FEARLESS

Taylor Swift has inspired me. I am trying to live a life of fearlessness. The other weekend, I ended up crying in front of seniors in college because dogs were jumping all over me. Pathetic. I realized all my fears (dogs, vomit, fire) have been preventing me from doing things I really want to do. Just this weekend, Megan was sick, throwing up and instead of staying in the room, or helping her out like any sane person would, I just shouted "sorry!" and fled the room like a bat outta hell. I can't tell you how many times my fear of fire has held me back. At camp, I refused to be on fire duty on overnights, at church I would never light the candles. I tried to conquer this fear one time by filling our sink with water. I stood there with a match and feebly tried to strike them. However, I never did it hard enough to light and eventually, I just gave up. Before listening to Taylor, I had succumbed to the idea of living my life according to these fears. I don't want to say they ruled my life, but in a way they did-I always avoid going over to friends houses with dogs, at encounter, I had others light the candles for me, and I NEVER help my friends or family when they are getting sick. It really is pathetic. But I am not beating myself up about this-instead, I am only moving forward and vowing to work on these hinderances like Taylor is telling me to. I AM NOT AFRAID TO FAIL.

Speaking of my fear of flames, let me just tell you, I STARTED A DAMN FIRE IN THE COG. Yes, it is true. I don't want any nasty rumors started about this incident (ahem, Emily, it was NOT my fault the toaster is gone,) so this is me setting the record straight. So I was at the cog, grabbing some lunch by myself and decided a bagel with pb sounded delicious. I place the bagel in the rotisserie style toaster. Unfortunately, the bagel was too fat and got stuck between the wires! I grabbed a knife and was about to pull it out (YES. I know I can be electrocuted-it must have slipped my mind at the time though. Thankfully, my guardian angel was on high alert that day and I for some reason decided not to attempt the bagel rescue) when I saw FLAMES shooting out of the toaster. I ran over to the nearest cog employee and informed her of what was going on. In turn, she alerted Steve "STEVE! STEVE! FIRE! FIRE IN THE TOASTER!" Dear God. Everyone in the cog turned their heads at all the workers that were running towards me and the toaster. One lady grabbed a spoon and knocked it out. The omelette man reached in with a pair of tongs and pulled out a lump of smoking charcoal. I was beet red, standing in the center of it all, and I could just feel all the eyes on me. However, there is somewhat of a happy ending and lesson from this story-I apologized and all the cog workers were more than understanding and made me feel much better about the incident. The lesson? make sure your bagel is skinny.

Oh the Taylor Swift cd. It is so good. Better than Leslie's new country edition of Sing Star? Maybe...it is too close to call. By the way, Sing Star is heaps of fun-you don't have to be a good singer to win at singstar. As Leslie told me, it is all about how you move your voice. Anyway, my fingers are tired from typing. OH! I can't wait to go home for thanksgiving! Can anyone give me a ride to the airport? Clare and I are not speaking.

May the road rise to meet you, may the wind be always at your back, and may your bagels be skinny.

Yours,
Martha

PS EVERYONE MUST GO OUT AND BUY THE TAYLOR SWIFT CD!!!! IT IS LIFE-CHANGING
PPS TWIIIILIIIGHT!!!!! OH CATHY, ELLEN, ELAURA, BRIT, COURTNEY, AND KATE PLEASE COME TO SPOKANE!
ppps i love me some edward cullen.