A Few Random Thoughts…

I often go downtown and sit in a cafe and write for hours about random things. It’s therapeutic. Something about a good cup of coffee and maybe a cookie or scone just gets the words flowing, I guess. Anyways, here’s a couple of paragraphs containing observations made during those long hours staring out the window, sipping a mocha and watching the people walk by. I feel like these capture the essence of some of the cultural curiosities that stand out to me as a teen in today’s world.

What is it about humans that longs to be loved? When we’re children, our parents’ love is enough. As we grow, we start searching for the love of true friends, and eventually, we long for the love of a soulmate. We all go through a phase where we don’t think we’ll ever fall in love, we don’t think we need it. Eventually, though, that wears off, and we’re left with an aching desire to be loved in a way that only that one special person can love us. We crave companionship. We want to be truly known and understood. Why do we desire that so much from other people, when we can get it unconditionally from God?

 

Jocks, nerds, hipsters, emo kids, they’re all defined by one or two things that constitute their “label”. Real people aren’t like that, though. Real people have a bit of everything in them. I love watching and playing basketball, but that doesn’t make me a jock. I love it because of the people that taught me to play, the people who first watched it with me. I love to read and do schoolwork, but that doesn’t make me a nerd. I love it because I have a longing to learn and understand. I am not one label, I am a mix of many. Real people are a mix of many labels, they cannot be contained. They are divergent. They do not conform. Real people have differences and similarities beyond the obvious.

This last one was definitely inspired by my own escapism, as I have a tendency to attempt to disappear from my day-to-day life. Often writing serves this purpose, writing and some good music from a bygone decade, but I’ve observed the desire to ignore life and hide in a fictional universe in so many other lives as well. I felt it deserved some attention.

Humans have an interesting desire to escape from their own reality, and dive into someone else’s fantasy. Perhaps more now than ever, we throw ourselves into movies and tv universes in an effort to distract from our own reality, our own story. We idealize the fictional world, because everything is seemingly so perfect. Artists create stories, perhaps, to heal their own pain. An adventure into what could have been, perhaps, or a fantasy of what we wish could be true. I find myself drawn to the simplicity of life in stories, the simplicity of good versus evil and the good guys always winning. I long for those shining moments of untainted peace, the uncomplicated tales of everyday life. In truth, life is never uncomplicated, and never untainted. Life is hard. Everything seems so easy in movies, and we use their simplistic worlds to escape from our own.

I definitely enjoyed putting together this post, it’s sort of a peek into what I think about/write about while I’m hiding away by myself with a pen and my notebook. Some of these things are interesting to think about. Also, I highly recommend spending hours in a coffee shop or bakery and writing or daydreaming or doing whatever you do… that time to reflect has been invaluable for me and helps to slow things down. I’d go so far as to say that taking this time to chill and write has almost made my life a little simpler.

Happy Thursday!

So… it’s been an intense couple of days. I’m eternally grateful that I can just write and let it all fall away for a while. I wanted to chat today about purpose: or what my life is for. (wow, pulling out the big questions, right?)

As a blogger and a Christian teen, I’m often faced with the question, “what makes you think you have anything valuable to say?” I often question myself, my potential, and my ability to make a difference. It’s really easy to doubt my effectiveness in the Kingdom. Is what I’ve been doing really God’s purpose for me? The fact is, God has the blueprints for my life, and because He knows that I can’t handle it all at once, He’ll give it to me piece by piece. This allows me to grow and change at a pace that isn’t too fast or overwhelming for my humanity.

As Christians, our purpose is literally to honour God, walk with Him and to “show and tell” people about Him. It’s really pretty simple. But, we often ask, what does that mean for me practically? We often find ourselves searching for a concrete calling: a practical application of our “umbrella purpose” in Christ. Maybe our focus on our careers as our calling is the greatest mistake here. I think I’ve come to a reasonable conclusion; my purpose is to share my story. My mistakes, the little things I’ve learned from those mistakes, the pain I’ve felt, the joy I’ve shared, everything that makes up a person’s life. Not only that, but my purpose is to make my life a story worth sharing, a testament to our Lord. I will only have something valuable to share if I make something valuable out of the life I’ve been given. So don’t focus too much on what you should do as a career, God will lead you to the right one. You might have one career in your life or 12, but at the end of the road, if you’ve stayed close to God and listened to His voice, you will have fulfilled your purpose in Him.

Oh, and Happy New Year! #prayingfor2017

Sofia ❤

The Ultimate Guide to Applying to Post-Secondary as a Homeschooler

Grade 12 is a ridiculously exciting time. We’re finally almost done, we’ll never have to look at another textbook again! Oh wait… maybe we will. If you’re like me, then you’ve been dreaming about going to university one day for, well, basically all of high school. It’s super exciting!! Now, by this time you probably know all of the BC grad program requirements, and most of you are working to complete them. Great! This post, however, is not for the homeschooler graduating with a Dogwood diploma. You’ve got this in the bag already! 🙂 This post is for the homeschooler who is not “technically” graduating by Ministry standards. The one who comes from a more colourful educational background, like me. Yeah, you guys. You can go to university too!!

Step 1: Accept that you’re different

You are not the same as the homeschoolers who did it all according to the book. You come from a completely different mold! For me, my mom’s philosophy and beliefs about education, combined with her trust that God would give her wisdom to educate her kids properly, birthed the method by which I was educated. Now, I’m not unschooled or anything, but I did go a very, very uncommon route through high school. I realized after the fact that I should have taken time first and foremost to talk to my mom, understand why she educated me the way that she did, and make it my own. My education is very much a part of who I am, and just because it’s different doesn’t mean that it’s wrong! That’s what the Ministry of Education fails to see. So if you’ve done things a little differently so far, and you still want to go to university, OWN IT. Accept that you’re outside the system, and make the system fit around you! Yeah, you can do that. And it’s fun. Get to the place where you stop asking “how can I fit into these requirements?” and start saying something along the lines of “This is me. Deal with it.”

Step 2: Explore your options

It’s really easy as a homeschooler to start thinking that you don’t have as many options as other kids. The truth is, well, yeah, you have maybe 3 less options than other students, the three Canadian institutions that haven’t evolved enough to accept home-educated students. A lot of universities have a specific application process for homeschoolers, so that each of us can be evaluated individually. With others, it just takes a phone call to the admissions advisor (more on that below) to explain your background. Basically, you have hundreds of great institutions to choose from, so do a little research, make a list of a few top picks, and then you can start worrying about the application.

Step 3: TALK TO AN ADMISSIONS ADVISOR!!!

I put this one off for so long, and I’m just so glad that I finally got around to it. Applying to universities with a colourful educational background like mine can be daunting, and very discouraging. When I finally spoke to the admissions people at my top institutions, I heard the same answer over and over: “yeah, of course, we can totally make that work for you!”. I think it had a lot to do with the way I approached them (see step 1), and I ended up feeling very encouraged. Plus, I got to speak with the people who actually would end up making the admission decisions, which is a HUGE plus. Trust me, this is a super important step, and if you’re putting it off because phone calls make you anxious, send an email! Establishing a line of communication between you and the people in admissions is so, SO important.

Step 4: Start your application

Usually the process is a little different for homeschoolers, depending on how differently you did things. 🙂 Usually it just involves demonstrating proficiency in certain subject areas, and readiness to take on university level course work. I would recommend that you continue to communicate with the advisor throughout this process, as it makes it exponentially easier for you, and you don’t have to try to figure things out on your own. And DON’T WORRY ABOUT IT. Do what has to be done, and then let it rest. Remember, you still have to finish grade 12!

If this guide helped in any way, or if you’ve had a similar experience to mine, or if you’ve thought of something I missed, drop me a comment! I’d love to hear what you have to say! Even just to know that I’m not the only one. 🙂

 

The Pursuit of Self-Discipline

 

So, this is to be the week of self-discipline. I’ve been a little obsessed with “getting my life together” over the weekend, and this week I’m hoping to see it play out in some positive ways. Honestly, I don’t think anyone is truly put together. Everyone has their bad days. However, I really want to try to establish some good habits. Now that I think about it, a week is a really good place to start, but it’s going to take WAY longer.

Taking advice from several other bloggers, pinterest, and numerous other sources, I compiled a list of things that I can do to practice self-discipline, create good habits, and overall be more productive and energetic this week. Hopefully you can benefit from this list too!

1. Start every day with bible reading and prayer.

For a lot of people, this might be a no-brainer. And to those people I say, good on you. Personally, this has always been a challenge, due to the fact that I am most definitely NOT a morning person and taking the time in the morning was difficult for me. However, I’ve found that when I do get up earlier to take that extra 15-20 minutes of devotional time before I start my day, I’m generally a happier, more pleasant person to be around because of it. Plus, I’m committing my day to God which somehow ends up making me way more productive. 🙂

2. Exercise first thing in the morning if possible.

Another super super hard one for me… I’m typically quite lazy, especially in the A.M. It’s way too easy for me to choose to roll over for an extra half hour in bed rather than get up to do pilates with Mum. Regardless, choosing to exercise first thing in the morning is super important for me, as it gets the blood flowing, wakes me up, gets me feeling really great, and even simply choosing to do something good for me rather than staying in bed sets a much more proactive mood for the day. For the record I failed this one this morning, but there’s still time left in the day to fit in a quick pilates sesh or maybe a walk around the block. Tomorrow morning, though, I’m gonna do it. And now that it’s been published on the internet, I kinda have to! 😉

3. Set goals (personal and practical) for the week.

Setting goals is so very important. It gives me something to work towards, keeping me motivated. A rewards system always helps too. 😉 Some of my goals include making sure to journal every evening, finishing the book I’m currently reading (The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, reading it for the umpteenth time and loving it more than ever), and cooking dinner twice this week. Goals keep me focused and driven, and the completion of said goals brings an undisputed sense of accomplishment. I look forward to feeling like I’ve earned my weekend! xD

4. Get an agenda (if you don’t already have one) and USE IT!!

I can’t stress this one enough. I have a planner that my parents bought me for Christmas last year, and honestly, it’s been great. I was just at Chapters flipping through gorgeous Kate Spade planners that I can’t afford, and despite what Pinterest says, you don’t need a fancy one to be able to plan your life. One of the best things you can do to keep your week organized and in perspective is to lay it all out in a planner. You’re less likely to forget appointments or due dates, and you reduce the chances of feeling like a hot mess by 10000000%.

5. Turn off your phone at least half an hour before bed, and read instead!

That rhymed! Unintentionally. I’m awesome. Anyway, everything you’ve heard about blue light from your phone affecting your sleep is TRUE. You. Will. Sleep. Better. And when I say turn off, I mean TURN OFF. Don’t just lock the screen. It’s better for you, and it’s better for your phone battery to actually turn it off at night. As for reading, it’s a fantastic way to calm yourself down and prepare for sleeping, as well as sneakily improving your vocabulary and overall brain function!

6. Make sure you’re getting enough sleep.

It’s true, some people need around 10 hours of sleep, whereas some people need only 6 or 7. I tend to need about 9 hours of sleep to be able to function at my very best during the day. Figure out how much sleep you need to be most productive the next day, and commit to sleeping that much. You’ll be doing yourself a favour!! EVEN IF IT MEANS WATCHING ONE LESS EPISODE OF GILMORE GIRLS. I know it’s hard, but you can do it. 😛

I think that about sums up the six things I’ve committed to doing this week to become more productive and put-together. I’ll check back in on Friday to let y’all know how it went!

Limits

So, I’ve been working on limits in my Calculus course… and it’s kind of killing me. Here’s an example:

The mathematical definition of a limit: the limit of f(x) as x approaches c is the number L if given any radius e > 0 about L there exists a radius g > 0 about c such that for all x, 0 < |x – c| > g implies that | f(x) – L| < e.

Now, I definitely didn’t put that up there to say look at me, I’m so smart. Those two lines of text up there mean absolutely nothing to me. There are way too many letters, for one thing. And to be honest, it’s a whole whack of mathematical mumbo-jumbo that probably means something to someone, but definitely not the average person. Needless to say when I came across this in my textbook, I started freaking out a little bit. “How am I supposed to understand this??? I mean, it makes about as much sense as if the guy who wrote the textbook just banged his head against his keyboard for a few seconds and said, boom, there’s a definition right there!”.

Anyway, I decided to just go straight to the practice problems and try to figure it out for myself. Reading goofy tongue-twister theorems like “the limit of the sum is the sum of the limits” got super confusing, but I found that once I put them into practice they actually made a lot of sense! Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for the definition of a limit that I put up at the beginning of this post, but does anyone really?

You know the quote, at the top of my blog’s homepage? Life really is like math. I mean, take this whole limits thing for example. When the author of my textbook tried to explain to me their own understanding of limits, it meant absolutely nothing to me. But when I experienced it for myself, I was able to understand it and put it into practice. Have you ever met those people who talk and talk and talk but you never really get the sense that they actually understand what they’re talking about? I can be one of those people sometimes… Basically it’s the difference between book learning and experience. Trying to talk about and explain something that you’ve had no personal experience with is first and foremost really hard, because you don’t truly understand it, and also tends to sound a little bit pretentious, not unlike the definition at the beginning of this post. Sometimes all it takes is personal experience to learn and understand for yourself before attempting to teach others.

Okay, rant over. Enjoy the rest of your day! xD

50 Questions You’ve Never Been Asked – Part 2

Remember when I did half of the 50 Questions You’ve Never Been Asked tag? Well, here’s the other half! If you missed the first half, read it here.

26. Do you know triplets? No. That would be really cool though.
27. Do you prefer Titanic or The Notebook? I’ve never seen either movie. But for the record, there was totally room on that door for both Jack and Rose.
28. Have you ever had Indian food? YES IT IS AMAZING AND THE VERY BEST.
29. What’s the name of your favorite restaurant? Um… It’s probably Yama Sushi. Again, I don’t eat out very much.
30. Have you ever been to Olive Garden? Yes. It wasn’t a life-changing experience, but it was decent food.
31. Do you belong to any warehouse stores (Costco, BJ’s, etc.)? I BELONG TO NO ONE.
32. What would your parents have named you if you were the opposite gender? Alexander. I totally would have been okay with that.
33. If you have a nickname, what is it? Fosi. My older sister came up with it when we were really young, it’s the two consonants in my name switched around. 🙂 it’s cute. Just fyi, she’s the only one who can call me that.
34. Who’s your favorite person in the world? Don’t make me choose only one!!!
35. Would you rather live in a rural area or in the suburbs? Depends on what time of life I’m in. As a teenager/young adult, I would prefer the city, but my childhood in the country was perfect and I would want the same for my own kids.
36. Can you whistle? Yes. I learned when I was… 10 maybe? and it was my greatest accomplishment that year.
37. Do you sleep with a nightlight? No… I actually prefer total darkness when I sleep.
38. Do you eat breakfast every morning? Yes, after all, breakfast is the most important meal of the day.
39. Do you take any pills or medication daily? I should take vitamins daily but I often forget.
40. What medical conditions do you have? Does bad eyesight count?
41. How many times have you been to the hospital? Once, to visit my mom when she got her appendix taken out. 🙂
42. Have you ever seen Finding Nemo? I watched it over and over again when I was a child, to the point where I actually got so sick of it that I didn’t watch it again for about 8 years.
43. Where do you buy your jeans? Wherever they sell a pair long enough.
44. What’s the last compliment you got? If “you’re right” counts, that was it.
45. Do you usually remember your dreams in the morning? Only if they were particularly memorable 😉
46. What flavor tea do you enjoy? Long Beach Sunset chamomile mint, only because it holds a ton of memories for me.
47. How many pairs of shoes do you currently own? 3 or 4?
48. What religion will you raise your children to practice? Christianity. I don’t think I need to elaborate, I mean I think that’s pretty obvious based on the theme of basically every post on this blog.
49. How old were you when you found out that Santa wasn’t real? I never believed in Santa. Santa was a non-issue. And before you ask, I did in fact have a beautifully magical childhood, even without a fake fat man in a red suit.
50. Do you have any strange or unique phobias? I am scared to death of needles, but that’s not strange or unique.

I really love doing these answering questions tags. It gets me thinking! It’s somewhat of a self-awareness exercise. It’s great! Anyway, hope you enjoyed yet another post full of weird and random facts about me. 🙂

50 Questions You’ve Never Been Asked

I don’t think this particular tag ever got really popular on YouTube, but I thought it was pretty cool. So here are my answers to the 50 Questions You’ve Never Been Asked Tag!

1. What’s your favorite candle scent? I really like straight beeswax candles… they have their own unique smell and I find the actual scented ones quite unpleasant.
2. What female celebrity do you wish was your sister? I can’t think of any female celebrities that I would actually want to be related to…
3. What male celebrity do you wish was your brother? Grant Gustin. Hands down. He would be the BEST brother.
4. How old do you think you’ll be when you get married? I have no idea… between 28 and 30 I think.
5. Do you know a hoarder? I actually don’t think so. I used to be the worst kind of hoarder but then I went to Mexico and had a change of heart about how much stuff I actually needed to keep around.
6. Can you do a split? HA NO.
7. How old were you when you learned how to ride a bike? I don’t know… I think I might have been 7 or 8 maybe?
8. How many oceans have you swam in? Only the pacific :0 I stood in the Gulf of Mexico when I was in Cancun, but didn’t actually swim.
9. How many countries have you been to? I answered this one in the Get to Know Me post I did here.
10. Is anyone in your family in the army? No… I don’t think? Not in my immediate family anyway.
11. What would you name your daughter if you had one? I’ve had more time to think about this one, and I think I would name my daughter Barbara.
12. What would you name your son if you had one? I’ve said this before, but I love the name Preston. That or James/Jim/Jimmy. Kind of really want a son named Jimmy.
13. What’s the worst grade you got on a test? A test or an assignment? On a test I think the worst grade I’ve ever gotten was like 69%. On an assignment, well, we’re not gonna talk about that.
14. What was your favorite TV show when you were a child? Hogan’s Heroes. I can’t remember any further back than that. 🙂
15. What did you dress up as on Halloween when you were eight? My family doesn’t celebrate halloween, so that wasn’t a thing for me.
16. Have you read any of the Harry Potter, Hunger Games or Twilight series? I’ve read the Hunger Games series which was barely worth my time, and never really wanted to read Harry Potter. As for Twilight, why would I want to waste my time on that? Sorry if this was harsh, but seriously, why.
17. Would you rather have an American accent or a British accent? I think that my “Canadian accent” is a nice happy medium and I wouldn’t want to change.
18. Did your mother go to college? She did go to school in Oregon for a while, can’t remember how many years though.
19. Are your grandparents still married? 3/4 of my grandparents have passed away, but both sets stayed married for as long as they were alive.
20. Have you ever taken karate lessons? No, but I did take aikido which is similar.
21. Do you know who Kermit the frog is? Yes, but I have no clue where he’s from and never actually saw him on TV or wherever he initially came from.
22. What’s the first amusement park you’ve been to? Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think I’ve ever been to an amusement park.
23. What language, besides your native language, would you like to be fluent in? I’m working on fluency in Spanish, other than that I’d love to speak Russian, Italian and Japanese fluently. I just feel like they would come in handy. French too.
24. Do you spell the color as grey or gray? America: GrAy. England: GrEy. Canada: GrEHy. Draw your own conclusions.
25. Is your father bald? Nope 🙂

 

This is only 25. Stay tuned for part 2, with the other 25!!

Learning to Drive

Learning to drive is probably the greatest and most stressful challenge in the life of the average 16-year-old… at least those who live in British Columbia, or other places where the age to learn to drive is 16. I’m going to be perfectly honest, it’s really, really hard. Crazy terrible hard. Super super insanely hard. You get the idea, right? I went for a drive today with Mom for the first time in probably 2-ish months, and getting back behind the wheel was, well, very very far from riding a bicycle.The funny thing about me is that I have this incessant need to be in control of everything. Meaning, I have a hard time leaving things up to God, even when it’s clear that there’s absolutely nothing I can do. You’ve probably picked up on that after reading the previous posts, eh?

Driving, however, is the one scenario where I am in complete control of what happens and, interestingly enough, I find it crazy scary. Of course it’s not a perfect metaphor, because I can’t control anything that the other drivers on the road do, but even when I’m on a lonely country road with no one else in sight, keeping control of that behemoth of a car is really stressful. After today’s driving lesson, I realized that I have a really hard time when under the pressure of actually being in control, so thinking that I can control every aspect of my own life is crazy, pointless, and let’s be honest, downright stupid. I guess it’s a good thing that God doesn’t make us deal with the pressure of being in control of our whole lives. It’s actually really nice to think that someone with perfect motives and flawless judgement has complete control over our lives, so we don’t have to worry about screwing up and causing irreparable damage.

The Importance of Having a Teachable Spirit

If you didn’t already know, I am a math tutor. I get crazy excited about things like Euler’s identity, Fibonacci numbers and the number 9, and I really enjoy passing that excitement on to other people. I can’t stress enough the fact that the primary goal I have as a tutor is to help my students find enjoyment and magic in math. If that sounded completely ridiculous, don’t worry because that’s not what this post is about.

Believe it or not, I’ve learned a lot from the few students I’ve worked with. I have to say, one of the most important things I’ve learned is that in order to have an effective tutor/student relationship, I have to be just as (or more) prepared to learn from my students as they are to learn from me. I have to be… teachable.

It’s much easier to be teachable as a student. It’s pretty much a non-issue, because being teachable is the only way you can make it through school. Those who refuse to humble themselves and allow themselves to be taught are generally the ones who struggle the most. It’s really quite easy to allow someone to teach you when there is no doubt that they know more than you do. Being teachable is a part of life when we’re growing up, and there really isn’t anything we can do about that. But as we get older, and learn more and specialize in our knowledge, it is much easier to allow our pride to tell us that we have nothing more to learn from anyone.

This is especially hard for educators. People whose careers are based on teaching others should wrestle with the fact that being teachable is a two-way street. A teacher who understands just how much he or she can learn from a student is far more effective as an educator than one who is adamant about passing knowledge to the students without receiving anything in return. I have had both kinds of teachers in my “vast high school experience” ;), and I have learned more from the former than from the latter.

I believe that everyone we meet has something to teach us, whether they are older or younger, more or less educated. Everyone sees the world differently, and to learn from another and see a glimpse of the world through their eyes is an enriching and important experience. I believe that we never stop learning, even when we finish our formal education we have so much more to learn about the world and life and human interaction. Book learning is not the end all and be all of education, and the sooner a person understands this, the sooner they become teachable.

“Those who learn more than they teach are the best teachers of all.” – Unknown

Eureka

Ever have those days when everything just goes so right, and fits into place and is just overall perfect?

That was my day today. 🙂

So, my day started out with a Student-For-A-Day class at Okanagan College. Wow. You probably know how insanely obsessed with physics I am, and that’s obviously the class that I participated in at the college this morning. It was – for lack of a superlative of greater impact – INCREDIBLE. I had such an amazing time, I surprised myself with how much of the college level class I understood, and being there just felt so right. I am still so hyper/excited, so much so that I feel sorry for my family having to deal with my intense euphoria about this whole day. The class itself was super interesting, it was a lab on vectors and equilibrium. Shoutout to Trevor, my lab partner, for being awesome. xD

Right after the class, I had lunch with a friend of mine by whom I have always been encouraged and inspired. I was super jazzed when I met up with her after the class, and talking to her and reminiscing about old times was just incredible. She also gave me a lot to think about, some spiritual insights on trust and peace and just waiting on God to do whatever it is to do with the time that you have. It was so encouraging to talk with her about her experiences and my hopes and dreams, and it contributed to having the absolute best of afternoons.

You know, it’s amazing to see God move in really obvious ways. Days like this just feel like a hug from Him, a whisper, or in my case a really loud shout from Him saying “I’ve got you, and I care about you, and I really do want to bless you”. It’s amazing to feel that encouragement in such tangible ways. It’s really easy to praise God on days like this, right? 🙂 The thing is, when we go through a tough time, we have to remember that we had days like this, and we have to have hope that a day of encouragement will come again. I know it sounds cheesy coming from someone who just had one of the best days of their life, but it’s true no matter what kind of day you’ve had. God has you in mind, and wants to take care of and bless you, in the good times and the bad! He never leaves us, never forsakes us, and the good days full of sunshine and rainbows WILL come again!