Thursday, August 04, 2005

the nashville account

Whatever happened to the idea of staying still? Last weekend, the girls of my family all got together in Nashville, TN. The day after tomorrow, four of us drive up to Minnesota… none of this lazy-day couch-potato syndrome for us! (But I like it this way.)

The time in Nashville was fun. We say that we went there for a baseball game, but the main attraction was my older sister Kristen. She’s lived down there for two years, I think, and we go down to see her for any reason.

This weekend’s reason was the Faith night at the Nashville Sounds minor league baseball game. One of the sponsors was Big Idea—you know them, don’t deny it. They’re the ones who bring you VeggieTales. (Yes I’m twenty, and I’ve seen them all. I’m not ashamed. Junior Asparagus is the best ever.) Anyway, one of Kristen’s friends works at Big Idea, and he had some great tickets, so we got to sit close and have a fun time watching the game.

(Minor league games go so much faster than major league ones! I’ve only been to a handful of St. Louis Cardinal games… sitting in the “you’re-a-good-student” free ticket section at the very top of Busch Stadium, squinting at the game below. I never really understood what was going on, but it was always a fun, summery time. I do remember big gaps in the action—commercial break time. The minor league game clipped along, so my mind didn’t really wander. Much. Hey, it was a blast.)

Okay, here we are at the game… (The Sounds lost.)

and here are the baseball players…

And afterwards was a fireworks show! That was awesome. They exploded directly above us, and yeah, you can’t really help saying “Oooh” every time. (I’ve never said Aaah. That just doesn’t feel natural. So the whole “we oohed and aahed” phrase doesn’t work for me. Definitely said Oooh a lot, though.)

The next morning we went to Kristen’s church, went out for ice cream (have you ever tried an oatmeal cookie dough concrete. Really amazing), went shoe shopping, book store hunting (I bought A Year in Provence and A Thousand Days in Venice. Can’t wait to read them!! Also flirted with a few Indian cookbooks, but alas, my book budget was shot), AND we got a tour of the Big Idea studio!

That was a blast. (If you’re not a fan, you can skip this paragraph. Even though it would be good for you.) I loved walking around all those cubicles. There were only one or two people there (it was a Sunday), but I could tell that it was a fun, creative place to work. Sketches everywhere! Side angles of Madame Blueberry, Mr. Lunt, and Larry (of course!). Sample posters, work schedules, stuffed animals, toys, and sketches sketches sketches. We had so much fun! We also got to see a preview of The Lord of the Beans. All I can say is: it was hysterical. I think it’s out in October—be sure and get it!!

Here’s us at the entrance to the studio. L to R: Greg, the door, Kristen, and Adrie.

So that was a full day. Kristen made homemade pizza, and we crashed at her apartment. Did girly things. I won’t bore you.

This week has been a good-naturedly-frantic work week for me. I’m trying to finish copyediting my grandma’s book of letters. (I’m in the middle of the year 1966. My mom is eight, and her family is moving to Colorado. Yeah, twilight zone.)

I’m also working more on my honors thesis. Right now it looks like it will be a series of three short stories, each one separate from the others, but they also work together as a whole set. They’ll explore the story of Perseus and Andromeda from three different viewpoints. (The first one is about Queen Cassiopeia and her reaction to beauty, and the last one is about Phineus—the king’s brother—and his love for Andromeda. Um, I’m debating about the second one.)

Aw, it looks so good typed out! Like I know what I’m doing. (Ha ha ha.) Anyway, I’m collecting sources for that, and after our trip to Minnesota, I’ll work hard-core on my proposal so I can turn it in the first week back at Calvin!

Busy times! This weekend will be fabulous, though. I’m looking forward to having some fun with my cousins, relaxing in the cooler (!!!) weather in Duluth, and oh—reading about Venice?

So… question for you before I go. What makes the ideal summer vacation? Do you like the laid-back, swimming pool, beach-reading, reruns-on-TV, sipping-lemonade type of summer? Or the traveling, visiting, camping, experimenting summer? What’s your style? What do you think? Post a comment and let me know… I’ll be back next week!—jl

Posted by Jenn Langefeld on 08/04 at 12:01 PM
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