Upon a Thought

Ridiculous Things That Never Should Have Been Invented

2009-10-25T13:08:00.003-04:00

This is the abridged version of a list I've been making all morning. It has no deeper meaning other than the fact that I honestly don't understand why ANY of these things exist. I mean, seriously. Every single one of these items just begs the question, "WHY?!?!?!!?!?"

1. Pantyhose

2. Sauerkraut

3. Skinny jeans

4. Twizzlers

5. Hummers

6. Inflatable furniture

7. Tissue Box Covers

8. Paperweights

9. The entire teaberry flavor

10. These lawn ornament things

Feel free to add!

Thought for the day

2009-10-24T20:03:00.004-04:00

One of my professors posed this question to our class earlier this week; it's a quote from David Copperfield. Days later, I'm still thinking about it.

"Will you be the hero of your own story?"

Out of curiosity, what kind of thoughts does this question generate for you?

My own take on the question? I think it's equally as important to consider, "Should I be the hero of my own story?"

"Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference has never tried to fall asleep with a mosquito in the room."

2009-09-07T19:20:00.003-04:00

(I positively love that quote and it's the only thing that comes to mind when I think "mosquitoes").

I hearby award major bonus points to Edge for knowing who Jump5 is in my last post :)

I read this article today and felt the need to post it just so I could say, "HA!" The world keeps telling me to de-stress, but I'm not very good at it. Maybe stress has its perks........????

I've got words in my head, so I sing them....

2009-09-06T14:40:00.004-04:00

(major bonus points if you know the song/artist that I stole the title from WITHOUT Googling it....)

Yesterday I attended Revelation Generation 2009, which was, in a word superawesomeamazing :) I spent the day there with some friends and we had right-up-against-the-stage views of concerts by BarlowGirl, Relient K, Switchfoot, Needtobreathe, Flyleaf, and lots of others!

As such, here are some of the songs that are still resonating:

The Lining is Silver :: Relient K

Oh, Gravity :: Switchfoot

And my new favorite (just listen to it. The piano/vocal combination is amazing):
Beautiful Ending :: BarlowGirl

If you're not here, raise your hand....

2009-09-02T07:32:00.001-04:00

Just a little techinical note. The whole "import blogs from Google Reader" thing didn't work the way I wanted it to, and as a result, quite a few of you are missing from my excellent blogs list on the left. If you're not there, please let me know!!!!!

This Little Light of Mine....

2009-09-01T21:55:00.004-04:00

So, as I was driving home tonight, I had a most interesting encounter with the guy driving the SUV next to me. Picture it: I'm in my little raspberry colored car (Ok, so it's not technically mine. Thank you, Nana, for letting me borrow it!!), all the windows rolled down (because we had the most perfect September weather today!), singing along at the top of my lungs with the song on the radio, which is tuned to the WordFM. I'm stopped at a notoriously long stoplight. Seriously. The kind of stoplight that would be created by an evil genius bent on revenge, because it stays red forevvvvvvvver and is only green for about a tenth of a millisecond.

Anyway, Guy in the SUV in the lane next to me must also have his windows rolled down. Now, let me just point out that, had I known this, I most definitely would have stopped singing. OR at least rolled up my windows. I do feel kind of bad for the innocent strangers who are forced to listen to me squawk, after all. However, I didn't realize it.

He, naturally, did. And he must have had exceptionally good hearing, because even with the sound of my squawks, he was able to discern the song I was listening to.

Guy in the SUV: Hey! Sounds like a good song! What station you listening to?

Me (after turning the music down and trying to pretend I have no idea where that awful squawking was coming from): WordFM....88.9!

Guy in the SUV: "Word"...sounds like one of those Godly Christian stations...

Me: It is. And it's pretty awesome. You should check it out!

Guy in the SUV: You know, I don't know that I believe in God....

Me: Check it out anyway. Maybe you'll hear something....maybe it will help answer your questions.

At this point, the stoplight must have sensed that we were actually enjoying ourselves and getting into a conversation. Naturally, being designed to bring everlasting frustration upon the world, it quickly changed to green, forcing us both to move. However, and I swear God was smiling, we hit another red stoplight a few blocks up. Once again, I'm stopped next to Guy in the SUV, and we both still have our windows rolled down.
And I hear the same songs I'm listening to in my car playing from his radio. And he's tapping his fingers along on the steering wheel. He looks over and notices me and says, "I might keep listening to this. Thanks." And I replied, "You're welcome!" and then we were off, going our seperate ways.

Even now, hours later, I can't even explain how blown away I am by this encounter. It was so completely unexpected and wonderful....but furthermore, it makes me aware of the fact that every part of my life is a testimony to God and His faithfulness. Every single tiny moment.

In Philippians, Paul writes: "Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel..." [Phil. 1:2-28] We are called, then, to live a life worthy of the Gospel of Christ. Of God Himself. That is a hugely daunting order, isn't it?! But Paul doesn't just say that we should live this way "while you're in church" or "when people are watching you" or "during work hours"; we are to act this way all the time. Our whole lives. Every moment of my life, every little thing I do, from the way I dress, the language I use, the words I write, the choices I make, the conversations I have, the music I listen to, and the way I treat others around me all reflect the values that are central to my life. And those values need to be Godly ones!!

Sometimes I forget that my faith can influence people outside of Sunday mornings or my circles of Christian friends. Sure, it's easy to see how having deep discussions in Sunday school or praying together with friends is meaningful....but I really had no idea that the things I do or the way I act outside of those situations meant anything to anyone. But God's been making me aware of it lately, and I wonder if it's His way of encouraging me to be more aware of what my actions are saying about me (for better and worse).

One of the reasons I've had this renewed interest in blogging is due to a recent conversation. A few days ago, a friend told me that "Yours is one of the only Christian blogs I read." I am so surprised and honored by this! (I am FLATTERED, dear!!) She may not agree with what I believe, and yet, she reads it anyway. In some way, I might be influencing her life...God is using me for a purpose! It's a pretty amazing feeling to think that God Himself is using me for some part of His plan!

So, morals of the story?
1. Even the tiniest, seemingly insignificant parts of our lives might be changing the world and affecting people.
2. Stoplights might serve a higher purpose after all.
3. Always leave the windows down. Who knows what opportunities you might miss otherwise? :)

Abracadabra...make MMSG reappear!

2009-09-01T14:53:00.004-04:00

My dearest bloggers,

Many apologies for the bizarre and unexplained disappearance. I think two and only two of you will understand when I say "monkeys". I'm afraid to even look at the date of my last post, but I know for sure it was eons ago! But, at the suggestion/command issued by our own dear Madison, I agreed it was time to start blogging again. And September first seemed like an excellent day to do that, so here we go again...!
History, for anyone who's curious:
Life got a little crazed this summer....I spent the last few months working like crazy! My summer job entailed spending my mornings entertaining children and trying to avoid the inter-camp wars that kept popping up at a day camp, and the afternoons were filled with working at a community center and taking the kiddos to the pool. Fascinating moments of this job included when one child asked if I was married, another informed me I look like his 74 year old grandmother, a third tried to break into my car, the discovery of what we're fairly certain was an alien caterpillar, a plot which involved running in to a dumpster with a car to simulate thunder, and way too many wheat crackers for snack. I don't know if I can eat any more wheat crackers.
I also spent a healthy amount of time playing in the rain, making music videos with my cousins, playing my guitar (if any of my neighbors are reading this, I really am sorry. I really DIDN'T know the windows were open....), babysitting, working my way through an online summer class, and eating way too much chocolate.
The other two big highlights were, without a doubt, my trip to New Orleans for the National Youth Gathering as well as my week at Worldview Academy. More on these subjects soon, too.

What about y'all? Any exciting summer developments?

The big news? I, the homeschooler, am here at college and loooving it! We're only on Day 2 of classes and already I'm up to my eyeballs in homework, but hey, it's part of the experience ;) Most of my classes are awesome, most of my professors are awesome, I mostly know my way around campus and I definitely have the great on-campus job EVER, so life is quite good :)

More posts coming your way soon. Pinky promise. Right now, my history book is threatening to run away if I don't read it soon. I think it's feeling jealous because of all the time I've devoted to Spanish lately. Poor thing.

P.S. In case there is anyone out there reading this without an RSS feeder (I know, slim chance), like the new look? And for everyone else, come check it out. I'm still tweaking, but do comment.

2009-04-02T14:06:00.002-04:00

HAILSTORM
[written for a friend in need]

Hail-storms of hurt-words
Come barreling down;
Warm rays of sunlight
No longer found.
Unexpected and whirling;
Hardened and cold;
Invaded by dark clouds
Angry and bold.
A bruise here, a scar there
Salty rain-tears descend
Lord, strengthen me;
Lead me to the storm’s end.

Anyone have a piece of fleece?

2009-04-01T22:34:00.005-04:00

I'm afraid to even look at the date of my last post. I'm sure it was years ago. Accept my full apologies!

A lot of what has been consuming me lately has been this big crazy college decision part of life. The scholarships. The interviews. The research. The thinking. The letters. The credits. The majors. The programs. The distance from home. The campuses. The admissions counselors. The professors. The students. The food (hey, it's an important factor). The costs. Etc.
It has been a MAJOR source of stress and pure terror for me over the last few months (years?) and yet, I can feel God teaching me things through this process.

One thing that's been sticking out at me lately has been, as a dear friend put it, "The Classic Christian Mistake".

I keep looking for factors that will make this decision easier for me, and one of those was financial aid. I prayed and prayed and prayed and found that my top two schools were basically the same in every respect -- I loved them both and they had so much to offer and both are great choices. And so I thought the only factor left was financial aid; I prayed that God would use scholarships and grants and such to point me in the right direction. And I waited. And I waited. And for a few weeks, it looked like even the monetary awards would be almost exactly the same, leaving me very undecided and unsure of what God was doing.

Then I got a letter in the mail from one school, and the scholarship money was significantly higher than I expected. Woo hoo, happy dance, life is good. This was a sign, I knew it; this was God pointing.
I was thrilled for all of about two hours.

Then the doubt set in.
"I should wait until I get the official statement from the other school. This really isn't a sign. This is just unexpected. What if this isn't really God? What if God hasn't really spoken yet, but I'm just trying to force everything to fit into MY own will instead of His? How do I know this is a sign? This can't be what answered prayers look like..." etc, etc.

The next day, knowing most of this, my friend talked to me about my big mistake. "You made the classic Christian mistake," she said of my doubt. "You prayed and prayed that God would speak to you about this decision through finances. And He did exactly as you asked. And then after you got that, you looked at God and wondered if it was enough." She's so very right; that's EXACTLY what I did!

I haven't been able to stop thinking about this conversation since. How often do we want God to just drop down a sign straight from Heaven to point us in the right direction? But even more interesting, how often does God DO this, but instead of following his sign, we second-guess it and doubt Him and ask for a billboard. THEN we'll be sure. And sometimes God has enough patience to drop us a fairly obvious billboard...and we have the gall to look at him and go, "Could ya just add some flashing lights to it? I'm not sure if this is the sign I need yet...I'm waiting for something more obvious...."

It reminds me of the story of Gideon, which you can also find in Judges 6-7. You gotta love Gideon. He's out in his field threshing wheat, and an ANGEL of the LORD appears.(First sign: There's an angel standing in front of me.) And Gideon says, "Whoa, baby. Are you really an angel? If you are, hang on just one second." Gideon goes inside to prepare an offering and the angel waits, just as he asks. (Second sign: Angel does as he asks and waits with heavenly patience). Then, Gideon comes back out and asks for ANOTHER sign. So the angel touches Gideon's altar offering with his staff and BOOM! instant flames. (Third sign) Ok. So, now, Gideon has an ethereal being standing in front of him who has just made fire appear out of nowhere....pretty obvious, eh? Gideon's still skeptical. He comes up with this elaborate test for God, involving fleece and dew and very specific instructions (Seriously? If this is not an illustration of how patient our God is, then I don't know WHAT is! Because if it was me...I'd be a little peeved at Gideon and I'd been ready to smite the guy.) And God, who has created the heavens and the earth and can do ANYTHING, has the patience and goodwill to accommodate Gideon's silly requests about putting dew on the fleece. (Fourth sign, anyone??) Gideon wakes up the next morning and goes, "Alright! You did exactly what I wanted, God! But...well, just one more thing...." and he goes and asks God for YET ANOTHER sign. And God STILL doesn't smite the guy, but gives him his sign, (Yep, we're up to five signs, now, in a few day's time, if I remember correctly) and thank goodness Gideon finally sees the light and realizes, DUH, this IS God.

And it's so easy for me (us) to roll our eyes at Gideon and wonder how he could possibly still doubt, even when God did exactly what he asked, over and over again.

And yet, here I am doing exactly the same thing.

Thank you, God, for your indescribable patience!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2009-03-17T17:22:00.002-04:00

St. Paddy's day, the Veggie way

Spring Forward!

2009-03-07T11:19:00.002-05:00

Don't forget -- it's Daylight Savings Time! Make sure you turn clocks ahead an hour when you go to bed tonight!!!

Somebody's got some 'splaining to do....

2009-03-03T15:37:00.007-05:00

After being at work all morning, I came home this afternoon and headed upstairs to tackle some schoolwork. Like any normal person, I also had to go to the bathroom. I walked in to the little upstairs bathroom that the Lil Bro and I share only to discover this....

So you're thinking, "Duh, MMSG. It's winter. That stuff is called snow. You got 13 inches of it yesterday. Why are you surprised by this??!" And, well, yeah. If I was outside, a hunk of dirty snow would have been no big deal.

But it was in my bathtub!!!

So, seeing as the Lil Bro is the only other person who uses this bathroom, I marched off to his room.

Me: "Come."

Lil Bro: "Huh?"

Me (leads Lil Bro to bathroom and points to snow)

Lil Bro: "It's snow."

Me: "It's IN MY BATHTUB!!!"

Lil Bro: "Yeah....?"

Me: "Explain, if you please?!"

Lil Bro (shrugs): "I dunno. Is the roof leaking?"

Me and Lil Bro pause and look up at ceiling. It is dry and leak-free.

Me: "Any other ideas?"

Lil Bro: "Check with Dad."

Me (marching downstairs, hands on hips)

Dad: "Yes?"

Me: "Let's play a game. It's called, 'Guess What's In My Bathtub That Doesn't Belong There.' You go first."

Dad: "Snow?"

Me: "Ding ding ding! We have a winner! And now for the bonus round: WHY?!?!"

Dad: "It was in the attic."

Me: "Great. That's fantastic. But, it's no longer IN the attic. It's IN MY BATHTUB! And it's DIRTY!"

Dad: "Indeed. I moved it from the attic. It's melting."

Me: "And you didn't feel the need to put it in YOUR bathtub?"

Dad (feigning shock): "Why, goodness, no! It's DIRTY!"

"The Ghost"

2009-03-03T15:12:00.002-05:00

THE GHOST

by: Charles Baudelaire

OFTLY as brown-eyed Angels rove
I will return to thy alcove,
And glide upon the night to thee,
Treading the shadows silently.

And I will give to thee, my own,
Kisses as icy as the moon,
And the caresses of a snake
Cold gliding in the thorny brake.

And when returns the livid morn
Thou shalt find all my place forlorn
And chilly, till the falling night.

Others would rule by tenderness
Over thy life and youthfulness,
But I would conquer thee by fright!

[I've just stumbled across the works of Charles Baudelaire. Naturally, like any Lemony Snicket fan, I was instantly intrigued by this poet's name and had to investigate. This is one of my favorites so far. Wow...I really love how this poem tiptoes back and forth across the line between "beautiful" and "haunting". It gives me goosebumps! The first line is probably my most favorite line of poetry EVER.]

I just couldn't resist

2009-02-24T21:20:00.004-05:00

Excerpt from an IM conversation tonight....sorry, dear, but it was funny!

Friend: hi

Me: hi!!!!!!!!

Friend: r u home

Me: No. Are you ready for this?!?!? I decided to take up residence on the moon today. Earth is just too darn polluted!

Friend: oh

Me: :)

Friend: ur kidding right?

Me: Uh, NO!!!!!!!!!!! That's what's so crazy awesome about it!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There was this new program at NASA for high school seniors to go experience life in space for three days! It's an environmental-awareness thing; about teaching us to appreciate all the things we do have on earth, etc....I'M SO PSYCHED THAT I GOT PICKED!!!!!!!!!!!! I didn't want to tell anyone I applied in case I didn't get it...it was really competitive and all....but we flew down to the NASA headquarters here in Houston late last night...and "take-off" was this morning at 7am...and now here I am!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Me: Is this awesome or WHAT?!?!?

Friend: ok...sure....

Love ya, dear :) Thanks for putting up with me!

Ignorance, continued

2009-02-24T10:12:00.001-05:00

Heh. I received this email a few days ago, forwarded from the friend of a friend, and I have to say, it cracked me up :) I know I sent it some of you, but just in case...it seems to fit my current rant quite nicely...

"Yesterday I was buying 2 large bags of Purina dog chow at Walmart, for my dogs Winston, Chief, Gus, and Maximus.

I was about to check out when a woman behind me asked if I had a dog. What did she think, that I had an elephant?

Since I had little else to do, on impulse, I told her that no, I didn't have a dog, and that I was starting the Purina Diet again, although I probably shouldn't because I ended up in the hospital last time. On the bright side though, I'd lost 50 pounds before I awakened in an intensive care ward with tubes coming out of every hole in my body and IVs in both arms. I told her that it was essentially a perfect diet and that the way that it works is to load your pockets with Purina nuggets and simply eat one or two every time you feel hungry and that the food is nutritionally
complete so I was going to try it again. (I have to mention here that practically everyone in the line was enthralled with my story by now.)

Horrified, she asked if I ended up in intensive care because the dog food had poisoned me. I told her no; I had stopped in the middle of the parking lot to lick my butt and a car hit me.

I thought the guy behind her was going to have a heart attack, he was laughing so hard!

WAL-MART won't let me shop there anymore."

Here's your sign...

2009-02-23T21:56:00.007-05:00

(Any of you who got the above reference to a very pathetic yet very funny country song...Kudos to you)

Ok, in continuing the current rant of Somnite (see below), I have my own two cents to add. Seriously, it's articles like this that make me shake my head an echo my great-grandmother: "What on EARTH is this crazy world coming to?!"

Fish pedicures banned by Florida Board of Cosmetology

"Fish pedicures — the use of tiny, live carp to clean feet — have been made available in several Florida cosmetology salons in recent months.

Now, Florida is banning the practice.

The Florida Board of Cosmetology, housed within the Department of Business an d Professional Regulation, determined that fish pedicures are not permitted in salons because they violate two previously standing rules: one that prohibits animals or pets (excluding animals trained to assist the hearing impaired, visually impaired or the physically disabled) in salons and another that sets the standards for pedicure sanitation requirements."
[From the Tampa Bay Business Journal]

SERIOUSLY, people!? What on EARTH possessed you to think that using tiny, live FISH to CLEAN your FEET would be a GOOD idea? (Sorry, went a little overboard on the capital letters there....)

Maybe it's just me. But seeing as feet (mine or anyone else's) and contact with fish (alive or otherwise) are two of the things that SERIOUSLY GROSS ME OUT, the combination of the two is enough to cause extreme gagging. At the very least.

Can anyone truly tell me that this looks like a desirable thing?!?!

And how do you know that the fish are actually making your feet CLEANER?

They swim around in their own poop, for Pete's sake.

These are also the people who decide that the place to have lengthy conversations is in the only doorway into a room.

2009-02-23T21:49:00.005-05:00

I totally stole that line ^ from Somnite. He is currently discussing stupid/ignorant people. Like those mentioned above.

And let me just say, I WHOLEHEARTEDLY AGREE!

Come ON, people!!! Is it that hard to move a few feet IN or a few feet OUT of the room in question?!?!!? ARGH!

Or maybe it's just part of the Conspiracy to Make MMSG Late for Everything.

*menacing glare directed towards all ignorant and non-ignorant door-blockers alike*

Bad day

2009-02-23T16:52:00.005-05:00

Ugh. It's been one of those days. You know the kind I mean, right? First of all, it's Monday. I was awakened much too early this morning by the phone. Naturally, it was a wrong number. I'm out of toothpaste. Even though I got up on time, I was VERY LATE in getting out of the house; the lateness carried over and permeated my entire day. I was stressed out at preschool, trying to do too many things at once and handle too much responsibility. I almost got hit three times driving to the community college for an observation. I had to leave the observation, which I was truly interested in, early in order to get to class on time. I DIDN'T EVEN MAKE IT TO CLASS ON TIME, due to construction, two busses (sp?!?!) and two wrong turns. For the first time ever, I had the displeasure of walking in to classs and slinking into my front-row seat while the prof was talking. Nice job, MMSG. Urgh. Doors were locked when they shouldn't have been; I forgot my gloves; I didn't have time to eat anything until just NOW; I almost ran out of gas and spent way too much filling up the tank; computer repair guy was supposed to come fix my keyboard this afternoon and so far, he hasn't even bothered to show up; I have a test on Wednesday which I haven't studied for and I also have a paper due which I haven't even started....

You get the picture. It's just been one of those days. The days that make me hiss at people (yes. I'm totally serious here. Ask the Lil' Bro. He's been on the receiving end of an awful lot of hissing lately. Sorry, Lil Bro!). The days that make me want to throw things. The days that make want to crawl in bed with a long book and say "Heck with you, you big stinky world! I DON'T want to deal with you anymore!"

Sidebar: Heh. As I'm sitting here griping, I'm reminded of a line from Notting Hill (*confession* This is currently one of my FAVORITE MOVIES EVER. Something about it...maybe it's Hugh Grant's [who plays William] adorable accent....just makes me go weak at the knees. I cry every time I watch it. Pathetic, I know...*sigh*)...

Spike: You couldn't help me with an incredibly important decision, now, could you?
William: This isn't important in comparison to, say, the decision over whether or not we should cancel Third World countries' debt, now, is it?
.....
William (to Anna): Can't we just laugh about all this? I mean, seriously, in the hugh sweep of things, this is nothing! This stuff doesn't actually matter!
Spike (to Anna): What he's going to say next is that there are starving children in the Sudan.
William (to Anna): Well, there are! And this is nothing compared to that!

So yeah. I know. I know I know I KNOW!!! So maybe my problems are inconsequential, in the grand scheme of things. And I know that, gosh darn it! I really do!! I really DON'T want to be reminded of it again, thank you very much; I'd much rather wallow in my own self-pity and moan some more. Leave me alone, Hugh. *glares*

And yet. Somehow, after He rolls his eyes and shakes His head, God always reaches down and touches my heart and helps me get myself back on track, and refocus my thoughts and attitude. Today He did so through a song, as He often seems to do with me when I'm in moods like this. And it wasn't a new song. It was a song I've heard a bazillion times in my life; a song that, admittedly, I sometimes grow tired of and change the station when it comes on, looking for something newer or more interesting. But today, it spoke to me in a way I didn't expect.

It was "How Great is Our God" (<-- sung here by Hillsong. This video gave me goosebumps!)

It really just jolted me out of my I'd-really-like-to-pick-up-my-Statistics-textbook-and-chuck-it-at-this-nincompoop-who's-STILL-tailgating-me-cuz-maybe-THAT-would-get-him-off-my-butt thoughts and made me think.

How great IS our God? How incredible is it that we have a God who loves us even when we're not loving Him, when we're not loving life, when we're not loving all the blessings He's given us? How amazing is it that our God will forgive us for our grumpy, selfish, textbook-throwing thoughts and welcome us back with open arms? How wonderful is it to know that even when I'm having a bad day, God is in control? How blessed are we to have a God this great?!

(Funny how on bad days, everyday knowledge often feels like stunning epiphanies [sp?]).

Saturday morning, courtesy of Hoops and Yoyo

2009-02-21T12:09:00.002-05:00

How can you not love this video?!?

Happy Valentines Day!

2009-02-14T07:55:00.005-05:00

Quick Valentines-y thoughts, courtesy of Heartlight.com:

The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are
loved - loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of
ourselves.

-- Victor Hugo

I thank my God every time I remember you.

-- Philippians 1:3

Hope you all have a truly LOVEly Valentine's Day, spent with people you love, and remembering the greatest love of all:

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. "
-- John 3:16

[And, before you all get too excited...No. Unfortunately, the fact that I typed "Happy" above does not actually mean that my p key has been fixed. Quite the contrary, in fact; the keyboard was fixed incorrectly and now NONE of the keys on my laptop's keyboard work. *Sigh*. But, I currently have access to the family computer (which is typically hoarded by my dear Lil Bro), since Lil Bro is still asleep. Bwahahaha.]

My very good excuse

2009-02-11T21:22:00.004-05:00

I actually have a fairly good reason for not _osting. My letter-that-comes-between-o-and-q key on my keyboard is broken. Actually, it WAS broken, now it's just GONE. For a few weeks, it was just loose, and therefore working s_oradically, if I whacked it hard enough. But my _sycho cat went and ri_ _ed the darn thing off com_letely, and now, no _'s. And I have to admit, it is driving me CRAAAAZY. More than it should, I'm sure. But I've kind of been avoiding any long emails/_osts/etc because, well, do you know how many words have the letter _ in them?!

A lot. A whole lot.

On the very bright side, though, my com_uter is still under warranty, so the lovely _eo_le at Dell covered the cost of a new keyboard. Thank you, lovely _eo_le at Dell. You've made me very ha_ _ y. Anyway, that should be here in a few days. Sweetness.

A Quote for Today

2009-02-10T14:26:00.000-05:00

"The opposite of bravery is not cowardice, but conformity."

     -- Robert Anthony

The month so far...

2009-02-08T16:47:00.003-05:00

Heh. Now that you've all gotten used to the crazy-frequent posting of January...make way for February the crazy-busy! Sorry I've been so quiet lately. We're only a week into Feb and already I'm exhausted!

Wednesday flew by in a whirl of classes, homework, and interviews. Thursday was the Big Birthday. It was, by far, the greatest birthday I've EVER had -- THANK YOU to all the awesome people who made it so marvelous! Details soon. Friday - Saturday I was gone at a sleepover and attending another bday party; today the cuz had a wrestling match which lasted for a mere 6 1/2 hours. Now, I've got a crazy load of homework that needs to be done by tomorrow night, and I'd better do it now, because I'll be gone all day tomorrow at a college visit/interview (*GULP* prayers needed. It could lead to a full-tuition scholarship. But no pressure or anything, right?!?!?) and then a meeting in the evening.

Someday soon, I really WILL have time to think out a post. Pinky promise.

Letting my eyes

2009-01-31T16:51:00.004-05:00

So...just when I was starting to think I had this whole where-should-I-go-to-college-in-the-fall thing figured out, WHAMO! God threw all this new information in to the mix and confused the daylights out of me.

An acceptance letter I wasn't expecting came, which, to any normal student, would be awesome. And it is! But I had just been getting ready to cross that school off my list and narrow down the options. I thought maybe this was God's way of letting me know that particular school wasn't where he wanted me. Now I'm not so sure anymore.

Similarly, a second school that I was getting ready to cross off of the list recently notified me that I *might* qualify for a full-tuition scholarship. Obviously, I would take a full-tuition scholarship as a pretty clear-cut sign from God that THAT is the school I should be at. Not what I expected at all -- suddenly this school is an option again. My list isn't getting narrowed down at all!

Shall we add another loop? My first choice school; the place I really, truly want to go? I was so close to getting a full-tuition scholarship THERE, and I just found out I didn't quite make it. Which disappointed me more than I thought I would.

So, in typical omniscient-Creator fashion, God has taken every plan I thought I had made and every factor I thought I count on, and turned them all upside down. He's giving me this huge chance to just throw up my hands and let him take control of this crazy journey....oh, but I'm having trouble relinquishing that control!

I'm feeling very confused right now, and wondering just what kind of path is God leading me on, anyhow?

And I found this email in my inbox:

"Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before
you. Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are
firm."

Proverbs 4:25-26, New International Version

Where are my eyes focused right now? Behind me. I've spent so much time lately worrying about what I did and didn't do in high school; was it enough, was it right, was it this or that. I've spent so much of this week worrying about scholarships and acceptances letters and all this other stuff. My eyes SHOULD be looking straight ahead; focused on God and watching where He's going.

Only I keep getting distracted. The things behind me and around me are all vying for my attention, and it's so hard for me to fix my gaze straight ahead!

I need to remember to "take only ways that are firm." In other words, to look for and follow the path that GOD is drawing me to; not the path that I want. Sure; I really want this first-choice school. I want it so badly that I can't even explain it. And until this week, I thought God wanted me there, too. But maybe all this topsy-turvyness in the land of college is God's way of showing me that my path isn't the strong one, the firm one, the one that will hold up against all the pitfalls and temptations around this world. My path isn't that path.

His is.

All I need to do is fix my gaze on Him and follow where he leads.

But oh, these distractions!!!!

The Thought Process: Math Homework

2009-01-30T20:31:00.000-05:00

I want to play Guitar Hero.
But I really need to do this math homework.
I will NOT play Guitar Hero until this math homework is done!
I really need a pencil.
*digs through backpack*
What IS this? Why is it sticky....? How long has that been there....?
Maybe I don't want to know.
Focus. Pencil.
*dig dig dig*
AHA! Found one!
Aw, man, it needs sharpening.
*look at desk, where there SHOULD be a pencil sharpener, but it is too piled with stuff to see the sharpener*
Hmm. It'll be easier to go sharpen it downstairs.
*go downstairs to den to sharpen pencil*
*have pointless convo with Lil Bro*
*go back upstairs to bedroom*
Hey, it's the cat! Hi, Grumpy girl!
*pause to pet cat*
*back to bedroom*
Oh, yeah. Calculator. I need my calculator!
Where IS my calculator, anyway?
*begin to search room for calculator*
Hmmm...it doesn't appear to be anywhere up here...I did just use it recently...
*snaps fingers*
It must be downstairs!
*back downstairs*
Oh, there it is! On the kitchen counter!
Hmmm, while I'm here, I might as well get a drink.
Chocolate milk would be good.
*makes chocolate milk*
*carries calculator & milk back up the stairs*
*sit down on bed*
*open math book*
Now, let's see...uh oh, I didn't write down which assignments I'm supposed to do.
I have to go online and check the assignment website.
*opens computer*
Oh, look! I have new emails!
Email from (college) about an interview? Better respond to that.
Oh...an email from Very Best Friend about directions for tomorrow...
That reminds me: I need to Google directions for tomorrow anyway. Better do it now so I won't forget.
*clicks "print" for directions*
I'd better go check and see if they printed
*goes downstairs in den to check for directions.*
Yay, they printed!
*back upstairs*
Ok. Math. Focus. I was checking the assignment.
*goes back to site*
*writes down assignment*
*IM pops up*
It's L! I haven't talked to her in ages!
*15 minute convo with L*
Ok. No more distractions. Math needs to get done.
Wow...it's amazing how many times I've been distracted.
That would make a good blog post, I think.
*writes blog post*
Wow, is that the time? I really better get moving on this homework...
*does three problems*
I'm really tired....
I have to get up early tomorrow....
Maybe I should go to sleep now....
I do have all weekend to do these problems...
They're not due til Monday....
That's plenty of time!
Yeah, I'll do 'em later.
*gets ready for bed*
Hmmm. But I'm not really tired.
Maybe I could play just one song on Guitar Hero.THEN I'll go to bed.
*plays Guitar Hero until much too late*
Ooops.
*yawn*
I really should have done that homework if I was going to stay up so late.
Oh, well.
There's always tomorrow.
Or the day after.

confession

2009-01-29T20:18:00.003-05:00

I was the girl who swore she didn't need video games in her life.

I was the girl who swore she didn't have time for such trivial pursuits.

I was the girl who swore she didn't want a Nintendo DS, especially when all her friends told her how much fun it was and how much she'd love it.

I was the girl who was determined.

I am also the girl who caved.

I was the girl who may have gotten a DS, but decided she didn't need Guitar Hero: On Tour because it was just way too expensive.

I was the girl who thought paying $40 plus shipping for one game was ridiculous.

I was also the girl who saw aforementioned Guitar Hero game on sale for $30.

I was also the girl who happened to have $30 from grandmothers and explicit instructions to spend it on something UNpractical and UNeducational (yup. I'm that lame. I have to be forced to be spontaneous and impractical).

I am now the girl who owns the game she doesn't need and the Nintendo DS she doesn't need.

And I am now the girl who kicks major guitar butt.

I'm pretending it will help me play my real guitar better :-D

P.S. Have y'all taken note of how many times I've posted already this month?!?! This is a new record here in Mismatchedville! It's unheard of!!!

Happy Birthday, Jackson Pollock!

2009-01-28T15:36:00.003-05:00

"When I am in my painting, I'm not aware of what I'm doing. It is only after a sort of 'get acquainted' period that I see what I have been about. I have no fear of making changes, destroying the image, etc., because the painting has a life of its own. I try to let it come through. It is only when I lose contact with the painting that the result is a mess. Otherwise there is pure harmony, an easy give and take, and the painting comes out well." (From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackson_Pollock)

What a neat quote! I am not an artist by nature; mostly because art doesn't fit very well with my perfectionist-self :) However, I really like this view on art. "The painting has a life of its own"...it makes art sound like such an incredible, magical thing that just happens. Sometimes I feel like that with writing; like these words just come and the stories and poems have lives and minds of their own, too.

Pollock was famous for his very unique style of painting. Rather than use easels and paintbrushes and careful strokes, he often used sheets or giant pieces of paper -- or even walls! -- and other tools, like trowels, sticks or knives to make his abstract paintings. Often he'd mix foreign substances, like crushed glass or sand to his paint to give it a different texture.

Many people have criticized both Pollock's methods and paintings as being something "a five year old could do", because his style included flinging, dripping and splattering paint onto his work surface, to make things like this:

According to Wiki, "Pollock denied "the accident"; he usually had an idea of how he wanted a particular piece to appear. It was about the movement of his body, over which he had control, mixed with the viscous flow of paint, the force of gravity, and the way paint was absorbed into the canvas. The mix of the uncontrollable and the controllable. Flinging, dripping, pouring, spattering, he would energetically move around the canvas, almost as if in a dance, and would not stop until he saw what he wanted to see."

Pollock had a very original take on painting. His work was truly his; it was his individual form of expression, and I love that about him. Maybe art doesn't have to be a perfect, realistic, carefully calculated work; but rather an intense, unique, even mysterious creation?

If Jackson Pollock were still alive, he would be celebrating his 97th birthday today! Happy Birthday, Jackson Pollock!

See More of Jackson Pollock's Work

Echo

2009-01-26T21:05:00.004-05:00

While I was writing a paper for English I was searching for quotes about eyes, which led me to some poems by George Herbert, which led me to discover this one, which I think is quite beautiful.

Heaven, by George Herbert

O who will show me those delights on high?
Echo. I.
Thou Echo, thou art mortall, all men know.
Echo. No.
Wert thou not born among the trees and leaves?
Echo. Leaves.
And are there any leaves, that still abide?
Echo. Bide.
What leaves are they? impart the matter wholly.
Echo. Holy.
Are holy leaves the Echo then of blisse?
Echo. Yes.
Then tell me, what is that supreme delight?
Echo. Light.
Light to the minde : what shall the will enjoy?
Echo. Joy.
But are there cares and businesse with the pleasure?
Echo. Leisure.
Light, joy, and leisure ; but shall they persever?
Echo. Ever.

Savior, please

2009-01-25T19:28:00.004-05:00

So, as you may have gathered from the last post, it's been an incredibly overwhelming weekend. Wonderful, certainly; there's been some amazing moments. But overwhelming for sure. Today I had a chance to spend some time with Very Best Friend in the Whole Entire Galaxy, and oh, how I needed that! Without fail, every moment I spend with her, whether it's curled up on the sofa watching a movie or in the middle of a noisy, smelly gym, she just refreshes my soul.

It's funny. All weekend as I was doing everything for everyone I kept telling myself, "You're fine! You're going to love this! It'll be great!". And I thought I was doing a pretty good job keeping up the act, you know? The I'm-not-tired, I-really-do-want-to-be-here, life-is-good act. I'm sure you're all familiar with it.

And this is why she is my Very Best Friend in the Whole Entire Galaxy. Because my "act" didn't fool her for a nanosecond. She knew something was wrong and she even guessed most of the stuff that was upsetting me before I even said one word. So after somewhat of a meltdown, I was feeling marginally better about life, but she helped me realize that a big part of my problem is a lack of faith. I'm in a scary transitional time of my life right now, and faith is more vital than ever before if I have any hope of navigating this. And yet, why is it that in the moments when you most need your faith, it's easiest to forget about the concept of "trust"? Why is it so easy to lose sight of God in the moments when you should be most focused on him?

As I drove home, I was praying that God would take my angry, scared, doubtful heart and replace with the peace and faith and trust I was so desperately in need of. And this song came on the radio, and I know it was the answer to my prayer:

Savior, Please by Josh Wilson

Savior, please take my hand
I work so hard, I live so fast
This life begins, and then it ends
And I do the best that I can, but I don't know how long I'll last

I try to be so tough
But I'm just not strong enough
I can't do this alone, God I need You to hold on to me
I try to be good enough
But I'm nothing without Your love
Savior, please keep saving me

Savior, please help me stand
I fall so hard, I fade so fast
Will You begin right where I end
And be the God of all I am because You're all I have

Hallelujah
Everything You are to me
Is everything I'll ever need
And I am learning to believe
That I don't have to prove a thing
'Cause You're the one who's saving me

And though it might sound completely corny, these words just spoke to my heart, echoing all the words Very Best Friend had said earlier, and it was an amazing experience.
Oh, the goosebumps and the tears!

Anyway, I just pray that if you're in this place right now -- this overwhelming, trying so hard to measure up and be all things to all people and prove things to the world, that this song will encourage you and bring peace to you.

2009-01-25T00:23:00.003-05:00

It's 12:24am.

I have not had more than 5 hours of sleep per night all week.

I have not finished any of the homework that's due Monday.

I have not planned the Sunday School lesson I'm teaching tomorrow morning.

I have not written a decent lengthed email in days.

I have not written anything in days.

I have over 900 unread items in Google Reader and over 100 unread, non-spam emails to attend to.

I have eaten a ridiculous amount of Tastykakes today.

I have had a very packed, yet very wonderful weekend so far, and I expect tomorrow to be the most packed and most wonderful yet.

I have no cell phone for the third week running.

I have to be awake in a mere 5 hours.

Again.

The Greatest Play Doh Recipe Ever

2009-01-21T18:07:00.004-05:00

Ok, now seriously. How many of you still love to play with playdoh? Don't be shy, I know there's plenty of you out there....

I made a HUGE batch of playdoh for preschool yesterday, and it occurred to me that the recipe is fairly simple and playdoh is undoubtedly amazing, so it might be nice to share this amazing recipe with y'all. And don't think it's just us crazy preschool teachers that use it. I've made this playdoh on rainy days while babysitting and I've even incorporated it into Sunday School lessons! I'm telling you, this is one of those life-long bits of knowledge that everyone should just know.

The Greatest PlayDoh Recipe Ever

-- 2 cups flour
-- 1 cup salt
-- 2 cups water
-- 2 tbsp. vegetable or canola oil
-- 4 tsp. cream of tartar

Mix ingredients together in large pot. Cook on medium, stirring occasionally, until think dough forms. Knead until smooth and add food coloring as desired!
I typically make a double batch, FYI.

Enjoy!

Interview with the lovely Edge

2009-01-18T19:25:00.004-05:00

The Rules of the Interview:
1. Leave me a comment saying you want to be interviewed.
2. I'll email you five questions, of my determination not yours!
3. You update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

1. What are the most outrageously mismatched socks you've ever worn?
OOOH, excellent question! There have been some doozies, but I'd have to say that the most outrageous (and also my favorite) are the knee-high socks I wear with knee-length skirts. The two craziest combos are probably my CRAZY BRIGHT YELLOW argyle socks which have HOT pink, ELECTRIC blue and LIME green accents paired with a brown sock that has BIG blue and green polkadots. Another favorite combo, though, was a blue, white and purple polka dot knee-high with my new Christmas socks -- bold red and green stripes and oh, yes, they light up on the side when I walk :)

2. If you had to choose between meeting C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkein for lunch, who would you pick?
Ugh. First of all, I have to say I would be incredibly thrilled if either of them agreed to meet me for lunch, but also incredibly nervous!! I can't imagine actually EATING in front of either one, especially considering I can't seem to get through a meal without spilling something and getting some unsightly food stuck in my teeth. Oh, trauma.
I think C.S. Lewis. I've read more of his books, and I have WAY more questions to ask him.

3. What movie are you most looking forward to seeing this year?
*confession*...um...movie? (What's a movie?) I have to admit that it's been a really, really long time since I've gone to a movie theater. I think the last movie I saw in theaters was Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban (yes. #3. So this was truly years ago.) That being said, we also don't have cable TV which means I have no idea whatsoever of what kind of movies are even out there to begin with!
So, new movies aside...well,ages ago, Very Best Friend promised me we would watch Dead Poet's Society, (which I have never seen but have heard enough teasers about it to think I would enjoy it) together, and I intend to hold her to that promise. I am really REALLY looking forward to that!

4. What book have you read lately that should be turned into a movie?
Gossamer, by Lois Lowry, is one of my all-time favorite books. Though it's not a new book, I re-read it lately and I would LOVE to see that as a movie! Actually, her Giver trilogy would be three incredible films, too.
I also recently read John Grisham's The Last Juror, which was unbelievably better than I thought it would be. I picked it up due to a recommendation and fully intended to dislike the book, and though it centered around a dark theme, there were parts that were brilliant and positively hilarious, and I found myself completely hooked!

5. Mac or PC?
PC! Only because I've never had or used a Mac and I don't do well with change.

If there's anyone out there who hasn't done this meme yet, feel free to comment!

Just Keep Swimming...

2009-01-18T07:23:00.000-05:00

Life is overwhelming. Plain and simple. Often we find ourselves consumed by situations and, more than anything else, we just want OUT! It's so easy, when we feel like we're completely surrounded by "yuck", for our prayers to focus on ending suffering or showing us a way out of a stressful situation. And yet, I think sometimes God gives us these tough times in our lives so we can learn just how determined we are; so we can see how much strength and endurance He gives us.

TWO FROGS IN CREAM

A poem by T. C. Hamlet

Two frogs fell into a can of cream,
Or so I’ve heard it told;
The sides of the can were shiny and steep,
The cream was deep and cold.
“O, what’s the use?” croaked number 1,
“Tis fate; no help’s around.
Goodbye , my friends! Goodbye, sad world!”
And weeping still, he drowned.
But number 2, of sterner stuff,
Dogpaddled in surprise,
The while he wiped his creamy face
And dried his creamy eyes.
“I’ll swim awhile, at least,” he said.
Or so I’ve heard he said;
“It really wouldn’t help the world
If one more frog were dead.”
An hour or so he kicked and swam,
Not once he stopped to mutter,
But kicked and kicked and swam and kicked,
Then hopped out, via butter!

Right where you are

2009-01-16T13:01:00.001-05:00

11 Jan 2009
8:25pm
In Search of Truth

“The love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.”
~1 John 4:9

O truth-seeker
Why do you wander?
Searching for something
You’ll never find?
Inventing a goal
You think might be somewhere
Creating a path
And walking on blind?
Yesterday’s trends
Yield not the answer;
Tomorrow’s hypotheses
Won’t take you far.
You see, truth-seeker
That which you search for
Has long been discovered;
It’s right where you are.

God meets us where we are. It's so important to remember that God isn't some faraway, unreachable being, but rather a close, personal, intimate Savior who is right here, waiting for us. We don't need to look far to find Him, because He's already revealed Himself to us -- through Jesus, through the Bible, through every moment we live and breathe. So often we convince ourselves that we need to find God, that we need to find truth, that we need to find the purpose of our lives. The problem is that sometimes we get so caught up in our searches that we forget about God altogether! We don't need to go searching for the truth or the meaning of life because we've already found it -- it's here, in Christ! How comforting it is to know that God's already given me everything I need to know Him, to trust Him, and to grow closer to Him.
The world will tell us we don't have enough; that we need to go and find more, more, more. And yet, God has given us all that we need; what more could there possibly be to find?

For the love of random, unedited poems that just flow...

2009-01-15T22:24:00.001-05:00

15 Jan 2009
10:15pm

This Is Me

Snowflakes in my hair
Stars in my eyes
Dreams in my heart
Worries on my mind.
Voices in my head
Polish on my toes
Pencil in my ponytail
Freckles on my nose.
Music in my ears
Bracelet on my wrist
Chocolate in my mouth
Tension in my fingertips.
Wandering imagination
Devoted soul to Christ
Tears of joy and sorrow
This is me, this is my life.

Thought for the day:

2009-01-12T07:10:00.000-05:00

"all which isn't singing is mere talking
and all talking's talking to oneself."

--e. e. cummings

Sing praises to God today! This might very well be the furthest thing from your mind as you struggle to make it through another gray Monday, but believe it or not, we are called to sing praises to God! Don't let your day be consumed by grumbling and "talking to oneself"; instead, make a conscious effort to sing and praise God for all your blessings.

"Sing to Him a new song; play skillfully and shout for joy!" Psalm 33:3

I know what I want for my birthday!

2009-01-11T16:37:00.003-05:00

So, according to GoogleTrends, the current most-searched term in the U.S. is Portuguese Water Dog. (Side note: I'm assuming it's because rumor has it that the Obamas are considering adopting one. But seriously, people? Why on EARTH do we all care so much what kind of dog is going to live in the White House?! Sad that America has nothing better to do than Google potential First Dogs.....) And yet, I suppose I'm just as guilty, because, not knowing what this thing is, I naturally jumped on the bandwagon and decided to find out.

OH. MY. GOODNESS. GRACIOUSNESS.

Is there anything more adorable than THIS?!?! It's like a chocolate lab (I've always had a major weakness for chocolate labs...) and a yorkie poo (another favorite) and my own dear Bichon Frise all rolled up into one fuzzy wuzzy bundle of puppy joy!

So maybe I can understand all the fuss after all.

I can practically feel my brain cells oozing out of my ears

2009-01-11T13:33:00.004-05:00

Snowyness and icyness transformed my busy weekend into a form of house arrest. Even church was cancelled this morning! I'm sorry to say that I spent the morning sleeping in, being lazy, and playing an absolutely ridiculous amount of Whack-A-Penguin (high score: 322.9. Unfortunately, Lil Bro's was 331, and that drives me MAD!) and The Game Called Bob (high score: 1980. YEAH!).

Goal for the afternoon is to do something slightly more mentally stimulating.

Ideas?

Just being my usual, informative self....

2009-01-10T15:07:00.000-05:00

[from The New York Times]

The 11 Best Foods You Aren’t Eating
by Tara Parker-Pope

Maybe you should be eating more beets, left, or chopped cabbage. (Credit: Evan Sung for The New York Times)(This post was originally published on June 30, 2008, and recently appeared on The New York Times’s list of most-viewed stories for 2008.)

Nutritionist and author Jonny Bowden has created several lists of healthful foods people should be eating but aren’t. But some of his favorites, like purslane, guava and goji berries, aren’t always available at regular grocery stores. I asked Dr. Bowden, author of “The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth,” to update his list with some favorite foods that are easy to find but don’t always find their way into our shopping carts. Here’s his advice.

1. Beets: Think of beets as red spinach, Dr. Bowden said, because they are a rich source of folate as well as natural red pigments that may be cancer fighters.
How to eat: Fresh, raw and grated to make a salad. Heating decreases the antioxidant power.
2. Cabbage: Loaded with nutrients like sulforaphane, a chemical said to boost cancer-fighting enzymes.
How to eat: Asian-style slaw or as a crunchy topping on burgers and sandwiches.
3. Swiss chard: A leafy green vegetable packed with carotenoids that protect aging eyes.
How to eat it: Chop and saute in olive oil.
4. Cinnamon: May help control blood sugar and cholesterol.
How to eat it: Sprinkle on coffee or oatmeal.
5. Pomegranate juice: Appears to lower blood pressure and loaded with antioxidants.
How to eat: Just drink it.
6. Dried plums: Okay, so they are really prunes, but they are packed with antioxidants.
How to eat: Wrapped in prosciutto and baked.
7. Pumpkin seeds: The most nutritious part of the pumpkin and packed with magnesium; high levels of the mineral are associated with lower risk for early death.
How to eat: Roasted as a snack, or sprinkled on salad.
8. Sardines: Dr. Bowden calls them “health food in a can.” They are high in omega-3’s, contain virtually no mercury and are loaded with calcium. They also contain iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, copper and manganese as well as a full complement of B vitamins.
How to eat: Choose sardines packed in olive or sardine oil. Eat plain, mixed with salad, on toast, or mashed with dijon mustard and onions as a spread.
9. Turmeric: The “superstar of spices,” it may have anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties.
How to eat: Mix with scrambled eggs or in any vegetable dish.
10. Frozen blueberries: Even though freezing can degrade some of the nutrients in fruits and vegetables, frozen blueberries are available year-round and don’t spoil; associated with better memory in animal studies.
How to eat: Blended with yogurt or chocolate soy milk and sprinkled with crushed almonds.
11. Canned pumpkin: A low-calorie vegetable that is high in fiber and immune-stimulating vitamin A; fills you up on very few calories.
How to eat: Mix with a little butter, cinnamon and nutmeg.

Um....yeah. I like pumpkin seeds...and...well...that's about it...
Does anyone know what Swiss chard is? Or what turmeric is? (I'm assuming the former has nothing to do with Swiss cheese and the latter, quite frankly, sounds almost dangerous. Ick.)

Centennial!

2009-01-09T14:08:00.004-05:00

Happy 100th Post, Mismatchedsockgirl!!!! YAAAY!

Wow...can you guys believe that I've posted 100 times?! Does that just totally boggle your mind?! Considering my first post started out over a year ago with, "So here begins a renewed attempt at blogging. The posts will be sporadic and random; about whatever thoughts are consuming my head at the moment. Who knows what will end up here...maybe some poems, maybe some stories, maybe some musing, maybe some quotes, maybe some arguments; most likely, a good mix of all of the above."

Even more interesting is the fact that I think I've had all of the aforementioned stuff in posts at one time or another.

So, in the spirit of 100-ness, here are 100 Facts About Mismatchedsockgirl, which I did indeed steal from Polka Dot Pickles, only I had to edit it a little bit because a lot of the numbers were missing.

1 - EVER BEEN GIVEN AN ENGAGEMENT RING?
Yes. By a four year old. It was an old twisty-tie from his lunch. He gave me one every day for two months. *sigh*

2 - EVER WON A CONTEST?
I’m the reigning champion of the annual church picnic’s hula-hoop contest. I’ve won or tied for first every year for the last 8 years. I’ve also won a few assorted call-now-to-win radio contests (one of which resulted in my receiving a VeggieTales movie, YEAH!) and a few poetry contests.

3 - LAST GIFT YOU RECEIVED?
A beautiful and wonderful necklace from my best friend!

4 - EVER DROPPED A CELL PHONE?
Daily. Hourly, probably. Most notable incidents were probably in a parking lot (in a puddle, no less!) and from my two-stories-in-the-air deck to the very hard ground. Heh. And here I wonder why the thing only works sporadically….

5 - WHEN'S THE LAST TIME YOU WORKED OUT?
Oh, goodness, this is embarrassing. Let’s just say… awhile.

6 - THING(S) YOU SPEND A LOT OF MONEY ON?
Buying presents for friends. Overdue fines at the library. Gas. Mocha lattes from Wawa.

7 - LAST FOOD YOU ATE?
Hot chocolate and three rectangles of a Hershey bar that I may or may not have commandeered from my brother….

8 - FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT THE OPPOSITE SEX?
Eyes….eyes are so magical!

9 - ONE FAVORITE SONG?
ONE favorite song?! You’re asking me to pick ONE favorite?! Don’t you know by now that I can’t DO that?!?! *sigh* Note to self: make a list of favorite songs for future post.

10 - WHERE DO YOU LIVE?
In a blue house

11 - HIGH SCHOOL YOU ATTENDED:
homeschooled, baby! Oh yeah!

12 - CELL PHONE SERVICE PROVIDER:
ATT

13 - FAVORITE MALL STORE
Learning Express, Waldenbooks, Barnes & Noble, Starbucks, Haagen-Daz, sometimes Kohl’s

14 - LONGEST JOB YOU HAD:
I’ve worked/volunteered at preschool for five years…

15 - DO YOU OWN A PAIR OF DICE?
Um…yes…fuzzy dice, actually. I won them at a church picnic in an awesome game of bingo. Only my mother won’t let me hang them in the Batmobile (family minivan) so they’re in my room.

16 - DO YOU PRANK CALL PEOPLE?:
A few times, but I’m truly terrible at it. And for some strange reason, everyone I’d normally prank call has caller ID! What’s up with THAT?! Coincidence? I think not…

17 - LAST WEDDING YOU ATTENDED:
I have been to a total of ONE wedding in my entire life, and that was when I was about…8?

18 - FIRST FRIEND YOU'D CALL IF YOU WON THE LOTTERY:
Very Best Friend in the Whole Entire Galaxy, of course

19 - LAST TIME YOU SAW YOUR BEST FRIEND:
Monday! Which was EONS ago!

20 - FAVORITE FAST FOOD RESTAURANT
Sheetz! Mmmm….roast beef & cheddar pretzel melt and frozen mochas….

21 - BIGGEST LIE YOU HAVE EVER HEARD:
I’ve heard some whoppers while babysitting. “Yes, I’m allowed to play with matches. Sometimes we light the Christmas tree branches, just to see how much of it will burn!” or “I’m allergic to fruit and vegetables and milk and crackers. All I can really eat is soda and M&Ms.”

22. CAN YOU JUGGLE?
Sort of. I try. I can complete about two rotations and then I loose everything. And I have to walk forward while I do it; I can’t stand still.

23 - WHERE'S YOUR FAVORITE PLACE TO EAT WITH FRIENDS?
Very Best Friend’s kitchen table

24 - CAN YOU COOK?
Heck yeah! Can I do it well? Heck no!

25 - WHAT CAR DO YOU DRIVE?:
The Batmobile, the world’s greatest black minivan, which always smells like popcorn or wet dog, depending on the season. Occasionally I drive Bob the Tomato, which is the Big Red Work Van, but it shakes, rattles and rolls, so it’s not quite as happy-making as the Batmobile is.

26. MOST BIZARRE THING YOU’VE EVER EATEN?
Onion grass, chocolate covered prunes, cow tongue. All voluntarily, believe it or not; and I hated all of them, believe it or not.

27 - LAST TIME YOU CRIED?:
Sad tears? Yesterday. Happy tears? Tuesday.

28 - MOST DISLIKED FOODS:
Nearly every green food, peaches, cantaloupe, cranberries, grapes, prunes, apricot kiffels (thank you, youth leader; that one’s entirely your fault)

29 - THING YOU LIKE MOST ABOUT YOURSELF:
Mismatched socks/accessories. Sheer brilliance. Night owl habits. Ability to relate to others’ situations. Tendency to talk fast and A LOT. Insane enthusiasm. My best friend.

30 - THING YOU DISLIKE MOST ABOUT YOURSELF:
Tendency to talk fast and A LOT. Inclination towards drama. Speaking before thinking. Total terror of talking on the phone. Feet. Lack of any directional sense (North? South? Huh?). Tendency to FREAK OUT over every little thing. Worrywartish nature.

31. PLAY ANY MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS?
A very very very tiny bit of piano. Even less clarinet. Almost-decent amount of the guitar (this is the only instrument I really enjoy playing). Oh, and I kick butt on a kazoo.

32 - LONGEST SHIFT YOU HAVE WORKED AT A JOB?:
I’ve had babysitting jobs that lasted five days -- night and day. Loved them!

33 - FAVORITE MOVIE?
VeggieTales, Just Like Heaven, The Village, Sixth Sense, The Others, The Lake House, Notting Hill, Pirates of the Caribbean 1 & 2

34 - CAN YOU SING?
*Please see answer for #24*

35 - LAST CONCERT ATTENDED?
………I would hafta say it was SWiM back at Regionals? Wowza, it’s been a long time since I was at a concert….

36 LAST KISS?
A goodbye kiss from a five year old family friend

37 LAST MOVIE RENTED:
“Friends -- the complete 6th season” and “My Best Friend’s Wedding” and “You’ve Got Mail”

38 - ONE THING YOU NEVER LEAVE THE HOUSE WITHOUT:
Cell phone, chapstick, bobby pins, notebook, bracelet from Very Best Friend (I’m not so good at these “ONE thing” questions…)

39 - FAVORITE VACATION SPOT?
Very Best Friend’s house

40. WHAT COLOR IS YOUR BEDROOM?
The walls are mint green; there’s a fuzzy purple carpet on the floor. Christmas lights are strewn around the top of the room and my ceiling light has a blue light bulb, which makes the whole room look like it’s bathed in moonlight. My bed has a purple, green and blue comforter on, which brings everything else together nicely.

41. FAVORITE PAIR OF SHOES?
Oh, this is tough, especially considering that I don’t wear matching shoes, if I can avoid it…I would have to say my pink striped flipflop and my white polka dot flipflop.

42. CAKE OR ICE CREAM?
Ice cream, definitely.

43 - LAPTOP OR DESKTOP COMPUTER?:
Laptop; it’s name is MooMoo

44 - FAVORITE COMEDIAN?:
My friend D

45 - DO YOU SMOKE?
NO!

46 - SLEEP WITH OR WITHOUT CLOTHES?
Definitely WITH. Let’s move on…

47 - WHO SLEEPS WITH YOU EVERY NIGHT?:
My big brown stuffed horse Chocolate still sleeps at the foot of my bed. Occasionally Grumpy the Cat will sleep with me, too…

48 - DO LONG DISTANCE RELATIONSHIPS WORK?:
Depends on the folks. For me? Kind of….

49 - HOW MANY TIMES HAVE YOU BEEN PULLED OVER BY THE POLICE?
Never *phew*

50 - PANCAKES OR FRENCH TOAST?
Depends on who’s cooking. If it’s Very Best Friend, I would totally choose French toast, because she makes the most awesome French toast EVER. Anyone else, pancakes. Chocolate chip, if possible.

51 - DO YOU LIKE COFFEE?:
Yum!

52 - HOW DO YOU LIKE YOUR EGGS?
Deviled, hard boiled, in potato salad; NOT SCRAMBLED *gag*

53 - DO YOU BELIEVE IN ASTROLOGY?:
No way

54 - LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?:
Youth leader or Daddy….

55 - LAST PERSON ON YOUR MISSED CALL LIST?:
Daddy

56 - WHAT WAS THE LAST TEXT MESSAGE YOU RECIEVED?:
“R U coming over today?”

57. EVER WISHED ON A STAR?
Plenty of times. A few of those wishes even came true.

58 - NUMBER OF PILLOWS?:
3.. One’s hugemongous and blue and fuzzy, yay.

59 - WHAT ARE YOU WEARING RIGHT NOW?:
2nd favorite pair of jeans (with two lovely holes in the knees), black long sleeved shirt with gray stripes, pink tee, one white sock with stars on and one black sock with hotdogs on.

60 - PICK A LYRIC, ANY LYRIC:
“It’s hard to be cool in a minivan” (Thank you, Go Fish!)

61 - WHAT KIND OF JELLY DO YOU LIKE ON YOUR PB & J?
EW EW EW. I HATE jelly in every way shape and form. Blegh.

62 - CAN YOU PLAY POOL?:
Erm….theoretically, yes…

63 - CAN YOU SWIM?
Well, I haven’t drowned yet

64 - FAVORITE ICE CREAM?:
Chocolate peanut butter, Rocky Road, Mint Choc. Chip, chocolate marshmallow

65 - DO YOU LIKE MAPS?
YES. I thank God for maps on a regular basis. Especially last night when I missed my exit and accidentally left the state. Ooops.

66 - TELL ME A RANDOM FACT ABOUT YOURSELF:
I could totally be a paparazzi person if I wanted to be. I’m an excellent stalker-picture taker. *Bwahahaha*

67. HOW OFTEN DO YOU BRUSH YOUR TEETH?
Heh. Brushing my teeth makes me unnaturally happy, so I do it quite often. At least twice a day, usually three and occasionally four. Yup, I’m a freak. I always forget to floss, though, if it’s any consolation….

68 - EVER ATTEND A THEME PARTY?:
Yes!

69 - WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SEASON?
Fall, definitely. I love jeans and t/sweatshirt weather. I love knowing winter’s around the corner and I love how fall is the start of things; school, extra-curriculars, holiday season, etc.

70 - LAST TIME YOU LAUGHED AT SOMETHING STUPID?
This afternoon, when sending a Hoops & Yoyo ecard

71 - WHAT TIME DID YOU WAKE UP THIS MORNING ?
6:56am

72 - BEST THING ABOUT WINTER?:
The smell of snow, the tingly toes, the hats, the mismatched gloves and the fact that it’s not hot.

73 - LAST TIME A COP GAVE YOU A TICKET?:
Never ever ever, YEAH!

74. SOMETHING THAT DRIVES YOU CRAZY:
Drivers who don’t turn their high beams off when opposing traffic approaches, forgetting something that I KNEW I wouldn’t forget (yeah, right) and people who don’t listen to me

75 - NAME OF YOUR FIRST PET?:
Peter Aristotle Finland

76 - DO YOU THINK PIRATES ARE COOL OR OVERRATED?:
Totally, totally awesome.

77 - WHAT ARE YOU DOING THIS WEEKEND??
Taking down Christmas decorations (boo!), babysitting, watching snow fall down, teaching Sunday School, practicing my guitar, wrapping birthday presents, possibly even baking cookies if I have time…

78 - BIRTHDAY
Feb 5th.

79 - WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE:
Dictator of the World would be nice. I'd be a kind Dictator, of course, not a ruthless one; but it would be nice to be in control of everything :)

80. LAST CONVERSATION YOU HAD WAS ABOUT:
Whether or not I should drive 30 minutes through the blizzard to babysit. The end decision was a disappointing but logical “No”. Boo.

81. MOST OVERUSED WORD IN YOUR VOCABULARY?
“Yay”, “commandeer”, “random” or “YAHOO!”

82. LAST BOARD GAME YOU PLAYED?
Chess. Lil Bro creamed me. Ugh. When did he get so darn GOOD at that game?!

83. - WHAT JEWELRY ARE YOU WEARING?
My new beautiful necklace. My guardian angel bracelet (most treasured possession in the world)

84. - DO YOU WISH YOU COULD SEE ANYONE PARTICULAR RIGHT NOW?
Very Best Friend in the Whole Entire Galaxy & family. Youth leader & family. D & family. *sigh*

85 - ARE YOU ON A LAPTOP?:
Yes, I’m on my beloved MooMoo

86. - HAVE YOU EVER BEEN IN THE HOSPITAL?
Plenty of times. Being born, visiting people, rollerblade incident/head injury, x-rays… I even fainted in a hospital once. THAT was exciting.

87 - ARE YOU SMILING?:
Oh yeah. I’m planning my rise to power and eternal reign as Dictator. What’s not to smile about?

88. ARE YOU IN LOVE?:
Absolutely!

89 - DO YOU MISS SOMEONE RIGHT NOW?
Very Best Friend & family. D & family. EL & family.

90 - IF YOU COULD GO ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD WHERE WOULD YOU GO?
Very Best Friend’s house

91. - ARE YOU UPSTAIRS?:
Yes! Upstairs in the back bedroom. My room. Yay.

92 - ARE YOU IN HIGH SCHOOL?:
Yes and no. I’m in college, too; nyeh, nyeh, nyeh nyeh nyeh!

93 - DO YOU HAVE A CRUSH?:
Not anymore.

94 - WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE NAME?
Addison Rose, Leah Marie, Miah Grace

95 - WHAT COLOR IS YOUR BATHING SUIT?:
Brown with red flowers or periwinkle and purple

96 - DOES YOUR SCHOOL START IN AUGUST?:
Well, technically, yeah, But I’ll probably take classes all summer. So really, school NEVER ENDS.

97 - DID YOU GO ON VACATION LAST MONTH?:
Last month? In December? Uh, no…not really…but I did have an awesome 3-day sleepover….!

98 - HAVE YOU EVER BEEN ON A CRUISE?:
Nope. Have you ever heard of the Titanic?

99 - DO YOU HAVE A SISTER?
No. I wanted one for the longest time, though...

100 - WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO AFTER THIS SURVEY?
Vacuum and feed the cat. (Edit: I meant vacuum the floors, THEN feed the cat. Not vacuum the cat and feed the cat. Just wanted to be sure we're clear.)

One Little Word

2009-01-07T19:35:00.005-05:00

Megan from the amazing Bloom Blog published a really neat post earlier this week. She talked about a project, of sorts, that she's taking part in this year called One Little Word, and I love it! I'm going to participate, too.

I don't make New Year's Resolutions, because I think it's a totally meaningless tradition that most people just do because everyone else is doing it and they feel like they should, too (much like matching socks. These aforementioned reasons are precisely why I DON'T wear matching socks. Or shoes. Or gloves. You get the idea.). I mean, seriously? So many New Year's resolutions are very vague promises that people make and then forget about or give up on by the end of January. If you ask me, a resolution means nothing if it's just made as part of a tradition. There needs to be a true committment; an underlying passion for it to be successful. But that's an entirely different rant. :)

And yet, don't get me wrong; I certainly believe that there's always room for improvement in life! (Especially my life!) And I really like the idea of One Little Word: choosing one word to define you and the year 2009. I toyed around with a whole bunch of ideas before finally settling on one. (Did you all take notice of that? I, the Indecisive One, made a decision. YEAH! There should be thunderous applause coming from the audience right now!)

*drumroll*

My One Little Word of 2009 is genuine. My goal for this year is going to be to live my life as genuinely as possible. I think this word has particular relevance to my life lately because I've really be struggling with being genuine on so many different levels.

According to my dictionary, genuine has three definitions, and all three apply to my life and my goals right now.

1. authentic; real
I have a major tendency to try to please people, and a direct result of that is that I often try to act in a certain way to measure up to their expectations. My best friend recently confronted me about this and we talked about how, not only is the "acting" not necessary, but it's not true. It's not real. It's not genuine. Our discussion really made me aware of the many ways that I'm not being "real" in so many aspects of my life and I am determined to change that!

2. free from pretense, affectation, or hypocrisy; sincere
Sincerity has been a big focus of mine over the last few months, and I want to continue to make it an important part of life in 2009, too. I really believe that it's important to be honest with people and tell them how you feel. The two people in the world that I most enjoy talking to and being around are the two who I know will be brutally honest with me, no matter what. Whether this means confronting a friend about a touchy issue, asking how someone's day is going or saying "I love you", it all means nothing unless the intention is truly sincere. It drives me crazy when people ask me "How are you?" but clearly don't care about my answer!

3. descended from the original; pure in breed
When I read this, the first thing I thought of was one of my favorite passages from I John.

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
--1 John 3:1-2

I love this passage because it reminds me that I AM a child of God; that I was created by Him for a specific purpose. My life has meaning and value and even when I can't see what He's got planned for me, I can trust that He is leading my life and knows what's in store. Especially in this crazy year, when I'll be facing so many changes and new situations, these are thoughts I need to keep in the front of my mind. Part of being genuine, of being pure is remembering WHOSE I am. When I do that, all my doubts about self-worth and worries about the future disappear.

I've taken Megan's suggestion and posted pink post-it notes all over the place (my mirror, in the bathroom, on my computer, on the fridge, on the radio in the car, on the cat) to remind myself of this new goal. It's going to take a lot of work and a lot of God's help for me to truly implement this in my life this year, but hey, I'm determined!

I strongly encourage you guys to take on this challenge too; I'm quite curious to hear what your One Little Words are!

10 Most Recent Music Downloads

2009-01-07T19:22:00.002-05:00

Just in case anyone's curious. It's quite an amusing mix of genres, really....

Cemetaries of London -- Coldplay
Rainy Day -- Coldplay
Cinderella -- Steven Curtis Chapman [this song makes me cry every single time I hear it]
Fingerprints of God -- Steven Curtis Chapman
One Step at a Time -- Jordin Sparks
Walking in Memphis -- Lonestar
Come Unto Me -- Nicole C. Mullen
I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) -- The Proclaimers
Angel -- Aerosmith
It's Hard to be Cool in a Minvan -- Go Fish

It's Always the Monkeys

2009-01-05T21:39:00.004-05:00

Hee hee...for those of you to whom that title means anything, I love ya! Oh, the memories..... :)

Alright, so maybe it wasn't entirely the monkeys. My long, unexplained absense was partially my fault...Whew! Sorry, guys, I've really been intending to post a lot over the last few weeks, I really have! Pinky promise! But, as I'm sure you all can relate to, Christmas "break" was anything but. I was gone more than I was home (not that I'm complaining; GOOD TIMES, man!) and the time to write out posts just didn't exist! Anyway, I do promise that posts are on the way.

Sit tight.

(Alright, I'll probably regret asking this, but does anyone know where the term "sit tight" came from? What the heck is that supposed to mean, anyway?!)

The Greatest Christmas Present Ever

2008-12-26T20:24:00.002-05:00

Wow! As you have probably already guessed from my ever-so-creative title, this year I was blessed with the world's most incredibly awesome, sweet, touching, loving, amazing Christmas present EVER (topped only by the Most Amazing Birthday Present Ever, which was the guardian angel bracelet Very Best Friend in the Whole Entire Galaxy gave me back on the birthday of 2007).

Like all great, presents, it was a total and complete surprise. Months ago, I was having a conversation with one of the teachers at my preschool about my personal collection of library books. Now, let me just insert that every teacher I've ever met has their own personal stash of kids' books; books that are their own favorites, books to supplement the typical classroom library with or books that are special to them in some other way. And, at the time, my personal picture book library included a whopping 2 books.

Well, time went by and I totally forgot about this conversation. Unbeknownst to me, however, this teacher sent out a letter to the 50+ families at the preschool, asking that, this Christmas, they give me a copy of their child's favorite picture book.

I had positively no clue this was going on, but for over a month the teachers, parents and kids sneaked around, whispering to each other and picking out books and hiding them all throughout the school. Possibly the most amazing part of this whole event was that every single child kept it a secret!!

Then, on the day of our Christmas parties, when the fellowship hall was packed, the teachers presented me with a GIANT SACK full of picture books, as well as a bundle of gift cards to Barnes & Noble to buy even MORE books! I was totally, totally blown away (there were tears and shrieks!) and, quite honestly, still am when I think about it!

Theses amazing families and teachers were so very generous, and I received a total of 42 incredible books. Many of them have sweet, beautiful messages written on the insides and even the handprints and signatures of the children who picked them out.

God never ceases to amaze me. It's funny, because just when I start to question if teaching is really my purpose in life; if this is really what He's calling me to do, He goes and answers my unasked questions in a BIG way. I mean, if I was looking for affirmation that teaching is my call, I certainly got it!!

Happy-making events of the day:

2008-12-23T22:22:00.002-05:00

-- Finished Christmas shopping, woo hoo! Now all I have left is wrapping & baking, and I've still got an entire DAY! That's PLENTY of time! YEAH!

-- Wawa gift cards + mocha cappucinos. Mmm. Caffiene levels = high.

-- Talked to Very Best Friend in the Galaxy on the phone, even if for a few moments

-- Free coffee samples at the bookstore. Mmmm. Caffiene levels = very high.

-- STRAIGHT A's FOR THE WHOLE FIRST SEMESTER OF COLLEGE!!! OH YEAH, BABY!

-- Spontaneous stop at Sheetz for a Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Frozen Mocha. Mmmmm...Caffeine levels = super freakishly high.

-- The high speed internet!! It works! After years of waiting! Huzzah! Farewell, blasted dial-up, you old fiend!!

-- SOY LECITHIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *celebration*

-- Tomorrow is Christmas Eve!! WOO HOO!

Next up: Remind me to tell you about my very awesome early Christmas present I was blessed with last week.

The Caf

2008-12-08T17:35:00.003-05:00

Alright, so I'm currently sitting here in the community college cafeteria. Now, for a gal like me who's been homeschooled all her life, meals consisted of opening the fridge, finding something edible, cooking it, and eating in the dining room, kitchen, living room, patio...you get the idea. The whole cafeteria concept was a totally new and exciting experience for me this year!! I'm only on campus twice a week, so the excitement really hasn't even completely worn off yet. I mean, yeah, the food's not always that great...but the whole experience in general? Pretty darn exciting!

It's just so interesting. Two booths in front of me are two girls who have discussed everything from transfer applications that are due in March to books that focus on the downfall of society to why girls are smarter than guys to how one of them celebrates Hanukkah. Next to me, two adults are griping about the amount of people who don't bother to recycle. Above me, "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" flows out of the hidden speakers, and on the other side of the half-wall on my right, a group of guys is attempting to sing along.

I love the hustle and bustle and the many eavesdropping opportunities that abound! Who knew meals could be a social activity, too?!

What did I eat? Well, in celebration of the fact that this is my last week of Fall semester classes, I skipped the salad and the snacks I packed and went all out. I got all my favorites:

Pizza (I LOVE the pizza here. It's homemade and it's like no other!)
Chocolate milk
Potato cheese soup + crackers
Doritos (saved these for later, though; I'll pack them in my lunch tomorrow to eat at preschool)
Chocolate pudding (with whipped cream!)

Mmmmmmmmm!

Expectations are strange, strange things...

2008-12-03T16:16:00.004-05:00

So...the persuasive speech I posted about a few weeks ago? I just finished giving it. I ended up deciding on the topic, "Save the Spiders!", and talked about how spiders are very beneficial to society and shouldn't be killed, but rather respected.

It's funny -- last speech I gave for this class was an informative one about the history & future of the toothbrush. I LOVED that speech and had a great time doing it. I got a 99 on it -- the prof deducted a point because she said I didn't look at my notes enough (I knew the material too well) and I was "too energetic -- you sounded like a used car commerical". (Hello? I'm freakishly energetic. All the time. She should know that by now; I even get excited when she hands out homework, for pity's sake!)

Anyway, I took her advice about streamlining info, not being so darn energetic and not sounding so memorized for this speech. Personally, I think it stunk; I lost my place a few times looking at my notes and I was defintitely WAY less excited than last time. However, when I talked to her after class, she said it was actually much better than last time, because I relied on my notes instead of my knowledge and wasn't too enthusiastic. WHAT?!?!

Expectations are strange things, eh? I had high expecations of myself for this speech, and in my mind, I didn't come close to meeting them. And yet, apparently, by NOT meeting mine, I managed to meet HERS. So now that I've sacrificed my own goals in an attempt to live up to hers, I'll get a good grade.

AND, I had to wear matching socks today (knee-high socks with a skirt. I ROCK that look, by the way) because she said mismatched made it seem like I wasn't taking the assignment seriously. You would not believe how much I wrestled with this when getting dressed this morning. Sure, matching socks never killed anyone, but it was a matter of changing who I am to meet someone else's expectations. Conformity. Ick. And in the end? I wore matching socks for the first time in about 3 years, and I'd bet you my grade improved because of it. So there you have it -- College is teaching me to conform and sacrifice my personal beliefs.

So you know, college is strange, too, come to think of it....

If only I could write like this...

2008-12-02T14:34:00.000-05:00

*happy sigh*
I really, really, really like this poem. Really.

Grace
Ralph Waldo Emerson

How much, preventing God! how much I owe
To the defenses thou hast round me set:
Example, custom, fear, occasional slow,
These scorned bondmen were my parapet.
I dare not peep over this parapet
To gauge with glance the roaring gulf beelow,
The depths of sin to which I had descended,
Had not these me against myself defended.

One Life to Love

2008-12-01T16:45:00.003-05:00

So...one lesson I've been learning a lot lately is that life is short. As you know, I am workaholic and a perfectionist to boot -- it's SO easy for me to get consumed by making sure every little detail is not only perfect but above and beyond expectations. This translates into doing intense amounts of extra credit homework, doing double assignments, studying and restudying obsessively...you get the idea. And while that's all well and fine, I'm finally starting to learn that there's more to life than striving for perfection.

When I get to Heaven, and Jesus asks me what I've done to further His kingdom, do I really want to be saying, "Well...um...well I DID get all 100's while I was in school! Perfect A's, every single year! And check out all the extra credit points I racked up!" Somehow...I don't He'll be that impressed.

My goal this year has been to shift my focus to the things that really matter in life. Don't worry -- I'm not saying school isn't important. I know that God wants me to work hard and get an education, because He's going to use that to His glory in whatever situations He places me in later on. I'm going to need that. (So even when Algebra seems pointless, I remind myself that somehow, this WILL glorify God, in the end...!). What I AM saying, though, is that priorities are important. I'm learning that sometimes, you have to skip a class to go vist your amazing youth leader Amy, who needs a lift. You might need to skip the extra credit homework assignment because your friend has just called you, sobbing. You might need to give up studying that chapter for the 13th time because your brother's club needs extra volunteers at a bake sale. Life is about loving; above all, we are to glorify God and spread His Word and His Love to all whose lives we can touch.

I'm learning that being so wrapped up in my own goals is selfish. I'm learning that I don't need to worry about the "what ifs" because if I'm following God's will, I know it's all gonna be OK. I'm learning that this is our one chance to spread the joy and life is too short to squander it on things that won't matter.

Will my SAT scores matter 10 years from now? Heck no. Will the fact that I was there to help my best friend out when she needed me matter? Oh, yeah. You bet it will!

When I get to Heaven, will God give a hoot about all the study hours I put in? Maybe. Maybe not. Will He be more concerned with the time I spent serving others, loving others and leading others to Him? Oh yeah, baby.

This song has been influencing my thoughts a lot lately, too.

Everyday Joys

2008-11-29T20:41:00.005-05:00

(Thanks, L., for this email -- I LOVE it!)

Everyday Joys:

1. Falling in love.

2. Laughing so hard your face hurts.

3. A hot shower.

4. No lines at the supermarket

5. A special glance.

6. Getting mail.

7. Taking a drive on a pretty road..

8. Hearing your favorite song on the radio.

9. Lying in bed listening to the rain outside.

10. Hot towels fresh out of the dryer.

11. Chocolate milkshake (vanilla or strawberry).

12. A bubble bath.

13. Giggling.

14. Going barefoot

15. The beach.

16. Finding a 20 doll ar bill in your coat from last winter.

17. Laughing at yourself.

18. Looking into their eyes and knowing they Love you

19. Midnight phone calls that last for hours.

20. Running through sprinklers.

21. Laughing for absolutely no reason at all.

22. Having someone tell you that you're beautiful.

23. Laughing at an inside joke with FRIENDS

24. Accidentally overhearing someone say something nice about you.20

25. Waking up and realizing you still have a few hours left to sleep.

26. Your first kiss (either the very first or with a new partner).

27. Making new friends or spending time with old ones.

28. Playing with a new puppy.

29. Having someone play with your hair.

30. Sweet dreams.

31. Hot chocolate.

32. Road trips with friends.

33. Swinging on swings.

34. Making eye contact with a cute stranger.

35. Making chocolate chip cookies.

36. Having your friends send you homemade cookies.

37. Holding h ands with someone you care about.

38. Running into an old friend and realizing that some things (good or bad) never change.

39. Watching the expression on someone's face as they open a much desired present from you.

40. Watching the sunrise.

41. Getting out of bed every morning and being grateful for another beautiful day.

42. Knowing that somebody misses you.

43. Getting a hug from someone you care about deeply.

44. Knowing you've done the right thing, no matter what other people think.

One Final Thought:
"Lord, keep Your arm over my shoulder and Your hand over my mouth!"

Blegh.

2008-11-29T19:53:00.004-05:00

I just finished a massive project for my Ethics class; it was a journal of news articles and I had to write an analysis of each one, detailing the ethical problems and theories present in the articles. All said and done, it's forty-two pages long.

Forty.

Two.

Pages.

Egads. Do you know how much thinking was involved?!?!?!

I think I need a nap. Or chocolate. Or to go play my guitar as loudly as I can until my fingers go numb and all I can think about is chords and finger placement.

Or all of the above.

Sadly, I still have two English assignments to do, a speech to finalize, two papers to write and finals studying to begin, all this weekend.

I think I need a longer weekend.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year...

2008-11-28T14:09:00.003-05:00

This is my second-favorite time of the year :) My absolute, positive, FAVORITE holiday is Easter, but we'll go into all that at Easter time. However, the Thanksgiving-Christmastime era is definitely a close second!

I love everything about this time of year. Thanksgiving is such a great way to kick it off because it helps me focus on all my blessings in the midst of a season often dominated by materialism and "I want I want I want I WANT!" attitudes. Then, after Thanksgiving, the true Christmas season starts; a whole month of preparation for the most wonderful blessing of all time -- the birth of Jesus. After Christmas we get the excitement of New Years, the wonderful wintery-ness of January, followed by my birthday and by then, Spring is just around the corner and so is Easter! Woo hoo!

Christmastime is just such a cozy, (excuse the cliche...) jolly time of year! Everyone seems happier and kinder and more smiley than usual. The air smells like snow and snowflakes drift down at any given moment and christmas lights shine through the otherwise dark nights and it's cold...oh, how I LOVE the cold! It's hot chocolate time of year, and noses are cold and sweaters and hats and gloves are worn and I just love it, love it, love it!!! I love hearing Christmas songs on the radio and playing in every store in America... I just love it.

I've heard many people complaining about how Christmas starts earlier and earlier each year and why oh why do we have to start thinking about Christmas right after Halloween?!

Well...why not? What's wrong with preparing for a season of joy, blessings and family? Shouldn't a Christmas attitude of happiness and gratefulness be ours all year long?

Now, sure, I could easily write a post about all the things that are wrong with the way Americans view and celebrate Christmas....but I think, this time of year especially, it's important to focus on blessings and joy, rather than complaints and gripes. We live in a society that is constantly pushing commercialism and materialism and selfish attitudes. Last Christmas I was getting ready to leave for an international mission trip, and Christmas sort of flew by in the midst of preparations, worrying and packing. In a way, I missed Christmas last year! This year, I've made the decision that I will NOT allow the world or anything else to make Christmas a stressful time of year for me...I love it too much!! I've got plenty to be thankful for this year, and plenty of joyful blessings to share, and that's going to be my goal this Christmastime -- to focus on the true reasons for the season. Jesus' birth and the many, many other blessings that God has given me.

Thought for the day...

2008-11-13T15:19:00.003-05:00

We are fascinated by that which we cannot do.

Case in point.

[How many of you determinedly kept trying to succeed, just to see what would happen?]

We're obsessed with the impossible.

Thankfully, so is God.

"It is only the impossible that is possible for God. He has given over the possible to the mechanics of matter and the autonomy of his creatures. " --Simone Weil

"Never tell a young person that anything cannot be done. God may have been waiting centuries for someone ignorant enough of the impossible to do that very thing." – John Andrew Holmes

"With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."

[Thank you to Pastor for the email and link that sparked the thoughts!]

HELP!

2008-11-12T17:03:00.003-05:00

(Ok, does the title make anyone else start singing the Beatles song?)

I need to give a persuasive speech in the very near future.

Rules:

NO MORE THAN 5 minutes.
Must have five parts:
-- Attention-getting intro
-- Brief synopsis of the problem
-- Suggested solution(s)
-- Speculation on what the world would look like if solutions were put into to practice
-- Commission to go and change your ways
I want it to be original: no over-used stuff like "Why you should wear a seatbelt" or "Why you shouldn't smoke".
It can't be anything I'm TOO passionate about. Rule out anything super-controversial, including religious and political issues.

So.....that leaves me with.......

*blank stare*

Any ideas?!? You guys love to argue. You're super opinionated. Help a fellow blogger out, will ya? I hate brainstorming!!

Pockets

2008-11-12T16:40:00.003-05:00

Recent words of wisdom from my Intro to Ethics prof, who has been known to say some amusingly profound things purely by accident....

[He can be slightly scatterbrained. He set an assignment down on a back table and forgot about it, couldn't find it, and then eventually located it halfway through the class, causing him to remark...]

"Ah, the table. Pockets and tables are very challenging for me. I should be a man with only one pocket and live in a place with only one table, and then everything would be where I thought."

But if you ask me, pockets are what keep life interesting! Is there a feeling more lovely in the world than pulling out your favorite jeans for the first time in the fall, reaching into one of the many pockets and finding a wrinkled $10 bill, just waiting to surprise you and make your day, because you forgot that you put it in that pocket last Spring? I think that "EUREKA!" moment is like no other!

Watch this

2008-11-09T19:23:00.003-05:00

I've loved this song for years, but this weekend, I saw the video for the first time. It gave me goosebumps. It brought tears to my eyes. It's amazing.

Watch it.

Surprise?!

2008-11-05T14:29:00.004-05:00

Well...as most of you have probably noticed, I've avoided pretty much all mention of politics here over the last two years. I'm hesitant to get into it now; it's been my experience that political conversations, even with the best of intentions, get ugly fast. And I know some of you are pretty passionate about what you believe in and which presidential candidate you were voting for or supporting.

HOWEVER, I was listening to the radio this morning and heard a pretty neat broadcast that I wanted to share with you all, regardless of which candidate you support(ed).

The morning show host was saying that with the results of the election, there are people that are feeling a whole host of emotions. This was a close, intense, emotional election for many and whether "your" candidate won or lost has probably affected you to some degree. I know plenty of Christians who have been angry about the fact that Barack Obama is the new President-Elect, and I also know plenty of Christians who are thrilled.

But regardless of what you're thinking, the host said, "It's important for us to remember that God isn't surprised by these results! This doesn't come as a shock or a disappointment to Him. God's not standing up there in Heaven freaking out and yelling, 'You guys! Oh, man, you really messed things up this time! This was NOT how it was supposed to happen! I can't believe this! What are we going to do now? This changes everything.' And, likewise, God's not saying, "Phew! Thank goodness! Good job, everyone. You pulled through. I was a little worried there for a while, but thankfully you people in the swings states knew what you were doing and Obama got enough electoral votes. Ok. We're still on track. Oh, I'm so relieved...' God knows what He's doing, folks. Believe it or not, the election results didn't surprise God one bit. This election didn't change anything in His grand plan -- in fact, it's part of it."

This is part of God's plan. Whether or not we like it or whether or not we agree with it, God clearly intended for Obama to be in office. Sure, it may not have been our plan. We don't know why, but it's part of His will. And whether or not we voted for Obama, he is going to be our new president, and I have no doubt that God's going to use this to His glory in some way.

Short and to the point:

2008-11-04T12:07:00.003-05:00

-- It's election day. GO VOTE -- if you don't, you forfeit your right to complain for the next four years. If you're too young, heave a huge sigh with me and then go encourage everyone you know who IS eligable (sp?? I can NEVER spell this word!) to vote to DO SO!

-- Pray. Amy had Round #2 of chemo yesterday. It went OK, but she is completely exhausted.

-- I promise promise promise, a real, decent-lengthed post is coming your way sometime soon. I just need to catch up on schoolwork and sleep first :)

Various and sundry thoughts

2008-10-26T17:55:00.002-04:00

Funny how distance grants so much perspective!
I've been digging through old files on my computer lately, reorganizing them and getting rid of things I don't need in order to clear up precious memory space. I've been re-reading a lot of my writing, from the last two years or so...amazing how some time, whether it's two years or two months, can totally change my perspective on those pieces! Poems, short stories, even a very lame attempt at a novel which isn't even halfway through it's first draft...my thoughts have changed completely. Lines or words that I HATED back then don't seem so bad; things I didn't really care about seem pretty good, and things that seemed like a stroke of pure genius at the time now make me shake my head and blush at my stupidity, because it's just that awful!
Two more months from now, will my views have changed again?

Update: Amy is doing well, everyone. THANK YOU for your thoughts and prayers!!! I am firmly convinced that the HUNDREDS (perhaps more?!?) of thoughts and prayers and other types of support that have been coming our way are a HUGE part of why she's doing so well. She went back to work this past week and was at church today; she's happy and she's Amy and I'm just so thrilled that things are OK right now! Chemo's going well so far. Keep praying, though!

Thought for the day: Tetris is an awesome stress reliever. Addicting, though, so be careful! I finally broke down and spent the $$$ to buy Tetris for my DS. However, there's plenty of free online versions, too; just search "Free online tetris game".

2008-10-22T16:38:00.004-04:00

I'm now officially midterm-free! HOORAY!!

*throws study guides and papers in the air and does a happy dance of total joy*

Life is very good right now!

But exceedingly busy, thus the uber-short post!

Ta-ta!

All Hail the Mighty Ketchup!

2008-10-14T16:59:00.003-04:00

So today, in a desperate attempt to avoid English assignments and the multiple projects and essays I have due in the upcoming week or so, I resorted to reading the back of the ketchup bottle.

I've only recently started liking ketchup; like, say, the last four or five months or so. Prior to that, I HATED ketchup ALMOST as much as I hate mustard. But for whatever strange reason, I've suddenly started liking ketchup.

And it's a good thing, too!

I had a few startling realizations today during my ketchup-bottle-reading. First of all, ketchup is fat free. Yeah. Seriously. I mean, I'm far from being the world's heathiest eater or anything, but still. It's nice to learn that a food/condiment I LIKE, one that actually tastes GOOD, can be enjoyed without any guilt about extra calories.

Secondly, according to the nifty label on the back of the bottle, ketchup is full of lycopene, which I guess I already knew, somewhere deep down, because I knew tomatoes are full of lycopene and it really is just a logical conclusion. However, I didn't really know much about what lycopene WAS. So I found myself wondering, "What exactly IS lycopene, and what does it do? Oh, how I wish I could find out more!"

And, wonder of wonders, I found that as I kept reading, the label solved that problem for me: "Go to http://www.lycopene.org/ to find out more!" (Isn't it great when things just work out like that?! If only all questions in life were so easily answered.....!)

So, naturally, I did. And I found out that lycopene is an antioxident which may help strengthen your immune system, prevent diabetes, osteoporosis, skin aging AND has even been shown (in some studies) to lower your risk for heart disease and cancer!

So here's to ketchup! *applauds* Go get yourself some french fries or chicken nuggets or a nice cheeseburger and go heavy on the ketchup to celebrate this marvelous condiment!

No one ever tells me ANYTHING!

2008-10-13T14:04:00.006-04:00

Alright, seriously.

It took me nearly 45 minutes to get to class today. It SHOULD only take me 25 minutes to drive from my house to the college where I have my blasted 7:30am class. 30 minutes if it’s a red light day. So then, one has to wonder, why so much longer today?
Did I take the scenic route? Nope.
Car trouble? Nope.
Get lost? Valid concern, but also no.

Apparently, no one bothered to inform me that today is National Garbage Truck Drivers Gone Wild Day. I mean, c’mon, people. It would have been nice if I had had at least a little bit of warning, don’t you think? Because seriously, EVERYONE seemed to be in on this little ruse -- everyone except me and the little old lady in the car behind me. *fumes*

FIVE BLASTED GARBAGE TRUCKS. FIVE. Not one. One would be normal. If I ended up behind a slow garbage truck, I’d think nothing of it. Daily occurrence. No big deal. How about two? Still not so strange. I would have figured it’s garbage collection day in this town today and shrugged it off. The third garbage truck was a little strange. I began to wonder if I was hallucinating. The fourth garbage truck was enough to generate the wild conspiracy theories about garbage trucks taking over the world. But it was the FIFTH one on my way to school this morning that really clued me in to what must be going on. National Garbage Truck Drivers Gone Wild Day. It’s so obvious, now that I think about it. The Head Garbage Truck Driver Boss must have sent out a memo to the secret Garbage Truck Drivers Society and let them know that even if they don’t have a route today, they should just commandeer any garbage truck they could get their hands on and drive it around the city, at no more then 20 mph, max. And, just for fun, Head Garbage Truck Driver Boss must have told all the little minions that they can stop at random places in the middle of the road even if there is no trash to collect. Because really. Why else would they ALL be stopping for NO reason??

And it wasn’t just on the way TO school, either! My 10 minute drive AFTER class from college to preschool turned into a 21minutes because I encountered -- you guessed it -- FOUR MORE GARBAGE TRUCKS. FOUR!!!!!

Now, I have been driving this exact same route at this exact same time every Monday and Wednesday morning for the last 7.5 weeks. Never before have I had any sort of altercation with garbage trucks, until today. In fact, I don't know that I've ever even ENCOUNTERED another garbage truck before today!!! Which is what led to my conclusion that today must be something special. Like, say, National Garbage Truck Drivers Gone Wild Day.

See?!? See?!? Now do you see what I mean??!?! Nine SEPARATE garbage trucks??! In ONE MORNING?! That’s just not normal, people!And I’m sure you’re all thinking, “Yeah? So? What’s so bad about garbage trucks?” Typically, nothing. In fact, I’m a HUGE advocate for garbage collector appreciation. I’ve made cookies for my garbage people already, OK? They’re great people. They do a great service to the world. No question there.

But would it really be so hard to just drive well??! C’mon, people!! It’s not that tough of a concept. Just because you’re in a big smelly tank-like vehicle with monstrous dumpster-picker-upper-claw-like things on the front does NOT give you the right to drive however you want. You are NOT allowed to accelarate hard, whip out in front of me from a side street, and then slow down to 15 mph on a 40 mph road. You’re just not. I don’t care how big and intimidating you think you are!

THIS was where the problem was -- every single one of these garbage truckers was driving erratically or terribly. Thus the “Gone Mad” portion of my rant.

SO! To all the garbage truck drivers out there, I only have two things to say:
1. Get over your "I-have-a-big-powerful-smelly-truck-so-don't-mess-with-me" attitudes and drive nicely. Please. I'll make you more cookies if you do...!!!
2. DO NOT make me late for class again or you will FEEL MY WRATH. Just wait. IPCA will get you. I have connections.

*trademarked menacing glare*

20 Reasons I Love My Best Friend:

2008-10-05T23:05:00.006-04:00

Been thinking about my favoritest person in the whole entire galaxy a lot lately. Here are 20 reasons off the top of my head why I LOVE HER SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!

When life stinks, I can go over to her house and she'll drop everything just to cry with me and hug me and talk to me for hours and hours until I feel better.

She makes the best brownies...and the best french toast, too...in the whole wide world!

She calls me just to say Hi and see how my day's going

She has the most amazing sense of humor and makes me laugh ALL THE TIME!

She is BRILLIANT and gives the world's most incredible advice.

She always knows exactly what I'm thinking (and she loves me anyway)!

Whenever we go somewhere, she drives :)
It is IMPOSSIBLE to be in a bad mood around her, because she is always so positively joyful.
She is forever looking out for other people and helping in every way she can. She constantly gives of herself and has taught me SO MUCH about selflessness and serving.
She is an incredibly faithful person and has helped me grow so much in my own faith.
She's super-creative and has awesome, fun, and sometimes slightly crazy ideas!
She's an excellent Scrabble player. We kick butt when we're on the same team :)
Friday the 13th is her favorite day. Just like me.
She is UNBELIEVABLY patient. Incredibly. Unfathomably. Unnaturally. (Well, I guess she has to be, to put up with me!!)
She tells me when I'm wrong, or when I'm being stupid, or when I'm being totally irrational or completely unfair, and helps me see things more clearly.
She has never ever ever ever ever ever ever used a curse word in all the 8 years I've known her.
She remembers all sorts of little minor details or stories that I tell her. Even if I don't think they're important, she does.
She can play football one moment and have a tea party the next.
She can laugh at herself; she can be flexible when things don't go the way she planned and just laugh and move on. I, on the other hand, tend to have a conniption when plans changed. This is another area she's taught me a lot about -- flexibility :)
Her hugs. They're the best thing in the world.

"...but GOD IS FAITHFUL."

2008-09-30T14:44:00.002-04:00

For all of you who have been praying for/thinking about Amy -- thank you.
She received her diagnosis yesterday. She filled me in today. She does indeed have lymphoma (a type of cancer).
PLEASE keep praying.

Amazing how God works. I found this email in my inbox after I received the news:

"One day we will meet beside the river and our Lord will dry every tear. For now, we must live in the joy of that promise and recall that for every generation life is hard, but God is faithful."

-- Bodie Thoene

Noah's Ark

2008-09-28T14:32:00.002-04:00

(Thanks, Kat!)

Everything I Need to Know, I Learned from Noah's Ark:

ONE

Don't miss the boat.

TWO

Remember that we are all in the same boat.

THREE

Plan ahead. It wasn't raining when Noah built the Ark.

FOUR

Stay fit. When you're 60 years old, someone may ask you to do something really big.

FIVE

Don't listen to critics; just get on with the job that needs to be done.

SIX

Build your future on high ground.

SEVEN

For safety's sake, travel in pairs.

EIGHT

Speed isn't always an advantage. The snails were on board with the cheetahs.

NINE

When you're stressed, float awhile.

TEN

Remember, the Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals.

ELEVEN

No matter the storm, when you are with God, there's always a rainbow waiting.

Bits of randomness

2008-09-25T21:53:00.004-04:00

This post made me sigh happily. Thanks, cuileann!

Quick updates, because it's late-ish and piles of schoolwork abound...

Friend Amy ended up unexpectedly going for surgery this past Tuesday, a week earlier then expected. Everything went really well, though, THANK GOD (and I mean that quite literally!). She's back home and doing well, recovery-wise, and is back to teasing me which must mean she's feeling better :)

Keep praying as we wait for the results of the biopsy.....

College = writing. UNBELIEVABLE AMOUNTS of it. Holy stinking guacomole. I haven't gone to bed before midnight in at least two weeks.

Cafeterias are not quite as fantastic as I'd hoped. I'd always thought it was a bummer that, being homeschooled since birth, I never really got the chance to experience cafeteria life. I ate out of my fridge at my dining room table each day. Wahoo. How exciting. So, when I started taking college classes this year, one of the perks -- to little sheltered me, at least -- was access to the cafeteria.
I've learned that really, it's a bunch of overpriced fried grease. That's it. And it all gets old rather quickly. I'm officially sick of pizza, mysterious pasta dishes, salty soups and chicken tenders. And whatever you do, DON'T eat the "soft" pretzels, because the word "soft" is a FLAT-OUT LIE. You know you're in trouble when your "soft" pretzel has fossilized and an archaeology major at the next table informs you that it's probably been around since circa 5000 B.C.
So, because of all this, last night I was found eating -- are you ready for this? -- a salad. Yep. Green stuff and all (for those who don't know, I happen to severely dislike most green foods. Lettuce being one of the worst offenders, as the word, to me, is bascially synonymous with the word "grass".). Thank goodness for the blessings of ranch dressing and insane amounts of cheese; I could somewhat drown out the nastiness of the lettuce with all that. Which probably totally defeated the purpose of eating the salad in the first place, but oh, well. At least I tried.

Two children at preschool today came in wearing two different shoes. EUREKA -- I'M CONTAGIOUS!!!!

SAT's on Oct 4th. Probably should find time to review math in the very near future.

Help Help Help!

2008-09-21T19:12:00.006-04:00

Yikes. I know, it's been weeks. My apologies.

Life has been pretty topsy-turvy lately.

First and foremost, I'm begging for your prayers and good thoughts for my dear friend and youth leader, Amy. Amy's been having some pretty serious medical issues lately and has spent the last two weeks getting a plethora of tests done. Some of the results have been really scary, and we're in desperate need of prayers for her and her family. Amy's one of my favorite people and this has been really hard on me. Amazingly, though, she has somehow managed to remain unbelievably positive throughout all this; even in the midst of insane situations she's still teaching me life lessons! The longer it stretches on, though, the more things there are too worry about.... She is scheduled to have surgery (a biopsy) sometime this week, and hopefully that will finally give her some definite answers...so please pray for her and her family and the doctors and everyone involved in the situation. Thanks.

That situation has pretty much been consuming my thoughts lately, so I haven't had much time for any deep soul-searching ponderings or amusing anecdotes. I've been squeezing in schoolwork and doing homework at the last minute and just barely surviving my many college classes and averaging about 4 hours of sleep each night, so, well, I'm managing :)

For Speech Communication class I'll be giving an informative speech about the effects of sleep deprivation on young adults/college students in a week or two. If anybody's got any great examples or anecdotes, I'd be thrilled if you shared them with me! email: mismatchedsockgirl@gmail.com Muchas gracias!

I'm also looking for interesting news articles that I can **briefly** analyze for my Intro to Ethics class. Post links if you stumble across anything!

Because I've been in such a somber mood lately, this is my current playlist:

Whatever You're Doing -- Sanctus Real
Empty Garden -- Elton John
Even Angels Cry -- Jars of Clay
Mighty to Save -- Laura Story
Amy's Song -- Switchfoot [ironic, eh?]
Unchanging One -- Todd Agnew
Hallelujah -- Krystal Meyers
In Better Hands -- Natalie Grant
The Economy of Mercy -- Switchfoot
Daisy -- Switchfoot
Oh My God -- Jars of Clay
I Still Believe -- Jeremy Camp
Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone) -- Chris Tomlin

Hurricane update

2008-08-30T22:17:00.002-04:00

Hurricane Gustav is currently at Category 4 level, with sustained winds at 145mph, and it's continuing to strengthen. If it reaches 155mph, it will be a Category 5 storm, just like the infamous Katrina.

(Find out more on www.weather.com.)

I don't know why, guys, but something about this hurricane and the potential danger and damage it seems to be gearing up for...well, it's really hitting me hard; harder then usual. Maybe because I've been there (to the Gulf Coast), maybe because I've seen firsthand what these storms do to people's lives...maybe because I know people there...I don't know why, exactly, but I'm finding this hard to deal with.

And I'm hundreds of miles away, safe in my house tonight, my worst weather concern was that it was uncomfortably humid today....

*sigh*

I wish I could do something to help.

Hurricane Gustav

2008-08-30T11:30:00.003-04:00

(Egads....I can't believe it's been WEEKS since I last posted! Sorry! School started up and life got crazier....)

Pray hard, guys, for the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast & surrounding areas. Hurricane Gustav is fast approaching. As of this morning, when I last checked, it was already a Category 3 hurricane, still headed straight for Louisiana.

Yesterday was the 3 year anniversary of Katrina.

I was down in Mississippi and New Orleans, LA back in November, and there is still SO much recovery work to be done. I can't even imagine what yet another hurricane would do to the area, the people, and their moral.

Also pray for the people of Cuba, who have Gustav hitting them from one direction and Hanna from the other.

Pray hard.

It's an outrage! It's a scandal! It's....

2008-08-11T12:31:00.007-04:00

*insert disgruntled snort here*

So, Anilee linked to this article in one of her recent posts. I read it, out of curiosity, and I definitely agree -- It's infuriating.

I would suggest you read the article for yourself, but in case you're like me, and rather short on time, and the idea of clicking on a link and reading an entire article makes you bite your lip and move on to the next post instead, then I'll summaraize for you:

The article, entitled Breaking Trust? talks about how many Twilight Series fans (who I'll refer to as the Refunders) have, after purchasing and reading the latest installment-- Breaking Dawn-- in its entirety, begun clamoring that the book was complete rubbish and that they should be able to return it to the publisher and get their money back.

Now, I read Breaking Dawn. Twilight is not my favorite series in the world (although I liked the first book; but New Moon was too melodramatic and Eclipse rather annoyed me), but I decided to read the fourth book because, quite frankly, you bloggers have been talking about it non-stop; and my friends' opinions were/are on every part of the spectrum -- some claim it's the most amazing book EVER; others that its so terrible that it should be burned.
So, curiosity got the best of me and I decided to read it and decide for myself.

And I can safely say that in my opinion, it's poorly written, has very little plot, is rambling and annoying, has some fairly disgusting and disturbing scenes, and overall was probably one of the worst books I've read recently. In fact, it's books like this that cause me to hate YA fiction to begin with.

On the idea that the book was rubbish and not worth buying, I would agree with the Refunders.
BUT, I would strongly disagree with the idea of returning the book to the publisher and getting a refund!

This is the real world, people. Wake up. Just because you buy something and it turns out to be different then you expected doesn't mean you can go running back to the store and give a sob story and get your money back. Hello?! Since when does purchasing something guarantee that you'll like it?!? Sometimes your purchases turn out to be garbage -- and it's precisely this; finding that you've just wasted your hard-earned money on something disappointing, that will teach you a lesson. Maybe NOW all those people who are vying for refunds will think a little harder or do a little more research before spending money on a book.

In the article, the author brings up the fact that some of the Refunders are saying that "returning" the book would send a strong message to the publisher and Stephenie Meyer that they shouldn't "profit from selling...badly-written, poorly-edited garbage".

Well, it's called freedom, folks. Stephenie Meyer or anybody else on the face of the earth can write anything they please --great, terrible, or anywhere in between -- and yes, a publisher has the right to accept it and publish it and even *gasp* profit from it! If YOU, the READER, think it's a waste of money, then it is YOU, the READER'S fault for wasting the money! Just because it, in your opinion, isn't what you wanted/expected/hoped for, that doesn't mean it's wrong. It just means you didn't like it. Tough break. Suck it up and move on!

OR, here's a novel idea (pun!) for all the Refunders -- if you're so upset about wasting your money on a book you didn't like, try getting the book out from the library. It's free, and if you hate it, you return it and never have to think about it again. If you like it, THEN you can go out and buy it! Sheesh!

....Oh, yeah.....And don't even get me started on all the times the author of this article alludes to the idea that teenagers are silly, overly-emotional dramatic nincompoops....*I* beg to differ! We're not all like that!

Guess what I'm wearing?!

2008-08-10T16:32:00.002-04:00

SWEATPANTS!!!

I LOVE sweatpants!! I haven't worn sweatpants in MONTHS, due to this blasted hot weather. But the last few days it's been blissfully gorgeous (in my opinion); in the 60's and 70's (50 degrees at night! I'm actually cold!) instead of 80's and 90's. I'm LOVING it. How often do you get to wear sweatpants (or any form of pants) in August without melting into a pool of sweat? Not very often, I tell you! This is WONDERFUL!

Yay for bizarrely cool days during the hottest part of the summer!!

Why wait?!

2008-08-09T13:51:00.005-04:00

Please pray for Jim, my Pastor's father. He's been in the hospital since Sunday because of "severe pain due to gall stones and pancreatitis. There are various complications; he is supposed to have surgery but that's been postponed because he's too weak. I know this is really tough on Pastor B and her family as well, because they are all close; please remember ALL of them in your prayers.

I hate situations like this. I mean, obviously, no one likes them...but the hardest thing for me is the waiting. I positively cannot STAND to be idle; I constantly need to be thinking or working or doing or keeping busy with something. I need to be productive; I'm happiest when I'm busy accomplishing things. Most of the time, that's a great thing; it is a rather productive lifestyle, after all....

But then I get hit with things like this. Tough stuff in life happesn to those I care about: illnesses, death, friends moving away, divorces, etc, etc...and my instictive reaction is always, "What can I do? How can I help? How can I make this better?"

The hard part comes with the realization that sometimes, there's only one thing to do -- pray. Pray and trust God and let Him have control of the situation. And THAT's where my problem lies. It's really hard for me to just let go and sit back and wait for God to reveal His plan; my innate impatience probably has a lot to do with that. But it drives me crazy when there is nothing concrete I can do to help a situation.

Like with Pastor's Dad. I so desperately want to do something to help, here!! I want to make it better, easier, something; but he's hours and hours away from me. What could I possibly do to help?

"Pray" is the only answer I can come up with. And I am. A lot. But it just doesn't feel like ENOUGH.

I was thinking about all this around 3am this morning. I was thinking about how praying always seems to lead to waiting and wishing that God could have designed the system a little differently; namely, with less waiting. Instant gratification would be nice....like, "Hey, God! Ok, I've got this problem...and I think it would be great if you could _____. Got it? Alright then, thanks! Talk to you tomorrow!"

Sadly, though, God doesn't seem to be a big fan of instant gratification. So I figured that this whole "waiting" thing must have a purpose. I'm beginning to think that God uses this waiting thing for a reason. The whole reason prayer works is because you are trusting God with the situation and allowing Him to take care of it. In whatever way He sees fit, not in whatever way you think is best....and therefore, in His time, not in yours.

I wonder if the waiting part of praying...waiting to see how God will answer the prayer; waiting to see how His plan will unfold...is a lesson in itself, a lesson about trusting God. It's an interesting thought, isn't it? Especially for me....Maybe we can grow and learn by doing, well, nothing. (Whoa. Scary concept, I know.)...by praying and waiting and trusting.

drums fingers on table

2008-08-08T20:52:00.002-04:00

I. Don't. Like. Waiting.

ARGH! I don't like the way the clock goes so slow it's practically going backwards and I don't like how no matter how hard I try to distract myself I can't focus on ANYTHING else and I just don't like waiting!

Then again, I suppose nobody does....

*sigh*

OH JOY!!!!!!!

2008-08-07T16:05:00.004-04:00

I am in the world's best mood today!!!! YAAAAAAY!

I tend to be pretty jumpy and rather delirious when I get in moods this good; so this is going to be one of those wonderful disjointed random BRILLIANT posts that we all know and love so well :)

REASONS FOR THE TOTAL JOY:

MY BEST FRIEND FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY GETS HOME FROM VACATION TOMORROW, WOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

I had the GREATEST MOST FABULOUS weekend with my youth group this past weekend; we went camping and amusement park-ing and it was AWESOME! If I have time later I'll post more on that topic; but it was a grand adventure!!!

But now that it's over, summer is really feeling over and done with (HALLELUJAH! I hate summer!), which is an AWESOME FEELING! I've been working really hard this week on school and gold award (for girl scouts) stuff and I'm making major headway (not to be confused with major headACHES, though I've also had those this week) which makes me pretty darn giddy, too!

School starts on the 25th. College classes, baby; I'm PSYCHED!!!!!!!!

Preschool open houses next week; it's the official beginning of the preschool year which is just plain WONDIFEROUS!!! It means I managed to survive the over 100 days of blasted summer!

College visit next week which also includes a sleepover at friends' house which is AWESOME!

I RAN THIS MORNING...after WEEKS of putting it off and making excuses I finally just did it this morning and yeah, it hurts, but I feel so GOOD!

THE RANDOM SONGS I AM CURRENTLY SINGING OUT AS LOUD AS I POSSIBLY CAN:

My Beloved Monster-- Eels
Bohemian Rhapsody -- Queen
I'll Make a Man Out of You -- from Mulan
Dance with Me -- Jump5
Hallelujah -- Krystal Meyers
I'm a Believer -- Smash Mouth
Paperback Writer -- The Beatles
Brown Eyed Girl -- Van Morrison
No One Like You -- BarlowGirl
Livin' On a Prayer -- Bon Jovi

Poetry Series: Week 8

2008-07-28T17:01:00.002-04:00

After writing the previous post, I'm in a miracle-y sort of mood :)

Ordinary Miracles
by Erica Jong

Spring, rainbows,
ordinary miracles
about which
nothing new can be said.

The stars on a clear night
of a New England winter;
the soft air of the islands
along the old
Spanish Main;
pirate gold shining
in the palm;
the odor of roses
to the lover's nose. . .

There is no more poetry
to be written
of these things.
The rainbow's sudden revelation--
behold!
The cliché is true!
What can one say
but that?

So too
with you, little heart,
little miracle,

but you are
no less miracle
for being ordinary.

[This last stanza is my favorite!]

Miracles by Robert William Service

Each time that I switch on the light
A Miracle it seems to me
That I should rediscover sight
And banish dark so utterly.
One moment I am bleakly blind,
The next--exultant life I find.

Below the sable of the sky
My eyelids double darkness make.
Sleep is divine, yet oh how I
Am glad with wonder to awake!
To welcome, glimmery and wan
The mighty Miracle of Dawn.

For I've mad moments when I seem,
With all the marvel of a child,
To dwell within a world of dream,
To sober fact unreconciled.
Each simple act has struck me thus--
Incredibly miraculous.

When everything I see and do
So magical can seem to me,
How vain it is to seek the True,
The riddle of Reality . . .
So let me with joy lyrical
Proclaim all Life a Miracle!

What I learned at camp:

2008-07-28T16:34:00.005-04:00

Miracles happen.

I spent last week at another camp, which is a ministry of our Lutheran synod. The theme of the week was "Cross into the wilderness", about how God leads you through the wilderness -- whether it's a physical, emotional, mental or spiritual wilderness! -- and gives you everything you need to face challenges. Our group went on a four day "overnight". We all got massive hardcore hiking backpacks and were allowed to bring ONE extra shirt, ONE extra pair of shorts, a few pairs of dry socks and a sleeping bag. That's it. No toothbrush, no deoderant, no clean underwear, no pillow, nothing soap-related, etc. We filled our packs with 4 days worth of food, cooking/camping gear and gallons of water and set off. Theoretically, we were supposed to hike about 3 miles a day. We'd spend each night at a different campsite around the perimeter of the camp property (in the midde of the woods, of course).

Well, we got lost. A lot. We'd hike a mile or two only to find we'd been going the wrong way, so we'd have to backtrack to our original starting point (so we'd have hiked about 3 miles already with nothing to show for it) and THEN hike another three or so miles to the actual site. We had no tents, only two supremely large tarps. We'd tie a rope between two trees and throw a tarp across it and stake down the corners to make a tent-like structure, then we'd put the second tarp inside and sleep on top of that. But the ends were open, leaving plenty of room for rain to blow in.

There were no bathrooms, obviously, so we went to the bathroom in the woods. We had one roll of toilet paper which had to last 13 people for 4 days, so the counselors rationed it. And, you weren't supposed to use the TP for peeing -- "That's what leaves are for!" announced our counselors gleefully (we glared at them). This might not be a problem for the guys in the group, but it was slightly more uncomfortable for us girls. THAT was an experience.

Oh yeah, and it rained the entire four days. Not just mere drizzling, mind you; we're talking torrential downpours and thunderstorms and wind whipping it into your face. Now, I LOVE rain. I am a big fan of doing crazy things in the rain (I've gone to outdoor concerts in the middle of a tropical storm, gone boating in a thunderstorm, I go running and/or dancing in the rain fairily often, etc, etc) and for the first three days, I was honestly loving the whole camping in the rain thing. I mean, yeah, within an hour of leaving we had no dry clothes; it wasn't exactly fun to sleep in a drenched sleeping back and wet socks are rather uncomfortable to hike in, but I was still loving it, despite the circumstances....but by day 3 I'd had it. We all had. We were sick of each other, sick of being wet, sick of hiking, sick of being lost, sick of the whole experience. We begged our counselors to let us just go back to camp and skip the last day of the overnight. We were miserable and complaining and rather peeved at each other.

They were adament, though, that we stick it out and not go back to camp; at least, not yet. We could handle one more day, they said. Especially since the theme was about trusting God and doing things you thougth you couldn't do.

We disagreed. Eventually, they compromised. Since we couldn't seem to find our final campsite, they agreed that we'd circle around and stop back at the camp (briefly) so everyone could get some dry clothes. Then, miraculously, my counselor, Kathryn, pulled some strings and got permission for us to stay in a building on the edge of camp property called the Old Lodge. It was old, creaky, leaky, smelly and falling apart, the windows and doors didn't quite close, but it had a roof and four walls and we were thrilled. We hiked out there and for the first time in three days, the idea of being dry was within our grasp. Our moods improved drastically with just that thought alone!

But it gets better. Some other counselors, hearing how miserable we'd all been and how rotten our overnight experience had turned out to be, surprised us. They came out to the Old Lodge with hot chocolate, cake, ice cream and other goodies and had a surprise party for us, which was just so unbelievably sweet and wonderful and unexpected that it made some of us girls (yes, me included!) burst into tears!

Here's my favorite part. Our Bible story for that day was the one about Moses and the Israelites in the desert during the Exodus. (See Exodus 16) They're at the point where they've been wandering for awhile and they're hot and tired and cranky and running out of food and just plain miserable. They're all complaining to Moses that it would be much kinder just to admit defeat and go back, because it was just cruel of him to keep them out there to suffer. So Moses appeals to God on their behalf and God blesses them with manna and quail to keep them going.

I absolutely love the parallel between that story and our own notorious overnight experience. I love how similar they are -- just like the Israelites, we campers were miserable and tired and cranky and fighting with each other and begging our leaders just to admit defeat and take us back. And Kathryn appealed on our behalf and God turned things around so we had a slightly warmer, much drier place to stay for our final night and some excellent "manna" (cake!) and "quail" (ice cream!). In the end, our group, who, just 5 hours earlier had been hating each other, had a great final night of our overnight -- we all stayed up really late, singing and talking and actually bonding instead of fighting, and it was a pretty awesome experience! (I actually think that story would make a pretty good sermon. I'd like to write a sermon about it, if I can find the time.)

I love the fact that this is a real-life example of how the stories of miracles in the Bible are TRUE! I know a lot of people (me included, sometimes!) look at these unbelievable stories of God taking awful situations and working miracles in the Bible on a grand scale, and it can be awfully hard to believe sometimes. We often look for huge, incredible miracles in our own lives, things that copy the Biblical accounts exactly. And if we don't see water turning into wine right before our eyes and lepers being cleansed after going for a swim...if what we see doesn't meet our expectations, we tend to decide that these stories are really nothing more then mere fairy tales -- great stories, but they don't impact our lives.

But I'm sure you've heard stories of people with cancer being MIRACULOUSLY cured (could these be today's lepers?); people without food finding themselves the recipients of some kind of charity or aid...might this be current examples of God working miracles in TODAY'S society?

See, our overnight experience proved to me that miracles DO indeed happen! Sure, bread and birds didn't exactly come raining down from the clouds, but God took a situtaion and performed a miracle. Maybe the problem isn't that there's a lack of Old Testament-scale miracles in today's world -- maybe the problem is that we're expecting to see things exactly as they happened before, rather then looking for miracles in the context of today's society.

Look for a miracle today! Expect a miracle; watch for a miracle; look for God's intervention in your life. You might be surprised :)

Home again, home again, jiggety jog...

2008-07-28T01:21:00.002-04:00

I know, I know, you're all DYING to hear about the latest camp experience and I promise, it was a doozie and I've got some good stories. Sorry I'm so behind; but I came home to 120+ emails and 100+ new items on Google reader, gah! It's taking me a while to get back on top of everything!!!

I promise, real posts coming soon. I'm even toying with the idea of posting this random little short story I've written, but I might wimp out and not...hmm. It needs some revising first, though, at any rate.

But for right now, it's waaaaaay after my bedtime and my soft, fluffy pillow is chanting my name so I must go. More later!

Camp again!

2008-07-20T12:46:00.002-04:00

Yep! Off on another adventure! This time to a Christian camp up north-ish. I think. Actually, I'm really not sure which way it is...I'd like to say North. Maybe north-west-ish. AH, well...Daddy's driving, so I really don't have to know anything :)

This one is a REAL camp, though; meaning: tents. No A/C. Mud. Bugs. Algae-infested lake. FIRE!!! Hiking. Lack of showers. Etc.

I AM PSYCHED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Packing was bad. I successfully put it off ALL DAY yesterday and got home from church today just about an hour ago and managed to crazily throw everything I could remember or thought I might need into my duffel and it almost closes. So I have no idea if I have what I need, but I hate packing enough that I don't even care to go double check. I'll "rough it" for a week :)

We leave VERY SOON.

I'll be back Saturday....!

Reasons for my current state of..... happy sigh

2008-07-16T16:41:00.003-04:00

Ahhhhhhh, it's days like today that make me think summer might actually be worth keeping. I mean, don't get me wrong; when I'm Dictator-of-the-World someday we certainly won't have three months of this revolting heat, laziness, and related misery, but maybe I'll allow a week or two. Maybe.

Current Reasons I'm at Peace with the Season of Summer:

-- Staying up freakishly late (I think it was 2am before I went to bed last night?) to work off a caffeine high and sleeping in the next morning without feeling guilty

-- Going to the library and finding that I have time to just hang out and chat with people instead of rushing off to somewhere else

-- Time to go for a run

-- Milkshakes (yeah, so that sort of negates the whole purpose of running, but whatever)

-- Swimming

-- Playing my guitar out on the patio as a breeze danced around me

-- Bare feet (I mean, sure, I've tried going barefoot in the winter, but it's rather painful; hypothermia and frostbite and all that)

-- Having the windows open

A very lovely day, all in all. And a very productive one as well! In addition to all of the above I also ran errands, unpacked from camp last week, started a load of laundry, scheduled a college campus visit, and sort of cleaned my room. Yahoo!

P.S. AP Psychology score came today -- I got a five. The perfectionist in me is finally satisfied.

*happy sigh*

The Spamley Cup

2008-07-15T09:06:00.002-04:00

[EDIT: Now that I think about it, I could be wrong about the whole archaeologist thing. It might have begun differently; for some reason I'm thinking aliens may have played a role? I honestly can't remember. WVA-ers, feel free to correct me!!!!)

(more details, as per request....)

The Spamley Cup is only THE most pretigious award on the face of the earth!!! It is, naturally, an unbelievably large obnoxiously shiny trophy filled, obviously, with excessive amounts of Spam. (Yes, I am quite serious about all this).

It has a long and bloody history, actually, which, thankfully, the counselors at Worldview took the time to re-enact for us campers so we would be well-informed of how special the cup really is. You see, the Spamley Cup dates all the way back to the year 1941, when it was discovered in an archaeological dig. Clearly, the Cup of such importance manifested great powers, and word spread. The Nazis wanted the Cup's great powers to aid them in the war. The archaeologist, who was not very bright, decided to hide the Cup to keep it safe in a place where NO ONE could ever feasibly find it. The archaeologist was wrong. There was one man, you see, who COULD survive the perilous journey to find the Cup -- Indiana Jones. Indiana, began the long and desperate journey to find the cup before the Nazis. He fought off evil giant eyeballs, Darth Vader and a variety of snakes until finally, he was only mere inches away from the Cup. But when he reached out to take it, he was transported, port-key style, to the future; the insane year of 2008 into the middle of the Worldview Academy campus. Thinking quickly, he decided to create a competition for the prestigious Spamley Cup and award it to the group of campers who proved themselves to be the most worthy.

Indiana devised an ingenious plan to find out exactly which campers WERE the most worthy to posses such a coveted prize.The campers at Worldview Academy were randomly separated into four color teams: red, yellow, blue (WOOO HOOO!), and green. Then, all week long, campers would compete for color team points. Alumni could earn points in their special sessions; all students can answer trivia questions on topics such as LOTR, geography, philosophy, staff trivia and Star Wars. And just to shake things up, Indiana added some crazy games, too, including the ever-popular clap/snap/head turn/name game.

But all this was not enough, Indiana realized; there needed to be something big, something huge, something spectacular to guarantee that the cup would have the loudest, most unified, most creative, most spirited people around. And thus, the all-camp relay was bord. At the end of the week which color teams would compete head-to-head in a variety of crazy tasks. This year's theme would be the Greek Pentathalon.

Indiana Jones watched from afar as the events played out. Somehow, the green team was ALWAYS in first throughout the week. The amazing incredible fabulous awesome blue team (naturally, this was mismatchedsockgirl's team!) didn't even have ANY points until Wednesday; not a good sign! But things picked up and blue, yellow and red were tied with green only a few hundred ahead. The day of the relay rolled around; but first was the cheer competition -- Indiana smiled to himself at this stroke of genius; it would be an interesting competition indeed -- campers would have only a mere five minutes to come up with and practice a cheer, which must show as much team spirit, originality, unity and volume as humanly possible.
Sadly, though, the blue team had some issues and ran out of time, and therefore...erm...did not perform to their..er..best. *sigh* The red team, however, was fantastic.

It was now time for the relay itself. Blue was determined to redeem themselves. Sadly, it didn't go so well either. Blue was in last place until the second-to-last-event, the discus throw. By some miracle, we managed to pull ahead and were tied with Red for a few blissful moments; but then they completed the final task - solving a brainteaser -- and won the entire relay. Somehow over their victorious shouts, we continued playing; green and yellow had caught up and it was now neck-and-neck for 2nd place. Yellow finished next; we were a second or two behind and green came in LAST!!!!! It was over; all over; and even though we'd come in 3rd out of four teams and knew that we didn't stand a chance at the Spamley Cup, at least we'd beated Green.

Indiana sighed from his perch in a nearby tree as red celebrated their victory. He through a longing glance at the Blue team, who, he had been so sure, were the REAL rightful protectors of the cup; somehow it just didn't seem fair that they'd lost.
"Next year, Blue," Indiana whispered with a nod. "Next year."

Poetry Series: Week 7

2008-07-14T11:02:00.005-04:00

(Yes, I know, I skipped a week of the poetry series while I was gone. Oh, well.)

I have always loved this poem. Something about the sound and the flow of the words just appealed to me; I like how it moves quickly and...bouncily, or something. I don't know enough about rhythm or meter or any of that fun stuff to try and explain how or why this poem works, but if someone who does know more about it would like to share, go for it!
All I know is I like the sound :)

We are playing host to four kittens for the next few weeks, just temporarily. Trying to name four kittens was an interesting job; eventually we settled on Heckle, Jekyll (the boys), Molly, and Ophelia (the girls). It's kind of an amusing concept, this naming of cats, because it's not as though any one of them will ever answer to their name, like a dog. They've got too much pride, independence and attitude for that! And yet we crazy humans do it anyway......!

The Naming of Cats
by T.S. Eliot

The naming of cats is a difficult matter,
It isn't just one of your holiday games;
You may think at first I'm mad as a hatter
When I tell you a cat must have three
different names.

First of all, there's the name
that the family use daily,
Such as Victor, or Jonathan,
George or Bill Bailey--
All of them sensible everyday names.
There are fancier names
if you think they sound sweeter,
Some for the gentlemen,
some for the dames;
Such as Plato, Admetus,
Electra, Demeter--
But all of them sensible everyday names.

But I tell you,
a cat needs a name that's particular,
A name that is peculiar, and more dignified,
Else how can he
keep up his tail perpendicular,
Or spread out his whiskers,
or cherish his pride?

Of names of this kind,
I can give you a quorum,
Such as Munkustrap, Quazo or Coripat,
Such as Bombalurina, or else Jellyrum--
Names that never belong
to more than one cat.

But above and beyond
there's still one name left over,
And that is the name that you will never guess;
The name
that no human research can discover--
But The Cat Himself Knows,
and will never confess.

When you notice a cat in profound meditation,
The reason, I tell you, is always the same:
His mind is engaged in rapt contemplation
Of the thought, of the thought,
of the thought of his name:
His ineffable effable
Effanineffable
Deep and inscrutable singular
Name.

Honey, I'm hoooooooooome!

2008-07-14T10:53:00.003-04:00

Ok, so really I've been home since Friday, but no matter; I've been too busy to post until now :)

Camp was AMAZING FANTASTIC AWESOME INCREDIBLE FABULOUS WONDERFUL EXCELLENT UNBELIEVABLE and MORE!!!!!!!!

Short version: decent cafeteria food, air conditioned dorms, EXCELLENT classses & speakers, street witnessing, reunions with old friends, ultimate frisbee, "TALLY HO!", LOTS of pictures, meeting new friends, evil cafeteria chairs, a stalker, "Ready cowgirls? YEEEE HAW!", a deceptive stop sign, card games, passing the final exam (only 1 question wrong, woo hoo!), the Spamley Cup (even if we did lose...), nightly worship services, singing, the cup game, and TONS more!!

The classes were positively incredible. Some of them were repeats of basic classes we did last year, but that was great, because apparently I've forgotten A LOT of stuff!!! It was excellent to have that review. I took so many notes and pictures and I definitely think that many of the things I learned/talked about this past week at Worldview Academy will be future topics on this blog. So watch out :)

Life continues to be crazy as I prepare for an interview, get ready for a bunch of meetings this week and register for college classes, gah!

Packing:

2008-07-05T15:53:00.005-04:00

abhorrent, abominable, alarming, appalling, atrocious, awful, bad, beastly, contemptible, cursed, deplorable, depressing, despicable, detestable, dire, disgusting, distressing, dreadful, fearful, foul, frightful, ghastly, grim, grody, gross, gruesome, grungy, harrowing, hateful, heinous, hideous, horrendous, horrible, horrific, horrifying, nasty, obnoxious, odious, offensive, repulsive, revolting, rotten, shocking, stinking, terrible, ugly, unpleasant, unsightly, very bad, vile, wretched.

Packing.

Gah.

[Who doesn't love Thesaurus.com???]

I leave for camp in 20 hours. I've packed nothing. I really should get to it. But I happen to harbor a hatred of packing. Now, don't get me wrong; I am SO PSYCHED!!!!!!! for camp, but the packing is always somewhat of a challenge, due to my abhorring the whole process and all. *sigh*
But my bed is totally covered with a variety of things I want to bring with me, so I really do need to transfer it all to the duffel, or else I shall be sleeping on the floor tonight...... and it could very well take me hours just to get upstairs to my room to begin the bed-cleaning-off process. After all, my procrastination skills are pretty darn amazing.

I'll be back Friday. If I remember and am feeling particularly loquacious, I'll try to preschedule some posts; however if it is bizarrely quiet here for the next 6 days, well, now you know why :)
I expect to come home to plenty of comments telling me how much I was missed!!!! :-P

[edit: Sunday 8:15am: Well now. Apparently my procrastination skills are much more well-developed and unbelievably amazing then even *I* thought. I managed to waste the entire evening last night. The stuff on my bed? Still there. I slept on the floor last night. I now have 15 minutes of packing time before we leave for church (which I am squandering away here, online, instead of upstairs with my duffel. Hmm.) and, if I'm lucky, there will be a whole hour in between church and leaving for camp in which I can eat lunch, change, and finish packing.
Yep. We're cooking now.]

The taste of summer

2008-07-01T16:33:00.000-04:00

This is the most amazing non-Starbucks cold drink on the face of the earth. It’s the perfect mix of coffee and chocolate; milkshake and frappucino.
And even I can make it. Successfully. And I’ve made it successfully REPEATEDLY, which is an even bigger deal.

Coffee Latte Shake

1 cup coffee, completely cooled
1 cup milk
10 ice cubes
2 tbsp. (unsweetened) cocoa powder
1/3 packet instant chocolate pudding mix (though I usually use ½, it’s easier to measure and I like the extra chocolate-ness)
French vanilla or hazlenut creamer, to taste
Sugar, to taste

Add all ingredients to blender; blend until thick and creamy.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!

Poetry Series: Week 5

2008-06-30T16:53:00.004-04:00

This post was inspired by a few random thoughts which just happened to fit together quite well...yesterday in church, Pastor mentioned Elizabeth Barrett Browning in her sermon (one of my favorite poets!!!!), and I decided I wanted to use one of her poems for the poetry series today. However, my dear Miss Browning has so many amazing works to choose from, I couldn't decide which to use!....but then I remembered the music meme that's been circulating around many of our blogs, and I thought that I'd spotlight two wonderful poems of hers that focus on music....enjoy :)

A Musical Instrument
by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

What was he doing, the great god Pan,
Down in the reeds by the river?
Spreading ruin and scattering ban,
Splashing and paddling with hoofs of a goat,
And breaking the golden lilies afloat
With the dragon-fly on the river.

He tore out a reed, the great god Pan,
From the deep cool bed of the river:
The limpid water turbidly ran,
And the broken lilies a-dying lay,
And the dragon-fly had fled away,
Ere he brought it out of the river.

High on the shore sat the great god Pan,
While turbidly flowed the river;
And hacked and hewed as a great god can,
With his hard bleak steel at the patient reed,
Till there was not a sign of the leaf indeed
To prove it fresh from the river.

He cut it short, did the great god Pan,
(How tall it stood in the river!)
Then drew the pith, like the heart of a man,
Steadily from the outside ring,
And notched the poor dry empty thing
In holes, as he sat by the river.

"This is the way," laughed the great god Pan,
(Laughed while he sat by the river)
"The only way, since gods began
To make sweet music, they could succeed."
Then, dropping his mouth to a hole in the reed,
He blew in power by the river.

Sweet, sweet, sweet, O Pan!
Piercing sweet by the river!
Blinding sweet, O great god Pan!
The sun on the hill forgot to die,
And the lilies revived, and the dragon-fly
Came back to dream on the river.

Yet half a beast is the great god Pan,
To laugh as he sits by the river,
Making a poet out of a man:
The true gods sigh for the cost and pain—
For the reed which grows nevermore again
As a reed with the reeds in the river.

I think the most fantastic line in this poem is "The sun on the hill forgot to die/And the lilies revived, and the dragon-fly/Came back to dream on the river." LOVE IT!

And here's another:

Perplexed Music
by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

EXPERIENCE, like a pale musician, holds
A dulcimer of patience in his hand,
Whence harmonies, we cannot understand,
Of God; will in his worlds, the strain unfolds
In sad-perplexed minors: deathly colds
Fall on us while we hear, and countermand
Our sanguine heart back from the fancyland
With nightingales in visionary wolds.
We murmur 'Where is any certain tune
Or measured music in such notes as these ? '
But angels, leaning from the golden seat,
Are not so minded their fine ear hath won
The issue of completed cadences,
And, smiling down the stars, they whisper--
SWEET.

I've never seen this poem until today, and I think it's just made itself one of my all-time favorites. The language is so absolutely beautiful; words like dulcimer and sanguine and countermand just give me goosebumps! And the overall idea of the poem...that God blesses the world with such unbelievable beauty that often, our human eyes and ears can't even begin to comprehend it... my favorite part of this poem is easily the end: "And, smiling down the stars, they whisper --/SWEET." oooooooooh....*happy sigh*

Hmm

2008-06-29T20:38:00.004-04:00

I am currently experimenting with the layout of the blog, though really, I don't know how much it matters since most of you are probably reading this via the bland black-and-whiteness of a feed reader anyway....but at any rate, your thoughts are most welcome :)

I am exhausted. Three parties in 30 hours is a lot for anyone; I think my (very limited) social abilities have been completely depleted. I need to recover from excessive amounts of mingling and cupcakes, so I am off to spend the rest of the night curled up in bed with my three latest library finds: Always Grace, by Tim LaHaye, because I love his writing and because this is much different the the usual apocolyptic fiction of his so I'm curious and because even I need a gooey romance story that makes me sigh happily every so often; Poetic Meter and Form, by I-don't-remember-but-it-looks-interesting-and-it-has-that-wonderful-old-book-smell-that-makes-me-swoon; and River Secrets, by (as most of you probably know) Shannon Hale, because Anilee and Somnite got me hooked on the BoB (haha, look at me, using Bayern-related acronyms!).

Ta-ta!

P.S. Check me out! This is post #10 this month. That's right folks, TEN posts this month; that's the most EVER. We're talking wowness of a record-breaking magnitude, here. AND!!! I still have nearly 27 hours before June is officially over, so who knows?! I might even EXCEED 10!!!

Seven Songs of Summer Meme

2008-06-28T09:14:00.003-04:00

ZE RULES:

"List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they’re not any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now, shaping your summer. Post these instructions in your blog along with your 7 songs. Then tag 7 other people to see what they’re listening to."

[Ok, so here are the first seven songs that come to mind when I think about what I've been listening to lately...a pretty amusing mix, actually!!]

ZE SONGS:

1. Walking on Sunshine -- Katrina & the Waves
2. Brown-eyed Girl -- Van Morrison
3. Hallelujah -- Krystal Meyers
4. Average Girl -- BarlowGirl
5. Anthem -- Superchic[k]
6. Hey Baby -- the Crazy Frog version!!
7. Mirrors & Smoke -- Jars of Clay

[edit] BONUS SONG!! (Just cuz I am such a rule-breaker and can't stick to only seven...!):
8. American Pie -- Don McLean (I have been listening to this song on repeat nearly non-stop for the last 20 hours. I kid you not. Yes, it played while I slept last night...!)

ZE TAGS:

I tag Anilee, Somnite, & Patrice. I think everyone else has done it already...?

Top 3 Idea Books Every Writer Should Have

2008-06-27T21:19:00.004-04:00

....to help conquer writer's block and get the creativity flowing!

1. poemcrazy: Freeing Your Life with Words, by Susan G. Wooldridge

Ok, so it might have originally been aimed at poets or wannabe poets like myself, but in all honesty this book is fantastic for writers of any style or genre. It has wonderful exercises that challenge you to think and explore and is full of anecdotes and examples from the author's own life. My very best friend in the entire galaxy gave me this book for my birthday a few years ago, and it is my all-time favorite book ever. I kid you not; every time I have opened this book I've written something -- not always somethinig good, but it never fails to give me ideas and get me writing, and sometimes that's the hardest thing in the world to do!

2. The Pocket Muse, by Monica Wood

I just receieved this book in the mail today, and am positively in love with it! Again, it doesn't matter what you write -- this book is for you if you've ever suffered from lack of ideas or inspiration. It is a fantastic mix of tips and tricks to make your writing better, stunning black and white photos, lists, ideas, random words to get creative juices flowing, scenarios, characters in need of further development and prompts to get you thinking and writing. AMAZING! And the layout is gorgeous; each page is beautiful and unique and I swear, this book just exudes creative vibes.

3. A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words, by Philip Sexton

Filled with more then a hundred intriguing and interesting pictures, every page in this book has a photo, a lesson about some aspect of writing, an accompanying exercise or two to practice the lesson and simple questions and captions to make you think. The book is divided into sections like "Characters" and "Dialogue", designed to help you improve your writing lesson by lesson. This is incredibly helpful and useful, but I've found that the book is also fantastic just to pick up and page through and pick an image at random. Mix and match the prompts and photos to come up with interesting combinations, and then just write and see where the words take you.

Poetry Series: Week 4

2008-06-23T22:48:00.002-04:00

I stumbled across this poem tonight purely by accident and absolutely fell in love with it.
I love the descriptions and the personifications of the beach....I love the calming effect of this poem and how the words just wash over me.
Most of all, I love the title -- Where Angels Rest -- it's like the epitome of beauty, serenity, and glory.

WHERE ANGELS REST
Marcia Schechinger

Cool waves softly stretch
breathing in the wind
Slightly covering
sand's warm body
The tempo rises and falls
as a breeze ascends the waves to shore
with white foam
then swallows them back again
Like a duet they play,
the wind and water
moving in methodical rhythm
harmonious with my heartbeat
Surf sweeps gently as if imploring
for peaceful tranquility
Here, I sit, quietly thinking
this must be where angels rest

Poetry Series: week 3

2008-06-16T11:32:00.001-04:00

(Thanks to my dear best friend for the idea for this post.)

We are supposed to have thunderstorms today. I absolutely, positively LOVE LOVE LOVE thunderstorms.

I have ALWAYS loved thunderstorms. I distinctly remember many times, when I was little, when it would start to storm and my little brother would go running and hide under a blanket and I would go sit by a window and just watch it; sometimes for HOURS. Thunderstorms have always captivated me. I’ve always loved the mystery of them; how they come from no where and last for unknown amounts of time and then disappear slowly until suddenly, you realize that your gray clouds have gone and the sun is shining again, and you don’t even know when that happened.

Thunderstorms are composed of tightly controlled power. A power that roars so strongly that it can shake the very walls of my house; a power that flashes so brightly that it can light up the darkest of skies for miles and miles in every direction. I love the fact that even though something this strong could easily result in disaster, it doesn’t; instead, it makes a lot of noise and lets everyone know how strong it is but in the end, pours down drops of life-sustaining water. I love the intensity of storms. Some people personificate storms as angry, vicious things, but I’ve always thought of them simply as powerful.

Thunderstorms make me think about God, too, which might sound strange, but bear (bare?) with me. I think there are plenty of times when God chooses to act like a thunderstorm. He often comes out of no where; when we least expect it; and does things so strong and mighty and unbelievable that we’re forced to stop and look and think for a minute. He’s got a power strong enough to shake us to our foundations. And He constantly pours down the things we need -- the blessings, the guidance, the mercy -- to survive.

I love thunderstorms :)

A THUNDERSTORM
By Emily Dickinson

The wind begun to rock the grass
With threatening tunes and low, -
He flung a menace at the earth,
A menace at the sky.

The leaves unhooked themselves from trees
And started all abroad;
The dust did scoop itself like hands
And throw away the road.

The wagons quickened on the streets,
The thunder hurried slow;
The lightning showed a yellow beak,
And then a livid claw.

The birds put up the bars to nests,
The cattle fled to barns;
There came one drop of giant rain,
And then, as if the hands

That held the dams had parted hold,
The waters wrecked the sky,
But overlooked my father's house,
Just quartering a tree.

A THUNDERSTORM
Archiband Lampman

A moment the wild swallows like a flight
Of withered gust-caught leaves, serenely high,
Toss in the windrack up the muttering sky.
The leaves hang still. Above the weird twilight,
The hurrying centres of the storm unite
And spreading with huge trunk and rolling fringe,
Each wheeled upon its own tremendous hinge,
Tower darkening on. And now from heaven's height,
With the long roar of elm-trees swept and swayed,
And pelted waters, on the vanished plain
Plunges the blast. Behind the wild white flash
That splits abroad the pealing thunder-crash,
Over bleared fields and gardens disarrayed,
Column on column comes the drenching rain.

What do thunderstorms remind you of?

Taking q's advice

2008-06-13T14:33:00.005-04:00

[q told me to write. "It doesn't even have to make sense"...well...]

It was so hot in my house yesterday that the chocolate chips, the chocolate chips that were sealed inside their yellow Nestle bag inside a drawer under a countertop far, far, far away from the dishwasher and the sun and any other heat-producing source...the chocolate chips melted. Into one big gooey glob. Chocolate chips aren't supposed to melt inside a drawer! Is there no safe haven left?!

So what did I do? Well, there's only one thing you can do with a bag of gooey chocolate chips. There's no hope left for them; obviously they'll never be the same again. Their sanctuary of the dark drawer has been invaded; suddenly there's no where left for them to go.........

I ate them.

There's nothing like gooey chocolate chips to make the monotony and dreadfulness of summer a little more tolerable.

Top 5 Reasons Why This Isn't A Real Post:

2008-06-11T14:13:00.003-04:00

1. Chemistry is evil. And therefore still not done. Blah.

2. Evil trolls have taken up residence in my bedroom and keep throwing things onto the floor, un-organizing the desk and scattering shoes around. As such, my room will not stay clean, and as such, I am perpetually attempting to clean it anyway. Not because I want to, mind you, but because I have to. Merh.

3. You know how most people's summers are relaxing times, where they can unwind and focus on the things they don't have enough time to do during the rest of the year? Not me. My summers are just as busy as the school year. Busy-ness includes, but is not limited to: Summer job. Never-ending college search. Babysitting. Extracurriculars. Summer camps. Need to plan 5 lessons for upcoming week of VBS (Vacation Bible School) that's I'm teaching at our church. Guitar needs practicing. Etc.

4. Writer's block. Severe writer's block, I might add. I have not written anything, save for a short story which I'm relatively sure is idiotic, for weeks. Which is so absolutely not me. This latest block has rather far-reaching effects; it's permeated not only my stories, but also my poems, journal entries and now I'm afraid it's affecting my blog! AAAH! Any ideas, folks?!?!

5. Aforementioned trolls, apparently growing bored with being confined to my bedroom have spread out and brought all sorts of dirt and other bits of crud throughout the house and therefore causing me to have to vacuum. Again.

Poetry Series: week 2

2008-06-09T13:24:00.004-04:00

(Ah, yes; as you can all see I've made GREAT progress on the deciding-on-a-real-title-for-this-series front....)

Week 2! Here we go!

Cloak of Laughter
Abigail Cresson

I wear a cloak of laughter
Lest anyone should see
My dress of sorrow underneath
And stop to pity me.

I wear a cloak of laughter
Lest anyone should guess
That what is hid beneath it
Is less then happiness...

But, ah, what does it matter
To you who are so wise?
My cloak falls tattered at my feet
Before your tender eyes.

For cloaks to cover sorrow
Are meant for stranger-folk
One cannot hide away from friends
Beneath a laughing cloak.

Oh, futile cloak of laughter
How frail you are, and thin!
Love looks through you so easily
And sees the grief within.

I have fallen in love with this poem :) I discovered it in some ancient poetry anthology that I got from the library ages ago and I've loved it ever since!

I thought this poem was particularly fitting, at least for me, this week...I have a very, very, very dear friend who happens to be going through a rough time lately and dealing with a lot. She keeps trying to convince me that she's OK and that I don't need to worry about her, but I know that's not quite true. So, my dear, if you happen to be reading this right now, please just know that I love you and I'm here for you and you can let go of your "cloak" anytime, now.
And if you guys could say a prayer for her, that would be muchly appreciated. God will know who you mean. :)

End World Hunger

2008-06-08T21:50:00.004-04:00

OK -- short and sweet tonight. I've started at least a half dozen "serious" posts over the last week, but haven't had time to finish any of them. Yet.

But for right now, here's an important post.

According to the United Nations, about 25,000 people die each day from hunger or hunger-related causes, most of them children.

We can make a difference.

Many of you have probably heard of this site already; I know I've been talking about it quite it a bit over the last few months. But I don't know that I've ever posted it on here.

Lately, I've become rather obsessive about ending world hunger. People laugh when I say this is one of my life's goals. Ok, so it's a big goal. But hey, you need big goals if you want to achieve great things, right?!

Please check out this site:

Make it a habit. Make it your homepage. Make it a goal to play for 10 minutes or 20 minutes or 1 minute every day.

If you haven't heard of it yet, listen up. FreeRice is, in a word, miraculous. It's a series of online vocabulary quizzes. There's no signing up; you don't need to make a username or give out your email or log in to play. Just click and you're ready to roll. It's a SMART vocabulary game, too; it tests you, automatically assigns you a level based on your performance and continues to adjust and refine the words it gives you so that you're constantly being challenged to learn new words without being discouraged. All of you high schoolers -- this is fantastic SAT prep. BELIEVE ME!!

And, the very best part? Every single time you get a word right, FreeRice donates 20 grains of rice to the United Nations World Hunger Relief program. In a few minutes you can donate a few hundred or even a few thousand grains of rice. Coupled with that of thousands of other players worldwide, the site has donated over 35 billion grains of rice since October 2007.

Ready to help?

... Play FreeRice often and spread the word

... Read more about FreeRice and how it's combating world hunger

... Join the ONE campaign to fight AIDS and extreme poverty

... Learn more at Poverty.com

I've been telling people for years now that I'm going to change the world. Want to help?

Poetry Series: Week 1

2008-06-02T23:13:00.002-04:00

Hmmm. I've been thinking, lately....I've decided that I'm going to try posting a poem every Monday...I mean, seriously -- what better way to start out your week?! And it might not necessarily be an original poem; they could be well-known favorite poems or perhaps completely unknown poems by random obscure poets that just happen to jump out at me at the time...or maybe something in between. Who knows...I'm still in the brainstorming phase. I'm hoping, though, that this will help me post more regularly and keep things at least a tad bit more interesting around here...

I still need to come up with a name for this little series, though...ideas, anyone? Alliteration is fun but I've already ruled out "Meditative Mondays" (sounds too sleepy) and "Metaphorical Mondays" (has too many syllables) and there aren't any fantastic "p" adjectives to pair up with "poetry"...although, in my defense, it is rather close to midnight and there's a fantastic chance I'm just not thinking straight.

So, seeing as it's Monday (at least, it is if I post this within the next 19 minutes...!), here is the very first entry of...whatever it is that I'm going to name this series.

*ahem*

Sandcastle Promises

Sandcastle promises
Built on uncertain shore
Beautiful to look at
Yet good for nothing more.

Lacking a foundation,
Made up of tiny grains;
Bits of rock soon washed away
Until not a single one remains.

Hopes, once packed together
Now quickly fall apart
These sculptures have no meaning;
They’re momentary works of art.

Their existence is soon shattered
By waves of reality
All my sandcastle promises
Have eroded completely.

So have I based my life
On all the petty things?
Or do I live with purpose,
Does my life have meaning?

Do I believe all that I say,
Am I willing to take a stand?
Or am I simply building
Fragile castles in the sand?

Hmmm.. I was going to post my thoughts on this poem but I changed my mind. How about if YOU guys tell me what YOU think??

I haven't fallen off the face of the earth...

2008-05-30T07:49:00.005-04:00

I've really been meaning to post for ages. And somehow there's never time, bah. And I was doing so well, there, at the beginning of the month!!
I haven't posted anything "serious" in a while now. Hmmm. Should probably get on that......

Wow, life has been busy lately!!

Last weekend I had the incredible pleasure of meeting Somnite and Anilee -- it was WOOO HOOO exciting -- for the very first time!!! I have to say, guys, you both are EXACTLY what I pictured. Which is a good thing :)

A crazed week of still trying to finish up intense amounts of schoolwork among other pressing matters (application deadlines.... other commitments...plentiful meetings...lots of cleaning....) filled my last few days and as of right now, I am at an annual church assembly, which is pretty exciting -- I was elected the female delegate for my congregation. Today starts Day 2 (and it started bright and early, UGH!) and I have to say, I am positively fascinated by everything that's going on. We are voting and discussing some really major issues here, and I'm finding that I -- even as a youth -- actually have a voice. I'm being treated as an adult instead of like a silly little teenager and I have to say, it's an incredibly exciting and positively terrifying feeling all at once. I've been feeling very naive compared to most of these people and very unqualified to be voting and making these sorts of decisions. And yet, others are trusting me to do so and that responsibility is a little overwhelming!
Kind of funny, isn't it: I've begged and pleaded for eons to be treated like an adult and now that people are finally doing so and taking me seriously, it scares me out of my wits.

Life is confusing. Sheesh.

Well, we are off ISO Wawa....mmmm, cappucino!!!!!

For all you lexophiles out there....

2008-05-19T15:33:00.003-04:00

I got this in an email today....it cracked me up!!!!!!!!

NEOLOGISMS:

(Neologisms are alternate meanings for common words.)

Arbitrator \ar'-bi-tray-ter\: A cook that leaves Arby's to work at McDonald's.

Avoidable \uh-voy'-duh-buhl\: What a bullfighter tries to do.

Baloney \buh-lo'-nee\: Where some hemlines fall.

Bernadette \burn'-a-det\: The act of torching a mortgage.

Burglarize \bur'-gler-ize\: What a crook sees with.

Control \kon-trol'\: A short, ugly inmate.

Counterfeiters \kown-ter-fit-ers \: Workers who put together kitchen cabinets.

Eclipse \i-klips'\: What an English barber does for a living.

Eyedropper \i'-drop-ur\: A clumsy ophthalmologist.

Heroes \hee'-rhos\: What a guy in a boat does.

Left Bank \left' bangk'\: What the robber did when his bag was full of loot.

Misty \mis'-tee\: How golfers create divots.

Paradox \par'-u-doks\: Two physicians.

Parasites \par'-uh-sites\: What you see from the top of the Eiffel Tower.

Pharmacist \farm'-uh-sist\: A helper on the farm.

Polarize \po'-lur-ize\: What penguins see with.

Primate \pri'-mat\: Removing your spouse from in front of the TV.

Relief \ree-leef'\: What trees do in the spring.

Rubberneck \rub'-er-nek\: What you do to relax your wife.

Seamstress \seem'-stres\: Describes 250 pounds in a size six.

Selfish \sel'-fish\: What the owner of a seafood store does.

Subdued \sub-dood'\: Like, a guy, like, works on one of those, like, submarines, man.

Sudafed \sood'-a-fed\: Bringing litigation against a government official.

Three Things I've Learned Today...

2008-05-16T20:53:00.004-04:00

...Which I feel are my responsibility to share with you all, so that you don't have to go through the pain and suffering of making these discoveries yourselves:

1. TV is evil. Ok, so not quite. (But sometimes it is. Spongebob Squarepants is an excellent example.) But really, it would be more fitting to say, TV is distracting. Don't watch it while trying to write. I was watching one of my all time favorite movies today, To Kill A Mockingbird for about the 40 billionth time. For those of who haven't seen the movie (to which I say - GO WATCH IT! It's one of the few movies that does the book it's based on justice), it's set in Alabama. Thus, all the characters have very Southern accents. Well, as I was watching this movie, I had my laptop out and I was also working on a story. At first, I was all excited because I'd been very productive and written a lot. However, I went back to re-read it and found that my main character -- a 15 year old girl who lives on a mountain in India -- was speaking with a Southern accent. Just like Miss Maudie and Scout and Jem. Ooops. I guess have a lot of editing to do *sigh*

2. Those with bad aim should not be trusted to put their own eye drops in. Seriously. Now, I have to put eyedrops in occasionally when my allergies act up, but that's only occasionally, and usually I can get by without making a total fool of myself. But today I woke up with pink eye (pink eyes, technically, since it's both of them) so I now have to put two drops in each eye every 2-4 hours. For the next five days. Which is a lot of drops. Which is a lot of opportunites to totally miss my eye and instead hit my nose, chin, and once (somehow) my ear. Yeah. Don't exactly know how that one happened....

3. Rainy days exacerbate procrastination. Seriously. Or maybe it's just me, which is also entirely possible...now, I LOVE rainy days, LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE them; don't get me wrong. And today was one of those perfect rainy days; it was cloudy and foggy and the rain was just cleansing and wonderful and refreshing, not depressing or annoying. But I am sorry to say that rain ALSO makes me lazy. It makes me want to spend the entire day curled up on my bed reading and writing and staring out the window and not accomplishing anything. Add to the fact that the two main things I needed to accomplish today -- Chemistry and cleaning my room -- are two of the most awful, intolerable and traumatic activities I can think of, and, well...it was hard to find the motivation to do either of them. But I tried. I did a little Chemistry, and, well, I DO still have all day tomorrow to clean my room.................

Bad Moods and Why I’m No Longer In One

2008-05-15T15:30:00.004-04:00

I’ve been rather grumpy lately, for a variety of reasons. Yesterday I was freakishly crabby for a good portion of the day. Now, sometimes I can get myself out of those funks just by refusing to succomb to them -- “I am NOT going to be in a bad mood today!!!”. But usually I can’t. Yesterday I couldn’t. I spent the majority of the day denying the fact that I was in a bad mood but snapping at everyone who came near me and glaring at everyone who didn’t.
Finally, I admitted to myself that I was in a bad mood and needed to do something about it. So I did one of the two things that nearly always makes me happy.

Running. Yes, I know there are plenty of biological reasons that this works -- endorphins are lovely things, after all, and it’s a great stress-reliever and all that. But I also love running because it gets me out of the house; lets me be alone to mutter and grumble and glare all I want and gives me an opportunity to push myself hard -- and be proud of the results. And it’s hard to be in a bad mood when you’re proud of yourself!
As I result, I was back to my insanely perky and happy self last night.

Today, for a bunch of similar reasons, I was back in a bad mood (it’s rather exhausting being a teenager, isn’t it?!) Because I don’t have the time or energy to run again today, much as I’d like to, I turned to the second thing that nearly always makes me happy.

Music.
What’s on my playlist, you ask?

MMSG’s Top Five Songs to Listen To When You’re In A Bad Mood:

1. It’s the End of the World as We Know It -- R.E.M. I was introduced to this song while babysitting one night, actually. I very dramatically announced for some reason, “it’s the end of the world as we know it!!” and all three kids burst into the refrain of this song. By the end of that night, I knew it quite well. It’s one of those wonderfully cynical and pessimistic songs that is great to listen to when you’re mad at the world.

2. Falling Inside the Black -- Skillet. You’ve got to love the loudness, intensity and overly-dramatic ness of this song. Ooh, it’s positively chilling. While we’re on the subject, many of Skillet’s songs fit this description; other favorites include Whispers in the Dark and Rebirthing.

3. Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) -- Green Day. I’m not a huge Green Day fan at all, but for some totally inexplicable reason this song appeals to me. I have no idea why, because it’s so monotonous and depressing, and yet, sometimes that’s exactly what I listen to when in the midst of whatever drama I’m going through, and it cheers me up. Don’t know why. But it does. I’m teaching myself to play it on the guitar.

4. Me Against the World -- Superchic[k]. Ok, so this song might not exactly have the same appeal if you’re a guy, but still. How can you argue with the line, “They said don’t try to change the world, you’re just a girl; so it’s me against the world today….”. I love the feeling of determination in this song!

5. Life is Good -- Stellar Kart. As hard as I try, I absolutely cannot be in a bad mood if I hear this song. It’s much too happy and exciting and wonderful; but not in an overly-optimistic gaggy way; more like just in a, “Ok, maybe-the-world’s-really-not-coming-to-an-end-today” kind of way.

(And! Since I’m now in such a good mood and feeling so incredibly generous, a bonus song!)
6. Bethlehemian Rhapsody -- Apologetix. I LOVE Apologetix’s parodies; they absolutely crack me up!! While all of their songs are ingenious and hysterical, this one happens to be my favorite. I think there are two versions of it out there, though, for some reason. I like the David and Goliath version best, if that makes any sense. And again, it's hard to be crabby when you're laughing hysterically.

Humor and lack thereof

2008-05-15T14:25:00.002-04:00

I'm not a funny person.

This depresses me.

I came to this startling realization today while reading an amusing blog. On Edge’s blog she has a link to Gretchen, and I clicked on it out of curiosity and found some incredibly fantastic posts. They just seem to exude humorous vibes -- there’s an underlying tongue-in-cheekness to it all that I love. And envy, I must confess.

I have never been a funny person, sadly. I’ve tried for years now, but humor just eludes me. I’ve finally reached a point where I’ve accepted the fact that I’m hopeless. Humorless. Unfunny. Boring. Humor must be something you’re born with -- you either have it, or you don’t. I, sadly, do not. I must have missed the humor gene. I can’t make great wisecracks. I am terrible when it comes to witty comebacks, because I just can’t think fast enough. Even sarcasm, when coming from me, tends to be misconstrued, misunderstood or simply stupid. And I’ve never had that great slapstick-comedy clownishness that just makes people laugh.

Which isn’t to say that people don’t laugh at me. They do. Quite loudly and quite often. But I think that’s more because I’m STRANGE, rather then because I’m FUNNY. There’s a major difference. I happen to be a very quirky person and this, obviously, causes some smiles, giggles and guffaws. Take the whole mismatched sock thing, for instance…..

But anyway, this severe lack of funniness has more far-reaching effects then just causing me to cross off “stand-up comedian” from my list of potential careers.

It affects my writing, too. Think about it. I can’t create funny, witty, sarcastic, amusing characters -- or, even more importantly, dialogue -- because I myself can’t up with that. How do you write in a character’s sarcastic, acerbic voice if you have no idea what she should be saying?!
And, naturally, lack of funniness makes this blog rather dull.

Can you learn to be funny, I wonder? Or I am doomed to a humorless existence for the rest of my days?

Any advice from the funny folk out there who are reading this would be quite nice.