Thoughts on Life

A thought simply literally fell into my mind. I have solved the world's problems.
If I could simply earn a million dollars I would be perfectly well off.

I'm serious.
Stop laughing.

"But Aiden," you say, "Where are you going to get a million dollars?"
"Aha," I answer, "I challenge a million people of the Internet to each give me a dollar."

It's foolproof.

Seriously. (If you want to donate any money to me, please, go give it to a charity.)

I just made a budget for myself. A very adult thing if I do say so myself. It made me very frightened. I realized that if I could make a lot of money a lot of my fears and doubts would disappear. But then I remembered, they wouldn't be entirely gone. My fears and doubts would simply materialize into different forms.

I'll be the first to admit that money would help me get a lot of things I want. But I'll also admit that money will not help me become the person I need to be.

There is practice, daily, hard practice.

It's going to take time. I'm excited, are you?

Aiden

Sicking

So there I was watching AOS episode 1, ready to give my opinion of it . . . and I was sick. It was horrible, I didn't even finish the episode, I simply wasn't feeling up to it.

This is my apology post for not having two posts this week.
But . . .

I just realized that since i am writing this Friday night, I still have time to post something also for tomorrow.

Feel free to congratulate me.

In short, the posts will continue to come, but I'm sicking. The whole house is. Which is me. :)

Did you have a good New Years?

I stayed inside and slept on my couch. It was wonderful.

Tot ziens!

Aiden

Pivitol Moments

I was reading a list of questions to ask your significant other (or yourself) to get to know each other better. As I was reading, and bemoaning my single status, I came across a question that stopped me in my tracks.

"What was the earliest defining moment of your childhood."

I have memories from when I was 2 or 3 years old, but since I was eating ice cream I can't really call those defining moments. Unless we're talking about my ice cream obsession. Then go for it.

Still, I was flipping through my memories like I was in my mind house.

                                                                       GIF Location

Never did I find one (a memory that is) from when I was younger than 10. But I think I found my defining moment.

Background information: I wanted to be an astronaut.  I was going to travel to the Sun. My mom always told me that I could be anything I wanted to be. From a very young age I never suffered from low self esteem. If I wanted to go to the sun I could and I would.

Fast forward to eighth grade guys. I was thirteen and we had to write an essay in English about our biggest dream. Was I still planning on going to the sun? You can bet on it.

Or at least I was until I spoke with my teacher. I raised my hand and asked about going to the sun.

Me: What if our dream isn't realistic right now?
Teacher: What is your dream?
Me:  I want to travel to the sun.
Teacher: Choose something else, you can't do that. No one can go to the sun.
Me: What do you think people said one hundred years ago about people wanting to explore the moon?
Teacher: Choose another topic.


I didn't say anything. I was so embarrassed. But I was also very angry. She was telling me I couldn't have my dream simply because it wasn't realistic at that moment.

                                     (Sorry, I only found this on Pinterest, no location today)

My mom was so furious I think she debated calling the principle. But I knew that I would prove my eighth grade English teacher wrong. And while I might not get to the sun, I would make my dreams come true.

That one moment has made me who I am today.
Absolutely crazy. :)

No, but really, I will reach my dreams, and if not . . . . who am I kidding, I will totally reach them.

Live your dreams. It's totally worth it!

Until next time,

Aiden

I'm back . . .

Hello you wonderful people of the great country of Internet,

It's Aiden. :) Yes, I'm back from my mission. It was quite literally the best 18 months of my life. I am sorry I haven't written sooner, but I was working on adjusting being home. It is stressful. Still, I have been having the time of my life. I am so excited to be where I am today.
I have a couple of updates for what this blog will be used for.
I actually have a couple of ideas going around in my head. If (of course) Jassy or Arika have any additional changes or ideas they are free to do them as well. This was always meant to be a blog for all three of us to use so we could stay in contact.
Here it goes: I would like to post on this blog at least 2 times a week. Woohoo! A goal!  I will be doing three different series. 1) Writing advice (which you don't have to take since these rules work for me, but they might also work for you). 2) Life questions and answers. 3) A weekly review of the new hit series Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 

I'm excited to start this. The reasons behind these series are as follows.
1. I'm a writer (no, I'm not published, but I write everyday and I think that counts).   I have written several books and it's something I enjoy. I have found a cornucopia of rules that help me. Does that mean I don't break them constantly? No, but I try to stick to these guidelines as much as possible. Writing is my passion. I think it always will be.

2. I found a site with 70 questions you should ask your significant other before getting married. I read through them and found that I was learning so much about myself. So, I figured, why not put my answers on the Internet? haha. I would invite each of you to answer these questions yourself and who knows, you'll probably figure out some interesting things!

3. When I came home from my mission, my new mission immediately became catching up on every Netflix episode I'd missed. That's how I found Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.  I am the kind of person who thoroughly enjoys Crime Scene Investigation related things. (Hello, my minor is Criminology) But I equally love superheroes. Perfect match you say? I KNOW! I will be putting up my reviews, but also my reactions to everything. You might even see a video from time to time.

I hope you will enjoy reading these posts as much as I will enjoy writing them. I have missed writing on this blog so I'm excited to get going!

Have a great Sunday. I'll see you soon.

Aiden

Long time no blog.

Hey ya'll
    Wow its been a long time since I've posted on this blog. Well let's see what to say. For the past 18 months I have been attending my college. I switched my major to Exercise Physiology. I did this so I could become a Physical Therapist. I love helping people, and I hate seeing people sick or injured. I decided becoming a Physical Therapist is a way I can help. It also helps that it pays well.
     Anywho, I have been living with these great girls, and have developed some really great friendships over the years. Sadly I have become distant with a few people as well. I need to fix that. I have had a pretty boring life though. It has mainly consisted of school and work. I used to work early morning custodial at my college. I had tto be in to work by 4AM! It was killer. I worked that job for anout a year and a half before getting a new job this semester. I now work at chik-fil-a. So I can have 8 hours of sleep now! But sadly I have no weekends. Ahh the sacrifices we must give in order to make money to live.
      So that pretty much sums up my life in the past year and a half. I hope I will write on here again soon.

Jassy

See You in Eighteen Months

This is a little crazy. It is my last day as a regular person. I am more than a little apprehensive, but I am also so very excited about this wonderful adventure to come.

I am terribly sad to be leaving my sisters, but I know that in the end, it will all go by so quickly. I don't really have a whole lot to say, except that I know I have been called to serve the Lord and I have a job to do. I hope I am able to do it admirable.

Jazzy and Arika? I count on you to write on this blog since I won't be here.

I miss you both so much already.  I love you!

Aiden

Wow, it's been a month...

Dang, it's been a while.
So, I passed my midterms, and I had some cosmic tests thrown in there too. I thought I had passed them with flying colors, but it looks like one is still being graded.
Ah well, anyway, quite a bit has happened in the past month: I'm a gleek, whovian, potterhead, avatard, comic geek and overall nerd. And I LOVE IT! This past weekend, I went to my very first comic book convention with some friends, and dear lord did we have a blast! I got my very first action figure as well, to match my first comic books. I had a fantastic time dressing up and taking pictures with everyone else who dressed up, and then I even got to ask Matt Bomer and Molly Quinn (White Collar and Castle, respectively) who their favorite superheroes are (Matt's is either Superman or Nightwing and Molly's is either Supergirl or Poison Ivy). I think I made off quite well.
I've also started building a steampunk character for next time. She's a mutt, born in the Water Lands from a father of Fire. She's brilliant though--she can fly nearly anything she puts her hands on. The air corpsmen she works with know her value first hand, and treat her accordingly; it's only the new guys that look down on her because of her status as a 'mutt' (It's ok though, because if any of her corpsmen buddies heard one mouth off to her, the newbies will learn quickly). She's also a fledgling dragon rider. A crash landing left her unconsious in a nest, and when she woke, a hatchling was peering at her from the remnants of its egg. When she sat up, the little creature jumped to her shoulder and happily sits there, as it's quite unsteady on its cloven feet. She named it "Tiny", and he sticks to her side as loyally as a pup. She is more than happy to have him, and they enjoy flying together.
And that's what I have so far. I'll be building her to look like a combination of an engineer and a pilot. I can't wait to get started :)
So yea, that's all for now.
TTFN!
Arika

Hey look, it's Arika!

Well this is a day late, but I was much busier than I anticipated this weekend. I had to finish quite a bit of homework, but now that it's all settled, I have thirty minutes to relax before starting again. And yet, I'm not regretting my choice to take 8 classes (yet, anyway). So far, they're all pretty straight forward.
In other news, I've hit a rather euphoric period. I'm not completely better yet: I still have my bad days where I just want everything to go away, and I feel like bursting into tears, but their occurrences are becoming farther and farther apart. So, as of right now things are looking up.
Recently, I've been exploring the different kinds of love. There are so many different shades of love, but most people immediately think of one--romantic love. The problem is, I'm not in romantic love with anyone right now (I might be in romantic like, and maybe romantic lust, but certainly not romantic love). And yet, the only three words on my lips currently are "I love you." I want to say it, and I want the person I say it to to understand what I mean. Because I love the people in my life very much, and I want to make sure they understand.
But I don't want anyone to misinterpret my words. That is my number one pet peeve; my friends can attest to how angry I get when people don't fully listen to me. So even though I am dying to explain with only three little words how much someone means to me, I keep my mouth shut.
I don't want anyone to be scared off by my words.
Arika

Different Shades of Love

Yesterday was a very good day. I woke up feeling so very content, and I loved the feeling. I realized that I am in the exact place in my life that I want to be. I am writing books, something I enjoy immensely. I have great friends who i know will always be by my side.

It seemed that Arika was having the same feeling of contentment that I was. She texted to let me know that she loved me. It was nice to hear and remember that we will always be there for each other. The conversation went something like this:

Arika: We just connect on several different levels. :) It's like how we seem to have similar moods.
Aiden: In other words we were bound to meet up. It was always fate, like Maddie and Julie!! Oh gosh, I just tear up thinking about that *book.
Arika: Oh my goodness, that book made me cry so hard! But yeah, I think it was meant to be. Something you just can't question, and I think meeting you was one of them. :)
Aiden: ......there are no other words except: "It's like being in love, finding your best friend."
Arika: That is precisely the feeling. When i read that line, I remember thinking 'oh my gosh, that's it'.


I can't really describe how good I felt just talking with my best friend. I think I can safetly say I have three best friends. They are ones that will never go away. Personally, I don't count my sisters or brothers in this list mainly because I think the idea that we would be best friends goes without saying.

My three best friends include Jassy, Arika, and my best friend from Kindergarten. We became friends on the first day of school and haven't stopped since.

I know that when I'm ready to make the jump to get married, my future husband will have to be my best friend. He and I will have to have the same type of relationship I have with my three best friends. There is nothing we wouldn't do for each other, and all the trials we would go through together would just make us stronger. 

It's nice to have friends like that. I am grateful to know that with everything changing in my life, they will always be there, constant in my life.

I love you guys!

Have a great weekend everybody.

Aiden

*the book in question is Code Name Verity. If you have a day or two, read it. You will not regret it. It shows the depth of true friendship.

I wrote another book.

Okay, so maybe this is considered bragging, but since nobody reads this blog anyways besides Jassy and Arika, I don't feel too bad.

Anyway, I totally wrote another book this past week. In other words, I started this book on January 21 and ended it today January 27, 2013.  I wrote 55,429 words in 7 days. That is an average of *Pulls up nifty laptop calculator* 7,918 words a day. Not that i followed that average.

Some days it was only 5,000, and other days it was 13,000. For example, today I wrote 12,113. That was because on Friday i didn't write anything. I felt bad, but not too bad because i was sick. Heck, I am still sick.

But, I still wrote 55,000+ words. So, think on that writer's block.

In truth, I honestly don't believe in writer's block. I believe in "I'm a lazy person" block, and "I wrote something in the wrong way and now my imaginary friends won't let me forget it" block. But never do I think for one second that a true writer can sit down at the computer and not know what they need to type.

I used to be very lazy. Heck, I'm still very lazy, but i do know that I have a story to write and I have to get past being lazy.

How do I do it?  Well, for one thing, I make sure that I can acutlaly write as much as I want to during the day. In order to write a book a week, I told myself that I had to write 3 chapters (from 2,500-3,000 words each) every day. (My novels tend to be about 50,000-55,000 words long)

When I was really into writing during my Senior year, I found that I could easily write two chapters a day. Well, if I could write two chapters a day, surely three wouldn't be so bad. Think again.

It was hard. But, I honestly enjoyed every minute of it. I feel like my writing has gotten so much better. That is mainly because I realized that if I was going to write three chapters, I had to write what really mattered. I had to set times for me to write. I would spend anywhere from 35-95 minutes on each chapter. Eventually, I was able to be extremely nitpicky about my writing time.

My mom was (and is) amazing. She knows how much I love writing, and because of that, she put off asking me for help with everything she needed for hours at a time.

I guess my point is,
1. Know what you want to do and do it.
2. Literally, stick your but in a chair and just do it.
3. Find people (whether family or firends) who are supportive of you and are willing to help you achieve your goals.
4. Have a party every time you are able to accomplish a goal. 

:D

I hope you have a great week.  I am going to go start writing the last book in a  SERIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I really want to sleep so my throat will get better.

Aiden

Theme Song!!

I found my theme song today!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eI0gnrmuPJk
Here is the link. Listen and tell me what you think.

First week of school...DONE

So I am done with my first week of school, and starting my second. I LOVE IT!!!! I am taking so many fun classes like ballet, archery, and wilderness first aid. I feel like I could go and live in the forest if the world ever started ending.

Well this will also be an interesting year because it is so COLD!!
(I finally understand the expression "so cold your nose hairs will freeze")
For the past few days here, we have easily gotten below 0. I think the coldest it got was -18 on Sunday, and I had to walk through that in a DRESS!!!!! I must be crazy.

Anyway because it is so cold, it snows almost everyday. So we will get theses lovely piles of snow in the middle of the road. I have had to twice help push and drive a car to get it out of the snow. The first was on Friday night with two of my friends from back home. We were going to the cheap theature to watch the new James Bond movie, and got stuck as we were turning into the parking lot. It was not fun as we were in the middle of the road. Luckily as Kevin and Ian pushed while I drove, we had some people get out of their vehicles and help.

The second time was when we were on our way back from picking up groceries and the car in front of us got stuck on the hill leading to the parking lot. We got out to help him, but it was below 0 and snowing. It was so cold!!!

I woke up this morning to find out the power was out too. It was below 0 outside, but luckily our apt was retaining the heat very well. Classes got cancelled until 11:30am. It was nice.

Well that's all I have for now. Until next time! :)

The end of an era

Ah New Years! A time of rebirth and new beginnings.
Well I had the time of my life in the Big Apple over New Years, and several thing have happened in the weeks following.
1. Well, I don't want to get ahead of myself, but I met someone. He's perfect in so many ways, and I think he's definitely worth pursuing.
2. Due to conflicts with school, I had to resign from my job. I thought for sure I wouldn't be doing that for another 8 months, but, well, it happened now, so now I am free from one prison and being sent into four months of solitary, haha!
3. But every dark cloud has a silver lining! Now that I'm not working in customer service, I don't have to worry about my appearance offending anybody! So now, I have blue streaks in my hair!!!!

If this is anything to go by, I'm hoping that 2013 will be much better than 2012 :)

Arika

2013 . . . . Good To Meet Ya

Hello 2013,

We meet, well not again, since that would silly, but rather, I feel like I've known you my entire life.  Although I am excited to see you and live through you, but at the same time, I am a little apprehensive.  Will every Friday the 13th be extra unlucky?
I just checked, there are two Friday the 13ths (September and December).  I suppose it's lucky that we don't have a thirteenth month right? 
I will admit that I'm sad to leave the days of 11/11/11 or 12/12/12.  But then again, we will have 11/12/13 14:15::16.  In case you couldn't guess, the exact time of that is 2:15::16 (in the afternoon). 

You could say that I'm ready for you. This is the year that I really become the person, not only that I'm meant to become, but the one that I want to become.  I'm ready!  Bring it on!

Aiden

I Just Don't Know

      It's the end of the year.  It's time to begin again, start anew.  And yet, someone lost their life recently.  I can't say I really knew him.  He and I worked together in a school play during High School, and I never really got to know him.  I never needed to.  And now he's gone. 
     Our lives can change in the blink of an eye.  He was going to college, or at least soon would be, working on his acting ability he had discovered in High School. And yet, he's gone. 
     I honestly can't say that I'm crying over everything simply because I didn't know him that well, but still, I feel strangely sad. 
     Sometimes there is nothing to do with your time but waste it, simply because there is nothing that can get you out of the mood you are in.  However, while many people think it is horrible, it is okay to take some time for yourself.

I hope you have a great day and a Happy New Year!

Aiden

My Mission Call Is: .......................

So, I'm not exactly sure if many people understand how incredibly important getting a mission call is for us LDS types.  We get out families together and have a dozen phones ready on speedial to ensure that no one is left out from knowing where the future missionary is going.  So . . . in other words, I got my mission call today, and it was not at all where i was expecting.

The letter read thus:

"Dear Sister Rosenlof,
You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the Belgium/Netherlands Mission. You will prepare to preach the gospel in the Dutch Language."

Can you guys believe it?  I certainly can't.  all I can say is that I'm so excited about it all that I can hardly contain my excitment.  Ahhh!  So excited.  I leave in May, so I still have a little bit of time before I have to leave, but let me tell you, I am ready to serve, and know this call was made just for me!

Have a great day!  Merry Christmas.

Aiden

It's over . . . .it's done!

I am officially done... This is Lord of the Rings' version of what happens to students when they're done with finals.

This is mine:

Regardless, it's nice to be home and everything.  My mom, sister, and I are heading to some eye appointments and the beginnings of some shopping (kill me now!).  It will be a long day, but a good one simply because I will be with two of my favorite people in the whole wide world!! :) 

Have a great day, I know I will.

Aiden

Finals

I sort of am feeling slightly overwhelmed simply because finals are next week. Luckily I will be able to work on some of the finals over this weekend.  anyway, so if I die, I will this blog to Jassy and Arika.  Good day to you.  See you on the other side!

Aiden

Trust

Ach! Two posts in one night! Oh well, it's an epiphany moment.
So, my mom and I were talking about my current...erm..."relationship" and we came to an interesting realization.
It is unbelievably hard for me to truly trust anyone.
Don't get me wrong: I trust my friends, especially my sisters, but, well, let me put it this way. Whenever, in my past, the idea of doing trust falls came up, I would try it. The problem is, it doesn't matter if I know, without a doubt, that the person behind me will catch me, I cannot let myself fall, at least not all the way. I start to fall, but I catch myself before my partner has a chance to catch me. I interpret this only one way: when it comes down to it, the only person I trust to catch me is myself.
That is so sad.
I know all of my friends have my back; I know that they will try their damnedest to catch me when I fall. But how can they if I don't let them?
Well, the other night, the same night as the "huge" change I alluded to earlier, there came a moment when the person I was with put a makeshift blindfold on me. That scared the hell out of me--I had no clue what he was going to do, and I was suddenly terribly worried that I had made the wrong choice and that I was going to make a fool of myself, or worse. But my companion was suddenly so gentle, as if he knew what I was feeling, and then I didn't care anymore. I trusted that he would listen to me, and that he was more concerned for me than himself.
It was just one of the lessons I opened myself to that night (trust me, there were several). He's a good guy, and a great friend; I seriously underestimated him. He's not the "one", I don't expect him to be. But I know he is the guy who's gonna push me towards where I need to be. Whether he means to or not, he's teaching me, one thing at a time.
Maybe by the end, I'll be able to let someone catch me before I catch myself.

Arika

Perspective

Ok, soooo that Florence and the machine story is taking longer than I expected, so congrats Aiden on being the only one to get it up in a timely manner! Haha!
Well, like aiden said, it's amazing how quickly a little detail in your life can change. Over the weekend, one small change took place, a change that most people regard as a defining characteristic. People are judged over this tiny detail every day; sometimes it makes or breaks lives.
But I'm here to tell you, it's not nearly that climactic of a change. It's a big step sure, and one that will take some serious deciding to come to, but, well, truth be told, I kinda figured it was going to happen sometime in this year a few months ago. So I was ready when the moment came, and I knew there was no other answer. It's probably a bit surprising to some people who know me, considering my normal mindset, and my mindset through high school, but now, it seems like there was never any question. And I'm not any different: there was no huge, unbelievable moment where I thought my life had changed forever. It's as if nothing actually happened.
Don't get me wrong, the experience was breath-taking, and I'm certainly never gonna forget it, but I'm not different, nothing changed.
Nothing bad is gonna happen, even when I made this "huge" decision, everything was perfectly ok. Suddenly, every other change I know is gonna happen doesn't seem nearly as big.
I'm ok


Arika