Human rights....HUMAN!!!

I've been thinking about religion a lot lately.

I've been getting a bit more active with it, not just because it makes Gordon happy, but because it makes us stronger, and it makes me feel good. Yes, I believe in God.

I have also been thinking about what religion, or Christianity for that fact, really is and means; what I agree with, what I don't. For instance, I agree that everyone is loved by God and I disagree that this excludes homosexuals. Why are they not part of "everyone"? They're people, humans, living breathing beings. I just watched a movie on Youtube called "The Bible Told Me So". It's about people's concept of Homosexuality being a sin. I was already all for gay rights, but this cleared everything up about what the bible says, and the common misconceptions that conservative religious people have about it. Here's a link if anyone cares to watch it. It's got 9 parts and a finale:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04AVRslVRbY&playnext_from=TL&videos=H70ut4LUROU

That movie almost made me cry. Gay rights is something that I feel strongly about. I'm not an all out activist, but if I need to speak out, or do something, I will.



So, this is what I'm leading into. I always thought to be a Christian, you had to believe in God and Jesus, and just be a good, accepting, and loving person. That is my definition. I don't feel that as a Christian, you should take the bible literally for what it says. It needs to be interpreted and looked at for it's deeper meaning and taken into consideration the time period in which it was written. I mean, a couple stanzas away from the "no man shall lay with another" one, it states that every time a woman menstruates, she has to sacrifice two turtle doves. I mean, really? I'm sorry, but I just can't do that.

Another thing that bothers me is that many Christians believe that their beliefs are the only way. I went to a large group meeting a few weeks ago, and the speaker said that she prayed for her friend who was Muslim, that she would find Jesus. I shook my head when she said that. I don't think it is our right or responsibility to change someone's beliefs. If they are happy with where they are, leave them alone. No one really knows what is right. Missions are okay...if the people you are going to work with don't already have beliefs!

I really liked the pastor who came to my first large group meeting. He said he was leaving his church because the people there didn't really care about doing God's work and what not. They just went to church because it was the social norm. I agreed with everything he said. It's not about judging people, it's about being a good person and doing the right thing, while keeping God's work in mind.

I feel like I have more to say, but I think it's all written out for now. As I said before, I believe in God and in Jesus, and I consider myself a Christian. I just have my own definition and beliefs when it comes to "Christianity" as a whole. I'm going to keep exploring and working at this, and hopefully find exactly what I want to.

On a different note, Gordon is in a mini play. It's the Buffy musical, and he has to kiss another girl. That girl being Bron. I was initially not very excited since they almost had a thing way way back, but I've realized that Bron is one of my best friends and I'm dumb to even get uncomfortable about it. It's theater for God's sake. But it's normal to feel uncomfortable. I hope I get over it, I really want to go see it so I can support them.

I'm really excited for the house next year. It's going to be so cool.

I register next week for classes.

Gordon's sister Lauren got me a bracelet from Mexico. I feel loved :)

Spanish prueba to study for!

SPEEEEEED!!!

I'VE BEEN SO HYPER FOR THE PAST TWO DAAAAAAYS!!!!!!
I'VE BEEN SO HYPER FOR THE PAST TWO DAAAAAAYS!!!!!!
I'VE BEEN SO HYPER FOR THE PAST TWO DAAAAAAYS!!!!!!
I'VE BEEN SO HYPER FOR THE PAST TWO DAAAAAAYS!!!!!!
I'VE BEEN SO HYPER FOR THE PAST TWO DAAAAAAYS!!!!!!

*This is me the past two days*

...so I've been listening to N*Sync and other things that make me hyper and nostalgic. I've serenaded Gordon "This I promise you" and he just made faces and laughed....

I really need to work on re-writing my survey for Quant since it's not really good for getting information. I think these fonts keep changing sizes.....

I don't think I really have anything to talk about. Oh, we got the house! It's going to be Gordon, me, Katie, Joe, Mallory, Eowyn, Austin, and Jake. It's going to be completely awesome. I'm so excited. I can't wait till we find out which house we're living in.

I got an iHome alarm clock! I love it!!!

I like watching funny youtube videos about kitties!!!

I am just too hyper. I'll never get this survey done.

I think I'm going to see "Hot Tub Time Machine" (that's a mouth full) with John and Joe on Friday. Should be funny.

Bohemian on Saturday. Yay!

I might update later. Probably not.

Start spreadin' the news...

Wow, it's been almost a month since my last post! I need to update more often. I guess my life has just been hella boring.

This week, the Scot Symphonic Band traveled on band tour to New England, with a final stop in New York City! This was my first band tour, and it was actually pretty awesome. We stayed in home stays except for one night in a hotel, and we traveled to New York, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and New Jersey with six concerts in all. Katie and I were roommates the entire time, added on to a few other people at some stays. All of my host families were great. I don't really feel like explaining them all since I'm exhausted from being in NYC, but they were all really great.

Riding the bus was pretty good. I slept a lot, pretty much everyone did. They were short trips. Gordon and I picked up some PDA reputations on our trips to the churches...oops. It was a really fun time :) I also learned about a spot in which I am ticklish...let me just say, it was interesting to discover...

New York City was great. The weather for during the week was beautiful, including 8-ish hours altogether in Boston (beautiful city!) Go figure that the minute we pull into NYC on Friday, it rains, and doesn't stop until Sunday. The rain was pretty horrible, and made NYC a bit harder to take, but overall it was an exciting and nice experience. Overwhelming...but nice.

I did all kinds of stereotypical New York things, like took the subway and a taxi. I also ate a hot dog from a street vendor, and bought a scarf for $5 in Chinatown. I went to the Natural History Museum, as well as the Metropolitan Art Museum. We went shopping, and I hit up the American Eagle in Times Square! Katie and I stayed with her cousin Jill in Brooklyn for the weekend. We went swing dancing and it was awesome. Gordon stayed with Jake on Roosevelt Island, which was a pretty cool place.

For the rest of this week we're staying with Bron in Connecticut. This should be a fun week.

I could probably write a whole bunch more, but I am way too tired. I'll try to again another day. Oh, and I bought a fiction book in Spanish! Hopefully I'll be able to get it read!

Let's Dance! triumphs over all!

I'm at work,and I don't feel like eating my greasy food right now, so I felt like writing.

Many things have been a'changin' these past couple of days. I've been up and down and up and down with my mood, and it's really quite annoying. Valentine's Day was this weekend. Gordon got me beautiful roses, and took me out to the Old Jaol because he's so sweet. It was really yummy, and he drove Tommy! Haha. We watched Toy Story on Sunday too, which was awesome. Mardi Gras is today, and there's a dinner/dance in Kitt, which should be pretty good. I really feel like dancing.

Speaking of dancing, the Showcase has now been turned into a swing ball with several performances in the middle of it. Aaron had dropped out of the showcase, he had taken on too much for him to handle, a lot of which being showcase pieces, and there just wasn't enough time to put it all together or work it out correctly. This will be much better, and much less stressful for everyone. I'm very optimistic about it. I did have a hit to my confidence a couple times in the past couple of weeks. I won't mention names, but we were talking about Gordon needing to dance with other people, which I completely agree with, and then I was told that they know that I "get insecure when he dances with someone better than me", which is no longer the case. But the fact that they said "someone better than you (me)" really got me. When you want to be good at something, you want to hear that you're improving, you want to hear that you're doing well. Right now, I really admire Carrie's dancing. I find myself saying sometimes "I want to be able to dance like Carrie". I kind of hope to one day be that person, "I want to be able to dance like Katie", even though it's not a competition and everyone dances their own way. I'm pretty secure with myself though.

The second thing was that someone was helping Katie and Rita choreograph their dance. This person wanted it to be a blues song, which Gordon and my song is blues, and they said "I want it to be better than Katie and Gordon's" which is the second thing that got me down. Why does it have to be a competition? Do you think we're that bad of choreographers, or dancers for that matter that we can't put together an awesome dance? It just made me really distraught, because someone who is supposed to be your friend and support you is saying this. I don't want to be bitching about it, but I just had to put it down in words.

All together, I'm going to work really hard, and start being more outgoing with my dancing and I'm going to kick ass. Nick came from BW and taught us the shim sham. I need to practice it so I don't forget it! We start Tango on Wednesday, I'll probably just do it since I need to collect the money anyway.

There's a swing dance at Southpark Mall this Sunday. I'm sooooooooo excited! I'm going to go shopping for a little bit too.

Katie is having problems with James again. She knows my opinion, and I don't know how to help her anymore. I just hope that it all turns out well for her. We're having BFF day soon, or need to at least.

I got an 80 on my Spanish test, which means I'm out of my streak of C's! Hooray! Maybe I'm finally getting it. IPA also came in handy when we were arguing about how to pronounce "Carnegie". Let's just say, everyone pronounces it differently, but I say it right ;) hehe.

Alyse, Kell, and Carrie are coming to visit this weekend. Yay!

I think that's all for now, I'm going to research swing alliances in Cleveland. I'm really psyched for Let's Dance! Like really psyched......bye!

The most hectic two weeks of my life!

These past two weeks have been so incredibly hectic...if you couldn't tell from the title of this post...Well, the showcase was a huge part of the stress. Planning it, casting it, scheduling it. I'm so glad that part is all over. Now all that we have are practices. I'm in 3 dances. Hopefully I'll be good at picking up choreography, and at balancing my time (I'm usually good with that second part). Gordon and I need to finish up our choreography. It's almost done. We're working on it tonight. We scheduled the tango lessons (finally), after waving money in the teachers face. I'm not too interested in tango, but I'm going to do it anyway. I also designed t-shirts for the Let's Dance Society. I'm excited for them!

So, we were planning on living in a house (Gordon's socialist house to be exact), next year, and it all seemed like it would work, in my mind at least, but then a few of the current residents seemed turned off to the idea. So, I talked to Katie and we decided that it would be best for everyone if we didn't live there. Then Jake talked me back into it. So hopefully, next year Katie, Joe, John, and I will be joining the socialist house :) It will be quite an adventure.

We went to the Bohemian last Saturday and it was AMAZING. I wore my new dance shoes and they couldn't have been better. I'm completely in love with them, and I only got one blister! Nick Pankuch was there which was awesome because we haven't seen him in forever. He's coming to Wooster supposedly next Friday to teach us the Shim Sham! Yay :)

Hm, what else. Gordon and I have been doing more couply things to get a stronger relationship methinks. I dont' remember if I talked about it, but a few weeks ago we hit a rough spot with his emotional openness. But we worked that out, we went on a dinner date Tuesday, and he finally learned some of the facts about my religion, Catholicism. We're going to have a Catholic party though, aka some of my friends who are Catholic, Gordon, and I will go to mass on Sunday, so he can see what we're all about. *sigh of relief*

There was a fierce creatures party at Aultz house last night. It was pretty cute lol. I was a kitty :) Bron and Paul came and we hung with them for a while. But yeah, nothing too exciting.

I've been doing okay in my classes. We'll see how my test turns out for Quant on Tuesday, as well as my Spanish prueba. I've also been looking into the deaths of young people around me that I kind of knew, like Dan Schnoor and Darren Perez. They were so young when they died, and I just became curious about them again. I don't know why. Reading all of the news things about them just makes me sad, it's the sadness I didn't really feel when they actually died...and I'm just feeling it now.

I can't really think of much more to write about. I keep thinking about shoes that I want to buy. It's just one pair of cowboy-ish boots. I'm really considering them.

Valentine's day is coming up! Hopefully it's awesome, but not over the top haha.

I got "House and Philosophy" from the library, I love House :)


We need to watch a movie this weekend, like actually, AND the Superbowl.

That's all for now, per usual, I'll update if needbe.

Back, and it feels so good

I'm back at Woo!!! I'm really happy to be back, but the first couple of days were kind of awkward with Gordon. I'm not sure why, but we just kind of fell out of the relationship loop. Needless to say, we got right back into the flow. We went shopping at Southpark and Gordon bought a nice jacket, and an awesome flannel :) Then we went and saw Sherlock Holmes (I love Jude Law!), and exchanged Christmas presents finally! He got me a jasmine candle, House season 4 (love!), a really pretty watch, and surprised me and himself with a dainty little mother of pearl ring. I was contento <3

Classes have been going pretty well. I learned that my Spanish class is a writing intensive class, so that's three of those under my belt, but whatever. I like taking Spanish classes. I just hate group work! I never used to mind it, but it's just awkward and not really fun. Quant started off pretty well, hopefully I'll do well in the class because apparently it's not very easy. Geology of Natural Hazards has been going kind of slowly, but it should pick up. I start clinic with a client next week! Yay! G.K. are the initials. I'm going to go read the file today and see what I'm in for! Band is going okay. Some of the songs are pretty difficult for me. Maybe I should start practicing...

Let's Dance has been going slowly. Aaron gave Gordon a metaphorical stern kick to the shin last night. It was a telling to that was building up and needed to come out eventually. I mean, other people had been noticing exactly what Aaron had said, so I guess everyone was seeing it but me. I'm going to try to help Gordon as much as possible, but not to the point where he's "not doing anything". I'm going to maybe add "Let's Dance Secretary" onto my resume haha. I just want everything to work out for everybody. It's hard to lead a group with busy schedules. Tango lessons are hopefully going to be starting soon. I also need to hang up our swing lessons sign and maybe look for some new moves.

I've come down with some sort of cold. It needs to go away now.

We're going to see Bron in "Songs for a New World" this weekend. Me thinks it will be good :)

I'll add more later if need be. Off to do actual work.

Roses are red, Violets are blue, F*%k you, whore.

I am VERY VERY distraught. So distraught that I am legit on the verge of tears, and this isn't even my problem. Katie and James are going through this shit hole of a battle with each other. I don't even know what else to call it because thats all that it really is. I'm not going to explain the whole thing because that would take hours. All I have to say is that I gave my advice, and my opinion, and I just want Katie to be happy.

I am against the whole getting back with James, because last time she was eventually miserable. I know that they have an undying affection for each other, but if you're going to be miserable, why do it? I don't think it would be much different this time either. They both have the exact same personalities as they did before, and as an outside viewer, I don't think they mesh well, at all. She's too independent, he's too clingy. He demands what she can't always provide.

Don't get me wrong, they were happy together, but I also heard a lot of complaining, from both sides mind you. I think it's hard for a couple that was together for that long, and with feelings like that, to completely see the bad side of what was going on. We just watched "500 Days of Summer" and the main characters sister even said that when he's looking back at the memories, all he's seeing is the good, and he should look again because there are bad ones being overshadowed by the good, which is bound to happen in the human mind.

My advice from the break up was to cut off connections and not talk to each other for a few months. I think it lasted a few weeks, but it was never quite completely detatched. I think this is what hurt them the most. James moved on to another girl, but he never actually moved on. Same with Katie, minus moving on to another girl.

Now, I've been blamed for the break up, I've been blamed for this shit hole, and I can say I understand why it seems that way. When I see my best friend going through a problem, I'm going to find the easiest way out. The easiest way, both times, was to cut off James, be it break up with him, or not get back with him. It seemed logical. It may seem like I'm being selfish and making this my fight because he called me a bitch, but I'm putting Katie first in this, completely. I don't really hold grudges very long, and I let shit blow over. It's how I deal. Confrontation is not big for me. Apparently I'm going to have to put up with confrontation tomorrow though, as it seems James wants to talk, or Katie wants us to anyway.

I just hope he listens because I have a lot to say.

I wish I was better at expressing everything that I feel, in a creative, English major sort of way. I could go on about this for a while, but I'm just tired. Mentally, emotionally, physically. I'll probably write more once it's over with. I won't have closure until there is an ending, no matter which it is. I'll be happy either way.

In the end, the friend consensus on Katie's side= No Go (or so I hear)