Bad news and good news

Let me just get right to the point by saying:

This sucks.
And so does this.
But this gives me a little bit of hope.

Not that they're related. Just trying to process all the news that seems to be attacking me lately.

Republican disarray

Whoa, read this.

I do find it kind of funny. Sorry, I know I shouldn't say that, cause practically everyone I know is Republican. But scandal, scandal all around... At American U, too. It's what DC does best, I guess.

I just feel so bad for the Dems. So strong (50% of our nation) yet so, so, so pitifully weak at every level that matters. And any unsettling of the Republican stronghold is a breath of fresh air, I have to admit.

Of he that is Kyle.

So, have I ever told you I have this friend named Kyle? I’ve known him like 6 years now, which is pretty crazy. He is my favorite person to talk to online. It’s somewhere between cool and scary when I think of how many hundreds of hours we have spent conversing.

Some of kyle’s favorite sayings:
1. Indeed.
2. OMG.
3. Ha.
4. frlol (the newest acronym taking the cyber world by storm)
5. (I only could think of 4. Sorry. Not even an even number like 5. Which isn’t actually even, coincidentally.)

He is opening his own consulting business, which I can’t explain very well… but if you need some consulting or training or publishing or something of the like, you can contact him at this email address.

I guess my favorite thing about Kyle is that he’s fairly unpredictable and he’s unlike anyone else I know. He’s definitely not like most guys I know. Not like most girls either. lol Yet he IS indeed a guy! Let there be no confusion. No but really, he makes me laugh,

If anyone else would feel more loved if I would do a post solely about them, just let me know and I will hook you up. I will link to your pages, post embarrassing pictures of you, sing your praises, anything you would like… because you’re my friend and I love you. But Kyle should feel the most special cause he is the first person I’ve ever done this for. And it’s not too long of a post – just a quickie! ;-) lol

What are they hiding?

Liz and I happen to know a few people who operate on such a superficial level that it is frustrating and disillusioning to interact with them. I could go on and explain why I'm not super judgmental, but let's just say that I am for the sake of getting past this point.

So, we were just talking about another one, and Liz said,

"The louder they are, the more they have to hide."

I told her that was profound, I agreed, and I would post it here with her picture. hahah. That is the history of this post. I do agree with that. It takes strength and truth to be able to shut up for once.

I'm actually recommending this book

I never thought I'd recommend a book from this slightly spastic woman, but I am. I paged through this at Borders the other night, and it has tons of great, non-predictable advice. There's no "don't use credit cards!" and "stop going to Starbucks!" It's full of really smart and up-to-date tips, and it's a more than easy read.

So go here and read more 5 star reviews about it.

Sunny day, sweepin the clouds away

I went for a walk this morning before work. It was funny because I tried to get up at 6am, and my alarm started going off then, but I couldn't actually pull myself out of bed until 7:30, but it was still enough time for a 45 minute walk. Hahaha. Okay anyway, it was a beautiful walk. I have fallen in love with our neighborhood lately... it is really charming. Yes, I said charming!

The sky was grey, the air was humid, and the light breeze was almost imperceptible. It seemed the grey clouds were completely stagnant, but I later noticed they were actually moving really quickly... they were just mammoth so they appeared to be still.

What really took me was a few times I saw neighborhood kids waiting for and boarding their school buses. I passed a big house on a corner, with a U-shaped driveway and a white picket fence (literally). A man came out carrying something, with a kid walking behind him, just as I noticed a school bus approaching from the other direction. It turned out it was a purple wheelchair, a child's size. His son was smiling and laughing and looking delighted with life, and sat down into the wheelchair. (I guess he wasn't walking that easily after all.) As the bus stopped and put on its red flashers, a 9 car back-up formed. The bus driver came down, said good morning to the Dad, and they both helped the boy get onto the bus with the lift on the back. The patience of the drivers and the quiet joy of the family was what impressed me the most. It's actually things like this that make me feel really patriotic.

I walked a few blocks, and was coming again upon someone waiting for a school bus - lots of little someones. I would say they were preschoolers or kindergarteners. What was cute and Sesame-Streetish about the whole scene was they were fairly racially diverse, wearing all kinds of bright colors, and accompanied by parents at a 1:1 or even 2:1 ratio. The bus stopped across the street, a woman (not the driver) came out and stood in the middle of the street, and the preschool parade crossed single-file. The parents were all waving and smiling and yelling goodbye and have a good day. The thing is, it's not even the first day of school. lol It was really cute.

PS. HAH! Look at this Klingon translation of the Sesame Street song. I love the internet.

Love and community as medicine

Love is real medicine.

I wasn't even looking for this, but cool! It totally proves my point. Go me, go me.. haha jk. This is really neat and makes a lot of sense.

All We Are is Shooting Stars

Diana and I went to an Edwin McCain concert the other night, and the only song I remember (besides iiiii'llllll beeeeee :) was this newer one of his called "Shooting Stars."

Maybe this life is just about love and tenderness if
all we are is shooting stars
Maybe we can't fight all of this pain and loneliness if
all we are are shooting stars...

So I was in deep thought about this song.. ha.. and I do believe life is just about love... and I also believe God is Love. But anyway, if you think about the three kinds of love, familial/friendship, romantic, and divine/God- love. I was just thinking maybe life really is ONLY about love and people, and everything else in life - work, stress, money, career, food, material things, politics, culture, art, music, everything - is intended to be subservient to Love. My actual thought was "Maybe all those other things just give us something to talk about in the context of love." Hmm. Anyway I really like that thought, because it is totally freeing. What matters but love? And what should I do except take a step in love, seek justice in love, work hard because of love, create art as it springs from love... I really like that thought.

I was also thinking, are we not complete (emotionally) if we lack one of those kinds of love in our lives? I think we long for all 3 of them, not just one or two. Now, there are monks and nuns and others who renounce marriage, and even Jesus never married, and Paul talked about it too... Still others live in seclusion, without friend or lover, which is incredibly sad. I just mean to say it is, I think, IN us to desire all three. And having all three seems to make us healthier and more whole.

Anyway, lessee. I went over to Gina and Julia's last night and had an extremely happy night. Who knew Julia would want to recreate her Costa Rican reflexology foot massage on me?! lol That was so awesome. And today I've just been chillin, and trying to set up my business website. Made some good progress! I cannot believe I only have 3 weeks of work left.

Yet another government conspiracy

Your friendly US Postal Service is trying to rip you off through smart consumer psychology. I just went to mail a package and the only options showing were $7 for 2 day delivery. I'm like, there have got to be cheaper options. It even took the lady a few minutes to find the other screen, and they had a big discussion about how they just changed the computers the night before "probably to make the customer think those were the only options." From the mouth of employees, I tell you. I hate when companies do that.

In other news, I am soooo comfortable today (I mean physically, ha) and that makes me soooo content. Funny how something small like that makes a big difference, eh? Just thought I'd share. Happy first day of fall!

Freakin cute baby panda!

Pictures of this adorable baby panda make me squeal inside with sheer girly/motherly delight. lol Look at this chubby little bundle of love! Ohhh my gosh. So cute. He is exactly the size of an infant, too - about 10 lbs and 22 inches long. Awwwww!

Well if you're really obsessed, like I am becoming, you can click here to watch the National Zoo's Panda Cam! As I type this, they are sleeping and you can see their big bellies rising up and down as they breathe deeply. Awwwwwww!

Okay I'm over it! Back to work now. :)

Does He/She expect us to have a clue?

I guess what I've been trying to get my head around is this: When God Almighty visited the earth in the flesh, as a man named Jesus, the eternal "Son" (integral beloved familial part) of God, he did a new thing. A really, really new thing. It was so new, in fact, that if you were a Jew at that time and you knew your holy Scripture, then you would have very little choice but to believe that who Jesus said he was could only be a lie, and the power by which he did things must have been a dark power. I'm just saying, God had laid out some things about himself from the very beginning, about being separate, and holy, and an upholder of justice. Though mercy was certainly in God's vocabulary, I would argue there was much more emphasis on purifying Israel and thus not expressing a lot of mercy for others.

In any case (why am I having such a hard time articulating this?), these days we tend to think we have God pretty much figured out. He has spoken, and so we have his Word, and it's a somewhat final Word. We can list off the things or kinds of people he loves (of course he loves all people, but he especially smiles upon the meek, the pure of heart, the peacemakers, the ones who go to church regularly, the ones who don't listen to vulgar music or watch bad movies - see how we add to this list??, etc). Likewise, we can easily, maybe too easily, list off his hates including deceit, theft, ummmm homosexuality and abortion. I'm not saying anything yet, don't jump to conclusions!

I'm only saying that when Jesus came, the people who thought they were close to God and obedient to his Word, it turned out that God was doing something that, if anyone else had been in charge of it, it would have been blasphemous and abhorrent. But since God Almighty was doing this new thing through Jesus, it was beautiful and holy and wonderful and GOOD NEWS! But if I were a Jewish woman, I would have been scandalized... or maybe, more accurately, just unable to grasp what was happening. God nailed to a tree? What? Why?

So if God were to appear now, what would he say and do that would absolutely scandalize me? What do I think I have figured out about him that I simply misunderstood? How many times have I read my own interpretations into what he says and does, and drawn from these ... judgments, assumptions, hatreds? It's not about me. My point is really, how can God expect us to have any idea what's going on, when in the life and death and resurrection of Jesus, he totally upset all of that? Totally turned it on its head. How can He expect us to have a clue! That's all i'm saying.

This is a freeing, if somewhat confusing and possibly even angering, thought. But I kinda like that he is secure enough to change things up when he wants. lol I just think it is upsetting for the analytical, black-and-white minded American Christian. We don't like mystery or surprise or ambiguity or TRUST. Unfortunately that means we wouldn't get along very well with Yahweh.

I guess the real question is whether he did change anything between Old and New testaments. Was he consistent all the way through? I think He IS consistent, but his actions seemed to communicate totally different emphases to the people.

I often wonder, what if I could just read the Bible without all the added interpretation of 2000 years of Christendom, and theology, and the culture that surrounds all of this. Of course it's impossible but would I look at Jesus the same way? I think if I only had his words, and the stories of his life, Christianity for me would hardly resemble what Christianity is today and what it is in my mind. Now that's scary. I'm trying to figure out how I can have this fresh-eyes approach to the Scriptures, somehow...

This figures.

You are a Social Liberal (60% permissive) and an... Economic Liberal (16% permissive) You are best described as a: Socialist Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid

Borrowing

"What Americans need to understand is that ... every single day of the year, our government goes into the market and borrows money from other countries to finance Iraq, Afghanistan, Katrina, and our tax cuts," he said.

"We have never done this before. Never in the history of our republic have we ever financed a conflict, military conflict, by borrowing money from somewhere else."

Clinton added: "We depend on Japan, China, the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, and Korea primarily to basically loan us money every day of the year to cover my tax cut and these conflicts and Katrina. I don't think it makes any sense."

(From Clinton Launches Withering Attack on Bush on Iraq, Katrina, budget.)

We do?! I will admit I have no clue about that, and want to understand it more. That is crazy, scary, and weird. Maybe what it means is that because our trade balance is off, that's how we're "borrowing" money. I don't know. Anyone? Anyone out there understand this?

Awake // Fire

I finally used my gift card on a CD... I ended up getting Awake, the Best of Live. I LoVE the song Pillar of Davidson so freakin much. Yes love! And many, many others too. Best lyricist ever. Take that. :)

An extremely strong runner up was Nickel Creek's new one, Why Should the Fire Die? I am going to have to get that at some point; it sounded sooooo good.

Lowly of heart

So, I was walking on Capitol Hill yesterday where I used to live, and saw an Episcopal church. I like Episcopal churches, I really do, but this one is a weird one. My friends could tell you stories. lol Anyway, their sign says what time the low mass is at, and what time high mass is at.

Now, my only question is this: aren't we pretty confident Jesus was a low mass kinda guy? I could be wrong. I could be missing something, and I am sure I am stepping on toes and everything. But why do we have a high mass if Jesus wouldn't be caught dead at it? I'm just saying. I even like reverence and all the rest, I really do. I think Jesus-is-my-best-friend can be trivializing and flippant. But Jesus was real with us, so let's be real with him. Come on.

I also don't get why someone just offered me box seats at the MCI Center tomorrow night to see Joel Osteen. A pastor. I just don't GET Christians treating pastors like celebrities. I just don't get it. I'm sure I'm being hypocritical on some level... I am a believer and I do lots of things other believers wouldn't GET, but I'm just commenting on things as I see them... craziness. Something is fundamentally not right about all of this. It does not sit well with me. I'm trying not to judge. I just observe and hopefully this stuff causes me to make other choices in my life.

Beam me up (er... down)

Is there any reason why wireless internet cannot be beamed upon the planet in the same way satellites in outer space beam down cable television?
I'm just asking! I don't totally understand these things. It would be cool if wireless were everywhere. The only bad thing is that would put a lot of ISPs out of business. But some of them are pretty annoying, so hey. Like certain airports (MSP) or coffeeshops (Stbx) or bookstores (B&N). Just give the internet away. Good gracious.

On the other hand, it's a little scary to think you could never escape that which is the world wide web!!!

Choices

If a person does not know they have choices, do they really have choices? I don't think they do have options if they are ignorant of them. I'm thinking of people who don't vote because they don't have the education to know how to get registered and make an informed decision, or people who feel stuck in difficult or humiliating jobs, things like that. It's easy to think that they could change their life if they really wanted to, but is that true if they are totally ignorant of that possibility? If their family always told them they were worthless, or that they could only do or affect certain things. Maybe I'm underestimating the human capacity for hope. I am not sure. But this thought just occurred to me while walking at lunch today.

In Numerical Order

This is the coolest artistic thing I have seen in a long time. Do the slideshow.

Wedding weekend

My brother got married on Saturday. I had the best weekend of my life...! If you want to see photos, email me, because we have 385 online :)