would you rather

so this coming weekend i'm headed to be a d-now leader at a friend's church and he has provided us with the now infamous 'would you rather' questions, to foster discussion among the students. now, any ggbc youther would probably attest to the fact that i am far from a novice at asking such questions, particularly on long road trips as i'm driving uber cool vehicles, i.e. mini-van, but perhaps you are unfamiliar with the exercise. i thought i would discuss them with you, my bloggy friends, over the next few days to foster discussion on my blog. as in the comment section of my blog.

so. would you rather...

1. be lied to or about?

hands down one of the very most important things in the whole wide world to me is honesty. probably being lied to is the thing that makes me the most angry out of everything else. being lied about really stinks too though, but i've gotta think you've at least got your reputation to go on there so people can judge for themselves if its truth or not. lying sucketh.

2. grow hair out of your nose or out of your ear?

like this seriously makes me want to hurl. i think nose hair grosses me out the most.

3. get a job making lots of money doing something you hate or doing something you love and make close to no money?

this is kinda touchy with me right now. i have definitely put enough thought into this over the past year to last us all a really long time.

4. have the mild or hot sauce from taco bell?

when i was a kid and my mom ordered taco bell she always got us mild sauce. so for the longest time i always got mild sauce for myself. then i went through a wow-taco-bell-is-so-disgusting-i-hate-it-like-none-other phase for quite a while, then i went to the northwest where there is umm zero mexican food and so i was like taco bell isn't so bad. and so now i go there some. but one time i was like hmm i'll try hot sauce. and i like it. so, in a word, hot sauce from taco bell.

5. drink sour milk or eat baby food?

baby food. fo shizzle. i'm kinda particular about milk. first off, i dont really care for it. at all. but it is necessary for things like cereal and smoothies, etc. but if its more than like 2-3 days old i'm out. its sorta like tennis players who use a new can of balls every time they play. thats me and milk. i like to open a new one every time.

6. be punched in the stomach or be kissed by a member of the opposite sex?

is this like really a question? i guess it is if you are working with junior hi students, but seriously, no question here.

7. do 10 push-ups or 10 sit-ups

sit-ups. i've been doing a lot of sit-ups lately. i'll be like laying on the couch and realize i forgot my tea in the kitchen and i'll have to sit up and then go get it on the commercial.

8. lick feet or sniff armpit hair?

feeeet.

9. eat ketchup plain or mustard plain?

mustard. despite what j-mase says, i'm still not that into ketchup.

10. be forced to eat throw-up or lay in a pile of doggy doo

let me just say that in my question asking, THIS would never be one because i detest throw up so much that the thought of it makes me pretty nauseated.

mmm on that note, thats all for now. i had another stimulating weekend of....doing pretty much absolutely nothing. i am spending this week pulling 10hr days at work in order to have friday off so i can go up to dallas for said d-now.

special shout out to my freda & amy cuz i heart ya and i miss asking questions with you while making power bracelets.

this IS my happy faaayce

um, don't be such a crab.

back in the rowing seat

wednesday i finally gathered up the courage to investigate one of the workout centers at work, and also finally remembered to take my tennis shoes with me to work. they provide the rest. i glanced around the cardio room and with great delight spotted 2 rowing machines tucked away in the far corner. so yesterday and again today i rejoiced in my return to rowing which provided much pleasure last spring. so...yay.

this hurricane stuff is quite crazy, i think it must be quite the interesting year to be at aggieland, but i obviously am not there. i am safely tucked away in san antonio.

i think there is actually some validity in going to bed and getting up at a consistent time helps your body get into a nice groove. i'm slowly adjusting to a 'normal' schedule, and its getting easier and easier to get up and then to fall asleep at night. but i've got to say its kind of boring. i sort of miss the excitement of staying up randomly late and getting up really late and meeting up with friends at like 11pm to go hang out. but, last night i got my first paycheck, which helped ease the pain.

my new couch

so here ya go, by popular demands, visualization of my new furniture in my new apartment. more pics later, but for now:

one can see my new furniture stuff




and also my nice table, courtesy of the hopkins....gracias



and my ghetto tv set up with my tiny tv that hopefully will all be replaced soon

non-competition clause

so matt and i seriously do have a non-competition clause i believe that went into effect roughly about the time we were both at a&m-ish. but i need to also post where i went camping this summer.




this is me leading worship at said campout.


when one cant think of anything to blog about, one can always post pictures. today was perhaps one of the most boring of my life. i spent many hours listening to a lecture on mainframes. i felt like a nerd. but ya know, what can ya do. so my internet and furniture came on saturday and the aggies won so overall it was quite the stellar day. i'm starting to feel like i have most of the things i need. i bought some spoons so i'm no longer eating cereal with a measuring spoon. which is nice, because measuring spoons are so deep its kinda hard to get the cereal out. but anyway, i'm like up past my stinkin bed time because i'm such an old person now. that is just great. getting up at 6am.

and have a nice day

just when you thought it couldnt get any better

so today i learned something very exciting. already i had been told of the only corporate wendys, which of course comes along with a frosty machine. now, frostys are good. BUT today i learned, that at one of the cafeterias here there is a.....icee machine. yes, its true. i think i'm going to get one tomorrow. :)

i also had an early success story from today while .....playing with tinker toys. at work. getting paid. to play with tinker toys. with grown men and women. the instructions were to build the tallest, widest, longest structure possible without talking. it only takes a semi-conscious aggie to think of working together as a whole room rather than 5 different tables. today i was that aggie.

today also marked the end of general employee orientation. tomorrow i was given the morning off, and then all of friday off. i'm not sure if this is a good sign or not...perhaps its a disturbingly calm before the great storm. or just a perk of having a good manager, who knows.

first day

so today was my first day at work. granted, it was just orientation and not really work, but i'm getting paid to be there, which differentiates it from school. i now have my official ID card which comes with a zero tolerance policy of forgetfulness and a steep fee if you lose it. it comes with a fancy schmancy lanyard though with a retractable stringy device for easy swiping. one can also use the ID to purchase lunch, starbucks, and anything else you felt like buying there, which could be dangerously convenient for some. along with starbucks, cafeterias, etc, there are also plenty of subways, the ONLY corporate wendys in the world, pizza hut, chick-fil-a, and other nice places to eat. top that off with 3 gyms that have free fitness classes, weight rooms, cardio rooms including dvd/cd/mp3/cable tv on EACH cardio machine, locker rooms equipped with all toiletries, workout clothes, lockers, saunas, etc, there's even a post office...because the place is so big it has its own zip code. there are nurses clinics and testing clinics, even a pharamacy. and one begins to wonder why you even rent a separate apartment.

so the place is huge and on a large amount of land with beautiful landscaping. in fact today while i was eating lunch, we saw a deer wandering around outside, which was a nice touch. i suddenly felt very young as we went over all the available medical benefits and 401k plans, not feeling quite ready to go there just yet, but here i am. and here we go.

starbucks in san antonio

well i've made it to san antonio. my parents hooked me up with all sorts of fun stuff before they headed back home. now i'm just all alone, unpacking and waiting for work to start next week. i have all kinds of fun stuff set to be delivered to my apartment, but not until the 17th. until then, i've been renting alias dvd's from blockbuster. right now i'm at starbucks checking up on emails and such. there's a girl to my right studying a book thats fatter than....well, its really fat. and i'm thinking wow, i'm quite glad that i am through with school. there's also some other people to my left. i feel really bad for this lady A)because she is being interviewed for a job, all the typical interview questions and B)because she is being interviewed in a rather condescending way for said job by not one, but two ladies about 10 years younger than her. how awkward. i hope she gets the job.

i made my first expedition into downtown san antonio today, to the federal building there to ask for a new social security card because mine is lost. this might have been rather simple a few weeks ago, but turned into a rather lengthy and kinda smelly process today due to a large number of evacuees from new orleans flooding the building. but i survived and made it back and its all good.

headed out

hey blog friends. just wanted to give you a shout out that in the morning i'm mooooving. my parents are coming down with me to lend a hand...and a u-haul. anyway, i won't have internet at my apartment for about 2 weeks, but no fears, i will make some updates from my laptop from like starbucks or something because i have some fun stories i want to tell you about, and i know you will anxiously be awaiting news on my new life and such. besides, i won't know anyone so i will probably need to, you know, blog a lot to fill my time. much love to oregonians who i miss like none other, say hey to joe for me. and also aggies, midlanders, and other such friends, that should all come on down for a visit asap, provided that asap does not occur all at the same time for everyone, because my apartment is only so big. o. and gig'em ags, lets btho clemson. yay for college football. :)

comment spammers

i guess some business folk felt badly about seeing 0 comments on my blog posts. however it doesnt bother me so much that i desire to see their advertisements. thus, i have relented and turned on word verification for comments. this means that it makes it slightly more difficult for YOU to comment, which i was hoping to avoid. now after you sign in i guess one needs to type in a word to ensure that you are an actual person rather than a spammer machine thing. i deleted most of the spam from my last post, but left the fat loss comment because i thought it was funny comment and here at thesharester we are all about funny. anyway, i'm sure the comment word verification will not hinder you from commenting, in fact, it might be sort of fun for you. almost as much fun as turning on my electricity was fun for me today. but probably not nearly as much fun as trying to figure out which internet and tv package to purchase, all of which are seeming to be a lot of money. does one really need internet and tv???....why, yes, i think so.

texas size road trip

well its hard to believe i've only been back in texas for one week, it feels like a month or so. probably because i've been driving pretty much the whole week. but its been fun. i was able to enjoy a conference with my mom and grandmother. we stayed near the reunion tower in dallas and so we went up and enjoyed smoothies and a revolving tour of dallas from the top of the reunion tower. we also ate at pappadeaux which rocks my world. i also was able to eat a #14 with chicken at rosas in ft. worth with my grandmother and do some shopping, including at the new ikea store in frisco which is somethin else. pretty crazy, but cool.

also this week i had the opportunity to catch up with a lot of college friends (shout out especially to my triple chunks!! and to melanie, lisa, will, eveyln, chara, and the J's) and some old school midland friends too which was tahiight.

anyway, now i'm just waiting and preparing for this weekend as i make the big move to the new apartment/new city/new job/newness. i shall leave you with a quote from one of my bestest pals:

"p..s i know i will see you again soon, but if something very terrible happens and we dont' see each other, meet me at the east gate. okie dokie??"

you know you've been in oregon awhile when....

you feel a twinge of guilt about THROWING AWAY your 'pop' can after looking around and not being able to find a recycling bin

you indulge in sonic every day since you've been deprived for the past 3 months

you almost feel sick because it is so stinkin hot

you assume the person's name you cant remember starts with an 'A'

every rascal flatts song reminds you of the youth at ggbc

you find yourself saying "so here's the deal"

you wonder why people say baah instead of bye at the end of their phone convos

your mind still jumps at seeing texas license plates

you keep looking in the rear view mirror thinking you will see a glimpse of the mountain

you hear the phrases "all yall" and "fixin to" and they kinda make you think twice

saying goodbye

well the time finally came for me to leave the northwest for awhile...i flew back to texas yesterday. once home i enjoyed a double delight of rosas and then sonic with my dad. my drink of choice was cherry limeade, and yes, evans, i thought of you as i crunched that wonderful ice.

so my last nite in oregon was abbreviated as i had to leave at 4:30am to head to the airport. but it was a fun nite. hit up youth group and ate some ice cream and said goodbye to everyone. then several of them came over and we just chilled and hung out all nite until it was time for me to go, as in, we didnt sleep. there was some moments in there when we thought we wouldn't make it, but come 4:30 everyone was still awake, standing on the corner in the coldness waving good-bye. and it rocked my face off.

so basically i heart ggbc and i miss you guys a ton already, and it was no fun to leave. but i hope to see you again soon. much love.

so now the blog turns from college and the best summer ever to entering the real world. i've got a week or so of down time, then comes the big move and the new job...this could be interesting!

video editing and railroad tracks

today i worked on making video with highlights from our world changers trip last month (the one with all the roofing). it was a lot of fun A)because i heart video editing and B)there was lots of funny footage from a really fun trip with really fun people. my favorite footage is that of youth minister lance eating 10 dum dums at the same time while singing.

anyway, i have done actually a lot of video editing this summer for various trips, events, etc. i have only been using windows movie maker, which comes free with windows xp. now, while it is just fine for elementary movie making, i made a mistake. tonite i went and helped someone out and got to play around with adobe's premiere elements. this, my friends, is like movie maker on steroids. it made me wish i'd been using it all summer instead of making rinky dink movies in movie maker. i KNEW it was nicer. i had contemplated purchasing it for myself to play with. however, now that i've touched it and seen it with my eyes, movie maker will never be the same. its like going back to front page from visual studio. its like going back to typewriter from computer.

one thing thats kinda random about gresham, is i mostly go down one road, division st, to the church and back, to the church and back, etc. sorta like midkiff in midland. anyway, there's a train tracks crossing between where i'm staying and the church. this makes college stationers shudder and want to pull their hair out. its like the worst thing ever to be caught by a train. and then there's that awful feeling of not seeing a train for a week-ish and then getting stopped by TWO in like one hour when you've just bought a lot of ice cream at h-e-b, or something like that. but the awesome thing about the train tracks in gresham are just for the Max, the public transit train thingys. the little lights come on, the thing dings, the crossbars go down, and the train goes by....for like 2 seconds. and then, in less time than a red light its over, and you can keep driving. i'm so used to college station trains that when i see the lights go on i get kinda frustrated, and i'm like rats its the train, but then i'm like oh yeah, its like 2 seconds long. its getting stopped by the train without the inconvience.

camping

so last weekend i went to the church campout. generally when i think of camping i think of camping as it is in texas...think: circle 6 ranch in stanton. but camping in oregon is rather different. we drove a couple hours to the coast, and voila, the pacific ocean with a nice beach, complete with golf course, hiking trails, boat ramps, etc. and its stinkin cold in the night time. i wore 3 shirts, a sweatshirt, 2 pairs of pants, cuddled up in a blanket by the fire and was almost warm enough.

we happened to be there during the meteor shower, so i went as "the adult" (haha) with some of the youth down to the beach late that night to watch the meteors. i took my guitar and we sang and lay in the sand watching the stars. also we had a campfire and made s'mores of course. i only stayed for one night. i went up friday night, led the worship time for church service saturday morning, and drove back with a friend that afteroon to be back in time for church that night. it was just the right length of camping for me.

so i decided the way to camp is to have a trailer/RV/some cool place to chill in, and most importantly sleep in at night. some scream that "thats not camping". to them, i shrug. to me, camping is falling asleep on the couch in front of the tv. i think my family's been camping about exactly once (not counting a glorieta experience) and it was miserable. probably due to the fact that the wind was blowing so hard the tents kept collapsing. and the park ranger wouldn't let the dad's park their trucks by them as a windblock, because it could damage the grass. and to that i say, grass??? you mean that brown dead stuff? but i digress. i was wanting to say that camping is a whole stinkin lot of work. all the preparations to go, the unpacking when you get back (Which, as many of you know, i detest), the dirtiness involved, all the work to prepare meals, etc. i think in spite of all that i might enjoy camping somewhat except everytime i go i always have severe allergies and end up being miserable for days afterwards. but what i do like about camping, particularly in beautiful places, is just being outside doing fun stuff and just marveling at the awesomeness of what God has created. maybe i'll go again...in a year or so.

the best of

you should be excited that thesharester has now surpassed the century mark in number of posts. welcome to post #102. this morning i awoke at 5am. and couldn't fall back to sleep. one of the things i did to occupy my time was sift through my painfully overloaded email inbox. this annoying task brought back many fond memories of past times, and i share with you some quotes, since i know you probably, like me, are missing the quotes.

courtesy of team awesome's awesomeness...

Ok, info lunch is a go for me. Not a go-no-go, which I know can be confusing since we learned all about those, but rather just a go. --lisa

The baker at 12?? I’m feeling the cookies. Holla back --lisa

I didn't realize there was quite that much work (i.e. we had to write a proposal?? For real, I must not listen to a word that man says) and now I feel pretty bad. Anyway, I'll try to even it out next time. Please don't hate me. --lisa

Willy needs everyone’s screenshots ASAP (aka not 11pm tomorrow night) so he can review all of them and make them look not look like 4 different people made them!
--markum

Hello friends-
I propose INFO lunch soon.
Thank you. That is all.
--will

I second the proposed motion. --lisa

Ok, new plan. No kickboxing. working out is for losers --lisa

thus, i will be at wcl sometime between 4 and 5 to work on stuff. based on
this somewhat large time frame,whoever gets there first can start working or check their email repeatedly,whichever option seems more appealing. --lisa

I hope each of you is getting straight up krunk about presenting at the CMIS board meeting. I know I am. --will

re: dgEmployees.datasource=yourmom
I am about to work on the users manual for a little while, but I should be at the lab after our game, eating, and quite possibly showering.
--lisa


Directions to my house:
[street address]
Google map it.
--lisa

TO:Team Awesome
FROM: Lisa
RE: A Team Awesome Haiku

I heart the baseball
Cracker jacks, hot dogs, Astros, WHOOP!
Methinks Wednesday

Oh, P.S., If anyone is up for washing a car, hit me up, cause I am def. in need of that.
--lisa

courtesy of family, friends, and me writing emails while bored in class...

well, bball is going well, (haha, i used the same word twice in a sentence) --freda

Sharon,
I should have asked you sooner, but I waited because I wasn't sure what you would think about this. I was wondering if you would be willing to write a letter of recommendation for me --matt

do you think you could please coordinate your blogging schedule to where i have something new to read in class on tues and thurs about 11:30ish or so? --me

right now i'm apparently learning about quadrature amplitude modulation. hmm. --me

This is a quote from Deutsch today that I thought you might like:
“If I ingest 10 grams of cyanide, I’m gonna take a dirt nap!”-Deutsch
--markum

i think it would be a fun place to go in the winter. it seems like in some parts it would be a very cozy place. some places. cuz you know, living under a bridge doesn't sound very comforting or cozy rite now. --freda

notice i now have 50 invitations for Gmail...pssh like i even know that many people
--me

ummm can i just say PROPS to you for sleeping until noon. everyone should do this occasionally. i wish i could sleep till noon.......ah yes, thats right, i DO, fairly often i must admit --me

ok i'm sorta laughing at this girl in front of me who is writing this letter, saying she missed the q-drop deadline because she had a severe migraine. she's pulled up on google an article on symptoms of a migraine, and is listing them and saying she has a history of those symptoms. i wonder if its true, and if so why she has to look up the symptoms. more importantly, i wonder if it will work for her? --me

Happy graduation to you - see below
You might not care too much about the reserved seats since you don't get to sit in them, but the parking passes at least should make things more convenient.
--matt

what up? are you bored yet? we're...well, read my blog and you'll know. why write it twice? --cynthia

firin' it up

so i know i'm just a few states over to the west, but sometimes i feel like i'm in another country. or perhaps its that texas is the different country and i've finally found myself in the united states of america. but regardless, sometimes these people, whom i love, say WEIRD stuff. i've learned to ignore the use of the word 'pop' for carbonated beverages. in fact, sometimes i even say it. but to remind everyone that i came from texas i say it like 'paawwwwp.'

the other day the family i'm staying with was going to grill some hamburgers for dinner. however, up here they prefer to call it 'barbeque some burgers'. because they call their grill a barbeque. i dont know whats up with that. i dont even know how to spell barbeque i'm realizing at this moment. but the most disturbing is when they shorten barbeque to barbie. and then declare that they should go fire up the barbie. i only know that perhaps one of my sisters might just burst into tears if my dad ever wanted to go light the barbie.

however the pop and barbies are all worth it because, as i experienced monday, the coast is a mere 2 hours away, and bam, you are chillaxin the day away on cannon beach. i like the ocean. and the day before, one hour, and you are near mt. st. helens, and i went with friends exploring down in the 'ape caves' formed by lava. cool stuff.

the worst occupation ever

so last week while i was helping to roof a house, i was convinced that being a roofer must indeed be the worst job ever. it was hot. and we were in washington. transport to texas and i cant even fathom how miserable roofing must be. it was boring. teenagers can apparently learn to do its basics in one week. i became known as the best author on our crew...because of my proficiency at creating books of shingles. on saturday i didn't even know there WERE books of shingles. after my experience i came away with many things, the top 2 being that roofing is hot and manual labor and i dont get along so i'm glad i went to college.

however today i was reminded that there are MANY jobs worse than being a roofer. today i had to go to downtown Portland for some pre-employment drug testing. i quickly decided that the people that work in this clinic must have the most undesirable jobs ever. to Barb's credit, she did seem rather cheerful. i think SHE must be on drugs to be able to maintain a positive attitude in such an atmosphere.

however even as i'm typing this i can think of even more undesirable jobs. i wont ever forget one my most favorite teachers ever in the 6th grade admonishing the boys to study hard or they'd end up being garbage collectors, intended as the worst put down she could muster. but to them, one of whom is now an outstanding musician and the other a linguist in france, and another who plays football for a division 1 school, all they could think of is that garbage collectors at least got to drive big trucks.

insert some clever title here

i take great satisfaction in seeing those blogs birthed out of inspiration garnered from my own blog (at least i choose to view it that way) consistently out-posting my own. however, after an insanely busy month of summer activities, i find it rather difficult to find a post worthy of breaking my long silence, which leads to longer silence, which leads us to today: you better post something or people will stop checking, unless that has already happened. i find, unfortunately, that the longer you go without putting something up, the harder it is to think of something to put up, because there are so many things that have happened, or perhaps just because you are out of practice.


however you should know that i had an excellent july. august has started off wonderfully, with a white water rafting trip yesterday, topped off with enchiladas for dinner. and the second day of august finds me taking my second day off in the past 30 days.

last week i spent up in washington with some of our youth on a mission project. tomorrow i will tell you some about my experiences with manual labor. today i will leave you with the quote of july. it has to do with a system set up at the mission project for encouraging others. each participant had an envelope posted on the wall where others could leave encouraging notes, called encouragrams. midway through the week, one girl wanted to thank me for a note that i'd written her and loudly exclaimed across a roomful of people, "hey sharon, thanks for the mammogram!"