Verses to come

I've been reading my Bible more consistently than I ever have before. It probably sounds dumb, but I have a Bible app on my phone and having that convenience helps me to read my Bible. About a month ago I finished up a 40 day fast from Facebook where the goal was to replace the time I spent looking at Facebook on my computer and phone with time in my Bible. I started a reading plan on my phone where I read one chapter from the Old Testament, one chapter from the New Testament, one proverb, and one psalm a day. Its convenient because my app checks off these sections as I read them and it help me to be accountable. Anyways I guess the point of all of this is to say that I've been bookmarking verses and I'm hoping to start posting them on here along with some thoughts. However, school is still pretty intense right now and then I'll be in Arkansas for awhile. So just hold your horses people... err probably just Krisann and Noelle. I think you two may be the only people who read this and I'm not even sure you guys do consistently. That's ok though. Like I said previously, its nice just to write and get all my thoughts out whether anybody is reading or not.

Busy, but Good

Ahh life.

Lately I have been realizing that any time someone asks me any question along the lines of "How are you?" I ALWAYS answer "busy, but good." And yes, I do really mean "ALWAYS" which I know we are supposed to avoid for fear of exaggeration. So why am I so "busy, but good?"

Well 15 units will do that to you. I am beginning to wish I had sought out a 9-week Health Course versus the 18-week. The problem with having two weeks to read two chapters, one quiz, and two random assignments is waaaay too much time for me. As a result I wait till the absolute last minute. Also since my teacher obviously hasn't figured out that you can change the automatic East Coast time zone setting on Blackboard over to PST and doesn't know that setting an assignment to be due at 2:30am ET on 3/21 is actually 11:30pm on 3/20 PST (He wants it due at 11:30pm on 3/21 but doesn't realize he's taking away a day and not adding one). So turning in assignments has been confusing and frustrating if nothing else. If I had taken the 9-week course I'd have been on top of things for 9-weeks when I had momentum and I'd be done by now. But no... I failed. The only good thing about this 18-week course is that in combination with Biology I'm finally learning how to take care of my body.

I still need to lose a lot of weight to no longer be considered overweight, but in the last 2-3 weeks I have lost enough weight to be weigh less than what I was at both my Junior and Senior years of high school. Woohoo! That is super exciting because I saved Christmas money, birthday money, and have been stashing my tip money in my dresser all for buying a new wardrobe in the next couple months.

Alright so more reasons for being busy.... school school and more school. I am being a slacker this semester. Yes I am getting everything done and yes I am going to pass, but definitely not putting my best effort into it. I am also ditching a lot more than I ever have in previous semesters. We'll see how much I piss off my professors, but I think I'm good. I'm just walking that boundary line very closely. Currently I am not at all looking forward to a group poetry presentation in my English class. I really need to start researching for that....

Also I need to write my lesson for Community Group that I am going to be teaching. I will be teaching on Commitment and Reliability in relationships. Approximately 10-15 minutes and then I have to facilitate a discussion. No sweat, but I want to do a good lesson and not some halfass job. That requires time which I have a lack of right now.

Work has been pretty crazy too. Valentine's day equals lots of working, all 3 bosses out of town for 4 days with only one other employee besides myself equals lots of working, Zin Fest monopolizing the time of 3 out of 5 employees equals lots of working. And this week manager is on vacation for her wedding and the other girl I work with apparently is over working at RMCF and has apparently asked for less hours which means more hours for me. Yay paycheck, boo time to do anything else.

On top of all of that I am still waiting to hear from CSULB. Waiting, waiting and waiting. Not a problem except for needing to apply to housing. Housing is impacted. I need housing. Housing application cannot be opened until I am accepted. I won't know if I am accepted for 6-8 weeks starting from March 5th. Housing application plus deposit is due May 1st. Anybody else noticing a bit of an issue there?

So yes Julieanne is busy. 15 units in school, 30 hours a week at work, church activities 2-3 days a week, trying to find time to work out, and I still would like to see my family and do all those little things that need to be done. Despite my hectic schedule I am loving life. I know things could be worse and I have an amazing God.

oh! Quick note! My Facebook fast is coming to an end. It wasn't meant to be a Lent sort of thing but it has indeed turned into that. During my fast I have been reading my Bible every day and I am loving it. Its a habit I definitely need to keep up. More on that later... I promise :)

For now I must go back to studying for my Psych test tomorrow morning. In an hour and a half I have a math test with work immediately after. So yes, for now I sit down on the couch with a big 'o cup of some delicious tea and a textbook. Oh how I wish this were a novel in my hand.

Compliments to the Chef

Dad is making dinner tonight. He's going for the simple stuff like Clam Chowder, which of course is no problem until he decides we need more food than that. Most people would think chowder/soup constitutes bread, sandwiches, crackers, something in that food group as a side dish. However, Dad is a bit more of a true chef?

Dad:"Julieanne, would you like anything else with your chowder? How about a sausage?"

Me: "*pause* No, I'm good"

Dad (talking to himself): "Oh I know. I could make eggs with it!"

I laugh to myself and think this must be recorded and put on the web somewhere, but since I am still refraining from any Facebook use I resorted to Blogger. Hooray!

Even now as I write this my Dad finally says "Oh! Do you want some bread? That would go well with soup!"

Kudos, Dad, Kudos

New Journey

God has really been speaking to me about my relationship with him. I've been realizing that I really don't know my Bible. Growing up in a Christian home I guess I took the foundations for granted. Yet I find myself jealous when new Christians can't get enough of their Bible. I've never felt that passion for my Bible; I have felt passion to know my God deeply, but never really to know my Bible deeply. Yet the two go hand in hand.

With Lent having started this past Wednesday I've been seeing Lent fasts left and right. Even my parents who attend a Presbyterian church are participating in Lent and I've realized its not just a Catholic thing. Isn't fasting meant for all of us? And Lent is just fasting. I started thinking about what I could fast from for forty days and my main fasting topic usually has to do with technology; no TV, no computer, no facebook, etc. Computer isn't logical with school and whatnot. Plus I have my iPhone so I would definitely be a cheater with that one. TV is reasonable, but we have DVR so am I really giving up anything when I can just watch stuff later or online? You see? I always find the loop holes. Lately I have been trying to subtly prove to my sister that I am not addicted to Facebook. And I am not really. I can easily live without it, but I do enjoy Facebook quite a bit. I love people watching and in its own way Facebook is cyber people watching. I love knowing what's going on in my friends lives cause, let's be honest, who actually updates all their friends on what's going on. But even with trying to cut back on Facebook as of late I felt I needed to do more.

So I am fasting from Facebook. Not necessarily for lent. Its sort of an indefinite fast. Listening to God on this one. I typically in the past have skipped Facebook for the weekend or the week, but I have a feeling this one will be much longer. For all we know it could be much longer than 40 days. Maybe I'll end up deleting my account.....God I hope not.

So what does this have to do with my Bible? I am replacing Facebook time with Bible time. I claim to not have time for my Bible or when I do have time I am "too tired" for reading. If that's the case how do I have time to play games on my iPhone, to check Facebook in the morning, at night, and many random times throughout the day? So I have deleted my Facebook link located in my toolbar on my browser. I am very used to opening a browser and immediately hitting the Facebook button. I am actually surprised its not my homepage. Either way, the link is temporarily deleted. I temporarily deleted the Facebook app from my phone and have filled its prominent ease-of-access location with my Bible app. Who knows if I'll actually use my Bible app but at least its featured on the homepage to remind me the point behind all of
this.

Sidenote: Sarah accidentally logged into my Facebook tonight (it stays logged in on my computer) and I had 34 notifications and 2 emails. I didn't check any of them, but really people? Its been 2 days!! I didn't even announce I was fasting. How could I possibly have that many messages? I know I didn't write on any celeb statuses so how did this happen? haha

Another thing I've been meaning to work on is journaling. I have a hard time with journaling. Get ready for the list of excuses cause whether valid or not they are still excuses.

1. My wrist has a tendency to hurt with too much pencil/pen action. I think it has to do with a past hairline fracture. School is annoying enough without adding journaling to the list.

2. I find journaling cheesy sometimes even though I know its valuable. Who do I speak to in it; my self; the journal (Dear Diary....); God? God is clearly the smart option in this scenario, but I still find it coming out cheesy. No clue why. That's probably something I should work on also. I need to learn to make my thoughts to myself actual conversations with God. I've done that in the past and, believe me, it will deepen a relationship with God incredibly. Think about how much you talk to yourself. What if you spent all that time speaking with God instead? Seriously an amazing change will take place.

3. I like people knowing what's going on in my life too. My journal is extremely personal and I am extremely paranoid about people reading certain things in there. (Please don't steal my journal :S) There are aspects of my life that I do want to share and that's hard if I close it all up in a journal I don't want anyone to touch. Yet another problem with Facebook BTdub, (Btw- just kidding guys) I hate people who post ten million statuses, but I find myself constantly wanting to be one of those people so I can share bits and pieces of me.


All of this to say I am going to be using Blogger a lot more. Facebook will be replaced with my B-I-B-L-E, Blogger, and hopefully some journaling in there somewhere. Maybe Blogger will get me in the mood for journaling. Even now I am having a hard time wrapping this up.

Blogger is sort of magical in its own way. Anyone could be reading this. That's a very scary fact yet sort of magical. I am putting a piece of me out in this big wide world and who knows where it will end up. I am kind of blown away by that and I am in love with the idea of the magic of this.

Ok so in sum- Facebook fast lasting an indefinite amount of time, praying for a renewal of my relationship with my God, some new healthy habits in the way of journaling and reading my Bible, and some Blogger action.



Thank you for your magic world. I am excited for this journey God has before me.

Chegg

ok this isn't some spam post. I actually am posting this. lol

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Changes

I feel like the last two days have been a sort of milestone in my life. I am officially twenty years old and officially past my teen years. Today was the first day of school at Cuesta and it hit me this morning: This is my last first day at Cuesta. It is my last semester. My first and only South County class. And I felt fairly independent today as I drove to SLO in super intense weather all by myself (yet again another first).

As this semester continues I will be closing a chapter in my life and starting another one. In the Fall, I will (most likely) be moving from Paso to Long Beach. I have never even moved houses in my life let alone cities or counties. Heck, I've been in the same bedroom my entire life!! I will be finished with Cuesta, have my Associates degree and will be embarking on a new adventure.

This is a week that marks the beginning of many important changes in my life. I am excited to see what God has in store for me.

I am emulous of Noelle and Stephie

I have been baking like a fiend.

Last week I fixed my craving for cinnamon rolls with: http://www.crumblycookie.net/2008/04/07/cinnamon-rolls/

and tonight's craving is fixed with some http://culinspiration.wordpress.com/2009/02/13/bevs-banana-bread

I will proceed to go cry over my banana bread in anticipation of missing me some Blicha. (sketch)

Days like these

I'm having one of those indescribable days. Where its like I should be happy and I generally am but I still feel kind of sad for no reason. Where I'm lonely and wanting to hang with all my close friends, yet I want to be entirely alone. Where I just want to drive and drive while I listen to Indie music and dance by myself. I want to be happy and know I should be so joyful for days and times like these yet I still find myself dancing with a lingering sense of sadness. Its a true mix of emotions and desires.

Life Lessons

When you are happy and nothing can get you down watch the happy, romantic classic movie.

When you feel a bout of loneliness coming on go for the cheesy, "the world is ending" action movie.

Goals I Will One Day Achieve

1. Learn to properly play piano.
2. Learn to play trumpet
3. Learn to play violin
4. Explore/hike often
5. Visit the International House of Prayer in Kansas City

6. Buy a Potter's wheel

SOCAL

Today I visited two college campuses; CSULB, and CSULA. CSULA was nice, LA was not. Its more of a backup than anything else, but its a backup that I'd be ok with. CSULB on the other hand. AMAZING campus! Its beautiful. Unfortunately I wasn't really able to get a feel for whether or not there is too many students cause people are probably moving in tomorrow. But its super spread out so I have no concerns about that anymore.

The even better part is that Stephen encouraged me to actually talk to someone in the Social Work department. The lady I talked to is actually in charge of admissions into the department. At first she's telling me how a 2.5 GPA is the first requirement but they are probably changing it to 3.1 next year. The second I told her I have about a 3.7 she warmed up to me and started telling me about the competitive stipends and how if I get my BA with a certain GPA then basically I can do another program which would cost me a summer versus a full year towards my Master's. She gave me a flier on the various fields I could go into with Social Work and a pamphlet on their program. I know the exact classes I need for prerequisites and I've already fulfilled or am currently fulfilling 3 out of 5 of those.

So basically I think I'm going to Long Beach. I really like the campus. I like the Social work department and I think I kind of got my foot in the door today by talking to this lady. She also gave me her email and fax number in case I have other questions. Super happy.

Now the plan is to check out CSU San Bernardino tomorrow as another backup, but I think I'm shooting for CSULB. :)

The Right School?

I may know where I am heading for school in about a year. I'm very seriously considering CSU Long Beach. I like the area. I like the price. I like their social work program. Their MSW (Masters of Social Work) program has a pretty decent rating. Out of the top 80 schools in their whole nation they are rated 59. Not bad. That's basically their input and their output looked at together, how many people graduate and get a high paying successful job.

My only concern with the school is the size. I was absolutely positive I wanted to go to San Diego State University but the second I stepped onto that campus I felt like I was going to be trampled. I always thought I could handle a big school, but apparently 30,000 students is just too many for me. Which is where my problem with CSULB comes in. Its also 30,000 students.

I'm trying not to get hopeful about this. I just feel like I've been researching school after school after school and its all just kind of bleh. When I researched SDSU I immediately loved it. Until CSULB I hadn't found another school like that. I'll be visiting it soon and then I'll know whether I can handle such a big size. Although there comes in another issue. The only real time I can visit it is the Friday before school starts. I'm hoping with school starting the following week that it'll be up to its typical buzz so I can really get a feel for it.

If this doesn't end up working out I have no idea where I'll go. I'll probably end up in Fresno, which is NOT something I want to do. I'm just trying to be realistic. I want to be semi-close to home and I need something cheap. Fresno is both of those things. I figure if I do head there and get my bachelor's I can leave quickly and find an amazing school for my Master's. I just feel like my life keeps getting put on hold. I know that's not true. But I want to be out there getting my degree and using it. I'm jealous of all the kids heading off to college right now. I want to be there. I want to be shopping for my dorm room supplies. I love this area, but I don't want to be here anymore. I want my life to be moving forward. I feel like I'm just sitting on my butt.

Please pray that CSULB works out and if not that I immediately do find the right school for me. Time is running out to find it. If I want to be at a new school next fall then I need to be applying soon. Most schools want applications by November. That may seem like plenty of time, but its not. I'm going to be busy with Cuesta again soon and I don't know how motivated I will be to research. Just pray pray pray for me! Thank you!

Rules to be inspired by

I'm kind of a copycat, but I feel inspired so I'm going with it. I've been checking out the website rulesformyunbornson.tumbler.com I think I may start my own life rules blog based off of my experiences. Let's count this as a trial period to see if it takes off. If you have title suggestions let me know. For now I will try and think of one that's original so I don't just have one super similar to the website which inspired me.

So rule #1?

#1: Let inspiration versus fear take the lead.

My besties

I really really love my friends. Every time I hang out with them it feels epic. They are a huge reason I am so happy right now. I know I have the best support system possible and they are always there for me. Thanks for being so great guys! I really do love you

Name mispronunciation

my name is Julieanne. Anyone see an "a" at the end of my name? In the middle yes. Please pronounce the middle "a." Do not turn the silent "e" into an "a" when you say my name. It is NOT Julieanna. You should know that if you see how my name is spelt, if I say my name to you, or if I was best friends with your kid for many many years.

If you call me Julieanna then I will add a random "a" to the end of your name. You are warned.

Lesson Learned

Wax paper on tile floor is slippery. Almost doing the splits in front of a customer and then having to pretend my injured knee didn't get tweaked in the stunt is not fun.

The point of all this: If you drop trash at work it doesn't matter if its behind the counter, you are alone, and you'll pick it up later. You should pick it up immediately.

Lesson Learned? Check!

Long night at work

It was an awfully long night. I ALMOST beat my record of most customers all on my own. I think I was only one or two people away. Maybe if I had helped the guy who walked in right as I was closing or the people who knocked on the door begging to get in 10 minutes after I closed. Seriously guys, did you need chocolate bad enough that you had to injure your pride by begging outside a locked chocolate store? And this isn't the first time. Its just a different group of people.

Customers make things very uncomfortable sometimes. Its part of the effect of working next to multiple bars. However not every crazy customer is drunk. In fact, most are not. For example:

Me: Hi would you two like some samples? We have vanilla peanut butter fudge and old fashioned fudge.

Female customer: Sure!

Male customer: I'll take old fashioned. I'm more of an old fashioned guy.

Female: really? Then why'd we sleep together on the first date?

Me: *stare at sample plate intensely while rewrapping it in saran wrap and while I pretended to be selectively deaf*

Female to me: that didn't really happen

Male: *thinks to the past with confused face* it didn't did it? Hmm

me: *what!!!?*

really? who says that in front of a complete stranger? or how about the customers a couple weeks ago who were drunk and decided to air hump each other while I grabbed their candy. gross! have some decency and modesty people!

New topic: This town needs a parking garage. I don't like parking 4 blocks away whenever there is some random event which is like every other weekend during the summer. Thank goodness I have pepper spray, my key knuckle strategy, and my call a friend defense. haha! Oh come on its just Paso I know but you can never be too safe. And I stopped with the key knuckles after I got pepper spray (I hold my keys between my knuckles so if I have to throw a punch its going to hurt a bit more than my weak lack of strength).

I'm bored so another new topic: Anybody remember YEARS ago when there was that summer filled with crickets galore? I specifically remember walking around the fair with them jumping everywhere and a guy picking one up and eating it. I also remember walking into the Burger King bathroom and there being at least 4 in there. I consider that to be "The Summer of the Crickets." Well I officially consider this *drumroll* "The Summer of the Pincher Bugs." It started with a bake fest at Noelle's where they hid in the rose petals which is natural. Not dying is not natural. Then they were in my bathroom later that day. Then in the sink a few days later. Then the shower a few days in a row. Randomly crawling out from under a plate tonight. Its getting scary. Is this a plague?

Alright I'm done now. Goodnight all... or just Noelle since she's probably the only one who will be reading this. Farewell all... I need to come up with an epic sign off phrase. Give me some time

Beginnings

I decided I am wanting to change my status on Facebook too much to fill people in on my daily life happenings. So I started up a blog once again. I haven't had one since middle school. So this is kind of weird. I would actually write something of worth right now if I wasn't too tired and on the phone and chatting with people. I'll give a real update later. I just thought I should start with something.