A book that has really stuck with me is How to Hug a Porcupine, dealing with toxic personalities. It is a book i highly recommend for everyone. It is basically a self help book. The best audience for the book is someone in a difficult relationship, abusive relationship, and the average person. I say the average person because i believe everyone has a person in their life that is difficult to deal with for one reason or another.
I personally enjoyed the book because of the validation i received. Learning about all the different things people with toxic personalities do to the people around them. I really appreciate when reading this that it helps the reader know what they can do for themselves to be ok with who they are and how to deal with difficult people. It talks about how to help yourself overcome difficult or toxic behaviors. It does not classify everyone with difficult behaviors as toxic. I believe everyone has things they need to work on and i appreciate the perspective of this book.
177 words
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Instructions for styling my hair
1. Make sure hair is completely dry.
2. Plug in and heat up straightening iron.
3. Tip head upside down and spray hairspray. Make sure you spray up and down from right to left until all hair is covered.
4. Flip head back over. Hair should be sticking out like a crazy witch on Halloween.
5. Carefully part hair on the right side with out brushing out hair. Do not brush out hair and cause it to not stick out.
6. Start on the left side, in the front, with the top layers of hair. Straighten. Continue with small portions underneath until you reach the bottom. While doing this tip head so that the hair you have straightened folds up. This way you can keep it from getting in the way.
7. Once that section is done, flip it back down and brush through just that part.
8. Continue in this fashion till you have straightened all hair.
9. When finished fluff and brush until it lays just right.
260 words
2. Plug in and heat up straightening iron.
3. Tip head upside down and spray hairspray. Make sure you spray up and down from right to left until all hair is covered.
4. Flip head back over. Hair should be sticking out like a crazy witch on Halloween.
5. Carefully part hair on the right side with out brushing out hair. Do not brush out hair and cause it to not stick out.
6. Start on the left side, in the front, with the top layers of hair. Straighten. Continue with small portions underneath until you reach the bottom. While doing this tip head so that the hair you have straightened folds up. This way you can keep it from getting in the way.
7. Once that section is done, flip it back down and brush through just that part.
8. Continue in this fashion till you have straightened all hair.
9. When finished fluff and brush until it lays just right.
260 words
My Poem
I decided to write about my piano. With all the changes i'm making in my life I always go back to my piano. It is always there no matter how i'm feeling. It has been the one consistency in my life.
My Piano, My Friend
Upright and always there for me
Scratched and dinged, its use you can see
The hammers striking the strings
Practicing songs for others to sing
Soft and Quite the melody
Loud and bold always dramatically
I play for my self
And for others to hear
My feelings into the music
My piano always listens
98 words
My Piano, My Friend
Upright and always there for me
Scratched and dinged, its use you can see
The hammers striking the strings
Practicing songs for others to sing
Soft and Quite the melody
Loud and bold always dramatically
I play for my self
And for others to hear
My feelings into the music
My piano always listens
98 words
Voices
This weekend i'm going to play all day and not do any homework. I'm going to watch movies and go to a friends house.
This weekend i'm going to sail till the sun goes down and find some gold. I'm going to scrub the deck.
This weekend is going to go by way to quickly. Before I know it i'll be back at work.
This weekend I'm going to go to the mall and get a new shirt. I'll probably get a new pair of pants and some earrings to match. I'm excited to get out with my friends and shop.
This weekend i'm moving. I will be making sure the truck is loaded right, directing the unloading into my new apartment, and then unpacking and organizing as much as i can so that we can get through the week. I will go to church and hopefully make some new friends. I'm also going to make sure i spend some good time with my kids since it is my first full weekend off since i started my job.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
What I was like as a child
As a child I tended to be quiet and shy, but I was a lot more outgoing with my friends. I loved to ride my bike around the block and thought I was so cool when I could go all the way around with out holding on to the handle bars. I always had a lot of chores and quickly learned to rush through them so that I could play outside or at my friends houses. I moved all the time and lived in 4 states before I turned 18 California, Utah, Virginia, and Arizona. I never lived in a house longer than four and a half years. Most of the time it was a lot less than that. I had to learn to make new friends quickly. I always had a few good friends I could count on. When I was seven I started piano lessons. This was my dream! I loved to play the piano. I never had to be told to practice, I chose to. I memorized almost every piece I had to learn every week. I put all my emotion into the piano, it was my safe place, another world I could escape into. It is the same piano I have and play on today.
209 words
209 words
Monday, January 30, 2012
Don't Touch!
The touch I hate most is has to do with feet. My feet are especially sensitive. They are always dry, calloused, and cracked. I can't walk on anything with out socks on. The way they rub and catch on the fibers of the carpet pulls at the cracks on my heals. I cringe to walk on hard smooth floors because of the way my feet rub against the cold surface. The only time I don't wear socks is in the shower or at the swimming pool, but sometimes I wish I could. I have seriously considered wearing socks to swim and shower.
I love socks, but I can only wear one kind of sock. The line above the toe has to fit just right so that it doesn't hit any of my toes, and the heal has to fit just right too. I have only found one brand of socks that fit me just right. I have to buy them from costco and they have a kb logo on the top. They come in all different colors and designs. I like the ones with stripes, any color will do. When I put a new pair on for the first time, the socks are then doomed to always be a right or left foot sock. From then on when I go to put them on I check where my previous foot print is on the bottom. That way they are stretched out just right and always fit the same. I even have a hard time changing socks because of the way they rub my feet.
I am so sensitive to the touch of feet that I have a hard time with other people's feet. I can't even watch when they walk with out socks or shoes on. I get the same feeling as if it were my feet. I will even tell you to stop rubbing your feet on any surface if you do it in front of me.
In the summer I can always be found with at least one pair of socks in my purse or bag, usually two or three. I take them off as I slip my feet into my flip flops, and put them back on when I take them off. I'm even known for not wearing any shoes if I can avoid it. I frequently drive and go places with only my socks and only wear shoes when I'm inside a store. I take my shoes off when ever I get the chance.
418 words
I love socks, but I can only wear one kind of sock. The line above the toe has to fit just right so that it doesn't hit any of my toes, and the heal has to fit just right too. I have only found one brand of socks that fit me just right. I have to buy them from costco and they have a kb logo on the top. They come in all different colors and designs. I like the ones with stripes, any color will do. When I put a new pair on for the first time, the socks are then doomed to always be a right or left foot sock. From then on when I go to put them on I check where my previous foot print is on the bottom. That way they are stretched out just right and always fit the same. I even have a hard time changing socks because of the way they rub my feet.
I am so sensitive to the touch of feet that I have a hard time with other people's feet. I can't even watch when they walk with out socks or shoes on. I get the same feeling as if it were my feet. I will even tell you to stop rubbing your feet on any surface if you do it in front of me.
In the summer I can always be found with at least one pair of socks in my purse or bag, usually two or three. I take them off as I slip my feet into my flip flops, and put them back on when I take them off. I'm even known for not wearing any shoes if I can avoid it. I frequently drive and go places with only my socks and only wear shoes when I'm inside a store. I take my shoes off when ever I get the chance.
418 words
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
My Old School Piano
Long ago when I was only 5 years old my parents went to an auction for old school items. They came back with something I now have in my living room. It was a piano. I am told by my mom that it was from that moment that I began begging for piano lessons. I was always tinkering around and trying to play anything I could figure out. I don't remember most of that, but from the point I do remember was when I was 7. I remember regularly sitting down and trying to figure out how to read the notes and what they meant.
At some point in the spring that year I remember opening up our church hymn book and I found a song that I recognized, Because I Have Been Given Much. I remember sitting down and deciding I was going to learn how to play that song. I thought just because I can't take lessons doesn't mean I can't learn to play. So I began to work on it. I figured out how a few of the notes on the page matched the keys to play on the keyboard. I also figured out that as the notes went up on the staff they went up in pitch and on the keyboard. After figuring out how to read and play the melody I dove in to figure out the notes just under the melody. I remember asking my dad questions here and there about what things meant. At the point that I could read and play the entire right hand my parents figured out I wasn't going to quit and they were tired of my questions so I finally was able to start lessons. It was April 1990.
Since then I never have had to be told to practice. In fact, I drove my parents crazy and have many memories of being told to stop playing the piano. I even have video of me playing with a broken arm in 4th grade. I never just practiced the 30 required minutes a day it was usually more than an hour. The first few years I went back to my next lesson with everything memorized and I had moved on working on more songs. I wanted to play!
As the years progressed I wasn't always able to take lessons but I still always played. I was the accompanist for my choir both years in junior high and the last 2 years in high school. When I graduated high school and went to college I was a piano major and accompanied choirs there too. I have never quit. I frequently don't get to play as much as I want these days but I still sit down a few times a week. I just can't help it, I love to play! The piano very quickly became my passion. I even use it to figure out and get out my emotions. You can always tell when I'm calm, angry, or just feel good by the type of pieces I play and how i play them.
503 words
At some point in the spring that year I remember opening up our church hymn book and I found a song that I recognized, Because I Have Been Given Much. I remember sitting down and deciding I was going to learn how to play that song. I thought just because I can't take lessons doesn't mean I can't learn to play. So I began to work on it. I figured out how a few of the notes on the page matched the keys to play on the keyboard. I also figured out that as the notes went up on the staff they went up in pitch and on the keyboard. After figuring out how to read and play the melody I dove in to figure out the notes just under the melody. I remember asking my dad questions here and there about what things meant. At the point that I could read and play the entire right hand my parents figured out I wasn't going to quit and they were tired of my questions so I finally was able to start lessons. It was April 1990.
Since then I never have had to be told to practice. In fact, I drove my parents crazy and have many memories of being told to stop playing the piano. I even have video of me playing with a broken arm in 4th grade. I never just practiced the 30 required minutes a day it was usually more than an hour. The first few years I went back to my next lesson with everything memorized and I had moved on working on more songs. I wanted to play!
As the years progressed I wasn't always able to take lessons but I still always played. I was the accompanist for my choir both years in junior high and the last 2 years in high school. When I graduated high school and went to college I was a piano major and accompanied choirs there too. I have never quit. I frequently don't get to play as much as I want these days but I still sit down a few times a week. I just can't help it, I love to play! The piano very quickly became my passion. I even use it to figure out and get out my emotions. You can always tell when I'm calm, angry, or just feel good by the type of pieces I play and how i play them.
503 words
Monday, January 23, 2012
My Attic Problem
Last summer i moved into a brand new townhouse. When i first got there and met my landlord, one of the things she told me was how the upstairs was so hot and she had turned on the air conditioner for us. I started hoping that it would cool off fast cause it was time to unload the truck. It was 92 degrees up there. A few hours later it was still only 88 degrees and we were all sweating like pigs.
After a few days with the air conditioner blasting 24/7 I called my landlord. Something was not right, it really should have been cooling down. It still hadn't gotten below 82 degrees. My landlord sent someone to check out what was wrong. The first thing that was checked was the attic. The problem was found.
There was absolutely no insulation in my attic! The insulation people were called and scheduled for the next morning. When they got here they snaked a large flexible hose through my master bedroom window up into the attic. Forty five minutes later they left, and the upstairs was already cooling down.
Within five minutes of them leaving I had a panic attack. My carbon monoxide detectors started beeping and blasted "carbon monoxide detected." Thankfully my kids understood by my voice that i meant business when I started yelling "everyone outside now" and i grabbed everyone's shoes and met them on the sidewalk. I was terrified, i know a family that died from carbon monoxide poisoning and another family who are lucky to be alive.
After calling someone I learned that I needed to open all my windows. A little more than an hour later we finally went back home. To be honest I have no idea what my attic really looks like. I just look at the little door on my ceiling afraid to know.
311 words
After a few days with the air conditioner blasting 24/7 I called my landlord. Something was not right, it really should have been cooling down. It still hadn't gotten below 82 degrees. My landlord sent someone to check out what was wrong. The first thing that was checked was the attic. The problem was found.
There was absolutely no insulation in my attic! The insulation people were called and scheduled for the next morning. When they got here they snaked a large flexible hose through my master bedroom window up into the attic. Forty five minutes later they left, and the upstairs was already cooling down.
Within five minutes of them leaving I had a panic attack. My carbon monoxide detectors started beeping and blasted "carbon monoxide detected." Thankfully my kids understood by my voice that i meant business when I started yelling "everyone outside now" and i grabbed everyone's shoes and met them on the sidewalk. I was terrified, i know a family that died from carbon monoxide poisoning and another family who are lucky to be alive.
After calling someone I learned that I needed to open all my windows. A little more than an hour later we finally went back home. To be honest I have no idea what my attic really looks like. I just look at the little door on my ceiling afraid to know.
311 words
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Orson Scott Card describes two truths. When describing the illusion of truth he describes how a reader surrenders himself to the writer's controlled tour of life experiences of some interesting characters, there is a connection between the surface details of the story and the reality the reader knows in their own life. He then describes the substance of truth, that no matter how many lies a writer tells, his own most deeply held beliefs about good and evil will inevitably appear in his work.
When justifying evil in fiction i find these two truths to be an honest reality. When i'm reading, as i love to do, i will use books to escape into another world. I will compare the ideas and situations to my own life and quite often relate to the ideas i'm reading. I enjoy being another person and going through their struggles and watching them come out victorious on the other side. We all struggle in life in one way or another and by reading about others and feeling their fears and sorrows i can then celebrate in their joys. Without understanding the evil and bad we can never truly celebrate and enjoy the good as it should be.
Without truly understanding a point of view or belief, one can not accurately write about it in a way that readers will connect with. I don't see how someone can really write about something in a way that a reader would connect with, without having real feelings and experiences related to it. Because one would have real feelings connected to it, the writers ideas would be intertwined into their writing. I would never be able to accurately write about something that i had no opinions or beliefs about, what then would i write, and even if i tried it would not be convincing. I completely agree with Orson Scott Card when he says that it is impossible for a writer to convincingly violate his own conscience in his fiction.
Evil is a natural occurrence in life, if not depicted in writing, no one would really connect with what they are reading. We may not as individuals really be evil, but we have all experienced it to different degrees. I don't think that we really enjoy reading about evil, we enjoy the confidence and success that we gain from conquering it.
393 words
When justifying evil in fiction i find these two truths to be an honest reality. When i'm reading, as i love to do, i will use books to escape into another world. I will compare the ideas and situations to my own life and quite often relate to the ideas i'm reading. I enjoy being another person and going through their struggles and watching them come out victorious on the other side. We all struggle in life in one way or another and by reading about others and feeling their fears and sorrows i can then celebrate in their joys. Without understanding the evil and bad we can never truly celebrate and enjoy the good as it should be.
Without truly understanding a point of view or belief, one can not accurately write about it in a way that readers will connect with. I don't see how someone can really write about something in a way that a reader would connect with, without having real feelings and experiences related to it. Because one would have real feelings connected to it, the writers ideas would be intertwined into their writing. I would never be able to accurately write about something that i had no opinions or beliefs about, what then would i write, and even if i tried it would not be convincing. I completely agree with Orson Scott Card when he says that it is impossible for a writer to convincingly violate his own conscience in his fiction.
Evil is a natural occurrence in life, if not depicted in writing, no one would really connect with what they are reading. We may not as individuals really be evil, but we have all experienced it to different degrees. I don't think that we really enjoy reading about evil, we enjoy the confidence and success that we gain from conquering it.
393 words
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Writing Experiences
Mostly i'm very intimidated by writing. I have never considered my self a writer. I first got turned off from writing in 6th grade. I moved from utah to virginia. To a school district that prided itself on pushing and being ahead. Well after just about no experience and hardly any teaching i got shoved right into the world of essays, poems, and reports. I feel like i never caught up and could never figure out how to actually do any of those and get a good grade. It was VERY frustrating. I stopped caring.
From then on it was really just a matter of how do get through english and get a c with as minimal work as possible. I pretty much mastered that one in high school. During my first year of college I started my first college level english class. The first assignment was an observation essay. I really couldn't figure out how to watch anything and describe it. I honestly though here we go again. Two days before the due date i figrued out what i was going to do. I had just had an experience myself and decided to write about it as if i had been observing it. Only paper i got an A on, EVER. After that i got so overwhelmed that i dropped the class. So, i'm really nervous here taking another class. This time i do have a different motivation, maybe that will help.
Ironically enough it was also in 6th grade that i discovered the love of reading. I used books to escape into another world and forget my own. At some point near the end of the year i found a book that i really enjoyed. The search was on for more. Since then i go through phases of reading, but i have enjoyed it ever since. Now it is not unheard of for me to forget about everything and read a book in a day.
327 words
From then on it was really just a matter of how do get through english and get a c with as minimal work as possible. I pretty much mastered that one in high school. During my first year of college I started my first college level english class. The first assignment was an observation essay. I really couldn't figure out how to watch anything and describe it. I honestly though here we go again. Two days before the due date i figrued out what i was going to do. I had just had an experience myself and decided to write about it as if i had been observing it. Only paper i got an A on, EVER. After that i got so overwhelmed that i dropped the class. So, i'm really nervous here taking another class. This time i do have a different motivation, maybe that will help.
Ironically enough it was also in 6th grade that i discovered the love of reading. I used books to escape into another world and forget my own. At some point near the end of the year i found a book that i really enjoyed. The search was on for more. Since then i go through phases of reading, but i have enjoyed it ever since. Now it is not unheard of for me to forget about everything and read a book in a day.
327 words
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
ME
I am Elizabeth Martin. I am returning to school after 10/11ish years. I am very excited to be back! I was previously a piano major(at a little community college, not a big program) and my preference is accompanying people, not instruments. I am not a soloist. I now am a molecular biology major. BIG change. I used to hate science. Why do i need chemistry to teach piano? No one could ever answer that for me. Life has had big changes that have led me here. I have 4 children, and had 7 miscarriages which led me to explore the infertility field and sparked a passion. I am headed for medical research and can't wait. I am especially excited to be back at school to begin my new life as a single mom. I am currently going through a divorce and want to prove to myself that I can take care of my kids, and go to school, get a degree, and finish something.
I have never cared, liked, or done well in an english class before. I hate writing. I never know how to start and then once i do I'm still stuck. Writing has NEVER come easily for me, EVER. I have recently discovered that to get to a point in my career that i really want i'll have to go to a med and phd combo program. Also that i will have to write my own applications to get the grants to do the research. Intimidating, very intimidating, but worth it. So here i am in my first semester back taking an english class with the desire to actually pay attention and do well. Plus, i need the grade to get into med school. I want to actually finish this class being a lot more comfortable with the idea of writing. Also to feel accomplished with the things that i will have written.
317 words
I have never cared, liked, or done well in an english class before. I hate writing. I never know how to start and then once i do I'm still stuck. Writing has NEVER come easily for me, EVER. I have recently discovered that to get to a point in my career that i really want i'll have to go to a med and phd combo program. Also that i will have to write my own applications to get the grants to do the research. Intimidating, very intimidating, but worth it. So here i am in my first semester back taking an english class with the desire to actually pay attention and do well. Plus, i need the grade to get into med school. I want to actually finish this class being a lot more comfortable with the idea of writing. Also to feel accomplished with the things that i will have written.
317 words
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