Nobody needs two first names.

It amazes me how fascinated I am by other people's lives.

I spent half an hour tonight, like I do every Monday night at ten, getting wrapped up in the lives of a group of friends that live in LA. Or more specifically, The Hills. I found myself empathizing with a boy that Audrina broke up with, feeling irritation toward Spencer for how he treated Stephanie's new boyfriend, and making predictions about Lauren and Brody's relationship. I engaged in a debate about Lo Bosworth's positive and negative qualities like I knew her personally. I gasped out loud (twice) when I saw the teasers for next week's episode- and I was not alone in doing so. What makes their lives so interesting that I will spend half an hour of mine just observing? I don't know, but what I do know is that Audrina needs to get her stuff together.

I mean, really. Justin Bobby? Bad choice.

educated voting. ha.

This clip is from the Howard Stern show on October 1st. 

I mean, really? How sad is this? It's funny until you realize that these people are picking the next leader of the Free World. 

not pretty.

Let's talk about this.

OU's campus is beautiful.

The pond over by Walter? Not pretty. It's dirty.

Someone fix it, please.

girls just wanna have fun

...and also avoid the Freshman 15, myth or not.

As a college girl, I'm somewhat concerned about my physical activity. Not because I'm obsessed with my appearance, but because I want to be healthy and exercise is beneficial. Nelson Grab n Go is not helpful to my aspirations to remain healthy; nor is my class schedule that sometimes prevents me from going to Ping and getting in a real workout. Luckily, Seventeen is looking out for me and other girls like me and the weekly newsletter included a link to some videos that show simple, quick exercises that I can do in my dorm room if I don't have time to run all the way over to the rec center. 

Thanks Seventeen. 

i am Yours

I told you in my last post that I was feeling the need to write. This was the product of that necessity. This is what I have to write about.

Here's what I'm learning. I'm excited about it. I want to share it with you. 

I am not my own. I do not belong to any other person. I am not of this world. I belong to the Lord. It is for freedom that Christ has set me free. That includes freedom from myself and who I used to be and who I am. I am no longer a slave to what I once was.

I've been hearing a song around our dorm room a lot lately called Who Am I by Casting Crowns. Listen to the words. Who am I? I am Yours. I have nothing to fear, not from the world, not from myself, because I am Yours. By myself, I'm nothing. I've done nothing to earn anything, but it was given to me. Purely through the love God has for me, I've been given an identity as a follower of Christ. I have the opportunity to serve the living God, the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, who was and is and is to come. I'm not bound to the frustration or entitlement or jealousy or bitterness or lack of trust or anything else that comes with being of this world. I belong to something greater, and I'm so freaking excited about that.

I've had to learn this before. I'll probably have to learn it again. But no matter what I go through or what lessons I have to learn, I am still the Lord's. Nothing can change that because nothing can separate me from the love of God. Ps check out Romans 8. I have nothing to fear. "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'" - Jeremiah 29:11. Why would I fear anything? I am loved deeply and powerfully by the Creator of the universe. And that is what I will find my identity in.

the urge to herbal

This morning, I felt something that I hadn't felt in a while.

Not the urge to Herbal...I felt the need to write. 

I needed to get my feelings out on paper, if for no other reason than to make sense of what I was thinking. I needed to translate my ideas into concrete phrases. For the past several weeks, everything I've written has been forced - writing for the sake of getting something done, not writing for the sake of writing. I missed the urge to grab a pen and a notebook or the scramble to get to my MacBook before I lost the words turning around in my head. 

I've realized that I need to write about things I care about - politics do not inspire me; anything I write in that area ends up sounding stiff and uncomfortable because it doesn't resonate anywhere inside me. Maybe it's naive to expect to feel something every time I write. I guess that's the optimist in me. So my next project is finding out what I enjoy talking about, what passions I have, what I can cover and retain my integrity as a writer. Any suggestions?

irony

So I've spent the last several weeks complaining about the people standing on corners all over campus, pestering me about registering to vote in Athens. I've purposely crossed the street to avoid these awkward exchanges. I thought that the representatives coming into my classes were wasting my time, because I registered in Athens my first day here and anyway, I registered in my hometown months ago.

Here's the problem: I tried to look up my name on the Secretary of State's website in the voter database, and I don't think my registration went through either place. 

Ahhhhhh.