Tag Archives: religion

How to deal with Rejection

Psalm 42:11

“Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my help and my God.”

Isaiah 49:1-4

“Listen to me, O coastlands, pay attention, you peoples far away! The LORD called me before I was born, while I was in my mother’s womb he named me. He made my mouth like a sharp sword, in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me a polished arrow, in his quiver he hid me away. And he said to me, ‘You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.’ But I said, ‘I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity; yet surely my cause is with the LORD, and my reward is with God.'”

And of course, the entire book of Job.

Psalm 37:3-5

“Trust in the LORD, and do good; so you will live in the land, and enjoy security. Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act.”

Tobit is helpful.

Luke 6:22-23

“‘Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on the account of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets.'”

The UCI saga

I am going to tell you my story of UCI, even though everyone probably already knows it. It’s a good story, I promise.

Once upon a time I was a freshman in high school and my brother ({Chris}) was applying for college. The only college he applied to was UCI because he didn’t really have any college ambitions nor any inclination to leave his friends (a year behind him in HS). He was fine with going to a community college if he didn’t make it in.

Spring 2000 comes, and UCI tells Chris he’s been wait-listed, which pretty much means he didn’t get in. He was a little bummed, but what-ev. Then the day before graduation (or something crazy like that) they call and let him know hey! Do you still want to come here? Because there’s an opening. So of course, he was all about it, and yay, now he can go to UCI. Downside? It was now too late to apply for freshman housing. So he had to commute.

Fastforward to my senior year of high school, Fall 2002. My dad and I are at a college information night or whatever, and I’m looking around at colleges in California. Perferably Southern California, because that was where my then-boyfriend lived, and I didn’t want to leave him. The closest state university college to him would be UCLA (HA!), then UCI, etc. So I ended up applying to UCLA (I knew I had pretty much no chance of getting in), UCSB (Didn’t really care one way or the other), UCD (my sister’s alma mater), UCI (my number one choice, pretty much knew I would get in), and as a backup school… CSUF. I was pretty confident about my chances of getting in considering how little my brother tried. He took no honors classes, no extracurricular activities, SAT score wasn’t that great. I on the other hand was in AP English, got a 4 on my English AP test (5 is the best), was involved in the band for 4 years. The only thing I was concerned about was my SAT score, a pathetic 1160. I was hoping for at least 1200. But I scored fairly well on my ACT (I think I got in the neighborhood of 26-33 out of 36?), I thought that might help. Given this information, I thought I was good to go for UCI.

Oh how wrong I was.

Continue reading →

New Pope, etc.

There’s a new pope!

From AZcentral.com
New pope good for church’s continued course, bishop says

Michael Clancy
The Arizona Republic
Apr. 19, 2005 12:05 PM

Pope Benedict XVI will bring continuity to the worldwide Catholic Church, following in the footsteps of Pope John Paul II.

The new pope, the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, served the late pope since 1981 as prefect for the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican office that maintains church orthodoxy.

“No one worked as closely for as long with Pope John Paul II as Cardinal Ratzinger,” Phoenix Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted said in a brief press conference Tuesday morning. “The cardinals considered that in electing him.”

Olmsted said that above all, continuity will be the key word for Pope Benedict XVI. But his personality differs from his predecessor, Olmsted said, and he comes to office under different circumstances.

Because of his age, 78, the new pope is unlikely to travel as much as John Paul II, but one trip he will make will be to World Youth Day in Cologne, Germany, in August.

“I can’t imagine what that will be like,” Olmsted said. “It will be the return of their favorite son. That will be a very exciting moment.”

The pope has been known as the watchdog of church doctrine, called by some the “Panzer-cardinal,” referring to his German roots and his strict adherence to doctrine.

Olmsted said he is not concerned about the pope’s conservatism.

“He will present church teaching in a way that is understandable,” Olmsted said, indicating that like his predecessor, Benedict XVI is intelligent, multilingual and familiar with a variety of cultures.

“I’m very thrilled,” Olmsted said. “I am very grateful for his choice. I think he is a very good choice.”

I’m a little disappointed it wasn’t Cardinal Arinze, who is Nigerian, or the other South American guy. Most of the Catholic Church’s members are in Third World countries, this would have been a goopd way to reach out to them… Oh well. I’m sure this guy will do a great job as well.

I heard on some news program that the name the Pope chooses reflects what kind of Pope he plans on being, based on the work the other did. I looked up Benedict XV and he was the Pope during WWI. All the news stories are saying that he’s going to continue John Paul II’s legacy. Hope that doesn’t mean ignoring all the child molestor priests in America. 👿

It’s amazing how things can go horribly wrong.

Like how this week started out so well and slowly went downhill with the approach of school once more. Friday I went to lunch and shopping with Mike. I got new jeans and a shirt to go with a shirt I got for my birthday. Then guard, barf, then a guard party, yay! 😀 We watched “10 Things I Hate About You,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “Selena,” “Zoolander,” “The Princess Diaries,” and Yelitza’s Quicenera video. 🙂 It was really beautiful, I remember that. The slumber party was fun [even though I konked out at around 11], and the next day was our competition. We totally kicked ass, and we placed first and got the gold medal for championships. It almost makes all the shit we went through for the last 4 years worth it, and it sure was a great way to go out… which kind of scared me, hehe. I feel like high school is just beginning for me, and I wish it wasn’t over yet. Bah. 🙂

Today I went to church and helped teach this morning, then we had a discussion thing at youth ministry. I talked, it was scary. :X After that, we went to lunch and Mike took me home and he went to catch for Hughes and Cody for a while. Then he picked me up [hehe] and we went back to his house, then we went to The Greens to do some putting with his Dad. I won. 🙂 Then we went to Fatburger for dinner, it was goood.

I wish happiness could exist without sadness.

mood: kind of bummed.
song: I copy ne and link to lyrics now. 🙂 “The Silver Shining” – L’Arc~en~Ciel [go J-pop]