Stacey Speaks

yeah, i know, its been a VERY long time

2006-08-22T23:13:00.000-05:00

Hey all, i know, it's been awhile, but oh well, not much to say lately that i really want the whole world to know, but here's a recap. i'm still working at Barnes and Noble as a PT bookseller. i'm getting a little frustrated with it at the moment. i'm a little bored and the management has a differnt style than i would if i were a manager. i believe in helping people grow and build their skills in the job, where i think the management style of my store is hier what you need and keep peolpe kind of where they are, but we'll see. i have a mtg with the my manager on thursday.

what else is going on with me......i leave for italy in 8 days, how crazy is that. i'm going to Bologna for a family wedding and then a tour through Venice and Rome with a couple stops in between (if you want to know details, here's where i'm going). i'll be there for 3 weeks. FYI, i wont have my normal cell with me in Italy, and if you leave a msg for me on it, i wont get it because my messages are deleted after a week, so, if you want to get a hold of me between the 31 of August and the 21 of Sept. email me.

not much beyond that is really going on. i'm going to start looking for a real job when i get back from Italy, so that'll lead to some changes i'm sure. i'm trying to figure out my "love life" or lack there of. Its crazy how much a boy can screw with your head, but oh well. As long as i end up with a good friend out of the deal i'll be happy at this point, and if i get a little fun along the way i wont complain ;-) hehe. but in all realness, i do like this guy and hope he stays in my life for a while and i would love it if something beyond a friendship could come out of it, think it'd be fun and i think i'd enjoy getting to know him.

well i guess that's it. hope this post finds you all well and i'll talk to you soon

some ramblings

2006-04-08T20:31:00.000-05:00

yeah, i know its been a while, but i havent really felt like writing down whats been in my head, or felt like anyone really wanted to read what i was thinking or feeling. but, i'm in a point now that i need to get what's in my head out, so here it goes.

brief up date: i'm working at barns and noble part time, making enough to pay my car payment but thats about it. but i generally like working there, the people are entertaining and i get a nice discount off of books. i started reading the Harry Potter series, yea i know, but it's pretty good. the plot line is way beyond what i thought it would be as a "young reader" book, it would probaly hold up if you made the subject matter a little bit more mature as a mystory or fiction series, it's that well writen. beyond that i havent been reading much lately, thats kind of consumed my time. but i also bought the book my Major Winters, the guy who was incharge of the 1st Airborn division during WWII, and i'm excited to read that, that'll be the next thing i read after i finish the 6th Harry Potter book, hopefully in the next week or so.

hmmm, outside of work, my life is pretty boring. i stubbed my toe nicely the other day, to the point i went to get x-rays to ensure it wasnt broken, it wasnt thank goodness, but it huts when i walk on it wrong or anyway close to normal. so that was a fun 3 hours spent at the urgent care at the clinic in town. it was also the cap on my bad 2 days. i've been in kid of bad mood lately, not sure why, no reason to be really. but thursday night it all kind of came to a head, so i decided to kind of shut myself off in my room and read, i felt bad because i kept snapping at sean, my nephew, and this was the night i stubbed my toe. but there was a bright spot, i talked to a friend i hadnt in a while and had a "fun" phone conversation and went to bed in a very good mood. woke up the next morning and went to work, the day kind of got worse, nothing really happend, i just didnt feel great and people were kind of aggrivating me and it was just one of those days, and then i saw that i had a brooze on my toe that wasnt there earlier in the morning and thats what prompted me to go to the clinic. so by the end of the day i was in a bad mood again and it hasnt stopped. i just feel lonly and empty and i dont know. its just all around wierd. it sucks, i feel like dont really have anyone in my life that i can count on, that i'm always the one making the first steps in contacting friends and not on the top of anyone's list. i dont know, i guess its just one of the points in my life that with nothing really going right, everything seems worse than it probably is. it sucks not having a job that in my field that i feel i'm making a difference, where i feel i belong and have a calling towards. i feel like in many ways i'm loosing myself right now, and i'm not sure why.

but any way, enough rambling, i'm sure y'all have gotten the point by now hehe. hope things are good with you all and i hope to hear from ya soon, my phone is always open

Stacey

catching up

2006-02-07T23:33:00.000-06:00

well, i know, its been a while, i'm sorry. i havent really been able to figure out how to put my thoughts in to worlds, and i'm still having problems with it at the moment, so sorry if i ramble hehe.

so yeah, here's the update hehe.

my new years was fun. i hung out with my brother and sister-in-law at a local bar. i danced and hung out and just had fun. only thing that was missing was the guy, but oh well, i'll have a midnight kiss one of these new years hehe. (i'll have pictures soon, need to get them from my sister-in-law.)

job front: well, yeah, not so much of anything at the moment. worked some odd jobs to pay the bills, but nothing big. need to find something new now, i'm about out of $$. so if anyone has a job opening, let me konw hehe. I'm still looking to move out to the DC area (or maybe Atlanta), but i've kind of decided to look out here too just to get some "experience" and $$ to pay the bills.

what else..............i've had a lot of political views lately, but dont think i should blog them, someone might find them some day and i'll be in trouble hehe.
but put sum it up, people need to see the world is bigger than whats in their little buble; religions have "saviors" because we as humans sin and need something to bring us back to God, with that said, trying to live a sin free life and then damning others because they dont doesnt work, everyone has sin and everyone has to just deal with this fact and move forward and live their life the best way they know how w/o condeming others for living the life they feel is right, i.e. you may not think abortion is right and moral, but you shouldnt limit someones choices because maybe they feel that its what's best for them, let them deal with the situation, just help them and be supportive; congress needs to become more active instead of reactive!!!!; jounalism is really starting to let me down, it doesnt seem to be the "truth" any more, it's someone's verison of it to spin it in the light they want to portray, its not "we report, you decide," i know there can never be the full truth because everyone sees events through their personal eyes and everyone has a history, but it'd be nice to have something a little closer to the truth and not journalism that leaves out little deatails and hopes someone doesnt notice they were left out; and finally, waking up yelling at the TV isnt a good thing, i wonder if i should continue to have my TV set to go to morning news any more, i wake up at 7 or 8 and cant get back to sleep because i'm yelling at the TV in my head saying how stupid people are hehe.

life: i've been reading since i have no life. it took me a couple of months, but i read the whole Chronicals of Narnia. if Disney's goal was to find a book "series" they could make some money off of, i'm not sure Narnia is it. It has WAY too much religion in the basic fundamentals of the stories for them to make a good "comercial" movie. i saw Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe and was like, its a good movie, but you loose some of the punch you get when you read the book, and that punch is the Christian undertones that sting through the book. but i really liked the books and would suggest them to anyone. the end was not something i was expecting, but it was right for the books, and really hits home, makes you think about your life and shows the importance of always believing in things like santa and the easter bunny. its not about the icons, its about believing in something and what those icons stand for.

i've also read the latest prequal to the original Left Behind Series books. good as always, i'm reading and going wow, i remember that person and i start remembering their story and then go i really want to read the series again, but going to wait to get them all and then start from the top. another great set of books and i suggest them to anyone. once you get past the introductions in book one (Left Behind), they are jam packed with adventure and you really get connected with the characters and you'll be touched with what happens with their lives.

been watching a lot of movies lately as well. i bought myself the original starwars on DVD. have to say its a series of movies that also makes you think and look at your life as well as beeing good entertainment. i find it interesting that my favorite movies of the 2 series (1-3 and 4-6 i consider 2 different series because they are differnt but explain eachother) are the the last ones (3 and 6), they are the darkest, deepest and most heart felt of them all. they show differnt sides of the characters and i think you get to see them in their truest forms in both. 1, 2, 4, and 5 are building up the characters, they show the progression towards an end, a relization of what __________ (incert favorite life controlling force here) has in store for them and taking the paths that have to be taken to achieve the end. i do find it interesting in that Anikin is really the chosen one and is the one who brings balance to the force and brings everything back into balance, even though he went away from his __________ (incert favorite life controlling force here) for 20+ years and finally found "the good in him[self]" again. another thing that cought me was that the easy road leads to the dark side, that you have to work to get to the good side, which is true in life; and finally, that the the stories are based in the mythology of the world. that the story is an "epic" in many ways like the Illiod and the Odisey and the other fun greek myths. as well as them showing that a persons life really is about the journy and if you make the right choices on your journy, where you end up will take care of itself (also works for Narnia as well).

well i think this thing is long enough, hehe. i could write for ever at the moment i think, i've had WAY too much time to think lately and i've put a lot into perspective and i've put some of it out here tonight.

hope life is well for you all and that y'all keep in touch. i miss you all bunches and i'm thinkin' of ya

~~Stacey

PS. Happy Valentins Day!!! <3 (i'm still looking for a valentine, email or IM me to apply hehe ;-)

world aids day

2005-12-01T17:17:00.000-06:00

Act safe, and be safe. Aids isnt something to mess with, and even though December 1st is almost done, remembering the effects of Aids and that its nothing something to mess with is important. Get tested and have safe sex is that's the choice you've made. But always remember those who are living with Aids, those who have everything, and especially those who have nothing. Be educated and know whats going on.

Stay Safe!!

going to the Dr. Office :-P

2005-11-09T22:17:00.000-06:00

so yeah, after not feeling well for the last 2 months, i finally went to the Dr. Office today. I got some amoxacillan (sp??) stuff to kill whatever my body is trying to fight off. but it always amouses me the statement that happens after they give you an antibiotic if you're a girl and they see you're on birth control. Granted, i'm not on it for the reason more girls are, and i generally dont have those wories bc, you kind of need to have a boyfriend, or be sleeping with someone to have any real concern about the birth control pills not working (for those of you who dont know, antibiotics lower the effectiveness of birth control pills). So yeah, any time you get an antibiotic, they tell you to use a condom, and not just use the pill as your only form of brith control. this time, the dr. actually put it on the prescription bottle lable thing saying "use a condom" and all i can do is laugh. i understand that they need to be responsible and all that good stuff, but it just cracks me up any way. i guess its because of my current situation and the choices i've made in life about when i'll have sex that just make me go yeah, not so much a big deal for me. but then on the other hand, it is a huge problem and women need to know of the lack of protection they have with the pill under while using antibiotics. one of my cousens got pregnant twice because of the lack of protection (well it was at least part of the problem) so i see it as a big deal, but it just always cracks me up when they say it to me.

but any way, just thought i'd post on it, not sure why, but found it something to write about. not a whole lot else going on in my life, i'm getting pretty bored with being home and unemployed. I'm still job hunting and hoping God brings something my way. So if y'all could say a little prayer for me to have God help me and guide me in my job situation, that'd be great.

So yeah, i'll end this now, hope things are well with y'all and i'll talk to ya soon

Stacey

recap of the last 2 months hehe

2005-11-01T21:30:00.000-06:00

wow, well what can i say about the months of september and october. they were good times, i had some great weekends and i'm in an interesting place in life now.

I went to Indiana to visit Abbie at BSU. That was a good time. We played scrable at a bar, painted some pottery bowls, and just hung out. I TOTALLY needed a vacation at that point, and it was nice to just relax.

I went to Detriot with my mom one weekend. that was interesting. I had been up there once before, and had an impression of it. well, the second time solidified it. Detriot is not a very pretty big city. It makes you really appreciate Chicago, St. Louis, Indianapolis, San Deigo and some of the other big cities that you can walk around and just be in awe of the city. Detriot is a little dressing and not a place i'd go to visit. OH, i went up with to see the Sweet Adolines International Competition and watch my friend's quartet who made the finals (they got 3rd). It was fun. we got a hotel room up in Canada and i got to use my passport for the first time hehe.

the 2 big things in October were my bother's pumpkin carving party and my b-day, both were a TON of fun. History of the pumpkin carving party, each year since my brother's now wife moved up here (long story ask and i'll tell), they've had this party. it's just a bunch of their friends and family (most of them have kids ranging from like 3 up to teenagers) and they carve the pumpkins and set them up on this old barn wall and put candles in them and stuff. each person brings a dish to pass and any beverages they want (a lot of alcohol is consumed hehe) and people just hang out and talk and have fun. My brother also does a haunted trail in his back yard for the kids. its a highlight of everyones year and i always end up drunk hehe. it was nice this year being able to relax and not having to deal with much during the weekend. my brother came up from Atlanta and it was great to hang out with him and just relax. Oh, all this weekend was the first game of the world series where the White Sox were playing in for the first time in 40+ years. My brother who lives in naperville got tickets to the game, he said it was amazing (fyi if you didnt hear it, the Sox went on to win, sweeping the Astros 4 games to 0). but it was a great weekend. totally had fun, and i got to ride my brother's gocart again, it was good times hehe.

My 24th b-day was probably one of the better ones in a while. I went out with my sister-in-law and 2 mutual friends to a bar in town. There was a band playing called Hi-Infidelity (www.hiinfidelity.com), its one of my sister-in-law's favorite bands. they a an 80's rock cover band that plays in norther illinois area. All 3 girls i went with know most of the band, so it was fun. I got my name said on stage that it was my b-day, got happy b-day sang to me and a b-day drink from the piano player, and fun drinking and dancing all night long. the only down side was this random wierd guy who wouldnt stop hitting on me at the end of the night. he wasnt cute, he was trashed and REALLY annoying, but oh well, i had fun any way, and on the way out the lead singer gave me a hug hehe. OH, if you want to see pictures from that night, go to the hi-infidelity web page, then click on "fan site" and then click on "starbusters 10/28," i know the 4th picture from the left has me in it (with dial up it takes a while for it to load, so i dont know what other pictures i'm in hehe, theres als more pictures from the night at http://www.starbusterslive.com/Photo_Gallery_15.htm, thats where the second picture is from and if you kill the photo gallery info on that URL, you get to the Starbusters home page). but check it out and see me looking funky hehe. (i figured out how to put a couple pictures in here, hehe.
Bottom (left): i'm the on in the center :-P and my sister-in-law is the one with the goofy smile on the left side with her arm up.
Top (right): from left to right, its me, Janet, the piano player for the band, Angie, and my sister-in-law Dava. we were pretty durnk at the point that both of these pictures were taken hehe.)

So that was the high lights of the last couple months. I'm still job hunting, i've applied for some stuff, but havent really heard back about anything :-(, but i'm still trying. I really want to move out east, hopefully to DC area, but we'll see where God takes me.

My love life is a little random at the moment. i have a guy i'm interested in, but not sure whats going on with it or where its going, but he's a good guy and i'd really like to get to know him better and if nothing else, i hope a good friendship comes out of it. other than that, i'm pretty single and dont really have much going on.

so yeah, that i believe catches y'all up. hope this finds you all well and i hope to talk to y'all soon

Stacey

:-P

2005-08-31T20:38:00.000-05:00

I found this on my friend Tom's AIM info sheet thing, thought it was profound and really captured a lot of what i've been thinking and feeling and just life in general.

hope you enjoy

Take chances. Tell the truth. Date someone totally wrong for you. Smile for no reason. Say yes. Get drunk. Spend all your cash. Fall in love. Fall in lust. Get to know someone random. Be random. Flirt. Say I love you. Have sleepovers. Sing. Dance. Laugh at dumb jokes. Cry. Apologize. Make out. Drink cheap wine. Tell someone how much they mean to you. Make someone know what they're missing. Laugh til your stomach hurts, live in this moment, and have no regrets

It's amazing how things happen all together.

2005-08-30T10:40:00.000-05:00

for the last few weeks, i've been using the phrase, "boys suck," well last night, and other conversations i've had over the last few days have made that statement more true, and i have a better theory to support that idea. i was talking to one of my guy friends last night and we were talking about this topic, and he made most profound statement i've heard from a guy on this topic. the conversation started the the fact that we both agreed that "boys suck" and his comment was that men are better, and i agreed. then he went on to say that all boy's are assholes till they meet the right girl, then they become men. and i had to agree. you marry men, you date or hang out with boys, and guys, well they are some place inbetween :-P.

but yeah, thats my new theory.

**HUGS** to all my friends who are going through the joys that are trying to figure out relationships and where things stand because people need to grow as individuals before they can have a solid relationship and be men and women.

and to those who are reading this who think sex is the end all be all in a relationship, i'm here to tell ya, that doesnt make a relationship. thats why you can have one night stands that dont mean anything other than getting a piece of ass for a night. a relationship has more to do with the connection and the communication levels between 2 people. yeah, the phsyical is nice, and is a large part of a relationship between a man and a woman, but if you dont have more than that, it's never going to last.

well i wish you all luck. and for my guy friends, i hope y'all find nice women and that you turn into a man, and for all my girl friends, i hope you find a nice man and turn into a wonderful woman/lady and that y'all end up very happy in the future (i hope i find a nice man some day too hehe).

any way, for whats going on in my life, gotta IM me for the story of saturday night, we'll just say it invalved a naked BOY who was REALLY drunk hehe, and no i didnt do anything too stupid. other than that, not a whole lot going on, just doing the work thing and trying to find a real job, say a prayer that i do soon.

Well better get back to work, have a great day and i'll talk to y'all soon.

Stacey

Questionair time again.

2005-08-23T12:08:00.000-05:00

Who Was the Last Person...
~~That haunted you?: My Grandmother
~~You wanted to kill?: I hope no one wants to
~~That you laughed at?: Jenny K.
~~That laughed at you?: hmmmm, not sure, probably someone at ICON
~~That turned you on?: couldn’t tell ya
~~You went shopping with?: Karen Kish
~~That broke your heart?: Manuel
~~To disappoint you?: can’t remember, don’t get disappointed often
~~To ask you out?: never been asked out
~~To make you cry?: Deep
~~To brighten up your day?: Tom
~~That you thought about?: Tom (only because I had to think of the last person who brightened my day)

~~You saw a movie with?: my Nephew Sean (and that was a while ago)
~~You talked to on the phone?: Some guy from I-I Kiwanis Division 20 (I work in the District Office), if you mean who I really talked to, My mom.
~~You talked to through IM/ICQ?: Renee
~~You saw?: My mom
~~You lost?: Hmmm... I don’t loose people too often, but the last person who died in my life that really impacted me was my grandmother

Right This Moment...
~~Are you going out?: Nope
~~Will it be with your significant other?: Don’t have one
~~Or some random person?: Nope
~~What are you wearing right now?: Tank Top and Jeans (its only 72 today L)
~~Body part you're touching right now: hmmm? None ;-)
~~What are you worried about right now?: Nothing at the moment, but generally trying to find a real job
~~What book are you reading?: the Prequel to Left Behind
~~What's on your mousepad?: Don’t have one, I’m working at my lab top
~~Use 5 words to describe how you're feeling: tired, happy, content, sleepy, aching
~~Are you bored?: nope
~~Are you tired?: YES.
~~Are you talking to anyone online?: nope
~~Are you talking to anyone on the phone?: no, thank goodness.
~~Are you lonely or content?: Both, I’m at the office by myself.
~~Are you listening to music?: Nope, Fox News.
~~What is your name?: Stacey
~~Are you named after anyone?: nope
~~What's your screename?: sec4582 or giggles_at_niu
~~Would you name a child of yours after you?: nope, not having kids, so not a problem, hehe.
~~If you were born a member of the opposite sex what would your name be?: don’t know, never asked.
~~If you could switch names with a friend who would it be?: nope, I like my name.
~~Are there any mispronounciations/typos that ppl do w/ your name constantly?: YES, every misses my E and does Stacy or Stacie or some other random version of my name or I’m called Tracey or some other thing. I answer to about anything now bc of it.
~~Would you drop your last name if you became famous?: Nope, I have a solid last name hehe.

Basics
~~Your gender:: female
~~Straight/Gay/Bi:: straight
~~Single?: yes.
~~If not, do you want to be?: n/a
~~Birthdate:: October 28, 1981
~~Your age:: 23
~~Age you act:: Generally, but I like to have fun. So I’m a fun 23 yr old hehe.
~~Age you wish you were:: 25 and then I could say that age forever hehe.
~~Your height:: 5’ 7 ½”
~~Eye color:: Brown
~~Happy with it?: yep, I love being a brown eyed girl, blue would be fun though hehe
~~Hair color:: Brown, with blond highlights
~~Happy with it?: Yep yep.
~~Lefty/righty/ambidextrous:: Righty.
~~Your living arrangement:: Still at home L, but hope to be moving soon
~~Your family:: Mom, Dad, 3 bothers and a Sister, 9 Nieces and Nephews and then extended family
~~Have any pets?: nope
~~Whats your job?: Executive Assistant.
~~Piercings?: Yep.
~~Tattoos?: No.
~~Obsessions?: I have an obsessive personality (I’ve concluded this) so I have some now, but mostly, I don’t let myself bc they’d get too crazy I think.
~~Do you speak another language?: sadly no.
~~Have a favorite quote?: yeah, I think everyone does, ask and I’ll tell ya some.
~~Do you have a webpage?: Yes I do.

Deep Thoughts About Life and You in it
~~Do you live in the moment?: Generally
~~Do you consider yourself tolerant of others?: Yes
~~Do you have any secrets?: Yes.
~~Do you hate yourself?: No, but dislike sometimes
~~Do you like your handwriting?: Generally, sometimes it isn’t the best, but overall, not bad.
~~Do you have any bad habits?: Yes I do.
~~What is the compliment you get from most people?: Nice smile
~~If a movie was made about your life, what would it be called?: Stacey Speaks
~~What's your biggest fear?: Not finding direction in my life and not finding love again.
~~Can you sing?: when my voice isn’t shot, yes, otherwise, no
~~Do you ever pretend to be someone else just to look cool?: I am who I am, but I act more upbeat sometimes...
~~Are you a loner?: sometimes.

~~What are your #1 priorities in life?: Serving God, having fun, being kind to others, living life to the fullest.
~~If you were another person, would you be friends with you?: I’d hope so
~~Are you a daredevil?: sometimes, but mostly know.
~~Is there anything you fear or hate about yourself?: my size and some other personally things.
~~Are you passive or aggressive?: I’m passive-aggressive hehe.
~~Do you have a journal?: online
~~What is your greatest strength and weakness?: strength and weakness are my “big mouth”/speaking my mind.
~~If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?: my size
~~Do you think you are emotionally strong?: sometimes
~~Is there anything you regret doing/not doing in life?: Nope!!
~~Do you think life has been good so far?: Oh YEAH
~~What is the most important lesson you've learned from life?: how to love
~~What do you like the most about your body?: my smile
~~And least?: everything else.
~~Do you think you are good looking?: no
~~Are you confident?: sometimes
~~What is the fictional character you are most like?: hmmmm, don’t know, any suggestions??
~~Are you perceived wrongly?: sometimes.

Do You...
~~Smoke?: No
~~Do drugs?: No
~~Read the newspaper?:sometimes
~~Pray?: Yes
~~Go to church?: Yes, need to go more
~~Talk to strangers who IM you?: Generally know, unless they are a CKIer or a friend of a friend type thing
~~Sleep with stuffed animals?: Yes
~~Take walks in the rain?: Yes
~~Talk to people even though you hate them?: Don’t have people, and people who I’m upset with, I generally leave a lone
~~Drive?: Yes, way too much
~~Like to drive fast?: Sometimes

Would or Have You Ever?
~~Liked your voice?: Yes
~~Hurt yourself?: Yes.
~~Been out of the country?: Yes
~~Eaten something that made other people sick?: Yes
~~Been in love?: Yep
~~Done drugs?: no
~~Gone skinny dipping?: no
~~Had a medical emergency?: no
~~Had surgery? Yes
~~Ran away from home?: No
~~Played strip poker?: No
~~Gotten beaten up?: not recently, but don’t really remember what happened when I was in grade school.
~~Beaten someone up?: yes
~~Been picked on?: Yes
~~Been on stage?: Yes
~~Slept outdoors?: Yes
~~Thought about suicide?: yes
~~Pulled an all nighter?: yes
~~If yes, what is your record?: I normally slept at some point, but don’t know time
~~Gone one day without food?: don’t think so
~~Talked on the phone all night?: hmmmmm, talked for a long time, but not all night
~~Slept together with the opposite sex w/o actually having sex?: Yes (more times that I should probably admit hehe)
~~Slept all day?: Yes
~~Killed someone?: no
~~Made out with a stranger?: no
~~Had sex with a stranger?: no
~~Thought you're going crazy?: Yes
~~Kissed the same sex?: No
~~Done anything sexual with the same sex?: No.
~~Been betrayed?: Yes
~~Had a dream that came true?: Yes
~~Broken the law?: Yes
~~Met a famous person?: Yes
~~Have you ever killed an animal by accident?: I hut a bird the other day.
~~On purpose?: No.
~~Told a secret you swore you wouldn't tell?: yes L
~~Stolen anything?: Yes, on accident
~~Been on radio/tv?: Yes
~~Been in a mosh-pit?: No
~~Had a nervous breakdown?: Yes.
~~Bungee jumped?: no
~~Had a dream that kept coming back?: yes

Beliefs
~~Belive in life on other planets?: not sure.
~~Miracles?: yes
~~Astrology?: no
~~Magic?: no
~~God?: YES
~~Satan?: Yes
~~Santa?: Yes!
~~Ghosts?: Yes, in some ways
~~Luck?: yeah
~~Love at first sight?: yes
~~Yin and yang (that good cant exist w/o bad)?: Yes.
~~Witches?: No.
~~Easter bunny?: No
~~Believe its possible to remain faithful forever?: Yes.
~~Believe there’s a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow?: Yep ;-)
~~Do you wish on stars?: yeah.

Deep Theological Questions
~~Do you believe in the traditional view of Heaven and Hell?: yeah.
~~Do you think God has a gender?: yeah, he’s a guy, sadly hehe.
~~Do you believe in organized religion?: Yes.
~~Where do you think we go when we die?: Heaven or Hell
~~Do you have any gay/lesbian friends?: Yes
~~Who is your best friend?: Don’t really have one right now, but Amy is my closest.
~~Who's the one person that knows most about you?: Amy
~~What's the best advice that anyone has ever given to you?: Calm down, say a prayer, it’ll all work out, I promis.
~~Your favorite inside joke?: 2 men walk into a bar, the 3^rd one ducks.
~~Thing you're picked on most about?: my size
~~Who's your longest known friend?: Heather.
~~Newest?: Tom from NJ
~~Shyest?: hmmmmmmmm, Amy
~~Funniest?: Bryce
~~Sweetest?: All of them.
~~Closest?: Amy
~~Weirdest?: Abbie
~~Smartest?: Bryce
~~Ditziest?: Renee
~~Friends you miss being close to the most?: All my CKI friends
~~Who do you talk to most online?: hmmmmmmmm, everyone but Amy hehe.
~~Who are you on the phone with most?: Amy probably, but I talk on the phone with people a lot.
~~Who do you trust most?: God.
~~Who listens to your problems?: A lot of people, but I call Josh a lot to “bitch”
~~Who do you fight most with?: Parents
~~Who's the nicest?: a lot of people
~~Who's the most outgoing?: Abbie
~~Who's the best singer?: don’t konw
~~Who's on your shit-list?: No one at the moment.
~~Have you ever thought of having sex with a friend?: No.
~~Who's your second family?: Kiwanians when I’m at a Kiwanis event hehe.
~~Do you always feel understood?: NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!
~~Who's the loudest friend?: most of them are loud.
~~Do you trust others easily?: Yes, it can be my downfall some times
~~Who's house were you last at?: Amy’s Apt.
~~Name one person who's arms you feel safe in: Most of my guy friends. But no one in particular at the moment (I miss having that though).
~~Friend that lives farthest away: hmmmmmmmm, Hannah in Settle
~~Do you consider love a mistake?: No
~~What do you find romantic?: a lot of things. If you date me, I’ll let ya know hehe.
~~Turn-on?: *blush* see the answer above hehe.
~~Turn-off?: yelling or being upset
~~First kiss?: Manuel

~~If someone u had no interest in had interest in dating u how would u feel?: flattered.
~~Do you prefer knowing someone before dating them: yes
~~ Have u ever wished it was more socially acceptable 4 a girl 2 ask a guy out: yeah
~~ Have you ever been romantically attracted to someone physically unattractive: hmmmmm, that’s a random question, but yes, I think I have. I fall for the whole package, looks are not everything.
~~ Do you think the opposite sex finds you good looking?: nope.
~~ What is best about the opposite sex?: hugs, back massages, the conversation…
~~ What is the worst thing about the opposite sex?: that they are boys and aren’t always on the same pages as me.
~~ What's the last present someone gave you?: the wife of a past international president gave me an origami frog.
~~ Are you in love?: no, but have some people I could fall for pretty fast if the situation was right.
~~Do you consider your significant other hot?: n/a

Wow, its been a while hehe

2005-08-19T22:30:00.000-05:00

WOW, it's been a while, sorry. life has been both crazy and not exciting over the last month. my general life is pretty boring. Havent been doing much outside of Work and CKI, but now i dont have CKI any more so that'll be wierd.

The last 2 weeks have been the most exciting in a while. it all started with going to Kiwanis DCON on the 5th. it was down in Springfield. It was good times. i went through the Lincoln Museum they have down there, it was really cool, you should go if you get a chance. attending DCON was good. it really made me see how amazing our District is. Seeing them come to Jenny's aid or seeing them be sooooooooo supportive of CKI it was very cool. I left KDCON on the 6th and went to P-town so we could leave for LSSP on the 7th. that started 2 weeks of fun and drama.

LSSP was a blast. It was amazing to see 131 people work together to give kids a back yard playground. I'll have pictures up soon. but for those of you who dont know, this year we worked with a heard start program and redid the back yard area for one of their centers so the 3-4 yr olds could go play in their back yard again. it was totally cool.

ICON was fun too. there was a lot of drama, and some that i wasnt expecting, some i was. My roomates were a blast. I'm glad i roomed with them. Congrats to Brian (new IP), Jenny (new IT), Stefanie (new IT), and all the new 05-06 I-Board. Y'all will do great and it'll be an amazing year. another big congrats to Jenny, Bryce and the District for getting Distinguished (i got it also YEAY), as well as to NIU CKI for getting 3rd in Single Service, and ISU for getting 3rd in their division for Club Achievement. I-I had a GREAT showing at ICON, Thanks to all that came, you really showed International how cool we are.

Hi to all the fun people i met and to those i had met before and was able to hang out with again. i miss you all dearly and hope we can keep in touch.

one more thing. i was at the video store tonight, and saw that they have the first season of Thunder Cats on DVD, how cool is that?!?!?!?!?!? I'm SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO going to have to go rent that some time. hehe, yeah, i'm such a child of the 80's.

Well thats all i can think of for right now. i'm still tired. give me a call some time or send me an IM, i know i'd love to hear from ya.

TTYS

Stacey

Real World

2005-06-10T18:49:00.000-05:00

Well, today i applied for my second real job, kind of crazy. I'm officially in the "real world" now i guess hehe. Oh well, Real World Here I come.

So yeah, here's hoping i find a real job that i can start end of August/early September.

Dont really have a whole lot else on my mind, kind of in a random mood at the momment.

I'll chat again soon

Stacey

Ah, gotta love Illinois Politics

2005-05-18T10:58:00.000-05:00

Well, yet more fun from the Tribune. I read John Kass' article today on my lovely Governor, i know i should be embrased to say I'm from IL after all this, but it's sooooo dang funny, and the fact that he's a democrat and i'm a republican makes it even funnier because i can seprate myself from him, BECAUSE I DIDNT VOTE FOR HIM!!! hehe. but any who, ejoy this editorial its a good one, and when you're done, try to answer the question, "how do you measure it?" hehe.

"Talking tough puts Blagojevich in ticklish spot"
Published May 18, 2005
By John Kass

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has finally carved his name into the history books, by claiming special powers.It happened the other day, when he held a news conference to brag that he has more "testicular virility" than most other politicians.He also insisted that he draws upon his vast reservoir of testicular virility to maintain his virtue.If this narcissism remains unchecked, I worry that he'll soon be running around Springfield wearing tights and a cape, insisting he's banishing evil.So, as responsible citizens, we must ask a few questions, like:Governor? Are you OK?And how does one measure testicular virility, exactly?Are your powers available to women voters, or is this one of those "just for men" things, like hair polish?In a news conference the other day, Blagojevich was asked about a Tribune poll showing his popularity in decline. He also was asked about grand juries investigating his administration.He refused to take credit for this, instead bravely blaming his father-in-law, Ald. Richard Mell (33rd). Blagojevich said his grand jury troubles started when he squashed a Will County landfill operation supported by Mell."... And I think this is the kind of thing that I think, frankly, separates the men from the boys in leadership," the governor said. "Do you have the testicular virility to make a decision like that, knowing what's coming your way, and then stick to it, which is what I did, and knowing all of this that we're dealing with now is what we have to deal with? I say I do."While others are interested in washing out his mouth with soap, or examining whether his remarks caused envy or anger or both in half the population, I've tried to maintain focus.What is testicular virility, exactly?I called doctors, and naturally I had to call NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, just in case Blagojevich's testicular virility references were strange metaphors for actual rockets to be launched in Illinois, to help the state's economy."You want to know about what?" asked a NASA spokeswoman.I wanted to learn more about throw weight and thrust, rocket terms that could help me understand the governor's psyche."What's this story about?" she asked, kindly. "What's the context?"I was so embarrassed for the governor and the rest of us from Illinois, I declined to comment. A few minutes later, the spokeswoman called back, leaving a phone message after questioning NASA scientists on behalf of all Illinois taxpayers."John? Thrust is the force of the launch vehicle or spacecraft, measured in pounds or newtons. And throw weight is the amount of payload mass you're ejecting into space."And I thought of Blagojevich's presidential ambitions lost in space, somewhere.Physicians already heard Blagojevich's bragging."Testicular virility? What's he talking about? I think he's nuts," said Dr. George Moran, who has practiced urology in the western suburbs for more than 20 years. "He's obviously bragging, but about what exactly, I can't say, and I wouldn't, if I knew."Doctor, what is your diagnosis?"Well, with the state in financial difficulties, with corruption and high taxes and so on, it's obvious that the governor is focusing too much on his testicles and not on the job of governing."Dr. David Cohen, a reproductive endocrinologist and reproduction expert at the University of Chicago, said he'd talk to me as long as I didn't take this seriously.Studying a governor who compares himself to others in the virility department is probably a job for a psychiatrist, but what the heck.Can you define testicular virility?"I cannot," Cohen said. "But I think I know what he meant. He's referring to the strength required to govern. How's that?"And how do you measure it?"I don't know why I returned your call," he said. "You're going to put this in the paper and my wife is going to kill me. And by the way, to get serious for one second, this sort of virility may have nothing to do with testicular function. It may involve hormone therapy. Virility and testicular function may not necessarily go hand in hand."I started feeling dizzy, as if I were back in college.The governor was in budget meetings and therefore unavailable. So his press secretary, Cheryle Jackson, took the call.She insisted that testicular virility referred to courage and guts. Blagojevich, she explained, believes that women have courage and guts too.So, how do you measure this?"I don't believe you brought it up," she said.I didn't. Your boss did."I know," she said.What powers will he claim next week? He's already learned how to disappear.

___________________________

Hope you enjoyed that. I wont comment on the whole situation other than to say that my governor is an interesting person who's a product of the Chicago Machine, and this is the result, i'll let come up with your conclusions.

Enjoy

~~Stacey

graduation day

2005-05-14T23:56:00.000-05:00

Well, my college life is over, i graduated for the second time today. this one was deffinately differnt than the first. dont really know what to say, its just all kind of wierd right now. but yeah. congrats to everyone else who is graduating and good luck in the future and keep in touch.

i'll write more soon when i know how to put my feelings into words.

Stacey

IM DONE!!!!!!!!!!

2005-05-12T23:08:00.000-05:00

Well, i finished my last final today, so i'm DONE with school. YEAH!!!!!!!!!!! its kind of wierd, dont know what i'm going to do now totally, well beyond the summer is the in question part.

Dont have a whole lot else to say, just wanted to note the fact that i made it through my last final and on saturday i walk across the fun stage again and hopefuly in a mounth i'll have a diploma mailed to me hehe.

Congrats to all my other friends who are graduating and good luck in the future and keep in touch. i miss y'all a TON. and yes, i'll join Kiwanis at some point hehe.

Talk to y'all soon

Stacey

End of an Era

2005-05-10T15:28:00.000-05:00

WOW, my college life is coming to an end, finally. After 6 years and 2 degrees i will be done with school on May 12 and graduating for the second time on May 14. It's been a fun and crazy ride. I'm glad things happened the way they did, i wouldnt change the last year for anything (well i'd give up the stress of the last 6 months hehe). I'm having CKI withdrawl, but i think it's time for me to move on. I think i'm going to miss the people the most, i wont miss the drama, and moving in to Kiwanis when i find a real job will be interesting, we'll see how long i can last as a member hehe. I have no "real" job lined up yet. I'm working in the I-I Kiwanis District office this summer as well as my current internship through june so i have funds coming in through August, so i'm good that way, but i really hope to find a real job that i can start in September.

Hmmmmmmmmmmm, what else is going on with me. Nothing really. My life has been pretty blah lately. I participated in the special olympis this past weekend as a person helping out at the awards table, i put the awards onto the tray for the presenters. it was a good time, got some sun, got to watch Shadow from Aktion Club play soccer and it was a nice day to be outside.

But thats really all i can think of right now in regards to whats going on in my life. I'll be nice to not have school anymore and to be able to read all the books i have piled up that i havent been able to read over the last year (i have like 10). So yeah, i'll stop now, dont have anything else that i can think of. hope y'all have a great rest of the school year and a great summer

Stacey

More from the Tribune

2005-05-03T14:00:00.000-05:00

I was reading the Chicago Tribune today and came accross some editorials in responce to an opinion piece that was written last week. I first read the editorials and laughed because they were just laughable. they were in responce to this opinion piece:

Public schools' exclusion of religion does students great disservice

By Jean Bethke Elshtain

Published April 27, 2005

The release this week of the "Bible Literacy Report" showing 98 percent of high school English teachers believe public school students need to know the Bible and that only 8 percent of public schools teach an elective course on the Bible raises a question: Why the radical disconnect between what teachers profess we should do in public schools and what is actually done?From the beginning of schools in America nearly 400 years ago and until recently, the Bible was an essential part of school education. In many cases, it was the sole textbook.The first printed reader for schoolchildren, "The New England Primer," published in the late 17th Century, drew heavily upon the Bible and was a very popular book used all the way up until the 1890s. The "McGuffey Readers," popular in the 19th Century, also drew heavily upon the Bible.Working on my biography of the great American reformer Jane Addams, I saw her well-worn copy of the classic "Pilgrims Progress" by John Bunyan. Given that Addams saw her life through the lens of a goal-oriented pilgrimage, not to understand that is not to understand her.The fate of Bible literacy in America tells an interesting tale. In 1963, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the morning reading of the Bible as well as religious exercises was devotional and thus inappropriate for public schools.One can certainly understand the reasoning behind such a holding. At the same time, Justice Tom Clark, in writing the majority opinion in Abington vs. Shempp, stated: "Nothing we have said here indicates that such study of the Bible or of religion, when presented objectively as part of a secular program of education, may not be effected consistently with the 1st Amendment."With this ruling, the safer course for public education around the country seemed to be to eliminate the Bible from schools and classrooms altogether, although this was not then and is not now constitutionally mandated. Over the years educators have seen that not to grant the Bible any place in public education is, in many ways, to offer an incomplete education.Those of us in higher education, especially if we teach subjects that touch on religion, political life, philosophy, the humanities generally, see the deleterious effects of Bible illiteracy on a regular basis. Even a popular novelist like P.D. James, she of the Adam Dalgliesh mysteries, wrote a book called "The Children of Men" and in it there is a female character named Miriam who is central to the safe birth of a child under terrible circumstances. Not one of my students in that class could identify her as the sister of Moses who sees to it that her brother, floating downstream in the bulrushes, is rescued by an Egyptian princess.It is not surprising to me that English teachers found that students without Bible knowledge take more time to teach and often appear "confused, stumped and clueless" when asked to parse certain passages or offer interpretations of fundamental texts in politics and law. Abraham Lincoln's speeches are laced through and through with biblical references and prophetic passages. He understood slavery as a great sin and placed it within a theological context as well as a political one.I am heartened by the release of this study, as well as by the increasing recognition of the academic community, that excluding religion is unsound academically. Much of what drives the burgeoning interest in courses on religion in colleges and universities is student interest and demand.Courses such as "Christian Literature" or "The Bible and Human Rights" are overenrolled everywhere one looks. That being the case, it makes no sense to starve our public school students by eliminating the Bible and religion from the curriculum, given overwhelming interest of students in the subject and the legal and academic support for it.How can we be truly multicultural, in the best sense, if we do not understand our own culture? It is impossible for us to evaluate other ways of life without some strong understanding of the roots of our own.
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Jean Bethke Elshtain is a professor of social and political ethics at the University of Chicago.

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My opinion on this:

One individual responding used first amendment issues and the other used the fact that there's no histroical evidence to support Jesus ever exhisted to say that what Ms. Elshtain was saying was not ok to them. I read the two editorials first, and then read what Ms. Elshtain wrote and foud the two editorials even more random and pointless. I believe what Ms. Elshtain is trying to say is that in the US we have no basis of literary history, that when we read things or hear speaches, we dont understand the biblical (and i would argue many other litirary references) given within the texts. i know i'm just as guilty as the next person, but at least i recognize what the point is and i'm not making the points that the two people did in today's Tribune in the editorial section. The Bible is used as a refence in SO many things, movies, books, speeches and the list goes on, and we as a public dont know our cluture or our history and it is a shame. History is wonderfuly entertaining if tought correctly and in a way that people who find i boring would enjoy. We are now a population that is afraid of offending others and we try to do everything to say that we are open to everything. I suggest we define who we are first and then move forward. in Europe many countries have liturature that students are required to memorize and understand and its part of their culture, we have none of that, you meet someone on the street and we dont have a common ground to start talking from because from town to town and state to state we live such differnt lives. i'm not saying that is bad and diversity isnt good, but to be able to have a logical discussion about anything, we need to have a common ground to start from, and in the US we dont have that.

But yeah, i could go on and on about this, but i wont. feel free to leave comments or whatever, i'm sure this will get a lot of people talking. And NO, i'm not saying that the US should have a religion or that the bible should be required reading, i'm just saying that its ok to have a world religions class or a bible education class in public schools and that in the US we do not have a common knowledge of literature (biblical or non-biblical) and that we are at a disadvantage because of it.

Stacey

The sordid tale of a desperate penguin

2005-04-21T13:16:00.000-05:00

This was a font page story (below the fold) in the Chicago Tribune today, it amused me to no end. So enjoy the "The sordid tale of a desperate penguin"

The TV housewives of Wisteria Lane have got nothing on this widow, who stole her neighbors' husbands, fell into the flippers of a younger male, and now is winging it as a single mom.

By William MullenTribune staff reporterPublished April 21, 2005

First she thoroughly breached all sense of propriety among her penguin peers by stealing spouses, brawling with another female and seducing an uninitiated adolescent male.Now, separated from the rest of the Brookfield Zoo colony, Zurita has likely become the world's first successful single-parent penguin, raising a chick fathered by a much younger companion who can't be bothered to help out.Her soap-opera story has delighted zookeepers, who believe that in watching Zurita they have gleaned important insights into improving the husbandry and genetic diversity of captive Humboldt penguins.Hatched in 1990 in the Vancouver Zoo, Zurita's reputation was intact when she came to Brookfield at age 6.The zoo's bird curator, Patty McGill--also coordinator of the Humboldt penguin species survival plan for North America--decided that a Brookfield male penguin named Zorro was a good genetic match for her.They were destined for a long period of domestic bliss, as penguins mate for life in a 50-50 partnership.A female penguin carrying a fertilized egg lets her mate know, and he dutifully brings her small, smooth rocks to build a nest. After she lays the egg, the male takes equal turns sitting on it, keeping it warm during 42 days of incubation and allowing the mother to leave the nest to eat, stretch and preen. When the chick hatches, mother and father trade off finding food and coming back to regurgitate it down baby's open beak.After the chick grows up and leaves, Mom and Pop stay together, continuing the reproductive cycle."Female penguins remain faithful to their mates throughout their lives," said Darlene Broniewicz, a senior keeper at the zoo's Living Coast exhibit. "Male penguins cheat and go off with unattached females sometimes, but they always return to their mates and their nests."That was the pattern of Zurita and Zorro's life together, but when Zorro died of kidney failure in 2000, they had never produced a fertile egg.With Zorro gone and no available male in the colony, Zurita began looking for love in the wrong places, by soliciting males already spoken for.One ended up giving her a fertile egg, but when keepers discovered the male was Zurita's cousin, they took the egg away to avoid the dangers of inbreeding. Still, Zurita continued to look for male conquests."She continued to solicit males from established pairs," Broniewicz said.When she approached a male named Popero, his mate, Bumblebee, confronted Zurita in a violent tussle.Penguins have sharp beaks and a strong bite, and the two females went after each other's faces, trying to cut each other and pounding away with their powerful wing flippers.A new companionTo end the mayhem, keepers last year put Zurita in a room of her own, off view from visitors."Penguins are very social animals, so we couldn't leave Zurita alone," McGill said. Instead, they brought in a year-old male, Gazpacho, to keep her company.Male penguins aren't thought to be capable of fertilizing an egg until they are about 3, so nobody expected Gazpacho to be able to fertilize her eggs. But late in November, when Gazpacho was just 15 months old, Zurita suddenly stopped eating, a pretty good sign that a fertile egg was on the way.The keepers provided a pile of stones for Gazpacho to take to Zurita. He ignored the rocks, so Zurita gathered them herself and fashioned a nest, where she soon laid two eggs.As she began incubation, she at times left the eggs, Broniewicz said, as though inviting Gazpacho to take a turn sitting on them. Whenever she stood up, however, he expressed interest only in making whoopee."He liked the first part of making babies but was far less interested in the second part of tending to the eggs and the hatched chicks," McGill said.Zurita ended up sitting on the eggs for the entire 42-day incubation, fed by the keepers and rising only momentarily to stretch and get a drink of water.Keepers knew Zurita could not physically care for two hatched chicks alone, raising the specter that neither would survive. So they removed the second egg.Sure enough, when the remaining egg hatched, Gazpacho again ignored his duty."He is the youngest male on record in any zoo anywhere to have successfully fertilized an egg," Broniewicz said, "but he is just too immature to take up real parenting duties."He had free access to Zurita and the chick, but most of the time he wanted to be off playing with his friends, the other juveniles in the colony," stopping off at the nest only to see if Zurita was in a mating mood.Without help with feeding the chick, Zurita began losing weight. She was normally fed three times a day, but keepers increased it to five so both she and the chick would get sufficient nutrition.It worked, delighting keepers."We don't know of any other penguin anywhere that has been able to raise a chick on its own, without help from a spouse," Broniewicz said.In the wild, an incubating egg or helpless chick would become lunch for a predator as soon as the surviving parent moved off for a few minutes to find food."We could have taken the chick away a couple of times a day to give it supplemental feeding, but we wanted to minimize human contact with it, so that it wouldn't imprint on us," Broniewicz said."We proved it could be done, so that goes into the literature. It will give us and other zoos some direction in the future if one mate should die, leaving the other to raise a chick alone."Penguins in dire straitsThere are 280 Humboldt penguins in 13 North American zoos, which use them to tell the story of how human infringement has reduced the wild population along 2,000 miles of South American coastline from a million 100 years ago to 40,000 today.Brookfield has been instrumental in the zoo network organizing an annual wild census in an effort to protect the remaining birds. It also sponsors, with the Philadelphia and St. Louis zoos, a Humboldt penguin protected reserve in Peru, staffed with guards and a biologist.Turning 100 days old Tuesday, Zurita's still unnamed chick can now feed by itself. Keepers will soon put her and Zurita back with the colony, giving the chick access for the first time to a big, 20-foot pool.The chick already knows how to swim, but barely, Broniewicz said."As she got a little older, we put a little children's wading pool filled about a foot deep with water in with her and her mother. She watched her mother float around, but at first she couldn't get the hang of it. She just waded upright, frantically flailing her flippers."Once the chick learned to float, keepers gave them access to a larger, 3-foot-deep pool so she could master swimming."It will be fun watching her go into the big pool the first time. She's never seen a fish before," said Broniewicz, noting that the 20-foot-deep pool is well stocked.Once she experiences the deep pool, any dependency on Zurita will be gone. She will be on her own, playing with her still juvenile father and his pals, Ceviche, Salsa and Margarita.Life also should calm down for Zurita soon, as McGill has found her a permanent home at the Milwaukee County Zoo, where a single male penguin awaits her. Within the next couple of months, she should be back to a life of marital bliss.

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not sure what to say right now

2005-04-20T22:28:00.000-05:00

so yeah, i'd give the world right now to have someone to talk to. to really talk to who totally understands and knows where i'm coming from. Someone who understands more than just one side of me. thats totally what i miss the most about my ex. i dont miss him at all, i miss the relationship i had with him, the fact that he understood me, for a while. i miss having that connection with someone, i miss being able to have a conversation, or to just bitch and not have that person think any thing of it and understand that i'm just bitching and helping me move forward.

But any way, yeah, i'm having a shitty day, and after talking to a friend i realize my problems arent as bad as his, but yeah, they are enough for me to get hurt by and i know i have a lot of emotions running through me right now for many reason, but i'm this way and i have to work through it.

Thanks for listening (reading) to my bitches.

talk to y'all soon

Hotel Rwanda

2005-04-16T20:30:00.000-05:00

WOW, what an amazing movie!!! I would totally suggest it to anyone. If you havent heard about it, i hope this makes you go rent it. History Lesson: In the early 1990's, Rwanda (a country in Africa) was in the middle of a civil war type thing invalving the Hutus and the Tutsies hope i have those names spelled right), two "enthic groups" in Rwanda. The Hutus were darker skinned and had larger flatter noses, the Tutsies were lighter skinned and had smaller noses. This division, according to the film, was created by the Dutch who colinized the area and they used the Tutsies to do their biding during the colonial period. once the Dutch left, they gave power to the Hutus, and that brings us to the early 90s. Over the years, the two groups have intermarried and from other things i've read, the distinction between the two groups was not overt, but the two groups had almost merged, and the "names" that were placed onto them were now almost pointless besides for political reasons and identification. after the Dutch left and gave power to the Hutu, the Hutu started taking revenge on the Tutsies for the years of opression and this brings us to the 90s. the Tutsies werent having it any more and they started fighting back and created a rebble army. Up to about 1994, there had been a civil war and the UN had sent in troops as peace keepers at some point before 1994. In 1994 the shit hits the fan so to speak. the UN was working on a peace treaty between the two sides and the Tutsies, shortly after signing, shoot down the plain that caried the Rwandan President that was Hutu, and that is where the movie starts. The Hutu are outraged by this act and start a masacure of Tutsies--granted the feelings that started this were probably building, but the assasination of the President was the thing that triggered the madness that came next. The movie Hotel Rwanda shows the amazing fight of one Hutu to save his family, and indoing so saves about 1200 other people. The movie is based on true events. Paul is the manager of a Dutch run hotel in the Rwandan capital, his wife and her family are Tutsie and Paul is a Hutu. the movie follows the bribes and choices paul makes to keep his family and then the 1200 other people who seek shelter in the hotel once the genoside begins and the UN moves out of the area.

The movie made me cray and think about what i would have done in the situation. Paul wasnt like, "i'm going to let these people stay here and be a hero," the movie portrays him as a reluctant hero who takes on the role after seeing that if he doesnt, people are going to die who have been caught in the middle and who just want to live their lives.

I had read a case study of this situation in one of my poli sci under grad classes, but this movie made me see what was really going on. the US didnt act because of what happend in Samalia, it wasnt a good political move to go in, and the Clinton Administration couldnt handle any more US soldiers coming home in body bags, so the citizens of Rwanda got no help. Going in, and staying in would have been the moral thing to do, but it didnt happen.

I think thats why it frustrates me so much to see people so anti what the US is currently doing in Iraq and Afghanistan. Some things might not be politically correct and we might be stepping on toes, but when you see people dieing for reasons that are sooooo random as they looked at a person the wrong way, or because they were called out by someone that they had pissed off the day before for some stupid reason, you realize that sometimes the right thing isnt always the easy choice. That saying "this is wrong and i'm going to stop it" and knowing that its not going to be popular, but doing it any way makes you a better person. If you heard someone screaming rape, would you stop and help, or would you just keep walking? That's whats going on in dozens of placess around the world today, groups of people within a country are screaming for help, but the rest of the world keeps walking because it's not politically correct, or their populations dont understand whats going on and are appathetic to the sitaution.

After watching the movie, i hope it changes your view of the world, and opens your eyes to the fact that the world goes beyond the US and yourself, that it is a network of relationships between many people from around the world.

Theres so much more i could say on this topic, and i can only hope that some day God brings me to a job that i can have an impact on policy or go to places like Rwanda and see these things first hand and then be able to help those who are affected by it. My heart is sooooo open to that right now, to knowing that if I show these people love that it could mean the world to them. Once last point is that we should be proud that we are educated and have access to a great education. people around the world make bad choices about how to deal with their oppression, and lash out because they dont know how to use their words in a way that will impact their sitation. When Blacks where slaves in this country, they fought to become educated and because they were educated, they were able to use that to create a peaseful (not the best, and there were rebellions, but for the most part, we didnt have what was going on in Rwanda), ending that did take a long time, but they didnt resort to trying to kill every white person in the US. Uneducated and unemployeed people are probably the biggest threat to world peace today, because they have no hope, they dont see the light at the end of the tunnel, because they dont know a light exhists, people only know whats in their "box" unless they choose to look outside of it (see the allagory of the cave by Plato for this concept) and ventur into the unknown. Education is truly power, and i hope you all educate yourselves in regards to whats going on in the world, the US, your state, your county, your city/village, because without that, you're just a bump on a log who isnt particpating and trying to make the world a better place.

Stacey

My Weekend--WHOOT

2005-04-12T12:28:00.000-05:00

I had a blast this weekend :-D i'm sooooooooo, glad i went.

I went down to ISU on Friday night and stayed with Katie and Carla form ISUCKI. WOW, i knew the ISUCKI girls were crazy, but i learned a lot Friday Night. I got there and Katie and I, along with some other ISUCKI people, went to the boys and girls club that they work with. it was a BUNCH of fun. The kids are soooooooo sweet, and you can totally tell that they just need a bit of love and attention. I gave one of the girls who is also in the girl scout group that Katie and Stefanie started, one of my heart charms from my charm thing i have. she was sooooo cute, she called me a pricess before when we were outside helping them with their "olympic games," it was a great time!!! totally makes me see the value of the boys and girls club program (where i live doesnt have one, so i've never worked with them before).

After that we decided to be a little crazy. Carla, Katie, Becca and I went on a little tour of Bloomington/Normal for our dinner. We started at Walmart to get the beverages (fill in the blanks, all but one of us is 21) then went to Fazolies to get bread sticks, Arby's to get sandwiches (we ordered their special, 2 baccon beef and cheders for $3, we got 2 sets, and we ordered one plain--and they let us do it, kind of random and it was interesting hehe), then to Stake n Shake for cheese fries, and some local mexican place for Churos (the baked dough things with surgar and stuff on it) then we went back to Katie and Carlas to eat. OH, while at walmart we also got cake mix and frosting to bake a cake, and Carla and i got movies, carla got Flash Dance and i got Sabrina. We watched Flash dance while we were drinking, VERY random movie to watch and we just keep pointing random things out. It was a crazy night.

Saturday morning i got up and we had some issues so i left an hour later than i was planning to for KC DCON, but i got to have a good conversation with Katie because of the extra hour, so that was nice. Key Club DCON was in Springfield this year, it was fun and interesting. Michelle, Jenny and I gave the Key to College workshop there and then Jenny and i stayed for the whole weekend. The forum went well, got some good reviews. Jenny and i got some time to talk and she talked with some Kiwanians about some differnt things. all in all it was a bit of a frustrating weekend at KC DCON, but a good time as well, i'm glad i went.

OH, and when i got home i had a TON of mail (like 5 pieces, and thats a lot for me in one weekend). 2 of the pieces i got were from my PA department, I PASSED COMPS and my paper was approved, so I GET TO GRADUATE, as long as i pass my cource work hehe. so thats all done with and i can focus on the regular school stuff as well as my CKI stuff i have left to work on.

Well i think that's it for now, i'm at work and should go eat lunch.

Have a great day and i'll talk to y'all soon

Stacey

Its Over :-/

2005-04-01T00:02:00.000-06:00

Well, the ride that has been the last year of my life is now over. As of 12:01, i am now officialy the Immediate Past District Secretary for the Illinois-Eastern Iowa District. It's kind of crazy. A year ago i never thought the year was going to end, and now it's April 1st, i am no longer district secretary, i graduate in 5 weeks and a new chapter of my life is starting.

the 04-05 District Board was amazing!!! i LOVE you all more than i could even put down in words. I think it's fair to say that most of us found ourselves on the board for very differnt reasons and none of us were really "i want to be...", well maybe except Jenny hehe. but really though, we all kind of found our way here, it wasnt the path we thought we'd take, but it was totally the one less travled and one i think we are all very happy we chose.

This last year as district secretary has had a profound impact on me and i thank you all for being a part of that. I have grown soooo much in the last 3 years and this last year has been the largest yet, and i'm glad to say that. I have met friends who will totally be friends for life, i've said good bye to those who were holding me back, and i'm looking forward to the future and where that takes me (hopefuly theres a husband and a real job in that future hehe).

Thank you Jenny for being an amazing governor, you rock my socks and you are truly the best starfish i've ever met. I wish you all the best of luck in your future endevers in CKI and out and i hope we remain close. I would have never made it through being secretary without you as my governor, and i'm glad we had this journey together. To hear you call me your superhero at DCON truly made all the crazy nights and stressed out points worth it, because i know i helped you make it through times that were probably worse than what i was going through. annnnnnnnnnnnnnd STARFISH!!!!!!!

04-05 Board, always remember Starkist the Starfish, our Mascot. Starfish and the idea of making a difference and pay it forward truly was what our board was about. I've seen my share of boards over the years, and this is the best i've seen. We really worked as team and we worked hard to ensure that the members got all that they deserved. Use the reflector and keep in touch, because i think in some ways, if we let it all go, we will loose part of who we are and that shared experience of being a board.

Christopher, what i can say about you. You werent on my board and i know i'll talk to you for the rest of my life, but you've played a very important role in my life the last few months, one of a sounding board, of a person who makes me laugh, a person who is totally amazing to talk to, is bright is funny and i could go on forever. Robin is totally lucky to have you, and if she didnt, i'm sure that would be 100 other girls (including Jenny, Hidie and myself), fighting for your attention. I can only hope i find a guy who is half of what you are and i truly consider you one of my best friends.

well i guess that's enough centiment for tonight. I hope those of you who read this that are now IPs have had a great year in your possitions and that the time you had in your possition had an impact on your life as much as my year had on me. For those of you who are now current board members, i wish you the best of luck on the year, i hope you set great goals and have a great time.

Well i'm off, i'll talk to you all soon

~~Stacey~~

OH, hehe, i totally forgot, MY CAPSTONE IS DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i turn it in at 8:30 tomorrow morning, this means i have to pass my last 2 classes and then i can graduate, again hehe. WOW, a lot in one day. Crazy time in life right now, but i think i'm finally at a point that i can totally enjoy it all. Also, an FYI, if you used to email me at the I-I district secretary email, i dont have that any more, email me at my personal one, and if you dont have it, IM me or post on here and i'll get it to you.

States

2005-03-18T22:30:00.000-06:00

bold the states you've been to, underline the states you've lived in and italicize the state you're in now...

Alabama / Alaska / Arizona / Arkansas / California / Colorado / Connecticut / Delaware / Florida / Georgia / Hawaii / Idaho / Illinois / Indiana / Iowa / Kansas / Kentucky / Louisiana / Maine / Maryland / Massachusetts / Michigan / Minnesota / Mississippi / Missouri / Montana / Nebraska / Nevada / New Hampshire / New Jersey / New Mexico / New York / North Carolina / North Dakota / Ohio / Oklahoma / Oregon / Pennsylvania / Rhode Island / South Carolina / South Dakota / Tennessee / Texas / Utah / Vermont / Virginia / Washington / West Virginia / Wisconsin / Wyoming / Washington D.C

Looking to add North Dakota, Montana and Wasthington State to my list this summer.

enjoy

Stacey

We are to Spring Break

2005-03-13T16:38:00.000-06:00

Well i made it through comprehensive exams!!! now we just have to finish my paper and make sure I've past comps and i can graduate in May :-D.

Not a whole lot else knew going on with me other than i'm trying to post a bit more frequently to get this rather large post off of here so that things go back to normal on this page, but we'll see hehe. but if you go down to the bottom of the page, theres a link for my pictures i have online, well i finaly have DCON pictures up. so feel free to check those out. they'll look wierd in their thumbnail state, but if you click on them and go through them in the bigger form, they look normal. also, if you want a picture thats on there, email me and i'll email it too you :-D.

Well hope y'all are having a great weekend and enjoy your spring break if youre on it this week

Stacey

quick up date

2005-03-08T19:45:00.000-06:00

Hey, just wanted to do a quick up date.

DCON was amazing. I'm really sad it's over. I miss EVERYONE!!, especially Josh since I know I wont see him till LSSP/ICON and I know I’ll see my I-I peeps at events, but I totally miss everyone!!! The things Jenny had to say about me when she gave me the Outstanding Board member award were amazing, and I wouldn’t have wanted to share the award with anyone else but Bryce. I knew Jenny was going to have a hard time choosing between us, and I’m glad she honored us both!!—I’ll have pictures up soon of all the fun stuff that either Josh or I got pictures of hehe.

2004-2005 I-I board, I love you all!!! Good luck in your future dreams, goals and in life. You were all totally amazing and I think we bonded over the fact that we all just kind of ended up on the board, we didn’t have huge political ideas about wanting to be on the board and make it more than it was. But I hope we keep in touch and that we can all see each other again at random events and that we can all find a way to give Rob the send off he has earned next year at DCON. (Anyone thinking ROAST???!!! I’m sure there are some people out there who’d love to get a few pokes in hehe.)

Other parts of my life are going generally well. I FINALLY got my new car!!!!!! It’s a 2005 Chevy Cobalt, which by the way just got one of the highest ratting in the cash test so YEAY on buying a safe and cool car hehe. I LOVE IT!!!!! Josh was the first person to ride in it with me since I dragged him to the car dealership yesterday morning before taking him to the air port. But I think he was entertained by me and my excitement about getting my new car hehe. But I totally couldn’t have asked for anything more, I’m TOTALLY happy with it and I am soooooo glad I bought it. Now I just have to make all the payments hehe. I’ll have pictures of it up soon.

Going through a small crisis of the heart right now, but it’ll all work out, just need to figure out what’s going on and what other people feel and it’ll all work out for the best. Just need to pray and give it to God and it’ll all work out!! I know sooo many amazing people, it’s hard not to get attached sometimes.

My grandfather had surgery today for his hernia; my mom says he’s doing good. I think she should be coming home tomorrow so YEAY for that one. Maybe my mom won’t be stressing as much now.

Well that’s about it. My friend Hannah is going to Europe for 2 months, so YEAY for her, but I’m going to miss her bunches!!! School is getting crazy, I have my comprehensive exams this weekend and my paper is due here soon too, so keep prayin’ that I do well so that I can graduate in May.

Well that’s all for now, I’m a little drained as it is now. Soooo much to say, but not the words or the mind to say them (my heart wants to lay it all out there, but I know better).

So I’ll talk to y’all soon. Hope you have a great week and rest of the semester and good luck on midterms

~~Stacey

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

2005-02-24T17:07:00.000-06:00

Yeah, i'm about to go insain i think. i havent gone to bed before 10 all week, 11 was the wearliest and i felt guilty about doing that one because i did NOTHING the whole night. but, i guess once i get to April 2nd i can sleep agian. for those of you who dont know, my life is hell till then, some good some bad, but still scrazy. Next weekend is District Convention for I-I CKI. I have a TON of stuff i'm working on for that with more coming up randomly every so often and dont get me wrong, i love doing it, but when you couple it with everything else, its about enough to make me pull my hair out. along with DCON, i have to work on my Capstone paper (my final paper i need to graduate) and study for comps and i have a medterm the thrusday before comps and i have random homework assignments to do as well. so yeah, no shortness of things for me to do. but i'll get through it.

Still no car, but i've been told its being built, so that's encouraging. i'm hoping to have it for next weekend to show it off to everyone, but we'll see if that happens.

Other than that, not a whole lot going on in my life, its just been crazy busy. Still now prince charming to report on and havent really had much time to go looking, even though i keep finding tons of time that i wish i had someone to just give me a hug and tell me that everything will be ok and to just breath and get some sleep, but i move forward and tell myself those things and then i dont listen to them hehe.

Well i guess that's about it for now. i'll let y'all know how DCON went when i get back from that or maybe after comps are over, and i'll have pictures up from that at some point, OH, speaking of pictures, i have my holiday embrace pictures up, so go check them out. theres a link to them on the left hand side of the page (you might have to scroll down to find it though).

Well enjoy and keep in touch,

~~Stacey~~

sad crazy week

2005-02-08T19:30:00.000-06:00

Hey all, just thought i'd check in. this week and the few coming up are going to be crazy and sad and happy and all over the place.

I havent gotten my new car yet :-(, but i'm hoping i'll get it by the end of the month (cross fingers). oh, for those of you who i havent told, i ordered a 2005 Chevy Cobalt with most of the bells and whistles and as soon as i get it i'll tell you all about it hehe.

school is a little crazy right now, but i'll make it through. CKI has less drama, but have a TON of work to do over the next few weeks. DCON and LSSP and my reg. secretary duties are keeping me busy.

DCON is, like all conventions, going to be sad and happy. I'll be nice to see and hang out with Josh when he gets out here and to see everyone at DCON that i havent seen since January at HE or havent seen for a longer time. But yeah, ton's of random emotions.

Hope things are going well with you all and that life is treating you well. keep me in your thoughts and prayers that i make it through May sain and that i graduate and i find a job hehe.

Well i'll talk to y'all soon

Stacey

PS, looking for a Valentine, anyone want to apply??? ;-)

why not, have fun and i'll try to be creative.

2005-02-02T23:08:00.000-06:00

1. Reply with your name and I will write something about you.
2. I will then tell what song[s] remind me of you.
3. Next, I will tell you who you remind me of, celebrity/animated or otherwise.
4. Last, I will try to name a single word that best describes you.
5. Put this in your journal.

Just thought I'd say hi

2005-02-02T21:00:00.000-06:00

Hey all. I havent posted lately so i thought i would tonight. not a whole lot going on with me, just trying to make it through school, work and CKI.

I'm really happy i stayed in CKI this past year. Granted it's been a lot of drama and a lot of work, but i totally would not have met or gotten closer to the people i have. I have NO clue what my life would be like without people like Christopher, Josh, Jenny, Hiedi, Troy, Troy, Jen and SOOOOOOOOOO many more. You all have really impacted my life and i'm totally happy that I was able to get to know you all over the last 8 months or so hehe. being District Secretary has been a challenge but a great experience. I have learned sooooooo much and have really enjoyed everything that has come with the job. Congrats to the I-I on a great year so far and i hope we go out with a bang!!!

yeah, been sentamental lately. i was walking around campus tonight puting up flyers for CKI and was like, awww, i remember new student orientation and sitting there and all of that, it was really sad, bc that was 6 years ago, WOW time has gone fast!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah, have a lot on my mind lately. got people in my life that i hope to get to know better and really wondering where i'll be in a few months and how i'm going to get through the next 2 months with DCON, Comps, class work and my Capstone Paper, but i'll get through it.

well guess that's about it. i have a lot to say, but not sure how to say it or if i really want to make those feelings this public hehe. but hope y'all are having a good month of February and i'll talk to y'all soon

~~Stacey~~

I'm Home!! I miss DC

2005-01-16T20:44:00.000-06:00

Well, I LOVE the DC area. I had a blast out there and hated coming home. I really hope I get a job out there and can move there this summer!!! To pick up where I left off, Wed. was fun. I met up with Jen and we went to the Holocaust Memorial Museum. An AMAZING place!! It brought me to tears on several occasions. Sad that we didn’t get to see the whole thing, we watched the movies and stuff, and only had about 2 hours to go through, so totally not enough time. But I’ll totally go back when I’m out in DC again and walk through the WHOLE thing and really read everything. From there we walked over to the FDR memorial, it was very cool. Got to see it at night and it was very reflective. It was on the journey to the FDR memorial that Jen made up my run in with the law (thanks Jen, love ya hehe), and we had some good conversation. We then walked over to Foggy Bottom and had dinner at Friday's with Troy. It was a good time and good conversation. On the metro Troy realized that he left his bag at Friday's so Jen and I went back to get it (well Jen did I waited at the Metro Station) so that Troy could get back to meet up with the Cable Guy to help get his cable working again so he could be online. It was a good night, sad to leave DC, but I had to get up to Baltimore to be at my LSSP mtg on time, which I made JUST in time, got there as they were doing role call. hehe. Thursday Jen and I hung out and wondered around Baltimore. I was amused that we couldn’t get to the Blockbuster through normal driving patterns because they were filming some movie. That was actually the 2nd movie I had seen (the first was a few years back when the movie 1000 acres was being filmed at my neighbor's daughters house and I was able to go down and see pre-production), so it was pretty cool, don’t know what movie they were filming, but it was fun just to see the cameras and stuff hehe. Had dinner at the Cheese Cake Factory and then was off to the airport. I was SOOOOOOOOOO sad to be leaving, but it was a good time, and totally knows I have some great friends and I hope they know they have a true friend in me. I miss you all a TON, (DC and people from HE, and those I haven’t seen in forever) and I hope I get to see you all soon!! I have pictures and those will be up soon.

CKI Drama.

I got to see some of this first hand, and I’m truly amazed at how well people deal with all the stress and craziness CKI puts them through on all levels.

The situation that is going on with international right now is sad. I understand why people are upset and why they want answers, but really, on some level, no answer will satisfy. You will always want more answers and those answers will lead to more questions. I've posted a lot on this topic in the MC on the CKI web page and have exhausted most of my feelings. But in general, I would encourage everyone who reads this to get to know the I-Board members. They are wonderful people and want to get to know the members they are serving. They don’t want all this drama and want to help in anyway possible. If you know them beyond their official title, I think it's easier to have a real conversation with them and ask the tough questions, and you’re more likely to get the tough answers.

People on the MC have been airing their dirty laundry and a lot of what is being said is personal and harsh. I'm glad to see that the conversation is finally getting to a point that is healthy and could actually help the organization. But some of what has come before is very inappropriate and hurtful to the organization and individuals. The politics is a little crazy and as much as it hurts me to say this, I’ll be happy to finally be done with school and moving on from CKI. I love this organization dearly, but after 6 years of playing the international game, I’m a little spent. I hope people learn form all of this and that people grow and the organization grows as well. I give all my best to the I-Board in their search for new members to fill the openings and I know you all will grow closer and improve yourselves through this.

I also give my best to the members of CKI. I know many of you have NO clue what is all going on or why people are so upset and that y'all are probably a bit confused, but just stick in there and remember that this is an organization that allows us to serve others and to grow as individuals. CKI is an amazing organization and I love it dearly and I’m sooo happy I joined and I’ve met some amazing people because of it. I hope we can work though all this craziness and have a stronger organization at the end.

Holiday Embrace and DC

2005-01-11T23:16:00.000-06:00

Hey all. just thought i'd do a little up date.
Holiday Embrace 2005 was a blast. Kind of crazy that it was my list HE as a CKI member, but very cool. Probably one of the best. I got to see a TON of people i hadnt seen in months and that made me happy. Dan won me in the chance to dance, we had 209 people (90 of them CKIers) for dinner, and everything went really well. Congrats to Abbie, Jenny, and our two host clubs (Knox and Depaul) for a great job of setting everything up and making it a great evening.

I'm again in DC. this time for a 3 days instead of just over night. I've had a great few days so far. I slept in and went to lunch with K'Lynn and then I hit Arlington National Semetary yesterday and saw the changing of the gards and Kennedy's eternal flame. Went to dinner with Troy and Brian from PNW last night over by George Washington Univ. it was a good time. today was nice, i slept in and then took the metro to have lunch with Dave, it was nice seeing him again, his GF seems to be making him happy hehe. Then got back on the metro and went to the Smithsonian and walked around the Mall a bit. Saw the Air and Space and the Native American Museums. The Native American Museum is AMAZING!!! I have some pictures, but it was very cool. nothing in the buidling is square besides the elevators and the windows
the walls are all curved and its sooo cool. they have a lot of artifacts, but they also focus in a lot on the living culture of Native Americans today. it was a great time and only wish i wasnt soo tired so i could have spent the time to read the differnt things and look at all the exhibits.

Tomorrow i'm going to try and get a tour of the White House and the Capital Building as well as meeting Jen at the Hallicaust Museum and hitting some manuments. It should be a good time and i'm looking forward too it. Being out here again reminds me why i want to move here. it's nice, i feel safe, the metro system is amazing (it's the subway thing out here), and i have some great friends out here too. But we'll see where life takes me.

Beyond this, not a whole lot going one. life is going to get a little crazy when i get home, but beyond that life is good. Being single kind of sucks of late, but i'm enjoying it also, but any good single guy out there is encouraged to apply for the spot of boyfriend (hehe). but any who, i'm going to head out now, hope this finds everyone well and i'll talk to y'all soon

Stacey

Up Dates

2005-01-06T06:50:00.000-06:00

Hey all. It's been a few so thought i'd up date y'all on whats going on with me.

NIU WON!!! they are now 2 and 0 in bowl games go us hehe. It seemed to be a pretty good game, it started at 10 pm and i passed out about 11ish. It was delayed a half hour and at the start, the reception was bad bc we were getting a storm and the power went out in San Jose. I was yelling at the TV. But it all worked out and ESPN 2 replayed the game the other night so i taped it so i can watch it later. But its really cool to be at a school that has a good Football Team. It was what i wanted when i graduated high school, and it only took 5 years to get that hehe. but i'm proud of my school and they have a lot to build on for next year.

Holiday Embrace is this weekend, i'm SOOOOOOOOO excited. Its going to be a great time and it'll be nice to see everyone again. I miss everyone soooo much, there are a few people i wont get to see this weekend :-(, but i'll get to see them soon enough (DCON). This weekend will be filled with good conversation, drama, and a visit to Chicago, what more can a girl ask for???

After HE, i leave for DC :-). I'm heading back with Jen, Troy and Garrow for a little vacation. I'll spend 3 days in DC, then head up to Baltimore and then fly home Thursday night. i have soooo much i want to go visit. I still need to call some people and say HI, i'm going to DC, what can y'all offer me (this meaning my Representative's, who's also the Speaker of the House, office). But it's going to be a blast!!!

When i get home, it's full forward on getting my capstone paper started for school so that i can graduate in May. So that'll take up next weekend, fun fun hehe.

But life is generally good. Havent had much time to think, so that's always good. When i think i start going a little crazy hehe. but every so offten i realize i've been single for almost 3 years, and that kind of spooks me a bit. But oh well, in God's time i'll find a nice guy to date who treats me like i'm a princess hehe. but really, being single is good most of the time, but sucks when realize how long it's been.

But any way, i hope y'all are having fun and enjoying life. Keep in touch and i'll talk to y'all soon.

~~Stacey

Random comments

2004-12-28T21:00:00.000-06:00

My car just hit 130,000 miles today. It was a pretty dramatic moment for me because i watched it roll over on my way to work. I bought the 96 Neon with 87,000 miles on it about 3 years ago i believe . so yeah so thats about 14,334 miles per year that i'm putting on my car. How crazy is that???? thats more than a 1,000 miles/month. I drive 100 miles round trip to work every time i go and thats generaly 3 days a week. Yeah, wow, i need a new car hehe, but i'm looking at the new Chevy Cobalt, it looks like a good car need to go check it out more, but it's my current choice, but who knows.

but yeah, not a whole lot going on in my life generaly at the moment. I had a good Christmas :-D with all my family (all 4 of my siblings and all of my nices and nephews minus one were at my bro's on Sunday afternoon, that is the most we've ever had together so that was cool) and it was a good time. I realize how much i both love and am annoyed by my family. Got some good but random gifts, but all in all, it was a good time and i enjoyed myself.

Holiday Embrace is just around the corner and i cannot wait for it to come!! If you havent registered, dont know if you can for dinner, but the dance is still open, so PLEASE come, it'll be a great time!!!!! I cannot wait to see everyone again, i get excited every time i read the list of registerants :-), only thing better than HE for International Friends getting back together is LSSP and ICON and i hope to see y'all at those too. Whish i could go to Y'all 2005, but school, $$ and needing some sleep is preventing me from going :-(, that makes me sad, but i hope all that are going have a great time!!!

Next big thing after HE, litteraly right after, is my trip to DC. I'm driving back with Troy, Garrow and Jen and hanging out with them for a week out in DC and Baltimore. I'm soooooooo excited, i get to bum around a great city for 3 days and go see some stuff that i've always wanted to. I cannot wait for the trip :-).

Well what else, well i guess thats about it, i cannot think of anything else at the momment.

Hope this post finds everyone well and i hope to talk to y'all soon,

~~Stacey

What Christmas are you?

2004-12-23T18:43:00.000-06:00

Your Christmas is Most Like: Miracle on 34th Street

Sweet and caring, Christmas is about helping for you. While Santa may not exist, you try to share his spirit.

What Movie Is Your Christmas Most Like?

I think this fits. I'm in a very reflective mood. I couldnt imagain being in any other mood when you remember the reason for the season. I'm very thankful to have a wonderful relationship with Christ and wouldnt trade it for anything in the world!!

Random comment: the movie "King Aurther" is really good. Jerry Brochimer (sp) is an amazing producer. It seems like most everything that he puts outs i enjoy to the fullest. He's made some of my favorite movies!!!

Hope y'all have a very Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year.

~~Stacey~~

2004-12-21T20:26:00.000-06:00

This football will be auctioned/raffled something offed at Holiday Embrace and i have another one that's idential to it (yes, i have 2). So come to HE if you want one.

NIU Football for HE
Posted by Hello

NIU Football

2004-12-21T20:15:00.000-06:00

Well, we finaly did it and i forgot to talk about it in my last post. NIU football is going to a bowl game!!!!

NIU football 8-3, 6-1 conference--WE GOT A BOWL BID!! Going to the Silicon Valley Classic on 12/30 on ESPN

soooo sad that i cannot go out to Cali to see it live, but i'll totaly be watching it on ESPN.

And for NIU fans going to Holiday Embrace, there will be 2 NIU foot balls signed by Coach Novak. So be looking for that :-D

Have a Happy Holidays and a Merry Christmas

Stacey

It's Break Time

2004-12-17T14:33:00.000-06:00

I know, it's been a while, sorry, life has been crazy. But I made it through the last few weeks of school and have enjoyed my first week of break. Its nice not to have all of that stress, but I still have a TON to do over break. I have a paper to write so that i can graduate, the first draft is due the 17th of January, I have Secretary duties to fill (joys of newsletters, mailings, MRFs and minutes), LSSP stuff to do, Holiday Embrace to attend (got my dress, its spiffy hehe), and then a trip to DC, a long with holiday stuff to do like Christmas and New Years hehe. But life is going well. Not a whole lot going on with me. I'm sick at the moment, but nothing too bad, i think i'll live.

Well hope y'all have a great holiday season and a good new year and that you play hard, but are safe. I cannot wait to see those of you coming to Holiday Embrace, and the rest of you when i get the chance. I miss you all and i'm sooooooooo excited about HE. but any who. back to my life of not feeling well and vegging out in front of the TV.

I'll talk to y'all soon,

Stacey

Holiday Embrace 2005

2004-11-15T19:15:00.000-06:00

Hey all,
I just wanted to remind my faithful CKI readers to register for Holiday Embrace 2005. This is the I-I's annual Dinner Dance to support the Spastic Paralysis Research Foundation. It is a semi formal event and always a great time. Everyone from all over international and the Kiwanis Family are invited to the event. It is $35 for the dinner & dance, and $20 for the dance only tickets. It is January 8, 2005 in Lincolnwood, IL (Chicago burb about 5/10 minutes from the City). You can register online at the I-I District Web Page. If you have any questions, contact me and i hope to see y'all there.

Stacey

Best Concert in a while

2004-11-12T15:45:00.000-06:00

WOW, last night was an amazing, and interesting night to say the least.
I went to my first concert in about a year (went to Jars of Clay last year in late Nov.). I went to go see Todd Agnew, Rebbecca St. James and the Newsboys at the NIU Convocation Center. I saw Jars of Clay there a 2 years ago, and thought it was a good place for concerts, but didnt work for me with the Christian concert thing, where it's supose to be a really with God time, and i just didnt feel that closeness like i did in some other places. So i wasnt sure how good the Newsboys concert was going to be, but it was amazing. Todd Agnew opened up the night with 2 amazing songs (he sang a few more, but these are the 2 that hit me the most) Grace Like Rain and Open the Eyes of My Heart (One of my favorite Christian songs EVER and he did a GREAT rock version of it). So that was a great start and it started out with a very "we are here to praise God" mentality it was a great start. I then went out and bought Todd Agnew's CD right after he sang hehe. Next was Rebbecca St. James. I'm not a huge fan of hers, but she sang some good praise and worship songs so i enjoyed her a lot. and then where was the Newsboys. They were as good as ever. They totaly solidified that it was a praise and worship night and not about all the glits and glam. The Newsboys have always been this really high energy band, and they were last night too, but it was differnt from the last time i saw them. They really wanted the night to be about renewing yourself and falling in love with Christ again. They same my favorite songs, they sang He Reigns, Entertaining Angles, They all fall, Amazing Love, Breafast (When the toast is burnt and all the milk has turned and Captian Crunch is wavin' fair well. When the big one finds you may this song remind you that they dont serve breakfast in hell) and a bunch more. It was a great time (other than i don tknow how to stand for long periods of time in non gym shoes w/o killing my knee but oh well). After the concert i went and got the Newsboys' 2 Praise and Worship CDs (Adderation and Devotion, both really good). So i'm currently listening to the 2 CDs right now along with other Newsboys music :-D. It was generaly a good night.

Got home, and called a friend who was at the concert to see how she liked it and we ended up talking for about 3 hours about boy issues. This was totaly a conversation i never thought I'd have with her, but i did. It totaly made me look at the world differntly and see things in a differnt light. It made me wish even more that i had a nice guy in my life who i could depend on, but without all (well maybe not all, but the type any way) of drama she's having and just having that kind of relationship agin would be nice. but as for my friend, yeah, not great choices, but cannot dwell on that, just need to move forward and figure out the right path to take now.

Not a whole lot else going on with me. I'm still as single as ever (for better or worse) and am enjoying life for the most part. Been feeling some odd things of late, but it's all good, working through it and letting God take care of me. i hope this post finds y'all well and things are going generaly well with yourself. i hope to talk to you all soon

God Bless,

~~Stacey

4 MORE YEARS!!!

2004-11-03T23:30:00.000-06:00

Thats right, for all of you who havent been watching the news, George W. Bush was re-elected President and thats four more years!! i know this upsets some of you, and i'm sorry, but YEAY REPUBLICANS!!

Have a great day all and i'll write more later, but just had to post this hehe.

Stacey

NIU FOOTBALL!!!!

2004-10-31T20:55:00.000-06:00

WOW, I would have NEVER thought that NIU football could make the top 25, let alone have them do it 2 years in a row. When i started thinking about colleges, oh about 8 years ago, i wanted to go to a school with a good football team, well it took NIU 4 years to do it and the last 3 years has been great to watch. for those of you who dont know, NIU football is creently 7-2 over all and 6-0 in the conference and ranked 24 on the USA Today/ESPN Poll and 26th on the AP poll. So that's AWESOME!!!! I'm totaly proud to be an NIU Alum and a current NIU student!! Next week we play Toledo (The other undefeted conference team that's in our division) at home for the last home game. So wish NIU luck and here's hoping we make a Bowl game this year!!! (I'll sooooooo be there if we do and i have $$$).

HAPPY B-DAY TO ME!!!!!

2004-10-28T00:06:00.000-05:00

I'M 23 YEAY, i think hehe. but any who, it's official, i'm old compaired to most of my friends, but it's all good. thanks to those who've said happy b-day already and it means a lot.

well thats it, have a great October the 28th.

Stacey

PS. YEAY SOX!!! Now the cubs just have to make it all the way. and congrats to the 4 Betty's for making it to the next round of competition!!!

More thoughts

2004-10-25T22:34:00.000-05:00

But yeah, my thoughts have been all over the place of late. With the political season at it's peek, theres been a lot of talk about that and just thinking about what life would be like if differnt people were elected and all the crazyness that is this wonderful time. And compounded with that is my growing as a person. What i want to be when i grow up, where i want to live, who i am as a person and what God wants me to do with my life. I dont know. I'm watching the M*A*S*H* where Raidar goes back to Iowa and has to "grow up" in many ways. Its interesting to watch how he's developed through out the series if you're a MASH fan. but in many ways i feel like thats me also. If people in my life did things that were totaly shocking and i really respected them, that would make me rethink a lot of things, but i think i have a good group of friends right now that i know pretty well and who wont shock me too much. i don tknow. i have a lot on my mind and i'm rambling quite a bit lately. My relationship with Christ is as strong as it's been in a while so thats always good and i really think my life is on an upword swing, but we'll see. Well i guess I've rambled enough for right now. but if you couldnt tell, got A LOT on my mind and a lot to work out over the next few years. But thank you to all my friends. I love y'all a bunch and i wouldnt be anything without you all. so Thank You!!! Keep those prayers coming because God knows i need them.

Dont forget to vote on Tuesday or to send in your absente ballots so they are in and postmarked when they are supose to. VERY IMPORTANT to go vote!!!! Doesnt matter who it's for as long as you vote!!!!

Well guess thats about it for now. sorry that i've rambled a lot, but needed to get stuff down to help me work things out more. and FYI for Jen, what i was talking about with you the other night about a boy, worked that out in my head today YEAY!! but totaly just a situation where i'd love to get to know him better and see where things go, and either way im good because he's a great guy. oh, and Jen hope you feel better soon!!!!!!!!!!!

Well have fun all and have a great day,

Stacey

Fun filled week

2004-10-25T20:29:00.000-05:00

WOW, this has been a crazy week, but a good one. OH, before i get started, i applied for the Presidential Management Fellowship, so say a pray for me that i get it. It's a big internship with the federal government and gets you into the executive branch in a paid internship (GS 9 starting out with benefits i think [the benefits part confused me, but i'll deal either way]) so that'll be HUGE if i get that. but any who, back to the last week......The weekend started with a bang litteraly. Wednesday at work, a Walgreens blew up (for those of you who dont know, walgreens is a place like CVS or any other Pharmacy/Convenience Store y'all have). It wasnt a bomb or anything, but one of the public works contractors dug through a gas main and caused the Walgreens to get filled with natural gas and then for some reason i blew up. I havent heard what the reason for it blowing up yet, but you can imagain all the reasons i'm sure. But i think it's safe to assume something caused a spark and that spark cought the gas on fire. Then on Thrusday i raked leaves for a service project (we advertised that we would rake leaves for people for free, we got a couple responces so that's cool). That was a good start to the weekend. Friday was crazy. I got up to go over to a local high school to help with a project one of the classes was working on related to my Masters Program. WOW, another reason why i'm glad i'm no longer in high school. Kids just dont apply themselves today. I know i'm not the best student, but what they were doing was fun, and you could totaly take it and have a TON of fun and be totaly creative with it, and they were all like "i dont know" and answering the questions with really random answers. I was a little disapointed, but for freshman, they werent too bad. then i had my meeting with my advisor to get my permit numbers for my spring (and final) semester classes :-). so that was a good productive day. Saturday i saw my mom's chores show (the Melodeers, you can check them out on the web too) and that was really cool. My friend's quartet was preforming too and they sounded AMAZING!!! and if they do that well this weekend at the International Compitition, they'll score REALLY high and do really well in the rankings. So that was a good time, i enjoy myself there. Then came home to hit my borther's pumpkin carving party. That was fun. I got there towards the end (it started at 3, got there at about7:30). But it was cool any way. Drank a bit, watch my brother and sister-in-law make fools of themselves bc they were a little dunk and just had a TON of fun (i even had to seenk out bc they wouldnt let me leave, they wanted me to stay, i felt loved, but really wished i had some of my friends there, even though my brother's friend have adopted me, haning out with 40 somethings or almost 40 somethings gets a little boring some times, i was wanting my 20 something friends there hehe). But it was a good time. Got home at about midnight and slept most of the day on Sunday. It was nice for my weekend off :-D.

Other randomness. I've had a lot on my mind lately. I've been thinking a lot of things through and have had a more open hear in general of late (most because i've finaly figured things totaly out with my ex and i've removed him totaly from my life). But looking towards the future is crazy too. Theres some people in my life i'd love to get to know better and totaly think they could be life long friends. I had a really long convo with a friend the other night that totaly got me thinking about everything from friends, how to be a friend, life beyond CKI, who i want to marry (what i'm looking for in a guy), if i want children, what i want to do with my life and sooooooooooo much more. So yeah, been doing a lot of thinking and i think that's good for me right now. I know i'm building some strong friendships and relationships and that makes me happy. But yeah. I'll finish this whole thought later, i'm off to CKI. have fun y'all

Stacey

LTC Pictures

2004-10-18T20:41:00.000-05:00

Hey all. LTC pictures are up, hope you enjoy.

oh, yeah, a bit about LTC. LTC was a blast. From what i saw everyone was having a good time and learned a lot. It was great seeing Heidi and Troy again!!! (I miss all my CKI friends from around the country.) But i played Mafia, I never, Truth or Truth, sang songs on a hay rack ride, got 5 hrs of sleep for 2 nights (friday night 1 hr, saturday night 4 hrs), voted in a New Board Member, Got done with the board meeting 5 minutes early, got to see Troy and Jenny have fun being Ricky and Lucy from the I love Lucy Show, got to know Mondo more, hung out at the bonfire and had some fun, learned a lot, and had a great time. Thanks to all the I-I people for coming it was great!!!!!!! ISU--Y'all did a great job as host club!!!!

Well i'm off. But i'll talk to you all soon. Hope you enjoy the pics and they'll hopefuly be on the district web site soon.

~~Stacey~~

Hey ya

2004-10-12T23:31:00.000-05:00

Well, dont have much to say, but just wanted to say hi and say thank you to all the wonderful people who are coming to I-I's fall trainer this weekend (LTC). We have 85 people registered so far, and thats GREAT for us. SO YEAY I-I.

Other random comment. I had one of the better conversations i've had in a while tonight. it was really nice. You really remember how much you miss something when you have it back and realize how random your life was with out it. I LOVE a good conversation that makes me think and deals with some random thing to do with politics or policy. Its one of the things i've been missing most lately. Thanks Josh for a good conversation and for making me smile.

One more random comment. I'm finaly totaly over my ex. it only took 2.5 years (we were best friends before we dated, so this was more getting over loosing a best friend now than anything else), but its OVER!!! I sooooooo dont have any desire to have him as a good friend beyond someone to talk to when i'm REALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLY bored. I havent talked to him in like 10 months, and i IMed him last night. That conversation proved to me he has made choices that i dont agree with and dont think are correct and he's no longer a person i want in my life. It also made me realize that i have some great guy friends now that treat me like a princess some of the time and how i want to be treated all of the time. So thank you to all my guy friends, you rock!!!

Well, guess thats about it. Have a great night all and i'll talk to you soon

Stacey

"I Was a Male War Bride" !?!?!?!?!

2004-10-10T01:25:00.000-05:00

Yes, you read it write, but i'll get to that in a minute.

I first wanted to say Happy B-Day to Jen (10/7) and Josh (10/10) who both turned 22. Hope y'all enjoy(ed) your days :-).

Back to "I Was a Male War Bride." This is a movie that came out in 1949 with Cary Grant in it. HYSTARICAL movie. It's about this French officer and an American WAC (women poilots) officer who fall in love and get married. Well, this poses a problem because the male French officer wants to go back to the states with his wife, the American WAC officer. The only prevision that the US Army had during WWII for this was for GI's who married and wanted to bring their wife back to the states. So, Cary Grant has to jump through all the fun hoops that creates because he is not a "Male War Bride" and the army and the navy arent sure how to deal with that. So after 3 weddings, countless forms filled out in ____licate (the number of copies varried form by form), and Grant in woman's clothing, the 2 finaly get to spend a night together and live happily ever after in the US.

But any who, the movie is a good one. it's a black and white movie that has some grate one liners (like grant sleeps in a bath tub and talks about turning on the cold water after not being able to spend his wedding night with his wife) that are soo off color for the time, but you soo get all of them, it's great. So if you want a good life, i totaly recomend it. Well gotta lov ethe AMC channel for allowing me to watch such great movies (this is the second time seeing this one, and i've laughed both times). Hope you all get a chance to see "I Was a Male War Bride" and you guys out there will like it too because it totaly looks at the situation from how Grant is feeling.

Well, i guess it's bed time. Hope y'all are doing well and i cannot wait to see many of you next weekend (I-I LTC is next weekend, register now if you havent. it's going to be a dang fun great weekend).

ttys

~~Stacey~~

mhmmmmmmmmmm, Yeah

2004-10-01T23:30:00.000-05:00

Sorry, i know it's been a while. i've had a lot of random things on my mind lately, but nothing that i really felt that y'all either wanted/needed or should read/hear. But i was asked to update this wonderful thing, so i am.

Well i've been to the county fair, had a board meeting, and gone to Leaderscape since i posted on this. i should have a lot to talk about, but yet i dont really. all the events were a TON of fun and i enjoyed them all.

The fair was fun, Hannah and i went and walked around. i ran into my aunt and uncle and one of my cousens. it was a good time. i also won a "frog prince" holding a "kiss me" heart hehe. but the most amousing thing was that all the carnies were wearing the same shirt. it was really random, and the people at the "mouse game" that i go to every year were the same people that were there like 4 years ago, which was the last time i went. that scares me, but i found it kind of conferting also (for those of you who dont know the "mouse game" it's a pretty easy game. you put a quarter on a color or a number [depending on the game] and if the mouse runs into the color or number you put your quater on, you win, like i said simple). but it was nice just walking around and hanging out with Hannah.

The board meeting was interesting as always. it was up here by me this time, which was nice, but it started with a bit of drama, but got better. we got a lot accomplished and our board is working really well, which i see even more after hearing some of the crazyness that's going on in other districts. but we got a lot of LTC planning done and all that good stuff, so it was good. Saturday night we went to a corn maze. that was fun. we started out as one big group and then we kind of broke up. i was in a group with Jenny Kelly, Fadia, Tina, I-I Governor elect (at that time, now governor as of today :-D) and his wife and son. it was a good time we got a little lost but we had fun it was very amousing, and we made some great "i'm in a cornfield" phone calls :-P. After that we all went over to Ollies for some great frozen custard (best ever, my favorite is chocolate chip cheese cake :-D). i think everyone enjoyed themselves and it was a good time.

last weekend was leaderscape up in wisconsin. it was a good time. i learned a lot more about myself and got some fun new ideas for leadership activities. nothing too random occured, we werent allowed to leave the camp, so we had to make our own fun there. but there were some good conversations, a drunken phone call (recieved, NOT given), and a fun car ride (i drove my parents van, its become part of the road trip memories hehe). but it was a good time and we now have more people coming to LTC because of it so its all good :-D.

so that brings us to this week. not a whole lot going on. the week has been generaly good, but it's been one of those weeks. i keep seeing all the "issues" that i have and how they hurt others and not just me. and i keep realizing more and more how it SUCKS not to have a best friend or someone that you can just spill your guts to and not worry about anything. i also miss that feeling that you have when you have a significant other in your life. i miss those things soooo much, but it's all in God's time!!! I went over to the "republican hang out" (some friend's house) to watch the Debate on friday, that was a good time. we yelled at the TV after most of the things Kerry said and just had a good time turning a political event into a drinking game (the game didnt last long though, we were kind of just drinking randomly after a while :-P). but thats about all thats going on or has happend or whatever. going to Key Club RTCs this weekend, so that should be fun. hope things are going well with you all, and if i havent talked to you in a while, IM me or give me a call.

Miss y'all bunches

Stacey

Ramblings about life

2004-09-06T13:23:00.000-05:00

I watched the Passion of the Christ yesterday. It was a very good movie, it brought a story to life. Granted i knew some of the details and the story and what the Roman's did to people they wanted to punish, but I didnt know how much watching it happen to someone would affect me. Christ went through all that to say i want people to have a chance to know my father and to share in His love in a way that only I can bring them to. I didnt think the movie was overly violent or anything along those lines. I thought it was truthful and appropriate. Granted i wouldnt let young child watch it, but in many ways it's a history lession. It really happend, no matter what your religion is, you have to admit that there was a person named Jesus who was crusified in the first century A.D. by the Romans. But to know Jesus as my Savior makes the movie more worth watching so that you understand a bit more the pain and love he went through and showed to the world. I'm glad i watched it and i'll probably buy it when i have money again hehe.

Today is one of those days i have a lot on my mind, but dont know the words to put it in. i miss my friends, i miss a lot of things and feelings, i'm worrying about friends even though i know they'll work through it, and there's soooooooo much more. But any who. Not a whole lot going on with me. Florida is on the news a lot so i hope y'all have your thoughts and prayers with them.

Enjoy the rest of your Monday off for Labor day and that y'all have a great week

~~Stacey~~

One of the Few "quizes" i'll do

2004-09-05T18:55:00.000-05:00

Well, I got bored, so here it is a fun get to know you quize :-P

(F) I Never Have Been Drunk
(T) I Never Have Smoked Pot
(F) I Never Have Kissed A Member Of The Opposite Sex
(T) I Never Have Kissed (made out with) A Member Of The Same Sex
(T) I Never Have Had Sex
(T) I Never Crashed A Friend's Car
(T) I Never Have Been To Japan
(F) I Never Rode In A Taxi
(T) I Never Had Anal Sex
(F) I Never Have Been In Love
(T) I Never Have Had Sex In Public
(F) I Never Have Been Dumped
(T) I Never Done Cocaine
(F) I Never Shoplifted
(F) I Never Have Been Fired
(T) I Never Been In A Fist Fight
(T) I Never Had A Threesome
(T) I Never Snuck Out Of My Parent's House
(T) I Never Have Been Tied Up
(T) I Never Have Been Caught Masturbating
(T) I Never Pissed On Myself
(T) I Never Had Sex With A Member Of The Same Sex
(T) I Never Been Arrested
(T) I Never Made Out With A Stranger
(T) I Never Stole Something From My Job
(T) I Never Celebrated New Years In Time Square
(T) I Never Went On A Blind Date
(F) I Never Lied To A Friend
(T) I Never Had A Crush On A Teacher
(T) I Never Celebrated Mardi-grass In New Orleans
(T) I Never Been To Europe
(F) I Never Skipped School
(T) I Never Slept With A Co-Worker
(T) I Never Cut Myself On Purpose
(T) I Never Had Sex At The Office
(T) I Never Have Been Married
(T) I Never Have Been Divorced
(T) I Never Had Sex With More Than One Person Within The Same Week
(T) I Never Have Posed Nude
(T) I Never Got Someone Drunk Just To Have Sex With Them
(T) I Never Have Killed Anyone
(T) I Never Received Scars From My Sex Partner
(T) I Have Never Thrown Up In A Bar
(T) I Have Never Purposely Set A Part Of Myself On Fire
(T) I Have Never Eaten Sushi
(T) I Have Never Been Snowboarding
(T) I Have Never Had Sex At A Friend's House While They Were Throwing A Party
(T) I Have Never Had Sex In A Dressing Room
(T) I Have Never Flashed Anyone
(T) I Have Never Hooked Up with a Friend's Sibling
(T) I Have Never Purchased Pornography

1 MINUTE AGO: I was watching Ella Enchanted
1 HOUR AGO: I was watching The Passion of the Christ
1 DAY AGO: I was sleeping
I HURT: when I feel lonely.
I LOVE: life and knowing what love is
I FEAR: the unknown
I HOPE: I find my prince charming some day
I FEEL: special
I HIDE: parts of who I am
I DRIVE: about 10 over the speedlimit (I’m from Chicago, anything slower and you’ll get run over)
I MISS: being in love
I LEARNED: how to be myself
I NEED: friends
I THINK: way too much :-P
current mood: happy.
current music: Jars of Clay
current taste: Crackers
current hair: bleached highlights pulled back in a pony tail.
current annoyance: drama
current smell: the inside
current thing i should be doing: the directory for I-I CKI
current desktop picture: The Pirates who Don’t do Anything
current refreshment: Diet Pepsi
current worry: school, life and CKI.
What do you most like about your body? My smile and my hair some times.
And least? Everything else.
How many fillings do you have? Between 5 and 20, not sure.
Do you think you're good looking? Some times, but generally not.
Do other people often tell you that you're good looking? Don’t think so.
Do you look like any celebrities? No
A - Act your age – usually older
B - Breast size –44 C
C - Chore you hate - cleaning
D - Dads name – Bob
E - Essential make up item – don’t wear makeup
F - Favorite holiday - Christmas
G - Gold or silver - silver
H - Hometown – college town in IL
I - Instruments you play – non any more
J - Job title – administrative intern
K - Kids – no
L - Living arrangements – living at home with parents
M - Mum's name - Liz
N - Number of people you've slept with – none (but several if you mean really sleep and not doing anything else J)
O - Overnight hospital stays – none
P - Phobia – heights and confined spaces (getting worse as I get older)
Q - Quote you like – “War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.”
John Stuart Mill (1806 - 1873)
R - Religious affiliation - Christian.
S - Siblings – 3 older brothers and an older sister.
T - Time you wake up? – 5:30 am
U - Unique habit – nothing that’s unique
V - Vegetable you refuse to eat – hmmmmmmm are mushrooms a vegetable? If not i go with brussle sprouts
W - Worst habit – biting my nails
X - X-rays you've had – I know I’ve had some, but don’t remember why
Y - Yummy food you make – baked spaghetti
Z - Zodiac Sign - scorpion

what should people give up?

2004-08-22T20:15:00.000-05:00

Hey, i rented this movie called "the Prince and Me" yeah yeah, i know a chick flick, but i think the movie brings up some interesting ideas. The movie is about a girl from WI who is in college and getting a pre-med degree who has all these dreams to work with Doctor's Without Boarders and make a differnce in the world. She meets this guy who she thinks is just this rich kid from Denmark, but he turns out to be the Crown Prince. (if you read beyond this, i'll spoil the movie, but i dont think many of you would be watching it any way) There's a lot that happens in between, but they fall in love and she goes to Denmark and he proposes and she says yes and then she realizes how much she's giving up of herself to be queen and tells him she cannot do this and has to go home and follow her dreams. well cut forward like 4 months and she's graduating with her pre-med degree and he shows up and says he'll wait for her, for how ever long it is so she can do the things she needs to before she becomes queen. and thats where the movie ends with their embrace and him pledging to wait for her for as long as she needs professing that even if Denmark isnt ready for a queen like her, he is. (i'm still mad bc they are soooooooo setting it up for a sequale, but oh well, not part of this story). After this my dad says she was not right for doing that to him. that she should have given up everything and changed who she is and what she wants in life to marry him. And my responce was you shouldnt change who you are to marry someone. and this really hits home for me. This is a HUGE reason why i'm not really looking for a boyfriend right now. I dont want to have to give up my dreams of moving to DC because i meet someone here in IL and he wants to stay. I mean yes, if i were married and something came up, i wouldnt leave my husband because i wanted to stay and he wanted to move some place else or whatever, but i still think no one should give up who they are for someone else. it goes to the unity candle when people get married. most people blow out the individual candles that they use to light the one big one in the middle, but why should be stop being individuals?? granted my chances of falling in love with a prince and becoming a queen a really slim, but to give up achieving my goals would be really hard and i have enough problems of knowing who i am, i wouldnt want to give up that part of me also.

I dont know, i just thought it was interesting that this was all brought up since its been something ive been thinking about. I'd love to have that special someone in my life right now, God knows there have been plenty of things that have been going on in my life lately that having that special someone would have made that event or time that much better. but i have all the faith that that special someone is out there for me, and that i'll find him someday soon, on God's time, not mine. But all i can do is keep my eyes open, say a prayer every night and live life to the fullest and have fun and remember who i am and to always work towards those goals. I will always be Stacey from a small college town in Illinois who has dreams, goals and ambishions.

~~Stacey~~

My Trip to Capital's Summer Social

2004-08-11T17:45:00.000-05:00

Well, Here's the story of my trip.

For those of you who dont know, i went to Capital's Summer Social in Virginia Beach this past weekend. I had a TON of fun!!! Heidi from Min-Dak and i drove out there after my final on thrusday night. we left my house at about 9 pm CST. We had some good conversations and had some random events (like needing to go to the bathroom and not being able to get to the parking lot of where we decided to stop so we parked next door and walked accorss the grass). Heidi drove first till about 1am or so, then i drove for a while and then she drove through OH and PA while i slept hehe. In Maryland is when we renamed Troy from ND "Troll" we were about a half out or so outside of Baltimore and Heidi said "lets roll" and i thought she was calling one of the cars a "troll" so we decided to call Troy that we didnt have to try and distinguish between the 2 Troys. (it's totaly amazing what lack of sleep can do hehe). We stoped at Jen from Capital's house in Baltimore to get some sleep and then drive down there with them. At that point, Heidi and i had only about 2 hrs of sleep each. We got to Jen's at about 11:30 EST and slept till about 1 when Garrow (International Trustee from Capital) then drove us down to Virginia Beach. It took 8 hrs to drive what should take 4. It was nuts. But back to the trip down. For those of you who dont know Heidi or Garrow, let me explain. Hiedi becomes violent and a little crazy when she gets tired and Garrow and a sensative left brest (dont ask) and that's not a great combination. So i about died on the way to VA Beach because Hiedi wouldnt leave Garrow alone and he swirved, it was interesting very funny at the time, but a bit scary too. Garrow and i had some good conversations about the old times (Garrow and i graduated high school the same year, so we have a shared 9 years in the Kiwanis Family of Key Club and the last 5 in CKI), so we talked about random things and it was good. So we got down to VA Beach at about 9 pm EST and put up the tent and just hung out the rest of the night. I played Phase 10 (well i think it ended up being about Phase 8 because we got tired hehe) and i won (i went from I-I girl to the Foreiner in this game hehe, but i totaly felt like i was part of Capital because if they didnt love me, they wouldnt have included me hehe) and had a blast haning out with them. Saturday we got up and went to the Kiwanis Family Picnic and had lunch and hung out some more. After that 5 people went to go get tattoos (see my photo album for those pictures) and i went with to document the event (kind of wish i would have gone to the beach instead now seeing those pictures, but oh well, i had fun at the tattoo place also) and then we went back to the camp site to enjoy stakes (yep that's right i had stake and NO CHICKEN at a CKI event, i think that's a first, on both accounts). that night we played I Never (or Never have i ever whatever you want to call it) and Mafia. It was a lot of fun. got up on Sunday and went to the real VA beach and hung out at the board walk. Got some gifts and walked through the sand. It was a nice day. We had pizza for lunch and then Heidi, Troy and myself went up to DC to crash before Heidi and i drove back on Monday. The drive up to DC was too much fun hehe. Troy started by tossing mints out his sun roof. Well, Heidi and i couldnt have that, so we started tossing life savers at Troy's car. well this continued for a while and the Troy started with oreo cookies. well that lead to the cream sticking to the car and it was just a battle from then on. It was a ton of fun and i'm soooooooo glad i went. When we got up to DC, i got ready to have dinner with Dave while Troy and Heidi unpacked Troy's stuff. I went to dinner with dave and had a really good hamburger and we talked. It was a good time :-). went back to Troy's after words and chatted for a bit and then we all crashed (but like every CKI event, even going to bed has it's on story, but that's not to be said in public hehe). Got up the next morning and headed over to the WWII memorial after sending Troy off to his first day of work. The WWII memorial is SWEEEEEEEEET!!! you should all go see it. i have pictures up on my photo album that i took of it. After that we drove home. Heidi drove from DC to OH where we had lunch with Christopher from OH (their District Treas.). Lunch with chris was nice. we ate at a chinese resturant and talked. He's an awesome person and i'm soooooooo glad we stoped. I drove from OH home and hit rain in Indiana. This was the worse rain i've driven through in a while so it was crazy. but i made it through it. Once in IL, i took a detour through Chicago (i took 90/94 instead of 80) but it was cool, Chicago is beautiful at night. so I got home at about 11:30 pm CST monday night and then Heidi drove back to MN.

It was a FUN road trip and i'm sooooooooooooo glad i went. I had a good conversation with Jen when i got home that explained a lot of what was going on over the weekend, thank you jen for the enlightenment, and you are totaly great. hope we get to hang out more soon, only regret from the weekend was not hanging out with you more (and congrats on the new jobs :-).

Well that was my weekend. Thanks Capital for a great time and accepting the foreign girl hehe.

Well i'll talk to y'all soon. I have a TON of CKI stuff to get done, so i'll have to let y'all good. Keep in touch and stay safe.

~~Stacey~~

IM HOME!!!

2004-08-10T23:00:00.000-05:00

WOW, i'm home finaly. I got home at 11:30ish last night (monday) and then went to work today (tuesday), so today was a LONG day. But just wanted to let y'all know i was home, and i'll have more to say later. i do have pictures up at my photo album so feel free to check them out under "capitalss" and "WWII memorial" but i had a totaly blast and i miss everyone sooooooo much. I totaly feel a ton closer to friends i made at ICON/LSSP. Jen, Troy, Garrow i miss y'all a TON and thanks to all of Capital for welcoming the foreign girl :-). And Heidi, thanks for letting me drive out there with ya, i had a blast in the car and i'm very glad i invited myself along hehe. Well, i'm off to bed so i can get my ass up to go to work. and if i havent talked to you in a while, contact me :-)

Talk to y'all soon

Stacey

At Troys

2004-08-08T23:23:00.000-05:00

Yep that's right, i'm in DC right now typing at Troy Dibiley's apt. :-) Capital Summer Social was a blast. I've had some great car rides including almost dying bc of boob melistation, and had fun throwing life savers out the window at Troy. More fun stories to come. Hope ya'll are having a good day and i'll talk to you soon

~~Stacey~~

Heading out for the weekend :-D

2004-08-04T20:50:00.000-05:00

Hey all, i just wanted to take a minute to inform all my faithful readers (hehe) that i'm heading out to VA for the weekend. I'm going to Capital's Summer Social then up to DC then home on Monday. So if you need anything, call my cell and i'll try to get back to you.

Not a whole lot new since i wrote last. Work was boring today. My "boss" is out on vacation this week, so the next "boss" is filling in for all his duties, and today was the BIG staff meeting with all the department heads and then he had another meeting in the after noon, so he wasnt there to give me things to do. So, after finishing the one policy i had to work on, i went to lunch, played a few games of solitar (spider and freecell) and then read the Chicago Tribune, oh, i also did some reasearch online and tried to do the Tribune cross word, but didnt do to well on it. So, we'll see how much trouble i get in for the day of little work. I am currently watching the "movie" from the next action hearo or whatever on NBC, it's not too bad, but its a "made for tv movie" so there ya go. I'm also packing for my trip and will start studying for my final in a bit.

Tomorrow i have a meeting for CKI, have to call and talk to my paper prof for school, and take a final and then i leave hehe :-D. oh, and for those of you who dont know I-I got Mondo for our IT hehe. But beyond that not a whole lot going on. I'm totaly excited about heading to VA. Driving with Heidi out there so that'll be fun. Get to know a new person better and have a lot of fun doing it. Missing people a little more lately. Have some people on my mind more than other's lately, but nothing new about that.

Well, guess that's about it. Hope y'all have a gerat weekend and i'll talk to you when i get back.

~~Stacey~~

living life

2004-07-31T00:10:00.000-05:00

Well, i borke down and rented "Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights." Yeah, yeah i know, but hey, i was in the mood for cheese chick flicks. the move was actualy pretty good, and if you've never seen the original dirty dancing, you'll like this one. But it did start making me think a bit too. i know i've been in a "deep thought" time period in my life, so it doesnt take much to get me to think about life and how to live it.

To know who you are and know your body and to be able to just go out and have fun and not have to think through everythign and wonder how this will affect something would be an amzing thing. its kind of the point of the dirty dancing movies. class and where someone is from shouldnt stop you from loving and being yourself. I think in many ways, being in your 20s is worse than being in your teens. when you're in your teen year's everyone expects you to be confused and not knowing who you are, but when you hit 20 or so and you're graduating from college, people think you should know what you want and going into the real world with no reservations and jump in with both feet. but i think being 21-25 has to be the hardest part of your life. you are really finding yourself and having to redefine yourself because you cant live your life like an on going party anymore, but you also dont want to be defined by your job or what you want to do with your life. I am thankful that i have my faith and that vision, but i am still very directionalist and dont totaly know where i'm going in live. like i said in my last really long "deep" post, finding that last piece of the puzzle, love of 'the one,' leaves me in a place that's hard. i see everyone around me falling in love and getting married or showing the pictures of their kids and i'm like wow, i have none of that and dont see it happening any time soon. i think your early to mid twenty's is the time that you soul search that really means the most in your life. i think this is the time that we grow the most and define ourselves. granted i hope that we all continue to grow well beyond this time in our lives, but this is the time that shapes those ideals and beliefes. I know that one of my friends has been doing a bit of soul searching lately and i hope this helps. i feel like all i'm doing lately is posting in relation to you, but i'm not, i keep finding other things that just happen to relate to the fun that you're going through. but i do hope this helps and that it helps other people too. and it gives me a chance to rant randomly about this topic that i'm dealing with as well.

Well i think thats about it for now. talk to y'all soon

~~Stacey~~

Photo Blog

2004-07-30T11:31:00.000-05:00

Hey, i have a photo blog now hehe. so i'll be posting stuff on there, seems to be eaiser than going through yahoo, but i'll only be posting the best few pics there and the masses will be on yahoo, but it should be a quick view for y'all to enjoy the very best of my pics. you can use the link that's in the title or, i have a link on the right hand side of the blog also that will remain on the front page.

Stacey

ICON/LSSP Pictures

2004-07-30T00:31:00.000-05:00

Hey all i forgot to let y'all know that i have pictures from ICON and LSSP on my picture album so click on the link to the right and you'll find all my fun yahoo photo albums, or you can go to "my other page" and that's my personal web page and there's some pictures there also (of me, friends, family, Circle K and clip art). ENJOY!!!

~~Stacey~~

New Look

2004-07-29T23:40:00.000-05:00

WOW, i finaly have a new look, the first time in a while. Hope you like it and now you can comment again :-) so please feel free to leave comments and your thoughts on what i post.

Not a whole lot going on in my life over the last day, had class today, that was fun i talked for 20 minutes on a land use comprehensive plan (fun topic right) and listed to another group talk about a school district hehe. but oh well, i only have one week left and i have the presentation out of the way, the paper is almost done and all that's left is the final and then its off to Virgian Beach with O-Heidi :-) i cannot wait :-D.

I'm interested to see what y'alls comments are on my previous post on love and all that good stuff, so i hope y'all leave your remarks now.

Well think thats about it. Heading off to bed so i can be a "happy pappy person" tomorrow (gotta love I Love Lucy and Vitametavegimon). Hope y'all are enjoying your summer and are making it a productive one and getting plenty of you time while you can.

Talk to y'all soon

~~Stacey~~

Enjoying Life

2004-07-28T22:51:00.000-05:00

Well, i thought i would change it up so, enjoy the new font and color for the post :-)

Well, its been 20 day's since i posted last. Not a whole lot going on. I just finished my first 3rd week of work. it's going well, I'm totaly glad i made the move and it'll take a bit to figure everything out, but it's getting there.

Summer Social was a TON of fun. Had fun at the board meeting and we TOTALY surprised Jenny Kelly for her b-day and i think she really liked the cake/ice cream party and the gift that Chris and i "got" her hehe. (check out pics on my yahoo photo album) the board meeting went till 1 am saturday morning so it was a long saturday. Fadia, the new LTG is cool her and i had a nice conversation before we passed out. Saturday was a lot of fun. Jenny's mom cooked us a great breakfast and it was nice to chat and relax. We had a bit of drama in the moning but after that things went well. The ice breakers werent too painfull and there was a lot of laughs. The drive home SUCKED!!! i was sooooooooooooooo tired and didnt have anyone to call, but thats ok i made it home in one piece.

So that's my excitment from last weekend. Not a whole lot going on this week other than dealing with school and just dealing with end of semester stuff. Been having some fun conversations with people. Jen from Capital is a good conversation. We always seem to find a fun topic to talk about for hours on end hehe.

Other conversation i've had lately is with Josh about love and feelings and just the whole dating thing that people do. For some reason i always thought that everyone feels a connection to another person that makes them want to spend their life with just one person. That people feel that really deep connection and can only be filled by a person that is your soulmate. I was really lucky i guess with my first love to have one that was deep and passionate and just amazing and know that i want nothing less than that when i find "the one." I think the song "when you say nothing at all" really incapsolates how i feel about love and what it should be. knowing a person totaly and just having that connection with them so you can almost say a thousand words without saying anything or just using the slighest touch. Granted love and having a realtionship is a job and you have to work to keep it going forward and growing and steady, but i think you really have to have that connection, that something that always keeps you going back through the bad times. Maybe it's my faith and the desire to find a good Christian Guy, but i think it's true in any relationship. for a while i kept wondering why my friend amy and i were friends. we didnt have a lot in commen and we couldnt be together for long piriods of time w/o pissing eachother off and we never really had that thing to keep us together, and well i havent talked to her for about 2 months because we didnt have something to help us work through the issues. but with that it's hard to be alone, and i think so many of us just go to the nearest warm body some times so we dont have to deal with being alone and facing our feelings. It sucks not having a best friend any more or someone you can call at any random hour to talk or any of the other 5 million things that i could do with my best friends. But i guess what i'm trying to say is that you have to love yourself before you can love anyone else and that includes seeing who and what you are as ok and accepting that. and it's also important to see any relationship you're in as a relationship that takes nurturing and love and attention just like a good plant. and as far as how to love, everyone is differnt, but i hope that you all can feel that passion and desire for one person at some point in your life. It is truely an amazing feeling that makes you go WOW, and realize that there is a God because how else could a feeling like that exhist in this world of crazyness that we live in. I dont know if i could have felt like that before i was saved and accepted Christ, infact i know i didnt. I always somehow knew that it had the potential to be an amazing relationship with my now ex, but it was still very physical in the begining and didnt have that deepness till i accepted Christ and we had a shared volnerability knowing that we werent perfect and that we live our lives for Christ. and when we lost site of that, our relationship crashed and burned. So i think that says a lot.

Well, i think that's about it. I could probably ramble on and on, on this topic and if you want you can ask and we'll have a chat. Thanks to Josh for inspiring me on this topic, what you said really made me think and really make me open myself more and to look into myself more than i have lately. You are an amazing pesron and i'm proud to call you my friend and brother in Christ. I hope that you find the one person that you can see yourself spending the rest of your life with and just remember to always allow yourself to learn and grow and never close anything off, there is always a window open. and Jenny Kelly remember to enjoy life and have fun!!! You are a great person and i'm glad you're my governor!!! Just keep yourself first and know that everything else comes second and that i'm always here to help out in any way.

Well hope you all have enjoyed my little chat and hope to talk to y'all soon. IM me or email or whatever and i'll talk to y'all soon

~~Stacey~~

WOW, it's been a while, but i'm back again

2004-07-08T21:09:00.000-05:00

HEY ALL, wow a lot has happend since may hehe.

Well, i'll skip most of the details and just hit the main points.

first, my internship ended that i've been in since last may. Kind of wierd, but glad it did, i wasnt get a whole lot out of it. I'm taking a summer school class that's interesting. it's on public participation and how it relates to public administration. it's going well, but missed a day while i was at ICON, but i'll get throuth it hehe.

ICON and LSSP:
WOW, what an amazing time. If you've never gone to LSSP, you're missing out. It's a great time and i miss everyone soooooooooooo much. This year down in St. Louis we built 4 libaries. I worked at one in a teen drop in center. It was a TON of fun and enjoyed every minute of it. I was one of the drivers and went to my original site and then got asked to go pick people up and take them to a differnt site, and after getting lost 3 times, i decided to stay at the second spot (with everyone else i knew). so i got to hang out with Josh(Montana), Troy (Capital), Michelle (from NY), My I-I Girls, Chris (Ohio) and a TON of other people. It was a great time and i'm glad i went!!!!
ICON, all i can say is DRAMA. I love going and seeing everyone and learning and all that good stuff, but why is there always drama???? last year it was the dues increase and Dan's election, this year was the quality of IT candiates, some inter-district issues, the shut down of parties within an hour and other hotel issues (ERRRRRRRRRRG the hotel)and a girl who went missing before the closing session (who was found but i dont know the whole story beyond she came back to the hotel after being gone for like 3 hrs). But good things founds their way into the mix. I got to meet some great people, got to hang out with old friends, we elected an IP in one round of voting, my forum went pretty well, and i have a bunch of new pins hehe.

But for both ICON and LSSP, i would totaly suggest that you go next year if you have the chance. They are both amazing events and really make you see how important good friends are and how much fun CKI is. I'm still going through withdrawls from the 10 days i was down there. It's amazing how much you get dependant on hugs and back rubs at random hours, conversations that are way to deep for the hour they were being had, meeting knew people and making close friends in such a short peirod of time, and the list goes on and on. I've been going around the last few days just wishing there was a place i could go and just hang out with all my CKI friends 24/7 like LSSP/ICON is set up. But here's my shout out to all the great people i met.

I MISS YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!!! I WILL NEVER FORGET ANY OF YOU AND YOU HAVE ALL TOUCHED MY LIFE. I HAVE SOME GREAT NEW FRIENDS THAT I HOPE TO TAKE WITH ME THROUGH MY LIFE. THANKS TO YOU ALL FOR CARING AND LOVING ENOUGH TO GO TO THINGS LIKE LSSP AND BEING PART OF CKI. I HOPE WE KEEP IN TOUCH AND THAT WE GET TO SEE EACHOTHER AGAIN SOON. YOU'RE ALL INVITED TO HOLIDAY EMBRACE (JANUARY 8TH, 2005 IN CHICAGO) AND I-I DCON (MARCH 4-6, 2005 IN PEORIA). LET ME KNOW IF YOU WANT TO COME AND I'LL GET YOU THE INFORMATION. AND FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE CLOSE, JULY 24TH IS OUR SUMMER SOCIAL (TOTALY FREE SATURDAY) IN OTTOWA, IL. BUT Y'ALL ROCK AND YOU'RE GREAT PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!! HOPE TO HEAR FROM YOU ALL SOON!!!!!!!!!!!!

NEW JOB!!
Well since my other internship ended, i had to get a new one or my college status would have been in jepordy. so i interviewed before i left and was offered the job the week before i left and i started this past tuesday (the 6th). i work for a NW subarb of Chicago in their public works department. i'm helping them creat policy and all that fun stuff so they can get accredided with the American Public Works Association. I've worked there 2 days and i think i'm going to like it there :-).

Well, thats about it for whats going on. I'm still way to single for my liking (hehe), but then everything happens on God's time and i'm having fun flirting and enjoying life, but i'm really getting ready to find "the one" hehe. but oh well, having fun and enjoying life is just as important.

**HUGS** to all my friends who are having issues at the moment. I know there are a few of you out there and i just want to let you know you're loved and that i'm always here to talk to. You all mean a lot to me and i wouldnt want to konw what life is like w/o you in it.

Well I think that's about it for now. This is probably really long now and i hope you have enjoyed reading it. i'll try my best to keep this updated more often, but life has been crazy lately.

Talk to y'all soon

~~Stacey~~

Well, I'm back

2004-05-16T21:00:00.000-05:00

Hey all. I know its been a while, but its been crazy lately.

Not a whole lot to talk about, most thinkgs are just living life and moving forward. I'm in the middle of changing internships, but havent found a new one yet. I'm all registered for LSSP and ICON (i cannot wait!!!!!!!!!) and am looking forward to seeing friends again. I'm all cought up on my CKI stuff. I just have to get all my personal stuff organized.

What else. Oh, one of my good friend is mad at me, thats always fun. But oh well, i'm sure things will work out at some point. But i'm also learning more about myself and more about the type of people i want to have in my life.

Thanks to all my friends who have been there for me and all that good stuff lately. Been going through a lot of emotions lately and its been a bit crazy. So thanks to you all.

Well thats about it for now i think. But hope y'all have a good summer and congrats and good luck to you all who graduated this year.

~~Stacey~~

Happy Easter

2004-04-09T12:45:00.000-05:00

While I have a minute at work I thought i would post on here. We got new chairs today, so we are all taking a break to play with them hehe. But its really nice to have the new chairs. I can totaly feel the differnce. :-) Not a whole lot going on. Been feeling a bit lonely lately, not sure why, but its how i've been feeling. Kind of sucks, but oh well. Someday soon i'll fill the "void" in my life that needs to be and my life will be complete. But until then i just keep praying and living life to the fullest.

Oh, random news. My friend just got back from Vegas and while she was there i asked if she could bring me back some decks of cards that you could get free from the hotels. Well, i guess they arent doing that any more and are charging $3/deck, what a jip. The last time i was there (3 yrs ago) they were practaly begging us to take them, and now they are selling them for $3?? how messed up is that. ERRRRRRRRG oh well.

Not a whole lot else going on in my life, just school, work and CKI. oh, and next year i'll have Friday's off school and work, how cool is that!!!!!!!!!! so it'll be nice having a 3 day weekend again :-). well i think thats about it for now. Have a good holiday weekend and enjoy your families.

~~Stacey~~

First Day of a New CKI Year

2004-04-01T13:41:00.000-06:00

WOW, I am now the official District Secretary. Kind of a wired thought, but yet not so much at the same time. I've done SOOOOO much up to this point that it feels like I took office the minute I was elected back in Feb. I have one mailing done that will be going on this weekend, working on getting my second set of minutes typed up, typing up the district goals, working on producing a secretary's handbook, getting the spring directory out, and that's the start of the list. My weekend will be crazy with CKI and school heating up. But its been a good time :-). I wouldn't trade any of it for the world other than maybe my job which is really driving me nuts right now. So many things that I'm doing that you'd thing would have been created long before now. Come on people, this has been the same program since like 1996, not a whole lot has changed, do they really reinvent the wheel every time they have to do a report??? I'm guessing so, well Stacey is changing that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Since I'm talking about CKI, we'll discuss last weekend. Last weekend was DOT, District Officer Training. It was a lot of fun. It was in Champaign, IL a bit of a hike, but I drove down with the LTG from my division, Yury who's Russian, and that was an interesting ride. He drove and was doing like 100+ most of the way there till I finally really looked at the speedometer and saw how fast he was going and then he slowed down a bit. But we got there in on piece, a bit late because of traffic and to the fact that I had to work till 4. But it was a good time. Hung out at Rob's that night worked on some ICON stuff and some other random stuff it was a good time. From there the girls went to the U of I Student Union, which was interesting to say the least. The hallways were out of the Shining and the wallpaper in the rooms didn't help the situation. I have pictures of the wallpaper and I'll post them once I get the adapter thing for my phone (I have a picture phone now hehe). So once we got over the spookiness of the hotel we all crashed and the next morning was team building. We started out by creating a cheer for ICON during roll call, its great, all y'all going to ICON have a treat waiting for ya, and then moved into team building. It was an overall good experience, but the cub thing was frustrating, but oh well, we got through it. And I think it made us all stronger as a group. We also made some goals and got some good lines of communication open. Saturday night we had pizza and then went back to the hotel and hung out for a bit after bowling. Then at midnight we went to Stake-n-shake. It was a good time. Sunday was the board mtg and the drive home. The overall weekend was good. We saw that its going to be a great group this year. Everyone is friends and we aren't doing the stupid click stuff, so its nice, and we even have another Rich for those of you who were on the 02-03 board hehe (for better or worse). But this is going to be a good board and a good year, I cant wait and I'm very excited.

Not a whole lot else going on. School, CKI and work take up most of my life. Single as always, even though lately it hasn't been so bad, and not like I really have time for a boyfriend, it'd still be nice to find one. I really miss having someone who's interested and cares about my feelings and issues and who actual has time for me. I haven't found that much in my life lately, but oh well. I stay strong and move fwd.

Well I think that's about it. Congrats to all those CKI people who officially took office today, but who I know have been doing TONS of work for the past few months. Good luck on a new year and if you're in I-I, hope to see you at MOAT, April 17 in Charleston, IL at EIU's campus. Oh, and be looking out for a mailing too, they'll be out this weekend!!!!

~~Stacey~~

Hey all

2004-03-25T12:55:00.000-06:00

Hey everybody. I'm sitting here at work during my lunch break and I thought I would enlighten you on my spring break fun as well as other random things.

Spring break was fun, wish it was longer. I didn't have one day of doing nothing. I worked the first 3 days and then the last 4 was in Rochester MN visiting a friend who works for Mayo at their Catholic Hospital. It was fun up there. Went to the Mall of America. It was cool. I walked around all 3 levels of the mall that had stuff (the 4th is just the top level of 2 department stores, and nothing else). I didn't buy a whole lot, mostly because of the $$ issue, but also because didn't really see a whole lot that I couldn't buy here at home (other than up there there's no sales tax on a lot of stuff, but in the mall there is a bit). But I did get some fun souvenir stuff and some MN Vikings things for my brother-in-law who is a HUGE Vikings fan. But it was a TON of fun going through the under water world thing. For $8.50 (the Mayo employee discount) you can go through this attraction as many times as you want in the day. It starts out with turtles in different settings and some fish ponds (they had the fish from the movie A River Runs Through It (not the real fish but the kind that was in the movie), the ones that Brad Pitt was fishing hehe. Good movie btw, it came out in the early 90s it also has Tom Scaritt (I think that's how you spell his name) in it. Its about a family living in Montana, very cool movie. But any who, back to the fish. The middle part of the attraction is walking through a tunnel of fish tanks. They built the fish tanks over the top of where you walk and around you so they are like a big long tunnel. Its really cool. You have fish swimming over you and around you and everything. Very very neat. They had 4 sections in this. The first was all fresh water fish, the second was fish that live in the Mississippi river, the third was salt water animals (including sharks, sting rays and sea turtles) and the last section was a coral reef area that had fish like you saw in finding nemo hehe. It was really cool to walk through this (actually you weren't really walking, you were standing on a people mover thing and you just got to watch and take pictures hehe), it had nice music playing and when the children weren't running around, it was really peaceful. I highly recommend it if you ever make it up to MN and the Mall of America (I think its like $15 normally and $11 or 13 with a student ID). The final part of the attraction is petting small sharks and sting rays. They are full sized, but just smaller version of those you'd see in the ocean. This was REALLY COOL!!!!!!!!!! I have pictures to show y'all on this. But it was really fun. The animals would swim around in a circle in this tank/tub thing (this scares me a bit, you would think they'd get bored with swimming in a circle, but I guess they don't I don't know) and as they go by you can pet them. Sting rays are REALLY soft. It was really neat and the sharks they had in there were cool too, they felt a bit more textured. Doing that TOTALLY made the trip.
Also while I was up in MN Heather took me on a tour of the hospital she works in. It has the most beautiful "chapel" I've ever seen. This thing is more like a cathedral than a chapel, hence the " " around chapel. It was amazing. The rest of the hospital was cool, its like a lot of other hospitals, but this one was a bit sprawlly, but oh well, it was fun anyway. Heather also took me to a local night club that's attached to an Irish Pub (wired combo I know, it was interesting going from one to the other). But it was all good. At the night club girls got free drinks till 10 (I had 3 of those, 1 sex on the beach and 2 rum and cokes) and then from 10-11 was by one get one free, so I had 2 long islands. So for the night I spent $8 (including tip and a bottle of water) on drinks. I thought it was pretty good :-). Stayed there till about 1 or so it was getting a little packed and the music was starting to be not so great. But got some quality dance time it so it was alllll good :-).
The whole weekend was a lot of fun. Heather's a great friend, but like most people in my life, she's very different from me. She respects who I am and goes with it, but we like very different things and have conversations about very different things with our friends. So like seems to be a pattern with me, hanging out with her will be in small doses so that we can have fun, but not get pissy at each other. But it was a good time.

Not a whole lot else has happened. Been doing TONS of school and CKI stuff. Its been crazy. School is just really random this semester and is driving me crazy. I keep questioning why I'm here, but then that passes and I move fwd. I've never quite anything else, so why quite this now hehe.

This weekend is DOT--District Officer Training down in Champaign at our Administrator's house and home area. It should be fun. I have some more stuff to get ready before I leave, but not a whole lot (Tuesday was really productive and I got most of it done then hehe, but I also have to write a "paper" tonight too icky). But it should be a good weekend. Going to try and get a good jump start on the year, which I think we already have, but this is our first "real" board meeting, so it should be good :-).

Well I think that's about it. I'm sad that I haven't been able to watch the 9/11 hearings on CSPAN, work stopped us from doing streaming at work because of our main information network now being on the internet, there's too much bandwidth going on so, I loose my entertainment was well as my chatting on AIM, but I'll live. Been a lot going on in the news, but if I get into that I'll be here all day!!!!!

Hope things are going well with y'all. Keep in touch and have a great/day/week/month/year hehe.
Bye bye for now

~~Stacey~~

Fun last couple of days

2004-03-09T12:08:00.000-06:00

Well, its only been a few days, but life has been interesting hehe.
Over the weekend I got sick, my only conclusion is that I'm having an allergic reaction to something I ate last week (its either Tofu or some other spice in the food I tired on Thursday night, but that's just my guess). So that's been fun over the last few days. But oh well I'll live I think.

I was driving to work on Monday and the lady behind me was reading the news paper. This is the first time I've ever see this. I've seen people talking on phones and what not, but not reading. I was like WHAT THE HECK!!!!!!! How can you be reading in this traffic. It was moving a bit faster than stop and go and not really a parking lot so not conducive to reading the paper, and she was reading while her foot was on the gas petal. She about hit me a couple of times and was swerving a bit too as well as holding up traffic when she did not see that I had started moving again. Really why do people read and drive?? I'd almost say its worse than drinking and driving because your concentration and eyes are not on the road.

Last night I finished my first set of minutes GO ME!!! Oh my lord it takes a while to go through that stuff. I think it took me like 3 hrs. And I've realized that a check list for attendance will work much better than trying to write and talk and everything else all at once hehe. I also finally got the district board CD that has all the fun information that an officer needs. So that's good now I just have to get the other one to our Editor hehe.

Tonight I'm going to see my church softball team play indoor softball with my friend Hannah, so that should be fun. Other than that I have a Young Republican's Meeting on Wednesday (all y'all that live in DeKalb County and are Republicans are welcome to come, email or call me and I'll give you the details) and then Thursday I leave for MN to see my friend Heather :-) YEAH I cant wait. I'll be a long drive, but totally worth it.

Well that's it for now. Have a great day

~~Stacey~~

Wow, a whole long, sorry

2004-03-07T09:49:00.000-06:00

Hey all. Its been a while I know but its been a crazy month. Don't remember a whole lot of what happened in Feb. But here are the highlights.

I made it through midterms, didn't do well on the one I had, but oh well, life goes on and we'll make it through the semester.

DCON was great!!!!!! It was a TON of fun and ISU did a great job of hosting. If you want to see pictures I have about 40 up on my yahoo photo album you can find a link for it on the left hand side. Ok, now on to who got what. For those of you who didn't know, I ran for District Secretary. It was a fun experience to go through caucus. I'm very glad I did it. I very much made me a better person. I was running unopposed and was elected to the office. Jenny Kelly got Governor, Bryce got Treas. and Anna (from my club) got Bulletin Editor. Bryce and Anna ran off the floor at HOD, and I'm really glad they did!!! We also have 3 LTGs (we have 9 divisions with 7 LTG possition so 4 spots to fill), an OTIC and co-event chairs (we are kind of doing what W-UM does by having one person plan the fall and spring training and summer social and all that good stuff so we aren't always running around trying to find chairs). I think it will be a good year!!!!!!!! We have gotten off to a solid start and at the end of the month we have DOT so that will be a good time (I've been on the board twice, but never been to DOT, so I'm excited hehe).
for awards at DCON, my club did well we got 100% reporting and 100% on time reporting, Member miles, our Sponsoring Kiwanis Club got the Outstanding Sponsor award and our Faculty Advisor (also a member of our Kiwanis club) got the outstanding Advisor award, we also got dues on time and our Secretary got Distinguished Sec. and I was honored with outstanding member award along with my "minnie me" Stef so that was really cool :-) (picture of us with the awards on in the DCON photo album). So that's about it for DCON.

Not a whole lot else going on. I spent the night at a friend's house because she's going through some stuff, but it been nice because we've had a chance to bond and stuff more than usual. But my heart and prayers are totally with ya girly!!!!

well that's about it for now. Have a great day and I'll talk to y'all soon

~~Stacey~~

Been a while hehe

2004-02-04T00:23:00.000-06:00

Hey y'all its been a while, oh well things happen hehe.
not a whole lot going on in my life at the moment. Just trying to balance school, work and CKI. It's almost time for DCON so things are getting a bit crazy. Working on campaign stuff and getting NIU CKI all registered and stuff its a bit nuts, but it will all work out in the end.
don't have a whole lot of opinion at the moment, but I'm sure I will after I watch the news and find out who won what today in the dem. Primaries. But I tell ya, some of the stuff that comes out of their mouths is interesting. You wonder at some point if they really believe the crap that's coming out or if they go home and live another life. But oh well, this will all work out in the end and the right one (Bush) will win in the end hehe. Well, it's off to bed so I can get up for work in the morning and deal with Sean (my nephew who will be here at 5:30 am hehe).

Have a great day

~~Stacey~~
PS, I am still single and looking because there was some confusion about that hehe.

Work?????

2004-01-22T16:16:00.000-06:00

Well today had to have been one of the slowest most boring days ever at work. I think I did one productive thing alllllll day, and that project still isn't finished along with another project because I'm waiting on other people. It didn't help that our internet was down for about 2 hrs earlier today as well. That made lunch and the time with nothing to do very slow and not fun. I played several games of free cell (a form of solitaire) and wining more of them and then just waited. But oh well. It also made me talk myself into doing something "stupid" but I'll talk about that after DCON when I know outcomes. Other than that not a whole lot going on other than waiting for my work day to end (15 minutes to go) and hoping things will be more interesting tomorrow. Which I'm sure they will be because as of Monday we will be working in a new system, so Friday at 4 is the end of the old one so that should be fun hehe.

Well that's about it for now I think. Don't know a whole lot else and I guess I shouldn't ramble too much hehe. Talk to ya'll soon and feel free to call me some time. Oh, and if you're in the DeKalb area, come over to Kate's house tonight for a party :-) (call me for more info)

~~Stacey~~

More Ramblings hehe

2004-01-16T10:14:00.000-06:00

Hey all. Hope this post finds you all well :-).
After about 2 years and reading several other books, I finally finished Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six. It was a good read and I enjoyed it. It was really long with a TON of detail, but over all a worth while read. Not a whole lot else going on in my life. I just started school this week. Its a nice change, and an annoying one as well. I enjoy sleeping in and relaxing, with school and work I cant do either very often. But oh well, I'll live, have to learn sometime right??? hehe

Well on to Politics. The Democratic Primary to see who runs against President Bush is a zoo. The one women in the race (from my home state) didn't even last through the first primary (well in Iowa it's a caucus) how crazy is that. I'm sorry, but if women are going to run for office, they should stick it out. Because all these stunts do is make it harder for the next women who wants to run to raise money, and like Emily's list says, Early Money is like Yeast, it raises the dough (Emily's list is a Liberal Political Action Committee that uses a thing called bundling to get early money out to women candidates, it's a pretty cool idea, there is also one for conservatives, but I forget the name at the moment, gotta love having a more liberal education, all you get told about are the liberal organizations hehe.) and early money makes or breaks any campaign and when women are seen as having little to no hope it's hard enough, but when women run for office and drop out before anything is even started, it compounds the problem. At least when Elizabeth Dole ran in 2000, she stuck it out through several primaries till it was statistically impossible for her to get the nomination. And then in 2002 had a very successful bid for the Senate. I don't see that being the same path that Ms. Braun, who was defeated in her bid for a second senate term a few years back.
As far as the rest of the Democratic Candidates are concerned, the only good ones aren't getting any media coverage and the ones that are so far to the left and are contradicting themselves are getting all the attention and are furthering their look of stupidity to the country. For some reason, I don't want to see Dean on the cover of rolling stone mag. I have HUGE issues with that. I think it's trying to hard to get the "young" vote in America, but then what is he going to do when he tries to address the opposite end of the youth in America. The ones who believe in Christ and don't go for the hard edged rock and the "pop" music. Is he going to go and put himself out in those markets too?? And if he doesn't what does that say about America? That the not so cool kids, the one who think outside the box shall we say don't have a voice? That their word doesn't mean anything? And even if he does go down that path, which does he fit into? Who is he trying to be a voice of? These arguments can to be used any person running for office, but I've just seen so many problems with this batch of people running for President. You have at least 2 people who cant keep straight their stance on issues and those 2 are attacking the others who are in the Senate for making "bad choices" to start the conflict in Iraq, and then for giving 87 billion to "keep the war in Iraq going" well I'm sorry, that 87 billion did not all go to Iraq as so many people seem to keep saying these days. Iraq got a very small percentage of that money. Other portions went to Afghanistan, increasing the pay of soldiers (ya know the ones who have families on welfare), it went to help front line responders deal with the rising costs of dealing with heightened security measures and those are just a few of the MANY places that money went to. And for Dean and others to say that it was wrong to authorize that money, I'd like him to try to say it was wrong after telling America from his own 2 lips where that money is going to, not just "Iraq."

I think President Bush scares the Democratic party. Dean made some random comment about how the Republicans will do anything to stay in power and they are just power hungry and all that fun stuff. Well I'd like him to take a look at his own party. If there weren't term limits for US President, Clinton would probably still be in office. And by him running for President and by the Democratic party running people for President, they themselves are being "power hungry" in the pure fact that if your the one in power, you have power. And also, by getting all these "wonderful" democrats to support him before the first vote is even cast, he is making a power grab w/in his own party (which makes Braun's dropping out even more funny, she used be a HUGE Clinton supporter, hmmmmmmmm wonder where that went) and trying to get it away from the Clintons.

So yeah, the 2004 Presidential Election has started, well it will next week. And all the craziness has now start its clime towards the pinochle that will be in Nov. Before casting any vote in the 2004 election cycle, I urge you all to look at the record and the past statements of the candidate you are leaning towards. Because it is important to be an informed voter and that includes knowing who you're voting for and why. And this will also stop people from being hypocrite and changing their points of views without explaining other than to say "it's politics"

Well that's about all I have to say at the moment. If you have any replies and my "shout outs" aren't working, email me and I'll post them
Till next time

~~Stacey~~

I thought this was funny and fun hehe.

2004-01-15T13:47:00.000-06:00

The World Is MINE! by Demonac
Name:
You will conquer:	the United States of America, but the house-to-house fighting is much bloodier than anticipated (even the old grannies have a .44 for self-defense).
Your title will be:	Tsar
You will succeed by:	Brute military force (One big Battlemech. Really big...).
Your Enforcers will be:	Orcs (millions of them! nothing beats orcs!).
Your first act as ruler:	Build an invincible fortified palace in Washington (and use the White House as your doghouse).

Created with quill18's MemeGen!

Afterlife as an Angel by childdoll
Your Name
Astrological Sign
Angel Type	Angel of Peace
Wing Color	Yellow with gold tips
Heavenly Weapon	Staff

Created with quill18's MemeGen!

Christmas/New Years/Holiday Embrace Recap

2004-01-05T12:52:00.000-06:00

hey everybody. Hop you all had a nice couple of weeks of Christmas and New Years. I had a good couple of weeks. Christmas was fun. I had one with my parents, one with my siblings and one with my cousens on my Mom's side. I got mostly close this year, which was cool bc i needed some new ones.
Then last week on Tuesday, i went skiing, or atleast attempted too. For those of you who dont know IL's weather this year, we havent gotten any snow (until yesterday), so it makes skiing an interesting thing. the place i went had some man made snow, but thats about it. So it was ALLLLLLLLL ice basicaly and hurt when i fell. But all in all it was a good time and i came out of it all in one piece.
New Years eve was filled with drama, but fun. i went to a friend's house (they are also friends with my brother and are all late 30 and early 40 somethings) and basicaly just hung out and talked for the whole evening. one of the people there knew how to play a guitar, so he played and we were having a fun time singing a long. but generaly we all just got drunk and talked. but it was a good night.
Holiday Embrace was fun. A bit slow and and the DJ wasnt that great (he called "Blue" and "Barbie Girl" old, I'm sorry, but if you're calling that old, then that makes me REALLY old, they both came out when i was in high school) but he did manage to play some good songs with a lot of slow songs mixed in between hehe. The turn out was a bit low, about 180 people were there at some point during the night. By the end there werent a whole lot of people there, but Eric from IN made it a bit more fun to be sitting in there (he was one of the few left dancing at that point who was my age hehe) so him and i danced the last few songs and then i went to go change and get the bobby pins out of my hair hehe. Then i went to Stake n Shake and sat and talked there a while with Dan, Eric and the Streater Girls while Abbie and Catherine got some shakes (not sure why i didnt eat but oh well i got a candy bar like 2 hours later). So at about 1:30 or so the "party" at stake n shake broke up and abbie, catherine and i went back to our room to sleep for like 2 hrs before we had to take catherine back to the air port. so got up at about 4 am to go to the air port and then drive home. got home about 6:30 am and abbie and i went to sleep again till Brandon and Ashley called to say they were on their way to pick up Abbie. Then about 11:30ish we met Brandon and Ashley at Bakers Square (at this point, it was like a blizzard). Got them on the road by about 1 and then i went back home and slept. it was a LONG 3 days hehe.
College bible study was good last night. We talked about the first mirical in John where Jesus turns water in to wine. We got some interesting ideas out of it. it was a good night. so now i'm sitting at work with not a whole lot to do and whishing i was in bed sleeping. but unfortunately i'm here, so i have to deal hehe. hope y'all had a good break and good luck on the new school year. talk to y'all soon

~~Stacey~~

PS If i havent talked to you in a while, call me some time :-)
PSS Guys are really confusing to figure out!!!!!!!!! To many signs and signals to try and figure out. But if anyone of you are wondering, i'm very single and just ask if you want to know anything else :-).

Life is truely amazing!!

2003-12-17T21:47:00.000-06:00

It's always the small things in life that get to you. Like a little girl who has nothing, giving you a hug because you gave her a toy for Christmas, or seeing a man who can hardly walk thank you for wrapping his christmas gifts. It's so amazing how those little things can affect you and your life. I challenge you all to experience and live for those little moments.
Between Lord of the Rings: the Return of the King and the story of Oprah going to Africa and giving hope to the children who have no family but themselves, I have a lot of love in my heart, and so many other emotions that make me realize that i am taking the right journy in my life. Giving back to others is the best thing any person can do. It is times like this that I know God is every where, and is very much in my heart leading me on His path for me.
I hope you all have a great Christmas and that you remember the reason for the Season!!!!!!!!!!!!!

May God Bless

~~Stacey~~

PS: LOTR: ROTK is a GREAT movie!!!!!!!

I'm back

2003-12-08T19:55:00.000-06:00

WOW, it's been a while. Well, life has been crazy. I tried to post a while back, but explorer froze on me and I lost it all :-(, so I'm back again now.

Well it's now to finals week and that's both good and bad. It's nice because that means the semester is almost over and I get a month off of school. It's bad because I have to leave behind all the friend's I've made in class this semester, not knowing if I'll see them over the next few years. But it's nice to see that there are people out there who care about the cities and their jobs that they work in and seeing them want to improve themselves in hopes of improving the services they can give to others. This semester has gone well and I look forward to the future.

just a random thought: I don't hate people. I dislike actions and I dislike people for the actions and the choices they have made in life. And I have "kicked" people out of my life because they have made bad choices and have done things that I don't approve of or like people doing that are in my life.
My ex boyfriend (also an ex best friend) is one of these people. You have to treat people well and listen to their needs and feelings to have a relationship that works. And when all you do is run from problems and try and hide from them, you're not going to have good relationships. I wish you the best of luck in your life, but if you want to be friends again, you have to make the effort and I have a high standard for my friends now. Friendships are equal relationships, you have to give to receive and it must be as good of a relationship that one would have with a husband or wife as you have with a friend. You have to give a part of yourself in any relationship, and how you keep the relationship good is if you get completed by the other person in the relationship. So to you my friend, I say that if you want me back in your life, you have to work for it. I've worked and I've stopped now because you don't treat me well enough for me to give effort to, so until I see an act of good faith from you, I'm not making an effort, but you're always welcome to try and win my friendship back.

any who, on to happier things. It's Christmas Card time again. So if I don't have your mailing address, I need it so I can send you a card!! So please email it on to me so I can get cards out soon :-).

ok, past stuff. The bear's game was AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The seats were great and so was the game. I took almost 2 whole rolls of film and I'll have them up online in the near future so check my photo album within the next couple of weeks and they'll be up there along with some more SDS pictures. The Jars of Clay concert was great. I enjoyed it a lot and I think so did Amy. She ended up sponsoring a child, which is cool. We've both wanted to do that and she has the money to do so right now, and when I get a "real" job I'll do it too. But the concert was great. Jars sang my favorite song (love song for a savior) so that was really cool. It was a TON of fun. Oh, also, fried turkey is DANG good!!!!!!!! My brother-in-law did that for thanksgiving and it was soooooooo good!!! Every part of that turkey was something I wanted to eat, which isn't normally true. So thank you for the great thanksgiving.

Huskies didn't make a bowl game :-(. THAT SUCKS!!!!!!! To be the "3rd" in a great MAC conference this year did not help the Huskies. The MAC is not a high power conference, so to have more than like 2 teams go to bowls is general not going to happen, and it sucks that the Huskies are the ones to loose out. They had a GREAT season and showed the country that they are a team to be taken seriously. So congrats to the 2003 NIU Football team, y'all did great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And you made me proud to be a HUSKIE!!!!!!!

well I think that's about it for now. I have to start my final at some point hehe. Hope y'all have a good day and I'll talk to ya soon

~~Stacey~~

2003-11-17T13:18:00.000-06:00

Today has to be one of the saddest days of the year. For those of you who are not from IL or to be more accurate, the 70th IL District, you probably did not know the man I'm about to talk about, but if you did live in the 70th IL District, you probably knew the man very well.

Rep. David Wirising died over the weekend. He was a great man, representative, person, and family man who did a lot for everyone around him. He was one of my first "in's" into the political field and showed me how to be honorable and get the job done w/in politics. He was also a good friend of my grandmother's and that makes him even more special. He will be greatly missed in the 70th District and throughout Illinois. If you want to read more, the check out this Northern Star Article .

Please keep his friends and family in your prayers. This was very sudden and not expected, and had announced his candidacy for reelection in the 2004 election and he had just made an appearance 3 weeks ago at a local parade to gain more support for his reelection.

**HUGS** and **PRAYERS** to all those feeling pain and sorrow by this lose.

~~Stacey~~

2003-11-10T14:38:00.000-06:00

I'm really bored right now. I've had NOTHING to do at work all day :-(. But h well, I got like a page of my paper written, so that's good. But overall, not so much productive today. But there was one good moment. It's always nice to make a friend smile after a rough night. I hope y'all know if you ever need to talk or anything, no matter time of day give me a call and I'll do my best to help out. One of my friends a few years back decided to try an commit suicide, and she thought I would be upset with her because she did, so she waited like almost a month to tell me. Stuff like that really hurts, and I'm never going to be mad at anyone for going through a rough patch. I might ask why would you do something like that or kind of yell at a bit, but I will never be mad at you. It's important to have someone to talk to and help you deal with whatever you're going through and I'll always be there for you. I hope y'all know that. But just always remember, there are a lot of people out there who care about you, and you'll always have someone to talk to about whatever you're going through. And it hurts your loved ones if you don't tell them what you're going through and allow them to try and help. But any who, on to something more happy hehe.

school sucks!!! I'm not totally sure why I'm still in school, but oh well I'm here so I'll finish now, but it's crazy. I hate that thanksgiving break is sooooooooooo late. It screws things up and makes you stress out because you don't have a break to take to not do school for a couple days. But oh well, good luck to all y'all who are in school and winter break is almost here.

NIU football moved up this week to 21. I don't really understand how they chose to rank where. It amazes me how schools with better records like (9-1, 9-0) are lower than schools with 7-2, 8-1... records. It is totally beyond me. Also, how can someone rise if they lost this week?? NIU won and we move up a couple spots, another team looses and they move up like a TON of spots, but we lose one game and we drop 10 spots, how random is that??? Oh well, we are still in the top 25, so I cant complain too much, but I do think the NCAA ranking system is a bit weird. And good luck to all the teams who play bowling green in the last 3 weeks of the season. NIU is first in the MAC West at the moment with a conference record (bg is at 4-1) so I really hope that we win it this year because the last 2 years, we've been tied. A bowl would be really really cool :-D (and it would achieve my goal of wanting to go to a school with a really good football team so that I could go watch them in a bowl game hehe).

hmmmmm, what else, I think that's about it for now. Its REALLY cold out today and I sit next to the door, so everytime the door opens, my butt gets cold :-( along with my feet and eventually the rest of my body too. Oh well have a great day and I'll talk to y'all later

~~Stacey~~

2003-11-06T00:32:00.000-06:00

Hey all. There are things at the bottom of every post that say "shout out" you can click on those and leave your coments. So please feel free to do so. I know i have a counter on my page, but it would also be kind of nice to know who's reading my blog and what they think. but if you do post, please put your name to it. Thanks

~~Stacey~~

2003-11-05T21:40:00.000-06:00

i just red in a friend's blog the exact feelings ive had about SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO many things. its amazing how much you want to fit into a group when you know that isnt what's important in life. to be liked and accepted continues beyond high school and thats a bit of a scary thought, but i hope i can fit in, or atleast in the right groups. I'm really glad that so many people had fun at SDS. That means a lot to me. I was FLIPPING out about it worrying that people would not enjoy themselves, but it seems like i did my job and they did. so thanks to Brandon, Ashley, Abbie, Daniel, Mel, Cory and Andrew for staying the WHOLE weekend its the best ratio i think ive EVER seen at a CKI event hehe, and you all were a great group to spend Saturday night with.

I also hope that ALLL my friends know that if you ever need to talk you can always count on me. My phone, email, IM or whatever is always open. as bad as it sounds, i need to be needed, so please dont feel like youre interupting my life, youre not, youre helping me in a wierd way. hehe.

hmmmmmmmmmm, what else to talk about. well i cant really think of much without going into really sappy topics that i'm sure y'all dont want to read about, but feel free to email/IM/call or whatever me. I enjoy talking people. that has to be one of the wierdest parts of being single, not having someone to talk to right before bed. for gosh, over 2 years of my life i always had someone to talk to whenever and right before i went to bed, who would read me stories and make me feel like i was perfect and i dont have that any more. having a boyfriend and a best friend in one is the best thing in the world, but when ya lose it, it SUCKS!!!!!!!!!! because then you have nothing. but at some point, i'll have some one to talk to before i go to bed again, and i'll find a new best friend. but any who, like i said sappy stuff i shouldnt be talking about hehe.

Once again thank you to all the SDS people and i hope to hear from y'all soon

~~Stacey~~

2003-11-03T11:16:00.000-06:00

hey every body. Well, SDS is over. It was a TON of fun and i'm soooo glad it's over bc i was stressing about it. if you want to see pictures check them out here. there should be more pictures coming. there are also picture from ICON and other things i've done over the summer and up till now. but back to SDS. 20 people were there through out the weekend and 8 of us stayed the whole time. we played I never, had a dance party, played games, saw a movie, stayed up all night (some for 47 hrs straight, GO 47 CLUB!! hehe), made a quote pillow, and tons more. it was a GREAT weekend and i think everyone enjoyed themselves a ton! those of you who went, feel free to leave coments on the "shout out" section of my page if its working, or you can sign the guest book on my regular page. Thank you to everyone who came, you really made the weekend fun and special. Also, my mom LOVED the pillow and the card. it really ment a lot to her!!!

Other things that happend. I WONT TICKETS TO THE JARS OF CLAY CONCERT!!!!! on friday on my way home from work at like 12:30, i was listening to the christian radio station and they were giving away tickets to the jars of clay concert in rockford. i thought i would call in for the random off chance i could win, and i won!!!!!!! how cool is that? so the thanksgiving weekend is going to rock!!! on thrusday i'm having dinner at my sister's new house, going to a jars of clay concert on friday and then on sunday i'm going to a Bear's game, it's going to be a blast.

Well i think thats about it. I have registration forms for Holliday Embrace, so if you want them email me and i'll hook ya up. the event is January 3, 2004 in Gurnee, IL. Tickets are $35/person for the dinner and dance and $20/person for just the dance. and that should be good times!!!!! and just a FYI with HE, i am looking for a date, so... hehe but any who. thats it for now. hope you all have a great week and i'll talk to you all soon

~~Stacey~~

2003-10-26T20:23:00.000-06:00

sorry its been a while again. things are crazy lately. i was sick last week, had to scramble to get homework done, its been crazy. but things will settle down a bit Nov. 3. hehe. This weekend is Sister District Sleepover. if anyone wants to come go to http://www.iicirclek.org/sds and register and bring money with you to the event. this weekend i walked in the Pumpkin Parade in Sycamore (the town next to mine). the College Republicans were out supporting some of the Republicans running for office, so i thought i would go help. it was good times. i saw a friend from high school that i havent seen in like 2 years. shes gotten married and now has 2 kids (had one before that i knew about). so that was good, got invited to a party at her house tomorrow, so that should be fun. i miss her brother though. he did the weekend before her wedding from cancer. its really strange, i think about him every once in a while. it took him getting cancer for people to befriend him, but him and i were friends for as long as i can remember and we would always find a way back into eachothers lives. it was kind of crazy. but i miss him. twords the end he was always trying to hook me up and stuff, and the christmas before he died i started dating someone that i had met, so i was happy knowing that what he wanted for me had happend. and now i'm single again with like no hope in site. and i feel like im kind of letting him down now. its a bit wierd. but i have good memories and i miss him a ton at points, like now, when i wish i would have tried to go see him more and stuff. but i'm glad i found serena again so that will be good to hand out with them again.

any who, on to other things. NIU lost this weekend and got killed for it in the polls :-(, but oh well, we will do well next week. but no matter what, it's been a GREAT season. i'm very proud of my school!!!!!!!!! what else has been going on hmmmmmmm, oh my birth day is this week, not sure when i'll have time to celebrate it, i might go out with some friends tuesday after class (my b-day is the 28th, this tuesday), but we'll see. hmm, well thats really it as far as i can remember. but if any cute boys reading this want to take me out for my b-day that would be a good thing hehe. any who. have a GREAT Holloween and i'll talk to you all soon

~~Stacey~~

2003-10-17T14:08:00.000-05:00

well for those of you who dont know, its the Fl. Marlins vs. NY Yanees for the world series. so yes, niether the red sox or the cubs made it. it is a very sad time for both Chicago and Boston. but oh well, theres always next year right??? hehe. oh well. it was good while it lasted. i'm really bored at work right now so thats why im playing around here hehe. havent had much to do at work today :-/ oh well, its friday hehe. well dont really have a whole lot to day other than GO HUSKIES and hope all y'all have fun at LTC this weekend who are going (i'll be there, but only for part of the weekend). well ttyl

~~Stacey~~

2003-10-14T19:09:00.000-05:00

Well, for those of you who dont know, the cubs are playing tonight to clinch the NLCS and go to the World Series. GO CUBS!!!!!!!!!! my friend Matt from IN (yes hes a cubs fan) had this great poem on his info sheet on AIM so i thought i would share it with y'all because its soooooooooooo ture on how i feel. and also for the record, I am a Cubs, Bears, the Chicago Fire (when i can actualy see a game), NIU football and a fan of about any sport (but as far as basketball goes, NCAA will ALWAYS be better than the NBA). so heres the poem:
Twas the night to beat Florida
and all through the nation
not a single sole was thinkin of
95 years of damnation
'Cuz this is the year
to end our bad luck
and even if it weren't
the White Sox STILL SUCK
On Sammy on Moises, Gonzo and Grudzie!
On Bako on Randall, Ramirez, Borowski!
Carry this team and end this damned curse
Don't blow the game or you'll leave town in a hearse.
To the TRUE fans of CHI-Town
So Harry can hear,
Scream it together
"THIS IS OUR FUCKIN YEAR!!!"

GO CUBS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

oh, also an update on NIU football. NIU is ranked #12 on the AP poll and #16 on the coaches poll. on the AP poll they are the only team besides the top 3 that have a 6-0 record of the teams in the top 15, and theres only one other school in the top 25 with a 6-0 record. Everyone else has 1 loss. so hmmmmmmmmmmm, I'm thinking a bowl season, what about you???? hehe

Not a whole lot going on with me. Just stressing about SDS and midterms. took one today that i dont think i did too well on, but oh well, i have one more tomorrow :-/. but then hey, its done so i cant complain too much.

Well, GO CUBS and NIU FOOTBALL, and for those I-I people, see you at LTC. and for those people in IN, IL, W-UM, and Mo-Ark, hope to see you at SDS and register soon!!!!!!!!!

~~Stacey~~

2003-10-09T22:25:00.000-05:00

have a great day :-)

2003-10-07T23:00:00.000-05:00

wow its been a while. sorry about that.

well first to catch you up on NIU football. NIU is now #16 in the country (this is AP poll, the coaches poll has them at 18) and 5-0 for the season and 1-0 for the division. This is the first year NIU has EVER been in either of the AP or the coaches polls, so this would also be the highest they have ever been also. So it's really cool being both an alum and a current student right now because i'm just so proud of the team.

THE CUBS WON A POST SEASON SERIES FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 95 YEARS. THAT IS SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET. this has been an amazing year for Cub fans. right now they are in extra innings in the NL championship series. its not looking that great, but the cubs always have the bottom of the inning so anything is possible.

whats going on with me personaly, not a whole lot. School, work and CKI control most of the time in my life. It's been a bit crazy around here lately. last week i had my first midterm, and today i had 2 short papers due. that along with CKI issues of SDS and club K-Fam chair, have been driving me crazy, especialy tonight. but thats really about it for my life. nothing wonderful is going on. i go to work 3 days a week, and class the other 2 days. this weekend i'm going to W-UM's MAC, next weekend is I-I's LTC and my family's pumpkin carving party thing, the next weekend i have off, but i'm sure i'll be going crazy with SDS stuff, and then i have my birth day, and then the next weekend is SDS, then i can relax :-P. oh, big thing i almost for got, I GOT BEARS TICKETS!!!!!!!!!!! I'll be at the Cardinals vs. Bears game on 11/30 :-) so that will be a lot of fun.

well i think thats about it. hope things are going well for y'all and all that good stuff

God Bless,

~~Stacey~~

2003-09-20T21:16:00.000-05:00

well, after one of the wierdest nights, comes one of the best!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! for those of you who didnt know, my mom was in Phoenix for the week compeating in the 2003 Sweet Adelines International Compotition. they were going for their fourth win in a row (there is a cycle of like 4 years between the times you can compete at international after you win). And THEY DID IT!!!!!!!!! by a lead of 120+ points they won their fourth gold medal. so the Melodeers are out parting the night away!!!!!!!!! WAY TO GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the second big event, NIU BEET ALABAMA!!!!!!!!! So now, they are 3-0 and have beeton an ACC and a SEC team how great is that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NIU is having a GREAT year and its so awesome as an Alum and as a current student. This is a great night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CONGRATS TO NIU FOOTBALL and the MELODEERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well not a whole lot else going on, work, school and CKI pretty much take up my time. hope things are going well and i'll talk to y'all soon

~~Stacey~~

2003-09-04T11:38:00.000-05:00

not a whole lot has been going on. a lot of drama and crazy stuff, but it will all work out some day soon, i hope. tuesday night was fun though. i went out with 4 guys from my program, and i have class with all of them too. it was fun. we went to a bar that just opened last year and it was nice and quiet and we had the whole beer garden area to ourselves it was nice. we talked about a bunch of random things and had a good conversation. found out what was wrong with one of my class mates (he had been leaving early from class and stuff, and we were all kind of worried about him, and now i found out with good reason) so i hope he gets better soon and that things are ok. but we talked about football, the peace corps, work, class and just a bunch of fun things. i had 2 barn teas. they have Jose, tripple sec, sprite and some other stuff it in (dont remember it all). they were good, the second like normal was stronger than the first (i dont get that), but it was a fun evening till i got home. at like 11 pm the CKI drama started again. i wish we all had better communication so that people dont get screwed over and things work out better than they are currently. but whatever. I-I CKI has to get its butt in gear fast!!!!! and me bitching isnt going to help, but all the little things are building up and making making me more pissy as time goes on. but things will work out and this is my last year, so i know i can get through it and enjoy the time i have left.
V if you still read this, glad to hear you had a happy b-day.
this weekend i'm down in Champaign for a district board mtg so that should be interesting. going to get a tour of the camp that SDS will be at (i've seen parts but not the whole thing) so that should be fun, and i hope to work out all the details of SDS so i can get stuff out to people so registration can start this next week.
oh, update on NCAA football. NIU did not make the top 25 :-( but i heard reports we did make the top 30 (havent see that in print) but Maryland is out of the top 25. good luck NIU this weekend (i believe they play Toledo this weekend) i wish i could be there to cheer ya on!!!!!

Well i think thats about it. dont know a whole lot of anything else. i'm sure i'll have somethign to say when i get back. OH, my dad's b-day is next week (the 9th) so we are having a party for him on sunday at 1 if anyone is close and wants to join give me a call. I'll also be checking out the bears opener so if ya want to hang out for that let me know that too :-). and dont forget that the NFL season opens tonight, Redskins vs. Jets (i think they are playing in DC) and that should be on ABC tonight i believe. so enjoy the NFL and NCAA and i'll talk to y'all soon

~~Stacey~~

PS--Dave, more and more i wish i had your job, but some day i'll be working on the Hill. congrats again and glad it's working out well.

2003-08-28T22:59:00.000-05:00

NIU WON!!!!!!!!!!!!!
For those of you who didnt know, NIU played Maryland tonight, the 14th ranked team in the county and we beet them 21-13 in over time. It was a GREAT game. so if you can watch ESPN and catch the highlights you should. they are great. I am in a great mood and soooo extatic. to go along with the win 2 records were set, the longest field goal and number of people in attendance. some 28,000+ students and others were in attendance tonight. it was PACKED!!! but it was nice and breazy so it was all good and a great time. so if any of you NIU people were not in attendance tonight, i highly suggest going to the next game :-). well i better get going its WAY past my bed time. but i had to write about this. have a great night all

~~Stacey~~

2003-08-27T21:23:00.000-05:00

Hey y'all. Hope youre all having a good week with school. Things have been fun up here. I'm done with my first week of school. A lot like undergrad, but also very differnt. It should be a good time though.
at the moment i'm taking a break from readings and watching the Bear's game. its really good. its Chicago vs. New England. the bears have had a couple turnovers but right now they are up 23-17 with 18 seconds left in the 3rd qt. So heres hoping they win. if they do i believe they will be 2-2 for the preseason at the moment. If you havent figured it out, i LOVE football. i have 3 older brothers and 1 sister who are all into it. I started going to my brother's football games when i was a small child (they have pictures of me in my brother's college jearsy's when i was like 10), so it's very much a part of me. I've only been to 1 NFL game, it was a Dallas Cowboy's Thanksgiving Day game, but i'm really hoping to get to a Bears game this year. But enough football

Funny CKI story. I went to our Kiwanis Mtg today and i annouced that i had Tomorrow Fund pins to sell. I had 10 to sell at $3 each. i have $31 in my envelope, and 6 pins left. So the point was to get rid of the pins, and that didnt happen, so now i have to go sell the pins again :-( oh well, its more money for the TF.

Well thats about it for right now i think. not a whole lot going on. I go back to work tomorrow and have an NIU football game which is supose to be really good too. So it should be a good time. have a great night/day all and ill ttys

~~Stacey~~

2003-08-25T10:06:00.000-05:00

one more comment. If youre going to post in the shout out section of my page, i ask that you leave your Name (a real one) bc if you have enough of an opinion on something to post, put your name on it. i have had 2 comments that were critical of what i was saying that people chose not to put their real names to or didnt put their name at all. i see that as being very childish and stupid. if you care enough to read my posts, then put your names to your opinions.

Thanks

Stacey

2003-08-25T09:44:00.000-05:00

wow, its been a while, sorry hehe. but not a whole lot has been going on so i havent had a whole lot to talk about.
last week i had orientation for grad school. that was fun. got to hang out with my "class" all 25 of us hehe. we learned about the program a bit more and got to talk with eachother. it was a good day. i also rented the fellowship of the rings to refresh my memory for 2 hours that comes out on video tomorrow. I saw fellowship down in North Carolina way back when (seems like a life ago now) but hadnt seen it since. It is a much better movie watching it now hehe. i was really tired when i saw it the first time, so it seemed to drag a bit, but i really enjoyed it this time.
this weekend was the DeKalb Corn Fest. This was the first year i could go into the beer garden. it was nice not having to be on the outside looking in. but it wasnt a huge deal. corn fest was blah as ussual. not a whole lot going on there, but drinking and enjoying Hi Infidelity (a coverband that plays a lot of 80's rock, Journy...) it was a good time. Once the bands were over we went to Sully's (a local bar) for their thing they have. it was fun. saw a lot of people from high school (the cool people of cource, was never in the "in crowd" but they all knew who i was, thats another story hehe) since the bar is owned by the family of one of the kids i went to high school with. the bad part was i spent half the night trying to find my brothers, and their friends i went out with. by that point they were all really drunk, well most were, a couple were good bc they were driving home. one of my brother's friends desided to jump into a bush on our way to Sully's. it was the funnest thing. he was like "look a bush" and jumped spread eagle into the bush. i was like wow. i've seen drunk people before, but these guys were crazy. fyi, all these people are in their mid to late 30's. but it was good times. i went home about midnight (i had been out since 3 pm) when my one brother went to go pick up his kids from my parents who were baby sitting. so that was my weekend. yesterday i slept till about 11 or so and didnt do a whole lot. i was way to soar (standing for 8 hrs tends to do that) to do much of anything plus i had to get up to go to work, so not a whole lot happend.
Well i think that is about it for now. hope y'all who are starting classes this week have a good week and things start off well, and for those of you who started last week, hope it went well and have a good week 2.

Bye bye for now

~~Stacey~~

PS--I'm really begaining to wonder why people ask for my advice or ask me to do things, and then get pissy when i give advice or when i try to be a part of what they asked me to do. i dont know, people are frustrating at points. But V, I am sorry.

2003-08-14T14:18:00.000-05:00

Hey all. Well once again i'm playing around at work. kind of boring, but not too bad.
Not a whole lot has happend lately so havent had much to talk about, hence why no posts. but this weekend i'll be at Kiwanis District Convention working the kids room. i think it is finaly coming together. glad i dont have to plan the whole thing, its been hard enough getting CKIers to come help out.
so that will be my weekend, if you need me, call my cell phone and i'll call back when i get a chance if i dont answer my phone. have a great weekend to you all and i'll ttys

~~Stacey~~

2003-08-07T21:28:00.000-05:00

Hey all, sorry for the laps in days. but, this isnt the longest i've been hehe. but yeah, why am i posting, well its my "dislike" of my father. its amazing how a person can be inlove with someone who hurts them. i sware my father makes my mother cry more than smile at points. its not like he beets her or anything, he just treats her like shit at points, probably part of why i'm gonig to end up in a "bad" relationship when ever i find a guy and why i already have so many issues when it comes to men.
My mom has been trying to redo our house for a LONG time. now, that we are finaly at a point to do it, my dad is like "thats a major change" well NO SHIT yes its a major change. hes seen all the plans (theres been like 5 at least) and knows what my mom wants to do, but yet he still knows how to put her down at the point that is the worse. but whatever. i love him, but i think hes a total ass, and i hope to God that i never marry a man like him.

well, what good things are going on in my life. I really like my job and the people i work with. For it being my LAST choice, its working out really well. the driving sucks (i put 500 miles on my car a week), but i just got IPASS the Illinois Toll System's thing that you can use to automaticaly have the tolls taken out of an account instead of having to have a ton of change with me and going through the booths. so thats a nice improvement of the driving issues. but work in general is a good thing.

well thats about it for now. ttys

~~Stacey~~

2003-08-04T10:54:00.000-05:00

how do you say "i dont want you in my life any more" to someone who hasnt treated you horrably? he hasnt been the nicest person, and is a jurk and a whole lot of other names, but he never beat me or aboused me or did anything that would make it really easy to say bye. i feel strongly on both sides. i dont want to lose friends and i dont want to "kick" people out of my life, but i also dont like the "control" in my life he has or how he makes me feel. i'm sitting here right now listening to a confermation hearing for Army Chief of Staff and another top possision in the army, and they were talking about the support of military families and all, and i want that in my life, but i also want to be free to follow my own career goals. i am really being pulled in 2 directions right now, and i continue to feel that this person i'm talking about is making bad choices and i hope and pray that he sees this soon, but over the last few months, i've relaized that hes just a friend if that in my life right now. i love my country and i want to serve it the rest of my life, and i can only hope that part of that will be finding a great guy that is in the US military (stationed someplace that i can keep working in government hehe).

but any way. its that wonderful time that i'm hating being single and theres too much drama in my life so i'm getting "wierd." this would be one of those times that i really need to take time for myself and make me whole again (or at least as whole as i can be). so if any y'all want to go hang out and get a little intoxicated give me a call, email me, or IM me and we'll go hang out. and if any of my guy friends want to take me out, that would be great too ;-) hehe. but really, i could totaly use some more social goup friend nights so let me know people.

ttys,

~~Stacey~~

2003-08-03T23:04:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to say thank you to all my guy friends who cheered me up tonight. if you couldnt tell by my pervious post, i wasnt in a great mood earlier. but thanks for chattin and for putting a smile on my face :-). and Heather, we have to find a time to meet up. its been WAY to long girly. miss ya tons!!!!!

Have a great night all

~~Stacey~~

2003-08-03T19:00:00.000-05:00

well, once again my ex nows how to make get me into an even worse mood (or turn my great/good day into a crapy one). Yesterday i had a blast hanging out with Brandon and Vandana in Chicago. We went up the sears tower (for my first time in like 10 yrs+), walked about 10 blocks in the wrong direction trying to get to Ed's, saw the fire works off of Navy Pier, went on the NP fairris wheel, and got home at 2:30. it was a TON of fun and i'm totaly glad we went down there.

But lack of sleep and going through one of those times that i was wishing i had a boy friend doesn't put me in a great mood, and my ex calling and saying when his wedding is and stuff doesnt make me feel horably much better. but oh well in God's time i'll find a boy friend and i'll get married and all that good stuff. but any way, enough bitching. Hope you all are having a great summer. most of us only have about a month or less left so its going to get crazy soon.

Congrats to the 2003-2004 International Board. I know youre training is going well and i hope y'all got to have a little fun while learning. Good luck this year and i'm sure you will all do great.

Well, i'll talk to y'all again soon

~~Stacey~~

2003-07-29T11:33:00.000-05:00

Well my "shout out's" are gone again, but they are supose to be back in a few days. i guess they are doing some up grades or something.

Well sense there is no party this weekend, I think V and I and a couple other people might either go to the Zoo, or hit down town Chicago and go to the musiums and/or the Shed Aquarium. So if anyone is interested, send me an email.

Not a whole lot going on. my weekend was relaxed and nice. i got some cleaning done (still have more, icky bathrooms, why cant they clean themselves :-P) hehe. Other than that, thats about it. No big drama giong on at the moment or anything too interesting. Hope you all enjoy the end of your summer and if you want to do something some weekend, send me an email and we'll find something to do :-).

~~Stacey~~

2003-07-26T21:51:00.000-05:00

Hey all, my "shout out"s are back YEAY so leave a message in responce to my wonderful thoughts hehe.

Good night all.

Stacey

2003-07-26T21:46:00.000-05:00

sorry to all of you who had my party on your calender, but to fact that so many of the people i wanted to invite had things going on that weekend, the party for next weekend is cancelled. So we'll have to find another time to hang out.

Not a whole else going on right now, just work and sleep. i have to clean up a bit tomorrow around the house but thats about all the fun news going on in my life.

Just another reminder for y'all out there. I really dont liked to be lied too or handlend or anything else along those lines. if you dont want to do something or whatever, just tell me straight up. Don't get my hopes up and then go, well i'm busy. if you tell me youre free, then that better be the truth. Dont be saying less than 24 hrs later, well i'm really busy this week if you've said that youre free all week.

But whatever. I'm slowly but shurly learning that guys pretty much suck and that they are very hard to trust. They make better friends than crushes, boyfriends or anything else. but even as friends they can still break your heart. it sucks being a person who puts their whole heart into a relationship (any kind) just to get it broken. but any who, it doesnt really matter. some day i'll find a good guy and i'll be happy, but until then, guys are a pain hehe.

Well thats about it for now before i really go off hehe. hope y'all have a great weekend and i'll ttys

~~Stacey~~

2003-07-24T09:46:00.000-05:00

well, i'm sorry y'all dont have an opportunity to comment on my posts any more. i'm not sure what happend, and most of the other ways of getting the comments are not taking new people so, you'll have to email me now or something hehe. hope you all are having a good day. i went to bed at 7:30 last night, woke up at 1, fell back to sleep around 2 or 2:30 and then woke up at 6, and yet, with all that sleep, i'm still not feeling refreshed and i'm still tired, how messed up is that??? oh well. i'll sleep all day saturday hehe. I have to go price food for SDS and some other random errons, but sleeping will be the main job of the day.
Got a few more poeple coming to the party on the 2nd. if you want to come send me an email and i'll give you the details.

well thats about it for now

~~Stacey~~

2003-07-20T15:51:00.000-05:00

Hey all. I'm having a party aug 2-3 at my family's farm. If you want to go, send me an email eacsec@quixnet.net. hope you all are having a great sunday and are enjoying your summer.

Party Time Line:
2-3 meet at my house
3 head to the store (liquor and food) and then down to my family's farm.
at the farm we'll cook out, have a bon fire and just hang out.
spend the night in tents at the farm and then leave in the morning.

Hope some of y'all can come.

~~Stacey~~

2003-07-19T00:31:00.000-05:00

HEY EVERY BODY. Well i just wanted to let you all know that LSSP and ICON pictures are now on my web page, so check them out. Not a whole lot going on right now. I have my cousen's 2nd B-day party on saturday and the rest of sleeping and finishing up some SDS stuff. Hope you all have a great weekend.

~~Stacey~~