End of the Line

So this is it. I have two days after this one, and then my first session with NASA will be a wrap. Unfortunately for me, I still have some hours to make up. I took some time off this semester for travel (D.C. three times, Daytona Beach, Galveston, and now Dallas/Fort Worth), not to mention a couple sick days, so I had substantial time to make up. I was stupid and procrastinated too much, so it's my own fault that I'm in this mess now. I don't get any leave whatsoever and I've already been paid for 40 hours worth of work per week, so it's not like I can just call it good (even though I'd like to do just that). I figured out this morning that I had to work 35 hours out of the next 60 in order to break even. What a nightmare...I'm already exhausted. I know I'll make it, but it won't be a nice experience.

In any case, I thought I'd write out my thoughts on what I've learned this semester about NASA, internships, and life in general.

I've learned that...

• nerds own NASA.
• if you wash your car in Virginia in the spring, it will rain and get pollen on it the next day.
• nerds never get less nerdy as they get older...they just show it in different ways.
• a 12-gallon gas tank goes empty incredibly fast.
• it's not a good idea to throw a football when you have a torn ACL.
• health insurance is a very good thing.
• it's not a good idea to do anything active at all when you have a torn ACL.
• just when life seems incredibly dark, God lights it up again.
• when God seems far away, He's not the one that's moved.
• working for the federal government is an exercise in patience.
• self-employment tax is highway robbery.
• inefficiency is the way of life in a bureaucracy.
• high school drama doesn't always stay in high school.
• telling someone you really are a rocket scientist takes a few repetitions before they will believe you.
• F-22s can be incredibly loud.
• inside connections are worth their weight in gold.
• Harmon/Kardon should stay away from making GPS receivers.
• dancing is more fun than you might think it is.
• keeping a strong walk with God can be very difficult without accountability and fellowship.
• just because you look like you have a lot of money doesn't mean you have to spend like it.
• frustration sets in quickly when you know the alarm combination but the keypad is unresponsive.
• God's plan doesn't always look like you think it will.
• when the alarm keypad is unresponsive, the alarm will soon go off, and there is nothing you can do about it.
• tangelos are the gleanings from Heaven's orchards.
• the turn-around time from the alarm going off to the call from the monitoring service is less than 60 seconds.
• if you really want to watch a basketball game, the TV will be in use already at the time of the game.
• it's not a good thing to get disconnected from the monitoring service before you can give the phone password.
• career is not as important as friends and family.
• no matter how far you run, God will never let you go.

It's been a very challenging yet fulfilling semester. I will greatly enjoy my time off and I pray that God can use it and my next experience with NASA to continue to grow me into who He wants me to be! =)

Final Lap

So my first internship with NASA is drawing to a close here in Virginia. My last day will be Thursday, April 17. I'm halfway excited, halfway not. I've really enjoyed working here in SMAB...it's a GREAT branch. The people are super-nice and lack a lot of the uptight egotism found commonly in the rest of NASA. Unless I find that the experimental world just blows my socks off with how awesome it is, I think I could see myself being content in a setting like this permanently.

And yet I'm glad that the semester is almost over. I've been pretty homesick nearly the entire time. Though I've made some good friends here, I'm anxious to see my friends in Florida and my friends and family in Washington. It's been since January that I've seen people in Washington and since December since I've seen some in Florida. (I visited there briefly in mid-February, but I didn't get to see everyone I wanted to.) So while I regret that my time at SMAB is drawing to a close, I'm very happy to take a short vacation to refresh. =)

It looks like I'll be having surgery on my knee in the first week of May. Talk about a bummer for timing. I get home on April 26, meet with the doctor on April 30, and likely have surgery shortly thereafter. What stinks is that my birthday is May 4. Augh...what a way to spend your 21st birthday, huh? Laid up in a cast. Ick. *sigh* But I guess it'll be worth it to have full functionality of my knee again. Oh my goodness, that will be SO nice! It's been so long (November) since I've been able to do anything active. I think I'll practically kiss my knee the first day I can play soccer again!

Another bummer thing about this whole timing is that it'll preclude my annual camping trip up to the Olympics. =( Every year (this would be the third year in a row), I take a buddy or two up to Seattle and the Olympic National Park for a few days of camping and fun. I love doing it so much....it's always such a relaxing and enjoyable (not to mention relationship-building) time. I was going to try to do it this year, even after surgery...but I got ganged up on by my mom and my friend Rebecca. Between the two of them insulting my intelligence from both directions, I bowed to their requests and cancelled the trip for this year. =( It makes me sad to miss it, but as I said in the previous paragraph, it's worth it to get my knee back for the rest of my life.

Things are really starting to get hopping now that the semester is drawing to a close. Work isn't really "hopping"...it's actually pretty slow. But I have SO much stuff to do on the personal end of things. I still have to figure out where I'm staying during my summer internship (whether where I'm living now or elsewhere), and that will determine how much packing up I have to do this next week. No matter what, in the next week I'm going to need to do some packing, clean my bathroom, vacuum my room, wash my sheets, package and ship a computer, talk to someone about storing my truck over the break, finish my taxes, finish my FAFSA, apply for ERAU financial aid, talk to my advisor, apply for more scholarships, register for fall classes, perfect my travel plans, buy souvenirs for friends back home, transfer the title and registration on my truck to Florida, find housing for the fall, and plan for summer travels (including two weddings). See what I mean about "hopping"?!

But that's life. And honestly, I wouldn't have it any other way. I'd much rather be busy than bored. My only struggle is that it's harder to make time for the Lord when I'm busy....the American culture of go-go-go is not really conducive to a strong relationship with God. But as long as I keep my priorities straight, He is always faithful to order my steps. =)

Cloudbreaks

Life has continued on since last Tuesday (no surprise there) and brightened considerably in the process. I really believe it's honest to say that the darkness of this semester has been washed away by the light of God...and what a welcome joy it is to regain this sweet fellowship with Him!

I recently obtained a CD titled Rush of Fools from the band of the same name. It is amazing. The entire album is incredibly uplifting and just seems to speak perfectly to where I have been this semester. How great is our God that He would bring this album to speak to me and use it to help turn me back to Him! One song in particular really ministers to me....I almost broke down the first time I heard it because it was so EXACTLY where I have been this semester. It's called "Your Love" and the chorus goes:

Come like the day, come chase away this darkness.
I've been living here so long and I give up.
Come wash away everything I've built between us
And I will sing unending songs of Your love.

I heard that song, how beautiful it was and how perfectly the lyrics fit me, and I just thought "WOW." God is amazing!

As far as my knee goes, the news there isn't good. According to the MRI, I have an ACL tear, two meniscus tears, and bone bruising. So I pretty much need to have surgery. I hope to have that done as soon as I get home, but I need to try to schedule it ASAP...it's not emergency surgery, so they may book it out some time in advance. Recovery time isn't real great....6 months for full mobility. However, I should be able to at least walk on it after about three weeks, so it shouldn't (theoretically) hinder my work performance. That's why I want to get it done when I go home....it'll be bracketed by my internships and I shouldn't have to miss any time.

You know, even though that's definitely not good news, it actually was good news to me. Why? Because it was one of the things that forced me back to God. It made me realize my own weakness and drove me to the One whose strength is made perfect in my weakness. I needed that. I think that's one reason why this semester has been so dark up to this point...I was cruising along so easily that I forgot about my weaknesses and how much I need God every single day! So even though a messed-up knee definitely isn't a good thing, I thank God for it. =)

This morning was such a picture of how God has retaken the throne of my life. I was just getting ready to pull out of the Starbucks parking lot and sipping my coffee when I looked up at the sky. It was mostly cloudy today, but there were large cloudbreaks near the sun and the light was pouring through in golden shafts. I love it when that happens...it makes me think of what God's grace would look like if we could see it. That Rush of Fools album was playing at the time, and right when I saw the cloudbreaks, the lyrics playing were "...and know that I am God." I just started laughing...what an amazing God we serve!!