IT IS FINISHED

http://imgur.com/gallery/YJkwttt

The semester is FINISHED and now it is time for blogging and reading and writing and coding-for-fun and Netflix and video games and sunshine and swimming and taking dogs to the park and grilling and no mayo please and tanning and burning and peeling and flaking and FUN.

I wanted to take a moment to give a shoutout to some of the reasons I got through those last 3 weeks of this semester:

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1. A big thank you to CURE-EGG. You make waking up in the mornings possible.

2. I’d like to thank this fellow here for keeping me on track as my wallpaper when the lure of “fun internet” became so strong.

3. To all the “OH-GOD-PLEASE-HELP-ME-CRAM-FOR-THIS-FINAL-EXAM-I-SWEAR-I’LL-NEVER-SIN-AGAIN-IN-MY-LIFE-IF-YOU-HELP-ME-PASS-AMEN” playlist curators at 8tracks.com, thank you so much!

4. I wanted to thank my dog, Raven, for putting up with hours of her owner sitting on the floor, nose touching the computer screen, fingers hammering out code. You are a good dog, we’ll go to the park all summer and I’ll let you roll in the mud.

5. And finally, I’d like to thank all my friends and family for still liking me, even after not seeing me for 2 months because I’ve been cooped up in my lair working on projects and tests.  You guys are the best.

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LET THE SUMMER BEGIN. 

Sarah

I heard this spoken word poet do a TED talk that was wonderful…though, sadly, I find I cannot remember her last name to look her up again. All I remember is that she talked about being named Sarah.

‘Sarah’ has been a very popular name in the U.S. as well as countless other countries around the world. Variations on the name include  Sara, Sarai, Sari, Sadie, Zara, Amira, Armelle, Damita, Zarita, Gimbya, Nimeesha, Jahzara, Panchali, Farsiris, Parmida, Yepa, Tazanna, Umatilla, Wealote…………I could keep going.

It’s an extremely popular name partially due to the biblical Sarah/Sarai, wife of Abraham and mother of Isaac. It means “princess” in Hebrew.  According to nameberry.com, Sarah/Sara was in the Top 10 most popular baby names from 1978 to 2002. I was born in 1990, so there you go.

Anyway, this Poet Sarah from the TED talk performed an amazing poem at the end of her talk wherein she said something to the effect of–and, keep in mind, this is not a direct quote from her. I can’t find the talk video anymore–the following:

My mother named me Sarah. It’s a biblical name. Sarah was very old and had no children. Then God told her, “Sarah, you’re going to have a child.” She was around 90 years old. Having a child was an impossible feat.

God basically said to her, ‘Sarah, you’re going to do something impossible.’ And what did she do?

She laughed.

And laughed.

And laughed.

My mother named me Sarah to remind me that, when faced with the impossible, be brave enough to laugh, and then be brave enough to make the impossible happen.

I love this. It gave me a new outlook on a name that I disliked for the last 15-20 years. In my first class on my first day of my first year of high school, I was one of five Sarahs. We all laughed about it, asked about nicknames or middle names, and realized that four of us (myself included) were also Sarah Elizabeths.

Great.

Then the bell rang, first period ended…….and THREE of those Sarahs followed me to my second period. We all played violin.

Brilliant.

But that Poet Sarah, she made me rethink the name. She put a new twist on something that I always thought was too common, and she added some shine to something I always thought was too dull.

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My name is Sarah, and I laugh in the face of the impossible. 

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I feel like this shouldn’t even be a question.

Why America is not the greatest country in the world:

I’m not saying we ever were “the greatest”, but this is the most honest thing I’ve heard on television in a very long time.

TL;DR: WORTH THE WATCH

SarahMakesYouSmarter: You Ought To Know

SarahBeth and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.

[This is a rant/stream of consciousness post. Please skip this, especially if you’re in a good mood.]

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I think I should finally admit something. Aloud.

Okay, maybe not aloud. In print. (Because you can’t put anything on the internet that isn’t true, right?)

The thing is: I’m a freak. I got my driver’s license when I was 21. I’m buying my first car at the ripe old age of 22.

But you know what they don’t teach you in high school or undergrad?

HOW THE HELL YOU GO ABOUT BUYING A CAR.

No one teaches these things, you’re supposed to just figure it out.

YES, I realize people write articles about these things.

YES, I realize that usually your parents buy your first car for you (or at least, they teach you how and go with you.)

But sometimes people forget that sometimes there are 22-year-old young women who sometimes don’t get their licenses until they are 21 and sometimes they have no idea how to purchase a car even though sometimes they get a tax return back that might sometimes be enough to finally afford a vehicle. But not often. Sometimes.

Today was car #2 that was a no-go. I spent $100 to have a mechanic tell me to keep looking. Then again, $100 is cheap for peace of mind, so that was a positive.

Now I’ve got cars #3-5 lined up, but I’m not letting myself fall in love with anything. “I’ve just been hurt too many times!” as they say on reality TV.

But really, our education system here in America is lacking. Significantly. <—- I realize that people say this all the time, for a myriad of reasons and/or complaints, but here’s mine:

Why don’t we have courses in high school that teach you how to function in America as an adult? With the number of kids without parents, with useless parents (for whatever reason), with drug-addicted parents, or the like…it’s a shame we don’t provide more opportunities for them to learn things like budgeting, filing taxes, buying a car, dealing with insurance, etc.

I’m lucky–I have a squad of people trying to help me navigate the used car world.

I’ve got my Matt, his fantastic parents, and my ever-wonderful Grandma. They’re all scoping out the used car lots; taking me to see loan officers, insurance handlers, and mechanics; and giving me plenty of advice and feedback. Because I have questions. Lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of questions.

More to come.

Man, it’s been really hectic ever since the world ended.

I must be honest- usually, I look at images like the picture above and don’t like them at all. Tumblr and Facebook are full of these faux-inspiring (and often misquoted) sayings matched with some obscure background photo, so I encounter many of them in my day-to-day tromps through the internet. It is customary for me to react to these images with a face like the one below…

That particular quote on books and pages and “Opportunity-with-a-capital-O”, however, is something I like very much. With the new year upon us (and the past year full of hardships and tragedies, some quite fresh in our minds here in America and elsewhere around the world, I’m sure) I feel quite comforted by Edith Lovejoy Pierce’s words on blank pages. Lord knows I have plenty of empty notebooks, sketchbooks, and journals just waiting to be imagined upon. This is one of the principle reasons I love the beginning of a new year- that Opportunity for which we’ve all been hoping.

This upcoming year is going to be a very challenging, exciting, amazing, and unfortunately heart-hurting (more on that later) year, but I am ready to rise up to meet it with a fervor that’s built up in me recently, a fervor such as I haven’t seen in the last 2 years at least. Changes are the main thing coming to the life of this tiny 22-year-old, and I mean to make the most of what’s thrown at me.

Whoever you are, wherever you are reading this from, I have one wish for you this new year:

decide what to be and go be it.

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On a lighter note, here’s a picture of me getting a carburetor for Christmas!