ridicly legit

i have been using ridic and legit way too much.

but really, this is ridic. how am I supposed to fulfill assignments in 20 minutes? these people have no concept of time. and meanwhile on the other side i have family obligations, dude. mom got upset at me because she thought i purposely neglected the laundry to be on the computer. when really i'm just trying my best to frantically find people to be in the boat competition. you know what? if we did everything earlier i wouldn't be stuck in this position all the time. time management! come on people. no more last minute things, please. this is totally ridic. i spent my whole evening doing encampment staff. this is not what i asked for.

my shell

I've always lived in it. My shell seems to shield me from blows and and attacks. When I venture out I'm bombarded with hurt. So I only sneak out when I think no one will notice. I go out with my defenses high to protect me. Maybe that's what attracts them. Knowing that I'm afraid, they come after me. And I retreat, crawling, beaten, broken.

dear Lord,

thank you for all my amazing friends. I am so grateful that you have put them in my life to bless me and love me. so so grateful. And that's all I can say.

It's been a good day.

true friends

So my first day as an 18-year-old was...uneventful. I spent a good bit of time replying to Facebook posts. ::grin:: You can judge for yourself whether that was a good use of time. Let's just say that's the last time I'll be doing that.

Another big chunk of time I used to prepare my CW lesson. It's coming along pretty well. I was a little overwhelmed with too many thoughts. I think I have a lot to say, too much, in fact, for half an hour. So I just sat on the deck in the beautiful evening weather after dinner and stared at the sky and talked to God. It was restful and refreshing. :) And now I think it's gelling quite well. Thank you Jesus. My title is "Characteristics Qualities of a True Friend." I tried coming up with something more catchy but they all turned out corny, so I decided to choose substance over style lol. I'm unsure as to whether I should write the whole thing out or just put down points. I have a tendency of saying things the wrong way when I don't have a script...

yeah I'm ready. except for the audience reaction part. I know a lot of those kids, worked with them in choir and other places. And apparently they really like me for some reason. I have a fan club of sorts. It's strange. Another one of those "what did I do to deserve this" things. So I'm afraid of their accepting whatever I say as truth just because it's me saying it. What if I say the wrong thing or mislead them?

side note: I'm not a fan of unaddressed rants because they're so immature and pointless but I need to vent here so yeah. It hurts that you didn't notice at all. not even a fb post? come on. yeah I know the majority of people on fb don't really care anyway but at least they took the time to type it. I guess I don't mean much to you. Whatever used to be between us just died. Thanks for killing it. but you know I guess there was never much. analyzing "true friendship" made me realize we don't have much in common. I'll never understand you and you don't wanna get me so forget it.

a vote of confidence

I totally wasn't expecting that award yesterday. I didn't even know we had "Staff Member of the Month" awards. Going up to get my MRE, I felt the way I feel whenever I'm in the spotlight - do I really deserve this? What if they find out I'm not as good as I seem? In the past few months I feel like I've messed up way too many times. Missed deadlines, incomplete reports, spotty communication, not motivating my department enough, losing a cadet, not responding to Untisz's texts. I think a some people on staff deserved this more than me. I mean, staff reports everyday? Now that's dedication. Though it's true I was doing encampment work on vacation...thanks to the time difference I handed in my staff report on time LOL. otherwise it would've been late.

But anyway, I think that's how I live my whole life. What if people find out I'm a sham? I'm not, I think. But I always feel pressure that people think I'm better or smarter and more talented and more capable than I really am. And I can't even say it's humility that makes me think that. It's pride. I have pride in my...reputation...or what people think of me. I'm afraid of "losing face" if people were to see me fail. Or maybe I'm so used to being seen as a success that I know the day I fail I'll fall hard. It would probably take years to rebuild my "image." Man it sounds like my "image" is all I care about. It's not, really. I didn't even set out to build up this "image" for myself. It just...happened.

And now all this talk about "image" is making me think about how what I've been reading in How to Stay Christian in College about the basics of Christianity and how we're created in the image of God. (Shout out to Magistra for the awesome book!)

Hmm maybe that's it. That's the "image" I need to strive for. The way people view me should be reflective of the character of Christ. And that's an image that's not a sham. I have nothing to hide or worry about people discovering because my whole life gels into a seamless story.

You know when you know you know something, but you forget it or don't think about it for a while and then suddenly BAM! it hits you again and you're like, I knew that...how did I every forget it...that's exactly what I need to hear right now?

Yeah that's how I feel right now.