Question:

I noticed as i was adding my new banner to the top of my blog (^up there^) that you can add slideshows too, and so i was wondering...

Should I add the Salt and Pepper Documentary to my blog?

If you have no idea what im talking about, ask me. But comment and let me know.

Much love.
<3-AmandaMichelle

These Shoes Are Three Hundred Dollars...

This blog is for the one and only Jon Loucks...

So, Jon and I went black friday shopping (the day after thanksgiving), and on the way home he made me promise to blog about the experience that night. Here i am, sitting in RLC Eng 1101, one week later, and im finally blogging it out. Ah, sweet procrastination...

For those of you who dont know him, Jons a sweet boy, but wow, does he scare the crap out of me in the morning. Jon, hes a morning person. Hes wide awake and peppy when i pull up to get him. He hops in, does his little Jon Loucks "squeal", and says "Amanda, Im so excited!" Me, im so not a morning person. Im still in cranky, dont talk to me, must-get-more-sleep mode, and i cringe at his exuberant cry. It is waaaaay too early for this.

As we entered the C'dale mall through the Goodys entrace, we see lines as far as the eye can see, and I have a feeling its going to be a long day. A heavy coat, some dress pants, and an hour later or so later, i found myself buying something for my mom, standing in a line 15 yards long, thinking "She better love me for this". Jon is in a different store, in a different 15 yards long line, thinking the same thing as me. And we were texting each other. Funny how it works like that sometimes...

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful, i guess, until we went to the new humongo Marion walmart (yeah, i said it, humongo (...)). Jonzie and i are wandering around, slightly aimless, when come to the Latin/Asian food aisle. This is what we found...

(pics to come)

Yes, thats right. Apparently in a So IL walmart latin food is the equivilant of boxed tacos and asian food is the equivilant of soy sauce. Sadly, as jon and i were raised in a little back coutry hick town, we found this extremely funny and were laughing quite loudly when (not to be racist) a black guy walked by and gave us a dirty look. I, of course, texted my bestie Brandon with pics and a storyline of the event. He already has a...bad (i guess) impression of So IL because of things ive said, and because of Nates backwoods redneck stories, for which i can often testify as truth. (I think together Nate and I have probably lowered his IQ by quite a few points)...

But the best part of the whole day was definately sitting with Jons computer watching the shoes video. "These shoes are 300 dollars. These shoes are 300 dollars. These shoes are 300 f-ing dollars...LETS GET 'EM!"

Much love, Jonzie!

<3-amandamichelle

Wisdom Worth 1000 Words

"The art of being wise is knowing what to overlook."--William James

"It is easier to be wise for others than for ourselves."--Francois De La Rochefoucauld

"Silence does not always mark wisdom."--Samuel Taylor Coleridge

"No man was ever wise by chance."--Seneca

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Everybody has those times where they just, you know, make the wrong choice. I know this, but sometimes, when the situation that causes the choice should be a no brainer, i wonder how the heck i always manage to get my butt into trouble. Like my quote from Williams James (above), I think i just dont know what to overlook sometimes...

Like, lately, i managed to unknowingly walk right into trouble and take a seat. I managed to hurt somebody i care about, and im still deceiving somebody i dont because i dont want to get hurt. Im one of those people that Francois De La Rochefoucauld talks about (above), because i would never advise someone to get into the situation that i managed to get into. I mean, when somebody youve never been good friends with asks you to "join forces" to "take down" somebody whos been there for you, should you accept the offer in hopes of reconciling with first said person (heres a hint, kids: UH, NO!)? . . . But guess who did just that.

When i realized that id got myself in too deep, that i was upstream without a paddle, my first thought was too keep my mouth shut in hopes that the situation would go away. I thought the best way to get myself out of it was to keep my trap shut and pretend id never got in. But, i felt guilty, even though my involvement was very little, and i realized that if i dont say anything to my friend to redeem myself, it could ruin our friendship. I realized that, like Samuel Taylor Coleridge (above) says, keeping quiet doesnt mean i learned anything. If you learned a lesson, speak up.

The entitlement of this blog, Wisdom Worth 1000 Words, means just that. In a paraphrase of Seneca (above), we dont just fall into wisdom. It is not something we choose to gain or not to gain, to have or not to have. It is something we get from the experiences in our lives that mold us and make us into who we grow up to be. Wisdom comes from what we allow ourselves to glean from our personal day to day. Everybody is wise in a different way, and if those who are wise speak their minds that wisdom will be worth 1000 words to somebody who knows not which way to go. "No man was ever wise by chance" but wisdom is a gift. Use it.

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Yours truly.

<3-possum

Busy, busy, busy...

Okay, so, its been about a week since ive blogged, but ive been so busy with all kinds of stuff. The National Guard, LDC, three days worth of make up homework, back-breaking labor at Hardees (bleck), chores, writing my second RLC English 1101 essay, and writing my article for the JILG newsletter. As Palmie would say "W:oW"...

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So, last week on Tuesday morning my Jobs For Illinois Graduate group went to the old gymnasium in Sesser. Sergent Sanders and her crew from the natioal guard came to take us through a bunch of team-building activities from 8:30 to 11 am. The stuff we did was stuff that if you heard it youd be like "oh, thats not too hard", but, trust me, theres always a catch. Most of it wasnt difficult--it just took a little thought--and by time we were done, we were all starved. Thanks to Katie (our Social Awareness Comittee director), we had Dominos pizza delivered and we ate at the park. It was pretty great and all. Haha.

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Wednesay and Thursday was Leadership Development Conference for JILG officers at campus of the Oil Belt Christian Service camp in Flora, Illinois. BK (president), Heidi (vice pres), Kim (secretary), Chelsea (treasurer), Alecia (historian), and me (reporter) left with Mr. Sample at 8:15-ish Wednesday morning for Flora. It took about an hour and a half to get there then we got a picture with the JILG banner, settled in, and got a tour of everything with Mr. Sample as our guide. Fast forward through lunch and the slightly boring welcome ceremony, we were split up into our officer groups and wisked off to do activities. All six of us had a very different experience because not all groups had the same leader or did the same activities, but for me, i am glad of the group i was in and the leader of the group.

Our group leaders name was Rob and he explained to us that he was an assistant minister at an area church, and everything that he said to us and everything that he did reflected that. The first few activities we did were get to know each other activities, to learn each others names, then we did a few trust activities. When that was done, we went to do a ropes course through the woods. We had to overcome different obstacles, and it was very physical and challenging. There was a large cable spool hung on a bar between two trees about six feet off the ground that we all had to get over to the other side. There was a 10(-ish) foot high wall we had to all get over. There was a swining log between two trees we all had to balance on. There was a wire between two trees we had to walk along.

To keep the morals of my experience short, sweet, and to the point, i learned that its okay to trust someone. If they say you can trust them then, until they disprove that statement, you can. I also learned that im stronger than i think. I basically pulled myself over the top of that wall. I didnt realize i was that strong, but i am. I told myself i could do it, and i did. But i also learned you cant always do it on your own. Sometimes you do need help, and its okay to accept it when its offered to you. As long as you are okay with yourself and who you are and you know your limitations, everything will work itself out. Maybe not the way you wanted it to, but God has a plan and it will work itself our how HE wants it to.

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Ill forego you all the rest of this blog--chores and work are boring, and my writing is not in the interesting stages yet--but ill leave you with one last (amusing) story...

My friends and i were standing in front of a fire exit when the security guard came over and and said "youre blocking the fire exit. Did he think that if there was a fire, i was not going to run? If you are made of a flammable material and are able to run, you are never blocking a fire exit.

Much love.

<3-possum

Breaking The Rules/"Ban Dan"

You know how some people say that whenever you break the rules, you get a rush. Well, dont listen to them. They lied.

How do i know? Its 11:53 AM and im in the middle of my fourth hour Preparatory Studies class with Mrs Johnson. Im sitting in the back corner of the high school library writing this blog. Now, im supposed to be working on something but blogging is way more fun, so i opted to go that route. They couldnt keep me out of my hotmail either. Even though going to hotmail.com is blocked, go to msn.com and click sign in. Sign in and then click hotmail and you can get into your inbox. Ha. Like they can keep me out. =]

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And speaking of blocking things...

The other day i was talking to my younger brother about how the school somtimes blocks websites that are actually appropriate and educational. I think they ban things for the sake of banning them sometimes, but what can you do? Well...

I remember back in the day when the blocker they used to stop us was Dans AccessGuardian. Boy, did we hate that thing, and did we ever campaign against it. We ever clever with our slogans but the catchiest one was a simple two words, which i will leave you with because the bell is about to ring.

Remember, kids...

"Ban Dan"

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Much love.
<3-amandamichelle

Goatees, Goat Cheese, And Sun Tea...Oh My!

I havent blogged in a while, so i just wanted to let you know that the first two sections of this blog are events of today, and the last one happened a few weeks ago. I threw it in for rhyming purposes in the title. Thats basically it. Enjoy!

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So, im sitting in Chemsitry sixth hour today and my lab partner Ashley is talking to me, something about her boyfriend, x-men, and chinese people with goatees, but i wasnt really listening becasue i was rewriting answer on my chemistry worksheet. Im not really sure what the initial conversaton was (ssh, dont tell), but i know this: i wasnt really fazed about her talk of chinese people having goatees. Apparently i was supposed to be...

"Well, how many chinese people do you know that have goatees?" she asked.

"All of them." I replied, pulling a serious face.

She studied me a moment. "Do you even know any chinese people?"

I smiled and said, matter-of-factly, "No, but if i did, they would all have goatees."

Just thought id share that with you. It leads right into the goat cheese...

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I was talking to my Beaver (brandon griffin) earlier, and the beave is telling me random stories about his day. I begin to tell him about the chinese people with goatees conversation, but the phone kept cutting out. He asked me what im doing with goat cheese. It took ten minutes to explain to him that i said goatees not goat cheese. Awkward.

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So, a few weeks ago, im sitting on my couch on a sunny saturday afternoon doing trig when my dad walks through the room and out the front door with a clear, plastic jug in his hand. The jug contained water and two tea bags. He sat it on our porch in the sunlight and came back inside. When i asked what he was doing, he said he was making "sun tea" and that when he was a kid that was how my grandparents had made tea. If you sit a jug with such contents outside in the sun, it will boil the tea out of the bags and thus make tea. I had never heard of it, but i found out from a friend that his mom makes tea that way. I just thought it was interesting...

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Much love, kids.
<3-amandamichelle

Shoulda Took A Picture

Okay, so. I live in southern illinois. You know youre from southern illinois when there are corn/soy bean fields as far as the eye can see and your neighbor is anybody that lives within a mile or so of you. Me, i dont live in town. I live out in the middle of the country so a lot of my neighbors own cattle. They need to learn to take better care of them...

Earlier this week, im driving to school. I have my little brother with me and im running a little later than usual. I get near the end of my road to turn onto the highway and when i look around i see cows. Both sides of the road have pastures so i wasnt real disturbed until one of them walked right in front of me. Im not gonna lie, i was kinda scared and i just kept honking my horn at them to moooooove on out of my way. They were not very cooperative cows.

Finally i got through them, and as i turned onto the highway i looked over at my brother and the first words out of my mouth were "Dang it, Cody, I shoulda took a picture!"

<3-amandamichelle

Seniors In Session/ SMC/ No Way, Jacob!

Okay, so for the past two weeks weve been back in school. Its my senior year and am i siked? You bet i am! Theres just one teeny problem. THE PAST TWO WEEKS HAVE FELT LIKE TWO YEARS! Ugh. I am never going to graduate at this rate! It feels like it is dragging on and on and on! Graduation or bust. Graduation or bust. I think im going to bust...yeah. Totally...

And while were on the subject of seniors and graduation, I had Jessica Hollis take my Senior pics somewhere around a month ago. She did a really amazing job and i was very pleased with the results. This is just a sample of my senior pics...

I really do love my pictures. Jessica is honestly a really great photographer and a pleasure to work with. To see more of her work, check out the JHP website, http://www.jessicahollisphotography.com/.

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As most of you know, my grandmother died at the end of the last school year and losing her has been hard for me (even though i try not to show it). Well, a couple weeks ago im with my mom and my aunt and we were at my grandmas going through her things when my dad calls. He had been playing video games with my brother and thought he smelled something burning, but he wasnt cooking anything. He went into the kitchen and he couldnt decided where the smell was coming from. He finally pinpointed the smell to be coming from the microwaves direction so he walked over and laid a hand on it. It was hot to the touch so he got a pair of gloves, unplugged it, and carried it outside to sit in the middle of our driveway...

I guess something in it shorted out. If it hadnt been disconnected from its power source and taken away from where it had sat, it might have burst into flames or something. SMC--spontaneous microwave combustions. Yeah, because thats safe...

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Thursday night, i was supposed to work 5p-8p but because Hardees likes to screw people over by scheduling way too many people at a time then calling me to tell me i dont have to come in to work, i didnt have to work that night. Homework and chores done, i pondered what to do. Then i called Erika...

Erika ALWAYS knows what to do, and she didnt fail me this time. We picked up Ashley and headed off to Skankfort for a catch up session with Devin and Jacob. Double D was pretty much as emo as ever, and Jacob...well...thats a whole nother story.

He, Erika, Ashley, and I were hungry so we strolled into McDonalds at about 8 o'clock and while i was getting french fries, Jacob and Erika were concocting a plan. Smart as they are, they decided to steal the salt and pepper shakers (which i didnt know until we were safely in the Neon again). Now first of all, who steals salt and pepper shakers? Well, i guess Jacob and Erika do. Second of all, "NO WAY, JACOB!"...

This is what i found in my passenger side floorboard after school on Friday. When i took Jacob home, apparently the salt shaker stayed with me and rolled around in the floor making a mess. A BIG mess. And when i picked it up, it was still half full. What am i supposed to do with a half full McDonalds salt shaker? And when you spill salt, arent you supposed to throw it over your shoulder? And who the heck is gonna clean up this mess?...

Tune in next time. There are plenty of adventures to come. Haha.

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Much love.
<3-amandamichelle