What's the deal with the language?

Walking down the hall at school. What's the number one word you hear? I'm sure you can guess, it's a four letter word, starts with an f. Every other word, you can hear this one. I have a question for those of you who swear, what's the purpose? What's the deal with swearing? It's detrimental to you in many ways! Here's a list of  reasons why swearing is a terrible idea.

1. It makes you sound stupid
When you swear, it makes you look immature and stupid. If you have to rely on a swear word to express yourself, then you aren't using the English language properly. There are so many other, non-swear words that you can use to express your anger at your English teacher, or use to describe that person you hate. When you swear, it makes you look like a stupid teenager, the stereotypical teenager that grandmas and little children hate. Don't you want to prove this stereotype wrong by using proper language, grammar, and using more intelligent words?

2. It can give a wrong impression
If you swear all the time, it will become a force of habit to swear in all situations. What if you are going in for a job interview? You don't want to be sitting there, going through the interview, and then let out the f-bomb. That will make you look unprofessional, unsophisticated, and unqualified for the job. I'm sure they won't hire you if you do that. This will give the impression that you just don't care, and that you are that stereotypical teenager.

3. It is inconsiderate
What if those around you are offended by your swearing? They don't deserve to be around someone who is constantly swearing. Its rude.

4. It can get you in trouble
There is always that one stickler teacher that doesn't allow any swearing. You don't want to be spending every lunch in her room writing lines of "I will not swear in class", do you? Don't do it.

There are some reasons against swearing, and those, along with a couple more, are the reasons why I don't swear. Just my opinion on swearing.

Peace and Love
-C

What's Your Mission, 007?

Everyone knows what a leader is. It’s someone who takes initiative, has their own ideas and is an individual, as well as can manage and lead people. Being a leader is a great thing, it’s the leaders of this world that make all the decisions and make the changes in our society. Now, servant leadership, that’s a completely different ballgame. This is being a humble leader, leading by example not by being pushy. People like Hitler and Gadhafi were leaders, but they lead their countries to ruins by using tactics of intimidation, false promises and violence. To me, servant leadership is when you lead like Jesus did. It’s when you wash the feet of others, and help them even when they don’t deserve it. It’s loving everyone, even the sluts and stoners and drunks. It’s helping those in need, and giving everything to help them. It’s hanging with the “losers” even when it will hurt your rep and make you seem like a loser. It’s sticking up for those without a voice. It’s searching for peace in a world where a child can die in the middle of the street and nobody cares, nobody even gives a second glance. What kind of world do we live in that this happens? If we had more people like Jesus in our world today, or even people who were striving to be like him, instead of going through the motions, our world would be a much better place. Servant leadership is a trait that I strive to have in my life. I try as much as possible to lay down my life for others, but boy is it hard!

Sometimes I feel unqualified for this job God has given me. But, you don’t need to be qualified to live your life for God. Mary Magdalene was a prostitute, and Paul was a murderer. Both of these people committed immense sins before they came to know God. They were the most unqualified people out there, but God still used them. He chose them over the Pharisees, over the most religious, rule abiding people out there. Mary washed the feet of Jesus, and he was immensely proud of her. The Pharisees followed every rule and rhyme, but they didn’t love those who were sinners. For them, it was a popularity contest; they were living their lofty lives on the outside, while committing heinous acts in secret. These people, in Jesus’ eyes, were much worse than the sinners who repented and asked for forgiveness, and now live for God. Why would God choose the sinners? I don’t know, but I’m so happy that he did. I’m a major sinner; I’m so far from perfect. But God still chose me, and he can choose you too. I’m ready to accept my mission, the mission of being a servant leader. I’m ready to accept my badge, receive my weapon (figuratively speaking, being a pacifist and all), and get out in the field.

It’s a mission of global proportions; are you ready to accept?

 It will be far from easy, I promise you that. In my few years as a Christian, I’ve had so many struggles and trials. It’s been so difficult, but so worth it. Being a Christian is more than just reading your bible, and going to church. It’s more than even just proclaiming the gospel. It’s about relationships, and digging deeper. It’s about being a leader, a leader in Christ. It’s about jumping in, getting your hands dirty. Why preach to the chorus? You have to get in there, with the rebels and the criminals and the prostitutes. Jesus taught a revolutionary message when he did this, imagine what kind of message you would send at school if you decided to go sit with the “losers”. Jesus was all about peace and love. To me, servant leadership is creating peace and loving others.

 That’s my mission in life. What’s yours?

-Peace and Love (for reals)
C

All Sorts'a Friends

Friendship is a funny thing. You can have friends, make friends, be friends and lose friends. Its almost like friendship is your favourite toy. You can lose your plastic dino at the park, but as soon as you realize, you go get a new stuffed bear. If that bear isn’t working for you, if it’s not your style, you throw it out. You sometimes find toys hiding under your bed, and you pick them up and realize “hey, this is an awesome toy... I never thought I would play with a racecar, since I’m the Barbie type, but wow, this is fun”. Friends can be lost when you drift apart, can be found at school or at youth group, and can be made, when you find someone you like, and get along with. Friends can also be lost, through fights, drama and gossip. Especially gossip. Friendship is also a happy thing. I can remember many good times with friends, tobogganing with plastic bags after exams, staying up all night talking about boys, and much laughter and crazy antics. Friendship is a blessing, but in many ways, can also be a curse. I have met several people who I thought were nice enough, maybe not bestie material, but decent people, who turned out to be huge jerks who I was wrong to trust. Friends can hurt you a lot, if you let them into your life. If you are quick to trust people, and often look for the good in people as I do, you get hurt often. Friends can let you down, and stab you in the back when you aren’t looking. But, in my honest opinion, in most cases, the good times of friendships outweigh the occasions of bad times.

There are also many different kinds of friends. I’m positive that you have met one or more of these friends in your life. Here’s a bunch that I have met and experienced.

The Friend:

Let’s start off simple. This is the friend that you get to know, but not that well. This is the friend that you say hi to, can make small talk with, but wouldn’t tell your deepest, darkest secrets to. You get along well enough.

The Good Friend:

This is a friend that you are closer to than the Friend, but not as close as you are to the BFF’S OH MY GOSH I LOVE YOU LIKE A SISTER friend. This kind of friend you can tell some of your secrets, and you can talk to them about lots of different things, and have sleepovers and such, but you wouldn’t consider them to be your “Best friend”. You hang out regularly, but you probably wouldn’t choose them to be your bridesmaid in your wedding party if you were to get married.

BFF’S OH MY GOSH I LOVE YOU LIKE A SISTER Friend:

This is the friend you tell everything. Literally EVERYTHING. You tell her that you think so and so is cute, what you think about what that girl is wearing (she is wearing shorts in the winter?!? Scandalous!) and everything you are thinking. It’s like you two could be twins, you get each other so much. You can often read each other’s minds and know what each other are thinking. Being around other people with your BFF’S OH MY GOSH I LOVE YOU LIKE A SISTER friend may lead them to being annoyed because you two don’t even need to talk for you two to communicate. I have a few of these friends, and boy, it’s so much fun to hang out with them. This kind of friend is one of the best kinds of friends.

The Gossipy Friend:

This is the friend that absolutely loves to talk. They will tell you all the latest gossip from around the school. This is the kind of friend you shouldn’t tell all your secrets, unless you want them spread around the school. This person is not particularly trustworthy, but they can still be fun! They just aren’t the person you should share your secrets with.

The Frenemy:

Oh, the notorious frenemy. This is the person that pretends to be a friend, but really isn’t. They act nice, seem nice, but really aren’t all that nice. I have no clue why people are like this, as I am generally a nice person and don’t have much drive to do something like this, but there are people out there. Watch out for these people, because they may stab you in the back. This is the worst kind of friend, because they can hurt you really bad. They sometimes gossip about you behind your back to your friends, as I have seen happen before. Be careful around these people, as they may use anything you say against you.

The “Romantic Material” Friend:

This is the kind of “friend” that you are romantically involved with. It could be a boyfriend or girlfriend, spouse or fiancé. Since the first step of a relationship is a good friendship, you and your romantic interest should be very good friends before you move into a relationship. A close friendship is important in a relationship. This friendship should be close, and you can often tell this person as much as you tell your OH MY GOSH friend.

The Quiet Friend:

We all have one of these, this is the quiet friend that is shy and wont talk. They are really introverted, so you need to do some coaxing to get them out of their shell. Once they come out of their shell though, wow! They are often a lot of fun, and can soon become one of your really close friends.

The Crazy Friend:

This is the friend that is incredibly crazy. They are completely nuts. They are so much fun to be around, but can be way too crazy at times. They make life a lot more interesting. I think, and my friends would likely agree, that I am this friend. I am usually hyper and super crazy. But hey, you know being crazy is a lot more fun

So there you have it, the scoop on all the kinds of friends. And I know, I may have missed some, sorry about that!

Peace and Love

-C

Whats in a nickname?

Nicknames. Everybody has one. Everybody needs one. Do you have one? I do, I have several actually. Nicknames make me laugh. There is just something about the way people make up the wackiest, weirdest nicknames for me. Only a few of the nicknames that I have been called make sense. Some are so crazy, that I don't even know how they came to be!  Here is a list of all the nicknames I have been called over the years. There are some very interesting ones in there.

THE GRAND LIST

-Carlos

-Carl

-Carlisita

-Carls

-Carlsefni

-Carlisle

-Carlstein

-Brie

-Peanut

-Farley

-Farley Boat

-Barley

-Harley

-Bean

-Carbot

-Brie Brie

-Sissy (my little brother gets kudos for this one)

-Carlu
-Grand Pooba

And my overall favourite: Lil’ V (shoutout to my bud Rayanne, thanks for this one)

And thats all I got! Some are extremely weird, and each one has its own story. Each one was given by a different person. I’d like to thank each and every one of you for my lovely nicknames. They make my day complete. There is nothing like walking down the halls, hearing the affectionate call of a friend yelling “HEY CARLS”. It makes me feel loved. So friends, continue making up nicknames, and continue to brighten the world of those around you. Go on now, get! Start making nicknames! I dare you! Scratch that, I double dog dare you. No, I triple dog dare you!

As Mr. Rees would say, Make those Nicknames!

Peace and Love

-C

Hello and Welcome

Hey there! It's great to meet you, my pleasure entirely. I'm glad you came, sit down. Would you like some tea? Are you sure, its positively delightful! Fine, suit yourself. Before we begin, let me tell you a bit about myself. I like sports, friends, music and being a little bit crazy. I am not normal, and I will admit it. What is normal, anyways? Normal is a relative term, in my opinion. Is anyone ever normal? I don't think so. I live in a small town, and I'm a small town girl. I have my share of problems, but I like to dwell on the happy things of life. I don't focus on the details. I like to dance and laugh, and I love to drink tea. Thats about it. Thanks for coming, glad you came, nice to meet you. I hope I haven't been a bore. Please come back soon, and don't forget to shut the door on the way out.
Peace and Love
-C