Just Another Day in Allen

"I would have girls regard themselves not as adjectives but as nouns..."
~ Elizabeth Cady Stanton

As of recent I've given up my aspirations of reading 'the classics' and have opted instead to read on (suprise, surprise) obesity and, beginning today, one thing every American female struggles with: body image. Or rather, how the ideal body size and shape have changed over time. I'd always thought that those lithe models, among other things, were dangerous to female minds because of the possibility they may fall victim to an eating disorder; however, considering two-thirds of American adults are overweight now, it doesn't seem to have effected nearly as many people as commecials for fast food have.
After I'm finished with that book I decided I should read, "What Should I Do With My Life?" because, frankly, all I've been doing this summer aside from reading is shopping. When I say shopping I mean grocery shopping, about 90% of the time. Okay, so I've been e-mailing people, talking on the phone, cooking, eating, sleeping, going to church....but something needs to be done about this lazy state of being. Summer school's only five days away though, I'm sure that will be the remedy I need (but loathe). Three hours each of accounting and philosophy, here I come, HOORAY! My cousin thinks I'm insane for taking two hard classes over the summer, and I think she has a good point there. Three hours...yeesh. Well, some of reasons why I want to do something interesting this summer, aside from the obvious: Allison visited the White House on Memorial Day, Alex is roaming Lebanon, a bunch of Cru people are now on project, and I like a challenge - usually.
I know I should be brutally murdered for this, but the highlight of this day was that I got a Britney Spears cd from the library and now have some of the songs I like (aka almost the entire album) in my computer's music library. No one (myself included) seems to understand this fascination I have with her; it's not like her image is very remarkable, and almost everyone detests her music. Well, I guess I should use the term "her music" loosely. I remember, there was this period of time when people were debating whether girls who hated Britney were just jealous because she's pretty; my theory was that it was because of her great artistic talent!. Well, now that my Britney fetish has put everyone into a comatose state...I'll just leave you with words that are not my own: Well you take care and violence solves all problems!
Your not-so-average Britney-obsessed bookworm,
Anna

telephone pole information

Moriah told me yesterday, "I think I need more information!" Thinking back, I think maybe I have all the information, much like this telephone pole, yet I have no idea how to decode it. There's something frustrating about having all the facts but not being able to put them all together to express them in words to another person. Or just to write those words down into coherent sentences. As always, I'm being very vague and overgeneralizing my thoughts; I think I do this just to protect myself so that no one knows exactly what I'm thinking of, unless they know me really well. In many ways I'm like this telephone pole; you need to be an expert to decode all the messages. It seems like some people are easier to decode, or just more open about their thoughts or beliefs. I like that I just made an analogy between me and a communication device...

what?

Taped together text fragments
Originally uploaded by here.

Home Again, Home Again...

"Whatever you want you cannot do without thinking."
"Everyone loves children. Our children is the future."

One highlight of having an English prof for a father is listening to horribly written essays at the dinner table. I suppose it sounds strange, but it's a source of humor for the family - especially when these are essays written by international students. Their struggle to express their feelings in a language they believe they've mastered put a whole new lease on life, inthat you're left wondering whether or not they meant exactly what they said. The most recent topic was on marriage; the question dealt with what they thought about those who did not get married and were instead either living with their significant other or were single parents. It's interesting that all of them believed that marriage is the ideal pathway, it's too bad so many marriages are destroyed by divorce for one reason or another.
Now that summer is here for most, if not all, college students the question, "what am I going to do with this summer?" lingers in the air for most of us. After returning home I decided to make some personal goals for the next three months; this way I'll *hopefully* accomplish something with the time away from Texas State and all my beloved, much-appreciated friends from college. For the next three weeks I decided to read as much as possible, along with restarting on daily devotionals. I don't mean stupid girly novels like the ones I've read the past two summers (not those hyper-romance stories, but those really sappy fantasy "I found my perfect match" books), I decided I'd start on the classics that I'd never read like Jane Eyre and Emma. I suppose these are almost in the same genre as the aforesaid novels, but I'm sure they're infinitely better written. Then on June 6th I begin my rigorous summer school schedule, during which I'll leave for school around 7 am with my dad and finish at 3 pm. It's like a work day, only much more taxing on the brain. Accounting and philosophy, it can't get much better than that. Once that's finally over I get a vacation: Virginia to see my best friend, other friends, and some relatives; Chicago to visit my grandmother, uncle, and venture around town with my cousins; then St. Louis to relax a few days with my aunt, uncle, and cousins before coming back home. After that...more reading as well as packing to move into the apartment on August 10th! Woohoo!!!
My return to San Marcos will be an exciting event, yet there is some uncertainty concerning the new semester. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone again and telling summer stories - I'll most likely have some unbelievable ones of my own, intermingled with the slow, boring times spent sitting at home. What have I done so far? Aside from signing up for classes, unpacking almost everything, cooking, and reading, very little. Without a car and high school friends in the neighborhood, my life moves about as fast as a rock. At least I'll be given a push in the near future, but until then I remain...
Your homebody,
Anna

Sometimes the process of writing blogs is too confusing and frustrating; I give up on the one below after about half an hour of attempting to make it readable. It can be blown up to legible size by simply copying and pasting to a blank word document. Thank you and I wish you the best! Good luck on finals, Texas Staters!

Innocence

I enjoy that complete innocence that children exhibit 99% of the time until they reach a certain age. It's sad that our society is losing its innocence quicker than any other. Right now, I'm recounting my day while listening to something from a site Moriah recommended; it would seem that a lot of innocence is lost because of human sexuality. My day began with an argument on adoption by homosexual couples, an issue that I am opposed to, though I'd never realized how much I detested this idea until I was forced to defend my stance. I found myself talking about this same subject with Ariel later in the day. Looking at homosexuality from a social Darwinist view, homosexuals are people who are willing to let their own genes fall to the wayside. So in place we should allow these people to actually raise children? Just something to think about, I'd rather not elaborate for fear of offending entirely too many people.

As girls become young ladies, then women, they want to feel that they're beautiful. I feel like this lack of self-confidence is something that looms over our generation and that, as a result, this problem of teenage sex has arisen. The pastor from Moriah's link (www.college-ministry.com) suggests that we can win approval from God, who calls us all "beautiful." The woman's soul, in turn, becomes 'healthy and satisfied' knowing that the Creator loves her. Women aren't understood, probably more for this reason than any other; pretty, young women pursue affirmation that they are attractive is something that simply doesn't make sense. However, our society has become so confused that dating is now something feared by Christians and non-Christians alike. Now that commitment is an issue to our peers, how else do non-Christian women expect to win the affirmation of their beauty other than by dressing provocatively and fooling around with guys they barely know? As long as they tell them they're "hot" or "sexy" and make them feel it, if for only a few minutes, these girls have found what they want: to feel desired and loved.

I'd like to end with a story that's not particularly related to any of these ideas in any way whatsoever. As I sat down on my towel at Sewell Park around lunchtime today, I noticed a young man walking toward me. I'd taken out my camera (that I'd taken in hopes of a photo-op); he began by asking, "What are you shooting today?" I explained my case, proceeding to tell him that I was also planning on studying for the final I have tomorrow. This man, clad in jeans and a red and black tiger-patterned button-down shirt, asks me my name and then introduces himself as Andy. As we continue our conversation, I find out that he was just released from jail and was seeking work for the near future. He offered to clean up the river so I could take a better picture of it and I was charmed. He left a few minutes later, promising to return within an hour or so (in hopes of seeing me again). He did return and he did see me again, but by then Jessie was already there and I'm not sure how this man would have felt about taking on two girls at once, so he made his way from the park. Ah, my prospects don't get much better than that. Yours, Anna

Feverish Conversation with a Muslim

This weekend was full of firsts. First time going to Houston, first time going to the international festival they have, first time talking to a Muslim man, first time nearly dying...I could go on for a few more lines. Well, it was on a somewhat chilly spring Saturday afternoon in Houston that I had the chance to witness the beauty of the international festival, which was centered around India this year. It was great, walking around and viewing the various vendors and tents of information; after a few hours of walking around the crowded park, we came to one particular tent called "Jesus in India." I thought that it would be interesting, maybe it was something about missionaries. Not very surprisingly, it was not about Christianity but about Islam in India. There was a presentation of all their beliefs and how science or the Qur'an backed them up; there was also an old man who was speaking rather loudly with one of the men in the middle of the tent, whom I desperately wanted to avoid. As a result of avoiding him, however, I was forced to answer questions about Christianity posed by one of the Muslim men who set up this presentation. He decided to delve deeply into the doctrine he believed, beginning by saying that Christians don't let every religious person into heaven, but Muslims do; then he continued by basically bashing other religions. Strange, considering Muslims accept every religion and supposedly believe that anyone with a religion can go to 'heaven' (I'm not sure of the term they use for it). As he kept talking, I gradually became more weak than I had been for the past few days that I'd been sick and nearly passed out, threw up, went blind, or just died. I honestly cannot tell you what this man said after the first few seconds of asking me questions, though I'm sure it was mildly interesting. In short, that's the last time I will ever talk to a devout Muslim (at least, while standing up).
In other news from this side of the world, Texas State has decided to be even more stingy when it comes to that stuff they call "food"; yesterday I attempted to eat (i.e. steal fruit and drink water, because I'm deathly ill) and apparently the 18 to 20 meal trades I have left somehow disappeared sometime between Friday afternoon and Sunday. As though I truly desire the somewhat edible choices here, I'm prepared to state my case and complain to some higher power this morning. I plan on telling them, "I demand that you return those $100-some dollars of 'food' to my ID; after all, it really shouldn't be worth that much money in the first place!" Another part of the plan has to do with crying, but I've never cried on cue so that may need to be changed to just looking pathetic. Which isn't a problem for me, a lot of people seem to think I've been crying when I'm feeling perfectly fine. Plus, who would really cry over not getting to eat the delicacies that can be found at on-campus dining facilities? Not I. I actually hope they tell me that they're not going to help me out because, in a way, they would be encouraging me to eat much healthier than I have the rest of the year. Oh, how I miss JMU food...and for that matter, home-cooked meals. Next year's coming soon enough though, no need to complain.
Until next time (when I'm hopefully not feverish and frustrated),
Anna