Monday, March 17, 2008

Monday Night.

Have not had time for run, shower, or nap. Am still working on Collegiate assignment which is due today. There are about four hours left in today. The new and improved plan is this:

Tonight: Finish assignment at all costs.
After: Shower, goal is asleep by 1ish
Tomorrow AM: fill out and mail Merit Scholarship thing. Start FHS exam.
12noon: go to Katie's office hours to pick up graded midterm
After: Go to library, acquire NT presentation source books
Then: go for a run. Shower.
Later Afternoon: Study for INTL 199 Final, if time then work on NT.
7:45 go to Ryan's house to watch "the 300"
After: Go to sleep early
Wednesday: 8am final, study for 260 exam, lunch w/ friends at China Blue, study/go for a run?, 3:15 is 260 exam.
Wednesday night: stay up really late to finish FHS exam and NT presentation
Thursday Daytime: 9am CFR conference call, turn in FHS exam, finish NT visual aid, do presentation/ eat yummy food @Ryan's house
Friday: Work on printed stuff and songs for LA missions trip. Pack+ move to Shantelle's. Possible movie marathon.
Saturday: do nothing. Hallelujah!
Sunday: Coffee!!!! Easter!!!! delicious food? Sleepover!!!!
Monday: 5am departure time.

I'm not sure if this is all possible. If today was any indication, I am very slow when it comes to writing things. I'm counting on the actual studying not taking much time. I don't want to cut out sleep. I also hope to be able to run again this week. I like running. I forgot how nice it makes my skin feel afterwards and how much I like being outside in the park.

I am pretty jazzed about the LA spring break trip. We had a (long) meeting today to go over details. I will post a complete itinerary this weekend probably.

I am also excited about March Madness! Yes, I said it. Mostly, because I filled out a bracket and am going to put a dollar in the NCM March Madness pool. It will be very fun.

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Livin' the High Life

Woah! Katie's Party was a major hoot! We played catchphrase, mafia, ate cake, watched youtube videos, sat around and talked, she opened presents. Pretty much awesome. Tony and I went to Hirons a little before the party to get Irish stuff and a present for Katie and found some amazing gag gift stuff. They have some really ridiculous items there. We got her a bacon themed gift pack which went over very well, far better than I actually expected.

It was really fun to go to an actual college party, even though its not like there was alcohol or anything crazy, but there weren't any really adult-type people there. Usually when I go places on the weekend its to watch a movie at someone's house, or to Ryan's or something for one of my groups.

It was also really great to go to church at Harvest today, for the first time in about a month. It's hard to explain, but its like going home. I got up this morning and I was really excited about church.

Also this morning a new opportunity came up! Lorrie, Ryan's wife, asked me and Shantell if we were interested in helping with a "kid's on mission" program thing once a month. I think I might do it, but will definitely have to pray about it. I fell like I'm getting pretty loaded up with all sorts of stuff. I wish I had more time to sleep, or read, or do crossword puzzles, or actually go on a date, let alone be in a relationship with anybody. Actually, we'll see, I don't know if its really good timing to be in a relationship. And I don't know if I really want to be. Can you tell I'm confused?

Anyway. Today. I'm doing laundry right now, and after I put it in the dryer I'm going to go for my first run in like two and a half weeks. I am nervous. I don't wanna. But I'd rather run than work on the stuff that's due tomorrow, or my project, or my essay, or my studying for my finals. So running it is then.

This term I have a revised plan of attack. Instead of pulling an all nighter the weekend before finals like last term and messing up my entire sleep schedule, I am going to work really hard during the day and make sure I get at least 7 hours of sleep each night, unless its absolutely impossible. I am also going to run/exercise every day and keep on a very healthy diet. I'm hoping that I will be much more efficient than I think I will and will also be able to take an hour long nap in the afternoons when I am really tired like right now, but that may not happen.

On the accomplishment side, I finally emailed James and he is writing a letter of rec for me for my trip to Africa. He said in his email "You need to be careful though going to Africa; you might just fall in love with the people and never want to leave". Awwww. So true.

A note about my haircut: I really like it. It's fun and bouncy and easy and I don't have to spend any time at all thinking about my hair, which is great because its finals week and that helps a lot.

Mmmmkay. I need to get after it. Laundry. Run. Shower. Devos/nap?. Dinner. Settler's or studying @ Ryan's. Devos. Sleep. Wake up and eat food. Go to library and be super productive. Run. Shower. Nap. Study more. Missions meeting. More studying! Sleep. Repeat, except watch "300" @ Ryan's instead of missions meeting. Try not to panic or waste time. Wednesday: 8am INTL Final. Lunch @ China Blue. 3:15pm INTL 260 final. Evening: work on presentation.

Saturday, March 15, 2008

De(com)pressing

Finals week. Blech. It always comes after dead week and before spring break. And this time, it is raining like cats and dogs out there. I'm at the library. I will be here until....6ish. I woke up at....9ish.

I'm getting ahead of myself. LA was Wicked awesome! There are pictures on my daddy's facebook and I will prolly eventually put some up on mine as well...not to mention v-day, JTR, and Bellingham. Sheesh, I'm fallin' way behind. Well, a lot has happened in the past month. Plus most people who read this already know about all of the haps.

The recent haps are a little more exciting. After Freddy Faye left on Thursday I was slightly bored/depressed so I sat around until 7:30 for re:generation with the NCMers. After that we broke into Jacob + Jess' house and watched the (recorded) Pac-10 tournament Ducks game, which we lost, which really sucks. That was depressing, but the people I watched it with are beautiful and amazing. Not cool though was that Caleb's car got broken into and his iPod was stolen. Major bummer.

Then last night I watched some of The Office in Tony's room before the whole gang met up at Shantelle+Bethany+Gabie's house for a little Star Wars episodes V and VI. Pretty awesome.

Today will also be interesting. I met up with Caleb and Tony for brunch which was excellent, but now I'm at the library and I'm supposed to put in many hours of work this afternoon. I am not excited. Also, Katie's Irish Fiesta 20th birthday party is tonight at 7 and me and Tony are gonna go to Hiron's at some point to get Irish stuff/bday presents. We had thought about not going to the party, because Tony and I don't know Katie all that well, and going out to see a movie instead, but all our friends will be there (at the party). It would be suspicious to be absent.

Argh!!! How am I gonna concentrate all day?!? Right about now my brain is starting to tell me "There's nothing you really have to get done today. You can do it tomorrow, or Monday. It's Saturday, who goes to the library on Saturday?" Well, yeah... but I need to get started. Ta-ta.

Thursday, March 6, 2008

High Energy Electron

Dude, I have so much energy right now you have no idea. I got up at 7:30 and went to class and then I WENT TO THE LIBRARY AND DID HOMEWORK which is a pretty big deal. I actually got a pretty good amount of stuff accomplished, but there's still much to be done if I want to get on top of next week in order to par-tay with the fam+freddy faye (hey that rhymes, eh?). I'm gonna stay up a bit tonight and maybe go to the other library till midnight and then try to work on stuff during the day tomorrow and also fit a run in. Lol, I haven't run since last Wednesday. Shame on me.

FHS was interesting today. I say interesting because I really can't think of a better word. My professor, who is a lesbian, brought in her partner and their baby (who is totally adorable!) today and let everybody ask questions about "what it's like." It was fascinating. I don't have anything against homosexuals, and the few I actually know are amazing people. I figure, people are people, and God tells us to love everybody unconditionally. I don't think hating gays or condemning them to hell really fits in with that like at all. I'm not gonna march in gay pride, and I don't think I would vote to legalize gay marriages, but I really think my professor is an amazing woman who cares about people and loves being a mom and teaching college students how to become family and human services professionals. I also really came to respect Doc Dent when I was in high school- I thought she was a really good teacher. I don't know where I'm going with this at all, but I just had to blog about it. I think its easier for me to love homosexuals than some of the annoying hippies and obnoxious college boys on campus. Not to mention dirty capitalist scums. But I digress...oh, I digress.

Hahaha I'm so weird. I'm also totally stoked about this weekend. Party!!! In LA!!! Wicked! U23D! Kaela? Family! Beach? Warm weather! Awesome new dress! Family!

Haiku for War

In my morning class
Learning about genocide
Hitler and Rwanda

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Its Super Tuesday part deux!

I sort of don't care about politics a whole lot anymore. I know, shocker, right? I still care way more than the average individual, or even average college student, but my total CNN watching and avid online campaign tracking has seriously taken a dive. This is because I have my own life. Someone in the school newspaper wrote a really good op-ed piece about politics and said "if there was news 24 hours a day it would be called life." I agree.

Any way, my life news is that I may be downgrading my marathon registration to a half marathon instead of a whole marathon. I know, I feel like a quitter, but my travel and class etc schedule is insane. Plus, I can practically run a half marathon already, and this way I could actually work on developing some mad skillz, instead of just hoping to survive and not look like a total loser when it takes me 5+ hours to complete. You're not really supposed to start marathon training until you've been running regularly for about a year anyways. Maybe I'll go for the whole thing next year. I definitely love running. Plus I'm also concerned about the damage I'm doing to my joints. I'm sore all the time and with my joint issues anyway...I just don't feel like I'm being healthy to my legs. I looked into it and all I have to do is send in an email saying I'd like to switch. I don't get any money back, but its only 20 extra bucks. I started seriously thinking about this because my friend Lindsey is thinking about doing the half and so I wouldn't be alone in my slightly-less-hard-core-ness. But hey, 13.1 miles is nothing to sneeze at.

Ummm, also bogged down with a million other things that I'm working on just now: IV staff application, devos, Africa, Camp, FHS, scholarships eventually.

I registered for classes last Friday. I am taking FHS 410: Diversity in Human Services; FHS 407: FA training; HUM 315: Intro to African Studies with the amazing professor Wooten; and INTL 199: International Environmental Issues (not as exciting). That is 15 credits ladies and gentlemen. I need one more credit to reach junior status in Fall 08. I don't know what filler class to take. Maybe speed reading? There, I registered for it. Its at 9am Tuesday and Thursday, but only for 1 month. My only class before noon. Boo. My only thing on Friday is a discussion at 10am for the silly Intl environment class. Oh well, at least Lindsay is in it with me hopefully. Will audit French 103 also, if possible at 11am. Yeah, thats actually the only possible time...

Now, for some links.

SUMMIT- my 2 week Portland thing right after school gets out.

Tanalian Bible Camp- I still need to email James. Hopefully Heather will come out to camp this summer also. I am linking this page on the off chance that someone from LMBC or TBC reads this- try the crossword puzzle, its way fun.

My Mini City This is a random French website where you can go and set up a "city." Your city grows based on the number of people who visit your city. Its way more complicated than that, but basically once you set up your city you go all over the internet linking to it so people will click and you city will grow. This is my city. There is nothing yet there. Please click on it. Check out some of the huge ones though. What I thought was neat about this was not only the principles of teamwork and social networking, but also that it has only been up for 98 days and is so popular already, Man, there are a lot of people on this planet.

There was something else cool on the interweb I wanted to link to but I forget now. Oh well. Have a nice day, I'm off to go see if they have yummy grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch.

Sunday, March 2, 2008

Its March!

Where have the first two months of '08 gone? An entire sixth of the year, poof! I would argue that a lot has happened, however. I have worked my way up from barely being able to run 3 miles to running 11.2 last Monday. I have gone skiing and hiking. I applied for my major, a scholarship, and the RA and FA jobs. I've played mud football. I've gone to dance parties and dinners with friends and watched the Giants win the Superbowl. I went to Portland to the amazing Jesus the Revolution Conference, I turned 18, and I went to Bellingham to chill with mEgger!

This weekend with Marcy was totally awesome. Right away after I got to Bellingham we went out for delicious yummy burgers and also ice cream with Marcy's roommate Katherine and her friend Cynthia and stayed up late watching the Office and then talking for hours.

Saturday we (sort of) slept in, ate brunch and then hit the town by bus (which worked out great because I got Karelia's bus pass- she left WWU at break). We went all over the place and saw the sights, plus went shopping at the mall where Marcy discovered my dress for Wicked next weekend and I introduced her to bubble tea. Eventually we ended up at the hippie food co-op and met up with four of Marcy's friends and then we all went out for truly delicious Thai food at a really great little restaurant. Great times indeed.

We slept and followed the same sleep-in-brunch routine this morning but just hung out around campus. We went up to this neat little look out place where there was a pretty sweet view of the town and also the bay. Also, a cool little cave/tunnel. Then we went and got drinks and hung out and just talked for a while and eventually called fred and talked to her. Then I pretty much had to leave.

I didn't get a tattoo just because it didn't really work out with what everybody else was doing and Marcy didn't really want to get one. I figure I'll go with Lindsay some time.

So now I'm gearing up for another very late night. A few hours ago U of O InterVarsity kicked off our four day 24 hour prayer marathon and I have the midnight shift. By an amazing act of God we got a room on campus, which is very neat.

However, I still am not excited about walking back at 1 am. And then staying up for a few more hours working on the devotions for Collegiate that are due at some point tomorrow. I also have a couple applications for things due ASAP and a part of a research paper due tuesday morning early. This shall be a week with very little sleep and less running.

I say less running because my marathon training is going on a diet. By that I mean I am in a lot more pain than I think is healthy recently and I have a lot going on both this week, this weekend, and the next week what with lots of people visiting. My plan is to work really hard on schoolwork, get sort of a decent amount of sleep, and try to fit in running, or at least cardio workouts.

I'm re-prioritizing. Of course, first priority is prayer room duty, then school/other school-like things, then sleep, then running, then hanging out with people/watching CNN/blogging. Starting at midnight tonight, clearly. So I may drop off the face of the earth this week, or at least until Friday.

Summer update: It would be the coolest thing ever if Heather and I go work at Tanalian Bible Camp together for two weeks in July. This randomly came to me while I was talking to her on the phone earlier tonight. I am so excited. I plan to email James either tonight or tomorrow and tell him, among other things, of this plan. I think Heather would really like it there. The training and the experience that the LMBC team has is pretty daunting I think, and its totally understandable that Heather wasn't really interested in doing it that way, but I think she would really get a lot out of camp, plus it would be a great experience for her, plus it would make me feel better about not being able to see her hardly at all before I go to Africa and miss her birthday. I like spending time with my sister, so its gonna be great.

My phone alarm just told me that its just about time to go pray my heart out. I'm so excited. I am less excited about coming back and having to go push on for a couple more hours. Maybe I'll just come back and go to sleep. Hmmm. I've all but decided not to run at all tomorrow anyway....I'll play it by ear at this point. Even though Marcy and I didn't get up early, we still didn't get much sleep and it was rather uncomfortable sharing her bunk, plus I went into the weekend already exhausted...but on the other hand I have 15 college devotions to research and write and an application to finish and a bunch of people to email. It will have to wait. I am sleepy and achy. Goodnight