25 Random Things

You've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.

1. I hate orange and everything related. I hate the color, I hate the fruit, I hate orange juice ... Period. If I'm ever eating Skittles or some other candy of assorted colors, I will purposely take out the orange pieces.

2. I refuse to wear makeup. More power to anyone who wears it but it makes me feel uneasy, and strangely enough, it makes me feel self conscious.

3. I come from a broken family, and sometimes take it upon myself to pick up the pieces where it's not necessary, which always ends in some sort of emotional distress.

4. I think it would be neat to someday see a tornado with my own two eyes, without a TV screen in the way. Only if it was in some wide open field and didn't destroy any homes or kill any people.

5. I listen to "Lovers in Japan" by Coldplay every morning while I'm waking up!

6. I'm a tennis FANATIC! Rafael Nadal is my all time favorite player (vamos!) and I drive my family crazy whenever there's a live match on TV, because I'm sitting on the floor screaming at it. I'm hoping to be coached by my uncle someday.

7. My feet are hypermobile, which means I'm missing some muscle near my ankles. This causes trouble for my hips, knees, feet, and also throws off my balance. Sometimes when I'm standing in one spot I'll tip over, not so much to fall down, but enough to make people look and go, "Huh?" The doctors say I'll need screws put in my knees when I'm about 30 years old to fix it.

8. If somebody says anything that reminds me of a song, I'll sing part of it. It's just a really weird impulse!

9. I seriously think I have Pharmacophobia (fear of taking medicine / pills), but I have no idea why! I just get so scared when I have to take medicine, that is unless it's in the form of a shot. If it's in a needle, bring it on!!!

(I'm so weird!)

10. My favorite cereal is Honey Bunches of Oats! *thumbs up*

11. Music is my passion. Name any genre and I love it: opera, heavy metal, jazz, country, hip hop, indie, folk, rap, classical, pop, blues, zydeco ... You name it!

12. I went for an allergy test last year (the one where they scratch you with those little sharp things over and over and over again) and the only thing I had a reaction to was the one thing I wasn't supposed to react to ... The meds they give you to keep the reactions under control? Well, apparently I'm allergic to it.

13. I tend to pray best when I'm outside. In fact, some of the more deep and powerful times of prayer I've had have been when I was outside, pacing on my back porch.

14. I feel safest when I'm standing in front of the ocean.

15. I get very uneasy when going past semi trucks on the highway after almost being killed by one several years ago.

16. I'm not a big fan of TV. I actually think it's quite boring most of the time. I watch 3 shows for a total of about 3 1/2 hours a week.

17. This past Christmas, my grandmother gave me a necklace with a sterling silver charm shaped as two musical notes. It has become one of my favorite possessions, I wear it every day, and for some reason I hold onto it when I'm praying.

18. I played the violin three or so years ago, but only for a month. I'd LOVE to play again, and if ever I own a violin I'm going to name it Ol' Faithful!

19. One of my biggest pet peeves is having to leave voicemail messages, only because I SAY THE MOST AWKWARD CRAP that when I hang up the phone I literally ask myself, "What in the world did I just say??"

20. Lions are my favorite animals - they're just so majestic!

21. I love chewing gum, but I'm picky about it. I don't really like the fruity flavors, but I love cinnamon and anything minty!

22. I play "The game" and I'm pretty sure you've just lost. ;)

23. I have this strange habit of inviting people to play "What's your favorite" shortly after meeting them. I just think it's a cool way to get to know them better.

24. When I was little, I wanted to be a meteorologist. Even today, weather is a BIG interest of mine!

25. One of my favorite snacks: Boiled eggs on Triscuits with green tea (refrigerated, of course) it's delicious!!!

A Video for You!

A while back I created a little video about a Bible verse and some recent events - September 11th and the Virginia Tech massacre. More recently, I decided to revise it (plus my computer crashed and the original version was erased, so I didn't have much of a choice ... Oops!)

Here is the new and improved version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7xNvSIEfuA

"Dear Memories"

Hello friends!
I wrote out some lyrics two nights ago, and I thought it'd be cool to share them with you. The song is not about me, mind you, no one close to me has died recently or anything (thank God!!!) but I'm hoping that maybe this song will encourage someone who is going through that pain of loss.

- - -

Verse one:
"I miss you, but I'm holding on
Pressing forward, trying to be strong
It's not easy without you hear,
And yet when I laugh, I feel that you are near.


Pre-chorus one:
My heart breaks, but I won't let you go
If I could tell you one thing, I'd want you to know ...


Chorus:
Dear memories fill up my mind
Of times we laughed and times we cried
And in my dreams I can hear you singing

I can see your eyes, I can see your smile
Why can't you come back for a while?
Until the day we meet again, I'll miss you
I'll miss you, my friend. (Instrumental)


Verse two:
It's been a year now, but nothing has changed
I still go to the park, and when I do I feel a little strange
I remember you doing backflips in the grass
I shake my head and ask myself
"Will this pain ever pass?"


Pre chorus two:
Why did you have to go away?
You were so young, what can I say?
The hurt is deep, I cannot sleep
But I still want you to know ... (Chorus)


Bridge:
I remember that night
You were lying there, still trying to fight
I whispered in your ear
"Oh, please don't cry, peace is near."
I held your hand, I prayed to God for another day
To hold you in my arms ...
... But you slipped away." (Instrumental, pre-chorus two, chorus)

- - -

So that's the song ... The lyrics, at least. I'm hoping to sit down with a guitar tonight and add some chords and what not. Maybe I'll even record a video of it. Who knows? :)

"Let the monsters see you smile ..."

The past 4 years have been difficult for me, and tonight I'm feeling really down for some odd reason. Nothing major, just a little blah. I don't want to go into a lot of detail, but I do want to share something that I've found to be incredibly encouraging. It's a song called, "Life is Beautiful" by Vega 4.

Before I go any further, I must warn you that even though "Life is Beautiful" is a good and uplifting song, Vega 4 is known for explicit lyrics (according to Amazon). But I came across this one song while watching a TV show and fell in love with it instantly!

The entire song is uplifting, with a really great sound, and lyrics about how life is beautiful, and how there are miracles all around us, but there is one line in the entire song that has encouraged me so much and continues to encourage me still:


"Let the monsters see you smile ...
Let them see you smile."


That pretty much sums up the attitude I've been trying to keep up with for the past 4 years. I'm not trying to make my life sound like a soap opera, but I've been through bad situation after bad situation after bad situation, like the enemy has just been throwing monsters at me to grab my ankles and drag me down. But through it all God has lifted me up out of their clutches time and time again, and He has given me the strength to overcome whatever the enemy has sent my way so far. Most of all He's helped me keep a positive attitude through it all - He's helped me to smile.

Over these past 4 years I've found so much comfort in just smiling. Even when I didn't feel like it, or when I don't feel like it, I'll do it anyway and I feel like any grip on my ankles is automatically weakened. It's like when the monsters see me smile, they see that what they are trying to do isn't working and they shrink back in fear, because they see that God is holding me up and isn't allowing me to fall into their traps, and they're afraid of that.

This is why I find those lyrics so powerful, because for me there is a lot of truth in them. So I hope that in the future when the monsters are lurking around, you'll be able to let them see you smile too.

Oversleeping

Hey guys! I hope your new year is off to a great start so far. :)

Well, something interesting happened on Tuesday night. I was working on the book, trying to revise a little paragraph from the first chapter, but my mind was wandering all over the place. After a long time of just sitting at the laptop without typing any words something finally came to me, and it ended up becoming one of the pieces I'm most happy with in the whole book (all 2 chapters of it)! A thought about making decisions brought this on ...

- - -

The boy rolled over onto his back and within moments could feel himself drifting off into a light doze.

“Just five more minutes of sleep and I’ll be good to go … No, get up! You’ve got school!”

RJ silently argued with himself. His mind was telling him to get up and get ready for the long day, and his body was begging him to stay in bed and rest. Unfortunately for RJ, his mind was quickly overruled.

“Just five more minutes …”

Five became ten, ten became twenty, twenty became thirty, and still RJ was curled up beneath his covers with no idea that he had fallen back into a deep sleep.

- - -

When it comes to making a decision between something good and something bad, why is it that the good something is never easy? Why do we seem to always want to side with what we want rather than our instincts? It's like failing a class and taking it again, we've all been taught this lesson but do we ever really learn it?

Like RJ, I've developed my own little habit of oversleeping, and it's really getting on my nerves. I hear the alarm, I turn it off, I think about getting up, but I go back to sleep. I even put the alarm clock on the opposite side of the room so I'd have to move around a little more to turn it off, but still, I get back in bed and go back to sleep.

What's up with that?

I know I need to discipline myself to wake up on time, but it takes discipline to discipline, and that's tough, especially when there's a lot going on in our lives - obstacles making discipline even harder than usual. I have a 2 year old nephew, and he throws tantrums in the morning. A lot of the time when I turn my alarm off, I'll hear him screaming in the living room, and that will totally seal the going back to sleep deal.

In RJ's case, his body (even if he has no idea yet) is trying to fight of a killer disease and it's literally eating away his energy. Normally, he's one of those kids who hears the alarm and jumps out of bed, animated, and ready to go. Being tired was his obstacle, he sided with what he wanted rather than his instincts, and he certainly pays the price in the end. He misses the bus and has to ride his bike all the way to school in cold, winter temperatures, and snow.

The price for my oversleeping is that my day gets thrown out of whack. I get in trouble for sleeping in, and I end up having to rush to get stuff done. It's just not worth it! I've decided to take more measures to make sure I wake up when I'm supposed to, such as setting an extra alarm on my cell phone to go off 5 minutes before the alarm clock. I hate the idea ... But if that doesn't work, I'll set another, and another, and another, until I get it right.

When did I start enjoying sleep so much?

As for RJ ... I think his was actually a lesson he learned right away, because he really hates being outside in the cold at six forty-five in the morning. That's cool to think about though, that the result of his decision was bad enough to keep him from making it again. Maybe that's what some of us need when it comes to making decisions. A kick in the right direction, you know?

This was pretty much all of the thought process that came from writing that one little paragraph. I've never been much of a writer, but I'm enjoying it more and more and more simply for the freedom, and because I learn a lot from it.

Thanks for reading!