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| So..it's been a while, eh? Reading through my old blog posts, I find them both an amusement and an embarrassment. Let's just say, in the past few years I have changed a lot. For the better, I do believe.
About my life: up until today, it was so sickeningly busy and cluttered that all I wanted to do was grab onto a couple of balloons and fly away, up, up, up into the sky where I would hang with the clouds and chat with the sun about sweet nothings (side note: I hear the movie "Up" is deliciously good as Pixar movies usually are, so go watch it!). Why was my life so busy? I will recap for you, if you wouldn't mind. First of all, Junior year is the time when you are "so close, yet so far." Senior year is just around the corner and with that comes everything related to College. It's funny how much of a domino effect can occur in your thoughts as you meander through your own though processes: Junior year, that means Senior year is coming soon...and Senior year means college!...college means decisons and decisions mean consequenes and consequences mean I'm going to become an old maid who lives in a house in an obscure suburb with 40 cats and a wardrobe consisting of floral dresses and slippers!
...OK, so maybe it isn't quite like that. But still, I'm about to make some of the biggest decisions of my life and they could either make or break me. Am I worried? Not really...it's nice to rest in the comfort of knowing I'm not in control. How do people without Christ live every day knowing they're behind the steering wheel? I suppose they feel better when they're in control. After all, who does it better than you do? I don't know. I prefer to leave the steering wheel to a more experienced driver who knows what the destination looks like.
Anyway, a long with the stresses of Junior year and college, my teachers decided this would be the best year to get us ready for college. Nevermind the fact that we've already had two years wasted. Countless hours in school during my freshman and sophomore year and I hardly feel like I've learned a thing. Now we have to catch up?! Have I ever mentioned how much of a waste of time I think public school is? Basically, the first semester in +PreCalc we spent reviewing everything we had learned last year. Only at the start of second semester did we start learning new things (about conics, I might add, which I can guarantee I will never need to know anything about ever again). In +Chem, I hate to admit it, but I did actually learn something! I learned all about Stoichiometry, acids and bases at equilibrium, quantum mechanics and loads of other things that I can't wait to use when I get out into the real world! Please. Maybe that stuff is useful for people who care...I'm just kidding. I know that is a really immature and high school-ish way of looking at things, but sometimes I just like to sound like my peers. Of course that stuff is important and maybe I personally will never use it, but without knowledge of those things...I'm pretty sure we wouldn't know how to convert moles to liters. Anyway, yes I've learned things. But the ratio of things learned to time spent in school is ridiculously disproportionate. Which is why public school is a waste of time.
Along with school giving me the runs, volleyball has also taken up a large portion of my life. Here at the end of it all, when I see my elite volleyball career drawing to a close with my Senior year, I've lost a lot of my motivation. My high school coach encouraged me to look at small colleges across the country for opportunities to play, and I pretended to be interested but honestly, I'd rather not. The truth is, and I've said this before, I love volleyball. A lot. It is, after all, my favorite sport. But there is a time in one's life when one realizes the importance of things and when one determines their own priorities. I've played against girls who were literally conceived on the volleyball court, took their first steps on the volleyball court, and were spiking balls over the net before they were five. Their parents pay for everything from the best equipment to hotels in Cali to involvement in summer-long camps and national level teams. Seriously, I want to have a life. I think God has a purpose for everyone and he's placed people like Albert Pujols in those kinds of situations so that they can have an impact on people that ordinary people like you and I can't impact. Honestly, I don't think God has that in mind for me. He's given me a heart for other things. Which is why, knowing that the intramurals are going to be the only form of competition in which I'll be involved in college, I've lost a lot of motivation. So this season was really all about two things: having fun and preparing for Itally. Have I mentioned Italy?
Last year, I was looking around for opportunities to study or volunteer abroad in the summer of my Junior year. I looked into programs like People to People, Intrax, AFS and others and decided I was pretty sure I wanted to spend a summer in Italy taking language and cooking classes while immersing myself in the Italian culture. I prayed about it and didn't get a lot of response so I decided to step back for a while and figure out what I was going to do. In the midst of my searching, I received a letter from 365sports which told me I had been chosen to participate in a summer intensive volleyball training camp in Raleigh, North Carolina and an international competition in Italy. Who knew? This was perfect. It combined so many of the things I love to do into one 11-day trip. I talked to my parents, prayed about it, went to the meeting, applied, was interviewed, accepted and voilá! So, literally the only thing that kept me moving was preparation for Italy. I am sooo stoked. Though, I will admit it hasn't all been fun and games. The program cost $4,000+ and I certainly did not have the money for it. I've spent the last few months stressing about raising the money. I stepped out of my comfort zone and called some business people in my community and circle of friends to see if they would like to sponsor me. I'm not the biggest fan of babysitting, yet for the sake of my trip I've stepped up to many more babysitting jobs. I've held a garage sale and I've sent out letters to family and friends. So, most of it has been my own money, a lot has been my parents, a little has been given to me and I'm still $1,000 short. Let's just say God has had a lot of fun testing my faith as I've continually placed my trust in his providence. I've given the steering wheel over to him. Am I worried? No. I do have a request though, and that is that you would pray that God uses this trip to Italy for his glory and that he uses me as an instrument to bring people that I would not normally have come in contact with to Christ. Why else would he be sending me to Italy?
Allow me to add to my list of stressors: I am currently applying for the Air Force Reserved Officer Training Corps. How did this happen? Well, at the end of my sophomore year, literally days after school had ended, I signed up for an online scholarship website that would inform me of all the scholarships that would be available to me. Upon scrolling through the lists of countless scholarships I was overwhelmed. Seriously? I am waay to lazy to fill out all those scholarships. Now, don't confuse my laziness with that of a truly lazy person. If I were truly lazy I would certainly not be doing as well in school as I am doing. My laziness is characterized by a downright refusal to do things that I consider a waste of time. Sometimes school is a waste of time. That is when I am a lazy person. But no, this just looked to me like a lot of wasted time begging to get money for an institution that is was too ridiculously overpriced. So I started looking into other options. When my mom suggested the Air Force as something that may be an option, I literally halted my steps. The Air Force? How did she know I had secretly desired to be in uniform and serve my country since the time I was born? Yet again, I had found something that suited me just right! I did a little more research, talked to some people, prayed about it, and here I am on the 26th of May in the year of our Lord 2009 applying for the Air Force. Can I just say I am stoked? The more I read and hear about it the more I feel it is right for me. It is going to be the experience of a life time and I see myself changing and growing in ways I never thought possible! Did I mention it pays for my college? That's not even why I am the most excited! But anyway, tomorrow I have to take the physical exam which is 1 minute of push ups, 1 minute of sit ups and a 1.5 mile run. I'm a little nervous, but not too concerned. The Air Force is another area of my life I've given up to God and I feel a peace about letting him have it. But that doesn't mean I'm not a bit stressed about applying. The good news is, after tomorrow I will have all of the Air Force stuff out of the way.
I could tell you loads more about my college trips to Auburn and the University of Florida, my interactions with various people in my classes (people always seem to be the most amusing things. If you ever want to be a comedian, study people and report what they do), my boy problems, Prom, and pretty much everything else I haven't said about my life. But seriously...I'm pretty sure I have a life and one more final to prepare for. Then I'm done. Done. Done. I think my mind and body are so numb that I wont even be able to feel the victory tomorrow as the bell rings for the final time of my Junior year. I'll probably heave the biggest sigh possible and savor the moment as best I can. Done.
That's all for now. | | |
| The greatest single cause of Atheism in the world today is Christians; who acknowledge these with their lips, and walk out the door, and then on by their lifestyles. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.
That's all I have to say. | | |
| Two words: Snow day!!! Yay! I'm really glad we got one too 'cause I got so lazy last night that I decided not to do my homework . . . yikes! It's almost like gambling; should I do my homework or bank my chances on a 99.9% chance of 6 inches of snow? Well, of course I went for the second option. Now what do I do? Well, I got up and read my bible for awhile and that's about as far as I've gotten. I'm planning on going sledding with Kendra and maybe hanging out with Kim for awhile. I do need to eventually do some homework seeing as I have a packed weekend what with Kim leaving and an all day tournament and all. By the way, I am absolutely in love with volleyball (if you haven't noticed!). I'm trying so hard not to make it an obsession since I know I should place my focus on other things, too, but it's kind of hard! I thought I would hate all these tournaments and stuff but I love them! Plus, my Nazi club director got fired!!! So, now we have a new club director and training coordinator (since he was both) and everything should be more enjoyable. Wednesday night's practice was almost like a party . . . it was quite amusing. Anyway, I think I should get up and do something productive, but I'll leave you with some of my new favorite songs:
Stop and Stare by OneRepublic
I Don't Wanna Be in Love by Good Charlotte
New Soul by Yael Naim
And I have lot's more but I don't feel like writing them all out. These are just some of my latest.
I know this was kind of a random post and I feel like I could say a lot more (as always) so maybe I'll write later?
the one and only,
jbone!
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| Hey everyone! I know you're not going to read this, but I am with Teresa and she is totally awesome! LOL JKnot. Anywho, we're working on my English project, which if you didn't guess, is a Xanga blog. Aren't I a genius? Jk. No really though, it works. And I would give you the link to the site but it's not very good. Plus Jasper is an English teacher and he might yell at me.
this is teresa reporting here, live from the seiberts house. and i am here to tell you that there is a totally awesome mnm or m n m or m and m dispenser that can control portion sizes, and amuse one for an entire afternoon, and make you look cool. so it's good. and actually, the website is....um.....really quite astounding. really really really.
I'm going to let Teresa take credit for that entire last paragraph. I'll write more later because I feel like my life is something that you should all hear about even if no one is going to read this. I miss the old days when I blogged. So as much as I can I will do more blogging. Now, we must get back to our English project.
the one and only, jbone (with Teresa standing by) | | |
| So you know what I have determined? There are no such things as stupid people and smart people; only those who are lazy and those who are ambitious. And that's all I have to say about that. Haha Jk, I was just reading over some of my old posts and decided it was time to update again. Well, tomorrow is the seniors last day and they'll be doing a
"parade" around the school during lab. I don't know all of them (of course) but I am definitely going to miss a lot of them. Its really sad to see that they're leaving (especially when you think of the fact that I am still here!). Anywho, I'm not playing any sports, I'm still single :wink: and I'm almost finished with my freshman year!! HALLELUJAH!! So, summer, a word which here means freedom, is gonna be pretty tight. I think I'm gonna get back into biking and Dino said he might do it with me! Yay! I can't wait. I went biking a couple times over spring break and I couldn't believe how much I missed it! I'm telling you guys, if you don't usually go biking, DO IT! There is nothing quite like it. Haha, anyway, hopefully I'm going to get to travel with my mom a lot this summer because I haven't been out of St. Louis since January and I'm getting rather restless. She wants to go to different places to talk with people about my parents' business that they do along the side of their other jobs and she said she would take me with her. So um, California anyone? Maybe Florida? New York? Gosh, I hope so, I gotta get outta this crazy town before I go crazy myself. Well, I think that's about it for now, I may write more later... | | |
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