End

Well, I can't believe another semester is over. It went by so fast. I enjoyed it, though. I don't think I have ever studied this much in my life than in this past semester. Well, I guess that's because last year most of my day consisted of Orchestra and Art. I miss both of those things. It's a shame that CCCC doesn't have an orchestra, and I just don't have time for an art class right now. Although, I am getting a new camera (a Canon Rebel XS) for Christmas, so I will be able to do a lot more photography. I don't do enough traditional art anymore, though. But maybe that's okay, maybe I'll just be a digital artist. Still, I think would be important to keep those skills.

Anyway, exams are coming up and it's going to be hardcore, but it will be AMAZING when it's all over.

Good day.

Psychology

I'm in Psychology and we are talking about Therapy. There are a lot of different kinds. We have a handout about Cognitive Distortions that has a list that contains ten common cognitive distortions that people use. They are:

• All-Or-Nothing Thinking: You see things in black and white categories. If your performance falls short of perfect, you see yourself as a total failure.
• Overgeneralization: You see a single negative event as a never-ending pattern of defeat.
  
• Mental Filter: You pick out a single negative detail and dwell on it exclusively so that your vision of all reality becomes darkened, like a drop of ink that discolors the entire beaker of water.
  
• Disqualifying the Positive: You reject positive experiences by insisting they "don't count" for some reason or other. In this way you can maintain a negative believe that is contradicted by tour everyday experiences.
• Jumping to Conclusions: You make a negative interpretation even though there are no definite facts that convincingly support your conclusion.
• Magnification (Catastrophizing) or Minimization: You exaggerate the importance of things, or you inappropriately shrink things until they appear tiny. This is also caled binocular trick.
• Emotional Reasoning: You assume that your negative emotions necessarily reflect the ways you really are: "I feel it, therefore it must be true."
• Should Statements: You try to motivate yourself with should and shouldn't, as if you had to be whipped and punished before you could be expected to do anything. "Musts" and "oughts" are also offenders. The emotional consequences are guilt. When you direct should statements towards others, you feel anger, frustration, and resentment.
  
• Labeling and Mislabeling: This is an extreme form of overgeneralization. Instead of describing your error, you attach a negative label to yourself. "I'm a loser." When someone else's behavior rubs you the wrong way, you attach a negative label to them. Mislabeling involves describing an event with landuage that is highly colored and emotionally loaded.
  
• Personalization: You see yourself as the cause of some negative external event, which in face you were not primarily responsible for.
  

Snow?

Snow? Snow?! How? It's December. It's Texas. It's December! What? How?!

Can you sense my amazement and confusion? I wake up today with three text messages that all basically said "It's snowing!" What?! I didn't believe them until I looked out my blinds to see white flecks beating the ground. Seriously, it was coming down in sheets. Well, talk about an exciting and unexpected morning, right? It was a pleasant surprise, though. Snow is so rare before February! Crazy. Very crazy. It was cool, though. I drove to school in the snow while listening to The Tip of the Iceberg by Owl City. It talks about welcoming winter once again and snow and stuff. It suited the drive quite nicely. However, I had a feeling the snow would soon be gone while I was at school, and I was right. By 10:00, it was clear, and it had all pretty much melted. I went to wfaa.com and on the home page the main new article is all about the snow. I noted that only in Texas would an entire article on the home page of a news website be devoted to snow. I told that to one of my friends, and he made a funny comment back saying, "Yeah and only it Texas does it snow then get up to 64 degrees in a few hours." I laughed. It's exaggerating a little bit, but it's still essentially true.

Hot Chocolate and Apple Cider

Well, as said, it's been study study study... That's about it. While studying, I had hot chocolate. It was delicious, all warm and rich. There was hazelnut it in, a little added milk, and small marshmallows. You know, I've never really known the reason for marshmallows in hot chocolate. Where did that originate? And why? I mean, they are yummy, yeah, but I don't know how they ended up in hot chocolate. I mean, you don't put marshmallows in coffee. Although... in other drinks you can get whipped cream. Maybe that's why. Mmmm, whipped cream in hot drinks is delicious. That reminds me, I haven't had apple cider in forever. Starbucks has really good apple cider. Maybe I will go get some. It's the holiday season, after all. Ah, having it be the holiday season again makes me so happy. Like, really happy. Still, I can't believe another year has passed. Crazy. Crazy! Crazy.

Well, Thanksgiving holiday was good. Did a lot of relaxing. It's back to the grind, now, though, with tons and tons of studying and school work to do to prepare for exams. I call it "dead week". It's never fun.

Christmas is getting closer which is exciting because it's my favorite holiday. I like the whole feel of it, as well as the actual significance of the holiday itself. We put up the Christmas tree and I put up some lights. The house looks really festive. Every year we buy new ornaments for the Christmas tree and put the date on the bottom of it. It's a family tradition. That's another part of the Christmas season I like, family traditions.

Me and my friend are sitting in the Cougar Cafe. It's nice in here, has a good atmosphere. I got a V8. That stuff is so good. One of my favorites.

This is the last day of school for the week, I am excited! I can't wait to get some sleep over Thanksgiving break. Hooray!

It's really chilly out today and as much as I wish it was the same weather we've normally been having, I have to say that it's about time that it got cold. I mean, it's in the middle of November already.

I can't even fathom that. At all. So much has changed in a year. More than usual. It's so weird.

Well, there are a few birthdays this week, my sister's and my best friends. I still need to figure out what I am going to gift them. I am really distracted with studying, so I haven't gotten around to it. Hopefully I'll figure it all out... before tomorrow. Oh, boy...

Stuff

Today after I got back from church I spent all afternoon highlighing what I need to know for my Psychology test on Tuesday. I finally just finished highlighting, and how it's time to study. This next test covers Personality, Emotion, and Memory. Very interesting stuff, but a lot of it... But, it's always like this. Just time to study my brains out. But, it's so so close to the end of the semester. I am so extremely excited for winter break. An entire month to do whatever I want. I plan on getting a lot of art pieces done during that time. I am getting a new camera for Christmas, so that will give me a lot of time to take pictures. I cannot even express how ridiculously excited I am! AHHH!

Only this week, then 2 days next week, then one more week, then exams, and then I'm done! Life. Is. Good.

Sunset

There is perhaps nothing in this world more beautiful than a sunset. As I worked out for the second time today, I was walking home and it was getting dark. I didn't notice the sunset until I turned around. It startled me how vast it was, taking up half the sky. It put a pink and orange tint on all of the surrounding houses and trees. It was so breathtaking that I literally stopped walking and just looked at the sky. I sat down soon after, just gazing at the different hues and the different clouds making up this beautiful sunset. Seriously, they are way overlooked. If you want to relax, grab your iPod and look at the sunset.

Busy With School Work

So happy tomorrow is Friday and that I have plans, too, along side a mountain of homework and studying. Oh boy, this will be so much fun... I have a Psychology test Tuesday. I have gotten A's on all the test so far, so I want to do well. I know I will, though. I always study really hardcore for them. I will most likely start that tomorrow afternoon. Got to write that essay, too. And I always have math homework. And I have a paper due on Thursday in Humanities. I will be so very busy... But I've got to look at it that I am so close to finishing. I've come this far, so I'm not going to give up now. It's so exciting.

"I'd be lying if I told you losing you is something I can handle."

This Is It

Today I went to the movies with my mom and saw This Is It. It was fantastic. It really exemplified Michael Jackson's work in a great way. You can't leave that movie without appreciating his work more. It bothers me when there are ignorant people that do not understand what he really did, and judge him on all the bad things media has exploited about him. They should consider the phenomenal music and culture that resulted from MJ. You can prefer to not like the music, that is fine, but you cannot ignore history that was made.

All that history was highlighted in this film. I would recommend that anyone and everyone sees it.

Boring is Boring

Another nice day today. I worked out and I enjoyed it the entire time due to the amazing weather. On my walk home, I walked on the curb all the way up the hill towards my street. I think it made the walk home more interesting. Then it got me to thinking, why not make your day more interesting in little ways like that? I think the same old routine could get monotonous and then, wouldn't life? I think those people should think outside of the box. Do something different. Think with innovation! ...Does that sentence make sense? I think it does. Oh, well, it doesn't matter if it does.

Don't let yourself make life boring.

Things are looking up.

The Weather, Again

Today I was driving to school and I saw that almost all the trees are finally changing colors. The leaves were falling pretty rapidly. It's pretty, though. I like driving down park because it's really cool how all the trees on that street sort of canopy the street. And now they're all changing color, so it's even more pretty than it was before.

I am thoroughly enjoying the current weather before it's gone. I wish it could be like this all the time. We're lucky, though, sometimes by this time of year it's already ridiculously cold and you find the need to wear heavy coats and scarves just to walk from your car into the building. I was more affected by the cold weather the last two years when I used to walk to school. There were many many cold mornings. I usually wore a hoodie, but eventually it got so cold that I would find that it was a lot better when I wore an actual coat.

But, today I didn't wear any coat. It's perfect out.

Hm. I talk about the weather a lot. Well, so what? It's a big deal around here.

Productive

Today was a pretty productive day... Filmed and edited a vlog and got my Psychology homework finished. Doesn't seem like much, but both of those take a pretty long time to finish. I can't really go anywhere because I don't have my car... It's in the shop right now. Hopefully it will be done tomorrow. I can't do long with out my car. It's kind of irritating.

I burned some cd's today for my car. I can't find my iPod... That bothers me so much. I use my iPod every single day, so not having it is awful. Hopefully I will find it soon.

Hi

Well, I am sitting here with my friend Brandi. We are chatting it up, eating poptarts. They are delicious poptarts. Today is 3 of my friends' birthdays. Me and my best friend are going to do something for one of those friends. Not sure what, but something. Should be fun, I guess.

Sometimes I think people worry about certain things too much. I try and get those people to chill and realize that they really don't need to worry about what they are worrying about because it's silly. Although, sometimes it's psychological, they can't help if they worry. I don't know, I hope I can get some people to calm down.

Well, a nail has been in my tire for the past few weeks, but I only found it today when I was filling it with air at Kroger. So I had to go to Discount Tire Co. to get it patched. It was free, though, so that's an upside. My best friend came and waited with me for a few minutes. Then we went to walmart after and just walked around. Half the store is already filled with Christmas decorations, as usual. It's ridiculous sometimes how early they do that. It's not even Thanksgiving. Oh, well. I guess some things never change.

Halloween Again

Halloween was awesome, I helped out with an outdoor haunted house in my friend's neighborhood, along with a bunch of my other friends. My zombie makeup came out absolutely perfect, fake blood and all. I got to scare a lot of people that came through the haunted house, from young kids, all the way up to grown men. It was hilarious some of the times I scared people. The haunted house was such a success, too. A lot of people came through. Afterwards, my friends and I all went to Ihop to eat, me still in full zombie costume. I got some looks from some people, it was great.

So, overall, pretty decent Halloween. And now it's November. My favorite month is over. But, I guess it just means another day closer to Christmas. And Thanksgiving, for that matter.

Halloween

It's halloween! I still need to go buy stuff for my costume... as a zombie.

Well, happy halloween! I got stuff to go do.

Zombie

Finally, another sunny day. I've been waiting for it! I checked the forecast for the rest of the week and next week and it all says sunshine. I hope it stays like that. You never know in Texas weather. Or in any weather, I guess. My friend in Ohio told me once that in Ohio they say, "If you don't like the weather, wait five minutes." That made me laugh. Sometimes, not always, that's the case here. I often wonder what it would be like if I lived in England. My mom used to live there and she told me 90% of the time it's cloudy and rainy and miserable, and if there's sunshine, it's brief. That sounds so dismal, but I guess if I had lived there all my life, I would be used to it and nothing else anyways. In this case of living in Texas, I'm used to ridiculous and extreme heat and humidity. But, that's why I like fall! The weather is perfect.

Tomorrow is Halloween. I don't know what I'm doing for it... Sad. But I still want to be a zombie.