Your Smile On Fire

June 2008 - Posts

• so many books, so little room

  So,

   

  Thing Number Six:

   

  The Jordyn’s bookshelves are becoming crowded.

   

  I know I’ve probably mentioned this before, but I’d fixed the problem since then. Until now. Because yesterday I was at Costco and oh lordy, I bought both Twilight and New Moon. AND DO YOU GUYS HAVE ANY IDEA HOW THICK THOSE BOOKS ARE? Seriously. I may as well have bought a couple of copies of Gone With the Wind.

   

  I mean don’t get me wrong, I’m very excited to read these books and see what all of the hullaballoo (ooh, fun word!) is about, but oh dear I’m going to have to find room on my shelves. And how can I do this? I’ve already pushed all my Nancy Drew books to the back of the shelves… I can’t hide more of my books.

   

  Oh dear.

   

  Oh dear oh dear oh dear.

   

  You know…

   

  it’s possible that I need a new bookcase. One that is bigger. And not fifteen gazillion years old. (Really, friendlies, I’ve had this bookcase since I was, like, ten. And I don’t even think it was new when I got it.)

  Posted Jun 05 2008, 02:59 PM by jordynt with 1 comment(s)

• another the jordyn report

  First things first; I’ve started a page for Project for Self on the wordpress blog. Just named the page P.S. though because that’s so much shorter. So go, join, leave comments (I love comments!), and whatever.

   

  Now on with it. I don’t have anything specific to write about, but a new PS post should be in the works shortly, so I’ll just do a bullet point post of news in my world.

   

  That’s right, it’s THE JORDYN REPOR(T)!

  • Family is visiting soon! Family such as Clintard (Clint) and his kids (Mason and Layla) and then just a little after that in comes my dad’s other brother and his wife and kid (Kendall, Janice, Parker). SO MUCH FAMILY! So much loveliness! Having kids around again for a while! The one thing I’m really hoping for the upcoming visits is that I get the chance to go fishing with Dad and Clintard. Other than that, pretty much just hanging out and watching the kids and family, family everywhere.
  • I bought the following things (not all today, but recently): Twilight and New Moon from Costco (they were cheap cheap there so I got the first two); Julianne Hough’s CD, which I may or may not have mentioned is made of pure awesome; Toby Keith’s 35 Biggest Hits, also awesome, listening to it right now. It’s very possible that country music and iced tea are my two greatest miracle things - miracle drink and miracle music. Love them.
  • My friend is graduating this week and I’m going to her grad night dinner this weekend. Excited? Yes. I haven’t really done anything with people besides my family in a really super long time. Besides the fact that working/looking for a job and finals had taken over my life, there just wasn’t much opportunity. So this will be fun and out of the ordinary and yes, I’m excited.
  • I talked to Madis on the phone yesterday and I was like, “Guess what movie’s coming out?” And she goes, “Lots of movies are coming out.” And I go, “Yeah, but which one am I excited for?” And she says, “Umm… probably… GET SMART.” YES! YES YES YES!!!
  • My head has been in a fog lately. Whether this is from running around like crazy busy, not feeling so great, sleeping too much, or just general oddness I’m not sure. It’s really bugging me though. (I slept like forever today AND I’M TIRED AGAIN. Urgh.)
  • I have a new mattress. I know this is of the greatest interest to you all and that’s why I tell you.
  • My mother will be pleased to know that I’ve transferred some of my files (actually lots of them) to discs. You know, in case this thing crashes before I can get my shiny new Mac. (Oh dear I hope that doesn’t happen - I can’t be without a computer! I shall perish!)
  Posted Jun 04 2008, 08:43 PM by jordynt with no comments

  Filed under: project for self, julianne hough, toby keith, family, miracles, twilight, get smart, country music

• screaming in bookstores and making secret goals

  Hey hey hey friendlies!

   

  Yesterday I screamed inside a Barnes and Noble. Not Taylor-loud (they probably would have kicked me out), but loud enough that the other girl in the aisle looked at me like I was crazy.

   

  But I had a good excuse. A really, really good excuse. I was there to get a few grad gifts for people (done! and wrapped! and not all from bn!) and so I’m wandering around the YA section and you guys know how they have that little Nonfic-YA shelf?

   

  THIS WAS WHAT I SAW ON IT.

  

   

  Do you see that? Do you see those two books that say RED on them? Oh. Freaking. Em. Gee. I was freaking out. I was like I have to tell someone, I have to tell someone! So I called my mom and then texted a few of my friends and I felt like doing a little happy dance right there in the store but I restrained myself.

   

  But oh my gosh. I’m in that book. That is in Barnes and Noble. That is coming out in paperback. Me. Me, me, me. My words. I know it came out in November, and I know I found out in February or something like that, but friendlies? It still feels surreal.

   

  In other news, I bought Julianne Hough’s CD and yes, it is great. Go buy it. Unless you really just can’t stand country. In which case you are missing out.

   

  **************************************************************************

   

  And changing gears again, let’s talk about Project for Self (go read it and join if you haven’t yet). Because I’ve got three people who’ve joined (yay!) and I’ve been thinking.

   

  It’s really easy to say you’re going to start going after life and doing the things you really want to do, but it’s a whole other thing to actually go through with it. So think of something you want to do, maybe something you’ve wanted to do for a while, but haven’t yet because you’re too afraid or it just seems crazy. You don’t have to say what it is (but you can), it can be your SECRET GOAL and it can be anything. Being more outgoing, getting to know someone you’ve wanted to know for a while, making a new friend, asking your crush out, making up with a friend you’ve been fighting with or even lost because of a fight. Whatever it is that you’ve wanted to do but haven’t. Then start to make it happen. Baby steps, like talking to the Starbucks barista if you’re trying to be more outgoing, saying hi to that person you want to become your friend, calling or texting your lost friend to see how she/he’s doing.

   

  Let’s all think of our secret goals (or not secret goals, it doesn’t matter but sometimes it’s just easier to do things if you don’t have people knowing about what it is, for some reason) and take the first step. (I may or may not open up a Project for Self page on the wordpress blog for people to let us know how their secret goals are going, even if they don’t want to tell what the goal is.) Thanks to Erin, Jocelyn, and Jamie for joining me in this!

  Posted Jun 03 2008, 03:56 PM by jordynt with 3 comment(s)

  Filed under: Red, secret goals, bn, goals, project for self, friendlies

• project for self

  Everyone seems to be waiting for their lives to begin. Waiting to get into college, waiting to get married, waiting to move out, waiting to travel. Waiting for any number of things and I’m sure it has a lot to do with this whole time of transition that everyone around my age is in, but it just seems odd the more I look at it. Because guys, this is our life. This. Right now. It’s began.

   

  I don’t think we should be sitting here waiting for life to happen to us; we have to get up and make our lives happen. If we want something for ourselves, whether that something is to travel or get into NYU or whatever it may be, we have to take steps to make that happen. We have to be proactive. If you know what you want out of this life, stand up and make it happen. Stop waiting. Because even though good things are supposed to come to those who wait, I’m thinking better things probably come to those who care enough to pursue them.

   

  And as for the things we really do have to wait for? Like moving out, like getting married, like graduating college or getting into whatever feild we’re looking at… well, we just have to step back and relax. Things are going to happen. They’re just not all happening right this very second, as annoying as that so often is. I’m not a person who believe in fate or predestination, but I do think that things tend to happen at the right time and that you shouldn’t get all freaked out over it.

   

  Part of the thing with my summer goals is that I realized I can’t keep waiting for things to happen. That there are a lot of things not in my control, but I think if I busy myself with the things I do have some control over life will be better overall. I want to be more like a character in a novel, and by that I mean… well, I mean look at the following quote about great characters, from Donald Maass’ amazing book Writing the Breakout Novel;

   

  They say the things we wish we had said. They do things we dream about doing. They grow and change in ways we wish that we could. They feel things authentically and without turning away.

   

  I want to be like that. I want to be the sort of person who isn’t afraid of saying what she wants to say or doing what she wants to do, and I think that’s what most people want. We want to be uninhibited by our stupid little fears. We want to go after what we want but because we’re small little humans, we don’t. Another quote I love on this subject is from The Second Summer of the Sisterhood and is talking about Lena;

   

  She got tired of herself. She got tired of not being able to say what she wanted or do what she wanted or even want what she wanted.

   

  I’m afraid that too many of us can probably identify with that. A lot of times we act how we think others want us to act, and it’s not because it would be wrong for us to act otherwise, it’s just because the gazes of our fellow humans seem to always be upon us and we worry about what they will think, even when we tell outselves we don’t really care what the norm is or what others think of us. We’re human. We care. And sometimes we sit around and wait instead of going after what we want.

   

  So my new resolve (and comment below if you want to join with me on this one) is to be more unafraid of saying what I really want and doing what I really want and living the life I really want. Join me in pursuing and catching life instead of letting it pass me by, and in being the sort of unafraid person I want to be. I’m calling it the Project for Self; who’s with me? (I’ll be posting more on this later if anyone says they wanna join in on this resolution.)

  Posted Jun 02 2008, 06:12 AM by jordynt with 1 comment(s)

  Filed under: fear motivation, living life, join me, love, fear, resolve

• that's funny right there

  I was all snug as a bug asleep in my bed when a (fairly small) earthquake woke me up. And the room was so dark and I was coming out of such a deep sleep that I had this woo-ooo-oo feeling like; Am I the last person left? Is there going to be another earthquake? Where am I? So of course I had to run upstairs and check that there were family up there (no I didn’t really think I was the last one left but I was kinda spooked) and now I’m eating Rocky Road while blogging.

   

  Soon I hope to be making crepes for my sissy’s breakfast.

   

  In other news, yesterday I was talking to my dad (a text conversation) about my new goal of going to see a concert this summer. Anyway, I’d found one, but it’s country and my dad’s going to be out of town the day of it, so the following conversation happened when he suggested I take my friend to the concert with me;

   

  me: She hates country.

   

  Dad: What? Has she listened to people like Tim M or toby K?

   

  me: Yeah.

   

  Dad: Taylor Swift, Shania twain, Keith Urban??? She hates all??

   

  me: Yes she says it is all “let’s go out in the pasture and kill ourselves.” Those are her exact words.

   

  Dad: OMG!!

   

  That was funny, right? That was funny right there.

  Posted Jun 02 2008, 05:00 AM by jordynt with no comments

• summer goalage

  So my friend did a post of her summer goals, so now it’s my turn. It seems like a good idea to do, you know? Make it all official like.

   

  The Jordyn’s Summer Goals:

   

  1. Get a new job. (Remember how I said yesterday was awful? I lost my job. The owner is moving her business so unless I’m willing to drive like 40 minutes each way, I’m out of a job. Ergo, I’m out of a job.)
  2. Buy MacBook. (Getting a job is pretty imperative to this goal.)
  3. Go to a concert. (Preferably soon, cheaply, and an artist I really want to see.)
  4. See Bradison and Madley if at all possible.
  5. Have at least 20,000 words to my novel by the end of the summer.
  6. Be a better friend and cousin.
  7. Call my granma more often, like at least once a week. (Does this mean being a better granddaughter too?)
  8. Stop waking up so late.
  9. Work on getting an agent for Dusty Red Shoes.
  10. Try to get into freelance writing.
  11. Make it to the meetings.
  12. Find another TV show to buy DVDs of after I get a job. (Suggestions anyone? I already have The Office and my mom has Friends.) (Okay, yeah, I know this isn’t exactly meaningful, but it’s fun.)
  13. See Get Smart.
  Posted Jun 01 2008, 08:17 PM by jordynt with no comments