25 days left!

Song of the Day: This has been stuck in my head since my dad emailed me my ticket confirmation, and it makes my heart pound through my knees. Love it:

More importantly/relevantly, I just heard back from Bryan -- I'll be flying into Idaho Falls on May 25th!

25 days to go!

In other, sad news, I had to pick up another wind-in-the-windows victim today. This is the third bird I've buried this month. 

Pre-Test

tornado in montana. yeeeeesh.

I remember taking a pre-test in Extreme Weather during my freshman year at UF. The material was straight-forward, I'm a decent guesser, and I had had an embarrassing obsession with Jim Cantore and the Weather Channel for about 8 years: I had experienced, however virtually, almost all of the scenarios I was tested on. I only missed 3 questions, on clouds, and I largely blame that on my 3rd grade teacher: I never learned my clouds. 

I knew that I would be given an identical packet at the end of the semester, and my progress would be boiled down to a 10% participation grade.

as long as i don't un-learn anything, i have an A. swag.


Needless to say, 17-year-old Vocal-Performance-Major Emma didn't go to class very often. 

If you handed me a crisp, neatly-stapled packet of multiple choice questions about Montana, I would fail it miserably. 

This is me laughing to myself and flipping through my pre-test, knowing I know nothing at all. It feels wonderful. My simple expectations are to see lots of birds, lots of stars...to wake up early, probably take disappointing photos of the moon, get better at horseback riding, and undoubtedly eat some awesome steak. As I cannot be any more vague, I can only offer that I am determined to suck the marrow out of this particular Life-Bone. No Wikipedia, no ChaCha. No shortcuts, and no annoying ads asking me if I want a stranger to send me flirting tips via text.

Outside of a deep conviction to work without complaining or arguing, to know God as I have never known Him before, and to forge a special and purposeful bond with the Ulring family and the J-L Ranch, I am blind, with my F, and I'm ready. 

let's. goooooo.

Almost Facebook Official

I was encouraged to keep a blog before/during/after my Montana adventure. I guess, at some point, I'll actually sit down and hash out my thoughts and expectations. But I don't want to be premature -- I'm waiting to hear back from Bryan Ulring, the manager of the J-L Ranch. The tentative plan is to fly out from ATL on the 25th; my sister is graduating from high school on the 24th, and I'd love to have one last hurrah with the whole family before I leave. I'm not sure yet if I'll be flying into BZN or IDA.

To be honest, I'm largely posting this so I can fiddle with layout.

But, blog-beautification aside, it's thrilling to acknowledge that the only thing currently holding me back from my ticket to Montana (compliments of XMAS'11) is an airport confirmation from Mr. Manager. Then, I'll update my Facebook status. Make it official. Send out the news via Selective Tweet. Or a WUPHF.