I'm pathetic.

I'm really, really pathetic. I mean, come on! I haven't posted for, like, months!
Pathetic. Pah-tooey.
Anyway, I have a Karate tournament. I'm going because, if I don't, I'm afraid I won't get my blackbelt. The head sensei that tests everybody and has the last say on giving you your blackbelt SAYS that going to tournaments 'gives you experience'.
Yeah, experience in LOSING!
What else will I get from tournaments than I can't get from class? We spar, like we do in tournaments. We do Katas and we practice our basic moves, like we do in tournaments. The only thing we do in tournaments is win or lose.
And trust me- all I do is lose.
So my prediction? When he sees two kids, equally the same skill level, and one goes to all of the tournaments and pays big bucks to get the kid to the nationals and get the fancy-dancy equipment, and the other kid is just fine and doesn't have the time or money to go to all of the tournaments, guess who he's going to pick for the blackbelt?
Most likely the fancy-dancy kid.
I'm not saying that I got cheated out of my blackbelt, but going to the tournaments, I feel, is just one more precaution I can take in order to ensure I will have a better chance at my blackbelt. What I am saying is that I believe that my senseis are doing the whole 'go to the tournament' thing just because they get our MONEY.
MONEY MONEY MONEY.
But hey, so would I. I don't condemn them.
Okay, maybe a little.

Random Acts

Have you ever done something spontaneous? Something odd, something weird, something totally and undoubtedly random?
Everyone has at some point. I know I have.
But why did you do this random act? Was it to be funny? Was it something you thought that just had to be said RIGHT THEN?
Or did you do it out of kindness?
On facebook, there is this club called the 365 club (I think that's what it's called). Thousands have joined. Anyone can join this club, but under one condition- every day, you have to do something random. Something randomly kind.
This all started when the pastor of my church walked into Kinko's with a cup of hot coffee.
"Where's mine?" one of the store's workers asked jokingly.
The pastor immediately offered to get everyone's orders for coffee. His treat.
When he came back with the orders in his hand, he was surprised to be greeted with such gratitude and thanks. It was just a simple gesture of kindness.
But that one gesture touched one of the people in the store so much that he decided to share it.
Hence the 365 club.
How hard is it really to send a neighbor flowers, or clean off a car in the parking lot that isn't yours, or help an old lady at the grocery store get something off of the top shelf? Does it really require that much effort, or that much resources? No.
But the reward is great.
Do what Jesus did, at least for once a day. Love people who you don't know just because they're people. Help people just because you can. And don't expect anything in return.
Join.

Happy new year!

Happy new year to everyone, and I hope 2009 blesses you with the gift of joy.
I've already made my new year's resolutions:

1) get straight A's this semester
2) work my butt of so I can get my black belt in Karate
3) have each day be focused on God
4) make each day better than the previous one

By the end of this year, my days will be the best the world has seen. In theory.

I hope that someday, however, I will come to terms to see just how ineffective new year's resolutions really are.
I mean, they're great for a week or so. Then you start making shortcuts and exceptions and such, and you get sidetrack and lose focus on what your goals really are and what they used to mean to you. People get so caught up in the heat of the New year's moment that they make unrealistic goals because that is what is expected of them.
That's why I made my 4th goal. It is realistic, and it is something I can renew every day.

Go ahead, copy my resolutions for yourself. In fact, I copied it from somewhere else because I though it would be something interesting that I had a chance of accomplishing. I pray that it does us all some good, and allows us to reflect on the lives we are living daily.

Yawn

Holy cow it's been a long time.
Heeeyyy yaaalll!
I've been sick with a cold and running around like a chicken with her head cut off trying to make things happen.
Science reports....
Recital pieces....
Accompanying choirs....
English papers....
History tests.....
Christmas musicals....
And then the drama at home is always there to greet me.
Gotta love that drama.
So I haven't gotten enough time to actually blog on my blog. Which is, for the most part, how the brain of Becksta usually works. I'll be working along, whistling a merry tune, and then remember to do something. Well, I can't just abandon what I've been doing in order to accomplish the task I just recently remembered, oh NOO. I must keep working until I'm done, then move onto the next task that has NOTHING to do with the one I just remembered I had to do.
And then what happens?
I'm in deep water because I didn't do what I just remembered to do.
OOOppsies.
So yeah, I haven't gotten to this for a while. I'm sorry (for anyone out there who cares...)

So I was just accompanying a children's choir tonight, and I heard a little bit of good and a little bit of not-so-hot. But they're all little kids, so it was great that they got up there and preformed in front of an audience. I can't stress enough how important preforming is to me, and how much I believe it benefits a person in the long run. Even if you don't plan on being a professional, I strongly suggest picking up an instrument, writing up a poem, learning a tune, and just preforming in front of a crowd at a younger age. I say this because it is extremely nerve wracking.
Yes, that's right. It is INDEED very nerve wracking.
But if you accomplish this when you are younger, you will get accustomed to speaking in front of crowds and preforming at a very young age. This will set the stage, if you will, for a nullification of stage fright, and an enjoyment of public speaking.
This has been the case for me- I think I am a rare breed for actually LIKING speaking in front of crowds. I enjoy it, and because I've been preforming since I can remember, it doesn't bother me one bit to speak in front of large numbers of people.
Now that I've bored you to death,
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE, in case I don't post until then, which is extremely likely. I'm hosting each side of the family's Christmas at my house this year, plus our own and one for some family friends. That's four Christmases. YIKES!!

I hate squirrels

Squirrels.
I hate the little boogers.
All they do is run around, gathering nuts, then they bury them, and then go run around again trying to remember where the heck they put the darn things. Then they eat them, eventually mate, have squirrel babies, and then it starts all over again.
Oh yeah, I left out the part where they get into your attic and make annoying scratching sounds above your head while you're trying to get to sleep.
That was the worst.
So we tried to put up traps to catch the rodents while they're in our attic. We set the traps out of and inside the attic, and placed tantalizing treats inside of them to lure them to their doom. Of course, the darned fur-balls developed a technique to get the food without triggering the traps.
Eventually we did trap all of the squirrels, and patched up the whole that they chewed through our house to get into the attic. It took a while, though. There were some sleepless nights involved.
But it wasn't over then. Oh, no sir-ree. That's when they targeted the bird feeder.
Our bird feeder is attached to a protruding limb from a tree right outside the kitchen window, so we can see all of the beautiful birds that come to visit. Unfortunately, the squirrels would scare away all of the beautiful creatures and stuff their unsightly faces with seeds.
So we put an anti-squirrel hood atop the feeder and sprayed it with cooking oil.
Now THAT was funny!
The squirrels would try to use it to help them get on the feeder, but finding it too slippery, would end up running in place like Scooby Doo, their stubby paws getting them nowhere. Then they'd slip off, fall to the ground, and start it all over again.
Eventually, I ended up being assigned to broom duty, and I'd chase the squirrels away with a trusty old broom. One time a member of my family threw a watering can at one of the rodents, but to no avail.
Oh well.
I hate squirrels...

Questions

Why the heck is my team losing like crazy in the stock market simulation?
Who the heck thought of Metal music?
Is God a Democrat?
How do you stop on inline skates?

Questions, questions, questions. My teachers have always told me, "Becksta, there is no such thing as a stupid question."
I beg to differ.
I think the stupidest question that I've ever heard in my life would be asked in a scenario such as this:
Two girls are standing next to each other in gym class, gossiping and twirling their golden locks of hair. Across the room, there's the dorky girl, sitting all alone, staring aimlessly into space. One of the pretty girls looks at her.
"Ugh," she scoffs in disgust. "There's so-and-so again. She's so gross!"
The other girl turns to look. "Yeah, I know!" she agrees, flipping back her hair.
Thinking that nobody is watching her, the poor so-and-so (who unfortunately is suffering from a cold) sneezes directly into her hand, and checking to see if nobody is watching, wipes it onto the floor and proceeds to pick her nose.
"Oh... my... gosh..." one of the pretty girls gasps. "Did she just do that?"

FREEZE!!

"Did she just do that?" DID SHE JUST DO THAT?
Hello!! That has to be the world's dumbest question ever! Of course she just 'did that'. I mean, you were standing right there, watching it happen with your very own eyes. DUH!
I'm sure someone will argue that it's just human habit to say that, to 'make sure we believe what we are seeing', or something to that extent.
That's why I have a backup plan.

Scenario two (this one is actually TRUE, unlike the made-up one above...):
An art class eagerly listens to their teacher's directions. The task for the students is to take a famous work of art (a painting), evenly divide it into equal sections, and assign one section for each student to paint individually. At the same time, they have to collaborate with their peers to assure that the sections look alike and fit together into a single, seamless painting. This project will be done on tiles, and will later be displayed in the school hallway.
Each student begins to plan the layout of their individual tile. They are collaborating color mixtures, where lines begin and end, and trying to find out what the heck is that thing on this part of that painting, and other things that need to be resolved before the painting. A student raises his hand, and asks a simple question: "What color do we paint the brown building?"

Wow. Nuff said.

Science

"Some day, Becksta," my wise father once told me, "you are going to wake up and find graphing data and gathering numerical information fun and exciting, like I did."

"Dad," I told him, "perchance, did you ever wake up and find that composing, arranging, and creating beautiful music fun and exciting?"

"Well, no, I didn't..."

"Case in point." I replied, smug.

Yes, I am a good math and science student.
Yes, I get good grades in school.
Yes, I to like doing math activities.
NO, I do NOT like science, data, and graphing.
Why? Because it is tedious, boring, and should be left for people who actually WANT to do it.
Have you ever been forced to do something you hate and it comes out at a much lower quality than something you did that you actually liked?

For example- say you loved drawing and painting, but you hated woodwork. You are at equal levels of excellence in both fields, yet you like painting better.
Now imagine that you are forced to do some woodwork for some odd class project. Then, in another class, you were forced to paint Joe Shmoe's portrait.
Which one would come out with a better quality of craftsmanship?
And which one will you enjoy completing more?
THE PAINTING!

It's the same for me. I am at an equal level of excellence for both music and science. However, I like preforming music more. So, which one am I more likely to choose down the road of life?
Probably music.

Thanks for listening to my rant for the day...