Just Visiting...

I have friend that I've known for almost ten years. When I first became a Christian, our friendship started to fall apart. She didn't like my new friends. She didn't like that I wasn't the same that I was before. She didn't like that I didn't just ignore her racist jokes anymore... She didn't like that I was always at Bible study or just hanging out with my friends from Bible study. I invited her to join me, but she didn't really want to. She wanted to be her own separate part of my life, but I couldn't really separate my life into parts. We were still friends, but we didn't see each other much anymore. My last year at UNR, our time together had become especially sparse. I saw her probably 8 times that entire year. After my graduation party, things just fell apart, and we drifted apart for about a year and a half. When we came back together, she was more open-minded, more receptive to talking about her faith and what it meant to her, and why I had dove in so passionately. I will admit, I was probably too pushy with her sometimes, but it was only because I was desperately trying to keep her in my life, I was trying to get her to fit into the new life I was finding.
Over the last year, my friend has become a new person, too. She used to clam up when religion (or politics) came up in conversation. Now she starts the conversations. She has come to realize that faith doesn't have to be something that she experiences alone, but really can be something that she can share with others. This brings me to the title of this post.
I had shared with my friend that we were on sabbath break from church. She wanted to try out a new church, different from the traditional church that she was used to, and so she asked me to go with her. I really appreciated this opportunity since this was something I had always wanted to share with this friend. I agreed to go to this church with her, despite my expectations that I know it to be against many of my beliefs of what a church should be.
We entered the building and it instantly reminded me of the lobby of a high rise office building-- glossy wood walls, tile floor, rows of doors along both sides. The woman who had invited my friend took us on a tour. Tables were set up off to the left and a cafe type window was cut into the wall where people could place an order for the food and beverages they would like to buy. We proceeded along the left to the stairs where we moved to the second floor. The second floor was entirely offices except for one door. The door opened up to the balcony of the auditorium/sanctuary. She informed us that including the balcony they could seat 850. The seats were all theatre style, padded seats bolted to the floor--level after level after level of these seats. At the front where the worship was played and the message delivered was a stage with curtains and all. Not just a raised platform, but an actual stage. We proceeded back down the stairs, and she pointed out where the kids area was, but didn't take us over. She said that since we didn't have kids we probably weren't interested.
Once the service started, things got even more over-the-top. The worship was reminiscent of a rock concert with a full light show and fog. At this point I noticed that there were six video screens, probably 72 inches, placed throughout the sanctuary. There was a camera person zooming in on each member of the worship team individually and displaying them up on the screen. And during their announcements, they advertised their upcoming water baptism and barbecue. They reminded everybody to see x person to purchase their baptism barbecue ticket for $5.00.
The experience made me so much more grateful to be a part of a church that does not promote this culture of excess. I am glad to be part of a church that is not so big and so focused on the production that nobody gets to know anybody. I miss all you guys!

You're not a real coffee drinker!

If you think you're a big coffee drinker, think again. I was just browsing and came across this story. This is hilarious! I cannot imagine how sick I would be if I tried this:
Too many Starbucks, too little time

Can this really be the end?

Captain of the geeks reporting in. I just completed my marathon reading session after picking up my copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I started reading at about 2 am and I just finished at about 5:30 pm. I did pause in there for a short nap, about an hour and a half. But now I am done. I am kind of sad that the whole series is over. That there will be no more of Harry Potter's adventures to read. I will say nothing about the content of the book at this point so as not to spoil anything for people who haven't started and/or finished yet. I suppose now I shall have to resort to reading the whole series OVER AND OVER again. (Not that I didn't do that already, but now it is complete, so it's different.)

Geekism is in my genes

So tomorrow is the release of the seventh and final Harry Potter book. I read through books one through six a few weeks ago and I got done too early. I had to read a couple more books, see the fifth movie and then start over with books five and six. My eagerness to try to determine what is going to happen in book seven has gotten my mom interested in the books. I've been trying to talk her into reading them for five years, and finally she decided to give them a chance. She originally only took the first book because she wasn't sure if she was going to like them since she usually reads mysteries. A couple days after I gave her the first book, she asked me to get out the next book for her so that she could pick it up when she came to get my cat. (She was watching Smokey while I was in Napa a couple of weekends ago.)
I knew that this would happen. I knew that my mom would enjoy them and want to get through them as quickly as she could. After all, the last series I got her hooked on, she finished reading 14 books in about a month.
Today when I asked my mom how far she was in book four of the Harry Potter series, she tried to defend herself as though I was going to make fun of her for reading slow and told me that there are more important things than books. I pretended to freak out and said, "You mean I shouldn't be staying at home reading when I'm supposed to be at work." She laughed and said that I only go to work so that I can pay for my books. My response: "Yeah, I don't even bother with rent anymore-- just books." And her response: "You have to pay rent so that you have a place to keep your books."
So apparently my mom thinks I am a geek. I haven't even bought very many books recently. The last book I bought was the most recent in the series that she's also addicted to and she read it before I did. Mind you, once I got my hands on it, I read it in one night... But come on--I might as well enjoy all of this reading time while I am single because we all know that if I ever get married, I won't have this sort of time then.

I may be a geek, but I think I have evidence that it's hereditary.

That's one bitter apple!

I know this might sound completely ridiculous, but I really hate that Adam and Eve had to go and spoil things for all of creation. I mean if it wasn't for that one darned apple, we would have so much less fuss.
Picture the scene shortly after this problem began.

Eve: Oh, Adam... Does this sheep skin make me look fat?
Adam: Grunts
Eve: I'm serious. I need help picking out an outfit.
Adam: Grunts
Eve: Okay, so do you like the fig leaf or the maple leaf better
Adam: (raised eyebrows) Which one's easier to take off?
Eve: (hits Adam with her purse) This is really important. I'm afraid the fig leave might be too skimpy. It might make me look cheap.
Adam: (looks down at his fig leave and shrugs)

We wouldn't have to worry about whether or not we can afford to buy all the latest fashion... We wouldn't have to worry about whether the same size will fit us in every brand... And we CERTAINLY wouldn't have to worry about trying on 40 different swimsuits and still not finding even one that fit in a manner becoming of a modest Christian woman.
Then again, one could argue in the case of swimsuits that being a man would be quite advantageous. After all, then you only have to worry about finding a pair of shorts that fits around your waist. Being a woman trying to find a bathing suit is probably comparable to being a man and trying to find a new pair of flip flops... And it's all because of Adam and Eve.

The moral of the story:
Number of swimsuits tried on today: 10
Number of swimsuits purchased: 0

Enough Adventure for One Night

It was a pretty peaceful day. I went to my parents' house and watched Take the Lead with my mom. We ate bacon and eggs and then I watched Scoop with both of my parents. Nice and calm. We then went to Sam's Club, which was less crowded than usual, got all of the samples we could, made our purchases and continued to Barnes and Noble to purchase the thirteenth book in a series that my mother and I both read. I let her take the book first since at the moment I am making my way through the Harry Potter series again before book seven comes out... I am completely aware of how geeky this sounds and so I will add a little more to that fire. At Barnes and Noble I also purchased a paper back copy of the sixth Harry Potter book because I don't like to write in my hard cover books. My parents looked at me as though I was completely insane, not understanding why one would want to write in a book in the first place... Of course they wouldn't understand... They are not book nerds. At any rate, this still sounds like a normal day, right?
So we make our way to Baldini's because my parents like the beef barley soup. For the third week in a row, we have the same waiter. My dad said that they also had him for three weeks prior to the first week that I went with them. Apparently, every time that I've come with them, the waiter has not charge my parents for their soup, nor has he charged for my soda. My dad is convinced that it has something to do with me... I will neither admit nor deny that. I am just amused by it.
After we are done at Baldini's and on our way back to my apartment, my mom's best friend calls to ask if we want to meet up with her because she's going to dinner. My mom agrees, so we decide we'll just have dessert or a drink since we've already eaten. This is where the adventure begins. My mom's best friend is in the mood for Olive Garden. As we get closer we see tons of emergency vehicles. Just as we were about to make a left onto Peckham, a firetruck flips around and blocks off traffic. So we have to merge back over to go straight. We get to Virginia, then to Kietzke and see that there are approximately 15 police cars in the Olive Garden parking lot. We make our way in, find a place to park and get out of the car. Terri has put our names in, but the restaurant is not allowed to let anyone in or out. So we wait because Terri doesn't want to eat anywhere else... She doesn't want to take her food to go and come over to my place and eat (since it's close) and she doesn't want to go home until she's had her soup from Olive Garden. While we are waiting, we hear five or six different variations of what has happened. The first story is that a guy who lives in the apartment complex shot his girlfriend and then when the police showed up, he shot a policeman. The second variation is that a guy shot his girlfriend somewhere else--the police were chasing him and he crashed into something and fled into the apartment complex and they were trying to find him. The variations just continue from there. According to the news reports, nobody was hurt in the incident, so all of the tales we heard while waiting to get into the Olive Garden were bunk. But I still say that the experience was quite enough adventure for one night...

Just one of those days...

My life is pretty good right now. I like my new job. I'm six days shy of proving my old boss wrong (she said I wouldn't last three months). I have actually been getting some attention from guys recently, (one asked for my # last weekend, and I got free drinks from the other last night...) which is very unusual for me. I have paid off all of my credit cards. I can probably buy a laptop soon. And yet right now, I am feeling kind of down. It has nothing to do with MY life. My life is pretty darn good right now. It has more to do with my family. Some things are not going well in my family right now. I am worried that my brother is unhappy, which makes me unhappy. My brother deserves to be happy.
*****
Also, I have a nephew who has gotten in some trouble recently and both he and his mother are trying to blame the trouble on everyone but themselves. This frustrates me because that's how it always is with them. EVERYTHING is always someone else's fault. I know it's not my place to judge, but I just wish they would step up and take responsibilty once in a while. They have a victim mentality in ALL situations. This is part of the reason I don't enjoy their company. My sister always has some tall tale about why an incident wasn't her fault or the fault of her child. It's not her daughter's fault that she snuck out and drove a car without a license--if it wasn't for her friend...
*****
My grandmother on my dad's side is now not speaking to my dad because of an incident at dinner on Tuesday night. My parents decided to take her out for mother's day/her birthday on Tuesday night. As usual, my mom invited my brother, his wife, and me to go along. Last time I didn't go because I had other plans, and so I felt obligated to go this time. We made it through most of dinner with no problems. We were at a buffet, so there was lots of time away from the table. Then when we went to get dessert. I almost never eat dessert, but always at a buffet. I got a tiny sliver of cake and a couple of chocolate mousse cups. As soon as I sat down with it, my grandmother looks at me and says, "You're not going to eat that, are you? That stuff makes you fat." I just said, "Um, okay," and went back to my conversation with Becca. Later in the evening, I told my mom about it and she was PISSED. I wasn't really upset by it or terribly mad because I expect this from her. After all, this is the woman who told me--at my college graduation party, no less-- that maybe I would find a boyfriend if I lost some weight. At any rate, my mom was pissed, told my dad that he needed to talk to his mother about this because it was just rude. My dad talked to her about it, she accused me of being too sensitive and somehow the conversation resulted in my father and my grandmother not speaking.
*****
At any rate, I suppose that my point is that my family, (excluding my parents, my younger brother, my aunt and three of my cousins) is a nightmare to be around. I really don't enjoy their company all that much. All of you fellow Hillsiders are much more family to me than most of my real family. You have shown me more love and acceptance than most of my real family as well. I don't think I could ever truly express how much I appreciate that. I am just glad to have such an awesome church family who accepts me for me whether I am fat or skinny, happy or sad. Thanks to all of you for always being there for me when I need someone and for showing me love like I haven't seen from most of my family. You guys are part of what makes my life so good right now, so seriously, thank you to all of you who have treated me like family.

SO demanding! : P

So I have this friend... Let's just call her Schmecky. Shmecky seems to be waiting for me to write a post about her and her great exodus to the horrible desert of Las Vegas.
Schmecky and I have been great friends for a very long time now. In fact, it almost makes me feel old when I think about how long we have been friends. And now Schmecky is not here and it is very depressing and we all miss her. But it doesn't really seem all that different yet. It's only been a week. I think it hasn't completely sunk in yet that Schmecky is now far far away, only to go far far far far far far far far far far far far far away in a few months. I think the far far away will be easy enough to handle because of the promise of at least a visit or two in sight. The really emotional time for me will be when the far far away becomes the far far far far far far far far far far far far far away. This is not to say that I haven't had a couple of emotional moments, but nothing quite like what I expected.
While we are on the subject of my emotional moments and Schmecky, let me share a rather amusing story about Schmecky. She told me that she'd be disappointed if I didn't cry. After all, as everybody knows, that is what I do best. If they had the job of "professional cryer" somewhere, that would be me. At any rate, she expected me to cry. So on the day of Schmecky's official send off at church, she intentionally did not sit by me because she knew that I would cry. I did, and then all was well. The following Sunday was Schmecky's final Sunday at our church before her exodus, and as we were preparing to leave, people were stopping Schmecky to wish her well on her voyage. After each person, she would try to herd me toward the door. I am convinced that she was trying to get out as quickly as possible so that all of these other goodbyes would not result in me crying. It was quite funny really. I suppose you probably had to be there, but I was VERY amused. In the end, we both escaped the church completely dry.
And that is the beginning of the story of Schmecky's exodus. Stay tuned for future installments of this tale.

I almost got mauled for parking in the bear's driveway!

This is hilarious. I love typos. I love grammar goofs. They make for some of the best laughs:

http://www.cbc.ca/cp/Oddities/070509/K050906AU.html

Fun-filled Day

What a day, what a day. I laughed, I cried, and then I laughed some more. As most of you know, Becky is staying with me this week, and try as I might to avoid it, I'm pretty sure it's going to be an emotional week. I think I've done pretty well so far. Becky has been my best friend for probably about four years now and this morning during the church send off was the first time I cried, but now that I let it happen, I'm pretty sure it's going to be happening on and off all week. But the week will be an opportunity for us to fully enjoy (and annoy :P) each other. So far this is what we've done:
*Becky had her garage sale and I bought some of her stuff (we really do have similar taste)
*We went to Cafe de Thai for lunch yesterday with Mary (and ate the leftovers today)
*We made a very tasty dinner at my house last night after which
*We went to the Chocolate Bar
#######BEDTIME#######
*We went to church where I cried, and Becky laughed at me for crying (not in a mean way, just the awwwww look, Jeni's crying again sort of way...)
*We went to the Hillary Clinton event at Hug High (it was really weird being there again...) more on that at the end of the post. I feel somewhat obligated to blog about it for reasons I will tell ya'll about later if you ask me about it in person...
*We watched Click
*We went to Winco for groceries
*We came back, made another tasty dinner, and watched The Amazing Race and Desperate Housewives. (I know, it's awful)
#######BEDTIME#######
And this is the part where I'm supposed to be going to bed because I work at 7:30 am, but I don't usually go to bed until 11pm anyway, so I still have about 30 min.
And now for my three main thoughts on the Hillary Clinton event:
1. People are really dumb. I know this is a cruel generalization, but it is an unfortunate truth. A couple examples of why people are so dumb:
*They will do the most nonsensical things to get themselves noticed and/or on television. The first person who spoke after the floor was opened up for questions told a long and drawn out story that didn't really result in a question at all. It was a sob story in which he complained about his 60,000 dollars in student loans because he couldn't find a job as a music teacher. I understand that student loans suck, but seriously, if you're going to ask a question, just ask it. And don't blame the "rising cost of education" for your 60,000 dollar student loan. You could have gotten an equally useless degree in music education in state for MUCH less money. (I'm such a jerk, aren't I?)
*When they hear a "promise" being made by a politician they scream and jump for joy as though this promise is already beginning to come true. Perhaps I'm a bit cynical, but I think that jumping for joy over a mere suggestion is a bit ridiculous.
*They will loudly voice their opinions even though those opinions are completely misdirected. When the war in Iraq came up, there were several people who started yelling, "where are the weapons?" I understand that not everyone supports the war, but yelling "where are the weapons" at Hillary Clinton will solve absolutely nothing unless of course it turns out that she does indeed know where the weapons are.
*One woman asked if she could have Hillary's word that if she was elected that she would never lie to the public. How dense do you have to be to think that is possibly? Once again, this may be my cynicism again, but I tend to believe the popular House-ism "Everybody Lies". Not one person can say that they will NEVER lie.

2. I am very amused by the fact that all of the political paraphanalia associated with Hillary's campaign says just "Hillary". Becky suggested that this may be to make her seem more personable. I can see that side of it, but I also think they're trying to keep her from being too strongly associated to the name "Clinton" because of Bill's lies. Not that his are any worse than anyone else's, but some people will never forgive or overlook that. I think they want people to forget that she's married to him--that perhaps she has less of a chance if people are constantly reminded of that fact by having that name "Clinton" all over the place as constant reminders of her husband's indiscretions.

3. I think she made a VERY big mistake when the sugject of immigration came up. A kid in the audience asked what was going to happen with immigration. She basically said we need to keep better track of the illegals, we need to protect the border, we need to hold business accountable for hiring undocumented workers. Blah blah blah the usual. And then the mistake begins. We need to send our neighbors to the south a clear message that they need to start creating their own jobs. They need to learn English when they are here. CRASH The cheers toward that one were severely muted compared to many of the other things she spoke about. I understand the purpose of the statement in terms of trying to gather middle class Nevada votes, but it was completely inappropriate given the audience. If you're holding an open forum at the GSR, sure go ahead and say that. When you're speaking at Hug High School, where a large part of the student body is Hispanic, don't go bashing "our neighbors to the south". It's not a matter of whether what she said is right or wrong--it's a matter of considering one's audience and I really don't think she did when she gave that answer. It doesn't really do any good to win over the middle class white folks of Nevada if you alienate the Hispanic population because they are a growing part of the Nevada voting population.

I know. I bet ya'll are shocked. You never thought I would post anything about politics. (I probably wouldn't have gone if Becky hadn't been going, but I'm glad I did. I got some good laughs out of the experience and heard some good and bad arguments.) How controversial. Okay, but seriously. Hopefully this will spark some conversation. Please no downright unsupported bashing. Supported arguments and discussions would be great, though. Have fun and enjoy.