"It's better to help people than garden gnomes." -Amelie Poulain(Audrey Tautou) in Amelie

I was walking out of the grocery store the other night and took these photos with my phone. Just wanted to share. I love the sky.

buzzbrews

Afterthoughts of a late night conversation at a diner called Buzzbrews.

I sat with two guys at a booth. One adjacent to me, the other across the table. We talked about so many things; homosexuality, life, sex, living, relationships, church and other things. I've been more burdened lately by The Fall than I usually am. Not to say that I don't realize it in daily life, but lately it's just been more fierce. More hurtful to me. I've been more mournful of it's affects on life. I've longed for Heaven far more ardently than usual. This one part of the conversation brought me to consider my life as a woman. I am a woman. There are things that come with being a woman. There are things that are so trying: like the fact that I cannot walk alone down a street late at night for fear of being attacked. I wish that I could. There are so many nights when I would like to just leave my home and explore, with nothing but my thoughts and tennis shoes for comfort. But this isn't really the point I'm trying to make.

When I think of the fact that I am a woman, I know that I am this very important part of God's creation. He has bestowed upon me gifts just as a female. Women have an incredible amount of power when it comes to men. We have the ability to manipulate and control men simply because we are women, by our words and touch and body language. A passage that I have found to be telling of this power is Matthew 14:1-11. I'm not sure about the exegesis of the passage exactly. Herod has imprisoned John the Baptist because of his criticism of Herodias (his brother Phillip's wife). He was afraid to kill John because of the reaction of the people. Herodias was manipulative and planned for her daughter to dance for Herod on his birthday. Herodias told her that if she is given anything to ask for John the Baptist's head. He was so taken by the daughter that he promised the girl anything she wanted, which was John the Baptist's head on a platter. He carelessly promised anything to her. She could have taken everything from him.

This is one of those passages that humbles me. That makes me remember the power that God has given to us. But that it should be used in such a way to build up the body of believers, specifically men. I want to be a better encourager of my brothers in Christ. I want to incite my brothers to be men. We are in such need of men to lead and guide our churches, but it takes woman to build them up in Godly ways; praising, inspiring and challenging them. It's not a lesser role. It's one of my responsibilities as a woman.

top 6 reasons why i liked "march of the penguins" despite its anthropomorphic overtones

6. Baby penguins are keeee-ute!
5. I like the cold. I like ice. It had both.
4. I thought the documentary was well shot. National Geographic always keeps me happy. They are daring and thorough. Nobody does documentary work better than NG. If you want mockumentary work, then Christopher Guest is your man.
3. As a past nude slip n' slider (when I was 3 or 4), I can appreciate the penguins natural ability to slide on the ice into the water.
2. The film score is by Alex Wurman. I think he did an incredible job. I'm fascinated by those who can write music. It's magical to me.

And the number one reason why I liked March of the Penguins despite its anthropomorphic overtones was:

1. As I walked out of the theatre the first thought that crossed my mind was the church. I know this is so cliche. Don't judge me. Hear me out. We need each other to survive. We don't work alone. We steal. We want what others have. We see each other through winters and summers of our lives. And most importantly, we live together...or at least we are supposed to.

Today I saw one of the most incredible mullets I've ever seen...on a woman. A lady who works for this courier service came in to pick up a package to deliver to one of our clients. She (we'll call her Louise) walked in and I immediately noticed her short hair and neatly trimmed sides. As "Louise" picked up the package and turned, I slowly rose from my seat to capture all of the glory of this mullet. Her hair cascaded down past her waist resting on the curve of her back. I was paralyzed. Bleached blond highlights streaked like long racing stripes down her back. "Wow," I muttered under my breath.

a great saturday

I picked up a chair yesterday from my friends Patrick and Christy Lafferty. They had an extra dining room set and gave it to me last fall. So thankful! I decided to recover the chairs because there were stains on the fabric. Here are the pictures before, in the middle, and the end result.






I'm housesitting this weekend and Cally really wanted to be in the picture. She follows me around everywhere I go. I sort of like the attention. She also tries to eat her own poop. I don't accept kisses from her. The first pictures are close-up shot shows some of the stains that each chair has on it. There are 6 total chairs. The middle shots are of the "in process" phase. I was watching the movie Pi while doing this. I'm afraid that I'll need to see it again. The dogs didn't appreciate the staple gun either. The last set of photos are the finished result. I think the chair looks a lot better.

I searched around Saturday at several thrift stores and furniture shops to find some chairs to re-do. Unfortunately, I did not make any purchases. I found a great chair at Salvation Army, but it came in a set, and I didn't like the table that they put with the chairs. I have an idea for a chair that I would be able to sell. More to come!!!!

card #2 and a new responsibility

Here is the new card for the Bible study. This was actually my lunch. I wrote the letters with honey, photographed it, and then entered the text and effects in photoshop. I kind of like it.

Today one of my bosses came to my desk and put this letter-sized plastic display on my desk and said I could have it. They are very generous here. I looked up immediately with gracious eyes and asked if I could put up signs. He turned around and told me he thought that was a great idea. I know. So now it's a new responsibility. Every day I'm going to put a new sign up. Today I started off with a quote from David Sedaris's "Santaland Diaries" from his book Holiday on Ice. So the sign reads, "I tend to avoid leaflets, but it breaks my heart to see a grown man dressed as a taco." Everyone has appreciated it so far. I have had to explain it to each person because I forgot to include the reference. Oh, quiet down literary Nazis.

Something that caught me off guard today and made me laugh:

One of my co-workers was standing by my desk looking at this holiday magazine called Goodies from Goodman. She folded the magazine and showed me a picture of a gift basket with wine and other lavish items. Then she started looking at the page again and with excitement exclaimed, "YAY!! They have smoked SEMEN!!!" I blinked several times and looked at her puzzled but on the verge of laughing. "Semen?" I questioned, "Smoked?" She let out a gasp and corrected herself, "NO SALMON. SALMON!!!!"

music makes me happy

My loyal and adventurous friend, Tahj, introduced me to a new folk group, The Weepies. This is my favorite musical discovery in a while. I immediately purchased their latest album, Say I Am You, and have already listened to every song, more than once. I suggest you check them out if you want to maintain your good standing with me.


Lyrics to the song, Citywide Rodeo off of this album:

Citywide rodeo, you set on the stage
Where all the clowns will go when they feel their age

I know that you think you're not good for anything
The world makes you feel so small
Get on your wooden horse
This is a ride, not a fight
No need to save face, say goodnight, Grace
"Good night, Grace."

There's dust on the stadium seats, there's dust in your hair
You wonder how fast you'll go when you hit the air

And oh, isn't it strange how things can change you?
And oh, isn't it plain that some things unname you
So don't ask anybody else.

Citywide rodeo, step into your car
Look up at the indigo and pick out your star.

company with champions

I have a story to tell about an evening a couple years ago. I got calls from my friends Dylan and Brandon to hang out. So the three of us embarked on an adventure that night. An adventure into worlds that I never thought I would see.

We pulled up to the Dallas/Ft. Worth Airport Hotel and found a parking spot easily. We walked in through the big doors with my camera in tow. I couldn't leave it behind tonight. Tonight we were going to be three crazed fans. Energetic with stalker tendencies. We decided this all in the car.

The hotel was surprisingly quiet at 9:30 pm and we feared we might have missed the events. We found the right room and opened the door slowly. A banner read, "World Champion Foosball Tournament" that hung over acres of gaming tables with avid players trying their best to secure a victory. All we could hear was the soft roar of turning handles and sighs. The three of us grew huge grins as we looked around.

We started walking about the ballroom and lingering at tables cheering for different contestants and making comments on how to wrap your wrist right and do certain exercises to avoid tendonitis from playing so much. The conversation topics seemed to go over pretty well...and most people believed us.

I wanted to meet the world champions, so I started my search by approaching a man who looked official. He pointed both of them out and I gasped deeply with wide eyes and thanked him profusely. I motioned to Dylan and Brandon that I had found the champions and they came running over. I walked up to the woman first and lightly tapped her shoulder preparing for my act. She turned around with a kind smile. Her tanned skin was older and she reminded me of an elementary P.E. coach with rosacea and white circles around her eyes, which I assumed were from a pair of Blue Blockers. I grabbed her hand and touched my heart with my left hand as I told her how excited I was to finally meet her after all these years. I asked to take a picture with her and she was so humble. Then the male champion walked by and I stopped him to take a picture with me as well. He was German and younger. He was tall and average weight and looks. He had kind eyes and seemed quite shy, possibly from all those hours of foosball practicing instead of socially interacting. All of us chatted briefly, but they had a game to go to so our meeting was much more brief than the three of us had hoped.

We decided to follow them to their prospective tables and found out that they are not only the world champions, but are also doubles partners - who have also dominated in that area. They were such an unstoppable force. I watched them closely as they played and was trying to imagine what it must feel like to be declared the best at something in the world, even though it was at a game. It was quite an accomplishment, and I respected them both for it. My thoughtfulness was brief. There were referees that held entry cups in their hands. I saw them use these quite a bit and I sort of wanted to ask if I would be able to throw the ball in, but I realized that it was for refs only.

After some time watching and making small talk, we made our way to the merchandise section in the ballroom. Wow. Now this is what I had been waiting for. There were all sorts of T-shirts and trinkets that were specific to the "sport" of foosball. There was a plethora of handle wraps for sale. I had noticed all night every player carrying these rubbery things around. Players who were resting had them hanging around their necks, some wrapped and tied around their wrists. It was fashionable and a part of my trendiness desired to buy one to use for the night. I fought the urge. I did, however, find a foosball t-shirt that I thought I needed to purchase. I had just enough cash for it. There were cards with foosball jokes and foosball key chains. Man I wish I could remember some of the jokes. I have let everyone down. As I remember, there were also little foosball men blow-up toys. Those were pretty funny.

The time was late and we decided to go ahead and leave, taking with us memories of the evening and photographs with our favorite players. We walked out of the ballroom, and I saw Dylan's arm stop me and point to another door. The banner read, "World Champion Semi-Final Air Hockey Tournament." I fell on my knees. We couldn't believe how wonderful the night was. We walked in with confidence and probably a lot of arrogance. I kind of wanted to make a scene. I noticed quickly that I was the only female. I assumed the reason for a lack of female presence was due to the fact that there are no women as good at air hockey as I am.

This room was much smaller, an eighth of the size of the ballroom. Remember, these were the semi-finals. I walked up to a long table near the doors and started talking to the guys sitting there. My goal: To walk out with a free t-shirt. I asked if they had any and a few of them immediately started making calls.. to whom, I have no idea. I guess maybe a mother or two. I told them to keep me updated. One of the guys said the delivery was late and so they would need my email address and possibly my IM and they could contact me when the shirts arrived. I grinned and wrote down some made up email address and name that I do not recall.

I asked to meet the Air Hockey champions so that I could get a picture with them. There were two present that night. One from that year and one from the previous year. So I got a picture with both. That is the picture you see below. They were very nice gentlemen. After chatting for a few minutes, I asked which one thought he could beat me at air hockey. The guy on the right said he would take me one and so we played a few games. He killed me. I scored three on him total. I think it helped my skills to play such a competitive person.

By the time we walked out it was after midnight and the three of us were just happy to have experienced it all. I learned a lot about the inside lives of the foosball and air hockey players. If I'm ever able to go again to such a tournament, I'll be packing a video camera and doing interviews with those I meet with the hope of making a documentary. It's certainly something worth recording.

me!

I found these pictures of me when I was younger. I was a really good ballerina. My mom used to buy me things that had cats on it, such as this glittered cat sweatshirt. Thanks Mom.