- The fact that they take your best ACT score, not your most recent like when my parents were in high school
- Flirting
- Scarves
- That moment when your body slams down on the mattress and a huge sigh escapes
- Pumpkin rolls
- Boots
- Having Utey home
- Flirting
- ChapStick
- Driving in the snow
- My daddy waking me up so the first thing I hear isn't an alarm
- Street lamps on neighborhood corners
- Chats after dinner with the fam (On Sunday my dad cried once and my mom thrice we were laughing so hard)
- Flirting
- The instant when you realize your hard work is paying off
- Scriptures
- Ponytails
- Girls nights
- The sound of the last textbook of the day closing
- My super saggy couch in my room
- Mint M&Ms
- A clean room (much thanks to my mommy)
- Spanish
- Music
- Flirting
- Questions that roll around in your head for days and weeks, often going unanswered
- Working out
- LIFE
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Simple Joys
Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and everyone's making lists of things they're thankful for. However, I am completely original and creative, so my list will be of a meager amount of the simple joys of life.
Friday, September 30, 2011
Why I Hate Homework...
You probably think that the people who write textbooks are geniuses and take their jobs seriously. You couldn't be more wrong. If not all textbook authors, the people who wrote my AP US History textbook are insane. To prove it, I have collected what I like to call, "An Incomplete List of Completely Unnecessary Metaphors Derived from the APUSH Textbook". Behold.
“Seemingly the farmer had only to tickle the soil with a hoe, and it would laugh with a harvest.’’
“British North America by 1775 looked like a patchwork quilt-each part slightly different, but stitched together by common origins, common ways of life, and common beliefs in toleration, economic development, and, above all, self-rule.”
“Worse, Louisbourg was still a cocked pistol pointed at the heart of the American continent.”
“In 1754 the governor of Virginia ushered George Washington, a twenty-one-year-old surveyor and fellow Virginian, onto the stage of history.”
“As the dogfight intensified in the New World, the Ohio Valley became the chief bone of contention between the French and British.”
“While the French hawk had been hovering in the North and West, the colonial chicks had been forced to cling close to the wings of their British mother hen.”
“Land-hungry America colonists were now free to burst over the dam of the Appalachian Mountains and flood out over the verdant western lands.”
“The Stamp Act Congress, which was largely ignored in England, made little splash at the time in America. Its ripples, however, began to erode sectional suspicions…”
“Within a few years, that statue of King George would be melted into thousands of bullets to be fired at his troops.”
“Seemingly the farmer had only to tickle the soil with a hoe, and it would laugh with a harvest.’’
“British North America by 1775 looked like a patchwork quilt-each part slightly different, but stitched together by common origins, common ways of life, and common beliefs in toleration, economic development, and, above all, self-rule.”
“Worse, Louisbourg was still a cocked pistol pointed at the heart of the American continent.”
“In 1754 the governor of Virginia ushered George Washington, a twenty-one-year-old surveyor and fellow Virginian, onto the stage of history.”
“As the dogfight intensified in the New World, the Ohio Valley became the chief bone of contention between the French and British.”
“While the French hawk had been hovering in the North and West, the colonial chicks had been forced to cling close to the wings of their British mother hen.”
“Land-hungry America colonists were now free to burst over the dam of the Appalachian Mountains and flood out over the verdant western lands.”
“The Stamp Act Congress, which was largely ignored in England, made little splash at the time in America. Its ripples, however, began to erode sectional suspicions…”
“Within a few years, that statue of King George would be melted into thousands of bullets to be fired at his troops.”
Can't you just see them all sitting around a table, having contests for the stupidest phrase that could legitally make it into an AP textbook? We've just barely hit midterm, people. I have to go through this many idiotic metaphors 7 more times. SEVEN. Pray for me.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Possibilities
I love to people watch. I don't know if that's creepy, but I love it either way. My favorite place to people watch is Wal-Mart because everyone goes to Wal-Mart. It's not just the high school kids, or my righteous ward members, it's all sorts of people who have made all sorts of choices and ended up all sorts of places. That's the scary thing. These people ended up where they are because they made a bunch of daily choices that eventually landed them where they are. The really scary thing is that at one point, they were all just like me, your average slacker-overachiever high school kid.
One day, I will be one of those Wal-Mart shoppers that has tons of choices behind them. I could be like the guy that you think is talking to himself until you realize that he's using a Bluetooth because he's always working. I could end up being that mom screaming at her kids in the middle of the aisle. I could be that woman on the scooter because she's too large to walk. I may end up like most Wal-Mart shoppers, quiet and exhausted. Truth be told, I don't want to be any of them. They all look so miserable, and it makes me miserable.
I refuse. I refuse to blend into the background. I learned a great lesson this past month from a great man that you can be filled with energy even if you've been taking 48 teenagers across the country on about 5 hours of sleep a night for 19 days. No matter if you're 62 and logically you should be dead on the ground, the biggest smile ever can constantly grace your face, you can have enough energy to make everyone around you know that they are important people, including the lady who takes your order at McDonald's. It's possible if you've got the Lord on your side. If you're working your fingers to the bone in a righteous endeavor and you pray to be able to continue to do so, you'll make it, and you'll make it with overflowing happiness. Anything is possible, it's even possible to enjoy the journey.
I currently stand at a fork in the road with a huge web of paths before me. At the end of one stands the businessman, another ends in the mom whose patience has run out, another stops at the feet of the woman who can't see her feet. Countless others end in so many people who have ended up so differently, and I have to choose which to follow. I've decided that I don't want to follow any of them, they're not me. I'm going to push harder and climb the mountain that they all stopped at the bottom of. That, my friends, is the mountain of eternal happiness, which can only be reached with the constant aide of our Lord. One day I will stand at the top of that mountain and my body may be exhausted, but my mind will be invigorated. I will join all of my family who also realized that the top of the mountain is where they want to be and let our Heavenly Father know it in action and desire.
I will stand on top of that mountain, smiling, flanked by those that I have helped up. I may be covered in dirt and sweat, it may not be glamorous, I may have to take a path that I never imagined, but I will reach the summit. I refuse to stand at the bottom and admire the beauty of the mountain, for there is so much more beauty to be seen from the top.
I refuse to conform, I refuse to blend into the background. I will be my own person and forge my own trail. Bring it on.
One day, I will be one of those Wal-Mart shoppers that has tons of choices behind them. I could be like the guy that you think is talking to himself until you realize that he's using a Bluetooth because he's always working. I could end up being that mom screaming at her kids in the middle of the aisle. I could be that woman on the scooter because she's too large to walk. I may end up like most Wal-Mart shoppers, quiet and exhausted. Truth be told, I don't want to be any of them. They all look so miserable, and it makes me miserable.
I refuse. I refuse to blend into the background. I learned a great lesson this past month from a great man that you can be filled with energy even if you've been taking 48 teenagers across the country on about 5 hours of sleep a night for 19 days. No matter if you're 62 and logically you should be dead on the ground, the biggest smile ever can constantly grace your face, you can have enough energy to make everyone around you know that they are important people, including the lady who takes your order at McDonald's. It's possible if you've got the Lord on your side. If you're working your fingers to the bone in a righteous endeavor and you pray to be able to continue to do so, you'll make it, and you'll make it with overflowing happiness. Anything is possible, it's even possible to enjoy the journey.
I currently stand at a fork in the road with a huge web of paths before me. At the end of one stands the businessman, another ends in the mom whose patience has run out, another stops at the feet of the woman who can't see her feet. Countless others end in so many people who have ended up so differently, and I have to choose which to follow. I've decided that I don't want to follow any of them, they're not me. I'm going to push harder and climb the mountain that they all stopped at the bottom of. That, my friends, is the mountain of eternal happiness, which can only be reached with the constant aide of our Lord. One day I will stand at the top of that mountain and my body may be exhausted, but my mind will be invigorated. I will join all of my family who also realized that the top of the mountain is where they want to be and let our Heavenly Father know it in action and desire.
I will stand on top of that mountain, smiling, flanked by those that I have helped up. I may be covered in dirt and sweat, it may not be glamorous, I may have to take a path that I never imagined, but I will reach the summit. I refuse to stand at the bottom and admire the beauty of the mountain, for there is so much more beauty to be seen from the top.
I refuse to conform, I refuse to blend into the background. I will be my own person and forge my own trail. Bring it on.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
My Little Strip of Heaven
It all started when Courtney came over in her sweeto car. Of course, we car danced to the Ultimate Driving Mix in it. Now, when you think of car dancing, you probably think of people driving and dancing. We only did one of those things since it's illegal to drive with peers for the first 6 months of being licensed. Party in the driveway? I think yes. Weird looks from neighbors? Not much, they've gotten past that point after living near my psycho family for a few years. But you know what? It was honestly a blast, even if we were just chillin' in the driveway. That's when I realized that there have been countless parties in the driveway. Attempting to unicycle and laughing at each other while my middle-aged father showed us all up, innumerable go-kart tests, or just sitting and talking. My driveway's my bud.
I loved it even more when I realized how many journeys started and ended in my driveway. Before, when I would leave for long periods of time, I would sub-consciously say goodbye to my house, not looking forward to a bed not really mine. Now when I leave, I bid the driveway farewell and anticipate the next adventure on my list. The significance of pulling in or out of my driveway is more apparent to me, and it kind of symbolizes change to me. I know, I have way too much time on my hands to be able to be thinking about this stuff. I don't want to hear it. You just wish that you could look at your driveway and see it as an opportunity. An opportunity to leave where you are and take a break, coming back a different person, if only slightly. That strip of cement is point A and point B, the beginning and the end, the past and the future, the start and finish to an immense number of excursions.
There is something that makes my driveway extra special. Lines. Words cannot describe how much I love those gravel strips and how they guide me into the garage. They've totally helped me make curfew a few times already. I love being able to just swing in and know that I'm going to clear the sides because I'm in the lines! Be jealous. My driveway is stellar. Thank you Padre for knowing that you would eventually have 4 teenage drivers.
Sure, my driveway probably means more to me than it should for any sane person. So do grilled cheese sandwiches. Maybe you could join in the craziness. Next time you pull out of your driveway, think about who you are when you leave and who you're going to be when you come back. Try and make it a positive change, focus on making your driveway proud of the ever-so-slightly different you. Even if no one notices that you're changing for the better, you and your driveway will, and that's enough.
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