New direction.

I talked with Matt Dulin, the Print Production Manager at the Daily Cougar the other day at our IGAEAUH Meet & Greet. We were talking about the yearbook staff and it's dynamics/needs/changes it's going through, etc.

Essentially what it boils down to is that I found out I am really interested in applying to be the Editor-in-Chief. They are also looking for a Managing Editor - which Aijah would be great at. I cannot tell you how thrilled I would be if Aij and I got to be yearbook editors again. We both have experience, which is the main thing they're looking for. Both of us have been section editors, both have been Editor-in-Chiefs. Now, I focus more in my degree on production and management and design, and she focuses more on editing. Can you say perfect?! She's a great editor, too - we'd make an awesome team - again.

However, it's just another job I can add to my list of never ending things to do. I am looking to downsize my workload also. But, there is a solution (or two.)

Currently I am:
-Senator in the Student Government Association (SGA)
-Secretary, IGAEAUH
-Secretary, Sigma Phi Lambda
-Working 20+ hours a week
-Taking 15 hours of classes and 6 lab hours
-Leading small group on Sunday mornings

SO, I am too busy.

Solution:

I love being a senator. I feel like the College of Technology needs someone who cares because there is a lot that needs to be done. However, it's not personally beneficial to continue my involvement any longer past this year because it's not related to my degree at all. It's a great leadership opportunity, but it gives me too much to do. I'll do all that I can this year - put in a lot of effort - but then my time is up. It's smarter for me to be involved in something more relevant, like the yearbook. This is the most time consuming of all my commitments, so it would free me up the most.

In all honesty, Sigma Phi Lambda might not work out. We are having a very hard time getting interested members, and while we are putting full force behind trying to identify members, no one is coming to any of our meetings or events. Plus, we're all students with limited time available to devote to it in the first place. Also, I talked to BJ Ramon today, the director of the BSM and got some interesting insight. He said that there are about 35 Christian organizations on campus, with the vast majority of them being 10 people or under. (We need 15 to be a recognized chapter of Phi Lamb.) There are A LOT of organizations, and in comparison to the 37,000 students here, just not that many Christians. He has a vision for unity for the Christian Cougars and part of his goal for this year is to contact those organizations to try to do projects together, to create a more uniform, more impactful, bigger presence on campus. So, in his opinion, there isn't really a need for Phi Lamb at UH right now, because the Christian community won't be receptive to it at this time. It would just "create another organization." While it's pretty discouraging, God has perfect timing. If and when God wants and needs a chapter of Phi Lamb at UH is when it will happen.

IGAEAUH. Well, that's a whole story in itself. In short, I think I would be a really good president. I already have a whole list of initiatives I'd like to accomplish, and feel very qualified for the position. I don't know if anyone else in interested in running, so I don't know the likelihood of me actually getting the position, but we'll see. However, there is a time commitment that is significantly heavier than any of the other officers. But with that, part of what I think the organization needs to do is restructure the responsibilities. Currently, our President is assuming a lot of the work, which takes a lot of time. We'll see.

I will still work 20+ hours. I just have too many responsibilities that require my attention there. Plus, it's money, honey! Can't do my Dave Ramsey budget if I don't have any money!

And then, being yearbook editor. This is my ultimate goal of next year - but it's the most uncertain. It's a big job. It's a PAID job. That ultimately makes all the other things fall to 2nd priority because I would be getting paid to do it.

I will be taking the same amount of hours next semester, but I will be taking a mini-mester before the semester actually starts to knock our Finite Math, so I'll only have to focus on 4 classes instead of 5.

So what I see happening is me running for IGAEAUH President in December. Then, in April applying for Yearbook Editor. Not running for SGA, and we'll see what happens with Phi Lamb. I think it's possible. But after that, my commitments are full! No more saying "Yes, sure!" to everyone.

I am kind of almost a senior. Wow.

Newest pictures!

Will I ever be a pro? Who knows...

It's just incredibly fun. ALSO, Picasa is A-MAZING! I am in love!

for blog

wishlist

just to document it:

• external hard drive
• iPod touch
• credit paid off
• nails done/massage/hair cut, basically - spa day
  
• tuition paid
• engagement ring
• room to be done, chair rail painted

im sure ill think of more later.

Updation

This past week was a hard week to try to transition into my simplified life: Midterms.

So, I can't really say that I have succeeded in "slowing down" because with so much that I really did have to do last week, it was hard to catch my breath. However, I have a much better attitude about everything and I have said no about things. (eeeee!)

This next week is looking rather bright. I am finalizing my design work for the new SGA website, so that burden will be lifted. I don't have an SGA meeting this week. By the end of the week I will be caught up 100% on my Graphic Productions class (*for sure*) and entrepreneurship (*crossing fingers*). I think I have a good chance of raising my GPA this semester. I just really have to stay on top of entrepreneurship because it's online. I'm usually so over-organized about online classes and for some reason I just can't get the hang of it with this one.

Saturday was one of the best days I have had in a longggggg time. It's proof that my attitude truly has changed because I actually got in a car accident, but I can still say I had an amazing day.

Daniel, Aijah, and I (and Lucy) went to UH to paint an 8 foot tall cougar cut-out for the Homecoming Competition. The theme was cartoons, and we were painting ours to represent SGA. So, I thought, since SGA empowers students, Popeye would be a good idea because he's strong. Power, strong... get it? Soooo, I have to say, it turned out great. It is the perfect combo of a cougar with popeyes face.



But, we had to pick up some more paint from Hobby Lobby and while on the feeder of 610, I got in an accident! It wasn't my fault though, and my car is drivable, so it's all good. I'll just wait to fix it until I get the money from their insurance. I was driving in the left most lane of the feeder and the girl I hit was trying to get across the other 2 lanes of traffic. She said she couldn't see because of the cars in the lanes beside mine, but she didn't have an answer of why she kept going when she "couldn't see." The cop said she failed to leave a stop sign safely, but didn't issue her a ticket. It's all good in the neighborhood though.





In addition, both Aijah AND Daniel spilled their entire large drinks from Whataburger in my car. Awesome. (Unbelievably, this is unrelated to the accident.. it happened prior.)

Also, our wonderful cougar might get disqualified because we're not sure the paper work was turned in correctly. We will SO disappointed if that happens. But, we'll see.

We had a really good, really fun dinner at Outback Steakhouse. and then went to see Couples Retreat which was SOO funny!

So, I feel great. I had a great weekend, my room is cleaner. Not perf yet, but it's getting there. I think I need a bigger desk or something. I keep running out of room for stuff.

Ready for a good week,
K.

Top 3

The top three pieces of advice I have ever been given:

1. Never stop looking for a job. Even if you have what you think is your "dream job." This doesn't mean you have to keep actively submitting your resume everywhere, but just keep an open mind, and keep on the lookout. A better fit may be around the corner, but you might miss it if your eyes are closed to new opportunities.
   
2. Scholarships don't pay for people to get B's. This won't be relevant for me forever, but for now, it's very motivating to know that someone paid for me to go to class, do my homework, and take my education seriously. B's aren't enough.
   
3. Always leave one piece of food after eating with someone who made you dinner. That way, they know that you liked it, but also that they served you enough and you're not leaving hungry.
   

I. Don't. Have. To. Say. Yes. To. Everyone.

Please note that this is not meant to be complaints. It's not meant to to be a laundry list of how busy I am. It's definitely not supposed to be anything negative. It's more an inventory of my life, what I need to do to get back on track, and calm down, and let other people do stuff..in other words, don't feel obligated to read if you don't want to.

So this weekend was Flawless Weekend. I'll be completely honest and say that I told everyone that I didn't want to go - more specifically, that I was too busy to go. Well, let's just say that God knows how to put me in my place! Going in with a semi-bad attitude, I made the best of it. (It was really fun though, even though I was grumpy on the inside.) The focus was on the masks girls wear to cover themselves up and hide from their flaws and sins. Molly and Jamie gave a hilarious end of the weekend wrap-up speech. I felt like during the part they talked about being too busy they were speaking directly to me. I haven't been sleeping right, I haven't felt healthy in awhile, I've been stressing about everything I "have" to do, when in reality, I think it's just me trying to tell myself that I'm important. I think that I am (was) so worried about what people would think the reason was that I moved home and ignore the REAL reason, that I had to try to make up for it with "stuff" to fill my schedule. Now, don't get me wrong, I love all the things I am involved in, and have a true passion for all the things I committed to. But, I really need to calm down, stop saying "yes, sure!" to everyone, suck it up, and settle down with my activites. My grades are somewhat affected, and that bothers me a lot. Not as much as me "not having time" to read my Bible though. That's a sorry excuse for overscheduling yourself because time is static. You cannot "make time" like people say. You have the same exact number of minutes every day. It's up to you what you do with them. So: here's my new simplified life. Bold is set in stone pretty much, the unbold is somewhat flexible.

MONDAY:
9-11: graphics lecture
11-12: lunch
12:30-1:30: work out
2:00-4: homework in the mac lab, or meetings.
4-5:30 organizational leadership
5:30-8: dinner, study more, meetings, etc.
8-9:30: sigma phi lambda meetings
10:30: home, hopefully.
11:00: bedtime, or free time, crossing fingers I get to bed by 12.

TUESDAY:
9-6ish: work.
6-12: meetings at school, homework, in bed by 12 at the latest.

WEDNESDAY:
9-12: graphics lab
12-1: lunch
1:30-2:30: work out
3:00-5:30: homework in the mac lab, or meetings.
5:30-7:00: human resources
7:30-10ish: (every other week) SGA meeting
10:30: home hopefully
11:00: bedtime, or free time, crossing fingers I get to bed by 12.

THURSDAY:
9-6ish: work.
6-8: (every other week) IGAEA meeting
8:15-12: meetings at school, getting home, homework, in bed by 12 at the latest.

FRIDAY:
9-3: digital photography lab & lecture, lunch somewhere in between
4-5: work out
5:30-6:15: driving home (it's friday and takes forever.)
WEEKEND!

i cannot believe she wrote this. seriously.

Katie Marie Kornahrens you are the most amazing person I know and I am very fortunate to call you my sister. You have created dreams for yourself that it has become clear to anyone who has ears, eyes and brain and that has had a good conversation with you know that you are accomplishing those dreams and working very hard to achieve them! You are a incredibly loving person and is an awesome person to come to for advice. For many years you have let god lead your life and your an intensely strong person for keeping that up even with your family holding you down. You rarely ever have a negative attitude towards anything and it just amazes me sometimes how spiritual you can be. You are MY cheerleader, in anything I have going on in my life you are the one by my side to lift my head up and get me though it. Love you Kathryn!

**note, my name is not Kathryn. It IS katie!**

Moving Home, California, and Getting High

What a weird title, huh?

Well, I'm officially moved home. A lot has happened since, and it's only been a week.

I got in the biggest tiff yet with David and my boss, Todd. It got worked out, but hopefully change will actually happen. Crossing my fingers.

The Coogs won against Tech 29-28! That was awesome. Going down my facebook newsfeed and "liking" every status was fun.

I'm over scheduling myself. I really really want to join the Sigma Phi Lambda, but I also committed to teach the Point on Mondays. I'm hoping, and praying that someone would like to teach instead of me, or that next semester I can be apart of the sorority. I think it's really important that I get involved in something like this because all through college I haven't had any sort of accountability or really any Christian friends. I think God IS calling me to be apart of it, but it's unfortunate timing and maybe right now is not the right time.

Living at home is just weird, to say the least. It feels temporary. Like, two weeks, not two years. I've never been so tired at the end of the day. I was on campus every day this week, in addition, I was busy literally from 8:30am to about 11pm every night. Craziness. However, I have never been so good about my school work. Nothing is late, and I'm working hard on stuff. Well, with the exeption of Entrepreneurship. I really just don't even know what to do about that class. I have an interest in the subject, I just feel like I don't have time to apply to it. I really need to catch up with that one.

I think I woke up high this morning. Yesterday, my dad cleaned my carpet with Goof-Off to get some paint out of it. But it has a really strong smell that made the whole house reek. But, it's very concentrated in my room. So sleeping with it was weird and I woke up feeling a little woozy. This can't be good for me.

Daniel and I might be moving to California after graduation/wedding. He is majoring in biblical counseling and the John MacArthur "The Master's School" is where he needs to get his masters. It sounds like exactly what I think he wants. I even looked up cost of living and because the med center is so high, it's about the same as I was paying there. There are 20 registered sex offenders in the zip code. There's about that many here in my neighborhood haha. And, the tuition is really not as astronomically high as I would have thought. Looks like a possiblity that's seeming more and more do-able. :)