so very thankful

i had a mumbo jumbo load of stuff typed out on here but decided to delete it all. nothing really sounded right... it's like i had something i wanted to say but just couldn't get to it. so i'm just gonna say what's on my mind and then get to bed... it's been a full day (and especially evening/night).

andy: although it may or may not sound odd, your post from tonight brought tears to my eyes. to hear you say that you are proud of me just means the world to me. but all this academic stuff tonight... the awards, the compliments and "congratulations" and so on... i could have done w/o. really. i could have not been given the award, not been announced for the dean's list, yet still have been the happiest sister in the world just to have her big brother there. we don't talk much. in fact, we haven't said more than 10 words to each other tonight (and you're already knocked out on the futon). but you know i love you... and i'm just so thankful to have you here. and i'm proud of you, too... i really am. after this paper of yours is done, you'll be done w/ your undergraduate years. huge accomplishment, i think! i know you've struggled. i have been sad when you have been sad... because seeing you sad or knowing you are sad, in turn, makes me sad. when i looked over and saw you w/ your eyes shut on the futon (as i thought you were watching the game on the TV!), i just wanted to cry... i'm not sure why... but i wanted to just cry and give you the biggest hug in the world and just let you know how much i love you. truly. as much as i wish i could say more, the tears tell me that i've said enough. this is from my heart. thank you, andy, for being here, and for supporting me (even when i've not been a good enough sister to you to deserve your support). i love you.

i hope mom and dad know how much i love them.............

i hope beth knows how ever so thankful i am for her support and encouragement. i won the freshman award last year only thanks to her, and this award this year only thanks to her powerful nomination. i can't believe the type of support i get here at bv. oh.... tonight was the first time that beth got to meet my parents. i think i felt the most happiness that i've felt all year, having both mom AND beth right there w/ me. wow, that just moves me to tears. amazing. i am so thankful for the people God has placed in my life... i definitely don't deserve the kind of support i've received these past couple of years................

time to dry the eyes and head to bed. don't want to wake andy w/ the noise of typing fingers. oh how thankful i am for a wonderful evening and for God's many, many, many blessings.

there's life outside bvu!

this afternoon after classes, jody and i made a point to prove that there really is life outside bvu. we took a trip to spencer!, only about 40-45 miles away. i drove. we blasted some tunes. went to wally world... goodwill... the mallllllll (what a crazy concept in little town iowa)... country kitchen. then blasted some more tunes as we drove back.

spent about 45 mins in a shoe store...... :-D

finally had dinner at 9:30. ate at country kitchen. as i said, "it's a nice sit-down restaurant!" whew. indeed.

am thinking about taking a very long overnight nap.

thanks for the off-campus adventure, jodes!
night, everyone!

what in the world is frog gigging?

You Know You're From Missouri When...

Everyone in your family has been on a "Float trip."

"Vacation" means driving to Silver Dollar City, Worlds of Fun or Six Flags.

Down south to you means Arkansas.

The phrase, "I'm going to the Lake this weekend," can mean only one thing.

You know what "Party Cove" is. (If you know where, you are a boating party animal)

You think Missouri is pronounced with an "ah" at the end.

You know in your heart that Mizzou can beat Nebraska in football.

You think I-44 is spelled "foarty-foar." (St. Louis Only)

You'll pay for your kids to go to college unless they want to go to KU.

You know that Concordia is halfway between Kansas City and Columbia, and Columbia is halfway between St. Louis and Kansas City, and Warrenton outlet mall is halfway between Columbia and St. Louis.

You can't think of anything better than sitting on the porch in the middle of the summer during a thunderstorm.

You know that Harry S. Truman, Walt Disney and Mark Twain are all from Missouri.

You know what "cow tipping" or "Possum Kicking" is.

You think "frog gigging" should be an Olympic sport.

You think Imo's is larger than Pizza Hut.

You can tell the difference between a horse and a cow from a distance.

You don't put too much effort into hairstyles due to wind and weather.

There's a tornado warning and the whole town is outside watching for it.

The local gas station sells live bait.

Little smokies are something you serve on special occasions.

All your radio preset buttons are country.

You know enough to get your driving done early on Sundays before the Sunday drivers come out.

You actually get these jokes and pass them on to other friends from Missouri.

to andy: bike answers

yes,

and

yes.

and yeah... that'd be a first...

but do you think mom would be willing to get on a bike?

buenafication day

pronounced: bway-nuh-fih-kay-shuhn day.

a day of service and no classes for the buena vista community.
also a day and a half for students to get smashed... :(

there was a "drive-in movie" last night in the rec center. the whole school pretty much knew about it, but can you imagine just how many people really showed up? malarky's must have been hoppin' at that time (or p/w). you know, i sometimes think (and i'm not alone in this) that drinking doesn't interfere w/ school for the vast majority of bv students-- rather, school interferes w/ drinking. ohh so sad. this is probably one of the most pathetic campuses for when it comes to night and weekend activities put on by SAB and other groups. such great opportunities, yet people would rather spend their time killing brain cells. and lots of them. gosh, i'm glad i don't feel the need to be cool or fit in around campus.

so the movie we watched was "identity," and now there are a few people worried about the fact that, when somebody randomly gets run into by an automobile, in a movie, i usually laugh hysterically. it happened in this movie. the second the car hit the body i was just bustin' it up... i don't think autumn knew what to think. "LEISHA! you're a CHRISTIAN!" thanks for the reminder!... but that still won't keep me from laughing! i don't think i'd ever laugh if something like that happened in real life. but in the movies... frickin' a. ohh, just like brad pitt in meet joe black, when he gets run over in the street. absolutely hilarious.

today: buy a $1 buenafication day shirt. b-day program. service project (i'll blog about it later, maybe). picnic... hand out tickets for an hour... battle of the bands... maybe get some stuff done... then i'm on duty tonight. fun, fun!

two more days 'til the FAM arrives!!!!!!!!!!!!! by golly, they really DO love me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

climbing!

climbing
Originally uploaded by LeishaJo.

nothing like a good climb to make you realize just how insanely out of shape you are! (particularly the upper body!)

anybody up for giving me the world's longest back rub?... i could sure use it...

ready to climb?

ready to climb?
Originally uploaded by LeishaJo.

climb when ready!

me over the weekend at hidden acres.

peanut butter memory

years ago, there was a girl who lived across the road from me. her name was mylissa and we were good buddies for quite some time (we shared a bus stop together, and living out in the country, there weren't many opportunities to have friends nearby so that's mostly why we hung out together... besides that she was a cool, spunky chick, albeit like four years younger than me-- lol). ok, so a beautiful memory that just came to me as i was searching for a spoon to dip into my peanut butter jar. she and i were sitting in her living room once with a jar of peanut butter. a very full, new, full-to-the-brim-with-peanut-butter jar. along w/ that jar was a bag of chocolate chips and two spoons. we sat there and ate and ate and ate... and before anyone knew it... there really wasn't any more peanut butter left. ohhh it tasted so good! our tummies hurt afterward but that was a small price to pay for the wholesome taste of peanut butter and chocolate chips, straight from the jar, by means of a plastic spoon.

the greatest part about this? we had looked at the nutritional information on the jar before we started eating. when we saw the fat and calorie content, we thought that the numbers were for the entire jar itself... so in our minds we were having a pretty darn healthy snack... well at least it would have been, had we stopped after a spoonful or two.

yep. now back to my banana and peanut butter snack. ohh and by means of a plastic spoon this time, as well! hooo-ahhh!

hello, monday

the weekend rocked!

it's freezing in swope (back to cold weather-- welcome to iowa!), but i got a great night of sleep last night, so it evens out somehow. i think it's actually a little warmer outside which is odd......

only a few weeks of school left! and today is a 4-day week-- buenafication day is on thursday!

just submitted my fafsa and wasn't too thrilled w/ the efc-- gosh-- it's just not the same as when my brothers are in college at the same time. ahh, c'est la vie. i'm gonna have to take out loans anyway b/c of studying abroad (gotta have that "just in case" money)-- may as well just pack 'em on. :-/

it's monday. time to get ready for classes. have a good day...

good stuff

• i found my passport. i thought i'd lost it which wasn't good b/c i hadn't even had the chance to use it yet and i needed it to make a million copies of it for upcoming travel stuff (plus actually using it at the end of next month)... so i was afraid i'd have to fork over a million bucks to get a new one (while this one was already new). so... *big, fat sigh of relief*
• i got a care package in the mail from second pres (where i interned over january-- paula's church). much fun!
• i got my sweet suitcase in the mail yesterday. spent a fantastic amount of time seeing how much i could pack into it (hey, i have to pack for a month in this little carry-on-sized thing). definitely didn't get much homework done b/c of that, but... it's all good.
• am spending this weekend at the spring fcb retreat.
• it's friday. 'nuff said.

too busy to blog!

kind of like being too legit to quit.

but then again, not really.

happy birthday to you!

gals
Originally uploaded by LeishaJo.

hey everybody, it's my buddy bekah case's 21st birthday today-- everyone wish her a happy, happy (and saaaaaaafe!) birthday! :)

dang. i'm cheap.

I am worth $1,773,048.00 on HumanForSale.com

slackin'

suppose i've really been a slacker at this blog stuff! (oh well, not near as much as some of my friends... geesh... once a month? what's that? it's as though they're busy or something... gosh.) :-P

i'm not really thinking in complete, literate sentences right now so here are some updates from recently:

• friday came and went. it was a great week overall. not much stress and plenty of sleep for once. just what i like.
• went to see "the amityville horror" on opening night here in storm lake. w/ a bunch of buddies-- ryann, lindsey, jon, matt, bonnie, david, nick, jewels,... oh gosh the list could go on and on. a professor was there w/ the group, too, though. isn't that sweet? (gosh i love bv for their awesome profs. might i make mention that beth and i had lunch together in the cent room on friday-- was the greatest lunchtime convo i've had since i've been here!) anyway, i'm not completely sure that horror movies are for me. my heart was definitely beating at its maximum and i started freezing near the end of the movie so i had to put my jean jacket back on. oh goodness. it was indeed a good time, though.
• went over to jody's, met kevin, ran to wally world for an ice cream fix (read: fri night at midnight), came back and watched "hotel rwanda." came back to my room (after ra curfew-- my what a rebel i am!) and researched the presbyterian office and peacekeeping at the UN for quite some time. got to bed after 3.
• saturday-- slept in until noon and ohhh did that feel good. spent a good part of the afternoon laying outside on a blankie and reading while soaking up the sun. (not that i soaked very much up-- i'm still albino, but hey, at least that means my risk of skin cancer is lower). evening time-- pizza w/ the choice mentors and mentees. downed 7 slices of pizza and thoroughly enjoyed every single bit of it. mmmmm mm. at this time i invited shaun over to watch spanglish w/ me mostly b/c he'd mentioned drinking that night-- and i knew that if he came over to my room and stayed long enough, he wouldn't drink. i was a pretty happer camper b/c he did come over, and ended up staying until 2:30 (which sounds like a crazy hour but considering i had rounds every couple of hours until then, the night was probably still young for most). we watched spanglish while i worked on my bulletin board (which i've put like a million years' worth of effort into!), and then he went to get his collection of spanish music which was definitely musigasmic (like the new word?). i'm in the process of burning like the 11th cd from his collection. toooooooooooooons of spanish music from mexico-- oh, leisha like! anyway... long story short, shaun probably went back to his room and went to sleep, since he was tired, which meant he didn't drink any last night which was a good thing. the kid knows how to control himself surprisingly well and i don't think he necessarily drinks to get drunk, but... he's too much of a little bro (ok, by like 20 days) to me... yeah, shaun's definitely a cool guy, and i'm definitely gonna miss him next semester when i'm all over the place and he's in japan (how cool is that!? just a soph and he'll be in japan-- rock on!). there are a lot of people i'm going to miss though. case in point-- beth. when i get back, she'll be going on sabbatical for the spring semester. this means ONE YEAR WITHOUT BETH. a leisha no le gusta!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! oh well. gotta do what you gotta do. after i survive through these millions of study abroad papers, all should be well. until then, i could use prayers.
• sunday: church, lunch, homework, community builder at 3:30, dinner, get some fresh air b/c i'll finally be off duty, homework, bible study, then zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. looks like it'll be a good day.

laters, gators.

might as well be wishin' on a star

it's been a sweet evening. ra recognition banquet which was a dessert banquet. holy cow. delicious cheesecake. i've never been a cheesecake person until this year. mmmm. oh and then a women's studies video night w/ conversation following. yeah, that definitely rocked.

as i was walking back to swope i saw a shooting star. well actually it was an airplane, or a rocket, or some crazy ufo-- i don't know-- but i had fun imagining that it was a shooting star, and thus began to sing "might as well be wishin' on a star" in my cabeza. was a good time.

now i am eating sodexho cookies. darn karissa, made me bring some back to my room so they wouldn't go to waste.

now i'm off to help someone w/ spanish in the library. i love the library. it has lots of.... books. good stuff!

where are norichan and fumichan when i need them!?

Leisha loves curry rice!
Originally uploaded by LeishaJo.

just thought i'd say that i'm craving curry rice right now. mmmmmmmmmmmm.

oh, and i miss norichan and fumichan like LOCO.

that's about it. have a pleasant day!

dizzy much

i have been very, very dizzy today...........

no good! no good at all!

so i guess this is a good time to say that i am currently a whatchacallit for a senior science major who is doing a study over gingko boloba. i'm taking pills every day (not sure yet if it's gingko or if it's just a placebo, but i'm wondering if it's gingko and if that's what's causing the dizziness!) and each monday i go in, have my blood pressure taken about four or five times (so basically i lose feeling in my arm for the rest of the day) and get hooked up to many, many wires and then a scan of some sort is done on me. oh yeah and memory tests, too. ooooh and did i mention that i'm getting paid to do this, too. it's only 20 bucks but considering it's not that time-consuming... sweet. 20 bucks=100 bucks in the eyes of a poor college student. (ok so i'm not that poor at all, considering the only debt i have is college loans which will be taken care of after i graduate and have a job, and there are really no places to spend money around here-- well there are, but i choose not to-- so really, itunes, ebay, and walmart-- hello, food-- are really the only places that see my big bucks anymore, and even the first too are very seldom occurrences. except last week i purchased a very hispanic-looking sarong on ebay. my first sarong, ever. i kept hearing about how great they are for traveling purposes. but yeah... i think it's a butthead. i mean it's beautiful, but i'm pretty sure that out of all the millions of ways a woman can wear a sarong, not a single one works for me. any advice???)

enough babbling. i'm on duty tonight so i'll be up late... might post more later. for now, i shall read or study or create a bulletin board or do SOMETHING to make myself a productive person. productivity=a great thing, truly.

a few random thoughts before i head to bed

the ex-boyfriend of mine from the good ole' high school days initiated a conversation w/ me over msn tonight. it was definitely interesting and definitely unexpected. i don't think we'd talked over msn since last year sometime. well apparently he's suffered a bit of a head injury (fractured skull) and is at home right now awaiting possible surgery on thursday. it was surprising that he told me this. he also was curious to know if ethan and i were still together. and eventually he told me that he and his girlfriend had broken up (and then he was shocked to know that i knew he was even w/ this girl-- umm, hello, very small campus, friend-- very small campus!). just a very random conversation but i am glad it happened... i always hate seeing him around campus (infrequently) and having there be complete avoidance... usually on his part, i think, which makes perfect sense considering, but still... never has it been my intention to be an evil ex-girlfriend. and i haven't been. so basically... this was probably just a one-time thing but it surprised me so darn much that i just thought i would babble about it a little bit. yeah. so moving right along! :)

usage of the phrase "that's retarded" seriously ticks me off. i can't even count how many times i heard it this past weekend on the dean's fellows trip. and how many times i confronted it, and the reaction i got from one gal-- wow. if i didn't know all the words in the book before then, i did after i confronted her. it's too bad bv doesn't offer a special 100-level class on respect. i think it would come in handy for... say... life, and we mind find that some people would have a difficult time passing the class. yes. believe it.

it feels way too fabulous to have my proposal finished and turned in. i have a really good feeling about it, like maybe i *might* be the recipient, but i also have a good feeling about the others who turned in proposals (karissa and darren, in particular, and there was one other person but i'm not quite sure who it was...). like, they would have totally deserved it, which is a much better feeling than jealousy or anything of the sort. so i feel good overall, i guess you could say.

i did some paper grading tonight. definitely made me feel like a teacher. *smiles*

i had a strange but oh-so true to life dream last night. carla (ethan's sis-in-law) and i were sitting on a couch talking, catching up, talking about life and such. funny timing considering just last month i got out the letter she'd sent me in january, in which she'd sent some pics and also told me to keep in touch w/ her and let her know how things are going for me. i'd intended to write her back but i just haven't yet, 3 months later. call it lack of willpower. not knowing what to say, or perhaps even the opposite-- having so much to say that i wouldn't know where to begin. it's been so very long since i have seen mike, carla, or darien that it just feels... different. do i miss them? most definitely. do i miss everyone else-- dottie-- most definitely, and seth?-- yeah... and i must admit that w/ springtime's arrival i've thought much more frequently of ethan. not for long periods of time, but he does enter and leave my mind at sporadic moments during a given week (oh how i wish it wouldn't have been such a wonderful, happy relationship-- but then again i might not mean that). i could keep in touch w/ them as i think carla and dottie have tried a little bit but something tells me i just shouldn't. same w/ ethan... he wrote me an email a little over a month ago and even suggested i write back. i thought i would after a while but never got to it, and to be honest, i don't think i will... at all. the way that i feel now is so different compared to the way i felt up until the end of january or a little into feb, even. i wish i could accurately describe it. but basically, not talking to them, i feel, has made me and is making me so much stronger. i feel... powerful... in a way. i have no idea what it will be like when ethan and i cross paths again (who knows when that will be?-- i don't even bother thinking about it much anymore) but i do know that i will have absolutely no expectations of-- well, basically, anything or anyone. there is a reason for everything that has happened and i may not know what it is, exactly, but eventually it will be made clear to me. right now i'd say that God is using this as such a learning time for me... learning and growing. oh and it feels so good. even the few moments when i still find myself wanting to reach for the bottle of wellbutrin that sits on my vanity (which i've not touched for months)-- like today-- when i laid down to take a nap and somehow ended up w/ a few tears running down my face (just a few, which was odd-- last semester there were so, so, so many of them)... a part of me felt awful for a few moments but another part of me felt even stronger b/c of it. i didn't have to take the medicine. the tears felt ok. peace was somewhere within, even amidst confusion (and trust me, somewhere there really is a lot of confusion). but... as i said... learning and growing has definitely been a product of this year. every day it seems like. even taking into consideration the tears, the heartbreak, the weight loss and weight gain, the loneliness, the struggles, the questions, the desperate pleas for extended deadlines, the waiting, the longing, etc etc etc... i wouldn't trade anything for this school year. i thank God for the strength to say this and mean this.

my "few" random thoughts have turned into more than a few.
time for some shut-eye and then waking up to a brand new day.

politicalities and... stuff

pardon the french, folks, but what the hell is the point of having political parties except for the sake of FURTHER DIVISION AND OPPOSITION AMONG BROTHERS AND SISTERS (as in humanity, not biological brothers and sisters)?

ok, so today there was a rally set up by timeout and college democrats outside a representative's office here in storm lake, having to deal w/ the upcoming iowa ban against gay marriages. they were really trying hard to get as many people involved as they could, of course, to put together a good protest outside of the office. well naturally, college republicans feel like they have to "outdo" the college democrats and have even more people show up at the rally in support of the ban. so somebody sent out an email saying that it'll be great to "see the faces of our fellow college democrats and whatever you call timeout people."

here's a vent session: WHATEVER YOU CALL TIMEOUT PEOPLE!? excuse me, mr. republican (as much as i hate to put that one in there!!!), but i call "those timeout people" humans, and i also happen to call them MY FRIENDS! and even if they WEREN'T my friends, i'd STILL call them human, just like you, and just like me. where in the WORLD do people come off making these judgments about people who are different?? and really, besides a person's personal decision about whom to love, WHAT IS SO DIFFERENT about "these people?" do they not eat the same food, breathe the same air, walk on the same ground, speak the same words, smile the same smiles, feel the same pain, and often times, even worship the same God as you and me (i mean i'd presume that comes as a great shock for you... from the sound of it)?

what i am feeling right now and what i feel almost every day: sooooooooooooooo sorry for those who are uneducated, those who are ignorant, those who are closed-minded, and those who are afraid of what is different. and especially sorry for all the christians out there who give in to the whole "well you see i'm a christian and it says about five times in the Bible that homosexuality is immoral so that means homosexuals are sinners and that means we should really reach out to them and really change them just as soon as possible because otherwise they're going to go to hell and now come on... we don't want that now do we" bit... have we forgotten that we, too, sin (if you're going to go off of the "homosexuality is a sin" argument which truly is what most people base their arguments on...and i'm not giving a judgment as to whether that is right or wrong... but i find it to be a tad bit ironic... considering the amount of people who aren't really practicing christians yet still say this... hmm... glad the Bible can be used as a crutch)? i think almost every single person (almost, i said-- there are still a few good men, as the saying goes...which includes women, of course) involved in ministries here on campus falls into this category. which really makes me a minority when you think about it. oh my gosh... leisha... friends w/ a bisexual (or two or three or a bunch for that matter)? oh my gosh... leisha... talking to a homosexual? heaven forbid she talks with a homosexual. even in a kind manner. and in a way that doesn't seek to change him. i mean, a way that actually welcomes him to be himself and not feel like he's the recipient of any form of judgment. wow. yeah... i definitely feel like this fact makes me a minority on this campus. to say the least, i simply don't understand it.

ok so there was a quick thought on my feelings about glbt stuff, just from today's events and the republican guy's stupid, stupid, stupid comment. so that leads into the whole political party bit. arrrrrrrrrrgh. political parties. I HATE THEM!!!!!!!!!!!! well... politics in general... argh. and closed-mindedness. and hypocrisy. and the republican folks who claim they republican status simply because "democrats have no morals or values." double arrrrrrrrrrrrrgh! pretty sure i wrote a paper on this in my religion & culture class, and the response from the teacher was that "we have to get you to seminary!" this is probably my greatest turnoff from politics and/or political parties: the amount of people who make this claim but only make this claim when it comes time to vote and then only b/c there's an issue on the table that they don't agree w/. homosexuality. abortion. women's rights. these are the more obvious ones-- but there are plenty more i'm sure. i seriously wonder how many people consider themselves republican simply b/c their parents are republican, and/or because they've HEARD this "no values/morals" claim. i can think of plenty off the top of my head. have they really done their research? is it really that democrats have no morals or values or could it be-- just COULD IT BE-- that these democrats are doing what they're doing because of their morals and values? never thought of that? educate yourself, friends. it's the best thing you could ever do for yourself AND for this nation. b/c it really looks to me like people have stopped educating themselves, and it's caused a whole lot of hell-- for the nation and for many individuals. the nation is probably always going to go through these sorts of hells. but individuals? human beings? no way-- nobody deserves that.

*sigh* this is quite the campus to live on. such a conservative campus, yet really, such a LIBERAL campus. republicans seem to hang out together, and democrats seem to hang out together, and it's like there's barely any mixing of the both (though i do see it at times, as i'm one of the people who do the mixing, and i have friends who do-- and i know there are others out there, most definitely...). this is what republicans stand for, and this is what democrats stand for. and i think it gives everyone a really negative idea about everything (particularly the political parties). i know that this guy who wrote the timeout comment isn't representative of all republicans (though i hate to say, it seems all too typical of a republican. argh.) i know it sure turns me off from the idea of political parties. ok, no it doesn't. it turns me on to the idea of being a democrat. but the whole "oh, you stupid democrats" and yes, even the "you stupid republicans (as often as this might run through my head at times)" make me want to just ask of everyone, CAN'T WE ALL GET ALONG!?!?!?!?! the answer, i fear, is no. not when we have so many uneducated and closed-minded people out there... i mean, that's fine, whichever party you want to say you're a part of, but please don't go into it half-arsedly.

so yeah. i really suck at this political stuff.
i'm stepping off the soapbox now and going back to the books. going to read. yes, i can do that well; quite well.

night, friends.

*aaaaaaaaaaand... cut*

nothing to say

"nothing to say" by andrew peterson pretty much defines how i feel tonight. good song. haven't heard it? well that should change. i dunno... i think it has the greatest impact on me b/c of this crazy obsession i have w/ arizona, and the mountains, and just how GOOD God is. "and the mountains sing your glory, hallelujah. the canyons echo sweet amazing grace.... and i've got nothing to say..." yep. definitely good stuff.

today was a great day. i was stressed to pieces about this test that i had in my night class-- so naturally i had all day, or at least until 5:45, to worry about it, and when taking the test i could have kicked my own butt for studying TOO hard. argh! does that ever happen to you? needless to say, i think i did very well. afterward, i even had the most awesome convo w/ the prof about pc(usa) young adult oportunities, teaching, peace studies, ghost ranch, "living in the Spirit." oh man, it was great. definitely was another one of those convos that left me thinking "yeeeah... there's definitely a reason why i'm here." yep. definitely.

went for a nice walk in the rain tonight. w/ sandals. did i mention that this was cold rain, and leisha about froze her toes off. somehow they're still attached to the feet though... so no worries, friends! all will be okee dokee.

got a buncha books back today from the recent scholastic book order. i got a bum load of 'em! one of them was a spanish book order-- how frickin' cool is that!? needless to say, i got many books. oh i am such a book nerd. i love books though. i can't help it. if i believed in reincarnation i'd say that, in one of my past lives, i was a book. but i don't believe in reincarnation. so i'll just say that... well, i really like books. yep! that pretty much sums it up.

poetry alive! is here this week at bv, and the two performers performed (hmm, who'da thunk on that one!?) in my human relations class this morning. it rocked! the one gal got into poetry alive! from the professional acting side and the one guy got into it from being very active in poetry slams all across the us-of-a. he described to the class what poetry slams were b/c it seemed like nobody knew (i did though! a big ole' thanks to andy for the intro to taylor mali! more to come on that in a second). well, afterward, i asked him if he'd heard of taylor mali, and he said that he actually knew him personally from the diff. slam competitions and other places. wow, small world. so... i finally bought taylor mali's "convictions" album on itunes, and have listened to it not once, not twice, but like three times already. incredible. this guy truly rocks my socks off. i'm showing the "what teachers make" clip in class on wednesday in hopes that it'll inspire ann (great ed prof) to help me push to get taylor here at bv next year (which i know she'll be all for-- she's already excited about my excitement about him, lol). in the meantime i've been researching poetry slam stuff. yeah, definitely something i want to get into someday. at least be an audience for the cool word artists out there. hmmm... not many opps from little storm lake, ia, but maybe someday. yep, definitely someday.

think i'll hit the sack early tonight. wow... before midnight. *leisha pats herself on the back for getting to bed at a halfway decent-ish hour* nighty night to all!

¡está terminado!

finalmente. ¡wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

ahora me voy a kc.

hasta luego, ´migos.

proposal

it's 3am and i am working on finishing up my fellowship proposal. it's nowhere near where it should be, but i'll get it there before class at 11. gosh, i pretty much have to. i slept from about 10 until 1:30 tonight so i could get up and get it done in the middle of the night. college kids keep weird hours. i know this b/c i'm one of them. yuck.

tomorrow (or rather, today): turn in proposal and then feel heavy burden lifted off of shoulder (or else start kicking myself in the butt for turning in something that just could have been so much better), class at 11, 12, and 1, then leave for kansas city at 2:30-3ish! i'll be heading to kc w/ the dean's fellowship group-- 10 people from each school (i'm w/ the c&a school)-- we're staying in a hotel off the plaza w/ lots of free time when we get there (hello, plaza and/or westport!), then touring union station on saturday morning, eating at fiorrella's jack stack bbq (yummmm!!!!), and then seeing "swing!" at the american heartland theatre in kc. then returning to bv! sounds like lots of fun to me. and the best part about it all? it's costing me absolutely nothing. oooooh bv... you treat me well.

back to this proposal.

i remember

in high school, especially senior year when señora ogle was away on maternity leave and the sub was there who had just graduated as a spanish major, i remember the sub and i talking about her spanish classes and what they were like (in college). i never can forget what she said about her spanish tests in most classes: they were all essays. as in, you have a question or two, and you have so long to just write in spanish and finish up before the class gets out. my response was something like "oh my gosh, essay questions in spanish?" it cracks me up b/c i've been doing it since 2nd semester of my freshman year of college, and i've even been doing it semi-successfully. in fact, i just did it today, and in honor of this memory, i'm going to include what i happened to write (since we did it on the computer this time). (btw, in no way am i saying that my response is great. just trying to get the point across that it's really NOT something to be afraid of, like i once thought it was! awesome stuff!) here goes: happy reading! ;-)

Pregunta: ¿Cuáles son los motivos de don Juan y cómo se relacionan con la España de su época?

Los motivos de don Juan en esta obra, ¨El Burlador de Sevilla,¨ son evidente, por lo menos, para mí. El primer motivo de don Juan es del poder sobre los otros, especialmente sobre los otros hombres. Cuando don Juan durmió con Isabela al principio de la historia, fue probablemente porque conocía a duque Octavio y quería quitar el honor de él. Por qué, no sé exactamente, pero creo que es porque don Juan tenía una posición alta en sociedad y quería guardarla, y así podía dormir con la mujer del otro hombre, tal vez su posición subiría un poquito. Eso es porque le fingió a Isabela para dormir con él.

También, después de la boda del Batricio y Aminta cuando don Juan se sentó al lado de Aminta, don Juan sabía que le estaba deshonrando a Batricio. Creo que, a don Juan, le gusta la idea de deshonrando los otros. Tal vez le hizo sentir mejor hacia suyo. Pero, es evidente que don Juan tenía mas poder cuando estaba al lado de Aminta durante la boda, es eso es porque estaba allá. Otro ejemplo del quitando el honor del otro hombre es de cuando don Juan robó doña Ana de su amigo, Marques de la Mota. ¿Por qué quisiera un amigo robar a su amigo del su mujer? Para mantener su posición en sociedad, es porque.

Algunos dirían que el motivo de don Juan fue tener sexo, y tener mucho sexo. Tal vez eso es porque durmió con Tisbea, pero cuando durmió con Tisbea, hizo más que aquel. También les deshonró Tisbea y los otros pescadores. Y cuando tenía sexo con Isabela, les deshonró no solamente Isabela, pero también Octavio, el Rey de Nápoles, y otros. Y con Aminta, cuando finalmente tenía sexo con ella, no les deshonró solamente Aminta y Batricio, pero también el entero aldea. Sobre cada de estas personas recibió más poder.

Los motivos de don Juan se relacionan con la España de su época en que el honor fue muy importante a todos, y el poder también. Todas las personas tenían el honor, pero el poder, no tan mucho. Así una persona puede ganar dinero pero nunca tener el poder, pero, una persona puede tener el poder pero nuna necesitará el dinero… eso es porque el poder es la cosa más importante (al menos, a los hombres). Al mismo tiempo, si una persona tiene honor (y muchas personas lo tienen), y está quitado por otro, hay poder sobre el otro. Ocurrió mucho en España durante este época, es eso es la importancia de ¨El Burlador de Sevilla¨ y de los acciones de don Juan.

day

Never too old to play in the park
Originally uploaded by LeishaJo.

today was an "i'm in the mood to play in the park" sort of day. i didn't get to do exactly that, but i did get to go for a nice walk w/ a friend. anyway, i got to do this over the weekend, and it was super great. ooooh happy springtime weather.

not successful, but faithful

"we are not here to be successful. we are here to be faithful."
-mother theresa

i just had a 2-hour visit with a professor (my main contact for my upcoming fellowship travel/study proposal). it was incredible. i left her office feeling... i don't know... just right. like i'm really at peace with where i am and what i'm doing. not attaching myself to anything unneccesary (at least i'm trying not to-- and that includes not getting too attached to this proposal that is due on friday, as badly as i'd like to be the recipient of the fellowship), and keeping a straight head on my shoulders about life and living this life for a power that is much, much stronger than myself. God is an amazing God and truly the reason why I am seeking this experience. what is the experience, you ask? i can't wait to tell you about it-- but that won't be until after i turn in the proposal on friday. then i'll jot down some excerpts and fill you in through my blog.

it's yet another gorgeous day... "what a glorious day"-- david crowder band. so, so true. God is good.

holy cow

i just got a completely unanticipated refund check from the business office. oooooh sweet. my savings account will be happy to meet the acquaintance of this check (considering the same account really doesn't meet any acquaintances at all anymore, hmph).

also, i enjoyed the beautiful morning this morning for about an hour on the track and around the campus. who said mondays were bad days? no way. noooooooo way.

it's a good day. goooooood day.
i hope others are having a good day, also.
more later!

i wouldn't mind

a lifetime supply of post raisin bran

for christmas, or my birthday, or flag day, perhaps.

(when is flag day, by the way?)

raisin bran. mmmmmmm.

puzzled

one morning a blonde called her boyfriend and said, "please come over and help me. i have this killer jigsaw puzzle, and i can't figure out how to start it." her boyfriend asked, "what is it a puzzle of?"
the blonde said, "from the picture on the box, it's a tiger." the blonde's boyfriend figures that he's pretty good at puzzles, so he heads over to her place. she lets him in the door and shows him she has the puzzle spread all over the table. he studies the pieces for a moment, then he studies the box.
he then turns to her and says, "first, no matter what i do, i'm not going to be able to show you how to assemble these pieces to look like the picture of that tiger."
"second, i'd advise you to relax, have a cup of coffee, and put all these frosted flakes back in the box."

(thanks, dean hawk ministries, for posting funnies on your site!)

yesssss!

i was in bed by 9:30 or 10:00 last night!

i love having high schoolers in my room. they still sleep on a semi-regular schedule.



on the other hand, i got a 7:50am wake up call from the parental units this beautiful morning, saturday morning. good thing i was already awake. otherwise, i could have said to them, "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!?!?!?!?" but they're my parents and i love them and i don't think i could have done that. my other option would be to sit there w/ the phone and act completely dead while they talk to me, and they'd get the hint. :-P

did i mention that it's a BEAUTIFUL MORNING!?!?!?!? hello, saturday morning walk around storm lake!!!!! WOW!!!!!!!

p.s. i love this shade of pink! oh so girly!!! it makes me feel like a ballerina again! (not that i was ever a girly ballerina. i'm pretty sure that, the years i took ballet, i was rather large tomboy of sorts. wore my brother's clothes. refused to wear JUST the leotard and tights. had to add in basketball shorts or a big athletic t-shirt on over it... oh it was good stuff.)

cultural leadership conference

the clc has gotten off to a great start!

i'm hosting two gals-- lorena and amanda. amanda's a cool chick, and lorena is a super cool chick! she's from mexico (oaxaca) and she wants to be a teacher and she really loves it here at bv (she also seems pretty shy, but that's a cool trait about her, it looks like-- she's also extremely genuine). they're both seniors in high school. anyway, one is sleeping on my futon and one's sleeping on the floor. thank goodness for lots of floor space. last night when we finally got back to the room, they put in "down to you" and i worked on my lesson plan. i was thrilled w/ how smoothly my lesson plan went. the rough draft is due today but from the sound of it it has to be a very detailed rough draft. the lesson plan is over the concept of Spanish weather terms. it includes an assessment, vocabulary worksheet, bulletin board, activities, and notes. and to think that that's only for one class time. who in the world ever said teaching was easy? definitely no complaints though, i can't wait to make more lesson plans.

it looks like an exceptionally beautiful morning out. i still have spanish to read (the very end of el burlador de sevilla-- THE story about don juan for any people who've ever heard of him!; he's the womanizer, yes) but i think i might end up doing what i did the other night-- printing it off (since it's an online text; yuck) and going for a walk while reading it. i can't afford to waste that much time sitting and attempting to read something i just don't really understand (and might knod off white reading it, anyway). i walked a good two and a half miles on tuesday night reading 500 lines. think i might do the same this morning. i'd jog but that might make it more difficult to read. :)

i can't believe it's friday.

i want to go to riverside presbyterian church in new york city someday.

i think that "diversity" INCLUDES white folks. with the exception of one person, i'm not sure the diversity coordinator on campus realizes this. sad.

the summer is coming up!!!!! lots of traveling!!!!!

i will likely be an ra again next spring when i get back from studying abroad! in LIBERTY! holy cow. too cool! (hip hip hooray for mari doing the mcp in the spring and not the fall, although it'd be cool to do some traveling with her if it were the other way around!)

the most awesome thing happened yesterday afternoon. i might blog about it later when i get the chance. (man am i glad i'm a fast typer and these blogs don't take up TOO much of my time.)

have a beautiful day!