Wisdom

I'm finally learning there is a big difference between standing for what you believe in and just being too stubborn and foolish to change your mind and consider the other side. Too often we just cling to what we've always thought, because we're prideful and think "I didn't think of it first and I've always thought this other way so... I'm going to dismiss this other possibility".

We're jerks, in other words. Ridiculous jerks. Ridiculous egotistical jerks even.

This is what I've learned about myself- I can be a ridiculous egotistical jerk.

Thanks Scotty!

Scotty sent me a link to his flickr and as I was perusing pictures I found this one towards the end- he made it for me a long time ago and I really liked it but lost the file. So, I stole it back and am putting it here for really no other reason than that I like it and Scotty made it for me, so... it's important enough.

Don't judge me. Just go with it. It's important enough for a blog. Say it out loud. There we go.

Miracles

Dear God-

Thank you for not only making Texans irrationally terrified of icy rain, but for also creating an icy rain storm to spark aforementioned irrational terror.

As a result of your kindness, classes were cancelled on my marathon 6 hour class day. It is not yet 9 p.m. and I have already cleaned/dusted/vacuumed everything, researched a paper, worked out for an hour, and am sitting here all squeaky clean in fleece jammies, about to catch up on reading and writing for school.

While I remember living through the worst winter in 100 years while in Japan (picture included in case you forgot) I am very grateful for this little ice storm.

Yours truly,

Cortney

Busy

"Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of."
Ben Franklin

I did so much this weekend, and got to see and catch up with so many friends and family. I think I've pretty painlessly sussed out the best way to build my schedule so that I don't go insane.
The thing about having such a tight schedule is that I swing wildly between seeing no one/doing nothing but school and work, and then having a jam packed social schedule where I have morning, noon, early evening, and late evening plans. I tried to tell a guy who wanted to take me out "seriously man, I'm busy. Not like those people who say they're busy but they're not *really* busy". He assured me he understood. After the past two weeks of trying unsuccessfully to pin me to a date and finding my dance card constantly full he finally said "You really ARE busy!"

Yes. Yes I am. But I had fun in the gayborhood Friday night with my friends listening to bad techno music and watching them learn to two step, and Saturday in yoga Arielle and I rejoiced in her being able to touch her toes, and Saturday afternoon my step-mama and I went to the King Tut exhibit and played in this crazy light and glass exhibit, and Saturday night I had a great talk with Scotty and just lazed around reading books and talking about life with Arielle and Kristen, and today I went to church with Lauren and Chris, and then church again with Karin and Josef, and later tonight I get to watch the L Word with friends I haven't had the pleasure of seeing in a long time.

Things are good :)

Purpose

If I can stop one heart from breaking,I shall not live in vain:

If I can ease one life the aching,

Or cool one pain,

Or help one fainting robin

Unto his nest again,

I shall not live in vain.

Oh, Emily Dickinson. You're true. We get so caught up in grand sweeping plans that we overlook the simple ways we can live a meaningful life that uplifts others. Service to one another is really the heart of happiness.

By love serve one another- Gal. 5:13

Bedtime Stories- Stories= All Bedtime

Last night I got home from my 4th and final class of the week. Class let out early at 9, so being the diligent student I am I decided to do next week's reading. I got out my book, kicked off my shoes, and curled up on my bed to read.

Speaking of my bed- I need you to understand the adoration I have for it. Perfect, firm queen sized mattress. T-shirt sheets in gray, fluffy down comforter in basic white, more pillows than are necessary. It's heaven, trust me. Did I mention I had finished my 4th class of the week? And had already worked 32 hours? And I thought I should read on my bed- which I'm sure, now that you have a description, you can agree is the most perfect environment for sleep ever created...

The point is, I woke up this morning at 7:30, fully clothed, after sleeping all night with my face in my book. From surveying the page that was my pillow last night, I saw I had read approximately one page. One page. Neat.

Obstacles

Dear UTD-
I appreciate your zealous commitment to infrastructure improvement. I applaud your desire to not simply fill a pothole, but to completely reroute every street on campus. Your penchant for detour signs and dead end blockades is second to none. Everywhere I go, in fact, I run into one. Or, I almost run over a worker employed by you to destroy... excuse me, renovate, the roads upon which we all depend in order to get to class in an expedient manner.

What I'm trying to say here, UTD, is that it is clear *your* New Year's Resolution was to fix absolutely everything that had to do with every street necessary for me to get to class. Clearly you were unaware that this would interfere greatly with *my* ability to fulfill my OWN New Year's Mini Goal Resolution kind of thing- which was to experience 1/3 of my free hours on your premises, taking the last classes of my degree. That 1/3 of my time is 100% miserable now. Driving around in desperate random circles as the clock counted down to class beginning was not how I would desire to kick off 6 hours-yes, SIX HOURS- of class on a random Tuesday in January.

You should be ashamed. After all I've done for you- with you! I give you thousands of dollars for the privilege of sitting in painful plastic chairs fighting to decipher various accents for hours on end and this is how you repay me- with a slap in the face in the form of a cruel maze of construction and orange cones and workers who don't look both ways before skipping out in front of my car. I can't talk to you anymore- good day sir. I SAID GOOD DAY.

Disappointedly Yours,
Cortney

New Year's Resolutions

Last year my resolution was to say yes to as much as possible- as long as it wasn't illegal and didn't harm me or anyone else. The second part of this was to have no expectations- just go in headfirst and expect the best. This led to many interesting experiences- some good, some bad. I went out with lots of interesting people, suffered through some boring parties and sub par festivals, made new friends, discovered new neighborhoods, got lost in some scary ones, but overall had a pretty good time.

In general though, it's hard for me to get excited about New Year's resolutions because I'm constantly making mini-goals, setting up little tasks and challenges, trying to improve, and making lots of lists that I get to check things off of. So, the mini goal for January '09 to May '09 is a simple one. I'm currently taking 4 graduate classes and working full time. All I want is to finish the semester with, at minimum, a 3.0. I would be over the moon with a 3.5, and I wouldn't believe the numbers if it was a 4.0, but a 3.0 would give me a good satisfied feeling.

This mini-goal ties well into my general life resolution from last year- it's a good thing I said yes to so many things last year, because I'm pretty much going to be saying "no" to everything that isn't school, working, or working out for the next 4 months. But when it's over? So are ALL the classes for my master's degree. Just 4 months. 4 little months. It seems pretty innocuous when I type it out like that. Four months. Ack, that's scarier somehow. 4 months. Ah, that's better.

And the picture has nothing to do with this post- I just needed to figure out how to actually post a picture :)

Hello?

While I'm not normally one to jump on bandwagons, everyone I know has a blog. Since myspace is only open to those who have been sucked into it, I figured it was time to start up something my family and friends could actually, um, access. So... ta da!

I have nothing to say, but once I created the blog and there was a jubilant order to "START BLOGGING!" I got all excited and couldn't very well say "no thank you blogger, I don't think I'm up for it tonight".