If they could talk...

If my appliances could talk, I'm sure they'd say a lot of things. There'd be things I want them to say, and some things that I probably would rather they kept their trap shut on.

Take my fridge, for instance. It would sure be nice if it said/did things like,

"Close the door, Laura. You're just bored."
"You need new milk. This stuff expired last Easter."
Chucked vegetables at me and then locked itself.

It would not be as funny, though, if it said things like,

"If I'm running, why don't you catch me?" (hyuk hyuk)
"I am a refrigerator, not an air conditioner."

My oven would yell at me and tell me the last pan of cookies was done so that I never overbake them again.

My microwave would know when my roommates are sleeping and wouldn't make the beeps that always sound like the back-up beeps for a garbage truck at 1:00 in the morning.

My dishwasher would tell me if it was clean or dirty.

And my coffeemaker would just be quiet. Because I don't have one.

And now, the best part of my blog: some of the CUTEST ANIMALS EVER.

 It's okay, little guy! You're on the beach!

 I don't know who this lamb is and why he's wearing a poncho. But I want him.

When polar bears attack. Too bad they don't stay this small forever.

Smile

So I was reading this thing today that was all about ways to improve your life. I don't agree with all of them, but there were some pretty good pieces of advice that I'm going to try to put into practice in my life. Here are a few of my favorites:

- Smile at strangers
- Drink a lot of water
- Get up at 5 am every day (Definitely NOT doing this one)
- Forgive those who've wronged you
       I definitely need to work at this one. I am getting better at not holding grudges.
- Focus your mind on the good versus the lack
- Use impeccable words (words like 'impeccable' and 'astute' and 'ebullience' and 'onomatopoeia')

In other news, we're supposed to get a crapton of snow a few inches of snow some flurries this week. We'll see how that turns out. I'm not really wanting to scoop snow. That's one good thing about this winter thus far- I haven't had to do that yet! When it has snowed enough, my roommates have either scooped while I wasn't home, or it melted before I had to drive over it. Convenient, eh?

This is a semi-short post today because I have nothing fun to write about. Come on, life, get funny!

Here's something frightening scary anxiety attack inducing funny: I'm graduating from college in less than three months. Oh boy.

And now....For your random cat fact of the day:

NO. WAY. Then how do we know they are Ewoks?!?!?

And the winner is...

The Oscars are tonight. Or are they the Academy Awards? Aren't they the same thing?

Obviously, I care a LOT about who wins.

Okay, this blog title has nothing to do with today's entry. It's just the first thing that popped into my head. Which is probably what a lot of this blog is going to be.

I just finished co-writing a paper for a class. That's harder than you might think to collaborate and write 4 pages (free of grammatical errors) with a group. Seems to me that I could have gotten it done a lot faster if I was writing it by myself. I spent a lot of time proof-reading what they had done (and rightfully so!).

I've been struggling with this nasty cough the past couple days. I'll be perfectly fine, then I'll be struck with the urge to cough hysterically until I get light-headed and need to take a breath, or until I feel like I'm going to throw up. Then I stop. And then I'm okay until the next bout hits me.

OH I ALMOST FORGOT.

I started reading The Hunger Games yesterday. Just the first book. Finished it at about 1:30 today. Thanks to The Boy for letting me borrow his Kindle. :) SO GOOD. I want to read it again now! The good thing about it is that the books aren't 3084384003839 pages long, so I'll probably be able to read them over and over again. I just wanted to be sure that I read the first book before the movie came out next month. Question time: What's your opinion? Do you like it when books are made into movies, or when movies are made into books? Or would you rather have them stand alone by themselves?

Personally, I like it when the movies come out first. Then when I read the book, there are pictures of places and people in my head that are the same of those in the movie. If it's the other way around, I have a specific idea of what the people should look like and how they should act...and that's not always the same as the director wants it portrayed. And then I get mad. And if the movie comes before the book, there's no way they can change stuff drastically (like in LOTR when Aragorn "falls off a cliff").

*coughing break*

On an unrelated note....I miss my dog. She's such a good bed/lap/feet warmer. She knows how to pick up on the emotions in the room. If you do something once or twice, she's good at picking up on it. She picks up food I "spill" on the floor. And she is just the cutest. I Skyped with my mom and dad the other day, and Maggie came into view. I called her and started talking to her and watched as her head spun around trying to see where my voice was coming from, if it was upstairs or from my room. We are pretty sure she can't see the computer monitor, but she can definitely recognize my voice!

And because I don't have a recent picture of Maggie, I'll leave you with this:

 

Rock on, little dude. Rock on.

Because my sister says so...

Because my sister told me to... I am blogging.


I usually ignore listen to everything my sister says. She's pretty smart.


This semester has started picking up this week. I can't believe it's my last one! No more school EVER (probably). I'm only taking 13 credits, which doesn't seem like it would be a lot, but it's shaping up to be pretty busy. I'm in two choirs this semester- Jazz choir, and Bethel choir. Those two rehearsals take up a lot of time in the day. I am also taking Principles of Marketing, Principles of Management, and Christianity in a Cross-Cultural Perspective. The first class is an all-online class that just started yesterday. We had a crap-ton of work thrown at us due this week. I wrote it all down so I could cross stuff off my list and not feel so panicked all the time. I've already crossed off 5/11 things! The hard thing about this class is that it is completely online, and it is only 8 weeks long. We are getting a lot of stuff thrown at us in a short amount of time, but I know I can cope...it's only a 200-level business course, after all. That's like fingerpainting compared to Discrete Math Algebraic Structures Real Analysis (okay, pretty much all my math courses).


The second class, Principles of Management, is a hybrid course. So we do have some in-class sessions, but they are usually only once a week, if that often. We have 9 "face-to-face" meetings throughout the semester, and we've already had 4 of them. The other stuff we do is online discussions, readings, and quizzes. There's also a small group project that's due at the end of March, but I'm not worried about this class at all.


The last class I'm in is the most time-consuming of the three. Not only is there a regular classtime, we have this outside "cross-cultural experience" that we have to do. You are reading the work of a new AWANA leader at Trinity Baptist church in Maplewood. There is a huge Karen population there, and they desperately needed the help of some leaders to keep these kids from killing each other help these kids learn Bible verses and play games! That is every Wednesday night, and I'll probably have to do some more outside volunteering to meet my hourly quota for the semester. I am in charge of a group of 6 5th grade girls who are very independent and opinionated. They are a HOOT to hang out with. Their personalities are already starting to shine through. The language barrier is a little difficult to get around (English is their second language), but we are getting there. I only wish we had more time to talk with these girls and get to know them more! But the few hours we spend there each week go by so fast, and they are SO CHAOTIC. Sometimes I feel frustrated that I can't learn everything from them that my professor expects us to- they are just young children! How does she expect us to learn what their praying habits are, or their cultural norms when all the girls want to do is draw or talk about how they want to become fashion designers when they grow up?


In addition to these classes, to make some extra moola, I picked up a tutoring job in the business department at Bethel. I work in the help labs for Managerial Finance from 6-9 every Tuesday night. I used to work on Sundays too, but I was approached by a student who wanted the experience (he was a senior finance major), so I gave up my Sunday nights for him. I figured it would work out fine since I am not normally on campus on Sundays and with my Marketing class starting up, it would be nice to have my Sunday nights free. I also picked up a one-on-one tutoring position, helping another student in Principles of Economics, which I took last semester. I just pray that I can have the patience to help him succeed. It's difficult to become a teacher when I've been a learner for so long. It's hard to have patience when the answer is just STARING ME IN THE FACE and he is oblivious. But this will be a good learning experiment for both me and him. I also am a TA for Linear Algebra, grading homework. So all these things together should help pay for booze groceries and gas. I've also been donating plasma when I can on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, as if I wasn't busy enough!


I try to get most of my homework done during the week so I do not have much to do on the weekends, because that is the only time I get to see The Boy. And we have so much fun! Last weekend we went ice skating, graded papers together, and went to one of his student's basketball games (his kid was so excited to see him there, it was ADORABLE TO THE MAX). The Boy and I don't always have to be out doing things and going places and spending money- I just like spending time with him. We made a bet when grading papers about which of his students would score the highest on their last test. Loser had to make lunch.


I don't know how I ended up making lunch.


I apologize to my sister for going off on about 6 different tangents. But she wanted a post. So she got one.


I also apologize to her for not taking pictures ever. 

P.s. I hate when this happens.

I suppose there has to be a first post, so here goes...

I don't know where to begin.


I suppose I'll start with the title of the blog. When I was thinking about what to call this, I was reminded of how busy life is, and how my life is constantly being interrupted by school, music, friends, family, the INTERNET (big surprise there), and countless other things. Well, "Life, interrupted" was taken. So then I thought back to a children's book I had read a long time ago, "My Mouth is a Volcano," in which the main character is always interrupting (but he calls it erupting, so cute!). Hence, the title "Life, erupted."


I don't know. It made sense in my head this morning.


This will take some time on my part to make this blog look pretty and learn how to add photos and links to cool things, but I will get there eventually. This blog is not really for anyone but me, but I suppose people can read it and comment on stuff if they like. It's mainly to collect my thoughts on things, or to post things that I want to remember and find interesting, or even to reflect on what is going on in my life- so that I can go back and see how weird I was that one day when I posted "398 ways to wash your dog".
 
The posts won't always be long. They won't always be funny. They certainly may not be thought-provoking. But they'll be something that I wrote. And they'll be out on the internet. Forever. Okay, this is scary. I'm going to delete this blog and never write anything ever again. I'm trying new things.


Maybe this blog will help me become more eloquent in my writing.


Maybe it will help me be wittier.


Maybe some people actually want to know about my life.


Maybe I will become so obsessed with blogging that my grades will slip and I won't graduate college!


Maybe I will become famous like Pioneer Woman and have my own cookbook and television show.


Okay, probably not those last two.


The point is, I won't always have stuff to post about, or even time to post anything (Life erupted, remember?!), but this is an experiment. Maybe it will flop. Maybe it will be a huge success. But we shall see where it takes me.