the reasons to be happy...
this has been an amazingly good week... and it was definitely showing on my face all day yesterday... for some strange reason, i had all the reasons to be happy yesterday...
so i decided to stay in from church, and journal in grainger lobby... being reflective is still a great way for me to spend my sabbaths...
i woke up before my alarm... even when it's set at 7 in the morning, which means i got some really amazing sleep... i go to take a shower and get dressed, and i realize that i've lost yet another belt size! slowly but surely, i'm losing weight... i read my Bible, go grab breakfast, but there was this long line, since the academy kids are here for choir festival... i decide to "cut" to grab some biscuits and gravy, since everyone doesn't realize there's two lines... the biscuits and gravy were PERFECT! just the right softness and tastiness... i thoroughly enjoyed them...
i head towards books of moses, where laurie and megan are having a conversation about a relationship issue laurie's having... i throw in my two cents as cory walks in to sit next to us, and the four of us end up debating what's the best action for her to take... apparently, my advice "sucks" in cory's eyes, since he's had those lines used against him... well, the way i see it, if someone decides to share their feelings with you, it's at least nice to acknowledge something positive about them... at least i know what NOT to do, and that's avoid the situation altogether...
prophets of israel class... i have been struggling with a way to connect to the material in that class, since it's so depressing and judgmental... but on thursday night, i had a moment of discovery and enlightenment with the class... i'll write about it after my 7-dash separation of thoughts... but i actually decided to share in class some of my discoveries, which ranzolin decided to digress and illustrate how it relates to a book in hebrews... i guess it was a good find... i was amazed that he actually knew my name as well, since i've never spoken up in class...
i didn't do so hot on my music history listening quiz, but that wasn't gonna get me down... i had an early lunch with kara, since dr davis had to stay with her kids, who she brought to class... it's always fun messing around with ethan, and seeing benjamin... kara and i discussed our antisocial behaviors, and the conscious efforts that we're making in bettering ourselves... in my case, it's more of a refinement of beliefs i've always had... try to be nice to everybody, but not necessarily try to befriend everybody...
in i cantori, for some reason, i decided to play happy birthday in a major, minor, and bitonal setting, which carried my crazy mood... cory told me he had a CD that he had to share with me, since he hated it at first, which he learned to enjoy immensely... looking forward to it... in i cantori, standing next to him and andy produced some amazing overtone waves that i could feel, which kept contributing to my happiness... can't forget my moment of schpreckstimme-ing as i left choir, which caused much laughter among those who were unfortunate to hear...
went to lunch with andy, where we were joined by just about everybody... i was $20 under on my caf card! that NEVER happens... by the end of the quarter, i'm usually $250 over, so this was an accomplishment... i even got to whip it out and let chris use it, since i had the funds to spare... talking about chemistry and grades, remembering kahlil gibran, being pyromaniacs, writing about diseased napkins/spoons/trash, sharing a curiously strong lemon sorbet... good times...
andy and i chatted for a bit, then we both had time to kill before our 4 o'clock rehearsal... we had to rehearse with the high school honor choir... that was interesting... first of all, it smelt like high school... all the college chorale members had to stand inbetween two high schoolers in our section... the kid on my left had serious ADD, and this girl that served as the border of the alto and tenor section had attitude... both of them decided to give ME attitude at one point... the kid on my left told me, tim, and josh to shut up inbetween songs, and the girl told me that i had to use my music, since it makes us look uniform... well, i'd use it if i actually HAD the music, but seriously? some of these kids are almost a decade younger than me, and i'm a college student! oh, high schoolers and their need to think they're cool...
dinner conversations... listening to darrin talk about how intolerant we are of disgusting situations... he shared a story about being an SM, and how his roommate felt a cockroach walk over him at night, so they decided to check out their room for any stragglers... when they lifted up his bed mattress, literally 15 other huge cockroaches scurried away... there were 15 smashed cockroaches around the room after that experience... throw in stories of maggoty rice and green poop from drinking tap water and there was our dinner conversation...
had to go early to rehearsal b/c i wanted to listen to the recording of "halle^3" to get the conga part back in my head... couldn't find rasmussen, so i talked to yvonne for a bit about our childish ways of being babies with our parents... everytime i go home, the first thing i do is bring a bottle of lotion to my mom, who then slathers it on my back, as we catch up on life... everytime we take carrides, i sit next to my mom and stretch out my arm, who then knows that i want it scratched... yes, i'm a baby, but i don't care...
only hour of frustration was in the practice before the concert... the bell tables weren't set up, everyone was practicing at the same exact time... the groups weren't syncing together for our final number... it was just a moment of wanting to pull my hair out... but the concert went well... i got to stand on the second row next to ivy and josh (which btw, him, me, cory, and darrin were almost in BAQ formation, with andy behind us) and have phuc and andy behind me, which OH MAN, makes a huge difference... i think we were really in tune with each other for this concert... there were a couple of moments of insecurity and pitch problems: the sopranos with their invented 4-3 suspension at the end of the first half of "the lord is the everlasting God" and the extremely raised key of "give me Jesus..." i got really into the conga part, and it seemed to just flow out naturally... bells went well, flute choir was really pitchy and inaccurate, but okay... brass quintet went well, and our final number meshed well... save darrin's verbal obscenities that made janer laugh the entire time, and janer's walk over to the other side to hand off the D-flat to sarah... probably our best concert this year so far...
after a battling session with megan and josh (i'm gonna kick your iscial tuberocity! well, i'm gonna suck on your duodemum! well, i'm gonna stab you in your gastrocnemius), i decided to head up to my room... andy joined me, and we had our famous "beanbag conversation" for over three hours... philosophical musings to come in a bit...
such an amazing day... to top it off, we didn't have to sing for both services today! definite woot-on-a-stick, worthy...
- - - - - - -
thursday night, i had to write a prophets of israel reaction paper... the prophetic books are very depressing, and all talk about destruction... we're supposed to find a couple of verses and discuss the theological relevance of the passage, then relate it to our lives... i've been struggling with relating to the class, but i found some silver lining in the reading, and chose to focus about that... basically, God is there to pull us out of the rubble, to mold us into something better than we were before... i took that to mean that these trials are necessary, to strengthen our faith, and make us into better individuals... ranzolin brought us to a text in hebrews, chapter 12, where it shows that punishment is an act of love, to bring us into the light, and learn from our mistakes...
from all that pondering, i've came to the conclusion that i am absolutely happy with the way life is going at this present moment... i am on a good level mentally, socially, physically, and spiritually...
mentally, i am enjoying all the classes i am taking... i am in those classes to learn, to take away wisdom from the teachers, who all happen to be well-versed in their subject matter... i'm only taking four classes, but they're four classes in which i am challenged mentally... i also find myself winning personal battles within myself... struggles i've faced...
socially, i am forming stronger bonds with lifelong friends... andy and i were discussing how you can tell which friendships to keep strengthening... i have friends that i can be myself around, and still accept me... i can be either a positive or negative person, and they still love me for it, and never leave my side... during christmas break, i couldn't even name 7 guys who i'd want to be groomsmen in my future wedding... now, i'm finding it hard to limit myself to that number... i've found people that understand that we don't need to spend every waking moment together to still be friends... on the flipside, i know i can bother these people whenever i'm feeling particularly sociable... my friendships was how i related to my prophets paper... i no longer have to be something that i am not, to strengthen these friendships... i must be doing something right, if people value my friendship, right?
physically, i feel better about my self image... i am sensing progress in my conscious efforts to take care of my body... all food groups are represented in my meal, i'm cutting out excess sugar, and reducing my meal portions... my immune system is that of kings, considering the majority of my friends have been sick, and i still haven't caught their bugs... of course, this will always be a work in progress, since staying physically fit is always an ongoing process...
spiritually, i am finding much wisdom from my daily reading, and i feel at peace... i am getting much spiritual food from conversations i have with friends, and situations and problems i am facing... spirituality is very personal for me, and i am just thrown in the right friendships and environments where this life can really thrive... it also helps that i'm learning much insight from my two religion classes... sheldon's providing thoughts for childhood BIble stories that one normally wouldn't think of when reading those stories... ranzolin is challenging us with a portrait of God we're not entirely used to, and helping us understand how it is the same God we're used to...
of course, i know that despite the happiness i am facing, i still need to strive to better myself... always strive for something higher... aim for the sky and land among the stars...
- - - - - - -
andy and i were talking about a lot last night... several points really stuck out... we were talking about all of us are allowed to have moments of weakness or negativity, and he brought up Ecclesiastes, where solomon discusses how there's a time for everything: a time to love, and a time to hate, etc... it helped me realize that i'm allowed to have moments of both... we're allowed to have moments of selfishness, which i'm in a state of, at this present time... normally being a selfless person, it's become almost a daunting task... we both came to the conclusion that sometimes, we can't keep exercising this savior complex of ours, b/c anytime we become completely selfless, it's damaging to our being... once again, the theme of balance recurs in our lives...
we discussed some of our favorite teachers, and how we'd all want to pick parts of all of them to mold into some superhuman, with great personal characteristics... ranzolin's openness, waters' presence, chase's amiability, benton's intelligence, doc's loyalty, both davis' passion... as future teachers, it's always great to understand what it is that really reaches out to students... we talked about the possiblity of teaching religion in our schools, and how we'd both want to bring relevance to that class, should we teach it... teach both the Bible story, and the theological application to their personal lives... we just want to be people that can be positive role models in others' lives... we want to live a life, that allow others to have the same reaction that we have towards our heroes... i'd like to hope i'm on that path...
- - - - - - -
thursday was fun, too:
*colloquy with megan... darrin leading song service... speaker brought up good points about trust... lunch with her, yvonne, and krissy, with our "diseased pen" that had mono, and our diseased cup that had chlamydia... haha...
*discussions about clothes and socks... cory, josh, and i all have the same green and blue shirts from target... cory and i came to the conclusion that we own them b/c they're comfortable... danny calls them the "sexy shirts," b/c in basking in their softness, it makes us feel sexy... and on the way up from choir, darrin and i had a conversation about our appreciation for socks, since we both enjoy buying socks, and gauge our laundry days around whether or not we have more socks to wear...
*chris dropping by the room, and we talked about the spiritual life on campus... he was really sad to hear about how campus life is going, and there's definitely some prayer needed at PUC...
*hosting jordan in his boredom... he came over and we began to watch some everwood... i was antisocial at first, not wanting to go to girls' open visitation, but yvonne called and invited me, asking to bring a board game... the two of us headed over to her room, and we played catch phrase... krissy/jordan/me vs yvonne/marla/josh... marshal and andy came eventually, and andy joined our team... that "ticking timebomb of doom" provided much hype and laughter to our night...
*andy came over to talk about all his discussions and plans falling into place... the possibility of him being an RVP is slowly becoming a reality, since it seems like it's what he needs to be doing... especially when talking to chris, pastor ice, and dr waters provided him with what he needed, and more...
- - - - - - -
today, while writing this out, i spent some time talking to darrin about BAQ, take six, and planning a regular practice time... typing out this entry while listening to him play his classical guitar's a pleasure as well... i've always wanted to get into playing the guitar better than the basics i know, so he gave me a couple of pointers... at some point, robert came with everybody and played the recordings of last night's performance... we sound flippin' awesome! went upstairs to change, and cory calls me, which led to me hanging out in his room for about an hour until our call time... showed him some cool features of our printers since we have the same one, and it's funny that we both appreciate hanes' socks, specifically their hi-dry ones... watched him play a game of risk on his computer, and we headed down to church...
ended up sitting next to darrin, who was getting jokes sent to him from beamy... one of them i couldn't contain myself, so i literally threw myself forward in laughter... it's offensive and mean, so skip this line if you don't wanna read it:
question: "what happened to the chinese man with a boner that walked into a wall?" ... answer: "he broke his nose..."
and i'm still laughing!!! sang my lungs out during our combined choir experience, then ran out as soon as the concert ended...
dinner was fun... jeanne and nadia wanting to plan the bell tour, reminiscing on funny kevin jobe stories, figuring out the caf's evil ploy to get us to buy drinks, texting megan even though we were sitting right next to each other... fun times... caught up with brian mantz, whom i haven't seen in weeks... he told me about his experiences student teaching, and i'm glad he's gotten lucky with his placement...
so there's a guy's basketball game tonight... gonna go watch it... man, it's been such a great week!
so i decided to stay in from church, and journal in grainger lobby... being reflective is still a great way for me to spend my sabbaths...
i woke up before my alarm... even when it's set at 7 in the morning, which means i got some really amazing sleep... i go to take a shower and get dressed, and i realize that i've lost yet another belt size! slowly but surely, i'm losing weight... i read my Bible, go grab breakfast, but there was this long line, since the academy kids are here for choir festival... i decide to "cut" to grab some biscuits and gravy, since everyone doesn't realize there's two lines... the biscuits and gravy were PERFECT! just the right softness and tastiness... i thoroughly enjoyed them...
i head towards books of moses, where laurie and megan are having a conversation about a relationship issue laurie's having... i throw in my two cents as cory walks in to sit next to us, and the four of us end up debating what's the best action for her to take... apparently, my advice "sucks" in cory's eyes, since he's had those lines used against him... well, the way i see it, if someone decides to share their feelings with you, it's at least nice to acknowledge something positive about them... at least i know what NOT to do, and that's avoid the situation altogether...
prophets of israel class... i have been struggling with a way to connect to the material in that class, since it's so depressing and judgmental... but on thursday night, i had a moment of discovery and enlightenment with the class... i'll write about it after my 7-dash separation of thoughts... but i actually decided to share in class some of my discoveries, which ranzolin decided to digress and illustrate how it relates to a book in hebrews... i guess it was a good find... i was amazed that he actually knew my name as well, since i've never spoken up in class...
i didn't do so hot on my music history listening quiz, but that wasn't gonna get me down... i had an early lunch with kara, since dr davis had to stay with her kids, who she brought to class... it's always fun messing around with ethan, and seeing benjamin... kara and i discussed our antisocial behaviors, and the conscious efforts that we're making in bettering ourselves... in my case, it's more of a refinement of beliefs i've always had... try to be nice to everybody, but not necessarily try to befriend everybody...
in i cantori, for some reason, i decided to play happy birthday in a major, minor, and bitonal setting, which carried my crazy mood... cory told me he had a CD that he had to share with me, since he hated it at first, which he learned to enjoy immensely... looking forward to it... in i cantori, standing next to him and andy produced some amazing overtone waves that i could feel, which kept contributing to my happiness... can't forget my moment of schpreckstimme-ing as i left choir, which caused much laughter among those who were unfortunate to hear...
went to lunch with andy, where we were joined by just about everybody... i was $20 under on my caf card! that NEVER happens... by the end of the quarter, i'm usually $250 over, so this was an accomplishment... i even got to whip it out and let chris use it, since i had the funds to spare... talking about chemistry and grades, remembering kahlil gibran, being pyromaniacs, writing about diseased napkins/spoons/trash, sharing a curiously strong lemon sorbet... good times...
andy and i chatted for a bit, then we both had time to kill before our 4 o'clock rehearsal... we had to rehearse with the high school honor choir... that was interesting... first of all, it smelt like high school... all the college chorale members had to stand inbetween two high schoolers in our section... the kid on my left had serious ADD, and this girl that served as the border of the alto and tenor section had attitude... both of them decided to give ME attitude at one point... the kid on my left told me, tim, and josh to shut up inbetween songs, and the girl told me that i had to use my music, since it makes us look uniform... well, i'd use it if i actually HAD the music, but seriously? some of these kids are almost a decade younger than me, and i'm a college student! oh, high schoolers and their need to think they're cool...
dinner conversations... listening to darrin talk about how intolerant we are of disgusting situations... he shared a story about being an SM, and how his roommate felt a cockroach walk over him at night, so they decided to check out their room for any stragglers... when they lifted up his bed mattress, literally 15 other huge cockroaches scurried away... there were 15 smashed cockroaches around the room after that experience... throw in stories of maggoty rice and green poop from drinking tap water and there was our dinner conversation...
had to go early to rehearsal b/c i wanted to listen to the recording of "halle^3" to get the conga part back in my head... couldn't find rasmussen, so i talked to yvonne for a bit about our childish ways of being babies with our parents... everytime i go home, the first thing i do is bring a bottle of lotion to my mom, who then slathers it on my back, as we catch up on life... everytime we take carrides, i sit next to my mom and stretch out my arm, who then knows that i want it scratched... yes, i'm a baby, but i don't care...
only hour of frustration was in the practice before the concert... the bell tables weren't set up, everyone was practicing at the same exact time... the groups weren't syncing together for our final number... it was just a moment of wanting to pull my hair out... but the concert went well... i got to stand on the second row next to ivy and josh (which btw, him, me, cory, and darrin were almost in BAQ formation, with andy behind us) and have phuc and andy behind me, which OH MAN, makes a huge difference... i think we were really in tune with each other for this concert... there were a couple of moments of insecurity and pitch problems: the sopranos with their invented 4-3 suspension at the end of the first half of "the lord is the everlasting God" and the extremely raised key of "give me Jesus..." i got really into the conga part, and it seemed to just flow out naturally... bells went well, flute choir was really pitchy and inaccurate, but okay... brass quintet went well, and our final number meshed well... save darrin's verbal obscenities that made janer laugh the entire time, and janer's walk over to the other side to hand off the D-flat to sarah... probably our best concert this year so far...
after a battling session with megan and josh (i'm gonna kick your iscial tuberocity! well, i'm gonna suck on your duodemum! well, i'm gonna stab you in your gastrocnemius), i decided to head up to my room... andy joined me, and we had our famous "beanbag conversation" for over three hours... philosophical musings to come in a bit...
such an amazing day... to top it off, we didn't have to sing for both services today! definite woot-on-a-stick, worthy...
- - - - - - -
thursday night, i had to write a prophets of israel reaction paper... the prophetic books are very depressing, and all talk about destruction... we're supposed to find a couple of verses and discuss the theological relevance of the passage, then relate it to our lives... i've been struggling with relating to the class, but i found some silver lining in the reading, and chose to focus about that... basically, God is there to pull us out of the rubble, to mold us into something better than we were before... i took that to mean that these trials are necessary, to strengthen our faith, and make us into better individuals... ranzolin brought us to a text in hebrews, chapter 12, where it shows that punishment is an act of love, to bring us into the light, and learn from our mistakes...
from all that pondering, i've came to the conclusion that i am absolutely happy with the way life is going at this present moment... i am on a good level mentally, socially, physically, and spiritually...
mentally, i am enjoying all the classes i am taking... i am in those classes to learn, to take away wisdom from the teachers, who all happen to be well-versed in their subject matter... i'm only taking four classes, but they're four classes in which i am challenged mentally... i also find myself winning personal battles within myself... struggles i've faced...
socially, i am forming stronger bonds with lifelong friends... andy and i were discussing how you can tell which friendships to keep strengthening... i have friends that i can be myself around, and still accept me... i can be either a positive or negative person, and they still love me for it, and never leave my side... during christmas break, i couldn't even name 7 guys who i'd want to be groomsmen in my future wedding... now, i'm finding it hard to limit myself to that number... i've found people that understand that we don't need to spend every waking moment together to still be friends... on the flipside, i know i can bother these people whenever i'm feeling particularly sociable... my friendships was how i related to my prophets paper... i no longer have to be something that i am not, to strengthen these friendships... i must be doing something right, if people value my friendship, right?
physically, i feel better about my self image... i am sensing progress in my conscious efforts to take care of my body... all food groups are represented in my meal, i'm cutting out excess sugar, and reducing my meal portions... my immune system is that of kings, considering the majority of my friends have been sick, and i still haven't caught their bugs... of course, this will always be a work in progress, since staying physically fit is always an ongoing process...
spiritually, i am finding much wisdom from my daily reading, and i feel at peace... i am getting much spiritual food from conversations i have with friends, and situations and problems i am facing... spirituality is very personal for me, and i am just thrown in the right friendships and environments where this life can really thrive... it also helps that i'm learning much insight from my two religion classes... sheldon's providing thoughts for childhood BIble stories that one normally wouldn't think of when reading those stories... ranzolin is challenging us with a portrait of God we're not entirely used to, and helping us understand how it is the same God we're used to...
of course, i know that despite the happiness i am facing, i still need to strive to better myself... always strive for something higher... aim for the sky and land among the stars...
- - - - - - -
andy and i were talking about a lot last night... several points really stuck out... we were talking about all of us are allowed to have moments of weakness or negativity, and he brought up Ecclesiastes, where solomon discusses how there's a time for everything: a time to love, and a time to hate, etc... it helped me realize that i'm allowed to have moments of both... we're allowed to have moments of selfishness, which i'm in a state of, at this present time... normally being a selfless person, it's become almost a daunting task... we both came to the conclusion that sometimes, we can't keep exercising this savior complex of ours, b/c anytime we become completely selfless, it's damaging to our being... once again, the theme of balance recurs in our lives...
we discussed some of our favorite teachers, and how we'd all want to pick parts of all of them to mold into some superhuman, with great personal characteristics... ranzolin's openness, waters' presence, chase's amiability, benton's intelligence, doc's loyalty, both davis' passion... as future teachers, it's always great to understand what it is that really reaches out to students... we talked about the possiblity of teaching religion in our schools, and how we'd both want to bring relevance to that class, should we teach it... teach both the Bible story, and the theological application to their personal lives... we just want to be people that can be positive role models in others' lives... we want to live a life, that allow others to have the same reaction that we have towards our heroes... i'd like to hope i'm on that path...
- - - - - - -
thursday was fun, too:
*colloquy with megan... darrin leading song service... speaker brought up good points about trust... lunch with her, yvonne, and krissy, with our "diseased pen" that had mono, and our diseased cup that had chlamydia... haha...
*discussions about clothes and socks... cory, josh, and i all have the same green and blue shirts from target... cory and i came to the conclusion that we own them b/c they're comfortable... danny calls them the "sexy shirts," b/c in basking in their softness, it makes us feel sexy... and on the way up from choir, darrin and i had a conversation about our appreciation for socks, since we both enjoy buying socks, and gauge our laundry days around whether or not we have more socks to wear...
*chris dropping by the room, and we talked about the spiritual life on campus... he was really sad to hear about how campus life is going, and there's definitely some prayer needed at PUC...
*hosting jordan in his boredom... he came over and we began to watch some everwood... i was antisocial at first, not wanting to go to girls' open visitation, but yvonne called and invited me, asking to bring a board game... the two of us headed over to her room, and we played catch phrase... krissy/jordan/me vs yvonne/marla/josh... marshal and andy came eventually, and andy joined our team... that "ticking timebomb of doom" provided much hype and laughter to our night...
*andy came over to talk about all his discussions and plans falling into place... the possibility of him being an RVP is slowly becoming a reality, since it seems like it's what he needs to be doing... especially when talking to chris, pastor ice, and dr waters provided him with what he needed, and more...
- - - - - - -
today, while writing this out, i spent some time talking to darrin about BAQ, take six, and planning a regular practice time... typing out this entry while listening to him play his classical guitar's a pleasure as well... i've always wanted to get into playing the guitar better than the basics i know, so he gave me a couple of pointers... at some point, robert came with everybody and played the recordings of last night's performance... we sound flippin' awesome! went upstairs to change, and cory calls me, which led to me hanging out in his room for about an hour until our call time... showed him some cool features of our printers since we have the same one, and it's funny that we both appreciate hanes' socks, specifically their hi-dry ones... watched him play a game of risk on his computer, and we headed down to church...
ended up sitting next to darrin, who was getting jokes sent to him from beamy... one of them i couldn't contain myself, so i literally threw myself forward in laughter... it's offensive and mean, so skip this line if you don't wanna read it:
question: "what happened to the chinese man with a boner that walked into a wall?" ... answer: "he broke his nose..."
and i'm still laughing!!! sang my lungs out during our combined choir experience, then ran out as soon as the concert ended...
dinner was fun... jeanne and nadia wanting to plan the bell tour, reminiscing on funny kevin jobe stories, figuring out the caf's evil ploy to get us to buy drinks, texting megan even though we were sitting right next to each other... fun times... caught up with brian mantz, whom i haven't seen in weeks... he told me about his experiences student teaching, and i'm glad he's gotten lucky with his placement...
so there's a guy's basketball game tonight... gonna go watch it... man, it's been such a great week!