from the hills of TN

I'm in Dayton with Joy experiencing for a brief moment what life in a college dorm is like. I'm in a cave underneath three lofted beds. A blanket with a Don Quixote print lines the ceiling of the cave. The walls are papered with newspaper. There are more photos in this room than I've seen in a long time. The colors and pictures seem like they should cause sensory overload, but somehow they don't. It gives a very pleasant, homey feel. I can't imagine sharing a room with two girls. I can't imagine sharing a bathroom with 50 or 60 girls. In some ways I feel like I missed out on a lot not living in a dorm when I was in college. In some ways I'm glad I didn't. The situation here is appealing in that Joy and her roommates are very good friends. They share things and help each other. This would really suck if you didn't like your roommates though. You can't get away from them.

Elisa has been taking good care of me today. She painted my finger and toe nails earlier, and has been fetching me ice to try to keep my foot from swelling. Yesterday we went to Pocket - a place I've heard of for years, but never visited myself. We had to walk about 20 minutes up a trail, along a big creek. Then we climbed down the bank and sat on a huge rock in the creek for a while. It was really beautiful up there. I can imagine that it's really nice when it's warm and you can swim in the water. Instead it was cold and we entertained ourselves by knocking the icicles off the rock faces we passed.

Last night we did two things that made me laugh because of how terrible they were. First we went to a student's senior recital type thing. It was called her cabaret and involved singing and dancing. I was amused that at a Christian college her songs were about drinking, smoking, drug use, cheating, murder... just to name a few. The dancing was alright, but the singing not so much. I feel kind of mean for disliking it so much, but I can't help it. We left at the intermission because Joy was peeling her fingernails to distract from the pain.

The next plan for the evening was to go to a dance party. This seems like fun; I really enjoy dancing with Michal and Joy (even though I can't really dance right now). We spent forever getting ready as girls tend to do. They put on their heels and bright make up, and I tried to pretend I wouldn't be the oldest person by 6 years. When we finally showed up to these people's house (an hour late) there were five people there. One girl was wearing a red polyester jumpsuit with a belt. Another showed up in a blue wig, spiderman house shoes, and all manner of ridiculousness in between. We were offered tea, coffee, or life water! I've been to a lot of parties, and never in my life have I been to one where they didn't even have a soda. The music finally started (after we dragged half the party away from the video games) and it was all kind of music I can't even describe except to say that I might have enjoyed it if I were on some really strong drugs. One guy was jumping around with feathers in his hair, paint on his face, and later we discovered - paint on his chest. Joy finally got control of the music and started playing some hip hop and it got better for about 10 minutes. Then I decided it wasn't worth losing sleep for and we went home.

Michal and I are getting ready to drive back to Atlanta now.