starting something

I've been pretty busy lately without really being busy at all.
(and I've been doing a lot without really doing much)

I've pretty much decided that I'm gonna go to UNM next year. And this might change in the future, but as of right now I will be taking business courses so that I can start my own business where I will sell Pocket Pals.
I know that I'll be seen as pretty much a failure from the viewpoints of many kids and their moms that I've grown up with, but I really don't care what they think (I don't care what most people think about me anymore). I don't really want to be an engineer, or a doctor, or a journalist, or anything that these people see as a "normal" occupation. I want to do something that makes me really happy- something that I can actually have fun doing, and make other people happy by doing. And that is Pocket Pals...
Also I've decided that I don't want to be successful, at least not in the way the world sees it. I don't want a big house and fancy clothes and lots of money. I want to live like Jesus did, because I know that kind of lifestyle will bring me closer to Him.
I am totally and completely dependent upon God for my daily needs and well-being, and I want to live like it.

dont drink whats under your sink

Today in Chem lab, we were doing paper chromatography, and we actually used a chemical that was in a little bottle with a skull and crossbones with the word 'POISON' marked across it.
So cute!

we worry about incredibly stupid stuff

The stuff that my parents worry about is annoying half of the time, and funny the rest of it. Mostly its worry about me and Clinton. My mom was recently worrying that Clinton would go down to Mexico (dont know why she thought that). She was like, "He's gonna get murdered or beat up, etc!"
Why do parents worry about this kind of thing? Maybe this is just another one of those things that I wont really understand until I'm older, and have children of my own.
But really, seems to me that if parents really trusted their kids they wouldn't worry about this kind of thing. Like if my parents really trusted Clintons judgement, they wouldn't worry about him going down to Mexico.

Thats one of the annoying things they worry about. Thats right up there with Mom asking me 5 times if I've taken my vitamin and Dad wanting me home before 10 because he worries about me too much after that.

Some of the funny stuff is my parents making sure that clinton has every single possible school supply and house cleaner because they're worried that he won't be prepared for life on his own (though thats still kind of annoying), and my mom making me put her number as ICOE (in case of emergency) in my cell phone because thats what they do in France. Apparently if you get in an accident or something over there, they look in your cell phone and see ICOE and are like, hey an emergency contact! and they call that number. But anyways, thats still kind of annoying too, haha.

I worry about lots of stupid stuff too. For example, I'm worried right now that my lab partner will turn into some crazy weird person ( a different kind of crazy and weird from me :P). I'm worried that I won't get a scholarship, that Clintons new friends wont like me, that I won't fit in wherever I go to college, that I will live with my parents for the rest of my life, that I won't be able to go to a concert.
But you know, all of that stuff is crap. It doesn't really matter. God takes care of it- He gives us absolutely no reason to worry about anything.
Wherever we are, that is exactly where God wants us to be at the moment. I've become a firm believer in Gods sovereignty.
Whatever happens, its because God wanted it to happen.
And I'm perfectly fine with that.

thanks for your support

I am overwhelmed.

Pocket Pals. Who would pay for them? I wouldn't. But... everyone wants one! People that don't have one want one. People that do have one want another one. People that have some with clothes want me to make more clothes for them. People want me to make some that look like them. I'm so flattered...
But still overwhelmed :P

Actually, I love making Pocket Pals. It's one of my favorite things to do- something I'm actually good at. I wish I had more time. Y'know, if I could drop out of my math class, I would. That would give me lots more time.

But whoever knew that this could turn into something so much more than just a simple project that was the result of boredom?


Also, I gave my speech on Friday. It was a pretty big success. I'm really glad that I gave it on the homeless, because a lot of people don't really help them like we should and I wanted to get them thinking.

5th attempt

My math teacher described herself as the "Math Nazi".
What have I gotten myself into?

Im taking two classes at CNM this semester- Algebra 3 and Chem 1. Algebra 3 is just a fancy way of saying Pre-Calc. (so i found on the first day in class) When you say pre-calc, the class sounds a lot harder than it does when you call it Algebra 3, doesn't it?
I was conned by the old 'bait-and-switch'.
I am grateful, though, because I know people in both of my classes. It's nice to have someone to stress with.
And Laura lent me her dcfc cd (Transatlanticism), so thats helping me get through my homework.
We'll see how things work out.

new project!

im making this t-shirt:

I saw it at Hot Topic and really liked it but not the price. And plus, its fun to make stuff like this.

Only my shirt will be blue.

speech

I had to write a speech for Toastmasters, and I decided to write it kind of about the mission trip to Portland, but mostly about the homeless.
Tell me what you think-

Imagine only owning one outfit. One pair of jeans, and a t-shirt. Imagine having only $5 in all the world to your name. Imagine not being in contact with your family, and not having anywhere to live Imagine taking only 1 shower every 3 weeks, and sleeping under a bridge- if you’re lucky.

Seriously, try to imagine it. I tried to imagine all this a couple of months ago in preparation for a mission trip to Portland, Oregon to witness to street youth and to homeless people in general. I thought I had a good grasp on understanding these peoples’ situation, but when I got there I realized that I was unprepared.

It was the first day on the trip when I realized this. Our leaders took us to a downtown street church called the Transitional Youth, where homeless kids go to eat, hang out, get new clothes and soap and stuff, and watch videos like the cartoon version of The Good Samaritan and The Passion of the Christ. They had racks and racks of old clothes like you would find at Goodwill, and they said, “Pick out some clothes, you’re going to change and be homeless today.” So we all changed, and were wearing stained clothes that were too big and mismatched and stuff, and they gave us a list of things we had to accomplish that homeless people do all the time, such as collect cans and turn them in for money and ask people for spare change.

I was really grateful that they made us do that, because it was really eye-opening. I used to joke all the time that if I failed school and got fired from my job, I could always just become a hobo and live under I-40. I will never joke about that ever again. I know im oblivious to many of the struggles that homeless people have, but I do know that it is NOT an easy life.

So that first day we split our big group into little groups of 5-6 and walked out into the streets. There were two reactions: people either flat-out stared at us, or they totally and completely ignored us. You see, there are pretty much two different WORLDS that I noticed in downtown Portland- you’ve got the wealthy, I-own-2-cell-phones-and-shop-at-AbercrombieandFitch type of people, and then there were the homeless people who were just trying to survive, the people whose community we had just joined. And many of us had previously been in the wealthy group, and didn’t realize it until just then. I really experienced some culture shock.

I can’t say that after that experience I really know how it is to be homeless, though. I think it’s impossible to truly know how it is to not have more than 5 possesions in the world and live on the streets until it actually happens.

Anyway, Portland has the highest percentage of homeless youth. These are kids that were kicked out of their houses cause their parents didn’t want them anymore, or kids that ran away from home because their parents were abusive and/or into drugs and alcohol.

Our groups objective in Portland was to hang out with the homeless and show them Christ in us, and hopefully get them to go to The Door, another downtown church we worked at. As I talked to some kids, I realized that most of them were actually happy right where they were, because things were worse for them before they became homeless. On the street, they had a family of close friends, and they all have each other’s back. The sense of their community is so great.

So yeah, most of them loved their lives, and I even met one or two people who really loved Jesus. This one lady, Madeline, read her bible every day (it was the only book she owned) and she had such a strong faith that it seemed she could take anything the world handed her, even when she had to cut off all her hair because of lice and other pests and when she got food poisoning because she was so hungry she ate out of a dumpster. People like that made me want to be like God even more, so that I could show the homeless that their lives could be so enjoyable when they shared them with the Lord.

So I really liked talking to the kids, hearing about their lives and what they hoped to do in the future. Of course, not everyone was friendly. Some people were even very dangerous, because they were into drugs and alcohol. In fact, pretty much everyone we talked to used drugs. Even Madeline had been on drugs. It’s not something you can easily escape from. But a lot of them were just the nicest people I have ever met. Shane Claiborne, the author of The Irresistible Revolution, said that he was more likely to meet angels in the sewers of the ghetto than anywhere else. I really believe that, too.

I recently read a survey, and one of the questions was, “Have you ever given money to a bum?” and half of the people who sent it to me hadn’t given money, food, or time to a hobo! I find this kind of disturbing. I mean, its not like we never come in contact with them. They sit by many major roads in Albuquerque, asking for money. Jesus spent most of his time with the sinners, the tax collectors, the prostitutes. He said that what you do for the least of his sheep, you do for Him. Lots of people say that they admire Jesus for who He was when He was on earth, and they admire God for his everlasting love and compassion, but most people don’t actually put this admiration into action; they don’t hang out and show love to the sinners like Jesus did. When you admire someone, don’t you want to be like them? God says that what you do for the least of His sheep, you do for Him. If you show some care to a bum, you’re basically saying that you love God.

That’s enough to make me put a granola bar and a bottle of water in my car so that I can give it to the next homeless guy I meet on the road. I would discourage giving them money, because a lot of them use it to support their habits, but giving them food is really good, because they need it.

Shane Claiborne also said that he’s heard lots of people refer to the homeless as Jesus, because God said that the least you do for any of his sheep you do for Him. So when you serve the homeless, you’re serving Jesus.

So the next time you see Jesus on the road with tattered clothes and $2 to his name, I hope you show some compassion.