Where does the soul hide?

I like this idea: Love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place. -Zora Neale Hurston. Although it brings up the question: where does the soul hide? And what is it hiding from? 

This is my "repeat" song of late. It's beautiful in my humble opinion. I wanted to paint the lyrics on the wall of my bedroom in The Dalles, but the lyrics, despite being poignant, are extremely sad. I decided on "Blessed" by Brett Dennen for the wall instead. We (the tennis team) head to Oklahoma Sunday at 3 a.m. for my (potential) last round of collegiate matches. I am excited, and nervous. 

Studying or Singing?

Let me introduce you to a brief snippet of my mid-term study playlist. I had to go with soothing songs because anything upbeat just makes me start dancing or head-bobbing, neither of which contribute to me writing why Ruben Dario is considered the father of Latin American modernism.... These songs don't stop me from singing along or humming, since I can't whistle, but they don't provoke dancing anyway.

1. In the Sun
2. Desire
3. A Different Kind of Love
4. I Will Follow You into the Dark
5. Someone Somewhere
6. Slow Dancing in a Burning Room
7. Blessed
8. Emerald Sky
9. Telling Stories

Ok, I rock out a little on the last couple :)

P.S. If you are interested  - Ruben Dario is characterized as a writer of the "el modernismo" period because of his chromatism, exoticism, use of synesthesia, mythology and fantasy! Finished my paper, yay.

Sick Again

You know what really gets my goat? Recurring, never-ending, cyclical bouts of sickness. Dang annoying to say the least; and I was doing so well. But, yes, it's struck again. Before I list my multitude of ailments, some self-induced I'm sure, may I just comment that one of my pet peeves is when I obsess over my own snotty nose, dry throat, pounding headache.... need I go on? Can you have a pet peeve that is self-directed? Well, I do.

So, in the interest of avoiding the annoyance sure to come at the review of my own whiny blog post, I will instead direct you to Peggy Ann McKay, main character of Shel Silverstein's poem "Sick". She will invite you to the world of the sick, but also leave you with a laugh. Read and enjoy, while also avoiding any sickies in your vicinity.

Fingers crossed for speedy recovery to anyone sharing my boat out there!

Portland

First off, a HUGE HUGE thank you to everyone who came out for little LC's tennis match against University of Portland this last weekend. It was amazing to have fans. I mean, it was super amazing to have fans cheering and yelling, but it was just plain amazing to have fans period. Portland was rainy, traffic was bad (thanks Obama), and the tennis center was approximately 37 degrees Fahrenheit. But still, droves of supporters showed up. On behalf of my entire team, thank you, we love you, and next time bring space heaters....!

But seriously, on a more personal note - staying in The Dalles for a couple days was, I'm not exaggerating, heaven. Nothing beats the feeling I get rounding that last corner past Celilo and seeing the lights from The Dalles. I thought I would get tired of it honestly, I mean who gets excited to come home when they still spend every summer there... oh wait.... me... I do. I'm kind of proud I was never one of those kids who HATED The Dalles with every single bone and couldn't wait to get out of there and move to Troutdale... which is so much better because it has outlet malls? Well, I was more the kind of kid who cried when she left for college... every year. Haha... I so wish I was joking. That ordeal became a running joke in the family, so I guess the tears weren't a total waste of energy. Back on track, I stayed with my grandparents this weekend, and I underestimated how enjoyable that would be. Grandpa told me all these cool old stories about where his family was from, and how we ended up out here in Oregon, and it was just cool. Ok, I'm a bit of a nerd, I realize, but come on people, my grandparents are getting older... and well, you know.

So we've got the point right? The Dalles is off the hook, if you'll allow some gangster-ese. The best part is still to come - Portland match begins, and my poor mom is sitting in the balcony all by her lonesome. And then Ciara's dad appears, followed by Sammie's (aka Spammy's) parents. And that was only the beginning! Soon there were more fans than players on the two teams combined. My little cousin Lily was there; consequently she was later voted cutest little kid ever by my entire team, and Alex drove down from Seattle to see me play! Too bad I lost, right? Almost pulled off the second set... I couldn't disappoint all the people who had probably lost half of their toes to frostbite at this point just to watch our team hit some tennis balls over the net. Follow up the tennis with some authentic African leg of lamb at Horn of Africa restaurant and we had ourselves a great great day.

We came back with some strength the next day against Whitman and won all 14 of our matches, just FYI. In case you were worried about our esteem as a team, we're doing fine. It's amazing how much a weekend like that helps bond a team together, and what a great city to do it in. We love Portland! Many thanks to all, thank you for being so kind, cheerful, loving and so dang Oregonian! Much love.

more music!

Skin and Bones by Romance on a Rocket Ship - a constant favorite of Marina and I at tennis practice. Something about the chorus I think.

spanish word of the day

Sorry! so many posts in one day. it's mildly embarrassing. i'm getting so excited that i'm not even capitalizing anymore! aaahhhh, the english language suffers from our technological advantages as a society! anyway - had this brilliant idea to record things I learn..... maybe not so brilliant? Forge ahead regardless. We have a new member on the men's tennis team at LC - Niko from Madrid Spain - who is probably already severely annoyed with my attempts at the Spanish language and my constant questions. Today he taught me:

sobresaliente = the best, the greatest, awesome..... etc. 


Information that would have been useful to me two hours ago when googling every other word in my Spanish textbook. . . and that's the Spanish word of the day. Or el palabra del dia! Have a sobresaliente night ;)

poetry sidenote

Emily Dickinson is one of my favorite poets (not that I claim to know many others very well) and since Oliver, Tyler and our friend Costa are all taking ENG 150 this term they get to delve into her brilliance for a couple of weeks. I, nerd that I am, pulled out my Dickinson book and began showing them my favorites. I think I actually helped them since after a couple minutes Tyler started quoting Dickinson to me - "a funeral ran through my head...." .... Well perhaps that's not a good thing? Anyway - the following is one of my favorites. 

Tell all the Truth but tell it slant —
Success in Circuit lies
Too bright for our infirm Delight
The Truth’s superb surprise

As Lightning to the Children eased
With explanation kind
The Truth must dazzle gradually
Or every man be blind —

We also read a poem in Spanish last semester by Pablo Neruda, a famous Chilean poet. It's titled Ode to Calcetines or Ode to my Socks. Click on the title to see the English version if you're interested in a... quirky read :) 

tunes for the day

Rhythm of Love by Plain White T's - classic "love" pop song. Sorta croony.... not to pigeonhole it or anything.... Anyway enjoy!

Today Marina and I slogged our way through 10 pages of Spanish textbook reading, all the way from "las aztecas" to "Cristobal Colon" to "Los afros-indios"..... as Marina's facebook status says "this writing is a wealth of vocabulary which I don't have the skills to comprehend. . ." Goodness. Consequently, I dropped my Intermediate ASL class which is disappointing, but feel I owe a little more study time to my Spanish minor, not to mention my submersion into Dickens and Dostoevsky. I actually really like "Great Expectations" so far. Apparently I may be one of the only ones? I'm in a class of 6 which is small even for LC standards, so participation is a must. Anyway, 13 credits makes me feel like a slacker but I figure I should live it up a little my senior year and have some spare time. Not that I probably will. But you know... a girl's gotta dream.

Happy January 12th to everyone out there!

Isaac conditioning workout tomorrow for tennis. And I'm still sore from Tuesday. Joy.

A New Year

Break didn't leave me much time for blogging I'll admit. Well... let me rephrase. Break left me TONS of time for blogging, but little motivation to do so. So here's a brief recap....
As usual, I spent my time playing tennis at the court club, playing games with friends and the parentals, and an assortment of other activities. Had a ski trip to Ski Bowl with Riley, Sarah, and Lincoln which went surprisingly well considering Sarah had never skied before and I hadn't since approximately the age of 14. Riley and Lincoln of course breezed right past us newbies, but were very patient in waiting for us at the bottom of the slope.
Other adventures included:
- a trip to the Chiles center to watch BSU (aka Paul Noonan) play versus U of P. The Broncos lost unfortunately, but it was good family time, and Paul dished the ball like a natural. We resorted to the chant of "If you wanna win, put Paul in!", without bias I'm sure.
- a New Year's trip to Long Beach WA with high school cohorts. Tina, Lizzy, Lori, Riley, David, Emily I, Lincoln, Riley's friend Logan, and I in one little cabin for 3 days. Nuff said? Probably not. We recorded many epic "lasts" of 2010, and some ridiculous "firsts" of 2011, including the "paper bag" game of 3 hours with Riley as the winner. I'll post a picture of the bag game at a later time for your perusal.
- Brenda came down and visited to wish Linc and I off to school. We Boggled, Scrabbled, and crossword-ed until our brains were blue?

My New Year's Resolution for 2011: BE ON TIME.