-ing

Thinking about this 3 hour long online quiz I have to take tonight.

Feeling like a nap might be a great option for this afternoon.

Hoping that enough people come to practice tonight so we can scrimmage.

Struggling with this speech I have to write next week.

Watching Wife Swap on Lifetime... oh my.

Listening to the air conditioner blow out artic air, regardless of how we set the thermostat

Celebrating the fact that it's almost the weekend!

Dreaming of macaroni and cheese. You think I'm kidding.

Anticipating how sore I'm going to be after practice tonight since I worked out with Maddie this morning and will be playing in goal again tonight.

Mulling over how I can get away from the greasy food on campus.

Remembering my first year playing water polo where I nearly shot on my own goalie, and laughing at how much has changed

Pushing myself to be the very best that I can be.

Planning a weekend in October to go visit my friends in Marshall!

Making carbon dioxide every time I exhale... biology is on my mind.

Smelling the carpet shampoo they are using in the hall outside my room

Loving how the Lord shows me His love everyday in a crazy amount of ways!

"... our class average was a 45..."

Calculus class opened up with our TA/professor saying this (in an extremely thick Korean accent that I still can only kinda decipher): "I have some bad news and good news. Good news first. Our class average was the highest out of all MATH 131 classes! The bad news, our class average was a 45!"

Oh gosh. I felt very confident turning in my exam on Friday, and normally when I feel good about a test, I end up realizing I did something dumb and didn't score nearly as well as I thought I did. So when he was announcing the overall results, I began to kinda freak out. Starting the semester off on a bad grade hurts and is hard to recover from -- been there done that!

Well. Drumroll please... guess who got a ONE HUNDRED on her test! THIS GIRL! I can't remember the last time I got an A on a math test, let alone a 100 on a calculus test! Whoop!!!

Take that calculus. You have met your match!

Life in the Goal

Long story short, I have been playing a lot of time in goal this semester. I played a bit in high school and wasn't a fan, but honestly, I don't mind it this time around. It beats sitting through boring drills that we do everyday at times!

Well... tonight I had numerous experiences that I'm just going to entitle "Life in the Goal"... here we go.

• 2 hours of treading. My legs are jello.
• Slamming my hands repeatedly on the metal bars of the cage.
• Taking a backhand to the face. Ouch.
• Kicked in the jaw, while my mouth already hurts. Double ouch.
• "What do you mean everybody is shooting at once?!"
• Got my foot stuck in the net of the backside of the goal. I guess I'm not supposed to sit/lean on that metal bar that holds the net together.
• Both of my arms feel like hammers have been used to beat them up repeatedly. Might

Y'all, this could be an interesting season. I can bet that I might be spending some time in goal during the games, and we will see how that goes!

Why I Enjoy Biology

Going into this semester there were 2 classes I was absolutely dreading. Calculus and Biology. Although I took calculus 1 and 2 in high school, I didn't have a good experience with them and so wasn't too thrilled about reliving those nightmares. And biology is science--science is typically a challenge for me, and I hadn't taken biology since freshman year of high school... no I don't remember much from then!

Surprisingly, calculus has turned out to be fairly easy so far. So easy that I'm pretty confident I aced my first test on Friday!

Biology has also turned into a joy of mine. No, I don't necessarily enjoy the amount of material that we cover and how in depth we go, but I have found motivation to studying!

Biology is all about the itty bitty and intricate details of life. Oftentimes when I am studying, I stop to pause and wonder in amazement about Our God that cares enough to design all of these tiny and seemingly insignificant parts of life that are so fundamental!

God is so big. And that is SO evident through biology! Not saying that I love aerobic respiration, or all of the parts of the cell. It's far from "loving", but I can find purpose in learning the material when I think about learning about what God has designed because of His perfect love for us!

Friends, Teammates, Laughter, Camp :)

This past week was crazy busy! On Wednesday I had a major speech to present, Thursday I had a huge lab report due, and on Friday I had my first test of the semester: Calculus. It was super insane! To say I was EXHAUSTED and ready for some fun as soon as I turned in that test is an understatement!

Luckily, this weekend has so far made up for both of those!

Friday afternoon Carley came into town. We enjoyed just being lazy in my room and catching up, before she met up with some other friends for dinner. The time was short, but it was what we both needed!

After dropping Carley off, I picked up some breadsticks from Fazolis (YUM) and headed over to Jen's for a water polo team get-together. We had a pretty decent turnout for a Friday night -- 14 of us! We made spaghetti, bonded, and played a group game of Fishbowl. So much fun! I love these girls and spending time with them out of the pool is so wonderful. We left Jen's around 11, at which point I came back home. I spent a bit of time just relaxing before showering and getting ready for Saturday morning. Around midnight I heard the start of Midnight Yell begin, and could hear the familiar tunes of the War Hymn from my room. I got in bed and watched a bit of TV before the Yell Practice ceased and I  eventually fell asleep around 1.

5:45 AM Saturday morning my alarm went off. SO EARLY. But, by 6:15 I had picked Emily up and we were on our way to CHO-YEH!!! I spent the morning lifeguarding and the afternoon belaying. It wasn't summer camp, as retreats are significantly different than summer camp, but it was so good to be back at camp. I had about an hour after lunch to go wander around camp and just spend time at the place I love. In the afternoon I belayed on the high ropes course for 3 hours, and enjoyed seeing people overcome their fears and anxieties. By 6:00 we were on our way back to College Station.

Once back at school, I was able to catch the last 3rd quarter of the A&M/South Carolina State football game. At the end of the 3rd quarter I was able to meet Laura and her family outside of Kyle in order to give her their Maroon Out t-shirts that I had bought on campus since the lines are shorter and the prices are cheaper on weekdays. We only decided to meet up about 10 minutes before we did, so that surprise was so exciting and special!

By 9:00 I was back in my dorm and in bed... by 9:30 I was asleep!

What a wonderful weekend! I was able to catch up (kinda) on sleep, and spend time with friends, and go to camp! So wonderful!

Now to tackle the homework and studying that is awaiting me...

Simple Delights

It's falling asleep with all the lights on and your head on your biology textbook, and your roommate coming in, turning off the lights and replacing your textbook with a pillow.

It's waking up and turning on music while getting ready.

It's throwing your hair in a messy bun and not caring what it looks like.

It's sitting with friends in biology class.

It's riding your bike through campus while listening to music.

It's finding the MSC serving macaroni and cheese for lunch. And buying 3 sides of it.

It's getting to spend time with Jesus in between classes.

It's having a new camp video uploaded to provide a study break

It's not having to ride the elevator in the Annex by yourself to turn in the CDs you borrowed.

It's eating candy throughout your 3 hour reading block.

It's getting a 15 minute break halfway through your 3 hour reading block.

It's receiving a text halfway through class from your best friend.

It's actually learning useful information in class!

It's getting a package from Amazon that you ordered, and getting creative juices flowing throughout.

It's coming up to work on a speech, only to realize that it's essentially done and at exactly the right time limit.

It's eating snacks while listening to Jesus music with the lights turned off and lamps turned on.

It's knowing that I'm essentially guaranteed 2 hours of pure laughter tonight at water polo.

It's the happiness of a Breakaway night after practice.

It's the simple delights in life. Recognize them, take advantage of them, let them rock your world.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEN!

It all started out with a midnight text saying Happy 22nd Birthday to one of my precious friends on the water polo team, Jen.

Then 22 text messages saying "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" all within 2 minutes.

Then throughout the day, during our texting conversation every text had something to do with her birthday snuck into it. Even something as "thank you Birthday Girl!".

Then Katie and I made a trip to HEB to pick up cupcakes, before heading to the Rec for practice.

Katie and I were sitting in the lobby area inside the Rec splitting a grilled cheese, when we saw Jen walking in, a good 50 yards away. In sync, we both yelled as loud as we could "HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEN!" She gave us a glare as her face turned bright red. Supposedly the guy next to her turned and asked her "how did they know? Oh, it's your birthday too..." (Yep, he thought we were yelling happy birthday to him! haha)

Then in the locker room -- HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEN!

Then throughout practice randomly Katie and I would give each other a look and we'd both yell "HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEN" as loud as we could.

After practice we were all hanging out eating cupcakes, when the entire team decided to sing at the top of our lungs the Happy Birthday Song. 20 college girls yelling/singing the Happy Birthday Song.. yeah, we were pretty loud.

Let's just say, we all had a GREAT time making Jen's birthday something she wouldn't forget. And let me add, I'm SO glad I have a summer birthday so I get to escape payback from Jen :)