Can someone straighten me out?

I'm not super into politics and know very little about the U.N. and international affairs, but all this talk about the U.N. calling for a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah isn't connecting for me. So the U.N. says, "Cease-fire, guys!" and Israel says, "O.K." but...Hezbollah is a terrorist organization who couldn't give two cents about what the U.N. wants, so they'll just keep on attacking whoever they want. How does that solve anything? Maybe someone more knowledgeable on foreign affairs can shed some light on this for me. Seriously, I really wanna know.

Hope no one kicks my butt for agreeing with this...

What a day.

It's been one of those days around the office. Actually, it's been one of those weeks. I haven't taken a real lunch break yet and haven't left the office on time, other than yesterday. Right now I'm jsut sitting at my desk, listening to piano music and trying to unwind with a nice blog entry.

See, the thing is, I keep getting all the projects that no one else can seem to get ahold of. Sometimes it's because they don't have the right tools (i.e. the postcard one of our support staff members was trying to design on Microsoft Word. I whipped out the InDesign on that biatch and sent her to press yesterday, after two straight days of sweet-talking my Mac.) and sometimes it's because they're just too busy to get it done themselves.

The latter was my problem today. The boss and his next-in-charge are both out of town and put me in charge of following up with PR regarding our immediate publication needs. I thought the words "Prepare the final text" were self-explanatory, but the boss just cobbled together some notes and general preferences ("More bullets, not so much straight text.") and sent me over to the wolves. Guess who ended up editing and revamping 20 pages of text for our most major publication? This girl. Right here. In one day. AND I sent my VP home with all of it, practically begging for her approval by the end of tomorrow. I never thought Admissions would be this much work. I'm not complaining, really, just wishing I didn't have to keep picking up a ball that's been dropped. Throw it to me, that's fine, but don't drop it and walk away.

The flattering news: my wonderful VP (and I really do like her a ton) started talking to me about MBA progams today and admitted to "unabashedly trying to convince me to stay around." It feels good when someone at such a high level sees potential in you.

Real quick...

I have had zero time to post, and since I'm supposedly on a lunch break (ha!) I'll dash together a quick update. Since last time:

-Going to the Silver Lake Sand Dunes (aka my redneck weekend) was awesome. It was super hot, so we didn't really drive around the dunes much. Sitting on the beach, though, gave me one heck of a sunburn!

-FESTIVUS! Mitch got rugburn on his forehead from the Feats of Strength and most everyone agreed, in the Airing of Grievances, that his farts really stink.

-Work is kicking my butt every day. I have a ton of projects and more are added daily. The boss is out of town for a week so (this is horrible) more should get done since I don't have to wait for his approval on most everything. He's really a great boss, but he's so busy that he has a hard time getting everything done in a timely manner.

-Bruce is coming home! We're planning a belated birthdya aprty for him next weekend up here, so if anyone is reading this who a forgot to email, just ask me about it. Sorry Tim, Anna, Grant, Robin, and all other out-of-staters - I didn't write you because I didn't hear of any upcoming visits to Michigan in your plans. :)

OK, I'm cracking the whip on my own back and returning to work. I may complain, but I honestly like these busier days. It makes me feel like I'm in college again.

Mac Mac Mac

I just like typing on the Mac I get to use every once in awhile at work. I also like being the only one in my office that can do fun things like convert documents to PDF files, scour the network for photos, manipulate said photos and play with Adobe products.

There's no point to this entry - just the chance for me to caress the keyboard of this lovely machine!

Is this week over yet?

After the holiday last week, this week just won't end! Here are the high-(and low)-lights so far:

Dinner with Minda and Derek - Note to self: if shrimp has the shell on, it must be deveined before cooking. If not, you'll throw away the whole meal and go to The Cabin for pizza and Long Islands. Then you'll get tipsy with your family and tell funny stories all night long. Waking up the morning will be difficult.

Office Drama - Our new associate director quit after three weeks on the job. He had some family issues (who tries to commute from Detroit to Alma, really?) and, in my opinion, was disappointed to discover he wasn't the "magic man" who would come in and whip us into shape without encountering any resistance. We're back in a crappy situation because we (again) don't have a full staff going into fall planning, but the tension that's been plaguing us for the past few weeks has lessened substantially.

Volleyball - True Scots won against one team but lost to the other. Don't know what happened in the second game, but we haven't been playing much and probably just didn't have the stamina to keep up a high level of play.

PIRATES! - Tonight Mitch and I are going to see the new Pirates of the Caribbean with Kristy, Ray and probably Gabe. Good times will be had by all.

Redneck Weekend - It's time for the first of two Redneck Weekends at the Silver Lake Sand Dunes! We'll be tooling around the dunes in Dave's Blazer, watching people and their crazy machines, and hopefully swimming a bit since it's going to be hottttttt this weekend.

Remembering

"It is terrible how much has been forgotten, which is why, I suppose, remembering seems a holy thing."
-Anita Diamant, The Red Tent

Work on a Saturday?!?!

Yup, I'm at work. Just for another hour, which I plan to kill online and with a good book.

I just gave a presentation to a group of students. Great kids, great questions...honestly, I don't mind being here if I get to work with a good group. One question, though I knew it was coming, always throws me for a loop:

From the group's advisor (a white woman): "What kind of support services do you have for multicultural students?"

Part of me always wants to answer by telling her these kids are just like every other kid who leaves home for the first time and finds him or herself in a new place, meeting new people and encountering new challenges. Does a different skin tone really make leaving home any harder? So we don't discriminate by offering support systems to specific groups, but rather to our campus community as a whole.

Oh, and an African-American themed dorm, lady? Isn't segregation wrong, and wouldn't that completely conflict with the whole idea of a campus community?

At what point are you lending someone a helping hand, and at what point are you convincing them they can't overcome hurdles without your help?

Argh.

We lost at volleyball last night. It's so frustrating. Tim, when we come visit you, I hope we can get a game together...

Bruce wrote a great post on the concept of home, and that's something that's always in the back of my mind. Where is home, for me? Is it South Lyon, the place I grew up and still label "home" in conversations? It was Alma, for a wonderful period of time, but it sure wasn't Cadillac. (The first time I referred to returning to Alma as going home, I thought my mom was going to cry.) Is it Mt. Pleasant, where Mitch and I have friends and are putting down some roots, all the while knowing we will probably leave in a year?

For me, I guess I've come to the conlcusion that, like Bruce says, home is the people holding you up. I can have more than one physical home; being surrounded by friends and family, no matter where my feet are planted, feels like home.

Independence Day!

I feel like this holiday has stretched out a very long time, because we celebrated in two parts:

Part I: A weekend in Bayview with Grandpa, Uncle Jack (Grandpa's brother), my parents and (for a little bit) Aunt Linda. We biked along Little Traverse Bay, canoed down the Sturgeon River, enjoyed some tasty margaritas at Red Mesa, and just had a good time in general.

Part II: 24 hours in South Lyon. We both had to work on Monday, so after we got done we hopped in the car and sped down to SL to hang out with Bobby and complete Mitch's Fourth of July checklist:

-Mountain biking
-Drinking beer on the pontoon boat (and watching fireworks around the lake)
-Finding a new watch
-Going for a motorcycle ride
-Swimming

All accomplished!

A quick word about the mountain biking: I found out that a group of women rides together at 6:30 pm every Monday at Island Lake, so I went out with them this time. The first loop (6 miles) was fast because I led most of the way and let one of the women chase me. Then I fell. Oops. The second loop was bascially a chance for me to talk for nine miles, because I wasn't leading and we were going so slow. One of the ladies is a distance biker and will do 30 miles on a trail and not blink an eye, so she just kind of plods along. The other one doesn't have much experience (I don't think) and the third, the fast one who chased me, left after the first loop. Bottom line: it was a good experience but I think I like riding with the guys better because they push me harder.

Now I'm back at work, and while it feels like Monday, I'm so excited that it's Wednesday already! Woo-hoo!

Promotion :)

When I come to work on Monday, I will officially be an Assistant Director of Admissions instead of just a plain old rep. Yay!

Now if I could just get my Mac to turn on so I can finish my current project...hmmm....

Rocks, roots and ridiculous hills

That pretty much sums up my ride at the Pinckney State Recreation Area's Potowatami Trail this past weekend. It was brutal; fifteen miles felt like fifty and I was wrecked for the rest of the day. But I did it and I'll probably do it again, once I forget how much it sucked.

DeYoung Family Vacation

It's the first hour of my first day back to work after a nice long vacation, and I'm already wasting time on the Internet! Well, I just thought I should update before things get crazy around here, OK?

I took last Friday off to go down to SL and spend some time with my dad, since I would be missing Father's Day. We went mountain biking in the morning, then he spent the early afternoon working on his boat while I napped in the hammock, beneath the most beautiful maple tree ever. Eventually, we made it out to the lake, just in time for my dad to be a hero once again.

***Exciting story***

So there we are, floating in the middle of the lake, enjoying the sunshine and contemplating a swim, when we notice a SeaDoo boat with steam coming out of its stern. It wasn't getting any lighter, so we sped over to see what was going on. There are two women and one man in the boat, and two little girls and another man floating on a raft-type thing. The boat driver starts flagging us down (Mistake #1: He had done no signaling prior to seeing us heading his way) and tells us there is a fire on the boat. So Dad tells the two women, both of whom are wearing life jackets to get in the water and swim to the platform at the back of our boat. One women has no problem with this; the other starts panicking, saying she can't swim. "You've got a life jacket on. You'll be fine," says my dad, and one doesn't argue with that stern of a tone. So she bails into the water, doesn't even get her hair wet, and starts freaking out. "I can't breathe! I can't do this!" Then, once the other women has hauled her to the platform: "I can't get up! I'm not strong enough!" Having none of this, my dad unceremoniously hauls her up by one arm.

While all this was happening, Dad had given the man our fire extinguisher (Mistake #2: It's illegal, not to mention stupid, to not have a fire extinguisher on board) but he couldn't figure out how to use it. So with the women in the boat and the smoke getting thicker and blacker, we got the man in the boat as well. Then we picked up the little girls and the other man, and sped off across the lake. No one wanted to stick around long enough to find out whether this boat was going to blow up, because by this time, flames were coming out of the engine compartment.

I called 911 on the way to the family's house and got the fire department out there. Once everyone was safely ashore, we ran back over and picked up three firemen in our boat. They had Dad drive really close to the burning boat - which was totally engulfed in flames and thick, balck smoke - so they could attack in with their fire extinguishers. The boat drifted closer and closer to shore, until it rested against the bank and a fire truck could put out the flames from the road.

By the way, I said my dad was a hero once again. A number of years ago, he jumped from a moving ski boat onto a runaway JetSki to keep it from crashing into shore. He's going to become a legend out there.

***Back to the vacation update***

Saturday was Mitch's grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary bash up near Cadillac. We got there around 10:30 am to help with set-up, and then spent the rest of the day keeping the food stocked and getting introduced as "Carla's youngest son, Mitch, and his wife, Laurie." A ton of people attended and his grandparents really enjoyed it. The rest of the family kept saying, "This enver would've gone off without the DeYoung kids," because Mitch and his siblings (plus us married-ins) were the only grandkids busting their butts before, during and after.

We spent Saturday night camped out in the grands' front yard, trying to beat the heat with our well-ventilated tent. Oh, and we had to go to the bathroom in the trees because his grandma locked us all out at 11 pm. Haha. Hope none of the neighbors were driving by as I bared my bottom!

Sunday morning, we skipped out on "the big breakfast" (translation: a mishmash of leftovers from the part, plus eggs) in favor of Bob Evans and the chance to beat the rain to TC for some mountain biking. No luck there, but we did get to visit Adrienne in her new place and take a much-needed shower. Eventually we met Christa, Brian, Minda, Derek and the kiddos at the cottage we were renting for the week, but it was so rainy we couldn't do anything but sit around inside. We did go grocery shopping and make pizzas for dinner, and it dried up enough for a campfire in the evening. The three couples played Nertz well into the night (that night and every night) and I think, by the end of the trip, we had each won once.

On Monday we went to the beach in TC to kill some time before Jeff and Carla got up there. It was really hot but the water in the bay was too cold for swimming. In the afternoon, Mitch and I took Minda and Derek wine tasting on the Leelanau Peninsula. More campfire, more Nertz, more sleep.

Tuesday we went canoeing with Minda, Derek, Christa and Brian. This was the most fun canoe trip I've been on in a long time! It wasn't too long and the water was warm so splashing was actually fun! We laughed so much and I got some fun photos with my new digital camera. (Old camera got sand in it and it was going to cost just about as much to fix it as to replace it, so we upgraded.) After canoeing, we met Jeff, Carla and the kids at the beach, where we relaxed for a bit before heading to the Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes. We didn't walk all the way to Lake Michigan because the others would be waiting too long, but we did enough to make my thighs a bit sore.

Wednesday was our last day, and we didn't do much in the morning but ride about four miles of mountain biking trail reminscient of Cadillac. (Translation: Hilly) When we got sick of sitting around, we kidnapped Minda and Derek for more wine tasting - this time on Old Mission Point - and eventually met the rest of the gang back at the Dunes for the scenic drive. We got back home around 9 pm and spent the evening fighting the idea of going back to work.

Wow, it's taken me the whole day to get around to finishing this, but here you go. I'll post photos on my Yahoo site soon...though I'm not sure anyone is particularly interested in seeing family vacation photos! Look at that, time to pack up and go home!

What's eating me.

It makes me so terribly sad (and a little mad) when people don't take care of their bodies. I'm not saying everyone needs to be super-model thin or have six-pack abs, but people who are seriously overweight should think twice about loading their grocery cart up with Twinkies and Coke and pork rinds.

It's not an aesthetic thing: it's a health thing. If someone is eating healthy and being active, it doesn't matter what her body looks like. She is taking care of this amazing vessel God has given her for her time on Earth. If someone is just shoveling crap into his mouth and spending his days doing nothing, he's not respecting a gift from God and I think that's pretty wrong.

Helmet Law

This weekend, Bobby and I were discussing the Michigan motorcycle helmet law and whether or not we thought it should be removed. Then this morning, all the radio stations are talking about it, too, because the quarterback for the Pittsburg Steelers got in a bad motorcycle accident and was not wearing a helmet. I took all this as an indication that I should post about it.

First, let me say I think it's absolutely stupid not to wear a helmet on a motorcycle, just as I think it is ridiculous not to wear a seatbelt in a car. However, is it the government's place to make laws protecting us from ourselves? I understand protecting others by setting speed limits, etc., but when an action is not (a) morally wrong or (b) a danger to others, I believe I should have the personal freedom to make a choice.

Now, one could argue that not wearing a helmet on a motocycle is a danger to others because a rider's death or serious injury is probably going to be very harmful to his or her family - emotionally, financially, whatever. But one could make that same argument against pretty much anything we do; any risks we take, including walking across the street, could potentially have the same negative effects on those we love, should something unfortunate occur. So I'm going to throw that argument out, because it is easily taken too far to be reasonable.

I'm in favor of removing the Michigan helmet law, but I would strongly encourage riders to make the personal choice to continue to wear helmets. When Mitch gets his bike someday, I know he won't be going anywhere without one. Let's all take responsibility for our own choices and not let the government decide these things for us.

Rugby and rum

OK, so the whole weekend wasn't made up of smashing each other's faces into the sand, then getting smashed, but it was a big part of it. Anyone here ever played any pick-up rugby games? If you were at Jon's this weekend, you did. Man oh man, it was rough. Real tackles, confusion over the rules...what a great time!

Team Jager made another appearance, complete with a twelve-minute voicemail from Bobby and Ray to Liz, encouraging her to come up the second night. I believe they told her she could drink for free since she was a teacher and they didn't pay teachers that much. Everyone had a good time and though some people claim to have heard a big of heaving in the bathroom, no one will own up to getting sick.

Mitch, Bobby, Kristy and I went mountain biking, too. The Cadillac trails kick my bottom because of all the hills, but they are good for me. Bobby got lost and had to stop at some old lady's house and ask for directions. Mitch rode half the trail looking for him. Silly boys.

This entry feels very choppy. Oh well. Big plans coming up for us - I'm spending Friday with my dad for Father's Day, then there's Mitch's grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary bash on Saturday, followed by four days in the TC area with my in-laws. It should be a fun time, especially because Mitch and I will be breaking in his new two-person MSR tent. Monday through Wednesday we could probably snag some floor space in the cottage his parents rented in Lake Ann, but why would we do that if we could peacefully slumber under the stars?

And I found a couple of new places to mountain bike near TC. I don't know how good any of them will be compared to the VASA trail, but it'll be worth a shot. We are so easily amused.

On Wednesday we are hashing out recruiting territories in the office. I'm ambivalent about where I end up. Anywhere would be closer to home than the North, so I won't mind giving that up. I do like all the people I met up there, though. OK, we're having a meeting soon, so I should sign off.

Volleyball

Last night was our second set of volleyball games in the Mt. Pleasant summer beach league. I was too frustrated to post after our first one, but this one went much better. We split, beating one team and losing to the other, but I think we played better together than last week. We tried something new: with all eight players present, we split into two separate teams and each team played a whole game, without any substitutions. There was never a need for a third game, because we either won both or lost both, but had a third game been necessary as a rubber match, we agreed to field the best players that evening for the final game.

I like this format. We plan to mix it up and play different people together, while keeping our teams relatively even. When not on the court, we generally peppered around to stay warm, practiced hits, or even played a friendly game of twos. I think we can perform well in this league if we can shut down this one tall dude - a member of the team to whom we lost last night. He spikes often, but not hard, and he's pretty predictable. He is, however, only getting better so we need to stay on our toes.

By the way, our team name is True Scots and everyone on it has a connection to Alma. Mitch, Jon, Matt, Kristy, Gabe, Andrea and I are obviously alumns, and our fourth girl is one of my coworkers in Admissions. Root for us every Wednesday evening!

Eighteen minutes

I am so hungry. Why can't it be five o'clock, when I can go home and have a big glass of milk to tide me over 'til dinner?

OK, I won't complain anymore. It's my own fault: I always know I'll be hungry by the end of the day and I never pack more food.

The weekend was fun - spent some time with the in-laws and my grandparents, and I had my first ever casino experience. Mitch made me lose a dollar. And I saw the saddest sign ever in the parking lot:

"Do not leave children unattended in cars. There is childcare."

Having a sign means people have done that often! It about broke my heart. How could anyone leave their kid in a car while they go and gamble away their college fund? OK, that might be a bit extreme, but anyone who would leave their kids probably has a gambling problem, and they may very well be gambling away college money! Sad.

I wonder if we'll play volleyball tonight. Our team really needs the practice, but I've only heard from people who can't make it. Hmmm. Can't think. Still focused on my empty tummy! Callin' it a day a few minutes early, methinks.

24 miles of trail

Some people think long holiday weekends are for relaxing...apparently Mitch and I don't know the meaning of the word!

Friday: Work all day (which meant driving to Boyne Falls and back, then spending some time in the office), bachelorette party all night! Lindsay, a friend from high school, was getting married on Sunday so it was time to celebrate her last weekend of singledom. I met the group at this fun country bar way out in Shelby Township called Coyote Joe's, and though I had to drive home and couldn't join in some of the festivities, it was pretty cool. Actually, I'd love to take all my college friends there (we'd be on the mechanical bull all night!), but it's really far away. After that bar, we went to a place in Rochester called Main Street Billiards, which was also cool. My favorite thing was people-watching...especially this one group of guys who were staked out next to the entrance to the dance floor, overtly checking out every girl that walked by! The evening went 'til about 12:30 am, but then I had an hour drive home. So tired...

Saturday: At 8:30 am, my dad was in my room, waking me up like old times. He said he had a surprise for me and was really excited, so I pushed off the urge to drift back to sleep and dragged myself up. Turns out he bought me a whole new front sprocket for my mountain bike! Last time we were down there, we discovered that my front gears measure 28-38-48 instead of the standard 24-34-44. Smaller front gears would help me climb hills better (I'm horrible at climbing hills), but Mitch and I thought it would cost a lot to get new ones based on the prices we saw at REI. Turns out it wasn't that much at all, and Dad thought I should have them. What a guy!

Since we had to wait for Mitch to finish work and get down to SL before we could bike, I went out to the lake with Mom and Dad to clean up the cottage and get it ready for the annual family Memorial Day party. Mitch got there about 3:30 pm, we put my new sprocket on my bike, and headed out to Island Lake. We planned to ride the nine-mile blue trail, then break off and ride the six-mile yellow trail, but I rode blue a bit too hard to do the second leg. See, there were these guys, and we passed each other about three or four times before I got sick of it and decided to stay ahead of them for the rest of the trail. Turns out I didn't need to ride as hard as I did, because I was finished, packed up and on the road before they returned to the trailhead. Still, I was pretty beat.

Sunday: Mitch went to work with Bobby and Dad had to mow the lawn, so we didn't get out on the trails until 11:30 am, by which time it was over 80 degrees with a heck of a lot of humidity. This time we went out to Brighton Rec, where Bobby and Mitch tackled a tough five-miler called Torn Shirt while Dad and I opted for the longer but easier nine-mile Murray Lake Trail. My legs were pretty tired from the day before, and the heat didn't help, so I kind of felt like crap for most of the ride. Still, it's a fun trail and I look forward to going back in better conditions. Needless to say, I was dripping by the time we got done, and the dive off the dock in my biking clothes was amazingly refreshing.

Lindsay's wedding was late that afternoon, so Mitch and I hurried to grab some lunch at the lake before returning home to get ready. I am proud to say that even in the heat, I still blew my hair dry and straightened it. I had a sexy black dress to wear and didn't want to half-do anything! Anyway, the wedding was nice but we didn't stay long. Mitch didn't really know anyone and the atmosphere was really strained between me and a friend who's suppose to be my best friend but seems to forget I exist many times. We were happy to be home by 10:30 pm, watching Braveheart in the nice, cool basement.

Monday: When 7:30 am rolled around, the last thing I wanted to do was go out biking again! But we had promised ourselves three days on the trails, so up I rolled. Mitch and my dad's friend, Dan, wanted to ride the Potowatami in Pinckney, but that's a pretty long, hard ride, so Dad and I left them to punish themselves while we rode the yellow trail back at Island Lake. Even in the heat, I felt great! I passed more people (two guys and two girls) and, to borrow my dad's words, my tank was not empty after the ride.

For the rest of the day, we lounged around at the lake. I have a bit of a sunburn to show for it, but it was great. Adrienne and Kyle came out, somewhat surprisingly, and it made me feel a bit better about the state of our friendship. We swam, took my cousin and her friend tubing, swam some more, ate great food, swan some more, and just had a great time with family and friends.

And now I'm back at work, but only 'til about 3 pm, when I'll leave for Alpena to present some scholarships to a couple of students. This week promises to be fun, with our first official beach volleyball game tomorrow evening and a great Friday night with Ray and Kristy. They're coming over for dinner and then we're all going to see the new X-Men movie.

Well, I guess I better get something accomplished this morning. I hope everyone out there had as much fun over the holiday weekend as we did!

Dreams

I have three recurring dreams I would like to share with you:

The first is that I can run forever. Sometimes I'm running from danger, but most times I'm just running, all the while thinking I should be getting tired - but I never do.

The second is that I can breathe under water. Usually in this dream I am swimming for whatever reason, and I'm underwater and know I can't make it to the surface in time. I take an experimental breath, and WOW! I can breathe without any trouble at all! That makes for some fun adventures.

The third - and best - is that I can fly. Not like Superman flying...more like I take a few steps, jump, and I get to soar around for a little while before I glide gently back to the ground. Each time I have that dream, I seem to be able to stay airborn for longer and longer. Usually I'm alone in this dream (sometimes people are watching me) but the last time I had it, Mitch was flying with me. In my last flying dream, I also told people that I used to have dreams about flying and couldn't believe it was real this time.

I don't attach any special meaning to these dreams - they are just really fun to have. If I could pick a superpower, it would come out of one of these three dreams, depending on the situation. Does anyone else have recurring dreams and if so, what are they?

Bitterness

Around Easter I posted the lyrics to a song called "The Story" by Caedmon's Call. Part of the song goes:

And the bitter man is angry,
Angry man just thinks he's right,
Too right to see mercy
When he's standing in its light.

Those lyrics have stuck with me since the first time I heard that song. I interact with so many bitter people, like coworkers and even some dear friends and family members, and their bitterness truly saddens me. They think there is so much wrong with the world, with their lives, whatever, that they just exude this constant sense of cynicism. They see all that is bad with the world: all the dishonesty, the cruelty, the lack of compassion. They fail to see the generousity, the kindness, and the beauty of our world and of the human race. In their own lives, they experience hardship and decide there cannot possibly be a God because bad things are happening to them and those they love. They can't see the little everyday miracles that can't possibly be explained by chance or coincidence - what sad way to go through life.

We all have our ups and downs, our days when the bad seems to overwhelm the good, but I don't know what to do with these constantly bitter people. All I can do, I guess, is to be visibly hopeful and optimistic, to see the God's grace and show it to others when I can, and to never let negativity weigh me down. They may call me naive for this hope and faith in the inherent goodness of life, but I'd rather live like this than be miserably blinded by bitterness.