What's up with me???

So this has been an interesting week.
I've been accepted to two schools now, one in Olympia and one in Chicago. Yea!!!! I'm very excited but also twisty and nervous.
Part of the reason I'm nervous is that school is not going very well, largely because the bookstore has decided I don't really need my books after all. I barely passed my first anatomy test-52%-which I still think is pretty good for not reading the chapter.
Also, I really feel like I have no space. My dad bought me a space heater, which didn't really work, so I've lived outside of my room for a while now. I either don't have the time or the inclination to do anything about it.
I bought Toby some bath stuff, which is good because his face gets really dirty and stinky. It makes him smell really good but he's still really itchy everywhere else. Last night I kept waking up to him crying and trying to scratch himself. So I pick him up and try to comfort him, help him reach his tail, coax him back to sleep, etc. This happened three or four times throughout the night. So my alarm goes off at seven this morning and I decide I can sleep until seven-thirty. Besides I'm having a lovely nightmare about getting fired for breaking all the toys in the day-care, which also results in me getting excommunicated. Of course the next time I'm aware of the alarm going off, it's like 9:30, and so much for Sacrament Meeting. I end up sleeping in really late. This is what frustrates me. Apparently, of late, I have a complete lack of discipline.
I have been eating better, but for today, even if calorie wise I ate enough/not too much, it was totally horrible food. Which leads me to the thing that truly freaks me out-my skin. I have some sort of bizarre rash on my torso, so I'm going to the doctor tomorrow. I have an inkling it might be stress related. But I feel scared-yes scared-that no one will believe me. Believe that I've been stressed out. Because I'm happy in general, but can't I still be stressed, overwhelmed, preoccupied? It seems like anytime I ever feel anything, it must be that I'm not eating enough, I have too much sugar, etc. My mind lately is either crammed full or nearly empty. I'm having a hard time spelling, focusing my eyes, thinking clearly. I feel so tired. I feel like this at the beginning of every year. Is it twisted Spring Fever? I don't get it. I just want someone to tell me it's okay, but who would it have to be in order for me to believe it?

Book Review-The Note by Kay Bognar

Miranda Jenkin's best friend is lost at sea. He was seen throwing a bottle overboard containing a note for her. Miranda finds herself becoming obsessed by her search for it.

I received this book as an early reviewer, and to be honest, was only mildly interested by the plot. I however found myself sucked in immediately and couldn't put it down. It is truly more interesting if you have just the slightest hint of what the book is about, although one wonders how successful the book will be with it's two-second teaser. Though the novel is written for young adults, the style of writing is somewhat old-fashioned, which I personally enjoyed. The only complaint I had was that the pacing seemed off. Some events take forever to describe, while others happen so fast that I read them twice to make sure I'd processed it. I hope enough people pick up this book to discover the weird and wonderful plot inside.

Individulaism Throughout The Ages

4. Greece had a strong individualist ethic. Man was the measure of all things and reason reigned. Socrates and Aristotle had forgiving views of human morality; immorality was the result of ignorance or imbalance rather than a desire to defy God or consort with Satan. Therefore, the individual didn’t have to be afraid of himself. One was allowed to think, to reason, to consult different sources such as the Oracle, the mind, or the world around to gain knowledge. Each individual was believed to have a specific fate that was his/hers and his/hers alone. The deities were highly individualized and personal. This most democratic, in the literal sense of the word, society allowed and indeed expected each citizen to be fully aware and involved in politics, ostracized when they were not at court to give opinion rather than for dissenting ones.
Gnostic Christianity was also intensely individualistic. Gnosticism, meaning to know, held that to know oneself was to know God and vise versa. They took the Biblical phrase “The Kingdom of God is within you,” to a much more literal extent than did so called “orthodox” Christianity. Christianity is a highly individualistic religion, the focus is on the individual soul’s achievement rather than the group one belongs to, and the doctrine of repentance shows the individual’s ability to change and progress in spite of past mistakes.
Orthodox Christianity did not embrace individualism to this extent, at least not at first. The western doctrine of original sin (this does not exist in the Eastern orthodox religions today, but Catholics and most Protestants in the west still hold to it) claims that we are all guilty for Adam and Eve’s sin in the garden. This doctrine arguably negates individuality, because it means one can be held responsible for another’s actions-and what is individual if not the actions, thoughts, and words of one person as opposed to another? (One may say that all Christianity, if following this logic, negates individuality. This however depends largely on how the atonement actually works in one theology vs. another.) While salvation is an individual process, orthodoxy (which means narrow way) held that all individuals had to do the same individual things-and conformity, no matter how small the group or the similarity, is necessarily the opposite of individualism.
The Romance of Tristan and Isolde, who are conspicuously absolved of sin by any picky readers through the drinking of a love potion, widened the road for individuals a bit. Romantic love is an individual thing-it is the defining, individual characteristics of the lovers that draw them to each other.
Parzival, then, takes this to the next level. Parzival can only save the fisher king by asking him what is wrong, which is frowned upon by society. Each knight must take their own path. Parzival’s “heathen” brother representing nature is brought into the fold. The grail king can only find relief when looking into his soul. The story is replete with individualism.