Just bury me with all my books, okay?

It's dead week.

I don't know how it works for other universities, but here at WWU the week before finals week is called "dead week." It's pretty intense. Hours are extended at some of the on-campus markets and drip coffee is discounted past 5 pm to fifty cents. It's called the "red-eye special" or something like that. I've been a semi-active participant in this quarter's dead week, but I did not participate in the red-eye special... I made coffee in my room. I don't remember which day it was (because time has kind of been blending together the past couple of weeks), but I remember saying to my hallmate Ashley, "I probably should have only had ONE cup of coffee at 7:30, right?"

Anxiety levels have been high and energy has been low. I had my geology lab final on Thursday, which was the cause of much freaking out (but I got a 95.76% on the final and a 95.5% in lab overall! Yay!) and an extra credit "poster" due on Friday for geology lecture (and just got credit for completing it... hah...). My dear booboo Ashley Hurlbut and I spent a decent amount of time studying for our psychology final and will continue to study more tomorrow. I have two finals on Monday, which I'm not too thrilled about. Economics is at 8:00 am, which our professor kindly reminded us will feel like 7:00 am because of Daylight Savings Time. Then the psychology final is at 3:30 pm, which I am really stressing out about because I don't tend to do well on those exams even though I feel confident about knowing the material. Also, I have an extra credit paper due for psychology on Monday, which I've been working on all day. It's about my professor's book... and is not the most exciting read in the world. I've been writing the essay as I read the book. I intend to have this finished by tonight so I can spend all day tomorrow studying for economics and psychology. Then I'll spend Monday night and most of Tuesday studying for my geology lecture lab final on Wednesday, which I'm also kind of freaking out about.

I know this is not fascinating, and some of you may have way more to do than I do. However, I'm a little bit of a mess when it comes to managing stress. I absorb in four hours what others can take in in about thirty minutes. Projects that take me ten hours can take others two hours. I freak myself out about things, which detracts from time I could be spending doing something productive. While I was quickly reviewing my notes for my geology lab final, my geology lecture professor stopped by a table where a few other students and I were sitting. He reassured us all that we'd "rock" our finals (Get it? Rock? It's Geology! Okay...) and asked about our extra credit posters for his class. Noticing the panic in my voice, he told me not to worry about it and that it will all work out.

Don't worry? Don't worry about it... Such a foreign concept that is. Though, fair enough, he was right. I shouldn't have worried about it, because he didn't even read any of the information on my poster or ask me any questions. I got the same score as I would have if I had listed the lyrics to the Friends theme song. Maybe I should actually try to not worry when people tell me to not worry.

Anyway, I've been pulling my hair out all week trying to motivate myself and give myself enough energy. Right now, however, I have WAY TOO MUCH energy. Right before dinner, I burst into laughter for basically no reason. Samber yelled across the hall, "Karissa! Kim's lost it!" or something like that, and Karissa asked me if I was already going crazy from finals. No, I'm not going crazy from finals. I'm going crazy from dead week in anticipation of finals.

It is dead week and I am dead. DEADDDDDD.

I also do not agree with anything in the book I have to write a paper on... but since my professor who will be grading the paper is the author of the book, I feel like I should probably agree with her... or write her a love letter, at least. I just need her to like me and boost my grade, right? Ha.

Since I've been so tired, though, I've done some semi-awkward things this week. (Kim, awkward? No way!) For one, I slipped on my friend Sam's roommate's backpack. I stumbled, spilled coffee on myself, and, like a true lady, cursed. That was rather embarrassing. I can't remember other specific incidences (either because I was too tired to store them in my memory or because I've tried to block them out) but I do recall feeling like I kept saying a lot of strange things inappropriate for the situation.

I hope I'm not the only person who gets like this during dead week.

Anyway. I need to finish reading my book and writing my paper, so I'm going to say farewell.

For those of you studying for finals or facing your own dead weeks right now, I wish you good luck and hope you can remain sane.

-Kim

48-hours of INCREDIBLE mess-ups, tests of friendship, and injury upon injury upon injury.

The past few weeks have been some of the shittiest weeks since I moved to California. People fighting with other people, missing my family, missing my friends, missing my boyfriend, and being busy ALL THE TIME! But.... Per usual... Life will go on.

Hoever (this is my new word. It's like "however" but more slutty.... Lets make this a thing guys), this weekend is very, very, VERY special.

Me and a group of friends have enlisted in the 48-hour-film festival where you write, cast, film, and edit an entire five-minute film in 48-hours. To those of you not in any film classes : five-minutes never feels like five-minutes.... To those of you who are in film classes: Yeah... I ALREADY want to sleep for the rest of my life.

So anyways. My day started off like this:

7:00 Woke up and set my clock back ten minutes.

7:10 Woke up and ventured onto the internet for a bit.

7:15 Finally got up and got in the shower.

8:17 Headed down to meet my group and leave for the school.

8:48 Arrived at school.

9:00 Presentation!

So at the presentation we were told that we would have to add this line of dialouge: "What do you want from me?!", this action: A slap, and this object: A lipstick tube. Fun stuff... Right? Then we got all of our equipment and stuffed it into Mary's car.

The definition of fun by the way, if you didn't know.

Then Ryan and Julie (the editors) and I all went up to an editing suite. They found creepy music for the shoot while I fixed up the script... This was all very convinient because the first line of dialouge was already "What do you want?!" So we just added... Well you know.

We made one of the murderers slap the other one in defense.

And then we pulled a lipstick tube out of the pocket of my "dead" neighbor Calvin, covered it in blood and handed it to Scarlett.

10:00 - Group goes to IHOP.

None of us had eaten. Hence why we went there. But we couldn't shoot at that time anyways, the script takes place at night so... Daylight was a no-no.

Anyways. I'm not going to talk about IHOP... I thought I should just give a breif synopsis of the film. So... Here it goes. It will be up on youtube after the film festival.

So. The film starts with Rita, a twenty-something pretty girl, is dragged into an alley way by a mysterious man. The man has a knife to her throat when another man appears. It is another murderer, Phil. These two murderers proceed to argue who's alley way it is and who gets to murder Rita.

It's a REALLY dark comedy... But.... It's also "cute" cause I write cute stuff. The idea was thought up when my friend Julie and I were talking about a competeing murderer and rapist fighting over a girl in an alley way. We changed the rapist to a murderer so we wouldn't offend anyone. But... Phil's a necrophiliac so....... Similar.

One of the characters is based completely off of one of our friends here. Sam. He's great. He's SOOOOO funny and he's from Vermont and he's just so sweet. His character walks in murders a guy then walks up to the original two murderers and Rita and talks to them all politly.

Sam's great.

But everything else in the script was baisically me, sitting in front of my computer, cracking myself up.

10:30 - went back to dorms and gathered all of the things that we needed (though we still forgot the flashlight).

11:30 - We left for the location (an alleyway).

12:00 - Arrived at the alley way.

We blocked and talked and dillydalied for about six hours until the sun went down/ our actors came. It was AWFUL.

2:35 - Scarlett (our lead actress) calls and tells me she'll have to be late.

3:40 - Actors arrive....

Yeah... That was fun. We got all the actors there super early to rehearse then Scarlett had to leave and couldn't return until six. So we worked with the guys. The two guys bickering read through lines and stuff. Sam and Calvin (my neighbor) got to practice their "fight" scene. Where Sam kills Calvin.

That lasted till....

5:40 - Everything is set up and now we wait for Scarlett.

There was this one adult from Singapore that WOULD NOT LEAVE US ALONE I almost tore his face off. I finally told him to leave. It took much argument but he left. I mean, the guy was like, I'm a director, I've done this before, I'm making a feature.... ARG SO ANNOYING!

6:00 - Filming starts.

The first section of filming went perfect. The only problem was a few lines and continuity stuff. After that, anything that went badly was a combination of competitiveness, annoyance, and exhaustion. Half of our camera work looks like a five year old did it and whenever I yelled at people they were all hurt about it. I'm small, I have to yell.

Shit... I'm so tired I can't even see straight.

Anyways....

11:18 - Filming ends.

We were all pretty much dead. I hadn't sat for six hours at tha point and I had needed to pee since seven but hadn't. We planned to leave at midnight but.... We left early.... It as nice :) So.... We left...

11:35 - We all head home.

No all that is left to do is editing and seeing if we need to go back and get another shot. Yeah... The other shot thing might happen.

12:00 - Home, tired.

1:00 ish - started writing this blog.

Now I'm trying to think of a way to phrase my happiness and excitement towards this project. There are so many great things about it. I mean... I wrote the script and directed it but....... Those aren't the ONLY reasons it's great. I'm really excited about the project because I'm 99% sure I am quitting the production company afterwards :D

What I have learned from this shoot is that you can't always get what you want... You have to deal... Cause if you don't.... Someone might poison your muffins. You never, ever know.

For me, this experience has broght me back to what I said waaaaay back in October..... THIS is where I want to be and WHAT I WANT to do.... I'm happy being on the verge of total exhaustion. It takes me away from all the pain I have been feeling for like ever and brings me into the creation of something new.

Anyways.... I can't see straight... So I guess I will talk to you all in a few week.

- Berlyn

P.S. I reference three murderers in the script. The green river killer was one of them and half of the people had no idea who he was lol. Yep. I am from Auburn, WA totally.

Think I can jump from this building to the next without falling? WATCH ME.

So I've always known I'm not a very risky person. I'm just not. I've always been the overly cautious one who asks, "Are we allowed to do this?" And I've never really liked that about myself. I'm sure it's probably gotten me out of a lot of dangerous situations, but sometimes I wish I could be the adventurous one. The Tommy Pickles of the real world, you know?

So I dyed my hair pink. No, not all the way pink, but the bottom layer of my hair is pink and so is a highlight on the top. I understand that dying my hair is not exactly the same as taking a spontaneous road trip with the guy you just met at the grocery store at 2 am when you had just finished riding your motorcycle on the edge of a building. However, it was slightly impulsive and I didn't ask my mother first, so it's a good baby step.

Right?

It wasn't even something I thought about doing. Brēnna asked if I wanted to go to the store to get hair dye because she just wanted to DO SOMETHING. Do something? I want to do something. I want to dye my hair, too. Let's do it. Let's go catch a bus.

See, I always thought that if I were to dye my hair, it would be a more practical color like auburn. Not pink. Though pink was not the color I intended on in the first place... I bought purple hair dye. My hair was purple, too, until I took a shower. (Creepiest shower I have ever taken by the way... There was purple EVERYWHERE. It was dripping all down me and splattering on the curtain and the walls... I swear, it looked like Barney was getting murdered.) Then toward the end of the shower, it wasn't purple anymore. It was PINK.

I like it though, so my hair turning the wrong color isn't such a big deal. I walked with confidence the next day. I felt like a different person. Of course, random students walking past me would have no idea that my hair had not been pink before, but I knew. That's what mattered. I knew that I did something somewhat out of character, and even though it was minor it meant something to me.

I mean, when else am I going to have the opportunity to dye my hair some crazy color? Samber and I were talking about that because she was considering a purple streak in her hair. She said, "I mean, it's not like I'm going to be a 40-year-old mom and dye my hair purple. If not now, when?" EXACTLY. Now is the time to take risks. I'm not condoning stupid, reckless behavior (though the adrenaline rush is sure to make it worth it... for the time being).

Me being me, however, I over-analyzed the situation and turned it into one of those after-school specials. Even this one minuscule risks turned out the wrong way for me... My hair is not the color I intended it to be. So with every risk I take, something unplanned will happen. Maybe I'm just not meant for risks. Maybe a greater risk will have greater consequences. Oh goshhh, I'm boring!

Though some of that is definitely right, I cannot live my life like that. Yeah, there may be consequences to risks, but there are consequences to NOT taking risks as well. I don't want to live my life scared of what might happen if I step out of my comfort zone. I think that as long as there is a good balance and I'm still a little cautious and smart about taking risks, then that change is good.

So yeah, maybe I'm not the most spontaneous person ever. Maybe I'm not the one people go to when they want to go on an adventure. But I've got PINK HAIR, and dang it, you can't take that away from me. (Urg, that reminds me... My psychology professor was lecturing about Identity vs. Role Confusion and how teenagers go through a stage of finding out who they are. She was saying how adolescents do crazy things like dye their hair and pierce themselves, when the two girls sitting behind Ashley and me said "Hot pink." I just turned around and looked at them, then they did a little innocent gasp and giggled. Bitches. I like my hair. I don't like your voices, so shut up :) heh... Okay, I'm done being hostile.)

I remember during senior year of high school I had this deal with one of my best friends, Brianne, that we would do something new every day that was unusual for ourselves. One night after making this pact, Berlyn was with me. She was trying to help me think of something to do. I had NO IDEA what to do. So we got in her car and headed toward Lover's because I had never been there before. It was closed. We just drove around and tried to think of something out of my ordinary to do... because that's what we do. We think a lot. I think I'm getting used to the fact that I just think about everything far too long and sometimes miss my chance. Oh well. Thinking is good for college, right?

Right?

College, or at least this age, is the time where many people discover who they are and where their boundaries lie. I'm going to dye my hair, but I'm not going to shave my head. She's going to go to a party and drink a little, but she's not going to get drunk and drive her car home. He's going to ask an attractive lady out on a date, but he's not going to try to get into her pants. I mean, there is ALWAYS going to be opportunities for risk taking in life, but I feel as though they're more present at this age. Or at least the reckless or stupid ones are. Quitting your job when you're older because you're unhappy and then looking for a new job? That's a risk. It can backfire, but it can also be beneficial. You just have to figure out if the benefits outweigh the risks.

Love, your pink-haired friend,

Kimberly

Above: It might be hard to see because it's small, but here's the upper layer. There isn't much pink... Unless I put my hair up.

Below: Bottom layer.

I need to get off of this bus....

I'm willing to bet all the money in my accont (which isn't any) that all of you have gone on some sort of roadtrip at some point in your life. Whether it was with your family, or your friends, or your significant other across the country or just a few hours away. I am also willing to bet all of the money in my wallet (which isn't any) that none of you (or very few) have gone on a eight and a half hour road trip with about one hundred strangers....
Am I right? Am I right?

Last week I was suffering from a significant amount of panic attacks because I was to board a Greyhound bus and ride for eight and a half hours to Arizona.
What I was worried about was missing the bus... Or getting off the bus for a "break" and coming back to see it had gone. Thinking about this all still worries me...
Why was I riding this bus?
To visit my boyfriend, Axl, in Arizona.

Now. Having panic attacks is one thing. However, having nightmares is another.
I had a nightmare that I missed the bus and had to call Axl and tell him that I missed the bus and that I wasn't going to make it to Arizona.
He cried.

I woke up and lost my head.
And that was a week BEFORE I was supposed to get on the bus... So that left me to freak out for a whole week.

BUT.
Getting on the bus wasn't as bad as my mind wanted to convince me it was.
On Thursday the tenth... I left my aunts house for Hollywood. We got there and checked my bag and went over to Sharkey's mexican grill to wait.
I had tofu tacos... A strange idea, I know, but they were pretty damn good.

Anyways. After we ate, I got on the bus.
The first way was weird. Their were a bunch of gansta looking people who were loud and talkative... Like they had been friends for life.
But everyone switched buses in LA.

I had to go through a bag check and the guy telling us what terminal to go to told me I was beautiful... (Thank you sir).... And then I snuck onto the bus leaving at 2:45 instead of catching the bus I was supposed to at 4:30.... I know. I'm a rebel.

I took a seat towards the back of the bus and got comfortable.
The bus ride to Arizona wasn't very full. People sat around me but never next to me... This was because almost everyone had their own seats. This was nice. I could lay out and put my backpack next to me... All kinds of nice stuff. Except the bus stopped all the time.
My favorite stop?
I don't know the town but it was seriously after having been on the bus for ten minutes we stopped to pick up more people. I didn't get off the bus, cause I was scared, so I starred out the window at this house that sat not far from the station.

Not only did this house have a shed built out of random metal objects.... But it also had about twenty different sized manaquins nailed to the roof... They were dressed in clothes and doing at least one of the following activities: Driving a car, riding a bike, or FALLING OFF OF THE ROOF.
Yeah... Some were children, some were adults... I swear the two driving the car were gremlins.
It was so weird.
The guy sitting behind me kept trying to convince his sleeping wife that the house had people on the roof. She wasn't buying it.

"Honey. Baby. This house has people all over the roof. Their riding bikes and stuff."
"Stop it Frank"

Yeah. It was great. As we drove out of the parking lot I tried to catch a glimpse of anything telling me that this house was a museum of junk but no such luck... I wonder if it really is just someone's house.
After that, not much of the trip was very exciting. It got really dark on the bus and the drowsiness from my meds wore off... So I was left to watch cars pass on the freeway.
The weirdest things that happened on the way was we would pass cars, with their lights on, in the grassy ditches beside the freeway... I was wondering why they were sitting there. Were people having sex? Were people doing drug deals? Were people waiting for the money so they could return the annoying little girl in the back seat to her parents?
I guess I'll never know.
But this led me to think.... Would the greyhound bus stop if there was a murder happening on the side of the road? Would the driver pull over and try to help the person in trouble?
Just wondering.

Eventually I pulled out my computer and typed and when I finished typing I played Sims 3... My house caught fire.... Everyone lived but this was seriously the first time that had ever happened. I was appalled.
I had to stop playing shortly afterwards....

Then I was left to stare out into the dark gloom that is night.

We stopped for a dinner break in Blithe (great name...)... The bus driver told us to be careful walking across the street to KFC... What does that say about this place?
Anyways. I stayed on the bus forever. Afraid to get off. I finally did, telling myself to get a Nuerosleep (you know they have Nuero-Overhangovers now? crazy...) because I had slept so much on the bus I was unsure I'd be able to sleep once I got to Axl.
So I got off the bus and went into the gas station. They didn't have the drink so I got gum and a blue icee (cause that's always plan B (if they don't have this I'm gettin a blue icee)). I was standing in line and heard:

"Hey mister bus driver!"

It was this odd looking black dude. The man who replied was a short man with a pointed nose... I assumed he was our bus driver but he was another buses driver.
ANyways. They proceeded to get in an arguement about why the guy couldn't get a beer.

"What if you didn't know I consumed the beer?"
"Well I would smell it on your breath and I would have to ask you to get off of the bus"
"Well what if you couldn't tell. I hold my alcohol really well"
"I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY PEOPLE CAN'T JUST HOLD THEIR LIQUOR FOR SIX HOURS!"

The bus driver was in line (in front of me and two others) this whole time. The cashier just stood their like:

"Sir? You're total is...."
"Sir? You're all rung up?"
"Sir?"

Poor guy.

I got my stuff and got on the bus and then the rest of the way back wasn't a big deal.
Long. But not a big deal.

It was so cute though... I walked into the station and Axl turned around and like attacked me. It was so nice to see him. He really should be here with me... Because that was the original plan... But he has to be there. SO it just sucks. It's hard to be happy about much of anything when a big piece of your puzzle is missing.

I was there until sunday.
Then I had to get back on the bus. This way.... The bus was PACKED... They had to turn people away....

I sat next to a trucker who sat next to me because he wanted to sit beside two other truckers. Yeah... Fun...
I think I slept 90% of the way...

However... There was a drug addict on the bus.

Thirty minutes into the ride she started screaming at this guy to stop staring at her. We pulled over and the driver (who sounded like George Bush but looked like Cleavland Brown from Family Guy) tried to confront her but she barricaded herself in the bathroom.
She was okay the rest of the way. Everytime i went to the back of the bus to throw something away I could hear the other people talking about how insane she was.
At one point I was waiting to pee. And she was staring at me whispering..
"I don't care about this girl... I don't like this girl"
To herself.
I was like... I just want to pee can't this person hurry the hell up?!

She also smelt like piss.

This cute couple sat in the seats across from me and they would gossip about the girl. It was bad.

The only thing that was cool about the ride back was those windmills that collect energy from the wind. Serious... Miles and miles of these things.
It was beautiful... And strange at the same time.
My favorites were the ones that were broken and their pieces lay on the ground.. Unmoving...

My friend Tyler picked me up and when I got back I unpacked and watched the grammies with friends.
It was okay.

I really don't enjoy riding the bus...
It's gross and crunched for space and so many other things. But unfortunatly it's the only way to see Axl.... Which sucks.
It just goes to show that a lot of the time in life you have to suck it up and deal.
Otherwise you don't get want you want.

What about all of you? Have any of you had a crazy trip that you would like to share? How did you feel afterwards and why did you have to go on it in the first place?

- Berlyn

P.S. Sorry if this blog was all over the place.

P.P.S. The picture above came from an article titled "details on horrific Greyhound bus killings"... Yeah I don't know.

I think we should all live in Candyland today. Or be best friends with Tinkerbell.

Aww man, it's that time of the year again... You know what I mean. Do I even have to say it? Okay, for those of you who are hiding under a rock and are unaware... today is the anniversary of the day Richard Nixon planted all his sneaky little taping systems around the White House! Ha, nah (well, that is true... but not what I feel like writing about) it's Valentine's Day... Yay!

Little (and not so little) kids all over the place are gracefully shoving their faces with candy. Tastay. Man, choosing who got which mass-produced Valentine's Day card was such an ordeal for me when I was little. I'd cover my bedroom floor with all of them and have my little list of my classmates out and freak out over "Who gets what card?! I can't give the wrong one to the wrong person!!" Yeah... I mean, you couldn't give an overly friendly card to a boy or he would think you liked him. You didn't want to give all your best friends the same card, but how would you decide who gets the nicest one? It's like choosing who you like more. Yeah, I spent too much time with those cards. It was so much fun though.

Even when you were little there was a little bit of pressure on all the Valentine's Day hoopla... But now it's just ridiculous. Teenagers and college-aged young adults are freaking out weeks (or days, to the men out there) in advance about what they should do.

What would he like?

What should I get him to make him know how much I love him?

What would that gift SAY about me?

Is that too corny? Is it just corny enough?

Aww crap, Valentine's Day is tomorrow... Wal-Mart teddy bear, a rose and discount chocolate it is!

I remember silently freaking out in sophomore year of high school about what to get my boyfriend of the time. I finally asked my friend Steffi if she had any suggestions and somehow we ended up asking a boy in our class what he would like.

"Sex," is what he replied.

"Uhm, yeah no," I oh-so-cleverly responded. "Any other ideas?"

"I'd have to think about it..."

Come to think of it, I don't even remember what I ended up getting him... I just remember all the things I THOUGHT about getting him. Oh my. Haha. I think I made him a really terrible mixed CD or something. Probably... Yeah. Probably one full of my "Oh my goodness, you should pay attention to every single lyric in every single song on this CD so you can know exactly how I feel about you and us and me and you and then it'll be perfect and uhhhduhhhhhh" compilations...

I can't even imagine how it is for married couples. I mean, if you're married, I feel like holding the commitment to stay together is a great enough present for ANY day, isn't it? I mean, yeah, flowers are probably a decent idea, but why do so many people think there has to be some big romantic gesture involved? It all seems kind of unnecessary to me... but then again, I'm slightly cynical when it comes to the idea of "love" so what do I know?

I think maybe I'm one of those girls who thinks she hates Valentine's Day but would appreciate a cute little gift as long as it wasn't a regular run-of-the-mill presents... I'm not one for expectations. I don't like to have them and I don't want to be held tog them. Valentine's Day just seems like the biggest day for expectations... aside from your wedding anniversary (oh my goodness, that would be stressful).

This is my first single Valentine's Day in three years. I honestly don't really care, but it could be nice if I had a nice gentleman to romantically pour my NyQuil for me later tonight (oh yes, I'm sick. The area around my bed is a mess, I'm in my bathrobe, and I keep doing this really adorable coughing my organs out thing... Wouldn't you want to spend the day with me, baby?).

I don't like or dislike Valentine's Day. It's over tomorrow. If it lasted a week, then I'd probably hate it with a hot, fiery passion, but it doesn't.

For those of you who love Valentine's Day and are doing something fun today, go you! I hope you have a fantastic time. Maybe let me know what your plans are.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxxoxoxoxoxxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

HUGS AND KISSES

I LOVE YOU BBY GRRRLLL

-Kim

Being an adult.

It's funny how other people's lives, thoughts, opinions, and actions can affect (I'm pretty sure it's affect.... Not effect...) us.

For example.

I am an atheist.

Now, for some people that's whatever. About 30% of my friends are atheist, or pretty effing close to being ones.

However, for some people the thought is simply too much.

I have met many a people that I tell "I don't believe in God" and they hear: "Please, save me. I'm going to hell".... Don't get me wrong, not all of my god-believing friends feel they have to save me. It's just a few.

I had a conversation the other day with three of my newer friends (friends that go to my college). Let me describe to you how weird this group was:

There was, Me, the Atheist.

A Christian.

A Jew.

and A Gay Guy (he's religious, it's just kind of a struggle).

My Jewish friend and my Gay friend really could care less about what I believe in or don't believe in. But my Christian friend is a different story.

I think the one thing that bothered me the most (besides her saying that there was no possible way evolution started on it's own... AND what proof do we have that humans evolved from anything) was she kept repeating: "It's just easier for everyone to imagine that there is a higher power. Isn't that easier for you too."

She got pissed when I said no...

I'll be straight with you guys.

I don't believe in god. I don't believe in heaven and I don't believe in hell.

I don't believe there is "sin" I only believe that their are criminal acts and mistakes.

I'm fine without belief. I don't need it. I haven't since I was in eighth grade and wanted to die.

... We'll get into this suicide thing at another date.

The other thing she got angry at was the fact that I don't think their is a heaven. She was all mad and asked me if I'm scared of dying because I think there is nothing afterwards. I said yeah, death is scary. Even when I did believe in heaven I was scared of dying. No ammount of belief can take away MY fear of death. But I'm okay with that. I mean. I have other fears to worry about more than death. Like my fear of the future. Death and the future are the same in an essence. You don't know what will happen, how it will happen, or what it wiil be like. The future is more scary to me cause I can still fuck things up.

Last.... I believe that everything started with a mutation. I don't know how it started or why but I believe it didn't start with a god. A. Look at the similarities of every species. It's amazing (my friend would argue that it's so amazing it had to be created by a god....), B. The stars have so much in common with us. Go and look up gaseous pillars... They make stars. Let me say this again: THEY MAKE STARS. It's so cool. Read up. Stars have a lot of elements in common as humans and other living things do. I believe we are what Carl Sagan called "stary stuff" (Look that up too).

Don't get me wrong... I think faith is great. Hold on to faith as long as you possibly can. If that's your whole life... Swell! Good on you, mate. But, for some of us, losing faith is easy.

Again. I'll be straight with you guys.

It's easy to lose faith in everything when you hate your father, you watch your family break apart, when you want to die, when you are scared of so many things, and when you watch the news and see all this cray shit going on.

I'm going to move on soon. Don't worry.

I'll just repeat myself once more: I think faith is great. I have nothing against any religion. I just hate how much some religions hate other people.

Moving on.

What I started with at the begining was how someones actions can change the way we feel about them.

For me... If you share something you believe with me. Most of the time I will not suddenly change my thoughts on you.

For example:

Sally believes that homosexuality is a sin.

(Sally's fake...)

I wouldn't care. That's Sally's belief. Sure I might argue with her a few times. Tell her that if you love someone you should be able to love someone without being judged or hated. But for the most part I would be able to carry on my relationship with Sally if I really wanted to stay her friend.

It's the same with my Christian friend.

She has her beliefs. I have mine.

The only time I struggle with staying people's friends is when they wrong me, lie to me, or murdered someone.

If you came up to me and said:

"Berlyn, I killed my mother in cold blood."

I would respond:

"Friend, that's creepy and though I enjoy our friendship I will have to put an end to it."

And that's understandable.

Right? Would you stay friends with your friend if they murdered someone?

However, for some peop

le, you bring up one thing and they immediatly don't want to talk to you anymore. And this goes for everything.

In middle school and the start of high school, Everything that my friends did was a big deal.

"You smoked pot, oh my god!"

"You had sex! Oh my GOD!"

"You ran away from home! Oh my god!"

I mean everything. I will never forget all the phone calls I got where I answered and heard crying on the other line followed by:

"I don't know what to dooooooooooo!"

Those years it was hard not to change your opinions on friends. We were all young. We were all growing at different paces so yeah... It was hard to keep the same friendship with people after they had taken that huge step and I still hadn't. You know?

But nowadays it's different. We're adults. We're supposed to act like adults, at least for the most part.

I'll admit, sometimes I have the tendencies of a two year old and sometimes, when I'm tired, I'll act like a five year old, and other times when someone hurts my feelings my reaction will be similar to the reaction of a seven year old.

Sometimes I see a lot of my middle school self in what I am today. Other times I see my high school self.

But for the most part I find myself acting like someone I have never acted like before. The adult me.

Sure. She'll change as time goes on. But this me doesn't take shit from other people, gets her stuff done but has time for fun, and this me doesn't judge people as much as the me from all my other ages.

I think.

As time goes on. That this time will prove to be the best time of my life. College life. Not because of the partying and the fun.

But because of the people you meet and the growing you go through. I've never felt so adult in my life.

I only wish that other people could go through life. Meet people. Learn about these people. And continue to be friends with them. No matter their beliefs. No matter their fears or insecurities. No matte anything.

Just accept and move on.

So... Yeah :)

- Berlyn

P.S. I HATED Harry Potter Four. Hated it. But I did laugh at one thing... My favorite quote:

"Said Sirius Seriously"

P.P.S. I don't ever do this but I am going to reccomend a movie. It's called Grizzly Park it is probably one of the funniest shit movies I have seen in a long time and is totally worth it. Get it on netflix. Find it on the internet. Do something because it's funny and I want to be able to talk about it with all of you.

Oh the front cover it literally says: Eight Juveiniles. Six weeks in the forest. It's gonna be a bear.

So good. Do it.

Yum...

Every week I look forward to Thursday nights.

I hate Thursday classes (two-hour econ class... that I slept through today... I hit "end" instead of "snooze" on my alarm... whoops... and two-hour long geology lab is also awful... but I went to that... kay) but Thursday nights are AWESOME.

Why?

LATE NIGHT NACHOS.

And warm cookies, but those aren't as exciting to me.

Anyway. I don't really have anything I want to write about. I just wanted to let you know how happy I am that it is Thursday night, for I really enjoy nacho nights with Brēnna.

I hope you have something equally as exciting to look forward to.

-Kimber