Last Day.

Well...here we are again. If you're on of those people, like me, who spends most of their year writing papers, answering questions, and sharpening pencils, you know what i'm talking about. And, unless you've already started school, you would recognize today as the "Last Day of Freedom." Or something like that. Or maybe you think of it as Labor Day...which i think is how the rest of the population recalls it...hmm....

Anyway.

Many spend their day out trying to catch a few more rays of sunlight before they must subject themselves to winter paleness. (unless you're one of those people with perpetual tanness- you know who you are) Obviously, I spend my last day writing to you guys..you guys should be grateful. :) But i do not mourn my lost summer days. Indeed, I like to think like Dr. Seuss:

"Don't cry because it's over
Smile because it happened."

I'm ready to move on. I hate the heat and humidity. Fall is coming soon which, for me, means jeans, hoodies, bonfires, s'mores, pumpkin carving, all that jazz.

Oh, and i thought I'd share this song...It's been on my mind a lot lately. 

This is a really short post, but...i think it suffices.

decisions, decisions, decisions oh and Miracle Max

People. They’re practically everywhere. In constant motion, crawling along the planet’s surface. And unless you choose to become something of a hermit and move to a place virtually uninhabited like the Sahara or Antarctica (neither of which, however, do I recommend due to the fact that each is a highly inconvenient place to start a community by yourself) they’re inescapable.

It’s interesting to think about the way people think, if you think about it. Why people make the decisions they make, and what effects they have, and what would have happened had they made a different choice. And why they didn’t take that path in the first place.For instance, why the figurative fellow in the car next to me chose to wear such an ugly shade of eye shadow, or why the person next to him chose to buy a Mt. Dew in a plastic bottle when, obviously, it tastes much more refreshing out of a glass bottle. Or why they’re even in the car at all. I almost want to dress en costume as Miracle Max, knock on their windshield and cry out 

"Hey! Hello in there. Hey! What's so important? What you got here that's worth living for?"

Maybe not those exact words, but you get the idea.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, unbeknown to me, the man in the eggplant-colored eye shadow is on his way to a volunteer educational play about Hidden Valley. The person beside him bought the plastic bottle beverage out of the convenience of having lid; and had I knocked on the windshield, the sight of me dressed up as Miracle Max would’ve given him such a fright that, had he not had said convenient cap, he would’ve thrown his Mt. Dew up in the air, sloshing our eggplant friend and creating a landslide of runny eye shadow. Thus, making him late for his play, and all the little kiddos would have to go home disappointed.

But what really induced them to make such decisions I’ll probably never know. And we’re only three out of billions of humans out there, making choices that could change the face of history or life as we know it. But thankfully, we’re not alone in this big universe. God’s got our past, present, and future all in the palm of his hand. Each of our billions of either brilliant or incredibly stupid choices happening at the same time; he sees them all. We don’t have to worry about the future, because he’s got it all. Thanks God :)

Have fun storming the castle :)

Clown shoes and carousels

Adventures can take you anywhere. They are enticing occasions that can take you from the sultry cabin of a coal-guzzling locomotive, to a hard, jutting peak in the Himalayas slicing the sky, to the gut of an aircraft, plucking conveniently salty peanuts out of their crinkly gold packaging while scribbling furiously in a deliciously old and rumpled notebook. Which is where you find me, yet again. On my way back home sweet home. 

Ah, Florida. It was grand to see it again. Although, I’ll admit, I thought flying was a bit strange. You see, I’m used to driving the whole long fourteen hour journey south in our good ol’ blue club wagon with the rest of the clan, where changes along the road come gradually. But flying, oh no, you land and, whoa, there’s palm trees, like, EVERYWHERE. But that’s just culture shocked little ol’ me.  ^_^
                Anyway. I decided I’m not going to record my adventure play-by-play, but I’ll just give a description, in case you’re interested 

Twice, we went to the beach, where the clear emerald surf crashed its white foamy mass over the sandy coast. The shells shone like time-worn pebbles on the grainy bottom. Pelicans soared overhead. It was gorgeous. The sunburn? Not so much.

                At the Brunswick harbor lanes we pulled on those funny clown shoes, tugging at the greasy laces. Then we bowled a good five games or so. Phil creamed me in like every game. But it’s all good. 

Don't they look like clown shoes?

                Driving down US 1, we visited some relatives and swam in their pool (FAIL of the day…stepped on my sunglasses and cracked them…oh well), and then strolled down to the fish and gator-infested river.  (Well, I’m not so sure about the gators, but you never know …) 

River :)

Grandma :)

                Ah. And we went to the chocolaty cocoa beach, where the crowds surf, swim, play volleyball, or just stroll along the shore. Oh, and we went to Ron Jon Surf Shop. That place is incredible! It’s like a beach version of Dick’s Sporting Goods. No joke. It’s an extraordinary place with a medley of souvies and hard-core surfing equipment, from key chains to wetsuits.

Need i say more?

Ron Jon Surf Shop ♥

Welcome to Cocoa

But most of all, we had opportunities to visit family, which is most important in my book.

One day we had dinner with my uncle, or, my dad’s “older brother’s little brother.” As they like to put it.  And then Tuesday we drove two hours across to Lakeland and had lunch at steak and shake (I think it was my first time) with cousins, whom, I might add, we hadn’t seen in AGES.

"He makes this really funny face when he bites into a lemon.."

Me and Sierra :)

___________

So even though Florida was marvelous I can’t wait to touch back down, hug the fam, stand in line at the carousel and wait for my overstuffed suitcase to come around the corner. Question. Why do they call it a carousel? 

That’s a carousel.

That’s a baggage-goes-around-in-a-circle-so-people-can-watch-it-and-find-their-bags-after-they-go-around-a-million-times-thingamajig. 
 Why do they call it a carousel just because it goes around in a circle?

anyway.

I know I was only gone a week and a half, but it felt great to step into the terminal in our tiny little airport (the one in Orlando is like a mall) and power walk down the familiar mermaid-adorned carpet and see family at the end of the long corridor. Thanks for reading.

-yours etc.

Choosing to accept what we have

We pull open the glass doors and are greeted by a blast of cool air. There is a wonderful lack of humidity in the building.  we walk along the white hallway, the carpeted floor softening our steps. We find the correct room, and enter. Several people are standing around chatting. Thoughts like

 i don't know anyone here.

 i don't want to be here.

 All i wanted was to go to a basketball game.

are running through my head. I sit down in the second row from the front, clutching my army-green backpack. Eventually everyone takes their seats, and they begin. People glance around them as a few more straggle in. I try to listen to what the people are saying, but more of my thoughts keep flooding in. I try to push them aside, but I'm only partially successful.

The people at the front continue to talk, and my mind weakens a little as they tell us about their experiences. I must admit, i did find it interesting, but to be honest, i didn't want to be interested. I wanted to rebel.
 


They ended it, and began praying. All i wanted was to get out of there, but i was angry with myself for thinking that. I wanted to want to stay there and participate, if that makes sense, but i still did not want to. I felt apathetic and i hated it. i knew i should feel differently about this whole scenario, but i didn't.

What i realize now is, that if we rebel, and do not accept what we have and choose to make the best of it, then our mind will not let us enjoy the time we are given. These people just sacrificed a huge portion of their lives to help other people, and i was begrudging them two hours of my time. I wasn't letting go of my wish to be at another place. I knew i was wrong, but i did not stop myself. Now i realize that that's the way we would constantly be without Christ. And now I'm thankful more than ever that we don't have to always be like that. Thankfully, we can change.

Me and the World

I like taking pictures. I love taking pictures. I think the camera is one of the most superfluous, yet incredible inventions in the history of inventions. When you have a camera in your hands you are capable of freezing time into little things called pixels. Those pixels group themselves together to create an image that could last lifetimes. And even more nowadays where they can be stored in computers. But that's not the point. I want to take pictures that matter to the WHOLE, entire world. Like pictures of riots in Egypt. Of disasters like 9/11. Things that the population really care about and pictures that really interest them. 

It has been a long standing dream of mine to become a photographic journalist...that and learn how to ride a unicycle and play the ukelele.but that's beside the point. What i really want to say is that i think it would be perfectly marvelous to get paid to travel the world...even if it means having to deal with deadlines and such. I haven't really researched it much, so i may be wrong about how this sort of thing works. But we only live in this world for one lifetime and i want to see it. I want to smell the spices in Asia. Listen to the toll of Big Ben in Europe. Observe the Buffalo in the North American grasslands. 

I might change my mind someday. Might decide to go to college and become a teacher in Quebec for all i know. But for now, this is my dream.

Williamsburg, monkeys, mustaches...summer so far

I know. I know. I haven't been posting very much. But that happens to everybody, right? Anyway,  I thought I'd catch everybody up on what's been going on since that final exam on May something-or-other. 

After my final final exam, i accompanied Laura and Rebekah to Colonial Williamsburg where we strolled along the near-empty pathways and soaked up the colonial culture. For dinner we ate at the Cheese Shop in the merchant's square part of Williamsburg. Never been there? I highly recommend it.

Bekah ♥

I love the colors in these hats

Friday i went to Busch Gardens for the first time this summer. It was great! among riding the rides, eating pretzels, and other things, we babysat a monkey, almost drowned in all the rain, and had lots of good laughs. Fun times :)

However, after all this, my summer didn't really feel like summer. I mean, I was only going places on the weekends. But yesterday that changed when Cat came over and made my day :)We went to target and browsed the aisles. Tried on a few pairs of sunglasses (so i exaggerate a little...) etc, etc, etc. Then, we had a surge of creativeness. and, well, see for yourself.

Don't judge...^_^

She's so pretty :)

cat took this and the four above by the way :)

So it's been a pretty great summer...so far :) hopefully there are many more posts to come.

I have a dream....

lately, i've been thinking about bucket lists. What is a bucket list? It's a list of things you wish to do before you die. I have decided to create one :) There are different reasons to write a bucket list. They help to keep you from burying yourself in the flurry of life and to keep your eye on more important matters. It also sets a goal for yourself. If you don't have a goal, chances are you're not going to get there.

I mean, obviously, because if you don't have a goal then that goal doesn't  exist and you can't even BEGIN to head towards something that doesn't exist because you don't even know that it exists so how can you possibly ever get there if it isn't there in the first place.

whew.

this whole thing reminds me of the movie Tangled when they're all singing about their dreams. Love that movie.

Anyway. Back to my bucket list.

some things that i would like to do, but probably will never do (but NOTHING is impossible)
-Travel to every country in the world (not all at once of course...)
- see all the wonders of the world
-run a marathon
-go skydiving/ bungee jumping

-fly a hot air balloon

of course there are a bunch of others but i don't really have time to write them all out and i highly doubt that you would enjoy reading a list of things i would like to do but probably never will.

here's a list of things that are more likely to happen.
-run an 8k- i actually am thinking about running one this august for the ECSC...fun :)
-travel to at least 1 country. i mean, i'd rather go to two countries...or multiple countries. but one would be better than none. or perhaps not.
- learn a third language. i'm thinking about learning German in college.
-learn how to longboard/surf. It's so. much. fun.

- climb a mountain. i love mountains. i think, if i had the choice, i'd rather go to Tennessee than Hawaii.

the list goes on and on.

well, i shan't bore you any longer. These are some of my ideas. Hope i get around to completing them someday :)