Confessions

It’s time for some confessions that I have been bundling up inside of me for a long time! First of all, we all know that I am a huge nerd. But do you really know how much of a nerd I am?

• I really like the movie Titanic. This one is hard for me to admit, especially because I have a friend with aspirations to be a movie critic. I afraid he’ll look down on me forevermore if he reads this. I owned a VHS copy of Titanic but I accidentally threw up on it. I’m planning on buying it again on DVD.

• I brush my teeth in the shower. I do this because whenever I brush my teeth I start foaming at the mouth. It’s like having mint-flavored rabies.

• I apply “No Bite” nail polish to my pens and pencils so I won’t chew on them during class. For all of you non-nail biters out there, applying “No Bite” to your nails makes them taste like rubbing alcohol mixed with vinegar. It helps you to stop biting them.

• I love the Partridge Family. On those long car trips to Abilene, I entertained myself by listening to their greatest hits CD.

• I get frustrated with myself when someone asks me what my pet peeves are, and I can't remember any of them.

• I still sleep with a teddy bear. Someday I’m going to have to give this up. But it’s not like I cuddle with it or anything…

• I love watching the Real World/Road Rules Challenge on MTV.

• I get jealous when I read other people’s blogs and they are more interesting or better written then mine. This happens often.

• Even though my room can get messy sometimes, I have an extensively labeled and organized filing cabinet. I use it regularly. I also made an extensively labeled and organized filing cabinet for Josh but I don’t think he appreciates the beauty of organization quite like I do.

• I laughed so much at my Introduction to Java entry. Programming humor cracks me up!

Palm Sunday or What I Did Three Years Ago, Part 2

Three years ago on Palm Sunday.
[In case you missed it the first time, this is a new bit where every so often (when I am completely desperate for something to write) I'm going to pull out my journal from 2002 when I studied abroad in Oxford, England and comment on my entries in it.]

Date: March 24, 2002
- Woke up
- Went to St. Aldate's Church
- Lunch at Radcliffe Arms pub with my worship group
- Went to G & D's Ice Cream Parlor
- Did homework
- Eyes hurt, wore glasses
- Took nap
- Led prayer at service
- Rachel spoke about reading the Word of God

My comments:
It's funny how every entry in my diary starts with the words, "Woke up."

In high school, I always enjoyed going to church (mostly because of my friends in the youth group) and was upset when I had to miss it for any reason. That feeling disappeared while I was in college, except for this one semester in Oxford. I loved St. Aldate's. It was an Anglican church and completely different than the Churches of Christ that I am accustomed to. There were noticeable differences at St. Aldate's: women on stage leading prayers and songs, the use of instruments and a band, the relaxed atmosphere of the service (people would drink coffee and eat donuts while the vicar was giving his lesson). I liked going there so much that there were times that I didn't want to travel on the weekends so that I could go to church.

Palm Sunday was definitely memorable at St. Aldate's. Normally, when we would walk to church on Sunday morning (about a 30 minute walk I remember), the other churches that we passed would ring bells every 15 minutes or so. But on Palm Sunday the churches rang their bells without stopping the entire morning. The harsh sounds of clanging bells echoed throughout the city, bouncing off the old buildings and down the narrow streets. During the service at St. Aldate's, the children were given palm leaves and waved them around before laying them down in the aisles for others to walk on. It was an amazing celebration.

I would go back to Oxford just to eat at the Radcliffe Arms again. It was like a Thanksgiving meal every time we ate there - and cheap too!

I also remember my friend Rachel's lesson about reading the Word of God. My Bible class was responsible for leading a service every Sunday night, and it was my group's turn to be in charge. I led the prayer, and I don't remember a thing that I said. Rachel talked about reading the Bible, and I think I remember almost every word that she said. She is one of the most passionate and talented speakers I've heard. And such a Godly woman!

Her lesson was based on these two points.
1. In the beginning God spoke and because of his words, the earth and the heavens and people were created. Through the sound of his voice, things were made.
2. The Bible is the word of God. It's God'’s words written down.

Rachel said that no matter who you are, a scholar in Biblical text or someone who has never been to Church, there are times that you will read the Bible, and you will feel that it has absolutely nothing to say to you. It's not relevant, it doesn't answer your questions, it doesn't help solve your problems, and it doesn't make sense. What do you do when you turn to the Bible for help and answers and it doesn't give you any?

Rachel said that in those times, maybe, just maybe, you should try reading the Bible out loud. By doing this, you are speaking the words of God. And if when God spoke, things were created, maybe when you speak his words, things will be created too. Maybe this new creation is something on the other side of the world that you will never know about. Or maybe this new creation is something not physical but in your heart. God is waiting for you to speak his words, even if they don't make sense, just so that he can create something new inside of you.

It's been three years, and I still think about what Rachel said. I'm no scholar in Biblical text, and I don’t have any doctrine to back me up here. But I'm intrigued by the idea that even when the Bible doesn't make sense to me or when it seems not relevant, something can happen when I read it. I'm OK with the fact that I might not ever see or know about the change. I just have faith that when God's words are spoken, he will create.

Excuses

Hey everyone! I have three excuses for not writing a "good" entry in a while.

1. I've been busy.
2. Writing a "good" entry takes a long time.
3. I haven't wanted to.

So there you go! In case you are wondering, here are two snapshots of what I have been doing lately.

First Snapshot
For my nephew's 2-year birthday, my family celebrated at McDonald's. He had fun in the play area but it became obvious that he was either too young or too scared to climb up to the top of the twisted plastic tubes and colorful slides. I, being the good aunt that I am, decided to break the McDonald's 12-and-younger-only rule and help him climb to the upper layers of the play area. I took off my shoes (but left on my socks - I didn't want to break too many of the rules) and began pushing my nephew up the slippery pipes. We were having fun but once the other children started gawking at me, a strange adult in their play area, I grabbed my nephew and hustled down a slide. I have since decided the 12-and-younger-only rule is for my benefit, not for the children's.

Second Snapshot
During Spring Break, Josh and I took a small road trip to Oklahoma. We wanted to try our luck gambling at one of the casinos along the Texas-Oklahoma border. With $50 cash in hand, we entered the casino. I'm usually a pretty lucky person. In elementary school, I won a cake every time on the cake-walk at the fall carnival. I won a computer my senior year of high school. But at the casino, I lost my $20 in about an hour, playing only the nickel slots. Josh had won about $10 but lost that and all the rest of his portion too.

We had $10 left out of our $50 spending money and decided to blow it all on the $1.00 machines. We spend $5 of it and faced our last decision: keep going or stop with $5 left. Well, we kept going. $5-4-3-2. We had won nothing. It was our last dollar, we placed our bet, and the credits started rolling. $20-50-100-150-300-600-750-800!! We won $800! On our last dollar! This is something that bloggers would usually exaggerate about so that the story is exciting but it really happened to us! Winning $800 was great but winning it on our last dollar was the best part.

Here's a teaser for my next entry: Suzie stresses out over a big decision! Coming soon to a blahg near you.

Spring Break

It's been a slow week for my blog but a busy week for me. I've had job interviews, exams, homework, and Dance Dance Revolution keeping me bustling. My last (hopefully) Spring Break starts today so maybe I will write a real entry sometime soon.

My new dance moves:
Up
Up
Up
Left
Right
Down
Left
Down
Up
Up
Up
Right
Left
Up/Down together.

APOD

A little note - Sunday's (March 6) Astronomy Picture of the Day is really neat. It's a panoramic picture of the view from the top of Mt. Everest. Take a look!

Yeargh!

Yeaaarrggghhhhh!

Today, I was in my room doing homework on my computer (by "doing homework" I mean "catching up on celebrity gossip"), and I heard this horrible woman's scream coming from my backyard area.

Yeaaaaaarrghhhhhhhhh!

I ran out of my room, looked through the windows into my backyard, and it was empty. But how could that be? Some poor woman out there was having her toenails ripped off slowly, or having golf balls pushed up her nose, or watching Ashlee Simpson perform a cappella, or learning that Katie Holmes and Chris Klein broke up. I needed to rescue her!

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeaaarrrrrrrrrgh!

But then I looked to my left, into my family room. I had accidentally left the television on and tuned to the TLC channel. The screams were from the woman featured on A Baby Story who was in the middle of giving birth.

I turned the TV off and went back into my bedroom, to "do some more homework".

Katie Holmes and Chris Klein, why?! Why?!? Yeearrrgh!

CS 120 - Introduction to Java

public class JavaCity
{
  public static void main (String args[])
  {
    time = 9:47 am;
    CoffeeDrinker Suzie = new CoffeeDrinker();

    Suzie.setCold();
    Suzie.setTired();

    time = 9:49 am;
    Suzie.setStrangeAndNewFeeling();
    Suzie.wantCoffee();

    time = 10:12 am;
    Suzie.parkCar(parkingLot);

    try
    {
      Suzie.enter(JavaCity);
    }

    catch (if JavaCity.line = too long)
    {
      Suzie.goToClass(ScienceBuilding);
      exitProgram();
    }

    Waitress Cindy = new Waitress();

    Cindy.askSuzieToOrder();
    Suzie.panic(doesn'tKnowWhatToOrder);
    Suzie.orderFirstThingOnMenu(
        WhiteChocolateCafeMocha);

    Drink WCCM = new Drink();
    WCCM.setHot();
  
    time = 10:23 am;
    Suzie.sip();
    Suzie.burn(tongue);

    Suzie.goToClass(ScienceBuilding);

    for (i = 1; i < 11; i++)
    {
      time = time + 1;
      Suzie.sip();
      Suzie.say("Yuck!");
    }

    time = 10:33 am;
    Suzie.sip();
    Suzie.say("Yum");

    time = 10:37 am;
    Suzie.start(shaking);
  
    time = 10:38 am;
    Suzie.start(headache);

    time = 10:42 am;
    WCCM.setWarm();

    time = 10:45;
    WCCM.setCold();
    Suzie.takeLastSip();
  
    WCCM.delete();

    Suzie.setAwake();

    Coffee.setScore(1);
    Suzie.setScore(0);
  }
} 

V1K

Well, you've done it! Thanks to you, my readers, the Daily Blahg has entertained, bored, inspired, annoyed, humored, riled, charmed, or most likely brought about no visible or emotional reaction to 1,000 visitors. So who is the lucky visitor #1,000 (V1K)?

My mom. That's right. My mom. I can tell from my tracking devices. I was going to give the 1,000 visitor some huge prize like my Partridge Family Greatest Hits CD or my exercise ball (the clothing on top is optional). But since it's my mom, and I have no written contest rules stating that family members are not allowed to enter, I've decide as her prize she gets one free week where she is not allowed to remind me to do the dishes. Even if I don't do them, she will get the rest and relaxation she deserves by not reminding me. That sounds like a great prize to me.

In case you are interested, Fig. 1 - This Month's Visits by Day