Finals bring stress, thoughts of murder

Long time, no blog. I've been busier than ever (this semester) with finals approaching and everything else that's going on. I have one week of classes left and a few days of exams. I have 3 written exams, a voice jury, piano jury, and a concert to do. I have found someone to accompany me for the voice jury so now we just have to work out practice times. May 4 will be my last day for the semester, ending around noon. I'm playing "Prelude in A Minor" by JC Bach and singing "What Songs Were Sung" for my juries.
Last night SCC (finally) released it's "Illuminations" publication. The parents joined me in attending the reception and reading, at which a girl read my poem aloud for all to hear. Both parents were brought to tears--which means I done good. We picked up 4 copies of the book--one for me, one for dad, one for mom, and one for Grams. I've signed my parents' copies (by request) and will sign and send my grandma's soon. Mine is the 2nd one in the poetry section. Since all my SCC courses were online, I never met my professors or fellow classmates. Last night, some of the readers were classmates of mine and I was able to put faces to names I'd seen over and over again. I also met 2 of my professors, one from African American Lit. and the other from Poetry Writing. Both were very cool and it was again nice to see who had been teaching me all that time. I told my poetry prof. how much his class meant to me and he invited me to join an online group he set up to post and critique poetry. I'll be starting that soon. Afterwards, the 'rents treated me to a great meal at Ruby Tuesdays (I had the turkey BLT club on wheatberry (?) bread and seasoned fries on the side. Dad went for the usual steak and mom had grilled chicken. It was a totally relaxed, positive evening and I REALLY needed that. Thank you God for the times like that--we all can use them. We laughed, talked, and enjoyed the evening, which I was told was "my evening".
Haven't heard about the on campus job yet, but it's a pretty sure thing. I'll also begin mowing the property on our block this weekend. Mom will be gone at a youth retreat she's in charge of, so it's just me and dad here. We're gonna haul off the old washing machine that's been in our backyard by the alley to the ag. pavillion, where they are doing the annual trash pickup for batteries, appliances, tires, oil, etc.
I've gotten my name in for campus housing next school year. It's more expensive than renting with someone, but I don't really know anyone well enough to move in with them, so we'll use fall as a get-to-know-you time. I'll have my own room (again, as always) as per my request. It costs more, but I'm eating meals at home, so it's actually cheaper than living with someone and having campus food.
This past week I had 2 quizzes and my final readings/journals of New Testament to do. I've bit off a few heads of people trying to talk with me when I was needing to get work done. I'm still in a slightly murderous mood, but I've calmed a bit now that I know I have no more homework to do--just studying and practicing.
I've painted the tire in the backyard "Fire Red" and have planted my first flower in it. I chose to start the bed with a Love Rose, which was planted on the day Pope Benedict XVI was elected. I thought that beginning the flower bed with "love" and having a rose that has red and white (papal colors) would be very symbolic and touching. I plan to add at least 3 other rose varieties this summer.
Saw the 2nd set of 1-Acts on Sunday--very funny and entertaining. One about The Odyssey was rather dull, but I give 'em props for the work.

Well, here's to a fun weekend with dad (we pray) and more studying, yardwork, housework, and such to do.

Thanks for reading--I'll keep you in my prayers; please do the same for me.

Steve

Song of the Day (yes, it's back!): "Wrap My Words Around You" from Daniel Bedingfield's "Second First Impression" CD.