Monday, October 3, 2005 – Yuoo had a very long night yesterday! He was working on a homework assignment late into the night, finally finishing just three hours before sunrise. Actually, he didn't really finish it completely. He was feeling very tired and kinda lousy by the time he went to bed, his fur completely in a frazzle. Yuoo tells me he's afraid that he might not pass this class, and that might cause him not to graduate this semester. Still, I don't think he should worry, at least not yet. A person must do what they can.
Today, Yuoo had lunch with Mr. Jeff, the paraplegic otter who works at the Student Disability Resource Center. Yuoo was very much amazed by the van that Mr. Jeff drives. It has a wheelchair elevator on the side that brings his whole chair into the van. He uses one paw to turn the steering wheel, and he uses the other paw to operate a joystick that controls the accelerator and the brakes, as well as some other things. Everything was fully automated and fancy. Mr. Jeff treated Yuoo to lunch at The King's Lettuce soup and salad restaurant. The two of them talked and had a good time.
Tuesday, October 4, 2005 - Oh dear! Yesterday, Yuoo ended his fasting of video games, and he went a little bit overboard… Well actually, he went a-lot-a-bit overboard. Last night at 9:00PM, he decided to play games for one hour, just one hour. After all, it is a school night. At 10:00PM, he decided to play just a little bit longer. Well… it turns out that he stopped playing at 5:00AM this morning!
Yuoo wishes that he would start on his homework assignments sooner. He was stuck on his programming assignment because he didn’t know the recipe for string hash. When he asked the teacher about it today, Yuoo’s teacher said, “I did explain this several times in class.” Yuoo didn’t remember the teacher giving the recipe because he didn’t know it would be important, and he didn’t know it was important because he waited until the last minute to start the assignment.
Today as Yuoo was riding the bus, he saw something quite strange. One of the passengers on the bus, a cat, was dressed in a very detailed, vintage World War II uniform… but it was a German uniform. At first Yuoo was afraid that he might be a neo-nazi or something, but Yuoo realized that he was a college student, so he was probably preparing for a history presentation or something. Oddly enough, there was a harvest mouse on the bus who said to the cat wearing the uniform, “Hey, take off your hat! [referring to the army helmet that the cat was wearing] Don’t you know that it’s rude to wear a hat on the bus?” The weird thing was that the harvest mouse was wearing a hat himself as he said that. **shrug**
History is very important, and it is good for us, both as persons and as a world, to learn to accept what has been, both good and bad. Still, it makes Yuoo sad to be reminded of certain things. After Yuoo told me about this incident, I told him that it reminded me of the sort of dreams that I have: weird sequences of events that often puzzle me and sometimes make me uncomfortable or scare me. Yuoo said to me, “Don’t be afraid of the dreams and nightmares that come to you. Remember, I’m a figment of your imagination, so I live in those dreams, both the good and the bad. I can handle it, and so can you.”
Wednesday, October 5, 2005 - Today, Yuoo submitted his application to attend graduate school at Loblolly University (the place he goes now). Let's all hope that he makes it!
Friday, October 7, 2005 - Yuoo was walking through the Student Union courtyard at his school when he noticed that a chalk drawing contest was being held. He had an hour to spare before his next class, so he decided to enter the contest. It had rained the previous evening, so the concrete was still a little bit wet, but that's a good thing for chalk drawing because it makes the colors thicker and brighter. Yuoo sat down in front of his blank rectangle (slot #12), and pondered what he should draw. He decided to draw a picture of Kit. Kit is mischevious little three-tailed kitsune (magic fox) with light blue fur. Also, Yuoo's friend David was also there, and David watched Yuoo draw the picture, and he helped Yuoo with the background shading at the very end.
One thing about sidewalk chalk drawing is that it's very messy. Yuoo got so much blue chalk into his fur that he started to look like Kit himself! Yuoo finished the drawing in about one hour, finishing just in time to make it to his next class. Every time that Yuoo tries to draw Kit, it usually ends up resembling Miles Prowler, the fox character from Sonic the Hedgehog. Yuoo enjoyed the onlookers encouraging him and commenting on his drawing, but it was a bit annoying when at least five times, some creature would walk up and say, "Ooh, look at that! It's Sonic the Hedgehog!" (I think Yuoo used a shade of blue a bit darker than he should have.) Then Yuoo would try to quickly explain who Kit is and what a kitsune is.
The winners of the chalk art contest get their drawings professionally photographed, framed, and displayed in some hallway on campus. This is Yuoo's fourth or fifth time entering this contest, and he hasn't won yet, but I don't think he cares. To an artist, creation and satisfaction of a job well-done is the main reward.
Saturday, October 15, 2005 - Yesterday, Yuoo went to the clinic on campus to meet with a nutritionist, Dr. Lemurashu. You see, Yuoo has a problem with high cholesterol. He's made changes to his diet, and he's started exercising, and the cholesterol has gone down a good bit, but it's still in the high range. So, now Yuoo is taking a medicine called Zocor, and he's been instructed to start exercising at least 45 minutes each day. This is rather depressing news for anybeast to hear, so Yuoo decided to make the best of it and go out on a miniature shopping spree. He bought another Dance Dance Revolution pad. The old pads are starting to wear out, causing him to miss steps in the game, so he bought a nice, new one, the heavy-duty thick kind. He also got an older version of the game, with a diffent set of songs on it. he also went to a sports and fitness store and got an aerobics mat and a couple of aerobics videos. One video is called "The Long Patrol Cardiac March." The other video is called "Walk Off the Weight, with George Foremole." Yuoo is going to try to stick to this schedule. Let's hope that he can do it.
Sunday, October 16, 2005 - This morning, Yuoo got up before sunrise to work on his homework assignment until it was time for him to go to worship at Mortar Abbey. Today at Mortar Abbey, Yuoo was apprenticed with the Script Illuminator, where he learned how to how to project the words of the lithurgy up into the air where everybeast can read them. He made a couple of mistakes, one of which was slightly embarassing because it held up the service for a few seconds, but all in all, I think Yuoo did a good job. Yuoo enjoyed the service very much. Abbot Rains spoke about Heaven, about what it means, about what to look forward to, but especially how it should affect your daily life now. Yuoo felt very much at peace from that. Yuoo really needed that peace because after that, he went to a placed called the Dungeon [computer study lab], where he chained himself to his homework.
Monday, October 24, 2005 -Yesterday, Yuoo operated the Script Illuminator at Mortar Abbey for the first time by himself (more or less). He made one or two blunders with the slides :P, but all in all, I think he's learning the ropes very well.
Tonight, the Loblolly Gospel Choir is going to perform a concert at Mortar Abbey, and Yuoo is pretty excited about it. Mortar Abbey has a long history of promoting equality among creatures, even back during the Turbulent Times. It was then that they helped found a choir that all creatures creatures of the community could be a part of, and this choir eventually became the Loblolly Gospel Choir.
Recently, Yuoo had an argument with his best friend Aurrin, over which color is the better color: grey or blue. Yuoo likes the color blue, and he doesn't like the color grey. Aurrin likes the color grey, and he doesn't like the color blue. Fortunately, they made peace with each other, and they have forgiven one another. Yuoo still doesn't like grey very much, but he understands why Aurrin likes it, and he respects Aurrin. Aurrin still doesn't like blue very much, but he understands why Yuoo likes it, and he respects Yuoo. It would be easy if people had no differences at all, but the greater blessing is given to those who recognise those differences... and cover them over with love. One might say that the world is held in balance by two things: the Truth and Hope. The truth sometimes hurts because it is often not pretty, nor is it easy to hear. However, the truth is important because otherwise we are blind without it. Aurrin is an upholder of the Truth. Likewise, Hope is what gives people the strength to live in a flawed world, perhaps even to improve that world into something better. Hope is the stuff of miracles. Yuoo is an upholder of Hope. Hope does not stop bullets, but it heals wounds. The Truth does not prevent guns, but it gives wisdom to the weilder. Things are as they should be when Hope and the Truth are in balance.
Yesterday, Yuoo met with a new club that he's joined, the Tofu Club. The reason he joined the club is because he wants to help make the world a better place. He wants to meet with creatures with similar ideals as himself, so he can compare and contrast ideas, and thus focus his own beliefs. (Also, the tasty veggie food they serve is a nice bonus. ;-)) However, Yuoo is also scared about the club. He's scared that they might try to force him to change the way he thinks, perhaps with guilt. Even though Yuoo is a vegetarian, he's fairly conservative in his views. Still, that's the whole reason he joined the club: to learn from others. Yuoo noticed that most of the creatures in the club don't believe in Aslan, at least not the way he does. Yuoo is afraid that they might laugh at him or call him bad names for believing in Aslan. Still, Yuoo hopes that his presence there might help them learn tolerance and moderation, that it might help them see the good in creatures like himself. I hope that Yuoo's hope comes true.
Wednesday, October 26, 2005 -This is going to be one of the few diary entries in which I write out of character. Halloween is approaching, and I'm preparing for my church's costume party. We're going to have an All Hallowed Eve costume dance party and praise service. Over the past year or so, I've been piecing together a Yuoo costume. I already had a green robe and some fuzzy fox feet, but just yesterday, two pieces came in: a tail and a mask. I ordered the tail from Silverseams. Because of a family emergency and because of some weird email problems, it took over a year and a half for the tail to be finished, but it finally came in the mail yesterday. Also, I had commissioned a mask from a friend of mine. Last year, she was taking an art class where she made a plaster fox mask, and through friend-of-a-friend communication, I was able to commission her to make a Fennec fox mask for me. The cool thing about this mask is that it's plaster-cast to fit my face, and I discovered that I can wear my glasses over the mask because my glasses are able to rest on the bridge of Yuoo's nose! :-) In fact, I'm wearing the mask right now, as I type. My friend Aurrin is also working on some Fennec ears right now, but I'm wondering what I'm going to do because the mask already has a big pair of ears attached to it. Aurrin has been working hard on it, so I don't want it all to be in vain. Well, I'll figure something out.
Thursday, October 27, 2005 -Today, Yuoo bicycled to school. He used to do this regularly, but he had to stop after his tire popped. Today, the weather was chilly, and at first he was wearing gloves and ear-warmers, but he took them off about mid-way through the trip. Last night, he had the urge to bake some brownies, and he decided to take them to school today. He left a tray of them in the computer lab this morning, and they were all gone by 11:00 AM! :-) Maybe he should bring his waffle iron.