Wordless Wednesday

Senior-itis is Setting in Already.

I think I have a mildly severe case of the dreaded Senior-itis. For those of you who don't know what it is, Senior-itis is when upon nearing the end of one's school career they feel unmotivated to put forth any real effort into their school work. Severe cases result in numerous absences from school. I don't plan on my case progressing to that point.

I have become tired of going to school, and work for that matter. They just seem so boring lately. Unfortunately both are unavoidable. This is not a good thing to be so bored because I still have 4 months of school and roughly 7 months of work. Normally I wouldn't consider that a very long time, however, from my current stand point on the top of Mount Boredom this seems like an eternity. What is a girl to do?

There is a slight glimpse of joy when school is over, but then it is quickly driven away by the thought that next I have to work and sit some more at my boring desk job. I'm so happy when the clock strikes 6 and work is over that I run to my car. Then once I reach my house I am filled with happiness because I am done with work and school for another day.

I have decided to blame this sudden case of Senior-itis on the weather ( i've got to have something to blame it on right?). I am always, always cold and I think that the temperature is finally getting to me. I've been strong for so long, but I just can't stand it anymore. I was thinking recently, (I'm always thinking), and I came to the conclusion that I have been cold enough to wear a sweatshirt for nearly 5 months! I want to be warm! I hope the weather changes soon so that I can be cured of my Senior-itis.

Harder Than The First Time

This is the title to a song by Barlow Girl. Barlow Girl is my favorite band by far because so many of their songs speak to me personally. When I got to speak at youth group I used one of their songs that really fit with what I was speaking about and what I was going through. Now I have another one.

This song is about how sometimes you kind of take God for granted. Lately I have been letting other things get in the way of really setting aside the time to press in to God and read my bible, that sort of thing. I get so busy with work and school that I just fit in time to spend with Him when I can. I know that this is not the way to do things, and so it frustrates me even more because I still do it. I will be consistent about reading my bible everyday for a week or so, but then I fall back into the pattern of letting the concerns of life get in the way.

How can I expect God to use me to make an impact and see change in my school when I'm not committed to spending time with him the way I know I should be. For awhile I haven't felt like God has been using me much to impact the people around me. I'm sure my lack of consistency in my relationship with Him has something to do with it.

I have been following God for a while and so throughout this time I have learned a lot. I know that God is in control and he will take care of me, and so this is how I sometimes take him for granted. I have just gotten used to knowing that no matter what, God will always be there when I need him. However, I absolutley know that this is not the way I want to keep doing things.

I am NOT SATISFIED with things the way they are. I'm NOT OK with the fact that I have not really been making an impact on the people around me. I want to know more about God and the plan that He has for my life, and I know that letting other unimportant things distract me from Him will not get me to the place I want to be. This song kind of embodies how I feel and how I have acted lately.

Harder Than the First Time

I walked with you

Just like we've done for so long

You seemed so near

But even that's become so common

It's not just you, just been together so long

That I thought I knew everything about you

But today I saw; did you open up my eyes?

'Cause I feel like I've just seen you for the first time

Chorus

I didn't see you

But God I want to

You've come alive and I think I've fallen harder than the first time

Was I so blind; how did I not see you?

Yet in all that time you never left my side

So for all my life, I will live to know you

So here I am; I'll take your hand

Bridge

I see your face; I feel you close

The love you've always shown me

Won't miss it now, can't waste a day

Jesus I'm yours completely

I have come to the realization that when you are going through a problem that you're usually not the only one going through it. So this is my challenge to my fellow bloggers and readers who go to school with me, it is time to re-evaluate how committed you have actually been in your relationship with God. I know that there are some things that I need to do differently, and I am commiting to make the necessary changes because I'm not satisfied with things the way they are now.

We are all in this fight together to transform our school. When we all aren't serving God to our fullest capacity, then as a group we can't reach our full potential. School will be over in 4 months, and I'm not willing to let this school year to be wasted because I let other things get in the way of my commitment to God.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

Oxymorons!

English class is one of my favorites because I really like words and writing an essay is super easy for me. I thoroughly enjoy learning new vocabulary words and once I've learned them I anxoiusly await an opportunity to use them. The dictionary and thesarus are my favorite reference books. I also dominate in Scrabble and Mad Gab. I could play for hours.

I also enjoy literary devices such as alliteration and irony. However, my absolute favorite is the oxymoron. Oxymorons are so much fun to use and stumbling upon new ones fills my heart with joy. I have come up with a list of some of the oxymorons that I like:

1. jumbo shrimp


2. boxing ring


3. bittersweet


4. black light


5. constant change


6. definite maybe


7. larger half


8. live recording


9. mindless thinking


10. plastic silverware


11. original copy


12. freezer burn


13. hard water


14. pretty ugly


15. seriously funny

Now wasn't that SO much fun!?!

Will Justice Be Served?

Today I attended the school board meeting. The 2 issues of major importance were abstinence based sex education and random drug testing being implemented into our schools. I am in favor of both, but I found it interesting to hear the arguments from both sides. I did not speak out at the meeting because I was not aware of procedure in which the meeting would be conducted, so I did not prepare anything. I also feel a little uninformed on the details because I had to miss the informational meeting last week. However, I do have my own opinions, and I have decided to share my views.

I agree with abstinence based sex education because teen pregnancy is a growing problem in the high school, and is trickling down to the middle school. A change in the sex education program needs to occur that puts more emphasis on abstinence instead of just promoting the use of contraceptives.

I am also in favor of random drug testing. I am well aware of the 4th amendment involving search & seizure. However, students are required by law to attend school, at least until the age of 16. While attending school, the responsibility for protecting the students falls on the school system. A student using drugs causes harm to themselves and potentially those around them. I believe that the implementation of random drug testing will reduce the number of student users because of the increased chance of getting caught, therefore protecting the students.

Another argument raised against this issue is that random drug testing infringes on the students privacy. I disagree with this statement and say that drug testing is no more an infringment on privacy than requiring student to change clothes for gym class in an open locker room. Drug testing is an effort to protect students, not take away their privacy.

It was exciting to attend this meeting and see people willing to standing up for what they believe is right. It was encouragin to see that there are many supporters of these issues. Hopefully the board members will be able to set their reputations aside and make a decision based on what they know is right.

Back In The Habit

After 3 wonderful snow days it was time to return to school, work, and all those other things you do during a normal day. Although I was getting a little bored, returning to school is so unfortunate for a number of reasons. Now, I have to get up at 6AM and stay up instead of heading back to bed. The return to school also means the return of homework, tests, etc. ahhh! Homework just does not fit in my box. If 7 hours a day isn't enough time to get everything done then the teachers should be penalized, not the students with more hours of work outside of school. I think child labor laws should be applied here. Yes, I can hear it now "There, There" .

Let's move away from the subject of school and on to other thoughts. My 3 snowdays were quite enjoyable. I went sledding, I got to miss work for 2 days, took some dogs for a walk in subzero temperatures, had a couple of air soft gun fights, and I got to drive in treacherous weather (very exciting), the list goes on and on. I did not, however, enjoy having to shovel the entire driveway and sidewalk 4 times. I do like to shovel, but 4 times is overkill.

Well, I suppose I am all updated now, but I will return soon to post again.

A Day To Remember

No, nothing amazing happened. Today was just a day of recalling things from the past. First I was remembering old basketball seasons with some of my basketball buddies, who also don't play anymore, while we were in the lunch line. It was fun to remember seasons gone by. We all three concluded that we don't miss the drama between the team members and the coaches who were less than encouraging, but we definatley miss playing. I wish they had a rec league for older kids.

Last night my Mom and I were going through my old sports photos, certificates, etc. and organizing them to put into a scrap book. I love pictures. My favorite part is looking at pictures and remembering what was going on right before that picture was taken. Looking at my old sports pictures allowed me to remember all of the fun times I've had during my numerous basketball seasons (8 to be exact) as well as my lone cross country and soccer seasons.

Then, this evening for dinner we had spaghetti. After I was done I decide I would spell my name with the noodles left over on my plate.

This reminded me of the time that us Westies went to the Harts for dinner. It was a mexican theme and we had spanish rice. The spanish rice contained green peppers. I am not a big fan of cooked green peppers so I picked them all out of my rice. Then, after I was done, I made a smiley face out of the green peppers. Linda found that humorous and she has liked me ever since. It must have been those green peppers.

I also got to walk with Belle in the hall at school for about 2.5 seconds. That hasn't happened since last year so that was special too.

Today was a day to reminisce.

Plans Are Changing... But It's All Good

This week I delivered my speech in english class about my future plans, and what I want to do with my life. It was an extremely difficult assignment for me. First of all it was a speech. I am not terrified of public speaking, but it is not my favorite thing. Also, I haven't been really sure of what I want to do with my life because I keep changing my mind.
I have changed my mind once again. Most of you probably knew that I was planning on studying physical therapy this fall. Well, I have since changed my mind, and now I have decided to major in political science.

I know this is in a totally different ball park from physical therapy, but I feel more confident with this major than with any of the others I have considered. This is a weird major for me to pick because I wasn't really interested in government/politics until this past summer. I don't know as much as I should about the government and how it all works, but that is probably why I have enjoyed my Senior Social Studies class so much. It surprisingly has become my favorite. I finally have a government teacher that is as passionate about teaching it as I am about learning it.

A couple of events have occured that have sort of reassured me of my decision. A couple of weeks ago my Senior Social Studies teacher kept me after class. He asked what my plans for after high school were and I told him political science. He encouraged me, and told me that I would do really well in that major. The reason he had kept me after class was because he had gotten information about the Ashbrook Center, a division of Ashland University focused on public affairs and politics that is primarily conservative. He said that he thought of me when he got the information, and thought I might be interested. Isn't that special? Then just his week after sharing my thoughts on some issues in my small group during class there are a few girls who are convinced I should be the first woman president. Ha Ha. I just laughed to myself. I don't see that happening.

Now I've been thinking to myself "why couldn't that happen?". I think a lot of the time I don't give myself enough credit. I catch myself comparing my work or my talents with others, and I never seem to measure up. Sometimes I let those "everyone is better than me" lies get in the way of seeing myself the way God sees me. I know he has a plan specifically for my life with important things that I need to accomplish.

So it is time that I stop limiting God's power and how he can use me to change the world around me. I see all of my short comings and mistakes magnified, while God sees me as a beautiful, strong, intelligent woman with an amazing future ahead of me.

So I guess what I'm saying is "God, If you want me to be the first woman president then I'm all for it. I want accomplish all that you have for me to do and I'm not going to let fear & doubt stand in my way".

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

Cold Day Happenings

School was closed again today because of the cold. It has been a long time since we had 2 days off in a row.

Since I didn't have school today I went to the rec to work out. It was lots of fun. I am going to be super buff in no time. After working out, Belle & I BEAT JR & DP in a game of basketball. We've still got it after a few years of not playing.

Well, after the rec I went to work for a little bit. Then, when I came home from work I started on a project and recruited DP to help me (this gets dangerous).

My project was to remove the burrs from my gloves. They got completely covered during a sledding excursion a few weeks ago, and I haven't had time to sit down and pick them off.

DP and I started by picking them off one by one. I quicky grew impatient with this ( if you can imagine) and tried to think of alternatives. I first tried the vacuum cleaner. That didn't do a thing. Next I had DP put the gloves on, and I covered them in duct tape, then quickly pulled it off. This worked a little bit, but not nearly well enough. My next thought was to check the internet.

Before I got on the internet I put hot water on the stove to make cappucino because I am freezing. Then I embarked on my search to get rid of these burrs. Eventually the teapot whistled so I took it off the stove. DP, who was wearing one of my burr covered gloves, came in behind me to make hot chocolate. Before I had a chance to turn off the stove DP had this bright idea to touch the stove with his hand that had the glove on it to see if it was hot. Of course it was hot, it was still turned on. Needless to say, the glove was burnt.

I lauged at his ridiculousness for a moment, then made him give me his gloves. Now I have new gloves that are free of burrs. Mission accomplished!

No School!

Today is a glorious day because there is no school thanks to the subzero temperatures. I have been waiting so long for a cancellation. I just knew this day would come. There are a few reasons why this "cold day" is so wonderful:

1. Sleeping in - I love the idea of sleeping in, but it is pretty much impossible to do so. Every morning that I have to get up for school I would much rather sleep in, but when I actually have the chance it never happens no matter how late I stay up the night before. Last night I stayed up until around 2:30 am at some friends house because I knew I could sleep in today. However, 7:45 am rolls around and I just have to get up. I wish I could sleep in.



2. More Time to Work On My Speech- Yes speech. The student teacher that I have for english thought it would be a great idea to have us write a speech about our future plans and what we want to do with our lives. And if that wasn't bad enough, the speech has to be 7-1o minutes long. AHHHHH! This seems nearly impossible to come up with 7 minutes worth of talking material, but I can't do sub-standard work so I'll have to come up with something. At least I have an extra day to prepare . Now I don't have to deliver my speech until Wednesday. If only I had something to write about.



3. More Time to Prepare For Other School Work- I am a firm believer that teachers collaborate together and plan their tests for the same days. Not only will I have my speech on Wednesday, but the tests that were planned for Tuesday will be pushed back. That means a Pre-Calculus test and a Sociology test to go along with my speech. Aye Aye Aye.



4. No Set Schedules- I can do whatever I want, as long as I'm at work by 3:30. I could stay inside all day, go to a movie ( if there were anythign worth watching), or go work out at the rec. However, it looks like today will be filled with preparation for school tomorrow.

I am so happy that I don't have school today, but all the preparation for school that this day contains makes this "cold day" is a little bitter sweet.

Why Hello There!

Yes. I have succumbed to peer pressure and started my own blog. This should be interesting.

I plan on filling this blog with inspiring tales of my life and how I overcome seemingly insurmountable challenges and still remain magnificent. However, there is no time for that now. But never fear, for I will return to post again.