Ten thousand people, maybe more. People talking without speaking. People hearing without listening.

Since the day my Jehovah's Witness and I first crossed paths, she's decided that Tuesday morning is my free time for talking about Jesus and all things God. Despite the fact that with summer comes a different schedule than the school year, when we first met, she has relentlessly called me every Tuesday morning this summer. Not only is she consistant, but she's also determined to change my faith. I think I'm the only thing standing between her and the free toaster she gets if she converts 10 people.

Her calls come between 8:30 and 9:30 a.m. In the early parts of the summer, this was *right* after I had fallen back asleep from my 6 a.m. bat feedings. Her phone call would wake me out of a deep, much needed slumber, and, not wanting to talk to the woman, I just hit the "ignore" button.

One would think that after hitting the "ignore" button for several weeks in a row, she'd stop calling. Oh no. That's not how this Jehovah's Witness works. She's quite devoted, both to her faith, and to our scheduled weekly chats. She calls back within minutes, either hoping I'll pick up or she'll leave another voicemail. It's almost like she knows I'm trying to go back to sleep, and if she annoys me enough, I'll give in to her religious ways. Typically, on Tuesday mornings I'll end up having 6 missed calls and 4 voicemails from the woman, all within a span of 20 minutes.

Her messages are always the same. They start out with "Good morning, Elizabeth" in her kind voice, and then she breaks out the Bible and the Watchtower pamphlets and reads passages from them to my voicemail. Every Tuesday morning, I thank God that by pressing "777" on my Verizon phone, I can delete her sermon without listening to the entire message. That's probably not her main objective, but it gets me closer to God anyhow.

Recently, I got a new phone. And with this new phone came new capabilities, like personalizing ring tones for each individual in my address book. Unfortunately, my phone was not equipped with the ability to set "no ring" on a particular person's phone call.

So I had to create my own silent ring special for my Jehovah's Witness. Through the use of my phone's recorder, I created a sound that is just silence. And then I set it to my Jehovah's Witness's ring tone.

Now, every time she calls, my phone rings it's silent ring. Pure, blissful silence. I sleep right through it. When I wake up several hours later, I simply delete her 4 mini-sermons from my voicemail and continue with my day. One day she'll get the picture and realize I'm no longer interested in entertaining her religious beliefs. I'm quite secure in my own, thankyouverymuch.

The best part is that in a week when I move out of the apartment, she'll have no idea where I live. :-) Finally, I will be free.

So much has changed in a year's time

A year ago today, Dustin moved here to Atlanta. I thought the long distance part of our relationship was finally over. I had no idea it was just a temporary fix.

So much has changed in a year's time. He started out working at Lanier, as a help-desk assistant with printers and copy machines. He worked nights at Best Buy to earn some extra money. He quit Best Buy right before Christmas, and quit at Lanier shortly after that when he was offered a job with Ciber. When he took the job with Ciber, we were worried about his communite- it was 45 minutes each way. Ciber lost the Army Reserves contract in February. Dustin spent 3 weeks in Texas, and then he was placed at Ft. Campbell, 300 miles from Atlanta. Now he's permanantly at Ft. Campbell. And I'm here in Atlanta until I graduate next May.

So much has changed.

Are hugs your anti-drug?

And this, children, is what we call irony:



I took this picture at the Harry Potter party at Borders last Friday nite. I was there with my brother, the fifth grade teacher, his teacher friends, and my other brother. We decided this needs to be framed in Ben's classroom.