As some of you may know, I volunteer at a tax center preparing tax returns for low income families. Here's a story from work:

I sat down with one of my clients at the Tax Center. She was a young girl living on her own, supporting herself, and paying for her own college education. At first, I didn't think much of this because I am a single girl working full time to pay for my education, rent, bills, and of course, food. Not to say that this isn't a difficult task, but many people work hard to put themselves through school.

I saw she was attempting to claim a dependent that was not a young child. She was claiming her 14-year old brother. This not making much sense at first, I asked her if it would be all right if I asked a series of questions to make sure she could claim her sibling.

It turns out she had supported her brother for 10 months of last year because their single parent had been in a correctional facility. Here was this young girl with no parental support, working full time (at a minimum wage job, no less), pursuing a degree and at the same time, raising a 14 year old male who most likely does not appreciate being told what to do by his 18 year old sister, much less help her with the bills. A young woman finding herself in a lonely world, taking on more responsibility than one could expect...

And I thought about all those people who think all poor people are lazy or irresponsible, and that government assistance was a drain on the economy. I want to look them in the eye and tell the story of a young girl who could give up, who could accept the welfare, who could drop out of school, who could compromise for a higher paying job, who could tell her little brother that she is too tired to put food on the table and drive him to school. She could live up to all the things the world expects of her. but that just wouldn't be her.

When I walked her to the exit and said my good night, she shook my hand and thanked me. Behind my smile was a wave of humility. I should be thanking her for the lesson she is teaching: a shining example of what it means to let nothing get in the way of your goals, and more importantly, to never give up. Those twenty minutes made this whole experience more of a blessing than I could have hoped for.

(from Valerie Schier)

A couple of hundred years ago, Benjamin Franklin shared with the world the secret of his success. Never leave that till tomorrow, he said, which you can do today. This is the man who discovered electricity. You think more people would listen to what he had to say. I don't know why we put things off, but if I had to guess, I'd have to say it has a lot to do with fear. Fear of failure, fear of rejection, sometimes the fear is just of making a decision, because what if you're wrong? What if you're making a mistake you can't undo? The early bird catches the worm. A stitch in time saves nine. He who hesitates is lost. We can't pretend we hadn't been told. We've all heard the proverbs, heard the philosophers, heard our grandparents warning us about wasted time, heard the damn poets urging us to seize the day. Still sometimes we have to see for ourselves. We have to make our own mistakes. We have to learn our own lessons. We have to sweep today's possibility under tomorrow's rug until we can't anymore. Until we finally understand for ourselves what Benjamin Franklin really meant. That knowing is better than wondering, that waking is better than sleeping, and even the biggest failure, even the worst, beat the hell out of never trying.

- Grey's Anatomy

Ok, so I know I haven't updated in a looong time (since summer). So here goes with a quick update of my life:

-         back home for a few days for the holidays

-         Saw Narnia and King Kong. King Kong = AMAZING!

-         working every other day… visit me at Mikado!

-         spending too much time on the side with my hunnie J

-         Got 5 sweaters for me and a pair of jeans for the boy

-         Applying to study abroad in ARGENTINA – fuck internships!

-         Accounting kicked me in the ass this semester…

Oh I can't wait to go back to Austin...

my friends (from hs) and i went to south padre for the weekend! BUT everything that could possibly go wrong with our hotel/condo went wrong. first, they advertised it as having 4 beds. pssh, 4 beds my ass. they had 1 bed, a pull out couch, a futon, and 2 small twins. then all the utensils and towels that came with the hotel/condo were all dirty or tarnished. the flush wouldnt work so matthew's crap was floating in there for like 3 hours. gross. later that night, the shower water wouldnt turn off b/c a screw was loose, so the water ran throughout the night. in the morning there was completely no water, and some guy had to come and fix it. they drilled all morning.

on the up side, i got a lot of sun, had a nice relaxing vacation with the people i enjoy the most. it was andrew's 19th birthday... sid and i got to go parasailing!

yep, my trip was tons of fun. too bad my camera battery was dead!

can anyone recommend me any good books or authors? i've been reading crap lately. ok, thanks :)