I need a weekend...

...and it's only MONDAY!

I feel like I didn't have a weekend this weekend. I spent ALL day Saturday studying (literally--Saturday from 11 AM - 10 PM). On Sunday we had Kyle Field Clean Up (where we have to go pick up a certain section of stands at Kyle Field the morning after a football game in order to receive funding for water polo) at 7:30 (AH, too early!). I didn't get back to my room till nearly 11 and by the time I had showered I was too late to go to church. Major bummer because I absolutely love the church that I'm going to here! I then studying until 4 (with a 30 minute phone date with one of my really good friends from camp, Laura). I played polo from 4-5:45, had tutoring/test prep from 6-7, and then studied until 9. I was then in bed by 9:30 and asleep by 10.

Yeah, so no wonder I can't focus today when I try to study... I should go to the Rec and run or do something active in order to have a little change in routine, but I need to do well on these tests so that I'm not stressing when it's time for finals. AGH! I need a weekend!

This upcoming weekend is going to be crazy too, and I really need to study at some point for a polisci test I have next week. On Saturday I play polo all day in a tournament, and then on Sunday I have a camp "family reunion" where all of the campers have the opportunity to come back and see their counselors and just hang out.

I'm in desperate need of a lazy weekend! Or Thanksgiving... Actually, can it just be Christmastime? Yeah, that sounds pretty good right now!!

Alright--study break over... here we go again! Air masses, clouds and climates are calling my name! Then classical and romantic era music. Then secession of Texas... oh yippee yay yahooooo!

Halloween Hatred

I despise Halloween. Never been a huge fan, and this year, it's WORSE!

1. It's crazy expensive between costumes and candy and blah blah blah.
2. Nobody needs that much candy. Sorry, they just don't! (The average amount of candy that one American consumes in the month surrounding Halloween is 24.7 pounds)
3. The costumes are so skimpy (essentially they cover about 10% of your body and that's it. If you're lucky).
4. Most of the characters that people become are WAY innapropriate. (For example: the guy that I heard about who dressed up as a terrorist and crashed a party... really? Grow up).
5. All that candy makes you feel blah and lethargic. Who really wants to feel like that?
6. In college it's an excuse for everybody to get drunk... It's gross.
7. People get WAY more into character than they need to, especially walking around campus. Seriously, grow up. You're not 5 anymore...
8. It's not just October 31st that is celebrated, it's the entire week prior. So stinkin' dumb.

Halloween is SOOOO dumb!!!

Anyway

Anyway by Mother Theresa

"People are often unreasonable, illogical and self centered;
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you've got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and your God;
It was never between you and them anyway."

Productive Friday Night!

Surprisingly, tonight has been REALLY productive! Weekends in College Station aren't exactly the most fun-filled experience of your life (especially considering I'm not a huge fan of going to football games, but that's a different story), so I have been kind of dreading this one because A) there's a lot of studying to be done, B) I don't have my car so can't run errands if I want to, C) I don't like having to rely on people for rides because I worry that I'll want to go back on campus earlier than they will and will be stuck, D) There's Kyle Field Clean Up on Sunday morning. So, granted, I wasn't too excited about tonight...

BUT: I've gotten this much accomplished!
I have gone through THREE chapters in Geography and taken notes over all of them (One chapter takes about 1.5 hours). Genny and I delofted and redid our rooms to make it a lot more functional. I was able to have a good 30 minute phone conversation with Renee. I sat and laughed with Genny, Ryan & Jeff (Ryan is Genny's boyfriend, and Jeff is a mutual friend). We got our heater fixed (WHOOOOOOP! Thank you engineering friends who are smart enough to break it apart and put it back together to get it to work!). It wasn't anything major of a Friday evening, but it was relaxing and I got A LOT accomplished!

Now, time to snuggle in my new un-lofted bed (YAY!) and read for a while! God is SO good :)

Dear Evans Library,

Dear Evans Library,

I hope that you are ready to become best friends! Because after this weekend we are just going to be the best of buddies. You see, I have a lot of studying to do this weekend because all of my exams tend to fall on the same day/week. I have a paper due Monday, three exams on Tuesday, a quiz on Thursday, and a paper due Friday of this week. Then on Saturday I have a polo tournament, and on Sunday I have a Cho-Yeh thing to go to. Then the next Monday I have 2 papers due and a polisci test. Then that Wednesday I have a HUGE presentation, a quiz on Thursday and a paper due Friday. Literally, SO MUCH TO DO! Therefore, this weekend I will be spending a vast majority of my time in the library. I've already been in here 3 hours, and it's only 4:15 on a Friday afternoon.

Evans, I really hope that you are nice to me. I mean, we have a chance to become REALLY good friends this weekend! Doesn't that sound just delightful? I would appreciate it if you would turn your heater up a little bit, and make fresh warm cookies. So far, that is my only complaint, so fix that soon and you'll be golden!

I might be leaving you for a few minutes to go charge my laptop and get my headphones while eating dinner, but then I'm sure we will meet again tonight! Don't worry, I'm not abandoning you, I promise I'll be back!

Much love (as long as your keep your end of this bargain...),

Me :)

[how's that for being positive about studying all weekend?!]

CHOCOLATE!!!

I am supposed to have a jacket being delivered sometime this week, and so have been anxiously checking my mailbox waiting for it to come! Today, I had TWO slips saying I had packages and so was slightly confused.

Oh. My. Goodness.

My family and the Krolczyk's had each sent me HUGE boxes of candy! Reeses, Starbursts, Skittles, those cookies with the really good icing, bubble gum, popcorn, chocolate covered pretzels, bakery cookies, and cute halloween accessories!

To say I've been on a sugar high is a slight under-exageration. (oh. understatement. that's the word I was looking for. whoops.) I had Chick-fil-a for lunch at like 3:30, and then have had a kit-kat (did I mention Genny got a bunch of candy yesterday?!), reeses, skittles, cookie, and $4 worth of frozen yogurt for dinner! I'm WIRED! Except my tummy hurts and I went 16 hours today without coming back to my room. Literally. Class, Library, Class, help Kristen, education meeting, heart to honduras profit share, and Breakaway. LONGEST day EVER!!!

Don't Leave out Paintbrushes... or else!

I was up late last night painting signs and posters for a profit share that I have tomorrow for Heart To Honduras (the group I'm going on my mission trip through). Genny was already asleep by the time I finished, so I rinsed out the brushes, left them by the sink, and crept into bed.

My class is at 8 on Monday mornings (GROSS!) and so I always get up and rarely turn on lights. This morning, I went to brush my teeth and got the toothpaste on the brush, before I realized it was a PAINTbrush, not my toothbrush... that coulda been interesting!

This morning when I went to eat my mini muffins in my education class, there were only TWO muffins instead of the 5 that are supposed to be in the package! WHAT?! Needless to say, I fired off an email and am hoping for a lifetime supply of free muffins when they respond!

Julie and I went through Sonic on our way to the elementary this morning, and when I opened my straw it looked like it had already been bit! The straw was wrapped in the paper wrap thingies, but there were BITE marks on the straw... After requesting a new straw we were on our way!

Goodness... All of this before 9AM! Geeesh.

Unapologetically Christian

This week has had a rough to start to say the least. I was really looking forward to this stress-free week with no tests, but that quickly changed on Monday morning. Monday was spent worrying and freaking out about the wreck, and Tuesday was spent pretty sore. Every Tuesday night A&M has a praise and worship session called Breakaway (Random Fact: A&M has the largest percentage of professing Christian students than any other campus in America--including private schools). It is held over in Reed Arena in West Campus and starts at 9. Reed is about a 20 minute walk on a good day from my dorm, and so most nights I have to leave my room by 8:20 to get over there and find a seat, and often times don't get home until 10:45 or 11. It's AWESOME, but does take up most of Tuesday nights.

So yesterday a friend from camp, Allie, texted me asking if I was planning on going. At the time I wasn't sure, I was exhausted and sore, but I promised her I would meet up with her and we could sit together. She called me telling me that she had saved us seats in a certain section, and so when I walked over to that section I saw somebody else sitting with her. It ended up being my supervisor from this summer who I absolutely love! She is super busy and heads up A&M's Christian Dance Company and so I haven't been able to see her much since classes started. She had heard about my wreck though and when she had run into Allie and Allie told her we were sitting together, Anne stuck around for a few minutes to surprise me! It was SUCH a lovely surprise getting to see her!

Breakaway was phenomenal as usual. One thing that the speaker said was that we should be "unapologetically Christian". It kinda blew my mind, but that statement is SO true! We should never hide our Christianity from people because we are afraid of what they will say. We shouldn't ever be sorry for being Christians, and we should never portray the "halfway Christian" attitude in order to try and not offend somebody. Christ should be in us 100% of the time, regardless who we are around. Unapologetically Christian! HOW AWESOME?!

Materialism & a Funny Story

I'm realizing just how prevalent materialism is in our society. I got in a wreck this morning (the other guy was perfectly fine and his truck was undamaged, and I am okay), and will be without my car for a while.

I don't think I realized how dependent I was on my car. I can't just run to Walmart, and I'm not able to just meet friends to get frozen yogurt. I'm not able to go where I want to go when I want to go, and it's frustrating. As a society we are SO dependent and reliant on these materialistic things that are of this Earth that really shouldn't have a huge significant fact in our life. Yes, cars are important to us and they are a convenience for sure.

When I was walking back to my dorm and had tried calling nearly everybody that I could think of that was on campus and that could come sit with me as I waited for my dad to come (EVERYBODY was in class. Literally! Kevin, Kristen, Cameron, Julie, Megan, Renée, Genny.... all in class!) I resorted to calling friends who weren't on campus but that I knew would talk to me until I calmed down. Luckily, Carley picked up. At one point she told me "Ky, your car is of this world. You are not." and I was totally shocked. (Actually the shock of the validity of her statement came hours later) There are SO many things that are "of this world" that we exalt to higher standards than what they are. Our phones, our computers, our books and creativeness, our sports, our music... you get the drift. They are all of this world, and they can be replaced. Some things belong to a world not of this one, things like Our God and our lives. We are not "of this world", we are of God's plan and His realms! Forget the materialistic things that we "need" to survive!

Funny little story though to end this. Not really on this same topic, but kinda.

So--hanging from my rearview mirror whenever I drive my car is my 5-year Cho-Yeh Cross that I got last summer marking my 5th year as a member of the "Cho-family". It is too bulky to actually wear on a daily basis, and so I have it hanging on my rearview mirror as a constant reminder of Cho-Yeh and that world every time I get in my car. Somehow when I slammed on my brakes trying to avoid the truck in front of me, that cross was jostled from the mirror and flew off, landing in my lap. I don't remember grabbing it, but I know that it was in my hand as I stepped out the car to see what had happened to my car. I didn't realize it at the time, but I definitely think that was God's way of getting the Cho-family involved. They have been awesome and have been so helpful. Kristen met me at my dorm and sat with me till my dad came. Carley called some of my closest friends to let them know what happened. Laura called me when she got off of work and listened to me, while joking around and making me laugh, then preceded to warn me that there would be a good chance that even though I wasn't sore tonight, I might wake up sore from the jerking of the car and the sudden stopping. Tiffany called me tonight to pray with me. Kasey sent me reassuring texts throughout the day. Cameron sent me notes from the classes I missed. Clare offered to bake with me one day after class this week if I wanted to get away from campus. So thankful for that family and the help that they are to me! It stinks not being home with my family when this is all going on, but it is reassuring knowing I have that camp family here to help out!

"My car may be in shambles, but I serve a God that holds me together!"

two hundred twelve

For our polisci tests (which I have in 2.5 hours) we are assigned seat numbers. I'm in seat 212.

I really like the number 212 because it is a palindrome, you can read it forwards and backwards and it says the same thing (Hannah, Racecar, Dad, Mom, etc). Those make me happy because they are so simple yet complex at the same time, I've always been fascinated with them and love when they randomly appear (especially in calculus, it would always make a daunting problem seem a smidgen less troubling if the number was a palindrome!).

So, the fact that my seat is a palindrome is exciting. I'm sure some of you (actually, I'm not sure....) have heard the whole spiel on 212 degrees. Essentially it is a motivation technique that was really popular a few years ago, maybe it still is? Essentially, it is based off a quote like this "At 212 degrees Fahrenheit, water will boil. But if you stop heating water at 211 degrees, you will not reach the goal of boiling. . . THAT is the difference a single degree more can make!"

So... not only is my seat number a palindrome, it is also a motivational tool! Now if only it had a way of automatically bubbling in the correct answers....

back to the study world! I'll be FREE in about 3 hours!

Being Sick is Stinky

I don't think I've ever been sick and not been at home. I honestly can't even remember the last time I was sick, which is such a major blessing. Whenever you are sick, you just want to be able to lay on the couch and watch TV and have somebody cater to whatever you want. That doesn't happen when you live on campus!

I really just want to lay on a comfy couch and watch a Disney movie and have my parents make me something yummy for dinner. Nope. I had to walk to find something that I could keep down (or thought I could) and then go back to studying for polisci. If you think studying for your hardest class that is taught by the worst professor on campus (he thinks there is a state called "New Iowa'...) is bad, you would be right. Now try studying for that when your stomach is like a hurricane, and you just feel crummy in general... ICK!!

This week better get better. On the bright side, the other girl who also got sick on Sunday is feeling better! So... if it's the same thing I should be getting over this SOON!

ETBU :)

This weekend was AWESOME! On Friday as soon as I got out of polisci I hit the road and headed to Marshall, Texas! It took just under 4 hours to get there, but the drive wasn't too bad. I had downloaded a bunch of podcasts and so the drive went pretty fast and soon enough I was pulling in at East Texas Baptist University!

2 of my friends from camp this summer, Tiffany and Kasey, live together and so I stayed with them. On Friday we grabbed dinner at "The Caf" (aka...cafeteria?) and then went to an ETBU volleyball game. Tiffany took me on a tour of campus, and let me tell you, it was BEAUTIFUL. We then went to Walmart to grab stuff to make lunch on Saturday and rented a movie. We enjoyed a lazy night of hanging out and having a "sleepover" in their living room while watching Disney's Prom. On Saturday we got to sleep in (WHOOP!) and then went to the Fire Ant Festival. It was a beautiful day outside and we loved just walking around and looking at the booths, enjoying each other's company. We then went to the "Blue Hole" which was a beautiful lake that was hidden in some trees and spent a few minutes in awe of God's wonderful beauty and sharing what God's been doing in our lives. We made popcorn chicken, honey barbeque wings and green beans for lunch. All were delicious. Yes, I tried the green beans. No, I didn't die. :P We then watched Blind Side together and started Titanic, but ended up all taking naps. We woke up and went to another ETBU volleyball game, then went out to dinner. We ran by Walmart and rented another movie, and spent the rest of the night laughing and being our silly goofy selves. This morning we got up, went to church, went out for lunch, and then I headed back to cstat. (the drive back is another story... gotta love getting sick while driving 4 hours!)

This weekend was great and I LOVED ETBU. Not only was it a beautiful campus, the people were uber friendly, it was small to where I knew my way around (I still don't know my way around A&M), and it felt comfortable. I definitely see another visit there happening next semester!

ROAD TRIP!!!

Going on my 1st road trip as a college student! WHOOP! I mean, I've gone to Livingston and to Cypress... but those are more like "going home" than going on a road trip..

After polisci today I'll be heading to ETBU in Marshall, Texas to spend the weekend with some camp friends! 2 of them have a house together and so we are all just having a huge sleepover in their livingroom. That's what's up! I made a bunch of mix CD's and downloaded podcasts this morning, so I'm all ready for this little road trip! Be expecting a very happy college kid come Sunday evening when I'm blogging :)

Hope everybody else has a fantastic weekend as well!

You Know You are Tired When...

I really should start writing a book.

Note: this all happened within the past hour
Disclosure: "Tired" could be easily exchanged for "blonde", "delirious", "Kylie" etc...

You Know You are Tired When...

...it's 11:00 at night and you realized you haven't had dinner so end up eating apples and caramel.
...you go to make hot chocolate, and after 2 minutes of heating the "water", you realize that you had poured the powder in the cup instead of the water and now just have fried cocoa powder.
...you mistake the bottles in the shower, and end up washing your face with shaving cream.
...you end up putting your glasses on and realize you never took your contacts out in the first place.
...you go to empty your trash into the big trashcans in the hallway and end up throwing your entire trashcan away (and don't realize it until 3 or 4 minutes later)
...you try to use your driver's license instead of your student ID to open up the door to get into the dorms

It's been a long day. Obviously. Time for bed :)

SURPRISE!

Such a fun weekend!

At about 1:30 last Friday I decided to surprise my family by coming home for the weekend. I knew Kole would be in a baseball tournament, and I honestly miss getting to see him play. So, by 2:00 I packed up a bag and was in my car driving home. I picked up 3 Route 44 Sonic Limeades for Mom, Dad, and Kole, and an ice-cream yumminess for me, and headed to Aragon where I knew Dad was having football practice and Kole was hanging out. SURPRISE! The smile on Dad's face as he walked across the field, and the energy that had encompassed Kole as he raced down the bleachers was priceless. Then, off to Fiest to surprise Mom. I walked into the building and ran into Tina, but gave her the "shhh!" look, as I sneaked into Mom's office and handed her her drink. She looked so happy, and it made me grin ear-to-ear.

On Friday, Mom and I went shopping and then we all went out to dinner (mmmm fajitas). Dad, Kole and I then watched 2 episodes of NCIS, and I got to go to sleep early!

I spent the weekend out at the ball park. I watched Avery and Kara each play their first softball game of the season, then watched Kole play to games on Saturday. Mom, Kole, Renee and I watched Soul Surfer Saturday night, and I went to bed early again. SCORE!

On Sunday we played more baseball. It was SO much fun to be able to see Kole play again, as that is something that I truly miss being up in cstat. I was able to run by my old youth group and see my youth director Kelly, and one of the girls that I mentored this past semester. It felt so weird to be there! I got volunteered to pray over dinner because I was the "visitor"... a visitor in my own church! How weird... I got back up to c-stat around 7:30 and unloaded my car which was packed full of groceries and a few new clothes (yahoo sweat pants!!!). I wrote a few letters to some of my campers that had written me in the past couple of weeks, and am looking forward to a lazy night!

This next week shouldn't be too stressful. I'm starting to study for polisci (and by study I just mean read the chapters and take additional notes) because I have that test next week. I only have one test this week, and it's in my education class so it shouldn't be anything too hard. This weekend I'm going to visit some camp friends in Marshall, Texas and I can't wait!!!