. I know awesome when I see and hear it. In fact, my nephew Brannen is starting violin lessons, and I was hoping to get him to one of Jeremy's concerts so he could hear him play and have something to aspire to.

It was quite a weekend, now I have to get back to work, sorting through my life here and deciding what I'm going to take with me to Iowa City/Coralville once Kristy and I find a place!

Slan go foill...

Major changes going on in my life...

There are going to be some major changes in my life very very soon.

First off...

I got a job.
I got a job!
I!!!! GOT!!!! A!!!! JOB!!!!

That's right, my faithful readers. After months of searching, hoping, and praying, I got a job. Starting October 20th, I'll be training for a position at Thomas L. Cardella & Associates as an Inbound Customer Service Representative. Here's the other part now; the company I just mentioned is in Coralville, IA.

Guess what that means...

I'm moving out of my parents' house in Muscatine, at last! I should be scared of this unknown, like where am I going to go? How will I live? But I'm not. One of my friends in the branch and I are looking at the classifieds starting now. But if we don't find something by the time I have to be up there to start work, then I have another friend who will let me stay with her for a bit until we find a place and I build up a bit of a nest egg.

All this happened because I had made a decision to drop out of the play Murder By Poe. I felt a prompting during General Conference Sunday afternoon to drop the play. I told Melissa about it, and she thought it was a good idea. She later told me that I would be blessed for it. She was right. As soon as I let the director know of my decision, I applied for the job opening at Thomas L. Cardella & Associates, had the interview yesterday, and now I'm contemplating my imminent relocation (oh boy; I'm starting to sound like my buddy, George).

I honestly believe that my Heavenly Father has been guiding me this week; and if I trust in Him, everything will work out great.

Slan go foill...

What the hell is wrong with people?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Sorry, for those with really sensitive eyes, you may want to turn away now, because there's going to be some serious VENTING going on!!!!

Okay, Lizzy was in West Liberty for most of the day and I was in charge of the office. Things went smoothly, and by the time I went home for an hour, Liz had come back. It wasn't until after I went back for another couple of hours that I got frustrated.

I was making calls to let people know about the satellite voting at Garfield School, and I got a couple Obama supporters. But most peeps weren't home, or if they were, they weren't for Obama. I know I can't get everyone to our cause, but the reasons they aren't for him hardly make any sense. There was one woman who said she wouldn't ever vote for "that man", meaning she was probably racist. I mean, come on! This is the twenty-first century! It shouldn't be about the color of a candidate's skin; it should be about his ability to do the job! Sheesh!

The last contact I had really took the cake though. She said outright after I asked if she'd consider supporting Obama that she was for McCain and Palin. I asked what her concerns were, and she replied that she didn't think Obama could do the job, and that she'd been paying attention to the news and debates and she could see that McCain and Palin are on top of the game.

WTF?!?!?!?!?! SEND SOME OF THOSE MIND ALTERING DRUGS MY WAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've been watching those same debates and I'm getting a different idea here. We'd get more of the same that we've been getting for the past eight years. What is she thinking?!?!?! Oh well! I'll just work hard to make sure she doesn't get her way!

Okay, rant's over. I must away! I need to pack for my trip to Iowa City for the weekend. :)

Slan go foill...

Getting the college kids to vote early wasn't as easy as I thought it would be...

Yesterday was the day that we had a satellite voting booth at MCC for the kids (and faculty) who wanted to vote early. Liz and I were there from 9 to 3 (I cut out thirty minutes early to run some errands with Mom and then go home). I thought it would be easy and that the kids would take advantage of the opportunity given them to vote early. But there were a few problems...

One: Some of the kids were still undecided. Because it was a neutral place, we weren't allowed to do any campaigning for Obama.

Two: Some of the kids aren't registered in Muscatine County. If they wanted to vote yesterday, they would've had to re-register in this county.

Three: Some of the kids aren't U.S. citizens. I put my foot in my mouth a couple of times asking them if they would like to vote. Oops.

I'm wondering what the final count was. We had just crested 50 voters when I left. Guess I'll find out today. Tomorrow, we'll be having another satellite voting booth in West Liberty. I won't be going there, so I'll be at the office all day tomorrow. It will be interesting and a little scary, but I want to see if I can really do it; be in charge of the office all by my lonesome all day. Now if that isn't a crash course in self reliance, I don't know what is. :)

Slan go foill...

What a weekend!!!!

This past weekend had its highs and lows, for sure...

I'll start with Friday night. I went to HQ and met Lizzy's parents before making more calls. We stopped around eight pm for the debate. For that, we all went to the Brew just down the street from HQ. Watching the debate was interesting, that's for sure. Obama was confident in his answers, and McCain wouldn't make eye contact with anyone, least of all Obama. He was also condescending in his remarks. I think public opinion is that Obama did the best in this debate. Now we're just waiting for the Veep candidates' debate, which will be Thursday. Once again, we're all going to converge on the Brew for the action. =)

After the debate, Lizzy took me home. During the ride, Melissa called. She and I gabbed long after Lizzy dropped me off. I can talk to her about the work I do as an intern for the Obama campaign not worry about being labeled a liberal. Melissa knows the reasons I'm so involved. She understands where I'm coming from.

So I went to bed Friday night in a good mood. I was planning on working a few hours at HQ on Saturday before going home to finish packing for the overnight trip to Iowa City. Unfortunately I was in for a nasty surprise.

I woke up Saturday morning to find that someone had vandalized our front yard and had taken the Obama/Biden yard sign I had put there and threw it away into the neighbor's yard. Whoever had done this had even bent the wire rods. Mom told me not to stress about it; that she could fix it. But that really wasn't the point. The point is that I have the right to show my support for a candidate by having a yard sign on my property and that nobody, NOBODY should be able to take that away from me!

I called Lizzy to let her know what had happened. Even she thought it wasn't cool at all. But it only strengthened my resolve to not let whoever had done it have their way and I went to work for three hours. After that, I came home and got ready for the trip to Iowa City. The game plan was that I would be up there to perform "The Ten Virgins" and then I would stay up there for the Relief Society General Broadcast and spend the night with Melissa at her place.

The performance went perfectly. The other girls and I had our lines down pat. Not bad for the lasses who'd only gotten their scripts a couple of weeks ago. I had a lot of fun working on it.

The broadcast was exactly what I needed. I sat with Melissa and her sister and we listened to the talks. The one that really stuck out for me was President Uchtdorf's talk, especially the part where he told us that we should never find anything lacking in ourselves, never put ourselves down. After the broadcast, Melissa and I talked about that at length in the car. She won't ever let me get down on myself again.

Since we'd only snacked and were famished, we stopped at Hy-Vee and did some grocery shopping. Just as we were leaving, Jeremy called, wanting to come over and so we invited him over for dinner, a late dinner, but it was still dinner. Once he got there, he helped us in preparing dinner, and I had a chance to share with him what I had learned from working on "The Ten Virgins": that if I don't use the gifts I've been given the way they're intended and/or to glorify my Heavenly Father, what's the use of having them. I had also learned that being a loyal friend can be a fault if that loyalty supercedes my loyalty to my Father in Heaven.

After dinner, we played one game and then Jeremy headed home, leaving Melissa and me to get ready for bed and gab a little more. I love her so much. She's like a sister to me.

Amid all of this, I had been trying to ignore the fact that my body was run down. But yesterday morning, I couldn't really ignore it any longer. I woke up feeling warm, slightly feverish, and with body aches that I could barely handle. Melissa even noticed that I was running a temperature. So I called Josh (my new home teacher) while I was still at her house and asked if he'd be able to give me a priesthood blessing after church. He was able to, and I went back home to Muscatine with the faith I'd be feeling better before long.

I'm actually feeling better now. I had a lousy day at work and ended up leaving early today. But after a nap and an evening in, I'll be going back tomorrow bright and early at nine am.

Slan go foill...

A day in the life of an Obama Campaign for Change Intern...

As I find myself thinking of how I got myself into this internship with the Obama Campaign, my mind drifts back to the movie The Pursuit of Happyness with Will Smith about this man who had taken an unpaid internship at a brokerage firm with the possibility of employment at the end of training. Amid it all, Smith's character ended up homeless with his young son. In the end, however, he ended up getting the job and eventually started his own brokerage firm.

Now, I am well aware that I am better off in my life and my own internship than that character in the movie. I still live with my folks, and I have a warm place to sleep at night. And I am learning a lot about politics, and discovering why I need to get involved and be passionate about it (those closest to me are well aware of some of the reasons so I won't go into details on this very public blog!).

In other ways, this internship is becoming my refiner's fire. For one thing, I don't know if I'm going to be able to find a job after the campaign is over. The training and experience is invaluable to my resume, but will there be avenues open to me to show it off? Plus, there's some hostility to the cause. I found this out quickly as I made phone calls to persuade people to Obama (see earlier post).

One thing I am aware of, however, is that my Heavenly Father loves me and is mindful of me. He knows I can handle this internship with my body and spirit intact. And hopefully, by the end, I'll be in a position to take my life and become more self reliant.

Slan go foill...