Thursday, January 26, 2006

it's been a while

So after having made it through the most depressing day of the year (January 23-24 according to experts), I am now on my way to being excited about spring! I'm working out more, which is nice. I did a bellydancing class last night and tonight I'm going to do yoga. I've been in the pool for my WSI class, which has made me miss swimming. So I'm going to start swimming for excercise more often, too. Yay for getting my body in some sort of shape!

Chinese class is more fun this semester. Perhaps it is because I don't have it first thing in the mornign like last semester, or maybe because I know more and it's easier to build off of something as opposed to starting fresh. Classes themselves are more fun-- maybe the teachers are getting better? Or perhaps they can speak more chinese and less english and we can still understand them. I switched lecture teachers, and Zhou Laoshi (who I have now) seems to do more hands-on things that help us practice speaking. I just need to work on knowing how to write the characters. Memorization is hard!

College Life is exciting because we're starting to do leadership training now. We have folders and memorize verses every week. We talked about contact work at the last meeting, and I was excited. Because I've known what goes on behind the scenes of YL for a long time, but now I will actually be putting it into practice. McKenzie and I have to share our 5-minute testimony for our small group next week, and I'm a little excited. I used to think that sharing a testimony was so hard and when Mom tried to get us to do it back in high school sunday school, I was terrified. Now I realize that it's just my story, and that it shouldn't be scary.

Speaking of College Life, I'm going to Windy Gap this weekend!!! I'm very excited because: a) I will be with my college life loves; b) I will get to see Kristin and Eric and Brad (because eric and brad are doing program); c) I will be at Windy Gap, duh!; and d) because I like to have the break from school. So, it's just going to be a lot of fun chilling out and having fun with my friends. And I get to be a server this time, which is awesome.

I guess that's all for this post... have a great day, everyone!

Sunday, January 15, 2006

yakkity yak don't talk back

I just made an interesting discovery-- my wardrobe consists of a lot of pink. I wouldn't have guessed that I was a pink kind of girl, but then I realize that I really am. When I buy new shirts, they are pink or gray. I just surveyed my non-t-shirt-long-sleeve shirts, and pink is the dominating color. I like pink. It makes me happy and brightens my day. So, yeah. Just thought I'd share that with you.

The fam came to visit this weekend. Only one week after having left them, but I still was really glad to hang with them. I got to see Jill and Char swim a bit, then we went out to dinner (on friday). Saturday was fun because we went to South Point and ate lunch and saw Casanova and then made a stop at Super Target on the way out. It was good quality time and I got to get myself organized by buying good snacks and school supplies. I finally got a 3-hole punch, which makes my life ten billion times better! The state of my organization is a reflection of the state of my stress levels.

I get sad when people go away. It takes me a few minutes to compose myself and resituate myself with my surroundings. I got sad when Mom and Dad and Jill and Charlotte went away because I had so much fun with them and I got to be with them (and Kate) all over christmas break and now I only get to see them in little bits until summer break. But then I'll see them for a few weeks and go away for a long long time for Cheerio. I am happy that I am here, and I miss my family of course, I just get a little overwhelmed by the missing when it's the instant after they have left. My tired-ness exacerbates the missing, of course, so that doesn't make it any better. But now I am in the moment and am glad to get this semester rolling.

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

oh the traumas of the adult life

I am not good at being an adult. First of all, I hate talking on the phone. I hate setting up appointments and figuring things out on the phone because I am not a good phone talker and I make things really awkward. I also don't like setting up appointments in general. And figuring things out for myself. (practical things, that is. outside of school)

Case in point: I had to get new glasses here in Chapel Hill. I found the eye place, I picked out some cute frames... all was going smoothly. Then, I had to figure out insurance information and call the guy at the eye place back. Instead of going right back in once I figured out the information, I called him back later. Several phone calls and minor misunderstandings later, they finally figured out my insurance information so I could get the deals. Then I had to choose lenses. Fed up at this point, and not wanting to walk all the way back up to University Square to the place, I just did it over the phone. Bad idea. I didn't call my regular doctor to see what type of lenses I currently have, and just decided to wing it. I went for the cheaper (although thicker) kind because I figured my vision wasn't that bad and it wouldn't be that thick and I am very stingy and don't like to spend a lot of money sometimes. My mom knows this, so after the deed was done she called me out on it-- asking if I really wanted the thin ones but just got the thick ones because they were cheap. I said that it didn't really matter to me. Haha... I tried to trick myself. After some investigation to find out that my current lenses are the thin kind, and that I really did want to change my mind, I called the eye place only to figure out that my glasses had already been sent off. It's out of my hands and now I must wait until I get a new prescription to get thinner lenses.

I guess it serves me right for being so sketchy like I always am. I hate it when I know I'm being sketchy but there's almost nothing I can do about it. One of these days I'll be better at appointments, and then I'll be able to reap the rewards. I mean, I really don't care because I'm not looking at my glasses, and they'll probably be cute anyway, and maybe if they're thick they'll motivate me to wear my contacts more often. At least the frames are cute... I've got that taken care of. Oh me. Why am I so weird?? I'm okay. We'll see how I feel when I have the glasses in my hand...

Saturday, January 07, 2006

memoirs of a geisha....

Was a good movie. I saw it with mom and dad tonight, instead of hanging out with MA friends. It seems that tonight was not my night for getting in touch with anyone my age in MA. Emmy is here in MA and I get to see her tomorrow! Yay!

I get jealous a lot. It's weird, and it's not an outright jealousy, it just lingers there-- like my random insecurities breed it or something. Most of the time I'm logical and can think things through and I forget my insecure thoughts, but late at night, they get blown out of proportion.

Right now, I just need to focus on thanking God for the wonderful new friends I have at Carolina that I am bonding with and whom I love so very much. I just start thinking that maybe people don't love me, but then I remember that of course they do. I wish I wasn't so hung up on getting satisfaction from all that. If there's one thing that I want to take from Passion, it is that I need to stop looking to people to fill the holes that He should be filling, you know? Passion has got me talking all "religious" and stuff, but I kinda like it. I feel weird integrating it into my language sometimes, like it's too cheezy or something, but really, it's a part of my thoughts and that's what this thing is for anyway-- my thoughts. Haha, I'm getting defensive about my thoughts to myself... weird how I do that sometimes.

Oh yeah-- I forgot to explain what Passion is! It was a conference in Nashville that was so amazing. We worshipped, heard speakers, met in small groups, went to breakout sessions, and grew and revitalized our faith a little bit. I went with Stephanie and Julia and Abby, and it was so much fun. Tay Ray Pony was there, too, but I didn't see him a ton b/c he was with a different group and in a different hotel. My favorite thing, if I had to choose, was the worship. 18,000 people in one place all praising God is pretty amazing.

So I had fun, and I am happy, and my goal is to stop being so insecure at night. (If you've been following my blog, I think you might've noticed a trend that the insecure stuff happens at night and when I have too much time for introspection )

Sunday, January 01, 2006

Happy New Year!

What a great way to start off the new year! I got to spend the first day with my two favorite families and my own family, playing games and generally having a fun time! The Sumner's and Leathers' came over to play an assortment of games and have dinner and play more games and joke around and play more games and more games and more fun and it was just great! So many games and so much fun. We ended up playing Cranium, Catch Phrase, Trivial Pursuit, and Farkel. The night was capped off by Eric Leathers having to chew up a chap stick for like 30 seconds. Fun times, for sure. I love being silly and loud and insane. Even though I was accused of cheating on multiple occasions, and I apparently can't keep from talking after everyone's answer in Catch Phrase, I still love playing those games.

Now I'm excited about making a road trip with my new favorite girls to Nashville, TN for the Passion conference. I'm really excited about bonding and learning and having an all around amazing experience. Yay! So that's also fun.

Ok, I'm so tired and have to get up early for the road trip tomorrow, so I will sign off this first post of the year saying that I'm excited that my blog has made it all the way to 2005. It's been a long one, and I'm excited about it. 2006 holds, along with other marvelous things, the 3rd anniversary of the beginning of this blog. I'm getting excited! This post is crazy because I'm so hyper and a little bit ADD and my back hurts for some reason and I'm typing really fast and making a lot of mistakes. Sounds like it's bedtime for me!