I'M A DORK!

Lately, I've kind of been feeling like a dork.  Here's a few reasons why....


First, I talk with my tumbling students and my nieces and nephews about current shows on the Disney Channel.  Yes I've seen every episode of Hannah Montana and Wizards of Waverly Place.  Currently, I've gotten into Shake It Up, which is all about two best friends dancing and being goofballs.  Good Luck Charley and Phineas and Pherb are getting up on my list, too.  When I visit home, the first thing I do is turn on the Disney Channel to see what's on - it drives my family crazy.  But hey, the way I see it, these are good, wholesome shows that don't sneak in all the crap the world brings to TV these days.  Even more so, it makes me smile and laugh, and I like that!


Second, I've faced the fact that, yes, I am a clutz, and a BIG one, too.  Up until now, I've denied this.  It never even hit me until one of my best friends, Matt, told me that I was a clutz one time when he visited Logan (where ice becomes the new sidewalk).  I replied, "It's because I've been a dancer all my life.  Everyone thinks dancers are graceful, but that's only on the dance floor."  And he said, "No, you can't hide behind that excuse.  It's not because you've always been a dancer, it's because you're you."  Well, here I am, admitting it.  That's the first step, so I hear.


Third, I am a HUGE Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, and Miley Cyrus fan, in that order.  Whenever I hear any of their songs, I can't help but dance and sing along. Yes, I know that it's the "cool thing" to dislike each of them, but I've never been much of a hater.  As one of my roommates put it two days ago, "[Callie's] a fan of everything."  And in all honesty, I took that as a compliment. I am a fan of everything. There is very little that I dislike, and that "very little" includes the majority of rap, which rhymes with crap (note: there is some rap I do like... like JB's).  Like I already said, I've never been much of a hater - there's just too much to like in this world.  There's too much to enjoy! Oh P.S. I'm a huge fan of David Archuleta, too.


Fourth, I LOVE HARRY POTTER!  I can't count how many times I've watched the movies and I'm reading the books again.  They're just so good.  There's action, love, humor, and bravery.  What else does a person need?  Not to mention all that can be learned from HP!  What can be learned from a fictional story?  Read on, my friend!  I'll list the best of HP at the end of this post.


Lastly, I make a vision board every year, I organize my closet by colors, I love my alone time, I always sing out loud when I drive in my car, I have a Belle piggy bank that I still use, I love chocolate milk, I can never refuse sweets, my nail polish never consists of regular colors and I use glitter as a top coat, I love love and believe in fairy tales, I still love to make and wear friendship bracelets, and I've been grounded from reading too many times to count in my lifetime.  If I were a movie character, I would be Amanda Bynes in Sydney White.  And if an actress were to play me in my life, it would be Amanda Bynes, because she's the only one who'd be able to accurately capture who I am.  As she proudly exclaims in the movie previously mentioned, "I'm a dork!"


As I said at the beginning, I've recently felt especially like a dork.  That is until a couple days ago when one of my coworkers was exclaiming how cool I am.  At first, I thought he was kidding,  I'm not cool, I'm just me! And then I just got way confused when he said it again more seriously, "You're so cool!" After all, he had recently overheard me talking about Hannah Montana with one of my students, he laughed with me as I tripped over the mats in the gym (two days in a row even - and he witnessed both of them), and he joked with me when I exclaimed how I love the song "Solo" by Jason Derulo because I can always jam out to it since it always applies (lol, true story).  How in the world could someone see me as "cool" after all of that?  Apparently, it was all of those things that made me cool, and the fact that I was totally fine with it all and laughed about it.


And once again, I realize/remember that it's each of our individual dorky things that makes us who we are.  It's what makes us different from everyone else.  Our dorkiness keeps us from being replicas.  Our dorkiness is what makes each of us "cool" and unique.  I'm pretty sure that the huge glasses that everyone wears these days is proof that DORKINESS = COOLNESS, even though I will never give in to the big glasses fad (in my opinion, Harry Potter's the only one who can get away with it, and his aren't even the full size of the ones people wear today... well, maybe the Biebster can get away with it, too, only because he's so cool, though).


Anyways, it seems as though everyone is always trying to hide the cool dorky things about themselves.  It's as though being different is a disease that needs to be cured.  In all of the media there's tips on what to do on a first date, how to make your hair look absolutely perfect, how to get the supermodel body, what to do in sticky situations, how to get the guy/girl you've always dreamed of, etc.  There's SO MANY do's and don'ts. Whatever happened to just being yourself? 




We each have so much to offer in our own unique, or dorky, ways.  Even if it means making another person laugh because you just tripped over your own feet - at least you got them to laugh, and hopefully you laughed, too!  I just think that trying to be like everybody else is a waste of life and is over-rated.  I love the quote, "Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else."  Nobody can be a better you than you can.


SO, HERE I EXCLAIMING THAT.... 


I'M A DORK!  MOST IMPORTANTLY, I AM ME!


HOORAY!



Alright, as promised, here's the best (or some of the best) of Harry Potter...





From Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Book I)

“It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.” —Albus Dumbledore

“The truth… is a beautiful and terrible thing, and therefore should be treated with caution…” —Albus Dumbledore

“It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, just as much to stand up to our friends.” —Albus Dumbledore

“Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself.” —Albus Dumbledore



From Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Book II)

“It is our choices… that show what we are, far more than our abilities.” —Albus Dumbledore

“Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can't see where it keeps its brain.” —Arthur Weasley

“The best of us must sometimes eat our words.” —Albus Dumbledore



Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Book III)

“You can exist without your soul, you know, as long as your brain and heart are still working. But you'll have no sense of self anymore, no memory, no....anything. There's no chance at all of recovery. You'll just exist. As an empty shell.” —Remus Lupin



From Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

“If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.” — Sirius Black

“I sometimes find, and I am sure you know the feeling, that I simply have too many thoughts and memories crammed into my mind.... At these times... I use the Pensieve. One simply siphons the excess thoughts from one's mind, pours them into the basin, and examines them at one's leisure.” —Albus Dumbledore

“Curiosity is not a sin.... But we should exercise caution with our curiosity.” —Albus Dumbledore

“Numbing the pain for a while will make it worse when you finally feel it.” —Albus Dumbledore

“You place too much importance on the so-called purity of blood! You fail to recognize that it matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be! —Albus Dumbledore

“It is my belief... that the truth is generally preferable to lies.” —Albus Dumbledore

“Differences of habit and language are nothing at all if our aims are identical and our hearts are open.” —Albus Dumbledore

“Understanding is the first step to acceptance, and only with acceptance can there be recovery.” —Albus Dumbledore

“Dark and difficult times lie ahead. Soon we must all face the choice between what is right and what is easy… Remember, if the time should come when you have to make a choice between what is right, and what is easy, remember what happened to a boy who was good, and kind, and brave, because he strayed across the path of Lord Voldemort.” —Albus Dumbledore



Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix (Book V)

“The mind is not a book to be opened at will and examined at leisure. Thoughts are not etched on the inside of skulls, to be perused by an invader. The mind is a complex and many-layered thing.” —Severus Snape

“Indifference and neglect often do much more damage than outright dislike.” —Albus Dumbledore

“Youth cannot know how age thinks and feels. But old men are guilty if they forget what it was to be young.” Albus Dumbledore



Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Book VI)

“It is the unknown we fear when we look upon death and darkness, nothing more.” —Albus Dumbledore

“We must try not to sink beneath our anguish... but battle on.” — Albus Dumbledore.

“People find it far easier to forgive others for being wrong than being right. — Albus Dumbledore.



Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book VII)

Ron: “He [Dumbledore] must have known I’d run out on you.”
Harry: “No, he must have known you’d always want to come back.”


thanks to http://dwickedangel.blogspot.com/2007/08/harry-potter-quotes.html !!!!!!!!!!

Cindy Lou Who

Here I am watching the Grinch with my roommates and it reminded me of some things I've been thinking about for the last week.


I don't think it's about whether we are the Grinch or not, but whether we are like some of the Whovilles and the Whoville mayor, or Cindy Lou Who.


People like the Whoville mayor care about status and items of great worth more than people of great worth.  They are the kinds of people who judge others.  The Whoville mayor defined the Grinch as a bad person.  He saw no good in him and brought out all of his flaws.


I think there is already too much criticism and judgement in this world.  There's too much gossip, negativity, and hard feelings.  Where are all of the Cindy Lou Who's?  Because of his actions and looks, the Grinch was judged as being heartless.  But all it took was a little girl to believe in him and he changed.  She knew that just because she couldn't see his heart, didn't mean he didn't have one.  Instead of looking at his obvious flaws, she searched for the good inside of him.  And she found it.


And as we look for the good in others, we will find it, too.  


The Grinch was treated poorly, so he acted poorly.  As soon as one seemingly insignificant person treated him with kindness, he felt the love inside his heart and showed it.  All it takes is one person. All it takes is one person to believe in the good in another for a heart to grow three sizes.


We are all children of God, we all have good, we all have bad.What matters is what we choose to act on.  And when the prophets teach us about charity, it doesn't mean serving others by fixing them.  It's not about picking out their flaws to make them change.  It's about picking out the goodness in their hearts that already exists.  We all chose to come to this earth to prove ourselves and make it back to our Heavenly Father to live with those we love for eternity.  We are all on the same team.  We should be helping each other to be our best selves and to show the good.  We should be helping each other to make it back to our Heavenly Father.


Maybe we should prove that there is good in this world instead of proving that there is bad.  We already know that there is bad in this world.  Just watch the news and you'll see, because that's almost all they focus on.  But it doesn't mean we should do the same.


There's so much good in others and so much good in this world.  I just think it's a waste of life to ignore that.  
For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson


In my opinion, there should be more Cindy Lou Who's.



"Besides the world isn't split up into good people and death eaters, we've all got both light and dark inside of us. What matters is the part we choose to act on."






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