Faith, Hope, and Love

It's the eve of a new year, and everyone's talking about their New Year resolutions. Except, I kind of stopped making resolutions ages ago. I got kind of tired of making them just to break them a few months in. And I guess in general, I figure that each day should be a journey toward self-improvement and so what's the big deal about the new year? If I'm honest though, new years ARE a big deal. For me, they've always felt like a new beginning. A chance to sort of clean the slate and start fresh. And seeing as 2010 has probably been one of the suckiest years of my life (2002 is either tied or a close second... senior year of high school was pretty miserable), I'm really excited for 2011. I figure it just can't get any worse, right? So while I am still not exactly making New Year resolutions... I am looking forward to a few things, and have a few goals and stuff too. They are... Starting student teaching: In 2009, I did an alternative teaching certificatio...

Fahoo fores dahoo dores Welcome Christmas, Christmas day Welcome, welcome fahoo ramus Welcome, welcome dahoo damus Christmas day is in our grasp So long as we have hands to clasp Fahoo fores dahoo dores Welcome Christmas bring your cheer Fahoo fores dahoo dores Welcome all Whos far and near Welcome Christmas, fahoo ramus Welcome Christmas, dahoo damus Christmas day will always be Just so long as we have we Merry Christmas, all! Hope everyone is having a blessed Christmas Day! And remember... Jesus is the reason for the season! 

... I quit the YMCA. ...  I did not take that job . It just wasn't the right fit for me. ... I did not successful complete NaNoWriMo . I didn't even get a quarter way through. (Although, personally, I am fine with it because I DID complete three short stories, which I can now use for my MFA applications.) ... and speaking of MFA applications, UT-Austin, Ohio State, Brown, Cornell and Wash-U officially have my complete application. Five down and seven to go (I've decided to apply to all 12 on my original list ). Now that the writing samples are all done and in great shape, I might go ahead and submit them all before the end of the week. Although, that is a little contingent on if my bank account can handle it.

Todrick's CD is finally available for purchase on iTunes ! Go buy it! I've already listened to it three times and I love it! I'm so proud of this boy! My favorite songs are "Rudolph" and his tribute to his grandmother, "Ethel's Song."

So, last night I had a mini panic attack. I was in the process of going through my checklist for UT-Austin and Ohio State University--you know, dotting my i's and crossing my t's--and checking to see if the application materials had to be  received by December 15, or just postmarked (I was kind of hoping that maybe if I had one more day, I could include the new version of "Ruined," too). UT stressed that it must be received by, and OSU said postmarked. Except, then I noticed that on their website, OSU had the deadline listed as December 1. My heart stopped. I was pretty positive that I saw December 15 on their website when I was first creating my list of schools, where had this December 1 date come from? I was 13 days late! I didn't know if I should cry, scream, rip out my hair, put on ashes and sackcloth... . I had spent like $40 dollars requesting transcripts, $23 on a GRE score, pestered my recommenders to 'get on it!' AND just 4 days ago, on Decemb...

Today is December 13th. On December 15th, in two days, five of my 12 MFA applications are due. Three, thankfully, are entirely submittable online. I just have to hit "enter" before 11:59pm Wednesday night. The other two, I actually have submitted applications for already. But they require me to mail in my writing samples. To some degree, this upsets me. It means I can't work until the last minute tweaking sentences, replacing verbs, etc. I actually have to get to the post office tomorrow, with two packets of writing I'm proud enough to let represent me. Tomorrow. So far, I'm sufficiently happy with one story. It's a re-write of a story called "Laundry Day." It started out as a short vignette (which you can read here ) and now has grown to be a 7-page story about a girl and her sisters preparing for the big move to Nigeria. It's the only one that I feel is in a good enough place to stop and say, "you can be submitted." I've als...

I'm on the phone with my sister and she's reading me parts of her attempts at a memoir. Mostly it's just ramblings about her first memories. Of me (apparently she thought I was annoying), our sister and brother, our cousins, our friends, her birthdays. While reading it out, she happened to mention my very first blog , which was on MySpace. (I also remember having an account with Open Diary. Anyone else have one of those? I think my username was African Aggie.) At one point I wrote every day. Sometimes multiple times a day. And then one day, I deleted most of the blogs, and just kept a few random ones. (I did re-write most of the ones I deleted into a real journal.) Taking a look back is kind of like opening up a time capsule. Simple things like:  my relationship with my brother ,  a time when I actually missed College Station  (yeah, barely miss it now, haha),  kisses from Khalil  (who is now five! oh, how time flies!) This stuff dates back to like 20...

It's Day 4 and I have 971 words. Out of 50,000. I'm about 3 (maybe 4) days behind schedule.  Unlike the dude in the cartoon, I have an idea of what to write about. But since I signed up on a whim, it's been a slow process. Especially since most of my free time is spent hanging out with family and friends. But it's coming along... and at least I'm writing!

Should I take it that God is seriously smiling down on me and showing immense favor? Because I just got offered a job... following a pretty catastrophic interview experience. Okay... maybe not entirely catastrophic, but it started out pretty roughly. And I was pretty certain that any chance I had at getting this job was shot to hell. And yet, I got an offer. However, now I'm unsure about accepting  the offer. Does that make me ungrateful? Does that make me foolish since even getting the offer seemed like such a long shot? Why is being an adult full of so many hard decisions? I'm also a little bit unsure about doing my MFA. I have about a month to two months (depending on the schools) to get everything together for my applications. And I feel so... unprepared. That's a lot of money to invest if I'm not going to be able to put out my best. But then again, maybe God will work His wonders and I'll get acceptance letters anyway. Even when I probably shouldn...

This Halloween is truly happy, because early this morning I became an aunt! What a thrilling moment (and maybe slightly scary new role) for me! So Halloween will now officially be one of my favorite times of year, cause I'll get to celebrate (and spoil) a nephew! Overall, it's actually been a pretty fun Halloween. I normally don't do anything. Being a Christian, I'm not anti-Halloween, but I don't really celebrate it either. Also, having immigrants as parents meant the idea of buying costumes and having their children go door to door begging for treats from strangers was lost on my parents. My first time to trick or treat, oddly enough, was in Nigeria. The missionary families would take their kids house to house in the Seminary and Baptist Medical Center, and then there would be a Halloween Bash at the Ellison's house. One year I was a figure skater (and spent the whole time in the van because I couldn't roller skate) and then there was my last year in ...

It's official. I signed up for the National Novel Writing Month (a.k.a. NaNoWriMo ). This means I have 30 days to write 50,000 words or more, successfully completing a novel. I have no outline. No characters. No ideas. Okay... some ideas. But nothing really developed. I kind of decided to do this on a whim. I've had a few friends take up the challenge in previous year, and have been tempted to join, but always had some excuse as to why I couldn't do it. Well, I was seeing a lot of promo for it and then a friend of mine said she was doing it and asked me to add her as a writing buddy. And that's when I took the plunge. I've found a few tools to help me, too: Google's Writing Nook  and Scrivener .  And maybe along the way, I'll figure out what I'm sending as my writing sample(s) for my MFA applications! Wish me luck for next month! (And feel free to keep me accountable.)

I've started on my applications!!! Yay!  Although, not so much on working on any of the bucket-load of writing I need to do. Especially since my list of schools has grown from twelve to twenty! No intention of applying to them all, but it does make this process a little bit harder as I try to make decisions, etc. Right now, my biggest struggle is the personal statement. Each school has different lengths... and ultimately I need to answer the questions, why do I write and who do I want to be as a writer.  And that boils down to Anne of Green Gables and Chimamanda Adichie. Now to somehow articulate it in 350-800 words.  Anyway, I also started my online class, A to Z Grant Writing, and so far... so good. It's been pretty basic information, but I can already tell that by the end of the six weeks I would have learned so much. Hopefully it'll land me a real job, too. 

This week, I impulsively decided to listen to NPR. Although people assume that I listen to this radio station all the time (must be the journalist thing or something), I actually have only tuned in when my dad is in the car (in his world, only the news, classical music, and the occasional hymn or sermon is worth listening to). But this week, I was sick of listening to KLTY with their horrible commercials and over-the-top promotions, not to mention the same songs playing over and over and over again. And I thought, "why don't  I listen to NPR?" Without a good reason, I promptly switched the station. And I loved listening to the radio so much more this week. I'll be honest and say that sometimes the news and politics talk make me want to snooze, but for the most part the programming has engaged my mind during the generally mindless commute I make at various times during the day. I think my favorite show is A Way With Words , a language show. The English language i...

So, I had the morning off with full plans to be extremely productive. And have I been? ... not so much. First of all, I woke up with a bad stomachache, so I just laid around in bed for a while. I got a call in to work, and was a little grateful I had a legitimate reason not to come in.  I did however, choose not to go back to sleep and I guess I haven't been completely unproductive. I officially enrolled in an online class with Brookhaven College. A to Z Grant Writing. Hopefully this class will give me an edge on applying to grant writing positions with non-profits. I think I'd enjoy working in that environment--it'd be meaningful and rewarding. Not sure if I want to do it full-time, but I have noticed that a lot of places look for contract/freelance grant writers, who I guess they hire as needed. I also think I could use my grant writing skills not just for money, but for charity. I have a few friends who are running or trying to start non-profits, and I wouldn't m...

Last week Thursday, I won tickets to see "Shrek: The Musical" through the Dallas Summer Musicals. With those tickets came free entry to The State Fair of Texas. Can I just say I was beyond thrilled?! First of all, I've been wanting to see "Shrek," but couldn't justify paying to go see it--for one, I no longer have a full-time job and money is tight, but also, I've gone to see A LOT of shows throughout this last year and while $25-$40 for a ticket might not sound like a lot, it adds up. I mean, I had just gone to see "My Fair Lady" last month! Also, I've really wanted to go to The State Fair. I went last year with my old co-workers and it was fun, but I didn't really do much or stay late or anything. And the only other time I remember going to the fair was in high school, which was years  ago. So my friend Nik and I headed down to Fair Park a little early and enjoyed the fair, eating lots of junk, watching pig races, and the grand ...

From Shakespeare we get some of the most famous quotes and sayings. From fairy tales we get some of the most famous stories and plots. Both offer a wealth of inspiration for writers, including Sarah Strohmeyer , author of "Sweet Love," "The Cinderella Pact," and "The Sleeping Beauty Proposal." In "Sweet Love," Julie Mueller, a divorced single mother of a teen who lives above her parents in a two-family home. She's a workaholic and seeks career advancement to make amends for everything else she finds lacking in her life. When Julie's mother signs her up for dessert classes, she's sure there's a catch. And there is: one of her classmates is none other than Julie's childhood (and although she refuses to admit it, adulthood) crush, Michael. Strohmeyer begins the novel with Shakespeare's Sonnet 56, which begins, "Sweet love, renew thy force...," and "Sweet Love" is truly a novel about renewed love. Readers...

It took a week or so, but I finally am able to use my computer again! The virus is gone! Granted I had to completely wipe my memory and am starting from scratch, more or less... but in a way, that's refreshing. It's a clean slate, and new beginning. And that's where I am in my life in general. A misguided judgement led to things falling apart. And so, "let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start." Over the last few weeks, I've begun to feel liberated in a way. And this past week without my computer has really given me time to actual live life and think about it in a new way versus trying to work out a system that had obviously collapsed around me. For one, I've officially decided to go for my MFA next fall and with a renewed computer plan to right fervently and furiously until December 1st when the first deadline hits. I'm still trying to decide if I should go for 12 programs, or lower the list down a bit. But with my par...