thebensonator

I am Fairly Certain my Professors are Conspiring Against Me

2008-11-20T23:38:00.001-08:00

I have 4 projects with presentations due the week after Thanksgiving. So much for enjoying family time.

Broken Computer

2008-11-16T16:15:00.003-08:00

About 2 or 3 weeks ago I brought my lap top to school with me... something I never do... to make sure it would hook up properly for a presentation. I ALSO had my water bottle in my backpack. Somehow my water bottle exploded spilling at least 16 ounces of water on EVERYTHING. When I tried to turn my computer on it turned on, but the screen was completely blank.

Now I know it is an older computer... going on 5 years now... but it still works just fine. A couple days and a few tears later I took it to the apple store and figured out that by some miracle the water ONLY got in my screen. So all my files are still there. So I had to buy a monitor... but at least it wasn't a whole computer, which I wouldn't have been able to do anyway. Now I am stuck doing computer stuff at my desk in my room. I miss my lap top. Some day I will buy another one... but for now this is where I am stuck.

A Nice Side Effect

2008-11-12T13:09:00.002-08:00

This semester I have a ton of group projects and presentations as well as individual ones. 9 in total. The nice thing about all of the times I've had to be in front of the class... as well as constantly getting in front of 5th and 6th graders and teaching? I'm no longer nervous at all to speak in front of people. Sweet.

Netflix

2008-10-25T22:49:00.001-07:00

I've become totally addicted to Netflix. I love watching movies anyway. When I watch TV I usually search for a movie instead of a show. And it's SO much cheaper than renting from Blockbuster. Yay movies!

Kaleb

2008-10-21T19:59:00.002-07:00

My friend Nicole had Kaleb about a month ago. He's the cutest thing ever. This picture cracks me up.

Here's a better picture of Kaleb and his 4 year old brother Kaden. So cute.

My Current Life... or At Least Part of It

2008-10-20T00:47:00.006-07:00

I'm attempting to write more on here again, but as I get to this page I can't really think what to write about.

I seem to have insomnia lately, any time I get a chance to sleep in a little more than normal or take a nap I seem to not be able to sleep that night. I am getting old.

I'm watching some show on Animal Planet where there is an Octopus that has latched itself onto a divers face and he can't get away. Strange.

I am sort of just scraping by in school. I need to get my act together but I'm just so not motivated. Such is my life in school right now.

After working a lot more than usual and getting a consistent babysitting gig and other random side jobs I'm finally at the point where I'm at least able to pay bills on time. And I am slowly starting to pay down credit cards some. God is good and really does provide. I had gotten to the point where I was SO stressed all the time about constant overdraws and not being able to do anything. So the relief is nice.

Club 56 continues to be strong. Having 18-22 pre-teens on a Wednesday or Sunday has become normal, more than this group has ever really had. It's a cool thing to see. I'm getting better (at least I think I am) at teaching and being in charge of this group. And they are such amazing pre-teens.

I'm going to attempt to sleep now since it's 1am. Hopefully it works!

Oh the diver got away from the Octopus, I know you were worried.

Faith in Action

2008-10-13T19:01:00.006-07:00

"Don't Go to Church. Be the Church."

On Sunday my church participated in a program called Faith in Action. Instead of having church that day we went out to serve the community around us in different ways. About 250 people participated, kids and adults alike. There was one group that went to help paint and clean up the outside of a house of one of our older members who isn't able to make it to church anymore. Another group went to help clean up trash and weeds from a local elementary school. There was a group who stayed at the church and wrote letters to soldiers and made care packages that could be handed out to the homeless. One group went to clean up a local park. A group that provided child care so families with smaller children could participate. Three different groups went to laundromats and paid for people's laundry and helped to wash and fold clothes if they were ok with it. And possibly a few other projects.

I signed up in the "put me where you need me" category and was sent to one of the laundromats. I was a little nervous about it because I didn't know what people would think about it. But it went pretty well. Most people were pretty appreciative once they realized we really were just there to help, and not trying to "sell them anything". We offered water and cookies and put a lot of quarters (I think it came to $200 worth) in machines. We were able to just talk to some people. A few people asked what church we were with and where we were located. One guy had come with just one load of laundry because he couldn't afford to do all his laundry that week. When he found out we would be there he went home to get the rest of it so we could wash it for him. He was extremely appreciative. Sometimes just that little bit can make a big difference to someone.

I heard later that at the elementary school the District Superintendent happened to drive by the school and got out to see what the people were doing. She thought it was so cool that we would help out just because and thanked the people there.

Anyway it was pretty awesome. Check out the website for more info if you'd like, maybe even bring the idea up in your church!

Faith in Action

Too Many

2008-09-07T17:12:00.003-07:00

We had more kids than chairs this morning in Club 56. I failed to count but that's more than 20 kids.
Woohoo!

School

2008-09-04T13:00:00.003-07:00

I started school on Tuesday. I can't believe that it's FINALLY my last year. I'm taking 12 units, which should be a nice lighter load than usual. However each of my 4 classes has one major group project and presentation, and at least one individual paper and presentation. Sort of intense. At the same time all of my professors seem like they enjoy teaching and enjoy their subjects, so hopefully the classes will be more enjoyable. They sound interesting enough.

I'm taking...
- Cultural Pluralism
- Creativity and Innovation
- International Business Strategy and Integration
- Social and Ethical Issues in Business

We'll see how that goes!

Sunday School

2008-09-02T21:14:00.002-07:00

Sunday was the first time I was in charge of teaching Sunday school for Club 56. I've been praying so much for God to just use me and speak through me to those pre-teens. On my own i easily get nervous or doubt myself. But Sunday went so amazingly. Everything was smooth, the class was under control and the lesson went well.
Anyway very cool. Thanks Jesus!

Babysitting

2008-08-29T00:27:00.005-07:00

I babysat a 7 week old girl tonight. She was very cute and pretty good until she got tired. I think that I'll just skip the baby phase and adopt kids when they're at least 2 already. Yep, definitely.

Oh and 3 different times I could HEAR her pooping in her diaper, and once she turned her head to burp in my face. Now that's just gross.

Wow!

2008-08-27T11:19:00.002-07:00

This is probably the longest I've gone without blogging! Anyway I am back from my summer of fun and life is starting to get back to "normal". I'm completely broke and in debt. Which I knew I would be. But the reality is a lot more stressful. To make that better the power steering went out on my car last Friday. Something about a hose broken and something else being messed up that broke it. Almost $800 and 3 days later I got it back. On the positive it's good it didn't break down while we were on our road trip and stranded in a little po-dunk town.

I've started working with the Club 56 at church. It's pretty exciting but still a little nerve wrecking. Basically when I was a volunteer I showed up and helped out. Now I'm in charge of planning and organizing things like sleepovers and swim parties as well as the usual Wednesday night Sunday morning stuff. But I'm really excited for this year and getting the chance to minister to all of these awesome pre-teens.

Besides that I've been working at my other job still almost full time, which is nice. And next week I start school. BOO.

Should be a pretty busy semester! But I'm excited for it :)

No Internet

2008-06-30T00:20:00.002-07:00

I haven't been able to get onto the internet for a week. It was kind of freeing actually. But now I am back again, catching up on life.

Camp was a blast. Exhausting but awesome.

Just got back tonight from a wedding in Idaho. Very nice. Some interesting stories coming out of that.

Tomorrow I move all my stuff into storage. My sister is driving down to help me.

Wednesday we leave on our road trip.

Oh and I finally got my new phone... my old one was only working on speaker phone and not very well even on that. Yay for that. I need to figure out how to work the stinkin blue tooth on it. As of July 1st in California you can no longer talk on your phone unless you are using a hands free device. The law has finally passed somewhere... watch out rest of the country, you are next!

Camp and Pastors

2008-06-22T17:29:00.004-07:00

I am off to kids camp for a week at Idyllwild! We have 10 preteen girls from our church going (not including all of the other kids who won't be in my cabin). And I'm sure we'll have a few more from another church like we did last year. Should be fun! As long as I don't lose my sanity.

And today was our Pastor's last day at church. He announced about a month ago that he had been offered the position of Chaplain at Mt. Vernon Nazarene University and accepted after much prayer. It's an amazing opportunity for him and his family. But I am very sad to see them go. He has done an amazing job leading our church. So now we go through the process of looking for a new pastor. Hopefully within the next couple of months they find someone!

Oh My Goodness!

2008-06-18T22:58:00.004-07:00

Has it really been over a month since I last blogged?? A lot has been going on... lets see if I can give a brief overview in a kind of order...

1. We had our kids musical. They did amazing and were totally adorable.
2. Amy graduated.
3. I finished school for the year. I think I already mentioned that though?
4. Corrie had her bachelorette slash wedding shower at my place a few days after.
5. I went to Vegas with my friends Amy and Josh to enjoy the scorching heat and celebrate being done with school. We decided to go after finding $50 a night rooms on the strip through hotels.com.
6. I had a meeting with Beverly, a pastor at my church, and I am now going to be the new Club 56 leader. Many prayers needed for this one!
7. Three days later I left for London and then Ireland to go to Corrie's wedding. And yes lets not lie, it was very much an excuse to travel again! Wedding was nice, trip was fun.
8. During that same trip Cerise and Jackie graudated
9. The day after I got back our 6th graders had a graduation party. We went to Corvette Diner then Laser Tag. They loved it. Now they're off in the youth group and I'm going to miss them!
10. Jackie (one of my room mates) moved to Colorado for a job.
11. One of my amazing best friends Amy moved to Michigan to work at a camp and get to know a cool guy she met even better. She's very possibly not coming back to live in San Diego again. Which makes me REALLY sad even though I'm excited for her.
12. Cerise and I found a place to live in North Pacific Beach. We got an amazing discount because her boyfriend works for the apartments. AND something I am overly excited about... I finally get my own room for the first time since I moved to San Diego.
13. Emily graduated from high school and I went home for that and also celebrated Fathers Day a couple of days early.
14. Currently I am busy packing all of my stuff to move out.
15. Next week is kids camp.
16. The Friday we get back from camp I am flying to Idaho for a family friends wedding.
17. The day I get back is the 29th. I have to move all my stuff into storage by the 30th. We don't actually get to move into our new place until mid July, which works out well for me only paying a half months rent.
18. Emily and I are basically ready for our road trip. Our goal is to leave July 1st (we'll see, I may really need to rest an extra day) and we will be back the 27th... almost a month long! I am SO EXCITED. Even though gas prices are kinda going to kill us more than we had originally planned.

I come back to San Diego in the beginning of August and begin more new adventures! Next year is going to be crazy, busy, exciting, scary, and much more. But I'll save that for another post :)

GAH!

2008-05-15T13:42:00.002-07:00

I'm done!!

Done for the semester... yay!!

I feel like I need to jump around or something. Too bad I'm at work. Just 1 more year!

Don't Worry, I Haven't Been Arrested

2008-05-07T00:06:00.003-07:00

You have probably already heard. If you haven't then it means you haven't seen the news, or gone on yahoo, or anything in the past 13 hours.

My school, San Diego State University, made national news today for a huge drug bust that happened this morning. 96 people, mostly students, were arrested for dealing drugs (not using, dealing). There were connections to 6 fraternity houses. The Greek system may shut down completely at my school. It's pretty crazy. And a horrible thing to be known for.

If you want to read more about it just type in "SDSU drug bust" and a ton of stories will come up.

Minor Panic Attacks

2008-04-28T01:34:00.006-07:00

This year is Amy's last year working with Club 56. She's graduating in a couple of weeks and then going to work at a camp in Michigan for the summer. And then is kind of up in the air after that... but not back at our church.

So why does this have anything to do with me? Well I don't know exactly yet. I've been asked by the children's pastor to be praying about what kind of role I want to have next year with these kids. Every time I start to think or pray about it I get a minor panic attack. I think that I do very well as a helper. Amy is very obviously called in to ministry and being a pastor of children. I don't know what my call is. I just feel fairly inadequate to really be in charge. It's funny to me, but also not necessarily funny that the kids I think know more about being a Christian than I do because they've grown up in it. And I still have SO MUCH to learn. I'm not sure what exactly the children's pastor is thinking for next year.

BLAH! I'm not trying to be all negative. This is coming out fairly random. Basically I need to keep praying. I do know that I absolutely love these kids. And in the past 2 years of working with them God has helped me to grow SO much in learning how to teach and lead and love and just interact with this age group. I seem to continually be stepping out of my comfort zone. Just when I finally feel like I'm settling down there's a new stretch. I know that's how God works, but man! It would be nice to stay comfortable just for a little while!

So I really don't know. I don't doubt God. But I want what's best for these preteens. If there is someone better to lead then they should be in charge.

I don't think there was any kind of conclusion in that. Other than that I need to pray to see where God wants me. And if for some crazy reason He reveals to me that I should step up and take the challenge... than I need a lot more prayer to ease up on the anxiety attacks. For Him to continually guide me and speak and work through me.

We are supposed to get together to really talk about things as soon as the musical is over, which is in 2 weeks. Ok... trying to pray... and breathe.

Hepatitis A

2008-04-25T15:12:00.002-07:00

There was a minor outbreak of Hepatitis A in San Diego. They figured out that all 6 of these people had eaten at the same Chipotle in the past month and a half. This happens to be the Chipotle right down the street from me. And I've eaten there twice in the time frame they mentioned in the news. Sweet!
So far however I do not have any symptoms so I think I'm good. Although apparently they do not always show up right away and the last time I ate there was Sunday.
Oh, and I learned something new. How do you get Hepatitis A you may be wondering? From "feces" transferred through food or in close contact. So either they have rats that are pooping in the food. OR an employee who isn't washing their hands.
GROSS. Chipotle is one of my favorite fast food places... but I don't know if I'll be able to go back to that one... too grossed out.

Busy But Exciting!

2008-04-23T12:56:00.004-07:00

I have 2.5 more weeks of classes. Then a week of finals and then I'm free for the summer! It's kind of a crazy but exciting (and expensive) summer.

May 11 - Kids Musical
May 15 - Last 2 finals and end of the semester.
May 23 thru June 7 - London and Ireland for Corrie's wedding and a mini vacation back to my favorite city.
June 8 - 6th graders "graduate" from our Club 56 group (sad day!)
June 12 - Emily graduates from high school
June 23 thru 27 - Kids Camp
June 27 thru 29 - Go to Idaho for a family friends wedding
July 1 thru 31? - Road trip with my sister!

And somewhere in there I need to move since my lease is up July 1st. Crazy busy. But I'm so stinkin excited!

Women's Retreat

2008-04-17T14:45:00.003-07:00

This weekend is our church's womens retreat. I'm pretty excited to bring the average age down quite a bit :) Amy and my friend Monica and I are making shirts with cartoon salt shakers and light bulb's since the theme is "Salt and Light". Yay for being cheesy!
A weekend getaway for free (being a poor college student has it's perks) should be nice :)

Busy Weekend!

2008-04-13T23:17:00.002-07:00

Friday I went to breakfast at Denny's with Corrie. That was nice, I haven't seen her in awhile. Busy schedules... don't really live that close to each other... all that jazz.
Then I worked for a few hours. At night I watched 4 kids in the nursery (the oldest being almost 2) since there was a play going on at the church. Now, I'm not normally the one who is called to watch the really little kids. But apparently everyone else was busy. It was kind of an interesting night. I had one baby who literally SCREAMED every time I would put her down. As long as I was holding her she was fine. But anytime I moved to put her down whether in the swing or a crib or whatever she screamed and wouldn't stop. If it was just me and her it wouldn't have been a big deal because I could just hold her... but there were 3 other kids to watch. ANYWAY... fun night.

Saturday I went to The Wild Animal Park with my friend Brandy who had free tickets and her parents and 2 year old nephew (it was kind of a kid filled weekend). I woke up late and then hit really bad traffic (really?? on a Saturday??). It was fun but stinkin HOT. And her nephew was doing pretty good, but he is 2. Needless to say we didn't stay the whole day. Then I went to a friends birthday dinner at Buca di Beppo in downtown. Yummy yummy food.

Today after church we had filming for the musical. I don't know if I mentioned this before... but we decided to do something new this year and film the speaking parts for the musical. The singing will still be live... as will a couple of the scenes. But the rest of the speaking will be on camera. It was fun but LONG and again HOT. We filmed on Mt. Helix since it is a "hiking" musical. The microphone man last minute wasn't able to make it so I was the Mic holder. When we finally made it back Amy and Monica (who works with the 1st-4th graders) and I needed to do something NOT involving children. So we went to see "Smart People". I actually found the movie HILARIOUS. Very real, in all it's awkwardness.

And now I SMELL really bad and need to go to sleep because I'm exhausted. Good night!

Color

2008-04-11T23:41:00.003-07:00

Cerise upon seeing my mascara: "You totally bought this mascara because the tube is hot pink didn't you?"

Me: "No..."

Alright yes. Why is that bad?

Fact

2008-04-09T22:14:00.002-07:00

I am a crappy phone person. I stink at calling people back. I stink even more at keeping in touch. I often stink at answering the phone.

I promise it's not cause I don't love anyone. I just am not a good phone person. So here is my apology in the form of an excuse to anyone that I haven't returned a call to lately, or haven't called just to say "hi" when I should have.

Sorry!

#1

2008-04-09T11:45:00.003-07:00

According to a recent Harris Poll ranking America's top 10 favorite books, the Bible ranked #1.

Cool.

Boring

2008-04-08T21:44:00.001-07:00

Do you ever feel boring? Well I feel boring lately. After Thursday my life gets more exciting. But for now... I'm boring.

I'm at the point in my life...

2008-04-07T23:36:00.001-07:00

Where my friends are either getting married or having babies.

WEIRD.

Responses / Answers

2008-04-05T11:43:00.002-07:00

Hey friends sorry for not answering questions! So lets see...

The musical the kids are performing is called Rock Solid. I think it's RELATIVELY knew... but I don't know for sure. It's supposed to be a Stomp type musical.

Apparently with the penguin the bus actually drove all the way back to Lake Arrowhead where their school was. And someone from Sea World drove out to get him. That's about all I know... haha.

AND lastly (I think) the interest for Child Abuse Prevention just kind of came from being around children. I learned about it from Amy and appreciate the cause. I do not currently know any children who have been abused or are being abused. But I DO have friends now who grew up in abusive homes and are STILL suffering. I recognize now that mental or emotional abuse... and even what may seem like minor physical abuse... can be very damaging. It is very sad to read any of the statistics... here's just a very small few:
Abused children are 25% more likely to experience teen pregnancy.
Nearly 2/3’s of the people in treatment for drug abuse reported being abused as children.
1/3 of abused and neglected children will eventually victimize their own children.
In 2003, there were 906,000 child abuse convictions AND the rate of child abuse is estimated to be 3 times greater than is reported.

So I THINK that answers all questions? In the future I'll try to actually respond right away... thanks for reading!

April is...

2008-04-01T13:23:00.002-07:00

Child Abuse Prevention Month.

This is taken from http://www.co.pierce.wi.us/Human%20Services/Child%20Abuse/Child_Abuse_Prevention.html

What is Child Abuse Prevention Month?
Child Abuse Prevention Month is a Presidentially declared observance that is celebrated every year in April. It focuses on the importance of providing children with a safe and nurturing environment in which they can grow to their full potential as responsible adults and members of society.

What is the purpose of this observance?
Child Abuse Prevention Month aims to encourage everyone to play an active role in identifying and preventing all forms of child abuse.

The symbol is a blue ribbon. Wear one! Here's why it's blue http://preventchildabuse.com/blue.htm

Spring Break

2008-03-29T23:28:00.000-07:00

YAY!

Nothing Positive To Say

2008-03-26T21:39:00.002-07:00

This is one of those weeks where nothing good seems to be happening. Just a lot of bad, not fun stuff. So in an attempt to not be negative I'm just not going to write about anything.

Except to say that for any friends reading this... I could use some prayer. Thanks.

LONG

2008-03-19T22:05:00.002-07:00

Some weeks are just way too stinking long. And it seems like everyone else is on Spring Break while I sit here and take tests all week. Boo.

Tragic Ending

2008-03-17T13:10:00.005-07:00

This is about the accident I saw. Turns out the woman was the women's assistant basketball couch at SDSU.

From the North County Times:
"SAN DIEGO - The 65-year-old woman fatally injured in a car-versus- moped collision was identified today as Helen Kanavel of La Mesa, the Medical Examiner's office said.

The crash happened at around 3:30 p.m. yesterday in the 6800 block of El Cajon Boulevard, when Kanavel was struck by a woman making a left-hand turn in an Oldsmobile sedan, San Diego police Sgt. Rich Nemetz said.

Kanavel suffered multiple serious injuries and was taken to a hospital, where she died, Nemetz said."

...and also...

"After Friday's win over TCU, they learned that team administrative assistant Helen Kanavel, 65, had been killed in a traffic accident in San Diego. Burns went to each player's room that night to break the news.

"We kept her in our mind and just kind of wanted to take into consideration all the support she showed our team," said freshman forward Allison Duffy."

Please keep praying.

Motorcycle Crash

2008-03-14T23:26:00.003-07:00

Today when I stepped out of my office at work I saw an accident where a woman on a motorcycle was hit by a car. From the moment she hit the ground until she was taken away by the ambulance I did not see her move. The paramedics did hook her up to a bunch of chords and put in a breathing tube (making me think and hope that meant she was still alive).

Please pray for her. I can't find any information about it online so I don't know how she's doing. But she hadn't looked too good.

When I went back inside later I started crying, I didn't realize how shaken up I was. All I could do while watching her was pray and hope that she was going to make it.

Lots and lots of Amy

2008-03-13T22:08:00.005-07:00

Here's a few of the pics we took. If you came to visit me in San Diego I'd probably take you to some of these fun places :)

Pretty wall in Ocean Beach (OB).

Downtown

Green door.

Ocean Beach again.

Another cool wall.

Harbor Boulevard and Downtown from a distance.

We were kind of on a wall theme for the day. There's actually quite a few more wall ones :)

OB Main Street

Look! She's smiling!

Picture Day

2008-03-12T22:07:00.003-07:00

I got to play "photographer" today for my friend Amy. She needed some pictures to send out in graduation announcements, and didn't want to spend money to get them professionally done at a studio. Hey I understand that one. So we actually ended up spending about 4ish hours going to different parts of San Diego and taking all kinds of different pictures. It ended up being pretty fun. I am by no means at all a professional... but out of the about 160 pictures we took a few definitely turned out pretty cool. San Diego is a pretty awesome city to use as a background! I'll post a few later if she puts them online. :)

I will NEVER

2008-03-07T01:51:00.000-08:00

Book through Expedia again.

2 hours of being put on and off of hold.

Obviously speaking to people working in an outsourced country somewhere.

Being told different things about the same exact question over and over. And I swear it wasn't a difficult question. Probably a very common one at that.

And then not having my problem resolved.

Absolutely HORRIBLE customer service.

I will NEVER ever ever EVER EVER book through Expedia again.

A True Story

2008-03-06T19:08:00.005-08:00

I swear I couldn't make this up.

A friend of mine's sister works with Special Education teenagers at a high school. A few days ago they took the teens on a field trip to Sea World. About partway through the day they lost one of the guys. They didn't find him until it was almost time to leave and he was SOAKING wet. They were kind of thinking "That's odd" but didn't think much more of it.

On the bus ride home he opened up his backpack... and he had a penguin.

Bah!

2008-03-05T16:48:00.001-08:00

Who knew kids musicals were so much work??

My Body Hates Me

2008-03-04T15:28:00.003-08:00

Less than 2 months from when I last had the flu I managed to get sick again. This time with a pretty bad cold. I pretty much did nothing all weekend because even walking sent me into a coughing fit and I had absolutely no voice.

I did have one interesting and kind of scary experience. I did manage to escape the apartment for a little on Friday night to go see a movie with Corrie. While she was saving seats I went to the mall food court to get us dinner. As I was waiting in line I started to feel really nauscious and sort of dizzy and faint. Right after I ordered I had to run to the bathroom, and bumped into a couple of people without being able to help it because I thought I was going to throw up. I got very close to fainting... as in everything got almost completely white and spinny. I sat on the bathroom floor for a few minutes (I know gross but I couldn't help it) and luckily nothing happened except I got all sweaty and looked like a ghost. All night I felt nauscious but not like I was going to faint again. Very strange and kind of scary since I was basically by myself!

Good Byes

2008-02-27T21:45:00.004-08:00

I'm not very good at good byes. Especially permanent ones. One of our 6th graders, Carson, had his last night at church tonight. His dad is in the military and they are being relocated to Italy. We had a little going away party with cake. And Amy and I made him a little photo album with pictures from the past couple of years. He will be missed!

Sometimes...

2008-02-26T20:16:00.000-08:00

Work seems to never end. Just 20 more minutes...

One of My Favorite Things

2008-02-25T13:43:00.005-08:00

I love when I am at church and am suddenly surrounded by 4 or 5 6th grade girls who want to tell me all about well... everything. School, boys, siblings, sports, friends or lack there of. I love that they feel comfortable enough to tell me about problems they are having at school and in life. Whether it be that they just changed schools and have no friends and are made fun of by other kids at school. Or about the boy who asked them to be his girlfriend and then "broke up" with her 2 days later and asked her friend out instead (oh middle school romance). Or about the soon to be step mom that they aren't sure about having take the place of a mother who passed away to cancer a few years ago.
I just enjoy being a person that they feel they can share stuff with. And that they WANT to share things with.
The fact that most of them are almost my height (1 very much taller) also makes it secretly kind of funny to me when I am part of their "circle".
What cool kids.

I Almost Had Something Exciting To Say

2008-02-21T23:45:00.004-08:00

Today I had at least 3 different things I was thinking about blogging. And now I can't remember any of them.

But I DO know that they were definitely more exciting than the last few posts :) Oh and look to the right. I FINALLY put a new profile picture up. So this is how I look now instead of 4 years ago :)

AND (I'm sure all of you know this already)... but YAY for Corrie and getting engaged!! I just got a picture message from her with her engagement ring. CRAZY!

First Test

2008-02-20T13:40:00.004-08:00

Tomorrow I have my first "midterm" of the semester. After that it pretty much doesn't slow down test-wise. Boo to that.

There's only one class I really don't like this semester. It's called "Operations Management" and involves alot of math, which I wasn't expecting. It's an upper division pre-requisite so I didn't really have a choice in taking it. I know that we need Operations Managers in this world or businesses really wouldn't run smoothly and would waste alot of money, but I am not going to be one that's for sure!

I discovered a new website. And by discover I mean Cerise told me about it. It's called Slacker.com and it's basically a radio website. Except you pick the kind of music you want to listen to (I usually go with Alternative), instead of a specific station. There are no commercials, and you can skip up to 6 songs I believe in an hour. Although it is legitimately good music so I never even need to skip all 6. It's my favorite online music site by FAR. :)

The Weekend

2008-02-19T23:05:00.003-08:00

I went home this past weekend for my dad's birthday (which is actually this Thursday but last weekend was when I could get away). I took the train instead of driving. I like taking the train. I've takin it a few times before when I was carless or scared to drive my car that far. Even though it takes a little longer than driving, although on a Friday afternoon that could be argued to the contrary, it's nice to not have to drive. I can get some homework done and not waste gas... all that good stuff.

While I was home we took a tour of Cal Poly Pomona for my sister. Yes she is off to college next year. It was actually a really nice campus with many cool programs and such. I don't think it was a school my sister had been particularly interested in, but after this tour it became one of her top schools. She's already received most of her acceptance letters, now it's just a matter of her deciding where she wants to go.

We hung out as a family. Went to Claim Jumper for birthday dinner on Sunday night. Did the traditional cake and presents. We put 49 candles on my dads cake and kind of melted off the frosting.

I didn't get President's day off, however I didn't have class on Monday until 7pm, so I was able to hang out at home until Monday. My mom and I went on a nice long walk on Saturday. I got to see one of the main family's I used to babysit for which was very nice but definitely made me feel old since the youngest is now 13!

And that was my weekend. I enjoy my chances to go visit home more and more now since the chances tend to be fewer and more far between.

If you want to NOT have a normal schedule...

2008-02-12T23:22:00.003-08:00

Be a college student... Some days I only have a few things to do. Other days I go nonstop from 8am-11pm. And my body hates me for giving up caffeine. Although not as much as the first day where I felt like I was detoxing from a drug!

"Free Hugs"

2008-02-09T20:54:00.000-08:00

So I want to preface this by saying that nothing that we did was for our own benefit. And I'm not trying to talk us up. I just want to share what turned out to be a really cool experience.

FIRST watch the video:

Inspired by the video and the fact that it seemed such an easy thing to do, Amy and I decided to go give out "Free Hugs" in downtown San Diego last night. We stuck with the purpose of the Free Hugs Campaign, that sometimes all people need is a hug. Most people that we met were pretty skeptical, expecting us to sell something. To be honest, we didn't try to. If people would ask a specific question if we believed in Jesus or were Christians we of course wouldn't lie to them. But for the most part we just told people we were giving out free hugs because sometimes people just needed a hug. Others asked if it was a class project, or some kind of sorority initiation. They had a hard time believing that 2 girls in their 20's would spend their Friday night giving out hugs.

The reactions were kind of all over the place. There were a few people who already saw the video and were excited to give us a hug. But mostly we got weird looks. MOST people figured we were trying to sell them something and would only give us a hug or smile once they realized we really were just out to give hugs. We hugged everyone, young and old, tall and short, smelly and not. We had one older man that seemed really impressed with what we were doing. He told me that he really appreciated the random kindness because you never know what can happen in life. Earlier in the week his friend was killed in a car accident. He stood and kind of watched for a distance for awhile and then wrote us a really cheesy poem on a prescription paper:

"I see you make a diffence
You show you really care
I see you make a difference
In the smiles and hugs you share
I see you make a difference to people short and tall
I see you make a difference
When most don't care at all"

We hugged a man who we realized afterwards was kind of fuming. He apparently had just come out of a really bad argument with someone and said the hug was really nice and it was helping him to calm down to just talk to a stranger. We heard a lot of people saying that what we were doing was really appreciated, either that they really needed a hug, or just that it was nice. Most people left us smiling. Some people hugged each other even if they didn't hug us.

All in all we guessed that we hugged about 200 people. A ton of people took pictures with us because they thought it was fun. I was physically picked up 5 times and spun around 3 of those times, haha. We honestly didn't know what to expect. It was pretty uncomfortable at first, and we were asked to move once because the owner of a club didn't like us right outside. But we just moved down a couple of blocks without a problem.

So if you feel like passing out a little love and maybe making a strangers day a little bit better, I highly recommend going out and giving some free hugs!

Getting Old

2008-02-08T17:05:00.000-08:00

Last night at my soccer game on a 30+ women's league I managed to pull a muscle in my leg, and hurt my knee. Not to mention the fact that I was totally exhausted after.

Man I'm getting old!

Ash Wednesday and Lent

2008-02-07T14:27:00.000-08:00

This is my first year observing Lent and last night was my first Ash Wednesday service. I am excited to work on preparing my heart for this coming up easter. Just working on praying and focusing on God and working on understanding what this season is all about. Trying in some minor way to grasp what it means that Jesus actually sacrificed his own life so that we may live.

As much as I am looking forward to this Lent season I didn't feel like my heart was very prepared for yesterday's service. I just didn't feel like I was completely sincere in all of the prayers. I want to be, I just am not yet. It's what I want to focus and work on in the coming weeks. Hopefully by the time Easter comes around I won't be in that place anymore.

On a lighter note I am giving up Soda and "buying unhealthy fast food". Which doesn't mean I am giving up fast food altogether because that's just not feasible in my life. But I am going to to buy only healthier things on the menu. Is anyone else giving anything up?

Writing a $3.00 check

2008-01-30T15:07:00.000-08:00

It's kind of sad when there is not enough money in my bank account to take any cash out. And then I have to go to the doctor because my throat hates me and I have to write a $3 check to get out of the parking structure afterwards. Sweet and semi-embarrassing all in one.

At least I get paid for the 1st time in 6 weeks on Friday.

On TV

2008-01-29T23:08:00.000-08:00

My old dorm was on the news for about 5 minutes tonight. Apparently 2 different girls were attacked by 2 different guys within the last couple of days. The men were caught and the women were not seriously harmed. But still, scary!

More here:
http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/15168111/detail.html

Back in the Swing of Things

2008-01-27T22:31:00.000-08:00

School and work are back in full swing! My week of flu has already put me behind. So now I am busy busy busy all over again! Although this semester shouldn't be quite as psycho as last semester.

Tiger Woods

2008-01-25T19:18:00.000-08:00

Today in the middle of work my boss decided he wanted to go to the Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines (in La Jolla) to see Tiger Woods play. So we went and watched. It was pretty darn cool. I am not a golf fan by any means... but come on... it's Tiger Woods!! We were up close and only a few feet away with perfect views a few times. It was probably one of those experiences that I'll never forget.

Oh, and of course he was winning by 4 strokes!

The Flu

2008-01-23T21:14:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was my first day of classes. Yesterday I woke up with the flu. Good timing right? Being the first day of classes though I had to go, or risk being dropped from the class. So I went and somehow made it through. The worst part about the flu is the aching body. My clothes hurt my skin, and when there was a breeze it actually hurt as well. And then of course the headache and constant fever that hasn't seemed to break yet and makes me either freezing cold or burning hot. The sore throat that hurts when I try to swallow anything. I called out sick to work and then came home around noon and pretty much haven't gotten out of bed since. Today I managed to stay awake through an entire movie, which is the longest awake streak so far.

Luckily today I didn't have class. Tomorrow hopefully I'll be able to function. I have 3 classes and then I'm SUPPOSED to work for 8 hours. We'll see how that goes!

Time for sleep again.

BIG GAME

2008-01-19T23:22:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow at 12:00pst the San Diego Chargers play the New England Patriots. Apparently we haven't been this far in the Super Bowl in a REALLY LONG time. It's fun to see an entire city so excited for the game. We aren't favored to win... but who knows? We've made it this far. So tomorrow (thanks to DVR) I will be watching the game! Should be fun.

Job Hunting

2008-01-16T21:33:00.000-08:00

I feel like I'm doing this ALL THE TIME! Once again... I need a job. So as I search on Craigslist here are some of the more fun job descriptions:

- Hot dog vendor. Sweetest job in OB. Must have car w/ trailer hitch
- San Diego Surrogates are Special
- San Diego Egg Donors Make the Difference
- INSANE BARISTA/MANAGER!!
- Customer Service God/Goddess
- Dungeon Master
- Pers. Assistant to Grad-student (really?)
- Costumed Statue of Liberty characters wanted to promote LIBERTY TAX SERVICE
- Join ProFlowers – The Freshest Company in Town

And very oddly I came across one for my old hotel. Weird.

Road Trip

2008-01-15T13:37:00.000-08:00

In answer to the previous comments yes and yes :)

So far what Emily and I have figured out is that we are going to leave July 1st (a Tuesday) and be on the road what will probably be the entire month of July. We wanted to leave earlier, but Emily graduates mid June and then I have kids camp the last week in June, hence leaving July 1st. We're taking the southern route all the way over to the east coast. And THEN we're taking the northern route back home. We are still seeing what exactly we want to do, but we are following a book called "Road Trip USA" and taking different routes that they have all mapped out already. The only places we are making reservations for are Yellowstone and Yosemite (already made the Yosemite one). Other than that we're keeping that part of the trip somewhat up in the air so we don't feel pressured by time constraints, and if we don't like a place or find a better deal then we are still ok. We have a book that has about every campsite in America that is the size of a phone book to go off of.

So if you are a friend or family member in another state somewhere (Smith's, Macombers, etc., we also have scattered family throughout the US) I'll probably be calling you semi soon to see about visiting mid July-ish!

We're pretty excited! Now we just have to work on continuing to save save save!!

My Life At The Moment

2008-01-11T21:58:00.000-08:00

I don't really have anything exciting to write about... but here's what's up with me at the moment...

- I'm still on my Winter Break from school. I came back to San Diego last Saturday to start working again.
- I need to start looking for a second job again.
- We're starting to plan the Spring Musical for the kids at church. I'm kind of excited to get to be a part of planning this. I know it's going to be busy and stressful, but it will be fun to see it all put together in the end I'm sure.
- I registered for classes and am trying to figure out how I'm going to pay for $600 of books.
- My sister and I are coming pretty far along on planning our 3-4 week long road trip for this summer.
- It's been just over a year since I left for London and it makes me sad.

I think that's it? I start school again on the 22nd of January. So I still have one more week of break! Which means life is kind of slow right now. :)

DONE!!!!

2007-12-14T10:53:00.001-08:00

Finally!!!! 5 weeks off here I come!!!

Just 1 More...

2007-12-13T13:40:00.000-08:00

1 more final to go! Of course it does happen to be my hardest class... Finance. But as of 10am tomorrow I will officially be done with this semester. SO EXCITED!

Slacker

2007-12-11T22:18:00.000-08:00

My final tomorrow is for my writing class. We read a book on the Vietnam war a while ago. Then the 2nd to last day of class we started watching a video on the war. After getting to class about 10 minutes late I pretty much zoned out during most of the movie. Then the last day of class (which I skipped for work) we finished the video.

I learned a few hours ago that my final tomorrow is going to be an in class essay comparing the book and movie. GREAT. Way to go Laura. I DID at least read the book. I'm hoping I can remember what I did see of the video and just kind of wing it.

Anyway, I'm off to bed very early for me. Might as well sleep since there isn't much to study for for tomorrow.

If I were ever a teacher...

2007-12-10T21:30:00.001-08:00

I would NOT give cummulative finals. I think they are one of the dumbest ideas ever. This isn't even me complaining because I have 2 cummulative finals tomorrow.
Just listen to my logic for a second.
- If the material has already been tested on a midterm, why do we have to be tested on it again?
- How can we go through and relearn an ENTIRE semesters (15 weeks) worth of work in a week or so? If we actually have a week to study.
- What if we have 5 finals (like myself). Although this one class may be important, it isn't the most important and we STILL have to study for the other tests!
- How can you learn all that material well? If there is that much to study, what is learned will only be learned in a surface learning way. If there was a smaller amount on the test the material could be learned better.

For me personally having a cummulative final is almost more detrimental. I'm thinking, "How in the heck can I study an entire semesters worth of material in such a short time??" And then in turn I'm just like, well screw it, and I'm not even motivated anymore.

So I have 2 cummulative finals tomorrow. I've been studying all day. And I'm not even sure what I studied, and there's probably so much more I should study.

Alright, done venting, back to studying. This is dumb.

"Delete From Friends"

2007-12-06T00:23:00.000-08:00

Did you ever notice that when you look at someone's bulletin on myspace you are given 2 options.

1. Reply to Poster
2. DELETE FROM FRIENDS

That's fairly intense. I don't like that you just talked about how bored you were... so you are NO LONGER MY FRIEND.
Let's not lie, if you are both on myspace but not friends yet... it's not true friendship.

Anyone who hasn't noticed that I was joking about that last part doesn't know me well enough... So I am deleting you from my friends list. :P

Gah!

2007-12-02T20:49:00.000-08:00

The next 2 weeks are going to be PSYCHO. Actually the craziness started last Thursday already. I have 1 more week of classes, then a week of 5 finals. AND I'm working EVERY DAY until school is over. More than 40 hours a week. I can't complain because I did it to myself. I didn't have to work this much. But I jumped on the opportunity to make a TON of money in just a couple of weeks right before Christmas and to save up for a road trip this summer.

So I'm freaking out... Pray that I don't just completely DIE of exhaustion!

Addicted?

2007-11-28T13:00:00.000-08:00

Miniclip.com is an amazing time waster. If you haven't heard of it before it is a bunch of free games on the internet. There is one game on there called "Sushi Go Round" that I've become completely addicted to!

You should go to this link if you'd like to check it out. But if you are a busy person I don't recommend getting into it because once you start playing, it's hard to stop!
http://www.miniclip.com/games/sushi-go-round/en/

Fact:

2007-11-27T22:49:00.000-08:00

When I really don't like doing something, I hardcore avoid it.

Example:
A paper I'm writing right now for a class I'm bitter I have to take anyway. I already wrote the first draft, but it's basically crap. So now I'm trying to revise crap, and it seems kind of pointless.

Current mood... annoyed.

Relaxing

2007-11-22T00:28:00.000-08:00

I'm home. I had my first day off since school started today. I slept until 11:30 am. It was basically amazing.

Today I finally paid off my credit card. I'm pretty stinking excited and proud of myself.

2 blogs in 1 day??

2007-11-15T16:24:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I visited my grandma (mom's mom) in Arizona. She's at a nursing home there, not really doing very well. She suffers from Parkinson's disease which has by now made her almost completely immobile. And she's starting to get dimentia. She's actually not super "old" by todays standards. She just had her 84th birthday.
It was an interesting weekend. I met one of my cousins for the first time. There's a few I've never met before. This is kind of how my mom's family is (there could be a whole story on that but I won't go into it). I was able to see 1 aunt who just got out of rehab and is being treated for Hepatitis C. And I got to see one of my moms brothers who I've only seen once before, and then I also saw another aunt who I haven't seen in awhile.
My grandma was able to talk a little, and much of the time she was coherent. The biggest thing that I noticed was that she was lonely. How sad to reach 84 and be put into a nursing home not far from 2 of your children and very rarely see them or your other 4 kids? My grandma wasn't there for my mom growing up, I give my mom major props for still making the effort to visit. But she WAS the one to raise my other 5 aunts and uncles and was there for them.
My mom has mentioned a few times before that if anything ever happened to her she would want to be put into a hospital so as not to be a burden on anyone. After seeing my grandma on the first day I hugged my mom and was having a hard time choking back tears as told her I'd NEVER let her get to that point. Even if eventually she needs assisted living she will live close to me and I will visit every day if I can.
It was just pretty heart breaking to see my grandma that way, and with no one that was really there for her.
With my families medical history it's pretty darn likely I'll end up in a home one day as well. I hope that I still have friends and family around me who care enough to make sure that I feel loved and am not lonely.

Quitting

2007-11-15T16:10:00.000-08:00

Did I mention yet that I gave my 2 weeks notice for the hotel? I don't think I did. One of the girls at my A+ Review job left and moved to Oregon. So I was able to pick up more hours at this job. And I had been trying to quit the Best Western for awhile now. I really really just needed a break every once in awhile and it wasn't happening.
So I gave my 2 weeks last Friday. My manager was actually really understanding and said he appreciated me being there that long and that I had been a great employee. He said he was surprised that I had managed to last that long doing school and 2 jobs. His understanding was really nice.
My last day will be the day after Thanksgiving. Of course next semester I will have to start the job hunt again. But for now I'm pretty excited that I will have some weekends back, and that I will get alot of time off over Winter Break!

Bags

2007-11-08T23:29:00.000-08:00

I am just going to say that 22 is way too young to have consistent bags under my eyes. I am SO TIRED right now and have been this whole week. But tomorrow I have a test in Finance, my absolute hardest and least favorite class. The info itself is challenging enough, and then I have a professor who thinks that not giving nearly enough time is ok, and that if only 3 students out of 250 are able to score a perfect 20 out of 20 then his test must be a good one.
But anyway here's a quick update:
Last Friday, my usually relaxing day, I worked so I could have Sunday off.
Last Saturday Club 56 had "Servant Saturday". We ended up making cards for every fire station in San Diego County (there's quite a few). We also went to the house of an older couple in the church who isn't able to make it often to church, mainly because of age, and just visited them. Then we went to different rooms where classes meet in the church and the kids prayed for the people in those classes.
My absolute favorite was when a 5th grader Kelly prayed for the singles group and said simply "Dear God, I pray for the singles, that they find someone". Pretty amazing, haha.
So that was from 9am until 3pm. I had work from 3-11.
Then Sunday we had the "Harvest Carnival" at night after church. It was postponed because of the fires. I helped work some of the stuff. By the time Monday rolled around I was anything but rested from the weekend.
I've had 2 quizzes and 1 test so far this week, and 1 test tomorrow.
No time to relax tomorrow because I have to work on and finish a group project after I get off work at 5pm.
Saturday I'm flying at 7:30am to Arizona to meet up with my family and visit my grandmother for her birthday. Sunday I'm coming back at night. Monday, which is a holiday, I'm working. Hopefully I'll get a chance to relax some on Monday.

And hence... the bags under the eyes.

33

2007-11-05T16:34:00.000-08:00

Only 33 more days until school is over for this semester. I CAN'T WAIT.

Trick or Treat!

2007-11-01T17:59:00.000-07:00

We had one trick or treater before I went to church. He was basically the cutest trick or treater EVER. He was probably about 18 months old and in a bear costume. When I gave him candy he put his pumpkin down and started to walk into our apartment before his mom was like "ah!" and grabbed him. Haha. Apparently that kid is going to need some serious lessons later.

Halloween

2007-10-30T00:12:00.001-07:00

On Wednesday Amy and I are throwing a little "costume party" for our Club 56ers. We need some ideas of games and stuff to do with them that's Halloween related, with a relatively low budget. We probably won't have nearly as many kids as normal since it's Halloween night. But we don't want the kids who did come to wish they'd gone trick or treating instead!

Any ideas???

A Week of Nothing?

2007-10-26T18:52:00.000-07:00

Because of the fires school has been canceled all week. I've had a couple of days where I have had nothing that I had to do and no where that I had to be. It's been amazing. I haven't had any type of day off since the first day of school. Technically there's a lot of school work I could be doing, but I'll get to that in the next couple of days. I know it's not under the best circumstances, but it's still been so nice to have a couple of real days off.

Fire Damage so Far (Thursday 11:30am)

2007-10-25T11:25:00.000-07:00

Just in San Diego:

- Almost 300,000 acres burned
- 560,000 total number of people evacuated
- 50,000 have been able to return home
- 6 deaths related to the fires have been reported by the Medical Examiner.
- More than 1,350 structures destroyed

Very Quiet

2007-10-24T17:17:00.000-07:00

Outside it is very calm and quiet right now. In San Diego alone over 500,000 people have been evacuated. Other people are staying indoors to avoid the ash and smoke in the air. All schools are closed through the rest of the week. Many businesses are closed. Many freeways are closed.
Most people are glued to the news or the radio or their phone, waiting for a reverse 911 call to evacuate. Many phone calls aren't going through because the lines are tied up. Power has gone out in many places.
It's actually expected to be at least until mid next week until all the fires are contained.

The worst fires San Diego has ever seen.

A good source for more information: www.nbcsandiego.com

Going Back

2007-10-23T16:55:00.000-07:00

I am way too antsy not being in San Diego. I'm going back home to San Diego on a train in a couple of hours.

People to pray for:

- Marla and her family (Amy's room mate) who have been evacuated from Ramona since Sunday and don't currently know if they have a house.
- The Cooks, the Children's pastor at my church and her husband and 3 kids have just been evacuated from Rancho San Diego where one of the biggest fires has turned and started to head.
- The Peterson's, the Pastor of my church and his wife and 2 kids have also just been evacuated from Rancho San Diego.
- My mom's Uncle Jed who had to evacuate Fallbrook.

Left

2007-10-22T21:52:00.000-07:00

A fire started on the corner of our street. It started from some flaming material that flew over all the way from one of the first fires. I was actually taking a nap and Cerise came home kind of freaking out. She told me about the fire on the corner that was spreading really fast. We rushed to pack up stuff as a police car came through our complex telling everyone they needed to leave. That actual fire was contained pretty quickly and it looks like our apartments are safe. By the time it was contained we had already thrown stuff in Cerise's car and left to go to her boyfriend Justin's apartment. There are many houses that we could have gone to stay at of people from the church. But instead we just decided to get out of San Diego and we're now at Cerise's house in Orange County. Our other roomie Jackie decided to stay at her sorority house near SDSU. The only freeway left open to get out of San Diego was the 5 North so it was very slow, but moving. Listening to the radio on the way out of San Diego they were evacuating areas only a couple of miles away from Justin's apartment
Almost all of the schools in San Diego county have been closed, including my school SDSU. So it doesn't hurt to be here at least until tomorrow.

Here's some facts for San Diego at the moment:

- The worst fires the city has EVER seen
- At least 14 fires are burning in Southern California
- At least one person has been killed and dozens have been injured
- 260,000 people have evacuated.
- over 145,000 acres of san diego are completely burned.
- At least 655 homes have been burned
- over 100 businesses are gone.

PLEEEASE pray!

Getting Scarier

2007-10-22T07:00:00.000-07:00

There are now officially 7 fires in and around San Diego county (not including the fire in Malibu).

Here's a picture of where the fires are. I'm currently right about where the "D" in the San Diego sign is. Still not super close to the fires, and they shouldn't reach where I'm at. But we're definitely feeling the effects of smoke and ash. The strong winds and really dry weather are not helping at all.

Wildfires

2007-10-21T20:57:00.000-07:00

Anyone who has lived for any length of time in Southern California knows about the fires that we get occassionally. Usually they are contained pretty quickly, but sometimes they're not.
Right now we have a pretty bad one that's been spreading since this morning in San Diego County. The fire isn't super close to where I am, but the winds have already managed to bring smoke and some ash to the air here.
At least one person has died so far, and there are at least 7 seriously injured firefighters.
Please pray for the injured and lost. Also for the family's that are losing their homes as I write this, and for those that are having to evacuate. Specifically my friend Amy's room mate's family just received a mandatory evacuation notice. They're about 9 miles from the fires right now.

Free Dinner

2007-10-16T23:46:00.000-07:00

Tonight I had dinner with my adopted family from church. Once a month I get a good home cooked dinner. I've started to look more and more forward to these dinners. Tonight it was both of the kids birthdays. Yes, they have the exact same birthday how odd is that? Faith turned 11 and Grace turned 9. They each had their own ice cream cake. Yah for dinner and ice cream cake! Oh... and left overs, so excited.
P.S. that's Faith in the picture below :)

Haha

2007-10-14T00:14:00.000-07:00

I know I post lots of pictures of them... But basically they are just cooler than many other people.

Shouldn't Be This Stressful

2007-10-10T23:41:00.001-07:00

I think I need to quit my hotel job. There's a few reasons why, and recently some are really sticking out.

Mainly it is not flexible AT ALL. Which is just the nature of the job. Everyone else that works there this is their career, it is full time for them. But I am still a college student. I need to be able to ask for days off or to be able to switch my schedule around sometimes if I have a big test coming up or a paper due or if I want to go home and visit my family. I work every weekend both Saturday and Sunday so I NEVER have a day off from life.

I'm also starting to think about the holidays and the fact that over Christmas break I'm just going to do a bunch of commuting back and forth to San Diego. I might not even have Christmas off.

I actually got overly emotional tonight because I was so frustrated with the lack of flexibility of this job. I tried switching my shift with someone and it didn't work, so I am missing out on something that was important to me. I don't think that I should be able to get anything I want off, but I can't seem to get anything at all.

This is getting a little repetitive.

Basically I don't think that my part time college job should make me this upset or overwhelmed. It's ok to quit. The frustrating part is that I need to go through the whole process of trying to find another job again. Which is not something I have time for. And I can't afford to quit this job until I find another one.

I don't believe in the theory of "oh just stick with it, life isn't easy sometimes". It's true, but I am not ever going to work in a job that makes me miserable. What is the point?

Getting Sick

2007-10-08T22:24:00.000-07:00

Is really stupid. I refuse.

22?

2007-10-08T21:01:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to me :)

Not Even Functioning Anymore

2007-10-01T22:51:00.000-07:00

All I've done for the past 4 days is study study study study. I feel like my brain is going to explode! I had 1 midterm today, I have a midterm and quiz tomorrow, and a paper due Wednesday. Seriously??

Sweet Beginning Turn Out!

2007-09-29T01:17:00.000-07:00

2nd Night of Club 56!

Rebellion

2007-09-28T12:37:00.000-07:00

One thing I have learned about myself is that if I don't get enough sleep for multiple days in a row, my body will one day simply refuse to wake up. It will force me to catch up on the sleep it needs.

So this morning I woke up at 10:00 on the dot. Right when my second class was supposed to start.

Writer's Block?

2007-09-25T21:10:00.000-07:00

I have written tons and tons of research papers in the past. And yet I am having a really hard time with one that's due tomorrow.
Why is this bad? It's supposed to be about my intended career.
So far, it's basically crap. Good thing it's 9:00pm already.

Veintidos??

2007-09-24T21:05:00.000-07:00

Amy reminded me today that in 2 weeks I'll be 22. Ah!

Padres and Aztecs

2007-09-24T13:09:00.000-07:00

Monday = free Padres baseball game with Amy...

Saturday = SDSU football game with London friends...

I don't want to admit it...

2007-09-23T17:05:00.000-07:00

But I think I'm definitely overstretching myself right now. I don't want this to be the case. I wish that I could handle everything in life. But it's just not working out that way. More than once a week I'm finding myself COMPLETELY exhausted. I often sleep through almost entire classes (what was the point of even going?).
There's nothing that I want to give up, or even feel that I can give up. I've actually managed to start paying off my credit card debt with working 2 jobs. There's no way I'd give up working with Club 56 on Wednesdays, or going to church on Sundays. Giving up school isn't an option. I can choose to study less, but that's not really a good idea. I could give up my social life, but it's probably the only thing that keeps me sane (at the moment the one I have isn't very extensive either).
I think I should rename this blog something like "A need to complain". That wasn't my original intention, but it sure came out that way. I really think I could handle everything if I was at least able to get around 8 hours of sleep every night. The lack of sleep is ultimately what ends up making me feel exhausted and overwhelmed...

Free Fitness Study

2007-09-19T13:20:00.000-07:00

I signed up to do a free fitness study at Curves. It's 3 weeks long and you have to go 3 times a week. I actually really enjoy the work out. It's only 30 minutes long (short enough to squeeze into my busy schedule), and the goal is to keep your heart rate up and constant throughout the work out. There's a bunch of different machines that you constantly rotate through which work most of the main muscles in your body, a "full body work out".

Basically it's just a good motivation to get myself to start working out again. I have a hard time sticking with something consistently. I probably won't end up doing it for more than the 21 days just because "free" is in my budget. But I don't think I can really afford a membership. At the very least though maybe this will get the ball rolling...?

"It's just another manic Monday... I wish it were Sunday..."

2007-09-17T14:35:00.000-07:00

This semester I actually enjoy my Mondays. It's the one day of the week where ALL that I have are 2 classes in the morning. Yah for Mondays!

Day O Fun

2007-09-12T21:29:00.000-07:00

I had class this morning. I actually almost slept through it AGAIN. Luckily, however, it was apparently the day to mow the lawns right outside of my bedroom window. So I woke up about 10 minutes before I should have left. But I DID wake up and make it to class, even if I was 15 minutes late.

Then Amy and I were meeting at the church before going to Sea World for part of the day. We ran into the children's pastor who was like "Hey, want me to treat you to lunch". That was easy to say yes to. It was kind of funny because I think she was just bored and didn't want to go by herself. Haha. But none the less we got some free Thai food.

Then we went to Sea World and watched a few shows. Basically we are like old ladies who enjoy watching the shows more than going on the rides.

Tonight we had our last week of child care at the church for Wednesday nights. For the summer it is structured lessons with all of the kids together. But then there is this awkward in between time where Amy and I basically just do child care for the parents who go to classes or are on the worship team. I love all of those kids, but I'm pretty excited to officially start Club 56 next week where it's JUST 5th and 6th graders. Yah for that!

Good Things

2007-09-11T23:39:00.000-07:00

I'm about to collapse. Next time I have such a long day I should probably get more than 5 hours of sleep the night before.

But the quiz that I had written that I felt good about I just found out I got 100% on. SWEET! And I got 13 out of 15 on another quiz. Cool start to the semester.

ALSO I got a 50 cent raise at my hotel job. Apparently I've been there 3 months already. My manager gave me a really good review as well.

Ok, time for bed.

Stuff:

2007-09-10T23:42:00.000-07:00

1. I think I might drop my philosophy minor.
2. I have WAY TOO much going on this week... 40 hours of work, school, going home friday for about 12 hours for my mom's birthday.
3. I need to get my mom a birthday present.
4. I have a test tomorrow that I actually feel decently prepared for.
5. I slept through my alarm today and missed a quiz. Dangit.
6. I'm excited to go to a FREE Padres baseball game Monday.
7. Getting free stuff in general is cool.
8. Someday (sooner rather than later) it would be nice to have a boyfriend.
9. Going to the grocery store late at night is much better.
10. Partly because you can find things for 99 cents in the bakery section.
11. My sister and I are trying to plan a trip together to go to New York next summer.
12. Pulling oneself out of debt is challenging.
13. I hate it when people smoke.
14. I drink way too much diet coke, in fact I'm drinking one right now.
15. I just realized my profile picture on this thing is 4 years old... I should work on that.
16. I never ever cook anymore, unless you call heating up something frozen or making easy mac in the microwave cooking.
17. Surprisingly on the flip side I don't eat out very much either.
18. I'm excited that Club 56 starts again in a week.
19. My room mate Cerise has a little turtle named Bonita and right now she is staring at me and swimming very rapidly.
20. I am dreading my day tomorrow: class 8-12:15. Work at 1 job 12:30-2:45. Work at 2nd job 3-11.
21. It scares me kind of alot that I am almost 22.
22. I should go study a little more now.

Really God??

2007-09-09T23:58:00.001-07:00

Today at church I worked with the Pre-K's for Sunday School. I'm kind of the "help out wherever you need me" with kids stuff girl on Sundays. I like not having a specific place to go Sundays because then it means I can sometimes still go to the college group for Sunday School, and I can usually make it to 1 of the 2 main services. Which doesn't mean I don't love helping, it's just nice to have my own learning time as well...

ANYWAY, tangent. So today I helped out with the Pre-K's who were absolutely adorable. I felt like I worked really well with them and loved being able to teach them things and have them really understand alot of it. I feel like I've grown alot in learning how to teach and working with kids over the past year and a half or so. Then all of the actual church service I couldn't help thinking "I still don't know what I want to do for a career... teaching maybe?" And then I was honestly praying "Whoa God, really? You've got to be kidding. I already switched my major FROM teaching a year and a half ago. It already put me behind a year. If I do the teaching thing now I will not only STILL graduate in 5 years, but then I'll have to get my credential. So tack on a 6th year."

I'm not completely against the idea. If that is where God wants me to be, then I will do it. But I won't lie, I'm trying to push that to the back of my mind right now. Maybe I really just had a good and fulfilling day teaching.

And then I'm reminded of a conversation I had with the Children's Pastor (Beverly) over lunch one day. It was a few days after I had led Club 56 by myself because Amy went home to visit family. Beverly sat in to kind of help with "crowd control" but that was about it. So at lunch she was asking me about what I thought I wanted to do. I told her I had no idea. She told me that I had done a really great job at teaching (and elaborated more... blah blah). The cool thing is that she is not the kind of person that would tell you something like this if it wasn't true. So after I told her I used to be a Liberal Studies major she was like"what!?".

Ok... lots of rambling. I'm just trying to get all these crazy thoughts down.

On another note I actually really am enjoying my upper division business classes at the same time (except finance). So maybe this is all unnecessary worrying/thinking. But the thought of "teaching" I don't believe was something that just popped into my head. I do believe that God was speaking to me, whether it was to say "this is what you should do", or just "think about it", or "I just put that feeling of satisfaction there so you would have a good day", I don't really know...

Number 9

2007-09-05T14:35:00.000-07:00

It's cool when you can really take pride in a job. Trip Advisor is an online website where guests can read and write candid reviews that other guests, just like themselves, have written about hotels. There are 235 hotels on the site from San Diego. Out of all of those we are rated #9. That's pretty darn awesome considering it's a little Best Western that isn't very expensive and isn't even located in the tourist area. We're about 15-20 minutes from places like Sea World, Downtown, and the Zoo. Anyway, that's pretty sweet :)

Here's our review page