This has not been a good morning, thus far, and it's only 8:30. Let me recount what I have experienced so far.
1) I was dreaming that I was on the boat to the bahamas (I have been making too many vacation plans lately) and a huge storm blew up, blew the boat around (I'll spare you all the details - but my stomach was going wild) and then sunk. My alarm clock went off right before we capsized.
2) I got in the shower and had approximately 53 seconds of hot water - giving me just enough time to shampoo my hair (not condition it) before it was freezing. So my hair looks like a rats nest because it's near impossible to comb out w/o conditioner.
3) So I get out of the shower, frustrated, and go to wash my face. I bought new stuff this week, and apparently I'm allergic to it because my face broke out in a rush and has been burning for over an hour now. So now I"m running late, trying frantically to get the stuff off my face, put makeup on to cover over all the red splotchiness (which didn't really work) and try to be at work on time.
Honestly, I just wanted to go back to bed and start over an hour later.
I hope the rest of the day goes better than this.
A smattering of musings and mental drippings - sketches of my daily learning of what it means to live, to love, and to take up my cross and follow Jesus.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
You and I
Just heard this song for the first time today and love it!
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Weird dreams and thoughts on Taken/Amazing Grace
Before I get to the meat of this post, I just have to share the crazy dream I had Saturday night. (Let me preface this by saying that Kate and I went over to Aimee's house and watched Mama Mia before I went to bed. This may have contributed to the weirdness.) Anyway, to shortly sum up a long dream, this is what happened.
3 friends from high school (Corinne Porter, Joanna Warsaw and Lee Teitsworth) and I all met up at this trailer on a hill over-looking some city (I remember being so impressed with the city at night) and some ocean to solve a math problem. And it was a musical. Yes, we actually sang the problem and worked out solutions to this awful 80's music.
Anyhow, on to more important things.
**SPOILER ALERT** (If you haven't seen Taken yet, and plan to, and don't want to know anything about the premise of the story, do not read any further.)
Charles and I went out to dinner at Masala (amazing Indian food) and to see Taken on Friday. We had heard that the movie was good but nothing compared me for what the movie actually was. The previews showed that 2 girls were kidnapped in Paris and the dad goes to get his daughter back. The end. What it DOESN"T tell you is that the whole story is about human trafficking and the huge problem now with young tourists being kidnapped and sold into the sex trade. So I'm sitting through the movie (which is super intense and Liam Neeson is unbelievable), astouded by the lengths this father will go to (keep in mind, he is retired CIA) to find his daughter and appalled by how these people treat women. And it really hit home because this isn't just a plot in a movie. (Well, the dad finding the daughter was.) But this really happens. Thousands of women are kidnapped/sold for sex every day. I couldn't ignore the twinge in my heart as Neeson was busting through door after door trying to find his daughter and in each door was a woman tied to a bed and drugged. Door after door after door. There is another scene where the women (again drugged), are sent to this construction site and then the men come and get a ticket with the "room" number (basically an open room curtained off into small 5x5 sections) where they are to go and "do business." (I'm trying not to be crude, but it is a crude thing and I don't know how else to state it. It's just horrible.) And worst of all, to the men it is all about business and money. One of the most memorable scenes is when Neeson actually finds his daughter at a party, being auctioned off to the highest bidder, and right before he kills the guy who was responsible for her sale, the guy is pleading with him and says "I have children of my own. Two sons and a daughter. Please sir... this is just business. Only business. It was nothing personal." And Neeson says "To me, it was all personal." And shoots the guy.
But seriously, how could someone become so cold-hearted that they could sell a PERSON for business and expect it to not be personal for someone? And how could someone with CHILDREN sell someone else's children for sex/slavery and see no problem with it? How does ones conscience disintegrate into nothing??
What was very interesting was that on Saturday, Charles and I watched Amazing Grace - the story of William Wilberforce and the abolition of the slave trade - and realizing that our culture has gone full circle. Although it is not legal in our country, slavery is alive and well not only in European and Asian countries, but in the US as well. And it has evolved from physical labor to forced sex slavery. But we don't see it with our own eyes so we try to forget that it is there. But it is. As a women, this really hits home.
So... that's the story. But that's not the end, right? What can we do, as Christians, to help the human trafficking problem? I don't believe any person or government is big enough to stop the problem. But God is. I thank God for calling people back in the day, like William Wilberforce, who worked for years to abolish slavery, and I thank God that he is calling people today to risk their lives to rescue women and children who have been forced into slavery. But I must keep asking myself, is being aware of the problem enough? Is there something I could/should do.
3 friends from high school (Corinne Porter, Joanna Warsaw and Lee Teitsworth) and I all met up at this trailer on a hill over-looking some city (I remember being so impressed with the city at night) and some ocean to solve a math problem. And it was a musical. Yes, we actually sang the problem and worked out solutions to this awful 80's music.
Anyhow, on to more important things.
**SPOILER ALERT** (If you haven't seen Taken yet, and plan to, and don't want to know anything about the premise of the story, do not read any further.)
Charles and I went out to dinner at Masala (amazing Indian food) and to see Taken on Friday. We had heard that the movie was good but nothing compared me for what the movie actually was. The previews showed that 2 girls were kidnapped in Paris and the dad goes to get his daughter back. The end. What it DOESN"T tell you is that the whole story is about human trafficking and the huge problem now with young tourists being kidnapped and sold into the sex trade. So I'm sitting through the movie (which is super intense and Liam Neeson is unbelievable), astouded by the lengths this father will go to (keep in mind, he is retired CIA) to find his daughter and appalled by how these people treat women. And it really hit home because this isn't just a plot in a movie. (Well, the dad finding the daughter was.) But this really happens. Thousands of women are kidnapped/sold for sex every day. I couldn't ignore the twinge in my heart as Neeson was busting through door after door trying to find his daughter and in each door was a woman tied to a bed and drugged. Door after door after door. There is another scene where the women (again drugged), are sent to this construction site and then the men come and get a ticket with the "room" number (basically an open room curtained off into small 5x5 sections) where they are to go and "do business." (I'm trying not to be crude, but it is a crude thing and I don't know how else to state it. It's just horrible.) And worst of all, to the men it is all about business and money. One of the most memorable scenes is when Neeson actually finds his daughter at a party, being auctioned off to the highest bidder, and right before he kills the guy who was responsible for her sale, the guy is pleading with him and says "I have children of my own. Two sons and a daughter. Please sir... this is just business. Only business. It was nothing personal." And Neeson says "To me, it was all personal." And shoots the guy.
But seriously, how could someone become so cold-hearted that they could sell a PERSON for business and expect it to not be personal for someone? And how could someone with CHILDREN sell someone else's children for sex/slavery and see no problem with it? How does ones conscience disintegrate into nothing??
What was very interesting was that on Saturday, Charles and I watched Amazing Grace - the story of William Wilberforce and the abolition of the slave trade - and realizing that our culture has gone full circle. Although it is not legal in our country, slavery is alive and well not only in European and Asian countries, but in the US as well. And it has evolved from physical labor to forced sex slavery. But we don't see it with our own eyes so we try to forget that it is there. But it is. As a women, this really hits home.
So... that's the story. But that's not the end, right? What can we do, as Christians, to help the human trafficking problem? I don't believe any person or government is big enough to stop the problem. But God is. I thank God for calling people back in the day, like William Wilberforce, who worked for years to abolish slavery, and I thank God that he is calling people today to risk their lives to rescue women and children who have been forced into slavery. But I must keep asking myself, is being aware of the problem enough? Is there something I could/should do.
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
Quick note
I took the Myers-Briggs Personality test.
I am an ESFJ (Extrovert, Sensing, Feeling, Judging). No big surprises there.
I am an ESFJ (Extrovert, Sensing, Feeling, Judging). No big surprises there.
Deeper sleep?
So, as you know from many previous posts, I dream a lot and I always remember them. Well lately I have been waking up, knowing I had a very vivid dream, but it is on the edge of my memory and it is SO frustrating to be almost able to see the dream again but not remember it. Grr.
If I can't remember them, that should cut down on the blogging a bit.
The last dream I had that I remember was from a couple nights ago and it was pretty funny. Ever since I dyed my hair brown (which is getting blonder every day, I might add) I have been thinking about doing red and blond highlights and getting a short, spunky hair cut. Well, in my dream I had this really cool hair cut and color and I was looking in the mirror thinking to myself how much I liked it. But then my dad (I think it was my dad) came in and flipped out and said he didn't like it and it didn't fit me at all and he liked me better "without all that weird hair." So I said, "it's ok. I can take it off." And I take my hair off. Turns out, it was actually a wig. But it was made out of YARN. Like knitting yarn. And once he left I put it back on again. But once I knew it was yarn (because apparently I didn't know before), it didn't look cool anymore so I threw it away and decided that my hair was fine how it was.
Is this an omen? Should I leave my hair alone? Decisions, decisions. For now, the decision is easy because I have no money to do anything. surprise surprise.
If I can't remember them, that should cut down on the blogging a bit.
The last dream I had that I remember was from a couple nights ago and it was pretty funny. Ever since I dyed my hair brown (which is getting blonder every day, I might add) I have been thinking about doing red and blond highlights and getting a short, spunky hair cut. Well, in my dream I had this really cool hair cut and color and I was looking in the mirror thinking to myself how much I liked it. But then my dad (I think it was my dad) came in and flipped out and said he didn't like it and it didn't fit me at all and he liked me better "without all that weird hair." So I said, "it's ok. I can take it off." And I take my hair off. Turns out, it was actually a wig. But it was made out of YARN. Like knitting yarn. And once he left I put it back on again. But once I knew it was yarn (because apparently I didn't know before), it didn't look cool anymore so I threw it away and decided that my hair was fine how it was.
Is this an omen? Should I leave my hair alone? Decisions, decisions. For now, the decision is easy because I have no money to do anything. surprise surprise.
Monday, February 02, 2009
Playing in the snow
All the snow melted this weekend and KY now looks like the brown, boring, bare winter that is the norm. But this weekend was amazing. The sun came out and it warmed up and the sun on the ice made everything shimmer like crystal. It was beautiful!Up until this weekend, the snow was super powdery, but once it started to melt, it became great packing snow. So on Saturday, Charles and I got out and made a snowman before it all disappeared! We found a perfect, mohawk-shaped icicle, so we decided to make him a spartan! Here are a few pics of our friend! (We thought it would be funny if he was pointing toward Bettie Morrison. Later, we thought it would have been funnier to cover up the Bettie Morrison sign with a sign the said "Sparta this way." Haha!
So although we never did make it sledding, we did get a chance to enjoy the snow.
The rest of the weekend was fun as well. Kate is still without power so she was with us all weekend, which was loads of fun. It has been like the sleepover that doesn't end! I have had company grocery shopping, and cooking, and she has even washed the dishes and put them away... what a doll! I'm not sure I will LET her leave when the power comes back on!
This weekend was also the superbowl party and chili cook-off at the AWC, which I was in charge of. We had a great turn out of people, but not such a great turnout of chili. Last year there were probably 8 chilis to choose from. This year we had one. And it was delicious. And the guy who brought it was thrilled to win the visa gift card with no competition. And fortunately, he brought a lot because it fed everyone! And there was plenty of other food. However, if I had known that people would bring so much other stuff, I would not have bought so much and saved myself some budget money! :) Ah well. We all had a fun time and left with full stomachs!
All in all, a great weekend. I have GOT to stop sleeping until 11 every weekend though, because it destroys me Monday morning.