Update from the Sunny State

Hello loyal blog readers! Merry Christmas from Bakersfield! Here's a brief recap of my trip so far:
Saturday night, Jordan met me at my apartment in Denton, and we drove out to Sherman to attend the wedding of my friend Erin Dee Armstrong to her (now) husband, Calvert Tooley. They got married in the chapel at Austin College (nice campus, Anne and Perry!) Erin Dee was a classmate of mine, and fellow music/theater person at Pepperdine. Along with getting to see her, I got to see three other friends from my year in "the 'bu" who were bridesmaids.
After church on Sunday, I ran a few errands, took a quick nap, loaded the car and headed to Houston. I should go ahead and mention that I've had a sore throat since Saturday night. At first I thought it was simply an overused voice, but am now certain that it is tonsillitis. This became apparent as I was driving home Sunday and no amount of water or vocal rest would stop the pain. Anyways, I made it home Sunday in record time: about 4 hours and 20 minutes. However, because of the mental slowness of having done two Sunday services, along with the grogginess that comes with taking a nap, I left my dirty clothes hamper in Denton, which was a shame since I didn't pack any t-shirts, just knowing there were so many in the hamper that I'd wash. I also forgot to pack a few other items that weren't essential.
On Monday, I packed and boxed all the books on the bookshelf in my room, some in the closet, and helped my dad move those boxes and several other items into their new storage unit. After years of talking about it, they are getting the house ready to show and serious about moving! I hardly spoke two words that entire day because of the pain in my throat. Unable to see an ENT on Christmas Eve, a General Physician gave me an antiobiotic prescription to take.
We were up and going by 4:30 (4:50 for me) and all five of us were at Hobby Airport at the crack of dawn for our flight to LAX. We took off around 8:30 central time, and were on the ground and driving towards Bakersfield by 11:00 Pacific time. Not the smoothest flight, but quick. By this time, I'd been through quite a bit more pain from the tonsil thing. I should mention that with the amount of medication I'm on, I've lost a bit of short term memory as well as eye-hand coordination. I forgot my camera and books at the house, having walked halfway to the car with them in my hands, and I dropped just about everything I picked up that day. Fortunately, Marla has taken good pictures all week, and nobody handed me any crystal or fine china that day.
Got to Bakersfield about lunch time and I was feeling considerably better. I've felt good since then. My tonsils make it seem like I have two golf balls stuck in my throat that won't swallow, but the pain is made bearable by extra strength Aleve, and I'm on the antibiotic for whatever good that oughta do. This was the first time we've been to the Carls' new house. Mom, Dad, and I got a tour of it in May '05 when they had just bought it, but still hadn't moved into it or even sold their old house. Aunt Deb is really proud of her house, as well she should be. It's very nice. I know this week has been an encouragement and motivation to Mom because Mom can see the end result of the whole house-selling and moving process.
The rest of Tuesday and Wednesday were full of Wii, Ping-Pong and visiting.
Yesterday morning, the cousins left around 5 for Disneyland! This was my first time back in 8 1/2 years. We were at the park all day long. Since this part will be best told with the pictures, I won't write much about it, other than to say it was an intensely fun day and we were exhausted by the time we went to bed last night.
Today we woke up in Camry's apartment and went to Santa Monica. We all enjoyed the shops and streets along the Promenade, but nobody as much as Josh. We drove a ways up the PCH and made a stop at Pepperdine in Malibu. We all enjoyed seeing the views and buildings, but nobody as much as me! I can't tell you how overwhelming it felt to stand at spot after spot and just be drowned in the beauty of that place. I don't know how, but I strongly hope it doesn't take me another three years before I see it again.
We got back to B-field after dinner tonight, and we're all pretty tired.

The Snowman Shuffle

I am ready to officially announce that I, Sam Flippin, am coming out of retirement, and with great ambition. That's right; you won't ever forget where you were when you heard it.
Yes, yes, when I was in 3rd grade I ran my first race as a "competitive" runner, by entering the lk (one - k) League City fun run. I shortly thereafter ran in the "Run Like the Dickens" race in Galveston, about this time of year some ten years ago.
I know the sportswriters and everyone else who was following my promising career was dissappointed when I didn't run any more races that year . . . . which turned into two years . . . . . which has become about ten years. I've still run, but simply for the pleasure, and with a depressing resignation to having peaked in the 6th grade.
But no more. On January 12th, in North Dallas, I will be stepping out into public in my shorts and spandex running pants to compete in the 5k called "The Snowman Shuffle." Why, in fact, I'm in training right now! I know, it's shocking. Rarely does an athlete of any sport retire for TEN years and then make a successful comeback, or any comeback for that matter. And not only that, I'm beginning with a 5k. This is a distance I have run many times, and much shorter than some of the runs I have completed in recent years, but as for official races, this race is five times longer than anything I have ever run.

I want to say from the start, to make it clear to all who are already digging for dirt and a juicy story, I am NOT on steroids. I know it's hard to believe, but I will run that 5k, and on top of that, I WILL break the 1 hour 5k time, and I will do it with 100% will-power, heart, and American manliness.
If I see my name showing up in any of these scandalous steroid exposes, I will find you, it gonna get throwed, and I will cut you!

New Alarm Clock Needed

Yes, I do believe that my alarm clock no longer works. And what a shame, it is a pretty nice one. It was a prize at "Project Graduation" when I was a senior in high school. It has more choices of alarm sounds than I've ever had time to use, an AM/FM radio with 12 station presets, a light up screen with four different brightness levels to choose from, a great big snooze button that is impossible to miss in the dark, and a tiny little "off" button that you will never hit by mistake. With it's AA battery backup system, it will never lose the time in a power outage or accicdental unplugging, or when packing it up to go home for two weeks.
However, I am afraid that the alarm clock can no longer be depended on for the important job of waking me up in the mornings. A soldier who falls asleep during his night-time patrol has to be shot, and so must I relieve this alarm clock its cockcrow commission.
The first near-tragedy experience came on Sunday morning. I had travelled the previous night home from Abilene where I took part in Jacob's proposal to Natalie (a thoroughly blogged recount complete with pictures once I've had time to upload them). I had to be at church by 8 am for worship which starts at 8:30. I set my alarm for 6:50, and went to bed in plenty of time. Thankfully, I was in bed as early as I was, because my body woke up on its own. I remember waking up and feeling surprisingly rested and relaxed, I rolled over in bed and saw that it was already TEN MINUTES 'TIL EIGHT!! Needless to say, I didn't have breakfast or a shower that morning. I was 15 minutes late, horribly embarassed, but things still came together and first service came off quite nicely (Randy Harris spoke, go to Singing Oaks' Website to hear it. Marla, why has the option button for adding links dissappeared from my blogger toolbar?)
The second incident which could have been horrible was this morning. My last final for the semester was in Dr. Johnson's class. It was a take home exam, to be typed and submitted to his office this morning. I put the finishing touches on the thing last night and was quite pleased with it. I set my alarm clock for 8 am, allowing myself plenty of time to get a full night's rest. Needless to say, you can probably guess, no alarm went off this morning. Luckily, we had until 10 to hand in the paper. All is well in that sense. But I have to conclude that the alarm clock can no longer be trusted.
I won't got out and buy one just yet. I might get one for Christmas?? Or even a gift card to a store that sells them, and I can use my phone's alarm for the time being.

Denton in the Morning

I am patiently waiting for the crash to happen. I actually did it. I studied all through the night, right up until 8am when the exam began. I was alert, but the test was haaaard. I am glad I didn't stop last night and just pushed through. I needed every bit of practice I got last night.
I'm still very caffeinnated at the moment, but I'm going home and expecting to fall asleep at any time.
Denton is an interesting place at 6:00 in the morning, but there is a serious lack of donut shops.

Finals Eve

I only have one sit down exam this semester, and it begins in 6.5 hours. My plan is to continue studying late into the night and crash after the exam tomorrow (If I do choose to sleep tonight, I have a 4 alarm safety net in place to make sure I wake up, as well as two other music-major friends in the class, and we all agreed to call each other in the morning and make sure that we all three are awake in plenty of time for the test.)
I am on my second break right now. Just setting it aside for a moment to "finalize" all the information and formulas I've taken in thus far. I stopped once about two hours ago to e-mail my parents from the library.
I stayed in the library for about 90 minutes, and got some good studying done, but had to leave because there are no outlets and I was running out of battery. The library was PACKED! And I believe it will be so until they force people to leave at 4 am. What's sad is, as I walked out, I glanced over the shoulders of 7 different people at 7 different computers at 7 different workstation. 5 of the 7. 5/7, that's a bit over 70%, were on facebook. So sad, UNT students.
I have moved to the laundromat where I have two loads of laundry going, and up until I stopped to blog and let my brain stretch, I have gotten some good studying done. However, my mind keeps going back to my short list of things that I've been meaning to do once classes are really finished, so I figure the best way to get it off my mind is to laundry list it (pun intended.)

1.) Finish reading the stack of books (5 or 6) that I've borrowed to read for fun but haven't finished, largely due to school.
-Catch 22
- Wicked
- Lover's Quarrel
- C.S. Lewis and Freud
- The Romantic Generation
2.) Work on finishing a few of the several church music arranging projects I've started and left undone.
3.) Throw away notes and papers from the semester I know I'll never need, and catch up on the filing of the ones I think I may.
4.) Start learning the score for "Music Man." Have I not blogged that I'm conducting "The Music Man" at United Players this summer? Oops. Do that too.
5.) Catch up on transferring recent pictures from camera to computer/blog/facebook.
6.) Solve world hunger, tell no one.

Holy Handbaskets, Batman! I finished my Christmas Shopping!

That's right. I didn't even make it a point to finish early, but having taken care of a few family members' Christmas presents in Hungary, and extra time today, I finished, with three weeks to spare!
I had a wonderful day today, and probably the last of its kind for the rest of my life. Today was one of those days where I got to stay in bed as long as I wanted and enjoy being under the covers on a cold morning. The temperature outside this morning was in the 30s, and I didn't even turn on my heater, I just stayed in bed under layers of blankets and enjoyed it. The semester is winding down, so while there remains much to do during the day, times and places are more flexible. I didn't have to be anywhere 'til 10, so I stayed in bed. After class, my only class for the day, I came home and cooked breakfast. Hot homemade breakfast at 11:30 in the morning.
Yeah, that will never happen again. It happens a few times around this time each winter semester when weather gets cold and the semester winds down. But this is my last semester to enjoy it. This time next year I'll be one of those people who wakes up at some ridiculous hour like 3 am to get dressed and teach school for 19 straight hours. And I can't wait.