Wow. It's been a long time since I have written in here but alas, I am bored out of my mind in English class and we are in the lab so here I am, writing in my sitdiary. Spring break was good. Went to slave labor camp in Oklahoma City at my sister's new house. I had to dig a pond, it sucked. I was blowing dirt out of my nose 3 days later. Yuck. But hanging out in Tulsa was pretty sweet. I felt like a housewife at times but it was funny. Cindy would call when she was leaving school to tell me she was coming home to play with me. I got to hang out with Isaac and Mindy during the day. Fun, fun, fun! And I bought a sweet hat. But the best purchase of the break was that my mom bought a new fridge! I am so excited to see it when I go home next over Easter. It's flippin sweet. I only have 6 more weeks of classes. Ever. That's so crazy. My mom and I are trying to plan what we want to do for my graduation celebrating. I think we are going to eat at the Machine Shed in Des Moines since it is near the hotel in Urbandale. Good home cooking ... I've never been there but I've heard it's good. But all in all, I'm excited about graduating. I'm ready to be done with the whole going-to-class thing. I got pre-accepted to go to France yesterday! It is so exciting!! I just had to fill out the pyschological and medical form and send it back and I should hear in a week or so on the final decision! WOO HOO!! The only problem may be that we need 2 men to go on our team. Otherwise, they won't send us. So praying for that is needed. Whoops, time to do some work ... yuck. you know you love me ;)

Your Birthdate: February 7 You are an island. You don't need anyone else to make you happy. And though you see yourself as a loner, people are drawn to you. Deep and sensitive, you tend to impress others with your insights. You also tend to be psychic - so listen to that inner voice! Your strength: Your self sufficiency Your weakness: You despise authority Your power color: Maroon Your power symbol: Hammer Your power month: JulyWhat Does Your Birth Date Mean?

Wow, tomorrow I turn 22. I don't really want to. So weird. I feel like I'm 16 still. I'm excited because, as conceited as it may sound, I love having a day just for me! I'm such a nerd and so I'm happy when everyone around me revels in my strategic nerdery and wallows with me in the pit of procrastination. Oh yes, and don't forget that my love language is gifts. I love buying gifts for others and receiving gifts. Presents, presents, presents. I'm a dork. But I do think that this is the year that I start lying about my age. From now on, I turn 21 on all birthdays until I officially turn 30, when I will say I turn 25. I don't want to grow up at all!! you know you love me ;)

1.07 p I thought I had to work today but nope, not until next Wednesday. Woo hoo, except for the fact that I will have no money until the middle of February. Whoops. Oh well, I'll scratch by somehow. But now I am at a loss of what to do. I don't think I want to go work out as I think I'll take Wednesdays off of it and only work out Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fridays and some Sat. Definitely not Sundays, as it is the day of rest. I think I'm also going to limit my Sunday activities besides working out. Such as: no school work, no cleaning (unless necessary), and mostly God time and also hanging with friends. I think it will work but I may have to cave when test times come around and study for tests on those days. We'll see. I'm on the Big Break team for Florida spring break and I'm so excited about it. But it does make me wish that it was closer than like 8 weeks away. Although I have so much to look forward to between now and then. Like some birthdays including mine and President's Day and what not. But once March hits, I think I'll be ready for break. It's so silly, it's only the third day of classes and I'm excited about spring break. I'm a loser but you would be excited too if you were going to Big Break. My favorite Cru conference ever. Beach, condos, Florida, besides the usual Christian stuff. What more is there to ask for? Until then, I have my screensaver of tropical islands on. Good stuff! you know you love me ;)

I have the funniest story ever!!! Last night, Cindy, Caroline, Ashley and I decided that we wanted to go out dancing. We picked a couple clubs/martini bars to go to, got all gussied up (Cindy at one point referred to me as "a harlot from the 40s"), and headed out. The Roxbury was a bomb because there were like only 6 cars at it. Then we drove out to 150th and Maple to a martini bar which there were only older people drinking at. So we decided that we were going to go to Club Maxx, which is the largest club in Omaha but also a gay club. So we were walking out of the martini bar and there were like 2 or 3 guys coming in right then. They were like, "hey, don't leave ... we just got here" and Caroline says, "we're going someplace with a dance floor" and we continue walking out to my car. Then we get in and I'm backing out and Caroline yells from the back "they're coming back out to get us" in this freaked out voice. So I start freaking out and try to drive away and I just about floor the gas pedal, the engine revs and we go nowhere. I look down and yell, "It's in neutral!!"" at the top of my lungs. I can laugh about it now but Caroline freaking out made me freak out and then I felt really stupid because we drove away from cute guys!! Stupid, stupid!! Cindy was cracking up because I was so freaked when in fact, the guy was just standing next to my window and trying to say something. Not that we wanted to pick up guys but we did want to meet some new people and have fun. Instead, I drove away and we ended up at Club Maxx and then went to Ameristar, where Ashley won $18. I spent $5 total on my night so it was pretty good. Although hilarous and embarrassing at the same time. Oh yeah, and we drove through Taco Bell right before I dropped everyone off. I was soooo hungry. I'm going to be fat next year, yuck! Anyways, tomorrow is TCX, hurrah!! I'm realy excited about everything. Seeing everyone, including Jill and everyone from France. It should be a hoot and holler! Although we are stuck staying at the Doubletree instead of the Hilton because there were too many people that signed up. Whoops. That's a good reason, though. I'm excited for party time ... aka, New Year's Eve! It should be a blast. Things I am also looking forward to: a) playing Nerts and/or Spoons; b) talking to mes amis francais; c) hanging out with all my iowa state crew; d) making fun of TP with her pager; e) sharing a room with Dana; and f) being in Minneapolis for New Years!! :D I'm excited about the New Year, new semester and everything else. I have some resolutions culminating in my head but I have yet to pen them all yet. I am excited, as usual, about the opportunity to turn a corner in my life and do some things that I haven't yet. Maybe I will make a resolution to do something that I have avoided doing at least once a month. Maybe something daring and fun. We will see. I'm just stoked for the new year in general. I wonder what 2006 holds for me. So that's my life in a nutshell right now. Embarassing and hilarous and exciting as usual but real life, none the less. you know you love me ;)

Can I hear a "whoop whoop" for dark auburn? That's my new color. I don't know yet if I like it as it's quite darker than my old red color but it is red still. And I also have shorter bangs this time. I'm trying them out. Like a test drive. Just a little bit of little bangs for a little while. We will see. If I come back from TCX and still think my hair is too dark, then Jen (my stylist ... not Jenn Edwards) said she'd put highlights in for free. So tomorrow is Christmas Eve which is scary to think about. I can't believe it's almost Christmas already. Although it feels like I've been out of school forever. Maybe that's because it's been two weeks since I was in class. But I am excited about next semester, mostly because I am excited about my new prayer room (former closet). That's right, I am resurrecting one of my favorite parts of summer project: a 24/7-ish prayer room. I just need someplace where I can go to get away to pray and do my God time and so viola! My extra closet is no longer my kitchen! Dana even asked if she can come in and use it and I was like "but of course". I'm really excited to decorate it. I already have some stuff and school and I am squirrelling away stuff here at home to steal back with me to school. I found a map of the world the other day .... where was that ... oh yeah, in a national geographic book. Seriously, my room may become the "map room" since I already have a bunch of maps up. I'm such a geek. My family is crazy, have I mentioned that recently? Because they are ... nuff said. you know you love me ;) especially as a redhead

I'm home and bored out of my mind now that my mom is home from Texas. Before, I just laid around and watching tv and practiced guitar (you'd be proud of my calluses!) and read. But now that my mom is home, I just know she's going to drive me batty. She makes me feel guilty about not doing anything. Hey, lady, I say, this is my vacation. I'm almost mostly through Memoirs of a Geisha though. It's really good. I wanted to read it before I saw the movie. Now I'm excited to see it, although I'm generally slightly disappointed in the way they make books into movies. But we'll see, usually they're pretty good movies though, just not what I imagined when I read the book. Well, I must be off now to actually do some stuff .... while I watch Law & Order :) you know you love me ;)

I'm done with finals everybody!! All I'm doing tomorrow is cleaning my room and packing. But that should take me awhile. We will see what time I actually get going. I hope to be gone no later than 2 so that I don't have to drive when it's dark and slippery on the interstate. But yep, tests are done and I got to see Pride & Prejudice today so I am happy. I also got to hang out with my two BFFs so that was sweet. But yeah, today was weird and long because I was so tired and also because of that one thing. Oh, you know. That thing that happened with that one guy. Weird. Yes, I'm purposefully being vague. Tomorrow night, I get to play with my doggy and sleep in my own bed in my big empty house. My mom is in Texas for the collegiate volleyball national championships, watching our Huskers kick some butt! Very exciting!! But yep, I'm on my own unless Cindy comes over for a slumber party, which is a possibility. Party time, party time! No pants peeing allowed, although it will probably happen. "I make us laugh" you know you love me ;)

11.28 p My girls, they make me smile. I love encouragement, even though it's not my first love language. I just had like an hour long conversation with Dana just talking about life and encouraging each other. And then I get on to check my email and I have two messages from Chelsea and Maura wishing me luck on my finals and offering me hugs and physics notes. I love them. I love my ((still unofficial)) job. I'm so blessed! you know you love me ;)

I made it through dead week with minimal scarring, although I did make a fool out of myself by forgetting to turn in my 451 lab notebook, getting home 5 hours later, seeing it nestled in my backpack, email Prof. Tuggle and humbly asking him if I could bring it into his office today when I got on campus. Luckily, he said I could and made minimal fun of me when I gave it to him. But still, the look of embarassment on my face! Today, I got the best compliment. A friend said I was "the quickiest and wittiest" person they knew. I loved it and said it's all because I watch Gilmore Girls, which is partially true. Also, knowing a lot helps. Humor, the greatest defense mechanism. Today, I also saw the coolest thing. In the back of the molecular biology building on the upper floors, they have windows with a panoramic view and you can see forever! It's pretty cool, I must say! I may go hide there to study for my finals this year. Today, I ate the most unhealthy dinner. I think I ate about a bazillion breadsticks and two peices of pizza at Pizza Hut. Now, I'm craving pop, even though it is 1:19 in the morning. I may become fat when I grow up (or now) but at least I got to hang out with my friends while I did it! We talked about a lot of important stuff and also a lot of stupid stuff. I think we spent twenty minutes trying to figure out if this couple with two kids were married or if they were babysitting or what. We never did come to a consensus. But I say that they were babysitting. Maybe I'm just biased since I'm the coolest babysitter ever. Except ..... this week Kalyssa, the little 3 year old girl I babysit for, sat on my face while I was laying on the floor. She wanted to play with her brother, who was sitting on my stomach so she decided to just sit on me! I was like "get off - get off, I can't breathe!" and she was all like "what? what do you mean?" All I have to say is: Pretty sneaky death! I wish a certain person would quit asking me about another certain person because I don't know! Like I have any say in what happens anyway! I'm just a bystander in my life. Tomorrow, we have a creative date for our action group and sadly enough, it's my first creative date ever! I couldn't go the weekend that we had one my freshman year because I went home. It was pretty sad. But it should be fun tomorrow, apparently, they are making us dinner at "Swanny's palace". I have no idea what that means. I miss France today. And everyday. you know you love me ;)

1.54 p Yes, it's about that joyous time of year again. A time of quiet reflection, of eating what you probably shouldn't, and of running around trying to get things done. No, not Christmas time! Finals time! We are on 23 hour quiet hours now so I'm not even sure if I should be typing on my computer with my door open, as talking in my room with my friends with the door open is apparently too loud normally. If I get in trouble, I get in trouble. I'm such a rebel anyways. The Christmas Banquet on Sunday was sooooo much fun! I love getting dressed up and eating fancy food, well, it was still Dining Service catered, but the service itself was excellent! I think we all decided that we would take that kind of meal everyday instead of all the "options" we have for normal dinner, since they are the same price, you know. But yes, it was fun to eat and talk and get looking pretty and what not. That looking pretty thing took me a VERY long time, I'll have you know! Dana and I also had fun on Sunday doctoring pictures to give to Jill. You see, when Dana came to visit me in Toulouse, she didn't get a picture with Jill and that bummed her out. So, she decided to take pictures that we did have and either insert Jill into a picture of Dana's or insert Dana into a picture of Jill. The results were highlarous, let me tell you!! Well, I better get back to writing my 10 lab reports for my lab notebook for molecular biology. And believe me, it's as gross as it sounds. I have to turn it in on Thursday, but I also have to give a presentation in the same class on Thursday about a paper that I read. I'm not looking forward to Thursday, let me tell you. Not only do I have to do all that stuff, but I also have to listen to everyone else's presentations. Boring. Oh well ... check you later dudes!! you know you love me ;)

I saw the 12:01 AM showing of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and let me tell you: IT ROCKED MY FACE OFF!! Best movie by far, prolly because it's the best book! Although they cut A LOT out of the movie that was in the book and that made me a bit mad but maybe I'm the only one willing to sit through 5 hours to make sure everything is covered. No SPEW, no Quidditch world championship, no Luna Lovegood. Oh well, still a really good movie that I recommend to EVERYONE. But beware, the books seroiusly get darker with each one, so don't expect the happy-go-luckiness that was the first movie. This one is intense. And just to warn you, the Dark Lord comes back! If I just ruined it for you, too bad. You should really have read the book first anyways. And I recommend that everyone from here on out, read the books first because it explains everything so much better! you know you love me ... Harry freak that I am ;)

You scored as Republican. Republican92%Democrat75%Anarchism50%Green42%Socialist33%Fascism33%Nazi8%Communism8%What Political Party Do Your Beliefs Put You In?created with QuizFarm.com hmmmmmmmm ... I scored higher as an anarchist than green party. Interesting .... I'm such a rebel.

12.31 p My new phone is up and running!! I even took video with it last night of me and Jenn laughing. It was a good time. And this made me laugh ... A LOT!! London's Sunday Telegraph reported in July that, because of the shortage of military supplies caused by troops deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq, British Army soldiers on training exercises were ordered simply to shout "bang bang" rather than fire practice rounds. I found it on MSN news of the weird, so it must be genuine! you know you love me ;)

Sometimes, I swear, I live in Crazytown, Iowa, population: me. I just got two emails from people I haven't seen since high school and one that I haven't seen since middle school. This is so crazy. It's weird. I feel like I haven't changed at all since high school and that everyone else has. I guess I must have too somewhere in there. You know, between going to classes and working and Crusading, I must've grown up somewhere. Maybe it was living in France this summer, I don't know. But I feel like I haven't changed at all. Maybe at heart we are all basically the same person we've always been. I don't know ... but I'm getting off my soapbox now. I have my interview for staff next weekend ((bites nails)). I'm a bit worried about it. Just a bit. Jenn's going shopping with me tonight since we are supposed to look professional most of the weekend at the conference. I need it. My wardrobe consists of a lot of sweatshirts and jeans, which are *maybe* clean. On Wednesday, I got a call that my friend Anna from sophomore year is in a coma. They found blood around her brain and her heart but they can't do any surgery because she's in a coma and they can't do a MRI because she's on a ventilator. How scary is that? I was rereading old entry from two years ago when we used to hang out together all the time (me, TP and Anna) and it's so scary to think that she might not pull through. She's in Shreveport, Louisiana now with her husband, otherwise TP and I would drive to go see her. But 13 hours each way is a bit much, even though gas prices are currently sitting at $2 a gallon (whew!). I don't have my first two classes today. All I have is physics recitation at 3. The other two are cancelled so I don't have to do anything for awhile. I get to sit here, do my physics homework, watch CSI from last night and plan my meeting that I have after class. I also realized last night (right on time) that I didn't have to babysit this morning until 7, instead of 5:30, like I have for the past two weeks. So that meant I got to sleep in an extra hour and a half! Yeah! Thank the Lord for sleep! you know you love me ;)

Here's one of me and TP (isn't my wig hot?) And here's one of TP and her preggers belly.

12.04 p I have a test in 4 hours in animal molecular biology and what am I doing? Writing in my sitdiary. But it needed an update, I swear! So here I am with not too much to report. I signed up for classes last week and guess what? I'm graduating next spring!! Hurrah! I can't believe I only have a semester yet. I feel like I'm mentally still in high school. But then when I try to remember high school, my mind kinda goes blank. Maybe that's a sign that I'm growing up. Who knows. But it should be an easy semester! I'm excited because Megan is taking History of American Pop Culture with me!! YAY!!! I'm also taking: First Aid Business Communications (required english class) Companion Animal Systems Management Issues Facing Animal Science Intro to Philosophy For a total of 15 credits.... yeah me! I'm ready for Thanksgiving break. Actually, I'm ready for next weekend for Life Ops to see Jill but not to study for my 3 tests the week after that or for my interview for staff at Life Ops. Nervousness. I'm also ready for Christmas break and TCX and everything. But for now, I'm stuck here, in the boring middle ground that is normal life. Saturday was the Halloween skating party. It was fun. I went as a pre-What Not to Wear person and TP went as a pregnant prom queen. It was a lot of fun but there was a lot less people than last year. That made me sad. But all of us went to Perkins afterwards and when I say all, I mean ALL of us. We probably had like 50 Cru people there. It was fun to see everyone in their costumes, getting weird looks together. Everyone thought TP was actually pregnant, great times. Maybe I'll post a pic on here later or something. We'll see. Well, that about wraps it up from this side of the world. I'm going to spend a little time making a new sit theme and making post a pic or two, and then to hit the books I go! Yeehaw! you know you love me ;)

For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law but under grace. -- Romans 6:14

7.01 p So I have a physics test in an hour but you know what? I'm not worried about studying because I have enough knowledge to pass and that's all I need. Because missionaries don't need no basic knowledge of physics. So today, I was super tired at work and so when I left early to come home and study for an hour or two for physics, I drank this frappicino that I bought on Sunday, knowing I would need the caffeine sometime this week. Well, that moment was most def. today. So I drank it, studied some, sucked some Asian beetles out of my room and into the floor vaccuum (shhhhh) and then went to my molecular biology class. So in my class, we had DNA from 10 different pigs, labeled with letters and what not. So I decided to name all my piglets with names starting with their letters. Since we only had 5 people instead of the usual 7, my professor probably now thinks I'm a freak because I named them and I named Piglet "F" Francisco and I kept saying "Francisco, Francisco, that's a fun name, Francisco" over and over (via Elf, the movie). I swear it was like diarrhea of the mouth and consipation of the brain. But I couldn't help myself, I was jazzed on java. So, in conclusion, no more frappicino for me, especially since I actually hate coffee items because they taste like dirt. Oh yes, also in DNA class today, we analyzed our own DNA that we took last week (just like in CSI with a mouth swab). And guess who has the freak mutant DNA? Oh, that would be me. In layman's terms, every else only had one band of DNA on the gel and I had 2. I'm a freak. That's right. A mutant. I should join the X-Men and become a superhero mutant although my mutation has no super powers that I've yet to notice. Other than the fact that I can easily fail tests, embarrass myself and grow pimples on my face. I doubt that will save the world, but we will see. you know you love me ;)

11.27 p OK, it's official. I'm a bad student. I have a secret: ((today I skipped lab to go shopping and then I skipped class to read a book)) I'm a bad student, I tell you. But today I did get my pink degree audit which means I'm graduating in the spring!!! It's seriously exciting to me right now. I'm almost done!! It was good to go over it all with my advisor today and he told me I only need 14.5 credits next semester. I will NOT be retaking Organic Chem 2 or taking Physics 112 because I'm not going to vet school so that leaves a few options open for me. I have 4 credits that I can fill with whatever I want. It's my last semester so I want them to be easy. No doubt bout that. I'm just excited to be done. Now if only I knew what I wanted to do next year ...... I have a staff interview for Campus Crusade in November at the Life Ops conference. I'm nervous already. Mostly about my school loans because they could hold me back from being able to join staff. It really stinks. Seriously. I wish I didn't owe WHOEVER like 40 thousand dollars. I don't even know how to begin paying them back. Especially on a missionary's salary. HMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Dilemma. Anyways, I have a test tomorrow that I am taking a break from studying for so I need to get back on the studying train before my brain pulls out of the station. Ha ha, trains are funny. Like my favorite quote from the Thomas the Tank Engine DVD I've watched every time I babysit: "'Cinders and Ashes!' cried Thomas." It's sad that I remember that, really sad. you know you love me ;)