Day 407

The last three weeks I have felt like the sermon at church was for me. The first week was about coming out of darkness. I went forward and let people pray over me and I felt much better that day. Last week was about the devil's tools and how he deceives us, tempts us, and accuses us. Today the sermon was about Rivers in the Desert. (I'll admit, I was really annoyed that a river video was looping in the background for the entire message. But now, thinking about it, it's just funny.)  Too many people don't know about the river, many only put their toes or maybe their ankle into the water. Most people won't go waist deep and even fewer are willing to dive in and let the current carry them.

As Pastor Bud was talking about the river I had three songs come into my head.

1. ♫ I have a river a river of life flowing inside of me and it never runs dry ♪
2. ♪ ♫ Wishing I was knee deep in the water somewhere (I do not endorse this song, it simply crossed my mind)
3. ♪♫ I'm diving in, I'm going deep, in over my head I want to be. Caught in the rush, caught in the flow, in over my head I want to go! The river's deep, the river's wide, the river's water is alive! So sink or swim, I'm diving in! ♪♫♪♫

I thought after the first Sunday I went to Crossroads things would be different. I let them pray over me, I felt different, things were gonna be better. But today I realized that I am not in the river. Heck, I'm in a land-locked place right now! I haven't let go and I'm still resisting surrender. Miss T and pastor Bud both prayed over me, but it's gonna take more than that. I have to surrender! It's not easy though. It means letting go of what I want. It means following God instead of earthly things. It means not doing some of the fun things I enjoy. I drove the speed limit the whole way back (very uncommon for me!) I unchecked all of the songs on my iTunes today that don't honor God. Notice that I didn't even have the strength to just delete them and remove them from my life? I still want to watch my Grey's Anatomy and How I Met Your Mother but I know those shows aren't good for me. I tried to justify it and say I've seen over 8 seasons of each show and I am only going to watch the rest of the current season, but is that really what is best? No!

I am so torn right now. I have lots of decisions to make. I know what the right thing to do is, but actually following through with it is harder than it sounds. Of course, school is still going on and I have to keep up with that. When I get overwhelmed, like I have been this weekend, I want to shut down and do nothing. That's when I should be relying on God! But it's not really my first instinct. I feel like I have been asking for prayer a lot, but I really need help. If you want, a text, a call, a note or letter, or anything really to let me know you are rooting for me in this fight would really be encouraging. Please pray for me. I'm sure my roommate would appreciate it because she has to live with me and I'm kind of all over the place right now.

Day 406

So you wanna read about my day huh? It sucked. Yep.

The prospective student who was staying with me left before I woke up. I shouldn't have slept in though. I have way too much homework due next week. Monday alone requires a Powerpoint, Invoice, Paper, and Map for just one class. Tuesday has a take home test, economic assessment paper, and a trucking paper. The only thing I got accomplished today was the Monday stuff and caught my blog up. I am super stressed and getting overwhelmed to the point of wanting to just quit.

The highlight of my day was when I went to El Sombrero with Lisa for lunch. We went because I was out of meals because I had breakfast this week. It was super yummy, even if the tortilla maker was broken.

It's now almost midnight and I need sleep. My brain is fried and I still have so much to do. Prayer for strength, productivity, motivation, and peace would be greatly appreciated!

Day 405

I heard about a summer internship at Samaritan's Purse last month and looked into it. But I didn't do anything about it. Last week when I stalked Jessica, she asked me if I had applied yet. I told her that I hadn't and she could slap me today if I hadn't done it yet. When I took her ice cream today, she didn't slap me, but she did get on to me. I told her that I would do something about it this weekend. I sat down after dinner to start working on it. At 1:00am I gave up because I was totally upset with the whole process.

First, I set up an account and began work. Part way through, I left a field blank because it said "* Pastor" or "Spiritual Mentor." I filled out the spiritual mentor part though. The application warns you that if you leave a *required line blank you will lose all progress on the application. I should have known better, but I tried it anyway. Bad choice.
I started the process over and filled in every line. I worked up to the point that you are supposed to attach a resume and cover letter. I wanted to make sure the other parts were correct, so I went back and looked at them. As I worked backwards, the information was there, but then I went forward and it disappeared. I was more than upset. I may have cried. Mind you, it was past my bedtime at this point.
Third time's the charm! I worked through and didn't go back at all. I tried to write a cover letter and was stumped. I wanted so bad to finish it tonight because I didn't want to lose my progress, but I didn't want to turn in something that was less than par. After a while I decided to give up. I logged out and took a deep breath to release some of my stress. I logged back in just to explore the site a bit. When I did this, there were all three applications I had started. UGH!!! The frustration was for nothing! What a relief! Annoying to not know sooner, but I was still super excited when I saw it! After I get a chance to meet with Laura to go over my resume and cover letter, I will submit my application. Prayer would be appreciated. I really want to go to Boone, NC and I need some experience!

Poor Heritage Competitor! She went to bed about 9pm and I was still up at 1am. I turned off most of the lights and I was quiet, but I think she woke up a couple times.

Day 404

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Heh okay, enough of my nerdy humor. This morning while I was at work, Timber asked me to work on a project of alphabetizing the boxes of archives. It's a huge project because there are well over 300 boxes! Each box varies in weight, but most are over 20lbs. Some weigh 30lbs or more. Picking these up and lifting them above your head for half an hour is a nice workout. Too bad I wasn't expecting it and I got sweaty. Whatever, not a big deal. It's better than some things I've had to do before.

Something that was a big deal was my test in Intermediate Accounting II today. This was the first test of the semester and I am pretty worried about it. If you recall, I came very close to failing the first class. I have been doing the homework and I took some practice tests and I studied, but I am not sure about this class. The first part of the test is theory, which we did today. We have a take home portion for the second part that will be due on Tuesday. It is more problems and research. It should be easier than other tests I've had, but I am still kinda scared about it.

Also, for the first time ever ...drum roll please! ..... I had a previewer/Heritage Competitor! Woohoo! She was a nice, young woman from Oregon. She arrived this afternoon and we had a lovely chat tonight. I didn't get my homework finished, but that's okay. I hope she comes to LeTourneau. Partly because we need more female engineers, but mostly because she is a really sweet girl and I think she will like it here!

Day 403

Have you ever had a class where absolutely nothing about that class made sense? You walk away after each class period wondering, "what exactly did he try to teach me just now?" That is how I feel after Advanced Managerial Accounting every week. We cover so much material and sometimes it is hard to understand exactly what the point of it all is. This week was different. We talked about flexible budgets and flexible budget variances. I know all about these and everything made sense! Due to a miscommunication last semester, Mr. Foy taught us about that and I remembered most of it pretty well. I wasn't happy last semester when I realized we didn't need to know that, but it actually paid off for this semester!

Funny Story: We wrote a paper last week for this class about "Saving the USPS" and today the front headline was "Postal Service to End Delivery of Letters on Saturdays." No one in our class recommended that, so I hope they know what they are doing!

Day 402

When we first received our itinerary for the trip to England, everyone noticed that Friday had some open time. A couple people asked about visiting London for various reasons. I wanted to so that I could meet up with a friend who lives there. Tonight when we met to discuss where we are at with the workshops, Dr. Jacobs told us that for an extra $100, we could take a train to London and spend the whole day there! This was exciting for sure!

I am working with 3 other students to prepare a workshop for business owners in Preston. We are discussing how to write a business plan. The difficult part about this project is that you spend an entire semester learning how to make a Marketing Plan which is only one part of making a Business Plan. So, in theory, we could teach them for 2 semesters... our workshop is 2-3 hours. How do you simplify a business plan and still cover everything that is important?! Did I mention that we have two freshman who know nothing about making a business plan? This is gonna be an adventure...

Day 401

I'm so glad that I didn't have anything due today. I was definitely dragging. I still got up and worked out with Anna at 7am despite being super tired. But after a shower, it was back in bed until chapel! I haven't been keeping up with the chapel schedule very well, so I was pleasantly surprised when I walked in and the band was on stage and they played for the entire chapel. Praise and worship chapels are my favorite! Followed by when musicians comes to preform.

I honestly don't remember anything notable about this day....sorry

Day 400

SUPERBOWL ..... something in the forties right? XLVII = X(10) L(50) V(5) I(1) I(1) so either 47 or 67. Meh, who cares! No one will remember who won until the next time either of those teams plays. Don't judge me. I just don't care a lot about professional football. I think that it is similar to movie stars, we have created such a demand for them that their price tag is unbelievable and it makes me sick to think how much they make per game or per movie. But the superbowl, as we all know, is about commercials and the half time show, not the actual game! Sadly, the half time show was not about music... I wasn't really impressed with any of the commercials either.

Remember how I came back this morning at 4:30am? I went to church and was awake by 9:00am. Then, I went shopping for food for our superbowl party with some of the girls on our floor and never took a nap. I was exhausted, so I ended up leaving the Nelson's house after the end of the 2nd quarter. I am glad I did because I was back and asleep before 9pm, I didn't have to watch the awful halftime show, and I missed the blackout!

Congratulation to The Ravens and Michael Oher! If you don't know who Michael Oher is, you need to watch "The Blind Side"!

Day 399

When most people think about weekends, they think about the fun that they can have in their spare time (time not spent at work). But for college students, weekends are a time to catch up on homework. I spent the early part of my day reading about environmental science before leaving for Dallas. I took my laptop and a few things I deemed necessary and headed off to see Elise. Today is her birthday you know! I turned on the movie Cars on the way there which made me want to drive really fast! But I already do, so what else is new?
Once there, I had a "skype date" with Patrick as Elise got ready. She was supposed to talk to him, but it ended up being just him and I talking about stuff. I left Longview thinking that we were going country dancing, so I brought my boots! But we ended up going to Main Event instead, so I got to wear my awesome new superman t-shirt! Dinner at Lava 10 was delicious. Out of 8 people, I am the only person who ate cooked food... Everyone else had sushi, Elise's favorite. We played some games while we waited for bowling lanes to open up. Then we proceeded to play 3 games. Each of us won one game! I had a lot of fun hanging out with Elise and the others!
I left Dallas around 2am and arrived back in Longview at 4:30am. It was a long day for sure! On the way back, I played Finding Nemo. Man I love that movie!

Happy Birthday Elise! I hope you know how special you are! It was awesome to see you!

Day 398

Friday is the best day of the week. You are finished with classes, you might get paid, you have two whole days until school starts, you can stay up late if you want (or go to bed before 10pm like we did). But a lot happened before 10pm!

7:00am Awake, coffee, started reading for Environmental Science
8:00am Post tweet condemning the breeding of stupidity, begin feeling guilty about thoughts to not have medicine to create a strong more 'fit' human race and realizing that many people I know wouldn't be alive without medicine.
9:00am Finished reading chapter, went to Walmart with Erin to find a pH testing kit which they didn't have (bummer) and a desk calendar which they also didn't have (double bummer).
10:00am Bought Beef Jerky Steak in the check out line because I was hungry.
11:00am Sitting in chapel listening to the cutest little children from Uganda sing. Mwangaza Children's Choir was awesome!
12:00pm Wrote blog postings instead of paying attention in Environmental Science.
1:00pm Falsified documents in Accounting Systems and cheated the government out of money that they rightfully deserved (hypothetically). My company is doing fairly well I must say. Too bad everything will end for Sanchez Garden Supply next Monday when we start work on MS Access.
2:00pm Lunch from the hive was a lame burrito that was severely lacking due to the large number of students who arrived before me. I got my package from the USPS and I came back to my room. Turned on Grey's Anatomy and ate my burrito.
3:00pm Opened the package and checked out the new blades. Tried them on and skated around the dorm. Roommate assured me that they were good and I could take the tags off. We went to ice cream and I didn't fall.
4:00pm I skated over to visit Sarah and she told me to take a picture if I "biff it." Why I am not familiar with the term 'biff it' or the song 'MMMBop' is beyond me, but apparently I missed out on some things. Took Abby home after I got back to my room.
5:00pm Swung by PETSMART looking for a pH testing kit and the woman assured me that I didn't need one. So much for Terrill's advice. Then I got gas because the little light came on.
6:00pm Met Tim and Chrissy for dinner at Panda Express. We walked up to PETSMART and wandered around.
7:00pm Stalked Jessica at Old Navy. Bought Superman shirt.
8:00pm Watched some Last Man Standing and just decompressed for a bit
9:00pm Hung out and tried to figure out whether to stay up longer or go to bed. Got ready and slept.

That may not seem like much to some of you, but it felt like a long day to me. Eli is still alive. Day One as a Fish Owner = Success!

Day 397

Laying in bed this morning I thought about the effects of me not going to work. Of course I went to work, I'm not going to be that person! It's a good thing I did. I work from 7:45 until 11. At 11, Chad is supposed to come in. He didn't come in though. Micah was supposed to cover for him. But Micah had somewhere more important to be. So then I was supposed to cover for them from 11 until 12. The only problem is that I had already agreed to cover for Matt from 11:30 until 12:15. Instead of getting my lunch at 11:00am when I was hungry, I waited until 12:15 when Matt came to work. I don't really care to work alone for over 4 hours. Whatever, it's over now.

Okay, so more interesting story. I went to Walmart tonight with a couple friends and I bought a fish! Eeeek! I'm so excited about my little Eli. I am going to move him into the tank tomorrow, but I did take a picture of him in the little tub I bought him in. I showed him off to a bunch of people tonight as soon as we got back. I hope that I will be a good owner, but there is apparently a lot more to raising a fish than I was aware of. I am nervous about this in a similar way to parents who take home a new baby. I'll keep you updated on his progress!

Day 396

It's more of a birth week than a birthday! I got two key lime pies Saturday, John made key lime pie on Monday, Tuesday mom got me a cake, and today Jackie and Audrey came over and brought me a second cake! I ate a big piece of the yummy cake. I even licked the plate clean it was so yummy! That's not normal for me because I really don't like cake that much. This was a great way to end the day though because I was really stressed this morning. A paper that I was supposed to write over the last three weeks was due at 3pm and I started writing it this morning.

I have really felt loved this week! But my birthweek won't be over until at least Friday....that's when my roller blades are coming!

Day 395

In several countries, birthdays are not celebrated. I am happy we celebrate them here! Today was my birthday and what a splendid day it was! While I was at work, I received an email telling me to come by an office because they had something for me. It turns out that my mother ordered me a birthday cake despite me having two key lime pies in my fridge. She told me that it was to share with my floor. I spent the whole day trying to get rid of it! I still have a corner left (about 1/16). I don't really like cake, so I haven't even had a piece. She ordered marble, which I prefer if I have cake, but they made vanilla. Everyone seemed to enjoy it.

After lunch, I was working on evil Intermediate Accounting II homework when Jims and Rio came to my door. Rio held a plate of cookies! Abbs ate one and only two are left. I would tell you how many I ate, except that I lost track after 4... Behind her, Jims held a box. I opened the card and was scared when she said that, "this reminded me of you." Too my surprise, it was a Batman mask, cape and "Batarangs" (Bat-Boomerangs I guess). Of course I put on the mask and cape immediately! I grabbed my Batman boxers and put them over my shorts and I put on a black shirt. I walked around campus dressed like that, including going to classes, until dinner! You only turn 21 once, so you might as well have some fun with it! Some judged, others laughed, still others were concerned/disgusted/jealous!

Day 394

God has an interesting way of coordinating events. The first day that I decide to read my Bible before I start the day I read Mark 1:35, "Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed." I thought that was great because Jesus set an example for us to start our day off by having a quiet time and that was what I did this morning. Then, in Mark 2:17, the pharisees condemn Jesus for eating with sinners and He responds that only the sick need a doctor. I thought this was great because for so long I said that I would clean myself up before I went to God and that's not how it works. What an interesting way to start the day!

The Environmental Science test today didn't go as well as I would have hoped, but it's over and there is nothing I can do but study better next time! Accounting Systems was cancelled because Mrs. Bellamy had somewhere else to be. So, I had some to clean out bad music from my phone and delete dumb Pandora stations. It was hard to let it all go, but it is not worth it to put that stuff in my mind. That's not to say that I deleted them from my computer, no, not just yet. But it's still progress.

Day 393

I thought that this year I was going to a new church and it would be New Beginnings. While I did go there the first Sunday, I have attended Crossroads Community Church the last two Sundays. Today, I took notes for the first time in a while. Not just fill in the blank stuff that some churches give you, but I took my own notes.(I pay better attention that way, rather than waiting for the next word and trying to guess it beforehand) The passage we looked at was Mark 9:14-29. I could tell you about this passage, but I would rather that your curiosity be piqued and you would investigate it for yourself.

I just want to share a couple of notes that I made during the sermon:

• It is tragic when disciples of Jesus have an inability to deal with people's darkness.
• The disciples were called in Mark 3:13-19 and had cast out demons before.
• Jesus dealt with:
• Deception
• Demons
• Diseases
• Distress
• Those who are desperate seek Him! If they aren't desperate, they aren't looking for help.
• God's desire is for [Crossroads] to be a place to deal with darkness; a place that can change people's lives!

When I realized what the sermon was about, I made a deal with God. Yeah, I know it's dumb and childish to make a deal with God, but I did it anyways. I told Him that if someone said something like, "I just feel like there is someone here that needs to come out of darkness today," I would know it was me and I would go to the front and receive prayer. It didn't happen early on, so I thought I was off the hook. But when a woman said that she had been set free two years before and that she knew there was someone in the room that needed to be set free, my heart began to race. I knew that I was supposed to go forward and I wanted to, but my body was fighting me and I had to let go of my pride. I had to keep up my end of the deal, too. Finally, I was able to stand up and walk to the front and Jackie was right behind me. Jovita and Hannah both came over as well and all three of them just began to pray over me and it was incredible. I was crying and shaking and somewhere in the midst of everything I just stopped. God calmed me and my breathing was normal, my leg quit shaking, and I quit crying. I felt God tell me, "It's okay Jamee, I've got you." Once all of the girls finished praying, I thanked them and hugged them. Then, I went over to the woman whose testimony I had responded to. She wanted to pray with me too and asked what she could pray for. In my typical style, I was vague about my darkness. She gathered her troops and surrounded me again in prayer. Ms. T was among them and she was a real encouragement to me! Crying is not my favorite thing, but I did a lot of it today. When I stood in the middle of what I can guess was about 8 or more women and asked for prayer, I am pretty sure they all knew what I was trying to hide in my vagueness. But that is okay. It is important to be vulnerable and "pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall." Hopefully, I will have the courage to be honest and not vague in the future.

I walked out of church today feeling refreshed and free for the first time in 7 years or more. God wanted me to be at Crossroads today and set me free because He wants what is best for His children.

Let the redeemed of the Lord say so!

Day 392

I slept in this morning which was nice. I rushed to wash my clothes and sheets, wash my dishes, research roller blades, dry my clothes, workout, shower, make my bed, fold my clothes, and be ready to meet my family at 12:00pm, they got here at 12:45pm though, so I had some extra time. I didn't want to drive home this weekend, so they came out and we celebrated both my dad and my birthdays.

For lunch, I picked El Sombrero which was fantastic! We all could have eaten just chips, salsa, tortillas, and queso and been quite happy. But, I now have Fajita leftovers! Once we came back to campus, I opened presents. That was fun! I had to move all of my movies so I could add Cars in it's correct spot since I like them to be in alphabetical order. I had just moved all the DVDs after G because I forgot to add Gulliver's Travels when I bought it and I wanted to send the case home with my family. So it was annoying to go all the way back through the process. After opening the gift from my parents, I figured we should play all the games!

Apples To Apples (Arby's edition) was pretty funny (*Mom/April). Spoons was fun (*Mom)! Farkel is a classic with our family (*April). Pit was freakin' awesome (*Jamee)! Settlers of Catan is a good game (*Jamee)! Poor Daddy didn't win a game...sad day! Somewhere in the middle of all those games, we ate Key Lime Pie which was delicious! I shared with a lot of people because I can't have too many leftovers or I will eat them all. There were two recipes and my mom brought both. I preferred the cream cheese one to the baked one.

It was pretty late by the time we finished all the games and it was dad's turn to pick dinner. Outback Steakhouse was packed tonight! We waited 40 minutes to be seated! Our waitress, Sara, was a very nice, young lady. It was a great dinner and a good experience! It didn't feel special when they sang happy birthday to us though. Three other people were celebrating birthdays tonight and had already been sung to before we were in the spotlight.

Mom bought me roller blades online when we got back to campus. I had to say goodbye because they needed to leave for home. They won't be home until nearly 2am and I feel bad for them, but I am so happy that I got to spend time with them all day! I love my family!

Day 391

Things I've done in sets of three today:

•  Drove to the North side of town:
• To walk with Kim
• To take Abby home
• To visit Jenni
• Eaten:
• Lunch
• Dinner
• Chick-Fil-A to satisfy a nugget craving
• Eaten Ice Cream:
• Friday YAC
• Because Abbs brought me some at dinner
• Because I wanted a Cookies 'n' Cream milkshake
• Thought about working out and didn't:
• Before meeting Kim
• Before taking Abby home
• After dinner
• Sat for long periods of time as required by my school
• Chapel
• Environmental Science
• Accounting Systems

Day 390

Today is just like any other day. I had class, I worked, I ate, I socialized (but I'm not a socialist) and now it's time for bed and I'm too lazy to write a long post about anything. I have to say that I'm really impressed at how many people read this all the time. It means a lot to me that so many people want to read about my life. I think some people read it just to see if I do something stupid and write about it so they can laugh. No exciting life stories or funny things today. Just another day.



"My hope is built on nothing less than your great love, your righteousness! I will not walk another way, I trust your heart, I trust your name! I'm holding on, I'm holding on to you!"

Day 389

I have told the story about the accident so many times that I felt like I had come to terms with it. I could describe the entire situation without emotions welling up in me. But today when I went to the funeral, those emotions came bursting out! I sat through songs that made me tear up and stories that made me laugh and cry. I was doing pretty well until I passed in front of the casket. Seeing the lifeless body of this incredible man made it real. I hadn't fully accepted that he was gone. Reality hit me so hard that I had to more less run out of there before I exploded. I only made it to the back of the room before I had to sit down because I was shaking and crying so badly that I couldn't walk or think straight. I am not a fan of crying, let alone crying in public. So that wasn't fun.

As much as I hurt, I know Erin has to be hurting so much more! That is why my phone now has an alarm set for 9:42pm so that I can pray for her everyday. (The random time came from a story someone told about Jason today)

There really wasn't much to this day outside of the funeral. I called some friends to let them know how much I love them because you never know when their time, or even your own, will come!

A girl from LeTourneau saw the whole incident and she is very shaken up by it. Please keep her and everyone else involved with this situation in your prayers. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in time of need. I pray that He will comfort everyone and give them peace!

Day 388

I have never been so proud of a freshman in my entire life! I went to visit a friend on another floor and as I was leaving I heard girls talking in a room. At first I was confused. But no, I hadn't heard them wrong. They were talking about sex!

•One girl grew up in a home with two adults that lived together for 23 years but never married. She didn't see the point of marrying someone if you didn't like having sex with that person. So of course you had to take a test drive, or two or fifty.

•Another girl grew up with a mother who had never been married. She didn't think it mattered how many people you had sex with because as long as your spouse doesn't judge you for not being a virgin, it didn't matter.

The biggest reason neither of them wanted to "do the dirty" was fear of contracting STDs. In my opinion, sex shouldn't be called dirty. If you have sex, it should be inside a marriage. In which case it is not dirty, it is beautiful!

The last girl, a proponent of abstinence, grew up in a home with two married parents that were open about their mistakes and wanted their children to avoid those same mistakes. Listening to this young woman share her values and opinions, ones I agree with, pride and respect for her grew in my heart!

Our first basketball game was a fail... We had to forfeit because no one was able to/wanted to play. Lamesauce!

Day 387

It is usually total darkness in our room at night, but Abbs spent the night elsewhere, so I opened the blinds. My alarm was set so I could get up early and go to the gym, start this day out right! When Abbs came back, I was still asleep even with the sun shining in our window! My plan didn't work. It's both a blessing and a curse to be able to sleep through sounds/lights.

I did go to the gym despite my late awakening. It was empty as per the us. All of campus was empty actually. I think most people left campus this weekend. Not totally sure why I didn't, but it's no big deal.

Shower. Blog. Lunch. Homework. Nap. Homework. Dinner. Homework. Tutor (Not an actual job). Chill. Blog. Bed. No wonder I feel like I haven't done anything today. I have done nothing today! Work in the morning should be quiet. Maybe I'll get some homework done...

Day 386

You may recall that this whole blog thing started after Jeremy finished his year of blogging in 2011. I ran into him for the first time in several years tonight. It was good to see so many faces from so long ago, but the reason for our meeting was not. People told stories of funny memories they had made with Jason and they told about his character and the amazing man of God he was! The time of sharing was recorded so that his daughter, Emily, can grow up knowing how wonderful her father was and how many lives he impacted. Erin, his wife, shared stories with us and I think it was therapeutic for everyone. The Celebration of Life service will be on Wednesday and I plan to attend that as well.

In order to make it to Tyler in time, I had to leave our floor event early. The first thing we did was play 2 Truths and a Lie. This got pretty interesting with what people told about themselves. We laughed a lot during this game, but even more when we played Never Have I Ever! Things got a little more serious when we wrote notes and cards for women at Hannah's House, a local maternity home. The last thing before dinner was a dessert contest! There were 12 ingredients numbered from 1-12 sitting on a table and all the girls broke into 3 groups. Each group drew numbers to determine which things they would be using for their creation. My group got a cake mix, icing with a candy cane, M&M's, and Pop-Tarts. So, naturally, we made cake with a poptart layer in the middle topped with chocolate mint icing! We won, but I only knew through a text and a picture! Rio saved me a piece of the under-cooked cake. It was super sweet and pretty good! I felt bad for Abbs team because they got ridiculous ingredients that were more/less impossible to make anything good from.

With the sharing service, the floor activity, and church this morning, I didn't do any homework today! I ended up going to Crossroads because I didn't want to wake up for New Beginnings. I sat with Tim and Chrissy and we had 5 Guys for lunch. Super yummy! I was distracted by my thoughts during church, as I tend to be all the time, but what I heard of the message really spoke to me. Every 1 matters to God! I am not sure where I will go to church next week, but God knows and that is good enough for me!

Day 385

It is with tears in my eyes and a heavy heart that I write this:
This morning I received word from a former counselor that a mutual friend from Rockin' C Ranch had been killed in a wreck last night. I was completely taken back. I didn't realize I still had her number, but I called her and she told me the devastating story about what had happened to our friend. He was helping a woman who had been in an accident when he and another man were struck by a third vehicle. That was what Jason did though, he helped people. I remember talking to him both as a camper and later as a junior counselor. He was a good man and the world will not be the same without him. Amber was kind to inform me so that I didn't find out online about his death. When Heather (one of my counselors from RCR) had a brain aneurysm and passed away suddenly almost 3 years ago, I found out through Facebook. I was devastated that she could just be gone with no warning. Today would have been her 29th birthday. Both were incredible people and made my childhood great! I'm not sure why they died when they did, but I have to trust that God has a plan for those of us who no longer can enjoy their presence with us on earth. Please be in prayers for Jason's family. He leaves behind his wife and infant daughter.


On a significantly lighter note:
The first Chai Party of the year was tonight! Before heading over, I went to the Easter in January Easter Egg Hunt that YAC was having. I won gum, fruit snacks, and slim jims. I don't eat slim jims, but Abbs does! So that worked out well. I also gave her a pack of the double mint gum to cover the smell of the slim jims when she eats them! I tried to get her to go to Chai Party with me, but she is too studious to have fun on a Saturday night. Summer came to fetch me from my dorm and I went over with her wearing sweats, tennis shoes, and a jacket. After conferring with Tim and Chrissy, I began to get rather chilly. I traveled back to my abode to change into jeans, boots, hoodie plus Carhartt, and a hat. Abbs likes chai, I'm not sure why, but I brought her back some after my second visit to the Burklin's house. I told her that I don't like chai and asked her if she knew why. One, because it is a vile drink that turns even the most respectable men into complete scoundrels. Two, because I don't like milk and it has a large percentage of milk in it.

Day 384

This morning I was so sore that I didn't want to get out of bed at all. So I didn't, until Abbs came back from her first class. That means that I didn't work out this morning. But never fear, after chapel, two classes, and lunch with Abbs on the berm, I did hit up the gym! I figured that would be a great opportunity to watch the new episode of Grey's Anatomy! It worked out pretty great because I multitasked and used my time wisely. My exercise was ruined/wasted though. 3:30pm Fridays is Ice Cream in MSC1. Oh well! I would have eaten it either way, so the exercise just offsets some of the calories.

I tried to do some homework tonight. I only got one problem done. Don't think I'm some lazy student out partying on Friday night. I was freakin' dedicated to that one problem! It was 3 parts and even though I got 2/3 on it the first time, I had to redo it twice until all the numbers were right. There were no check points like you have in video games. If I died, I didn't just get to restart at some point other than the beginning. No, I had to redo all of it with new numbers. I don't think Abbs appreciated my perseverance with that problem.

I told her that we could watch a movie after I did one problem. It was over an hour later before we sat down to watch her favorite movie, Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium! I don't think that I've seen it before or it's been so long I forgot the entire movie. Either way, I really enjoyed it! After a shower, oddly enough, I wanted to take a walk. I covered my wet hair to keep from getting sick and left the building. After a quick visit to see Kate, I discovered that our fire alarm was going off again in Gilbert Hall. I went over to the meeting place since I was close by and laughed at Abbs because she didn't want to walk with me but she ended up outside anyways. She didn't think it was funny.

But yeah. I'm fairly decent at multitasking. In fact, I wrote this entire blog while walking around the loop! That's 15 minutes I don't have to stay up when I get back to my room. But this totally defeats the purpose of the walk which was to clear my mind from the long and stressful week! I am so glad that we get a 3 day weekend. Thank you Martin Luther King, Jr. for being so important that you had a day named after you and now we get a holiday. I need to get ahead on a couple classes and catch up on a few others. Maybe some sleep too!

Day 383

BodyPump hurts. 'Nough said.
Why did Jamee go to BodyPump? She isn't in good enough shape for that?!
You gotta start somewhere right? Well that is not the best place for me to start. I will probably stick to the gym for a while until my heart can keep up with my body. I was dying in that class. My legs were shaking as I tried to squat and lunge. I was afraid I was going to collapse near the end.

But the real question is why was I there in the first place!? Welp, funny story. Steve said him and Cortney would be there and that they would be late to the Themelios dinner. Sarah told me I should go with her, and since I had nothing better to do, I said sure. By the time class started, Steve and Cortney were no where in sight. I realized that I wouldn't be one of three stinky people, I would be the only stinky one. So, at that point I knew I would have to sneak out a little early to shower. Half way through the work out, I was ready to quit. My body wasn't happy with me and I was questioning why I ever thought I could do something so intense. I did leave early, but not early enough to be on time for dinner. I wanted to run back to the dorm, but two steps later I realized that walking straight without falling was a challenge in itself and there was no way that I could run. No one was upset that I was 10 minutes late.

The biggest issue I have with working out is that I get hungry, super hungry! It's not a problem in the morning as much because I hate breakfast so I don't overeat. But working out right before dinner when I love dinner means I'm going to eat way too much food.
I ate the 7oz Roasted Garlic Sirloin (250 cal), sauteed onions (45 cal), seasonal veggies (35-60 cal), red potatoes (150 cal), and Erin's left over piece of fish (350 cal). Then I wanted chocolate. So I went to the Yogurt Bar and got some fro yo! That's another 250 calories.... I sure hope I burned at least half of what they say you should burn at BodyPump because otherwise this meal just ruined my diet!

Day 382

How long do you think that a person should be given to learn the language when they immigrate before there should be some sort of penalty? If you move to a new place, you should be willing to learn the language. I don't know how long it takes to learn a language, but it seems like 20 years should be long enough. By this point, you should also lose at least part of the thick Spanish accent so that Americans can understand what you are talking about. Dr. Castro did an excellent chapel presentation today, but if I hadn't had a transcript of exactly what he was saying, there is no way that I would have taken anything away from it. Some of the words he used I tried to sound out and see if his pronunciation was more appropriate.

Dess-i-fur = Dee-sci-fur = Decipher

But maybe it is just me. I have always struggled with understanding anyone with any type of accent. I hope that I don't have to take any classes with him because I would probably miss a lot of the teaching.

The dogs' parents are supposed to return tonight, so it was the last time to feed them. I will miss seeing them daily, but I will not miss driving off campus in a truck with no heater when the outside temperature is less than 40. Aside from the cut and huge bruise on my leg, I would say they were well behaved; I only broke up one fight.

Tomorrow doesn't have any work due, so I did some random homework that isn't due until April I think. The other semi fun thing was creating a service invoice for my environmental science lab. I like the idea of charging someone $75 for a single hour of work! Current pay grade = $8.25/hr
That's so low that it's not even listed on Wikipedia's Pay Grade Scale Bah!

Day 381

Do you ever get to the end of your day and ask yourself, "What did I even do today?" I went to work, ate lunch, went to two classes, ate dinner, attempted homework, and now I feel like I can't remember what it was that I was going to write about.

HIMYM was on last night which meant that there was a new episode online for me to watch today. Oh how I have grown to care about these characters, fictional as they may be.

Really, there wasn't anything notable about today.
Sorry if you are disappointed.

Day 380

My alarm went off 4 times. Did I get up? No. It's a good thing I have a roommate! When she came back from her first class, I woke up and still had enough time to go to the gym. New Year's Resolution started on the 14th, ... guess I just do things differently. I don't think anyone else had a NYR to work out. I was the only person (excluding guys in the free-weight room) for most of my workout. I was definitely okay with that though. I didn't really want to run into anyone. I've been told the elliptical machine is better than the treadmill, so I spent half an hour frustrated by the amount of sweat I was producing. Turns out, when you don't work out like ever and you try to work out for 30 minutes, your heart rate is really high! I feel like 175bpm probably shouldn't be sustained for 25-30 minutes. My resting heart rate is pretty high and I get winded climbing stairs, so I think I need to spend a while working on cardio before I even think about muscles. I gotta have the blood to support the muscles.

The thing about working out, you can't waste it by poor eating. Dinner was grilled chicken, fresh spinach, tomatoes, and an apple. I miss my carbs. Good thing I have some Ritz crackers in my room. But only a few!

LSM did chapel today. It was a very creative way to advertise the mission trips. I won't be going on on this year due to the England trip. I don't regret my decision, but I wish that I could go on the Spring Break Missions trip too.

I was about to publish this post when a loud siren went off. The building began to speak to me and banished me from her presence. She told me that it was for my safety; that there was a fire. I didn't believe her, but I left anyways. She lied to me, there was no fire. Once everyone was out of the building, she continued to sing us the song of her people. It must be a mating song because several men came rushing to see if she was okay. Outside I heard a person telling how she tried to make Mac n Cheese without water and that is what upset the building. The building held all the smoke inside until we were allowed back to open our windows. Of course, now it smells like smoke and it is freezing. Ain't nobody got time for dat!

Day 379

1. When I was trying to figure out what church it was in England that we will be working with I found a church called New Beginnings. (That wasn't the church. It's actually Heritage.)
2. Over Christmas break, my friend told me that when she looked at me she saw a butterfly coming out of a cocoon, like a New Beginning.
3. Someone left a "Forge" t-shirt on the G2 water fountain (traditionally, a place where people leave things they don't want) and I told Rio that if it was a small, I wanted it. When I checked, it was. I held it up to admire it and do you know which church it came from? New Beginnings!
4. Rio tells me she has been going to that church recently and I am more than welcome to go with her.

That was enough prompting to make me go to church at New Beginnings this morning. It was really good! I wish I had gotten more sleep last night, but Hannah kept me awake by poking me. I think I may go back next week. We will see what God does between now and then.

Day 378

I made an appointment to donate platelets today but found out that they were in need of whole blood from O+ donors and would prefer for me to donate whole blood. After the finger prick we discovered that my hemoglobin (iron) was too low. I left down-heartened. This really just put a damper on my whole day.

To this day, I have not seen Batman Begins. I own the movie, but I never took the time to watch it. I found it in the $5 bin at Wal-Mart over a year ago and figured somebody someday would want to watch it, and I wanted to be the one to loan it to them. Whatever. I have seen the Dark Knight though. When I heard that YAC was showing The Dark Knight Rises tonight, I wanted to watch the other movies leading up to it. That didn't happen though. So now I have seen the second and third Batman movies, but not the first one. Oops!

Day 377

Chapel today was pretty good. Bands are always kind of exciting. Environmental science on the other hand, not so exciting. Neither is Accounting Systems. I did make the address of the company I created 1400 Unicorn Drive Happyville, TX just for kicks and giggles. I was stoked after class because I finally got to eat lunch! Saga closes at 1:30, so Abbs and I went to the Hive. It was so beautiful outside that we decided to eat on the berm! What a glorious day it was! And to think that this week started with rain.

Naps are good. 'nough said.

Game night with G1/2A was absolutely hysterical! After going around, like an AA meeting, and introducing ourselves, we played a few games. The first is called signs. Each person makes up some little signal and one person stands in the middle of the circle. In essence, you play monkey in the middle with an invisible ball. One person makes their own "sign" and then another person's sign. The second person acknowledges the exchange by repeating their "sign" and then passes it on to a third person. If the person in the middle can catch who is "it," then they trade places with the person the caught trying to pass the sign. It has the potential to be lame, but our group of people had a fantastic time playing it!

The second game we played involved writing down three words, nouns. We placed the slips of paper in a bowl and passed it around. The first round was very similar to "Catchphrase." During the second round, we put the same words back in the bowl and instead of describing, we acted out, a.k.a. charades. This too was very entertaining! I am so glad I got to spend some quality time with G1/2A!!!

Day 376

Work is almost unbearable when no one comes into the library. Not having that personal interaction makes it lonely. I had plenty of work to do and I had music playing softly, but it's not the same without lots of students coming in. It's only been 3 days, so I can't complain. I will just have to wait until they have homework.

I was pretty productive tonight with my homework despite random YouTube videos and paper plane flying with Abbs. I didn't get as far ahead as I wanted, but a full chapter ahead is still something to be proud of! I am going to try and read the second chapter in the morning.

I was tempted to watch Grey's Anatomy since this was the first night back, but figured I would bribe myself with it tomorrow. Since I wore my CarterBloodCare shirts two days in a row and I am due for another donation, I scheduled one for this Saturday! Kinda of excited about it oddly enough. I've never donated platelets before!

Tonight, when I went to feed the puppies, Lobo jumped up and when he came down, he scratched my leg right behind the knee. It broke the skin and I definitely yelled out in pain. This knee had been bothering me all night (with what I call a Charlie Horse) and that definitely didn't help. I cleaned it with soap and water and made the ever painful decision to clean it with alcohol just to remember how much I hate that. But sometimes it is just worth it in the long run. Neosporin is good stuff, but how am I supposed to put a BandAid on the knee?! I made do... FWP! (first-world problems)

Day 375

I think I told you once how much I like numbers. So first off, .375 = 3/8. Since 1/4 = .250 and half of that, 1/8 = .125 you add them together to get .375. If you convert fraction to decimal regularly, you probably knew this already. Over break I was hanging something up and tried to find the middle of the wall so it would be centered. The decimal was .375 and it took me a while to figure out what fraction that was. When you use a tape measure you can't just say 29.375 inches, it's 2' 5 3/8."

Okay enough with math. I know most of you hate math anyways. I am finding that more and more people do not like math and sciences because that is not how their brain is wired.

!@#$%^&*()_+QWERTYUIOP{}|ASDFGHJKL:"ZXCVBNM<>?`1234567890-=qwertyuiop[]\asdfghjkl;'zxcvbnm,./

Okay I feel better now.

Bed made two days in a row?! My mom was shocked too. Worked out!? Am I sick?! Who is this person and what have you done with Jamee?! I am sick actually. Well kind of. I have had a stuffy/runny nose since the new year started. Fluids and drugs are supposed to help, they haven't though.

So, interesting story: Glaske is the building in which most science-related classes are held. Environmental Science was held in Heath Hardwick Hall. Most of those classrooms are designed for 30 students. We had 44 students crammed in there. Everyone was squished together and we kept adding chairs. Doesn't seem like it will be too bad of a class. The scariest looking class right now seems to be my Advanced Managerial Accounting class. When the professor says, "I'm going to treat this like a graduate class since there are only 3 of you and you are all upperclassmen," I get a little scared.

This semester should be good if I keep my focus. That's easier said than done as everyone knows. Taking notes in class would probably be a good plan. I need to stop depending on my memory, it's not as good as it once was.

Day 374

Out of bed at 6:54am??! I ate a muffin, made coffee, made my bed!, washed my dishes, and still had time to walk to work. Crazy! I worked alone from 7:45am-11:00am and it was super quiet! We changed our policy about public patrons, so business will be slower until tests start. I made coffee, which no one drank cause no one was there. I played music in the stacks while I was taking inventory because there was no one there to complain. I played Dominion online because I had nothing at all to do. That is until Steve Mason came in. Then I was busy looking up books that he wants added to the collection. Overall, work was good today.

Lunch with Abbs, gave Sheafer a school picture, then turned in receipts to Sarah and gave Steeeeve his credit card back. I had plenty of time before class, but I went over to make sure that I knew which room we would be in. The first class, IntAct2 went about an hour. The second class, fin. mgmt., went the full hour and twenty. Why can't we just go over the syllabus on the first day like everyone else?!

We watched She's the Man tonight because Abbey and I both like that movie and Kristah hadn't seen it. Taylor and Shelby joined us and everyone who walked through the suite commented on how much they like it. My first class isn't until 11:45am, but I'll probably still get up at 7am.

This semester is definitely turning out to be better than last semester! :)

Day 373

Abbs is finally here! I have liked the quiet, but it's even better having her around. We got her moved in this morning and she's basically settled. When we went to Walmart tonight we saw close to 40 different Letu students buying last minute things. When I got gas, there were two totally suspicious guys creeping around. I called the cops because they tried to offer me perfume and were still there when we were leaving. Not sure what's gonna happen, but I definitely felt a moral obligation to call the police and report them.

In other news, we cleaned up orientation stuff which resulted in me taking home some muffins and chips. That was awesome! A Starbucks run totally happened too! It's is so awesome to be part of the "in crowd." One of the last things for NSO SP13 I did was pick up desserts from The Butcher Shop. I had never been there or had food from there before tonight. The Key Lime Pie wasn't as good as my mom/sister's (can't remember who made it. sorry) but it was still yummy. I also got to talk to some of the new students and both Corey and Patty. (The Dean of Students and his wife, the RD of Davis)

I can't believe classes start tomorrow! Here we go!

Day 372

Campus was invaded today by several hundred students. I knew they would come back, but I didn't realize how different campus would be with this many people wandering around. It's kind of overwhelming. It was almost nice with just 30 students on campus. I woke up this morning to loud noises and talking from the room next door where someone was moving in. While it is great to see people, the silence will be missed!

About that "crisis" last night. That student was never even coming. He wasn't supposed to fill out an arrival form. All that scramble was for nothing! We (I) learned a lot about ordering lunch meat for large groups. Turkey gets eaten more than ham or roast beef. Also, people tend to eat 2-3 sandwiches and what Walmart says will feed 12-15 really only feeds 6-7. We had enough food for lunch, but that can't happen again.

I left check in early to help two new girls on my floor move in. One had mom, dad, sis, boyfriend (not brother!) and grandpa with her, so I loaned them tools while I helped the other girl get things figured out. I tried not to suffocate her but not really leave her to figure out stuff by herself. I think I balanced it well. As you probably know, I usually smother people when I first meet them...

Jenneth was in town this evening, so I took her with me to feed the puppy dogs. It was good to catch up. I can't believe she is leaving for Costa Rica in less that 36 hours! I guess that is what Facebook is for. I should probably sleep since I am helping move Abbs in tomorrow bright and early!

Day 371

After lunch, and some online Dominion, I decided to take a nap. I would sleep from 3:30pm until 5:30pm and then go to Steve's apartment for dinner with the Themelios. Unfortunately, my body wanted another sleep cycle at 5:30 and did not wake up until almost 7pm. Thankfully, there was still pizza for me. My punishment for being late involved potato salad. I ate and we talked a lot. Then there was coffee and Dominion. I think Steve took as long to explain it as a typical game lasts. But that's what happens when you are introducing 3 new people to the most awesome deck-building game ever! Courtney beat everyone with 34 pts. I was the closest behind her with 29.

Cortney is awesome! She gave us ice cream, chocolate syrup, and wait for it .... SpRiNkLeS! SaY wHaT?! It was yummy! Then Steve, Erin, Adam, and John proceeded to play Brawl for a while. It was getting late (10:30pm) and Old Man Conn kicked us out into the bitter cold!

It was probably a good thing too because that is when I started dealing with a confusing situation. I have a student coming in early, and I'm not sure what I am supposed to do with them from 9:45am until 2:00pm. I don't know if they even know where they are staying (dorm) or what gender they are. It has been a fun email session. Orientation guy is in bed, housing guy doesn't know the student, international woman isn't answering, driver doesn't know where to take the student after pickup, and I'm just lost. I guess we will deal with it in the morning.

Day 3 of Themelios: didn't mess up too bad today, just overslept by a whole hour! gah...

Day 4 of puppysitting: no fights! Woohoo!

Day 5 without soda: not missing it too much. Realizing how many I used to drink is disturbing.

Day 370

This afternoon we did Christmas in reverse. Deck the Mall, back in early December was an event for students to help decorate MSC and the Mall with Christmas decorations. Lots of people were ready and excited to help. Sadly, there were only 7 of us working today to take everything down. But, then again, it's much easier to undecorate than it is to decorate. If we had had 100 students trying to take things down, it would have been chaotic. I think we all had a pretty good time.

My advice for you today: when a candle is on a candle warmer and you turn it off, do not move the candle for at least an hour, no matter how solidified it may appear, the inside could still be liquid and may bust through the thin top layer. When this happens, you are going to have a big mess to clean up. Furthermore, let it sit to cool before you try to remove the wax. If you don't wait, you could end up just rubbing the wax into whatever it spilled on.

Day 4 without soda. Almost gave in at Sonic happy hour, and was tired all day. I guess it's gonna take a while to be alright. Time seems to pass so slowly though.

Day 369

I am always looking for patterns. I like today's number. 3(1) 3(2) 3(3) = 369 or if you wanna go crazy, 5.63758217645! = 369. (I literally just spent 10 minutes trying to calculate that!)

That wasn't at all what I wanted to talk about, but I saw it and it was better than making a joke about the number or something. I wanted to tell you about my awesome day! I got up on time, took a shower, had oatmeal and coffee, and still made it to Stud Life before 9am! Transportation was pretty easy today. Games and I were appointed to the "Food Brigade." I think it went well. We will find out tomorrow I guess. I had a great time hanging out with everyone. Steeevvveee! Sarah is pretty awesome, but we all knew that already! And the Cab is great!

After work, I found access to this season of HIMYM and am officially caught up. I won't spoil it for anyone, but I definitely cried on the last episode. I know it's fictional, but in the same way that I was upset while I watched as two dogs fought tonight, some things just make me very emotional. I tried to break up the dogs, but it was difficult and they drew blood before I could separate them.

First Taco Bell run of the semester just happened and I have to say, I may not go back. The food tasted "off." Not sure why, but I felt semi-nauseous afterwards.  I won't tell you if anything worse happens as a result of the nasty-tasting Taco Bell. I sure hope nothing bad happens...

Day 368

I delivered a treadmill today. That wasn't on my bucket list, but now I have done it. The entire way from Rhome to Marshall I couldn't see right behind me in the rear view mirror. Thankfully, Steven has side mirrors and they were very helpful. Over break, I watched this show called "Shipping Wars." I totally felt like one of them today! Not that I had a legitimate cause to feel that way, but still.

Funny story. Elise went to a wedding in Alabama and was driving home today. Morgan, who goes to school in Indiana was home on Christmas break in Longview. I came back early for Themelios. So, since the three of us were all in the same city, we had dinner together! Believe it or not, 3 people can share one portion of fajitas and still have leftovers! It was good to see them both.

My room is basically settled in now. I have to say, "I have too much stuff!" It is ridiculous how much I brought to school with me. It is all on my side of the room except the fridge, microwave, and keurig. We agreed before the break that it could stay on her side though. I have mixed feelings about being back, but overall it is a good feeling!

Day 367

I'm doing it. I'm going for two consecutive years of blogging! Dana had no confidence in me when I started. She thought I wouldn't last even a month. I'll show her! I will do great things this year...Correction: God will do great things through me!

Over Thanksgiving break, on Monday, November 19th, 2012, I began a journey that was legen-wait for it .....dary! Yes my friends, I finished 7 season (160 episodes) of How I Met Your Mother today! 7 days during Thanksgiving and 17 days since the end of the semester make for an average of 160/24 = 6.666 episodes a day! I am not sure how I am going to watch the first half of season 8 yet, but I will figure something out. I really like this show, even if Barney is disgusting.

I realized that I should probably buy books and pack since I'm leaving tomorrow. Books were relatively cheap this semester all things considered and that was a blessing. Packing wasn't so bad, except I had to wash clothes. No more laziness since break is over! Booo! It's been pretty great and just long enough that I will be happy to be back, but part of me wants to stay here without all the responsibility of life.

I hope that everyone had as great of a start to 2013 as I had today!

Day Three-Hundred and Sixty-Six

It all started when I saw Jeremy's year of posts. Every day he wrote something. I thought it would be simple. Just spend five minutes each day writing some cool, little post. On Day One I thought it would be easy. By Day One-Hundred and Seven, I was exhausted and didn't want to write anything. By Day One-Hundred and Ninety-Two, I wasn't posting regular pictures. There have been several days this year that I sat down and didn't know what to write about. Sometimes it was because nothing cool had happened or I didn't think you would want to read about it. Other days I just ran out of time. I think this is the first time I've stayed committed to something for an entire year with only myself to answer to. Some of you have talked to me about what was going on in my life because you read this, others have scolded me for being weeks behind. So I guess I felt responsible to my readers as well. This has really been a good thing for me...I think. But I am not sure whether it will continue into the new year. I mean, it's been real and it's been fun, but it's also been about as annoying as a writing assignment for an English Composition class! Can you imagine sitting down every day for 366 days and spending anywhere from 5 - 45 minutes writing a post you aren't even sure will be read?!

I have some plans for the new year. Partially due to my new roommate, Abbs, I will cease drinking sodas. Whereas I had 2-4 Dr. Peppers a day last semester, there will be no soda in my diet. Another change will be a regular workout. Instead of gift cards, my parents have agreed to give me that amount in cash if I send a workout report at least 3 times a week to them via email. Yes, I am going to be one of those annoying people in the gym right after new years. But I won't be leaving very soon. My final plan is to get no lower than a 3.84 this semester. That means I'm going to have to do better than a C in Intermediate Accounting II. I know I can do it if I keep my eyes on the prize and don't let others distract me!

Summary:

1. No Soda
2. More Exercise
3. Better Grades

I am looking forward to this New Year! I know God has big plans for me! I'm just waiting to see what they are! Happy New Year!