Good question! I don't have a great answer to that FAQ, but I do have a general idea what my future will (hopefully!) look like. So, for all of you who are wondering...

My plan is to become a certified hospital chaplain. To do this, I had to complete my Master of Divinity, which I did in December 2010. It's official now - I received my diploma in the mail yesterday! Woo hoo! In addition, I have to participate in at least one year long residency at a hospital in their Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) program.

When I realized that my future rent will be 2-4 times as expensive as it has been in Abilene (not to mention bills!), I decided it would be best to move in with my parents for a few months to save some money. So on January 1, 2011 I stuffed my trusty Honda Civic to the gills with my last load of belongings and made the trek to my new home in St. Louis.

I have been laboring (too?) long and hard over my application and plan to send it off this Monday in hopes that someone, anyone, will ask me to join their residency cohort. I plan to send it to 3 hospitals in California (LA, San Francisco, and Sacramento), 3 in New York City, 2 in St. Louis, and 1 in Chicago and perhaps a couple more just in case.

Mostly I am thrilled and excited for a new chapter of my life to begin. But to be honest, this time of limbo has been fairly stressful and I often find myself paralyzed by the fear that it won't work out and no one will hire me. Now let me be clear - the rational side of me doesn't think that will actually happen, but fears are not always rational are they? I am hoping that the moment I send off my application will be a moment of relief. I am pretty sure my fears of rejection have made me place far too much importance on my application which has led me to feel it needs to be absolutely flawless which has increased my stress which has intensified my fears of rejection which...  Yes, I know it's a crazy cycle.  After I press "send" on my emails and drop my application packets in the mailbox (I hope to find one that will make a terrific thud), there will be nothing else I can do but wait.  Here's hoping that helps ease the burden to some degree.

So in very general terms, that is "what's next" in my life.

I have also had several people ask about CPE and the residency and even about hospital chaplaincy in general. Looks like I have my next few blog topics lined up already...

I have compiled a list of things to do before I leave Abilene.  I have the next 34-40 days to complete all the things on this list and would LOVE for you to join me in crossing something(s) off the list!  (Also, I am still accepting suggestions!)  So...if something catches your fancy...or if you have never done one of the activities on the list before...leave a comment, message, or write on my wall and we will make a plan!

• Go to the Zoo and feed the giraffes!
• Frontier Texas
• Feed the ducks/geese (if they haven't all flown away)
• movie @ the Paramount
• Eat at The Beehive
• Eat at Lola's & Deutschlander's Catfish Co. in Buffalo Gap
• The Water Spout (with Leslie?)
• Eat sushi takeout from Bonsai at the Mahfood's house
• Go to Cypress Street Station with friends
• Game Night with friends
• Get coffee with various friends
• Rachel Brown
• Kelsey Evans
• Go for a walk around ACU's campus
• Go to Mary's Palataria
• Eat at Harold's
• Eat at The Pizza House in Clyde

• Rihanna:  The dramatic nose dive into the floor was the best executed part of her performance.  I love her music; it is quite catchy.  She just hasn't quite perfected singing live.
• Enrique Iglesias: Did anyone else see when the words his lips formed didn't match the words my ears heard?  That laugh was the only redeeming part of this performance.  Well, that and his good looks.
• Blackeyed Peas: Congratulations to the guy with the mohawk - he finally got a (brief) moment to shine.  But...the guy with the long hair didn't sing at all, did he?  (Notice I don't know either of their names...but I know Fergie and Will.I.Am)
• P. Diddy's new trio:  The rapping seemed forced...but those ladies can sing!
• Miley Cyrus - Boring.  Neither a train wreck or anything special.
• Kid Rock: Sappy ballad with cheesy background pictures.  Strangely, he was one of the only ones (the only one?) who had a pitch perfect performance
• Katy Perry:  Vastly overrated.  Am I the only one who notices she can neither sing or dance?
• Justin Bieber:  Hello, puberty!  Yeah, I'm pretty sure his voice cracked multiple times.  What was up with the crazy necklaces? Also, I think I saw him lip-singing a little bit at the end. (A word on his acceptance speech: a town of 30,000 is not the smallest town in the world.  I'm just sayin'.)  (A word on his second acceptance speech: With all due respect (to Michael Jackson, not you Justin!), I am pretty sure you might be overestimating Michael Jackson's influence just a teeny tiny bit.)
• Bon Jovi: Please stick to singing your old songs - then we are all singing loud enough to drown you out.  It's nothing personal, you're just getting old.  Also, when singing old songs, ending it a different way than usual will result in an awkward moment where the crowd almost drowns you out with the original ending.
• Pink: Thank you for having a sense of humor...and butchering the ending of your song...all while pregnant.
• Ne-Yo: You are so very smooth...but I was a little confused by the Broadway musical feel.  That said, he can both sing and dance.
• Taylor Swift: First, the straight hair and bangs makes you look much older...and a good bit like Hilary Duff.  Second, this was a better performance than usual, but you still aren't very good at singing live.  Third, never ever ever sample (and ruin) a song like "Apologize" again.  Ever.
• Christina Aguilera: You have an amazing voice and I love you for it.  That is all.
• (Aside: Rascal Flatts - you are starting to look ooold.)
• Usher: You are quite the dancer.  Sadly, you can't sing perfectly while dancing.  I appreciate your willingness to change the melody or not sing at all to make it easier on your audience's ears.
• (Aside: MUSE WON!!!  I love them dearly.)
• Train:  What possessed you to wear those skin tight glitter pants?  Also, please work on your stage presence - it is just...weird.
• (Aside: Michael Buble, did you really call your fiance "Kid"?  Yuck.)
• Ke$ha:  You are strange.  I hate that your music is catchy because every fiber in my being wants to hate it.  Your scantily clad blond mullet men will surely hunt me down in my nightmares.  Creepy.
• Santana:  You still got it.  Gavin Rossdale:  Not so much.
• NKOTB & BSB:  Not the best vocal performance, but a fun walk down memory lane.

Okay, I have such a wide variety of interests...truth be told, I love dancing (although only at home in front of my dog!) and I have enjoyed watching So You Think You Can Dance in the last year or two.  I've especially enjoyed this season...there are few people that I don't really enjoy watching.  But last night's show was closed by one of the most fun-to-watch performances I've seen on the show - a hip hop routine by Alex Wong (accompanied by the show's All-Star Twitch).  The thing is, Alex Wong is trained in ballet...not hip hop.  Last week fellow competitor Billy Bell also did hip hop and showed us that, really, not everyone can do it!  It was obvious he was not cut out for it.   This week, however, Alex Wong put on an exhilarating performance that seemed quite natural, actually.  Between this performance and last week's (which the judges labeled the best performance on the show in all 7 seasons), Alex has quickly become one of my favorites this season.

You should take the time to watch this performance.  Of course you might not like the music...but if you can't recognize the awesomeness of this routine...well...our friendship might be in question.  :)

Well, it's been far too long since I've blogged about anything.  Why not start off slow with a Freaky Friday post?  I know you've been dying to learn something strange about me.

If I ever see a trash bag on the side of the road, I always wonder if it contains a dead body and look carefully to see if that might be possible.

I know this sounds ridiculous, but I blame it on my love and (excessive?) consumption of crime shows on TV.  Between CSI, NCIS, and all 3 (soon to be 4) Law & Orders (not to mention any other TV shows or movies), it is no surprise that this would become a gut-reaction.  If I move to a bigger city (which I almost certainly will) I wonder if this will become a bigger problem...or if I will actually spot one!  Yikes...

I am sorry, but I can't resist posting this.  This is my first attempt at identifying a doppleganger, but I think I'm spot on!  Let it be known that I really liked Lilly Scott and think she was kicked off American Idol too early.  Also, I love The Princess Bride.  With that being said, I hope you enjoy and get a good laugh out of this.