So I'm in the midst of housesitting right now. And I'm in Rancho Santa Margarita. It's far away from everyone. But.. It's kind of okay. It's far enough that I get time to be alone, but close enough that people will make the trek out here. And Irvine is halfway inbetween. Like, I'm a socialable person, most people can attest to that. But sometimes, it's nice to be away. It's like I'm on vacation, even though I have to go to work and school. I don't mind it.

Although all week long, all I've wanted was my journal. I meant to grab it from home when I went for Thanksgiving, and I totally forgot. I've had some weird feelings and thoughts lately. Not weird. More like.. I don't know. I miss my daily personal journal. I can tell you what was going on almost every day my Senior year. And I wish I could reread what's gone on everyday of this past year. I wish I could go through and read about how much I've grown. How my spiritual walk has changed dramatically in a great way. How my thoughts towards certain people have changed. How my motivations have changed. How the people that used to make me laugh now make me roll my eyes. Just little things like that. I have to think about it, and I know some of the things are foggy. Hah. Makes me wish I was a vampire. Not like in a weird way.. But cuz they have impeccable memories. They can remember everything that's happened (since becoming a vampire).. And I wish I could do that.

I'm so thankful for my friends these days. And for my family.

I'm going to the Philippines for two weeks in a little over a month. I am so beyond excited. I'm so grateful for a job that will let me have the time off.

God is faithful. All the time.

I remember when I was little, and the excited that would spread throughout the neighborhood during a blackout. The three family’s on our end of the block with kids would play hide and seek – where home base was the big palm tree between Brandon’s house and Mr. Ray and Miss Barabara’s house. Count to 60 then find everyone else. We’d played hide and seek a lot, but for some reason, I have this vivid memory of a black out time. And how excited we all were. I remember moving the PlaySkool toy in Matt and Becca’s backyard closer to the fence next to Brandon and Kevin’s house, so that we could jump the fence. Then opening the gate and booking it down the street.

I enjoy blackouts. The last time we had a good black out, it was at night and we were all home. It was so cool. Because it actually let our family had time to hang out together. No TV. No computers. No phone calls. No lights. We busted out the camping lights and did puzzles. I think family’s these days would be a lot happier if we had a weekly evening blackout. Force the family to be together. It’d be good for everyone.

Okay, long story, but pretty trippy.

So, a few months ago - probably in like, October - I got a text around midnight from someone that said something about "I hate the fact that I never meet people's expectations" or something like that. And when I say "someone", I mean, some totally and completely random person that wasn't in my phone book and that I'd never met before (Found out that they had just mistyped their friend's number and it happened to be my number instead). So I responded with something about "Um, I think you have the wrong number.. But no body's perfect and it's not fair for people to expect things of you that they can't give you themselves.. So don't worry" and we ended up talking for like, an hour and I just tried to help the person out. This complete stranger that seemed to be having a rough night and I ended with telling them that if they ever needed to talk to someone who's completely unbiased, I'm up for it. Then I never heard from them again.

Then tonight, I asked Edson for this girl Julie's number because I needed to give her directions to LQ, and instead of texting me back, she called. And I was like "Uh, hello?" And she was like "Oh my gosh, Kelsey! Do you remember a few months ago how some random girl texted you at night and they were having a rough time and they accidently texted you and you ended up just comforting them?" And I was like "Um, yeah...?" And she was like "That was me! I kept your number in my phone with a note that you were 'the girl that encouraged me that one night' and then you texted me tonight after hanging out with me.. And you're the same girl!!"

So freaking random. And awesome. And such a small world!!

This totally reminds me of that phrase "We all smile in the same language". That it really can affect someone's day if you make a little effort to help someone. And I offered her an ear.. or eye... month ago, and she remembered me. How bizarr. How trippy. And how awesome.

So the lesson from my xanga entry today? Be nice to someone. Affect their life. Give them a smile. Give the a hand. Give them an ear. Give them a hug.

It's a world of laughter, a world of tears. It's a world of hope, and a world of fears. There's so much that we share, that it's time we're aware. It's a small world after all.

I was so appalled today in my Sociology class.
It was.. so... disturbing.

The topic was sexuality, and we went through tons of different things. Homosexuals, tran-sexuals, rape, prostitution, affairs, abortion, teen sex, pre-marital sex. It was actually pretty interesting. And disturbing.

Did you know China let's you rent hotel rooms by the hour? For 12 bucks, you can rent a room for 3 hours. In 1989, 15% of Chinese had sex before marriage, in 2007, it was up to 60-70%. High school girls are making up 80% of the patients at abortion clinics (at one of the clinics, an abortion is $140, but if you decide not to use anesthesia, it's only $55..). The adults don't approve of premarital sex, so they aren't teaching about it to the level that is actively being.. lived.

You know what's sad? That's not what disturbed me.

Our professor asked us "What did your parents teach you about sex?" and "What will you teach your kids?". I wrote down the answers because of how shocked I was.

What did your parents teach you?
-Don't be a fool, wrap your tool
-Love should be a key, but it's okay if it's not. Just be ready to deal with the consequences.

What will you teach your kids?
-I'll leave it to the schools to teach my kids
-Safe sex
-Premarital sex isn't bad
-Extramarital sex isn't cheating

Whoa whoa whoa. Excuse me? Notice how NO WHERE on those lists does it say "Don't have sex" or "abstinence"... The class laughed when the teacher said "What do you think about people saying that you having sex with someone now can be seen as having sex with someone's future spouse, so in essence, it's cheating"..

I was just, flabbergasted. The kids in my group were like "How can you marry someone if you don't know how the sex is going to be? I couldn't do that"... And they looked at me like I was speaking Greek when I said "well, if no one has sex before marriage, then you have nothing to compare it to, so you can't say if it's bad or not"... It was just. So amazing. No one in that class was told not to have sex before marriage. And they thought it was insane to ever suggest it.

Is that seriously what the world has come to? The idea of abstinence is really that far fetched? I'm so... So disappointing in the world.

Holy. Crap.

So yesterday I learned something new.
Redheads are going to be extinct by 2060.
Since red hair is the recessive gene and in order to produce more redheads both parents have to have the trait.
And (I kid you not) because so many people are migrating here from Asia and dark haired countries, the chances of two red hair gene carrying people to have a baby is very slim..
And apparently the color green tames redheads and their temper.
And our hair doesn't turn gray. Our hair turns sandy, then white. Kinda cool.
Redhaired slaves were sold for a higher price in Rome.
We are more susceptable to pain.
Redheads are only 2% of the population in the US.
Red hair is a genetic mutation
It takes more anesthetic to sedate us.
Redheads have the least amount of hair on their heads.

Crazy.