Everybody Say Al-right! (al-right!) Oh Yeah! (oh yeah!)

I just wanted to let everyone know that I passed English Lit.! Praise God! Furthermore, with this test out of the way, I now have the credit hours equivalent to a junior! Awesomeness!!! Next week I take a Humanities test, and then I get a break! Huzzah!

So now that I've managed to end every sentence with an exclamation point and an expression of excitement and joy, I shall wish you good night and go to bed. I don't feel up to a reading marathon tonight. ;)

May God bless you richly.

I Just Can't Seem to Come Up with a Decent Title...

I suppose I don't really have time to be writing this, as I have a test coming up at a dizzying rate (two more hours), but I thought that maybe someone would read this before 1 and pray that I'd pass the test. It's English Literature, and after taking the practice test yesterday I feel much better about it, but that doesn't change the fact that I had a hard time concentrating on my studies these past two weeks. I've actually just been online clearing up a few things that I was absolutely clueless about on the practice test.

Before I go, I have to tell my readers about one of the most random things I've ever done - one that could cost me the test today. Last night I read To Kill a Mockingbird. Not finished it - read it. From cover-to-cover, beginning at 10:30 pm and ending at 3:30 am (to be accurate, in that time I stopped when we read our bibles, and I stopped to say goodnight to everyone, and I stopped to get a drink). It's a very good book. Atticus Finch is awesome. If I get married and have more than one son, I think I'll name one of them after him.

I guess it sounds pretty stupid to have done that. After all, Spring Break is only 12 days away, and then I could stay up until 4 without it affecting my study habits. I decided to go through with the idea for three reasons:

1. I love to do random things, and I wanted to be able to say that I'd read a book in all of that 'extra' time I was supposed to have received when I gave up Facebook.

2. I've wanted to read it for a while, and I couldn't have my sister beat me to it. She was considering reading it, and I don't like much to be beaten in reading contests by her. ;)

3. I knew that if I didn't finish it last night, I'd forget the everything I'd read and probably wouldn't pick it back up again for a year or two. I must agree with Edgar Allen Poe that a good piece of literature should be able to be read in one sitting. It does wonders for keeping up the illusion.

I think I might start reading books in one sitting more often. Although most books that I want to read aren't as easy or short as To Kill a Mockingbird. And it was rather strange to dream in HarperLee-speak...

STATUS UPDATE! Sarah has set up a new poll!

So I'm curious. Do you think that I'll actually make it until Easter without caving in and logging on? Let me know via the anonymous poll featured on the right side of this blog. Yes, you read that right. Your answer is completely anonymous! Vote, and I'll have no idea what you said. Seriously. So please be honest. =)

What Happens When I Don't Want To Study

Ok, I admit it: I'm stalling. I don't want to study. I've put it off until today because I could, but it's Monday now and I must have 6 days to study, else I probably won't pass.

Random: I just received a form letter from Missouri Baptist University. They still want me! Huzzah!

So... um... I cut my hair!

Well I actually didn't. A student at the Beauty College that my grandma teaches at did. Anyway, she did a great job! It's relatively easy to style, comfortable, and everyone has complimented it.

On that note, I can fill up more time by talking about Gamers' Nite. I don't think I've talked about it on Droll Digression before, so I'll explain.

Gamers' Nite is a monthly tournament thing at a church far from my house. It's usually either Super Smash Bros. Brawl or... um... another game. I don't remember which, as I don't play first-person shooter games, and that is the kind of game it is. Anyway, yeah. I have some friends there, and I try to go every month, but I usually can't make it. I have been able to these past two times, however.

Anyway.

So on the event info it said that there would be both a Smash Bros. tournament and a Guitar Hero III tournament, and that dressing like a rock star was encouraged. I'm not much for Guitar Hero, but, as many of my readers will know, I absolutely adore any opportunity to wear a costume (even if said costume is just jeans & a t-shirt). 

I hadn't much of a clue as to how rockstars dress, aside from a few 80's rock stars that I've had the misfortune of catching glimpses of - and there was no way on earth I'd do THAT to my hair - so I had to look online. I found a few how-to guides, ran to the store to get some makeup and such, and then spent most of Saturday hair-spraying my head to death (while thinking that it was cool that I had red streaks, as that was suggested in one of the how-to guides), painting my fingernails black, and generally making myself not look like me. By the time I was finished, my brother said I looked scary, my mom said I wasn't allowed to claim that I was a member of the family, and my dad said that I couldn't get upset when people judged me for the way I looked (he thought that the style change was permanent). I kinda freaked myself out. Looking myself in the heavily-makeuped eye via mirror, I thought I must be looking at someone else. I definitely didn't look like my usual good-girl self.

I was finished an hour or two before we had to leave, so my sister and I ran outside with my brother's guitar for a quick photo-shoot. After waiting another hour, we finally left (I'd expected to be about 15 min - half an hour late) and arrived almost exactly on time. And then, I had a surprise.

I was the only rock star there.

Pretty much no one recognized me, and I kept forgetting just how different I looked, so it was kinda rough at first.

At one point Nextdoorneighbor and I went to get sodas. I got a Mountain Dew, she got a lemonade. Glancing down at my Mountain Dew can, I observed remorsefully, "You make me look like the bad girl." Nextdoorneighbor's reply was a look of shock that had me comparing our appearances... and then laughing. 

So in the end it was a lot of fun. I managed to get out of singing on Guitar Hero, and did ok with the guitar on beginner level. However, I will not be dressing so drastically again unless I know that at least one other person will. It's lonely being a star. ;)

P.S. I have since been tagged in two pictures on Facebook by my friend who was at Gamers'. It's killing me that I won't know what they look like for 20 more days. I'm not extremely photogenic, so they could be pretty scary...

P.P.S. I have begun to study English Literature, and it's fascinating. So you're not alone in wasting your time reading this post - I'm slightly regretting the time I put into writing it. Slightly.

Life Without Facebook - The Movie!

Here it is, everyone! We've finished it at last! Enjoy!

You may also enjoy this video...

On Tests, Temper Tantrums, Grace, & An Abundance of Postscripts

I need to go to bed. Here it is 11 pm, I have a test in the morning, I haven't really finished studying, and I'm sitting here staring at the computer screen. I always get like this the night before a test. Usually I have Mom to wait up for, but she won't be home until perhaps when I leave in the morning. She changed her shift and schedule and such, which is great news for the part of me that wants to see more of her, but pretty sad for the night-owl in me. No more excuses. That's tart. Ah well, I'll be halfway to Pphbbfft next month. I suppose I can stay up late and face the consequences. But that doesn't change the fact that tonight I need to sleep.

I don't really want to sleep, though, because I haven't taken the practice test that I'm supposed to take the day before the test. I really don't want to sleep because I haven't even finished reading all of the material. As I've said a million times (though perhaps not on here) I am a VERY bad student. The sad thing is that I have a good chance of passing. I'm not really overly worried. Prayers would be appreciated, though. The only way I'll ever pass is if God wants me to pass.

Did I mention that I'm over Facebook? I can't remember if I have or not. Well, I am. I mean, I'd still love to be on there, but it's no longer depressing me or making me break out in a cold sweat when I think about it. ;) I had my priorities so incredibly messed up. Very often I wonder why God sticks with me.

On that note, a simple, yet profound thought came to me the other evening. 

To give you a little bit of a background, the past month has been pretty rough emotionally, but God sustained me in that marvelous way He always does, may His Name be glorified. However, at the end of the chaos that erupted sometime last month I felt very drained spiritually. It was at that low point that I decided to throw a temper tantrum. I wanted to do what I wanted to do, and God said to wait. This I found very unfair. If I wasn't His child, I wouldn't have to wait. I could do whatever I want. How come everyone else always got their way when I had to wait on His timing? It just wasn't fair... - painfully pathetic, I know.

So, like I said, I threw a fit. My close relationship with God went downhill at a dizzying rate, and for a week or two I was absolutely miserable. I knew that the only way to get that relationship back was to repent, but I just couldn't humble myself that much. And so it dragged on for another week. I was so God-hungry that if someone even mentioned Him, or read a verse from the Bible I wanted to cry. I finally grew desperate enough to ask forgiveness, but I was too ashamed to do it where anyone could hear me, and for a few days it seemed as though I couldn't go anywhere without someone being nearby, so again my pride was in the way. Then a few Sundays ago I could take no more. I didn't care if the whole church knew how terrible I was, I had to get right with Him. 

He is so gracious and forgiving. You know what? I wasn't asked a single question! Not a one! All of that stupid fear of looking like what I am, and God hid it from all eyes. Isn't He amazing?! I didn't deserve to be taken back into His never-ending love, much less to have the whole deal kept secret, but He did that for me!

As I contemplated that fact, it crossed my mind that had God known what He was getting in to, He would have been wise to leave me to myself. Then I heard Him say: "I did know."

Wow! He knew every single instance where I would stumble, fall, think of stumbling, outright run away... everything! And yet He DIED for me! Hallelujah!

Hmm... now I want to dance, not sleep! And yet I feel that I can sleep ever so much more peacefully. There's nothing like talking about the one you love to put you at blissful ease. I hope you all have a fantabulous day! May God bless you richly!

~Sarah

P.S. I mentioned that I was writing the script for a movie a few posts ago. I wanted to let you know that it's nearly finished, all of the filming is done. I've proven that I am a better writer/directress than actress, but it's been fun. I'll post it just as soon as I've completed it.

P.P.S. I know I need to stop stalling and go to bed, but I just had to at an additional postscript. It's such fun.

P.P.P.S.  I don't think these exist, but it's fun to pretend they do. I wanted to explain my use of "Pphbbfft" as an age. I do not want to have another birthday. Seriously. I do not want to turn the age of the next number on the list. I don't like it. And so both because I'm in denial and because my family is insane and wonderful, I refer to my next age as being "pphbbfft" (meant to be read as that sound that is made when you blow air through your lips which are pressed lightly together).

P.P.P.P.S.  Sorry this has ended up such a long post...

One Week Into It....

I've officially been off of Facebook for a week tonight. It hasn't been a complete week since Ash Wednesday yet, but I turned my social life off the night of Mardi Gras, and I haven't opened it since. Well, sort of. I did have to look at a message today, but that lasted at most two minutes. They were the worst two minutes of my life, but I survived. And before you start thinking that that's against the rules or something, you should read my note explaining how to get a hold of me during Lent. In it, I said that I would read messages. Anyway, yeah...

This is going to be a very, very long time to wait. It's kinda funny. This has been the week of Sarah thinking she's something special and then getting shot down. I should rephrase that. This has been a week of Sarah thinking that she's something special APART FROM CHRIST and then getting shot down. I've pretty much proved to myself that without God I'm nothing but dust. With Him, though... that is an entirely different story! His faithfulness is amazing!

It's made me very sad to see how addicted I was/am to Facebook. I had to take the link off of my browser because it was too hard to see it every day and not be able to click on it. Is that pathetic or what? Granted, most of my interaction with others happened through Facebook. I went from knowing exactly what was going on to knowing NOTHING! What are they doing? Where are they going? How are they feeling? What are they listening to? Watching? I have no idea, and I will not know for 39 more days. I find it incredibly unfair that when they say "40 days" they mean "40 days not including Sundays."

The fact that I can't tell the world every trivial detail about my life has made me extremely long-winded online, as I'm sure you can tell by this post. I've pretty much spent the last week studying my head off, praying, trying not to think of Facebook, playing Clue (R) with my family, and playing Um Jammer Lammy (an incredibly random video game). Oh yes, and I've also written the script for a movie I plan to make very, very soon.

Status Update! Sarah is going to find another board game to play with her family! ;)

TTFN!