WHEW!

What a month! Can I turn this campy blog of mine into a scrapbooky-like Sweeney update? Please? I'll make you a promise. I will make sure not to add a personal radio station that will blare my favorite 90s band out of your speakers (which you didn't even know were on). If I promise not to get weird scrolling features or die-cut decor ....

That's the last of the promises. Here is the post of the Austin Sweeneys update.

#1 First off, and perhaps most relevant to why I haven't had a minute to post a blog as of late, I got a new calling in my ward to be the 2nd counselor in the Relief Society. Yep, the fightin' Shoal Creek Ward of the Austin Stake has asked me to plan their enrichment activities and the like. No more painting wooden blocks to look like Christmas packages with phrases like *"Today is a gift. That's why it's called the present." Well, I suppose they weren't really doing that before I was called but still...I suppose I will keep us strong in not ever doing that. That said, I am actually super enthused about it all even though has been like accepting that a spiritual firehose of responsibilities gets sprayed at your face. Once I get the hang of it, who knows? Maybe I can anticipate becoming much like one of these stalward R.S. souls?

#2 I saw my mom get hooded as a "Master of Education" as the girl who likes Cheese on Rye described it. It was a pretty thrilling moment. She's a smart gal and I hope I grow up to be as smart and stunning as her.

#3 I also got to meet that delightful Thomas that made his debut just this last winter. It was pretty happy getting to know him a bit and catching up with his really awesome big sister - who does a great Pomp and Circumstance dance. That Ash is so nice. Besides just being great to talk to, she was always willing to share her Fig Newtons with me when I got hungry. I hope I grow up to be as nice as her.

#4 My dear friend Laura married her Phillip and I got to rendezvous with a few of the best folk from my P-Town days.

#5 Matt finished his finals and when he did that, officially survived his first year of law school. It's too bad he only survived with a mustache. He is already looking like a pretty sleazy lawyer.

#6 Over the best pâté and a knee buckling good chocolate hazelnut torte with apricot preserve at Chez Nous, Matt and I celebrated our 2nd year of marriage. And we both agreed it was the best year we had ever eaten...I mean lived (that one goes out to Swirly Patterns and the rest of you Brooks folk out there).

*Who said that anyway? Was it Joan Rivers or Eleanore Roosevelt? Whenever I don't know to whom I should attribute a nice sounding phrase like that, I default to Mother Teresa or Nelson Mandella. You can't really question either of those people can you...

How does one cope?

In the last couple months at work I have been taking inventory of the library's collection and weeding out old books that seemed to have too much florescent color and adolescents in tight rolled pants on their covers to still give relevant information on teens' social habits. I also took notice of titles like "America Online: and the new age of the internet", which gave away potentially outdated contents. Although it was tedious at times, I have found it be a good exercise for me to get a more comprehensive view about trends in our non-fiction and audio visual collections. For example, I caught onto one recurring theme which I first noticed while going through the science and health books.

A series kept popping up called "How to Cope with...". It was a pretty ambitious set of books that treated "How to Cope with": Depression, Bi-Polar Disorder, AIDS just as seriously as the most pressing topics of "How to Cope with": Dating, Moving, Suburban Gangs and Teenage Moodiness. And although it struck me as funny that the last one was written for the students to read rather than for the rest of us that work for them at the school, I don't think it struck me as any funnier than the fact that I later found another series of "How to Cope with..." from the Agriculture class's audio visual collection. This series veered away from the emotional and physical concerns of teenagers in affluent Texas suburbia and focused on pressing issues for which seemed universal to us all. Indeed this series covered the ageless question of "Coping with Feral Hogs". Finally someone has found the courage to tackle this urgent issue and although I have not had the chance to view this film as it is in VHS format, I invite you all to learn more about how you can overcome the literal and metaphorical feral hogs in your life and become free of their ravaging effects.