Not too shabby at all

Well, this horrible semester was officially over as of this morning when I got my grades for all my classes. Two As and two Bs, 3.4 cumulative GPA, not too shabby. I'm just glad to be done with this nasty round of classes.

I launched my official photography website; it called Illustrated By and you can check that out here. I'll be posting all things photo on there, so It's Only Life will be primarily written updates from me. If you want to see my pictures, check out Illustrated By.

Christmas is coming soon and I'll be having Christmas in Denton with my grandparents on Thursday. Then my family and I are going to Houston on Friday and we'll be there until after the New Year.

Thanks for putting up with my inconsistent blogging, and I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!

Short and sweet

Hello blog, it's been way too long...

A lot has happened since the last time I wrote to you. Government class if about to start - oh, joy! - so I'll make this short and sweet.

I passed the GSP test and have already enrolled in Journalism classes! :)

I have been doing more photography gigs to build back up my portfolio. I tried to do a photography business before, but I really didn't have the time or energy to make it what I wanted it to be. This time, my photography 'business' will be much more laid back, more like a hobby, but still a business. I'm very excited to see where this project goes.

Writing is going slowly, but surely. I've gotten most of the plot figured out and a prologue written. I've started writing the first chapter, and it's going well.

I cannot wait for Christmas break.

I think that's all I've got for now.

Until next time,
M

Zephaniah 1:18 Neither their silver nor their gold Will be able to deliver them On the day of the LORD'S wrath; And all the earth will be devoured In the fire of His jealousy, For He will make a complete end, Indeed a terrifying one, Of all the inhabitants of the earth. 

We cannot be indifferent on this issue. The Lord is a merciful God, but this period of grace we live in will not last forever. There is a day coming. Who among us will be ready? 

Am I the only one who is not watching the game right now?

Why, yes. Yes I am. My entire family (sans my brother who is working on his homework) is sitting in the other room watching the World Series. I think the Rangers are winning, but I'm not sure. Anyhow, I figured since I had a minute, I would update a bit. 

I'm sort of on an Owl City streak; I guess it would be more appropriate to say I'm on a Deer In The Headlights streak. :) 

Anyways, today was the first really cold day of the fall! I woke up and it was cold, rainy, and overcast which is my favorite weather in the whole world. So I put on a sweater and my favorite boots and I enjoyed walking around on campus with the wind blowing crisp and cold. And it only rained when I was inside. :) After my first class, I saw my dad's jazz lab band play in the student center. They were really good. I always forget how much I love jazz until I hear it live. I don't really like listening to it on CD (unless it's Jamie Cullum or Kurt Elling) but watching live jazz is an experience. I love it. 

Tomorrow I have a tutoring session for the GSP test. The Grammar, Spelling, Punctuation Test is a prerequisite to entering the Journalism program at UNT. In order to pass the test, you have to score 14 out of 20 questions (70%) on all three sections. I wasn't nervous at first, because I don't typically have issues with spelling, grammar, or punctuation (I bet you go back and reread this post to check for errors. Its okay, there you found one!) but when I took the practice tests I scored around a 60% on the grammar and punctuation parts. This test really gets down to the nitty gritty rules of the English language, so I'm a little concerned right now. Everyone keeps telling me I shouldn't be nervous, and I know I shouldn't be. I'm just a very poor test taker. I rarely make As on tests, and it is not for lack of preparedness. I don't know if it's actual test anxiety or if I just psyche myself out. Whatever the reason, I don't do well under testing conditions. So I'm just hoping to get in there and kill this test so I can register for my classes. 

Work is going well. I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but I really love my new job at Justice. I love the atmosphere. It's very chilled out, but at the same time we do a lot of sales competitions and, for some reason, that sort of thing is really fun to me. I love doing customer service. I know that sounds really hokey, but I like helping these little girls that come in find outfits and birthday presents and their moms good deals. At the beginning of the summer, when I'd first started looking for jobs, I had pretty much accepted the fact that I'd get stuck in fast food or something because of my lack of experience. My grandfather worked in retail for 20 some odd years, and retail was kind of my ideal when I started applying places. The fact that I landed my first job at a retail store is completely amazing to me and I'm very thankful. I love my coworkers, they're all amazing. 

Writing is also going very well. I think I said in one of my recent posts how I decided to cease working on The Lion to work on another project, but I didn't really say why. So here's a long rant about my writing: 

I have been writing fiction since I was ten years old, so that means I've been writing for eight years give or take a few months. I only finished an actual story this past August and it wasn't very good. After struggling through plots and characters and settings and all that jazz, I've come to the conclusion that I've been writing the wrong genre for at least a few years. I tried to make my style mimic that of my favorite authors and that doesn't work for a myriad of reasons. I was limiting myself creatively by trying to fit my style into a neat and tidy box, which made my characters flat and the plots meaningless. I wasn't writing from my heart and while that is a corny statement, it was detrimental to every word I wrote. Another that was was wrong with the way I was writing was that I didn't really have a purpose in a particular story. I suppose, for most writers, the goal is to write something great that readers will enjoy. That is an awesome goal, one that I'd like to fulfull someday. But that cannot be my ultimate goal in this process of writing a story or I will fail. I belong to Jesus Christ and the purpose of my life is to further the Gospel and bring glory to the Creator. That purpose bleeds over into every aspect of my life: work, school, friends, career, everything. If my purpose isn't to glorify the King, then I have no purpose and my life is meaningless. So whatever I write has got to point the readers to the first Author who loves them and wants them for Himself... 

And that is what I am endeavoring to do with this new project. I've been putting together this plot for a while, and I've only written bits and pieces. It's tiring, but I take great satisfaction in what little bit I can get done for it because it is all for a purpose greater than myself. Please pray that I would continue to persevere in this idea and that God would bring creative ideas to my head and that I would not loose my focus and get discouraged. He is good all the time, and I know whatever happens, happens for a reason. 

Sorry for being such an inconsistent blogger. Things have been crazy busy with school and whatnot. I will do my best to update more. Thanks for reading!

M 

PS: I don't know why the letters are highlighted black. I didn't do it, and I can't figure out how to turn it off. Sorry :P 

And nearly a month later, the online world learned that she had, indeed, not died

There you are. I have not died. 

And I am sorry for not writing in so long. 

I really do not have time to blog right now, so be content with the fact that I am still alive. 

M

I only have 9 minutes until class, so I'll make this short and sweet...

1. I freaking love Harry Potter more than any other movie I've ever seen in my whole life. 
2. I am ready for these dumb classes to be overwith so I can move on to the cool classes related to my major.
3. The editing process for The Lion has not really started. It sort of did for a while there, but then I decided that I wanted to revamp and do something totally different with it, so it may not be done before Christmas. I really struggled with making the decision to let the idea I have stew for a little while, but here is the blog entry by one of my favorite writing blogs that forced me to go with my gut: Click here
4. Zooey Dechanel's new show called New Girl is so funny. I've watched the first episode about three times. 
5. I'm ready for Christmas.
6. I'll write more later when I have more time. 

M 

Just call me Lois Lane

I'm so very sorry, readers (for those of you who haven't totally boycotted me for lack of attention to this blog)  for not keeping up with you. However few of you that may be. I've been extremely busy since the beginning of the semester and I have a feeling it's only going to get worse as the days pass. But God is good, all the time and I have some pretty exciting news...


I changed my major! (No surprise) To Journalism! (Wait...whaa??)


Yes, it's true. I changed my major to Journalism and by the end of this week, I should be officially declared as a pre-Journalism major! I know this is kind of sudden because the last time I talked about major changes I was talking about tech writing and merchandising but to be honest, this change was kind of sudden for me, too. I kept trying to spin the English thing into something that would satisfy my need for creativity but also my future need of employment. :) I couldn't justify switching to tech simply because it was more employable than creative. I'm not one of those people that can sacrifice what it is they love to do in order to make money. If I'm not able to use my creative outlet - which is writing - in my long-term job, then I will most likely be dissatisfied. I'm not saying that God couldn't put me in a place of work sans writing where I wouldn't be happy because I love my job at Justice and I don't write a thing. I also don't discount the possibility of getting married and not having to support myself all on my onesy. But I feel that planning for whatever comes my way is the best possible course of action. 


So why journalism? 


Truthfully, I felt an irresistible urge to check out UNT's journalism program and I don't know why. But as I read about their news writing/editorial program it just screamed me. I scheduled a visit with the advising office, went, and changed the major. The program has all sorts of opportunities for media writing, online blogging, and this really cool thing called creative nonfiction. I'm super excited to start the classes in the Spring! :) You may call me Lois Lane from now on. :)


Classes are going as well as can be expected for them all being GenEd; I'm pretty bored with them all right now, to be honest. But I've committed to making all As in my classes, so I'm studying and reading every day. I'm excited to begin the classes for my major! 


BSF started last night, and that was amazing as usual. My group is going to be great, I can just sense it. :) 


I joined the adult choir at my church and that was so great. I already know quite a few people in it - including a couple girls who were in student choir with me - and everyone else was just so welcoming. Honestly, it felt like coming home. There's such a sense of community and the only reason I can give, is that God has truly blessed the ministry. I'm so thankful for my choir family. :)


That's all that's been going on as of late, other than I've been writing a lot. Thanks for reading and putting up with my inconsistent blogging. :)  


M