Lent

It's that time of year again...you guessed it, LENT! Woohoo!

For those of you who don't know, Lent is the 40(ish) days between Ash Wednesday (hint, today) and Easter Sunday. It is a time of prayer, reflection, sacrifice, and fasting. As a Catholic, I have been participating in Lent my entire life. Up until recently, all that meant was giving up chocolate for 40(ish) days and then pigging out Easter Sunday. But now I feel like I'm ready for the Big Kid Lent--you know, the adult kind that actually means something. Basically what that means is that I will be following through with the fasting, prayer, and reflection portions of Lent that I have neglected in the past. By taking a more grown-up view of Lent this year, I am hoping to contribute to my goal of Doing Something.

You are required to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday during Lent between the ages of 18 and 59. This is actually pretty awesome, because up until yesterday I thought you had to fast every day, and I wasn't sure how I was going to handle that. I can do two days. Fasting involves eating one normal sized meal and two small meals that cannot equal your normal meal combined. You also can't snack in between. So you won't really go hungry, but it would be slightly uncomfortable for someone like me who enjoys snacking throughout the day. You are also not allowed to eat meat on fridays during Lent. My dad usually 'forgets' and has a meatball sub for lunch at work, but I've been pretty good about this rule for a few years now.

The prayer and reflection portions of Lent are pretty self explanatory. We are called to pray all the time, but maybe make extra effort during Lent. We are also called to reflect on our lives and our faith, which often leads to people flooding the confessional to cleanse themselves of their sins. Lent is such a happy time.

The most interesting part of Lent is the sacrifice portion. And no, I don't mean goats and chickens. Sacrifice during Lent is about giving up something you enjoy, or giving up a bad habit that holds you back, so that you can reflect on Jesus' suffering on the cross, the suffering in the world as a whole, and the changes needed within yourself. In the past, I have always given up chocolate. I'm still giving up chocolate this year, but I've decided to add negativity to the list--it seems like a pretty grown-up thing to give up. This means no cursing, no complaining, no gossiping, no whining, no making fun of my friend Whitney (hardest one, I swear), and no bad song lyrics. I have a propensity to get in a bad mood and then tell everyone about it, which isn't good. I feel like this Lent will be a good opportunity for me to decrease the amount of negativity in the world, the little bit of Worldsuck I'm contributing to. Phoebe Buffay from Friends would tell me I was 'cleansing my aura' or something. I think it's a good thing.

Lots of people give up chocolate for Lent. It's like, the thing to do. Partly because it's so easy and partly because it makes people feel a little healthier. Other popular things to give up for Lent are: junk food, soda, Facebook, meat, tv, cursing, or, my brother's favorite, homework. My dad gives up Lent. The men in my family are truly gems.

A really fun thing to do to the people who give up Facebook for Lent is to rally your friends together and do everything you can to give them as many notifications as possible by Easter. Poke them. Write on their wall. Tag them in every photo you can find. Tag them in all your statuses. I saw one girl post a paragraph from her history textbook on her friends wall one word at a time. Do that. They get pissed on Easter, but it makes them feel kind of loved too. And you can have really embarrassing photos of them up all Lent that they won't even know about. Fun times.

Another way I'm going to make this Lent an official grown-up event is by not skipping the Sundays. Technically, Lent is 40 days if you take out the Sundays, meaning that I could technically eat chocolate and bitch to my hearts content on the sabbath...but that kinda feels like cheating, doesn't it? So I'm not doing it this year! It will truly be a chocolate-free Lent!

If you have any questions about Lent you can go here, it's pretty legit and does a way better job of explaining things than I ever could.

Annndd in case you were wondering, I have drawn my second face! It is only marginally better than the first.

Her name is Edith Walters and she is a 12-year-old girl at her first Clemson Football Game. Don't judge me, please. It's Lent, so say nice things.

I am listening to I Like it Like That by Hot Chelle Rae. It's so catchy!

Meet Amanda

In the spirit of Doing Something I have decided to stop doing nothing. Or at least spend less time doing nothing. This means less time on the internet (Pinterest is my new addiction) and less time re-reading books I've already memorized (*cough*Harry Potter*cough*) and less time watching Friends. It makes me sound kind of pathetic to admit how much of my life that takes away. I spend a disgusting amount of time looking up Big Bang Theory clips on Youtube.

So, I'm doing things to stop the nothing and start the something, even if the something I'm doing that day isn't groundbreaking. It can be simple. For instance, yesterday I sat down and drew. Just to get this out there, I am no artist--by any means. I do quite a bit of doodling (which is largely why I almost failed AP Chemistry in high school) but even that isn't exactly artistic. My doodles mostly consist of pirate ships, smiley faces, hearts, palm trees, the occasional rocket ship, and snails. But I've always admired people who draw and wanted to try even if I couldn't do it well. So here is my FIRST EVER attempt at a human face. Please don't laugh.

For a first attempt, I don't think she's so bad. I think the main problem is her eyes... and bangs...and jawline...okay, so she's not very good. I love her anyway. I've decided to name her Amanda, doesn't she look like an Amanda? Maybe Amanda Finkle. I'm going to keep practicing my drawing until I am able to make something that, while not necessarily good, is at least something I can feel proud of. Although I do like Amanda's lips, they're so voluptuous! Again, please don't laugh. All my drawings before Amanda looked like this:

So I think you can understand why I'm so happy with Amanda.

In other news, I just got back from seeing The Chronicle. Two of my friends went to see The Vow, but my friend Julia and I weren't really into that. Channing Tatum is sexy like none other, but I didn't really need to see the movie. I pretty much could make up the plot myself.

Opening Scene: Couple is happy. Channing is sexy. Rachel McAdams is charming. They are the perfect couple. There is probably a scene of them undressing and getting ready for their 'special hug' time.

Conflict!: Rachel McAdams is hit by a car or something (as I gathered from the preview). She wakes up after accident and UH-OH doesn't remember who Channing, her new husband, is. Sadness ensues.

Filler: Rachel doesn't want to move back in with a man she doesn't know, so she ignores Channing's blatant sexiness and says, "No thanks, I'd rather move back home to my parent's house, thanks." Finally, she agrees to let the sexy and lovable man woo her all over again. Channing is thrilled! We begin to feel hope that the two shall one day be reunited!

Wooing: Channing most likely tries to recreate their past. Their second first date at the same place where their first first date was. Maybe he talks about how he first saw her and the utter fool he made out of himself because he thought she was so lovely. The wooing works. Sort of.

Climax!: Rachel has a panic moment. Can she really love Channing? Who knows! There is yelling. But the sad kind of yelling, with tears and lots of hand gestures.

Resolution: Against all odds, the couple makes up. Maybe they kiss in the rain, or the snow, or they ride off into the sunset, or there is fireworks--either way there is some kind of scenery going down. My guess is rain, cause then Channing's shirt will stick to his body and that is half the appeal of the movie anyway.

Do you see why I didn't watch it? The Chronicle, however, was awesome. I wasn't expecting much going into the film, but was pleasantly surprised. The storyline was excellent. The writers weren't afraid to leave things open; all the ends weren't nicely tied up and there was real tragedy and sadness in the film. It had layers. Did The Vow have layers? No. I don't want to give any spoilers, so the trailer for the film is here. I REALLY recommend that you go see it. I would say if anything it was similar to Super 8, which was also good, but this was better. So. Much. Better.

In other news, I'm watching my roommates make fools of themselves playing wii Just Dance. And one of them is wearing pink, fuzzy pajama pants with happy penguins on them. Can you picture it?

I am listening to Celebrity Status by Marianas Trench.