Word Cloud

I warned you there would be a swift increase in blog posts! I tried to keep from jumping to two in one day, but I just couldn't resist!
I had a tech class on Saturday and the professor linked us to this amazing website that creates word clouds out of text that you put in! It decides the size of the words based on the amount of times it appears in the text you input.
I first tried this one of Psalm 27


Then I realized that you could input the URL of your favorite blog (which is mine of course :P), it would make a word cloud of the words used in that blog. I'm assuming it just does a couple of the recent posts cause I've used way more words than this.


Isn't that cool! I thought so :D

Writing When I Don't Want To Write

It's official, the new semester has started, complete with a 3-page paper due on the second week of class. I hate papers. You see, I like to write, but not for a professor to grade. I've thought a lot about why this is the case over the past week. Yes, I fear a bad grade, but it's more than that. When I do poorly on a multiple choice test, I simple chose the wrong answer; didn't remember something properly. But when I do poorly on an essay test or paper, I often feel as though more than just my remembering skills are being tested. I feel like I'm being tested. Can she do it? Can she express her thoughts coherently and wisely. Can she manage not to sound like an idiot? I don't know.....can I? This thought scares me.

Seems silly because at this very moment I'm avoiding writing my paper by writing on my blog. That's right, I'm avoiding writing by writing. But somehow writing on here, is much easier than writing for a professor. Maybe it's because, as far as I know, I only have about 5 readers on here, most of whom are related to me. Or maybe it's because I can write about things I actually care about on here, who knows?
Anyway, all of that to say, I have a feeling you'll be getting a lot more posts in the next few weeks. I've decided that I waste too much time on Facebook so I've banned myself from it till after 6 pm every day. I know (*gasp*), how can I live without Facebook? I don't know, we'll see how it goes, it's only day two. But seeing as Facebook was my all time favorite procrastination tool, I'm bound to find another, most likely blogging. Hope you don't mind :)

*Warning* Grammar Police

In the last couple of years I've gotten rather obsessed with certain grammar issues. I do not profess to be an expert. However, my grammar is generally pretty good and my vocabulary is rather large so I am able to express myself quite well. Certain things bother me more than others. For instance, I resist correcting issue with "you and I" vs. "you and me." I resist this mostly because I almost always impulsively change everything to "you and I" even when "you and me" is grammatically correct.
I always thought the thing that bothered me the most was the incorrect use of "good" and "well" (i.e. when someone says, "Johnny did that so good" instead of saying, "Johnny did that so well").
However, I've found a new saying that bothers me even more than the good vs. well problem. I was on the bus the other day on my way to school and I overheard a phone conversation. What I overheard was a fully grown man telling his friend that, "she don't got nothing."
I don't think that you can get any more wrong than that! I wanted to get up and scream in his face, "SHE DOESN'T HAVE ANYTHING!!!!!!!!!" However, I restrained myself (except of course for telling you all and my family :D)
It's moments like that where I can't wait to be a teacher!

Too Much Internet Time??

So I think that I spend too much time online....I had this dream, and in the dream I was actually terrified. But no, there were no ghosts or zombies, just emails. And all of my emails went into my spam folder, even the ones from actual people (and, *gasp* the ones from Facebook!!!), and I was terrified that I would miss an important email. Dumb... I'm 18, how many important emails do I actually get anyway. Excepting the ones which come to my school email which doesn't have a spam folder!

The Obligatory New Year's Post

A new year, a new decade. But what changes other than numbers? Nothing really. So why does everyone make such a big deal out of the new year? I think it has something to do with those resolutions we all make and nobody keeps. Really, when you think about it, the kind of things we make resolutions about (devotions, dieting, exercise, journal keeping) are the kinds of things that even the most spiritual, the most healthy, the most active, and the most prolific writers skip doing on a holiday. And New Year's Day is a holiday. So basically, New Year's resolutions are a waste of time, and yet, we make them. I make them. Throughout the entire year I think of all the things I want to do.....Maybe next year. But next year comes and nothing changes. I make resolutions and a month later they go out the window. Sometimes it doesn't even take a month.
I think we all need to take a break from our resolutions and goals, and look at what God desires for us, what He desires of us.

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Romans 12:1-2

Happy New Year!

'Tis Not That I Did Choose Thee

’Tis not that I did choose Thee,
For Lord, that could not be;
This heart would still refuse Thee,
Hadst Thou not chosen me.
Thou from the sin that stained me
Hast cleansed and set me free;
Of old Thou hast ordained me,
That I should live to Thee.

’Twas sov’reign mercy called me
And taught my op’ning mind;
The world had else enthralled me,
To heav’nly glories blind.
My heart owns none before Thee,
For Thy rich grace I thirst;
This knowing, if I love Thee,
Thou must have loved me first.

~Josiah Conder