The following may be too graphic for those who may not like to discuss crap.

Today I wondered what it must be like to be a brand new human being, just a day or two old, and taking your first poop.

I mean, it's gotta scare you out of your mind. Here you are, trying to adjust to your new surroundings, no longer in the comforts of your mother's uterus (womb, whatever), and there's this warm, squishy, wormy thing coming out of the lower part of your body. What's going on?!? you must wonder. What IS that?? And when do I stop pushing?!

Then, you continue on, day after day. Pooping. Sometimes it hurts, sometimes it doesn't. Why isn't it consistent? you ask yourself. How come on some days it feels like a little Winchester cigar coming out of my butt, and other days it feels as though a mudslide is about to overtake California? Am I sick, am I dying? Do the cigars mean good luck? Why do my mommy or daddy wipe it away from my butt every time I do this? Am I doing something wrong? Should it be a different color? But even when it is a different color, they still wipe it all away. Then it comes back. Day after day. Sometimes even hour after hour.


Seriously. It's gotta freak a kid out that first week.

Good-bye Grandma.

Mildred (DeHond) Stephany.
Born May 19th, 1905.

Married to Alfred J. Stephany.
June 15, 1926.

Mother of six children,
Grandmother of 29 children,
Great Grandmother of 70 children,
Great-Great Grandmother of 5 children.

2 months and 3 days shy of her 102nd birthday,
She died peacefully surrounded by loved ones.
Her hand was never left unheld for the last 3 days of her life.

You were such a rock.
We miss you.
You were awesome. :)

Controversial matters

10-week old baby, 4-D ultrasound.
I see a head, arms, legs, and a body.
Looks like a person to me.

things i have learned by living through 2006

• America is way too rich for its own good. and too many people are spoiled rotten without even realizing it. this includes me.

• Be truly grateful for everything you have, everything you own, everybody around you who cares for you, everybody around you who doesn't care for you.

• Hating somebody means they have won, and you have given up. And it doesn't make you feel any better.

• You can forgive, but you don't ever, ever have to forget. Forgetting only sets you up for deception and manipulation later on down the road.
  

• You're allowed to switch your major, even after 3 years of college.

• When you're in your 20's, don't ever tell people where you are going to be one year from now. Chances are you'll be wrong.

• If you truly love somebody, let them know. Even if it will cause a ruckus, you're worth telling them, and chances are, they're worth hearing about it.
  

• Cars can almost always get fixed within a couple days if something goes wrong. Human bodies take a lot longer to heal.

• Only two types of kids go to private universities: ultra-rich ones and ultra-poor ones.

• No matter how bad you think matters are, they can always get worse. And, these matters all usually work out in the end, and everyone ends up being okay, even if they are just "okay" (the true meaning of the word).

And, last, but not least:

• God has a crazy sense of humor. and He really, really likes to let me know constantly that i am anything but in control of my own life. And that's a-OK with me- it causes pain sometimes, but it also creates much joy.
  

me, myself, and aliens, ooooh....

Today was a pretty good day. I got my hours at American Red Cross bumped up so I now get out 3 hours earlier than I was before. This will leave for plenty of room to run errands during the day and visit with friends, as well as seeing the boyfriend more than just on mondays for swing dancing. AND it will enable me to practice my clarinet every day. Also, my 300-dollar car repair only ended up be one-hundred sixty-four, 100% of which my parents paid for. So....

300-136=164 + [(12-4)(9-1)] sums up a good day.


I created a budget for myself today, during the 2 hours of downtime I had. (Yes, that's right- I got paid 22 bucks to sit there and create a budget for myself, talk to Leo, and browse msn.com.) I'm pretty satisfied with it, and it's nice to have something on paper to look at when I feel like I have no money to spend.


I found some interesting news articles today while perusing. This excited me. It's about time we have some sort of device in cars that detects alcohol in the person behind the wheel. If there is one thing that truly, genuinely pisses me off, it's drunk drivers. There is just no reason for it. My mom's cousin killed a guy on a bicycle because he was driving drunk, during broad daylight. Lives are ruined because of peoples' incredible stupidness, and it's uncalled for. Hmm, I really should probably join SADD or something...

Another article that picqued my interest was The Blasphemy Challenge. It's some new internet fad among atheists, founded by Brian Flemming who directed some anti-God film awhile ago. (The article says anti-religion, but religion and God are two completely different ideas- religion is law made by man, and God is, well, God. Not even an idea. Just... God.) Anywayyy, the challenge is for people to "stake their souls against the existence of God". Like, they are telling God to send them to hell if He is really there, but they're not afraid of Him, or something, because He's not really there? Um, sorry all of you blasphemy challengers, but... no comprendo. Let me see if I got this right- Okay, so you don't believe in God, so you have to make a point to prove it. If there is no God, why then do you even have to make a point? I don't believe in aliens, therefore I don't post videos of myself on the internet, daring them to abduct me. It's all so silly, really....