HAPPY NEW YEAR!

My resolutions...

1. Update my blog more faithfully.

2. Update my RPG's more faithfully.

3. Read all or most of Ted Dekker's work.

4. Try not to stress out/get caught up in drama.

5. FINISH MY NOVEL!

6. Get my academic scholarship back again.

7. Above all, become the best friend, daughter, sister, girlfriend, roommate, and child of God that I can be.

Post your resolutions!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

- Maddi

Apology, "Scrooge", NaNo, Chivalry Fail, and PVZ

Dear lovely friends and followers,

I am so sorry that I've been out of commission, both on my blog reading and posting. "Scrooge" kinda threw me for a loop, as did my many assignments.

Speaking of "Scrooge"...WOW. It was pretty epic. All four nights we performed we were well-received and although I got sick of the songs now and again, it was an incredibly fun show to put on. The last night when I stepped off the stage from "Thank You Very Much", I felt an overwhelming sense of sadness that I'd never get to perform that number again.

NaNoWriMo is here. Whooo. I am failing epically. I don't think I'm going to hit 50k - too much homework to do. I'll try to catch up during Thanksgiving break, though. (Which is NEXT WEEK! ^_^)

Oh, and you know the myth about good ol' Southern boys and their chivalry? How they open doors for girls and all that jazz? Well, the other day when I was walking from my dorm to class, I tripped over the strap of my bag. (Don't ask me how I managed that. I'm clumsy. >_>) I fell - hard - and was stuck there recovering for about half a minute. In that short period of time, at *least* three guys passed me, not even bothering to ask if I was okay. Eventually, a girl stopped to help me up.

Yeah. Chivalry FAIL.

Before I go, play "Plants vs. Zombies". But be warned - it's ADDICTIVE.

I'm off to church now. Have a good day!

- Maddi

Proverbs 17:22

"A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones." - Pro. 17:22

Laughing hard is good for you.

When you get the chance, grab a couple friends, snuggle together in a dark hallway, and watch a good movie ("Spider-Man", maybe). Eat popcorn. Hop onto YouTube and watch cute kids, "How It Should Have Ended" parodies, and "Potter Puppet Pals". Laugh hard. Laugh until you're gasping for air and feel tears running down your face.

You'll feel the weight of homework, exams, and other stresses lifted from your chest.

Trust me. It's good for you.

Uh...

I was going to blog about something, but I forgot what.

Here's a funny song about Edward Cullen!

i r smaert kolege studeent =B

This morning, I got up early for my lifeguarding job. The alarm rung - Adam Young's glorious voice singing "Fireflies" - at 5:45 am.

Ugh...I have to leave in 15, maybe 20 minutes.

I groggily dressed myself and packed my Spanish textbook and notebook into my backpack. Checked my lv. 21 Aquarium on Facebook, then left the dorm room.

Why is it so dark out now? It's not USUALLY this dark when I leave for work. Odd.

Not wanting to cross the street and the long parking lot to reach my car, I called for a security guard to pick me up. After about five minutes, a white pickup truck pulled into the parking lot. Thinking it might be my ride, I opened the door to the passengers' side and smiled at the driver.

"Uh..." he said, giving me a funny look.

Wrong car!

The *real* security guard showed up seconds later, and I climbed into his car, embarrassed.

When we reached the athletic center, the door to the pool was locked. Weird...because according to my clock, I should have been at least five minutes late. People surely would have been there by then.

The security guard let me into an empty pool.

This is the strangest thing, I thought. Did I come too late? Were they here and gone already?

It took me about fifteen minutes after arrival to realize that I had come an hour early to work!

College doesn't make you smarter. >_>

- Maddi

Really?

Obama WANTS to rid the world of nuclear weapons.

WANTS to, but hasn't done that yet.

So...he gets a Nobel Peace Prize?

...

Really, now? I know he's the first black president and all, but...he hasn't actually DONE anything. I thought we we liked to give awards to people who did something to earn them.

*shrugs* I guess there are exceptions to every rule. >_>

- Maddi

I Like Life. Life Likes Me.

Why do I blog more on the weekends than any other time? Maybe it's because I need to remind myself that life is good before classes begin again. :P

Well, this weekend's movie was The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring...EXTENDED edition! I didn't get to see most of the "extensions", though, because Laura "commentated"/acted out the first half of the movie since it was too light to see the screen on Friday night. That was more amusing than the actual movie, in all honesty.

Once she stopped "commentatin'", we were too hyper to pay attention to the movie anyway, so we watched Veggietales' Lord of the Beans instead. It was a little on our mental level at the moment. ^_^

We finished the movie Saturday night, six of us all cuddled together underneath a tree on the front lawn. Once it was over, we spend the remainder of the night watching random YouTube videos about spastic kitties, talking dogs, and cute kids. Here's one:

College can be stressful. I'm not gonna lie, it's been hard managing my time without going b'zonkers. But movie nights with my highly dysfunctional family (aka, my friends) makes it all worthwhile. :)

- Maddi

Lovely "Phantom" Randomness

Feeling shocked, horrified, and cheated.

My roommate and I went to Wal-Mart yesterday afternoon to pick up a few much-needed items. High up there on the list were ant traps, more for her sake than mine. Although we'd not spilled anything that one would expect to attract ants, her side of the desk was covered with them, and I had a few on my side too.

So while we were out, we picked up a 4-pack of those raid ant traps and set one on each side of the desk, relieved that our problems would soon be over.

Well, this morning I woke up and turned on my lamp only to see dozens of tiny little sugar ants crawling around my side of the desk. They were everywhere - everywhere, that is, except for inside the ant trap!

Disgusted and confused, I looked at my roommate's side of the desk. There were, maybe, five or six ants there. NOT FAIR! I set out another ant trap not far from the previous one.

If I were a biologist, I'd be having such a good time right about now, because it's as if these ants are intentionally mocking me. I've yet to see one ant step into the traps, but they've walked the entire vicinity. "Ooooh, this smells pretty! But we're too smart for that, ya stupid human!"

...

This is getting ridiculous. When I get back from classes, they had BETTER be gone.

- Maddi

Wake Me Up When September (and October and November...) Ends

OK.
It's official.

I'm sick of classes, homework, and papers.

'Nuff said.

- Maddi

Angsty ramblings, Mark Nizer, and Scribblers

I didn't think I'd ever get to this point, but here I am. I'm really missing home - legit. College life is great, don't get me wrong. But it's starting to wear on me. The very act of trying to keep up with everyone and everything at *every* moment is exhausting and discouraging.

Thank God for weekends.

Yesterday Mark Nizer, a professional juggler, performed a show at campus. I can't begin to describe how amazing it was...but then, I'm a huge fan of pretty lights, 3-D images, and "Oooh, shiny!" moments.

Mark Nizer likes to play with lasers, toilet paper, unicycles, machetes, electric carving knives, and (of course) the traditional juggling ball. Memorable acts included juggling a bowling ball, an electrical carving knife, and a propane lighter at the same time; attaching lasers to a Chinese yo-yo and using it in the dark; juggling two machetes and eating/juggling an apple while on a unicycle; playing songs with his juggling balls on a mini-keyboard; etc.

Some parts were in 3-D, so we got these nifty glasses that some of us continued to play with after the show. (Myself included. Yes, I am a dork.) One of the funnier parts of the show was actually the credits, which basically made fun of us all for sitting there watching them just because they were in 3-D. Pssh...seriously, the letters were POPPING OUT AT US! How could I not stay for that?!

Anywho, after that I played cards and Catch Phrase with some friends/random people until ten minutes before curfew. Ran back to the dorm with my friend Caitlin and made it there just in time.

On the agenda today...

- Study date with my boyfriend

- Tailgate party

- Football game? (Do I really wanna watch us get obliterated by Alabama State? O.O)

- Movie night: The Princess Bride

Oh, yeah! And I've found a club!! There's a creative writing group called Scribblers that meets every Tuesday night. I went to their first meeting and loved it. They're very laid-back, fun people - they're talented, too! I wanna read some of my writing to them, but I dunno when. They're so good that my work seems so unimpressive. :(

Here's your video - "Live Life Loud" by Hawk Nelson. (Actually, no video. Just the song.)

Have a wonderful weekend!

- Maddi

Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades...

Hey, hey!

I'm so lazy when it comes to blogging. Part of that is because I've been so busy with homework and stuff. Argh.

But I'd be lying if I said that college life is *all* homework. Quite the contrary. I'm having a blast here with my new friends!

Here's what I've done thus far...(in no particular order)...

- Played in the fountain several times

- Watched "Digimon" for the first time (yes, I'm sheltered, I know :P)

- Had an X-Men movie marathon (we still haven't seen "Wolverine" yet, though)

- Went puddle jumping with my boyfriend...twice in one day

- Auditioned for the homecoming musical and made it! I'm in "Thank You Very Much" and a few other scenes :D

- Auditioned for the Pied Pipers' (a children's theatre group) and the chorus...but didn't make it. That's OK, though.

- Pigged out on Chinese food with my peeps

- Played cards in the student center

Yes, yes...you're probably thinking all of this is very mundane. We are in Searcy, after all.

The thing is, it's the people I've been hanging out with that makes moments like these so amazing. In the past month, I've been surrounded by more friends than I could have imagined I'd have here, and I'm so grateful for them. :)

Oh, yeah. And one more thing. I'm (hopefully) going to Japan this summer!! Me, my boyfriend Dale, and my childhood friend Caitlin learned about an overseas conversational English program called Let's Start Talking, and we're thinking that we'll do that next year! YAYYY!

Well...that's all I have for now. But of course I wouldn't leave you without a video. This one is "Strawberry Swing" by Coldplay. Enjoy!

- Maddi

Fell in Love

Hey all!

So, in chapel they had a slideshow that played this song in the background. Words cannot describe how much I love it, so I'll just shut up and post it for your enjoyment. :)

Don't you hate it when...

...when you WANT to blog something, but your computer won't acess it for whatever reason.

And then once Blogger starts working again, you can't think of anything to blog about?

MLIA.

- Maddi

The Best Disney Song Ever

Random, but whatever. :P

Guess what, people!

Hey, there!

So, I'm extremely excited because tonight is the season premeire of USA's "Monk" and "Psych"! :D These are basically the only TV shows in the whole wide world (that aren't reruns) that I actually follow, so I'm pretty stoked! ^_^

Except for one thing...this is the *last* season of "Monk"! That just doesn't seem right, even though the show has had a long running and I guess it's time for it to be over. I am looking forward to finding out who killed Trudy, so I guess it's all good!

Hey, if you haven't heard Thousand Foot Krutch's latest song, here it is. LOVE LOVE LOVE this song, and I cannot wait for their album to be released!!!

I guess that's all for now. Peace out!

- Maddi

Cute short films! <3

First, "Entropy" -

Secondly, "Draw With Me" -

Packing. Seriously?

I'm writing this from my bedroom, which currently looks it was hit by a hurricane (or at least a small tornado). I just finished packing the first of many boxes that will be taken to Harding University in a few weeks.

23 days until freshman orientation.

18 days until I move out.

Seriously?

It's a bittersweet feeling, knowing I'll be away from my home for months at a time from now on. On one hand, I can't wait for the new adventures that college has to offer. I look forward to late nights with my roommate (just meeting her in PERSON would be nice, in fact!), running through the sprinklers with my boyfriend (we're cool like that), playing cards with the friends I met at Summer Experience, and, oddly enough, even the classes! The adventuresome part of me thinks these last few weeks in Maine couldn't go by more slowly and longs to know what awaits her this fall.

On the other hand...

How am I going to feel being so far away from my family?

What am I going to do without my church - especially the youth group?

Where would I be without my friends from the swim team and the drama club?

And what about my friends from camp?

Arkansas is so far away. So far away from some of the people and memories I cherish the most. Maine is where most of my family - whether biological or otherwise - is...and I'm leaving?

It all seems so surreal. I can't imagine what it'll be like to leave this sketchy town for the last time - at least, until Christmas break. (I'll be spending Thanksgiving in Nashville, hopefully.)

There are so many people who I wish I could pack up and take with me to college. ("Hm...the dorm closets are pretty big. If you hide in there, no one would ever notice!") But I will keep in touch with you, and hope you keep me in your prayers as I prepare for this new, epic stage in my life.

- Maddi

Am I crazy, or just bored out of my mind?

So, here I go again...I'm going to attempt blogging. The last, oh...five times I've tried have been epic failures. I get too distracted too easily to post on a regular basis.

Nevertheless, I'm going to try again. I have nothing deep or meaningful to say at the moment, so I'll just post one of the many songs I'm addicted to right now.



God bless,

- Maddi