weekend fun, sun and weird laughing.

What a beautiful weekend! Ah, it's raining now, and I'm wondering if I have to put my boots back on and abandon my sandals. My theory is, insist on wearing your Birks even when it's still sorta cold outside and the weather will naturally adjust itself towards summer. Of course, this never works, but I try anyhow. Good news, though: Monday was the first day of spring! yay!

So, I left behind my books this weekend for a worship retreat with my church, at a lovely mountainous place called Coultus Lake near Chilliwack. I think most grad students at this time of year would say that was a crazy decision, but I don't doubt the value of going at all. What, miss out on all-out free-for-all jam sessions with good friends and praising God all at the same time? Hm, a sad thing that would be. Most of all, the best thing out of the retreat was reconnecting with old friends and strenghthing friendships with newer ones. How great it was to see the East-siders again, and all their craziness. There is so much beauty in the diversity of our community...

I came back to Vancouver feeling slightly overwhelmed by the amount of work I knew I had to do in the next little while, and the familiar dread started to creep up on me again. Oh, but I think I know what to do with these fears, now that it's been a year or so that I've had to deal with them -- give 'em a good stomp, and say, "Poo on you!!!" Yeah! That's right. Grad school WILL get done darn it. Mylanta, it will!

Sunday was a gorgeous day, filled with sunshine, food and friends, and yes, even some schoolwork. It was nice to see Rebecca again, who I haven't seen in weeks - and also to catch up with Bettina, who was away in Ontario for a while.

When I got home, I found my roommates Kat and Jon, along with friends Jay and Ryan, making horrendous noises that sounded like laughing, but their faces were twisted in forced grimaces and frowns. Kat turned to me and said, "Can you laugh without smiling?" hehe. Try it with your friends. It's the most hilarious thing watching people's faces as they spit out some pretty awful, gutteral sounding ho-ho's and heh-heh's trying to laugh without smiling. Their eyes pop out, faces turn red. It's pretty hard to do, especially when you know how stupid you look while doing it... and by then, it's become a lost cause!