I am successfully accomplishing all my goals this break.

I think the idea of a break from school is to give you time to do all those necessary things that you didn't have time to do during school. Here's what I don't have time to do during school:

-Drink as much tea as I want (not enough time, and too many things taking precedence)
-Read books for fun and information - books not theology oriented.
-Review stuff I've memorized.
-Play lots of computer games.

So far, I haven't done to well on the "reviewing" aspect, though I have done some. However, I'm doing very well on the "tea" and "books" thing today. I've been playing computer games - actually, just Age of Empires III - almost every day, so I've been doing well in that area, too. I bought a book that came yesterday, called "The Tea Companion: A Connoisseur's Guide" (Wow, did I spell that right?). It's very good. Informative and interesting, and well organized. I've read the first 50 pages. I'll probably read another 50 pages tomorrow. (This, by the way, is one example of the way I like to do things. Groups of 10, 25, 50, or 100 are all perfect. It's sometimes annoying to myself how obsessive I can get about it.)

Tonight, I'm going to see Chicken Little with becca.

Okay, goodbye.

I guess it's time for me to update everyone who reads this on my past week.

This feels sort of forced though. I don't really feel like I'm in much of a writing mood. I'm just blogging for the sake of blogging I guess. So, I don't imagine this will be very long (of course whenever I say that it ends up being long anyway). I need to finish cleaning my room too.

Hmm. I want to think of all the silly little things that I loved about this past week that no one would actually expect me to write about or remember or care that much about, or maybe even notice. But I firmly believe in little things making me feel good or sad or happy or whatever, and them being mentioned. They count just as much as the big things. Things like going and picking out a Christmas tree with Amber. That was a lot of fun, we were laughing the entire time, and it looked so pretty when we were done. It smells so good and it was so nice to sit in the dark and drink hot apple cider and look at it.

It was so nice spending time with my brother, Kit, in seattle with his friends, even though I was tired and they were just talking a lot about people I didn't really know and my feet got really wet because I was wearing flipflops and walking around capitol hill in the rain.

I loved all the hugs and the kisses and the on the couch-snuggling-up-in-blankets time with various people.

I loved randomly playing my few sad songs for people and my mom was crying. That was a triumph. Writing something that made someone cry. Even if it was my mom. She's a person too, come on.

I loved doing spontaneous stuff with amber and anyone else who wanted to join in.

I loved going to Debbi's house and holding Caleb and teaching the boys Cuckoburro and seeing joe and patricia and kurt and everyone and looking at old quizzing pictures and just talking and having fun like we used to every single thursday night. good times.

I loved having the weekend off, I loved playing music with Kit on Christmas eve, I loved staying up all night with Kaitie, laughing our heads off and making a 5 page christmas card book full of silly puzzles with cheesy paternally oriented answers for my dad.

I loved staying up until 2:30 Christmas night watching a Muppets Christmas Carol with Jeremy and being silly with him all weekend, collecting weird glances and comments from everyone else, and not caring at all. And laughing a lot.

And I loved seeing my beautiful niece, Cadence. I hadn't seen her in about a month. I didn't really get to hold her that much, but it's always kind of hard when 7 people are trying to give her all their attention. Later I got to hold her long enough to sing "Feed the Birds" through, but then Kristen came to pick her up. Ah well. I love babies and I love singing to them.

Last night, Amber and I both vowed to never play Star Wars Trivial Pursuit ever again. such geeks.

-becca

This has been a fun five days at becca's. Here are some quick memories so we don't ever forget.

-Getting a Christmas tree to suprise becca's parents with. Learning to load it onto a car with the help of the lady with the saw. Getting a 54 dollar tree for 30 dollars because I convinced the lady ringing it up that it was in her best interest. Carrying bins to and from the garage and trying to find certain Christmas ornaments. Wrapping chaser lights all the way around the tree with Kaitie, only to find out they didn't work (we should have checked before wrapping them around!)

-becca's utterly stupid cootie catcher (don't ask any more)

-The annual gingerbread house making party at Debbi's. They were graham cracker houses this year. I saw Patricia for the first time in a long time!

-Getting my ears pierced at the mall

-Having slumber parties every night, staying up late and giggling, and being overheated and awake all night from lying in between becca and Kaitie who are constantly complaining about not having enough blanket or sheet

I expect becca to remember some more.

interjection from becca: Ooh, there are more.
- the midnight dog
- haha the cootie catcher. I laughed so hard. They were so mad at me.
- wearing your cozy bootlike slippers
- doing that puzzle with you while listening to my boy choir cd and drinking blueberry tea. that felt very christmasie.
- uhm. I'm trying to think of all the good moments we had. It was kind of weird when I licked your fingers. aaand. I really don't know anymore. I braided your hair for the first time ever and it looked nice. You made fun of me a lot too. ha. But we always do that.

I have nothing more to say.

Hi! Here I am at becca's house, maybe until Saturday. She's at work at the moment. That's okay, because as soon as she left, I played some Phantom until Kaitie left. Then I played a little more, then I read Kaitie's Far Side book. That was fun, but I started to feel sleepy, so i laid down on the couch. Pieces from the Far Side comics I had just read entered my dreams. I vaguely remember my leg falling asleep very painfully. I woke up just after an incident where I was playing a text based adventure game on rinkworks (yes, I do that sometimes in my spare time...ahem.) and I was at a gas station where a lady was waiting in a car. I went and talked to her and it turned out she was a criminal and I had to get her name, ID number, driver's license number, and some other things that didn't even make sense. But she drove away before I could.

I went into the gas station and brought some stuff from a nice looking lady, then I went out but something nagged me that I had to go back into the gas station and do something I'd forgotten. I went in, and wandered around, but that gas station was so huge! I concluded it was part of a mall, since gas stations usually didn't sell brand name clothing.

Then I woke up and decided to sleep in becca's room but I was too awake by then. I was cold, and I vaguely remembered her laptop being warm when I removed it from her bed. So I picked it up and opened it. Fwapp. The lid opened easily - too easily - and flopped down on the bed in a way a laptop should not. I then remembered becca explaining to me about her broken laptop. Indeed it was. Also, the internet cord keeps coming out. It's like it doesn't fit the socket right.

Becca's coming back in...1 hour! I was so excited to see her when I got here, even if for only twenty minutes before she had to work. But now I'm so excited to see her again. We're going to have so much fun and make up for this awful semester away from each other. Haha! I'm going to worship team practice tonight. I miss everybody, including the layout of May Valley. It's amazing how just a building can invoke many memories in a person, like me. Sigh.

And then I don't know what we'll do after that - stay late at the church, maybe, or come back early and hang out, playing games and eating coffee and watching movies and joking around or something like that. I love becca. I love coming to her house and seeing her and Kaitie and hanging out! I am so happy that it is Christmas break.

I got a B- in my math class, do to my cranking out an 8 page paper in an hour at midnight during finals week, and also due to several house of help with extra credit problems from the math whiz in the class. Wow. I hadn't even expected to pass with a D after failing three of four exams! By "failing", by the way, I mean, F. I used to think "failing" meant "non-A". Nope.

Now, if only the two remaining teachers would get my grades in, I would know whether I've raised or lowered my GPA from what it was last semester.

It's raining outside. I'm pleasantly non sleepy, but I could gladly go for some coffee and dinner. I should check and see if i remembered to bring my debit card...yes!

Did I tell you all that my stupid Old Boss sent me my check? He did! And it was for more than I thought it would be! This is how our last conversation went.

Me: "Hi, this is Amber."
Him: "Hi. How are you?"
Me: "I want my check."
Him: "Oh....well, I have it."
Me: "Good, now will you mail it to me, like you said you would for the last four months?"
Him: "Uh...you know, I'm sick right now and the medicine it makes me sleep. You call back tomorrow okay Amber?"
Me: "Fine."

Next day:

Me: "Hi, this is Amber."
Him: "Okay, hi Amber, how are you?"
Me: "I want my check."
Him: "Well, I'm really busy. Come pick it up from the store."
Me: "No. I live in Portland now, remember? You have to mail it to me. Do you have my address?"
Him: "Yeah, but I'm really really busy! If you can't pick it up, can't you tell someone to pick it up for you?"
Me: "No. I want you to mail me my check like you said you would for the last four months."
Him: "But I'm really busy. I can't do it."
Me: "If you don't, there will be trouble."
Him: "Fine, I'll mail it tomorrow."
Me: "You've been saying that for the last four months. If you don't mail that check tomorrow, there will be big trouble."
He hung up on me.

I didn't think he would send it. I started filling out a form Dad gave me so I could turn him in to the Washington State Labor Board. Things got busy for me, and I hadn't finished filling it out, when Dad called me and told me my check had come! I thought it would only be for like 100 dollars or so, but it was for 339! Just in time for christmas. It was so great. My dad says I should report him to Subway Headquarters for all the other ways he broke the law, but I don't want to have anything to do with this guy ever again. I want to erase every phone number and piece of information I have regarding that man.

Now, I'm done.

amber! I bet you're..............going to be home by the time you see this.

I'm glad school stuff is all done. Now you can live like me. Happy with no assignments - at least, you can for a few weeks anyway. But I guess I still have to work.

Oh well. Work is good. I'd go crazy without it.

I don't really have anything to say at all. I'm happy, and I look like it too! Really. My cheeks are all rosy. Every time I see my face, I'm like, "Wow, why do I look so happy?" I just am! haha.

love you! I'm looking forward to break! Just like I have been for the past three months.

-becca

I would like the world to know that this is the 242nd post on this blog, and that December 6 was the one year anniversary of becconing amberlance.

I am extremely happy. I just finished my school year! I had an oral exam for Advanced Writing, where I was interviewed and asked questions about my paper, my sources, and my thoughts on different issues of demonology (which was the topic of my paper). The interview, she told us beforehand, will test your knowledge of the subject. If the interview only goes for twenty minutes, you'll know that you have not done favorably. But if the interview lasts for 45 minutes to two hours, you'll know that you've done well. Mine lasted for an hour, and she told me I passed. That's amazing, considering I only used half of 12 required sources for the paper, plus I didn't meet with tutors for the 3 required times. Anyway, I'm extremely happy about this. I also think I may have passed my math class because I whipped out a paper for it last night at midnight, did a whole bunch of extra credit this morning, and even studied for the final I took today!

Let me tell you about my Advanced Writing teacher. Everyone has an opinion about her. She can be very intimidating, though she can't weigh more than I do. There's a lot to say about her, but here's a conversation we had just as I was leaving.

She: "You're skinny."
Me, looking down at myself incredibly. "Oh my gosh, you're RIGHT!"
She starts laughing. "I'm going to do that next time someone says that to me."
Later:
She: "I can't believe you were so quiet all semester. You have so much to say. I'm gonna get you for that. Do you I have you next semester?"
Me: "Yeah, I'm taking American Lit."
She: "I'll get you back then. Have a good Christmas!"

I'm looking forward to American Lit.

I'm also looking forward to a Christmas party tonight, the last time for a long time that I will see all my church friends, since I have officially left the church. This past Sunday was my last. okay, bye!

Becca! Man, I miss you so much. I got your message, and I was going to call you back, but this week is...ugh, crazy! I'll probably call you on Saturday. Wait, that's tomorrow. So I'll call you then.

I'm getting sick, but I'm doing everything I can to stave it off at least until I get home. I'm drinking lots of water, eating lots of vitamin C, and I'm about to take one of those multivitamins that resemble horse pills and make me shudder for the next ten minutes at the taste left in my mouth. It's bad enough to take them when you're healthy, but when you're sick and your sore throat feels everything going down it...it's bad.

And I'm so tired! Last night, I went to bed at 1, and this morning I woke up at 6 (it's 6:43 right now! Yay!). The last few days I've been doing the same thing. I wouldn't have been up so late last night, except as I was working on my paper, there was another girl writing a paper for a different class and she kept asking for my help. Then she kept reading her own paper out loud to me, even as I tried to write my own paper! I was glad to help her, but I was also really tired. I hate being such a grammar freak. I mean, I'm glad that grammatical ability comes naturally to me, but I get frustrated when someone says "read what I have of my paper so far and tell me what you think of it." I cannot look beyond grammar at ideas. My comments to them end up being "Well, you need a few commas, and you misspelled a lot of words, and you have some wordy sentences and some fragments. You didn't cite this source correctly."

I don't just leave it at that; obviously, if they want help, I'll help them with it. But I won't lie and say "it's great" either.

Last night was just...I don't know! She'd write a sentence and ask me what I thought. I'd help her to reword it and insert punctuation. She'd say, "now what do I do next?" I'd say something like, "do some more research" or "go to your next point" or "expand on what you just said" and she'd say "yeah, but I don't know how. Help me!" She asked me to help her think of arguments for her paper. I was very happy to help her, but it was a stupid English comp paper!

I've decided I hate paper guidelines that:

1) decide on a topic for you. Why would you write unless it was on a topic you wanted to write about? How can you just decide that the entire class is going to be "interested" in embryonic stem cell research and make everyone write a paper on the same thing?

2) give you a number of words or pages that you have to write. If a teacher does this, I might write an incomplete paper because of the guidline. Or, I might have to go through and add "fluff" in order to expand the paper to meet the guideline. Either way, I'm purposely limiting myself and knowingly turning in a paper that could have been better written. That kills me.

3) give you a format you have to use. I saw the handout with the format she was supposed to use. Here were the five sections of the paper: "Introduction. Argument 1. Argument 2. Argument 3. Conclusion." That's all very nice and organized, and it does appeal to me because I like things to be laid out like that. I might even write my own papers that way! But aren't papers hard enough to write without putting so many limitations on the student?

4) use all three of these methods. UGH!

I know the teacher she has for English Comp; it's my old Spanish teacher. Sigh.

3) employ both of these methods. It's bad enough that you tell the class what topic to write about

Weird. I've taken up long blogging again for a few days.

So, today at work, I read about 1/10 of "A History of the Roman World" by E.T. Salmon. After reading of Tiberius (who was mixed in with Octavian - or Augustus by that time - with political and family affairs), decided he didn't like Julia (Octavian's daughter) or his position anymore and went to the island of Rhodes. Why? Just to do stuff, mostly to study scientific things like astrology and what have you.

What's my point in mentioning that? Oh. I was just thinking about knowledge, and that's why. A lot of times people say they want to learn something just "for the sake of it." I don't believe it. What's the point in learning something for no reason whatsoever at all? I know we learn a lot of stuff just by living that isn't really necessary, but when you actually go out and decide to be disciplined enough to learn something, it's different. Who endeavors for nothing (that is, knowingly)? Isn't the motivation behind gaining more knowledge always being for it to aid something else? Maybe to add to some other knowledge. For instance, I was only spurred on to actually reading more about the Roman Empire because I was reading about Revelation and the different views thereof; I got curious. History, to me, is already very fascinating and it really does, in my opinion, contribute to the understanding of many different subjects and cultures.

What other reasons would one have for learning something? I suppose just to know about it so you can actually keep up to pace in a conversation, and actually converse in a knowledgeable way; to look smart. Maybe to gain political prestige. Piety. Is it ever really personal though? Knowledge can cause you to change your personal life, but isn't the point of that to change your public life too? To change how people look at you? So many things are relational. Hm.

I'm not saying that it's a bad thing to learn new things. No, I love learning new things. It's not bad to be smart or to understand things when you're a politic (ha). It's weird that philosophers just think about stuff. Like, who really needs to think about all of this? It doesn't really matter. Just accept what it is, don't analyse it, right? Right. Not that I'm really a philosopher or anything. It's just interesting. People who just think. Ha, nevermind....taaangent.

What was I saying...

...ok. I guess I'm trying to take this into different views. I wonder how different the view of learning things is between christian and secular beliefs.

There is very real point of gaining knowledge of the Bible. This is, of course, from a Christian point of view. There are many reasons for a Christian, striving to live a life worthy of the calling of belonging to Christ Jesus, to spend as much time learning the Bible as they can. It's God's Word. It's a way He speaks to us. And as Christians, we're called to go out and tell other's the good news of the saving power of Jesus Christ our Lord. So this is the motive of wanting to know God more so we can be more like Him. But then, also by knowing His word, we can more effectively be used by him to preach it to others. Not that everyone is called to be a "preacher", and those who teach are definitely held even more accountable to how they understand/present the Bible. (James 3:1)

So then, if someone has no motive for doing something other than their own personal achievements in life, then what is it for? It seems like it can only be what people think of you. I guess maybe you could say to make the world a better place, to help you with your job so you can do it better. Yes yes. I guess that's my point though.

No one just learns something.

Except in my case when I took that mycology class. That was just pointless.

haha.

I'm outta time to waste.

-becca