Goodbye... You've Been Good To Me..

Ah yes, 'tis the last day of 2008. I can't believe it's over. This has probably been the most exciting year in our history. As far as I can remember, I don't remember having such an exciting year. There were some firsts in my own personal life, some very proud moments in this country and across the world. It's also been a year full of negative things, but right now, I wanna focus on the most important stuff that really changed us (and me).

1. I got my first real college job, and got a job promotion as well as a pay raise. Very exciting events. 

2. I flew on a plane across country by myself for the first time. That was also nerve racking but very thrilling!

3. Swimming became exciting again, thanks to Gold Medal record holder Michael Phelps. It was a phenominal Olympics.

4. I got published in a magazine, therefore furthering my experience for my future career. :)

5. I voted in my first election!

6. I got my first sprained ankle.. haha

7. I successfully completed my first year of college..

8. We elected the first (and hopefully not the last) African American President!

There are so many crazy things that happened this year, and this list could go on forever and ever, but I think eight is fitting. 

It's crazy how fast this year has gone by. It really seems like just yesterday I was jumping for joy after God answered my prayer and granted me a job. Or just yesterday when my parents were ringing their hands nervously about their daughter flying solo across the country. Or just yesterday when I was toe tapping my way to celebrating 19 years on this earth. Or just yesterday when I screamed with joy that this Country had finally embraced change. It's amazing that time can go by so fast, in the blink of an eye, and we don't take the time to thank God. Sure, we are in one of the worst economic crisis in decades, and sure many families lost loved ones, and yes, thousands have lost their jobs because of our economic state. Are we alive though? Shouldn't we give thanks for even that? For the fact that, even in our crisis, we can still have food and clothes, and some place for shelter? I'm not sure about you, but there so much we can still thank God for, even in our worst of situations. Let's practice that for the new year.

So, see ya 2008. It's been a blast, and I hope 2009 brings just as many adventures, if not more! 

It's a beautiful Summinter...

Summinter is summer in the winter. I walked outside my door today, fully expecting to keel over in a cold seizure. Imagine my surprise when there was only the greeting of 25 degrees instead of -2. It was pleasant. I thought to myself "Wow, it feels like a summer day." Call me crazy, but today I experienced a summer sensation in the middle of snow and ice. :)

Christmas is almost here. It's funny because, usually I feel like we (not my family but people in general, especially TV people) go into Christmas anticipation OVERLOAD, and then the day comes and its like.. well there ya have it. Done with. But this year, its like... eh, whatever. I guess because the economy is so bad, people are spending so much money pumping out unnecessary Christmas ... stuff. It's nice actually. I like the Holidays and all, but for me they are slightly overrated. I mean... what's the big deal? (Yeah, call me scruge) Oh, but this year, I actually am I little excited about Christmas, because I got gifts for my family and (hopefully) they got stuff for me too. Broke the bank for them actually, lol.

I'm really hungry right now... like.. uh.. STARVING.. it's 2:40, and I haven't eaten anything today. I don't get off work till 4:00. Boy.. now I see why they say eating breakfast is the most important thing to do because if you don't eat till the end of the day, you feel like you gotta make up for ALL those other calories you didnt' eat, and you overcompensate. Then your body hates you and calculates a rather evil revenge; adding gross fat to your heart and clogging it up (as well as other major internal organs). I'm really hungry though.. WOW. Really hungry.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow..

The weather outside truly is frightful. With a wind chill of -10 or so, and snow falling heavily on the ground, its beginning to look a lot like Antartica out there. I've never seen weather like this in my life. It's crazy out there people. There is almost zero visibility, the roads are ice, the wind is a biting cold and theres plenty PLENTY of snow on the ground.

I WAS a little upset that I still had to come into work, but you know what? At least I have a job to come to. I get paid a fair amount, and there's heat and internet and people and shelter and water here. Sure I had to come outside to get here, but I'm here aren't I? Imagine all the people who don't have any shelter right now, and actually have to SIT OUTSIDE in that weather? I can't even imagine. I gotta learn to be grateful for what I have, even when the situation isn't ideal.

On that note, The Prestige is SUCH a good movie. It is crazy insanely sad how far someone would go just for the reaction of other people. I mean, sure the guy was an illusionist, so his job was to SHOCK and awe people, but wow, he went through some great length for the "look on their faces" as he said with his last dying breath. Very good movie that makes you really think about stuff.

I just thought of something. No one else may EVER read this blog, but guess what? I will. I can document my life on here and then when I'm like... 100 and I'm wondering, man, what was I like as a teenager (or at least the last few months of my teenage life) I can go to jnellethemusical's blog, and see. I wonder if I will hate or love the future me..?

...And will the future me hate or love the present me?

Love Hurts...

That title actually means... nothing. I just heard that song last night, and now it's in my head and I decided to name my blog... Love Hurts.

I'm actually not sure how that makes sense. Love doesn't hurt. Love feels great. Being hurt is what hurts. The other person, whoever they are, is who hurts you. But it isn't love. Love only wants to give you good things, and make your love better. God is love. And God doesn't hurt. Therefore, love doesn't hurt.

Moving on...

Yes, it is Friday again. And today there was a "blizzard". The news people were hyping it up to be a lot worse than it actually ended up being. Granted, it is QUITE chilly out, and there is snow/sleet/rain outside.. BUT it could be a lot worse. So I'm glad it's not as worse as it could be. That makes sense right?

I miss summer time. I despise winter. It's evil. Sure it's nice to have seasons and what not, but still.... BRRRRR... I don't like being cold. I HATE being cold. There's only so much you can bundle up around here, and still the cold seems to find it's way up through your clothes and onto your skin. Body heat does you no good, space heaters are useless. The cold here is the master of it's domain. It latches onto your flesh and sucks the very life out of you...taking away your will to do much of anything except curl up in your bed underneath a LARGE comforter and close your eyes... praying for its deathly grip to pass....

On the other hand... CHRISTMAS IS ALMOST HERE!.. yay.

I like/love Christmas... not really because of the gifts (I never really want anything), but because everyone is so happy, and I get a chance to shower my family with presents. And the music is great, and the food is somehow better than it is during the year.. and the best part? It's the close of the year. Onto something new, something fresh... something exciting. Whoever chose this time of year for the holidays was a genius (and no... it wasn't Jesus).

Much Holiday lovin'!

Your Grace Still Amazes Me...

Currently one of the most inspirational songs I've heard in the past couple days. Doesn't God's grace amaze you? I mean... wow! Do you ever wonder, why does He bother with me? I'm wretched? I wonder that, all the time. And yet somehow He still has the patience to deal with me and my weird... flaky ways. His Graces Amazes me~

A few weeks ago I FINALLY learned how to do those special characters on the computer. I lost it. I've been trying to figure that out for years, and by a simple stroke of... accident, I managed to figure it out. I think tomorrow I'm going to take pictures. I want to show some California people what a real winter looks like! BANANA'S. I think it's been snowing all day.

At any rate.. I want to share the lyrics of this beautiful song with you all (the few people that may come across this blog). It's too beautiful and wonderful not to share: 

By: Phillips, Craig & Dean (wonderful trio, they sing some very beautiful music)

My faithful Father, enduring Friend

Your tender mercy's like a river with no end

It overwhelms me, covers my sin

Each time I come into Your presence

I stand in wonder once again

Your grace still amazes me

Your love is still a mystery

Each day I fall on my knees

Your grace still amazes

'Cause Your grace still amazes me

Oh, patient Saviour, Your make me whole

You are the Author and the Healer of my soul

What can I give You, Lord, what can I say

I know there's no way to repay You

Only to offer you my praise

It's deeper, it's wider

It's stronger, it's higher

It's deeper, it's wider

It's stronger, it's higher

than anything my eyes can see...

Your grace still amazes me,

Your love is still a mystery

Each day, I fall on my knees,

Your grace still amazes me,

'Cause your grace still amazes me....

I hope you have an amazing weekend and that God's grace will continue to amaze you, strengthen you, and encourage you! :) 

I've Got Sunshine... on a Cloudy Day..

It's a muggy day, but inside I am glad. It's a slusshy day, but inside...my heart sings. I know.. gross mucky cliche words, but I am happy! Even though it's finals week and most people have grocery bags under their eyes and frown lines on their faces. Why am I so happy?

I got financially cleared for next semester, without having to pay a cent for a down payment.

NOW, that may not seem like a lot to the average person. But for me thats HUGE, especially compared to this semester. I got a grant, whose origin I am completely unaware, and it covered the rest of the down payment I needed. This semester I had to pay 920 dollars out of pocket just for the down payment to get cleared for classes, plus an additional 546 per month. Praise the Lord for this mysterious grant money!

I'm also happy that this year is over. It's been an.. interesting year full of firsts and many other things. The semester is almost over, and now it's time to press on too next semester, which is sure to be full of challenges! :)

She Kept Talking...

One month later...

Yeah, me and blogging... quite unsuccessful. Anyway, it's Fusion tonight again, very very exciting. A few new things happened to me.. and since no one reads this except me, I guess this is a good way to document my booooring life. I bought a computer recently, and I'd like to show you what he looks like...

YUP, that's him, right there. The new environmentally kind mac laptops. It's an amazing thing, and I thank God I was able to purchase it. His name is Troy, in case you were wondering.. which I'm sure you weren't because honestly, who names their computers? Well, I do. Troy and I just have THAT good of a relationship. And no, I do not name all of the inanimate objects I own. Come on, that would just be weird...

Anyway, I also am going to be a section editor for our University paper, so that is quite exciting. Life is good, God is good. 

And it is CHIIILLLYYY outside. :)

And The Beat Goes On...

That is NOT the name of a soap, but I've run out of names... since I don't really watch soaps.



ANYWAY.





Welcome to Friday. This is the first Friday of November, and you know what THAT means?? FUSION!!!!! It's probably one of the most exciting things about this place. :) People of all backgrounds and races get together to praise their maker in this amazing amazing way. The band is RIDICULOUS, the song leaders are INSANELY HYPE and it's just a good worshipping time. The cool thing is, it only happens once a month, which makes it more exciting because it's something to look forward to. The Howard is usually packed out, with people even standing up all along the walls... it's just that insane. The message is always good, but I have to admit, my favorite part is song service. Everybody is standing up, raising their hands in the air, closing their eyes and soaking in the moment. It's a time to forget all the junk you've had to go through for that week, that month, or even that year, and just say "Hey God, it's me. I mess up, I fall down, but here I am again." It's just...wow. We have loud, crazy songs where people are jumping up and down, and we have mellow songs where they just cut the music and let people raise their voices. I love Fusion. LOVE it.



It's the end of another week, and I couldn't be happier. :)

History Has Been Made...

OH.

MY.


GOSH..



Today, America made history. We joined together, and we made a difference. And for the first time, we have an African American President. I have never been so proud, and never so excited to be apart of this country. What an AMAZING day... :)

Rock the Vote?

Today was a very, or should I say IS a very exciting day!! Today I rocked the vote, for the first time, and it was a very exciting, very thrilling experience! I really felt part of it all.... the vibe was just so great.


Now all we can do is cross our fingers and hope that the right decision is made...

Oh man America, I hope we chose right today!!


And I hope all of you ROCKED THE VOTE!!!

As the World Turns...

Ah yes, it's Thursday. Welcome Thursday.

I'm voting, are YOU voting? I hope so. I hope that people become actively involved in our political process. At least to say they were, if for no other reason. :)

This week has been.... insane. I mean, I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off, trying not to be depressed, and then being ridiculously happy all in the same day. I had my work evaluation this week, and it was very... uplifting. Constructive criticism is good for the soul, dont ya know?

I need to wash my hair tomorrow. The weekend is almost here... I can almost taste it.

Question: Do you think this country will ever see past color? Or is that a stumbling block that many people can never jump over?

One Life to Live..

It's fall here, which is probably .. no not probably, it IS the beautiful season. So, I took a bunch of pictures on Sabbath and i'd like to share them with you! Gorgeous pictures. :)

I have a question for all you thinking people out there. Why do people make up excuses about why they shouldn't believe in God, and only ask questions to disrupt, and not actually learn anything? They make no effort to understand the... magnitude that is God, yet when they have the chance to stir up doubts, they raise silly questions like, "Well didn't Jesus drink?" Is faith out of the question, and now it is purely logic that judges people's belief systems?

The Bold and the Beautiful...

It is Friday. Which means many things. It means that I'm walking through the light at the end of this banana nut week. It means my special wonderful day of rest, SABBATH, is here, and I don't have to do ANYTHING except enjoy God's gift. It also means I have Philosophy.


Let me just say, I hate Philosophy class. It's painful. I makes me brain do this weird thing called thinking, which gives me the shakes. lol. No really though, Philosophy is pretty lame. But today I read something interesting in this book called Faith, Film and Philosophy, which takes movies with philosophical themes and discusses them. The question was raised in this book about personal identity. How do you become you? Who are you, what makes you you? Your memories, your thoughts? Are you no longer you when these things cease to exist, or you can't remember what you did yesterday? All that crazy jazz and mumbo jumbo. Anyway, yeah, real exciting stuff.

It is Friday. Which still means I have Philosophy class, but also means that after 12:20, I am napping, and no test on Earth, no required reading can stop me! Ya know, God is a pretty smart being, because somehow He knew that at the end of 6 days, we'd be so tired we couldn't remember our names, and we'd need a day to stop thinking. I hope heaven is like Sabbath, everyday!!

Today is picture day! SMILE! :)

General Hospital...

It's Thursday. In general, I am egg-sauce-Ted. In other news, I am at work. And right now, I don't have much to do. It is cold here. Where? Noneya.

I want to write/publish a book before I graduate from college. So, in order to get some idea's and feedback, I'm going to post pieces of my book here, for you all to read and enjoy (and critique!)

Heres the first part:

“We are going to be late, again!” I mumbled the last part under my breath. He wouldn’t listen anyway, and I wasn’t about to waste my lung power on summoning a man who didn’t believe in time, or the quality of time.
“Don’t get yourself in a knot sweetie, I’ll be down in ten!” he shouted back from the top of the stairs. The program had started twenty minutes ago, in his honor, and he was going to be a half an hour late. Why they would honor a scientist, a species with no time constraints, was beyond me. The fact that he’d spent nearly ten years simply hypothesizing on his new development was hint enough that he wasn’t going to show up early, or on time for this banquet.
“Dodge Jonathan Mayer, will you get yourself down here this instant! We are already 20 minutes late, and I am not going to be another ten!” As his wife, it was time for me to put my foot down; and it worked. He came scurrying down the stairs, the tail of his tuxedo shirt flailing out behind him. I quickly tucked it in, fixed his tie, spit shined his hair and eyebrows and made a beeline for the door.
“Someday my leisure attitude for time is going to come in handy,” he quipped as we climbed into our car.
“Yes it will. At your funeral where you’ll be escorted to and from it.” He laughed at my joke and started the car. Now I wish I hadn’t made that joke. It wasn’t really even that funny.

TUNE IN NEXT TIME TO FIND OUT WHY THE JOKE WASN'T FUNNY!! lol... Any comments, please feel free!

All My Children...

I hope I can think of enough soap opera titles for all the blogs I'll post..
same day, different stuff. This blogging stuff is pretty exciting..ish.





Guess what I did! I took pictures of my most prized posessions, and I want to share them with you! (Told you my life was boring).


This is my message bible that I got from Australia. I got some of my Aussie Homie's to write lovely things in it. It makes me... :)



This is part of my shot glass collection. They love me. I love them. That's just how it is.


His name is FRIDGE and he is love. He shows love. There is his heart. :)





And this is Ipod. Pod for short. Beautiful for long. MINE forever. MWAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!

Days of Our Lives...

Ok, let me start by saying this: Hollie made me do it.

Hi guys!

My life is boring. I'm in college, which, if you watch TV, means my life should be full of drama, boys, drama, boy, and drama. HOWEVER, that is not the case. My life is full of work, school, work, and the occasional "Hey friend how are you!" It's sad, really.

Can you put pictures on this thing? ... mmmm....

I'll find more to say tomorrow, I'm sure. Good night!