yo, yo, yo from SC :-P

it's been a crazy (but tons of fun) day :-)

yesterday, after hanging out in roommate's room all afternoon, and still having an unfixed car :-P, we headed to wednesday night church at her field church (i.e. the congregation where she's assigned to work at while in school).... apparently the ELCA (the branch of lutheran that roommate belongs to, a different branch from the one i belong to) is writing a new hymnal. so over sandwiches and homemade soup, we discussed (well, i basically read and listened to discussion) the changes between certain aspects of the old hymnal and the proposed versions of things in the new one. after that, a short evening prayer service, and then roommate and i got ice cream and came back and crashed. i really like the pastor at roommate's field church (aka pastor karen), and pastor karen's husband (dr. hawkins, one of roommate's professors and the seminary choir director/organist) was exceedingly cool too (although he strangely reminded me incredibly -- in speech and appearance -- of my dentist in memphis... how weird is that? ;-P)... from the discussion of the other church members throughout the evening, it seems that they have a very small but incredibly lively congregation... it was cool to see it for myself.

today went a bit differently than planned. all along, roommate and i had been planning on seeing the south carolina state house and the local zoo, however i managed to see columbia on the week that they set a record low for the high (mid 40s today) and had drizzle all week... oi... so that kinda put a hitch in things :-P

first off, while roommate had a midterm at 8 this morning, i met up with mason again at his house... we went on an hour long driving tour of columbia, a la mason... he saved the state house for roommate to give the tour of, but got me some good shots of downtown from parks, showed me the governor's mansion, the church where the articles of confederation were signed, a good bit of the USC campus, and a few other historical sites... it was cool to chat, and especially as for most of the hour roommate was going to be testing anyhow, it was a quality use of time :-P

by the time i got back to the seminary, roommate was already out of class... first off, we headed for the SC state house and wandered the grounds to see all the assorted monuments there... it was pretty cool... next we drove half an hour away to lexington, SC, to drop my car off at the shop that was supposed to come fix it yesterday (doht)... then, we drove over a dam (nice view of a large lake along the way) to the next town over for lunch and a movie. we ate lunch at a cute place called isabelle's that roommate and her friend ely found earlier this semester... they sell sandwiches and quality deserts and all the walls are basically an art gallery for local artists (all the paintings are for sale too)... i had a really good turkey veggie sandwich and then a banana split cheesecake (layers of strawberry, chocolate, vanilla flavored cheesecake with banana mousse and a cherry on top ;-) ), which was fantastic :-)... it was a quality stop :-) we saw "the wedding date" at the theater, which is already out of theaters in jersey from such bad reviews and tough competition from other flicks... while i wouldn't contest the average reviews the film got, it was still funny and cute.... just not blockbuster best ever :-P we both enjoyed it.

next, we got my car back... i have a $200 deductible and it cost $199.44 -- how delightful is that? my car (which is beige) also has the windsheild lined in bright blue tape until tomorrow too... isn't that exciting? at least it's not longer cracked...

next stop, was the local zoo... we managed to see most of it in less than an hour, and since it was cold and rainy, that's probably about all the time we wanted to spend outside... highlights include the aquarium, the elephants, and a baby koala :-)

finally, a tour of roommate's campus (besides the union and her dorm), and evening chapel there with all her friends... after church, we (roommate, me, and 5 of her seminary friends) went out for dinner, and halfway through, mason showed up and joined just for the fun of it... we all had a great time chatting, and it was fun for me both to (a) get to meet/spend more than just saying "hi, nice to meet you" time with roommate's seminary friends, (b) hang out with mason a little more... although some combinations of mixing people from different parts of ones life work better than others, mason's got a friendly enough personality that he mixes well with just about any group you put him in, so the whole combination of people (roommate, 5 other seminarians, me, and a fellow BSM/math person :-P) was fantastic and not weird at all :-P

quote of the night: "so lara's crew has 'no math night' in jersey... is this your 'no God night'?" ~mason (*that* got laughs all around :-P)

now, to chill a little, and get ready to head out in the morning.... NC and back to SC tomorrow... jersey, by way of a few hours stop in maryland on saturday :-)

catch y'all on the flip side!

:-)