College Classes and a Refreshing Glass of Water

*Heya my green beans!*


So, just a few minutes ago, I got this book in the mail called, 1001 Things Every College Student Needs to Know. My Aunt Paula sent it to me and so far it looks very interesting. Basically it's a list of 1001 things that every college student needs to know (hence the name, haha). Here are a few random facts that I just now read:

#771. You need to know it's normal to miss Mom's cooking and to not want to be responsible for anything. It's also normal to like, you know, get over it.

#8.  You need to know that over one/third of the people who drop out of college do so because they can't handle the workload.

#342. You need to know that your professor could be an atheist, a communist, a bigot, a feminist, or a sexist. Your job is still to make your grades.

#936. You need to know two words: ramen noodles. They're dirt cheap, and with a little water, they almost become food. College students and mice have been known to live on them for years.

#390. You need to know that while we're all proud of you for reading your textbook, you now have to read it again.

#183. You need to know that just because a professor looks at you doesn't mean he's going to call on you. However, looking down at your toenails does tell him you don't know anything.

#865. You need to know your brain can perform only so long on PowerBars and Pop-Tarts before it loses the ability to produce a coherent sentence.

#112. You need to know the first semester is the hardest.

I think I love this book already! x3




Since I am going to be starting college classes this fall, I'm glad I have this motivational book alongside me. I am looking forward to it, and at the same time it's kinda stressing me out.

I'm going to be balancing working a job and doing college classes. I'm also going to be staying at home my freshman year. C'mon, lotsa fishies do that! The reason I am doing that is cuz my three best buddies and I are going to splitting rent on an apartment next year. These guys are all 17, so I want to wait for them to be graduated, etc. Also it is going to be saving me some money during the so-called "hardest" semester. The year will fly by. My senior year certainly did. :) Anyway, I am off to drink some water. It is important to stay hydrated! 

By the way, did you know it takes a loss of only 1% - 2% of your body's ideal water content to cause dehydration? Did you know that drinking ice cold water actually makes you lose weight because fat calories are burned to bring the water temperature up to internal 98.6 degrees F? 'Tis true. Water works wonders. 

And also, don't misinterpret your thirst drive as hunger.  Drink an ice-cold glass of water and wait a minute or two.  You'll find you are not as hungry as you thought. 

Bipolar Weather

Hey there my cuddly puppies!

Today I got rained on waiting for the bus (this is the second time in a row this has happened) and I got my leather laptop bag all wet! Lucky for me the bag was thick enough to protect my new Mac, my iPod touch, some important school papers, and my beloved sketchbook. I mean, it wasn't down pouring or  anything, but it was still pretty wet out there. My makeup wasn't messed up, thanks to my waterproof mascara and eyeliner, and the rain actually felt kinda nice. OK, from this day on, I am going to take more opportunities to stand (or even sing!) in the rain.


***Hey there, God! I just wanna say thank you for the miracles of waterproof makeup and bags that are unintentionally made rain-proof! But mostly I wanna thank you for the rain!!! TEXAS NEEDED IT! :)***

Rain Girl by Diana Jamieson

One hour later, I get to work and - POOF! - the clouds are completely gone and it's HOT. After I eat lunch -POOF! - it's cloudy. Hopefully the sky will make up its mind and rain again. Maybe if I insult the sky it will start crying!!! Well, when I was little I would imagine the sky was crying when it rained and that the sky was throwing a fit and getting angry. *nostalgic moment*

But back to reality (sorta), Texas weather is messed up. It's baking hot about 90% of the time, and when it's thinking about rain, it gets cloudy for a looooong time, decides that it doesn't wanna rain, then the clouds leave and it's hot again. :P

For those of you who live in Texas, sorry, you're reading about the weather when you already know what it's like. Youtuber Blimey Cow warned me of this...

I'll get back with you when I have something more interesting to blog about. Tschuss!

The First Day of the Rest of My Life

*sigh*


Today the last day of my high school.... days.


And today all I've pretty much been doing is sitting here on my bed with my laptop trying to figure out if I wanna spend some of my graduation money on an iPod dock. I could be finishing my drawing of Thor and Loki, or finishing my painting of Heaven and Hell, or making a collage out of some old teen magazines, or listening to some of my new music, or making a cake with buttercream frosting, or reading some comics, or riding my bike, or working on a slideshow, or playing Boggle, or studying for the SAT or SOMETHING.


Naw.


Imma sit here and waste all of my free time on the internet.


Isn't that just sad? First of all this is my first day of the rest of my life (kinda) and I am doing absolutely nothing to make it special!! Secondly, all throughout my senior year I've been thinking "oh I wish I were doing *insert one of the above activities her* instead of wasting my time studying!" but then when all that free time comes I don't know how to use it.


Free time is a gift from God. So is busy-ness. Busy-ness can teach us how to function and manage our time wisely, to give time to others, and to train ourselves for whatever jobs we are currently doing/beginning. It also teaches flexibility, and to cherish what's important. YOu can't learn everything just sitting there... There is work to be done! And God wants you involved! Free time can be used to give yourself rest or do something meaningful with the people you love or to use your God-given talents or to glorify GOD!!! Too bad electronics are so convenient. OK, I am SICK OF THIS ALREADY!!!! I am going to be doing something useful now.... Think I'll go make a cake.... With buttercream frosting.... Yeah, that's what I'll do.

Mask/Face Paint, A.K.A Makeup

:) Hey there my art galleries! :)



IMMA TALK ABOUT MAKEUP!!!

Now, I have friends who are all very gorgeous, some of them wear lots of makeup, some only wear eyeliner or something like that, and some wear none at all! I like makeup when the right colors are chosen for your skin tone/eyes, when it is used to enhance natural features, and when self-expression is used, (not overdone) instead of copying a look you saw somewhere in a YouTube tutorial.

I also know a lot of chicas that ask themselves: how much is too much?

Instead of using long descriptions only, I shall provide pictures with brief descriptions underneath on what I think is fine, and what is too much.

Fashion icon: Twiggy

OK, so this 1960's 16-year-old Twiggy here is
known for her signature "doe-eyes" look.
This look is ok for pictures, but if you saw
some random girl going around with several
drawn-on-with-eyeliner lines below their eyes...
No.
Something could also be said about
 her shirt... 

Amy Lee: Lead singer of Evanescence
Even though I generally don't believe in black
eyeliner or purple eyeshadow (cuz people often look like
they have been punched in both eyes), this is one of the rare
exceptions. I think this look works well on Lee.
Like I said, colors have to fit you. Her hair is black and
the intense liner works without over powering her whole face.

Because glasses tend to darken your eye area and
"shrink" your eyes, lots of emphasis on the eyes is actually
good. I think this girl could've skipped the thick "cat eye"
liner and gone much thinner, but other than that,
I actually really like this look. It's cute and it reminds
me of cats. :3

This one here is my favorite. She enhanced her
natural features (her lips and cheeks) while
putting emphasis on her "milder" features,
like her eyes here, without going too
intense. I actually base how I do my
makeup with this picture.
(I like her hair too. She looks
like a cool weirdo artist lady)

NO!!!!! NO NO NO NO NOOOO!!!!
FAKE!! If you choose to emphasize a feature, you are
only supposed to choose one, not the whole face.
The photoshopped intensity of the colors are just
awful. Don't ever go there.

Lady Gaga...? You have a.... uh, gold sticker on your face.
And about your eyes...
 Mario called. He'd like his mustache back.

So here is a friendly reminder from Bethelsteans! Don't ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever,  ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever,  ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever,  ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever,  ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever,  ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever,  ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, EVER overdo the foundation. EVER. I'm serious. DON'T. Also, Don't get the stupid idea that if you use a foundation that's a couple shades darker than your natural skin tone you'll look tan. I've seen people do this. This is a one-way ticket to making a disaster-piece out of your face. 

Another thing to remember no matter what age you are;

(((MAKE UP MAKES YOU LOOK OLDER THAN YOU ALREADY ARE.)))

Sometimes this is good, you could look sophisticated, stylish, and mature. But when tweens wear makeup, it usually looks totally out of place. And you know that lady in her 60's who wears loads of lipstick, blush, and/or mascara? And wears boatloads of perfume?? Notice how that just emphasizes their AGE. IN A BAD WAY. Yeahhh.

Besides all that, think to yourself: so why DO I wear makeup? Think of the reasons why. If they are because of what "everyone else" does or because you "need" to to feel pretty, YOU HAVE A PROBLEM. If it is to impress a guy, YOU HAVE A PROB- er, wait, hold on.... What DO guys think about makeup on girls? 

OK so this just in!!! Here is what guys think about heavy eye makeup; it's practically a complete split-half decision. A huge poll showed that about 47 percent of men prefer girls with lots of eye makeup, and 53 prefer girls with little or no eye makeup. This leaves the decision to you now. Remember your intentions, and you can even pray about it. Beauty is something God made, and no one else can or will look the way you do, so make sure your makeup, if you choose to wear it, doesn't hide you or make you someone else. :) I know you've heard these cheesy "true-beauty" lines all throughout middle school and high school, but sometimes the simplest things are the easiest to forget.

AT LAST I can FINALLY give a shout-out to all my friends who either rarely or never wear makeup. You guys are beautiful. As for me, I will put up a pic of me wearing nothing on my face but a smile. That's right, none of my daily foundation, eyeliner, mascara, eye shadow, concealer, blush, brow pencil, or lip gloss is one me. Not even ChapStick. *sigh* Here goes.

There ya have it. 

Hey, that feels kinda good!

I feel so... pretty!

You guys: Stay beautiful. No matter how you decide to wear your face, remember to smile. No face should ever have to go without one. :) 

ARGH!!! MY SPEECH IS GETTING SO CHEESY!!!!!

Nachos, anyone?

The Avengers, gods, and my latest thoughts on us human beings

Hey my pretties!

I am baaaack!!! (Again) You know what, ok so first things first, if I am going to be blogging again, imma gonna need y'alls support. Without it, I has no motivation, thus there will be no blog posts, and your life will have a huge hole in it and be completely pointless because my posts will no longer be satisfying that vast void in your heart. There, I said it. *I feel much better now, thank you* 

OK ok, the last thing about my blog being so important, you know, that one? The one about the void in your heart? Yeeeaaaahhhh, sounds really creepy right? Well, guess what? I have been thinking about that very subject lately, what we as humans lack in our very lives and what we tend to do to satisfy it. Remember, these are merely my opinions and ideas, this isn't meant to be a lesson or something... OK boring stuff outta the way, let's jump right in!

So for my birthday, last week my very best buddies (Claire, Emma, and Peggy) and I went to see the Avengers in theaters. Afterwards we headed over to my favorite restaurant and we talked about the movie - our favorite characters, how attractive and cool they were, our opinions on the movie in general, and the like. Our opinions were all pretty different, but overall, it seemed like we all enjoyed the movie. Personally, for the next few days, I kept on thinking about it! Mainly the characters (especially Thor and Loki, my favorites). I even started making fan art featuring Thor and Loki, brother against brother!! I liked the movie that much.

 Now, I wouldn't say I'm obsessed with the Avengers or anything, but there were a lot of positive elements 
and really powerful one-liners that are so rare in modern media, especially in movies (such as the Avengers) that manage to rake in over 100 million dollars in the box-office!! Some of those little "gold nuggets" were delightful to discover and think about, and they could even have the potential to influence and change hearts! The Avengers knows what true heroism is all about, and it expresses it with guts, and, for the most part, good clean fun. 


That being said (uh-oh spaghetti o's), there were other things that I found disturbing about the Avengers. 


No, it wasn't necessarily the movie itself that was a little creepy, it was the effect it had on a huge number of viewers. 

 Take Loki for example, here is a pale-faced green-suited extraterrestrial man who travels to planet Earth in order to take it by force and rule over it by waging war and controlling the minds of men. This character believes that humans were "made for a ruler", and he thinks that he's the one to do just that. He certainly couldn't care less what the "puny" humans could think, probably because he "talks about peace-" and yet "-kills because it's fun" (quoted from Nick Fury). 


Why do I like this character so much? It's simply because he makes a darn good and believable villain. Strong characteristics are always what I look for and admire in the media, and that's something Loki definitely has. He's also not bad-looking either.... Just saying'... So anyway, what disturbs me, however, is how much worship and adoration Loki receives from his fans! Sure it's one thing to gush over a character for his looks or even his character, but sometimes things just go too far.

 One thing I noticed on Loki's Facebook fan page (which was CLEARLY created by a fan girl) is how many females would leave comments saying things like, "invade our planet, Loki my liege," or "I was made to serve you, Loki" or "you can take control over my mind, Loki, anytime".  

o.O     O.O    0,0

Uhhh, weeeird. But that's not all! It's in YouTube, Twitter, blog posts, everywhere! First of all, he's a villain, like, a really really bad guy who would hate you no matter how much you adore him and secondly, he ain't real. Thirdly, if these fans like the actor that played that character, chances are he's not like that character all in real life, because he's being paid to put on a show. Loki's not the only one who has been guilty of this. No, even each of the good guys get far too much love and credit than they deserve.

As a Christian I believe that all humans are born with a void in their hearts, one that only God can fill, and that God has more than everything we could ever want or need, we just must learn to follow His ways and put all else aside for Him. We really are meant to serve Him, but what he has to offer isn't tyranny, death, or pain; it's love, life, and joy, and he's far more gorgeous than any human being or hot actor molded in Hollywood. Now onto my point.

Recently media has been a very effective and persuasive form of communication, so it's always sending several messages to us, whether we "take them" or not. It's becoming more "real" to us; graphics, cameras, and computer animation can accomplish things that the human eye cannot envision in the real world alone. Fictional characters and superheroes can be made and seen. When we allow these characters to get too close to us, dangerous things can happen. People make the false what they live for, what they long for, and what they desire, in this case I mean movie characters. We don't understand that God truly does accomplish the impossible, and we are so blinded by what we let into our hearts that we tend to forget who our real superhero is! I admit, I have been totally guilty of this! 

Like I said before, there's nothing wrong with liking something a whole lot, but when you start to "love" it and it replaces God in your heart, you need to check yourself. With the media, it is SO easy to do that, so next time you talk about how awesome your favorite heroes are, ask yourself, "do I give God this much credit/appreciation/attention?" And remember not just what He did for you, but what He does for you. That's something that a pale alien "god" could never accomplish.