snow.

is it allowed to be winter yet? i kind of thought that winter was something that was kept in a box and only let out at certain times of the year - more often in places like Wyoming and Colorado, a little less often in places like Western PA, and hardly ever in Florida and California (although my freshman from CA assures me that he HAS seen snow before, and is in fact a better snowboarder than me, which is not so much of an accomplishment since i've never tried it before so i figure that pretty much anyone is better than me) so it seems to me that snow in Western PA on the 29 of October does not bode well for the aforementioned Wyomings and Colorados...

Legacy

Since i'm a senior in college now and everything, i have been doing a lot of thinking lately about the future. planning trips to job fairs, trying to come up with some sort of a plan for the next year or so that involves more than what meal plan i need, or how many credits i can carry without imploding, and generally just freaking out a little bit every other week or so. I've come up with a couple different plans:
1) just dropping out right now and becoming a wandering gypsy who doesnt have to worry about a 'real job,' effectively avoiding the need to become a real person.
2) figure out what my dream job is, work like a crazy person to acheive it, ignore all my own personal needs, have no social life, but have the company car (it works for everyone on tv).
3) take next summer off, spend the next fall semester in a raise-your-own support internship with eMi, then move on in January to the good job that i have lined up and waiting for me.

ok, so maybe the third one is really the only one ive seriously considered as being a good plan. the thing is, i want to make a difference. whatever it is that my future holds for me, i want it to be somehow remembered. and preferably in a good way, a thought process which rather quickly moves me from thinking about my future to reminiscing about my past. what have i done with my life up to this point? has it been anything worth mentioning? have i at least made a significant difference in one person's life? and if i have and if i continue to be a memorable part of people's lives, do i want to know when it happens or just live in my own little world where i believe that everything does indeed work out for good and that one day my path will cross with someone elses and be significantly changed for the good, and if and when that day does come, will they know it? what if i remember them forever and they have no clue who i am? wow thats kind of a depressing thought. this is why i shouldnt blog late at night. all my emotions run rampant and unchecked and i end up saying things and thinking things that i regret and then i go to bed frustrated or sad and then i wake up in a funk...

but getting back to the point, and the song that kind of prompted this whole thing: 'I want to leave a legacy, how will they remember me? Did i choose to love? did i point to You enough to make a mark on things? i want to leave an offering - a child of mercy and grace who blessed Your Name unapologetically... and leave that kind of legacy'

its a kind of legacy that is much more than acrylic paint on a white block wall...

and all in all, it doesnt really matter where my future takes me, how many roads i have to go down, how many turns there are, detours are more than welcome, i'm along for the ride.

'Not well traveled, not well read, not well-to-do or well bred... just want to hear instead, “Well Done” good and faithful one…' Nicole Nordeman- Legacy

compulsion.

i feel like i havent posted in a while. its been over a week. i need to post something.
life has kept going on. i have done some fun things. fall break was AMAZING fun, and i managed to get myself to and from NYC with little to no incident. on friday we went to a corn maze. it was cold, but it really felt like fall. good fun with good friends. i wish i had a pic to post, but my camera doesn't do so good after dark, so all the pics are on someone elses camera.
last night the football team lost again. no real surprise there. there was a glimmer of hope for about five minutes right around half time, but then any little shred of hope that we may have been hanging onto was rather unceremoniously stripped away from us. the highlight of the night was an impromtu snow boarding lesson on the sidewalk after the game and the really good apple cider from bfcat.
thats really all i have to say. i'll do better next time.

3 days and counting...

Fall Break is coming and i could not be more excited or more ready to have a few days in a row in which i dont have to worry about the chemical componants of my water or the microconstituents of 1% carbon steel or the best way to model a water system for a small subdivision in Chicago.
for a while i wasnt sure what this break would mean for me - with my family all over the place i didnt know if i would get a chance to see any of them. i had a lot of offers of places to go, and i even contemplated going on a backpacking and rock climbing trip in WV. (i think i was getting a lil jealous of all my mom's great wilderness adventures)
but good news! since stasi and micah are home from Slovakia for a while, and my Dad had a wedding to do back home home, AND i have a car(!) i now have a great plan for break: after dad's plane gets in on thurs, i'm meeting him and stasi and micah for dinner, and then stasi is spending the night at school and after my class on friday morning we're loadin up with Gretchen and heading to NY for the weekend to see Abi Jimmy and (most importantly) Claire!!! it may seem a lil convoluted, but i honestly couldnt think of anything that i'd rather spend my break doing :)

although i must admit, i look right at home on that rock climbing wall...

blast from the past.

or: Everything I Needed to Know i Learned in Elementary School

i finally got my ears pierced about a year ago. (i started putting pierced ears on my Christmas list in fourth grade) i have spent this past year slowly and methodically increasing the amount of earrings in my collection, keeping them in a little box labeled "Fine Jewelery." a couple days ago i knocked this box off the edge of my dresser, sending earrings flying all over the place, flying out of my closet and scattering as far as the living room. unfortunately, since my closet does not have a door on it, there is a completely useless track across the front of it where the door should go, which was an extremely convenient place for my earrings to fall.
the situation seemed hopeless, until i remembered the good old days where my biggest worry was which game i was going to play with my friends after school. fortunately for me, on the list of favorites (along with 'dont break the ice' and 'cooties') was Operation.















i always knew there was a reason to try so hard to get that horribly impossible Writers Cramp... who would have guessed that my mad Operation skillz would have ever come in so darn handy?

ps. was there a theme song for operation? cuz the only one thats in my head is "POP goes Perfection!"

coming soon.

i have a really good post in the works... but i need the picture uploader to not hate me... thats all i have for now.... check back in a day or so.