Longing for Home

Quatrefoil Painting

2012-02-03T19:43:00.001-05:00

In the spirit of drawing out the purple in our livingroom, I decided to paint something to go above one of the couches. Unfortunately, I don't have a "before" picture, but I had a 3'x4' canvas covered in a fabric with purple, green, turquoise, and orange. It worked for a few months, to add some purple to the room. But it also distracted from the "real" color scheme, which I thought was going to be brown, tan, purple, turquoise, and maroon (spoiler: I changed my mind).

First, I traced the quatrefoil pattern across the whole canvas (not a great picture):

Then I started painting the quatrefoils, one color at a time, starting with turquoise. As you can see, I almost immediately realized that "all over" quatrefoil was going to be an overwhelming pattern, and decided to replace sets of four quatrefoils with large diamonds instead.

Here it is when I finished (the first time). There are five colors: brown, tan, purple, maroon, and turquoise. Precisely the color scheme!

Buuuuuuut I hated the "turquoise." It was more blue than turquoise. And after looking at it for about a day, I realized I didn't want to have turquoise in the living room at all because it seems to add a third "world" of color (brown/tan being the first, purple/maroon being the second). So, I repainted all the turquoise parts, half in light purple and half in gold (not shiny) - narrowing it down to two "worlds." Here's the end result:

Much better!

Toile Chair Cover

2012-02-02T21:43:00.000-05:00

We've been looking for a chair for our living room for a long time. We both like a big, comfy chair with arms. I just pop by Craig's List every few days to see if there's anything good in the area. After a few months of searching, this chair was $30, and was close (on Princeton's campus)! It's hard to tell, but it's a deep purple (not brown), which is one of the colors I've been trying to draw out more in our livingroom. Perfect!

But, it was too hard to tell that it was purple. And our couches are very similar style, monochromatic brown. So I wanted to cover the back and seat with a patterned fabric that would draw out the purple without adding any new colors to our livingroom. I couldn't find any fabric I liked at JoAnn's, so I went to Spoonflower and got a purple toile. A little pinning, a little sewing, and now the chair looks like this:

Ta-da!

Once Upon a Time v. Grimm

2011-11-06T08:58:00.000-05:00

I've been working on this post for the last two weeks, taking notes as I watched the two shows. But, as with many of my blog posts, it was just sitting here in rambling-outline form, waiting for motivation to turn it into sentences. Then my friend Eric sent me (and our friend Amy) a Facebook message, asking what I thought and - BAM - here it is. So it bears mentioning that this post would not exist without them. :)

So, for the uninitiated, Once Upon a Time (ABC) and Grimm (NBC) are both TV shows that premiered this fall (two weeks ago, so you haven't missed much and could catch up on Hulu easily), and both have fairy tales as their background.

I have seen the first two episodes of both series so far. Before they premiered, the word around the interwebs was that Once Upon a Time (OUT, from now on) is better than Grimm, so that affected my expectations. Having watched them, I think that – although they have similar inspiration/source material – they are completely different shows.

OUT is from some of the writers who did Lost. So it’s dealing with parallel universes (the fairy tale universe, and our world to which those fairy tale characters have been banished). Some people know that there are different worlds, and some people don’t, and we’re not sure who is good and who is bad. Just like Lost, I assume the show will be about characters trying to get back. And, just like Lost, it seems like they’ll spend the first few episodes (after the pilot) developing one character at a time. There are a lot of flashbacks. And it’s not really re-telling fairy tales at all. It just has fairy tale folk as its characters. Grimm, on the other hand, is from the writers of Buffy and Angel. So the themes are similar – a global fight of good v evil, which has gone on since the beginning of time. Just like Buffy, there’s a person with a calling/destiny/power that they just found out about. And, just like Buffy (especially early Buffy), it has set itself up to be very serial: a different baddie every week, all of which help the main character discover their legacy. OUT is more family friendly. Grimm is darker.

In OUT, it seems like the “real world” and the “fairy tale world” are completely separate. They don’t overlap at all. The “real world” is a fairy tale prison, a world without happy endings. In Grimm, the two worlds exist together, overlap, intertwine, etc. In fact, the fairy tale world has been a part of our world all along and we didn’t know it. This is more appealing to me.

OUT has a more discernible overarching plot, but I’m not sure how it will go past a season. It seems to me that once the characters get out of the real world and back to fairy tale land, that’s it. So they will either drag that out past a season, which is unsatisfying, or have to reinvent the wheel for season two. But it has amazing casting! (Ginnifer Goodwin, Jennifer Morrison, Raphael Sbarge, Robert Carlyle) Grimm hasn’t found its groove yet, I don’t think, but has more potential to go on long term, since there are endless baddies. It seems to be truer to the original theme/tone of the Grimm Fairy Tales – fairy tales were metaphors for the real world, meant to warn children about real problems, and both of the first episodes have done that. So that’s very Buffy – telling an exaggerated, supernatural version of a real story – which means I like it.

And the obligatory feminist criticism: OUT has two female protagonists, and a female antagonist. The women are running the show. But the characters are almost all white. Grimm is all male. The protagonist, his cop partner, his “big bad wolf” partner, the leader of The Reapers (the organization that will be this season’s big bad): all male. And beyond that, there are no interesting females in supporting roles. So far, women have just needed to be rescued. And the main character’s girlfriend’s screen time has served only to ask him questions that lead to character development. But at least his partner is black?

So I think I like Grimm more. But I’m more stressed out when I watch it, because I want it to be so good, and I’m afraid it won’t be given enough time, especially at the cursed Friday-night timeslot. OUT is pretty, and fun, and has already been given a whole season. I don’t think it’ll ever change my world, but I enjoy watching it.

PS - I know it's not a Tuesday, and I tagged this as "TV Tuesday" - I didn't want to wait two days to post it.

Wildwood, by Colin Meloy

2011-10-25T20:54:00.000-04:00

I just finished reading Wildwood, by Colin Meloy (of The Decemberists). Now, Jamey and I usually read books around the same time, and he almost always beats me to blogging about them (see The Hunger Games). I guess that’s because I’m at work all day, and – although he obviously works very hard as a doctoral student – he has more flexibility in his schedule. But he hasn’t read this one yet, so I finally get to write about something!

The Decemberists are one of my favorite bands, at least partially because of their ability to tell stories (and create worlds) in their music. So I had high expectations for this book, which were not fully met (neither were they disappointed). It was definitely good. It’s long (541 pages), and at times feels like it, but that doesn’t mean it’s unenjoyable.

Set in Portland (what better setting for a fantasy novel?), the book seems like a love story to that city. I’ve never been to Portland (or farther west than Texas, truth be told), but Meloy paints quite a picture. The descriptions of the setting are where he shines – the skills shown in the band’s lyrics are on full display here. I imagine this book started out as a song, and Meloy realized not even he could tell that story in one track, so he wrote a book instead.

The story takes place mostly in the woods, with talking animals, a power-hungry evil sorceress, and children who find out they belong (and matter) more in this world than their own…which brings to mind The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (there’s even a feisty rat!). I guess it would be hard to write a young adult, fantasy novel that didn’t borrow from those common tropes. Nonetheless, little about the novel seemed, well, novel to me. This would be problematic, except that I enjoyed all these “standard” elements in classics, like The Lion... and LotR, and I also enjoyed them here. Also, in its defense, the book is meant for ages 9-12, and that audience probably hasn’t read (and re-read) books about Narnia the way I have/did.

I guess I simultaneously hoped for both more and less detail about the world behind the story. On the one hand, the book is already long enough, and describes the world of the story well. On the other hand, there are a lot of unexplained plot points. And, unfortunately, these unexplained things are the elements that would be the most original, the things that could set this book apart from the classics from which it draws.

The obligatory plot summary: A girl named Prue is babysitting her baby brother when a murder of crows (this bird was chosen, I assume, solely because a group of crows is called a murder, and that’s eerie) swoops down and kidnaps him. She follows the crows into the woods, called the Impassable Wilderness, to rescue her brother. There, she discovers a secret society in political upheaval. She and Curtis, her friend who followed her in, become involved in the conflict of this society and learn about their own pasts before returning to the outside world (again, C.S. Lewis seems to play heavily here).

The website calls Wildwood Book One of The Wildwood Chronicles, so I imagine there’s more to come. I liked this book enough to read the others. But I didn’t like it enough to reread it whenever the next book comes out, like I did with Harry Potter (rereading all previous books every time a new one came out).

Reupholstered Footstool

2011-08-28T17:55:00.000-04:00

Before:

As you can see (below) our kitties really messed this thing up. It's the only non-scratching post furniture they scratch, and we could not deter them.

So, I decided to recover it, got out my handy-dandy staple gun, and here it is:

Closer up:

And since I was at the fabric store buying fabric for this, I bought fabric to re-cover some pillows too.

So, here's our bed now:

A pretty good use of the stormy Sunday.

Congratulations Blogger.com...

2011-07-12T19:55:00.000-04:00

You have good grammar!

Guest Room Makeover, Before and After

2011-07-09T11:31:00.001-04:00

For review: Ikea Chair Makeover, Pillows and Lamps, Curtains and Shelving.

So here is what our guest room looked like before:

And here is what our guest room looks like now, from the hallway:

And from right inside the door:

That Van Gogh print above the bed was the inspiration for the colors: yellow, green, and blue. We still need to get it framed. But you would not believe how expensive it is to frame something that big (24x32).

And the view from the Ikea Chair. Isn't the fan beautiful? The AC doesn't work so well...

Of course, it's not done yet (things are never done. I'm always re-doing something!). At some point, we're going to get Jamey's bedroom furniture from Alabama (it's just a pain - rent a van and drive back, when we're only there a few days at a time already?) so there will be an actual bed frame, and a dresser, and a desk. Then I can have my sewing machine out all the time, and I won't have to pull it out of the closet and set it up on the dining room table to make curtains, pillows, and chair covers!

Now you have to come and visit us! Seriously...we love guests. Our lives get pretty routine without them (work, run, eat, watch TV, rinse, repeat).

Guest Room Makeover, Curtains and Shelving

2011-07-07T11:10:00.002-04:00

Continuing the Guest Room Makeover series (covering an Ikea chair here, and pillows/lamps here), next I updated the curtains and the shelving.

I am very in love with square fabric bin storage. I grabbed a bin in each of the colors we're using in the guest room now.

Because I can't help it, here's the same picture, with a kitty sneaking in. Mosby is ready for his close-up!

Anyway, I also made new curtains. Here is what the curtains looked like before (like the green lamp from my last post, I've had these curtains since high school. But these, I was happy to get rid of!):

And here is what they look like now:

I bought the green curtains from Target (they're almost the same color as the green in the chair fabric, and were way cheaper than making curtains from that same fabric). But I made the yellow curtain toppers from the same fabric I used in the body pillow on the bed and the trim on the hanging lamps.

Tune in tomorrow for the full "Before and After!"

Guest Room Makeover, Pillows and Lamps

2011-07-05T10:56:00.001-04:00

I have been re-decorating our guest room this spring/summer, one piece at a time. I already showed you my Ikea Chair Makeover.

My next project after that was to make new pillow covers. Here are the pillows:

The yellow body pillow uses fabric I bought to do the curtains (post coming soon!). The smaller pillow in the front used scraps from the fabric I used to cover the chair and cushions. Here's a close-up:

The back is just the green polka-dot fabric. For the front, I just sewed the strips together. I guess I should be taking pictures of each step, instead of just the finished product...

Anyway, I wanted to use the mustard yellow fabric from the body pillow somewhere else in the room, so I also added a decorative strip to the hanging lamps in the corner:

I have had that green globe lamp since high school; it just happened to match the chair, so we got to keep it a little longer. :) Anyway, there are no lights in the ceilings in our apartment, so we've made liberal use of hanging lights from Ikea. Here's a close-up of the fabric strips on those tan lights:

Weekend in New York City

2011-07-04T17:46:00.000-04:00

My bestie from undergrad (Amy), her boyfriend (J.T.), and her sister (Heather) came to visit us this weekend. They're going on a cruise for two weeks, and they were flying out of JFK so they're parking their car here in Princeton while they're gone. After the standard Princeton experience (eating delicious pasta that Jamey prepared, watching some kind of TV - in this case, Firefly, which neither J.T. nor Heather had seen - at our house, and then getting ice cream at The Bent Spoon) on Saturday, we all went into the city on Sunday...after a late start (Heather, Amy, and J.T. will have to get up early every day on the cruise, so we were in no hurry).

When we got there, we dropped all our luggage in Jamey's and my hotel room, and went out to eat something NYC-ish. Due to the late start, this was really all we had time to do. We hopped on a Subway to Nolita (North of Little Italy) and tried to eat at Lombardi's Pizza (ostensibly, the first pizzeria in the USA. Everything is the first something in the NE). However, despite the fact that it was late afternoon (and not dinnertime), and despite the fact that they told us it would be a 15-minute wait, after 20 minutes we realized it would still be a while and we wouldn't have time to get then to the airport, so we were sad:

But we just walked a block back toward the subway and had pizza at Pomodoro Pizza instead. I had a Spinich-Artichoke pizza that was basically just Spinach-Artichoke dip already on bread (in other words, delicious!) and their "famous House Special" Vodka pizza (which was good; traditional, despite its supposed fame). Jamey had the BBQ chicken pizza, which was also good. The slices were bigger than the plates!

After dinner, we went back to the hotel and Heather, Amy, and J.T. got their luggage. We put them on the train to JFK, and then we got on the subway toward Lower Manhattan. On the way, we saw two mosaics of Alice in Wonderland in the 50th Street Subway. They were created in 1994 and are called “Alice: the Way Out” by Liliana Porter.

In Lower Manhattan, we saw a theatre thing called "The Germ Project," which is 20-minute excerpts from four new plays presented at once. We found out about it because Jocelyn Wiebe (who I know from church camp in NY; our other social-circle overlap is ACU) was the Producing Fellow for the show. Unfortunately, she and her husband Mark were Upstate (at the aforementioned church camp) for the weekend, so we didn't actually get to see them. Anyway, it was very cool, and one of the plays sort of had to do with Alice in Wonderland so that was a cool coincidence. This is a picture of the studio (3LD Art and Technology Center); it was very trendy, as you can tell from the yuppie with a beret on the right (BTW: I didn't actually take this picture).

After the play(s), we went back Uptown to McGee's Pub (55th between Broadway and 8th) which is the pub that was the inspiration for MacLaren's, of How I Met Your Mother fame. We were very excited to visit! We (luckily) were seated right under the mural that made the creators want to base a pub off this place! We (unluckily) did not think the food was very delicious. Our recommendation is just to go and get a drink and appreciate the experience, but not to get any food. Sorry McGee's!

And then we went to bed. And then we woke up, checked out of the hotel, and headed for Central Park. We got off at 66th Street/Lincoln Center, and were greeted by another cool set of subway mosaics. This series is called "Artemis, Acrobats, Divas and Dancers" by Nancy Spero. There a lot of different images, all of women: real, mythical, contemporary, etc. Here are a few pictures of my favorites!

On the way from the subway to Central Park we got some delicious bagels/cream cheese (blueberry with strawberry cream cheese for me, whole wheat with walnut raisin for Jamey) and some mediocre (but sufficient) coffee. We found a spot on The Mall in Central Park to eat our breakfast and listen to a wonderful violinist playing The Four Seasons.

After we ate, we mimicked some statues, took the Subway back to Penn Station, and got on the train back to Princeton.

What a whirlwind of a weekend! But now that we've (finally, one year later) made our first trip into the city (it's really pathetic) I think we're ready to go in more often! We're thinking about doing a day in each neighborhood (no hotels this time) or something like that: sleep in, take the train in time for lunch somewhere local, do some touristy stuff, eat dinner somewhere local, and go home.

Trip to North Carolina

2011-06-30T18:23:00.001-04:00

Jamey and I just got back from North Carolina. Other than driving the car back from NY, this was our first trip in our neeeeeeew car! Well, kind of. We borrowed it to drive to MI and back in May, but now it's ours!

There was a Syriac conference at Duke, which I did not attend, but Jamey did! Here is the picture we took of Duke Chapel, from our private jet. Just kidding. My iPhone couldn't handle the awesomeness and the picture turned out to be lame; this is from the internet. :(

I normally do conferences too, but Syriac is just a little too narrow for me to be able to fake competence in it. He spent Monday and Tuesday conferencing; I spent them reading The Hunger Games trilogy. Here we are reading together (thanks, Emily, for capturing this none-to-rare moment):

Durham was very cool. It was everything I wanted Princeton to be, with cute (and affordable) downtown shopping and eating. We ate dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Brightleaf Square, which is made from two buildings that used to be tobacco factories.

We stayed with our friends (Emily and Vadim) from ACU, with whom we took the world's longest road trip when we moved from TX to NJ (we dropped them off in NC, on the way).

A great use of a few vacation days!

Extreme Makeover: Ikea Chair Edition

2011-06-25T22:55:00.000-04:00

As a part of the larger "guest bedroom makeover project," we bought an Ikea Chair (found on Craig's List) that looked like this:

After a lot of pinning (seriously, a lot) and a little sewing, it now looks like this:

I wish I could share a pattern with you, so you that you could do this yourself on an Ektorp Tullsta chair, but I didn't use a pattern. Here is what I did for the chair itself (the green fabric, not the bottom cushion or pillow):

Pinned the fabric directly to the chair
Trimmed the pieces (while still pinned to the chair) leaving an inch on all edges.

You can't tell in this picture, but the back and external sides are all one piece. That was the easy part.
The front is many pieces - one for each arm, one for the bottom of the chair (under the cushion) and the front middle (connecting the two arms to each other), and the internal arms and the front top (meaning, the part you would lean back on if you were sitting in the chair) are all their own pieces. This is because I wanted a more tailored look, rather than a bunch of extra fabric, which meant the pieces had to be angled and sewn together, rather than cutting one piece with straight lines.
Anyway, one piece for the external part of the chair, and 6 for the internal. The internal part was kind of a pain, and did not turn out perfectly. If I had to do it again, I would make the front of the arms, the front middle, and the piece under the cushion all one piece. Oh well!

Pinned the pieces to each other
Pulled the cushion (which is now one pinned-together, inside-out piece) off the chair and sewed all the lines
Turned it right-side out, and voilá!

The cushion/pillow (the floral-esque pattern) were much easier. The pillow was the easiest - just three straight lines (measure the fabric twice as big as one side of the pillow, and fold in half. So one side of the "pillowcase" is a fold, and the other three are straight lines). For the cushion, I used the same method I used for the chair itself. But there were only two pieces: one for the top, front, and bottom of the cushion, and one for the curvy internal sides (that aren't showing because they're "inside" the chair, and in fact from that picture you can't tell they're even curvy).

We spent $40 on the chair and $40ish on fabric, and the chair alone is $129 (for white like we bought, $139 for a few other basic, solid colors). So we saved $50, and ended up with a patterned chair instead of a solid.

More pictures of the rest of the guest room makeover to come!

Now, for a close up of the fabrics:

Running in the Rain

2011-06-14T21:19:00.000-04:00

It was raining (not pouring) when I ran today. Let me tell you why running in the rain is awesome (as long as you don't care about your shoes):

It is not hot.
It is not muggy (it's already rained!).
There is a constant cool mist spray on your face.
It is not crowded on the road/path. Yesterday it was 70s and sunny when I ran, and the path was so crowded I spent half (exaggeration) my run saying or hearing "on your left."
It's sort of tranquil.

That's all!

Finally Started Running Again

2011-06-13T18:09:00.002-04:00

I finally started running again. I ran track in high school (mostly to stay in shape for soccer), and ran recreationally in college (because I liked it, and to stay in shape for soccer, and to ward off the Freshman 15, and for my sanity), and then did not run at all (maybe three times, ever) the entire time I was in grad school.

I would love to say that I was very busy working on my M-Div and that is why I didn't run (which would still not be a wonderful excuse). But the truth is, it was very hot in Texas. And it was inconvenient. In NY, MI, and now here in NJ, there were running trails right next to my house/apartment, so I would run, shower, and go on with my day. In TX, there were no trails next to our house and I didn't feel safe running on the road. There is, of course, a trail around ACU, but we did not live all that close to campus, so that would have involved bringing a change of clothes to school, which is inconvenient. I would have had to either wear my running clothes in the morning and get up early to go run before class/work so I could shower at school (I hate mornings and I shower at night) or bring running clothes and run after class/work before I went home (which could have worked, and would have if I'd really been committed) but by that point I had usually been at school 8-5 and didn't feel like running.

Anyway, excuses, excuses. Despite the very convenient (and beautiful!) running trail right by our apartment, and despite the temperate weather, I went 10 months in Princeton without running too. And then about 6 weeks ago, I went for a walk with my friend Julia. She needed to go inside before I did, Jamey wasn't home yet, I was already dressed for running, I was already outside, and I had time to kill before dinner...and the urge to run struck me. So I ran. And BAM! Now I run again. Jamey often goes with me. We didn't run much the week we were in Michigan, and we didn't run at all last week (because I was throwing up for the first 2 days, and recovering for the next 3), but I've run 5-6 days a week for the other 4 weeks. I'm really not pushing myself very hard, and I'm not training for anything (at least not right now, although I might do a 5K the last weekend in July, just for fun). But I don't feel like I just work all day, eat dinner, and watch TV all night and that's all I do. Now I work all day, run, shower, eat dinner, and watch TV all night. :)

Tying this in with "Musical Monday," I'll list my running playlists for the last three weeks below. I like to run with music, and I can't help but sync my run to the music, so I downloaded a "free trial" of Tangerine - a program that analyzes the BPM of each song in your iTunes library. It's only a 15-day trial, and I forgot to write down all the BPMs (I only made the first few playlists) so I found another similar program (beaTunes) with a 15-day trial and did it again. BeaTunes actually also found quite a few duplicates, typos, and other things in my iTunes library that it suggested I fix, so that was a cool supplementary feature (or at least supplementary to me. I think this is actually more what beaTunes is intended to do). So, the playlists:

Week One (20 minutes, alternating)

Warm Up – I Gotta Feeling, Black Eyed Peas

Run – Mamma Mia, Meryl Streep

Jog – The Way You Move, Outkast

Run – Viva La Vida, Coldplay

Cool Down – Disco Heaven, Lady Gaga

Week Two (25 minutes, alternating)

Warm Up – Such Great Heights, The Postal Service
Run – Day Tripper, David Cook
Jog – I Believe in a Thing Called Love, The Darkness
Run – High of 75, Relient K
Jog – 1234, Feist
Run – Somebody Told Me, The Killers
Cool-Down – Tik Tok, Ke$ha

Week Three (25 minutes, just running)

Warm Up – You Know Me, The Format
Run – Accidentally in Love, Counting Crows; Outside Villanova, Eric Hutchinson; Sleep Through the Static, Jack Johnson; Go Your Own Way, Fleetwood Mac; Heart, Barracuda
Cool Down – Tony the Beat, The Sounds

I am nothing if not eclectic.

A Cozy T-Shirt Blanket (Just in Time for Summer)

2011-06-12T20:27:00.005-04:00

Let's just pretend it hasn't been 9 months since my last post.

In the midst of moving across the country, starting a new job, and making new friends, I have also started crafting again. I bought a sewing machine not long after we moved here and have been having a great time making things up as I go along.

My penultimate project (I am so much more excited about my most recent series of projects, I wanted to give myself a warm-up post before I got to those!) was a blanket made out of old t-shirts. I have so many t-shirts, there are plenty left for wearing and lounging even now!
It is 4 t-shirts wide by 5 t-shirts tall.

I cut each t-shirt into a 12" square. As you can see, I did a better job at centering some than others.
Then, being the OCD person that I am, I spent a long time arranging the shirts so that there weren't too many of the same color concentrated in one area. Even still, I feel like there is too much yellowy-orange in the bottom left corner, and too much green and blue in the middle right. Oh well!
Then I sewed a bunch of straight lines to make the rows, and a few more straight lines to attach the rows to each other.
After making the t-shirt layer, I cut the fleece layer to be about 6" bigger than the t-shirt layer.
Then I put the t-shirt layer on top of the fleece layer and used embroidery thread to attach the two layers to each other. You can see the little brown threads at all of the "joints (corners) between shirts.
After that, I folded the fleece layer over twice (making it a 3" border and hiding the raw edge of the fabric so it doesn't fray) and sewed around all 4 edges.

--Top Row: Rochester (college) Homecoming shirt, Faith Heritage (high school) soccer sweatshirt, Sigma Phi pledge shirt (as a member, not as a pledge), Jump Start (college orientation, as a junior.)
--Second Row: Sigma Phi Intramural Shirt, a shirt my roomie (Cortnee) got me at Old Navy that says "Naomi" on it (what are the chances?), my dad's SU hoodie that was passed on to me, homemade tie-dye shirt from the time I played intramurals at ACU
--Third Row: A regular shirt (but the one I was wearing when I met Jamey!), the "M" shirt that I wore as part of a Leap Year party costume (we were the four gospels...kind of), a Theta Chi shirt from college (Theta Chi was a guy's club that had a lot of my friends in it), another RC Homecoming shirt
--Fourth Row: A shirt I got in Israel, the shirt I got the first time I went to WV for Easter with Amy, another Sigma Phi intramural shirt, the shirt I got at a Mae concert the summer after my freshman year at RC
--Last Row: A shirt I got in Australia, my Sigma Phi pledge shirt (the white is not so white...there was a lot of mud during pledge week), the Pricless shirt from Elevate at RC, and another Theta Chi shirt from college

Voila! A super-comfy, me-sized blanket. Just in time for summer...

Half the Church

2010-09-22T17:47:00.003-04:00

For a combined/edited audio (with thoughtful transitioning comments by Stephen Johnson) of interviews with me and 3 of my female colleagues at ACU, go to www.halfthechurch.wordpress.com.

Since I am listening to this from NJ, I find myself missing a community of people with whom I can commiserate about this. It's lonely up here; there fewer Church of Christ folk with whom I can be honest about where I am spiritually and vocationally as a result of gender injustice. And my acquaintances from other denominations have a hard time understanding why I am even torn between staying and leaving.

Back in the Northeast

2010-09-21T16:52:00.003-04:00

Okay, okay, I'm a horrible blogger. [Insert standard apologies, promises, and other introductory statements here.]

So, Jamey and I live in Princeton, NJ now. We have been here a little over 2 months (which is hard to believe). The cross country move took 5 days, and the itinerary was as follows:
--Abilene-> Little Rock, where we saw Jamey's college roommate and his wife, and my brother and his girlfriend.

--Little Rock -> Nashville, where we saw Jamey's (step)sister Jennifer.
--Nashville -> Durham, where we "dropped off" Emily and Vadim and their belongings.
--Durham -> Burke, VA, where we stayed with Jamey's sister (Jenny) and her family. Sydney (her daughter) had just gotten her wisdom teeth out, but she was a real trooper!
--Burke -> Princeton, where we live. :) My parents kindly came down from Syracuse to help us unload and move in.

Since we arrived in mid-July, we have also enjoyed visits from Laura Clark (my bestie from the westie...I mean, Abilene), Kate and Will Powell (my bestie from childhood and her husband), and, most recently, the Childress family! Hooray! All visitors are welcome, NYC is only an hour by train, and we have no friends here so we would love to have you! :)

We have also visited a number of places, which is much more feasible to do now that we can drive for a day and be out of the state in which we started. We went to Syracuse for my birthday, went to Michigan for Jaron and Erin's wedding, went to Vermont for Labor Day weekend, went to a concert in Philly (Ray LaMontagne and David Gray. Awesome.), and we've been to Ikea twice. TWICE! We actually haven't been to NYC yet, but are sure that we will take advantage of its proximity soon enough.

I had a job interview the Monday after we arrived, and was very blessed to get the position. I started work at The Wilberforce School (a PreK-8, classical, Christian school) in mid-August (a month after we moved) and am enjoying the job. I am the Office Administrator, which entails a lot of organization, filing, paperwork, reception, supply ordering (etc) as well as (randomly) administering first aid, and whatever else the Dean/Head of School need. It does not have much to do with either of my degrees, but as you all likely know, I am vocationally confused anyway, so I am just thankful to have a full-time job with health insurance!

PTS (Princeton Theological Seminary) just started classes yesterday (which seems very late to us) but Jamey actually has not had any classes of his own yet, so he is trying to enjoy his remaining moments of freedom and sanity.

And I guess that is that. I can't wait for autumn in a place with trees (and those mesquite things you Abilenian's call trees do not count).

Thoughts on the Finale of Lost

2010-05-28T12:58:00.003-04:00

Now that almost a week has gone by, I think I’ve formulated some thoughts about the Lost finale. Maybe.

Disclaimers:
-1- I like the show. But I don’t love it. I used to love it in the first 2-3 seasons. I really didn’t like seasons 4, 5, or the beginning of 6.*
-2- I tend to dislike TV finales in general. I think it’s really difficult to write a good conclusion (to a paper, book, TV show, movie). You want to conclude in some way, but you don’t necessarily want to end the conversation.

A Character Show?
I say all of that to say this: I did not expect the finale to be perfect. I just wanted it to be not bad. And, in that, it surely succeeded. I expected it to wrap up things, but was pretty sure that the writers had bitten off more than they could chew when it came to successfully answering questions. During the pre-finale show, Lindelof and Cuse kept saying things like “the finale will come back to the characters; this is, after all, a show about characters.” Methinks they protest too much. Declaring this is a show about characters implies (in my opinion) that the show at some point deviated from that and now we need to be reminded.

Also, it’s a lie. It is not just a show about characters; it is also about a mysterious place where the characters met, struggled, lived, died, etc. Or, to put it another way, the Island has become a character for me and I don’t feel like the show gave the Island its due resolution. One more complaint about this claim: For a show about characters, there was little attention given to their scripting. Much of their conversation throughout the show was clunky, contrived, and it seemed like characters’ motivations often changed in unrealistic ways for the sake of moving the plot forward.

Unanswered Questions
Now, I never bought the ABC marketing hype that all my questions would be answered. And I am comfortable with mystery and ambiguity. However, I don’t know that I would call many of the unanswered questions my questions as much as their questions. Meaning, they are the ones who wrote sci-fi/fantasy questions into the show. They weren’t questions that I was projecting on the show. They were questions that the show spent a lot of time (whole seasons, in some cases) and effort asking, and I think they are responsible for answering their own questions.

For instance: Why the Egyptian theme? Is that really the best explanation you can give us about the Widmore v. Ben fight? Jacob’s cabin? Why do the rings of ash keep Smokey out? What is /Smoke-Locke/Fake-Locke/Esau/Jacob’s brother’s name? Why can’t Island folk have babies? How and why did the Dharma Initiative get there? What on earth was so important about Walt?** It is true that a lot of these things don’t matter much in the grand scheme of things, but in that case, why bring them up? This makes me feel like cheap and used. It seems a little manipulative and self-indulgent to me; they’re throwing curve balls just because they can.***

All of that being said, I actually really like what they did with what we’ve been calling “Flashes Sideways” all season long. I think it fits in really well with the theme of redemption that the show made clear in the early episodes of season 1. I think it does provide some closure to the character aspect of the show. Theologically, I like that they seem to be saying that redemption is communal; that they could not have gone to heaven/bright light/whatever without each other. My dissatisfaction with the finale is less about what they did (with the characters) and more about what they didn’t do (with the mysteries).

Other things I didn’t like:
--The focus on Jack. He is not my favorite character and for a show with such a large cast, it seems unfair to (somewhat suddenly) make it a show about Jack.
--Similarly, making Christian the mouthpiece to explain the resolution that was about to happen. I prefer “show” to “tell.” I think they did this because Jack had daddy issues. But it shouldn’t be all about Jack…
--The treatment of women and minorities. To quote Maureen Ryan from Chicago Tribune: "Lost started out as an ethnically diverse show with a lot of potentially intriguing male and female characters. Now it is, to a large degree, a story about the epic, heroic or anti-heroic journeys of a bunch of white men. Non-white or female characters -- with a few exceptions -- just aren't in the foreground of the main narrative most of the time. It's disappointing."
--Where were Michael and Walt in redemption room/the lobby of the white light? They brought back Boone and Shannon and not Michael and Walt?
--I would have been happy to close on all of them sitting in the church, knowing they were all going to heaven/wherever together. I could have done without Christian Shepherd leading them out of the double doors into a bright light. It was campy.

Things I did like:
--Hurley being the protector of the Island. Ben’s redemption and anticipated helpfulness to Hurley.****
--The plurality of religious symbols in the stained glass window in the church office.
--Almost all of the “moment of realization” scenes (except Shannon and Sayid. Meh.). They were beautiful and emotional (more emotional, for me, than the ending itself). Also, I’m very glad that many of these moments (even for our characters that were in love) were not a kiss with whoever-they-love. I’m always impressed with a show that doesn’t collapse “romance” with “love.” For instance, Kate’s moment of truest love was delivering Claire’s baby, not making out with Jack.
--Vincent! Also, Rose and Bernard. I really like that they don’t have any idea when/where they are, and they just don’t care.
--Not-Locke being the voice of all of us when Jack (briefly) became protector of the Island: “You’re sort of the obvious choice, don’t you think?” I like it when a show makes fun of itself.
--Sawyer finally got to leave the island. Poor guy.
--Jack getting to see his friends flying away from the island as he dies. And generally speaking (despite my feelings about him as a character) Jack’s acting in this episode was great.
--The switcheroo of the “real world” being Purgatory, instead of the Island, which was a popular theory early on. I think making the Island the “real world” is good.
--Miles: “I don't believe in a lot of things. But I believe in duct tape.”
--Kate making fun of Jack’s dad’s name: “Christian Shepherd. Really?”

Intriguing:
--What does it mean that Ben wasn’t ready to go into the church yet? Is he still atoning? Does he just want to fall in love with Rousseau and spend time with Alex? Poor Ben. Seems like if Locke gets to go to heaven…

So, Lost did a lot of things no other TV show has: maintained and grew an audience over 6 years, became a topic of conversation the next day at work, etc. But it had to end sometime (again, in my opinion, it should have been sooner), and now it has. And I’m happy about that, because now I can watch it all again from the beginning!

*Lost was originally intended to be a 3-4 season show (as per season 1 DVD special features) so my theory is that Lost started stalling toward the end of season 3 and didn’t get back to what it was originally intending to do until about halfway through season 6 (since it was such a colossal waste of time, my guess is post-temple).

**The mysterious absence of Walt could very well be attributed to something as simple as puberty. The actor who played Walt started out 10 years old, and the action that took us 3 years to watch was only supposed to be a few months on the island. This is problematic with child actors. Random theory: Walt was supposed to be Desmond. Not literally. I think Desmond would have existed either way. But maybe some of the significance they intended to give Walt was conferred on Desmond. Who knows?

***Also, and this isn’t anything that I haven’t said before, but I don’t think that the finale worked as a stand-alone episode of television. I think Lost stopped doing a good job of micro-narrative (single episodes having a theme and a story arc, a purpose of their own) somewhere in the middle of season 3. I got the sense that every episode is only contributing to the larger macro-narrative and myth of the show.

****Not that I really want this to happen, but a spin-off “Hurley and Ben rule the Island” show could be good. I wonder if they hang out with Rose and Bernard… Something I kind of do want to happen: a spin-off “Miles and Sawyer cop show.” Hilarious.

American Idol

2010-04-13T23:08:00.000-04:00

I think Andrew and Aaron ought to get kicked off AI this week.

This is difficult for me to say, since Andrew was an early favorite of mine. But he's confusing me and I'm ready to be done. On the other hand, I think Aaron has always been boring and I'm ready to be done with him.

However, I'm afraid it will be Crystal because (1) she's so good that the judges are running out of nice things to say about her, (2) everyone probably assumes that she's safe, and (3) they wasted the judges' save on Michael last week so if Crystal gets voted off, she will actually leave, and that will be lame.

Now! That's What I Call Music

2010-03-30T09:34:00.003-04:00

I've been very busy with comps, and even when that's over, I will continue to be busy with the other 10 hours that I am taking and the 6 that I am teaching. But nonetheless, you need to know about this: Nathan Rabin over at A.V. Club has been listening to each Now! That's What I Call Music album (beginning in 1998, an album compiling each of the half-year's greatest hits...in theory) in succession.

The Latest: July 2000 (Now #4)
Volume Three: December 1999
Volume Two: July 1999
Introduction, Volume One:

These posts are very funny. That is all.

Margo Houts on God

2010-02-24T15:42:00.001-05:00

"As we seek to follow biblical inclusivity, let us also affirm the consistent witness of the church, namely, that god is neither feminine nor masculine (gender), neither male nor female (sex). God, who is transcendent Spirit, possesses no physical body, yet accommodates to human limitations by using physical, relational, gender-laden images for self-disclosure. Some of those are feminine. Inasmuch as God inspired the biblical authors to be inclusive, who are we not to be?" ~Margo Houts

Full article here: http://clubs.calvin.edu/chimes/970418/o1041897.htm

Snow Day

2010-02-11T12:32:00.003-05:00

Wordless Wednesday, one day late:

Thankful Thursday:
--I will just include one for today. I am currently very overwhelmed with all that I have to do this semester, and was feeling just a tiny bit behind. But classes are canceled today! This means that I have 10 free hours that I did not expect to have (Thursdays are my busiest day) to get back on top of things. I am very thankful for this occurrence.

But first, Jamey and I are going to watch a little bit of TV. You have to be a little irresponsible on a snow day!

Ellen on Idol

2010-02-10T00:23:00.002-05:00

I have always liked American Idol; there is nothing better than judging people's singing ability from the comfort of your own "I-have-never-tried-out-for-this-show-which-somehow-qualifies-me-to-judge-you" home.

Paula Abdul has long been my least favorite part of the show. She was drunk about 50% the time, and made no sense 100% of the time.* So, I was relieved when I found out she was not going to be a judge this year. When I found out that Ellen DeGeneres was going to take Paula's place, I was very excited! I record The Ellen Show every day, although I don't often actually watch them all (too busy). But I think she is very funny, and she is much more coherent than Paula. Go team!

And today was Ellen's American Idol debut. (She was not a part of the audition rounds because they either -1-had not decided to hire her yet or -2-had not completed all the paperwork.) There wasn't anything spectacular about it, which is probably best. She was pleasant and entertaining, but didn't try to "steal the show."

Other random thoughts: I was happy to see Skiibowski go. He was terrifying. I am also glad that crazy "beatboxing and singing at the same time" was let go. Gimmick.

*Speaking of percentages, I also don't like it when Randy says "a million billion percent yes." I don't think he understands how percentages work.

Easily the Most Disturbing Part of the ACU Campus

2010-02-03T14:27:00.000-05:00

Dollhouse: The Thoughtpocalypse

2010-02-02T10:38:00.000-05:00

The end has come, and so, I'll reflect on the series-formerly-known-as-Dollhouse:

When I first heard Joss Whedon was working on a new show, I was excited because I have liked just about everything he has ever done. When I found out that Eliza Dushku was the "star" I was less excited because (in my opinion) she is not the most...well-rounded? multi-faceted? actress. She does "sullen and rebellious" well (see: Faith in Buffy) but that's about it. Nonetheless, I was excited!

After the show began I noticed a few challenges:
-1-Joss is a notoriously slow starter. It takes a little while for him to warm up. Season 1 of Buffy is really, really bad.
-2-The premise of the show (people can have their personalities/memories/entire beings wiped and replaced in a matter of minutes) meant that Dollhouse was asking the audience to identify with main characters who were not the same person from week to week. They ended up answering this challenge, in part, by letting us know early on that there was some "residue," some things that were being wiped (technologically) but were still there. (Episode 1: “You ever try to clean an actual slate? You always see what was on it before.”) This was especially true for Caroline/Echo (Dushku), but also turned out to play a role in the development of Tony/Victor and Priya/Sierra.
-3-I said this already, as far as initial reactions to the show, but after watching for the past two seasons I stand by it: Eliza Dushku is not a strong enough actress to pull this off. Especially by the end I found myself annoyed with her, and caring more about what happened to the other characters. And I think the show was at its strongest when it was featuring the other characters, instead of the Echo-imprint-of-the-week.

The Pay-Off:
-1-On some level, it worked. I somehow did manage to care about what happened to these characters, despite the fact that they were not always the same person.
-2-The show asked some big questions: What is humanity? Memories? Souls? Bodies? How do you take the person out of a person?
-3-Topher and Victor-Topher. The two times that they pulled this stunt, I could hardly pay attention because I was laughing so hard. I loved everything about it. I think Enver Gjokaj is one of the best actors on the show: He showed a lot of diversity, and his character managed to pull some things off that would have fallen flat with another actor.
-4-Topher. Just plain Topher (Actor: Fran Kranz). He started out being completely obnoxious and pretentious but by the end was just heart-breaking. Driven to madness by guilt, but somehow still brilliant, sacrificing himself to save the world...I love that stuff. I think I started to be excited about Topher the week that we realized he had no friends, and had to imprint a doll to hang out with him on his birthday.
-5-Alpha. Alan Tudyk. He was amazingly wicked, which proves his caliber as an actor as well. I remember him being sort of useless and hilarious in Firefly but was fully convinced by his evil in Dollhouse. Go team. I wished they had done more with this story arc, somehow. And there was a part of me that was glad Joss brought him back, not evil, in "Epitaph 2."

Other Random Thoughts:
--Joss is always killing people! And even when you expect him to kill people (which I do), you can still be surprised by which people he kills. And it's always so sudden...which I actually appreciate. No long, drawn out, death scenes in which characters leave some words of wisdom or disclose very important secrets. Just alive...and dead. Bam.
--In an interview I read with Joss (somewhere) he talks about the difficulty of working with a network and not being able to make the show you want to make. This show had a complicated premise for network television; probably too complicated. Would I rather that he had compromised his ideal show to keep it on longer? I'm not sure.
--The show certainly came a long way from its imprint-of-the-week beginnings, and the last few weeks have actually been entirely riveting. Unfortunately, I don't think that means it would have continued to be good had it not been canceled. I think that the challenge of answering at least a majority of the questions/loose ends it created gave Dollhouse a sense of urgency that it sorely needed from the beginning.

And Joss is directing Glee sometime this spring! Guest-starring you know who...Neil Patrick Harris! Yay!

Mad World

2010-02-01T20:41:00.002-05:00

As I occasionally do with various songs/video clips, I had my sophomore (gen ed Bible) students listen to this song the other day and reflect on the claims it is making about the state of the world. A few things they noticed:

--We are self-centered. People don't know, or even see, each other.
--We have no direction.
--OR we keep doing the same things over and over again with no/the same result. (Musically, the song is quite simple, which reiterates this lyrical point.)
--The things that are wrong with the world seem even worse when they happen to children.
--There are times that we would rather die than be here. (Especially with the focus on heaven as the main purpose of salvation, which I think is unhealthy.)
--We need to pay attention to each other. I appreciate that they were not willing to simply take the song as commentary on the world, but sought to find something to learn/do from it.

Although I know the song is originally by Tears for Fears, I heard it first by Gary Jules/Michael Andrews in the movie Donnie Darko. In that context, with piano instead of guitar, and with a more minor chord progression, it is downright eerie...yet somehow soothing. Lyrics:

All around me are familiar faces
Worn out places, worn out faces
Bright and early for their daily races
Going nowhere, going nowhere
Their tears are filling up their glasses
No expression, no expression
Hide my head I want to drown my sorrow
No tomorrow, no tomorrow

And I find it kinda funny
I find it kinda sad
The dreams in which I'm dying
Are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you
I find it hard to take
When people run in circles
It's a very, very mad world mad world

Children waiting for the day they feel good
Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday
And I feel the way that every child should
Sit and listen, sit and listen
Went to school and I was very nervous
No one knew me, no one knew me
Hello teacher tell me what's my lesson
Look right through me, look right through me

And I find it kinda funny
I find it kinda sad
The dreams in which I'm dying
Are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you
I find it hard to take
When people run in circles
It's a very, very mad world ... mad world
Enlarging your world
Mad world

I didn't go to church today.

2010-01-31T15:02:00.002-05:00

I didn’t go to church today. I just couldn’t drag myself out of bed to go to a place in which I usually feel frustrated at best and oppressed at worst. As I write this, I feel the need to include a disclaimer: I feel lucky to live in a place where I can choose which church I attend and still be attending a Church of Christ. And I love the people at the church I attend. The church I attend is more inclusive of women in the worship service than many others in town.

And inclusion in the worship service is important to me. But we have (in my opinion) a long way to go. Aside from women’s role, however, the use of masculine pronouns and imagery for God (in the bulletin, in the songs we sing, in our readings, in our prayers, in our sermons) is exhausting and exclusionary, for me. To collapse the ontological reality of God (who/what God actually is) with one of the many metaphors for God (Father, King, etc) is idolatry. It hurts me to see the church missing out on the richness of who God is (masculine, feminine, and non-gendered) without even knowing that it’s happening.

I used to love church. I looked forward to Sunday mornings, Sunday nights (except once-a-month it was small group on Sunday afternoon instead), Wednesday nights, and Saturday nights (youth group). I took notes during the sermons, spoke up during class, and my parents had to all-but-drag me away from church when it was time to go. For a few years my indoor soccer team played on Sunday mornings and I was torn; I didn’t want to miss church! But my team needed me. Luckily, my church had two services, so I would either go to the early service and change into my soccer uniform before I left, or I would pack church clothes and shower gear and shower in the church annex after my games so that I could at least make it to second service, or if I were really lucky, Bible class! I used to love church.

Excursus 1: In retrospect, maybe part of the reason I was so drawn to soccer is because I was good at it and my skills were utilized there. In my youth group, the females were the most consistent members. When it came to “Youth Sunday” we did all of the planning, and yet, were forced to delegate everything we had planned to male execution. It was clear from an early age that I was born to be a leader, and since I couldn’t do that at church, maybe I played soccer instead? It feels good to be a vital part of a team, a leading force, a fully participating member.

I didn’t set out to cause trouble or to be a “feminist activist.” Even now, I don’t know if that’s how I would describe myself. Anyway, when I started asking these questions in high school, this was a frustration I had with Churches of Christ on par with instrumental music. It didn’t make sense, it was silly, but that’s just a part of who we were as a fellowship. As a Biblical Studies major in college, it was something about which I had strong opinions, but not something that bothered me in the weekly worship of the church. But the more I know, the more systemic and overwhelming it seems. Hardly a day goes by that I don’t notice some sort of patriarchal language or tendency in either the church or the classroom. In a few months I’ll be graduating again, this time with a Master of Divinity. But to what end?

Excursus 2: I am extremely blessed to be married to a man who is supportive, understanding, and “on-board” in this subject. Ironically enough, Jamey and I will have the same degrees. (Actually, his undergrad degree is in Poli-Sci, so I’ve got the one-up on him as far as longevity-in the field. If we’re being technical.) He wants to teach and does not actually like to preach. I think I would really rather work (preach?) in the church (although, I have no way of knowing since I haven’t been able to intern in a church) but will most likely end up teaching because that is a career that is (in a few places) open to me. I have often phrased it like this: “I don’t know if I want to teach because I want to teach, or because I am not allowed to preach.”

Sometimes, I wish that I could un-learn what I have learned, un-know what I have come to know, so that I could love church again. But I can’t. And I’m scared that I will never love church again. I’m scared that it will always be a struggle for me to get up and go, and most of the time I won’t bother. I’m scared that on the Sundays I do manage to go, I will always be frustrated with the oppression of women in role and language. I’m scared that I will have to find another denomination in order to be useful to the church.

And people ask: Why don’t you just leave? It would be a lie if I said that I haven’t thought about it. Jamey and I both have. But this (the Churches of Christ) is my family, it’s where I grew up, it’s a part of who I am. I don’t want to give up on it just because we don’t agree about everything. It’s like any relationship in conflict: If it matters to you, you should address the conflict and hope for resolution before you just give up. But this is a fine line to walk. A woman in an abusive relationship should not stay in that abuse just because “It doesn’t have to be this way; he might change.” At what point does conflict become abuse? I find myself asking, with the woman who contemplates leaving her abusive husband: Where would I go?

Beyond that, if everyone who is frustrated leaves, who is going to push for change? It may never happen in my lifetime, but I want to be a part of forming a church where my daughters can be fully included in the life of the church, instead of being relegated to secondary status.

I used to love church. But I didn’t go to church today. Maybe next week.

Thankful Thursday

2010-01-28T20:20:00.002-05:00

--Good friends. Having Amy and Zak in town was really refreshing.
--More specifically, I'm thankful that we have all stayed close despite being in very different locations and places in life over the last three years.
--Health. It's cold season, and Jamey's got one, so I'm thankful that I don't (yet?).
--Music. I'm glad music exists. It makes my soul happy. :)
--Teaching. I really enjoy watching a class develop a personality of its own. It's fun to be a part of that process every semester.
--Pizza. Yummy.
--Diversity, specifically, theological diversity. It is so interesting to me how many different views can be contained in a relatively small group of people.
--Laundry. I like the smell of clean laundry. I like the way warm laundry feels. I like to fold laundry while I watch TV.
--Homemade hot chocolate. It's delicious. It's really easy, and it makes a lot!
--TV. More specifically, getting a new DVR this week that actually plays recorded programs. Just in time for...
--Lost! I am thankful that it is coming back on this week, and also thankful that this is the last season. I fully acknowledge that it will not answer all my questions, and I will probably be unsatisfied with the answers it does give, but there will be some answers nonetheless. And then it will be over! Although I like the show, I think I am also ready to say goodbye.

Awesome Corps

2010-01-27T23:21:00.003-05:00

Modern Family

2010-01-26T11:02:00.003-05:00

Modern Family is one of my new favorite TV shows. It is a mockumentary about a mostly nontraditional family that airs on ABC on Wednesday nights. It is in its first season. The mockumentary aspect of the show reminds me of everything that I used to love about The Office before it stopped being funny. The mostly-nontraditional-family aspect of the show reminds me of everything that was wonderful about Arrested Development before it was canceled (which may have been the best thing that could have happened, since the level of humor in comedy shows tends to decline after 3 seasons...or so. That is my claim. My warrant is The Office.).

What It Is:
The show follows three nuclear families within another family. The father, Jay, has two children: Claire and Mitchell. Mitchell is a homosexual who has been in a relationship with his not-husband Cameron for 5 years, and they adopted a Vietnamese baby. Claire has a more traditional family: She and her husband have three children (although one of them is not very smart and might be considered a half child, bringing them down to the approved 2.5 child limit). Mitchell and Claire's father, Jay, has remarried to a woman who is much younger than he is and has a son who is the same age as Claire's children. These families interact; hilarity ensues.

Reasons I Like It:
--I appreciate the open depiction of less traditional families.
--I enjoy the way that the "Cool dad, mean mom" stereotype (common in sitcoms) is being used and mocked at the same time.
--It is consistently funny, with a few peaks of roll-on-the-ground hilarity.
--Manny is hilarious. He is Jay's step-son, and he is eerily mature. It simultaneously makes me laugh and shiver.
--Compared to Arrested Development, the situations in this show are actually believable, though somewhat exaggerated. I can imagine a world in which these things would happen.
--Very good writing. There are some killer one-liners that I missed when I was trying out the show over break, which I noticed when I watched the episodes again with Jamey. This makes me want to watch every episode twice (although I don't...time) which is a good sign.

Things I would like to see happen:
--I would like to see a little more diversity. The cast is almost entirely white, with the exception of adopted-baby-from-Vietnam, and Jay's wife and step-son. And every one is middle class.
--I would like to see a little unresolved tension. Perhaps this is the Joss Whedon fan in me, but not everything has to turn out okay in the end. Occasionally, the show seems like 21-and-a-half minutes of random high jinks with a 30-second moral at the end.

"For Good" - Wicked

2010-01-25T19:06:00.000-05:00

Okay, so the only other time I've done a "Musical Monday" post I used a song from the musical Wicked because it happened to be in my head at the time. I'm about to use another one, but I promise that next week's won't be from Wicked!

However, my very best friends from undergrad (at Rochester College) were in town this past weekend and the lyrics from this song remind me of them. In fact, after I drove them to Dallas to drop them off at the airport, I listened to the soundtrack to Wicked on the way home, and when it got to this song I started crying. There is something so refreshing about being around people with whom you can be (and become) most truly yourself. If Amy and I ever come upon a reason to sing together in a talent show, this is what we're singing. So, the lyrics:

I've heard it said
That people come into our lives for a reason
Bringing something we must learn
And we are led
To those who help us most to grow
If we let them and we help them in return
Well, I don't know if I believe that's true
But I know I'm who I am today
Because I knew you.

Like a comet pulled from orbit
As it passes the sun
Like a stream that meets a boulder
Halfway through the wood
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
But because I knew you
I have been changed for good

It well may be
That we will never meet again
In this lifetime
So let me say before we part
So much of me
Is made of what I learned from you
You'll be with me
Like a handprint on my heart
And now whatever way our stories end
I know you have re-written mine
By being my friend.

Like a ship blown from its mooring
By a wind off the sea
Like a seed dropped by a skybird
In a distant wood
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
But because I knew you
I have been changed for good

And just to clear the air
I ask forgiveness
For the things I've done you blame me for
But then, I guess we know
There's blame to share
And none of it seems to matter anymore

Like a comet pulled from orbit
As it passes a sun
Like a stream that meets a boulder
Halfway through the wood
Like a ship blown from its mooring
By a wind off the sea
Like a seed dropped by a bird in the wood

Who can say if I've been
Changed for the better?
I do believe I have been
Changed for the better
And because I knew you
I have been changed for good

Spring 2010 TV Schedule

2010-01-12T11:51:00.002-05:00

Here's what our DVR has going on for the next few months:

Sunday:
--Family Guy

Monday-Friday:
--Jeopardy
--The Ellen Show
--The Colbert Report

Monday:
--How I Met Your Mother
--Heroes

Tuesday:
--Lost
--The Biggest Loser
--American Idol

Wednesday:
--Glee
--American Idol
--Modern Family - this is a new one this semester. It just started in Fall 2009. I watched a few episodes on Hulu and decided it was very funny, so Jamey and I caught up on the 10 episodes we missed and added this to the list. It's basically Arrested Development meets the Office.

Thursday:
--American Idol (for 3 or 4 weeks during March)
--Parks and Recreation
--The Office
--Community (rapidly eclipsing The Office as my favorite Thursday night comedy)
--30 Rock (hasn't started yet...)

Friday:
--Dollhouse (for 2 more weeks, but after that is has been canceled and is all gone...)
--Psych
--What Not to Wear
--Project Runway

Saturday
--Sit Down, Shut Up (To be honest, we're not sure why we're still watching this because it's not really funny.)

The Biggest Loser

2010-01-05T23:15:00.001-05:00

I am a latecomer to The Biggest Loser world. Jamey and I started watching it last season because I (sort of) knew one of the contestants. But it sucked us in, we kept watching after this contestant left the show, and the DVR is set to record it again this season. The spring season is the family/couples season. I'm not sure I'll be able to get into the characters or stories as much as I did last season.

As always, they're saying that this is their heaviest season ever. The heaviest person before now was Shay last season, who was 476. This season they have their first 500+ person, and there are two twins on a team (one of whom was voted off this week) who each weighed 485 (combined, a ton!). People have said that they show is *seeking* increasingly heavier people. I don't know that this is true. I think that heavier people are applying because, while previously they may have thought it was impossible, the heavier the people on the previous season the more "possible" it seems for them.

Since there is incentive to win (money) they sometimes push themselves beyond their capabilities for the sake of winning, for example Tracy and Coach Mo going to the hospital after running the mile the first week of last season. Other contestants reported (after their season ended) the tactics of fasting, refusing to drink water, trying to wear more layers when they workout to sweat more and lose water weight. People simply are not meant to lose that much weight in a weak - their hearts cannot handle it long term (even if they manage to make it through the show). I'm surprised no one has had a heart attack yet! The show's medical professional, Dr. Rob Huizenga, says it's fine (obviously) and that they weren't sure this radical type of weight loss would work and has been surprised by its success.

The people in charge of the show know it's extreme but thinks it needs to be. These are not people who are bigger than they want to be, it's people that are going to die from obesity. It's called "morbidly obese" for a reason. That being said, the producers also say that the show is encouraging people toward healthy living. That may or may not be true. I think that what is modeled on the show is not healthy living; it's extreme and not reproducible at home for the average person. But, on the other hand, it is a show about losing weight which a lot of Americans need to hear (for health reasons, not image-related reasons). I guess I'm still not sure what I think about the show in general, but I've been sucked in by it, like it or not.

What "reality" TV in general has done to TV is interesting. People are talking about TV again. Where we used to talk about sitcoms over our lunch break, now we talk about "the crazy thing Tracy did on The Biggest Loser last night" or "Kris Allen's performance on American Idol", etc. Obviously, there's little about reality TV that is real. And reality TV does not belong in the same category as a well-constructed narrative. But as the characters in our other shows (CSI, Law & Order) become less well-developed, people get involved in the lives of obviously-contrived-but-still-more-real-than-totally-fabricated-detectives reality show folks. I feel like I know more about Abby from The Biggest Loser than Dr.House. More and more scripted shows are being canceled while reality shows are renewed for second, third, and tenth seasons.

South Africa and the World Cup

2010-01-03T17:21:00.002-05:00

So, Bono is an Op-Ed columnist for the NY Times. He wrote a Top 10 list today, but it is not a descriptive Top 10 (10 Best Movies of 2009). It's a prescriptive Top 10: What are the top ten most exciting things that could happen to make the world a better place in the next ten years.

One of the things he mentioned was that the world cup (being held in South Africa) will kick off "the African Decade."* Here's what he says:

"It’s getting easier to describe to Americans the impact of the World Cup — especially the impact it will have in Africa, where the tournament is to be held this summer. A few years ago, Ivory Coast was splitting apart and in the midst of civil war when its national team qualified for the 2006 jamboree. The response was so ecstatic that the war was largely put on hold as something more important than deathly combat took place, i.e. a soccer match. The team became a symbol of how the different tribes could — and did — get on after the tournament was over.

This time round, for the 2010 World Cup, naysayers thought South Africa could not build the stadiums in time. Those critics should be red-faced now. South Africa’s impressive preparations underline the changes on the continent, where over the last few years, 5 percent economic growth was the average. Signs point to a further decade of growth to come. Canny investors will put more capital there. This in turn has the potential to shore up fragile young democracies across the continent.

It would be fitting if Nelson Mandela, who has done more than anyone for Africa’s rising, would kick off the opening ceremonies. If he shows up, the world will weep with joy."

I think this is especially interesting in light of the shift of the center of Christianity away from America to Africa and Latin America. I think this will change the way American Christianity functions, probably for the better?

And, aside from that, I'm excited about it being time for the World Cup again. :)

* The whole article can be found here: Ten for the Next Ten

Traveling Trials and Tribulations

2009-12-29T22:40:00.002-05:00

It's about time this saga were written down in its entirety.

SATURDAY: Once upon a time, at 4:30am, Jamey and I woke up in NY to get to the Syracuse airport by 4:45 for our 6am flight to Birmingham, with a layover in Chicago. For the two of us, we had one checked bag and three carry-ons.

While using the kiosk to check-in for this flight, I checked the one bag under my name. I thought to myself "My luggage has been lost by United Airlines 3 times. Maybe I should have checked this bag under Jamey's name." A little superstitious, maybe. But, as you will come to see, a foretaste of things to come. Anyway, we made it through security and onto the Syracuse-Chicago flight with no trouble. We also made it to the gate (in a different terminal) in Chicago for our Chicago-Birmingham flight and boarded that plane with no trouble.

This was as far as our luck lasted. We were on that plane, at the Chicago airport, for 2 hours. During that time we boarded and de-iced, drove out to the runway, and were 10th in line to take off. However, by the time we got to the front of the line, the de-icing fluid had worn-off (or whatever it does) and we had to turn around to be de-iced again. But, there was no available gate at which we could de-ice so we sat and waited for a gate for a while, and then they told us our flight had been canceled and we would need to wait in line at customer service for rebooking. We would later learn that 450 flights out of Chicago were canceled on Saturday. I should note, here, that Jamey's mom had already driven to Birmingham (3 hours north of their home, Dothan) to pick us up. She had to leave an hour before our flight was supposed to take off to make the drive, and after we had boarded the plane and sat there for 2 hours, we knew we would be late but had no idea that we would be canceled.

So, we wait in the customer service line in our terminal for about 5 minutes, with about 100 people in line in front of us, when a United Airlines agent tells us that there is another line in another terminal that is shorter, and also has more desks/agents. We leave for that line (assuming it couldn't really take *longer* than this line, and might even be shorter!) and wait in that line for 2 hours before talking to an agent. We'll never know if that line went more quickly or more slowly than the other one, but I think it went more quickly. There were about as many people in line in front of us, but more desks. While we waited in this line, Jamey realized he had left his book on the plane, and goes back to that terminal, to that gate, to find out that the plane is closed and cannot be opened until another flight boards, and all the flights for the rest of the day on that plane are canceled. Oh well. He didn't love the book anyway, and it's in the ACU library so he can finish it.

When we get up the customer service desk and tell the agent our flight to Birmingham was canceled, he tells us that there are no flights to Birmingham for the rest of that day, and no available seats on the flights to Birmingham the next day. Since Jamey's family lives in Dothan, about 3 hours south of Birmingham, we gave the flight attendant a number of other options: Atlanta, Tallahassee, Huntsville (also in Alabama). There is nothing to Atlanta or Tallahassee that day (Saturday) or the next day (Sunday). The only flight on Sunday is to Huntsville, AL, which is about 4 hours away from Dothan. We take it. Since we were already only going to be in town for 5 days, and since we were already going to have to pay for one night in a hotel, we couldn't afford and didn't want to wait until Monday to fly to Birmingham, our original destination. So far, less than ideal, a little complicated, but no big deal.

After the agent assisting us had booked our seats on the Huntsville flight I said "Okay, so we had one bag checked to Birmingham. What is going to happen to that bag?" And he said "When they take it off the plane they will take it to the baggage service desk, who will scan it, see your updated itinerary, and re-label the back to be checked to Huntsville." I said "Really? That is surprising. Are you sure?" He said "Yes." I said "Is that process pretty reliable?" He said "Yes." I said "Are you positive? Because we have 16 hours in Chicago with nothing to do, we can wait for the bag downstairs and re-check it tomorrow." He said "No, it will probably take a few hours for them to sort through all the bags from the canceled flights, and it will be chaos down there. You're better off just letting them check it to Huntsville." I said "Okay, if you're sure." He said "I'm positive."

So that's what we did. Since the cancellation was weather-related, they were not giving out vouchers for hotel rooms. They did give us a coupon, though. And it was for the hotel in the airport so we didn't have to go outside to get there, or worry about hotel shuttles/taxis/subways/etc. We watched TV on DVD (from our checked luggage) and ate pizza and relaxed all night. Not bad.

SUNDAY: Our flight to Huntsville was at 1:18 in the afternoon so we didn't have to wake up early (unlike Saturday!). We slept in, went back to the airport and checked in. When we checked in they asked, as usual, if we had any bags to check and we said something like, "Well, yes and no. We had a bag checked to Birmingham yesterday but our flight was canceled and the agent that re-booked us said it would be re-checked to Huntsville." The person checking us in said something like "Oh, well, he was wrong. That's not how it works. That bag is still going to go to Birmingham." While we were not in any hurry to catch our flight, we did not have time at this point to go downstairs and find our bag. So we just got our tickets printed, went back through security, and waited at the gate to board our flight. While we were waiting, I preemptively called the United Airlines Baggage Service number, knowing our bag was not going to go where we were going. Thus begins the series of 6 calls to the UA Baggage Service Folks.

Call #1 - Sunday, 12pm, location: airport in Chicago. I talked to a woman who said that our bag would be going to Birmingham. I told her we were not flying into Birmingham, but Huntsville, and that we also did not live in Huntsville. She asked where we did live, I said Texas, but we were visiting family in Dothan, AL. She said she wrote a note on the file they would see when they scanned the bag, and the bag would go to Dothan. She was kind and informative.

Our flight to Huntsville was uneventful. We boarded, took off, flew, and landed with little trouble. I tried to find a baggage service desk at the Huntsville airport, even though our bag was never supposed to go there (apparently) so that I could talk to someone in person. Turns out, they don't have a baggage desk there - they just have the people at the ticket counter. We told them our story and asked her if she could look up our bag # and see whether or not the bag were in Birmingham yet, since we would be driving past Birmingham on our way home. She said she couldn't do that (IF YOU CAN'T, WHO CAN?!) and we would have to call the baggage service number again. We hopped in our rental car (we had to rent a car to drive to Jamey's house, since Jamey's mom had already driven 3 hours to Birmingham and back the day before and didn't want to do it again, understandably so) and started the 4 hour drive from Huntsville to Dothan.

Call #2 - Sunday, 3:30pm, location: rental car on the road in AL. I talked to a man who told us that our bag was still in Chicago, but should be going to Birmingham sometime. He said that from there they would fly it to Dothan and drive it to Jamey's house. He said that he would flag our account and expedite our bag to Birmingham. He offered to email me a $150 travel voucher for our trouble. I said yes. I was not yet frustrated enough with UA to refuse such sucking-up. He was very kind and informative but turned out to be not very good at follow-up.

Call #3 - Sunday, 9pm, location: Jamey's house in AL, same for the rest of the calls. The voucher offered by Man #1 did not arrive in my inbox. Also, Man #1 did not get our address with which to send the bag to our house. So I called again to work out some details. I talked to a man who told us basically the same thing as Man #1, took down our address, and got my email address again to send the voucher again. He had no idea when our bag would arrive. He said that he would flag our account and expedite our bag to Birmingham. He was not very kind and not very informative and not very good at follow-up, because the voucher did not come again. I am now extremely frustrated.

Call #4 - Monday, 1pm. I wanted to know where our bag was. I was also hoping that they could tell me a way to track the location of the bag online instead of having to call twice a day until it arrived. I talked to a man who told us that the bag was still in Chicago and there was no way that we could track it online since we did not fill out a delayed baggage claim in Birmingham. I told him that we were never, at any point, in Birmingham to fill out said form, and the woman at Huntsville would not let us fill out a form there since our bag was not checked to there in the first place. He said "Why not?" I said "As I already told you, our flight to Birmingham was canceled and the only flight available the next day was to Huntsville." He said, essentially, "Okay, well, your bag is in Chicago, and it's supposed to go to Birmingham, and the only way you can track it is to keep calling." Man #3 was not very kind, relatively informative, and not particularly helpful. I did not even ask about the voucher because, at this point, I am very frustrated and have no interest in flying United again.

Call #5 - Monday, 9:30pm. The most frustrating of all the calls. I was shaking with rage. Seriously. Rage. Ask Jamey. He saw. I talked to a woman who was completely useless. We were on the phone for 57 minutes and she put me on hold 11 times. I told her the same thing I had told the previous 4 agents: Our flight to Birmingham was canceled, we flew into Huntsville instead, we had one bag checked to Birmingham that had not made it to Birmingham yet. I wanted to know when it would get to Birmingham. She said that she would flag our account and expedite our bag to Birmingham. I said "Alright. What does this actually mean? Because two agents before you have told us the same thing, and 36 hours have passed since that time. I was under the impression that expedite meant it would go more quickly than that." She said "I don't know. Let me check. Please hold." This became a refrain with her. After a few rounds of this she said "Well, I will need to talk to your parents" to which I replied "I'm sorry, what?" and she said "I need to speak to the parents of the passenger" and I said "This is my bag. I booked the flight. I am 24 years old. What possible reason could you have for speaking to my parents? Will you please transfer me to your supervisor? You should understand that while I am not frustrated with you, I am very frustrated. This is the 5th time that I have called in the last 36 hours regarding this bag, and it has remained in Chicago the entire time, but each agent has given me different instructions was to what I should do about it. I would like to speak to your supervisor." She then put me on hold, again, and then came back and said that he was busy with other customers but what she could do was take down my phone number, email address, and the address where we were staying in AL and file the claim for us so we could track our bag online. This sounded marginally helpful. I gave her the information, explaining how to spell Dothan with extreme difficulty (despite my spelling it for her 3 times and having her read it back as "Dotehan", telling her it was only 6 letters and spelling it again). She said "Okay I'm going to fill out the claim for you" and put me on hold. Again. When she came back she said "Okay, it's going to be easier if you just go to the website and fill out the Property Questionnaire for lost luggage." What I wanted to say was "Easier for who?!" What I said was "Well, my luggage is not lost. It is in Chicago. It needs to be in Birmingham." She said "Well, since your flight was canceled, the bag stays in Chicago. You will need to come to Chicago to pick it up. I'm sorry for the inconvenience." This is the point at which I could not take it anymore. In my brain, I snapped. In my voice, I became firm and once again asked to be transferred to her supervisor. She once again put me on hold, at which point I vented all of the angry things I had to say to Jamey. She came back and said "My supervisor says that he is still too busy, and that he would tell you all of the same things that I am telling you." I said "To me, it seems pretty simple. There is a bag in Chicago with a tag that says Birmingham. Even if we had not gone to Alabama at all and just stayed in Chicago for the entire week, the bag still should have gone to Birmingham because that is the place to which it was checked. We paid $20 for that bag to go to Birmingham and that is where it should be." She said some other useless things and I eventually just said "I'm sorry but you don't seem to be listening or helping me in any way, and since you refuse to transfer me to your supervisor, I am finished with this conversation." She said "I'm sorry for your trouble." And that was that. I vowed never to fly United again. This woman was very kind, but entirely useless in every other way (every way that was important to me, anyway).

Call #6 - Tuesday, 1:30pm. I was too frustrated to call again. I wasn't sure what it would accomplish since everyone keeps telling us something different. I debated calling and opening with "What I am about to say is in no way a reflection on you as a customer service agent. That being said, this is my 6th call in 2 days, the previous 5 agents have each told my something different and none of them have been able to achieve any results. I have no interest in speaking to you. Please transfer me directly to your supervisor. I will be happy to hold for your supervisor for a long time." Instead, I told Jamey to call. Apparently he has better luck than I do (thus proving that I should have checked the bag in his name to begin with) because the agent told him that the bag is in Birmingham, it was scanned in Birmingham at 10:47am, and he sent us a $250 voucher (which I still have no intention of using. Jamey can do it if he wants to. He has good luck). He did not get off the phone with us until the voucher arrived in my inbox. Jamey checked, double-checked, and triple-checked that the bag had arrived in Birmingham, not just "was supposed to" arrive in Birmingham. Jamey asked to be transferred to the baggage office at the Birmingham airport, which for some reason this agent could not do. But he put us on hold while he called them and asked them to verify that they had it and would hold it until we arrived on Friday. (We're flying out of Birmingham on Friday, to Abilene. On American.) They confirmed. Man #4 was kind, helpful, informative, specific, and had good follow-through.

Call #7 - Tuesday, 2pm. We tried to call the information desk at the Birmingham airport and be transferred to a United Airlines person who could touch the bag while they talked to us on the phone. While we trust Man #4, we have been through a lot of lies/mis-informations regarding this bag, and wanted extra confirmation. Unfortunately they could not transfer us to the baggage desk because, apparently, there isn't one. There is only a ticket agent, and she's not allowed to transfer people to the ticket agents. Maybe United is getting rid of their baggage desks at smaller airports? Anyway, this call was unsuccessful. We're still afraid our bag is not actually there. The United Agent was very confident, and we want to trust him, but are having a difficult time being confident. But we trust him enough that we're not going to call again. We bought a few shirts today so that we don't have to wear the same thing the whole time we're here. We're just going to wait until Friday and hope it's there when we get there so we can check it, with American, to Abilene...and hope it gets there too.

Frustrating Things:
--We sat on a plane for 2 hours just to have the flight canceled. I wish the flight had just been canceled before we ever got on the plane. Then Jamey would not have lost his book and his mom would not have driven all the way to Birmingham for nothing.
--We had to pay for a hotel.
--The customer service agent re-booking us lied (was mistaken) about our bag. With confidence. If he had just told us the truth, that our bag was going to go to Birmingham unless we went downstairs and picked it up, we would certainly have gone to pick it up. We did nothing all night! It was 2pm when we talked to him. It wasn't even late! We could (and would) have waited 7 hours for that bag and still gone to bed at a decent hour.
--If the first two people we talked to on the phone, or the woman we talked to in Huntsville, had told us that we needed to file a delayed baggage claim in Birmingham, we could have stopped at the Birmingham airport on our way to Dothan and filed said claim. Then we could have tracked our bag online and avoided calling the baggage services number twice a day, which is both frustrating and a waste of our limited time with Jamey's family.
--Everything about Call #5 with Woman #2. I cried. I yelled. I shook. I vented. I was angry.

Bright (or not-so-dim) Sides:
--We didn't have to pay full price for the hotel.
--We didn't have to take a taxi or the subway to our hotel since it was the hotel in the airport.
--We had Kings and season one of Battlestar Galactica in our carry-ons so we were able to relax and watch TV all night.
--Having lost luggage a few times now, I knew enough to pack the Christmas presents for Jamey's family and one set of extra clothes for each of us in the carry-on luggage.
--In theory, our luggage is in Birmingham now? We'll see. I'm wary and suspicious.
--We're with Jamey's family!

Kings

2009-12-22T23:31:00.000-05:00

So, Jamey and I have almost finished watching the first (and only) season of Kings, a show created by Michael Green, the same guy that came up with the idea for Heroes. It was on NBC, but was canceled (so Fox isn't the only network canceling things). It started on a Sunday night in January (I think), moved to Saturday nights, and then was postponed until the summer. It finished the season that was ordered in July of this past summer, and that's that.

It is a re-imagining of 1-2 Samuel (David, Goliath, Saul, Jonathan, etc) in an uber-modern setting. The king's court looks like a business meeting, the nation strongly resembles America, Goliath is a tank, etc. It takes some pretty serious liberty with the narrative as we know it, creating new characters and imagining back-stories/personality traits for those that are present. The friendship (which, at this point in our watching, can barely even be called that) between Jonathan (called Jack in the show) and David (whose last name is Shepherd, btw) takes at least 8 episodes to develop, unlike the biblical narrative, although David did save Jack's life twice. But it would pretty boring (and not a sustainable show) if it followed the text directly, neither is that what they set out to do, so I'm fine with it!

Nonetheless, I'm having a hard time what the show did set out to do, if its purpose is not just to tell the story. I'm interested in re-imaginings of biblical texts, especially if they give the biblical characters more depth. Sometimes I think that our characters, especially our OT characters, tend to be pretty flat. Stock characters, the enemy, the hero, the fool/jester, etc. At times it feels quite a bit like a soap opera: intrigue, war, loyalty, romance, etc. I suppose the biblical story is the same way. I also think that sometimes the show seems to be taking itself too seriously, like every single line has to be heavy with meaning.

I think the actor who plays David (Chris Egan) did not do a very good job of giving the character depth. He seems like a very flat actor. I thought the same thing about him in Eragon. It may be the script though; the way the show sets up his coming to be in the royal city, it was entirely accidental. There was no calling/anointing/etc. He seems more like a bumbling fool than a man after God's own heart. Saul, on the other hand, is played by Ian McShane who is brilliant. And the actor who plays Jack is very strong.

The jury is still out, I suppose. It's doing a good job being gray (vs. black and white). I can't decide who I like and don't like and why. It's crazy. Silas is neither good or bad, David is both a hero and a coward, etc.

Stay to the Right

2009-12-18T14:15:00.001-05:00

In all things except politics I think the world would be a better place if everyone stayed to the right. I am thinking specifically about traffic (personal or vehicular) in which people are going in opposite directions. Most obviously, driving. There are two sides of a road for a reason; if people just drove on whichever part of the road they fancied, it would be chaos. Everyone seems to be on board with the system that is in place for one-lane (each direction) roads; stay to the right.*

Now about the highway: You should probably try to drive in the right-most lane at all times. This is not only true for slower cars; if you find yourself consistently in the fast lane you are going way too fast. Now I speed, so it takes a lot for me to say this, but even I will try to be in the right lane as much as possible, using the left lane to pass and get back over. We have probably all experienced a person driving too slowly in the left lane (which is just plain not meant for driving; it's for passing!). We have also probably all experienced another person being frustrated with the first person and passing on the right. All of these things are dangerous. If we all tried to stay in the right lane, things would be better. On the highway, there is partial compliance to this guideline: stay to the right.

You may be wondering how this fits in the category "Freaky Friday." Here it is: I frequently wish that people would follow this guideline in walking as well. Most often. I think this when approaching double doors. I feel like it is very awkward when there are two doors but everyone is trying to go opposite directions through only one of the two doors. This happens to me almost every time I enter the library at ACU, especially when one of the doors is propped open. I think that if people going opposite directions each took the door to the right, there would be no confusion.

I also think this is true in hallways. It does not have to be awkward when two people are walking opposite directions in the same hallway. We do not have to meet in the middle and dance/sway before moving on (Am I going left? Oh you're going left. I'll go right. Oops, you moved right. Oh no! How will we ever continue to our destination?). We can both simply stick to the right side of the hallway/double-doors, and everything will be fine.

I assume this is not the type of thing that most people notice on a daily basis, but I really do. I have either witnessed or been a forced participant in many an awkward cross-directions walking situation. Stick to the right, people! The freaky part about this is that I feel like something is wrong with my world if another person somehow forces me to take the left-hand path in a door/hallway/stair situation. It makes me nervous, uncomfortable, and frazzled for a few seconds. I'm a little OCD.

And don't even get me started on going counter-clockwise around a circle! UGH!

*In Australia or England this would probably work the opposite way. Everyone should go to the left. See, I'm not culturally insensitive! ;)

Thankful Thursday

2009-12-17T14:22:00.005-05:00

I am thankful:
--that I still have not fully gotten sick. I've been holding back the forces of darkness (I mean illness) for a few weeks now.
--for sleeping in
--that today is Jamey's last day at Books-a-Million!
--for not needing to have 2 cars anymore, because today is Jamey's last day at BAM!
--that she got all A's this semester!*
--that she will be in NY on Sunday, and that Katie and Will will be there some of the same days!
--that she and Jamey both get to go home for Christmas this year (last year we only went to AL).
--for ice cream and coffee (both of which she is consuming right now).
--for bonfires, even when they melt away some of the soles of my shoes.
--for being able to rent a house instead of an apartment. We love it.
--for all of the fun administrative assistants in the College of Biblical Studies.
--for leftovers.
--for being pregnant! Just kidding. I'm not thankful. No, but seriously, I'm not pregnant.

*With the exception of one IP (not my fault, professor's out of the country) whose result is to be determined.

We have to save Christmas! ...right?

2009-12-16T14:52:00.004-05:00

I know it's wordless Wednesday but I feel like I should make it clear that I am not in favor of this product.

The Sing-Off

2009-12-15T10:16:00.003-05:00

I wasn't planning to write about this show two weeks in a row, but it's the only show I watch airing new episodes this week.* So, The Sing-Off. I like the concept for the show. 8 groups competing for $100,000 and a record contract.

Judges: I really like Ben Folds as a judge; his comments were very articulate, specific, and helpful (Instead of "yo dawg, it just wasn't my thing"). I had no opinion about Shawn Stockman. I thought the girl from The Pussycat Dolls was pointless as a judge and I can't understand why female judges never make any sense. (Come on, Ellen, don't let me down on American Idol this spring...) But, she's a guest judge and it will be someone different tonight, so yay!

Host: I'm still undecided on Nick Lachey as a host. Most of my frustration with him was the fact that he kept explaining that there are no instruments, vocal tracks, etc. That's what a capella is! I think we get it. Also, the groups that get kicked off each night sing a final song which Nick explained, with too much seriousness in his voice, they are calling a "swan song," as if they invented the term (not to mention, lame).

Guests: Two of the groups, Noteworthys and Voices of Lee, were very explicit about their religious convictions in their intro videos. Another of the groups is called "Beelzebubs." Funny? I think so! I think the judges sent home the two groups that deserved to go: Face (lame name, weird song choice) and Solo (bless their hearts, but they weren't singing as a group). Maxx Factor (the women's barbershop quartet) did not make a single vocal mistake. Beelzebubs were my favorite. I had high hopes for SoCal but they disappointed me. Still, they may be better tonight.

*Except for How I Met Your Mother but, not being a smoker, this week's episode didn't really make sense to me. It was also essentially a stand-alone episode (didn't tie in to the meta-narrative of how Ted met his children's mother), so I could've done without it.

Defying Gravity

2009-12-14T18:22:00.003-05:00

It is no secret that I love musicals. I was able to go see Wicked in Chicago the summer before I left Michigan with some of my best (girl) friends and I loved it. The musical is based on the book with the same name by Geoffrey Maguire, in which the Wicked Witch of the West is the hero, the wizard is evil, and Glinda is a superficial wanna-be. I've been intrigued by stories that are retold from the antagonist's perspective ever since The True Story of the Three Little Pigs in elementary school.

Anyway, back to the musical: The song that ends the first act is "Defying Gravity" and it give me chills every time I hear it. Good message: Elphaba is going to adhere to her own moral standard despite the benefits of compromising to work with the wizard. And, for what it's worth, I really liked the version Curt and Rachel did on Glee a few weeks ago. It is also my go-to "sing in the shower or in the car" song.

We'll see if this "Musical Monday" thing sticks...

Blinkers before Brakes

2009-12-11T14:31:00.000-05:00

First, a confession: I fully acknowledge that I have road-annoyance issues. I didn't really notice them until I moved to Abilene, so it may just be because the drivers here are worse than other places. Or it may be that the truck-to-regularly-sized-vehicle ratio is VERY out of balance here. That being said...

You have blinkers for a reason! Use them! And for that matter, you should probably turn on your blinker before you're halfway through the turn. The purpose of a blinker is to indicate that a turn is coming. It's your way of saying "hey everyone, I am about to change direction!" It is helpful for people intending to turn out of a place into which you are about to turn, because they know they are free to turn in front of you, since you will not be continuing in your current path.

As far as the order of events when braking and blinking, I am pretty sure that we all learned (at the age of 16) that we are supposed to turn on the blinker before we hit the brakes. They called it "Signal, then slow" but I prefer "Blinkers before brakes" because more of the words are alliterative. :) This alerts the person behind you as to the purpose of your braking: Are you slowing down for no reason or because you are turning?

Not using your blinker is either lazy and inconsiderate (I know I'm turning but I don't feel like letting anyone else know) or an indication of not paying attention (Oh! There's my turn! Yikes! No time for a blinker...), both of which are bad.

The Sing-Off

2009-12-08T13:20:00.001-05:00

"The Sing Off" is more like a TV event than an actual TV show, since it won't be running serially. It's an a capella music competition premiering on Monday of next week (December 14th), continuing Tuesday and Wednesday, and then coming back for the finale next Monday night.

From NBC's website announcement about the show back in August:

"A capella music has been the basis and inspiration for many top musical acts on the charts from Motown to Boyz to Men. Recently it has been the focus of national tournaments and exploded in popularity on college campuses all over the country. With a strong fan base and largely untapped talent pool, it has never been the center of a musical competition until now."

I'm pretty excited. I don't know that I would like it if the show lasted as long as, say, American Idol. But as a four night shout-out to a capella music, sure!

Central New York

2009-12-04T13:23:00.003-05:00

I would like to take this opportunity, on a beautiful Freaky Friday, to release a general news bulletin: Syracuse is in Central New York. Wikipedia knows it. I know it. You ought to know it too.

It is technically correct to say that Syracuse is in Upstate New York, since Upstate New York is just "everything but NYC" but it is geographically unhelpful. I get (not so) secretly annoyed when people ask if I'm traveling to Upstate NY. I know this is unjustified but it is still true. NYC is such a tiny little part of the state, why should the other 90% of the state be relegated to just "Upstate New York?"

A picture:

Here endeth my rant.

Thankful Thursday

2009-12-03T17:17:00.003-05:00

--Ends and beginnings. In this case I am thankful that this semester is almost over! I've got my life for the next 7 days pretty well scheduled and it doesn't look too stressful. And I'm thankful for Advent...both the season and the event(s) it anticipates.
--Professors who welcome students into their homes
--Worshiping with the GST (extended) family
--Coffee. Warm. Caffeinated. Delicious.
--Clean water
--Cooler weather
--Getting out of class early
--A car that works.

Candy Brains and Christmas Trees

2009-12-02T14:40:00.000-05:00

Heroes, Season 4

2009-12-01T16:13:00.001-05:00

I feel like I should confess that I do not hate Heroes as much this season as I did the last two seasons. Neither do I like it as much as I did during season one. I think this season has been getting progressively better and may even be fixing some of the mess they got into over the past few years.

I still wish they would just go ahead and kill someone. Not because I want to see people die, necessarily, but because I am sick of them almost killing people off and then bringing them back somehow. It's hard to be genuinely upset when they kill someone off, because I'm pretty sure they'll bring them back in the next episode. This seems counter-productive to the dramatic purpose of death in TV.

In other TV news, check out this article in Time on Glee:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1942957,00.html

Pronouns for God

2009-11-23T18:50:00.006-05:00

I am taking this (brief) moment out of my paper-writing to express frustration at the persistent use in commentaries, church, and everyday speech of the masculine pronoun to describe God. It is very frustrating. I don't want to quote an author who does it. I don't want to sing songs with masculine pronouns for God when there are few (if any) with feminine pronouns (not to mention feminine imagery!) Neither do I want to edit by way of [brackets] every quotation or rewrite every hymn.

I don't want to refer to God as a "she" either, as some sort of passive-aggressive, counter-linguistic move. I want a non-gendered pronoun that is not "it." Using "he" and "she" interchangeably (to achieve balance) is confusing grammatically and does not actually solve the problem theologically. It seems wrong to call God an "it" (since, in English, this implies a non-living thing).

And it seems clunky to refuse to use any pronouns at all and say "God" every time. For instance, "God called us to Godself, indicating God's desire for us to be set apart for God, as a community that is specifically God's." That being said, I prefer clunky language to language that assumes and perpetuates the faulty notion that God is masculine (or for that matter, feminine). For the time being, I have landed in the Land of Misfit Non-Pronounism.

NB1: In the context of the metaphor of God as Father I am perfectly fine with "he." That's just good poetry/imagery/word picture-y. My problem is that "God as Father" has become the primary (only?) metaphor that we use, to the point that people believe that God actually is male.

NB2: I am aware that masculine pronouns have historically been used in a more generic, gender-inclusive sense (especially in languages other than English). So it's primarily the English language's fault. But again, my concern is the reinforcing of certain stereotypes that unwittingly exclude (which is something more than "offend") half the audience in any given congregation.

Anyway, back to work. Election, holiness, and ecclesiology in 1 Thessalonians...

Straws

2009-11-20T10:05:00.003-05:00

I have a thing with drinking from a cup without a straw. This is true primarily, but not only, at restaurants (I do have straws at the house). It's mostly just a preference for drinking. At restaurants it is compounded by the fact that, having not washed the glass myself, I am not confident that it is clean. Depending on your assessment of the dependability of Wikipedia, drinking straws were invented in Sumer. Bendy straws are my favorite.

It may be hard to tell because this glass of lemonade is so big (which is why we took a picture to begin with. Thank you, Karina, for providing some perspective) but I am drinking out of a straw!

Thankful Thursday

2009-11-19T16:42:00.003-05:00

A little change of pace. Here is the first of three lessons that Candace and I gave at the Minter Lane Women's Retreat two weekends ago.

Text: Luke 17:11-19

--Naomi: If I asked you list the characteristics of the Christian life and you were not biased by knowing that the theme of this retreat is thankfulness, you might not think of thankfulness right away. You would probably say: humility, forgiveness, unity, patience. Maybe if you’re really clever you would just list the fruit of the spirit. But thankfulness isn’t in that list! I just don’t think we would think of thankfulness right away. Maybe this is because we’re not very thankful, as a people. When asked to describe what Christianity it, we tend to list only the things in which we feel we are gifted.

--Candace: Yet, we would all agree that thankfulness is important. We do not need to list the verses or passages where the Bible tells us to be thankful. It is all over the letters of Paul and others, not to mention the Psalms. I’m assuming we all agree that we ought to be thankful or we would not have chosen this for our theme. The question is, what does thankfulness look like? And how do we do it?

--Naomi: And that’s where this topic becomes difficult. We all agree we should be thankful and thankfulness is mentioned frequently in the Bible, but not much is actually said about it. In fact, a lot of the time, it is tacked on to the end of other commands or exhortations. “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.”

--Candace: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”

--Naomi: “Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.”

--Candace: “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.”

--Naomi: “Since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe.” For some reason, there is little explanation in our texts as to what thankfulness looks like. This brings us back to our text in Luke 17. It seems like there are actually two separate stories being told here. Verses 11-14 tell the story of ten lepers who were healed. Verses 15-19 tell the story of one thankful leper.

--Candace: The first story is strange. Ten lepers ask Jesus to heal them and his response is “Go, see the priests.” This is odd; this is not what they requested. The priests were probably the last people they wanted to see in this condition. But even more strange is the fact that they go. They obey and they are healed because of their obedience. It seems like they all had faith. It is easy to paint the 9 lepers with broad, judgmental strokes as selfish. But they had faith! They left before they were healed. And they received a physical healing. We are all familiar with the struggle to be obedient when we’re not sure what God is asking us to do or why God is asking us to do it. That struggle is certainly evident in this story.

--Naomi: But there is another struggle as well: the struggle to be thankful. This is where the second story comes in. One leper comes back. If we can take the numbers as any indication, we forget to be thankful 90% of the time. The way I see it, the other nine lepers have three possible excuses. Excuse #1: They didn’t notice the gift. This seems unlikely. Leprosy is a skin disease; it’s pretty visible. I think if you’re a leper who is physically and socially ostracized you’re going to notice if you’re not a leper anymore.

Excuse #2: They noticed the gift, but didn’t know the giver of it. This also seems unlikely. They are the ones who approached Jesus asking for a healing! They called him “Master.” In fact, they are the only people other than the disciples in any of the gospels who call Jesus “Master.” They asked him for help. They know that this did not just happen on its own!

Excuse #3: They noticed the gift and they knew the giver but they did not respond. I guess this has to be it. Before we go painting them with broad, judgmental strokes, let’s give them the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they thought Jesus would take it back if they turned around. After all, he told them to go, and they obeyed, and they were healed. They might have been afraid that the leprosy would come back as soon as they turned around! This seems like a valid fear to me.

--Candace: Then again, they may not deserve the benefit of the doubt. After all, when that one leper turned around to thank Jesus, they could not plead ignorance anymore. At this point, they have been presented with the option to go forward and present themselves to the priests as clean and get on with their lives or to go back and be thankful first. I imagine that, once the other leper got further down the road, he called back and said “I’m still clear! Come on!” It seems like they might have made a deliberate decision not to go back. And thus, the second story begins. As we’ve already said, the first story concerns a physical healing.

--Naomi: The second is a spiritual healing. I bet most of your translations say “your faith has made you well” or “your faith has healed you.” 3 out of the 4 translations we read earlier say it just that way. Now, I won’t talk about Greek for long, I promise. I’ll just say this: The word Jesus uses here for “made you well” or “healed you” is the same word that is translated elsewhere as “saved you.” The translators chose “made you well” because this is a healing story, but if you ask me (which none of them did!) it should read “Your faith has saved you.” After all, as we have already noticed, the other lepers were healed too. Something different is happening here.

--Candace: This is salvation. This one leper is now in a new relationship of faith and gratitude with Jesus and, through him, with God. It seems that the other nine have taken God's mercy for granted, failing to see God's saving action in the very person of Jesus. They do not respond with repentance or thanksgiving. So, only the thankful leper receives the blessing. He fell at Jesus' feet and thanked him. It is that thanksgiving that makes his faith superabundant faith, that makes it saving faith. There is something about giving thanks and glorifying God that has a ripple effect on your spiritual life.

What you should absolutely not hear me saying is that being thankful has a ripple effect on your physical life. I think that is a spiritually dangerous misconception. If that were true, thankfulness would become a passive-aggressive way to trick or manipulate God into giving me more blessings. “If I say thank you, God will be more likely to give to me again…”

--Naomi: In fact, I don’t think that thankfulness should be primarily about physical things. If someone were trying to decide what was important to us based on what we say in our prayers, they would probably think that all we care about is our health and careers and stress levels. Too often our prayers are for physical things: heal this person, give this person a job, get this person safely from A to B, etc.

Obviously, I am not saying that it is bad to be prayerful about these things. But on the rare occasions that we remember to be thankful when these things are resolved in the way we would like, which we’ve already pointed out we forget to do 90% of the time, it still reveals an awful lot about our priorities. What if we prayed for a person’s spiritual struggle, or his/her desire to be closer to God, or his/her struggle with prayer?

--Candace: Another danger of being thankful for physical things is that it can very easily lead to a sense of entitlement. There can be no thankfulness if we are entitled to the gift. Just a few verses before this story, Jesus is talking to his disciples and he says to them: “You do not say thank you to a slave for doing what is expected, do you?” If we come to expect certain gifts, they are not gifts anymore. This is the danger of the attitude of expecting a certain level of blessing from God. Then it’s not thankfulness. God doesn’t owe you anything. Everything good you have is a gift.

--Naomi: One last thing about what thankfulness is not before we make a few observations about what thankfulness is. Thankfulness is not about social obligation or good manners. The other nine lepers weren’t just breaking Emily Post’s code of etiquette. Thankfulness is not polite gratitude for someone holding the door open for you, it is not good manners at a dinner party, it is not a thank you card for a gift, although it will certainly lead to many of those things. What we’re talking about is thanking God for the gift of life, the same thing that Jesus does when he “taking the bread, gave thanks and broke it.” Thankfulness is setting the world aright.

--Candace: Thankfulness is setting the world aright by glorifying God. Our passage says that the leper “glorified God and thanked Jesus.” These are related actions; in thanking Jesus the leper also glorified God. Just like prayer and praise are our response to God’s work in our life, thankfulness should be too. And obviously, these things aren’t mutually exclusive. Thankfulness is a type of prayer. It is also a type of praise. It is one of many things that we can do to center our lives on what God has done for us in Christ.

--Naomi: Thankfulness is setting the world aright by recognizing our own need. To be able to recognize the gifts that God gives us, we need to know what we don’t have. If someone gives you a gift you already have, you’re not really thankful for it (maybe for the sentiment, but probably not for the gift itself). But if someone sees a need in your life and fills that need, you are thankful. We need to see those needs within ourselves to be able to see how God fills them. This is like the prodigal who could come back gratefully because he knew how desperately he was in want. The church is the community of sinners and the community of the grateful and it is because of our sin that we are truly grateful for our salvation.

--Candace: Thankfulness is setting the world aright by seeing the world correctly. The story says that the leper “saw” that he had been healed. I think this has to be implying something beyond physically “seeing” because I’m sure the other nine “saw” that they did not have leprosy anymore as well. What is implied in the one thankful leper’s “seeing” is an understanding of what happened, and more importantly, who had done it.

Jesus says elsewhere that his healings are indications that the kingdom of God has already begun to break in. The thankful leper recognized the kingdom breaking into his life. Similarly, we need to be able to recognize where the kingdom has already come for us. Jesus’ problem with the other nine was that they did not recognize what had been done for them. And this, I think, is why the Samaritan leper was “saved”, why thankfulness has an effect on a person’s spiritual life. It is not that he bought his salvation with his thankfulness. It is because the journey of salvation is linked to seeing the gift of life and the giver of life and responding appropriately.

--Naomi: When we give thanks, then, our eyes are only partially focused on the specific blessings in our lives that we receive with gratitude. Our eyes are predominantly focused on the God who is the source of every blessing. When we see that we live our whole lives in the presence of God, and when we stand in awe of the majesty and power and grace and mercy and love of God, it does something to us. It moves us to sing, to pray, and it moves us to compassion and sharing and generosity. And in the end it makes our lives beautiful.

--Candace: And that’s one thing we can say for certain about thankfulness: It is a way of life. It is a way of making ourselves aware of the overflowing goodness of God that sustains us in every way throughout our lives. We need this awareness to nurture gratitude in our lives, because a life without gratitude is a poor, sad, empty kind of life. We need to be a people who give, rather than expect, thanks.

--Naomi: The narrator elicits our sympathy and perhaps even our admiration for the one thankful man before we discover, too late to despise him, that he is a Samaritan. What matters in this story is not any category of social definition: Samaritan, Jew, man, woman, adult, child, or any other label of status or role. What matters is receptivity to the gift of healing and thankful praise of God.

--Candace: At the end of this story, Jesus asks three rhetorical questions with painfully obvious answers: Were not ten made clean? Where are the other nine? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner? To paraphrase Jesus' questions for ourselves: Were you not given a gift? Why are you not giving thanks for it? Will you be found giving praise and thanksgiving?

Thpeaking of Thanksgiving

2009-11-18T16:11:00.001-05:00

Dollhouse Canceled

2009-11-17T16:21:00.003-05:00

I announced this on my Facebook status about a week ago but since it's TV Tuesday again, it's time for further reflection. Dollhouse is cancelled. I am disappointed because I liked the show. But I am not surprised because this happens to Joss frequently. And in the case of Dollhouse, I think it might be partially his fault. He didn't work very hard to make the show accessible; I liked it because I like him but not everyone wants to pay that much attention when they're watching TV. Especially after putting the "alternative vision" shown in the bonus episode on the Season 1 DVDs before us, to go back to the internal drama and ethical dilemmas of the Dollhouse itself was a little disappointing.

The premise of the show is that there is a place with the technology to wipe people's memories to the point of rewriting their personality. People are "made to order" and rented out. So the show had quite a daunting task: to make the audience care about a character (Echo, played by Eliza Dushku) that is different every single time we see her. It had a lot of potential to explore issues of identity, exploitation, etc.

If I'm being completely honest (which I am) I don't think that Eliza Dushku is the best actress. I feel like I can see her trying to act out a given emotion instead of getting lost in her character. I found most of the other characters to be more compelling than she was and preferred the episodes that had more of an ensemble feel to those that focused on Echo. I'm especially interested in Topher and the way his character explores the question of the ethical use of knowledge. And he's funny.

Anyway, the upside is that Fox is going to air all thirteen episodes they "ordered" from Joss despite announcing that it will be canceled. Only 4 episodes have aired so far this season. Joss was in the middle of taping episode 11 when he found out it would be canceled. So unlike Firefly, Joss will have time (9 episodes) to wrap things up.

Freaky Friday

2009-11-13T09:18:00.004-05:00

I have a thing with bad grammar.

Yes, I know that the primary function of language is to communicate ideas and as long it is still accomplishing that function I shouldn't correct it. And yes, I know that language is for the people and if the people decide to adapt I should follow along. And yes, I know that I myself make grammatical mistakes according to the most proper of rules. There is probably at least one such mistake in this post.

Another argument I have heard against such Grammar Nazi-ism is that it is actually oppressive because the standardized version of English validates the speaking habits of one social class or region over another, thus inhibiting true diversity and becoming a form of oppression. This makes me feel guilty for approximately one minute. Then I get over it.

I argue back: If there are no rules, language will soon cease to communicate ideas and there should be a happy balance between prescriptive (ought!) and descriptive (is!) linguistics. And you should be happy: I note and ignore mistakes more frequently than I point out mistakes.

Some commonly misused words that bother me:
--"irregardless" instead of "regardless"
--"over-exaggerate" instead of "exaggerate"
--As a general practice, I am opposed to creating adverb versions of verbs that already have participles to accomplish that descriptive function. For instance, "adorational" instead of "adoring." Whether or not these words are in the dictionary (which "adorational" is not, by the way) I don't like the way they sound.
--Using the word "literally" for emphasis. "I am so full; I literally ate 300 pieces of pizza for dinner." No, you didn't. If you did your stomach literally would have exploded.

This sentence brings me to my second category of complaints. Common grammatical mistakes that are becoming more common, and thus, no longer mistakes.
--Split Infinitives - I blame it on Star Trek: "to boldly go where no man has gone before." In this sentence, "to go" is the verb and "boldly" is the adverb. You cannot split your infinitive (or, in my opinion, any verb clause. For instance, I prefer the sentence above to read "I ate literally 300 pieces of pizza" rather than "I literally ate..." But that's just me.) Back to Star Trek: "To go boldly where no man has gone before."
--Dangling Prepositions - Prepositions are supposed to go with nouns. If you are introducing two friends, you should not say "This is the guy I told you about" because "about" is a preposition and it cannot be at the end of the sentence, nor should it be noun-less. "This is the guy about whom I told you."
--In general, over-describing things - For example, "Jessica is very unique." Well, "unique" means one of a kind. It is a "yes or no" kind of adjective. It does not have a degree like "light", "dark", or "funny." So a person cannot be more, less, or very unique. This would be like saying "This blog post is very finished."

Thankful Thursday

2009-11-12T16:13:00.004-05:00

--Jamey
--Understanding professors
--Good bosses
--Heather and Nick are coming into town today
--Cheese. Yummy!
--Minter Lane CofC
--Pizza Tuesday!
--The many opportunities I have had to test out various career options at RC and ACU
--Health
--Computer games!

Big Book

2009-11-11T09:46:00.001-05:00

The Visitors: Episode 1, "Pilot"

2009-11-10T09:10:00.000-05:00

Things I liked:
--They did a good job of introducing the premise, the characters, and some of the potential conflicts that will occur this season in only one hour.
--The lines of "good and evil" are not drawn directly parallel to "humans and visitors"
--The contrast between the two priests. I think Father Jack Landry could be an interesting character to follow.

Things I didn't like:
--Although liked that they did a lot of "stage-setting" in the first episode, I also think that there were a few things that they revealed too early. For instance, I guess I thought it was supposed to be a mystery (at least for a little while) as to whether or not the visitors were good. Then again, since the show is a remake and many people already know the general plot, they will have to rely on other means to hook and keep an audience.
--Alyn Tudyk is a visitor! Ugh! Ever since Firefly was canceled, he's only been evil...and Steve the Pirate.
--The newscaster (character name, Chad Decker) in his interview with Anna straight-up called what the visitors were proposing "universal health care" making the allusions to the Obama administration more blatant than I am artistically comfortable with.
--The conflict between Erica and her son Tyler seemed very contrived. The episode begins with her being extremely concerned about him and rushing to find him. When she does find him, he is relieved and they embrace. Their relationship seems to be very close. Then, suddenly, he is accusing her of being too busy for him. Their conflict seems to be invented for the sake of furthering the plot rather than growing out of their relationship as previously depicted.

The jury's still out:
--The episode took place on an extremely personal level. They throw in a line of dialogue about "riots in the streets" but none of that is shown. I'd like to see more of the social/political implications in the next few episodes.
--The visitors state that they have been living on earth for many years. There was nothing about the two characters in the pilot that were revealed to be visitors rather than humans that tipped me off to their true identity. This sets up some uncertainty: we won't ever know for sure who is a human and who is a visitor! This was one of the things that I liked about Heroes Season 1, because of the shape-shifting character. On the other hand, it was something I did not like in Mission Impossible 2: There were altogether too many masks being taken off and characters who were not who they were supposed to be!

Thankful Thursday

2009-11-05T23:38:00.004-05:00

I am thankful for/that:
--I get to teach Christianity in Culture in the spring.
--Because of that, Jamey will not have to keep working at the mall and we will see each other more often.
--Dr.Thompson pushed back the due date of our NT Theology paper! 60 pages in 3 weeks instead of 60 pages in 2 weeks. Woot.
--Good friends and community
--Bonfires
--Marshmallows
--Worship in song
--A good night's sleep
--A hot shower
--Pictures. They help you remember things. :)
--Encouraging words from "old" friends

The Bucket Queen, January 2006

2009-11-04T22:09:00.000-05:00

V

2009-11-03T20:51:00.000-05:00

While the last thing I want to do is add yet another show to my TV list, Jamey and I couldn't help but be interested in the show that premiered today (Tuesday) : "V". Jamey is closing at the mall tonight, tomorrow, and Thursday, and the Minter Lane Women's Retreat is this weekend, so we probably won't get a chance to watch it until Saturday night or Sunday afternoon.

But from what I gather from the commercials, the premise is this: Aliens come to earth "in peace" (so they say). They promise to heal a number of our diseases and make life better. I can only assume that there will be some ambiguity as to whether or not this claim is true, people will take sides, and fighting between formerly-close-friends will ensue.

While this isn't the most initially groundbreaking plot, the cast is promising:
--Anna Baccarin (that is, Inara from Firefly is one of the main characters
--Alan Tudyk (Also Firefly, and more recently, Dollhouse...oh, and Steve the Pirate in Dodgeball) is guest starring.
--Elizabeth Mitchell (Juliet, Lost...how convenient that they killed her off just in time for her to start on another show! This leads to believe that ABC might be hoping "V" catches on just in time to take over after Lost ends in the spring. Sci-fi. Juliet. What else do you need?)

There's been some controversy (or so the internet tells me) about the show being an allegory for the Obama administration...claiming to cure diseases (health reform), etc. We'll see if that has any validity, I guess. There's a "doubting priest" character, which could lead to some interesting conversations about God. Maybe even interesting enough to show clips in Christianity in Culture in the spring?

Oh yeah, and it's a remake. Apparently, this show happened in 1983 as well.

How I Met Your Mother

2009-10-13T22:21:00.002-04:00

How I Met Your Mother is our most recent television discovery. I hadn't actually heard of it until Joss Whedon produced Dr.Horrible's Sing-Along Blog which starred Neil Patrick Harris. This set me on a Wikipedia search for other things NPH had done (sing Doogie Howser of course) and I disovered HIMYM. Turns out, another Whedonite, Alyson Hannigan, is also on the cast! This piqued my interest, but I was still hesitant because I am not a big fan of the sitcom-style televison show.

Enter Anna Jane and Chris Perrey. It wasn't too long after they moved here (January) that we realized our media tastes overlapped quite a bit. Most specifically, their enjoyment of BtVS rivals my own (probably surpasses it, actually, since they have seen Angel and I regrettably have not). So when they told us that HIMYM was one of their favorites, Jamey and I decided that (at some point in the future) we would give it a shot. Come summertime, Jamey was wandering around Best Buy during his work break and discovered the first three seasons of HIMYM on sale, so we purchased them and watched them all in the course of about a month.

Problem being, as with many TV shows currently on air, only the first 3 seasons were out on DVD, Season 5 started in early September, and Season 4 was not released until late September! So we pre-ordered it, set the DVR to record HIMYM and saved the first 4 episodes of Season 5 until we could catch up on Season 4. We finished Season 4 on Sunday night, and just caught up on Season 5 with Anna Jane and Chris. So, we are now watching HIMYM in real time.

I hope it doesn't suffer the same fate as Lost, which is that I did not like it nearly as much once I started watching in once weekly instead of in large chunks...Keep your fingers crossed!

Thankful Thursday

2009-10-08T14:56:00.003-04:00

This week I am thankful for:
--The ready availability of Dr. Pepper in West Texas. Mmmm...
--Good music
--Microwaves. Seriously; they're so convenient!
--Pictures. Well, more importantly, the memories they carry.
--Pre-written prayers, since sometimes (most times) I have little to say.
--Friends who listen to the same story 8 times and still think it's just as funny as the first time...or at least laugh like they do.

Speaking of thankfulness, Candace and I are preaching (teaching?) at the Women's Retreat at Minter Lane in about a month on this very topic and in our Starbucks brainstorming session developed a number of questions. If anyone has any thoughts, we'd surely appreciate the help as we start to think about this big topic! Here are some of our questions:
--What is the opposite of thankfulness?
--What might a spirit of thankfulness look like? What does thankfulness lead you to do?
--How is thankfulness different than happiness? Contentment? Satisfaction?
--How are thankfulness and lament related? Are they mutually exclusive?
--Is thankfulness a "fake it 'til you make it" thing? Is lying to God better than not being thankful?
--Is there a wrong way to be thankful? Such as attributing things to God that aren't actually from God? (A parking spot...)
--Is thankfulness always the best response?
--What are the differences (if there are any) between thankfulness, thanksgiving, and gratefulness?

Circle Tables!

2009-10-08T00:11:00.002-04:00

Micro- vs. Macro-Narrative and TV

2009-10-06T22:54:00.001-04:00

Lately I have been trying to put a finger on what makes me like/dislike any given TV Show. (Note: What I am about to say does not apply to Reality TV; I have no idea why things like Project Runway, The Biggest Loser, and Dancing With the Stars appeal to me.) I think my favorite type of show is one in which both micro- and macro-narrative are present and developing. By micro-narrative, I mean the story that is set-up, developed, and resolved in the length of one episode. This episode has its own theme, or guiding question, such as “What is family?” By macro-narrative, I refer to two things: either the larger story arc of an entire season of a show (usually about 22 episodes) or the larger story of the entire show (however many seasons there are). These narratives have themes as well, and all the episodes within the season contribute to where the season is going, and all of the seasons fit into where the show is going, etc. It’s like an onion.

I take for my example of an ideal TV show in regard to the combination of micro- and macro narrative is Buffy the Vampire Slayer. This will not surprise anyone, and there are many other reasons I really like the show, but regarding narrative, Joss Whedon does the best job of anyone I have watched of making each episode stand alone in the way of interest but also having each episode contribute to the larger story. Each season has a different “big bad” but you can (somewhat) easily pick up in the middle, watch an episode, and be entertained. (Side Note: This also makes it easier to use BtVS when teaching classes…)

In a way, I think that macro-narratives are dying out. Part of this is because, in the ratings-driven system, a show is not guaranteed to finish even a season, not to mention a set number of seasons. For example, mystery/suspense/problem-solving shows like CSI, Law and Order, Psych, etc. Psych is the only one of these that I watch, because I can only take so much micro- without macro-, but its appeal is that it is entertaining as well as mysterious. Another example is the first season of Smallville. In later seasons, they began to develop narratives at the macro- level but the first season is very “Freak-of-the-Week”: Someone encountered green kryptonite and got some strange power, bad things happen in town, Clark finds out, figures it out, and stops them. Roll credits.

Then again maybe macro-narratives aren’t dying out as much as I think because the opposite scenario is also true: There are shows that focus more on the macro- than micro-. The best example I can think of is Lost. Now, I do actually like Lost. But, it is infuriating to watch just one episode and wait a week to watch another. I watched the first 3 seasons over Christmas Break 2007-8 and loved it. And I didn’t notice the lack of micro-narrative as much in the first few seasons. But now, watching it one episode at a time, I get the sense that every episode is just contributing to the larger macro-narrative and myth of the show, without any attention to a story line that can begin and end in 45 minutes. So, entertaining as it is, it’s also not as enjoyable to watch as a show that gives you some of each; wrap-up and mystery. It seems a little manipulative and self-indulgent to me; throwing curve balls just because they can. But I got sucked in and now I’m stuck. I’m also a little bit afraid the big revelation we are all waiting for (that will make all the suspense worth it) will never come. My favorite part of Lost was when they were really diving into the back-stories to understand why characters acted the way they did and how they got there.

This is also why I am so frustrated with Heroes right now. In my opinion, the first season of Heroes was wonderful and none of the seasons since then have been very good. At first, I thought we could blame the train wreck that is season 2 on the writer’s strike. But season 3, while better, was still not good. I think they got caught up in the macro-narrative, the myth of what abilities are and how they came about, and forgot about making each episode achievable. It seems to me that they’re just replaying the same story – throughout the season the heroes who have previously hated each other because of lack of communication get over it and come together as a team. Then at the beginning of the next season the team has mysteriously disbanded and is attempting to ignore their abilities and live a normal life. Over and over. On the opposite side of the spectrum Hiro is so hampered by his obsession with being a hero that he cannot function in the normal world and it is literally killing him. Where is the middle ground? The great thing about the Justice League is that they stayed a Justice League...

Long story short, TV shows should have layers of narrative.

Bobbed Hair

2009-10-06T15:07:00.002-04:00

A lovely nugget I found today in the midst of researching for a Restoration History paper, from an article entitled Customs and Christianity With a Special Discussion of Bobbed Hair: "If bobbing the hair comes from or lends itself to the tendency to renounce religion, denounce the Bible, ignore and deny the difference in the sexes and throw men and women together in a lawless relationship—then it were better that our women cut off their heads instead of their hair."

Good thing I skipped my hair appointment today...

Ketchup Residue

2009-10-02T11:03:00.002-04:00

I have this thing with the grease left behind on fast food wrappers/paper by the pile of ketchup you have to make in which to dip your fries. It looks gross. And I feel like the ink on the paper is removed from the paper by the grease, so every time I wipe my fry across the bottom of said puddle of ketchup, I am also eating ink. While I know this is not true, it still grosses me out.

This is why I overwhelmingly prefer fast food establishments that have those cute little paper cups for their ketchup (and/or other sauces). If I have the option, for example, at Rick and Carolyn's where the fries come in a basket, I will drizzle the ketchup on top of the fries rather than make a ketchup puddle.

The End.

Thankful Thursday

2009-10-01T18:22:00.004-04:00

Today I am thankful for:
--Professors that care about their students enough to (hypothetically) skip a lunch meeting (for which they were hypothetically already 20 minutes late anyway) to eat with us.
--Jolly Ranchers. They're tasty and they don't make my tongue all scratchy like Sour Patch Kids.
--The Greek language. It's fun.
--Not having a weekend class this weekend. Along those lines, being done with 3 hours of my semester within the first month.
--Jamey being done with the GRE! For good!
--Moments that are humbling and retrospectively hilarious.
--Season 4 of How I Met Your Mother coming out on DVD and good company with whom to watch it...all in one night.

The Great Hornet Escapade

2009-09-30T21:57:00.002-04:00

Before:

After (there are at least 150):

The TV Schedule, Fall 2009

2009-09-29T11:07:00.000-04:00

I think I did this last spring as well, but here's what our DVR has going on this semester. (Side note: I don't know how else to measure time except in semesters.)

Sunday:
--Family Guy

Monday-Friday:
--Jeopardy
--The Ellen Show
--The Colbert Report

Monday:
--How I Met Your Mother
--Heroes
--Dancing with the Stars

Tuesday:
--The Biggest Loser
--Dancing with the Stars (results show)

Wednesday:
--Glee (Since Wednesday is a slower day, I usually catch up on things from Monday and Tuesday here)

Thursday:
--Parks and Recreation
--The Office
--Community (rapidly eclipsing The Office as my favorite Thursday night comedy)
--30 Rock (hasn't started yet...)

Friday:
--Dollhouse
--Psych
--What Not to Wear
--Project Runway

Saturday
--Sit Down, Shut Up (not the funniest thing ever, definitely not the most appropriate show, but random enough to hold my interest. Mostly, I miss Arrested Development and having Jason Bateman and Will Arnett together again drew my interest.)
--Again, Saturday is slower so we catch up on Thursday and Friday's shows.

Busy Week

2009-09-26T17:53:00.006-04:00

Before anything else, I should say that today I am thankful (even though it's not Thursday) for:
--Being done with my weekend class
--Tea
--The positive, life-changing experience that my trip to Australia was. Even though it was 5 years ago, it has been on my mind lately.
--Arts/Crafts (separate and apart from "Arts & Crafts). Doing something artistic helps keep me sane in the midst of school because there is a definable product. Obviously, the degree at the end of this program, or the grades at the end of the semester, or the papers I hand in are also definable products. But there's something different about a painting, etc.
--Good TV. More on that on Tuesday (TV Tuesday!), in theory.

Now, on to the busy busy week! First, Summit. The few sessions I attended were wonderful, but I wasn't able to attend as much as I might have wanted to because of schoolwork and work-work. This year I taught a class on the liturgical calendar/lectionary. I think it went well; it's a lot of material to cover in 45 minutes, but my goal was to give a broad yet appealing overview, and I think I did that. I appreciate any opportunity I have to use/hone public-speaking skills. I was also able to reconnect with some of my professors/mentors from Rochester College: David Fleer, Sara Barton, Josh Graves. It's always refreshing to see familiar faces from the Northlands!

Second, the second and final weekend of my weekend class (Intro to Christian Ministry) was this weekend. So, I was in class from 8am Thursday morning until 12pm today (Saturday). It is very exhausting, but a great way to get 13 hours into one semester without making myself crazy every week. Instead, it's crazy for 2 weekends and then over.

One of the assignments for the course was to write a "Dream for Ministry" paper. These papers are always hard for me for a few reasons. (1) It's hard for me to narrow down what I want to do since I have pretty diverse interests/skills. (2) Some of the careers that interest me are not things it is likely that I will be able to do because of my gender (like being a pro-football player. Just kidding.). But! For the purposes of the paper, I went with one of the careers that is more available to me and in the process of writing the paper I actually got excited about that as an option for me. Most of the time when I think about my possible career future, if I am being realistic, the outlook is disheartening. So, when I think about careers that I could likely have without much opposition and get excited about them, I am encouraged and happy for these moments of balance. Add that to the list of things about which I am thankful!

And now, I am going to drink some tea, fold the laundry, watch Project Runway, and (re)read New Moon (not all at the same time). And then eat dinner with Laura. Delicious! (The company, at least. I haven't had the food yet.)

Hot Drinks

2009-09-18T12:01:00.000-04:00

The closer a person gets to me, the more they realize that I am pretty strange. (This is probably true of everyone.) I don't think I could bring all these quirks to mind at once; they just come out over time. The sentence usually begins with "I have this thing with..."

This week, I revealed that "I have a thing with hot drinks." I am terrified of them. And I love them. I can think of almost nothing better than walking around (a) downtown in the fall with a hot drink and a scarf. However, I am very scared about burning my mouth. Obviously, it feels awful, it ruins the rest of the drink, and distorts your ability to taste food for 1-3 days (depending on the intensity of the drink).

I frequently make Jamey taste my drinks for me and tell me whether or not they are too hot, but even this is a flawed system because he can withstand much hotter temperatures than I can. So, I usually end up waiting until I am absolutely positive it is no longer too hot to drink. There is a very small temperature window (for me) between "bearable heat" and "so lukewarm I want to spew it out of my mouth."

Thus, my "thing" with hot drinks. I love them. But they hurt me.

Being Thankful

2009-09-18T00:20:00.002-04:00

As Laura and I were enjoying our pumpkin lattes at Starbucks tonight, we were talking about trying to be more thankful. And so, "Thankful Thursday" was born. Or actually, adopted, since her sister-in-law tries to do the same thing on her blog.

Anyway, today I am thankful for:
--Pumpkin Lattes. They are delicious and remind me of happy things, like a crisp, Northern fall.
--Laura, and our friendship.
--The rare moments I get to spend with my husband when he is not at the mall
--The fact that I have lived an injury-free life, and the only thing that keeps me from running is my own laziness and other various excuses
--Anna-Jane; I went to see her in her office today because it had been too long!
--Text-messaging. For someone who doesn't love talking on the phone, text-messaging is a more convenient way to stay in touch with my friends who are not around here.
--The liturgical calendar. As I've been preparing "my" Summit class on this topic, I am thankful that someones(s) developed an orderly way to enter into the life of Christ (in all its stages)
--Good professors, who care about their students' lives

That's enough for starters. I don't want to use them all up in one week...

Saved!

2009-08-03T12:15:00.003-04:00

Released in 2004, Saved! is a satirical movie about a Christian high school. When this movie came out, the evangelical community (in general) was not amused. By many, it was seen as an attack on Christianity. For example, one Christian reviewer said:

"A disturbing thermometer measuring the hate-filled temperature toward Bible Believing Christianity, while tenderly embracing the last days sin of homosexuality is the upcoming teen movie Saved! This mainstream movie is among the most open, blatant, mockery and attack on Bible Believing Christianity and Jesus Christ in modern times." (Terry Watkins, Dial-the-Truth Ministries)

I beg to differ. Saved! is certainly an attack on hypocrisy and intolerance, something which Jesus himself did while on earth. Of course, the movie is not perfect. It does certainly overemphasize judgmental and hypocritical Christians without an equal depiction of loving, tolerant Christians. But that’s what satire does: Satire uses exaggeration to expose people’s vices, usually in a humorous and potentially offensive way. We don’t have any problem with satire when it’s, say, Mean Girls ( which, interestingly enough, was released the same year as Saved!).

When Regina George (Rachel McAdams, Mean Girls) deems people unworthy for her company on the basis of secular standards we condemn her for it and praise the movie for revealing the not-so-hidden prejudice of high school girls. But when we show Hilary Faye (Mandy Moore, Saved!) doing the same thing (that is, declaring people who don’t meet her standards to be “unworthy”) we are uncomfortable and defensive. The Christian Jewels (the popular girls in Saved!) are no less exclusive or demeaning than the Plastics (Mean Girls). In fact, they are likely causing more harm by tying their popularity to their Christianity than the Plastics are causing with their superficial standards.

At any rate, Saved! is certainly a movie in two acts: the first is uncomfortable and pointed. This act serves to set the scene for the transformation the characters experience in the second half of the movie. In a hilarious yet theologically disturbing scene, the high school principle begins the first chapel of the school year with the following speech:

“Give it up, Lord Jesus is in the house! Let’s get our Christ on! Let’s kick it Jesus style! Y'all wanna walk with the ultimate rebel, right? The ultimate CEO. The biggest celebrity of them all. Who's down with G.O.D? I'm down with the G.O.D! Jesus Rules! Jesus Rules!”

Despite being eerily similar to my high school experience, I was able to laugh at most of the first act’s exaggerated depiction of evangelical Christianity.

But at the beginning of the second act there is a scene that makes me genuinely uncomfortable; it starts to hit too close to home. Mary (Jena Malone) has left the Christian Jewels and thrown in her lot with the misfits (that is, non-Christians) at their school. Hillary Faye tries to convince her to come back to Jesus (by which she really means the Christian Jewels, although in her defense she seems to be genuinely convinced that these things are one and the same). When Mary refuses, Hillary throws her Bible at her as she walks away, shouting “I am filled with Christ’s love.” Mary turns to her, holding the Bible, and says “This is not a weapon, you idiot!!!” This scene makes me a little angry and genuinely disappointed. Although I have never seen anyone literally throw his/her Bible at someone, I have certainly witnessed a number of (potentially well-intentioned) Christians use the Bible as a weapon to tear others down or whip them into shape, as a fence to prevent true community, or as a way to avoid people who make them uncomfortable.

Ultimately, I think this film is actually pro-faith. It asks some big questions: Why do bad things happen to good people? Which matters more, Christlike intentions or Christian actions? Has Christianity lost anything by becoming accepted (not persecuted) or even popular? How do we discern when God is actually speaking to us and when we are using God as a mouthpiece for what we want to hear? It is certainly an uncomfortable movie to watch; but I think discomfort can be a good thing. Some of the best learning and growth take place in the context of discomfort. Real answers don’t always (or often) come easily.

At the end of the movie, all of the characters have experienced positive growth. Mary does not lose her faith after all; she just deepens it. The movie ends with her words:

"Look, don't be too harsh. I'm not the first person to ever get the message screwed up. Looking at [my child], it's like life is too amazing to be this random and meaningless consequence of the universe. There had to be a God... or something out there. So what would Jesus do? I don't know. But in the meantime, we'll figure it out together."

That, to me, sounds quite a bit like the Christian life: Figuring it out together in the meantime.

Photo Op

2009-07-30T15:11:00.004-04:00

Jamey and I recently had the chance to get some anniversary/birthday/let DPS build his portfolio pictures taken. For those of you who don't know, DPS (Donald Philip Simpson) is one of our friends here in Abilene and he is very easy to work with! Here are a few of my favorites, though it was hard to narrow it down to just 5.

In this one, we look like we are trying too hard to accomplish a simple task: swinging.

When you have a questionably accurate but unquestionably some-sort-of-religious mural on the side of a building, you simply must take advantage of it.

I'm not sure what's so funny.

Different outfit.

Can't resist a kissing picture.

Thanks Donald! We had fun!

Anne of Green Gables

2009-07-28T12:15:00.003-04:00

A little over a century ago (1908) Lucy Maud Montgomery published the novel Anne of Green Gables. I recently finished reading this book for the who-knows-how-many-nth time. For reasons unknown to me, I absolutely love it. I'm sure part of the allure is that it reminds me of reading it during my childhood, when I was able to read fiction more often than I am now. Whenever I stayed home sick (which wasn't that often; I've always been a workaholic) I watched the 1985 TV mini-series done for the CBC.

Another reason for my attraction to it is probably the fact that Anne reminds me of myself: talkative and impulsive, defying social expectations as to what women can/cannot do, etc. Of course there are differences too; Anne is exceptionally imaginative and hard as I try, I actually have never had a great imagination. Maybe it was because I spent so much time reading other people's imagined worlds that I never had time to create my own, but I absolutely cannot write fiction. Trust me. It's a train wreck. Also Anne is very sentimental and emotional and I tend to be more logical and steady.

The first book ends with the following statement from Anne: "When I left [school] my future seemed to stretch out before me like a straight road. I thought I could see along it for many a milestone. Now there is a bend in it. I don't know what lies around the bend, but I'm going to believe that the best does. It has a fascination of its own, that bend." That's a good little nugget of literature; much better than "Oh the Places You'll Go" or whatever people are graduating with these days.

Anyway, I'm off to rent the TV mini-series...

July

2009-07-23T12:49:00.003-04:00

July is a big month for the Walters family. Jamey's birthday (15th), our anniversary (19th), and my birthday (23rd) all occur within a span of 8 days. The fact that the 19th is directly in the middle of our birthdays and it just happened to be on a Saturday the summer that we got married is one of the coincidences that makes me think God might like Type A people just a little bit.

Reflecting on our first year of marriage, Jamey and I mentioned that it has flown by but that we also can't believe it's already been a year. I can barely remember not being married to him, which is especially strange considering the fact that we did not even know each other 2 years ago today. If you're doing the math, that does in fact mean that we were married before we had known each other for a year, which flies in the face of all the advice I would normally give about a healthy timeline for relationships. Were I someone else, I would have questioned the wisdom of that person's decision. And yet, it was one of the easiest decisions I have ever made. At the same time, it's hard to imagine that 12 months have already gone by.

Our relationship doesn't follow many of the traditional gender roles. Jamey does most of the cooking and food-related things, because I can't cook and would be content to eat Little Caesar's $5 pizza every day (barely an exaggeration). I do all the cleaning, not because I "should" but because if Jamey does it I'll just re-do it later. I keep track of the money, which is mostly a result of the fact that I am the oldest child in a family that did not have much involvement in my financial existence after I graduated from high school. I gravitate toward being "in charge" and he really doesn't.

For example, we're both working at the mall this summer. I went back to Bath and Body Works for the summer, not as a manager (like I had done for almost a year previously) but as a regular old sales associate. Within a month of my starting again, the manager that took my job after I quit also quit and the store manager asked me if I would manage again until school started back up to give them time to find a good replacement (instead of rushing). I jumped at the chance because it's better money, but more truthfully, because I would rather be in charge than not. Jamey, on the other hand, went back to the bookstore where he used to work hoping to just work the floor as a regular person but (because he used to work at Starbucks and probably because he's older) they made him Cafe Specialist (basically, Cafe manager). He was talking to me about how he might prefer to be on the floor and I said "But in the cafe you're in charge!" and he said that would never have crossed his mind as an upside.

This is just one of the many examples of things that he and I are learning about each other and how we function both as individuals and as a couple. One of the great things about marriage, at least for us, the whole really is greater than the sum of its parts. He and I balance each other out well and make each other better people because of our relationship. I'm excited to see where the next 12 months take us. As far as our tentative plans have extended, we think we will be heading northeast (yay!), but beyond that, who knows!

Reconciliation as Mission

2009-05-25T10:51:00.004-04:00

Last week was the first of two summer courses for me. It was called Reconciliation as Mission and it was taught by John Barton, who was actually one of my professors in undergrad at Rochester College. The entire class was wonderful! The classroom dynamic was comfortable, genuine, and hilarious (sometimes all at once).

I think the one-week, 8-5 classes are both wonderful and overwhelming. They're wonderful because that amount of concentrated time together forms a great class bond and you're able to fully invest into one class at a time instead of taking more than one class at once. They're overwhelming because, obviously, it's a lot of class in one week but also because it can be so rapid fire that you don't have time to adequately reflect and integrate everything that you're learning.

Since I'm in another one-week class right now, I probably won't have time to reflect too much on that class until next week, but here are a few of the highlights:
--Christian reconciliation is not just lack of conflict; it is peace - communion between former enemies.
--Peace is the rule, violence is the exception. Although the widespread and deep conflict in this world may lead one to believe otherwise, peace was the beginning of the story (creation) and will be the end of the story.
--God is the creator of reconciliation; we are the midwives. We cannot create it, but we can make ourselves aware of situations that are ready to be reconciled and position ourselves to bring that reconciliation to its fullness. In other words, we are not creating peace, we are reestablishing it.
--The extent to which you are able to work out reconciliation issues in your own life will affect your ability to be a minister of reconciliation.
--Reconciliation on this side of heaven will be partial.

Psalm 133
How very good and pleasant it is
when brothers and sisters dwell together in unity!
It is like the precious oil on the head,
running down upon the beard,
on the beard of Aaron,
running down over the collar of his robes.
It is like the dew of Hermon,
which falls on the mountains of Zion.
For there the Lord ordained his blessing,
life for evermore.

New Layout

2009-05-20T11:42:00.002-04:00

Maybe this new layout will represent a renewed interest in blogging. At this point, I can't promise anything. I'm still trying to find my voice, and more importantly, find free time. At any rate, new look!

A little Apocrypha never hurt anyone

2009-03-11T17:12:00.002-04:00

Judith 8:12-18:
Who are you to put God to the test today, and to set yourselves up in the place of God in human affairs? You are putting the Lord Almighty to the test, but you will never learn anything! You cannot plumb the depths of the human heart or understand the workings of the human mind; how do you expect to search out God, who made all these things, and find out his mind or comprehend his thought? No, my brothers, do not anger the Lord our God. For...he has power to protect us within any time he pleases, or even to destroy us in the presence of our enemies. Do not try to bind the purposes of the Lord our God; for God is not like a human being, to be threatened, or like a mere mortal, to be won over by pleadings. Therefore while we wait for his deliverance, let us call upon him to help us, and he will hear our voice, if it pleases him."

Volleyball

2009-02-20T16:38:00.003-05:00

Last night, at the ACU "Community Night" (a.k.a. "Game Night") a bunch of us played volleyball for 2 hours. Proof (this doesn't actually prove anything except that I was about to serve the ball...or pretend to?):

It was wonderful! I don't realize how much I miss sporting until I get a chance to do it; then I'm pretty nearly giddy. So, today, I rounded up a few of the girls (with little effort, we're all excited!) to play intramural volleyball. Hooray!! GST Women Intramural Vball Team. We're taking suggestions for names.

This reminder of the joy of athleticism, in conjunction with the fact that I've been meaning to get back into shape, in conjunction with the fact that we'll be playing volleyball regularly soon enough, in conjunction with my already sore legs from volleyball last night, led me to go running today. Woohoo!

It was actually sort of miserable, thinking about how in shape I used to be and comparing that to how tired I was running today. It's depressing. And running makes my nose run...some sort of pun intended.

I guess it's true, but I don't appreciate the name-calling.

2009-02-18T16:36:00.002-05:00

I no longer own these items:

2009-02-11T12:37:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday, Dad

2009-02-10T21:58:00.002-05:00

Today is my dad's 50th birthday (sorry, dad, but it's true!). When I called earlier to wish him a happy and healthy year and congratulate him on making it through the last one (not that there was any concern that he wouldn't), I asked him what his plans were for the night. He told me that he and mom were going to lead the Bible Study they lead every Tuesday and then watch American Idol. I wonder if that's what he thought he would be doing on his 50th birthday say, 25 years ago. He's perfectly content for that to be his evening plan. And I think it's indicative of the nature of my parents' life - they're consistently involved with our church and they take time out to spend with each other, whether that's watching one of the many TV shows they record (that seems to have rubbed off on me, although my mom likes reality TV more than I do, which is saying something!) or something else.

That got me to thinking, what do I want to be doing on my 50th birthday? I can't help but have the future on my mind lately, as Jamey and I wait to hear back about potential PhD programs for the fall, and I try to decide how best to finish the degree I've started, and what to do after that. Despite all that is unsure about our future (where we'll live, what we'll do, when we'll have kids, etc) what I do hope for us in 25 years is that we'll be as involved with the church as my parents are and as happy to spend time together, without necessarily making fancy plans, as my parents are.

So, happy birthday dad! We'll see what kind of birthday we each have in another 25 years.

Dollhouse

2009-02-09T08:17:00.001-05:00

Dollhouse. Joss Whedon. New TV Show. Premieres on Friday. Can't wait.

Trailer:

Interview:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100350780

Story of my Life

2009-02-04T09:32:00.001-05:00

My TV Schedule

2009-02-02T17:53:00.003-05:00

I have a deep appreciation for media, especially in the format of TV series. While I do also appreciate movies, good TV has a special interest for me, because of its potential for greater character/theme development over the length a season/many seasons. The use of media in conjunction with spirituality has gotten more attention in recent years, but TV has not gotten nearly as much air time in our churches/classrooms. I think this is because, over the length of a season, it's easier to lose track of the themes, metaphors, etc. although these themes are equally present in both movies and TV. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy/reflect on movies as well, but I think TV is sort of the underdog in this realm.

Until recently I had stayed consistently 5 years behind scheduled programming, my preferred method of watching being TV on DVD. TV on DVD is wonderful, because there are no commercials and there is no waiting an entire week (or more!) to find out what happens next and, as I said, it's easier to keep track of what's going on that way. However, I have recently become attached to/intrigued by a number of shows currently on TV. While I enjoy watching them, it frustrates me to have to watch them one episode at a time. Yet, watch I do.

Here's the line-up:
--Heroes - NBC - Monday at 8
--American Idol - FOX - Tuesday and Wednesday at 7
--Lost - ABC - Wednesday at 8
--The Office - NBC - Thursday at 8
--Dollhouse - FOX - Friday at 8 (It actually hasn't started yet; the premiere is February 13th, but since it's by Joss Whedon, I'm sure I'll like it.)
--Also, Jeopardy and The Colbert Report are a weekdaily (daily on not-weekends) fixture.

Side Note: TV Series I have seen in their entirety: (in order of "appearance"): Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Smallville, Joan of Arcadia, Firefly, and Gilmore Girls. I didn't actually like Smallville as much as I thought I would, but no one can say I didn't try! Buffy and Firefly are hilarious and theologically thought-provoking, Joan of Arcadia is quite good, and Gilmore Girls is stunningly (and unbelievably) witty.

Even Cacti can be pretty?

2009-01-28T22:00:00.000-05:00

25 Random Things About Me

2009-01-27T18:08:00.000-05:00

Once you have been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you (or you'll have bad karma forever! Just kidding.). At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you, so that they know you've done it and can read it! If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.

1. I am a grammatical fundamentalist. By this I mean that although I fully acknowledge that grammar evolves with usage and that certain rules apply to academic work rather than informal conversation, I still try to avoid dangling prepositions, passive voice, split infinitives, and improper title capitalization. Regarding the note title: Prepositions over four letters should be capitalized (about).

2. I am happily OCD/Type A/etc. I dust/vacuum/sweep/mop at least every Saturday and (like Katy) cannot go to bed if there are dishes in the sink...which there always are because we don't have a dishwasher. Unless you count me. I also can't sit down to do homework if the house isn't clean and organized. My clothes are hung according to sleeve length first and color group second. When I wear a shirt, I put it on the right side of its group so that I don't wear the same thing (or even the same color) too often.

3. I am addicted to playlists and/or mixes. This is partially because I don't like silence unless I'm journaling. But it's mostly because I can't usually commit to an entire album without getting bored. Neither can I put my iTunes on shuffle because there's a lot of Christmas music and musical soundtracks that don't gel with any other songs. And so, I playlist.

4. Gray is my favorite color. (I felt so symbolic yesterday)

5. I convinced my dad to get a Facebook account, and he's doing it right now.

6. I listen to Christmas music all year.

7. I am obsessed with musicals, good, mediocre, and bad. There's something hilarious about people breaking out into song for no reason...in unison.

8. I think Stephen Colbert is hilarious, especially when he thinks he's hilarious and cracks himself up.

9. I think Greek is fun. It's not hard enough to be frustrating but it's challenging enough to stay interesting. To the New Testament and beyond!
10. I don't have any particular attachment to America. I don't think it's the worst cultural evil, nor do I think it's God's chosen nation. I think it, like every other country, is neutral.

11. I do have an attachment to traveling. All of my trips out of the country (Australia, England, France, Israel) have had profound impacts on my life.

12. I do a lot of things in my sleep that I don't remember. I've only recently come to learn this upon being married and informed by Jamey that I sometimes punch him in my sleep and frequently say nonsensical yet hilarious things.

13. I have a strange schooling history. I went to public school from kindergarten-3rd grade, private school for 4th and 5th grade, back to public school for 6th and 7th grade, was home-schooled for 8th, and went to private school again from 9th-12th grade. This means that I make friends pretty quickly, but also that don't tend to be very torn up about moving away from them. This is not to say that I don't miss people, or that I don't stay in touch with them. When you're important to me, you're important to me. This has nothing to do with the depth of my friendships. I'm just saying I'm not one for the tearful goodbye.

14. I love the Cingular commercials about Rollover minutes, the ones with the two boys and their mom fighting about how rollover minutes are exactly the same. I could not be more thrilled that they've become a series.

15. Jamey and I got married in a fever. :) We met in August, started dating in October, were engaged in January, and married in July...before we'd known each other for year. This is not necessarily a process I would recommend to everyone, but "we just knew", which is not something I ever thought I would hear (see) myself say.
16. I really like the Sims. In fact, I do not currently have it installed on my computer because I like it so much that I would never do my homework.

17. I've never broken a bone.

18. I used to be very athletic. I think deep down I still am, but I'm so busy with school that I ran out of time for it. Also, If I were to go running every day (which I would enjoy) I would have to wash and straighten my hair every day (which I would not enjoy). But I played soccer for 15 years, including 4 years on varsity in high school and a year of college soccer. In high school, I also played volleyball, and ran indoor and outdoor track. It's almost surreal how much a part of my life that was and is not now. It might be one of my goals to recover that part of my life. That would be one of the few things I would like about being out of school.

19. Fall is my favorite season. The lack of fall (or more specifically, the lack of 4 distinct seasons) is easily my least favorite thing about Abilene. I dislike it enough that it would take some convincing for me to want to stay here long-term. There's something very refreshing to me about knowing that the seasons change, and I get depressed when it's just the same temperature/climate all year round.

20. The older I get, the less of an extrovert I am. When I was in high school, I literally knew everyone and did everything (4 sports, student council, theater, music, etc). At Rochester, I still knew everyone, but I had pretty serious tiers of closeness. I didn't try to be best friends with everyone like I did in high school. And now, in Abilene, I don't really care to know everyone. I'm completely content with the relationships that naturally flourished.

21. I have a strange propensity to like all things vampire. It started with Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and has since grown to include the Underworld series, the Twilight series, and many others.

22. I really like TV on DVD. At any given time, I have a TV series through which I'm working. Buffy, then Firefly, Joan of Arcadia, Smallville, Gilmore Girls, Lost, Arrested Development, and Heroes. Coming up next? Either Scrubs, 30 Rock, or Battlestar Galactica.
23. The most-played song on my iTunes right now is "Keep It Comin'" by Love Arcade (thank you, Jaron) shortly followed by "Time Bomb" by the Format.

24. I love quotes (like Kirsten) and keep a few word documents of quotes of different types. I appreciate people who can encapsulate a large portion of my worldview in more witty ways than I can.

25. I'm scared of bangs and side-parts (in my hair) even though I know that parting my hair in the middle is uncool and it's entirely possible that I would look good with bangs. I wish I could be on What Not to Wear just so that Nick Arrojo would do whatever he thinks is best to my hair.

Playlists and Poker

2009-01-23T00:36:00.003-05:00

It seems that, this semester, weekly Poker Night is back in action! It sort of fell apart last semester due to everyone's busy-ness and all-around lack of commitment, which is fine since Poker isn't something to which one really needs to be committed...but now that I'm not working on Thursday nights and we're all realizing that we're going our separate ways soon, we're bringing it back!

Tonight's music was my iTunes on shuffle, but I had to go through and take out the (1) Christmas songs, (2) P&W songs [Not that there's anything wrong with Praise and Worship, and I didn't take out all the "Christian" music, but it's not exactly a party-ish atmosphere, poker or otherwise], and (3) Songs from musicals. It would be a little strange to go from, say, Black Eyed Peas to Jack Johnson to Phantom of the Opera to KT Tunstall...

This process of "edited shuffle" led me to think about making a Poker Night playlist.

::begin excursus::
I really enjoy playlists, because sometimes you don't feel like listening to an entire album but neither do you feel like leaving your listening entirely up to fate (i.e. shuffle). A playlist enables you to listen to songs tied to a common theme, lyrical or musical. Also, music can create moods and atmospheres: a more chill playlist for doing homework, a classic playlist for reminiscing and talking, an upbeat playlist for partying, etc.

A few playlists that I have: "Good Morning, Abilene" for waking up in the morning (it doesn't come naturally to me...), "Jamey" for songs that remind me of the hubby, a 60's playlist, a 70's playlist, an 80's playlist, a 90's playlist, a country playlist (since country is the exception rather than the rule for me), a hip-hoppy playlist (again, the exception), a Christmas playlist, a P&W playlist, a playlist of sample music - free downloads from iTunes (a functional playlist, really, to keep me exposed to new things), and a playlist only containing songs with the word "coffee" in them.

I'd like to develop more playlists along the Coffee Playlist lines - that one was a lot of fun to put together because the word "coffee" is sometimes central to the song and sometimes peripheral and it's a lot of fun to hear it in a song and get to add it to the list! The 90's playlist was and is an ongoing project of mine. Once I'm really happy with that one, I'll invest some more energy in the other decades. As I said, I really like playlists.
::end excursus::

Back to poker. If you were to make a poker playlist, which songs would you include? Here's where my brainstorming is going: It could be songs with the word "poker", "lucky", or "ace" in it. It could be songs that would create a poker-ish mood (whatever that is!), etc. I'll post some of my own ideas and anyone else's brilliance later!

I'm a Walters!

2009-01-21T16:23:00.000-05:00

Happy Half-iversary to Us

2009-01-19T12:33:00.005-05:00

Jamey and I have been married for 6 months today!

It doesn't seem like that long, perhaps because it's so natural that it seems like it has always been this way. Now that I'm done working at the mall 35+ hours a week, we're getting to spend a lot more time together. We're really enjoying it; it's nice to feel like we live in the same world again.

Things I have learned in the first 6 months of marriage:
(1) Just because I'm a little OCD does not mean that Jamey should pretend to be. This is something I already knew, but it turns out, I still get angry when I stay up to the dishes and he goes to bed without so much as offering to stand there and watch me do the dishes!!! (Since there isn't really any way he could help me do the dishes...)

(2) I am a very violent sleeper. This is not to say that I move around a lot in my sleep, but that, according to Jamey, if he so much as thinks about entering my side of the bed, I punch him. In my defense, I don't remember doing it...

(3) Jamey is great and disturbingly brilliant, but I still have the best grammar. Sucka'!

(4) I have the potential to be either very great or very snappy. Tsk tsk.

(5) Being married to your best friend is hilarious.

What I hope for the next 6 months: That we continue to have fun, but also that having more time to spend together will enable us to have more of those conversations we used to have...not that working a lot is an excuse to stop investing quality time in your husband...but, well, I guess it is an excuse, but not a good one.

What I do not hope for the next 6 months: That I give Jamey a black eye in my sleep or that we get pregnant. Note, what I do not hope. :) There are enough changes on the horizon, we don't need being parents on top of it and neither do our non-potential, non-children.

A lame return to blogging

2009-01-09T22:46:00.002-05:00

No one tagged me, but Kelli did this on her blog and refused to tag anyone, so I took that to mean that she could have been tagging me! :)

4 Things I did yesterday:

1. Went to work from 9-6:30 even though I was supposed to get out at 5:30
2. Went to Peter and Abby Rice's apartment to celebrate Peter's birthday!
3. Watched the Florida/Oklahoma game with a bunch of people at our house.
4. Worked on re-learning Hebrew.

4 Things on my Wish List:

1. Jamey being accepted to a Ph. D. program for the fall...and the subsequently solidified plans that will result.

2. That my section of Christianity in Culture goes well this semester!

3. That my thesis doesn't suck. (Irony of the 7th-grade-ness of this sentence noted.)

4. That I had time to get back into the habits I used to enjoy: running and journaling.

4 Restaurants I like:
1. Olive Garden. Those breadsticks are delicious!
2. Panera - sandwiches, soups, and salads! Mmm mmm mmm. Lunch and breakfast? YES!
3. Taco Bell - it's cheap and tasty!
4. Carino's is growing on me...

4 TV shows I like:

1. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
2. Scrubs
3. Heroes
4. The Colbert Report

4 People I tag:

1. Kati D
2. Amy
3. Kari
4. Zak Lynn!

Merry Christmas

2008-12-25T17:01:00.000-05:00

There is hope for people.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?section=magazine&id=3789373

Sickness

2008-12-19T13:37:00.002-05:00

Sorry about the blogging silence! It's not because I've been enjoying my time off from school, living it up. No, no, it's because I was sick. Short version: I threw up so much that I pulled a muscle in my stomach and couldn't stand up. Not a joke. It was pretty lame and not yet to the point of being funny to me.

But! School is over! I've got a string of 6 working days ahead of me, and then on Christmas day Jamey and I fly down to Alabama to see his family for a few days!

Study Room "Fun"

2008-12-10T10:54:00.000-05:00

Grumble Cakes

2008-12-09T10:48:00.001-05:00

Two things you should know:

(1) Jamey and I have been spending a lot of time in our little study room (picture tomorrow?) lately. It's the end of the semester and we have a lot of papers.
(2)My stomach digests very loudly. I'm not hungry, it's just working on what I ate and being very loud about it.

One conversation you should read:

Naomi: "My tummy is all grumbly!"
Jamey: "I guess you shouldn't have fed it so many grumble cakes."

A fly on the wall

2008-12-06T15:10:00.004-05:00

If you could choose any one conversation in history to somehow overhear, which one would it be?

This isn't my definitive answer, but what about Leo I and Attila the Hun? Somehow, Pope Leo convinces Attila NOT to attack Rome. Who knows how? "Hey, I know you could wipe us out and take all our money and rule the world, but just...don't. Okay?" What on earth stopped Attila from just killing Leo and moving on? I mean, maybe Attila's army was already spread out and tired and he wasn't sure he would win anyway, but still...

Anyway, back to learning 1,000 years of Church History in one day. Just a little nugget from my studies.

Edit: The conversation between Joseph and Mary would be interesting too. "Hey honey, I'm pregnant. But it's not my fault..."

The Christmas Quiz

2008-12-05T22:22:00.003-05:00

I was tagged by Kari.

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hot chocolate. Drinking eggs grosses me out!

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just put them under the tree? I think Santa has slaves-I-mean-elves to wrap the presents for him. It's like committees of elves. Some of the elves make the presents and some of the wrap the presents and some of them tie Santa's shoes for him...etc.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? White. It's clean and pretty. I can accept colored lights if it's one color: all blue, or all green.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? I used to, but it attracted too many mistle thrushes. They're for real. Mistle thrush: a large Eurasian thrush with a spotted breast and harsh rattling call, with a fondness for mistletoe berries. It was the harsh rattling call that got to me.

5. When do you put your decorations up? Growing up we always put 'em up on Thanksgiving Night, but hubby and I don't have any decorations yet, so...never? Eventually? When we get around to it?

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? Mashed potatoes. It's not really a holiday dish so much as an all the time dish, but anything that can carry salt to my taste buds is good with me!

7. Favorite holiday memory as a child: Putting up the fake Christmas tree with my dad. I would sort out the branches according to the colors painted on the ends, and then once it was all up, I would put up the 12 Days of Christmas ornaments and see how long it took my brother to find all 12, in order.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? My parents actually never told us there was a Santa

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Yes, 1 gift each! I'm not sure why, except to placate our impatience.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? My parents did the hard stuff: garland and lights. Then my brother and I did the ornaments. We all had our own ornaments and some family ornaments.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? Love snow, hate slush

12. Can you ice skate? In a circle. Not backwards. Nothing fancy. But enough to have a cute chick-flick date.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? Hmm...I got a new Apple Compy last year...yay! I also really wanted an American Girl doll when I was in elementary school (or maybe Junior High, shhh) and my grandma from Vermont knit/sewed me a bunch of clothes for it in addition to the store bought clothes.

14. What is the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Getting a chance to relax with the people I care about, read what I want to read, use a blanket to stay warm, and not have anything to worry about!

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Chocolate pie with way way way more whipped cream than pie.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Stockings. I just think it's fun to get some little candies and trinkets even though it's never really anything you really want...

17. What tops your tree? At home in NY, a kind of cheesy plastic color-changing star. Here, no tree, no topper.

18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving? Well, that depends on if I feel really confident about the present, or if I feel like it's just something that I got because I'm supposed to. I actually have a much harder time thinking of presents for my family than any of my close friends. So I guess I usually prefer receiving because there's less pressure.

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? "Merry Christmas Baby" is upbeat and cheery, "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" is fun to sing...mostly I just love Christmas music!

20. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum? Meh, what do they have that gum doesn't? Nasty slobbery plastic wrappers? They're fine.

21. What do you want for Christmas? Free time.

22. Do you attend an annual Christmas Party? Not exactly, just the annual family gatherings that I suppose are parties. Nothing with an invitation, though.

23. Do you dress up on Christmas or wear PJs? PJ's for the presents in the morning. Normal clothes for dinner. Dress up? No.

24. Do you own a Santa hat? Yes.

25. Who do you normally spend Christmas with? My family. This year we'll be with Jamey's family-who-is-technically-also-my-family-now and I'm glad to spend time with them, but we won't be able to make it all the way back to NY in the few days I have off work.

And I tag:

Kati Travis

Amy Stewart

Zak Lynn

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-12-03T15:51:00.002-05:00

Three Cheers!

2008-11-20T16:32:00.002-05:00

I can never decide what "three cheers" really means. It's generally followed by "Hip, hip, hooray!"

The question is, do you say "Hip, Hip, Hooray" three times as the three cheers? Or does "Hip, Hip, Hooray" contain the three cheers in itself (Hip, Hip, and Hooray)?

Amy and I discussed this once and decided the phrase "Hip, Hip, Hooray" was all three cheers, mostly because we had a hard time maintaining zeal in saying the entire phrase three times. But Xander thinks that you say the entire phrase three times.

Your thoughts?

I never play my guitar anymore

2008-11-19T16:31:00.000-05:00