Life Before Death

Here follows the recent activities of Kathleen before the tragic events of Dead Week unfold upon her.

Last weekend the Brass Ensemble was playing in Lewiston, Idaho, so being the good roadie that I am, I naturally hopped on the bus and followed my favorite trombonist. The trip was fairly uneventful, but I won't lie and will admit that a little cheer erupted from my corner of the bus when we saw the "Welcome to Idaho" sign. They played well for church, and then we enjoyed the amazingness of Adventist potluck. Yum. We walked around the neighborhood a bit before heading back for the afternoon concert and finally home. When I got back, I was able to enjoy the company of Candice for a few hours who was in town for a spur of the moment visit. We went to the One Acts the students here put on, two of which were pretty funny and three which were of a more serious nature. The next morning we all went out to breakfast; it's good to unexpectedly see friends.

This past week I have been running a marathon in a week. 5 more miles today and I will have run 26.2 miles in 7 days. It wasn't too bad actually, 4.2 miles the first day, rest, 4.6, rest, 7.5, 5, and 5 today. It's actually a good goal to aim for every week I think. It's been the perfect week to do it too; this past week, spring came. Glorious spring with sunshine and blue skies and longer days and warmer weather. Tank tops and flip flops and shorts and skirts, oh how I love it. Yesterday morning, in fact, someone else decided to take advantage of the glorious weather. I was running and saw someone across the street running too, so I said to myself, you'll be keeping up a good pace if you just beat this girl. Next thing I know she's coming over to me and turns out it was Sarah! So we walked together the rest of the way and caught up on life.

This weekend has been one of the those weekends. It's funny, some weekends there is nothing going on and we create our own fun, and sometimes there is absolutely everything going on and one must choose how to best spend their time. This was one of those weekends. Friday afternoon began the usual way, I got back from my run, had lunch, cleaned the place up a bit, studied a bit more, and then went to choir rehearsal. Afterwards, Jon and I tried to find the Walla Walla recycling depot. Not as easy as one might think with detours due to construction. Why is it recycling depots are always in the most obscure parts of town? Well anyways, we got there half an hour after it closed, so we will return! We got back in time for Jon's mom to arrive with burgers for dinner and tons and tons of groceries to last them till the end of the school year! (I exaggerate slightly).

The next morning I went out for my run, got back in time for breakfast with the Campbells before Katelyn, Jon and I headed off to choir practice. We performed at church, came back for a quick lunch (choosing his family's above the 5 other lunch invitations we had) before heading back to the church for an afternoon concert. I had not spent serious time with my lovely friend Abby in quite a while, so after the concert she came over and we made sugar cookies while we discussed the latest in our lives. Then I ran over to the One Acts to meet Jon, who wanted to see the first two acts, the funny ones. We came back and actually studied a bit, (on a Saturday night, awful I know, but times are desperate), and then headed to the midnight movie. The Village Club was offering free tickets to see Alice in Wonderland for free at the local theatre, so since I'd never been to the Walla Walla Theatre, what better time than when I have a free ticket available?

And now, in regards to the title of this post, that was my life before today, before the beginning of Dead Week. I bid you all adieu as I surrender myself to the massive amount of papers, reading, annotating, and projects that are due this week. Similarly to last quarter, my finals week isn't too terrible. Instead, this week I have a 450 pg book to annotate due Monday, a project where I must cook and research Kwanza food due Thursday night, the final draft of my senior history paper due Friday (eek!), another 8-9 page paper due Friday, an essay and lots more annotating due Friday, Amnesty vespers Friday evening (which I've mostly left in the hands of my capable officers due to my schedule), not to mention the normal readings and such for classes. Wish me luck and I'll see you on the other side!