Hi girls,
My last update was, um..., definitely too far back. I miss all of you, although I think I will get together with Desdemona and Lady Celia soon! Any way, the title of the post is very important, since forty days for life is starting soon. It just struck me how bad abortion is and how accepted it is in our society. No one thinks of it as extremely evil, so just like Screwtape (C.S. Lewis), abortion's greatest ally is unbelief in the evil that it is.
On a lighter and more worldy view, I am going to Edina High School's home coming football game. Our neighbor, who is in eighth grade and runs Cross Country with me, wanted to take Greg, thus I, being the "responsible adult" get to take them. The fact that I am an adult could be debatable.... I have to admit this may the first time I have ever planned on or actually sat through a football game, so it may be tedious, oops, I mean exciting, invigorating, entertaining....
And, since I have to tell you all the exciting details of life, here is a very fashionably modest clothing website I found:
http://www.christa-taylor.com/c/modest-skirts/
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Music to Sooth the Soul
"If music be the food of love, play on..."
~Count Orsino, William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night
A lovely aria from Handel's Rinoldo.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yPfrpWyCF8
Monday, September 21, 2009
Quotebook Time!
Your Weekly Quotes!!
~The Old Favorites Edition~
Classic quotes that warm the heart and tickle the funnybone.
"Why would you want to go to Canada? It's like Minnesota squared."--Mara
"I look like a neo-feminist."---Becca
"I like your feet."---Hannah
"*gasp* Poor Bach! His nose is trapped in the confines of some vaccuum bag."--Catherine
"You can never have a Hegland."--Mary
and...
"You're in the quotebook, deaf one!"---Mara
~The Old Favorites Edition~
Classic quotes that warm the heart and tickle the funnybone.
"Why would you want to go to Canada? It's like Minnesota squared."--Mara
"I look like a neo-feminist."---Becca
"I like your feet."---Hannah
"*gasp* Poor Bach! His nose is trapped in the confines of some vaccuum bag."--Catherine
"You can never have a Hegland."--Mary
and...
"You're in the quotebook, deaf one!"---Mara
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Thespianism Unleashed
Well, as college settles into the dull rhythms of ordinary life (read, I no longer need a schedule to find my next class), I have auditioned for a series of one act plays to be performed on campus. Callbacks were this evening, and the cast list goes up tomorrow. Sometime. Until then, I will be checking the bulletin board and my box approximately every 15 minutes when I'm not in class.
And then I will (hopefully) have lines to memorize in addition to all that reading. And the bug project (due next Monday). And our Algebra exam on the 28. And we haven't even had our paper assigned for seminar yet. Stress much! But very fun. Weekends are essential for college survival. Coffee, too. Lots and lots of lovely coffee....
Next semester, a group of students will also be putting on a performance of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night (which happens to be one of my favoritest). If I have the time and energy, I plan on auditioning for it as well.
The wonders, terrors, and glories of college life are just beginning!
And then I will (hopefully) have lines to memorize in addition to all that reading. And the bug project (due next Monday). And our Algebra exam on the 28. And we haven't even had our paper assigned for seminar yet. Stress much! But very fun. Weekends are essential for college survival. Coffee, too. Lots and lots of lovely coffee....
Next semester, a group of students will also be putting on a performance of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night (which happens to be one of my favoritest). If I have the time and energy, I plan on auditioning for it as well.
The wonders, terrors, and glories of college life are just beginning!
A Day In The Life Of A College Student
"I go, I go, look how I go!"
~Puck, A Midsummer's Night Dream by William Shakespeare
Days 1-3-5
6:30 - Slog... erm, I mean, spring out of bed, shower, finish up any extra studying
8:00 - head to breakfast, study
9:00 - catch bus to St. John's, say daily rosary during ten to fifteen minute trip
9:40-10:50 - Music Skills class, ready... set... SIGHT SING!!!
11:06 - Catch bus back to St. Ben's
11:20-12:30 - Education class, Teaching In a Diverse World
12:46: Catch bus to St. John's again, arrive at campus, run like a person possessed in the cross-campus dash to the quadrangle, sprint up five flights of stairs
1:00-2:10 - First Year Seminar on sociology and immigration
2:15 - mosey on over to the music building
2:40-3:50 - Chamber Choir
4:06 - Catch bus to St Ben's one more time
4:30-10:00 - Study, do homework, squeeze in supper, call family
10:30 - Pass out... heh, heh... go to bed
Days 2-4-6
6:30 - Wake up, shower, study
8:00 - Go to breakfast, study
9:00 - Catch bus to St. John's
9:40-10:50 - Comprehensive Musicianship, major-minor sevenths, melodic minor scales, compound duples, triples and quadruples, can you comprehend it?
11:20-12:30 - English, Reading Fiction and Poetry, in short you take fiction and you take poetry and... you read it!
12:35 - Lunch! (or something like it)
12:45 - Catch bus back to St. Ben's
1:00-2:00 - Study
2:10-3:10 - Service learning at St. Joseph Lab School study buddy program (aka Help Third Graders With Homework Hour)
3:30 - Voice lesson
4:15-10:00 - Head back to dorm to study, have supper, call family
10:30 - Crash
Thursday, September 17, 2009
How to Speak in Iambic Pentameter in 5 Easy Steps
1) Go for a 3.5 mile run on a hot summer day.
2) As soon as you get home, pant: "Get me to a shower!"
3) Run down the stairs to your shower
4) Turn on the coldest water possible, and
5) As it pours out of the fixture, let out a cold sigh of relief and begin to let your joy and thankfulness for the cold, cold water come out in the most epic language possible-it'll sound like Iambic Pentameter-results guaranteed! If it doesn't work-sue me.
It's the way Shakespeare was meant to be recited. :)
2) As soon as you get home, pant: "Get me to a shower!"
3) Run down the stairs to your shower
4) Turn on the coldest water possible, and
5) As it pours out of the fixture, let out a cold sigh of relief and begin to let your joy and thankfulness for the cold, cold water come out in the most epic language possible-it'll sound like Iambic Pentameter-results guaranteed! If it doesn't work-sue me.
It's the way Shakespeare was meant to be recited. :)
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Friday, September 11, 2009
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Quotebook Time!
An old favorite:
"Some people get their ears pierced in their nose." --- Lukey R.
:):):)
And the most recent entry:
"Lainey, stop the torture!" ---Megan
(don't worry-no people or animals were harmed. :))
"Some people get their ears pierced in their nose." --- Lukey R.
:):):)
And the most recent entry:
"Lainey, stop the torture!" ---Megan
(don't worry-no people or animals were harmed. :))
To introduce this, let me explain that this is an excerpt from the "Happy Friday" email that one of my crazy awesome friends (in which group you are all included!) sends out to her friends. I thought this part of it was so beautiful and thought-provoking. I hope it brightens your Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday! ;-)
Love,
Juliet
THE HEART OF THE EMAIL: Or, Simply Being There Youtube clip of the week: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuJrEBtmM1Q
OK, so I know this might be more of a romantic song, but I feel like it can work for human relationships in general, too. Romance is ducky and all, but let’s broaden the perspective for the sake of the Heart
;)
Sometimes in life, we feel like we need to be the superheros in every human relationship we have. When other people tell us their struggles, we want to fix it for them, and we get frustrated when we feel like there’s nothing we can do. We wonder if we’re being ‘useful’ to the other person, if we’re visibly helping them feel or live better.
Don’t get me wrong, there’s a world of good to serving others by giving them food, shelter, clothing, and all that good stuff. But at the heart of every human interaction, the most important part of it is ALWAYS simply being present to the other person.
This can be hard for us to accept at first: after all, being present doesn’t require us to be tremendously talented or gifted individuals.
We don’t have to be masterful speakers, or incredibly talented at giving advice, or able to solve every problem for a person.
But it does require something that’s surprisingly hard to find within
ourselves: our full and undivided attention. We don’t have to speak or
act: sometimes, we have to just be. It’s a beautifully humble way to spend time with another person, because we don’t make ourselves the person of primary importance.
So many people long for a quiet presence that isn’t buzzing around trying to DO things, but rather sits quietly and listens. The ‘doing’
part matters, don’t get me wrong: but no amount of ‘doing’ is going to cut it unless we’ve got the ‘being’ part down first.
St. Paul essentially says in Scripture (in slightly paraphrased language ;)) that he could do all the good things in the world and preach more beautifully than any other person, but that if he did it without love, it was useless. If not done in love, an act was useless.
Period.
And maybe the person we’re being present to isn’t someone we really love, or someone we know very well. Guys, so much more often than we know, that just doesn’t matter. Being present means giving our full and undivided attention to another person, listening without judgment.
We can give advice, but that is secondary. The presence matters first.
So many people are so lonely for someone to just BE there, just to know that they are not alone in this life: someone is willing to travel through life with them, to be human with them. It’s the most beautiful gift of love you can give, because in giving it, you give yourself. You don’t detach yourself from the person you’re with: you must put yourself fully in the moment, setting aside whatever’s on your mind so that you can truly listen. Our world thirsts for this so much, for people who can do this! To me, the HFE song for this week is all about being present, because it might be the best expression of love that we can offer another person. Christ is present to us in the same way: undivided, listening, and full of love.
So be that person who can be there, listening, a place of rest for the other person. We can give advice, do great things, solve problems. But none of it means anything unless we are truly WITH the other person, making them the subject of our attention, thoughts, and love. That must come first. Always.
I wish you beautiful people my love, my prayers, my JOOOYYY!!!, and a beautiful and blessed FRIDAY!!!
HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY FRIDAY, O PEOPLES!!!
Love,
Juliet
THE HEART OF THE EMAIL: Or, Simply Being There Youtube clip of the week: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuJrEBtmM1Q
OK, so I know this might be more of a romantic song, but I feel like it can work for human relationships in general, too. Romance is ducky and all, but let’s broaden the perspective for the sake of the Heart
;)
Sometimes in life, we feel like we need to be the superheros in every human relationship we have. When other people tell us their struggles, we want to fix it for them, and we get frustrated when we feel like there’s nothing we can do. We wonder if we’re being ‘useful’ to the other person, if we’re visibly helping them feel or live better.
Don’t get me wrong, there’s a world of good to serving others by giving them food, shelter, clothing, and all that good stuff. But at the heart of every human interaction, the most important part of it is ALWAYS simply being present to the other person.
This can be hard for us to accept at first: after all, being present doesn’t require us to be tremendously talented or gifted individuals.
We don’t have to be masterful speakers, or incredibly talented at giving advice, or able to solve every problem for a person.
But it does require something that’s surprisingly hard to find within
ourselves: our full and undivided attention. We don’t have to speak or
act: sometimes, we have to just be. It’s a beautifully humble way to spend time with another person, because we don’t make ourselves the person of primary importance.
So many people long for a quiet presence that isn’t buzzing around trying to DO things, but rather sits quietly and listens. The ‘doing’
part matters, don’t get me wrong: but no amount of ‘doing’ is going to cut it unless we’ve got the ‘being’ part down first.
St. Paul essentially says in Scripture (in slightly paraphrased language ;)) that he could do all the good things in the world and preach more beautifully than any other person, but that if he did it without love, it was useless. If not done in love, an act was useless.
Period.
And maybe the person we’re being present to isn’t someone we really love, or someone we know very well. Guys, so much more often than we know, that just doesn’t matter. Being present means giving our full and undivided attention to another person, listening without judgment.
We can give advice, but that is secondary. The presence matters first.
So many people are so lonely for someone to just BE there, just to know that they are not alone in this life: someone is willing to travel through life with them, to be human with them. It’s the most beautiful gift of love you can give, because in giving it, you give yourself. You don’t detach yourself from the person you’re with: you must put yourself fully in the moment, setting aside whatever’s on your mind so that you can truly listen. Our world thirsts for this so much, for people who can do this! To me, the HFE song for this week is all about being present, because it might be the best expression of love that we can offer another person. Christ is present to us in the same way: undivided, listening, and full of love.
So be that person who can be there, listening, a place of rest for the other person. We can give advice, do great things, solve problems. But none of it means anything unless we are truly WITH the other person, making them the subject of our attention, thoughts, and love. That must come first. Always.
I wish you beautiful people my love, my prayers, my JOOOYYY!!!, and a beautiful and blessed FRIDAY!!!
HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY FRIDAY, O PEOPLES!!!
Prayer of St. Ignatius for Generosity
Lord, teach me to be generous.
Teach me to serve you as you deserve;
to give and not to count the cost,
to fight and not to heed the wounds,
to toil and not to seek for rest,
to labor and not to ask for reward,
save that of knowing that I do your will.
Teach me to serve you as you deserve;
to give and not to count the cost,
to fight and not to heed the wounds,
to toil and not to seek for rest,
to labor and not to ask for reward,
save that of knowing that I do your will.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
When college is not what you expected
Math is not my strong point, as is evidenced by the fact that I wallowed through proposition 4 from Euclid's Elements with the help of two hints, and a lot of staring blankly at the board.
Sigh.
And we're only two classes into the book. And I've got another three props to memorize for tomorrow's class.
Don't get me wrong, I love Euclid as a logician, progressing logically from thought to thought, proving myriads of things using only 23 definitions, 5 postulates, and 5 common notions (at least so far in Book 1). I do get a genuine thrill when I realize what Euclid is doing, when I get the prop. The light bulb above my head burns very brightly whenever that happens.
But getting up in front of 16 other people, plus the teacher, and demonstrating said prop on the blackboard from memory? Not so much is love here present.
Hopefully I'll survive the next four years. I kind of have to, if I want to get my money's worth out of this education. I just enjoy some parts of this education more than others.
Sigh.
And we're only two classes into the book. And I've got another three props to memorize for tomorrow's class.
Don't get me wrong, I love Euclid as a logician, progressing logically from thought to thought, proving myriads of things using only 23 definitions, 5 postulates, and 5 common notions (at least so far in Book 1). I do get a genuine thrill when I realize what Euclid is doing, when I get the prop. The light bulb above my head burns very brightly whenever that happens.
But getting up in front of 16 other people, plus the teacher, and demonstrating said prop on the blackboard from memory? Not so much is love here present.
Hopefully I'll survive the next four years. I kind of have to, if I want to get my money's worth out of this education. I just enjoy some parts of this education more than others.
Sweetness...
...Is when the best man in your life sends you roses when you're homesick. Thanks, Dad!
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Quotebook Time!
Okay, at the risk of making you all sick of my posting...
I'm about to introduce you to a good friend of mine:
The one and only...
QUOTEBOOK.
And every week, I'd like to post a recent entry from the quotebook...If you hate this idea, just post a comment telling me so.
I will promptly and kindly ignore it. :)
Ahem.
I will post a personal favorite of mine:
"I just sit in my bedroom eating facial hair."
~~~Mara
:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)
I'm about to introduce you to a good friend of mine:
The one and only...
QUOTEBOOK.
And every week, I'd like to post a recent entry from the quotebook...If you hate this idea, just post a comment telling me so.
I will promptly and kindly ignore it. :)
Ahem.
I will post a personal favorite of mine:
"I just sit in my bedroom eating facial hair."
~~~Mara
:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)
Summer
Around this time of the year, I always get really pensive-I spend a lot of time looking over the summer, analyzing and thinking over the events of the summer, and thinking of all the lessons I've learned this summer.
I think I've learned many, many things, most importantly:
God makes all things work out for the good. Throughout this summer, I've been touched and amazed by how well God has woven together the tangled, crazy threads of my life to create a beautiful masterpiece and story. It's awe-inspiring, heartbreaking and just incredible.
I've learned that a large part of being mature is knowing when and how to act on feelings that emerge.
I've learned that the reason I get up everyday is to LOVE-love my neighbor, love God, love my friends, love my family. Spread joy and peace and happiness and bubblegum everywhere I go.
I've learned that if you spread that love and joy to others, they'll recognize it as Christ's love, and they'll respond.
And one of the biggest lessons I learned this summer was the importance of friendship (well, that was a lesson I've been learning this whole entire school year). I realized how important all my friends are to me and how much I love them. A thought came to me-I get to spend eternity with these people! How cool is that? It's not like we're ever going to stop having to deal with each other-we're going to know each other in Heaven, we might as well keep knowing each other here on earth. Sorry, girls, you're suck with me. :)
So...
What have you learned this summer?
I think I've learned many, many things, most importantly:
God makes all things work out for the good. Throughout this summer, I've been touched and amazed by how well God has woven together the tangled, crazy threads of my life to create a beautiful masterpiece and story. It's awe-inspiring, heartbreaking and just incredible.
I've learned that a large part of being mature is knowing when and how to act on feelings that emerge.
I've learned that the reason I get up everyday is to LOVE-love my neighbor, love God, love my friends, love my family. Spread joy and peace and happiness and bubblegum everywhere I go.
I've learned that if you spread that love and joy to others, they'll recognize it as Christ's love, and they'll respond.
And one of the biggest lessons I learned this summer was the importance of friendship (well, that was a lesson I've been learning this whole entire school year). I realized how important all my friends are to me and how much I love them. A thought came to me-I get to spend eternity with these people! How cool is that? It's not like we're ever going to stop having to deal with each other-we're going to know each other in Heaven, we might as well keep knowing each other here on earth. Sorry, girls, you're suck with me. :)
So...
What have you learned this summer?
Sadness :(
So...I was going to post something cheerful and helpful, but...
I spent Sunday morning sobbing my eyes out.
Yessiree, folks, we took the Brits back to the airport on Sunday, and since we'd all shed tears Saturday evening at the final party, I was thinking to myself, "Will I actually cry at all this morning?"
Oh, and cry I did.
With a vengenance.
You know how there's this really nice crying that you do during movies and stuff, when tears well up in your eyes and flow delicately down your face?
You know that kind of crying?
Yeah, well, this was not that kind of crying.
This was the kind of crying where your face gets all red and tingly, and snot comes flowing out of your nostrils, and you make all sorts of unattractive sobbing sounds. It's not very pretty. :) And I went home, and I've been listening to this song ever since:
It's by Angus, who played Mowgli. Maybe this will help your guys' homesickness.
xoxo
I spent Sunday morning sobbing my eyes out.
Yessiree, folks, we took the Brits back to the airport on Sunday, and since we'd all shed tears Saturday evening at the final party, I was thinking to myself, "Will I actually cry at all this morning?"
Oh, and cry I did.
With a vengenance.
You know how there's this really nice crying that you do during movies and stuff, when tears well up in your eyes and flow delicately down your face?
You know that kind of crying?
Yeah, well, this was not that kind of crying.
This was the kind of crying where your face gets all red and tingly, and snot comes flowing out of your nostrils, and you make all sorts of unattractive sobbing sounds. It's not very pretty. :) And I went home, and I've been listening to this song ever since:
It's by Angus, who played Mowgli. Maybe this will help your guys' homesickness.
xoxo
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