there's been a lot of action going on in our little acacia community. i always feel so blessed when i think about this family i have here and the way each person has shaped me for the better. last week anna left for socal and she shared this passage with us:
“In friendship...we think we have chosen our peers. In reality a few years' difference in the dates of our births, a few more miles between certain houses, the choice of one university instead of another...the accident of a topic being raised or not raised at a first meeting--any of these chances might have kept us apart. But, for a Christian, there are, strictly speaking no chances. A secret master of ceremonies has been at work. Christ, who said to the disciples, "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you," can truly say to every group of Christian friends, "Ye have not chosen one another but I have chosen you for one another." The friendship is not a reward for our discriminating and good taste in finding one another out. It is the instrument by which God reveals to each of us the beauties of others.” ~C.S. Lewis
i really like that. actually this post is just an excuse to save that quote so it doesn't get lost in the abyss of gmail inbox. i love that in mutual effort to glorify god we come together to celebrate stuff like babies and people getting married or people moving on. or just to eat dinner together, play music together, pray together. that's really cool stuff =]
august is gonna be pretty fun. jess and joe are sealing the deal and monica and henry are expecting small child. whhhhhoooo's nexxxxxttt?? :D :D :D
in high school one of my IB electives was music. i took it mostly because my shyness didn't allow for silliness like performance theater or dance.
i'm not sure how the normal high school classroom operates, but in IB we're taught to analyze everything. in english that meant jane eyre's dress wasn't just blue because blue muslin was the cheapest fabric found in town. nor was it because charlotte bronte thought it'd convey her character's plain-ness well. no.. it's freaking blue to express the melancholy state of the life of an abandoned woman in love with a man who keeps his delirious wife locked up in the attic. all the while she's being pursued by another man destined to make her his wife even though she cannot see him as more than a brother. secondarily implying the crumbling destruction of gender roles and hierarchy of courtship rites in the social universe as reflected in the vast blueness of her eyes. and maybe also something about knights fighting blue dragons in the distant land of celadon city. that's why it's blue. inference was always my english teacher's favorite word to throw around during class discussions. you could basically make up any amount of bs and get away with a hundred participation points and an approving nod from the teacher.
oh right, i was talking about music. IB music was just about the same. we'd sit around listening to a piece of music, manuscript and red pen in hand - armed to completely tear up the music with critical analysis and lots of creative imagination to make sure we leave class with enough participation points. [can you sense how much i hated participation points?!? plghhh] at the end of senior year when we got ready to take our IB exams, the practice had been so ingrained in us that whether it be an oral or written, we could easily rant for pages and pages or speak miles on any given topic. even in a foreign language.
some things just don't change. last night my friend played this piece for me on the piano. my heart melted/died/seized and then the expository parallels began to flow. except, instead of reflecting on how this song metaphorically conveys the alignment of jupiter and the 27th galaxy with the earth, i was thinking more how this song feels a lot like how i feel. darn you ib program for crafting me into such a thinker!! why can't i just sit and listen to how beautiful it is without delving into the way its intricate trills and voicing lines intertwine with the messes i get myself into. or how the conversation between the right and left hand represent competing voices in my head trying to get me to make choices i don't want to. how the brevity of the melody switching to G major in measure 21 is quickly reminded of its dreary nature before the line is over.
in the words of sherlock, "bullocks!!"
i'm wearing long flannel pajama pants because apparently the weather realized how ridiculous it was enveloping us all in sweltering heat yesterday, so it decided to slide the mercury down a few notches today. dear weather, you kinda overshot. it's freaking cold. oh yeah, here are the highlights from yesterdays happy day =]
Yeeeck! I can't help but feel a little uneasy having toilet paper rolls stare at me while I go to the bathroom. It seems to be looking at me like I've done something wrong. Leave me be!!
pretty much for the last 9 years of my life i'd start a new journal sometime during july. since it's now sometime during july, i'm finally taking a crack in my new one. not much has changed since the first time i started journaling right before i started freshman year. same place - in bed next to my favorite pillow in the world, same time - no earlier than 9pm, same pen - Pilot EasyTouch Fine Point,same heartpour.
for this years journal, i chose a nice dark, black number. one because it looks cool and conveys a level of maturity that always seems to be beyond my reach and two, it mirrors very well my general state of emo-sity these days :D is it just me or do other journalers feel overwhelmed and intimidated by so many empty pages? in my weirdo psyche, i think i comes from an anxious anticipation of impending events that will eventually take literal form on those pages. that scares me. hahaa oh dear.. i really should listen to my MFT sister and find myself a therapist. or i could just stop thinking so hard =]
on lighter topics, currently drink of choice: tazo organic iced green tea snack of choice: hazelnut quadratini wafer squares ..and maybe fritos too
mini series of choice: sherlock
gas station of choice: costco, always
shampoo of choice: pantene volume for thin hair on sale!!!
summer is the season for weddings. no.. not just summer. my twenties seem to be the season for weddings. as such, i've attended several of these joyous occasions - witnessing teary vow exchanges, restless ring-bearers, pretty decorations, witty speeches, yum-O food and dancing.
i've seensome pretty smooth dancers, some spicy stuff going on, dancers who think they're hot stuff but really aren't, people who can't dance but tear up the floor having the time of their life.. the best part is everyone is happy and having fun. whether the level of happiness has anything to do with the free food and open bar is up for debate. but even so, wedding goers are generally in a pretty positive mood celebrating the bride and groom's happy day. and happy people dance when ne-yo's smooth as butter voice hits the floor.
lemme just put it out there that i am no dancer. in college i took funky street style hip hop at the experimental college and the only skill i gleaned from that experience was how to sweat like a redneck. i wish i could pop and lock like a jabbawockee but those dreams come rarely and only when i've eaten a significant amount of ice cream before hitting the sack =/ the point is, i love to "dance" when i'm feeling happy or an especially good song rolls through pandora. happens when i'm getting ready in the morning, driving through the causeway, at work under the glass windows of my office, etc.
where dancing doesn't happen though, is at church. unless you're in high school and you got forced to go to summer camp where cool preppy teenagers perform body worship to lifehouse. i guess it's the lame-O kids who go to high school prom and forever change the innocence of happy dancing. and thus, no dancing at church cuz that's what heathens do.
sing to the lord a new song, his praise in the assembly of his faithful people. let israel rejoice in their maker, let the people of zion be glad in their king. let them praise his name with dancing and make music to him with timbrel and harp. for the lord takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with victory. let his faithful people rejoice in his honor and sing for joy on their beds. psalm 149
we actually do pretty well as a church according to this. be play music.. we sing.. we rejoice and all that kinda stuff. we even have the occasional tambourine, which is biblical. but i sometimes wonder if the worship and singing portion of the church service could be a little more like a wedding party. if anything, we could all use a little practice before we get to heaven where the disco ball never stops spinning. and i believe there is a happy medium between clubbing and flag dancing. there's also no excuse of being asian cuz.. it's obvious that azn pplz got movez.
i wonder myself.. that if making bacon and scrambled eggs can get me going in the morning, how much more would the king of kings, the one who gives me hope to wake up and face another day cause me to bust out some moves. granted secular music almost always pwns CCM with better beats. But could our joy in christ pwn usher, chris brown and lil wayne combined?
oreo.. worship can take on a ton of different forms depending on each person's preference, comfort or premature development of arthritis. if you can't dance, maybe you draw or write or stand with your arms held snugly against your sides. god looks at your heart yada yada yada. but if a cute bunny or winning sports play or driving base line or the sight of your significant other will cause us to shuffle your feet for joy, maybe we could dance in church too.
ps. i clearly see that a glazed doughnut and mocha does not constitute as good dietary choices for dinner. but it's so freaking good.
And so far he's gone 500+ miles with no sign of sickness. I'm thankful for the internet, YouTube and friends for helping me fix him for less than 300 buckeroos.
Now.. what to do with the extra $3000 I had mentally set aside for car repairs?!?
