I’m Janice! I hail from the wonderful (but relatively unknown for some reason) little town of Flemington, NJ —
home of Liberty Village Premium Outlets and the courthouse where the Lindbergh baby trial took place. I’m a transfer
student, majoring in Social Work & Bible, and I’ve finally made it to my senior year! I may be a TKD black
belt... but I’m terrified of bugs.
Another fangirl moment brought to you by yours truly!
This boyband is known as 2PM -- created and produced by the same company that the Wonder Girls are under. Don't know who the Wonder Girls are, yet? No worries -- they're debuting soon enough in America! The ballad counterpart group to 2PM is called 2AM (keke.. like you didn't see that one coming!), and together they make one huge group called "One Day" -- originally I heard that it was supposed to be "2 o'clock", but not too sure what happened to that idea..
(I hope everyone appreciates my bolding of key terms, so that one day we may all fangirl/boy together)
One thing that I really like about Kpop, is that the music is still fairly untainted by Hollywood-esque notions. I really wish I could say the same for mainstream American music I hear on the radio -- but more often than not, when I listen to the lyrics or watch a performance, I cringe. Sometimes I simply won't look up lyrics or move past the stage of being able to hum along to the entire song, because.. well.. I'm better off being naive in some cases.
I don't particularly believe in music censorship. But I think it's important to make it clear to today's youth that while they have the freedom to listen to whatever they want, in the end what/who they listen to does not and should not define who they are. Performers put on a performance, and that's all there is to it.
I think my poor laptop has come down with another virus. I really need to invest in a Macbook.. when I'm not so poor. I guess that means this investment won't be happening until post-graduation :P
So not that I doubted the cast and crew involved in PBU's production of "The Mikado", but I had the privilege of watching the show tonight and was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed myself! I literally laughed my way through the entire show. People were just so perfectly casted for their roles and it was a lot of fun watching my fellow peers utilize their talents through this creative outlet -- congratulations to everyone!!
This kind of makes me want to participate in Opera Workshop next year. Or maybe I'll end up doing stage crew or something! That would be exciting too, I think :D
(if it isn't, please don't burst my bubble. Just tell me it is)
It was a normal day. Like any other day, except the weather was exceptionally warmer this day, unlike the other days. A friend and I were at the pond, throwing bits of bread at the ducks (I mean throwing bits of bread TO the ducks. Not so much AT the ducks) and enjoying the sunshine. We were slowly making our way over the gazebo when my friend stopped in her tracks and let out this ear-piercing shriek~
Did she fall into the pond? Nope, she was still standing in front of me.
Did she step in something unpleasant? Eh, hopefully not.
Puzzled, I craned my neck to look around her....... and still had no idea what was going on. That is, until she pointed to this thing sunbathing on the grass.
A turtle. But not a cute, friendly looking turtle that you see in pet stores. This one was rockin' the pre-historic look and had this long spiky tail. If my Google-skillz didn't fail me, this was a snapping turtle! In our pond! Our quaint little man-made PBU pond!
With a loud exclamation of "Darwin was right!" (HAHA please don't come after me for this, I wasn't serious) I rushed forward to get a better look. Oh, he was an unattractive fellow. I took a few pictures of him, as my friend and I were dazed by the sight~ the turtle stayed still during the photo shoot, but once he understood that I was done, he stretched and made a mad dash for the pond. Honestly? I didn't know that turtles could run.
Springtime has finally reached PBU! The weather has been gorgeous lately (well.. minus that one cold, rainy day) and students are thoroughly enjoying it. Little things I've noticed: ultimate frisbee games have picked up~ I think I've seen more games played within the past week than I have all semester! Well, then again, playing UF when it's snowing and you're wearing 7+ layers might be a little hard.. yeah? The sunbathers have returned and it's not unusual to see several people sprawled out on the grassy area near Heritage, complete with sunglasses and a good book. Penndel has gotten 3x louder with the kids running around playing & shouting -- and when I say kids that includes the students dorming in apartments A-H :D
(courtesy of Google Images because my camera is currently out of commission)
Life is just better with vitamin D.
Lately, I have been doing a lot of research/studying/contemplating over something called "Choice Theory" or "Reality Therapy"~ this is something that is implemented within the agency that I intern at, and it intrigues me in the most fascinating way. Basically, Choice Theory teaches that people choose everything they do, this including emotions as well as illnesses. It is an empowering theory because it shows people that they can exert more control over their personal lives than they thought possible, and it also teaches people to take responsibility for what they do. This is not to say we have full control over our lives or that we can overrule what God has decreed or anything of that sort -- but too often, people play the "helpless" card, where they blame others and external events for the problems that occur in their lives, and instead of seeking to fix the problem at hand they sit and become frustrated when the problem does not automatically fix itself.
In "Choice Theory" by Dr. William Glasser (developer of Choice Theory/Reality Therapy), he writes: "other people can neither make us miserable nor make us happy. All we can get from them or give to them is information. But by itself, information cannot make us do or feel anything. It goes into our brains, where we process it and then decide what to do... we choose all our actions and thoughts, and, indirectly, almost all our feelings and much of our physiology."
How often do I blame others and/or events for making me feel a certain way, thinking that "it's not my fault! It couldn't be. So-and-so did this and that to make me..." This pity party is over, ladies and gents. Now I just explained the mere basics of what Choice Theory entails -- and I did not do it any justice whatsoever. Please go pick up your own copy of "Choice Theory" and give it a chance. Or I'll even lend you my copy! But think about it. Be.. empowered^^
This might sound a tad awkward... but I smell like puppy.
My sister is still here (: today she came and sat in on the majority of my classes~ because I told her it was practice for the future. I don't think she suffered TOO much, and she later told me that she particularly enjoyed my Practice II class (well then again, I have an awesome professor for that class!). Good stuff.
Later, we visited a pet store today and oh, I am a sucker for puppies. I had my face nearly smashed up against the glass for the longest time before I asked if I could play with one... for about half an hour, I played and cuddled with the cutest Scottish Terrier I have ever laid eyes on. She was only eight and a half weeks old and all black except for a tiny strip of white fur under her chin! Ugh, adorable. I was incredibly tempted to bring her back home with me. That's all I'm going to say.
P.S. I told one of our Enrollment Counselors that we should have an "office puppy". She agreed.
PBU had off today, which was about three different shades of awesome -- not only because it's an extra day of vacation, but it really gave a lot of us the time to spend more time with our families in celebration of one of the greatest events to occur in the history of mankind :D
My younger sister, a senior in high school, also has her spring break this week! So it only made sense that I bring her back to campus with me, right? We headed into the city early this morning with a friend and walked around for hoursss. It was her first "authentic" trip into the city and so it was neat watching her marvel over the things that I had started to take for granted... this also gave me the opportunity to show her around and introduce her to nifty little shops I have discovered over the years. I mean, it's one thing to talk about it at home and try to explain it all... it's another thing to have her experience it first-hand.
On a side note: it's strange having my sister here because I'm used to being all by my lonesome self in PA and pining for my family~ but that is not the case at the present moment! Fantastic, really<3
For some reason I thought Good Friday was a given holiday, but I realized at church that I was the only one in the college group to have off today. Christian universities, we are so full of win! I came back home this morning, and really, I think that being a college kid has really made me open my eyes and realize how much I like my family. Things that I took for granted in high school (like my parents nagging me) are things that I actually sort of miss. Well, not so much the nagging -- but it can be lonesome when you come back late at night and no one around to greet you and ask if you've eaten or to tell you to hurry off to bed. Thankfully my parents don't bend over backwards to spoil me or anything when I'm back home during breaks, so I get a full-dose of parenting when I'm back under their roof. But hey, it's what I wanted :P
So I read this book the other day called "A Pagan's Nightmare" :P
The description was rather funny and so I picked it up and took it for a light read. It was amusing, to say the least -- but what really got me was the ending. You don't encounter anything terribly serious or gut-wrenching but as the book starts to wind down, SPLOOSH!
A wave of surprise washes over ya. Definitely not your typical Christian fiction.
Folks, April 15th is rapidly approaching. I have taxes that are not.. quite.. done yet. I hope the rest of you haven't waited till the last minute like I have and are all set :D I only say this with your FAFSA in mind!
(and the fact that in this economy, every penny counts)
