I got accepted to BIOLA!!!

College

So why does it cost $45 to submit an application to a private university? It's not like were not gonna pay them a ton of money anyway... i don't get it. Well, i'm applying at Biola University, San Diego Christian College, Vanguard University, and Azusa Pacific University. So like $180. Yeah whatever... and toatlly bad time cuz Christmas is coming up.

Brickfish

Ok I am trying to get some scholarships so I will start posting some of my pics to brickfish....please help me out.

Dark Knight!

Dark Knight was so good!

Just so you know...

Go see it!

I miss God... :(

I have been away from my friends and church for a little over a week now and I hate it. We didn't go to church last Sunday because we got in late Saturday night. We're going to Chuck Swindoll's church tomorrow so I guess it will be ok tomorrow. I have been living with non-Christians this week and it's not fun. Now I see why it's so hard to have an immediate family member who's not a believer...not good. In my family, we always pray before we eat and this last week it's just been awkward so we kinda just started eating. I know it doesn't seem like a big deal, but it's kinda hard to see my dad not step up (because he's always the one to pray)...maybe I could have stepped up. I guess it's just hard to step up when you don't have that role model right there. I just miss God.

Extravaganza Journal #2

Well last night was very interesting. My aunt came over and started bawling because she hasn't seen us for 10 years and blah, blah, blah...and she smells like smoke. I have twins 18-year-old cousins and a 15-year-old cousin and we all went to a restaurant together last night. I'm pretty sure I have never felt so awkward and completely different in my whole life. The last time I saw my cousins I was 7 years old so we don't really remember each other and they are just so different. They are all smoking and I feel so awkward because I was about to cough up my lungs. Anyways...last night I got to hang out with my grandpa....this man is my favorite! He is hilarious! This morning he took my sis to watch the sun come up (cuz we don't have the same sun in Fresno...) on his new motorcycle. Now this motorcycle is called the Tango (or the banana as my grandma calls it). Just the name itself doesn't sound like a normal motorcycle. It has three wheels and looks like a European electric car thing, but it's a motorcycle and he let me drive it! It was so terrifying! It doesn't have a gas petal, you have to use the throttle....it was terrifying but I didn't run through any fences or anything...and it's bright yellow! So my 64-year-old grandfather drove me around Dallas in a bright yellow Tango! And last night we went to Bennigans (we used to have one where Logan's Roadhouse is now in Riverpark) because my mom used to work there and she loves this sandwich so we went there and I had the "Ultimate Baked Potato Soup" and oh my goodness......so good! So tonight were going to a steakhouse that apparently has the biggest baked potatoes. So we'll have a good dinner tonight.

Family vacation extravaganza journal #1

We left Fresno on Friday for Dallas, Texas to visit my mom's mom and sister. We stopped by to see Mandee and to pick up some drinks before heading out. I had a grande mocha frap with no whip. (I found out that a regular grande mocha frap has 14 grams of fat, but if you get no whip it's only 3 grams of fat. Isn't that crazy? The whipped cream has 11 grams of fat....11!!!) We drove until we got to Barstow and stopped to fill up our gas-guzzler with gas costing us $5.59. We filled up half a tank for $74... it was sickening. But the good thing was the farther away we got from California the cheaper gas was. I think we got to $3.98 or something like that. In New Mexico we drove through a thunder storm and I got to see real lightning. Lightning in Fresno is just light flashing. I actually got to see real lightning bolts. They scared me at first, but they are SO cool! Lightning is now my favorite part of nature. It was lightning side ways! It was crazy! Anyways...We ended up getting all the way to Albuquerque, NM. I've never like Albuquerque ever since I went there on a mission trip and stupid Hopper took us on a ghost tour that was incredibly lame, but I could not sleep that night. I was so scared. It was terrible. I had to wake this girl up so I could turn on the tv to comfort me....I was so embarrassed but I really had no choice... Anyways, we stayed at a tiny cheap motel and left early the next morning. I have noticed that every stop in Texas has a Sonic, Dairy Queen, Bennigans, McDonalds, and Whataburger. Grandma says that Whataburger is pretty good... we'll have to try it. My parents were tired of driving so I drove for a while and I drove right into another thunderstorm. I was really scared because the rain was super hard and then it stopped. And then more super hard rain...and then it would stop. My dad made me drive in it anyways... We got to Vernon, TX and stopped to get something to eat, but we kept having to backtrack because we couldn't find anywhere to eat except for some Charlie's Catfish shop or something. We finally found Taco Casa and it is now my new favorite. It was terribly dirty and really cheap, but it was SO good. Better than Taco Bell.... I know...it's crazy, but better than Taco Bell. After dinner and a little more driving, I was adjusting my seat and moving the DVD player for Halle and slipped and jammed my toe into the slider thing where the passenger seat slides to adjust the seat and oh my goodness! I had like skin hanging off and it jammed my toenail into my toe and so I have a split nail and a blister thing that hurt like none other. So we wrapped it up in what we had....one of my dad's white tees. After that fun-ness, we went to Dairy Queen. I ordered a Peanut Butter Parfait and I got a Peanut Shaving Parfait. You know the papery stuff on the outsides of a peanut? Well my parfait was ice cream, hot fudge, and peanut shavings....kinda gross cuz you can't really chew those very well. So while my whole entire foot continued to throb, we drove to Balch Springs, a city on the Southeast side of Dallas. We got there and my toe looked bad, but it was ok. We get settled in and went to sleep. This morning we unpacked and are waiting for my overdramatic aunt to bring me a cane and ice pack. Yes, I'm serious. My mom told me to use the cane in front of her and act like it hurts...;) I really don't care if you people reading this don't care about my trip, I need a friend to vent to....ah...Blogger.

better...

I think things are getting better this week.

I talked to Orlando and Paula last night and I guess I always thought that I only connected with younger leaders at a youth group, but they are so wise. They're teaching me to listen. Orlando is so simple, I mean he just takes things one at a time and deals with them with prayer and lots of thought. And especially both of them together, I can tell that they really do care. It was encouraging.

Then I had a staff meeting this morning. It was Paul, Glenda, Cameron and me and we reordered service and talked about priorities and stuff. I love that even though I'm young, they still listen to me and my opinions are valuable to them. I'm really excited about where the church is going and what is going to happen. They had a birthday celebration on Sunday night and I didn't get to hear all the stuff, but my dad said that the "vision" is going to be really cool.

But my mom said that we aren't going to CIY this year... I am soooo sad. I love CIY. But I guess I'll save $400.

ok enough for now...

...

I don't understand it right now. I feel like I'm in a haze and there are so many areas in my life that need attention but I don't know what to do.

I don't understand what's going on with friends or parents or money situations or anything. I can't seem to do things right in so many areas. I haven't had a bunch of really sad times in a while, but now it seems like they're all coming at the same time now. My really close friend is leaving for college and won't be back until next summer-she's the one who was the only person to still talk to me. I'm trying to take control and do my job but apparently I don't know how to do that. I must not be very good at it. I'm the kind of person who takes every little comment personal. I'm either really encouraged or really hurt. And I, honestly, don't have one person in my life who is encouraging me like I'm used to... done whining.

exciting but difficult

I have been really learning a lot of worship leading lately...from WorshipLeader magazine, CCLI, and justworship.com. I have also had a lot of new opportunities like a new bass player, Paige is learning bass, possibly another keyboard player, SongSelect resources, and lead sheets for the band. These changes are super exciting and I really feel like our church is gonna do something big. I was talking to my dad after he got back from men's fraternity last night and there were 30 guys there, a bunch of good food, and great responses. A bunch of new people from the club are going now and I guess they are just growing really fast. I really do feel like every ministry is at a point where they are growing and people start realizing that they have gifts that can be used for the body. Like the children's ministry, my mom helps out and they just had a meeting yesterday and they each have like 8 or 9 kids in their classes every morning and most of these people, I know, don't even like kids very much, but they make it an effort to start relationships with kids vs. just talking at them on Sunday. Ok, back to worship. I have noticed that now that things are rolling and getting more exciting, things are getting waaaaay more dificult. Our new bass player bought CCC a new CCLI membership, wants to play bass, and wants to help me write parts for different instruments. I'm pumped that he wants to play bass... now we have three. He bought the licence and now I have a bunch of resources and lead sheets. But he feels liks he should have all the passwords and membership info on CCLI but I barely know him, and he has gone to our church once. I really want him to play and help me if he wants with lead stuff, but I don't think we need all separate music to look off of, the lead sheets will be fine. Him playing bass has also stirred up my sis wanting to play drums and bass and everything when I think she would benefit from a break because she has played almost every week I have played.

So in conclusion, when exciting things happen, don't get too excited because you'll ask the new bass player to play every week and try to break your own rule by letting him play if he can't make practice and tell everyone that we have a bass player and the drummer gets mad because she feels like she's being pushed out but she's really not but she doesn't see it that way....ok?

New strings

On Monday I went to Gottschalks music (where I bought my Taylor) so they could check out my guitar because I've been having problems with my top bridge pin popping out. The guy acted like I was stupid and said that the strings I use are just too thick for the holes.....(I've used this brand of strings for as long as I have played guitar). Sooooooo, yesterday I bought the strings that he said were so amazing. I put them on today and they come in a bright gold package so I automatically thought that the jerk at Gottschalks lied to me. As it turns out, they are really bright sounding but I think it will be ok. They were $15 which is a lot because the strings I have always used are good strings and about $7. The guy at GuitarCenter said that they would last a long time so I'm taking his word for it.

I had been looking at bedspreads earlier yesterday before GuitarCenter and decided to go to Macy's because it was pretty close. I forgot where Macy's was and took Blackstone all the way to Clinton looking for it... yeah I felt dumb because Macy's is just at Fashipon Fair...on Shaw. But I did get to see a part of Fresno that I had never seen before...:). I've never been to Sound Stage so when I saw it, I went in to check it out. Yeah, it's kind of just a bunch of old men talking about the "good 'ol days". I've been looking at wireless systems for my guitar. Matt just got one and I'm kind of jealous so I thought I'd try to find one. Basically I either need to get the $380 one or not at all because the other ones are just not good....so I'm saving up. :)

At GuitarCenter I also got to play some other nice acoustic guitars. I played a couple of Taylors (I love Taylors) and tried some Gibsons, but for some reason they sounded terrible and looked like they Elmer's glued two plastic parts together and are selling them for $2000 and up. I thought Gibson acoustics were really good. Like in August Rush. That guitar sounded AMAZING! Why were they so bad at GuitarCenter? I don't know.... I was just disapointed :(

P.S. I chose this lovely goldish-yellow to represent the gold package for my new Ernie Ball strings... hee hee :)

Note: I would like you all to notice that I added "Sadie Hawkins Dance" by Relient K to my playlist.... that's for Holly Borror, my fighting buddy at Stram Camp

(nobody knows who she is....she's an old friend from the club...we fought a lot...hee hee)

getting into shape part II

I worked out again today....wow I wish I had something more exciting to talk about... I got myself some gym shorts and a workout shirt and I thought spending money on workout stuff would motivate me to actually do it... yeah no. I pushed myself to just ride the bike for 20 minutes... at least I had David Crowder to pump me up. :)

I'm redoing my room... well starting to. Hopefully it will go pretty fast because this is gonna cost A LOT! My color scheme is black, white, and I'm thinking about adding a burgundy-like color. Now that I think about it, my blog's color scheme is black, white, gray, and burgundy... :)

And hopefully I will get a new phone on Saturday... thinking about the BlackJack II because I want something that can check email and stuff...

That's all folks!

getting into shape (or at least trying to)

I've recently decided that I need to start exercising. I didn't take P.E. this last year and I haven't done anything really active in a long time so I worked out today on my dad's stationary bike. It was actually pretty fun and I can feel it now so I know I'm doing something to help me loose the extra fat. I'm planning on getting a gym membership, but I don't know if I would use it if I didn't have anyone to go with. My friend who would go with me is moving to Missouri in August so I'm gonna have to go alone... :(

Any tips on staying with the program?

Thoughtfulness

I think that today is a thoughtful day. A day to ponder, ruminate, and use big words in a blog. I don't know why today is the day to ponder, I guess as the first day of summer, it just feels right to keep my brain exploring. (I'm really not very smart, I just like trying to sound insightful).

I guess I'm just bored because I don't have anything thoughtful to talk about or vent.

I bought 6 cds today. Border's was having a 40% off sale so I bought:
Leeland- Opposite Way
Chris Tomlin- See The Morning
David Crowder Band- Illuminate
Bethany Dillon & Matt Hammitt- In Christ Alone
Hillsong United- I Heart Revolution With Hearts As One
Passion artists- God of This City

I'm super excited to load up my iPod with all this good music (I don't care what you think, Isaiah, about any of these artists..... :)...).

Ok I'm done....too much good music to listen to.......

2nd blog

Well, for my second blog as Manica you get to read me vent:

Why is it that teenagers who have family who are strong Christian leaders get to do whatever they want and not be accountable for their actions. I don't get it. I work so hard to follow Christ and set an example for unbelievers (and believers), but everybody else gets to do what they want and not take responsibility for it. No one seems to care if they are living in sin, just as long as their parents are leaders in the church they have to be good kids. The obvious response to my dilema is "I just need to love them, like Christ loves them" and that's fine. I believe I need to show love to them too, but what if everyone is just denying that there is a problem? Because we all know there is a problem. When a person who professes to know God doesn't live like it there is a problem. And when you hear the same disgusting jokes at church that you hear at school.....what?!?! That's unacceptable. Sorry, but it is. I might sound like I just think that I'm better than anyone else is, but I DO NOT! I really dont. I've gone through this before. I just try to follow Christ and the Bible says that I need to live like Christ and Christ never spit out disgusting disrespectful jokes, used His Father's name in vain, or did things just to be cool. Let's just set the record straight: I don't think I'm better than anyone because I'm not. I sin just as much as everybody else does. Mine usually just isn't so out in the open. I just feel like I'm the only person my age who even tries to act like Christ. Why can't I name one person my age who doesn't really care about what people think of them being a Christian andacting like it? Are we all just too scared to say anything? That's what I did when I had this problem in '07 and now not one of the people I hung out with will talk to me. And one of them was my best friend. And everyone's parents don't seem to mind who their kids hang out with as long as they're not in jail.

Can I have an opinon? What do you think because I'm obviously not understanding if there really isn't a problem...?

There you go... my first online vent of '08.

First blog

Well, this is my first blog as Manica.... Hopefully someone will comment on my blog... last time I had a blog, no one read it so it really had no purpose. Hopefully people read this one.

Well, I guess I'll talk about myself. Is that what you're supposed to do on a blog? Well I like music a lot, my favorites right now are Jennifer Knapp, Jason Mraz, David Crowder Band, Phil Wickham, Chris Tomlin, and Brandi Carlile. I like acoustic, folk rock, worship music for the most part, but I do like an occasional gospel or hip hop song.

I lead worship at my church every Sunday now and love to hang out with my 4 friends.... who happen to be most of the people in the worship band with me.

I'll make sure I update this blog...well as long as someone talks to me... :)