Relative Weather

I always enjoy finding useful apps for my blackberry that are free. Today I installed a handy-dandy weather app. However I noticed a little discrepancy between my phone's weather and my computer's weather. My phone said it was 60 degrees, and my computer said it was 73 degrees. Both agreed on the rain though. Out of curiosity, I went to both respective weather websites to check it out: The Weather Channel and Weather Underground. Still same difference of 13 degrees. To further investigate, I went to a third weather website, Weatherbug; it recorded 53 degrees. La Mirada is not that big...so I don't know why there is a 20 degree difference with all the weather reporting websites...what is a girl to do without a dependable weather forecast? How can I adequately prepare for a day when I don't know if I should wear shorts and a t-shirt or snow pants and a parka?

Well, one thing is for certain: it's raining :)

Mornings

Garfield the cat is a sage.

He has many words of wisdom concerning the morning:

If people were meant to pop out of bed, they would sleep in toasters

Mornings would be better if they started later...

As a college student, I am obligated to feel animosity towards the dawn of the day. The rising sun, by nature, is offensive to me because it means I must pry myself out of the safety of my bed and face the harsh reality of the world.

[Side pondering: If the sun, which is yellow, essentially means time to start another day, why does the yellow traffic light mean slow down?...someone should either address this concern to the traffic elves who change the signals or to the sun and request it to shine green so that we are not so confused and upset in the mornings when a yellow orb is telling us to GO GO GO!! ]

This past semester, my roommate has been practicing a fairly inconvenient habit of asking me questions right after I transition from my dreamworld to reality.

First of all, coming back to reality is:

• Sometimes refreshing (especially after I have dreamed about failing a project presentation...you could consider that an Amanda nightmare),
  
• sometimes confusing (especially after I have dreamed about having a very plausible conversation with a friend...did it really happen? not sure...), and
  
• sometimes heartbreaking (like when I dream that I am snowboarding at Crystal Mountain in Washington with the snow falling on my face and the chill air cutting through my jacket on the ski lift...only to wake up hot and sweating because it is 90 degrees in Southern California in February...)

Second of all, in all honesty, the only decision I want to make within an hour of waking up is which creamer to use in my coffee.

Also, if my classes don't start until 6pm, why would I want to get up at 5am to shuffle around all day watching random TV talk shows that air in the early morning when I could be watching a perfectly good movie screened on the inside of my eyelids....I have upgraded to HD dreams...via the addition of earplugs and the elimination of an alarm clock ;)

YET,

possibly my favorite time of the day is morning.

Mornings are quiet. Mornings are full of possibilities. You have not run out of time in the morning. You are not yet late in the morning. You have not stuck your foot in your mouth in the morning. Mornings are fresh. Mornings are still.

As I think of finishing college in the next couple of months and the desire to finish strong, I am struck by the need to start strong. My previous post was about the finish line of college. However, the finish line does not come to me, I have to go to it. As a natural born competitor, wandering aimlessly toward a goal is not good enough, actually it is shameful for me. I want to cross the finish line, if not first, at least at full speed, exerting all that I have.

Even though I will be committing treason by mingling with the enemy, I think I am growing to appreciate mornings. (I am not ready to say love, so we will not be celebrating Valentine's day together this year).

If mornings were a person, we would simply be on the "hi" status, meaning we acknowledge each other but are not quite ready to stop and chat...

The Finish Line

...is in sight. I see it. I don't know how I feel about it. But it is coming up.

:)

Size 9 Black Stilletos if possible...

Let me start by saying: I will always consider myself a Washingtonian. I love the rain and I scowl at the ice cream truck as it drives by in January. I will never root for USC and the no matter how bad the Mariners are, the Angels have no merit in my book.

That being said, here is a story of a Washingtonian displaced in California on a rainy day...

This morning started like any other Tuesday morning. I woke up, got dressed...finally in a long sleeve shirt and rain coat :)...ate some breakfast, back my backpack and headed to school. While it has been forecasted to rain this week, a California rain storm lasts a few hours and then stops and the street dry up in another hour. So being from Washington, I was not worried about walking to school.

Near the end of my class the rain picked up and the winds started blowing...the attention captivating abilities of rain in southern California can easily be compared to the A.D.D. induced by the first snowflake of the season seen outside an elementary school classroom in Washington.

People got frigidity!

As I said before, Washingtonian. Therefore, I am used to the annual windstorm that makes the rain feel like needles and knocks out the power for a few hours. So instead of stressing about walking 20 feet in this weather from class to work, I just felt more at home :)

Well during my break between class and work, I sat down to eat lunch. While reading a book, I get a call from my roommate who works in Irvine.

Jill: Where are you?
Amanda: School...
J: What is the weather like there?
A: Raining...why?
J:There is a tornado warning! It is supposed to start in Long Beach and move toward Whittier! (Whittier is the town next to La Mirada)
A: Oooo!
J:Don't you dare walk home in this!!
A: Gotcha
J: Ok. I just wanted to let you know.
A: Ok. Thanks.

I laughed after I got off the phone...really? A Tornado? Wizard of Oz much?

When I got to work at the advising center, apparently campus safety had sent out a notice to all Biola employees telling them about the Tornado warning. For the next 30 minutes the registrar and the advising center were buzzing about what to do in the case of a Tornado.

Possible solutions:

• Go the basement...that no homes have
• Hide in the bathtub...which is right next to a window
  
• Lay down in a ditch...which is flowing with water
  

Again, not that worried, but secretly hopping it would come closer because windstorms are COOL, I prepared in a different way. I decided on the shoes I would like Glinda the good witch to give me in the event that my house is picked up by the tornado and transported over the rainbow to a land of color ;)

Fire Engine Red

Today I rode in a fire engine!
Yes, it was as cool as you think it is.

For my interterm class, Christ and Contemporary Culture, we were sent out in small groups to talk with people about how they integrate their faith into their place of employment. Our group was assigned to go meet with someone who works as a firefighter at the LA City Fire Department. At the end of our time talking with him, he offered to take us for a ride in the fire engine! We climbed in the cab, put on their headsets, and drove around their neighborhood a bit.

So. Much. Fun.

Lesson Learned

I will not speed down Imperial Highway.I will not speed down Imperial Highway.I will not speed down Imperial Highway.I will not speed down Imperial Highway.I will not speed down Imperial Highway.I will not speed down Imperial Highway.I will not speed down Imperial Highway.I will not speed down Imperial Highway.I will not speed down Imperial Highway.I will not speed down Imperial Highway.I will not speed down Imperial Highway.I will not speed down Imperial Highway.I will not speed down Imperial Highway.I will not speed down Imperial Highway.I will not speed down Imperial Highway.I will not speed down Imperial Highway.I will not speed down Imperial Highway.I will not speed down Imperial Highway.I will not speed down Imperial Highway.I will not speed down Imperial Highway...

I personally think that writing "I will not speed down Imperial Highway" 100 times is a much more effective punishment than a $400 ticket and traffic school...The point has been communicated clearly ;)

Goodnight 2009

Goodnight Year

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...Goodnight 2009

Goodnight oh year devine

Goodnight meetings

Goodnight partings

And the just got startings

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Goodnigt ResLife

Goodnight marketing strife

Goodnight Shark

And goodnight Ark

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Goodnight friendships that kept getting stronger

And goodnight semester that kept getting longer

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Goodnight little bakery of bread

And goodnight Kenyan airport of dread

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Goodnight interview prep

And goodnight tears I've wept

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Goodnight Cove

Goodnight graduating bro

And goodnight to God whispering "go"

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Goodnight Washington

Goodnight oh big tree

Goodnight realization of what I can be!