December 03, 2003

And To Think This Came About While Drinking a Coke…

After Engineering class I was thirsty, and I had a left over “Diet Coke with Lemon” that I had bought the day before. (the c-store ran out of water). I was drinking it, and I was procrastinating just a little bit, by just vegging and talking to people online. So, I was drinking this coke, but I was also in a “I want to learn” mode, so I told myself that I would look up what the label “phenylketonurics: contains phenylalanine” meant that is ALWAYS on the back of diet soda and lots of other foods. I mean, I have wondered this for a while (about 2 years) but have never looked it up. I encountered this really good website, PKU Disorder, and that was really informative. I find diseases interesting anyways, so I was in luck. YAY! But then, it “told” me to look up aspartame toxicity, and I did. (omg). The best website I found, “Aspartame is Poison!” was really informational as well, even though it is a LITTLE biased. I believe in everything what they say due to scientific findings.

Basically, aspartame (aka: Nutrasweet, equal, etc.) , when it reaches 82 F, breaks down to form an isochemical structure resembling wood alcohol, which is used as a lacquer thinner. So, all those times that you drink coffee and heat it up, guess what you’re drinking? Also, aspartame breaks down to formaldehyde (the solution used to preserve dead specimens…frog dissections). Formaldehyde is known to cause cancer because it builds up in your tissues permanently.

I’ve decided not to drink or eat anything with any form of aspartame ever again. I mean, it might not cause cancer, but if “you are what you eat”, I know for sure that I don’t want to be crap—because basically, that’s what it is.

And it’s fine if you want to consume it, but as for me, NO.

Posted by Courtney at 04:02 PM | Comments (658)

December 08, 2003

I’m Being a Good Girl

I’m waiting for my computer to defrag so that I can turn it off and go to bed. This way I can blog and stay awake even though I have class at 9:10. I’ll get up and go, nonetheless.

I swam 2500m today! It was really awesome because as a warmup I swam 1000m. Usually, I do 500m as an easy warmup, but today I wasn’t tired or a little out of breath, so I decided to swim a little longer (1000m exactly). It really made me happy because last week I wasn’t able to get good exercise in because of 5 exams and 1 project, but I made up for it tonight. Olympics, here I come!


I just spent a couple hours with my friends, and it was really great. It was kinda like a slumber party except that I am back in my room now. But for name’s sake, we’ll call it a slumber party because I was there for a couple hours, all of us (5) piled on the bed just talking nonsense.

YAY…the defrag is done, but I will keep writing just a little longer. For some reason, I have not been tired the past couple of days. For example, I stayed up till 5am on friday/saturday and then woke up at 11:30, and I was wide awake. I even went swimming, and I wasn’t tired yet. I knew that the Karl Gene was kicking in, but not this much.

I also went shopping this weekend at the Post Oak Mall, trying to find Christmas presents. I only got one person there gift, but that’s okay because 1)i’m poor 2) I usually go on christmas eve. I figure after school’s out, I’ll have lots of time to spend with friends and go shopping. Also, I really forgot how much I like going to the mall. I think the last time I went was about 1 year ago, but still, it was really fun to go and just look and “play.”

I’m really hungry now even though I had a can of soup at 9:30 (when I got home from church + swimming + showering). I could eat something, but there’s really no point because I am about to go to bed and my teeth are already sparkly clean.

These entries are really random (not logically connected), but that’s what’s going on in my head right now. I’m not usually traditional with this blog. Most people have a plan of what they’re going to write, but not me. I just start typing and let my thoughts flow out. That’s why sometimes I might seem incoherent.

Before I go to bed, people find me funny, and I don’t really know why. I say things that make them laugh, but I don’t try to. It’s kinda hard to explain, but my friends were telling me that tonight. It’s sad, but at the same time, very funny.

Well, I’m off to dream.

-Courtney-

Posted by Courtney at 02:31 AM | Comments (752)

December 14, 2003

Freedom, Cleaning, and Poetry

I have begun to realize my independence more now than ever before. It’s not like I didn’t have any sort of independence previously, but my actions are more individual and charcterstic of who I am that it’s not just the people that I am around. For example, the headline news that Sadaam Hussein was captured made it clear that people have totally different opinions. One of my friend’s friend said distinctly that “Sadaam Hussein shouldn’t have been caught at all.” Now, for me, this is a very different opinion, and I mean that’s cool, but everyone is very different. Also, I can basically do whatever I want to. One of my friends stays out very late at night and doesn’t apply themselves to what is before them. Again, this is the freedom of choice that gets us all. It’s hard to force yourself to do things that you want want to do, but of course, you know what you should be doing.

Also, I cleaned the dorm room last night. OH MY GOSH!…it was disgusting. I mean, we’re very clean, but when you live in a space that is the size of half a garage, it gets kinda nasty. I mean, hair and shedding and eh, gross. That is one of the things that we have to do before we get kicked out of our dorm for the Christmas break. We have to 1)sweep/mop 2)defrost the frig 3)put down the blinds 4)clear everything out of the medicine cabinet 5) turn the thermostat to 70 degrees F. Yea…I think that’s it. We’ve(Kelly and I) only done #1 as of now, but we’re going to defrost tomarrow and all of the other ones we can do when we are about to make a retreat from our currenIt residence of living. Also, I think it’s great (sarcastic) how we are practically kicked out of our dorm for a month. It’s like, “you’ve been here for a while, but now, you have to leave” It kind of reminds me when you’re at a friends house when you’re about 6 years old, spending the night, and your friend tells you that she wants you to leave because she “doesn’t want to be your friend anymore.” Wow…that is really annoying. I really despized that when I was in elementary school. It was so immature, and I thought that the kid was insecure with themselves.

I am very excited about coming home for Christmas, for I get to 1)go shopping for Christmas gifts 2)go swimming with Kari like we did in the summer 3)make money at a good job 4) see all of my friends whom are at different schools 5)relax 6)no school work 7)etc…

Well, I shall go, but before that, I will leave you with a poem I wrote about Christmas time.

“Zestful Christmas”

pure and white
so full of grace
a baby born,
a wonderful place

who made this world?
it is not i
perfection conceived
the time draws nigh

upon that eve
we like to say
this infant now
is here to say

purposeful,
he had to go
only his father,
he did bestow

a gift so great,
we can not feel
until the gift
will be revealed

so guard your heart
live life with zest, and
make your Christmas
be the best!

Posted by Courtney at 04:29 PM | Comments (516)

December 26, 2003

Reason for the Season

Christmas was wonderful, except for our house almost catching on fire (long story), but it’s not the same when 35-40 people are flooded into our house. That’s what next year is for. It felt different, but that’s okay because I am accustomed to having so many people in the house. All in all…it was good. Also, the white elephant gift exchange was probably the best it had been. I captured a 100 CD holder from Discgear. It was really nice, and that is one thing that I actually needed. Anyways, for the sake of time, I’ll just list what I received, if I remember.

1.Digital Camera
2. Camera Case
3. Battery Pack
4. Memory Card
5. “Finding Nemo” DVD
6. 2 perfumes…”8” and “For one”
7. $20 Cinemark gift card
8. Peacoat jacket
9. Sweater
10. 2 shirts
11. Adobe Photoshop 7
12.Cute socks
13. Pajamas w/Garfield doing Yoga
14. a new tire
15.Nike wind pants
16. Lots of love from my family

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE! EARLY HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Courtney

Posted by Courtney at 09:39 PM | Comments (549)