GOT MY VISA!!!

Well folks, the postman rang the buzzer 4 times yesterday!
1. Passport and Visa
2. My birthday package from my parents and Skylar
3. Tim's Open University study books
4. Tim's cell phone

I can't decide whether I'm more excited about getting my visa or my BIRTHDAY present! :-)
So yesterday I went to get a national insurance number (aka social security) and today I went to my new employers to start picking up shifts. They're desperate for workers so they were already trying to get me to do too much. But I know how to say no. Now I'll just have to actually SAY it.

Tim and I are away this weekend, helping to train the Navs small group leaders, and then I'll be 24 on Monday! I think we're actually going to 'celebrate' more on Tues b/c my Birthday is full of CAB and Navs. And it's on a Super Tuesday as well.

Current Mood: Navs-Weekend-ish
Current Music: I Hate Everything (But You) - Derek Webb

Whew...

Well the concert went really well!!! Thanks for those of you who sent encouraging emails or comments. We ended up having the best crowd we'd had in a while: around 60 people came!! Miriam, a girl in my Navs group, couldn't come so she made a flapjack with dried fruit and chocolate for the interval refreshments, which went down a treat! Everyone kept saying "tell your friend that's the most amazing flapjack I've ever tasted!" Not to toot our own horn, but we sang very well, the second half entirely by heart (which is a challenge considering we rarely sing in English) although with that horrible lighting it was hard to connect with the audience.

One couple who I'd given a flier to at the Farmer's Market came, and I said hello before we started. After the concert, they sought me out and said "Thank you so much for letting us know about this! We're going to keep tabs on your choir and come to other concerts." Fab! By the way, the smoked kippers tent was where they were smoking fish and selling their products. It's like a smoke house, but no house, so the smoke blew all on me. They say if the smoke keeps blowing on you, someone's thinking about you....? :-)

Tim spoke very well about Bethany - thanks again for the prayers! I could tell he was nervous (and I was nervous for him) because I know him, but everyone else didn't think he was nervous at all. It was great. Afterwards, though, at the pub, our director announced she was leaving the choir after our Christmas concerts. She said that, having had such a great concert, it confirmed her decision that she's brough the choir as far as she can and it needs a change from her. Plus she wants to pursue other types of music. Which I can understand, after having been director for 7 years, and in the choir for years before that. I think she'd be great, just singing and playing the guitar to Scottish folk tunes. Very sad for us, though.

Starting first proper day at CAB (Citizens' Advice Bureau) tomorrow. Last Monday was just a 2 hour intro. Very excited! Still no sign of a visa (hence no sight of starting my paid job. grrr!!)
First Navs pod night tomorrow as well. Wa-hey!

Current mood: Time for bed.
Current Music: Fall Silent - Five O'Clock People

Choir Concert Tonight!!!

Tonight my choir, Rudsambee, will be performing at St. Martin's Church in Dalry at 7:30pm. Website: www.rudsambee.org.uk

Every year we do one concert in aid of some charity, and this year I plugged for Bethany Christian Trust (website www.bethanychristiantrust.com). At the interval my own dear Timothy is doing a 5 min chat about Bethany, which should be good. The only bad things are the fact that not many people have bought tickets yet, which is very unusual for our choir, and also the fact that the lighting at this particular church is pretty much a gigantic interrogation lamp hanging from the ceiling. So we're all going to look really scary and shadowy meaning we'll have to smile extra big.

Today I stood out at the farmer's market near the castle handing out fliers... just down wind of the smoked kippers tent. (Cough, hack!) So I hope I can still sing tonight!!

You'd Think I'd Have Learned...

Well, Mom, I did it again.

When I was 5 or so, I was cutting a sheet of paper in to little bits of confetti. An early sign of my insanity. It eventually became clear that my long brown hair was an obstruction to this most fastidious pasttime, so I of course solved the problem by cutting the front and side portions of my hair off to a satisfactory level. It suited me just fine, but when Mom woke up, she was not happy. She cried.

This was the day before I was going to have a photo portrait made at good ol' Olan Mills.

Here it is, 19 years later. Yesterday I decided that my bangs were getting to a rather uncomfortable and unattractive level. No, patiently growing them out is not the sensible option.
Unfortunately the sharpest scissors we have in the house are rather dull kitchen shears that are good for cleaving some chicken breast apart, but that's about it. Did that stop me? Of course not.

I'll give myself some credit when I say that the bangs look pretty good now. Better than before and at a reasonable, if not jaunty, length. The problem came when I decided that the long layers of my hair were looking a bit frazzled. "Just a wee trim," I thought to myself. Moments later I emerged from the bathroom with my hair in braids. Let's just say that I'll be going to the hair dresser's on Wednesday morning (which was the soonest available appointment). Don't worry, it's nothing drastic. I lost only maybe an inch off the longest layers at the front. Maybe 2... As far as that area, I wouldn't even give myself the credit of saying it looks like I did it with kitchen shears. Nay, it looks more like I took hedge trimmers to it!

The good thing about hair is that it grows back. Poor kid.

Current Mood: Fine.
Current Music: That bouncy ball song(?) - Jose Gonzales

A Cry for Help As Another Election Looms...

This is going to seem really random, but it's a slightly cheeky (although genuine) cry for help so here it goes! :-)
With another U.S. election looming in dim view (I think it's for senate, governor and ... house?), I'm realizing that yet again I have no idea who to vote for, or even who's the pickins. I don't want to stereotypically vote Republican just because I'm from Texas; I want to make an attempt at understanding things! I tried to get online and do some research but it just all seems like propaganda, as though they're trying to say very similar things in order to be "popular". So, I thought I would ask for some advice.

If you have a sec, please post a comment or e-mail me regarding the following:
What websites can you think of that will tell me the facts I need to know, hopefully on the somewhat less outrageously biased side of things, in order to make an educated vote about TX governor, senator, etc? I also welcome personal opinions (also hopefully not outrageously biased). :-)

I even tried to draw up an excel chart to make it clearer but now it's 1am and I'm getting a bit frayed... it's not for lack of trying!

Current Mood: Confused...
Current Music: Some crazy guy from a nearby psychiatric hospital, banging his drum down the road (yes, it IS 1am, but it probably doesn't make a difference to him!)

Now, before you jump to conclusions...

Isn't this a great pic of my family? No, my brother Aaron hasn't regressed to the age of 6 months, and no, my mother hasn't had a 'surprise baby', thank goodness! It's a friend's kid. But aren't they lovely? I hope I'm as pretty as my mom when I'm at her point in life. :-)

Not much going on at the moment... just because I got a job doesn't really mean anything because I'm still waiting for my... drumroll, please... VISA!!!! What a surprise. Everyone keeps saying to me 'but shouldn't you be able to just work straightforwardly once you marry a British National?' and my reply is generally along the lines of, 'well, that's what you'd think, isnt' it?' So anyway it could be any time from October to Christmas before I can work. So, I'm thinking about what to do with all my time! At the end of the month I will be starting the Citizens' Advice Bureau training course which will take place on 1 1/2 days of the week. So... Navs will have an extra team member again for a while! :-) Tryin to mentally re-shift gears again.

Just found out that 2 of my friends, Sara Phillips (from TX) and Teresa Edwards (from Hamilton, near Glasgow) are in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and know eachother! I LOVE random connections like that! :-) She also met my friend Adam (Glasgow again) who was there this summer to see Teresa.

Tim's on night shifts this week, which makes for interesting schedules. During the day it's strange for me, because he's home, but we can't talk or do anything together because he's sleeping! He was actually able to stay awake last night, and sleep all day today, so that's a blessing. 1 down, 6 to go. Zzzzz.....

Current Mood: Sleepy
Current Music: Night Like a River - Hem (Just got their CD 'Rabbit Songs' today!!)

So I tried to do something new...

Spurred on by Lyd's recent blog about change, I thought I'd re-jig my site. Not only did I lose all my links to friends' sites and the ability for you to leave comments, but I'm also too tired to figure out how to fix it. Neither can I figure out how to put a photo on the site bit (as opposed to putting a photo in a post)... Igh... So until it's fixed I guess you'll have to do something like send me an E-MAIL! Which would be no bad thing.

Aaron! Help!!! :-)

Current Mood: Waaaaahhh...
Current Music: Waaaaaahhhh!!