rain.

It's raining. Again. Literally, for like the fifth or sixth time this week, and it's only Thursday.

Not only am I getting very, very tired of the rain, but I am also beginning to live in perpetual fear of it when it rains in the morning. I have an uncanny, Pavlovian response where my stomach clenches and my mind begins to race, It has eight days to learn how NOT to do this.

You see, Elon means "oak" in Hebrew, and so our lives here are tree themed. In fact, they pretty much revolve around trees. When you come to Elon, you get an acorn. When you graduate, you get an oak sapling to symbolize your maturity and growth. When you get old and start donating a lot of money, you join the Order of the Oak. Everything is acorn, squirrels (because they live in trees) and oaks. They're everywhere. And so, we hold our graduation ceremonies under those trees from which Elon derived its name and its essence.

Herein lies the source of my anxiety. It has not rained for graduation in 10 years. WHERE are those trees when I need to knock on them!! In fact, it hadn't rained on graduation for 25 years before that. Yeah, you read that right. We went 25 years, then one big, disastrous ceremony, which involved soaked grandmas, running makeup and then a fire alarm (yeah.) and now have gone 10 more. Needless to say, I'm absolutely TERRIFIED.

It sounds petty, but I want my Elon graduation. I'll still be an Elon graduate if I have to (knock on that oak again...) walk across the stage in Alumni Gym, but I won't have had the true Elon experience of sitting under those trees like I did four years ago.

So please. Find any wood, preferably oak, in your house and knock on it at least once or twice a day for me and all my fellow acorns who just want a sunny morning on May 23.

Thank you.

when it rained on tuesdays

Today was the first Tuesday this semester that it has not rained. It has consistently rained every Tuesday since the first day of classes. Invariably, the day after every grueling Monday production night, the zombie day after has been met by gray skies and at least a chance of showers, if not a fully functional downpour.

But not today. Today wasn't particularly dreary at all. It was sunny, a little windy and crisp. Yesterday was, both personally and percipitatively (Is that a word?) miserable. Dreary inside, dreary outside.

I've been struggling lately with an overbooked schedule and an overworked mind. I like to be busy and I'm pretty good at organizing my time. But the past few days I've been in over my head. It all came to a head yesterday as I sat at 8 a.m. still working on finishing reading I'd abandoned at midnight from the night before, desperately trying to stay awake over my Cheerios. I realized as I looked at the little life rafts floating in my milk that if I didn't slow down, I'd be needing more than one Bethany-sized life raft to keep me from drowning.

The stress has passed -- today was the biggest day of the week for things to be finished. The rest of the week will be easier (and supposedly sunny also): I'm seeing Minus the Bear with Kiersten tomorrow night and then am heading down to Atlanta for the weekend with the Journalism and Communications Fellows. That's not exactly a holiday, but it will be a welcome change of scenery.

I often find it odd how one day can be so different from the last. It's cliche, but hindsight is completely 20/20. Historical perspective is absolutely everything. I think that's something I need to remember, when things look bad, just give it a little time and don't forget to carry the umbrella.

icky

What is that called when the weather matches your mood? I know there's a literary term for it, but alas, it's been a while since I've taken a true English class -- John? A little help? Regardless, it's basically been raining non-stop here in Elon for about 3 days. And not just the random little drizzly obnoxious rain, but the monsoon, you're going to get swept away kind. I wish a photo would capture the intensity of the rain as it falls outside my window right now. It's basically amazing.

Don't get me wrong, I love the rain. It's probably my favorite sort of weather pattern, followed closely by sun, and then an even closer third place, snow. I love the sound it makes in the gutters and the way it smells on the concrete of the parking lots and sidewalks. Rain smells different everywhere. Arizona rain smells different than Maryland rain. D.C. rain smells different than London rain. But like most things, I like it in moderation. This rain in particular seems to have coincided nicely with a marathon newspaper putting-out session.

Starting Monday, I believe I clocked a total 28 hours in the Pendulum office, designing, writing and perfecting Friday's edition. Usually, as you Elon readers know, the paper comes out on Wednesdays and production is just Monday nights. It's not unusual for us to be in the office from 5 p.m. to midnight most weeks. But this edition was a bit of a nightmare. Olivia, our fearless leader, was called away to Denver to be with her family during a time of sadness. I was left in charge. I don't mind being in charge. I'm good at bossing people around. I just got really overwhelmed with this one. I think because it was the first one back, and a double issue (two sections, due two different days) this one really worked me over.

So as it rained outside, dreary and sad, looking like 7 p.m. at 10 a.m., we worked away in the office, consuming insane amounts of Twizzlers, Sun Chips and homemade cupcakes. But it's done. We finished.

The rain just always seems to make things worse. It's like being sick at night. You always feel like you're going to die somewhere between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m., until the sun comes out and you know you'll make it through.

Another lesson in endurance, I think. I have a feeling there'll be a lot of those this year...