Woops

I was afraid this would happen. It doesn't look like I'll be keeping up with this blog so much...if you want to keep up with me in Brazil please go to my new blogging home, crisinbrazil.blogspot.com. I'll try my best to keep you just as entertained...

Pack Rat: Definition: Cris Carpenter

(I copied this post from my Natal blog...so if you've already read it, sorry.)

I'm wondering how it's possible that over the last 10 years I have deemed so many different kinds of junk save-worthy. Not only do I get to think about what I will be taking to Brazil with me over the next week, I also get to go through all of the things that have accumulated in my parents' house since we have lived in the States and throw away a lot. And I mean A LOT. Apparently, I have kept every card, every letter, every little trinket, every postcard, every piece of foreign currency (including Italian Lire, which is odd, because I have never been to Italy?) etc etc etc. This is a task so daunting I would like to hire the crew from Clean Sweep on TLC, but I won't. It's my punishment for being a pack rat in my early years.

However, going through all of my stuff has been fun and has given me occasion to reminisce, which is one of my most favorite activities in the entire world! I read through most of the cards that I had saved (since literally around 3rd grade) and many of the letters. I was touched/convicted by two things. 1. I NEED to be better about staying in touch with people. 2. I am amazed by how encouraging and supportive my friends and family have been through the years, particularly when we moved to Oklahoma from Santa Barbara. I found so many letters from friends in California who wrote often to say "hang in there" or "I'm praying for you" or just letting me know they were thinking about me and hoping I was making friends. For a 13 year old California girl moving to the Midwest, I really wonder if some of those letters are what got me through the transition semi-smoothly. (I also must admit, however, that I made no secret of the fact that I was miserable and hating life at that point. I guess I kind of asked for it. No drama queen here, no sir.)

Anyway, what this all has to do with my move to Natal is that I am committing myself to not only stay in touch with people here in the States, but to stay in good touch. To stay updated on people's lives and take as much of an interest in everyone else as everyone else is taking in me. This isn't a promise, because I can't make that kind of promise before I even get there, but it's a confession and a plea to keep me accountable. Reading through all of those cards and letters was evidence to me for how crucial it is to one's well-being (well, at least to mine!) to be encouraged and supported. There's a reason that I didn't throw out any of those old letters, but put them right back in the boxes they came from, looking forward to going through them all again someday. They represent a special part of my life that I want to remember and cherish.

So, please hold me accountable. I can't promise letters through the mail, (one, because I'm good at writing them but terrible at actually putting them in the mailbox, two, because international postage is highly inconvenient) but I will send postcards. And I will send emails. And if you haven't heard from me personally in a while, please email me. One thing I'm really good at is responding to emails! And just knowing the way my mind works, if you leave a comment on here every once in a while there's a good chance it will trigger my commitment and you'll end up getting a personal message out of the deal.

Please keep me (and my family, and the people in Natal) in your prayers. I thank God for all of you and the appreciate your love and support!

Ode to my little Xavier

Our relationship officially began in January of 2005, but our first meeting happened long before then. Her previous owners left her with us the summer of 2003 while they were in Brazil, and I got to pretend for a month that she was all mine. A year and a half later, when her owners decided to move to Brazil permanently, they called and offered me an incredible deal on her, knowing how much I had loved her. She was my first, very own car, and the first significant purchase I ever made. I had never-- and still have never-- written a check for that much money, but she was worth every penny.

It may sound silly for me to say how much I loved Xavier, but we've been through a lot together. She has heard many a conversation, some serious, some silly, some tearful, but providing comfortable seating for those conversations nonetheless. She patiently tolerated my incessant overplay of favorite songs, often allowing me to push her "repeat" button and literally listen to the same music for hours. Xavier had the road from Edmond to Abilene memorized, having traveled it with me so often, and she accompanied Steven, Heather, Alex and I to the lake in Tulsa one weekend for the best weekend of our lives. On the way home, when we were passing another car on the side of the road, a rock flew up and punctured her face, leaving a deep, acne-like gouge in the center of the windshield. Despite my tears, she shed none, and took it like a champ, enduring the repair process without any complaints.

Together we even endured the embarrassment of my first (and only) speeding ticket, less than a week after she had become mine. (Can you blame me for going 83 mph on the way to Abilene to show her off? Me neither.) Although Texas State Highway Patrol officer Xavier Perez is her namesake, sweet little Xavier the XTerra protected me from ever receiving a ticket again. We were a good team, Xavier and I.

This morning as I watched her drive away with her new owner in the rearview mirror, my eyes got a bit watery. Ok, a lot watery. (It's okay, my Mom's were too.) It's suitable that Xavier is returning to Abilene, where she has lived for the last two and a half years. We've had a good couple years together, and I know she'll continue to see many adventures. Take care of her, Abilene.

Earthquakes, tans, and Elvis

You can add this summer's deadly heatwave and earthquake/potential tsunami in Peru to my list of reasons why the world is coming to an end.

Or to a list of reasons why global warming probably does exist. These aren't normal weather patterns, people. (FYI, all I did was Google "global warming doesn't exist" and found that article that's linked above. Scary.)

In a related note, in less than three weeks I will be moving to a city that is much, much closer to the equator than my present home. Staying indoors this entire Oklahoma summer will not prove to have been a good choice come November, the beginning of the Brazilian summer. I'll let you know how I do, but I can guarantee that if I was able to get the awesome tan I did last summer (during Natal's winter,) then my Christmas looks should be in tip top shape.

I'm beginning to get my things in order for The Big Day, which includes going through all of my files/papers/etc from the last few years and either throw them away or organize them so that I don't leave my parents behind with a warzone in my bedroom. Tonight, this prompted my mom to glance over to me, sitting smack-dab in the middle of my paper swamp, and say "So this is really happening, isn't it? You're really going to move." She has been saying something of the like about once a day, which thoroughly freaks me out. It's like a was just telling a joke up until a week ago, then SURPRISE! I actually am moving to Brazil. Don't get me wrong, she is very supportive, but she's also doing a lovely job of reminding me that I'll be missed. A lot, apparently.

Now I'm going to watch an exclusive tour of Graceland on Larry King Live. Elvis died 30 years ago tomorrow. I feel like I should be more emotional than I am about that.

Revelation

I think the world is ending soon. Or maybe just the United States. My mom says bad things just seem to come in waves, but it feels like a tsunami. Crappy things just seem to keep happening, and it freaks me out. Here is my list, feel free to add to it:

-Execution-style murder of 3 people in NJ last weekend
-3 miners trapped in a collapsed mine in Utah
-Minneapolis bridge collapse
-endless 'Made in China' recalls on pretty serious product defects/hazards
-Tornado through Brooklyn
-7.3 earthquake in Indonesia
-Iraq
-Iran
-Brazilian plane crash

Ok, so when I list them all out (just the ones I can think of off the top of my head) I guess it doesn't seem that long, but given that the first 5 happened in the US and within the last couple weeks, it just makes me wonder. All I have to say is that if, in fact, Jesus is coming back soon, I'm pretty sure there's nowhere I'd rather be to receive the good news than in Natal, Brazil.

Yeah, this post was kind of weird. I'll admit it. My paranoia levels have been sky-high recently. Pray for those miners and Minnesota rescue workers. And for our government. They seem to need it.

Things you may not know about me, probably because I haven't told you. (Part 2)

1. I hate crowds and crowded places. I avoid them like the plague. I have no problems with abandoning plans, even if they are of ultimate benefit, if it means I get to avoid fighting a crowd. (i.e. concerts with general admission, "first 100 in the door" type deals, day after Thanksgiving sales, tax-free weekend, etc).

2. I used to have a debilitating fear of bridges. Somehow, unplanned, this phobia (gephyrophobia, to be exact) dissipated in the last 6 months or so. Thanks to the recent bridge collapse in Minnesota, my phobia is back, alive and kicking. I'm already terrified of my family's trip to Arkansas next weekend, because I know we have to cross the I-40 bridge over the AR river that had its own tragedy a few years back (which very likely spawned my phobia in the first place.)

3. I have always fantasized about being an FBI agent. Yes, you can laugh at that.

4. I visited my sister and brother-in-law in Japan last year, and I did not like it. I experienced severe culture shock and am still embarrassed by how badly I handled it.

5. I have always generally gotten along better with guys than girls, and really wonder if that will ever change.

6. If I had things my way, I would wear a t-shirt and jeans every single day.

7. I had my belly button pierced for about 9 months of my freshman year at ACU. I don't regret getting it, and I don't regret taking it out...one of those things I just had to get out of my system.

8. Another thing I had to get out of my system was owning an SUV. Xavier has served me well, and we have had a delightful relationship, but I doubt I will ever own one again. I'm over the 17 miles per gallon.

9. My name is Cristina Michelle because my parents wanted to choose names that sounded good in both Portuguese and English. I don't like being called Cristina in English, but I insist on it in Portuguese. It just sounds prettier. :)

10. I want to work in Rwanda someday for an NGO.

That's enough for today. I started the book Wicked on Friday, but it's kind of messed up and I can't get into it. Any recommendations out there? You'll be featured in my summer reading power rankings if I read a book you recommend....

Tempting, I know. :)

Happy August!

With the 2008 Presidential elections 15 months away, it's amazing how much I am already obsessed with the race. I have come as a huge surprise to myself, given that I won't even be living in the country for the majority of the campaigning process.

I watched the MSNBC debate back in April. I watched the CNN YouTube debate last week. I watched reruns of the YouTube debate any time CNN re-aired it. I read any and all articles I find on news sites online. I watch CNN and the Today Show all morning every day that I babysit. My dinner conversation with my parents last night was all about the democratic candidates (because that's who we have seen more of lately, particularly in the Clinton vs. Obama tiff. We're a Newsweek family.) I know who is ahead in the different states' polls, and who is beating whom in what order. I have my predictions on who will win the Democratic and Republican nominations. I have my faves*, and my not-so-faves*, and my theories on why my not-so-faves would fail miserably in the White House.

Who am I?

I didn't even vote in the last Presidential election (by conscious choice, not by ignorance, so please keep your comments to yourself,) but am very concerned that my absentee registration will malfunction while I am in Natal and I will miss voting in 2008. Seriously, I'm in a minor-panic about this.

On an entirely unrelated note, in two days I will be able to say "I am moving to Brazil in one month," and in 3+ days I will be able to say "I am moving to Brazil in less than a month." Weird.

Xavier is officially on the market, so if you would like to give a 2001 Nissan XTerra a good home, get in touch with me. Here is her senior portrait, taken yesterday:






*Yes, faves and not-so-faves in both parties. I will not express my political preferences and opinions on this blog, but trust me, that's probably to your benefit. I'm a passionate girl, what can I say?