What a Lovely Bike Ride

I feel like an idiot.  Today I decided to go on a nice, relaxing bike ride.  It was cloudy out when I headed out, so I didn't put on sunscreen.  I made it to a pretty park, only to be greeted with the sign "WARNING: Minimum Maintenance".  This was obvious...for one thing, the trail was covered in branches, and for another thing, the hills on the trail were WAY to steep for any bike.  So I proceeded to walk my bike. It was actually pretty cool to see a couple different parks, but I found myself getting further and further into the ride....and by now, the sun had come out, and I could feel my face roasting. So when I ended up at a park by a highway that leads to my college, I decided to take the highway.  It was closed for construction, so I figured I was safe!

Not so.

Trucks full of dirt came whizzing past as I crossed the highway, so I decided to go one road over...for safety's sake, right?  I walked my bike alongside the highway, trying to find a good place to cross to the other road.  Finally, I got fed up and decided to carry my bike...through what I thought was a few, sparse trees and a small ditch.  Well.  You can probably guess that my perception was off.

Long bushes of thorns caught on my pants as I tried to heave my bike around tree trunks and branches.  My bike is considerably heavy, so I was having a difficult time.  Tripping over twigs, thorns, and thick prairie grass, I finally made it to the ditch.  It was a little bit steeper than I had though....and a little bit....filled with water.  I looked back at the mass of thorns and branches I had just maneuvered through.  No way was I going back through THAT.

So, I tried to inch my way down the side of the ditch.  Terrible idea.  Just...stupid.  I ended up slipping and sliding down the dirt towards the stream...which was actually deeper than I had noticed.  My bike, pedals catching on grass, came careening after me.  I struggled to hold it, effectively twisting my fingers and wrist impossibly.  My other hand grabbed the things closest to me...a bunch of thorns.

Well...I didn't fall in, but it took a Herculean effort to heave my bike back up the ditch side and back through the thorns and trees.  To make matters worse, the construction workers appeared to have seen the whole thing, and were watching with smirks on their faces.  I avoided their eyes and walked my bike a bit further down the road, still searching for a place to cross.

Lo and behold.  A clear path across.  20 feet away from where I had just toiled in the woods for about half an hour.

I biked back to campus slowly, finally pulling my bike into the bike rack and wiping brambles and thorns from my shirt and pants.  A glance in the window showed that my face was bright red from the sun, my hair was messed up, and I had long scratches down my arms from the thorns.

What a lovely bike ride.

Makeshift Archery Range?

Well...for starters, this morning a couple of my friends and I went to a Spanish Catholic Mass for Spanish class.  Of all the people there (over a hundred), my friend and I towered above everybody else.  I'm 5'10'', so...pretty tall, but not gigantic...yet over these Spanish people, I was literally a head taller than everyone.  Not to mention the three of us were the only white people in the mass....which isn't a problem, but it got us some weird looks.  Also, my hair is blond...painfully dissimilar from the black hair all around me.  As I sat down, I felt something brush the back of my hair.  I froze.  I think...(I'm not sure, I was too nervous to turn around) the lady behind was stroking my hair.  Hmmm...well...whatever!  We also didn't use the kneeling pads, because we weren't Catholic and didn't want to disrespect their traditions.  That earned us the laughter of the man sitting next to us.  It was a long service.

I went to go on a run when I got back.  First of all, I thought it was cold, but it was actually hot...so I was sweating buckets!  I ran to a dirt trail, (those are less painful due to less blunt impact on the legs) and was sprinting through due to an intense fear of ticks..when there was suddenly two kids in front of me.  I pulled myself to a stop, which was hard, considering I was barrelling down a hill.  One kid was literally putting on makeshift safety goggles-- lab science goggles.  The other kid had safety glasses and was holding a bow and arrow in a case.  He turned, saw me staring, and grinned.  "Hey!"
"Um...hi!"  Unsure of what to do, I walked past him, trying to control my wheezing breaths.  Lab Goggles kid was up ahead, and I'm fairly certain he thought I was his friend, because he didn't even turn around as I walked behind him.  Finally, we came to a clearing, where some other boys were sitting with goggles and bows.  I gaped at them....aren't you...supposed to NOT shoot arrows at undesignated archery ranges?  Well...anyways.  The trail I was supposed to go on when right in front of them, so I booked it out of the way-- No way was I going to get hit by an arrow!  A ways down the trail, I heard a rustling in the woods.  It sounded like a big animal...I sped up, trying to see what it was...finally, I did.  It was a kid in a white shirt, clutching his bow and arrow.  What the heck?  Was he like...hunting?  Hunting me?  Because there certainly wasn't any other creatures around?  Needless to say, I sprinted all out until I reached a paved trail.

Flat Tire

Yesterday I was biking to a bakery with my friend for breakfast.  To start with, I underestimated just how  cold it was going to be, so my hands were like...shrivelling up on themselves from the cold!  We made it to the bakery...which was absolutely delicious, by the way!  We ate our food and went back out to our bikes to begin the trek back.  I was finding it really hard to pedal, so I glanced down in confusion...only to see that I had a flat tire. It had been fine before the bakery!  Well...I tried calling my dad, but when he didn't answer, my friend called one of her friends that had a van big enough to take our bikes.  I tried awkwardly to explain our location to this person with the van, which I had never met...feeling terrible the whole time.  Then, as we were waiting for her, my dad called me back, saying that he was close by and on his way!  We tried to stop the girl with the van, but she was already close.  So the two of them literally arrived at the same time...I went in my dad's van and my friend went in the other van.

I then had a long work shift as a custodian.  Fun stuff.  We have this trash can that we wheel around...I hate it.  So much.  I tipped that thing over four times, spilling all of the cleaning supplies on the floor.  I also managed to get chalk all over myself multiple times, because there is this dumb eraser sticking out of the top of the trash can for cleaning whiteboards, and every time I leaned over it wiped on my shirt.

Then, a fellow worker and myself were cleaning bathrooms, and made a dangerous assumption....we assumed there was nobody in a Men's bathroom.  Not even thinking to knock, we walked right in, laughing and talking, and set to work.  As I prepared to clean a toilet, I glanced over....and to my horror....saw a pair of shoes in the stall next to me.  The guy, whoever he was, cleared his throat and coughed, probably trying to tell us he was in there.  My friend didn't notice and kept chattering, swinging the door to the outside open.  I pushed her out of the bathroom and we sprinted to the girl's bathroom...where we hid until we were sure the guy was gone.  How embarrassing.

National Day of Prayer!

Yes, I am one of those.  Christians, I mean.  Tonight was the National Day of Prayer and I attended an event for it that was AWESOME!  Worship+Community+Prayer= An amazingly moving night.  God is so powerful, let me tell you...he is the one.  One as in the one who is constant.  One as in the one who is the only answer.  One as in the one who knows all.  One as in the one who created you...named you, saved you, waits for you.  He has wiped out slates clean guys!  We just have to take that gift.  So what are we waiting for?  He waits patiently for us to give him our attention...something we fail to do all too often.  It's time that we look to him.  This world is broken by war, violence, weapons, vengeance, abuse, drugs, national disasters, individualism, pain, terror, idolatry....it's a death trap out there.  Satan is desperately trying to sink his claws into whoever comes near him...so we must trust God.  It's the only way we'll get out of this place intact.

Alright, alright....onto the awkward part...I did say I'd post about my awkward moments!  After the event tonight, I stepped out of the doors with my family and was met with a CHILLING blast of wind.  In desperation, I proceeded to jaywalk (more like jaysprint) across the road and book it to the car.  My family was right alongside me, their feet pounding just like mine....or so I thought.  I finally glanced over my shoulder, only to see that whatever feet pounding next to me were not from my family...my family was actually nowhere in sight.  I thought I saw a glimpse of my brother's blue sweatshirt, so I peered around the corner of a pillar...nope.  I heard my mom laugh and jumped to the other side of the pillar...no luck.  Now I could hear all three of them!  I jumped to the other side of the pillar...back and forth....I'm sure I looked deranged to the other people around me.  Yeah...my family had been swerving in between the pillars like they were an obstacle course.  So my all-out sprint got me nowhere.

The Good Samaritan

Have you ever seen the Sainted/Tainted section in the newspaper?  Well, I have a sainted post to give!  On Saturday, I was biking with my father.  We were alongside a busy road when all of a sudden....he wasn't there.  I turned around and he had crashed his bike!  He had forgotten to tighten the back wheel, so as he pedaled, it came loose and hit the bike frame, jerking his bike to a stop.  He had the clip pedals, so he was unable to escape as the bike crashed to the ground.  He was on the ground for a good five minutes as I tried to figure out if he was alright.  Cars speed past, shining silver, glinting gold, radiant red....nobody stopped.  I considered stepping out into the road to flag someone down, when....a car finally pulled to a stop.  It was an old, rusted car.  The paint was peeling and the model was obviously ancient.  The door swung open and the driver stepped out-- a lady, her hair pulled into a bun, tattoos covering her pale skin, a rock band sweatshirt draped over her frame.  Society sometimes teaches us to steer clear of these people, even to fear them....but she looked at me with a sweet, concerned look on her face.  "Are you ok?  Do you need help?"
I stammered for words.  Were we ok?  My dad still hadn't answered me.  Finally, he pushed himself into a sitting position and told her he was fine.
"Are you sure?  I can drive you somewhere if you need me to!"
And here I felt relieved, ashamed, overjoyed, and awed.  It was a Good Samaritan!  Wasn't it?  Here is a woman who can be seen as maybe...a druggie, an emo, an emotional wreck....anything....who obviously wasn't the wealthiest person around (judging by the car), and she had so graciously offered her time, her gas, her car (you better believe that that car would have gotten bloody if my dad had gotten into it!), and her assistance.  And not just once!  She made absolutely sure we were ok before she left.  All those shiny, glinting, radiant cars that had passed before...none of those drivers had taken their time or effort to make sure we were ok.  But this woman had.  Never judge a book by its cover!  God bless her.

Dining Center

The Dining Center is a place of humiliation.  I mean...really.  You have a tray of food and a glass of liquid balanced precariously on it....just waiting to be tipped.  And where I go to school, everybody claps when you spill your tray.  My school also happens to have a dining center with two floors, so the stairs are prime tray-spilling areas.  Yesterday I was wearing boots that happen to be just a tad too big, and my toe caught on the step when I was walking down the stairs.  Let's just say I was lucky....I stumbled down the next few steps, thrusting my tray out in a desperate effort to prevent my plates and glass from spilling...and succeeded :)  Hopefully nobody saw me scrambling for my balance, but at least I didn't spill my food.  Seriously....it is so hard to type right now!  My teacher in my Spanish class is awesome and she bought coffee for everybody in my class!  Caffeine affects me a lot....so I am totally wired right now!  And I'm still thinking in Spanish!  I better end this post before I damage the keyboard from typing so fast....Signing off!

I have 147 cousins...

So on Sunday, I was walking to a Cafe in the Twin Cities with a friend and we were talking about our extended families.  As we were walking, we passed a building that had a staircase leading down to a small door way below.  In the doorway, a man was leaning up against the frame, a cigarette (possibly with something a bit more than just nicotine...) balanced between his fingers.  Smoke wafted up from the doorway.  His eyes were closed, so I...being the awkward person that I am, stared a bit, wondering if he had fallen asleep in the doorway.  Still looking at the man, I said to my friend, "I have 147 cousins!" (Honest...including second cousin and third cousins...)
The man bared his teeth in a grin, opened his eyes and looked up at me, pushing away from the door frame.  "Wow," he chuckled.  I gulped, and, feeling as awkward as ever, did not reply.  I turned to my friend and kept walking, listening to the man's hacking laughter in the background.  Once in the enclosed area of the Cafe, I burst into laughter...I really do have 147 cousins, I thought, but I wasn't talking to him...