the best day ever?

We have a dry erase calendar in our lounge.  Laura randomly picks a day or two for the month and writes the best day ever on it.  Today was supposedly the best day ever.  For somebody it must have been but I wouldn't say that it was me.

I had a pretty good day.  Classes went pretty well.  Other than getting called on in mystics.  It was really just wishful thinking though imagining that I could go the whole semester without getting called on.  I'm just hoping that now that the first time is out of the way it will be less stressful and traumatic from here on out.  It's not that I don't understand what's going on, it's just that I can't speak spanish as well as I can read it or understand it when it's being spoken to me.  So I don't even know what I said to the guy today.  Or if it came anywhere close to answering his question.  But some spanish words came out of my mouth.  So I guess that's a start.

This afternoon I thought about doing the dumb stuff for the business office but opted not to.  I just don't really understand how my birth certificate states that I am authorized to work in the united states or something.  I guess it shows I'm a citizen...I don't know.  I honestly think it's silly to have to go through all this trouble to "work" 3 hours each week at minimum wage.  Does it really have to be so official?  But whatever.  Eventually I just have to let it go.

I tried to do some homework.  I think.  I typed up soc notes.  For my job.  That I'd almost rather not get paid for with all the trouble it is causing me.  But let's put that behind us.  Went to mass with Emily since she doesn't work on Wednesdays.  Then we just kind of sat around talking and listening to Josh Groban and being unproductive until Laura was ready to make us spaghetti and meatballs healthy style for dinner.  As in she used wheat pasta and turkey meatballs.  It was pretty good for healthy food.

Then we all gathered in the lounge, well those of us that were there anyway.  We tried to tell ourselves we would be productive.  That didn't happen.  We wound up just talking and eventually taking pictures and then gathering in Laura and Emily's room to talk some more.  Dreaming about study abroad.  Wishing I could study abroad twice.  Wanting so badly to go to Italy and at the same time really wanting to go to Spain.  Thinking about how fun it would be to be a foreign language major.  Wishing I knew what I wanted to do with my life.  Thinking about mystics and how the only thing I should want to do with my life is praise and glorify God.  And I need to ask him to let me know how it is he wants me to do that.

Rediscovering Catholicism quotes of the day? Sure thing.

Matthew Kelly in A Call to Joy "You will learn more from an hour of silence than you can in a year from books."

in Mustard Seeds "It is in the Classroom of Silence that God bestows his wisdom on men and women."

"In the silence, you will find God.  In the silence, you will find yourself.  These will be the two greatest discoveries of your life.  But, these discoveries will not be epiphany-type moments.  They will be gradual.  You will discover a little at a time, something like a jigsaw puzzle being put together...It is this process of discovery that makes sense of life."

"Our modern world is spinning out of control, and one of the chief contributors to the chaos and confusion of our modern age is noise.  our lives are filled with noise.  We are afraid of silence."

"Our world has been filled with noise, and as a result, we can no longer hear the voice of God in our lives."

"The two things lacking in most people's lives are intimacy with God and intimacy with self.  Most people don't know who they are or why they are here.  Most people feel far from God.  And most people think that these gaps are too wide to bridge.  This lack of intimacy with God and self limist any possible intimacy with others."

"Your immortal soul is the most valuable possession you have."

Matthew 11:28  "Come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

"The Big Question - God, what do you think I should do?"

"To think that we can find happiness in our lives without asking this question makes us the king or queen of fantasyland."

"People who are passionate, energetic, and enthusiastic about life have a sense of mission in their lives."

"The first realization is you don't choose a mission.  Someone sends you on a mission."

"'Most men lead lives of quiet desperation.'  If you don't ask The Big Question, you will not discover your mission, and sooner or later you will be numbered amongst Thoreau's masses.  You won't aim to, or plan to live a life of quiet desperation;  you'll just wake up one morning and wonder how you got there."

"If you are already living a life of quiet desperation, you don't have to stay there.  Just start asking The Big Question...Make it a constant part of your inner dialogue."

"Each of us is created for a reason."

"Everyone has a vocation, and unveiling that vocation is critically important to our experience of life.  Life is vocational."

"If you want to be happy for a lifetime, find a way to make a difference in other people's lives."

"Action without prayer is useless."

"Before you rush off and start building a new life for yourself, make sure you are building what the Divine Architect has envisioned."

1 Thessalonians 5:17 "Pray constantly"

"Action that springs forth from prayer is the work of God."

Wow that was a lot more than I thought.  But it was a really good chapter that really spoke to me and the questions that I am struggling with.  I need to remember to ask the big question.  And I need to remember that I was created for a reason, I just need to keep asking God what I should do and wait for him to give me my mission.