Get Serious

I need to work on my photography. I haven't done anything for a while other than the occasional sky, or family shot. Plus I need to start walking and riding my bike again...I'm gainin some unwanted chub xD. Ah, I've just been concentrated on school a lot this year (Two 4.0 s in a row!) Which is good...but I have been better physically.

Goals:
-Get healthy (stop being a lazy bum.)
-Take some pictures (actually do Senior Pictures and other portraits)
-Do monthly projects. (Starts next month! So...in like 2 days.)

Project Ideas: Photography
-A photo of a new place each day/ week of the month (explore!)
-Go geocache and take a photo of each place (try to hit each place in my little town)
-A stranger a day

I'm still considering my options. If anyone does indeed read this, please feel free to leave suggestions.

There is a two-week "Art Camp" sort of thing during the summer at CIA (Cincinnati Institute of Art) that I am kind of interested it. I would be going for Imaging. It gives me 3 college credits and a good experience to see if I really would want to do photography. I am also considering going to college for art education at a college level (high school is not a place I would like to visit again and I love little kids but I would like to teach more advanced techniques....and have a secure job.) Mom thinks I should look into being an English teacher but...eh we'll see.

I'm not quite sure how much the camp costs...one moment.  Ah crap. Like 2,100 dollars. (Which makes sense and it covers a lot of costs but still...there are scholarships but very few people get them and goodness gracious. Erm..)

Time To Reply

I enjoyed this and thought I would share it. Its Charlieissocoollike (Charlie Mcdonnell)

He's amazing. xD

Who Do I Think I Am?

Judging. We all judge people whether we admit it or not. I try not to but I found my self giving one of my friends grief about drinking today. I never really thought I would be in one of those groups that parties, smokes, does drugs and drinks but I that's where I'm finding myself. I'm not a fan of it. I keep "joking" - rather harshly - to my friend about how he should stop drinking because he's become somewhat....dependent on it. It scares the crap out of me. This guy is messing his life up pretty badly, but it is not my place to step in and tell him how to live. I just need to back off.

I am worried about the future. My future this time. I think of what I want to do....I say photography "to show something real"...I don't know if I want to. I don't know if I want to travel or take photographs or go to college for that. I feel like I'm going to be one of those people, the kind of people I talked about last year. The ones who thought they were photographers but didn't have the strength or the will to be a part of the competition. I'm not that good. I'm really not and there are so many people who are much better at what I "do".

I need to talk to someone about this. >.< This blog does not respond or give me advice. I should go to church...it starts in 5 minutes....ugh. Homework....sleep...GAH.

I'm going.

DFTBA

-Laura

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Once, I was with my group of friends. We were sitting around a fire outside of ______'s house talking about the Perks of Being a Wallflower. Spencer was going around the circle saying who each person of the book reminded him of. (I think I have that backwards, he was saying what book character we reminded him of - from Perks) He said that I reminded him of Sam...which was nice since she was my favorite character...haha. I'm sorry, I really should say more about that night but I just wanted to share that bit.

The importance of Sam: She is free. She was a real person. When I read the book I always thought of myself as a Charlie, but toward the middle and end I realized that wasn't who I wanted to be, or even who I could relate with. I found Sam to be inspiring in a way. (I know its lame that I am comparing myself to a book character but bear with me.) She was strong, had her own opinion, was able to stand on her own and was able to decide things for herself. Our lives are/were completely different but it was reassuring in a way to hear my friend tell me that I was like her. A quote: "I'm going to do what I want to do. I'm going to be who I really am. I'm going to figure out what that is." -Sam, The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Side note: That movie is coming out soon and I'm really excited. ^ ^

I also realized that have I read a poem that was mentioned in the book.

Walden - by Henry David Thoreau 


Everyone in my class was really upset about trying to learn about Transcendentalism. They found it confusing and frustrating. What got me was that it really wasn't that hard to understand. I'm trying not to be harsh towards them, but I really wish I could know: what made it so hard for them to understand? I doubt half of them even tried since all they did was complain about it. RAWR. Anyway.

DFTBA

-Laura

P.S- If you haven't read the book that I was talking about you should read it.

Bibles to China

So in church we have many people going to China to take Bibles in. (There are many underground churches in China- this isn't saying that there are no "main" churches but they are not often allowed to teach the whole word, the government regulates a lot of it.) Anyway, there are many underground churches that have no bibles and are lucky to have ONE.

We watched a video about this organization, and within the video it showed how families would let each other borrow and pass around one Bible to copy from - while they were writing the Bible, obviously there wasn't a mass quantity of the book, so people would do the same thing, copy the Bible letter by letter (or what was there to copy). These people were called scribes.

Anyway, that was just an interesting connection I made while reading. =P

_____________________________________________________________

Still sick but I'm going to school tomorrow. As much as having a sinus infection sucks, it does no good to sit around and complain about feeling like crap. The same goes with any sickness. (I am not saying you shouldn't get rest because you should.) But it is kind of disappointing that I am behind in school and that my paycheck isn't going to contain much.

Oh well, life goes on.

______________________________________________________________

Super awesome game!!! =D

Foldit.

Check it out on their website.

It's entertaining and educational/ beneficial to the world.

Thought Bucket

I hate being sick. Either I never got over my cold from last week, or I got better and I met a tiny chicken and it laid eggs in my head and they are growing and hatching. The tiny baby chickens are feeding on my brain...*

*Brotherhood 2.0/ Vlogbrothers


Anyway, I was going to talk about God.

God and I have been having a...tough time lately. It's not that I don't believe in him or that I don't appreciate what he has done, but I just don't talk to him...or read the Bible or really care about church. I have become apathetic towards him. I have been trying to mend this divide the last few weeks, and I'm finding it to be more difficult than I expected. I mean I have heard the saying "If being Christian was easy, then everyone would do it." But I can't say I've ever felt this...casual about it. Like I'll try and I feel like I'm getting nowhere but I'm not even upset about it. I just kind of shrug it off and keep talking to him. The worst part is being jealous of people who do have a connection with him. Isn't that just sad? That even though I don't try that hard to be with him I'm still jealous? I am ashamed of my self.

Anyway, what I really wanted to talk about.

There is this video, "Why I Hate Religion but Love Jesus". It's all over the interenet and it has caused an uproar that I wasn't ready for. Atheists are making videos against it, Christains are making videos against it, Muslims are making videos against it...its craziness.

My first thought of the video was: YEAH! Now I'm like: Hmmm. 


I feel like I'm not educated enough to know how to view this. I was watching all these videos and I'm thinking: That sounds correct but are they skipping key points that are set out in the Bible? And then I thought: Wow. I really don't know...this is intense stuff.


And then God said: This is what I am preparing you for.


.......what?!?!

Yes. (If you have "heard" God before hopefully you know what I'm talking about and don't think I'm crazy.)

My point is: Yes I need to read the Bible and I need to know things before I can defend my God and beliefs. I'm clearly a slacker in this area.

I have no reason to be jealous, because it's my fault for not meeting Him half way.

DFTBA

-Laura

ACTA, PIPA & SOPA and why they ██████

So, all of these things will effect my personal blog in one or more ways. I can be sent to jail because of the content, fined money, they could shut down my blog, turn off my interenet, or block my page. How is any of this good? I don't think people realize how much this effects us.

What does it do for us?
Nothing. If anything it hurts us, the people, more. And what is government in the U.S? It's supposed to be for the people? Are you sure?

 Yes. This. Is. Ridiculous.

Lets watch some videos!

ACTA Explained ^

SOPA/ PIPA Explained^

Vlogbrothers input

My Heart Skips A Beat...

I am aware that this video is a tad bit...odd. But I like the song.

Favorite Quotes and Parts of "The Fault In Our Stars" By John Green

Augustus Waters turned to me. "Literally," he said.

"Literally?" I asked.

"We are literally in the heart of Jesus," he said. "I mean I thought we were in a church basement, but we are literally in the heart of Jesus."

"Someone should tell Jesus," I said. "I mean, it's gotta be dangerous, storing children with cancer in your heart."

"I would tell him myself," Augustus said, "but unfortunately I am literally stuck inside of His heart, so he won't be able to hear me." I laughed. He shook his head just looking at me.

(Chapter One, Page 16) 

____________________________________________

"The world," he said, "is not a wish-granting factory," ....

(Page 214- throughout the middle and ending of the book) 

_____________________________________________

"My name is Augustus Waters," he said. "I'm seventeen. I had a little touch of osteosarcoma a year and a half ago, but I'm just here today at Isaac's request."

  

      "And how are you feeling?" asked Patrick.

      "Oh, I'm grand." Augustus Waters smiled with a corner of his mouth. "I'm on a roller coaster that only goes up, my friend."

(Page 11 - throughout the book)

_______________________________________________

"That's the thing about pain, it demands to be felt." -Augustus

(Page ?) 

________________________________________________

"I thought of my dad telling me that the universe wants to be noticed. But what we want is to be noticed by the universe, to have the universe give a shit what happens to us - not the collective idea of sentient life but each of us, as individuals." - Hazel

________________________________________________

"Sometimes you read a book and it fills you with a weird evangelical zeal, and you become convinced that the shattered world will never be put back together unless and until all living humans read the book" -Hazel

I know this feeling well, John Green. But at the same time, I feel selfish about it. Like it's my favorite book, or song or blah blah blah. Half of me doesn't want to share it but the other half of me is like EVERYBODY NEEDS TO READ THIS GENIUS. I finally understand what T means. (Not just about this- but in other area's in my life. I feel like bits of my Laura-ness are being eaten away by a few people. Since last year/ the summer I have cleansed myself of all that wasn't me and now that I have "me" its like a precious gift that I don't want anyone to have. You know?) 

________________________________________________

"My thoughts are stars I cannot fathom into constellations." -Augustus

________________________________________________

"You used to call me Augustus." -Augustus 

________________________________________________

This book is simply amazing. I can't really tell you all of my favorite quotes or I would be copying the whole book, so instead I suggest you read it yourself. It really is an emotional book, you laugh, you think, you place yourself in their shoes, you cry and you hope. It goes beyond what I expected. Far beyond. 

Here are what some awesome people said about it: 

"John Green writes incredible, honest truths about the secret, weird hearts of human beings. He makes me laugh and gasp at the beauty of a sentence or the twist of a tale. He is one of the best writers alive and I am seething with envy of his talent." -E. Lockhart 

"A novel of life and death and the people caught in between, The Fault in Our Stars is John Green at his best. You laugh you cry, and then you come back for more." - Markus Zusak, bestselling and Printz Honor- winning author of The Book Thief

There are more! (All of these found one the back of the book =D ) 

So. Please please pleeaase read it!! There are copies sold everywhere. (I'm not even kidding. Check Wal-Mart.) 

By the way! I do NOT claim owner ship to any of these quotes!! They are not mine, they are John Green's.

Project

There are so many: sketch everyday! books that I could probably build a...fairly large tower out of them. There are also so many photography projects that I could literally...something. Most of them are online so that kind of ruined my attempt. The point is I fail with those types of projects.

So!

Instead of "EVERY DAY" Or "every week" I'm going to be doing an "Every Month" Project, Where I will work on something for a month, and then at the end of the month I will 1.) Scan it or 2.) Upload it onto here. It will be for 11 months (because face it, I wouldn't get anything decent out of this month) So yes!

Ideas appreciated. =D

DFTBA
-Laur

A Mouthful

Lately I've had a mouthful to say. I don't even know what brought it on but I feel like I need to be heard for once.

I feel like I'm giving off an intense vibe all the time...I either am too quiet to be heard or I get too tired of not being heard that I end up yelling and shocking the crap out of people. But Its not just being physically heard. I feel like I'm just talking to a group of brick walls with one person who may hear me but doesn't even care or doesn't want to care enough to talk to me about it. The brick walls have slowly come alive and every so often they'll be like "I'm sorry, What were you saying Laura?"

I can say one thing though. Despite my "yelling" via blog post at the world, I know that a few people understand why I want to be a photojournalist and I would like to say thank you for noticing it pre-blog. I'm not even sure if they read this, and if they do it is kind of...not weird but not expected. And also thank you for not being a brick wall and attempting to hear me out. Things weren't the best last year but no need to re-cap. Thanks.

___________________________________________

Off- topic...well it would be if there was a topic but you know.

Friends and Boys. Friends who like boys. Friends who think boys like them. The lonesome bookworm.

I was going to ask some of my friends to hang out today but I realized something: Literally every friend I have is in a relationship or they have love interests that they're usually hanging out with.

I am proud to be the kind of girl that doesn't need a guy to be happy (because many of my girl-friends do need guys to be happy and its kind of sad.) But anyway, I'm proud to be that way. I do, however, get slightly lonely and wish I had someone to talk to, or have someone who talks to me, or someone to cuddle with, to complain about school with, to socialize with etc. It feels weird to feel this way xD. Ah if only there were more awesome Nerdfighting guys in my town. Unfortunately the only one that I know lives in NC and I am not romantically attacked to him.

And now I am put in the spotlight as a total hypocrite. I said just the other day that there are more important things than (list unimportant things here) and I am now talking about how lonely I am.... loneliness compared to the starving children in Africa? Nothing.

____________________________________________

Speaking of being a hypocrite...I mean this may just be a way of making myself feel better (not about the blog post thing, but of something in my past.) But wouldn't you agree that everyone is a hypocrite at some point in their life? It's been bothering me for a while...well really just today as I was thinking about it. And now that I think about it I cant even remember why that person called me a hypocrite. Son of a Puppy. (That is indeed a quote from a book...but I will continue to use it just because it makes me smile.)

______________________________________________

Among the various thoughts that float through my mind, I realized everyone tries to get us to live a different way. Teachers, parents, sisters. It's weird to have that realization because when you try to get help from somebody, you have to understand that everyone has a different way of living life. "Live life to the fullest" "Avoid drama" "Enjoy highschool" "You should try harder" "You're doing great" etc. I don't know, yet again, if this makes any sense at all.

_________________________________________________


Rant- finished. hahaa

Please, if you read this blog at all, leave a comment. (Be kind if you can be.) I would like to know what others think, and if you don't agree feel free to state your opinion.

-Laur (aka) MissLauraLiza

DFTBA

P.S- OH MY GOSH. I GOT A SIGNED COPY OF THE FAULT IN OUR STARS TODAY AND I FREAKED OUT. I am re-reading the book, just because I can. And I probably will do so for the rest of my life. =)

The Last, The Lost, The Least

Mind. Blown.

Holy Cow.

I just finished "The Fault in Our Stars" and I have to say in all honesty that I am completely (literally) speechless. Other than this of course...

READ THE FREAKING BOOK.

NOW.

Just me Being me.

Every time I get into a reading mode, where I read books back to back not taking a day of break to actually live life, I think about why I do it. "You're just Laura, bookworm, (adj.)  you." Someone said this to me once. I don't quite remember what the adj. was but...yeah.

I always read. Always. I guess I am waiting for life, when life really doesn't need waiting for. Life happens everyday and I wish that I could just see that and go on and live it. No book will ever fulfill my want for a future or adventure, only my dreams, a bit of education and God can make that happen.

I find myself writing bits and pieces to my own story, not MY story but a book...kind of. I'll have moments or thoughts that I have the urge to write down and make something of them. I never do though, so maybe I should.

I want to be a photojournalist. I don't just want to be a photographer that takes pointless photos of models who ruin themselves by striving to be what society wants them to be. I don't want my photos to be for "the next big thing". I want my photos to have meaning. Not just to be visually appealing, but to also impact lives. I want people to be able to look at them and understand that there is reality outside of our protective bubble of freedom and meaningless extras. I want to be able to catch real emotions and moments, people bearing the weight of the world, joy of a mother watching her child sleep, a couple in love, a father working in a field to feed his family etc.

I feel so...not angry...but annoyed while I'm writing this post. At myself, mostly. And also at people who fail to understand that there is a world other than their own. There are worse things than not getting that new pair of shoes, or that top. But also to understand that there comes joy even in the darkest of days. I want to make an impact. I don't exactly know how to get the meaning across...I guess I just want to show the beauty and the sorrows of the world...

I'm determined.

The Hunger Games

These books...are amazing. You really need to read them. I'm not even kidding.

I've been listening to this song for about an hour now....

Makes me think of the scene where Katniss is singing to Rue and placing flowers on her body/ The night before the Tributes are picked and Prim is sleeping with her mother.

Jung Typology Test

A while ago my sisters told me about the MBIT Personality Test and how it was interesting and was fairly accurate. That test was based off of the Jung Typology Test. 

My Results of the Jung Typology Test:

INFJ - 

Introverted,  Intuitive, Feeling, Judging

78                25          50        44

A link to the short version of the test: http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes1.htm

New Years And 2012

Hello. I am going to keep this short since my head is pounding and my stomach is angry at me...and yet hungry...
;
Today is New Years Day and that means, of course, 2012. I didn't think much about it but the year 2011 was over within a small minute and I realized- nothing felt different. It's just another year where things will happen but I have decided to have no resolutions. I have made a commitment to my self to better my-self as a person and that's enough for me. There is no way I'll be able to become the person I want to be in a year, so why limit myself? Life is about living, not limiting.

DFTBA
-Laura