The Weekend and the coming week...

I spent the weekend at my Grandma's. We got there late Friday night, read a bit, then went to bed. Saturday morning, ate breakfast, played a bit of piano, read, and played tennis - I am so glad that there are tennis courts near Grandma's house, I rarely get to play, and I love tennis! - in the afternoon, I mostly read, and then I went and bugged Rachel some. That evening everyone watched Flywheel, the first movie by Sherwood Church (makers of Facing the Giants and Fireproof). Watching the movie, as well as the 'making the movie' extra made me realize that I wanted to write the book that I'm writing for God's glory. Sunday, we went to church, had lunch, and went for a hike, then home.

I can't wait til SaturdaY!!! On Saturday, I won't have any assignments left because they are all due, no extensions, on Friday. A big relief to realize that I just have one more week of deadlines left. Then just studying and exams, but I have two Blackthorne exams which are usually pretty easy. So until then...

I do have a joke that I will post on here soonish...and its my little brother's birthday today!!!

What You Didn't Know About Lame Jokes

Did you know there are two types of lame jokes? These are the interesting things you learn from living in a family of ten. Lame jokes kinda run in my family I guess -my dad is champ, and some of the ones I or my sibs make aren't so great either :P The difference between the two types of lame jokes isn't too huge, but this is my figuring

Type A vs. Type B (for lack of better names)

Type A lame jokes are like the jokes that my dad makes, and seems to be the dominant type.

Type B lame jokes are the jokes my older sister (Sarah) laughs at. Her reaction to Type A lame jokes are raised eyebrows and slight shock to how lame they can get.

So there you have it :P

In a quandary...OPINIONS PLEASE!

Just a short post here - I am wanting your opinion, so be opinionate, but first a little bit of background.

I've always kinda toyed with the idea of writing a story or a book, but recently I came up with this fantastic plot, amazing characters, the whole bit, and I really want to read the book so I guess I have to write it. This was originally the last name of some of my characters : Shara, Fern, Rachel, and Emmiline Brego. Then I found out that Brego is the name of Aragorn's horse in LOTR. I don't want anyone to think I got it from LOTR.

So give me your opinion on this: Should I keep Brego as a last name? Or should I scrap it and come up with a new one?

Platypuses, Tapeworms, and Deformed Young

Yes, yes, I know...it's been waaaay too long since I posted last.
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"The platypus is one of nature’s success stories because its structures are well
adapted for its lifestyle and habitat." - Nelson Biology 11 textbook

When I first read that, my first thought was "whaaa? that sounds so dumb!"

Yes, dumb. I immediately thought back to the previous chapter, where one of the questions had been about the parasitic tapeworm's "undeveloped" digestive system - whether or not it provided an "evolutionary advantage". (Also explained in the textbook is that its simple digestive system allowed more room for reproducing. Reproducing on a large scale is important because, like fish, out of thousands of eggs only a few survive) The obvious answer from an evolutionary perspective is "No!". But if you think about it, aren't the tapeworm's structures "well adapted for its lifestyle and habitat"? (Except instead of adapted, I would use the word "designed" - it is very well designed for its lifestyle and not lacking anything.) Shouldn't it too be considered "one of nature's success stories"?

Evolution confuzzles me to no end because it is sooo full of contradictions. For an apologetics assignment, I did an internal critique on an article that I found. The article was talking about how mammals kill or abandon severely deformed young, but it seemed that "ancient humans" did not do the same. Since animals do kill or abandon severely deformed young, how is evolution even possible because it would have required millions of severely deformed young to have been born? And if they didn't kill deformed young "back then", why do they do it now?

The only explanation I can come up with for why people choose to ignore the problems with evolution is because they "suppress the truth by their wickedness" (Romans 1:19)

Think on these things...

Ok, I know I haven't posted in a while, but now here's something I wanted to write...

Today wasn't too bad I guess, but this evening I cracked a little under stressure (stress that gradually builds up until the person 'cracks' - either minorly or majorly. Usually expressed in an emotional breakdown - crying or anger).
I was thinking about how I was sick of school - just the fact that on Mondays, I do my Travel and Tourism assignment, Tuesdays-Wednesdays I do my biology assignment, wednesday afternoon I babysit, Thursdays-Fridays I do my Intro to Social Sciences and my History homework, Thursday afternoon is my homeschool group meeting. On weekends, I am normally busy, and even if I ain't, I don't get any school done because I procrastinate. Then it's Monday again, and the cycle starts all over again...
That a couple other slightly depressing things I was thinking about had me slightly distressed...not anything major, I just wasn't bouncing off the walls...
Then my dad informed me that since I hadn't cleaned my bike properly before putting it away for the winter, my chain was rusted almost solid and I'd need to get a new one (I'm pleading ignorance - never before have I been expected to clean my bike before putting it away unless is was extremely muddy or something...and I know wet causes rust but it wasn't wet...Dad said something about the salt off the roads)
After going out and seeing the extent of the damage, I cracked a little. All of my minor depression and frustration I directed at the bike. I wanted nothing more than to just kick it, beat it up, throw it out so that I did NOT have to deal with it anymore. I was mad at myself for not knowing better which resulted in the deterioration of my bike which I got practically new last year. I decided to just forget about the bike today, and focus on finishing my biology, because I just couldn't handle right now.

Then Philippians 4:8 came to mind: "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things." I had been thinking about depressing things, and it got me depressed...that's the life lesson learned.

Last week Sunday, my Oma died :( For you non-Dutchies, that's Dutch for Grandma.

I miss her. The hardest was Saturday night when at 11:00 p.m., my sibs and I went to the hospital. She was unconcious, and, short of a miracle, she was going to die. I guess this is really when I 'lost' her. Even if she had regained conciousness and gotten well enough to go home, she would be the Oma I had known and loved for my whole life. I would still have loved her, but it would be different.

I have no regrets, for it was few times when I went elsewhere in lieu of going to see Oma and Opa. I still wish that just one more time, I could see her and talk to her. Just one more time.

I never said a proper good-bye to her...I couldn't. When we were getting ready to leave at 3 am, I looked at her in the hospital bed, and tears started falling and my throat choked up. She looked so frail and unlike the tennis playing Oma I had known. I tend to be an emotional person, and this was the first time someone this close to me had died.

When arrived home about 3:30 am, sunday morning, I was emotionally and physically drained. I slept solidly until ~9:30 am. We skipped church just because everyone was way too tired. My older sister had called a couple people to tell them that we weren't going to be able to be there, so they were short a couple of sunday school teachers, a nursery helper, and someone to do the coffee. At ~10 am, Dad called from the hospital to say that Oma had died.

Sunday afternoon, most of the family met at Opa's. Without my cousins, aunts, and uncles around, this would have been EXTREMELY difficult. But with a large family, you can get a hug whenever you need one.

As for right now, I'm still catching up on school because due the business and my disrupted schedule, my work habits were terrible last week.

The Source of our Identity

This is one of the topics the speaker spoke about at SnowCamp.
Where do we get our identity from? We don't get it from ourselves, we get it from somewhere else; it formed by outside influences. The example he used was Eve, from Genesis. When Adam and Eve were in the garden of Eden, they were naked, but they didn't care. They listened to what God was telling them, and that's where they got their identity from.
And then Satan, as a snake, comes on the scene. He starts telling them other things, questioning God, contradicting what God said. Eve and Adam ate the fruit that they were not suppose to eat. "They realized they were naked" (Genesis 3:7) so they hid (v. 8). In v. 11, God asks them, "Who told you that you were naked?" . All of a sudden, they were getting their identity from elsewhere.

For example, say a child is told everyday of her life by her parents that she's beautiful. Then one day, someone says she's ugly and fat. When she starts worrying about being ugly and fat, she`s no longer listening to her parents.

(Note: The speaker told it way better than I ever could, sorry if it`s a bit confusing)

TonsaFun

I haven't posted in a while because I have been sooo busy. Prior to this weekend, I had a lot of school work to get done so I go leave for the weekend...but I got it all done :D So anywayz, here's the highlights of my weekend...

SNOWCAMP!!!
Snowcamp is a youth retreat held at Muskoka woods. At the sessions, there's a band (This year: Reborn) and a speaker ( : Kevin Torlen); with a few games here and there. The band was pretty good and the speaker was absolutely aMAZing! He was totally skilled at story-telling and then gradually shifting from the story to the lesson. All of his story were true except the first one (but that one wasn't true to prove a point).

Other things that I did was cross country skiing with most of my youth group (it is sooo funny to watch newBies ski...or at least try to ☺), the hokey pokey (only rocker style by Alex Steel
(sp?)) which was totally cool.

We got to ride up there and back on a school bus...which happened to be very uncomfortable. MAde me VERY glad I'm homeschooled :D
On the whole, it was WAAAY more fun than I'm making it sound.

On Monday, I went snowboarding on Monday at Blue Mountain!!! The only places I've gone before are SnowValley, and once at Glen Eden...so it was TOTALLY schweet! i THINK i carve, at least some of the time...maybe...I really don't know. When I got there, the group I signed up with had gotten a better rate so I only had to pay $20, making me (with my Ducth background) very very happy :D My wrist and tail bone are slightly sore, mostly from attempting switch. I'm okay at switch on an easy hill.

That's it, I really need to do some biology homework.
If it was boring, tell me.

BUAHMUAHA!

I got my G1 today!!! And as you know, I have my passport!!! So yeah, I feel pretty sinister right now!!!

Twilight

Not the time of day...or night? but that book/series that girls everywhere are absoluting going stark-raving mad over...

I had heard about and I knew it was as popular as LOTR, POTC, Harry Potter, etc. I didn't really care. Then I saw the book one day, and picked it up, started reading it. I'm not a book critic, and as long as a book isn't really slooow and has a good story line, I usually enjoy it. So, Twilight was an interesting story. I liked it. I wanted to finish reading the series. But then...

I got the next edition of Brio in the mail. (For those of you who don't know: Brio is a Christian magazine published by Focus on the Family for teen girls - I recommend it!) They included an article on Twilight.

A few excerpts from the article:
"Despite the series’ surface appeal as a romance, it communicates many messages that are contrary to the Christian faith, and that’s not something you should be filling your mind with."
"what’s dangerous about Stephenie’s series is that the reader, too, enters into Bella’s obsession with Edward"
"The “Twilight” series also teaches unbiblical attitudes toward authority. Bella doesn’t respect her parents. She loves them, but they come across as clueless and out of touch with what’s going on in her life."

The article also contrast good and evil in Twilight with good and evil in the Bible. It finishes off with this paragraph: "We’re to love God with every fiber of our beings, and that includes loving Him with our minds (Matthew 22:36-38). We need to think about what fills our minds. Does it reflect biblical truth? The “Twilight” series does not. Just because the culture loves these books does not mean you should. As Scripture tells us, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will” (Romans 12:2)."

This article made me really wonder if I should be reading the series, but I was already slightly addicted and tried to rationalize my indecision on whether or not to finish the series or watch the movie by thinking that I was just reading it for a story, not to influence my beliefs or behaviour or anything like that. Then one of my best friends reminded me that Eph 4:27 says "Do not give the devil a foothold [in your life]". That and other stuff she said to me convicted me of how wrong and dangerous Twilight is.

Article: http://www.briomag.com/briomagazine/entertainment/a0007866.html

I guarantee this package does not contain anything dangerous. Or does it?

That's what the package said...or something along those lines, minus the "Or does it?"

Was it entirely true?...muahaha. For in this package was my passport, and loosing me upon the rest of this unsuspecting world is not something to be taken lightly :P
Coupled with the fact that I turned 16 on Feb. 2, which makes me eligible for getting my G1 (for those who don't know, it's my learner's driver's liscence). Hehe, I feel evil ,}

In case you are a serious person who does not know me and you are getting slightly worried...LIGHTEN UP!!! This is what 16 is to me - Approximately a month beforehand, up to, and beyond the day I turn this age, I am subject to teasing about being allowed to drive. I love "being a great menace to everybody out there", or so everybody acts like, or even truely thinks. Muahaha! I love it!!!

Most are just joking when they act all scared and say that they will stay of the roads, but I imagine there are people who don't entirely trust me with this new privilege...hahaha.

Also, yesterday was the start of semester 2 for me. HAHAHA!!! I got a two week break between exams!!! Technically 1 week and 3 days but my exams happened to be done within 3 days. Now I am finding it very VERY hard to get back into school mode - don't worry, my first due date should be enough to jolt me back...not that you, who never reads my blog, would worry.

Blah Blah Blah...I've got to go make muffins for breakfast tomorrow.

Jokes

Random Jokes that might actually be interesting:

There were three blondes and they all decided one day that they would go fishing. While they were in the boat a Game Warden comes up to them and asks them for their licenses. They say that they don’t have them but they only have magnets on the end of their lines to catch the debris in the bottom of the lake. The Game Warden decides that this is okay and leaves. As soon as he does, all the blondes burst into laughter. One blonde says, “That is a stupid Police Officer!” The second blonde agrees, “Yah, doesn’t he know that there are steelhead in this river?”

A blonde and her friend are driving along a road and the friend says, “Aw. Look at the poor dead birdie!” The blonde looks up at the sky and says, “Where? Where?”

A knight and his men returned to their castle after a hard day of fighting. “How are we faring?” asked the king.

“Sire,” replied the knight,”I have been robbing and pillaging on your behalf all day, burning the towns of your enemies to the west.”

“What?” shrieked the king. “I don’t have any enemies to the west.”

“Oh.” said the knight. “Well, now you do.”

Drilling 50 metres deep, German scientists discovered small pieces of copper in core samples taken at several sites in their country. After studying the bits of metal, they announced that, 25,000 years ago, ancient Germans had a nationwide telephone network. Naturally the British didn’t want to be out done. British scientist dug even deeper and found small pieces of glass. After some study, they announced that, 35,000 years ago, ancient Brits had a nationwide fibre-optic network. French scientists were outraged. They dug 100, 200, and then 300 metres deep but found nothing except dirt and rock. Finally they announced proudly: 55,000 years ago the ancient French used cellular phones.

I hope you managed to laugh at least once - laughing is very healthy for you!

Evil Laugh

BUAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHMUAHA
HAHHAHHAHAHHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Guess Why!

Quiz about me

Here, stalker, to help you out :P
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ONE - Spell your name without consonants: eaee

THREE - Whats your favorite number? The last one :P

FIVE - Least favorite color? A pukish green *gag* *shudder* :P

SEVEN - What do you smoke? Any opponents. None can stand in my way. Unless they're better than me.

EIGHT - Are you happy with your life right now? YEP YEP!!! Exams are done and I have the week off!

NINE - Anyone ever said you resemble a celebrity? YES! namely me! haha kidding!

TEN - What is your favorite class in school? Media Arts

ELEVEN - Do you shop at hollister/abercrombie/AE? nope, I shop sales racks!

THIRTEEN - Who is your best friend? I've got several...I'm so thankful for them :D

FOURTEEN - Where did you go to school? Mayfield...I went for one morning to do a gr. 10 literacy test...how boooring and pointless...right now I do internet school

FIFTEEN - Are you outgoing? not particularly, I'm usually rather shy

SIXTEEN - One word to describe you? INSANELYCWAZYANDWACKY!!!!! ;D btw this is her sis answering this one :D

SEVENTEEN - Favorite pair of shoes? my flats, flip-flops, or klompen

TWENTY - Do you have a crush on anyone right now? kind of...not on anyone I know well enough to actually have a major crush on them
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THE CANS:
Can you dance?

- Freestyle: My dancing skill is an unskill...even ppl with no skills are better than me

- Ball-room: be interesting to try
Can you do a cart wheel? nope, utterly hopeless
Can you tie a cherry stem with your mouth? Nooo but I've seen it done
Can you wiggle your ears? with my hands
Can you roll your tongue? yessssah

THE DOS:
Do you believe in God? YES! In the christian understanding. (only one God, a triune God, who loves us).
Do you like roller coasters? YES!
Do you own a bike? yes, a very nice one
u could handle the stuff they eat on those reality shows? probably not, unless it's something normal ppl eat

THE DOES:
Does hair loss run through your family? nope - my Opa's hair isn't even gray yet (light ash blonde)
Does your car get good gas mileage? car? what car? I have a car?
Does your family have family picnics? sometimes - we hike quite a bit :)

THE HAVES:
Have you ever asked someone out? No I just throw them out. If they have annoyed me that much, you think I'd actually be nice enought to ASK them out? lol jkn
Have you ever been asked out by someone? nope
Have you ever been to the ocean? Pacific and the Atlantic :)
Have you ever gone fishing? yes...catching seaweed is my specialty :P
Have you ever painted your nails? yep...but the nail polish or acrylic paint or w/e never survives more than a couple days

THE WHATS:
What is the temperature outside? only like -12 celsius
What radio station do you listen to? um Life 100.3, 97.3 ez rock, and other random ones...usually I just listen to a cd
What was the last restaurant you ate at? William's (mmm...yogurt smoothie!)
What was the last thing you bought? (see above)
What was the last thing you had to drink? Some flavour of punch
What was the last thing on TV you watched? Finding Nemo (DVD)

THE WHOS:
Who is your newest friend you added to Facebook? A friend who had moved out to BC years ago
Who talked to you on the phone last? I DO NOT TALK ON PHONES!!! but that would be Mikaela...
Who was the last person you took a picture of? dunno
Who was the last person you said I love you to? my mom i think...maybe it was
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HAPPY SECTION:
Are you a happy person? generally
What can make you happy? Friends mainly...I love my friends!
Do you wish you were happier? sometimes
Is being happy overrated? nope, if anything underrated
Can music make you happy? YES!

SELF ESTEEM SECTION:
Do you have good self-esteem? kinda, but not really
Do you believe in yourself? Yes, I believe I will say the stupidest thing when I'm nervous or shy
Do you think you are good looking? ppl have said I have a nice smile
Do you wish you could be someone else? Not really
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LOOK AT ME:
What is your current hair color? I'm blonde (what's your excuse?)
Current piercings? just my little brothers' screams
Have any tattoos? not currently...only ever temporary
Straight hair or curly? straight (or wavy after braids)

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Did you survive reading the whole thing?
Actually I edited it later...and shorteed it majorly.

Finally over!

Yes, exams are FINALLY over...boy was I ever hungry!

Nothing makes me more hungry than being nervous about exams. It's wierd...it kinda like instinct or w/e makes me worry but my mind isn't worried (or not as worried as the rest of me). It might or might not show on my face, but before every exam I have this gnawing in the pit of my stomach.

No matter how nervous I am before and/or during an exam, the moment I press the submit button (school equivalent: teacher taking the exam away) my nervousness vanishes. I might worry a teensy bit in my mind about my mark, but the gnawing in my stomach has disappeared...taking whatever partially digested food with it. So my stomach is left very empty, an me, very hungry :P

Last post about exams, I promise ;)

Nussy - Beloved Cat - RIP

Nussy

A beautiful tabby cat who was very, very affectionate.
We love her, and are sad to see her gone.
It's almost a relief, because in the past week she has just gotten worse and worse.
It was depressing to see a once sleek and healthy cat slowly waste away, to cancer we assume.
At the end she could barely move and wasn't eating.

RIP

Exams :(

Nothing ruins the new year like exams...but in desparate hope that I might yet still bring a smile or get a laugh from all who are facing exams (not that any of you read my blog) I shall post this poem I know. You've probably read it before, but a poem as good as this one is always worth a second read.

Now I Lay Me Down to Study

Now I lay me down to study,
I pray the Lord I won't go nutty.
If I should fail to learn this junk,
I pray the Lord I will not flunk.
But if I do, don't pity me at all,
Just lay my bones in the school hall.
Tell my teacher I did my best,
Then pile my books upon my chest.
Now I lay me down to rest,
And pray I'll pass tomorrow's test.
If I should die before I wake,
That's one less test I'll have to take!

By: Shannon Elizabeth Hagan

Copyright ©2009 Shannon Elizabeth Hagan

Source: http://www.poetry.com/dotnet/P7228004/999/2/display.aspx

I hope you enjoyed it :)

New Years, and now exams.

New Years was sooo awesome!!! Got together with friends, ate food, played apples-to-apples and signal, and counted down...sums up my celebration!!!

Then I went up to Ottawa to chill with my friends up there (not that it was very cold) but it was A LOT of fun becuz we played laser tag from 11 pm to 6 am...It might have been my first time but I did pretty good some games :) My code name was "a Sock"

Now exams are coming faster then a thoroughbred approaching the finish line of the world's most prestigious race...AND I HAVEN'T EVEN STARTED DYING YET!!! oops...I mean studying...but have you ever noticed that "Studying" is "student" and "dying" put together?

In my health course there was a list of events that cause major changes in a person's life coupled with a number to show how stressful they were (the most stressful was getting married). I scanned the list and got the grand total of ZERO...because they didn't include exams...which would def. top the list!