This has been a stressful week! I had exams all three days I went to school. It's over, though.

I've had a week full of holy-rollers! (i.e. "Are you saved?" people) I'm wondering if God is throwing these people in my life to say "This is how you should be, spiritually." But I hope not! It's not that I doubt these people's faith...I just know it's not that way I am supposed to get to know God. I like to talk about God with people...but mainly in a way that we can compare beliefs and appreciate each other's differences, not to convert them to what I believe. I've found that that's what most of the holy-rollers do -- try to convert me. I have been getting in tiny fights with my mom all week. She's upset that I'm not a fundamentalist Catholic the way she is. I don't believe in probably 60% of the things the church believes. I find it to be very judgemental and NEGATIVE ("If you sin, you can't receive communion.") instead of POSITIVE. ("Despite your sins, you are still accepted into the faith.") But I still go to Catholic church almost every week because I do usually find God there...but only when I ignore the gagillions of rules and just focus on the heart of the mass -- being one with God. That is the same thing other religions want...they just have a different name for God. I was trying to tell mom that, and she was so wishy-washy, like she'd say "All religions are good," yet then she'd say, "The Catholic church is the RIGHT church." And she uses certain Bible passages to say that this and that is wrong. I wish people would realize that so much of the Bible can't be taken literally. Think of some of the slang we use today and transport that thousands of years into the future...they're not going to know what we're talking about, so they shouldn't pretend they do. Anyway, I'm done now.

The Warehouse (the club I go to every Wednesday) was interesting this week. It was Valentine's Day, so there was a lot of interesting stuff going on. The prizes for the mosh pits came from a sex toy store my friends own, so you can imagine what they were. One of my very best friends Angelina was my Valentine. = ) It was a nice night despite my exhaustion and that I kept getting nauseated from dancing too much.

Friday I saw Crouching Tiger, Sitting Dragon (or something like that) with Angelina, and it was wonderful. During the whole movie I was getting flashbacks of how it feels to fly (because the characters were ninjas who could fly). Does this make me crazy? I told Angelina, and she didn't think I was crazy. We agreed that maybe I was a flying ninja in a past life. How fun!

Last night I hung out with my sister Ruth. We had one of our deep talks about life that we always tend to have. Ruthie and I are different in a lot of aspects but are also very much the same. We both love so deeply and are both so easily hurt. And we both are SO worried about what people think of us. So, I guess we're the same in the things that matter. I love her so much and am so glad she's my sister. = )

My mom's very stressed about the store. Our business has been VERY bad. I just wish I knew what to do. She's so upset all the time...I think she's digging herself into an early grave. It's so hard to be around her when she's like this...I hope God will give me strength.

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