My cat thinks my bed is her bed.

Random post title... I was trying to think of one and my cat jumps on my bed and stretches out like its hers.  Oh, the diva. 

Sooo... I changed my blog title... I like this one better because a) I'm a bit of a linguistics nerd, (I'm one of 5 Spanish three students this year and plan to take Spanish 4 next year PLUS Russian at a local college and I'm actually upset that my school won't offer AP Spanish until after I graduate) b) I like how poetic it sounds, and c) It fits me better now- I've realised a lot of my posts centre around me trying to figure out stuff. (because that's so poetic...)
 
In other news, school is OK, I guess.  We have a bunch of new rules that I think are kind of dumb, like if we miss more than 10 classes a year we cant pass the class we missed unless we have a valid reason, and family trips aren't a valid reason.  I'm a bit pissed at this because of reasons previously explained. (Please take a moment to read this post if not done so... I don't feel like re- explaining myself.)   So going down to AZ is going to give me 6 days of already if we want to be there the day before the wedding, which will probably happen because my mom is reading scripture at the wedding and therefore we'll probably need to be there for the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner.  If my aunts wedding and my grandmothers 70th birthday aren't valid reasons, I don't know what is other than Cholera or some other terminal illness.  Never have I been so thankful to have a doctor dad and a nurse mom- I never missed school for sickness unless I was throwing up or worse... 

Little Faith: Mom... I don't feel good....

Mom:  Here's an alive, now get ready for school and talk to me if you still feel sick later. 

It's things like those that strengthened my immune system, and now I rarely get sick!  (Although I do get migraines occasionally, which kinda suck.)

Ohh... I might have to wait more to get my wisdom teeth out... I like that... (Just so, you know, I don't miss more than 10 days of class while in horrendous pain from major dental surgery and can graduate on time.  [ my wisdom teeth haven't developed roots or started coming it yet, but they're compacting my front teeth, so my orthodontist said that I would have to get them out at the end of the summer weather they've come in or not, but I was in Ukraine this summer, so I didn't get them out, so I don't know when I'll get them out... whoa, run- on sentence!])

Anyway, I still have to finish my online health course, so I'll go work on that now... Oh crap, I have to pack my lunch still! 

Adios!

Days left of school: 178

Health lessons left:3

We don't need no education, we don't need no mind controll.

In less than 12 hours, I will officially begin my Junior year of high school. I will be an upperclassman, and I will have started the hardest and the most important year of school. STRESS CITY. I have mixed feelings about this. For one, I can't wait to see my friends again and to have structure in my life, and not spend all day melting my brain on the computer. (*cough facebook cough*) But this also means SATs, PSATs, College, getting good grades, figuring what the heck it is I want to be when I grow up, what I want to study in college, finding a job, studying, studying, studying. Oh, and I can't forget to enjoy my youth and high school experience because there is nothing else like it! :-D. That's hard to remember when your brain is LITERALLY hurting during standardized exams.

In case any of you care, heeeeere's my schedule!

Period 1: Bible

Period 2: English

Period 3: Alg 2

Period 4: Band

Period 5: Chemistry

Period 6: Choir

Period 7: Spanish

Period 8: Creative writing.

I don't know if those are the actual periods or not, but those are my classes...


Days until school starts: NONE. >3. <---- You know how < 3 (lessthanthree) makes a heart? Well, that is morethanthree- a non- heart!! el oh el I'm so funny!


Good bye.

From my heart...

I feel like such a spoiled little bitch! I'm not used to being told about budget matters, or being told I can't do something because my family doesn't have enough money. But today Lily texted me and asked if my family wanted to go to a Japanese restaurant, and I asked my mom and she said sure. Since my dad was working it was just mom, Lena (our exchange student from Russia) and me.

My dad has a job where he works late, and he calls when he leaves work and is on his way home. He asked what we did and I told him about going out to dinner with Lily. Dad said that he would have to re-work the budget because of that.

Now, I don't know if we really didn't have the money, or if dad was just being a tightwad, but I felt so SPOILED! I'm so used to just going out to eat when I ask and going on nice vacations all the time, I never think about money unless it's my own. I'm not the type of girl that gets everything she wants when ever she asks, but I'm not used to hearing "we didn't have the money for that..." I felt like such a spoiled rotten bitch that is used to getting everything she wants from daddy!

I know I'm not. I hardly ever get new clothes unless I pay for them myself, and I have to pay for my trips myself. Three years ago my dad changed jobs and took a pay cut. Not a large one, but it made an impact. And of course, three years ago the economy started going downhill.

I hate that I have so much stuff! And I hate that I never use a lot of it. But hearing about the budget made me realise that I'm growing up- and with growing up comes responsibility. I'm going to have to learn to manage money and a budget, pay for EVERYTHING myself, pay off student loans, rent, insurance, mortgage, all of that! I'm so excited to grow up and be on my own, but I never think about all the responsibility that comes with it.

I'm not ready for it. And I'm seriously scared out of my mind!

PS: Sorry for the swearing... I was upset when I wrote this. But It's how I feel...

Can I have a child?

So here's the thing- I REALLY want to sponsor a child. Specifically a Child in eastern Europe/ a former Soviet country. Unfortunately Compassion International, a really great christian organisation, does not sponsor children from Europe.

When many people think of sponsoring a child, they think of Africa and Latin America. And while children there are living in extreme poverty and need help, there are also many children in Europe who need the same love and compassion. There are many children living in orphanages that are HIV+ or abandoned by their parents because they do not have enough money to care for them. In Ukraine, for instance, the orphanages are filled with children like this and it is becoming increasingly harder to adopt from there. It is also highly filled with human trafficking- in fact, when I was in Ukraine, we think that our compound was across the street from a brothel.

Europe is generally thought of as one of the "richer" and "more developed" areas of the world, while western Europe is highly developed and has more money, eastern Europe tends to have more poverty, especially the former USSR. But that is where my heart is- and that is where I want to take the gospel and share God's love. I'm in high school, and I can only travel during my summer holidays. But even though I have to stay in America during the school year, I can still share His love internationally from my own home by sponsoring a child. So I'm asking you all- Do you know of any credible, christian organisations that I can sponsor a European child through?

This is Marsha, a Russian Girl who I met and love.

One oh One and a Purple Door

So remember last week when I told y'all about Day Zero Project? Well, here's a short update.

We're a week into the project and I already have two goals completed and a bunch in progress! Goals number 1 and 37 are completed! Goal #1 was to dye my hair, and as you can see with the previous blog post, that one is now completed! Goal #37 was to buy a belt from Hot Topic, and that is now completed with my brand new piano seat belt! I would show you a picture from the website, but I can't find it... :-( Just immagine this but with a piano design.


Goal #10, Go to Purple Door, is about to be completed! Purple Door is a big music festival in PA, and I'm going with some of my friends. It has a lot of Scream-o and heavy metal music. :D I like scream-o. ;-)

GAHH! What is with all the emoticons in this blog post??? UGHH, I hate it!

This weekend my friend Luke, who I haven''t seen in a year is visiting me and going with me to Purple Door. I can't wait! I met him last year when my family went to Ukraine and we've remained in touch and have become good friends. His parents are missionaries in Ukraine but they had to come back to the states because of visa issues; and now they have to stay longer because they need to raise more support.

Our exchange student arrived from Russia! YAY! Her name is Lena so I'm sure you'll be hearing about her a lot this upcoming year. She's 16- only a few weeks older than me- and has the same homeroom teacher as me. She's registering for school and signing up for classes tomorrow, so I guess we'll see if we have any other classes together, although we won't know for sure until the first day of school when we get our schedules.

Days left until school: 11
Days until Purple Door: 1!!!

My Hair Is Dead.

On Friday Lily came over to my house and we died my hair turquoise. Yes, turquoise. Not all of it; just the tips. It's amazingly epic and I love it. So here are pictures.



Lily slept over friday night and on Saturday we saw Julie& Julia. I loved it!

Days until school: 14
Days Until Lena: 2
Days until purple door: 5

Random.

So I'm bored. And I don't have anything to do. Well, I suppose I could sleep, but I really don't feel like it. And I suppose I could work on health class or summer reading, but I don't feel like doing that either. Junior year is fast approaching, and I don't want to dragged into it before I have too. But on the other hand, I should get it done soon so I'm not stressed right before school starts.


I went to a local baseball game today with some girls from my cheer squad. It was fun but the game was really slow.

So sometimes when I'm in bed or in the car or something I'll think of stories or something to write, so I write it in a text message on my phone. I was going through my drafts the other day trying to clear space, and I found this:

"I love you. Three words, seven letters. But why are they so hard to say? Are we afraid that they won't say those words back; that they won't feel the same way? That's why I don't say it. (That and the fact that many seem to feel that I'm MUCH to young for love. Whatever.) Why are we so scared? The worst that can happen is thta they won't say 'I love you' back. And while that may sound horrible, when you think about it, that's basically the same as neer hearing those three little words."

I forget if that was supposed to be a story or essay or what, but I thought I'd share it here with you.

On the 11th, our new exchange student gets here. Her name is Lena and she is from Siberia. I'm excited!

On the 14th and 15th I'm going to a hard rock/ metal music festival near where I live. It's going to be amazing and I can't wait.

That is what I am up to and I don't think I have anything more to write about so I believe I shall end this post here.

Oh wait, I lied. I'm probably gonna dye part of my hair turquoise today, just cos I feel like it. I don't know weather to dye my tips, the underneath, or two strips at the front.

TIPS:
~Pros: looks cool, easy to get rid of if dye doesn't come out before school starts.
~Cons: Hard to do.

UNDERNEATH:
~Pros: easy to do, looks cool.
~Cons: If it doesn't come out before school, it's hard to get rid of.

STRIPS:
~Pros:looks cool, easy to do.
~Cons: hard to get rid of if dye doesn't come out before school.

So what do you think? What should I do?

U-U-Ukraine!

I've been struggleing for a while (and by a while, I mean a few days) about how to organise this post. This trip is unlike any other I've taken. For one, it's a bit longer- five weeks as compared to 2, and way more intense. It's five weeks of constant discipleship and ministry in a culture completely different from my own preparing me to be a missionary in my hometown. The other trips were either with my church and led by my father, or a "pep rally for Jesus" type thing.

I came to the conclusion that I should write this post in three parts, doing a general anylisis of each part and highlighting the areas that stuck out to me followed by a summary. Yes, I am OCD.

So here we go.

Part One- Training Camp:
Wow. Training camp was... Intense. There are lots of things I can't share with you, mainly because Royal Servants wants to keep a lot of things secret. Not secret as in a cultish- brainwashing way, but secret as in everything they do is done for a purpose and used in teachings and discipleship and they want students to expierience everything for themselves, because it means more that way. I'll just say that they do a very good job of preparing you for oversees.

We spent much of our time in either worship, quiet time, or teachings. We would also spend 3 hours a day doing what's called "skill groups", which are our tools for evangilism. There was Dance, Drama, and Puppets. Select teams also had other groups, such as my team, which had basketball since that was our main tool of ministry, and Costa Rica, which had Soccer, since that was their main form of ministry.

I have to say that Training Camp was the hardest and most intense part of the trip, but it was also fun because it brought me closer to my team and we were going through it together. I also spent a lot of the week bonding with my team and discipleship group, which was good and fun.

Part Two- Ministry:
This part was the longest part of my trip, and in reality, it all blended together. After almost 2 hours of quiet time, we would eat lunch, then either have a teaching or go out and survey people and share Christ that way. Sometimes we would go to the beach and do ministry there. In the evenings, we would play pick up basketball, or if it was a weekend, host a basketball tournament.

I think I'll just share my favourite experience that happened to me. It was our last tournament, and I had been praying for someone to talk to and really connect to. I was also praying that they would approach me, because I'm shy. So on Friday I was talking to one of our translators, and this little 9 year old girl named Marsha walks up to me and started talking to me. She asked me questions about our team, and told me about her family. She told me about her older sister who was 15, and it turns out we had a lot in common!

After our dance and drama performance, she introduced me to her sister (Alonya), and we really hit it off! The next two days we hung out the entire time, and each day she heard the message of Christ. She didn't accept Christ into her life that I know of, but it was great getting to know her. She taught me the Russian alphabet and drew a picture of me!

Part Three: Debriefing!
The last five days of the trip were dedicated to two things: 1)fun, and 2) Preparing us mentally to go home. Our time was spent in quiet time, teachings, and going to touristy spots. We spent the day on the black sea, went to a mid evil castle, and chilled in downtown Odessa. This part was fun and full of random dance parties, but it was also the most bittersweet. I was excited to go home, but I also didn't want to leave Ukraine. I was comfortable in the work God had for me and I had made so many friendships and I was sad to leave my friends.

I thank God for facebook and texting- I can still keep in touch with my Ukrainian family!

The List: Officially!

The Mission:
Complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days.

The Criteria:
Tasks must be specific (ie. no ambiguity in the wording) with a result that is either measurable or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretching (ie. represent some amount of work on my part).

Why 1001 Days?
Many people have created lists in the past - frequently simple goals such as New Year's resolutions. The key to beating procrastination is to set a deadline that is realistic. 1001 Days (about 2.75 years) is a better period of time than a year, because it allows you several seasons to complete the tasks, which is better for organising and timing some tasks such as overseas trips or outdoor activities.

Here's my list:

1. Dye my hair purple.
2. Go hang- gliding.
3. Learn to Drink Tea without a ton a sugar.
4. Go to a Broncos/ Redskins game with Arielle
5. Go on another Royal Servants trip
6. Get a bookshelf big enough to fit all my books on it
7. Catalog my “library” (bookshelf… only one…)
8. Read the Circle trilogy by Ted Dekker
9. Go to London
10. Go to Purple Door
11. Blog every day for a month
12. Finish a book I started
13. Sing a Solo
14. Keep my room clean for a month
15. Read the entire Harry Potter series in 7 days
16. Read one book a day for a month.
17. Scrapbook- and actually finish the book myself.
18. Reread my American Girl books
19. Go on a road trip with my best friends
20. Get a pedicure
21. Go six months without soda
22. Go a week without caffeine.
23. Learn to play guitar.
24. Have a “Spa Day”
25. Become a full vegetarian for either lent or one month
26. Make distinguished honour roll.
27. Learn British spelling.
28. Learn another language.
29. Get another piercing.
30. Go on a media fast for a week
31. Keep in touch with friends who don’t live near me.
32. Write a poem that’s actually good.
33. Go water skiing
34. take the SATS
35. Get my license. (Permit first)
36. finish health class
37. use my library card for something other than online research
38. get a belt from Hot Topic
39. Journal
40. Read the entire Bible
41. Reread my favourite childhood books.
42. Finish a colouring book.
43. Do my summer reading at the beginning of the summer.
44. Figure out what I want to be when I grow up
45. Take voice lessons
46. Go to Scotland
47. Apply for College
48. Find a college I want to go to.
49. Relearn Piano
50. Relive family memories. (e.g. go to places we went to a lot when I was younger)
51. Complete at least one item on my bucket list.
52. Fly in a Hot Air balloon
53. Get a henna tattoo.
54. Eat healthy for a week
55. Do a 30 hour famine
56. Have a lead role in a musical.
57. Watch all the superman and batman movies
58. See Titanic
59. Drink an entire cup of black coffee.
60. Go Whitewater rafting
61. Have a Disney cartoon movie marathon
62. Get my teeth whitened.
63. Watch a sport event live at the Olympics.
64. Memorise my mom’s chocolate chip cookie recipe.
65. Read 50 books in a year.
66. Play with a parachute like you did in kindergarten.
67. Take pictures in a photo booth with either my best friends or a boyfriend. (If I even have one in the next 3 years)
68. Do 50 sit ups a day for a month
69. Mail a secret to Post Secret
70. Do a random act of kindness; preferably anonymously.
71. Visit the museum of natural history in NYC
72. Go to wal-mart and do a bunch of random things with my friends and film it. (such as the ones from the “Random things to do in Wal-Mart facebook group)
73. Run a mile everyday for a week
74. Lead a bible study/small group
75. Buy the actual CD of all the borrowed music on my ipod.
76. Keep my locker clean for three consecutive months.
77. Find a cause I’m passionate about.
78. Buy an Abort 73 shirt
79. Buy a To Write Love on Her Arms shirt.
80. Improve my spelling
81. Improve my grammar.
82. Be less hypocritical.
83. Go two weeks without adding salt to food. (meaning putting it on top of food)
84. Go to a coffee shop and get coffee and not a mocha or frozen coffee drink.
85. Drink caffeine and not get addicted.
86. Floss my teeth everyday for a month.
87. Give up chocolate for 10 days
88. Go to IKEA and buy something.
89. Plant a garden and take care of it.
90. Participate in “Secret Santa’s”
91. Become a less picky eater: Try five new food items. (0/5)
92. Reread and finish 2 manga series. (0/2)
93. Take one picture a day for a year. 0/365)
94. Give presents to my family and friends just because.
95. Go to Mall of America.
96. Make a duct tape bag.
97. Go to the great lakes.
98. Visit the west coast.
99. Fix my bottom teeth
100. Find something I’m passionate about.
101. Complete this list!

1001 days

So I figure I should write my Ukraine post before I write anything else, but a) coherency is not one of my gifts, b) I'm the worlds biggest procrastinator, and c) I saw this and wanted to blog about it before I forgot.

So here we go.

So there's this project called "Day Zero" which I found out about on Alyson's blog. Basically you write a list of 101 things you want to do, and you give your self 1001 days to do them- or three years. And I want to do that. The problem is that I have problems finishing goals like that. Remember NaNoWriMo? Or BEDA? Yea... those were not my proudest moments... But I want to do this one. And I will. In fact, I think that will be on my list of goals.

Now, most people do this starting on New Years, but I think I'll start my 101 now, mainly because if I wait until New Years to do it, I'll forget by then. That, and New Years Resolutions are notorious for not actually getting done... you know what I mean. And, they have this handy little tool to help you figure out when you'll be done plus a countdown meter for your site. So I think I can do this! All I have to do now is figure out my list and add it to my blog.