So much has happened since my last post...one of the reasons it has been almost a week since that last post...anyway, let's get started. I went shopping and ate dinner at Bubbas with Matt on Thursday. Then I met up with Graham (our first time to get together since spring break), and we went to Cafe Brazil for coffee and catching up. We had enacted a "assume no news is good news" policy for the second half of the semester because we were both going to be really busy and didn't want to live with the guilt that we weren't keeping in touch. And nothing much changed since we'd last talked - Graham is still planning on graduating from USC in December and heading to Europe for the spring (although no longer with a school program). And he wants me to come too. Now I can't take off for the whole spring, but heading across the pond for a few weeks is mighty tempting. So yes, it was great seeing Graham, although also sad since I might not see him again until Christmas unless I trek out to LA sometime this fall (which I may just have to do!).
On Friday, Matt and I headed to the mini-ranch after lunch. His family rolled in sometime in the afternoon (parents, Emily, Luke, and Jeff). The weekend consisted of riding in the party barge, bonfire, sea-do-ing, grilling out, floating in the lake, horseshoes, darts, ping pong, hammocks, Splinter Cell and Mario Kart, Mom's spaghetti, applying sunscreen, a country breakfast, pictures, Murphy cuddling, tractoring, riding in Mo, watching Babe, poker, trying to keep Em from scratching her million bug bites, feeding the cows, shooting the pellet gun, homemade banana ice cream...but the best part had to be the softball. Dad and Jerry Washam mowed a softball field in one of the pastures just outside the yard fence, and it was amazing. Everybody played, including Lathram and Carmen Pou. The final, major game was won by my team (!) (John and Susie Roberts, Matt, me, and Lathram). It was a lot of fun.
On Sunday everyone parted ways, with Matt and me heading back to College Station. Summer school started today for me, and Matt has to finish up with his duplex property manager responsibilities before handing the title over to Emily (such as getting his side of the duplex ready for new people to move into by cleaning and painting, clearing the rest of his stuff out, switching accounts into Em's name, etc). And Matt's here to hang out with me! We played two Halo missions yesterday, as well as watching some of the Law & Order marathon. We must beat Halo before he returns to Dallas.
I had my first physiology class today. I think it is going to be very interesting and very hard. They recommend reading the book over and over, learning all the pictures, going to the computer lab and looking at physiology interactive CD-ROMS, and going to SI. Hearing all that got me pretty intimidated, but then I remembered how intimidated I was about anatomy and it all worked out when I only did half of what they recommended. Of course, it would've been easier if I'd studied more from the beginning. So since I have a pretty light school schedule this summer, I'm resolving to stay on top of things more. (we'll see how long that lasts...I've never been to SI before) The professors (it is team-taught) seem really nice and helpful and the material will be interesting, so I'm looking forward to the class.
Okay, I'm tired of typing now. I think I'll go rummage in the kitchen.