a twin bed for three?

The weather channel says that the sunrise for tomorrow is 5:31AM. What?! Nashville is still in CST, but the east half of the state is in EST. So the sun rises earlier here than in some place farther west in CST, like western Kansas. What does this mean? It means I'm waking up at 6am every morning because the sun is bursting in through my window. On the up side, it makes getting up early much easier. On the down side, sleeping in is no longer an option and it gets really warm in my room in the mornings.
This was my first Sunday in Nashville, and the church I originally wanted to try out is in the south part of the city-- about an hour's drive. So I thought I'd try something closer. I came across Reformed Baptist Church of Nashville, about five minutes away. It's a pretty small church and the majority of the people seem to be young married couples with small children. I didn't notice any single 20-somethings, and there were a few older adults. Everyone was really nice and recognized me as a new face. They have lunch after the service so I stayed and ate with them. I'd really like to get involved in a small group (I don't think that have any, as far as I could tell) but we'll see.

Simba and Nala are both sleeping on my bed right now. Simba has been here for a couple of hours, and I went downstairs and had to persuade Nala to let me pet her. I finally picked her up and carried her up here, after which she proceeded to do a full sniff-down of my room including under the bed, in the closet, the bookshelf, and the bathroom before deciding she would join Simba for a nap. It's so cute. I hope they stay here until Jessica and Abe get home so they can see them.

My internship starts tomorrow. I'm excited; I hope it goes well. It's about a 20-minute drive, but usually I get nervous that there's going to be a wreck on the interstate and I don't want to be late. So I'll probably get there early and have to kill a few minutes in my car. I'll update tomorrow night. I'm sure I'll have stories to tell.

summer home

Yesterday I got moved in to an apartment -- my home for the summer -- in Madison, TN. I'll have about an 18-minute drive to work, but it's all interstate. It's absolutely beautiful. I'm living with a married couple (ages 21 and 22) and their two cats, Simba and Nala.

Erica and JR were driving through last night on their way home from Myrtle Beach, so they stayed the night with me. I don't have a bed yet, so I'll get pictures of the room later. Here's one of the apartment and of Simba, who seems to have taken a liking to me. He purrs a lot and is presently napping on my floor.

Send me an e-mail or Facebook message if you would like my mailing address.

Simba. :]


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found my place

I need a nap. :)

Found a place to live! It's actually not the garage apt. I was looking at. It's an apartment in Madison, TN with a couple who recently married. Moving in this afternoon. Woo hoo.

living here, day 1

Day 1 of house hunting. I'm exhausted.

Drove to Target this morning before hitting up a place near Opryland.
Went to a library to make calls and check e-mails.
Waited for calls to be returned. Made some more calls. Set up appointments.
Drove around. Gased up my car. Went to another library.
Felt restless and sat in my car. Too hot, turn it on for A/C. Wasted gas.
Had a little breakdown about housing. Read some psalms.
Tried to nap. Finally checked out another house.
Made a call. Checked out a third place.

The third was so cute. It's a little apartment above a garage that usually isn't rented out but this guy might let me rent it for a couple of months. It's got a living room, kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom. It's back off the road and we saw four deer while we were out there. He said he'd call me tomorrow and let me know for sure about it and how much he'd want to rent it for. I'm really hoping it works out because it's perfect and only eight miles from downtown. The only bad parts are that it doesn't have a washer/dryer or Internet, but I'd be okay with visiting a laundry mat (Mom, send quarters) and paying for dial-up (you know, it'll help me work on my patience).

So, 8:30am-7:30pm driving around and trying to make contacts. Another day in my car.

Breakfast: granola bars and apple juice

Lunch: the same

Dinner: see above

(To my parents: I promise I'll eat better tomorrow.)

Southern Hospitality

Good morning from Nashville! (Well, technically Franklin, just south of Nashville.) I stayed last night with the sweetest couple (K-State alumni, I expected they'd be great) and am heading out this morning to find a place to live for the summer. I have several leads thanks to the members at Christ Pres. church.

Finished up yesterday with just over 10 hours of driving and 685 miles. I think I stopped a total of 30 minutes for breaks and gas.

More later. Hopefully it'll be news that I found a place.

Paducah, KY!

Illinois: almost as exciting as Missouri. 400 mi down, 283.5 to go

On the road. entering MO

the agenda

what's on the schedule for the coming week:

Tuesday - get laundry done; repack
Wednesday - drive to Nashville
Thursday - find a place to live
Friday - get car/renter's insurance, grocery shopping
Saturday - relax, search for second job
Sunday - new church, new Bible study
Monday - internship starts

departure delayed.

I was in Nashville almost exactly a year ago (late May 2008) -- just driving through on our way to Jacksonville, FL. Plans have been changing and hopefully I'll be in Nashville sometime during this next week. I've got my phone set up so I can blog on the road (not while driving, of course).

Lee, Jordan, Jared, and I on the Shelby St. Bridge over the Cumberland River near Music Row.