37 days!!

I feel like I can almost taste the Fairfax air! My roommate, Mallory, and I realized just how close the end is and we've compiled a to-do list before we leave. It's nice to be on the same page as someone. Tonight, we're going to eat at house of blues and see a movie at the theatre in downtown disney. We're going to look cute, which is always fun :) I haven't worn eye-liner in so long! I also finally finished another book called Men, Women, and the Mystery of Love, which is a wonderful book written by Edward Sri, whose talk I went to last FOCUS conference. The book is a commentary on JPII's Love and Responsibility, and serves as a guide of application. It was so good! There are so many thing out there to learn and think about, and I've never been as desperate to read everything and anything good I can as I have been down here. I'm already on chapter 4 of my next book, called Man Alive by G.K. Chesterton. The main character, Innocent Smith, is a man who is so full of simple, pure, and wise joy and passion. The way he interacts with other characters and life in general is so inspiring. It definitely helps me notice moments where I could choose to be more joyful in life. One of these instances was this morning. Disney can change my schedule as long as it's 24 hours or more before the shift, and they warned us about this early on. This, however, has never happened to me, so I simply woke up at 4:45 this morning and showered before heading to work my 6:15 shift. I said a decade on the way to work and just listened to some of my favorite worship songs (Always Have, Always Will by Avalon, Sea of Faces by Kutless, and Owl City's cover of In Christ Alone), and it just felt like such a grace-filled morning, especially considering I woke up before five with four hours of sleep. When I got on the bus that takes me from the parking lot to the park, a man announced "It's the driver's birthday, so everyone make sure to wish her a good one!". Everyone did as we got off the bus, and she had one of the biggest smiles on her face I've ever seen. After I found out I wasn't working, I headed back to the same bus, and had a lovely conversation with that same bus driver. The drive home was much like the drive to work, and because I had coffee, I decided not to go home and sleep again. I grabbed my guitar and went to our volley-ball court near the water to just play around. I started writing a song, and enjoyed the quiet, cool morning. After that I went home and worked on homework, took a nap, and got together with my group to finish our project that's due tomorrow. This day has just been a really good day off, and it's the first day I haven't struggled with gossip or complaining since lent began. Those two, to my surprise, have been the hardest parts of lent. Making time for prayer in the morning is easier because I either drive or take the bus in the morning, and facebook is much easier this year than it was for me last year. I think the environment here is just very conducive to both gossip and complaining; performers are around people lacking common sense all day, and it's so easy to make passing comments about them or other performers, or to complain about the very small, inconsequential inconveniences they present. I think today has been a good encouragement for going into the rest of my week. Also, the character in Man Alive  that I mentioned earlier has a wonderful knack for noticing and mentioning the positive in any and every aspect of creation he comes across, whether it be a person or a leaf. I tried this tactic yesterday, and it led to a great little chat with a foreign lady in line for groceries. I told her that her earrings were pretty, and we talked about how we both really enjoy thrift stores and flea markets. I then mentioned that I loved one of the cashiers long, silver hair to the lady with the earrings. She commented that she liked how I was so easily made happy by everything. What a wonderful thing to aspire to! I told her that I was trying my best, which is very genuinely true. Anyways, so excited about coming up on this home stretch for coming home!