Free day

I had a long weekend and I am still tired. Today, I game myself a day off. It is Tuesday and I normally feel like I should be doing something productive, but I woke up this morning determined to do exactly the opposite.

So I got up, read a little, ate breakfast, and checked my email. I found an essay that I had written in college: "The evolution of man". I needed to find a writing sample for another piece of my grad school application and I was a little worried about finding one since my computer crashed right after I graduated. This is the lone piece of writing that I was able to salvage from my SPU email account, besides some statistical analyses from biostatistics! Therefore my application will include “the evolution of man”:

“There are many questions yet to be answered regarding human evolution; only time will tell if we will ever fully understand the origin of humankind.”

Thought provoking, erin. That was for BIO 4330: Evolutionary Mechanisms. I miss Dr. Nelson.

Then I ate leftovers for lunch and the postman stopped by and delivered a package from my mom. A Gatorade packet exploded red powder all over its contents, but it doesn’t make the dried Costco cranberries any less delicious.

I went to the gym and lifted weights, then I went for a swim. I came back and made myself a delicious cup of tea with my new Pakistani masala spice mix. Last weekend I was determined to find some masala tea powder, and I visited every single one of the spice shops in Little India to find it. The Pakistani stuff is good enough for me. Over this hot cup of chai I read an article on an IceHotel in Sweden. Apparently they make the snow that they use for the building; artificially-made snowflakes are more compact and freezes clearer than natural snow. Fascinating.

I went to the pasar malam (night market) to buy fruits and veggies. For dinner, I ate one of my favorites: Prawn Mee. mmmmmm

This evening I read the chapter on "service" in Foster's Celebration of Discipline. I learned that it is an act of service to allow other people to serve you. Serving others comes pretty naturally for me, but I don't often like to accept it from others...a trait I surely inherited from my mother. Foster says, "Those who, out of pride, refuse to be served are failing to submit to the divinely appointed leadership in the kingdom of God." (Kingdom of God leadership being....Whoever would be great among you must be your servant...." (Matt 20:25) We deny them the blessing of service if we don't accept their gift!

Then I found my long-lost Burmese roommate from 6 years ago! Not physically, but virtually, on the internet. I thought of her every once in a while last year when I was with the refugees here; and I was sad that I never heard her full story of how her family left Burma and made it to the States. Is her story as bad as the others I have heard? Were they able to come freely or were they resettled? Charis and I lived together for only a quarter - then I got a German for a roomie - I love you Jen :) But I did get to join in with her on some delicious Asian food and Burmese church services in Kent. She showed me around the Seattle Chinatown, and for that I am eternally grateful (especially in the coming 2 years!)

These are reflections of my random day. I could probably use another day like this tomorrow, but the morning beckons for an early run and never ending meetings.