Life On The Highway

I am on the road a lot for my job, and I tend to see a lot of strange people in their cars. Take the other day for instance. I was actually driving with Sarah rather than traveling around for work, but I look over to the car next to me, and this guy is totally rocking out to whatever music he's listening to. I have never seen someone so enthusiastic about their music while driving by themself in a car. Quite entertaining.

I actually really enjoy trying to envision what type of person would be driving a particular car. (What can I say... I drive an automatic so I get prety bored while driving 100+ miles per day.) Monster trucks? Duh, a 24-year-old guy with a black baseball hat and a pierced lip. SUV? Soccer mom with lots of hairspray. Junker car? Young guy. Most unpredictable: VW beetle. Sometimes there are young girls with bouncy ponytails, other times there are orange-haired sexagenarians, and still other time, and perhaps most disturbing of all, middle-aged men in polo shirts.

I also see lots of dead animals. Dogs seem to have a rough time at life (or death). A bunch of friends and I had watched the movie Marley and Me (starring Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston), which, not to ruin it for you or anything, was REALLY sad! I mean, it was heartwarming, but sad. And then, THEN, I was driving along a couple days post-movie and I saw a large dead dog by the side of the road that looked just like Marley. Thankfully, I had 3 boxes of tissues in my car.

Now I don't know about anyone else, but I have always wondered/worried about those little dogs that hang out the window while their owners are racing along at exhorbitant speeds. Do they ever fall out? Does the force of the wind flying over their flapping tongue drag them from their master's loose grip? I found out this past week. They do indeed fall out. A little Chihuahua lay in the center divider, his stiff legs straight out, a blue collar hugging his neck. Poor little guy. I don't even like Chihuahuas, but it was someone's pet! Someone endured the TRAGEDY of their dog being torn from their loving arms and being HURTLED onto the unforgiving asphalt.

Wouldn't you love to commute??

Well, there's a first time for everything

My 2 friends and I were sitting in Starbucks last night (per usual), and one of the baristas walked up to us on her way out.

"Hey," she shyly pointed and me and asked, "are you a cheerleader at APU?"

"Uh, no," I responded. I began to wonder what the APU cheerleaders looked like.

"Not any of you?" she her point included all three of us.

"Nooo."

"Well, you look just like the girls on the cheer team at APU. How funny!"

We weren't sure how to take that. I said that I was going to take it as a complement, and while my one friend seemed a bit disturbed by the comparison, my other friend reassured us by saying, "She's complementing our looks; she couldn't have heard our conversation." And even if she had, there was no basis for thinking we were stereotypical cheerleaders. *phew*

Well, the Lord does answer prayer

I did a dumb thing last night. I prayed for something I didn't really want.

"Lord," I prayed/sighed, "if you really want me to go to the gym in the morning, wake me up at 6:30. But I'm setting my alarm for 8:00."

I didn't really want to go to the gym, which is why I set my alarm for 8:00-- much too late to make it to the gym, work out, then come home and shower before work. What a tragedy.

But no. At promptly 6:30 this morning, I woke up, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed (relatively speaking). Most mornings at 6:30 I groggily hit snooze on my alarm clock, but this morning I was surprisingly awake.

"Ugh," I thought, "I don't want to go to the gym. My bed is nice and warm. But I did pray that prayer last night... Dang it."

So I went to the gym. It seemed like I would be directly disobeying God if I didn't-- after all, I had asked Him to wake me up.

"Hey, God, tell me to do something that's really good for me!"
"Ok. Hey Stephanie, do something that's really good for you."
"No thanks."

Want a laugh? Look on Craig's List

So in a half-serious search for a new car with better gas mileage and doors that lock, I was bopping around on Craig's List. I came the following post. I almost died laughing.

2001 Green New VW Beetle Original Owner, under 85,300 miles I've driven this car since i was 16 and i just finished college and now i'm ready to buy a new car. I've never been in an accident, one time i backed into a lady carrying an ice cream cake in a parking lot, but no one was hurt, especially not my car. (That was closer to when i was 16)

and later...

Anything else you're wondering if it has, i'm sure it does, i'm not looking at the manual or anything. Concerning the engine, i don't know what cylinders are but they're probably there. (joking) It's all there and works great!

I almost want to buy it just because the post was so funny!

Percolate Your Mind: Fortune Telling

Last night (which was my last night!), I had Chinese food for dinner while at work. I thought the fortune in my fortune cookie was rather interesting:

"This is a prosperous time of life for you."

I hope so! Though being prosperous monetarily is nice-- especially when one has to pay for student loans, car insurance, some rent, car repairs, cell phone etc-- I hope that I will be even more prosperous in frienships and experiences. I signed up to do BFS, so I hope that this will be a spiritually prosperous time for me as well.

Don't worry, I do not stake my life on fortunes from fortune cookies, but this one got me thinking...

An Idea

Perhaps, because nothing definite is happening in my life right now-- it's all a big mass of confusion-- I shall record a new (and only) series titled, "Percolate Your Mind: Tales From the Coffeeshop." At this moment I am too tired to recall many, but as I experience or remember them, I shall document!

Otherwise, I think I might delete this blog.

Wow, my life is EXCITING

Well, as previously mentioned, I graduated. Then I went home. And I have since been working at a coffeeshop down the street from my house. Now, I know it's not a "real" job, but hey, it's money. Which is what I need right now. Plus, I don't want to get a career type job here in Southern California because I don't really want to stay here. I would instead like to live somewhere in the northern regions of California, specifically Sacramento area or Redding.

Before that, though, I may live in Denver or Maryland. I applied for the AmeriCorps program NCCC, and so far so good. I have to have a phone interview in the next couple days, then I will be notified of my acceptance or lack thereof within 3 weeks of said interview.

I figured that it would be nice to do some stuff that I couldn't do if I was paying rent or working a "real job". So that's why I'm working at a coffeeshop and applying for the AmeriCorps. I would like to do something overseas at some point too. Hannah found a great site for au pairs, but I'm not too into nannying. I need to find one where I just need to keep their house clean and cook them dinner or something. Not that I cook well, but I could practice on them, haha.

I have read lots of books so far, one being Daniel Deronda by George Eliot (she also wrote Middlemarch). It was 710 pages. I am quite proud of myself. It was a good book, I highly recommend it. I might attempt to finish Les Miserables... it has taken me a few years to get 3/4 of the way through it. I'm going to have to catch myself up with the SparkNotes that I bought, and then figure out where I left off. Yuck. But that's a good book too, with the exception of the 100 pages going on and on and on about some French war. Skipped that part.

So yeah, that's my life. Oh yeah, I think I might start trying different churches on Sundays. I think I'll start with EVFree-- 'scuse me, NorthPoint-- then perhaps Calvary Chapel. We'll see where I go from there.

Ok, that's my life right now. Exciting, huh? Yeah right. =)

My coworker asked if I had been tanning because my arms looked dark. She's my favorite person in the whole wide world.

Reflections of a College Graduate

Sorry it's been so long since I have last blogged. In my defense, I have been rather busy (until last week, anyway).

I graduated college. Though I am glad to be done with group projects and quizzes and pointless busy work, I will miss learning with my peers and reading interesting things and most of all...

...my friends. I made some fantastic friends over these four years. Together we have experienced, learned, discussed, exercised, laughed, cried, traveled, gone on midnight WinCo chocolate runs, frozen at the bonfires on The Patio, drank more coffee than I'm sure is healthy, loved, and laughed some more. We have shared each other's burdens... rejoiced when they rejoiced, wept when they wept, supported when life was rough, encouraged when circumstances seemed overwhelming or confusing, shared in anticipation and enthusiasm when an exciting opportunity came along. We discussed our homework with each other (those darn dialogue papers!). We shared what we had discovered in our personal lives. We created memories.

And in one day, it concludes. A whirwind of preparation and activity. Statements of "I can't believe I'm graduating!"... "This is SO WEIRD!"... "I look like a fat cow in this gown."... "Can you believe it?!? We made it, friend! We're graduating!" float around room where we line up. Then we walk down that graduation aisle to sounds of Pomp and Circumstance (or whatever the heck that song is called), and the roar of applause, and the snapping of cameras. Each graduate takes the seemingly unending walk across the stage to receive his or her diploma. We turn our tassles, and walk back down the aisle to more applause and more camera flashes.

We are college graduates!

The whole day is a blur. Surreal. I try to comprehend where the past 4 years have gone, what has happened that day, entertain guests from out of town. I try to live in the moment, enjoy what's happening. But I'm not quite sure what's happening. I walk in a fog.

I go to Red Robin one last time with my fellow graduates. We go back to campus for a bonfire on The Patio, hanging out, being friends. We ask about future plans. We promise to keep in touch.

Together, we have conquered homework and projects and success and defeat. We have spent 4 years together, building friendships.

This day is joyful.... we have made it to another milestone! Life awaits us, options are unlimited, we are unfettered by anything (except student loans), the world is ours for the taking. What freedom! What joy! What opportunity!

And I hold back the tears.

Up Close and Personal

I'm pretty sure every teen's mother has told them this. Or maybe it was just mine. But whenever I wanted to do something that "everyone else" was doing, my mom would respond, "If all your friends jumped off a bridge, would you jump off too?" To which I eventually replied, "Yes. Because if I didn't I obviously wouldn't have any friends left." So there.

But now I can legitimately and truthfully answer a resounding, "YES. Yes, if all my friends jumped off a bridge, I would jump off that bridge too."

I jumped off a bridge yesterday. I honestly can't believe I did so because I'm scared of heights and don't really like jumping off things. Especially things that are 30-40 feet off the ground. Maybe my subconscious was dreading finals. Who knows. But I did it!

Unfortunately, it didn't go as planned. I really shouldn't try feats like this. Some of you may remember the time I "fell" off a skateboard while going down a large hill and landed on my knee, and was barely able to walk a few days later. In fact, some of my friends had to carry me up the stairs one time (thank you, I am forever indebted-- if it were not for you, I might still be in the cafeteria at HL).

This time, I leaped off the bridge (after only 1 false start) and began my rapid descent. I suddenly got freaked out and started waving my arms, which propelled me slightly backwards. Right before I hit the icy waters below, I remembered that I should point my toes. This is where the "unfortunately" kicks in. I landed in the water in a sitting position. I, of course, mentally panic as I realize I've hit the water the wrong way. I had visions of Joni Ericson Tada floating through my mind.

"Maybe I'm paralyzed!!" I frantically thought as I swam to the surface. I quickly realized the ridiculousness of this thought, and instantly calmed, though I continued swimming rapidly. Have I mentioned how cold it was? It was difficult to breathe, and my arms were numb as I swam quickly toward the rock on which everyone else was standing.

My friends were concerned, and asked if I was ok. I assured them I was, though I was thinking, in a very intellectual fashion, "OUCH and COLD." Though it stung, I didn't think my legs were going to be too bad. As we walked back to the car about 20-30 minutes later, however, I realized that this was not going to be a pretty sight. Every step hurt.

As the evening progressed, my legs turned more and more black and blue. The bruising still continues to spread down my leg. Honestly though, it's a pretty good battle wound, definitely the best I've ever had. I just hope it stays above my knees because I am wearing a pretty knee-length dress on Thurday for Sr. Banquet, and, vainly, I do not want black and blue blotches on my legs.

So that was my adventure. I finished my last classes of my undergraduate career, and then jumped off a bridge. Awesome.

This is my friend Karissa jumping off the bridge. She was uninjured. I am the one on the bridge; this was Karissa's second jump, and I was not about to go again. Though I actually did contemplate it... =)















Left leg. Right leg.

3 more reasons I do not want to move to Southern California

1. It took me 1 hour to go 30 miles.
2. The sky is not often visible through the layer of smog.
3. Movies cost $10.50.

San Francisco!

So I have been gone every other weekend so far this semester. First, I went to Colorado for 5 days or so. Then Lee and I drove down to Fremont to go to a Sharks game and hang out with the peeps down there. Just this past weekend, Macy, Lee and I met Angie, Karly, Bethany and Abby in Fremont. It's been so good to do something other than stay on campus every weekend! But I need to cut down on the traveling a bit... I have totally messed myself up as far as homework is concerned, and I'm exhausted! But who cares, it's my last semester. I'm still going to pass everything-- just maybe not with more A's than B's. Ah, senioritis kicks in...

It's been kind of a weird semester; the atmosphere in our dorm hall certainly has changed. It's not bad, it's just different than last semester. I've also been doing a lot of thinking lately (as I believe I mentioned in my previous blog). Thinking about the present, about the future. Especially about the future. I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do with myself after I graduate. I'll figure it out as time goes on, I suppose. There are so many things I want to do. Which to pick is the question.

Anyway, here are some pictoral highlights from the semester so far.

First, I went to Colorado. Here I am with my beautiful friends outside the lodge.

Hooray for cousins!


One Saturday night here in the dorms, we went mattress surfing down our stairs. It's too bad they were short... I wanted to go faster!

San Francisco was absolutely gorgeous this past weekend!

We had fun wandering around the city...

...going to the beach in Santa Cruz...

... and attempting to throw marshmallows in each other's mouths. lovely.

Now... mountains of homework. Hooray! haha

A brief summary

Last semester of senior year: exciting, yet anxiety-producing. I am definitely looking forward to graduating... I feel like I will have accomplished something. But-- then what? Good question.

I just want to travel. All this job, responsibility thing... overrated. Though the whole steady income thing sounds nice. Right now, every time I get a paycheck, my bank account practically doubles, haha. How about someone support me? I could be a non-profit.

I should work for the Red Cross. Travel to various countries to help those who have been impacted by distasters or other external influences.

I'm totally sick of school, though. Senioritis has definitely kicked in. Every semester I say that I have a ton to read; without question, this semester is requiring the most reading. By the end the semester, I will have read 6 or 7 entire books. The shortest by far is 130 pages.

This semester has been nice, though, in that I have been able to go places on the weekends. I went to Colorado for a few days with my church group; though it was painful falling down the Rockies in an attempt to snowboard, I had a good time, and hope to snowboard again soon. I also went to the SF area to see some friends as well as my sister. Hopefully I can go again this coming weekend. It's really nice to get off campus, as well as get to know my Red Bluff friends during the car rides.

Because I'm in my last semester and realizing that opportunities for a lot of fun things might soon be coming to a hiatus (did I use that word correctly??), I am trying to take advantage of the times when I can go places, even at the expense of my homework. Which is fine. I'm graduating with honors, so who cares about this semester, as long as I don't fail anything this semester. Which I'm not.

So yeah. I've been learning a lot about myself, a lot I didn't really want to know. I'm realizing my brokeness as a human being. Painful. But necessary.

So that's my life! Cheerful. haha. OH! Accomplishment for Stephanie! I now know how to drive stick shift! Go me! I actually really enjoy it, and whenever I get a new car, I will probably get a manual. Unless I live in the big city and will be stuck in traffic. That's no fun anyway, and even less so with having to press the clutch in and out every 10 seconds. Anyway, I have further decided that I enjoy the Jeep/small SUV things over a car. I attribute this affinity to the fact that I learned to drive a van and consequently feel rather vulnerable and small in a car. Plus, getting a larger vehicle might help compensate for my small stature. Only downside: gas mileage. But I got gas here for less than $3.00 per gallon last week! I was pretty excited.

Well, speaking of doing things at the expense of homework...

The Sweet Life of Stephanie

My life is pretty cool. In one month, I go from this:


to this:

You should be jealous. Oh, and I'm graduating in 3 months from today. WOOT!

"I will sum up"

This semester has been my most difficult semester in many ways. My classes have been tougher (particularly Sr. Seminar-oy vey), and I have had much to think about and contemplate. The aforementioned class was about the integration of psychology and theology, so I have been forced to think about these issues and come to a quasi-conclusion about what I believe. The most stressful assignment this semester was the dialogue paper we had to do for Sr. Seminar. Basically, we had to make up a conversation between two people addressing the issues of psychology and theology, and the integration thereof. We had to include material that we have learned from our previous classes. Most of our information was not in the conversation, but rather in explanatory footnotes-- sometimes these footnotes took up half the page! I am not a very creative person. Ask my mother, I hated the sections in English about poetry and creative writing. The fact that this assignment was worth 50% of my grade caused me great anxiety. When I thought about it, my heart would start racing, and I would begin to hyperventilate. No joke. I'm not exaggerating. It was a common response for most of the people in that class. But, praise the Lord, it is over... we find out our grades on Tuesday. Oh, I just got nervous.

On the bright side, internship has been fabulous! I've learned so much, and all the people who work at the agency are just great. I love interning there! (I intern at a foster family agency, by the way.)

Finals start tomorrow. Honestly, I'm so sick of studying. I'm SO done. I have to write a 5-page paper tonight. I've been doing a whole lot of nothing today, which has been nice. But I have to finish that paper tonight because the rest of my week is pretty packed. I don't have time to do it tomorrow! If it's not 5 pages... oh well. I would skip it, but I have no idea where I stand in the class. Don't want to fail now!

I'm excited about break. I'm staying a night with Abby in Fresno, then we're driving home. I'm supposed to go to the Mission Inn with a couple friends from school who live nearby; then there's our church conference; resting; relaxation; reading for fun... ahhhh. I'm also planning on cleaning out my room in the event that I move after graduation (April 26th, 10AM-- but who's counting??)

One thing I have enjoyed this semester is seeing my "meeting" friends in R-B, even if they are on "the other side." =) They are super nice, and I've had a great time getting to know them. I hope I can see them more next semester. I just wish R-B was a tad closer.

I love my life here. It's been so great, and I'm really sad to leave it in a few months. It's going to be really hard. I've made so many good friends, and we've had such good times. I'll be sure to bring lots of Kleenex to graduation! It will be traumatic! I'm so glad I'm here. I was just talking to my friend, and we were mentioning how thankful we are to be here, we couldn't be more blessed.

My sad little life

A couple weeks ago in chapel, our campus pastor was encouraging the students to get involved with activities here on campus. He cautioned, though, to only get involved in about one thing because if you become too involved with too many different things, you will do everything poorly.
Well, that is what my life is like right now. I have so much on my plate that I'm doing a horrible job at everything. It's so frustrating because I'm usually a good student and I'm usually a hard worker and I'm usually eager to learn.
But now I don't care about school and it's so hard to put my heart into working and I'm too tired to learn. Unfortunately, there's nothing I can drop from my schedule except social time, and I don't do a ton of that.
Let me just say that I AM DONE. I am SO ready to graduate.
The end.

The Taming of the Shrew

Kelsie, JoEllen and I went to see the above play at a local high-end mall's amphitheater this evening. A college's (or was it a CC?) drama program acted, and it was ok. I'm sure it's much better in Ashland, but hey- it was free! I couldn't understand a couple of the characters, though their body language made it fairly easy to decipher!

One thing I really enjoyed were the costumes. Well, the costumes of the female characters, that is. The dresses were so pretty! The only reason I would like to live in a different time period than the present is because of the more feminine clothing that was made then. Though I do like my jeans...

Tomorrow I work for a lovely 6 hours. There's another event tomorrow where today's play took place, so hopefully business will be good for us (I work in the high-end mall).

Good grief, my thoughts are disjointed.

Mom and Dad left with Abby today to take her to school. She got a good scholarship, so she has to go on some retreat thing to "redeem" it, which is why she's going so early. Her real orientation starts next week, and then school starts for her! Yay for Abby! I'm really excited for her, I'm sure she'll have a great 4 years there, but I'll miss her when I'm home w/o her! Good thing SB prepped us for her absence. =)

We leave next Thursday for ID/WA etc, which I am TOTALLY EXCITED ABOUT. SEE, I'M TALKING IN ALL CAPS TO ACCURATELY PORTRAY THIS EXCITEMENT. If I had to use one word to describe my life right now, this would be it: Stir crazy.

I think I'm dying

It's so hot.

High of 102 today.

And no A/C.

Help.

Our eyes!

They're so piercing! It's like they're staring into your SOUL!

hola! como estas?

(I probably spelled that totally wrong. I can spell in English, but not in Spanish.)

Well, I've been working working working! Bright side, I'm making money. Down side, everyone else and their mother seems to be at Shallowbrook. I knew going into summer that I probably wouldn't be able to go, but I was a lot more upset about it than I anticipated. I really wanted to go. Oh well. Can't do anything about it now. Hopefully, a lot of people will come to Lassen! Speaking of which, I am to be a counselor again this year. Mixed emotions on that; it would be SO nice to relax and have some fun before school and all it's stresses start up again, but at the same time, I feel that I'm old enough to be contributing something more than just my wonderful presence. =) Overall, I'm looking forward to the week. It'll be nice to do something other than work. And work. And work. Oh, and I might get to see some of my dear school friends that week too. =)

My car refused to start this morning. I turned the key and ... nothing. I had to wake poor mom up at 5:30 AM to tell her that my car was out of commission so I would be taking the van. Hopefully it's just the battery, an easy fix.

Mom, Gwen, JoEllen and I are going out to the desert Wednesday night/Thursday/Friday/Saturday morning to hang out and relax. We can spend some early morning hours out by the pool, and afternoons in the nice A/C of the home we are staying in. Hopefully I will be able to get some color (preferably not the red variety) before Lassen. =) Someday I'll look like I'm from Southern California. Ha.

Well, I shall stop blathering on. My post summed up: same old, same old.

Tanning

Yes, I know tanning is a rather unusual subject for me. However, I have found a new way to tan! Jergen's carries this great line of lotion that gradually adds color. And it works! I now have almost tan legs and very white feet! Starting tomorrow, I shall begin putting the lotion on my feet as well as make sure I am slathering evenly. =) It's really quite exciting- I can be darker w/o damaging my skin. Yay! So that's my exciting news for the day.