Wish You Were Here.

I like October a lot. Aside from my birthday being in it, this particular October has been pretty special. (And I surmise that it is God's endearing little surprises for me, for it being me birthday month and all that.) Hee hee.

I have a lot of Happy Days. Days I just can't risk forgetting and losing. And so, to share my happiness with the rest of humanity, I will ingrain it all in the immortal annals of Multiply. (Tumblr, originally, but they were down.)

_________________________________

Life Goals.

It was last Saturday when finally, my Saturday morning class met its end. The CAD exam was easy (thank you, bloody CAD project, for sufficiently preparing me), and I left the hall singing and skipping ever so slightly.

I went home for a quick bite and met up with Mike for church. When we got there, lo and behold! There was Bernard with my skateboard deck! (Sorry for not honoring honorifics. I mean no offense. I am not very used to them.) I asked him if he could buy a blank deck if he sees one, and I suppose they have bazrillions of them in America, where he went. Hoho. One of them found its glorious way here, into the hands of a very thin, eager-eyed girl. Kaiser (my new wooden pet) will be out and about as soon as I find the proper parts, hopefully before the next year starts <3 Thank you for all who have been supportive of this (potentially crippling, but nonetheless) delightful endeavor.

I also discovered that the piano in C1C2 at church is very, very much like the one at home. Perhaps I can go up sometime (or many times) and see if the room isn't locked.

After fellowship (where we had this icebreaker sort of thing, and for some reason I cannot fathom, I was embarrassed all throughout), I decided to go home and have a better look at Kaiser. Sharon-tsi and and the other people were kind enough to accompany me and Mike over to the trike stop. They are all very nice.

So both of us were walking home when suddenly I saw this really fluffy thing on a leash, bobbing up and down.

A husky.

My heart always stops when I see one. I hurried to catch up with it and guess what: I GOT TO PET IT. I won't ever forget how it felt. The husky kept licking at me too. So utterly adorable. I spent the rest of the day grinning.

______________________________

You Gain Strength, Courage, and Confidence by Every Experience in which You Really Stop to Look Fear in the Face.

That's what Natalie-tsi quoted to us during one of our Leadership Talks (Fridays 7pm, in one of the Fellowship Hall rooms). I've always thought that if you wanted to see what fear looked like, all you had to do was to look in the mirror.

Not always, I suppose. Last Tuesday, it took the form of a monolithic, open air, public bus. (Not that I faced it head-on, or anything.) Me and Vanessa met at school (if I remember right, I only had my morning class, and we just loitered everywhere, met Don and talked about religion), and inevitably had to go home.

So, there we were, at the Philcoa stop. And there it was, looming towards us. Ill-omened, a dark cloud of despicable-ness trails behind. The noise of a thousand buzzards fill the street. We were going inside the creature's carcass. I exaggerate. We hailed it and climbed aboard.

I've never truly been in a bus before. The youth camp Island Adventure didn't count--that was a decent, well-scheduled affair. But this. The spontaneity, the sheer wildness of wind and inertia and metal and people looking at you and you not knowing where to sit when the bus is already moving at 70 kph..exhilarating.

(I rode the bus twice this week.)

__________________________________

End of Semester Celebration.

Technically, I'm not done with my semester yet, but Vanny and I thought it would be a perfect day for a picnic.

October 16, Friday.

That day I woke up accidentally at 5 AM and saw that the sky was a bright aqua. It looked so alien, but I knew it was the same sky I've been looking at since I can remember. I tried not to go back to sleep because I wanted to remember how it looked (and I thought that maybe the sky swirls in colors when nobody's looking) but after a while it settled back into a normal gray-blue.

I woke up for real and got ready for my Russian exam.

It went great.

She brought picnic food and off we went to the spot I shan't be telling. (If you are curious enough, I can bring you there, but only if you ask nicely.) It had exactly the type of music I like (old) and it had cats. I felt that I could live there forever. We talked about God and how sometimes we get confused about what He really wants for us (I remember one time praying to God: I do not understand You!) and we added in absolutely anything that came to mind.

Then we went cat-hunting. But I'm telling you, they hide from me! :( All I wanted was a cat to bring home and love. Someday, cat, I will find you and you will be loved.

It was 4:15. Guitar lessons begin at 5, at church. We hurried home (took the second bus of my life, felt better) and got home at around 5. I was offering internal apologies to Lawrence, who was expecting us for the lessons, I think. Sorry again for being late. For some reason, I can't say it directly to you. And finally, we played a little Gymnopedie on the piano for Vanessa. She laughed at our efforts.

I accompanied Vanny to the trike stop, all the while singing Gymnopedie (she the left-hand tune, and I the right) and when she left I was left to sing it by myself on the way back.

_______________________________

A Little Reunion, and a Seemingly Insignificant Witness.

After Leadership Talk that night, I went out a bit for a bathroom break before Bible Study started, and I saw my sister walk in the fellowship hall. I pinched her and she tickled me and I forgot when I saw her last (maybe that morning, but I felt it was so long). She dragged me here and there, and made me carry her bag, and I was just grinning all the while. When we parted, I saw the nice lady who works at the church smiling at us. It made my heart soar.

_____________________________

I love October, and I'm glad there's still a little bit of it left.