sleep less in seattle and busyness in april

nat and i had a good time in seattle. we were able to spend time with ethan, his roommate, and his roommate's girlfriend. it was a great time of relaxing, site seeing, playing settlers of catan, and watching tv. seattle was pretty cool, we went to pike's place market (where they throw the fish), university of washington campus, olympia national park, whole foods and other parts of seattle. it was actually sunny 2 out of the 4 days we were there. so that was cool. we could even seen mt. rainier in the distance (or as i like to call it, buffalo butt mountain 2; the original buffalo butt mountain is around dillon, but it's actually called buffalo mountain. i chose to rename it myself. :)). anyways, it was sleep less in seattle b/c we had to wake up at 3:50AM to go to seattle, and a bright and early 4AM to leave seattle. between those days, we slept fine. :)

april is rolling around, and there is a whole host of things going on, even beginning this week! :) we have/will have something to do each day of the week, except friday. but here are some things that are going on this upcoming month:

• 3 birthdays: april 1, lory; april 8, nisha; april 22, nat's dad
  
• friend's reception
• habitat for humanity race
• departmental dinner for GradIV
• nat's baptism (april 9, 3PM @ stratford Bible church)
• fixing up the house: putting up the garage door opener, painting the kitchen, putting up trim
  
• nat's parents coming into town for Easter
• Easter
• barcelona trip

whew. that doesn't include all the school-related work we have to do. busy bees in april. :)

march madness - heart attacks

so, i've officially become a march madness maniac. after doing our Bible study together, nat and i turned on the tv to be stunned by the fact that duke got ousted by lsu! thanks to dvr, we were able to relive the final minute, where lsu just took it all away. it was pretty amazing to see all the offensive rebounds!

then, i continually told nat, we (the longhorns), were going to lose against west virginia. i refused to watch the game, and watched iron chef america. well, i was able to watch the last minute of the game, and i thought it was all over when pittsnogle drowned the 3 at the end of the game with 5 seconds left. i almost had a heart attack when i saw paulino sink in the 3 at the buzzer. texas won, and was it exciting!

then, we watched the rest of the gonzaga vs ucla game. as a rule, we generally cheer for the underdog in ranking (except for texas). but gonzaga, being ranked 3, was just killing ucla, ranked 2, throughout the whole game. i didn't think they could come back, but they did, to beat gonzaga. i was so excited watching the game, to see gonzaga lose b/c they were (1) in such a huge lead throughout most of the game and (2) the refs calls seemed to be one-sided towards gonzaga. i cheered for ucla in the last seconds, but then, i saw morrison weeping as ucla took the lead. i've never seen a player cry on the court before, and i felt bad, as i saw him crying. so i was a little divided about ucla's victory.

in-n-out

nat and i are now in seattle hanging out with ethan for the next couple of days. we flew out on saturday, and had a long fun day of traveling, waking up at 3:50am central and going to bed at 10pm western. but we were able to make a 3 hour pit stop at san francisco where we met up with the garcias (all 4 of 'em) and lory and george. it was great, we got to eat at in-n-out and hang around. man, it got busy there soon after 11! anyways, it was great, but hard b/c we had to balance our time between friends (and even watching the little ones). and also, the time was so short that it was hard to catch up on everything. plus, i wanted to get to know george better, but that was hard given we just met, and my A.D.D. made it harder. =P

speaking of A.D.D., man, my bracket is all messed up since illinois lost. well, not all messed up, but pretty messed up. i'm cheering for all the underdogs, except for texas, of course. =)

people pleaser

i've always been a people pleaser, but in the past couple of years i've learned not to put so much weight in pleasing others or other people's opinion. unfortunately, that side is rearing it's ugly head again.

i'm taking the illinois certification testing system's basic skills test and math test. i have to take both of them as part of my application to the RECRUIT program. the basic skills test, i'm not too worried about (basic reading, writing, and math). it's the math test that i'm a worried about. it's a culmination of all the math areas you learn from 6th-12th grade. i've been told my numerous people, including one of the people from RECRUIT, that i shouldn't have a problem with it. well, i've been reviewing some of that material (algebra, linear algebra, geometry, trig, calc, etc.), and i'm not sure if i can pass. :P i don't care so much about passing, but i'm really scared to report my scores to RECRUIT if i fail. i'll feel really embarrassed and ashamed because (1) i hope that i'd know the material and (2) people have told me, given my background, that i should not have a problem passing.

ah, people-pleaser/people-carer is coming back! ah!!!!! go away, go away! :)

so, i just took the practice test. here is my overall thought: "uh-oh". here are some of my thoughts while actually taking the practice test:

• i don't know what these words mean.
  
• if only i had my X book, i'd remember how to do it
• what was that formula again?
• oh, that's how i can apply calculus!
• ah, geometry, i forgot how many theories, axioms, and proofs there are.
• i think i learned this a long time ago....
• i think i skimmed over this part when i was studying b/c i didn't think it was important. whoops!
  

let's hope that people are right when they say the actual test is easier (hopefully much easier) than the practice test!

blessings

recent blessings in my life and my friends' lives:

• maria and andy are having their first baby in april
• hanna and brian are engaged
• amy passed her board exams
• mariko is coming into town to visit
• grandma thompson's birthday yesterday
• joe's birthday yesterday

there are two praises/blessings that i shared with my small group last night.

• showing love to nat. so, based on the five languages of love book, nat's language of love is physical touch. i've struggled at times expressing that love to nat, mostly because it's neither how i give or receive love. God has done amazing things in my heart of helping me express love that way, and more amazingly, wanting to express love that way!
• family at church. renata came to hang out at our house after lunch on sunday. she's the youngest of our Bible study leaders' (cindy and stu) children. that was so much fun, and unexpected. nat had told me that renata liked me, but i thought she just "put up" with my incessant chatter with her. but when her dad said "i'm surprised she picked to go over to your house rather than come home" in a sarcastic but loving way, it hit me that she liked hanging out with me. it was weird. but anyways, that day turned into hanging out with stu and cindy and their family at their house. it was nice to just relax and eat dinner together, and chat. one thing that i loved a lot, was the fact that it just seemed natural to go over. i didn't feel like we were imposing, nor did i feel pressure to stay when they invited us to. so that was a big blessing.

drought has ended

for all you jarlings/custard cup lovers: jarling's is opening up on march 10. cream and sugar! yum yum.