Sunday, September 28, 2008

entry number 1


So back by popular demand, I'm exploring my long lost "roots" from winter 2006, and creating yet another bloggame (pronounced BLAHgame thank you very much). Due to the insane popularity of "Dove or No Dove," I now bring you "Shalinn or Shaolin," a mind boggling game which invites to wager a guess as to whether or not the "fortune" you read below is written by me (Shalinn) or the "wisdom" of an actual fortune cookie (Shaolin). Simply leave a comment with your guess and be sure to check back every few days or so for updates. Like last time, I will be tallying the score and offering the winner a FABulous prize package, so go for the gold as if you were in Beijing! I think I'm going to wait to provide the answers until the end of the game, so encourage your friends and enemies to join in the fun!

Fortune number 1:
"Next week, green is a lucky color for you."

Extra bonus option - guess whether the lucky numbers are Shalinn or Shaolin:
11 12 25 37 40 42

FYI: I'm waving to you in my picture - not just showing off my stubby little hand!

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Indescribable X

Three words. Skateboard Big Air.

For those of you that don't know, I'm a huge X Games fan. It's a serious love. I think I started watching them on ESPN2 during X Games 2 (it's now X Games 14 and has moved "up" to ESPN and ABC - I like to think of myself as being ahead of my time, which is really ridiculous). Especially growing up in a small town where riding tractors and combines were the norm instead of skateboards and BMX bikes, not many people knew of my love then, and most would not have understood why I thought it was awesome. It makes a lot of sense to me now knowing the person I've become, but I'm already tired of writing about myself in this post so I will desist.

The inspiration for this post actually comes from the amazing skateboarders I just watched in Big Air. Last year I was watching the competition as Jake Brown had the fall that ESPN replayed a gazillion times over and scared the crap out of me every time. A nearly 50 foot fall from which he got up and walked away. Incredible.

As if that weren't enough, this year's competition was even more impressive. First of all, Jake Brown was back in the competition this year. In his first competition run back, lays down a clean run (his first of a few) and ends up with a bronze. Amazing enough, but dude. There is not much more determination than that of Danny Way. This guy does a huge flip over the big ramp and then gets over 20 feet of air on the next trick, only to drop his board, clip both his feet on the edge of the ramp on his way down and bite it hard. Not as far of a fall as Brown's last year, but equally as scary, as any fall is. Get this though - after falling and limping off (with help) and appearing as if he was in intense pain, Way goes to the med group, gets checked out, and tells them that he's going back out not just to do one run, but to finish out the next 3 runs he has left. He tells the ESPN correspondent that he feels like his foot is broken and his shoulder and back are in intense pain, and the next thing you know, he's on his board heading back to the top of the ramp on the elevator. He then proceeds to do the exact same run that he just fell on, and land it clean. It was CRAZYass and though I usually don't use this vernacular on a regular basis, it was tight. How anyone has determination and ability like that is beyond anything I could ever imagine for myself. But it didn't end there. Way goes out and finishes out his next two runs, his last of which was clean and put him in first place. He reported that his entire body was in pain and he could barely walk, but he went for every last minute of it. He may not have been saving lives or anything, but for what he could do within his broken body on a skateboard, he did. I probably shouldn't be shocked - I mean the guy did mess up his ankle and then jump over the Great Wall of China. Still, I know that I have never pushed myself to my limits like that.

Bob Burnquist (who I've watched for years at X Games) ended up with the gold after his final run which resulted in a huge 360 with a blind landing, landing a squat position - he was fighting so hard even though he could've easily settled for silver. Back to back wins for him. Even with his excitement, he gets off his skateboard, hugs Way, and is moved to tears by Danny Way's courage (they're also good friends and are in a band together). It doesn't start off any better than this. I think part of what I love about this whole thing is that everyone is impressed with what the other guy is doing or did.

As I write, there isn't video available yet to post from the competition, but I'll get it on here when I can.

I'll be out of town tomorrow night for a very worthy cause, but look forward to seeing what I've missed and what's yet to come. Although it was on my list of things to do in my lifetime, I think that I've just forwarded it close to the top. I'm going to proclaim it. I'll be there in Los Angeles for X Games 15 watching it live. Who's coming with me?!

Thursday, July 24, 2008

an affair to remember

kim and becca have a list. a summer "to do" list. it's summer "to do" list. and i helped. i helped them check two things off on one night, last night. it was their first twofer. it took our threesome to have a twofer.

the night started off by us all going to nkc, just across the bridge to a little (what we thought was going to be a) hole in the wall bar called denim and diamonds. if that title doesn't scare you, you're a stronger man/woman than i because i was a little frightened. i should not judge - but the website? not exactly high tech. i'm not an overly webby gal, and i learned enough java script independently during my college office job to create it. plus, i don't even like country music - i'm a country gal that happily resides in the city. the black clothing i frequently wear does not have fringe attached and my boots are stiletto and worn only in the winter with non-butt lengthening jeans. i at one time did live on a farm, and i did receive a pair of roper boots in 6th grade for christmas, with which my grandma accompanied a white button-down shirt with iron-on "country" appliques with a puff paint lining. i'm pretty sure my cousin and i only wore those miraculous shirts in the picture that my grandma took of us right after she gave them to us. she meant well i'm sure.

moving on, it was ladies night and the feeling's right. oh what a night. two bucks for us to get in, and fi'ty cent drinks. i'm totally down with drinking bud light if it costs me ye ol' half dollar. we went at 7:30 for line dancing lessons (the actual "list" activity), were surprised that we weren't the only ones there, and learned a nice little cha cha cha heel toe scootin' dance and a fast little hoppity hop number. not the official titles of the dances, but work with me here. in all reality, we did the few dances we knew and totally worked up a sweat, but spent most of our evening people watching. let me tell you, this was a very worthwhile activity. let me utilize an old nkotb tune to tell you about the merriment.

step one - we can have lots of fun.
watching the sweet old men dancers that were at least 80 years old and way better than we were at line dancing. so cute.
watching that guy in the plaid shirt that was dragged there by his girlfriend. what a trooper - he was really trying hard.

step two - there's so much we can do.
like watch people visit the "jail." we assumed this "jail" was a substantial amount of space that an entire party of people could fit in if they wanted to rent it for a special occasion. not so. it was available for birthdays or "special events" which was a loose term really. seven people visited the one to two person jail in a matter of a few hours. the likelihood that there were that many people celebrating their birth at denim and diamonds was about as likely as the applebee's employees actually believing that the entire volleyball team had birthdays on the same day. if you wanted to do shots from in between another person's legs and feel somebody up, that apparently sufficed as a "special event." the shots were your dessert, and everyone staring at you as the sirens went off and the sheriff (complete with sheriff leather vest and gold badge) drug you over to hold onto the jail bars to be frisked was your serenade. good times call for alcohol and scandalous public displays of lewdness (pdls). at least that's what i always say.

step three - it's just you and me.
and the "celebrities" that we met at the bar. a man referring to himself as will ferrell introduced us to the supposed john cusack who would be "buying us all drinks all night long." considering that drinks for us were 50 cents a pop, it was not exactly impressive. "will" told us that he'd make sure we had a 2 dollar tab at the bar waiting for us. *insert faux swoon* we also met the supposed chris cagle (some country singer i guess? not to be confused with the "kegel" of the kegel exercises - i'm not gonna lie; that's the only cagle i had ever heard of).

step four - i can give you more.
more tube tops (which were actually in short supply surprisingly), more mom jeans (and not just any mom jeans, but ladies in mom jeans dancing on a pole for everyone to watch. and not just ladies pole dancing in mom jeans, but men putting dollar bills in the pockets of the mom jeans on the ladies pole dancing), more cowboy hats, belt buckles, and handlebar mustaches (any combo of two became known as the "double decker;" those with all three were referred to as the "trifecta"), and more random people that i was not expecting to see at a place like that (such as the guy in the hawaiian shirt and sandals, and the pseudo-preppy guys in polos who surprisingly knew a lot of dances, and the occasional rockers who made me feel less out of place)

step five - don't you know that the time has arrived.
for the country music to take a crazy-ass turn into hip hop. to see many of the same (predominately caucasian) dancers go from two-stepping to "neon moon" to rubbin' up and down to "get low" within 1 second was a little cuckoo. three hip hop songs (two of which weren't really even danceable) in the middle of a country hoe down. ho down, hoe down. either one i suppose. two mom jeans ladies in the middle of the dance floor were quite disturbing as they recited all of the lil' jon lyrics and danced a dance that i'm sure they thought was a good idea, but i'm writing about them now, so they're famous in their own right i suppose.

all this said, i think we might be visiting that place again on ladies night. not my type of music or idea of a good fashion show, but my two-steppin' grandparents would be proud. i figure any place that would play "i like my women just a little on the trashy side" should make me feel comfortable. it means the bar is set low. get low.

oh, and we came back to my place (well, my aunt and uncle's place - house sitting is awesome) and made mojitos. check number two on their list. and all i could say was, "hello."

Thursday, February 14, 2008

valen what?

maybe it's because i'm a speech-language therapist, or because i work in an urban school district, but i've found it nearly impossible to find any child that doesn't think today is valentiMe's day. even though it bothers me, i'm to the point that i don't even correct them anymore.

this being said however,

i hope your valentimes are happy times.

(and for those of you that know me personally, please re-read the statement above with a voice much like that of eddie murphy's donkey character in shrek. that's my favorite way to say it.)

Monday, February 04, 2008

u2

One love
One blood
One life
You got to do what you should
One life
With each other
Sisters
Brothers
One life
But we're not the same
We get to
Carry each other

Sunday, January 20, 2008

life's about people

i have had the priviledge of knowing 6 of my 8 great-grandparents in my lifetime which is pretty amazing. perhaps the most amazing to me was my 106-year-old granny who passed away this last thursday. as part of a project in graduate school several years ago, i got to do an interview with her which revealed all sorts of interesting things that almost no one in my family knew. for instance - my grandfather was not the first person to propose marriage to her - he was just the first she said "yes" to (i think there were either 2 or 3 proposals prior, and one during her engagement). she had a college degree which was quite progressive in my opinion for a woman in the 1920s. she admittedly dated a guy for a long time just because he was a good dancer, and she continued to date guys while she was engaged to grandpa (he was away in medical school and he gave her permission to date. crazy!) my grandma had a strong faith in God, loved kentucky fried chicken and mcdonald's french fries, and knew more about current events, the stock market, and politics than i do. oh, and she watched dr. phil. pretty hilarious. i had always hoped that she would live to see me get married or at least get to meet my future husband - she was always asking me if i was dating someone (and she warned me not to get involved with doctors that were married - she saw something about it on dr. phil). that didn't happen obviously, but i figure that she was a pretty independent woman both before and after marriage (she outlived her husband by over 20 years and didn't even receive part-time nursing care until a couple years ago), so i like to think that she would be okay with my stage of life. even though her body gave out on her, her mind was solid until her passing. oh to be so fortunate... she was a gift.

question for this week (feel free to answer the other questions as well - i'm not giving up folks!): who has been a person that has inspired you?

Sunday, January 13, 2008

a new one

so apparently y'all aren't into this. however, that will not deter me from trying again and again until you get the hang of it.

before i fire off another question, i must thank meghan and maya who kept it real.

btw - my own answer to the previous question would be probably the biggest loser. it drastically changes and likely saves lives, and that's pretty cool. i don't really watch it until there's a marathon of it on bravo, but that's beside the point...

question number 2 of '08 is (drum roll please).....

what do you think is really the greatest (or one of the greatest) issues facing america today?

not at all like my last question, but appropriate i think.

Sunday, January 06, 2008

getting this show on the road...

you're probably either thinking, "OK already - ask a question" or "what? i haven't even read your previous post and what 'show' is she referring to?"

either way, here it is...

question 1:

what reality t.v. show (any show that involves real people, not characters - includes talk shows, cooking shows, etc.), if any, do you think makes the greatest impact on people's lives?

ready, GO!

Monday, December 31, 2007

aloha!

i think in the ever-so-brilliant film, "miss congeniality," (for those unfamiliar, just check your local cable stations - it might as well be on every weekend) there is a conversation about how "aloha!" means both "hello" and "goodbye" so i found that it was an appropriate title with which to wrap up the year/start anew. and no, i'm not going to hawaii.

i started a post last night. it involved me drawing this parallel between one of my favorite shakespeare plays, "much ado about nothing" and my life in 2007. perhaps it could've been worthwhile, but as i started recapping the year (in far too much detail i might add), i realized, there was no need. there's no way i'm going to forget this year and what happened in it. most all of it is etched in my heart and has really become a huge part of who i am. this has been a year of me being shocked by the actions of other people, experiencing love and how you have to entrust the objects of your love to God (including letting them go), discovering new passions in ministry, crying more than in any year i can remember, seeing friends off to africa , into marriage, or into the life beyond this one, moving into a place of my own by myself, creating new works of art, gaining new best friends, listening to new music, getting my first tattoo, joining an online dating site (for better (thanks to a redeeming individual) and worse), traveling to new places, oh, and of course watching every episode of buffy the vampire slayer, which i mocked a year ago, but now revere as a favorite television program.

i also bought new jeans yesterday. that is a grand accomplishment indeed. from all my women out there, can i get a "woot! woot!"?

i suppose i should also add, that this might be one of my last posts (at least as you know them). one of my greatest joys from this blog has been the comments that i get from not only people i know, but also the random people that stumble onto my blog. who would've thought that i would have someone find my blog BECAUSE i posted about giovanni's roll out piano? it's a crazy world out there.

so, the "hello" part of aloha! is that i'm switching things up as far as my musings go. i want to hear what america thinks. so, in order to do that, i'm going to ask questions. i'll give my answers to the questions too, but i don't want that to be the focus. whether variety truly is the spice of life, i don't know. but listening to people is key, and i need to practice that. so, tell me who YOU are. you shall be my muse. bewilder me in 2008. happy new year. let's grow together.

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

guitar hero......z

if rustin can just post a video of a wonderful guitar player, then i can post some of my faves too. i call this segment "keeping up with the smiths, or, the smith" these characters are not quite as "classical" but they're innovative and good at their craft.



tommy's awesome. he's part of why you need to come to winfield. don't get scared by his facial expressions.



doyle is incredible. i enjoy his daughter haley's music as well. i chose this video in tribute to my cats. makes me want to rock back and forth real fast.



this video doesn't do james justice at all, but he's the best flat picker i've ever seen. go see the waybacks. you won't regret it.



not your typical guitarist. kaki is king. or queen.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

webloggingblahblah

man - there's been so much i could've blogged about in the last couple of weeks, but i'm just now getting around to it, so this will likely be filled with abrupt changes in topics and be random at best.

i went to seattle a couple of weeks ago for the first time. it was completely wonderful. i loved the people i was there with, loved the city, loved the conference i went to (it re-fired my passion for loving people and seeing a bigger picture of God), loved the food i got to eat (SO delicious; fresh seafood is the BEST! i was in heaven for a little bit), and loved looking out of the airplane window and watching the topography change from the midwest (or really just "mid," let's be honest) to west. i'm pretty happy with most of my pictures - feel free to check them out here. i cannot wait until i can travel again - it fufilled a longing in my heart that i often forget exists. it may be a sign that my fortune in my fortune cookie this evening read, "you will travel to many places." i'm super cool with that and now await a fortune that says, "you will have a great fortune and plenty of time off from work."

on top of that, i've also gotten to experience some wonderful joys/sorrows recently. some seemingly trivial, some major, but full of vitality and life regardless. a long phone call from a friend who has had a passion awakened within her (one that is similar to mine and tied in amazingly with the conference in seattle), supporting a dear friend who is struggling with life-changing issues of love, honesty, and family, receiving a wonderfully unexpected phone call from a friend that was out of town, hearing from a friend that i haven't heard from in a year and 1/2 (and finding out that she's married now and will be in town to visit soon!), being inspired by the found magazine/postsecret show i went to and having my heart tugged at as well as my laughing my booty off, going to a rock show, making a friend snort and cry because she was laughing so hard at my southern accent, remembering a friend that died a couple months ago, and oh yeah - recently getting my heart broken and knowing that i can't do anything about it.

i'm pretty sure i've cried more and harder in this last year than in any other year of my life to this point - and i was saying that in march! still, i think that as the end of the year comes all too quickly to a close, i can say that i have cared for and loved people with a larger portion of my heart, gotten to meet some extraordinary people, had brand new conversations, been continuously loved and stretched by God, and started to embrace changes that i want to make in my life this year. plus, right now i'm watching the first episode of project runway season 4 which makes me very happy, and i'm not really caring at the moment that almost every other t.v. show is not new because of the writers strike. i will not be so happy once LOST and 24 are affected, but that's another post!

also, i am so excited that different people (known and unknown) have been leaving comments on my last couple of blog posts! a big desire of mine for the last 1/2 a year or so has been to start networking with people and getting to know what and who's out there in the world. i'm slowly taking steps in that direction, and with any luck, i'll begin figuring out where my journey's heading. until then, i'll keep truckin' and playing my roll out piano. oh wait, strike that last part.

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

it will be hard, but it will be good



it's hard not to take life personally sometimes...particularly when you look at your losses or failures and realize that the common denominator in all of them is you.

anyone who knows me well knows that i analyze things. A LOT. i have a very difficult time not picking apart the pieces of just about everything and examining them bit by bit. i think i've traced it all back to my toddler-hood when instead of riding my tricycle, i took it all apart and put it back together again....i had no idea how telling that would be of my life.... anyhow, when i use these analyzing skills appropriately, the results are positive. other times, well, i tend to destruct any hope i have left.

right now i am faced with several choices. the results of some of my decisions (some just dumb, some out of fear, some right/correct but hard to bravely face) are staring at me point blank right now and causing my head to spin. and like my usual self, i'm wanting to break down everything into pieces and figure out how to put them back together again, hoping that i won't make the same mistake (if it was a mistake) next time. everything in me is trying to do things the way i've always done it - very methodically, very intricately; i put my examiner glasses on, take responsibility for virtually everything, beat myself up about what went wrong, and wonder if any good will ever come from me. sound dramatic?!

here's the thing though. i don't want to be dramatic. i don't think of myself as a high drama person, though when i look at my life, it is filled with drama because of my analyzation. i'm learning that one of the things that scares me most is when i'm caught in a venerable moment and my drama is revealed to, or in the worst cases, vomited on those that i care about. interestingly enough though, the cry of my heart/the word that keeps coming to my mind for the last few weeks of my life has been "intimacy." i want it, i long for it,i've prayed about it, had others pray for me about it, thought about it, etc. still, it is intimacy that is most frightening to me. being intimate is risky, and i suck at taking risks. in fact, i was just telling a friend yesterday (who happens to be one of the unfortunate individuals who i "vomited" on not long after i met him and freaked him out- poor guy) that if i could be good at anything, i wish i could be better at taking risks. instead of babbling more though,i'd like to attempt to make a point, so i shall type a series of equations:

revealing me to others (a.k.a. intimacy) = revealing my drama
revealing my drama = taking a risk
taking a risk = something i'm not good at but want
intimacy = something else i want
intimacy = taking the risk of revealing my drama

i guess i'm afraid of this risk because it seems like more often than not, when i put myself out there, my drama is not understood and/or resonated with, and people back away, so i feel like a freak. this freakiness can be a turn off to some. i don't want to turn anyone off; in fact, i strongly desire to put people at ease and make them feel welcome and relaxed. how i'm supposed to take this risk of drama revelation/intimacy and come off looking sane and not scaring the world around me, i don't know. i don't think i'm very good at it. history in some ways would suggest that my assessment is accurate. i often feel like a freak as a result. i guess it's not a risk if you know the outcome though; go figure.

all this being said, i suppose i should thank all of you that are my dear friends and have not run away from me screaming. your willingness to simply stick around and not cover your eyes and hit me with a club shouting, "freak! freak!" is amazing to me. and i do mean that sincerely. i must also give a shout out to God who also never runs away from me screaming and actually calls me to bring before Him more of my drama for the sake of knowing the drama He can also bring to the table. crazy stuff.

still, i long to be fully intimate with someone and have them be fully intimate with me. and i keep trying, but to no avail. should i keep trying? i want to, even though the more i try, the more it seems like i am found to be a freak.

when it all boils down to it, i suppose we all just want to be fully known (whether we realize it or not). and as for me? well,i'd really like to get out of the garage of tools and pieces and learn to just ride my tricycle...

Saturday, October 20, 2007

the real question is...?

1. why haven't i posted since august?

2. why am i now living by myself when i said earlier on this blog that i didn't think i ever would?

3. why am i so hot?

4. who else thinks that steven colbert running for president is hilarious and fantastic?

5. who ate at lidia's today and ate way more delicious food than should be allowed by one person?

6. what is your favorite color?

7. when did k-fed become the better choice?

8. when am i going to say something interesting on this site?

9. who signed me up to receive men's vogue?

10.who put the bop in the bop-shu-bop-shu-bop?


10 points to the person to correctly identify my real question. GO!

Friday, August 10, 2007

"they had to put their hands on it and play"


there is a reason i stay up late when i'm not working, and there is also a reason why now having cable for the first time in a few years may just ruin me. at about 1:00a.m. the other night i stumbled upon an infomercial that may just change my life, or at least potentially ruin an entire population of future pianists. the roll out keyboard. "now everyone can get it on the action!"

i took several snap shots of my television to document such an event, but really, i shouldn't taint your views with mine about this product. wait! this is MY blog and when has anything stopped me before?

do please check out giovanni, the "mastermind" behind this phenomenon, who basically is a mix of john tesh and yanni...i mean, when you think about it, the name "giovanni" is almost a combination of both names, save the "v." perhaps v is for vendetta in my case, because someone has murdered the beauty that is the piano and the proper technique that comes with actually learning to play from a piano teacher on an actual piano with non-flat keys. convenience is ruining the nation. but, the thought of this gadget being played as part of a band, or being pulled out for a family fun sing-a-long gave me a good laugh, so thanks for the memories gio.

if you ever decide to buy such a product, be assured that i would have to come check it out for myself, but do be forewarned that i may just have to burn it afterwards... even though it has more gadgets than my expensive full size keyboard. technology - the loathing and the loving....

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

I've been tagged....randomly....

So Rustin "tagged" me on his blog for the following "game." I can't believe I'm participating in this, but then of course, the biggest shocker is that Rustin participated in it first... Here are the rules:

1. players start with 8 random facts about themselves.
2. those who are tagged should post these rules and their 8 random facts.
3. players should tag 8 other people and notify them they have been tagged.

Well, here it goes:

1. I'm kind of addicted to caffeine, and I drink Diet Dr. Pepper so much that I'm at the point where I can drink it right before I go to bed and have no trouble sleeping. Caffeine is not a stimulant to me.
2. I once went on a date in a semi. I'm not even joking.
3. I am obsessed with places I've never been...namely Ireland (my homeland) and Maine (because of the book Sarah, Plain and Tall from my youth). I do plan on going both places some day.
4. I have a fondness for romantic comedies about women who are older and accomplished, but have lost or have never truly found love, then happen to find it in the course of the movie. A lot of them happen to involve actresses like Diane Keaton. I had a friend ask me why I thought I liked those types of movies once, and there's probably some deep insight into my life I could share right now, but I will refrain from letting my blog be my therapist right now.
5. My right, front tooth is fake. You can tell when I dawn a large smile because you can see the metal plate to which the crown is attached. There's a lot of history there actually, but the short story is that it's a result of a 7th grade basketball accident where I went teeth first into the gym floor.
6. When I'm playing piano by myself and my roommate comes home, I automatically stop playing and do this weird thing where I run into another room like I was doing something else entirely. This has happened for almost a decade now.
7. I am a self-proclaimed expert at unrequited love. Still, I try to write this off as making me more like Christ - there's lots of people He loves and has demonstrated His love for in far greater ways than me, and they don't love Him back. This makes me sad - mostly for Jesus since I know that it's always worth it to love Him back.
8. I love to write, and let's face it, whether I want it to be or not, this blog, among other things, is a form of therapy for me. I really like using commas too.

Okay, so I'm tagging y'all - if you don't have a blog, create one, or just leave your post in my comment section. You do have interesting things to say - otherwise I wouldn't be friends with you :)

Tiffany
Kim
Nadia (because she needs to post. seriously)
Jami
Donna
Beth Dixon (I know you're out there reading this Beth!)
Doug (Igford's counterpart)
Mallory

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

why i have issues with "patriotism"

it's so interesting - when i was younger, i used to LOVE the 4th of july. i loved spending the day in town (breaks into some varied version of "thank God i'm a country boy"), having bbq's, shooting fireworks, going down to the ball fields (the happenin' place around town), and actually wearing red, white, and blue or something with an american flag on it. i wrote an 8th grade essay about the importance of voting, and won a full size american flag for an essay i wrote in 5th grade. with each passing year of my adult life however, i find myself becoming less and less "patriotic" and almost becoming cynical about the crap that goes on here in america. am i evil for this? i'm not so sure.

ironically, this fits right in line with some of my most recent posts. i don't know if it's a result of a generation gap, or just a great difference of opinion, but i receive similar emails quite regularly from both of my grandmas on the topic that i am addressing here. this kind of thing DOES NOT scream "i'm thankful and grateful for my freedom" in my opinion, and makes me rather irate (if you couldn't already tell that this was going to be a ranting post).


i received the side bar pic as a forward from one of my grandmas today, and the more i read, the more irritated i became. (click on the pic and hopefully it will enlarge to a more readable state) i'm sure that with the immigration bill just being a big item topic in the political realm within the last week or so, and me recently listening to a LOT of national public radio (which i heart), this issue has been on my mind quite a bit lately. still, i just can't quite seem to get over how narrow minded some people can be in the name of "patriotism" and "love" for "their" country. i would be really interested to see what you, my readers, think about what was said here. do you agree? am i being way too harsh in thinking that these sentiments are crap? i really do want to hear your opinions, even if in stark contrast to mine...

patriotism as defined by my fabulous iBook dictionary is: a person who vigorously supports their country and is prepared to defend it against enemies or detractors. i think there is perhaps something to be said for this. i am certainly grateful to the millions of men and women who have died in pursuit of the freedoms i know in this country, but i think that things like this email forward have little to nothing to do with those people. although there is a definite danger of going so far over to the anti-patriotism side of life that's not healthy, i think there is GREAT danger in also looking at the world or america through "patriot" glasses. what really constitutes our "rights"? the constitution? people's interpretations of the constitution (which are widely varied)? why are we so concerned about our rights anyway? is it just because we want to be comfortable? is it because we want things to be our way or the highway? life and liberty, that i can get behind, but the pursuit of happiness? is happiness really what we should be pursuing? isn't that relative? won't some people's pursuits inheritantly get in the way of other people's pursuits? are we more concerned about policy than people? what is freedom anyway, and (granted i am certainly looking at this with my "Christian" glasses on, and i admit that) why do we think true freedom can be found in policies and laws, and having everyone be "legal" and paying taxes and offending or not offending other people and not found in Jesus? it's unfortunate to me that this country is thought to be based on Christianity. maybe it truly was at one point, but it seems as if every country in the world seems to have repeated lessons of missing the point (mostly because not everyone can agree what the point is), including (and in some cases maybe even moreso) america.

i am grateful that i can write this here on a website to be available to the world and not be punished for sharing my questions and opinions, and it's that "independence" that i will celebrate today. but i say that what we all should be looking at what we are dependent on, and examine that for once. are we relying on what we really want to be relying on or are we defending a lie or our own personal hangups in the name of "patriotism" or our fierce desire to be "independent"? life and liberty are not about me getting my way or having done what i think is best. in fact, i'm struggling every day to first depend on the God that loves me, and then the amazing people (humanity) that he's given me to live my life with. it's amazing how independence has the letter "i" in it, as does patriotism, which brings me full circle with the title of this post, and thus ends my rant, for now! happy examine your dependence day! (okay, so that changed this whole thing into some cheesy Christian sentiment, but whatever)

p.s. i didn't even start in with my opinions about the "language" issues the email forward brought up - in the words of molly shannon's standup SNL skit character, "don't get me started. don't even get me started!"

Thursday, May 31, 2007

free love on the freelove freeway

i figured since it is half way through 2007 now (i can't even really believe it) and i'm starting my 27th year of life (turning 26 - for my confused readers, think hard - it does make sense), i thought i'd make a list of the music that's rocked my year so far. logically, i should probably make my list have something to do with the number 7, (you know 2007, 27th year) but in reality my preface has little to nothing to do with my post, and i'm just going to list music for the heck of it.

albums that i've listened to A LOT so far since the start of 2007:

speak for yourself - imogen heap
back to basics (discs 1 and 2)- christina aguilera
stripped - christina aguilera
till the sun turns black - ray lamontagne
a fever you can't sweat out - panic! at the disco
keep it together - guster
songs that rocked the lar-dawg - (jeff larison's fave songs of 2006 compilation)
futuresex/lovesounds - justin timberlake
arise - an anonymous project
blueprints for the black market - anberlin
cities - anberlin
never take friendship personal - anberlin
remember right now - spitalfield
sink or swim - waterdeep
the khrusty brothers - the khrusty brothers
it won't be soon before long - maroon 5

other artists that have stirred me...

patty griffin
bleed the dream
brand new
the early november
led zeppelin
brilliant geographers
the dan doran band (local band)
chris daughtry (interestingly enough)
explosions in the sky
saosin
jennifer knapp (old school stuff)
silers bald (old school laura story version)
rufus wainright
the waybacks (coming to lawrence june 10th-11th by the way :)

why did i bother posting this? like my blog says - who knows where thoughts come from? they just appear...

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

grandmas and faith handkerchiefs PART 1


i got an interesting piece of mail the other day...

the envelope read "God's Holy Spirit instructed us to loan you this to start turning things around for you. So, here it is." naturally, i opened it.

inside, i found the following (see above). as a minister for more than 50 years, the "pastor" that sent me this read, and reread the Bible and determined that God instructed ministers to send "Bible faith handkerchiefs" to people so that miracles of blessings could occur (based on Acts 19:11,12 - read for yourself what the scripture actually says). who knew all i had to do was send people holy snot rags? on this paper 'chief, i was instructed to write my name in the center, with the name of a loved one i wanted prayer for below it and place it in my Bible at the Acts passage at night while i slept.

i found this experience to be very holy and helpful in my walk with the Lord.

along with the blessings that were assuredly going to be mine once i returned this faith handkerchief in the mail to "st. matthew's churches" at a p.o. box address in tulsa, oklahoma, i was also encouraged to pray about "sowing a biblical seed offering unto the Lord" for "this is the work of God that this church is doing." i had no idea God was calling me to give him seeds this whole time. i thought i was called to tithe money, likely to the church of which i am a part. apparently not.

there were many stories of how these B.f.h.'s "worked" in people's lives. people going off "dope," getting out of jail, receiving checks in the mail, etc. and amazingly enough, they had become "seed harvest members." how coincidental!

even more wonderful is that i had a special sealed prophesy to speak words of wisdom in my life, though i was NOT to open it until after sundown on the day that i sent my 'chief back. after getting on the internets and finding out that this whole thing was officially a scam (i thought about sending just the 'chief back to see what happened - some informal research if you will), i opened the sealed prophesy, even though i had broken the "rules" and was to have destroyed the prophesy without reading it because it was of a "spiritual nature." oops! and let me tell you, the prophesy wasn't at all general and was very applicable to ONLY my life. or something like that...

i shall leave you with what my favorite picture was. a picture, i'm assuming, from "Biblical times" since Kodak was strong to quite strong back then, of what i assume is Paul giving a Bible faith handkerchief (that looks just like mine!) to a sick person. that's so life giving.

i once was blind, but now i see. i once was money, now i'm a "seed." i once used direct communcation with the living God in prayer, now i just use my paper Bible faith handkerchief and put it in the mail. ask yourself: WWPD?

grandmas and faith handkerchiefs PART 2

because you'll likely read what's above this as PART 1 first...

i've had a few blog-worthy things come up lately, and i must admit that i was more tempted to do one of my more serious "what i've been learning" posts, but decided against it because sometimes life is just funny and the world needs to know about it.

thus, i take you on a journey.

first of all, i love my grandmothers. really, i do. however, i'm pretty sure that i'm not much like either one of them...case in point, their love for email forwards. i am very proud of one of my grandmas who used to send approximately 3 forwards a day, because she generally limits herself to one a week now after multiple grandchildren complained and confessed to her that we automatically deleted them. her lesson was also learned when we accidently deleted her request for a Christmas list last year, mistaking it for another "you're going to have bad luck for 7 years if you don't send this to 30 of your closest friends" sorta thing.

anyway, i got a kick out of both of my grandmas this week as they both sent their own "inspirational" emails...my favorite part about the link below (via email forward) was that my grandma had already sent it to me before a month or so ago, but the first time in the body of the email it read "Words of wisdom from a 98-year-old senior citizen who shares her thoughts on love." this time the preface for the link was "I hope you enjoy this slide show. It meant a lot to me and I wanted to pass it on to you, so that you know you are loved." please meet the sap within and watch what's at the following link:

http://www.doyourememberlove.com/musiconly.html

oh, and pretty please watch the accompanying explanation that follows the picture escapade. you will learn that this "98-year-old senior citizen" is not exactly a person...and in fact this link was created by a man that wrote a book about meditating with his dog.

my other grandma's forward (along with some just fabulous jpegs of characters that should've never been created) taught me the following things: that i am one of the 10 prettiest ladies on her friends list, elvis impersonators are "losers," apparently it's okay to make claymation-like pictures of old people wearing things like speedos and bikinis, that i was supposed to "hit" 10 pretty ladies (which i didn't, because even pretty people don't like to get punched in the face...seriously), and that it's okay to send your granddaughter an email forward that also says "If you get hit again you know you're really pretty. If you break the chain you'll have ugliness for 10 years." i'm planning on taking my next 10-year stint of ugliness and becoming a mime. i'm told that ugliness is covered up well by white make up and not talking. i guess it confirms that whole notion of "i won't be getting married for a long time" thing...unless ugly mime love is the best love...

they do apparently care enough to send the VERY best...

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

something to hold on to...

first thing of the day: i went mcdonald's for breakfast before work this morning (which i very rarely do) and happened to catch a quick glimpse of the top half of the guy's face in front of me, via his rearview mirror. i must admit, i thought - huh, he's kind of cute. this thought was quickly dashed away however, when i caught a look at his full face...and what did i see? A HANDLEBAR MUSTACHE! eeww! serves me right for checking out guys in kck at a mcdonald's...

secondly, i am about to lose my mind right now because my co-worker has loudly been playing (what i've googled and found out is) taylor hicks' song "do i make you proud?" next door on repeat! my answer to that question is, NO! you do NOT make me proud, but you do annoy the crap out of me! this is time number 7 that i'm hearing this song in a row! AAHHH! have i ever posted a blog about how much i dislike self-empowerment, feel-good about yourself and what you've overcome ballads? well, if i haven't, now's the time i shall rant. i strongly dislike them, and i think they're crap to put it lightly. even my beloved christina aguilera's song "beautiful" makes me kind of want to vomit...and i think christina kicks most people's asses musically. the low point of my musical endeavors? when i actually sang "wind beneath my wings" in high school for a spring concert. i still can't believe i did....i didn't even like that song!

rant completed. i'm worn out now....and sadly find myself singing the question, "do i make you proud?"...(cries...)