Movin’ On Out

Today I moved from my nice, big, cushy, one person room in the honors complex all the way across campus to a small little dorm where I now have a roommate. I also have to share a bathroom with 6 other girls instead of just 1. SO, I guess you could say I have some adjusting to do. When I requested to move dorms I was expecting to be able to stay where I was until the end of the semester, that way I could just pop up when everyone else came back from Christmas break. However, I was told on Tuesday that a room had opened up and if I wanted it I needed to be in it by Friday. So here I am. In my much smaller room that smells funny. I still haven't decided what that scent could be. This is definitely going to be an experience.

But......I suppose.......in time.........I will adjust.

Black Friday Madness

Most people are familiar with the term "Black Friday" refering to the day after Thanksgiving when large masses of people flock to the stores at ridiculously early hours of the morning. The Big Nerd has been wanting to "camp" outside of Best Buy for a couple of years, so I told him we could do it this year. We went to Best Buy on Thursday night around 11:00pm and took our place in line, which wrapped around to the back of the store. There we waited..........and waited.......... and waited some more. Ok, we only waited about an hour and then I couldn't take it anymore. I was freezing and reminding The Big Nerd just how cold I was about every 5 seconds. Since we weren't waiting for any big ticket items, The Big Nerd finally gave in, and we surrendered our place in line. We then went to Meijers becuase they were one of the few stores open. We bopped around Meijers for about an hour buying long underwear and rolling down the aisles in rolly chairs trying to regain feeling in our frozen body parts. Then we went back to Best Buy and considered getting back in line, but then we realized that we could stay in the car until Best Buy opened at 5am and then just run in the doors. Some may consider this cutting in line, but desperate times call for desperate measures and I was desperate to remain as warm as possible. Eddy is not very warm considering he has no heat, but it was slightly better than being outside. slightly. Our plan worked, and after 6 hours in the cold we ran into Best Buy so The Big Nerd could make his much anticipated purchase of.................................. a flash drive. Doesn't quite seem worth it does it? I don't think so either, but The Big Nerd is thrilled with his purchase so what can I say? Mission Accomplished?

Here are people camped out at 11:00pm on Thursday. I heard that the first person in line had been there since 9pm wednesday night.

This is me frozen on the ground in line at Best Buy. Do I look pathetic or what?

Here is the Big Nerd himself rolling on a rolly chair at Meijers, and no, we did not get caught rolling because we are too good.

Road Trip

This weekend I will be going to Pittsburgh with a group of about 14 people from school. We are going to be working with an organization called the Pittsburgh Project. I actually have worked with them before. Earlier this year I was obligated to go on a trip to work with them, so I dragged Belle along with me. This time I chose to go so I'm expecting to have a good time. We will doing some "urban development" a.k.a. yard work and gardening. I just hope it's not too cold considering that yard work = working in the yard, and most people keep their yards outside where it is cold. So I'm excited, a little nervous, but for the most part looking forward to the trip, and I'm even more excited that Thanksgiving Break is right around the corner. I must go now to donate plasma again, but I will let you know how the trip goes.

PLASMA

The rumors are true. I have resorted to selling my body. Well, actually just the liquid portion of my blood, but you get the picture. There is a plasma donation center very close to campus, so yesterday I was finally able to donate plasma. I have tried before, but being the philanthropist that I am, the first time I went was just a couple of days after I had donated blood, and so I had to wait 8 weeks. But yesterday everything worked out and I was able to donate. It was........... an experience.

Things went well for the most part. There was only one minor problem, but I am surviving. After passing the physical examination they hooked me up to the machine that seperates the plasma from the rest of the blood, and things were fine for about the first 20 minutes. Then I noticed that my arm was hurting where the needle was, but I couldn't figure out if it had been hurting the whole time and I just now noticed or if it just started. What happened was that the needle went through my vein, and that's when it started hurting. So, they took the needle out of my arm, and then got another one and stuck me in the other arm. I'm sure you all wanted to know these details. I was then able to finish my plasma donation. I am forming a slightly painful bruise where the needle went through my vein, but otherwise I am fine and $40 richer. Since all went fairly well, I plan on returning again on Thursday so I can do it all over again. Hopefully without the bruising this time though. And just in case you ever wanted to know what plasma looks like, it is about the same color as apple cider, just a little bit lighter.

SNOW!

It's only November 6th, but it is snowing already. I made the mistake of going outside with just a sweatshirt, and that is when I discovered the snow. It is super cold outside. I don't know how I'm going to survive the winter, but since I have no classes today I plan on staying inside as much as possible. I have plenty of homework to keep busy. It amazes me that even though I have a huge paper due for English class in a couple of weeks, my teacher still feels the need to assign more papers. I wanted to use today to get a head start on my Huge English paper, but as of yesterday I have a paper due Friday and another one on Monday, not to mention that I need to have a rough draft done for tomorrow. So it's freezing and I have a lot of writing to do. I know that's a pretty lame update, but I will have a more interesting update coming later in the week. So stay tuned.

Check That Off The List

I just finished writing my big paper for government class. Doing no previous work on it before this morning, and working on it straight through until it was finished, I managed to complete it in 4 hours. Now I don't have to think about it again until it is due, which would be November 19th. Now I can focus on reading the book that I have to write an 8 page analysis on. It's so wonderful to be on top of things. You procrastinators of the world should take notes on this accomplishment.

In other news.... They finally turned the heat on in my building! I had heard some girl ask earlier in October about how to turn the heat on and the answer she got was to wait until November. That was a little disheartening. I'm glad they caved in early because I was freezing in my room on Sunday even with a sweatshirt and multiple blankets, but then again I suppose I am an extreme case.

Well that is about the extent of my excitement. It's almost November and Thanksgiving break is coming soon! Woo Hoo!

I Always Knew Crafts Were Evil

Mama Lily sent me a link to a blog that she was reading because it reminded her of me. I read the blog post myself and must say that it is totally me. I found it quite hilarious. I was reading it in my government class instead of taking notes, and it took some effort to keep from laughing out loud. I hope I haven't built it up too much and you end up disappointed, but click here and see for yourself. The post is a little long, but worth it. You'll have to have known me in my Missionette days to get it, but I really like it. I'll end with my favorite part from the post:

"Do you know where crafts come from? Satan. I’m not making that up. I’m going to quote an actual verse here, from Genesis. “Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast.” Yep. THAT serpent, the one that tempted Eve. So I feel quite justified in my feelings."

We Make Our Own Fun

El Nerdo Grande and I went to Wal-Mart this past weekend and decided to have a little fun. Here we are in the produce aisle contemplating what type of havoc we could wreak. ( yes, that's what contemplating chaos looks like, so beware if you see us like this)

After much deliberation and consideration we created Carl. A cabbage with two blueberry eyes and a black raspberry nose. They should write a song about him like they have for Frosty. I can picture it now. A choir of singing chins carrying the melody of Carl the cabbage. Ha Ha. I crack myself up.

After we were done with Carl, we headed over to the little arcade and took over the fire truck.

Shortly after this my Mother had completed her trek through the checkout line, so our craziness was brought to an end. I know what you're thinking, and the answer is yes. Yes we did all of this in the mere 3 minutes that my Mother was in the check out line. We're creative and quick.

Just A Little Update

It has been awhile since my last post so I figured I owe my readers an update.

1. School is busy,but otherwise going well. I spent three hours yesterday morning finishing my Psychology paper. It's not actually due until November, but I can get extra credit if I turn in a rough draft on the 31st. One huge paper down, two more to go.
2. I scheduled my classes for next semester. I will be taking: Intro. to Public Speaking, Intro. to Political Research, U.S. History since 1877, & Beginning Spanish 102. (Yeah! No Math Classes Ever Again!)
3. I got my password for my voice mail box from Verizon. I had forgotten it so when I went through and checked all of the messages I had neglected for so long it took me about 10 minutes. There were messages from as far back as April. That's all taken care of now, so if the need arises and you leave me a voicemail I will actually be able to check it.

That's about all for now, but never fear for I shall return again soon.

Wordless Wednesday

I Survived Another Weekend

I made through another weekend. Yeah Me. Ok, it really wasn't as bad as I'm making it sound. On saturday night my parents picked me up and we went out to eat with some of my other family in celebration of my aunt's birthday. It was nice to actually get away from campus for once. I really miss having a car.

I spent most of the day on Sunday studying for tests that I had today. I had my first real government test. I was actually kind of excited to take it when the time came today. I know, I'm weird. I also had my first official spanish test and I had a psychology test. School work has really seemed to pick up all of a sudden. Oh well. I get to schedule my classes for next semester in a couple of weeks. That's exciting

After studying all day, I got a call from Belle around 8:30.
Since I have been at college Belle was forced to enter the 21st century and get an e-mail address, but She said she didn't feel like typing last night so she called instead. If you know anything about Belle then you probably know that calling people on the phone is out of the ordinary for her, so I was pleasantly surprised. We ended up talking for over 2 1/2 hours. That's a record in my book. I guess since we've practically broken all of the records as far as staying up super late together that the phone must be the next thing to conquer. I remember one time I stayed up with her until about 6am, and we were awake the whole time mind you. Then I had to work that mornig at 9am. That was fun, and I of course did not take a nap that day as I am incapable. But hey isn't that what summer vaction is for?

I also got a little paper in my mailbox this weekend saying that I had a package I needed to pick up. I picked it up today and it was a package from my cousin. She sent some snacky type foods. It was a beautiful site let me tell you. The m&m's are my favorite part. I have been deprived.

So that was my weekend. I'll see all you guys this weekend.

I Got an A!

Woo Hoo! I got an A on my first real english paper. My english class is all about argumentation and arguing effectively through writing. The assignment was to write about any topic concerning families or realtioniships pertaining to the series of articles we had read. I decided that I would write about how the leaglization of same-sex marriage would be harmful to society and the traditional family. I turned it in last week and have been waiting all week to see my grade. I was very pleased with my grade. Now I'll have to come up with something just as good for this weeks assignment.

I copied my paper into this post if you want to read it, but it is about a 3 1/2 page paper so if you really don't care then you can feel free to stop here.
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Family values, the definition of family and the homosexual agenda are some of the most prevalent issues concerning our society today. Political debates and judicial hearings dealing with these issues have become the common interest pieces of the modern media. Such a controversial issue has resulted in many arguments and opinions formed on whether or not the implementation of legalizing same-sex marriage would be beneficial or detrimental to society and the traditional American family. Advocates of same-sex marriage pose the question to opponents of how legalizing same-sex marriages could possibly be harmful to society. However, there are many problems that would arise from lawmakers compromising on this issue, and these problems could destroy the traditional American family as we know it.
If someone were asked to define what the term “traditional family” meant, every explanation would include a marriage relationship between one man and one woman, and then continue on with addition of children and so forth. Unfortunately, over the past few decades this definition has been challenged with increasing severity. Proponents of the homosexual life style in America have increasingly been working to force their agenda upon lawmakers as well as the American society as a whole. The judicial system has never been more saturated with cases dealing with the issue of same sex civil unions than it is right now. Homosexuals are rising up in an effort to redefine marriage and this puts the existence of traditional families in jeopardy.
Homosexuals try to justify their cause by claiming that the denial of a legal marriage is an infringement on their civil rights and liberties. However, if lawmakers choose to compromise on this issue and legalize same-sex marriage, where then is the line drawn in terms of what is considered legal for a marriage relationship? If same-sex marriages are legal should polygamy become legal? If two men or two women are legally recognized as a married couple, then why not two men and one woman? Or who is to say that a marriage between a father and his daughter should not also become legalized? To deny marriage to any of these extreme relationships, from the standpoint of homosexuals, would be an infringement upon their civil rights. Redefining marriage in this way could result in the existence of any of these seemingly radical relationships, and that could result in permanently altering, or even destroying the American family.
The redefinition of marriage would not just affect adults, but every member of the family, namely children. According to findings reported by Dr. James Dobson of Focus On The Family, a non-profit organization committed to protecting family values, many homosexual relationships are actually polygamous. That leaves children whose parents are involved in these types of relationships being tossed around from relationship to relationship. A child could end up with four or six moms rather than the traditional one, or two moms in the case of step-parents. This system is very hard for children to adjust to, and the effects could be severely detrimental. A quote from Dr. D. Merilee Clunis, author of “The Lesbian Parenting Book”, provides evidence that homosexuals do not have a problem using their children as a sort of test subject to gain information on how same-sex marriages affect the development of children. Dr. Clunis writes, “It will be interesting to see overtime whether or not lesbian sons have an easier or harder time developing their gender identity than do boys with live-in fathers” (243). The phrase “it will be interesting to see” is quite disturbing. It shows just how willing homosexuals are to view and treat their children as a social-experiment.
Many professionals who support the homosexual lifestyle will be quick to report that the homosexual lifestyle is no less healthy than participating in heterosexual relationships. Homosexual couples are eager to claim that it is their fundamental human right to be married and that heterosexuals will not even be affected by it. They also argue that there is scientific evidence that suggests there are no significant differences in children raised in heterosexual or homosexual families. However, these statements are false for a number of reasons.
First of all, the same-sex family experiment is just beginning and there have not been significant populations of such families for scientists to observe over a long enough period of time to announce that there is no developmental differences between children raised in a homosexual environment compared to a heterosexual environment. Secondly, in regard to the health issue of homosexual relationships, studies performed by the Family Research Institute indicate that homosexual activities can shorten a person’s life span up to thirty years. This is because leading a homosexual lifestyle makes a person more prone to AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. Finally, the argument that homosexual relationships will not affect anyone but themselves seems naïve. Homosexuality has already infected our culture to an unimaginable degree, so how could the legalization of homosexual marriage not affect every single person? Any change in the supreme legislation of a country, like a constitutional amendment, is going to have some effect on all of the country’s citizens.
Legally recognizing homosexual partners as a married couple would be insulting to the entire institution of marriage. As mentioned before, many homosexual relationships are polygamous, so their efforts to be legally married are not being performed out of a desire to take part in such a special relationship as marriage, which is a sign of a life time commitment to one person. This raises the question of why are homosexuals fighting so hard to gain this title of marriage? Homosexual couples have already succeeded in being granted the legal ability to be joined in civil unions, yet they continue to be unsatisfied. If they simply wanted to be recognized as a couple, then the disputes would have ended when they gained the right in several states to be joined in civil unions, yet they continue to press the issue. The only legal difference between a marriage and a civil union is that a civil union is considered a partial marriage arrangement, and therefore the spouses do not receive any of the federal benefits obtained through marriage. This seems to provide the answer to why homosexuals are fighting so hard to be legally married. They want the legal benefits. To allow marriage to be demoralized like this and used simply as a tool to get all you can from the government would have negative repercussions for generations to come. The marriage relationship is the core foundation of the family unit, and to allow that foundation to crumble because of actions taken by homosexuals would result in the destruction of the family.
The family unit is becoming a precious commodity that needs to be preserved and protected for the sake of our nation. Our nation was founded on the principles of traditional family values. It has been the unwavering commitment to maintain these values as the reputation of the true face of America that has caused the nation to prosper and flourish to the degree that it has. The precedent was set early in our nation’s development and settling for anything less than upholding those standards will only bring about the country’s ruin. Action needs to be taken now to ensure that the traditional American family continues to exist for generations to come, and that means preventing homosexual activists from gaining any more ground as far as legally redefining marriage and families.

Reflection

I have officially been in college for over a month now, so I took some time to reflect upon that. It still seems a little surreal to me that I am now in the midst of the thing that I dreaded for so long. It has definitely been a trying time so far, but I have been learning from it.

I was at the youth group meeting that I attend this past Thursday and the pastor was talking about freedom and how we have the freedom to do what we want to do or to follow God. What he said was good and all, and it is probably new for a lot of the people there, but it's not something that I haven't heard before. However, in the middle of his sermon he veered off a little bit and started telling the story of how the Israelites were brought out of slavery into freedom with Moses and the whole red sea deal. He was explaining this story in great detail and I was getting a little impatient because he kept going on and on and I'm thinking "who hasn't heard this story at least 6 1/2 times?", but then he made this one comment about when the Israelites were on that middle ground between leaving Egypt and getting to the promised land. He made the point that when things got a little rough that the Israelites were immediately ready to turn around and go back to Egypt where they had been comfortable. He was basically just reiterating the fact that choosing the path of following God isn't always easy. He then continued on with the rest of what he had to say, but I stayed there.



I began to compare myself and my situation to the Israelites. I started with comparing Norwalk to Egypt, not because I was enslaved in Norwalk, but because I was comfortable there. This transition has been a hard road and there have been times, especially within the first 2 weeks, that I just wanted to throw in the towel and go back to Norwalk where I was comfortable. I knew how the story ended with God being faithful to the Israelites, so I figured that my lesson to learn from this was that God is faithful, and though the road may be long and the journey hard He will bring me through. That is where my thought process ended during the meeting.



After the meeting when I got back to my room I decided to skim over the chapters in Exodus that contain the story just to confirm to myself what I had been thinking. As I was skimming the chapters I found myself getting a little annoyed with the Israelites. They were continually questioning why God had brought them out of Egypt anytime they got a little uncomfortable. They got a little thirsty so they started questioning God's motives, then God provided for them. Then later on they get hungry, again question God's plans, and again God faithfully provides for them. This process happens a few more times and I found myself really getting annoyed and wondering "When are they going to get it? When are they going to realize that God is going to be faithful to keep His promises and meet their needs?". Right after that it sort of hit me in the face. How many times through this journey have I asked God, "why did you bring me here?, why do things have to be so hard?, and when are things going to get easier?". I have been acting just like the Israelites. God has never let me down. He has continually been faithful and whenever things get a little bit hard I immediately start questioning His plans.



The realization of that just totally rocked my world. I can't believe how I've been acting. I immediately felt the need to repent for my actions. God has continued to be faithful; it's me who hasn't held up my end of the bargain and totally trusted Him. This past month has definitely been a process of learning to trust God and be patient waiting on His timing. I am still on that middle ground between Egypt and the promised land where there are struggles and hard circumstances, but I am choosing to no longer act like the Israelites. I don't take my relationship with God for granted, so I will trust God's plans for me without question because I know that His plans for me are great, and better than anything I could ever come up with.



My trip so far has been quite uncomfortable, but if that's what it takes for me to learn this lesson then I am thankful for it. I'm quite sure that my struggles are not ever yet, but in the midst of them I can look forward to the lesson that will be learned from it and God's continued faithfulness.

A Sad Situation

There was a bomb threat today for the college of arts & sciences building, but that's not the sad part. The sad part is that they closed the building right after my first class, which is in that building so I had to go to it. I got a text message during my second class saying that the building was closed. I was disappointed about not missing my first class, but I have my statistics class in that building later on in the day so I was hoping that I might get out of that. Then in my government class while I was taking notes on my laptop I checked the school website and they said that the building would reopen at 1:10pm. How convienient, my statistics class starts at 1:10. Urgh. I was very sad to have to attend that class. It has got to be the most boring class in the world. When the class started, ny professor asked who was disappointed about having class today and everyone raised their hand. Then she said, "well atleast we got to have class today because there will be times when you want to come to class and you won't be able to". I couldn't help but laugh at her. I don't think that day will ever come when it's statistics class. That is probably the only time all semester that she will be funny. At least she she got one joke in there.

Minesweeper

Everyone has heard of and probably played the computer game minesweeper. It comes on every computer so it's practically unavoidable. I had played it a couple of times, but I didn't really see the point because I thought it was just a random guessing game and I never won. I certainly was not going to waste my time on a game that I wasn't good at. Then, one life altering day Belle enlightened me with a little piece of information about minesweeper. She tells me that their actually is a strategy. Well, she got it out in between burst of laughter at my naiveness. (that is a real word) Since that day I have been attempting to beat the game, but failing miserably. However, today it finally happened. That's right, after 230 games of minesweeper on the beginner's level I won 1 game. It was a glorious moment in history.

Moral of the story: Perseverance Pays Off

The Easiest $100 I've Ever Made

My spanish teacher made an announcment in class today that one of the students in our class needs notes to be taken for them for the rest of the semester, and if we were interested to see her after class. I told her I would be willing to do it because during her announcment she said that the office of accessibility will pay you $100 for being a note taker. She gave me this little paper that I took to the office of accessibility, then I filled out a couple of papers, and I got the job. But wait, it gets even better.

We don't actually take notes in spanish class. she gives us worksheets and through out the class period we end up filling them out. So after each class she will just have to make a copy of my worksheet, and then I just have to give it to the student. I'm not doing any more work than I would be regularly. It's like I'm finally getting paid just to show up to class and do what I would normally do anyways. How sweet is that!?! The only downside is that I don't get paid until December. I could definitely use the money now, but it will come in handy in December too.

Quick Update

I figured I better do some type of update since I haven't blogged since Monday. Classes went well this week. I took my spanish quiz and only missed 1 1/2 points. Of course "el piso" was not on the quiz. Wednesday was Student Appreciation day, so there was a bunch of free stuff. Free stuff is always good. I also gave blood on Wednesday, and I didn't even get a bruise. I'm not sure if I'm happy about that or not. It seems like more of a sacrifice when you get a bruise. Maybe that's just me. My blood pressure was really good. Much lower than say about 2 years ago. So that's a good thing.

Wednesday was also the first time that I met with my small group. It is a group of about 10 people and we get together for a bible study every wednesday night at Starbucks. That went pretty well I thought. One of the girls in the group talked about having a smallgroup party at her house and she has a nintendo Wii. El Grande Nerdo will be so jealous.

I went to the women's soccer game last night. That was really cool. Then today I volunteered at a local homeless shelter with a couple of other people from one of the student organizations I'm involved with. That was a pretty good time too, and it gave me something to do today, which was the real goal.

That's pretty much my week in review. Just trying to stay busy. My faithful readers are all updated now.

I Guess That Was A Bad Idea

I've been working on learning my spanish vocabulary because the first quiz is on Thursday. I have had trouble remembering the word for floor, so I had this brilliant idea. I decided that I could write the word, "el piso" on the floor in dry erase marker, then I would see it and make the association. I tested a little mark on the floor to make sure the marker would come off, and it did. I then proceeded to write "el piso" on my floor. I went away, and when I checked it later it would not come off. I ended up getting it off with my clorox bleach pen,but maybe that wasn't such a brilliant idea. However, I do remember the word now.

Not So Exciting City Life

Well it is the weekend, which in university terms means no classes. I have come to realize that most people that go to the University of Akron choose it because they live near by. That means that they all go home on the weekends. It is really weird to walk around campus and only pass a few people when during the week there are roughly 24,000 students bopping around.

Since I am not one of the fortunate ones that gets to return home every weekend, I have to find something to occupy my time with here. There is of course some homework and reading that I could do to prepare for classes next week, but I didn't want to do that the whole weekend. I decided that to kill some time I would head out into the big city and see what I could find. So I left campus and headed for the really big buildings, but when I got there I found a whole lot of nothing going on. There were some bars and hole in the wall restaurants, but not much more than that. Oh, and there was a Farmer's Market. What could be more exciting than a Famer's Market? Ha.

As I was walking around I saw a car pass that looked like Eddy. It made me wish that I had a car now. If I had a car maybe I could at least find a Wal-Mart or some other recognizable business, but alas I have no car, and no Wal-Mart. What is a girl to do?

I did work out today after my hike around Akron, but I've pretty much exausted all of my options. I will probably have to resort to doing homework now. I guess big city life isn't really all it's made out to be.

Happy Birthday

Happy 14th Birthday to El Nerdo Grande (ha ha, I make myself laugh)

A Wonderful Weekend

I had been anticipating coming home for the weekend all last week, and my expectations were met. I have had a super fun time and I got to catch up with somethings the I had missed even being away only a week. I was able to go to a soccer game, a cross country meet this evening, a smokin' hot bon fire, and just do the whole "hanging out" thing. Now I am sad to say that the weekend has come to an end, but I suppose it is time to go back to school.

I consider last weeks absence sort of a pre- leaving for college time because now it is going to be quite a bit longer than a week before I am scheduled to visit again. I still need you guys to pray for me. I need all the help I can get. But I do want to say thanks to everyone for making this weekend great. I will miss you guys, and I can't wait to see you again. Until then, I'll try to keep updating regularly.

Hasta luego

Wordless Wednesday

First Day of School

I survived my first day of classes. I made it to them on time too. They all seem like they are going to be fine. A couple of the professors seem fun and couple seem really boring, but that's something I'll just have to deal with.

The only drawback it that instead of ordering my books through the school bookstore, I ordered them from a web site called abe books. I really thought I was beating the system because I only paid $1 for each book plus shipping. Then I get to class and find out that I bought older editions of the books so now I have to get the new ones from the bookstore. That literally cost about 100x more than what I paid for the wrong books online. Now I have homework and the wrong books, so I can't do it. I don't have any classes on Tuesdays, so hopefully my order will be processed quickly and I can get my books from the bookstore on Tuesday and be all prepared for Wednesday.

After classess, I finally got to visit the rec center. It is really big and it was super busy when I went, but I was able to find a tredmill in the back and I ran for 20 minutes. Here is a picture of the rec center.

Well, that's about all I have for now. I've been thinking about and praying for you guys going back to school today. I know you all are going to do great. See ya soon.

Day 3 in the Big City

On the agenda for today they had an assembly about Akron traditions and a welcome festival. The welcome festival had information about clubs and student organizations. It is one of my theories that the more I get involved in clubs the more people I will meet and the easier my transition into college life will be. That being said, this is what I signed up for:

1. AK Rowdies (they sit together and cheer at sports games)
2. Students for Life ( this is a pro-life student organization, not me commiting to be in college forever)
3. Associated Student Government
4. College Republicans
5. Campus Focus ( this is the campus ministry group)
6. ZPN (Zips Programing Network- they plan a lot of the on campus events)

After signing up for clubs I went to the soccer game to cheer them on. They beat Cleveland State 3-0. Go Zips! Right after the game was over I got a call from Piano Boy. Then I talked to Belle for a while and finished with JR. During these conversations I missed a call from my Mom so I called her back and talked to everyone else at home as well. After all of this chating I think I have reached a record even I didn't think was possible. I talk on the phone for an hour and a half. It shocks me even, but it was nice to hear from people at home and get caught up with things.

Finally I met my bathroom mate after 3 days of being here. She must have just moved in today or something. Her name is Annie and she seemed nice. Now I'm just trying to prepare myself for classes starting tomorrow. I have a full schedule starting at 8:50 and going until 2. I'm hoping that everything goes well and that I'm not bombarded with homework, but I really don't know what to expect. I don't like being the unexperienced freshman all over again, but I guess I'll have to deal with it.

Well, that would be my day in review. I'm sure I'll be updating tomorrow with a report on how classes went. Gives you a little something to look forward to right?

Aloha from Akron (now that's a great aliteration)

I been in Akron 2 days now so I figured it was time for an update. On Friday I got moved into my dorm room. Then I attended my floor meeting and met my resident assistants Eric and Kate. They both remember my name already. Eric remembers my name because we are both political science majors, and Kate remembers my name because she is in charge of Hall Government and I turned in my application to her about 1/2 hour after she gave it to me. Elections for Hall Government will be early next month, so we'll see how that goes. On friday I also went to see the comedian that they had performing because we are encouraged to participate in welcome weekend activities, but she was terrible. I'll remember that for next time. Here is what my room looks like.



Today (saturday) I went bowling. I also signed up for the AK Rowdies club. They go to home games and cheer on the team. I think it will be fun, and it gets me involved on campus. It also gives me an excuse to go to the soccer games. It amazes me that even though I only played for 1 season, I still really miss it. The first soccer game is tomorrow at 5pm, so I'm looking forward to that.

Tonight they had an event at the National Inventers Hall of Fame, which is down the street from campus. They started off with the resident assistants from each dorm do a little lip syncing performance. That was entertaining. Then afterward it was a casino themed event. They gave us tokens and raffle tickets, but that didn't help me much because I don't know how to play the gambling card games. Instead I put my tokens in the slot machine to get rid of them, but I kept winning more. I finally got rid of them. My ticket got pulled for the raffle and I won a $25 gift card to Olive Garden.

Tomorrow is the big welcome assembly where they will have all of the information about clubs and such. I will probably update tomorrow about what I join. Until then, I miss you all. Keep praying for me. I will see you soon and update even sooner.

On the Verge of Destiny

Within 24 hours my blog will step into its full destiny. The reason I created a blog many months ago was for the purpose of keeping the general public informed and updated with my life at college. That time has nearly come. Tomorrow is a big day for my blog and I. We will embark into the unknown and have adventures of all sorts, and then report them back here all while using proper grammar. I know. This sounds like a huge under taking, adventures AND proper grammar, but some how I know my blog and I will survive.

Ok, that's enough dramatizing for one post. On a serious note, tomorrow really is an important day. A day that I have had mixed emotions about for probably somewhere around the time frame of a year. Most of these emotions have left me dreading this day, but as of recently I have had a change of mind. For the majority of the past year I have had the recurring thought process of "this is going to be so hard, and I don't know how I can survive leaving everyone and everything I have ever known and care about behind, etc. etc". However, over the past couple of weeks, instead of thinking about all of the negative things, I came to the realization that I shouldn't be having negative feelings about being obedient to God. I am taking a step into my destiny by doing this, and this is what God has for me at this time, so of course I can survive.

I am very thankful for this shift in thinking because I originally expected these last few weeks to be the hardest ones, but in reality the opposite happened. I think that I am as ready as I can be
for college, and though it's not going to be easy, it is definately do-able.

So, I'm all packed up and "ready" for whatever happens. My blog is ready too. We promise to update more often than we have in the past. So don't worry, you'll be hearing from me.

That's A Lot Of Bathtubs

Most of you probably already know this, but I work as a housekeeper for a local motel. I was scheduled to work today, which was uncommon because I don't usually work on Mondays. However, I showed up as was requested of me, and my boss lady forgot that she had scheduled me. She had already assigned all of the rooms, so instead of cleaning rooms she had me do different odd jobs all day. Task #1 for the day was to scrub all of the bath tubs on the list she gave me. Do you want to guess how many bathtubs I scrubbed today?

If you guessed 28 then you would be right. Talk about some serious scrubbing. Fortunately none of them were as nasty as my picture.

Something to Think About

I was reading one of the little magazine inserts that come in the paper recently. Contained in the magazine was a section devoted to answering people's questions, sort of like Dear Abby. This question was deemed "too funny to answer" so she didn't give an answer, but I really want one. Here's the question:

Why do birds sometimes pick a single vehicle to make a mess on? Do they have a warped sense of humor or are they not capable of this kind of thought?

When Belle & I went to Cedar Point last week, the stupid seagulls pooped on my car eight times while leaving every other car in the surrounding rows clean. Why is that?







* Please notice that I have now posted 2 days in a row. How's that for making up for a postless July? That deserves be a pat on the back for self. Good Job Super-K! *

Getting Crafty With My Bad Self

The rumors are true. I have been crafting. This may come as a shock to some, but I actually enjoyed it. Even I can't believe that I just admitted to that. Anyways, thanks to the help of Mama Lily and Shagga Bear I got in touch with my crafty side.

I made pillows with Mama Lily:


And I painted with Shagga Bear:


What do you think?

I'm In Love!

It was love at first sight. After being introduced to him by my very best friend , I immediately had to sit down at the risk of fainting in the presence of such a flawless creation as he. I could hold him in my arms for hours as he sings me sweet melodies. I've never felt this way before. It's like I'm walking on the clouds.
OK, now I'm just being silly, but I did find my dream guitar yesterday. It is a beautiful 12-string acoustic electric guitar that was undoubtedly made just for me. Hopefully someday Orlando (that's what I decided his name will be) and I will be reunited once and for all time. However, until that day comes, Orlando will have to live on in my dreams because I'm hesitant to make such a big purchase, and I would have to part with Peter in order for Orlando to occupy my heart.

It's About Time

I can hear the dramatic gasps now, and I'm trying not to get sucked away. It's true, this is an actual update. I've neglected my blog for far too long. So here we go.

I survived my senior year of high school, and I am now an official high school graduate, diploma and all. Now I guess I'll have to get used to being a freshman again. My classes are scheduled for college and I have my student ID. I'll be taking Honors English Comp. II , Statistics, Honors Psychology, U.S. Gov't & Politics, and Spanish I this fall. Here are some pictures from graduation:

Then a few days after graduation I was off to Washington DC for the Trans-Generational War Council meeting. That was totally awesome. Any time you get to go to DC you know it is going to be awesome. All of the speakers were really good, and I enjoyed praying at the Capitol Building. The whole trip was really good, but quite exhausting. After returning to Norwalk Saturday afternoon I ended up sleeping 13 hours. I don't know about you, but that is a personal record for me. Here are a few more pictures. ( for better pictures check out Mama Lily's post)



Then on Monday Belle and I decided to take an excursion to Home Depot. I'm sure you can all guess whose idea that was. Anyways, Mama Lily was in need of a little break so Thaddeus, Puk Puk and Doodle Bug ended up coming with us. We all piled into Eddy and set off for Sandusky. We made it to Home Depot and Belle bought a board, then we ventured to a couple of other stores. Puk Puk and Doodle Bug are so willing to try things on that we just had to take their picture. Here they are:

Thadeus in a cabinet at Home Depot / PukPuk & Doodle at the Dollar store

These are at MC Sports

Do we know how to have a good time or what?

I Really Do Look Famous!

Art Expo

Since it's the end of the year I am finishing up my art projects and getting to take home the ones I did earlier in the year. Do you want to see them?

I'll start at the begining of the year with a couple of drawings I did in my Advanced Drawing class:


Next is my pot that I just finished:


And here is my final project for the year. I am carving a polar bear out of alabaster. It gets pretty messy when I use the dremel.

My egg that has been the subject of previous posts will be displayed in the fair this year. I think my giraffe drawing might be there too.

The Call

http://thecall.com/vision.php

There's A New Blog In Town.

NEWS FLASH: Dylan has entered the blog world, so make sure you check it out here. There are high expectations for his blog to be a funny one, but I'm sure he can pull it off. He is MY brother after all. I've taught him everything he knows.

What type of flower are you?

After taking the rose quiz on Mama Lily's blog, I saw this quiz and thought I would find out what other kind of flower I "relate" to.

You Are a Carnation

You are down to earth and grounded. You tend to be more traditional than trendy. Your confidence gets you through anything. People trust you and are very loyal to you.

What Flower Are You?

Then I found this fun quiz too.

You Are Cranberry Red

Peaceful and philosophical, you are almost always at harmony with the world. You're not very social, but you always enjoy a deep, complex conversation with a friend. It's possible that you've been disappointed a lot in your life, but you've gotten over those disappointments quickly. For you, each day is new and glorious. You wake up refreshed and happy, even when things aren't going your way.

What Color Red Are You?