Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Happy New Year!

In 2008, I:

Traveled through seven different countries in 3 months

Made friends that live all over the world/country

Started Cheerleading

Was in my schools first musical

Started blogging

In 2009, I will:

Spend 5 weeks in Ukraine

Cheerlead- again

Turn 16!

Get my learners permit

Get my drivers license

Celebrate my first year of blogging.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Whacha Get?

So, yea, this post is just a little late.... Mainly because my computer crashed and so now I have to use my moms computer, and I don't like blogging when my parents are in the room and I just remembered my parents read this but I'm too lazy to take that out and this is a really long run on sentence and hopefully people can read it cuz I find run on sentences impossible to read.

Wow.

So anyway, this is what I got for Christmas:

An iPod (4g purple nano)
Two books (Do Hard Things by Alex and Brett Harris, and I forget the name of the other one....)
A Vera Bradly purse
clothes ( a jacket, two rocker tees, and a sweater)
money ($250, but $130 is for travel)
gift cards (to target...)
nail polish
hair dye
So what did you get?
***
My family had the dinner for my extended family at my house this year, which I honestly didn't mind. However, all my cousins are three or more years younger than me, and we got rid of all my toys. So with nothing to do, my cousins decided to play pretend. The story? They were kids home alone one night, and they get robbed, but defeat the robber by beating her up. The robber? Yea, that was me. Fuuuuuuuuuun....

Thursday, December 18, 2008

The Other Side

(This is another assignment for school. The assignment was "If you could create an ulterior persona, what would that person be?")

There was a flurry of activity going on around me. The Prop and Set crews were running around on stage, making sure everything was in place. Makeup artists were putting the final touches on the actors and actresses. Everything had to be perfect for opening night!

If I could create an ulterior persona, it would defiantly be a Broadway actress.... or a concert flutist.... or a singer in a rock band.... or... so many to chose from! I'd probably go with the acting, though.

Acting is one of my first loves, one of the few I'm somewhat nerdy about. I love every thing about it- learning my blocking, memorizing my lines. even the last week of 24/7 rehearsal before opening night. It's stressful, but I love it.


***

The assignment ended there, but I have one more thing to say: PSAT results.

For those of you who don't know what that is, the PSAT is the test you take that prepares you for the SAT, the test you take to get into college. I did OK, I guess...

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Christmas Memories

I wrote this for school today, and thought it would make a good blog, so I decided to post it here! Don't you feel special?

I woke up feeling euphoric in my special Barbie Christmas pajamas to the sound of eggs cooking on the stove and the smell of cinnamon rolls in the oven. At six years old, I had been waiting for this day all year, and couldn't believe it was finally here! I umped out of bed and ran to the stairs, then stopped, remembering that I had to wait for my parents to check and make sure Santa had come.

"Mommy!" I cried. "Daddy! Did Santa come?" My dad walked to the stairs a few minutes later, carrying a steaming mug of tea.

The calming sent drifted up the stairs, as he said "He came. Do you want to open presents or eat breakfast first?

I ran down the stairs, sounding like a stampede of six children. Half an hour later, I was euphoric once again. I had gotten all I wanted and more!

Monday, December 1, 2008

The Closet

I figure it's about time for me to come out of the closet.

NO not the sexuality closet! Two other closets: the political closet and.... the cheerleading closet.

So, yes. I'm a republican. Now, NO MORE POLITICS ON THIS BLOG.

.... And.... I'm a cheerleader. They finally convinced me. I joined the squad mainly because it gets me a gym credit so I don't have to take gym class. I normally play soccer, but It's at the same time as my school's musical, and it's too stressful to do both. I'm finding I somewhat like cheerleading, though.


Honestly, it's not cheerleading that I hate, it's the stereotype of cheerleaders that I hate. "Girls, in short skirts, sitting on the sidelines telling boys to do their best. Chosen for their beauty." And it's not a REAL sport.

I do not concur. That statement is completely false, but I guess cheerleaders deserve it. A lot of girls don't take it seriously, but it really is athletic, with the dancing and all. My squad does between 20 and 40 push ups (man push ups) and between 90 and 150 crunches.


And besides, cheerleaders can spell and count to 8!

Friday, November 28, 2008

AirBlog

Oh. Hello, blog.

I suppose you’re wondering where Faith has been lately. Well, Faith was at her grandparents house in Arizona with no Internet access for a week. No worries, though. Faith is on her way home!

OK, I’m going to stop talking about myself in the third person right now. It’s bothersome.

So much to catch up on!

I’m currently applying to a five week trip to Ukraine next summer. YAY!
Thanksgiving was great- I have the obligatory “what I’m thankful for” post coming up.
Rolling around, serving it up/ bringing us a Cadillac phunque! Sorry, I’m listening to Family Force Five right now. They’re AWESOME!
STOP WHAT YOU’RE DOING RIGHT NOW AND GO SEE TWILIGHT. IT IS MADE OF AWESOME. IT IS NOT CHEESY AND SUCKISH LIKE I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE. GO. NOW. ACTUALLY, WAIT UNTIL YOU’RE DONE READING THIS POST, THEN GO SEE IT.
While in Arizona, we went to the Grand Canyon and Sedona. When I get the pictures I’ll post them. I’m actually writing this is Microsoft Word on my flight home, so I don’t have them with me.
I failed at NaNoWriMo. About three days into it, I got massive writers block and never got past 248 words. Epic Fail. L. OMG I just used a smiley. EPIC FAIL.
I believe that’s it. This didn’t keep me as occupied as I thought it would. Anything else? Oh, yes. I forgot. PAPER TOWNS. (Honestly, how could I forget that?)
Ever hear of John Green? You have now. He’s a writer and one of the founders of nerdfightaria. He recently published a new book (he’s written three) called Paper Towns and it is made of Awesome. In fact, I do believe it RADIATES Awesome. You have to have special Awesome- viewing glasses to see it though.
I passed out on the plane to Arizona. Not fun.

That’s about it. I’ll see you later!

~faith

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Life

I feel like my life is bipolar. Seriously. One minute, my family is ripping each other's throats out, then we're crying, then we're laughing and joking like one big happy family!

Today my dad came back from a five- day trip to Romania. My mom was stressing out all day, because the house was a tad messy and she didn't want to make him mad. On Tuesdays, I have cheer leading practice until 5:30, then my flute lesson on the other side of town at 6:00. Not great to get to. After clearing up mixed signals about which lock on the door was actually locked, we were finally in the car on my way to my lesson. Mom had missed a call while trying to figure out why me and my sister went in through the front door and not the back, and she tried to call him back. Well, the third time she called, he picked up the phone, and she didn't realize it; nor did she realize that she hadn't actually hung up the phone. So she goes off on to some rant about HOW STRESSED she is and HOW DIRTY the house is and how NO ONE picks up the phone when she calls and yadda, yadda, YADDA.

Yea, dad heard all that.

So he comes home and their at each others throats. I didn't hear all of their argument because I took a shower to block it all out, but it sounded pretty bad. Then dad lectures me because apparently I didn't do ANYTHING to help out around the house while he was gone and I blow my parents off and I might not be allowed to go to Spain this spring and I have too minutes to clean my room which even though he hasn't seen it AT ALL since he's been home apparently it's to messy...

Then we start having this serious conversation about my mom's anger issues and how he heard her rant and a bunch of other stuff that's private to my family. And then he says that he might not go to my Grandparents house for thanksgiving with the rest of my family. (My grandparents live in a different state and we'll be there for a while.) And I start crying. And he starts crying. He says he won't leave my mom because he made a vow between her, him and God. But I'm still scared. What if mom decides to leave him? Please pray for my family.

Friday, November 14, 2008

Stuff I hafta do...

This was ruthlessly ripped off of my friend Abby, who stole it from her friend Meow. Both of them have awesome blogs and you all should go read them NOW! THIS VERY INSTANT! BUT READ THE REST OF MY BLOG FIRST!!

KK. So here is my to- do list.

~ Buy more books in the Blue Bloods series
~Finish NaNoWriMo
~Finish my application for the Ukraine trip
~Do my homework (eww...)
~Email Luke
~Study Japanese...
~Study for my Biology test (again, EW)
~Convince my parents to let me see Twilight while in AZ.
~Buy Taylor Swifts new CD (I hate country music, but I love Taylor!)
~Email Abby and Leash
~SLEEP!!


As I said, go read Abby and Meow!

Sunday, November 9, 2008

national anthem

I've noticed something- the national anthem of a country always embodies a part of the culture. Take the US national anthem, for example. It speaks of a time in our country while battling Great Brittan for freedom. How, even in one of the darkest times, the flag still stands- both figuratively and literally. As a child, and even as a tween/ teen, I often wondered why that was our national anthem. Why not the song that so proudly proclaims "I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free! And I won't forget the ones who died; who gave their life for me!" Then I realized, The Star- Spangled Banner is our national anthem for two very important reasons:
1. Proud to be an American was not written at the time,

2. The song embodies how we got our freedom- and we should never forget it.


Now, lets talk the Chinese national anthem. I had the pleasure of befriending a Chinese exchange student last year, and she sang the Chinese national anthem, and explained to me that it is encouraging young men to join the army and fight!- Something very important to the Chinese.

The Canadian national anthem? 20+ verses talking about how much they love their country!

I don't know the national anthem of any other countries, but I'm sure they have two things- national pride, and an embodiment of an issue important to the citizens.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

I finally got fed up with feed burner today, so I'm in the middle of transferring all of my rss subscriptions into google reader.

Honestly, I'm surprised I lasted this long without subcumming to the mindless pull of another google Internet feature. Oh, and I've realized that google is the Wal-Mart of the Internet.

Do you have any idea how hard it is to transfer 38 feeds? It's so time consuming! I've only transferred 16, and it's taken me about 20 minutes! On the upside, I've realized that some people haven't updated their sites in forever because their sites are down, so I stopped reading them, or I added their new sites.

I'm tired.

I'm sorry I suddenly stopped commenting on peoples blogs. I'm really tired, and I have a lot of homework, so I just go through and read, then go on to the next blog. That's also why I haven't posted anything. (that, and the fact that I just haven't felt like it.)

Okay, I have nothing more to say, So I'll post when I can.

~Faith

Thursday, October 9, 2008

CORNY MUSIC JOKES!!!!

I have to admit, I'm a sucker for Corny jokes.

Why? They're not funny?

That's why I love them- They're so stupid, they're funny!

So, I now present a plethora of...

CORNY MUSIC LIGHT BULB JOKES!!!!!

1. How many flutes does it take to change a light bulb?
One- She holds the light bulb and the whole world revolves around her.
I like that one!

2. How many clarinets does it take to change a light bulb?
One to change the light bulb and five flutes to pull the chair out from under her.
how rude!

3. How many saxophones does it take to change a light bulb?
Never mind the changes- we'll just fake it!
So. Freakin'. True!

4. How many trumpets does it take to change a light bulb?
One to change the bulb and four to talk about how they could of done it better.
See my comment about the saxophones. (Sorry dad, but it's true! I'm sorry, that was rather disrespectful. I would send myself to my room with no supper, but I just ate so I cant do that...)

5. How many french horns does it take to change a light bulb?
Just one- but he's got to spend two hours checking the light bulb for alignments and leaks.
I don't know any french horn players, so I have no commentary.

6. How many trombones does it take to change a light bulb?
Trombones don't change light bulbs, they just walk around in the dark and bang their shins!
The trombone player I know would be more like the trumpets...

7. How many euphoniums does it take to change a light bulb?
One to change the light bulb and one to say "isn't that a little high for you?
what's a eupnonium?

8. How many tubas does it take to change a light bulb?
One... four... five... one... four... five... one...
I don't get it...

9. How many percussionists does it take to change a light bulb?
Are you kidding? They haven't seen a light bulb in years!
Haha, that one was actually kind of funny!

10. How many sopranos does it take to change a light bulb?
Sopranos don't need light bulbs- they give off a glow.
... it might be a glow, but it's a glow that kills your eardrums. I'm sorry, that was mean. My ears don't die when I hear sopranos.

11. How many altos does it take to change a light bulb?
Altos can't change light bulbs- they can't reach that high.

... is that something against short people? (I sing alto, and I'm short. It is kind of funny, though.)

12, How many tenors does it take to change a light bulb?
What's change?
I don't get it.
13. How many basses does it take to change a light bulb?
They won't change the light bulb, they'll just sit it the dark and wait for a tenor to do it for them.
Still don't get it. The tenors at my school will be more like the trumpets.

14. How many conductors does it take to change a light bulb?
Who cares? No one's even watching the conductor anyway!
I have to agree with this one!


Yea, that's about it. I hope you enjoyed!

kthxbai.

Monday, October 6, 2008

NaNoWriMo

National Novel Writing Month. AKA: The night of endless All- Nighters.

Basically, members of NaNoWriMo (or Wrimos) write 50K word novel during November, but some are setting personal goals of 100k. Since this is my first time, I'm just going to do 50k. Is anyone else doing it? I think it sounds fun!

Saturday, October 4, 2008

Under the Stars...

... Homecoming '08.



So... last night was my schools homecoming! Compared to last year, it was a tad disappointing. Last years theme was Old Hollywood (or something like that...) and was held at a fancy banquet hall at one of the nicest country clubs in my town, and catered. This years theme was "Night Under the Stars" and was held in the school gym, with deserts. (There was a chocolate fountain, though. It was heaven in a silver dish!) SO. PICTURES.




(I'm the one in the purple.)

I don't care, though. It wasn't that bad. OMG LILY'S (The girl next to me in the first picture) DATE (The only guy in the second picture) WAS SOOOO POLITE! HE KNOWS HOW TO TREAT A LADY! Seriously! At dinner he offered to serve my salad, and all night, whenever we went any were, he always said "Ladies first!" (He's pretty good looking, too!) (Dad, you didn't read that...)

And now I sleep.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Ahhh- mahzing.

James Houston re- created "Nude" by Radiohead using old technology. (Sorry if I made anyone feel old...) All of the audio is actually from the machines that were filmed- it's amazing, and a wonderful piece of art. Even if you're not an artist, it's still amazing, and you should still watch it!

The Life of A High School Student.

Wakes up at a ridiculously early hour, just so they can feel like they got some extra sleep, because it takes at least half an hour to wake up. Proceeds to get dressed, brush teeth, do hair, while simultaneously boiling water for an instant oatmeal breakfast, otherwise breakfast will be a rice crispy treat eaten at the bus stop. Applies makeup after doing hair on a good day. Normally makeup is done outside while waiting for bus and/or in the girls restroom at school before homeroom.

Proceeds to be tortured for the next four hours in school, generally in freezing classrooms while dead tired.

Lunch- the one bright spot in a day of darkness and dis pare...

Band, then spends the next 2 classes thinking "three more classes... two more classes... last class"

Rides bus home, blasting music and wistfully thinking of that glorious day she will get her license....

Gets home, picks up mail, gets on laptop and checks email and other sites, does chores, eats dinner, than does her homework. Goes to bed at 11pm thinking "I need to get to sleep earlier," and the whole process starts again.

Gosh, I can't wait until I graduate! School's going so slow this year.

Friday, September 26, 2008

Pon and Zi

Pon and Zi (pronounced 'z') are two of the most adorable creatures ever! The blue one is the girl and the yellow one is the boy; I don't know which one is Pon and which one is Zi, though.








Falling for you.






Sunday, September 21, 2008

Friday, September 19, 2008

Flyleaf

One of my favorite bands EVER is Flyleaf. I really like their song "I'm So Sick," because it's just so fun to blast, and Lacy is an amazing singer and one of the few girls I've heard that can pull off screaming, but my favorite is "Cassie." The song is about a girl who died during Columbine, and it is an amazing story. When the gunmen started shooting, Cassie Bernall hid in a trashcan, but was found. She was asked to deny Christ and she didn't. I'm always amazed hearing stories like this, where people are told to deny God or die. I pray that if I'm ever in a situation like that, that I will have the courage to do the same.


"I'm So Sick"



"Cassie"



This is the link to a slideshow with pictures of Cassie and another girl who was also killed for her faith set to "Cassie"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwJIW-6bTt0

I also like their song "All Around Me." Honestly, If I could, I would just post all of their songs. All of you should just go and buy their CD, 'cuz it's amazing.

Monday, September 15, 2008

My Balloons

So basically the entire point of this post is to move my previous post down. Don't get me wrong; I like that post, I just think it's been sitting at the top for too long and I need to write a new post.

I'm very happy, because the teachers have been assigning less homework ( YAY FOR COMPLAINING!), and I actually got it done (and started...) before 8:00 tonight.

My school has decided on a musical for this spring, and we are doing Annie Get Your Gun. I added it to our netflix que and it should be coming soon.

I'm... so... tired....

Children 18:3 is made of awesome. :)



Song: All My Balloons

I downloaded a ton of music today because I have two free download cards. Be jealous.


"The words I wrote are a broken chain/ Keeping me from the criminally insane/ But it's gone and there's no stopping/ The words I wrote and the songs I sane/ Keep this ship from sinking to It's grave/ But it's gone and there's no stopping/ All my balloons are popping"

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

I.

I'm really bored.

I like sprite.

I'm tired.

I'm not liking 10th grade right now.

I have waaaaaaaaay to much homework- over 3 hours a night!

I have no idea why I'm writing this.

I'm on youtube.

I just ate dinner.

I actually don't have any homework due tomorrow, aside from studying for an English quiz.

I want books.

I want my band music.

I want to sleep.

I'm on twitter.

I want to write.

I want to make a youtube movie.

I'm creatively dry right now.

I want homecoming not to be in my school gym and still cost $40, the same price as last year which was held at a country club ballroom.

I want to be able to think of good endings for blog posts.

Friday, September 5, 2008

They Know Where You Sleep...

Who is they? They is Google.

I just found this article on the Comcast homepage. It's rather creepy...

Have any of you heard of the recently released google app. Chrome? Me neither, until I read the article. Basically, it logs where you have been one the internet, and if you want to search for something, all you have to do is start typing into the nav bar and links for related websites come into the bar.

Sounds good, right? It's intended to make web searches easier, but it can do more that that...

One story referenced in the article is about a man who searched online banking. Chrome accessed a website and found out account numbers, passwords, everything! As a teen growing up in a quickly digitilized world, I'm a bit scared. When I'm an adult, most thinks will probably be digitilized, and I'll barely have to step out of my house! I personally don't want chrome getting any of my personal information, for any website at all.

The writer of the article is much more fluent than I am, so just go read the article!

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Harry Potter

I picked this up while reading Kaley's archives and decided to do it and save it in my drafts in case I ever needed to post something and had nothing to post. [ Edit: I later decided to post this when the next Harry Potter movie came out, but then they moved the release date to June...) Number your 12 favourite Harry Potter characters, in no particular order, and answer the questions below the cut! No peeking.
1. Luna Lovegood.
2. Fred Weasley.
3. George Weasley.
4. Hermione Granger.
5. Harry Potter.
6. Ronald Weasley.
7. Sirius Black.
8. Remus Lupin.
9. James Potter.
10. Lily Potter.
11. Ginny Weasley.
12. Nymphadora Tonks.
1) Have you ever read a Six/Eleven fanfic before?[Ron/Ginny]
I hope not! 2

) Do you think Four is hot? How hot?[ Hermione]
Ew. I'm straight.

3) What would happen if Twelve got Eight pregnant?[Tonks/Lupin]
Thats Kind of twisted... But not... Cuz they do end up together.... I'M CONFUZZLED!

4) Do you recall any fics about Nine?[James]
yes, but they're all WAY out of character.

5) Would Two and Six make a good couple?[Fred/Ron]
8 -0. EEEEW!!

6) Five/Nine or Five/Ten?[Harry/James][Harry/Lily]
8 -l. No. Impossible, cuz a) They're his parents, and b) they're dead.

7) What would happen if Seven walked in on Two and Twelve having sex?[Sirius] [Fred/Tonks] Were he living, he probably beat up Fred, were he living, for having sex with his BFFL’s woman.

8) Make up a summary of a Three/Ten Fanfic.[George/Lily]
While grieving the loss of his twin, George finds a time turner and *tries* to go back in time to stop his death. Unfortunately, never being taught how to use a time turner, he goes back to far… I really hope that never happens...

9) Is there any such thing as a One/Eight fluff?[Luna/Lupin]
Sure Hope not. 10) Suggest a title for a Seven/Twelve Hurt/Comfort fic.[Sirius/Tonks] "Teddy's Daddy" I don't know...

11) What kind of plot would you use if you wanted Four to de-flower One?[Hermione/Luna] .... What kind of twisted person would write/read about that? 1

2) Does anyone on your friends list read Three het?[George]
What's that? Yes I'm sheltered.

13) Does anyone on your friends list write or draw Eleven?[Ginny]
Yes! We all love her!

14) Would anyone on your friends list write Two/Four/Five?[Fred/Hermione/Harry]
No. We're all Hermione/Ron and Ginny/Harry shippers.

15) What might ten scream at a moment of great passion?[Lily]
... I don't know.

16) If you wrote a song-fic about Eight, what song would you choose?[Lupin]
"Everything You Ever Wanted" By Hawk Nelson

17) If you wrote a One/Six/Twelve fic, what would the warning be?[Luna/Ron/Tonks]
Why would I need a warning? I never write about adult material.

18) What might be a good pick-up line for Ten to use on Two?[Lily/Fred]
.... well considering she's dead, I'm sure it would be something complimenting him on his uncanny ability to make a time-turner... though that wouldn't really be a pick-up line...

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Something is Wrong.

Very wrong. This is the fourth day of my sophomore year, and we already have to write SAT level essays! Seriously! We also have to take PSAT's this year. My parents didn't have to take PSATs until they were juniors!

In other news, my parents are going to a football game today, so Rinny (My sister) and I are making dinner! Or, to be more accurate, I am making dinner. Rinny's the one taking foods class! I really don't care though. We're making stir fry! Yummy! It's nice hosting an exchange student though, because she really is like my sister, but we're friends as well, so there really is so sibling rivalry. I think she's really cool, and we have a lot of the same interests, as well.

Okey-doke. I don't have anything more to say right now, so I shall see you later!

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

My Sister's Back!

So my "sister" (actually an exchange student who's been living with us the past few years) came back from Korea today! YAY! Me and Lily asked her to get us some socks, because Korean socks are SO cute! She got A TON. We're each allowed five, and these are my five:




Aren't they adorable!




Last year she got me these slippers:






and Lily stole and wore them every time she came to my house, so I asked her to get a pair for Lily so Lily wouldn't steal mine. These are Lilys:




And she got me these ones, too!



I'm really excited to have Yearin ("Rinny") back. I'd take her picture, but she won't let me because she has zits. (They're barely noticeable!)

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Lily-time!

Friday morning I woke up to my father shouting "Faith, Lily's here!"

Thinking it was a ruse to get me out of bed, I rolled over and shouted back "No, she's not!"

"Yes, she is!"

That's when I heard her, rambling about some bug on my sidewalk.

Once I finally got out of bed, dressed, and ate, we listened to Jonas Brothers on the 30- minute drive to my grandparents house, where we enjoyed a morning of swimming and critiquing each others dives and perfecting our own. After a lunch of pizza, we swam for another hour, then drove back home and took Lily to Field hockey practice.

While Lily was learning how to hit a ball with a stick, dad took me to Old Navy to buy some back- to- school clothes.

We went to a Japanese restaurant for dinner where we were served by a hot Japanese waiter with hackin' awesome shoes.

We stayed up late, and at midnight (literally- it was 12:00 on the nose!) we ate ramen and hot chocolate while watching Ella Enchanted.

After waking up at 11:30 today, we went shopping! We went to Aeropostale, PacSun, Journeys, Hot Topic, Victoria's Secret, and American Eagle, but we didn't buy stuff from all of those places.

I saw a lot of stuff I want, but I can't afford them right now, because I have no job. I got shoelaces at hot topic for my converse, and a shirt at American Eagle.

Tomorrow is my last day of freedom.

I Caved to Peer Pressure.

My heart is pounding.

I can't believe I did what I just did.

Everyone else was doing it, I thought it would be fine.

It wasn't. I became addicted.

It started out innocent, posting an update once a day.

But that once a day update soon turned into posting something almost every time I went online.

I'm sorry. I joined twitter.

www.titter.com/dreamincolor93

Ignore the warnings. Come to the dark side. (We have cookies! :D)

Countdown to school: 2 DAYS!!

Friday, August 22, 2008

I Hate Physco- Analyzing Books.

I really do.

This is how I look after an hour of trying to write my report on Of Mice and Men:





Family Force Five is helping, though.


Thursday, August 21, 2008

Four

Okeydoke.

Part One: Enjoy the many posts you shall get this week, because next week I lose my freedom for the next few months. Why? Three words: Back. To. School.

Part Two: I get to enjoy a weekend of Lily before we go back to school! (Even though we go to the same school and are in the same homeroom and are pretty much in the same classes, at least I think, and our lockers are usually next to each othe) Tonight is back to school night and so we'll see each other there, then tomorrow we're going swimming in the morning, and after her field hockey practice she's spending the night, and on Saturday we're going shopping!

Part Three: Self Defense. Person A. told Person B. who told Lily who told me about this video, and know I must tell someone about it, so I'm telling you guys, and you must pass on this video! (JK. You don't have to. If you really want to break a tradition you can...)



AVOID BEING MUGGED AND FOLLOW HIS ADVICE.

Part Four: Merry Christmas!

His name is Brad Stine and he is very funny!
Countdown to school: FOUR DAYS. :(

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Ukraine in Pictures

Our compartment on the train to Odessa.

"Mother Russia" and Vladimir Lennon... or Joseph Stalin...

Random Animals from the villages...

Mom and Dad chilling out...
Downtown Kyiv


Chornoybl Museum:

This says "Dedicated to the * This is a message from*
memory of our deceased *firefighters in NY. I'm *
brothers/ from the * not sure what it says...*
firefighters
of the United States of America"

Me is bo- red.

And Me wants to write a blog post.

Since my last two posts were pretty serious, I thought I would do a lighter post today, and tell you how I'm spending my last week of freedom.

GUESS WHAT! I GOT BREAKING DAWN! I like it, but apparently a lot of people didn't... I don't think that more people disliked it, I just think that the people who didn't like it are being more vocal in their opinions. It's not my favorite of the series, but I like it.

On Friday my dad is taking me and my best friend Lily to my grandparents pool to swim, and Lily will probably spend the night at my house. That means pictures and a blog post! (If Lily lets me; I will respect her privacy!)

I recently got a blue tooth! I'm actually talking on it right now! It's actually my mom's old one, she never used it so she and dad gave it to me.

Talk about multi- tasking- I'm making brownies, talking on the phone, and typing at the same time!

Sometime between today and Friday, I'm going back to school shopping. My school has a new dress code this year, and we're not allowed to wear jeans. Since I only have three pairs of pants that aren't jeans, and I'm not the biggest fan of skirts, I need some new clothes! I also need some new school supplies because most of mine from last year are worn out.

Okey- doke. I don't know how to end this so I'll just end it here.

Adios!

~Faith

Monday, August 18, 2008

Ukraine Follow-up

I'm back! Well, sort of. I'm actually writing this somewhere over the Atlantic ocean on a Boeing 757 on my way home from Amsterdam! Nim's Island just finished showing; the credits are playing now.
The trip was really good, though there wasn't much for me to do. One of the things we did was take a tour of downtown Odessa (Oдeca) and the underground catacombs, where the resistance to the Nazi's lived/fought for three years!
Downtown Odessa has beautiful architecture.

This just looks like a false facade, but the building is actually triangularly built! I thought it was kind of interesting...


Facade... ... actual building!

Odessa's port:

and the street behind it...

(I'm not quite sure who that's a statue of...)

The Catacombs:
Their kitchen...

Their motivation...
This says "blood for blood, death for death"

Their "firewall" (I forget the actual term...)
The infirmary...

The memorial to them...

I've gained a lot from my "Summer of Chaos"; including the "courage" to call it what it really is- A summer of missions and outreach. At first I was embarrassed to call it Summer of Missions, because I know non-Christians read this blog and I thought it would hurt my readership. Now, I don't really care. This blog isn't for them- it's for me! Yea, it's nice to have readers/comments, and yea, I might not be overt about my faith, but I still want to reach out to people and I realize I shouldn't chance things around just to try to get more readers. If someone doesn't want to read my blog because I'm a christian, so be it.
After traveling to poorer countries this summer, I feel like a spoiled brat, to put it lightly. These people have so little! I wouldn't go so far as to say "They're so happy!" because, one, that's to cliché for me, and two, it's not true! These people are searching for something, but they haven't found it!
I don't know where exactly I was going with this, but let me end with this:
Go on a missions/international trip at least once in your life. You will be touched forever by what you see- I know I have. After my first trip three years ago to Costa Rica, I wanted to stay forever!
Bottom line is, seeing poverty on TV is nothing like seeing it first hand, and I'm so glad I've had the opportunities I've had.