2009 Sucks

Some things just aren't right. I don't know how many times I have to say this, God, but 24 is too young to die.

Read Brian's story HERE.

I didn't know Brian, although I did see him around campus. He was good friends with many of my good friends, and my heart hurts for them, Brian's family, and everybody else affected by this war. 

A Photo-Blog, from Chloe

Mom's been busy this week so I'm taking care of the weekly blog.

This week started off rough, as I got a bath. I am not happy about it.

So I got back at mom by knocking a glass off of the counter while she was gone. I wouldn't have been so harsh if it was glass, but since it was plastic, I thought it was okay.

Yup, broke it right in half.

I decided to round up the week by playing in an empty water bottle box.

I'm so stinkin' cute!

So that's our week! We love and miss you all, and mom promises to have something good to write about next week.

-Chloe-Bear

Yaaaaay Sar!

Excited news of the week (and life's been pretty blah, so bear with me here): I'm officially published! I told you guys earlier that we had submitted two articles and both were accepted, but on Monday, I found out something super cool...

I'm officially published! That's right folks, if you go into a search engine of academic journal articles,  and happen to search "Barratt Impulsiveness Scale," my article should come up. I included the first page below, but if you want to read the whole thing, let me know and I can email a PDF to you. I was responsible for all of section 4 and Table 5 (which is two pages...!). Now if I fail out of graduate school, at least I have one trophy of honor... ;)

More Death-Defying Acts

Spur of the moment, a friend and I decided to go skydiving. Why, you ask? Well for me, I've wanted to go for a while but never really had enough motivation, and after Christopher passed away, I'm trying to live for him. Enjoy the pictures!

Me, my harness, and Christopher on my wrist. ;)

The back of the harness says "Danger!" because I'm not strapped up to a parachute. You can see two of the four metal hooks that attach me to the instructor.

Me and Gary (the instructor) climbing into the plane. You can't really see the pilot, but he couldn't have been older than 20. Uhhh...!

Gary and I, just hanging out.

We're back on ground, and we're alive! Okay, I wasn't too worried about dying, but still, lots of fun!

And a video, with dialogue below since the wind is so loud!

Luke: Say something. No, say something, it's recording!Sar: Um, I'm glad I'm alive?Luke: How was your trip? Your first dive?Sar: It was fun! Hi Chris!Luke: That exciting?Gary: There was screaming, there was crying, there was "No, I don't wanna jump!"Sar: There was nothing of that sort!Luke: I think there was!Sar: He's lying! Luke: I think there was!Sar: He's a liar!Luke: Gary would never lie!Gary: She was awesome.Sar: I--I was excited, I was ready to go but we were only about halfway up [yes, I realize I wasn't wearing a watch but it seemed like the flight took forever] and I said, c'mon!Gary: Most people, when the door opens, they scream and she was like, "This is cool!"Sar: I don't think I said anything. [To Gary] You didn't sing! I was waiting for you to sing!Gary: Actually, I did, I actually sung the Flinstones song! [Camera cuts out.]
Random note, Gary mentioned that he usually sings the Flinstones song because it's usually the length of the freefall--about 35-45 seconds depending on the weight of the jumpers. Gary said that we probably fell 45 seconds--a full mile--before a minute and a half to two minutes of parachute. I told Gary before we jumped that I wanted to do fun things in the air and not just go straight down, so he spun me around in circles, during the freefall (which didn't really feel much different from going straight down) and then during the parachute ride, which was extremely fun. I'm definitely going again! (Mom, I'm pretty sure you can zoom in on all the pictures except the first one!)

WTF's up with bugs?!

Last year, cockroaches, this year...wasps?!

That's right, folks, yesterday I found two small wasp nests on my porch! Luckily I noticed Chloe getting excited while looking at something outside my porch door, so when I went out there to shake off my kitchen rug, I did a double take--big bees! After more internet research, I discovered that they were wasps, and that the easiest way to get rid of them was something I'm quite familiar with...bug spray! It was a sight to see,  me hiding behind my porch door armed with bug spray, the wasps buzzing around, pollinating (or whatever they do with their nests). Regardless, I did one at a time. First, I sprayed the wasp and nest that was directly above my porch, hanging off the porch light. I went a little overkill and probably drowned the thing instead of killing it with toxins, but forgive me, I was worried that it would fly inside and kill me while I slept. Later yesterday evening, I waited until I only saw two wasps at the other nest, and I sprayed some Raid straight onto that nest as well. This evening, I made sure there were no wasps around and then knocked them down with a broom. I know this sounds a little dangerous but I promise that I did plenty of research online about how to do this safely, plus there were only four wasps around total at a time.  

Wasp nest number two, in the corner by my porch door and wall of my kitchen (but outside, of course).

Wasp nest number one, on my porch light. If you look closely, you'll realize it's actually tiny in comparison to the porch light, so my task wasn't nearly as death-defying as it sounds. 

No worries, crisis averted, wasps dead, nests gone. Sarah: 10 pts, Wasps: 0 pts. 

In other news, I can usually gauge what Chloe is doing by noise--if it's too quiet, she's up to trouble, and if it's too loud, she's into trouble. Yesterday, I heard a weird noise that sounded like she was playing with something...lo and behold, she somehow got her paws on a tampon. Can you tell she's a woman?! ;) 

Chloe and the contraband. 

I also got a tattoo last weekend. It isn't fully healed quite yet and looks a bit dull, but here's a picture of it just to show you. 

Love love love.

And that's it with me...this week has proved to be pretty low key, which is just the way I like it. Love and miss you all.

Woah baby.

These past few weeks have been...well, rough to say the least. My heart still hurts (and understandably so), but I was able to head home for Christopher's memorial service and spend ample time with his (and my) family. It was completely needed. It was great to be able to hug the Hicks and let them know that I truly care and sympathize with them. Still, rough...

I apologize for my lack of updates, but you know, priorities... but now I'm back in good ol' Waco, TX and doing nothing but school, work, and reading for the next few weeks. That means that I have oodles of time to make sure that I'm getting in just enough trouble to blog about. :)

Other than that...I'll keep you updated. Here's a picture of the view from Christopher's grave site. I was sitting down while taking the picture so it looks a little short, but could you ask for a better view? He's looking over the Rotty shop (for those who don't know, Chris and his family own a custom motorcycle shop called Rottweiler Bikes) and can see Mt. Rainier and almost the Puget Sound (I don't think you can see it in the picture, but you can if you stand up).

For some reason, Blogger hates me and won't let me download pictures so you can click on them to make them bigger (I think it has something to do with my Mac, but I'm not sure). You're just going to have to trust me that you can see Mt. Rainier (it's right about the road on the right side, but it was a hazy day so you can't see it in the pictures). Regardless, it's gorgeous.

There were also a ton of signs up for Chris--makes me proud to have known such a wonderful, influential, inspirational man. Here's one of the three I saw:

So yeah. Live your life to the fullest, as you never know when you're going to take your last breath (or when God will take away someone you love). Make sure you tell whoever you love that you love them, much and often. And make sure to say a prayer for the Hicks family (De, Julie, Jon, Katie, and Vegas), because you can bet they need support right now.

Love you all, very much.

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