Sucess in the Form of 50,065 Words

Yes folks, that's right, Jessica actually managed to write 50,065 words in a month (26 days if you want to be exact). The massive amounts of relief and elation that I feel five days later is almost indescribable. National Novel Writing Month sounded like an adventure during the first part of the month. To be honest, it didn't even seem like all that much work. It was just 1,667 words a day. Totally doable. Then I hit the third weekend of November, when I didn't write at all because I was playing with my family and going on dates, and playing with my friends. Go figure. I got behind. I was seriously about to quit last week. I very nearly did. But then I would see my word count sitting at 40,000 and all I could think was, "But I'm so close," I pressed through the nagging to quit and came out triumphant. Words have never felt so good!

Haven't Met You Yet

You know when you find a new song that you absolutely love? This one is definitely on this list! It's also very funny that I just found this song, because I was just talking with one of my friends about finding Mr. Right, Prince Charming, My Knight in Shining Whatever (or whatever you want to call him) just the other day.

My New Best Friend...E.E. Cummings

Ever since taking AP Lit last year I have really really loved poetry. My junior year in A Cappella we sang a song with lyrics based on the poem, "since feeling is first" by E.E. Cummings. Earlier this week I was bored and have come to find that I sincerely love E.E. Cummings. His poems make my heart happy! If I could write poems like him, I might just quit this college thing and be a full time poet. Alas, I've yet to hone my poetry writing skills to do such a drastic thing...I think I'll stay in school for now. My two newest favorites are below. Enjoy them :)

because it's


because it's
SpringthingS

dare to do people

(& notthe other way
round)because it

's A
pril

Lives lead their own
persons(in
stead

of everybodyelse's)but

what's wholly
marvellous my

Darling

is that you &
i are more than you

& i(be

ca
us

e It's we)


i carry your heart with me

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart
i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

In an Unexpected Way

Last night was crazy! I was feeling very stressed out and just overwhelmed about life in general. I have a lot to do and am not managing my life (or time) nearly as well as I would like to. It's not like I'm about to sink or abandon ship or anything, life is just hard sometimes. I know that we should expect life to be hard, it's how we become who we are supposed to be. After doing my studying for the night, I turned to my scriptures. They are my refuge when I don't know what to do, and when I am momentarily distracted by all the small details to focus on the big picture. I read my scriptures and was about to go to bed, when a friend texted me a church quote. It made me smile that he would think to send me a quote right at this particular moment, and I know Heavenly Father had a part in it. My friend went on to ask about my day and how it was. I mentioned that I had been feeling rather stressed, and he wanted to know why. I was so grateful to have someone to talk to (even if it meant staying up later than I should have). After saying goodnight to my friend, I said my prayers and went to bed. When I got to my Career and Life Planning class this morning, there was another guest speaker waiting to talk to us. I thought it was going to be just like any other class. He talked to us about balancing our lives and filling our "Buckets of Love". I don't know about the rest of the world, but I don't typically expect to receive answers to prayer in an academic class. At least, it had never happened to me before. This lecture was exactly the reminder that I needed, which was a blessing. It came in an unexpected way, but I'm not one to question the way my Heavenly Father decides to help me.

We're adults. When did that happen? And how do we make it stop?

I am seriously considering running away to Neverland. Although, I guess one would technically fly to Neverland...how else do you expect to do the whole "second star to the right and straight on til' morning" thing? Plus, I don't really like running. That's a bit beside the point though. Like I said, I'm going to Neverland. Do you think they accept college freshman in Neverland? Probably not...well, maybe I'll just run away to Disneyland. Disneyland will accept anyone who is young at heart. Needless to say, life is a bit crazy between classes, exams, roommates, friends leaving on missions, friends coming home from missions, comfort books, and long reassuring conversations with Mom on the phone. Despite the insanity, life is good. Really. College town is growing on me and I'm doing all this growing up. Growing up comes with all sorts of nifty things-a dorm room with no one nagging me to turn off my light, roommates who think that musicals are opera, and a lot of responsibility. And while Neverland would be nice, I've always thought that reality must be much better than any fantasy...because even though Neverland would be safe and easy, I see myself becoming who I am supposed to be when I face challenges, and not even a trip to Neverland is worth losing that.