Summer Happenings

Even though I still have a little less than a month until summer is over I'm entitling this summer happening because the rest of the summer will most likely be uneventful. I realize this will most likely be the last summer I have so I have taken it easy and relaxin'. A usual day consist of get up, go to work at the lab for a couple of hours and then come home and find something to pacify the time until I go to bed again. Yes I do realize most people that will be reading this haven't been able to do this and probably lead busy lives and don't want to hear this but I have the attitude I won't be able to do this later in life after I graduate. I will say "Hi My name is Beverly Martin and I am a lazy bum."
Anyway having said that the big events this summer have been going out to visit my grandparents and relatives in Idaho. My parents and I began our trip in their red Impala at 5:30 in the morning headed north on Highway 43 (later different highways and interstates) toward Magnolia IL and Magnolia MN. The first day we talked about where all the oil in the world comes from. Mind you this is 5:30 in the morning. Somewhere in the conversation a mountain ended up falling on all of the dinosaurs heading north out of Wyoming and killing them, making the big strip of oil they have in Wyoming. Somewhere after that conversation I took a nap and when I woke up we were in Selmer, TN. I was still laughing about the oil conversation when we happened upon what looked like a local of the Selmer area's business. No joking, the restaurant is called Smack Ya'self BBQ. It was all over, I laughed all the way to Jackson, TN and at times still laugh hysterically .
The second day, Saturday, we arrived in Magnolia, IL around 6:00pm. It's a little bigger than Magnolia, AL (which probably every little town is bigger than Magnolia, AL). It seemed to carry on the theme of the Midwest in that corn is everywhere. If looked upon in a helicopter there would be corn, corn, corn, and even more corn, little town of Magnolia surrounded by corn, corn, then more corn. There was, no kidding, corn. In this little town or village as the guy told Dad the only business in a pub. Across from the pub is the volunteer fire dept., of which Dad had walked over in front of the pub to take a picture of and not noticing the, bless his little heart, wasted guy sitting in a car. He commented to dad that there wasn't very much to take a picture of and Dad, being really excited to have a local to talk to and tell him the history of Magnolia, IL proceeded to talk to him. Mom and I had stayed in the car parked by the vol. fire dept. see dad talking to the guy and the we hear the guy shout MAGNOLIA, ALABAMA. Apparently Dad had told him where he is from. Dad and this guy talk a little bit more and then the guy's drinking buddy comes out of the pub. The guy tells his friend where this guy taking a picture is from and that Dad wants to take a picture of them (cause dad did ask if he could) and the friend opens the door of the pub and yells, "Hey this guys want to take a picture of us." and gets two women to come out. Dad sees these women that are dressed in their lets just say afternoon drinking not much there outfits and instantly smiles. He smiles while taking the picture and then smiles some more when walking to the car and getting in. While Dad was talking to the guys mom and I notice a smaller size SUV come up with what looked like blue lights flashing stop a policewomen gets out, says by to her passenger, whom just looked like she was dropping of at the vol. fire dept. which looked like a wedding reception is taking place. The friend of the guy waves and says hi to the local women authority whom proceeds to not pay any attention to this greeting gets back in her small size SUV and drive of quickly. (I realize now that some of my rambling may not make sense and hard to follow if so just ask in the comment section and I will translate.)
The third day wasn't as eventful as the first two. We arrive in Magnolia, MN and took some pictures there and realized we need gas, but Magnolia being the same as Magnolia AL has no commercial business at all. We proceed to a nearby neighboring town which is at least 17 miles up the road in hopes mom and I won't have to push the car to a gas station while dad steers. Thankful for everything that is right with the world we were able to find a gas station and fill up without mom and I having to push while dad steers. Later that night we were able to make it to Cody, WY. The plans for the evening were to eat and go to the famous Cody, WY Rodeo, but not for me. While going through the wonderful and beautiful mountains of WY my body decides it doesn't like the back and forth motion of going up the passes in the mountains so it decides to yell at me and give me crap about it. Hence...motion sickness. Every time I tried to sit up and enjoy the wonderful and beautiful mountains of WY my body would scream, "Do you want to see your lunch, if not, lay back down." Which sucked. Needless to say I stayed the night in the hotel room trying to convince myself that I needed to eat the soup mom had gotten me at the restaurant. Around nine I was able thankfully to convince myself.
The next day we arrived at grandma and grandpa's house and had a very enjoyable and relaxing time for the next week. The trip back consisted of me taking a lot of naps because there was nothing else to do and all of us wishing we were back at home and not driving across the country.

I've been tagged. (must be the new thing nowadays)

4 jobs I've had in the past:

• Land Surveyor's assistant (for my dad. Was only for 2 jobs he had but hey I count it)
• Birmingham Zoo (only a two week job two summers ago. couldn't get along with management)
• Lab technician (my current job but in December it will be in the past.)
• Babysitter (no comment)
  

Movies I could always watch:

• Hoosiers (reminds me a lot of the last year I payed high school basketball, we only had six players the whole season and no we didn't win the state title.)
• Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (only musical I have come across that I can handle)
• Xmen movies (I loved to see what kind of powers the writers could come up with)
• Robin Hood (my favorite Disney cartoon)

4 places I've lived:

• Magnolia, AL (grew up there)
• Tuscaloosa, AL (go to school there)
• Birmingham, AL (lived there for two weeks while working at the zoo)
• In my wildest dreams

4 shows I love:

• Kyle XY (my summer SciFi, I call it my Lost because I get pretty lost in it if ya know what I mean)
• Dirty Jobs (doesn't have too many new episodes but I like to see the types of jobs and Mike Rowe is pretty hilarious)
• Real Estate Pros (house flippers from South Carolina. Interesting to see how fast they can flip one of those boogers)
• Reba (didn't think I would like it at first but Reba McIntyre is hilarious)
  

4 Foods I love:

• Papa Johns Pizza (nothing like it in the whole world)
• Boiled peanuts (yes, yes I know but they are sooo good)
• Lemon Icebox Pie (can't eat a whole lot because of the sweetness but really good stuff)
• Fresh vegetables (they have to come right out of the garden, soo goood)

4 Websites I frequent:

• Gmail
• Facebook
• Blogs of friends and family
• MyBama during school

4 Place I'd rather be:

• In bed
• On vacation going out west
• singing and doing the jig
• flying with Superman
  

I'm Tagging:
Anyone that wants to do it. It's kinda fun.

Nostalgia

I had just finished answering one of the unknown IDs when I set my pencil down on the desk and look over my test to make sure I had answered all of the IDs. I left the words I had never seen before blank, hoping I would come up with something at least intellectual to write for the answer. Just maybe if I give an answer that makes some sense he will give me some credit. Johnny Sassamon. I must have been in one of my daydreams when my professor was going over what this Johnny Sassamon person was.
All of the IDs have been identified and I walk up to my professor and give him my lengthwise folded test.
"Thank you." he says in his deep voice.
I walk back to my desk and pick up my light green bag with my pencils and ACT card in it and head out the door. I walk down the old blue hall and turn right to head toward the exit. Relief feels my body as I realized that I don't have to worry about class on Monday. I have to take some books I had checked out from Gorgas library for this class and then I can head home and officially be out for the summer.

***

The phone rings in my ear as I patiently wait for my mom to answer her cell phone.
"Hello" she answers.
"Hey mom." I say lovingly.
Mom and Dad had planned on going to girls camp because mom has to speak. Our church had been building a camp up in northern Alabama and I hadn't been there before. I didn't feel like the usual sitting at home, watching television while my dog scratches his fleas so I had asked them the night before if I could tag along. Mom had told me they were spending the night in Birmingham and then on Saturday going to a goat festival in Talladega. I worried about my dog getting out of my backyard so I told them to go ahead without me.
"Are ya'll coming to Tuscaloosa?" I said in the phone. I had changed my mind and wanted to go. I hear my mom tell my dad I had changed my mind and ask him when they would plan on getting to Tuscaloosa.
"Dad says we will be there around 2 or 2:30." she said.

***

I get out of the red Dodge Impala and stand by the car to wait for mom and Dad to get out. I look around at the newly built pavillion and see a mixture of girls and women chattering away. I stretch my legs to get the stiffness out from the 2 and a half hour drive. Not much grass is on the ground around the cabins seeing as they are still in the process of building the camp and because of the drought Alabama is presently going through. I sit on the hood of the car as Dad says, "Let's go up there and see if we know anybody." Mom looks over and sees women that she has meet during her calling as Montgomery Relief Society Stake Presidet. She walks over and begins her hellos and how are yous in between hugs.
I hear "How are you Bev?" I look over to see a familiar women in her thirties with blonde frizzy hair that shows it has not been able to receive the attention that it has prior to the last couple of days. She is tall and skinny and looks dressed as though she has been up to date on the latest teen fashion. She is wearing a t-shirt and shorts that go to her knees. Somehow, if gone back a couple of generations I am related to her husband. Her mother-in-law is my grandmother's cousin. Her in-laws went to the same church as me when I was growing up. Her mother-in-law was a grandmother figure for me because my father's mother had passed away when I was in the second grade.
I answered with a smile and, "Good. How are you?" She answers with good and walks off to tend to her duties as a leader.
I look over and see a counselor of the YW presidency that always was at camp with me.
"How are you?" she says reaching out to give me a hug.
Her black African America hair is curly and has a tint of grey around her hair line. She looks like she has been camping for the several days in which she has.
"Good, How are you Sister Stovall?" I reply, happy to see her.
"You should have been here this week. We have had a beautiful week. Every night has been so cool and wonderful."
I laugh a little at the thought of having to "rough it" during my couple years of going through the same camp as the girls here now. I always had butterflies in my stomach during the drive up to where our camp leaders had decided we should camp for the next couple of days. I don't know why because during the next couple of days I always enjoyed the friendship and the bonds that formed between me and the girls in my group level. Every time we left I felt a longing to still be with the girls I had recently been able to call my friends and not wanting to leave. I always had mixed feelings on leaving because I also wanted to get back home to "civilization." Memories of staying up late with leaders and other girls in my group rush through my head. One year our camp director had invited us JCs, older girls, to play cards with her and other adult leaders. Being someone that is very competitive, I decided to sit back to watch and not ruin the good reputation I had with them. I sat there and watched as the leaders bring up memories from years before of friendship between them. They laugh as they tell stories of playing pranks on each other to relieve the stress of having to deal with fifty or sixty wining girls. My cousin went for several years as a leader and it was fun watching her mingle with the women she had grown to love in friendship.
I walk over to where my mother is mingling and notice another leader who had been with me at camp. I always loved coming to camp and listening to her strong British accent. Now, since she has been living in the south for several years, she has a touch of southern dialect. She and another sister who also was from England served as the craft ladies for a couple of years. They always had interesting crafts for us campers to do during our free time.
She and other leaders begin telling about their week and having to share with another group of campers. The ropes course that has been built and available to the girls during the week has been brought up and Sister Stovall offers to give us a tour of the camp, seeing as mom and I haven't seen it yet. The four of us, Mom, Dad, Sister Stovall, and I begin to walk on a rocky road up a hill. We get added information about the weeks events from Sister Stovall and how she loved the ropes course and zip line. I look up when reaching the top and see tall telephone poles supporting series of tires set up for walking on. Opposite the tires are pieces of wood that have been attached to bright yellow ropes also designed for walking. They both look obvious to have faith to not fall while walking on them. I look to my left to find the zip line. It's a long cable running from a supported platform extending off from the ropes course. The cable goes on for several feet and then ends at another wooden platform. Sister Stovall begins to tell of her experience of excitement as she gains momentum and then comes to an abrupt stop while her body still swung and then also coming to a stop. I would love to do it now, but back then during my girls camp I would not have even thought about trying. I think to myself as we begin to make our way down the hill to continue our tour of Camp Hulaco.

***

The girls have gathered for dinner and I sit there looking to see if I know any of them. I don't recognize the younger girls but do see older ones that were first levels during my years of camp. I begin to feel very old because two of the girls, of whom are daughters of the blonde women seen before, used to be little babies while I was growing up. I remember their mother carrying them around on her hip during church in Magnolia and during the camp where she was YW President. I look over and see the daughter of my British leader. She looks just like her older sister. I begin to think how old I am and excitement because I remember I graduate from college in December of this year.

Spring 2007 and Interim

I really must say I fell like I should just delete my blog seeing as I don't post that much. Hopefully though, since summer is starting officially for me tomorrow after my exam maybe I will post more regularly. Spring semester ended three weeks ago and I started interim after that. I had to take one class that is only offered during interim. Spring semester ended with the regular As and Bs report card. I began to get worried toward the middle of the semester about a class and wondered if I would have a passing grade. It's amazing what attendance does to a struggling grade. The semester was pretty productive though. I wrote some short stories that I would like to make into a longer story. I had a creative writing instructor that really stressed the whole publishing aspect of writing and so I made the goal of at least starting the process of getting published before I graduate. By the way, I am expected to graduate in December so Hooray!!! This summer I plan to write until I come up with something I feel comfortable with sending to a publisher. I've written a lot of short stories in my creative writing classes and want to revise this summer and send those off and hopefully one will get published and I will start getting my name out there. One of my CW classes was a class on poetry. We ended up just writing a lot of our poetry and workshopping (critiquing) some of our own and so I discovered my poetry side. I wrote a couple that were good, but I don't think I will be pursuing writing poetry. I think I will stick with prose. In another CW class I ended up writing what I think is the worst story I have ever written in my whole entire life. I had a good idea but it got out of control and so I trashed it.
My interim class has been really interesting. We talked (or took notes while our teacher lectured rather) about some books and then we watched an adaptation of it. We read The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, The Last of the Mohicans, The Scarlet Letter, and we finished up with The Great Gatsby. I really love The Great Gatsby. Ever since I read it in high school I have absolutely been in love. When we were done talking about it in high school I went to the local Movie Gallery, which was about 30 minutes up the road, and got the movie with Robert Redford, Mia Farrow, and Sam Waterston. It is a really good movie. We ended up watching it in class yesterday and today. I fell in love again, especially with young Robert Redford. Really he was hot. A little old for me though.

A pretty good day I would say

On the other note, I went with my mom today to a Ward Council for Capitol Ward in Montgomery and talked to a man that was a high councilmen for Magnolia at one time. He asked me how school was going and I told him hopefully December(which I hope happens even though I know the University is going to come up with another pull out of their butt class that I need and can't graduate then.) and he was telling me, being a lawyer, that I needed to think about law school. He said and I quote because this man is a very interesting man. He looks at me with the very serious face and then says, "This is what I want you to do. You need to take the LSAT." I cracks me up because I felt like a youth who was being interviewed by the bishop and getting advice on problem I had. I guess you had to be there and know him. This guy answers the phone by saying his name in place of "hello". He used to call for dad all the time seeing as my dad was branch president and talk to him about high council/branch president stuff. Dad would get so tickled. Anyway, So he tells me that and I am actually a little tiny bit interested because a saw a job for a paralegal and it looked pretty good and looked like hit paid well. Oh, then he comes up to me before the first meeting was about to start and whispers in my ear, "law school". Mom looked at me and said I guess he was supposed to be the still small voice whispering to you. Knowing him I sure. Other people I saw was a girls camp leader that was over my level one year. It was really good to see her it had been a while. I also saw a girl I felt sorry for at girls camp (lots of girls camp memories came back to me) because nobody talked to her. Later I found out why. I feel bad for her but she is annoying as crap. I also saw a friend that had moved from Tuscaloosa to Montgomery last August. She is still awesome as ever.

Spring Break 2007 (with no money).

I would like to say that I had all this money and was able to go on a road trip to who knows where, but seeing as I am a senior in college and my job is lets just say really really flexible there was no more money beside for bills. However I did have the opportunity and glad I did to spend time with my parents. This week consisted of me sleeping in, hooray, while mom and dad went to the pasture to build a barn for their goats. I know, I know, your thinking why didn't you help your mom and dad. One reason, I suck at helping, I tried, I stood there and watched dad crawl around on the rafter while mom nervously watched, while standing on the scaffolding in case he needed her help. Every once in a while I would stand on a 2x4 while dad cut it with his saw and hold the ladder while dad climbed up, but other than that I don't think I was much of a helper. So the second day they went I stayed in bed. Mostly I have read a book I got for Christmas. It is kind of interesting, but kind of boring at the same time. I rode around in the Explorer with mom when she took a couple who don't have a car to Thomasville so they could get some groceries. It was good to spend a little time with mom. Oh, and speaking of goats I went with mom and dad to another goat auction. Dad was selling some goats and ended up getting a little more money than they bought them for. It was fun to see the goats surprising look as the door opened to let them into the gated area to get bidded? on. Yesterday I had the most awesome experience though. My oldest nephew which is the oldest grandchild was baptized. I got so emotional, the spirit was so so strong. I told mom later I can't imagine what I am going to be like at my children's baptism if I'm that emotional at my nephew's baptism. He followed his aunt's example and had to do it twice because something didn't go under, maybe a toe or something else. I felt so old. That was basically my Spring Break and most likely my last.

Me Freakin' out....naw

This semester started with freaking out, escalated freaking out, and then calming a little. So I begin this semester with the usual go to school for the first day, find out what is expected of me, and then continue on with no changes. Well, I registered for a class that was going to discuss the legend of King Arthur and whether he was real or not. Thanks to my high school English teacher I'm absolutely obsessed with King Arthur and the whole wife having an affair thing. Well I squeaked in the class by being the last on to sign up and then getting all excited about the class. Big huge flags should have went off in my head when he class was EN 477. No significance with the number but it is a higher level 400 level class. So, I go to class on the first day, not to mention it was at 8:00 bright and early for a college student especially that hasn't taken an 8:00 since freshmen year, and I walk in to hear classmates talk about how hard of a teacher that our teacher is. Seeing as they were talking about a she and the teacher's name in my schedule had somewhat of a man sounding name I paid no attention. So, the teacher comes in, being all female and all, and she starts going over the syllabus. The first huge red flag that went off in my head was when she said that our only long research paper needed to be good enough to be published. HOLY CRAP!! That second red flag was not being exactly sure what things were due and when. That is a good thing to know with it being a class and all. So I went home after my classes were over, freaked out more, and cried. After thinking about it for a little while I convinced myself everything was going to be okay I decided everything was good. Well, Martin Luthur King Day came and went and the morning of my second class came. I never came to class. I skipped both classes that day and stayed in bed. Usually when I do that I really don't want to face what is coming in the day ahead of me. My mom made her usual call and asked how my day went and I said pretty good considering I stayed home. Then she said If your worried about the class drop it. Believe me that crossed my mind the minute I left that class so I went to the computer lab to see if any classes were open. I didn't want to do anything drastic so I didn't. The next day, I went back to the computer lab, dropped that class like a ton of bricks, and signed up for a poetry class. I had never dropped a class before and knew I would be behind and when I worry about things the world is about to end so I worried until I finally was able to go to the poetry class and realized the teacher is cool and everything is good.