hey there,

long time no see.
it's been a while since i updated this again, it just seems that i'm not very good at keeping up to date with daily journal type things.

here's what's going on in my life right now:
summer 2008, working & hanging out basically.
fields & i are fantastic, still as of right now unofficial, but hopefully that is very soon to change. we pretty much are together, he just needs to go thru the courtesy of talking to my dad to make it well, officially official, haha. he is basically amazing, i have to say. it's only been about seven months since we started talking & liking each other and whatnot, & in that time, we've grown so close. it hasn't even been rushed or anything, we've had time to take it slow and just talk and get to know each other without it being all about physical affection, which is truly refreshing.. just knowing that he really cares about me for me. he listens, he understands, he's really supportive and encouraging.. i really don't know how i got so lucky. it's funny cuz i never saw any of this coming.. after i broke up with john, i figured i was done with relationships for a while. i was just going to have fun, hang out with my girls, & enjoy the drama-free single life. what's happened with fields kind of just snuck up on me.. but it's truly been a blessing. :] so hopefully real soon i can call him my official boyfriend, hehe. i feel kind of bad b/c i feel like maybe he might be a little pressured to talk to my dad cuz i keep asking if he's done it yet.. i think i'll lay off on that for awhile & just see what happens, hehe. dad already thinks he's my boyfriend anyway, it's really funny :P

other than that, my family & i are going to japan for two weeks, which should be loads of fun :] we're going to pig out & shop like mad :D should be a good time, hopefully there will be some good quality family bonding time, hehe.

school starts in like a month and a half, on september 2nd, which seems like a while from now, but i just know it's going to creep up on me. i feel kind of ready to start school already, but at the same time definitely not.. i like the feeling of not having homework to do or assigned readings to attend to, hehe. it's certainly much more relaxing. i just hope that when the semester does start, i won't have too much reading to do, and i won't get stressed out too much, and i'll still have time to unwind, relax, & hang out. but part of me is looking forward to school starting up again, to just get into that routine and get things accomplished, move forward in my life.

i've been contemplating studying abroad for a semester, and i think this coming spring would be a good time to do that. then when i get back it's another four months of summer vacation.. plus this coming spring, fields is going to be gone for three months anyway, doing a rotation for work thing that's slated to last from like march to may, i think. good time to go off and see the world, yes? i've been trying to look online about information about all that, but i think my best bet would be to go to some of the informational sessions they have during the semester. right now i'm thinking, italy, japan, thailand, or the UK would be really awesome to go to. thing is, after this coming fall 08 semester is over, i'll have already completed my general education requirements, so i'm hoping that i'll be able to take courses that'll work towards whatever degree i'm going to get here. on that note, i've still been saying that i'll probably end up a math major, but i still haven't figured out what i'm going to do with it if i do. computer science is a possible minor/double major as well, but we'll have to see. i need to take the intro course for that sometime. but yeahh, since i always liked math during high school and before, i really hope that that can still be applicable in college. my first choice of linear algebra wasn't the best, but i'm giving college math another chance. we'll see how that goes. i just hope i can figure out a good career i'll be happy with before i graduate. admirable goal, no? hehe.

in other news, i've still obviously been hanging out with the LBC Church group, and they're all still amazing. it makes me think about my faith and religion all the more. i know there are differences, but there are many similarities, too. i'm still just trying to learn about it all. it's the same God, the same Bible (more or less), still His Word, & the same Jesus Christ that died for our sins.. so i don't really understand why there has to be a distinction between all the denominations & branches of Christianity and whatnot. that's something i still have yet to get a grasp on. because every now and then mom keeps bringing up how i might be 'converted' or whatever.. when really i'm just trying to learn. and i think if i decided to become a Baptist it wouldn't be such a bad thing. this week the Virgin Mary statue is at our house, which means we have this booklet to go thru of prayers & praying the rosary.. i asked my mom yesterday after we were done why we did it, b/c some of the stuff in the booklet was outta date.. like there was something in there about "the conversion of Russia" or something, i don't really know. she kind of got defensive and just kept saying we're praying for everybody and so we have to pray it a lot. which is fine & all, i just want to understand the purpose of it.. like i think you can still pray for everyone without repeating standardized prayers.. in my opinion, faith is all in putting meaning behind your prayers. i don't particularly like i guess the whole droning on of standardized prayers, b/c it's so easy to get lost in what you're saying & just routinely say it w/o thinking about what exactly it is you're saying. so.. i dunno. i'm still very confused on all of this, but i hope to learn more about the differences in beliefs and figure out what i want to choose for myself as i go along.