Friends are So Much More

So I just want to say how special friends are to me. By coming to Westmont, I have found that friends mean more to me than I ever thought. I used to think that friends were just people who you talked to in class and passed notes about how boring class was; or they were people who had a locker next to yours and ate lunch with you. I never realized that friends are so much more. Friends are the people who you like to be around all the time...whether that's just sitting in each other's rooms while doing homework, or going on spontaneous night-hikes up in the mountains on a narrow path in the pitch dark (except for the head lamps that make 2 friends even cooler than everyone knows they already are). Friends are the ones who can make fun of you cuz you don't know how to clap to the beat and sing at the same time. Friends are the ones who will act crazy with you just because. Friends are the ones who time you to see how long you can last without laughing but you can't not laugh cuz just being with them makes you too happy to be serious for even a moment. Thank you, friends, for being in my life. I love you =)

Thankful Thursdays: Good Memories

It's best to read this TB with a slow, melodic music such as "Dreams Collide" by Cobie Caillat....

K so I am back to my old hometown/camp where I grew up since I was 8 months old. I've know everyone for the longest time and when I left for college 4 months and 6 days ago, I could have cared less if I saw them ever again. I'm not saying that ALL those feelings have changed, as a matter of fact, I don't miss most of the people here. But I do miss the people I worked with and the good times that we had. I went up to my old work to see my co-workers and we talked about the new and the old and I have found that nothing has changed. They still keep (and update) the list of "quotes and happenings" that I made when I worked there; still don't have a set schedule; still are underpaid and overworked. I cannot express how much I really don't like working there, but seeing all my friends and close co-workers made me happy. I have worked there for 5 years (yes, since I was 14) and only one other person there has been there longer than me. I miss those good times that we all had together. If it weren't for the laughs and encouragement and sessions of venting during break and washing tables, I don't think I would have gotten through that past year of work. Despite the injustice and what not, I do miss working with those lovely people. I have a lot of good memories with them and I am thankful for that.

I am also thankful for the good times I had at my old high school. Those who know me know that I both loved and disliked high school. There were, again, good and bad times. I don't miss most of the people there, but I do miss the good memories of the things we did together--especially my drama class from senior year. Those kids were like my children and I loved everyone of them. I miss them all and everything we did. Though I can't go back to that like I can go back to my work, I will always cherish it.

I am also thankful for the good memories of the present. I know they can't really be considered "memories" if they are in the present, but I really do love them. Everything about Westmont has been awesome. I couldn't always see that when I was going through hard times, but I was thinking about them yesterday and it made me laugh actually. I don't miss the bad parts and neither do I look forward to the bad that will come (cuz let's face it, life can't be all happy times), but in the end, it turned out ok and I know that the bad to come will also turn out ok. The good parts of Westmont has definitely overruled the bad and I love it sooo much! I love all the memories and I look forward for the ones to come.

I know that when I get on these rants, it can be confusing sometimes cuz I don't always think about what I'm writing and I just type out whatever is in my head, so basically what I mean to say is that I love my life, especially the part starting at Westmont and I love remembering good times (and in the end, good times can be the bad times). I am very thankful for what God has placed in my life.

Christmas Break

Oh how I love vacation! I get to sleep in and not have a care. This is actually the first Christmas Break where I haven't had any school to do! It's great. I do need to do a lot though. That reminds me, I put laundry in a while ago and forgot to move it to the dryer =/ be right back....

K, I'm back. Hmmm...what to TB about? I can talk for hours on end about nothing in particular, but when it comes to saying something, it gets hard. Makes one think about what one says. How much of what is said is pointless? .... I think I'll pull this conversation back to Break...

Like I said, I really enjoy break; I have knit a hat, am designing another, have a couple books on queue, can go jump in the puddles, can lie around in sweat-pants and baseball shirt, can sleep in my own comfy bed... But I do miss school. I don't miss the work or waking up early for class, but I miss doing stuff with friends and just hanging out and sipping tea. I miss State Street and my LYS (local yarn store) and spontaneous adventures. I miss hours spent in the studio doing art and dancing around to music. I miss late-night-talks and video makings of wiggling nickels off our noses. I miss laughing so much (not that I don't laugh here, but I laugh more at school, it seems). I miss talking about boys whom we have given code names and then creeped on their facebook or profile on Stalker Net.....yeah.... I guess I just miss Westmont! I wish I could live at Westmont but still be on break; they both have pros and cons =)

Thankful Thursdays: College

I have 12 minutes to write this before it turns Friday. So I would like to say that I'm am thankful for College. My last "test" (art portfolio presentation) is tomorrow at 12 and then by 2, I will have completed my first semester of college!! I feel very blessed to have been able to go here. I have made many friends, some of which have come and gone, but others I plan on knowing for a very long time. I have learned a lot, taken some classes that were tedious yet had a couple of good laughs. I think I did well with my grades, although my straight A streak is probably no more. I found out I am going to Europe in the next fall, I got $10,000 for a CS scholarship, my sister got engaged...!!! Ya! the list is pretty great! I admit, there were definitely hard times--and still are, I won't lie--, but nothing that I can't handle with God's help. So yeah, this has been a great semester and I look forward to what next semester might bring.

What I've learned this semester

So I thought, since I only have 4 more days of classes, that I'd make a list of the things I've learned in my first this semester. I'll make a random list as fast as I can:

1. As long as you have underwear, you don't have to do laundry

2. All-nighters really confuse your sense of time the next day

3. It's hard to get up for an 8 am when you have all the notes already for the class and the test.

4. Making cookies can be considered an algorithm

5. I'm really bad at directions

6. Getting a package makes you feel like the most important person on campus

7. Always be ready for a spontaneous adventure....like putting up mistletoe above everyone's door at midnight (shhhh it's a secret!)

8. Yearbook pictures are much more fun in college

9. Lanie can put a mug on her foot

10. I apparently have more Christmas music than most people

So there you have it. 10 things in 3 minutes that I'm sure you didn't know about college! =)

Thankful Thursdays: Cell Phones

It is Thursday and might I say, it is a wonderful Thursday. I went to bed early and got 9 hours of sleep!!! (hasn't happened in over 4 months at least!!) and I got up and looked outside my dorm window and saw how beautiful the day was. I could see the water of the Pacific Ocean between the palm trees and the clouds were streaked across the sky, matching the way the islands sat on the water. It was so beautiful!

I decided that I would not let anything bring my day down and I wasn't going to worry about anything. Yesterday, I was told that I got a scholarship for Computer Science worth $10,000!!!!! I about started crying and felt like I was going to faint. It was probably the most exciting thing ever! Then later that night, my roommate, suite mate, and I went to see our huge campus tree being lit. I took a picture with Santa with my friends and it was wonderful!!! I was in the highest of happiness...cloud 9.

Today, I spent a lot of time with a suite mate and we did a lot of Christmas stuff and it was so wonderful. I laughed sooooo much. We also decided to learn the lyrics to the Silly Songs with Larry Christmas Song. It is great. Two hours ago, some people had a gingerbread decorating party and we all made houses. It was soooo fun. Mine died, but it was gummy so it's all good. Now I have a lot of things to do because it's Thursday and I don't have class on Friday, and that means only 1 more week of classes and one more week for finals and then I'm done for the semester and then it's Christmas!!!!! I can't wait for it! I'm so excited! I absolutely love Christmas. It's great seeing all of the Christmas decorations around here =)

I just posted all of that and then realized that I forgot to write another thing I'm thankful for! Tonight I decided to say I'm thankful for my cell phone. I know that may seem like such a teenager thing to say, but I really am! For Thanksgiving break, I brought it and its charger home (of course) and then forgot to bring the charger back to school!! So i lasted a week before the battery went out and now I don't have a cell. I miss it. Not just cuz I need it to text and look on the internet and use all its apps and games and what not, cuz honestly, I only use it to make calls, text, and check the time. It is 5 years old and i love it so much. I just want to say that I'm thankful for it because now I don't know what time it is or when I'm meeting people for lunch or call my mom after class or anything! I don't know what I did (or what society did) without this amazing device for communication.

Too Much

Oh gosh. So a lot has been going on with my life recently (my last post was in what? July?) I am at college and absolutely loving it! Westmont is the most amazing ever. I have made so many wonderful friends and I'm loving life. Things are going kinda hard for me right now. A lot is happening and I'm confused and just not sure what's going to happen with everything, but hey, I'm getting stronger through this all right? And besides, these things won't last forever. It'll all turn out; and that is worth waiting for.

Anyway, I have been procrastinating on my essay for a long time and so yeah; that is why I'm TBing =) I have a lot to say but I have a lot to do so maybe I can write about them all later....I actually have a list on what to write about but I just never do. Maybe I can TB at work sometime......