Church Pew or Bar Stool

This is the title of one of the Jason Aldean songs, from his album, My Kinda Party. Yes, it's a country song.

The setting of the song is a small country town. You know, like the one street, one red light. There's a verbal picture given in the lyrics of a mom-and-pop restaurant with the same four tricks out front on Friday night.

What really struck me in this song was the only two stereotypes that the town will accept. If you're not one or the other, you stick out and you confuse the other people in the town. You kinda feel like an outsider. There is a loneliness with dreaming big dreams of getting out of the small town.

When you don't seem to run on either side of the fence
People act like you don't make sense
These big town dreams that I've been chasing
Will never come true if I wind up staying
And I don't want to fall in, the same rut
That everybody here seems to be stuck in now
Why do I hang around
In this church pew or bar stool kind of town

                                -chorus, "Church Pew or Bar Stool", Jason Aldean My Kinda Party

You're either in a church pew or in a bar stool. You can't be both. You're stuck between these two sides. You want to get out if this kinda town, knowing you will be stuck there if you stay. You'll fall in the same rut of the people of the town, either sitting in the church pew judging the people on the bar stool, or on the bar stool judging the people in the church pew. You know that you'll fall and get stuck in the same routine of the rest of  the town, adding your truck to the 4 trucks outside that restaurant on Friday nights.

Dream BIG! Don't settle for the stereotypes. Utilize what you have been given by God, your talents, your personality, your will and motivation to work harder and pursue what God has put in your life. Dream BIG! Don't settle for less. For me, dreaming BIG and using the tools God has given me is glorifying God with all my energy. DREAM BIG!!!

Baylor Dance Company

So I just finished a practice with the Baylor Dance Company. We have finished dances and we are running them and having last minute rehearsals for small detail clean-up. I can't tell you how excited I am to be apart of this. Even though I'm just in two dances, I am super excited. All my friends have told me how excited they are...I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. But anyways this is my little shout-out to get people to come.

Hey ya'll, there is this cool thing going on Saturday at 7pm and Sunday at 2pm. It's the Baylor Dance Company Spring Showcase. It's gonna be pretty awesome, not gonna lie. There are a lot of dances, choreographed by company members and guest choreographers. The company members have been a lot of time into this and it looks great. It's $5 dollars for Baylor students and $7 dollars for non-Baylor students. There are also guest performances of a choreography class here at Baylor as well as a tap performance from Baylor students. There are other performances from a local studio in town: Joy's School of Dance (where I work.) It really is gonna be good. If you need more information, there should be fliers around campus and look out for chalking Thursday. And if you see lots of girls walking around with purple t-shirts with a Baylor Dance Company on it, ask them for information. =)

Bearathon 2011

This morning at 8 o'clock (or 7 o'clock) Baylor Student Foundation kicked off the Bearathon 2011.

 http://www.baylor.edu/student_foundation/index.php?id=49828

I did not run the half-marathon or the 5k, but I did stand on the sidelines and cheered for each of my friends who ran as they crossed the finish line. My friend, Jamie, and I had posters for all our friends who ran! They were pretty awesome posters, not gonna lie! :)

I did not run the half marathon or the 5k, but I was still inspired to begin to run myself. My only problem was motivating myself to begin training. So I set myself a goal. I'm thinking of training for: http://www.xterraplanet.com/xduro/waco.html which goes through Cameron Park. It is April 16, 2011. It is a a 20K, a 10K, and a 5K. I'm thinking of training for the 5K in a month. It seems like the perfect weekend. I will be able to create the right stamina and endurance for 3.2 miles or so and I will be able to dance for 7 minutes and not be tired like usual.

So my purpose for this blog post are to get your thoughts, especially if you are a runner. What are your thoughts? I would really like to know if you think I am capable of motivating myself to do this and actually do it. Thanks!

And congratulations to all my friends who ran the half-marathon, and the 5K for the Bearathon! I'm super impressed and proud of you! :)

Words

I like to have conversations. Yes, I actually do. But recently, I've been somewhat on the backseat of making conversations. I have conversations, but I don't make an effort to start one. This made me realize something. The impact of just saying hi and starting a conversation with someone can totally alter their day. How? By showing that you care for someone so much that you say hi and ask how their day is going.

I also realized that sometimes I have to do that to. I have to reach out to people and tell them hi and ask how their day is going. I was talking to my friend, Danielle, last night of how I realized last night how much words can impact a person. One of our mutual friends, Jerry, spoke at RUF last night. So Danielle and I went up to him and told him that he did a really good job for his first time preaching. I could see in his face how much he appreciated those words of encouragement.

Words can be encouraging, but they can also tear down just as much as they can uplift. Sarcasm can be taken in the wrong way, and gossip can tear down someone without them knowing, but in the eyes of others. Since coming to college, I have come to realize the double edged sword I wield, that everyone wields, is very temperamental, causing harm or uplifting attitudes at any given moment.

My decision is to listen carefully to what I am saying when I talk with my friends. I hope that my words will uplift them and not tear them down, that I might be able to verbally support them in everything they do and use my verbal skills to confront them when it is absolutely necessary. Hopefully, I will be able to accomplish this.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Little Red Leaf

I'm staring at my birthday card from one of my really great friends, who quoted one of the many other blogs she reads.

"See that one red leaf? That one little speck of red leaf? I imagine he was thinking, "What am I going to do with my one wild and precious life?" And he decided he was going to dare to be different. He declared his redness against that mess of plain ol' green because he's a bad-ass. Look at him rocking out his fabulousness. You go, little red leaf."

I believe we can all do this. For me, I'm gonna dare to be different than the rest of the world. I'm gonna dare to be red against all this plain ol' colors. Life knocks us down for being different sometimes, standing up against the flow of life. But I'm gonna get back up and keep going!

The Karate Kid (2010)

Life will knock us down, but we can choose whether or not to stand back up.

                                                     -Mr. Han, The Karate Kid (2010)

Family

Right now, I'm sitting at a computer on the third floor of Moody in the monastery quiet level room. (If you don't know where it is, it's that big room that's through the big double glass doors, next to the Music Library.)

This thought came to me a little while ago when I was sitting at the lunch table with my friends. I was sitting at one end with my best friend, Kara, and my big brother, Charlie. He's not really my big brother, but he acts like my big brother, all protective, gives me advice and who I can text random stuff when I find something funny.

Kara is closer than a sister. I truly feel blessed to have her as my best friend here at Baylor. I don't know what I would do without her. Who would make me laugh at college when my sister back home used to do that?

Hannah still makes me laugh over texts. I feel closer to her than I have in a long time. I love going home to Bryan-College Station to see her and the rest of my family. It's getting close to Spring Break (well, for Baylor, at least) and I'm literally counting down the hours till my dad comes and gets me Friday afternoon. I miss my family when I'm away from home. That's kind of why I am so ready for Spring Break!