Do you lack confidence in yourself, do you wish you could do better in university, or work? Do you wish you could chat up that bit of alright at the bar?

I know how you feel. My name is Perry Garland, and attempted suicide by a person close to me has knocked my confidence for years, but it is only now I am doing something about it.

After another event a few years after the incident, I realised that happiness is only done by two things. By what improves us, and by what we enjoy.

So it is my attempt this year to complete ten resolutions to the best of my capabilities. These are

Five to Improve Myself (Improve Confidence)

1. Learn a Language
2. Improve chances for a career in the Media
3. Become more sociable
4. Acquire a new look/Dress more mature and sophisticated
5. Become more organised.

Five to Make me Happy (Positive Outlook on Life)

1. Become a winning poker player ($200 to $2500)
2. Learn a new sport
3. Get fit/Get a 6-pack.
4. Get money-savvy (Save £1000 minimum.)
5. Learn to Cook

I will try to blog and vlog when I have the time, which hopefully becomes more when I can move to London for uni.

Hope you all enjoy it!

Perry.

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This post was submitted by Perrygarl.

http://abetter2010.wordpress.com/

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This post was submitted by A Better Person.

So, how do I go about doing this, and why do I think he would intern me?
I must first figure out exactly what I am going to say to him, exactly how to convince him that I am worth his time. THEN I shall work on figuring out how to Email/phone/contact him.

What makes me think that I have a chance?
Steve Jobs is a very rare person, the skills he has are not taught in any type of school/college/university. So he can’t just hire a person to help him with what he wants to achieve, he can’t hire someone to bounce ideas off of. Anyone he hired would be fake and scripted, and would be to in awe of him or insulted by him that they would prove no use to him, or could not stand him. That is not saying that people like that aren’t out there, just that you can’t just hire someone like what he needs. This is where I come in. I don’t have a college degree, or even a highschool diploma, but that doesn’t matter. He doesn’t need someone with that kind of knowledge. He needs someone willing to learn the SKILLS that he has, and use them and perfect them to work with him, to achieve great things. He needs someone not willing to just take his knowledge and use it, but also to challenge him to perfect his knowledge. So not only do I wish to intern for Steve Jobs, but also become his best friend.
Tell me what you think.

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This post was submitted by Daniel Redding.

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This post was submitted by Daniel Redding.

So I have obviously been slacking off on my Memorable Tuesday blog writing. I haven’t been slacking off on having Memorable Tuesdays though. So here’s a brief rundown of Memorable Tuesdays #11-15.

Memorable Tuesday #11: March 17, 2009 was memorable because of a Bible study I attended with some of my new friends at the Granny White church of Christ. The Bible study was over Psalm 42 and was very enlightening. This Tuesday was also memorable because my fiancé, Adam, finally finished reading all the Harry Potter books! Now I can talk to him freely about the books without ruining any of the plots for him (like how Neville and Professor McGonagall get married)!

Memorable Tuesday #12: March 24, 2009 was memorable because I had a last minute change of plans. I was going to attend another Tuesday Bible study, but I got sick and stayed at home instead. My friend Ashley and her dog Tootie Pants came to visit my sickly self. We watched the Twilight movie because Ashley hadn’t seen it yet. We both agreed that the book was better. Adam, who was forced to watch the movie for the second time, decided he had seen the movie two times too many and that they used too much “spinny cam” in the movie. Adam did however discover a very yummy pizza place called Jet’s Pizza! When he went to pick up the pizza he sent me a text message that claimed the pizza weighed at least 15 pounds! It’s our new favorite pizza place!

Memorable Tuesday #13: March 31, 2009 was memorable because I got to celebrate the previously mentioned Chrystina’s birthday at the Cheesecake Factory (she’s a cheesecake queen!). This Tuesday was also memorable because I got to unfortunately file my first ever insurance claim for a car wreck. The previous day I caused a fender bender after dropping a Taylor Swift CD and briefly looking down to see where it had gone. Everyone was ok and I have good insurance coverage, so it all turned out ok in the end!

Memorable Tuesday #14: April 7, 2009 was a memorable Tuesday because I met new people and ate at a new restaurant (well, a new restaurant to me). I accompanied my friends Ashley and Kylie to a dinner with a couple other girls at Davinci’s Pizza. It was nice meeting new people, and the food was good. Jet’s Pizza is still my new favorite pizza place, though.

Memorable Tuesday #15: April 14, 2009 was a memorable Tuesday because my car hates me or cars in general hate me. While driving down I-65 to an appointment for work my check engine light came on and my car began to jerk (or as a friend suggested it started to “dry heave”). Luckily, I knew what the problem was since Adam and I had the same experience only a couple months ago. So, I pulled the car over and ended up right under the Demonbreun bridge. I attempted to call Adam, but he was impossible to wake up since his phone was on silent. I then called Giana, my friend/co-worker, who picked me up and took me to where Adam was. After waking Adam up and explaining to him the predicament he helped me take care of the problem. There’s obviously a leak in the car’s transmission since the exact same thing happened to me only months ago and it was because the car was low on transmission fluid. Of course, by the time we got back to my car its battery was dead because I had left the lights on (that’s such a me thing to do!). We gave my car more transmission fluid and Adam and his dad are going to try and fix the car this weekend. It’s just one more car issue to add to the many I have had in my life. Maybe my resolution for next year should be to go to car mechanic school.

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This post was submitted by Sarah.

Time flies.

As you get older, time seems to go by faster and faster. The reason is simple: When you’re young, everything is a fresh new adventure you’re just stepping into. But the older you are, the less there is in the world and in your life that is really new.

As the new slowly fades from your life, you fall into routines, and so time slips by amazing quickly.

The only way to stop this is to add newness to your life, by doing things you would never normally do. How?

If you’re me, this is how:

I was returning a movie to McDonalds when I became caught up in the outdoors. The air was great, and I wanted to experience it. So instead of driving home, I headed towards the lake. But then I changed my mind. And as I turned around I saw a nice little convenience store that looked like it might host a few murderings and hold-ups every week. Normally, I would have just kept going. But today, I was following life where it wanted to take me.

I turned around in someone’s driveway, and headed into the store to pick up a 16oz bottle of Coke (I would normally do 20oz) and some dried plantain chips (I would normally get banana chips). Although this store seemed like it might host its fair share of near-death encounters, something about it was ALIVE. More importantly, something about it was new.

I sat in the parking lot for a few minutes, enjoying the sun, and then impulsively headed towards the library. I was following the road where it would lead.

In the library parking lot, I got out and looked around. I didn’t really want to go inside, but I was here to experience something. Suddenly, a narrow trail leading into the woods caught my eye.

Now, if you’re me, you spent your childhood reading books about imaginative adventures that happen when children take off down hidden and mysterious trails. And you know that if you are too afraid to follow the trail where it will lead, you’ll miss out on an ancient treasure or mystery just waiting to unveil itself. In fact, just seeing a trail is enough to magically obligate you to take it. If you’re not me, you probably find this line of thought weird and disorienting. But since I AM me, I naturally took the trail.

There I was, winding my way through bushes and small evergreens, under branches, imagining myself to be taking the red pill and heading into Alice’s dream. What wonderland or adventure might lie at the end of this trail?

Maybe I would stumble upon a secret civilization, or a million dollars stashed away. Maybe I would uncover an alien landing site, or fall down a hole into an alternate universe.

Instead, I stumbled upon a homeless guy. Or rather, his…uh…house. Everything was well outfitted, from the nice clothesline, to the mattress he was sleeping on. Boxes were stacked everywhere. Perhaps he still hadn’t gotten around to unpacking.

And he was fast asleep on the mattress, wearing sunglasses, and looking quite a bit like Bono.

I stood there a while, walking around, wondering if he would wake up. He was apparently quite at peace with his environment. As…um…”houses” for homeless people go, this guy was living in a mansion.

So I let him sleep, and headed back towards the library, with my memorable day stuck firmly in my pocket.

And that’s how I do it.

-micah

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This is my friend Chrystina. She is an expert cheesecake maker. She has made cheesecakes for family, friends, weddings, and even royalty (ok…not really on the royalty, but they would enjoy them if she did!).

This is me. I am an expert at doing the robot; however, I have never made a cheesecake.

Tuesday March 10, 2009 was memorable because my friend Chrystina, the expert cheesecake maker, came to my apartment and taught me how to make Oreo cheesecake. Chrystina informed me that the Oreo cheesecake was the first cheesecake she ever made and she has never had a complaint about it. Here is the Oreo cheesecake recipe:

What you need:
1 pkg Oreo cookies
¼ cup (1/2 stick) butter or margarine, melted
4 pkg. (8 oz each) PHILADELHPIA cream cheese, softened (I was told by the cheesecake expert that it does make a difference which cream cheese you use. You must use PHILADELPHIA cream cheese if you want a good cheesecake. MUST.)
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup sour cream
4 eggs

Directions:
Heat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
Line 13×9 inch pan with foil, with ends of foil extending over sides. (We used a springform pan and did not put foil in it.) Process 30 cookies in food processor until finely ground (Chrystina did this for me before she came over.) Add butter; mix well. Press onto bottom of pan.

Beat cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla in large bowl with mixer until well blended. Add sour cream; mix well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each. Chop remaining cookies; stir 1-1/2 cups into batter. Pour over crust; top with remaining chopped cookies.

Bake 45 min or until center is almost set. Cool completely. Refrigerate 4 hours. Use foil handles to lift cheesecake from pan before cutting to serve (since we used a springform pan we ran a knife completely around the edge and then opened the pan).

Being the cheesecake expert she is, Chrystina also gave me some general rules one must remember when making cheesecake. They are as follows:

1. After you put the cheesecake in the oven DO NOT open the oven until it is done baking or evil flying monkeys will be set upon you.
2. Bake the cheesecake 5 minutes less than the directions say (i.e. 40 instead of 45 min for above recipe).
3. Let the cheesecake cool 100% before refrigerating or you’ll have the Grand Canyon of cheesecakes.
4. Cover the cheesecake but not too tightly when it’s refrigerated. If you do not cover it it’ll taste like other things in your refrigerator (i.e. almost spoiled milk, pickles, old spaghetti sauce, etc.). If you cover it too tightly you will cause lots of cracks to occur in your cheesecake.

This is the cheesecake I made with assistance from Chrystina. It was very yummy!!

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saving electricity

Transitions have always been difficult for me. My sisters even tease me that I hate change so much I didn’t want to be born (our mother was in induced labor with me for 3 days. The doctors finally figured out I was stuck and had to do an emergency C-section.). Tuesday March 3, 2009 will be a memorable Tuesday for me because recent life changes caught up with me.

On February 21st (which is also my birthday) I moved into a new apartment in Nashville. I moved because I was living in Columbia and working in Nashville, which made for an hour or more drive to work. This move was good because it significantly reduced my driving time and moved me closer to good friends from college, but I was also sad I was moving away from a church and friends I love.

This transition caught up with me on Memorable Tuesday #9 in various ways. First, I finally got the cold I have been trying not to get since the move. This is probably related to the stress and lack of sleep related to moving.

Moving

Second, I got my first electricity bill from Nashville Electric Service. The bill was only for a week of service, so I expected it to not be very expensive at all. To my great surprise, the bill was for almost $150! Needless to say, I was pretty upset about the whole thing. I couldn’t help but think that if it was going to cost that much to live in Nashville I should just move back to Columbia! My fiancé, Adam, and I went into electricity saving mode and ate dinner without lights on and went and bought light bulbs from Lowe’s that use less wattage. Once I got home I replaced every light bulb I could get my hands on with the new less wattage bulbs. Fortunately, the whole electric bill was a mistake. Adam, being the wonderful fiancé and person he is, called NES the next day to ask them about the bill (I usually ask him to take care of these things because he’s much better at being assertive than I am).

They had made a mistake and accidentally sent us the bill of the lady who previously lived in the apartment. So the much less expensive electricity bill should be arriving in the mail later this week!

The third and final way the transition of moving caught up with me on Tuesday is that I had a pity party for myself. This was most definitely related to the fact that I was sick and had stayed up too late the night before reading the seventh Harry Potter book (which I’ve read before so it was silly of me to stay up late reading it). In the past six months I have gotten very used to having a roommate. I’ve been used to someone being there when I want company and someone to talk to. Now that I don’t have that I realize how much I have taken that for granted. So warning to my friends that live near me…I might be randomly showing up at your doorstep like a homeless orphan looking for company!

Like I said, transitions aren’t easy for me, but I have faith that this will all be for the best in the end!

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