Hey guys!
So I decided Paciencia needed a face-lift. It'll be getting a new title soon--I am a really indecisive person and change it way too much. However, Bring the Rain (link below) is going super well, I'm going to keep its title the same, and I'm finally making posting a priority again. Especially now that I don't have access to my Facebook anymore, this has become my procrastination tool, which is much more constructive anyway.
I have decided to keep this blog open and use it for my more random and/or witty posts. I am going to use Bring the Rain for the more serious, soul-searching sort of posts.
I decided I have two blogs so why not?
Anyway, to wrap up: subscribe to Bring the Rain, and keep watch for some new posts!
Monday, April 18, 2011
Saturday, January 8, 2011
NEW BLOG!!!
Here is the link to my new blog: http://bringingrain.blogspot.com/
It's called Bring the Rain. Still working out the kinks, but we'll get there!
I'll leave Paciencia but will not be posting to it. All new posts will be on Bring the Rain.
I love you guys! Please follow!
<3 Lolly
It's called Bring the Rain. Still working out the kinks, but we'll get there!
I'll leave Paciencia but will not be posting to it. All new posts will be on Bring the Rain.
I love you guys! Please follow!
<3 Lolly
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Dr. Harry Leckenby is my hero.
My favorite emails ever are the Starry Nights emails that come once a month or so. Here is an excerpt of a great one:
There will be a total eclipse of the Moon on the morning of December 21st (the morning of the last day of finals). This will be the last total lunar eclispe visible from North America until 2014, but the down side is that maximum eclipse will bas at 2:20 AM.
I will be here, taking images of the eclipse, and (what the heck) pulling an all-night grading session. If anyone else wants to observe the eclipse through telescopes on campus, you are welcome to come as well.
(You don't *need* to come to the observing deck on top of Hoffman Hall to see this; you could just step outside, or like high in the west out your window, but, hey, telescopes.)
Harry Leckenby
Fantastic, sir.
<3 Lolly
There will be a total eclipse of the Moon on the morning of December 21st (the morning of the last day of finals). This will be the last total lunar eclispe visible from North America until 2014, but the down side is that maximum eclipse will bas at 2:20 AM.
I will be here, taking images of the eclipse, and (what the heck) pulling an all-night grading session. If anyone else wants to observe the eclipse through telescopes on campus, you are welcome to come as well.
(You don't *need* to come to the observing deck on top of Hoffman Hall to see this; you could just step outside, or like high in the west out your window, but, hey, telescopes.)
Harry Leckenby
Fantastic, sir.
<3 Lolly
Friday, November 19, 2010
Tips for scoring a free meal in college
Dear starving college student readers (all three of you),
With confusing meal plans with blocks and flex and the complicated mess of trying to sort out when and how you are going to eat, there should be a better way. What if you made the majority of your meals FREE? (or very low cost.) Well...YOU CAN!
Here are some ways I have learned to eat well for "real low cheap."
Here to serve,
Lolly
Song of the week: "Hot Air Balloon" by Owl City
Evil thing of the week: Papers.
With confusing meal plans with blocks and flex and the complicated mess of trying to sort out when and how you are going to eat, there should be a better way. What if you made the majority of your meals FREE? (or very low cost.) Well...YOU CAN!
Here are some ways I have learned to eat well for "real low cheap."
- Show up for every Student Activities Committee event. Most of them revolve around food, and of course it's all free. Wednesday night movie with pizza? Puh-lease, you can do it, if not to just show up for the first few minutes and walk away with free food. Pie-eating contest? Do it! You'll feel so sick afterward you won't WANT to eat for a week.
- The same goes for Campus Ministry events. They're big on fair-trade coffee and root beer floats. Also, retreats and SOUL trips might have an over-abundance of food and you end up getting to take it home.
- Join lots of clubs. You don't have to go to the meetings for all of them, just get on the email list. Anytime you see they are serving food, jump on it.
- Academic departments, depending on their involvement with their students, are also really good sources of food. For example, the Theology department does have, from time to time, pizza, desserts, and other things.
- Be choosy with work study jobs. Find out where the best food is. At SMU, Admissions is a great place for food. They give away pizzas on overnight events, they always have cookies and popcorn in the office, and they LOVE to feed you. Rumors are that Phone-A-Thon is another good source of food. Strangely enough, the food service places seem to be one of the worst jobs when it comes to scoring food--they usually charge you and sometimes they have to throw away the food rather than give it to starving students. (Crazy, right?)
- Hang around the kitchens of your dorm. Sometimes people will be cooking and won't be able to eat all their food. Lounges are a good source for pizza, too. If you are like me and can smell Domino's a mile away, follow your nose and see if someone needs help cleaning up the rest of their pizza. Also, just go snooping around your kitchen and other common areas from time to time--someone may have left some goodies out to share with the neighbors.
Here to serve,
Lolly
Song of the week: "Hot Air Balloon" by Owl City
Evil thing of the week: Papers.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Oh. Deer. Hello.
Dear readers,
I will preface this post with a surprising statement. Yes, I'm going to do one of those diary-style what's-going-on-in-my-life blog posts. Mostly, this is about life at SMU, which all three of you probably know too much about already since you all go here.
So...what IS going on in my life?
I moved in on August 25, 2010. Yes, I have it down to the day because I was literally counting down about half the summer until this day. (I would have counted down ALL summer, but it would have been way too long that way.) The first few days of catching up were GREAT. I got to see a lot of friends, do some roller-blading, and organize my room. However, the real fun began on the 28th, when everyone else--including my best friend, Matt--moved in.
I really love my dorm. Aside from the fact that it's kind of far from things, but it could be worse, it's in an absolutely beautiful location. It sits just off the creek and right on the edge of the bluffs, so hikes are just outside my door. It's close to St. Yon's, which is where Matt lives, and it's only a 2-minute walk away (but uphill both ways. I'm serious here--it literally is uphill both ways). Kim and I share a suite (a bathroom connecting two rooms) with Lauren, the RA for our wing. She is a lot of fun, and even though we're supposed to maintain "boundaries" because of all the RA rules, we get along really well. The most entertaining part is leaving her post-it-notes on the bathroom mirror and planting action figures in the shower.
The first week was actually pretty slow. My classes scared me a little bit--especially Sacraments and Liturgy, when I looked at the syllabus and later this semester I'm reading about 100 pages per class. I got to spend a lot of time with people I love, though, including Matt. A week after he moved in, we became "Facebook official " (whatever that means, something along the lines of letting the world know we actually care about each other as more than friends). Things are going great as far as that is concerned.
Since then, I have gotten significantly busier. The first month was hard, especially the part where I had to re-learn how to tell people NO, a skill I had lost over the summer when I really did have time to do everything I was asked to do. The wake-up call happened in late September. I had committed to volunteer parking cars in La Crosse for Oktoberfest (in September?! REALLY?!), but I had way too many things to do and eventually had to tell the woman in charge I couldn't make it because I had too much homework. A lame story, but a true one. I felt so bad when I could hear her disappointment ringing through the email telling me she found someone who would rearrange his work schedule so I could have it off. I know that I did the right thing in saying no later, but I shouldn't have committed in the beginning. At least it paid off--I did really well on both my paper and my presentation that I had been working on (A on both!).
My biggest stressor, however, has come in the form of St. Mary's service trips: SOUL. Last year, after my amazing SOUL trip to West Virginia, I applied and became a member of SOUL Council, the group that leads the service trips. I'm faced with all sorts of new concepts: contacting strangers, figuring out how to feed a large group of people, making budgets, driving a 12-passenger van, keeping a group of 12 busy enough but not too overworked, and always being prepared in case there is an emergency. Also, as of right now I have to plan a trip that is only 9 days away as well as a trip during March break. On top of that, I still have school, Outreach Retreat Team, OCM retreat team, a roomful of ladybugs to deal with, a pile of dishes to tackle, work at the Press, and keeping up my prayer life. Plus I'm trying to make sure I still have a social life somewhat.
The social part of college has completely changed since the beginning of my Freshman year. It used to be that I couldn't handle being alone--ever. I always wanted to be around a big group of people, and luckily the second floor lounge in Skemp provided that. I didn't really spend time with just one or two friends--I had to be in the group.
Now, that my friends don't all basically live in the same building anymore...and now that I have a boyfriend...I'm seeing less and less of some people and more of others. I'm spending more time one-on-one with people, but right now "hanging out with friends" mostly consists of eating meals together and working them into my regular schedule (clubs, power hour and mass, classes, service work). And weirdly, I'm okay with that. I would rather have those few close friends than try to be friends with everyone. It's not that I don't LIKE the people I used to be around all the time. It's that I'm just not as close to them, but I'll still say "hi" when I see them in the halls.
So. In short, there have been a lot of changes. Some have been good, some have been bad, and some really are neutral. God keeps throwing a lot of new things at me, but I'm learning to listen more to Him every day.
I'll be writing again, hopefully more often. I think this is a good place to end here, though. So farewell readers, and probably will see you around ;)
Sincerely,
Lolly
Song of the day: since today is National Balloon Day, "Hot Air Balloon" by Owl City
I will preface this post with a surprising statement. Yes, I'm going to do one of those diary-style what's-going-on-in-my-life blog posts. Mostly, this is about life at SMU, which all three of you probably know too much about already since you all go here.
So...what IS going on in my life?
I moved in on August 25, 2010. Yes, I have it down to the day because I was literally counting down about half the summer until this day. (I would have counted down ALL summer, but it would have been way too long that way.) The first few days of catching up were GREAT. I got to see a lot of friends, do some roller-blading, and organize my room. However, the real fun began on the 28th, when everyone else--including my best friend, Matt--moved in.
I really love my dorm. Aside from the fact that it's kind of far from things, but it could be worse, it's in an absolutely beautiful location. It sits just off the creek and right on the edge of the bluffs, so hikes are just outside my door. It's close to St. Yon's, which is where Matt lives, and it's only a 2-minute walk away (but uphill both ways. I'm serious here--it literally is uphill both ways). Kim and I share a suite (a bathroom connecting two rooms) with Lauren, the RA for our wing. She is a lot of fun, and even though we're supposed to maintain "boundaries" because of all the RA rules, we get along really well. The most entertaining part is leaving her post-it-notes on the bathroom mirror and planting action figures in the shower.
The first week was actually pretty slow. My classes scared me a little bit--especially Sacraments and Liturgy, when I looked at the syllabus and later this semester I'm reading about 100 pages per class. I got to spend a lot of time with people I love, though, including Matt. A week after he moved in, we became "Facebook official " (whatever that means, something along the lines of letting the world know we actually care about each other as more than friends). Things are going great as far as that is concerned.
Since then, I have gotten significantly busier. The first month was hard, especially the part where I had to re-learn how to tell people NO, a skill I had lost over the summer when I really did have time to do everything I was asked to do. The wake-up call happened in late September. I had committed to volunteer parking cars in La Crosse for Oktoberfest (in September?! REALLY?!), but I had way too many things to do and eventually had to tell the woman in charge I couldn't make it because I had too much homework. A lame story, but a true one. I felt so bad when I could hear her disappointment ringing through the email telling me she found someone who would rearrange his work schedule so I could have it off. I know that I did the right thing in saying no later, but I shouldn't have committed in the beginning. At least it paid off--I did really well on both my paper and my presentation that I had been working on (A on both!).
My biggest stressor, however, has come in the form of St. Mary's service trips: SOUL. Last year, after my amazing SOUL trip to West Virginia, I applied and became a member of SOUL Council, the group that leads the service trips. I'm faced with all sorts of new concepts: contacting strangers, figuring out how to feed a large group of people, making budgets, driving a 12-passenger van, keeping a group of 12 busy enough but not too overworked, and always being prepared in case there is an emergency. Also, as of right now I have to plan a trip that is only 9 days away as well as a trip during March break. On top of that, I still have school, Outreach Retreat Team, OCM retreat team, a roomful of ladybugs to deal with, a pile of dishes to tackle, work at the Press, and keeping up my prayer life. Plus I'm trying to make sure I still have a social life somewhat.
The social part of college has completely changed since the beginning of my Freshman year. It used to be that I couldn't handle being alone--ever. I always wanted to be around a big group of people, and luckily the second floor lounge in Skemp provided that. I didn't really spend time with just one or two friends--I had to be in the group.
Now, that my friends don't all basically live in the same building anymore...and now that I have a boyfriend...I'm seeing less and less of some people and more of others. I'm spending more time one-on-one with people, but right now "hanging out with friends" mostly consists of eating meals together and working them into my regular schedule (clubs, power hour and mass, classes, service work). And weirdly, I'm okay with that. I would rather have those few close friends than try to be friends with everyone. It's not that I don't LIKE the people I used to be around all the time. It's that I'm just not as close to them, but I'll still say "hi" when I see them in the halls.
So. In short, there have been a lot of changes. Some have been good, some have been bad, and some really are neutral. God keeps throwing a lot of new things at me, but I'm learning to listen more to Him every day.
I'll be writing again, hopefully more often. I think this is a good place to end here, though. So farewell readers, and probably will see you around ;)
Sincerely,
Lolly
Song of the day: since today is National Balloon Day, "Hot Air Balloon" by Owl City
Thursday, September 16, 2010
PLUG!
Okay, so for any of you readers who don't know this already...and I know pretty much my only reader DOES know this...I'm a pretty big fan of the band called The Afters.
Yes, I know, big surprise.
However, their new album, Light Up the Sky, was just released into stores two days ago! Thrilled as I am, I checked their fansite and found something interesting: the Light up the Sky project.
This is an interactive map, where people from all over the world can post their stories, about how God has worked in their lives and how He continues to light up the sky for them. It's really neat and I think everyone should check it out.
See for yourself. http://theafters.com/
<3 Lolly
Yes, I know, big surprise.
However, their new album, Light Up the Sky, was just released into stores two days ago! Thrilled as I am, I checked their fansite and found something interesting: the Light up the Sky project.
This is an interactive map, where people from all over the world can post their stories, about how God has worked in their lives and how He continues to light up the sky for them. It's really neat and I think everyone should check it out.
See for yourself. http://theafters.com/
<3 Lolly
Little Aliens
My family owns a vacation condo in Lake of the Ozarks State Park, Missouri. We've taken summer vacations down there for the past seven years, ever since we bought it freshly built. It's a pretty cozy place, just a two-bedroom two-bathroom with a really nice great room. My favorite parts are the vaulted ceilings and the bathroom I've claimed, which I got to decorate. Normally, I think animal print is sort of tacky, but my bathroom is all animal print and it's fantastic to say the least. Anyway, I digress.
The past few years we've put out a hummingbird feeder, just for funsies, since our neighbors had one and they seemed to have plenty of visitors. The first couple of years we had it out, we had a visitor every now and then, which was always fun to watch. I never could believe how small they were, either - about as long as your thumb. An acquaintance of ours used to always say hummingbirds were really little aliens that zoom in to take your picture and then leave to report to their mothership. Watch a hummingbird sometime and you'll believe it too - they're pretty nosy and don't seem to mind people too much, although they won't touch you.
This summer, we went to the Ozarks for the hottest week I could ever remember. Needless to say, it was pretty miserable being outside and we were all thankful for the air conditioner. The very last day, Hilary (who always goes with us) and I were finished with all our packing and cleaning, so I decided to go outside and soak up the last few rays for the vacation while watching the hummingbirds.
Apparently, this year our feeder was like prime real estate. Before I went outside to watch, I was peeking out the window at the little aliens, and there were four, five, up to seven hummingbirds crowded around it at a time. Once I went outside, though, a few skittish ones left. I sat down and was pretty still, hoping they would come back once they thought I was a piece of patio furniture. It only took a good minute before we had another taker. This one was smaller than the others, but it had a brilliant orange throat and a shiny emerald back.
As I watched this one, I noticed he was quite territorial. I say "he" because his bright coloring and aggressive behavior made me think so (I'm basing my judgement off of the animal kingdom as a whole, NOT human males). He would sit on one of the feeder's perches and just look around--he wouldn't even eat anything. But as soon as a potential taker would swoop in for a sip, he would chase him away, chirping as if he were chastising them for daring to come that close. Sometimes, he would flit away, but he always was watching from whereever he was, because as soon as another would come, he would come back to chase them. It was really quite amusing.
I watched the hummingbirds for awhile. It may have just been a few minutes, since I could only stand the heat for so long, but all the while it was very entertaining. As I walked away, the aggressive one took a look at me and then darted back into the trees. I'm pretty sure he took my picture to show all his friends just how goofy us American humans look. Yet we must not be too bad, because they sure appreciate our peace offering of sweet nectar.
~Lolly
Song of the Day: Runaway by The Afters--it's on their new CD which JUST came out two days ago!
The past few years we've put out a hummingbird feeder, just for funsies, since our neighbors had one and they seemed to have plenty of visitors. The first couple of years we had it out, we had a visitor every now and then, which was always fun to watch. I never could believe how small they were, either - about as long as your thumb. An acquaintance of ours used to always say hummingbirds were really little aliens that zoom in to take your picture and then leave to report to their mothership. Watch a hummingbird sometime and you'll believe it too - they're pretty nosy and don't seem to mind people too much, although they won't touch you.
This summer, we went to the Ozarks for the hottest week I could ever remember. Needless to say, it was pretty miserable being outside and we were all thankful for the air conditioner. The very last day, Hilary (who always goes with us) and I were finished with all our packing and cleaning, so I decided to go outside and soak up the last few rays for the vacation while watching the hummingbirds.
Apparently, this year our feeder was like prime real estate. Before I went outside to watch, I was peeking out the window at the little aliens, and there were four, five, up to seven hummingbirds crowded around it at a time. Once I went outside, though, a few skittish ones left. I sat down and was pretty still, hoping they would come back once they thought I was a piece of patio furniture. It only took a good minute before we had another taker. This one was smaller than the others, but it had a brilliant orange throat and a shiny emerald back.
As I watched this one, I noticed he was quite territorial. I say "he" because his bright coloring and aggressive behavior made me think so (I'm basing my judgement off of the animal kingdom as a whole, NOT human males). He would sit on one of the feeder's perches and just look around--he wouldn't even eat anything. But as soon as a potential taker would swoop in for a sip, he would chase him away, chirping as if he were chastising them for daring to come that close. Sometimes, he would flit away, but he always was watching from whereever he was, because as soon as another would come, he would come back to chase them. It was really quite amusing.
I watched the hummingbirds for awhile. It may have just been a few minutes, since I could only stand the heat for so long, but all the while it was very entertaining. As I walked away, the aggressive one took a look at me and then darted back into the trees. I'm pretty sure he took my picture to show all his friends just how goofy us American humans look. Yet we must not be too bad, because they sure appreciate our peace offering of sweet nectar.
~Lolly
Song of the Day: Runaway by The Afters--it's on their new CD which JUST came out two days ago!
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