Chillin' like a villain ...

The expression "chillin' like a villain" always made my grandpa laugh, maybe because he worked in Corrections - ha. Life has been pretty mellow these last 5 days. I am finally done my exams and my work-study marathon, and it feels really good. I find myself taking 2 or 3 naps a day (and still sleeping regular hours at night), so my body must be catching up from all the abuse I have put it through this last month. Exams went OK. I did MUCH better than expected in Statistics (he must have seriously curved the class cuz my final mark jumped 20% above where it was before the exam), Microeconomics was a 'halfway-decent' mark (so I don't need to redo it), and Macroeconomics ... well, I am sure I will do better in it the second time this summer. I passed it, but I really need to understand the content to do well in my graduate degree, so I decided to redo it. That was my first C since the Mulroney administration - ha. I am glad for the 2nd chance/opportunity to do it again before the fall.

I got approved for another term of work study (PTL!) As some of you already know, in the Fall and Spring of this last year, I was on a research team responsible for creating a database of all terrorist activity worldwide since 9/11. It has been a lot of fun; I have had a great partner to work with, and our findings have been fascinating. For example, during 2003 (which was the year I was responsible for), India had by far the most terrorist activity, almost 3 times as many incidents as in the West Bank/Gaza. Also, 17 McDonalds were attacked in 9 countries that year. Interestingly enough, Belfast (Northern Ireland) had more terrorist incidents than Bagdad, Iraq in 2003 (the year the war in Iraq began). You may be wondering, why on earth would Kristen want to spent nearly 300 hours pouring over terrorist incients? This may sound like a scary project, but in a strange way, it was comforting to see how many 'attempted attacks' were thwarted by police. Very few attacks incurred any injuries, and even fewer involved deaths. Of those who died, nearly all were targeted (mostly people running for political office in the Kashmir in India).

So my advice to you all on how to protect yourself from terrorists? Here are my 3 recommendations:

1) Don't run for office in Kashmir, India. Don't be related to anyone running for office in the Kashmir. Don't be a police informant related to someone running for office in the Kashmir. Nuff said.

2) Don't buy property in Sederot, Israel. Almost daily, there is a Qassem rocket fired from somewhere in the Northern Gaza Strip into open fields in Sederot. Almost as often, they fire one back, but no one gets hurt, and no damage is reported. Hmm ... don't get it, but maybe 'you had to be there.'

3) Keep your SUV away from car dealerships in the US. The Earth Liberation Front (an eco-terrorist group from the States) likes to vandalize SUVs because they claim they 'destroy the environment;' I agree with them that SUVs are gas-guzzlers, but the ELF better be using non-aerosol, environmentally friendly spray paint to vandalize those vehicles of evil. Things that make you go 'hmmm . . .'

Anyway, I guess I better get to bed. Miss you all, and hope to hear from you soon.

KNL

A different perspective

Now we are into final exams ... 7 days until freedom. :) Just wanted to take a short break from studying to publish a quick post.

Take a close look at the first photo of the sidewalk (taken near our old house in South Vancouver). It looks like the numbers are engraved INTO the cement, right?

Well, I was playing around with it, and rotated it to see if it looked better from another angle. Notice anything different? Now, the numbers seem to be coming UP out of the pavement. Trippy, eh? I have no idea why it does this - maybe something to do with the angles or shadows or something. I found it cool - hope you do, too.

I initially posted this on Good Friday. It is now Easter Monday, and about 9 hours until my first economics exam tomorrow. How's it going, you ask? I don't remember the last time I studied so hard for something and yet feel like I accomplished so very little. I will admit (and Allison and my family will attest to this readily) that I have been very stressed out these last few weeks. A lot rides on whether or not I pass these economics/statistics classes. I am entering one of them with a 61% average and the final exam is worth 55% of our final mark. I need a B to get into grad school in the fall. Many people have encouraged me that "everything will work out the way it should." I do believe that - I just worry that I will not LIKE "the way it is supposed to work out."

Tonight, I went to my Grandma's (Mohatma Gramma's) house to pick up her van again for the week. I got to talk to her for awhile about how stressed out I am. She was so encouraging to me, and she promised to be praying for me through my day tomorrow. On the way home, I got to thinking about everything a little more, and it dawned on me that perhaps these economics exams are not the most important tests God has for me now. Sure, they are the obvious obstacles in my way, but another test has been going on with me these last few weeks, a test that I should have been preparing for before everything else. I think, if I have figured it out right, that in light of eternity, it is far more important HOW I handle these stressful things than how they actually turn out. I tend to worry about things in a way that suggests I have more control over them than I really do, or I worry that my negative circumstances might bring God's plan to a halt. That is so not true. I have lost perspective of this, and it saddens me to think that I have been handling this stress so poorly.

So tonight, I decided to make things right with God and completely trust that He will work this out the way He wants it. I have done everything I can to be successful, and though clearly my efforts and studying have not been enough lately, I will trust that He will work this out somehow. I will trust, also, that His (possible) detour will be OK with me. In a sense, the important part of tomorrow's exams is already done. I just need to show up at SFU and wait to see what God will do with my exhausted, math-encrusted brain. :)

Whether I pass or fail, all will be OK - all may not be fun, all may not be what I expected, all might include shelling out another 500$ to redo the class this summer, but I will not be beaten by this. I will not be outdone by "the neoclassical model of inflation, monetary policy and cyclical unemployment" ... well, maybe I will, but I won't go down without a fight. :)

KNL

Light at the end of the tunnel

Well, after our little adventures last weekend, Allison and I made a quick decision to get out of our basement suite a little earlier than expected. Things with the landlady were only getting worse, and we were done offering her any of our hard-earned, well, student loans. :) So, with the help of my parents, my Grandma's van, and my brother's family, we moved out of our suite this weekend (and moved in with my parents). Life is good. The next few weeks still include many obstacles to overcome (final exams in Statistics and Economics), but now I can face those hurdles from a safe place to sleep and live. I am so thankful for my parents for bailing us out and for offering us a temporary home. I am thankful, too, for Grandma's (Mohatma Gramma :) van that we used to move and which we will use to get to the bus these last two weeks of school. I have the best family in the world, and this weekend was a great reminder of that. Well, I guess I better go study for those exams. Talk to you all soon.

KNL