June 24th-29th:
I just got back from a week house-boating on Shasta Lake with my youth group where I had no internet so I couldn't blog, but I did write a few thoughts down every day that I'd like to share with you now! :D
June 24th: "The Beauty of Lake Shasta"
Today when we got to Shasta Lake it was cloudy and began sprinkling as we got on the water. Despite this, the lake was such a beautiful sight to behold. The orange-red shores and sparkling reflective waters paired with the story skies was breath-taking.
Something about Lake Shasta that I love is the night sky. I feel like when I look at the stars at Shasta I'm looking directly into space, as if there is no atmosphere, no millions of miles in between me and the stars and planets. I really hate that in the Bay Area we have so much light pollution that our view of the heavens is obscured! Sometimes I wish I lived somewhere where I could see the stars every night...
June 25th: "Taking the Initiative"
You know that sorta disappointed feeling you get when one of your friends tells you that recently they went through a hard time and that they chose to confide in a different friend instead of you? Worse yet, that that other friend was "the only one who was there for/understood me/what I was going through!" Why didn't your friend choose to confide in and trust you? Why did they choose the other friend?!
Maybe, just maybe, it wasn't that your friend consciously chose to not tell you, but perhaps that the circumstances lined up so that the other friend was there at the right time in the right place. Now, it could have been a convenience thing, but there is another, very likely reason why they might have confided in the other friend. Maybe that other friend just took the initiative and asked your friend how he/she was and that's all that your friend needed to get them talking. They might have asked them to coffee, lunch, ect. So it's maybe not that your friend CHOSE the other person, but that YOU weren't involved at that time in their life/didn't reach out when your friend needed it. That doesn't mean that there's something wrong with you or that you aren't worthy of being confided in, but more that you have to take the initiative sometimes if you want to get really close to your friends.
June 26th: "Doing the Dishes"
Excuse the slightly off-topic title on this one. But tonight in our small group we talked about how we don't always have to stress out about setting aside those thirty minutes for our "God time", but that instead we can invite God into EVERYTHING we do in our day - be that having a conversation with a friend, going to a party, reading a book, or, yes, doing the dishes. It IS important to spend focused time with God, but I don't want to forget that He's with me ALL DAY, not just for that half hour. Amen.
June 27th: "An Introvert on a Houseboat?!"
This week here on Shasta Lake has been pretty tough for me in the sense that I'm pretty much CONSTANTLY surrounded by people. Being an introvert, I NEED alone time to recharge after expending all of my energy by being social. A houseboat is not an ideal place to be stuck when you need alone time, especially when (because you were sick the first two days and people care about/are worried about you) people ask you every time they see you alone if you are okay. Here I am on the back bunk, closing my eyes, hanging by myself in the quiet and suddenly my peace is shattered with a worried "Are you okay?" or "Is something wrong?". Oh my gosh. I love that people care, but can't they understand that I AM okay and that I just need to be alone? Just as they LOVE being with everyone playing games 24/7, I LOVE being alone, reading my Bible or napping or whatever. I snapped at a few people as a result of my irritation/impatience, and if I did so at you, I am sorry! I just got really frustrated that people thought that because I was alone something must be wrong. Nope, that's just how I work! :) I actually got very good at pretending I was asleep to just have an excuse to be alone. Heh heh.
June 28th: "Written Word"
As some of you may know, I much much much prefer writing out my thoughts than just saying them as they come to my brain. Many have experienced this through my notes, letters, and read-off notecards. Even texting my thoughts is SO much easier than trying to say them in a conversation. I feel like I can take my time and actually say exactly what I mean to when I have the time to write down my thoughts, whereas if I just jump into a conversation unprepared then I end up saying something I don't mean to, or say it in the wrong way, and that really bothers me.
Today we had a three-hour solo time as part of the houseboat program and I spent 2.5 hours writing a long letter. It was a letter that I had been putting off writing because I knew I would want to put a lot of time and thought and effort into my words, so the three-hour chunk was much appreciated. I know for a fact that if I tried to say to the subject of the letter those enclosed thoughts without writing them down, the conversation would have been a complete failure and I would have really regretted jumping into it. So, I'm glad that God gave me the opportunity and peace to write down my thoughts today :)
June 29: "Home Sweet Home"
Today I got home from houseboats and am SO happy to be in my own house. No more unsatisfactory lake showers, no more smelly Mikey (toilet), no more uncomfortable sleeping pads. I can finally have enough alone time to recharge and think back on the week without being overwhelmed. Yay. However, I am at the end of my rope right now and will have to summarize my houseboating experience tomorrow or something. For now... Goodnight my friends... Keep it classy.
Saturday, June 29, 2013
Sunday, June 23, 2013
Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired
June 23rd:
Hello all y'all. As you can tell by the name of this post I am sick and tired of being sick and tired. I feel pretty much perfectly fine when I'm sitting/laying down, but the moment I get up I feel nauseous. GAH! This better be gone by tomorrow...
On another note, I'm currently packing for my week-long houseboats trip to Shasta Lake. I always stress out that I'm gonna forget something important when I pack... It's in the weather forecast that it will rain the first two days, so I'm packing all of my things in multiple layers to keep them dry because last year my stuff got SOAKED. I actually like when it rains because it makes those days all close and personal with the people on your boat and you are FORCED to bond :D
I think I'm going to finish packing tomorrow... I feel too sick to get off my bed right now...
So, I'll do my best to "blog" while on the boat and upload it all here later, but no promises. I find that I usually plan to do SO many things on trips and rarely get to half of them. I'd rather live in the present anyways :)
Today my friends K and G came by to see how I was and hang for a couple minutes before heading to a movie. I love them. They put up with my exhausted, out-of-it mannerisms with such grace.
Well, please do keep my health in your prayers and continue to keep it classy (;
Hello all y'all. As you can tell by the name of this post I am sick and tired of being sick and tired. I feel pretty much perfectly fine when I'm sitting/laying down, but the moment I get up I feel nauseous. GAH! This better be gone by tomorrow...
On another note, I'm currently packing for my week-long houseboats trip to Shasta Lake. I always stress out that I'm gonna forget something important when I pack... It's in the weather forecast that it will rain the first two days, so I'm packing all of my things in multiple layers to keep them dry because last year my stuff got SOAKED. I actually like when it rains because it makes those days all close and personal with the people on your boat and you are FORCED to bond :D
I think I'm going to finish packing tomorrow... I feel too sick to get off my bed right now...
So, I'll do my best to "blog" while on the boat and upload it all here later, but no promises. I find that I usually plan to do SO many things on trips and rarely get to half of them. I'd rather live in the present anyways :)
Today my friends K and G came by to see how I was and hang for a couple minutes before heading to a movie. I love them. They put up with my exhausted, out-of-it mannerisms with such grace.
Well, please do keep my health in your prayers and continue to keep it classy (;
Saturday, June 22, 2013
Surprise!
June 22nd:
Today I attended a surprise birthday party for my friend A, and although I wasn't there for the initial "SURPRISE!!!" it sure was fun to celebrate him! I'm not exactly sure if he really was surprised/scared or whatever, but I do think it blessed him to have his friends plan and execute a secret party for him~
Adversely, I HATE surprises. Okay, lemme rephrase that. I hate surprises in which I have to have a certain reaction to or perform for others. [Ex: "We're going to dinner with the _____ family in ten minutes!" with no warning. Or "Surprise! Happy Birthday!!" - also a worst nightmare.] I like surprises in movie/book/show plots and absolutely abhor when people spoil stuff like that. It kills me. But unlike A, who probably felt loved and cherished by his friends by their throwing him a surprise party, I would simply be annoyed and uncomfortable. I think a part of that is my introvertedness: when I think I'm going to have "down" or "me" time and suddenly it is being filled with people and expectations I am super overwhelmed and unhappy. [Moral of the story: don't ever plan me a surprise party].
Other than attending said party, I sat around at home slowly feeling better. I watched more than a healthy dose of Buffy and tried to find a comfortable position to sit/lay in because my lower back has been bothering me. My brother left for NY this morning at 5:30 and I'm leaving for houseboats on shasta lake on monday. Yes, that does mean that I will not be posting daily blog posts. Hopefully I'll be able to journal a little something every day though so that when I get home I can fill y'all in on the fun :)
Kay, I over-ate (aka ate a full meal instead of just saltines and plain rice for the first time) and I feel a little poorly, so I'm gonna go and lie down. I hope you had a lovely Saturday! Keep it classy~
Today I attended a surprise birthday party for my friend A, and although I wasn't there for the initial "SURPRISE!!!" it sure was fun to celebrate him! I'm not exactly sure if he really was surprised/scared or whatever, but I do think it blessed him to have his friends plan and execute a secret party for him~
Adversely, I HATE surprises. Okay, lemme rephrase that. I hate surprises in which I have to have a certain reaction to or perform for others. [Ex: "We're going to dinner with the _____ family in ten minutes!" with no warning. Or "Surprise! Happy Birthday!!" - also a worst nightmare.] I like surprises in movie/book/show plots and absolutely abhor when people spoil stuff like that. It kills me. But unlike A, who probably felt loved and cherished by his friends by their throwing him a surprise party, I would simply be annoyed and uncomfortable. I think a part of that is my introvertedness: when I think I'm going to have "down" or "me" time and suddenly it is being filled with people and expectations I am super overwhelmed and unhappy. [Moral of the story: don't ever plan me a surprise party].
Other than attending said party, I sat around at home slowly feeling better. I watched more than a healthy dose of Buffy and tried to find a comfortable position to sit/lay in because my lower back has been bothering me. My brother left for NY this morning at 5:30 and I'm leaving for houseboats on shasta lake on monday. Yes, that does mean that I will not be posting daily blog posts. Hopefully I'll be able to journal a little something every day though so that when I get home I can fill y'all in on the fun :)
Kay, I over-ate (aka ate a full meal instead of just saltines and plain rice for the first time) and I feel a little poorly, so I'm gonna go and lie down. I hope you had a lovely Saturday! Keep it classy~
Healing
June 21st:
Sorry this is a day late, I was pretty sick yesterday!
So, friday I was feeling VERY ill and my mom and I decided that I should see the doctor, so in the car we went (me moaning and complaining of course, being sick and all), but amazingly I had already begun feeling better! By the time the doctor saw me I hardly felt nauseous anymore and after taking a few over the counter meds I didn't feel like I was dying at all! Whoot! The only one I can truly credit my healing to is God because I know I had pretty much an army of prayer warriors interceding on my behalf! God is so good. I even got to attend a party that I had given up hope on going to! Albeit I was pretty out of it and felt shaky when I stood up, but I was there! Whoot! Thank you God!
My favorite part of last night was watching all my friends have fun. I don't find more joy in anything! I am so thankful that I have so many amazing friends who bring me so much delight!
I'd write more, but I'm in a disagreeable mood right now - I cannot eat anything delicious and it's killing me. Yes, this is my reason to be in a bad mood. >.<
Kay, I'll post something later that applies to today more! Until then.. keep it classy!!!
Sorry this is a day late, I was pretty sick yesterday!
So, friday I was feeling VERY ill and my mom and I decided that I should see the doctor, so in the car we went (me moaning and complaining of course, being sick and all), but amazingly I had already begun feeling better! By the time the doctor saw me I hardly felt nauseous anymore and after taking a few over the counter meds I didn't feel like I was dying at all! Whoot! The only one I can truly credit my healing to is God because I know I had pretty much an army of prayer warriors interceding on my behalf! God is so good. I even got to attend a party that I had given up hope on going to! Albeit I was pretty out of it and felt shaky when I stood up, but I was there! Whoot! Thank you God!
My favorite part of last night was watching all my friends have fun. I don't find more joy in anything! I am so thankful that I have so many amazing friends who bring me so much delight!
I'd write more, but I'm in a disagreeable mood right now - I cannot eat anything delicious and it's killing me. Yes, this is my reason to be in a bad mood. >.<
Kay, I'll post something later that applies to today more! Until then.. keep it classy!!!
Thursday, June 20, 2013
A Mother's Love
June 20th:
Today was my mom's birthday. Unfortunately it was also the day my immune system decided to go on vacation and keep me in bed all day with countless random symptoms and pains.
Instead of going out and spending time with her friends as planned, my loving mother stayed home with me - enduring my whining and moaning, always ready to get me water or saltines or whatever I needed, and allowing me to take up all her time on the day that was supposed to be all about her. She didn't complain once! I will always be awed by my mother's sacrificial love for me!
Thinking about how amazing my mom's love for me is makes me want to do more to show my love for her! Whether that be doing an extra chore, or offering to spend time with her doing whatever she wants, I want to reciprocate her unconditional love!
What can you do to show your love for your mom? Think about that, why don't you? And... keep it classy!
Today was my mom's birthday. Unfortunately it was also the day my immune system decided to go on vacation and keep me in bed all day with countless random symptoms and pains.
Instead of going out and spending time with her friends as planned, my loving mother stayed home with me - enduring my whining and moaning, always ready to get me water or saltines or whatever I needed, and allowing me to take up all her time on the day that was supposed to be all about her. She didn't complain once! I will always be awed by my mother's sacrificial love for me!
Thinking about how amazing my mom's love for me is makes me want to do more to show my love for her! Whether that be doing an extra chore, or offering to spend time with her doing whatever she wants, I want to reciprocate her unconditional love!
What can you do to show your love for your mom? Think about that, why don't you? And... keep it classy!
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Time Well Spent
June 19th:
I liked today. Today I got together with my friend R to sit at Red Rock in Downtown Mountain View and merely to read together. For some reason the coffee shop atmosphere made me feel very serene, which I very much enjoyed! She has a bunch of books to read for her honors program at her college, so her reading was necessary, while mine was juvenile - a chick-flicky book by Sarah Dessen. Pretty much the epitome of a girly novel. But it was nice to get out of the house and spend time with a good friend, even if all we did was sit together and read! Actually that's a lie, after an hour or so we window-shopped along Castro street and then picked up our friend K and did some SERIOUS shopping. Just kidding, we browsed around Target for an hour. ;) We went back to my house where we made sandwiches and hang out for a bit. That's when R#1 left us and K and I drove over to R#2's house to paint our nails! I think my girly side was trying to fight its way to the surface today...
Other than all that, I've started to feel a little poorly today, so I ask to be in your prayers because the next two days are kinda busy for me and next week I leave for a week on Shasta Lake! <3 Thank you and keep it classy~
I liked today. Today I got together with my friend R to sit at Red Rock in Downtown Mountain View and merely to read together. For some reason the coffee shop atmosphere made me feel very serene, which I very much enjoyed! She has a bunch of books to read for her honors program at her college, so her reading was necessary, while mine was juvenile - a chick-flicky book by Sarah Dessen. Pretty much the epitome of a girly novel. But it was nice to get out of the house and spend time with a good friend, even if all we did was sit together and read! Actually that's a lie, after an hour or so we window-shopped along Castro street and then picked up our friend K and did some SERIOUS shopping. Just kidding, we browsed around Target for an hour. ;) We went back to my house where we made sandwiches and hang out for a bit. That's when R#1 left us and K and I drove over to R#2's house to paint our nails! I think my girly side was trying to fight its way to the surface today...
Other than all that, I've started to feel a little poorly today, so I ask to be in your prayers because the next two days are kinda busy for me and next week I leave for a week on Shasta Lake! <3 Thank you and keep it classy~
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Sleep
June 18th:
During the school year, I kept my self-enforced bed time/lights out time at 10 pm on all school nights. With my alarm going off at 6:45 am, I usually got at least 8 hours of sleep. This kept me sane and happy. I had become so accustomed to the 8+ hours of sleep I had been getting for the last nine months that now that it is summer and I'm going to bed after midnight, I have been having to choose between getting up early (between 7-9 is what I call early) and being über tired or sleeping in until 10 or 12 and missing my favorite time of day. That was a long sentence. Moving on...
So, I think I need to change my sleeping habits. I wanna go to bed earlier, and get up earlier. This is going to be pretty hard since I love staying up, but I prefer the morning hours to the midnight hours, so I think this is the right thing to do! But that means that I need to shift my whole night schedule a few hours earlier - start my blog posts BEFORE ten... Le sigh.
On other notes, today I had lunch with a good friend E - but not before going to the library and checking out an extremely girly teen novel, being annoyed by a smelly man taking my favorite arm-chaired cranny, and facetiming with my mbff (male bff) G. It was nice spending some time by myself at my favorite haunt (the Mountain View public library). Two summers ago I spent almost all of my unscheduled free time there, writing fiction and day dreaming. I guess times change - I hardly have any time to myself anymore!
I also spent... 270 minutes in a row watching Smallville with my mom... My back is seriously not loving me right now. Fold-up chairs aren't lovely to sit in for 4.5 hours.... Eh heh heh...
Well, I'm hopefully going to go to sleep soon (but maybe I'll begin that trend tomorrow night...) and you should too! Take care of your body and mental health! And keep it classy!!
During the school year, I kept my self-enforced bed time/lights out time at 10 pm on all school nights. With my alarm going off at 6:45 am, I usually got at least 8 hours of sleep. This kept me sane and happy. I had become so accustomed to the 8+ hours of sleep I had been getting for the last nine months that now that it is summer and I'm going to bed after midnight, I have been having to choose between getting up early (between 7-9 is what I call early) and being über tired or sleeping in until 10 or 12 and missing my favorite time of day. That was a long sentence. Moving on...
So, I think I need to change my sleeping habits. I wanna go to bed earlier, and get up earlier. This is going to be pretty hard since I love staying up, but I prefer the morning hours to the midnight hours, so I think this is the right thing to do! But that means that I need to shift my whole night schedule a few hours earlier - start my blog posts BEFORE ten... Le sigh.
On other notes, today I had lunch with a good friend E - but not before going to the library and checking out an extremely girly teen novel, being annoyed by a smelly man taking my favorite arm-chaired cranny, and facetiming with my mbff (male bff) G. It was nice spending some time by myself at my favorite haunt (the Mountain View public library). Two summers ago I spent almost all of my unscheduled free time there, writing fiction and day dreaming. I guess times change - I hardly have any time to myself anymore!
I also spent... 270 minutes in a row watching Smallville with my mom... My back is seriously not loving me right now. Fold-up chairs aren't lovely to sit in for 4.5 hours.... Eh heh heh...
Well, I'm hopefully going to go to sleep soon (but maybe I'll begin that trend tomorrow night...) and you should too! Take care of your body and mental health! And keep it classy!!
Monday, June 17, 2013
Does "Fear the Lord" Really Mean "Respect the Lord"?
June 17th:
My answer is no. For the past seven (or more) years of my life, it has been repeated over and over: "We should fear the Lord, but when we say fear we don't actually mean FEAR, we mean RESPECT and AWE, because that's more socially acceptable and un-scary." Okay, usually people left off the bit after the because. But really, haven't you heard that before? "We shouldn't actually FEAR God, just give Him proper respect." I think this amazingly wrong interpretation of the Bible is a result of the Church being embarrassed of its beliefs. We are told countless times in the Bible that we should FEAR the Lord, so why are we telling everyone that we are just respecting Him? Aren't we practically announcing to the world that we are directly disobeying our God and His Word?
I think when the Bible says "fear" it means "fear". Not "respect", "love", "honor". Yes, we are ALSO told to do all those things, but that's not what God is saying when He says "fear". I think we are actually supposed to have fear struck into our hearts at the idea of God and His power - actual fear, not merely understanding of His greatness and acceptance of that fact. Fall on our faces, trembling fear. Fear we can't even comprehend until we feel it. Abraham, Jacob, Moses, John, and many others felt that crippling fear when they experienced God, why shouldn't we? We are told to fear Him as they did.
A verse I was asked to consider tonight at college group was this: "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge" -Proverbs 1:7a.
The first things that came to mind were: 1. first we need fear, then we can have knowledge 2. how do we get that fear? 3. we have to ASK God to give us fear of Him.
What a strange thought.
We hear occasionally of people asking God to send them trials and tribulations so that they grow closer to Him, but have you ever heard of someone asking for Him to strike fear into their hearts? I sure haven't. But I think that's something I have to begin praying for, because if I want to EVER have true knowledge, I'm gonna have to have the fear first, and only God can give me that. You can't just think really hard and begin to fear God. You have to see Him - His works, His face, His love - in a radical way. You don't actually fear God if you have to think about it; you will automatically fear Him when you know Him deeply.
So, I want to fear the Lord. Like, really fear. And the only way of gaining that is through God, so I think praying for Him to give me it would be a good place to start.
After the fear, there is always this phrase "fear not, nor be afraid" because once you've been crippled by your fear, God steps in with His love and wisdom and you don't have to be afraid any longer. I'd like that. Wouldn't you?
Sorry for rambling a bit, I'm tired >.< Consider my thoughts, comment on things, and keep it classy.
My answer is no. For the past seven (or more) years of my life, it has been repeated over and over: "We should fear the Lord, but when we say fear we don't actually mean FEAR, we mean RESPECT and AWE, because that's more socially acceptable and un-scary." Okay, usually people left off the bit after the because. But really, haven't you heard that before? "We shouldn't actually FEAR God, just give Him proper respect." I think this amazingly wrong interpretation of the Bible is a result of the Church being embarrassed of its beliefs. We are told countless times in the Bible that we should FEAR the Lord, so why are we telling everyone that we are just respecting Him? Aren't we practically announcing to the world that we are directly disobeying our God and His Word?
I think when the Bible says "fear" it means "fear". Not "respect", "love", "honor". Yes, we are ALSO told to do all those things, but that's not what God is saying when He says "fear". I think we are actually supposed to have fear struck into our hearts at the idea of God and His power - actual fear, not merely understanding of His greatness and acceptance of that fact. Fall on our faces, trembling fear. Fear we can't even comprehend until we feel it. Abraham, Jacob, Moses, John, and many others felt that crippling fear when they experienced God, why shouldn't we? We are told to fear Him as they did.
A verse I was asked to consider tonight at college group was this: "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge" -Proverbs 1:7a.
The first things that came to mind were: 1. first we need fear, then we can have knowledge 2. how do we get that fear? 3. we have to ASK God to give us fear of Him.
What a strange thought.
We hear occasionally of people asking God to send them trials and tribulations so that they grow closer to Him, but have you ever heard of someone asking for Him to strike fear into their hearts? I sure haven't. But I think that's something I have to begin praying for, because if I want to EVER have true knowledge, I'm gonna have to have the fear first, and only God can give me that. You can't just think really hard and begin to fear God. You have to see Him - His works, His face, His love - in a radical way. You don't actually fear God if you have to think about it; you will automatically fear Him when you know Him deeply.
So, I want to fear the Lord. Like, really fear. And the only way of gaining that is through God, so I think praying for Him to give me it would be a good place to start.
After the fear, there is always this phrase "fear not, nor be afraid" because once you've been crippled by your fear, God steps in with His love and wisdom and you don't have to be afraid any longer. I'd like that. Wouldn't you?
Sorry for rambling a bit, I'm tired >.< Consider my thoughts, comment on things, and keep it classy.
Sunday, June 16, 2013
Build a Friendship-Foundation
June 16th:
I only had two romantic relationships in high school. One that lasted for almost half a year, and another that barely made it to two months. In terms of regular high school relationships, the first, and perhaps even the second, seem like impressive amounts of time. In terms of The King's Academy's student body's relationships, the first was about average, if not a little short, and the second hardly counted - was just a blip on my record. That does seem a little harsh, but for some reason King's students seem to think it's a horrible sin if a relationship ends. I don't know why. Well, I can't change a whole school's outlook, especially when they've only just begun to "recognize healthy, opposite-gender relationships". *facepalm*
So, I had these two relationships. And despite them both ending in, obviously, a breakup, the pain of the end could never outweigh all of the things I learned throughout the relationship. I try to live with no regrets, and thus far I think I have managed to do so because I look at the positive: not that a relationship ended, but that I grew so much during it, both as an individual and in God and His walk with me. I don't think a single minute was wasted. But that's not what I mean to be blogging about.
What I want to say is this: I believe it is crucial in a romantic relationship to be first and foremost friends - best friends even, later on in the relationship.
I got to know my first boyfriend initially as a friend because we were in the same friend group. This made it easy to transition from being just friends to dating because we already shared our friends and didn't have to try to merge two groups. We already knew some of each others' faults and knew that the other wasn't perfect - so we didn't have to deal with disillusionment when we actually began our relationship and got to know each other more deeply.
In the case of my second boyfriend, we didn't know each other as friends at all before beginning to act like a couple. This left us with very little time, if any at all, okay, no time, to become just friends. I think we missed out on a lot of each other because we didn't take the time to be friends before jumping into a romantic relationship. We didn't learn each others' weaknesses and faults, and truly ended up being disillusioned and hurt as a result. We threw our whole selves into a relationship without knowing at all who the other person was beyond the flirting. We also didn't come from the same friend group, so we had to deal with how to split our time and in my opinion (and in many others) we didn't do a very good job at keeping up our long-term friendships while in our relationship.
I think my first relationship was a success despite it ending, because we were friends, and now we are friends again because we had that foundation to rebuild our pure friendship on. The second was less successful; because we had no friendship foundation, "rebuilding" will actually have to be "building" which is SO MUCH HARDER. We already know each others' greatest faults and weaknesses and have already been hurt, so creating a friendship out of that is going to be extremely difficult, if not impossible. But I have hope.
I guess what I'm trying to say is.. don't jump into things. Don't base your decisions off physical attraction and the need for instant gratification. Take the time to be friends first. If you don't build that friendship-foundation, when everything comes tumbling down it will be a lot harder to become friends later!
I think what I've learned from these two relationships is that what I really want before getting into a romantic relationship in college is to be friends with the guy first. I'm not vowing to not date my freshman year or anything, but I do hope that in the future I will have the wisdom to wait. I want to have learned his faults and weaknesses through a strong friendship - that way, when we come upon trials in our romantic relationship, we won't be disillusioned and we'll be prepared to deal because we had had practice when we were just friends.
Yeah. Comment below, and keep it classy ;)
I only had two romantic relationships in high school. One that lasted for almost half a year, and another that barely made it to two months. In terms of regular high school relationships, the first, and perhaps even the second, seem like impressive amounts of time. In terms of The King's Academy's student body's relationships, the first was about average, if not a little short, and the second hardly counted - was just a blip on my record. That does seem a little harsh, but for some reason King's students seem to think it's a horrible sin if a relationship ends. I don't know why. Well, I can't change a whole school's outlook, especially when they've only just begun to "recognize healthy, opposite-gender relationships". *facepalm*
So, I had these two relationships. And despite them both ending in, obviously, a breakup, the pain of the end could never outweigh all of the things I learned throughout the relationship. I try to live with no regrets, and thus far I think I have managed to do so because I look at the positive: not that a relationship ended, but that I grew so much during it, both as an individual and in God and His walk with me. I don't think a single minute was wasted. But that's not what I mean to be blogging about.
What I want to say is this: I believe it is crucial in a romantic relationship to be first and foremost friends - best friends even, later on in the relationship.
I got to know my first boyfriend initially as a friend because we were in the same friend group. This made it easy to transition from being just friends to dating because we already shared our friends and didn't have to try to merge two groups. We already knew some of each others' faults and knew that the other wasn't perfect - so we didn't have to deal with disillusionment when we actually began our relationship and got to know each other more deeply.
In the case of my second boyfriend, we didn't know each other as friends at all before beginning to act like a couple. This left us with very little time, if any at all, okay, no time, to become just friends. I think we missed out on a lot of each other because we didn't take the time to be friends before jumping into a romantic relationship. We didn't learn each others' weaknesses and faults, and truly ended up being disillusioned and hurt as a result. We threw our whole selves into a relationship without knowing at all who the other person was beyond the flirting. We also didn't come from the same friend group, so we had to deal with how to split our time and in my opinion (and in many others) we didn't do a very good job at keeping up our long-term friendships while in our relationship.
I think my first relationship was a success despite it ending, because we were friends, and now we are friends again because we had that foundation to rebuild our pure friendship on. The second was less successful; because we had no friendship foundation, "rebuilding" will actually have to be "building" which is SO MUCH HARDER. We already know each others' greatest faults and weaknesses and have already been hurt, so creating a friendship out of that is going to be extremely difficult, if not impossible. But I have hope.
I guess what I'm trying to say is.. don't jump into things. Don't base your decisions off physical attraction and the need for instant gratification. Take the time to be friends first. If you don't build that friendship-foundation, when everything comes tumbling down it will be a lot harder to become friends later!
I think what I've learned from these two relationships is that what I really want before getting into a romantic relationship in college is to be friends with the guy first. I'm not vowing to not date my freshman year or anything, but I do hope that in the future I will have the wisdom to wait. I want to have learned his faults and weaknesses through a strong friendship - that way, when we come upon trials in our romantic relationship, we won't be disillusioned and we'll be prepared to deal because we had had practice when we were just friends.
Yeah. Comment below, and keep it classy ;)
Saturday, June 15, 2013
Expectations VS Outcome
June 15th:
Senior year. The best year. The year to make memories you'll never forget. To go crazy and live life to the fullest with no regrets.
These are the things I heard about how senior year should be. The way you had to "do" senior year, or else you were missing out on everything.
Well, I've decided that those expectations are stupid. Why does your senior year HAVE to be the best? Why wait until your last year to have fun? To make memories? You end up (potentially) wasting your three other years of high school waiting for the best year: senior year. You want it to be fun, memorable, awesome, the best ever. But what happens when it's not? Are you a failure? Did you do something wrong? Were you TRYING to not have fun, perhaps subconsciously? Was it all a waste if you look back and decide that senior year was NOT your favorite? God forbid - it was your LEAST favorite?!
That's actually my opinion on my senior year. It definitely wasn't my favorite year (whoot shoot, junior year!), and unfortunately it ended up being my least favorite out of all four. No, it wasn't horrible, and I didn't HATE it or anything, but it was definitely my least favorite.
You wanna know why it was my least favorite? Unfulfilled expectations. I think everything in my life told me that my senior year would be the best and that I would have the most fun and school would be so easy, bla bla bla, but it ended up being probably my toughest year filled with the least amount of fun.
While it WAS disappointing to realize that I didn't love senior year, I feel like it was the most rewarding - both in my relationships and in my maturity as an individual AND daughter of God. I learned so much about... well, everything! Even though I didn't have fun doing it, I don't think senior year was a waste at all. I'll admit, sometimes it's hard hearing people brag about how amazing their senior year was, but in some deeper part of me I have to wonder if they really got as much out of it as I did. Will they remember all those nights they went TPing or partied hard? OR will they wish they had discovered more about themselves and their friendships? I can't answer that, obviously, because I am not them, but I do wonder what we will all look back and think of when we consider our last year of high school.
I'm thankful that God threw so much at me to deal with this past year because I was in the perfect environment to deal with it all. I pity those who will have to discover who they are in their first or second years in college where they have little community and are far from all those who love them unconditionally....
So, I'm not exactly sure what I'm trying to say, but I encourage you if you are still a pre-senior to keep your mind open and to not feel like a failure if your senior year isn't the BESTEST EVER. Also, if you are an adult: quit telling minors how their lives should go. They have enough of their own expectations to deal with, without you piling yours on top.
Yeah... Keep it classy readers.
Senior year. The best year. The year to make memories you'll never forget. To go crazy and live life to the fullest with no regrets.
These are the things I heard about how senior year should be. The way you had to "do" senior year, or else you were missing out on everything.
Well, I've decided that those expectations are stupid. Why does your senior year HAVE to be the best? Why wait until your last year to have fun? To make memories? You end up (potentially) wasting your three other years of high school waiting for the best year: senior year. You want it to be fun, memorable, awesome, the best ever. But what happens when it's not? Are you a failure? Did you do something wrong? Were you TRYING to not have fun, perhaps subconsciously? Was it all a waste if you look back and decide that senior year was NOT your favorite? God forbid - it was your LEAST favorite?!
That's actually my opinion on my senior year. It definitely wasn't my favorite year (whoot shoot, junior year!), and unfortunately it ended up being my least favorite out of all four. No, it wasn't horrible, and I didn't HATE it or anything, but it was definitely my least favorite.
You wanna know why it was my least favorite? Unfulfilled expectations. I think everything in my life told me that my senior year would be the best and that I would have the most fun and school would be so easy, bla bla bla, but it ended up being probably my toughest year filled with the least amount of fun.
While it WAS disappointing to realize that I didn't love senior year, I feel like it was the most rewarding - both in my relationships and in my maturity as an individual AND daughter of God. I learned so much about... well, everything! Even though I didn't have fun doing it, I don't think senior year was a waste at all. I'll admit, sometimes it's hard hearing people brag about how amazing their senior year was, but in some deeper part of me I have to wonder if they really got as much out of it as I did. Will they remember all those nights they went TPing or partied hard? OR will they wish they had discovered more about themselves and their friendships? I can't answer that, obviously, because I am not them, but I do wonder what we will all look back and think of when we consider our last year of high school.
I'm thankful that God threw so much at me to deal with this past year because I was in the perfect environment to deal with it all. I pity those who will have to discover who they are in their first or second years in college where they have little community and are far from all those who love them unconditionally....
So, I'm not exactly sure what I'm trying to say, but I encourage you if you are still a pre-senior to keep your mind open and to not feel like a failure if your senior year isn't the BESTEST EVER. Also, if you are an adult: quit telling minors how their lives should go. They have enough of their own expectations to deal with, without you piling yours on top.
Yeah... Keep it classy readers.
Friday, June 14, 2013
Crying
June 14th:
I'm a total wuss. What I mean by that is that I cry easily. At books. At shows. At movies. At songs. Pretty much anything that has the potential to be emotional is capable of making me cry.
Yesterday I considered writing my blog about sympathetic crying which is a condition in which person #1 begins to cry only because person #2 is crying. But I scrapped the idea after a few failed attempts to begin the post. I thought it was pretty ironic when that very night I was watching a show and found myself crying alongside the person on the screen. I do love and feel a connection to said character, but I don't know her personally, nor did her tragedy affect me, so why was I crying? Oh, right, I'm a sympathetic crier. I actually took a picture of my tearstained face while watching the show because I thought it was so funny and was going to share it with all y'all, but I look horrible, as people generally do when they're crying, so I'll spare you that horror ;)
I've talked to a lot of people about their emotional reactions to movies and books and have come to the conclusion that I am the most emotional person in my immediate friend group. Books in particular are my downfall. They have the power of tears, laughter, sighs, and anger over me. Very powerful little bits of paper sewn together! I like watching people read fiction (yes, kinda creepy) because I love watching their reactions, however I am usually disappointed because I don't know anyone who reacts as strongly as I do to fictitious things! My favorite books are those that I can read over and over and still have a crazy emotional reaction to. Sounds kinda strange, but it's true.
Unlike some people, I also don't hate crying. I mean, crying in front of other people is a different, very embarrassing matter and if I've cried in front of you I must really trust you, but I think crying at least twice a month (if not once a week) is completely healthy. Catharsis, my brethren! I get the whole "gotta be a man" or "I don't wanna look pathetic" ideology, but come on, we all know it feels good to cry and get all that emotion out!
When was the last time YOU cried? What at? Do you hate crying, or do you appreciate the God-given outlet?
Well, through your tears... keep it classy! ;)
I'm a total wuss. What I mean by that is that I cry easily. At books. At shows. At movies. At songs. Pretty much anything that has the potential to be emotional is capable of making me cry.
Yesterday I considered writing my blog about sympathetic crying which is a condition in which person #1 begins to cry only because person #2 is crying. But I scrapped the idea after a few failed attempts to begin the post. I thought it was pretty ironic when that very night I was watching a show and found myself crying alongside the person on the screen. I do love and feel a connection to said character, but I don't know her personally, nor did her tragedy affect me, so why was I crying? Oh, right, I'm a sympathetic crier. I actually took a picture of my tearstained face while watching the show because I thought it was so funny and was going to share it with all y'all, but I look horrible, as people generally do when they're crying, so I'll spare you that horror ;)
I've talked to a lot of people about their emotional reactions to movies and books and have come to the conclusion that I am the most emotional person in my immediate friend group. Books in particular are my downfall. They have the power of tears, laughter, sighs, and anger over me. Very powerful little bits of paper sewn together! I like watching people read fiction (yes, kinda creepy) because I love watching their reactions, however I am usually disappointed because I don't know anyone who reacts as strongly as I do to fictitious things! My favorite books are those that I can read over and over and still have a crazy emotional reaction to. Sounds kinda strange, but it's true.
Unlike some people, I also don't hate crying. I mean, crying in front of other people is a different, very embarrassing matter and if I've cried in front of you I must really trust you, but I think crying at least twice a month (if not once a week) is completely healthy. Catharsis, my brethren! I get the whole "gotta be a man" or "I don't wanna look pathetic" ideology, but come on, we all know it feels good to cry and get all that emotion out!
When was the last time YOU cried? What at? Do you hate crying, or do you appreciate the God-given outlet?
Well, through your tears... keep it classy! ;)
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Phases
June 13th:
So, I go through intense, time consuming phases of loving one or two shows and doing little else but watch them in all my free time. Currently, my obsessions are Smallville and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I cannot stop watching them! I love them! But those aside, I thought I'd share with you a list of a bunch of shows that I absolutely adore, so here we go!
Stargate: Atlantis, Castle, Psych, Firefly, Gilmore Girls, Smallville, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The West Wing, Doctor Who, countless animes, The Mentalist, ect. I know I'm leaving a few out, but I can't think of them.
I think you can tell a lot about a person through their movie, show, book, and music preferences. I like going through peoples' iPod playlists because I feel like I learn a little bit more about them through their song choices. So, consider my loved shows: what do they say about me? What do yours say about you?
I'm obviously into sci-fi shows, but not lots of gore or sex (Stargate, Firefly, Smallville, Buffy, Doctor Who). I love wit, but not outright comedy (Castle, Psych, Gilmore Girls, the West Wing). And I adore cop shows that focus on characters, not bloody deaths (Castle, Psych, the Mentalist).
I dislike reality and super shallow shows (I will not name the ones I am thinking of, because I bet you're a closet fan). I DID enjoy Arrested Development, but less because I thought it was funny and more because I associate it with my brother and I love him, soooo, whala!
So, what are your favorite shows? What draws you to them? Comment below!
Keep it classy, friend.
So, I go through intense, time consuming phases of loving one or two shows and doing little else but watch them in all my free time. Currently, my obsessions are Smallville and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I cannot stop watching them! I love them! But those aside, I thought I'd share with you a list of a bunch of shows that I absolutely adore, so here we go!
Stargate: Atlantis, Castle, Psych, Firefly, Gilmore Girls, Smallville, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The West Wing, Doctor Who, countless animes, The Mentalist, ect. I know I'm leaving a few out, but I can't think of them.
I think you can tell a lot about a person through their movie, show, book, and music preferences. I like going through peoples' iPod playlists because I feel like I learn a little bit more about them through their song choices. So, consider my loved shows: what do they say about me? What do yours say about you?
I'm obviously into sci-fi shows, but not lots of gore or sex (Stargate, Firefly, Smallville, Buffy, Doctor Who). I love wit, but not outright comedy (Castle, Psych, Gilmore Girls, the West Wing). And I adore cop shows that focus on characters, not bloody deaths (Castle, Psych, the Mentalist).
I dislike reality and super shallow shows (I will not name the ones I am thinking of, because I bet you're a closet fan). I DID enjoy Arrested Development, but less because I thought it was funny and more because I associate it with my brother and I love him, soooo, whala!
So, what are your favorite shows? What draws you to them? Comment below!
Keep it classy, friend.
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
I Love You
June 12:
Three little words. What do they mean? Well, I think they mean something different for each person, which makes saying them SO DANG COMPLICATED.
For me, saying "I love you" means exactly that - I love that person. No strings automatically attached, no assumption of undying romantic love, no shared understanding of "something" having just occurred. If I could, I would tell everyone I know that I love them. But you see, the way other people interpret those words is drastically different than the way I do. One person may think that I'm confessing to having feelings for them. Another may think that we have some deep connection that was just shed light on. But what I really mean is that I love them as a person. With all their faults and failures alongside their virtues and strengths. I love my friends, I love my family, I love my acquaintances. I even love the people I dislike.
Wait, what? How does that work? Don't people usually, um, NOT love the people they dislike? Not for me! I don't have to "like" everyone that I love. Yes, very complicated.
Some people have really angered or hurt me, but does that mean that I no longer love them? No.
Would God stop loving you if you did something that He didn't like, or that hurt Him? No.
Why should I stop loving someone who is imperfect? I know I'M imperfect. If MY imperfections mean that I'M not lovable, then nobody is lovable because nobody is perfect and we've all hurt someone at one time or another. Luckily, there's grace and unconditional love.
So, I love my friends AND my love language is physical touch. Hugs, hand-holding, arms brushing, ect. Unfortunately, showing my platonic (non-romantic) love for my friends usually causes some confusion. "Do you like him?" "You're such a flirt!" "You're SO leading him on!" So, by society's laws, I cannot tell my non-female friends that I love them, nor can I show them that I love them through the way that I am wired to convey my love. This makes for a very unhappy Annie whose friends don't understand how much she cares about them.
Normally, after a conversation with a friend (be that face-to-face or by text/messenger) I feel like saying (or typing) "I love you". Normally, I do not. For obvious reasons: confusion, misleadings, awkwardness. I wish it were socially acceptable to tell people that you love them... I know I know, there ARE other ways to convey the same sentiment: "I appreciate your friendship", "I love ____ about you", ect. But why can't I just say "I love you" with no HIDDEN meanings? *cue petulant whine*
So, that's my rant for the day. I guess it's okay to say "I love you" to my readers because it's not a particular person, so: I love you! Have a great day! Keep it classy!
Three little words. What do they mean? Well, I think they mean something different for each person, which makes saying them SO DANG COMPLICATED.
For me, saying "I love you" means exactly that - I love that person. No strings automatically attached, no assumption of undying romantic love, no shared understanding of "something" having just occurred. If I could, I would tell everyone I know that I love them. But you see, the way other people interpret those words is drastically different than the way I do. One person may think that I'm confessing to having feelings for them. Another may think that we have some deep connection that was just shed light on. But what I really mean is that I love them as a person. With all their faults and failures alongside their virtues and strengths. I love my friends, I love my family, I love my acquaintances. I even love the people I dislike.
Wait, what? How does that work? Don't people usually, um, NOT love the people they dislike? Not for me! I don't have to "like" everyone that I love. Yes, very complicated.
Some people have really angered or hurt me, but does that mean that I no longer love them? No.
Would God stop loving you if you did something that He didn't like, or that hurt Him? No.
Why should I stop loving someone who is imperfect? I know I'M imperfect. If MY imperfections mean that I'M not lovable, then nobody is lovable because nobody is perfect and we've all hurt someone at one time or another. Luckily, there's grace and unconditional love.
So, I love my friends AND my love language is physical touch. Hugs, hand-holding, arms brushing, ect. Unfortunately, showing my platonic (non-romantic) love for my friends usually causes some confusion. "Do you like him?" "You're such a flirt!" "You're SO leading him on!" So, by society's laws, I cannot tell my non-female friends that I love them, nor can I show them that I love them through the way that I am wired to convey my love. This makes for a very unhappy Annie whose friends don't understand how much she cares about them.
Normally, after a conversation with a friend (be that face-to-face or by text/messenger) I feel like saying (or typing) "I love you". Normally, I do not. For obvious reasons: confusion, misleadings, awkwardness. I wish it were socially acceptable to tell people that you love them... I know I know, there ARE other ways to convey the same sentiment: "I appreciate your friendship", "I love ____ about you", ect. But why can't I just say "I love you" with no HIDDEN meanings? *cue petulant whine*
So, that's my rant for the day. I guess it's okay to say "I love you" to my readers because it's not a particular person, so: I love you! Have a great day! Keep it classy!
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
The Days Blend Together
June 11th:
Today I forgot what day it was. Is it Monday? Wednesday? Sunday?
I think the lack of school and of a consistent schedule is totally messing with my time perception. Or, at least day perception!
Tuesday. Tuesday is the day to me that seems to matter the least. Who cares about Tuesday?! Monday, Wednesday, and Friday are all important, as are the weekend days, and Thursday is close to the end of the week, so it has that going for it, but Tuesday? Tuesday is a lame day. Sorry if your favorite day is Tuesday.
I actually don't have anything deep to say today...
My brother came home from where he is stationed at Fort Drum in upstate NY today. He's staying for about two weeks I think. It's funny, it's been months since I last saw him, but the minute he walked through the door it seemed like he had never left. Everything went back to how it was when he lived here. Interesting.
Sorry to be boring! :D (I'm SUPER tired for some reason...)
Keep it classy, brethren.
Today I forgot what day it was. Is it Monday? Wednesday? Sunday?
I think the lack of school and of a consistent schedule is totally messing with my time perception. Or, at least day perception!
Tuesday. Tuesday is the day to me that seems to matter the least. Who cares about Tuesday?! Monday, Wednesday, and Friday are all important, as are the weekend days, and Thursday is close to the end of the week, so it has that going for it, but Tuesday? Tuesday is a lame day. Sorry if your favorite day is Tuesday.
I actually don't have anything deep to say today...
My brother came home from where he is stationed at Fort Drum in upstate NY today. He's staying for about two weeks I think. It's funny, it's been months since I last saw him, but the minute he walked through the door it seemed like he had never left. Everything went back to how it was when he lived here. Interesting.
Sorry to be boring! :D (I'm SUPER tired for some reason...)
Keep it classy, brethren.
Monday, June 10, 2013
Should We Dream Merely Within the Realm of Possibility?
June 10th:
Heyo. Tonight was the first of many Monday night gatherings for Highway's College Group! I think the 30 college students who showed up at the hosting apartment may have overwhelmed our hosts, but, God bless them, they fed us all! Our leader J sorta let us spend the night getting to know each other, but he did share a few words of wisdom near to the end of the night.
He passed out handouts with this picture of children climbing a tree on them:
["When I take a good, hard look at my spiritual life, I feel like [which child?]... because..." Explain your choice.]
and had us discuss with small groups 1. which child we saw ourselves to be 2. why and 3. how can we get to the place where we WANT to be on the tree.
It was a very eye-opening experience! Originally I thought I was the little girl climbing the ladder, being supported by two other kids, but as I thought about it more and more, I realized that right now I'm the little boy, siting back and relaxing (perhaps napping?) and watching everyone else struggle. I'm kind of at a stand-still in my spiritual life right now! But how can I change that? That's the real question here! And sadly, I do not yet have an answer! If you have some wise words to share, comment away, but I'm at a loss. Over and over again I go through "re-dedications", "Spirit-filled moments", and feel like I've NEVER felt so close to God, but after those few days or weeks, again I feel like I stop moving, like I'm stagnant water, with nothing pouring in and nothing pouring out. When/how will I be the little boy at the top of the tree, studiously looking upward and consistently climbing?!
On a different note, we talked about our summer goals before we go off to (or go back to) college. I think mine are these:
1. Become independent from my family and friends. Now when I say independent, I don't mean forget or forsake, but instead learn to not make them the center of my life and discover to live as an individual.
2. Become dependent on God. I need to focus on Him and not let Him leave my sight! Not even for a moment! I only need Him, not other Earthly things, and I need to make that a priority!
The one way I could think of managing these two goals was to blindly trust God. I choose the word blindly not to convey the image of stupidity or ill-advisement, but of complete and utter trust even when I do not understand (or even when I do not agree). I feel like I DO trust God, but usually I only need to trust that He is doing good in my life, has only love for me, and is guiding my footsteps. Rarely do I face HARD situations that require total trust in God to get through. I hope that this summer I am faced with such difficult tasks and decisions so that I GET to choose to trust God blindly.
Hopefully that made sense...
Other than "College Highway", I had breakfast with my twin R and did some window shopping in Downtown Los Altos, painted some more in my room, hung out with my bff K and attempted to record us singing a song (and totally failing), and drove K and my beautiful A to College Highway. <3 I love my girls.
I hope you'll take some time to consider which child in the tree you are and why (and think about where you WANT to be and how to get there!). :) Keep your eyes set on God!
Keep it classy B)
Heyo. Tonight was the first of many Monday night gatherings for Highway's College Group! I think the 30 college students who showed up at the hosting apartment may have overwhelmed our hosts, but, God bless them, they fed us all! Our leader J sorta let us spend the night getting to know each other, but he did share a few words of wisdom near to the end of the night.
He passed out handouts with this picture of children climbing a tree on them:
["When I take a good, hard look at my spiritual life, I feel like [which child?]... because..." Explain your choice.]
and had us discuss with small groups 1. which child we saw ourselves to be 2. why and 3. how can we get to the place where we WANT to be on the tree.
It was a very eye-opening experience! Originally I thought I was the little girl climbing the ladder, being supported by two other kids, but as I thought about it more and more, I realized that right now I'm the little boy, siting back and relaxing (perhaps napping?) and watching everyone else struggle. I'm kind of at a stand-still in my spiritual life right now! But how can I change that? That's the real question here! And sadly, I do not yet have an answer! If you have some wise words to share, comment away, but I'm at a loss. Over and over again I go through "re-dedications", "Spirit-filled moments", and feel like I've NEVER felt so close to God, but after those few days or weeks, again I feel like I stop moving, like I'm stagnant water, with nothing pouring in and nothing pouring out. When/how will I be the little boy at the top of the tree, studiously looking upward and consistently climbing?!
On a different note, we talked about our summer goals before we go off to (or go back to) college. I think mine are these:
1. Become independent from my family and friends. Now when I say independent, I don't mean forget or forsake, but instead learn to not make them the center of my life and discover to live as an individual.
2. Become dependent on God. I need to focus on Him and not let Him leave my sight! Not even for a moment! I only need Him, not other Earthly things, and I need to make that a priority!
The one way I could think of managing these two goals was to blindly trust God. I choose the word blindly not to convey the image of stupidity or ill-advisement, but of complete and utter trust even when I do not understand (or even when I do not agree). I feel like I DO trust God, but usually I only need to trust that He is doing good in my life, has only love for me, and is guiding my footsteps. Rarely do I face HARD situations that require total trust in God to get through. I hope that this summer I am faced with such difficult tasks and decisions so that I GET to choose to trust God blindly.
Hopefully that made sense...
Other than "College Highway", I had breakfast with my twin R and did some window shopping in Downtown Los Altos, painted some more in my room, hung out with my bff K and attempted to record us singing a song (and totally failing), and drove K and my beautiful A to College Highway. <3 I love my girls.
I hope you'll take some time to consider which child in the tree you are and why (and think about where you WANT to be and how to get there!). :) Keep your eyes set on God!
Keep it classy B)
Sunday, June 9, 2013
Sometimes It's Hard To Get Through Those Open Doors...
June 9th:
There seems to be this hidden force that makes its goal in life to keep me from going to church on Sunday mornings. Either I'm "too tired" or "not in the mood". Either way, I USUALLY end up getting dragged to church by my parents. Yes, that is embarrassing to admit, but it's the cold, hard truth. I do not like GOING to church. But never do I go more than a few minutes into the service without realizing I was glad that I was there! I attend Mountain View's Open Door Church and I always, ALWAYS love the sermons. Even today's sermon which was seemingly inapplicable to my life - the topic being marriage relationships - hit me with its truth and the amazing Word of God. What the heck! God is so cool!
I know some people are skeptical about the topic of spiritual warfare in our everyday lives, but I'm a true believer that every decision is battled over - be that the decision to have a hard conversation with a friend or whether to go to a party or whether to attend church. I think Satan is battling pretty hard every Sunday morning to keep me home and away from the loving embrace of my Lord and Savior. I also have this firm belief that there is one hotel in Anaheim that cause me to become ill because of spiritual forces around me. Weird right? Yeah, that's what I believe. Well, back to the original topic!
The sermon today was about marriages, but a lot that was said applied to both friendships and dating relationships. One little tidbit that stood out to me was this: differences in personality and experiences MAKE relationships. Without any differences, there wouldn't be a relationship with two people, it'd just be you and your own thoughts. Sorta obvious, but it's nice to be reminded that just because someone is different than you doesn't mean that you can't have an awesome friendship or relationship! Something that goes along with that idea is that God "yokes" us together, not "fuses" or "welds". We are yoked, we have to CHOOSE to work together, to head the same direction. If we fit together perfectly then we would have brainless relationships and would never have conflict, and thus never grow emotionally, relationally, and spiritually!
So, there are my little ramblings for today. Other than church, I attended a grad party and went to the movies with my parental units. We viewed "Now You See Me" and I have to say it was fantastic. Totally unpredictable and perfectly fast-paced, while still maintaining a good plot. Go see it.
Keep it classy, bros. ;)
There seems to be this hidden force that makes its goal in life to keep me from going to church on Sunday mornings. Either I'm "too tired" or "not in the mood". Either way, I USUALLY end up getting dragged to church by my parents. Yes, that is embarrassing to admit, but it's the cold, hard truth. I do not like GOING to church. But never do I go more than a few minutes into the service without realizing I was glad that I was there! I attend Mountain View's Open Door Church and I always, ALWAYS love the sermons. Even today's sermon which was seemingly inapplicable to my life - the topic being marriage relationships - hit me with its truth and the amazing Word of God. What the heck! God is so cool!
I know some people are skeptical about the topic of spiritual warfare in our everyday lives, but I'm a true believer that every decision is battled over - be that the decision to have a hard conversation with a friend or whether to go to a party or whether to attend church. I think Satan is battling pretty hard every Sunday morning to keep me home and away from the loving embrace of my Lord and Savior. I also have this firm belief that there is one hotel in Anaheim that cause me to become ill because of spiritual forces around me. Weird right? Yeah, that's what I believe. Well, back to the original topic!
The sermon today was about marriages, but a lot that was said applied to both friendships and dating relationships. One little tidbit that stood out to me was this: differences in personality and experiences MAKE relationships. Without any differences, there wouldn't be a relationship with two people, it'd just be you and your own thoughts. Sorta obvious, but it's nice to be reminded that just because someone is different than you doesn't mean that you can't have an awesome friendship or relationship! Something that goes along with that idea is that God "yokes" us together, not "fuses" or "welds". We are yoked, we have to CHOOSE to work together, to head the same direction. If we fit together perfectly then we would have brainless relationships and would never have conflict, and thus never grow emotionally, relationally, and spiritually!
So, there are my little ramblings for today. Other than church, I attended a grad party and went to the movies with my parental units. We viewed "Now You See Me" and I have to say it was fantastic. Totally unpredictable and perfectly fast-paced, while still maintaining a good plot. Go see it.
Keep it classy, bros. ;)
Saturday, June 8, 2013
Four Friends and Scores of Fish
June 8th:
Today I spent the day in Monterey with three friends visiting the Monterey Bay Aquarium! With the plans for a similar trip like this in the works for a couple months, it was exciting to finally get in the car and drive the 1.5 hours to the beautiful, coast-side town!
Waking up at 7 was a pain, but the early morning was totally worth the rest of the day with R, M, and G! Our first stop when we got to Monterey was the aquarium, of course, where we spent.. I'd say.. five or so hours? From jelly fish to the ADORABLE sea otters (my favorite), we saw (I think) all of the exhibits and three of the "feedings".
The food at the aquarium "café" was horrific to say the least. The "apple butter" on my grilled cheese was pretty much applesauce, making the sandwich soggy and weird tasting, and the tomato "soup" it came with was watered down and tasted like... something from a can. A very old can. With things growing in it. As you can tell, I am passionate about food, and when they charge me thirteen dollars for poopy food... Well, I am not happy!
After finishing up our time at the aquarium with a cute narrated video about a sea otter named Luna, the four of us window shopped down the tourist trap and got Dippin' Dots (G bought me some as payback for getting primer in my hair. This would make sense if you read Thursday's blog). After shopping, we drove down (up?) to a nearby wharf for dinner at a place called Isabella's, but since it was only four-ish (kinda early for dinner) we decided to walk along the beach. M and I collected sea shells and sea glass while G and R did their best to avoid the water and our (okay, MY) splashing. It was all in good fun, I promise! On the way back to the wharf, M and I giggled and shared stories while G and R took off ahead of us and talked mysteriously. I don't actually know if they were talking about anything secretive, but I'm sure they were taking the chance away from the girls to gossip - as we ALL know boys like to do ;) My rolled up jeans didn't survive the water unfortunately and I had to deal with sandy toes in my shoes, but I those small discomforts were totally worth the fun on the beach!
Considering that we killed a good forty-five minutes on the beach and we were all freaking hungry, it was time for dinner! We headed over to Isabella's, which had a BEAUTIFUL view of the pier and bay. The waitress who sat us said that she had given us the best seat in the restaurant, which was pretty sweet! The food was excellent and after indulging in two shared desserts, we were delighted to find that the manager had given us our cake and pie for free! Took it off the tab! What awesome people!
On our way out of the restaurant, I saw one of those tiny photo-booth things and coerced my fellow Monterey-goers to squeeze in for fond memory's sake. To preserve my friends' identities, here's a picture we found in the slot along with our own and I took for the very purpose of sharing it with all y'all. What a cute couple. (if this is you, tell me, I'll send you your picture :)
While R went to get the car, G, M and I tried on glitzy masquerade masks in the last store on the wharf and I bought a little memento for the occasion - a pin for my messenger bag! I love my weird collections. After seeing a little sign warning parents to not allow those under 18 upstairs into the "man cave" without supervision, of course we were all a little curious. To our dismay(?), all there was that was for those above the age of 18 was a collection of some really cool, ornate guns, knives, and whips... And some more weird masks along with some pretty ugly hippie-esque clothes. I guess the warning was because of the weapons. No fun. G had M and I going that we had missed something sketchy for a good while, but when we realized he was trolling us we decided to make fun of him to R. Gotta love making vague comments ;)
We all headed back to the car and were soon on our way along the picturesque(r?) route home to watch the sun set over the ocean. Unfortunately the fog rolled in and obscured our view! BAH! Well, we had enough fun listening to music (and singing along) and chatting in the car on the ride home. M and I texted behind the driver's back while G napped in the passenger's seat :3 I think our incessant snickers and meows (yes, you read that correctly) woke him up a few times.
To say the least, today was oodles of fun and I enjoyed every minute of my day with my friends! May everyone have equally wonderful days with their friends this summer! Keep it classy folks.
**Oh, btw, you may have noticed that I am not using actual names in my blog posts. This is to maintain my friends' privacy and keep this from being just a journal for me. :) Thank you for understanding!**
Today I spent the day in Monterey with three friends visiting the Monterey Bay Aquarium! With the plans for a similar trip like this in the works for a couple months, it was exciting to finally get in the car and drive the 1.5 hours to the beautiful, coast-side town!
Waking up at 7 was a pain, but the early morning was totally worth the rest of the day with R, M, and G! Our first stop when we got to Monterey was the aquarium, of course, where we spent.. I'd say.. five or so hours? From jelly fish to the ADORABLE sea otters (my favorite), we saw (I think) all of the exhibits and three of the "feedings".
The food at the aquarium "café" was horrific to say the least. The "apple butter" on my grilled cheese was pretty much applesauce, making the sandwich soggy and weird tasting, and the tomato "soup" it came with was watered down and tasted like... something from a can. A very old can. With things growing in it. As you can tell, I am passionate about food, and when they charge me thirteen dollars for poopy food... Well, I am not happy!
After finishing up our time at the aquarium with a cute narrated video about a sea otter named Luna, the four of us window shopped down the tourist trap and got Dippin' Dots (G bought me some as payback for getting primer in my hair. This would make sense if you read Thursday's blog). After shopping, we drove down (up?) to a nearby wharf for dinner at a place called Isabella's, but since it was only four-ish (kinda early for dinner) we decided to walk along the beach. M and I collected sea shells and sea glass while G and R did their best to avoid the water and our (okay, MY) splashing. It was all in good fun, I promise! On the way back to the wharf, M and I giggled and shared stories while G and R took off ahead of us and talked mysteriously. I don't actually know if they were talking about anything secretive, but I'm sure they were taking the chance away from the girls to gossip - as we ALL know boys like to do ;) My rolled up jeans didn't survive the water unfortunately and I had to deal with sandy toes in my shoes, but I those small discomforts were totally worth the fun on the beach!
Considering that we killed a good forty-five minutes on the beach and we were all freaking hungry, it was time for dinner! We headed over to Isabella's, which had a BEAUTIFUL view of the pier and bay. The waitress who sat us said that she had given us the best seat in the restaurant, which was pretty sweet! The food was excellent and after indulging in two shared desserts, we were delighted to find that the manager had given us our cake and pie for free! Took it off the tab! What awesome people!
On our way out of the restaurant, I saw one of those tiny photo-booth things and coerced my fellow Monterey-goers to squeeze in for fond memory's sake. To preserve my friends' identities, here's a picture we found in the slot along with our own and I took for the very purpose of sharing it with all y'all. What a cute couple. (if this is you, tell me, I'll send you your picture :)
While R went to get the car, G, M and I tried on glitzy masquerade masks in the last store on the wharf and I bought a little memento for the occasion - a pin for my messenger bag! I love my weird collections. After seeing a little sign warning parents to not allow those under 18 upstairs into the "man cave" without supervision, of course we were all a little curious. To our dismay(?), all there was that was for those above the age of 18 was a collection of some really cool, ornate guns, knives, and whips... And some more weird masks along with some pretty ugly hippie-esque clothes. I guess the warning was because of the weapons. No fun. G had M and I going that we had missed something sketchy for a good while, but when we realized he was trolling us we decided to make fun of him to R. Gotta love making vague comments ;)
We all headed back to the car and were soon on our way along the picturesque(r?) route home to watch the sun set over the ocean. Unfortunately the fog rolled in and obscured our view! BAH! Well, we had enough fun listening to music (and singing along) and chatting in the car on the ride home. M and I texted behind the driver's back while G napped in the passenger's seat :3 I think our incessant snickers and meows (yes, you read that correctly) woke him up a few times.
To say the least, today was oodles of fun and I enjoyed every minute of my day with my friends! May everyone have equally wonderful days with their friends this summer! Keep it classy folks.
**Oh, btw, you may have noticed that I am not using actual names in my blog posts. This is to maintain my friends' privacy and keep this from being just a journal for me. :) Thank you for understanding!**
Friday, June 7, 2013
Chocolate, Tea, and Bacon
June 7th:
What else could a girl want? Oh yeah, Buffy. I enjoyed all four of these lovely comforts after a day spent painting my room by myself. I delighted in having so much solitude today, listening to my Pandora really loud (because my house was empty for most of the day), and focusing on being a perfectionist with my brush and roller. Despite my huge list of to-dos, when I finished painting around 3 I did diddley-squat. I sat around, watched Buffy, and ate junk food.
So far this summer has been well-balanced. I've had jam-packed days full of friends and fun, with a smattering of quiet days with nothing to write home about. I've definitely enjoyed the down time, but at the same time, I'm SO ready to see my friends again.
So, not much to say today, sorry to disappoint. I'm sure I'll have more fun things to talk about in tomorrow's post - look forward to that! In the meantime, keep it classy~
What else could a girl want? Oh yeah, Buffy. I enjoyed all four of these lovely comforts after a day spent painting my room by myself. I delighted in having so much solitude today, listening to my Pandora really loud (because my house was empty for most of the day), and focusing on being a perfectionist with my brush and roller. Despite my huge list of to-dos, when I finished painting around 3 I did diddley-squat. I sat around, watched Buffy, and ate junk food.
So far this summer has been well-balanced. I've had jam-packed days full of friends and fun, with a smattering of quiet days with nothing to write home about. I've definitely enjoyed the down time, but at the same time, I'm SO ready to see my friends again.
So, not much to say today, sorry to disappoint. I'm sure I'll have more fun things to talk about in tomorrow's post - look forward to that! In the meantime, keep it classy~
Thursday, June 6, 2013
Primed and Ready to Go!
June 6th:
Today I was awoken by my friend LL entering my room and my mom saying, "I think she's still asleep!"
I had told my friend to come over at 10 to help me paint my room and had been planning on waking up at 9:30, but lo and behold: it was 10:30 and I was still asleep! Oops! Thankfully L forgave me and a half hour later we were suited up in our ugly clothes, ready to begin the process of covering up my beloved dark blue and vibrant green walls with thick, tough white primer...
Around two, two more fiends joined (shout out to G and R!) and we finished the entire room (with only one interruption - to let a coat dry and play FLUXX). I am exceedingly grateful for my three friends' help! It would have taken me SO much longer to do all the priming by myself, so thank you!
Despite many warnings, tonight I have been scraping paint off my wood floor -_-. Next time, I'm gonna have to enforce some sort of strict paint-drippage rule requiring a bottom-of-the-feet check every time someone leaves the tarps.
After all three left, I spent some time ATTEMPTING to remove all of the primer that had gotten into my hair, on my face, and all over my hands and legs. G, you WILL pay for making me go out in public with paint in my hair, just sayin'.
With a 6:30 dinner planned with King's alumna L, I hastened to Downtown Mountain View's Books Inc. Together L and I shopped for a gift for her friend, walked around looking for a place to eat dinner (and ran into a couple adults we know!), settled down for Chinese food (JUST realized that I had left my leftovers in my messenger bag! Better go get those in the fridge...), looked at doodads and tried on dresses at Therapy, purchased White Chocolate Raspberry and Bavarian Mint Gelato from Gelato Classico, and sat and talked for an hour or so upstairs at Red Rock Coffee Shop. On the way back to our cars, L and I ran into the same couple of adults we had seen earlier that evening! What a crazy-random happenstance! I love living in an area where it's so common to run into people that you know!
I had expected to get home around 8:30 or so, but no - it was 10 when I got home! Not a minute wasted! L and I talked about everything from gifts/love languages to mutual friends and summer plans. I really appreciate that the older generations who have graduated from King's are so awesome and willing to hang out with people they didn't even really know when attending high school!
Now that I'm back at home, I've realized that my room is a mess and smells horrid and that I have another two or three days worth of painting still to do before I can have my room back >.< But despite this, I'm thankful for everything that happened today and all that I have - I am so blessed by God with my friends, resources, and life in general!
Also, random fact for today: While cleaning my nose piercing this morning I found inside - wait for it - a grape seed. WHAT. A GRAPE SEED!! What the heck kind of thing is that to find in your nose? I WAS eating grapes last night, but to find a seed.... in my nose... That's pretty weird. Kay. That's all.
Keep it classy guys.
Today I was awoken by my friend LL entering my room and my mom saying, "I think she's still asleep!"
I had told my friend to come over at 10 to help me paint my room and had been planning on waking up at 9:30, but lo and behold: it was 10:30 and I was still asleep! Oops! Thankfully L forgave me and a half hour later we were suited up in our ugly clothes, ready to begin the process of covering up my beloved dark blue and vibrant green walls with thick, tough white primer...
Around two, two more fiends joined (shout out to G and R!) and we finished the entire room (with only one interruption - to let a coat dry and play FLUXX). I am exceedingly grateful for my three friends' help! It would have taken me SO much longer to do all the priming by myself, so thank you!
Despite many warnings, tonight I have been scraping paint off my wood floor -_-. Next time, I'm gonna have to enforce some sort of strict paint-drippage rule requiring a bottom-of-the-feet check every time someone leaves the tarps.
After all three left, I spent some time ATTEMPTING to remove all of the primer that had gotten into my hair, on my face, and all over my hands and legs. G, you WILL pay for making me go out in public with paint in my hair, just sayin'.
With a 6:30 dinner planned with King's alumna L, I hastened to Downtown Mountain View's Books Inc. Together L and I shopped for a gift for her friend, walked around looking for a place to eat dinner (and ran into a couple adults we know!), settled down for Chinese food (JUST realized that I had left my leftovers in my messenger bag! Better go get those in the fridge...), looked at doodads and tried on dresses at Therapy, purchased White Chocolate Raspberry and Bavarian Mint Gelato from Gelato Classico, and sat and talked for an hour or so upstairs at Red Rock Coffee Shop. On the way back to our cars, L and I ran into the same couple of adults we had seen earlier that evening! What a crazy-random happenstance! I love living in an area where it's so common to run into people that you know!
I had expected to get home around 8:30 or so, but no - it was 10 when I got home! Not a minute wasted! L and I talked about everything from gifts/love languages to mutual friends and summer plans. I really appreciate that the older generations who have graduated from King's are so awesome and willing to hang out with people they didn't even really know when attending high school!
Now that I'm back at home, I've realized that my room is a mess and smells horrid and that I have another two or three days worth of painting still to do before I can have my room back >.< But despite this, I'm thankful for everything that happened today and all that I have - I am so blessed by God with my friends, resources, and life in general!
Also, random fact for today: While cleaning my nose piercing this morning I found inside - wait for it - a grape seed. WHAT. A GRAPE SEED!! What the heck kind of thing is that to find in your nose? I WAS eating grapes last night, but to find a seed.... in my nose... That's pretty weird. Kay. That's all.
Keep it classy guys.
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Farewell Onramp
June 5th:
Yep, you read that correctly. "Farewell Onramp". But what that really means, is tonight I attended my very last high school youth group night. The Highway Community's youth group "Onramp" (clever, right?) has been my church home base for the last four years, and I'm extremely sad to be leaving it!
Tonight was "Senior Night" where all the seniors in the group shared their high school experiences and advice to the underclassmen. Usually youth group ends ~8:45, but tonight it ended at 9:45! People had so many good bits of knowledge to share, some of which I captured in my journal and will now share with you!
1. “Life isn't how you survive the thunderstorm, but how you dance in the rain.” -Adam Young (shared by W)
2. Despite how much you try to avoid them, there will be MANY MANY unavoidable "out of your comfort zone" situations you will be in - take them as they come and learn from your experiences! (C)
3. You WILL disappoint people in life. Not because you're a bad person, but because people are humans, flawed, and are/never will be perfect. Don't live your life trying to avoid disappointing people because a. it's impossible and b. you'll only end up wasting your time and missing out on so much life! (D)
4. People say "Quitters never win," but NO! QUITTERS JUST WIN AT DIFFERENT THINGS!!! Also, when I am having a deep conversation, I always pray and hope "God, let everything *I* said be forgotten and let this person only remember/see/hear YOU!(E)
5. Job 1:21b: "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” (E)
6. DO NOT feel guilty if you cannot "hear" God directly. There is nothing wrong with you, He is just speaking to you in a different way. Community is the most powerful way that God shows His love sometimes. It's so easy to go through life thinking you're the star and everyone else is the supporting cast, but you have to remember that everyone is just like you, and has their own life too. It's not all about you. (M)
7. God places people in your life when you need them. If you think there's nobody like that in your life... Well, you're wrong. (T)
8. We don't often think about people having lives just as real as our own. Christ didn't die just for you! He died for everyone. Even that one person you simply dislike. He would have died for them, even if it was just them. (P)
9. When you can't see God himself, you can see His gifts. (D)
My bit of advice/sharing went a bit like this:
This year I had the joy of stepping out of my comfort zone and friend group and managed to reach out to make a few new friends. These new individuals have enriched my life to an umpteenth degree. I only regret that I didn't step out of my comfort zone/friend group bubble to find them sooner!
I also would like to point out that while I made many new friends, I also failed to mend old ones because of my own fear of rejection. I missed out on more than one beloved relationship this year because Satan shoved pride and fear and anger between me and my friends. I wish I has not been afraid to make myself vulnerable and had been more open to talking about how much I wanted to renew my friendships. (luckily God allowed me to mend these relationships eventually, but it took a good year to do it!)
So my two main bits of advice to the younger generations (and those going to college and/or whomever) are these:
1. Step out of your comfort zone and go talk to those people you've always wanted to. They could become some of your best friends. Don't think that you're "betraying" your current friends, but instead that you have enough room in your heart for a few more people to love!
2. Don't be afraid to do whatever it takes to fix things between you and a friend. You could be seriously missing out by not talking to them and neither of you are benefitting from your shared resentment! The only person getting jollies out of that is the Devil, and we should be glorifying God, not His fallen angel!
~
So, whether you are in middle school, high school, college, or are already out in the world, take these few bits of knowledge into your heart and dwell on their truths! I know I learned a lot the past year, and I'm sure to learn more in the years to come!
I will miss you, Onramp, but I know the students I am leaving behind are ready and willing to step up and continue passing on life's lessons! Thank you Onramp leaders, you made Highway a wonderful, welcoming community where I always felt safe and loved. Keep it classy.
Yep, you read that correctly. "Farewell Onramp". But what that really means, is tonight I attended my very last high school youth group night. The Highway Community's youth group "Onramp" (clever, right?) has been my church home base for the last four years, and I'm extremely sad to be leaving it!
Tonight was "Senior Night" where all the seniors in the group shared their high school experiences and advice to the underclassmen. Usually youth group ends ~8:45, but tonight it ended at 9:45! People had so many good bits of knowledge to share, some of which I captured in my journal and will now share with you!
1. “Life isn't how you survive the thunderstorm, but how you dance in the rain.” -Adam Young (shared by W)
2. Despite how much you try to avoid them, there will be MANY MANY unavoidable "out of your comfort zone" situations you will be in - take them as they come and learn from your experiences! (C)
3. You WILL disappoint people in life. Not because you're a bad person, but because people are humans, flawed, and are/never will be perfect. Don't live your life trying to avoid disappointing people because a. it's impossible and b. you'll only end up wasting your time and missing out on so much life! (D)
4. People say "Quitters never win," but NO! QUITTERS JUST WIN AT DIFFERENT THINGS!!! Also, when I am having a deep conversation, I always pray and hope "God, let everything *I* said be forgotten and let this person only remember/see/hear YOU!(E)
5. Job 1:21b: "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” (E)
6. DO NOT feel guilty if you cannot "hear" God directly. There is nothing wrong with you, He is just speaking to you in a different way. Community is the most powerful way that God shows His love sometimes. It's so easy to go through life thinking you're the star and everyone else is the supporting cast, but you have to remember that everyone is just like you, and has their own life too. It's not all about you. (M)
7. God places people in your life when you need them. If you think there's nobody like that in your life... Well, you're wrong. (T)
8. We don't often think about people having lives just as real as our own. Christ didn't die just for you! He died for everyone. Even that one person you simply dislike. He would have died for them, even if it was just them. (P)
9. When you can't see God himself, you can see His gifts. (D)
My bit of advice/sharing went a bit like this:
This year I had the joy of stepping out of my comfort zone and friend group and managed to reach out to make a few new friends. These new individuals have enriched my life to an umpteenth degree. I only regret that I didn't step out of my comfort zone/friend group bubble to find them sooner!
I also would like to point out that while I made many new friends, I also failed to mend old ones because of my own fear of rejection. I missed out on more than one beloved relationship this year because Satan shoved pride and fear and anger between me and my friends. I wish I has not been afraid to make myself vulnerable and had been more open to talking about how much I wanted to renew my friendships. (luckily God allowed me to mend these relationships eventually, but it took a good year to do it!)
So my two main bits of advice to the younger generations (and those going to college and/or whomever) are these:
1. Step out of your comfort zone and go talk to those people you've always wanted to. They could become some of your best friends. Don't think that you're "betraying" your current friends, but instead that you have enough room in your heart for a few more people to love!
2. Don't be afraid to do whatever it takes to fix things between you and a friend. You could be seriously missing out by not talking to them and neither of you are benefitting from your shared resentment! The only person getting jollies out of that is the Devil, and we should be glorifying God, not His fallen angel!
~
So, whether you are in middle school, high school, college, or are already out in the world, take these few bits of knowledge into your heart and dwell on their truths! I know I learned a lot the past year, and I'm sure to learn more in the years to come!
I will miss you, Onramp, but I know the students I am leaving behind are ready and willing to step up and continue passing on life's lessons! Thank you Onramp leaders, you made Highway a wonderful, welcoming community where I always felt safe and loved. Keep it classy.
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
2013 Summer Hit List
1. gilroy shopping trip with the girls - DONE
2. glow bubbles
3. make popsicles
4. do chalk art
5. run in the sprinkler
6. movie marathon - DONE
7. blog a day - DONE
8. glitter-filled egg fight
9. make smoothies - DONE
10. lemonade stand
11. make truffles
12. water fight - DONE
13. “yes” day
14. make ice cream
15. finish high school scrapbook - DONE
16. throw a huge sleepover - DONE
17. see fireflies
18. have a picnic - DONE
19. make t-shirt quilt - DONE (to a degree)
20. develop a new catch-phrase - DONE
21. play paint twister
22. make a floating lantern
23. go skinny dipping - DONE
24. go to a drive-in movie - DONE
25. bonfire at the beach - DONE
26. make a time capsule
27. sleep on a trampoline
28. carve names into a tree with someone
29. do melting crayon art
30. go to the zoo
31. go movie hopping
32. go to the monterey bay aquarium - DONE
33. day without electronics - DONE
34. night picnic
35. night swimming - DONE
36. road trip with friends - DONE (to a degree, it was a day trip)
37. camping with friends - DONE (at a rustic retreat?)
38. watch fireworks - DONE
39. beach photoshoot
40. rancho photoshoot
41. get a pedicure/manicure - DONE
42. stargaze - DONE
43. make bff shirts
44. go to a concert
45. go midnight tp'ing - DONE
46. eat a sno-cone - DONE
47. fly a kite
48. skip a rock - DONE
49. play hide-n-seek
50. visit all my favorite childhood haunts - DONE
51. go fishing
52. pick berries/fruit
53. stay a night (or more) at a hostel
54. catch butterflies
55. make/break a piñata
56. go to a water park
57. host a art day - DONE
58. have a full-scale pillow fight
59. make customized pizza
60. order weird take-out
61. build a sandcastle
62. ride a horse
63. go fat dipping - DONE
64. write notes for library books
65. use fake names in public with friends
66. call someone late at night - DONE (facetime count?)
67. do henna tattoos
68. go to a karaoke bar
69. revamp wardrobe - DONE (new jeans? haha)
70. go glow-stick water bottle bowling
71. make cookies with someone new
72. make a new friend - DONE
73. try to tip a cow
74. finish the traveling canvas - DONE
75. dress up and eat at in&out - DONE
76. eat fish sticks and custard
77. make steampunk jewelry
78. fancy photoshoot at filoli
79. dance in the rain
80. witness a miracle
81. order pizza and prepay for someone else
82. start a tp’ing war - DONE (i TRIED)
83. attend a video game night
This list is subject to change/be added to.
2. glow bubbles
3. make popsicles
4. do chalk art
5. run in the sprinkler
6. movie marathon - DONE
7. blog a day - DONE
8. glitter-filled egg fight
9. make smoothies - DONE
10. lemonade stand
11. make truffles
12. water fight - DONE
13. “yes” day
14. make ice cream
15. finish high school scrapbook - DONE
16. throw a huge sleepover - DONE
17. see fireflies
18. have a picnic - DONE
19. make t-shirt quilt - DONE (to a degree)
20. develop a new catch-phrase - DONE
21. play paint twister
22. make a floating lantern
23. go skinny dipping - DONE
24. go to a drive-in movie - DONE
25. bonfire at the beach - DONE
26. make a time capsule
27. sleep on a trampoline
28. carve names into a tree with someone
29. do melting crayon art
30. go to the zoo
31. go movie hopping
32. go to the monterey bay aquarium - DONE
33. day without electronics - DONE
34. night picnic
35. night swimming - DONE
36. road trip with friends - DONE (to a degree, it was a day trip)
37. camping with friends - DONE (at a rustic retreat?)
38. watch fireworks - DONE
39. beach photoshoot
40. rancho photoshoot
41. get a pedicure/manicure - DONE
42. stargaze - DONE
43. make bff shirts
44. go to a concert
45. go midnight tp'ing - DONE
46. eat a sno-cone - DONE
47. fly a kite
48. skip a rock - DONE
49. play hide-n-seek
50. visit all my favorite childhood haunts - DONE
51. go fishing
52. pick berries/fruit
53. stay a night (or more) at a hostel
54. catch butterflies
55. make/break a piñata
56. go to a water park
57. host a art day - DONE
58. have a full-scale pillow fight
59. make customized pizza
60. order weird take-out
61. build a sandcastle
62. ride a horse
63. go fat dipping - DONE
64. write notes for library books
65. use fake names in public with friends
66. call someone late at night - DONE (facetime count?)
67. do henna tattoos
68. go to a karaoke bar
69. revamp wardrobe - DONE (new jeans? haha)
70. go glow-stick water bottle bowling
71. make cookies with someone new
72. make a new friend - DONE
73. try to tip a cow
74. finish the traveling canvas - DONE
75. dress up and eat at in&out - DONE
76. eat fish sticks and custard
77. make steampunk jewelry
78. fancy photoshoot at filoli
79. dance in the rain
80. witness a miracle
81. order pizza and prepay for someone else
82. start a tp’ing war - DONE (i TRIED)
83. attend a video game night
This list is subject to change/be added to.
Liberté!
June 4th:
Today can accurately be described as "liberté," or as you may prefer, "freedom". My two friends and I woke up on our own schedule, decided to go walking at Rancho San Antonio, did so without needing to clear it with any adult, and then went to Downtown Mountain View's Red Rock to write some thank you cards for our graduation gifts! Sleep, Friends, Rancho, and coffee shops - what more could a girl want?! Chocolate is the only acceptable answer here. Scratch that, perhaps bacon. Well, moving on.
I decided to begin the process of cleaning out my room in preparation for painting and college-moving. I used a good five or six cardboard boxes scrounged from downtown shops, but those only held my random nick-knacks and books! I have a lot of stuff...
One friend left, another friend came, bucket-list ideas were thrown around, and they are the reason I am writing to you(?) right now! Yay for inspiration! Well, now my room is about half empty. This is quite a feat if you had ever seen my room for it is usually filled with quite a bit of random junk! Currently dark blue and vibrant green, it will soon be very very mild shades of light blue, light green, and gray. I'm painting for three main reasons: 1. I like painting, and it will give me something to do as well as keep my room light and airy looking for the summer. 2. My room will most likely stand in as a guest room while I am at college, and dark, vivid colors aren't very welcoming/fresh for house guests. 3. I want to purge a lot before going to college, and I think boxing up my non-essentials right now will help me decide what I ACTUALLY want to bring when it comes to deciding all that.
I was going to go to the Apple Store with my dad tonight, but we decided there may be a college-student/back-to-school sale happening late summer, and it's worth saving the couple hundred dollars to wait a couple months, so we didn't go. Although maybe we could go and just check out the different laptops... But no, Downtown Palo Alto is an annoyingly long drive to just look at computers.
I'm currently working on my bucket list, so I'll keep you posted on that. For now... Enjoy the weather and keep it classy.
Today can accurately be described as "liberté," or as you may prefer, "freedom". My two friends and I woke up on our own schedule, decided to go walking at Rancho San Antonio, did so without needing to clear it with any adult, and then went to Downtown Mountain View's Red Rock to write some thank you cards for our graduation gifts! Sleep, Friends, Rancho, and coffee shops - what more could a girl want?! Chocolate is the only acceptable answer here. Scratch that, perhaps bacon. Well, moving on.
I decided to begin the process of cleaning out my room in preparation for painting and college-moving. I used a good five or six cardboard boxes scrounged from downtown shops, but those only held my random nick-knacks and books! I have a lot of stuff...
One friend left, another friend came, bucket-list ideas were thrown around, and they are the reason I am writing to you(?) right now! Yay for inspiration! Well, now my room is about half empty. This is quite a feat if you had ever seen my room for it is usually filled with quite a bit of random junk! Currently dark blue and vibrant green, it will soon be very very mild shades of light blue, light green, and gray. I'm painting for three main reasons: 1. I like painting, and it will give me something to do as well as keep my room light and airy looking for the summer. 2. My room will most likely stand in as a guest room while I am at college, and dark, vivid colors aren't very welcoming/fresh for house guests. 3. I want to purge a lot before going to college, and I think boxing up my non-essentials right now will help me decide what I ACTUALLY want to bring when it comes to deciding all that.
I was going to go to the Apple Store with my dad tonight, but we decided there may be a college-student/back-to-school sale happening late summer, and it's worth saving the couple hundred dollars to wait a couple months, so we didn't go. Although maybe we could go and just check out the different laptops... But no, Downtown Palo Alto is an annoyingly long drive to just look at computers.
I'm currently working on my bucket list, so I'll keep you posted on that. For now... Enjoy the weather and keep it classy.
Hey Summer!
Hello folks!
This is my last summer at home before heading off to college, so what must I do? Yes! Create a blog and document every day of my summer! From photos to journal entries, this blog will be a way to keep my amazing memories from fading and share my life with others!
Two of my best friends were over today making bucket lists while sitting on my bed and they inspired me to come up with my own, so that will be posted asap. I already have a small list going, but I definitely have a lot I want to do before heading off to college, so it may be a very long list!
Last summer I took one picture every day, but that was a little stressful too keep up with.keep interesting (especially if all I did was sit around and watch TV), so this summer will be a combination of both pictures and words (and maybe even videos, if that works)!
I'm looking forward to sharing the next few months with you, but before we embark on this adventure, I feel that it would be prudent to get you up to date on the first three days of summer that this blog missed out on!
Saturday, June 1st:
Graduation day. What a big day! I attended The King's Academy in Sunnyvale and absolutely adored every minute on campus (and off, attending one of the many awesome activities my school provided)! I will miss going to that little community 5/7 days of the week, but it is time to move on, as hard as that is to accept.
Well, my day started with an empty house. No, not because I live alone, but because my parents and grandma had already left to get prime seats on the football field! So I got ready, donned my light-weight, dark blue graduation gown, and slung my many awards over my shoulders before heading out the door.
Despite the many warnings of heat and sunburns, I didn't put any sunscreen on. Luckily it wasn't hellish and I didn't even get burned! Whoot! No burns for me is impressive, I burn REALLY easily, like a pasty princess who has never seen the sun.
The ceremony was nice, not too long (as my graduating class was only ~150) and I only teared up once. Props to fellow alumnus J who sang a beautiful song he wrote himself. My actual diploma-reciving was a bit anticlimactic to be honest, although I did get some attention by fixing the principle's stole, which had been set off-center by the wind (later, four or five teachers thanked me, funny right?).
The rite-of-passage throwing of the caps was probably my favorite part. I threw mine so high it got caught by the wind and carried too far away for me to retrieve it before walking back down the aisle. Well, I got it later, so I'm glad I gave it my all.
I would later describe the following quad masses as a frozen stampede. There were hundreds of people packed into our relatively small quad, and it took me a good ten minutes to find my family, and another hour and a half to get a small percentage of the pictures I wanted to get with my friends!
I attended three grad parties that afternoon/evening before heading back to school for Grad Night. I think I can count Grad Night as June 2nd, because 6 of the 8 hours occurred there, so here we go:
Sunday, June 2nd:
Grad Night. Fun, but not all that it was chalked up to be. I feel pretty bad saying that, but it's how I feel. There were a good amount of things to do, but I missed out on a bunch of them because I was under the impression they'd be open all night and then they closed around one thirty... Poor planning, or mal information, I don't know, but either way, that was a disappointment! Luckily I finally found something that I really enjoyed: swing dancing with my friends! Whooo!
I'd say more on the subject of Grad Night, but the whole affair is pretty hush hush at King's, so I gotta keep my lips sealed on the specifics. I got a lot of gifts from friends, family, and King's, and in return, I, like a rebel, climbed on the roof to watch the sun rise with my bestie.
When we were released (6am), a few of us went over to Coco's and had a sub-par breakfast, but I guess the point was the company, not the food, so that was fine. After breakfast I went home and slept until 2, but was still a complete zombie while attending another grad party for a pair of friends at a park.
The King's Academy has a bit of a strict dress code, which includes piercings on the face, unnaturally color hair, and shorts, and a common occurrence for lots of students who graduate is to "rebel" and do something they couldn't ever do in their (potentially) seven years at King's. I sorta went along with the stereotype in this case, as that night I went to the Fatty Zone on El Camino in Mountain View and got a nose stud. It hurt a tad, but was totally worth the pinch to be a badass.
Overall a good day - it had my approval.
Monday, June 3rd:
I woke up excruciatingly early on Monday morning to have breakfast with my mom and grandma before taking my gram to the bus station. I ran some errands with my mom and then drove over to my friend's house to watch the high school graduation episode of Gilmore Girls (our guilty pleasure show) for sentimentality's sake. After that, we headed over to my fifth grad party in three days at Las Palmas Park in Sunnyvale. I enjoyed the looks on all of my friends' faces when they saw my nose, it was priceless (well, actually $52, but nobody is counting). We headed back to the hosts' house when it got cold at the park and played a fun game that I had never heard of before. Unfortunately I can't remember what it was called, but there was a question and we all answered it on a slip of paper, and then everyone tried to guess who wrote which answer. It was pretty chaotic because we had so many people playing, so eventually we switched to just sharing our answers and getting conversations rolling. It was a fun night to celebrate our friends' graduation!
Fortunately the fun didn't end there! I invited a couple of the girls to sleep over, so we went back to my house and watched the beginning of Mulan and drank tea and just had a good time together! We didn't get to sleep until like, one, which seemed really late to us, who were still getting over tiredness from Grad Night!
~
Okay! Well, now you're up to date! Except for today that is. But this post is already so long, I think I'll do a new one for only today! I hope I didn't bore you too much! If you read all of this, I'm actually impressed...
Keep it classy!
This is my last summer at home before heading off to college, so what must I do? Yes! Create a blog and document every day of my summer! From photos to journal entries, this blog will be a way to keep my amazing memories from fading and share my life with others!
Two of my best friends were over today making bucket lists while sitting on my bed and they inspired me to come up with my own, so that will be posted asap. I already have a small list going, but I definitely have a lot I want to do before heading off to college, so it may be a very long list!
Last summer I took one picture every day, but that was a little stressful too keep up with.keep interesting (especially if all I did was sit around and watch TV), so this summer will be a combination of both pictures and words (and maybe even videos, if that works)!
I'm looking forward to sharing the next few months with you, but before we embark on this adventure, I feel that it would be prudent to get you up to date on the first three days of summer that this blog missed out on!
Saturday, June 1st:
Graduation day. What a big day! I attended The King's Academy in Sunnyvale and absolutely adored every minute on campus (and off, attending one of the many awesome activities my school provided)! I will miss going to that little community 5/7 days of the week, but it is time to move on, as hard as that is to accept.
Well, my day started with an empty house. No, not because I live alone, but because my parents and grandma had already left to get prime seats on the football field! So I got ready, donned my light-weight, dark blue graduation gown, and slung my many awards over my shoulders before heading out the door.
Despite the many warnings of heat and sunburns, I didn't put any sunscreen on. Luckily it wasn't hellish and I didn't even get burned! Whoot! No burns for me is impressive, I burn REALLY easily, like a pasty princess who has never seen the sun.
The ceremony was nice, not too long (as my graduating class was only ~150) and I only teared up once. Props to fellow alumnus J who sang a beautiful song he wrote himself. My actual diploma-reciving was a bit anticlimactic to be honest, although I did get some attention by fixing the principle's stole, which had been set off-center by the wind (later, four or five teachers thanked me, funny right?).
The rite-of-passage throwing of the caps was probably my favorite part. I threw mine so high it got caught by the wind and carried too far away for me to retrieve it before walking back down the aisle. Well, I got it later, so I'm glad I gave it my all.
I would later describe the following quad masses as a frozen stampede. There were hundreds of people packed into our relatively small quad, and it took me a good ten minutes to find my family, and another hour and a half to get a small percentage of the pictures I wanted to get with my friends!
I attended three grad parties that afternoon/evening before heading back to school for Grad Night. I think I can count Grad Night as June 2nd, because 6 of the 8 hours occurred there, so here we go:
Sunday, June 2nd:
Grad Night. Fun, but not all that it was chalked up to be. I feel pretty bad saying that, but it's how I feel. There were a good amount of things to do, but I missed out on a bunch of them because I was under the impression they'd be open all night and then they closed around one thirty... Poor planning, or mal information, I don't know, but either way, that was a disappointment! Luckily I finally found something that I really enjoyed: swing dancing with my friends! Whooo!
I'd say more on the subject of Grad Night, but the whole affair is pretty hush hush at King's, so I gotta keep my lips sealed on the specifics. I got a lot of gifts from friends, family, and King's, and in return, I, like a rebel, climbed on the roof to watch the sun rise with my bestie.
When we were released (6am), a few of us went over to Coco's and had a sub-par breakfast, but I guess the point was the company, not the food, so that was fine. After breakfast I went home and slept until 2, but was still a complete zombie while attending another grad party for a pair of friends at a park.
The King's Academy has a bit of a strict dress code, which includes piercings on the face, unnaturally color hair, and shorts, and a common occurrence for lots of students who graduate is to "rebel" and do something they couldn't ever do in their (potentially) seven years at King's. I sorta went along with the stereotype in this case, as that night I went to the Fatty Zone on El Camino in Mountain View and got a nose stud. It hurt a tad, but was totally worth the pinch to be a badass.
Overall a good day - it had my approval.
Monday, June 3rd:
I woke up excruciatingly early on Monday morning to have breakfast with my mom and grandma before taking my gram to the bus station. I ran some errands with my mom and then drove over to my friend's house to watch the high school graduation episode of Gilmore Girls (our guilty pleasure show) for sentimentality's sake. After that, we headed over to my fifth grad party in three days at Las Palmas Park in Sunnyvale. I enjoyed the looks on all of my friends' faces when they saw my nose, it was priceless (well, actually $52, but nobody is counting). We headed back to the hosts' house when it got cold at the park and played a fun game that I had never heard of before. Unfortunately I can't remember what it was called, but there was a question and we all answered it on a slip of paper, and then everyone tried to guess who wrote which answer. It was pretty chaotic because we had so many people playing, so eventually we switched to just sharing our answers and getting conversations rolling. It was a fun night to celebrate our friends' graduation!
Fortunately the fun didn't end there! I invited a couple of the girls to sleep over, so we went back to my house and watched the beginning of Mulan and drank tea and just had a good time together! We didn't get to sleep until like, one, which seemed really late to us, who were still getting over tiredness from Grad Night!
~
Okay! Well, now you're up to date! Except for today that is. But this post is already so long, I think I'll do a new one for only today! I hope I didn't bore you too much! If you read all of this, I'm actually impressed...
Keep it classy!
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