So, it's been awhile.

I'm currently in my dorm room - excuse me, residence hall - at Luther College, in the lovely town of Decorah, Iowa. It's chilly up here, and I love it.

Something I don't love - my first Friday night as a college student, and up until about 10 I was having fun... now I'm all alone in my room, blogging to absolutely no one, save myself. Although, I did fulfill a secret dream of mine today. I signed up to be in the SAC Spotlight Committee, which organizes fun concerts for the students, and one of the events was tonight. So I signed up to help, and I got the job of scanning IDs, and handing out tickets. Honestly, since I was a kid, I've always wanted to use a scanner. I would have taken a job as a cashier at a grocery store just for the scanners if my parents hadn't said no. So secret dream #___ fulfilled.

What other secret dreams do I have? I think I will explore them.

I have always wanted to be able to horseback ride. Something about the wind flowing in my hair and sitting atop a monstrous animal is appealing to me.

I used to want to be a writer, of long mystery novels and other "leather-bound" books. The longest thing I've written was a story called, "Dawn of a New Mission, Darkness on a Dangerous Adventure." It was 50 pages, hand written, when I was in the 4th grade.

If every career path I tried failed, I would want to be an office supply salesperson. I love office supplies, and I have always been envious of people who get to work in the stores where that stuff is sold. Man, what a life I would have.

Along the same lines as the salesperson, I've always wanted to be a secretary. Type stuff, get coffee, the whole 9 yards. It's not a glamourous job by any means, but I have eye glasses I could wear and a cute pencil skirt... I would shuffle papers and look important, as well as leave post-it notes for my boss everywhere. And I would have a FiloFax. Heck yes.

I wish I could cook. That doesn't exactly qualify as a secret dream, but still. I wish I could cook. I'm glad my boyfriend can make spaghetti, or else I would starve. :-)

I have always wanted to be able to play some sort of sport, to be the girl that all the guys want to hang out with cause I can hit a ball and give high-fives like a champ. Wow. Now that I think about it, I'm glad I'm not one of those girls.

I used to wish I could live in a fort made of blankets. My sister and I used to make large forts in our rec-room when we were little, and I swear I would've stayed there for ever and ever. It had hallways and everything!

I can officially say I'm a college kid. A poor, broke college kid. But, I am having fun. Met some cool people, my roomie is awesome and much much cooler than I could ever aspire to be. And to top it off, I'm assistant concertmaster in the symphony! So that's kinda cool, I guess.

Go blue! (Oh wait, that's Michigan.)

Yay Internet!

I have decided that touring is a lot like life.

That's all I have to say today.

Sanctuary

One more post for today, just because I can.

I'm sitting in the St. Matthew Lutheran Church sanctuary, in Columbia Heights.

There is no one else here, except for one of the guitar players. He is playing with the A/C.

There is something magical about a silent sanctuary. Maybe not magical - maybe holy. Satisfying, quiet, peaceful... I have yet to find another room that creates this kind of space with this amount of quiet and peace. It gives irony to the concert we will be performing tonight, sending our message LOUD AND CLEAR, anything but quiet.

I take comfort in noise - I sleep with my fan on high at night. But the quiet silence is a different kind of comfort all together. It's like a refuge. It's nice.

Here's to sanctuaries, loud and quiet.

Driving. Again.

So I’m riding in the car from Alexandria, MN to Columbia Heights, MN, and I’m waiting for the film clips in iMovie to finish letterboxing so I can tag them and get them organized. But I’m super bored, and really need a rest stop, so I’m attempting to distract myself by pseudo blogging. :-)

The roads in MN are terrible, just for the record. The gov’t does a nice job with the rest areas, but the roads need some help. I guess frozen winters and contracting concrete don’t help, but still. Not a pleasant ride, especially with a full bladder.

Okay, these roads are so bad I’m having a hard time typing. Wow.....

Somethings I have learned today:

1)One can’t drink 3 glasses of water before a two hour drive.

2)I am slowly disliking the words, “As your manager, I suggest...”

3)I taped over Laura’s interview, the Nashville city scape, and some important road signs. Awesome.

Other observations:

I love people watching. Especially while you are driving. Because it never fails - when you pass a moving vehicle, the people inside will usually turn to look at you. And in our case, there is lots of pointing and “O” shaped mouths at the sight of our car paint and the rather large trailer hitched to our truck. It is amusing to watch. Sometimes, people are oblivious to our presence, which makes it more fun because then I get to watch them talking to themselves or jamming to some rockin’ tunes. Thank you, Midwesterners, for keeping me entertained on this road trip.

I forget how green up north is compared to Georgia. Don’t get me wrong, Georgia is green too, but somehow up here, the colors are richer, the dirt is black and earth-ier, and the sky is huge and crystal blue. I can’t wait to spend the next four years up here, enjoying the colors.

Our GPS, Sassy Sally, says 15 more miles till we reach our destination, about another half an hour. I don’t think my bladder can hold it that long..... Shoot.

Something funny about traveling with a group: the two women I’m traveling with are fans of taking time. Huge plus when it comes to long hours in the car. The other family we are following are more hardcore about road trips, and seldom stop for breaks. So, yesterday when we were headed to Alexandria, all three of us in the truck were about ready to burst, and we still had 30 minutes left to drive. We were so afraid that The Rothfusz’s weren’t going to let us stop - we were already behind schedule. Luckily, we needed gas and lunch anyway, so we got to stop. I don’t think that’s the case this trip. :-(

I have a feeling that no one is paying attention to this blog. But you know, I’m enjoying this experience. It’s a lot different than journaling. I mean, it’s relatively the same, but the idea that you have to write well, not to mention coherently, because people will be reading it (maybe).... I’m not a real writer, but I have been told that I have style, and it’s a fun little project to explore the writer within.

Shout out...

Just wanted to say Thank You to Starbucks today for filling up my water jug this morning! You kept me hydrated all day long.

And tonight was the first concert of our tour... it went well. Tons of fun, lots of mistakes and laughter, but we had a good time and we showed it. I wore sunglasses for Pentecost - I hope someone got pictures. Off to Columbia Heights tomorrow for Concert #2!

On another note, I've discovered that you can't play bongos with rings, that my gall bladder is not giving me problems, and I have high energy in the evenings. All good things. Oh, and Praise the Universe/God/Heavenly Being for the Internet and keeping in touch.

I have no more random information, except that I'm extremely tired, worn out, and ready to "conk," as my sister would say. Here's a hug for Alex and my parents, and Keri, and Amy, and Brenda, and Lela and Posie and Ginger...

Lalala...

Well, I'm in Minnesota right now. With the Graceflock truck, trailer, and all the stuff it comes with. I have to say that this road trip has not been as unbearable as I thought it would be. It's actually been a lot of fun - we keep busy listening to How Stuff Works podcasts, random playlists, magazine articles that Laura reads from... It's a good time. Tomorrow we are headed to Alexandria, I think, for the first concert of the tour! Highlights so far have been jokes about water "jugs," loss of hearing, stuff to look up on Google when we get to the hotels, and staring out the window at the awesome Illinois and Wisconsin scenery.

There's a lot of time to think on these trips. I have been thinking a lot about college and leaving, and coming home, and everything in between. It's a lot to comprehend. But I think I have decided that I'm excited about it. Excited about new surroundings and learning new things and meeting new people. Doesn't mean that anything will change about the people I leave, right? I mean, the feelings I have about them or associate them with. They will change as people, obviously. I will, too. But not everything has to change just because I'm leaving.

Wanna know something funny? All the rest stops we have stopped at between GA and MN have been really nice. I guess that isn't exactly funny, but I vaguely remember from road trips past that not all rest stops have been... accommodating. And now they are! I think it's wonderful. Hooray for good public services.

So if you happen to be reading this, you should check out http://web.me.com/karladietmeyer, and find out what it is that I do. Then you should leave a comment and tell me what it is you do, and then we can be friends! I love new friends.

Hasta!

this is how boring i am

So I'm going to college soon. Two months-ish. And I was inspired by the GraceFlock blog that I'm helping out with to create my own - I thought it might be fun to meet a bunch of random people and talk about the random stuff in my life, cause I'm about to leave to meet a bunch a new people. Why not start now? Maybe it's boring, but it kinda sounds like fun to me.

:-)

Enjoy. Be a follower (of my blog, anyway)!