Sunday, July 24, 2011

Soccer Reffing Nostalgia

     My favorite games to ref were the little first grade boys. It seems to me that age six is the peak period of absurd language usage. There were two particular instances with those six-year-old boys that still make me chuckle. Sometimes there's nothing that you can do as a ref but stand there and silently laugh and groan inside.

     The first experience was when a rather blunt little boy in a blue jersey came sprinting across the field towards me. I don't know whether he thought I was on the opposing team, or rather he had been told of the conniving, evil referees, but either way he was not happy to see me on his field. He bobbed across the grass like a little baby rabbit, jerked to a halt in front of where I stood, stared up at me while blocking the sun from his eyes, and then called me "booger ears!!!" in his high pitched voice.

     Well, that surprised me for a second! Booger ears. How original; that must be a newly adopted insult. That definitely wasn't used when I was in elementary school. Really, when I was younger I was lovingly called "shrimp" or "four-eyes" for being short and having those gigantic coke-bottle glasses sliding down my face all the time. But the term “booger ears” was unique. It was actually really funny to see that tiny little guy call me names, thinking that he might do me some damage with his mastery over the English language. Well, ten points for creativity kid! Seriously, even when they're being hostile they're cute; what's up with that?

     The second incident was equally hilarious, if not more. Before the game started, two boys from opposing sides decided to exchange some cripplingly challenging banter to drive each other beyond the point of intimidation. A taller boy from the orange team strutted to the center line, mockingly glaring and looking down on another boy from the other team who looked to be about half his size and smirked, "Hey, you, we're going to beat you!" Not missing a beat, the smaller kid jeered back, "Oh yeah? Well, not if I can do this!!!" and without further ado, he scrunched his eyes and rolled them into the back of his head until only the whites were visible. The big boy looked stunned for a second, and seriously, I could practically hear the cogs in his head screaming, "what?!?" Oh how those kids made me laugh!

     Now that I think about it, it wasn't just the boys who were comical, the girls were equally adorable, and I have fond memories of their silly comments too. One day a girl with flaming red hair approached me, her huge brown eyes a whirl of complete awe. She looked up at me and asked in incredulity, "how do you keep track of all of this?" I pointed knowingly at my stopwatch and said, "This little instrument helps me keep track of the time, I just have to watch the game and blow this whistle if a rule isn't followed." The look on her face was priceless; it was if her whole world had been shifted. Lesson learned: a stopwatch truly is a magically magnificent object that can undoubtedly change someone's world.


     Isn't it great how kids are so easily amazed? Their innocence can make even the smallest and seemingly meaningless things in life have a purpose. I'm going to have a lot of fun being a parent in the future; needless to say, I will definitely be jotting down the funny things that those children say!

Thursday, July 21, 2011

My Favorite Quotes

Well, it seems like many people have become aware of the fact that I love quotes! I search for them, use them often, and read them to find inspiration, guidance, and the occasional laugh. It's about time that I share some of my favorites! Lots of time and effort has been put into this compilation of these quotes, and believe me I'm sure there are more out there. However, after a few hours, this turned out to be six pages long. Brevity is the soul of wit, I will not make it any longer than it already is.

After the work was done in typing them all up, I've divided them into four categories: Quotes from Authors and My Favorite Books, Quotes from Songs or Singers, Miscellaneous Quotes, And Quotes from Famous People.

These are Alphabetical by first name. Enjoy! Let me know what your favorite is ~<3 always="" br="" jojo="">

Favorite quotes from Authors and My Favorite Book Quotes:

Alexandre Dumas

“Now I’d like someone to tell me that there’s no drama in real life!”

“Happiness is like those palaces in fairy tales whose gates are guarded by dragons: we must fight in order to conquer it!”

“There is neither happiness nor unhappiness in this world; there is only the comparison of one state with another. Only a man who has felt ultimate despair is capable of feeling ultimate bliss. It is necessary to have wished for death in order to know how good it is to live… the sum of all human wisdom will be contained in these two words: Wait and Hope.

Ayn Rand

“But I still wonder how it was possible, in those graceless years of transition, long ago, that men did not see whither they were going, and went on, in blindness and cowardice, to their fate. I wonder, for it is hard for me to conceive how men who knew the word “I,” could give it up and not know what they lost. But such has been the story, for I have lived in the City of the damned, and I know what horror men permitted to be brought upon them.”

“For the coming of that day shall I fight, I and my sons and my chosen friends. For the freedom of Man. For his rights. For his life. For his honor.

Cassandra Clare

“Sarcasm is the last refuge of the imaginatively bankrupt.”

“The meek may inherit the Earth, but at the moment it belongs to the conceited. Like me.”

“Have you fallen in love with the wrong person yet?”
Jace said, “Unfortunately, Lady of the Haven, my one true love remains myself.”
…”At least,” she said, “you don’t have to worry about rejection, Jace Wayland.”
“Not necessarily. I turn myself down occasionally, just to keep it interesting.”

“One of the Silent Brothers is here to see you. Hodge sent me to wake you up. Actually he offered to wake you himself, but since it’s 5 a.m., I figured you’d be less cranky if you had something nice to look at.”
“Meaning you?”
“What else?”

“It wouldn’t be my move,” Jace agreed. “First the candy and flowers, then the apology letters, then the ravenous demon hordes. In that order.”

“There was a small wooden gazebo built over the water; Isabelle was sitting in it, staring out across the lake. She looked like a princess in a fairy tale, waiting at the top of her tower for someone to ride up and rescue her.
Not that traditional princess behavior was like Isabelle at all. Isabelle with her whip and boots and knives would chop anyone who tried to pen her up in a tower into pieces, build a bridge out of the remains, and walk carelessly to freedom, her hair looking fabulous the entire time.”

“You know,” Gabriel said, “there was a time I thought we could be friends, Will.”
“There was a time I thought I was a ferret,” Will said, “but that turned out to be the opium haze. Did you know it had that effect? Because I didn’t.”

“Let me give you a piece of advice. The handsome young fellow who’s trying to rescue you from a hideous fate is never wrong. Not even if he said the sky is purple and made of hedgehogs.”

Charles Dickens

“It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.”





C.S. Lewis

“Numbers don’t win a battle.”








Dr. Seuss

“Be what you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind.”








E.E. Cummings

“The most wasted of all days is one without laughter.”







Gail Carson Levine

“Step follows step, hope follows courage, set your face towards danger, set your heart on victory.”





Gaston Leroux

“Erik is not truly dead. He lives on within the soul of those who choose to listen to the music of the night.”







Jacques Prevert

“Even if happiness forgets you a little bit, never completely forget about it.”




J.K. Rowling

“It is our choices, Harry, that show us who we truly are, far more than our abilities.”

“It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.”

“Wit beyond measure is man’s greatest treasure.”

“I’m never wearing them,” Ron was saying stubbornly. “Never.”
“Fine,” snapped Mrs. Weasley. “Go naked. And, Harry, make sure you get a picture of him. Goodness knows I could do with a laugh.

“Mr. Moony presents his compliments to Professor Snape, and begs him to keep his abnormally large nose out of other people’s business.
Mr. Prongs agrees with Mr. Moony, and would like to add that Professor Snape is an ugly git.
Mr. Padfoot would like to register his astonishment that an idiot like that ever became a professor.
Mr. Wormtail bids Professor Snape good day, and advises him to wash his hair, the slimeball.”

“If you want to know what a man’s like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.”

John Whittier

“Of all the sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these, ‘it might have been.’”







J.R.R. Tolkien

“All we have to do is to decide what to do with the time that is given us.”

“All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.”

Mary Shelley

"Oh! Be men, or be more than men. Be steady to your purposes and firm as a rock. This ice is not made of such stuff as your hearts may be; it is mutable and cannot withstand you if you say that it shall not. Do not return to your families with the stigma of disgrace marked on your brows. Return as heroes who have fought and conquered, and who know not what it is to turn their backs on the foe."

Oscar Wilde

“Be yourself; everyone else is taken.”

“Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.”

“I am so clever that sometimes I don’t understand a single word of what I’m saying.”


Ralph Waldo Emerson

“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”

“What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.”

“When it’s dark enough, you can see the stars.”

Rick Riordan

“It takes strength and courage to admit the truth.”

“Be careful of love. It’ll twist your brain around and leave you thinking up is down and right is wrong.”

“Dance you guys!” Thalia ordered. “You look stupid just standing there.”
I looked nervously at Annabeth, then at a group of girls who were roaming the gym.
“Well?” Annabeth asked.
“Um, who should I ask?”
She punched me in the gut. “Me, Seaweed Brain.”
“Oh. Oh right.”

“It seemed weird calling a teenager ‘sir’ but I learned to be careful with immortals. They tended to get offended easily. Then they blew stuff up.”

“Dream like a podcast,
Downloading truth in my ears.
They tell me cool stuff.”
“Apollo?” I guess, because I figured nobody else could rhyme that bad.
He put his finger to his lips. “I’m incognito. Call me Fred.”
“A god named Fred?”

Shel Silverstein

“I will not play at tug o’war.
I’d rather play at hug o’ war,
Where everyone hugs
Instead of tugs,
Where everyone giggles
And rolls on the rug,
Where everyone kisses,
And everyone grins,
And everyone cuddles,
And everyone wins.”

Tom Clancy

“Nothing is as real as a dream. Responsibilities need not erase it. Duties need not obscure it. Because the dream is within you, and no one can take it away.”






Vivian Vande Velde

“She sighed. Loudly. “Physical appearance is not what is important.”
Yeah right. Tell that to any girl who hasn’t bothered to put on a presentable shirt or fix her hair because she’ only running into the grocery store to get a quart of milk for her grandmother, and who does she see tending the 7-ITEM-OR-LESS cash register but the guy of her dreams, except she can’t even say hi- much less try to develop a meaningful relationship- since she looks like the poster child for the terminally geeky.”

Wayne W. Dyer

“You cannot be lonely if you like the person that you are alone with.”




William Shakespeare

“A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool.”

“Men should be what they seem.”




William Shedd

“A ship in the harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.” William Shedd





Quotes from Songs or Singers:

Alexander Lloyd Webber

“Slowly, gently night unfurls its splendor. Grasp it, sense it, tremulous and tender. Turn your face away from the garish light of day, turn your thoughts away from cold, unfeeling light, and listen to the music of the night… Close your eyes and surrender to your darkest dreams, purge your thoughts of the life you knew before. Close your eyes, let your spirit start to soar, and live, as you’ve never lived before!”

“Too many years fighting back tears. Why can’t the past just die? Wishing you were somehow here again, knowing we must say goodbye. Try to forgive, teach me to live, give me the strength to try! No more memories, no more silent tears, no more gazing across the wasted years. Help me say goodbye.”

Taylor Swift

"In fairy tales you meet Prince Charming and he's everything you ever wanted... The bad guy is always wearing a black cape so you know who he is. Then you grow up and you realize that Prince Charming isn't as easy to find as you thought. You realize the bad guy is not wearing a black cape and he's not easy to spot; he's really funny, and he makes you laugh, and he has perfect hair."

“Romeo save me, I’ve been feeling so alone. I keep waiting for you, but you never come. Is this in my head? I don’t know what to think.”

“I’ll bet she’s beautiful, that girl he talks about, and she’s got everything that I have to live without… He’s the reason for the teardrops on my guitar, the only one who’s got enough of me to break my heart. He’s the song in the car I keep singing; don’t know why I do.”

"I'm in the room, it's a typical Tuesday night. I'm listening to the kind of music she doesn't like, and she'll never know your story like I do... 'Cause she wears short skirts; I wear t-shirts. She's cheer captain, and I'm the on the bleachers; dreaming 'bout the day when you wake up and find that what you're looking for has been here the whole time."

Walt Disney

“A dream is a wish your heart makes when you’re fast asleep.”

“No matter how your heart is grieving, if you keep on believing, the dream that you wish will come true!”

Miscellaneous Quotes:

Grandpa

"When you kiss your honey and your nose is runny, you may think it's funny, but it'snot."

Groucho Marx

“Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana!”

Murphy's Law
"The chance of the bread falling buttered side down is equally proportional to the cost of the carpet.”

Favorite Quotes from Famous People:

Abraham Lincoln

“It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one’s mouth and remove all doubt.”

Albert Einstein

“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe.”

“The difference between genius and stupidity is; genius has its limits.”

Ben Franklin

“Well done is better than well said.”

“Hide not your talents, they for use were made. What’s a sundial in the shade?”

“We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.”

Dale Carnegie

“Remember happiness doesn’t depend on who you are or what you have, it depends solely on what you think.”

Dorothy Parker

“The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity."

Eleanor Roosevelt

“Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is mystery. Today is a gift; that’s why we call it “the present.”

Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

“Well-behaved women rarely make history.”

Marilyn Monroe

“…sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.”

Martin Luther King Jr.

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

Thomas Szasz

“Two wrongs don’t make a right, but they make a good excuse.”

Monday, July 11, 2011

Keep the Commandments

     Yesterday I had yet another eye opening lesson in church that lifted my spirits. It was about being a good person and trying to please God by obeying his commandments. That seems to be a major point of many Christian religions that deters people. Why would God restrict people so much if he sent us down here to make our own choices? Some people mockingly call it an oxymoron.

     But just think about it. How many tests have we had throughout our lives that have had certain simple rules to them? Some seem rather trivial, yet we don't question them. Don't write with a red pen, be prepared with your assigned homework next class period, and for goodness sake never forget your binder, lined paper, and plenty of pencils.

     Why then, when we so regularly follow ordinary rules, do we question what God asks of us? Commandments aren't in force to restrict us, and it never hurts to follow them. I know that I have a hard time following rules, countless times I've fallen below the standards that I've set for myself.

     The Parable of the Kite helped to remind me of how easy it can be to go astray, and how God with always help us despite our inconsistency in following his few rules.

The Parable of the Kite

There once lived a girl, so faithful and true,
With so much potential, so much she could do.
Her favorite past time was spent in the park-
Flying her kite, from dusk until dark.
Her father had built it, a bright, sturdy frame.
It seemed to hold up when the strong whirlwinds came.
It had a long tail, and what joy it could bring,
As it flew through the air, tightly held by the string.
Her father had warned her, to hold on quite tight,
The trial of the wind could put up a big fight.
This daughter grew restless, just watching it fly,
She wanted to see it soar deep in the sky.
One day she decided that it wasn't fair,
To punish this kite, and to hold back the air.
This kite deserved more than the same point of view,
If she just let it go, it could fly away too.
Because she was struggling- life was so hard,
She longed for the freedom to let down her guard.
Rules and commandments were causing such strife,
They just held her back, there was much more to life!
In just a brief instant, she cut off the string,
She took a deep breath as the air caught the wing.
It spiraled, it turned, and quite soon she had found
Her precious kite mangled and crushed on the ground.
She then heard her father, his voice calm and true,
My Child, these commandments are given FOR you
To help you and guide you and keep you in flight,
Just as the string has preserved your invaluable kite.
I love you. I need you. You're precious to me.
If you keep my commandments,
They help make you free!
Free to fly high, free from the sorrow,
Free to awake without guilt for tomorrow.
My daughter, please know that I'm sending my love,
I'll guide you; I'll hold you with strength from above.
As I hold your string, I won't let you down,
I promise, in heaven, that you'll get your crown!

Stacy Schofield Hair


On another side note, I believe it's also important to not be high and mighty about the way you live or what you believe. Sometimes it can be easy to be stuck-up and arrogant when you see how fortunate and blessed you are... Don't forget to spread your blessings to others.

"I dreamt I was a butterfly, or was I a butterfly dreaming..."

Lit wings
Reflected,
Captivating.
Awed, I reach out to her,
sighing.

Graceful,
Silently
Fascinating.
Diamond drops cascade down.
Tears.

Ever
Enchanting,
Pale shimmering;
Somehow she cannot see
Her Wings.

Joyful,
Entrancing; I lift her chin.
"With such wings you can fly!"
I try.

Glowing,
Delightful;
She wipes her tears.
Downcast wings start to
Flutter.

Smiling,
Suddenly
Remembering.
Enrapturing in her
Found Wings."