I Am Insane.

Today is November 9, 2011. There are *does math* seven and a half weeks left of this year. About five weeks left of this semester. And three weeks left of November. In that time I have to:

-Pass all my classes, getting mostly A's (if I want to student teach)
-Read 26 books to fulfill my 50-in-2011 challenge
-Write 35,000 words to win NaNoWriMo

So, yeah. No big deal. Classes are going (mostly) well. I've gotten back to reading as much as possible (I kinda stopped for a few months there). And I am totally ROCKING NaNoWriMo (I'll talk about my story some other time). But all of those combined? I don't know how I'm going to make it to 2012 in one piece.




Books read: 24
Words written: 15,116
Days until this is all over: 52

Breathing Underwater

Just finished a book called Breathing Underwater by Alex Flinn. It was a tough book to read, but dang was it good. It was from the point of view of a teenage boy who abused his girlfriend. It was hard to read these scenes of him telling her not to hang out with her friend or not to wear that necklace or not to sing at the school talent show. It was horrifying to hear it from him like it was obvious that he should tell what to do. And it was even more horrifying to see him lose control and hit her.

But you know what? By the end of the book I forgave him. He did horrible things, and he could not make excuses for his actions, but he learned and grew and by the end I had to forgive him. I think we as humans have an infinite capacity to forgive if we let ourselves. Each and every one of us is a child of God. We all make mistakes. Some make choices that are a lot more damaging than others, but that doesn't mean that they are unforgivable. If only we could love each other as brothers and sisters. That doesn't mean we have to trust everyone or even like them, but if we loved them we would be able to feel compassion for them, and if the world ran on love and compassion, it would be a heck of a lot a better place.

So, that's my two cents for the day. If you can handle reading a heartwrenching, horrifying, intense book, then I would highly recommend this one.

Oh, Darlin', Don't You Ever Grow Up

At the end of last year I posted a blog about my goals for 2011. Today I want to look at my progress on these goals.

1. Graduate college- Well, this isn't technically going to happen this year. I have two more classes that I have to take next semester, so I won't actually be student teaching until Spring 2012. But THEN I'll graduate. So I'm only a little behind on this one.

2. Re-write NaNo novel from 2008- This one is mostly going to happen over the summer (which has been my plan since I made the goal). But I HAVE been getting involved with some awesome writers and I'm totally feeling the motivation! This one is definitely going to happen.

3. Upload 100 videos- Heh. Ummm . . . yeah, not doing so well on this one yet. This semester has been pretty darn busy. But it's only April! I think I can still do this one. It's just going to take some diligence.

4. Read 50 books- Doing much better on this one than the video-making one. I've read 10 books so far this year, which means I'm a little behind if we're going with one-book-a-week, but this is another goal that is going to get a major boost over the summer. Also, I decided to make this goal official on Goodreads (which is an AWESOME website that I hadn't used before but now REALLY LOVE), so you can watch me as I read (and usually review) each book that I read this year: Allison's Goodreads Challenge.

5. Exercise regularly- No comment. *insert excuse about schoolwork and stuff*

6. Watch Dr. Who- Hasn't happened yet. WILL HAPPEN. But I'm not worried about this one. When I marathon a show, I MARATHON IT.

7. Start a weekly vlog with my roomie Janice- See #3.

8. Fall in nerdfighterlike- Nope. Nothing at all on this front. There just aren't many LDS guys in Flagstaff that are single or my age. Maybe I'll meet someone this summer! Maybe.

So it looks like I'm actually doing okay on these goals! It's only April, so it's still a little early to tell, but I think it's best to think about them more than just at the beginning and end of the year.

Until tomorrow, best wishes!

P. S. Title is from Taylor Swift's song "Never Grow Up" (because I'm listening to that song right now and I couldn't think of a title and it seemed to fit better than "I Am Not the Kind of Girl Who Should Be Rudely Barging In On a White Veil Occasion" . . . I'll use that one for the blog when I talk about my epic Hogwarts Wedding.)
P. P. S. Check out my blog! I changed it up and it's all cute now :)