| | I'm sitting upstairs at the grandiose Louisville Free Public Library--
be it hereby known that the first bit of "official" buisiness I've done
since moving here has been to get a library card! (now what does THAT
say about me?) I was having trouble connecting on the WiFi, so I
asked the guy next to me, with the same Powerbook as my 12" little
Tosha. We struck up a convo, and now I've gotten online (as you
can see). As soon as we got upstairs, another guy working on a
Mac came over to consult us about web connetions (he definitely looks
like a college professor...sort of like Dr. Walter with longer hair--
Macs definitely seem to be a college trend). We Mac users feel a
kinship with one another unavailable to those manhandling massive
"laptops" known as PCs. It's a nice comraderie... while PC users
may be able to bond by helping one another through difficult times
(such as their computers freezing for the upteenth time...that lovely
little hourglass, ahhh the memories) shared frustrations are
hardly pleasant...
Ok. I'll stop with the knocking.
Oh, I also thought it was funny that the guy behind the desk in the
children's section used the suffix "-age" as is so in vogue on my own
college campus. I thought it was a Furman thing, but he
definitely reccomended "looking for the signage" when I inquired about
WiFi in the library. It made me hide a smile. Maybe he's a
Furman alum...
Last night I had my first solo excursion; I went (on BIG interstates in
TRAFFIC!!) to help celebrate Blaine White's birthday at Dave & Sina
Shuey's house. It was definitely the furthest I've ever driven to
a birthday party! (Blaine's a deacon at my church back in Greenville,
Grace Baptist) It was great fun-- the Whites have 3 amazing
girls, and 1 fun little guy, Noah (aka Spiderman. Dad, I overheard him
telling John Shuey that you are the Real Green Goblin). Wendy's
one of my favorite people (if I can be as cool as her when I'm a mom,
I'll consider myself highly sanctified!), and Blaine is an inspiring
dad...just an all-around great family. We played spoons, jumped
on the trampoline, I threw the girls over my shoulder over and over
(for some reason, they love that), and then after dinner Sarah (the
oldest of the White progeny-- 15 in 34 days) and I washed dishes,
talked and then played Spit!
The only downside was the fact that they served steak-- which was
DELICIOUS-- but was harder to chew than I'd anticipated...my mouth was
more sore than it has been since my teeth got cut out!
Ouch! I was completely wiped out after like 10 minutes on the
trampoline-- my heart races with the least exertion since I got on
those pain-killers. I hope FERVENTLY it isn't permanant!
This morning I woke up at the crack of dawn, so hopped on my bike,
slipping a gluten-free breakfast bar into my jacket pocket, and headed
downtown. I thought I'd just ride down 4th Street as far as I
felt like it. It was such a wonderful ride! God has
ordained where I'm staying, that much is clear! I needed to do 2
things pressingly: buy stamps/ mail a letter to my sister Anna so it
will get to her while she's still at Girls State, and get to my bank,
BB&T.
I set off to find a post office and to find out if there was even a
bank around! It was only about 6:30 am, but the streets were
already coming alive, especially the coffee shops. The only
places open besides Starbucks and Java were the hotels, and I made
friends with 2 of the valets. One, Thomas (at the Brown Hotel),
watched my bike for me while I went upstairs to buy stamps from the
front desk (I'd stopped to ask about where a post office was.
Turns out it's real closeby, too). He chuckled at me, up so early
and surely looking like the North Wind, with a kick-standless old boy's
bike asking about postage stamps as if it were the most normal thing
in the world. Anyway, I ended up mailing the letter from the
hotel, too. It was my one-stop convenience store. 
I continued down Fourth, passing 2 Starbucks, the Library, a Java,
Borders (like Books A Million or Barnes & Noble), a local coffee
shop, and the Louisville Conference Center. At the Hilton, I
asked a second friendly valet if he knew where a BB&T was (I know,
at this rate, I'll be on a first-name basis with half the early morning
crew downtown). Instead
he ran inside and looked it up for me in the phone book. Take a
wild guess... it's on Fourth Street, too! The only one in
downtown, and it's practically on my street! God put more kind
people in my path there; 2 early-morning janitors there, who lent me a
pen. I think they were just surprised to see someone smiling that
early in the morning, sans café.
All the above-mentioned franchises except the library are places I
intend to apply... I just couldn't then because it was before 9
o'clock, lol. But I feel like I'm well on my way to exploring
downtown Louisville. I really like the city-- the only negative aspect
at all is the lack of bicycle racks on the streets. I guess I've
never thought about them before, not riding my bike downtown in G'ville
much-- except I remember that Oxford had heaps of them... I'll
definitely need to pick up a lock and helmet (for longer excursions) at
Walmart, since I neglected to bring BOTH those items *sigh*.
After I got back, I had SO much day left! It was amazing!
Cereal with John Piper, recording kids songs for a backyard Bible club
in Scotland (our church has missionaries there and they're using our
curriculum, but didn't know the songs)-- I played my new guitar for the
first time in ages, then branched out and mixed in some djembe and
fiddled around with double tracks and equalizer settings before I made
them into mp3s and sent them on their merry way (are you impressed,
Kyle?)-- some Harry Potter over lunch... After all that, I figured it
was about 3, but I looked at the clock and it was only 12:45!
This is why I love being a morning person. I walked into town
this time round, for excersise, and because I wasn't sure what I'd do
with the bike while I did email and things.
All right. I've been in this library long enough. I'm gonna head
to a coffee house now and write for a good long while. If this is
going to be my honeymoon, I need time with my Husband!
Ahoy for now, mateys-- I'll be off!
--Christina "Joce"
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| | Posted 6/13/2006 4:00 PM - 51 Views - 6 eProps - 3 comments
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