New Mexico Balloon Festival

Yesterday, we went to the New Mexico Balloon Festival to see the balloons take off. It was a really cool experience to see all those balloons in the air at one time.



I was using my dad's digital camera, which doesn't zoom that well, so I couldn't take up close pictures. Then I realised that I could take pictures through the binoculars. :-)

This is a picture of a smilie face balloon. Isn't it cute!!





Just so you can get an idea about the number of balloons that there were in the sky, here is a video:




I highly suggest coming to see this event if you ever get a chance to.

Mindfulness

So I have this belief in synchronisity. When there is a coincidence in my life, it is suppose to mean something. It means that I am heading down the right path.
Well, On thursday, I went to a Mindfulness talk at Rice sponsored by the Wellness center as an effort to reduce stress. I enjoyed it and decided that I would look into it a bit more. It reminded me a lot of the Buddhist meditation class that I went to at the Houston Buddhist temple out in Bellaire.
Anywho, I marked that on my list of things to do, but when I opened my daily read blogs this morning, one of the articles was about mindfulness. It also linked to another 43 Folders story on mindfulness.

I think that life is trying to tell me something...

BackPack + Treo Smartphone = Hot Stuff

So, I was thinking over my mind dump list from yesterday, pondering how I can organise it and I ran across these articles:
Mac Organization 1
Mac Organization 2

I have been toying with this GTD idea for a bit and wanted to see what they had to say. One of things that they mentioned as an inbox is Backpack. I had signed up for Backpack this summer and didn't use it, but I did remember that they had a mobile component. I could send emails to special emails to post things on my backpack page.

I had posted the mind dump entry from my phone, so I was looking for something that could do this. I was thinking of just creating a smart inbox and email these to-dos to myself, but that would be tedious because I would have to send an email for each item in order to be able to delete them as I did them. But Backpack solves this. I can send one email and it will seperate them into seperate check-off-able items.

Also, Backpack lets me have seperate pages so if I have a list of school to-dos, I will send them to my school page. That way, I can stay organised.

And where does the treo come in? I can store the emails in my Treo's Address book and then in the email program just type "Ba" and the list of Backpack emails comes up ready for me to send to. Now I can add to-dos to my list without actually syncing my phone!!!! W00t!

Let the to-do listing begin.

Mind Dump

Ok, I was reading a blog yesterday. And the author was discussing the art of journalling and using your blog as a mind dump. I like this idea so I am going to create a list of all of the things on my mind that I need to do or think about. Here goes:
- clean out my email program. (set up gtd in mail and tag old email.)
- set up the inbox program.
- clean off desktop
- write hatbt outline.
- finish my lrc entry form (due friday)
- finish lrc powerpoint and outline.
- research in jones school library.
- clean my car
- find my ipod and trio cable (they are in the same baggie and probably in my car)
- turn in my perscriptions to cvs (it has a drive thru, so it ain't hard. I just keep putting it off)
- begin the stratagies part of the master plan for ML.
- talk to hank about scswing accounting.
- get swing list up to date
- get the swing videos downloaded and burned.
- send out info from elizabeth meeting.
- send email to tricia
- play with photoshop
- create a zulu pad for ML
- wash my dishes.
- clean my room.
- organise drawers in room.
- pack for NM
- read for logic
- do the ungraded hw
- read for accounting
- do my ling hw
- print the ling hw
- read the selling the dream book
- finish the new age book.
- compile booklist
- look for partridge book on amazon
- read the fung swea (sp) books
- read monisorri book.
- refind keychain pages and send them
- contact some ad ppl about samples.
- find health card
- bring ppl to ice hut
- rsds website
- call photo ppl
- write about ideal self.
- pay back a drink debt.
- remind hank about nail paint
- go ice skating.
- go to the zoo
- find blog example
- email katherine
- practice breakdance basic
- create ml ppl reference sheet. (maybe use the np mana program)
- dr. list
- get slips and candy for suitcase.
- divide daily button into 2.
- look up mice
- print tix tomorrow at 4.
- email rosie
- email patrick
- download si vids from youtube
- look up german study program.
- find someone to pick me up on tuesday. (ash? Aramis?)
- laura's dishs and my money
- address book update
- download sting cd
- wash hub cap that is in my shower.
- cancel vistaprint scam.
- set dashboard screens
- give back books that I borrowed.
- ask grandpa about gift.
- get dad b-day present.
- lunch with jenny
- baking with jenny
- knitting with jenny
- houston binder
- make strudels
- make pancakes
- steph's gift
- get quilt cleaned.
- german
- chinese calligraphy
- horse class
- bowling
- orange show
- get sarah rsds info.
- check our room booking for spr. (get paul to)
- find place for jazz soiree
- book js band
- rsds tango
- account hank's rent/ money

ok. That is good for now. I need to read as much as I can today in prep for tomorrow. (reli meeting). I will probably do this again soon.

Somethings got to give...

So I discovered something (although I think I already knew it and it just never affected me). Day Light Savings Time is sweet!
As we move more to winter, the sun rises later and later. I didn't realise this until I started getting up with the sun. And have been getting up later and later. Now it is dark when I get up and that is a little ichy. I don't like waking up before the sun rises. Anywho, Day Light Savings time allows the sun to once again rise earlier. This will help me a lot when it comes to getting up. They should do this more then twice a year.

Now I just have to make it til then...

I am trying to get Organised. My newest project is my Mail. It is a disaster and I want to clean it although I lack time. I am always busy between School and Marion's Ledge. No time to clean. I am going to set aside 30 min every other day or so to clean. Both my house and my computer. I have to do something! This is crasy!

Somethings got to give....

And speaking of somethings got to give, I am reaching that mid-semester slump. My great classes are beginning to get boring because of the repetition of my schedule. Walking to school is no longer that fun, mainly because there is nothing new to see. I need a bike and a really good chain. Because I don't want to drive.

And speaking of driving...

They closed Ashby parking. It used to be allowed that you could park there after 4pm, but the rules have changed and you now can't park there till 9pm. This may mean that I will be breaking down and getting a parking permit... Something that I really don't want to do. We shall see. I will think about it.

Something with school needs to change. I am slipping back into old habits. This is not good. I wasn't feeling well on Monday so I basically skipped all my classes. (hey! I had my reasons!!) But now, I woke up this morning with the thought that I should just stay home today. Ironically though, this is also what my Ling Prof thought so that class is officially canceled. But I still have logic.

But even beyond that, I going to class and not paying attention, which is effecting things. I wish I didn't get distracted so easily. Anywho, The thought is that I should try to take note on paper and not on my computer. The computer is distracting. I think paper notes will help me focus.

I am losing a lot of time to the internet this week. And I give Hank disapproving looks (not harsh, just rolling eye looks, because I know that he enjoys those mac blogs) for spending so much time blog reading, but now I am getting sucked into the trap. This is not good. The worse one of all is Facebook. Especially with that stupid home page that tells you everything about everyone. I lost reading time yesterday by looking up friends from Highschool. ::shakes head::

I think the internet can be used correctly, and the computer with it, I just have to figure out how... Any ideas?
Maybe not allowing computer use until after I get to school.

I am not sure how to make my classes, or my walk to school, less boring and more willing to keep my attention. I have been really enjoying that walk. hum... Maybe I should listen to music on the way to school. That would keep my attention... maybe? And it is not that the classes are actually boring... They are interesting. I just have a very short attention span. Maybe sitting in the front of the class will help in Logic. I will try that.

ok, speaking of school. I better run off to it. Laters...

Today...

It has been an interesting day. For one, I didn't go to any classes. Well, I kinda did. I showed up to Logic, but I didn't feel very good so about 20 minutes of not really paying attention, I left and sat on the swing until class was over. I just was not in the mood to think. After that, I went and got a new set of braces without managing to get yelled at for waiting so long to make the appointment. But by that was over, I wasn't feeling well at all, so I went straight home and fell asleep. That was about 1:00. I finally woke up for good a little after 4, but was still so tired that I could barely walk straight. I managed to drag myself to Taft to watch the Swing lessons, but never did regain my full strength.

So, What is wrong with me?

You could say, duh Hail, you have cramps, but I think that there is something more to this. I did this a couple weeks ago as well and it was coupled with something similar to this one: forcing myself to stay awake. I didn't go to bed when I felt like it, I forced myself to stay up. (Hey, I had a good reason to!!!) But I wonder if that has something to do with how I feel.

Or I may just be thinking too much into this and it is just
that I have cramps and am low Iron or something.

I mean, last time, there was a lot of stress that accompanied my feeling bad. This time that emotional stress is not present. Sunday was great and relaxing and fun and I want a good repeat of it. There was relaxing, good food, excercise, fun and more. I am caught up on my homework except that I have a rather long book to read by thursday. And the only thing looming over my head is this leadership presentation coming up at the beginning of Nov. Nothing is really that stressful that I know about. The last stress was last Thursday about my swing, but Hank and I talked about that.

So maybe it is the cramps...

(PS. The Odwalla Super Protien Original is gross. It is orange juice based.)

Struggles...

I dream of myself being able to actaully work towards something. Really work towards something. Something hard. Really hard. I never have before. I don't have the will to. I am not really sure why I do this. I loved swing because I picked it up quickly. I got good pretty fast. And when the improving stopped. I wanted to stop. I got frusterated. I wanted to quit. Luckily I started getting better again. So I started likeing it again.

But now once again, I am not improving. I dance like me. But that seems to be settleing and I am getting to where I once again want to quit. And this time I am closer then last time. I have stopped going to Melody. And when I do, I haven't seemed to be enjoying it. And at Taft, I faked having too much to do so I didn't have to dance.

Now, don't get me wrong. I don't go to Taft because I feel I have to. I really enjoy the taft dance. I work the door. I set up the sound and lights. I feel in the know and partically in charge and I love that feeling. I wouldn't stop doing it for the world. But lately, I haven't enjoy the actual dancing part. It is like I am bored with it. I am not improving and the "work to improve" to "improvement satisfaction" ratio is not high enough. I don't want to put the work in that will allow me to get better. Therefore... I feel like quitting.

I don't think that I will quit because then I will have to face the shame of quitting. And I do enjoy it at times. Like when I was learning that routine that Ryan made up. That was awesome. I picked it up fast and it was extremely fun.

It is when I am having trouble learning something is when I have the problem. When trouble hits, Hailey wants to quit. :-( This is what is holding me back from learning to lead. I could not stand the shame of not being good. Everytime that Hank works with me on Leading, I get snappy and then I always end up regreting something. :,-( I snap when I get pressured and "I hate that!"

I don't know what to do about this. If I even think the words RSDS, I just want to scream. I wish that was not the case. But How do you change your emotions? How do I even lean that way? I don't know how to control my stress level over this?

One good example of this is the classes that I am teaching with Hank at RSDS. I am honored to get the opportunity to teach with Hank and I don't want to stop teaching with Hank, but It is just so darn frustrating. I feel that every comment I make is just dead air. I seem to say the same 3 or 4 things over and over in an attempt to say something. I want to say something. I really want to say something. If I don't say anything, I feel like I am not really one of the teachers. He could use any of the follows to fill my spot. I am expendable. I hate being expendable.

But I don't have anything to say. I understand it, but not in words. What words I do know are just things Hank says all the time that I am regurgitating. When I do have a unique idea, I can't say it. This must be how it feels to not really know english that well and always struggling for the next word. BUT ENGLISH IS MY ONLY LANGUAGE!!!

This doesn't happen only with the swing classes. I just notice it more then. No, I do this all of the time. Like the other day when I went to talk to Natalia about my leadership presentation. I didn't answer one question well. I stumbled through everything. It is like I don't actually know what I know. I store things away in a high cupboard in my mind where I can only get them down if someone pushs the cupboard over and helps me to open it.

What can I do? What can I try that will help make this better? I want to be able to talk like a normal person. I want to be able to teach like Jen does. But I just don't know how.

I have more to write about this. But I am going to save that for another day. Right now, It is my bed time and I said that i would post this before crashing. I hope that you can sleep better that that you looked into my brain a little. God Bless Blogs.

My weekend to Today

Yesterday was quite a day! This whole weekend was quite a weekend. Some highlights (and a few lowpoints):

• My phone tryed to commit suiside on friday by jumping into a cup of water when I had to brake quickly while exiting the freeway. Luckily it failed. It took 2 days to turn back on and 5 to completely dry off under the screen.

• Conversation on Friday. Good and Needed.

• My cactus now has a new home. I hope that it gets happy and stops turning yellow. :-)

• I presented Marion's Ledge to my Leadership Rice class yesterday and got a ton of feedback. We did an excercise where I presented for 5 min and then they asked me questions and I was not allowed to answer. It was great! I also had a meeting with a friend that is an architecture student and she gave me advise about the building and lots to research and think about.

• I learned that 200,000 bricks that are 1.5 X 3 inchs will take over 600 ft of 15 ft wallspace to display. That is a lot. This is what I did during my ling class.

• At half price, I discovered a book called "Selling the Dream" that is about how to evangelise anything. It is a really good book and it has totally been taking me away from the Hannagraf book that I am suppose to be reading. :-> I got a great quote from it: "You may be rich. You may be famous. You may be popular. But you won't amount to much unless you change the world."

• Last night I went to the Rice Eonfire meeting. It is a new club that is about Social Entrepenourship and is associated with Leadership Rice. Through that, I am going to get consultant training. Woot. That should help with Marion's Ledge.

• I haven't downloaded any good freeware lately. :-/

This entry is probably not that interesting to anyone. But I thought that I would write it anyway. I haven't wrote in a while.

I am currently at Taft and just finished doing A LOT of accounting. I did my homework for both today and for thursday, so it took a while. And all with a very bad headache. But that gave me an excuse to buy a Dr. Pepper. I think that heart pains are better then a migrane. :-/ I now have a choice to either read an article on customers for my Leadership class or read the hanagraff book for Religion. I think that the hanagraf book sounds more appealing. It is about the New Age movement and what it concises of.

Ok... Back to Homework...

Odd things and Pretty Rings

Random points for today:

• I just took a water out of my fridge and it is completely frozen. Completely!!! I think that I have the fridge set toooo cold.

• I appear to be getting sick. That or my lymph nodes are rebelling. pooey.

• I think that I want to go to a break dancing class. It is cool to watch and even if I try to learn basics it will be good for my muscles.

• Despite being totally unfazed by blood and gore on TV and Movies, a swollen mole on my own body can make me extremely sick to my stomach.

• oh, and I got my backpack hung on a mole on Wednesday and now the mole is swollen about 4 times it's normal size. If it doesn't go done in a couple days, I am gonna see the doctor.

• I am reading a really good book about the New Age Movement. Aptly named, "The New Age Movement" by Paul Heelas. It is well written and easy to understand. He doesn't get lost in tangents like Alan Watts (The last book I read was Beyond Theology).

• The Museum of Natural Science only plays "Dark Side of the Moon" during the Summer. I wanted to catch it one more time, but I waited too long. :-( But I did see it once this summer already. I guess that I have something to look forward to for next summer.

• MY CAR HAS AC AGAIN!!!

• I am going to help out with Lindyfest this year! I told Larry that I would like to help and he told me that he would call or email me once he puts the list together of things to be done. :-)

Crasy
I'm Thinking
Just wondern' if the world is round
I am here
dancing on the ground
every little right side up
or upside down
Is this real?
Or am I dreaming?

The world is well. At least in my life!! :-) Everything is going wonderfully right now. It is like all the I have been working on throughout my life is coming together. I am waking up early! I am walking to school! I love my classes! I just got an A+ on my Logic test!

It is awesome when the world just works. Everything is in sync. Dreams lead me. I follow. I do. I don't try. I have learned that if you just go with the flow, life can be good. It can be one hell of a ride if you let it be.

Do you believe in Magic
In a young girl's heart?
The music can free her
whenever it starts.
I'd tell you bout the magic
Let it free your soul
But it's like trying to tell a stranger
about Rock 'n' Roll.

I recently read "Beyond Theology" by Alan Watts. It is a really good book and I would recommend it for anyone interested in Christianity and/or Hinduism. It takes the idea that Hinduism is true but that Christianity can fit nicely within the frame of reference of Hinduism. It gives an appealing interp to Christianity.

My Word!! The weather today is amazing!! I have my windows open and the attic fan on and it is awesome in this apartment. I actually feels like fall and it is not technically fall yet. (ok, 2 days is close enough, but still) I makes me just happy to be alive and breathing.

So Basically:
Life is GOOD!!
Enjoy it!!