Apartment Buildings and Bookcases October 16, 2009

Did I mention I moved out for three weeks? Well, I did. My friend got married in the beginning of August and her husband was gone for most of September. She didn’t want to live alone, so I stayed with her. I liked it for the first couple of weeks, but then I started missing my family, the space of a house, my room, etc. So now I’m back home.

What is new, you ask? Or you don’t. I’ll answer anyway. School is going well. Better than the trainwreck of last fall. the semester is already half over and I’m getting A’s so far. However, the classes are only English, Chemistry, and History, so we’ll see. I only work three to four days a week, so I generally have plenty of time for homework. (Which I’m actually supposed to be working on right now. I have a five page paper due Monday. Insert slightly smug, “oops you caught me” look here.)

Earlier this summer I asked my dad to make me a bookcase. And it is finally done. I confess, I have been buying books in the past couple of weeks in an attempt to either fill it up or flesh out my personal library. either way, I got them at a steal. Used book sales are amazing. I suggest you check your local thrift stores and libraries. I got 16 books at the thrift store for $3.56. Including: the joy luck club, the door in the wall, matilda, the client, the black stallion, stuart little, etc. I got 13 books at the library for $6. And there is this awesome website~ betterworldbooks.com. They have a bargain bin: five books for fifteen dollars. And free shipping and handling. Hurrah!! Clearly, I love books.

Anyway, the bookcase has five shelves, trim, and my dad carved a little heart out at the top. It’s perfect. I love it. The thing is, I don’t think all of my books are going to fit. Go figure. Oh, well. Maybe that’s a good sign.

Crooked Theology August 23, 2009

have you ever heard or sung that song, “above all”? i’m not exactly sure who it’s by, but the end of the chorus goes like this:

“like a rose

trampled on the ground

you took the fall

and thought of me

above all”

now maybe i’m reading it wrong, but i don’t really think this sounds right. (a friend actually pointed it out to me.) when Christ died on the cross, He wasn’t thinking of me or you above every other person. He was thinking of every person. so, i don’t usually feel comfortable singing this song.

unless the “above all” is referring back to the verses. maybe it is really saying that He thought of you and me above all powers, kings, wonders, and wisdom. but even there the theology is a little sketchy because Jesus died for kings just as much as He died for the beggars.

i don’t know. what do you think??

dyed, swings, and movies July 15, 2009

about a month ago i dyed my hair. black brown. it didn’t exactly take. well, it did, but it came out rather quickly. so yesterday, i dyed it again. it is now a stunning shade of black. i love it. it matches my eyebrows better. plus, i now have that story book look- you know, the girl with the black hair and green eyes. i think i might keep it this color.

i wonder how many people will be shocked when i go to work and church. my brother thinks i look emo. i’m not, and i don’t.

went on vaca last week. my grandparent’s have a cottage. it was fun, relaxing. i got a tan. i got hit on. by some kid i’ve never met before. probably will never see again. sort of self esteem boosting but whatever. i got a lot of crochet and cross stitch done. played hand and foot, up and down the river and qwirkle. (which reminds me….) also swung a lot. you know when you were little and would go to the park and swing? so much fun!! i love it. as an added bonus, it’s a great workout for your thighs.

one of my friends from high school is getting married next month. today was her shower. it was fun. i haven’t seen some of those people in ages. and afterwards i stayed and talked with another of my friends. good times.

went to the library yesterday and got a bunch of dvds out. they’re mostly murder mysteries. murder she wrote, rosemary and thyme, monk. but they are so much fun to watch. sure they waste time, but it’s so enjoyable.

i’m just wondering, do many people get cds from the library and rip them to their own computers and then return the cd? i know i do, and i’m under the impression that ‘everybody does it’, but does everybody?

so I’m a little fruity July 1, 2009

not really, i just like fruit. lots and lots of fruit. would you like another list? 

peaches, pears, nectarines, plums, watermelon, cantalope, mangos, mulberries, strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, kiwi, pineapple, starfruit, fugi apples,and cherries. bananas, oranges, and tangarines are good too.

about the only vegtables i’ll touch are corn, potatoes, lettuce, carrots, and tomates- if they are on a sandwhich.

so you see, i’m really a sugary kind of person. and i’m sure there are some fruits that i missed in that list.

by the way- i passed my english class. a-. blech. it dropped my gpa to 3.9. darn. oh well. maybe i can raise it? not sure. can you raise a gpa?

also- strangely, the first few days of summer were extremely warm, and now, a week after the season has begun, the weather has turned cool. i’m currently wearing a sweater and a pair of jeans and am perfectly comfortable in them. so odd.

artsy fartsy June 10, 2009

so i’m not exactly artistic. i can’t draw or paint, sculpt or make a mosaic to save my life. i can however, create. i shall give you… a list. i can

knit

crochet

cross stitch

sorta sew

take pictures (i think they’re artistic anyway)

make jewelry ie bracelets, necklaces, earrings

that, then, is how i am artistic. really, everyone is artistic in some way or another. i only bring it up because i have been doing a lot of the afore mentioned lately. i just finished crocheting a pair of slippers. (which are, incidentally, too big). i hemmed  a pair of pants tonight. a couple of weeks ago  i knit a washcloth. i’ve been taking scads  of pictures the past couple of weeks. mostly film (although the first roll i wasn’t really taking any pictures and the canister of film was exposed to light. heck if i know how that happened-i didn’t load the thing). tonight i took some digital pictures though. my sister wanted my to take some of her all dressed up so she could put them on the picture board she’s making for their graduation party.

and i just started crocheting a blanket for my bed. not that i need another. i have three fleece blankets from the store and another that i made. the one i’m crocheting i got the idea from a girl in my english class. she said she was making one and i thought it was be a good idea. mine is going to be sorta of a patchwork. get rid of the random bits of yarn that i don’t have enough of to do anything with.

also… last week i made ten pairs of earrings and a bracelet. how’s that for productive? but don’t think i’m some prude who only makes her jewelry… i have plenty that i’ve paid for as well.

gosh. i make it sound like that’s all i do. it’s not. i do have a life. a job. friends. school. family. i read. i am not solely creative.

anyway… how do you express yourself artistically?

cameras and art festivals June 7, 2009

exciting news on my home front. at least for me. i have a friend who takes pictures with film. they tend to turn out well so i thought i would give it a try. my dad has film camera so i asked him the other day if i could use it. he acquiesed. then he started talking about how one of his friends had given him a film camera when they had switched to a digital. i went and got that camera instead. when i asked him if i could have it (after all, he already has a camera) he said that i could!! it’s a minolta x-700. and it came with about a thousand dollars of equipment: a flash and  a zoom lens. exciting!! i’ve been snappng photos and playing around with the f-stop and light button (?).

today i spent the afternoon walking around downtown. the annual arts festival was this weekend. i haven’t been able to go since high school. sadly, i couldn’t get anyone to go with me. so my dad came with. i wasn’t going to walk around by myself. i was possibly going to meet some friends, but only if we randomly ran in to each other. which we did. hurray.  we watched some dancing, which was pretty awesome. walked through the craft tent, ate chicken on a skewer, listened to various muscians perform. i asked a few people what the thought of the festival because i’m going to write a profile on it for my english class. after we met my friends we walked through the regional art exhibit. there were some pretty interesting pieces in there.

and now it’s on to homework. you’re probably bored with this post anyway.

my life in pictures May 28, 2009

my brother and sister graduated today. (they are twins.) which sort of makes me feel old. however-> one of the ladies sitting in the row ahead of us asked if i was my sister’s sister. yes. you look like. no. she looks like me. you’re the oldest? yes. i thought you were younger than her.   it’s not saying much, but at least i look fifteen instead of twenty.

i have a flickr account for anyone who doesn’t want to know. i think you should check out my unartistic photos. leave me a comment or three.

flickr.com/photos/wordnymph

Recently May 7, 2009

I really don’t know what to write (I say that all the time) but I haven’t in forever, so I figured I should write something.

I passed both of the classes I took last semester. With flying colors even if I say so. Honestly, I was worried about the math class before it began, but after a couple of weeks I realized it wouldn’t be a problem. In all truthfulness, I kind of like math. In high school, I used to make up and attempt to solve trig problems. Weird, I am aware.

My cousin is getting married tomorrow. Hurray. Her sister-in-law is going to take the pictures I think. No I think she is going to be in the pictures. So I get to babysit my simply adorable second cousin. Cannot wait.    He’ll probably have to take a nap so I can work on English homework.

Which is a whole new paragraph. I decided to take a summer class. The school I want to get my degree at will not let me test out of the basic english classes you need for a bachelor’s degree. Stink. So this summer I am taking a class. Oddly, I am looking forward to writing five papers in seven weeks. Okay, maybe not in that short of a time frame, but writing the papers anyway. I like my teacher too. Strangely the majority of the class is male. I don’t think any of my other classes were ever like that. In one class (that I dropped), there was only one guy.

Currently I am in love with sweaters and cardigans. That sounds so old ladyish. But they are so comfortable. I adore the fact that I can go to the store and find a chunky sweater on clearance for a couple of bucks. So amazing. Cardigans are just like really thin sweaters and you can wear them with anything. I’m absolutely smitten.

I cleaned out my car yesterday. It’s not that it was full of junk. It was just sort of dirty. Dusty and dirt on the floor. I wiped it out with a wet washcloth and vacuumed it. I’ve been meaning to do it for a few months, I was just waiting for warmer weather. And of course the day I decide to clean it out, I get rained on while doing so.

Sort of excited. I downloaded Microsoft Office Ultimate. Don’t worry. I paid for it. But not the 680. Microsoft offers students with a valid student email a 91% discount. Cha-ching! Now I don’t have to use OpenOffice anymore.

thoughts January 27, 2009

as often happens whenever i start a blog, i have neglected this one. so i thought that would update the void that views these meager words on what has been happening in my life lately.

during the fall i attempted to go to school full time. it didn’t work out. i was also working around 20 hours a week and worrying about passing and failing and whether or not i would still have health insurance this year. as a result, depression arose. i think it really started sometime after i got my wisdom teeth pulled. that was at the end of october. by the second week of november we, being my parents, my therapist, and myself, decided that dropping the courses i was taking and continuing to work would be the best option. currently i am not depressed, am taking a couple of classes and working.

depression is really horrible. especially the kind that you can’t get rid of on your own. some people say it’s all in your attitude: you just need to wake up and decide to have a good day. and sometimes, that is true. but when it is an actual chemical imbalance, and you feel as if you will never be happy again, never truly laugh with your friends, when you walk around in a daze, and don’t know what to do with yourself: that is loathsome.

however, i do think some good did come of this recent bout of sadness. i decided that i don’t want to major in child development. the reason is because i really do not want to teach. when i started in that direction, i thought the major was just the study of how children develop. which shows how well i did my homework. now, i am thinking about majoring in english. granted, i really detest writing; but i think i would do alright in that major. and i do love literature. or at least reading it. also, i would love to eventually work in a library someday. and an english major, i feel, would be an asset there. so- if i hadn’t dropped out of the classes in the fall, i might not be able to transfer as many credits to whichever college i choose to get my degree from.

lately i have been reading c.s. lewis’ mere christianity. there are a couple of points he makes that i find to be… intriguing. he remarks that the bible says in multiple places that Jesus was humble. and yet he went around and forgave the sins of people. that would be like me saying to my sister, “i forgive you,” when she tears my brother’s note paper. lewis says that the only way this makes sense is if Jesus really was the Son of God. the other point was that civilizations always start out right and then eventually, the leadership ends up in the hands of the evil and corrupt. and down falls the civilization. mainly because they are not seeking their happiness in Christ but in material things, etc.

a few days ago i read a letter to the editor, and the answer, in a christian teen girl magazine. the answer is what i disagree with. the editor said that the cross is sacred. it’s a symbol and that what the girl drew probably made God sad. i don’t think i’m saying it right, but to me, the cross isn’t sacred. yes, it is a symbol of what Christ did for me. but the cross is not sacred. it did not do anything to wipe my sins from God’s memory. the bible says that by his stripes we are healed. the cross is simply the means by which Christ died. for me, for you. if Christ had died another way, His sacrifice would have no less meaning. (i’m sure some philosopher, professor, or pastor, somewhere disagrees.)

hmmm August 28, 2008

i have decided to be blissfully unaware. i don’t know really what i am unaware of at the moment. maybe all the homework that is sure to be piling up in the very near future. or possibly how sad i am. (i’m really not.)

i think, honestly, that everyone is in some stage of unawareness. they don’t know everything that they think they know about the lives of their family members or friends. or even themselves. and so they go about their lives, blissfully unaware. or perhaps not so blissfully. maybe they would be better off knowing.

just something to think about.