Thanksgiving

It has now been thanksgiving day for 52 minutes. And I'm sitting on the end of my sister's bed typing out my Thanksgiving Blog. So here it is...

Before I go into a list of what I am thankful for, i want to say one thing. I hope we all do not forget that thankfulness is not just a "one day of the year" thing. It should be something we think of and are aware of everyday of our lives. So that is the first and most important thing I hope you get by reading this post.

So first...

I am Thankful for being able to spend Thanksgiving with my family. I have always known there would come a day when I would have to be away for Thanksgiving. It happened last year, but I always thought it wouldn't be til I have a family. However, I am so thankful that I was blessed enough to not get scheduled on this day, so was able to come home and be with my family.

which leads to my #2.

safe travels. the Lord protected me when i drove home at 11 at night last night to come home, after it had been raining. He protected me, of that I am thankful.

2b.

I prayed for the first two hours of my drive home, (what started as praying for protection, became a two hour conversation with my creator) For this I am thankful, if i had been at home, I would probably have spent it online. But He showed me how good he is. (he provides for us. he provided me a job, shelter, finances..etc) Just like He always does. I drove in silence for almost all of the four hours, and i never thought i'd enjoy the silence. but i realized how very seldomly we observe silence. even when we're not communicating, we're communicating. we Text, IM, facebook, tweet, the list is ever growing. Our generations are addicted to social networking and technology. So observing complete silence is rare, and often frowned upon. but it is a wonderful thing. I hope i can practice it more in the future.

Me and God last night for four hours, thats something that I am so thankful for. And don't want to forget, which leads to my number 3...

The biggest thing i am thankful for, is for calvary. What Jesus did for me that day on the cross, so that I, a sinner, could live. For without calvary, I would be damned to hell. But he died that I could live. I never want to forget that. It is the reason for this season, and every day of our lives. I do not want to take that lightly. I hope you all do not either.

I'm keeping this short, but soon to come. "Late Night Drive with God part 1: Finding Joy in the unknown" and "part 2: Trusting Him when all is well."

Slow to Forget

Tonight is one of those nights where I have felt myself being down on myself. Struggling with self-confidence, worldliness, wanting the things of this world, like a relationship so bad that they consume me. idols always have been, and I'm sure always will be a huge trial for me, but I know being aware of sin is most important in order to have a large view of the cross, one that is always growing, and never shrinking. Tonight, after talking to a good friend, and spending time in the Word, three words came to my mind. "Slow to Forget". Now I know that this isn't what the passage says. James 1:19 says "Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger." That scripture says to be slow to anger, and I try to remember that everyday, but tonight, I want to leave you all with three words. "Slow to forget".

We need to be slow in forgetting what Christ did for us that day at Calvary. Slow to forget the awesome (the actual definition of awesome, not as in cool) weight of our sin. Slow to forget that by not having a growing awareness of our sin, we are shrinking the meaning of the cross. This has been a huge thought going in my head lately while I try to tackle my love for the things of this world. My realizing how idolatrous my heart has been lately. How people, as idols, can never satisfy, and will always disappoint. That only He who died for me can satisfy. Otherwise, without Him, I would be like the rest of the world, who doesn't know joy, and is always contemplating as to why they are unhappy. So while I struggle through my idolatry, and worldliness and selfishness I hope and pray that I could be "slow to forget" the cross. For by it, and by His blood, I am redeemed and I am not dammed to Hell, and can experience true joy because of the source of True Joy that I have in the Lord. Peace and Love to you all! Til next time.

New Journey: Part 4-Moving

Hey everyone I know you all heard I moved into my own apartment. This is probably the most nerve racking and scary experience I have had yet. Yet it is also exciting. I have no idea where I'll be in three months let alone a year, so I am blessed that this apartment is a month to month, hence no lease required. =D I am technically calling this my first apartment since in the Disney College Program, I was given an apartment, and didn't have to do any looking or finding roomates. But you all know all about my Disney College Program experience. This is my post-college-trying-to-figure-life-out-and-moving-forward experiences. I will make this short and sweet since I am typing this at starbucks, since I have no internet, or electricity in my apartment yet. (Which hopefully we will have the second as of tomorrow, otherwise we will be roughing it for a few days.)

I'll take more pics later, when we're all moved in. =D My parents came and brought most of my stuff but we still need alot of stuff..and of course electricity. If anyone has anything they don't need by the way, we might be happy to take it off your hands. =D So here's the pics, as of now...from my iphone. (which is also charging here at starbucks, since I can't charge it at home yet).

my bedroom =D




the full bathroom



our kitchen (didn't come with the fridge my parents bought it =D)


living room



dining room and balcony



and our living room (gas fireplace which is proving to help without electricity for light =D)

Inception - Movie Review

Ok all, it's been a while, but I want to start catching up on my movie reviews. And what better movie to start with then Inception, Christopher Nolan's latest summer blockbuster. It took me over a month to see this movie, but I finally saw it this week. There was only a late night showing at 9:50 so it was a late night.



A late night wouldn't usually mean much, but I'm sure it definitely was the reason my head hurt even more after the 2 hours and 22 minutes of crazy mind twisting. If you have not watched this yet, I will start by saying, you should see it. It is a MUST SEE. By far one of the best movies I have seen in a few years. It's up there with The Departed on my top 10 list for sure!

Ok, as for more specifics. This movie did not look good to me when I first saw the teaser. But little did I know it would become one of the biggest hits of the summer. Nolan captures your attention from the very beginning with his catchy plot line of inception (implanting an idea into someone's mind). Dicaprio nails this role, which slightly compares to that of his character in Shutter Island. If you like to dream, or dreams fascinate you, or confuse you or leave you screaming or wanting more, you will love this movie. Not only is the plotline interesting, it's obvious Nolan did his research on dreams. Even while I was paying attention to the movie, I found myself thinking of my own dream experiences while I watched the film. It deals with a man (Dicaprio) who is asked about being able to perform inception on someone. Through this you go with him on a journey through dream, and the dreams within a dream, which can greatly affect the dreamer and those who interfere. Blurring the line between reality and fantasy, to the point where dreaming becomes more real and less painful then reality.

I think part of this film's intrigue was it's originality. I don't know many if any movies that deal with the mind in the sense of dreaming. It's a brilliant and attention getting idea for a film. It is so complex, and many directors and writers would get lost in an idea of this nature. But I feel Nolan did an amazing job. It was alot of information to retain, but if one pays attention, it's easy to follow. I was glad to see that the concept did not get away from him. If you like movies like the Matrix, and Shutter Island, I'd say you would for sure like this film. I personally love the matrix, but this was better.

And it was not just Dicaprio that did an amazing job, but also his co-stars Ellen Page and Joseph Gordon Levitt. I've been following Levitt fairly consistently for a few years now. Starting with Stop Loss and then last year's (500) Days of Summer. And of course his old child star hits. He has proven especially recently how good of an actor he is. He can become a character and bring this intensity and reality to it, making it look easy, when it in fact is not. I found myself wondering more and more about Levitt's character, often more intrigued by his character then of Dicaprio's. He had this charisma as Dicaprio's partner that made it impossible to stop watching him. And Page, broke free from the comedic role of Juno, into a darker dreamscape architecture who discovers the truth behind Dicaprio's character. The things he hides from the others, and why he acts how he does. They had great chemistry and meshed amazingly in this film.

I will rap this up with a few more thoughts. If you like a good mind twist then you'll love this movie. If you're looking for a light movie, this is not one of them, you constantly have to think and pay attention. (I got a headache from thinking, but I didn't care, because it was so intriguing and interesting to me). There is little swearing (at least from what I remember) and minimal sexual content. If there was anything it was very subtle. I definitely don't see any reason why younger viewers could not watch this, unless it was for the violence, which is a bit intense at times, but still relatively subtle, I don't think there was any blood involved. Their only problem might be confusion. Plus it definitely gets some conversation going after the fact. So watch it. Let me know what you think, because I thought it was brilliant and genius in addition to well acted and well-made. Till next time...

More Adventures

Well, I've been so busy lately with work and trying to find a new place to live that I haven't had much adventure time. However, I have made some time for adventures. My Next adventure after Allstar Weekend, involved Hollywood.

As most of you know, I love LA. And I have to get out of the O.C every so often, because otherwise I'd go insane. So at the beginning of the month, I planned a trip to Hollywood with my Disney friends. (Our last huge adventure with Rick, since he's going to NAU in the fall.) We all got the day off work, and were planning on hiking to the Hollywood sign. This it turns out is illegal though. So instead, we drove as far up to the sign as we could, which involved driving through the curvy Hollywood Hills. Although we got a bit lost, we kept driving up and up and through the gorgeous expensive Hollywood houses. We finally got to the sign, and I think that was the coolest thing I've seen in a while. I had seen the sign in movies, and pictures. But honestly, they don't do this justice. I'm glad I got to go. We took lots of photos when we got up there. It was very fun.

But...that was not the end of our adventure. We then headed over to Hollywood and Highland for something to eat. Had to get creative with parking etc, by driving around since there was construction going on. We however, found a spot, and headed to Johnny Rockets for lunch. After some scrumptious food, we walked over to Ameba Music Store, for some good music shopping, and by shopping I mean looking. Then we walked back, hopped in the car and headed for Millions of Milkshakes. I had the Lindsey Lohan Shake, although I'm not a fan of hers, the shake was very berry licious. =D

Then, we headed to Universal City Walk for a bit, then decided to head home via driving along the coast, since we didn't want to have to worry about traffic. Rick took us to a spot he loved along the coast, and then we drove to long beach and ate some pizza. Then we headed home, after a very long, but fun day. That was even better than I had hoped it would be =D Stay tuned for more adventure stories!

Most recent Adventures...Allstar Weekend

On my Birthday, I went to see Allstar Weekend in Downtown Disney. It was my first time seeing the guys since they were signed to Hollywood Records. They were sooo good, performed 4 songs from their debut album "Suddenly" acoustically. Then hung out with some of the fans in their meet n greet. :) Good job guys, and congrats! And thanks for signing my CD. :)

Here's a flashback to when I first met Zach over a year and a half ago :)















Then it was off to the Roxy on Thursday to see them perform their Record Release Show at the Roxy in Hollywood we got there early to wait, and their were annoying girls standing next to us, but otherwise, it was fun. Here's some of the best shots. :)


Cameron <3 he liked to move...very energetic. :)
Zach. <3 <3
Inside the Roxy, we had to take a pic from above, due to how packed it was! :D
Waiting outside...the guys stopped by for a few min.
Zach. My favorite shot of the night!

And Lastly, the meet n greet. Got hugs from the guys :) Awesome night...Thanks girls for coming with me!

June 27, 2010. Recent Journey and Life

So, everyone I know it's been a while. I am typing this since I am getting internet in my apartment. :) Don't worry it's legal. I think. haha. So heres an update on my life since I've moved back down to the OC. I have been only getting about 20 hours a week. Which is not fun and causing me to trust in the Lord daily for finances and time managment. I have failed to do much. but this week I got out of the apartment for two days. On Tuesday I went to an acoustic Allstar Weekend show at Downtown Disney. It was fun to see them, since I have followed them since before they were signed by Hollywood Records. They rocked it. Then I saw them again on Thursday, (that was planned months ago) at the Roxy for their Record Release Party. It was awesome! And they are really good you all should check them out! Their debut CD "suddenly" is out now. :)

On a Spiritual note...

I have found a church that I love. I have met many folks. And it's been such a blessing to find a church so quickly and getting to know some of the believers too. :) It's Sovereign Grace Orange County. They meet in a small complex in Irvine, so it's only about 20 min away from me. They also meet at 10 am, which is nice since I often work til late in the night on Saturdays. :) I feel so thankful for finding this church. It is truly a blessing. I have talked to some of the young adults, and found out about when they meet. Today, and once a month, they gather at a park after church for lunch and fellowship. So I spent a couple hours talking, (which i love to do, as most of you know) and getting to know some of the congregation. Thank you to all of you that were praying I find a group of believers to worship with and fellowship with. I am so grateful and thankful! Praise to Jesus Christ.

I'll try to keep you posted on any other adventures I go on while I am here on Earth, and in Orange County. My friends from Disney and one of the girls from church, who also works at Disney, have some ideas for other fun activities. Next one we hope to do is hike to the Hollywood Sign. I'll let you know if I do. :) Peace and Love! till next time <3