the child at the redbox.

Lately I've been finding the adult American society way too childish for my liking.

Today, I found something that made it even more so.

I shall explain with the story of the child man at the Redbox.

My dad and I went to the Redbox at our local Walgreens to rent some movies today. As we drove up, and I was getting out, some other guy drove up as well. I got out and went to stand in line.

After I'd been standing there a good minute, waiting for the family in front of me to finish, that *$%@# man got out of his car, and went in front of me in line! Just cut me in line!

I'm sure I sound very childish with that last line, but that's about what he did. He acted like a little second grader - you know how standing in lines is so important to little kids.

I didn't say anything. I'm not sure why. Maybe I didn't know what to say. Maybe I just didn't want to sound childish and immature. Maybe I didn't want to... I don't know.

Now I'm regretting that I didn't say anything. That I just let him take advantage of me. Like it doesn't matter that just because I'm a teen, an adult can go and do that to me. People like that make me so mad!

And what's worse, right after my dad and I were done, the same sort of thing was repeated again. A man had been waiting in his car for us to finish, while some other guy drove up and jumped in front of him.

Had that man asked us if he could quickly rent something because he's in a hurry, sure, I'd have let him. Of course. I mean, while we were waiting for the child man to finish, a lady drove up and asked us if she could quickly just return her movie. We said yes.

It's people like that lady who restore my faith in humanity. Thank you, lady with long blond hair. You're amazing.

P.S: I've changed my Blogger username to my real name, Kinga. Also, my last post was very upset-sounding (thanks Brooke for letting me know) so I've decided to delete it. I was sort of frustrated at myself when I wrote it, I guess. So forget everything I said in that post, except that I got Photoshop CS5 Extended for Christmas :)

2011

Usually, when New Year's Eve rolls around, I have two, maybe three 'resolutions' that I attempt to work on for the new year. But, of course, those resolutions are forgotten by February or March.

By the time December comes, I can hardly remember what those resolutions were in the first place, let alone have them implemented in my life.

So this New Year's, while I have many more 'resolutions' than on average, I'm determined to try my best to keep them.

First and foremost, I want to stop blogging so much. 

Blogger - and indeed, graphic design as well - is nothing more than pixels on a screen, yet I spend hours each day online and on the computer. And at the end of each day, I look up and think, what has spending so much time on the laptop given me? What have I accomplished today? The answer - usually - amounts to absolutely nothing. Blogging only takes away from my real life and my relationship with my friends, my family, and, most importantly, God.

I want to become stronger in my faith as a Catholic. 

I want to read my Bible every day and listen to the sermon in church without having my thoughts wander to other subjects. I want this blog to glorify God, even if I lose a few followers along the way, because blogging is about being myself and expressing who I am without caring that somebody out there on a computer doesn't want to read this.

I want to try out a new recipe each month.

I love to bake, but I'm usually too lazy to do so. When I'm not, I stick to the same-old, same-old recipes that I always use. This year, I want to make at least one new dessert each month that I've never made before, and try recipes from different cultures.

I want to write more often.

Maybe I won't be able to do that every day, but I want to keep working on poems and short stories and have a final draft of my NaNoWriMo novel finished by the end of 2011 (and, of course, do NaNo '11 as well).

I need to be content with myself and who I am.

Rather than wishing and praying I could be different, I want to be able to embrace myself as the person I am - even if I'm too skinny, even if I look too young for my age, even if I'm not that pretty. For the last few years, I've been praying that I won't be as skinny and look so young and be so (I'll be blunt here) flat. Now, I've begun to pray instead that I can love myself as who I am, as that skinny little kid who's really almost 14.

I want to find time just enjoying the simple things life has to offer.

 I want to be with my family and with my friends more often.  

Read more often and take more photos (maybe even start a business to sell my photos).

Keep knitting, drawing, and papier-mache-ing (but do it more often).

I want to keep training Kusy and teach him to reliably obey the basic commands. 

Study harder for school and keep up my good grades.

Give gifts generously, be grateful for even the smallest things, and love.

Break

Today, as I was on the bus home, I saw the sky darken into that lovely shade that represents only snow.

I couldn't wait to be out there with my camera to snap a few pictures of the flurries that were getting ready to drift down steadily.

The whole time, though, I was thinking about how I should post these pictures on my blog, write about this on my blog.

And I hate that. I don't want to spend my holidays thinking about blogging. I really don't. So I'm taking a break. If I don't, I'll end up checking Blogger every day, spending hours procrastinating.

I have a high school entrance exam Saturday, and I need to study. I have a project due Monday, and I need to work on it. And if I don't take a break, I'll be procrastinating on Blogger.

So goodbye, friends, for some time. Maybe I'll come back in January. Maybe I'll come back later. Who knows?

I've Been Dreaming of a White Christmas...

Goodness! Where has this time gone! It's been nearly a week since I last posted.

Well, life's been... busy. Since I last blogged....

It snowed! Yes, we got around 3 inches down on the ground, and sticking, last Saturday. I got up early on Saturday, just after six, and went outside to take a few photos. It was still dark, so most of them didn't turn up well. This one did. Before the snow, it didn't seem like December, like Christmas was only a few weeks away. Now, I'm listening to Christmas carols on the radio :)

Kusy had a lot (and I mean a lot) of fun in the snow.

That orange ball is the remains of a Good Cuz. It is missing its legs and no longer squeaks, so we bought him an early Christmas gift of a new, green one. He loves it already :)

I love how crisp and sharp this photo turned out.

Ah, going on a long, trans-Siberian trek with his faithful orange ball...

... and then running insanely throughout the snow-covered yard and the piles of poop that the flurries hide. Oh, joy.

Of course, what snowy day would be complete without hot chocolate and marshmallows?

Note: I just released a digital scrapbooking kit, called Let it Snow, on my design blog, Tabby Cat Designs. It's my first one, so it's not too good. If you'd like to download it, free, go here.

And a special thanks to all of my followers and readers - your comments mean so much to me, they make me smile. Thanks a ton to everyone! If I could, I would give you a free pie or a cookie or a cake, or something :)