Updates and Photos

The first semester is coming to a close, and so far I think it has gone fairly well. These last few papers and assignments will probably determine it all, but I have definitely enjoyed my classes, and I'm really hoping I do well enough to keep my funding. It's so refreshing to actually enjoy my coursework and find it intriguing and thought-provoking. Being a TA has been fun as well, though I'm dreading giving out final grades. I don't like having that kind of power.

Halloween was definitely the most fun time of the semester. Lynne came to visit, and we hung out, watched the movie Hitch (one of my favorites), baked a pumpkin pie, and ate far too much in the way of festive halloween snacks and treats (it turns out that popcorn, cheetoes, chocolate-covered raisins, and candy corn taste really good all mixed together). Then we dressed up in our lovely costumes and went to Club Tropicana for a Halloween dance.

The next day we went with Celesete to a local corn maze, and had lots of fun girl-talk time.

The following weekend was the dance competition, which went fairly well, I suppose, but not as well as I had hoped. However, they did have a costume part at the end, which gave me another fun chance to dress up.

Socially, things have been going fairly well - I have made quite a few female friends/acquaintances from the the latin dance club and ballroom dance clubs, and I get along well with the other philosophy grad students (even though I don't really spend much time with them other than hanging around in the grad student office). Some of the guys in the dance clubs are decent fellows (though others are not so much), but none of them appear to be potential dance partners. I had hoped that I would find someone to practice moves with so that I could progress as a dancer and remember the moves I learned, but it looks like there is little prospect for that, even if I had time for it. Ah well, at least I am getting better at following salsa, that's something. I just wish there were more places to practice the other dances.

A new start

Sometimes life changes leave me feeling a bit schizophrenic. Coming down here to Missouri for grad school was a fulfillment of my dream of pursuing philosophy, but I had to leave Frank behind to do it. It's hard to loose a boyfriend and a best friend at once. I understand that we need to date other people, or we'll never be certain if we have the "right person," but emotional ties are hard to sever.

The excitment of meeting new people and having wonderful new adventures is counterbalanced by pining for what used to be. The rush of learning new dance steps and dancing with new partners is pitted against the regret of loosing a wonderful dance partner. Then with classes, the freshness and excitiment of learning new material in a field I love is offset by my fear that I will not learn quickly enough or be competent enough to survive the program.

It's times like these where I'm so glad God is there to lead me through the mental confusion and show me which course my life is meant to take.

My new apartment!

Upon arrival, (having driven through the night) my mom and I scoped out the apartment and immediately began shopping for furniture. We didn't sleep until that night. In the space of three days, we had my apartment fully furnished, and feeling quite like home. Here are some pictures.

The trip to Missouri

At the beginning of August, mom and I packed up the car and headed west to pick up the things I left at the school in Elgin. We stayed at Frank's for the weekend, which involved much dancing, cutesy noises, and bouncing around with a huge smile on my face. Every time Frank and I see each other, it gets harder to say goodbye, but I guess that's just how things go in life. After a very happy two days, mom and I drove down to Missouri where I am now going to graduate school.

Earlier this summer

Back in the end of June I flew out to visit Frank for a week. We had a wonderful time dancing, visiting the Chicago Botanic Garden, going roller skating with Sarah, going mini-golfing with Mike, and generally hanging out. (First photo at the mini-golf place, second at Dance World in Hoffman Estates).

The summer at home

I had a wonderful summer at home with my family, and got in plenty of quality time with them (and the cats, which were oh so fun to play with). I particularly enjoyed hanging out with Michelle. We talked, watched movies together, made fun of anything and everything, and read Harry Potter together. I also got Michelle all dolled up for her senior photos (I'll post a picture of one when I can), and dressed up as Harry Potter characters the night before the book came out. We also dressed up to go to the movie. We even did some useful work - I helped Michelle sort through university options and start planning for college. (In the photos: Michelle as a Hogwarts student, and me as Professor Treelawny, the divination teacher)

The Competition Continued

Here are some pictures from the smooth dances (waltz, foxtrot, and tango) as well as a picture from the end with our ribbons and family. I will add more photos as I get them.

Practicing the nigt before

The Competition

I promised I would post the results of the dance competition with pictures, but Frank's dad and my mom (who flew out from Delaware to see the comp.) took videos rather than still shots, so that makes sharing action footage problematic. However, we did manage to get a few photos, and we'll try to capture more from the videos.

Our first dance was at 8am on Saturday, which meant getting up at 5:30am to prepare (makeup, hair, costume). My grandma flew in from California the day before and stayed at the hotel were the comeptition took place. My mom arrived just as we started the cha-cha. It was nerve-wracking to be out on the floor in front of the judges, but it also gave me a bit of a rush. It helped that all the couples in each category go out on the floor at once.

The first photos are from the rythm dances, in which we performed cha-cha, rumba, and swing. In the newcomer category, we placed 3rd out of 8. In the bronze category we survived one elimination round (down to 20 from 34) but didn't make it after that.


Here we are back at Frank's place after the Saturday competition with our medals.





I will add info on the Sunday competition (the smooth dances) when I have photos to go with it.

Washington D.C.

I'm currently on spring break at home in Delaware, and I brought Jin back from the school I'm working at with me. She is working/learning English at the school this year, and didn't have anyone to stay with over break as her family all lives in Korea. Last Saturday, Jin, my mom, and I all went to Washington D.C. First, we all went to check out the Smithsonian museum of natural history.

Mom stayed the rest of the time in the museums, and Jin and I went to see the Washington Monument, the White House, the Lincoln Memorial and reflecting pool, and the beautiful cherry blossoms. It was a bit tiring, but a very worthwhile trip.

Dancing the Night Away

Frank and I have been practicing dancing quite a bit lately in preparation for our May 20th ballroom dancing competition. Last Saturday, we went to Magnum's Steakhouse (where we met, and where Frank first asked me out a few months later) for a fancy dinner and dancing. It was nice to re-live those times - very romantic. :-)

The dinner The Tango

The Hustle cuddle

The Hustle open

The Hustle dip

The Rumba dip

Valentines Pictures

As promised, here are my pictures from Valentine's Day. As part of my present for Frank, I fixed him a surprise fancy dinner (complete with home-made pasta, sparkling cider, and chocolate cherry cake) and got all dressed up.

The setup

The cleanup

Updates

It's been too long since I have posted, I know. Quite a bit has transpired, and I am not as good at supplying pictures for it as I once was. I do have pictures from Valentine's Day, which was quite fun, or at least, Frank has the pictures, and I will try to get them from him. :-) Frank and I are still dating for the time being, and we are hoping to do ballroom dancing competition in May. Once I finish this post, I will try to motivate my brownie and junk food-filled body off of the chair and into practicing dancing.

In terms of the future, I have been accepted into two different graduate programs, a masters program in Philosophy at NIU, and a doctoral program at U of Missouri at Columbia. I am still waiting to hear back from two other programs. It looks at this point like Frank and I will take a break from dating while I am away at school. I really don't know what the future holds in terms of our relationship, but I think I am finally nearing the point where I am willing to let God unfold that. What I do need to do is to spend more time in prayer and more time really and truly listening to God's guidance.