Hmmmm...my dad just called me, panicking because of the fire in a club in Rhode Island and at an oil refinery on Staten Island, asking me if it was Armageddon or something. I told him no, I don't think so, but it did get me thinkin'.

Last night at XA, Noble Bowman spoke and wow!, was it good. One of the coolest things he used to describe something we do with God all the time was an example from his son, Landon. Landon's grandpa always gives him some money, and the other day, he wanted to give him a $100 bill to put in his piggy bank instead of the $10 that he had given him a couple day's earlier. But Landon just clung to the $10 bill, saying, "No! No!" He's 19 months old. The point was that he was clinging so tightly to what he had, he wouldn't let his grandpa give him something better. Boy, did that hit home. "How often are we clinging to our own dreams so tightly that we don't even let God have a chance to give us His plan for us?," Noble asked. I got to hang out after XA last night for the first time in a few weeks. I had a blast. I ate some stuff late and drank about 2 and a half cups of pop, something my stomach was hating me for ALL NIGHT LONG. When I got home I saw that my sister had called. So I dialed her up collect and waited for her return. She and I talked 'til 2:45 a.m. It was so good to talk to her. She grounds me. And she makes me snort a lot, especially when I am trying to laugh quietly at her raging antics out in my dorm hallway. And, yes, it is secured that I will be her maid of honor, and she also wants me to play my guitar and sing a song at her wedding! She was so ecstatic about that, and it made me feel so good. I already know what song I am gonna play, it's called "Forever and for Always" by Shania Twain; it's just perfect.I think of her and her fiance and also my dad every time I hear it. I am so thankful that God has restored our relationship. And my relationship with my dad is better than ever too. God is so good!

I am so excited for Spring Retreat. I had so much fun at Fall Retreat, and more of my girls in my small group are coming. It will be a great break and I am sure Jesus will break through some stuff in me purty hard like he usually does.

"24Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25For whoever wants to save his life[8] will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. 26What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?" Matthew 16

Methinks I wanna put this verse above my bed so I can think about who I am living my life for......

I'm checkin' out to play some racquetball with Kristin, then, perhaps, some frisbee. Then work. Blech!

"He was a foremost thug...a thug of the first order."~My Geo teacher referring to Andrew Jackson lol

Dude, I feel dumb. I just searched all over my friend's site for his new pics page, and couldn't find it. Oh well. I am currently in the library writing a paper on mountain bike specifications. I can't wait to get the writing part done so I can draw up the bike!!! Now that will be the funnest part!

I had an odd night last night; wasn't feelin' too hot. Or cold. The problem is, I have been feelin' lukewarm, and that feeling sickens me. I talked to Moo last night and got some stuff cleared up, but mostly just needed and need to talk to the man upstairs. It just seemed like He was way, way, way up at the top of this staircase that was higher than the distance from here to the constellation Orion, or the oldest galaxies that skirt the farthest outreaches of the known universe. Well, okay, not that far. Just I wasn't even wanting to take the first step towards Him. He has an odd way of pulling us up there though, I think. I wish sometimes that He wouldn't let me seek after the worldly things I think I love so much. But He does. He lets me have whatever I want. I hope He believes me (and He does) when I realize that it is really only Him that I really, truly want when it comes right down to it. The world can end tomorrow and I will be okay if I'm just with Him. Just simply there with Him. Strip away everything from me and right at the core, you'll find Jesus. That's a good thing to realize, I do believe. The other day at church, our pastor said that our faith in Him should be so great, that if EVER Jesus and all the other stuff was proven to be completely wrong, that our whole lives would be turned upside down and we'd all have to turn ourselves into an insane asylum. Welp, that's what I'd have to do. And I'm thinkin' that that's a good thing. Do I sound like Martha Stewart?

Today I went to class, ate lunch, found out my sister wants me to be the maid of honor in her wedding (woah! two weddings I'm gonna be in this summer!), worked out, played racquetball, talked to my friend Dharma, and stuff. It was a nice day today, to me. I kinda like cloudy, drizzly days. Is that weird? Listened to .hopesfall. and Chevelle a bunch. It was coo. I'm procrastinating right now. Yup yup yup. I need to talk to my pal Dana tonight, so I'd better get this paper done! Check ya'lls lata!!!

Emperor's New Groove quote of the week: (cause it's not every day anymore!)
"It's a good thing you're not a big, fat guy or else this would be really difficult!!"~Kuzco lifting Pacha with his neck

So, I just noticed that I repeated myself a lot these last two blogs. Well, I was tired, so DEAL WITH IT!!! he he...

"Maybe the crap in my brains has crap for brains."~MOo

So, what a strange weekend. Friday Kristin surprised me with a Valentine's Day Special! We went to Krispy Kreme and got ourselves some goodies, and then she took me to get a new pair of goggles so I can start up swimmin' again! My eye sockets aren't used to the Swedish goggles any more (no padding around the goggle, just goggle plastic right up against face). Now I just need to get some Vaseline to smear on my chin to protect the weird rash from the chlorine. Yeah!!! So that was cool. She gave me the change so that I could clean my work clothes. I went to work and Amasa gave me a ride home and got me a soft, pink frog for V-day since I told him that I have never really gotten anything. But then I remembered that a couple of years ago Andy got me this cool race car with little candies in it, and that counted. :) I'm lame. But I love the frog. I hung out a bit but got tired and went home, and talked to Paul at the front desk before I went to bed. The next morning I had amazing stomach aches, so I called in to Ski Shack and they were so cool,"Yeah, it's fine! Just feel better!" I was glad I did that because I got an important call from Lacy and we talked for four hours. Yeah, four hours! The first couple of hours was about serious, God-stuff, then the second was about simply stuff. I don't know what I did before work but then I went to work and closed. I saw Paul leavin' the desk right as I got dropped off and ran to catch him. We talked for a while and then I went to bed, excited about church the next mornin'. Nope. I overslept, waking up to a telephone call from Andrew. 10:08am. "Ah!!! Is Dana there yet? She's supposed to pick me up there at 10:10!" "Nope." "Well, have her pick me up at Wells, I'll be down there!" I frantically got dressed in five minutes and went down. No one showed. I went back up to my room to see if someone had called, but alas, they hadn't. So I went back down and waited for another 45 minutes. That's how bad I wanted to go to church folks. I found out later that Dana had showed up really late after everyone had left, and hadn't tread far enough into the house to see the note on the floor that said,"Pick Nicholette up at Wells." Man!!! So I was poopy to Paul and then went up to my room and tried to have church up there. I basically just played somme geetar and worshipped a bit, but was too frustrated to really get into it. I read the Bible a bit and then went to lunch with Karissa. We then went to the Scotland meeting and I'm doin' really well. Unfortunately, Karissa wasn't able to get enough funds to go, so we had to let her off the team. That made my day much worse. :( After the meeting, Charity offered me a ride to work, but first she was gonna visit Jerod, so I gladly accepted the offer. When I got to work, I was asked if I wanted to leave early and not close by the other hostess, and finally I said yeah cause I wanted to maybe start my paper that was miraculously extended to be due on this Wednesday. But then the S.A. didn't show up, so she had to bus tables cause I wouldn't cause of my back, and I ended up closing anyways. I got home and talked to Paul again. It was funny tho. I fell asleep pretty quick-like and then cleaned some stuff up this morning and hung up my posters in my newly arranged room. It's so much cleaner now. Now I've gotta go upstairs and get a magazine or somethin' for the bus ride to Ski Shack. Check ya'lls later and pray for me cause I've definitely been outta touch lately.