week in a flash (week 26)

1. Guess what?  I get to leave for Colorado tomorrow for Thanksgiving break!!!  Yaaaa!!!  Four whole days and one half-day in the great state of CO!!!!!  I get to see my parentals, my Uncle and his fam, my cat and the new Harry Potter movie!!  So excited!!!!!!!  Yaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2. This is from my PR book in the chapter about  writing ~ “Writing is easy,” said U.S. journalist and playwright Gene Fowler. “All you do is stare at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead.”  (and a little later)  Nobel Prize-winning novelist Ernest Hemingway declared, “Writing is easy.  Just open a vein and bleed on paper.”  ~ I laughed at both of those quotations  :D

3. I thought my mom would enjoy this one – this is from my Twitter feed there was this little movement the other day where people would tweet something that they would have told their 16-yr-old self and this one came from someone who posts as Lord Voldemort from Harry Potter ~ Lord_Voldemort7 #tweetyour16yearoldself Choose Neville Longbottom! Choose Neville Longbottom!

4. I’ve been watching waaaaaay too many Westerns, the other night I dreamt that I was part of a cattle drive (the cattle were owned by my dad) and that I trained my own horse (she was beautiful though, I liked that part of it).  Wow.

5. I looked out my peephole the other morning and it took me a few minutes to realize that what I was seeing wasn’t the sun shining brightly but was in fact bright, white snow on the ground…damn snow (and winter) has arrived in SoDak.  That wasn’t so bad though because it was a light snowfall and was mostly gone by nightfall.  I’m hoping that any blizzard-type weather waits until I’m not living in the state anymore…

6. You know I might have been able to handle living away from the mountains of CO and farther away from family if it weren’t for the damn wind in this state, it’s unbelievable!

7. Days to graduation = 17

w/ weekends and holidays = 25

w/o holidays = 21, by the next week-in-a-flash this one won’t be necessary because the number will be the same as w/ weekends and holidays…hmmm…

8. Bored, excited, stressed, tired…I am so eager to just be done already.

9. I wonder if, sometimes, my strong reactions to things and my passions come off as bitchiness…*sigh* why is it so hard to talk to people about hot button issues without it dissolving into an argument?  I just don’t understand, I mean I understand being passionate about an issue and wanting to convey to people the reason for that passion but that doesn’t mean you have to dismiss someonelse’s viewpoint, does it?  That’s what I don’t understand, I don’t understand being so locked into an opinion that anytime someone raises an opposing view you are unable to proceed in the discussion and remain polite…I try, I really try to remain open-minded while still retaining my views and beliefs and I try to give other people’s views and opinions a fair shake but I also like, adore engaging in discussion and debate. I like it when people disagree with me, I like it when someone has a different point of view but dammit I don’t like it when people are so set in their ways and so locked in the status quo that they dismiss me out of hand.  I just wish that I could find a way to engage in discussion and debate with others that doesn’t end in an argument…that’s all.

10. The song and the video brought me to tears, so beautiful!

11. This was too awesome not to share, read and enjoy! http://thenoreaster.wordpress.com/2010/11/18/sunbeams-12/

12. I have a professor who can’t remember my name in class but when I pass this professor in the hallways they call me by name and say hi..wierd, maybe there’s some sort of memory vortex in the classroom…

13. Yesterday I looked outside and it was…well, I guess it depends on how much you like snow, it was either a winter wonderland or an arctic tundra.  I prefer arctic tundra.  (btw #5 happened either Wednesday or Thursday of last week, completely unrelated).

week in a flash (week 18)

1. Was talking with a friend the other day and she said something that struck me – “it’s hard to stay mad at someone when you are praying for them.”  Pretty cool huh?

2. Days to graduation =54

3. My Lit Crit professor referenced a modern author yesterday and I had no clue who it was and then a few minutes later he referenced Percy Bysse Shelley (a Romantic-Era author) and I knew exactly who that was and it struck me that I know more (and more about) authors that are dead than the living ones…that’s what you get for being an English major.

4. I watched The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance today…yeah I’m not sure I liked Jimmy Stewart’s role in that movie…I don’t know, I’ll have to think about it.

5. Yes, I know I’m late on my “week” but that’s because I was working on homework, it happens.

6. Read something for my Am Lit class called “Rationalizing Religion,” it really pissed me off, it talked about how these “enlightened” men of the 1700 and 1800s basically deconstructed and dismantled Christianity.  The reason they it did was noble, they did it so that people would have a way to avoid being duped by charlatans claiming to be priests and whatnot by relying on their senses and logic.  But the way they did it just…ticked me off, things like denying the Holy Trinity and claiming that the reason Christ came to the earth was “not to reveal new truths but to ‘republish’ those obscured by evil and error.”  (This “enlightened” man compared Christ to Socrates and edged towards the denial of Christ’s divinity).

7. Reading this also caused me to re-evaluate certain things.  These “enlightened” men were very harsh towards the priesthood and it bothered me.  For a number of years I have ascribed to the belief that the structure of the modern church is flawed, that we give too much power to pastors and priests to sway our beliefs and opinions and outlooks on life and perhaps that is true…but in reading this I’ve begun to question the hardline manifestations that belief has brought out in me…after all isn’t part of what pastors and priests are supposed to do is offer wisdom and help you find answers to questions you have?  I often go to my parents when I have a tough question about, well, pretty much anything.  My parent’s site (Topics of Conversation) is based on the premise of me and my bro (and even my parents) bringing forth questions about beliefs (and sometimes prejudices, social topics, politics, etc.) and figuring out why we think or believe a certain way using Scripture and personal experiences – is that any different from the relationships that exist between some congregations and their pastors?  Plus I’ve been reading a Pastor’s blog for about a year now…and my views have been changing………I don’t know, I’m going to have to think on this one a bit……  (Just in case you are curious about the Pastor’s blog I’ve been reading I’ll link to it and I really hope he doesn’t mind because I’m presently just a lurker on his site).

8. You know you are a freak when you can spell “macchiato” correctly without looking it up…yep I’m talking about myself…  :D

9. Holy Crow!  September is already almost over!

10. I’m tired.

11. Found a spider building a web in my kitchen sink the other day and it made me laugh…I mean I know I don’t like doing dishes but c’mon I do dishes more often than that!  The really funny thing is I had just done the dishes the day before…unbelievable…Lol!