Thursday, December 22, 2011

You did it!! And now... Christmas Time!

This goes out to all my friends that have successfully finished another semester. Heck, if you think you were unsuccessful you still did it!! Don't give up hope, keep chugging along doing the best you can do in your situation. (That's all there is to it. If you only have 5 hours to write a complete history paper, it's obviously not going to be perfect, but do the best you can do in that given situation.) I'm already sidetracked and giving pep talks... alright basically I just wanted to say to all my student friends... you did it!! School is done, bring on Christmas, let out a deep sigh of relief and put on your Christmas Cheer (oooh or Christmas Sweater if you have one!). For serious though, look back at your accomplishments (just take a look..) and let yourself be proud of yourself. It's a good thing to do. What seemed impossible a few months ago is now done. Well done student friend!
Now most of you are probably thinking "Golly, spare time... what do I do with it?" I can help you. I have a compiled a few things that might help you with your new found spare time:

**Thank God for helping you survive** and then...

1) Sleep - Four months of accumulated sleepless nights have now caught up with you, you've earned it.Or don't sleep, you don't have to get up early to go to class.
2) Those humans known as family and friends - hangout with them! Chances are they've missed you, or missed seeing you without that stress line on the forehead as you think about the homework you still need to accomplish while talking to them.. You know it exists. You know.
3) Clean your room/house - because let's not kid ourselves... it's probably a textbook/homework clothes/snack food disaster.
3) Don't clean your room/house - you've got extra time now to search for stuff that may be hidden in a mess.
5) Bake/Cook real food - not snacking study food, you have the time!
6) Christmas Shopping - because 3 days before Christmas is the perfect time. (See Eco-Friendly Christmas post for some ridiculous wrapping tips... and as Ashley Vaughan would say, not to be confused with 'rapping' tips.)
7) Read - specifically something non-school related that may have been considered "a waste of study time" during the semester. 
8) Watch a lava lamp - You've got the time.

I'm sure you can use your creative minds to come up with a few more things as well. Once again I say CONGRATULATIONS!!! YOU DID IT!! Now go have some fun!!

Bonus Mark: If you noticed that there were two 3's, well done, the brain is still sharp. Pat on back. If you didn't notice... ummm MERRRRRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!

Sunday, December 18, 2011

An Eco-friendly Christmas

I suppose I am a bit of a tree hugger. Sometimes literally... but what I'm really trying to say is that I hate seeing tons of things being used for two seconds and then filling up landfills for the rest of their lives and limited resources being ruined for no reason. Therefore I have come up with a few tips for an ecofriendly Christmas that I am going to try and use this year and will overall help our world:

1) Eco-friendly wrapping paper: I really dislike wrapping paper. Don't get that confused with unwrapping things. I LOVE unwrapping things: random gifts, mail, DVD's, chocolates, etc. But the thing with wrapping paper is that surprisingly enough it is paper... used only for wrapping. Once a person gets a gift, that wrapping paper has a lifespan of about 30 seconds... or 30 minutes if you unwrap like a grandma. So anyways this year I'm going to wrap gifts in an eco-friendly way, I suggest using such things as:
 - newspaper
 - towels
 - blankets
 - nothing, just hide your gift under some other ones that are wrapped and yell out who the gift is for when people start handing out presents.
(P.s. I'm not saying your family will appreciate this approach, but the environment will.)

2) Eco-friendly Christmas Cards: Verbal Christmas cards are the new written. I thought these were only for when you didn't have time to buy/make a birthday card... but no! They work for all holidays, plus you get to take the time out to see each person individually and tell them what you would have written on their card!

3) Eco-friendly shopping: "How many bags would you like?"  Just say No(ne).
If you're a woman... just shove it all in the eco-friendly bag of yours called a purse. If your purse is not big enough... time for an upgrade(I feel obligated to say no fur or leather)! Or carry one of those fabric bags that roll up real small to put stuff in. Or do what I do... awkardly carry it all out of the store knowing that the trees in the parking lot are smiling at you for saving their lives (even if you do drop your dumb receipt in the process and chase it around until it goes under your car and you have to crawl under your car to get it because you can't stand to see a piece of paper get thrown on the ground and not recycled). Something to that degree anyways.
If you're male... umm I guess you could start carrying one of those gym bags that is in no way considered a purse, and will make you look tough since you will look like you are always on your way to the gym. Or just awkwardly carry everything as well: tree saving, fun and a challenge! Win, win, win.
Oh hmm, I guess this doesn't really work if you are buying a lot of groceries. Oh ok I got it... put it all into the cart with no bags, then transfer piece by piece into your car, then at home you can unload it item by item into your home. Then you don't even need to go to the gym!! Quintuplet Win!

4) Eco-friendly Christmas meal eating: Use real plates and cutlery, preferably ones you don't have to hand wash. If not plausible, like say you are dutch and have about 35 people coming to your Christmas dinner, really encourage a cut down on paper plates and plastic cup usage. Use felt pens to write names on cups for when your crazy cousins leave them all over the house and, best case scenario, share! Which sounds odd but really, one cup per family, they all sit near each other usually anyways, perfect. Germs will be contained to each household. For pure enjoyment, try and see if your family will share plates... not only will it be hilarious but it will also save the world. Also, try and eat steak, not turkey as the methane produced by cows is wrecking the 'ol ozone layer, last I heard anyways.

Steaks > Turkey

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Christmas Sweater

Yes, it is true. I have a Christmas Sweater. Correction: I rock a Christmas Sweater.

It all started many moons ago when my mother read a book about knitting, which then inspired her to knit something. She started small... made two sweaters for my nephews (who are conveniently.. small), and after I saw what kind of skills that lady had I knew that I had to have one. I just knew it.

Many patterns, attempts, and "you better love me" statements by my mother later I had a legit knitted Christmas Sweater. The best I ever did see!! Stores can't make this kind of sweater, I'm not even sure elves could make a sweater like this. As one friend described it, "that sweater says 'my family loves me.'" I am going to have to concurr. My mom is incredible... she knitted me a hug. pfffffffff corny, go with it.

I guess I kind of have been wearing my sweater in low key settings, you know a tree farm here, a christmas light show watching there, every Tuesday and Friday at work for my self proclaimed 'Christmas Sweater Day' over there... but today I brought that baby out for a day in the town... ohhhh man, most amazing conversation starter ever! So many compliments and comments... and when I tell them that my mother made it... my christmas sweater gains like 138 more points in authenticity. Come to think of it... everyone that commented on it was a lady... over 40. A generation that appreciates a good knit/pearl/knit I suppose.

So anyways, overall point I want to make is that my mother has been noted for her talent across Chilliwack and I am super glad that I was blessed with her. Also, my mother said I have to wear my christmas sweater for as many hours as it took her to knit it. Basically any Christmas related outing and I am wearing it as per my mother's wishes. And I know you're all dying to see what this sweater looks like after all this promo of it, soooo without further talking (because I'm not entirely sure how to spell a-do, adue, adie, adou) I present to you: Christmas Sweater...

(Modeled by Sherylynn Niezen, 2011, pink gloves not included)

Monday, December 12, 2011

Christmas Songs: You live you learn.

In honour of the many many christmas songs I listen to on a daily basis (some voluntarily, some with a lot of whining and scowling at the office radio) I now give you a list of some of the things I have learned from these songs:

1) Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer - If you're unpopular, simply paint your nose red. Then, be patient, your time will come. You won't necessarily be invited to play reindeer games, but Santa will make you famous, and then since you have some street cred from the big man, all of the other reindeer will then pay attention to you and accept you into their group.. Rudolf kind of reminds me of Joseph.

2) Baby it's Cold Outside - Women should always go out prepared. If it's winter, it's probably cold outside, bring a thick sweater, jacket, gloves and some good boots! Don't listen to the peer pressure of a male. With your winter gear the outside coldness will not be a problem and the male will have no further excuse for you to stay. Women, again, be prepared this Christmas season. Nobody ever says "Gee... it's a snowstorm, I wish I left my gloves at home."

3) Mistletoe - For those of you unfamiliar with this song, Justin Bieber sings it. This is what the song teaches me: Instead of going out and having fun playing in the winter snow, it's better to just stand under a piece of greenery hoping someone will kiss you. One, that's ridiculous. Two, Justin, whatever happened to the kissing chasing game? Run away from the girl you like, don't stand in one spot not having any fun hoping she notices you!! That's crazy. Justin's crazy.

4) I'll be home for Christmas - Whoever sings this song sits on a throne of lies. And probably smells like beef and cheese (for all you Elf fans out there). Don't promise you are going to be home for Christmas and get your friends, family and other loved ones all excited and then say, Oh... I mean in my dreams... in my dreams I'll be home for Christmas. What does that even mean!!! Clearly nobody has the ability to step into each others dreams (no matter what that Inception movie went off about for 4 hours), so obviously the only thing being taught by this song is that the singer will NOT be home for Christmas. A cruel joke is what this song is.

5) I saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus - How come nobody is concerned that mommy is kissing another man? I'm concerned.

6) Grandma Got Runover by a Reindeer -  Should we not all be running away from these ferocious reindeer as fast as we can?? If they run over poor old grandma, what's to say they won't stop at you? Seriously, how come everyone assumes reindeer are nice and cuddly. Let's look at the facts, they're kind of jerks... they ignore a fellow reindeer because he's got a sweet birth defect, and then they RUN OVER GRANDMAS!! More people should be aware of what kind of deer Reindeer really are.

I hope I've given you all a few things to think about. 

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Christmas Miracles


Today is a day of Christmas Miracles. And while I don’t feel that I always come up with themes for each Christmas season, today I shall start and declare that this Christmas is a Christmas of Christmas Miracles. (HAHA, you find a way to use the word ‘Christmas’ four times in one sentence.) So anyways I feel like ever since I found out a part of my family might not make it to visit for Christmas my heart has been heavy. Just sad because I was being selfish and wanted them with me. Today… a day of Christmas Miracles… I am feeling God’s love and my sister and her family are coming to town!!! This gives me such great joy. SUCH great joy. But oh wait.. wait.. no it doesn’t stop there. Not only did I receive the extreme gift of family at Christmas time, but I also got a bunch of stuff I ordered in the mail today!! Christmas presents for me and other people.. so I guess you could say I’ve started Christmas shopping which is weird because it’s still so early. But its not so much about the gifts but that I got cool stuff in the mail!! I love mail!! But oh wait.. there’s still more!! Hammock #3 came in today!! Cherry on a cake of a day.

Now if you read this and think… “Golly, why does she get all the Christmas Miracles? Nothing good ever happens in my life.” Not true. Start counting your blessings and you’ll see. And if you’re up for it… go create a Christmas Miracle for another! A candy cane here… a cup of hot chocolate there… a toy bought and donated over that way…  

Feeling God’s love.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

A Dishwasher Departs

Ok, so I haven’t mentioned it before but my dishwasher has some serious issues. It has been deteriorating for… well basically since we got it. Well ok ok the first few years I don’t think there were any issues, but a couple years ago a cousin fell on the open dishwasher door and … it fell off. Never fear though, my trusty father put the door back on and while he did a good job, I think from there its all been downhill. It has had issues closing ever since and staying closed when the dishwasher is on. But the thing is, the dishwasher is amazing, we can put almost anything in there (none of that pre-rinsing business where people just wash their dishes before putting them in the dishwasher) and it comes out clean! Maaaagic. There was a bit of an issue with losing utensils for a while since the holder thing broke, but a few zap straps later... good as new.. kind of... we just try to avoid that square and use the others if possible. So, clearly it has been the perfect dishwasher for the lazy, non hand dish-washing family... my family. The last couple months have been really tough times on the dishwasher, it’s last burst of energy shall we say. We had to prop the door closed with a broom which created somewhat of a limbo challenge to step over in the middle of our kitchen. Fun and frustrating all in one! So things were going well with the dishwasher and his ‘crutch’…. But then bits of the dishwasher started to break off where we had to jam the broom into the dishwasher handle to keep it closed so that it would run (not even mentioning how beat up our broom looks too). And I mean that happens. I guess. But the dishwasher was still working. Until this morning. Mother phoned me at work to tell me the bad news, she went downstairs to find a huge lake in our kitchen. ‘Ol dishwasher just has no control of himself anymore. He can't keep himself together and he can't keep control of his water. It’s really quite sad to see him deteriorate like this. Especially for my mother as she has decided to put him out of his misery. She is going out to look for a new dishwasher today. While I’m excited to see what new dishwasher-ey inventions have come out in the last 10-13 years and what new creation my mother comes home with… I feel none will compare to this original dishwasher that has brought us such frustration and joy over the years.

Concluding Thoughts: All jokes aside, my family is blessed to even have a dishwasher. I am thankful.

Friday, November 18, 2011

Will I ever learn.

Once again, I admit that I am such a bad student. I've always known this (and let's not kid ourselves, it's been quite apparent to others as well...) but it's really started to become extra apparent and bother me these last few days. I do feel bad about it, especially because I'm so whiny about going to class. How do people handle me?!? Round of apologies. I forget to see the blessing of knowledge so many times. Boredom should never overshadow blessings.

I'm actually in class right now, hidden in the corner, and the only one typing because everyone else is listening to the teacher and I'm assuming if you are doing what she says then there is no need for typing. It get's awkward sometimes... I just sort of stop typing when it gets really quiet. So why am I such a bad student?? I keep asking myself this question because if I can figure it out I can really start to work on it. I think it's because I just do not want to be in a classroom anymore. Or maybe I just would rather teach then listen. I think that's probably it. I think I've always been this way. I get really excited to take a class but then get bored easily in it. I want to give input and ask questions at my own pace and if that option isn't there...might as well dismiss me from class. I mean, I invented "The Packup Move" about 2 years ago: If I felt a teacher was done teaching for the day or I was done learning for the day (because my teacher was just repeating the same info over and over...) I would pile up all my books on my desk and then sit there to let the teacher know I was done. Sometimes this would happen 45 minutes into a 2.5 hour class. Man, I'm a jerk sometimes. Apologies. If I were to give an excuse, I want to blame this on my dominating personality...but at the end of the day I know that I must work on this issue to become more patient and resign myself to different forms of teaching.
 If I'm going to learn I think I need it to be more in a conversation type of way as opposed to my teacher reading out a textbook for 6 hours without ever giving me a chance to talk. I like talking too..

On another note, for my class I use a usb stick that has the program I need to accomplish anything. The best part is that my usb stick stopped working like 2.5 weeks ago. Sometimes it just wont work and sometimes I believe prayer allows that usb stick to work. Perhaps this is all more a test of my faith... and building patience... I kind of refuse to buy a new one because I like the challenge of fiddling and praying over it every class. It gives me something to look forward to. Will the usb stick work or not?! Oh the excitement (not sarcasm, I really do like the thrill... it's the same as driving with my gas light on...and christmas shopping at the last second...what's gonna happen..?!?)

Sooo... in conclusion, I am a hard student to please but I want to work on this. I have been thinking all class and I think this is where I'm at in regards to being taught anything:
1) I want to be challenged, but not overwhelmed
2) I want to move through topics quickly, I will ask questions if/when I get confused
3) I want to be involved in an interesting conversation (especially in History), not told a pile of information
4) I want to get more from a class then what the textbook says, I could just read that on my own.
4) Overwhelm, teach at a slow pace or bore me with info and I will start making up my own thing to do.

I'm demanding. This I know. If anyone has tips on how I can become a better student capable of listening to a teacher for 6 hours please give me guidance.

Also, in case you all missed it... it snowed last night. Before you know it, it will be the Christmas Parade. :)

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Three Weeks

"Speak my mind so that I may be free. But take the 'me' out of 'my' and make it Your own. Your will, Your guidance, Your words. Speak the words I do not want to say. The awkward, difficult, faith pushing words that save. The words that are delivered to me: the hands, feet and voice of the Lord that will bring His lost people home. The words that are uncomfortable, but so is hell. Bring the lost to Heaven and let them see for themselves that those words were never awkward or odd but words delivered to save them and guide them to their rightful home. Life is but a vapour, don't waste your few words."

What words will you say today?
Are you talking words or are you talking distractions?

Friday, November 4, 2011

Words trip overoneanother.

I went to write an incredible first sentence that gave a glimpse of how I feel right now and I had nothing besides "wow" which has lost a of its meaning in its overused state of today (much like the word epic... just saying)... and so I wrote this sentence. But now I say... wow...more correctly WWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!! Because I have no better one word description. Did today just happen?!? This week just happen?!? I don't even know how to explain or express what is happening with my life, plus it is late. It is late because I have spent my night at Regen Conference at my church and then had 15 girls stay at my house. So awesome, I love it!! So once I got them all fed and in bed and finished some work stuff I now reflect on everything that happened and has happened lately. And I am overwhelmed on how God is using me for his glory. My heart is crying and breaking for the broken women of this world lately, I know how that pain can be and I don't want them to stay there. I literally cry, I plea for these women, they need to know their worth, that they are loved. And God is sending me these women. I have so much to process that I can't even explain further but I just had a night that freed me from more chains that somehow worked their way onto me. Oh I am light and I am heavy, but not burdened. The most incredible of freedom feelings and contentment and joy and I am totally rambling but again I do not have a big enough vocabulary to express myself right now. I scream JOY. (but in a quiet mute way as all 17 other people in this house right now are sleeping...)

Friends: come to Regen Conference. Simple as that.

Friday, October 28, 2011

Me... who does that even mean?!?

Sometimes it hits you that you've spent such a large portion of your life being someone else that you wake up one morning and realize you have no idea who you are. And that sounds crazy because obviously you must know yourself since you hangout with yourself all day everyday. But alas, it is not true. Which shocks me. I've run into the Wall of Realization(I totally just made that up but it sounds good) very recently that there are so many things I do not know about myself. I spent years living out a form of multiple personalities at once trying hard to be the independent person that I am while trying to adjust myself to fit into the unfortuante life choices I had made. That may sound concerning and confusing, mostly because it was; heck I was stuck in the middle of it and I was completely frustrated and confused. I changed who I was, what I stood for, what I believed, how I allowed myself to be treated by other people, what I liked and disliked and changed my very self to try and ensure that I would not be rejected, abandoned or deemed unworthy by one guy. Funny part of the story was that I was anyways. (I laugh here now because I said it was a "funny part" when really my life crumbled for over a year... and it was so the opposite, but I have regained my joy, so I laugh). Awkward... I talked about emotions...such serious posts lately... it happens.

So anyways, now my great fear I had this week that gave me a moment(or 23) of panic was that I might fall into the trap of my past again by giving people a false impression of myself and simultaneously pushing them away out of fear of hurting them and myself again. And I really, really do not want to do this. Not only is that unhealthy but hello that's crazy!! (It's ok that you were thinking it...or thinking of how crazy I just sound overall... but don't worry, it sounds weird to me too... soo ok, good, we're all on the same page here..) But clearly if I do not know who I am, how am I going to portray the real me to other people? And as brought up to me, if I can learn to be accepted and find my true value from God, only the creator of everything!, how much better and confident will my sense of self be? These are my thoughts today that were stirred up and made clearer to me by a friend this morning, whom I greatly appreciate. And so now I begin again on a journey to figure out just who I am now that I can just be 'me', free of guilt or expectation. Scary and exciting as it is.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Scars Carry Stories

Two posts in one day... making up for lost time!

So my life is still an almost overwhelming whirlwind of amazing, frustrating, saddening and inspiring events. All in one, indeed. Still in major repair work as I continue on the healing path. Which I know I haven't mentioned too much about my past and why I would require healing but perhaps the following paragraph will help explain that a bit and why I speak out now. Many times in my day to day life I get a thought in my head and then create a short kind of speech about it. This just happens, just how my mind works.
Example: 
You’ve been burned. But let people touch the scar, let them come close enough to realize that where there once was overwhelming pain, now resides altered pain-free flesh. When you get burned it becomes a huge ordeal and life can sometimes be put on hold depending on the severity of that burn, as you must cope and overcome the after affects of this burn. There is a painful wound that must be dealt with. Leave the burn unattended and try and ignore it and see what happens, it will get infected and grow worse until it becomes even harder to heal from as the pain multiplies. People notice that you get a bit disfigured, and maybe your personality changes as a result of your burn as you learn to deal with these new changes you see in yourself. Over time though, that scar becomes a story. What will your story be? A story of a scar turning you into a bitter, misshapen person? Or an inspiring story of overcoming tragic events and allowing people near that scar again? Near the scar To learn from it, learn from you, feel the scar and know that there is no pain there anymore. Sure the scar may forever be tender, but the sting of that burn is gone. You are left with only a mark to remind you to share that story, that testimony.

A delayed post of Healing (Serious level: High)

Oct. 22, 2011 

This post is quite different then most of my other posts. It gets a bit serious, which happens sometimes so let’s just roll with it. For many that do not know, I was in a very bad relationship off and on for a very long time, years actually, without anyone really knowing because I was too stuck, scared and (dare I say) stupid to say anything. I feel like there really was no ‘off’ time though as I continually was emotionally or mentally controlled by this guy, which to explain any further details on how this came about would take a very long time to post so I will just leave it at that to give you some background. So point of this is that today I went to this day long event at my church and my life gets rocked. There are many stories to share but I will give you only one for now. So, it gets put on my heart that I need to go and delete all text messages or messages that I’ve been holding on to (don’t ask why..) that are related to my past and anything that I might read and get angry and upset about over and over(and over and over and over…) again. And I’m hesitant to do it but I start with my phone. I delete off the few text messages that I’ve been carrying around on my phone on a daily basis. I’ve been carrying these text messages more so for the fact to make a case one day in case I need to prove how horrible this guy was, or save the date for remembering when everything happened (which, really… why would anyone want to do that? There’s no need to anniversary anything, it is in the past and not in the future, and there’s no need to be on guard for when I need to make a show of this guy and reveal and prove the damaging things he had said, absolutely not necessary). After those are deleted I think, well that wasn’t so bad, and then God goes ok… now move onto your emails. And I think ohhhh man, I have a ton that’s going to take forever and more so I think, this is going to hurt my heart and I don’t want to. So I open my first email account, there are apparently only 5 messages in there, I skimmed two of them and felt a bit of past resentment rise up before saying don’t do this to yourself Sherylynn and deleted them all off. Then, the second email which I knew was going to take the longest and cause the most pain going through and seeing how far back my past got messed up. I open up the email account… and there is nothing. Everything has been reset, there are no emails, it’s a completely empty email account: a fresh start. And it’s like God is saying "why are you looking here? I’ve already cleaned and made you pure, don’t you know? Thanks for your obedience for the first two; I did the big painful stuff already. That was easier than expected huh?"

Ahh God’s grace. Like a bear hug.

Saturday, October 15, 2011

It's called Perspective

I will have to make it one of my many experiments to see if I can write on here more frequently.
But until then, I will now tell you some of the worst and best parts of my week:

Worst
All bad things that happened to me (in a "Why meeee!!" dramatic type way):
1) I got a paper cut on my pinky.
2) I accidentally dropped my ipod and it went flying across a parking lot.
3) I was crazy busy at work this week and getting kind of stressed out about getting everything done.
4) The Canucks lost
5) I tried to learn how to knit via YouTube "How To" video for an hour and a half with zero results.
6) I burnt the top of my mouth on hot pizza sauce and it is now semi-blistered.

Best
All awesome things that made me smile:
1) I'm so tough that I can still play piano with a big gash on my pinky. As if a paper cut will stop me.
2) After forgetting that my ipod was in my lap attached to the car cord I got out of my car and it came off the cord and went flying across the Staples parking lot, at which point all I could see was Justin Bieber's face on my ipod laying on the concrete. HAHAHAH My first thought was: "poor Justin, getting thrown around like that." Good laugh.
3) My VP at work came in to announce that we were getting another person in, therefore decreasing my work load! Me=Happy girl!
4) My joy does not depend on whether a hockey team wins or loses. And this is amazing.
5) My mom sat down with me and gave me a one on one lesson on how to knit, and now I have about 4 inches worth of a sweater. My mom is incredible!
6) I ate the most delicious pizza this week. Hamburger bacon pizza, need I say more.

Bragging Moment: I got 100% on my Excel midterm this week. Now, it's not really as impressive as it sounds, but nonetheless 100%. Dream dreams friends, believe that you can excel at whatever you put your mind to.

Bragging Moment Extended (this is bad of me to continue on bragging like this... but I guess I'm going to do it anyway): I made it my experiment this week to get to work on time every single day this week. (Course I picked a 4 day work week to increase my chances). Now I know this sounds ridiculous but... stop judging me. Some people need 6 alarms to wake up in the morning... it happens. Anyways, I did it!! Someone believed in this great dream and it helped encourage me to achieve this experiment. Heck, punctuality worked so well for me last week I think I might do it again next week!

And after all is said and done, I just want to say that it was soo hard as a self declared optimistic person to come up with a list of bad things that happened in a week. Things are only "bad" if we don't take the time to see the good in them.

But now, it is sunny outside, and I have a soccer game to go to and cheer on some friends. Ohhh it is well with my soul. Have a wonderful day friends!

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

No Hidden Talents

I am not a woman of few words. This comes as no shock to many that know me. Some may say that I am more a chatterbox of double the amount of words packed into half the time that a normal person would say them. My grandmother loves (and I mean loves) telling everyone about the fact that I picked up her capability for mass amounts of talking. I once got on this topic with her and some how ended up coining the phrase ``I talk just as much as you do but I do it in half the amount of time`` which she tells pretty much everyone we run into. This is not sarcasm. Unfortunatley, many times the way I speak appears in my writing in the form of very long sentences that normal people have to take about two breaths in the middle of. If only I could have just read out all my History Term papers to my teachers over the years. I'm pretty sure I could  have talked fast enough that they would assume my paper was full of relevant and life changing scholarly info and just given me A+'s. This is sarcasm.

Moving on, a point to my extreme ability for talking. Tonight I was at an event where the speaker was talking about our talents. Now, I can be a smidge over dramatic sometimes, but I kid you not when for the last few months I have been trying to decide what my God given talent was. It`s not that I think I have zero talents, I just was wondering if there was anything I excelled out. So in contemplating this I thought it was perfect that I got the chance to think further on what talents I have and how I might use them to impact those around me. My conclusion on my biggest talent: talking. Now at first I thought, that`s lame. I`ll just get better at something else. But think about it... how powerful can words be? How has the history of the world changed simply by words? How has your world changed by words that someone has spoken to you?

Now with that thought in mind... flip it... think about how damaging words can be, how pain inflicting, life altering, and tormenting words can be. I don't say this to depress everyone and dredge up bad memories but to show the effects of a talent not used for a postive influence. For example, if a great musician only used their talents to sing songs of depression and suffering or if an influential teacher taught lies to their students or a gifted speaker only used their voice to gossip, tear down, and belittle their audience. This would not be good. Agreed?

So, in my brain of deep thoughts, I present Sher's Deep Thought Time. If a talent is just being good at something, but perhaps a bit better than the average human being (I would look up the dictionary definition, but let's not kid ourselves, I would just end up on Wikipedia and I'm sure it says something along those lines... and if it doesn't heck I could just change it!). BUT a talent can be both a negative and positive thing, depending on how it is utilized, so obviously I want to take the 'positive' route and encourage others to do so as well. And I believe that once people start to realize what their talents are, become comfortable in their talents, and positively use their talents, these talents become a double whammy because they now give you the capability to affect and bless others. Yes, your talent becomes an influential blessing. And, unsurprisingly, people like being blessed! And so, I continue on with life with this established knowledge knowing that I want to be better with my talent. I will not take the negative path and use my talent for purposes that would hurt others but will energetically and excitedly take my new 'found' established talent on the Positivity Path, allowing the light that is within me to guide me.

Oh life is good. Smile friends, we are free.

Monday, October 3, 2011

Queen of Distractions and Tangents

Good Times:
I was in a very distracting type mood today. Distracting others and distracting myself. Pretty much a teacher's nightmare.
I feel like my mind was spinning around so fast today that I just didn't know what to do with myself and needed to apply those thoughts towards some sort of project. Starting with my morning class today, we were just having a review class and I was so bored that I started to just ask a million questions that would make my class go off on a tangent purely for my entertainment to see how far I could push them. It was awesome, at one point I had two people googling definitions of words... at the teacher's request. 
I also witnessed this today and I love when this happens:
Teacher: "Ok, next question on the review, what is the correct answer?"
Majority of class all at different times within 6 seconds: "Matching Principle...matchi...principle...prin..match...(meaning a bunch of mushed together voices)"
Lone but very confident voice: "Matching Principle"
bahahahah. The ever confident voice announcing the established answer. I love it.

Philosophy 100 Thoughts: Social norms are a very interesting thing to me. I mean I understand social norms and what is expected to be normal and acceptable in society but sometimes when I get bored in class I just think it would be so interesting to randomly yell loudly or just stand up all of a sudden in class and then just stand there... I mean how awkward would that be! "No... no question, just decided to stand", "Don't mind me I just decided to face my chair away from the whiteboard today", "Is it cool with you if I just teach the class today". Just do something that would make people think that I was insane. (When in fact I am completely sane, I just am playing out an experiment on what other people think when I break out of the "box" that people hold as socially acceptable behaviour.) Think about this people. I think I'm onto something here. Deeper thoughts to follow at a later date.

Side Story: Just thought of a kind of recent memory... maybe linked to social norms.
So the other day I was in Whiterock with two of my friends and we ended up
having to go through a roadblock. And see the funny thing about these roadblocks
is that I love them, they don't scare me because I don't drink and so have nothing to hide.
Unfortunately, I was so confident in my lack of drinking and that he would just let me go
that I had already prepared my answer to what I knew he was going to ask me:
"Have you had anything to drink tonight?"
So when the cop asked me a question I responded way to confidently with: "Not at all."
Too bad his question was "How much have you all had to drink tonight?"
The dangers of overconfidence.

Fact: My mind and schedule like to be busy. When not used to their full potential my mind starts making things up and my schedule allows for me to play these things out. Lately, my mind comes up with all sorts of ways where I can learn things... completley useless things sometimes. And now, excuse time as to why I have not written anything for a bit (as I know you've all been wondering..) which is because I was testing out an "Annoyance" Experiment, where I put my laptop in an annoying place so that I don't want to go on it for long periods of time. For the past week I have had my laptop placed on my treadmill, so if I wanted to go on my laptop I would have to sit on my treadmill (because walking on the treadmill with a laptop must be dangerous). Newsflash, treadmills aren't comfy and the experiment was a huge success! I'm really happy with the way things turned out as I spent much more time reading and hanging out with great people. My laptop on the other hand must be quite ticked off as half the screen keeps blacking out. The importance of Computer Maintenance.
Annoyance Experiment Conclusion: You will spend less time on your laptop if it is in an annoying, out of the way, uncomfortable place. Friends are cooler than technology.
Now I know.

Today's Lessons Learned: Busy the mind with useful tasks (unlike today), overconfidence makes you look like a fool, and I like hanging out with my friends more than my laptop.

Monday, September 26, 2011

Rainy Day Christmas Mood

Sooo I guess it's been a while. Let me tell you some random thoughts/concerns/questions/anything that comes up as I type.

I guess I'll give a bit of an update since last Wednesday when I got paid in corn and potatoes. There are about 13 potatoes still left, sitting lonely in a box outside my office. You would think they would be more popular because they are now a rare commodity but no. They have now become the potato rejects and we try to give them away on a daily basis, all five days of them. On a better news topic: I got paid in COOKIES the next day!! And by "paid" I mean Thursday is our cookie day at work and they stored all the extra cookes (And smiley cookies from Tim Hortons no less) in my office. This ladies and gentlemen is what I call "trust".

What else, the confetti has seemed to disperse itself quite nicely all over the place and I still find many remnants of that great day one week ago. I'm pretty sure my scalp is multi-coloured a bit still(no spell check, go away, I spell colour the Canadian way!!). It appears that some of the confetti stuff had the dye come out and decorate my scalp. If I shaved my head it may look like an easter egg. Ok, an oddly shaped easter egg. Grand thought: imagine if I had to go to one of those lice check things last week (you know in elementary school where everyone had to go to those lice checks and everyone pretty much just saw it as a free head message but secretly we all had this secret panic that they might actually find lice... yes...no?? was that just me?) anyways, it would have been funny if they pulled back layers of my hair and just continually found chunks of coloured/metallicky paper. This doesn't make you feel uncomfortable does it? Doesn't make your head itch or anything? At the thought of tiny little bugs.... ok I'll stop.

hee hee....

And now I shall give you a childhood memory. We are just jumping all over the place here.

Childhood Memory: You know when you're a child and your mom is the #1 judge that solves all cases of sibling fights as long as you give her all the facts and she decides who is the worse sibling and punishes them accordingly? Ya, me either. Growing up I will say that my older sisters beat me up now and then, obviously because they were jealous of me... or because I may have been a touch annoying... hard to say. So anyways, whenever I would get smacked, punched, toys stolen from me, or anything else that involved my feelings being greatly damaged I would run to my mother to let her know that my sibling had wounded me. Here is how it would go:
Young, sweet, Sherylynn: "Mooooom, (sibling name) just punched me in the arm."
Confused Mother: "Did you say thank you?"
Young, sweet Sherylynn: "No, mom. They punched me."
Mean Mother: "Without you asking them to? Oh that was so nice, did you say thank you?"
Frustrated Young, sweet Sherylynn: Marches away vowing to never tell my mother anything again as she clearly doesn't understand what lifelong damage has come to my life.

All Parents out there, this is called "Genius Parenting Tip". Remember it, use it, remove the tattle tale reflex from your children. Your welcome.

In conclusion, does anyone want 13 potatoes, my hair is still a party and my mother is an amazing lady. Have a great day folks!

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Corny Surprise

1)      I got paid in corn and potatoes today. Which is so perfect because usually I don’t hook up the wagon to my horse but this morning luckily I did. So now I can bring home my vegetables (and don’t start fighting me on whether corn and potatoes are indeed vegetables or not) as I trot home to mom and pops. Ok ok, obviously I’m kidding. I actually forgot to hook up the wagon and it was an awkward horseback ride home. Oook fine, scratch all that horse and wagon business. I did however come into my office today to see a big box of corn and then a big box of potatoes showed up shortly thereafter. Weird, I know, I usually only ever get potatoes. The reason for all this produce-o-plenty is that we have some farmer customers where I work and over the years we have seen many a potato show up, some strawberries, flowers, but never before corn. So obviously it was big news and as most of you have probably guessed, free vegetables rumors spread like wildfire. Before I knew it I had a farmers market happening in my office as employees rushed in to get some produce to bring home. Which doesn’t surprise me at all as bringing home the bacon is so last year.

Monday, September 19, 2011

Confetti Hair Day

Some people have bad hair days... I have confetti hair days, and they are awesome! Let me explain. Yesterday was my birthday, today was not. BUT nonetheless, I walked into my office at work today and seconds later found myself covered in tiny sparkles and confetti type stuff while my coworkers stood there laughing and taking photos of me. It was awesome!! I have never had that happen to me before. The best part being that I was just grabbing my textbooks and rushing out to get to my class, where I was to pretend that I was a very serious business woman expanding my knowledge on bookkeeping. The fact that I was wearing my "tough" leather jacket and sparkly chunks of plastic continued to fall out of my hair like coloured dandruff did not damage my serious business woman composure at all. (If you ever need a conversation starter...) So obviously I made new friends and just had an awesome day as I had a trail of coloured confetti following me everywhere I went.

Then I had an amazingly deep thought (and all the chairs shuffle on the floor as the crowd gathers in closer). So as I left my classroom where I had left a sufficient amount of confetti, got in my confetti cluttered car, and brought confetti with me into the reception area at work it occured to me: the confetti was a physical representation of the influence that I have on other people on any given day. The confetti started in just one room, but you can now find that confetti in my car, at my school (and literally on the people sitting beside me in class, sorry to them), in probably all the offices at my work (I can be a little chatty...), at my friends house, at Waves coffee house, in my friends car, at the River, in my home, and who knows elsewhere. And the people that I came into contact with today and got confetti on, they then went to other places as well and most likely ended up leaving confetti there as well. Think about it, I got confetti everywhere today... I am proud of the mess I made... but if that confetti can represent say joy or encouragement, I possibly encouraged or cheered up a lot of people today!! It's just amazing to see the circle of influence you have on your surroundings once you have an actual physical marker of where you all go and who you come into contact on any given day. Don't be afraid of that influence. Be the light in your world! Have the Confetti Hair.

If you don't think you have the capability to influence or impact the people around you here is my suggestion: dump an entire package of confetti on your head and then just go about your day, see if you don't find confetti everywhere you went for the next two or more weeks of your life. The confetti is your influence on people which definately sticks around for a while, make it count!
And if all else fails, if you are having a bad hair day, an entire package of confetti in the hair will most likely distract others from the fact that your hair looks bad. I'm assuming anyways... let me know how that goes.

I think I should have more confetti hair days.

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Unrelated Randoms

People seem to usually start these things with a "Today was ..." and then some sort of explanation of their day, but I may not even talk about my day today so I will choose to start this post with a "I eat food." Oh wait, does it count as a start if it's not in the first few words? Ok, Re-do.

I eat food. I promise you I do. Now people may whine at me for saying this and sure bring it on, but I just put 400 photos of my recent trip to Europe into an album (yes 400 exactly as I printed off 426 photos and had to sadly eliminate 26 of them as I struggled to fit every photographic-life-changing masterpiece into the crammed album) and in many of them I observed that I look sickly! I look like some frail human being that may collapse due to lack of food. How does this happen?? I want to look buff and strong and honestly thought I wasn't that far off. I need to workout more or something. And obviously by "workout more" I mean just simply, I need to workout. At least until when I flex something happens anyways. Rumour has it a muscle is supposed to appear when you flex your arm or something. I have no further thoughts on this, maybe I should just delete it all (I mean I won't, but the thought is there). I just was so weirded out by the photos of me on my trip and how I appeared to myself (this could go much deeper, but I'll leave it for now) that I decided to share it with the world. Which implies that more than just myself is looking at this blog. And I don't say that in a "pity me" way but in a humorous viewpoint that I honestly think I really am the only one that reads this at the moment. hahaha...ha...ha...

I guess I kind of mentioned a small part of the events of my day already so while I'm at it and breaking all my personal blogging rules...(which I kind of just made up so that I could say I was breaking them and give the impression that I'm a wild rebel...) I will tell you a thought I had today which I think people should just start crocheting into their pillows now and beat the rush. I start an accounting class on Monday for work, and I was having a moment of panic while looking at my Accounting for Canadian Colleges textbook. The textbook content looked very confusing and I was thinking over and over to myself that it looked too hard and that I would probably fail the class. Now, I looked at what I was doing to myself and I realized that I was not created for failure, and was just kind of like "Sherylynn, change your attitude and the awesome continues." (This is not the quote to crochet...it may not even make sense to you...but you could sticky note that somewhere if you want...just take my name out first... or don't, whatever.) And so right then and there I changed my thought process and then told myself, "Don't be afraid of failing, be excited to succeed." And so I am! I hate failing.. I want success! Challenge accepted textbook... I will learn from you, memorize you and succeed!! Wam Bam, Thank you Ma'am.

Maybe I do talk about myself in third person. Sherylynn apologizes for that.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Announcement: Commencing Writing

I'm not sure if this counts as a blog post and/or actual announcement, but I just wanted to let maybe myself and anyone that dares to read my crazy ramblings know that I am going to start writing. Again. I need some motivation to continue writing as I've been out of school for a while now and as I have been shamelessly harrassing many of my friends to keep writing lately I figured I better take my own advice. So here we go... Sherylynn is writing again. Oh, in case you don't read that anywhere else, Hi I'm Sherylynn! Good, now we're friends. And I usually don't refer to myself in third person, so don't get too caught up on that.

Sooo, writing. Here's the deal, I love memories, everything about them. How they change from person to person, how they make/create/change a person, how they affect the present, etc. I think I'm just going to start with that, and on a sort of maybe regular basis I will write some sort of current story with random memories to go along with them for some hilarious enjoyment. Best case scenario: I become awesomely famous and get a book deal like that lady from Julie/Julia (with less swearing but approximately equal crazyness), worst case scenario: I don't. Chances look good for me! Maybe I shouldn't have told you about my genius and well thought out writing technique to make you want to keep reading. Really wish I hadn't already hit the "Publish Post" button now.