the wigger house cast of characters

so i have mentioned a few times how i live in the wigger house with some randos. and some of you loyal readers don't have any idea what or who that means. at long last, here is the explanation:

last year, i lived with uncle jon and aunt betty. and fritz, of course. (who could forget about fritz?!) and i met some cool people in grad school. and four of them got a house together this year on wigger street. yeah, that's a place. well, one of the cool people had to leave for financial reasons, so the other girls asked if i would like to move in.

i realize that me moving where MORE people are is a strange concept, but you might also remember that community has been an important focus for my time here in marion. so having the opportunity to live with some friends--and live just off campus--was a cool thought. i prayed about it and decided to jump in. thus, the day after i ran the warrior dash, i moved my worldly possessions from lantern lane to good old wigger street.

and here are the jokers i live with:

kelsie

kels did her undergrad at taylor and is getting her masters here at iwu in clinical mental health counseling. her boyfriend, ben, is cool [because he is getting his masters in student development at taylor] and hangs out with us sometimes. kelsie is a missionary kid, has a terrible sense of direction, is an extrovert, and wears her snuggie backwards. she unintentionally says funny stuff all the time, and we really ought to have a quote board just for her. my favorite thing about kelsie is her gentle spirit.

megan

megan did her undergrad at capital university and is getting her masters here at iwu in clinical mental health counseling. she has a niece and nephew who are super cute. megs has a twin sister, loves glee, is an introvert, and eats a lot of macaroni and cheese. she is easily amused and laughs often. my favorite thing about megan is her excitement over small stuff.

liz

elizabeth ann is one of my best friends. she did her undergrad at iwu and is getting her masters here in clinical mental health counseling (have you noticed a theme in this house?). liz is a basketball superstar, loves going for walks, is an extrovert, and drinks more water than anyone i know (except travis). she has her own language and is hilarious and weird. my favorite thing about liz is how she relates to people in a very intentional, focused way.

all of us like hugs and watching cool shows like the big bang theory and the amazing race. we play lots of monopoly deal, eat kind of a sick amount of brownies, and make bonfires. i love living in this house. these women challenge, encourage, and love me well.

the master schedule

in an effort to be more diligent with my blogging and writing, i made a schedule. i think this will help me commit to creating quality posts for you; i also think it will allow me to work within a framework--in other words, if i have an idea about the types of things i will be writing, my brain will automatically shift to think in those terms.

you should know i am striving to give myself the kind of grace i give to others--so i will tell you right now that i doubt i will do this schedule perfectly, but i will make every effort to not allow failures to keep me down.

mondays: devotional thought. my hope is that i will have learned and processed things over the previous week (and weekend, when i don't plan on doing scheduled blogging) that i can formulate into something that is both personal to me and thought-provoking for you. we'll see. :)

tuesdays: faith and school. sometimes i will be talking about how my faith fits into my schooling process (or has in times in the past), but sometimes i will be talking more generally. faith integration is just as important in the small christian environment as it is in large public schools, so i think it will be an interesting topic that is broadly applicable.

wednesdays: why i am a writer. this might be a little abstract some weeks, but i just want to share general thoughts about writing, etc. i'll talk about books, people, and things that inspire me.

thursdays: my favorite feature. this should be one of the more chill days of the week. i'm going to pick something that i love in the world and explain why.

fridays: picture this. i'll do some photoblogging for you. with my own pictures, theoretically. i mean, i have a camera for that reason, right? ;)

special days:

30 by 30: on the 21st of every month, you'll be getting my update rather than the featured segment for the day. until i'm 30, that is.

monthly cooking segment: as close as possible to the day that i make the meal, i will post the pictures and recipe (if i feel like sharing it...if i don't, you might have to make a special request).

cast of characters: i know that last semester, i only did one of these...certain people around town are kind of surly and unwilling to be featured. but i will get on that for you and try to post a few more.

poem, song, and chapter updates: these will probably be little bonus announcements rather than replacing the designated days, but it depends on my workload.

***

just because i am getting more serious about writing does not necessarily mean my writing will get more serious. i'll try to maintain that charm and humor you know and love. :)

cast of characters: sara scheunemann

**who she is**

this is sara:


(this is how you say sara's last name: shine-uh-man)

**what she does**

sara is the program coordinator for the john wesley honors college. that basically means she gets to boss me around for four hours every day. also, she runs the world, stabilizes all the crazy people in the honors college, and thinks of everything needed for every situation ever.

all while being incredibly patient and humble. she's kind of awesome.

**where she's from**

sara grew up in west bend, wisconsin, and has an english degree from marquette. she has a master's in higher education administration from the university of dayton. essentially, i am repeating sara's life.

**how she fits in my life now**

part of my job as the jwhc graduate assistant is to be sara's emotional bodyguard--i protect her from staff members trying to abuse and take advantage of her.

while sara is super nice to everyone, she is quietly very funny and kind of snarky. i very much enjoy her commentary on life. it must be noted that sara is slightly prejudiced against coffee-drinkers...but only because she thinks they are judging her for not drinking it. i am working to bridge the gap and heal this wound in her heart.

**stuff about her**

sara likes dark chocolate, tea, MADISON, running, travel (especially to national parks), hiking and camping, and trees.

she strongly dislikes (i actually think 'hates' is in order here) our copier at work and bedbugs.

sara has an almost two year-old niece named cadence; they like hanging out. because nieces are stellar.

her first crush was on a boy named tommy thompson--not the politician.

**what people are saying**

i think the following sampling of quotes will tell you more about who we work with than about sara, but here you go:

our boss, david, has this to say about her: 'sara is more aware than the typical freshman.'

coworker rusty says, 'sara's great.'

hilary, one of our student employees, keenly observed, 'sara is always the go-to person.'

finally, lisa, our coworker who is never ever sarcastic, boldly proclaimed, 'sara is a beacon of lucidity in a vague and uncertain world!'

**other stuff you should know**

this year, God told her not to set any goals. she is learning what it looks like to really live in the present and abide in the Spirit. she's pretty much a rockstar.

sara is an amazing person to work with and for. she is gracious and thoughtful, always looks out for my well-being, and genuinely cares about people. i have much to learn from her.

coming soon: cast of characters

while i was driving to fishers from marion today, i realized that a lot of you do not know the new people in my life. so over the next [however long it takes me to do this], i will be doing a series of blog posts called 'cast of characters.' there are multiple reasons behind this:

1) as miranda oh so sweetly pointed out, i have not posted any pictures that i have actually taken. they are all from google or miranda. so i am going to attempt to actually take some pictures and post them.


2) you can get to know some of the yahoos with whom i am spending the next couple of years. lucky.

boy, am i excited to go up to people and say, 'hey, i need your picture so i can write about you on my blog.' nothing sounds cooler than that.

please let me know what kind of information you would like to know about these people. i haven't gotten much feedback lately, so it's hard to know in what direction i should proceed.