four peaks tonight was fun. it's weird how i feel like i know the philosophy faculty a lot better than the english/humanities.

j.crew today was fine. the sandals that i thought were lost were found.

also, it seems that i won't be carless after all. (!)

so yesterday:

i had the great idea to go tubing down the salt river when chris was here. i had heard that it was a lot of fun as long as plenty of sunscreen was applied. however, apparently, more than suncreen was needed to make our trip a success.

first, mapquest gave us the wrong directions. a trip that was supposed to take 30 minutes took 90, and that was thanks to ian, my knight in shining armour, once again saving me with correct directions.

second, once we got our tubes and bussed to the river, errol's tube decided to deflate. we then had to wait another 15 minutes in the heat for a replacement.

third, chris lost a sandal to the river. he had to wrap his shirt around his foot because the ground was so hot on the walk back to the bus stop.

fourth, the lunchbox that i put our day's supplies in was not waterproof. our lunch was a soggy mess.

fifth and most horrible, errol's pocket on his swim trunks was not as secure as thought. my car keys, house key, and credit card were lost to the river.

another 90 minutes and $175 later, we were on our way back home with a freshly made car key.

this just in--

more bad news. errol was supposed to pick me up at the pool when i called him. apparently, his phone had died, and when no one answered the pool doors when he knocked at 7.55 (they always lock up early), he stopped at the src looking for me and then went home. sadly, i was inside watching the straggling rec swimmers til 8. i then waited outside the pool for 30 minutes. then, when everyone left and the lights dimmed, i decided that wasn't the place for me. i ventured to the computing commons, mu, and src trying to find an open place with people--all while calling errol. ian was going to save me yet again, but then errol decided to turn on his newly charged phone. he's on his way to pick me up now at 9.38. thanks.

today was a very, very long day. i'll give details tomorrow. right now i want to go to sleep and dream happy dreams.

what i don't want to do is drive a stick shift. it's very scary. what's with rolling backwards on an incline? i really don't want to give up my beautiful automatic.

all the tension that has built up over the summer in our apartment exploded tonight. it's very confusing and sad. everyone please send me wisdom.

in better news, chris is coming tomorrow! yay!

being uncomfortable in your own home is about the worst thing in the world.

back from the mini-break in tucson and very happy to be home. i knew this little vacation was going to be centered around the free golf that came with the hotel room, but i guess i didn't realize how much time golf consumes. on friday errol golfs 18 holes. saturday 36. sunday 18. that's a lot of golf for one weekend. i drove the golf cart for him 54 of those 72 holes, and that was more than enough for me. next time, i'm going to make sure i bring another golf widow (kate) to keep me company.

a nice outcome of the weekend was time with brad. he and errol golfed 18 on saturday, and he decided to ride back with us today and spend the night with errol. the three of us saw the movie murderball, and i highly recommend it.

the trouble with mini-breaks is feeling like you need time off once you get home and realizing you have to go back to school/work the next day.

DONE WITH MATH!

i'm so excited that i never have to drive to mesa at 8.45 a.m. ever again. the math requirement that i avoided through college is now fulfilled. yay! the final was relatively easy too. i was rather stupid and didn't even look over the first chapter though. i thought, "logic? i liked that section. i know how to do that." then, on the last page of the test, i totally blanked on what symbol stood for "and" and what symbol stood for "or". luckily, i picked the right one, but it was a very close call. changed the answers then changed them back....you know the story.

now, all i have to do today is finish geography and learn everything about africa. it sucks that in all the horridness of guiliana's class last semester, we never learned all the countries and their locations. stinking guiliana. i knew she would come back to haunt me.

i'm so sad right now.

j.crew is forcing me to come in again tonight from 5-11. some stupid corporate conference is at the biltmore this week so our inconsiderate managers are extending our hours to fold and refold the over-priced merchandise so they can look good for the big-wigs. it's so disgusting. i would be mad just for those reasons, but to make matters worse, i already had a full night's work ahead for school: finish a long and hard geography assignment, study for tomorrow's math final, and somehow memorize all the countries, rivers, and mountain ranges of africa. now, i will have to begin all that at eleven--hopefully. on monday they pulled the same crap, but this time they didn't let me know i was staying til 11 until 8, and we ended up not leaving until 11.15 anyway. it's so frustrating!

more awfulness to add: i don't get to see errol at all today, and i'm blaming it on him. i drive to barnes and noble everytime i can to sit with you on your break, and you choose to go golfing instead of see me? tear.

as stated above, i am very sad.

so, a positive of staying in arizona this summer was going to be experiencing the monsoon season. well friends, it's not that great. according to my geography professor, the monsoon season is getting shorter and shorter here because of the large pollution bubble over the phoenix metro area. it's july 18 and still no weather to speak of. tonight driving home from j.crew (three nights in a row...eek!), i thought i might see some action. alas, it was a lot of lightening but no moisture to speak of.

three more days of math left!

chris called me tonight from the kearney county fair. :)

i've gotten a taste of what life will be like in a month or so when i am carless. i took my car in thursday morning for some work, and it's very nice to have it back with me where it belongs. riding the bus and bumming rides off errol wasn't bad, but you notice the heat a lot more when you have to wait in it.

yesterday at mopac i had a flash back to my axtell pool rats. the coach of one of the club swim teams decided to have a fun day at practice so they played sharks and minnows in the dive well. it was a little different watching adult swimmers play, but it made me miss the axtell kids a lot. i hope they're having a good summer.

i just got back from barnes and noble to see errol on his break, and it is insane over there. talk about harry potter mania.

i have to work at j.crew today and tomorrow. boo!

hanna, this post is really for you. i caught the last few minutes of paula zahn on cnn, and they had a story on "god squads." apparently, some arkansas high schools are sending their cheerleaders to "impact camps" that have evangelical christian motives. they focused on this girl katie who said she would cheer to a crowd that wasn't all christian, but that didn't mean she would support them.

?!?!?!?

these intolerant people who "glorify god" in everything they do...

dearest, hanna, how are you surviving down there? please don't bring back any facist ideas; i'm afraid they're approaching fast as is.

so, i'm very, very disappointed in target. errol and i went there tonight to register for club wedd, but we met a large obstacle in the fact that they didn't charge the batteries on the guns you go around and scan things with. this is one piece of evidence that has led me to believe that Target is severely overrated. i guess we will just go back tomorrow and try and do it again.

in other news, i would like to wish my dear cousin susan a very happy birthday.

prescott yesterday was fabulous. we had good food, company, and most fabulous of all, the weather was beautiful. the breeze was actually cool, and i almost got goosebumps at night. ahh....the memory.

my horrible sunburn i acquired friday has started to itch. ticks and fleas, ticks and fleas.

errol is stuck in front of the tv watching gettysburg. am finding out he is obsessed with the civil war. am now planning a gone with the wind extravaganza.

we're leaving for prescott soon. yay!

7 people passed the math test. the professor was very disappointed....

good news: i was one of the 7.
sad news: being congratulated for getting a 75.

shea (ian's sister) had her baby! yay!

very, very angry. yesterday the horrible math teacher "drew a blank" on how to do several of the review problems. we inquired how we're supposed to take the test the next day when she cannot teach us the material. she responded that we'd discuss keeping the test scheduled for the following day. since the whole period went by without her remembering how to do the problems, we assumed that her inabilities meant that there'd be no test the next day.

wrong.

i got to class at exactly 9.10 this morning (stupid accident on the 101 and broadway...), and she was quickly writing the problems on the board that she couldn't tackle the day before. she was trying to explain them in the five minutes before class and then handed out the test! we had the test! i am so mad. she can't even do the material herself and expects her students to just automatically know everything? a few other people in the class are as outraged as i am, but i'm afraid most don't care at all. they're shooting for a c, and that's it. i am in awe of this lady's incompetence, and it makes me worry about the teachers my children will have.

in better news, maria taylor last night was fun. i got a beautiful new tote to replace my very-used and rather gross cursive bag. it was also very good to see errol and killian bonding. can't wait to see my brother.

this morning i made errol pancakes, and they looked beautiful if i do say so. we're trying to have a good fourth of july alone here in balming az. we wanted to go to prescott or flagstaff to beat the heat and see family, but errol said the traffic is horrendous because everyone goes north for the fourth. i am sure he's right. so, we're having a little celebration in scottsdale. of course we don't have a grill or our own pool to sip lemonades by, but we're doing our best--there's a west wing marathon on today.... i am determined to see fireworks tonight though.

i worked the last shows of phantom yesterday. i'll hopefully pick up more hours at the pool to bring in some more cash this summer. have i mentioned how much i hate having to depend on hourly labor to survive?