Merry Christmas!

“And an angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them.  And the angel said to them, ‘Be not afraid; for behold I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; for to you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior who is Christ the Lord.”  – Luke 2:10

my goals for Christmas break:

1. Finish up my Algebra 2/Trigonometry by January 17th....

I decided last month that I am not going to take another semester of biology, but instead I will take engineering, computer science, and Pre-Calc II (EGR 120, CSC 110, and MTH 164 for all of you fellow PVCC-goers). Pre-Calc II is one of the co-rec's for engineering, so even though I haven't done 163, I've got to take 164. I think I'll be ok, though, if I can finish the textbook I'm currently using before the spring semester starts.

2. Finish driver's ed.

I'm sure others of you have done driversed.com, so please...any sympathy would be quite welcome.
For those of you who *haven't*, it's just about the most boring thing in the world; they make you wait on each slide a certain number of seconds before you move on. I'd rather write a 10-page persuasive essay on why they should let me get my license. It'd be faster, at least.

3. Memorize this completely.

I might play it for a competition in January...
Not too worried about this, though, cause I've got most of it memorized already without trying...my teacher is always shocked at how quickly I memorize stuff. :P

4. Confirmation prep

Well....for those of you who don't know, I'm getting confirmed on April 28th!!!! Sooo excited...I've been waiting to get confirmed for (*counting*...2, 3, 4) 5 years, but in our diocese you get confirmed in 10th grade.
Anyway, as part of the confirmation program at our church, we have large groups and small groups once a month throughout the year; we also had a retreat in early November. But....a lady from our church (who also just happens to be my sponsor) suggested some books for us to go through.
Hopefully, I'll do a post on Confirmation soon.

5. Sleep

(self-explanatory, I think)


Aaaaand....that's all! That's enough, dontcha think?

P.S.
Next week there are no early morning swim practices, sooooo I don't have to wake up at 5!! :D

P.P.S.
My bio 106 gave me a 4.0 GPA to start off my "life at college" (well, ya know....life as high schooler at college)! Let's just hope I can keep it that way... :P

P.P.P.S.
There hasn't been a single time in the past three months that I *haven't* gotten sick the week before I've had to cantor (yes, I'm implying that I'm cantoring [I don't think that's a word] tomorrow)... thankfully, God's always taken care of it.

P.P.P.S.
Speaking of singing, dis here soprano is singing for our Christmas Eve Midnight Mass and THEN getting up the next morning to cantor for the 8am mass 'cause there wasn't anyone else. I'm just praying I don't look like a zombie all Christmas day.

P.P.P.P.S.
To all of you who may have watched Cars 2: Am I starting to sound a bit like Mater? (<--that's funny right thar)

Ok, clearly it's time for me to go to bed, soo....

gab--over and out.

because all you need is a little more school in your lives...

I've survived three Sundays of Advent, a bio exam, a technical research paper on how an MRI works (of all things, why did I choose this topic?), the Aztecs, and half of Martin Luther....

....and *today* begins my Christmas break.

la la la la la la! sing a happy song!!!

In celebration I have a little clip from my literature class (ok, maybe it's not quite a celebratory clip. It's a little sad.).

It's from Henry V by William Shakespeare--starting Act III, scene 8. (*Note: this *is* a war; there *will* be blood.)
Henry, King of England, has led the English into a war agains the French. They're outnumbered five to one, but they don't surrender: King Henry presses them on.

"We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; / For he today that sheds his blood with me / Shall be my brother [...]." (4. 3. 63-65.)

In the end, England defeats France, with only 29 men who have died.
The English, though, have lost ten thousand men. And so King Henry praises God, giving Him all the glory gained from this war.

Disturbing? yes. How can war glorify God?

However, this clip shows King Henry not as a bloodthirsty tyrant, but as a compassionate king who loves his people and thanks God that no more than 29 men were killed (even though Shakespeare wasn't exactly the holiest guy).

Perhaps he knew that murder never glorifies God, but war almost always glorifies men.
Perhaps he meant that none of this temporal glory should go to men, but that every man's eyes turned to God so that he can marvel at what God did with this small English army.
However, both England and France were mainly Christian nations, so I'm not sure what was going through Shakespeare's head then.

This scene takes place right after the battle has ended when the King learns the number of men who died on both sides. He carries that one poor boy through the battlefield--the whole way.
Don't ask me why a 16-yr.-old girl suddenly got so interested in war and stuff; this scene just gave me goosebumps. :P

Non nobis, non nobis Domine,

sed nomini tuo da gloriam.

Not unto us, not unto us, O Lord,

but only unto Thy name give glory.

Who knew that soldiers could *sing*?

birthday miracles

Happy Feast of Christ the King!!!

I will *never* be able to think of my birthday again without thinking also of Christ the King.

Mom says it's a good problem to have.

It was a wonderful day for a sixteenth birthday.

...I cantored at mass

...and my mom took me and my sis to "go get jeans" at Old Navy, where there were *akshully* friends waiting there to go to lunch with us (sometimes I just feel really gullible)

...and my friend offered a mass for me (he gets the prize for 1st-person-to-give-me-a-mass-as-a-birthday-present)

...and *tons* of people wished me a Happy Birthday throughout the day

...and then I went to a rehearsal for our Christmas Eve Midnight Mass and sang my heart out.

I secretly know that part of the wonderfulness of today is because God showered down extra grace since it is the Feast of Christ the King.

But don't tell anyone I said that.

'Cause they'll think of the times I believe that angels light the votive candles in our living room.

Or how I prayed yesterday that God would heal me enough so that I could cantor at mass this morning, and how he DID.

Or how I believe that every time I go up to the altar, God gives me a special grace to be able to sing in front of all those hundreds of people--because normally in a situation like that, I would get so nervous I would start shaking.

Akshully, tell them this: I believe in miracles--*especially* on the Feast of Christ the King.

because my heart is in Rome...

Let's just say I'm a little bit tired of "Ordinary Time"--that is, the time between Easter and Advent/Christmas.

It's been SEVEN MONTHS since Easter! SEVEN! (Well, technically, *almost* seven)
I've watched the seasons go by--spring, summer, fall--and still no Christmas.

Is it quite obvious yet? I have Christmas fever.

And I'm homesick for Easter.

But yesterday was the Feast of the Dedication of St. John Lateran in Rome (the mother church). I found myself researching it when I *should* have been doing school; this basilica has been around since the Emperor Constantine (I know--I thought I was done with this guy), and it's *gorgeous*!

I'm not sure when this was drawn, but isn't it so cool to think of this basilica standing there through all the ages, for thousands of years? Although I believe it had to be rebuilt around the 1600's, it's the same church.

Time for a field trip? I think yes.

Guess what? My birthday this year (the 20th) falls on the Feast of Christ the King--the feast in which we celebrate Christ's royalty. It's the last Sunday of the liturgical year....which meeeeans....that the Sunday right after is the 1st Sunday of Advent!

I'm hangin' onto that thought right now 'cause I'm practically *starving* for the smell of incense, the Advent candles, the beautiful music, the purple vestments...

I'm counting on the Christmas Midnight Mass to keep me alive until the Easter Vigil next April.
But I have a friend who, of course, has to torture me by sending me videos of songs we'll be singing before the midnight mass.
"Sing lullaby! Lullaby, is the babe awaking?
Sing lullaby! Hush, do not stir the Infant King, dreaming of Easter, gladsome morning; conquering death, its bondage breaking...
sing lullaby."

My school workload is really starting to get heavy, but it's hard to keep my mind on school...

...when my heart is in Rome.

I heard a rumor...

*life of a sophomore in high school* = SCHOOL like never before

Every day of the week, I have more classes (wonder why I haven't been posting?). On Mon./Wed./Fri. I have classes at our local community college; on Tuesdays there's our homeschool co-op; on Thursdays, my online classes; and on Friday (again), I have a looong biology lab at the CC.

Not to mention...our writing teacher just assigned a huge technical research paper....


But I heard a rumor that today's gonna be a great day.

...'cause we just took down my little bro's crib and set up his toddler bed.

...'cause this afternoon we're gonna watch a "feetball" game on TV.

...'cause tomorrow's Sunday. :)

...'cause Christmas is coming.

...and 'cause yesterday I went with a group of college students from our church to pray by Planned Parenthood.

See, September 28 - November 6 is called the "40 days for Life" where Christians literally around the world keep vigil outside of Planned Parenthood--fasting and praying and singing ('cause when you sing, you pray twice, right?).

Yesterday from 5-6pm marked the exact midpoint of the 40 days for life. I got there at 4:30, and half an hour later, there were people lined up all the way down the road. There was hardly room on the sidewalk for all of them--from little boys wearing blue capes to high school teens to old men singing off-key. What a beautiful sight.

Say a quick prayer now, if you would, for babies and for mothers considering abortion and for the souls of those babies who were killed in abortions.
And say a prayer for this one man who had to be led away by the police because he had gotten out of his car and started cursing at us. He said that prayer doesn't work. And he's wrong. Because prayer is our greatest weapon against Satan.

O Death, where is your sting? 

O Hell, where is your victory?

sometimes i write notes to my sweatshirt

Sometimes I think aloud, but it's Saturday--you don't care, do you?

Dear Charlemagne,

You were a great guy; sure, it's impressive that the pope crowned you "Holy Roman Emperor." But don't you think it's going a bit far when we have to know every single person who was related to you and is related to you or is named after you or who admires you--ok, so maybe I'm exaggerating. But still.

Dear Chlorine,

You are my perfume all day long. Somehow I can't escape you (*I wonder why*). But please, please, please...don't dry out my skin till I'm all scaly and wrinkled like, ummmmmm, a dead snake--I know, kind of extreme, but it gets my point across.

Dear Wooly Worms,

Hope you had fun in our lab yesterday. Who ever knew that orange strands of yarn could asexually reproduce? It was fascinating to watch as 6 generations of you came and went, although I do sort of feel sorry that your lives are so short. But look on the bright side! You'll be unpacked again next semester for another bio 106 class!

Dear Coffee,

Thanks for keeping me awake.

Dear Sweatshirt,

You're the best. Thank you for not complaining when you're soaked in chlorine. Thank you for keeping me warm at 5 in the morning when I'm headed to CYAC.

Dear Flute,

Take care of yourself so we don't have to send you to get your cork replaced again. I apologize for not practicing yet today, but I promise that I will.

*****

(...and the start of the school year inevitably finds me talking to my stuff...)

memory eternal

" O God of love, compassion, and healing,
look on us, people of many different faiths 

and traditions, 

who gather today at this site, 

the scene of incredible violence and pain. 

We ask you in your goodness 

to give eternal light and peace to all who died here— 

the heroic first-responders: 

our fire fighters, police officers, 

emergency service workers, and 

Port Authority personnel, 

along with all the innocent men and women 

who were victims of this tragedy 

simply because their work or service 

brought them here on September 11, 2001. 

We ask you, in your compassion 

to bring healing to those 

who, because of their presence here that day, 

suffer from injuries and illness. 

Heal, too, the pain of still-grieving families 

and all who lost loved ones in this tragedy. 

Give them strength to continue their lives 

with courage and hope. 

We are mindful as well 

of those who suffered death, injury, and loss 

on the same day at the Pentagon and in 

Shanksville, Pennsylvania. 

Our hearts are one with theirs 

as our prayer embraces their pain and suffering. 

God of peace, bring your peace to our violent world: 

peace in the hearts of all men and women 

and peace among the nations of the earth. 

Turn to your way of love 

those whose hearts and minds 

are consumed with hatred. 

God of understanding, 

overwhelmed by the magnitude of this tragedy, 

we seek your light and guidance 

as we confront such terrible events. 

Grant that those whose lives were spared 

may live so that the lives lost here 

may not have been lost in vain. 

Comfort and console us, 

strengthen us in hope, 

and give us the wisdom and courage 

to work tirelessly for a world 

where true peace and love reign 

among nations and in the hearts of all. "

-Pope Benedict XVI

God Bless America.

it's that time of year...

Once again, 

it's the last weekend of July;

the summer's nearly over;

the six summer meets have flown by;

and there are 16 tents lined up at the UVA aquatic center,

...and 2,800 swimmers eager and ready for the JSL Championships.

There are four sessions, two on Friday and two on Saturday. Vivi and I will be swimming in the second session (this afternoon and evening) and coaching all day tomorrow, and Josie and Annette will be swimming in the fourth session (tomorrow afternoon/evening).

Already, God's answered countless prayers about keeping us healthy (since A's had a fever) and all. Pray that we'll do our best and have a great time!

what I'd do with a bottle of neon green spray paint...

Last week of "Radiance"! Hop on over to By The Way, and join!

Nana's first question is...

Simply what you believe and what you base those beliefs on?

Four years ago in front of our whole church, I stated, "I believe and profess all that the Holy Catholic Church teaches, believes and proclaims to be revealed by God."

And I still believe that.

Here is our creed, plain and simple:

We believe in one God, the Father the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen. 

We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, one in being with the Father. Through Him all things were made. For us men and for our salvation, He came down from heaven: By the power of the Holy Spirit, He was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man. For our sake He was crucified under Pontius Pilate; He suffered, died, and was buried. On the third day He rose again in fulfillment of the scriptures: He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end. 

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son, He is worshiped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets. We believe in one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

And the thing is, I already know what my sister Vivi's answer will be and what lovely Trini's was because all of us Catholics believe the the same thing.

Like Nana said, I'm not trying to start a debate here. I'm not even trying to argue my case. I'm just stating what I believe in.

For the second question...

If you could tell every person in the world one thing, what would it be?

Oh, Nana....really, I have no idea. I guess I could go around shouting at the top of my lungs, "JESUS LOVES YOUUU!!!!", but that might not go over well. 

Or I could be a modern-day John the Baptist; I could hack the computer system and make it so that right this very minute, every single person in the world who is on a computer, will receive a little pop-up message that says, "REPENT."

Or maybe I'll spray paint a neon green message on the Great Wall of China, explaining that when, in a sentence, there are two clauses separated by a conjunction, a COMMA goes in between them. *Gasp* Who'd have thought?

Or maybe I'll parade into the White House with a banner, stating "SWIMMING IS NOT A WIMP SPORT."

Or maybe I'll sneak up and engrave on the moon, "ABORTION IS MURDER".

I could go on.

(Tell me if your'e not satisfied with the above answers)

and the final score....

FLST - 468, FSBC - 419.

GO HURRICANES!!!!!!

I'll put pictures up later....

rock you like a hurricane

Already four swim meets are over, done, gone, WON.

And I *still* haven't put up any pictures. So instead of those long 50-picture-long posts like last year, I'll just sorta do a recap of each one so far (you can tell on the last one, though, I sorta got a lot of good photos, so I tried to squish a lot in).

Let's get to it...

Meet #1: Forest Lakes vs. Fairview

This meet was unscored since FLST (Forest Lakes) is in the 2nd division, and FV (Fairview) is in the 1st. Still, it was fun to see our friends and race against their super fast senior girls. It turns out that if we had scored the meet, our girls would have beaten theirs, but their guys creamed ours.

(Annette in the bottom right)

Meet #2: Forest Lakes at Hollymead

It's always one of the most intense meets of the year. Hollymead is (as a certain coach who will remain anonymous says) THE ENEMY. They've beaten us for the past two years, each time winning by like 3 points. This year? We crushed.

I believe that's Viv in the top and bottom left, Josie in the middle doing fly, and me in the right on the block.

Meet #3: Forest Lakes vs. Crozet

Another unscored meet since Crozet is in the 1st division.

Viv at the top doing breaststroke; me at the left doing a backstroke start; Josie at the bottom, ready to race; Annette at the right doing backstroke.

Meet #4: Forest Lakes at Farmington

Farmington has some fast seniors, but we still pulled out the win (only by 130 points...:P).

(counterclockwise starting with top left) Josie and friends playing games while waiting at clerk; Dad and Bug; Viv--victim of the camera; John, head coach; Josie, finished with her race; Annette doing backstroke; at the clerk of course; me doing butterfly.

Meet #5: Forest Lakes at Fry's Spring

Oooooooh.....cannot wait to swim Jo and Leia tomorrow! Fry's Spring has a fifty-meter pool (as opposed to 25m like most teams in our league have), so it'll be interesting. My coach told me to win all my races. Uh, thanks alot, John. No pressure, right?

Will let you know how it goes...but for now,

gab--over and out

Monday Night Daybook

(hosted by Jo March)
Date... 27 June
Starting time... 8:13 pm
Mood...impatient?
Outside my window...The sun's still out (weird how LONG it stays light in the summertime, isn't it?); the grass needs mown; and the roses are blooming.
I'm thinking...I *promise* I'll get more posts up soon--especially with the swim meets and all.
I'm currently reading...Appointment With Death by Agatha Christie (ok, so it sounds maybe like--who knows--some sort of weird zombie or vampire or ghost-type book, but Agatha Christie is one of those mystery writers that lived in the 20th century when vampires *weren't* thought to be dream boyfriends [*cough*STEPHANIE MEYER*cough*].)
I'm listening to...um. Jingle Bells playing on one of Bug's toys.
I'm wearing...gray shirt, khaki-type skirt
I'm looking forward to...tomorrow when I can see how my shirt turned out after the tie-dye experimentation (*crosses fingers*).
I'm hoping...no more bug bites, please. And while you're at that, no more allergies.

Yesterday, I...invaded FV pool!!
I'm hungry for...something sweet...with lots of sugar.

The song stuck inside my head is...pretty much any song from Enchanted. :P

I love...chocolate and cream puffs and strawberries

I loathe...allergies.

This week, my goal is...to read that book...the one that Mom wants me to. :P

Did I meet last week's goal?... ...............

Ending time... 8:27 pm

Saturday Morning Daybook - June 4

(hosted by Jo March)
Date... 4 June
Starting time... 12:58 pm
Mood...sorta tired, but at the same time, I have a lot of energy, so...
Outside my window...it's summer. It's beautiful. And it's hot.
I'm thinking...Can't wait to practice flute today? :P
I'm currently reading...The Hunger Games trilogy (have any of y'all read it?)
I'm listening to...Pandora radio station (on Owl City)
I'm wearing...brown shorts and a whitish-purplish-grayish shirt
I'm looking forward to...Monday's gators and FLST practice.

I'm hoping...(in vain, you might add) that I won't get *too* brown this summer. But it's hopeless. I'm already tan as can be, and summer hasn't even officially started.

Yesterday, I...had a BLAST with some friends, stayed up till 1am, watched Bella, (the list goes on)...
I'm hungry for...a homemade chocolate chip cookie. :)

The song stuck inside my head is...ANY Owl City song

I love...chocolate and cream puffs and strawberries

I loathe...mosquito bites...

This week, my goal is...finish geometry!

Did I meet last week's goal?... yeah...pretty much

Ending time... 1:05 pm
(One thing... I've been trying to think of blog names for *my yet-to-be-created blog*, so if y'all have any suggestions, I would *love* to hear from you.)
---
and (sorry, Viv, but I'm totally copying you and adding this onto my daybook)


Happy 15th Birthday to Leia March!!


You're so fun to be with and such a beautiful friend... I've loved talking and swimming and playing Imaginiff and watching/discussing Bella with you!

it's your nightmare come true.

Ok, guys. You remember that horribly cheesy, terrifyingly drowned in background noise, forced into the worst plot R&J movie we made back in the fall? 

Ben and Juliet. (*winces*) Yeah, that one.

You thought you had survived through it all. You thought it was over with. You had this tremendously glorious feeling of relief after watching the credits roll by as you realized you would never again have to live through a whole 11 minutes of awkward phone calls, misplaced tripods, and confusing love complications.

And you were wrong.

Behold, ladies and gentlemen, the sequel to the infamous Ben and Juliet, written in an epic-like short story form as a creative writing assignment and having come into existence only because a certain "gab coulter" had not the creativity to think up anything else.

Don't worry, we will *not* make this "sequel" into a movie. In fact, we may (hopefully) make a movie over the summer in order to redeem ourselves.

'cause now we're armed with Adobe After Effects, maybe a few green screens, hopefully sometime soon a new camera, and the knowledge that plot and script means everything.

So go about your life in peace. 

Until you look on your dashboard and see a "it's a nightmare come true - 2nd edition".