Verses

Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.
Psalms 37:4-5

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
Proverbs 3:5-6

Hungry

You know what makes one hungrier?

Looking at blogs that talk about recipes and what-not and that have beautiful pictures of FOOD!

Hahaha.

The next time I decide to sign up for history, would someone please kick me? I'm so lame. I'm so behind in my readings and studying and writing my paper. Ahhh. I want to drop, but I don't drop. Maybe I should though.

Blah.

"I am so smrt. S-M-R-T."

Grr, you Jeremy Salvador! It's stuck in my head. Boo you.

IT'S ALMOST AUGUST! I'm almost nineteen. Woo hoo! =]

THANK YOU Student Life

Yay! I'm a Family Group Leader for this year's Freshman Orientation!

I'm so excited for this opportunity to witness to my fellow leaders and the new freshmen!

Thank you Student Life and most of all thank you GOD!

Dear Student Life @ La Sierra University

Please pick me! Pick me! I am so excited to be a peer mentor/family group leader! If chosen, I will do my best to help the Freshmen out during their transition, not only for the first quarter, but for the following quarters. Even though I'm doing Pre-Nursing, I will be at La Sierra for another year, so I will be there for all their needs! I learned a lot from this past year and I hope that my testimony will help at least one student out.

I hope to hear from you soon. (As in today.)

Dear Earthlink

I hope that one day soon someone SUPER RICH buys out your company and makes it SUPER AWESOME because you are totally ruining my online conversations and my Internet FUN. Seriously, do you know how SLOW the Internet at La Sierra is? YOU ARE WORSE!

Hahaha. But no joke.

Faith

I was wanting to blog about my experience with faith, but I'm not so sure. Maybe it'll end up the way it was going to be...

Faith...is something not to be taken lightly. For years, I took it lightly and I thought I had a somewhat good amount of faith. I didn't think I had a huge amount, but I thought I did have faith.

I'm just learning that faith...is not easy. It's hard. It's difficult for me to put my life into Someone's hands where I don't know what I'm doing or what the results will be like...but just trusting..

One that I admire so much now is the centurion from Matthew 8. How he just took Jesus at His Word! That is something I'm sooo trying to do...but I'm having a bit of trouble.

I could say more but I don't want to, so yup.

WATER!

I know it's only minutes after my first post of the day but guess what I just did?!


I STOOD OUT IN THE RAIN! YAYYYYY =]

Small World

Sure, Disney does lie about many things and create false images in one's mind, especially in little girls' minds like how one day their prince will come and they will live happily ever after and all (haha, cynical me) but there's one thing that they're right on the dot about...

we live in a SMALL WORLD.

Seriously. Especially the Adventist community.

SMALL WORLD.

Mmhmm

I gots me a passport,
Oh yes, I do
I gots me a passport,
You know, it's TRUE!

tee hee.

Happy Sabbath, yo.

I Want Jesus to Walk With Me

So just now I was thinking of a slow, kind of mournful song that I could play. I was practicing "Arabesque" by Debussy, and it seemed a little too light for me now. I was trying to see in the hymnal if it had "On Eagles' Wings" but it didn't. Then it flipped to this song, and wow...just right!

"I Want Jesus to Walk With Me"
American Negro Spiritual
Arr. Eurydice Osterman

I want Jesus to walk with me. (walk with me)
I want Jesus to walk with me. (walk with me)
All along my pilgrim journey,
I want Jesus to walk with me. (walk with me.)

In my trials, Lord, walk with me. (walk with me)
In my trials, Lord, walk with me. (walk with me)
When the shades of life are falling,
I want Jesus to walk with me. (walk with me.)

In my sorrows, Lord, walk with me. (walk with me)
In my sorrows, Lord, walk with me. (walk with me)
When my heart within is aching,
I want Jesus to walk with me. (walk with me.)

earthSTINK

No, this won't be one of my environmentalist rants but..

a vent about EARTHLINK!

The worst DSL ever! I miss my cable DSL because right now, I've been seriously disconnected about ten times in one hour. It's worse than AOL! Ahhh, I'm so frustrated.

Trash!

"When the Ephesians were converted, they changed their habits and practices. Under the conviction of the Spirit of God, they acted with promptness, and laid bare all the mysteries of their witchcraft. They came and confessed, and showed their deeds, and their souls were filled with holy indignation because they had given such devotion to magic, and had so highly prized the books in which the rules of Satan's devising had laid down the methods whereby they might practice witchcraft. They were determined to turn from the service of the evil one, and they brought their costly volumes and publicly burned them. Thus they made manifest their sincerity in turning to God....

The books the Ephesians committed to the flames on their conversion to the gospel, they formerly delighted in, and permitted them to rule their consciences and guide their minds. They might have sold them, but by doing the evil would be perpetuated. They afterward abhorred the satanic mysteries, the magical arts, and regarded with aversion the knowledge they had obtained from them. I would ask the young who have been connected with the truth, Have you burned your magical books?" MTYP 275

When I returned home after Fall Quarter, I put CDs, DVDs, and books in a Bath and Body Works paper bag to throw them away. Later on during that break, my mom and I got into an argument because she said that I should just give them away instead of throwing them out. I told her that I didn't want anyone else to have them because they weren't "good" (I think that's the term I used?). She replied with saying that how would anyone else know that they weren't good if they didn't read them? But I felt that they shouldn't even have the chance to read them (the issue was mostly about the books inside).

So I've had this bag sitting in my room since then until today when I finally threw them out. There was a bunch of different stuff in there ranging from Dan Brown novels to Gilmore Girls to N'Sync. But the most controversial things that were in there were...

my Harry Potter hardcover books 1-6.

Yes, I was a big Harry Potter fan. Not of the movies though because they totally ruined how I thought everything would be. I became a Harry Potter fan years ago when my aunt brought me over books 1 and 2. It was when they were gaining popularity and selling millions of books and I had heard about them but I didn't bother buying them or anything until she gave them to me. After that, I was hooked. The next book I had bought was the 4th, and then the 3rd, and the 5th and 6th when they came out. The day I bought any book would be the day I would finish it. Most of the time. I would just be in my bed or somewhere in the house for hours until I finished the book. Yup, I wouldn't talk to anyone or do anything until I finished. I think that only happened for a couple of books. The other books only took me, at the most, maybe two days to finish?

I remember the only time I didn't read them was when Gomez was my religion teacher. I think for most of that year, I didn't even touch them. I almost gave them away but I didn't during that time. Then maybe a few months after the beginning of my Sophomore year, I started reading them again.

The reason it took me a long time to throw them away was because I didn't want my parents to try to save them or anything from the trash and I wanted to throw them away when the trash bin was on the street because I didn't want to dump them in there and then have my dad carry that thing up the stairs to the street. Those books are heavy! So today after I took a shower and before I ate breakfast, I took the bag upstairs and threw it in the trash. I was thinking about them burning them before like from the example of the Ephesians. I remember talking to Jenny about taking them to the beach one day and making a bon fire. But since fire hazard warnings are everywhere, throwing them away seemed like the next best thing.

And I thought it would be "symbolic" or whatever to throw them away this week because I think this Saturday, the 21st, is when the seventh and final book comes out. I had thought about reading the last one to see how the series ends and then throwing them out, but noooooo. Never. I thought about it for two seconds and then decided no, no, NO!

I hope they're on their way to wherever they take the trash right now and that they are disposed for good.

Ecstatic

I'm soooo happy right now.

I got to see my friends that came back from the Philippines!

Yayyy =]

Even though my mom is a tad upset at me now, I'm still feeling HAPPY =]

Happy, happy, happy, happy, happy.

K, last blog of the day. (As in Tuesday.) Serious.

Fill in the

happy.
But
scared to hear
from
about
missed
much.
I
the same.
Does
the same?
hope so.
This
is
I want to know.
But I'm
to hear
what
has to say.
I'm
I
can't
thinking
I don't
what
if everything
It's going to

The end.

Late Night/Early Morning Inspiration

Whirlwind, whirlwind, whirlwind,
Oh, how you make things spin!
Ever moving, ever changing
Leaving nothing hanging.
You turn me round about,
So wild that everything's a cloud:
Memories from my past--
Things that did not last
To things of new
Where all is askew.
"Who am I," I ask.
No answer--you move fast.
Oh! You, no man can find
For you are one of a kind--
Whirlwind.


Worthy of dreadlocks, a conga drum, and coffee house?
I think not.
Good thing I'm not an English major.

Perfidious

No, this blog will not be about "deliberately faithless, treacherous and deceitful" things (according to its definition from my handy dandy dictionary), but because it is a new word that I learned yesterday because I READ. Yup, I read the LA Times while doing my laundry and an article in the Opinion section used this adjective for Michael Moore. I thought it sounded cool, so I put it in my phone's notes section so I could look up the definition later.

However, this blog will contain a plethora of things. Starting now:

I love how I sound when I write anything on the Internet, whether it be in my blog or in a networking site. I sound more NERD than I actually am. That goes to show you that you can't believe everything that you read online.

(I will alternate alignments for my different thoughts because I think it will help differentiate between my thoughts because all of you can't read my mind. Also, it looks cool.)

The career battle wages on in my head. It's not Medicine vs. Nursing, but a new conflict between Nursing and Nutrition/Dietetics. My mom will probably freak about another major switch, but hey! That was the purpose of me volunteering this summer: to learn if I really want to become a nurse. A registered dietician works in the Nursing Station that I'm at this summer, and what she does looks pretty interesting. She's mostly on the computer and she gets to wear a white lab coat. White lab coats and I became friends this year, especially during General Chemistry lab. When Nikki and I first wore them for our labs, we were like, "Yup, this is us in ten years!" Things have changed though. But anyways. Nursing is winning though. And it probably will win at the end. Some nurses (Nurse Practitioners) have the ability to diagnose, which is something I really want to do. But first, I'll have to work as a RN before I can work on receiving my MSN to become a NP or be part of Nurse Administration (abbreviations rock!), and I feel that Nursing will be a humbling experience for me. Which is a MUST. Also, it will be a lifetime of service. According to Jeremy, a lifetime of service is the greatest investment and I'm not going to debate with him there (maybe about the -est part). When Jesus was on Earth, He was not waited upon, but waited on others. He lived a life of service for God, for others, and even for us now. You never know though. So this is another thing I will keep in my prayers.

Isaiah 65:24
"And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear."
Matthew 6:8
"Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him."

During one of our Just Ask! Bible studies, we went over with prayer and Mike told us that God answers our prayers even before we are done with them. I was having devotion one day, and I went over Genesis 24. I guess we didn't really go over those verses in the study because I was like "WHOA! That's what Mike was talking about and that's what those verses were talking about!" because the story of Abraham's servant and how he met Rebekah is a total example of that. I just checked my notes right now and it says that it was given as an example during the study for that point. I don't remember that (sorry Mike) so I was like whoaaa.

I think I disclosed a little too much in my Saltatlas testimony section and my MySpace about me section. Here is what I wrote:

By reading my Interest section, one might wonder about that. I know a few may even doubt it. But honestly, I am trying to be real. In this new relationship, I am trying my best to do my part for He has done His part already. But I'm not perfect; I'm not doing the best job. I go through struggles constantly ranging from missing devotions and prayers to controlling thoughts. I am learning, I am reading, I am changing. Slowly but surely. God is working in me. There are many times when I freak out, but one of the things I'm really trying to do is to put my life in His hands for He has a plan for me. Jeremiah 29:11.

Self-disclosure once again! Oh well. If you didn't want to know about that, you should have stopped reading =P

I forgot what else I wanted to write about, so au revoir for now!

Backslide

I talked a lot. I did not follow through.

I made a new MySpace.

I fell back into this horrible networking world that is sucking the lives out of youth everywhere.

Hah, I love my adjectives.

It just shows what a networking-dependent society we live in nowadays. People everywhere, including myself, check sites such as MySpace and Facebook daily, sometimes even hourly, to see if they have received new messages, new comments, new friend requests, and to even pry into other people's lives through reading comments and looking at pictures.

I was out of the loop for the month (?) that I was away from MySpace. And now, this wretched cycle is continuing on.

One day I tell you. One day. For sure. Deleted. Gone. Vanished.

Or maybe not.

Possibly.

We'll see.

At least it's a bit high up in that spectrum (hah, Jeremy).

(Just a side note: I WANT MY PASSPORT, U.S. GOVERNMENT! I am a quiet Seventh-day Adventist Filipina-American who just wants to have the opportunity to exercise her right as a born citizen of this nation! I would like to travel the world! Or even just have it as a possibility! I am training to be a nurse, a nurse that could go overseas to help other countries, if ONLY I had my passport! So pleeeeeeaaaaasssssseeeeee...it's been over three months! I have waited patiently. I have not even called the Post Office to see what has been happening. I know there are thousands, or even millions, of Americans who have rushed to have their passports renewed or to obtain one at the same time that I have but pleeeeeeeaaaasssssseeeee. Expedite the process, if possible!)

Children

During Vacation Bible School this week, I have found another reason why we must be like little children.

I've been helping out with the Cradle Roll/Preschool kids (age 0-4) and I love it. They're so hilarious. Most of the time their parents are with them, but there are a few times when their parents leave. There's this one boy in particular named Jake. He has another brother so his dad alternates the time between them. So usually I help him when his dad isn't there. A couple times throughout the evening, he asks softly, "Where's my daddy?"

Tonight was one of those times. I was looking for him because I noticed he wasn't in the fellowship hall for closing assembly and I found him outside. I took his hand and said, "C'mon Jake, let's go inside" and he asked quietly, "Where's my daddy?" I brought him inside and let him stay with his older brother during the program. But I noticed that when his dad came inside, he hugged him and clung to him.

Many of my kids in the class are like that. They love, love, LOVE their parents. Wendell, another boy, gets really upset when his mom leaves to help out at the crafts station. And even a few of the kids grab their parent's hand and drag them around while playing Duck, Duck, Goose.

Well, when I saw how Jake clung to his father when he came, it immediately reminded me of how we should be with our Heavenly Father. We must search for Him when we feel lost, and when we find Him, we must hold on to His hand and cling to Him at all times. The need that the kids have for their parents is the need we must have for the Heavenly Father. They put their entire trust in their parents, they follow their footsteps, no matter where it leads...that is what we need to do with God.

It's only the second day of VBS, but it's been a blessing...

Nouveau, partie deux

After I walked out of my house to go to VBS, I was pretty amazed at what people can do in just half a day.

All I saw was dirt.

My mom hired gardeners to trim our trees, and they really did their job. The trees are just branches now with no leaves. And the little hill in the back is BARE. All it is is DIRT. It made me laugh when I got home.

No more shade for us.

New.

So apparently there are new seven wonders of the world, according to The Australian.

There are many that don't like this new list and many do, but my question is:
what list will GAA World History students learn?

Hahaha. That question came to mind after I read that article and remembered having to learn all seven for our notes and having to know even more information after reading the board notes poster. *sigh* good times.

But anyways, a new YAY for me: I can eat the baked apple pies from McDonalds! I just checked out the ingredients on their website and it's okay for me. =] I think I'm going to get some before VBS.

Logic Humor.

So class was a bit funny today.

We always work in groups for exercises in class and we usually stay in the same group. Well, today we were practicing translating normal sentences into the four different categorical claims: A, E, I, and O. So the group that I was in had three examples that we worked on. I was the spokesperson for the group today and when we got to the third example, I wasn't really sure about the answer. A guy in the group, Matt, whispers, "Switch it!" So I switched the sentence and our teacher, Professor Morris, gave us a weird look. Garen and Violet were like "No, we meant the other one, we came up with the right one" so I was like "Just kidding! That was a joke." And Professor Morris was like "What was a joke?" and Matt goes, "Haha! We trickeeeeed you!" and she's all like "What?" and I'm like "We're laughing..." and she asks, "Who's laughing?" and I'm like "We are!" because really...we were laughing. Hah, that made me laugh. Even now as I typed it up.

Okay, you (the reader) might not be laughing but whatever.

Oh yeah, HAPPY SABBATH =]

Impaired Judgment.

I have often prided myself in thinking that no one would ever say about me: "Yeah, night's the time when she is most vulnerable."

Even when I'd be up studying for a biology or chemistry quiz or test at 3 A.M. and would be pretty tired, I was still somewhat alert and sharper than others.

My, oh my, how I am proven to be wrong once again.

All I can say, for sake of my dignity, is that I will be needing thick headbands, cute clips, bobby pins, and a couple of hats for the next four weeks or so.

And when asked, I will say that the HORRIBLE HEAT is making my hair and face oilier than usual. That is a sound argument, yo.

By the way, Happy 4th of July =]

Sick.

I can't tell if I'm getting sick or if I'm about to have an asthma attack.

I've never had an asthma attack before, so I'm not sure of how it feels like. But I know I've been starting to cough lately and I don't think it's from a cold. So I decided to take a couple puffs from my albueterol inhaler. I did that a couple minutes ago and after I did that, I started to breathe a little quicker and not in a good way. Right now, I'm shaking a bit too.

...scared...

Lethargic.

From Dictionary.com,

Le-thar-gic
-adjective

1. Of, pertaining to, or affected with lethargy; drowsy; sluggish.

*sigh* I dislike it when definitions include a form of the word that is being looked up. I know I've done it before, so now I'm trying to stop doing that because really...no. Hah.

I really like the definition of lethargy though. It really defines the summer me:

Leth-ar-gy
-noun

1. The quality or state of being drowsy and dull, listless and unenergetic, or indifferent and lazy; apathetic or sluggish inactivity.

I'm sure that my mother would agree that this describes me. I really really really know that I have many things to do, but once I come home from class, BOOM. I knock out for about three to four hours. An excuse would be the HORRIBLE HEAT, but really, there is no excuse for lethargy. I really am at fault for my laziness.

I really don't know where this came from. I used to be the master of multitasking and getting things done (e.g. High school, especially Freshman year), but now, I can do only one thing a day. I don't understand why. It's not that I'm still sleep deprived from this past year and need rest; I've slept so much these past few weeks! Even though I didn't get a break at all from school (because right when La Sierra's Spring Quarter ended, GCC's Summer Session began) does not mean that I'm still tired! Blaaaaah.

The great accomplishments that I did today were submitting my Orientation quiz, Confidentiality form, getting a TB shot, and having blood drawn for some tests that I need to become a volunteer at GAMC. I know I should be used to shots and needles, especially since I want to be a nurse, but I was still trembling a bit when I saw the needles pierce into my arms. At least I can say that I actually did something today when my mother asks.

I really really really really should do something. Many of friends are out there, an ocean away, on mission trips, surviving in the heat and humidity of the Philippines, and without many commodities that being at home in the U.S. entails, while I am here, doing absolutely, positively, NOTHING. I do not want to reply with "Nothinggggg" to the inquiries of what I did this summer when I return to school in September. The answer "Summer school" will not suffice for me. I NEED TO DO SOMETHING. There are retirees who are out there, volunteering, working, do mission work, while I, one who is half their age and has twice their energy (according to health theories though many probably could prove this wrong), am spending my time like a couch potato!

AHH, horrible. I should have at least spent a couple thousand of dollars on summer school at La Sierra taking classes that would take up a lot of time through classwork, labs, and studying. At least I would be doing something productive and worthwhile.