It all started with a tennis ball...

Well hello! (By the way, if you saw me in person, I would be impersonating Mrs. Doubtfire when giving you this greeting! Just try and get that image out of your head...) I hope that this blogtastic entry finds you all well and wishin' summer was back :) I've just been getting back into the swing of things and am now boycotting homework so I thought I would tell you all the wonderful goings-on around here. It's been quite the last week and a half! Classes are going just fine, although I started the process of overwhelm-ment last night. I just have to learn to discipline myself and work steadily towards my research projects, something I'm DEFinitely not used to doing. Heck, last year I wasn't even sure if I was a student or not! Another reason why I decided to lay down my RA cape... One thing I've been pretty good about, schoolworkwise, is my Microbial Physiology stuff. Our draft research proposal is due this Friday so I've been trying my best to open up this bohemith and stay awake long enough to get through a sentence. Successful?! We'll see... I had my first Exceptional Learners and Inclusion class on this past Tuesday and it was... well, interesting. We have 9 students in the class and half of them are taking the course for graduate degree credit so it's doubling as a 300-level (aka Junior) and 500-level (aka not Junior) class. Strange, huh?! Anyway, we have a test and a paper due every week of class so let the good times roll!

As far as other stuff goes, I've been having tons of fun meeting new people and hanging out with my housemates! I do have to tell you this one story. Last Saturday (so a week and a half ago, not this most recent... I dunno, does saying last still work?!) was very eventful: I had tour guide training, a few coffee dates to reconnect with friends, a birthday dinner for a Duvallian and our school's annual Bingo tournament (at which my friend won a Snuggie...). After all this, Steph and I decided to spend time with one of our old friends from freshman year and it so happened that he invited us to play urban golf on campus. He met up with 5 other guy friends who were all dressed in suit jackets and shorts (truly short shorts), smoking cigars and pipes and drinking Arnold Palmers to celebrate the drink's namesake's 80th birthday. It was pretty dang funny, so what do Steph and I do?! Join them! We grabbed a golf club and a tennis ball and starting whacking at the lawn like you wouldn't believe (ahem, can you say divet?). Anyway, we were laughing and having a jolly-old time getting to know these new friends when I saw my green in sight: the campus totem pole. I had a perfect shot between one of our school buildings and one of the players (wearing the shortest shorts of all... I don't know, in guy world, does that mean he won or something?!) and thought, I can make that! I've only hit the shins of the other guys a few times. And don't worry, this was around midnight so there were no unsuspecting students walking to and from class. I took aim, made a beautiful swing, and my ball ricocheted off the building and hit the guy (who is bending over at this point) right in the butt. And I'm not talking a slight glance, I'm talking "BULLLSEYE!" So I thought I'd let you know how I make friends :)

This week I gave my first tour and it went great! I was fairly tongue-tied but they said I did just fine... I'll take their word for it. It's always disconcerting when a past alum is coming with their son or daughter (or, if you have my tours, their granddaughter!), I feel like saying "you could probably lead this better than me!" but thankfully there's tons of new stuff to show them. Like the wide open expanse that was Keola! And by the way, my housemates and I are going camping on the Keola lawn as soon as the grass seed takes root. This weekend was the first home Football game and skydivers flew down onto the field. We didn't really know how to react, so we kind of golf clapped... probably not the reception they were expecting... then it started to rain. And as you can see, we were not pleased. Before the game, Steph and I met our freshman year RA and one of my best friends, Kendel, and had breakfast in Manito park. It was wonderful to sit down and talk to her again. Saturday night a few of us went to an improv comedy club close to campus called the Blue Door Theatre and that was pretty fun! So, as you can see, I've been keeping myself fairly busy. I've been kind of turned upside down by this whole not RAing thing. I don't really know how to handle not being frantic and frazzled! It's an incredible blessing and I still get to be involved (apparently I'm on the planning committee for Feminight again... woot... I should have known I could never escape it once I started it, not until I graduate at least!) and today I still went to Community Building Day (full of weed-pulling, compost-shoveling, laughing, and being horrified at the state of our bus and bus driver). I still see Asiz, Sarah and Asim every week and am now a legitimate volunteer for Global Neighborhood (the organization Steph and I met them through). So I just realized how scattered this past paragraph was. Oh well, there it is for ya.

Okay, I may have missed some things, but I'll hopefully be writing again soon. Lots of work to do and very little time to do it in, so I'd best be off. I hope your days are filled with love and compassion and that you make the difference you want to see in the world. As Mother Teresa said, "what we do is less than one drop in the ocean, but if that drop were missing, the ocean would be lacking something".

Love your lives,

Chels

P.S. I made it into Women's Choir... woohoo! So if you are in the Seattle/Bellevue area in December you might just wanna hit up our wonderful Christmas concert tour... Just saying :)

P.S.S. I'm really bad at taking pictures (I actually took these last few from Steph) but I'll get better, I promise!

RUN!!! The Swine Flu is coming! The Swine Flu is coming!

Why hello everyone! I just thought I would share the latest Whitworth sentiments with you through my blog title :) I am happy to say that classes have begun and so has the mountains of work. It's bittersweet to not have leadership duties to distract me from the amount of work to do in the upcoming months, but I guess reality bites you in the... well, you know...

I have quite the class line-up for the semester: Microbial Physiology, Animal Behavior, labs for both of those, Exceptional Learners and Inclusion, Core 150 (aka Christian Traditions in Western Civilizations) and my Teaching Assistantship (the class where I'm the freshman counselor basically). It's great because my two science courses spent their first day trying to convince us that their specific course is the hardest biology course offered at Whitworth (both contradictory and untrue, I know that to be Genetics...) and that the research projects assigned will be the death of us. We have all semester to do this project in Microbial Physiology in which we isolate a single colony or strain of a specific genus from an environment, characterize it, grow a pure culture of it and run an experimental procedure on it. Does that hurt your head?! Because it hurts mine. Just think how many bacteria species live on a square inch of the skin on the back of your hand! And I have to grab one of those suckers?! I hope I can afford this class, I might set up a "Glass-Breaking" fund to hinge my bets... I've gotta make rent... Anyway, this professor is employing the "fly and be free" tactic, basically meaning he assigned us this project today and it's due in December. The rest is up to us. So if you're wondering where I am at most times, I'll probably be elbow-deep in sheep's blood and agar... ask me no questions, I'll tell you no lies.

It's going to be one of the more writing-heavy semesters, but I'm ready for the challenge. It's been really nice being off-campus; don't get me wrong, I'm still somewhat bummed about not being an RA, but I've been having a great time and I know it's only going to get better. Everyone has come back for classes and I'm already in the midst of planning my first prank (hehehe...), auditioned for choir yesterday and have tour guide training on Saturday. Woot! That and a whole slew of fun activities for the weekend, school is back in full swing.

The house is coming together quite nicely, if I do say so myself :) Here are some pictures of the place to tied you over until you visit!

Our b-e-a-Utiful garden, if I do say so myself ;) we broke the bank on the landscaping for this place, but ya know, it's worth the ambiance.

This is one of my wonderful housemates, Katie, making steamed rice and vegetables... I surprised her :)

Welcome to Steph and my room! It's great, we're having a ball. And the best part is, our neighbors across the street have three yippy dogs that start barking at 7am every morning so I now have test subjects for my research projects :) just kidding! Steph keeps saying she's going to make Doggy Stew... doesn't sound too appetizing...

So there are your pictures, more to come of the fun to be had :) I usually swipe other peoples' pictures of events because I forget my camera at most times, but I'll try my best!

Okay, off to the next event of the day (if I can remember what it is...) To my nifty planner I go!

Be well everyone

With love,

Chels

Domesticisity!

Hello one and all! So I don't have pictures of my new home yet, but I will soon I promise. I have been spending my days flocking to campus because Internet and air conditioning are very attractive luxuries that my house lacks. I've been visiting friends and watching the student leadership return to campus from the sidelines and have a joyful old time! When not doing that, I've been bonding with my new housemates (LOVE them, it's going to be a fantastic year!) and sprucing up the old place. I feel like such a grown-up! We've basically lived at the thrift stores in town and been taking daily adventures around the greater Spokane area to find garage sales. The other day, one of my housemates and I hit 6 garage sales within an hour and found tons of nifty stuff that just needed a LOT of TLC... and some antibacterial cleansing... I worked for a good two hours on this toaster from the 1970's or earlier that has since declared mutiny against me, but at least it doesn't smell like burning gasoline anymore! And more importantly I made the cheap chrome paneling shine like a new penny :) Anyway, we've been fixing up our bargain buys and have invested a whopping $30 bucks into this place (second mortgage here we come!) but I weeded yesterday, sanded and revarnished our dining room table (a freeby because it had broken in half, so we also filled the crack and bracketed it too...) planted a garden, fixed my dubious toaster for the second time and a hodge-podge of other stuff. The great thing is my roommates really want this to be a home and so we're all pulling our weight. The last two roommates are slated to come within the week, so the family will be complete!

The other day, I went grocery shopping for myself for the first time. And I don't mean picking up a few things here and there for the family, or getting snacks or even meals to pack into the dorm room. I mean real food, food I have to make on a daily basis. You'll be happy to know I haven't made myself sick yet, but give it time :) the learning curve doesn't just apply to book learnin'.

I will most definitely post pictures within the next week or so to show you what the house looks like. It's going to be a very bohemian, eclectic style because of two reasons: 1) All my housemates like the look, and 2) the price is right. I have some before pictures, and I'll put those nasty reminders up too :) Anyway, I think the girl working in this coffee shop has started placing bets about whether or not I'll ask to sleep here so I'm going to get out of her hair. I love you all dearly, and I hope to hear from you soon!

With love,
Chels

P.S. Don't worry, I haven't been working so hard that I'm not having fun... midnight sprinkler runs on campus have already happened, AND I've already been pegged in the head with a frisbee inside the new dorm :)

La Starta of the Bloga

Welcome to my concession! I have finally given in, everyone... STOP! Blog time :) Everyone seems to agree, myself included, that this may be the easier way in which to keep in touch and relate my debauchery to you all. This way, I won't have to write a small novel; instead I can just post the fun as it comes! And it gives a new field of competition for my family and their "I'm going to out-comment you" mentality :) So welcome! For a little bit this blog may be a work in progress, meaning I might change the layout and such, but I will try my best to keep it updated, I really will. Each year has been a huge change, so we'll have to see how this year goes, but I anticipate a much more relaxed, free atmosphere. Don't worry, I'll still keep myself fairly busy, but just in different ways. And I'll be taking you guys along with me :)

I moved into my new (well, not so new... the geometric-design shudders give it away) duplex a few days ago and already love it. My housemates are great, the other two who are already here, and I think it's going to be a wonderful change of pace and push into adulthood. My papa left me today (TO STARVE!!! Just kidding, we ate enough the last three days to keep me full until Thanksgiving... I'm assuming that was intentional on his part...) and I headed over to campus to visit some friends. Tons of people are coming back today for RA training (haha SUCKERS!) and for various other reasons so I snuck into the cafeteria (Saga, if you may recall) and made the rounds. I saw a few old team members from my leadership team and started feeling both nostalgic and sad. Part of me would really have liked to be an RA again, but I'm ready for a new adventure and feel as though I took as much from the experience last year as I could have. This year will be completely different and yet I anticipate that it'll be completely great! With living off-campus, tour-guiding, classes, being a peer advisor for about 20 freshman, choir, possibly auditioning for the school play (SO excited!), my refugee family and volunteering with the Bonner Leader program, it's shaping up to be a pretty dang good year :)

When papa and I arrived in Spokane after much gluteal distress, we took a tour around campus and went to the beautiful, newly-seeded lawn that was once Keola. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, my much beloved, asbestos-filled home last year has been destroyed. It was really kind of sad, I'm going to miss everything about it. Well, not everything, but the people, the memories and what it represented. But on the flip side, it's kind of cool because I can tell people I'm giving tours to that I once lived in a dorm that doesn't even exist anymore! How about them apples?!

So for the next week and a half (I got here pretty early) I will be getting things put together in my house, bonding with my roommates, and creeping on RA training and Traditiation meetings. I'm in the Library right now for two reasons: 1) It's air conditioned and my house is not, 2) it has Internet and my house does not. We're going to be fixing this very soon, we are looking between Comcast and someone named "my friend knows this guy who..." and we'll probably be going with the latter :) Spokane is beautiful and I wish you were all here, but I'll try and make it feel like you are, okay?! My email at chelsea.casebolt@gmail.com is still fully functioning and I would love to still hear from you all, so don't think that door has closed just because this one has opened up. Also, I've been asked to provide my address here at school, so here it is!

9803 N Ivanhoe Rd
Spokane, WA 99218

Tada! That's it for the first post. Wow, practically painless! So comment away if you see fit, and I will talk to you all soon.

With love,
Chels