Day 25 — Your day, in great detail

Welp, today wasn't anything exceptional, but I feel like blogging. :)

Today's Thursday, July 29, and I had no work, so I got to sleep in. I slept til about 940am, got up and made myself a yummy breakfast of hot dogs, eggs, and rice (kinda typical Filipino breakfast :P). I ate said breakfast in front of the tube watching America's Next Top Model. I watched two or three and a half episodes of Cycle 5 yesterday on Oxygen, and there was only another episode and a half left until the finale, but I had to leave for Ultimate Frisbee, so I recorded it. The show's kind of addicting, I have to admit, haha.

After breakfast, I spent a bit of time on my laptop, checking my typical email and Facebook. Took a shower, and then spent a good amount of time deciding what to pack for my weekend trip to Virginia Beach. I've never been to Virginia Beach before, and I'm going with my boyfriend and a couple of our friends, so hopefully it'll be a good, relaxing time :) I checked the weather, and it looks like it's going to rain on Sunday (just 40% chance tho), and it's raining now, which is unfortunate, but okay b/c we're leaving Sunday and I think tomorrow and Saturday will be okay.

After getting pretty much all of my packing done, my sister and I headed out. First stop was the dry cleaner's to pick up some of Fields' stuff for him because he had a crazy amount of stuff to do for work before our weekend trip because of the travel for work he's got coming up (I'm not even sure if he's home yet, and it's half past eight! Ridiculous.). After that we stopped by Kohl's because I thought Mom had said they had backpacks there and my sis has been looking for a new one, but we didn't see any there. So we trotted off to the clothes section instead, where we ran into my math buddy Katie (Of course we would run into each other at Kohl's, we both love that store and actually went there on our last day of classes, haha), so that was pretty cool to catch up with her for a bit :) I got myself two new shirts, one to match a brown skirt I have that needed a solid top, and this other shirt that I just found hilarious:

Lol, I love it. :P

It looks like the same design style as this other shirt I saw at JCPenney a long while ago that I really wanted, but I didn't see any other sizes that would fit me :( I got a picture of that one on my phone too, though, so I can at least still view it for my own amusement :P

After Kohl's, we headed for the library, which was my sister's reason for even coming out with me in the first place, haha. Three movies that she had put on hold came in, so we picked those up. She's on a Miyazaki fix right now, so she got Princess Mononoke and The Cat Returns, as well as The Girl Who Leapt Through Time from the creators of Digimon (I think that's what she told me). I hadn't seen The Girl Who Leapt Through Time before, but I'd heard of it (still can't remember where), so we watched that in our basement after we got home. I really liked it! It was funny and quirky and cute, although the ending to me left more to be desired. It wasn't an unhappy ending, but I always like my romantic happily ever after type endings, haha. Basically, he should have kissed her and then stuck around. I even painted a picture in my head of what my preferred ending should have looked like and described it all out to my sister, who seemed quite amused by my ranting and raving. All in all, though, it was a really enjoyable movie with relatable characters and beautiful imagery, and I'd definitely recommend seeing it, especially if you're into anime :)

 

After the movie, my sister and I came upstairs and went into our separate bedrooms, and I've pretty much just been chilling on my computer since. The plan for the rest of the night I guess is to chill on the World Wide Web for a bit longer, check and make sure I've packed everything I need for the weekend, watch some tv or another movie, and then read some of my bible before heading to sleep.

Like I said, today wasn't exceptional, but it wasn't a bad day by any means. It's been pretty enjoyable :)

Day 24 — Whatever tickles your fancy

I wants me some crazy maki.

I'm not a big sushi person, but this sushi that we tried at a restaurant called Misato the last night we were in the Philippines was absolutely delectable. The rice was coated with crunchy tempura bits and it was all topped off with a bunch of crab meat. It might have been more crab meat actually inside the roll with the seaweed and all, buuuut I don't actually know since I just ate each sushi piece in one go. It was quite a mouthful.

Nom nom nom.. I wants sooome.

Why do I always get hungry right before it's time to sleep? -_-

Right now I'm thinking I may try to brave some Chipotle after work tomorrow. I haven't had any since I've been back from the PI because my stomach just hasn't worked up a big enough appetite yet. I guess I'll have to see tomorrow if tummy's up for the tasty challenge... :]

| edit - Thurs, July 29 | 

Just in case you were wondering, my stomach totally lived up to the Chipotle challenge the next day. :P

Days 20-23

I'm kind of tired of dragging out this 30-day blog thing, so here's a four-in-one! :)

Day 20 — A hobby of yours
In my spare time, I obviously spend quite a bit of time on the internet. Facebook is checked quite regularly, I'll admit, but more often than not it's more of a distraction from something I'm supposed to be doing rather than something I just lounge on all day and night long. Nah, my time on the internet is often spent watching videos on YouTube or something of the like - it's kind of ridiculous how quickly time passes when watching video after video after random video. I also watch episodes of Supernatural (other shows too, if I want to catch up, but right now I'm on Supernatural :] ).

Other hobbies? I've been a bookworm ever since I was a kid. Heck, reading Nancy Drew by flashlight in the third grade is the reason I have glasses, I'm pretty sure. While I don't read as often as I used to, I still enjoy it just as much, and if I find a really good book/series, I can still probably finish one book in a few days to a week. There's just something about getting lost in another world with awesome characters that is so engrossing :)

Day 21 — A recipe
Step 1: Take a box of your favorite cereal from the pantry.
Step 2: Pour some into a bowl.
Step 3: Add milk.
Step 4: Enjoy. They're grrrrreat! :P

I was going to try my hand at learning to cook this summer, but it's just been so much busier than I anticipated :( I do know how to make some things, like shrimp alfredo & breakfast burritos, but it doesn't stretch much further than that.

Day 22 — A website
Wong Fu Productions. These guys are genius! I always love their videos. Most of them are funny, but there are also some touching ones and awesome music videos mixed in, too. They're creative, cute, and clever. Check them out! :)

Day 23 — A YouTube video
A cute face and a random decisive click on YouTube led me to this music video, which I find fairly adorable :) ["Superman" - Joe Brooks]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otx0Bnru0dY

A couple steps closer..

I am getting ever closer to crossing the Atlantic Ocean and setting foot in Europe for the first time in my life! If you'll notice, I now have a countdown at the top of my page for the day I leave for my study abroad experience in Alba, Italy. Currently it says "It is 1 month, 2 weeks, & 2 days until I venture out for adventures across the ocean!" So exciting! :)

I've known for a while already when my departure date would be due to the schedule that the school's International Education has more or less in place for us, but I didn't want to put up a countdown until there was more.. official-ness. :P So what makes it more official today? Well, my plane ticket was secured about a week and a half ago, and today I now have my visa!

The visa was considerably easier to get than I expected. My boyfriend and I left this past Friday afternoon to go find the Italian embassy in DC, which was a mini-adventure (not exactly the fun kind) in and of itself. As a side note, I would never want to live in Washington DC - or any city, really, not my scene.. too busy and bustling and generally more polluted and crowded, with a higher risk of getting mugged - but anyway, DC is just so confusing. Whoever decided the layout of the streets and how to name them had extremely poor organizational skills. Most cities I think have pretty square layouts, right? If you look at a map, I imagine for other cities you'd see sensible blocks and straight streets with straightforward names like 1st St., 2nd St., etc, that follow a sensible order. DC had numbered streets, sure, that followed a somewhat logical order, and then it had roads like the one we needed to follow called Massachusetts Avenue, which we saw started as New York Avenue, changed back to Massachusetts, cut a corner through Mt. Vernon, then back to Massachusetts. Who does that?!? Just because Massachusetts takes a slight turn does not mean you need to rename it New York Ave. Mapquest should not be telling me that "Mt. Vernon Pl NW becomes Massachusetts Ave NW."  Roads should not have multiple identities! I declare that streets should not be permitted to have schizophrenia. And how does making a right turn off of Massachusetts, then an immediate left, and a turn around a roundabout take you back to the "same" road? Ridiculous. DC is completely ridiculous. If Fields hadn't taken me to get my visa, I might never have gotten to the embassy. I'd prolly have just gotten hopelessly and completely, frustratingly lost.

Anyway. After trickily navigating through the labyrinthine DC streets, we made it to the embassy. We got a pass from the guys at the gate and pushed buttons to open the doors (weird) to the consulate/visa office. It wasn't at all what I pictured it might look like. I imagined a nice classy open room with fancy desks where I could talk to a friendly person and get what I needed done. This looked more like a clinic waiting room. Very bare room, 3 counters with glass windows and little trays to slide documents from one side to the other. It kind of made me feel like I was in prison, not allowed to have any contact with the person on the other side of the glass (not that I wanted to anyway, but still, it wasn't very friendly feeling).

So I stepped up to the first free counter, and the guy behind the glass is still shuffling some stuff around his counter space, so I waited. Then he looked up at me and said nothing, so after a pause I asked what he needed, unsure of whether I should give him all the documents at once or if he wanted some certain thing first. I asked very politely, and it's not like I was taking a long time, but he responded, "Just give me everything!" quite impatiently. I was taken aback a bit, so I start rifling through my folders to get out what I knew was needed. As I'm doing so, he repeats "Everything, just give me everything," and I'm like okayy, I'm getting to it, just hold your horses buddy, you don't need my entire folder filled with everything the school's given us for the study abroad program. It was just like, my goodness. He's only working 2.5 hours every. other. day, what the heck is his problem? (That's another thing, the Visa office is only open MWF from 10am-1230pm, and they only take calls from 2pm-4pm. What?) So it was just like okay, here you go. Then he tells me I don't have bank statements that I need, and I'm like Crap. I forgot. , which just served to add to the feeling of incompetency his tone of voice and bored stare was giving me. Thankfully though, I didn't have to go back to the embassy to get it to them, I could fax them. So I faxed those in yesterday morning (Might I add that I think the fax number he gave me was wrong, because I tried like 3 times with it and it kept saying there was no response, so I had to use the one on the Italian Embassy website that was different).

And then today, upon arriving home from my dental appointment, I see on my bed the familiar pre-paid express mail envelope that I had to get ($18.30  just for an over-sized envelope! Agh. But that's what they required -_-) so they could mail my passport and such back to me. So this leads me to think Maybe the visa office isn't so bad after all. Regardless of their ridiculous hours and less than hospitable clerks, I have my visa! So I theoretically shouldn't have to deal with those or DC's insanity-inspired roads anymore. Hooray!

This means that I am pretty set to go to Italy aside from, you know, packing. :P There are also some other things I want to check up on, like the banking situation, voltage differences for the electronics I want to use, and possibly getting an International SIM card or whatever it's called for my phone. But still, the time-sensitive required stuff is good to go!

It still feels pretty surreal that I've got less than 2 months til I'll be in Italy. I'm starting to feel the excitement and anticipation build, along with some anxiousness. I don't know anybody in the group that's going, but hopefully that changes fast, cuz I need travel buddies! That's another thing: Where should I plan to go while I'm abroad? Hopefully I will have lots of travel opportunities while I'm there! And there's also the matter of getting a feel for the Italian language (we'll have a class there, but I've heard it's not the most efficient at getting realistically acclimated).. So much to do and think about in the next six and a half weeks! :)

Mabuhay!

[Wikipedia:]
"Mabuhay (pronunciation: mah-BOO-high) is a Tagalog word used to exclaim "long live". Comparable to the Romance language expression “Vive, Viva”, the salute associated with this exclamation; in which both arms are raised above the head in unison three times, is similar to that used in the Banzai. The expression is most often used at toasts (cheers!) during gatherings and parties, at rallies, political conferences, or for praising notable individuals. It is also an expression used in welcoming guests and a way of showing hospitality.
The root word buhay means life."

So my family and I just returned from a 3 and a half week long trip to the Philippines, where I gave my tagalog a good workout, haha. I wouldn't call myself entirely fluent, but I know enough to converse and get by, thanks to a 6-week stay there when I was 7 years old and had to pick up the language so my cousins would talk to me (they said I spoke English too fast for them to understand, so naturally, I had to conform, considering they outnumbered me :P). 

It was a pretty great trip, I hadn't been back to the PI since 2005 so it was really nice to see family again and all that. Some of my younger cousins have gotten so grown up, I can't get over it! We also got a lot of shopping done, plus we took a trip down to Boracay, which is basically the Hawaii of the Philippines, so it was amazing. We were there for I think about four days, and it was just so gorgeous. White sand all along the beach and into the water; no rocks or coral reefs to watch out for when swimming or anything! We also got to watch a show called ASAP (I don't know why it's called that, I'm pretty sure it doesn't stand for As Soon As Possible), which involves a bunch of the Filipino celebrities singing and dancing to mostly songs that are popular here in America. My parents watch it here in the states on TFC (The Filipino Channel), & usually I'm not really into it cuz I'm of the opinion where songs are most often best when sung by the original singers, but this particular show we went to I actually really enjoyed. They started with "Play that Funky Music," so it was really upbeat and got us all into the show, they did another Michael Jackson tribute including a slower version of "Thriller," which was interesting and actually sounded pretty good. Overall, I think there was more dancing and performances of songs from Filipino artists, which made the whole show more entertaining to watch for me. We have it recorded here on TFC at home, but still have yet to watch it. Our cousins and friends told us they focused on us several times (probably because we're considerably taller than the average Filipino :P), so that'll be cool to see ourselves on TV, haha.

 I have a bit over 1000 pictures/videos from the whole trip just on my camera, and then there are more from Dad's camera, so I've still gotta sort thru all of that and pick out the best ones and post some on FB. Dad has some cool panoramic shots on his cam as well as shots of fish-feeding and helmet diving in Boracay, but here's a sneak peek at some of our PI adventures from my batch of photos :)

Taal volcano as seen from a restaurant in Tagaytay

 Sunset in Boracay :]

Cousins :P

All in all, it was a fun trip, but it definitely feels good to be home sweet home. :)

Day 19 — A talent of yours

(I like how this 30 Day thing is going to take me like 3 months total by the time I'm done... :P)

Hmm, a talent, eh? I wouldn't really call myself talented, to be honest. I sing, I used to play the piano, I used to draw, but not so much anymore. I've never been amazing at singing or playing the piano, although I do enjoy both. I was pretty good at drawing, especially at copying a picture, particularly cartoon characters and animals. I think I was pretty good at shading and blending with colored pencils, but I don't really do that anymore; I used to just do them for art projects for class and such. I like to think I have somewhat of an eye for photographic shots, but I don't really utilize this "talent" if it is one, especially since I don't know all the fancy skills and attributes used in photography (ISO, shutter speed, aperture.. yeahh, I don't really know what any of those are or how they affect the photo being taken).. I do think it'd be a pretty cool hobby to pick up though, several of my friends took Photography in high school and they enjoy it as well.

Soo, in summary, I guess I'd consider myself fairly artsy, but only if I've got a project to work on. It's not a hobby of mine to draw or take pictures or anything, although that would be nice.. I guess I'm just lazy or have other things to do with my time :)

To end, though, here's an example of what I used to do with colored pencils if you wanna check that out: [Link]

Day 18 — Whatever tickles your fancy

Today feels like it's going to be a good day :)

To start, I woke up this morning at 820am (fairly early for me, not "sleeping the day away," as my boyfriend would put it, haha) and decided to finish up the book I've been reading: The Wedding, by Nicholas Sparks. It's a follow-up to The Notebook, and while I can't say I found The Notebook to be completely memorable (probably because I watched the movie before I read the book), I will admit that I've fallen in love with The Wedding, and I consider it one of my faves from Nicholas Sparks, with the other being The Guardian.

It's such a charming and cute story. It's about a couple who is coming up on their 30th wedding anniversary; It's written from the POV of the husband, who has been kind of neglectful during their life together, putting his career first and leaving the child-rearing responsibilities to his wife. Now their children have all moved out, but they are still stuck in the same groove, just living their lives together but separate, each having their own individual routine. The story follows their 30th year together, with Wilson (the hubby) trying to find ways for them to reconnect again.

It had me laughing out loud at some parts, and tearing up a little on others. The characters are lovable and totally relatable to and I think the situation the couple found themselves in is completely realistic, which is why I think I adored this book so much :)

So now I'm kind of on a lovey dovey high and just in a jolly giddy mood, and I hope it lasts for the rest of the day :) I'm thinking it's going to be a pretty chill day. It's Saturday morning, my family is gone prepping for the Fil-Am Fiesta they'll all be going to later. Later this evening I'll be hanging with my best bud Kirsten, and then we're going to join our other best buds, the lovely LC ladies, at Samm's for some night swimming (hopefully it won't rain!) and some good ol' hangout time. :) In the meantime, I am just hanging out at home. I'm thinking I'll watch a little bit of Supernatural after I post this blog, and then I really ought to get some packing done.

My family's taking a 3 1/2 week trip to the PI, and we're leaving later this coming week. I'm kind of excited about it, kind of complacent about it, too. It'll surely be nice to see our family there again, considering it's been about 5 years since I last visited. 3 1/2 weeks is a long time though... I'm kind of treating this as packing practice for when I go to Italy, haha. A little transition from living out of a suitcase for 3 1/2 weeks to about 3 1/2 months in the fall, I guess, haha.  But yeahh, hopefully it'll be an enjoyable trip :)

It's pretty crazy to think that it's already mid-June. By the time I get back from the PI, the summer will already be half-over! This summer has definitely been busier than I anticipated it would be.. in a good way, I guess. It's certainly been a lazy summer, what with me working only 3 days a week, but surprisingly, my free time has still been pretty ocupado. I imagined that I would have a ton of time this summer to just chill and do absolutely nothing in particular, just chill at home and read or watch my shows and movies and such, basically just have some me time, y'know? While I have def gotten to do more reading and vegging in front of the TV or computer in the past month, it still seems that even during my free time there's always things that need to be done. I haven't really gotten to do more exercising, like running or doing crunches, little stuff like that on a regular basis.. although Frisbee still keeps me pretty active :) I also haven't really gotten to try my hand at experimenting with cooking like I wanted to.. hopefully maybe in the last couple months of summer? :)

So yeah.. even though I haven't gotten to veg out as much as I imagined I would, I'd def say this summer has been going great. I've gotten to see my best friends a little more often and I think I'm loosening up quite a bit more from the rigor of the semester so my life is feeling quite a bit more laid-back, which is definitely nice.

To recap on some recent events, last week I celebrated my 21st birthday, so there was quite a bit going on then :)

Wednesday: I turned 21! Fields & I went to the MVA to get my new grown-up horizontal full driver's license, and then we headed up to DC to catch Shear Madness at the Kennedy Center, which was pretty entertaining.
Thursday: We had lunch with Fields' gramma and dad, and then later in the afternoon headed up to Potomac Mills to meet up with Kirsten and her friend who has in town. The mall was kind of a bummer, I typically am able to find a lot of stuff I like to buy, but a lot of the stores were closed down for new stores opening up, and all I found was a pair of sneakers (which I do really like and am glad I got, don't get me wrong, haha). Even so, it was worth driving up just to get to hang out with them for the evening :)
Friday: My parents treated us to a dinner cruise on The Odyssey in DC. It was pretty cool, I'd say.. nothing amazing, but it was pretty nice and relaxing, and I sure don't mind having a reason to dress up :P
Saturday: My math buddie Katie got married! I got to see Carla, Lydia, and Jessie as well, so it was like a mini-math reunion. It was a beautiful ceremony, Katie looked gorgeous and so happy, and it was great to hangout with everyone for a bit :)
Sunday: My birthday party! It was a pretty small gathering, just the LC ladies and a few others, but I think (I hope) everyone had a good time. We watched Liar, Liar, sang some karaoke and played some DDR (of course ;P), and then wrapped up the evening by watching some of our old videos that we made and reminiscing. Good times :]

I still don't feel any different now that I'm 21. I've tried a couple alcoholic drinks, but so far the experience of it hasn't been very positive, haha. I've decided that if I'm going to drink anything alcoholic, I just want it to taste like juice. Or, I'll just drink juice, to keep things simple, haha. :P

I think that's about all the updates I have for now. Basically, life is good and treating me well :)

Day 17 — An art piece (painting, drawing, sculpture, etc.)

[Link]

I haven't been on DeviantArt in forever, but I went on one day randomly like last week and looked up some Glee fanart, and this was by far like the most adorable thing I've seen. It's my desktop background now.. I love Glee! :D

There's also this fanart of Supernatural.. can you believe that's hand-drawn?? Amazing! I also looove Supernatural (especially Dean! :P). I'm caught up through Season 4 now and the plot is just craaaazy! I love it :P Gonna have to catch up with Season 5 online or something and then maybe I can watch Season 6 (the last one!) when it airs in the fall (well, via Hulu anyway since I'll be abroad.. :P)! :]

[Link]

Day 16 — A song that makes you cry (or nearly)

Songs don't typically make me cry. They're only on average like 3 or 4 minutes long, and most of the time they're just playing in the background as I go about my day. The only times I will cry as a result of a song is if the lyrics really relate to some hardship that I am currently going through at that point of time in my life. That's not too too often, I'm glad to say.

Books and movies now, though, I am far more likely to cry for. Movies last two hours, books usually even longer (probably a week at least for me). This gives me time to get attached to the characters, relate to their situations, and feel for them if something bad happens. The book I've cried hardest upon finishing it was My Sister's Keeper. The movie definitely did not do it any justice at all; I mean, I cried at the end of the movie, but I was outright bawling when I finished the book.

The movie I've cried hardest during was definitely The Passion of Christ. I don't cry when I read about Jesus' crucifixion in the bible, though.. this isn't to say that the movie was better than the book in this case, you can't really compare the Bible to any movie because duh, it's God's word and that surpasses anything earthly of course. But I don't know, somehow seeing the events play out on the screen made the story more.. not necessarily more real, but more tangible, to me. I've more thoughts on this subject, but that's really all I've got to say about that for now.

Day 15 — A fanfic

So I don't typically read any fanfictions (I think I read some when I went through a Backstreet Boys phase in middle school, and I read one that someone had written as though Disney Channel's Phil of the Future were made into a movie), but this one is Samm's Twilight fanfic for Jacob: http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/notes/samantha-kenney/twilight-its-jacobs-turn/238249255040. I don't know if the link would work for anyone who's not her friend on Facebook, but it's pretty much the only one I've read in recent years, and I like it! Samm, you need to write moooore, please :P

Day 14 — A non-fictional book

The Bible.

"Turn it Off" - Paramore

I scraped my knees while I was praying, and found a demon in my safest haven, seems like it's getting harder to believe in anything than just to get lost in all my selfish thoughts.

I wanna know what it'd be like to find perfection in my pride, to see nothing in the light.

I'll turn it off in all my spite;

In all my spite, I'll turn it off. 

And the worst part is before it gets any better, we're headed for a cliff.

And in the free fall, I will realize I'm better off when I hit the bottom.

The tragedy, it seems unending.

I'm watching everyone I looked up to break and bending.

We're taking shortcuts and false solutions just to come out the hero.

Well, I can see behind the curtain; the wheels are cranking, turning.

It's all wrong, the way we're working towards a goal that's non-existent. 

It's not existent, but we just keep believing.

And the worst part is before it gets any better, we're headed for a cliff.

And in the free fall, I will realize I'm better off when I hit the bottom.

I wanna know what it'd be like to find perfection in my pride, to see nothing in the light.

I'll turn it off in all my spite;

In all my spite, I'll turn it off.

And the worst part is before it gets any better, we're headed for a cliff.

And in the free fall, I will realize I'm better off when I hit the bottom.

And the worst part is before it gets any better, we're headed for a cliff.

And in the free fall, I will realize I'm better off when I hit the bottom.

___________________________________

Well, maybe I know somewhere, deep in my soul, that love never lasts. And we've got to find other ways to make it alone or keep a straight face..

I'm not giving up.

Day 13 — A fictional book

Yesterday, I finished my first book of the summer: The Lucky One, by Nicholas Sparks. I love his books, and I am slowly but surely making my way through reading all of them. :) While The Lucky One was pretty good and definitely had me on the edge of my seat (I read probably somewhere between 1/2 to 2/3 of it yesterday in one sitting until I finished it), had me laughing out loud, and reading as fast as I could to find out if one of the characters died only to be relieved that he was okay.. The Guardian is definitely still my favorite out of the Nicholas Sparks books I've read so far.

This one so far I have found the most memorable and the most touching. It would have been even more so if someone hadn't spoiled it for me when I was reading it for the first time in high school... I remember standing outside the school one morning leaning against the brick wall waiting for them to let us inside at like 750am or whatever, and one of my classmates comes up to me and is like "Isn't that the one where this happens?" I'm not going to spoil it for those of you that haven't read it, but I obviously hadn't read up to that part yet. But yes, this is the one where that happens. I don't know if I would've seen it coming anyway if he hadn't spoiled it, but still. I was pretty peeved.

Nevertheless, this is still an amazing book and if you haven't read it, I highly recommend it :)

I love reading. I've always been a bookworm, and I'm so glad now that it's summer because that means I'll probably actually get to do more leisure reading. I already have two other Nicholas Sparks books borrowed from the library, I have a book by Sarah Dessen that I bought months back but haven't managed to crack open, I still need to read Dan Brown's latest book, and I'm still in the middle of the Left Behind series. I actually have a Books to Read file on my computer so I can make note of books I've seen that sound interesting, and if ever I'm actually unsure of what to read next, I can consult my list. I'm a big fan of lists ;P

I love getting lost in a good book, and the books are pretty much definitely always better than the movies. :)

Grades!

Our spring semester grades were posted today, and guess what??





I GOT STRAIGHT A'S! :D

I don't mean to brag or anything like that, but I'm just really proud of myself. :) There were a couple of classes where I really wasn't sure I could do it, so I was figuring I'd get a B, which still would have been good, but this is awesome! This was the one semester where I overloaded on upper level classes, the most rigorous, time-consuming, and challenging semester of my life, and so it is such a reward to see those 5 glorious A's all lined up all in a neat column, untainted by an A- or any B's. This is seriously the first semester I've had in college where I got straight A's, and I am absolutely ecstatic. All that hard work has paid off. :)

Candlelight.

Tonight, I went to the candlelight vigil for Taylor Hubbard at Great Mills High School. It was truly amazing. It was simply and beautifully done. So many people, each with their own candle, in my opinion representing the light that Taylor was in their life. Even though I didn't know him well at all, I considered him a friend and it was great hearing all the stories and memories that his closer friends shared. I shed a good many tears, and my heart went out to all of those that were fortunate enough to be close to Taylor. It broke my heart when his dad went up at the end, holding his mom close, the both of them trembling, voice breaking, thanking everyone for being there. I continue to pray for Taylor's family and friends. Although he is in a better place now, it is still hard to see someone so special go.

It certainly was sad, but I felt that as memory after fond memory was shared, the night took on a more joyous note. Yes, we mourn Taylor's death, but moreso we celebrate his life and rejoice in the joy and love he spread to each and every one of the many people he met during his lifetime. My feeling at the end of the two hours tonight was that Taylor's light that we are familiar with is still shining as bright as ever.

It is not up to us to understand God's plans; we must simply trust in them and trust in Him. I like to think that maybe the Lord has plans for Taylor that are bigger even than anything he could have done here on earth.

(Proverbs 3:5) Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding;

(Jeremiah 29:11) "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

RIP Taylor..

I've known people before that died, but it didn't really hit me until today - that awful realization that those people I used to see around and talk to are gone. It's awful, I know, that I didn't really feel anything for those other people, but today, I lost a friend. Not someone I just knew by name or face, but someone I had actually talked to, hugged, laughed with, and played wicked fast games of ERS with.. I didn't really know him that well at all, but I wish I had. I had physics with him my senior year of high school, and let me tell you, he was one cool kid. He was smart, always smiling, and an all-around fun-loving guy.

My heart goes out to his family and best friends.. I can't imagine the devastation I would feel if something happened to someone I loved that much..

The day this picture was taken, I was crying because it was my last day of high school ever, and I was sad that I wouldn't be seeing all the cool people I hung out with there much anymore. Today, I cried because now nobody will get to see and hang out with the wonderful person that is Taylor Hubbard anymore..

Lord, I trust that you have your reasons for taking him and that he is in a better place now. I'm thankful that I was at least able to call Taylor a friend for the short time that I knew him in high school. Please take care of him, as well as his family and friends.

Rest in peace, Taylor Hubbard <3

Day 12 — Whatever tickles your fancy

SUMMER 2010 IS HERE!

Well, it has been here for like four and a half days now, but I've been pretty busy actually. It doesn't quite feel like it really is summer just yet, probably because I've still been on campus every day for work. Probably next week when I take a day to just sleep, lounge around in my jammies all day and do absolutely nothing, it'll start to sink in :)

This summer, since I'm not going to be working as much as I usually do, I want to take some time to make some personal improvements in my life - things that I should or want to make a more regular part of my day to day living:

Summer Want-to-do's:

• Cook!
  Cooking is definitely a necessary life skill. Kirsten & Jessica are gonna help me out on this one :)
• Exercise!
  ...Definitely would be good to pick up on this now before all the junk I eat catches up to me later in life, haha. I'm thinking of investing in a WiiFit since I had such a blast with Jessica's XD
• Play piano
  I played again one night a couple weeks ago, & I do kind of miss it. I really enjoy being able to play, it's just a matter of practicing, which is what gets me, because it sometimes starts to feel like a chore. That, and I am awful at keeping the tempo. I still think it'd be nice to pick back up though, especially since I'm the only one in the fam that plays, so it'd be good to give the piano some use.
• I can't remember what else belongs on this list right now. That's okay. Time for sleep I guess :) Going to SMCM's graduation tomorrow to see some of my friends graduate, and then another day of work. 

CONGRATULATIONS SMCM CLASS OF 2010! :D

Day 11 — A photo of you taken recently

I recently brought the bangs back. Haven't had em probably since I was as little as I was in the picture in my last post :P Here are some pictures of me being silly & playing around with my newish look the day I got my hair did :)

Day 10 — A photo of you taken over ten years ago

Me at like 3 years old in my awesome room with awesome decorations. :P

Day 09 — A photo you took

<3

My mommy & daddy are still young and in love :)