A Chronicle of Bre

breonna is still alive!

Sun, 08 Oct 2006 01:05:04 GMT

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

- John 1:1

Dear family, friends, neighbors and companions,

First, I'm sorry that I have not written sooner, but my time here in California has already been slipping away from me… So just to recap, I will list the fun goings on in the life of a first year seminarian at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary.

This adventure started off with a few endings. For the past 10 months, I had been working in a research laboratory with Dr. Amanda Baker at the Arizona Cancer Center. It was a time of great growth and comfort to me, as it offered me my first opportunity to use the skills and knowledge I accumulated during my undergraduate education. From the work I helped produce in this lab, I will be published in a forthcoming article and will notify everyone when it is released so we can celebrate (with chocolate!). My supervisor and coworkers sent me off with best wishes and I miss their company. My second ending was with the three beautiful women I was privileged to live, eat, sleep, clean, and shop with at 403 Drachman St, otherwise known as "the Hot Lutheran house." Rachel, Cynthia, and Lizzy, along with boys down the street, helped to shape my faith and strengthen my sense of call in the huge events and small details that we shared, for which I can never say enough thanks.

My most significant ending is my very departure from Tucson. I left at the end of June, and two families remain behind without me and yet I know that I am still loved and supported by them. My church family at American Ev. Lutheran Church, including the Taylor family, the Moses family, and the youth group in general (with so many others that there is not room to name), has been the refiner and ultimate test of my faith in practice. In this place, I have been given immense and unique opportunity to lead, serve, and share with God's people the joy in the grace of his son, Jesus Christ. My very housing payment is but one manifestation this congregation continues to show me. My family, Brenda, Richard, and Caitlin, has supported me in the way that they always have, with boundless and unconditional love and concern. This is evident in the weekly care package I receive of comics and other goodies from Tucson, but also in the help with bills over the summer. I last slept in Tucson the night of June 20 th, and in these three months, I have already seen changes in me.

The task before me this summer was Greek, oh arduous language. I persisted and by the end of August, I had earned six units of Greek thanks to note cards, books, computer programs, and an occasional grecophile. Orientation and the arrival of new students brought the school year to a start and right now my head is still above water amid the readings, papers, and oh yes, my social life. I arrived in California, with all of my belongings stuffed into the bed of my father's truck, and moved into the seminary apartments at Delaware Street, hoping to soon move into the dormitory on campus. This has still not happened, so please keep the staff and students affected by this challenge in your thoughts and prayers while we live out of suitcases and temporary housing. We are Class of 2010, the refugees of PLTS!

Guinness?

Thu, 06 Apr 2006 06:26:54 GMT

This has possibly been the most stressful two weeks in my life... I'm not even joking. Here is the proof:

1) Broke up with my boyfriend of 4 months - Dave and I basically decided that we are too different to be together right now. He is too clingy for me and I am too distant for him. Unfortunately this happened during my trip out to Berkeley that was supposed to be "romantic." I hate that word.

2) My candidacy interview is coming up on April 22nd and I still don't have all my stuff in... ::sigh:: But Catherine is graciously doing my last recommendation form and PR proctored the most useless tests today, but now I can send it all in and start the waiting.... w00t...

3) Work is work. I am still in charge of a lot of stuff, but now that we have more people actually working in the lab I feel less overwhelmed. I sometimes still feel like my boss can't quite gage how much time the things she asks for will take. Plus, I keep messing up the clinical trial stuff, because I can't tell what's crucial and what's not.

4) I'm attracted to someone here in Tucson who I just started hanging out with again... I'm leaving in two and a half months! I just broke up with Dave! I can't do this! I think they should just declare me crazy right now and save me the trouble of finding somewhere to live this summer during Greek...

5) Seminary $ = a huge void of nothing (AKA I won't know for a while.)

So I have reason to need a Guinness right now, right?

meep...

Fri, 31 Mar 2006 06:19:37 GMT

Just for the record:

5 favorite things

1. Guinness
2. coffee
3. books
4. TV
5. solitude

I really need that first one right now...

@ work, being bad

Tue, 21 Mar 2006 18:33:15 GMT

I am easily amused:

soooo...

Tue, 21 Mar 2006 06:31:35 GMT

Ahhhhhhh...
I am sick of all this precipice standing... I FINALLY got the packet for all the crazy tests I have to take before the candidacy interview in April. Myers-Briggs fun and such. So, now I actually have homework like the roomies. (Snicker.)

Last week was spring break at the U of A, so I had to go to work while the girls slept. (No rest for those pretending to be adults!) But I took off Friday and we all tripped up to the Grand Canyon because I was told I HAD to see it before I leave Arizona. I had my eyes covered as I walked to the edge (thanks to Lizzy and Rach) and like the dork I am, I almost cried when I saw it for the first time. Most of the time it was snowing and that in of itself was cool. I even have proof:

We were cheesy tourists and took lots of pictures. On a side note, I got bangs cut into my hair. Photos forthcoming...

FIN

mini-explanation

Mon, 13 Mar 2006 04:35:59 GMT

This is my sister wearing my cap before graduation in May...

This year has been a strange one so far since May 2005. I didn't technically graduate until December (oops!), but ever since May the "era of transition" has begun. I moved out, I got a job, and I am now successfully pretending to be an adult. I hate it.

Luckily, I have an escape! I am leaving Tucson, the land of desert sprawl, to go to seminary in Berkeley, California, land of expensive hills. I'm excited/scared/nervous/prematurely lonesome. But I'll get there. My mantra these days: Become used to living within ambiguity. It's a work in progress...

::sigh::

Sun, 12 Mar 2006 07:44:36 GMT

Ok, so another soul is lost... Another life consumed by a blog... I figured it was a good thing to get in the habit of doing, so that when I move away the Tucsonans I love can peek into my life. or something...

LiveJournal Haiku!
Your name:	breonnaelsey
Your haiku:	all the crazy tests i have an escape i am now successfully
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