Seriously... every Monday night. Never asleep before 2:30 am. It's sick. At least there was a good reason tonight. (Much more adorable than my usual Digital Signal Processing lab report, that's for sure.)

Today can be characterized by my proximity to moderately famous people who I absolutely adore.

Person one: Barack Obama. His campaign brought him to Atlanta (more specifically, the heart of Georgia Tech's campus), and I was lucky enough to be one of the 20,000 people who heard him speak in person - I was actually standing about 20 feet away from the walkway he came in on, and I was close enough to make eye contact and exchange waves with him after his speech. In between these close encounters, he said some interesting, exciting things about how he would like to shape the country.

Person two: Patty Griffin. One of my good friends introduced me to Patty Griffin's music about a year ago (it was included on a "nap" playlist that was playing while I napped on her futon)... we found out that she was going to play in Atlanta, and that friend and I knew we had to be there. Her show was AMAZING. The venue is one of the more well-known but unique in Atlanta: The Tabernacle, an old church that has been converted to a music venue. Patty (can I call her Patty?) sang for almost two hours, and it was nothing short of amazing. The music was loud and energizing, and her voice has strength and beauty that I can only wish mine had. (In fact, I'm exceptionally tone deaf.) It might be the best concert I've ever been to.

In other news, I think I am just DONE with this semester. I feel drained mentally, physically, emotionally, and so on. I feel simultaneously overly busy and exceedingly lazy. I feel lonely, but I don't really wish I were spending more time with people. I usually hate change, but I feel incredibly anxious for a break from this atmosphere. I feel like this impending disaster is somewhere, waiting in the wings. But I lack the energy or desire to go seek it out.

I just don't know. Nothing's really wrong, but something's not quite right. I think I had bed bugs. I never saw them, but I would wake up each morning with a new collection of bites. I washed my sheets, though - hopefully this will fix the problem. At least I have a whole playlist of Patty Griffin to choose from, right?

But if you break down
I'll drive out and find you
If you forget my love
I'll try to remind you
And stay by you when it don't come easy
- "When it Don't Come Easy," Patty Griffin

"So far, I don't really mind old age."
- Grammy, on the subject of turning 83 years old

There may be some flaws with the overall structure or dynamic of my community. There are things about my ministry that rub me the wrong way, make me uncomfortable, irritate me, whatever. But at the core, my community consists of people, and I absolutely LOVE those people. The ones who laugh with me about ridiculous things, who turn and look at me with excitement every time certain worship songs begin, who greet me (and then harass me repeatedly) by wiping their hands across my face, who tease me about anything and everything, who "tag" me and say it's my turn to go to the country they live in, who get so excited about 8:30 a.m. breakfast the day they are leaving for a huge, exhausting mission trip they have been working towards for months. I love that I have a friend I see no more than once a month who can walk in, hear one sentence, and tell me that she's "completely positive that God will do amazing things" by using me as a doctor. I love that the past few weeks have seen a roommate become a genuine friend, and that we can admit to being criers, talk about serious things, and decide that only the sensitive boys have smelly feet. And I love that I have a friend who "gets me" better than I can even begin to explain...considering the amazing friends I have, the fact that she clearly stands out as "best" (and she really does) really means something.

This past week has been awful, in a lot of ways. I didn't have a real weekend - I spent the whole thing putting in around 15-18 hours of work on one lab report (roughly 3% of my grade). I spoke up for myself and I really feel like I did the right thing... and it left me with an angry friend. I stayed up late and woke up early, and I can't remember a day this week or even in the last couple of weeks that has been truly focused on God. I've felt empty, to be honest. And I don't totally know what caused me to feel so much better right now. I mean, I do know...I can feel God's presence again. Not in a stunning way, but it's there, holding me up and giving me peace. And peace is a pretty good start.