Another combined post! My apologies. I have been super busy. That also means that this post will be short. I have had so much stuff that I'm doing that I have been running around like a chicken with its head cut off. On with the post!
Anyway, today I am thankful for my Nintendo 3DS and my Pokémon games. Why this? It keeps me entertained when I travel and helps me de-stress. I do not have very many games for it, but my favorite ones that I have are my Pokémon games. I have a couple of other games for it, but not many. Why Pokémon? My love for Pokémon is deep and will never go away. I have been playing Pokémon since it first came out. Yep, I was around for Pokémania and still love it. Sure, others might think that it is a game for kids. I disagree with that though. While its primary target is for children, I have found that as I get older and the new generations come out that there are ways to make it a bit more challenging for me than the games were when I was a kid just playing through for the story. Now, I play not just for the story, but also for the experience. Pokémon Y has not disappointed me so far! On that note, it is also a really long game for a Pokémon game! Jeez! I am barely halfway finished and I got it a few days after it came out.
Well, until next time!
Stay de-stressed and wonderful!
Showing posts with label About Me. Show all posts
Showing posts with label About Me. Show all posts
20 November 2013
18 November 2013
Things I'm Thankful For! Day Eighteen
Good evening everyone!
I am ridiculously thankful for doughnut molds. Making doughnuts without them is a pain in the butt. Now I can make cake doughnuts whenever I want and in whatever flavours that I want. Awesome! Also, it is super fun to make the little mini doughnuts because a single regular size cake mix will make about 10 dozen of them. It is amazing to look at! All those doughnuts...Now I am just making myself hungry. I am going to go make doughnuts.
Until next time!
Stay wonderful and beautiful!
I am ridiculously thankful for doughnut molds. Making doughnuts without them is a pain in the butt. Now I can make cake doughnuts whenever I want and in whatever flavours that I want. Awesome! Also, it is super fun to make the little mini doughnuts because a single regular size cake mix will make about 10 dozen of them. It is amazing to look at! All those doughnuts...Now I am just making myself hungry. I am going to go make doughnuts.
Until next time!
Stay wonderful and beautiful!
17 November 2013
Things I'm Thankful For! Day Seventeen
I hope everyone has had a happy Sunday!
I am thankful for the wonderful website called ThinkGeek. Another website? Yes, another website. Why another website? This is not just any website. This website is the best site for nerds and geeks like me. You all should know by now how nerdy I am. This has basically anything and everything you could possibly want from various franchises. It even has stuff from Doctor Who. Amazing!
Once again this is a fairly short post. I have to wake up early in the morning.
Until next time!
Stay wonderful and beautiful!
I am thankful for the wonderful website called ThinkGeek. Another website? Yes, another website. Why another website? This is not just any website. This website is the best site for nerds and geeks like me. You all should know by now how nerdy I am. This has basically anything and everything you could possibly want from various franchises. It even has stuff from Doctor Who. Amazing!
Once again this is a fairly short post. I have to wake up early in the morning.
Until next time!
Stay wonderful and beautiful!
16 November 2013
Things I'm Thankful For! Days Fifteen and Sixteen
I missed a day! Ahh! Oh well, I was gone and on the run from the time I woke up at 6 in the morning until about 1 this morning and then I got about 4 hours of sleep and started the hectic schedule all over again. Today I'm not out of town though. So, no traveling to deal with. On with the post!
Yesterday's and today's is being group in together. The reason for that is because they are connected. I am thankful for my SUV and also, good German made cars in general. Why is that? Well, I have a M-Class Mercedes-Benz. It is an amazing little SUV. That thing has saved my life on a few occasions. Let me give you all a bit of my history dealing with cars.
My first car in high school was a Chevy Cavalier convertible. It was a good car, but it was not my car exactly. It was my parents' car and it was red and black. I did not really like the colour of it and I wanted a car of my own. My senior year I got a got my own car and it was awesome. That car was a white Ford Mustang with a leather camel interior and top. It was amazing. It was the car that I loaded up and took to Cottey with me. It was a great car until I got into a wreck with it. Though it was not considered totaled, since it was fixable, it was never the same after that. Sure, it looked like it had just rolled off the lot once they finished it. However, it never quite ran the same. I had more problems with it after that and my parents did not particularly like me feeling unsafe driving back and forth to Edmond everyday for school at UCO. I had always wanted a Mercedes and my brother-in-law just so happened to have a car and an SUV in stock at the dealership that he worked at. They were pre-owned, but that did not particularly bother me that much and out of the two I said that I preferred the car. Well, at the time we still had the Cavalier and we of course had the Mustang. Since my father had his truck and my mother had her car we decided that we would just get rid of the two convertibles and pay the balance on me a new and safer car. I came home from work and what did I find in the driveway? A silver M-Class Mercedes-Benz. My father had brought home the SUV rather than the car. I had never driven a SUV before and I was kind of intimidated by it. However, the SUV had so many bells and whistles that for a bit we were slightly panicked that it would make our insurance sky rocket since it was deemed a "luxury" car. Thankfully, our insurance offered discounts for certain safety features. This particular model with all of it's bells and whistles was mostly safety features. That sucker has a ridiculous amount of airbag, all steal body, automatic breaking and correction system, panic and anti-theft devices, and it has automatic rain sensing wipers on the front and the back. All of those added up to make our insurance less than what it had been! All in all, it was an amazing investment for the family. Its all steal body has kept me and my passengers from getting injured when idiot drivers have hit the front driver side of the car and also when the idiot texting slid under the thing. Both times, there was minimal damage to my SUV in comparison to the other cars that were practically totaled by the impact. The automatic breaking and correction system has also been a wonder on the slick and hazardous roads during winter and most of the time it did it so smoothly that had I not seen the light come on saying that it had engaged I would have never known.
So, as for good German made cars? Well, this ties back to why I am thankful for my SUV. Both of the cars that I had before my Mercedes were not German made. Those things had more problems with them and after the wreck that Mustang was basically useless to me because of how much I drive. The Mercedes, on the other hand, after both wrecks was able to be completely restored to where it looked and handled like it had just been brought over from the factory in Germany. Every German car that I have ever driven has handled so much more smoothly than cars made else where. They also do better in crash tests overall. By that I mean that as a whole, German cars perform better as a group. They are consistent and safe. I think this has to do with the German work ethic and the need to meet super high expectations in the finished product. They are all really safe and amazing cars.
I may be slightly biased since my family is pretty insistent on having German made cars. It was really strange to have a Ford and a Chevy to be honest. My family has more German made cars, be they Mercedes, BMW, Volkswagens, or what have you, than most families where we live. Oh, well.
There you have it! Until next time!
Stay lovely and beautiful!
Yesterday's and today's is being group in together. The reason for that is because they are connected. I am thankful for my SUV and also, good German made cars in general. Why is that? Well, I have a M-Class Mercedes-Benz. It is an amazing little SUV. That thing has saved my life on a few occasions. Let me give you all a bit of my history dealing with cars.
My first car in high school was a Chevy Cavalier convertible. It was a good car, but it was not my car exactly. It was my parents' car and it was red and black. I did not really like the colour of it and I wanted a car of my own. My senior year I got a got my own car and it was awesome. That car was a white Ford Mustang with a leather camel interior and top. It was amazing. It was the car that I loaded up and took to Cottey with me. It was a great car until I got into a wreck with it. Though it was not considered totaled, since it was fixable, it was never the same after that. Sure, it looked like it had just rolled off the lot once they finished it. However, it never quite ran the same. I had more problems with it after that and my parents did not particularly like me feeling unsafe driving back and forth to Edmond everyday for school at UCO. I had always wanted a Mercedes and my brother-in-law just so happened to have a car and an SUV in stock at the dealership that he worked at. They were pre-owned, but that did not particularly bother me that much and out of the two I said that I preferred the car. Well, at the time we still had the Cavalier and we of course had the Mustang. Since my father had his truck and my mother had her car we decided that we would just get rid of the two convertibles and pay the balance on me a new and safer car. I came home from work and what did I find in the driveway? A silver M-Class Mercedes-Benz. My father had brought home the SUV rather than the car. I had never driven a SUV before and I was kind of intimidated by it. However, the SUV had so many bells and whistles that for a bit we were slightly panicked that it would make our insurance sky rocket since it was deemed a "luxury" car. Thankfully, our insurance offered discounts for certain safety features. This particular model with all of it's bells and whistles was mostly safety features. That sucker has a ridiculous amount of airbag, all steal body, automatic breaking and correction system, panic and anti-theft devices, and it has automatic rain sensing wipers on the front and the back. All of those added up to make our insurance less than what it had been! All in all, it was an amazing investment for the family. Its all steal body has kept me and my passengers from getting injured when idiot drivers have hit the front driver side of the car and also when the idiot texting slid under the thing. Both times, there was minimal damage to my SUV in comparison to the other cars that were practically totaled by the impact. The automatic breaking and correction system has also been a wonder on the slick and hazardous roads during winter and most of the time it did it so smoothly that had I not seen the light come on saying that it had engaged I would have never known.
So, as for good German made cars? Well, this ties back to why I am thankful for my SUV. Both of the cars that I had before my Mercedes were not German made. Those things had more problems with them and after the wreck that Mustang was basically useless to me because of how much I drive. The Mercedes, on the other hand, after both wrecks was able to be completely restored to where it looked and handled like it had just been brought over from the factory in Germany. Every German car that I have ever driven has handled so much more smoothly than cars made else where. They also do better in crash tests overall. By that I mean that as a whole, German cars perform better as a group. They are consistent and safe. I think this has to do with the German work ethic and the need to meet super high expectations in the finished product. They are all really safe and amazing cars.
I may be slightly biased since my family is pretty insistent on having German made cars. It was really strange to have a Ford and a Chevy to be honest. My family has more German made cars, be they Mercedes, BMW, Volkswagens, or what have you, than most families where we live. Oh, well.
There you have it! Until next time!
Stay lovely and beautiful!
14 November 2013
Things I'm Thankful For! Day Fourteen
Today has been a pretty stressful day in general. As such, this will be fairly short. How short? Well, here you go.
I am thankful for the technology of the cell phone. It makes it easier to get in touch to with my friends that are out of town. With out my cell phone I would not be left out of the loop on a whole lot of important events. Such as what happened in my circle of friends today.
Well, that is it.
Stay happy and wonderful everyone!
I am thankful for the technology of the cell phone. It makes it easier to get in touch to with my friends that are out of town. With out my cell phone I would not be left out of the loop on a whole lot of important events. Such as what happened in my circle of friends today.
Well, that is it.
Stay happy and wonderful everyone!
13 November 2013
Things I'm Thankful For! Day Thirteen
Hello everyone!
I just got back in from church. So, we have another late post. Oh well, that is life though. At least it is getting posted today and not tomorrow.
Anyway, today I am thankful for the paper piecing quilting technique. Why am I thankful for this? That is a very easy question to answer. It makes making quilts extremely quick and that means that in this cold weather I can get more quilts made to keep myself warm. It also gives me a good way to make those really complicated looking quilts without a lot of problems. It is also fun to make my own patterns. If you do not know how to do paper piecing and want to learn how to quilt, I recommend you look it up. It is really easy and fun!
Until next time!
Stay beautiful and wonderful!
I just got back in from church. So, we have another late post. Oh well, that is life though. At least it is getting posted today and not tomorrow.
Anyway, today I am thankful for the paper piecing quilting technique. Why am I thankful for this? That is a very easy question to answer. It makes making quilts extremely quick and that means that in this cold weather I can get more quilts made to keep myself warm. It also gives me a good way to make those really complicated looking quilts without a lot of problems. It is also fun to make my own patterns. If you do not know how to do paper piecing and want to learn how to quilt, I recommend you look it up. It is really easy and fun!
Until next time!
Stay beautiful and wonderful!
12 November 2013
Things I'm Thankful For! Day Twelve
Good evening everyone!
I have basically given up on getting this posts done before later in the day/ night. It has been so crazy that it is ridiculous. Anyway, on with the post!
I am thankful for my professors at the University of Central Oklahoma. Not that my other professors have been bad. On the contrary, they have been pretty awesome. My professors at from the Philosophy and Humanities, History, and English departments are amazing! I still talk to them and I go visit them whenever I have the chance to do so. Why am I thankful for them? Well, numerous reasons really. The most important one to me is that they genuinely wanted their students to do well and would help them in any way they could. Also, they were all super nice compared to the professors from the other departments. I felt completely comfortable going to ask them questions about something that I was having problems with. Other department professors, not so much. Some of their classes were unnaturally hard, but I learned more from them than any other professors. Not just in class either. I learned a lot from them by just having conversations with them when we were hanging out in our department common area and they were having office hours. They are amazing! If any of you enroll at the University of Central Oklahoma I would recommend that you take some classes from them. You will learn so much from them! That is why I am thankful for them. They taught me more than I would have otherwise.
Until next time!
Stay lovely and beautiful!
I have basically given up on getting this posts done before later in the day/ night. It has been so crazy that it is ridiculous. Anyway, on with the post!
I am thankful for my professors at the University of Central Oklahoma. Not that my other professors have been bad. On the contrary, they have been pretty awesome. My professors at from the Philosophy and Humanities, History, and English departments are amazing! I still talk to them and I go visit them whenever I have the chance to do so. Why am I thankful for them? Well, numerous reasons really. The most important one to me is that they genuinely wanted their students to do well and would help them in any way they could. Also, they were all super nice compared to the professors from the other departments. I felt completely comfortable going to ask them questions about something that I was having problems with. Other department professors, not so much. Some of their classes were unnaturally hard, but I learned more from them than any other professors. Not just in class either. I learned a lot from them by just having conversations with them when we were hanging out in our department common area and they were having office hours. They are amazing! If any of you enroll at the University of Central Oklahoma I would recommend that you take some classes from them. You will learn so much from them! That is why I am thankful for them. They taught me more than I would have otherwise.
Until next time!
Stay lovely and beautiful!
11 November 2013
Things I'm Thankful For! Day Eleven
Happy Veteran's Day Everyone!
I have a small break in my busyness today to make a post! Huzzah!
So, what am I thankful for today? Well, besides being thankful for our veterans I am also thankful for coffee. I drink like a Finn. I really do. I will not lie. I drink a lot of coffee. The funny thing is, it really does not have much of an affect on me. I drink a cup right before I go to sleep. I just like the taste of it. My parents are the same way. My dad can drink two pots of coffee by himself. So can my mother. It just runs in the family I think. Coffee is calming to me. I drink it when I am not in a good mood. Kind of like how a British person will drink a cuppa tea.
That is it. I am thankful for coffee and the wonderful calming affect that it has for me.
Until next time!
Stay wonderful and beautiful!
I have a small break in my busyness today to make a post! Huzzah!
So, what am I thankful for today? Well, besides being thankful for our veterans I am also thankful for coffee. I drink like a Finn. I really do. I will not lie. I drink a lot of coffee. The funny thing is, it really does not have much of an affect on me. I drink a cup right before I go to sleep. I just like the taste of it. My parents are the same way. My dad can drink two pots of coffee by himself. So can my mother. It just runs in the family I think. Coffee is calming to me. I drink it when I am not in a good mood. Kind of like how a British person will drink a cuppa tea.
That is it. I am thankful for coffee and the wonderful calming affect that it has for me.
Until next time!
Stay wonderful and beautiful!
10 November 2013
Things I'm Thankful For! Day Ten
With it being Sunday and my involvement in my local church, this will be another late post. I do apologize. However, on with the post!
Another strange thing to be thankful for, I know, but I am thankful for it nonetheless. I am thankful for Amazon. Yeah, the online marketplace thing. You can get all sorts of things at Amazon! They also offer textbooks at a lower price than at the local bookstores. However, that does not really help on foreign textbooks. Amazon also has some pretty amazing hard to find items. Like Norsk Bananagrams! Yeah! I want those so badly. You have no idea the fun that I could have with those. Also, it gives me an excuse to practice my Norwegian and Danish since Danish uses the same alphabet. Their MP3 selection is somewhat better than iTunes and has some of the harder to find songs. At times their songs have a better price too. Awesome!
Anyway, since it is fairly late I better get to bed since I must get up in the morning. Oh life. Sometimes you get in the way of things I want to do. I really do not have a day off. My "day off" is Sunday and on Sunday's I am at the church most of the day. Church is fun though so I don't mind that in the slightest.
Until next time!
Get some sleep my lovely people so you can stay beautiful!
Another strange thing to be thankful for, I know, but I am thankful for it nonetheless. I am thankful for Amazon. Yeah, the online marketplace thing. You can get all sorts of things at Amazon! They also offer textbooks at a lower price than at the local bookstores. However, that does not really help on foreign textbooks. Amazon also has some pretty amazing hard to find items. Like Norsk Bananagrams! Yeah! I want those so badly. You have no idea the fun that I could have with those. Also, it gives me an excuse to practice my Norwegian and Danish since Danish uses the same alphabet. Their MP3 selection is somewhat better than iTunes and has some of the harder to find songs. At times their songs have a better price too. Awesome!
Anyway, since it is fairly late I better get to bed since I must get up in the morning. Oh life. Sometimes you get in the way of things I want to do. I really do not have a day off. My "day off" is Sunday and on Sunday's I am at the church most of the day. Church is fun though so I don't mind that in the slightest.
Until next time!
Get some sleep my lovely people so you can stay beautiful!
09 November 2013
Things I'm Thankful For! Day Nine
Happy Veterans Day Everyone!
So, with it almost being Veterans Day in the States and it is also day nine of this challenge things. As cliché as it sounds for today, I am thankful for our veterans. My father is a veteran and several of my friends are veterans. I am very thankful for all of them. They do so much for our country!
Thank you veterans!
Sorry today's post is so short. I am super busy today and do not have a lot of time to really get much of anything done. So, until next time!
Stay lovely and beautiful!
So, with it almost being Veterans Day in the States and it is also day nine of this challenge things. As cliché as it sounds for today, I am thankful for our veterans. My father is a veteran and several of my friends are veterans. I am very thankful for all of them. They do so much for our country!
Thank you veterans!
Sorry today's post is so short. I am super busy today and do not have a lot of time to really get much of anything done. So, until next time!
Stay lovely and beautiful!
08 November 2013
Things I'm Thankful For! Day Eight
Good evening everyone!
I am posting this late again tonite. There really is not a reason for this apart from work has been crazy. I have running around like a chicken with my head cut off for the past few days. Why? Well, I have been working on a couple of projects. I am sort of going through a smidge of writer's block with book two on my series of novels. So, what do I have been working on another project that was put on hold because of writer's block on it. Oh, my brain. It never shuts off.
Today I am thankful for the wonder that is YouTube. Why is that? While most people find it to be quite the distraction, I find it quite the opposite a good deal of the time. I will say that on occasion it can be a distraction. The channels that distract me the most are listed on the end of this post. Anyway, my reason for being thankful for YouTube is that a lot of the music that I love is not available for purchase in the States or on Pandora Radio. So, I am able to get on the artists YouTube pages and listen to the music there. However, some bands don't have YouTube accounts because they aren't around anymore and I have to rely on YouTubers to get my fix of my favorite music. My favorite song is one of these exceptions. For those who are curious as to what that song might be, here you go.
Aknestik has not been together since 2002. I was really sad about that. That song gets stuck in my head so easily and I cannot find a way to get any of their albums in the States! It is so poppy and cute sounding. Aggg!!! Why did you have to break up!!!Anyway, YouTube is a wonderful way to share other useful things besides just music. I sometimes watch videos of lectures on there and it has been sited in a few of my papers. Strange as it sounds, I am thankful for YouTube. If nothing else, it keeps me entertained.
Until next time everyone!
Stay wonderful and beautiful!
YouTube Channels that Distract Me!
As you can tell from this list, I love Pokémon. Yeah, I am a huge gamer geek. I love it though! That requires another post though at a later date.
jacksfilms
TheJWittz
TheSwedishLad
Nice Peter
NateWantsToBattle
TamashiiHiroka
Mental Floss
I am posting this late again tonite. There really is not a reason for this apart from work has been crazy. I have running around like a chicken with my head cut off for the past few days. Why? Well, I have been working on a couple of projects. I am sort of going through a smidge of writer's block with book two on my series of novels. So, what do I have been working on another project that was put on hold because of writer's block on it. Oh, my brain. It never shuts off.
Today I am thankful for the wonder that is YouTube. Why is that? While most people find it to be quite the distraction, I find it quite the opposite a good deal of the time. I will say that on occasion it can be a distraction. The channels that distract me the most are listed on the end of this post. Anyway, my reason for being thankful for YouTube is that a lot of the music that I love is not available for purchase in the States or on Pandora Radio. So, I am able to get on the artists YouTube pages and listen to the music there. However, some bands don't have YouTube accounts because they aren't around anymore and I have to rely on YouTubers to get my fix of my favorite music. My favorite song is one of these exceptions. For those who are curious as to what that song might be, here you go.
Aknestik has not been together since 2002. I was really sad about that. That song gets stuck in my head so easily and I cannot find a way to get any of their albums in the States! It is so poppy and cute sounding. Aggg!!! Why did you have to break up!!!Anyway, YouTube is a wonderful way to share other useful things besides just music. I sometimes watch videos of lectures on there and it has been sited in a few of my papers. Strange as it sounds, I am thankful for YouTube. If nothing else, it keeps me entertained.
Until next time everyone!
Stay wonderful and beautiful!
YouTube Channels that Distract Me!
As you can tell from this list, I love Pokémon. Yeah, I am a huge gamer geek. I love it though! That requires another post though at a later date.
jacksfilms
TheJWittz
TheSwedishLad
Nice Peter
NateWantsToBattle
TamashiiHiroka
Mental Floss
07 November 2013
Things I'm Thankful For! Day Seven
This post is coming a bit later in the day than most of them. The reason for it is because today has been crazy. I wish the craziness would either slow down or go away completely. It just stresses me out beyond reason. *takes a deep breath* Anyway, on with today's post!
I am thankful for my boyfriend. Sure, he can be a pain and at times I think he does not really understand that some of the things that he does or say can come off as being hurtful, but overall he is a pretty great guy. In fact, he is the one that gave me a good deal of the charms on my PANDORA bracelets.
The most recent of those charms is the Maple Leaf. That is on there to represent my family in Canada. Matt puts up with my moodiness better than a lot of people and he really does a lot for me. I really don't tell him how thankful I am for all that he does for me. However, my strange personality quirks do not really let me say things like that out loud. I seem to be better at writing those down. So, I hope you are reading this Matt!
If I listed off all of the reasons that I was thankful for him I could probably write a short dissertation. Since I really do not have time to do that, I guess I will cut it off right here. Not because I am less thankful for him than other things, but I can think of a plethora of things I want to put down and I do not really know how to put them into writing. I am sure that if you have someone you love, you understand that feeling.
Until next time!
Stay Lovely and Beautiful
I am thankful for my boyfriend. Sure, he can be a pain and at times I think he does not really understand that some of the things that he does or say can come off as being hurtful, but overall he is a pretty great guy. In fact, he is the one that gave me a good deal of the charms on my PANDORA bracelets.
The most recent of those charms is the Maple Leaf. That is on there to represent my family in Canada. Matt puts up with my moodiness better than a lot of people and he really does a lot for me. I really don't tell him how thankful I am for all that he does for me. However, my strange personality quirks do not really let me say things like that out loud. I seem to be better at writing those down. So, I hope you are reading this Matt!
If I listed off all of the reasons that I was thankful for him I could probably write a short dissertation. Since I really do not have time to do that, I guess I will cut it off right here. Not because I am less thankful for him than other things, but I can think of a plethora of things I want to put down and I do not really know how to put them into writing. I am sure that if you have someone you love, you understand that feeling.
Until next time!
Stay Lovely and Beautiful
06 November 2013
Things I'm Thankful For! Day Six
Good evening everyone!
Today has been sort of hectic and I feel like I have been running around like a chicken with my head cut off. I started the day with no internet connection. Also, I woke up two hours before I was supposed to and could not for the life of me go back to sleep. Anyway, time for today's post! This one will be a bit longer because there is a story behind it.
I am thankful for this adorable ball of fur! Her name is Daphne or Caligula when she is being bad.
In case you cannot tell, that is a cat. A Norsk Skogkatt to be exact. For the English speakers out there that would be Norwegian Forest Cat or, as they are sometimes called, a Wegie Cat. Here is a picture of her face.
She is my second cat. My first cat was named Oscar and he died of old age when I was at college. We found him in an empty aquarium in our garage. Our garage had a whole in it at that time and the mama cat got in and had her babies in the empty aquarium. He was the last one of the litter and we decided to keep him. After he died I did not have a cat for about a year because my parents had two cats at home. Well, my dad's cat is really fat had hard to pet because he wiggles around and is so heavy it is hard to keep him on your lap to pet because of his wiggling and weight. My mom's cat on the other hand, is a Russian Blue that hates everyone except my mom and my niece Annie. I did not really have a cat that was mine anymore.
I had always wanted a really fluffy cat and when I found one at the Central Oklahoma Humane Society I thought she was just so beautiful that I had to have her. The problem was that another family wanted her and had looked at her earlier that day and they lived in the Oklahoma City area. I live two hours away and had no idea if she would still be there when I got there. So, I got in my car and took of for OKC on my day off from work and school. On the way there I was on the phone with my mother while she filled out the questionnaire to adopt her and emailed it to the Central Oklahoma Humane Society in hopes that it would secure her for me.
By the time that I got there she was still there. I was taken back to the "kitten room" where the kittens are kept to play with each other. She was a tiny little thing and mostly fur. I signed the paperwork, paid her adoption fee, purchased her a collar and some toys, and then put her in my cat carrier to bring her home with me. For a long time I had no idea what kind of cat she was and nobody could really tell me anything about her apart from what I had learned about her at the Central Oklahoma Humane Society. After doing a lot of research I have learned that she is a Norsk Skogkatt.
You are probably wondering why I am thankful for her. Well, here is the simple reason. She keeps me pretty happy. She is a lovable and ridiculously friendly cat that will sit on my lap and "help" me do lots of different things. She also enjoys editing my novels.
Today has been sort of hectic and I feel like I have been running around like a chicken with my head cut off. I started the day with no internet connection. Also, I woke up two hours before I was supposed to and could not for the life of me go back to sleep. Anyway, time for today's post! This one will be a bit longer because there is a story behind it.
I am thankful for this adorable ball of fur! Her name is Daphne or Caligula when she is being bad.
In case you cannot tell, that is a cat. A Norsk Skogkatt to be exact. For the English speakers out there that would be Norwegian Forest Cat or, as they are sometimes called, a Wegie Cat. Here is a picture of her face.
She is my second cat. My first cat was named Oscar and he died of old age when I was at college. We found him in an empty aquarium in our garage. Our garage had a whole in it at that time and the mama cat got in and had her babies in the empty aquarium. He was the last one of the litter and we decided to keep him. After he died I did not have a cat for about a year because my parents had two cats at home. Well, my dad's cat is really fat had hard to pet because he wiggles around and is so heavy it is hard to keep him on your lap to pet because of his wiggling and weight. My mom's cat on the other hand, is a Russian Blue that hates everyone except my mom and my niece Annie. I did not really have a cat that was mine anymore.
I had always wanted a really fluffy cat and when I found one at the Central Oklahoma Humane Society I thought she was just so beautiful that I had to have her. The problem was that another family wanted her and had looked at her earlier that day and they lived in the Oklahoma City area. I live two hours away and had no idea if she would still be there when I got there. So, I got in my car and took of for OKC on my day off from work and school. On the way there I was on the phone with my mother while she filled out the questionnaire to adopt her and emailed it to the Central Oklahoma Humane Society in hopes that it would secure her for me.
By the time that I got there she was still there. I was taken back to the "kitten room" where the kittens are kept to play with each other. She was a tiny little thing and mostly fur. I signed the paperwork, paid her adoption fee, purchased her a collar and some toys, and then put her in my cat carrier to bring her home with me. For a long time I had no idea what kind of cat she was and nobody could really tell me anything about her apart from what I had learned about her at the Central Oklahoma Humane Society. After doing a lot of research I have learned that she is a Norsk Skogkatt.
You are probably wondering why I am thankful for her. Well, here is the simple reason. She keeps me pretty happy. She is a lovable and ridiculously friendly cat that will sit on my lap and "help" me do lots of different things. She also enjoys editing my novels.
There you go, day six is done. Some of you all might think it is a strange thing to be thankful for, but I really do not care. I love and am thankful for my Caligula Kitty Daphne.
Until next time!
Stay lovely and beautiful!
05 November 2013
Things I'm Thankful For! Day Five
It's day five everyone!
So, today's will be short and sweet because I just got back from a meeting and am ridiculously tired.
I am thankful for my brothers and sisters from Eastern Star. They are some amazing people and I love all of them. With Eastern Star I have been presented with some pretty amazing opportunities. They are some of the nicest men and women I know and very generous. There really do a lot of good in the world and I will always stand up for them because they have stood up for me.
Until next time!
Stay wonderful and beautiful!
So, today's will be short and sweet because I just got back from a meeting and am ridiculously tired.
I am thankful for my brothers and sisters from Eastern Star. They are some amazing people and I love all of them. With Eastern Star I have been presented with some pretty amazing opportunities. They are some of the nicest men and women I know and very generous. There really do a lot of good in the world and I will always stand up for them because they have stood up for me.
Until next time!
Stay wonderful and beautiful!
04 November 2013
Things I'm Thankful For! Day Four
It is time for day four of the Things I'm Thankful For challenge!
Part of me feels like I am cheating on this post since it is kind of two for the price of one, but I find it rather hard to separate these two people that I am thankful for. I am very thankful for the amazing pastor that we have at the church I go to and his wonderful wife!
Pastor Waterloo is the complete opposite of me when it comes to the temperaments that I talked about yesterday, he says that he is a sanguine. Yeah, he has talked about that in one of his sermons. Anyway, when I was a little kid I was very inquisitive and would have a bunch of questions for him after church. He always answered any questions that I had about something he talked about in the sermon or something from the shows that I watched with my parents on TV about religion. Not once did he treat me like I was a nascence for asking questions like so many people did. I really admire him and am very thankful that he is the pastor at the church I go to. A lot of other pastors that I have talked to in my various travels have been fairly unfriendly since I did not belong to their church. Pastor Waterloo has always been very happy and friendly towards everyone! I have never known anyone that has said one bad thing about him.
Pastor Waterloo's wife is an amazing woman! She is sort of a what you see is what you get lady and I think that is great! Some of the wives of pastors that I have met in the past have seemed rather unsociable and only want to talk to the top earners of the church. Ms. Brenda is nothing like that. She will talk to pretty much anyone in the church and despite my occasional anxiety around people, I have no problem going up to talk to her. She plays the piano for our church and she is really good at it. She also sings wonderfully. However, she is not your stereotypical "pastor's wife" type of person. She is very friendly and is willing to help you out if she can. I do not think I have ever seen her without a smile on her face. She taught a lady's evening class for a while that has, from what I have been told, has been put a hold until after all of the holidays. It was such a fun class. I admire her a lot.
So, there you have it! Day four is complete.
Until next time!
Stay wonderful and beautiful!
Part of me feels like I am cheating on this post since it is kind of two for the price of one, but I find it rather hard to separate these two people that I am thankful for. I am very thankful for the amazing pastor that we have at the church I go to and his wonderful wife!
Pastor Waterloo is the complete opposite of me when it comes to the temperaments that I talked about yesterday, he says that he is a sanguine. Yeah, he has talked about that in one of his sermons. Anyway, when I was a little kid I was very inquisitive and would have a bunch of questions for him after church. He always answered any questions that I had about something he talked about in the sermon or something from the shows that I watched with my parents on TV about religion. Not once did he treat me like I was a nascence for asking questions like so many people did. I really admire him and am very thankful that he is the pastor at the church I go to. A lot of other pastors that I have talked to in my various travels have been fairly unfriendly since I did not belong to their church. Pastor Waterloo has always been very happy and friendly towards everyone! I have never known anyone that has said one bad thing about him.
Pastor Waterloo's wife is an amazing woman! She is sort of a what you see is what you get lady and I think that is great! Some of the wives of pastors that I have met in the past have seemed rather unsociable and only want to talk to the top earners of the church. Ms. Brenda is nothing like that. She will talk to pretty much anyone in the church and despite my occasional anxiety around people, I have no problem going up to talk to her. She plays the piano for our church and she is really good at it. She also sings wonderfully. However, she is not your stereotypical "pastor's wife" type of person. She is very friendly and is willing to help you out if she can. I do not think I have ever seen her without a smile on her face. She taught a lady's evening class for a while that has, from what I have been told, has been put a hold until after all of the holidays. It was such a fun class. I admire her a lot.
So, there you have it! Day four is complete.
Until next time!
Stay wonderful and beautiful!
03 November 2013
Things I'm Thankful For! Day Three
It is time for day three of this challenge!
I am really thankful for my friends! All of them! Why? Well, because they are all amazing. As mentioned in my last post, I have a Melancholic Temperament and that makes it sort of hard for me to make friends. The friends that I have are very precious to me. I the small town that I live in there are really not a lot of people that share the same interests that I do. Even in my family I am sort of the odd ball. Not that my family does not love me, but I still am the odd one in the bunch. I think it is mainly because I am the youngest one in the group and you can read more about that and more about how I became more friendly and open in my post here. The funny thing is that despite this, I have found a friend at my church that I shares some of the same interests that I do. We both enjoy British TV and movies, similar authors, and amazingly we both enjoy international food. It was nice to discover that there was someone else that enjoys the international food that I get in! For so long I sort of felt out of place eating British sweets, drinking coffee from Germany, and reading as much as I did. I would have never met this friend of mine had I not joined our church choir. Truth is, I almost did not join the church choir despite my love of music and desire to still be involved in choir even though I was not a music major any more. The reason for this was because, as I have already mentioned, I am very introverted and am horrible at making friends. Joining choir at my church was a way for me to get more involved in my church by starting with something that I was comfortable with, music. Now I am on not only in the choir, but I am also on the decorating committee, and help in the nursery. I sure have come a long way from being so shy that I would get all jittery just talking to people I did not know from Adam's house cat.
So, today I would like to say a huge THANK YOU to all of my friends. I really do not say it enough, but I am really thankful for all of you. You have all had a small piece of bringing me out of my shell.
Until next time!
Stay wonderful and beautiful!
I am really thankful for my friends! All of them! Why? Well, because they are all amazing. As mentioned in my last post, I have a Melancholic Temperament and that makes it sort of hard for me to make friends. The friends that I have are very precious to me. I the small town that I live in there are really not a lot of people that share the same interests that I do. Even in my family I am sort of the odd ball. Not that my family does not love me, but I still am the odd one in the bunch. I think it is mainly because I am the youngest one in the group and you can read more about that and more about how I became more friendly and open in my post here. The funny thing is that despite this, I have found a friend at my church that I shares some of the same interests that I do. We both enjoy British TV and movies, similar authors, and amazingly we both enjoy international food. It was nice to discover that there was someone else that enjoys the international food that I get in! For so long I sort of felt out of place eating British sweets, drinking coffee from Germany, and reading as much as I did. I would have never met this friend of mine had I not joined our church choir. Truth is, I almost did not join the church choir despite my love of music and desire to still be involved in choir even though I was not a music major any more. The reason for this was because, as I have already mentioned, I am very introverted and am horrible at making friends. Joining choir at my church was a way for me to get more involved in my church by starting with something that I was comfortable with, music. Now I am on not only in the choir, but I am also on the decorating committee, and help in the nursery. I sure have come a long way from being so shy that I would get all jittery just talking to people I did not know from Adam's house cat.
So, today I would like to say a huge THANK YOU to all of my friends. I really do not say it enough, but I am really thankful for all of you. You have all had a small piece of bringing me out of my shell.
Until next time!
Stay wonderful and beautiful!
02 November 2013
Thinks I'm Thankful For! Day Two
Hello again!
It is day two on this little challenge thing. These are not going to be my normal length posts, as evidenced by my last post. I could make them as long as my normal posts, but then I would just be rambling too much and you all would get bored of that quickly. Without further ado, on to day two!
I am thankful for my family! Here is a picture of my mother, Aunt Mary, Grandma Mary, Grandpa George, Uncle John, and Aunt Becky. It was taken quite a while back.
My family is amazing and wonderful! They are so supportive of me and each other. I am the youngest of ten children and I have a plethora of nieces and nephews and for the most part we all get along really well. Sometimes we get into little tiffs, but deep down we love each other. Without my family I would probably be a lot worse off. For those of you who do not know me personally, I have what the Ancient Greeks would have called Melancholic Temperament. What does that mean? Well, it means that I am an introvert and that I over analyze things to the point where sometimes I get really overly stressed out and depressed about the world around me. I like to socialize, as many people that have a Melancholic Temperament do, but I just feel really awkward in a lot of social situations. So, if I consider you a friend and actually walk up to you to have a conversation consider yourself lucky. While I do consider myself to have an upbeat personality, I have to work at that. According to the Myers-Briggs Personality typing I am an INTJ. My family keeps me balanced and from getting super depressed. So does going to church, but since my church is sort of like part of my family I will include them as well.
So, to my biological family and my church family, thank you! I am truly thankful for all of you!
Until next time!
Stay wonderful and beautiful!
It is day two on this little challenge thing. These are not going to be my normal length posts, as evidenced by my last post. I could make them as long as my normal posts, but then I would just be rambling too much and you all would get bored of that quickly. Without further ado, on to day two!
I am thankful for my family! Here is a picture of my mother, Aunt Mary, Grandma Mary, Grandpa George, Uncle John, and Aunt Becky. It was taken quite a while back.
My family is amazing and wonderful! They are so supportive of me and each other. I am the youngest of ten children and I have a plethora of nieces and nephews and for the most part we all get along really well. Sometimes we get into little tiffs, but deep down we love each other. Without my family I would probably be a lot worse off. For those of you who do not know me personally, I have what the Ancient Greeks would have called Melancholic Temperament. What does that mean? Well, it means that I am an introvert and that I over analyze things to the point where sometimes I get really overly stressed out and depressed about the world around me. I like to socialize, as many people that have a Melancholic Temperament do, but I just feel really awkward in a lot of social situations. So, if I consider you a friend and actually walk up to you to have a conversation consider yourself lucky. While I do consider myself to have an upbeat personality, I have to work at that. According to the Myers-Briggs Personality typing I am an INTJ. My family keeps me balanced and from getting super depressed. So does going to church, but since my church is sort of like part of my family I will include them as well.
So, to my biological family and my church family, thank you! I am truly thankful for all of you!
Until next time!
Stay wonderful and beautiful!
01 November 2013
Things I'm Thankful For! Day One
Happy November
everyone!
Apparently, the thing
to do during this month is to post one thing that you are thankful for each day
until Thanksgiving or the end of the month.
So, I have decided to do this. I
challenge you all to do the same thing!
The first thing, and
thing I am most thankful for, is God.
Yep. God is number one on my
list. I am so thankful for God and
everything that he has done in my life.
I have been through some pretty rough spots in my life and I would not
have made it through without him. Thanks
to God I am the person that I am today.
Sure, I still have my days of being incredibly disappointed in the world
around me, but on the whole I am a pretty happy person. God has brought some pretty amazing people
into my life and I am truly thankful for that.
I am even more thankful for him sending his son to die on the cross for
not just my sins, but for the sins of the world. Knowing that I have his love has got me
through some pretty tough times and I will forever be grateful for that.
There you have
it! Day one of November is checked on my
list. What are you thankful for this
day?
Until next time!
Stay wonderful and
beautiful!
30 September 2013
Tips for College: Be Social
Hello everyone!
Let us talk about being social in college. This is important! Yes, being a good student and studying so you can do well is even more important, but so is having a social live. There are numerous reasons for this. Today I will talk about just a few of the more important reasons. So, let us get started shall we.
First off, I should probably give you all some background on my social life so that you will see where I am coming from in terms of my social life. As a child and up into my young adult life, I was shy and did not make friends easily. Yes, I was in numerous extracurricular activities in school, but that does not equal being social. On the whole I tried to keep to myself because I had issues with some of the other students picking on me since I was the "smart kid" and I never really told anyone about it because when I did it got worse for a bit. My mother always told me that they only picked on me because they knew it bothered me. As long as I ignored them it seemed to be manageable. Part of my problem may have, and probably still does when it comes to the random moments of social awkwardness that I still experience, come from the fact that I am the youngest of 10 children. Yeah you read that correctly. I have 9 siblings and a plethora of nieces and nephews. Because my oldest sibling is in his 50's and the next closest in age to me, that is still living, is in his 30's, there I have mostly be around adults. Since most of my siblings have children and some of their children have children, I have also had a lot of dealings with little kids. This is probably the reason that most people that are around my age view me as being ridiculously mature for my age. On the flip side, people that are older than me seem to think that I am too childish because I still enjoy things from my childhood like Pokémon and various other anime, cartoons, and games. That has turned out to be a good thing though since I connect with little kids and my nieces and nephew seem to think of me as the "cool aunt" and my cousins think I am pretty cool too because I will play games with them, watch cartoons with them, run around the park, and even go to concerts with them. In high school when I was thrust into a group of four different grade levels from the entire city I was kind of at a loss as to what to do with myself. It did not help that when I was in 4th grade my older brother, he was a teenager at the time, shot himself in the basement bathroom of my grade school. That was the first time that the death of a person had really hit me hard. Because he was close to my age we got along really well, not that I do not get along with my other siblings. That we the first time I had seem my brother Robert get mad like that, throwing his keys, kicking his VW van, and what have you. However, a friend of mine had asked me to go to church with her a few mouths before and I had been going there for a bit. This turned out to be a good thing because I had a good support network, small though it was because of how shy I was at the time. I still go to that church and if you are wondering why I am bringing this up, here is why. In high school I had a few good friends, but I still got tormented about being the "smart kid" at times by the same kinds from junior high. However, there was always one boy outside of my friends that whenever I saw him in the hallway or in line at lunch he always said "hello" to me. I think, I am not sure since I am not in his brain, that he probably recognized me as someone from church and that was why he talked to me when he saw me in the hall. Maybe it was because it seemed like every time that I saw him I was having a bad day and I looked stressed out and that I needed someone to acknowledge my existence, I have no idea what it was that made him say hello, but he did. His name is Brett. I sometimes sit over by him and his wife at church, she is an amazing photographer by the way and if you live in northern Oklahoma and need someone to take pictures she is your girl. Turns out, when I went out to dinner with a group of friends, him and his wife were with us, he asked if I had always been a quiet person. Well, I was until someone actually acknowledged me in the hallway in high school. That was when I started to be more talkative and actually started gaining more friends. So, if you are reading this for some odd reason Brett, thank you for just saying "hello" to me in high school. It meant a lot to me then to have someone acknowledge my existence outside of my small group of friends.
Was I social when I went off to college and then to university? Well, yes and no. I was certainly more social than I was when I was a little kid. I started at Cottey College right out of high school, and I mean right out of high school because I took summer classes online, I only had one friend that was even going there with me. There was another girl from my school, but she was more of a classmate than a friend. My friend that was there was in a different dorm and we didn't see each other that often. So, I was effectively on my own when I actually got to move into my dorm room that August. In my suite there were ten girls, two of which were from Sweden, two from Texas, one from Chicago, one from Michigan, one from Montana, one from Malawi, one from Missouri, and then me. Of them, only one was a returning student. Despite us going through some sticky spots due to our differences, we all got along pretty well and I still talk to some of those girls from my first year. My second year was a whole other story. That year was filled with drama deluxe. However, I still talk to a lot of my friends there from Cottey. I was more involved in other activities and have far more friends from the University of Central Oklahoma where I was in a much smaller academic department that was closer knit than a two year "finishing school" like college.
Now on to what this post is actually about. Probably the most important reason to actually be social in college is, this could possibly be taken as being shallow and I assure you that I do not mean it to be but I will go ahead and say it, networking for the future. Think about it logically. The people that you will ultimately hang out with are your best friends from high school and your college friends. Who are you going to turn to when you need to get a job? You are going to ask your friends if they know of anyone hiring in the area you are in or wanting to go, you put them down for references on applications, and you may end up working for them. As sad as it is, the old saying of it isn't what you know it's who you know when it comes to getting a job is very true. I ran into this at a place I used to work at. The management just handed jobs over to their friends without following their own policies and I was overlooked for jobs that I was more qualified for in favour of the management hiring their buddies. Thankfully, I do not have to deal with that anymore. So, be nice to your friends as they will most likely end up helping you in some way when it comes to the job market.
Everyone goes through some rough patches in their life and I am no exception. Thankfully, I have had always had a good support network. How did I get this support network? Well, at first it was just my family and it has since grown. However, these people did not just pop up out of nowhere. No, I actually had to go out and make friends. That's right. I had to be social. Thankfully, being social at university becomes a bit easier than in high school. In college you have a vast number of people that don't really know everyone and they are pretty much in the same boat as you. So, don't be afraid to just go up and talk to someone in the hall between classes or in the department while you are waiting to talk to a professor. Also, universities generally have a greater number of extracurricular activities and clubs to join than your average high school because of the sheer number of students they have. Some of which are from completely different countries and their interests tend to vary a great deal. By joining a club or any other student group allows you to make friends that share the same interest as you. At the University of Central Oklahoma I joined Chess and Games Club, Medieval Society, and the Philosophy Symposium group. These people have been there for me through a lot. They are some of my closest friend that I have. I talk to them all the time. I probably would be a lot more stressed out if I did not have their support.
Reason number three, and this will be the last one on this already ridiculously long post, is that it can actually help with your grades. *gasp* Really?! You have to be kidding me. Nope, I am serious. When you think about it this really does make sense. Since most of your friends that you make are going to be in classes and most likely have the same major, at least have a minor in the field you are studying, you will most likely call them for help if you cannot get a hold of your professors. Also, who are you going to ask to be in your study groups? Your friends. Most of the time my friends and I had study groups at either a coffee shop, the library, or a restaurant of some kind. Usually a pizza place or a place that was open 24/7 because we sometimes stayed there until about 2 or 3 in the morning. If it was a coffee shop it was either a Starbucks or one of the local coffee shops that actually liked having college students there. Your friends can also help you get over your nervousness about presenting a paper because you can read it allowed to them. Just be sure to tell them to correct you if they find something wrong with it. They are your friends they are not going to criticize you just for laughs. When you actually study you tend to do better in your classes. Just saying. I mean some of the classes that I took at university I could not have made it through had it not been for my friends.
To sum things up since this post was really long, making friends and being social has a lot of perks in terms of your happiness, health, employment, and your grades. Friends can help you out of a lot of sticky situations. Just remember, that lovely quote by the wonderful C.S. Lewis.
Let us talk about being social in college. This is important! Yes, being a good student and studying so you can do well is even more important, but so is having a social live. There are numerous reasons for this. Today I will talk about just a few of the more important reasons. So, let us get started shall we.
First off, I should probably give you all some background on my social life so that you will see where I am coming from in terms of my social life. As a child and up into my young adult life, I was shy and did not make friends easily. Yes, I was in numerous extracurricular activities in school, but that does not equal being social. On the whole I tried to keep to myself because I had issues with some of the other students picking on me since I was the "smart kid" and I never really told anyone about it because when I did it got worse for a bit. My mother always told me that they only picked on me because they knew it bothered me. As long as I ignored them it seemed to be manageable. Part of my problem may have, and probably still does when it comes to the random moments of social awkwardness that I still experience, come from the fact that I am the youngest of 10 children. Yeah you read that correctly. I have 9 siblings and a plethora of nieces and nephews. Because my oldest sibling is in his 50's and the next closest in age to me, that is still living, is in his 30's, there I have mostly be around adults. Since most of my siblings have children and some of their children have children, I have also had a lot of dealings with little kids. This is probably the reason that most people that are around my age view me as being ridiculously mature for my age. On the flip side, people that are older than me seem to think that I am too childish because I still enjoy things from my childhood like Pokémon and various other anime, cartoons, and games. That has turned out to be a good thing though since I connect with little kids and my nieces and nephew seem to think of me as the "cool aunt" and my cousins think I am pretty cool too because I will play games with them, watch cartoons with them, run around the park, and even go to concerts with them. In high school when I was thrust into a group of four different grade levels from the entire city I was kind of at a loss as to what to do with myself. It did not help that when I was in 4th grade my older brother, he was a teenager at the time, shot himself in the basement bathroom of my grade school. That was the first time that the death of a person had really hit me hard. Because he was close to my age we got along really well, not that I do not get along with my other siblings. That we the first time I had seem my brother Robert get mad like that, throwing his keys, kicking his VW van, and what have you. However, a friend of mine had asked me to go to church with her a few mouths before and I had been going there for a bit. This turned out to be a good thing because I had a good support network, small though it was because of how shy I was at the time. I still go to that church and if you are wondering why I am bringing this up, here is why. In high school I had a few good friends, but I still got tormented about being the "smart kid" at times by the same kinds from junior high. However, there was always one boy outside of my friends that whenever I saw him in the hallway or in line at lunch he always said "hello" to me. I think, I am not sure since I am not in his brain, that he probably recognized me as someone from church and that was why he talked to me when he saw me in the hall. Maybe it was because it seemed like every time that I saw him I was having a bad day and I looked stressed out and that I needed someone to acknowledge my existence, I have no idea what it was that made him say hello, but he did. His name is Brett. I sometimes sit over by him and his wife at church, she is an amazing photographer by the way and if you live in northern Oklahoma and need someone to take pictures she is your girl. Turns out, when I went out to dinner with a group of friends, him and his wife were with us, he asked if I had always been a quiet person. Well, I was until someone actually acknowledged me in the hallway in high school. That was when I started to be more talkative and actually started gaining more friends. So, if you are reading this for some odd reason Brett, thank you for just saying "hello" to me in high school. It meant a lot to me then to have someone acknowledge my existence outside of my small group of friends.
Was I social when I went off to college and then to university? Well, yes and no. I was certainly more social than I was when I was a little kid. I started at Cottey College right out of high school, and I mean right out of high school because I took summer classes online, I only had one friend that was even going there with me. There was another girl from my school, but she was more of a classmate than a friend. My friend that was there was in a different dorm and we didn't see each other that often. So, I was effectively on my own when I actually got to move into my dorm room that August. In my suite there were ten girls, two of which were from Sweden, two from Texas, one from Chicago, one from Michigan, one from Montana, one from Malawi, one from Missouri, and then me. Of them, only one was a returning student. Despite us going through some sticky spots due to our differences, we all got along pretty well and I still talk to some of those girls from my first year. My second year was a whole other story. That year was filled with drama deluxe. However, I still talk to a lot of my friends there from Cottey. I was more involved in other activities and have far more friends from the University of Central Oklahoma where I was in a much smaller academic department that was closer knit than a two year "finishing school" like college.
Now on to what this post is actually about. Probably the most important reason to actually be social in college is, this could possibly be taken as being shallow and I assure you that I do not mean it to be but I will go ahead and say it, networking for the future. Think about it logically. The people that you will ultimately hang out with are your best friends from high school and your college friends. Who are you going to turn to when you need to get a job? You are going to ask your friends if they know of anyone hiring in the area you are in or wanting to go, you put them down for references on applications, and you may end up working for them. As sad as it is, the old saying of it isn't what you know it's who you know when it comes to getting a job is very true. I ran into this at a place I used to work at. The management just handed jobs over to their friends without following their own policies and I was overlooked for jobs that I was more qualified for in favour of the management hiring their buddies. Thankfully, I do not have to deal with that anymore. So, be nice to your friends as they will most likely end up helping you in some way when it comes to the job market.
Everyone goes through some rough patches in their life and I am no exception. Thankfully, I have had always had a good support network. How did I get this support network? Well, at first it was just my family and it has since grown. However, these people did not just pop up out of nowhere. No, I actually had to go out and make friends. That's right. I had to be social. Thankfully, being social at university becomes a bit easier than in high school. In college you have a vast number of people that don't really know everyone and they are pretty much in the same boat as you. So, don't be afraid to just go up and talk to someone in the hall between classes or in the department while you are waiting to talk to a professor. Also, universities generally have a greater number of extracurricular activities and clubs to join than your average high school because of the sheer number of students they have. Some of which are from completely different countries and their interests tend to vary a great deal. By joining a club or any other student group allows you to make friends that share the same interest as you. At the University of Central Oklahoma I joined Chess and Games Club, Medieval Society, and the Philosophy Symposium group. These people have been there for me through a lot. They are some of my closest friend that I have. I talk to them all the time. I probably would be a lot more stressed out if I did not have their support.
Reason number three, and this will be the last one on this already ridiculously long post, is that it can actually help with your grades. *gasp* Really?! You have to be kidding me. Nope, I am serious. When you think about it this really does make sense. Since most of your friends that you make are going to be in classes and most likely have the same major, at least have a minor in the field you are studying, you will most likely call them for help if you cannot get a hold of your professors. Also, who are you going to ask to be in your study groups? Your friends. Most of the time my friends and I had study groups at either a coffee shop, the library, or a restaurant of some kind. Usually a pizza place or a place that was open 24/7 because we sometimes stayed there until about 2 or 3 in the morning. If it was a coffee shop it was either a Starbucks or one of the local coffee shops that actually liked having college students there. Your friends can also help you get over your nervousness about presenting a paper because you can read it allowed to them. Just be sure to tell them to correct you if they find something wrong with it. They are your friends they are not going to criticize you just for laughs. When you actually study you tend to do better in your classes. Just saying. I mean some of the classes that I took at university I could not have made it through had it not been for my friends.
To sum things up since this post was really long, making friends and being social has a lot of perks in terms of your happiness, health, employment, and your grades. Friends can help you out of a lot of sticky situations. Just remember, that lovely quote by the wonderful C.S. Lewis.
It is true! If you never go out and make friends you will never experience that wonderful feeling. I had that moment when I met my friend Andrew's wife, at the time she was not his wife. Her name is Rosemary. Those two are probably some of my closest friends. I have known Andrew since I was in junior high. At that time I had not met another girl that had quite the same interests in games and crafts as I did. Also, I have not met another person who eats eggs and hash browns the same way and loves rubber ducks as much as I do except Rosemary.
So, go out and make friends! Be social! I promise it will not be the end of the world if you do. Believe me. I am very introverted and it takes me a while to make friends and start being more talkative around people even today. However, going out and making new friends has really made me more of an upbeat person that gets along with a wider range of people. That has helped me out a lot.
In closing I would love to say THANK YOU to all of my friends! I adore each and every one of you and you mean the world to me.
01 September 2013
Back to Church Sunday!
Terve!
Today I am going to be posting about something that is near and dear to my heart. As most of you already know, I am a Christian and I do go to church every Sunday and on Wednesday when I can. In a couple of weeks, September 15, it is National Back to Church Sunday. As such, this post is going to be religious in nature. If you find that offensive then please feel free to skip over it. If not, please enjoy it. Either way, I do hope that you read this and that it inspires you even just a little bit.
If you were to ask me what denomination I am I would tell you that I am an Independent Fundamentalist Baptist. No, I am not a part of the Westboro Baptist Church group! Not all Independent Fundamentalist Baptists are. That would be like saying all Muslims are Jihadist which is completely and total FALSE! I have many friends that are of the Islamic faith and they are some of the nicest people that I know. However, a great number of my friends from college describe me as more of a “Messianic Jew”. Why is this? Well, I do come from Jewish ancestry and I do acknowledge Jewish holidays. I have been known to share in Jewish festivities and I find this important. Why? I feel that as a Christian it is important to understand Jewish traditions to better understand the Bible and the roots of the Christian religion. Many people forget that Jesus was a Jew. I have also been called a Calvinist. Why is that? That is also an easy question to answer. My father’s family is full of Mennonites. Either way, I am a Baptist through and through and am perfectly happy as such.
Since I go to church as often as I do, you are probably wondering about when I was saved and baptized. I was saved when I was 9 during Sunday School at Central Baptist Church in Ponca City, Oklahoma. I was baptized on Easter Sunday when I was 10. I do not have a story where I hit rock bottom, discovered that I needed Jesus in my life, went to church, and then got saved. I have been going to church since I was a little girl. That was the way that I was raised. It always made sense to me. However, the older lady that was helping with my Sunday School class, Ms. Georgina was the one that really deserves the credit on leading me to get saved. She answered all my questions, and as a curious child I had a ton of them, and was very patient with me. She was an amazing lady I dearly miss her. I was baptized the next year by our churches wonderful Pastor, John Waterloo. That is my story. I know it isn’t very amazing or exciting, but there you have it.
When I went off to college is another story though. I first went to college at Cottey College, a private all women’s college, in Nevada, Missouri. I went to the Baptist churches in that area and could not find one that suited me. None of them were quite the same as my home church. So, for the first year I just did not go. I sat in my room and read my Bible on Sunday and listened to the recordings from Central Baptist. However, my second year at Cottey I joined choir and our choir director invited me to her church where she led their choir. So, I gave it a try. This particular church was the First Presbyterian Church of Nevada, Missouri. It was a nice church. The minister was good and I knew some of the people that attended there. I was pretty happy with it. However, going to a Baptist church my whole life and then switching to a Presbyterian Church was a bit strange. The beliefs are similar, but not the same and some of those really bothered me. It was a relief to get back home to Central Baptist. While I attended university at the University of Central Oklahoma I started attending Forest Hill Christian Church. Once again, this was not a Baptist church and the beliefs were slightly odd to me. I have friends that attend that church and I did enjoy the time that I went there. The thing that was always a bit odd to me was that it was a bit too contemporary for my taste. There were no pews in the sanctuary and they sang a good number of more Christian pop songs, but overall it was a nice church. However, it was not my home church. After graduating from UCO I got back to Central Baptist and love every moment I get in that church.
Well? A little bit
more inspired? So go out and tell people
about your faith! Invite someone to
church with you! They may not go with
you, but you at least invited them.
Share your faith! Go tell people about what you believe in. So what if they get offended by it. It is there loss. It does not matter what you believe in, if you truly believe in it why would you not want to let people know? I believe in God and that he sent his only son, Jesus Christ, to die for the sins of all mankind. I am grateful that he did so. I would love it if everyone else believed the same as me. I invite people to go to church with me whenever I can. Just because you go to church does not mean you are obligated to join. In fact, every church that I have been to have been very kind and welcoming even if I just visited them one time. Even if you are from a different faith, visit a Christian church on September 15. If nothing else, it might help you understand your Christian friends a bit better. You are not committing yourself to that church or to the Christian faith by simply visiting.
Until next time my lovelies! Stay lovely and blessed!
Today I am going to be posting about something that is near and dear to my heart. As most of you already know, I am a Christian and I do go to church every Sunday and on Wednesday when I can. In a couple of weeks, September 15, it is National Back to Church Sunday. As such, this post is going to be religious in nature. If you find that offensive then please feel free to skip over it. If not, please enjoy it. Either way, I do hope that you read this and that it inspires you even just a little bit.
If you were to ask me what denomination I am I would tell you that I am an Independent Fundamentalist Baptist. No, I am not a part of the Westboro Baptist Church group! Not all Independent Fundamentalist Baptists are. That would be like saying all Muslims are Jihadist which is completely and total FALSE! I have many friends that are of the Islamic faith and they are some of the nicest people that I know. However, a great number of my friends from college describe me as more of a “Messianic Jew”. Why is this? Well, I do come from Jewish ancestry and I do acknowledge Jewish holidays. I have been known to share in Jewish festivities and I find this important. Why? I feel that as a Christian it is important to understand Jewish traditions to better understand the Bible and the roots of the Christian religion. Many people forget that Jesus was a Jew. I have also been called a Calvinist. Why is that? That is also an easy question to answer. My father’s family is full of Mennonites. Either way, I am a Baptist through and through and am perfectly happy as such.
Since I go to church as often as I do, you are probably wondering about when I was saved and baptized. I was saved when I was 9 during Sunday School at Central Baptist Church in Ponca City, Oklahoma. I was baptized on Easter Sunday when I was 10. I do not have a story where I hit rock bottom, discovered that I needed Jesus in my life, went to church, and then got saved. I have been going to church since I was a little girl. That was the way that I was raised. It always made sense to me. However, the older lady that was helping with my Sunday School class, Ms. Georgina was the one that really deserves the credit on leading me to get saved. She answered all my questions, and as a curious child I had a ton of them, and was very patient with me. She was an amazing lady I dearly miss her. I was baptized the next year by our churches wonderful Pastor, John Waterloo. That is my story. I know it isn’t very amazing or exciting, but there you have it.
When I went off to college is another story though. I first went to college at Cottey College, a private all women’s college, in Nevada, Missouri. I went to the Baptist churches in that area and could not find one that suited me. None of them were quite the same as my home church. So, for the first year I just did not go. I sat in my room and read my Bible on Sunday and listened to the recordings from Central Baptist. However, my second year at Cottey I joined choir and our choir director invited me to her church where she led their choir. So, I gave it a try. This particular church was the First Presbyterian Church of Nevada, Missouri. It was a nice church. The minister was good and I knew some of the people that attended there. I was pretty happy with it. However, going to a Baptist church my whole life and then switching to a Presbyterian Church was a bit strange. The beliefs are similar, but not the same and some of those really bothered me. It was a relief to get back home to Central Baptist. While I attended university at the University of Central Oklahoma I started attending Forest Hill Christian Church. Once again, this was not a Baptist church and the beliefs were slightly odd to me. I have friends that attend that church and I did enjoy the time that I went there. The thing that was always a bit odd to me was that it was a bit too contemporary for my taste. There were no pews in the sanctuary and they sang a good number of more Christian pop songs, but overall it was a nice church. However, it was not my home church. After graduating from UCO I got back to Central Baptist and love every moment I get in that church.
I feel like it is important to have a home church. Why? That
is a simple question to answer. To me
the people at church are like an extension of my family. I love each of them. We help each other out and take care of each
other like a family does. I owe a lot to
my church family. They have helped me through
some pretty hard times. While I really
came out of my shell and started being less shy at UCO, I will post more about
that later, some of the people I at my church helped out with that
recently. My friends from UCO helped me
learn that it is okay to be a geek and that there is a group of people that
will love you and accept you for that.
The people at my church in a way helped me learn that it is okay to be
myself around everyone. In fact, I would
not be quite as active at Central Baptist had it not been for me, being as shy
as I am, gathering up as much courage as
I could and going up to our Minister of Music and asking him if I could join
the choir. So, José, if you are reading
this, thank you. Joining the choir at
Central Baptist really helped me find my place at the church. I have made some amazing friends at Central
Baptist and I cannot imagine my life without those people. Those people helped me become less shy around
everyone, not just my friends. Go out
and find a home church! It is the best
thing I can think of to have in the world outside of a loving family.
On September 15 you should go to church. Go to your home church if you have not gone
in a while. Try a church if you do not
have a home church. If you go to your
home church faithfully, invite someone to go with you! Ask your neighbour, ask your family, ask a
co-worker, ask your classmates, ask a friend.
Just go out and ask someone! The
worst they can say is no. Do not be
pushy about it. That does not give them
a good impression about the religion.
Just ask. Remember, not even the Apostle
Paul could reach everyone. He did his
best. You should too. Need some more inspiration? Have you ever heard of Penn Jillette? You know from Penn and Teller. Yeah, he is an Atheist. Just watch this little video that I found on YouTube.Share your faith! Go tell people about what you believe in. So what if they get offended by it. It is there loss. It does not matter what you believe in, if you truly believe in it why would you not want to let people know? I believe in God and that he sent his only son, Jesus Christ, to die for the sins of all mankind. I am grateful that he did so. I would love it if everyone else believed the same as me. I invite people to go to church with me whenever I can. Just because you go to church does not mean you are obligated to join. In fact, every church that I have been to have been very kind and welcoming even if I just visited them one time. Even if you are from a different faith, visit a Christian church on September 15. If nothing else, it might help you understand your Christian friends a bit better. You are not committing yourself to that church or to the Christian faith by simply visiting.
Until next time my lovelies! Stay lovely and blessed!
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