The First Week has Passed...

...and I think I love college.  No, seriously, it is so much fun. I have discovered that I like having a schedule when doing school, it keeps me from procrastinating too much. It is also fun being able to get out of the house a lot. It is a new and different environment to discover and I look forward to finding out more about it. The classes I am taking this year are English comp II, introduction to American government, introduction to criminal justice (yes I am a complete nerd and chose these classes because they sounded fun but they also count for my core which is awesome) and art . I am especially excited for my art class because I have never taken an art class and it will be nice to learn more technique for my drawing.

A few highlights:

1) Being required to buy art supplies.
2) Having extra grant money left over.
3) SPEECH! :D
4) Interesting professors.
5) An amazing clock tower on campus that plays music.
6) My classes being close to each other.


Some not so fun things:

1)Waking up at 7:00 am.
2) Having to go to be early because you are waking up at 7:00 am.
3) Lugging a two ton backpack around.
4) Knowing I will have to take tests.
5) Having a major ADD moment because I was sitting around all day (I was seriously super wired, it is not fun when you need to go to bed.)
6) Missing out on stuff because of my busy schedule.


~Nat

I Smell a Sequel

Remember that really silly movie awhile ago called Snakes on a Plane? I think I have found a sequel to it.

"Re-Post this Status": A Rant

I have seen a lot of this recently, and although almost all of the statuses (stati? *sigh* grammar) support good causes, I still find them incredibly annoying. These statuses try and guilt you into re-posting the status. They say things such as "if you are not afraid to show your faith" or "if you support our troops" then you should re-post this. Implying, that if you don't re-post it you are a horrible Christian and/or are a horrible person.

I don't think that it is right to guilt a person into showing support for a position. Just because you don't post a certain combination of words doesn't mean that you are afraid to stand up for your faith. Just because you refuse to be copy everyone else does not mean that you don't truly support our troops. Just because you refuse to spread a cliche phrase does not mean that you aren't a true Christian.

And because they chose to use status that tries to guilt me into re-posting it, I don't feel like doing it. I don't respond positively to negative pressure to do something, and when someones status pulls a guilt trip, my reaction is to ignore it.

Well, that was fun, but I should probably stop ranting now and bring this post to an actually beneficial conclusion. There are many people who respond negatively to the coercive language that the re-posted statuses used, but if a person where to phrase it more like "Please show your support and post"  instead of "this if you truly support this then you should re-post this," it would be more persuasive and a person would be more likely to do it.

So the conclusion is: our words have a powerful affect on people and if we want to be able to persuade a person to do something, we need to be careful how we phrase our wording.

Thank you.

The End

~Nat

The Dark of the Night Brings Depressing Thoughts

So, because of my ADD and the inability to control impulses and make wise decisions that is connected with that disorder, I did something really stupid. Especially for someone with adrenal fatigue (we have settled on this diagnosis for the time being to explain my tiredness) which requires a goodnight's sleep to get over. This is the stupid thing I did: stayed up late finishing a book, and now I can't sleep.

When I am lying in bed trying to sleep I let my mind go and wander where it likes. Tonight it wandered to a depressing place, to thoughts of goodbyes. It started contemplating people I hadn't seen for awhile and I realized that there is a very good chance I will never see them again; this makes me terribly sad. But life is like that isn't it? Our lives touch the lives of others for a time and then we part ways. It is a constant cycle of meetings friendships and goodbyes. Continually letting people into your hearts and lives, only to leave, never to make the connection with them again. Then there are the people you do see again after you have left, but you only see them for a short time and then you must say goodbye again.

 You can keep in touch through letters, phones, emails and facebook, but it is never the same as the real thing. Also, the number of people you touch in your life continues to grow, making maintaining contact with all of them incredibly difficult.

These thoughts are enough to make me almost wish I grew up in a small town where everyone I knew was born, lived and then died there. But that kind of place would be so incredibly dull that I think it would drive me nuts. Even so, I never want to be one of those families that moves a lot, I want to live in one place my whole life and I want my kids (if God blesses me with some) to grow up in one place.

But, even if I did stay in the same place, there are still going to be goodbyes. That is just the way of life. I know that all the Christians I have come in contact with I will see again in heaven. But that is a small comfort to me at this moment because I am pretty sure heaven won't be the same as it is on earth, so what I know and love now, I may never see again.

Didn't I say these thoughts are depressing? There are almost enough to make me want to avoid all attachments until I get to the place where we never have to say goodbye. But humans weren't meant to alone, no man is a island, and I would get waaaay too depressed without human contact.

So, I guess I'll just have to live with it and go to sleep.  It is the way it is and staying up mourning about all night is not beneficial. I hope I didn't depress you too much. Goodnight.

~Nat

Where Does It All Go?

I am missing some clothes! And not just a random sock or a shirt I never wear; I am missing important clothes that are staples in my wardrobe. My black tank top that I wear under everything, my favorite pair of shorts and my black flats, have all disappeared. I have looked in all the usual places: the dirty clothes, the clean clothes, under my bed, in all my drawers, and they are nowhere to be found. For a girl, this is a crisis! How on earth am I supposed to accessorize my outfit correctly if I don't have my black flats?! (And for those of you that don't know me well, this is sarcasm. I am not that crazy about clothing. But still, not being able to find my favorite shorts is kind of a bummer.) 


You know, this whole crisis reminds me of that one Arthur episode when DW has lost her sock (for those of you who don't know what Arthur is; watch this and be educated). It turns out that the sock was stolen by a neighbor's dog and taken to the "sock market" ,* a place where pets take their owner's socks and give them to other pets. The purpose is to help stimulate the economy because it forces them to buy new sock. 


So, I guess that must be it! My brother's guinea pig stole my clothes to help the economy! Excuse me while I go interrogate a rodent as to the whereabouts of my clothing...


-Nat 


P.S. For those of you who may be wondering after my last post, I am feeling a lot better now.  We think that it was just my adrenals being overtaxed because of all the late nights and the stress. So, now that I have been getting to bed earlier, (although I am not doing such a great job of that tonight) it has been a lot better. But we are still going to go on another elimination diet to see if that helps too. (For those of you who don't know what this is, let's just say that it is worse then having to watch the Hannah Montana movie every night from now until I graduate college.) 

*when you are quoting something and the punctuation wasn't in the original, are you supposed to put the comma before or after the quotation? I have seen it both ways and I have no idea. It seems to make more sense to me to put it after since it isn't part of what is being quoted, but I could be wrong. (Also, I am never quite sure what is the proper procedure for punctuation and parenthesis.)  

God Give Me Strength

I'm getting near the end of my rope. My body is completely out of whack and I don't know what is wrong with me. I thought it was just food allergies, but even though I have tried to cut all of the stuff that bothers me out of my diet I still don't feel better. And it turns out that it might actually be something other than food allergies. I don't care what is wrong with me,  I just want to know so I can fix it. But I don't know, and so I spend almost every day fighting to get stuff done when all I want to do is sleep. It is a constant struggle against a complete lack of energy, and I don't know how much longer I can do this. I know that God puts trials in our lives for a reason, and I will do my best not to give up. But I just pray that God will give me the strength to get through this because I can't do it on my own.

Oh, Darling, Don't You Ever Grow Up

It's happening, I'm growing up. I've signed up for classes next fall, met with the speech team and figured out my schedule without consulting with my mom. I guess I'm an actual adult now. This sucks.


Honestly, I don't think anything has terrified me more than all of the occurrences that have taken place since my graduation. Having to do and figure out stuff on my own, no longer having a parent or sibling with me for every new activity, knowing that this fall, I will be walking around campus, surrounded by complete strangers. Also, I have already started missing out on spending time with old friends because of my new life. So on top of the terror, I have this feeling of great sadness.

But even though it is scary and even though I don't like growing up, I also know that it is time to move on. I can't stay in high school forever. Even though the scared part of me would like to just stay where I am safe and comfortable, the rest of me is ready to move forward to a new and exciting adventure. It won't be the same and there will be a lot of new challenges to face, but I am ready (sort of). But regardless of where I go and what I end up doing, I will probably always still think of myself as a homeschooler.