— 1 —

I think I kind of forgot what it felt like to be stressed. Until recently, that is. I’ve been doing a fairly good job of getting my assignments done and staying on top of things, but the last couple days have been extremely stressful for me. We’re hosting a speaker on campus right now (which is awesome!), but I’m not going to lie: all the back ground things that entails has stressed me out.

I went to bed on Wednesday knowing I would be getting up with lots to do. Then I woke up an hour and a half before my alarm, thank you very much. (No, that was not a good thing since I needed to sleep.) To top it off, it was pouring rain outside. I had to run to Walmart for some last minute things and forgot my list I had made the night before. Wow. That had to be a pretty quick trip because I had to work soon after and barely had time to eat half a breakfast sandwich before work. Then I had 45 minutes to grab lunch, send out a mass email, and prep some things for tonight. So I got those things done and ate a granola bar on the way to class.

From there it was 40 Days for Life prayers and then everything started for the evening, which I’ll talk about more later.

As I was driving back from Walmart, I was thinking about all this and trying to keep it all straight. Then guess what? This song came on the radio.

And I was reminded why I’m doing all this: for the least of these. Wouldn’t you know it, that was the gospel reading on Wednesday too. Thanks for the reminder, God!

— 2 —

So, what was this all for? Sidewalk counseling training! Don’t know what that is? It’s when you go outside abortion clinics and engage men and women going in. It’s something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time, and just wanted more formal training before trying. We’re leaving campus at 5:15AM tomorrow for our first day. Wish us luck! Or better yet, pray for us.

— 3 —

I’ve been sleeping terrible lately. Now I don’t want to be a negative Nancy here, but really. I never thought I slept weird or had any sleep issues before coming to school. And it really seems as if it’s just this year too. It’s been taking me a good 30+ minutes to get to sleep (sometime upwards of an hour) and then I wake up when my roommate’s alarm goes off or the light goes on, or if there’s any big noise. I can’t go to sleep if there’s a movie on in the lounge  or people talking. Of course none of that seems terribly abnormal, but it means that some nights I only get 5 hours of sleep. And I’m not sure what to do about it . . .

— 4 —

Midwest thunderstorms. Need I say more? California has nothing on them.

— 5 —

A couple nights ago I was going to bed and my room was pitch black. I had just walked in from the common room, so my eyes were adjusting and I couldn’t see. I put my books down and reached down to my bed where my red reading pillow was sitting. As I moved it to the floor, I felt something wet and gross on my hand. What?!?!?! I threw it down and grabbed my headlight to see what it was.

It was a big juicy spider.

So ends my adventure of squishing a big spider before crawling into bed….and no. I didn’t dream about them.

— 6 —

You know what tastes really good? Baked potatoes. It’s one thing the caf does really well.

— 7 —

And now here’s a video of a fabulous Disney song that’s a part of my concert chorale performance tomorrow. Video of that coming soon!

Have a splendiforous day. For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

— 1 —

Life is busy, and I like it that way. But then I realized recently that I haven’t been working too hard on my September goals. What have I been busy with, then? Well, classes, homework, RRL meetings, writing, eating, sleeping, etc. Life would be so much easier if we didn’t have to sleep for Pete’s sake! Not that I’m actually sleeping much…Coffee helps with that 🙂

— 2 —

Today is Octoberfest! Time for all sorts of yummyness and fun. It’s funny because last year we were bundled in jackets and scarves (which I spilled hot cider or cocoa on) and this year we’re in tank tops. The weather is still not quite 100% fall.

— 3 —

This week our all club RRL meeting topic was how to use social media to spread the pro-life message. It was great. Afterward I went on to Planned Parenthood’s Facebook page (when am I going to learn not to do that anymore?) and had a lovely conversation with people who support abortion.

The f word was used under 10 times (shocker) in the over 400 comments, and I wasn’t called anything much worse than a stupid cow. Nice, huh? I decided that I probably won’t do this anymore because the abortion supporters who respond are never there with sincere questions or open minds. I did get a lot of insight as to why we think so differently; Namely that many of them view people are “human lice” on mother earth (who would in fact, be much better off if we all died off). I’ll write a follow up post on that soon with more of the beautiful juicy details.

— 4 —

Chocolate milk is delicious. It is currently part of my favorite college snacks: honey roasted peanuts with chocolate milk, an apple with peanut butter, nutella with a banana, or popcorn with cheese powder. The healthiness of that all is overwhelming, right?

— 5 —

Did you know? If unborn babies continued developing (for 9 months) at the rate they start developing at, they would be over 200 pounds at birth. I’m loving my childhood development class!

— 6 —

Right now I’m working on a “Things Catholic Girls Say” video with some friends, and it’s been hilarious so far. I can’t wait to share it!

— 7 —

Need a laugh? Here’s a hilarious post about the things this lady did to her siblings growing up. I can’t say I did anything like that, but it reminded me how awesome big families are.

Have a happy weekend! For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

— 1 —

I just got back from volunteering with other BC students at the Vitae Foundation benefit dinner! It’s an annual pro-life event in Kansas City, and the largest that I’ve ever been to (excluding the March and Walk for Life). There were about 1,100 people who came. Incredible, huh? The foundation is responsible for lots of billboards, commercials, and other media advertisement for pro-life centers.

Dr. Ben Carson spoke. The name seemed familiar to me, but I couldn’t really remember who he was. Well, he is a neurosurgeon who came from a single-parent home and was teased for being the dummy in school. His mom only had a 3rd grade education. She expected a lot of him, and through that he became the first doctor to successfully separate siamese twins conjoined at the back of the head. I can’t do his story justice here, though, so go look him up!

— 2 —

The weather this week was crazy. It cooled down a bit, then was sticky-hot, then poured rain and stormed. Midwest storms are SO beautiful! Today it was gorgeous and sunny without being overly humid.

— 3 —

Classes are plugging along. Macroeconomics is still killing me (especially after getting the first test back). I had my first quantitative analysis test this morning, and it was easy. Hooray! Management is interesting along with developmental psych. Did you know that if unborn babies continued growing at the rate they do early in development, they would be over 200 pounds by birth? Ouch. Good thing they slow down the growing. I love how my psych professor uses video clips and interactive things to make it interesting and applicable to real life. I think if I worked really hard at it, I could be very good at accounting. It is rather logical and straightforward. And concert chorale? Epic. I’m going to have to arrange for someone to record it so I can share.

— 4 —

Babies are awesome.

— 5 —

Have you been hearing the big fuss over Pope Francis recently? I find it rather amusing that the media continues to report him as some progressive ruler who is changing “policies”. I have much more to say about his recent interviews, and will get that published soon. I’m interested to hear your thoughts.

— 6 —

Does any technologically savvy person out there know how to add gifs to blog posts? Or do you know of a good instructional website or article? This would be most appreciated!

— 7 —

Random thoughts: Goals are really hard to stick to. 40 Days for Life starts on Wednesday. College rocks.

Have a happy weekend. For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

— 1 —

I really appreciate nice people. Why am I saying this? Because today I had an adventure: the goal was to get gas cards (which we’re using to reimburse people who drive to the abortion clinic). Who in the world would think this would be hard? Hmmm, not me!

I had to gas up myself, so I popped in to see if that station sold gas cards: nope. Okay, next one: hmmm, only huge dollar amounts. So then I went to Walmart to see if they had something (or maybe something like an American Express card). They were all in too large dollar amounts. Time for CVS! No luck there either. So then I went to another gas station, and they didn’t have them. Yay. BUT they told me their other station in town (who knew Atchison had so many?!?!?!) did. So I went there (after calling a friend because I am not good at following verbal directions and got “lost”), and they had 2 smaller certificates and 3 bigger ones. I needed at least 10 of an in-between amount. So……the nice lady told me that she was sorry and told me that if I wanted I could go outside to where the owner lady was sitting with garage sale items (keepin’ it classy in Atchison).

I went out, and she was the nicest lady ever. They couldn’t print more, but she printed receipts and did something special and hand wrote a dozen gift certificates for me. Turns out she graduated from Benedictine. And when she asked what I was majoring in, she half-kidding offered to sell her business to me. Alrightie then. Moral of the story: don’t give up, people. And be that nice person if you have the opportunity.

— 2 —

That crazy adventure would not have been possible with out my lovely car, which I have dubbed Fernando (after much deliberation). I went and titled/registered him the other day, and so we’ve been joking about how he’s legal now (don’t worry, I had a permit before). The radio is rather enjoyable, I might add.

— 3 —

Our first abortion clinic trip is tomorrow morning! I have no clue how many people there will be, but after our first all-club meeting (which had a great turnout), it should be good.

— 4 —

Classes are plugging along. Quantitative analysis is basically reviewing high school algebra, so it’s not hard. Principles of management is fun and interesting. Developmental psychology is AWESOME, and we’ve been talking about babies (prenatal to newborn) for the last few classes. Macroeconomics is bad. We have a test coming up next week, and I have plans to visit the tutor first. Concert chorale is super fun, and our pops concert (in a few weeks) is going to sound epic. Accounting is not as bad as I thought, and is rather logical. I just have to get the terminology down.

— 5 —

Planning cheap meals can be fun. Last week we made a nice meal for $2.50/person (made of chicken, broccoli, potatoes, and cookies). I can’t wait til it’s colder and we can experiment with crock pot meals!

— 6 —

On the 8th, Benedictine was consecrated to Mary. It was awesome. Other than the fact that it was blazing hot and we all turned into sweaty puddle of grossness during the procession, it was fabulous. And beautiful. I love being at such a passionately Catholic school. Speaking of that, I met with our president, one of our priests, and our faculty advisor for RRL. It is so beautiful to be at a place that is so supportive of life, and I have been so encouraged by these people.

— 7 —

This week was our fire drill! We kept anticipating it, and now it is over. Hurray. It was nowhere near as bad as least year. Last year we had strobe lights and an insanely loud noise kind of like when a huge door in a factory is closing. Does that make any sense? Well, this one is more like a regular alarm in a home. We all got out in a little over 2 1/2 minutes I believe. Anyway, It’s time for bed. We’re getting up early, and going on an adventure in Kansas City after praying at the abortion clinic. The weather has cooled down a bit, so it should be nice. Life is awesome right now, and I’m hoping to get a few things written this week (and continue working on my goals). Stay tuned!

Have a fabulous weekend. For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

P.S. I just saw a note from WordPress saying some readers might see adds on my blog (because I haven’t paid for them not to). If you see adds on here, could you pretty please let me know? I want to make sure that doesn’t interfere with anything 🙂

— 1 —

Did you see my September goals? I’ve already made headway on a couple of them, and it really helps to be able to go back and remind myself. Especially with homework, keeping myself accountable is rather important. So, behold my fancy schmancy homework system:

As I get assignments (or just look them up in my syllabuses), I write them on sticky notes with the class name and due date. That way I don’t have to go look them up. When I’m done, I just tear the note up and laugh maniacally. Well, not really that last part. But you get the point.

— 2 —

In a quiz I had to take this week for one of my classes, I learned that I am predominantly a kinesthetic learner. It wasn’t a surprise to me – I just didn’t know the name of it before. This means I really do best learning when someone physically demonstrates the topic, presents real-life situations, and is interactive. It makes so much sense!

When teachers just stand up there and talk for an hour, it bores me to no end. I have a hard time concentrating for that long if they just talk, and I can easily “listen” without actually hearing what they are saying. It makes a lot of sense to me why I like certain teachers better than others, since their teaching styles are different. The worst? Reading from a power point. The best: interactive teachers who involve the class and give real-life examples. It’s certainly challenging when teaching styles and learning styles clash, so I’d love to see more teachers consider this about their students. It would be neat to have teachers help their students learn by including all the different learning styles!

— 3 —

Speaking of learning things about myself, I don’t remember if I ever talked about personality types on here before. Last year I did a test which determined that my personality (or is it temperament? or both?) is mostly choleric and the rest melancholic (something like 87/13). There are four main temperaments which people describe as:

Choleric – “My way”

Melancholic – “The right way”

Phlegmatic – “Any way”

Sanguine – “The fun way”

Being choleric on top of being extremely stubborn can have it’s pitfalls, but it really helps to recognize this and work to overcome the issues. I have to learn to sometimes bite my tongue (figuratively) when I think I know what is right, which is most certainly a work in progress. And with my stubbornness, I think it’s gotten better over time. I know when enough is enough and I need to give up control on some things. My melancholic side helps me to step back and critically consider things, so I’d say my combination is working out just fine.

— 4 —

Do you like fire drills? Over here they are required to do one every year, which really doesn’t sound too bad, until you realize they are around 5am. Yeah, good morning world! Last year I had a strobe light in my room along with the alarm. So let’s just picture you all snug in your bed, probably dreaming. And then BAM! All of a sudden there’s a strobe light and alarm SO LOUD going off that your eardrums explode and you faint and someone has to drag you out of the building. Okay, well, not really.

Last year (I don’t remember if I got shoes or anything) I just ran out of my room real quick and forgot to make sure my roommate made it out. So I went back to get her (she was on the top bunk, which is much more disorienting to get down from with the strobe light). We made it out, and it was all fine.

Right now we’re anticipating this year’s fire drill, and for the last two nights everyone was sure that was the night. Well…..not. I put out my shoes and keys both nights to remember, and it didn’t happen. SO now we’re just waiting. The upside? Everyone gets doughnuts!

— 5 —

Are you fasting for Syria this weekend? I have to admit that I didn’t really read about or know what was going on until this week (which is pretty bad, I know). Since the Pope called for a day of prayer and fasting, I’m thinkin’ maybe it’s a good thing to do…

— 6 —

Did you know it was Pro-Life Chalk Day yesterday? I got together with some Ravens Respect Life people, and chalked up part of campus. It was rather fun.

— 7 —

Speaking of RRL, this week is our first all-club meeting! I am SUPER excited to get started. It is going to be awesome. ‘Nuh said.

Until next week, folk! For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!