Financial (and Spiritual) Aid

Allow me to tell you a story about something that happened a couple of weeks ago.

So, I'm kind of an idiot. Not sure if you have gathered that already (if you know me well at all, then you most likely will agree with me). Well, one of my proudest moments of idioticy (idiocy? idioticness?) occurred earlier this month when I received an email from my school with the subject heading "Financial Aid-IMPORTANT MESSAGE."

Honestly I wasn't fazed in the least when I saw it on my university email page. They literally send me at least five emails a day telling me that my tuition payment is due from the day that the payment shows up on my bill until the day that I pay it. So I figured it was just another one of those.

When I clicked on it though, I knew something was wrong when the majority of the email was in bold-text red. I started to worry a bit. Normally bold-text equals important and red-text equals bad, so bold-text plus red-letter must equal REALLY BAD.

Well, I wasn't wrong. Basically the content of the email stated that they had failed to receive a financial aid application and there wasn't enough time to apply before tuition was due. So that meant that I would have to pay everything out of pocket or else my classes would all be dropped.

So yeah. There I was, sitting at my desk, staring wide-eyed at my laptop screen, chest tightening, heartbeat quickening...

I knew very well how much tuition was going to be. I had been checking my bill pretty regularly on my school's page to find out when financial aid was going to go through, not even thinking that I needed to actually apply for it first.

It was a big amount. Because of some special classes I have to take for my degree, the expenses were higher than usual. Basically the total we would have to pay was around 3 times the amount we normally pay per semester.

I think I panicked for a little while. I knew I would have to tell my parents. I knew they wouldn't be happy. We had been having a lot of car troubles and air conditioning troubles recently (among other things), so another big expense would be most unwelcome at that point in time.

That night I told mom, then I decided to let her tell dad (I'm not a coward, I just wanted to stay alive a little longer).

Truthfully they were pretty upset with me. But they had a good reason to be. I let time slip by and I didn't remember to put in the application (which I always do every summer before the Fall semester. Why did I not remember this? I still have no idea.). Anyways, my mom told me to call the people at the financial aid office to see what options I had.

I thought, Great, that'll be a fun conversation...

FA: "Financial aid office, how can I help you?"

Me: "Yes, I forgot to apply for financial aid, so I was wondering if there was any other way I could get it for the fall."
FA: "Oh, well I'm afraid there isn't."
Me: "Oh."
FA: "I'm sorry about that. It's okay though. A lot of freshmen usually forget to put in the application their first year."
Me: "Actually I'm a senior."
FA: "..."
Me: "Hello?"
FA: "You're an idiot." *hangs up*

Okay, okay, that's not exactly how the conversation went, but the guy did ask me if I was a freshman, and I had to tell him I was a senior. I'm just glad it was a phone conversation.

So I asked the guy a few questions and he told me that I could put in an application and then wait to pay my tuition until after financial aid goes through. That meant that my classes would all be dropped, but I would just have to risk it and re-register for them.

At this point I was thinking, Okay, this'll be fine. We're good. All is good. I put in my application immediately and waited. I was still worried that in the process of dropping classes they would get filled up and I wouldn't be able to re-register for some of them. If that happened, I would have to take summer classes again or wait another semester to graduate. Either way, that would mean more tuition to pay in the future.

And so I prayed. There was nothing else I could do, so I lifted it up to the One who is all-powerful and has the ability to do all things. I asked Him that by some miracle my application would be processed quickly and that financial aid would go through before the payment deadline.

Before I continue this story, I just want to make clear that I looked up the amount of time it takes to process a financial aid application and send it to a school for it to protect Fall semester classes. Normally it takes 2-3 weeks. I tried checking in lots of other places (like Yahoo! Answers) to see if anyone had a different experience, but they all said the same thing.

So, 2-3 weeks for financial aid to go through. My tuition payment was due in a little over 1 week. It just wasn't going to happen.

Resume story.

I got an email the very next day saying that my application had been processed. I was a little stunned, but then I saw that lots of people said that the processing was usually finished quickly. It just took a long time for the school to receive it and cover the tuition.

I literally checked every single day after that to see if my student bill total had changed to reflect the financial aid amount, but it hadn't.

That is, until I went to Starbuck's one afternoon to work on my homework for my summer class. I sat down at a small table against the wall, opened up my laptop, went to the student bill page, and there it was. All of my financial aid had gone through and the total left to pay was the normal amount we always pay.

I was shocked, excited, grateful, and I had to call my mom immediately to tell her. The process that was supposed to take 2-3 weeks was fully completed in 5 days.

God is good. He is gracious and faithful far beyond what I deserve time and time again. I had tears in my eyes as I prayed and thanked Him for being so good to me through my lack of responsibility and my lack of faith.

I write this not just to share a story or to entertain you, dear readers. I write this to remind you that we serve a wonderful God who is mighty and able to do far beyond what we ask or think. All glory be to Him.

End of story.

Downton Abbey strikes again...

Several of you are aware of my particular fondness of Julian Fellowes' period drama "Downton Abbey."

Well, it's back for a fourth season, so emotions will be running high for the next 3 months or so.

Bear with me, folks.

To clarify, there will be absolutely nothing spoiled for anyone. I am aware that it doesn't air in the US until January, but it's currently being aired in the UK (and let's face it...the really desperate fans watch it as soon as it airs, no matter which country they live in. Where there's a will there's a way, I always say.)

Anyways, I will never provide details.
But there's no possible way to keep such intense emotions bottled inside one human soul, sooooo....

In short, here's my reaction to the most recent episode in the form of a GIF:

There, I did it. I released a little bit of my frustration with absolutely no spoilers. I'll just say that I was a little bit very extremely angered by what occurred in the episode.

I shall leave you with an open letter to a particular character who shall remain nameless....

(Come on, at least I was vague...)

Awesome Vocal Impressions

I saw this video on facebook a couple weeks back and thought it was fantastic. So, here I am, sharing it with all of you on my blog. :) Enjoy!

(This lady is a broadway singer named Christina Bianco, by the way. Her impressions of Zooey Deschanel and Julie Andrews are my favorites. :)

Healthy Dessert, Lychee Nuts, and Lizzie Bennet

Right now I'm eating gluten-free cookies and 100% organic (like grass-fed cows and all that) chocolate milk for dessert. Super healthy diet FTDUBS.

Which brings me to my next bit of exciting news...I'm rewatching the Lizzie Bennet Diaries!

What are the Lizzie Bennet Diaries, you may ask? Well, first of all it's a shame that you would have to ask such a question...
Secondly, they are a web video series which puts a modern spin on the classic story of Pride and Prejudice. The entire story is on Youtube...soooo go take a gander.

WARNING: The Lizzie Bennet Diaries consist of one hundred 3-5 minute videos. You WILL catch yourself saying, "I'll just watch one more..."

Seriously though, it's amazing how accurately they portray the original story and characters while still maintaining the "this could actually happen in today's world" feel. The creators are geniuses.
(also, Lydia Bennet says "FTDUBS" a lot in the series. So that's why it sorta popped up out of the blue at the start of this post...)

Okay. So back to the dessert. The reason I'm eating such healthy stuff is because my siblings and I went to the Dekalb Farmers Market in Decatur today. That's where we bought the organic chocolate milk and we also got....

LYCHEE NUTS! :D

As in, like....

MOMO! AVATAR! Ringing any bells? (it's only my favorite TV series of all time...)

Anyway, this is what they look like in real life:

They taste pretty good. The white part is what we eat. It's really juicy and sweet, it just doesn't have a whole lot of flavor. It's kinda watery. That's okay though because it still makes me happy that we got to eat fruit from the Avatar world. :D

So that's all. Bye.

April 4, 2014

It's the most anticipated date of the upcoming year. It's when Captain America 2 comes out. 

That is all I have to say.

A Fond Farewell

Last month marked my 3-year anniversary working at Chick-fil-a. It's amazing how fast 3 years can fly by. Three years ago I was a baby 16-year-old who had just graduated high school. I had no idea what I was going to do with my life. I didn't really like to think about the future, I just wanted to live for the present. I was starting to get all of this responsibility and adult stuff thrown at me, and I didn't like it one bit.

Around that time I started to experience a lot of growth and maturing, both mentally and spiritually. God used several events and people to show me that He is greater and more worth knowing than anyone or anything else in existence.

The reason I'm getting all deep and emotional is because today is the last day I will ever be a teenager. That's right. Tomorrow I turn 20.

At Chick-fil-a we are taught a "system" to help us remember how to treat our customers. We greet them with a smile, make eye contact, be genuine in our enthusiasm, stay connected, and finally we offer them a fond farewell as they go out the door.

As I pause and turn around to look back at my teenage years on the eve of my twentieth birthday, I want to bid a fond farewell to some of the best, worst, and most confusing and frustrating times I have ever experienced, all of which has worked to shape and mold me according to God's perfect plan.

I'm not going to go into much detail about my high school years (honestly, who wants to hear about those times? Yikes...), but I will say that from 9th all the way through 12th grade I firmly believed I was better than every other person on the planet and that they were all greater sinners than I was. Whoever put that thought in my head, I have no idea. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, and I was a living testament to that.

I remember not being happy or content to stay that way though. I often would draw near to the Lord, then fall right back out of the habit of reading the Word and praying. It frustrated me so much that I couldn't just stay on the "good" side and justify my belief that I was a better Christian and overall better person than all of my peers.
Through a series of events and people and sermons and family talks which came at the perfect time, I am humbled and overjoyed to say that God's grace is greater than my sin and His mercy is unfathomable. If I were Him, I would have given up on me years ago. I still fall short so often, but He is so good to remind me Whose righteousness I stand upon.

One question which always puzzles me but never fails to be asked on my birthday is "So, how does it feel to be [insert age here]?" I don't think I've ever met someone who has woken up on their birthday and suddenly experienced a drastic change of feelings caused by their sudden increase in age. It's not like one whole year of aging is saved until your actual birthday. That would be weird and sort of awkward and would definitely result in some drastic changes.
Tomorrow I will only be one day older than I am today, and I don't think I'm going to feel much different than I do right now. My only hope is that I will wake up tomorrow more in love with the Lord and more in awe of His grace than I am today. I pray that as I keep growing one day older my desire to know Him and seek His kingdom will increase all the more.

I feel it is fitting to end this post with a praise song. I praise my Father in heaven for my teenage years, even though I wasted much of that time striving for useless things. I praise Him for showing me grace through my selfishness and for listening to the prayers of such a wretch as I.

So I bid a fond farewell to my years as a teen and look ahead to what the Lord has planned next. If He can do such great things in the span of 19 years, I can't imagine what lies ahead.

A New Addition...

We meet again, blog followers.

(Which is amazing since my average posts-per-day is like 0.00000000000000000000001)

Anyways, I am here to talk to you about a special person who has grown very dear to my heart during the course of this week. I don't believe I've met anyone quite like him. He's brave, loyal, self-sacrificial, clever, compassionate, honorable...yet he is not without fear and still has much to learn.

You have probably guessed by now that I am talking about the magnificent Horatio Hornblower.

Now many may claim that since I have only just finished watching the television adaptation of the original novels, I do not have the right to accurately judge Horatio's character until I have read the originals. Well, this afternoon I will be heading to the library to pick up the first installment, thank you very much. ;)

I am very eager to read the original Hornblower series to get to know this character more. C.S. Forester wrote eleven novels in the series and only a few of those stories made it into the A&E series on TV back in the late 1990s. I HIGHLY recommend that series, but I'm telling you now that it is addicting...just be sure to watch them when you don't have a lot of stuff to do (there are eight episodes, each about 90 minutes long). :D

Now you're probably wondering what the heck the stories are about.
It's set during the late 1700s/early 1800s when the French revolution was taking place. It follows the life of Horatio as he begins as a 17-year-old midshipman on a British naval ship and gains experience in the British navy, leading to his promotion to Commander as Napoleon Bonaparte instigates another war.

That's as far as the TV series goes, but there are more adventures and promotions chronicled in the book series.

If you aren't into British history or movies about ships and stuff, you may not like it. However, I'm not a huge fan of 18th century British wars or naval battles and I still loved it. The characters are just incredible. I almost wanted to cry when I realized I had finished watching the last episode. The company decided not to make anymore because it was too expensive, apparently. Pfft. Losers.

Anyways, enough summarizing of the story. Horatio is an incredible character. He's a war hero, but when he's out of his element he doesn't really know what he's doing. He often knows exactly what to do when unexpected situations arise, but sometimes takes risks to do what he believes to be right. He is absolutely, undoubtedly loyal to his duty as an officer, but that loyalty turns into a problem when other aspects of life require him to re-examine his priorities. He is handsome and an absolute gentleman, but lacks any sort of confidence when interacting with women (it's rather comical at times).

In short, Horatio has become one of my favorite fictional characters in a matter of 4 days. I can admit with certainty that he is a new addition to my list of fictional characters I could marry...

The List (in no particular order):

Matthew Crawley (Downton Abbey)

Mr. Knightley (Emma)

Aragorn (LOTR)

Steve Rogers (Captain America)

Faramir (LOTR)

Horatio Hornblower

I've probably forgotten a few in there, but you get the point. ;)

Summertime

Well, it's been a while since I posted anything. Sorry 'bout that...
The majority of my time between now and the last time I posted has been used for school finals and research papers. Since school ended about a month ago though, I have been working at Chick-fil-a about 20 hours a week. The rest of the time I've basically been watching Netflix. And reading a little. And going to Panama City.

Speaking of Panama City, we recently got back from a 3-day trip down there. It was sooooo lovely. I could have spent the whole month of May down there. We decided to get a condo this time and it was THE BOMB.

We were on the 22nd floor. That's second from the very top. It was pretty righteous. It also made me feel a bit queasy looking down from our balcony. The best part was that we could go down the elevator to the first floor and literally walk around a corner straight to the beach. The ocean was our front yard. (I'm not trying to make you jealous...really.)

I think my favorite part was walking down to the edge of the ocean at night and rubbing the sand until it sparked. My sister showed us how to rub the wet sand really fast, and something about the sun on the sand during the day made it spark at night when you rub it. I'm not sure why. Something about science. (I'm an English major. Sorry.)

My other favorite part was doing a Bible study one morning on our balcony. The constant, cool breeze and the rich words of the Bible were both physically and spiritually refreshing. I listened to some Chris Tomlin and Sovereign Grace while looking out at the vast ocean which our God holds in His hands. It was truly awesome and wonderful.

I started reading Sense and Sensibility while I was down there. I have made it to chapter 9 so far. If you know me at all, you will mark that as quite an accomplishment. I'm a very slow reader (and an English major....? That was a good life decision on my part).

I also started reading Because He Loves Me by Elyse Fitzpatrick. I'm so excited to get started on this book because several people have told me that they love it! My dear friend Kimmy (who also works with me at CFA) is going to go through it with me. I'll keep this blog updated with how that study is going as we continue through it.

My daily Bible readings recently got more frequent. During this last semester of school, I really slacked on doing any sort of daily devotionals. I kept telling myself that I would make up for it as soon as school was over because then I would have nothing to do and could spend more time on it. But when Summer finally hit I suddenly had all the time in the world and had no idea what to do with it (I'm sure some of you can relate to that as well). It was one of those times when I knew I could do so many things but couldn't decide which thing to do. Often times Bible reading was at the bottom of the list. Being at the beach away from home, away from social media (mostly), and away from work gave me a desire to sort of "begin anew" and use the time beneficially. That was when I started reading Because He Loves Me. At first I really didn't want to  read it and almost put it down because it was sort of boring, but God is faithful and His Word always has a way of convicting you of sin and re-kindling a desire for God and a hunger for the Word. It usually doesn't happen all at once for me, but after reading through some verses Elyse Fitzpatrick put in her book and praying to God I felt refreshed and excited about meditating on Him and His promises. It's pretty easy to be reminded of how amazing He is when there is a bright blue and green ocean stretched out in front of you with manta rays swimming in the clear, shallow water near the beach. (okay, maybe I'm trying to make you a little jealous....only a tiny bit. ;)

God is great and always faithful, even when I am faithless and fail to abide by His Word. Something I heard in a John Piper sermon recently was that we should not only read but SWIM in God's Word every single day. There is such richness and beautiful truth and comfort in those verses that I cannot express. It tells us how we can glorify God the most, and that is the best knowledge anyone can have. We were created for glorifying God, the ocean was created to glorify God, the trees and the sand and the sky were created to glorify God, and all the seasons (including summer) were created to glorify God. Remember and be encouraged, my friends. Use this summer to glorify our merciful God to the best of your ability. Don't get too caught up watching Netflix like I have. ;) Let's try to make the best possible use of our time.

In lieu of doing what I'm supposed to be doing...

I'm sitting here writing on my blog because I really don't want to write about African-American identity and how it is defined by the dominant white population...
Well, that and I actually have something to say.

I guess this means that I've had nothing to say for a while. I think it's been like a year since I last posted something on here (at least it feels that way). Honestly, I think I did have plenty of things to say. I was just too lazy to post them. :)

So since we last talked lots of things have happened and changes have occurred. I find bullet points to be helpful at times like these...

• Fall semester ended
• Christmas came and went
• New Year! Happy 2013 everyone. Hope it's been good so far. :)
• Passion 2013 in January
• My dad lost his job
• My dad got a new job a week later
• My dad just left that job and got another new job
• This means that we have to move from our current location to another location about 20 miles away
• I was promoted to Team Leader at CFA back in September
• My cousin is married and is expecting a baby boy in June
• My sister bought a new car two days ago and it works like a dream
• I am working as a private tutor for a 4th grader
• I will potentially be working as a tutor at my campus next semester
• I just got a job editing a book for publication
• Our church got a new youth pastor
• I am officially on youth staff (since January)
• I am very very close to having an English degree
• I still have a lot to do to obtain an Education degree
• Pollen is everywhere at the moment
• Spring semester is over in 3 weeks
• I am currently writing an essay for a class entitled "Studies in the American Novel" (hence the blog posting...)

So there we go. My life for the past few months in a bullet point list. I just got a sudden urge to finish writing my essay, so I'm off to conquer the last page and a half. I will return soon, I promise. :)

P.S. Oh! I forgot about one more change that's occurred in the past few months. My laptop decided to malfunction and now every time I push the "A" key this happens: a;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
The semicolons will go on forever and ever amen if I don't press another key. If I didn't ba;ckspa;ce a;ll of the semicolons every time I wrote a; sentence; this is wha;t it would look like. Delightful. Oh yeah, and the semicolon key no longer works.  (see? I pressed it and nothing appeared in that spa;ce. GA:;;H.)

Walt Whitman

Today in American Literature class (just as a forewarning, it is highly likely that a lot of my future posts will start with this phrase. This class really gets me thinking. :)

So, today in my American Literature class, our professor read to us sections of Walt Whitman's poem called "Song of Myself." He introduced it by pointing out that Whitman was the "Poet of America," and that he embodied ideal American radicalism.

Okay, that's cool.

So usually when I read poems by myself as a homework assignment, I try to read into it and make sense of it in my head (it usually ends up just going over my head completely). However, when I'm in class and the teacher starts talking about it, it seems the poem has the most obvious meaning on earth.

So that's what happened here. The professor started reading it and adding explanations along the way that made me feel like I was the worst English major ever. It was alright for a while. Whitman was talking about cool stuff like abolition of slavery and the equality of man. I was like "Yeah, man. You're pretty cool."

Then it got kinda weird.

Apparently Walt Whitman's idea of radicalism meant tearing down the veil of human sexuality (including homosexuality). Alright then.

We went on further in the seemingly endless poem. I wasn't really bothered until we got to these lines: "Divine am I inside and out, and I make holy whatever I touch or am touch'd from...This head [is finer] than churches, bibles, and all the creeds."

Now THAT made me squirm in my seat. The first time I read it I thought, "Wow. He's equating himself with God." It's not really unusual in poetry to do that so it wasn't really shocking, but I read it a few more times....Whitman's not only equating himself with God, he's suggesting that he is better than God.

Um....what?

Just wait, it gets better.

Near the end of the poem, Whitman says,

"I have said that the soul is not more than the body,

And I have said that the body is not more than the soul,

And nothing, not God, is greater to one than one's self is...

And I say to mankind, Be not curious about God,
For I who am curious about each am not curious about God,

 (No array of terms can say how much I am at peace about God and about death.)

I hear and behold God in every object, yet understand God not in the least,

Nor do I understand who there can be more wonderful than myself.

Why should I wish to see God better than this day?"

I had to blink a few times to make sure I saw that right. It made me a bit angry. It didn't really help that my professor often interjected with comments like "Isn't that just a beautiful thought?" throughout the entire poem.

The more I thought about it though, I became very sad. What a desperately lost soul he was!! This is something that I've been thinking a lot about in this class....Americans have so abused the freedom we have in this country. The freedom to praise God without persecution is an amazing blessing, but people have fallen deeply into self-focused, individualistic lifestyles in the freedom they possess here. Our culture cultivates and encourages it though. Whitman was a perfect model of how extreme one can become in abuse of freedom. He not only embodies radicalism...he embodies a fallen sinner whose self-focused mindset has led him to believe that man does not need God because man has himself.
How sad it is to read the thoughts of a soul so lost which has never tasted the joy that comes from knowing God!!

But then I thought about how I could have just as easily been another Walt Whitman. If God had allowed my sin to just keep on going, I could have been just as bad, if not worse. But God has saved me from enslavement to sin, freeing me from the freedom in America which cultivates and promotes self-importance and self-focus. We as believers are no longer lost souls! Oh praise Him!

Hallelujah, we are found!!!

"What would you do if you knew you could not fail?"

That's something a lot of us have heard, and it's a good thought to ponder. It encourages us to be confident and to do great things which may seem difficult because of our fear of failure.

But here is my question for you: What would you do if you knew Jesus could not fail?


Revelation 12:7-12

And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war, and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying,
“Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night. And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death. For this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time.”

One day this is going to happen. Satan WILL be defeated once and for all, and he will no longer be able to tempt us or attack us. Christ WILL overcome him, and already has overcome sin and death on the cross.
Perhaps the most encouraging part is that because of Christ and what He did, WE WILL OVERCOME. No matter how defeated you may feel at any time in this life, know that we will overcome in the end. And we will overcome because of the hope we have in Christ and because of our witness to others of our testimony of salvation. Christ is the One who has done the work and given us this power through Him to defeat the sin in our lives, no matter how many times we fail.
What would we do then, since we know this to be true? Pray!! Ask God for strength to put your sin to death!! Spread the gospel WITHOUT FEAR!!

What a life we could live if we truly believed we could not fail in Christ...

Lord, forgive my unbelief and help me to live like this.

I started school today...

"Just so we're clear, if I am knocked unconscious you all are free to go."

~my American Lit. teacher

The Hunger Games post

Ladies and gentlemen, let it be known that I, Katie Saba, have *finally* finished the last book in the Hunger Games series.

-Thusly noted on this day, the eleventh of July, in the year of our Lord two thousand and twelve-

It only took me like, a year and a half to complete the whole series from start to finish. It wasn't that I didn't like them. Just....I let other stuff get in the way. But I am officially DONE, son.

I've been hinting at a Hunger Games post for a while now, ever since the movie came out in March, but I wanted to wait until after I finished the last book in order to give a thorough evaluation of the series as a whole, and not just the first book which the movie was based on.
Okay, so I finished Mockingjay (the third and final book of the series) at about 1 AM last night. I stayed up thinking about it for at least an hour, mulling over all of my intense feelings that had just arisen after reading the last lines on page 398. I expected to turn another page, but instead I was greeted with two big, ugly bold words: THE END.

Let me get one thing straight with you here...I thoroughly enjoyed the first book. I thoroughly enjoyed the second book, up until the last page. I did NOT thoroughly enjoy the last book. Actually, I didn't like the last book. At all. But I had to see how it all ended, so I kept reading until the end in the hope that something awesome would happen to the characters that would resolve all of the unhappiness and despair that is found on pretty much every single page of Mockingjay.

Then all hopes were dashed. DASHED I TELL YOU.

There was one tiny little glimmer of something that might have been happy in the end, but that was it. There was a very uneven balance of despair and happiness in the whole story itself, actually. Very disturbing. And unsatisfying.

Maybe what really annoyed me was the whole love triangle resolution. For those who aren't familiar with the story, there is a love triangle between Katniss (the main character) and two guys, Gale and Peeta. I had been rooting for one guy since book one. The other guy started to grow on me in book 2, and I ended up liking him in book 3.
Without giving too much away, Katniss ended up with the guy that I had been rooting for, which is great...right?
The thing is, I just don't like Katniss. I really don't. I decided somewhere in the middle of Mockingjay that the guy I wanted Katniss to end up with was actually too good for her. And when he did actually end up with her, I didn't feel great. I felt terrible. And then the book ended.
It's hard to like a story in which the main character/hero of the story is not likable and/or doesn't learn anything by the end of the story. It just doesn't work. And I guess that was my problem. Katniss didn't learn anything. At least, not to the point where she was made into a more likable character. You get a small tiny hint of something in the last two lines of Mockingjay that indicate a slight change in Katniss' thinking, but nothing more.

It's just annoying.

And since I'm on a roll, another thing that annoyed me was how fast everything happened in the end. It was like Suzanne Collins decided she'd had enough and just wanted to end it quickly. There was no closure with any characters (besides Katniss and the guys she ends up with) and there was no explanation about what happens to anyone or anything after the big battle at the end, not even a mention. Did anyone stop to think that maybe we liked other characters besides Katniss and wanted to see their endings too? Apparently not. Grr.

It's just annoying. But I already said that.

So, if you want my recommendation, I would say read the first book. Then stop. It only gets worse from there. Oh yeah, and watch the movie.
And since we're on the topic, I thought the movie portrayed the first book really well!! With what they could do with the story, I thought they did an excellent job. The whole story is written from Katniss' perspective, so the moviemakers only had Katniss' views on everything to work with. But they did awesome. It was great. Go see it if you haven't yet. But remember, THE BOOK IS BETTER. The book is always better.

That is all.


P.S. If you really want to read a great series which follows a character who you will actually like, read Harry Potter. But I think I'll be saving that for another post at another time... :)

an interesting thought...

P.S. ^one more reason to praise God, right?

This Week's Playlist

Lately, I've been listening to the radio...which is weird because normally I just plug my ipod in and listen to that in the car. But anyways, I apparently need to listen to the radio more often because I keep getting behind on all the new music that comes out...so I end up going to people saying, "Oh my gosh, this song is so awesome!" and then they look at me and say "Yeah Katie, that song has been out for like two months...."
So I'm here today to tell you about some awesome songs that came out very RECENTLY.....I think.

Let's start with an awesome verse: 2 Corinthians 4:16
"Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day."

which leads nicely into this song....

"Beautiful Things" by Gungor. I heard it once a few days ago and I had to go look it up immediately. It's been on repeat in my house all day today, and I just bought it on itunes. :D (Also fitting because I JUST finished going through 1 and 2 Corinthians in my Bible readings....God always has such perfect timing.)

Second song....

"When the Stars Burn Down" by Phillips, Craig, and Dean. First of all, what an awesome title for a song, right? It just sounds cool...

Secondly, I love how WORSHIPFUL this song is!! Just sit down and close your eyes and LISTEN to this song...then listen to it again and sing along! :)

And next....

"The Proof of Your Love" by King & Country. I just heard this song for the first time the other day, but I LIKE it. The music is beautiful, and I really like these guys' voices. I've never heard of the band before, but I'm pretty sure they're new. Anyways, this song really encourages me because I've been praying and asking God to help me be a reflection of Christ. More of Christ, less of me. It's something I really need to work on. I guess this song also came at a perfect time. :)

One last song...

This one's just for fun. I know it's kind of a change from all the other songs up there...spiritual, spiritual, spiritual, NOT SPIRITUAL. But I confess this song grew on me...and I ended up buying it. If you haven't heard of One Direction yet, they're basically like if the lost boys from Peter Pan got together and decided to make a band. This particular song is their most popular one called "What Makes You Beautiful." I know the lyrics aren't exactly the DEEPEST ones around....but I think this one will be a fun one to play in the car with the windows down this summer. ;)

What's on your summer playlist? Please share any awesome songs you've discovered. I would love to hear them!

P.S. We're almost at 300 reasons so far!!! If we keep this pace up every week, we'll be at 10,000 by....*opening calculator on laptop...10,000/300=33.33333333...*
Okay, so 33 weeks. Maaaybe we should step it up a little to get this done a little earlier. The reasons are out there!! We just need to think of them. Invite your friends to the facebook group I made! Get them listing reasons! If you're not on facebook, shoot me an email with your list! Or comment below. Whatever works. :)

10,000 Reasons

I've had a new favorite song ever since the Passion conference. It's called 10,000 Reasons by Matt Redman. I strongly encourage you to look it up because it's awesome. And I don't use that word flippantly here. When I say awesome, I mean AWE. SOME. So worshipful and beautiful...it's the perfect song to listen to when you first wake up in the morning. :)
Anyways, this song has inspired me. Not only has it inspired new, glorious thoughts about God that I can meditate on, but it's given me an idea and I've decided that I want to try out. The line in the song which the title comes from goes like this: "For all Your goodness, I will keep on singing. Ten thousand reasons for my heart to find."

So that's what we're gonna do.

I'm not sure exactly how long it will take, but I want to list 10,000 reasons to praise God. Now you're probably thinking, "Now Katie, 10,000 is just a really big number that they use to stress the point....we can't possibly come up with that many." And to that I'm saying No, we are actually going to come up with 10,000 reasons and list them one by one because our God is so great and so unsearchable and so much more amazing than our tiny human brains can comprehend, that there is probably an infinite number of praiseworthy aspects of our God that we don't even know about yet. But for now, let's list the ones He has chosen to reveal to us. Only 10,000. Pretty small compared to infinity if you ask me. (And if you think about it, the Bible is FULL of reasons!! I mean, just look at the book of Psalms!!)

Your thought process is now probably going like this: "Katie, that's great and very true. But come on, be real. Coming up with 10,000 reasons is going to take FOREVER. It's just too huge a number."

And that's why I'm going to need your help. :) This Summer, I need you to think EVERY DAY. Come up with at least 5 new reasons to praise God. You may end up with 5. You may come up with over 100 in one day. But WRITE THEM DOWN. Don't forget them!!!! We need to keep track so we can reach our goal in a reasonable amount of time. :P So go get yourself a clean notebook and start listing!!

Let's try to keep each other accountable and keep this going through the summer. Spread the word. Recruit more friends to start listing their reasons too! We can use all the help we can get!

I'll be compiling all of the reasons, so you can update me on your list as often as you like. Weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, even daily. Just don't forget about it!! You can contact me via email (ktsaba10@gmail.com) or through the ol' FB (if we're friends, of course).
One last thing: These don't have to be long reasons.One sentence or even just a phrase will be perfect. :)

If you're willing to help out, let me know! The more the merrier, always.

P.S. The actual song contains quite a few reasons, if you would like to start there...

Favorites: Movies

Probably one of the worst questions to ask someone you've just met is "What's your favorite movie?" I mean, come on...really??? Who on earth can mentally scroll through every movie they've ever seen in their life and determine which one(s) is their favorite and still be able to give you an adequate answer within a reasonable amount of time? Nope. Nobody.

So having said that, I thought I'd let you know that I've put some careful thought into compiling a list of my top 10 favorite movies of all time. Now I know that certain movies are more appealing to me depending on my mood or the current popularity of the movie (for example, I've seen The Avengers twice already, and it has frequently come up in conversation recently, so I'm apt to say that it's one of my favorite movies right now...). HOWEVER, trying to put all of that aside and really getting down to what makes a movie great overall (in my humble opinion), here are my top 10:

#10

Little Women

A movie I grew up with. You can't help but love a classic story of four young girls growing up and discovering the world one step at a time. :)

#9

Sense and Sensibility

A Jane Austen classic. The acting and the screenplay of this film are what make it truly fantastic.

#8

The Prestige

One of Christopher Nolan's genius films. This one kept me guessing until the very end , then  I was completely blown away by the ending....

#7

Remember the Titans

Absolutely wonderful family film. It'll make you laugh, cry, and everything in between.  Such a great movie.

#6

The King and I

Another one I grew up with. The story is so good, and the setting (a Siam palace) is so beautiful.  Lots of classic, memorable scenes in this one.

#5

Inception

Another product of Christopher Nolan's genius mind.  I was blown away when I saw this in theaters with my sister a few summers ago. It immediately went on my top favorites list of movies.

#4

The Sound of Music

Anyone who has not seen this movie was deprived in their childhood.  Absolutely classic film, brilliant score....every scene in this movie is memorable.

#3

The Lord of the Rings

I was one of those late comers to the fandom of the movie trilogy. I didn't see the movies until a few years after they came out, but when I did, I thought they were the most perfect films ever created. Everything was dramatic and epic, but it wasn't cheesy or unnecessary. The acting was incredible and the music brought the fantasy world to life.
So. Awesome.

#2

Life Is Beautiful

A surprisingly large amount of people have never heard of this movie.  I didn't see it until we bought it  randomly one day and watched it. I cried my eyes out. It is very sad, but very good all the same. It's set during WWII (the Holocaust, mainly), so naturally there's an inevitable tragic element, but it really is very good. The story is so beautiful and touching, and the ending always brings a smile to your face, no matter how many times you watch it.

And finally...

#1

It's A Wonderful Life

If you have never seen this before, I pity you. You have not LIVED until you've seen this movie!!!  This was another one I grew up watching. My family has watched it every Christmas Eve for 18 years. Every time I watch it, I just love it more and more. I love a lot of movies and I'll probably claim a lot of them to be my favorites, but no film has ever made me feel the way that this one does. It made me so excited about LIFE, and I just wanted to jump out of my chair and do something GREAT with my life....no other movie has ever had that sort of effect on me. Ever.
It's a good movie to watch around Christmas time (it's always on TV around that time), but you don't have to wait that long (especially if you've never seen it before). I'm serious. Go find a copy of it and watch it and have a wonderful life. :)

So there we have it. Not sure if anyone really cares, but there is my list.

It makes me feel better, anyways.

P.S. So I just finished editing this post and it's 1:15 AM...and I have to be up at 7:30 to go to Atlanta. This was all for you, my blog readers. That's what I call dedication (or the result of procrastination of blog posting...whichever way you choose to look at it).

May: The Month of Nerdiness

Well, I'm pretty nerdy. Don't know if I've told you that before or maybe you've already gotten that impression...but I'll just flat out say it. I'm a true nerd. And THIS month, there are a few things going on that will make my nerdy self quite happy.

NUMBER ONE:

Nancy Drew: Tomb of the Lost Queen

Yeah, I'm pretty excited. These computer games have been a part of my life for about 9 years. I pretty much left the Cluefinders and Carmen Sandiego in the dust after I discovered these. They are so. much. fun. The whole point of the game is solving a mystery. You play as Nancy Drew and find clues, question suspects, snoop in people's rooms when they're gone...the whole shebang. They release a couple of new ones every year, and I've bought every single one of them (seriously, I have games 1-25 all lined up in a row on my closet shelf upstairs). This one comes out on May 8, and it promises to be a very nice addition to my collection. You will find my overly excited nerd self at the nearest Target on that day, I guarantee you.

NUMBER TWO:

 Avatar: The Promise-Part 2

So, if you have never seen or heard of this TV show before, I suggest you get right on that. Immediately.
I will most likely be devoting an entire post to the awesomeness of this show sometime in the near future (after my Hunger Games post...still working on that). The show is by Nickelodeon (obviously), so it's geared toward younger teens....but it's AMAZING. But I can't start ranting now...but it's AMAZING....

Okay, so the above picture is the second part of the graphic novel series that continues the story after the last season ended. I have yet to read the entire first part (still looking for it in stores around my area), but I plan on buying it ASAP. Apparently, the first one left off with a cliffhanger (no surprise there), so I am reeeaaaallllly eager to see what happens in this one. It comes out on May 20.


NUMBER THREE:

 Season Finale of Once Upon a Time

I'll be honest with you. I really wasn't that excited for this show when it first aired on ABC last year. But let me tell YOU. I am officially HOOKED. It's from the creators of Lost, if that tells you anything (lots of twists and turns, unanswered questions, ambiguous events and characters...the list goes on). The first season finale airs on May 13th, and I cannot wait. Apparently, someone HUGE is going to die...like, a main character we never would have thought the show could go on without. I'm scared.

So this summer, you can expect to find me playing Nancy Drew with the Avatar novel in my hand and crying my eyes out while I watch the epic finale of Once Upon a Time.

And so my inner nerd shines through.

Have a happy May everyone.

P.S. Oh yeah, and school is over for the summer by the way....for me at least. So we all know what this means, right??? MORE BLOGGING! If I don't forget.... :D

Laugh

You know what ALWAYS makes people happy WITHOUT FAIL???? Come on, have a guess.....

If you guessed "laughing," then *PING PING* We have a winner!!!! I love laughing, I love people who make me laugh, and I love making other people laugh. It's one of the greatest feelings you could ever experience....your stomach may hurt and tears may be streaming down your face uncontrollably, but you don't care because you're just so happy in that moment. :)
So today I thought I would dedicate a blog post to laughs. Today, I want you to think of some things that make you laugh. It can be a person, an animal, a TV show, a movie, an experience you had in the past....ANYTHING. Now try to relive those hilarious moments. Go re-watch that movie or go find that person who always knows how to make you laugh and spend the day with them or re-live that one moment that had you laughing til your sides hurt.....Just have a good laugh and feel great!

"I honestly think it's the thing I like most, to laugh. It cures a multitude of ills."
-Audrey Hepburn

Yep. Even the President laughs.

Enjoy life while you have it. Take every opportunity you have to make someone's day by giving them a good laugh. And of course, laugh at yourself because....well, why not???

P.S. That Hunger Games post WILL be coming...just wait for it...in the meantime, GO WATCH THE MOVIE. I've seen it twice already if that tells you anything...