A little late

Well, last week was pretty good. I am having a lot of trouble getting junk done. I do so hate having so much to do.

The parents they will be here in 11 hours and 39 minutes supposedly. I shall be at the airport to meet them, as will i be there to meet Todd at the same time. I look forward to this greatly. In the words of the great shaper, the true fourth doom, "Mia alantin sa lyet tia no, e mia asha'man."

Love the old tongue. I shall endevour to grade tests tonight, but I am tired and lazy. Also, tired.

Went to the doctor for my ear, which is plugged with wax. He was useless. I did convince him to give me some wax remover stuff. Should help hopefully. grar.

Good night.

Self Reminder

I gots to put up the christmas decorating pictures

That Time

So, it has finally dawned on me that i am currently living in the space of time in between Christmas and Thanksgiving. I have never felt this to be a time period worth doing anything in, and my current laziness and lack of productivity when I force my self to work seem to indicate that the trend will continue. I think that, no I know that, since my family is coming to visit, I will soon become sick. Now, I would like to say that a stuffed nose has already manifested, and since my birthday is coming up soon, most likely I will procure sweets and become more sick.

So my computer has a virus of some type. It is just slowing things down right now, but I am watching my credit and debit cards closely to see if some spyware has taken info from somewhere on my computer. Probably ought to make sure everything is gone again anyway. I really wish that i had a big enough hard drive to install a linux partition on it and do all my internet stuff over there. If I did, then i would be safe from viruses for the most part. I keep windows for Excel and games mostly. Oh, and power point. I do love power point.

I am thinking that I might, in all the spare time i have, start a World of Warcraft character over here, and see what all the hype is about. Of course, the only reason such an idea crossed my mind is that here in Cambodia, there is no monthly fee!

It took me quite a while, but i've finally started on the Falconfar trilogy. So far, it seems promising, if a little ridiculous. I am also re-working my way through "lies my teacher told me." Good as ever.

This last week has gone off alright for such a non-productive time period. I have been thanking God that we had Friday off. That made for a heavenly time. Phil is in San Diego this weekend, attending a close friend's wedding. Makes you realize how much we've shrunk our world. I am mostly caught up in everything but health. We are doing some really fun stuff in Physical Science. Waves mostly. I love wave mechanics. On monday we will be starting sound off with some Mythbusters. Gotta love the Mythbusters.

I talked to the other student missionaries, and it seems that the hatchet is buried for now. I am indeed going with them to India. For that I am thankful. Being left out has always been a scary concept for me. That is why i learned to spell so quick. Hated Mom and Dad talking over my head by spelling things.

All in all, I must re-affirm that life is indeed awesome here on the other side of the world.

Vietnam Pictures

Ankor Wat

Ok, So I'm Lazy

Yes i have failed to post here in forever. I wish I had excuses, but I don't. To top it off, it's been like a month.

Ok, right after last post, the other sm's and i had a talk. I know i am caustic and sarcastic, but i didn't know that they were mad about it. So, I was pretty put off, especially when they essentially said that i wasn't invited to come to vietnam with them. I gotta admit, that really hurt. It is no fun to be left out. I have always hated that. I have dealt with that before, and it is actually what destroyed the sanguine in me, and replaced it with phlegmatic. My teachers have commented on this strange dichotomy (Choleric-phlegmatic is abnormal) before, and talking with Pastor Speyer, i finally understood what the source of it was. Anyway, I agreed to tone it down, and I am trying to make a point to spend more time with them. Ended up that I went to vietnam alone. I gotta say, i had a great time, vietnam is cool, but very different. Got to see some vietcong tunnels. got wedged in said tunnels. they weren't built for me. very low to the ground ended up on my hands and knees.

Two weekends ago, we had midterms. they sucked, but Tim helped me to grade, and Sharon helped me clean up the room. Those were both enormous help to me, since i was dealing with getting over being sick after thailand, and being depressed over what the other sm's said, and having to go to vietnam alone. I got the room clean, and the grades done, and that felt good. Vietnam pictures will be up soon, as will some pictures from ankor wat. Yes, they are several months late, but they are coming at least. I am doing better with keeping up on grading this half of the quarter, and i am giving out a lot of extra credit to my physics class.

Poor physics, I am way too hard on them. I am teaching concepts that are far beyond them because college physics is still stuck in my head. I am toning the work and tests down, and giving a ton of extra credit to make up for what i feel was unfair.

This week has been weird. Monday, Cambodia experienced a terrible tragedy, culminating in the deaths of approximately 400 khmer. Entire families have been devastated. It is during this time that we see the depths of suspicion in what is otherwise a very secular culture. The supposed cause of the accident was either that no people were sacrificed when the bridge in question was built, or the previous tennants of the island, HIV women, were forced to leave without the proper rituals. either way, the land is supposedly angry. The khmers are afraid. The houses are surrounded by rice and have bananas and incense out front to ward off the evil spirits. The vultures which were circling (to us westerners, it seems obvious that they were after the human carrion) as a sign that a dragon caused this calamity in the service of the land. Hopefully, we missionaries can find a way to be witnesses here, at least to our students.

Both I and Cambodia in general need your prayers during this time.

Thank you,

Travis

Christmas Music

This week was pretty average except for 2 things. The first was the thoroughly awesome Friday off. I slept. Yeah, that was pretty much all I did. I was gonna go to the Russian market, but I just stayed in bed. I did clean our stove-top though. I ate Phil's chips, so I need to go buy more. Also, we go through bread at a bizarrely fast rate.

Oh, and the 2nd thing was that Uncle Mike showed up Thursday morning. Not only was it totally awesome, but I was completely caught by surprise. When Sharron called me, it sounded like she was trying to soften a blow, like someone had died, and then there was a knock on my door, and it was Uncle Mike. He said he wished he had gotten a picture of the look on my face. He also made some derogatory comments about the cleanliness state of our room.

It was really nice to see him. um, otherwise this week was fairly average. I am getting caught up on the work that i missed when I was sick, which is frustrating work. We went out to a house church this afternoon. I got lost trying to find my way to ADRA.

HMMM. Oh, I didn't take any pictures this week and I keep forgetting to upload the pictures from Ankor Wat, which was more than a month ago. frustrating.

Oh yeah, the title. I am being driven nuts by my compulsion to listen to christmas music. Why, I don't know? Between "Ace of Spades" and random christmas songs, I can't stop humming and whistling on and on. It is amusing to my students, and infuriating to Phil, since when I am whistling with my headphones on, I whistle really loud. sorry phil.