Hello from Florida, where my family and I are vacationing until next Friday :D
    I had to wake up far too early (or "stupido'clock" as my favorite Canadians would say) to catch a flight, then drove for an hour to our hotel by the beach while my brother got hungrier and hungrier until his brain started to eat itself (or something like that). But anyway, we ate, walked on the beach, and I'm now sitting comfortably in bed writing this blog.
    And because we didn't do much other than travel, eat, and relax all day, I shall try to entertain through pictures instead of text for a bit.

    Ok, so I've only uploaded 5 pictures and it appears I'm already breaking the internet here.
    Oh, and when I was waiting in the lobby of the rent a car place while my mom and brother picked up the car there was a British family waiting next to me. They had twin boys around 7-sih. Thought you all might enjoy knowing that.
    Not really much else to say though. Next week's blog may be more interesting (we're going to Harry Potter World later this week! - be jealous Sara).

Love,
Jill

PS
(Atlantic side for the Win! - :P AB)

Hello from Billie Piper...Because blogging is even better when Billie's your soundtrack! :)
This has been an exciting/interesting week and here's why:

• Last Thursday night, after I blogged, I slept over at my friend Esther's house. Sara and Evey were there, too.  We played games and made cheesecake, but my favorite part was right before bed, when we had a mini Bible study. I didn't realize that was in the plan, but I happened to have my small Bible in my bag. We just sat in a little circle and read Proverbs 31 and talked about what kind of women we want to be. It was lovely and heartwarming. And it made me excited for hopefully doing "family Bible studies" at the dorm, like we did for Advent. :)
• Friday, we filmed our zombie scene. It was ridiculously awesome, even if we did get some funny looks from passers-by (that actually contributed to the fun). My mom, Esther, Peter, as well as siblings (and their friends) of Jill, Sara, and Rachael also participated. And I am so grateful to everyone who came out to dress up as a zombie and have scabby Corn Flakes painted onto them to help.
• We filmed all day Saturday with Mark, which was fun, even if I did miss out on the Irish pub concert. :/  At least we went by Arby's and heard the cool accent drive-thru guy.      ...He will be investigated further...
• Sunday I ran one of the cameras at church for the first time that wasn't just for practice. It was really fun. I like live camera work. A lot. Basically, we have 4 cameras. One person operates each camera. The director can see the shots from each of the cameras and he decides which one to put up on the screen at what time. It's fun, trust me. Especially since the service on Sunday was rather spectacular. The worship band played some of my favorite Jesus music, and Seth Stewart did a poetry slam/preaching thing that was really powerful!
  Later that night, Sara, Rachael, and I went to Jill's to have a closing ceremony viewing party, complete with pizza. And you guys...the Olympic closing ceremony had One Direction, the SPICE GIRLS!!!, and Take That! I was so excited, especially when Take That sang their song, "Rule the World," which is on the end credits of Stardust, and is the song that made me love them in the first place. And I love Britain. Just throwing that in there, in case I haven't said it enough.
• Monday, things got horrifying. We went up to Mammoth to turn in/re-check-out the camera equipment, then later discovered that the computers ATE A LOT OF OUR FOOTAGE! INCLUDING THE ZOMBIES!!!  *insert Frodo NOOOOO here*
  BUT, we've made a new plan to adapt Expect Squirrels into something very similar using what we still have, in addition to some new ideas. I'm just sooo thankful that all the videos of Mark are still alive! Anyway, then we ate cake to celebrate? I'm not sure what we were celebrating...being temporarily done with filming? Making a new plan? Oh well, does cake need a reason? 
  OH! And then AMBER showed up at Jill's house and we were all really excited. And then my car was in the shop, so Sara graciously babysat me at Barnes and Noble (because she needs more books, right?) until my dad picked me up. 
• Tuesday, I went on a walk around BG from Gatti's parking lot to Tsunami restaurant across from B&N with Amy, Sarah, Other Sara (lol, love you :D), Jill, and Rachael. We did an awful lot of running. No, just kidding. I just wanted to reference Doctor Who, which I talked incessantly about with Sara and Jill that day. I'm sure we got on everyone else's nerves. By the way, Tsunami has really good food, and the waitress was one of the nicest waitresses I've ever encountered. She got a tower of tips thanks to our balancing act with the little menu holder thing.
• Yesterday was the day of Cookie Roulette, as Rachael wrote about in her blog. I didn't get cookies that were very nasty. Then again, most of mine were before we started spinning the plate when a person chose. So no, I didn't peek. But yes, I tried to memorize beforehand the general direction of the not-so-bad-looking cookies. NOT CHEATING! Strategy. 
  Also, yesterday morning, I finished watching season four of Doctor Who and LKDSJFALSHDFOFAKJFDA;JSDFNASGIHAOIEAJFS;LASKDFJKL;  EPIC!!!!! GAHHH! FEELINGS! It was literally the first time I ever cried because of a tv show (or movie, or book, for that matter).
• And then there was today. Let me tell you about today in terms of books.*  I am cheap, as you all know. So it takes a lot for me to buy a book, especially when it's a book I haven't previously read and enjoyed. For me to take a chance and buy a book I've never read is a big step. I don't like to commit to that often (and it is a commitment, in terms of money, when you buy a book). Basically, when I'm thinking about buying a book I haven't read, I have to ask myself how attracted I am to that book. Is it a book I will fall madly in love with and want to keep it forever, or is it a book that I'll like a lot, but won't feel the need to actually own? Because, you see, there are books that you like a lot, but you can check them out at the library any time you want to revisit them. It may be a book that makes you feel comfortable reading over and over, a book that is cute, or makes you laugh. But there are certain books that just thrill you and captivate you so much that you feel your life is incomplete if you don't have them to keep and love forever.
  So today, I revisited a book I really liked. I mean, really. It was a great book. Funny, cute, comfortable. I would be content enough owning the book, I suppose. But it was just a fun read. It wasn't a book that really grabbed me and wouldn't let go til the last page or anything. I decided, at this point, I won't buy the book. I can check it out at the library from time to time, sure. But it wasn't the book I need to be spending my money on. Not the one to commit to. And who knows? This book may not have even been for sale.
  
• Also, today I was hanging out with Nathan and Jordan and Jill and Rachael, and then something popped into my mind: Maureen Johnson finally reached 60,000 followers on Twitter. Today is the day she'll reveal some non-spoiling secrets about her next Shades of London book, The Madness Underneath (sequel to The Name of the Star aka the best book I've read all year)! So as soon as I got home I went on Twitter and stalked Maureen Johnson (who has an amazing cat named Sherlock, by the way) and so yeah...EEEEEE! February 26, why are you so far away???...But only Jill cares about this particular point because none of the rest of you have read The Name of the Star. So. Moving on...
• MY COUSIN LINDSEY IS ENGAGED!!!!!! :) *MORE SQUEEING!* She got engaged a couple of days ago, on her birthday, but I only found out tonight. The way I found out? She sent me a picture text of her hand...with a big, lovely diamond ring on it! :D   
• It's storming. I like storms, when they're not scary, so I'm happy. But probably not as happy as Nathan, whose hobbies include storm chasing, like with actual tornadoes. I'm not that crazy, but I do love to look at the way the lightning lights up the entire sky sometimes. And the sound of thunder is nice. But my favorite part about summer thunderstorms is when they happen in the afternoon, and you're outside and you hurry to get the clothes off the line or get the floats out of the pool, because you feel the wind getting up, and you literally feel the storm blowing in. It makes me feel like being at sea or something. 
• Another cool thing about this week? I think I may have seen a shooting star for the first time! I've always wanted to see one. I'm not certain I did. It happened so fast. But I really hope so, because stars are kind of my favorite things in the sky, ever. Except when I'm in the sky, flying to England. :)
• Also, I made a new video on our YouTube channel. In the words of Cash Wilson, "Czech it out!"
• Also...SOON I GET A SHERBYYYYYYYYYY!!! :D

The End...Man, I feel like this had more almost-endings than Lord of the Rings.



*I hope everyone gets that this is a metaphor.

Hello from friendship bonding time without the regurgitation. Today I cleaned the house minus my room. At least I started on my room, I started washing my bedding and clothes in preparation for moving back to the dorm this Saturday! I'm super excited to see our new room in Bates Runner and starting a new tradition of having a "family dinner" every week.
Cookie roulette was super fun! We stuffed both good and bad things into chocolate chip cookies and baked them We played "5 Fingers" and whenever someone ran out of fingers, they had to close their eyes and choose a cookie from the plate. I got some video of our game and will hopefully be able to edit it and post it soon!
Here's a quick run-down:

Anna Beth got the following cookies:
Rice cake
Corn flake
Pringles
banana/mystery pudding
Dried tropical fruit mix

Jill:
Bacon crouton
Regular
Onion
White chocolate chip
Chili powder

Sara:
Beef jerky
cherry
cheese
regular
Cookie and creme pop tart

Amy:
Apple
chicken nugget
almond
Cocoa Pebbles

Rachael:
Nutella
Chocolate Pudding
Green bean
Ketchup
Cinnamon Toast Crunch

*Amy also tried my ketchup and I tried Jill

Hello from summer break! Obviously, it’s been summer break for awhile now- in fact, it’s almost over- but I worked for most of it, so this has been the first week when I’ve had pretty much no obligations or places I had to go, and, most importantly, no reason to get up early! During the week, that is. I still have to get up for church on Sundays. Anyway, hopefully this means that this blog will be posted pretty early today! No guarantees, though, since it’s actually Tuesday and I’m still working on it. I got home from Jill’s yesterday, and instead of making priorities (ok, I need to finish my second book, then work on my blog for tomorrow, and then I can have fun on the internet!) I pretty much did everything in reverse order. Though I wasn’t being completely unproductive, I promise! I did finish Endymion Spring (I’ll probably update over in Etc. after I get this up), and before that I was working on something that will hopefully be helpful. But we’ll see.
Anyway, my week has been happy and relaxing! I finished my first two books (only 28 more to go!), finished my part for the web series (even after half the footage died… but it’s gonna be ok!), and hung out with my cool friends! I even got to see Amy!!!! (who still hasn’t posted… :/)
And speaking of awesome friends, I should get to see Sherby this Saturday! I think. I’m not really sure what’s happening. But anyway, that’s hopefully a thing! And that’s my week. I should get on to Question Tuesday now- you guys gave me a lot of Questions. 

Anna Beth:
What is your nerdiest hobby?
I feel like pretty much all my hobbies are nerdy: reading, blogging, watching YouTube, Doctor Who, I mean, take your pick :P
Did/do you ever watch the show Monk? (If yes, what do you think of Tony Shalhoub being rumored to play Beetee in Catching Fire?)
Yes I watched Monk! That show was hilarious! Although I still haven’t seen the series finale… Anyway, they’re considering him for Beetee? I think that would work out really well, actually. I feel like Beetee is definitely the kind of character he could play well. K, now I really hope they cast him. That would be so cool!
Are there any songs that you can specifically remember the first time you heard them?
Not that I can think of? Sorry for my boring answer…
Who’s your OTP (lol…NOW KISS!)
Zutara! Stupid Avatar writers…
What kinds of things do you find motivational?
Deadlines are pretty motivating. Especially as they just keep on getting closer…and closer…
I’m also motivated by things I like, like chocolate! Or mysterious prizes. Surprises (and avoiding them) are also quite motivational. You know, just general motivating stuff.
You told us you have a playlist of sad songs on you iPod. Tell us about your other playlists. Because I’m nosy.
Lol, when I first got my iPod set up, I meant to make a bunch of playlists for all kinds of things, but I only really have a couple. I have one for sad music, one for cute music, one for Jesus music, and I started one for just instrumental music, but I’ve never actually gone through my music to put all the songs into it. I also have a playlist for Christmas and one with all the Celtic Woman songs I have. Oh! And I have a YouTube playlist. Though that one may as well just be called Charlie: the playlist; it consists almost entirely of Chameleon Circuit and Charlie McDonnell.
Did you know there’s going to be a card game of Evil Baby Orphanage?!?! And will you buy it when it comes out?
I just watched John’s video about that! If I can find it when it comes out, I might want to get it.
Would you rather live in the Nashville Zoo or at Beech Bend?
Beech Bend. I could ride roller coasters and go swimming any time I wanted to! Plus, I’d have the place to myself about three quarters of the year.
Imagine you’re a timelord and you get to pick one person to travel with you through time and space. Who would you pick?
A fellow timelord who won’t grow old faster than me and have to leave. I’m pretty sure someone’s asked me this question before…
How do you interpret the saying, “the squeaky wheel gets the grease”?
The person who complains the loudest about his/her problems is the one who gets the attention, even if their problem is not the one that needs it.
How many languages do you know at least one word of?
Well, let’s see: English, American Sign Language, British Sign Language (well, if you count letters as words… I know the vowels…), Spanish, French, Japanese, German, Italian, Chinese, Russian… I can’t think of any more. So… 10ish?
Would you rather be a queen or a president?
Queen. Assuming I get to be a figurehead instead of actually being in charge of things. If not, then I don’t want to be either. Being in charge of a country does not sound very appealing to
me.
How do you define ‘making sense’?
 Well, I consider “making sense” to be a relative phrase indicating that something is understandable to the person attempting to understand it. So, if someone’s listening to someone talk, or reading a book, or watching TV, or whatever, then it “makes sense” if they understand it-motives, explanations, other whys pertaining to whatever’s going on.
Was the trash can in on the proposal? (You know what I’m talking
about)
For those of you who don’t know what Anna Beth’s talking about, enjoy the adorbs! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzPld1qpvl8&feature=g-hist
And I feel like it. I mean, surely that’s too coincidental for the trash can not to have been involved? Although, if it wasn’t, and it really was just random chance… awww!!!!!!
If there weren’t a person controlling the trash can with a mic (hypothetically)… as in, if you could actually have sentient appliances, would you want that?
I feel like that’s how most apocalypse stories start… the ones that don’t involve zombies, at least. Besides, why would I want a sentient trash can? I would feel really weird feeding my trash to a thing that could talk to me about what I was feeding it. Particularly since, with my feeding it trash and all, I can’t imagine it would be very happy about its meals.
Jill and I have issued challenges. Is there anything you’d like to challenge the rest of us to do this year?
Well, I already did sort of challenge you guys with the Questions thing. You seem to be responding pretty well to that :) (a couple of you, at least)
And I’d like to challenge you, Anna Beth, to read Harry Potter by the end of the year! I mean, come on! It’s 7 books, and you have 5 months to do it! That’s way more reasonable than my current undertaking :P
Should we change the format of the blog in any way when the school year starts? What about when 2013 starts? If so, how?
I don’t know about changing it when the school year starts- we were always planning to do this blog for a whole year, so I don’t see any reason to be changing it just because we go back to school. That’s not to say I’m not open to changes should anyone have any good ideas, I just don’t see that it’s necessary. As for 2013, I think that’d be a lot of fun, but I don’t have any specific ideas, and we have a little while to go before we get there, anyway :P
Do the days of the week correspond to any certain colors in your mind? (Example: Monday—red, Tuesday—aquamarine, etc.)
Umm, no? I don’t have Synesthesia. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEqmNX8uKlA&feature=g-user-u
Is there anything you wish someone would dare you to do because you’re too shy to do it for no reason?
Not at the moment, though I have thought that before.
What would you include in the opening or closing Olympic ceremonies if you could design them for the US?
I don’t want to plan the US opening ceremonies. That would be boring. Can’t I plan Britain’s so the Doctor can take his rightful place as torch bearer?

Rachael:
Would you volunteer to take the one-way ticket to Mars if Liam were definitely going?
No. As awesome as Liam is, one person is not going to make me want to leave the planet. Particularly one person whom I don’t even actually know.

Jill:
Has there ever been a non-edible thing that you’ve thought about eating, even
briefly?
Are you trying to diagnose me with Pica? Because no, I don’t think about eating non-edible things. Perhaps you should ask Anna Beth about this, though- she says Mmmm an awful lot :P
How long did you do gymnastics and why did you stop?
I did gymnastics through elementary school and off and on during middle school, but I stopped because the gymnastics class I took was an after school program at my elementary school. When I got to middle school I could still go, but it was more of a hassle to get there, so eventually I just stopped.
For $10,000 would you be willing to stand up spontaneously and sing The Star Spangled Banner at the top of your lungs in the middle of a crowded classroom?
Um, yeah! I would be extremely embarrassed, but a couple minutes of embarrassment is definitely worth it when $10,000 is in store.
Would you prefer something inspirational or funny on your tombstone, or would you just want the dates?
Should I be worried that you appear to be trying to plan out my funeral? Is there something you haven’t told me, Jill? :P I think it’d be fun to have something funny on there, though. That way people could be less sad when they looked at it.
The Zombie Apocalypse has just started. What is your first move/decision?
Try to meet up with everyone I know, preferably through use of phone and internet before that goes out. I don’t want to be all alone in the Zombie Apocalypse :/
Oh, and also lock my doors.
Why isn’t the number 11 pronounced onety one?
Because the English language doesn’t make sense (see below question on “making sense”).
What song would you most want to be serenaded with? Would you want to be
serenaded?
I think it would be cute to be serenaded :) As for the song… I don’t know, it would depend on the context of the serenading. Like,“Do you wanna dance” (Beach Boys) would be really cute, or “Do you want to know a secret” (Beatles) or “You like me too much” (also Beatles) “I want to hold your hand” (more Beatles… there are a lot of cute Beatles songs). Oh, or Billy Joel’s “The longest time.” Basically, I can’t pick! But I’m sure it’d be really adorable regardless of what song it was. <3
Somehow all the books you own are being destroyed but you have the opportunity to save only one copy. What do you save?
My Bible. I could pretty much replace any of the books I currently own if I really wanted to keep on having them, so I might as well save the most important one.
Would you rather have the opportunity to every day have an online chat with any one person of your choosing (celebrity, YouTuber, historical figure, whatever) for as long as you want or spend 3 days with the same person in real life but never see or speak to that person again?
Am I the only person who doesn’t necessarily want to meet the people I watch on TV and YouTube? I feel like it would be weird and awkward, and I wouldn’t know what to say… But given the options, I guess I’d rather do the online chat thing. It’d be kind of depressing to spend three days with a person just to find out I could never see her/him again.
Would you rather sleep in only a tent and sleeping bag for 2 weeks but have access to a decent shower/bathroom facilities or sleep in your own house but be unable to shower for 2 weeks?
Sleep in a tent. I like my sleeping bag, so I wouldn’t really have a problem with that. I definitely don’t want to be gross for two weeks, though. Eww.
Do you have any missed opportunities that you regret?
Well, I did kind of regret not applying for GSP junior year. Everyone who went had such a great time, but I didn’t really know what it was/didn’t make any kind of effort to find out about it, so I didn’t even apply or anything. On the other hand, though, I had a great time going on vacation with my family instead, so I don’t really know that I regret it too much.
Why do you say that love both makes and doesn’t make sense?
I mean that there are different layers from which to consider the sense that love does or doesn’t make. Like, loving another person can cause you to give up your own happiness, comfort, even life for another person, which doesn’t make sense in a self-preservation perspective- a lot of your life is spent trying to preserve and prolong the life you have, so the idea of threatening that for another person seems kind of crazy. At the same time, though, it makes sense to love other people because you need other people to survive- in the sense of being unable to provide everything that you need to keep living on your own, as well as the fact that most people would go stir crazy being stuck all on their own for their whole lives. That’s mostly considering things from a science-y view, though. I don’t know how to word it right :/ Can’t we just stick with the answer Jill liked so much instead of killing it by making me try to explain?
Going off Anna Beth’s question of ‘defining making sense,’ can you have too much sense?
Why, of course you can! Part of the fun in life is the fact that not everything makes sense. For one thing, the lack of sense often motivates people to find the sense and gain a deeper understanding. And for another, you don't always want things to make sense. It's like magic tricks- they're fun because you don't understand them. When you deconstruct the trick to see how it's done, it stops being fun and just becomes another boring thing that anyone could do.
So it’s become apparent that Rachael, Anna Beth, and I all have a type of animal that we absolutely hate (Rachael- all rodents, Anna Beth- snakes, Jill-monkeys/apes). Do you have one, and if so what is it?
I’ve been trying to think of something all week, and I don’t think I do. I mean, I’m against spiders and scorpions and things, but I feel like we were pretty unanimously opposed to creepy crawlies. Now I feel all left out :(
If, at some point in the future when you have a young child, let’s say they’re 5, and they ask you is Santa Claus real, will you lie or tell the truth? Is this any different from telling them about Santa in the first place?
Well, what my parents did was talk about Santa Claus being real in spirit- he’s a symbol of Christmas and the spirit of giving and being charitable. I’m not sure how well that would go over with a 5-year old who’s probably not even in the concrete stage of learning yet, much less the abstract, but it might be worth a shot? Besides, the focus of Christmas should be Jesus, with Santa just as an afterthought.
When it comes to chocolate, quality or quantity?
Hmm. Well, I’d say that quantity is more important than quality, but there is a certain quality level that is required. If I can have as much chocolate as I can eat, but it’s bad chocolate, then
that’s no good. But it doesn’t take much quality for me to like chocolate, so as long as I can reach that threshold, I’m good with quantity. Until I start to feel sick. Then I’ll start to regret this decision, but oh well!
Would you believe me if I told you I didn’t ask the planet naming question to get on your nerves (and in fact I don’t put it in the same category as naming, say, a
car) but actually found it to be an interesting question, mostly because I found
out the reasoning behind some planet naming a little while ago. In fact, here, watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3ppbbYXMxE&feature=plcp
If you’re trying to make me change my mind about last week’s winner, I’m afraid you’re too late :P
That is interesting, though. I need to watch more CGP Grey. You know, next year or something…
What do you (or do you now) choose to call the 7th planet from the Sun (not to bias you, but my personal preference is oo-ron-ohs)
I don’t often mention the 7th planet from the Sun in everyday conversation. But I think oo-ron-us is fun :) Plus it’s harder to make that one sound bad…
Do we quote ourselves too much?
Oh, naw :P
Suppose one of us likes a boy, but the boy has a crush on another one of us (note: in this instance “us” refers to the friend group that makes up this blog). How would things go down?
Well, that would be pretty awkward. Are we assuming that the girl whom the crush likes does not return his feelings? In that case, I feel like we’re mature enough that it wouldn’t really be a problem. Girl B (object of crush’s affection) would turn Boy down, as she would have anyway, and Girl A (who likes Boy) would just be sad, as she would regardless of whom her crush liked. And it would be ok, because either the boy would come to his senses, or Girl A would get over him and find her true love after all. So they’d all live happily ever after :)
If both girls like the boy, though, and the boy likes Girl B, that would be more complicated. I feel like both girls would have to talk about it to explain their feelings and figure out what to do. It could be that Girl A would just want to get over Boy and let Girl B have him without a fuss, or it could be that Girl B would still turn down Boy in order to avoid hurting her friend. But hopefully they would both be honest about how they felt so it wouldn’t escalate into something worse. And regardless, I still think it’d be ok- we’re too cool to let a boy come between us! :D
 
And that’s it! This week, I think Jill wins! Happy now? :P I liked your Zombie/death questions, though I’m still a bit worried about your motives behind them… So that’s it! The challenge continues, so be thinking of your best Questions!

Love,
Sara

Sorry folks!  I'm sure while I was at the poker room on Sunday, you were all at home crying over lack of blog.  Wahhhh.  Couple that with the fact that I have hardly blogged on blogspot as of late, and you guys are probably on the verge of suicidal!

Anyhow, I'm having a lot of trouble adventuring in this house.  There isn't anything to do, and I don't know anyone in this whole city.  I guess that if I were in a good mood not knowing anyone would be a grand adventure to make friends.  However, I'm not in a good mood.  The fact that I am only going to be here for a few more days is also exceedingly unmotivating in terms of getting involved somewhere or finding some friends.  I am really sick of having nothing to do though.  I can only stare at my computer or TV for so long, and I am WAY past that point.  I'm going crazy!  Everyone in this house is so stressed out all the time, and they yell at me for things that are silly.  Like when I went to Disney World and my phone got a teensy bit wet because my whole purse was soaked through.  My mom yelled and yelled at me because my phone wouldn't work the next day.  I explained to her that it had only gotten a little bit wet because I tried really hard to keep it dry.  She didn't cut me any slack at all!  She was ruthlessly saying I've destroyed more phones than anyone else has even had, and that is not even TRUE.  One of my old phones got broken because my mom dropped it in the sink herself.  There were various other accidents and a few phones that I just got bored of and happened to have an upgrade available.  Still, she insisted that I am careless and she would never buy me a phone again because I don't take care of them, etc etc.  When we took the phone to the store and found that indeed there was no water damage in my phone, there was not even a little apology at all!  Just snide comments about how I am so lucky that the phone was still under the 30 day warranty (I only had it for less than a week).  Anyway, it's drama like that all the time, and it just drives me crazy.  I can't wait to be back at school with nice people who never call me a piece of s*** or say, "F*** you!"  With nice people who love me and understand me a great deal more than anyone in this house does.

Hello from a confused teenager (Yes, I’m still a teenager for another 24 days.) This blog comes in four parts:

Part 1:  Life, Part 2: Highlights, Part 3: Books, Part 4: Music

I realize this is insanely John-Green-of-Vlogbrothers-fame-organized, but I just spent the past week reading every single one of his published works (with the exception of Let It Snow, the holiday romance compilation- that’ll have to wait till winter ;). Thus, I think if ever a blog organized in this fashion were to be written by me, it’d be now. So… Go.

Part 1: Life. As you all know, for pretty much the past year and a half I’ve been planning on graduating next year with a double major in math and computer science. Ambitious: yes. Doable: yes. Actually going to be completed: if not completely, then partially. Let me explain: I took my past 10 week internship in order to get an idea of what I could possibly be doing in a year/after grad school, and for the most part, I enjoyed it. I found it great that I was able to develop an application that is really needed and that I hope will be used for a long time. I liked having mostly free reign over the application, shaping it to meet their needs and then revising that vision when it changed halfway into the internship. I also especially liked my paycheck. ;)

So what’s the problem?

…

It was good, yes. But just good. Not a resounding “This is some version of what I want to do for the rest of my life.” Which, if I’ll be honest, I can’t expect that much of an indication from it, but I did realize I’m not sure if I want that type of a job. A simple 8-5 desk job where I sit behind a computer, occasionally broken up by (mostly) boring meetings. I want to be active in my work, interacting with people, not just computers. Or at least I want to be behind a computer in an interesting location, like my home or a coffee shop or anywhere with wireless internet access. I know I can have a job like that in this field, and that desire, along with my honest enjoyment of computers, is what will keep me working toward completing my majors in the 3 (self-)allotted years. Still, if I ask myself if I envision myself working this kind of job for the rest of my life, the answer is no.

So I’m searching. Inspired by one of Shelby’s posts in her other blog, I’m looking for the job that will “engage me in adventure every day.” It could involve computers, and maybe I’ll find that niche in computer science next semester in one of my classes (I’m holding out for studio recording), or maybe it will be in something entirely different (Believe it or not, I’m currently looking into what it takes to become an editor). Regardless, what’s important is that God knows what my future job will be, and I’m sure I will love it! All I need to do now is look around and wait for him to reveal his plan, little by little. Whatever it is, I know that God will guide me toward my future. So we’ll see :) (I’m still taking the GRE next Friday btw)

Part 2: Highlights. Guys, I’m getting highlights. (In case you didn’t already notice, the next couple of parts drop pretty far off of the life-importance scale- But, hey, you can’t always be struggling with the big questions). My only problem: Should I get blonde highlights again or go for auburn? I’m leaning toward blonde, but only because I can’t find any pictures online of auburn highlights in curly hair that I particularly like lol :) Also, I feel like my hair color has muted significantly… It’s just so… mousy. Ugh.

Part 3: Books. Oh, my goodness. So much reading!! I’m excited for Sara to continue working on her 30 books by New Year’s Eve challenge because I want her to read Paper Towns! (That’s a terrible reason… but I’m still holding out hope that by that time, she won’t be too exhausted… ;) I pretty much spent the last week (after enjoying TFiOS) reading Looking for Alaska, Paper Towns, An Abundance of Katherines, and now Will Grayson, Will Grayson. Needless to say, I now really appreciate John Green as an author, and Paper Towns surprised me by being my favorite of his works. (My ranking: Paper Towns, Looking for Alaska, TFiOS, An Abundance of Katherines) Surprisingly, Paper Towns is also now one of my favorite books of all time. Have any of you all read it? (If not, you should!) What were your thoughts?

(Extra note: All of the reading happened and none of the 50 facts video-editing happened… Soon, though. I’m aiming for before I go back to Vandy on Friday, but it’ll have to be between the GRE prep- for which I’m counting all of the reading ;)

Part 4: Music. I’m really glad you all enjoyed Imagine Dragons last week! I’ve been listening to more of their singles, and if you haven’t heard it, you should also check out their other song “It’s Time.” :)

Following along the same line of discovery, I once again heard another amazing song off of a NBC promo (I really like whoever’s in charge of music over there), and now I’m going through ww.nbc.com/music where they list all of their music selections. (Sadly, not all of the full tracks are available online anywhere, but my iTunes account is likely to be debited soon… lol) Anyway, I hope you all enjoy, not just one, but two songs this week :) Here’s the song that I heard off of (yet another) NBC promo… I don’t have too much to say about it, actually. It’s just one of those songs that, for me, speaks for itself.

Dave Thomas Junior- “Run Forever”

For the second song, I’m going to be completely honest: Ingrid Michaelson is kind of a here and there for me, but this one, even though I think the lyrics are cheesy and I’m not a fan of the chorus at all, I still find quite beautiful. Plus, this acoustic version got stuck in my head, mainly because of the bridge, which I love. :)

Ingrid Michaelson- “Parachute”

Hello from oh crap it's Friday. I've been home for the last few hours just watching YouTube again, and I totally forgot I was supposed to blog today until just now (which was before you decided to remind me Rachael :P). It's 10:11pm, let's see what I can write in about 2 hours.
        Today was a very productive day of shooting for Expect Squirrels. We shot all of episode 7 plus a small segment of episode 5. I'd like to thank all the extras that came out to help out today (though I'm pretty sure none of them read this blog). Tomorrow's probably going to be a long day. Most of us have to get up at 7 to go pick up our male lead and finish all of his scenes. Should be fun though.
        I think I mentioned last week that I wanted to respond to some things in Sara's blog. Let's see if I can remember what those were.....
        I feel like I wanted to continue the discussion of the subject brought up by Richard Fuller's quote. Though I can't really remember what I wanted to say....
It's kind of interesting that both he and Sara would probably agree that people shouldn't just waste away their lives doing nothing of substance. Sara's completely valid point was that people could waste their lives away only learning and never using what they've learned. Fuller's point, at least I think (I could be completely wrong, feel free to comment if you think so), is that people could waste their lives away doing pointless activities instead of bettering themselves (and, at least I hope, therefore bettering society). I mean, the world isn't really set up to actually make what he's talking about a reality. But the idea that we could all continue to actually live decently while pursuing what we what to pursue and  continuing to learn is interesting and appealing. meh, I've reached the end of my coherent thoughts on this. Actually, I probably should have actually checked the source for the photo instead of just trusting the internet that he actually said what he has been put forward as saying. oh well.
        Oh, I think something else I wanted to discuss was this whole "cancer book" stuff. While there are books out there that are absurdly depressing and cancer-ridden for the sake of being depressing and making readers cry, you can't just think that any book with a character with cancer isn't worth reading. Not all of them are like that. The quality of the story should be judged on the quality of the story and not whether the protagonist or their close friend has cancer. There are excellent books (not just ones written by John Green) that might be referred to as a "cancer book" by some, but definitely don't fit that "category".
        And I also wanted to mention (because I haven't given myself time to the last two blogs and it'll be my last chance before the Olympics ends) that my favorite part of the Olympic Ceremonies was easily the lighting of the cauldron. KALKFHASDFNABNFONODNOALDKFNKAJSNH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh the feels....  with the young athletes running and trading off the flame and the bringing together of all the different countries' fires to make one giant blaze *sigh* I loved it. I mean, I get that some people were upset that the fire wasn't visible to the entire city (which is tradition) and it would have been nice if, after the opening ceremonies finished, they had moved the flame to the top rim of the stadium for all to see. But it was totally worth it to have the flame lit like that. So awesome.
Also, can I just say how awesome the Olympics have been this year? Way to go Great Britain with your most successful Olympics of recent history (I think ever actually). Then there's this. Poor guy. Gotta be one of the most embarrassing moments in Olympic history. But this is funny. And this. And I'll stop with my Olympics love here. otherwise I might go on for awhile (whichthenmightleadtoslightrantingonsomeafewissues)
But the memes resulting from this Olympics have been great. (I think the USA is actually in the lead again medal-wise for now, so that pic isn't really relevant, but still a little amusing) And Curiosity has landed on Mars! Just felt the need to include that sentence for the nerd-points. But it really is cool. Years of work have paid off for NASA. But something completely random, did you all know that apparently the on-board computer system of the newest robot-resident of Mars is actually less powerful than an iphone4s? Interesting.
Meh, I think I've written enough for one blog. Plus it's a bit more topic driven than I think it has been recently. So there's that.

Love,
Jill
       

Basically, I had deep thoughts before. Something about life and desires and indecision. Or something about Mars. I could have written about Mars. Or jam cats. Because those are cute. But of course, I have procrastinated, and now I only have like, 30 minutes to write this because I'm going over to Esther's for a sleepover tonight. So this is about as good as it's going to get. 
But today was a good day. This morning I took my friend Esther to Walmart to buy ingredients for the cheesecake that she's baking for a friend. And then I came home to my mother frantically practicing lines for our shoot today. We shot part of episode 10, despite the lack of Sanaa, and it was really fun. My parents are hilarious when they're acting. They get nervous and do silly stuff, and they're just a constant source of entertainment...as usual. See why I like to hang out with them?
Anyway, Sara and I are about to go to a sleepover, and I haven't packed anything. But I'm going to briefly tell you about upcoming interestingness. Tomorrow is the big, epic zombie filming day, which will be really fun, I hope. We practiced zombie makeup on Sara. That was special. Sara, you looked legitimately frightening. MWAHAHAHAHA!
Anyway, then on Saturday, we're going to pick up Mark from Owensboro and film car scenes on the way up there (and maybe on the way back if we can stuff Mark in the trunk). Then we're filming all day that day! And then there's a concert at an Irish pub I might go to if Victoria will go with me. 
Sunday, I'll be running one of the cameras at church all morning, then filming some more, and then there will be an Olympic closing ceremony/wrap party! WOOT! And all the while, there's a METEOR SHOWER going on!!! So go outside and stare at the sky!
In other news, all the filming for Expect Squirrels should be done by Monday-ish maybe hopefully. And my friend Nathan from Harlaxton is coming to BG on Tuesday or Wednesday, and most importantly I GET A SHERBY ON FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!! :)
Well....I'm boring myself just writing about a bunch of (exciting) events. Next time I'll try to write about actual stuff. But not now. Now, I really ought to pack a bag or something. Bye.
<3
Abs

Hello from my address...which I'm not going to post on the internet. Creepers.
Today was pretty successful....I got up early this morning to help Mackenzie unload pallets of food for the St. Joseph and St. Vincent de Paul's food banks. After volunteering, we went over to her sister's house where we were fed and I got to play with babies! I can't believe that Mackenzie will be leaving to go to UK (the college, not the land mass)....my buddy is all grown up :( but hopefully I'll be able to go up and hang out with her when I can--especially for her birthday.
In other news, filming continues to be hot, but we keep getting stuff done! I think we're getting better at being productive. Yay us! I think it has to do with we're sharing our ideas better and the fact that we want to get out of the sun...and the shorter takes/scenes.....it has nothing to do with the fact that our skill set is also growing :P Earlier, I sent Anna Beth a bunch of on-the-set pictures, so there will be more pictures up soon!
Next Wednesday, my dad leaves for NY for a wedding and shall we plan to play cookie roulette on that day? And does anyone have any ideas on what we can do to re-amp this website when we all go back to school?
That's it for now!
Rachael

Cool stuffs:

http://expectsquirrels.weebly.com/index.html

Hello from sadness :/ I keep trying to find a way to copy and paste onto Weebly without it formatting all weird. This week I even tried typing out my blog in Notepad (no textwrap is SUPER annoying!!!) and it STILL didn't work! Weebly, you're really irritating sometimes. I hope you know that.
Anyway, my week hasn't just been about my failed attempts to overcome Weebly weirdness. I spent most of my weekend shooting stuff for Expect Squirrels! Things didn't go exactly as planned, since the weather was being kind of iffy, and we forgot to check and see whether one of our shooting locations would actually be open (it wasn't), but even though we had to shift some stuff around, we still got a lot done. For me, that meant sitting still while Rachael covered my face in goo and not being able to scratch my nose all day. It was really a lot of fun, though. Wearing makeup isn't that bad, particularly when you have someone as talented as Rachael to make sure it goes on just right, and I had a lot of fun costumes to wear. Plus I got to spend all that time hanging out with my friends! We also met Rachael's friend Mark, who graciously agreed to be our Rob, and I think it's going really well so far. I'm pretty sure we're on schedule to finish before everyone leaves for school, and I'm excited to see how it's gonna turn out!
In other news, county schools start back on Thursday, so today was my last day babysitting for the summer. That's one of the many nice things about college- my little sister's going to be up at 6 in a couple of days to get ready for her first day of school, while I'll still have two and a half weeks of sleeping in and hanging around the house to get out of my system before the fall semester starts :) Enough gloating, though- have some Questions!
Anna Beth:
Is there anything in real life as cute as it is in the movies, or is real life just awkward?
You know, the stuff that happens in movies has to come from somewhere. Sure, movies are fictional, so they can have all kinds of implausible, extremely opportunistic plot twists and storylines, but I feel like a lot of those kinds of things have been done to the point where we kind of expect them. Like, we see a girl and a guy in a movie who start out absolutely
loathing each other and we just expect that they're going to fall in love by the end of the movie. The advantage that real life has, then, is that it's... real. Not everything has a rhyme or reason to it, or at least not that a single person can be completely conscious of, so it's genuinely possible to come upon twists and turns in your own life that no script writer ever could have come up with in his wildest fantasies. There's also the fact that you have a personal connection
to the things that happen in your life. To some random spectator, it may not be interesting when that boy in your class strikes up a conversation with you, or when you bump into an old friend you haven't seen in years, but you know the deeper meaning that comes from these seemingly minimal interactions and can see the true cuteness of it.
The other day, Amy said something to the effect of, "I don't want to be madly in love, because that never lasts." Her point was about having a deep friendship with the guy you marry. Obviously friendship is important, but do you think romantic love just dies, like Amy implied, and all you're left with is friendship?
Uhm, no. Obviously it's important to be friends with whoever you're going to spend the rest of your life with, but people don't just pick one of their friends and decide, hey, lets get married!
There has to be romance there too. And I feel like you're not going to have a very good marriage if you just let the romance die. Sure, like anything else it'll take work, but I don't think it is at all necessary for romance just to die in a marriage. Of course, this is coming from my unmarried, lacking any kind of experience perspective. Judging from the happy marriages I've seen, though, I think Amy's just being pessimistic.
And speaking of Amy, she's been home for over a week now, AND I HAVE YET TO SEE HER! Amy, it's not fair! I misss yoououuuuuuuu!!!!!!!!!!!!
Do you really ever go "purposely looking for a good cry?"
I don't know about with books, but there are times when I voluntarily watch sad movies or listen to sad songs (I have a whole playlist on my iPod devoted to them :). Back to books, though, if I just see a random book that looks like it's going to have my heart ripped into tiny little shreds by the end of the first chapter, I am generally not all that interested. But if I'm
familiar with the characters and can really feel like a part of the story, then I feel like I'm more accepting of sad things happening, as long as they're balanced with not so sad things. Deathly Hallows, for example, was brilliant. I mean, there was a war going on, so obviously there were going to be sad things and events that I didn't want happening, but life was still going on, so the sadness and tears were balanced with moments of triumph and hilarity. That's one reason I've really liked everything I've read by John Green so far. He just has this way of perfectly balancing out his books: there are serious moments with profound realizations and heartfelt tears for the trials the characters are going through, but there are also, often within moments of the former, hilarious one-liners and descriptions that have me gasping for breath from all the laughter even before the tears have dried.
Do you prefer the sun or the moon?
Well, the sun is nice and all, but I think it's burned me one (dozen) time too many. I'm gonna have to go with the moon.
What is your least favorite type of normal weather (i.e. not including tornadoes and etc.)?
The icky muggy hot kind where you sweat buckets but it just stays there because the air around you is already saturated, so you're just stuck standing there with your clothes sticking to you and your deodorant getting less and less effective the longer you're stuck out there. Like last summer when we were filming A Moment.
Are all generalizations bad? And wouldn't that be a generalization?
Precisely :) If all generalizations are bad, then the previous statement, being itself a generalization, is also bad, so one or the other (either general generalizations or that specific generalization about general generalizations) is incorrect. While generalizations can be annoying and are, most of the time, incorrect, they can be helpful. For example, it's not very feasible to get to know the specific eating habits and preferences of every single snow leapard on the planet. Instead, it may be helpful to generalize about what most typical snow leapards like to eat, how often they eat, and so forth, so that you can use these generalizations to help you make decisions should you ever find yourself in a situation involving snow leapards (say, for example, the pros and cons of sneaking into a snow leapard's cage at the zoo, and the likelihood that you will be something it will want to eat). So, although generalizations in general are generally annoying and incorrect, they are also helpful to an extent when no better option is available to you. In general, you know, things that exist have some sort of use. It's just a matter of determining whether its usefulness is enough to make up for its annoyingness.
All the best things in life make sense: true or false?
Umm. False. Plenty of things in life don't make sense (at least, coming from the perspective of a single person in a sea of 7 billion other people, not to mention all the other life forms on the planet). That's part of the concept of Grace- getting what you don't deserve. Knowing that you are completely unqualified, imperfect, incapable of ever deserving the great thing that comes into your life, but getting it anyway.  It doesn't make any kind of sense, but it's pretty great in my opinion.
You love babies. Does this include the babies from the Evil Baby Orphanage?
Of course it includes the babies from the Evil Baby Orphanage! All babies deserve to be loved and cared for, even if they are destined to grow up and significantly increase world suck levels. In fact, it is babies like those in the Evil Baby Orphanage who need that love and care even more than most babies. Because it may be that all they needed in the first place was someone to care about them and prevent the giant attention-seeking temper tantrum that is threatening to take over the rest of their lives.
What's the most absurd, unnecessary thing you've ever brought along on a trip?
Well, I brought cardboard David Tennant to Nashville when we visited Amber. To most people, that's pretty absurd.
Where does gravity come from?
Go watch scishow.
Do animals go to heaven when they die?
Maybe.
Is it possible to cry under water?
I haven't looked this up or anything, but I would assume so. You just can't really tell that the person is crying, since their tears just flow into all the other water surrounding them. Well, you can't tell from the obvious, at least. If the person's face gets all red and puffy or something like that, then you'd still be able to tell.
If money doesn't grow on trees then why do banks have branches?
Because the government is trying to cover it up to prevent mass chaos and justification of other conspiracy theories.
Does love make sense?
Yes and no.
Have you ever had a near-death experience?
Not that I recall.
What's your favorite movie?
Too many movies to pick from...
Name three reasons that those of us who haven't read the Host Club series should read it.
1. It's adorable.
2. SOOO much adorbs.
3. EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Really, though, I really like it. Sanaa got me started on it in high school, and I remember being really skeptical about whether I would enjoy it, but I don't think I need to elaborate much on how that turned out. I will say that, for me, at least, the manga format is a little difficult to follow. But that may just be because all I want to do is get through the episodes as fast as I can to see what happens. I have a hard time slowing down and actually looking at the pictures and paying attention to everything that's going on. But it's such a cute story! I mean, it's manga, so it's also completely ridiculous, but that just adds to the hilarity and adorableness of it all <3 So, seriously, go try it out. Then you can join me, Sanaa, and Amber in our SQUEE!!! fest :D
Would you, under any circumstances, agree to being cryogenically frozen
to be woken up in the future? What circumstances, if any?
If Kairan Fisher were going to be there :) Man, I can't wait for Chronicles of Syntax!
Would you rather have a wizard wand or a sonic screwdriver?
Well, I already have two wizard wands, but they don't work for me, since I'm not actually a wizard. So I'll have to go with the sonic screwdriver. At least I have a chance of figuring it out :)
What books would you like to see adapted into movies?
- Anything by John Green.
- The Young Wizard Series
- Fairies of Dreamdark (made any more progress on that Rachael? Or is it still boring you like the Young Wizard book?)
Would you ever want to be an extra in a movie?
Sure.
If you met a genie, what would your 3 wishes be?
To save the world and end world hunger and stuff.

Jill:
Are there any circumstances in which you would take a one-way ticket to be in the first group to colonize mars? If so, under what circumstance?
Circumstances would have to be pretty extreme for me to want that one-way ticket. Like, if I were being kicked off the planet for some unknown, unjustified reason, I'd rather go to Mars, where there were life support systems set up to allow me to keep living, than just be rocketed out into the vaccuum of space to die from asphyxiation/starvation/dehydration/implosion. Or was it explosion? I don't remember what we decided would happen to a human body unprotected in space.
If you had the opportunity to name a planet, what would you name it?
Ok, I feel like you guys are asking these naming questions just to get on my nerves now. How about Pluto, Mark II?
When looking at the night sky, do you prefer to look at the stars or the moon?
The stars. I don't know enough Astronomy to be able to find most constellations or anything, but it's fun to look and connect the dots on my own.
If you had to pick a sport in the Olympics to compete in, which would you pick?
Please tell me I'd have the opportunity to train for this sport and get to be somewhat acceptable at it, as opposed to just being thrown in there with a bunch of Olympic-grade athletes who actually know what they're doing? Assuming the former, my choices would probably be about the same as what I like to watch: Gymnastics or Ice Skating. I actually used to be in Gymnastics when I was little, although it's been so long since I did anything even remotely related that I wouldn't have any real advantage. I could never do the uneven bars at all :/ As far as ice skating goes, I've only actually ice skated once, so I would be really awful at it, I just think it's a really cool (lol, cause of the ice :P) sport, and I think it'd be fun to learn how to do some of the tricks.
What was your first impression of me?
I'm not very good at remembering first impressions of people. Like, the first thing I remember about you is when you wore your Green Chicken shirt to Poli-sci. And I don't even remember thinking that about you, just the random girl in my class who had a shirt related to Osborne's funny story about his wife.
What's your favorite fairytale and why?
FYI, favorite questions are almost as annoying as naming questions unless there's a limited amount of things to pick from. How am I supposed to pick my single favorite story out of the millions that exist?! Especially since I can't think of any fairytales right now... How about Beauty and the Beast? That's a fairytale-ish type thing, right?
If I were to ask you what argument/debate you've had with someone has been the most entertaining, what's the first thing to come to mind?
I don't know, my brain doesn't work. I know I've enjoyed lots of arguments, but I can't really think of any specific ones right now :/
Would you rather be accepted into Hogwarts and have magical abilities for a lifetime or travel with the Doctor for one year of your lifetime?
Umm, Hogwarts. Just think how lazy I could be if I could do magic...
Do you usually overpack or underpack?
Probably underpack. I try to pack as little as possible into as small a bag as I can manage, so there've been a lot of times that I've reached my destination and then had to make do without my hairbrush or an extra shirt because I totally overlooked it in my zeal to shrink my belongings down as small as possible.
Do you prefer your daydreams or the dreams you have while sleeping?
Daydreams. Then, at least, I'm in control, so I can make whatever I want happen. When I'm actually dreaming, though, I feel like my subconscious purposely feeds me just enough of a story or an adventure or a cool thing that I get reeled in and start enjoying myself before promptly turning lame or nonsensical, leaving me powerless to get back to whatever happy thing it is that I wanted to see more of. For example, I had a dream once that I was flying, but
once I realized this and started enjoying myself, my dream person started slowly losing altitude, and I had no way of getting back into the air again. It was really irritating. And recently I was having this cool dream about the town square (like, literally a square block of buildings and roads and things) and I was having fun with all the dream people, when all of a sudden we were all inside hiding from zombies and I was completely and utterly failing and killing them and protecting myself and everyone else. Even when my dreams don't take
annoying or scary turns, they just tend to be nonsense. Like this random scene turns into another nonsensical image turns into more randomness that makes no sense to me and is absolutely no fun.
How many books are in your 'to read' pile (of shame)?
...33 if you count my big compilation books each as one book. If I have to separate those into the individual works that comprise each of them, then you're out of luck; I'm not going to go through and count all that.
Do you work better with a deadline or without?
Unfortunately, I probably work better with a deadline. If it's just a matter of getting my work done whenever I feel like it, then most likely it's just not going to get done, because I'm not going to feel like it anytime in the next century. But as the deadline gets nearer, I get more and more motivated to work. Also unfortunately, that typically puts me up the night before an assignment is due and just starting on it. I do put the pro in procrastination, after all. That does only apply to an actual deadline, though. I can set goals for myself all I want, but if I'm the only one telling myself to finish that assignment before lunch then it's usually just not going to happen. I guess I just don't find myself authoritative enough :/
(also, going off this question, I give you a challenge. Finish reading all the books currently in the pile by the end of the year. If you're successfull you'll get a prize. Fail to complete it... and get a 'surprise.' [You'll only get the prize/surprise if you accept the challenge outright, so it's up to you])
Question: Are you including my compilation books in this? Am I going to have to read the complete works of Shakespeare by the end of December? Because that doesn't seem very feasible at all...
Is it still a good deed if you're forced into doing it?
Yeah. The living room gets vacuumed whether you volunteer to do it or your mom threatens to take away your cell phone. That being said, though, I feel like good deeds mean a lot more if they're done out of a desire to help as opposed to a desire to stay out of trouble. Back to the vacuum example, if you vacuum the living room after a week of your mom yelling at you and asking why you haven't done what she asked yet, then, yes, it is technically done, but no one's really happy about it. Your mom's feeling like the bad guy because of all the yelling and provilege revoking that was required to get the job done, and you're feeling irritated because you've spent all week getting yelled at and losing your cell phone, and you still had to vacuum the living room. Consider, though, if instead your mom comes home from a difficult day of work to see that you've cleaned the living room- and she hadn't even asked you to do it yet. Because this good gesture came as a surprise, and without any tooth-pulling or privilege-removing necessary, everyone is happy. Your mom has a nice clean living room (and we all know how moms feel about clean living rooms...), and you get that happy, fuzzy feeling inside that comes from doing something nice just for the sake of being nice. Isn't that so much better?

And the winner this week? Anna Beth again! STOP ASKING ME TO NAME THINGS!!!!!! Love you guys! Be sure to leave me Questions for next week!

Sara