don't wear it out

I'm tempted to go to bed without ringing in the new year. Honestly, I'm a bit over it. Having parties and watching a ball drop on TV is just sort of lame. Sure it's a new year, but it's not like it's going to be drastically different world when the clock hits midnight. Let's be real. It's already 2012 in half the world. It's been 2012 in Australia for like ever. [I don't know the time difference but isn't it like 10 hours? I have no clue.] Although I think it'd be neat to be in Times Square for the New Year, I can't say I see any reason to celebrate this day any different than any other. We should be thankful we've made it this far. Thank God for all the good He's brought and thank Him for bringing us through the trials. He provides and will continue to provide regardless of whether it's a new year or not. I don't know. I'm just feeling a little cynical about the whole craze about a new year. Why does the new year get celebrated but not a new month? No one posts Facebook statuses saying "Yes, April's been great, can't wait to see what May's got in store!". Maybe I should start something. ha.
Whatever. Party on, friends. I'll probably be sleeping. Might as well live up to my nickname my roommates pegged for me. Might as well ring in the new year like any other night...sleeping before midnight. I'm probably the coolest kid there is. I'm more in a chill mood, rather than a whoooohoooo mood so that's probably why at this time I could care less it's going to be 2012 in like 2 hours. I'm so exciting.

i'm making a list

but i'm not checking it twice...i'm not santa. sorry to disappoint. i know it appears that way in this photo..
I'm actually making a list of all the places etc I'd like to visit/see while I'm abroad. I know I won't necessarily get to see them all so I'm trying to prioritize, which will come later. Not now. this is the in the works list of places I'd like to go while I'm "across the pond".
1. Loch Ness
2. Loch Lomond
3. Isle of Skye
4. Sterling
5. London
       - this includes a lot obviously but highlights would be anything related to HP, "Great Britain Grand? Hotel?" [which is actually a pub...], Hillsong Church, London Bridge, Big Ben, and it'd be sweet to ride in a double decker bus. Are the guards with the furry hats in London too? Wow. lots in London. Whoo.
6. Norway. It's in my blood.
7. The original IKEA in Sweden
8. France..Paris?
9. Shetland Island/Isle whatever..there are ponies there.
10. The Arctic Circle? yeah that's pushing it.
11. Exploring Edinburgh is a given.
12. Ireland
13. The Alps?
To be continued...

all i can say right now

generic end of the year, looking back. except i don't even want to go back a whole year. that's much too long. i feel like i'm always taking time to reminisce and look back on the past. and i probably shouldn't do it so much. i'm trying to live in the present here people! looking back usually just makes me sad. so that's why i'm just going to highlight this past semester and try not to feel too sad by the end.
let's start by saying, this semester was amazing. it really was. so many awesome, life goal sorts of things. well really only like 1. haha and that was getting my picture with David Crowder. Can we just pause for a moment and honor DC*B? Because let's get real here...that was the whole reason I really was interested in Baylor. Obviously God had more up his sleeve, getting me to actually end up at Baylor and meet so many spectacular people. He's also done real well in getting my crazy fangirl dreams to come true too. =) So thanks God! haha I'm really not a crazy fangirl. You probably don't believe me. I'm actually the epitome of cool and collected and probably would not have had such experiences if I were my usual chicken self. I'm actually realllly awkward about meeting people in general so multiple that by like 12 and you've got me when I'm meeting someone I really respect and think is the coolest thing since sliced bread. But desperate times call for desperate measures so that's why I stood outside for like an hour waiting for David to come to his tour bus when I went to the 7 tour in Dallas because it was the last time I'd ever get to have that chance to get my picture with him unless I just ran into him randomly in Waco. And the only thing I could think to ask is "How tall are you?" Really Beth? There is so much more I could've said in that moment but I'm horrific at putting my thoughts into words. So if David ever reads this, please know that I really do think you're so fantastic and really, your music has changed my life and gotten me where I am today and I like to think that someday in Heaven we can be BFFs. [that no where near accurately describes how thankful I am for DC*B but we'll just leave it at that.] I actually just had a dream last night with the band in it. Seriously. It was great. If real life could be a DC*B concert all the time, I'm pretty sure I'd be set for life. Hold up. I'm not even talking about what I originally intended. Am I surprised? No. My mind moves too fast when I get one blog idea; a million more take that chance to jump on the boat too. Not okay! Ah.
whatever, talking about how fabulous DC*B is is way better than getting all sad looking back at the past. Because even if this semester really was such a blessed semester, I'd somehow end up talking about more stuff from my past that I'm sad no longer applies to my life, how losing friends sucks and blah blah blah. All that matters right now is that I know I am blessed beyond belief by a God who loves me to the ends of this earth and I will always be loved that much and if I could just get it in my head that He's ALWAYS got a good plan for my life even if I don't see it, I just have to remember to let Go[d]. Heyo. I know you see what I did there. =)  Tricky tricky.
Okay, enough of this. I'm getting all rambly.
I'll just go watch more of Modern Family. =)

i've got neuroscience on the brain

oooh so puny. let's be real. this is just to help me study. so unless you're interested in neuroscience or just want to see how much I'm going to tell you....you really don't need to feel like you have to read this. although there's some good stuff in here.

let me tell you the parts of the nervous system. we've got the CNS and the PNS. The PNS is made up of the autonomic [internal] and somatic [external] systems, which break further into afferent [advance, arrive] and efferent [exit, escape]. Then off of the efferent part of the autonomic we have the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems. the sympathetic system deals with arousal. the parasympathetic deals with relaxation.
The CNS gets crazy. Ready? It's the spinal cord and the brain. The brain has 5 divisions: telencephalon, diencephalon, mesencephalon, metencephalon, myelencephalon. All of those minus the tele one are part of the brain stem. The telencephalon is the most complex. It's made up of the hippocampus, cerebral cortex, basal ganglia, and limbic system [Harry Can't Be Lumos]. The basal ganglia is made up of caudate, putamen, amygdala, globus pallidus [Cedric Plays A Game]. The limbic system is as follows: hippocampus, septum, fornix, amygdala, mammillary bodies, cingulate cortex.[Hagrid Sees Fluffy At My Castle].

On to other stuff. How about the 6 things that make up Neo-Darwinism? Okay! Even Lily Has Called Severus Great. 1. Environment 2. Life 3. Heredity 4. Continuity 5. Sex 6. Genetics

Now the 6 Methods of Brain Damage? 1. Tumors- can be infiltrating or encapsulating, malignant or benign, or metastatic. 2. Cardiovascular diseases- these are like strokes, ischemic thrombosis, arterosclerosis, etc.. 3. Closed Head injuries- concussions! When you get a bunch of concussions that are all fairly little over time that's called punch drunk syndrome 4. Brain Infections- bacterial or viral 5. Neurotoxins- mecury, lead 6. Genetic Factors-PKU, Downs

Then there's epilepsy and the different types of seizures. We've got 1. Generalized- gran mal vs petit mal. When you think of what a seizure is you probably think of the whole shaking and the tongue etc...that's gran mal. Petit mal is an absence seizure. 2. Partial- simple or complex. Simple have motor and sensory symptoms, complex have psychological symptoms.

Onto some more diseases! Parkinson's, Huntington's, Alzheimer's.
1. Parkinson's- movement disorder, I think this is the one that's like a lizard? Don't ask. I don't know where that came from.
2. Huntington's- this is genetic. If you've got the gene, it's unavoidable and terminal. If your mom or dad has the gene there's a 50% chance you'll get it too. This is also motor related, then intellectual as it progresses.
3. Alzheimer's- dementia is the main thing that categorizes it. only able to definitely diagnosis with an autopsy bc of the neurofibullary tangles and these other things umm amyloid plaques. Lovely.

I think that's all I've got for ya now. Do you know your memory? Betcha don't as well as I do! You've got to encode before you can consolidate and then you have to retrieve. Consolidation is how you make memory and it doesn't happen right away. It's like an ice cube tray. It takes a while for that water to turn to ice. If you shake it before it's done...oh no. Alcohol, closed head injuries and ECT can all mess up consolidation. H.M is the most famous case that has brought us so much knowledge on memory. He had a bilateral medial temporal lobectomy. meaning that that part was completely cut out of his brain. not like a lobotomy which just cut but not removed. He had really bad seizures but then after the surgery he was much better! Except his memory suffered. He had AWFUL anterograde memory. meaning forming new memory didn't really happen. explicitly at least. Based on some tests like the mirror something or other and the .....AHHHH I DON'T EVEN CARE ANYMORE. DAVID CROWDER'S LAST ALBUM IS AVAILABLE FOR PREORDER ON AMAZON. BEST DISCOVERY TODAY. THANK GOODNESS I'M ALONE IN THIS STUDY ROOM SO I COULD FREAK OUT AND NOT EMBARRASS MYSELF!
finals...psh. i know what i'm listening to when i'm flying to scotland. it comes out the day i leave. heck yes. good thing i don't leave till the evening that day either so i'll for sure get it before i leave. or i better. that'd really suck if i didn't. which is why i might see if my awesome friend heather, who is going to PASSION 2012 will buy me a copy of the cd there because it'll be available to all attendees. jealous. David Crowder is my favorite person ever. and he doesn't even realize it. He's why I came to Baylor. What? yeah. if you didn't already know that, now you do. i don't share that because people don't understand. obviously.

summer job summer job summer job

ahhhhhhh. spring hill wants me for their day camps this summer!!! how awesome is that?! things are definitely looking more set than they ever were last summer. haha. i'll actually have a real set, 5-6 days a week job! ptl. literally just got off the phone with the day camp guy/the guy who interviewed me who is kinda the coolest guy ever and i've never even met him. what? whoa. so many emotions right now. i'm going crazyyy.

except, i kinda would rather have a job with forest park summer camp. but i can't apply for that one until i get home. dangnabbit.
but then i kinda really love the spring hill people and everything they're about and forest park isn't on that same line. i'd be way closer to home working at forest park though and that'd be nice after being away at school in texas then abroad in scotland. soooo yeah.
this is shaping into the thoughts of me making a pros/cons list. all about lists so this could be good. or it could just make my decision harder. bahhh.
i have so much on my plate right now, i'm feeling a little overwhelmed. finals. social work app. visa app. finals. financial aid crap. ahhh

let's talk about...

how i went running this morning for the first time in over a month,
how it was like 20 degrees out [at least the 'feels like' temperature was that..it was technically 32]
either way, it wasn't actually that horrible of a run.
how now i'm just here trying to get loose ends tied and stupid financial stuff taken care of so I can have all I need for my application for the School of Social Work. That'd be kinda lame if the only reason I didn't get in is because I couldn't get my transcript because of some hold on my account.

let's talk about how I have so much to do and so little time till the end of the semester, till I'm off to Scotland, till I will have little contact with anyone I know and how I'm kinda freakin' out a little.
how I have been prayed over by so many people in preparation for me studying abroad next semester. how lovely that feels to know there are people who are here supporting me through prayer. I believe in the power of prayer. Thank you Jesus.

how I'm not really sure what I was thinking when I thought I'd go study abroad across the ocean where I know absolutely no one and I have so many unknowns related to that. Please tell me I'm not crazy. I'm just going against the grain of my life. I pretty much hate not knowing things and I'm going somewhere where I will probably feel very lonely for the first week or two and uncertain about everything. Being independent isn't something I particularly enjoy either. I like it to an extent, but in the extent that I won't really have anyone to hold on to so to speak while in Scotland, figuring out stuff on my own makes me nervous that I'm doing it wrong or when I can't figure something out I shut down. That's not really a good thing. Obviously, becoming more independent is like the biggest thing that people get out of studying abroad. It will definitely be a stretching experience and I'm probably going to be uncomfortable and unsure a lot, but hey, that's where trusting God comes in. Thank God for God. ha. is that even possible? whatever, I just know that studying abroad is going to be a time where I can't let God get away. Well I can't let myself lose sight of God and push Him to the backburner. I will need Him every day, every moment, and it's going to be a sweet time living life and trusting that God will work things out when things get tough or confusing or whatever. Can I make I sidenote and say that I'm pretty sure this whole semester has grown me like exponentially more than I did last year or at all in high school? Yeah. That's what college is. Win. I think I really like it. I haven't really figured it all out and probably never will, but I'm all about getting closer to Jesus and working at being more like Him and obeying Him and letting Him take control and whatever. It's literally the hardest thing for me, but I'm growing so much and changing into the person God desires me to be, slowly but surely. I'm so excited to look back on college and say, holy cow, I changed so much and it's AWESOME. All that to say, I still have a longgggg way to go.
I'm not sure if any of this blog makes any sense, I think I got totally off topic and rambled which isn't a surprise at all, but ya know. It's cool. more power to you if you made it this far and actually got something out of this.
now i gotta go work on my social work application.