chris knight's little sister

I swear Chris, this is the sister you never had. She's got tons of movie reviews like this one on YouTube. I liked this one though, because she goes off on a tangent that has little/nothing to do with the film. I also like how she doesn't even try to hide the fact that she's reading the details directly off of Fandango. Half of the time, she doesn't even give her opinion, but merely reads Fandango's review aloud.

Oh yeah, let's not forget that she hasn't even seen this movie. Truly, her philosophical analysis of Lucha Libre vs. WWE will allow me to watch the movie with a whole new perspective. What would we do without insightful geniuses such as her?

If you care to bore yourself further you can check out her other videos on YouTube. If you decide to comment, please be nice. She's had a lot of nasty comments. My personal second favorite is her review of Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties.

xxooxxooXxOOXXx

Today I saw Nacho Libre and laughed harder than I have in a long time.

Really guys, if you liked Napoleon Dynamite, you'll like this one. I really enjoyed it.

p.s. if you saw the movie, you'd get the title

desperate days

So when I got out here, I found that they uninstalled Firefox on my Grandma's computer ("they" meaning one of my cousins). This has happened about 1000 times, and this time was the last straw. I removed all internet explorer icons from the quicklaunch and desktop, and replaced them with Firefox shortcuts. However, if anyone should go through the trouble of actually searching through the programs menu just to find IE, this little image awaits them (I created it on Microsoft Paint). Click it to see it in it's full size. I set it as the homepage.



Feel free to use this for whatever crazy people you encounter who STILL use IE. I'm just hoping they don't dash my efforts yet again.

goodbye

Goodbye to you all. Have a fantastic summer.

matt's "fire" speech

Aha! The power of embedding:

winding down

Well, I'm sorry for springing that on you guys so suddenly. Sunday was a hard day for me. I was very distracted and irritable that day. I think two things are to blame:

1. FINALS - Ok, well everyone likes to blame that, but I think the constant studying was getting to me. My energy was being suppressed more than it usually is.

2. Coca-Cola 'Blak' - I decided to try one of these caffeinated, sugar-loaded bottles of pure anti-health. It's basically Coke with coffee flavoring added to it. I think the combination of the powers of coffee caffeine and Coke caffeine were what made me so jumpy. I was literally walking up and down the stairs and in circles at one point, my restlessness was overwhelming.

I guess those two things were what made me so irritable. But there had been recent recurring problems with my brother that added to it, and it all sort of came together into one big explosion. I needed an outlet, and I guess I used my blog for it. I felt better after I published it all, though. Plus I got some good advice and encouragement from friends. Thank you for your prayers. I'm going to be OK.

God's trying to teach me something through this, but I wish I could just find out what. Maybe it's a test of my patience, or to prepare me for interaction with other people in my life who will be equally frustrating.

I really do love my brother, but at this point trying to help him will only screw things up. Perhaps I really do need to just leave him be. It looks like he'll be the same stupid little brat for a while. Please continue to pray for both of us, that he would grow up and mature in this area, and that I would learn to be a better brother to him.

I'm not innocent of disrespecting my parents, either. I often talk back to them or grumble when asked to help with something. My dad and I had a discussion about this problem a long time ago, and he gave me some good words of advice. He compared our situation to that of the older brother in the parable of the lost son. God loves and cares for Lucas in the same way he cares for me. The older brother in the parable represented those who do not understand the concept of grace. He was reliant on his own behavior and loyalty, which may have been superficially more than what his younger brother had to offer, but the miracle of the gospel is that grace comes to those who are least deserving of it. God gives grace to the sinners, rebels, prostitutes, and failures of this world. Because of the grace of God, something so counter-human as "loving my enemies" or "turning the other cheek" is made possible.

In the words of the great author Flannery O'Connor, "the way to avoid Jesus is to avoid sin." Unless we come to terms with our own inadequateness, we can never fully come to realize the penetrating truth of the gospel. The truth is that we cannot do it ourselves, that we are weak, corrupted people, and we are always in need of God's grace, every moment of every day. This is a truth that I must always remember as I deal with every "Lucas" that comes into my life.

O'Connor's quote can also be interpreted in another way. We cannot get so wrapped up in focusing on what we do that we forget what Jesus has already done. We must, of course, strive to grow in Godliness and become more like Christ throughout our whole lives, as Christians. But we are under grace, and we must never forget this or else we will develop an overly-pious attitude that gives others the feeling that they are inferior or undeserving. Even Jesus, who WAS perfect in every way, lowered himself to the level of the "wretches" around him. Therefore when we avoid sin, we avoid Jesus. One of my youth leaders once said that as Christians, we should not focus so much on "What Would Jesus Do?", but rather constantly remember "What Has Jesus Already Done?" Because really, when you look at it and see what Jesus has already done and sincerely believe it in your heart of hearts as your only hope, you are (as the Bible says) filled with the Spirit, whose fruits mature and develop overtime.

Again, thank you for your prayers; I still need them. May God grant us all strength and wisdom when difficult circumstances occur in life.

raindrops keep fallin' on my head

Please pray for me.

I hate my brother. I feel absolutely no love for him right now. I don't know if I ever have, to be honest. He has no respect for anyone, and I'm pretty sure he has no feelings. He's the biggest asshole I've ever known, and probably ever will know. He treats my mother like an absolute bitch. I'm not exaggerating.

I'm having a really tough time now. He's never respectful to my parents, and I feel like for some reason they're not doing anything about it. I'm really mad at my parents right now, too. When I try to help, they (along with my brother) basically tell me to shut up. They're trying, but they aren't doing a good job. I'm sorry if that's a narrow-minded thing to say, but I really think they're sucking at being parents right now. If I was treating people the way my brother is at his age, I'd get my ass kicked. Somehow that isn't happening. I know God is the one who changes people, which is why I'm angry at God as well. I want to know why He isn't doing anything about it. I'm mad at my family, and I'm mad at God.

I think what's worst, though is that if I try to do anything, I feel like both he and my parents are suppressing me. I feel like I'm never heard, and that not even my parents are supporting me. My sisters have disconnected themselves from it altogether. I'm going to do the same. He hates me and my parents and has no care for anyone around him. I'm at a point where the mere sight of him repulses me.

I've disowned my brother. He's not my brother anymore. I've tried, for years I've tried, and he just gets worse and worse. So I'm finished with him. My parents can deal with him. They'll be happier that I'm not trying to help anyway.

I know that none of these things are good, and that I'm extremely angry and distressed and feeling rather hopeless, which is why I'm asking you to pray for me. What I've typed above is how I'm honestly feeling right now. Pray that God will show me that he's not abandoned the situation, and that I'll understand what the hell he's trying to accomplish through it, and that he'll turn my stone heart into a forgiving heart. It's completely opposite of what I'm feeling now, and it's very awkward for me to type this, because I'm begging for what I don't want. I want to stay mad at my brother forever and give him the treatment he deserves. But I weep, I weep knowing that I myself am a vile sinner, unworthy of God's grace which he readily bestows upon me. Tears are running down my face, because I realize that I am like my brother in so many ways. I'm so desperately in need of God's grace, and it's at times like these where I fully realize it.

God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,

though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.
Selah

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.

God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.

Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts.

The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Selah

Come and see the works of the LORD,
the desolations he has brought on the earth.

He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth;
he breaks the bow and shatters the spear,
he burns the shields [b] with fire.

"Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth."

The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Selah

the final stretch

I've been studying nonstop since Wednesday. Every spare moment has been spent filling out my study guides. It's the sad irony of life, I guess. The final stretch is the hardest. This year has been one of my worst academic years.

For one thing, I've really slacked off. Procrastination is the key word here. I've procrastinated and often put off things for so long that I've neglected to do them altogether. I get concepts, and I understand things, but I don't do the work, and that's my problem.

But also, out of pure honesty, I was completely disinterested this year. It's not so much that I had distractions (though there were a few), but I really was bored with all my classes this year. I simply was not interested in what I was learning. Usually I enjoy learning random things in different classes, but this year I was utterly disinterested in all my subjects. My least favorite class was Geometry, hands down.

I will say this though, and I PROMISE it's not because I know Mr. Q reads my blog or that I'm trying to kiss up to him or anything like that, but Biology was my favorite class this year. I couldn't stand all that genetic and hormonal study we did at the tail end of last year, but learning about all these bodily systems and life processes are much more interesting. I also like the fact that Mr. Quiring answers our questions. We can ask just about anything we can think of, and he's ready with an informative answer. It's really great, because we get to learn about things that we actually care about or are interested in. We do talk a lot in his class though :P. It's definitely a class I would look forward to, especially after a dull period in Spanish class.

Other than that though, I really didn't enjoy my other classes very much. Art was wearisome, and producing a sketch, though seemingly an easy task, turned out to be a pain in the rear end. Instrumental ensemble was OK, but basically the exact same as last year. Also, our pieces are extremely boring. It's not just that they're easy for me, they're just very bland and boring, like boiled chicken or unseasoned mashed potatoes or Nickelback.

I'm really looking forward to next year. In fact, I almost want to hurry up and get through my busy summer schedule so I can get started on next year.

On second thought, forget that. I want a nice long summer, but I will be glad when next year comes. I'll be more involved with school affairs (yearbook, newsletter, student council), and I'll try some new electives (I'll DEFINITELY be taking photography, everyone is always raving about that class). After photography, I'm not sure. I may just have study hall, since Yearbook technically counts as an elective. We'll see. I'll be in Honors History next year, which I look forward to, since Mr. Shapiro seems like a pretty cool guy. Miss Herber will be teaching Honors English (most likely), though there's an extremely small possibility that Mr. Boyd might do it. Either way is fine, but I would like to have Mr. Boyd, purely for the sake of refreshment. Miss Herber was a fun teacher though, so either way is fine with me. She's got some great stories.

Anyway, I'm done updating. It's quite late, and I'm exhausted from waiting on tables for four hours (though I did get a cool 50 bucks out of it). Good luck studying! See you all on Monday.

ridiculous amounts of homework

Mr. Ogden!!!! WHY do you choose the week before finals to bombard us with mountains of homework? It's ridiculous. I really don't know why you're doing this to us. I wish you'd stop, please. I'd like to study for my finals. My study guides are many pages long and I've hardly made a dent after working for hours. And I still have all your assignments to do!!! Forget it. I'll do them if I have time, I already get the concepts.

Call this immature whining if you will, but homework amounts in general are becoming astronomical. The amount of homework at Alma Heights, compared to other schools, is not quite as burdensome, but is still burdensome nothetheless. My parents are always commenting on how much more homework we have to do than they did when they were kids. What's up with that? My poor sister, who's in 8th grade (at Alma Heights) has been up past midnight almost every night the past three weeks, and has spent countless late nights throughout the year doing nonstop homework. Why? Are teachers "throwing in the towel"? We might as well teach ourselves, the homework load would be the same.

Maybe I'm just speaking out of my buttocks on this one, but all I know is that we have a whole lotta homework.