Present participle post

So I've been neglecting my blog-writing responsibilities recently, but not for lack of things to share. Here's what I've been up to recently:

Mourning what looks like a fatal end to my faithful computer of four years. Just as soon as my Internet was installed in my apartment on Saturday, my computer came down with the Ebola of computer ailments. I can get it to turn on about once in every ten times I push the power button, and then I'm lucky to get five minutes of operation before the screen starts to quiver like an analog TV not quite getting the signal, and then everything freezes. I haven't exactly decided on a course of action yet, but it doesn't take a prophet to predict that there's a new computer somewhere in my future.

Ice skating. A co-worker and her daughter took me to a little ice rink in one of the malls here. (I don't know why I didn't think to bring my ice skates to Indonesia.) I wanted to go not just because I enjoy skating but also to see if I've turned into a weather wimp with all this heat. I haven't. The cold was delightful, and I'm looking forward to Christmas.

Buying my ticket home for Christmas. This was far more complicated than I expected, but the end result is that I'm arriving in Indianapolis on the 21st of December and leaving January 5. I'll be so ready for snow and cold and sweaters and seeing family and dear friends.

Receiving a delightful package of books and goodies from my mother. The way to make Laura smile is to send her books.

Researching interesting places to visit when my parents and roommate come to visit in October. My excitement goes way beyond exclamation points.

Getting a tutoring job. I'm about 90% sure that I'm going to start tutoring a very artistically talented 7th grader boy in English.

Celebrating one whole month of being here. My "anniversary" was 08/08/08, which is almost celebration enough by itself (one of the few dates where it doesn't matter if I write the date American style or rest-of-the-world style), but it was also Friday, and I was invited out to dinner at a Japanese restaurant by the family whose son I'll tutor. Then I got to watch the last half of the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. It hardly seems like I've been here a month, but it's been a good one and I'm looking forward to more good months.

Teaching a graphic novel. We're reading Marked by Steve Ross in my 11th grade classes, an adaptation of the gospel of Mark. I am not very familiar with the graphic novel world and I'm not totally comfortable with the portrayal of Christ, but I love the way Marked avoids traditional iconography and refashions situations and characters to remind us how strange and crazy and challenging the gospel story is. I won't say anything more, but I definitely recommend it as a book to get you thinking.

Creeping into my kitchen every morning with a camera to capture that perfect shot of Walter.

Watching the Olympics. I've been an Olympics junkie since I was a little girl. Erica and I have sung along with the NBC Olympics theme song many times (I can hear those timpani and trumpets now), but it's a little harder to get my Olympic fix in Indonesia. For one thing, the Olympics aren't very popular here, largely because of Indonesia's limited medal prospects. Badminton is their best hope this year. In fact, there was hardly any competition for the TV rights to cover the Olympics in Indonesia. The coverage I've seen is sometimes laughable in its badness. The transition between events usually involves cutting one event off in the middle and sometimes going to an Indonesian anchor before cutting into another event in the middle. Maybe it would help if I understood more than a few numbers in the Indonesian transitions, but I don't think so. My favorite was when the visual showed a women's basketball game while the audio followed the men's bicycling road race. Perhaps Indonesia has discovered an efficient way to cover two sports at once. All in all, even though I'm closer than most of you to the Olympics, I'm feeling further away, and I've been re-examining my enjoyment of the Olympics: do I just like them because I get to watch the U.S. win? And what is it that makes a country good at the Olympics?

Living alone. This isn't anything new, but I've been thinking about how living alone has been one of the hardest things to get used to here. While living alone it has its benefits (I don't bother anyone and no one bothers me), I've decided that I vastly prefer living with other people. To all the people I've lived with, no matter how short or long the time, I miss you.

Growing, stretching, and learning.