Monday, June 22, 2009

written the following day

This day was a nasty one, weather wise. We had some cool thunder in the morning, but overall, the weather was hot and even when the sun came up, quite muggy. I did go out once during the day to check my bank balance and pick up some very bare essentials at the grocery store. While at the bank, I checked my balance and realized that once I bought what I was going to get, which was only two or three things, I would be down to about $15 for the next three or four weeks until I finally got the financial aid check. It is a little distressing to learn these things, but what could I do?

Later, when I got back, I decided to finally clean up my room before it gets out of control. Cleaning my room always includes opening old mail, the stuff I didn’t want to open when I got it. I found something from Asbury that I recalled leaving unopened. I was worried it was a bill and so apparently it goes without saying that if you don’t open your bills, you don’t have to pay them. Well, I finally decided to open it. Turns out, it wasn’t a bill. It was a check.

Asbury has a special account called the Philippian Fund. It is designed for Asbury students when they hit a financial crisis of some sort or another and it is Marilyn (you know—the chaplain) who gives the okay for it to be used. On her last day of work before her vacation, the day she told me to journal during my summer, when I completely fell apart in her office, she sighed and said, “I’m going to get you some money from the Philippian Fund so you can at least eat some eggs.” In truth, it was not that I forgot it was coming to me. It was, in all honesty, that I didn’t believe her. It was Marilyn’s last day before vacation, she was excited about getting out for a month, and she still had things left to do before leaving that day. I simply thought she would forget she had said it. Apparently, she didn’t, and I chose to clean my room at the perfect time. So thanks Asbury, and thanks Marilyn.

Later in the evening, I decided to take a walk. The sky was nice and the sun was setting, but it was rather gross and muggy outside. I decided to wander anyway with my camera and just want to say this. I have learned recently that there is an unspoken rule in Wilmore that if you leave stuff at your curb, it’s free for the taking, which means there’s a lot of junk in front of the houses in Wilmore. It’s a bit of an eye sore, but some of the porch decorations topped even the curb sights. Here’s a little of what I saw.