So long

"So long sweet summer, we stumbled upon you and greatfully basked in your rays". - Dashboard Confessional
Nice and gloomy and rather cold today. You may think I'm weird, but I actually like gloomy days, I love being able to curl up with a blanket and sit in front of the fireplace. Of course there are no fireplaces in the dorms, but I still like the gloom. Too bad not having a sweatshirt made it a little less fun though.
This is a picture of the gloom from "Da Roof" on the 6th floor. Not just The Roof, but "Da Roof". It's pretty fun, when it was sunny there are always people tanning out there. And if I am ever talking to you on the phone that's where I go. Anyway it has a cool view. I sat out there for about half an hour the other night just because I needed to think and get away, it was nice.

Other Blogs

Ok so I can't put links of other blogs I read on the side of my blog. So here's a list of blogs that I read. Check them out and enjoy! I'm so excited that Corrie started one too! And I also got my neighbor Cassie to start one as well.

OutOfTheSilent - Tim Smith
Macomber's Weblog
Katie Saylor
Melissa Mae
Corrie Diane
Sophia (my roomie)
Cassie

Have fun! If you don't have a blog started and you are reading this then you better get crackin!

Optical Illusion

This is so cool, you have to check it out.
Interesting Optical Illusion

Communications

In my Comm 103 class we have been doing a speech every Thursday, 2 so far, and another one this Thursday. It's kind of nice though, I think I'm getting more comfortable getting up in front of the class. Today was what I felt a really good speech for me. I shared my "Life Changing Experience" about Joel's impact in my life. I actually got a little bit emotional, just a little voice cracky which I wasn't expecting to happen. But I went up there without notecards or anything and just talked, and things flowed really well. I think God was with me there, giving me the words to say, and I really felt good after the speech, not just for how I did on it, but for the chance to share my experience of becoming a Christian because of this amazing man's example. It was awesome to feel so much better afterwards.
This Thursday, the speech is "Impromptu", now that is scary. Talk about some random topic that you have 1 - 2 minutes at the most to prepare for and have to talk about for 1 - 2 minutes. Yikes! No preparation whatsoever is kind of scary.

Dyslexia

I was sitting here looking at online banking, trying to figure out why in the heck I'm off by about $20 (although it was in my favor so I wasn't complaining). By comparing stuff I figured out it's because I'm dyslexic, rather than writing $57.10 for something I wrote $75.10, definitely makes a difference.

Why life at SDSU is never boring

"Nude Student gets tazed and tackled" - taken from "The Daily Aztec"

A nude student was tackled and tazed by campus police in Love Library Wednesday night.
Campus police received a call from the convenience store that a man was undressing and kicking things in the Aztec Market, Lt. Sonny Cavarlez said.
Erin Lynn, an employedd of the store, said the man took orr all of his clothes in the store, poured coffee over his head and then ran headfirst into the window of the store.
He fell back and ran into the window a second time, she said.
The man then left the convenience store naked and walked to the library. There an off duty officer tackled him by the neck....
"He was fighting so hard, we had to taze him three times," Cavarlez said...
The hot coffee he poured on himself at the convenience store made him slippery and hard to tackle, Cavarlez said after the incident....
Police initially suspected the man wa on drugs, but when he was taken to Mercy Hospital for a complete toxicology exam, the police report showed no illicit drugs in his body.
"I'm on race." The naked man said while lying on the ground. "Class, gender. I'm a homo," he added.
When one of the lietenants asked him his name, he said "Heather Will."...
The student had blood on his foreheada, probably from running into the glass at the convenience store.
"I just thought that was ridiculous how many times they shocked him and how long, and how they were just talking about it right in front of him. That was very inappropriate, unprofessional to me," marketing senior Michelle Castro said...
"No criminal charges are being filed against him because he was not in control of his mental faculties, even though one of the officers was hurt," Cavarlez said.
Police filed a mental evaluation report and referred him to Counseling and Psychological Services.
"I just feel sorry for the person. I hope whatever problem he has with his family or personally, that it's going to be rectified. This university, because he is a student, will do everything we can to provide the help," Cavarlez said.

God is Amazing.

There is a situation that I have been dealing with and struggling with for over a month now. I'm not going to elaborate on it, but I have just been extremely confused. Not sure how to think or feel or act or make decisions. I kept it inside of me, I shared with a few close friends, but who I really needed to share it with was God. A friend gave me the good advice to pray about it. Yes this may have seemed like an obvious thing to some, but it was something I hadn't brought to God in a few weeks. So I have been praying, and struggling to figure out what God wanted, what his intention was out of all of this, and what I am supposed to do. Tonight he spoke to me throught The Flood, a church service. The solution was simple but not the easy path.
It's funny how we always want to solve things ourselves, at least i am that way. But ultimately some situations are not meant for us to handle on our own, that is why God is there. Not only for us to simply pray on the surface to, but to go deep, to cry to him, to question him because we don't understand. Tonight he has brought me to an understanding and it feels so much better to know that he is there for me, that he is helping and giving the best advice imaginable. The situation is not going to get better immediately, but God will help. I still don't know how things will ultimately turn out, but he is there to help me and guide me through it.
Thank you God.
"Praise be to the Lord, for he has heard my cry for mercy. The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song." - Psalm 28; 6-7

Frozen dinners - a toss up

With frozen dinners you never really know for sure if they are going to taste good or not. You have to kind of rely on the picture and the description and hope that you are being told the truth about the product. Tonight the people who made stuffed pasta shells definitely lied. "A delightfully rich comfort food, Amy's Stuffed Pasta Shells are perfect for guests and special occasions." Nope, don't ever serve those to your guests, they'll think you are a horrible cook.
I have had good frozen dinners before, it's kind of more difficult to get food on the weekends since most places on campus are closed and when you're kind of tired of dominoes, rubios, and jack in the box (right off campus), you are kind of stuck.

Better picture

This is a better picture I think. Especially since it's at the game!

Go Aztecs!

Went to the SDSU football game tonight against Nevada. It was a really fun game, students get in for free and they get to sit extremely close, just behind the goal post which isn't as nice. I went with a fun group of people, all decked out in our SDSU spirit outfits. But while all of the girls painted their faces red and black, only one guy was brave enough to do so. Good times though. It was fun to get funny looks from people, or the double take, or people cheering with us "Yeah! Go Aztecs! Woohoo!" Good thing we won the game (27 - 3) though or we would have been made fun of so bad afterwards!

happy birthday!

happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear EMMMMMAAAAA happy birthday to you! Hehe
18! oh my gosh, she's actually an ADULT! yah! we're the same age for 13 whole days :)

shopping!

This is my first weekend here in San Diego. Kind of strange since I have now been going to school for a month... that's a long time! Tonight I went shopping with a girl that I work with, Nicole, and her room mate Sarah. It was a lot of fun, we went to fashion valley and some other shopping center with an old navy, marshalls, and dsw shoe warehouse. I spent a little bit too much money but I am REALLY tired of my clothes and so now I'm excited. I got some "going out" type stuff so I'm hoping someone will want to go out somewhere tonight! We shall see. Oh, nevermind. I just talked to my "neighbor" Cassie and we're going to go see a movie! Yah!
Tomorrow is the SDSU football game against Nevada. I'm so excited. I'm going with a bunch of people and we're going to paint our faces and be crazy spirited. I'll try to get some pictures!
That's all for now! I'm excited to be here and doing stuff!

2nd wind

i love coffee

I am such a procrastinator!!

Every day for Spanish we are assigned 2 to 3 pages to do in a workbook. And 1 to 2 pages of a Lab manual in another book. This is on top of whatever text book assignments we are also assigned. The workbook and lab manual stuff is not due until the day of the Exam for that unit. The day of the exam is tomorrow. And I haven't even started the stuff that is due. This should be fun. I just counted all of the pages... 43 of them. Hmm Spanish shall be oozing out of my ears by the end of tonight, or early tomorrow morning depending on how long this takes.


That's how I feel.

Another Chance

Today in about an hour I have another speech due for my Communications class. This time we either have to bring in an object for show and tell or talk about a life changing experience. So I am going to talk about when I decided to truly commit my life to Christ last December, and how Joel Hyde's role in bringing making me realize that I needed God in my life. The example that he set for me to see what the Christian life had to offer. By the time many of you see this it will be after the fact. But pray that I have the strength and ability to speak from the heart and really be able to share to these people. It's not going to be the easiest thing, but it's something that I really want to do and feel that God has given me the opportunity once again to do so.

update:
ok so speech will apparently take place on tuesday. Only about 10 people did theirs today, so now I guess I get to wait a while.

picture board

I almost finished my picture bulletin board next to my desk... but there are a few blank spots, so if anyone has any fun pictures... please email them to me!

iTunes

I just discovered on itunes that when I am plugged in to the internet (which I always am, the beauty of ethernet). That I am also connected to other people's library's for itunes in my dorm. I'm not sure how this works exactly. But it's pretty cool. Too bad I can't figure out how to take their songs and put them in my library, I don't think it's possible. But I CAN listen to their music. I found one guy with the cd's of elliot smith, modest mouse, maroon 5, death cab for cutie, mused, thursday, radiohead, and others that I like to listen to but don't have the cd's of. Anyway cool stuff. I'm not sure if others can see my music, I don't know if I have to set it up so that it's possible or not. Tim?

$300 or $4.25?

In the bookstore there are cameras everywhere and undercover security walking around constantly all over the store. Today a guy tried to steal a pencil. Yes, it was rather expensive for a mechanical pencil, but nonetheless not a smart move. the last I saw of him he was being taken upstairs in handcuffs. The minimum fine for stealing in the bookstore is $300. I bet that guy was thinking what a stupid move he had made. Moral of the story is an obvious and simple one, don't steal!

Ghost

The doors on the bookstore are the automatic sliding kind. The door by my register today wouldn't close completely. Every time it almost closed, it would open up again, or it would just go a little and then open. When no one at all was around it. Me and my fellow cashiers agreed, it had to be a ghost.

Traffic, all of the time, no fun.

Full weekend

Had a very full and somewhat sleepless weekend. Magic Mountain was a lot of fun. Then the 2 hours of sleep before flying the next day were fun. The wedding was beautiful and I always love getting the chance to see my dad's family up in Santa Rosa. Then today I flew back home and got a little bit of homework done on the plane. Corrie and I hung out at the Block in Orange, then I got about an hour nap. And went to church and then ate yummy pizza and then drove home and made really good time, which was good since I am REALLY tired and am going to bed right now. So good night.

Here is a picture of me and my girl cousins, from my dads family. Marissa (2nd from the left) is almost 8 months pregnant! She's the first cousin to get married and now have a baby so of course it's fun and a big deal.

3rd weekend

This will be the third weekend since school started, and again it seems that I am going home. Well only sort of. I am going home tonight to go to Naz night at Magic Mountain (I don't know if that's really what it's called). And then early tomorrow i am going to fly to Oakland where my parents will meet me to then drive to Santa Rosa (Northern CA, for those of you who don't know :)) for my aunt's wedding on Saturday afternoon, then early Sunday I come back to OC Airport. Should be a long weekend. It's not great that I haven't been here for the past few weekends though. But from now on I think I will be staying here for a while. With work and school and then going home on weekends I feel I'm missing alot of bonding time and chances to hang out, but that will change.
So now that I'm not coming home for a while, you all have to come and visit me!! Really, you are all welcome to, it would be fun, i can show you around fun SD and SDSU, of course even I don't really know my way all around yet, but it could be an adventure. Just post me a comment and I will give you my phone number and you can visit! FYI, this is my new address
Laura Benson
6124 Montezuma Road A-728
San Diego, CA 92115

computer and laundry

What happens when you do laundry between 10:45 and 12:15 at night? No one else is there! Nice.
My computer decided not to turn on today, I have no idea why. Luckily there were other people around to let me use theirs. And then the computer genius and savior tim smith helped me out and now I am all good again! Thanks Tim.
I still have to study for my sociology exam tomorrow. I finished with the Spanish studying. Fun, pulling anohter long night, so much for sleep.

2:45 AM

Far too late or "early". This late studying thing is not going to work much longer. Goodnight all, I believe my brain is officially saturated with random history facts and a speech, hopefully it stays there for anohter few hours.

Almost forgot!

Happy Birthday to my mom! Although it doesn't really matter that I almost forgot to post it because she doesn't read this!
And also doesn't know about it, and I think for right now I'd like to keep it that way ;) So keep it on the DL. Haha I've never said that in my life before now, but Shh!

Lesson of the Day

At work today I was trying to come up with ideas for this speech that I have to give tomorrow (and still have yet to write). The ideas given to me by some comments were very good ones. In fact I thought alot about coming up with a Eulogy about Joel Hyde and feel that unfortunately right now I do not have the emotional energy to really take something like this on. And I want something taht I write about how Joel has affected me and changed my life to be something well thought out so that it can possibly have some effect on others. I needed to think of something simple, because I really don't have much time to write it. So I was asking some fellow coworkers about dating fun or funny meeting boyfriend/girlfriend experiences they've had so that I could take one of their stories and turn it into a toast.
My lesson of the day is to not ask people you don't know very well about their somewhat personal stories. One of my fellow lady coworkers told me her and her last boyfriend met randomly and went out the same day, and then she became pregnant. I was slightly confused, but I just should have left it there I guess. But of course I didn't, so I said "wait, so you became pregnant that same night?". Yes I am a little naiive sometimes. Yes that same night she was pregnant. My dumbness again "So do you have a child now?" I was actually really afraid she was going to say she had an abortion because my spirits would have been down the rest of the day. "No, I had a miscarriage luckily". Luckily? How sad is that one? But apparently she continued to date this guy for 6 more months. Wow. Shocking story. It's hard for me to comprehend how someone could just have sex the first night they meet a person, get pregnant, and then be happy that their baby died. Of course now saying this, I guess she might have actually had an abortion but didn't feel like telling that to a basic stranger. Sad times though. I mean I know it happens all of the time. But she didn't act like what happened was something wrong.
There are so many lost people, where can we as Christians start in helping these people find God. To find a purpose. To know and understand that they are so loved by God that they don't have to go sleeping around to try and feel good about themselves? I don't know who I am going to try and help. But I know that I need to be an example everywhere. In every opportunity to share with others who God is and how important a life with Him is. This whole example thing is not going to be easy or always fun, but it is something I want to work on. Even today I didn't take the opportunity to share with this girl about anything. It was hard since I didn't really know her and didn't feel it was my place to continue what was already an awkward conversation. But maybe then this is also just an excuse, excuses that I need to stop coming up with.

Speech

I have to make up some kind of acceptance speech, or eulogy speech, or toast, or anything of that sort for my communications class. Right now I have no ideas whatsoever... Hmm. We have to present this speech on Thursday so I'm already slightly behind, I'm thinking I'll write it tomorrow though. I'm just seriously drawing a blank here, I'm not really looking forward to it at all. I actually don't mind getting in front of people and speaking all that much if something is well prepared and practiced. But given the fact that I haven't even written the speech yet I'm not sure how prepared it's going to be...
Anyway, any ideas?

POD
Today its more like "people of the day". A group of friends, one from turkey, one from italy, and one from yugoslavia, they kept coming back to my register and the girl next to me and buying random things. I thought it was cool that they were from 3 different countries and yet were all hanging out together. Fun people too. That's one of the fun things about going to a "university", there are many people from other countries, some studying abroad for a semester, but many who just wanted an education in the United States, I feel lucky to get the chance to talk to or meet so many different people. Last week I met 2 very cute guys from Sweden, I also have met some girls from England. And then from a place that with the accent sounds like out of the country, Wisconsin, haha.

feet?

Whose feet are those? (If you already know, don't say anything!)

Sad Day for Laura and humanity

As I was walking up the stairs in the Aztec center today I tripped and fell pretty hard with my knee hitting the edge if the cement step. It was at an inbetween the classes time so there were many people walking around me and who saw me fall. It was one of those classic comedy scenes where the bag in my hand went flying along with all of the stuff in it that went in all different directions. My sunglasses also fell off and skidded across a step. It hurt pretty bad and I had to sit down for about 5 minutes to make sure my knee was going to support me (as I look at it now it has a gross swollen bump and is already turning purple). The entire time I was sitting there at least 20 people passed by me, definitely not an exaggeration, there were probably more than this. With my stuff all around me not one person asked me if I was ok, or if i needed help, or attempted to help me pick up any of my stuff. It was just one of those moments that really just made me sad. I mean I'm normally the kind of person to laugh at myself for doing something like this. But instead because of the lack of concern from anyone around me, everyone just focused on themselves, ended up making me feel hurt and more just disappointed in people more than anything.
No good Samaritans around me today.

long weekend

So went home for the weekend. Well sort of. First I went to my friend Corrie's apartment and watched Ever After (never before realized how much cheese this movie is made of) and spent the night there Friday (always way too much fun:) ). Then went to Myles Smith's 1 year birthday party/ swim party on Saturday. Then went home to my family (they really missed me alot alot). See they thought i didn't drive home until Saturday afternoon, I didn't want them to think I was coming home and then not seeing them. Anyway that worked out. But I still have so much homework, but it was nice to get away for a couple of days.
So what am I doing now that I have way too much to do? What do I do every time I have way too much to do? I blog. It is an addiction. Even more so now that I am away from home I guess. Hmmm...

part of the hume group... a week later i still haven't posted about this trip, no worries, it is coming sometime.

POD

bad breath man. helped him today and he liked to talk really close. see i'm the kind of person who can't stand stinky breath at all. i mean at all. so this guy was stinky. he was cute but stinky.

bladder wake up

Luckily today is my later day of classes. Mon, Tues, Wed, Fri, my classes start at 9:00AM. But today the earliest is at 11:00AM. So it's a good thing that today was the day my alarm didn't go off because I failed to set it last night. The only reason I even woke up was becasue I had to use the bathroom. I looked at the clock at 10:40 and freaked out because it takes 15 minutes to walk to class. It was REALLY tempting just to continue to sleep and get a chance to take a shower and make up and all. But today was a discussion in history where only half the class had to come this time and i was one of them, and for the first time role was taken. Anyway I managed to make it out the door in 5 minutes, but no fun. Obviously I have really been lacking sleep lately so it was kind of a good thing to get the extra sleep.
The best part was that I had the sheet imprints on my face for all of the first class, fun.

the other thing to do when bored

Take a bunch of dumb pictures and pass them back and forth between you and your friend!!

ok that was a huge waste of time for me, but enjoy!

what to do when bored on a long car trip

On the way home from Hume Lake on the extensive car ride Emma and I taught Corrie a game that we used to play all of the time in boring high school classes... Basically you write down a word or short phrase, then pass the paper on and the next person reads only the last word or phrase written on the page and writes the first thing that comes to mind. After a few games we got really good at it... here's our last game for your enjoyment... later i'll show you what emma and i did on the way up to avoid boredom...

warning: (this one started off more graphic than the others)

burping orange chicken... farting chicken bubbles... floating poop logs... in the toilet... poop... smell the sweet aroma... of emma's butt... hairy... fox... in the dirt... ants... bite your hairy butt... can we be done with butts now?... no because they are funny... mimes are funny... so are gorillas who jump up and down... evolution... we were once monkeys you know... and fish too!... finding Nemo... i can speak whale... ooh auh eeh you... drooling... spot on pillow... laura's drool!... on corrie's pillow... drool?... yep!... excitement... us last night... totally crazy!... like totally!... oh my gosh like no way!... like gag me with a spoon... not fun... because the squeegee can't reach the tank... what tank?... top... less... is more... i want more... of the royal buffet... of chicken... fried... grease... lightning... bright... starlight... moonlight... stars... the big dipper... is full of... water... the blob... is missing... children... innocent... until proven guilty... innocent... not many are... pretty... my face... is ugly... cause we are the best!

Fun, we did like 5 of these, good times, we are crazy nerds.

Busy busy busy

I just drove back down to San Diego this morning at 5:45 and had a full day of classes and now off to work. I will post more later. For now had an awesome weekend at Hume Lake and am getting back into the swing of things. Way behind on school but hopefully will get caught up, lots of coffee ahead.
I'm tired.

favorite picture

Emma's going to kill me for this. But it's my favorite picture of all time and I couldn't help it, I still crack up every time I see it. It's of Emma and Melissa Joy Macomber on the way to New York one really early morning in July. Aren't they adorable?

What I want to be doing...

Right now I want to be packing for Hume Lake. But instead the homework load has begun. I have 20 pages of Sociology to read, 50 pages of a communications book to read, worksheets and labs for spanish to do, and a vocabulary test to study for for spanish as well. I just got back from work so I get to begin right now, fun. I'm already behind from working too much, but next week shouldn't be quite as bad, I only work 3 days. Did i mention before that being a full time student and part time worker is going to be hard? because it is. I'm already behind in week 1 and I won't have the weekend to catch up. Ahh! I guess spending your one day off at downtown san diego with a bunch of dorm girls isn't the smartest thing though.
Oh well this weekend should be a blast, and I feel a little break is much needed. Also sadly I have not been spending as much time as I need to and want to spend with God and it makes things more difficult. Hopefully at Hume Lake camp I'll be able to refocus myself and spend a lot of time with Him. I don't want this to be a continual problem, I really need to figure something out.

Person of the day or POD:
smoking pregnant possibly drunk young freshmen girl who I rang up at the bookstore. The fact that she was in college actually impressed me a little. But I really feel bad for the young child who she is bringing into this world. He/She may have many problems because of his mothers decisions right now. Poor kid, he's in my prayers, as is the mother who will hopefully realize what she is doing.

Dorm Life

Some fun things about living in a dorm that I've found so far (I'm sure there are much more that I dont' know yet)
1. You can never JUST go to the pee or take a shower or blow dry your hair or brush your teeth. It always takes a minimum 8 minutes because of talking to people.
2. It hasn't been this way too much yet, but it will be more so later... Everyone always has their door open, definitely never lonely.
3. Seems like there's always something to do, watching movies, going to the gym, eating, talking, or just hanging out.
4. The elevator ride is never lonely, in fact often it may be a little too cozy. Branching off of that there aren't supposed to be more than 8 people in the elevator or it gets stuck, and 8 is plenty cozy. Some people tried to test it the other day, 24 of them, and got stuck between the 7th and 8th floor, haha.
5. I'm actually on my own, lots to that one. Stay up as late as I want without someone telling me to go to bed (even though i've been so tired I haven't stayed up that late yet). Eat whatever I want, not necessarily good either. Own laundry that I'm gonna do today and use the change the Smiths gave me :). Lots of other stuff.
6.... Don't have a 6 yet, I'm sure there are tons more though.

Only not so nice thing is a somewhat lack of privacy, I mean I expected this, but still it's an adjustment.