The Rumble of Thunder

What an amazing morning. I woke up sometime in the 5am hour to the sounds of clashing thunder and rain. Listening to it made me think just how powerful and unpredictable nature can be despite forewarning from meteorologists. When I was younger, thunder and lightening terrified me. Everyone knew that when those types of storms occurred and I was at home, they would not be reaching me by telephone and nothing electronic was turned on. The funny thing is that to this day, I still follow this somewhat rudimentary ritual. In the case of this morning, it was very early so I didn't have to worry about anyone trying to contact me or some report to get done. I did enjoy the fact that while I was still slightly fearful of the enormous power of the storm, I was also intoxicated by the excitement of it. I thought to myself that those type of moments are great to share thoughts with somebody special. In my case somebody special is me at least for right now. It was quiet outside where I could listen to the wind rustling the budding leaves, hear the driving drops of water pelting the pavement, and encompass myself in the rumblings of the intermittent thunder. I fell back asleep listening to the rain. When I woke up again it was light out, around 8am, and the rain was still falling. The outside noises had changed somewhat but the rain still sounded calming. I feel much better today. Just spending a lazy day in cleaning up and wrapping up schoolwork. Two presentations and a paper and it's all done. Wow. It's starting to really sink in that I accomplished yet another goal I have set for myself. The next goal is to become fluent with my Spanish. I'm going to have to get even more creatively resourceful on how to take lessons for virtually nothing. I have a few ideas that I won't share! I'm getting really excited about my upcoming trip to Seoul. I will book my ticket on Sunday. Sungrim has already started to flush out what we can do and everything sounds great. If I can book my ticket on an earlier date, I might be able to make it there for the Buddhist Birthday celebration...the Lantern Festival. I've been researching it online and it looks so exciting and interesting. Not sure if I will be able to get there in time since I can't leave until after graduation and the travel time is almost 15 hours and they are 13 hours ahead of us timewise. I'll keep my fingers crossed that I can coordinated a good travel passage.

In the meantime, dinner plans are shaping up. So far it looks like ten people will be joining me for the meal. It should be fun since many don't know one another and everyone comes from different backgrounds and experiences. I'm not really sure if my parents have anything planned for right after the graduation ceremony. It would be nice to attend a celebration that I didn't have to plan myself. I think in reality, i'm not going to plan any more group celebrations of my life moments. Not that there are many so far but in reality the only parties i've ever had in my life i could count on one hand. Two birthday parties a week before my actual birthday, my high school graduation and my undergraduate college graduation are the gatherings in a nutshell. While I am glad to have those experiences, I also feel a sense of lacking something. I think going away on my birthdays and creating my own tradition in that sense will remove that sense of loss. I felt different and good being away this past birthday. It felt right. Anyway...i'm rambling. I should make lunch, straighten up a bit, and do my powerpoint presentation slides (KISS). Tomorrow is a Costco run so I better build up strength for that. Not really sure why my father is shopping for food now since he's headed to Japan on Tuesday. I bet he wants to go out for the ride to shop for clothes. We'll see.