Time Wasting

Reading other people's blogs always makes me want to blog again.

Tomorrow I'm moving out my summer apartment after work. It's hard to believe the summer is almost over. Granted, there is still almost a month left until school starts, but it feels like time has just flown by. I'm kind of disappointed in myself though. Maybe I did a lot this summer, but it doesn't really feel like it. I had so many high and lofty plans for the summer. I was going to read a lot of books and spend a lot of time in the Word and in prayer, I was going to go deeper in specific friendships, I was going to have a super memorable summer. But I don't feel as though I accomplished much. It's been really frustrating to me the last couple months of how complacent I have gotten with my life.

I visited my roommate Ginny down in Boonville last weekend which was a fun adventure. On Sunday we went to service at her church which is a Foursquare Church. For those of you like me who had no idea what that is, I think the best way to describe it would be a branch of Pentacostal. There were a lot of loud of loud voices singing and praying and proclaiming truth, people had their shoes off(yay, just like me!), they were exuberant in their worship, their faith was written all over their face. There was also some things that I wasn't very used to, like speaking in tongues and lots of praying over people.(to the point where they fell over, filled with the Holy Spirit perhaps?)

All that aside though, the sermon really spoke to me. The speaker talked about time. About using the time we are given to live the life God has called us to live. To not waste the time we have, because once it passes, we can never get it back. She talked about all the distractions in our life that cause us to waste our time.

Some of the things I wrote down while listening were:

"The purpose of distraction is to make you forget why God gave you time in the first place."

"We have been given time on this earth to do what God has called us to do."

"When we understand why we are here on this earth, what our specific calling is, we can focus on it. Getting rid of the distractions in your life gives you time."

"There is a difference between something being restorative and being a distraction. A distraction pulls you away from the work of God"

"When we misunderstand why we are here, we misuse our time."

All this really clicked with me and really frustrated me at the same time. Because I am a time waster. I remember listening to Adventures in Odyssey when I was younger(read a few years ago) and there was an episode done in a Twilight Zone fashion. The story within the story was about a girl who wasted time by always going to the mall and a boy who wasted time by always watching TV. Their lives were so consumed with their time wasters that they missed out on anything meaningful in life. Granted, those stories were a tad extreme; the girl spent 20 years in the mall to come out and find that life had gone on without her, but they still drive home a point. I try to cut out the distractions in my life, but I'm really good at finding new ones all the time. If I cut off facebook, I find a new website to browse. If I cut off TV, I find random things to read(read NOT homework). But I don't really know how to stop this. My goal for this next semester is to not waste time. I want to severely limit my time on the computer not related to school, I want to stop communicating with people via facebook or google+. I really want to be dedicated in my schoolwork and with building relationships with my roommates and other friends.

I truly believe that when we cut out distractions in our life, when we get things done that need to be done without procrastinating, that God can use that to open up possibilities for discussion with people, for kingdom work to be done. I want to be able to get my homework done in a timely manner so that when I have spare time, I can use it to write a letter to a friend, or read my Bible more, or tackle the stack of books I have sitting on my dresser.

I need some motivation and some sticking-to-my-guns-ness.

*sigh*

Now I REALLY should be in bed

Since that last post took a turn for the venting, I thought I would write another one that is a bit more light-hearted.

Things that have been happening in the last week:

Wednesday was swing at the engineering fountain which was entertaining. I danced a lot with a friend, Andrew, and it was quite delightful.

Thursday night was the midnight premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. The final installment in the Harry Potter series and I went with Dan and Devon in full costume and it was SO much fun. Dressing up to go to midnight premieres has become one of my favorite things to do, I only wish I had gotten into the Harry Potter movies prior to the 7/8 and 8/8 ones. Oh well. Next up is The Hobbit apparently. :)

Friday night I went to a campfire at Camp Tecumseh and I got to visit with my old partner Abby and some friends that are working again this summer. I also got to see Josiah and Jess which was tons of fun. They were BOTH in Hip Hop clinic this year and they gave a killer performance at the campfire. I was so proud of both of them!

Saturday Dan and I went up to Michigan City to see Ethan perform in Guys and Dolls. From that night I learned that Ethan is a bang up dancer, yellow Amps and Salt and Vinegar chips are the best road trip food, you won't get mugged in Michigan City while sleeping in your car if you park in the right place, and the BEST dance move to do while singing EVER. :D Just ask me next time you see me and I'll show you.

Sunday Dan and I spent forever trying to do our laundry. Have I ever mentioned how much I thoroughly despise doing laundry? I also got my hair dyed(it's so prettiful!) and I got a smidge of a tan at the pool. :)

Things I'm looking forward to in the next week:

Wednesday night is a big DJ battle at swing, that should be thoroughly exciting. :D

Thursday night I think I'm going to head back to camp to spend the evening there with Abs on her night off. Thinking about maybe crashing Day Camp Family Night...

Friday night Dan is taking me out for a fancy date and I'm going to wear one of my new Goodwill dresses.

Saturday I have an all day micro lab in Terre Haute and then it's off to Boonesville, IN for a weekend with my roommate Ginny. We're going to go bridesmaid dress shopping for her wedding next summer!

I should be going to bed...

...but I felt like writing here instead.

I've been wanting to post something here for a while, but life seems to be too chaotic to ever get my priorities in line long enough to do anything. I can't say that it is too busy, because in all reality it's not too busy, it's just too chaotic. Things are all kind of messy right now and I am trying so hard to get it all back in order again. Despite how my room might get sometimes, I really do like things neat and organized so much better.

Work is taking a lot out of me. I feel like I'm there all the time, and when I am there, there is so much for me to do. Reports to write and tests to make up and boxes upon boxes of food to finagle around our tight spaces, plus a group of people to manage. I don't like managing people very much. I could have told you this before, but now I really know. It would be one thing if I had picked them all. For instance, I have no problem working with and directing my dancers, but I chose all of them to be there. At work, I just have to manage a group of people that 1. are mostly all older than me 2. I had no say in hiring and 3. I used to just be co-workers with. So I know the situation isn't ideal, but I still don't like managing people like that. It's far too frustrating.

I had a conversation with Dan the other night about the lack of standards in this world. Now I'm not talking about moral standards or ethical standards or what have you. I'm talking about work ethic. Whatever happened to it?? I truly don't understand how so many people can settle for less than the best they are capable of. I don't understand why we as a society have made it okay for people to be complete slackers in their job, and for that to not be okay. I don't understand when efficiency went out the window and why we can't make a few more steps to make things infinitely better. The more I continue to work at my job, the more I realize why Purdue deals with so much debt. Why budget cuts are consistently happening and what is preventing the school from a higher standard of education. We've settled. All of us. We have settled for far less than what we can obtain and we are all okay with that. In fact we choose to praise and reward it. This absolutely blows my mind. It kills me when I think of how much money we could save at the lab. Of how much more efficient we could be. How much more eco-friendly, responsible, and fiscal we could be. But we aren't. We give all of that up for what? Some might say convenience, but I don't think it's convenient at all. I think it's wasteful. Granted, I'm not a department head, I don't understand how every little facet works. But from my lay person perspective, I see so much room for SIMPLE improvement. GAAH!!!

Rant over.