So it’s been a ridiculously long time since I posted a new blog and I figured it was time for a little update.

First of all, I’ve officially completed my sophomore year of college! So far I’ve got 3As (in Jazz, Educating Exceptional Learners, and Educational psychology) and a complete (for a non-graded/no-credit course). I’m waiting on two more grades (for English lit II and American Short Story) and we’ll see what happens!

My grandma is so awesome… she gives me $20 for every A I earn at the end of the semester. =) Last time that money went toward buying the first half of the Ouran High School Host Club series. Now I think this time I’ll go toward buying the first half of Romeo x Juliet and (if I get enough) possibly the second half of Ouran (doesn’t make sense not to have that).

Romeo x Juliet looks like it’s going to be AMAZING in the dub. I saw the series a couple years ago I think it was, over the summer. It was fantastic and I cried. xD This time, the English dubbing company went with simplified Shakespearean language but it sounds beautiful! It’s simplified so that it’s easy to understand and accessible to everyone. I can’t wait to hear more of it!

Here’s a short clip that FUNIMATION uploaded to youtube. Thank you Funimation for giving us this beautiful little sneak peak!!!

In other news…

I AM GOING TO ARIZONA THIS SUMMER!

I’m so excited. Lauren and I talked about it. By coincidence, her family lives within 20 minutes of where Jeremy lives. He even bought a car from them. xD

It works out for me to go there and spend 3 weeks with her and her family. They want to take me all these places and show me lots of Phoenix things and the grand canyon and stuff. It’s going to be amazing. I haven’t been further west than…Kentucky. xD

Hopefully we can venture into California for a little bit too. That would be awesome… I’ve always wanted to go.

I’ll be spending plenty of time with Jeremy too when he’s not working his tail off. And I can spend time with his kitty Salem too. =) I’m planning to do some major cooking and possibly some apartment furnishing while I’m there.

My parents are so awesome for letting me go. x3 I love them… and you should too, whoever you are.

And it was a freaking awesome day. =)

So I woke up this morning and got the feeling that it would be a decent day. It was Thursday, which is my day of the week where I only have my Educating Exceptional Learners class that doesn’t even start till 1:00. I woke up, read a bunch of Frankenstein (which was supposed to be read by today) and then I did an online quiz for my EEL class and had plenty of time to spare before 1. Caroline came in and gave me my first of two presents which was a bottle of cherry blossom scented body spray. =) (She later gave me the two books from the “Bar Code” utopian/dystopian series I am so interested in reading…so that was awesome) After that, I took a shower and then Lauren and I headed over to lunch.

When I got to the campus center, I saw that they were randomly handing out decorated cupcakes in honor of Purple and Gold (school spirit) week. I didn’t eat one…but I still thought that was funny.

Then I went upstairs only to find that they actually had decent food today. =) Egg and cheese muffins… with a slice of pizza on the side cause an egg and cheese muffin so doesn’t begin to constitute a meal…

So after we finished eating, we went down to the basement to check mail on the way to the Salvation Army Thrift sale (which also took place in the basement). My mailbox was overflowing with cards and such. I had a notice that I had a box so I went over to the window and retrieved the box, which was from my family. Inside were things like a couple Shojo Beats, a box of Peeps, a bag of Reeses (=P People know I like them…), a cute little valentine’s day bug to hang up somewhere, a pair of St. Patrick’s day socks (which I will wear tomorrow because I’m out of socks, lol), a bag of flavor-blasted goldfish crackers, and volume 11 of Hana-Kimi. =D It was awesome.

At that point, I was already feeling pretty loved. I found a little magnetic kitty in my box and I wasn’t sure who it was from but I looooved (or loooove) it. I played with it all day…cause it’s so small and cute. Gah. xD I’m such a girl.

Turns out it was from my brother. I thought I recognized his handwriting on the outside of the Twilight Zone card (lol, with sound– I gave that same card to Jeremy for his birthday once). I should have guessed from the “You’re old.” written on the inside. Yesterday he was floating around behind me in the lunch room and every time he passed he would whisper/quietly say, “You’re aaaalmost old…” “You’re aaaalmost old….”

Well now I’m old. And I have to say that because I made fun of Jeremy when he turned 20…and 21… and said he was old. Well now he’s ancient. =P So we’re all good. I don’t mind being “old” as long as I don’t have to be ancient. And I will never be ancient because he will always be older than me… which in my books constitutes “ancient”.

Anyyyyway. So after I went to the mailbox and got my goodies, I went over to the Salvation Army Thrift sale…which was just like…20 feet to the left of my mailbox. There were some…special items there. I didn’t find anything that I particularly liked but I did help Lauren try on some of the most hideous outfits we could find while we took pictures of her on her cell phone. xD It was pretty priceless…and very very colorful. xD The only thing I actually bought was a size 16 (too small for me) red Cheez-it shirt… because I think it would be awesome to cut off the design and use it for some craft. =D

So then I went to EEL class. I was in a very good mood and was, therefore, very responsive in class. My teacher actually remembered it was my birthday and mentioned it when she called on me. I was very flattered and it merely added to my perpetual happy mood. =) It made me very glad that I have a unique name and a name that is very memorable. I think maybe that’s why she remembered seeing it on the daily view that was sent out to the campus.

But anyway, after class I went back to my room and found the entire ceiling above my bed decorated awesomely with streamers. On the bed my teddy bear was holding a card and sitting behind some packs of stickers and a bag of Reeses. In front of the Reeses was a rolled up poster with two miniature horses on it. =) Lauren had decorated the room while I was at class and escaped to Stacie and Andrea’s room so that she wouldn’t be there when I saw it. She thought that would be too awkward.

I was on the phone with my mom when I walked in and so I told her all about it and about the card that, once I opened it, I realized said, “You’re expecting a baby!” and on the inside said, “How very, very, happy you must be!”

I think Erik has rubbed off on Lauren, Caroline, and I. Now when I’m faced with finding a card for some occasion, I always find myself wanting to pick out one that’s very inappropriate to the situation. Like when Erik got Savvy a card for Christmas that said, “Look who’s turning 6!” I find it amazingly awesome. xD

So anyway, I have my lovely poster up now. Lauren said she’s having fun feeding my newfound horse fettish.

Speaking of that. I guess I should explain how that happened while I still remember.

So in the past, I’ve been kind of intimidated by horses. They’re big, sometimes loud, and sometimes (although more rarely than I thought) unpredictable. The other night, I had a dream and in my dream I was reaching up and petting a horses’ face. Then I hugged the horses’ head and was just very happy. When I woke up, I had this strange urge to pet a horse. I’ve pet one before but always in a very cautious manner and I never liked to be close to them for a long period of time. When I woke up, I started reading and Lauren asked me if I wanted to go to the stable with her and then to Subway (it was a Saturday). I thought this would be the perfect time to say yes because A.) I wanted Subway and B.) After that dream, I really wanted to pet a horse.

So we went up to the stable and after petting some of the horses including Lauren’s horse, Lio, I immediately fell in love with a big black a fuzzy one that I eventually learned was named Mic.

Since then, I’ve been up to the stable 2 or 3 more times and I love it up there. I knew it was only a matter of time before I started spending more time up there because I’ve always loved animals and here at school I am utterly deprived of person-animal contact of any sort. I’ve always wanted to own a miniature horse (or two) so I’m glad I finally got over that fear because, while they are much smaller, they are still horses and I still need to know how to deal with them.

Lauren said I should go up to the stable maybe during mayterm and help her with Lio’s training and such so that I can get a feel for handling a little. When I go to Arizona this summer (because I will =P) she said she will try and set me up with a woman that lives there and owns 3 or 4 minis. That way, if I have any questions I can ask her– and I definitely have questions.

So anyway, we went up to the stable today and I fed Mic a treat from the bag of treats that Lauren had brought for Lio. He ate it like a good horsey. =) I got some pictures of Mic and a lot of pictures of Lauren and Lio because Lauren said she didn’t have many of her and her baby. The pictures turned out really adorable…see?

After that, we came back and I read a little more and then we went down around 6:30 to this little fiesta thing that was being held for 2nd and 5th floor (the RAs are friends…and both have been my RAs at some point) on the old floor I used to live on. It was fun but I could only make an appearance because I still had reading to do.

After the fiesta thingy Caroline went off to work and after some more reading, Lauren and I met up with Erik (and randomly, my brother) at Big Al’s and had a transfer meal. I had a fun time. It was nice just having a break and talking to people for a little bit.

But my break didn’t last long. My day has been fun but pretty hectic and this meeting was the last of the school business for the day.

I had a meeting with my English Lit II professor (Susan Lipscomb) and the other people in my “Frankenstein” group. We talked for half an hour to 45 minutes about the book and the critical article that we were supposed to have read. It was nice just to talk some things out.

After that, I went back to the room and waited for Lauren to get back from a second trip to the stable. Some people had asked her to take their horses in so she did. When she got back, we had cake with Erik and Caroline down in the 4th floor lounge (the cake that Erik and Caroline made yesterday) and it was good. =)

I got a “lovely” hand-made card from Erik, scribbled on with markers, that said on the inside something to the effect of, “Enjoy your senility!” The card had 4 laxative pills taped to the inside. xD Boy…did I ever feel loved.

On top of all this, I got like…over 20 “Happy birthday”-type messages on facebook. =) My favorites are the personalized ones that are more than just “Happy birthday, have a good day.” They’re just so much more fun to read.

So yes. Now I’m old and there’s nothing I can do about it. I don’t mind though, I like the thought of being 20. I’m not yet in my prime but it’s okay, I’m working towards it.

Today was a great day and I cannot thank God enough for the friends and family that he has given me. They truly made today a day to remember.

P.s. Jeremy got me an ipod… so he has to like…win something, right? =O He should.

Today marks the day that the 44th president of the United States— Barack Obama — took office officially. I am so glad that I was able to watch it and witness something like this.

I just wish that other people would see things the way I do. People that have problems with him shouldn’t take hits at him every chance they get. We should never “hate on” our presidents.

Maybe you don’t agree with his policies regarding abortion. Maybe you don’t agree with his policies regarding our current war affairs. Maybe you don’t agree with his policies promoting/acknowledging/accepting gay/lesbian marriage.

For today, I hoped that people would set that aside. No matter what kind of a person the president or president-elect is, I think we should have hope for them and should try and see the good in them. Looking negatively at the person running our country only creates problems. It’s okay to not agree but, honestly, this is who the country voted for and so I think we just need to accept it and move on. It’s not as if just because we have a new president, the country and its people suddenly have no say. If policies regarding abortion change, it would be mostly due to the views of the people in this country. If you have a problem with it, take part in pro-life rallys. Try and educate other people. Don’t sit at home and whine about Obama or whine to other people that you talk to about it. Do something.

All in all, I am very glad I was a part of it. I just wanted to keep a record of this day somewhere. =)

Last week I did something I never really thought I would do. I attended the Sojourner Mennonite Fellowship for the first time and I would have to say I was pleasantly surprised.

I’ve always known that music is an important part of why people pick the churches they go to. I’ve been through something like 8 different churches and every one has grappled with the issue of traditional vs. contemporary music (if it can be so easily defined and put into black and white terms).

I was pleasantly surprised to find that, even though hymns were used primarily in Menno, they tended to be very uniquely written and redone versions of hymns (or in some cases, more traditional versions).

The service was simple and consisted of a lot of singing. However, the songs weren’t ‘prescribed’ by a worship leader or already thought out. As the service progressed, anyone that was there was able to choose a song to sing that may have had to do with the verses being read. Prayer was very open and I didn’t feel obligated to pray but I felt like if I had really wanted to, I could. One of the things that bothers me most when I’m in religious places and taking part in religious activities (mostly sunday school) I often times feel like I’m being pressured to pray out loud, when I often times don’t think that’s what I’m best at. I’m plenty willing to toss out prayer requests but when I pray out loud I feel like what I’m saying is not very sincere. I know that when I pray out loud in larger groups, I tend to try and formulate my responses to fit the ways that other people pray out loud. I have a very personal way of talking to God and I don’t think it would come across the right way when speaking out loud in a group of people.

After prayer we went into more singing and eventually the service ended with the ‘congregation’ of the fellowship putting together care packages for refugees or those who have had to leave their homes for some reason. The packages consisted of just a few hygiene necessities and a few thing that are just nice to have around (ie. toothbrush, toothpaste, nail clippers, soap, towel). This was probably my favorite part of the “service”. I’ve always wanted to go somewhere where I felt like I was really helping people outside of the church. It’s one thing to donate money to the church and trust that the church will send it where they say they will. It’s a completely different thing to physically work for others. I really felt like I was doing something to help (never mind that the towels seemed damp and one of the toothpaste tubes leaked all over the place).

Over all, it gave me a very different view of what a Mennonite fellowship can actually be like. I supposed I’ve had a very different and more up-tight view of Mennonites up until now. I realize this probably isn’t a “typical” Mennonite fellowship…but then again, I’m not sure I would know a “typical” one if I saw it.

Not to sound like every other college student in the world, but I also appreciated the later starting time of the “service”. I don’t want to say that it made church easier to “fit into my schedule”…but honestly, it did make me feel more awake and alert. I felt like I was much more a part of the service than I usually am in the morning. Sometimes I feel like I’m going to fall asleep and I didn’t feel that way because I was very well woken up by then.

All in all, I really liked Menno and I see why there are so many students that go. It was a very small and intimate yet non-pressuring service. Everything was simple down to the building that we met in.

In other news, this next week is finals week. I took my first final this morning for Adolescent Psych and I think I did decently. I had a 92 in the class so hopefully even if I don’t do as well as I hoped, it won’t pull my grade down too well. I’m so glad I’ll get the extra one point added to my grade for having perfect attendance. =)

I have a 97 in adolescent literature and I’ll hopefully be able to keep that grade or something similar with this next essay. I’m so happy that I’ve been able to hold up my grade in that class the whole semester. I am sad, however, because I think if I don’t do well in my English Lit. class, I’ll end up having to have that 97 even out my grade just to keep my GPA as it is. I hope that’s not the case but this English Lit. final isn’t looking very promising. Please pray for me!!!

I can’t wait until I’m finished with this semester. I’ve really enjoyed it…but I’m exhausted.

Seizure Panda

It’s hard to believe that it was 4 years ago I wrote a journal entry (not on here) in which I kept track by the hour the Bush election.

At the risk of sounding cliche and redundant (xD) we are witnessing history in the making with our first black president.

It was bound to happen. I think it’s cool that I was alive to witness it. =) Either him or we would have had our first female vice president. I couldn’t have picked a better year to be old enough to vote. =P

So I’m not going to talk about elections too much. I find that it doesn’t really matter what I think, I’m just interested to see now what will happen. How much of what Obama says will come true? I’m just honestly curious.

In other news, I’m excited that Christmas is on its way. Operation Christmas Child has begun and I used my tithe to buy a bunch of fun things. Lauren, Caroline, and I are going to send out two boxes this time— one for a boy and one for a girl.

I got some fun things to put in them. For the boy: matchbox cars, a squishy incredible hulk ball, some bouncy balls, soap (fun fun), a blue washcloth, a toy dinosaur…among other things. For the girl: A baby doll (I always have one of those…you can’t beat them), bouncy balls, a couple different styles of girly hair ties, a pink washcloth, soap, a hairbrush/comb…and some other things. Caroline picked up some crayons and little notebooks and Lauren got some toothbrushes and toothpaste. We need some more things but I think I’ve done my part for both.

I don’t know…it’s just exciting to know that a child in a far away country will receive the things I buy for them as a Christmas present. The children are only allowed to have one box from Operation Christmas Child in their lives so it’s something that they will always remember. I wish I could be there someday to see the child’s face. I wish I could see the little girl that opens the box and finds the baby doll inside and cradles it against her. I wish I could see the little boy that will play with the matchbox cars and create something like a movie car chase with his hands.

Sunday before last, Lauren, Caroline, Erik, and I went to the Belfast Free Methodist church. There’s just something so comforting about being back in a tiny church. My home church, Vorea Community, isn’t anywhere near as small as Belfast Methodist and honestly I kind of like it that way. Belfast Methodist had about 50 people there all together that I counted. Vorea has maybe twice that much. It’s not too big. The one thing about a church as small as Belfast is that EVERYBODY wants to know you and everybody notices when you come to visit. It seems like such a big deal…and even if they don’t mean it, it always forces this expectation on you– like you’ll come back.

The people were very nice there though. I put a prayer concern into the offering plate and later got an email from someone in the church telling me that they would pray about my request at their next prayer meeting. It was very nice of them and it did make me smile and add a little bit of something to my day. It always helps to know someone is thinking about you and praying for you.

I almost feel bad though when I don’t go back to the churches I visit. They know we’re college students from Houghton and they know that there’s a chance of us coming back. So they try to make a good impression.

Maybe if I was driver I would, but at the moment it’s just easier to go to Houghton Wesleyan– despite the fact that I’m not a huge fan of the size of the church. It’s a little too big for me. I don’t get to know anybody there really because there are far too many people. I don’t understand how people attending mega churches can feel the same sense of fellowship that you get when you worship with people you actually know. I would just feel so alone always standing next to people I don’t know in church. That’s sometimes how it is at Houghton Wesleyan.

It’s times like this when I’m sitting here and thinking that I really begin to miss my church family back home.

So anyway, in other news, we were supposed to host some prospective students last night but they never showed up. Today is the biggest prospective student day of the year and both of ours just decided to opt out last minute. We were very sad because we were hoping we could have our chance as promoting the school and talking to some awesome kids in the process. =(

In OTHER other news, Jeremy is moving to Arizona sometime in the next few weeks. =)

We had been trying to find other options for him, but honestly the allure of the job ($50,000 starting point with benefits) was too much to turn down. Jeremy is really in need of a stable job, not only for his benefit but also for mine and for whatever kind of a future we would ever want to have. Yes, I’m kind of putting a lot of hope into this but I really think this time it may work out. =) Please keep Jeremy and everything in your prayers!

Yeah… I don’t know either.

Usually I love Houghton and college in general. I tend to find classes okay, some of them even fun, and all of the social activities are awesome.

Then there are times like this.

I stress out about one thing and end up stressing out about everything. Like this week I had an assignment to do over the weekend and then there was a test in a different class today. I knew I had to study for the test over the weekend so I did. But I kept thinking about that assignment and all the other things that will be coming up later on. I eventually stressed myself out so badly that Lauren kept telling me to calm down and take it easy. I called my mom randomly and I told her about everything that was going on and she basically said for me not to worry about it because those things aren’t due yet.

But how can I not worry?

So I got to French class this morning with my assignment in hand. It just so happened that the assigned work for the weekend was far longer and MUCH harder than usual so I wasn’t at all confident in my work. At least today we did a lot of other things instead of just going over the assignment and answering the questions one person at a time.

Then I had my Intro to Christianity test. I don’t think I did too badly but then again, I’ve been wrong before. I’m mostly familiar with his layout and grading style because I had Professor Eckley for Bib Lit. my first semester at Houghton. I don’t know what to think really.

Then I worked on the reading and answering some questions for my English lit class. I got to class at 1 and was handed my test/exam that we just took last week. That was one exam where I felt fairly confident that I did okay and that I would get an okay grade. Not stellar, but okay.

I opened the booklet to find a 77 written on the inside. According to his grading scale, that’s the lowest C+ that there is. He put up a distribution on the board and I realized that I was in the lowest 5 in the class. Maybe even lowest 4.

So needless to say, I’m extremely disappointed in myself and my inability to realize the kinds of things I was supposed to write on the test. I feel like a failure because I was really trying to get an A in that class or at least a high-ish grade because it’s one of the ones that applies to my English major. Now I’m afraid my family will be disappointed with me and that I won’t be able to pull my exam grade back up because the last two exams are harder. Jeremy said don’t panic and that I can do it and he has faith in me. I’m glad.

I just wish I had more faith in myself.

So anyway, this was not what I needed today. I would appreciate it if anybody that reads this just says a quick prayer for me because I could really use it. I’m stressing out way too much and I know it. This morning I almost made myself sick stressing over the Intro to Christianity test.

I don’t know what’s wrong with me.

So I’ve never tried to prank anyone before.

Well, until yesterday.

Lauren and I were out at lunch yesterday and joking around about what it would be like if Caroline had an invisible roommate. This followed a conversation about having invisible friends when we were little and stuff.

Lauren and I talked about what her name would be and what her majors should be. Then somehow along the way home we formulated this plan. We took the sheet that Lauren had gotten about her roommate assignment and used it as a basis for recreating a fake roommate assignment sheet. Here’s what we ended up with.

We each threw in random information (some of our own) and numbers for the address and things. I found a logo online and made the border to go along with it because I thought it made it look more official. We changed Dennis Stack’s middle initial to avoid getting in trouble if this was ever found or something and we didn’t sign it. We also didn’t mail it because we thought that would be going too far and since her reaction was unpredictable we didn’t think it would have been good to have her find it in a place where we couldn’t control it.

And so we opted instead to slip it under her door. We knew it would be a little too suspicious to just slip it under her door so I emailed our RA, Kait Berger. I asked Kait if it would be okay for us to forge a note and sign it with her name saying, “This was given to me to pass on to you”. Then it wouldn’t seem out of place for it to be there. So anyway, we finished the letter and planted it under her door. Erik B. was over and Lauren came into the room right as everything was happening.

We didn’t expect her reaction completely. It had crossed my mind that she would be somewhat upset. She didn’t like, outright bawl or anything but she was ticked and frustrated and disappointed. xD I felt so bad at first. We let it go for a little while though because it’s not a prank if you don’t let it sink in. Originally we were going to staple another sheet of paper to the first one with a sticker of a cow on it but she would have understood that immediately and it wouldn’t have been as effective. Erik convinced me not to do it so we didn’t.

She was disappointed that her roomate was going to be an indoor rec major. She said she hoped she wouldn’t be a jock. xD I knew that was one of her fears about getting a roommate and so I made sure to put that as one of the two majors.

In the end, we all gave Caroline hugs and she laugh/cried and said she hated us but that it was the best prank she had ever seen and that it was so believable that she didn’t feel stupid or gullible for believing it. She hung the letter up on the wall and said it was awesome and that we were all smart for thinking up these things. I’m just proud of myself for putting the actual sheet together. =) It does look official, doesn’t it?

So anyway, she doesn’t hate us and all is good. She’s just glad Natalie Pitts won’t be paying her a visit any time soon.

CAUTION: LIFE UNDER CONSTRUCTION

When someone says, “Eh” you either think of them Canadians and their “How you doin’, eh?” or you think of the term that’s usually used in place of saying some unhappy things when someone asks how your day was.

“How was your day?”
“…eh.”

I haven’t had to use that phrase too often since I got back here to Houghton. Most of my days have been fine or even really good. Tiring, yes. But overall pretty great. I love rooming with Lauren and our personalities just compliment each other so well. Our music tastes are so similar it’s scary, we’re both calm and rational thinkers, we have good conversations, she crashes at night (or rather, “Pumpkinizes” as Caroline calls it) so it kind of forces me to be on a bit more of a regular sleep schedule, we’re both English majors and can understand the stresses of each other’s workloads, and we’re both crazy artistic and can appreciate a nicely decorated room. =)

Some of those seem like small things and there are many more things that I didn’t list but in general, I’m really liking how this is working out this year. Caroline is still nearby so it doesn’t feel like we dropped off of each other’s planets. We can have our own space and place to think and go when we need to escape each other and then we can hang out in each other’s rooms and watch anime and movies and listen to music and talk when we want to. I couldn’t think of a setup that could be any better.

I got my first job a couple weeks ago and I’m currently doing maintenance at the library. I clean one of the classrooms (dust/disinfect/vacuum/clean the chalkboard) and I clean the staff lounge and bathroom/kitchen. It’s only about a 1.15 hour long job a day but at least it’s something.

I’m doing 15 credit hours of work which is typical. On mondays, wednesdays, and fridays, my first class is at 9:00 and I have French, Intro to Christianity, and English lit later on.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays my first class isn’t until 1 PM so I get to sleep a little bit more. I call that my adolescent day because the two classes that I have are Adolescent Psych and Adolescent Literature. Hah. So yeah.

Cameron is here at Houghton with me and about the only times I see him are at meals (which I sometimes don’t go to because I like to cook occasionally) and chapel (which I’ve gone to every time so far). We haven’t been able to talk as much as I hoped to but it does make me happy that he’s on campus and hopefully making lots of new friends. Due to something that happened recently in his life (and something I don’t think I need to be blogging about), I think he could really use a confidence booster and some good friends and prayer. I love him so dearly it’s ridiculous.

Anyway, in other news, I’ve finally gotten myself entangled in a huge fricken web of drama. I love my friends dearly, each and every one of them, but I wish sometimes (well, all the time) that people could just sit down and think about things rationally.

When a relationship goes wrong, what’s the smart thing to do? Get back at the person you once cared about so deeply? Do something to hurt their pride? Cause them mental and psychological harm?

Two of my friends have come to the conclusion that that’s the thing you should do. They both had their own completely separate run-ins with guys and both times I’ve seen both sides of the situation (the guys side) and can tell that neither one of the guys deserved any kind of reaction like that.

What do you do in that situation? Do you just sit there while two of your good friends beat up on two guys that don’t deserve to be treated like dirt? Do you say something to your friends even if you know it’ll create a break in the faultline?

Personally I think acting like that is just sickening. Not just immature, but sickening.

Sometimes I want to cry because I want to do something so bad to help my friends (the ones being beaten up on) and there’s nothing I can do. These are the times when I really start to hate the backstabbing personality that girls often have. I know it’s just a way of coping with things but do you really have to cope with a knife your hand?

Think about it.

And this is why, my life has been a little bit “eh” lately. I really need prayer. I know that I get myself so tangled up in these things it’s ridiculous but there’s really nothing I can do about it. I care too much and I hate seeing even just one of my friends suffering. I attempt to be peacemaker even if that means that I end up being the bad person in the end.

Maybe I’m wrong…but I really don’t think I am.

These past few weeks have been pretty hectic.

My cousin Jake got married to my friend Kim (I went to school with her but she’s a couple years older than me) after dating for 7 years. =O (since Kim was in 9th grade) I was part of the wedding in that I sang a verse from “Be Thou My Vision” while they lit the unity candle. I got to go to the rehearsal dinner and everything afterwards since I was there for the rehearsal. ^.^ It was a lovely dinner at the Icehouse on the 4th of July. They got married on the 5th and so we were there for most of the day. Everything went great.

Then this past weekend I went to Houghton for the alumni weekend since my dad was Houghton class of ‘83 and my mom was a super senior so she graduated class of ‘84. I met a lot of my parents’ old classmates and some of their kids and just had a great time over all. We got to stay on the entire top floor of one of the Randall Townhouses which was neat because I had always wanted to go explore one of those. I was actually a little disappointed at the layout of the townhouse in general and the fact that it’s going to be even harder to decorate the room than it is to decorate one of the dorms. I’m considering sticking around a third year in the dorms but we’ll see what happens next year. Maybe some of my friends and I could rent out an apartment or something in town. That would be neat. My parents did it, after all.

So anyway, this past week was Gaiaonline’s unofficial “Spirit Week”. I forgot to participate the first couple days but I participated in the last 4 days of the event. They had fun days though and the people were flipping amazing and so much fun. Everybody was enthusiastic and probably most enthusiastic on “Cosplay Day” of course. People are so creative! The guy that won most spirited for Cosplay day was dressed as Tuxedo Mask from Sailor Moon. His outfit was great but the runners-up couldn’t even compare. My sister said the guy dressed as Edward Scissorhands didn’t even make it to runner-up. And THAT was a freaking awesome cosplay.

Other days of spirit week were, “Nighty Night Gaia Day”, “Rainbow Day”, “Dress Like a Whore Day” (this is the first day I participated in…whee xD It was really awesome though…lol), “Flaunt Your Wealth Day” (I’ve been on Gaia since 2004 so this was pretty fun =P), and “Class Color Day” (in which people dressed in a certain color according to the year they joined Gaia). I was orange so that’s why there’s the little animation at the top, lol. In case anybody was actually wondering. =x

It was pretty amazing. I was reminded why I loved being on Gaia so much. It’s awesome when people don’t sit there and flame you 24/7 like on so many other sites. You get the occasional person who thinks they’re hardcore and flames n00bs just to eat them for breakfast…but you learn to ignore those people. xD

In other news, I’m officially employed part-time for Jeremy’s company. =) I’m something they call a “Data Input Specialist”…which is just a fancy way of saying I type stuff up that the client wants typed up and put it into the computer as chunks so that everybody knows what has been done and what still needs to be done on the project.

Whee. =3

Other random news. My roomate for this semester is officially dating my cousin now. o.O That now makes 2 for 2 with my other friend Andrea (one of my wifeys <3) dating my OTHER cousin. xD Now if they both RANDOMLY happened to get married or something, that would make them both Rudds…which would be even scarier and even more weird. O.O I love it though. My Sunday school teacher made the observation that everyone in class is pairing off. It’s true though…Andrea & Levi and Lauren & Zach paired off so now there are like…2 single people in the class. xD Maybe a little more but it’s still funny. I wonder who’s next. =P

Haha, and Lauren if you ever read this I think it’s awesome that you two are dating. ^_^ I love both of you so squishin’ you two together just makes it easier to love you at the same time! =O Two birds with one stone. Lol. Just kidding. That makes no sense anyway. =P

I think I’ve been a very good girl this time around. I’m very satisfied with my life and how things are going right now. I miss him terribly now that he’s back home in Alabama but I feel like we accomplished a lot in this last vacation. Jeremy got to meet my grandparents and my uncle (on my daddy’s side) and a WHOLE BUNCH of family on my mom’s side, mostly cousins. He helped out with Cam’s graduation party and got to meet my friend Josh and his fiancee Jessica as well as a lot of my other friends and members of the church family that came (and also those at church).

We got to spend lots of wholesome time together. We went to the Carousel mall with Lauren and had a great day just eating, shopping, and looking around in jewelry stores (=P). We watched “Hitch” in my room in my bed with my little sister and laughed so hard. Jeremy got to go to a mini-recital where I played my ocarina and my sister played flute. We went with my family to go see WALL-E in theaters (which was awesome). We went to Denny’s afterwards and took funny pictures of my sister. We watched Full Metal Panic: Fumoffu with my sisters. =3 We played “Apples to Apples” with my grandma and uncle and my family and PIT as well. Jeremy even drove my grandma’s car when we had to go with my mom to drop the van off to be worked on at the shop so we got to feel what it would really be like to just drive in a car together.

I cried a little bit this time before he left (before we drove to the airport even) and I had an even tinier breakdown yesterday. I think my issue is that this vacation has been the best vacation with Jeremy yet. Everything has been so upbeat. My family has been getting along really well with him and he with them. Everybody loves him and there’s a lot of acceptance on all sides. I don’t know, I just thoroughly enjoyed myself.

We were driving in the car on the way home after dropping Jeremy off at the airport and just the thought of him not being there in my house made me sad. I got so used to it over these past 10 days that it felt wrong for it to not be the same.

Sorry if this a little bit choppy and some sentences seem non-sequitor. xD I’ve been talking to my brother this entire time so I’ve had a hard time concentrating fully on this but I wanted to post it. =3 Yay.

Oh, random piece of information. I’m working on becoming more flexible. =) I want to bend more like a rhythmic gymnast…which won’t happen so I’ll work on just being able to do a split properly. ^__^ So yay.