Anna’s Blog

Ahhhh Thanksgiving:
a time for rest, relaxation and relatives.

My parents, very early on in the semester, told me it made no sense for me to come home for a three day weekend and then two weeks later for my month-long Christmas break... So I sought an alternate way to celebrate the holiday.

My cousin Bethany and I ended up traveling down to near Westminster, Maryland (in an incredibly roundabout, indirect way...in the care of several different drivers to several different locations throughout Pennsylvania) to spend Thanksgiving weekend with my cousin Brian and his wife Heidi (whom I had never met, despite their being married three years!)

Thanksgiving weekend was restful to say the absolute least. I enjoyed getting to know my cousins a bit more, ate GOOD FOOD, and watched about three movies a day (or more...) And believe it or not, I actually was able to accomplish a lot of homework! I finished my portfolio and final synthesis paper for Sociology and completed 5 out of 6 lessons for my unit due in Teaching Methods.

All in all... I have a lot to be thankful for.

Posted by Anna at 6:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So... yes I'm a die-hard Twilight fan. I'll own up to it.

I'm not going to lie, the plot is...appealing. Ok, Edward Cullen is appealing. Further than that, I don't necessarily care for the writing style, the unnecessary wordiness...certain chapters seem like filler fluff. But oh I love it.

Needless to say, I was stoked about the movie coming out (starring Robert Pattinson, whom I had loved as Cedric Diggory in HP's The Goblet of Fire)... and gathered a group of other Twi-Hards to see the opening in theatres.

My friends Katie, Krista and I drove to the Neshaminy Mall at 10:30 Thursday night to wait in line to see the very first public showing of Twilight at midnight on Friday, November 21. It was well worth the wait! (The theatre had about five screens showing the movie, so the lines basically meant nothing...)

I was thoroughly pleased with the casting and the direction... The soundtrack was sweet, too. (There are those of you who will bash the portrayal of Bella, saying that you hate her, etc... well... let's just say I've never been a 'Bella fan', so I was heartily pleased with the performance. Her ordinariness is what makes Edward's love for her that much more significant!)

Right in the climax, JUST as Edward is saving the day and JUST as his face fills the screen and hundreds of girlie teenyboppers scream in elation... the reel skips a few times... and goes blank. Squeels of joy turn to screeches of rage. I watched as every head in that theatre whipped back toward the projection booth... and the manager ran down, tried to explain what had happened, thoroughly fearing for his life. My friend Krista began to flip out... "IS THIS A JOKE??? ASHTON KUTCHER HAD BETTER BE COMING OUT HERE!!! THIS HAD BETTER BE PUNK'D!!!!" Katie and I sat back and laughed at the commotion, the hysteria... To quote Dr Drummond, "We got a riot goin on here..."

After fifteen minutes (it was after two by then...) the reel was fixed, and we proceeded to finish the movie. There could not have been a 'better' place for the movie to mess up, directly in the midst of the action, the climax! Much of the anticipation had been killed when the movie started back up, but eager fans are eager to re-excite...and the movie finished strong.

As we exited the theatre, visions of Edward dancing in our heads, the manager handed every guest a free movie pass. That's the way they roll at Neshaminy...

Luckily (or, not so much luck as it was one of the RAs, also a Twi-Hard's petition to the RD), curfew was extended just for us! :)

Posted by Anna at 10:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today in Shakespeare (yes, a REAL course at PBU!), Dr Bancroft had me read one of the main parts in our study of "The Tempest." Naturally, I had no problem simply reading aloud the lines of Prospero's daughter Miranda. My voice reflected zero enthusiasm (it was, after all, eleven o'clock on a rather dreary Thursday morning...) My classmates clearly didn't mind, it was all the effort any of the rest of them had ever put forth toward the reading of Shakespeare... But Dr Bancroft stopped me, mid-line.

"Miranda has just seen a boat capsize. She thinks everyone aboard that ship is now dashed against the rocks. She's rather sympathetic, if dramatic. What do you think Miranda is feeling right now? How would she sound saying this? Try the line again. Go."

...Wow. I looked around the classroom, red-faced to have been called out on lax reading. I bit back an embarrassed smile and tried the line again, more passionately, "A brave vessel...
Who had, no doubt, some noble creature in her
Dashed all to pieces. Oh, the cry did knock
Against my very heart! Poor souls, they perished.
Had I been any god of power, I would
Have sunk the sea within the earth or ere
It should the good ship so have swallowed and
The fraughting souls within her."

It was certainly up to no sort of Shakespearean standard of line-reading, but there was spirit. The class cheered uninterestedly... however, Dr Bancroft's comment struck some sort of chord with me.

I know this is a stretch, but this instance truly got me thinking about...my life. Am I going day to day in the same old pattern? Am I just going through the motions and putting little to no effort into it at all? ...What will it take for me to live life with spirit and enthusiasm? To borrow from The Dead Poets Society, I desire my life to be...extraordinary.

Posted by Anna at 1:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As the school year progresses, I find fewer and fewer minutes available to devote to my favorite activity of all time: reading. However, I've been slowly but surely working my way through an incredible book entitled A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.

I remember reading this as a young girl, identifying with the main character Francie as she grows up... the scrapes she gets into, the lessons she learns, the love she has for her family and her world which she grows to appreciate in pre-WWI Brooklyn. However, this second reading has proven so much more...edifying. Whereas I read it merely for entertainment purposes in grade school, I am coming to find that my greater understanding of the world around me today helps me to appreciate Francie's experiences all the more.

READ IT!

Posted by Anna at 1:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My Grandma and Grandpa D send me a letter every month. This month's letter, though, was accompanied by a faded picture dated 1990. In this picture, I'm a small blonde baby, standing next to my seated grandfather.

I looked at the photograph for a long time. I was soaking it in... my love for my grandpa, how fortunate I am to have him in my life, and how it saddens me to only see him once a year...

And then I had a thought. This is such a picture of my relationship with the Lord. I'm a toddler, a chattering little girl. I hold something in my hand, and I'm either asking, "What's thiiiisss?" or trying to take something that I shouldn't. My grandpa calmly explains it to me, gently removes it from my hand. I can almost hear him say, "Anna, this is not for you." Or, "Anna, I wanted you to have this Cheerio. I love you."

That's God.

How often do I look up to my Father in Heaven and ask Him in childish terms, and He speaks babytalk right back to me - a language I understand. He is gentle, He is loving, He is patient. And I love Him. What a beautiful picture.

Posted by Anna at 3:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Election Day.

Before I launch into this, I thought I'd preface it with a disclaimer:

I've recently decided that politics, though incredibly important and relevant a topic in our lives today, is not one that I feel I can discuss in polite company. ...At least, lovingly. Politics seem to get people riled up more than anything else. I find it more loving and more gracious to not engage in such conversation. Feelings are hurt, judgments are made, and the Lord is not glorified. And it is my will to glorify the Lord with every fiber of my being, ala 1 Corinthians 10:31.

That being said, I was disgruntled with the outcome of the election. I hadn't been super enthusiastic about either candidate, but the results gave me a feeling of anxiety and dejection nonetheless.

This feeling lasted for about twelve hours, until chapel the day after the Election. Dr Williams gave a few announcements, then said something that put the events into perspective for me:
Consider the passing of power... All had happened peaceably. There had been no riots. No deaths occurred because of the results. Democracy...works.

Our President-Elect must be in our prayers. HE has been raised to the Presidency by the will of God, and his authority has been given him by the Lord. By giving due respect President Obama, we are giving due respect our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Let us not forget the power of prayer. May God bless President Obama, and God bless America!

Posted by Anna at 1:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

As a child, I never understood why Halloween was such a controversial issue amongst the members of the Church. It was to me then as it is to me now: simply a fun night of costumes and candy and running about in the dark!

Originally, I hadn't planned a costume... I went to class dressed as my best friend Katie, and she was dressed as me. We had a lot of fun being each other (and actually confused quite a number of people!) But then I felt that was kind of a lame excuse for a costume...

So I went as an emo/punk kid. THAT was fun. I ratted the back of my hair, made sure my eyes were covered in black eyeliner (though my emo bangs covered much of that...), and dressed in my Twilight shirt, paired with a black skirt and leggings. The rest of the evening, I did my best to look gloomy and hateful. Katie and her boyfriend Tim dressed up as the First Couple (a generic first couple, not any President and Lady in particular), and they claimed me as their delinquent daughter. Our story was a fun one to pretend for the rest of the night. I was bitter and disrespectful toward them, and they blamed me for the nation's problems. Twas fun.

THEN, we went about the neighborhood collecting candy. I collected quite a load myself, but my faaavorite item given me was... a can of baked beans. needless to say, I felt a bit like Charlie Brown in the Great Pumpkin Adventure..."I got a rock." Poor kid.

Ahh the joys of college life... traipsing around the neighborhood, caring little for the research papers we ought to be working on, collecting our diet for the next few weeks. Mmmmm candy. ...And baked beans!

Posted by Anna at 1:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I walked to my eight o'clock on Tuesday, braced against an already bleak and dreary day. With the wind, a strange light mist blew almost horizontally into my face.

After class, I prepared myself for a similar trek back to Heritage. As I stepped outside, however, I noted an unexpected sight: flecks of white were mixed into the mist. ...Snow?

And it was! Hours later, the insignificant flecks had grown into puffs the size of cotton balls! It was definitely snowing in October!

I headed to work as the snowfall grew, and even began accumulating on the ground. The snow was...sticking. I'm from Michigan, but such a thing so early in Pennsylvania is unheard of! It wasn't long before a full-fledge blizzard was underway. Aaaaand the power went out. So we lit candles in the office and focused on doing more manual office work, rather than work involving phones and computers. I sat in Enrollment Operations folding letters and stuffing envelopes, looking out the window, feeling nostalgic for elementary school when the slightest snowfall gave hopes of a snowday. I hummed a Christmas tune to myself as my supervisor stepped into the room and said a snowday had been announced! The university was to completely shut down by 3:30... all workers could head home! Blessed are the feet of those who bring good news!

So home I went...and it was frigid outside, the blizzard still going strong. I took a hot shower, and set about planning the rest of my evening which was now completely and utterly freeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

Call me a nerd, whatever, but I spent the entire evening...reading. I was already ahead of schedule for Old Testament, but the Lord was really laying it on my heart to spend even more time with Him. Who can resist THAT?

I sat in the Meditation Room off the Heritage Hall main lounge, with my Bible and a cup of mint tea and spent the most incredible evening with my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Lately, I hadn't been feeling well about myself and about others around me...just with my situation in life in general. The Lord guided me to the book of Job and Proverbs (...true, I was reading ahead for Old Testament, but it was His will nonetheless!)... I commiserate with Job, so often I have conversations similar to his with God. But I always seem to forget the significance of the final chapters. Needless to say, the Lord put me in my place.

I love it when He does that. ...And I love that He provided a completely unoccupied evening for me to simply spend with Him.

(And how stinkin sweet that it came in the form of a snowday????)

Posted by Anna at 7:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)