Time and Confusion

Movin' Up

2007-10-13T12:08:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm officially all about blogging on wordpress now. This blog has officially moved here.

Everything Is Illuminated

2007-10-10T20:55:00.001-07:00

Why do I do this? Because sometimes, I am afraid I will forget.

Thinking of Change....

2007-10-10T13:40:00.000-07:00

I'm having such trouble deciding. I think I'm going to switch this blog over to wordpress as well. If I have one there, I might as well have both there, I guess. What does everyone think? Head on over to the new blog and let me know what you think.

Thanks!

Randomness

2007-10-10T13:15:00.001-07:00

I finally figured out how to set up another blog with wordpress, so my Engage and Discern blog is now located here. I think it looks a lot cooler and I'm a lot happier with it now.

Panera called me today and set up an interview with me tomorrow at 4. That certainly was fast! So pray that my interview would go well tomorrow and I would get the job if that's God's will for my life right now.

Here's the new problem that I'm having. I keep trying to create an account with Twitter, but it's not letting me. It keeps insisting that my email address is invalid, which is insane. I've tried both my email addresses and my dad's. It won't accept any of them! I really don't understand this madness.

It's actually kinda cold today. I'm not sure how I feel about that. I've been sort of complaining about the heat and saying I want fall, but now that it's here, I'm not so sure. I just hate winter, and I know that follows fall....

So I always keep up with this blog, and they had a fantastic post today. It really amused me. What's even better is that it's a true story, and the recipient of the crazy note actually posted more of the back story in the comments. It's just a really great thread of comments to read through.

I was really stressed about the musical and the auditions, because we had a Shakespear monolouge due the same day as our auditions. That was going to be rough. I don't like memorizing anyways, so that was a double whammy of difficulty and stress. But today, our Shakespear monolouge got moved back a week, and I feel SO much better. It's all still really stressful, but more manageable. That pretty much made my day.

Sorry, this blog has been really random. I think it's time to watch a movie.

I'm Not Much on Rear Window Ethics

2007-10-09T19:13:00.000-07:00

I just finished watching Rear Window, and I loved it. It is so good. It has so many great quotes... I just had to put some of them here.

Detective: [referring to what was buried in Thorwald's flower bed] It's over in his apartment. In a hat box. Wanna look?
Stella: Oh, no thanks - I don't want any part of her.

Lisa: I wish I were creative.
Jeff: You are. You're great at creating difficult situations.

Stella: Let's go down there and find out what's burried in that garden.
Lisa: Why not? I've always wanted to meet Mrs. Thorwald.

I really love Hitchcock. I have a biography laying on the floor about him that I borrowed from the library, but I certainly haven't had time to read it lately. I really should make time, though. Hitchcock really fascinates me. I love how he shows up discretly in each of his movies. I actually couldn't find it in this movie, though, so I had to Wikipedia it. Hitchcock appeared briefly winding up the clock in the neighboring apartment during the party. Pretty hard to notice, even if you are looking for it.

The following is a list of all the Hitchcock movies I've seen so far in the order of how well I liked them. The first three or four were difficult, because I loved them all. I have a couple more ordered from the library, and a bunch more I want to see. My goal is to eventually see everything he's done.

Oh, and by the way, I'm up to 11 movies watched so far this fall. :)

1)Rebbecca
2)Rear Window
3)North by North West
4)Vertigo
5)The 39 Steps
6)The Birds

And speaking of the library, I just have to vent for a second... I ordered Brazil several months ago, and there are still several hold on it before it's coming to me. Ugh! Actually, I've been 2 of 3 holds for the past month, so I'm thinking someone just kept it. Maybe I should cancel and reorder it... But on a happier note, the Moon Library just updated their website, and it looks a lot nicer. So I guess I can excuse them for the excessive wait for my movie....

Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps

2007-10-09T15:24:00.000-07:00

I was thinking of switching from blogger to wordpress. In fact, I even created an account and imported all my (many) posts from my time here on blogger. I realized I had imported all the blogs, from this one and Engage and Discern, and I wanted to separate them. Which I couldn't figure out how to do. I wanted to have a different address for the E&D blog, but it wasn't letting me do that. So, I got aggravated and I'm back here, for the time being at least. And I changed my profile a little cause I was tired of the old look. I really like black all of a sudden. I think it's just classy and timeless. I enjoy it greatly.

I applied for a job at Panera Bread today. I realized today that Jamie is working at B&N, Drew is at Geneva, and Jonathan is on his way to California. Where does that leave me? In a kind of meaningless no where, that's where. So I decided to get a job. I'd actually been thinking about applying at Panera for a while, it wasn't a totally spontaneous decision. So hopefully I'll get the job. They're shorthanded and looking for more workers, so that's a pretty good sign. We'll see what happens.

I said I just wanted about 15 hours a week. I know that's not a whole lot, but I need time for school and senior project. And... eventually the musical.

I'm really not looking forward to the musical. Honestly, I just really don't want to do it but I feel like I have to. There obviously aren't a whole lot of people left at the school, so every cast member makes a difference. But I'm just already dreading the auditions, long hours, memorizing, etc, etc. Which I know isn't a good thing. I feel really bad about feeling this way, but I just do. So I'm not sure what I'm going to do about that yet.

Heroes last night was really exciting. I think it's getting a lot better and redeeming itself from some less-than-fantastic episodes. I think they have too much going on and aren't resolving enough, but I can live with it. Because everything else that is happening is good.It was pretty lonely watching it alone though. Next week, Heroes party again.

Peter is getting more amazing every episode.

Hiro is too cool.

The new plot with Maya is pretty awesome and creepy, too.

I handed out my first issue of E&D at school today. It seemed to be received pretty well. The only bad thing I head was from Mr. Wirebaugh..... he said that he liked the article about how to engage and discern within culture, but didn't see that expressed in the newsletter. So, I guess that's something I'll have to work on for the next issue.

That's all for now. I'm off to watch Rear Window with Mom. :)

Change Of Plans

2007-10-04T15:06:00.000-07:00

Well, I came to the realization today that I was being way over zealous when I compiled that list of political stuff I wanted to blog about. It's still a good list, but I've realized that it's a good list of things I am interested in learning more about, not things I can blog about with validity. So that's that.

I'm really tired right now. I feel physically and emotionally tired. I feel sort of empty and purposeless, and I'm not totally sure why. Maybe I just need to get some sleep. I think I'm going to watch a good movie and sleep. All I know for sure is that I'm really glad we have a four day weekend. Because I really need it.

Christian Vs. Secular Education

2007-10-03T12:55:00.000-07:00

So, where should we really be receiving our educations? Should we be going to a Christian school, or a public one? I think the answer is different for everyone who answers this question, but I think it's a really interesting thing to think about.

1. Elementary School
I was in the public school system from 1st to 7th grade. In multiple schools in various states, but always in public schools none the less. At the time, of course, I was young, I wasn't a believer, and I don't really remember much of what we were taught then. I don't remember if I was taught evolution or anything. There are several vivid memories I have, however. One teacher in one of my WV elem school was really nice and well liked. I can't remember his name, but I was very excited to be in his class. I really looked up to him and thought it would be a lot of fun to be in his class. One day, though, he wasn't at school. In fact, he never came back. He was put in jail for sexually abusing students. Third and fourth grade students I was friends with had been intoxicated by him and forced to have sexual relations with him. In fourth grade. That came as a big shock to me, even though I didn't understand it totally.

Looking back at that, I often ponder the question of which is better... a Christian or secular elementary school. On one hand, you're young, so there's no a whole lot of in depth evolution or anything being taught. Even though now, they are teaching books about homosexual couples as early as first grade. Which is really pathetic. You know you don't believe that, and you don't want your children being taught that, but is that enough of a reason to send them to a Christian school?

Part of the responsibility of parents is to teach their children in the truth and teach them in the way that they should go. So, theoretically, it would be fine for a parent to firmly teach what they believe at home and carefully go over homework and such with their kids so they don't get any of the wrong ideas. It is very important to get a solid Christian education as early as possible.

It would be much easier, however, to just put the child in a Christian school and have them taught the truth at school as well as home. Herein lies the problem. What should you do? I don't really know the answer to that question. I don't think there is a tight or wrong one.

2. Middle School/ High School
I went to a public middle school for just one year before deciding I hated it and switching to a Christian school in WV. Hurricane Middle School was the worst school year of my life. I was miserable. I didn't have any friends... being shy and quiet doesn't get you anywhere with clicks of hormonal middle school girls who think they're the prettiest, most popular thing to ever come along. And that's how it really is. It's as bad as everything you see on TV. We had drug busts (and plenty of drugs were found) very often. Kids were busted for having sex under the bleachers during gym class and lunch. Girls smoked in the bathrooms. This was in 6th grade, people. 6th grade. After that experience, I was so thankful to be in a secure, loving Christian school. Maybe it was small and sheltered, but it was what I needed at the time.

For that reason, I'm rather inclined to say that I would want to send my children to a Christian middle/high school. There are disadvantages, though.

As much as I love RTCS and am totally thankfully for it, there are things I really don't like. There aren't very many people. I love everyone there, but there are so few students! I think this is a major drawback to Christian education. Also, there aren't as many opportunities. We don't offer as many classes or electives as a public school. We barley have enough people to pull off a musical. So, those are the drawbacks.

There are so many things I love about it, though. I love the feeling of community we have. I love how close we all are. I love chapel. I love being able to be a leader in the school and be able to be a role model for the younger students to look up to. I love being able to have devotions daily, pray randomly with students in the hall, and have chapel every Wednesday. These are things you just don't get at a public school. And things I think I would really miss if I didn't have them.

In a way, however, I feel like I'm missing out. I feel like I'm missing out especially on opportunities to share my faith with those around me. In a public school, you really have to test yourself and your faith and stretch yourself. You would get to encounter non-believers every day and share the gospel with them. It would be really cool to see what kind of impact you could make.

3. College
I guess all the same principals would apply to college, as well. You would have to be very firm and secure in your faith and be able to take the false teachings from your professors and look at them from a Christian perspective. It would be a challenge and a good opportunity to share your faith. You would also get a chance to interact with lots of people and learn how to defend Christianity and talk to them about it and perhaps lead some to Christ.

There are advantages to a Christian college, too, though. You get taught from a Biblical framework, get to do things like prayer groups, chapel, and mission trips, etc. It's anther good step in building a foundation for a successful life.

You could argue, though, that by going to a Christian college, you're not interacting with the world and sharing your faith enough. One could say you are being too sheltered. I definitely see that point, and could agree with it to an extent. However, most people do have a job, know a non-believer, or interact with them in some way. Which I think is really good experience. We need to learn how to defend our faith in the real world.

Which is a good thing about a Christian college. For example, if you're getting a degree in business, you will be taught how to deal with the ethical problems you will face and firmly defend Christianity in the business field. So that would be really good preparation.

I really wish there was an easy way to answer this problem. But there really isn't. I think the situation is different for every person, depending on their place in their walk with Christ.

As for me, I'm really thankful for the Christian schools I've been in since 8th grade. I really needed them, and I certainly wouldn't be the person I am today if I hadn't received this education. Also, I'm not willing to give up going to Geneva to go to a secular college. This is mainly just because I am really excited about Geneva, and I feel it is where God is calling me to go. I don't doubt that I could make it in a secular college, I just really want to be at Geneva, even though I can certainly see the benefits of me going somewhere else. And in no way would I ever condemn a friend who is going somewhere secular. I think it's wonderful that some of us are called to go to places like Pitt and serve God there and be a light for Him. My hope is, though, to always be like a light on a hill no matter where I am, whether it be at Geneva, a job, or just the grocery store. You don't have to wait till college to share your faith with others. You can do it anywhere. I talk to people at Target and Giant Eagle about God. I'll ask the cashier how they're doing and tell them that I'll pray for them. You don't have to wait and go to a secular college to get opportunities to share you're faith, even if it is in a subtle way. You never know what kinds of seeds you might plant in someone's life.

What's your opinion? Feel free to leave comments and tell me what you think. :)

Politics and History

2007-10-01T20:50:00.001-07:00

For some unknown reason, I've really been into studying politics and history lately. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that we're going through the history book backwards this year, and I've actually found an acute interest in what we've been studying. Perhaps it also comes from the knowledge that I will be voting in the next presidential election, and I'm not entirely sure what my political views are. Then, tonight at Heather's, Jonathan started a conversation about Christian vs. Secular education. I realized I really need to think about and develop my ideas about all this, and therefore I need to blog about it all. So, here's a tentative outline of the new series of political blogs I plan to post here over the next few weeks:

A. Christian vs. Secular Education
1. In Elementary/ Middle School
2. In High School
3. In College
4. America's Flawed Educational System

B. General Political Topics
1. War
2. Abortion

C. Current Political Topics
1. The Shield: America's Renewed Nuclear Arms Race/ The Resurrection of "Star Wars" of the Regan era
2. The Jena Six: Does racial injustice still prevail?
3. The 2008 Presidential Election: Which candidate makes the most sense?

D. Media
1. How much does the government really control what we know? What have president's hidden from the public eye in the past, and what might they be hiding today?

E. The Libertarian Party
1. The World's Smallest Political Quiz
2. Why I plan to register Libertarian

F. Finances
1. What are we spending money on as a country? Where are our tax dollars really going, and where should they be going?
2. Taxes
3. America's National Debt: On the rise with no signs of stopping

G. America
1. What we have right
2. What we have wrong... where we should be looking to other countries for advice
3. America's Spread of Democracy: Good or bad? (Foreign Policy)

H. Environmentalism
1. Where should we, as Christians, stand on environmental issues?
2. Going Green

I know this is a pretty intense list of stuff, and I'm sure I'll think of more as I go along. I'm really excited about writing about all of this. Maybe I can somehow bring some of it into senior project. We'll see what happens. So, stay posted for all my upcoming political blogs. I promise they won't be boring. Don't let the phrase "political blogs" scare you away. :)

So... I love Geneva

2007-09-29T18:47:00.000-07:00

Jamie and I went up to Geneva last night for the Lovedrug concert. It was a lot of fun. It was great getting to hang out with Andrew again, and it was just really nice to be at Geneva. That's the first time I've been on campus since I officially decided I wanted to go there and got accepted (and enrolled, as Drew liked to point out to everyone he introduced me to). :) I'm so excited to be there next year. First of all, it's just so amazing to me that there are actually people in the world. Lots of them, and ones that are my age. Not just four. I do love RTCS, but it will be really nice to be around a lot of people. I do love being around lots of people. We also walked through the halls of Clarke and hung out with a few people there. I'm really excited to have a dorm to decorate. :) One of the first things I noticed was how much better the girls dorm smells than the guy's. Haha. So I'm excited to live in a clean, fresh-smelling dorm I get to, at least partially, decorate. So basically, I love Geneva and I'm really really exited about going there.

I was telling Jamie last night, though, how it's pretty funny that I've been accepted to and enrolled in a college and my parents have never even been on campus. Or anywhere near it. That amuses me because that probably doesn't happen very often. Hehe.

So I got my first scholarship today! Andy Marcinko recommended me, so I'm getting $1,000 a year for that. Which is pretty exciting. Every little bit helps. I also started filling out the Lola G. Duff scholarship application today, which I'm hoping to get a lot from. I really don't want my parents to have to pay an arm and a leg for me to go to college. I want Dad to be able to retire soon. Which he probably can if I get a lot of scholarship money. So just pray that I get a lot. I'm sure God will provide. He always does.

I'm really excited about senior project as well. It's coming along quite well. Amy Plitt is going to be my "official" mentor, even though Jonathan is still going to be helping me a lot. The first issue of Engage and Discern is going to be ready by the end of this week, which I'm super excited about. I just love this project so much. It's so much fun. I have so many ideas for it... I certainly don't have to worry about running out of ideas. I created a blog for E&D, so that's exciting too. I'll be posting everything from the actual E&D newsletter there, as well as some extra stuff, too. My only worry is that no one from school is actually going to read this or care about it. I guess it doesn't really matter, but it would be nice if there was more interest. But who knows. We'll see what happens.

I'm really happy that it's starting to feel like fall. I really hate winter, and I know we don't get much fall around here, but I'm going to enjoy it while its here. Yay for leaves changing colors, clear blue skies, bonfires, and cool days and nights!

I'm really happy about the play list I made for E&D. I spent a really long time making it just right, and I'm really happy with it. The songs are all so awesome. I love music. It will be up on my E&D blog in a few days, but I'm going to put it here now in case anyone wants to see it.

1. Brighter Than Sunshine ~ Aqualung
2. Smile Like You Mean It ~ The Killers
3. Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels) ~ The Arcade Fire
4. Where The River Flows ~ Collective Soul
5. Soul Meets Body ~ Death Cab for Cutie
6. Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robot ~ The Flaming Lips
7. Momentum ~ The Hushsound
8. Brink of Disaster ~ Mae
9. Is It Any Wonder? ~ Keane
10. Such Greats Heights ~ The Postal Service

So go listen to all those songs right now, and in that order. Cause that makes it all the better.

Here's what I'm thinking... since I'm going to be putting these play lists in E&D, what if I burned CD'S of it to give to people? I'm thinking maybe if people leave comments on the E&D blog, I could make them a CD. Or something along that line. I guess it would just depend on how many people would be interested... I don't want to spend a fortune on blank CD'S, but I think it would be really awesome. Ya know, I feel like I'm doing something really great for the music and entertainment industries by doing this senior project. If just one person goes out and buys one CD or movie that I recommend, I'll be the happiest person in the world. I'll feel like I have accomplished something. I'm excited to see what could happen.

You Can Call Me Al

2007-09-23T19:44:00.000-07:00

Let me just start off by saying that Google gets more amazing every day. Did you know that you can turn Google Earth into a flight simulator? Once you open Google Earth, just press control-alt-a (or command/open Apple key-option-a on a Mac). A box then comes up and you get to chose your aircraft and the airport you want to start at. There's also a handy cheat-sheet list of codes for getting your aircraft to move. It's a pretty cool thing, I must say. I flew over Hawaii today. :)

So yesterday my parents and I headed downtown Pittsburgh to go to the Art Museum, but we couldn't find it. Haha. We thought we knew where it was, but obviously we didn't. But we did park in a random parking garage and just walked around the city for a while. I know I say it a lot, but Pittsburgh is spectacular. And the weather yesterday was perfect. As we walked, I made a list of places that I want to come back to for Senior Pictures with Jamie. I think it's only fitting that I have some of my senior pics taken downtown since I love it so much. And there's so many interesting places for pictures!! Anyways, back to my story. Once we determined we weren't finding the art museum, we headed down to the Strip District. That was quite an experience. It was Saturday morning, so it was exceptionally crowded. We ate lunch, looked around at some stuff, and bought some fresh produce. As we were making our way through the crowd, I realized just how much of a football town Pittsburgh is. I mean, half the stands on the street were vendors selling Steelers gear. And half the people were already donned in their Steelers apparel in anticipation of the game today. I doubt that there's any other city with such dedicated fans. I love it. (By the way, way to go today Steelers!! They totally beat the 49ers and had a great game. They're still undefeated so far this season... things are looking good! And Ben was back to his usual awesome self in today's game.)

I've been cleaning and organizing like crazy this weekend. I finally realized that my rooms are a disaster and it's actually time to do something about it. I had dealt with the piles of clothes and mountains of shoes on my bedroom floor for long enough. So I went to Target and got a few massive storage boxes and came home and got to work. As I started organizing, I realized that the whole problem is I have way too much stuff. I don't know how I got so many articles of clothing and pairs of shoes, but somehow I did. I decided the only thing to do was to attack and throw away. So that I did. R came over for a while and we had fun going through my drawers and laughing at all the ugly fashion choices I have made in the past. R got great joy out of tossing out the old powder blue velvet sweat pants and brown fur sweater. Oh yeah. Those were great clothes in their day. I really enjoyed getting rid of the hot pink poodle slippers and the hunter green jumpsuit. :) I also realized how messy my closet was when I found four full size pillows, a complete snorkeling set, and flip flops I never knew existed. Yes, I did say a snorkeling set. You never know when you might need it. :) I bought it after falling in love with snorkeling in the Bahamas... sadly, there aren't a lot of great snorkeling locales in Pittsburgh. But I'm proud to say I got rid of two garbage bags of clothing, one garbage bag of trash, a garbage bag of shoes and purses, two Target bags of pj's, socks, and underwear, and all four of those random pillows. Yeah. That's a lot of stuff. No wonder I had resorted to using the floor as the extension to my closet. I'm now very happy with my closet...everything is arranged by color!!! And all my drawers are neatly organized and there are only a few storage boxes and blankets by and under the bed. Yay for clean, organizes spaces! Now, I just need to do the same thing in my bathroom and computer room. My floor is my official space for movies, music, and books. Which is kinda bad. And all the scrapbooking supplies are overflowing. They need reorganized.

I also wrote my Senior Project proposal speech today. I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out. It takes about seven minutes to go through, so hopefully I won't get in trouble for going a minute over the allotted time. I don't think it really matters. I need to start working on the first issue of Engage and Discern... I'm planning on having it out by October 5. That's pretty soon.

Oh, exciting news for everyone, if you haven't heard yet. I got my letter of acceptance to Geneva in the mail yesterday. Not that I was really worried about being accepted, but I am very excited. Woohoo! I'm so ready for college.

Holiday From Real

2007-09-20T17:19:00.000-07:00

So, I was babysitting somewhere in the Moon area today, and I didn't like the way I got there with directions, so I decided to just drive around and find my own way home. Which was an exciting idea, I just didn't plan on it taking me an hour and a half to get home... I ended up in Aliquippa, after which I drove around Hopewell for a long while until I finally made it back to Rt. 60. I should have just kept driving to Geneva... at that point, I think I was closer to it than to home. Oh well. It was an exciting adventure.

View Larger Map

Typically, I like getting lost because it's the best way to discover new places, but there wasn't anything really exciting where I was today. But I did get to listen to a lot of my exciting new music, so that was cool. I was listening to Jack's Mannequin, The Killers, and Iron and Wine today. Good stuff.

Psalm 63

2007-09-18T13:23:00.001-07:00

Here's some thoughts about one of my favorite Psalms....

Psalm 63 (ESV)
O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
2 So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,
beholding your power and glory.
3 Because your steadfast love is better than life,
my lips will praise you.
4 So I will bless you as long as I live;
in your name I will lift up my hands.

5 My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food,
and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips,
6 when I remember you upon my bed,
and meditate on you in the watches of the night;
7 for you have been my help,
and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.
8 My soul clings to you;
your right hand upholds me.

9 But those who seek to destroy my life
shall go down into the depths of the earth;
10 they shall be given over to the power of the sword;
they shall be a portion for jackals.
11 But the king shall rejoice in God;
all who swear by him shall exult,
for the mouths of liars will be stopped.

David wrote this Psalm when he was physically in the wilderness. He was crying out for God. He knew that no food or water of a physical nature would be able to satisfy or sustain him. He knew all he needed was God. All we ever need is God. Even we are in the metaphorical wilderness of our lives, God will provide for us. Our souls will be satisfied as with fat, rich food. (vs.10)
"In the shadow of your wings, I will sing for joy!"

Our souls can cling to God and with His right hand, He will uphold us. (vs. 8) No matter where we are or what we're going through, God's right hand will uphold us.

I especially love this verse....

"Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you."

Think about that verse for a minute. God's love is so much better and more important than anything else in our lives. Everything else pales in comparison to His love. His love is all we need!

Exploding Dishwashers and Sunny Days

2007-09-13T16:15:00.000-07:00

Well, I have problems with soap. Those of you who went to Sweden know about the problems I have with using way too much soap for things like cleaning stove tops and mopping floors. I tend to leave a layer of soapy bubbles behind where I clean.

The other day, mom made chicken in my favorite glass baking dish I usually use for brownies, and she burnt it terribly. So, my favorite pan was dying under a coating of black, burnt, stuff. So I let it soak for a day or two in the sink with soap in it, and it was getting significantly better. Then, I got the brilliant idea to put some more dish soap in it before I put it into the dishwasher. Ha. Mom turned the dishwasher on when she got up this morning, and when she went down a bit later, there were soap suds coming out of the dishwasher and spilling all out into the kitchen. She turned it off, but the dishwasher was left with about an eight inch layer of soap suds and water in the bottom that won't drain out. It's a good thing that she caught it when she did, though, or we would have come home to an entire kitchen filled with soap. I just spent the past half hour bailing water out of it with a cup and soaking up soap suds with a rag. I couldn't get it all out, though, and I'm not sure what will happen next time we attempt to turn it on... I'm kinda scared! As I was sitting there removing water from our dishwasher, I realized I have a major soap problem. Like seriously. If I ever happen to be cleaning your house, try to limit the amount of soap that I have access to. But, on the positive side, at least you know that I get things clean!

Oh, and if you were worried about it, my beloved brownie pan is quite clean and burnt-substance free now, meaning I can once again use it for brownies. :)

So last night I fell asleep doing homework, woke up around 2:30 am, and went to bed without setting my alarm clock. When I woke up this morning, I realized the homework hadn't magically done itself during the night, and I couldn't go to school without having it done, so I just chilled out at home this morning and finished it. Then, I decided to take the long way to school (cause I really didn't want to go anyways) and I stopped at Sheetz to get gas in the new car for the first time. First, I pulled up to the wrong side, then I couldn't get the gas cap off. Good grief. But then I stopped in B&N and got some coffee -the cappuccino was good by the way, Jonathan, I approve. :)

It was really fun just driving around... I hadn't gotten a chance to drive with all the windows down and sunroof open, so I did that today, and it was really nice. I'm glad I ended up getting the car with the sunroof. This weather is amazing.

I finally made it to school, and it was actually a pretty good day, with the exception that I didn't have time to eat lunch and almost passed out during choir. But that's okay. 'Cause after school I went and got a hamburger and some fries and took them to the Moon Park and ate and spent a crazy amount of time doing homework. But that's okay, too, cause I was outside, and Pittsburgh in the fall is just spectacular.

So, that's what's new with me. I'm glad tomorrow is Friday... this week has gone by fast. I'm excited for the weekend. :=)

Hey You

2007-09-11T19:08:00.000-07:00

Today I realized that by watching Unforgiven last night, I had accomplished one of my remaining summer goals. Unforgiven was the 60th movie I have watched over the past three months, therefore completing my goal of watching 60 movies. Pretty exciting, no?

Of course, I'm going to keep watching movies even though my summer goal has now been fulfilled. My summer movie watching occurred between June 8 and September 10, so my fall movie watching will be between September 11 (today) and December 14. I don't typically think of December as fall, but winter doesn't officially start until Dec 21, so it works.

I'm not sure what my goal will be. Sixty movies was a big undertaking, even in the summer time, so now that I'm back in school, my goal needs to be significantly less ambitious. I'm thinking between 30 and 40 movies. I think that sounds pretty reasonable. So, we'll see what happens. So many movies, so little time!

Tonight, I watched my fist of the "fall" movies: The Squid and the Whale. It was done in 2005 by Noah Baumbach, friend and inspiration of Wes Anderson. Wes also co-produced and co-wrote the film, and you can certainly see his influence in the film. The movie is the story of the dysfunctional Berkman family, consisting of the narcissistic father, his unfaithful wife, and their two teenage sons. In the opening scene, the family is playing tennis at the local court, something they do very often in the movie. Their formation is a foreshadowing of things to come: the younger son, Frank, is on one side with his mom, while the older son, Walt, is on the other side with his dad. This is essentially how the family relations split not too long after in the movie. The parents decide to divorce, and the two boys, as well as the parents, have to learn how to deal with that. Which we all know is never easy.

This movie is totally, brutally, honest. You don't really feel like you're watching a movie; you feel like you're living life alongside the Berkman family. We can all relate to at least one of the characters in one way or another. One of the main things the movie calls to its viewers attention is the flawed nature of humanity. It shows that no one is perfect, and that every one has flaws and struggles with sins. Because of the brutal honesty and portrayal of this family's life, the movie sometimes feels awkward and difficult to watch, but a level of awkwardness is necessary to achieve the desired effect of the movie.

However, despite the opposition and heartaches that the family experiences, you are left with a note of hope at the (amazing) ending of the film. For 16 year old Walt, the statue of a squid and a whale at the local museum has always been a symbol of fear for him. It was also closely related to a happy memory Walt had with his mom from childhood. Because of these associations, the end of the movie really brings it full circle. I don't want to give it away in case anyone wants to watch this movie, but the ending is my favorite part. I think it is simply perfect. It's a very thought provoking movie, which I think is a great thing for a movie to do. There isn't a lot of action; it's more a movie about dialouge than action. Which is surprisingly refreshing. It's not something you find a lot... movies are often more about what people do than what people say. So this was a different kind of movie in that respect, but I really liked it.

As for my title for this blog, the Pink Floyd song Hey You is a central concept in the movie. Walt choses to sing this song for the school talent contest, saying that he wrote it himself. His antics are later found out, and he is forced to forfeit his $100 prize. He also sings the song several times in the movie, earning the support of both his mother and father. Their sons' singing seems to be the only thing that they can agree upon and serves as a uniting element for the family. The Pink Floyd version is also played a few times, making the song almost a soundtrack for the movie.

In many ways, The Squid and the Whale feels a little like Wes' earlier movie, The Royal Tenebaums. It carries some of the same themes such as family, relationships, and redemption and hope. At only 82 minutes long, Wes and Baumbach really pack a lot in and achieve really good character development for such a short amount of time.

People Do Some Crazy Stuff...

2007-09-11T15:13:00.000-07:00

Don't you ever just look at someone and wonder "What on earth were they thinking when they did/said that?" Well, I found a link to this website today on Greg's blog. There's a widget from the site on the side of my blog, but here's a few of my favorites that really left me scratching my head.

Haha.

Tunnels

2007-09-11T14:00:00.000-07:00

Goodness, I realized that I haven't blogged for exactly a week! I don't know how I've managed to go without blogging for that long! I guess it's due in part to the fact that nothing really exciting or especially happy has been happening. But, here's a short update, as unexciting as it may be.

1) I watched Unforgiven last night, and really loved it. Eastwood did a spectacular job directing and acting. The rest of the cast was great, too.. I mean, who can complain about Gene Hackman and Morgan Freeman? I really didn't know I liked Westerns prior to watching this movie, but apparently I do. Of course, this was probably better than your average Western, but I liked it a lot. I need to go see 3:10 to Yuma now.

2) I've also totally fallen in love with Arcade Fire. They are amazing. I bought Funeral the other day, and I've pretty much been listening to it ever since then. I especially like Tunnels.... I'll dig a tunnel from my window to yours, yeah a tunnel from my window to yours. You climb out the chimney and meet me in the middle, the middle of the town. And since there's no one else around, we let our hair grow long
and forget all we used to know, then our skin gets thicker from living out in the snow. Ah. Such musical perfection.

3) I have a stack of movies in my floor I really need to watch: North By Northwest, Grosse Pointe Blank, Garden State, Rushmore, and the Squid and the Whale. I think I'll watch one when I finish this blog. The hard question is which one to watch first...

4)I'm super excited for Heroes to start!!! It starts Sept. 24... only 13 days left!!

5) I'm also really excited for the Darjeeling Limited, Wes Anderson's new movie, to come out Sept. 29. Here's some interesting Wikipedia facts for ya:
*Darjeeling is a region in India. Literally, the name means "the land of the thunderbolt.
*The region is especially famous for its tea. (I just drank some Darjeeling tea this evening!)
*Tea and tourism are the most important industries for the region, which is covered by mountains and most easily accessible by train.

As for the actual movie, check out the trailer
It looks awesome... I can't wait! :)

6) So, I had a random thought the other night.... I was driving along, listening to my ipod in my awesome new car, and it occurred to me that Apple really should make a car. I mean, think about it. It would have all kinds of spectacular features... there could be a big video screen on the dashboard, and when you plugged your ipod in, coverflow would instantly show up on there. And there would be a special compartment for your Mac book, and a holder for the iphone. And everything would have really clean lines and look totally modern and stream-lined. Oh, and there would have to be a big, illuminated Apple symbol somewhere. Like on the back of the car or on the hood. How cool would this car be? Let me know what other fun features the Apple car would have.

7) Speaking of my new car, it occurred to me that I never blogged about my new car. I think if you actually read my blog, you know about my car, but in case you don't, I ended up getting the Seattle Blue Hyundai Elantra. I love, love, love, love it. It's so much better than the old one.. it was almost worth totaling the Sunfire to get this one. :)

Fake Empire

2007-09-05T20:36:00.000-07:00

Well, I just can't stop blogging. I'm here again, this time to share some cool new music I've found recently.

First, I've heard about the Indie group Architecture In Helsinki several times, but I was never motivated to actually give them a listen till I saw some of their songs on a playlist on a back issue of culture.ish online. I didn't buy any whole albums because I wasn't sure how I would feel about them, but I think I actually really like them. They are very Indie, so you have to be into that kinda thing, but they're def. worth checking out. They have several albums, and I got a few songs from the three most popular:

I got the song Spring 2008 from this one, and it makes use of some really cool, random musical instruments, like triangles and bells. It's very fun. It sounds very Japanese. That's the crazy thing about this band.. they're all over the map. They are from Australia, have Helsinki (Finland) in their name, and many of their songs sound very ethnic.

From this album, I got It's 5!, Wishbone, and Do the Whirlwind. I like all of these a lot. These songs are more poppy and catchy sounding than the ones of the previous albums. They're very fun songs that make you want to dance. There's not anything deep or thought provoking to the lyrics, but they will make you happy.

Places Like This is Architecture's newest album, released earlier this year. From this one, I got Red Turned White, Underwater, and Like It or Not. This album has a distinctively different feel than the others, and it's also very cool. It almost feels a little techno or electronic. Once again, though, infinitely catchy tunes that will have you tapping your feet along with the beat. The song Underwater is completely crazy... it sounds like it was recorded underwater. Architecture in Helsinki is a pretty crazy band that might not suit everyone's taste, but the more I listen, the more I really like them a lot and want to purchase their entire set of albums so I can learn more about them and their distinct sound. One review stated that there is no one to compare Architecture to, but that if you combine every artist and genre of music that you enjoy, you'll get Architecture. And I think that's just about right.

One of the more recent culture.ish blog posts gave great reviews to a CD called Boxer, by a band I had never heard of, The National. I got two songs from that Cd...Fake Empire and Mistaken for Stranger. I like both these songs a lot... they're really folksy and mellow. They remind me a bit of Nicklecreek. So, I like them too.

I also recommend checking this album out, too.

I'm also very excited about the CD's I borrowed from Jonathan and Jamie tonight...

I'm very excited about all of these. I really like The Postal Service album. I've heard almost all of the songs on there before, I just didn't really realize I knew who they were by. And of course Weezer is always fun to listen to. I haven't gotten a chance to listen to A Ghost Is Born yet, but I'm very excited about that. So far, I haven't really been blown away by the Caedmon's Call Cd, but I think I just need to spend more time actually listening to it and paying attention to the words. Well, that's my music update for now! :=)

Engage and Discern, Part 1

2007-09-05T19:04:00.000-07:00

So...I'm really excited about a lot of different things right now. First, senior project. I met with Jonathan to talk about things and kinda solidify our ideas, and things went really well. Jonathan came up with a good name for my newsletter/ publication thing.... Engage and Discern. I've been thinking about what it means to engage and discern, because that's obviously something I need to know for my project. I think that a lot of Christians have a very wrong idea about how to engage in the culture around them. Let me explain...

1) Everyone engages in the culture around them. Whether you realize it or not, you are engaged in culture. Culture affects your life in a lot more ways than you think. Today's culture (i.e movies, music, books, plays, televisions, etc.) shape the way we think and feel about nearly everything. Why are you wearing a pair of jeans? Why did you just answer your cell phone? Because today's culture likes and promotes those things. That's a silly example, but it's just proving the point that we are affected by our culture. You really can't avoid it.

2) Since we are all affected by culture, we have to respond to it. Christians tend to react to culture in one of several ways:

a. They try to ignore it. They pretend they aren't affected by culture, which they tend to view as a totally negative thing. They only listen to very conservative Christian music and watch only G-rated cartoon movies. They want to stay sheltered from an evil world.

b. They try to totally fit in with it. They don't use discernment in selecting the things which they watch, read, or listen to. They want to be cool and fit in with everyone around them, especially their secular friends. They don't view things with a Biblical frame of mind.

c. They engage it in a proper, Godly way. They realize that though culture is sinful by its very nature, there are things to be learned and gleaned from it. They recognize that just because something is coming from a secular artist/director/author does not mean that it is impossible to enjoy it and appreciate it for what it is, a piece of art. They use discernment.

The view I happen to believe in would be the third one. Culture is all around us. We can't avoid it. We have to learn to engage it. We need to have a very solid Biblical foundation and be grounded in the Word so that we can be discerning. There are a lot of things we can learn from our culture, as secular and godless as it may sometimes seem. We don't need to be reading a Christian novel to learn something. We need to have a Biblical world view and look at everything in that light. Think about that last line again. We need to have a Biblical world view and look at everything in that light. We can't ignore culture, but we also can't allow ourselves to get sucked into it, either. Instead, we need to find the middle ground... we need to enjoy culture and also use it as a tool for expressing out faith and glorifying God. And that's certainly not impossible. As long as we're looking at everything in the light of the redemptive work of Jesus and seeing that all things point back to Him, we'll be fine. We can learn to effectively engage our culture.

Another thing that I've been thinking about a lot lately is how it is imperative to make God the center of our universes. We have to make sure that God is at the very center, the very core, of our lives. If He isn't , everything we're doing is in vain. If we aren't doing everything for Him and His glory, it is worthless. We have to make our lives revolve around God. If we do that, everything else will fall into place. Everything. We really don't need to worry about anything at all. God takes care of things. He only asks for our devotion and sincerity. He asks only that we have no other gods or idols before Him, and we need to take that seriously. We need to make sure we're not worshiping anything else. If we search our hearts and find that we're giving more time, attention, or love to something worldly, such as music, movie, etc, then we have a problem. All those things are fine, and you can love them, you just have to make sure you are loving Jesus first and more than those things. There is a time and a season for everything. We just need to make sure all of our "everything" is revolving around Him. God is all we have! It is God who has given us everything we have and everything we need. We need to remember our utter depravity away from Him. God found us and called us to himself. We didn't go searching for Him. He came searching for us. This reminds me of something I passionately wrote upon our return from Sweden:

Jesus, I Come July 25, 2007
The only reason we have anything, the only reason we are even alive, is because of God. We have done NOTHING to deserve to even live. God is a God of such great love! His people have despised Him, they have tested Him in the desert. God should have made them all perish, but His patience never fails. So often we just put God into a corner of our lives, give Him a few minutes in the morning, and just move on. But God must invade every moment of our lives. Christ must be our cornerstone.

Psalm 103:3- But they soon forgot what he had done and did not wait for His counsel.

Is that not exactly what we do? We forget. We forget that we are filthy creatures with no merit for anything. We forget it is but by HIS PRECIOUS BLOOD that we live. He died so that we might live. But it is time for us to remember. Time to rise from our state of spiritual slumber and arise for Him. Every moment, every breath we take, should be in Him. Everything belongs to Him, and we ought to give him the praise and honor He so deserves.

"Out of my bondage, sorrow and night, Jesus I come, Jesus I come. Into thy freedom, gladness, and light, Jesus I come."

It is time to stand up and be the kind of person God intended you to be. It is time to be on fire for Him. It is time to share Him with everyone you meet. God's love for us is SO DEEP... even when we try our best, we are still terribly flawed. But God will always love us. He has borne our sin upon His shoulders, and it is as far from us as the east is from the west!!!

I also have some related things to say about Lamentations 3:19-33, but I'll save that for another night. For now, let me encourage you to read the book of Lamentation, especially the aforementioned passage. And tomorrow, I'll share my thoughts about it.

Lamentations 3:22- "Because of the Lord's love, we are not consumed...."

Island In the Sun

2007-09-03T20:12:00.000-07:00

All I have to say today is that Weezer videos on youtube are a good thing to watch when you're not having an especially great day. So, if you're not having a great day, watch this video and then go watch the ones for The Sweater Song and Island in the Sun. I can't embed those two because the embedding feature is disabled on them. Sorry. But watch them anyways.

Another thing I watched today that made me very happy was Chinatown. I really, really liked that movie a lot. It truly is a five star movie... it has the whole package of a great script, perfect acting performances, surprising plot twists, and plenty of suspense and intrigue. Faye Dunaway and Jack Nicholson were phenomenal.

Apparently, Apple has plans to update or somehow change the ipod. More information is getting released on Wednesday, but for now not much is know about it. There's a link to the story in the news section to the right of this blog, or just click here to check it out. Pretty interesting.

Only Hope

2007-09-02T17:28:00.000-07:00

Well, yet another tragedy occurred in the Garofalo household today. Mom and I were taking Skuddles for a quick walk before church when he got attacked by some dogs. Lanny Fraterre's daughter has been staying at their house with her rescued pit bull mix, Baily. She had a friend sleep over last night who has two dogs. Quincy (the Fraterre's dog I walk all the time) saw Skuddles first and ran out and bit him. It was more or less playful and harmless and has happened a few times before. However, the pit bull got the wrong message and totally attacked Skuddles. I was able to reprimand Qunicy and take him along with the other two random dogs into the house so the pit bulls owner could come out and try to help. Baily was totally locked on to Skuddles and wouldn't let go for anything. Eventually, they got Baily off Skuddles, but Skuddles obviously has some very serious injuries. Mom and dad took him to the vet right away, and he has serious wounds in his ear, left shoulder, and neck. If the dog had clamped down a little further to the right, Skuddles would be dead right now. He has stitches in four places and has a drain in the one wound to prevent internal bleeding and infection. So yeah, it's pretty serious. He's still kinda sedated now, but he's obviously in a lot of pain.

Baily's owner was really nice, though. She came up to the house with me after I helped her put the dogs away and gave us her information and offered to pick up the vet bill. Which is good because it's over 400 bucks. Mom was hysterical, of course, because Skuddles is her baby. I guess I get my calmness from my dad. Mom told me later this evening "Thank you for acting like the grown up today and taking care of things." I was the one who called the vet and took care of all that stuff. This is why I called Jonathan instead of mom when I crashed my car. Because it would have been the same kind of hysteria. So just pray that Skuddles pulls through alright and that mom is able to remain somewhat calm through all of this.

So, we never made it to church this morning, but dad and I did go to my Nana's for a family gathering later this afternoon. It was really nice... a lot of family members we don't see very often were there. I love my dad's side of the family. Italians are amazing. :) My cousin Daniel, now 23, is moving out to California in a few days to get his masters degree in some crazy physics/science field. (He's very smart.) The crazy thing is that he and Uncle Dave are driving there from their home in Richmond Virginia. It's going to take them about 5 days. It's 30-some hours of driving time. Wow. Today was also a lot of fun because I got to see a lot of vacation pictures. Aunt Becky and Uncle Dave went to Hawaii this year, and Michael and Amy just got back from France. Paris looked amazing. I also got to show off my Sweden pictures and summer scrapbook, so that was a lot of fun.

I was sitting out on the back deck tonight watching the sunset, listening to Caedmon's Call, and just thinking about how awesome God is. Not only did he come to earth as a man and die a shameful death on the cross with our sins on his shoulders, but he also rose again. If he had not risen, our faith would be nothing. But alas, he has risen! Our sins are forgiven. We are washed clean and are white as snow because we have been covered with the perfect blood of Jesus. Our faith is secure in the resurrection of Christ. What a glorious thought!!

The splendor of a King, clothed in majesty
Let all the earth rejoice
All the earth rejoice

He wraps himself in Light, and darkness tries to hide
And trembles at His voice
Trembles at His voice

How great is our God, sing with me
How great is our God, and all will see
How great, how great is our God

Age to age He stands
And time is in His hands
Beginning and the end
Beginning and the end

The Godhead Three in One
Father Spirit Son
The Lion and the Lamb
The Lion and the Lamb

Name above all names
Worthy of all praise
My heart will sing
How great is our God

How great is our God, sing with me
How great is our God, and all will see
How great, how great is our God

This is one of my favorite songs to listen to and just reflect on the goodness and mercy of our Saviour. Truly, how great is our God!

What I've Been Listening To

2007-09-02T06:47:00.000-07:00

Here's what I've been listening to over the past week:

I have almost all of the Belle and Sebastian Cd's now, and The Life Pursuit and Dear Catastrophe Waitress are my favorites. They both have a lot of great songs on them. I also love my Wilco Cd, Sky Blue Sky, and I can't wait to get some more Wilco Cd's. They are so awesome.

I'm also excited for the Cd's I ordered from Amazon to come in this week...

I love music. :)

To Be Myself Completley

2007-09-01T18:15:00.000-07:00

Today was car shopping day number one! Jamie went with mom, dad, and I, so I was very happy about that. Cause her opinion is very important, and I probably drive her places more than anyone else, so she needs to like the car too. And she just made the day wayy more enjoyable than it otherwise would have been. :) At first, things weren't going so well, but we eventually found a few I was happy with. The first one I found that we liked enough to test drive was a 2007 Honda Civic. It was a very pretty shade of dark/navy blue.

I took it for a drive, and it handled really well. A lot better than the old Sunfire. I was impressed.

Then, we went over to the Hyundai dealership, and I liked the light blue Elantra a lot. It drove really well too. The advantage of this one is that it has a sunroof, and is a bit cheaper. Also, the salesman was infinitely better. (The guy at Honda was a real jerk.)

Later on, my parents and I went over to the South Hills area and drove a Nissan Sentra. I didn't like the way it drove at all. It wasn't smooth and the steering didn't feel good like the other cars I drove. Our salesman was totally crazy, too. He had me go up and down all kinds of crazy hills, roads with potholes, everything. It was amusing. And mom was all nervous and jumpy cause I was "Going wayyyyyyy too fast!" Haha. My mom still can't not be nervous with me behind the wheel. I looked at the salesman and said "This is way my dad taught me to drive, not her." And he laughed. The one good thing about the experience, though, was all the new places I discovered. First, by going to the dealership, we found a whole new back way to get to the South Hills area. Then, during the test drive, I went down West Liberty Ave., which had all kinds of cool stuff. There were new shops, places to eat, and, most importantly, coffee shops. There were two we passed that looked really neat. So I'll def be making a trip back there sometime soon to explore more. Anyone want to join me? Pittsburgh is so awesome. There's so much to discover!

Which brings me to my next point.... we ate dinner at a really cool new Italian place tonight! We took the back way to South Hills Village, which alone was really exciting to me because I love learning new ways to get places, and on the way, we found Linguini's. (http://www.linguinismenu.com/) Discovering new restaurants is another one of my favorite things, so I was uuber happy with this place. We ate at a table outside, and the food was good and reasonably priced. I got the Baked Ziti; mom got the lasagna; dad got the meat ravioli. When I went inside to find a bathroom, I discovered a lot more exciting things.... first, it's really pretty inside, too. Good Italian music playing. I also found a poster saying that they will soon be serving breakfast, including fresh pastries and belgium waffles. And, with every breakfast, you get free Italian coffee. I thought that was pretty nifty. The service was the only downside... slow and not very efficient. It did just open, though, so I have to give them a break. They seemed shorthanded tonight.

Then, right beside Linguini's there was a coffee shop... Blue Mountain Coffee. Their sign boasts "The Best Coffee in Pittsburgh", which I find doubtful, but it did look nice. (If you read the BFC&T blog, you'll remember the most recent post talking about "the best" of something and how it is determined. No one has the right to call something "the best" other than the consumer.) There was also a sign up touting their gelato flavors, which all sounded tasty. So that'll have to be on my places in Pittsburgh to visit, too.

After dinner, we headed over to the South Hills mall for a little while. I think I've decided it's one of my favorite Pittsburgh malls. Especially with all the new stores they've added lately. We had a few returns to make, but what I really wanted to do was take my parents into the Apple store. I love that place. Dad bought me a nice case for my ipod, which I'm really happy about, because it was getting all scratched up. I also played with the iphone for a while and lamented my poor, old, ghetto phone. *sigh* But I was very happy to be carrying the adorable little Apple bag around the mall, beautiful in all its white glory and adorned with the little Apple logo. I'm keeping the bag forever. :)

While mom was shopping in one of the store, I was called into Gloria Jean's Coffee by the glorious smell wafting down the mall corridor. Let me tell you, that place has the most amazing smell in the world. I've never actually gotten coffee there, though, and I was in need of some tonight, so this time my wandering in actually resulted in my buying something. I went with a cappuccino. You see, I have a theory. (Almost) every time I go to a new coffee shop, I order a cappuccino. I figure that's the best way to determine whether or not a coffee shop is any good. Cappuccinos are simple, and there's not a whole lot of variety in ways to prepare them, so getting them every where provides a good basis for comparison. If a cappuccino is good, that means the place has the basis of a good coffee drink down... their coffee beans are good quality and tasty, the baristas are competent, the basic ingredients (milk, etc) are good. So you can then conclude that if the cappuccino is good, you could probably order anything else and it would be good as well. Tonight, though, the cappuccino was disappointing. It wasn't hot enough and wasn't very flavorful. It tasted watered down. Not strong enough at all. Also, the service was very poor. So now, you see, I can know that the Gloria Jean's at South Hills isn't a place I'd want to go for anything else. But it was still exciting, because I was trying a new place. And it served it's purpose. I'm awake enough to write this blog... I was really tired earlier. Ah, I love coffee. :)

Oh, and while we're on the subject of coffee, it really bothers me that Gloria Jean's has a Blueberry Morning coffee, described as "fresh picked blueberries and coffee cake with a hint of walnuts." Ew. That is so not coffee. You can't stick blueberry flavoring in with coffee beans, grind it up, and call it coffee. Not acceptable. So, if any one wants to know, a short history of coffee according to Wikipedia...

The history of coffee can be traced to at least as early as the 9th century, when it appeared in the highlands of Ethiopia.[1] According to legend, shepherds were the first to observe the influence of the caffeine in coffee beans when, after their goats consumed some wild coffee berries in the pasture, the goats appeared to "dance" and have an increased level of energy.[10] From Ethiopia, coffee spread to Egypt and Yemen,[11] and by the fifteenth century had reached the rest of the Middle East, Persia, Turkey, and northern Africa.

In 1583, Leonhard Rauwolf, a German physician, after returning from a ten-year trip to the Near East, gave this description of coffee:[12][13]
“ A beverage as black as ink, useful against numerous illnesses, particularly those of the stomach. Its consumers take it in the morning, quite frankly, in a porcelain cup that is passed around and from which each one drinks a cupful. It is composed of water and the fruit from a bush called bunnu. ”

From the Muslim world, coffee spread to Italy. The thriving trade between Venice and the Muslims of North Africa, Egypt, and the Middle East brought many African goods, including coffee, to this port. Merchants introduced coffee to the wealthy in Venice, charging them heavily for it, and introducing it to Europe. Coffee became more widely accepted after it was deemed an acceptable Christian beverage by Pope Clement VIII in 1600, despite appeals to ban the "Muslim drink". The first European coffee house opened in Italy in 1645.[2] The Dutch were the first to import it on large scale, and they eventually smuggled seedlings into Europe in 1690, defying the Arab prohibition on the exportation of plants or unroasted seeds. The Dutch later grew the crop in Java and Ceylon.[14] Through the efforts of the British East India Company, coffee became popular in England as well. It was introduced in France in 1657, and in Austria and Poland following the 1683 Battle of Vienna, when coffee was captured from supplies of the defeated Turks.[15]

When coffee reached the Thirteen Colonies, it was initially not as successful as it had been in Europe. However, during the Revolutionary War, the demand for coffee increased so much that dealers had to hoard their scarce supplies and raise prices dramatically; this was partly due to the reduced availability of tea from British merchants.[16] After the War of 1812, during which Britain had temporarily cut off access to tea imports, the Americans' taste for coffee grew, and high demand during the American Civil War together with advances in brewing technology secured the position of coffee as an everyday commodity in the United States.[17]

Pretty interesting, no?

Just Let Go

2007-08-30T18:02:00.000-07:00

I have exciting news! I (finally) just put my Geneva application into an envelope and into the mail. Now I'm celebrating with some White Peach tea and some Caedmon's Call. And I did watch a movie this evening, too. I watched The Big Lebowski. I'm not sure how I feel about it yet. I feel kinda dirty...it wasn't exactly a clean movie. I think it was more of a guy movie. I can see why guy's would really like it...I just couldn't like or appreciate it that much. But it was great cinematic storytelling... I did love the beginning and end. And there were some good parts that I did enjoy. But I don't think it's one I would watch again any time soon.

I also just registered to take my SAT again. I'm doing it November 3. It's not like my scores were bad last time, I just hope to improve them even more to increase my chances of scholarships and such. I'm randomly taking it at Beaver Falls Senior High because... I don't really know why. First, they don't give it at Montour or anywhere really close. The closest one is in Bethel Park, and I hate that school. That's where I went last time. And I figure, since I'll be right near Geneva, I'll take Jamie with me and I'll drop her off at Geneva to see the guys (if they're not busy that day) then I'll get to see them later on after the test. So it will make a lousy test a lot more fun. Which is always a good thing.

Haha. I'm cleaning up my room a little bit, and I realized that I have like 4 spoons, 3 tea cups, a few glasses, and an ice pack laying around. I've been drinking a lot of tea lately, which is a very happy thing. I need to go find some food. I'm starving. I miss being home all day to cook exotic dinners. Also, now that I don't have a car and therefore no access to a grocery store, we literally have no food. I'm getting very excited for car shopping with Jamie and mom and dad this weekend. Then I can go to the store! :=)

PS: The new Mae cd is stupendous!

I Know Where the Summer Goes

2007-08-30T13:46:00.000-07:00

Well, as Jamie pointed out to me earlier today, I'm a little obsessed with blogging. Blogging makes me happy though, and I think it's a useful thing to do, so therefore, here's yet another post. I love making lists, so I feel compelled to make lists of a few things right now.

Five Things I'm Reading Now
1) Belle and Sebastian: Just a Modern Rock Story
This is a really interesting book about Scotland's most awesome band, Belle and Sebastian. I only got a chance to read the first 15 pages or so thus far, but I've already learned a lot of interesting stuff, such as the fact that the lead singer's idea of a perfect evening is playing Scrabble, drinking tea, and reading a good book. How cool is that? That's so nerdy and wonderful and so much like me! So I can't wait to keep reading this book.

2) Caribbean Travel and Life Magazine: 100 Special Issue
I subscribe to this magazine, which is an indispensably amazing guide to all things warm and tropical, but I'm especially excited about the newest issue I got in the mail today. The main feature is their ultimate compilation of the 100 best of the Island's sights, sounds, stories, wild wonders, exotic islands, and unique resorts. It is going to be so much fun to read.

3) Virtuoso Life Magazine
This is a fun culture magazine that cover subjects like fine food, luxurious travels, and the like. I'm excited because the newest issue I also just got today is the Food and Wine Issue with a special article A Gourmet Trek Around the Globe. I'm really excited for that.

4) Walden
I started reading this on vacation, but I haven't really picked it up since. I'm not that into it, but it's on my list of books to read before I die, and I have it, so I need to attempt to finish reading it.

5) Grapes of Wrath
This, too, is on my list of books to read before I die, and I really need to get it and read it. I'm super excited about that.

Five Movies I Need to Watch
1) Unforgiven
2) Chninatown
3) A Beautiful Mind
4) The Squid and the Whale
5) The Big Lebowski

I have all of those movies in my room now, except for the Squid and the Whale, which I have to pick up from the library on Saturday. I going to watch on of them after I finish this blog. I'm excited about all of them. And once I'm done with them, I will have watched 61 movies!! Isn't that crazy!?

I'm also really excited because Jamie brought the new Mae cd, Singularity, to school today for me to borrow. Yay! I'm going to put that on my ipod right now, then it's movie time!

Oh and also, isn't the title of my blog really appropriate today? It's the title of one of Belle and Sebastian's songs. My summer has certainly went to movies and music! :=)

New Beginnings

2007-08-29T20:30:00.000-07:00

I just found out something very exciting and interesting! I was looking at all kinds of music online, as I so often do, and I discovered that Andrew Osenga has more than just one solo cd! He has two others, actually.... Pho tographs and Souveniers & Postcards. I was listening to a little of them on itunes, and they don't sound quite as good as The Morning does, but I'm still planning on buying them soon since I love him so much. The other exciting thing I found concerning him is his official website.... andrewosenga.com. Once there, he has a free cd (it's short, though, only 6 songs) that you can download. There's also a free digital booklet thing that describes the making of the new cd, all the song lyrics, cool pictures, and all kinds of random fun information. The songs were really cool, too. So that was really exciting to me.

I started looking at music because I was thinking about all the amazing Derek Webb songs we looked at in youth group today. He really is an amazing song writer. His songs have such depth and meaning to them. I like that. So from there, I went on to listen to some of my Caedmon's Call stuff (I have all their cd's on my computer, thanks to Jamie.)) So that made me think about Andrew Osenga and start searching for more stuff about him. I realized that one of the reasons I listen to his cd sooo much (it has more plays than anything on my ipod!) is because of the depth of the songs. They all have meaning to them, and it's easy to relate to them. They all mean something to me. I thought it might be cool to post the lyrics for a few of my favorites, which I have to really think about, because I love every song on his cd.

White Dove
O Mother, please don’t worry
O my lover, please don’t cry
Never pin your hopes to the ground
When they’re meant for the sky

With the pharisees campaigning
Against the signs of the times
Where did the good news go
I heard as a child?

[Chorus]
I am waiting, waiting for a white dove
I am waiting, waiting for a real love

Though it feels a dam is breaking
Like the second coming of the flood
But the promise was not only justice
But mercy and love

There is nothing to be afraid of here
If we stand or if we fall
There is no fear in love
There is no fear in love at all

[Chorus]

And all of this
And all of us
Are an arrow
Pointed at the heart of God
Shot though and pierced his side
Blood and water
Blood and water
Bread and wine

[Chorus]

Every sad thing will become untrue

I really like the whole song Early in the Morning, but this is my favorite verse:
So let us not take this for granted,
Let us not waste the second hand
But let your love rage like a lion
And let your heart break like a lamb.

Santa Barbara
We were standing on the cliff above the ocean
We were watching all the sailors chase the sun
She cast her spell like a net
And I took her little hand
And the stars they were on fire just for us

After the sunset we headed back through Ellwood Park
Like the monarchs I just knew that we could fly
But those moments never stay
And you talk yourself away
From any love that’s ever held you tight

But we were so young and so alive

[Chorus]
In Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, where it all falls down

Now L.A., she’s been creeping on the city
Montecito was the first of her to fall
And like most of my old friends
Who burned out on the trends
It’s hard to keep up sitting on the wall

She got a place a few blocks from the mission
But the church bells weren’t enough to slow her down
And no one was surprised
How it ended up that night
And I’ve been haunted that I should have stuck around

[Chorus]

Cause I left for Steinbeck country
When things started to fall apart
See, I’ve been running
Since the day I found my legs
Now I’m back here in my city
I hear a trumpet on Canyon Perdido
Singing all my sorrow and my shame

But tonight the moon is preaching his revival
And I’m breaking like the tide to make a change
So I’m going to the ocean
I’m swimming past the pier
Praying, Lord, to wash my sins away

I don't really know why I like that one, I just do. Especially the last verse. I guess I love it because it's talking about the ocean, one of my favorite things in the world. At the beach this summer, this song was all I could think of: the last verse was running through my head the whole time I was swimming in the ocean... Praying Lord to wash my sins away.....

This is my favorite of the new free downloads.... The Blessing Curse
I got robbed today
He put a gun up to my chest
And would not go away
Til’ he had everything
But he did not leave with everything
Cause I’ve got things you cannot steal

Her brother’s coming home
It’s been too long
He fell too far
But mended bones
Do not fix everything
But we can heal, I must believe
That we have things this world can never steal

Maybe getting what you want is a blessing
Cause you may find that it can sting and it can burn
What if it’s just a hint of all that you are missing?
Getting what you want is both the blessing and the curse

Folks can’t believe my job
But dying never stops
So I keep building boxes to put it in
But the life already said goodbye to grief and sin
And it rose up like a ghost
The love, the joy
The chosen soul still holds the things
That death can never steal

How amazing is that? This next one is one of my all time favorites, my number one played song. I'm not totally sure why, but it is. I am in love with it. I want this one played at my wedding.

Dance Away the City
Put on a soft dress, turn down the lights
I’ll put on a soft song, pour a little wine
Let’s move the kitchen table,
Let the candles fill the room
Put your arms around me, and mine around you

Cause we’ve been waiting for this moment
And the rest of our lives

[Chorus]
We could dance away this city
We could dance away the night
We could dance away this city
Just you and me tonight

Oh the night, he is a lover
See him dancing with the moon
Where every step is sacred
And every whisper’s true
And our lips have shared our secrets
To leave them in the past
So kiss me like the first time,
Kiss me like the last

Cause we’ve been waiting for this moment
And the rest of our lives

[Chorus]

Nothing but the eyes of God
And a groom and a bride
Nothing but the smile of God
And a groom and a bride

[Chorus]

Alright, well that's my little Andrew Osenga rave for the evening. It's good to listen to music like this, and Caedmon's Call, and Derek Webb, and the like. Sometimes it's also fun to listen to kinda pointless music, too.. such as the Hush Sound. I never really thought about the fact that their lyrics don't have any depth to them until Jonathan mentioned it the other day. It makes me kinda sad that the can't write songs with more meaning and purpose, but that's okay.... I still love the Hush Sound just as much.

I didn't intend for this to turn into a full blown, really long music blog, but that's what it turned into. So, just to finish it right, my 25 top played songs according to my beloved ipod...

1) Dance Away the City Andrew Osenga
2) Marylin Andrew Osenga
3) We Intertwined The Hush Sound
4) House of Mirrors Andrew Osenga
5) White Dove Andrew Osenga
6) Santa Barbara Andrew Osenga
7) Just A Kid Andrew Osenga
8) Following the Blind Andrew Osenga
9) Farmer's Wife Andrew Osenga
10) Romeo on the Radio The Normals
11) All the Wrong Reasons Andrew Osenga
12) God of Wonder's Caedmon's Call
13) Indescribable Chris Tomlin
14) Share the Well Caedmon's Call
15) In Gym Class In High School Andrew Osenga
16) Trying to Get This Right Andrew Osenga
17) New Beginning Andrew Osenga
18) She Must and Shall Go Free Derek Webb
19) After the Garden Andrew Osenga
20) Holy Is the Lord Chris Tomlin
21) I Will Follow You Into the Dark Death Cab for Cutie
22) Your Heart is an Empty Room Death Cab for Cutie
23) Be Thou My Vision Ginny Owens
24) Starry Eyed Supirise Paul Oakenfield
25) Early In the Morning Andrew Osenga

Well, that's my fun list of top played songs. And in case anyone doesn't know, The Normals are a band Andrew Osenga was a part of a while ago. They only made two cd's before breaking up, but they're both really fantastic cd's that you should listen to. The first is A Place Where You Belong, my person preference, and Coming to Life, which is also very good. And again, thanks Jamie for giving those to me. :)

Blacking Out the Friction

2007-08-29T19:03:00.000-07:00

I remembered to look up taxidermy on the internet today! Only Jonathan and Jamie will understand why I did that, but I think you two are the only ones who read my blog, so that works. Wikipedia's article actually wasn't that helpful, which was disappointing. However, I did find some interesting (and kinda gross) stuff on the subject.

1) http://www.learn-taxidermy.com/skinning_taxidermy.htm
This one gives detailed descriptions of how to skin and gut an animal, in case we ever get the urge to do that. It also said, though, that the animal should be taken to a taxidermist right after killing, unless you can't, in which case you must freeze it and put it into a plastic bag. So, I guess people take them in fresh or frozen in baggies. Ew.

2)http://www.wildlifenews.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=wildlife_news.view_article&articles_id=19&issue_id=14
This one is also interesting. It is apparently preferable to skin the specimen yourself and salt it in order to preserve it.

So, I think the general conclusion is that it wouldn't be good to take a live animal in there. And that they can gut them for you, but if you don't bring them in right away, you need to do it yourself.

3)http://www.tahc.state.tx.us/animal_health/cwd/CWD_Recommendations_for_Taxidermists.pdf
As for disposal of remains, this site takes care of that issue. Proper disposal is a paramount safety concern, and serious felony charges may be pressed for those disobeying. So the lesson to learn here is, don't try to dispose of dead animal waste. Unless you are a professional taxidermist and you know what you're doing. Hey, I should make taxidermy my senior project.... ha. Just kidding. :) But now we can say we are educated on the subject of taxidermy.

The State I am In

2007-08-29T14:57:00.000-07:00

This is another one of my post-Sweden journal entries, largely related to yesterday's blog.

July 27,2007: Essential Humanity- Every Knee Will Bow

One of the most powerful and astounding things I have every experienced was a simple church service by the lake in Sweden. It was nothing fancy; most attendants simply sat on blankets spread on the ground while a few other sat in wooden chairs. The pulpit was a movable hunk of wood, and the one man band played the keyboard and accordion while singing. The best part, though, was that no English was spoken throughout the entire service. We did have English sermon notes, but it was hard to fully concentrate on them. Instead, your eyes were drawn upwards to the preacher and to the humble wooden cross firmly standing in a concrete block surrounded by beautiful pink flowers overlooking the picturesque blue lake, rickety wooden pier, and bright green grass and foliage. It was so beautiful to see these people, half way across the world, worshiping the exact same God that we do. Even though we couldn't understand the meaning of his words, listening to the preacher preach was powerful because we could understand one thing: his heart. Love is universally understood and defies all language barriers. We could see the heart that he had for God as he was preaching. It is amazing to think about the fact that all across the world, there are people worshiping the Lord God Almighty. They each have their own style and traditions, and perhaps some are even being persecuted for it. But everywhere, it is essentially the same: there are people with a driving desire to worship and serve God, the creator of all the world and every single person in it.

On a totally different note, we made it through the first day of school today. It wasn't quite a full day because we left to go to the funeral, which was beautiful, but it was still the first day of school. It was really strange. I didn't feel like I should be there. I guess I've just been thinking about college and the rest of my life this summer that I had almost forgotten I have a whole year of high school left. Also, I've been so on my own this summer, with both my parents working and stuff, that it's wired now for everything to be so structured. So I'm not that happy about being back at school, but right now, that's my duty, so I should do it to the best of my ability without complaining. Which isn't always easy, but with God's help, can be done. I did have a lot of fun being able to talk to the teachers and staff after school today, though. Since Mom is my ride for now, I had to stay with her until 4:30, so I got a chance to talk to a lot of people. I talked to Mrs. Doyle for half an hour, Mrs. Gonter for a while, Bobbi for a while, and even a little time for Mr. Stark. Mr. Alouise wasn't in a really great mood, so I didn't get to talk to him for very long. Oh yeah, and I talked to Heather. Mr. Wirebaugh heard Mrs. Doyle and I laughing and stuck his head in the door and said we were having way too much fun. So I laughed and told him he was the only teacher I haven't talked to yet, so tomorrow was his lucky day. Haha So tomorrow is my day to talk to Mr. Wirebaugh. And I am exceptionally glad about Jamie and my wonderful lockers. They are so beautifully decorated! (Jme, I added a bunch of stuff since you've seen it last. It's exciting.) So talking to the teachers and our fun lockers are about the only good things about school right now. I just don't feel like I'm in high school. But in any case, I am. So that's all for now.... time for youth group. :)

Echo

2007-08-28T19:32:00.000-07:00

Okay, two quick random thoughts:

I watched Pan's Labyrinth last night, and I am in love with it. It was such an amazing movie....I liked it way more than I thought I would. I loved how the lines between reality and fantasy were so artistically and beautifully blurred. This really is an aesthetically stunning movie, with a great plot and special effects to boot. If you haven't seen it yet, you need to. You will be impressed.

Secondly, I looked up the Six Penn Kitchen (sixpennkitchen.com) that we passed the other night in downtown Pittsburgh, and it looks really cool. It got really great reviews, too. I want to go there sometime. Jme, perhaps when we either walk from one end of Pittsburgh to the other or go downtown for senior pictures, we can stop and eat there.

I'm also very excited to have Jamie do my senior pictures. It's nice to have a friend who is an amazing photographer. :=)

Momentum

2007-08-28T17:59:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking about a few things today. First off, the fact that my poor car is totaled. No more red Sunfire. It's all gone. Gone, gone, gone. That saddens my soul. I loved that car so much. But oh well. We're getting money from the insurance, and I'm getting a new car this weekend. Actually, it won't be new, it'll be used, but same difference. So I guess that is exciting. I'm just amazed at how amazing my parents are. I mean, why would you buy your daughter a new car after she totaled one? I'm not sure I would even do that for my kid. I just feel bad because I'm such an expense. Does anyone else ever just feel bad about being such a big expense to their parents? Probably not, my parents tell me that I worry about money too much, but I just feel bad. One of these days when I'm much older with a good job, I want to buy my parents everything. I really want to buy them a house. I know that's incredibly crazy, but hey. It could happen. It actually amuses me that I haven't told anyone else about any of this. Only the people who are probably reading this... Jonathan and Jamie...know about it. I don't really know why...I just didn't want to tell them. But then again, as Jonathan knows, I really didn't even want to tell my parents.

So I went out with Matt and Kaitlyn today, and it was really bizarre. I realized how much I, along with my interests, have changed. I just really don't know what to talk about when I'm with them. They just kinda followed me around the mall and we talked about really.. unimportant, not at all deep, stuff. And I really wished that you guys would have been with me too... Jamie, R, Nate, Jonathan, Andrew... all of you. We went in the Apple store, but it just wasn't all that fun, cause Matt and Kaitlyn are not fond of Macs at all. And I kept referencing movies that they had never seen. And when we went it FYE and Best Buy, it was so sad. They don't care about movies or music, really. Haha... I felt like Andrew... I was picking up every other movie and cd and telling them about it. Which is what Drew always does. So it was a sad and bizarre afternoon. Ohh, but we did go into the amazing Giant Eagle, which you have to go to, Jonathan. It is the most spectacular grocery store of all time.

Tomorrow is the first day of school.... Jamie and I have found happiness in the fact that we can decorate our lockers with all kinds of pictures and stuff. We have also officially decided that this has been one of the worst weeks of our lives, but that starting tomorrow evening, it is the beginning of a new week, and we will make it great.

Friends are the greatest thing in the world. Especially really good friends... the ones who you can talk about anything with, from car crashes to movies to school. I'm so thankful for my friends...thank you for always being there for me. You mean so much to me.

I'm really glad that we got to know Eric better over the course of this summer. I think it's very important for us to be there for him, especially at this time in his life. I started crying looking at all the pictures of his mom at the viewing today. It's so sad. It makes me really sad that I never really knew her. She seemed like such a wonderful woman. I want to buy her children's book that she wrote and illustrated. It was really amazing. I had no idea she was so talented.

No matter how many friends we have at any one moment, those friendships will change. People will move away to another state, their interests will change, or they will simply drift away. It happens. I really liked what Russ had to say about this in his blog: "Those we consider indispensible may, in the end, be only momentary players in our lives." We might not remain friends with someone our whole lives, but that doesn't mean we can't help them and be helped by them. God puts people into our lives for a reason. It's so important to have friends and to love them and be there for them unconditionally.

My best friend from childhood was named Courtney. She was like my sister; her parents were like my parents. I've traveled all across the country with then. I was even in one of their family pictures. We basically lived together. We slept and ate at each others houses as much as we did at our own. We always said that if one of us ever moved, the other would hide in the moving truck and go along. Well, that day came. I moved away first. Her parents, the perfect couple that everyone thought would be together forever, divorced. The dad was cheating on the mom. Then they moved away. We tried to continue to talk, but we were both changing so much. We just couldn't really stand each other any more. So we didn't talk for way over a year. Last night, I got a call from her. I didn't realize that there was a part of me that missed her so much. I enjoyed talking to her so much. We mostly reminised about old times, because we grew up together. It was great. It made me realize that I will always love her and she will always have a special place in my heart, no matter how many wrongs she has done me.

Today, Kaitlyn and Matt were laughing at me because I talk to everyone. I don't care that they're a total stranger... I'll talk to anyone. They found it especially amusing when I found myself in a conversation with a lady on the escalator in Macy's today. She was a psychologist. Isn't that interesting? If I wouldn't have said hello, I never would have found out the interesting things I did about her. People are so fascinating. I think now is the perfect time to type out one of my post-Sweden journal entries:

July 26, 2007- Essential Humanity: All You Need Is Love
As we traveled through Europe, and even America, one central them stood out: all people are fundamentally the same. Wherever you go, people always need food, clothing and, whether they realize it or not, a Savior. Outwardly, some folks might be quite different....in the way they dress, the food they eat, and the style of the life that they live. Inwardly, however, you will always find the same thing. Every human being has a heart and a soul, and they just need love. Love from fellow humans that can point them to the perfect love of Christ. Everyone just needs and searches for love. One of my favorite parts of this trip was meeting random strangers and being able to talk to them: the two Japanese teens on their way back to Tokyo; the soccer player from Georgia with an interest in missions; the US Navy officer, stationed in Florida but on his way to vacation in WV, who asked me if he had been snoring while he was sleeping; the 15 year old girl showing me vacation pictures from Switzerland; her loudly snoring dad; the travel-minded mom of the family swapping vacation tales with me. I've found that most of the time, people will open up and respond to a smile and a "Hello", even if they are from a totally different culture and don't entirely understand your language. They will usually open up and talk to you. You never know what you might be able to teach them, what seed of God's love you might be able to plant in their lives. And, you never know what you will be able to learn from them.

I love people. One of my dreams would be to just be able to travel around the world alone and just meet people. Talk to them. Find out about their lives. What is life like for them? Do they have running water? Have they lost family members to bloody civil wars? Or is their life much like our own? Where do they shop? What do they eat? How do they raise their children? Imagine how amazing it would be to publish a book about these people. Snippets of their life stories. Photographs of them. And imagine how many people you could tell about Jesus. I hope some day I can have an chance to do that.

Either Way

2007-08-26T20:50:00.000-07:00

Here's a summer movie watching update....

49) Fried Green Tomatoes (3.5)
50) The Royal Tenebaums (5)
51) Bottle Rocket (4)
52) Big Fish (4.5)
53) Dr. Strangelove (5)
54) Nausicaa Valley of the Wind (4.5)
55) Howl's Moving Castle (4.5)
I think I'll certainly be able to reach my goal of 60 movies before the school year starts, so that's exciting. I also finished my summer scrapbook and read Lord of the Flies, so pretty much all my summer goals have been accomplished with the exception of doing my Sweden scrapbook. I just haven't had time for that. Or money. But I am babysitting tomorrow and Tuesday, so that will be some much needed cash. I think I'm going to get a job. My parents aren't too happy about that, but they don't really seem to be too happy with anything I do anymore. Which is really stressing me out right now. But that's another story.

Right now I'm listening to the Wilco cd I just borrowed from Jonathan, which makes me very happy. I feel really bad now about ripping music from the library's cds. I'm sure lots of people do it, but I'm not going to do it any more. Now that I think about it, it is probably pretty bad.

So... I started this because I wanted to start posting some of my journal entries about thoughts I had after Sweden, but I'm too tired now so I'm going to save that for another day. I'll try to do it some time soon. But for now, I'm off to bed.

Oh, but one more thought... I got all the album artwork for all my cds, and that makes me very happy. It's so much better than just having the song titles. It's so cool. And it was really easy, except for the cds that didn't have artwork, like my Jamie happy mixes. But I put in pictures of me and Jamie from this summer for them, so that's fun.

How Great Is Our God

2007-08-24T18:53:00.000-07:00

I can't believe school starts in a few days. It's such a weird feeling. I really don't want to go back, but I also really just want to get this year over with. RTCS seems so strange now. At the back to school party, I realized that there really isn't anyone left at our school. And that's sad. Really sad. It was also strange seeing other people, because the only person that I've been seeing this summer is Jamie. We've been together pretty much every day, and haven't really seen much of anyone else. It's been a really amazing summer though.... Jamie and I have had so much fun. :=) But now, going back to school is a really weird feeling, and I don't really exactly know why. I'm sure it will be a good year, though.

I'm just really ready to go to college and not... live at home any more. Although it's been really nice this summer because both of my parents have been at work all day, so I've basically had full run of the place. I really like being able to do what I want, when I want. I love being able to cook for my family, too. It makes me really happy to have dinner ready for my parents when I come home. And I always make sure I do the dishes and clean the house for mom. It makes me feel like I'm giving a little something back to my parents who give so much to me. One day this summer, probably around 2 or 3 am, Andrew was driving me home from a movie at Jamie's, and he asked me "How is it you like have total control over your house?" And it kinda make me stop and think about that and laugh cause it's really not normal. But even so, I am very excited to go to college. Even more so now that RTCS is dying. It will be so nice to meet all kinds of new people, and have more than five of them be my age!

Speaking of freedom, though, I've pretty much lost a lot of that since my car accident. I'm still quite mad at myself for doing that, but life goes on. It happens to everyone at least once, I suppose. I don't really know how long it will be before I get it back... it made it from the tow place to the auto repair place last night, but they are closed all weekend... so it might be a little while. But everything happens for a reason and everything is part of God's plan. Including the car accident. I've been thinking a lot lately about God's plan and purpose for my life, and realizing how totally out of my control that it is. For example: On Wednesday, the day of the accident, I knew I had a lot to do, so I wrote everything down in time slots in my planner, thinking I had everything all figured out and that it would be the perfect day. 10:00- Get up
10:30- Make breakfast
10:50- Walk the dog
11:00- Exercise
11:30- Finish filling out Geneva application
12:30- Look for recipes for dinner
1:00- Make lunch
1:40- Make the Eggplant Parmeasan and other stuff for dinner later
Then, I started watching Fried Green Tomatoes around 2:30ish, and by the time it was over, it was 4:40, and I realized I had no time to get ready and meet Jonathan to talk about college stuff at 5:30. So I rushed to get ready really fast and left the house. I was in a hurry, and I would have been semi-on time... until I rammed into the back of a car at the stoplight, who hit the car in front of her, who hit the car in front of her.....I happened so fast, I didn't really know what had happened. So the immediate thing I learned is not to make a detailed schedule, caused I'm really not that structured, and I obviously either don't plan time well, or I just don't follow structured schedules well. So I won't be doing that again.

But on a deeper note, it was a poignant reminder that our plans are not our own. No matter how well we schedule our time, God has a bigger plan for us that doesn't get written down between the pages of our Day Timer.

'For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28

"For no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God had prepared for those who love him." 1 Corinthians 1:9

"In his heart, a man plans his steps, but the Lord determines his course." Proverbs 16:9

We don't always understand God's plans for our lives, but we can be assured by the fact that they are God's plans, therefore they are perfect. God makes no mistakes. I've always loved the book of James, but never before has it applied to my life so much... "Count it pure joy, my brethern, when you fall into divers temptations, knowing that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing." One of the first things I ever memorized was the KJV version of the entire first chapter of James, way back in the Baptist church in WV. These verses are so true.... God puts trials in our lives to teach us lessons and to cultivate patience in our lives. Experience is the best teacher. We can't just sit back and expect to gain wisdom, insight, and patience... we have to be willing to be taught. It's not always easy to be taught, but the end result will be worth the struggles.

God has been working in my life a lot of ways this summer, especially through our mission trip to Sweden, which was probably the most impacting experience of my life thus far. A couple of the lessons I brought back from Sweden can be especially well applied right now. First, material things don't really matter. I spent a very stressful pre-Sweden week trying to buy last minute things, pack my suitcase perfectly, making sure nothing was forgotten, etc. Then, we get to Sweden, and my luggage, along with Jonathan's, Eric's, and Nate's, and our luggage was still back in Germany. But it really wasn't that big of a deal... I got along just fine without it for the first few days. All the time I had spent packing was in vain. I could have just brought another pair of jeans a a few shirts and that would have been plenty. And now, it's happened on a larger scale. I lost my car. It's gone for a few days. But you know what? It's okay. The world hasn't stopped turning yet. I might sorely miss my frequent Target, Star Bucks, and Giant Eagle rune, but life goes on. The car is just another material possession that I can do without. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to go without it, but it is possible. The most important things in life are intangible.... family, friends, and a sense of community. That's Sweden lesson number two. I realized how important being part of a community of Christian people is. And I realized how much I love my friends and really can't do without them. That was probably my favorite part of the Sweden trip... being with a community of loving Christian people totally devoted to the church and being with all my favorite people... R, Jamie, Jonathan, Heather, Nate, Eric, Adam, and Justin. Seriously, there is no one who I would have rather traveled around the world with. Who needs luggage when you have community, church, and friends?

One of the things that I've been praying a lot about this summer is for God to help me to grow into the person that he wants me to become. For me to grow closer in my walk with Him. And for Him to help me in all the decisions that I need to make concerning college and such. Because it was something that I had already been thinking about, the last line of Jonathan's encouragement card to me from Sweden really struck me: "I pray that God would continue to teach you, call you, and grow you into an amazing woman of God." Since I read that, it has become my prayer. I sincerely wanted that, and God has been answering that prayer through all kinds of different circumstances. God always hears our prayers and always answers them, even if it isn't in the way we expect. I never expected to have to have a car accident and be car-less for a week or two to be taught a lesson. But everything happens for a reason, and we need to not gripe or complain but rather allow all situations to teach us. We need to stop and think about what God is trying to tell us in trying circumstances. We have to be willing to be taught, even if it isn't easy. The best things in life never come without a price to pay.

Isaiah 61: 1-3 "The spirit of the sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord had anointed me, because the Lord had anointed me to preach the good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim freedom to the captives and release the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion, to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of His splendor."

This passage is yet another example of something I have brought back with me from Sweden. I had honestly never read it before until Jonathan did a devotional on it with us and the others from Sweden. My prayer is that God would make me an oak of righteousness and use my life for the display of God's splendor. In all things, I should respond in such a way that others should be able to look at me and see a reflection of God. The purpose of my life is to lead others to God's beautiful, perfect love... to have my life be a display of God's splendor.

Eight Days A Week

2007-08-22T08:18:00.000-07:00

Wow... how about I just did something kinda crazy. I walked the dog and then decided I still had a lot of energy, so I decided to grab my ipod and take a long walk or something. (This is me avoiding the 1,000 things I need to do today. I am such a procrastinator.) So I decide to run for a little while. I end up running all the way from my house down to Primanti Brothers. And I did run the entire way, only pausing to say Hi to the old guy on his porch telling me I was jogging too slow and that he was timing me. Given, it is all down hill, so it didn't feel that hard, but I wasn't thinking about the way back. Haha. So I had to walk most of the way back because trying to run up a massive hill is not easy when you're out of shape. Oh, and did I mention I was wearing flip flops? I can't imagine how bizarre I must have looked. Oh well. Next time I'll be wearing tennis shoes. And my ultimate fitness goal is to be able to run all the way down to Primanti's and all the way back up. Imagine the surprise of the old guy on the porch when that happens!!

(I've also decided that my new Beatles cd was perfect to listen to because it's fast paced and kept me motivated. But that's just a side note. Now I need to go do something more important....like watch a movie. :=) I love summer.)

We Intertwinded

2007-08-22T06:45:00.000-07:00

The Hush Sound concert last night at the Rex was spectacular!! I love them sooo much! I'm also very excited that we got to go up to them afterwards and talk to them and have them autograph stuff. I've been listening to my amazing autographed cd's all day. Very exciting!

I also though the Rex was a very cool place. I liked it a lot. I was looking at it on the internet, and they have a cool website with a list of all the concerts. I haven't heard of most of the bands, but one sounds really cool... Thomas Dolby and the Jazz Mafia Horns. Haha. Quite a name, isn't it? But at the concert, Drew, Jonathan, and I were talking about Pittsburgh's need for a Jazz Club or something of the sort, so I was just intrigued by this jazz-y band coming to the Rex. I was checking their music out on itunes, and they are quite awesome. I think so anyways.

But speaking of bands, I am officially totally in love with Belle and Sebastian. I found them on Facebook because Jonathan had marked their concert as one that he wanted to go to, so I listened to some of their stuff, and I am hooked. I was reading their short biography on itunes too, and they have a really cool story. I mean, they're from Scotland. How cool is that? So I just requested like all of their cd's from the library, which was totally impractical because you can only take a few out at a time and I had already requested several more, but oh well. I hope they come in soon! So that's my rave about Belle and Sebastian. If you haven't heard them, you need to go listen to them right now.

Oh, and an update on my summer movies.... I'm now up to 48....
40) Breach (4)
41) The Life Aquatic (4.5)
42) An American In Paris (3.5)
43) The Godfather (4.5)
44) My Big Fat Greek Wedding (3)
45) Just Like Heaven (3)
46) Les Mis (4)
47) Hitch (2.5)
48) Serendipity (3)

My favorite out of those would have to be The Life Aquatic. Wes Anderson is a genius. I just loved that movie. I watched it three times before I had to return it to the library. I'm excited to see some of his other stuff, too. I just ordered The Squid and the Whale from the library, and I'm really upset that the library told me it didn't have The Royal Tennebaums, Rushmore, or Bottle Rocket in its database. Any one have those and want to loan them to me? Oh, and I'm excited for the Darjeeling Limited to come out in a few months. Exciting stuff!

Steadier Footing

2007-08-16T14:14:00.001-07:00

Well, this is my official list of all the movies I've watched so far this summer, now in a normal font that everyone can see. The number at the end is my rating, out of five. My goal is to watch 60 movies before school starts, so I'll update this again soon. Wish me luck... I still have to watch 16 movies in two weeks. Yikes!

1) Pirates of the Caribbean 3 (2)
2) Spider-Man 3 (3)
3) Princess Mononoke (4)
4) Meet the Parents (3.5)
5) Knocked Up (4)
6) Surf's Up (3)
7) The interpreter (2)
8) Ocean's 11 (4)
9) Ocean's 12 (2.5)
10) Ocean's 13 (4)
11) Phantom of the Opera (3.5)
12) How to Lose A Guy in 10 Days (2.5)
13) Little Miss Sunshine (5)
14) Anger Management (2.5)
15) Pulp Fiction (5)
16) Mystic River (4.5)
17) Napoleon Dynamite (4)
18) The Bourne Identity (4)
19) The Bourne Supremacy (3.5)
20) The Bourne Ultimatum (4.5)
21) The Wedding Singer (3.5)
22) Mickey Blue Eyes (3)
23) Vertigo (3.5)
24) About Schmidt (4)
25) Gattaca (5)
26) Analyze This (1)
27) Zoolander (5)
28) Ratatouille (4.5)
29) There's Something About Mary (2.5)
30) Letters From Iwo Jima (4.5)
31) The Manchurian Candidate (4.5)
32) Matchstick Men (4)
33) Thank You For Smoking (4.5)
34) The Fountain (4.5)
35) Minority Report (3)
36) The Sixth Sense (3.5)
37) Serendipity (3)
38) 12 Monkeys (4.5)
39) Rush Hour 3 (2.5)
40) Hairspray (4)
41) The Life Aquatic (4.5)
42) An American In Paris (3.5)
43) Breach (4)

Testing 1,2,3

2007-08-15T21:39:00.001-07:00

Alright, this is a different font.... can you read it now Jonathan? Sorry, I didn't really have anything meaningful to write but it was bothering me so I decided to just put this up.

Don't Stop Me Now

2007-08-07T06:42:00.000-07:00

I thought another cool thing to put in my blog would be stuff about cooking, since cooking is one of the things I really love. I successfully made an omelet for the first time today! I was very excited that it turned out well. If you've ever tried to make one before, you know it's not that easy. Mine usually fall apart, but this morning it didn't. The trick is to cook it over a much lower heat setting for a longer period of time and not turn or move it too much. Once the bottom of it was pretty brown and had been cooking for a while, the rest was set enough for me to turn it without having it fall apart. Then, I cooked it while it was folded for a while to let the eggs in the middle finish cooking, then I slid it from pan to plate. Here's the recipe: 1 Slice Green Pepper
1 Small, Ripe Roma Tomato
Slice of Swiss Cheese, Shredded
3 Eggs
Pinch of Salt
Splash of Milk
Nonfat Olive Oil Cooking Spray (to grease pan)

That's all I used... it's pretty simple to make, really. It could have benefited from a salty meat, though. Next time, I'll add some bacon or ham for extra flavor.

Plans

2007-08-07T06:08:00.000-07:00

Well, this is my blog! I'm very excited about it, even though I'm not sure how exciting it will be for everybody else to read. I guess I'll start with the list of movies I've watched so far this summer and how well I liked them. I wanted to watch as many movies as possible this summer, and I've done pretty well. So far, I've watched 31. Here they are.

1) Pirates of the Caribbean 3 (2)
2) Spiderman 3 (3.5)
3) The Departed ( 4)
4) Knocked Up (4)
5) Surf's Up (3.5)
6) Ocean's 11 (4.5)
7) Ocean's 12 (2)
8) Ocean's 13 (5)
9) Little Miss Sunshine (5)
10) Phantom of the Opera (3.5)
11) How to Loose A Guy in 10 Days (2)
12) Anger Management (2.5)
13) Pulp Fiction (5)
14) Mystic River (5)
15) Napoleon Dynamite (3.5)
16) The Bourne Identity (4)
17) The Bourne Supremacy (3.5)
18) Mickey Blue Eyes (3)
19) Serendipity (3.5)
20) Vertigo (3.5)
21) About Schmidt (4)
22) Gattaca (5)
23) Analyze This (1)
24) Ratatouille (4.5)
25) Zoolander (5)
26) As Good as It Gets (4)
27) Princess Mononoke (4)
28) Letters From Iwo Jima (4.5)
29) There's Something About Mary (2.5)
30) Matchstick Men (4)
31) The Manchurian Candidate (4.5)