A New Mission

I'm getting ready to Colorado with my House Church. Last August we went to Seattle, and you can read all about that trip on my blog. Just head down to August of 2009. This trip is going to be much of the same.

We're driving to the town of Parker, Colorado. We'll be knocking on doors to let people know about the church service on Saturday night. I predict that it's going to be just as much fun as the previous trip.

It'll be a great chance to get to know people in the group better. Or to just get to know my friends better. I'm excited. I know I'm not saying much now, but when I get back I might have more to say then.

TNT,
Words by Ali

A Really Short Story

I wrote this in my creative writing class. We had six words and we were supposed to write a story using all six words. This is what I came up with, and it's only 175 words. Shortest thing I've ever written. Enjoy: The suitcase sat on the bed as Rhys hurried around his apartment, trying to get everything he needed. She'd be there any second and if he wasn't ready she'd kick his ass. He grabbed his passport and shoved it in between his cloths. He zipped up the bag, and headed for the door. Realizing he was barefoot he raced back to the bedroom to lace up his favorite sneakers. That's when he heard the doorbell chime. His stomach fluttered at just the thought of seeing her. Her smile was dazzling and it felt as if her crystalline eyes were boring a way into his soul. She grabbed his bag and pushed it towards him, and without a word they were out the door. They tossed their things into the trunk of Rhys' car. Rhys bristled at the sound of the deep male voice behind him, "Get the fu#! back here." That was all he heard, because Annie was already driving them fast away from the curb. Away from her father and closer to their new life, together. Hope you liked it. TNT, Words by Ali

Awoken

I had awoken every morning in this dark and barren wasteland. The earth scorched and infirtle. The trees browned and britle. Everyday I would set out into the sun burnt lands for water. I was searching for that which would give me life.

Not the hopeless, soul shattering existence I had wandered in each day. I needed to find what would give me hope. Give my life purpose and meaning. Give me an unconditional love that I would always be at a loss to understand. As I sat in the sand staring at the vast nothing, with the sun beating down on my faire skin, I had started to believe it didn't exist.

The days turned into weeks, into months, and to years. Alone the time passed even more slowly. There was nowhere I could go and no one I could turn to. I was at the point where there was nowhere to go but down. The path I was following lead to only more desolation.

I turned to look over my shoulder, and from the corner of my eye I saw green. I could see a lush green paradise streched out in front of me. I was reluctant to cross over, despite how peacefully it appeared to be. I resisted, not wanting to leave the only life I'd ever known.

He stood there before me with open arms, inviting me to Him. I could feel the love He had for me, and I knew it was real. I still fought with myself to take those last few steps. In His eyes I could see everything that I had been searching for.

He smiled and reached out his hand to me. I did the only thing I could do and fell into His arms. He held me tight, promising to never let me go. The day I turned my life over to God my entire world changed.

I knew it wouldn't be easy, and I would have to give more of myself then I ever thought possible. I also knew that God would never give me more then He knew I could handle. God had made me. He knew me better then I will ever know myself. When things get hard, as they inevitably would, I knew where to go for strength and comfort. My Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

He saved me from the wasteland and gave me a purpose that I've been trying to fulfill. I live my life from day to day, but now I do it following what God commands.

It's not easy, in fact at times it seems so much harder. I still stumble and fall back to the scorched and barren land that was my life. Now though I know He's there to pick me up, to help me back to my feet. No matter how far I may run He's always right beside me, waiting for me to ask for His loving hand.

God has been teaching me, and still is, that I'm never alone. When I'm weak He's strong. When I'm angry He's patient. When I'm hateful He's loving. He is everything I strive to be. With the love and guidence of God I can become more like Him each day.

Road Rage at it's Scariest

Earlier this week my mother and I were on our way home at around 5 o'clock. We were probably coming back from the bookstore, because that seems to be were I always am. Anyway, there was quite a bit of traffic and we had just pulled up to a red light. There were two lanes of cars to the right of us, and we saw the guy in the furthest lane all of a sudden get out of his car.

He was a big guy, and the people in the car next to us were smaller people. Probably around my age. The guy starts yelling at them, and the driver says something. The guy then comes storming around the car to the driver side and gets in the kids face.

We're both watching this afraid that there is going to be a fight. My mom pulls out her cell phone thinking maybe she should call the cops. The guy stops yelling at them and starts to head around the car back to his. That's when the kid driving decides it would be a good idea to pretend he's going to hit the guy as he walks in front of the car.

Now my mom really is freaking out and is really debating whether or not to actually call the cops. She's holding her cell phone way out in front of her so everybody next to us can see it. I think I was more freaked out that this angry guy my not like the fact that she had her cell phone out. I started yelling for he to put the phone down, "Don't make him come over here."

As the light started the change the guy got back in his car. He went one way and the other kids went another. Nothing happened, but for a minute there I was truly afraid that there was going to be either a fist fight or someone was going to get shot. Luckily no one was shot, cause I don't know what I would have done if that had happened.

I never want to be on the receiving end of that kind of road rage. It makes me wonder what those kids did to make him so angry. I guess I'll never know.

TNT,
До свидания (goodbye)
Words by Ali

Thoughts About Boredom

Everyday when I go to school I take the Trax. It's like a trolley system that takes you from where I'm at all the way up to the U of U. It takes between 50 to 60 minutes for me to get down there. Of course I always bring something along with me to occupy myself during this time. It could be my I-pod, a book, or even a book on tape (or CD).

On Friday I was about half way through with the book I was reading. Changes by Jim Butcher, it was the latest in The Dresden Files series and I absolutely loved it. It's a long enough book that half of it should have lasted the ride there and the ride back. Except on that day.

Apparently I liked the book so much that every time I had a free second in class I was reading it. I finished the book before class was even over. Which meant I had absolutely nothing to do or keep me busy on my ride home that day. Listening to or reading something gives me something to do so I don't have to pay attention to the crazies that ride it every day.

And yes there are more then just a few crazy people, and I need something to do so they don't talk to me and freak me out in the process. Some of these people really do scare me, or just freak me out. But if you're doing something then they usually just leave you alone.

The lesson I learned from this experience is to always make sure I have a way to kill the boredom. Cause if you don't you may go crazy.

До свидания (goodbye)
TNT
Words by Ali

Russian or Русский

As I mentioned last week I'm taking a Russian language class. I have to take 4 semesters of a language to get my B.A. in English. I decided on Russian. Now I'm taking 2 semesters over the summer in a space of 6 weeks. In case you didn't pick up on that it's 3 weeks for each semester.

I finished my second week on Friday and now 4 more days and my first semester will be over. How crazy is that? What's even crazier is the fact that I've learned more of the language in the past 2 weeks then I have in any of the previous classes I've taken.

It's also a lot more fun then any of the other classes I've taken too. There's just something about a class that's more exciting when you get to play games instead of just listening to the teacher lecture for hours straight.

Here is a little something about myself in another language:

Здравствуйте. Мена зовут Али. Мне 23 года. Я американка. Я студентка. Я учу английский язык. Я учусь в университете в Юте. Я живу в штате Юта в городе Солт Лейк Сити в доме. Раньше я жила в Аризоне. У мена есть 2 брата и 2 сестры. Я люблю красный цвет. Я люблю читать и писать. Я люблю читать книги о вампирах и об оборотнях. Я говорю немного по-русски. Спасибо.

Now I bet you don't have clue as to what I just wrote. I'm sure your eyes scanned over the odd letters and your thinking "what in the hell does that say?" A translation in English comes out to this:

Hello. My name is Ali. I'm 23 years old. I'm an American. I'm a student. I study English. I study at the university in Utah. I live in the state of Utah, in the city of Salt Lake City, in a house. Earlier I lived in Arizona. I have 2 brothers and 2 sisters. I like the color red. I love to read and to write. I like to read books about vampires and about werewolves. I speak a little Russian. Thank you.

I know it's hard to believe that it all comes out to that, but it does. My Russian saga will continue because I still have 4 more weeks this summer and then 2 more semesters after that. Maybe I'll even tell you a little more when I learn it.

До свидания (good bye)
TNT
Words by Ali

Exhaustion

I've come to realize that being tired and being exhausted are actually two different things. I'm tired a lot. No, I always seem to be tired, but that has a lot to do with the fact that I seem to be a bit of an insomniac.

When I get tired I think to myself, "Boy am I exhausted." I realize now that I have only been fooling myself. It wasn't real exhaustion, I only thought it was. How do I know this you might ask? Well, it's because I've finally seen a difference.

The reason for this is my summer classes. It's an intensive Russian course. What that means is that the class runs Monday thru Friday for 5 hours a day, in class time. That's 25 hours in class a week. Roughly that's a weeks worth of material every day. Not only do I spend half my day in school, including the 2 hours it takes to get to and from the campus on the Trax, but I have a weeks worth of homework to do every single night.

I started my first week last Monday, and by the time Friday rolled around I had never been so wiped out in my life. I'd never felt this exhausted before. At 9:00 pm when my head hit the pillow I was a goner. Normally I can't get to sleep in less then an hour, and wake up constantly throughout the night. This time I was asleep in minutes and only woke up once. I then slept until 10 am. Since I usually can't sleep past 7-7:30 it was sleeping late.

This past week has shown me what real exhaustion is and I'm not looking forward to how it'll be when next Friday comes. At least I'm having fun taking my Russian class. I guess that makes up for it, a little.

до свидания (goodbye)

TNT,
Words by Ali

Writing Me

Writing is an interesting thing. Or at least I think it is. It's different for every single person who does it. Not just because it comes easy for some, and extremely hard for others. It also has to do with how a person writes, what they write about, or even how they respond to others writing. For me writing has always been something I loved to do, ever since I knew how.

This creative writing class has certainly been an experience. It's made me see that a lot of the time when you're focusing on a piece of writing it's not even the writing that they are talking about. The most helpful comments I got on my writing were the ones written on the papers. When everyone was talking about my short story they weren't talking about what I had written. Over half the time I noticed they were discussing Utah's liquor laws, because I had mentioned it once or twice in my story. If it had only been a minute or two that would have been one thing, but over ten minutes? I'm not sure exactly how the conversation related to the story, especially since everyone had such insightful comments to make on the actual paper.

Then there was the second piece I turned in, the non-fiction. I'm not sure there was any talk what so ever about the writing itself. Mostly the entire time everyone bitched about the photos. I'm not just trying to complain because there were people who didn't like them, but this was more than that. First off one person said they didn't like it at all because they didn't like the band it was about. Shouldn't the judgment of whether it was good or not be on the writing? Also, they focused on the photos and didn't seem to have more to say about the writing then the first sentence was hard to read. That wasn't the only thing, though. The only thing they could come up with to make the photos work was that I should make it into a scrapbook. I hate scrapbooking with a passion. I don't know what it is about Utah and scrapbooking but I would rather just in front of a moving train then make one.

The reason I so vehemently protest even the idea of taking the advice of my classmates, for a scrapbook, is because i would never compromise my writing. Being a writer is who I am, and if I let others change how I do it because it would be better for them then it would be pointless to write. I write for me not for people. That's not entirely true. I do write so others can read it, and for them to enjoy what they're reading. If no one were to read my work at all ever then it would be completely pointless. Although, it's only because I enjoy writing it that I do it. If I were to stop writing for me, and only write for others, I would no longer like what I am doing.

If a person doesn't enjoy what they are doing they shouldn't do it. At least if they are a writer. For me being a writer is more than a job or a way to make money. It's who I am, and I can't stop being who I am. I have to be me and I have to write for me. I will always take constructive criticism when it comes to my work, but only the constructive kind. Of course that's as long as it's true to me.

TNT
Words by Ali

Follow or Followed?

I'm sure you are all wondering if I mean something sinister or creepy by the title of my post. Is she being followed? Is she stalking someone else? I would have to go with no, on both of those.

It's actually a lot more innocent then that. The majority of you out there probably know what Twitter is, and if you do then you probably have some idea of what I now might be talking about. Yes, that's right. I'm referring to those people who either I follow on Twitter, or the ones who follow me.

Now I'm going to have to admit that I am one of those people who follow celebrities, and actually care as to what they are saying. I do follow some friends, but mostly it's famous people. To name a few: Jaret Reddick of Bowling for Soup, Joel and Benji Madden of Good Charlotte, Tucker Max, Megan McCafferty author of the Jessica Darling series, and Laurell K. Hamilton author of the Anita Blake series.

Just last week I started following the author Jonathan Maberry. He writes the Joe Ledger series, the first book being Patient Zero. It's a kick ass zombie novel, and if you haven't read it you need to. Just a fact but it has to be really terrible for a zombie book to not be good. Patient Zero is one of the best.

Anyways, the second book in the Joe Ledger series, Dragon Factory, has just come out and that's mostly the reason I started following the author on Twitter. Here's the best part of all of this. The morning after I start following him, and I have a new follower of my page. Can you guess who it was? Yep, that's right none other then the author Jonathan Maberry himself. I'm sure it was nothing more then because I had been talking about his books, but still wicked cool.

If any of you are interested you can follow me on Twitter: @Ali_theBookworm

TNT
Words by Ali

Bowling for Soup, Hey!

Bowling for Soup is one of the best bands in the world, and I'm most certainly not exaggerating. This is the second concert of theirs that I've been too, and I think I would have to say that this one was more fun than I remember the first one being. One of the best parts of my BFS experience took place long before the band even took the stage. Don't believe me here's the proof.




This picture was taken at about 4:30 outside of Jason's Deli. My friend and I were getting something to eat before we headed over to the venue to wait in line. As we're walking in there were two guys walking out. One I had never seen before in my life, and the other was Eric, the bassist and a singer in the band. He's the one on the right with the Leftovers shirt on. As I pass them I turn to my friend and say, "I think that was one of the guys in the band?"

She of course agrees with me. That's when I turn back around to get another look, and that's when I see the third person. It's Jaret Reddick, the lead singer. Without trying to alienate the other band members because they all rock hard, but I have to be honest and say that Jaret is my favorite. Obviously he's the other guy in the photo, with the killer red sunglasses. Lets move on from that tangent and back to the story. After seeing Jaret leaving with them I once again turn to my friend, this time saying, "That's the lead singer! I have to go meet them! I'll be right back." I then raced out the door after them trying to catch up before they dissappeared around the corner.

"Excuse me, are you guys from Bowling for Soup?" I ask this even though I have no doubt in my mind that it's true. I also probably had a horribly goofy grin on my face. That probably somewhat looked like a 13 year old girl about to meet her favorite pop boy band. But I didn't care.

They turn around and are really nice as they say hi to me. Then Jaret sees my shirt (which if you can't completely see it says Bowling for Soup/ Fat Guys to the Rescue. All the proceeds for the shirt is going to help Haiti.) and says, "Cool, you have one of those shirts. That's only like the second one I've seen. Are you coming to the show tonight?"

"Hell yeah," I respond in the affirmative. Then I quickly ask, before they can get away, "Can I get a picture with you guys?" That's how I got the picture, and what totally made my night before the night had even begun.

Now we'd gotten to In The Venue about 15 minutes before the doors were supposed to open, but something had happened earlier in the day. The band had ended up getting there late and we had to stand out in cold, as the sun set, for an extra half hour. I look at it as a positive. Why you might ask? If they had gotten there on time they wouldn't have been leaving the restaurant as I was getting there, and I wouldn't have been able to get a picture with them. I guess everything does happen for a reason.

We finally get in, and there's three bands playing before BFS. I wonder up close to the stage during like the second band, because there's still a lot of room. Of course that's only until the last band plays and they start setting up for Bowling for Soup. Everyone started getting as close as the could to the stage, and all of a sudden people are all crowding in around me. Which wasn't so bad. I was still at the front, right at the stage.

The concert itself was amazing. They played quite a few old songs as well as a few off their new album. They started the night off with one of their older songs, 'Bitch Song'. Things would start to get crazy from here on in, and mostly that had to do with they were easily distractible. Then they'd continue on hilarious tangents.

Here are a few of the funnier moments of the night:

-Some guy in the crowd, and this was only after the first song, yells out, "I want to here Belgium, now!" He draws out the last word, and the band cracks up. Jaret responds, "It's a little too early in the set for Belgium, but we're going to play it just because you said 'nooow'" He imitated exactly how the guy had said it too.

-During this song they stopped in the middle. I don't remember why they stopped, but this guy in the audience asked them to do this imitation of Shaggy that he does. It was awesome because it sounded just like him, it was almost creepy. These are the two that were doing the impression, the same ones I met. Jaret was the one who actually did the Shaggy voice though.





-Jaret was constantly doing crazy things with his guitar pick. Throwing it in the air and catching it in his mouth, and then spitting it out and re-catching it. Which always ended with him, and the rest of the band, throwing it out to the audience. Now to the funny part of the story. After it happen Jaret told the entire audience. Nobody would have known if he hadn't. He was near the front of the stage and went to stick his pick to his forehead. Apparently he would get so sweaty that it would stay there. Well this time it didn't, and it fell right down the cleavage of the girl standing in front of him. I guess she'll have a nice little souvenir.

-They were playing their song 1985, and one of the lines is "She was gonna shake her ass on the hood of White Snakes car." Now just image their lead guitarist, Chris, turning his back to the audience and shaking his ass during this line and a bit afterward. Here let me show you a picture:




-Early in the night Jaret had told everyone in the place to put their hands up in the air and if there was anyone who didn't then they had herpes. This all by itself wouldn't have been that funny, but you have to add it to another part of the night. He's talking about the other bands and he gets to one called Madison Lights. He points over to them. "Remember when I said if you didn't have your hands up you had herpes? Well those guys over there," again he pointed and his voice got a bit higher and he drawled it out, "herpes." He said it a couple times, and everyone thought it was hilarious, even them. You might have had to of been there to get it.

-Now for what I thought was the funniest moment of the night, also said by Jaret. He was talking about Madison Lights again. He was telling about how when he had first seen them coming over to talk to them that he thought they were (these are his words) "street toughs" coming to kick their asses. As he's talking about this he starts snapping his fingers like the Jets and the Sharks from West Side Story. Chris said he wasn't afraid of a group of guys coming towards him snapping his fingers. Jaret disagreed completely. This is what he had to say on the matter, "I would be. If like 15 guys were coming at me and all of them snapping their fingers like that I would think they were either going to kick my ass, or butt rape me."




At both concerts of theirs that I've been too I've gotten things directly from band members. This latest one was a guitar pick. Just like the yellow one Jaret is using in the photo above. As both Jaret and Eric are throwing their picks back and forth to each other Jaret decides to throw his at Eric's head. It sticks right to the middle of his forehead. Eric tries to do the same thing and it falls uselessly to the stage floor. Eric comes back over to his mike stand, directly in front of me, and takes Jaret's pic from his forehead. He sees me wanting to take it so he drops it in front of me and into my pocket it goes.

At the first concert of theirs I went to all throughout the show Jaret was throwing out these yellow and black wrist bands with 'Bowling for Soup' on them. After playing their last song, 1985, and still having a handful of wrist bands decides to start tossing them out. If any of you know me you'll know that I am 5 foot even and I was shorter then everyone around me. Even though I was right at the stage I still was not able to catch one. Oh the woes of being short. Jaret sees me doing everything I can to get one but still coming up short. (I know, now that I've written it it looks stupid to me too, but I can't take it out. It must stay.) He then leans down, reaches towards me, and hands me the very last one. Would you be surprised if I said I was wearing it at the second concert? I didn't think so.

That's my BFS story and I'm sticking to it. If you've never heard of their music then you need to go right now and do it, because they one of the best.

TNT
Words by Ali