How is everyone? Again, it's been a long time since the last time I did this.
Let's see what's been going on:
My little sister is pregnant again, this time it's a girl! I'm very excited.
I went to Cali for Christmas vacation w/ my dad.
The RSC Friends of the Library Club is the most active student organization on campus, and is in the lead to win Club of the Year.
With the club, I have been going to a local elementary school and reading to the Pre-K class. This is a very rewarding activity.
As of right now, I'm planning to move to California at the end of August.

I love California. When I was there for Christmas, I went to San Francisco. It is a beautiful city. We went to a 5 story Macy's store, a 3 story Old Navy store, a 3 story Virgin Megastore, and a HUGE Disney Store. We also went to a little vineyard called Delicato. They make a wonderful almondine sparkling wine. I brought 4 bottles home, and it was gone in a matter of days.

I got my picture in the school paper for being accepted to Mensa. This is what the article said:
Amanda proves Mensa-worthy intelligence
by Erin Waltman

Mensa, a society that welcomes individuals from all walks of life as long as their IQ is in the top two percent of the population, has just welcomed a new member, RSC student Amanda, liberal studies major.

"I was watching Animal Planet and they had the planet's ten smartest animals," said Amanda. "They talked about Mensa and I thought, "Hey, I can do that.'"

The word "Mensa" is Latin and means "table." The name is meant to stand for a round-table organization where race, creed, color, age, politics, national origin, educational or social background are immaterial.

According to the Mensa International Web site (www.mensa.org), Mensa's goals are "to identify and foster human intelligence for the benefit of humanity, to encourage research in the nature, characteristics and uses of intelligence and to promote stimulating intellectual and social opportunities for its members."

Mensa currently boasts approximately 100,000 members in 100 countries, with active Mensa organizations in 40 countries on every continent except Antarctica.

"Mensans range in age from four to 94, but most are between 20 and 60," reports the Mensa International Web site. "In education, they range from pre-schoolers to high school dropouts to people with multiple doctorates. There are Mensans on welfare and Mensans who are millionaires. As far as occupations, the range is staggering. Mensa has professional truck drivers, scientists, firefighters, computer programmers, farmers, artists, military people, musicians, laborers, police officers, glassblowers - the diverse list goes on and on."

Mensa members share only one prevalent attribute: they all have very high IQs.

For people who want to qualify for Mensa, there are two ways to prove themselves: either take the Mensa test or submit a qualifying score from another intelligence test that is Mensa-approved and was properly administered and supervised.

Since there are so many IQ tests and not all give the same results (i.e. a person's result on one test may be 133 while on another test, the person would have been scored at 147), Mensa has set a percentile cutoff to dodge confusion. Applicants for Mensa must attain a score more than or equal to the score of 98 percent of the population on a standard test of intelligence.

"I took the Mensa test on national testing day," said Amanda. "The day after I took the test, I started telling myself,'I didn't get in. I'm not going to worry about it.' So I was really excited - I cried when I got my letter."
People who join Mensa can look forward to many benefits. There are roughly 200 Special Interest Groups (SIGs) for different passions. There are SIGs for practically anything a person can fall in love with, whether it is microbiology , zoology, or chocolate.

"There are SIGs for breadmaking, winemaking, cartooning, silversmithing and clowning," reports the Mensa International Web site. "Heraldry, semantics and Egyptology co-exist with barkeeping, motorcycling and tap dancing. Sports SIGs cover the classics (baseball, basketball and football) and the not-so-classic (skeetshooting, hang gliding and skydiving.) And any Mensan who can't find a SIG to join can easily start one."

Mensa members receive a national magazine that boasts congributions by Mensans on varying subjects. SIGs have meetings - some only once a month and some daily. Mensa sponsors a members-only credit card and insurance program in some countries. There is also a program for traveling Mensans that aids them while they go abroad.

For more information on Mensa or to request a chance to take the Mensa test, visit the Mensa International Web site.


"If you can dream it, then you can achieve it. You will get all you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want." - Zig Ziglar