Looking at the title, you may be thinking that I'm some sort of rebel youth/hippie, but, no, (besides, I'm a firm believer that most hippies were conformist anyway... but that's a different story...) my belief that conformity sucks comes from a very different point of view.
When I was growing up, my family never had the car that everyone else had. We didn't have a mini-van, a shiny new pick up truck, a small white car, or anything like that; my parents always had something different. Sure, at few points in time, my dad drove a white Taurus, but it didn't really blend in. Whether it was a Bronco, an old truck, a Camero, or a big van, it was always easy to pick out my parents' cars in a parking lot.
Some might not like sticking out that much, but, for me, it was great. Nothing feels better than looking out at the school parking lot and knowing exactly where you mom is parked, or leaving a store and not mistaking a car near yours, or being able to pick your parents' car out of the ones approaching your destination when you're waiting to be picked up.
Unfortunately, between the start of my senior year of high school and the start of my freshman year of college, the unique car situation for my family changed. My parents started making payments for a silver F150 in february of 2010, and that summer, we were given a green mini-van. Yes, these are both pretty nice vehicles, and we are lucky to have them to drive, but they're pretty hard to pick out of a crowd. I'm not good with models of cars or anything like that, and to me, it seems like there are a hundreds of mini-vans and trucks that look like my parents' vehicles.
Usually, I can tell when my mom is approaching in her truck (or if she's parked) because of the bright blue handicap thing hanging from her mirror (yet another story for a different time...), but if I don't know where the van is parked, I usually have to look to see if its one of my parents or my brother who is driving (I don't have my licenses yet, so I can't drive...)
So, you see, when I'm waiting to be picked up by my mom from a set location and I don't have a phone, it gets kind of awkward walking all the way down to a vehicle that looks like hers just to find out that it's not...
as always, thanks for taking a small interest in my life :)
-andrea aka fred
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Back to Blogging
Wow, so I didn't mean to go this long without posting, but oh well, I'm a busy college student, so I don't really care :P
Recently, I decided that even though I'm super busy with school (and I should spend more time on actually doing my homework...), I do need methods of basically getting everything in me out. Sure, I waste a lot of my time watching YouTube videos and playing games on Facebook while listening to podcasts, but I don't express anything doing that. With me being an introvert and keeping a lot of stuff in my head, sometimes, it's nice to ramble about stupid stuff, and I don't always have my friends around to do that with. This is why blogging and vlogging (video blogging to anyone who doesn't know...) are handy for me.
Yes, I know that very few people, if anyone at all, are reading these posts or watching my videos, but it doesn't matter. I don't do this to become the next famous YouTuber or to be discovered by someone who searches something random on Google, causing me to have a bunch of followers, I just do this to unload. Sometimes, there are just somethings that you can't be mad about on Facebook where you're friends with your whole family and it just takes too long to block a bunch of people (which I've never done, but I know some who have...), and you can only rant so much on Twitter before it's just too awkward... lol.
Sure, it might be a waste of time, But, it's a waste of time that I don't feel guilty about a few hours later :)
Thanks for reading my blog :)
-andrea aka fred
PS...I'm not super impressed by this post either; it's definitely not one of my best... Go start at my first one if this the first one you've read because it's a whole lot better lol
Recently, I decided that even though I'm super busy with school (and I should spend more time on actually doing my homework...), I do need methods of basically getting everything in me out. Sure, I waste a lot of my time watching YouTube videos and playing games on Facebook while listening to podcasts, but I don't express anything doing that. With me being an introvert and keeping a lot of stuff in my head, sometimes, it's nice to ramble about stupid stuff, and I don't always have my friends around to do that with. This is why blogging and vlogging (video blogging to anyone who doesn't know...) are handy for me.
Yes, I know that very few people, if anyone at all, are reading these posts or watching my videos, but it doesn't matter. I don't do this to become the next famous YouTuber or to be discovered by someone who searches something random on Google, causing me to have a bunch of followers, I just do this to unload. Sometimes, there are just somethings that you can't be mad about on Facebook where you're friends with your whole family and it just takes too long to block a bunch of people (which I've never done, but I know some who have...), and you can only rant so much on Twitter before it's just too awkward... lol.
Sure, it might be a waste of time, But, it's a waste of time that I don't feel guilty about a few hours later :)
Thanks for reading my blog :)
-andrea aka fred
PS...I'm not super impressed by this post either; it's definitely not one of my best... Go start at my first one if this the first one you've read because it's a whole lot better lol
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Being Converted
So, here it is: the post that I've been alluding to in my previous ones. And, yes, the rant is back. About 2 weeks ago, my family went to an event on the square, and I wanted to share an event that happened to me while I was there.
If you go to any public event, especially in the city, you will have churches set up and willing to share the word. I've gone to churches where they set up "trunk or treat" on Halloween and a booth will hand out a message with the candy, so this kind of thing isn't exactly new to me. You'll also have those people who go out and share the word by handing out papers with messages (I was at a Christian Rock concert where people were doing this, so like I said, the idea wasn't exactly taboo). These are the people I interacted with this particular night.
Obviously, I do not hide my faith. I have put on here and on MANY other social networking sites that I am a Christian. Sure, I'll follow people on Twitter and on YouTube who are not or who have very differing opinions from my own, but that's because I like to keep an open mind. I may not believe in the same things they do, but they don't force their ideas on me, they just express their opinions. In this same way, I do not force my faith onto someone else. Where I have been told that part of being a Christian is to spread the word, I prefer to do this in a way that is not forceful or uncomfortable towards the people I am with. If someone wants to talk or to hear my testimony (which isn't as exciting as most testimonies you will hear, but like I said, if asked, I'm willing to share it).
I'm not perfect, and I don't pretend to be. But, I am a good person. Sure, I yell at my parents when I get ticked off at them, I occasionally cuss (though not very often), I have lied, I have done many "no-no"s in the eyes of the Bible, but I am not a bad person, and I am a Christian.
You may be wondering why I put all of this in here, and this is why. That night, I was sitting on a wall talking to my younger bother (who was decked out in Skillet stuff). I was wearing a T-shirt, jeans, crocs, glasses, a bag from my university, you know, looking about as generic as anyone can. Usually, I'd have my cross necklace on , but instead I was wearing a "DFTBA" bracelet. My mom and one of my sisters were sitting a few feet away from me and this guy and is wife walked up and handed them this fake bill thing, said something nice and then moved on... to me.
The man gave me the same thing that he gave my mom. I was a fake $1,000,000 bill with a message on how to get saved on the back. I thanked him and expected him to move on, but no, he asked if he could ask me so personal questions. I figured, what the heck, he's going to ask anyway, and I didn't want to be rude.
I kid you not, he started quoting "Left Behind" almost verbatim. I was raised Christian, so of course I've seen the movie many times. (I recently acquired the entire book series, but I haven't gotten around to reading them yet, so for now, my knowledge comes from the movie.) He asked me if I thought I was a good person, and I told him yes. Then, he went through the questions. (I'd like to point out now that not a single one of these questions were "Are you a Christian" or "Have you found Jesus" because I would have been happy to answer those.) To cut this thing short, yeah, I've lied (I'm human, but I haven't lied in awhile so :P), I've stolen (when i was younger I would still food from my parents kitchen...which is probably why I am obese today...), I have (in his words) "looked upon the opposite sex with desire" (once again, I'm human, I'd wonder if there was something wrong if I'd never been attracted to someone...), but (to answer his last question in this interview) I have never hated someone. Yes, I have strongly disliked people, but I have never "hated" them.
If you've ever seen (or read) "Left Behind" you know the part that comes next. Basically he pointed out that I'm "a liar, a thief, and an adulterer" (since I told that I don't hate people, so he couldn't bring that point up.) He asked me if I thought that God would find me guilty or innocent. On those points, I would be "guilty", but I told him with all of that, that I do believe in repentance (implying that I had repented). He looked at me and said "well, don't you think that tonight would be a good night to do that?" I gave him some answer like "sure," he asked if he could pray for me, I said yes, and he walked on.
The issues I had with this:
There are ways to asks someone if they are a Christian and try to convert them if they are not, and they don't start with quoting "Left Behind." But, since he chose this route, I'll stick with my issues from that stance. In the movie, the rapture had happened and those "left behind" were trying to figure out what exactly happened and how they could fix that. The man that these questions were directed at wasn't a Christian, but he did consider himself a pretty good person. He had been married and his wife had been taken, but he hadn't. These questions made more since to be asked for him, and in general, are good questions to ask yourself in everyday life. When these questions are not good to use are towards a teenage girl who you just met, especially me. I've already cleared most of these questions because, like I said, I've repented. I've stated that I'm not perfect, but I am a good person. I am a liar, I have stolen, but I have NEVER committed adultery.
The exact definition of "adultery" varies from source to source, but basically, to commit this act, one or both of the parties involved has to be married. Like I said, the man in the movie was married, but he lusted after other women. This can be considered as adultery (according to this belief, he committed it in his head, so it's just as bad as physically committing it...). Seeing as I've never even had my first kiss, and I have never "lusted" after a person of the opposite sex (like I said, I've been attracted to guys, but I don't "lust" after them, and anyone I've been attracted to hasn't been married either), I'm not sure exactly how this man came to the conclusion that I am an adulterer.
When I first started this post, I was in a hot headed fury. By waiting to post this, I've had the past few weeks to think this trough. I still feel the same way that I did then, just calmer about it. I've talked about this to some of my other friends, and most of them have had similar situations (though none of them have had "Left Behind" quoted to them...). I think it's great that people want to share their faith. The more people who make it to heaven, the better, but I think that there are better ways to bring it up, and that includes asking if they're talking to a person of faith already. If he wanted to discuss my beliefs, I would have gladly talked with him, but I just didn't like that someone naturally assumed I needed to be saved.
To wrap this long ranty post up, I want to explain why I did ultimately decide to post this. Questioning my faith has always been a sore spot for me. As different people who I've known for years were saved after messing up, or we read stories of people who honestly believed that the only way to find true faith was to find it through the darkness, people would look down on the way that I have faith. I was raised Christian, and unlike a lot of kids who were raised this way, I didn't question my faith growing up, I didn't turn atheist when I turned 18, I didn't stay while getting older. I've always believed. I was baptized when I was 4. I didn't have a great awakening moment, and most of my life has been blissful ignorance to a lot of the evil out in the world. My reason for not doubting the existence of God is a completely different story that I may or may not post about.
If I don't question my faith, why should others question it for me?
-andrea aka fred
If you go to any public event, especially in the city, you will have churches set up and willing to share the word. I've gone to churches where they set up "trunk or treat" on Halloween and a booth will hand out a message with the candy, so this kind of thing isn't exactly new to me. You'll also have those people who go out and share the word by handing out papers with messages (I was at a Christian Rock concert where people were doing this, so like I said, the idea wasn't exactly taboo). These are the people I interacted with this particular night.
Obviously, I do not hide my faith. I have put on here and on MANY other social networking sites that I am a Christian. Sure, I'll follow people on Twitter and on YouTube who are not or who have very differing opinions from my own, but that's because I like to keep an open mind. I may not believe in the same things they do, but they don't force their ideas on me, they just express their opinions. In this same way, I do not force my faith onto someone else. Where I have been told that part of being a Christian is to spread the word, I prefer to do this in a way that is not forceful or uncomfortable towards the people I am with. If someone wants to talk or to hear my testimony (which isn't as exciting as most testimonies you will hear, but like I said, if asked, I'm willing to share it).
I'm not perfect, and I don't pretend to be. But, I am a good person. Sure, I yell at my parents when I get ticked off at them, I occasionally cuss (though not very often), I have lied, I have done many "no-no"s in the eyes of the Bible, but I am not a bad person, and I am a Christian.
You may be wondering why I put all of this in here, and this is why. That night, I was sitting on a wall talking to my younger bother (who was decked out in Skillet stuff). I was wearing a T-shirt, jeans, crocs, glasses, a bag from my university, you know, looking about as generic as anyone can. Usually, I'd have my cross necklace on , but instead I was wearing a "DFTBA" bracelet. My mom and one of my sisters were sitting a few feet away from me and this guy and is wife walked up and handed them this fake bill thing, said something nice and then moved on... to me.
The man gave me the same thing that he gave my mom. I was a fake $1,000,000 bill with a message on how to get saved on the back. I thanked him and expected him to move on, but no, he asked if he could ask me so personal questions. I figured, what the heck, he's going to ask anyway, and I didn't want to be rude.
I kid you not, he started quoting "Left Behind" almost verbatim. I was raised Christian, so of course I've seen the movie many times. (I recently acquired the entire book series, but I haven't gotten around to reading them yet, so for now, my knowledge comes from the movie.) He asked me if I thought I was a good person, and I told him yes. Then, he went through the questions. (I'd like to point out now that not a single one of these questions were "Are you a Christian" or "Have you found Jesus" because I would have been happy to answer those.) To cut this thing short, yeah, I've lied (I'm human, but I haven't lied in awhile so :P), I've stolen (when i was younger I would still food from my parents kitchen...which is probably why I am obese today...), I have (in his words) "looked upon the opposite sex with desire" (once again, I'm human, I'd wonder if there was something wrong if I'd never been attracted to someone...), but (to answer his last question in this interview) I have never hated someone. Yes, I have strongly disliked people, but I have never "hated" them.
If you've ever seen (or read) "Left Behind" you know the part that comes next. Basically he pointed out that I'm "a liar, a thief, and an adulterer" (since I told that I don't hate people, so he couldn't bring that point up.) He asked me if I thought that God would find me guilty or innocent. On those points, I would be "guilty", but I told him with all of that, that I do believe in repentance (implying that I had repented). He looked at me and said "well, don't you think that tonight would be a good night to do that?" I gave him some answer like "sure," he asked if he could pray for me, I said yes, and he walked on.
The issues I had with this:
There are ways to asks someone if they are a Christian and try to convert them if they are not, and they don't start with quoting "Left Behind." But, since he chose this route, I'll stick with my issues from that stance. In the movie, the rapture had happened and those "left behind" were trying to figure out what exactly happened and how they could fix that. The man that these questions were directed at wasn't a Christian, but he did consider himself a pretty good person. He had been married and his wife had been taken, but he hadn't. These questions made more since to be asked for him, and in general, are good questions to ask yourself in everyday life. When these questions are not good to use are towards a teenage girl who you just met, especially me. I've already cleared most of these questions because, like I said, I've repented. I've stated that I'm not perfect, but I am a good person. I am a liar, I have stolen, but I have NEVER committed adultery.
The exact definition of "adultery" varies from source to source, but basically, to commit this act, one or both of the parties involved has to be married. Like I said, the man in the movie was married, but he lusted after other women. This can be considered as adultery (according to this belief, he committed it in his head, so it's just as bad as physically committing it...). Seeing as I've never even had my first kiss, and I have never "lusted" after a person of the opposite sex (like I said, I've been attracted to guys, but I don't "lust" after them, and anyone I've been attracted to hasn't been married either), I'm not sure exactly how this man came to the conclusion that I am an adulterer.
When I first started this post, I was in a hot headed fury. By waiting to post this, I've had the past few weeks to think this trough. I still feel the same way that I did then, just calmer about it. I've talked about this to some of my other friends, and most of them have had similar situations (though none of them have had "Left Behind" quoted to them...). I think it's great that people want to share their faith. The more people who make it to heaven, the better, but I think that there are better ways to bring it up, and that includes asking if they're talking to a person of faith already. If he wanted to discuss my beliefs, I would have gladly talked with him, but I just didn't like that someone naturally assumed I needed to be saved.
To wrap this long ranty post up, I want to explain why I did ultimately decide to post this. Questioning my faith has always been a sore spot for me. As different people who I've known for years were saved after messing up, or we read stories of people who honestly believed that the only way to find true faith was to find it through the darkness, people would look down on the way that I have faith. I was raised Christian, and unlike a lot of kids who were raised this way, I didn't question my faith growing up, I didn't turn atheist when I turned 18, I didn't stay while getting older. I've always believed. I was baptized when I was 4. I didn't have a great awakening moment, and most of my life has been blissful ignorance to a lot of the evil out in the world. My reason for not doubting the existence of God is a completely different story that I may or may not post about.
If I don't question my faith, why should others question it for me?
-andrea aka fred
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Nostalgia and all of that good stuff...
So, I still have that unfinished blog I started that I can post (after wrapping it up), but now I'm not sure if it'll even go up... mainly because these posts are largely "spur-of-the-moment" posts, and going back to how I felt when I started that particular one, may not be easy lol.
Anyway, besides being another form for me to procrastinate from my studying, today's post is about my two best friends and myself. Yeah, I know, I can seem pretty self-centered in these post, but their mine... so :P
So, my two best friends. You might be thinking "two best friends?" Yeah, I know that the idea of "Best Friend"(s) as different meanings to different people. For instance, in high school I had a few friends who I would refer to as "one of my best friends" because we were closer than "close friends" but they weren't my "Best Friends" (neither of which went to school with me...). I still talk to most of these people (primarily on facebook, but it's the best we can do lol). I have actually talked to a few of them in person since we graduated, but some of us have basically become "URL" friends now, which is okay, but I still miss seeing them everyday in class. And, I have made some friends in college in the past year, but none of them are really "Best Friends" and I'm not nearly as close to them as I still am with the people I grew up with, so, it does get kind of lonely being separated from them.
In the case of my two Best Friends, one of them went to the same school as me for a year, and the other one never went to school with me (in fact, she went to my school's rival high school). I'll use my nicknames for them for this post...
I have known Kiefer since we were 4 years old. Even though my family had moved to the small town I grew up in when I was 3 (on the day we later found out to be Kiefer's 3rd birthday...), Kiefer was the first friend I made after we moved...over a year later. My mom enrolled my younger brother and me in a "parents day out" program that Kiefer's mom just happened to be running...and (to be cliché) the rest was history. We went to the same school for kindergarten. At the start of the school year, she started Girl Scouts. When the next semester started, my mom put me in the troop, too. We both stuck with Scouting until the end. In fact, Scouting is how we met Sheen...and how we stayed together for so long.
We didn't meet Sheen until a few years later. On top of me being in Girl Scouts, my two brothers were Cub Scouts, my two little sister were Girl Scouts, and my mom was a "Pack Leader" and later a "Cub Master" (this means she went on to be in charge of the Cub Scout troop). When Sheen's family moved to our county, her dad and uncle signed her brother and cousins up for Cub Scouts, and that's how my mom met their family. They didn't find out until a while later that there was Girl Scouts for the girl in their family to join. Before she officially joined our troop (and I actually met her), I didn't really know anything about Sheen. At the Cub Scout Christmas party, "Santa" showed up and handed out presents to the Scouts and their siblings. The very first time I saw Sheen was at the Christmas party when we were 9. When "Santa" called her name, she refused to go get her present. I saw her mom and aunt pushing her towards him; even her dad and uncle joined in. I thought she was being rude and I couldn't understand why.
When I officially met her a few weeks later at the first Girl Scout meeting of the new year, I found out that she had a huge fear of Santa, and that's why she wouldn't go up (that and she was really shy.) I also found out a few years later that her first impression of me wasn't that great either. She had seen me sitting all "prim and proper" at the party and thought that I was a snooty girl... If our friendship isn't proof that first impressions don't last, I don't know what is lol.
Through the years of Girl Scouting, many girls joined and left, but when it came down to us entering our last year of Scouting, we were the three left. Each year found us closer together, and even though our last year together before college was busy, we made sure we had time for Scouting. Kiefer's mom had eventually become our troop leader, and the four of us did all that we could together in that last year. Kiefer, Sheen, and I all went to my senior prom together, and they were the best dates anyone could ever wish for. After spending time at the actual dance and going out to eat, we went bowling (in our prom dresses) and had a blast.
I know that many people don't want to let go after high school, but they eventually do and blah blah blah. I know that people lose contact and move on, but we have refused to. Even though we all went different directions for college, we have continued to be super close. Sure, we don't have our bi-monthly meetings where we would usually get to see each other, but we talk all of the time online. We made sure that we got together and spent a few hours just hanging out at McDonald's during Christmas break last year. We even found time to get together for a pseudo-bachelorette party (not really, but the closest she had to one) a few days before Kiefer and I were bridesmaids in Sheen's wedding. (Yes, we saw each other at the wedding shower before then, but it wasn't just us then...).
At our get together before the wedding, I gave Sheen and Kiefer mix cds tailored for each of them and a tie (because I've worn ties on Wednesdays for a while and the wedding was going to be on a Wednesday.). I also made a video of pictures and video clips of us spending time together. I'm listening to their "playlists" now and doing some fun "creative" editing of photos of us together and becoming very nostalgic. (Hence the title and the long post about them).
Sometimes it's hard being so far away from them, but it gives me strength and joy knowing that I will see them again relatively soon. Even if Sheen wasn't expecting (which were all SUPER excited about and congrats to Sheen and her husband if they happen to read this... :) ), we would be planning on getting together on a break from school. We may be separated now, but we always find our way back together. We've been best friends for this long, and we're not going to let a little thing like life keep us apart.
Friends may come, and friends may go, but Best Friends are forever :)
-andrea aka fred
*PS: my nickname with them is Platt, not fred...if you get where our names came from, then you get extra special awesome points :)*
Anyway, besides being another form for me to procrastinate from my studying, today's post is about my two best friends and myself. Yeah, I know, I can seem pretty self-centered in these post, but their mine... so :P
So, my two best friends. You might be thinking "two best friends?" Yeah, I know that the idea of "Best Friend"(s) as different meanings to different people. For instance, in high school I had a few friends who I would refer to as "one of my best friends" because we were closer than "close friends" but they weren't my "Best Friends" (neither of which went to school with me...). I still talk to most of these people (primarily on facebook, but it's the best we can do lol). I have actually talked to a few of them in person since we graduated, but some of us have basically become "URL" friends now, which is okay, but I still miss seeing them everyday in class. And, I have made some friends in college in the past year, but none of them are really "Best Friends" and I'm not nearly as close to them as I still am with the people I grew up with, so, it does get kind of lonely being separated from them.
In the case of my two Best Friends, one of them went to the same school as me for a year, and the other one never went to school with me (in fact, she went to my school's rival high school). I'll use my nicknames for them for this post...
I have known Kiefer since we were 4 years old. Even though my family had moved to the small town I grew up in when I was 3 (on the day we later found out to be Kiefer's 3rd birthday...), Kiefer was the first friend I made after we moved...over a year later. My mom enrolled my younger brother and me in a "parents day out" program that Kiefer's mom just happened to be running...and (to be cliché) the rest was history. We went to the same school for kindergarten. At the start of the school year, she started Girl Scouts. When the next semester started, my mom put me in the troop, too. We both stuck with Scouting until the end. In fact, Scouting is how we met Sheen...and how we stayed together for so long.
We didn't meet Sheen until a few years later. On top of me being in Girl Scouts, my two brothers were Cub Scouts, my two little sister were Girl Scouts, and my mom was a "Pack Leader" and later a "Cub Master" (this means she went on to be in charge of the Cub Scout troop). When Sheen's family moved to our county, her dad and uncle signed her brother and cousins up for Cub Scouts, and that's how my mom met their family. They didn't find out until a while later that there was Girl Scouts for the girl in their family to join. Before she officially joined our troop (and I actually met her), I didn't really know anything about Sheen. At the Cub Scout Christmas party, "Santa" showed up and handed out presents to the Scouts and their siblings. The very first time I saw Sheen was at the Christmas party when we were 9. When "Santa" called her name, she refused to go get her present. I saw her mom and aunt pushing her towards him; even her dad and uncle joined in. I thought she was being rude and I couldn't understand why.
When I officially met her a few weeks later at the first Girl Scout meeting of the new year, I found out that she had a huge fear of Santa, and that's why she wouldn't go up (that and she was really shy.) I also found out a few years later that her first impression of me wasn't that great either. She had seen me sitting all "prim and proper" at the party and thought that I was a snooty girl... If our friendship isn't proof that first impressions don't last, I don't know what is lol.
Through the years of Girl Scouting, many girls joined and left, but when it came down to us entering our last year of Scouting, we were the three left. Each year found us closer together, and even though our last year together before college was busy, we made sure we had time for Scouting. Kiefer's mom had eventually become our troop leader, and the four of us did all that we could together in that last year. Kiefer, Sheen, and I all went to my senior prom together, and they were the best dates anyone could ever wish for. After spending time at the actual dance and going out to eat, we went bowling (in our prom dresses) and had a blast.
I know that many people don't want to let go after high school, but they eventually do and blah blah blah. I know that people lose contact and move on, but we have refused to. Even though we all went different directions for college, we have continued to be super close. Sure, we don't have our bi-monthly meetings where we would usually get to see each other, but we talk all of the time online. We made sure that we got together and spent a few hours just hanging out at McDonald's during Christmas break last year. We even found time to get together for a pseudo-bachelorette party (not really, but the closest she had to one) a few days before Kiefer and I were bridesmaids in Sheen's wedding. (Yes, we saw each other at the wedding shower before then, but it wasn't just us then...).
At our get together before the wedding, I gave Sheen and Kiefer mix cds tailored for each of them and a tie (because I've worn ties on Wednesdays for a while and the wedding was going to be on a Wednesday.). I also made a video of pictures and video clips of us spending time together. I'm listening to their "playlists" now and doing some fun "creative" editing of photos of us together and becoming very nostalgic. (Hence the title and the long post about them).
Sometimes it's hard being so far away from them, but it gives me strength and joy knowing that I will see them again relatively soon. Even if Sheen wasn't expecting (which were all SUPER excited about and congrats to Sheen and her husband if they happen to read this... :) ), we would be planning on getting together on a break from school. We may be separated now, but we always find our way back together. We've been best friends for this long, and we're not going to let a little thing like life keep us apart.
Friends may come, and friends may go, but Best Friends are forever :)
-andrea aka fred
*PS: my nickname with them is Platt, not fred...if you get where our names came from, then you get extra special awesome points :)*
Sunday, September 11, 2011
September 11th- A Day of Remembrance
I had another blog post planned, and it may go up at a later date, but I felt that this one really needed to go up today.
Ten years ago today, I was in my 4th grade class when the principal walked in to tell us what had happened. If our small school had an intercom system at all, it was a bad one, so that’s how my principal was left to tell everyone. He walked in and told my teacher that the World Trade Towers had been bombed. My teacher had a look of shock and disbelief. She looked at him and said “What?”
The principal said that one of the towers had been hit with an airplane, but this time when he tried to say something, his voice broke. I could tell even then that he was trying to be strong because he had a lot more classes to go to before everyone knew. He basically told her to just turn on the television because it was on every channel.
Being nine years old, I didn’t exactly know what was going on. I saw the footage of the plane hitting the building many times, but it still didn’t sink into me what was happening. Until then (and I know that this sounds bad), I didn’t even know that the towers were in New York. From then on, I noticed the towers in a bunch of the movies that I had seen when I was little. I wasn’t a very observant child…
Later that school year, our student teacher was using worksheets that weren’t really that old, but were definitely out dated… they said that the World Trade Towers in New York were the tallest buildings in America. Though it was kind of awkward, the teacher used the experience to teach us how quickly books can become outdated and how often history changes.
From that point on, it has been a constant reminder of what happened. Every year, we are asked to remember those who died that day and the family and friends left behind. Though none of my friends or family were killed, all of our lives have been affected. My best friend’s sister was an hour outside of NYC when all of this was happening. She’s a little older than me so she remembers everything more than I do, and it hit a lot closer to home for her. Though none of my family members have enlisted in the military, many of my friends and their families have. I see how affected they are by the war. One of my friends found out she was pregnant days after her husband was deployed and I could tell how hard everything was on her at that point.
A few years ago, one of my teachers had the class do a 9/11 specific assignment. She wanted us to express how we thought that 9/11 should be remembered: should it be made a holiday, if so, should it be a day that we get out of school or work, why or why not, etc. I have the same opinion now that I did back then. I believe that it should be a “holiday” in that we do remember the lives lost on that day(and maybe one of those days marked on a calendar), but not one that we get out of school for. Like Veteran’s Day. Maybe schools could have special programs during or after school and maybe the president would issue a message to hug your family extra tight and remember those families who lost loved ones on this day and stuff like that, but not one of those holidays where we get out of school or work. I know that those days are nice, but at this point, Labor Day has just happened, so it’s not like we NEED another day like that off. And, my other reason for this is that I don’t want 9/11 to be another excuse to go grilling and swimming and to just not do anything. Not only did everyone just do that on Labor Day, but it would lose it’s meaning like the other full weekend holidays have. Sure, Independence Day is still a pretty patriotic time, but think about Memorial Day. Most of the time, people are too caught up with trying to find the best beach spot to even think about why we have that long weekend.
To wrap up my kind of long blog:
Half of my life has been in this post-9/11 America, so it’s really all I know. The reality of the attacks ten years ago has affected everyone, even this girl from a small town in Tennessee. I do believe that this is a day of remembrance, and whatever is done to keep that remembrance alive instead of cheapening the day I will support.
So, go hug your family extra tight, call the ones who aren’t close enough to hug (especially your grandparents, because it’s Grandparents Day today, too lol), and remember those who aren’t able to hug their all of their family members because of the events that happened in New York ten years ago today.
-andrea aka fred
Friday, September 9, 2011
An Extroverted Introvert
This is what I have decided that I am.
Dictionary.com defines an introvert as "a person characterized by concern primarily with his or her own thoughts and feelings", and an extrovert as "a person concerned primarily with the physical and social environment."
I took a personality quiz for a class about a year ago. Part of the results said that I was an extrovert. Barely an extrovert, but still an extrovert. Sure, I'm a talkative, friendly person, and I sometimes care what everyone thinks, but extrovert doesn't really seem like me. When I'm in my small group of friends, I"m usually the one to start cutting up first, but when I go to parties (even family ones where I've literally known the people my whole life), I take awhile to warm up. And, even then, I usually only talk to a few people for the majority of the time that I'm there. I'll usually sit at the table and just soak in everyone else's conversations.
I'm a person of observation. Though I don't really "people watch", I do notice little things about the people that I spend time with. I can usually tell what someone is going to say or do before they do it. If I think about bringing up a point before actually doing it, I can figure out what the other person is going to say, so I can always be one step ahead in the conversation. (In this way, I sort of feel like Gabriel from "The Dead" by James Joyce)
I'm the type of person who does most of their living and thinking in their head. I can walk to all of the different places on campus that I have to all by myself and be perfectly fine. Of course, while I'm doing that, I'm also mentally planning the rest of that day. I also would sit alone in the cafeteria and think to myself or read for the duration that I was there. I had friends that I made in my classes who felt bad for me and want to come sit with me while I ate, which I didn't mind, it was just hard for me to explain to them that I didn't mind eating alone either.
So, sure, I'm loud and talkative at times, and I wear ties on Wednesdays, and I'm in an acting class, and I'm in a drama troupe, and I blog and vlog, and I do all of these other expressive things, when you get to the core of what I am, I'm just a shy little introvert who just happened to have enough extroverted friends in high school who taught her to open up.
-andrea aka fred :)
Dictionary.com defines an introvert as "a person characterized by concern primarily with his or her own thoughts and feelings", and an extrovert as "a person concerned primarily with the physical and social environment."
I took a personality quiz for a class about a year ago. Part of the results said that I was an extrovert. Barely an extrovert, but still an extrovert. Sure, I'm a talkative, friendly person, and I sometimes care what everyone thinks, but extrovert doesn't really seem like me. When I'm in my small group of friends, I"m usually the one to start cutting up first, but when I go to parties (even family ones where I've literally known the people my whole life), I take awhile to warm up. And, even then, I usually only talk to a few people for the majority of the time that I'm there. I'll usually sit at the table and just soak in everyone else's conversations.
I'm a person of observation. Though I don't really "people watch", I do notice little things about the people that I spend time with. I can usually tell what someone is going to say or do before they do it. If I think about bringing up a point before actually doing it, I can figure out what the other person is going to say, so I can always be one step ahead in the conversation. (In this way, I sort of feel like Gabriel from "The Dead" by James Joyce)
I'm the type of person who does most of their living and thinking in their head. I can walk to all of the different places on campus that I have to all by myself and be perfectly fine. Of course, while I'm doing that, I'm also mentally planning the rest of that day. I also would sit alone in the cafeteria and think to myself or read for the duration that I was there. I had friends that I made in my classes who felt bad for me and want to come sit with me while I ate, which I didn't mind, it was just hard for me to explain to them that I didn't mind eating alone either.
So, sure, I'm loud and talkative at times, and I wear ties on Wednesdays, and I'm in an acting class, and I'm in a drama troupe, and I blog and vlog, and I do all of these other expressive things, when you get to the core of what I am, I'm just a shy little introvert who just happened to have enough extroverted friends in high school who taught her to open up.
-andrea aka fred :)
Friday, September 2, 2011
Mixing it Up
If someone were to come up and tell me that today that I don't really seem like the kind of person who wears braided pigtails (or dog ears, whatever you choose to call them) and sips coffee, I would tell them that they don't know me at all. (This is a hint that this is exactly what im doing right now...). It'd be like someone telling me that I don't seem like the type of person who would put the lyrics to "The Peter Panda Dance" as my "about me" on Facebook. Honestly, that has been my about me on there since the about me box was still on the profile page. I think that things like this describe me perfectly. Sure, when most people think of me, they probably don't think of the Peter Panda Dance, but once they see it on there, many of my friends would agree that it is definitely something I would do.
I'm not saying that I'm one of those people who try their hardest to be "different," I just am that way. I don't often wear make up or conform to society's norm, but it's not for attention. I am a perfectionist, so the few places in my life where I do things on a whim (like deciding to start a blog...), are usually not what everyone else does. Okay, so a lot of people have blogs, but not a lot of people I know. Yeah, a lot of people do VEDA, but I'm the only one of my friends to do it and actually keep it up.
I'm the kid who started wearing ties to school on Wednesdays in January of 2009 and never stopped. (I also got friends to wear them with me, and the teachers were kind of thrown off at first, but got used to it... and the only time anyone said anything about it, the assistant principal asked if we were trying to make a statement-which we weren't, we were just wearing ties- and I said "sure" and IF he had asked what it was, i would have said "this tie is awesome", but he didnt). I used to wear pajama bottoms to school because I could (i wasn't the only one though, this was quite common), but then the school dress code changed and we weren't allowed to wear them anymore.
Like I said, I'm not trying to be different or to throw anyone off, but sometimes, I will do something out of my "norm" that feels right at the time. I'll say things without thinking or do something on a whim and it might not always come out the way I expected it to, but these are just the things I do. You don't have to like them, but I'd like it if people just accepted my quirks for what they are.
Thanks for putting up with my rambling and oddities,
-andrea aka fred :)
I'm not saying that I'm one of those people who try their hardest to be "different," I just am that way. I don't often wear make up or conform to society's norm, but it's not for attention. I am a perfectionist, so the few places in my life where I do things on a whim (like deciding to start a blog...), are usually not what everyone else does. Okay, so a lot of people have blogs, but not a lot of people I know. Yeah, a lot of people do VEDA, but I'm the only one of my friends to do it and actually keep it up.
I'm the kid who started wearing ties to school on Wednesdays in January of 2009 and never stopped. (I also got friends to wear them with me, and the teachers were kind of thrown off at first, but got used to it... and the only time anyone said anything about it, the assistant principal asked if we were trying to make a statement-which we weren't, we were just wearing ties- and I said "sure" and IF he had asked what it was, i would have said "this tie is awesome", but he didnt). I used to wear pajama bottoms to school because I could (i wasn't the only one though, this was quite common), but then the school dress code changed and we weren't allowed to wear them anymore.
Like I said, I'm not trying to be different or to throw anyone off, but sometimes, I will do something out of my "norm" that feels right at the time. I'll say things without thinking or do something on a whim and it might not always come out the way I expected it to, but these are just the things I do. You don't have to like them, but I'd like it if people just accepted my quirks for what they are.
Thanks for putting up with my rambling and oddities,
-andrea aka fred :)
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Slightly Annoyed...
Okay, so if it wasn't obvious enough in my last post, I'm on Twitter a lot. And, by a lot, I mean multiple times a day. Currently, I follow 106 people. A few of them are actual friends and family, and a few more of them I have actually met in real life. That's about 11 total. All of the rest of the people i follow on there are bands or YouTubers or authors or Celebrities. I'm a fan of most of these people in general. I like their work or their ideas. I know that these are people just like the ones I know IRL, and I like to hear/ read what they have to say. That being said, here comes the "ranty" part.
I get so freaking annoyed when someone tweets something like "hey, guys i just got home! super tired, how's you're day been" or "hey, ask me questions and ill answer them" or even when they just make a simple statement that would be fun to reply to and to see how others replied to it and instead, all of the replies consist of "OMG!!! your so frigging HOT!!! i luv u soooooooo much!!!" or "RT this if you love your fans in *insert country or state* WE LOVE YOU *insert aforementioned 'hot person''s name'*!!!!!"
Seriously, we get it. This person is well loved (hence all of the twitter followers). I just wish that sometimes, people would actually think before they send a tweet to someone. Honestly, what do you think is going to catch the eye more, the same message of adoration that practically everyone else is sending, or something original that shows you actually paid attention to what this person had to say. I'm not saying that this will guarantee a retweet or a reply, but think how you would feel if you were in the other person's situation.
Thanks for the variety! :)
-andrea aka fred
I get so freaking annoyed when someone tweets something like "hey, guys i just got home! super tired, how's you're day been" or "hey, ask me questions and ill answer them" or even when they just make a simple statement that would be fun to reply to and to see how others replied to it and instead, all of the replies consist of "OMG!!! your so frigging HOT!!! i luv u soooooooo much!!!" or "RT this if you love your fans in *insert country or state* WE LOVE YOU *insert aforementioned 'hot person''s name'*!!!!!"
Seriously, we get it. This person is well loved (hence all of the twitter followers). I just wish that sometimes, people would actually think before they send a tweet to someone. Honestly, what do you think is going to catch the eye more, the same message of adoration that practically everyone else is sending, or something original that shows you actually paid attention to what this person had to say. I'm not saying that this will guarantee a retweet or a reply, but think how you would feel if you were in the other person's situation.
Thanks for the variety! :)
-andrea aka fred
Monday, August 22, 2011
Appreciative Nerd
I love it when YouTubers or other people who have a lot of Twitter followers take the time to actually respond to what their followers say. Every time one of them responds to something I say, I have a mini freak out session (and I mean every time), and then I save it to my favorites so I will never forget. In the past week, I have received quite a few replies. Maybe it's not like this every week, buy that's what made this past week special.
And, I'm not just talking about when they respond to something I say; I get happy for the other people who are recognized, too. I love it when they retweet/blog/etc. something that one of their followers have done. Not only does it show that they to care and they do pay attention, but the rest of us get to see the works, too.
It's not just a small group of people who do this, either. I don't know about a lot of "mainstream" celebrities, but the people who I follow (basically, a bunch of YouTubers, youth pastors, authors, Wizard Rockers, and a few Harry Potter or Glee actors) all seem to take the time to do this. For instance, I'm sure that Michael Buckley (one of the first people to respond to my random comments) has better things to do than to reply to my comment on his YouTube channel, that Alex Carpenter could have gone without all of the technical questions for the video he was working on last week, or that the people in Team Starkid could really find something to do other than read all of the fangirl comments and questions that they get, but they take the time to pay attention to their followers. They seem to genuinely appreciate the people who take an interest in them.
Honestly, when I make most of the comments/replies that I do, I just expect them to be lost in the croud. That's why when someone actually acknowledges my existence, I get so excited :)
So, to all of the people who take the time to make people like me a little bit happier every time we check our inbox and see that one of you have reconized our existence, here's a HUGE thanks. :)
-andrea aka fred
And, I'm not just talking about when they respond to something I say; I get happy for the other people who are recognized, too. I love it when they retweet/blog/etc. something that one of their followers have done. Not only does it show that they to care and they do pay attention, but the rest of us get to see the works, too.
It's not just a small group of people who do this, either. I don't know about a lot of "mainstream" celebrities, but the people who I follow (basically, a bunch of YouTubers, youth pastors, authors, Wizard Rockers, and a few Harry Potter or Glee actors) all seem to take the time to do this. For instance, I'm sure that Michael Buckley (one of the first people to respond to my random comments) has better things to do than to reply to my comment on his YouTube channel, that Alex Carpenter could have gone without all of the technical questions for the video he was working on last week, or that the people in Team Starkid could really find something to do other than read all of the fangirl comments and questions that they get, but they take the time to pay attention to their followers. They seem to genuinely appreciate the people who take an interest in them.
Honestly, when I make most of the comments/replies that I do, I just expect them to be lost in the croud. That's why when someone actually acknowledges my existence, I get so excited :)
So, to all of the people who take the time to make people like me a little bit happier every time we check our inbox and see that one of you have reconized our existence, here's a HUGE thanks. :)
-andrea aka fred
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