100,000 words could not quite explain

152. Sarah Ageno reminds me of my mother.
153. Stephanie Maurice reminds me of Jenny.
154. Juna makes everybody feel important.
155. Piano is great.
156. Especially the minor keys.
157. A minimum of five different girls have/had crushes on Josh Williams.
158. Verdine gets this great expression on her face when amused.
159. Nikki is just fun. On a regular basis.
160. Clean drinking water never gets boring.
161. The music at Rochester First Assembly... yeah.
162. Mrs Reddick actually thanked me for being honest with her.
163. I still can't get over soybeans.
164. This school is fortunate to have Curtis Nguyen.
165. If conditions are right and I squint, I look a little like Mom.
166. I enjoy Laura banter.
167. I like my ceiling decorations.
168. Tiffany initiates conversations with me now.
169. Jessica is a great suitemate with her leisurely, coconut-scented, Jack Johnson ways.
170. I rediscovered Rebecca St James.
171. God is wonderful in so many ways that I can't even put into words.
172. We made rock candy with ROOT BEER FLAVORING.
173. Nick Timmer = breeder.
174. Justin's new song is fantastic. I was so excited to see a new one!

Beside you every day

129. I got an email from Jenny.
130. No matter what happens, I always always always have the promise of heaven.
131. I enjoy splitting infinitives.
132. When I listen to Mat Kearney, I remember when Jenny played "Girl America" on our stereo in the living room.
133. When I listen to Fred Hammond's Christmas cd, I remember Justin playing it in his car.
134. When I listen to Twila Paris, I get this incredible all-is-well twinkling feeling and it's like I'm with my mom.
135. Sometimes I'm still able to suspend disbelief and be in Narnia.
136. When Jordan was two years old, he got a bajillion presents but he still preferred to play in the big cardboard box with me.
137. It's great when I'm working on the same math problem for hours, to the point that I'm almost pulling out my hair, and suddenly I figure out what I was doing wrong.
138. Poppy Don took us to see Bill Cosby one year.
139. I really like my friends, even in the moments when I don't like them. The world would be a crappy place without them in it. Sometimes, when I step back, I realize how much I like about them that I can't even articulate.
140. Five Iron Frenzy is so funny.
141. When I think of someone like Sherrill, or Justin, or my dad telling me how much they love me, it's like I have a strong hand on my shoulder and I can do anything I need to do.
142. I enjoy it when my professors talk about each other. Makes me feel like an insider of some sort. Or something.
143. Handwritten notes of any kind are pretty much always fantastic. That's probably more insider stuff. WERE IN A STORY GUYS, DONT THROW AWAY UR TRASH ITS IMPORTANT.
144. It doesn't always matter when someone doesn't approve of me. Truly. (Thank you, Debi Rutledge.)
145. I'm infatuated with the way Kelly's basement is lit with Christmas lights.
146. I'm also infatuated with smelly lotions yay!
147. I'm really grateful for humor.
148. Even though sometimes I don't think I can handle life, I keep trying because I have enough reason to try-- the reason, pared down to its purest form, is the people who love me, and the people I love. (Thank you, God.)
149. I am not at the equator right now.
150. I have never been to the equator.
151. I think Dad and Marty still have these love notes on their fridge from, like, at least ten years ago.

Surprises

111. The house always looks and smells and feels so welcoming.
112. Soft water for the summer!
113. I got much better grades than I expected.
114. I think my professors feel bad for me. Actual... pity, not just a vague sense of sympathy, "Well, you're a nice kid"-- no, I can hear the distinct gurgling, "You wound the heartstrings I didn't know I had." And I mean, it's kind of a weird, uncomfortable feeling, to be pitied, and I don't know what I'm doing to cause it, but I can't deny it helps me out sometimes.
115. Mrs Reddick is so cool that I actually miss being in her class.
116. My second year of college was really good. It scared me.
117. I'm glad I went on that trip to West Virginia. It scared me.
118. I'm trying to get a second job, though that scares the heck out of me too.
119. Mother bought me flowers, and they're really big and pink and soft and smell so wonderful I want to eat them, and I think this is the first time she's ever got flowers for me.
120. She is so patient with me.
121. So is Sherrill. And he's so gentle.
122. Sherrill likes Brayden, and Brayden likes Sherrill.
123. I keep finding out that I underestimated the incredibleness of my brothers and sister.
124. Jason Power seems to be kind of a miracle.
125. I like my car a lot.
126. Dad called me to find out when I'd be coming home.
127. He wrote a sweet card to Jenny and Jason.
128. Marty talks to me like an adult.

Snowflakes keep falling on my head

101. Priston's crush on Courtney is really funny, as is Courtney writhing in feigned terror.
102. Shalmar reminds me of Sharon Binkerd. A lot.
103. I enjoy Kelly's lists.
104. Elaine cooked for us. Those green beans were remarkable.
105. My family seem to like me for some reason.
106. I think I sort of understand, now, how adults feel when they return to their parents' houses.
107. Even though Kelly long ago removed her scarves from the lamp in our room, one of the (five) lights is still pathological.
108. Mrs Reddick really cares about people.
109. The last time I saw him before driving to Michigan in August 2006, Dad cried.
110. Falling snow is so pretty.

Food of the gods

87. I really, really like oranges. When eating one, I almost believe I'm eating ambrosia, or nectar, whichever one is the solid and not the liquid, you know.
88. I have my hearing and my vision can be corrected with contacts.
89. Nails or no nails, or an annoying combination of both, I have ten fingers.
90. Chioma has a unique way of phrasing things. (It tends to be very funny.)
91. Dr Keller always smiles at me from his seat when I'm entering or leaving assembly, even when I'm too frazzled to properly acknowledge him.
92. Kelly usually has to talk herself into getting out of the bed to brush her teeth before she goes to sleep.
93. I'm going to see Barry again.
94. Jeeves books are so funny.
95. Water is so yummy.
96. Jason calls Jenny "Spanky".
97. Courtney braided Kelly's hair.
98. Courtney capitalizes the most random words.
99. I like watching plays.
100. Jeremy lets me sit upside down on the recliner in his room.

Yep-ee-KAH-duf

69) Courtney fiddles around with other people's stuff in their absence.
70) Courtney and Kelly listen to me babble... reasonably often.
71) According to the Onion, Kansas has outlawed the "practice of evolution".
72) Tumble Bees is still an amazing game.
73) Roce. adj. 1. Uncomfortable, sticky. 2. (esp. of weather) Humid, warm, wet.
74) The top of Jordan's head always smells the same. It's a lot of fun to kiss.
75) Mother corrects herself when she uses "fun" as an adjective.
76) Kelly and Courtney really like Disney movies.
77) Karleigh is growing up.
78) So am I.
79) I like haiku. (I became aware of that yesterday.)
80) Matt Ford bringing the puzzle page of the paper into World Lit and pretending not to like the Jumble so that I can do it = good times.
81) Justin hangs out with B Martin.
82) My family were glad to see me on Thanksgiving break.
83) When one dresses a cat in a small sweater, it will suddenly lose its motivation to do anything but slink and sit awkwardly.
84) Mother makes our house welcoming by keeping it clean, lighting candles, and playing music.
85) For all practical purposes, Kelly's mom has an entire wall composed of necklaces she beaded herself. Oh yes. And they're organized by color.
86) Elijah Wood makes a really convincing, annoying Yasha, but Alan Rickman makes a really COOL Yepihodov.

Play-Doh

51) Kelly appreciates the sweet, sweet appeal of tiny photos.
52) She also keeps me up, talking, at night.
53) Simba smells just like China.
54) I can have a good conversation with a friend who isn't even old yet. And I do.
55) Court asked for John Golden's thoughts about Plato, and he replied, "It dries up."
56) Knitting is so satisfying, for some reason.
57) Only about 35 more days are between Brayden and me.
58) I figured out how to like my handwriting.
59) Jenny's gonna sing at Celebrate Recovery with Justin and Mother!
60) My mother enjoys her life.
61) Get Fuzzy is such a cute comic.
62) Also enjoyable is drawing makeup on pictures of male celebrities.
63) Jeremy used to have long hair. (This is COMPLETELY UNRELATED to #62.)
64) After we first read it, I kept misspelling "Odyssey".
65) Few things feel so incredible or look so ridiculous as a good stretch.
66) I get to brush my teeth every day.
67) Jordan's teacher says he's respectful toward both students and adults, and gentle.
68) Dad is so proud of Jordan.

"Don't chew ice; you'll get diarrhea!"

38. Poppy Don went to North Carolina with us.
39. Sherrill loves me.
40. The color palette outside my dorm window, and the stars through a polluted night, are traces of a dying world-- but they are gorgeous.
41. Steve Corp is gentlemanly.
42. I don't have a disease, an infection, or even a cold right now.
43. Halloween is coming.
44. Crash is a really good movie.
45. I liked watching it with Courtney and Kelly (and Nikki, there, for the last couple of minutes).
46. Kelly confides in me occasionally. I don't know why.
47. My left shoelace is black. My right shoelace is blue.
48. Eating ice is so much fun.
49. I love reading out loud with other people.
50. Courtney started a knitting fad among the students.

Crabby's just icing on the cake

Haven't forgot my own intention to continue that list.

26. I've got Jolly Ranchers.
27. Pop Rocks, as well.
28. Pencils and paper just pulse with life, don't they?
29. I am so less afraid than I was a year ago.
30. David Brackney. (Yes, that is a sentence! Leave me alone!)
31. I went on a walk with Sherrill once, somewhere in North Carolina, along a beach. I picked up a hermit crab and named it Alan.
32. Muffitt used to record cartoons onto VHS tapes and save them for my visits.
33. Courtney brought me into the fabric store so that she could use two coupons at once.
34. The Skillet cd comes out in about thirty hours.
35. I'm wearing nail polish. Well, except on one thumb.
36. I discovered today that I can bypass the ladder and switch directly from my bunk bed to the floor, and it is FUN.

Don't sing your last lullaby

Courtney is now asleep under her new brightly-colored Mexican blanket, but a little while ago we were reciting poems and talking about school. I noted my relative hopelessness as far as the Golden class is concerned, concluding, "Everything sucks."

"...But no, everything does not suck."

I know God's goodness -- regardless of my performance. So, with every intention to avoid artificiality, I think it'd be wise to remind myself.

1. The thunderstorm tonight is black, white, purple, loud and wet.
2. A thick layer of aspirin is on my face.
3. I've eaten enough for one and a half people since I got up.
4. Courtney has a Mexican blanket.
5. Rochester College tap water is easily accessible.
6. The newspaper next to me says "Vets regain command" -- and I can read it. Upside down.
7. I don't have to fear the future.
8. Jenny's eyes are amazingly blue.
9. I have some really great cds.
10. Yanni's "In My Time" is playing right now.
11. Mr Golden's expressions should have their own movie.
12. The college campus keeps surprising me with pretty things.
13. I have discovered Salvation Army.
14. There is such a thing as hair dye.
15. People wrote down some things Jesus did.
16. It got around to me.
17. I have all my teeth.
18. Jordan plays card games with me.
19. There are so many colors we could never name them all.
20. Light refracts in multiple directions when it hits a diamond.
21. The green of traffic lights is a delicious color.
22. Pencils keep ending up on the floor of this room.
23. The Skillet drummer is a girl.
24. This summer I might get a real job, learn some sign language, and/or work up the motivation to make some Monkey Bread. (You never know.)
25. Poppy Don likes to garden.