Yeah, yeah, I know… “Don’t you guys have homework?”

Begin Thanksgiving Break

3:58, in the Honors room, currently waiting to be picked up. Graeme said it; today was the best day-before-Thanksgiving ever =) I’ve spent a lot of time with people today… Gloria was here for three and a half hours to keep me company… I just spent 45 minutes talking to Jackson… Hung out with Graeme for a little over two hours… And I saw Alyssa and Alex for the first time this term. WOOHOOO time to go!!!! ST. LOUIS HERE WE COME!

I’m one of the crazy ones.

Yeah, only crazy students would decide to take a baking class on a Saturday. Hahahaha. Seriously, 95% of the people I’ve seen here today are in Culinary uniform. Well, well, I should get going. How nostalgic can you get?? I heard that have yourself a merry little Christmas song thingy driving here, and who was singing? Kenny Loggins. *smacks forhead in despair* Oh, and the culinary dude at the computer three seats down was whistling Heartbreak Warfare. Nice. Well, applee piesies, here I come!!! (Mind you, that’s pronounced ap-LEE py-SEES, ok?)

End Fall Break

Tuesday, November 17th, first day of the second term.

Fall break was super! and actually felt like it started on Sunday night for me, rather than Monday night.

Sunday… November 8th. Wilmington!!! Snapped a string in the middle of Hosanna… during the buildup before the bridge. I felt it give, but I had my eyes closed, and I thought maybe I’d just hit it at such an angle that made it uncoil. It wasn’t until after worship, I was trying to re-tune it, and it took me a few minutes to spot where it had snapped that made it impossible to salvage. Great. I finally take the time to buy picks just so that my finger doesn’t bleed when I play like that… and then my string snaps. Haha, that can’t be happening every month!!! but those strings were nearly two years old, so I suppose it’s about time.

I’m loving the XD choir. Halfway through practice, I found myself staring at the books stacked on the keyboard. It took a few seconds before I realized they were the same books we used at OLS. Nostalgia hit. I really really miss the OLS Youth Choir… Ann Marie and John and Casey and Kelly and Lizzy and Domenica… I’m happy to say I’m still in touch with John and his mom. Well, when that hit me, I started looking around and noticing things… appreciating things… the choir loft… being that close to the ceiling… the lights hanging before us and the stained glass behind… Flashbacks of good times. Not the sort of flashbacks that have you wishing to have those times back… just a wish that you could bring the two experiences together. Appreciating the beauty of the present through the perspective given by the past. Nice. Comfortable. =) And then I just love the XD in general.

Which brings us to some reflections that took place over the course of the week, prompted by talks with Mom and shaped by normal events. I realized that if I didn’t have the XD, I’d probably be with the YFC. The difference is that XD is a two-way street where YFC has ceased to be — thus it comes first — but what I’m getting at is that I know that I need to be serving. Mom and Dad let me know that they’re proud of how I’ve been managing my time and keeping up with my homework [now that I actually have outside-of-school homework and set-in-stone deadlines]. I think one of the biggest things that’s hit me since I started college is the fact that no matter how busy I am with school, I need time with my family and to serve. Thus, I will continue to manage my schedule such that I have adequate time for all three.

Monday! no Math class, no English class, just Excel, and I got out of that 40 minutes early. Spent my hours ‘n hours of free time hanging out in the Honors room. LOL our first-term group really took over that place… what with drawing pumpkins and anarchy symbols all over the place. Hahahahaha.

I had lunch at Kenwood mall. Bumped into Shan’tel at Macy’s –  found out she works there — and shopped around with Martha for a few hours. Never ever went into Forever XXI before shopping with Martha. Oh, no, wait… I did go in with Annie… but I didn’t pay any attention to anything. LOL, I think I’ve found a new favorite store at Kenwood. OH MY GOSH I realized Kenwood does not have a bookstore. Isn’t that terrible?! Geeze.

Tuesday, we were out all day, running errands and then FPU.

Wednesday, home all day.

Thursday, Paco and I went to the Holy Spirit Center for Fr. Euteneuer’s talk, Evening with an Exorcist. I recorded the whole hour and a half of it. Got to say hi to Tito Madz and Tita Odette… Martin… Patrick and his mom… Linda… (still haven’t met her husband =)… spotted Jacob and Ben and Michael and Chas… Tito Gil sat with us. Couldn’t possibly sum up that talk. Heh, Tito Noel suggested I share key points with the YFC. I said Paco better do it, because if it was left up to me, they’d listen to the whole recording.

Friday… I feel as if I’m missing something about Friday.

Because SATURDAY we got up bright and early… Pics at Spring Grove!!! I think we went somewhere before that, but anyway… I dragged them to Spring Grove Cemetery, we took pics for half an hour, and then had to leave ’cause the Nadermans were coming over for lunch. Ang ganda ng panahon! Blue skies and no coats needed. We got to catch up with the Nadermans over lunch… talked about Italy, etc. Oh, good times. And then we napped… and then we headed to Tito Leo’s for the PACQUIAO / Cotto match. THAT was super. It was even better than the de la Hoya fight, seriously. Well, I take that back. It was a near-perfect day. The one thing that would’ve made it absolutely perfect would have been some piano playing. The fight itself was better, but I missed the company of last year’s… it was just really weird, seeing Gabe’s family and Matt’s family and Paolo’s family without either Gabe or Matt or Paolo. OH but Kuya Gabe did skype with us!!!!! during the match, so he got to watch, and I hear Matt was watching it with friends, but Paolo missed it altogether.

Sunday was the GA, not much to say about that…

Monday was errand day, as usual.

And now we come to the first day of school =) Today. It was awesome being back… first stop was Bakery Hill, where I was joined by Graeme and Navid. Math came next. Afterwards, was heading out and Karen stopped me on the steps… As we came down, we found Lori and Jeff. Hugs all around! =( I miss them already. They freaked me out ’cause they had prep sheets due today, and I apparently don’t have prep sheets due Thursday, so… so confused, haha. Headed to the music store… spent a full fifteen mintues deliberating over whether or not to get pink OR blue OR red strings. *sigh* Decided against it, but the dude man there gave me a great idea for my future 12-string; he said get a six-pack and mix ‘em. That thought makes me hyper =) Stopped by Panera for about an hour for the internet… haha. Yeah, for the internet, ’cause I brought food. I did buy a drink, though. Had lunch at SHS with Mariel and Stevie and Suzie. Back to school, Central Parkway was full!!! had to park in Ludlow for the first time. Ehh, I prefer Central Parkway. Straight to the Honors room, hung out with Kenya and Navid. They closed the Writing Center at 2, but they didn’t kick us out. Navid and Kenya left, but I stayed and slept till 3:30… and then went to find the St. Ursula Academic Team. I actually got to the room before Kim did… Sat in for the competition, and then hung out with Kim while she was waiting to be picked up. Went to the cafeteria to look for people and saw Joe getting up to leave… *hug*… and then sat down with Karen. Martha and Fran were a few tables down, I ended up moving because I was talking more to Martha than to Karen. Met Robert who was waiting for his little sister, and Graeme was walking by so I made him sit with us. Martha left to babysit kids… and then somehow, Fran and Robert and Graeme and I ended up talking about fat cats… Graeme and I had our laptops out, and we were checking the Disneyfication threads… and then he ended up googling fat cats and photoshopping them. Oh geeze. Had to show him this one –

Which then inspired Graeme to google captioned cats. We found this adorable white kitten with its ears flattened and looking over the back of a couch or something… caption was, “the voices are telling me to kill you.” Hilarious. OH! Graeme was watching Bambi Meets Godzilla over and over again. And then he showed me something about Elmo blowing up… you know those Elmos that do the Hokey-Pokey? Someone blew Elmo’s head off, BUT IT STILL DANCED AND SANG. Eventually, Fran and Robert left, and Graeme and I headed up to our Disneyfication class… The minute we walked in, Drew said to someone (which turned out to be Stephanie), “There she is! See? Never misses a class.” I’m gonna loooooove love love loveeeee Disneyfication. It’s… Julia, Karen, Drew, me, Graeme, Anthony, John, Stephanie, Scott, and Mike. Wow, we ladies are majorly outnumbered… oh that’s just intimidating considering the final project. *Argh.*

AND OF COURSE all this week, Nino’s been attempting to walk. Oh yes, he took three steps last night before falling down… got some on tape!!!

Well, there we go. End Fall Break.

Late Fall, here we come…

Fall Break Shuffle =)

Opening credits: Can’t Finish What You Started ~ MCS
*shudder* for the opening??
Waking up: What A Fool Believes ~ Doobie Brothers
I don’t like the direction this is taking…
How I’m feeling today: Restored ~ Jeremy Camp
rather.
First day of school: It’s You ~ Ryan Cabrera
eee…
The weekend: Alejate ~ Josh Groban
ouch.
Will I get far in life: Strawberry Swing ~ Coldplay
but aren’t I the damsel in distress? lol
Will I get married: We’ll Never Know ~ Lifehouse
nice =)
Will I have a happy life: Even When ~ Jeremy Camp
How does the world see me: Listen to Your Heart ~ DHT
How do my friends see me: Paradise ~ Vanessa Carlton
Falling in love: Carnival / Flux This / Viva la Vida ~ AdVP
that’s too close for comfort
Fight song: Stolen ~ Dashboard Confessional
but that sounds ridiculously helpless!!
Breaking up: Solitude ~ Evanescence
wow.
The best thing about my friends: Breathless ~ Kenny G
Best friend’s theme song: Viva la Vida ~ AdVP
kg
High school overview: I Will Follow You Into the Dark ~ Death Cab for Cutie
hum.
Life: Give It All Away ~ Aaron Shust
oh good for me
Mental breakdown: The Unwanted Things ~ Ted Leo & the Pharmacists
How can I make myself happy: Build Me Up Buttercup ~ The Foundations
ahahahaha!!
Driving: State of Grace ~ Billy Joel
Flashback: Average Girl ~ Barlow Girl
How is my life going: Papa Can You Hear Me ~ Charlotte Church
What I should do with my life: I Can’t Make You Love Me ~ Bonnie Tyler
yeek!!!
How can I get ahead in life: Wind Beneath My Wings ~ Bette Midler
Getting back together: This Is The Time ~ Billy Joel
that sounds nice
Wedding: My Heart Will Go On ~ Celine Dion
…
Will I ever have children: She’s Out Of My Life ~ Josh Groban
that is completely irrelevant!!??
Birth of child: All Day ~ Hillsong United
Final battle: I’ll Never Get Over You Getting Over Me ~ Expose
still this one?
Death scene: Your Grace Is Enough ~ Matt Maher
even better than the last one.
Funeral song: Here We Go ~ ‘N Sync
ahahahahahaha! what?!
Life overview: Can You Feel The Love Tonight ~ Elton John
End credits: It’s The Heart That Matters Most ~ Charlotte Church

Assignment: End Times, Track <– Back, Coming Full Circle, and Beginning Again

• My previous success as a student has been due to my passion for a subject. If, however, the passion isn’t there, I’ve resorted to [private, mental, unspoken] competition. I have Gabe and Paolo to thank for my determination to graduate a year early.
• In the past, I have learned best when the material was presented in a variety of ways, when the class was small, and when the teacher was available to work in a one-on-one setting. Uhm… this question does not work for me because my material was anything and everything besides textbooks, like shopping in Italy and attempting to mentally convert USD to Euro, I was the only one in my class all the time anyway, and I’m in the habit of going to Mum’s room to talk all the time to the point where she has to remind me that she has to pay attention to the younger kids =)
• That approach seems to not work  now at my college classes because it’s not homeschool. I’m not used to having so many textbooks at one time, I’m obviously not the only person in my class, and my teacher is no longer my mom. But I think I’ve been well prepared by my general moving around, my Youth Group and homeschooling group, karate, online classes…
• When the class isn’t “my style,” I can try to zoom out and see the big picture, focus on how the class helps me as a person and try to use that as motivation to give my all despite.
• The most relevant aspect of Metacognition was… I honestly don’t know how to answer this question. Relevant how…?
• At this time, one impediment/roadblock [noise] to my success as a student/learner was the past.
• I can overcome or deal with the “noise” that complicates my academic success by simply focusing on the present, allowing myself to enjoy everything thrown at me in my odd way. I daresay I have been fairly successful.
• If the theory of Multiple Intelligences is valid, then my areas of strength are… I believe body and visual. This is helpful / not helpful to my academic success because… helpful in that I’ve never made flashcards for myself and I found that they helped me a lot in Sanitation class, but also not helpful in that I cannot apply all my classes as physically as I do karate.
• My Locus of Control is internal and that impacts my learning in that I forget to ease up on myself sometimes.
• From all the Learning and memory quizzes, I have concluded that my mind can be trained… and it helps to talk out loud to get my mind to do what I want it to do.
• The ideas from the Books / Brain discussion that I thought was the most important was that happiness is a choice. It is something I am sure I already knew, but I like it and am not at all bored when completely new and different discussions take place that only serve to strengthen my conviction. I plan to continue to welcome impromptu discussions with my classmates anytime the opportunity presents itself.
• The classroom activity that I benefited most from was the open discussions because I learned how quickly the opposition comes, how quickly I am provoked, how quickly I want to raise my voice. All these things, I knew already but on a much lower level. I only had to deal with Eric and Nate one at a time, and my debates with my YFC siblings were different in that they were half opposing and half on my side already. It’s a whole new experience to feel that the opposition is coming from all sides at once, and I don’t have the luxury of time to calm myself down or think things out more thoroughly before writing that email or that blog post, or even just weighing my words before typing up the next line in a chat.
• My current level of stress number is 597 and I plan to handle this by taking each day one at a time, not allowing college to cause me to shut out those closest to me, staying as active as possible with the XD, continuing to go to Mass etc. regularly, enjoying myself thoroughly.
• The Leonardo principle that I excel at is Sfumato because the center of my life is a paradox.
• The Leonardo principle that I need to develop is Sensazione because I am far too good at tuning out things, to the point where I don’t know how to be as aware as I want to be when I don’t want to be tuning things out.

1. What have you learned about college and yourself as a college student? Well, I’ve learned that I’m not having the typical problems of a homeschooler based on what I heard at the Dayton panel. I’m not at all having problems with waking up early, time management, or test-taking. And college is a lot more fun than I expected it to be… no, not because I expected it to be boring or anything; not that at all. Once I got back from Italy, started the application process, and got accepted, I couldn’t wait to start. I was ready for a whole new scene. But yes, I wasn’t expecting it to be nearly as much fun as it turned out to be =)
2. What role, if any, did the following things assist you in this “learning?”

• Discussion boards –> Definitely helped me to be more comfortable with my classmates, which then made it easier to spew stuff without being guarded and helped me to let loose and focus.
• Classroom games –> Also helped me be more comfortable with everyone. I think that — being comfortable with classmates — is a big thing for me. When I’m comfortable with people, it makes the class that much easier and interesting.
• Field trip –> Helped me connect the classroom to the outside world. In more than one sense.
• Wiki –> Not much, honestly…
• Blog –> Heh, this one’s old news to me.
• Catalog hunt –> I think this actually made me more comfortable just walking around the school in general.
• Fellow students –> Oh they make all the difference in the world =)
• Leonardo checklists –> Very, very interesting. Made me consider things I hadn’t really bothered spending much time thinking about before.
• Anything else? –> It always helps to have teachers that seem to enjoy what they’re talking about.

3. How is what you learned so far in college related to what you expected to learn? I did not come to college expecting to learn anything in any particular subject, so much as expecting to be prepared for the world, as someone intending to live in the world but not of it. While college has been a whole new experience, it’s been strangely familiar at the same time. I feel like I’ve been through this before, many times, with moving, joining and leaving different circles, etc. I guess that’s why I haven’t had a very hard time adjusting at all. I find that I’m simply continuing to be prepared in ways that I’ve already begun to be prepared in past… if that makes any sense.
4. How will you use what you have learned? Oh, I’m driving my family nuts with everything I’ve learned in Sanitation. I’ll toss out random practices and rules and regulations and facts all over the place.
5. As you read over your blog entries, what evidence is there of your growth as a learner? I’ve certainly grown in self-knowledge. And I’m not disappointed; I think that’s the best kind of knowledge, because in knowing my own strengths and weaknesses, I know where I need to improve.
6. What is an example of your “best work” in the class? Why is it so? That’s a really hard one! I honestly don’t know. I want to answer, but it’s not… absolute truths… like math… or grammatical issues like english… Honors class is so very subjective =) It’s great. Uhm… I’ll run with… something that wasn’t really an assignment. I think my best work were the pictures I took at Spring Grove. We got out first digital camera four years ago and I’ve been trying ever since to take pictures that I could be proud of. I’ve never taken so many that I’ve been proud of at one time before.
7. What did you do in your other classes that represent your best work / you are proudest of? I’m proud of everything math… proudest of my final production in Excel… both my essays in english… definitely proud of passing the Sanitation exam, that was the only grade we got in that course… and my club sandwich in cooking!!!! Fo sho =)
8. What else do you need to learn about yourself as a student / learner. How will you go about learning it? I just need to keep spotting the room for improvement. Who knows how? opportunities every day.

Post-goodbyes [Non-zombie version] a music vid of EF, by me =)

On Early Marriage

Yes, Mr. Bob approved my thesis. LOL, yesterday we had to write them up on the board again, and he tackled mine first.

Mr. Bob: So… where is this one going?
me: … You’re asking me what I mean to cover?
Mr. Bob: Yes.
me: Ah. Well… I was going to cover.. the science and stats behind guy and girl wiring, the dangers of premature heart-giving and the resulting emotional divorce, ask why would you go shopping for what you can’t buy, and even worse, why go shopping for what you don’t intend to buy in the first place, explore the question, “Do you love me because you need me or do you need me because you love me?” and –
Mr. Bob: Ok. Ok, that’s plenty. You’re good to go. *pause* I thought you were going to talk about Facebook or something…

What???? What does Facebook have to do with the dating game as the average American teen knows it to today only being a training ground for divorce??? I am not that shallow. Doesn’t he know that from my bashing The Pursuit of Happiness’ “I’m An Adult Now?”

Lol. Jk. Gotta love Mr. Bob.

Anyway. Mother sent me some related links and a thread. Wanted to share share =)

A Case for Earlier Marriage

While many sit wringing their hands over the seeming demise of marriage as an institution and the concomitant breakdown in sexual ethics, none are willing to state the most obvious reason — it is being delayed too long. [...]

[...] studies fail to reflect the reality that pre-marital sex, pre-marital pregnancy and cohabitation are not decreasing as the age of the unmarried increases. [...] Studies also cannot take into account physical, psychological, social and spiritual risks to persons during this extended non-marital period.

Against Eternal Youth

[...] well-meaning parents of the 1950’s confused vulnerability with moral innocence. They failed to recognize that children encouraged to be childish would jump at the chance, and turn childishness into a lifelong project. They were unprepared to respond when those children acquired the bodies of young adults and behaved with selfishness, defiance, and hedonism. [...]

Fifty years ago, when the average bride was 20, the divorce rate was half what it is now, because the culture encouraged and sustained those marriages. But if we communicate to young people that we think they’re inherently incapable of making a marriage work, they will surely meet that expectation. [...]

During those lingering years of unmarried adulthood, young people may not be getting married, but they’re still falling in love. They fall in love, and break up, and undergo terrible pain, but find that with time they get over it. This is true even if they remain chaste. By the time these young people marry they may have had many opportunities to learn how to walk away from a promise. They’ve been training for divorce. [...]

It’s not youth that passed us by, but adulthood.

The Cost of Delaying Marriage

[...] My late mother-in-law, who married at 20, told me that in her college circles in the mid-1950s, a man who took a woman out for more than three dates without intending marriage was considered a cad. Today, the man who considered marriage so rashly would be thought a fool. Likewise, a woman. [...]

A 20-year-old bride is considered as pitiable as a 30-year-old spinster used to be.

And the thread which I’ve been watching — and have been very amused =) I love the 4real moms.

How old were you when you got married?

Sunrise…

Wow. It’s 8:28 AM… I finished my Cooking 1 homework a little before 8, came up here to the open comp labs and found ONE empty computer… and I’ve spent the last half hour watching the sunrise from here. And now it’s blinding me. It’s a beautiful day. No, that’s an understatement. It is a GORGEOUS day. AND we’re making club sandwiches and subs and grilled ham & swiss sandwiches later, so I didn’t have to baon. AND Adam is confident he passed and Mary and I don’t get stuck with Aaron. AND I found online courses scheduled for the Winter term so that I can still get some textbook stuff in while co-oping. AND both Nino and Mommy were awake to see me and Dad off this morning.

There’s at least a dozen more ANDs off the top of my head, but I gotta get to class… Oh, yeah. That, too. I’m running a 4.1 in Math and 4.0’s in English and Honors Orientation.

Praise God =)

Assignment: Brain Games

I’M ADDICTED TO THE COLOR GAME THINGY. And I got 100% the first time It’s easier when I talk out loud, so I challenge myself to do it silently. Really hard! I’m used to talking to myself when I’m working out a problem.

http://www.fireworkspop.com/colortest.htm