A Day Full Of Experimentations

Today was a day of many firsts for me... My first ever pizza with barbeque sauce on it and my first ever zumba class.

I am a huge fan of pizza I must say. In the past year or so I have become a little bit more, adventurous, from the normal types of pizza. I tried pineapple for the first time on my pizza and have become a huge fan, and today I thought I would do another variation... barbeque sause instead of the normal tomato sauce, and boy am I glad I tried it. After my first bite I kept wondering to myself "where has this been all my life, and why did it take so long for me to try it!?!?!" Needless to say I have a feeling I am going to be trying to convert some of my family members to the amazingness of barbeque pizza.

A couple friends and I decided we would try out a zumba class. I have heard a lot about it, and it sounded like it would be fun, and it was. It is a mix of latin dance moves along with some cardio moves. It was a blast and I cannot wait to go to another one.

I enjoy trying out new things. Granted it may take me a little bit to get there, but once I do I usually only regret taking so long to try them in the first place.... Well with the exception for rollercoasters. No matter which ones I go on, I do ALWAYS regret going on them.

I Am A Girl of Many Passions

The other night a few of my friends and I talked about how in college it seems as though there is push from all sides telling us that it is the time for us to choose and focus on only one of our things that we are extremely passionate about... It is hard to figure out what that thing is for some of us. In some ways I think it is sad letting some things you are passionate about get let go. To me it's like a little piece of what makes you you kind of die in a way. That is why even though I am passionate about teaching, and that is my main focus, I refuse to let the things that make me happy go to waist.... Thinking about this topic made me really identify what my passions are. There are some things I remember thinking I wanted to keep doing when I was younger and as I grew up those things shifted a bit, or changed all together... Still there are a few things that I have never stopped enjoying from each of the different stages I have gone through. There are some that I have just recently been made aware of in the past few years as well.

Music is one of my passions that I have kept since I can remember. My mom said that I would play around on my older sister's keyboard for hours when I was little, and when I say little I mean back in my toddler aged days. She said I would just sit there and be perfectly content hitting the different notes and listening to the different sounds they made while trying to play songs. My parents did not have that much money to start me on piano lessons really until I was around the age of nine. I remember how excited I was to finally take them. I became really good at it, and thought that I could be famous, but as I grew older I stopped really playing the piano for other people so much (mainly because I get major stage fright...sad excuse, but true nonetheless), and started playing it for me. I would play it for Mass sometimes, but would freak-out and mess up SO much that I figured it would be better for all involved to just let someone who enjoys that kind of thing to play. Even now though I play it when I am home alone or when I need to let some of my pent-up emotions out.

Another passion of mine, obviously is teaching. I love to teach, mostly younger kids, because between you and me, they are still shorter than me and so I feel tall and more in control. Really though, I love teaching that age because their brains are like sponges. They want to learn. They LOVE to learn. They understand what they learn SO much faster than even the children in the upper elementary grades do. Not to mention they are a joy to be around. These kids brighten up my day with the quarky little comments they make or questions they have. I wouldn't trade my job for anything. Not only do I love my teaching job, but I LOVE my faith, and I love to teach it and that is why I enjoy teaching both ccd classes and Confirmation classes. I helped teach ccd classes since I was in high school, and if my schedule worked for me this year I would have done it again. I still teach Confirmation though, and I am enjoying the challenge. These kids have helped me search and learn way more about my faith than I knew, and I thought I knew quite a bit. Boy, was I fooled.

Retreats... helping lead them more specifically or chaperoning them... I love it. I am known as a "retreat junkie." I can't have enough of them. I get to use my creativity and outgoing crazy personality to help bring some of the kids out of their shells. As much as I get stage fright with playing my piano, I still have when I stand-up to do a talk, but doing talks in a way is different for me. I am a talker, and so I can cover up much better when I miss something I meant to cover in a talk than when I play the piano. I did not really realize my love of helping the youth in this way until I started my sophomore year of college.

Those are just a few of the things I am passionate about and I fully intend to not let anyone of these go as I grow older. There are some others, but with the way I wrote about these I have a feeling my post would be extremely long, so I will end with those.

Temptation: It's always hard to say no...

I think I may have mentioned before that I happen to be a fan of the television show, "So You Think You Can Dance." I am a huge fan of dancing and am somewhat secretly jealous of the people who are able to move that way. The video I posted below is actually focused all on addiction. The male is portraying the addiction while the woman is portraying the addict. The video actually starts on second 13 or something like that...I have not been moved by a dance such a way as I was with this one. I know that the choreographer wanted this focused on addiction, but I have to say that this one particular dance also made me think about human nature and how the devil is always there waiting for us to feel weak... He's always cunning and when we think we are on top of the world and will not do something to bring Jesus down, Satan is always there waiting patiently for his turn to strike, and then we fall into his gravity. He makes something look so great while we are down and then after you have sinned you feel sick and want nothing to do with him, but he is always there and very ready to strike again when you least expect it. The music for this dance is also amazing for this message. The lyrics for the entire song I have posted below.

Gravity
Sara Bareilles

Something always brings me back to you.
It never takes too long.
No matter what I say or do I’ll still feel you here ’til the moment I’m gone.

You hold me without touch.
You keep me without chains.
I never wanted anything so much than to drown in you and not feel your rain.

[CHORUS]
Set me free, leave me be. I don’t want to fall another moment into your gravity.
Here I am and I stand so tall, just the way I’m supposed to be.
But you’re on to me and all over me.

You loved me ’cause I’m fragile.
When I thought that I was strong.
But you touch me for a little while and all my fragile strength is gone.

[CHORUS]
Set me free, leave me be. I don’t want to fall another moment into your gravity.
Here I am and I stand so tall, just the way I’m supposed to be.
But you’re on to me and all over me.

I live here on my knees as I try to make you see that you’re everything I think I need here on the ground.
But you’re neither friend nor foe though I can’t seem to let you go.
The one thing that I still know is that you’re keeping me down
Your keeping me down,
Your on to me, your on to me and all over

Something always brings me back to you
It never takes to long…