Latest Mixed Greens Podcast

Seriously, there is one. Boy I was sure waiting for the next one, they kept us in suspense with that spinach or chard question last week.

Anyway: My birthday happened yesterday! That is way more important than mixed greens!

All in all, it was up there on the top 10 best birthdays list (which isn't that hard since I've only had 18 of them...) but also probably the busiest birthday I've ever had. I stayed up late the night before to cram for my Culture of Capitalism midterm until I couldn't see straight. I kept checking facebook, of course. Brittany Dukatz from my FIG was the first one to write on my wall, so props to Brit! And double props to Jenell who texted me at midnight and then again during the day!

Then I got up early to run 4 miles. The first song I heard on my birthday was "The Circle of Life" from the Lion King, coincidence? yeah probably. I had to rush to shower and make it to my leadership meeting. Leadership turned into "let's play pool in the basement" which is totally cool with me. Hey, leaders need to play pool too. The best part was the present Shantell got for me. She is the sweetest girl, let me tell you. She got me all these great inside joke things like tomato soup and toothpaste and a pedicure thing which was all awesome and hilarious, plus a pez dispenser and rice krispies treats fixins. The best part though was the cd she made for me! She went through each year I've been alive and picked out a song! Highlights include "Smells like Teen Spirit," by Nirvana (1990), "Blaze of Glory," by Bon Jovi (1994), "Popular," from Wicked (2003), and "This Fire," by Franz Ferdinand (2004) and many, many others. Shantelle gets like a million points.

After pool I had to stuff down my lunch and cram for my midterm. I was not too happy with my preparedness. Then, at 1:50 pm, exactly 10 minutes before my midterm I got a call from First Year Programs office telling me I GOT MY DREAM JOB!!!! Residential FIG Assistant for the As the World Shrinks FIG!!!! Best day ever. I was so excited. I called mom on my way (late) to class. I'm still so happy, I had completely given up on the possibility and then it made the best birthday present ever, second only to the awesome cd from Shantelle of course.

After that I went to Bible study and my buddies sang (if you can call it that) happy birthday to me and bought me a cupcake from Dux. So good. I came back to the dorms and called my family for realsies. After that Tony came upstairs to hang out and he stuck around till like midnight, and we had some great conversation, but I didn't start on my huge project until after that. I stayed up till 2 and then got up early and skipped everything in order to finish it on time. I think it turned out OK. I have absolutely no idea what I wrote in the essay part, and I'm pretty sure I just made some stuff up. Oh well.

So I know I was going to post about the conference. Something really amazing definitely happened at the conference, and I took lots of notes, but I haven't had time yet to collect and organize my thoughts. Maybe this weekend.

Yay for this weekend. I'm gonna hang out with beautiful Marcy in beautiful Bellingham. I found a ride to the airport, but I do not yet have a ride from the airport on Sunday. At some point I'll have to decide what to do about Sunday night dinner. I like my new schedule of doing long runs on Monday morning because it makes my weekend more relaxing and I don't really do anything Monday mornings anyhow.

Oh! Other big news is that my scary International Negotiation essay final has been canceled and instead we are doing a reprise of the neat little exercise we did on the first week of class plus a reflection paper, but nothing during finals week! Yay!

Um....other big news is that I may get a tattoo this weekend, I promise to post pictures. Also...the LA mission trip meeting is tonight and I have to not forget to bring $50. Also...I got nominated for student staff for InterVarsity next year and I have to do that application at some point, before Saturday night. Also, hopefully I will know more details about Africa soon now that going in September is definitely out of the question.

That seems to be most of it. There are a million other things going on as well, but I need to go finish my discussion homework. ttyl.

Aaaaaaand.....

its my birthday. I'm 18.

yay!

Aaugh!!!

In a review session for my culture of capitalism midterm which takes place on Wednesday. I have a lot of reading to do. Like six chapters....oops. I have an FHS quiz tomorrow also which I don't know if I'm very ready for yet, and a NT quiz that I am also not ready for yet. The plan is to head to the library for a couple of hours before watching the boys play basketball, and then to the basement? or maybe I'll go to sleep after the game. Yeah, that sounds good.

I'm so tired, man. The weekend was awesome but emotionally and physically draining, and then this morning I woke up early and ran 11.2 miles. Thats right, 11.2. I got kind of dehydrated towards the end I think though, so I was dizzy for a while and felt rather awful today. I've got to figure out how to remedy that. I ran home in the middle of my run, a little over an hour in, to drink to gatorade, but when you run for a really long time you're supposed to drink it every 20 minutes or so. It took me a really long time to finish the last two miles. I skipped int'l negotiation to nap this afternoon. Jessica was napping all afternoon. She helped her mom move all weekend and is also tired.

My FHS final project is due on Friday. This is going to be an interesting week.

Mind Blown, Call back Later

Yeah, freaking awesome. I'm trying to decide how to organize my narrative. If I become remotely coherent and organized in the next 24-48 I may try to break things into five or so individual blog posts.

In conclusion: I heart the Sabbath, singing in Spanish, Malaysians and Koreans, and Psalm 130. Also, Jesus.

Cool beans: Ashley Miranda and Alex Roy came along for the Revolution, along with their IV staff which includes Debbie, Jason Rowland's wife. Very cool beans.

So much more to tell but a combination of not sleeping much/mind blowing conference craziness/ crying more tonight that I have in that past year combined makes for one tired little girl.

Waiting for the Revolution to begin

I am so totally stoked right you guys have no idea. In 20 minutes or so I am heading out to Portland for the weekend to the InterVarsity Jesus the Revolution conference! I'm riding with Dawn, my marathon buddy, and a couple of other cool cats. Plus, what is also neat is that Alex Roy and Ashley Miranda are coming all the way from Fairbanks AK to attend, so I will be finding them to say hi of course.

Obama Won!

Wouldn't it be weird if Obama is the antichrist?

I'm just gonna leave that for now, or else I'm gonna freak myself out.

Okay so it started when Linda Brady was talking about the implications of the next election for middle east peace and she said Obama was the most likely to figure out a lasting peace treaty, which is something only the antichrist is supposed to be able to do...don't listen to me.

Anyway, there are more important things at hand! Like... My birthday is in 1 week! To celebrate, I am going to take a scary 260 exam, go to Bible study, and then go to Lily's house for dinner. Then on Friday I'm going to Bellingham, WA to visit my dear friend Marcy and maybe go skiing! Mommy and Daddy bought me the plane tickets for my birthday, an excellent gift for an 18-year-old.

To make it even better, the next weekend I get to go actually see them, in Los Angeles, and also see my sister and the amazing musical Wicked! This was not really a Christmas or birthday present but more of a family trip. Then on Monday

wow. I'm back. I just got a funny email from Marcy that made me titter a bit and was also distracting. Anyway, after the LA trip my family is coming to visit me here at U of O, followed by Fred also visiting, later that week.

This weekend will also be amazing. I am going with all the InterVarsity kids and we are attending Jesus The Revolution conference at a really nice hotel in the awesome city of Portland.
I am excited. I have not left the dorms for a weekend yet this term, and now I get 3 in a row!

Lent Update: I really miss coffee. Plus, the conference is coming up and to me, "conference" and "coffee" are very closely related words. Who knew this would be so hard? Every time I go to a coffee shop and order tea, the person right in front of me gets something delicious, like coffee, and then the barrista asks me if they can get a drink started for me and then I say "I'd like a tea please" and I feel like a hippie loser. I am finding that I sort of like tea now, but I'm getting picky about my tea, like I am about coffee. I prefer the Republic of Tea black tea, but there are only two places on campus and the bookstore that have it. Most other places have that Starbucks brand tea which is, at best, substandard, like all things at Starbucks. I also like African red tea but I don't actually have any and the only places that do are Starbucks and the bookstore, which are way over there on the other side of campus. I am going over there today though, so I have something to look forward to. I generally try to avoid both the bookstore and starbucks because , A) they are crowded and I don't like crowds, and B) I always buy something there. At Starbucks I always buy a muffin or coffee cake and at the bookstore...well that's just dangerous.

So right now I'm actually skipping my Wednesday 5-mile run. Allow me to explain. I ran 10.2 miles on Sunday and the next day I felt fine, my shoulders were a little sore, but that was it. Then yesterday I ran four miles and was in agony. I am at a loss. I was in pain last week in my shins and so I switched all my routes to chipsod trails and I've been stretching better, but for some reason my legs got very angry with me. So my 5 and 4 mile runs this week are going to be replaced by lower impact cardio workouts at the gym. I only need to do those two of the three days left in the week, and so I chose today to skip out, but I got up early anyway and now I'm kind of bored. What's that you say? I should do school work? You might have a point.

Hmmm. Weekend was interesting. Kind of fun because I didn't go into it with set expectations or plans and I was really flexible. I had a very relaxing time sleeping in on both Friday and Saturday mornings, as well as today. I finished my FHS application so now I don't have to worry about that for another month when I get nervous about my interview. I did not go the dance party or the Basketball game, but I did go out with all of the girls to the Lucky Noodle on Valentine's Day night and had a lovely time. I also went and saw Jenell's dance thing that she was teching for, which was totally awesome and fun. After that we went over to Jacob and Jess' house and consoled the boys after the ducks lost and also watched a couple hours of the Office and generally had good times.

Sunday was the best though, as it usually is. Church was great, me and Caleb got there in time for major snacks, but the weather was really cold and cloudy. We went to Taco Bell afterwards of course, and then not long after we got back to campus, the sun came out and made it a glorious day!

And then I went for a run. I ran 10.2 miles everybody! That is way more than I have ever run in my life! I feel amazing. I ran in Alton Baker park, which is beautiful, and I listened to two hours of the RELEVANT podcast and had a great time. wOOt. I don't think I really thought I could do it until I finished it. I'm not even sore today, except for my shoulders.

After my run was the Harvest 15 year anniversary party at the church, which managed to be very entertaining even though I have only been going there for a few months. Plus, there was lots of dessert. Afterwards, the gang regrouped at Ryan's for a night of Settler's/ American Gladiator finale. And chips with fake cheese dip. And yummy Mexican hot chocolate.

I went to sleep early and stayed out of it until 11am this morning. It is again a beautiful day! Tony and I walked over to the 13th + University crossing where NCM hands out Hot Chocolate on Mondays and I totally hung out in just a tshirt! It was in the 50s! To make it even more amazing, some guy from the Register-Guard (Eugene Newspaper) came over and interviewed us. Neat-o, my friends.

That was the high point, because then I had two really boring classes back to back and then a boring even and then Bible study, which is not really boring, but also not the highlight of my day. Oh yeah, today I also found out that I have the second part of that weird research project thing due tomorrow. Lame. I haven't started on it yet.

See, here's the thing. I skipped class on the day they handed back our first papers, and then another day the GTF brought the leftover ones back to class, but I spaced and didn't pick mine up. And then, since the deadlines were not on the syllabus, I didn't write them on my calendar and finally looked at the website today and went *oh crap*. So I'm trying to decide what to do, because if Lia (the GTF) made comments on my paper about my topic (the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, which I know all about now) I don't know about them, and can't do the second half accordingly. So should I go to her office hours after class tomorrow and get my first paper and turn the second one in late (the thing is 7% of my grade, I don't remember the late policy) or do I chance it and stay up late and do the same topic. *Found the late policy in a really random place: late papers not accepted. That is bogus.

Yet it is too early to justify going to bed early. Last time, when the first part of this paper was due I went to bed early and slept through my alarm, which really sucked.

I had some really profound things to say but they are not happening. Darn.

It Has Been Too Long

I meant to post several times this week, I really did. I've been going insane being busy with my huge Intl Negotiation project, which is now over, plus midterms, and a million events etc. demanding my precious time. But I am back now. All I have left to do for the next week or so is my FHS application, which is due tomorrow. I have an exam on my birthday and a huge FHS project due the next day, but it should all work out.

My RA/FA interviews are over, and I think they went well. I wish I had added a couple of things in at the end of my FA one today but oh well. I really have no idea how well I'll be considered for the resFA job. I did pretty well in the RA interview, and I expect to get invited to join the class, but I would really rather be and FA....but I need the free housing. Oh well, I refuse to worry about it. I have better things to worry about.

Things like my TB test that I got a couple of hours ago and it is puffy and a bit pinkish. I don't think it was puffy at all last time, and it certainly didn't look pink. I have another day and a half before they read the results though, so I wont get anywhere by stressing about it.

Today is Valentine's Day! I am dressing up tonight in my cute red dress and going out with a ton of girlfriends after the Point. We are going to the Lucky Noodle and having a great time.

There was a completely interesting poll that I saw on AlJazeera this morning, which broke down candidate (all, regardless of party) opinion polls by region of the world. In everywhere except for the Middle East, Barack Obama had over 30% popularity out of all the delegates, and as high as 74% in Africa and 60 something% in East Asia. In the Middle East is was weird- Mitt Romney had 78% of the popular vote. I have no idea how scientific this poll was, and I figured out how to vote more than once. Also, it was based on less than 10,000 responses. I just thought it was interesting how internationally Obama had strong support, and Hillary had no more than the less popular candidates, and sometimes less. Ron Paul was also surprisingly popular.

I went hunting for international straw polls this morning because yesterday in Linda Brady's class she talked about how she predicted each of the three main candidates would appoint their cabinets and how they would choose their foreign policy positions like secretary of state etc. She knew a lot of the people she talked about too, which is awesome. Linda has had such an amazing career working for the pentagon on Jimmy Carter and doing arms negotiations work in Vienna.

So, now I'm actually letting my mind rest after the most stressful week of school so far, and I am skipping my discussion class. Shame on me, yes, I know, but I wanted to have time to get ready before the point tonight.

Other news: The boys won their inter mural basketball game Monday night which was awesome! It was an intense game too. Also, The V-day banquet at church went well, I thought. Last night I learned how to play FIFA, the xbox soccer game. Tony was very patient and taught me. Oooh I also watched American Gladiator for the first time, on Monday night, and I am totally stoked to watch the championship on Sunday night at Ryan's house. Mom sent me a huge box full of cookies, chocolate, and tea, and also Gatorade mix and ice packs. Yay! Pretty awesome stuff happened this week, although it was very stressful, and I am looking forward to tonight and also the weekend. I might even go to my first Ducks bball game on Saturday. We'll see how it works out. I got the ticket, but if I decide not to go then some of Caleb's friends really want it. Tomorrow night is also the InterVarsity International Dance Party night, which will be awesome. Plus, I think I might go see the Oregon winter dance performance on Saturday night. SO much going on!

Learning to be flexible

So I'm kind of bummed. I was running my five miles yesterday through Hendricks park and then all of the sudden *WHAM!* and I got this huge amount of shooting pain through my upper back. I almost had a panic attack actually, because I was still more than a mile away from campus pretty much in the middle of nowhere and I didn't have my cell phone. I know, I should always carry my cell phone. I don't usually because its so bulky and I usually stay in residential neighborhoods.

Anyway, I actually continued jogging back to campus because it hurt more to walk than to jog, plus it was faster, but in the long run I might have hurt myself more by doing that. When I got back to my dorm I asked my friend Nora to get me some ice from downstairs, took ibuprofen, and called my mom.

Yesterday morning was an extremely inconvenient time to get hurt. I had two midterms yesterday and I was on a pretty tight schedule for studying for them. It all worked out though I guess, because I had the foresight to study for FHS before I left to go run, and then I left FHS class right after the test, which only took 15 minutes or so, and took a two hour nap. The New Testament midterm went pretty well also- I think with all the extra credit I got a pretty solid A. It felt pretty good to take that test, because I knew that I had actually prepared pretty well for it.

However, I also went to bed early, right after class. Now I have only so many hours left to write my Intl Negotiation essay before class at 4. I'm supposed to have class at 2 also and a meeting at 12. I want to crawl back into bed and not think about it anymore. My back hurts really bad this morning and sitting at my desk hurts. I took a vicodin instead of ibuprofen this morning, so we'll see how effective I am at writing for a while...maybe I'll feel happier anyway, 'cause I'm in a pretty bad mood right now.

Plus, it is ash Wednesday, the start of lent, and I cant have coffee for 47 days. Not a huge issue right now, but don't come near me around 3pm or I'll bite your head off. Oh yeah, I am definitely PMSing this month. The hormones+cortisol+pain-caffeine combo is really upsetting my chemistry.

Fortunately, God is good. I need to remind myself of this more often, but my body freakin' out right now is making that really hard. Me and God had a pretty long talk last night and I think we worked some things out. If I hadn't been in pain yesterday I definitely could have seen what an awesome day it was and how many really good things happened. I had an very fun, very late night with my friends, I woke up on time, I ate a yummy warm scone, I actually enjoyed 199 class because we were talking about AIDS in Africa and it was very interesting, I felt pretty good about my studying for FHS, it was actually a pretty nice day for a run and I didn't get too lost like I did Monday, I got to read the past few days of the Emerald (while lying on my back on ice), I finished the crossword puzzle really fast, I took a long nap, me and Caleb quizzed each other on NT stuff that actually showed up on the test, I had a really good time in New Testament last night with my friends hanging out after the test (there's always so much laughter with that group), I found out that Tony might come to Wednesday night small group, I talked with Fred online for a while and we commiserated about our bad days, and I actually did get to watch a decent amount of Super Tuesday election coverage. Plus, I read a really amazing Psalm last night...I actually can't remember what number it was but it was amazing. Yeah okay, when I look at that list I'd say yesterday was pretty awesome.

Now I need to take some initiative, show my character, and Just Do It! (haha inside NCM joke) and get to work on my paper. I'm trying to convince myself that I want to write it. I need to critique one framework for understanding international negotiation and talk about it in the context of a real life example. The example should probably be Israel-Palestine because that's what my huge project is about. History is complicated and not that interesting to me, game theory is weird, but it might work, especially since its the most theoretical and the least specific of the frameworks, and politics is professor Brady's favorite, in fact she wrote a book on it, but I didn't actually read it like I was supposed to. I choose.....politics, because it sort of makes sense to me.

Okay, I'm going to make my last bag of Irish breakfast tea and hope that this vicodin induced haze/dizziness doesn't impair my ability to focus and type (yeah right...).

Update: 10:48 am- the Vicodin finally kicked in and I can still tell that my back hurts but the pain isn't bothering me anymore...does that make sense?

Also, the paper is coming along all right. I shouldn't be too terribly hard. Linda's book is surprisingly very helpful and easy to read. She writes about political theory as if she is doing this very assignment...its perfect, I don't actually have to think much. I would actually recommend it for general light reading. It's called "The Politics of Negotiation," by Linda Brady (1991).

Update: 12:02 pm- I just got a text from Ryan saying our meeting is canceled because Shantell and Lindsey can't make it. Yay! Well, not yay that Lindsey is really sick, but now I have a whole extra hour and a half or so that I wasn't planning on. I might be able to make it to 260 at 2 after all.

I'm mostly done with the reading and the outline. Now I just have to write this bugger. I pretty much decided not to use Israel-Palestine because I have a lot more relevant information about US-Soviet relations from actual lecture notes and wont really have to research.

This update deserves a woot. *wOOt!*

Update: 2:26 pm- I actually did make it to 260 class. I also got yummy healthy lunch. I wish I could have some coffee. I'm nearly finished with this essay. I found out that I can't use the US-Soviet example though, because the assignment is to find a current events example. I chose US-Iran, even though I don't really know much about it. Ah this brings back memories of working on other homework during class...

I bought a "peanut butter cup brownie" to reward myself when I finish.

The vicodin is still working, but I hope it lasts. I don't want to take more than one day because I only have a couple left.

Mondays are usually not notable

This week is looking to once again be crazy, but this time actually because of school. I have to study, which has been unheard of thus far in the term. I have two midterms tomorrow, a paper due Wednesday, plus two projects, a paper, and a midterm next week. Add to that my running schedule, RA/FA interviews this weekend, and the Valentine's day banquet and my cortisol levels are getting up there, or at least to normal college kid proportions. I haven't stressed enough in college I think, and that's why I get these crazy kid ideas about marathon running or being an RA and an FA at the same time...Fact: cortisol keeps you sane.

I'm going to be missing another vital substance here pretty soon: caffeine. I am giving up drinking coffee for lent, except, as Jess says, for "social drinking." This is going to be my sacrifice to God from Wednesday until Easter. Forty days and forty long nights. Oh well, at least its not cheese or music, which is what Shantelle and Jenell are giving up. In comparison I don't seem to be sacrificing all that much. Plus I haven't been drinking that much lately, it will save me money, and I can still have tea. But I like coffee. The perfect lent sacrifice.

In other news, I'm pretty stoked about super Tuesday. How sad is it that I'm trying really hard to get my homework done so I can watch CNN coverage of the primaries which I'm not even voting in....I'd say pretty sad. It's going to be hard though because of the way my Tuesday schedule is, plus I have an evening exam and a Wednesday deadline paper, but I'm sure I'll watch a good chunk of it, or at least update Reuters constantly.

Also a weekend highlight: Saturday night boy's poker night. I was the only girl haha. We started the Texas Hold 'Em tournament around 11 ish and I got out a little before 2 and went to bed. Much fun was had, but no food because we were all out of points and common grounds was packed after midnight all the way up to 2am. At some point we shared half a can of pringles...

Oh yeah, so the Super Bowl was freakin' awesome, man! We (NCM + our friends) had this awesome house to ourselves with a huge HD TV and lots and lots of food. Plus, most everyone was rooting for the Giants, so there was much celebrating. Also, the 6th annual Mud Bowl took place directly before the real game, and it was awesome. I caught a touchdown pass actually, totally by surprise, but there was a flag on the field because Tony ran into me and I guess I dropped it? I also sort of learned how to mud slide, softball style, although Shantelle is definitely the master at it. After the real party, we sort of transplanted over to Ryan's, rehearsed the V-day banquet skit, and eventually played a sweet game of Settler's which I actually managed to get 8 points in this time! Yay me!

Oh yeah, also on Sunday a new girl named Megan came to Harvest. She's just moved from SoCal and she thought she'd visit the church across the street and so Ryan introduced her to me and Caleb and Jacob. Well, she ended up hangin' out with us the entire day which was totally cool! Yay for awesome new people! Once you start hanging out with the NCMers, its pretty addicting, I can testify to that lol.

Okay so I've got to go start studying soon. Theoretically if I don't mess around too much tonight I'll have time for Bible study at 7 and watching the boys play basketball tonight at 10 before coming home and studying some more. Ready....break!

My Weekends are...different

I ran 7 miles today! In the rain and cold and wind! I got wet and cold and muddy and tired! I just thought I'd let you know.

I also watched the entire Democratic debate tonight, and did my laundry. I wish I had any nerdy friends so I could say that I watched it with somebody and so I could talk about politics, but I don't. Well, Sam's into politics, but I don't see him all that much. Speaking of Sam, I want a cinnamon roll.

We were supposed to have a New Testament study/Space Jam party at Jenell's apartment tonight after the game but the game's been over for a couple hours now and I haven't heard anything, so I'm just sitting here waiting... If we don't have the party my plan is to hit the basement for a couple hours and study anyway, and then turn in early. I know I wont have time tomorrow, what with church, the mud bowl, and the super bowl all in one long, exhausting afternoon. I'm pretty psyched about it, but there will be no brain suitable for homework after all that.

Lucky number

I just have to point out that this is post number 14 for the year 2008, which is remarkable because I have already doubled my number of posts in 2007! Yay me! I think we should celebrate. We should sleep in really late, eat whatever we want (amazing Hawaiian food), sit around and read, and play Sudoku on the interweb. Oh wait, how silly of me, I already did those things!

Hahahahahahahahaha. I want cookies now.

Good grief. Okay, so I did want to do a little month in review type thing. January began at home, mostly shopping, playing DDR, and generally not doing a whole lot. Then came my huge adventure en route to Eugene which involved being stranded in Seattle, racing around Portland, feeling icky at the Grayhound station, lost luggage, and eventually Hawaiian food, oddly enough. Wow, I had totally repressed that. Then there was school: FHS is awesome, International Negotiation has become increasingly awesome, New Testament is hard, and the other classes are blah. I am marathon training. That's all I need to say about that. I went skiing, which was excellent. I applied for RA and FA jobs because I am a bit insane.

Here are a few pictures that either I took before my camera got angry with me or which I stole from my facebook friends:

This is my African Violet after I left it in my dorm room alone for the entire month of break. The little bugger flowered on me. I don't know much about plants, but I was pretty sure that if you don't water one for a month it dies, it doesn't grow pretty flowers!

Also this month I finally decorated my dorm room. Here is a picture of my main wall before:

Pretty lame, although the picture is neat. Here is that same wall, afterwards:

V. Awesome, no?

Okay so then two more, these are from the InterVarsity MLK day hike:

Lydia, Hannah, and me, and we were freezing because we hadn't started hiking yet.

Me and Joel having a High Energy Trail Mix! snack break. Joel is also training for the Eugene Marathon. Woot!