New year, new you?

In highlight of the new year that is upon us, and thole whole "new year, new you" thing that everyone is saying...Why wait til New Years to change who you are? Why not change when the opportunity presents itself?

I was at my mum's partner's cousin's on Christmas day (yeah that was complex enough to read...try living it!!) and me and the family got talking. It seems to us, that in England, amd somehow across the world, that the media focuses on the negative things that the youth of today do. After thinking only slightly about this, I have come to realise that the media do this, as fear sells. It's as simple as that. You cause someone to have an irrational fear of something, and you can bet your bottom dollar that you can profit from it. Regular people don't care if I go to Church, or if my cousins would rather stay in with my aunt. They don't care if there's been a rise in kids stopping smoking or drinking. They only care in the NEGATIVE!! Yes it's important to inform people, and yes it's important for people to be aware of events that can be dangerous. But the only GOOD things newspapers, and other media outlets publicise regarding youths are the extraordinary things that not all youths can do. Do you think my local rag cares that my Church youth went singing? NOPE!! But do they care that a bunch of kids hang around, causing a nuisance? Yes. Do they report on the amount of kids going to Church? No. Do they report on a child sailing around the world? Yes.

It's a shame that normal youths aren't given credit for their skills. It's a shame the minority ruin it for the majority.


Rant over.

I feel so blessed. Simple. Yes, my mum's ill, her partner needs physio, and his daughter is ill also. Yes, I potentially have arthiritis. And yes, I've recently been hit by a bout of insomnia. But I feel blessed. In those wee hours of the morning, when there is no one else awake in the house, and there is an abundance of silence, I think. And things that didn't make sense to me last year, suddenly seem so obvious. I feel..not smarter...but wiser. More knowledged. And it's a blessing.

Happy new year everyone!!

Christmas!

I can't guarantee I'll post again before Christmas, and if that's the case, Merry Christmas to you all!

We have our sixth form review tomorrow (prepare for TOTAL humiliation!!) and my friends come home from BYU in the next week! (aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh I've missed then so much!!). Plus tonight I NEED to write out my Christmas cards. And get rid of this headache. And figure out SOME chav makeup.

Last night I had about 12 hours sleep. Tonight I'll be lucky if I get 5. Stupid last day of stupid term with stupid staff telling me I'm below track in stupid drama and stupid English. I'm up a grade in English, so how am I falling behind??

AAAAND my ex is talking to me again. I miss him, and I still like him, but after everything that happened between he and I, I don't want to go back. I know it's mean, but we weren't meant for each other, at all. He's a great guy though, and I wish him the best.

We had our Stake Carol Service on Sunday, t'was AMAZING!! There's a sister there (like a sister on a mission) who has an opera voice. Jealous, me? Nope. Actually...A hint. But that's not like an envious "I want to be able to sing like her!!" it's more like a "I wish I could sing half as good as her!!"

And there's a missionary here, called Elder Siddiqui, who's an absolutely LOVELY man, and oddly enough, he's serving in the same STAKE as he's from. He was in the Spain Malaga mission, but came closer to home, due to health reasons. Hopefully he stays near-ish to Romford.

I wish everyone a fantasbulistic Christmas, and God Bless you!!

Oh, yes.

THE TEMPLE IS FREAKIN' AWESOME!

Like seriously, my breath was taken away!! It's so beautiful, and you can really feel the Spirit there!!

AND one of our missionaries is serving in like Grays, and he came to Basildon, and gave me a lesson (well...him and his companion) and we were talking about Patriarchal Blessings, and it was SO COOL!

AND like, the SECOND Taco Bell in the whole of England opened the other day in Basildon, so me and my best friend (which ever one feels like going) HAVE to check it out.

I have a work Christmas party tonight. And currently am suffering from a cold. This'll be interesting!! aha, plus we have Secret Santa, and I think I've figured out who has who. But I won't tell if you won't ;)

Well, I'm off. God Bless to you, and I hope you have a fantabulous day!!

And so.

And so, it seems, Christmas is once again round the corner. I don't mind Christmas, actually, I quite like it. I just don't like the fact that I'm exceeding my overdraft by like the 20th of December.

The best bits about Christmas are, in my opinion

• The advent calender (Yes, I'm almost 18, but I don't care. Advent calenders MAKE Christmas)
• The Coca Cola advert (if you haven't seen it, YOUTUBE!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1CRvIj7R6k&feature=related)
• Being able to randomly burst out with "IT'S CHRIIIIIIIISTMAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSS!" (in the honour of the song)
• The Christmas parties
• The presents (just not wrapping them!!)
• Secret Santa
• Being able to stuff yourself silly with TONNES of food
• Spending time with your family
• And, of course, the birth of Jesus Christ, and remembering it

DID I FORGET?! Two of my Ward members come back from BYU like a week before Christmas! We seriously need like a BYU London campus!!

Is anyone else organised with Christmas this year? I know I'm not. Like from my ENTIRE Christmas gift list, I think I'm gonna...be poor And work the entirety of January to get out of the red.

But on the upside, I get to go to the Temple on Tuesday, and it'll be my FIRST TIME IN!!!!!!! Like seriously, I'm not sleeping on Monday night. I will be like a child at Christmas. How does everything revert back to that festive period?

Anyways, I better be off, I have a reading assignment to do. But before you stop reading, if you're ever feeling down, check out Psalm 139. It helped me through some tough times.

As always, but that doesn't make it any less sincere, God Bless

Let's stop child abuse

Isn't it amazing how quickly Facebook can be used to convey a message?

For November 6th, the youth of the LDS Church bore their Testimonies via facebook, in honour of Deiter Uchtdorf's birthday.

Last year, the English campaigned so that the XFactor didn't win Xmas number one.

Women all over the world posted bra colours, to try and raise awareness of BreastCancer.

Currently, we're putting pictures of cartoon character's to raise awareness of child abuse. Good idea?

It may not stop child abusers, but with like BILLIONS of pictures of cartoon characters, it will certainly grab the attention of someone.

update!

Yeah, I haven't updated in a while, terrible, I know, and I'm sorry.

The roadshow was fantastic, we didn't win, (it's fixed!!) Ilford and Southend won. I got a Krispie Kreme from Ilford. Nom! And then I found out an Ilford boy had been at the concert the same day as me, and he'd seen me. What a way to meet someone.

"Hi, I'm *****, and I saw you Thursday."
Was odd, I tell you!

So I went to a dance, and missed my SuperSaturday lesson (you cannot fathom how much this upset me). There was a guy there from Southend, who's really sweet. He asked me to dance, and we had like a 2-second dance before I had to go home.

And I'm so bored of drama! The subject and the thing itself! Like, in our class, one of the girls moans about me moaning. Hypocrite? And I wasn't moaning, but one lesson on a Monday does seem pointless. I had an idea, and it was presented, and then people just swore. Charming! I can't wait to leave my Sixth Form. Really, I can't.

We had Stake Conference last weekend! It was great! 3 of my friends were sustained to get the Melchezidek (sp?) Priesthood. Which means they'll be going on missions soon - OH SNAP! They're like, 3 amazing people!! 2 years without them?! I struggle after 2 weeks!!

I stayed over at my stepdad's house 2 nights in a row (I'm going for a record here!!) Silly boy's only broken his arm. I can't say much, I did the same in January. I can't wait til I have furniture and I can move in! Life will be SO much better! They have food. I have dry coco rocks. I must get some milk. Like NOW!

I'll write another post if I think of anything else, but thanks for reading my drivel (although, one man's trash is another man's treasure, you might value my thoughts) and God Bless

WOOO

so, I went to a concert last Thursday. I was a little sick afterwards :/
But still, it was my first concert, and it was to see the one, the only Linkin Park! I have NO idea who the opening act were. Some ravey random group. LP, however were awesome. I was kinda close to the front (Close enough for Chester Bennington to LOOK at me!), and I was caught in a mosh pit. I escaped with a few bruises, but I'm lucky, it could have been worse. Much worse. I saw someone with a busted nose. Ouch.

I was invited Wednesday night by a friend. And I pay them back after Christmas. So I don't go bankrupt before that :D

Also, there's a dance in a week. In Ipswich. Sorta hoping it's a good one :) And then a week later there's another dance. In St Albans. I've only been asked to dance once, so this should be interesting. Still, it's been a while since my last dance, and I know more people now. So I'm a little excited!

Hrmm. C'est la vie, I guess. Everyone gives you advice, and you're confused, because your heart is going one way and your head is going the total opposite direction. When you follow the advice, you end up heartbroken. When you don't, you feel like a disappointment. Sometimes you can't win.

But today, I was walking home from college. Tell a lie, I was actually walking to town, to do a favour for mum, when I had a moment of inspiration. Seriously, it stopped me in my tracks.

I'd posted on Facebook about a week ago, that I wanted to be the "Canary with grey on her wings". It hit me today, that I am being a Canary with grey wings at the moment. Let me explain.

In the Church, we have magazines, and the Youth Magazine is called "New Era", and one of the articles was about a woman who had 3 canaries. Each one was as beautiful as the last. 2 had beautiful yellow wings, and the last had grey flecks on his wings. The woman died, and left her Canaries to the man who wrote this article. I think it was Thomas S. Monson, or Gordon B. Hinckley. she said the grey-winged Canary, although looked different, sang just as beautiful as the others, if not more so.

Which got me thinking. the bird stood out from the others for it's physical difference. In these latter-day times, it's important that we stand out for our differences, our values. Acting in a Christlike manner will get others asking why. Why don't we drink alcohol, smoke, do drugs? Why don't we believe in sex before marriage? Why do we dress modestly, and cover our shoulders?

It's even more important that we have answers, and a testimony to bear to those who ask.

I don't want to sound like a preacher. And I'm sorry if I do. This is just what came into my head today, and I couldn't wait to write it down!

The things that be.

So, recently, my church has been getting ready for a thing called "roadshow". All the churches in our stake perform in it, and so we're getting our performance ready. It's GREAT! (I can't give too much away in case the other teams are on! But I WILL write about it later) But it was a little liberating to wander around my church in Ugg boots and pyjamas.

Today we had drama. I mean in college, as in the subject, but yeah, drama is generally a daily occurrence. On to the subject. We're doing a pantomime. Oh. I can't sing, I dance like I have two left feet, and I'm playing a bloke. I swear - this has been SO typecast!

For English, I've read (in the last month) 3 chapters of Wuthering Heights (would've read more, but you'll see why I didn't) Animal Farm, half of Jane Eyre (I'm getting there!! Patience), and I'm working on 1984. I gave up on Captain Corelli's Mandolin. Plus I'm reading the Bible, for Church, and for strength. AND I'm working my way through Stephen King's art, known as "IT". Excellent book. Not for the squeamish though

Well hello there, there, there

Hmm..my first blog. I guess I'll be using this as a journal of sorts. First, allow me to explain the name I've given it. "Thoughts of an Angel" is supposed to represent the view that what everyone has to say is important. I am by no means a traditional angel, I have no halo, nor wings, nor do I sing with other angels, (unless you count the Salvation Army LNE gospel choir Straight Ahead - They truly are angels!) but the point is, everyone is an angel. Yes we do things wrong, and we mess things up, but we're still angels.

Well, uhm, I guess I should explain a little about me. I'm Donna. I'll be writing in this from time to time. Hopefully people who know me will read this, but if you happen to stumble upon this by accident, then hello! I'm currently studying Law, Drama and English, I live in England, but really REALLY want to go Stateside, even if it's for a holiday! That would be AWESOME!

Another thing I guess you should know. It may not seem like anything major to you, but to me it's so vital. I'm Mormon. I'm a convert, so yes, there are things in my past I've done that aren't all that great (I won't divulge...) It doesn't change anything about me, except that it (hopefully) makes me a nicer person. I am by no means perfect. I don't pretend to be. I have a short temper sometimes, and sometimes run my mouth without thinking. But I try to be as good a person as I can.

I guess I'll be posting on this when something major, or even something I find cool, happens. If my sense of humor isn't the same as yours, sorry :)