Walker with the Dawn

Exceptions to "Thou Shall Not Kill."

2011-08-26T15:19:00.002-05:00

We were having a discussion in humanities, and by the title of this post... of course it sounds heavy and serious. haha. It really wasn't. At least, not too much. We were talking about how the fact that there are exceptions proves that there is a rule. In apologetics, its hard to get past the moral argument, because everyone in the world has exceptions to the same moral law.

For example, one of our exceptions is war. It isn't considered murder to go out and kill people in the heat of battle.
Another exception is self-defense. If someone is coming at you with a huge butcher knife intent on stabbing your brains out, no one will put you in jail for defending yourself and killing them.
Capital punishment is also a socially acceptable exception.

And then... one guy in the back raised his hand to add an exception to the list. You know what he said?
Trespassing in Texas.

Free at last!

2011-05-02T12:38:00.003-05:00

Free at last, thank God Almighty, I'm free at last!

haha. It is the first Monday in May, and I do NOT have to go to class. (Especially accounting!) So I slept in, and I'm still sitting in my comfy, QUEEN-SIZED BED with memory foam. True, my room looks like a disaster area. I think a mini-tornado came through and one of my suitcases exploded. I don't think this whole "summer" thing has sunk in yet. Since I was such a home school slacker I never really had summer breaks because I always had some sort of school work to do. heh.

Ooh. I will never be a freshman again! My next huge accomplishment will be getting my dad on board with the study abroad thing. He's not ready for me to apply yet, since there's an application fee. :-/ I admit it is a pretty steep fee, but I do have to apply early to be eligible for scholarships....

Anyway. Happy blog post. ^________^ I'm blasting music and don't have to worry about who I'm accidentally waking up. Although going back to only child from living with 30 of some of the loudest girls I've ever met might get a bit boring now and then.....

Good News, Bad News

2011-03-06T21:06:00.002-06:00

Warning: NerdAlert!

Do you want the good news first, or the bad news? I usually go for the bad news first to get it out of the way. Then the good news can cheer me up. So, lets go with bad news:
The best/most convenient Borders in Tulsa is closing! :-( I love to go there and buy a book and sit and drink one of the free coffees I've racked up over my many, many visits. Plus, I'm even closer to it now that I live at ORU! So, that is the bad/sad news. I know... I'm tearing up over Borders. But I have such fond memories of the place!

So, now that we're all depressed lets go with the good news:
BORDERS CLOSING SALE. I got two books for 25% off, and one for 30% off. Of course, all of the LotR trilogy books were already bought up, but I got a cheap copy of the Hobbit since I've been wanting to re-read it! And I paid a couple extra bucks to get the Jane Eyre with the cool, gothic water-color original cover art! haha. :P I also got Animal Farm, which I've been wanting to read for awhile. That wasn't on sale, but it was an impulse buy because they had the stack of Animal Farms in the check-out line. (Darn marketers! I'm learning marketing basics in class and yet I still fall for their tricks!)

Anyway, yes. I walked out of that store a happy, happy girl. Even though I'm really sad I will never get to call that Borders again asking them to hold a copy of the newest SNC CD back behind the register for me to pick up the day it comes out...

Beauty and the Beast

2011-03-04T18:30:00.005-06:00

I'm taking advantage of my coffee induced urge to chatter. This blog post is going to be the rough draft of an extra credit assignment I'm turning in for humanities class. Of course, I'll probably make it a little more formal before I turn it in and I'll format it correctly, blah blah blah... Oh, and actually proof the grammar/spelling. Anyway.

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST!
Rating: 9.5/10

I went to see the Broadway production of Beauty and the Beast at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center on Wednesday, March 2nd. I was excited for months in advance because I love the Broadway season at the PAC, and Beauty and the Beast is one of the ones that really gets hyped up. The musical follows the Disney version of the story, so I knew most of the songs they sang. I loved the live instrumental versions of the music I've enjoyed since I was little watching the movie. My favorite songs were, “Belle,” “Gaston,” “Be Our Guest,” “The Mob Song,” and “Beauty and the Beast.” It was probably because these were the ones I already knew from the movie. I wasn’t as impressed with the new songs, although they did add something to the performance.

Belle's voice was really great. She reminded me of Bell from the movie, which is always a good thing when they're re-creating such a well-loved movie. The one voice I wasn't sure I liked was the beast's. He had this amazing, deep and booming speaking voice. However, I didn't think he sounded as great while he was singing. I did like the very last song he sang, but other than that I could have gone without hearing his solos. They completely created a song for Beast, which is probably to be expected for making a Broadway musical out of a movie.

My absolute favorite character was Lumiere, and Lefou was my runner-up favorite. Lumiere was energetic, wild, and perfect. His accent was over the top and it really made his character pop. I felt like he really carried most of the castle scenes. Lumiere got the most laughs out of the audience and out of me for sure. He also got the loudest applause at the end of the performance. Lefou was the source of the physical comedy. He was one of the most flexible men I've ever seen. He was always tripping and somersaulting across the stage, landing in awkward heaps of arms and legs. I also enjoyed the fact that his speaking voice and singing voice were both spot on from the movie character's voice. It really enhanced his character.

I really enjoyed all of the brightly colored costumes. The castle cast members were all wearing some very creative things. Cogsworth the clock was very obviously a clock. And Mrs. Pots had a great tea pot costume as well. Belle had a beautiful gold ball gown for the end scenes. I thought the beast’s costume was really well done. It stood out from the stage to me, and I was all the way up in the balcony. All of the villagers and other supporting cast had on vibrant, interesting outfits as well. I couldn’t find anything bad to say about this area of the production at all.

Overall, I gave the production of Beauty and the Beast a 9.5 out of 10. It was entertaining all the way through and only one of the newer songs made me feel like it was dragging on. Whenever intermission came I was disappointed that we had to wait for the second act. I know the audience, which included a lot of little girls in cute little sparkly dresses, loved it just as much as I did.

Thinking about joining Procrastinators' Anonymous...

2011-02-27T18:08:00.002-06:00

...sometime later next week. Probably.
Seriously, this is bad. I won't have time to write this paper tomorrow or Tuesday, and it is due Wednesday. My New Testament paper over the portraits of Jesus in the four different gospels. Really, it is an easy paper. And I have my broadest, most general outline done, but that's it. I think the problem is that this paper is so easy it's just tedious. I mean, it is moderately interesting, and I'm glad I won't have to spend too much time on it considering I have a bunch of other stuff to do with my other classes, but yeah. Just annoying. Like one of the girls down the hall said, this paper needs to write itself.

Oh, and a disclaimer for the post below... I was feeling snarky, and that was the only thing remotely interesting that happened to me that day... So that is what I decided to snark about. I am seriously not hiding under my bunk bed in the fetal position wondering when my dorm is going to get blown up. I promise. :) It is still a sobering, scary thought but I am not paranoid.

I'm wanting After Dark Live to start soon (I got THREE twitter updates about ADL to my phone. Thanks, Jason. I don't think I'll forget it now) so that I have further opportunities to procrastinate until later this evening. Although my goal is to get to bed early so I won't be wanting to chuck my cell phone (read: alarm clock) at the farthest wall and hear it break into a million pieces before rolling back over and falling back asleep. I so miss being a morning person.

Anyway.. slightly pointless post. No real reason. Except procrastination. ^_______^

Romantic & Modern Humanities Was Invented to Terrorize College Students

2011-02-14T10:52:00.006-06:00

(WARNING. THIS POST MIGHT INDUCE LARGE SCALE PARANOIA FOR YOUR OWN PERSONAL SAFETY.)
...Seriously.
Yes. I need to somehow inject sunshine and rainbows into my bloodstream after that class. This is the third time we've watched a video (or a "film" as Mrs. Buckles calls it) about extreme Muslim groups. If the first couple times weren't bad enough (it was so long Buckles split it up into two class periods)... This time today was worse. And the first time included the knowledge that 98% of all peaceful Muslim organizations in America are just fronts for extremist Islamic organizations that want to kill all Americans.

Today, we watched a video that was creepily relevant to the turmoil in Egypt right now. Since the whole thing started, I've been reserving judgment on what I think about the situation. A lot of people are celebrating with Egypt since Mubarak stepped down, but just because a dictator leaves doesn't make the country automatically a democratic nation. Now, we have to worry about the Muslim Brotherhood taking over. This video made clear that while Mubarak was in charge, he made a fertile environment (not my words) for the Brotherhood to grow. And now, they probably see this as their chance to wipe out the copts, or Egyptian Christians. And even though Mubarak was a not-so-nice dictator, he kept the peace between Egypt and America, and my dad told me that he kept certain people from invading Jerusalem.

But anyway... Radical Muslims, I've learned, are a real and immediate threat. At the start of class today, Buckles said that she hoped this video would, "open your eyes to the real horrors that are out there in the world today." Gee, thanks. Now I'm going to be hiding under the bottom bunk in my room for a month wondering why ORU didn't make bomb shelters in the basements of all their dorms.

Anyway... I almost cried in class. And I don't cry. I literally had to blink back tears as this woman broke down on camera telling the story of this little four year old boy in Egypt. The parents were Christians (copts), and the doctors were Muslim. They used this little four year old for medical experiments, and then they wouldn't give him any blood infusions while he bled out from a head wound. The parents kept yelling for help, and they finally told the father they would give the boy the infusion he needed if the father would step into the next room to sign paperwork. When he left, they ripped the boy out of his mothers arms and restrained her while he spent his last minutes reaching for his mother and crying for her. All because the mother and father were Christians. (Isn't that uplifting? And today she didn't even read a Psalm before we started class!)

There were more stories about mothers forced to behead their own sons, or watch their own daughters be raped repeatedly. Every time a woman broke down and cried on camera I had to blink back more tears. I even sniffed once. If you don't know me that well... it takes a lot to make me cry... Unless I see someone crying right in front of me.

Those were the heartbreaking stories. The disturbing, terrorizing, traumatizing part of the video, was all of the footage of Islamic leaders and Muslim rallies with subtitles. They showed a massive crowd chanting "Death to America!" over and over, for what felt like an hour. I felt chills go down my spine. I might take a comforting blanket to class next time. An Islamic leader said, "whoever says 'I don't hate' is not a Muslim." He said that Muslims must hate the infidels. And when Muslims "hate" people, they usually go attack them. (With bombs, guns, or.. I don't know... airplanes.)

The saying "First comes Saturday, then Sunday" kept repeating throughout the video. It means, "first we kill the Jews (Saturday is their sabbath), then we go after the Christians (Sunday is our sabbath.)" America is now in the sights of the Muslim world, and they want to bring us down. I think a lot of people are either mislead about Muslim intentions, or they just want to ignore the problem. Right now, in countries where Islam is the official religion they rule by the sharia, which is basically the laws in the Quran. (And they are scary, scary laws. Islamic countries have dress code police for women, and those guys are WAAAY more scary than the dress code police at ORU. At least you don't get shoved into the back of an unmarked car to go who knows where at ORU.)

So now, everyone in the class is dead silent, watching women break down telling these horrific stories, and watching mobs of Muslim men wish death and destruction on us. And as we leave the room, my mind goes into worst case scenario mode, and all the way back to the dorms I'm envisioning the second 9/11, with extreme Muslim terrorists taking over the country (though they'll probably try to take over Egypt first, then attack Jerusalem, then come after us) and forcing sharia law on us all.

Can you imagine the field day Muslims would have with Tulsa? With ORU? I live not only in the BIBLE BELT, I live in the BUCKLE of the BIBLE BELT. And ORU is like a nice sparkly rhinestone in that buckle. This class is feeding a paranoia I never knew I even had! I sit next to one of my brother wingers in that class, and even he was a bit disturbed. His words were, "Its a sobering thought." I thought that was a slight understatement.
My mother refuses to let me tell her what I learn in humanities class now. Half of a conversation about the first video I saw was enough for her.
And did you know that Muslim schools even in the US are indoctrinating our young children with these ideals? And that American Muslims who say that Islam is a peaceful religion are either lying to us or are being lied to by whoever their religious leader is? We saw AMERICAN Muslims telling cameras that America is corrupt and needs to be brought down. AMERICAN Muslims that wanted the country to be run by sharia law. That law strips women of all rights and privileges. That law gives Muslim men the right to go on murdering sprees if those killed are infidels.

I think I might need some anti-anxiety pills by the time I take the final for this class. Much more of this and I'm going to turn into one of those little old cat ladies (but with dogs, not cats. Sorry cats.) that dresses like Umbridge from The Order of the Phoenix and passes out cookies with pink M&Ms in them to all the neighborhood kids to try and block out the horrible worst-case-scenarios that hound my every waking (and sleeping!) moment. Oh, and I'll have a bomb shelter. That's hidden. Because there were lots of stories about Muslims raiding bomb shelters that Christians were hiding in and making parents do horrible things to their children...

I'm just going to stop now..
I think it might be time for my daily devotional. Though I found myself doing a lot of praying in that humanities class. I don't think I've ever been so happy to remind myself about the love of God. At least its Valentine's Day... I'm getting lots of candy with pink, frilly wrappers. Eating on that while reading some Psalms might make me feel better.

Oh, and I apologize for any paranoia I may have just caused.

Big, Fun, Scary List!

2010-12-15T12:28:00.002-06:00

So, since I failed NaNo this year even more horribly than last.. haha. I decided I would still try to participate in the Big, Fun, Scary goals that lots of Wrimos are doing for 2011. The idea is to do somethig big, fun, and scary... obviously. I've heard of people getting new jobs they actually liked, or learning to dance, or traveling to China... wow. I don't think I'll do anything expensive.. haha. But, I do have some ideas rattling around in this college-kid brain of mine that I'd like to write down and see how far I get.

BFS List

Take swing-dancing lessons. (Found a place 15 min away where the first lesson is FREE and every lesson after that is $7! Talk about cheap! :P)
Finish reading ALL of Jane Austen's books as well as Gulliver's Travels & Alice in Wonderland. (Well, they ARE all laying around my house. I'm halfway through Travels and have 1.5 of Austen's down..)
Run 3 times a week, every week, no exceptions. Unless I have a fever.
Finish at least all the scrapbook blank pages/refills I have this (2011) year.
Write on my NaNoNovel a little bit each week. Even if its crap. And even if its just 50 words.
Be more disciplined about writing in my prayer journal.

Aaaaand, there you have it. I don't know if any of these things by themselves are scary, or big. But altogether, at the same time, that is a HUGE, scary list to tackle. But I suppose once it becomes habit, it will be very, very fun. :-) Especially to look back and see how far I've come..

Anyone wanna do a BFS list with me?

Deathly Hallows, Part 1

2010-11-19T12:27:00.003-06:00

Well, I only have 10 minutes until I have to leave for class, so here is my "quick and dirty" HPDH1 review! haha. My Rating: 8.5/10 I have a smaller list of disappointments this time! Woohoo! My 2 disappointments: **I wasn't too ecstatic about the soundtrack. I dunno, I guess I could have been distracted by the actual action in the movie to hear any variations of Hedwig's theme, but it just doesn't seem like a complete HP movie if I don't hear/notice some arrangement of that score the first time I see it. **Kreacher didn't "accept" Harry! Kreacher and Harry need to become friends. They MUST become friends. How else will Kreacher and the other elves coming to the trio's defense with kitchen utensils if Kreacher doesn't even LIKE or RESPECT Harry in Part One? They have to rectify this pretty soon into Part Two for me to be happy about this one... LOVELOVELOVED: **Word-for-word dialogue from the book. I was recently re-reading DH, so I recognized quite a few word-for-word conversations! That made for a very happy Tina. **George, with the toothbrush where his ear used to be, catching Harry & Ginny kissing. The only thing I can say to this is.... Pahahahaha! **The Harry/Hermione dance. Awww! **The Ministry scenes! They were great! I was on the edge of my seat (even though I knew what was going to happen), laughing, and cringing all within a couple of minutes. **The 7 Potters! The twins (heehee. Word-for-word!)... Fleur (baha.)... **Malfoy Manor. Creepy and perfect! **Bathilda Bagshot! Okay, I'll admit. I jumped a little bit. But at least I didn't scream and almost hit the roof like Kate did. Paha. Love you, Kate.

NaNoWriMo Time!

2010-11-01T11:20:00.002-05:00

Well... National Novel Writing Month has come around once again... This year it is going to be even more difficult for me to make time!

As evidenced by the fact that it took me three tries to complete those two sentences without stopping in the middle to do something else. As of right now, I'm a day and a half behind (I only got 425 words in on the first day), but I'm not done writing for today. My fingers are sore from pounding on my keyboard, and half of what I've written already is crap. (But only half! woohoo! haha.)
Being a college student is exhausting. If NaNoWriMo was in December, then we'd be in business. Finals week ends the 10th, and I could easily write two times the needed amount every day for 10 days if all I had to do was go to work 3 times a week and decorate the house with Christmas-y stuff.

Anyway... getting ready to leave my dorm and go home for some free, non-cafeteria food, accounting help, and to hunt down my novel outline book! (I've already written over 2,900 words that I'm not sure were in line with my plan! Oh no! That's probably why I'm convinced they are crap. But its NaNo time, where perfectionists force themselves to fly by the seat of their pants and not delete anything! Auggghh!

I'm going to be SO happy when December hits!

Straight No Chaser!

2010-10-17T18:49:00.011-05:00

Sooo, it took me for-freaking-ever to get this post typed up. But I couldn't just let it sit here unfinished. This concert was even better than the May 8th SNC concert! ^_________^

I met up with SJ for the Meet & Greet before the show, and also met Tina G, Pati and Esther! Since I'm writing this almost a month after the fact, I'm so sorry if I forgot anyone! :/
Anyway. Meet and Greet! The M&G beforehand really made my night. Really, EVERYTHING individually would have made my night, so I guess this made my month. :P I met SJ at the door to the theater after being in town for a couple of hours. We wandered awkwardly into the room, and had some lovely conversation before the guys showed up sitting at a little table in our library voices. :P haha. There was a big veggie tray set out, as well as cookies and rolls, and pretty much no one was eating from it. There were also little bowls of candy on the individual tables where people were sitting, and few people were eating out of those. Then the guys all come in, and swarm the food table. I think it was Ryan that made a joke about being starved, and then Walt picked up the veggie tray and started circulating it around the room.

SJ & I were sitting in amazing front row seats.. the only problem was the gigantic speaker sitting right in front of me. I remember sitting all the way back in my chair, then leaning forward and stretching my arm out to touch the stage. THAT is how close we were! It was fun. I was able to take pictures and video without even zooming in! I was so happy I was able to catch facial expressions, since when they came to Tulsa my tickets were so far back the zoom on my camera could only catch blurs of tan suits. :-P
Video links!
Billie Jean/Poison: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q01-N--7ZyE
Chicken Fried: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rd5zOVYYtkE
Lion Sleeps Tonight: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oMnoqFVuyY
Miss You (a new favorite!): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eqe9KuhNAss
Come Together: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eV0LN234-Q
Hi-De-Ho: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtXQwNOqeZ0 *****My favorite video of the night. ^____^
12 Days: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFS7uo1uOfE
In the Still of the Night (no mics): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akwIKF2FO9o
GAGA MEDLEY (!!): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6_VuYvBFKA
Okay, I can't go through the whole concert, but I have highlights that especially stood out!
Gaga medley -SOOOOOOOOOOO much more amazing in person! It was absolutely hilarious, the choreography was genius, and of course their voices were perfect as always.
Rolling Stones' Miss You - It was the first time I'd heard it, and it was fantastic. Of course, I was feeling the #basslove during this song, but that's not the ONLY reason I loved it. :-P I really wish they would record this one and put it on an album!
Hi-De-Ho - Being five feet in front of Charlie, Walt, and Tyler while they sang it was amazing. A-maze-ing. Dude, its even more of my favorite song now. I could barely fit just the three of them in the shot, and my camera wasn't zoomed in at all. Listening to this song from five feet away = #basslove HEAVEN! And the tenor training wheels did a fantastic job as well!
Chicken Fried - A country song! haha. I have to enjoy it, if nothing else then for the fact that it is country, and it helps other people appreciate country just a little bit more. ^___^ But I did really, really like the arrangement! (So thanks for that, Tyler! Didn't he arrange it?) Though I still think Charlie would kill a Josh Turner song. Any Josh Turner song.
Also, I FINALLY got to see 12 Days in person! The first time I saw the 12 Days video was when it was FIRST going viral. In the Still of the Night was pure magic without mics, and everything else was just perfect! (I'm running out of adjectives...)

Waiting for the M&G line afterwards was hilarious with all the chasers... Especially Mila! When the line went down and we finally got to the table, Mila actually got up on it. haha. Watching the guys with her was adorable. I helped Mila down off the table and then started distributing my gifts... (http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs124.ash2/39522_1472503659734_1447920356_31228462_830865_n.jpg) The ornaments with penguins on them! And 5 Snickerdoodles for each guy. I loved Charlie's reaction when he realized the ornaments (which had been wrapped around the bags of cookies) were actually Christmas ornaments. And I got my winter tour shirt signed! Haha. The shirt made it down the table before I did. I felt kind of scatterbrained while I was going through the line, especially when 2-3 of the guys are asking you different questions at the same time. But then most of them came up to me after they got out from behind the table and thanked me for the ornaments/cookies again and I got lots of hugs! (I LOVE hugs. haha.) I got an individual picture with Randy & then a big group picture. Now I need to go back to another concert and get more individual pictures!

Its been sooo long since this happened, I wish I could recall actual conversations, but I can't. :-( Anyway, it was a lovely, lovely night and I began uploading pictures and videos immediately when I returned to the hotel room where I was staying with my parents. I had so much fun with all my subsequent notifications and such. haha.
Well, it seems like an abrupt and/or awkward spot to end this post, but that's all folks! haha. :-)

Well, at least they tried..

2010-09-08T20:36:00.002-05:00

So, ORU tried and failed to help me out on this one. haha. We had to take this personality-type test (yes, it was required) so that we could write a "Whole Person Assessment paper." Since it can be NO longer than two pages, double spaced... it is a joke. Also, I've already exhausted every personality test I could find, because I'm cool like that, and so I didn't really care about this one. haha. Yeah... I just went through it as fast as possible, so my results were only about 80% correct.

Although, my "personality strengths and weaknesses" really cracked me up. Partly because I don't 100% agree with the strengths, and partly because the weaknesses were spot-on and the way the results were worded just made me laugh. So I thought I would share.

Strengths
* Relies on logic more than emotions and enthusiasm.
* Focused and succinct in speaking.
* Comfortable operating alone rather than depending on group support.
* Likes to be thorough and precise; good with details.
* Quick minded; able to grasp abstract concepts.
*Clever in crafting solutions and responses to problems.

Weaknesses
* Can come across as being too serious and unenthusiastic.
* Stressed by having to make small talk with strangers.
* Uncomfortable in group social activities; can appear unfriendly.
* Can have unreasonable expectations for self and others.
* May have an attitude of superiority.

Actually, it just hit me why the weaknesses make me laugh. It sounds like they're trying to describe the downside to the personalities of certain breeds of dogs...

Also... I HATE small talk (Hit that nail on the head..). Unless its about certain things I know a lot about. Additionally, I've been told that apparently I'm intimidating to talk to because I do appear unfriendly when I become uncomfortable in large group situations. And, I always have unreasonable expectations for everyone, myself included. That's what having a 4.2 GPA throughout most of middle/high school will do to you. People used to call that optimism, though. :P I used to hyperventilate when I got B's on my report card.

I was also told that "balance is key" for me to be happy in my "when I'm all grown up" work environment. ahaha. I wish they could see me in my work environment NOW...

And apparently I would be very fulfilled if I picked up the career of being a rabbi.

Road Trip!

2010-09-03T16:32:00.002-05:00

Yay! Today is going to be my first college road trip! Can you guess where its to? haha. BRANSON! Two girls on my wing, Sarah and Kali (kay-lee... yeah, it confuzzled me too at first) are coming with me. We have two free nights at the Hampton Inn on the strip! Going to see the Cat's Pajamas on Saturday... Who else would we go see? haha.

I was wanting to see Jeerk, but they had a scheduling FAIL and are not having any shows that match up with our schedule.

Sorry in advance, Jason, for not staying on a Sunday night! This was a last minute trip and Sunday night just didn't fit in. I was thinking either during December or in May, when I'm going back for my birthday for sure! :)

Anyway... expect fun updates! ^_____^ Kali just now got off of work, so I'm just waiting on my mom with my car, fresh out of the shop.

COLLEGE!

2010-08-17T20:00:00.002-05:00

Ahhh! This is my first college post! I moved in to my dorm, the Claudius Roberts Hall [aka, Claudius] on the 7th! I'm now a student at Oral Roberts University! It is insane. Today was my fourth day of classes. I'm faring better than some of the other girls on my hall in the homework area, and have only had accounting homework so far.

Even though accounting is absolutely kicking my butt.... I love ORU. :-) I love my wing, too! Yeah, Standard! All the girls have been super easy to get to know, and my roommate is a soccer player. Apparently she was flipping out and trying to stalk me on facebook because she was the only player without another player as a roommate. They were all afraid I was weird. :-P

I have a feeling I'm going to get really close to a lot of the girls on Standard, especially after soccer season ends and the soccer girls are actually on the floor half the time. haha. The only thing that would make it better would be my bestest friend EVER, Kate, living on Standard with me.
Oh, and our brother wing rocks, too. haha. Their name is Fred Creek. And a lot of the mens soccer team is on Fred Creek, so we're making shirts that say Fred Creek raises the Standard to wear to their games. I'm really getting into dorm life. haha. :P

Anyway, yeah. I've been meeting a zillion new people, and I've actually been okay with it. Even though I'm going home to crash without people around tomorrow night. haha.

I'm such a girl.

2010-08-04T11:17:00.002-05:00

I have major crushes on fictional characters. No, NOT on Edward Cullen. I like Emmett better anyway. But already, I digress.
I realize that I like fictional characters so much because they are fictional, and written to be perfect. Nevertheless, there are still four fictional characters I cannot get over! At all! And I would marry them in a heartbeat if they asked [and if they had stronger morals, of course. The one area where fictional characters are NEVER perfect].

4. Seeley Booth. [seasons 1-3 of Bones.] FBI agent. Ex-sniper. Threatens to kill gang leaders for the safety of his crime-fighting partner.
3. Ty. The Heartland book series. He was Amy's boyfriend, and worked on Amy's equine rescue facility. I read those books when I was in 5th - 7th grade.
2. Mr. Darcy. P&P. Of course.
1. Andrew Paxton. The Proposal. Played by Ryan Reynolds. Give the man [Andrew] some Christian morals and I would hang a "perfect" sign around his fictional neck.

Yes, I realize how sad this post is. haha. :P And still, I wrote it anyway...

The Cat's Pajamas

2010-07-07T23:58:00.008-05:00

Oh. My. Goodness.
This is my new favorite Branson show, hands down. :)

Lovelovelovelovelovelove them!

Me: Can I give an 11 out of 10? :-)
Favorite Songs: Some Kind of Wonderful, I Can Live with That, Pretty Woman, Hooked on a Feeling, Radio/Video Medley, The Joker, You've Lost that Loving Feeling

Kate: 9
And, I didn't ask what her favorite songs were. Oops. But if I had to guess, I'd say Love Potion Number 9. ;)

Anyway. I had been telling mom that I wanted to see them for a good couple weeks in advance of our Branson trip. I had heard Jason, Rose, and Kim saying great things. And since my Straight No Chaser kick, I've always been up for finding really good a cappella groups. Well, Monday when Kate and I were getting ready for the 12 Irish Tenors, The Cat's Pajamas came to our hotel to sing a couple of songs. Mom fell in love. Grant pulled her up to dance with her and sang Pretty Woman to her. Then she got pictures, and they held her sideways! Mom said it was their idea, too. But of course, if a group of performers is good looking and my mom or grandma gets to participate... the performers usually love them. :P
Mom and dad got tickets to go while Kate and I were with Jason at the tenors. Grant pulled her up on stage again for Pretty Woman. So mom fell in love all over again and got a free CD out of it. Mom's favorite is Grant now, of course. She told me that night that she just knew I'd fall in love with the bass singer.

Kate and I got to go Wednesday night. :) We were in the front row, which was awesome. And mom was right. I LOVE the bass singer, Brian Skinner. The other guys in the group are Grant, Nate, Marcus, and Chris. They all have FANTASTIC voices. And a great stage presence. They're all supremely energetic and entertaining. The first song was Some Kind of Wonderful. I fell in love with the Cat's Pajamas with that first song. This is definitely my kind of show. And I'm not gonna lie... I cheered. A lot. Loudly. :) The crowd wasn't too big so I felt that they deserved a bit more cheering. Plus, mom has really started rubbing off on me lately and that is just what we do in situations like that. :P

The second song was I Can Live with That. I think its one of my top 2 songs. I just love it to pieces. :D It really shows off their personalities and their different musical style. I really like them because they're such an obviously amazing a cappella group, but they still have their own sound. Also, they can dance! haha. If you've been following my other Branson posts... they have MUCH better choreography than the 12 Irish Tenors. And it looks much more natural. You can tell they're having fun with it!
The one thing that made me laugh was that their version of adding a country song to the show was Uncle Kracker. When the Sun Goes Down. It was very well done, but I just had to laugh because I don't consider Kenny Chesney, especially with Uncle Kracker, very country.

During intermission I bought a t-shirt and made the rounds to get it signed. I also got individual pictures. Mom would have killed me if I hadn't introduced myself as the daughter of "the woman from the Colonnade & monday night's show..." So I did. Of course, they remembered her! We stuck around again afterwards for the group picture opportunity and we talked with them again. I was actually surprised at how much they remembered from the obviously long conversations with my mother. She told them I was 19, about to go off to college... and single. Of course. [Dad told me Monday night that she offered me up as the sacrificial lamb to any of the Cats that would take me.] Marcus said, "Guys, this is CINDY'S daughter! Oh, she told us to embarrass her!" They all seemed upset that they had forgotten to do that during the show. But I just told them, "I've lived with my mom for so long its pretty hard to embarrass me now." Really, I would love if they had tried to embarrass me from the stage. I find that kind of thing fun now. :P

And, if you have been looking at the pictures along with this blog post.... those are all from the SECOND night we went to see the Cat's Pajamas! Yes sir, we went Wednesday night AND Friday night! They remembered us, of course, and by the end of Friday night they even remembered our names! [Not that Tina & Kate are hard to remember... when one of us has flaming red hair. :P] I love them even more now, though. They're very nice to the fans and make an effort to be personable.

Anyway... I had been thinking about mom's fun picture since Monday night. And it took me those few conversations during Wednesday night for me to kind of warm up to them... so by Friday morning, I had a plan. We took mom's camera to the show, which gives better quality pictures than my camera. We got more individual pictures during intermission and talked with them all some more. Marcus told me he had tried to convince Grant to take me up for Pretty Woman, but you know how Branson works. It was one of the not-so-young women from the audience that night. Even though FOUR women had denied Grant when he tried to pull them up, and I think if any more had said no he might have come back to me. :P haha. Hey, we WERE on the front row.

Speaking of the front row... they sang to me! haha. It was after intermission on Friday, and when they sang the last half of The Joker, they were all looking at me. They all made eye contact, actually, as they crouched at the edge of the stage right in front of my chair. It was fun. Kate got excited on my behalf. haha.

Anyways, after Friday's show we waited until most of the group pictures with other people had been over.... and I went up and said, "So, you guys did a really fun picture with mom, and picked her up. Can you help me one-up her? I want a better picture!" They said, "sure!"
I turned to face Kate with the camera, and without warning I'm picked up to about Grant's shoulder height. His shoulders are definitely taller than I am when I'm flat-footed on the ground. So I grab onto Grant's and Nate's necks, trying to not flail. Then the rest of them grab me and turn me sideways. It was fun! Another reason I like this group. :P I hear Brian say, "I guess I get the feet," and then when I look at the camera screen... it looks like he's biting me. haha. And Marcus' face makes me laugh too. I think its safe to say that this is the best group picture I've ever had taken with a singing group I like. :P

So, I made sure to push Kate into all the pictures because I KNEW she wanted pictures, but she's still to shy to speak up for them. I had to threaten her, actually. And I hit jackpot with my threat, because I could have sworn I was almost on the receiving end of a full-body tackle before she almost literally jumped into several individual pictures. ^_______^ I love you, Kate!

And so, with a last goodbye, [I could almost hear Kate thinking, hoping they didn't think we were stalkers. I said pssssh. They remember you better if you're a nuisance. :P That's mom's philosophy.] we promised to come back again, and rode the really-really-really-great-show high all the way back to the hotel. Not getting caught in 76 traffic by using the back roads helped keep our spirits up too.
And mom and I are planning on getting away from dad's parents' house during one of the days following Thanksgiving to go back and see them! ^___^ And since my freshman college classes will be completely over by May 1st or so, I'll be able to go see them for my birthday on May 9th! Or one of the days around there, since my birthday will probably fall on a day that they aren't performing...

Anyway... if you made it through that WHOLE ramble then you are either 1. very, very bored, 2. my new best friend for life, or 3. as big of a fan of the Cat's Pajamas as I am. So good for you. :D Closing statement:
You MUST go see them if you're ever in Branson.

Buckets n' Boards

2010-07-07T23:57:00.003-05:00

Wednesday morning we went to see Buckets n' Boards. It was hilarious! Both of the guys are really, extremely talented! I had to sit on one of my legs to see over the people in front of me [there wasn't anyone directly behind me, so I felt alright doing that. haha.]

Me: 9.5
Kate: 9

They were drumming on buckets, empty propane tanks, and squeaky toy turtles. They could also tap and play the guitar. Oh, and sing. I was really surprised at how well they could sing! I loved it.

I was highly entertained throughout the whole show. It seemed to pass by too quickly. Some of my favorite parts were when they were playing with the squeaky toys and of course the buckets. And when they were tapping, at one point they sang "Singing in the Rain," with thunder and rain sound effects and a frilly umbrella included.

After the show, I bought a Buckets n' Boards t-shirt and had them sign it. That day if you bought a shirt you got a free, pre-signed poster so I have that as well now! And it was VERY crowded where they were selling their stuff and taking pictures, so I got a very nice mom to take a picture of us with my camera, instead of taking two individual ones. It was just as well, because my camera literally died about 2 minutes after the picture was taken.

I would definitely recommend going to see this show! Its awesome, hilarious, and there's never a dull moment. The two of them play off of each other and the crowd so well, its fun to watch.

Branson, Day 3

2010-07-07T23:55:00.003-05:00

Wednesday!
We woke up for a morning show. It was Buckets n' Boards, and we met up with Jason & his friend at the theater. It was really good! [Another review is coming!]

Thennn... we went to the Landing again.
And got rained on. Again.
The third day we tried, we finally got to Charlotte Russe! haha. Never mind that there's several in Tulsa. Kate got a pretty sweater and new jeans! I got a pretty necklace that reminds me of my old locket necklace I can't wear anymore... the silver turned. :/ And it reminded me of the locket from Harry Potter, so I was excited to find another one.
We ate at the San Francisco Oven... It was really good! If we had one of those in Tulsa, I would never go to Starbucks again, whether or not I really like my normal barista. That Chocolate Hazelnut blended coffee was AMAZING. I think Kate had Raspberry Mocha. That was mind-blowing too... we switched cups to try each others. :P

Then we went to see The Cat's Pajamas! Finally. :)
It is my new favorite Branson show, hands down! The review for that is coming as well! And its going to be a long one... haha.

Branson, Day 2

2010-07-07T23:53:00.005-05:00

Tuesday!
We slept in a little bit since... you know... we'd been up at 6:45 am the morning before. :P We actually slept in so long that when we got up and dressed it was time to go to the Landing to meet Jason and Rose at Shorty Small's for lunch.

Office lunch with After Dark Live is fun! I was bummed I wouldn't be able to stay long enough to be on the show. I promised that I would stay on a Sunday night next time I came into town.
Kate introduced Jason to Miley Cyrus' "Can't Be Tamed" music video, and I have no clue why I didn't get out my camera to take a picture of the look on his face while he watched. We also helped him come up with the next buzzword punishment [which was Nemo inspired! "Fish are friends, not food."], which is already in line to being used by both Jason and Rose, apparently. :P heehee. Two buzzwords in one night! We got an 'exclusive sneak peek' of Rose's Singing in the Rain video at the restaurant as well. haha.

This was followed by more wandering around the Landing. Then we went to Silver Dollar City with mom and dad! I was disappointed that the first vendor once you walk through the entrance wasn't selling my most favorite cream cheese filled pretzels any more. But we rode all of the dry rides [plus Fire in the Hole], except for Powder Keg. I love that ride, but the line was so long we didn't feel like waiting. And one of my favorite conversations from SDC was about Fire in the Hole.
Mom: "Lets go on FITH!"
Me: "But I don't want to get wet!"
Kate: "Come on, I've NEVER gotten wet on FITH!"
......one ride later.

......walking out definitely wet.
Kate: "I swear, I've NEVER gotten wet BEFORE!"

haha. I think I'm a water magnet. It rained every day we were there except for the day we left.

Anyway... fun day. We had dinner at Olive Garden after that. And then I introduced Kate to the first act of A Very Potter Musical. Her reaction to the opening song was, "Genius!"

Underneath these stairs
I hear the sneers and feel glares of
my cousin, my uncle and my aunt.

Can't believe how cruel they are
and it stings my lighting scar
to know that they'll never ever give me what I want.

I know I don't deserve these
stupid rules made by the Dursleys
here on Privet drive.

Can't take all of these muggles,
but despite all of my struggles,
I'm still alive.

Im sick of summer and this waiting around.
Man, its September, and Im skipping this town
Hey Its no mystery, theres nothing here for me now

I gotta get back to Hogwarts,
I gotta get back to school.
Gotta get myself to Hogwarts,
where everybody knows I'm cool.

12 Irish Tenors

2010-07-07T23:51:00.003-05:00

Me: 7.5
Favorite song: Glen Miller/Sinatra sections & Scarborough Fair

Kate 7.5
Favorite song: Scarborough Fair

Overall, I liked it a lot. I would probably want to wait a couple months before going back to see it again [as opposed to seeing the same show twice in one week... *cough*]. I wasn't disappointed.

The show started out a bit rough. While I know that shows are scripted, the good ones make you feel like you're seeing something completely natural for the first time. The first 15 minutes felt a bit stiff to me. And the choreography in the first few songs made me bite my lip to keep from laughing. Granted, I came to hear singing instead of see dancing, but they had choreographed putting their hands on their microphones at the same time... in a very dramatic way.
One of the tenors had long blonde hair, and the first thing that came to mind was... If the Weasley twins ever went blonde, this is exactly what they would look like! I told this to Kate & Jason and they agreed.
I could definitely tell that there were some tracks in the show, and I'm not the greatest at picking up on those things. But it didn't detract from the experience for me that much.

Kate and I loved Scarborough Fair! They sat on the steps of the stage and I'm pretty sure they sang it a cappella, with the exception of one drum played by one of the guys. It was very pretty. This is a good accomplishment for me, because when listening to slow songs live I have a tendency to get bored unless the vocals are really good. I wasn't bored with it! So good job, 12 Irish Tenors for that one.
My other favorite sections were the Glen Miller & Sinatra sections. I adore Frank Sinatra. I really do. So as long as you don't royally mess up a Sinatra song, I will enjoy it. :P haha. The choreography for these two sections were much improved as well.
Oh, and I did actually burst out laughing when they announced they would be singing some "West Side Story" songs. hahaha. It would have been impossible for me to not laugh. :P

So, overall it was really entertaining and enjoyable, even if it isn't necessarily the best show I've seen yet.

Branson! Day 1.

2010-07-07T23:49:00.003-05:00

We woke up at 6:45 am to drive into Branson! It took us exactly 2.5 hours from the lake, which was nice since it usually takes around 4 to drive from Tulsa. Then again, Mom adds on a good 30 minutes with all the stops she likes to take, so it probably would have only taken Kate & I an extra hour from home.

Anyway. We got to the hotel at 10:30 am. I think that was a record for me for the earliest time arriving in Branson... ever. haha. We dropped our luggage off at the Colonnade [where we had a HUGE king-sized bed! ^___^] and went to the Landing for lunch. We wandered around the Landing for a couple more hours [we seriously went to the Landing EVERY SINGLE day we were there, except for Saturday when we left].

OH! And we got an old time photo taken! :D Kate and I went tourist. It was fun!
Thennn.. we got ready for the 12 Irish Tenors!

We met Jason at the theater [which was literally 60 whole seconds from our hotel. How convenient!] and Kate was introduced. We had a really awkward picture taken before we walked to our seats. That I didn't go look at after the show.
It was pretty good. Kate & I both gave it a 7.5 out of 10. I'm going to have a separate post for my show review. :-)

The rest of our night after the show was filled with waiting on angry IHOP employees to feed us and then falling into bed. Our nice, comfy king-sized bed!

Lake Weekend!

2010-07-07T23:47:00.005-05:00

So, my big travel week started off with a bang. Kate and I went up to her lake house on Friday night. The rest of her family had already made it up there, but we had to wait until I got off of work.

I love the way Kate & Grace have their room decorated! Most of it is a Paris theme, and then around Grace's bed are tons and tons of COWS. This picture is my favorite of her cows. ^___^

It rained while we were there. A lot.

But we had fun going around in the golf cart, taking random pictures, and meeting WALTER. Walter is the CUTEST bulldog ever. We love his little nose wrinkle. I have more pictures up on facebook.

Kate's cousins came over and we all played apples to apples and balderdash. And walked down to the dock in the rain.
We also went into Vinita to see Eclipse at the theater there. It only had 3 screens. And parallel parking in the front of the theater. I think it took us three minutes to explore 3/4 of the town. We found a 'park' consisting of two see-saws and two swings.

Then Kate & I woke up at 6:45 am on Monday morning to head to Branson. :)

Sunday Top 10: Star Trek

2010-06-27T13:30:00.007-05:00

Since I've been REALLY over-the-top with Doctor Who recently [one of the side effects of jumping on a bandwagon late in the game. I have to catch up on 4 seasons all at once, then follow the 5th season real time, which only lasts 3 months, all boiling down to me having to wait for the second half of the season finale just like everyone else after I'd basically had a marathon of 4 seasons jammed into two months.] I figured I'd give my readers [hah. I think I have about... 2. Sporadically.] a break.

A break from Doctor Who, but not science fiction. haha. I'm still geeking out, so I have to stay within my geek-frame of mind.
Anyway. I've been falling down on the job with my Sunday Top 10's, so I figured I'd do one this week.

My Top Ten Favorite Star Trek Episodes! [TOS & TNG smashed together.]
And yes, these ARE in order of favoritism this time! [Ascending order. So, my favorite of the favorites is number 1!]

10. The Pegasus. Next Generation. Season 7. Riker gets to kick butt! There is sufficient ethical dilemma and risk of bodily harm to even it out and keep me happy. Though at this point I was banging my head on my desk, asking WHY IN THE NAME OF Q HAVE RIKER AND TROI NOT GOTTEN BACK TOGETHER?! I loved Worf, but Worf and Troi together? No. Nuh-uh. Not gonna cut it for me. Sorry, but the romantic in me must come out and slap Riker and Troi both upside the head for their stupidity. Or maybe just slap the writers. Anyway, this episode has always just stuck with me since I first saw it. Definitely a great start to my top ten list!

9. Court Martial. Original Series, season 1. Kirk is court martial-ed, accused of violating procedure and being responsible for a crew member's death. His ex- whatever she was is lawyer for the other side, and she's good. Really good. No space travel or adventures in this one, but its still great. Loyalties are questioned, trust is shattered, and the conclusion comes with an awww-moment. Nine out of ten stars!

8. The Inner Light. Next Generation. Season 5. Picard lapses into a coma, and lives out a whole lifetime on another planet. He has cute little Picardlets [aka, kids. Doesn't work as well with Picard as it does Gibbs. Sorry.] running around who eventually grow up to be smart, smart adults. He has an adorable, quite understanding wife. He tries to save the planet, only realizing that he was brought there after the planet had died so that the people wouldn't be forgotten. Sir Patrick Stewart gets to show us his crazy acting skills and we get to see Picard have the family he's always secretly longed for, deep deep [deep, deep, deep] down.

7. Plato's Stepchildren. Original Series, season 3. Spock laughed. Spock cried. Spock DANCED. There was an ethical dilemma [though really, most of the Trek dilemmas are ethical] because the gods of some faraway planet made everyone else their personal playthings. The Enterprise crew were humiliated, there was a checkered floor, and the whole planet was designed around classical Greece. If those things can't make a great ep, I don't know what can. Plus, Bones was the head honcho in this one instead of Kirk. He had to make all the ethical-dilemma-y decisions. Poor McCoy. He's a doctor, d*****, not a miracle worker!

6. The Measure of a Man. Next Generation. Season 2. Data is reassigned, and told he will be disassembled. Basically, he sues for his right to have rights as a sentient life form. Riker is forced to put together a case against Data. Picard's old flame is the JAG officer and is the one deciding Data's fate. Oddly reminiscent of Court Martial, only this one has ethical dilemmas exploding everywhere like the sky on 4th of July. We discover how much our mental pathways have become accustomed to Data's neural input, or something like that. Tugs at your heartstrings.

5. Shore Leave. Original Series, season 1. For some reason, this episode just stuck with me. There's people "dying" right and left. People's fantasies come to life on a planet that was literally designed to be a playground. The costumes are giggle-inducing, as well as Kirk's ex-girlfriend. I like it because they can't immediately find the bad guy, and don't even know if there is one. This one is full of mind games! Plus, the effects are so bad you just have to laugh and love it. Okay, you might not. But I do.

4. The Trouble with Tribbles. Original Series, season 2. Probably one of the most-recognized Original Series episodes ever. Briefly thought of changing my username to tinalovestribbles, but I didn't. Anyway, the reason this ep gets the fourth spot is because of the cute little fuzzballs that breed asexually and take over the Enterprise. And the way they got rid of them was the most physically snarky solution they could have come up with. I loved it!

3. Elementary, Dear Data. Next Generation. Season 2. Because I adore Data. Add in some Sherlock Holmes, and I'm loving it! Data is so smart, he has to program the holodeck to endanger the rest of the crew to give him a game challenging enough to not be boring. What ISN'T to love about this episode? Also, Data dressed as Holmes is amazing.

2. Chain of Command, parts I, II. Next Generation. Season 6. Picard is replaced. The crew is close to mutiny. Picard is captured and tortured, physically and psychologically. THERE ARE FOUR LIGHTS. For me, no other episode could fill this number two spot. Just excellent. Sir Patrick Stewart really gets to show off his acting chops! And Picard picks himself up and comes out on top. If I could have a third grandpa, I would want it to be Stewart. Which is totally unrelated, but I had to throw that out. :P

1. A Piece of the Action, Original Series, season 2. Yes! This is my favorite Star Trek episode EVER, hands down. What could be better than Kirk and Spock landing on a gangster planet, dressing up in suits and fedoras, and out-mobbing the mob? Nothing, as far as Trek is concerned! Or maybe that should be, as far as I'm concerned... Also, Kirk unsuccessfully attempts to drive a stick shift. Assuming that was just for audience giggles, because that was the effect on me! :P I have watched this ep over and over... the only thing missing from it is more Bones! Also, Scotty on the bridge is a plus.

[Also, please ignore the fact that it is technically Monday now. Thanks. :) haha.]

SPOILERS! Wait... isn't that River's line..?

2010-06-26T16:02:00.003-05:00

ahahaha. So.
Doctor Who. Season 5 finale. The Big Bang.
I think my head exploded from the epicness. And yes, epicness is a word.
Beware the spoilers! Even though we STILL have no clue WHO the heck River Song is. But I'm okay with that. For now.

The Big Bang is my favorite. Who. finale. ever. Ever. [Even better than the worst. rescue. ever!] I managed to find a live stream online and got to watch it at the same time everyone in the UK was! I felt special. And I was bouncing up and down on my bed with my laptop like a giddy schoolgirl through the whole thing, squee-ing and biting my hand [yes, I really did... not exaggerating!] because of the awesomeness. Expect to see LOTS of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey schtuff going on. And fezzes! [Is that how you spell the plural of a fez? Hope so. :P] Fezzes are cool. Like bowties!

So, the things that made this so FANTASTIC:
Rory came back in "The Pandorica Opens" as an auton, part of the Nestene Consciousness. The Doctor is tricked and locked into the Pandorica.Then.... Future Doctor gives past auton Rory his sonic screwdriver whilst wearing a fez and holding a mop. Past Doctor gets out of the Pandorica via auton Rory and puts mostly-dead [I geeked out at this & had Princess Bride moment] past Amy in the Pandorica instead to heal her from auton Rory's gunshot. Little Amelia touches the Pandorica, it opens, and out pops now-all-alive Amy in the present/past. Doctor now acquires fez and mop. He goes back and steals past-Amelia's drink to give to future-Amelia and leave past-Amelia a note. Future-future Doctor, sans fez, dies in front of Doctor with the fez. The TARDIS is exploding everywhere, and there are no more stars. Fez-Doctor rescues River Song from a time loop at the heart of the explosion, she shoots his fez with help from Amy. Then River Song kicks Dalek a** and what we thought was the dead future-future Doctor has wired the vortex manipulator to the Pandorica, transporting him and the box [MADMAN WITH A BOX! AHH!] to the middle of the explosion, healing the cracks in time, mostly.

*deep breath* The Doctor's life span starts to rewind. He mourns the fez, for a moment ["Eh, I can buy another fez," or something along those lines.], then realizes Amy can hear him but not see him. [Audience realizes there was an amusing space-beach adventure we missed out on.] He rewinds TO THE TIME OF THE ANGELS episode. I KNEWKNEWKNEW that the jacket-Doctor was from the finale episode. ^___^ Yay. Anyways, fangirling aside, he urges eyes-closed-because-of-the-weeping-angel-in-her-head-Amy to remember what he told her when she was seven. Then we rewind to when she was seven, and he tells her to remember his old, new, borrowed, blue box while she is asleep. He 'skips' the rest of the rewind, and goes to the other side of the void to completely seal the cracks. Future/Current/Alternate Amy wakes up on her wedding day, realizes she has parents, and Rory is scared of her. They have their wedding, go to the reception, River's journal is spoiler-free [AKA, empty], River walks by the window, Amy cries and tells her dad to shut up. Amy loudly tells the reception hall that she remembers her raggedy doctor, the TARDIS appears, and Matt Smith gives a whole new meaning to "The Doctor Dances." [I love references! Anyway.] River gives us more questions than answers, the Doctor unwittingly sort-of-proposes, and the newlyweds go off with the Doctor again making me squee with happiness because I think the Doctor should be done with companion-romances for now. I mean, River Song is bad enough. Rose was my ONLY Doctor ship. :P

And, wow.
That was the episode. Epic. Awesome. Mind blowing.

There were no slow parts to the episode, at least for me. I LOVED when the Doctor got ahold of River's vortex manipulator and kept popping in and out. I laughed the whole way through that. And of course, I loved the fez. Obviously.
What I also ADORED was Amy and Rory actually getting married! Eleven, Amy, and Rory are tied for my favorite trio along with Nine, Rose, and Jack. [Sorry, but Ten, Martha, and Jack wasn't anywhere close.] I may be a fangirl, but I'm ready for the Doctor to be done with companion romances. There's River, I know, but still. I LOVED Tennant for season 2 and whenever else Rose was there, making him happy. And Tennant was one of the best Doctor's I've seen. [Even though Nine/Eccleston was my first, and will always be MY Doctor. Eleven/Smith is currently trying to push Eccleston out of the way for that one but I'm being stubborn & loyal. :P] Howeverrr... For seasons 3 & 4, I really got tired of the mopey, heartbroken Doctor. It just made me depressed and made me miss Rose more. Actually, it made me miss Eccleston because if he hadn't left the show after just a year, they probably would have gotten more romantically involved. And RosexDoctor is the ONLY Doctor ship I am willing to commit to, unless River does something amazing. And even then I'll still be upset with her for awhile. But back to Amy and Rory. THAT WAS ONE OF THE BEST FREAKING LOVE STORIES EVER. He guarded the Pandorica for her for TWO THOUSAND YEARS. As an auton! Rory is so adorable. I just want to hug him. And then smack Amy upside the head for flirting with the Doctor all the time. I mean, Matt Smith is good looking and all, but he had Rose in his previous two regenerations. And he wouldn't sit around for two thousand years waiting for someone. True, Rory was plastic so it made that part easier, but still. My point stands. You don't throw away love and devotion like that! You just don't! So now, I literally cannot wait for the Christmas special with that trio. If they EVER kill off Rory again, I'm going to throw something at a wall. Not my screen, because I can't afford to get a new one. :P

And WOW, this was long. I ramble waaay too much. So, recap:

The Big Bang was fast paced, hilarious at points, exciting, sad, and epic. I was literally on the edge of my seat, biting my knuckles. There was no emo Doctor, and the timelines were all wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey. The best since The Parting of the Ways. And that one made me mad at the end with Eccleston's regeneration. So I think this goes to the top of my list as number one finale! Woohoo!

Ohhh, Christmas. Now I have ANOTHER reason for you to come quickly!

Gallagher Girls! [Freshman flashback time.]

2010-06-25T17:30:00.006-05:00

So, as I'm waiting for my pre-ordered copy of "Only the Good Spy Young" by Ally Carter to arrive at my house, I got to thinking. There's a possibility that the Gallagher Girls series, which started with "I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You," could be turned into a movie. Its a book series about a super secret boarding school for GENIUS SPY GIRLS. I know, right? haha. I love young adult fiction. I started reading when it had only been the first book out, and now I'm waiting for the fourth. ^___^ I believe I read it in my HS freshman year. [Whoa. This is weird. I have to specify with HS since I'm technically a college freshman now.] And I still love this series. Who wouldn't want to enroll in a boarding school for spies?! Of course, you have to be a genius, but still...

Since I didn't have ANYTHING else to do, *coughcough* I decided I'd make up my dream cast list for the movies.

Cammie: Willa Holland [http://www.buddytv.com/articles/the_oc/Images/willa-holland-1.jpg - Although they would have to glam her down. Cam is supposed to be 'ordinary' looking. ]
Bex: Tristan Mays [http://images.tvrage.com/people/18/52506.jpg]
Liz: AnnaSophia Robb [http://www.youngteenidols.com/modules/gallery/cat-annasophia-robb-image-gallery-50.htm]
Macey: Kristin Herrera [http://www.youngteenidols.com/modules/gallery/cat-kristin-herrera-image-gallery-24.htm]

Rachel Morgan: Sandra Bullock
Solomon: Chris Hemsworth [took me forever to think of this one. He was George Kirk, Jim Kirk's dad in the new 2009 Trek movie. Lots of girls want Brad Pitt for this one. Ew, no. Please. Just... no.]
Abby Cameron: Elizabeth Hurley

Josh: Logan Lerman
Zach: Drew Roy

A lot of people went through the WHOLE ENTIRE cast. But I mostly pretty much just care about the main crew. And I'm aware that the previous sentence would make the grammar police cringe. Deal with it. :P haha. My mind is fried at the moment after a long day.

So, yes.
I just had to get this off my chest. It was burning a whole in my brain. ^_____^

Sunday Top 10: Straight No Chaser!

2010-05-10T15:58:00.004-05:00

Okay, so this is Monday. Whatever. I only felt like one blog post Sunday, and it was understandably about the Straight No Chaser concert! :D

So, since I'm still on that amazing-concert-high, sort of, I'm still going to make this about SNC. This top 10 list is about my top 10 favorite songs of theirs. However, keep in mind that I could never just pick a top 3, let alone 5, and top 10 is still even pushing it. So these are in no particular order, because all of their songs are fantastic! :) Yes, its a cop out. No, I don't care.

10. Ghost Train [though they only play it on the credits of one of their college DVDs]
9. Poison / Billie Jean [they haven't recorded this, I've only heard it live. But its amazing. And Jerome did some MJ moves for us. :P]
8. Joy to the World / Jeremiah Was a Bullfrog
7. Santa Claus is Coming to Town
6. You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch [I think I'm in love with Charlie's solo.]
5. Wonderwall
4. Tainted Love
3. Insomniac
2. Africa
1. Hi-De-Ho [especially live! Listening to this live will seriously blow you away!]

Birthday Concert: Straight No Chaser!

2010-05-09T13:47:00.005-05:00

So, I've been following Straight No Chaser ever since their '12 Days of Christmas' youtube video became popular. I ordered their DVD and some of the CDs they made in college, and went and bought 'Holiday Spirits' the day it was available in stores. Same for 'Christmas Cheers.' I think I had to wait for my payday and bought 'With a Twist' just about 3-4 days or so after it came out.

So, understandably, I was really psyched when I heard that they would be coming to Tulsa on May 8, the day before my 19th birthday. Actually, I was more excited about the concert than my birthday. :P I turned my mother into a fan around the time of their first Christmas CD, so she was excited to go. My grandma fell in love when I sat her down to listen to a CD right before we bought the tickets. And Kate, my best friend, had heard me play them before and so I brought her along for the fun.

I knew the concert was going to be fantastic. [The only downside was the fact that I am 5'3 tall, and the people sitting in front of me were at least 5'10.] But they blew me away! I loveloveloved listening to Straight No Chaser live! They went way above and beyond my already high expectations. It was the best concert I've ever been to.

I could listen to these guys all day long! Could have listened all night long. :) And afterward they were so nice in the autograph line. I talked with several of them, and ended up having to take two pictures with Jerome because I blinked in the first one. I got my little mini-poster from inside the CD autographed. And then the next time I checked my facebook, I had a notification from Randy wishing me a happy birthday and saying it was nice to meet me. That was an unexpected surprise and it was nice to meet all of you guys too. :) And it was great to hear happy birthday from all of them going through the line.

I knew Kate had become a fan when she searched out the SNC music on my iPod when we went on our traditional Sonic run for slushes. I think we made it there five minutes before they closed. haha. Most of the people that ride in my car have heard Straight No Chaser, and it is obvious how amazing they are when people say, "wow... they ARE good!"

So, if you haven't heard of them... you must look them up on youtube immediately and then go buy their newest album, With a Twist! :D Some of the best music ever! And then if you ever get the chance, see them live. It is a million times better than listening to a CD. Plus, they're really funny and I love watching them dance. I was trying to pick a favorite song of the night, but I just couldn't. Some of the ones that were tied for first were Hi-De-Ho [SOOO amazing live!], Joy to the World, Poison/Billie Jean [loved the MJ dancing], Africa [so beautiful when they sing it!], Fix You, and Lion Sleeps Tonight. The TV theme songs were especially good, and I really enjoyed Charlie singing the Beverly Hillbillies theme.

They also knew how to make the crowd happy with OU/OSU mentions. And the very last song without mics was gorgeous! The original song that I believe Dan wrote was fantastic. I loved it.

I was a very happy birthday girl! :D

My Sunday Top 10

2010-05-02T17:57:00.004-05:00

Just because I need another reason to procrastinate... I am going to post a top 10 list every Sunday... if I don't forget. So this Sunday is my top 10 quotes from random things that I've seen recently, not necessarily my top 10 quotes of all time.

10. Women like to get flowers. But they LOVE to get flowers in front of other women. - Steven Furtick. [Pastor of Elevation Church.]

9. You’re going to see church after church after church. Methodists, Baptists, Pentecostals, all coming to the same table. And the Baptists are eating all the food and the Methodists organized it all and the Pentecostals kicked the table over and ran a lap. - Pastor Steven Furtick [talking about who's going to be in Heaven. haha. I'm laughing because I'm Pentecostal & I just see my church members doing that in my head.]

8. Hotch: "There's lots of ways for sons to defeat their fathers."
Reid: "I just keep getting PhD's." [haha. Criminal Minds!]

7. Doctor 10: "Oh, and I met a horse."
Mickey: "What's a horse doing on a spaceship?!"
Doctor 10: "What's Pre-Revolutionary France doing on a spaceship? Get some perspective!!" [:P Doctor Who! David Tennant's Doctor, to be precise.]

6. "I am a servant of the secret fire, wielder of the flame of Anor. The dark fire will not avail you, Flame of Udun! Go back to the shadow, YOU SHALL NOT PASSSS!" [Gandalf. :D To the Balrog.]

5. Doctor 10: "Tracked you down with this. This is my timey-wimey detector. It goes ding when there's stuff. Also, it can boil an egg at 30 paces, whether you want it to or not, actually, so I've learned to stay away from hens. It's not pretty when they blow." [From Blink, the CREEPIEST episode ever. I love it.]

4. Doctor 10: "People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but *actually* from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint - it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly... time-y wimey... stuff. " [Again, from Doctor Who Blink episode..]

3. Amy: "Can you get me back by tomorrow morning?"
Doctor 11: "Its a time machine. I can get you back to five minutes ago."

2. Doctor 11: "Found a crack in the wall and told them it was the end of the universe."
Amy: "What was it?"
Doctor 11: "The end of the universe." [the Matt Smith Doctor, from Flesh and Stone episode. He's saying how he wasn't killed by the weeping angels.]

aaaaand...

1. Doctor 10: "Don't blink. Blink and you're dead. Don't turn your back. Don't look away. And don't blink. Good Luck. " [Ahhh! From the Blink episode!]

Yes, its mostly Doctor Who. But that's what I've been mostly watching the past two weeks. haha. Its my new favorite show, as I've already said.

Doctor Who

2010-05-01T19:17:00.002-05:00

Yaaay. I have a new favorite show. Doctor Who. And sort of Torchwood, the spinoff. I love BBC America shows. They had Robin Hood, Doctor Who, Cash in the Attic [haha], Skins [though that was more of Kate's show but I still watched it], Torchwood, AND they show Star Trek: The Next Generation reruns! And they also had the Brit version of Whose Line. Which was always funnier. :P

Anyway. Doctor Who. It all started.... last Saturday? Possibly the Saturday before that. I was bored, and thought I'd watch Doctor Who just to see what it was all about. I started with the revamped series, with the 9th Doctor. See, instead of dying, the doctor regenerates. :D So, the 9th was my "first" Doctor. Christopher Eccleston. He was instantly my favorite just on "first" doctor loyalty grounds. I wished his contract had been for more than a year because I thought he was a great doctor. He loved to say fantastic. Since I watched an entire season in about a week, I've kind of picked up the habit of saying fantastic with a British accent in my head.
My "second" doctor was David Tennant. I'd seen bits and pieces of Tennant's 10th doctor on BBC America from time to time [before we didn't have that channel any more... sad!] but never really got interested. I liked him this time around. I was so mad at what he did to Rose at the end though. And then I was sad for him. And his last line, "I don't want to go," almost made me tear up. I loved all of his babbling. He loved to say allonsy. I believe its French for "lets go." He was so excited when he found someone named Alonso so he could say "allonsy Alonso!" If I ever find someone named Alonso, I think I'll do the same. hahaha.
My "third" doctor is the current one. The newest season ["series 5"] started on BBC1 in the UK on Easter this year. Matt Smith is the 11th doctor, the youngest ever actor at 27 to play the Doctor. I think he's going to end up being my favorite. He has the right blend of quirk and genius and he can rock a bow tie and suspenders. :P He's the only person I have ever seen to make a bow tie B.A. haha. I saw on a Doctor Who messageboard that a fan said he was "strangely attractive." She was right. He isn't really my type, but I find myself strangely attracted to him. A lot. :P haha. He reminds me of a blend of the Chamber of Secrets' Tom Riddle and a youngyoungyoung Patrick Swayze. With really great hair. And his accent is fantastic. :D Oh, he also has a new sonic screwdriver.

Just like Star Trek has phasers, Robin Hood has a bow and arrow, and Blues Clues has the handy dandy notebook.... Doctor Who has his sonic screwdriver. :P It isn't really a weapon, but it can do pretty much anything. I love it.

By the way... this series is HILARIOUS. Apparently it was made to be targeted at kids, specifically to scare the crap out of kids. haha. But I love it. And lots of other adults love it. And even if they didn't... I'd still love it. :P

Captain Jack: Who has a sonic screwdriver?
Doctor 9: I DO!
Captain Jack: Who looks at a SCREWDRIVER and thinks oh, this could be a little more sonic!
Doctor9: What, you've never been bored? Never had a lot of cabinets to put up?

New Weekly Exercise Plan!

2010-04-18T21:17:00.002-05:00

Woo. Excitement.
Not really.
But it's good for me, and once I actually start exercising I love all the endorphins and schtuff. Yay runner's highs! haha.

So. I'm just going to have a set thing to do each day of the week.

MONDAY: Wake up. Stretch. Go a mile on the treadmill after getting back home from feeding.

TUESDAY: Wake up. Stretch. Find a random 10 minute cardio workout online.

WEDNESDAY: Wake up. Stretch. [see a trend here? I want my splits back!] Go a mile on the treadmill after getting back home from feeding/teaching Phoebe.

THURSDAY: Wake up. Stretch. Find a different 10 minute cardio workout online.

FRIDAY: Wake up. Stretch. Stretch some more. Friday is super stretching day. Then do some lunges and planks.

SATURDAY: Wake up. Stretch. Clean my room/car out. Play around with my dad's exercise equipment. Ride. Practice our teen talent dance.

SUNDAY: Wake up. Stretch. Drama/Dance practice shall be my workout.

I am going to have to kick myself to do this every morning. But if I don't do it right when I wake up, then I'll never find the time to do it. I can't exercise at night either, because then I'd never be able to get to sleep. And besides, I feel better afterwords. I'm going to try my darndest to not skip a SINGLE day for at least three weeks. After the second week, everything is easier. After the third week, its a habit. So yeah. The fourth week will be my reward because it will just seem normal then.

Favorite Pastor Quotes

2010-04-16T12:17:00.006-05:00

haha. So, I listen to several different pastors via their itunes podcasts. My favorite pastors ever are Mark Gungor and Steven Furtick. Sadly, I would have to go to Greenbay, Wisconsin to listen to Gungor and Charlotte, South Carolina to listen to Furtick. Praise the Lord for technology. Both of these pastors have multi-campus churches that are just amazing. Well, from what I've heard of the sermons they are amazing. I actually discovered Mark Gungor because my mom thought he was hilarious on the Jim Bakker show one day. I discovered Steven Furtick when I heard him speak in person at our 2009 IPHC Youth Convention in Greensboro, NC.
So, I compile some of my favorite quotes if I'm listening while on my laptop. And I thought some should be shared. :-)

Saying that religion is a matter of personal preference stops when a guy that was lame gets up and walks! Because it wasn’t his preference that got him up off that cripple bed. Saying that religion is a matter of personal preference stops when a man walks out of a grave. - Pastor J.D. Greear

We’re not saying that we are smarter. We know that you guys have got more degrees on your wall than a thermometer. We’re just saying that a guy got out of a grave! And no offense, when a guy gets out of the grave we feel like he gets to make the rules. - Pastor J.D. Greear [He's paraphrasing what Peter said to the Pharisees.]

The gospel, when interpreted correctly, leads not to exclusion and arrogance, but to inclusion, and humility, and radically pouring out yourself for others. - Pastor J.D. Greear

Scattered, awkward applause. I love it. It means I’m preaching good. Shoot, I’ll be preaching if you all walk out on me! - Steven Furtick.

Sacrifice is about giving up something good, for something BETTER that God has for you. - Holly Furtick

We know about Solomon - that he was the wisest man that ever lived. And, um, we also know that he had over 700 wives. Which also qualifies him as the dumbest man who ever lived. - Steven Furtick.

Women like to get flowers. But they LOVE to get flowers in front of other women. - Steven Furtick. [hah! So true. :P]

Cats aren’t even animals. They are demons in an animal form. So, she’s petting a demon…. - Steven Furtick

If you brought your grandmother to church today, I am so sorry. I will refund your tithe. - Furtick.

Some of you are thinking, “I don’t want to let him get away with it.” You don’t let him get away with it. You sic God on him! - Furtick. [talking about forgiving people.]

You’re going to see church after church after church. Methodists, Baptists, Pentecostals, all coming to the same table. And the Baptists are eating all the food and the Methodists organized it all and the Pentecostals kicked the table over and ran a lap. - Furtick. [talking about Heaven, I believe.]

Smokin’ won’t send ya to hell, but it’ll sure make ya smell like ya been there. - Furtick.

I’m more concerned about connecting with lost people for the sake of the Gospel than coddling Christians for the sake of their preferences. - Furtick. [agreed!]

So, I won't overload you with a million quotes, these are just some of the ones I already had written down. :)

New Goals.

2010-04-16T11:38:00.003-05:00

So, since awhile back Jason said that he was going to start being more disciplined in his life, I figured it would be a good idea for me to start as well. After all, if he can do it, surely I can too! :P Because I realize that I have had very little discipline lately. Ugh. And it is going to be tough, but if I make a blog post about it, and annoy several people on twitter with it, I think I'll be able to keep up with it. Well, at least I'll have more accountability than if I just wrote it in my diary. Because I do have a diary. Its a pretty diary. Handmade leather, with a very artistic horse sketch on it, in fact. But I digress... I just started listing these things as they came to me. These are all things that I used to actually do at some point or another, but I only did them one or two at a time. The ultimate test will be to combine all of these things into an organized life of awesome discipline-ness. And it will all start on Saturday, because tonight I must stay up late to watch Jimmy Fallon since Straight No Chaser is his musical guest. :-)

I will have some sort of devotional every single morning. Every morning. And if I will not be sleeping in my own bed, then I will do two devotionals the day before or after. I have neglected my prayer journal and feel really bad about it.
I actually need to fall asleep by 11:00. Not just be in bed with a book. If I have to use Tylenol pm for a week straight to get on a schedule, I will. Because I need to be up and out of bed by 7:30. Every morning. So maybe get in bed by 10:15 every night. That's probably good.
I will designate Saturday as my car and room cleaning days. Car cleaning will involve windex and possibly a hand held vacuum. Room cleaning will involve making sure that I can actually see my carpet. Seriously, I SWEAR I only put one book on the floor, then it multiplies to five in the night. My books and papers that end up on the floor transform into tribbles in the night.
I will check my email only three times per day, maximum. In the morning, around lunchtime, and before I start getting ready for bed.
Same goes for facebook. Oh, the horrors.
Exercise: I will make an exercise calendar. And keep to it this time. Really. My cardio is horrible, and I almost have a lung collapse every time I run out to grab a horse from turnout. My next blog post will be said exercise calendar.
I will do what I say, and only say what I will be able to do. I'm horrible at not being able to say no. I feel guilty denying people. But then I can't do it, so that's worse than saying no.
I will pretend like I do not have a debit card in my wallet at all times, unless I have planned to buy something in advance. Starbucks is ONLY for when I have a gift card. Sonic is ONLY for when I have cash. End of story. And no buying anything until I write my tithe check either.
And lastly, I must make a conscious effort to be more friendly and keep up with those friends. Just because I am an introvert doesn't mean I can forget that I do have to actually interact with people. I have the worst habit of forgetting about people that I shouldn't, and tend to go a month or more without replying to an email or message. Ugh.

Actually, that was not the last. The very last is keeping up with my blog so I can inform my... 3+ readers of my progress. I give you all the right to comment on my posts to call me out if you think I'm slipping. Yes, even Jason, even though he just made fun of me on his blog. :P haha. Oh, and if you want to read an awesome creative writing assignment I did on the topic of wisdom, scroll down some. I even quote Spock and Captain Picard in it. I think it is the best paper on wisdom ever. [Should being humble be in my list? hmm... naah. ;) ]

Wisdom from the Bible, Plato, and Spock

2010-04-15T20:38:00.002-05:00

So. I wrote a paper today on wisdom. It is around 750-ish words. I think it is pretty awesome because I quote the Bible, Plato, Norman Cousins [whoever that is!], CAPTAIN PICARD, and SPOCK. I adore Jean-Luc Picard, Spock, Data, Riker, Bones, and James T. Kirk. It delighted me to no end that I could have quotes from characters from The Original Series AND The Next Generation.

Someone help me. As in my tweet earlier... #nerdalert! Haha. I also used the #bestpaperever hashtag. :D Which makes me even more of a nerd, I think. Anyway... here is the paper!

Wisdom is regarded as a positive and even ideal trait to have by most people. It can be used or ignored in every situation. When someone makes a bad decision, their friends or parents often tell them that it wasn't very wise. Many people spend years trying to gain wisdom, and others seem to be born with it. The many writings and quotes on wisdom show us how valuable it has been to societies for many years. Well known writers, philosophers, and religious experts have all had sayings or phrases about wisdom attributed to them. Plato wrote that, "Wise men talk because they have something to say, fools talk because they must say something."

Religion has been a major part of wisdom's background. In Christianity, the Bible story of King Solomon asking for wisdom is one of the more well known mentions of the subject. Many people say that he was the wisest man on Earth. King Solomon was believed to have written most of the book of Proverbs. The great saying, "A soft answer turneth away wrath, but grievous words stir up anger," can be found in Proverbs 15:1. Books upon books can be found on the subject of wisdom. My mother owns one entitled Wisdom for the Way: Wise Words for the Busy Soul by Charles Swindoll. It is a fairly new book that was published in 2002, but it contains older excerpts from the Bible to strengthen its claims. It quotes from the New Testament as well as the Old Testament, showing that wisdom is deeply rooted in the foundations of Christianity.

Other religions such as Islam and Buddhism greatly value wisdom. The Qur'an states that wisdom is one of the best gifts that humans can have, and that Allah gives wisdom to who he will. In Buddhism, wisdom is described as a person who has good bodily, verbal, and mental conduct. Taoism describes wisdom as knowing when the right time is to say the right things.

The opposite of wisdom is acting stupidly. Wisdom is not foolishness. People who are wise do not make decisions without thinking and discerning which course of action is appropriate. It is never wise to make rash decisions. Some people call this going off half-cocked, especially when you are angry. There are even rare situations where it is not wise to obey an authority figure. In Star Trek: The Next Generation Captain Picard once said, "There are times, sir, when men of good conscience cannot blindly follow orders." In that situation, Picard had been ordered to forcefully displace a whole race of people from their planet similar to when the American Indians had been forced on the Trail of Tears.

The more people that you ask, the more definitions you will hear about wisdom. While they might not all be correct, wisdom has many different facets. Another word for it could be discernment. Wisdom is being faced with a decision, and discerning which is the best course of action based on the choices you have in front of you. I also agree with Norman Cousins, who said, "Wisdom consists of the anticipation of consequences." If you know that the consequence of speeding in your car is potentially crashing or getting pulled over by a cop, then you should use wisdom and drive the speed limit. Wisdom, for Christians, is also about our morals. It could be defined as making decisions that line up with our moral convictions. It is also defined as putting your knowledge to use. As Spock said in Star Trek VI, "Logic is the beginning of wisdom, not the end."

I use wisdom in my everyday life, especially while I'm working. My job is teaching people, especially younger kids, to ride horses. I have to use wisdom to keep my students safe. For example, it is wise if I use mellow, well-trained school horses for my beginner riders, especially the smaller ones. It is also wise to require my students to wear helmets and teach them safety precautions. Another every day, simple way to use wisdom is getting dressed after watching the weather report. If it is cold and snowy outside, it is wise to wear a heavy coat and several layers of clothing to keep warm. Likewise, if it is rainy it is wise to wear a raincoat or carry an umbrella. From ancient history to modern times, and even into the imagined future, wisdom is an ideal trait to have and we should all be constantly striving for it.

"I Did Lots of Things My Parents Didn't Know About...."

2010-03-10T17:00:00.004-06:00

Haha. Hi, all. Yes, it's been awhile. But I believe the readers of this blog only look about once a month anyway, so I probably could have posted this two weeks from now and it wouldn't have made a difference. Anyway.
I was just thinking back to one of my favorite conversations with my parents this winter. We had been snowed in for a day and a half, and when we finally went outside, it was for dad and I to take brooms to the tops of the cars and uncover them from about 6 inches of snow. And we also had to spend a good 30 minutes defrosting/de-icing the windshields.
When that was done, dad wanted to "see what the roads were like." He just randomly likes to go on drives. He's a big fan of "seeing where the roads will take him." So, while we were out on this little drive [he had me behind the wheel because he didn't feel like going to get his wallet/license] he asks me, "Do you have any experience getting out of skids?"
My immediate reaction could be summed up like this: "??????"
So I said, "Where would I practice getting out of skids? I know you steer into them. I fishtail and get into skids on purpose on the four-wheeler. Does that count?"
"Yeah, as long as you know what it feels like you have an advantage." So he was happy with that. But I just had to know something.
"Seriously, what did you think my answer would be?"
His answer to that question? "Well, I did lots of things my parents didn't know about. We used to to donuts in my truck when I was a kid." Uh-huh. Because that would go over REAL well with him. [Listen, dad. I know you want me to be safe on the roads when they're icy, so I got in some practice just messing around in my car in that abandoned parking lot over there! We did donuts, then we hit the open road to go drifting! Aren't you proud of me? Oh, wait... was this part of the stuff that you DIDN'T want to know about?]
Anyways... just thought I'd share a funny little convo with my dad with you all. haha. Personally, I think part of that conversation was just daring me to go do something dangerous on an empty patch of pavement, but maybe that's just me....

Potter, you rotter.

2010-02-09T21:27:00.004-06:00

haha. I was bored. So I decided to pick out one of my favorite quotes from each Harry Potter book. I'll actually start that in a second, but I thought that these three quotes deserve good mention outside of my list:
"Oh, Potter, you rotter, oh, what have you done, You're killing off students, you think it's good fun." - Peeves
"Of course I know Dumbledore, who doesn't know Dumbledore?" - Mrs. Figg
"I am a wizard, not a baboon brandishing a stick." - Professor Flitwick
haha. Okay. Here we go!

Philosopher's Stone.
"There are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them (Chapter 10)"

Chamber of Secrets
"Now, Harry you must know all about Muggles, tell me, what exactly is the function of a rubber duck? " - Arthur Weasley [yes.. I got a rubber duck quote from the whole book.]

Prisoner of Azkaban
"You look in excellent health to me, Potter, so you will excuse me if I don't let you off homework today. I assure you that if you die, you need not hand it in." - McGonagall
AND. " Harry and Ron both made furious moves toward Malfoy, but Hermione got there first--SMACK! She had slapped Malfoy across the face with all the strength she could muster. "

Goblet of Fire
"Colin, I fell in!" he [Dennis Creevey] said shrilly, throwing himself into an empty seat. "It was brilliant! And something in the water grabbed me and pushed me back in the boat!"
"Cool!" said Colin, just as excitedly. "It was probably the giant squid, Dennis!"
"Wow!" said Dennis, as though nobody in their wildest dreams could hope for more than being thrown into a storm-tossed, fathoms-deep lake, and pushed out of it again by a giant sea monster. "

Order of the Phoenix
"A week after Fred and George's departure, Harry witnessed Professor McGonagall walking right past Peeves, who was determinedly loosening a crystal chandelier, and could have sworn he heard her tell the poltergeist out of the corner of her mouth, "It unscrews the other way." "
AND.. "(After Lupin goes through a list of all the things they've done to discredit Dumbledore) "But Dumbledore says he doesn't care what they do as long as they don't take him off the Chocolate Frog Cards," said Bill, grinning. "
And since this is my favorite book as well as movie, I must add this favorite movie quote: "I'm sorry Professor, I must not tell lies." - Harry Potter!

Half-Blood Prince
"And that's Smith of Hufflepuff with the Quaffle," said a dreamy voice, echoing over the grounds. "He did the commentary last time, of course, and Ginny Weasley flew into him, I think probably on purpose, it looked like it. Smith was being quite rude about Gryffindor, I expect he regrets that now he's playing them - oh, look, he's lost the Quaffle. Ginny took it from him. I do like her, she's very nice..." -Luna Lovegood

Deathly Hallows
"Somewhere in the distance they could hear Peeves zooming through the corridors singing a victory song of his own composition:

We did it, we bashed them, wee Potter’s the one, And Voldy’s gone moldy, so now let’s have fun!
“Really gives a feeling for the scope and tragedy of the thing, doesn’t it?” said Ron. "

Woo! :D haha.

At Dawn

2009-12-28T16:39:00.003-06:00

So, I lived up to my blog's name Thursday. Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve morning, actually.
My alarm went off at 5:30.
I left the house by 6:15.
I arrived at the barn some 7-9 minutes later.
I got to drive the truck. That was fun. :-) It was cold and wet and rainy and very very windy. It was pretty much the front end of the storm that brought the sleet and eventually snow through Tulsa.
It was before the sun came up. Actually, the sun didn't really come up until a few moments before I left the barn at 7:30.
Why would I wake up at 5:30 am on Christmas Eve to get out in that horrid weather by myself in the dark, you ask? [Or maybe not. Maybe I'm just hoping. Or maybe you're a person of average intelligence that has read some of my blog before, or you know me, and you already surmised my reasoning.]
I went to ride my beast. I had just gotten into a good habit of riding at least 5-6 days a week, and I didn't want to lose too many days when I went to Missouri for Christmas. And we had to leave the house before noon [so we wouldn't get stuck in Tulsa with all this LOVELY weather! (/sarcasm)]. I also wanted to get it over with before the temperature dropped. It was supposed to drop from low 40's to low 30's and below at 7:00. But I think it waited until 8:00. Which was just as well, because I spent 30 minutes longer than I meant to at the barn since I didn't get to the barn right at 6, as I had planned.

So, there I was, out in the dark at the barn with the wind howling. I jumped Koda in the indoor. Obviously, we had to go to the indoor so that we wouldn't get soaked through in the awful rain. He was a brat at first, mainly because [okay, this is a guess here. but I'd like to think that I know my horse well enough to say this] the weather was freaking him out when it made the doors creak on their hinges and the rain pound against the roof and walls. I was a little creeped by it too, just because it was dark out, but I locked us into the indoor and once we started trotting I was much more comfortable with the whole alone-in-the-beginning-of-a-storm-in-a-metal-structure-in-the-dark scenario.
Well, it wasn't completely dark. There were lights inside. But outside it was still dark, so you get my drift.

Anyway... we jumped. A lot. It was fun. :-) Once he got his manners back. We jumped pretty high too. About 3'2. Though the third time I had to get off to put the pole back up I remembered why I usually don't jump that high without Kim. But we got it. He was good about it. We did lots of tight turns with three jumps set up in the indoor. :)
And so, add in 4 hours of travel, several hours of watching REAL TV channels [not just the basic channels we have at home], and insisting to my Grandpa Pat several times that no, I wasn't freezing without socks on and that in fact, I was a bit warm all over, and there was my entire Christmas Eve.

NaNoWriMo on fictionpress.com!

2009-11-04T11:34:00.002-06:00

So, my NaNoWriMo story is on my fictionpress account... here: http://www.fictionpress.com/s/2737067/1/California_Widow

So far I have written exactly 5,280 words. In case you're wondering, that is the amount of feet there are in a mile! I learned that because my math teacher taught us to say "five two-mate-ohs" in a mile. Five tomatoes! Isn't that clever?
Haha. Wow. I needed more than seven hours of sleep last night, obviously. Well.. I must get back to my homework so I have time for my daily 1,667 or more NaNo words today!
And I'm glad that the very few who read my very short excerpt seemed to like it! So you can go check out my fictionpress. haha.
Tina

NaNoWriMo Excerpt.

2009-11-01T19:37:00.002-06:00

Ahh.. the first day of NaNoWriMo!
Daily word count: 2,723!

So... Here's an excerpt from my prologue.... in case anyone out there is actually interested:

The rainy New England day fit Lacey Jefferson's mood perfectly. Her husband Jonah was about ready to join the wagon train to California. He wanted to work the mines! She ran her hands through her long blonde hair before wrestling it into Jonah's favorite up do. Lacey looked at herself in the mirror, hardly believing that she was already twenty four years old. Twenty four, and about to become a California widow. That's what they were calling the women these days, wasn't it? When their husbands would run off to chase the gold, these women were left alone as if they were widows. Widows because of California and that darn gold rush. Lacey was quite happy with their station in life, and couldn't understand why Jonah had to leave them to make it better. She could only hope she wouldn't become a widow in the true sense of the word before she and Jonah were both at a ripe old age. In their mid eighties, at least!

That is the first paragraph of the prologue!
Does it have anyone intrigued? It shouldn't give away too much, but should hook the reader's attention right away! I'm very picky about my beginnings. :)

Tina

More NaNoWriMo Goodness.

2009-10-30T23:27:00.002-05:00

So. At the moment I have a headache and should be sleeping, but I have to write this out or I shall a-splode. :) I've decided that the more I talk about NaNoWriMo the more I will be guilted into completing my daily word count [which is 1200, by the way!] because I know ALL of you will be disappointed if I don't. [And I know all of you means about 5 people who probably don't really care if I can write 50,000 in a month, but I'm convincing myself that I'll be seriously letting down about 100 of you!] Plus, the shame and humiliation of letting the project die off after a week or two, AFTER having said all of this about my excitement, should keep me on the right track. :)

Anyway. I've decided to bare my writer's soul to the world and share what my novel will be about. I'm extremely sensitive about letting people I actually KNOW [as opposed to the anonymous people on, say, fictionpress.com] see my fiction works... But if I'm going to attempt to get my finished product out in the world I might as well start with a tentative working title and synopsis, yes?

Working Title: California Widow.
Intrigued, are you? Good. haha. This working title chose itself. I did not. If you don't get it, you probably never will. I wasn't even sure I actually liked the phrase.. if you can call it that.. especially for a title. But those two darned words just would NOT go away. They wouldn't let me think of any other title, so ta-da! Zee title eez here!

Synopsis:
Lacey Jefferson was a widow. But she wasn't just any widow. They called her a California Widow, because her husband was off on the other side of the country, caught up in the gold rush. It was Jonah Jefferson's plan to make himself a modest fortune so that he could better care for his wife and daughter. What Lacey didn't know was that her California widowhood turned into true widowhood a year ago. When she decides to hitch a wagon ride west with her daughter Becky to go find Jonah, what will she find instead?

If you're thinking it sounds like a historical romance novel... then you would be correct. haha. I'm going to attempt to make it as non-cheesy as I possibly can. Because I love a good romance novel that manages to be as non-cliche'd as possible. And cheesy & cliche' usually go hand in hand with these things. :P

So.. even though I haven't gotten ANY feedback on my blog AT ALL for the past... 3-5 posts... tell me what you think! ..or not.
Tina

The Perfect Morning

2009-10-29T09:33:00.002-05:00

I had to kick myself out of bed this morning, and it took until AFTER I already got to the barn at 7:45 for my contacts to settle and me to see completely clear. However, I still managed to get tacked up on time and almost completely warmed up before Kim came down from the house. I had opened up the indoor arena and turned the lights on, but Kim asked me if I was ready to jump. I jumped at the chance [pun intended... which makes it not as cool, but oh well] and we went outside. It was pretty much just misting at this point. I finished my warm-up by cantering in the big arena.

Side note: I LOVELOVELOVE Koda's canter after the Lurena Bell clinic. I'll have to post once or twice about that. It was this past weekend.

So, we did a tiny bit of gridwork in the dressage arena to get both Koda and me thinking about jumping. Then we went down to the stadium. It started raining a little bit harder, almost a legitimate rain at that point. Koda momentarily freaked out about a new log, which was out of character, but we jumped it without an issue. We also jumped the barrels, the bullseye, white picket fence, tires, coop, rolltop, brick wall, polkadot panel, and the other white panel as well as the double. Yesh.
My boy's still got it. :)
Kim was pleasantly surprised and impressed. An exact quote: "this is the type of thoroughbred you want." She was referring to the fact that Koda picked up almost everything immediately after about 10 months off. The footing was kind of iffy. Once when I asked for a lead change I felt him try, but he didn't and Kim and I both suspected it was because of the footing. It was kind of slick since it was, you know, raining. It was definitely a legitimate rainfall by the time we were done. Kim was huddled up in her jacket, hood over her head. haha. I was in a long-sleeved t-shirt thats about two sizes too big and a pair of summer breeches. It was great.

Pretty much the SECOND we walked under the roof of the barn, the downpour started. I mean... the heavens opened up and it rained BUCKETS. So I put bigeloil on Koda's legs, took a picture of the funny looking dry spot on his back where the saddle had been, cleaned his crib collar, and put him up. I had to close the indoor, then went to starbucks.

When I got to starbucks in Target, the barista waved at me. haha. After he was done with the guy's drink in front of me, he just started making my drink without saying a word. :) I didn't even have to clarify what size I wanted. :P Which the last few times he asked just to confirm.
Then the two guys that are always sitting in the round table next to the counter started talking to me. The first time it was a comment on my breeches: "So, you ride horses? Do you do that jumping thing?" The second time it was on a rainy day: "Isn't it a bit too wet to ride today?" My response was, "Oh, we have an indoor arena." "Oh, that's nice."

Today I walked in, my front was soaked from riding, and I'm sure I looked a fright with my hair all plastered to my head and no make up on, but I didn't really care. I'm still happy at how great Koda did! My long-sleeved t-shirt was plain grey, so it was really easy to see the wet spot that pretty much took over my whole shirt. And the front of my breeches were dark with water too. As Lee [the barista that knows my order by memory now] started making my drink, one of the guys goes,
"So, what happened to that indoor arena?" I laughed.
"I didn't feel like riding in it today."
The other guy speaks up, "I was gonna say... that must have been one big leak in the roof."
I laughed. "I felt like jumping today, and all my jumps were outside."
"Does your horse ever get a break?"
"I try to ride six days a week. So he gets one day off. Plus we're getting ready for a show next weekend so I'm trying to ride as much as possible."
"Wow, working people at least usually get two days off," said the first guy.
"Where is the show gonna be, the fairgrounds?" asked the second.
I laughed at the working people comment. "Its going to be out in, um, Okeemah." I always forget what its called where Doug lives.
"I thought there were only rodeos up in those parts."
"My trainer married a cowboy that lives up there, and bought some land next to his. So we're probably the only english spot for quite a few miles."
"I bet."

For some reason, that conversation made me smile a lot. haha. It was just amusing to have that convo while I was waiting for my drink - that I didn't have to order - while I was standing there soaked. And the funny thing is that these guys look like they're in their thirties. Shouldn't they be at work? But I guess some people would say I should be in school, so... whatever. :P haha.

Tina

NaNoWriMo!

2009-10-29T00:22:00.002-05:00

What, you ask, is NaNoWriMo?
It is the abbreviation for National Novel Writing Month. During NaNoWriMo [and if you want to make it EVEN shorter... NaNo] the main goal is simple: to write one 50,000-word novel from scratch in a month's time. Of course... this means no editing, no back-spacing, no re-reading or correcting. The only thing that matters is quantity, not quality.

My inner perfectionist is going to get whacked over the head with my laptop. But this is a good thing! Haha.

I already have my novel idea [haha, pun not intended... until I realized what a great pun I'd just made!] set up, and my pre-writing is pretty much done. On http://nanowrimo.org my username is dappleddakota [obviously]. Right now I'm trying to come up with a plausible way to actually show up in person at one of the write-ins that's going to happen in Tulsa. I know of one that will happen exactly 11 minutes from my house [I mapquested the location!] on a day of the week that I could potentially attend.. But would my parents go for it? I'm not sure.

One thing is for sure... I must also keep up with my schoolwork! That will be the challange. Anyone interested in doing this with me??

I'm going to expect to have one craptastic nanonovel by the last day of November... I wonder how long it will take me to edit?

Tina

Mandibular Hypoplasia, Pt I

2009-10-16T18:12:00.003-05:00

So. This is a little story about a condition called mandibular hypoplasia. We'll call it MH. When I was a tiny girl, I had a normal face. At one point, both of my jaws were growing together in harmony. Then something happened. My lower jaw [the mandible] got tired and stopped growing. However, my upper jaw was still going strong. When my upper jaw stopped growing, my bite was still off and there was a huge gap between my front upper teeth and my front lower teeth. Unfortunately, my orthodontist could do nothing about it. My teeth were as fixed as they were going to get with braces.

I had to have surgery.

It took seven months to get the surgery scheduled. In this story, the insurance company is the bad guy [booo!]. Anyway, after getting denied several times we just said oh well and did the surgery anyway. So, we went to the hospital at 5:30 in the morning. I changed into that weird paper gown and nearly froze to death while waiting to be pushed to the operating room.
At this point, MH began to get very scared. He wasn't going to last much longer!
The first anesthesiologist [haha! SCORE! Spelled that right on the first try..] was kind of odd. She asked me the same questions I'd already been asked at least two times that morning [is my name spelled correctly on my arm band? is my birth date correct on my arm band? had I eaten anything past midnight? had anything to drink past midnight? had I ever had a known reaction to anesthetic? was I allergic to any medicines? was I currently taking a daily medicine? do I know what surgery I'm going in for? etc, etc, etc.]

A different nurse came in to start my IV. My mom had to leave the room while she was sticking me. It actually wasn't bad at all. She found a vein, gave me a shot to numb the area, and I hardly felt a pinch at all. Though the saline solution they ran through my veins made me even colder for a bit.
This nurse repeated the questions the first lady had asked. Then she left.
Finally, my surgeon showed up, as well as a very pretty anesthesiologist. I bet she wasn't any older than 26-27. They repeated the questions AGAIN [what is this, now? 5 times?] and had to make an addition to the paperwork to state that they were going to, indeed, take out my upper wisdom teeth as well. [Double whammy! My lower wisdom teeth were taken out over a year ago.]

My surgeon is a very nice man. He's a great Christian and very nice. However, at that moment, while I was laying on the little gurney bed trying not to freeze or have a nervous breakdown [I wasn't scared of the surgery. I was nervous about waking up after the surgery. Pssh. Who cares what they do to me while I'm passed out under anesthetic?!] I wasn't too fond of my very nice, smiling surgeon.

And the pretty anesthesiologist made me spray nasal saline solution up my nose, which choked me when it went down my throat. [And believe me, if I'm bothered by a nasal spray, its bad. I used to take a nasal spray daily for my allergies.] But she apologised. So I forgave her.
Then they stole my glasses so I couldn't see, gave them to my parents, and wheeled me down to the operating room.
Next installment coming soon. :) haha. I know y'all are just waiting on the edges of your seats!
Tina

RIP Christina Lester

2009-10-15T12:34:00.003-05:00

I realized that in my lack of posting-ness... I didn't make a post about Christina. She was a 13 year old girl that I used to ride with. I rode her horse Ed many times when he was still on school horse board. I was the first person at the barn to talk to her mom, besides Kim. Christina passed away along with both of her parents and her 16 year old sister in a private plane crash. It was very sad, and happened a little over a month ago. It was the first time a lot of the littler girls at the barn had to deal with a death of a person so close to them.

However, they were strong believers in Christ, so I know they are all in heaven. :) Which makes it not so sad. When I went to the funeral with the rest of the Southern Hills gang, they had two whole pew rows reserved for us in the main sanctuary. Apparently, people filled the main sanctuary, balcony, gym, and many classrooms of the school attached to the church. It was a funeral times four, which was hard. I think the hardest part was seeing those four caskets, and seeing Christina's helmet on top of hers.

During the funeral I realized that I knew Christina's brother from my freshman year at Metro. He sat beside me in spanish class. I met Christina two years after that, though, so I never made the connection.
Anyway... I made a video for Christina several days after I heard about the plane crash. The day I learned about it there was a meeting out at the barn and we had a big hug/cry/groom Ed/planting flowers for Christina/signing a posterboard for Christina session. The older girls were hugging and comforting the younger girls. It was pretty tough. But Kim's youngest daughter, Nicole, was the one that asked me if I could make a video. So I give her the credit for the idea. Every time I hear this song on the radio now, I think of Christina and my eyes get kind of misty. But I know she is in heaven now. :) So it isn't too sad.
Anyway. An update from the big void in space and time when I wasn't updating my blog at all.

Tina

Way Too Long!

2009-10-15T12:28:00.003-05:00

Gah! It's been way too long since I've had a blog post! I need to start doing these more often again.. My life has been SO busy lately. I had jaw surgery. I suppose I could do a series of blog posts on my surgery. They would be interesting to look back on. Maybe I'll do that over the next few weeks. Anyway. This is a sad, short little post. I'll probably make a few more today or in the next few days to make up for not posting. Tina

My BEAST!

2009-08-26T08:14:00.002-05:00

Lookitlookitlookit my BEAST! He's better again! Mostly. haha. He has a wound that he got several months ago that is still scabbing over & breaking open & scabbing over again. But I can live with that, and in the meantime, we can walk, trot AND CANTER! Awesomeness. We went and hacked out with Kimberly & Chase behind the barn property, on Target's property. haha. It was FANTASTIC! And very freeing. I got this huge rush of adrenaline and we weren't even cantering that fast, cause Kimby was working on her poppy stadium canter. haha. We were just special and extremely heavy on the forehand, but I didn't really care. I had all the boots I owned on Koda, splint boots & bell boots, just as a precaution. haha. I love the sound that bell boots make slapping against hooves! It's great.

So yeah. Anyway. About every three days the scab peels off and a new one forms again. So every three days I have to put my pink lady wound care stuff on it. Using my new purple latex gloves. haha. I feel special when I use them. Although they're from a bag, not a box, which is really, really annoying. haha. I am a lazy bum! But that's okay. I'm thinking next month the scab will be totally gone, and we can start jumping. w00t!!!! :D

Tina

#B90x

2009-08-06T10:53:00.004-05:00

So. B90x. If you follow me on twitter, you've probably heard that I'm taking on B90x. It stands for "Bible in 90 days." I'm going to read the Bible in 90 days. I've actually just finished my day 4 reading, which was the end of Genesis. Tomorrow I start Exodus!
The reason I've started this, is because I saw that on Pastor Steven Furtick's twitter, he challanged himself and his staff to do this plan.

“B90X is a revolutionary system of intense, truth-absorbing, brain-busting Bible reading that will transform your understanding of Scripture from intro to nitro in just 90 days! Your personal trainer, Ruach “The Breath” Yahweh, will drag you through the most intense infusion of His vision that you have ever experienced and you won’t believe the results!”

I've decided... I'm going to actually finish it. haha. I've started reading the Bible all the way through, but I usually forget or lag behind by the fifth day. However, this thing is so intense there is no way I could ever forget it. Plus, on twitter, with the hashtag #B90x, I'm always reminded. And I write two days worth of scripture-reading deadlines on my full-length mirror with a dry-erase marker.

Here's the PDF file that is on Elevation Church's website that keeps me on track.

I'm bracing myself for some awesome Bible reading & revelation here. :) I'm also determined to not need the "grace days" that have been stuck at the end of the schedule, in case you miss a day or two. Nope. Not for me. ^_^

So... I'm in it to win it. And the fun thing is... everybody wins! Even if you only make it a third of the way, or halfway, or three-fourths of the way through... hey... You've just read that much more of the Bible, right? How about you? Are you in? Heck, if someone I actually know [not just random twitterers, which is awesome, but I don't really know them. haha.] does it with me, we'd both be just that much more accountable & able to finish the whole thing. But even if no one else does it, I'm committed to this thing! I might update on my readings weekly or something. Like on Sundays. That sounds like a good plan. :)

Till next post, God bless!
Tina.

I'm Not Normal. [I Hope You Aren't Either.]

2009-08-03T11:20:00.002-05:00

Haha. How's that for a title. Anyways.... Ever since I got back from my 8 day trip with my youth group to North Carolina, I've been listening to Pastor Steven Furtick's sermons online. [www.stevenfurtick.com, click on the "watch sermons online" button.] Furtick was the speaker for our first evening service. And besides being very easy on the eyes [all the females in the audience were having to concentrate very carefully on the message & God, and NOT bemoaning the fact that he was married with 2 children.] he had a GREAT sermon. :)
I also found him on twitter. I favorited this tweet: "Now that was fun. I might never preach to non Pentecostals again. They screamed for me to keep preaching about 40 mins into the msg."
Yeahh buddy. :P Wow. I just stole that from Courtney. I will never do that again. Sorry Courtney, I love ya, but... I don't need another "dude" situation on my hands. [I love you too, Kate. ^_^]
Anyway. Besides the fact that PH kids are some of the most fun kids around [myself included], Furtick's sermon really was good enough that I wish he had kept going a little bit longer. It was on throwing Jonah out of your boat. You know, the sailors would have died if they hadn't eventually thrown Jonah out of their boat. So whether what's keeping you in the storm is a habit, secret, or relationship, you need to throw it out and give it to God. Yadda yadda yadda. It actually was pretty awesome. But I digress.

I've been listening to several more of his regular Sunday morning sermons. My favorite series so far is Cow Tipping [tipping over the church's sacred cows that no one wants to talk about]. But that's not even what I wanted to type about. You need to see cow tipping for yourself.
What I wanted to blog about was his Purple People Leader series. I've only watched the first sermon [writing this takes the place of watching the second, and I don't have time for anything else], and the title of that sermon is "You're Not Normal."

Anyway, he goes on to say that Christians shouldn't be just like everyone else. We're supposed to be different. Peculiar. Strange. Not normal. Unique. But, there's a fine line between being unique and being weird. When we cross that line to weird, then we aren't useful any more because people just think we're weird and won't take us seriously.
So... bottom line: You are special. NOT just like everyone else. God has a vision for your life. You need to be unique to fulfill it. When you are unique you are useful in the hands of God.
However... when you cross the line to weird... you're just.... weird.

That was my mini-stolen-sermon of the day. Yay!
Tina

Harry Potter & The [Understated] Half-Blood Prince [SPOILERS!]

2009-07-15T15:22:00.004-05:00

This is my official review of Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince. First off, let me make this point: I LOVELOVELOVELOVELOVELOVE LOVELOVELOVELOVELOVE LOVELOVELOVELOVELOVEDDDD it!
Now. That aside, it is time to DISSECT it like any true Potter-head would do. ^_^

I have to keep reminding myself to separate the books and the movies in my head. They are not the same, and they should not be treated as the same. If I don't look at it like that, I go beserk. And the books will ALWAYS be better [duh], but I find that I can love the movies for themselvs easier when I think like this.

GOOD STUFF!
Okay. Point Uno.
HUMOR! [or, in honor of HP - HUMOUR! heehee] Anyway. The humor was AWESOME. I'll put the rest of my points with bullet.. points. haha. So they're easier to keep track of.

Ron [and therefore Rupert Grint] really had his shining comedic moments. Won-Won under the influence of a particularly strong love potion is a MUST-SEE! He is hilarious! His comedic timing is PERFECT.
Dan is an amazing actor! He had all the comedy down pat! Harry under the influence of Felix Felicis was also a MUST-SEE! Oh, goodness! "I think I'll go to Hagrids!" haha. His cocky, yet still awkward way of portraying that assuredness that can only come from liquid luck was pure comedic genius. Or just plain ol' genius. Also... Dan's gotten really hot. Sorry. Had to stick that in! [Not that he hasn't always been good looking, but ya know.]
Four words: Word for word conversations! I'm not even done re-reading HBP for the 5th time. I started it last week. I have like 7 chapters to go, but whatever. I read enough to remember WORD FOR WORD CONVOS that the characters had in the books AND movies. That, needless to say, made me squee with happiness!!!
Hermione [&, again, therefore Emma Watson] has really gone through a journey! Emma was able to stretch Hermione to her emotional and academical limits! I LOVED the 'opugno' birds, chasing after Ron. EXACTLY like in the book!
Neville [Matthew Lewis] in that waiter outfit. Priceless.
McLaggen was hot. And a jerkface. But he's more of a jerk in the books, and not quite as hateable in the movie. However, I would have liked to see McLaggen hit Harry with a bludger and have Harry say, "I'M GOING TO FIND MCLAGGEN AND KILL HIM!" Then Pompfrey could have said, "I'm afraid that comes under the heading of overexertion." But, that's a teensie tiny little thing that I don't really care about. Just had to comment on it.
Ginny/Bonnie got TONS MORE SCREEN TIME! YAY!
Luna/Evanna was AWESOME! Her dresses were fabulous, and her Spectre-Specs were amazing. Her lion hat was perfect too! "Wrackspurts. Your head is full of them." hahaha.
Little Tom Riddle was CREEEEEPY! I LOVED IT!
The memories were flipping fantastic.
Gambon's acting was VERY MUCH improved. Two movies too late, but it was VERY MUCH improved. ^_^ yaaay!
I also loved ALL the Slughorn scenes. And Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes!
And Kate was excited that they kept Arnold in, Ginny's pygmy puff.
How Harry tried to defend Ginny when the burrow was surrounded by fire.
When Harry's trunks showed up at the Burrow. Ginny: "Mum! When did Harry get here?" Mrs.: "Harry who?" Ginny: "Harry POTTER!" Mrs.: "Don't be silly, I'd know when Harry Potter is in my house!" Ron's head pops up: "Did someone say Harry?" Hermione's head pops up: "Harry? Did I hear his owl?" pahahaha.
When the inferi grabbed Harry.
Tom Felton can CRY. And he's hot. I wanted to give him a hug when he was crying.

Not-So-Great Stuff [That I dislike just enough to complain about, but I don't really care that much.]

The last 1/4 of the movie seemed a bit rushed.
There was no death eater/whole school fight at the end. The death eaters broke in to stand around and wait for Draco to kill Dumbledore, then they high-tailed it. Didn't really make sense.
PG my butt. That was totally PG-13. Psssh.
Dumbledore was clueless about the Horcruxes. They messed up the memory about it too.

Stuff that Really, Truly Sucked [Even though I still luffluffluff the movie! It is a surprisingly short list! Just THREE things!]

Snape goes, "I am the Half-Blood Prince." Anticlimactic. By this time, no one is even wondering anymore. No one cared. Because they didn't emphasize Harry obsessing over the HBP. They had him hide the book, but he didn't get in trouble with Snape for using Sectumsempra! That would take 2 minutes.
In the book, Dumbledore has a split second to stupefy Harry, so that he is forced to watch, immobilized, as the Death Eathers corner Dumbledore. However, in the movie, Harry is footloose the entire scene. That he does not act appears to be a moment of cowardice, or doubt. It is not becoming, and I haven’t yet thought of a good reason for this change. [word for word from another blog. Couldn't have said it better myself.]
The Harry/Ginny kiss. Same awkwardness, same camera angle, even less duration than the Harry/Cho kiss! Put some mistletoe over them, give Ginny a blonde wig, and it would have been the same. dang. kiss. Besides, Harry is supposed to pick her up in a room full of cheering Gryffindor Quidditch fans and give her the greatest kiss of both their lives. Dean Thomas got a better snog out of Ginny than Harry did! And Dean & Ginny were in public! Not the freaking room of requirement. And after the kiss, there was NOTHING else between them. Not flirting, no obvious couple-ness. Nothing. Except for Ginny comforting Harry when Dumbledore was dead. But she would have done that anyway, so. yeah.

I know, this has been long. But Great. :)

Agree with me... disagree? lemme know! *points to pretty notes button*

Donald Barthelme's Game

2009-07-10T13:08:00.002-05:00

I'm too lazy for pictures again today. haha. This shall be a picture-less blog post. Again. Anyway. I read this short story called "Game" by Donald Barthelme. It was about these two guys that were confined underground for an indefinite period of time. They had a mission thing to carry out, and it most likely dealt with nuclear weapons, since it was about life in the nuclear age. And one of their orders was to shoot the other guy if they started acting wierd. Anyway, this one guy had a ball and jacks to play with, and the other guy used something to write on the walls to pass the time. Looking over their pass into infantilism, I started thinking. If I knew I was going to be locked underground for an indefinite period of time, what would I take with me?? More than a ball and jacks, thats for sure. So. I think I'll write about that. This is sounding a lot like an english assignment, isn't it? Too bad the assignment that actually went with this story was much more boring than this. Anyway.
I would have to take my Bible. I don't read it enough as it is. And being locked underground is a poor excuse to finally say I have the time to read it, but I figure its the one thing I could read over and over and still feel like I'm getting something out of it.
A big, fat notebook and a pack of pens. To write stuff in, obviously.
My big hardback book of Jane Austen's complete works.
My iPod, if there was going to be an electrical outlet.
My own pillow and blankets.
The full set of Harry Potter books.

And you can bet your butt I would fit all of that in one suitcase if necessary. Along with things such as an extra pair of clothes or two, toothbrush/toothpaste, shampoo, etc. I wouldn't agree to this thing if there weren't showers somewhere. hahaha.

But yeah. This was a random weird post. I just felt as if I had to explore my confinement options. I don't think I would revert to infantilism [at least quite so quickly] if I had these things with me. haha. Heck... these things are what keep me sane anyway.....

Love Taps. :]

2009-07-09T18:28:00.003-05:00

I thought I'd give y'all [y'all as in my, like, 3 readers. hah.] a little break from HBP happiness [though why anyone would need a break I don't know] and show a bit of NCIS loveliness. Notice when Gibbs smacks HIMSELF. I think that's from the "Family Secrets" episode. And I love when Ziva makes those "boop" noises. And Abby's yell at the end.

heehee. Enjoy!

#Dumbledoreness Galore!

2009-07-07T13:22:00.004-05:00

Yuss! 7 more days to go! In case you follow me on twitter as well... you should have noticed my massive amounts of #Dumbledore posts. haha. This is because of http://www.whatwoulddumbledoredo.org/. I'm seriously thinking of taking up the Dumbledore Movie Night challange. Just in case I decide to go through with it, I've compiled my favorite Dumbledore quotes/lessons.

"Sadly, accidental rudeness occurs alarmingly often. It's best not to say anything."
"Let us pursue that flighty temptress, adventure."
Just because it happens in my head doesn't mean it isn't real.
We must choose what is right over what is easy.
"By all means continue destroying my possessions. I daresay I have too many."
"It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live."
"...It matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be."
"Don't count your owls before they are delivered."
"Oh, you know about Nicholas?" said Dumbledore, sounding quite delighted. "You did do the thing properly, didn't you?"

Haha. The last quote was, obviously, from Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone. I'm convinced that I must call it Philosopher's now. Have been for a few months actually. When I told my dad he just rolled his eyes. I mean, really.... Philosopher's sounds so much.... better. Don't you agree?

Anyway. KATE BOUGHT OUR HALF-BLOOD PRINCE TICKETS FOR 11:55 AT THE RIVERWALK MOVIES! w00t w00t! :DD

And today I watched the live streaming of the UK HBP Premier red carpet interviews and such with some ladies from the Press Association. They annoyed me a bit with some of their rambling. They said Hagrid was an ogre [*ahem* half-giant, thankyou], they forgot that "Lucius" was Malfoy's first name, they almost completely forgot that they needed to interview Rupert, then they proceeded to waste precious interview time with him with MORE THAN ONE question about his bout with Swine Flu. I mean, really. He's there, he ain't dead, obviously it wasn't that bad. Letsmoveonnow, kthanks. :) They also asked Gambon how he felt about filming his LAST MOVIE. Hmm, okay... TEN SECONDS earlier they had just been talking about having read all of the books. Apparently DH doesn't count? Gambon looked at them for a second like they'd lost their minds. haha. Made me laugh. Oh, at least they gave Dan some AWESOME questions. I was really happy about their interview with him. Dan was SOOO hyperactive it was hilarious. He was bouncing from interview to interview as if he wasn't soaking wet and had just consumed 3-4 double-caffeinated coffees. Of course, they had to ask the prerequesite, "What's different about this film?" And he answered with the standard, "Its getting darker again," answer. But he also talked about the romance and the comedy. And he talked about the obsessive nature of his Malfoy-hunt. I'm glad to know this movie won't be all quidditch and kissing. Even though those two are GREAT. ;) haha. I do hope they'll make clips of that interview available. I want to watch the Dan interview again. And I loved his suit. ^_^ It was beige with white piping, paired with a salmon button-down. I forgot what color his tie was, but I liked it. Stacy & Clinton would have approved. ;) Emma was wearing a gorgeous full-length dress, if majorly low-cut. Her interview was probably the least exciting. Her answers were vague, but to be fair her prompts were horrible. Then they wasted her last question on her college decision, which she isn't talking about. There were, of course, the kissing/teasing questions being bounced around. The full list of interviews I saw:

Dan
Rupert
Emma
Jason Isaacs [LUCIUS Malfoy]
Matthew Lewis [Neville -he was the first interview -LOVED IT!]
One of the Patil twins [dunno her real name, I assume it was Parvati?]
Tom Felton [of course. ^_^ Gorgeous boy, that Tom!]
Jessica. [Think that's her name. The one playing Lavender Brown.]
Bonnie Wright [I wantsss her hair! And the dress she was wearing!]
James&Oliver Phelps
Jim Broadbent [Sluggy!]
Robbie Coltraine [Rubeus Hagrid, at yer service!]
David Yates [at least they asked him some decent questions!]
Michael Gambon

They either didn't get to interview Alan Rickman, or I somehow missed it. :( Because they had some spotty streaming for a bit. Maybe it was the rain. It was POURING down. Apparently that's tradition now for London HP premiers. haha. Everyone was soaked. But that's alright. Rupert, Dan, & Tom look very handsome when they're a bit soggy. ;) haha. And I was very amused with all the accents going around. And British slang words. I loved it.

I am SO FREAKING EXCITED!

SEVEN DAYS! W00T W00T!

So. Be sure to put #Dumbledore in as many tweets as you can! Even random, non-HP related ones. ^_^ And remember, What Would Dumbledore Do? [Even though I disagree with the fact that they are using it as a blatant advertisement for LGBT/equal marriage rights/equality. Which, I'm not surprised. But, I'm disappointed that it seems to be the main focus. But who am I to complain... little miss conservativist.] Anyway, ranting aside, I'm scheming a way to get sticky-sticker paper for my "What Has Dumbledore taught Me" nametag/stickers on HBP night.

[7 days!]

Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! [14 Days!]

2009-06-30T17:37:00.003-05:00

So. Yes. In case you didn't catch the memo from the title or the countdown....

HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE COMES OUT IN FOURTEEN [14, ONE&FOUR] DAYS!

In the spelling of my bestie, Kate....
YUSS! Make that a HECK YUSSS! :D

Disclaimer for Post: Do not expect complete sentences, correct grammar, or any form of maturity. Because...

HBP comes out soon! w00-w00t! :D Yay. Twilight fans don't kill me if I'm more excited for HBP than Twilight & New Moon put together, because Twilight will always be my Harry Potter rebound series. Sorry guys. And Jo has a better writing style. But I still love Twilight. Just not as much as Harry. Dear, dear harry. :D

Come on, guys! Do your happy dance with me!!

*happy dance*

*pause*

*happy dance*

New Moon Trailer Analyzation

2009-06-02T21:11:00.003-05:00

Okayy. So. I just couldn't resist. Had to put my two cents in. This post won't be any amazing tribute to grammar or structure or anything.. It's going to kind of jump around. And it is also going to have some over analyzation. So bear with me.
1. "Kiss me." Okay.. that eyebrow "come hither" thing isn't really Bella. At least I don't feel it is. And Edward is just kind of standing there like... "Do I know you?" BUT, once I started thinking about it, and once I listened to my latest Imprint podcast episode, I realized.. what if she suspects something is up and she's testing him? Its a good theory that I have to attribute to Imprint.
2. Bella is slightly more tan! [Plus!]
3. So is Edward. [Negative.]
4. Edward looks hot in a crisp navy button down & suit jacket.
5. I hope the custom grey pea coat comes back in at least one scene.
6. The rest of the Cullens/Hales look a bit less pale.
7. The birthday party scene was almost exactly how I imagined it, minus the overabundance of candles, and the cake that looks like a green striped stack of hat boxes.
8. The paper cut scene, and Jasper flying through the air, was AWESOME!
9. Poor Bella. :(
10. Dude. Taylor is BUFF!
11. Laurant is CRAZY scary. It's AWESOME! I LOVE it! [And he has some added facial hair.]
12. Favorite part of the trailer:
Bella: "JAKE RUN!!!" *throws herself at him*
Jacob: *BAM!* He morphs into this monster werewolf on steroids!
Even though they just effectively ruined the surprise for the movie-only fans, it was awesome. And they deserve it for not reading the books. *cough*Courtney!*cough* Hah. Like Courtney would ever take the time to READ this. I love her to death, but the girl would ONLY pick up a book to save her life. Maybe. Anyway, random tangent! Back to the trailer: I think I'm going to like Chris Weitz. The jury is still out on the overall sepia-like tone to the trailer. What happened to the gorgeous GREEN? I like green. Especially with all the trees. I mean, I expected the golden/sepia tone for the Italy section. But for Washington? I guess I'm not taking into account the La Push reservation. Maybe that's what the sepia thing is all about. Which would be good, since, you know, she goes to La Push to get away from everything.
13. I am SOOOOOOO fangirling about this!!! Kate called me and we squealed together. It was awesome. :)
14. Dramatic ending = perfect.

So... with the ups and downs...
Positives and negatives...
I think this trailer was a win overall! Two thumbs up. :]

Ohh, and apparently Kellan says that Rob's abs are REAL? Not airbrushed? Hmm..

Summer Camp Time!

2009-05-15T14:02:00.004-05:00

Whoahh. This was a picture I took a long time ago. pre-Koda-surgery picture. Highly dorky. But oh well. Look how happy we are! haha. Anyways.
Summer Camp has started again! I took last summer off so none of you have heard about any of my summer camp woes yet. haha. Don't worry. I'm a senior counselor now. Have been for the past 3.5 years. I've already paid my dues. I've been around for 6 years. Now I get to teach the kids when they're on horseback instead of only having to walk alongside the horses, constantly getting sand kicked in my shoes, making sure the kids don't fall off, and enduring the constant, "Can I ride by myself now? .....how about NOW?" haha.
Although... when I was a "junior" counselor... we didn't really HAVE "Junior Counselors." We just knew our pecking order in accordance to who could ride the best, who knew the most, and who had been around the longest. And we also had to be AT LEAST 12-13 to be a counselor. Now Kim is letting girls as young as 8-10 year olds be junior counselors! Some of the CAMPERS are older than them! Gahh! They know their way around the barn so in some ways they are harder to handle than the campers! They're too short to tack up the tall horses, they're too short to WALK WITH the tall horses, and they're too small to be strong enough to trot/run alongside the majority of the horses.. tall or not.

But at least I have the most seniority now! haha! :D
It also helps that I've been teaching ORU for the past 2 years now. Kim knows I won't get anyone killed.
And I can play Red Light-Green Light on horseback with the campers to pass the time! Somehow I don't think that would go over as well with my college kids. haha.

Well.. I could type on and on and on with things I love and dislike about summer camp. But to wrap this up in a neat little package..
Summer camp has been where I've done my hardest work ever, made the BEST [and sometimes not-so-great] friendships, and learned the most about myself, other people, and of course horses.

Til next post.. God bless!
Tina

Birthday Branson Trip! [Day II]

2009-05-15T14:01:00.004-05:00

This picture is me, obviously. More specifically, it is me driving into Branson. With Kate. By ourselves. wOOt wOOt! Haha. :]

It is a 45 minute drive from Taneyville, where my grandparents live, to Branson. 30 if you manage to not hit any traffic.... i.e., someone determined to go 35 mph the whole way to Hollister. The drive is pretty simple. There's a turn at the Taneyville/Forsyth junction, and a turn at the Hollister city limits. But its sooooooooooo pretty! I love Ozark back roads. Tulsa roads are boring, slow, dirty, and ugly compared to the Ozark back roads.

But anyway. We had some fun drive time on the way to Branson! Blasting chick music, Twilight music, Paramore, Imogen Heap, Panic at the Disco, some random folk music [Kate had control of the iPod - haha], a White Stripes song, and some others. Kate and I are both pretty embarassed about our singing voices, so we don't mind belting it out in front of each other. haha. I mean, I don't sing in front of my friends who can sing well, normally. Unless I'm roped into teen talent choir. WHY they want me singing in a choir is beyond me, but I digress. Again.

We went straight to the Landing. Finding a parking space was horrible, but at least I was driving Tibby [My mazda tribute has a name. Tribute.. Tibby.. get it? So I name lots of inanimate objects. My computer's name is Gerty. Short for Gertrude. Whatever.] The weather was PERFECT! And I got a twitter direct message from Jason, but I had no idea how to send a direct message back from my phone, so I didn't respond. Sorry! haha. And no internet connection until we got back home on Sunday.

Kate was still doing the Gossip Girl thing. haha. And we found the BEST. STORE. EVER. Bath Junkie. I'm in love now. haha. I made my own scent. Amber and Sandalwood. I bought exfoliating scrub, lotion, and conditioner that all smelled like Amber and Sandalwood. And my mom got exfoliating scrub and lotion that smelled like Pink Grapefruit, Honeysuckle, and Sweet Pea for mother's day. I got my Grandma Low [mom's mom] lotion that smelled like Oatmeal, Milk & Honey and Sweet Rain. Kate got lotion & conditioner in.... Rose and Sandalwood? Or Amber and Rose? Augh. Don't remember.

But anyways... .it was the BEST STORE EVER. Kate and I were in there for a good hour mixing up scents and stuffs. haha. When a birthday party of 14 year old girls came in wearing slutty prom dresses, we went to eat at Famous Daves [LOVE that place! Best chicken ever. Well, the one at the Landing has the best chicken ever. The Famous Daves in Tulsa doesn't taste as good.]. Then we went to Victoria's Secret. Love their sales. And then we went into Yankee Candle Co. They have a new scent... forgot what it was called, but I loved it. We went into a few other stores to look around, but we aren't rich so we saved our money for Bath Junkie. haha.

Then we went back to Bath Junkie to make our purchases. :] It was fun watching them mix all the stuffs up and then adding colors to it all. haha. We walked around a little bit after that. Went into the 5 & Dime store, it sprinkled some rain, but not too much, and then we had a fun little time trudging back to Tibby in the parking lot.. .all the way at the back of the parking lot. haha.

We drove up 76 to Wal-Mart to buy mother's day cards. That was fun. And some facewash that we both ran out of. Then we went back to my grandparents' place to get ready for the Haygoods. :]

Tina

Birthday Branson Trip! [Day I]

2009-05-13T20:41:00.004-05:00

Haha. Yeeeaaaayahh! :] Okay. I must tell the truth.... I was much more excited about going to Branson for my birthday than actually turning 18. I mean... I watch kids go crazy over turning 'legal' all the time. I don't see the point. I mean, sure... I can legally now buy cigarettes, tobacco, and lotto tickets. But I don't really want to buy any of those, soo.. basically my biggest perk is being able to drive after midnight. If I have any place to go after midnight. haha.

ANYWAYS! Already I digress.
BRANSON!

I was ecstactic that Kate came with us! Unbelievably, undeniably, irrevocably elated that she came. :] The whole time we were gone she kept sending Gossip Girl posts to her sister. haha. I told her she needs to put them all up on her blog, 'cuz I didn't see them all. Especially when she was up until 2:00 am typing away on her blackberry the last night. haha. It lulled me to sleep actually. :P
Anyway. The drive up to Taneyville wasn't complete without some Backstreet Boys [Everybody (Backstreet's Back)], Imogen Heap, D.H.T. [Listen to Your Heart], and Grease [You're the One that I Want]. Haha. And that was just the stuff we played where my parents could hear and become annoyed with our antics. And sing-along skills. I sound like a little boy going through puberty when I sing my voice cracks so much, so the fact that my parents can still hear is amazing! haha.

We went through Branson before Taneyville instead of bypassing it as usual. We picked up our Haygood tickets, saw Dom & Daddy Haygood in the Americana, went to Steak & Shake, and then did indoor mini golf at the Grand Country Square place. It was fun. Though no one let the birthday girl win. haha. I got 2 under par, my mom got 3, and my dad got 4. How unfair was that?! haha.

Then we went to my grandparents' place and watched my grandparents & uncle [Dad's side] ALL attempt to get the TV to work. It was hilarious. Haha. Kate also got the grand tour of the house, and then we read before going go bed.

Day one... complete. :]
Tina

INFJ: Introverted, Intuition, Feeling, Judging

2009-05-01T15:37:00.002-05:00

In case anyone ever wondered what makes me tick. haha. :]
Quote about my personality type:
"INFJs, making up an estimated 1% of all people, are the most rare type (males even more so). They are introspective, caring, sensitive, gentle and complex people that strive for peace and derive satisfaction from helping others. INFJs are highly intuitive, empathetic and dedicated listeners. These traits tend to act as a "tell me what's wrong" sign on their forehead, hence the nicknames Confidant, Counselor or Empath. INFJs are intensely private and deeply committed to their beliefs."

INTROVERTED - 63%
Introversion is a preference to focus on the world inside the self. Introverts tend to be quiet, peaceful and deliberate and are not attracted to social interactions. They prefer activities they can do alone or with one other close friend, activities such as reading, writing, thinking, and inventing. Introverts find social gatherings draining.
INTUITION - 63%
Intuition refers to how people process data. Intuitive people focus on the future and the possibilities. They process information through patterns and impressions. They read between the lines, they are abstract thinkers.
FEELING - 53%
Feeling refers to how people make decisions. Feeling people are subjective and make decisions based on principles and values. They are ruled by their heart instead of their head. Feeling people judge situations and others based on feelings and extenuating circumstances.
JUDGING - 63%
Judging is the preference outwardly displayed. Judging does not mean "judgmental". Judging people like order, organization and think sequentially. They like to have things planned and settled. Judging people seek closure.

I feel quite special to be one of the most rare personality types. haha.
But I do feel like it sums me up quite well.

My Multiple Intelligences test top results...
Haha. I'm just choosing a few little things about each intelligence to write here. I'm sure you don't want to read it all.
VERBAL/LINGUISTIC INTELLIGENCE - 95%
People with Linguistic intelligence love and are talented with words. They enjoy reading, writing and learning languages. They have an ability to teach and explain things to others. They learn best by reading, taking notes and going to lectures.
Common Characteristics:
Notices grammatical mistakes [haha. I have the grammar police in my head. Usually I don't correct out loud unless I know you won't mind, though. ^_^]
Often speaks of what they have read [Yep.]
Likes to use "fancy" words [I absolutely adore them.]
Loves word games [Depends on what kind of word game, but yes.]
Cherishes their book collection [I LOVE MY BOOKS! Hence the "Remember your priorities: If my house burns down, save the books!" flair. haha.]
Easily remembers quotes and famous sayings [I keep a list of my favorites on my computer.]
Likes puns and rhymes [Haha! Yesss.]
Enjoys writing [Of course. ^_^]
Enjoys foreign language [Not so much.]
Always enjoyed English class [Yes!]
INTRAPERSONAL INTELLIGENCE - 90%
People with intrapersonal intelligence are adept at looking inward and figuring out their own feelings, motivations and goals. They are introspective and seek understanding. They are intuitive and typically introverted. They learn best independently.
Common Characteristics:
Introverted [Hit that nail on the head. ha.]
Prefers working alone [Depends on what it is.]
Philosophical
Self-aware [Pretty much.]
Perfectionistic [HAHA! Total perfectionist.]
Often thinks of self-employment [Haha. Planning on starting my own wedding planning business. Or else becoming a psychologist.]
Enjoys journaling [I've kept a diary since the 1st grade. Well, I've switched diaries since then, but still.]
Intuitive
Independent [Yeah.]
Spends time thinking and reflecting [Yep.]
Likes learning about self [Hello. Taking this test. haha.]
BODILY/KINESTHETIC INTELLIGENCE - 75%
People with Kinesthetic intelligence love movement. They enjoy sports and/or dance. They are good at building things and like to stay active. They have good motor skills and are very aware of their bodies. They learn best through movement and experimentation.
Common Characteristics:
Learns by "doing" [True.]
Would rather touch than just look [Yep. Unless it's the inside of an animal. Then I just like to look. haha.]
Well-coordinated with good motor skills [Generally true. I have my klutzy days.]
Likes figuring out how things work [Sometimes. Depends on what it is.]
Enjoys the outdoors [Very true.]
Likes to work with hands [True.]
Can't sit still for too long [Not true for me. haha.]
Enjoys sports and exhilarating experiences [haha. What sport is there that's more exhilarating than riding?]

Other intelligences:
Musical 70% [I have no musical ability. At least, I've never spent time working on any musical ability. I just love it. ^_^]
Naturalist 65% ["They are gifted at nurturing and growing things as well as the ability to care for and interact with animals." I hope I have the ability to interact with animals. haha.]
Interpersonal 65% ["They are good at reading, empathize and understanding others." Yesh.]
Visual/Spatial 60% ["They are very aware of their surroundings and are good at remembering images." They also like to read maps. Which is a coincidence, because **I** like to read maps! haha. ]
Logical/Mathematical 50% [I "look for rational explanations" and "organize by category." I do NOT like math OR have a mind like a computer. Blehh.]

Anyways.
I think this all describes me quite well.
:]
Wasn't really surprised.
http://www.mypersonality.info
If you wanna take the time... take the quiz and lemme know what it says. I enjoy reading these things about people.
And yes... I copied and pasted this from my facebook note. So either leave a comment here with your quiz info, a comment telling me you put your info in a blog post, or put your results up on facebook. [puh-lease?]
I will NOT hesitate to use puppydog eyes on you!
Heh.
So... yeah. Kim & Jason have already done it. Cool points to them! Who else now?

Tina

Countdown Time!!!

2009-04-22T13:10:00.001-05:00

Countdown to my BiRTHDAY && the HAYGOODS!

Teen Angst is Overrated. Seriously.

2009-04-20T11:25:00.002-05:00

Ughh. This is just a little rant from me. :]
I really am tired of always being the mature friend who calms situations down and is otherwise ignored. I'm an enabler. I enable some of my friends to be dependent, self-centered, emotional wrecks. Its draining. And annoying. I was talking to my mom last night for forever because I'm so sick of just being the shoulder to cry on. Augalkdha;kllhteilaho. Its rediculous. I'm always the good example, I'm always the parents' favorite. I have a freaking pastor asking me to always drag his daughter to church. Don't get me wrong. I love her to death. She's one of my best friends. But she gets herself into these social and emotional situations and NEVER uses her common sense. So I get to be the comforter, the advice-giver, the "I-told-you-so" teller, etc. And when I have a problem... it lasts for about 30 seconds before we're back to someone else's. If I dwell on my life in the conversation for more than 3 minutes, I feel like everyone else feels I'm "hogging" the conversation. Its always been like this. I had a "friend" once who wanted to kill me every time I opened my mouth.... which isn't all that often. I mean, seriously. People need to get over themselves. I've always been the people-pleaser, the situation-diffuser, and I'm frankly quite sick of it.

Just once I want to kick up a little dust, throw a little fit, and NOT have someone tell me I'm overreacting.
Someone's crush doesn't pay attention to them, and its the end of the world. Quite literally.
I grieve over the puppy I had to put down after 14 years, and after THREE DAYS I'm a drama queen.
My generation needs to learn how to suck it up, submit to some authority every now and then, and control their tempers. Going off on someone for accidentally offending you is considered being STRONG? Get a life. It's considered being a jerkface.

Rant over. :]
I feel better now. hahh.
I'm just tired of being ignored by my peers and only getting positive attention and reinforcement from the adults in my life.
I need some more barn-friends and Kate time. Ugh. I know where I'm appreciated. And I appreciate the appreciation. :]
I dunno how Dr. Phil does it. After the 100th show, I just whack everyone upside the head, say USE YOUR COMMON SENSE, YOU IDIOT, and walk away.. And mom thinks I should major in phsycology and be a therapist. hah.

Some Little Poems for My Puppy. [Not so depressing now.]

2009-04-05T14:53:00.004-05:00

Okay. So... I went to ORU for college weekend. It was a blast, and helped me a bit. It isn't as hard to deal with Pokey being gone when I'm away from home. And now I can smile about her and only have to blink a few times instead of bawling my eyes out when I think about her. I found this pet loss website, and they had lots of pretty poems. I liked so many of them... I'll just put up my favorites.
I Only Wanted You

They say memories are golden
well maybe that is true.
I never wanted memories,
I only wanted you.
A million times I needed you,
a million times I cried.
If love alone could have saved you
you never would have died.

In life I loved you dearly,
In death I love you still.
In my heart you hold a place
no one could ever fill.
If tears could build a stairway
and heartache make a lane,
I'd walk the path to heaven
and bring you back again.

Our family chain is broken,
and nothing seems the same.
But as God calls us one by one,
the chain will link again.

Author unknown

Tribute To A Best Friend

Sunlight streams through window pane
unto a spot on the floor....then I remember,
it's where you used to lie,
but now you are no more.
Our feet walk down a hall of carpet,
and muted echoes sound....
then I remember,
It's where your paws would joyously abound.
A voice is heard along the road,
and up beyond the hill,
then I remember it can't be yours....
your golden voice is still.
But I'll take that vacant spot of floor
and empty muted hall
and lay them with the absent voice
and unused dish along the wall.
I'll wrap these treasured memorials
in a blanket of my love
and keep them for my best friend
until we meet above.

Author Unknown

I also had a third favorite... but it's too long to put on here. So I'll give you the link instead: http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=67597829093&h=uWkDF&u=iSSCf&ref=mf RIP Pokey. March 1995 - April 1, 2009

My Pokey Little Puppy [Warning: Depressing Post.]

2009-04-01T22:33:00.004-05:00

This is the hardest blog post I've ever had to write. I'm sorry if this is really depressing. Its a good thing I can type without looking, because right now all I can see are tears. Today my puppy was euthanized.
She'd just turned 14 about two weeks ago. I'd had her since I was four. I wanted to type this out tonight, because I know that if I don't, I might never get it out. I'm horrible at keeping the worst things in. That's what I had Pokey for. I've cried with her so many times. This is the first time I've cried ov,brer her. For her. She was one of my best friends.
I know I did the right thing, putting her down today. But it was the hardest right thing I've ever done. She went downhill so fast. Yesterday she couldn't walk at all. At least she felt slightly better today. The vet said she had a scale 3 heart murmur and her kidneys were going bad. Since her heart wasn't as strong she got less blood flow, which made the kidneys worse. And her lungs weren't expanding right. She'd lost a ton of weight in the last week. Her cataract got worse. Her arthritis got worse. She was tired all the time. And that was my baby, growing old. My wonderful, smart, loyal, sweet baby. Everyone that met her just loved her.

After the vet confirmed what we already knew... that it was her time to be put down... I think I sat in a chair with her on my lap in the vet's lobby for a good hour. It felt like thirty minutes. My mom started tearing up every time I'd finally get my eyes dried, which made me cry all over again. Until right before we left, I thought the worst thing was listening to her labored breathing and watching my tears hit her back. I didn't think I'd ever be ready to let her go. Everyone who walked in got to walk out with their dog. I had to hand mine to a lady that wouldn't give Pokey back to me. More than anything I wanted to be in that room when she fell asleep before they put her down. I didn't want to let her down. But I couldn't do it. I wouldn't have been able to handle it. So I handed her off and walked away. And the thing that's making me cry the most right now is the look on her face when I was walking away from her. In my head I know it isn't rational to feel guilty about it. But I can't tell my heart that. I know I'm already going through the grieving process. I know its going to take awhile. I hate it. Emotionally, I feel like I let her down in her last time of need, but in my head I know it isn't true. I just hate the thought of her being anxious, with no familiar surroundings, without me. She never did well in kennels and vets offices.

At one point mom put Pokey in her lap so I could see my baby's face. Pokey rested her head in my hand. That helped me to know it was the right thing to do, if nothing else had gotten through. She'd just been so out of character this last week. It hit all at once. Six months ago she didn't have a heart murmur or bad kidneys. She wasn't having a difficult time breathing. We could keep the arthritis under control with anti-inflamatory medicine.

I'm not sure what I believe about animals and heaven. If pets go to heaven, what other animals go? Its hard to believe they just cease to exhist. But if dogs do get in to heaven, I just know my puppy has scrounged up a tennis ball from somewhere and is bugging the crap out of heaven's inhabitants to play fetch with her. She hasn't been able to play fetch for at least eight months. Not with her arthritis. She's probably found another dog and a sock to play tug-o-war with.

I just can't stop thinking about these last few days. I spend as much time with her as I could. That's one other thing I've felt guilty about. The past few months I hardly gave Pokey any attention. I tried to make up for it these past two to three days. She spent all yesterday on my bed with me. And all of today until we took her to the vet. Last night I watched Slumdog Millionaire with Pokey in my lap the whole time. Today I took over 40 pictures of her. I don't have enough pictures. It seems as if 14 years wasn't enough time. That hour in the chair at the vet's wasn't enough time.

Mom told me tonight that I did the right thing. That we were right to take her to the vet when we noticed she wasn't herself. That Pokey was a good one to cry over. And she was. It just kills me to talk about her in the past tense. My eyes are raw. I'm numb yet I feel everything. I almost wish I was still in denial. That I could believe any minute she'd come walking into my room just to take a nap on my floor. But I know she won't. I know I'll never get to cuddle with my puppy again. At least on earth. If puppies make it to heaven....

There's so much more I can say. So much I can't. So much I feel that I can't or don't have the energy right now to put into words.
Lord, give me strength. Give me peace.

NUMB3RS Promo

2009-03-12T11:19:00.002-05:00

Ahahaha. I love this.
Just so you all know, David Krumholtz makes me happy. And now, so does Rob Morrow. The men behind the brothers in the TV show NUMB3RS.

So... This promo makes me laugh. A lot. Watch the promo... watch the show. =]

NUMB3RS.

Disaster Saturday...

2009-03-09T11:33:00.001-05:00

Ugh. Have you ever had a day that just did NOT go well? At all? I was just about mad enough to cuss Saturday. At my horse and my dad. Since it would take forever and a day [and several pages of typing] to let you in on everything... I'll give you the SparkNotes version. =]

*The day started kinda sorta all right. Dad & I got out to the barn about 45 min late to load Koda up in our borrowed little two-horse step-up trailer to take him to Jamies for a few months.
*Koda didn't think he could fit.
*We wrestled with him for about 3.5 hours total. Here's some special things that happened during that time:
1. Dad & I both got rope burn.
2. We put a pony in the other slot, so maybe the trailer would look more inviting. Didn't work.
3. We tried coaxing with food. Didn't work.
4. We tried pulling.
5. We tried pushing.
6. He started bucking.
7. He started rearing.
8. He almost sat on & crushed Dad.
9. He almost sat on & destroyed a brand new Mazda in the parking lot.
10. He scraped the skin off my fingers.
11. Dad almost lost a fingernail.
12. We both got really sweaty.
13. Koda got really sweaty.
14. We tried a chain under his lip.
15. We tried a whip.
16. We aced [TRANQUILIZED] him.
STILL DIDN'T WORK.
17. Koda ripped my wraps. Now I have to buy new ones.
18. Dad tried playing horse whisperer extraordinaire. Which led to a stare-off between him & Koda and me getting banned from helping. Needless to say... it didn't work.
So. After almost 4 hours... we gave up.

*We stopped at Sonic on our way to returning the borrowed trailer. We had to go through the drive thru because of the trailer.
1. They got Dad's order wrong.
2. Dad got gypped [sp?] out of a dollar, even though it was Sonic that messed up.
3. It wasn't till we left the parking lot that I realized they got my order wrong.
4. Dad wasn't going back.
5. They didn't give me enough marinara sauce.
6. They didn't put vanilla in Dad's coke.

The only redeeming thing that happened was Pastor Tommy let me ride Peppy for a few minutes. It was his trailer we borrowed, and he was riding his horse when we pulled up. Gahhhh.

Saturday = FAIL.

Contacts.

2009-03-04T11:09:00.003-06:00

Wow. I haven't posted in FOREVER! But anyways. I don't have much time [hence not posting] because schoolwork is crazy. I have two weeks to finish a course, so I'm pretty much working around the clock. That's what I get for procrastinating, but this course's teacher is EVIL! I mean... I'm that nerdy kid who is usually the teacher's pet and makes straight A's. But this teacher hates my writing style, and its never good enough. Long story short, this class is a nightmare, and got me extremely discouraged, so I kept putting it off [we have a whole year to complete courses, and I have two weeks left... and I'm one of those 'overachieving' types, so this class was HORRIBLE for me...] and now I'm just getting through it as fast as I can, not caring if I fail. Its one class on my transcript. I can still get a good scholarship if I fail this one, especially since I take so many other honors classes, it brings my GPA back up. I just want to burn this book. Its a history class. I LOVE history. I watch the History channel for fun. But I HATE HATE HATE this class!!!

Sorry. Ranting over with. :)
Anyways... I got contacts! They thought it would take me about an hour to learn how to put them in. I was paranoid out of my MIND because my mom used to wear those small hard contacts all the time. She had a horrible time with them. If there was the slightest wind they would give her issues. So it took me forever before I finally said enough was enough, my glasses are bothering the heck out of me. It took me 30 minutes to put them in 4 times and take them out 3. I walked out with them on, and could barely feel them. I went to the barn, where it was windy, sand blowing everywhere, and taught a class of 3 little girls [probably ages 8-12 - it was MUCH easier than teaching ORU, BTW. They tacked up by themselves (YAY!), didn't need me to run with them (double YAY!), and all of them could jump really well (triple YAY! - cuts down on the boring factor).] I had NO problems with them, at all.

I was excited, to say the least. After I got over the feeling of disorientation. I felt strangely removed from everything around me for about 30 minutes. Kind of like I was watching everything from a TV screen or something. And I was able to take them out in less than a minute. So... I think they're keepers!
Yay for contacts.
Oh... we also ordered new glasses for me! They're Coach [my mom picked them out while I was in the exam room thingy - whatever they call it... my dad just loves the fact that they're such a big name brand such as Coach... haha.] and green, and all purdy. They make my eyes actually look blue instead of green or grey. I think my eyes can't make up their minds about which color they want to be sometimes. They're supposed to be blue.
Oh, something that made me happy.... I went to my mom's hair lady last week for a trim & color. My hair is more red/brown instead of just boring brown now. =] And that makes me happy in and of itself [even though the lady thinks she's phsycic [sp?] and can communicate with the dead - its wierd]. But... she was the first person to ever tell me I have my dad's eyes. =] My dad's eyes are very pretty. Although I think mine are a bit darker. He has light blue eyes... mine are closer to teal-ish. A girl out at the barn asked me if I had color contacts in. Give me a compliment and I'm your friend for life [compliment/encouragement is my primary love language, go figure] so that made me happy too. I got so many compliments just being out at the barn with my contacts. So.. yeah.

Me = happy.
For now.
Even though I'm working through this hateful, hateful, torturous class.

God bless! ^_^
Tina

Tina's Bookshelf

2009-01-21T12:46:00.002-06:00

Okay. I just made my third blog.
I'm insane. :)
I started a book review blog.
http://tinasbookshelf.blogspot.com

Now... I haven't actually started the reviews yet, but I will!!! I'm actually reading The Great Gatsby right now, so that will be my first review. Yay! They won't all be classics, but right now I'm on a classic binge.
So... in a few weeks, check it out! =]
Until next post... God bless!
Tina

The MPAA & HBP

2009-01-07T21:10:00.005-06:00

MuggleNet just posted on twitter with the MPAA's rating of Half-Blood Prince. It's PG. PG?!?! What the crap? I mean... with the talk of horcruxes, and the inferi, and sectumsempra... Seriously... people were surprised when GOF got a PG-13 rating. But now we're all surprised when it gets a PG rating.

I hope that this doesn't mean HBP is going to be another SS. I mean... I love Sorcerer's Stone for being the first movie when they're all cute and little. And eleven. However, now they're almost legal. Voldemort's upped the ante. And the MPAA has watched this movie and given it a PG?!

Not that I mind movies that are rated PG, mind you. Don't take this the wrong way... but I would think that with all the action in the book that there should be action in the movie accordingly, which doesn't always make for PG material. Lots of scary images and fake blood and inferi should not a PG movie make.

Seriously.

I'm done with my rant now.

Tina

One the first day of Christmas...

2008-12-23T14:01:00.002-06:00

Straight No Chaser.
The 12 Days of Christmas.
Watch it. Appreciate it.
:D

Then share it with all your friends and buy their CD. haha.

Also... look them up on youtube. Watch their 'Carol of the Bells,' and other videos. They are AWESOME.

Please Pray!!

2008-12-19T13:03:00.003-06:00

Okay. Here's the sparknotes version of what has happened in the last few days:

Dr. Bullock came out to look at Dakota. Did an exam, blocked the right side nerves in this front left pastern. Still 10% lame after the block, so he went on to x-rays. Got 2 shots. The calcium deposit that Dr. White in Sallisaw said was completely harmless... wasn't harmless. It damaged a co-lateral ligament on one of the joints. Dakota needs surgery so that Bullock can go in, remove the calcium deposit, and clean up the area. Six months of recovery time. [He's already been out six months with this lameness.] After the six months... we slowly bring him back to see if the surgery has worked.

There's no guarantee. If the "easy" surgery doesn't work [$500-600], then we would have to spend around $4,000 [closer to 5,000-6,000 probably] to have a specialist fuse the joint together. Please pray! I don't know exactly what to do. I've already talked this out at length with my parents [and gave them a headache - hah, they should live in my head for a day!] about our choices and my thoughts about our choices. First of all - we won't sell him for anything if we don't at least try the first surgery. He'd have to be put down because he isn't worth anything. [My trainer blames PETA for devaluing horses. I'll have to get back to you on my own personal opinion of this later], or be sent to the auction, where more than likely he'd be bought for dogfood or to be made into a European delicacy because again... he isn't worth anything to anyone else.

I wish time wasn't an issue for me. But I'm going to start college in about a year and a half. College is darned expensive. Horses are darned expensive. Yes, I would have the time to ride. No, if wouldn't have the money to ride. On the other hand, if I had the money I wouldn't have the time because I'd be working for that money. Am I making sense? I mean, I knew that I would probably have to sell Dakota before going off to college. But I thought that wouldn't be until my senior year in high school. Right now we should be routinely jumping novice jumps. We should be dominating beginner novice schooling shows. He should be worth more than the $3,500 that we paid for him. But he isn't. And it breaks my heart. I mean, if he wasn't just EIGHT years old, it might be easier. If I knew he had lived a full, happy life, it would be easier to make this decision. He hates stall rest. He hates turn out for too long. He hates not having a job. He's too smart to sit around doing nothing. But he'd have six whole months of that. Of less than what he is doing now, which is next to nothing, so he could recover.

But... on the other hand, the decision could be worse. I have a FREE horse waiting in the wings for me if I need it. Dr. Randall has a bay, eight year old gelding that has been out to pasture for several years. I'm itching to get my hands on it to work with it! I mean... I've been riding for 5 1/2 years... heck, I could have a master's degree in riding with how long I've been doing it. I want to be able to take a horse that was out to pasture and bring it up, make it worth something, and be able to say... heck yes, I did that. And I sold him to a good home because he was worth something. But then I think about Dakota, and all we've been through together. He's been my BABY for 3 years now! Three years. Well... three years in January. But that's less than a month away.

I want to ship Dakota off to Jamie's place after his surgery for his recovery period, and try to convince my dad to let me take on the free horse while Dakota is being a horse for six months. But I don't know if it would work. I mean... it takes more than six months to get a horse ready to sell. Especially if that horse hasn't been ridden for 3-5 years.

Please pray that I'll get some guidance on this!!!

Isaiah 30:21 - Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, "This is the way, walk in it," whenever you turn to the right hand or whenever you turn to the left.

Tina

Top 10 Christmas Songs.

2008-12-16T13:24:00.004-06:00

I got bored yesterday [when I should have been doing homework... but that's okay. I got a TON done yesterday. And I'll get a good amount done today too. I must admit, even though I get my stuff done, procrastination is one of my biggest struggles and flaws. At least I can admit it's a problem. After all... I DID join the facebook group that says, "Procrastinators Unite! ...Tomorrow." And one of my favorite Chuck Norris jokes is the one that says, "Chuck Norris can make procrastinators unite.... today." haha. Sorry. Again, I digress.

Top 10 Christmas Songs.
[I AGONIZED over this list. Because Christmas songs are the best songs in the world. Choosing only my favorite 10 was difficult. And that is an understatement!]

10. We Are Santa's Elves - Burl Ives [from Rudolph!]
9. God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen. - Anyone. Has always been a favorite. Though I do like Shawn's version. haha.
8. We Three Kings - the Haygoods. [LOVE it!]
7. Mary Did You Know - Dom & the rest of the gang. Chills!
6. This Christmas - Straight No Chaser
5. Run Run Rudolph - Chuck Berry
4. I'll Be Home For Christmas - Fats Domino
3. Baby Jesus is Born - Garth Brooks
2. Carol of the Bells - Anyone. Partial to boys choirs, awesome instrumentals, and Straight No Chaser's version.
1. Santa Claus is Coming to Town - Straight No Chaser

Ahh. I had to force myself not to change and/or rearrange about seven times. If I had more time I would have made a "Top 20" list. Or maybe 30? 40. 50 is just over the top.... or is it? I didn't list many of my favorite country Christmas songs [like George Strait's 'Christmas Cookies' or Brooks' 'Winter Wonderland.' And there's always more Haygood Christmas songs, and more Burl Ives, Mannheim Steamroller, Straight No Chaser, Reba, and so many other good songs. Oh, and the 'Redneck 12 Days of Christmas' by Larry the Cable Guy and Jeff Foxworthy. And the '12 Days of Christmas' by Straight No Chaser. You MUST go to youtube, and look up '12 Days of Christmas by Straight No Chaser.' Must.

At the risk of rambling further... God Bless! Until next post,
Tina

P.S. If you have ANY money to spare and would like to listen to the BEST Christmas CD you have ever heard.... buy Straight No Chaser's "Holiday Spirits."

Arisona [Recap of the last 3 days]

2008-12-16T13:00:00.003-06:00

Days 5, 6, & 7. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. The 8th through the 10th.

Monday, mom & I walked to the shopping place across the street from our hotel. We hit jackpot with a two-story Barnes & Noble. It had escalators! I decided to use my $20 giftcard that I had gotten from my cousins for Christmas. Then I paid another $20 of my own money. I bought a hardback compilation of four of C.S. Lewis's works [$9.95!!], a hardback B&N Classics compilation of great American short stories [$7.95!!], a SparkNotes book on Huck Finn [ughh. One of the few books I just CANNOT read. Okay... if I read C.S. Lewis, great american short story classics, Emile Bronte, and Jane Austen for fun... you cannot blame me for having a few books that I must use SparkNotes for.] Then I also bought three SparkCharts to help me with history. [APUSH and American Government. They've helped already! Concise, to the point, simple lists of information. I wish my history books were written like that.] The first time I ever used SparkNotes was for Shakespeare's Julius Ceasar. I got an A on the paper and test! And after I read the SparkNotes version, I always read the real version. Since I know what's going on, I can understand it better. Why am I justifying myself to you? I do not know. I guess it makes me feel better justified after I got a lecture from my father about cheating. I maintain that SparkNotes is not cheating, if it helps me grasp the concept. And besides, if I retain the necessary info [I can still remember what Julius Ceasar was about!], who cares how I learned it?

Anyways. Tuesday I did homework for 2 hours straight while mom wrote letters to her brother and a few friends. Then we went to the shopping center again, had lunch at the Cheesecake Factory [shared the Navajo sandwich. Best sandwich ever! Looove the avocado. ^_^] and went to Crate & Barrel. They had some cool stuff. We talked with dad outside by a chiminea [sp?] when he was done with his conference stuff for the day. He told us some of the stuff that one of the speakers was talking aobut [dealing with "problem people."]. Somehow mom ended up attempting to lecture me on not talking enough [my inner perfectionist doesn't let me speak because I may be wrong. One of the 'problem people' traits. Whatever.] because people think I'm not that smart. Okay, I'm shy and I don't want to say anything that makes me look stupid. What's wrong with that? This is why I like talking to people over the internet. I can say what I'm really thinking because when I type it out I feel more confident about it. She says that on the occaison I do actually talk when her friends are around, they are "amazed" at how smart I am. I told her that smart people [especially smart perfectionists... don't think I'm tooting my own horn here, I'm just repeating the convo between my parents & me] don't say much because we go by the, "It's better to keep your mouth closed and be thought a fool than open your mouth and prove it," mentality. Because my dad is a borderline genius [even if he expects WAY too much out of me] and he is definitely NOT the talkative type. He's more of the... intimidate by silence type. haha. Then my dad basically told me I need to speak up more when I'm around people so they don't think I'm stuck up. I said that's their loss if they think I'm stuck up. I'm not. I'm just shy. And I don't mind what other people think. I also more of the sit back and watch type. I love watching people. It's just so fascinating! I don't see how people can get the stuck up impression from that, but apparently they do. I told my dad at least I don't intimidate them. Half of my friends are scared of my dad because.... he's just generally intimidating, I guess. Heck, I'm one of the only people I know that can last at least a good ten minutes in an argument with him while holding my own. When his brother last longer in an argument with him... my dad is just trying not to offend him. Dad doesn't care if he offends me. But I digress. Actually, I've been digressing for a good while now. I'll move on.

After my dad's last meeting Tuesday night we went to a movie. Four Christmases. It was hilarious, but the Mary and Joseph [actually the whole church thing] thing was definitely over the top. Outright making fun of Christians and church. They sort of crossed a line there. But other than that [and the fact that they weren't married] I loved it! And Reese Witherspoon is SO cute. I love her. :D

Once more, we went back to the pizza place. The pizza place also had THE BEST cheese bread ever.

The trip home was uneventful. Except for the fact that we were running late, then dad's calendar on his phone went whack so dad thought he'd accidentally gotten tickets for the NEXT day and we thought we'd be on standby. Then he realized that the time zone change had messed with his phone so we were in a hurry again because our tickets WERE actually for Wednesday. We were in another crappy terminal of Dallas FTW again [B this time. Why we never got to go to D when we always do, I don't know.] and I got my Auntie Anne's as always. I made plans to go to church because Courtney was going to be there, and then I got french fries from McDonald's because mom insisted I eat something. We made it home uneventfully, I got to read a good 6-7 chapters in "Blue Like Jazz," and we finally made it home.

To the cold.
But oh well.
Tina.

Arizona! [Days 3&4]

2008-12-16T12:43:00.002-06:00

Days 3 & 4. Saturday & Sunday. The 6th & 7th of December.

On Saturday we traveled about an hour & a half [or two hours... can't remember] to Sonoma, Arizona. I took lots of gorgeous pictures. As usual, I was in the passenger seat as navigator. And I controlled the satellite radio so we listened to the blues. :) When we got to Sonoma we went to a guest center and the park lady told us about the different cool places we could go. So we went and saw a pretty mountain by a river. I know it sounds vague, but for the life of me I cannot remember what the name of the mountain was right now. You'll see pictures as soon as I upload them from my camera and my dad's camera.

Then we went to Bell mountain. GORGEOUS! I discover I rather like roundabouts instead of 4-way stops. They make u-turns especially easy. [We did NOT u-turn because of my navigation skills. We u-turned because my father IGNORED my navigation skills.] Then we climbed halfway up Bell mountain to see the "Chapel." Mom was disappointed it wasn't a real chapel. In reality, it was a huge cross constructed on the mountain with stone, and you could see it from Bell mountain. From as far away as we were, it looked like wood. Mom and I pased navajo women several time, and the third time we passed the same two women, we had to get a $20 from dad and we bought two neclaces from them. I like mine. It has a star on it. Mom got a purple cross.

The next day, Sunday, we switched hotels. We went to the hotel where my dad's conference was going to be. As soon as we checked in, we went to Old Town in Scottsdale, where we were staying. Basically a shopping center. For all my Branson-savvy readers... think Grand Village [the Christmas stores right by the Colonnade & the Spirit of the Dance place on the strip] only with an old western theme. And lots of jewelry stores. There was lots of navajo indian stuff, too. We bought a Mexican indian blanket from a Muslim woman. [Who thought my star neclace was the Star of David. We didn't know why she kept referring to Hanukkah until my dad pointed out to her that my neclace just had 5 points to the star, where as the Star of David has 6 points. I also bought the rest of my Christmas presents for my barn girls & just a few church girls, so I won't say what I got because Katie-poo reads this. ;) We found a Smoothie King [which I hadn't had in FOREVER!!!] so I got an Angel Food with a shot of energy... which the girl didn't make us pay for. [the shot of energy, not the whole drink.] Shopping makes me tired.

So then we went back to the hotel and watched the third & last installment in The Librarian trilogy. [With Noah Wiley.. love him! He's so cutely awkward as the Librarian. The first movie was the best, though. However, I LOVED the little side story about Judson.. hilarious! I love Judson. haha. The vampires were a little out there though...] Then I complained and agonized about not having ABC family - that meant I couldn't watch the rest of the HP weekend.

The next post will be much shorter... because while I was watching the Librarian movie, dad was in his first meeting of the week and mom slept. The rest of the week was just that exciting. haha.
Tina

Arizona! [Recap of Days 1 & 2]

2008-12-09T10:23:00.004-06:00

[I started writing this in AZ, so if the tenses change at some point, or I'm referring to not being home yet, that is why.] So... we're going to be back home tomorrow [yeahh! *cough*]. Right now, I'm sitting in a hotel room. A nice hotel room. If I were to walk outside in jeans and a t-shirt, I would be just fine. Just. fine. Back home... my grandma said it was sleeting & hailing. Yeah. Jeans and a t-shirt wouldn't work back home. But oh well. Enough of my complaining.

The first day was the travel day. But it was a good day. For once, I wasn't completely deaf when we landed after our second flight. We took off from Tulsa and had a connecting flight out of Dallas. We were in terminal... A I think it was. However, I'm quite partial to terminal... D, I think it is? D has the cool artwork sculpture thing that is huge and all the fun restaurants. A's only two redeeming factors are the Auntie Anne's and the Border's. So, I got my pretzel and went to Border's. By now you must know of my desire to become a wedding planner. So you know it is perfectly natural for me to pick up a Bridal magazine. [Ooh... before I picked up BRIDES, I saw this movie magazine... and the issue I bought was TWILIGHT! :D haha. Sorry. Moving on.] Anyway... when I went to buy my magazines, there was a man behind me on his phone. My BRIDES magazine was on top of the Twilight one. I had my back to this man the whole time. I almost burst out laughing when I hear him tell whoever he was talking to, "Yeah, and this gal in front of me is buying a wedding magazine too! Everyone is getting married lately!" haha. The major thing for me was... usually I get mistaken for a fifteen year old, not someone who is about to get married.

When we landed in Phoenix, we got to pick the rental car we wanted. Mom said, "How about the PT Cruiser?" I don't like PT Cruisers. Also, a creep that used to be stalking my best friend drove one, so that might have something to do with it. Then I saw the car next to it. It was a Charger. I thought it was purty, so we got that one. :) Then I sat in the passenger seat so I got to fiddle with the satellite radio, which was exciting, and read the directions off of mapquest so we could make the 30 minute drive to our hotel without any major issues. I think my parents are absolutely SICK of blues music now, which is what I automatically turn the satellite to when we get in the car. :) haha. Its just, they don't have any good country stations - its all pop country, prime country, or outlaw country. I'm picky about the music I drive to. And then their jazz stations are all elevator music... Anyway. Every chance I got, I turned it to blues. [When we got back home I went to the library and checked out some Blues CD's. ^_^ Know of any good blues artists? Recommend them!]

That night we ate at this AWESOME gourmet pizza place named Picazza's. We ended up going back three times while we were in AZ. Each time mom & I ate the Applewood Smoked Bacon & Chicken pizza. It was gooooood. And instead of tomato sauce, they had this awesome ranch stuff.

And then the next day we went to the ghost town on Superstition Mountain. haha. The mountain [which was GORGEOUS, by the way] was actually named Superstition Mountain. But before the ghost town we stopped at this ranch place where apparently they filmed several westerns. And the western that Elvis Presley was in. Mom had to get a picture with his cardboard cutout in the chapel. haha. And when we went to the barn/stable/livery thing [whatever they were calling it] they had some FANTASTIC stuff! Such as a buggy that was used by the doc in Gunsmoke, and a real calvary saddle that was used in one of the early American wars [1812, maybe? I'll have to upload the pictures.], and other old-west things that my dad and I were really interested in. Mom got her picture with the Elvis cutout, so she wanted to go. :P haha.
THEN we went on ahead to the ghost town. It was incredibly populated to be a ghost town. I don't think I've ever seen a ghost town with a packed saloon and tourist shops. They also had a livery. I wanted to take a horseback ride, but I had gotten sick earlier at the other place [ehh. Being a girl sucks sometimes, if you get my drift.] so my parents didn't think I could handle it. [Pffft. Whenever I get sick, riding usually helps. The rocking motion soothes instead of irritating..] Plus, they are under the general impression that trail rides are a waste of money. Pfft. I still think they're fun.

The sunset was gorgeous.
We went back to the pizza place.
I watched HP weekend on ABC in our hotel room. ^_^
And I got the pull-out bed, as always. I swear, one of these days I will break my back on one of those. I can feel the springs and the metal frame. My parents get the bed with the down mat on the mattress. What's new?

Next post will be days 3&4. :)
Tina

Planning Weddings. [Don't laugh... though I know you will!]

2008-12-03T13:44:00.004-06:00

Okay.
Sooo...
About fifteen minutes ago I texted [yes, I know it isn't a real word. I use it anyway.] Kate. I asked her if she preferred men in bow ties or regular ties for formal events. She said skinny ties or bow ties. Since I didn't have any skinny ties to work with... I went with the bow ties.
You have no idea where this is going, do you?
Perfect. =]

Well. To make a long story short... since I decided I'm going to be a wedding planner when I "grow up," I have subscribed to BRIDES Magazine, Elegant Bride, and Modern Bride. I also created an account on the David's Bridal website, because they have the COOLEST thing ever. It's called "Dress Your Wedding." So... I "dressed" my wedding. The way I've partially planned it. They didn't have the right bouquet for me, so I made due with what I had. Anyways.

Then. I decided to do my friends' weddings!
I bet you saw that coming.
So. I promised Kate she'd see what I was doing. I told her she'd laugh. But I don't mind. :)

For all the link-clicking you are going to do... I advise you to hit CONTROL ['ctrl'] on your keyboard before clicking the links with the mouse. It will bring it up in a new tab/window. :D

http://www.davidsbridal.com/dyw/details_public.jsp?w=AODNCLBAAG&v=ELCMDMDAAH
That, my friend, is how I see Kate's wedding. From left to right: Her parents, Jamie, Me, Kate. The groom, a groomsman, the flower girl and ring bearer, and Kimberly. I see her as having a more traditional-like wedding, with long flowing bridesmaids dresses and such. And of course, I made green a big part of the color scheme. I'm thinking... winter wedding, so things would be a deep hunter-type green. And the other color would have to be silver or brown. But the website didn't have silver and brown stuff. So. Maybe a bouquet like THIS. Hmm. I'll have to think about it. Anyways, Kate dear. This is your wedding how I see it. Well, if I spent more time on it my idea would be better. But I threw this together in 20 minutes. =]

http://www.davidsbridal.com/dyw/details_public.jsp?w=DODNCLBAAG&v=DGILDMDAAD
This is how I see Jamie's wedding. Not too traditional, not too modern. I mixed it up with the bridesmaids dresses! You like? I do. =] They're a mixture of traditional-ish and modern. They're fun, like Jamie. Kind of laid-back, but still elegant and gorgeous. Like Jamie. :D I imagine a summer wedding. Of course I had to use Jamie's baby blue and navy color scheme. However, I pictured a bouquet more like THIS one.

http://www.davidsbridal.com/dyw/details_public.jsp?w=HODNCLBAAG&v=IOJKDMDAAG
This is how I see Kimberly's wedding. Very modern. She can pull off a dress that isn't a-line. I see something slim and satiny, like the dress in the picture. I didn't give her a veil, but a tiara. Also, the bridesmaids dresses are simple and modern. I see a spring wedding here. With the lilac color scheme. Dark lilac for the groom/groomsmen. A lighter lilac for the bridesmaids. Deep purple for the flowers. And I actually do like the bouquets in the picture this time. Yaaaaay! :D haha.

http://www.davidsbridal.com/dyw/details_public.jsp?w=FODNCLBAAG&v=JBILDMDAAI
MY WEDDING! Okay... you ready for this? Haha. The bridesmaids dresses, in real life, are actually exactly like THIS. Exactly. My dream bridesmaid dress. That style, that color, that shiny. So girls... hope you like it! ;) haha. Hope it isn't one of those monster dresses that all the bridesmaids hate. And the bouquets look like THIS. My own personal bouquet is going to look SOMETHING like THIS. Cool, huh? Haha. Don't worry, some things will probably change. I haven't picked out the exact wedding dress because that would be too difficult. Dresses change. [As I know bridesmaids dresses do, but oh well.] However, I do know what TYPE of dress. Strapless with a plain, long bodice. An A-line skirt that is slightly ruffled but not lacy or puffy. :D I luff it so far. Oh, and it's going to be a fall wedding.

Okay. Wow, this was a long-winded day. I'm done blogging for the day, though. :D Promise.
Tina

What I'm Thankful For

2008-12-03T11:48:00.005-06:00

I know Kate is going to love me for the picture. But, she is one of the things I am thankful for, and so is Twilight. [See "Team Edward" pin on Kate's jacket. ^_^]

Anyways... I'm going to copy what Kate did last year and make a list of everything I can think of that I am thankful for. Yes, I am a bit late. No, I do not care.
The List.

My family. [Mom, dad, extended family.]
Our house that keeps us warm/cool/dry. =] In Oklahoma weather, you never know what you'll need! Haha.
My horse, Dakota.
Kate, Jamie, Kimberly, Nikky, Abby. My barn girls. =]
Haley, Courtney, Tavia, Kayla. My church girls. =]
All the Kims, Tomiah, Megan, Natasha, Annette, Joanne, Rose, Brittany, Liza, Jason. All the Haygood fans. [Sorry if I missed you!]
The Haygoods. Tim, Pat, Dom, Shawn, Mike, Matt, Cat, Aaron. The fact that they bring so much joy and inspiration to everyone who loves them.
My health.
My job. [Feeding. Without it... dad wouldn't be too happy paying Dakota's board for too much longer and bye-bye Koda!]
My horseback riding skills. And Kim, for all the instructing, showing, yelling, frustration, knowledge, pain, excitement, and explanations that it took to mold said horseback riding skills.
My old, scary Russian figure skating power class instructor. He thickened my skin. Now Kim [and Jim Graham, whenever another miracle happens that lets me take Dakota to another of his clinics] can yell at me to her heart's content and I can improve myself instead of being hurt.
Music. I would die without music. Country, Jazz, Classical, Rock, 80's, Pop.
Jesus. The fact that he DIED for me. No one else has ever done that. [& I hope no one ever has to.] And for my relationship with him.
All my Keystone [homeschool] friends. That I talk to over AIM.
Technology. How did we ever get along without it?
The fact that the sun rises each day. The fact that the earth is in a perfect orbit space so we don't get burned up by the sun or frozen from the fact that we're too far away from it.
The stars. The universe. The fact that they practically shout with evidence for a creator.
Books. I would die without books.
Langston Huges. I love his poetry.
The History Channel. Yes, I'm a nerd.
I have a car. A nice one. A mazda tribute. Not many 17 year olds can say that.
Pokey. My Pokey little puppy. =] She's still alive after 13 years.
That I live where I do, in such a privledged part of the world.
For all the book series' that I have loved over the years. The Boxcar Children, The Princess Diaries, The Saddle Club, High Hurdles, Harry Potter, Twilight, The McKaslin Clan, The Gallagher Girls. For Jane Austen books.
For Clinton Anderson. The man is a natural horsemanship genius.
For the movie adaptations to my favorite books/book series'. For the screenwriters, actors, and directors who care enough to keep even a little bit of the books integrity.
For weddings. I love weddings. I'm going to be a wedding planner one day.
For my future husband. I've been praying for him. For a few years now. I actually haven't told that to many people. I wanna know who he is! :) ASAP, if possible. Thanks, God. =]
For all the amazingly fun times I've ever had with my friends. For all the laughs. The inside jokes. Even the tears. They've made me who I am today. Even though I'm still figuring out who I am, I know that my friends past and present have played a big role in that.
For large, fun, and/or old fashioned vocabulary words. Like ones that Jane Austen or Emily Bronte would use. Words like pertinent, discombobulate, whatsoever, and bibliobibuli. [Bibliobibuli refers to those who read too much.... that's probably me. :D haha.]
For fun grammar. Yes, I'm a HUGE nerd.
For fun accents. British [especially Liverpool!], Irish, Aussie, and the slow twang of real cowboys... not just idiot rednecks. :D
For real cowboys. The ropin', ridin', courteous, sweet, and chivalrous sort. Like Doug [Kim's husband, my farrier] or George Strait.
For dancers. I wish I could dance. I love to watch those who can dance, dance. Such as Shawn Haygood. :D
For glasses. I like to see, thank you very much. [Okay, it isn't that bad... everything is just a tad blurry.]
For being a blue-eyed brunette. I love blue eyes. Love them. Dad has them, I'm pretty sure both grandma's have them, Hugh Laurie has them. Blue eyes are awesome. I also like being a brunette. =] Its fun.
That I can walk in tall high heels and not kill myself. [Okay.. now the list is getting a little bit rediculous. But I'm having fun so who cares?]
That I can roll down Tibby's windows [my car. Its a Tribute, I named it Tibby.], blast my music, sing at the top of my lungs, and no one can laugh at my horrible singing abilities because they either can't hear me over the music, or no one is around. =]
For House, M.D. Now I know that it's never lupus. And to steer clear from Vicodin addicts if at all possible. Unless I need a mystery disease diagnosed.
For Kate & Grace expanding my music listening range. Now I'm constantly listening to Imogen Heap, Panic at the Disco, or Paramore. Possibly Muse. And for the fact that we can drive through Jenks in the middle of the night, singing along with D.H.T.'s Listen to Your Heart at the top of our lungs.
For girly, estrogen-filled songs such as D.H.T.'s Listen to Your Heart.
For insanely fun midnight release parties/movie showings.
For the fact that I inherited certain things from my dad's side of the family, certain things from my mom's, and the fact that I'm pretty sure I inherited the gene that makes you look about 5-10 years younger than you really are from my mom's side of the family. Even though it is annoying at the moment because people still think I'm 14 instead of 17.
For blogger. For the fact that I can ramble on blogger to my heart's content without annoying anyone because no one is FORCING you to read my blog. If anyone is still reading this list, by the way.... I love you.
For previously mentioned people that read my long-winded ramblings all the way through.
And then comment on them.
And for the fact that I think I've finally run out of things to say. For the moment. But I'll stop before I can think of anything else. Because I will.

hahaha.
Happy Belated Thanksgiving!
Tina

Haygoods Thanksgiving! [11.27.08]

2008-12-01T15:11:00.003-06:00

The Thanksgiving show was pretty much my reason for going to see my relatives for Thanksgiving. haha. Sorry guys. :) But when you live 30 minutes away from Branson and I seem to like to come visit you on a regular basis [especially when I live 4 hours away], you must ask your self.... Does she love me for me, or Branson? hahaha.

Kidding. I love my family. The show was just a much-needed reprieve from all the family love. And sick family.

Anyway. The second I stepped foot into MCC, I set about looking for the message boarders. I knew Kim, Rose, Jason, and their families would be there, so I figured it wouldn't be too difficult to find them. [Especially since Jason is so tall, and I figured a loud conversation would be going on - and it was. ;) haha] I was dragging my poor cousins Shaina & Brianna behind me, but I was not to be deterred. I love them, I do, but I'd been with them all day. haha. I was ready for some non-family interaction. [Especially since the rest of my cousins haven't learned any table manners yet, and I'm STILL stuck at the kids' table... mainly because the adults' table is full and not one more chair can be squeezed in. I can only handle so much open-mouthed chewing, and getting food everywhere... Such as faces, clothing, hair, etc. anyways. I digress.]

I met Kim face to face for the first time! And I think it was the third time I'd seen Rose. I just saw our group picture on the MB, and I love it. :) Very cute. Haha. I had to ditch the MBers for awhile to talk with my family, then I ditched the family to go back to the MBers. When they went on up to find their seats, I started dragging my family in... it took about 10 minutes, and we walked in right when Dom was introducing Cassandre'. At least I didn't miss her. :D Gorgeous. Beautiful voice. [Almost like an angel... hah!]

The show was fantastic! I love, love, loveloveloveLOVED all the pinstripes. First time I'd seen them instead of the suits. [Not a big fan of the red suits, and since my favorite brother usually sports a red suit in the beginning of the show, I was a huge fan of the pinstripes.] I embarassed my cousins, haha. ;)

I don't know how well you know me, but... I'm normally quiet. At least out in public. When you talk to me in person... I have to get out of my shell and out of my comfort zone... Which is speak when you're spoken to. And even then... sometimes I'd rather not say anything. But now, the front row at the show is my comfort zone, so I let loose. :D haha. I was screaming, cheering, hollering at the top of my lungs, and flashing pictures to my heart's content. Since no one was sitting by my mother and I, during the second half we had my Aunt Gina [Tina, Gina, I can never tell who anyone is yelling at. haha. Especially my dad. Is he yelling at his daughter or sister? When the first letter is mumbled... ahh. Frustrating. Sorry. I'll continue.], Shaina, & Brianna come sit next to us. Brianna sat in an empty seat in the second row, though... because we embarassed her. :P I love it. Shaina said, "Geeze, Tina. Calm down!" But where's the fun in that? Like Kim said... it isn't any fun unless you act like a three year old. So that is what I did. haha.

I yelled "DANG!HOT!" at Shawn... Mom yelled at Mikey... and at one point I even got in a, "SEXY SAX PLAYER!!" Although no one heard that one because of the screaming girls on the left side. And, one of the funniest things... Right after Aaron said he didn't have anyone to share the holidays with, my mom started yelling, "You can come down here with me!!!" hahaha. Then he and Dom started laughing. It was great. I love my mom. And my cousins were further embarassed, although things like that are expected out of my mom. :P

When the show was over, my mom was the first in the autograph line. I preferred to actually stay in my seat until the last note was sung and the Haygoods left the stage... so I was the second. haha. I pulled out my big envelope of 8x10's, and handed mom her 8x10 of Mike [I printed out two], and the 5x7 of her and Mike. I had my other eight photos to get signed. hahaha.

Patrick was extremely surprised that I had all these 8x10s. [I scanned them and put them in my 3rd Haygoods Thanksgiving album "Merry Christmas, Baby."] When I showed Mike his, he said, "Nice." Then I had to dump out all of the pics on the counter, right in front of Catherine, because mom had messed up the order [is it sad that I had them in autograph-line order? I'll go ahead and say no... I was just planning ahead. haha] when she had looked through them five minutes earlier. Cat looked very surprised to see me rifling through all these huge pictures of her and her brothers. Haha. But I do think she liked her picture. I thought it was pretty, at least. Mom was very proud of the picture I took of Dominic, and I had to restrain her from showing it to everyone in the autograph line. haha. It wasn't THAT good. I also had him sign a 5x7 of him and my Grandma Low up on stage when she was the My Girl. It's going to be part of her Christmas present! And I was very distressed for awhile that Shawn was nowhere to be seen. But once the crowd thinned out I noticed he was back behind Patrick, so I trooped over to get in line again. I was several people behind Kim.

Hahaha. At one point Kim turned around and said, "Hey Tina! Did you hear that?!?! Shawn said he was singing just for me!" The look on Shawn's face was priceless right when she turned around. :P I loved it. So I decided to react in a total non-Tina way and yelled right back. Haha. I said, "Hey! What's up with that, Shawn?!" hahaha. I don't think he knew quite what to do. Whenever it was finally my turn in line with him he informed me that he was also singing right to me. I just grinned and said, "Thank you!"

Then he put his arms around me after I handed him the 8x10 of him to sign. :) He signed it with his arms around me! Eeahhh! I had to refrain from fangirling right there. That was the one time I refused to act like a three year old... After all... I didn't want to make it too difficult for him to sign and hug me at the same time. :D haha. Then he asked me my name, and wrote, "To: Tina Love you. Shawn Paul." I loved it. Then he leaned down and put his head on mine for my mom to snap the picture! [See above picture.] Best picture of Shawn & me EVER! Evereverever.

Then I waited for the autograph line to die down, and went to hunt down Catherine and Matt. I wanted to have pictures of me and them without the autograph counter thing in the way. :) I persuaded Shaina to take a picture with Matt as well. Oh... and Brianna finally got into it at the very end. The first time we went through the autograph line, she realized she didn't have anything for them to sign. Shaina got out a bank deposit slip [to which one of the brothers said, "Nice." haha.] and Brianna had them sign her ARM! Hahaha. When Dom signed, he said, "So, now you can never wash it again right?" haha. NOW who is the embarassing one, huh? hahaha. At least I had individually picked and printed 8x10 color photos that I had taken myself. Wow, that sounds sooo stalkerish. But that's okay. Mom was boasting about it to the brothers that we were their own personal stalkers [along with all the other fans]. hahaha.

So... all in all. It was pretty awesome. Oh, and I saw Tim... and I had just KNOWN when I was printing up my 8x10s that I should have printed one of Tim, too. But I didn't. Should have gone with my first instinct. *snaps* Rats. Oh well. I'll print one up next time!

God bless!

Tina

Twilight Review: In Depth. [SPOILERS!]

2008-11-22T18:37:00.003-06:00

Hahaha. Sorry about the previous post. I was still majorly fangirling. I still am, actually. However, I'm just itching to give an in-depth, totally too long review. I'm going to start with the best part.
Favorite Scenes.

Baseball! Ahhh! The Muse song is now my favorite on the soundtrack. "Supermassive Black Hole." It just got me sooo pumped! The baseball was amazing. Fantastic. Showed off Emmett's strength & Edward's speed. Jasper playing around with the bat was awesome! It really showed his personality. haha. After he stopped looking like he was in pain.

In the parking lot after Edward drove Bella to school. :D Haha. I absolutely fangirled over his expression. I LOVED his smile. It seemed to say, "Heck yes. That's right. I got the girl." Bella: "Everyone is staring." Edward: "He isn't... oh, wait. Nevermind. He is now." haha. And then my favorite line EVER... right as he draped his arm over her shoulder, "Well, I'm going to h*** anyway." I just CANNOT get over his facial expression! I LOVED it.

The Cullen house! Okay, so the Italian joke wasn't so funny. But I loved Emmett. And I still laughed at the joke. "Her name IS Bella!" Emmett is my favorite vampire. Besides Edward. Then Jasper in a close third. So any Emmett/Jasper scene made me squeal with happiness.

Okay. The Port Angeles scene. It was really well done! I loved the girls trying on dresses. Jessica absolutely cracked me up! I loved her. She was much more likeable in the movie than the book. It works for the movie, but I'm glad that she is thoroughly un-likeable in the book. And the cleavage! Hahaha. In the prom scene where Bella is motioning to her chest, and Jessica mouths, "I know!!" it was a crowd pleaser. I definitely laughed.
And when Edward GROWLS?!?!?! Oh wow. I loved it! He looks so menacing and so very... Edward! Rob did an amazing job with his interpretation of Edward. I keep wanting to just type "Ed" because now we have a horse at my barn named Ed. But I can't. It just isn't Edward-like to shorten the name. Its like typing "Isabella" instead of Bella. It doesn't work.

But yes. I loved when she just about got attacked. Although, she didn't look like she was concentrating enough. One of my minor complaints that don't amount to anything.... essentially it didn't matter. But it was a little continuity thing with the book that you aren't going to get right no matter what. I loved the, "Get in the car," and the way he drove off! Now I want a shiny silver volvo. ;)

The Cullens and Hales. Oh my gosh. I'll admit it... I SCREAMED like a 13 year old fangirl when they came on screen for the first time! I believe it was Rosalie & Emmett first. I screamed. Then it was Alice & Jasper [who did very much look like he was in pain - I LOVED it!!!]. I screamed. Then it was Edward. I screamed. Louder. hahaha.

Like Kate, I slightly doubted Nikki Reed in the beginning. But no more. She was OUTSTANDING! And so was Kellan Lutz. I looooved Kellan. And I love Emmett. So, that was perfect. And Jasper was also pretty darn perfect. Jackson was awesome! And Ashley was an amazing Alice. I loved Alice.
And Edward. What can I say? hahaha. Superb.

I still laughed at the fieldtrip scene, even though that was one of the first spoiler scenes I saw. The "you can google it" comment still made me laugh, even though I watched that scene on youtube about 50 million times before I saw the movie.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
I need to see it again. And Courney, a friend who didn't read the books but saw the TV spots and wanted to see the movie, said she would go with me. But no. She just texted me and said she just saw it and didn't invite me because it was spur of the moment. Um, hello. I'll go anywhere spur of the moment for Twilight! hahaha. Sorry. Tiny rant there. I'm not mad at her. I just like giving her a hard time. ;)

The soundtrack fit in PERFECTLY! I thought all the rock songs that were on the soundtrack might be slightly awkward in places, but they just pumped the audience up! It was fantastic! Supermassive Black Hole was my favorite. And the lullabye could have been explained even a little. It wasn't. But it was still good.

How Edward was watching Bella sleep, and she thought it was a dream??? I loved how they showed that! The fans, of course, knew he was actually watching her sleep, but the others might not have realized it really wasn't a dream. And then later on, in the "I just want to try one thing," scene [aka, the kiss scene], I loved how he was like, "Oh... I went through the window. Just like I have been for the past few months. 'Cuz I'm cool like that." haha. Not his exact words, but that was his attitude.
I need to see it again so I can refresh my memory! I'm so jealous of Kimberly, who's already gone to see it again with her older sister! Kate informed me of this little tidbit - she didn't want to be jealous alone. haha.
I loved James' jump and crouch into the poor man's boat. I agree with Matt from Imprint [a Twilight podcast, created by the Mugglecasters for HP], in the fact that I don't think they should have showed the nomads' faces until the baseball scene. However, they did need to be introduced earlier on than in the book so that the movie audience could understand everything a little bit better.

And I've already forgotten if I've mentioned this or not, but... I LOVE Peter Facinelli now! He played Carlisle Cullen. He was PERFECT! I loved his mannerisms, his demeanor, his voice, and his looks. They were all absolutely perfect for his role as Carlisle. I'll admit, when I saw pictures of him with his almost black hair right after they cast him, I was a little skeptical. But with the blonde hair and the pale makeup... OUTSTANDING! :D I am now in love with his acting skills.

I was also impressed with all their clothing choices with their low budget. Especially Bella's and the Cullens'/Hales'. Actually, everything was very nicely done with the low budget. I mean, the sparkling could have been a little more... natural [as natural as sparkling vampires can get], but they got the diamond-like quality there just right. The 'jumping' from tree to tree was very cheesy. But all in all... everything was quite awesome for such a low-budget movie.

I think I'm done now.
I promise.

I also promise I'll never say Oh my Edward [OME] ever again.
Tina

TWILIGHT!! OME!!

2008-11-21T03:18:00.002-06:00

Yes. Believe it. I just said OME for the first time ever. TWILIGHT WAS PERFECT!!! EEAAAHHHHH!!! I went to the 12:01 am showing. And oh my Edward, was it fantastic! The soundtrack blended so well... I nearly screamed with delight every time a song started. The casting was PERFECT.
RPattz = perfect.
Kristen = stunning AND perfect [screw whoever thinks she's ugly - she isn't!!!]
Jackson = perfect + AWESOME!!!!! :D
Kellen = Only complaint was I wanted to see MORE!
Nikki = Soooooo totally Rosalie.
Ashley = perfecttttt!!!
Cam = PERFECT.
Taylor = Pretty darn awesome.

Eeeauuagh. THE BASEBALL SCENE!!!!
I won't post any spoilers just in case... but... it was one of my favorite scenes. And that's saying something. Because pretty much every scene was my favorite. Seriously. I couldn' choose.

And STEPHENIE MEYER!!! About 3/4 of the audience screamed when she showed up in the diner. Kimberly didn't believe it was her. Kate and I corrected that, though. :D hahaha.

I'm having an epileptic fangirl fit. Once I finish, I'll finally go to sleep. Maybe. Then I get to wake up at 8:00 am to go feed. At least I don't have to go to school.

I'm seriously jumping up and down and screaming.
Seriously.
Tina

Christmas Survey - Take It!

2008-11-20T14:46:00.001-06:00

A 50 Question Christmas Survey

Before Christmas
1. Does your family send out Christmas cards?: Yep.
2. How soon do you start shopping?: This year... I started in September. Heck yes.
3. Who do you shop for?: Friends & Family. Dad's the hardest.
Decorations
4. Do you put up a Christmas tree?: Heck yes!
5. If so, is it fake or real?: Hahaha. Fake.
6. Do you like tinsel?: Not a big fan, no.
7. Do you use homeade or storebought ornaments?: Storebought. I go for the classy trees. :D
8. Do you put Christmas lights outside your house?: Depends.
9. Do you put lights on the tree?: Hahaha. Its pre-lit.
10. How about popcorn and cranberries?: On the tree, no. Refer to no. 7.
11. Is there a wreath hanging on your doo?: Always.
Christmas Eve
12. Do you celebrate it?: Kinda.
13. Do you hang up your stocking?: Yep.
14. Does your family read "Twas the night before Christmas?": No. Try the Bible. [Christmas story.]
Favorite
15. Christmas Movie: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer! ["Silver & gold, silver & gold, everyone wishes for silver & gold..."]
16. Character from any Christmas Movie: Tim Allen from The Santa Claus.
17. Christmas Song: Ahh. Hardest question! Right now its a toss up between "Baby Jesus is Born" by Garth Brooks & "Carol of the Bells" by Straight No Chaser.
18. Christmas Memory: Blasting xmas music, decorating, & dancing around the house with Mom. Singing off key at the top of our lungs, of course. ;)
This or That
19. Give or Receive?: Give.
20. Eggnog or Cider?: CIDER! Heck yes, hands down! Nothing like good apple cider.
21. Red or Green?: Green.
22. Ham or Turkey?: Turkey. But really... I'm more of a chicken person.
23. Star or Angel?: Angel.
24. White Lights or Colored Lights?: Colored!
25. Blinking Lights or Still Lights: Still.
26. Were you Naughty or Nice this year?: hmm... ;) I dunno. Nice, I guess.
Presents
27. What do you want for Christmas this year?: lots of things. Among which is: shouldersback back brace, bigeloil, riding gloves, saddle pads, & the House, MD seasons 1-4 dvds.
28. When do you open your gifts?: with immediate family - on Christmas. With extended family, Thanksgiving. Mom & Dad's sides rotate thanksgiving & Christmas.
29. What's the best gift you've ever gotten?: ummm... I dunno. I can't choose.
30. What's the worst gift you've ever gotten?: Most recently, a weathered old welcome sign. But i convinced grandma that it was the best thing ever. She'll never know. It was the thought that counts.
31. Who gives you the most gifts?: Parents. And Grandma from my mom's side.
32. Have you ever had a secret Santa?: No.
33. Do you like wrapping gifts?: Eck. I'm a perfectionist. Translation: No, because I have to spend FOREVER on one gift till I get it perfect.
Random
34. Do you put change in those red buckets?: No... not really.
35. Do you burn a yule log?: Nope.
36. Can you name all the reindeer?: Dasher, Dancer, Prancer Vixen, Commet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, and Rudolph are all I know. If there's more... lemme know.
37. Do you bake cookies?: If you know my mother, you know the answer to that question.
38. Have you ever seen your mommy kissing Santa Clause?: Nope. I do like it when Reba sings that song, though. ;) And... if you know my dad.... he wouldn't dress up like Santa Claus.
39. Have you ever gotten a kiss under the mistletoe?: Nope.
40. Do you go caroling?: Hahahahahaa. Nope.
41. Do you drive around and look at the Christmas lights?: Yep! Purty. :D
42. Have you ever left Santa cookies?: Yep! And carrots for the reindeer. Too bad mom didn't know that reindeer wouldn't NIBBLE on carrots... heh.
43. Have you ever sat on Santa's lap?: Yes. I was petrified! I HATED sitting on Santa's lap! I knew it wasn't the real Santa anyways... why would I want to sit on some strange man's lap?!?! Mom always had to bribe me. haha.
44. Who do you celebrate Christmas with?: Family.
45. Where do you celebrate Christmas?: Either my house or my dad's parent's house. Alternate Christmases.
46. Have you ever had a white Christmas?: I live in Oklahoma. I think I remember one. Maybe two. Then again, I could have been dreaming.
47. What part of Christmas do you look most foward to?: The music. The atmosphere. The decorations. The apple cider. The fire in the fireplace.
48. Have you ever had your picture taken with Santa?: Yes. Refer to 43. Hated it.
49. Does your family always take a picture at Christmas?: Usually. Mom's a sap for things like that. I hate pictures.
50. Have you ever heard the song "Thank God For Kids" by The Oakridge Boys?: Probably. I just don't recognize it by the title. I do like the Oakridge Boys, though. For certain songs.

Fill out this survey yourself
Find a different survey
Brought to you by Bzoink

Reading Rut.

2008-11-19T15:41:00.003-06:00

The picture is my newest bookshelf. I say newest... but I actually stole it from my dad. And then my mother and I completely filled it up within 10 minutes of stealing it. The top shelf is completely mine. As well as on top of the whole thing. And half of the middle shelf is mine. The rest is my mothers. You can probably see the edge of my other bookshelf to the right. That is my old one. It's completely filled up. Hence, stealing my father's bookshelf. He wasn't really using it anyway.

Hmm. Well, the reason I'm posting is that I'm in a reading rut. Not that I have a lack of things to read; I don't. Well, not really. I just want something different to read. My grandmother got me in on the Christian romances. I own over 100 of the darn things. I still love them, even though they don't have much substance. However, even though I'll always be up for a good romance, I'm feeling slightly restless with picking up another one right now. I need something... different. Haha.

I've made up a reading list for myself. Books I need to read. So far, I have:

Uncle Tom's Cabin

The Catcher in the Rye

The Doer of Good by Oscar Wilde

The Davinci Code [never got around to reading it; after all the hype when it was first published I feel the need to be able to at least hold a more than two minute conversation about it.]

Yeah. It isn't that impressive of a list, but its different. I also have a million and one of my dad's books to read. Those, I can assure you, are not romances. He has a bunch of Clive Cussler and Grisham. I'm thinking of reading some Grisham. Now, I only need to find the time to read all of these. I've also had this unexplicable urge to hole myself up for awhile and write. I actually have a few novels that I've started. Not that I think they'll get published at any point in time... but justs to have the satisfaction of knowing that I actually wrote a full-out story. That would be cool. I write rather oddly, though. I can't have any distractions. Hence the need to hole up.

I'm getting off topic here. My main point in writing this was to get input. Give me your favorite book or author. Recommend something for me. I'll let you know if I read it. I probably will at some point in time. :D Fiction or non fiction. Heck, recommend your favorite poetry book or poet. Right now I'm pretty fond of Langston Hughes. Hence... this short little poem at the bottom of the right-hand column on my blog. If you haven't... scroll down and read it. :)

Anyways... Until next post, God bless!

Tina

Half Blood Prince Trailer.... AGAIN!

2008-11-16T01:15:00.002-06:00

EEEEEYYYAAAHHHHH!
I am so utterly elated about this that I simply cannot make any commentary on this tonight. I JUST watched it. It is simply fantastic!! Well... watch for yourself:

Well... My inner fangirl has just exploded! The only reason why I am not screaming in giddy excitement is that my parents are asleep. And I'm supposed to be asleep as well.
Rest assured, I shall put up a later post with my comments on this. Now I'm going to listen to MuggleCast as I attempt to fall asleep.

Cheers!
Tina

Twilight Trailer

2008-11-07T11:40:00.003-06:00

Soo..

Like the absolute nerd that I am, I just got finished listening to the live episode of Imprint [Mugglecast for Twilighters, basically] and I loved it. The podcast and the trailer! haha. I just had to get my own thoughts typed out.
First of all... This trailer definitely brought out my absolutely embarassing, but oh-so-fun inner fangirl. I had to pause it several times to get in a fan girl scream. haha.
Second of all... what is with the opening music? I didn't notice until I listened to Imprint, but they're right... It's like music from LotR or the Passion of the Christ. Both amazing movies, but now it makes me laugh when I watch the beginning of the trailer. Like Laura [on Imprint] I'm imagining orcs invade the set. hahaha.
And the titles! "Nothing will be the same." So melodramatic. Hahaha. Now I keep hearing Matt [from Imprint again] making fun of the titles, in that deep, trailer-narrator voice. haha. "It begins now."
And I keep hearing them make fun of the titles over and over. "This movie is... unique." "It will... be different." "Everything will change." hahaha. Sorry. Such generic titles that could be fit to any movie, basically.

Anyways. On to what I loved about the trailer:

Edward catching the apple. [Easter egg! ^_^]

Edward running away from the car crash scene.

"You are my life now."

"Say it... out loud. Say it." "Vampire." [FANGIRL SCREAM!]

Seeing Esme!!

Jasper, Alice, & Emmett jumping into the ballet studio.

"I just want to try one thing." EEE! The kiss! :P [Must make a long comment here. Wasn't the pacing just gorgeous on that part?!?! It was dramatic, tense, fast-paced, and then all of a sudden... the music stops. The camera zeroes in on Edward & Bella. "I just want to try one thing." THEN THEY KISS! AAAAAAHH! My inner fan girl just almost had a heart attack. Sorry. Moving on.]

Bella's lines that were taken practically verbatim from the book! [her theories: spiders, kryptonite; Edward's traits: cold, impossibly fast, no sunlight, etc.]

James' leap & crouch, when Charlie is telling Bella about the dead security guard.

Oh... and one other thing that bugged me... I absolutely love love love Kristen Stewart as Bella. [Always have.] However, in some of these scenes she's so pale she already looks vampire-ish. But oh well.

Can't wait to see how this turns out! Fangirls unite! haha.
Tina

HE'S ALIIIIVE! [And SOUND!]

2008-11-06T13:27:00.004-06:00

This amazing picture of Dom is up only for me to showcase my amazing photography skills. haha. No, I was just really excited about how this picture turned out. So I put it up. [For some reason I was thinking of PotC, and Jack's undead monkey.] Anyways.

MY HORSE IS ALIVE! I felt like I had an undead horse or something for awhile now. Don't ask why, the 'undead' thing just popped into my head. So I decided that I would use it.

More specifically... Dakota is SOUND!

He is progressing beautifully. I've ridden him twice so far, and I'm going to ride him again today.

Of course... I have to ride him in the indoor, since there is about 6 inches of sand in there, and it's much softer on his poor bruised hooves... but I can still ride him. And he doesn't get grumpy. Which is a miracle. A HUGE miracle.

Thank you, Lord, for giving me my horse back!

I'm soooo happy I didn't have to end up calling Randall, or Bullock, or that farrier guy Jamie told me about... :) Ecstactic, actually. And so is my dad. And my dad's wallet. haha.

Hey, I'm contributing to the care of my horse! Last month I earned $435 working for Kim, and the month before that I earned $555. So there. :P

God rest ye merry, ladies and gentlemen! 'Till next post, God bless!

Tina

Nov. 1st Haygoods Show!

2008-11-01T23:21:00.005-05:00

Fantastic! Amazing! Superb! Phenomenal! Awesome! Haygoodtastic! And yes, it was even mantastic! hahaha. I loved it. They got the best of the summer show and the Christmas portion was all of the aforementioned adjectives. I need to find some new ones. So far I've thought of thrilling and wondrous.

Anyways.

I was ecstactic that we managed to score seats right in front of the section of the stage that Shawn hangs out in. My mother and I 'channeled our inner Annette's' and shouted, screamed, cheered, and yelled for all the guys. Though, I have to admit I cheered the loudest and longest for Shawn. He gave me a few extra tap steps 'just for me' while the rest of the guys were rearranging things on stage since I was yelling so much. haha. And my mom and I both got two thumbs up. My mom for yelling, "GO SHAWN!" Me for yelling, "DANG!HOTT!" haha.

So... for the Christmas portion.

LOVED IT! The songs that I can remember off the top of my head are:
Joy to the World
Drummer Boy
Hark ! the Herald Angels Sing
We Three Kings
Mary Did you Know
God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen
What Child is This [Dom's sax solo]
And Aaron's song, though I forgot what it was called. But I do remember it.

I loved their arrangements of Joy to the World and We Three Kings. Especially We Three Kings. It was unique and really, really cool.

There were no white suits. Not even white suit jackets, if I remember correctly.

Dom was still absolutely amazing with Mary Did You Know. Aaron did a fine job with the Little Drummer Boy. Catherine also had a substancial part in that song. Shawn was perfect with God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen. Dominic blew everyone away with his sax solo, which I do believe was What Child Is This. No one ever said, but it sure sounded like that.

I believe Mike hit the ground [as in... fell over] about four times. Daddy Haygood said it was on purpose when we went to order the DVD. I still had to laugh.

Then the next morning, I saw Jason in the box office! We went to see Red, Hot & Blue at 10:00 am. Jason was also able to help convince my mom to get tickets for Thanksgiving night. Front row, right side. Right where we happened to be the night before, which meant right in front of Shawn. Heck yes!

Then Jason got me hooked on Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate from Starbucks.

I ALMOST persuaded my mom to let us go back and see the show again Sunday night, but I wasn't too successful. I had the money to go on my own, but Grandma Low & Mom were hungry. I couldn't leave them stranded at the Colonnade with John [the guy behind the desk in the lobby] and no food.

I drove the whole way home on Monday. Which resulted in us making great time. I only went 5 over the speed limit. Which goes to show you... my mom gets distracted a lot. Instead of getting a heavy foot when she's distracted.... her foot gets lighter. We lose about 10 mph. And gain angry drivers on our tails. I think I'll drive from now on.

So... that was basically my Branson trip. We also went shopping at the Grand Village, and I finished my Christmas shopping for everyone but my dad. Man, but he is hard to shop for! I'll never be able to outdo that model corvette I got him last Christmas. I got it at the Cardinal Clubhouse at the Branson landing... it had the St. Louis Cardinals' logo all over it.

Till next post, God Bless!

Tina

Lost In The Woods: The Rant.

2008-11-01T01:49:00.004-05:00

So.. sorry if this sounds overly dramatic. However, I am extremely angry, so I must express it somehow. Yelling about it to my parents isn't a good idea when my dad just got rid of his headache. Arrrgh. I'm trying to calm down and not blow this out of proportion, but it is just SO HARD.

We went out to a ranch owned by a youth leader in my youth group for Halloween. We were going to do a scavenger hunt over at least 30 acres. And yes, I do know how big of a spot that is. I'm not exaggerating. It was probably bigger, but I'm downscaling it so I won't exaggerate. I'm NOT EXAGGERATING. AT ALL.

We had one weak flashlight. One hour to get 10 flags. One map [that was NOT accurate. I've ridden some of the land on my horse, and that map was not right, I'm telling you!! Courtney said it wasn't right either!]. And besides Courtney and myself, two other teammates. Who were not helpful, kind of creepy, and kept making sexual innuendos that made us very uncomfortable. Oh... and one of them pulled out a cigarette and lit it... in the middle of a bunch of dry, brittle trees and dead leaves. Courtney almost had an asthma attack. She's allergic to smoke. Yeah. It wasn't good.

I was proud of myself for not getting creeped out. However... we were following a clear trail [about four people wide], that we saw on the map [well, the crappy map], and we were looking for a HUGE clearing to a pond. [about a 2 acre pond. Hard to miss.] However, we kept walking, and there was no clearing. I mentioned that no one had jumped out at us to try to scare us, so we must be too far away. We might want to go back. But, the guys wanted to try THIS path. The clearing had to be just beyond it, they were sure! At this point NONE of it looked familiar to me, so I was slightly worried. And the guys held our only flashlight, so we kind of had to follow, unless we wanted to sit in the dark.

Well, the hunt was supposed to last an hour. We didn't hear the air horn blast that was supposed to signal the end of the hunt. We checked our only, dying phone at 11:30, realizing we should have been back at 10:30. Problem. We didn't know HOW to get back. I screamed. LOUD. No one heard me. We had enough juice in the phone to make 3 short phone calls, then it died. So, at least they KNEW we were missing now.

They hadn't even missed us!

Then I get in a shouting match with one of the guys. If you know me at all... I don't make a fuss about stuff, even if I'm upset, unless I really know you. I didn't know him at all. However... he was trying to walk off, with our only flashlight. I let him know that he was not going anywhere. We were sitting on a small concrete DAM. In the middle of nowhere. First rule of getting lost... STAY PUT. Common sense. What did he say? "That's a stupid rule."
I said, "NO. It is NOT a stupid rule BECAUSE IT WORKS. COURTNEY AND I ARE STAYING PUT. YOU ARE STAYING PUT. NO ONE IS LEAVING!"
Courtney oh-so-helpfully added that she would darn well sleep on that dam if thats how long we had to wait until someone found us. I concurred. Still, he tried to walk off. I was about to pull out the senority card [because I was SURE I was at least 3 years older than him] when we heard a 4 wheeler. We thought it was Stacy, one of our youth leaders. So we yelled to get 'her' attention.
Turns out it was a neighbor. He thought we were drunks partying on his property in the middle of the night on Halloween. He said he was about to bring out his gun.
I would NOT have gone with this guy if he hadn't volunteered info about some of the adults in our youth group. Then we borrowed his phone, called our leaders, and said he was going to lead us back to civilization.

All in all.... we got back TWO HOURS after we were supposed to. I've been walking in the pitch-black woods for THREE HOURS. With sticker bushes, and fallen trees. I'm surprised I hadn't sprained my ankle while I was lost out there.

Oh, and it was lovely. In the middle of all this, the guys were making innuendos and getting in our personal space, making us generally uncomfortable. Not a fun night. I didn't want to be that one person who ruins the night for everyone else because they aren't happy... but usually that one person WASN'T LOST IN THE WOODS FOR OVER TWO HOURS, IN THE PITCH DARK, WITH A DEAD PHONE, AFRAID OF BEING RAPED.

*deep breath*
Now, my non-confrontational side is coming back to me. In stressful situations it goes away, so I can handle the situation. Now its coming back. My mom said she's going to give my youth pastor what-for, but now I'm kinda like... 'ehhh... don't rock the boat too much!' Because I hate being a trouble to people. I hate it. But all I can think of is... what if a group who would have gotten a LOT more freaked out had been the ones to get lost? What if they hadn't had a phone at all, even though we had one that was almost dead... it was better than none at all. I mean... no one noticed we were missing, and one of the guys had a girlfriend who should have noticed. My other friends should have noticed. Courtney's sister should have noticed. We had a deacon's daughter and the pastor's daughter lost in the woods for goodness' sake!

Okay. Really. I'm calming down now... I promise. :)
I'm waiting on a biscuit to bake [at 2 in the morning, I know] because it is my comfort food. And I need some comfort right now.
The thing that made me the most angry, though, was how no one but my mother & Stacy seemed to care all that much about us getting lost for two hours. No one noticed we were lost. Now I'm sore, tired, and hungry.
I think I'm done now. Too exhausted, finally, to be angry anymore. At least the guy I kinda have a crush on asked what happened, and seemed interested, even though he didn't really seem concerned. Thats one more person who cared. I mean, I expected half of them to just laugh at us, but I did also expect genuine concern from more than 2 adults and 2 other youth.

Oh. I also missed out on seeing the Haygoods sneak peak thing. I was traipsing through the woods, lost. Hope your Halloween was better than mine!

Tina

Fall Break Camp

2008-10-30T10:57:00.002-05:00

Hahahaha. So. First of all, Harry Potter fans who don't know about the new international trailer MUST immediately proceed to scroll downwards until they see the 'Trailer Addict' video. And then read the post. But if you've seen it, or don't care, then you can just proceed with reading THIS entry.

Fall Break Camp... I went with my youth group. Over fall break, from Thursday afternoon till Sunday afternoon. I rode up with Corey [youth pastor] and Tavia [friend] and others in the church van. I got to ride shotgun, so I memorized the directions.... I'm going to drive myself next time. Tavia & I were the oldest ones, besides Corey, on that van. It was a looooong ride.

It was fun though. We had service every night, and played cheesy games that are to be expected where lots of youth are present. It was different PH youth groups that were there. I figured out I'm pretty good at the "Honey, If You Love Me" game. Haha. Well, I'm pretty good at making other people smile, but I'm horrible at keeping a straight face for myself. Man, but some of those guys just have to get up in my face and I'm laughing. Haha. But thats alright. I can get right up in their faces as well. =D haha, yeah.

The worship was amazing. Two of the guys from our youth group did the whole thing... just two voices, one guitar, and a piano. I finally gave up on bugging God for his plan for my life. I said that I would let him reveal all that in his time.

GUESS WHAT?!?! TWO days after I got back.... God gave me my answer. At least, I think so. I still have some praying and a whole lot of years to get through, but...

Now I at least have a tentative outline/plan. I'm going to get my MBA at ORU, then work for a wedding planner for awhile before eventually starting my own wedding coordinating business! :D Awesome, huh? Its perfect for me!! I'm a perfectionist, and waaay into details. Plus I'm a sucker for romance. So, perfect job! Plus, I'm spoiled watching my dad own his own business. He gets to go to the office late whenever he wants. haha. Anyways.

It was a really good weekend. I drove home with Haley, a friend who literally lives about two minutes away from my house. She had to drive up late the first night since she couldn't get out of cheering for a football game. That was fun. We stopped at DQ on the way home and met up with the church van and another one of our friends who had driven herself. :)

Look-ee thar, dad! Yore lil' gal can so-shuh-lize after all! hahaha.

well, till next post God bless!

Tina

New Half-Blood Prince Trailer!

2008-10-29T10:13:00.005-05:00

Ahh! I can't believe that just a little while ago we thought that HBP was going to come out in a few weeks. Now we have around seven more months again. FOREVER ago, we were saying "just seven more months!" *sigh* However, if WB keeps coming out with trailers like the first two, I shall be slightly less aggravated.
Heehee. So. I must discuss it.
1. Was that Ron & Hermione kissing? They aren't supposed to do that till the SEVENTH book. *sigh*
2. Did you see when Harry was vanishing? I'm pretty sure that was when Draco covers Harry up on the Hogwarts Express after Harry was spying on him!! *squee*
3. The beginning music was slightly LOTR-esque.
4. THE CAVE! OH MY GOSH! THE CAVE!
5. WHY wasn't Dumbledore's hand black? Or wait... was it his left or right hand? I don't think we saw his RIGHT hand.... hmm.
6. SLUGHORN'S MEMORY! Heck yeah. =]
7. The side-along apparition! Have they had that in the movie before? I don't think so. Besides, if I remember correctly, HBP is the first [& only?] book where he has to do side-along apparition. In the seventh book he just illegally apparates because he can't show up to get his license or he'll get arrested. Fun stuff.
8. Ending = priceless.
"But I am the chosen one."
*WHACK!*
"Sorry! Um, kidding!"
PAHAHAHAHA!

Music Shuffle Survey

2008-10-21T17:17:00.001-05:00

Music Shuffle Survey

- TO TAKE THIS SURVEY, SIMPLY PUT YOUR MUSIC PLAYER ON SHUFFLE -
- AND ANSWER THE QUESTIONS WITH THE TITLE OF THE SONG THAT COMES ON -
[it's better if you don't cheat and don't skip any songs.]
What is your name? Or what should your name be?: Fly Me to the Moon [Sinatra]
How is your life going?: Freedom [Jason Upton]
What is your nickname?: The Fever [Garth Brooks]
What is your theme song?: Footloose [Kenny Loggins] - Heck yes! haha
What is your best friend's theme song?: Route 66 - haha
How is your life going to turn out?: Juke Box Blues [Reese Witherspoon]
Will you get married?: These Foolish Things [Michael Buble]
Will you have kids?: Ol' Red [Blake Shelton]
What will your job be?: You Are My Sunshine [Soggy Bottom Boys]
Did you/will you finish school?: Just a Touch of Love [Sister Act Soundtrack]
Who is your best friend?: Jessie's Girl [Rick Springfield]
Who is or will be your significant other?: Barlow Girls [Superchick]
Who do you like?: A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes
How will you die?: To Make Her Love Me [Rascal Flatts]
How do you feel right now?: Still Feels Good [Rascal Flatts]
What is your favorite song?: We're A Couple of Misfits [Burl Ives, Rudolph soundtrack!] haha yes!
How could you describe your parents?: Fall Down [Superchick]
Your best friend[s]?: West End Girls [Pet Shop Boys] haha wow.
Your teachers?: Fences [Paramore]
Your significant other [or crush...]?: Redneck Yacht Club [Craig Morgan] haha - no.
Yourself?: Words I Couldn't Say [Rascal Flatts]
What is your best feature?: Good Time [Alan Jackson]
What will you be / should you be, profession-wise?: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 26 in D Major "Coronation" Larghetto [Mozart]
How could you describe this survey?: September [cover by Straight No Chaser]
What makes you angry?: Walk in Jerusalem [Haygoods]
What makes you sad?: Sands Monologue 1966 [Frank Sinatra]
What makes you happy?: Speed [Montgomery Gentry]
What makes you dance?: I'll Fly Away [Alison Krauss]
What is your favorite color?: Can't Even Get the Blues [Reba]
How would you describe yourself?: Battlecry [Michael Gungor]
Who is your worst enemy?: We Shall Be Free [Garth Brooks]
Who do you hate?: Will the Circle Be Unbroken [Cash/Carter]
Who do you love?: The Man Comes Around [Cash]
Who do you lust after?: Good Ride Cowboy [Garth Brooks]
Finish the Sentece
I wish: Not Every Man Lives [Jason Aldean]
I want to: and She said... [Lucas Prata]
I want to kill: Amazing Grace [Haygoods]
I want to eat: When Can I See You Again [Straight No Chaser]
My head: Hey Good Lookin [Hank Williams]
I am: Across the Universe [Jim Sturgess] Wow - that worked out.
My best feature is: My Girl's Ex-Boyfriend [Relient K] Wow - that didn't. haha.
My eyes are: Rainy Day in June [Alan Jackson]
My hair is: The Thunder Rolls (Long Version) [Garth Brooks]
My face is: Honkytonk Badonkadonk [Trace Adkins] haha. WOW.
You should: Heigh-Ho (The Work Song)
Random
Words of advice: Hey There Delilah
How do others see me?: I Just Got Started Loving You [James Otto] Aw, yay. haha.
How do I see myself?: Down By the Riverside [Kirk Franklin]

Fill out this survey yourself
Find a different survey
Brought to you by Bzoink

Do You Really Believe That What You Believe Is Really Real?

2008-10-08T11:39:00.003-05:00

Oooh. Toughie. =]
My church on Sunday nights is now doing "The Truth Project." It is really very interesting. Of course, it helps that one of my favorite subject is apologetics-related things. And questions like the one above are my favorite sort of questions. I'm thinking of maybe having a theology major, though I'm not quite sure what I would do with it.. Maybe I'd pair it with an English minor or something, since I've been playing around with an English major/minor idea. I've been praying for awhile that God would guide me in that area, and maybe he is starting to nudge me. I don't know. I'll have to pray some more. =]
But anyway... the Truth Project is AWESOME! Take a listen.

Geeze. I have issues I didn't even know about!

2008-10-02T16:17:00.003-05:00

Hahahaha. Okay... here are exerpts from the letter my oral surgeon sent to our insurance company, trying to get them to help us pay for jaw surgery. Or, as the surgeon says, "Bilateral sagittal split osteotomy with internal rigid fixation."

I have "mandibular hypoplasia."
"Deformities of the facial skeleton posterior crossbite have caused an abnormal bite which makes chewing and incising food difficult." [TELL ME ABOUT IT!!!] "If a proper bite is not provided, the entire mastication system can break down. Associated problems include excessive wear to contacting teeth with potential early loss of the dentition; stress and strain on the jaw, surrounding muscles and ligaments; myofacial pain and chronic headaches, lip dysfunction, tongue thrust and mouth breathing problems and speech difficulties."

Talk about a mouthful!
Without the surgery, we might need to pay for "physical therapy, speech therapy, prescription use and abuse, [their words, not mine!] neurologic studies, etc." I don't think I want to know what the "etc." could entail!

This wasn't the whole letter. Reading it, you'd think I had such a major deformity that I'd resemble the Hunchback of Notre Dame, with an even worse jaw. Thank God, that is not the case. So...

Pray that the insurance company will agree with my surgeon! I don't want to go through "physical therapy, speech therapy, prescription use OR abuse, or neurologic studies." I don't want dentures at 50, either! My parents are 51 & 52! I don't want dentures at their age!

Please pray!!! Tina

Worldview Test - Take It!

2008-09-29T11:03:00.005-05:00

Your score is: 128 points of 168 possible, 76%

Strong Biblical Worldview Thinker

Scoring/Ratings Chart

Strong Biblical Worldview Thinker 75% - 100%
Moderate Biblical Worldview Thinker 50% - 74%
Secular Humanist Worldview Thinker 25% - 49%
Socialist Worldview Thinker 0% - 24%
Communist/Marxist/Socialist/Secular Humanist Worldview Thinker under 0%

Now... I've grown up in a small [200 students for the whole school. Grade & high school. Not whole class or grade.] pivate Christian school for eight years. My highschool freshman year I went to a slightly larger [about 400 in the high school, dunno the lower grades] but still small private Christian school. I grew up in the church that is the founder of the school I went to first, and it was the church my mom went to as a child. I've had 17 years of Biblical worldview taught to me. Which is good. I'm not complaining in the least! Just saying why I believe I got the results I've gotten. And, I really believe the answers that I gave on the test. I do. I could have just given the "Biblically correct" answers [instead of "politically correct." hah.] and gotten an even higher score, if I'd tried to think about it harder.

And I should have gotten higher, actually. Two points higher. One question was about believing that only federally licensed teachers should instruct children in an educational setting. I put "strongly agree." It totally skipped my mind that the test people would count things such as Sunday school an educational setting. So, I probably would have answered different on that if I'd thought about it. But, I got a 100% in the Science and Family sections.

Take it and see what you get!

Tina

http://www.worldviewweekend.com/test/register.php

Duuuuude. I'm famous!

2008-09-27T22:22:00.003-05:00

Hahaha. Heck YES! I got two copies of Clinton Anderson's Downunder Horsemanship, No Worries Club Journal. I'M IN IT! Isn't that awesome? One copy was even SIGNED by CLINTON! I was interviewed a few months ago by a Downunder Horsemanship lady, all because I'm an english rider using Clinton methods. And they have several purdy pictures of me in there, too!

Since it is highly doubtful that you can get your hands on a copy of a magazine only available to No Worries Club members... I scanned the pages of the article for you! http://tinyurl.com/3lllu9 is the link to the webshots album. Its a public album, so hopefully you don't have to be logged in to see it! http://tinyurl.com/49m3bo is the link to my facebook album, with better captions.

I'm EXCITED!

Tina

Books = Awesomeness

2008-09-18T12:51:00.002-05:00

Hahaha.

So. My mom's friend's mother-in-law died a few weeks ago. Which is sad, but she had a TON of books. My mom's friend [another Kim that I know, actually] invited Kate & I over to search through the books! We took away at least 50 lbs of books! We thought we looked like we had robbed a bookstore. Hahaha.

My mom got 25+ books. I think I counted 20+ for me... Kate got around 18+ ish. Kate & I also made a vlog about it, but I haven't gotten around to editing it yet. The book that was the BEST was the "The Sinatra Treasures" book! It's bigger than my AP US History book! Huge! It has a CD with songs, interviews & other fun stuff on it that came on the inside of the front cover. And all throughout the book there's little extra tidbits that can be taken OUT of the pages! Like two Presidential Inaugural Gala programs, an Ocean's 11 movie poster, and toooons of other fun stuffs. I LOVE Sinatra. ^_^

Well... this is a miracle. I don't really have anything else to say, even though lots has been going on. hahaha.

'Till next post, God bless!

Tina

Tee-Kay... AKA.. Kate & I being stupid.

2008-09-17T12:28:00.003-05:00

Hahahahaha. Yesssss. So, Kate and I started a vlog. Because I have a webcam in my new laptop. Subscribe, rate it, and add it to your favorites! ^_^

The Five Love Languages

2008-09-10T14:00:00.003-05:00

Caption: Cute pic of my grandpa & me on Father's Day. Haha. Yesss. Now, Father's Day = Branson Trip = Haygoods. Oh, it also means we get to see family, I guess. :P haha.

Anyways. Forever ago, my parents led a small group at church on the Five Love Languages. I was about ten, so I didn't really care. But, the other day I was at Barnes & Noble and I saw "The Five Love Languages of Teenagers" over in the Religious section. Of course, it was a book for parents but I skimmed through it anyways. Then I got to thinking... what is MY love language? You would think I would know, right? But, I'm a perfectionist, and so I got to thinking, maybe its this, but no, I also like this, and this. Maybe this is more me? So, I googled the test. Here are my results, in case any of you would like to know:

Words of Affirmation: 10
Quality Time: 8

Receiving Gifts: 8
Acts of Service: 2
Physical Touch: 2

HOW TO INTERPRET YOUR PROFILE SCORE
Your highest score indicates your primary love language. Your second highest score indicates your secondary love language. If two scores are identical, you are bilingual (you have two primary love languages). If the scores of your primary language and your secondary language are close (for example, 10 and 9 respectively), it indicates both are important to you. Whatever your spouse does to express love in either of these languages will get emotional points with you. The highest score for any one love language is 12.
Having a clear picture of your primary and secondary love languages will explain much of your past behavior. Think back over the past and ask yourself, "What have I most often requested from my spouse?" Chances are your answer will lie within the scope of your primary and secondary love languages. You have been requesting that which would meet your deepest need for emotional love. Your requests, however, might have come across as nagging or criticizing and thus driven your spouse away.

Of course... this test is the original test, which is geared towards married people. Obviously, I am not married. :P But the love languages thing really helps to understand everyone, friends and loved ones other than those who you are married to. Sooo... take the test! =] I wanna see what your love language is!! [http://www.fpgwebs.com/five_love_lang_quiz.asp]

'Till next post, God bless!

Tina

Mamma Mia! [Money Money Money]

2008-09-05T10:44:00.002-05:00

Sooo... a few days ago I saw Mamma Mia with my mom and grandma. A few years ago we saw the play when it came to town, so of course we had to see the movie. All I can say is, some of the voices were actually better, but... poor Pierce Brosnan! I mean, I like his voice, but it isn't suited for a musical-movie type thing. And... I'm not gonna lie. Sky was kinda hot. =] Not DANG!HOT! but definately hot. hahahaha. Sorry, had to stick that in. ^_^

It was really good. The casting was amazing. I LOVE COLIN FIRTH! haha. I LOVE him. Especially in the BBC Pride & Prejudice movies and "What a Girl Wants." Apparently he is in another Disney movie... I saw him on some TV movie that I'd never heard of as I was flipping through channels. I also love Pierce Brosnan. My favorite movie of his, though, has been and always will be the remake of "The Thomas Crown Affair." Streep as Donna was GREAT too! I loved her [Donna's] friends too, they were absolutely hilarious!

So, of course, my mother has to go and buy the soundtrack CD. And we listen to it on the way home. I CANNOT get "Money Money Money" out of my head! Although, I do sympathise with the lyrics... Money money money, must be funny, in a rich man's world. Money money money, money money money, its a rich man's world... Everything is so expensive now. If I didn't need money, I wouldn't be feeding every morning. [Which I just got back from doing, btw.]

CRUEL!! My mom just walked in and told me we're going to Branson the 19th. I got excited at first, but then I had to grab my planner with my heart pounding. When I looked, it was just as I feared... I HAVE A SHOW SCHEDULED THAT WEEKEND!

You know what my mother told me? You wanna know?

I have to choose between the show or the Haygoods. How cruel is THAT?!

*sigh* Just my luck.

Tina

NEW COMPUTER!

2008-09-04T12:14:00.004-05:00

Heehee. YAAAY! I finally got my new computer! -pets computer- My precioussssss. Just kidding. ^_^ It is a Dell inspiron. And its GREEN! Kind of an ice/sea green to be exact. Have you ever seen those ice green small SUVs? Well, this is that color, only a tad more saturated. =] I. Am. Happy! Oh, and I included a recently uploaded pic that was just transferred from my old laptop to my new. =] Isn't it cute? Its my dad's parents. I took it at the Grand Country shopping center thing in Branson. Lucky that they live so close to Branson.

Anyways..

It is taking me 17 blank CDs to back up my iTunes list to transfer it to my new computer. SEVENTEEN BLANK CDs!!! Wow. That's a lot. I feel special, actually. But its better than uploading allll the individual songs again, plus the 20+ albums I put on there individually. Hope dad doesn't miss 17 of his blank CDs from our stash. =P Hahaha. Oh well. He hasn't actually looked at the blank CDs for over two years. Then again, it will be just my luck that he'll take notice tonight or tomorrow night. But he'll get over it.

Also, guess what? My books for school still haven't come in. Which is why I can take all this time during the day to set up my new computer! [My dad gave it to me last night.] Oh. And I'm gonna make me some money tonight! Jamie can't teach her 3 ORU classes tonight, so she asked me to sub for her. YESS! She has 3 classes with 5 people each in them. I have one class with 5 people. -That's SEVENTY-FIVE DOLLARS if everyone shows up! As opposed to my normal $2o-25 a week [depending on how many show up] from teaching. Of course, I make $15 every week day from feeding. But SEVENTY-FIVE DOLLARS for THREE hours of work... haha. EXCITEMENT!!! :D

So, I shall wallow in my newfound technological love and dream of all the students I get to teach tonight, at $5 a student. =] 'Till next post, God bless!

Tina

P.S. Haha. After all the rain we've had, everything was EXTREMELY muddy. I found out the hard way that if you ever want to go mudding, DO NOT take a 4-wheeler made for farm work. Taking the hay out and turning the horses out I almost got stuck in the wet sand and mud numerous times. I was so stuck in the mud at one point I seriously thought I'd have to get out and push [and get muddy water in my shoes - yuck!]. So, moral of the story - use normal 4wheelers to go mudding with, NOT ranch work 4wheelers... unless you have a really good working 4wheeler...

Normalcy is Overrated Anyway.

2008-09-03T11:39:00.004-05:00

So.. I was thinking today just how different I am from most of my friends. I got excited about finding a $5 Mozart CD because it had 50 whole songs on it for just $5! And I FINALLY found the Frank Sinatra CD I've been wanting for awhile now. I'm listening to it now. ^_^

Yesterday do you want to know what I got excited about? I got really excited about finding a new classic to read! "Gulliver's Travels" by Jonathan Swift. It's a "Barnes & Noble Classics Edition" book. The last book I bought from B&N was "Wuthering Heights." I was tempted to buy a very pretty book with all the Grimm tales in it. It was as pretty as my Jane Austen all-7-in-one book! Golden-edged pages, leather binding and all!

You know what I just thought? The most unlikely pair would be Sinatra and Reba McEntire, but if Sinatra was still alive... they should do a duet together. Since Reba is so big on duets. I would buy a whole CD just for a song with them singing together. haha. That basically is a representation of my musical tastes. Sinatra & Reba. I also had fun listening to a local radio station's "Retro Pop Reunion Weekend" that was playing 80's for Memorial weekend. That was fun.

And one of the other reason's why I was thinking about this is because I was uploading a bunch of pics to facebook yesterday, among which were my Breaking Dawn book release party pics. Kate, Kimberly, Grace and I were at B&N till past midnight, at a party full of people there waiting for a book to be sold. It was awesome! Everyone in the store cheered when the first girl bought her book. =]

Haha. I was also telling my dad about how I was one of the few 17 year olds I know of that keeps latex gloves & iodine handy, just in case I need to stick my finger in a wound or clean one out.

But yes... I do have something a bit more serious on my mind lately. Lately I've been trying to find, as my mom puts it, that "happy medium" between standing up for myself and being a positive, kind, forgiving example of a Christian for some certain people in my life lately. A few weeks ago during youth one Wednesday night Adam prayed for the youth, that we would have a burden for souls. He defined having a burden for souls as "losing sleep over the unsaved." I have seriously been losing some sleep thinking about a few people in my life. It just so happens that one or two of those people just love to walk all over me and take advantage of my quiet nature. I'll admit it, I'm a bit of a pushover. Lately I've been learning how to speak up for myself and actually argue back, but sometimes I feel that it is doing more harm than good. I was talking to my mom, then my dad about it.... and its just hard. So, pray for me that I can do the right thing in that respect.

Respect is a good word. I've been working on being more respectful to others, and trying to let them see my self-respect more. I haven't been the greatest at showing that. But, this will be a whole other blog topic. So, 'till next post, God bless!

Tina

Gregorian Chants & The New Indoor!

2008-08-28T12:35:00.003-05:00

Sooo... Kimberly and I were the first ones to take our horses into the new indoor arena! The pic is of the indoor. I had to take pictures of the first hoofprint [Chase], walk [Chase], trot [Chase], canter [Dakota], bite of grass [Dakota], and lunge [Dakota] of the indoor arena. It is PURTYFUL! =] The lights should be in the arena soon!!! ^_^ Excitement!

Oh, and... if you ever need to get to sleep... listen to Gregorian Chants. My Art and Music Appreciation course is covering Medieval music, and Gregorian Chants are Medieval... They make me sleepy. I've almost nodded off about 5 times now, just listening to my listening exercises & examples. It doesn't really help that I can't always understand the words, so its mainly a capella "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaooooooooooooooouuuuuuhhhhhhhh aaaaaaaa oooooooooooooooo" in some very calming voices, and its very soothing. Just so you know.

I'm also going with Sawyer and his mom to the American Theraputic Riding Center in Sand Springs. They're gonna give me a small tour so I can check it out and see if I want to volunteer. I think I'd have to commit for about 12 weeks. But, my dad's been wanting me to do some sort of service-y thing, and I feel that this is an amazing nonprofit charity thing. Plus, it is awesome physical therapy that these kids get. The walking motion of the horse actually simulates the walking motion of humans. So, after riding for 30 minutes twice a week or whatever, these kids that couldn't walk actually are able to improve their walking ability, and yeah...

Oh! I forgot to tell you guys about my Bath & Body Works shopping spree. They had a buy 3, get 2 free sale. So bought 3 body creams and got 2 free. ^_^ I got Sensual Amber [FAVORITE scent of the moment!], Rainkissed leaves, sea island cotton, Midnight Pomegranite, and Mango Mandarin. The last two I'm gonna give to my mom for her birthday coming up. I also got her a little aromatherapy thing that you roll onto your wrists and then smell to get the effect. Actually, I got two. Her's is "Sound Sleep" [lavender], and mine is "Mental Clarity" [rosemary] for better concentration. I also got her Mandarin Lime aromatherapy lotion and a sugar scrub. We also went to Ulta and I got some Biolage mousse & color protecting shampoo [for my new cinnamon highlights!], though my normal shampoo is Redken [Color Extend]. Ooh, we also got some FUNN facemask stuff. They had $2 individual 5 minute facemasks. I haven't tried them out yet but they look FUN! =] My mom also got us a peel-off mask to share, which is why I mentioned it in my post below. haha.

And I'm sure if I said anything else of what we bought it would get rather boring. So, 'Till next post, God Bless!

Tina

Place of Faith

2008-08-27T10:01:00.003-05:00

Last night I was listening to a Mark Gungor podcast. It was his “How to Pray” series that he’d been preaching on Sunday mornings. Lately that’s how I’ve been getting to sleep, listening to Mark Gungor preach. He was talking about celebrating the answer to your prayers before you get them. “Choose to be happy when things are bad or good.” We need to be constantly in a place of praise, a place of celebration, a place of loving God. It’s called a place of faith. God notices when we have joy in the answer to our prayers even before he answers them. And so, I felt like I needed to find a way to apply this to my own life.
I need to be already thanking God that everything will work out with Dakota in the end. I need to be celebrating the fact that this problem is fixable, that we didn’t catch it too late. In fact, I should be thanking God that we caught it so early, surgery isn’t needed. I need to be in a place of faith.
By the way… have any of you ever tried to eat with a peel-off face mask on? Yeah. Its kind of hard. Haha. Sorry, random. =] Oh, and if you're wondering about the picture... its me with the tiara I made at the Barnes & Noble Breaking Dawn release party. ^_^ Heehee. I'm special. I know.

Thank you, God, for already resolving this lameness issue!
Tina

First ORU Class..

2008-08-25T23:13:00.002-05:00

So... I had 4 students tonight. $20. Its pretty good, but if everyone had showed up that was supposed to I would have gotten $25. Although, I must admit, $20 an hour is awesome pay. I just need to figure out how to get more students so I can get two hours worth of work on Monday nights now. Last semester it was a bad night if I only got $20.

However, I am EXCITED about my students! Two are already trotting on their own. One of those two [Rachel] has ridden her whole life and the other [Amber] took this course last semester. The big challange with Amber is that she's hearing impaired. She needs to lipread. So, if I need to get her attention in a hurry that's kind of bad. But if she can improve a bunch I'm going to be so thrilled. Its a challange. The third girl [Annalise] has ridden several times and has some STRONG legs! That's good. And the fourth girl [Angelina] had never even touched a horse, but she isn't afraid of them. I stuck her on Teddy and she was perfect.

I have a great blend of experienced riders and total beginners. It makes it nice. As you can tell, I am now in a better mood than when I was writing my last post. ^_^

'Till next post, God bless!

Tina

Florida, Come Back to Me [A Whiny Post with Unreasonable Complaints]

2008-08-25T13:02:00.004-05:00

I.... miss Florida. So many problems were just nonexistant in Florida. But, I guess that is what happens on vacation. You get breaks from problems and stress so you can recharge. Problem 1 - Dakota is still lame. While I missed him terribly in the week that I was gone, I didn't have to worry about the quality of my horse's life now that he's been lame for forever [my trainer actually said we might as well put him down if we don't figure out the lameness issue. He's not rideable or sellable. ACK!] Problem 2 - Stressing over getting into college. While my mom didn't go, my dad just happened to graduate twice [using scholarships both times, I think - he had two totally unrelated majors. A Math major *shudder* and a Theology major.] and I'm expected to have perfect grades to get scholarships into the college I want to go to. Mr. Accountant kind of overlooked starting a college fund for me when I was little, so its pretty much sell my horse or get scholarships. Quite possibly sell my horse AND get scholarships. I think I'm just going to try to get into ORU. It isn't even all the way across town, its where my dad went, it's Christian, and its a good all-around school... Ack. I have to take ACTs this year, being a junior. At least I had a nice talk with Jamie about tips and stuff. Apparently they don't change the test for a whole year, they just rearrange the questions, so if I take it several times and get my score sheet back I'll have a much better chance of scoring better. Comforting to know. Problem 3 - Dealing with the real world in general. I'd much rather just live in my room with daily trips to the library and barn. I can have human contact at the library and barn. And at home. Well, I'd also go to church on Sundays and Wednesdays. And possibly shows. IF MY HORSE EVER GETS BETTER!!! Problem 4 - I have too many problems that don't mean anything. I mean.... there's dying children in Africa and I'm feeling guilty because instead of sponsoring one of them or whatever I'm spending tons of money on a lame horse. [Lame as in... not sound. Not lame as in, cool or uncool. He's totally cool. Just lame. haha. Sorry.] Actually, feeling guilty would be my Problem 5 - Of course, I've had this conversation with my mother. I'm pretty good about not letting OTHER PEOPLE put me on a guilt trip. I don't give in to peer pressure. [Usually. My church's bishop totally used peer pressure on me to get me to join the choir. Then he ambushed me several times.] However, I'm quite good at putting myself on a guilt trip. I have a very active conscience, which I guess is a good thing. But I get rather annoyed with it sometimes.

Sorry, this is a whiny post. Good news: My dad is going to compare costs between Dr. White in Sallisaw, and Dr. Bullock who would come to us. I told dad if we went to Dr. White I would pay for the x-rays myself [they're only 60 bucks] but I don't know how expensive Bullock is. He's Jamie's and Kimberly's vet, and Jamie says he's really good at a reasonable price, so I'm thinking he's going to be my vet too from now on if we use him for these x-rays. Jamie says he's really good with lame horses. He might be a keeper. ^_^

Top 10 Spookey Things - A horse's point of view
10. Blowing Paper:"At any moment it could whip up into our faces, covering our noses. We could suffocate. And don't try to tell us you'd do CPR."
9. Barking Dogs:"What? You've never read Steven King's CUJO?"
8. Puddles of Water:"Quicksand."
7. Trash Cans:"They've been known to swallow horses and transport them into another dimension."
6. Babies and Li'l Kids:"Long lost tribe of horse-eating pygmies."
5. Plaid Horse Blankets:"Hey, when was the last time you wore plaid? It adds 100 lbs."
4. Ropes and Hoses on the Ground:"Dreaded North American Trail Snakes."
3. Ponies:"Cute, cleaver, hardy. They want to take over the world."
2. Windy Days:"Two Words: impending tornado."
1. Carts and Wagons:"Look. You put a human on our backs, we can always buck them off. But hitching a horse to a wheeled object? It's just not right."

Haha. Good mood is halfway back now. I actually had a list of a good 10 or so problems, but I shortened it so as not to seem bratty. ;) My last three days haven't been the greatest, to put it lightly. But anyways! My favorites are 3, 2, and 6. Haha. Although, my awesome [yet still lame] horse luffs ponies [he's turned out with 2 lil' old men ponies], isn't scared of windy days, and luffs children and all forms of attention. Unless it involves a curry comb.

Tina