Nothing makes me feel like I'm getting older than the younger generation's obsession with text messaging.  I mean, I text message, I'm down with it.  But I can't get through an entire lecture without finding someone in my class who is messaging.  And they do it so blatantly.  It's really annoying!  I went out to dinner with my research assistant and her friend last night, and the entire dinner, they spent text messaging to their friends.  It made me feel kinda old honestly.  And then today, I'm working out at the gym, and what do I see?  Text messaging between sets.  This one guy is hogging a machine I'm waiting for, and between his gazillion sets of reps, he's text messaging.  Seriously.  And he's not the only one.   A little while later, I'm watching a girl as she text messages between sets.  I don't know why that bothers me so much, but come on!  Can we not get through a work out at the gym without texting our friends?  Or better yet, talking on the phone?  This electronic age has really gotten out of hand, that we can't even leave our cells at home and go for a nice workout.  I've seen people checking voicemails between sets, calling people, talking on the phone while working out, and now texting.  Maybe I'm just getting old, maybe I need to just get with it, but for some reason it really irks me!  Just had to share and see what people thought about this.

I do exist, I really do.  And to prove I exist, I'm going to post something.

You know when you hear a song and you can just totally relate to it?  Maybe it becomes your theme song?  Like do you ever have a song you listen to when you are blue?  Or upset? 

As I was working in a coffee shop, listening to my MP3 player, and a certain song came on, it just made me so happy.  I just thought of all the instances that this song was pertinent in my life.  Like, for instance, when I found out a couple weeks ago that I was not chosen for an interview for the THREE tenure-track positions in social psychology here at A&M, I blasted this song and sang to my heart's content.  The song is called "Leave Me Alone," and it's actually written by a friend of mine.  I pasted the lyrics below.  I can't even begin to describe how much JOY this song brings me.  Which is kind of odd, when you think about what the song says and such, but it's like he's saying what you know so many of us are thinking and can't actually say to the person.  So instead, we can sing alone in the solitude of our room and imagine we're actually doing it.  And it makes me smile, even laugh.

Leave Me Alone

Words and Music by Corey Heaslip

 

Please don’t feel the need to drop on by and say hello

I prefer you don’t

Let me say this now

You have grieved my soul

With the foolish words you wound me with

 

I choose to surround myself with

Happy places and not sour faces

So go on

 

Leave me alone I do not care to see you anymore

Go on and leave me alone

Leave me out of any of your future plans

I don’t want to see you anymore

 

And all this while I worked so hard

To look past our differences

And the things you say that burn me up inside

Now I’m pretty sure

I just don’t want to be around you anymore

 

And I’m sad to say

It’s purely personal

But I just don’t want you around me anymore

 

Leave me alone I do not care to see you anymore

Go on and leave me alone

Leave me out of any of your future plans

I don’t want to see you anymore

 

Bye, bye, bye

Bye, bye, bye

 

Bye, bye, bye

Bye, bye, bye

 

Well, let this get sorted out

Through the years

Long after

Left the pain

That brought on tears

 

Chorus

 

It feels like all that hard work may be finally paying off.  I found out yesterday evening that I've won an Outstanding Research Award.  It's an award I applied for with the Society for Personality & Social Psyc's graduate student committee, and am one of 4 winners.  I will be presenting my research in a symposium at our conference in February.

My first chapter in a book is out, I had a manuscript accepted for publication (needs revisions first), have a job, etc.  Can I just tell you how good it feels?  To feel like all my hard work is finally paying off? I know it won't always be this way, but right now I'm basking in these things, and feeling truly blessed by God.  And to top it all off, I have a wonderful boyfriend, and I am moving only 90 miles away from all the wonderful people of H-town.

It's weird though... that Puddlegum or Eyeore instinct in me wonders, how long can this keep up?  The law of averages. I hung out with Ashley yesterday and she ran into a friend of hers and as they were talking, Ashley was telling her how she was always positive, never negative.  I wish I could be that way more automatically, like that was my very nature.

I'm also copying Tim, it's fun!

1) Go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random The title of the page will be the name of your band

2) Go to http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3 The last four words of the last sentence of the page will be the name of your album

3) Got to http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/ The third pic, it doesn't matter what it is, will be the cover pic

I couldn't resist doing two, the 2nd is better in my opinion:

 

Praise the Lord, my soul;

            All my inmost being, praise his holy name.

Praise the Lord, my soul,

            And forget not all his benefits –

Who forgives all your sins

And heals all your diseases,

Who redeems your life from the pit

            And crowns you with love and compassion,

Who satisfies your desires with good things

            So that your youth in renewed like the eagle’s

 

The Lord works righteousness

            And justice for all the oppressed.

 

He made known his ways to Moses,

            His deeds to the people of Israel:

The Lord is compassionate and gracious,

            Slow to anger, abounding in love.

He will not always accuse,

            Nor will he harbor his anger forever;

He does not treat us as our sins deserve

            Or repay us according to our iniquities.

For as high as the heaves are above the earth,

            So great is his love for those who fear him;

As far as the east is from the west,

            So far has he removed our transgressions from us.

 

As a father has compassion on his children,

            So the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;

For he knows how we are formed,

            He remembers that we are dust.

As for mortals, their days are like grass,

            They flourish like a flower of the field;

The wind blows over it and it is gone,

            And its place remembers it no more.

But from everlasting to everlasting

            The Lord’s love is with those who fear him,

            And his righteousness with their children’s children –

With those who keep his covenant

            And remember to obey his precepts.

 

The Lord has established his throne in heaven,

            And his kingdom rules over all.

 

Praise the Lord, you his angels,

            You mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word

Praise the Lord, all his heavenly hosts,

            You his servants who do his will.

Praise the Lord, all his works

            Everywhere in his dominion.

 

Praise the Lord, my soul.