Conrad and Jessica

I sit here, nervous about taking the MCA Science Test. But it's OK, because Conrad and Jessica are beside me and they won't let any harm come to me. Mr. Hansen is extremely late and I'm beginning to think he forgot about us. Mr. Worth, if you're reading this, I'm not in your first hour because I'm in the media center waiting to take my MCA Science Test. The end

The Marshmallow

He scratched his head and pondered the thought
Could one little marshmallow really be that soft?
The fine, smooth texture as he turned it in his palm
The pure white color made him feel calm
He couldn't believe how it could taste so good
He savored the sweetness for as long as he could
He took of the twisty, and unwound the bag
While doing so he read the nutritional tag
He stuck his hand in, and pulled out 23
He loaded them in his barrel and shot the enemy

A Panther in the Greenhouse

Some of the most random things I ever talk about happen at my job. As many people know, I work in a lettuce greenhouse. When asked what my job is, I'm usually hesitate. I mean how do you explain it let alone word it?? Lucky for me, my boss is hilarious and really laid-back. If he's in a really good mood, he'll crack jokes.

Rob: My ancestors were from China
Me: No, they weren't. You are about the least Chinese person I know. (he's white and Dutch)
Rob: Hey, don't be making fun of my ancestory.

Rob: (talking about his current wife) Yeah in college me and some of my friends bugged her room. We put a recording device on her bed and listened to her and her roommate talk.
Another employee: Sounds like something a stalker would do
Rob: No, that was love.

Rob: You should bring in a schedule for your track meets.
Me: Well you could just print one off on the big 9 website.
Rob: Fine
~silence~
Me: I guess I could bring you one if you want
Rob: No, I won't accept it.

And I work with some really good friends (if it weren't for them, picking off dead leaves all night would really REALLY suck)

But I should probably tell you the reason I named this blog the way I did. So Kelsey Loverink and I were talking while picking dead leaves off lettuce heads, and I asked her, "What is the most random animal that you could find in a greenhouse?"

"A panther," she responded right away.

So the two of us our standing on the cart and our imaginations are running wild (you have to remember it's about 10:30 at night) "Yes, that would be rather odd," I responded. "Let's say I tapped you on the shoulder and told you there was a panther underneath the channels. You looked down and saw it staring up at us with big, blue eyes. Calm as could be. We declare it to be a Kodak moment and snap a picture. But the flash blinded him, and he went crazy."

"And he jumped up on top of the lettuce channels," Kelsey cut in. "And jumped onto the little furnace hanging from the ceiling and caught on fire and fell to the ground. Which started all the lettuce on fire. As the flames blazed around us, Rob told us to just keep working."

"Meanwhile the flaming panther bounds out of the greenhouse and out into the neighborhood. A family is just sitting down to a meal (at 10:30 p.m.....? work with me here) and has a beautiful glass window in their dining room overlooking the greenhouse. The parents' backs are facing away from the window while the children get front row seats to the blazing greenhouse and jungle cat. 'Mom, Dad! Look, look! There's a panther outside!' 'Nonsense, children. Now be quiet, and eat your brocculi.' " I was on a roll.

Kelsey ended the story with a bang. "Then the panther leaps through the window into the dining room and proceeds to run through the house (still on fire)" The End :)

And this is one of many creative stories that transpire at my job. I should write a book. . . .

Enough Hours in the Day

It seems to me like there are NEVER enough hours in the day. When I was younger, I used to get bored a lot. Especially on the weekends. I can't even remember the last time I was bored. I'm not even sure I remember what it feels like to be bored! I pile so much on myself, plus I have so many other things I'm involved in. And I like it....most of the time. And other times I'm my thoughts are all jumbled because I have so much on my to do list that I can't even think straight! (that also happens at other times, when I have no excuse for my lack of mental awareness) Even when it seems like I have all my work done, it's not. I still have some neglected chores, that life story Grandma wants me to type, my Health indepenedent study, etc. And let's not forget the fun stuff that I never seem to do anymore. Shopping, buying songs on itunes, writing letters, reading. For the most part, it's gone out the window. I definitely need to limit things my life could do without (aka time spent on Facebook, texting, going to school.....ha ha just kidding about that last one)

St. Louis Band Trip!!! Part 2

Sunday morning was a very special morning for my friend, Kelly Nelson. Itwas her 16th birthday!!! I had invited a bunch of other girls to meet outside her hotel room at 7:50 a.m. I grabbed her present and some cupcakes I brought from home and me, Taylor, and Annabelle met Kelsey Thomas, Anissa, Chrissy, and Shelby outside room 412. Claire opened the door (not quite awake yet) and we snuck into the dark room and yelled "Happy Birthday!" Kelly groaned and rolled over. It took about 5 minutes for her to become her normal self. And then she was grateful for our little celebration :)

The first thing on Sunday's agenda was the art museum. This was the most boring part of the entire trip. Not only was I a walking zombie, but I found the featured art to be extremely dull. Half the stuff in there I could've made! And unfortunately we wasted 2 1/2 hours there. But I really looked forward to our next place--the zoo! Although it was a rainy, cold day, the zoo offered several things to do. We ate some expensive, greasy, fattening zoo food (people food, not pellets) and played some cards. Then we went and checked out the zebra, tiger, camel, leopard, antelope, and lion exhibits. At the lion exhibit, the "Nala" and "Simba" lions were being extremely antisocial but we found that they turned their heads when we sang "Hakuna Matata"! It was pretty funny, a Korean couple pushing their baby in a stroller passed by and were laughing, probably thinking, "They're obviously Minnesotans." We were really pressed for time so we didn't get to see the apes, monkeys, flamingos, or bears. Which begs the question, why did we spend an hour more at that blasted art museum??!

We went to 2 more museums, the St. Louis History and Art Museums, which were actually really interesting. After that we killed a little time at Union Station and did a little shopping! For dinner that evening, we were treated to a river boat cruise! It was really fancy and it was really peaceful to look out and see the city lights in the water's reflection. Afterward we had an rockin' dance! We worked up quite a sweat gettin' our moves on :) and the Denver Lutheran High School Choir, who had been eating upstairs, joined us!

Monday morning was checkout time. It was a bittersweet time, packing up and saying goodbye to our hotel room but at the same time looking forward to sleeping in our own beds that night! We still had a couple more places to visit. We went to the Missouri Botanical Gardens. The tour guide got our hopes up by telling us there was a hedge maze. But to our dismay we discovered it was about 4 feet tall and about the size of the music suite :P Then we went to a local Lutheran Elementary School and the jazz band and orchestra performed. I worked my muliti-tasking skills and finished up some homework while intently listening to their music. And then we headed home! Ironically the warm, sunny weather were the two days we traveled and the rainy, cold weather was cast upon our outings :(

The ride home was really long. 10 hours long. But I had friends, a movie, my ipod, a book and some snacks to keep me company. Once back at the high school, I had the privelage of bus clean-up duty. It amazed me how much garbage and crap I found on the floor!! For goodness sake, pick up after yourselves! Oh and the back of the bus smelled like fish. Thank you boys for buying really gold fish at Wal Mart and dragging them all the way from Missouri to Albert Lea. Well I had an amazing time on the trip but I was wore out. I got home, got under my covers, and drifted off to sleep :)

St. Louis Band Trip!!! Part 1

The adventure began at 11:30 a.m. central time, Friday, March 19th, 2010. I gobbled up my lunch (it was weird eating with the A lunchers), grabbed my suitcase, and headed out to the bus. Once we finally got everything and everyone loaded, we began our journey southward. I had the pleasure of sitting next to Annabelle Randall. We talked, laughed, did some homework, played B.S. with Addison, Kelly, and Kelsey, and watched some awesome movies, such as: Pirates of the Caribbean, Up (very cute movie :), and Transformers. We stopped in Iowa City to do a little shopping and stretch out our cramped limbs. After that, we drove for a couple more hours and then stopped for some dinner. I ate at Sonic, and it was really good! I'd never been there before and it was cool to eat at a drive in/walk in restaurant. Although I think the waitress wasn't too happy with us, she had to serve about 50 rowdy high school kids :S We finally got to the Drury Inn and about 10 p.m. I was expecting a nice hotel but this certainly exceeded my expectations!! It was 7 floors!! We went swimming, and you could swim under a flap and go from the indoor pool to the outdoor one. Who woulda thunk?? Swimming outside in March! We were pooped from our long day of travels but somehow me and my roomies (Taylor Peek and Annabelle) stayed up til midnightish watching the Suite Life of Zach and Cody.

We were rudely awoken at 7 a.m. by the blaring of the phone. I was extremely irritated and answered with a sleepy "Helloo?" "Good morning!" Came the voice of our chaperone. "May I ask who I'm speaking with? It took me about 5 seconds to comprehend to register what she said, adn then another 2 seconds to figure out how to answer. It's still a mystery to me why she felt the need to wake us up an hour and a half before we needed to leave!?! But we ate a yummy breakfast of sausage, biscuits n gravy, eggs, cereal, and juice and set off for our first activity. The orchestra and band played a couple songs at the Washington University. I wasn't awake and so the whole process seemed to take muchhhh longer than it needed to. If it would be possible to fall asleep while playing an instrument, I would've done it. Next stop: Walk of Fame. I didn't pay much attention to the stars beneath my feet (because there were stores and statues-potential Kodak moments-lining the sidewalk) but I did happen to see a couple famous names I recognized like: Dred Scott, Miles Davis, and Tina Turner.

Then we were off to the Hard Rock Cafe at Union Station! I was excited because I'd heard nothing but good things about the restaurant. And I wasn't disappointed, the food was delicious! I wanted to get something at the gift shop but having inherited my dad's bargain-itis, I didn't see anything worth spending $25 on.

Now you can't go to St. Louis without going to the Gateway Arch, which is where we went next. The Gateway Arch is 630 ft tall and started being built in 1963 and was completed in 1965. The reason for its construction was for a nationwide contest for a monument honoring westward expansion and the pioneers. In case you were wondering :) The little sphere-shaped enclosement that took you up to the top was very small, and I fear that if a claoustrophobic person ever went up there they might have a heart attack. But I liked it! We got to the top and it was a really spectacular view of the city. Kelly and a local adult took an interesting picture together ("butt" let's just say, the other person didn't know it) We decided to be bold so we asked Mr. Gepson if we could go on a horse drawn carriage ride instead of going to the arch museum. Surprisingly, he said yes just as long as I called him and told him when we'd be back. So we went around a couple blocks and saw some lovely sights for half an hour.

Next up was the Old Spaghetti Factory. It was extremely fancy and really big, plus the spaghetti was top notch. Even if we did have to wait 45 minutes for it. Which actually created an interesting twist in our next activity-the symphony orchestra concert. Most of us were plum exhausted and just wanted to sleep but we were outvoted. By Mr. Gepson. The bus drivers had to step on it to to get there before the doors closed. He had to park a couple blocks away and all us band/orchestra students in our fancy clothes ran down the sidewalks all the way. We received many laughs and a glare or two from passerby's. Most likely thinking, "They're obviously Minnesotans." We made it just in time and noisely settled into our seats. (Apparantly we got a couple complaints about our entrance) It was 2 1/2 hours of music. 2 1/2 hours. 2 1/2 hours!!! Don't get me wrong, it was really pretty and I would've enjoyed it if I wouldn't have been so sleep deprived. I decided to catch up on some sleep, falling asleep twice. Once back at the hotel, as soon as the T.V. was shut off I was out within 2 minutes.

On the Outside Looking In

“Oh God, you are so holy!” The people sing.
“We lay it at your feet! All our love we bring!”
But do we really mean it? Or just listening to our voice?
We go along with the crowd, like we don’t have a choice.
We may clap our hands & belt it out
Could God hear the sincerity without the shadow of a doubt?
Let’s put on a show, act better than we usually do
Maybe we can fool God, leave everyone without a clue
We go about our week, thank Him here & there
We are stressed & have problems but don’t stop to say a prayer
How come we so often push him away
When he devoted his life to us, our sins to save?
“I just don’t have time for devotions,” we say to ourselves.
And what about your Bible, sitting dusty on your shelf?
How can it be that we spend hours with our friends?
But can’t give God the time of day, whose love never ends?
Why is it so hard to mention Jesus name
But so easy to gossip & not have any shame?
Sure, you go to church, may even sing in the choir.
But do you know where you’re going when your life expires?
He shouldn’t love us, sinful as we are.
When it comes to salvation, we’re just not up to par.
Thank God there’s a happy ending after all!
He will NEVER leave us, he’ll help us when we fall.
So don’t give up hope, you can’t do it alone!
God promises to be there, my life he owns.
But don’t get the wrong idea, it matters when we sin.
Sin separates us from God & he can’t dwell within.
Don’t think it’s no big deal when you disobey your mother.
Don’t think, “Ah God doesn’t care,” when you hurt your brother.
So what are you waiting for?! Let your light shine!
Help someone who’s hurting, assure them they’ll be fine.
Step out of your comfort zone and show a little care.
Learn to let go of pride, it’s something you can spare.
Cherish the good times and grin through the bad.
And never forget, you’ve got the best friend you could possibly have.