I can't believe it didn't snow last night. So lame. I wanted snow. ha. I wanted to hit someone with a snowball, make a tiny snowman, or a snow angel, or just look at the snow laden world with a glimmer in my eye.

I really like foggy snowy mornings. I love to wake up and catch a glimpse of hazy grayness through a crack in the blinds, and when I look out the window and actually see the fade into white and swirling flurries....ah, it's so pretty.

It makes me want to snuggle up with a cup of steaming tea, a blanket, and a friend. hah. Watch Pride and Prejudice or read Chronicles of Narnia or something. It just has that feeling to it. It's a good feeling.

I love to feel like it's a certain time of year, it doesn't matter if it's cliche or not, it should be, because everyone should like to say "I love this time of year." The whole year is good. I love transition times between seasons the most. But, I still like the feeling of the happy and fun of summer. It's good to goof around and get muddy playing kickball and bombardment and capture the flag, and go out on boats and go wakeboarding and intertubing, get bruised and tired. Whether you're sitting at the beach running in the sand and jumping over waves or going to the park and swinging on old rickity swings and playing guitars and kicking hacki-sacks, or even just sitting at home dying of heat, sucking on ice cubes and not doing anything at all - that's summer to me. I like the feeling of the grass on my barefoot and my skin burning. It makes me love it all the more when it gets cold.

Taking walks on windy, brisk days with leaves scattered all around, wearing a soft sweater, always having an excuse for wanting to snuggle under a blanket...love it. Makes me want to crochet. Then the actual holidays themselves hit and I get to really bask in the warmth and togetherness of things. Thanksgiving is just full of fun memories that always come back around. And then there's the looking forward to all the traditional December things we do every year - caroling, making Christmas cookies for people, extended late night hanging out times during break, people I haven't seen in a while coming to visit. It's just good. I love being around people, but I especially like being around the people I've been around for ever. I like it. Winter is a good month.

And these are just the silly things that I enjoy about times. None of that would be any fun on it's own. It's who I get to do them with that makes it fun. It's how I get to get to know someone, or make someone feel loved, or how they make me feel loved. I wish there was never any difficulty in going and doing something, because I love to have people just do things with me. Even if it's like, really stupid. So what if it's just walking around in Seattle and taking stupid pictures of each other, or going mini-golfing, or taking a hike at snoqualmie falls, creating something, or just driving out to some little town for no reason at all. It's just an excuse to be with you, and that's okay.

I guess I should be able to answer the question, "what do you do for fun?" But the most fun thing to me is just spontaneous stuff. I don't mean spontaneous like, 'that's crazy,' I mean more like, spontaneous, random idea, 'that's not planned...Who cares, lets do it."

So I can romanticize this for as long as I like, but it's all a chasing after the wind. It's not the really important stuff. You can say, "enjoy life, enjoy the simple things," making that the most important thing, but I think it would be good to really learn to enjoy the 'complex' and 'big' things that you do too. But then, the real important thing is God. He wants us to enjoy life, but how much more can we enjoy it if we're seeking after Him with it? What are you doing for him? How are you doing it? Motives can be so selfish.

wow I just deleted a bunch of stuff by accident. haha. This got all deep and stuff. Aw well. It doesn't matter. No one would believe me being deep anyway. But I'm so not retyping any of it.

-becca

hey amber! I love you, even though your post was a little boring for me because I already know all that stuff. ;)

haha, tomorrow night will be such fun.

So far, my favorite thing about thanksgiving has been sleeping in. I haven't slept in this late in a while.

And I really don't feel like writing anything, but you posted, so I had to say hi!!!

I think I'll make some tea too. Good idea.

-becca

I am home for Thanksgiving! The first thing I thought about when I woke up was: "Oh, I need to sign up to meet with a tutor so I don't lose any more credit on my Advanced Writing paper. And, should I drop my math class, now that I'm failing it? Which is worse, an F or a WF? Psychology - I need to catch up on my reading! Did I bring the book, or did I forget? I left some food out in my dorm room, and mice have been spotted all over. And, I dreamed of mice last night! Dang it, how could I have forgotten to take out the garbage before I left? Now the room will stink when I get back. Man, I only have a couple weeks left at my church. Am I really making the right decision? Choir - I'm so nervous about doing quartets! Blah! Should I even be lying in bed right now when I have so much to think about and do?"

Then, I very calmly made a decision to stop thinking about all these things, because I am on BREAK, for heaven's sake! I came downstairs, greeted my mother, and got on the computer. I am in the process of steeping a cup of English Breakfast tea (and real milk to put in it, this time). I strongly feel like watching a movie. Maybe I will.

Okay, I don't know why I'm wasting my Thanksgiving break typing on my blog. If you haven't been reading Foxtrot lately, you should read the ones from the last week or so - they're all Thanksgiving related. If you remember, Peter is the guy who loves to eat, so they all involve him.

Happy Thanksgiving! Tell us how yours went!

my mom called and told me our pictures got put up online.

So, woo, new pictures...of old.

Ah, such good memories...

haha, the tumbleweed...


...maybe I'll post some other ones some other time.

I think amber is on her choir tour now. I'm going to go see her perform on Sunday night. That should be fun. I haven't seen her in a while.

I read something A.B. Simpson wrote today. It was titled, "HIMSELF". It was really good. Jeanie gave it to me a couple of weeks ago saying, "becca, this is so good. You'll read in here what you hardly read anywhere." It was about how generally, Christians miss the fact that what we really need from God is Christ.
Even faith can get in the way of receiving exactly what we need from Christ, if the faith isn't so much in God as it is in us having faith that we have faith. So, ultimately, I suppose, having faith in ourselves. I'm not really doing justice to the paper or what I thought about it, but it was good. It challenged me a little, and it's always good to be challenged. Sometimes I think I want to just pray that things will be easier, but really, shouldn't I be praying that I'll be able to handle things even when they aren't easy?

Like that quote, "Do not pray for easy lives, Pray to be stronger men. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers, Pray for powers equal to your tasks." Phillips Brooks said that. He was an ordained priest at was the rector of the trinity church in Philadelphia. He wrote O Little Town of Bethlehem. Just in case you were wondering who he was. I don't even know why I know that. Nerd.

I really like to look back and see things I thought about at some point in time. I mean, not just silly things like something someone did that made me feel a certain way, or who I liked and why. Those are kind of funny, but not really what I'm talking about. I mean when I'm reading a passage in the Bible and I actually stop and think about it and write it down. I'll think and pray about plenty of things, but when I write it down, I can look later and see if I actually did anything because of those convictions. I'm visual and hands on. I don't remember things as well if I just think about them unless I think about them a looot.

It's kind of interesting the different ways people learn and think about things. Everyone studies so differently, and I always assume my way is the best way to learn because it works for me - at least, it would work a lot better if I was more diligent in it. It's sort of funny that you have to almost learn how to learn. You pick up the basic skills like reading, writing, matching, logical thinking. But then you have to figure out the best way to use those skills to help you understand something. Whether it's repetition, trying it out, seeing it, neumonics, simply reading or having it explained to you - whatever. I've learned a lot about that in CEF. When you're preparing lessons and clubs, how you have to be able to get all the kids attention and try and match all of their learning processes, and not just like...emphasise everything in every way, but just the important things.

Wow, why am I still writing. What else do I have to say? Nothing really. I never really do. I just felt like writing something, because I haven't really written in a while. I used to really like it too. Maybe I realized I'm not that good or it's sort of pointless or something. ha. It's not always pointless. I just wouldn't major in it. I need to get off to work pretty soon. I guess I could be spending my time more efficiently right now too. Yep. bye.

-becca

Edit: There was that guy who walked in and said, "I'd like a burrito, please." He also spoke in a Hispanic accent.

Here's a few customers from today.

I went out to help a girl who was standing and looking at the menu. "Can I help you?" I asked. She did not respond or, in fact, even blink, or give any indication that she had heard me. I patiently washed my hands and put on my gloves, and stood, waiting, for a few seconds. I asked again, "May I get something for you, ma'am?"

She shot me a look of utmost "ugh" and said "I'm trying to decide what to get. I don't know yet, okay?"

It made me mad. Look, I'm being nice, and courteous, and acting like I actually want to make your dinner when I haven't even eaten mine yet. Can't you at least show some appreciation?

As far as I know, I'm not racist. However, some days I reach a point where I simply don't want to take orders of people who don't speak English anymore. It's SO HARD. Here's how it might go/did go.

"Can I help you?"

"Um, yes, hello, I want the special please?"

"Yes, today's special is tuna. Is that okay?"

"Yes."

"What kind of bread do you want that on?"

He points. I hate it when they point. Like I said before, it's hard for me to see the bread display box from where I am. I had to jump up to see where he was pointing. Then he changed his mind, twice.

"And would you like that on a six inch or a foot long?"

"Big!"

"Okay."

"Special says 2 49, right?"

"Well, 2 49 for a six inch sandwich. Would you like a six inch?"

"Big!"

"Okay, so that will be five dollars, okay?" (as I was speaking, I was cutting a piece of bread.)

"I want the two special. The Ahct one."

"You want...two specials? One foot long, right?"

"No, get another one like that," he said, pointing at the foot long I'd gotten out.

"Oh, you want the 2 foot long for 8 99 special?"

"Yes, ahct ninety nine."

"Okay. What kind of sandwich do you want for this one?"

"Everything."

"Okay, but what kind of meat do you want?"

"Everything!" He motioned toward all of the meat.

"Sir, I can't give you all the meat."

"No? Okay, for that one, half tuna and half all the meats."

"I can't do that, because that would be two separate kinds of sandwich! The special is for two foot long sandwiches. Each sandwich has to be all the same kind."

At this, he went out to look at the sign outside advertising our special. I put my face in my hands.

Anyway, it was like that forever. End of story.

Oh, except then there were these two guys. They had strong Spanish accents. They had obviously ordered at Subway before, but the guy who was ordering spoke very quietly, so I ended up asking him to repeat a lot of things. They had four foot long sandwiches, and I was out making them for a while. Eventually I started talking to them, found out they were from Mexico, etc. Then, out of nowhere, one of the guys said "Hey, I love your eyes." I kind of gave him a look, then went back to putting teriyaki on a sandwich. "Yeah," he continued, "They're mostly brown. I love them." I said "Thanks" and tried to smile. But I was kind of creeped out. Then they were talking rapidly in Spanish to each other and punching each other and wrestling and laughing and looking at me. Ugh. The whole rest of the time.

Then the guy who came up and said, "How much for a six inch?" I said, "Well, I don't know, what kind of sandwich do you want?" He said "Oh." I like it when they get it. Of course, after that he told me what kind he wanted and again asked me how much, and I had to look at the menu for him.

hellloooo amber - those pictures are crazy. You better not wear make-up like that at my funeral.

I went to the Museum of Flight with my family tonight. It was a free night and matt had never been. I haven't been there since I was really little. It was fun, but I'm tired. Kaitie and I danced in the holocaust street in the WWI exhibit. I saw the wooden floor and without a word, we both knew what to do. People came up and started watching us - it was kind of funny. Josh wouldn't dance with me though. He said he didn't like it. How can you not like dancing? It doesn't matter if you're not good. I'm not any good at all. But when there's a dance floor, it just seems so natural to take a chance, grab a hand, and make a step.
I could've made that rhyme. "...take a chance, grab a hand, and start to dance." Oh well.

I don't really know what else to talk about. hum. I'm tired and not really feeling all that great.

I think I'm off to bed.

-becca

Panicked phone conversation with my boss.

"Hi, Heather, this is Amber. I just noticed the schedule for next week, and I noticed you have me working on Sunday from 10:30 to 4...?"

"Uh, no, that's Saturday."

"Well, it says Saturday 12 to 6, Sunday 10 30 to 4.

"You work Friday, 12 to 6, just like you always do. Your coworker must have gotten the days wrong - don't worry."

"Oh. Is that also why there's a smiley face by my name?"

"Probably."

Not particularly funny, but it was a relief. I mean, I spent my summer wrestling with my former boss to keep my Sundays, which I had always said, from the very beginning, I was unable to work them. My first thought was "oh, no, not again." But it was all a misunderstanding. Haha.

A customer came up today, and I said, "Hi, what can I get for you?"

"A sandwich."

"Okay, what kind?" (Thinking, well, you've come to the right place!)

"I don't know." (staring blankly at me.)

"Okay, well, right up there we have a list of all our sandwiches. Just pick the one you want."

"Can I have the new one?"

"The new Chicken parmesan?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, what kind of bread do you want?"

"That one." (pointing to a bread in the display box, which is facing away from me.)

"Oh, I actually can't see where you're pointing, but could you read me what the bread is?"

"Italian."

"Okay." (I'm relieved that we've gotten this far.) "Now, did you want a six inch or a twelve inch?" I motion with my hands.

"That one." They point at the picture.

"Oh, a foot long?" It's a foot long in the picture.

"No, the one for 3.95."

"Okay." I take out a foot long piece of white bread and cut it in half. I'm interrupted.

"Actually, how much is it for a whole?"

I pointedly turn around and look at the menu, which they could very well see. "Looks like 5.95."

"Okay, do a whole."

I put back the six inch and cut a foot long.

From this point on, everything I say has to be said very, very slowly, and repeated loudly. I feel mean. They point at the vegetables they want, and the cheese that they want, and I can't tell where they're pointing. So I end up pointing at everything and interpreting head movement as either nods or shakes.

Anyway, it was annoying, and it tried my patience.

On a good note, I had a good day today. I even had several compliments! And people responded nicely to my presence, if that makes sense.

Right now would be the perfect time to have a blanket, a cup of tea, Pride and Prejudice, and a best friend - within arm's reach. -_- < emotive="exaggeration" >I hate my life.< /emotive >