Dear friends and family,
Merry Christmas! Hoping everyone's 2011 was happy and healthy. I'm currently a junior at UNI. (An aside: I'm also currently watching The Lion King as I write this. A highlight of 2011 was seeing this marvelous film in theaters again.) My major is presently up in the air. And whether or not other people are okay with that, I am. I'm 21 and have all the time in the world to figure out what to do with my life.
My January and February were probably similar to most people's January and February: cold and uneventful. The only things I was involved with other than the typical school work were choir and UNI's 10 Minute Play Festival. I played a young girl in love with her boyfriend who's trying to justify leaving her for a job in Chicago. The script also describes her as having an obsession with trains... I didn't write it.
March took me to California over spring break, which was a BEAUTIFUL week. I swam in the ocean for the first time ever and can't believe it took me this long to do so! I mean, I traveled to Europe before spending time on a coast. Who does that?
April and May were fairly uneventful. I finished up my sophomore year at UNI and returned home for summer break. In June, I went on my first mission trip and had an incredible time. I went with my brother, dad, and several church members to West Virginia and helped fix up and paint a house for a lady recovering from cancer. We also had time to see a lot of things, such as Martha Stewart's prison. I caught a snake in the mountains where we stayed and let it slither over my face. For some reason my dad didn't think it was as cool as I did.
Also in June, I helped lead a day camp in McGregor through Camp EWALU. I had two wonderful co-counselors, but we somehow were still exhausted by the end of the day. EVERY day. This might have been because when EWALU assigned three of us to the job, 30 kids were signed up. When we showed up the first day there were 50. This meant I was watching a group of about 15 first and second graders by myself. In case you were wondering, the Quiet Game didn't work.
When I wasn't busy with camp or trips over the summer, I worked at the pharmacy in Elkader, as well as my dad's eye clinic. I also picked up random jobs here and there playing for churches and whatnot. It was a pretty good summer. Then again, it's always a good summer when Elkader doesn't flood.
Fall rolled around, and I went back to school. Like the past semester, I was involved with the Women's Chorus at UNI. I also picked up a job at the dining center, which I later (as in three days ago) discovered was the same job my older brother had when he was going to school at UNI. He thinks it's really cool and funny. I think it's terrible knowing my brother had to endure the same grueling boredom.
In September, my best friend told me me he wanted to date me (finally). I feel like a lot of people saw this one coming, but that's probably a good sign. Sam's a student at UNI with me so we have a lot of time to do things together, like write/record music, hang out with our WONDERFUL friends, and learn sign language. Except we really only memorized a handful of words before we kind of gave up on the sign language thing.
Random highlights I have yet to mention:
-Solving my first Sudoku ever
-Ziplining through the Appalachians
-Taking care of my fish and frog, Hitch and Voldemort respectively
-Realizing beef jerky is actually tasty
-Discovering the glory of Skyrim, the world's greatest video game...
...Which leads me to a random philosophy I'd like to share: I feel that video games have a place in a child's life. They teach decision making and encourage imagination, creativity, and perseverance. And, of course, they foster strong hand-eye coordination. I'm not saying they are the most important thing in the world (because they definitely aren't), but I'd much rather have my kids creating situations and solving problems than merely watching others do it on TV or in movies. I don't know how this is relevant, but just saying.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!! Hoping we'll all be around this time next year...you never know with that whole Myan calendar idea... (Big joke, right?)
All the love I can possibly give,
Sophia
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