The Underdog

Here's to the rebel
Here's to the underdog
Here's to the one person seeing color in the black and white world
Here's to the victim
Here's to the out outnumbered
The crushed, the defeated
The abused, the abandoned, the silenced
The crippled, the starved, the wounded

Here's to the protester
Here's to the one who didn't fit in
Here's to the one who was brave enough to speak
To think

Here's to the one who questioned
Here's to the one who was not appeased
Here's to the one who stood up
Here's to the one who was not afraid
Here's to the neglected
Here's to the imprisoned
The ignored, the punished, the tortured

Here's to the one (because sometimes one all there is)

Sometimes I think we forget that Jesus was not a celebrity. He did not wear a tie or have a traveling makeup and wardrobe team. He was not famous. He was not the voice of the majority. The things he said were not socially, religiously, or politically correct. He was uneducated and poor. People probably wondered why he didn't settle down, get a job and fit in. Jesus was a rebel. He has masses of enemies despising his every word, waiting for the chance to capture, arrest, torture ,and execute him. The government did not like what he had to say. The church did not like what he had to say.

Jesus was radical. Jesus was an underdog. Thousands saw him as an enemy, a threat.

And yet this man, hated and attacked, was the very Son of God On High. The very Prince of Peace. The only Savior of every man, woman and child. This man was Love incarnate and offered the most valuable and earth-shattering words ever said.

So here's to the rebel. Here's to the one who ought to be silenced, arrested, and killed. Here's to the one who sees truth walking down the road and follows, leaving behind everything he has.
Here's to the one who sticks out because there is something wrong and the world needs to change.

So here's to the outnumbered
Here's to the "crazy" one
Here's to the one without an army
Here's to the underdog.

My First Semester of College: Lessons Learned

Wow. I survived my first semester of college!

I just recently finished up a journal that I had been using for a few years. Before I put it on the shelf, I flipped through it to see what has happened in these seasons of life. One thing that I noticed was that between now and January 2011, my life has changed drastically! No longer am I in the cycle of 9^th, 10^th, 11^th, 12^th grade. No longer am I waking up at 5:30am. No longer am I seeing the same people every morning. No longer am I driving the same roads, stopping at the same stop signs and traffic lights. No longer am I sitting around the dinner table with people of different generations. Heck, no longer do I get to see babies…or dogs! (Often when I see large squirrels I reminisce about seeing dogs...sigh...)

But with the giving up of all these familiar things comes the taking up of new things. New people, a new bed, new food, a new routine, new habits, new flavors of gum you find stuck under your desk, new friends, and new experiences. And what with all these new things, decisions are made and lessons learned. So for the sake of lists (which are amazing) I put all (or most) of what I learned into a beautiful, beautiful list. You’re welcome.

1. (And this is the most important) Your first semester of college is not going to be magical. Wait a minute; don’t tell me “Carissa, I wasn’t expecting it to be magical. Actually, that word didn’t even come to mind…” Shhh, I know. But deep down a lot of us do have high expectations for college. Especially in high school, it seems like we’re bred to think of college as the trophy at the end of a race. In some sense it is because high school is long and unnecessarily hard and college is in fact much better than high school. But all the striving and longing about college can lead to fantasying. You picture your college-self completely put together, hip, and with-it. However, there are some difficult things about picking up your life and moving it somewhere else. Making friends can be awkward and sometimes you wish that these people would know all your inside jokes from back home. (I can’t even tell you how many times I had to end my sentences with the phrase “Uhhhh, it’s from The Office...”) But it’s okay. You will learn when the dining hall is (and isn’t) open. You will learn that you don’t have to ask the professor before you use the bathroom. You will find those people who will laugh even when you overuse the phrase “Smooth move, Ferguson.” Be patient and don’t be discouraged. It’s all worth it.

2. Don’t expect the party to land on your doorstep. Some amazing things have happened since those lugubrious beginning months. I think that I spent too long waiting and wishing for amazing things to happen while I was sitting in my dorm room. So to fix that, I joined a Bible study. I get to hang out with awesome upperclassmen in an awesome on-campus apartment with other awesome freshmen and talk about awesome, faith-challenging topics. I went to an off-campus dinner cooked by students where I met more people and had good conversation. I joined the Sustainability Club where I met ever more upperclassmen and get to talk about things that I care about like wholesome food. I joined the Public Relations Society on campus where I get to bond and collaborate with people in my major, who share talents similar to me. All of these things happened when I was out of my desk chair, shaking hands, and connecting with people over things we had in common. The party may not land on your doorstep, but it does exist. You just need to get up and go.

3. Be yourself. Okay, I just made the Cliché-O-Meter go from 1 to “It's nice.” But seriously. To start off, I admit to being a little weird. During the beginning of the semester I was a little frustrated with the lack of people I was able to connect with. Everyone was exceedingly kind but there was a dearth of “kindred spirits.” Being a reserved individual is certainly a disadvantage when it comes to friend-making. However, I have discovered that my innate characteristics have in fact been very useful. Toward the end of Fall semester, I was chosen for two roles on campus that have been incredible and so enlightening. While I was worrying about my personal life and not fitting in, others envisioned me serving in awesome opportunities. And somewhere in there, I did find wonderful friends here that I couldn't live without. I never would have seen those things coming. However, God does have a plan for you, just as you are.

4. This kind of goes along with #3 but be passionate. Let me tell you a sad story. Once upon a time there was a little girl. She loved to draw and color. Hours and hours were spent at the kitchen table with a plastic ice-cream tub full of crayons and a stack of printer paper. She doodled on every church bulletin, every homework sheet, every napkin. She won artist of the month in first grade. She was proud to be the best “draw-er” in the class. She took art classes in middle school and discovered the beauty of oil painting. But as she entered high school, she became focused on schoolwork. Every homework assignment needed to be perfect. Every test needed to be aced. There was no time for anything else because schoolwork was the most important use of her time. She filled up the extra time in her schedule with classes like microeconomics. Slowly, gave up art classes outside of school to focus on the burden of school, which was becoming heavier each year. The margins of her notebooks were void of doodles and miniature works of art. Sketching pencils were put in the backs of drawers and the wet paint on the lids of their tubes dried into crusty bits.

As you can imagine, that girl is me. Once I came to college, I realized that there were people who were doing that thing which I loved so dearly, art, everyday. In their classes they got to sketch figures onto big pieces of paper, glide color onto a canvas for homework, and find inspiration to complete assignments. They took art classes all through high school, with hours of studio time under their belts. And there I was, the one looking in the windows, armed only with the insufficient boast of being an elementary school prodigy.

Because of this, I never again want to discourage myself, or anyone I meet, from doing what they love. Do you love videogames? Play videogames! Become a programmer or a designer! Do you love sports? Play sports! Become a professional athlete or a sports team manager or a sports broadcaster! Do you love Twitter? Tweet! Go into social media! Do you love the outdoors? Go outdoors! Go into ecology or horticulture or sustainability! Do you love cooking? Cook! Become a chef or a nutritionist or write a book about food! Do you love to draw? Doodle! Become a graphic designer or an illustrator or sculptor! Do you love talking with people? Talk! Become a counselor or a therapist or a talk show host! Whatever you do, don’t do it because your parents have planned it since before your conception or because it’s the most practical or because it makes the most money. Do it because you love it.

So there you have it folks! I’ve learned a lot of little things along the way too, like not to turn on the AC when there’s ice inside it or not to attach your bulletin board to the wall with sticky-tack when it’s hanging in front of your head. But maybe you should learn those things for yourself. As for the big ones I mentioned, I hope that you listen to the words of Eleanor Roosevelt when she said:

"Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself."

~ Carissa

hello again... again

Carissa is back!

And this time she's a kollege kid.

-C

Music Update

Hello readers! It has been way too long. I'm happy to be back and blogging.

Currently, I have been a little more excited about music than I usually am. My life definitely comes in waves of excitement. While we all like to think that we are stable, unchanging beings this must be true of everyone. Change happens. I know this firsthand thanks to my nifty habit of journaling. I promise you that seven-year-old Carissa is not the same as thirteen-year-old Carissa who is not (thankfully) the same as eighteen-year-old Carissa.

One of my favorite hobbies is prowling around on the internet. Some might call it "wasting time" but that's hardly the case. My most recent prowling has revolved around local bands that I have discovered. It all began with my checking out who was going to play on May 5th at The Space along with Workin The Corner. One of the other bands was Sunday Is My Weekend. I was pretty impressed with them considering that they're in their senior year of high school, from CT, and just began in February. Here is a video of them singing acoustic just couple weeks ago.

The lead singer, Matt Carlson, is very talented and I quickly discovered his Twitter and YouTube channel. I am looking forward very, very much to the May 5th show and possibly meeting him and his band.

Through Sunday Is My Weekend, I found another band called Voted Most Random. The band is about one year old and the members all hail from Quinnipiac University. They have quite the success story, playing locally, winning the East Coast Indie Battle of the Bands and playing in the Warped Tour only after a matter of months as a band. I am hoping that they make it again this year because I'd love to see them live also. I can't get their song "Hot Mess" out of my head. I've listened to it 57 times in two days.

So that's my music update on the home-front. In the bigger scheme of things, I have branched out a bit musically. A few weeks ago I had a peculiar feeling as I flipped through all 144 Relient K songs in their special playlist. Occasionally I will skip a song if I'm just not feelin' it but, somehow, I just kept skipping each song that came up. It was probably one of the strangest experiences of my life. I don't get sick of RK; that is impossible. And yet the cycle of new songs coming up and me pressing "next" continued. Now I don't know what other people's listening habits are like but I know that before my iPod fritzed out last Fall, I had listened to "Forget and Not Slow Down" over 2,000 times. Maybe it was time to move forward.

So I began with something kind of scary: Pandora. That website where you type in your favorite artists and then new ones pop up. Ugh. But something had to be done. Here are a few of my surprising and favorite finds:

Eisley- . If Regina Spektor's voice had a child with the instrumentals of Paramore, you would have Eisley. PureVolume has the quintet listed as indie/pop/rock but I think indie rock does it more justice. Another neat twist is that four of the members are siblings and the fifth is a cousin of theirs. Their latest record, "The Valley", was released in March of this year and the sound is just as fresh. These guys are also pretty profesh, touring with the likes of Mutemath, Coldplay, The Fray and Taking Back Sunday. (Song to listen to: The Valley)

Telekinesis- This guy from Seattle prides himself on being a one-man band and primarily a drummer (as opposed to the cliche, guitar-wielding soloist). As you could imagine, the music is "minimalist" with no nonsense. I particularly enjoy his almost English sound and calm vibe. His lyrics are simple and almost forgettable while the instrumentals can speak for themselves. (Song to listen to: Dirty Thing)





Kings of Convenience- As much as I imagined that I never would, these guys have really made me love folk. From faraway Norway, this duo is comprised of one steel-string, one nylon and two lightly-accented voices. The result is soothing and classic. I could listen to their distinctly non-American sound anytime. (Song to listen to: Me In You)





So that's it for now folks. I am planning to keep writing and staying in touch. I have plenty more to share and I will be sure to update soon. Until next time...

~Carissa

hello again

I'm back!

(blog posts will ensue...)

After VBM

Reader,

66.67% of my last blog was false.

Suffield did not receive any snow this weekend and, more importantly, there were not any Hood ice cream cups OR wayward wooden spoons at the volleyball marathon. Eeep! I'm sorry for creating any false hope :(

But the other 33.33% was correct!

The volleyball marathon occurred and it was a blast. I did a ton of work with sarah v. for scheduling, organizing and marking who won which games. I'm proud of us :) Then I reffed one game at 1:40am then chilled the rest of the time! It's a little foggy in my mind but I enjoyed every minute of it.

I also learned that different things happen to people under serious lack of sleep. Here are a few different specimens I encountered:

1. The Sleepy Bear. The Sleepy Bear simply slows down into hibernation mode when sleep is scarce. Common features of the Sleepy Bear include: Yawning, Droopy Eyes, Sudden jerks of the head to stay awake, and Lack of speech. NOTE: The more advanced specimen of the Sleepy Bear simply falls asleep before the semi-final rounds of volleyball.


2. The Crazy Kook. The Kook is best known for acting completely insane under lack of sleep. One might even question whether the Kook would pass a drug test if administered to them. The Kook is often spotted laughing hysterically, running around the Commons multiple times chasing after nothing at all, telling nonsensical stories (or possibly a most protected secret), singing, dancing, and playing the same guitar chords over and over while making up lyrics about Stop and Shop. Best protection against the Kook: A riddle with no answer. This will use their strange over-enthusiasm and complete lack of brain functioning to keep them puzzling for hours.


3. The Grump. My least favorite of the three, the Grump does not take lack of sleep well. At all. Unlike the passive Sleepy Bear of the confounding Kook, the Grump gives off strong negative vibes and affects you adversely. It is hard to say who will become a Grump under the moonlight but you will know who they are once the clock chimes midnight. The Grump is seen most often sporting a heavy scowl, folded arms and spreading many harsh words. Best protection against the Grump is simple: Utter ignorance. Avoid the Grump at all costs and don't even begin small talk. Chats about sports and weather turn to rain and loss when shared with the Grump. A simple look over at a Grump could turn to a rumor about your murder plots in mere minutes. Also beware the Grump the next day because, until they receive their sleep, their grumpiness festers perpetually. Fortunately a good night sleep is the best and only necessary remedy for the Grump.

So enjoy the rest of your Sunday, reader, and I will be writing again soon as long as I have something I should be doing insted :)

P.S. If you are looking for me at next year's VBM, I will be the girl inside the blackbear sleeping bag.

~Carissa

Snow, Volleyball and Wooden Spoons

I have a reader! I haven't asked him what he thinks of this but I'm glad that I'm not blogging to empty space.

I was about to post about the fact that I'm procrastinating about another assignment (this time it's history) but I realized that I should not make that into a habit because it's always true. But if you have any advice about acing a Cold War essay without studying for it: it would be gladly welcomed.

Nothing else it new except the sun is gone and you know how I feel about that. It's supposed to snow tomorrow too which is absolutely terrible.

Volleyball Marathon is also tomorrow. I am on NHS so I'm looking forward to staying up all night and doing basically nothing except hand out little wooden spoons which fell off the Hood ice cream cups to kids when they complain about it. I'm also super bummed because I'm not on a volleyball team. I was on the school volleyball team last fall so I consider myself pretty decent. I also love playing it, which is a rare thing because normally me and sports are like oil and water. Both teams I wanted to be on fell through. Plus, I made like nine team shirt designs on customink.com and they were all awesome. Next year... next year.

So I may not be blogging this weekend at all because of lack of sleep and a backup of homework. Between now and the next time, enjoy the weekend my friend!

-Carissa