250/365

Do you know what I love? 

Planners and organizers and diaries. I love them. I think that without my planner, I'd be lost. Recently a friend of mine called me in a tiny fit about how they kept forgetting to do important things because they were caught up with other important things. Obviously, I asked if they had a planner and they did but it was too small to really delve into. After helping them find another planner, I decided to share with you guys some tips I've found from others and some of my own tips on staying organized and using your planner for more than just the first few weeks of school. 

http://the-etranger.tumblr.com

I find it very important to purchase a planner that is visually appealing, something that I'm going to enjoy carrying around to jot down all of my assignments. I also like to buy nice pens, like the Staedtler Fine Liners -- they are amazing pens and they make writing things down more fun for me. So after you buy a pretty planner and some nice pens, then you can get down to the real business of using your planner. You bought it for a reason, remember?

So I like to write down all of my classes in the blocks by their times so that I know where I should be and at what time I should be there. It helps me stay on task and not get caught up in doing too many things in such a way that I forget all of the things I have to do. And then as you go along, fill in the blanks of your planner with things you'd like to do. Plan ahead using your syllabus, school events, and the like so that you won't be surprised by a sudden quiz or something. And I always like to take a few minutes in the morning to check out the plan for my day so that I know what I've got going on and all of the things I want to accomplish during the day or week. Good luck to all of you, because it's now September and we are all back to school for a while!

catch you later,
Karleigh

“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” // Benjamin Franklin

249/365

Everyday I think about how nice it will be when I have an apartment - bar having to clean and pay bills and the like. I get really excited about decorating it and buying all of the things that I'll need, even though I discovered that a pot to like boil water in was fifteen dollars. Holy cow. That's a lot, I think. I've been living in a dorm for the past three years now, so I'm sorta ready to move out where I don't have to like adhere to dorm rules.

Anywho, here's how to make it worthwhile when you're living in a dorm:

1. Make peace with the fact that you and your roommate will probably not be best friends. You may start off friends and then hate each other later or vice versa; either way, you're bound to call your mom one day and complain about everything they do. Don't worry about it. You don't have to love each other.

 2. You don't need half the crap on the Bed Bath and Beyond list or on your university's list. All you really need is your personal stuff, your clothes, and some bedclothes. Everything else you can buy as you need. Don't fret over having a ton of stuff or not having anything. Just make it with what you know you're going to need right away. 

3. Meet people on your floor if you can. I'm not too bothered about this anymore, but it is nice to know the people around you especially if you share a bathroom or a common room. In general, it's nice to have somewhere else to go if you can't or don't want to go back to your dorm. 

4. Follow the rules of your dorm. If you mess up the walls or the furniture, they will make you pay a fine. Don't have to pay the fine at the end of the semester because you hung a poster up with duck tape. Don't be dumb.

5. Make the most of it. You live on campus and you don't have to pay bills. You have so many opportunities to meet people from many different backgrounds. It's a really awesome opportunity, living in the dorms. Make the most of it.

catch you later,

Karleigh

"Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy." // Anne Frank

248/365

I have always hated plants. I've been very sickly with plants; I'm allergic to most of them so when I touch them I start itching and my eyes start running and it's a mess. However, recently I've been loving plants. I don't know if it's because we had such a nice summer or because I've been spending more time outside. So I have this new found love for plants.

Obviously this means that I bought some plants. I hit up WalMart for three succulents. One of them is jade and the other two are mysteries, but they are so pretty. And all I have to do is give them water every two weeks and make sure they get enough sunlight. So far, being a plant mom has been awesome.

catch you later,

Karleigh

“The planting of a tree, especially one of the long-living hardwood trees, is a gift which you can make to posterity at almost no cost and with almost no trouble, and if the tree takes root it will far outlive the visible effect of any of your other actions, good or evil.” // George Orwell

247/365

It's not been my day. We can talk tomorrow. 

catch you later,

Karleigh

"In a society that profits from your self doubt, liking yourself is a rebellious act.” // unknown 

246/365

 Our ribs are cages, locking away our hearts

so that we cannot chase the things we desire,

instead we must watch them from afar

wishing for the keys so that we may lock them 

in alongside us. 

catch you later,

Karleigh

"Close some doors. Not because of pride, incapacity or arrogance, but simply because they no longer lead somewhere." //  Paulo Coelho

245/365

The definitions of words are so funny to me. I've had multiple teachers talk about how we, as a society, invented the meanings of words. We have decided that glum is synonymous with sad and the same for delighted and happy. We know that those things, though perhaps varying in some degree, are fairly equal. I don't have problems with this really; I just feel like some words could be positive, despite their assumed negativity. 

Lonesome, for example, is a variation of lonely. Lonely, according to the first definition that comes up on Google, means "sad because one has no friends or company." It also can mean "without companions; solitary." In my opinion, the second definition is more fitting for lonely and, in connection, lonesome. To be lonesome is to be alone and I don't like that we associate that with sadness, meaning something bad. 

Being lonesome or lonely does not have to be bad. We think it is. When I think of lonely, I think of people in romcoms that are looking for "the one." I'm not sure where I'm going with this, but I'd like to tell people that I'm lonely without it being synonymous with me being sad. I can be lonely and not sad and I can be surrounded by companions and be sad. Why do I have to be sad when I'm alone? Why does lonely have to mean sad?

catch you later,

Karleigh

"To define is to limit." // Oscar Wilde

244/365

I read an article a while ago about how God created different genders for different purposes and that the way the world works now isn't set up with God's idea of gender. I'm not saying that the person who wrote this article is wrong by any means; however, I think maybe we are looking at gender in a way that perhaps isn't conducive to us at all. Your gender is not inherently equal to your biological sex. Gender in itself was invented by society, based on the way people are depicted in the Bible and other religious texts, to put people into certain understandable categories. We, as people, like to sort things in a way that makes it easier for us to understand them. We want to know if someone is a boy or a girl -- I'm using this argument to say that there are only two genders, which is heavily debated -- or, to rudely put it, an "it." Don't get me started on you calling someone an it. If you don't call an unborn baby an "it," then you can refrain from calling a person who doesn't fit into your boxes of gender an "it." 

I don't have an actual problem with gender, but I do have a problem with what it entails when it comes to teaching our children. I don't like the idea of boy or girl toys or ways of dress. I don't like that we teach our little boys not to cry, that they have to be tough. I don't like the idea that girls have to be mothers or care-givers. We are so much more than our genitalia. You are more than the toys you played with as a child or the clothes that you wear. Clothes, toys, other inanimate objects... they don't have a gender. 

I'm not saying that the author of that article was wrong. I don't think that world is set up to view gender the way that God intended and I believe that because God doesn't see us by our gender, but by our heart. I hope my point gets across in this. I just don't like the idea of gender very much.

catch you later,

Karleigh

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. // Galatians 3:28 ESV