This is my 100th post. 

I arrived safely in Arkansas, and then the adventure of the luggage began.

It started at the belt, waiting for the luggage to come out. The people on my plane waited 40 minutes until the luggage rack even started moving. I think that was a record for everyone waiting. 20 minutes later, my luggage still wasn't there.

So then, I proceeded to the US Airways counter, where they let us look in the back room for all of the luggage they had collected. When none of us saw our luggage, we waited in line to talk with an employee individually. For me, this took an hour. Part of the reason was the dear old man in front of me. Like many people over the weekend, he was coming from the north and arriving later than he planned. He was also keen for conversation, and enjoyed talking to those around him. After spending about 25 minutes trying to claim his luggage, he decided to take one more look at the luggage in the back that we had previously looked at. Of course, the luggage was back there, and the previous encounter a waste of time.

I walked up to the ticket counter at the same time as a man on my left, who had missed his flight. Apparently, he was chronically late, and the person helping me knew him by name. Already flustered by the previous man, she unleashed on this guy, telling him in the future, he better be on time, because they knew him to always be late so they had actually held the plane for him. She was so upset, in fact, she typed my phone number in wrong, which I discovered this morning when I checked the status of my luggage on the internet.

Now, this might not seem like a big deal, but 1) I am leaving the address I provided tomorrow and 2) this address does not appear on mapquest or any GPS locater, so people don't know how to get here. And so, I called US Airways...and waited on the phone for an hour and a half. The lady corrected my phone number, but didn't know anything else to tell me.

You'll be glad to know that my luggage arrived late tonight. The driver's truck had overheated, and he called. "Oh, thank goodness,  it says call for directions, and your phone number hasn't been working," was his greeting. 

But I must say, it could have been so much worse.

May you make another owner very happy, check engine light and all.

And always know that in our hearts, you will always be worth more than $600.

True story of an incident in a Raleigh movie theater bathroom:

I was about to go see the fabulous movie Australia, and knowing that I was getting involved with a three hour movie about something I'm passionate about, I didn't want to risk any kind of interuption, including a bathroom trip. So I found a stall, and squatted.

Of course, there was no toilet paper. But before I let this ruin my viewing experience, two older ladies (I'm not sure what was going on) went into the bathroom stall next to me. What luck, as there were a total of 4 people in the bathroom and about 20 stalls!

So, I waved my hand underneath the stall and asked for toilet paper. One lady was confused, but the other understood right away.

"Sure, just a second."

And suddenly heard giggling, then "I dropped the whole roll in the toilet! Just a second."

And sure enough, a soggy toilet paper roll appeared on the floor.

But then there was another round of laughter.

"I can't believe it, I just dropped the other roll in the toilet!"

By then, the two ladies were laughing so hard, I thought I might have been stranded. But they came through and offered me the toilet paper, one of them insisting she didn't know how she coudl drop not one but two rolls into the toilet.

Later, after the movie, I returned and found that neither stall still had any toilet paper.

O Tannenbaum!
(the lights are colored, but they didn't turn out in the picture. Also, maybe I should have scooted the Xbox chords out of the way? What can I say, this picture followed a very serious tetris game.)

Behold my beautiful Christmas present.

Now, hopefully you will not have weird dreams where when you look at the painting and blink, it changes into a different painting, and because of this conclude that you are going crazy and start worrying that you will never live a normal life in society...which is what happened to me on the night I hung the painting.

Today, someone asked me for a dollar so they could buy toilet paper. Who could say no to that?

So if you want to make money off of strangers, there's your pickup line.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I must say, I am so thankful for the invention of hot water heaters, even my own, which only allows 2 minute showers of hot water. When something is sparse, I think you appreciate it even more.

While I was in the bodyshop getting an estimate on my car, I casually asked the guy if he knew a good body shop. See, Tim's car isn't driving well (we think it's the transmission) and we would probably get more money selling the parts than selling the car.

John, the bodyshop employee that offered the best customer service I have ever experienced in a car place, dialed up his friend who worked at a salvage yard.

"How much for a '98' Ford Contour that might have a bad tranny?"

John looked at me, then turned his chair to face the other way.

"Could she take it anywhere else to get more?"

Then, after a long silence,

"Okay, thanks."

"How much?" I asked when his chair faced me, hoping for good news.

"100 dollars, and he'll pick it up."

100 dollars for the Ford Contour.

First, Tim's car stops running, then someone hits me. That's what you call bad carma (haha).

This week in Storytelling in the Cinema class, we did a visual experiment. We were shown a video, about 30 seconds, in which 6 people were fairly crowded on screen. 3 wore white shirts, 3 wore black shirts, and each team had a basketball. We were suppose to watch the white team and count how many times they passed the ball, and how many of those passes were a bounce pass.

The class participated whole-heartedly, and at the end of the experiment, we pretty much agreed: there were 14 passes, 2 of which were bounce passes.

We waited for the trick question, like how many did the black team throw, or that we had gotten the wrong number, or something.

Instead, the teacher said, "I don't care. Did anyone see the man in the gorilla walk into the middle of the screen, beat his chest, then walk off?"

All 9 of us honestly hadn't.

We watched it again, and sure enough, the gorilla walks right into the middle of the crowd of people passing basketballs, beats his chest, and walks off screen.

I mean, how could we all not see that?!?

Why Razorback Stadium is the Best Stadium (in comparison to South Carolina)

1) Razorbacks do not have an annoying, pre-recorded caw that sounds whenever the team does something good.

2) AQ Chicken. I never thought it was that exciting until all I wanted to eat was chicken strips at a football game, and my only options were pizza, pretzels, and nachos. (To continue this story, we then stopped at a Wendy's/Dairy Queen, and they also did not have chicken strips. Is that not a staple fast food?)

3) The jumbotron, not just for helping those of us who are sitting 2 rows from the very top of the stadium, but to pass the time before the game starts.

And here is the one advantage of sitting 2 seats from the top:

And finally, perhaps the most interesting thing on the trip was this huge place called "South of the Border" on the North/South Carolina border. There were restaurants, fireworks stands, grocery stores, etc. all lit up like Las Vegas. Also, there were more billboards advertising for it in the few miles approaching than there are in the entire Branson vicinity. I wish I could have gotten a better picture, but here is something that lets to know to what extent they take themselves seriously:

I'll finish with saying, it sure was nice to talk to Fayetteville folks, even strangers that just randomly fly to the game.

Men on the streets: Fear Me.

Today, I graduated from self-defense class. I don't remember much about the final simulation, except for at one point I realized I wasn't yelling for help, and proceeded to do so.

When I walked into the hallway afterwords, the freshman girls looked at me solemnly.

"You were really loud."

At least, I wanted to tell them, I fought. That probably wouldn't happen in real life, because on the "fight or flight" scale, my instinct leans for flight about 99% of the time. This has been proven on many occasions. But, it is now good to know that I have yet another option that I'm good at: yelling my guts out.

Today, in the church bulletin, it said:

There is a brief "information reception" in the Columbarium and Memorial Garden today, immediately following the service. All who wish to know more about this ministry of our church are cordially invited to join us there."

I read this as, come find out about the ministries available for this church.

What it really meant was, come learn about THIS ministry: the Columbarium and Memorial Garden.

So, Tim and I stood for about a minute, among the other people (all of whom had one foot in the grave, and I mean that in the nicest way possible) and listened to how we could have our ashes scattered in the Memorial Garden, or placed in the Columbarium.

I hope they were thinking: those folks know how to plan early.
Which was not what I was actually thinking.

Halloween 08:

Hi, I'm Mac.

And I'm PC! (what you can't see is the pillow stuffed into my shirt and pants and ratty tennis shoes. Plus, my hair is graying, if you couldn't tell)

(thanks to Lindsay for the picture)

So, I have been teaching an English class to Korean students, using the text "Junior Great Books,"

but mainly what I've been doing is expanding my own vocabulary.

Avuncular, ingratiate, etc.

You can vote however you like.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxlwYP0HNdc

And then, a week later, the pumpkins rotted on our table and leaked all over my purse.

Shouldn't pumpkins last more than a week?

The first year, the pumpkins stayed at Tim's apartment:
The second year, the pumpkins stayed at my apartment:
This year, the pumpkins stayed at our apartment:

(that's Jack Sparrow, if you couldn't tell.)

We had a good weekend.

This past weekend, Tim and I journeyed to the North Carolina mountains to go camping.

10 things I learned:

1) People in the mountains really love to give you directions. When we asked how to get somewhere, the detail of the instructions that followed was amazing. It took about ten minutes for the camp manager to tell us how to get to Oktoberfest, when it came down to: stay on the same road. We could have gotten there in less time than it took for him to tell us how to.

(an attraction of Oktoberfest: Axe Man)

2) North Carolina must often feel like it's not a town name until you've added "ton" to the end. For example, we passed "Lincolnton" and "Rutherfordton."

3) There are a ridiculous amount of churches. Really, I've never seen so many churches in an area with not a lot of people.

4) Old Fort has a lot of passionate musicians at Oktoberfest. For example, there was the musical entertainment of a man singing karaoke for a few hours. Then, there was a band made up of about eight people, each with a different instrument, that all played the same chords at the same time. Apparently, this band didn't believe in different parts, or harmonies or anything like that. And I had a great time listening to all of them!

5) The scenery can be diverse. For example, there were pretty leaves, and areas without any leaves.

6) Off-brand cooking wear is not the way to go. As evidence, the little pot that could not:

7) There can be an apple orchard on the side of a mountain. And, it can also have the best apple cider you've ever tasted.

8) When wearing a cowboy hat, people in the mountains (or perhaps just in North Carolina) will refer to you as "Tex" and greet you with "howdy."

9) The Biltmore is expensive, but way cool.

10) It is so very beautiful, and I can't wait to go again!

I fully believe every person who meets the guidelines should vote.

With that being said, I do wish people would believe me when I tell them I'm registered to vote. A certain campaign has been by our apartment three times. Usually the conversation goes like this:

Them: Are you registered to vote?
Us: Yes
Them: Are you sure?
Us: Yes, quite sure
Them: Where did you do it?
Us: At the driver's license place.
Them: Did you receive a card?
Us: Yes
Them: Are you sure you know where to vote?
Us: Yes
Them: You vote at the school
Us: Right
Them: It says that on the card you should receive
Us: Got it
Them: You're sure you registered
Us: This is actually the third time you've been by to ask
Them: Where did you say that you registered?

The thing is, I'm not exaggerating...

but you can't be mean to someone who is supporting a cause you believe in. So, I'll probably have this conversation again (unless I spy their political sticker through the peep hole).

Last night, around 4:30 in the morning, I felt Tim twitch in his sleep, then sit up suddenly. I groggily turned over and asked if something was wrong.

"A bug just crawled on me," he said calmly.

He didn't know how big it was, which was my main concern. He had just picked the bug off of him and threw it across the room (I suppose he possesses much better reflexes than I do, as I would have just screamed and swatted the thing.)

Well, there was no just going back to sleep immediately for me. On Sunday, I had seen the biggest cockroach I had ever seen crawling on our couch, and I couldn't get that image out of my head. (note: these are different than the little beetles we have an abundance of here.)

Then, about a minute later, we heard a chinging sound.

It turns out, Tim had thrown the cockroach into his change cup on the other side of the room, which has about a 3 inch diameter opening. How you can aim that well with a cockroach, I'll never know.

So, he took it outside and dumped out all the change to kill the guy, who ended up being about 2 inches long, about the same size as the one on our couch earlier.

There really wasn't any going to sleep at that point. Now thanks to my mouth guard, my mouth is open all night. Who knows what could crawl in there!

When I went to the dentist back in the middle of July, he told me I had been grinding my teeth, which is usually an indication on stress. I thought that might be plausible, as I was applying to grad schools, writing a thesis, planning a wedding, getting married, moving, and starting grad school all within the same year.

But, despite all of that being over, the grinding hasn't stopped. So three days ago I bought a mouth guard.

The first night, it kept waking me up. Then the dreams started.

Two nights ago, I had a dream that I was eating soy bacon. I was frustrated and grossed out because the bacon wouldn't break down. It turns out, I was actually just chewing my mouth guard.

Last night, it was a big wad of gum. Once again, I woke up chewing my mouth guard.

If this keeps up, it might cause more problems than it solves.

HAPPY TALK LIKE A PIRATE DAY!

This past week in my "Storytelling in the Cinema" class, we were discussing humor. It turns out there is a pretty rigid formula: Incongruity + Resolution. This has been tested by setting up 3 jokes:
1) Incongruity + Resolution:
Q: Why did the cookie cry?
A: Because his mother was a wafer too long.

Cute joke, right? Well, here are the other combinations.
2)Incongruity without resolution
Q: Why did the cookie cry?
A: Because his mother was a wafer.

Okay, this isn't suppose to be funny. But for some reason, in the silence of class, I found this the most hysterical thing I had ever heard. Almost as funny to me was the next senario:

3) Resolution without incongruity
Q: Why did the cookie cry?
A: Because it stayed in the oven too long.

Again, not funny. Again, I was holding in my laughter so that the teacher wouldn't think I was looney. Oooh, if only you could push a "be rational" button and fix things.

PS- Another thing I've learned. When you're really, truly going for something, it's best to have your mouth open.

I did indeed survive the storm. In fact, I slept through it.

That was a little dissappointing.

Dum, dum, DUM: I'm about to be initiated into coastal living. I hope I pass!

Things I would change about UNCW campus:

1) Add another door to the library. The building is huge, and yet there is only one way to get in and out of it.

2) Add at least one vending machine to every building. And when you do, don't put it at the end of some hallway in a room with the door closed. I attend two 3-hour classes back-to-back, and I need a little something to get through them. It would be nice not to have to go to a different building and search up and down hallways to get a bottle of water or a coke.

that's all for now.

This weekend, Tim and I journeyed back to Fayetteville for the lovely Looney-Moody wedding. It was quite beautiful, but I'll save that for another time.


In other news, while in Fayetteville, we stayed at the Springdale Inn:



Now, this hotel did not have, among many things, a phone, a blanket underneath the comforter, a clock or more than one key (a house key at that) to the room. The continental breakfast consisted of packaged honeybuns and pecan pies.

It DID, however, have THE nicest Jacuzzi bath tub of any hotel I've stayed at over the past 2 years.

Priorities, you know?

Today in the church we visited, the pastor invited us to stand for the reading of the Scripture. He told us the page number in the pew Bibles, but since I had brought the same translation, I just turned to the right verses. He then asked us to read along with him.

I interpreted this as read out loud with him, I guess because he had gone to the trouble of telling us the page number it would be on. About a verse later, when nobody but I was reading the Scripture out loud, I realized that read along meant in your head.

The bad thing is, I laughed all during the "silent reflection" we were suppose to be doing after hearing Ephesians. And I even knew that this time we were suppose to be quiet.

I was just invited to the wedding of someone I met on a plane. Well actually, I sat next to the bride-to-be's mother, who is from the Philippines (her daughter lives in North Carolina). I told her I wanted to visit Asia, specifically Korea and Japan because of the wonderful people I've met from there, so she started telling me about the Philippines, and then later emailed me about the Philippines. The next thing you know, I'm going to her daughter's wedding in May.

Which, by the way, the Philippines IS a beautiful country. And because of the wonderful people I've met from there, I wouldn't mind visiting it either.

This started off as a post to tell you how domestic I am feeling, as not only did I hang up bird feeders, but I actually have hummingbirds and enjoy watching them in increasing amounts.But, it somehow turned into a post of how I embarrassed myself taking these pictures. I was, in fact, so focused on making sure I got the bird in the picture without scaring him away, that I failed to notice the golf cart that was driving up, with a man grinning and waving, probably thinking I was taking a picture of him.

Thankfully, (but perhaps not, but I'm being optimistic) there was a window separating it. (which might make it appear I was being secretive about taking his picture. Whatever the case, based on his smile, he took it well.)

There is something comforting about hearing Fayetteville talked about on the news, even if it is Fayetteville, North Carolina.

Wedding pictures are up!

http://www.pictage.com/432152

Yesterday, I made the trek to turn in my medical information to the graduate school in order to be able to register for classes. It turns out I needed a tetanus shot, so after getting the most vague directions to the health center ever, I made it, where they proceeded to lose my number. So, I essentially waited in line twice, and was quite ready to get out of there.

When they called my number, the lady asked me which arm I wanted the shot in. I told her it really didn't matter, and she casually mentioned that my arm might get a little sore.

Over 24 hours, I'm still feeling that shot, but have at least gained some mobility back in my arm.

All I have to say is, this degree better be worth it.

In addition to a wonderful wedding, I also had a wonderful honeymoon.

Although it was in a resort, which is about as touristy as it gets, there were still wild animals runnign amuck, such as this fella.

Basically, the theme of the trip is: we ate a lot. That is, after the first day, because on the first day we kept arriving at the places to eat right as they closed. For a few moments, I thought I was going to starve at an all-inclusive resort. Thankfully, we learned the system quickly, and didn't stop eating until we left.
We didn't even have to leave the beach to get wonderful food! They cooked this right by our beach chairs.
Tim even helped.

We took two day trips. The first was scuba diving in Cozumel. Out of 20 people on the boat, we were the only English speakers. You might be thinking, of course, it's Mexico, they speak Spanish there. Well, you would be wrong. 15 people (including the dive instructor) spoke Dutch, and 3 people (including the other instructor) spoke French. At least we knew they were talking to us when we heard an instruction in English.

The second trip was to Chichen Itza, one of the new 7 wonders of the world. Also a wonder is, how big of a souvineer you could get for 1 dollar.

But most importantly, there was a beautiful beach. A better beach than Wilmington, I must admit (although living by a beach makes it the best one automatically). Look how blue the water is!
And most exciting of all, here is our tourist picture! We definitely stood out on our return from Mexico, but if you can't pull it off then, you won't have a better chance.

Well, I am oficially married. My wedding was complete with a kiss
some words...
ridiculously fun bridesmaids (here demonstrating the new dance move: the cover up your boobs while dancing.)

handsome groomsmen...
the train...
and my two favorite moments, the garter toss (complete with a sexy mating dance)
and the daddy-daughter dance!

So there you have it!