1.What’s the biggest misconception about you?
That I’m not a hugger. I’m not a hug initiator, but I love hugs!
2.What’s something you've learned about the world?
That the world makes things so easy to be taken for granted. The world can keep you so busy that you don’t have time to be fascinated by some of the things within it. We can take money, food, shelter, our cognitive functioning (Terri Schiavo), etc. all for granted. But not only things like these sorts, but people as well. Many times we take people for granted and before we know it, they can be taken out of your life by moving away, simply losing touch, or even harder, by death. Oh how we can so easily take anyone for granted and then they will slip right out from under us. It can be anyone: a friend, a family member, a teacher, a co-worker, an attorney (Mr. Johnnie Cockran), etc.
3. Songs that you think have good messages:
Baz Luhrmann—Everybody’s Free (to Wear Sunscreen);
Black Eyed Peas—Where is the Love?;
Bobby McFerrin—Don’t Worry Be Happy;
Christina Aguilera—Beautiful;
Green Day—Time of Your Life;
Josh Groban—Believe;
Leann Womack—I Hope You Dance;
Mariah Carey & Whitney Houston—When You Believe;
Michael Jackson—Heal the World;
Michael Jackson—Man in the Mirror;
Michael Jackson & Friends—We Are the World;
Switchfoot—Dare You to Move;
Tim McGraw—Live Like You Were Dying;
4.What’s something that a lot of people don’t know about you?
Honestly there isn’t anything that comes to mind right off the bat. I’m really a very honest and open person, so I can’t think of something that you probably haven’t already read about me through my blogs already…HA!
5.Tell us about a dream you’ve had while sleeping.
Okay, I don’t know WHY I’m putting this one, because it is VERY disturbing and EASILY the scariest dream I’ve ever had, and it was just last week, but since I hardly ever remember my dreams, this limits my choices, so here goes…and this will be the condensed version…SERIOUSLY, do not read the rest of this dream question thingy if you don’t want to read about rapes and murders.
[Note: the characters that were in this dream were no one from my real life, so that’s good. I didn’t know these people, however I obviously did in the dream…make sense?]
So I was getting out of a night class with one of my friends who rode with me (she was a next door neighbor, as well as best friend’s with the daughter of the lady I was living with…weird, I know). It was night obviously and we got in my car and this guy came up to her passenger side window, so we put down the window a little bit to see what he wanted and that’s when (somehow…I don’t know how) he reached in and managed to get the door open and then tried to attack us both, but somehow, I don’t really remember, he ended up only rapping my friend, and not me, and then got away, so here I was in the car with my friend who was dying, like she was about to die, and I didn’t know what to do, and I like panicked and instead of taking her somewhere I just took us home and took her out to the garage (which was apparently where I lived in this house…the lady had fixed up the garage into a bedroom for me) and I laid her on my mattress which was on the floor and she was seriously dying, and I was scared and for some ODD reason I think I felt like I was going to be to blame for her dying, so instead of having to watch her die or whatever, I killed her.
(isn’t this HORRIBLE!!?!?!)
I won’t go into detail of how I killed her (you can ask me if you really wanna know…HA!) but then I just kinda covered her up with my sheets and then went into the living room to wait for the mom and daughter that I lived with to come home. It was weird because I was sitting in there worried about how I would tell the daughter that her best friend was dead, so when they came home we all just kinda chilled in the living room watching tv and I eventually took the mom aside, after the daughter had been talking about her best friend for quite a while, and I told the mother to go out in the garage and see it.
In the end I don’t remember a lot of what happened, but it was like the mom wasn’t mad at me, nor was she upset, she was just like me, just worried about if her daughter found out about her best friend being killed. So the mom actually got in on it with me and was all about trying to “cover-up” this death and help me to keep it from the daughter.
You can not tell me that isn’t one of the most DISTRUBING dreams you have EVER heard!?!? I remember waking up all sweaty and literally wigged out? It was kinda funny though because I was sweaty and scared and at first I was like, CRAP, I didn’t pee the bed because I was so scared did I?!?! But don’t worry...i hadn’t…HA! Anyways, that was just the STRANGEST dream!
6.How's your schoolwork for you right now?
Uhh…actually the same as it always is…papers still waiting to be started a couple days before they are due, textbooks that haven’t been opened since the day I bought them, etc. But either way, I’m still making the grades that suffice for me. A’s and B’s. I mean I KNOW if I wanted to I could get better grades, but I am happy to sacrifice an A here or there for something else that has more value to me in life. Let’s face it, some things in life ARE more important than a school grade (and I’m not talking partying here).
7.If you were divinely given the opportunity to live 500 years, would you take it?
I don’t know. Probably not. That’s a little too much time. I ain’t scared of death, so what’s the big deal whether it is in 70 years, 2 years, or 450 years? If you are living each day to it’s fullest, you don’t need another day, period!
8.What song(s) would you want to be played at your funeral?
HA! This is funny because I’ve always been a person that thinks about my funeral ALL the time. HA! It’s funny how most girls think about their wedding and I think about my funeral! I always say a girl isn’t promised a wedding in life, but she is promised a funeral. HA! Anyways, believe it or not, I had a few times before written out things like songs I want at my funeral and even went as far as to write out like pawl-bearers (sp?) and stuff like that, but I wasn’t able to find that old paper, but I DID find one of the other ones that I had written just songs for the funeral on. Most importantly is my song that I ALWAYS joke about that I want played at my funeral and it is, Lionel Richie’s “If You Don’t Know Me By Now” (and it continues and goes, “you will never, never, never, know me…” HA! You can’t say that isn’t funny!?!) But the other songs on the list include: “The Dance” by Garth Brooks; “There You’ll Be” by Faith Hill; “So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday” by Boys II Men; and “The Greatest Command” the churchy song, you know, the one that goes, “Love one another, for love is of God, he who loves is born of God, and knows God…” I have always LOVED that song, and I love love, so you know! ;) I look back at that list of songs now and some of them I might change, but maybe not, just depends I suppose…HA!
9.Do you stay in bed thinking or do you fall asleep in 5 seconds?
TOTALLY depends on the night, mostly a thinker, and sometimes it will last WAY to long and I just REALLY need to go to sleep, but if I’m wiped-out I can be knocked out in minutes.
10. What is something you would like to learn more about?
Just about everything. HA! I love to learn new things! No really, if I have to name a couple things:
Religions (Misty already signed up for helping me with Catholicism!)
Computers and programs (computers fasinate me…I love playing on them)
People (nothing intrigues me more than wonderin why people do what they do and how it can be altered)
11.What do you miss from your past?
See my blog from March 28th.
12.What are your goals in life?
To make a difference in the lives of those I come in contact with.
To be happy everyday with what I got.
To succeed in the career path that I end up with, whether it be counseling, writing, teaching, or garbage collecting.
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
Monday, March 28, 2005
30 Things I Miss
I miss…
…sleeping well at night.
…having home cooked meals.
…not having to find a parking spot to go to school.
…when milk was less than $3 a gallon.
…the friendship I had with my best friend in high school.
…the sense of being a part of a church community.
…not wearing makeup.
…thinking a 4 page paper was SUPER long!
…not living with picky eaters.
…constantly getting to play an intramural sport.
…getting to lay on my bed and talk on the phone with my friends (my cell phone doesn’t work in my bedroom, and that is my form of long-distance calling…too bad most my friends are long-distance).
…my friend Chucky T.
…getting to chat online or call during the day many of my best buddies that are now gone during the day because of student teaching.
…thinking that $1.50 was expensive for a gallon of gas.
…walking across a campus and running into tons of friends when going to my classes.
…not having to worry about what I eat.
…being in my bedroom late at night, at a friend’s house late at night, or taking a walk late at night with a friend and having deep serious talks about things.
…having friends IM me just to chat without reason.
…getting to just lie on my bed and look around my room at tons of pictures of my friends.
…the days when kids rode school buses to school (nowadays it seems like ALL the kids I know get taken and picked up from school).
…homework assignments that was a worksheet of 25 math equations.
…having a variety in what to eat for a meal: wendys, jack 'n the box, mcdonalds, pizza, & taco bell seem to make up my choices it seems like most the time nowadays.
…having tons of friends living within walking distance.
…having roommates my age.
…having the desire to cook a decent meal for myself.
…being disciplined enough and having the time to write personal emails to friends and family (especially folks back home).
…being in shape.
…getting to spend each Wednesday night with 85% of my best friends.
…learning about theories and basing things off theorists as we did in psychology courses.
…singing in chapel.
All of these “misses” have come about due to change. Yes, some of the above things I could make a part of my life again in order not to have to “miss” them, but some of them I can’t have anymore.
Change is inevitable. Change is hard. People find it hard to change their habit, what they are routine to doing, but not only that, change is hard because it brings about the “misses.”
Maybe things change for the good, maybe not so much for the good, but whatever the case, one must learn to adjust and accept change as just that, change. It’s new, it’s different, and look at it like this, most likely, it will change again, so don’t let it get you down too much! ;)
…sleeping well at night.
…having home cooked meals.
…not having to find a parking spot to go to school.
…when milk was less than $3 a gallon.
…the friendship I had with my best friend in high school.
…the sense of being a part of a church community.
…not wearing makeup.
…thinking a 4 page paper was SUPER long!
…not living with picky eaters.
…constantly getting to play an intramural sport.
…getting to lay on my bed and talk on the phone with my friends (my cell phone doesn’t work in my bedroom, and that is my form of long-distance calling…too bad most my friends are long-distance).
…my friend Chucky T.
…getting to chat online or call during the day many of my best buddies that are now gone during the day because of student teaching.
…thinking that $1.50 was expensive for a gallon of gas.
…walking across a campus and running into tons of friends when going to my classes.
…not having to worry about what I eat.
…being in my bedroom late at night, at a friend’s house late at night, or taking a walk late at night with a friend and having deep serious talks about things.
…having friends IM me just to chat without reason.
…getting to just lie on my bed and look around my room at tons of pictures of my friends.
…the days when kids rode school buses to school (nowadays it seems like ALL the kids I know get taken and picked up from school).
…homework assignments that was a worksheet of 25 math equations.
…having a variety in what to eat for a meal: wendys, jack 'n the box, mcdonalds, pizza, & taco bell seem to make up my choices it seems like most the time nowadays.
…having tons of friends living within walking distance.
…having roommates my age.
…having the desire to cook a decent meal for myself.
…being disciplined enough and having the time to write personal emails to friends and family (especially folks back home).
…being in shape.
…getting to spend each Wednesday night with 85% of my best friends.
…learning about theories and basing things off theorists as we did in psychology courses.
…singing in chapel.
All of these “misses” have come about due to change. Yes, some of the above things I could make a part of my life again in order not to have to “miss” them, but some of them I can’t have anymore.
Change is inevitable. Change is hard. People find it hard to change their habit, what they are routine to doing, but not only that, change is hard because it brings about the “misses.”
Maybe things change for the good, maybe not so much for the good, but whatever the case, one must learn to adjust and accept change as just that, change. It’s new, it’s different, and look at it like this, most likely, it will change again, so don’t let it get you down too much! ;)
Sunday, March 27, 2005
If Only I had a Reason…
Is it just me? I’m pretty sure it’s not, but are you one of those people that finds it hard to call most people without having a “reason” for calling. Now when I say reason, I mean calling because you need to ask them something “important” or that you need to tell them something “important.” Why can’t we call people just because? Like why can’t the reason be just to call to talk or just to call to see how they are doing because you haven’t talked to them in a while. Here’s why—people are just too busy.
I fear the world in which we live has on such an up-beat pace that we don’t have time to take calls that are “just because.” Here’s the deal, it isn’t necessarily just the person wanting to make the call is too busy, it is also the person on the call receiving end that is too busy. Many times I find myself wanting to call someone, but thinking to myself, “what’s my reason?” They are going to be too busy for me “just to call”, so unless I have a real “purpose” for calling, other than just to say hey and see what’s up, I would only keep them from getting things done that they need to do.
I was thinking this tonight. I have a good friend of mine that I haven’t talked with in a few weeks (I think it’s been about that long), and I would love to just call her and say hi (you know, it is those good friends that can make your day just getting to talk to them). But this is one of those friends that I don’t feel right just calling to call because I know she is always really busy and I don’t want to “bother” her.
I don’t know. I remember I’ve blogged before about people being too busy nowadays, but I don’t remember if I’ve mentioned about people needed to be able to call one another without “reason.”
One person I have talked about this issue with before is my buddy Becca. It’s funny how we’ve both made it clear to one another that we don’t have to have a “reason” to call one another. I’ve had my cell phone since last June and I can tell you honestly that more than half of my minutes on that phone have been spent talking with Becca. Either her calling me or me calling her. Either way we are both on Sprint so we don’t mind taking the minutes! HA!
I think friendships that have a lot of just “talking” to be talking can be stronger than those that need a “reason” to talk. I mean what kind of a reason does a person have to come up with to talk about some of the best things in life to talk about? Many of the most treasured conversations I’ve had with people have just come up out of the clear blue. Whether it is in depth conversations on values or beliefs in general or conversations that are specifically on religion or friendship or family or other issues in life. Heck, my best friend in high school and I could talk on the phone for hours. A short call would last an hour. Our record was 6 hours one day. We were watching some NBA playoff games on the phone together and just talking the whole time through! HA!
Okay, so I realize we all don’t have 6 hours to spend on the phone…HA! We were in high school, give me a break, there’s nothing better to do with your time then…HA! But I do think we should be able to take a few minutes out of our busy lives to check up on one another and just say “hey.” Look at it this way, it is a blessing to have a friend that cares enough to pick up the phone…THAT my friends is something to be thankful for in this world today!
I fear the world in which we live has on such an up-beat pace that we don’t have time to take calls that are “just because.” Here’s the deal, it isn’t necessarily just the person wanting to make the call is too busy, it is also the person on the call receiving end that is too busy. Many times I find myself wanting to call someone, but thinking to myself, “what’s my reason?” They are going to be too busy for me “just to call”, so unless I have a real “purpose” for calling, other than just to say hey and see what’s up, I would only keep them from getting things done that they need to do.
I was thinking this tonight. I have a good friend of mine that I haven’t talked with in a few weeks (I think it’s been about that long), and I would love to just call her and say hi (you know, it is those good friends that can make your day just getting to talk to them). But this is one of those friends that I don’t feel right just calling to call because I know she is always really busy and I don’t want to “bother” her.
I don’t know. I remember I’ve blogged before about people being too busy nowadays, but I don’t remember if I’ve mentioned about people needed to be able to call one another without “reason.”
One person I have talked about this issue with before is my buddy Becca. It’s funny how we’ve both made it clear to one another that we don’t have to have a “reason” to call one another. I’ve had my cell phone since last June and I can tell you honestly that more than half of my minutes on that phone have been spent talking with Becca. Either her calling me or me calling her. Either way we are both on Sprint so we don’t mind taking the minutes! HA!
I think friendships that have a lot of just “talking” to be talking can be stronger than those that need a “reason” to talk. I mean what kind of a reason does a person have to come up with to talk about some of the best things in life to talk about? Many of the most treasured conversations I’ve had with people have just come up out of the clear blue. Whether it is in depth conversations on values or beliefs in general or conversations that are specifically on religion or friendship or family or other issues in life. Heck, my best friend in high school and I could talk on the phone for hours. A short call would last an hour. Our record was 6 hours one day. We were watching some NBA playoff games on the phone together and just talking the whole time through! HA!
Okay, so I realize we all don’t have 6 hours to spend on the phone…HA! We were in high school, give me a break, there’s nothing better to do with your time then…HA! But I do think we should be able to take a few minutes out of our busy lives to check up on one another and just say “hey.” Look at it this way, it is a blessing to have a friend that cares enough to pick up the phone…THAT my friends is something to be thankful for in this world today!
Education
I’ve always been one that enjoys learning new things. Because of this, school has always been entertaining to me. Yes, I might talk now about how I just want school to end, but what really gets me down about school is the homework, seriously, if there wasn’t homework I’d go to school the rest of my life! I love to learn!
So here I am, I have a bachelors of science in psychology with a minor in criminal justice and I’m currently working on a master in social work. I plan to finish this masters in December 2006. It is then that I plan to work as a therapist.
I’m dreamt of being a therapist for quite some time now. It was my plans when getting my undergraduate (thou at that point I was planning to be a therapist in the sense of a psychologist). I still long to be a therapist and can’t wait for that day to arrive, but I’ve found myself recently thinking of other things I’d like to do in my life too at one point or another.
I’ve learned from a good friend of mine that it’s possible to live life to its fullest and have two totally separate successful career paths within a lifespan. There’s nothing wrong with deciding enough is enough with one career and going a totally different route.
So I’ve been thinking lately and I’ve thought of some other degrees I’d LOVE to have some day!
A Ph.D.
In what, I’m not exactly sure. I’d LOVE to get one in psychology one day, but that probably be more difficult than simply staying on my current masters route and going for the doctorate in social work. Either of the two would do for me, but I just would love to have the doctorate!
A teaching degree.
The doctorate would actually get me what I would want out of teaching actually, to be a professor at a university, but I’ve always had great respect for teachers and would love to teach (in a classroom that is) maybe at some point in my life.
Some degrees I’ve given a LOT of thought to recently about “going back for” someday include:
A writing degree
I would love to get a degree in journalism, print journalism that is. I love to write! I get a rush when I get to write and have others share in what I’ve written. My blogging sometimes takes me back to my “Canned Meat” days. One can share their humor with others in written form as well as vocally. I would love to write editorial columns for a newspaper or magazine. Degree or not, I plan to one day write a book, that has been a dream of mine for QUITE a while!
A computer science degree
I love computers. I love working on computers and I love figuring things out on computers, and as a writer, computers and I spend a lot of time together. I have people at work, as well as my aunt ALL the time, telling me I should go into computers because of how I know how to work them so well, but I’ve always had the fear of going into a career in computers would take me away from one of the things I love most in this world, people. Nothing is less appealing to me than a job without people around all the time. I need people. But having this degree and being able to work a little computer magic on the side couldn’t hurt! ;)
So who knows. Maybe one day I’ll be sitting in my office, between clients, and thinking, “You know what, I think it’s time. I’m ready for a change.” And exactly which route I’ll go, no one knows. But whatever the case, you can bet I’ll be happy and ready to gain more knowledge!
So here I am, I have a bachelors of science in psychology with a minor in criminal justice and I’m currently working on a master in social work. I plan to finish this masters in December 2006. It is then that I plan to work as a therapist.
I’m dreamt of being a therapist for quite some time now. It was my plans when getting my undergraduate (thou at that point I was planning to be a therapist in the sense of a psychologist). I still long to be a therapist and can’t wait for that day to arrive, but I’ve found myself recently thinking of other things I’d like to do in my life too at one point or another.
I’ve learned from a good friend of mine that it’s possible to live life to its fullest and have two totally separate successful career paths within a lifespan. There’s nothing wrong with deciding enough is enough with one career and going a totally different route.
So I’ve been thinking lately and I’ve thought of some other degrees I’d LOVE to have some day!
A Ph.D.
In what, I’m not exactly sure. I’d LOVE to get one in psychology one day, but that probably be more difficult than simply staying on my current masters route and going for the doctorate in social work. Either of the two would do for me, but I just would love to have the doctorate!
A teaching degree.
The doctorate would actually get me what I would want out of teaching actually, to be a professor at a university, but I’ve always had great respect for teachers and would love to teach (in a classroom that is) maybe at some point in my life.
Some degrees I’ve given a LOT of thought to recently about “going back for” someday include:
A writing degree
I would love to get a degree in journalism, print journalism that is. I love to write! I get a rush when I get to write and have others share in what I’ve written. My blogging sometimes takes me back to my “Canned Meat” days. One can share their humor with others in written form as well as vocally. I would love to write editorial columns for a newspaper or magazine. Degree or not, I plan to one day write a book, that has been a dream of mine for QUITE a while!
A computer science degree
I love computers. I love working on computers and I love figuring things out on computers, and as a writer, computers and I spend a lot of time together. I have people at work, as well as my aunt ALL the time, telling me I should go into computers because of how I know how to work them so well, but I’ve always had the fear of going into a career in computers would take me away from one of the things I love most in this world, people. Nothing is less appealing to me than a job without people around all the time. I need people. But having this degree and being able to work a little computer magic on the side couldn’t hurt! ;)
So who knows. Maybe one day I’ll be sitting in my office, between clients, and thinking, “You know what, I think it’s time. I’m ready for a change.” And exactly which route I’ll go, no one knows. But whatever the case, you can bet I’ll be happy and ready to gain more knowledge!
Saturday, March 26, 2005
WEIRD....I took this quiz and I apparently act my EXACT age! STRANGE!
You Are 23 Years Old |
23 Under 12: You are a kid at heart. You still have an optimistic life view - and you look at the world with awe. 13-19: You are a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your place in this world. 20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences. 30-39: You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more! 40+: You are a mature adult. You've been through most of the ups and downs of life already. Now you get to sit back and relax. |
And Yet Another...
1. What time did you get up this morning? 11:03 AM
2. Diamonds or pearls? diamonds
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Coach Carter
4. What is your favorite TV show? American Idol; Fear Factor; Oprah; House
5. What did you have for breakfast? a donut
6. What is your middle name? Rae
7. What is your favorite cuisine? Lasagna or Chinese or mexican
8. What foods do you dislike? onions
9. What is your favorite chip flavor? regular lays
10. What is your favorite CD at the moment? Kelly Clarkson’s “Breakaway” or Switchfoot’s “A Beautiful Letdown”
11. What type of car do you drive? 2000 Toyota Camry
12. Favorite sandwich? Turkey or roast beef
13. What characteristic do you despise? Lying, arrogance, being fake, & prejudice
14. Favorite item of clothing? hat
15. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation where would you go? Australia
16. What color is your bathroom? maroon
17. Favorite brand of clothing? Not much for brand names, I suppose Old Navy
18. Where would you retire to? Too far to even think about…I got to have a job to retire from first…HA!
19. Favorite time of the day? evening
20. What was your most memorable birthday? Uhhh…I don’t remember
21. Where were you born? Springfield, MO
22. Favorite sport to watch? football
23. What fabric detergent do you use? My aunt buys Tide…so that works with me! ;)
24. Coke or Pepsi? neither
25. Favorite movie? Patch Adams; The Green Mile; Life as a House; Million Dollar Baby; The Client; A Beautiful Mind; Backdraft; Silence of the Lambs
26. Are you a morning person or a night owl? night owl
27. What is your shoe size? 8 or 8 1/2
28. Do you have any pets? None of my own…but we have 3 dogs here and a bird and some hermit crabs, but I don’t claim any of them
29. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with your family & friends? I’ve seen Million Dollar Baby three times now and HIGHLY recommend it
30. What did you want to be when you were little? Must I go through the list….a McDonalds worker; policewomen; vet; pediatrician; teacher; psychologist; therapist…
31. What are you doing now? Part-time work in a doctor’s office and full time student working on my masters in social work
32. What time is it? 10:23 PM
2. Diamonds or pearls? diamonds
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Coach Carter
4. What is your favorite TV show? American Idol; Fear Factor; Oprah; House
5. What did you have for breakfast? a donut
6. What is your middle name? Rae
7. What is your favorite cuisine? Lasagna or Chinese or mexican
8. What foods do you dislike? onions
9. What is your favorite chip flavor? regular lays
10. What is your favorite CD at the moment? Kelly Clarkson’s “Breakaway” or Switchfoot’s “A Beautiful Letdown”
11. What type of car do you drive? 2000 Toyota Camry
12. Favorite sandwich? Turkey or roast beef
13. What characteristic do you despise? Lying, arrogance, being fake, & prejudice
14. Favorite item of clothing? hat
15. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation where would you go? Australia
16. What color is your bathroom? maroon
17. Favorite brand of clothing? Not much for brand names, I suppose Old Navy
18. Where would you retire to? Too far to even think about…I got to have a job to retire from first…HA!
19. Favorite time of the day? evening
20. What was your most memorable birthday? Uhhh…I don’t remember
21. Where were you born? Springfield, MO
22. Favorite sport to watch? football
23. What fabric detergent do you use? My aunt buys Tide…so that works with me! ;)
24. Coke or Pepsi? neither
25. Favorite movie? Patch Adams; The Green Mile; Life as a House; Million Dollar Baby; The Client; A Beautiful Mind; Backdraft; Silence of the Lambs
26. Are you a morning person or a night owl? night owl
27. What is your shoe size? 8 or 8 1/2
28. Do you have any pets? None of my own…but we have 3 dogs here and a bird and some hermit crabs, but I don’t claim any of them
29. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with your family & friends? I’ve seen Million Dollar Baby three times now and HIGHLY recommend it
30. What did you want to be when you were little? Must I go through the list….a McDonalds worker; policewomen; vet; pediatrician; teacher; psychologist; therapist…
31. What are you doing now? Part-time work in a doctor’s office and full time student working on my masters in social work
32. What time is it? 10:23 PM
Friday, March 25, 2005
Now THAT's a Funny Shirt!
If you know me, you know two things that are very dear to my heart are humor and t-shirts, so what’s better than those t-shirts with humorous sayings on them?!?! Trust me, I’ve much rather have a home-made t-shirt that has something funny written on it than a $40 shirt from American Eagle. And while I’m not much of a mall attendee, IF I have to be there, I do love slowing up at those stands that are out in the middle of the malls with the funny t-shirts on them, however, while those are normally pretty funny, many of them have “dirty” connotations, which I’m not such a big fan of. Lately at work I’ve been taking close notice at the cool little catalogs that come in in the mail for funny merchandise, and many times they include humorous shirts. Of course, if you know you most likely know also that I’m pretty tight with my money when it comes to some things, ESPECIALLY clothes, so like heck I’m going spend the $14.95 (+$4.95 for shipping and handling), so I’m just going through these catalogs and finding the funny ones I like then going to go have them made at my local embroidery shop for cheaper, PLUS this way I can pick out my own t-shirt color as well as color and font and stuff like that for the lettering!
So…here are some of the sayings I’m looking into having made on t-shirts. Some are straight out of the catalogs; however, being enlightened with my own sense of humor, I have changed up some of the saying from the advertisements to make them more like how I would like them.
1 I identify with Dorothy…
I seem to only attract men who are cowards,
Have no heart, or are in the need of a brain!
2 Guess which one of the seven dwarfs I think you are?
3 You probably don’t recognize me without my cape.
(a picture of a little superhero with a cape on printed below the saying)
4 I [heart] Mondays!
Hey, the medication is working!
5 Smiling on the outside—
Berserk on the inside
6 Talk fast.
My day pass is almost over.
7 If I’m talking
You should be taking notes.
8 Save trees:
Don’t assign homework
9 Short people have feelings too!
10 Of course I’m in great shape—
I play rock, paper, scissors.
11 I never make mistakes.
I thought I did once,
But I was mistaken.
12 The villagers are coming
With torches and pitchforks.
Please hide me!
13 Out of insanity
comes brilliance.
(or was it the other way around?)
14 Honorary
OOOOMPA LOOMPA
15 Have you seen my marbles?
16 (A) Jenius
(Hey, I didn’t say PERFECT!)
or
(B) Jenius
(Hey, I can’t be perfect too!)
or
(C) Jenius
(Hey, I’m not PERFECT!)
17 If you don’t have
something nice to say,
a blank stare usually
gets the point across.
18 Stupid people make my brain sad.
19 Sarcasm,
Just one more service I offer.
20 HERE I AM
Now what are your other two wishes?
21 Dain bramaged
22 I love your smiling face.
I can see myself in your teeth.
23 The last thing I want
to do is hurt you.
…but it’s still on the list.
So, which ones do you like the most? Which would you want to wear? Which do you think would be best for me?
My FAVORITES are probably numbers….3, 6, 7, 8, 12, 16(B), 21, 22, & 23.
So…here are some of the sayings I’m looking into having made on t-shirts. Some are straight out of the catalogs; however, being enlightened with my own sense of humor, I have changed up some of the saying from the advertisements to make them more like how I would like them.
1 I identify with Dorothy…
I seem to only attract men who are cowards,
Have no heart, or are in the need of a brain!
2 Guess which one of the seven dwarfs I think you are?
3 You probably don’t recognize me without my cape.
(a picture of a little superhero with a cape on printed below the saying)
4 I [heart] Mondays!
Hey, the medication is working!
5 Smiling on the outside—
Berserk on the inside
6 Talk fast.
My day pass is almost over.
7 If I’m talking
You should be taking notes.
8 Save trees:
Don’t assign homework
9 Short people have feelings too!
10 Of course I’m in great shape—
I play rock, paper, scissors.
11 I never make mistakes.
I thought I did once,
But I was mistaken.
12 The villagers are coming
With torches and pitchforks.
Please hide me!
13 Out of insanity
comes brilliance.
(or was it the other way around?)
14 Honorary
OOOOMPA LOOMPA
15 Have you seen my marbles?
16 (A) Jenius
(Hey, I didn’t say PERFECT!)
or
(B) Jenius
(Hey, I can’t be perfect too!)
or
(C) Jenius
(Hey, I’m not PERFECT!)
17 If you don’t have
something nice to say,
a blank stare usually
gets the point across.
18 Stupid people make my brain sad.
19 Sarcasm,
Just one more service I offer.
20 HERE I AM
Now what are your other two wishes?
21 Dain bramaged
22 I love your smiling face.
I can see myself in your teeth.
23 The last thing I want
to do is hurt you.
…but it’s still on the list.
So, which ones do you like the most? Which would you want to wear? Which do you think would be best for me?
My FAVORITES are probably numbers….3, 6, 7, 8, 12, 16(B), 21, 22, & 23.
Wednesday, March 23, 2005
Gays, Lesbians, Bi-sexuals, and Transgenders
“To be or not to be…”
….gay that is.
Since I can’t say I can relate to the feeling of being gay, I won’t make a judgement of wrong and right here. What I do want to do is share a funny situation I found myself in during my 2 PM class on Monday and then share some stats I learned in my 6 PM class on Monday night about gays, and then finally pose some questions I’d like to hear your responses too.
My situation…
Okay, so Monday I’m sitting in my Research class and there is a guy that sits behind me in there. We like to talk and shoot the breeze and joke about the professor and stuff like that. Well I’ve always had a STRONG feeling he is gay, but have never had it “proved” nor has he admitted it to me, but I’ve just always thought it. So, anyways, following our break in that class we were sitting there chatting while we waited for our professor to return. He was telling me about his night the night before…
[This is what he APPARENTLY said to me]
“Okay, so last night my best friend kept hitting on my date! It made me so mad! We had all three gone out to eat and apparently they were playing footsies under the table the whole night, and when I went to go to the bathroom they were apparently kissing outside on the balcony!” (he was obviously really upset about this and it angered him, as it would anyone in that situation, I’d assume)…so I said in response,
“Man, that sucks! So I guess your best friend didn’t have a girl with him? It was just him, you and your girlfriend?” And he goes, “Yeah.”
So then our professor came in so we ended the conversation there. Well, honestly, like 45 minutes later, if not an hour later, when we were switching gears in our class to something else, there was kinda a break, and people were chatting for a minute while the professor got ready to go over the next thing. It was then that the guy behinds me leans up to me and goes,
“Hey, earlier did you say a girl?” And I go, “Yeah, didn’t you say your best friend was hitting on your girl while you in the bathroom and that they were playing footsies?” And IMMEDIATELY he goes, “Oh no! Girls are icky! I said my DATE! He was hitting on my date….”
So yeah, I didn’t want to sit there and seem like I was in shock of what just happened, so I remember thinking in my head, “just act cool and act like he didn’t just use the word ‘icky’”….HA! I was like, “Oh, well that sucks, either way, that he was hitting on your date.”
[I said earlier that that was what he “APPARENTLY” said, because I SWEAR he said “my best friend kept hitting on my girlfriend!” because I remember specifically thinking to myself after he said it, “oh man, I was wrong, I thought he was gay. Well maybe he is bisexual.” So I could have SWORN he said “girl” and not date, but maybe it was just me being accustom to guys dates being a girl, so I just ASSUMED it when he said “date”, I don’t know.]
So yeah, that was my experience with someone “coming out” to me this week. HA! Guess I need to get accustom to this kind of thing with getting into this business.
So, let’s talk about gays and lesbians.
It was SOOO weird how that happened in my afternoon class on Monday and then without me knowing it, Gays, Lesbians, Bi-sexuals, and Transgenders (GLBT) was our topic for discussion that night in my Human Behavior and Diverse Populations class.
It’s funny how uncomfortable people can be with talking about this topic. But first, I want to share a few interesting things I learned in class that night:
--Transgender individuals have a 1 in 12 chance of being murdered in contrast to the average person who has about a 1 in 18,000 chance.
--In 35 states it is legal to fire someone based on sexual orientation and in 45 states it is legal to fire based on gender identity.
--The estimated cost for sex reassignment surgery (AKA to have the surgery done to have a sex change) is $14,000. The breakdown—11,000 for surgery; 1,000 for therapy; 1,500 for hormones; and 500 for doctor visits and lab work.
--89.5% of transgender students feel unsafe in their schools
I’m sorry, but that first stat is disturbing; it’s sad really.
So, I ask you, why is there this discrimination toward these individuals? We (well I say we, though I didn’t really partake, just listened) discussed in my class Monday night why we think GLBTs are the most discriminated against group today. Our class spoke of the reasons such as how we fear what we don’t understand or can’t relate to, and we spoke also of the religious aspects (not really in depth of course, I mean this IS a state school). And while I think both of these probably illustrate a lot of the reasons for discrimination, I also see another big reason, and I feel bad that I didn’t speak up and say it, since it wasn’t discussed.
I think another reason for discrimination toward this group is the whole issue of is your sexual orientation a choice or an innate orientation/behavior? If you ask a gay person they are most likely going to tell you it is how they were born, they can’t help it that they are drawn toward members of their same sex, but if you ask an individual who doesn’t relate to this lifestyle, many times they will say it is a choice the gay individual is making. Many times this is the response given by those who side with the religious argument, that the gay individual is choosing that lifestyle and that they can be helped to “overcome it.”
Honestly, I don’t know where I stand in this argument, but I’ll tell you this…if it is innate, I would think it would be a feeling or sense we would have as a young baby. Something we don’t have to learn, such as sucking is an innate behavior, a baby comes out and knows how to suck without being taught. However, I don’t remember ever thinking as a young child that I was being drawn to boys. I don’t remember ever thinking about those kinds of behaviors as a young child. I feel as if we develop our desires toward members of one sex or another, and that it comes later on in life. I suppose if it is innate, maybe it is just dormant till later in life, I don’t know. But if it is a choice, that I can’t say I remember thinking to myself, “Hmmm…I think I like boys and would rather be oriented toward members of the opposite sex.” But I suppose it could be one of those unconscious decisions or “choices” if you may.
Either way, I want to leave you with one more thought.
We ended out our night class Monday with a video that was approximately an hour. It was an award winning documentary called “Living with Pride: Ruth Ellis @ 100”. It was a documentary done on a woman for her 100th birthday. She was a black woman born in 1899 who happened to be a lesbian as well. The video talked with Ruth throughout and told of her MANY accomplishments and successes in life, as well as talked with her about her lifestyle as a lesbian and the hardships she dealt with being a black lesbian woman. It was a really good documentary if you ask me (though apparently our teacher almost didn’t show it to us because apparently folks in her other class that she showed it in were disturbed by the film and didn’t like her showing it, however my class expressed our support of showing it after we saw it. We didn’t see it as a problem at all).
So, at one point in the video Ruth was commenting on how people talk about how lesbianism is bad and against what God says in the Bible. She said, “God accepts gays and lesbians or He wouldn’t have put them here.”
What do you think of that? I’m not giving my opinion on this matter at this time, but I’m curious what you think. And you know what, I think what she said kinda comes down my mentioned argument from earlier…does God accept gays because He put them here because being gay is innate and that is how God made them?
….gay that is.
Since I can’t say I can relate to the feeling of being gay, I won’t make a judgement of wrong and right here. What I do want to do is share a funny situation I found myself in during my 2 PM class on Monday and then share some stats I learned in my 6 PM class on Monday night about gays, and then finally pose some questions I’d like to hear your responses too.
My situation…
Okay, so Monday I’m sitting in my Research class and there is a guy that sits behind me in there. We like to talk and shoot the breeze and joke about the professor and stuff like that. Well I’ve always had a STRONG feeling he is gay, but have never had it “proved” nor has he admitted it to me, but I’ve just always thought it. So, anyways, following our break in that class we were sitting there chatting while we waited for our professor to return. He was telling me about his night the night before…
[This is what he APPARENTLY said to me]
“Okay, so last night my best friend kept hitting on my date! It made me so mad! We had all three gone out to eat and apparently they were playing footsies under the table the whole night, and when I went to go to the bathroom they were apparently kissing outside on the balcony!” (he was obviously really upset about this and it angered him, as it would anyone in that situation, I’d assume)…so I said in response,
“Man, that sucks! So I guess your best friend didn’t have a girl with him? It was just him, you and your girlfriend?” And he goes, “Yeah.”
So then our professor came in so we ended the conversation there. Well, honestly, like 45 minutes later, if not an hour later, when we were switching gears in our class to something else, there was kinda a break, and people were chatting for a minute while the professor got ready to go over the next thing. It was then that the guy behinds me leans up to me and goes,
“Hey, earlier did you say a girl?” And I go, “Yeah, didn’t you say your best friend was hitting on your girl while you in the bathroom and that they were playing footsies?” And IMMEDIATELY he goes, “Oh no! Girls are icky! I said my DATE! He was hitting on my date….”
So yeah, I didn’t want to sit there and seem like I was in shock of what just happened, so I remember thinking in my head, “just act cool and act like he didn’t just use the word ‘icky’”….HA! I was like, “Oh, well that sucks, either way, that he was hitting on your date.”
[I said earlier that that was what he “APPARENTLY” said, because I SWEAR he said “my best friend kept hitting on my girlfriend!” because I remember specifically thinking to myself after he said it, “oh man, I was wrong, I thought he was gay. Well maybe he is bisexual.” So I could have SWORN he said “girl” and not date, but maybe it was just me being accustom to guys dates being a girl, so I just ASSUMED it when he said “date”, I don’t know.]
So yeah, that was my experience with someone “coming out” to me this week. HA! Guess I need to get accustom to this kind of thing with getting into this business.
So, let’s talk about gays and lesbians.
It was SOOO weird how that happened in my afternoon class on Monday and then without me knowing it, Gays, Lesbians, Bi-sexuals, and Transgenders (GLBT) was our topic for discussion that night in my Human Behavior and Diverse Populations class.
It’s funny how uncomfortable people can be with talking about this topic. But first, I want to share a few interesting things I learned in class that night:
--Transgender individuals have a 1 in 12 chance of being murdered in contrast to the average person who has about a 1 in 18,000 chance.
--In 35 states it is legal to fire someone based on sexual orientation and in 45 states it is legal to fire based on gender identity.
--The estimated cost for sex reassignment surgery (AKA to have the surgery done to have a sex change) is $14,000. The breakdown—11,000 for surgery; 1,000 for therapy; 1,500 for hormones; and 500 for doctor visits and lab work.
--89.5% of transgender students feel unsafe in their schools
I’m sorry, but that first stat is disturbing; it’s sad really.
So, I ask you, why is there this discrimination toward these individuals? We (well I say we, though I didn’t really partake, just listened) discussed in my class Monday night why we think GLBTs are the most discriminated against group today. Our class spoke of the reasons such as how we fear what we don’t understand or can’t relate to, and we spoke also of the religious aspects (not really in depth of course, I mean this IS a state school). And while I think both of these probably illustrate a lot of the reasons for discrimination, I also see another big reason, and I feel bad that I didn’t speak up and say it, since it wasn’t discussed.
I think another reason for discrimination toward this group is the whole issue of is your sexual orientation a choice or an innate orientation/behavior? If you ask a gay person they are most likely going to tell you it is how they were born, they can’t help it that they are drawn toward members of their same sex, but if you ask an individual who doesn’t relate to this lifestyle, many times they will say it is a choice the gay individual is making. Many times this is the response given by those who side with the religious argument, that the gay individual is choosing that lifestyle and that they can be helped to “overcome it.”
Honestly, I don’t know where I stand in this argument, but I’ll tell you this…if it is innate, I would think it would be a feeling or sense we would have as a young baby. Something we don’t have to learn, such as sucking is an innate behavior, a baby comes out and knows how to suck without being taught. However, I don’t remember ever thinking as a young child that I was being drawn to boys. I don’t remember ever thinking about those kinds of behaviors as a young child. I feel as if we develop our desires toward members of one sex or another, and that it comes later on in life. I suppose if it is innate, maybe it is just dormant till later in life, I don’t know. But if it is a choice, that I can’t say I remember thinking to myself, “Hmmm…I think I like boys and would rather be oriented toward members of the opposite sex.” But I suppose it could be one of those unconscious decisions or “choices” if you may.
Either way, I want to leave you with one more thought.
We ended out our night class Monday with a video that was approximately an hour. It was an award winning documentary called “Living with Pride: Ruth Ellis @ 100”. It was a documentary done on a woman for her 100th birthday. She was a black woman born in 1899 who happened to be a lesbian as well. The video talked with Ruth throughout and told of her MANY accomplishments and successes in life, as well as talked with her about her lifestyle as a lesbian and the hardships she dealt with being a black lesbian woman. It was a really good documentary if you ask me (though apparently our teacher almost didn’t show it to us because apparently folks in her other class that she showed it in were disturbed by the film and didn’t like her showing it, however my class expressed our support of showing it after we saw it. We didn’t see it as a problem at all).
So, at one point in the video Ruth was commenting on how people talk about how lesbianism is bad and against what God says in the Bible. She said, “God accepts gays and lesbians or He wouldn’t have put them here.”
What do you think of that? I’m not giving my opinion on this matter at this time, but I’m curious what you think. And you know what, I think what she said kinda comes down my mentioned argument from earlier…does God accept gays because He put them here because being gay is innate and that is how God made them?
Tuesday, March 22, 2005
Awww...the Power of Music (and it's lyrics!)
So yesterday in the car I was listening to my Tim McGraw Live Like You Were Dying cd, which I haven’t listened to in a while (though I was in LOVE with it when I bought it two days after it came out…so I played it to death). Anyways…I was listening to one of the songs that is entitled, Drugs or Jesus. I like this song. It is one of Tim’s slower songs and I really like the words. Here is just a small part of it that I really like. It makes you think…
Everybody wants acceptance.
We all just want some proof.
Everyone’s just looking for the truth.
Everybody just wants to get high.
Sit and watch a perfect world go by.
We’re all looking for love and meaning in our life.
We follow the roads that lead us…
To drugs or Jesus.
I think those lyrics have quite a bit of truth. Maybe everyone isn’t led to “drugs” or “Jesus” specifically, but maybe to the “bad” or the “good” path, you know. But look at your life, you can’t tell me we all don’t want to be accepted. Oh how often we are digging for the truth, and even when we think we’ve found it, we want proof. And when he is talking about wanting to get high and watching a perfect world go by…think about it. No, not necessarily “high” as in drugs, but high as in happy and successful, you know…high up. Be able to sit and watch a perfect world go by, as someone who is rich, successful, powerful, seems to be (though we know life can NEVER be perfect for ANYONE, but anyone who isn’t in that position thinks that’s the “perfect” lifestyle). And I don’t even think I need to go into the looking for love and meaning in our life, part. We all know that’s a constant journey in our daily life!
So…this tidbit of the lyrics from this song have inspired me to actually write this blog that I’ve been meaning to write for MONTHS now. No joke, I have a post-it note with things I want to write blogs about, and this one has been listed on it for a LONG time. I’ve been meaning to write a blog about my love for Switchfoot’s music, especially their song lyrics!
A few months back I fell in love with their WHOLE cd, “A Beautiful Letdown.” I HIGHLY recommend this cd! So many of their songs have GREAT lyrics that make you say to yourself, “that’s SOOO true,” but more importantly, they’ll make you think!
Here is just a few of the good lyrics…
“Ammunition”
Blame it on what you've been through
Blame it on what you're into
Blame it on your religions
Blame it on politicians
(Oh how we as a society love to find SOMETHING to blame our problems on. “Oh children are becoming violent because of _____” or “Teen pregnancy rates wouldn’t be so high if it weren’t for _____”)
“On Fire”
But everything inside you knows
Says more than what you've heard
So much more than empty conversations
Filled with empty words
“24”
At the end of the day
Life is not what I thought it was
Twenty four hours ago
“Gone”
We are not infinite
We are not permanate
Nothing is immediate
We're so confident in our accomplishments
Look at how dark it is
Gone, like Frank Sinatra
Like Elvis and his mom
Like Al Pichino's cash nothing lasts in this life
My highschool dreams are gone
My childhood sweets are gone
Life is a day that doesn't last for long
Life is more than money
Time was never money
Time was never cash
But my favorite song of ALL, was the one I played (no joke) like a million times, especially in my car (CRANKED) and I SOOO sing it out and get into it! It is one of those songs that you can so get into it and seriously feel the song! Like I’d be sitting in my car, having arrived at school early (in order to get a parking spot) so I’m just sitting there in the parking lot, in my car, with this song cranked and singing it! And when you feel this song you are singing with your fists clinched and your eyes closed and just getting into it, because you feel it!
The song is Dare You to Move, and I didn’t see the video for the song, till quite a while after I fell in love with it, so I had already taken on my own beliefs as to what the song was talking about, and while they are “different” from what the video is apparently about, which I suppose that means that is what the song is “truly” about, I still like my meaning for it better, so I’m gonna go on thinking mine! So at this time, I’m gonna go through this song and share with you what I think it means and I think you’ll see why I love this song, as well as why I love to feel it!
Welcome to the planet
Welcome to existence
Everyone's here
Everyone's watching you now
Everybody waits for you now
What happens next?
What happens next?
I think the song is about a baby being born. Welcome to the planet, welcome to existence. When a baby is born everyone is there, and they are watching you now and waiting for you now. So this is where the importance of the song begins, after having set the stage of what is going on. What happens next? This is where, the writer challenges the baby!
I dare you to move
I dare you to move
I dare you to lift yourself up off the floor
I dare you to move
I dare you to move
Like today never happened
Today never happened before
The writer dares the baby to move. To move; to make something of their life! To get up and do something for the good! Make a move against the world and how it is! Lift yourself up, from the floor in this case, as that is where a little baby might find itself in life. You know, on a blanket on the floor. Yes, making the “move” will be a challenge, just as asking a little baby to lift itself up off the floor is a challenge for it. Don’t settle for what comes your way, MOVE and make things happen! I think the like today never happened part can be figuratively describing the process of a baby going from being in the womb to coming out and not being real happy! Let’s face it, babies come out crying because they are no longer in that safe easy environment they had before. Things have changed and they are different. So, the singers (the world) is telling that baby, “You know what, today might not be the best day. Yeah, today sucked, having to go from the ‘perfect’ situation you were in before to being out here, but you know what, act as if this never happened and move on!” That’s how life is. Bad things or bad days will come, but you have to act as if they never happened and continue to “move.”
Welcome to the fallout
Welcome to resistance
The tension is here
The tension is here
Between who you are and who you could be
Between how it is and how it should be
Okay, so now you’re in a new situation, baby. This world is the “fallout”. Unlike in the womb where everything was your way, out here there will be resistance. Tension is for sure here. There will be resistance and tension if you try to “move”, to make that “move”, to strive for goodness and success. You have to look at who you are, and think that if you do make that move, think of who you could then be. Yes, the world is not the best place, that is how it is, but you can make that move and make it how it should be. Strive to be different and make the “move” and make the world how it should be!
Maybe redemption has stories to tell
Maybe forgiveness is right where you fell
Where can you run to escape from yourself?
Where you gonna go?
Where you gonna go?
Salvation is here
So here the writer is saying, okay, so maybe you are thinking, “you know, why should I have to make the move? Why me? If other before me haven’t, why me?” Well the writer talks about this here. He says, “yeah, maybe redemption has stories to tell.” So, yeah, maybe other people didn’t make the “move”, but they can tell you these great stories about how they were rescued and recovered their life in the end, in this crazy world. Maybe you don’t have to come out and make the move, because others have stories that they tell about being rescued from this badness in the end. Or maybe you’ll fall into forgiveness. Maybe you can just go on and be like the others and join into the “badness” and be at one with the world as how it is, and not make the move and you’ll just be forgiven. But then the writer says, “Okay, if you aren’t going to make the move, and you want to count on having a redemption story, or just being forgiven, where do you plan to run to escape from yourself?” Where you gonna go when you have one of those bad days that you wished hadn’t happened? How you going to escape yourself thinking about that day? How you going to act like it never happened and keep pressing on if you don’t have something to press-on for? If you aren’t making the “move” to go for something, you don’t have anywhere to go to from there.
And this is when the writer winds it all up with basically how he started. He brings it back to what the whole song is about. Salvation is here. Deliverance is in making that “move!” Here is the “move!” So make it!
Everybody wants acceptance.
We all just want some proof.
Everyone’s just looking for the truth.
Everybody just wants to get high.
Sit and watch a perfect world go by.
We’re all looking for love and meaning in our life.
We follow the roads that lead us…
To drugs or Jesus.
I think those lyrics have quite a bit of truth. Maybe everyone isn’t led to “drugs” or “Jesus” specifically, but maybe to the “bad” or the “good” path, you know. But look at your life, you can’t tell me we all don’t want to be accepted. Oh how often we are digging for the truth, and even when we think we’ve found it, we want proof. And when he is talking about wanting to get high and watching a perfect world go by…think about it. No, not necessarily “high” as in drugs, but high as in happy and successful, you know…high up. Be able to sit and watch a perfect world go by, as someone who is rich, successful, powerful, seems to be (though we know life can NEVER be perfect for ANYONE, but anyone who isn’t in that position thinks that’s the “perfect” lifestyle). And I don’t even think I need to go into the looking for love and meaning in our life, part. We all know that’s a constant journey in our daily life!
So…this tidbit of the lyrics from this song have inspired me to actually write this blog that I’ve been meaning to write for MONTHS now. No joke, I have a post-it note with things I want to write blogs about, and this one has been listed on it for a LONG time. I’ve been meaning to write a blog about my love for Switchfoot’s music, especially their song lyrics!
A few months back I fell in love with their WHOLE cd, “A Beautiful Letdown.” I HIGHLY recommend this cd! So many of their songs have GREAT lyrics that make you say to yourself, “that’s SOOO true,” but more importantly, they’ll make you think!
Here is just a few of the good lyrics…
“Ammunition”
Blame it on what you've been through
Blame it on what you're into
Blame it on your religions
Blame it on politicians
(Oh how we as a society love to find SOMETHING to blame our problems on. “Oh children are becoming violent because of _____” or “Teen pregnancy rates wouldn’t be so high if it weren’t for _____”)
“On Fire”
But everything inside you knows
Says more than what you've heard
So much more than empty conversations
Filled with empty words
“24”
At the end of the day
Life is not what I thought it was
Twenty four hours ago
“Gone”
We are not infinite
We are not permanate
Nothing is immediate
We're so confident in our accomplishments
Look at how dark it is
Gone, like Frank Sinatra
Like Elvis and his mom
Like Al Pichino's cash nothing lasts in this life
My highschool dreams are gone
My childhood sweets are gone
Life is a day that doesn't last for long
Life is more than money
Time was never money
Time was never cash
But my favorite song of ALL, was the one I played (no joke) like a million times, especially in my car (CRANKED) and I SOOO sing it out and get into it! It is one of those songs that you can so get into it and seriously feel the song! Like I’d be sitting in my car, having arrived at school early (in order to get a parking spot) so I’m just sitting there in the parking lot, in my car, with this song cranked and singing it! And when you feel this song you are singing with your fists clinched and your eyes closed and just getting into it, because you feel it!
The song is Dare You to Move, and I didn’t see the video for the song, till quite a while after I fell in love with it, so I had already taken on my own beliefs as to what the song was talking about, and while they are “different” from what the video is apparently about, which I suppose that means that is what the song is “truly” about, I still like my meaning for it better, so I’m gonna go on thinking mine! So at this time, I’m gonna go through this song and share with you what I think it means and I think you’ll see why I love this song, as well as why I love to feel it!
Welcome to the planet
Welcome to existence
Everyone's here
Everyone's watching you now
Everybody waits for you now
What happens next?
What happens next?
I think the song is about a baby being born. Welcome to the planet, welcome to existence. When a baby is born everyone is there, and they are watching you now and waiting for you now. So this is where the importance of the song begins, after having set the stage of what is going on. What happens next? This is where, the writer challenges the baby!
I dare you to move
I dare you to move
I dare you to lift yourself up off the floor
I dare you to move
I dare you to move
Like today never happened
Today never happened before
The writer dares the baby to move. To move; to make something of their life! To get up and do something for the good! Make a move against the world and how it is! Lift yourself up, from the floor in this case, as that is where a little baby might find itself in life. You know, on a blanket on the floor. Yes, making the “move” will be a challenge, just as asking a little baby to lift itself up off the floor is a challenge for it. Don’t settle for what comes your way, MOVE and make things happen! I think the like today never happened part can be figuratively describing the process of a baby going from being in the womb to coming out and not being real happy! Let’s face it, babies come out crying because they are no longer in that safe easy environment they had before. Things have changed and they are different. So, the singers (the world) is telling that baby, “You know what, today might not be the best day. Yeah, today sucked, having to go from the ‘perfect’ situation you were in before to being out here, but you know what, act as if this never happened and move on!” That’s how life is. Bad things or bad days will come, but you have to act as if they never happened and continue to “move.”
Welcome to the fallout
Welcome to resistance
The tension is here
The tension is here
Between who you are and who you could be
Between how it is and how it should be
Okay, so now you’re in a new situation, baby. This world is the “fallout”. Unlike in the womb where everything was your way, out here there will be resistance. Tension is for sure here. There will be resistance and tension if you try to “move”, to make that “move”, to strive for goodness and success. You have to look at who you are, and think that if you do make that move, think of who you could then be. Yes, the world is not the best place, that is how it is, but you can make that move and make it how it should be. Strive to be different and make the “move” and make the world how it should be!
Maybe redemption has stories to tell
Maybe forgiveness is right where you fell
Where can you run to escape from yourself?
Where you gonna go?
Where you gonna go?
Salvation is here
So here the writer is saying, okay, so maybe you are thinking, “you know, why should I have to make the move? Why me? If other before me haven’t, why me?” Well the writer talks about this here. He says, “yeah, maybe redemption has stories to tell.” So, yeah, maybe other people didn’t make the “move”, but they can tell you these great stories about how they were rescued and recovered their life in the end, in this crazy world. Maybe you don’t have to come out and make the move, because others have stories that they tell about being rescued from this badness in the end. Or maybe you’ll fall into forgiveness. Maybe you can just go on and be like the others and join into the “badness” and be at one with the world as how it is, and not make the move and you’ll just be forgiven. But then the writer says, “Okay, if you aren’t going to make the move, and you want to count on having a redemption story, or just being forgiven, where do you plan to run to escape from yourself?” Where you gonna go when you have one of those bad days that you wished hadn’t happened? How you going to escape yourself thinking about that day? How you going to act like it never happened and keep pressing on if you don’t have something to press-on for? If you aren’t making the “move” to go for something, you don’t have anywhere to go to from there.
And this is when the writer winds it all up with basically how he started. He brings it back to what the whole song is about. Salvation is here. Deliverance is in making that “move!” Here is the “move!” So make it!
Sunday, March 20, 2005
The Results for the Famous People Study are in!
Here are the results many of you have been waiting for! The results to my Famous People study!
Though I’m not going to post the pictures of the individuals on here, I will name them for you at this time. If you don’t still have your pictures to look at you can email me and I’ll resend them to you if you’d like.
1. Abraham Lincoln
2. Sammy Davis Jr.
3. William Shakespeare
4. Martin Luther King Jr.
5. Connie Chung
6. Franklin D. Roosevelt
7. Edgar Allen Poe
8. Condoleezza Rice
9. Michael Jackson
10. Thomas Jefferson
11. Fidel Castro
12. Benjamin Franklin
13. Audrey Hepburn
14. Adolf Hitler
15. Mark Twain
16. Frederick Douglas
17. Princess Diana
18. Mohandas Gandhi
19. Frank Sinatra
20. Richard Nixon
21. Mother Teresa
22. George W. Bush
23. Elvis Presley
24. Oprah Winfrey
25. Osama Bin Laden
26. Charles Manson
27. Barney
28. Jesus
29. Albert Einstein
30. Babe Ruth
Some of the most common misconceptions were:
6. Lyndon B. Johnson; Dwight Eisenhower; Theodore Roosevelt
7. John Wilkes Booth; Charlie Chaplin
10. George Washington; John Adams; Andrew Jackson
11. Yasser Arafat; Joseph Stalin
13. Katherine Hepburn
15. Albert Einstein (of course, many people just thought it was him until they got to the second page…SERIOUSLY a TON of people thought this)
16. George Washington Carver; Eli Whitney
Now, in any study preformed there will be some limitations. And while I’m not going to take the time to go into all the limitations of this study here, I will share this one, that yes, in the beginning, when I first emailed out this study, I was unaware of the “cheat factor” it had. For SOME of the individuals, the attachment would open in an internet browser window, instead of a Word Document window, which in that case it would allow the person to scroll their mouse over the picture and a link would come up to the website that I got the picture from. And in the link it would have the famous individual’s name. So, with this slight flaw, there is always the thought that some of the individuals that did respond with 30 correct answers might have got a little “added help” from the links. But hey, I needed some sort of a flaw for my ALMOST perfect study, right!? HA!
Anyways…on with the data!
Okay, so I ended up with 78 responses to the survey (thus far), I’m still accepting responses assuming people don’t come get the real answers off this blog! HA!
Let me give you the demographic breakdown first:
Gender:
Females…………………….…..59
Males…………………….…….19
Age:
5-10 years………………….……2
11-20 years………………….…..7
21-30 years………………….…45
31-40 years………………….…..8
41-50 years………………….…..8
51+ years………………….…….8
Educational Background:
Elementary…………………..….2
Middle School…………….……..2
Some High School………………3
High School Graduate…………..6
Some College…………………..24
Bachelors Degree………………22
Some Graduate School……….….8
Masters Degree………………….8
Doctorate………………………..3
Now, having seen these results, some specifics I want to draw your attention to before I reveal the stats for the particular pictures are these:
--It is important to remember that I did get responses from some individuals who are younger than 10, as well as an individual in the 60 years and the 80 years age brackets, so be sure to take this into consideration when looking at these results.
--For example, you might think to yourself, “How might someone not know who Barney is?” Well, it is totally understandable if someone in their 40’s or 50’s has never had kids, they probably don’t sit around the house and watch PBS and keep up with the purple dinosaur shows. Or, someone in their 70’s might have kids, but Barney obviously wasn’t around when their kids were younger.
--Another example, you might think to yourself, “How might someone not know who Michael Jackson or Osama Bin Laden are when they are ALL over the news and television?” Well, I can totally see a 5 year old not knowing either of these two, especially when what they are on the news nowadays is for things I would prefer my five year old not fully knowing about.
So, with these clarifications out there, feel free to see how the results turned out. Below I will list the number and name of the famous person from the study and tell the number of people out of 78 that got that person correct. I will also provide the percent of how many people knew that picture so you don’t have to go figure it out on your own.
1.Abraham Lincoln
Correct: 78 (100%)
2. Sammy Davis Jr.
Correct: 45 (57.7%)
3. William Shakespeare
Correct: 54 (69.2%)
4. Martin Luther King Jr.
Correct: 75 (96.2%)
5. Connie Chung
Correct: 61 (78.2%)
6. Franklin D. Roosevelt
Correct: 28 (35.9%)
7. Edgar Allen Poe
Correct: 22 (28.2%)
8. Condoleezza Rice
Correct: 58 (74.4%)
9. Michael Jackson
Correct: 76 (97.4%)
10. Thomas Jefferson
Correct: 24 (30.8%)
11. Fidel Castro
Correct: 39 (50%)
12. Benjamin Franklin
Correct: 64 (82.1%)
13. Audrey Hepburn
Correct: 42 (53.8%)
14. Adolf Hitler
Correct: 68 (87.2%)
15. Mark Twain
Correct: 41 (52.6%)
16. Frederick Douglas
Correct: 19 (24.4%)
17. Princess Diana
Correct: 65 (83.3%)
18. Mohandas Gandhi
Correct: 61 (78.2%)
19. Frank Sinatra
Correct: 50 (64.1%)
20. Richard Nixon
Correct: 60 (76.9%)
21. Mother Teresa
Correct: 66 (84.6%)
22. George W. Bush
Correct: 78 (100%)
23. Elvis Presley
Correct: 78 (100%)
24. Oprah Winfrey
Correct: 78 (100%)
25. Osama Bin Laden
Correct: 70 (89.7%)
26. Charles Manson
Correct: 28 (35.9%)
27. Barney
Correct: 75 (96.2%)
28. Jesus
Correct: 77 (98.7%)
29. Albert Einstein
Correct: 76 (97.4%)
30. Babe Ruth
Correct: 73 (93.6%)
Here comes the part that is gonna make you feel really good about yourself or not so good about yourself. Hey, let’s all face it, we love to compare ourselves to one another, so let’s see if you did better than most people, or not. ;)
The most frequent number of correct responses was 27 out of 30 correct. The least correct was 6 out of 30 faces correct and that happened 2 times. The most correct was 30 out of 30 correct and that happened 4 times.
The mean or “average” number correct was 22. I suppose this is the number you’ll use to compare yourself to others! ;)
Here is the whole breakdown for number of correct responses:
Number of Correct Responses………………..# of people that got that many correct
6……………………………………………………2
11…………………………………………….……..1
12…………………………………………………...1
14…………………………………………………...4
15…………………………………………………...2
16…………………………………………………...3
17…………………………………………………...2
18…………………………………………………...4
20…………………………………………………...6
21…………………………………………………...7
22…………………………………………………...2
23…………………………………………………...5
24…………………………………………………...7
25…………………………………………………...8
26…………………………………………………...6
27…………………………………………………...9
28…………………………………………………...4
29…………………………………………………...1
30…………………………………………………...4
So, if you are looking at these findings and wanting to know where you fit into the bunch because you don’t know how many you got right, feel free to email me and I’ll gladly tell you how many you got correct.
So…what can we conclude from all of this you ask? Well that Kimberly has more female friends. And that most of her friends either have some college background or have a bachelor’s degree. And….oh okay, maybe that’s not what we’re talking about here….HA!
Okay, what can be concluded from this study is that more people will be able to identify people such as Oprah Winfrey and Barney over some of the American Presidents. Also, as seen from this study, the individuals that are the most recognizable this day in age by their pictures are: Abraham Lincoln, George W. Bush, Elvis Presley, and Oprah Winfrey.
I want to give a thanks again out to all who participated! Thanks for taking your time to complete this study for our viewing entertainment! ;)
Guys, Are the Rumors True?
Okay, I need to have some of the rumors set straight as “truth” or “myth.” I’ve always heard these rumors about what kind of girls a guy prefers or what kind of girls a guy finds attractive, and which girls are a turnoff to a guy. Of course, I realize that it isn’t going to be the same for all guys, but I still wonder how much truth is behind some of these “rumors.”
If you’re a guy, leave me your feedback to these thoughts. If you’re a girl, send all your guy friends to this website and encourage their feedback. Also, if you’re a truly informed girl, feel free to let me know what you might know on these issues. I’ll admit, I’m not real “informed”…HA!
Remember guys (as well as girls), you can post comments anonymously if you want. Don’t worry if you feel your answer or comment might be the unpopular choice….if it is the truth, let us know!
Truth or No Truth….
1. Guys find girls who act ditzy attractive.
(I heard this a lot growing up, like in high school, that guys think when a girl acts, “Uhhh, like, I don’t know”…it is attractive. I personally don’t understand this if it is the case. I find ditziness to be annoying, and I view it in a sense as stupidity and stupidity is definitely a turnoff in a guy for me)
2. Guys would rather not date a girl that has more educational background than he.
(So since I’m working on my Masters, does this mean I’m limiting my guy choices to men with Masters or doctorates? Does a guy view himself “weaker” if the woman has a higher level of education than he?)
3. Guys find a girl in a ball cap as a turnoff.
(Hey, I HAD to ask! HA!)
4. Guys like girls who are in shape, but not necessarily athletic.
(AKA guys don’t dig girls who are into sports, such as watching them on television and knowing statistics and such)
5. Guys won’t date a girl who can beat them in a sport.
(Does this go back to the guy’s need their dominance?)
6. Guys will always pick the girl wearing make-up first, before the girl without make-up.
(So long to the “natural” look, huh?)
7. Guys judge a girl more on her outward appearance than personality.
(i.e. chest and butt)
Tell us the honest truth, fellas. We ladies need some clarification! ;)
And ladies…if there are some other rumors that I’m forgetting about that we need some clarification on, let me know in the comment section and I’ll be sure to add them! ;)
If you’re a guy, leave me your feedback to these thoughts. If you’re a girl, send all your guy friends to this website and encourage their feedback. Also, if you’re a truly informed girl, feel free to let me know what you might know on these issues. I’ll admit, I’m not real “informed”…HA!
Remember guys (as well as girls), you can post comments anonymously if you want. Don’t worry if you feel your answer or comment might be the unpopular choice….if it is the truth, let us know!
Truth or No Truth….
1. Guys find girls who act ditzy attractive.
(I heard this a lot growing up, like in high school, that guys think when a girl acts, “Uhhh, like, I don’t know”…it is attractive. I personally don’t understand this if it is the case. I find ditziness to be annoying, and I view it in a sense as stupidity and stupidity is definitely a turnoff in a guy for me)
2. Guys would rather not date a girl that has more educational background than he.
(So since I’m working on my Masters, does this mean I’m limiting my guy choices to men with Masters or doctorates? Does a guy view himself “weaker” if the woman has a higher level of education than he?)
3. Guys find a girl in a ball cap as a turnoff.
(Hey, I HAD to ask! HA!)
4. Guys like girls who are in shape, but not necessarily athletic.
(AKA guys don’t dig girls who are into sports, such as watching them on television and knowing statistics and such)
5. Guys won’t date a girl who can beat them in a sport.
(Does this go back to the guy’s need their dominance?)
6. Guys will always pick the girl wearing make-up first, before the girl without make-up.
(So long to the “natural” look, huh?)
7. Guys judge a girl more on her outward appearance than personality.
(i.e. chest and butt)
Tell us the honest truth, fellas. We ladies need some clarification! ;)
And ladies…if there are some other rumors that I’m forgetting about that we need some clarification on, let me know in the comment section and I’ll be sure to add them! ;)
Saturday, March 19, 2005
Loving Good People....
So if I had to pick my two favorite things in this world it would love and people. Oh the power of both of them! And you know what, there’s nothing better than the power of the two of them together: the love for good people!
I love just down-right good people! And I love loving just down-right good people! And the best part is that good people tend to share the love of loving! Think about it…you’ll agree! ;)
I’ve been blessed with so many good people in my life! I can’t even being to list them all here whereas the length of blog space as well as my memory would fail me, but I do want to dedicate the rest of this blog to a recent blessing I’ve received from a good person in my life!
It two weeks ago today, March 5th, that I got the following voicemail on my cell phone…
Kimberly….if this is the Kimberly who wrote that beautiful letter about daddy in the Optimist, I’m Phyllis Trevathan and I just wanted to do something for you or sent you something….
It’s just been beautiful….i read it a lot…
And if you’re the one who wrote it…I called St. Louis, but I didn’t get an answer, because I thought that was where you were from.
If this is the Kimberly Smith who wrote that big article in the Optimist about Charles Trevathan, I just would love for you to call me for a minute, then I could call you back, I don’t want you to have to spend money calling me, but I’m in Abilene at ###-###-#### and I’m Phyllis Trevathan and I’ve just been so proud of what you wrote and I just wanted to do something for you or send you something, if I could.
And if you have any time to call me that would be wonderful. Thank you so much and I hope you’re happy in Irving, Texas. Bye.
Now I must say, I was NOT expecting a voicemail like that when I punched in my pass-code on my phone. That call had come out of no where. How had she gotten my number!? She had gone out of her way to track me down to thank me for an article that I wrote at 3:30 AM in the middle of the night after hearing about the passing of a good friend. While that article was written as a tribute to a great man, it was as much as a form of therapy for me as anything.
So, out of shear honor of being called by Mrs. Trevathan herself, I sucked up my nerves and called her back the following day only to miss her and we ended up playing phone tag for the next couple days.
Finally, a few nights following her original call, I got to speak with Mrs. Trevathan. What an honor to hear her talk of her husband and the love they shared for one another! Oh how in love they were! How precious it was to hear her refer to him as “daddy.” I wouldn’t have wanted to spend those 26 minutes on the phone with anyone else at that time being! She had my eyes watering at one point, though she never knew it. I made myself get under control of course though, not to let her hear me choked up in my responses. [I tell ya…good people and love, especially the love they share for one another, gets me EVERY time!]
So, she got my mailing address as she wanted and I got her email address as I wanted.
This week I came home from my spring break road trip to a package in the mailing awaiting me. Inside I would find two Optimist newspapers and a book. The newspapers included a clipping from the Optimist that covered Charles’ funeral, in which she had written on and identified all the people in the picture for me. The second was the entire Optimist which was put out the Friday following his passing which included all the articles that were submitted as tribute to Chuck, including my article….
“Chucky T” Will be Remembered by All
“If you don’t know me by now, [pause], you will never, never, never, know me…” these oh so familiar lyrics to the Lionel Richie song have always been my joke theme song that I tell people I will have played at my funeral. If you know me, you know I do my best to find humor in all situations, even death as you can see in that case, and while it might be considered my way to cope, it is apparent that I would be using humor in a time like this in just that manner, a way to “deal.”
While Richie’s lyrics might ring out to me as an appropriate setting for my funeral, they would have no meaning in Charles Trevathan’s because like oh so many of the greats in our country’s history, Chuck’s legend will only continue to flourish after his passing. No, maybe you won’t be able to get that firm hand-shake or friendly hug when you would go to visit him in his office anymore. And no, you won’t get to hear that distinctive, deep, raspy voice bellowing out throughout the corridors in the basement of the AD building, but you will still hear his stories and through them, others will still get to “know” Charles! Chuck’s stories will always live on!
If you’re still reading this message at this point you are most likely one of two people: you either had the blessing of getting to be a part of one (or more) of Dr. Trevathan’s classes and you find yourself truly missing him right now, or you are someone that knew of his recognition through other students and you found yourself wishing you had registered for your classes earlier than you did that semester because you found yourself, like many other students, looking at an already full class roster next to any of Charles’ courses within hours of registration opening.
If you are in the first group, you have heard the wisdom filled stories Dr. Trevathan brought to his classes and you know they will not end here. His stories will be told for generations to come. You realize that while here on earth we might have lost one of the most humble and loving servants in this world, but you know that through the many individuals that he blessed with his presence, he will live on for many years to come.
If you find yourself in the second group, I bid you my sorrows. If you were not able to get to know Charles Trevathan because you were unable to get into one of his classes, I will be honest and say you really did miss out on an opportunity of a lifetime, but as Charles would want you to know, there are so many other wonderful professor out there, especially at ACU, so take advantage of every opportunity you have to get to know your professors, they really do care! I was just so blessed that I took advantage of my time with “Chucky T!”
Kimberly R. Smith
2004 ACU Alumnus
She chose to sent me a book because as she had said on the phone, “Daddy loved books”…and oh how true was that! He had a passion for reading and learning, which made me truly honored to receive a book in his memory.
The book is entitled A Little Bit of Heaven, and it is a book of stories, quotes, hymns, scriptures, and poems. Inside the cover she had written this:
Dearest Kimberly—May God richly bless you as you serve others.
In Christian Love, Phyllis Trevathan
Had this not been enough, she also enclosed a card. Little did she know that cards are always my favorite part of anything I get! She had expressed during our phone call together how my article as well as all the other notes and things she has received had meant so much to her and how written words can have such power—I couldn’t agree more! Why else would writing an article in the middle of the night have helped me therapeutically?!
So the card which I treasure as much as the book said…
Kimberly, your love and care for my precious husband Charles was such a blessing to him—and me and our family. God bless you and your family. I would love to have you visit me if you can come to Abilene. In Christian Love, Phyllis
(Charles always wanted to give books—and talk about books. Since we are thinking so much about heaven, I thought you might appreciate this book. Charles loved to talk about heaven!)
Wow…she’s just like her husband…those were the last words I heard from him the last time I got to go visit him at his office. He walked me all the way outside the building and as I walked away he reminded me (for about he third time just during that one conversation that day) that he was serious about his offer for me to come stay with him and his wife at his house sometime.
So….she got my mailing address to send me this treasured gift and I got her email address. Why you ask? Because I wanted to share with her the paper I wrote for my graduate school class after her husband’s passing. It was a paper that was to be based on an “older” person’s life story. While we were suppose to interview the person and then write the paper, I wasn’t able to get the interview with my person, but knew enough about him from the stories he had shared with me previously.
I passed my “Life of Charles Trevathan” paper on to Mrs. Trevathan attached to a long email thanking her for contacting me and sharing a part of Charles’ love for books with me. My email shared with her just a small portion of what her husband had meant to me….
Your husband was amazing (as if you didn’t know that already)! He was easily one of the most, if not the most, brilliant and intelligent men I have ever met. As a person who is almost always confident in herself and pretty stubborn, I seldom will ask others for help and advice, always thinking I know best, but your husband was one of the VERY few individuals I would turn to when I wanted advice, because I knew he would always have some words of wisdom for me. I admired his intelligence!
In the classroom I saw him as a grandpa, always willing to share his stories with us “kids” and always wanting to let us in on his life experiences, but in his office I always saw him as a father figure always willing to lend me his guiding hand and words of wisdom when I didn’t know who else to ask for advice from. It’s funny because when I would be having a bummer of a day and couldn’t really get into a good mood (which is actually a pretty rare thing for me) I ALWAYS knew who I wanted and needed to go talk with. I would just show up in the sociology office and your husband would never be too busy to talk (though I knew he always had TONS of other things he should have been doing). And it NEVER failed that I would leave there on a natural high and feeling great! He truly had a gift for making others smile and happy!
Charles helped me so often with questions I had about classes at school, but he helped me the most with making decisions and helping me along the way for choosing and going to a graduate school. He actually wrote my letters of recommendation for graduate school and gave me copies of them. Those letters mean the world to me and I actually have them framed and up here in my room. If there is ANYONE who is great with words, it was Charles!
The Trevathan’s represent “good people.” There’s no doubt that I love and admire people like Charles and Phyllis!
I love just down-right good people! And I love loving just down-right good people! And the best part is that good people tend to share the love of loving! Think about it…you’ll agree! ;)
I’ve been blessed with so many good people in my life! I can’t even being to list them all here whereas the length of blog space as well as my memory would fail me, but I do want to dedicate the rest of this blog to a recent blessing I’ve received from a good person in my life!
It two weeks ago today, March 5th, that I got the following voicemail on my cell phone…
Kimberly….if this is the Kimberly who wrote that beautiful letter about daddy in the Optimist, I’m Phyllis Trevathan and I just wanted to do something for you or sent you something….
It’s just been beautiful….i read it a lot…
And if you’re the one who wrote it…I called St. Louis, but I didn’t get an answer, because I thought that was where you were from.
If this is the Kimberly Smith who wrote that big article in the Optimist about Charles Trevathan, I just would love for you to call me for a minute, then I could call you back, I don’t want you to have to spend money calling me, but I’m in Abilene at ###-###-#### and I’m Phyllis Trevathan and I’ve just been so proud of what you wrote and I just wanted to do something for you or send you something, if I could.
And if you have any time to call me that would be wonderful. Thank you so much and I hope you’re happy in Irving, Texas. Bye.
Now I must say, I was NOT expecting a voicemail like that when I punched in my pass-code on my phone. That call had come out of no where. How had she gotten my number!? She had gone out of her way to track me down to thank me for an article that I wrote at 3:30 AM in the middle of the night after hearing about the passing of a good friend. While that article was written as a tribute to a great man, it was as much as a form of therapy for me as anything.
So, out of shear honor of being called by Mrs. Trevathan herself, I sucked up my nerves and called her back the following day only to miss her and we ended up playing phone tag for the next couple days.
Finally, a few nights following her original call, I got to speak with Mrs. Trevathan. What an honor to hear her talk of her husband and the love they shared for one another! Oh how in love they were! How precious it was to hear her refer to him as “daddy.” I wouldn’t have wanted to spend those 26 minutes on the phone with anyone else at that time being! She had my eyes watering at one point, though she never knew it. I made myself get under control of course though, not to let her hear me choked up in my responses. [I tell ya…good people and love, especially the love they share for one another, gets me EVERY time!]
So, she got my mailing address as she wanted and I got her email address as I wanted.
This week I came home from my spring break road trip to a package in the mailing awaiting me. Inside I would find two Optimist newspapers and a book. The newspapers included a clipping from the Optimist that covered Charles’ funeral, in which she had written on and identified all the people in the picture for me. The second was the entire Optimist which was put out the Friday following his passing which included all the articles that were submitted as tribute to Chuck, including my article….
“Chucky T” Will be Remembered by All
“If you don’t know me by now, [pause], you will never, never, never, know me…” these oh so familiar lyrics to the Lionel Richie song have always been my joke theme song that I tell people I will have played at my funeral. If you know me, you know I do my best to find humor in all situations, even death as you can see in that case, and while it might be considered my way to cope, it is apparent that I would be using humor in a time like this in just that manner, a way to “deal.”
While Richie’s lyrics might ring out to me as an appropriate setting for my funeral, they would have no meaning in Charles Trevathan’s because like oh so many of the greats in our country’s history, Chuck’s legend will only continue to flourish after his passing. No, maybe you won’t be able to get that firm hand-shake or friendly hug when you would go to visit him in his office anymore. And no, you won’t get to hear that distinctive, deep, raspy voice bellowing out throughout the corridors in the basement of the AD building, but you will still hear his stories and through them, others will still get to “know” Charles! Chuck’s stories will always live on!
If you’re still reading this message at this point you are most likely one of two people: you either had the blessing of getting to be a part of one (or more) of Dr. Trevathan’s classes and you find yourself truly missing him right now, or you are someone that knew of his recognition through other students and you found yourself wishing you had registered for your classes earlier than you did that semester because you found yourself, like many other students, looking at an already full class roster next to any of Charles’ courses within hours of registration opening.
If you are in the first group, you have heard the wisdom filled stories Dr. Trevathan brought to his classes and you know they will not end here. His stories will be told for generations to come. You realize that while here on earth we might have lost one of the most humble and loving servants in this world, but you know that through the many individuals that he blessed with his presence, he will live on for many years to come.
If you find yourself in the second group, I bid you my sorrows. If you were not able to get to know Charles Trevathan because you were unable to get into one of his classes, I will be honest and say you really did miss out on an opportunity of a lifetime, but as Charles would want you to know, there are so many other wonderful professor out there, especially at ACU, so take advantage of every opportunity you have to get to know your professors, they really do care! I was just so blessed that I took advantage of my time with “Chucky T!”
Kimberly R. Smith
2004 ACU Alumnus
She chose to sent me a book because as she had said on the phone, “Daddy loved books”…and oh how true was that! He had a passion for reading and learning, which made me truly honored to receive a book in his memory.
The book is entitled A Little Bit of Heaven, and it is a book of stories, quotes, hymns, scriptures, and poems. Inside the cover she had written this:
Dearest Kimberly—May God richly bless you as you serve others.
In Christian Love, Phyllis Trevathan
Had this not been enough, she also enclosed a card. Little did she know that cards are always my favorite part of anything I get! She had expressed during our phone call together how my article as well as all the other notes and things she has received had meant so much to her and how written words can have such power—I couldn’t agree more! Why else would writing an article in the middle of the night have helped me therapeutically?!
So the card which I treasure as much as the book said…
Kimberly, your love and care for my precious husband Charles was such a blessing to him—and me and our family. God bless you and your family. I would love to have you visit me if you can come to Abilene. In Christian Love, Phyllis
(Charles always wanted to give books—and talk about books. Since we are thinking so much about heaven, I thought you might appreciate this book. Charles loved to talk about heaven!)
Wow…she’s just like her husband…those were the last words I heard from him the last time I got to go visit him at his office. He walked me all the way outside the building and as I walked away he reminded me (for about he third time just during that one conversation that day) that he was serious about his offer for me to come stay with him and his wife at his house sometime.
So….she got my mailing address to send me this treasured gift and I got her email address. Why you ask? Because I wanted to share with her the paper I wrote for my graduate school class after her husband’s passing. It was a paper that was to be based on an “older” person’s life story. While we were suppose to interview the person and then write the paper, I wasn’t able to get the interview with my person, but knew enough about him from the stories he had shared with me previously.
I passed my “Life of Charles Trevathan” paper on to Mrs. Trevathan attached to a long email thanking her for contacting me and sharing a part of Charles’ love for books with me. My email shared with her just a small portion of what her husband had meant to me….
Your husband was amazing (as if you didn’t know that already)! He was easily one of the most, if not the most, brilliant and intelligent men I have ever met. As a person who is almost always confident in herself and pretty stubborn, I seldom will ask others for help and advice, always thinking I know best, but your husband was one of the VERY few individuals I would turn to when I wanted advice, because I knew he would always have some words of wisdom for me. I admired his intelligence!
In the classroom I saw him as a grandpa, always willing to share his stories with us “kids” and always wanting to let us in on his life experiences, but in his office I always saw him as a father figure always willing to lend me his guiding hand and words of wisdom when I didn’t know who else to ask for advice from. It’s funny because when I would be having a bummer of a day and couldn’t really get into a good mood (which is actually a pretty rare thing for me) I ALWAYS knew who I wanted and needed to go talk with. I would just show up in the sociology office and your husband would never be too busy to talk (though I knew he always had TONS of other things he should have been doing). And it NEVER failed that I would leave there on a natural high and feeling great! He truly had a gift for making others smile and happy!
Charles helped me so often with questions I had about classes at school, but he helped me the most with making decisions and helping me along the way for choosing and going to a graduate school. He actually wrote my letters of recommendation for graduate school and gave me copies of them. Those letters mean the world to me and I actually have them framed and up here in my room. If there is ANYONE who is great with words, it was Charles!
The Trevathan’s represent “good people.” There’s no doubt that I love and admire people like Charles and Phyllis!
Friday, March 18, 2005
Spring Break 2005
[WARNING: this blog is super long, but what do you expect from a six-day roadtrip with GREAT people! And to think of all the fun stuff I left out!]
I can honestly say this was the best Spring Break I’ve ever had! It began on Friday, March 11th when Holly Herr and I took off for San Antonio from Dallas at about 11 AM. This was going to be both of ours first times to San Antonio and boy were we pumped! I had actually never been to Austin either, so since we had to go through there on the way down, we stopped so I could see the state capital building as well as get a quick glimpse at what all the excitement and spirit for the University of Texas was all about.
What was planned to be about a hour long stop turned into about a 2.5 hour stop! HA! Holly and I walked the perimeter of the capital building taking pictures, walked in the capital building taking pictures, went to the visitor center and took pictures (as well as got brochures and maps) and walked a bit into the UT campus so I could get closer to the ENORMOUS football stadium they have TOWERING over the whole campus. Unfortunately we were too tired to walk ALL the way to the stadium from where we were parked, so we detoured through the social work department building (thought it would be worth checkin’ out since we are both masters’ social work students right now at UT in Arlington). After all that walking and all the quarters for the time we were there in the meter, we were off again to I-35 South to head on to San Antonio!
In San Antonio we were going to be staying at one of Holly’s best friend’s apartment for the weekend. He too was beginning his spring break that week and he had headed outta town that day as well for a cruise, so he left us a key to his place (this was GREAT….free lodging for the weekend!)
We got into San Antonio around 7 PM. It was around 10 PM that our two buddies Brandi and Cheryl who were coming down from Abilene met us at the apartment. With it being so late, Friday night was limited to McDonalds and hittin’ the hay.
Sat. we all got up and went and hit Burger King for breakfast/lunch and then we were on to downtown San Antonio! The Alamo was first on our agenda. That turned out to be pretty cool, I suppose. I personally found it rather disappointing that it is RIGHT down town amidst all the big buildings and shops. I mean heck, there is a HUGE tall hotel directly behind it (kinda gets in the way for pictures). I just find it kinda sad that they have developed the town so closely around such a historic piece of their history; kind of seems to take away from it’s heightened honor and stuff, I suppose. Anyways, the Alamo was cool, but I suppose not growing up a Texan I didn’t find it to be as exciting and “oh my gosh” as I had thought it was going to be. Oh well….i still got some fun pictures there anyhow…HA!
After this we were all hungry and thirsty and tired of being on our feet. Time for the Riverwalk! We went and found a nice little Mexican restaurant and got drinks and appetizers and relaxed for a bit. This was a much needed break as it was a BEAUTIFUL day, yet kind of warm, so we were all thirsty!
I must say, the Riverwalk is really pretty! It is so cool to just stroll along down on the river-level under the shade of the fun trees they have down there!
After this we all headed back to the apartment for a short rest. After about an hour it was about time to get changed and go see what sort of a night life the town had. I have to admit, the Riverwalk is just as pretty at night as it is in the day time! The bridges and trees are lite-up and the boats are still going down the river…just way fun!
The following morning we had planned to get up in time to be at the Riverwalk for the 1 PM St Patricks day parade down the river. This was when they would dye the river green, but we didn’t all get up and get showered and fed in time to make it down there in time for that. Instead we just went down there around 2:30 and rode the riverboat tour thingy. That was a lot of fun and we had a WAY fun, nice guy for our boat tour guide. I got TONS of good pictures during this as well.
Around 4:30 PM we all hit the rode and headed to Abilene. I had never been going this route to Abilene before, but I must say, the scenery down in the south-western part of Texas coming up that way is SOOO pretty! Great hills! Unfortunately, since we got gone so late, the natural light was gone before we knew it and I found myself being more scared driving than I have EVER been before!!!
No, not that I didn’t know where I was going….i’m actually really good with directions and navigating new territories. What I’m referring to is DEER!!!! Yes! That’s right…DEER!
It started when Holly was like, “whoa, did you see that dear on the side of the road?” (which came only minutes after Holly had seen the mating cows on the side of the road…HA!). I was like, “No.” So then we both started talking about stories of people hitting deer in their cars. I still wasn’t all that worried or scared at this point, but it was right after I finished tell Holly about how my one friend had hit a coyote and it totaled her car that I noticed up ahead in the middle of the road TWO deer crossing right in front of me! I IMMEDIATELY yelled something…HA!...and slammed on my breaks! Granted, they were probably still 4 or 5 car lengths ahead of me, but it was just so ironic that it happened right after we were talking about it! So then I was scared. No lie! Being out on these two lane highways in the middle of basically no-where with hardly any other cars out there, with deer crossing in front of me was scary. I was literally going like 50 or 55 in a 65 for the next probably 50 miles. HA! All I could think about was hitting some stupid deer and having my stupid air-bag go off and I would have like whip-lash or a bruised face the rest of my spring break. Or, as Holly and I kept joking about, having the deer go through the windshield and be stuck in the cab with us…HA!
So yeah…no joke, we ended up seeing two more deer on two more occasions after those two that crossed the street (however these deer were on the side of the road and not crossing). So, the moral of this story…BEWARE OF DEER WHEN DRIVING UP FROM SAN ANTONIO TO ABILENE AT NIGHT!!!
Okay, so what’s next….ABILENE!
On Monday, Holly and I went to Chapel, hoping it might be praise day as it sometimes was on the first day back from spring break (since everyone was normally really loud and talkative that day back), but no, and maybe because Brad isn’t in charge anymore, I don’t know. It was actually a really boring Chapel, and my favorite part, the singing, wasn’t all that good either. Only like 3 songs and one of which I didn’t even know.
Then it was lunch time. We had Miss Jennifer Ellison meet us at Joe’s Italian for lunch! FUN! Then we got to see her office at ACU…really cute, decorated a lot like her newly decorated living room at her house…HA!
At 5 PM GATA had a softball game, but ended up not having one since the other team didn’t have enough players, so instead we all just practiced, and that was a BLAST! I LOVED playing with them again! Granted I got nailed with the ball in the shin (since I didn’t get all the way down with my glove to stop the grounder being afraid it might pop-up and take me out…but you know! HA!) We had some WAY fun folks out there practicing with us, so that made for a BLAST! I love being with the GATAs and getting to play sports again!
Then I got to go pick up some Betty Roses and hit my good buddy Becca’s house for some fun talk time and eating with her, Holly, and Laura. What’s better than stuffin’ your face and chatting with some of your favorite people in the world?!?!
The next day was lunch with Laura day! Laura is student teaching right now at a middle school there in town so Holly and I got up and went and picked up Wendy’s to go eat with Laura. The FUNNIEST part was when we got there and went to the office to sign-in. So we walk in and there are three people in there and I go “which of these clipboards is the one for visitors to sign-in on?” And this one lady is all smiling and excited and goes “it’s this one” and walks over and grabs out visitor badges for us and goes “Your daughter is expecting you! I’m so glad you’re here!” Well, of course, I know she must think I’m someone else, but I just let her say that and act like whatever. Well then she is like, “Your daughter is SOOO sweet! She is just a GREAT kid!” So at this point I’m lookin’ at Holly outta the corner of my eye and she is trying not to laugh, and I’m thinkin’, I have to tell this poor lady I’m not here to see my “daughter”…so I’m like “Uh…we’re actually not here to see my daughter” which that actually probably came out sounding like I still had a daughter there but wasn’t there for that purpose…HA! I was like, “we are here to eat with a student teacher, Laura Singleton” and then the other two people in the office started laughing, and this lady got kind of embarrassed I think, but I had to tell her....HA!
Anyways…lunch went GREAT! Laura looked all cute in her teaching outfit and all! And I love getting student teaching and teacher stories from all my friends nowadays! I’ve heard so many from everyone from Sharon, to JWalk, to Laura, to Misty, to Becca, to Janaye. I respect teachers so much (not that I didn’t before now).
That night I went with Holly, Hollie, Cheryl, and Ellison to see Million Dollar Baby. Have I told you before that I’m in LOVE with that movie!?!? It is a MUST see! I’m serious y’all! It will have you thinking about life because of so many things! Anyways…Holly and I had already seen it, but the others hadn’t. So I DEFINITELY wanted their opinions.
Well, the movie ended and everyone else in the theatre exited in complete silence. We all just kept sitting there. It was quiet and I’m thinking, well I gotta know what they think. So I turn to Cheryl and ask and she is like “that was terrible!” HA! I can’t tell you much to explain her saying it was terrible because I don’t want to give away the movie, but she meant it was terrible in a good way (I know that doesn’t make sense, but trust me). She did admit it was a good movie.
So then I turned to Inwood and Ellison. I really wanted to know what Ellison thought, because she was sure to let me know on the way there how I was the only person she had heard say that they liked this movie, all the other comments she had heard were bad (however I think they were all from people who hadn’t seen it…and were just basing it off what they heard about how the movie was….HA!) So I ask Ellison and she goes… “That....movie….was…..AMAZING!” (I put the periods in there to show how she said the sentence very slowly and drawn out, if that makes sense). She was just sitting there in shock, in amazement, she couldn’t believe how much she loved it! She was like, “I think I just need to sit here for a second.” HA! Seriously folks, if a movie can make Inwood and Ellison’s eyes water (not to mention mine too, even the second time watching it)….that movie has some power folks! I LOVE it! We all talked about the movie in the theater sitting there for probably about 3 or 5 minutes and then a lot of the way back home from the theatre too. Seriously, I’ve never seen people leave a theatre in utter silence and in deep thought and contemplation from a movie except from The Passion of the Christ.
[Has this worked?!?! Are you wanting to see this movie yet!?!?! Seriously, I’ll go see it a third time if you want someone to go with you!]
[Why I love this movie so much: good actors; it has a love and strong desire for a sport; it shows a love for a friendship; it will make you cheer, love, cry, grimace, and laugh all in one storyline! And it’s a great movie for girls and guys!]
After the movie that night and went and chilled with my buddy Becca at the library since I she couldn’t come with us to the movie that night because she had to work (and I had moved us going to movie from Monday night to Tuesday night which kept her from being able to go….sorry Becca…I still love you!)
Wednesday didn’t consist of much. Holly and I basically got up and went and got lunch at Little Panda (where we ran into about a MILLION ACUers we knew…ha!) and then hit I-20 home to Dallas.
I must say, this Spring Break rocked just because I got to be with people I love and be unscheduled! I love not having set plans and things I “have” to do. Nothing can beat a trip to Abilene where there are no set plans! Fun people all around!
So, I recommend taking a roadtrip if you can with friends! Or just go visit friends and don’t make any set plans! That is the thing about true friends, y’all can just wing-it and you can have one of the best times of your life!
I can honestly say this was the best Spring Break I’ve ever had! It began on Friday, March 11th when Holly Herr and I took off for San Antonio from Dallas at about 11 AM. This was going to be both of ours first times to San Antonio and boy were we pumped! I had actually never been to Austin either, so since we had to go through there on the way down, we stopped so I could see the state capital building as well as get a quick glimpse at what all the excitement and spirit for the University of Texas was all about.
What was planned to be about a hour long stop turned into about a 2.5 hour stop! HA! Holly and I walked the perimeter of the capital building taking pictures, walked in the capital building taking pictures, went to the visitor center and took pictures (as well as got brochures and maps) and walked a bit into the UT campus so I could get closer to the ENORMOUS football stadium they have TOWERING over the whole campus. Unfortunately we were too tired to walk ALL the way to the stadium from where we were parked, so we detoured through the social work department building (thought it would be worth checkin’ out since we are both masters’ social work students right now at UT in Arlington). After all that walking and all the quarters for the time we were there in the meter, we were off again to I-35 South to head on to San Antonio!
In San Antonio we were going to be staying at one of Holly’s best friend’s apartment for the weekend. He too was beginning his spring break that week and he had headed outta town that day as well for a cruise, so he left us a key to his place (this was GREAT….free lodging for the weekend!)
We got into San Antonio around 7 PM. It was around 10 PM that our two buddies Brandi and Cheryl who were coming down from Abilene met us at the apartment. With it being so late, Friday night was limited to McDonalds and hittin’ the hay.
Sat. we all got up and went and hit Burger King for breakfast/lunch and then we were on to downtown San Antonio! The Alamo was first on our agenda. That turned out to be pretty cool, I suppose. I personally found it rather disappointing that it is RIGHT down town amidst all the big buildings and shops. I mean heck, there is a HUGE tall hotel directly behind it (kinda gets in the way for pictures). I just find it kinda sad that they have developed the town so closely around such a historic piece of their history; kind of seems to take away from it’s heightened honor and stuff, I suppose. Anyways, the Alamo was cool, but I suppose not growing up a Texan I didn’t find it to be as exciting and “oh my gosh” as I had thought it was going to be. Oh well….i still got some fun pictures there anyhow…HA!
After this we were all hungry and thirsty and tired of being on our feet. Time for the Riverwalk! We went and found a nice little Mexican restaurant and got drinks and appetizers and relaxed for a bit. This was a much needed break as it was a BEAUTIFUL day, yet kind of warm, so we were all thirsty!
I must say, the Riverwalk is really pretty! It is so cool to just stroll along down on the river-level under the shade of the fun trees they have down there!
After this we all headed back to the apartment for a short rest. After about an hour it was about time to get changed and go see what sort of a night life the town had. I have to admit, the Riverwalk is just as pretty at night as it is in the day time! The bridges and trees are lite-up and the boats are still going down the river…just way fun!
The following morning we had planned to get up in time to be at the Riverwalk for the 1 PM St Patricks day parade down the river. This was when they would dye the river green, but we didn’t all get up and get showered and fed in time to make it down there in time for that. Instead we just went down there around 2:30 and rode the riverboat tour thingy. That was a lot of fun and we had a WAY fun, nice guy for our boat tour guide. I got TONS of good pictures during this as well.
Around 4:30 PM we all hit the rode and headed to Abilene. I had never been going this route to Abilene before, but I must say, the scenery down in the south-western part of Texas coming up that way is SOOO pretty! Great hills! Unfortunately, since we got gone so late, the natural light was gone before we knew it and I found myself being more scared driving than I have EVER been before!!!
No, not that I didn’t know where I was going….i’m actually really good with directions and navigating new territories. What I’m referring to is DEER!!!! Yes! That’s right…DEER!
It started when Holly was like, “whoa, did you see that dear on the side of the road?” (which came only minutes after Holly had seen the mating cows on the side of the road…HA!). I was like, “No.” So then we both started talking about stories of people hitting deer in their cars. I still wasn’t all that worried or scared at this point, but it was right after I finished tell Holly about how my one friend had hit a coyote and it totaled her car that I noticed up ahead in the middle of the road TWO deer crossing right in front of me! I IMMEDIATELY yelled something…HA!...and slammed on my breaks! Granted, they were probably still 4 or 5 car lengths ahead of me, but it was just so ironic that it happened right after we were talking about it! So then I was scared. No lie! Being out on these two lane highways in the middle of basically no-where with hardly any other cars out there, with deer crossing in front of me was scary. I was literally going like 50 or 55 in a 65 for the next probably 50 miles. HA! All I could think about was hitting some stupid deer and having my stupid air-bag go off and I would have like whip-lash or a bruised face the rest of my spring break. Or, as Holly and I kept joking about, having the deer go through the windshield and be stuck in the cab with us…HA!
So yeah…no joke, we ended up seeing two more deer on two more occasions after those two that crossed the street (however these deer were on the side of the road and not crossing). So, the moral of this story…BEWARE OF DEER WHEN DRIVING UP FROM SAN ANTONIO TO ABILENE AT NIGHT!!!
Okay, so what’s next….ABILENE!
On Monday, Holly and I went to Chapel, hoping it might be praise day as it sometimes was on the first day back from spring break (since everyone was normally really loud and talkative that day back), but no, and maybe because Brad isn’t in charge anymore, I don’t know. It was actually a really boring Chapel, and my favorite part, the singing, wasn’t all that good either. Only like 3 songs and one of which I didn’t even know.
Then it was lunch time. We had Miss Jennifer Ellison meet us at Joe’s Italian for lunch! FUN! Then we got to see her office at ACU…really cute, decorated a lot like her newly decorated living room at her house…HA!
At 5 PM GATA had a softball game, but ended up not having one since the other team didn’t have enough players, so instead we all just practiced, and that was a BLAST! I LOVED playing with them again! Granted I got nailed with the ball in the shin (since I didn’t get all the way down with my glove to stop the grounder being afraid it might pop-up and take me out…but you know! HA!) We had some WAY fun folks out there practicing with us, so that made for a BLAST! I love being with the GATAs and getting to play sports again!
Then I got to go pick up some Betty Roses and hit my good buddy Becca’s house for some fun talk time and eating with her, Holly, and Laura. What’s better than stuffin’ your face and chatting with some of your favorite people in the world?!?!
The next day was lunch with Laura day! Laura is student teaching right now at a middle school there in town so Holly and I got up and went and picked up Wendy’s to go eat with Laura. The FUNNIEST part was when we got there and went to the office to sign-in. So we walk in and there are three people in there and I go “which of these clipboards is the one for visitors to sign-in on?” And this one lady is all smiling and excited and goes “it’s this one” and walks over and grabs out visitor badges for us and goes “Your daughter is expecting you! I’m so glad you’re here!” Well, of course, I know she must think I’m someone else, but I just let her say that and act like whatever. Well then she is like, “Your daughter is SOOO sweet! She is just a GREAT kid!” So at this point I’m lookin’ at Holly outta the corner of my eye and she is trying not to laugh, and I’m thinkin’, I have to tell this poor lady I’m not here to see my “daughter”…so I’m like “Uh…we’re actually not here to see my daughter” which that actually probably came out sounding like I still had a daughter there but wasn’t there for that purpose…HA! I was like, “we are here to eat with a student teacher, Laura Singleton” and then the other two people in the office started laughing, and this lady got kind of embarrassed I think, but I had to tell her....HA!
Anyways…lunch went GREAT! Laura looked all cute in her teaching outfit and all! And I love getting student teaching and teacher stories from all my friends nowadays! I’ve heard so many from everyone from Sharon, to JWalk, to Laura, to Misty, to Becca, to Janaye. I respect teachers so much (not that I didn’t before now).
That night I went with Holly, Hollie, Cheryl, and Ellison to see Million Dollar Baby. Have I told you before that I’m in LOVE with that movie!?!? It is a MUST see! I’m serious y’all! It will have you thinking about life because of so many things! Anyways…Holly and I had already seen it, but the others hadn’t. So I DEFINITELY wanted their opinions.
Well, the movie ended and everyone else in the theatre exited in complete silence. We all just kept sitting there. It was quiet and I’m thinking, well I gotta know what they think. So I turn to Cheryl and ask and she is like “that was terrible!” HA! I can’t tell you much to explain her saying it was terrible because I don’t want to give away the movie, but she meant it was terrible in a good way (I know that doesn’t make sense, but trust me). She did admit it was a good movie.
So then I turned to Inwood and Ellison. I really wanted to know what Ellison thought, because she was sure to let me know on the way there how I was the only person she had heard say that they liked this movie, all the other comments she had heard were bad (however I think they were all from people who hadn’t seen it…and were just basing it off what they heard about how the movie was….HA!) So I ask Ellison and she goes… “That....movie….was…..AMAZING!” (I put the periods in there to show how she said the sentence very slowly and drawn out, if that makes sense). She was just sitting there in shock, in amazement, she couldn’t believe how much she loved it! She was like, “I think I just need to sit here for a second.” HA! Seriously folks, if a movie can make Inwood and Ellison’s eyes water (not to mention mine too, even the second time watching it)….that movie has some power folks! I LOVE it! We all talked about the movie in the theater sitting there for probably about 3 or 5 minutes and then a lot of the way back home from the theatre too. Seriously, I’ve never seen people leave a theatre in utter silence and in deep thought and contemplation from a movie except from The Passion of the Christ.
[Has this worked?!?! Are you wanting to see this movie yet!?!?! Seriously, I’ll go see it a third time if you want someone to go with you!]
[Why I love this movie so much: good actors; it has a love and strong desire for a sport; it shows a love for a friendship; it will make you cheer, love, cry, grimace, and laugh all in one storyline! And it’s a great movie for girls and guys!]
After the movie that night and went and chilled with my buddy Becca at the library since I she couldn’t come with us to the movie that night because she had to work (and I had moved us going to movie from Monday night to Tuesday night which kept her from being able to go….sorry Becca…I still love you!)
Wednesday didn’t consist of much. Holly and I basically got up and went and got lunch at Little Panda (where we ran into about a MILLION ACUers we knew…ha!) and then hit I-20 home to Dallas.
I must say, this Spring Break rocked just because I got to be with people I love and be unscheduled! I love not having set plans and things I “have” to do. Nothing can beat a trip to Abilene where there are no set plans! Fun people all around!
So, I recommend taking a roadtrip if you can with friends! Or just go visit friends and don’t make any set plans! That is the thing about true friends, y’all can just wing-it and you can have one of the best times of your life!
Thursday, March 17, 2005
A Stolen Survey
My idea of a perfect guy:
1. hair color : color doesn’t really matter to me
2. eye color: I pay NO attention to eye color
3. height: as long as he is taller than me we are good (Note: this isn’t hard…5’3” makes the cut…HA!)
4. six pack: of beer cans…no thanks….of abs…that’s cool (but not necessary)
5. long or short hair: short…I hardly ever (I won’t say “never”…but hardly ever) find guys with longer hair attractive
6. glasses: hey…it ain’t like a person can control how bad his/her eye sight is
7. piercings: I don’t really care either way…but sometimes they are attractive…it just totally depends on the guy
8. scars: uhhhh…not sure that I know how to judge a guy by his scars…interestin’…
9. eyebrows: yeah…I’d have to say he would need to have these…I hate to be picky..but you know ;)
10. big butt or little: I don’t even want to get into this…I honestly don’t know how to judge a butt…what really “makes” a butt?!?!
11. chest hair: normally not real attractive, but it ain’t like he can help it…I suppose shave it…but who cares…
12. buff or skinny: he doesn’t have to be either. I mean being a bean poll means either eat more or try lifting weights….but being buff would be requiring more of the guy than I require of myself…so I wouldn’t ask for that
13. straight teeth, gap: who wouldn’t want the gap to stick their tongue through….LOL!!!
14. funny or serious: both are a must. Funny most the time, but knows how to be serious too
15. party or stay at home: I normally just like chillin’ at the casa, but partying can be fun too…I’m just not an extreme partier or anything
16. should he cook or bake: that would be a plus…but not necessary
17. should he have a best friend: EVERYONE needs a best friend (and yes, other than his/her spouse)
18. should he have a lotta girlfriends: I wouldn’t say a “lotta”…but he can have some girls who are friends
19. outgoing or shy: outgoing is fun, but I think most everyone can be shy in one situation or another
20. sarcastic or sincere: both are good ;)
21. should he love his mother: well of course, but he doesn’t have to be a mom’s boy or anything like that
22. should he watch chick flicks: who cares….it would be nice, not that I think I actually watch a lot of chick flicks, but you know
23. would he be a smoker: noppers…kissing guys that smoke is nasty…it’s like kissing an ashtray!
24. would he drink: no much…an occasional drink works, but not a big time drinker
25. would he swear: hey…we all do now and then, but “too much” cussing is a big turnoff….especially with certain cuss words…LOL…as if one should be picky between the different cuss words…LOL.
26. would he play with your hair: nah…I’m not much for havin’ my hair messed with
27. one or more girls at a time: uhhh….not exactly sure what this question is asking…but I’m thinkin’ no
28. would he pay for dates: we can split them for all I care….he and I both take turns
29. does he kiss on the first date: totally depends on how that first date goes ;)
30. where would you go to dinner: fast food and bring it back to the house and watch tv…LOL…I don’t like to go out and eat! HA!
31. would he bring you flowers: if he wants too…I don’t care…but I’ll warn ya now, I’m not real good at takin’ care of flowers…so I suppose he would have to bring them often for them to last around the place….HA!
32. would he lay under the stars with you: you know it!
33. would he write poetry about you: TOTALLY…HA!34. would he call you hunny, sweetie, or baby: every second we were together! But I’m REALLY fond of “snook-ums”…HA! ;)
35. would he hang out with you and YOUR friends: this is a MUST
36. would you hang out with him and HIS friends: absolutely
37. will he walk you to the door at the end: whatever…I mean I can walk by myself, but if he wants too then that’s cool…then I’ll probably get in that awkward situation of being like… “uhhh…you wanna come in….or you wanna just go…or do I just say goodbye…or do I just keep talking” HA!
38. holding hands: that’s cool…but I’m not real good at that one…HA!
39. soccer: ROCKS for playing….okay for watching
40. baseball: FUN for playing…great for watching
41. basketball: ROCKS for playing…okay for watching
42. football: ROCKS for playing and watching
43. water polo: usually pretty sexy to watch, though playing is tough if you can’t swim…so I hope he can swim…I don’t care to watch him drown (nor would I be able to save him!)
44. surf: not really into that so whatever
45. skateboard: not really
46. snowboard: not sure what I think of it…I’d like to try it I suppose, so if he wants to teach me that’s cool
47. sing: he HAS to love to sing and not be embarrassed to sing. I’m not saying he has to be great at it…but most love music and just singing along!
48. play guitar: that would rock
49. play piano: that would rock too
50. play drums: gets a little loud…but still kinda cool
51. clean his room: that would be helpful
52. paint, draw, sculpt: hmmm…we could have fun with that
53. writes his own music: that’s sweet
54. use the word dude: if he wants too
55. use the word tight: if he wants too
56. would he watch the sun rise with you: yeah, but my eyes would be closed and I’d probably be snoring ;)
57. what kind of car does he drive: whatever floats his boat
58. how old is he: I’ve always had this thing about age….he has to be at least my age, most likely older, but not TOO much older…I’m not going to say a cutoff age…but pushing 6-8 years older is getting a bit too old
59. what would his name be: Mortimer
1. hair color : color doesn’t really matter to me
2. eye color: I pay NO attention to eye color
3. height: as long as he is taller than me we are good (Note: this isn’t hard…5’3” makes the cut…HA!)
4. six pack: of beer cans…no thanks….of abs…that’s cool (but not necessary)
5. long or short hair: short…I hardly ever (I won’t say “never”…but hardly ever) find guys with longer hair attractive
6. glasses: hey…it ain’t like a person can control how bad his/her eye sight is
7. piercings: I don’t really care either way…but sometimes they are attractive…it just totally depends on the guy
8. scars: uhhhh…not sure that I know how to judge a guy by his scars…interestin’…
9. eyebrows: yeah…I’d have to say he would need to have these…I hate to be picky..but you know ;)
10. big butt or little: I don’t even want to get into this…I honestly don’t know how to judge a butt…what really “makes” a butt?!?!
11. chest hair: normally not real attractive, but it ain’t like he can help it…I suppose shave it…but who cares…
12. buff or skinny: he doesn’t have to be either. I mean being a bean poll means either eat more or try lifting weights….but being buff would be requiring more of the guy than I require of myself…so I wouldn’t ask for that
13. straight teeth, gap: who wouldn’t want the gap to stick their tongue through….LOL!!!
14. funny or serious: both are a must. Funny most the time, but knows how to be serious too
15. party or stay at home: I normally just like chillin’ at the casa, but partying can be fun too…I’m just not an extreme partier or anything
16. should he cook or bake: that would be a plus…but not necessary
17. should he have a best friend: EVERYONE needs a best friend (and yes, other than his/her spouse)
18. should he have a lotta girlfriends: I wouldn’t say a “lotta”…but he can have some girls who are friends
19. outgoing or shy: outgoing is fun, but I think most everyone can be shy in one situation or another
20. sarcastic or sincere: both are good ;)
21. should he love his mother: well of course, but he doesn’t have to be a mom’s boy or anything like that
22. should he watch chick flicks: who cares….it would be nice, not that I think I actually watch a lot of chick flicks, but you know
23. would he be a smoker: noppers…kissing guys that smoke is nasty…it’s like kissing an ashtray!
24. would he drink: no much…an occasional drink works, but not a big time drinker
25. would he swear: hey…we all do now and then, but “too much” cussing is a big turnoff….especially with certain cuss words…LOL…as if one should be picky between the different cuss words…LOL.
26. would he play with your hair: nah…I’m not much for havin’ my hair messed with
27. one or more girls at a time: uhhh….not exactly sure what this question is asking…but I’m thinkin’ no
28. would he pay for dates: we can split them for all I care….he and I both take turns
29. does he kiss on the first date: totally depends on how that first date goes ;)
30. where would you go to dinner: fast food and bring it back to the house and watch tv…LOL…I don’t like to go out and eat! HA!
31. would he bring you flowers: if he wants too…I don’t care…but I’ll warn ya now, I’m not real good at takin’ care of flowers…so I suppose he would have to bring them often for them to last around the place….HA!
32. would he lay under the stars with you: you know it!
33. would he write poetry about you: TOTALLY…HA!34. would he call you hunny, sweetie, or baby: every second we were together! But I’m REALLY fond of “snook-ums”…HA! ;)
35. would he hang out with you and YOUR friends: this is a MUST
36. would you hang out with him and HIS friends: absolutely
37. will he walk you to the door at the end: whatever…I mean I can walk by myself, but if he wants too then that’s cool…then I’ll probably get in that awkward situation of being like… “uhhh…you wanna come in….or you wanna just go…or do I just say goodbye…or do I just keep talking” HA!
38. holding hands: that’s cool…but I’m not real good at that one…HA!
39. soccer: ROCKS for playing….okay for watching
40. baseball: FUN for playing…great for watching
41. basketball: ROCKS for playing…okay for watching
42. football: ROCKS for playing and watching
43. water polo: usually pretty sexy to watch, though playing is tough if you can’t swim…so I hope he can swim…I don’t care to watch him drown (nor would I be able to save him!)
44. surf: not really into that so whatever
45. skateboard: not really
46. snowboard: not sure what I think of it…I’d like to try it I suppose, so if he wants to teach me that’s cool
47. sing: he HAS to love to sing and not be embarrassed to sing. I’m not saying he has to be great at it…but most love music and just singing along!
48. play guitar: that would rock
49. play piano: that would rock too
50. play drums: gets a little loud…but still kinda cool
51. clean his room: that would be helpful
52. paint, draw, sculpt: hmmm…we could have fun with that
53. writes his own music: that’s sweet
54. use the word dude: if he wants too
55. use the word tight: if he wants too
56. would he watch the sun rise with you: yeah, but my eyes would be closed and I’d probably be snoring ;)
57. what kind of car does he drive: whatever floats his boat
58. how old is he: I’ve always had this thing about age….he has to be at least my age, most likely older, but not TOO much older…I’m not going to say a cutoff age…but pushing 6-8 years older is getting a bit too old
59. what would his name be: Mortimer
My Little Brother is HILAROUS (and he's coming to visit...I pick him up on Saturday!)
HA! So humor seems to run in my family. My little brother is a HOOT! He is 14.5 (will be 15 in June) and a freshman in high school. I wanted to share this email he sent to my older brother, Jeremy, who is 24 and a youth minister living here in Texas. Jeremy passed this email on to me because it was soo funny! HA! My little brother sent the email on March 12th.
My bad i havent checked my e-mail in like........ I can't remeber lol. Mom is always yelling at me to check it i just keep forgeting. I have so much stuff going on right now and lately. I have a 5 page research paper due in english, a honors project in english that is 5 paragraphs, a book report, and a 30 word vocab quiz ALL JUST IN ENGLISH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not to mention my tests all over the place before spring break. Well to much about that, how is life going. Mine is crazy!!! A lot of warcraft frozen throne battle net and civilazation.
My sports is still roaring hard!!! I finally got done with b-ball like the first week of Feb. I got one week to rest and in comes track lol. We are running so much man!!!!! Miles and miles of running, it is killing me. Sprints, stairs, weight lifting (mostly leg stuff) but still, these things called cycles and so on. My muscles in my bottom hurt I didn't even know u had that much muscle in your bottom. LOL!! Can't wait till summer man I will be done with Freshmen days and into Sophmore days. It sounds so little compared to you, Kim, and Jayme. You guys are like OLD LOL!!!!!!! Just playing. Speaking of that man I'm almost 15!!!!! So close. I can get my permit at 15 (even though dad probably won't LET ME) All my friends are getting their permits it is just tizight lol. Dude I have to start checking my e-mail more or else I'll never be able to find out what is going on outside of St. Louie. Speaking of St. Louis I'm so ready to get out of St. Louis and move to Texas!!!!!! But knowing us I won't be able to be in Texas until college.
Ok this is starting to get long dang I can write a long letter who would have though lol. But man I dont know im crazy. I heard Jayme was with u for her spring break last week. Thats tight my spring break isn't till the 18!!!
Ok im out man this is long for me. So tell everyone I said hi. I don't know when I'll be able to write Kim because it is late and I have to go so see ya!!
Your little bro
Ryan
My bad i havent checked my e-mail in like........ I can't remeber lol. Mom is always yelling at me to check it i just keep forgeting. I have so much stuff going on right now and lately. I have a 5 page research paper due in english, a honors project in english that is 5 paragraphs, a book report, and a 30 word vocab quiz ALL JUST IN ENGLISH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not to mention my tests all over the place before spring break. Well to much about that, how is life going. Mine is crazy!!! A lot of warcraft frozen throne battle net and civilazation.
My sports is still roaring hard!!! I finally got done with b-ball like the first week of Feb. I got one week to rest and in comes track lol. We are running so much man!!!!! Miles and miles of running, it is killing me. Sprints, stairs, weight lifting (mostly leg stuff) but still, these things called cycles and so on. My muscles in my bottom hurt I didn't even know u had that much muscle in your bottom. LOL!! Can't wait till summer man I will be done with Freshmen days and into Sophmore days. It sounds so little compared to you, Kim, and Jayme. You guys are like OLD LOL!!!!!!! Just playing. Speaking of that man I'm almost 15!!!!! So close. I can get my permit at 15 (even though dad probably won't LET ME) All my friends are getting their permits it is just tizight lol. Dude I have to start checking my e-mail more or else I'll never be able to find out what is going on outside of St. Louie. Speaking of St. Louis I'm so ready to get out of St. Louis and move to Texas!!!!!! But knowing us I won't be able to be in Texas until college.
Ok this is starting to get long dang I can write a long letter who would have though lol. But man I dont know im crazy. I heard Jayme was with u for her spring break last week. Thats tight my spring break isn't till the 18!!!
Ok im out man this is long for me. So tell everyone I said hi. I don't know when I'll be able to write Kim because it is late and I have to go so see ya!!
Your little bro
Ryan
Thursday, March 10, 2005
And the Fun Shall Begin....
Whelp, I must first apologize for the lack of blogging lately (and no, survey's are really much of blogging...I'm talkin' about "good" blogs that have some quality in the writing). I have been amidst one of my BUSIEST weeks of graduate school yet. This week was mid-terms (the week before Spring Break) and I had an 8-10 page paper, an exam, and a group presentation ALL due in my only two classes on Monday, and then today I have a mid-term exam in one of my classes, so this week was BUSY! And of course with all that due on Monday, it made for a BUSY end of last week and the weekend in preparation for Monday, soooo....not much good blogging....I apologize.
Now, in reward for making it through this week (and doin' it in such good fashion might I add--I think I did GREAT on the tests and paper), I am heading out to San Antonio tomorrow morning with my buddy Holly and we are meeting two of our other buddies, Brandi and Cheryl, there for a weekend of fun!
This will be my first time to visit San Antonio and I'm SOOOO pumped because ever since coming to Texas for school, besides Dallas, which I'd been to several times, the only other places I REALLY wanted to see was Houston and San Antonio. I've currently visited Houston 3 times now so it was just San Antonio left! [I've never really had an interest in Austin, BUT, since we have to go right through it on the way to San An tomorrow, I think Holly and I might stop off there for a bit just so I can say I saw it.
After the fun in San Antonio, I think Sunday afternoonish we are heading up to Abilene for a couple days. Heck, we are on spring break, what's better than seeing your friends on spring break?!?! We're hoping to catch a GATA softball game either Monday or Tuesday night, but we'll see.
So, this is my in advance apology for lack of blogging for the next few days. BUT...I hope to be back in full force blogging next week when I come back since I'll still be on spring break. And y'all know how I LOVE to blog!
Till then...."keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars!" ;)
Now, in reward for making it through this week (and doin' it in such good fashion might I add--I think I did GREAT on the tests and paper), I am heading out to San Antonio tomorrow morning with my buddy Holly and we are meeting two of our other buddies, Brandi and Cheryl, there for a weekend of fun!
This will be my first time to visit San Antonio and I'm SOOOO pumped because ever since coming to Texas for school, besides Dallas, which I'd been to several times, the only other places I REALLY wanted to see was Houston and San Antonio. I've currently visited Houston 3 times now so it was just San Antonio left! [I've never really had an interest in Austin, BUT, since we have to go right through it on the way to San An tomorrow, I think Holly and I might stop off there for a bit just so I can say I saw it.
After the fun in San Antonio, I think Sunday afternoonish we are heading up to Abilene for a couple days. Heck, we are on spring break, what's better than seeing your friends on spring break?!?! We're hoping to catch a GATA softball game either Monday or Tuesday night, but we'll see.
So, this is my in advance apology for lack of blogging for the next few days. BUT...I hope to be back in full force blogging next week when I come back since I'll still be on spring break. And y'all know how I LOVE to blog!
Till then...."keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars!" ;)
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