Extra! Extra!

Some random happenings, for your reading pleasure:

*I had a dream the other night that I got a tattoo of Kermit the Frog. That's right...Kermit the Frog. Don't know why - I have never had a desire to get a tattoo, nor have I ever had a fixation with Kermit. During the entire dream I just kept thinking, "Why am I getting a tattoo? It's going to look bad when I get old." Weird.

*It is a BEAUTIFUL day here. I have heard that there is a nice little park somewhere close to my apartment. Later today I think I will venture out and try and locate said park. Some fresh air would do me good.

*I went to Applebee's for lunch today with a friend. There was a wait, so we sat down on the benches in the entrance area. Once we were seated I ran my hand through my hair only to discover that it was wet in the back. In fact, more than a little wet. "What the heck?! Why is my hair wet?" Turns out that the bench we were sitting on had a pitcher of water and tea just above it. It dripped down on me. GROSS. My lunch really should have been free. But I'm not really good at demanding those sort of things.

*Turns out that it is really difficult to get accepted into the FBI. They prefer people with previous law enforcement experience or military background. Guess that rules me out.

*The other morning before work I caught the end of a "Saved By the Bell: The College Years" episode. I was never a huge fan of that particular attempt to keep Zach Morris and the gang going, but it did get me to thinking about shows that I really miss. They include, but are not limited to: 1) Saved by the Bell 2) Family Matters 3) Fresh Prince of Belair 4) Full House 5) Tiny Toon Adventures. What shows of yesteryear do you miss?

*I'm planning a vacation to Hawaii this fall to visit my sister Krystina. Couldn't be more excited - can't wait for it to get here! Speed up your clock, Father Time!!

Broken.

I broke something really important to me last night. Two years ago when I finished my internship, someone very special gave me a gift. It was a beautiful glass butterfly. She told me she had chosen the butterfly because over the course of my internship I had transformed just like butterflies do.

I have moved four times since being given that gift. Each time I have gone to great lengths to make certain the butterfly made it in one piece. And I have been successful every move. My new apartment was going to be the place where the butterfly would finally be displayed properly. So last night I removed it from its box and carefully unwrapped it. I then dropped it on my kitchen floor and watched it break into about thirty pieces.

I'm sorry, Kelly.

Surprise! Another list:

Top ten careers I would have chosen if my current job didn't exist:

1. Publisher/Editor/Acquisitions Editor
2. Naval Officer
3. Scientist (if no math was involved and I could do cool experiments all day long)
4. Music teacher
5. Marine Biologist
6. Lawyer
7. Event Planner (just like J Lo in the Wedding Planner...)
8. Band Manager
9. Photographer
10. Independently wealthy world-traveler (What?! You know it would be on your list.)

More lists...

Here are a list of my top favorite movies - again in no particular order.

1. Ferris Bueller's Day Off
2. The Goonies
3. Newsies
4. National Treasure
5. Pride and Prejudice (2005)
6. The Cutting Edge
7. The Indiana Jones Trilogy
8. Sweet Home Alabama
9. The Interpreter
10. Ocean's Eleven
11. Emma
12. Sense and Sensibility

Things I love

Here is a small list of things I just really enjoy, in no particular order:

1. Chocolate Chip Mint Ice Cream
2. The smell of a turkey in the oven
3. Avalon
4. The TV show Friends (I know...I'm a total pagan. But they are so funny)
5. Swimming
6. 78 degree weather
7. Going on vacation when I don't have to pay or drive
8. Reading
9. Laughing
10. Taking Pictures (which we have already established I don't do enough of)

A study in awesomeness

One of the many benefits of my job is that I get to work with amazing people on a daily basis. This is a picture of my vocal team that I took at one of our Easter rehearsals last week. I could go on and on....but suffice it to say that they are awesome. It's my priviledge to minister with them.

The bottom of the barrel.

Ever get to that point where you feel as though you are scraping the bottom of the energy reserves barrel to make it through the day? That's me right now. I'm simply exhausted. Not physically - although my body is tired as a result of the last few weeks of physical labor. But I am just drained mentally and emotionally. It's the kind of tired that reaches it's tentacles down into your soul and latches on. The kind of tired that doesn't happen in a day, or a week, or probably even a month. The kind of tired that sneaks up on you in the still moments of your day and takes your breathe away. The kind of tired that doesn't retreat with a few hours, or even a few days off. The kind of tired that robs your soul of joy. I always know this kind of tired has gripped me when everything makes me cry (or makes me want to cry), and I want to yell at anyone and everyone for being stupid. I am a calm, rational person by nature - not really given to fits of crying and yelling - so this frame of mind is always especially upsetting to me.

It is Easter week. Holy Week. I am desperately trying to not let the Enemy steal my joy in the midst of it. I have worked too long and too hard to cruise through this week exhausted and frustrated with people. This week is the culmination of hours upon hours of planning, constructing, rehearsing...Not only by me but by other staff and an army of volunteers. It's a celebration. And Celebrations are joyful - not frustrating. I will choose joy. I will choose to honor God by faithfully executing the tasks He has set before me. (Hopefully without the crying and yelling. Even crying or yelling in my head.)

And God is good. I am right in the middle of a 45 minute break - so I came home to change and check my mail. In my mailbox was a card from my sister in Hawaii. It was what I needed to give my soul a little boost, and my heart enough energy to keep at it through tonight. Krystina didn't know how desperately I needed her words this afternoon...but God did.

I will choose joy.

Why, Katie? Why!!

The Today Show is part of morning ritual. And for as long as I have been watching it has been "Katie, Matt, Al and Ann."

The way I see it, Katie has a pretty sweet gig going. Or at least she did before she decided to turn down twenty million dollars to host the CBS evening news. No one watches CBS. Everyone knows that NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams is where it's at. Big mistake, Katie. Big mistake.

Here's the other mistake: Messing with my morning routine! How I am expected to adjust to seeing Merideth what's her face instead of Katie Couric every morning before work? This is simply more change than I can deal with. Bad form, Katie. Bad form.

More, I say more!

I need to take more pictures. I was looking through my albums tonight and realized that it is has been a long time since I have taken a photo of anything. In fact, the last picture I took was of Krystina's wedding - And that was January 1st. I know I have done things worth taking pictures of. And I have often thought, "I should bring my camera and take some pictures." But the thought never materializes into action. My life is slipping by and I have no photos of it! Crisis! Quick, someone take a picture of this moment...

Say what now?

As if you needed a reason not be a nudist...

SYDNEY - A red-faced Australian nudist who tried to set fire to what he thought was a deadly funnel web spider's nest ended up with badly burned buttocks, emergency officials said on Monday.
The 56-year-old man was at a nudist colony near Bowral, about 100 kilometers (62 miles) southwest of Sydney, on Sunday when he spotted what he believed to be a funnel web spider hole.
Ambulance workers, including a helicopter crew, were called to the scene after the man poured gasoline down the hole and then lit a match in an attempt to kill the offending arachnid.
"The exploding petrol fumes left the man with burns to 18 percent of his body, on the upper leg and buttocks," the NRMA Careflight helicopter rescue service said in a statement.
It said the man's lack of clothing probably contributed to the extent of his burns.
"The fate of the bunkered spider was unknown, although other guests at the resort thought it was probably a harmless trapdoor spider and not a deadly funnel web," the statement said.
NRMA Careflight said it was called to a property in the same area in January when another man kicked a spider that was crawling up the wall of a friend's cabin. The man broke his leg in two places, it said.

Note to self: Never pour gasoline down a hole and then light it on fire while naked.

Choices. My heart is heavy today. My heart is heavy over relationships broken, hurting people who hurt other people, choices made. My heart is heavy over problems I can't solve, ends I can't see, situations I can't fix, choices that are not mine to make. My heart is just heavy. It's why it is midnight and I am still awake. It's why I am not even close to slumber.
I started reading Philippians - a book full of joy. Paul says in chapter three, "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." Later in that same chapter Paul goes on to talk about the reality that there are those who live as enemies of the cross. They live to get satisfaction now - their minds are on earthly things. But my citizenship is in Heaven. And I wait for the day when Jesus, who has everything under control, will transform me to look like Him.
This started me thinking about faith, and how little I seem to have today. I flipped to Hebrews 11 and started reading about those who have gone before me. Those who have probably had days when their hearts felt heavy. Abraham, Noah, Isaac, Joseph, Moses, Rahab. The list goes on. Then, in the beginning verses of chapter 12 the writer has this to say: "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."
The writer doesn't say sprint to the end of the race. He says run with perseverance. The word perseverance appears 13 times in the New Testament - and it is the same Greek word every time. The definition includes words like "patience," "endurance," "persistence" and "standing firm." Sigh. I don't feel great at any of those things today. But at least I don't have to sprint.
My heart still feels heavy. But that's ok. I trust there is a purpose. Besides - by design every race has an end, even if I can't see it. And there is hope in that.

Seriously, what?

Here are some random moments from my life as of late:

I finally got internet and cable at my apartment. But I want to go on the record as saying that I believe it is completely irrational that the cable company has this notion that people have huge chunks of time to sit around the house and wait for them to show up. Frustrating does even begin to describe that whole process. I'm sure most of you can relate.

We have the majority of our Easter set constructed. It is actually deceptively simple. A black scrim with a raised 12x24 platform behind it. Easter is going to rock this year. I helped Dave hang the scrim - and it was actually a lot of fun. It was something out of my normal routine; and I got to climb up on some scaffolding. At one point, I was up at the top and Dave was handing up a plank/platform thing. I was kneeling on another platform trying to hold onto the plank while he climbed up to help - He tried to convince me it would be easier if I stood up. I looked down (big mistake) and decided that I was just fine where I was! We did, however, get everything done and I escaped relatively unscathed. (I am sporting a few bruises caused by the actual construction of the scaffolding.)

Life is flying by at the speed of light. I can hardly believe that it is April. A year ago today I was in China. It really doesn't seem possible - and yet it is. Before I know it summer will be here. (Although with the weather we have been experiencing lately I kind of wonder if summer will ever come.)

I bought a classic movie from my childhood: "The Cutting Edge." There is something about that movie that never gets old for me. Like a child, if I like a movie enough I can watch it numerous times in succession and not tire of it (A recent example would be Pride and Prejudice. I probably watched it 9 times before I lent it out). I'm the same with books. If I read it, and liked it, I'll probably read it again soon. That is one reason I never feel guilty about purchasing movies or books. I only buy the ones I like, and I don't own a movie or book that I have watched or read more than once.

I love my new apartment. I'll try and remember to post some pictures soon.