A New Journey Into My Thesaurus

Nice.

This word has been slowly becoming more and more irritating to my subconscious self, making itself more and more consciously annoying.  Is that possible?  I don't know if this is an accurate description of what is actually happening but it makes sense in my mind.  :)  (isn't THAT a scary thought!)

I think it may have started in the fall of 2008 when I attended a church service at a local congregation and was startled and worried when I found the topic of the sermon to be something along the lines of: "Being a Christian is Being NICE".   Essentially what they were saying was we were to be sappy nice, not step on anyone's toes, never disagree, serve our hearts out and be NICE people.   I could not disagree more.   (More on that in a later post....possibly)  I did not return to church there.

In the past 3 years "nice" seems to become an increasingly cop out type description.  The point now is where it practically screams in my head, "LAZY!"  Do I really put such little thought into my words and interactions that I could use such empty phrases as "nice guy", "nice day", "nice time", and "you look nice"?  There are SO many more descriptive words that could convey what I really think but I am too busy or indifferent to put the effort in to use them.

I want to ban the word "nice" from my vocabulary.  From today on I will try to delve into my thesaurus and brain to think of more meaningful words to describe what I actually think.  I don't want to be detached from the world and people around me.  To be more engaged and genuine in the life I live.  Yes, that would be my ultimate goal I suppose. No, banning "nice" will not be a magic *POOF* that makes me a better person, only God can do that, and I will still fail according to his standards, but it may be a small step for me to be able to reflect his love and caring for the people around me.  I don't want my life to be devoid of emotion and filled with cop-outs.

I'm praying for a beautiful snowy wonderland tomorrow morning.  That would be spectacular to wake up to.

Good-bye, Nice!   Hello, Genuine!

Record Highs!

WOWEE! Yesterday the vast majority of the state had record high temps......Portland's record high was 51.......however up here in the far north our record high was a whopping 37....woot. lol

I started clinical in at The Aroostook Medical Center last week. For my first day I got to follow a wound care nurse around during a wound care clinic. I got to see a lot of venous stasis ulcers and a very bad case of frostbite. Wicked cool and extremely interesting!

This week is going to go quickly I think, I can hardly wait for friday!!! I'm WICKED excited to see my grover peoples :):):):)

I went skiing on Saturday with another guy I tutor with. The conditions were PERFECT and the weather was GORGEOUS!!! I don't think there could have been a better day! It was fun because he could ski well too so we just skied hard and fast all for about 4 hours!! SOOOOOOO fun!

This semester due to some major budget cuts the position of activities coordinator here on campus was cut. That meant we lost our open gym, movie nights, pretty much all on campus organized activities. Stink. A few of us students have formed a student activity committee. We had our first meeting on Saturday afternoon and I think it is going well. We are set to start after we get back from break in a couple weeks.

I had to take a woman to the ER last night. She was really sick and vomiting blood. Thankfully I brought my schoolwork because we were there for a very long time. Turns out she has Bacterial Gastroenteritis which is very contagious.....I've been washing my hands TONS and I'm about ready to clean the bathroom with bleach....lol I guess the incubation period is 72 hours.....I'm praying I don't get it.....that would make me sick over the weekend when I'm supposed to be in Grove City. :(

Well, back to studying, hugs, e.

Wowwee Zowwee!

I cannot believe how quickly time has passed! I've been quite awful at keeping this updated, I'm sorry!

Well, since my last post my Papa has passed away. It is very sad not having him here and Thanksgiving and Christmas were very weird without him. Not to mention all the times I have when something cool happens or reminds me of him and I want to call him and hear his voice, but then I remember he isn't here.

School last semester was hard because I missed quite a few days of studying and classes to visit with my Papa before he passed away and then for the funeral. This semester is going well so far, I like all of my classes and one of my professors who is retireing this spring reminds me of Papa... kinda weird.

It is miserably cold and blustery today and we couldn't even see the cars going by on the road from inside the front door of church today because of the white out (the church is only about 25-30ftMAX off the road!) There was a praise/worship service last night that Mt. Olive participated in, it was with a whole bunch of different denominations and we met at the Tower Church (Presbyterian). The church was ENORMOUS!!! I have never in my life been in a church that big. It was like sitting in a cavern. The coolest part though was being with all the people of different denominations just worshipping, so cool. Like Pastor Armstead said, "What if they don't play your song in heaven? Would you still want to go?" I think that really drives home that it isn't necessarily how we worship but that we worship the same God.

Friday night was the Extravaganza, the funnest dance of the year! :):):) A whole bunch of us went it is literally half of the student body smushed into one of the rec rooms with lots of music and lights and it is just a hoot with lots of free food....the whole thing is free! :)

Indoor Intermural soccer starts this week....we are doing a team and it should be a blast...we aren't very good but it is still wicked fun! :) O! O! O! I've been practicing shooting basketball left handed and it is getting really good! :) I can't wait for IM basketball!

On a closing note, I dyed part of my hair last week...a really fun purplish pink color. it is on the underside so you can't see it unless I have my hair up. (so it can still be normal if I need it to be! :))

Have a great week! E.

Exams, Valentines, and a Snow Day

I made it through most of my exams! :) All except the Biology one which got postponed to next Wednesday due to the snow day on Valentines Day! :) It was the first snow day in 18-22 years here at Grove City College...kind of crazy! We had fun though and didn't object to not having classes! haha

Our soccer team is doing okay...mostly we're just having fun! We lost 2 games, won one and tied one thus far....but it is a good way to break up the week and to get some exercise!

I'm doing the Relay for Life this year! I was going to create a team but didn't get the notice about the organizational meeting until the night before the sign up and I couldn't make it to the meeting so I joined the ACS(American Chemists Society GCC Chapter) team. I think it will be fun!

Mom called this morning and told me that Olivia (my friend who has a brain tumor) had taken a turn for the worse. She's not doing very well and the cancer is spreading. She's a senior in high school. Please keep her in your prayers. I put together a get well package this afternoon and Katherine (my roomie) is heading up another package of get well cards from the girls on our hall. Everyone is so nice about it!!!

Alissa (lives next door) has her orchestra concert tomorrow night. I'm wicked excited to go to it; I went to the fall one and it was amazing!!! Will be a nice chance to relax!

I signed up for the ACS trip to the Carnegie museum in March....it was only $6 and I thought like it sounded like a good fun way to get off of campus!! haha

Well, I have to go finish writing my bibliography for my Civ Arts paper,
Hugs, I love you and miss you all! Love, Elizabeth