ATTENTION EVERYONE.

Make sure you crowd your nearest Target, buy all the milk/grapes and/or bananas in preparation for the SNOWPOCALYPSE of 2011! It's completely necessary to buy 50 cans of food, so make sure you get on that! Quickly! Also, make sure to crowd the aisles and leave no room to push your buggy, for as we all know, desperate times call for desperate measures!

With the big snowstorm about to hit Norman, people are all going crazy buying everything off the shelf at Target. I mean really? GRAPES? Those aren't a snowstorm necessity. For those of us just going for our routine snack-shopping: God speed.

To the bros that took up the entire sidewalk, making me slip off the edge, drag my toe underneath my bicycle pedal, AND RIP A WHOLE IN THE TOE OF MY FIVE FINGERS. And then laugh at me. I don't appreciate you.

I sold my first item on eBay last night! I bought this rather expensive pair of sandals this summer with some of my graduation money, but to date, I have probably worn them 7 times. Literally. So, I got to thinking. I really am not much into fancy fashion these days (unless it's by Chaco, Vibram, or Camelbak.... then I am really interested!) so I decided to sell them rather than let them lose me money sitting in my closet. I set the lowest bid at a certain price and also added a "buy it now" price. 4 days had passed and only one person had bid... but last night someone bought them straight for what I was asking! A quick $100 in my pocket!

I am going to use the money I got from these sandals to buy a lens I have wanted and experimented with for a while. It's a Canon fixed 50mm f/1.8 lens- great for portraits because of the low aperture AND relatively inexpensive...I am super excited! I have one other lens besides than the nifty fifty I am hoping to buy soon, too. I will probably sell my kit lens on eBay prior to getting the other lens I want, as long as I have close to the amount of money I need for the lens. But that will mean I have to get a job. Which is in the works, seeing how I picked up an application from the bookstore this afternoon!

The "Nifty Fifty"
One of my favorite pictures I have taken with Aaron's 50mm although it's a tad blurry...

After I told my mom I had sold these shoes she responded:
"So you're only going to be a mountain man the rest of your life? Please promise you'll be a girl too?"

Don't worry, mom. No, I am not going Chris McCandless on you. And I have my cardigans which are plenty-girly enough for me. But really, it is so much better when you are not worrying all the time about keeping up with the Joneses.

Also, anyone skilled in HTML, where do I go to change the orientation of my text in my blog post? I would like it to be centered!

Where you invest your love, you invest your life.

We were discussing artificial selection in my biology class today, and as a visual representation my professor put up different types of cattle that have been selectively bred for different uses (meat, milk, etc). After he got done talking about these, a new picture of a longhorn popped up on the screen, upside down (horns down, get it?)

Dr. Gibson: "So, who knows where the Longhorn came from?"
silence within the class, although I had a sneaking suspicion where he was going with this.
Dr. Gibson: "Straight from the bottom of hell, that's where."

I love snide little comments like this, especially in my favorite class.

(Sorry to any Longhorn fans............ kind of)

Tonight I began a journey: an 8 week training to become a Young Life leader, hopefully for middle school aged kids in a program called Wyldlife! Hayden is a team leader in College Station for one Jane Long Wyldlife team (he's a big deal...) and kind of convinced me that it would be a great way to invest in relationships with some really awkward middle schoolers. I am really excited to begin this training, because I know I am going to meet some great people and build lasting relationships with kids and leaders alike. I wasn't a big fan of Young Life in high school. I have a great deal of respect for the leaders for Tyler because of how hard they worked to impact the lives of some of my fellow classmates. YL was a big social gathering in Tyler, one where people interrupted (often) the messages that were given. This lack of respect irked me, so the times I went were limited. But I am excited to take on this challenge and see what an amazing mission YL has.

Our message before training started tonight was geared towards what we should get out of Young Life, about creating a lifelong journey rather than one that only lasts in college. Our speaker tonight's main focus was that of God's word. He said that the biggest regret he had as a team leader in 1973(!) was that he never fully took in the importance of the word. One of my favorite things he said was this:

"We have copies of the Bible available to us every way we turn, in our own Bibles, even on an "app" on our iPhones and iPads. We have more access to the Bible than has ever been in the history of the world, yet we probably know it the least. Some people in the world would die for just a copy of the Book of John. A copy to pour their lives into live out."

I know this isn't a revolutionary thought, but it was thought provoking and powerful to me. My challenge to myself is take in the word and not just read it, but meditate on it and absorb it. To become a sponge for the word, and for it to guide me in my life.

KJDHKASJDBKASDUREWIHJFKLVB!!!!!

That's about all I feel and all I think right now.

To drop or not to drop, zis is ze question!

I am currently trying to decide if it is in my best interest to drop my 5 hour French class and pick up a stats class instead (pre-med pre-req). If I do get into A&M I will have no need for any language credits whatsoever, so it is sounding better and better to get outta this terrible class and into something that really matters. However, I am nervous that I won't have enough transferrable credits if I do this... I need 24. And while I have 37 hours for these two semesters minus AP, some of them probably won't transfer because they are honors classes, seminars, or my Experiencing Music class. And because I am an out of state transfer, there is no handy dandy transfer credit sheet to tell me what I will end up with. Hopefully my buddy Jason from the Admissions department will figure something out for me soon, in order to drop and enroll in a timely matter. Glory.

A little bit of humor for your day, or at least a laugh at my silliness:

After waking up at 6am (thanks inner alarm clock) I stayed in bed until 8:30 when my REAL alarm clock woke up. Got ready and headed to French where I think I might like my professor, although she speaks really fast and really-not-in-English. So 10:20 rolls around and I head over to my chemistry lecture which starts at 10:30.

I sit down and see my last semester professor. Odd, not who the schedule says. I look at the syllabus being passed before me. Odd, it says Chem 1315. I'm taking 1415 this semester. So, I look at the color-coded schedule note cards I made to check and make sure I am in the right lecture hall. And I am. And now I am confused.

You see, national holidays create a little confusion for me. Here I am, all geared up for my first day of school, ready to go to all my MONDAY classes. Too bad it is Tuesday, and I am a dolt. Yes, I was in the right lecture hall at the right time, but not the right day! Luckily, my next real Tuesday class is at 11:30 so I didn't miss anything.

Here's a picture of what I would rather be doing: sleeping under the covers with Mildred!

The news.
Last semester was pretty rough for me. In many ways. And I just felt like OU was not my fit. I'll be honest, anytime I left here I dreaded coming back. I really don't want my college experience to be one like last semester, because those aren't the glory days I always hear about. So. For the last few months I've had lots of thoughts running around in my head but have been too scared/nervous/anxious to tell anyone about them. But thanks to my wonderful sister (and I really mean that) I kind of put things into perspective and evaluated my situation.
College isn't about being lonely and unhappy. After lots of thinking and praying and talking I have decided to apply for transfer from OU. If you know me at all, you know I'm a big planner and won't really do anything on a whim, so this has been a long time thought out. I have applied to Texas A&M for next fall, and depending on my acceptance and a few other factors here I will hopefully be going there next year. This is where I knew I wanted to go in the first place, but some feelings and ideas in my head made me choose otherwise. But I know this is where I want, and have always wanted to go. I know suspicions might be raised in regards to many things, but honestly, those who know me know that I wouldn't go somewhere I was called, and definitely wouldn't go for the wrong reasons.
I'm so thankful for my family who have been there for two hour phonecalls trying to figure things out. And for my friends here, especially Maggie, who is so supportive and made my time here so much better than it would have been without her.
So there's the 'big news'. Maybe not as exciting or what you might've thought. But I finally feel like things might be getting a little back to normal for me, which is a big "yuh".

In other words, classes start again tomorrow and I am actually excited to get back in the swing of things. Hope everyone had a meaningful and relaxing MLK Day!

So from about December 23 to January 15th, I was without a 'smartphone'. Feast your eyes on this bundle of technological joy!
My iPhone was sitting on my bed where I always put it to charge it, when the big oaf Gus came and jumped on my bed knocking my phone face down on the hardwood floor. I picked it up and was relieved because no cracks in the screen could be felt. Unfortunately, a quick click of the home screen revealed a white screen of death. A shattered LCD chip. A useless phone. Fast forward to the last month and I have been using my 4 year old go phone. I could call, I could text with a bit of trouble, but nothing else. No camera, internet, facebook application (God forbid!). But over the period I got to use this phone, I really enjoyed it. I wasn't constantly checking my phone or looking at facebook. I was truly invested in the then and now, and it was nice. I held out as long as I could from deciding to buy a new iPhone. For a while I thought I wasn't going to buy one because I was really enjoying the simplicity of being "unattached". But last night I caved and got a new phone before I left for Norman. I kind of wish that I was strong enough to keep my trusty old go phone, but in school my phone isn't just a phone, but my information source, iPod, map, and email. I gave in, and I am not proud of it.

Thank goodness for my iPhone though, because I stupidly left my MacBook charger at home, so I will definitely need to be decreasing my computer usage until Friday or so. Back into simplicity, I suppose!

So. I did something (drastic?) today. OK, maybe not drastic, but it's a pretty big deal for me. Thing is, I can't tell you what that might be yet. I feel I should tell the real world (the people it's going to, in a round about way, affect) before I let you bloggers know. I know, I know: pins and needles. Actually, you probably don't really find me that intriguing to really have that much interest in this. But don't you worry you half-hearted blog readers... I will definitely let you know what it is by Monday. For sure Monday. Must tell Monday. Ick, I hate having situations on my hands. This really doesn't have much to do with anyone but myself, but I know it will have to change a couple people's plans for next year.

It is finished, submitted, and now I wait. And no, I didn't join the Peace Corp.

In other news, I received my road bike yesterday and I must say, it's pretty stinkin' fly. Holla.

I'm super excited about something in the mail coming soon... none other than my first road bike! My little ol' Schwinn I got for Christmas quite a few years ago has reached it's end. So what better time to keep up with my granola abilities and get my road bike! (Please, don't make fun of me...!) I can't wait for it to get here!