The choice of Facebook friends.

No, this is not going to be about who you do and do not add to your "friends" list on Facebook. This post is going to present in very short detail the topics that some of my friends and family on Facebook suggested I write about in my next blog. Ready for some completely unrelated topics? Here we go.

Suggestion #1 from Sarah: My experience at Oxford!
Unfortunately, this would take far too long to even fit into one blog post. That's why Sarah has been writing many blog posts about her Oxford experience; you should know better, Sarah. Shame on you.
But seriously, I do hope to someday compile my thoughts on and experiences in Oxford into a memoir-type essay/book. I kept a diary for the majority of the time I was there, and what I didn't write down can be replaced by memories from pictures and all the contact I still have with friends I made while there. Cheers to Oxford.

Suggestion #2 from Alvin: Whether God can help but reveal himself... or herself.
I think this would need a lot more clarification in order for me to write about it. I have several questions running around in my head right now. For example, what do you mean by "reveal?" Is this supposed to be some joke about God exposing himself, or is it actually a serious proposal in regards to how God's presence can be seen in even the smallest of things?
Maybe it's a joke, because I don't buy the "herself" part.

Suggestion #3 from Morgan: SHOES =)
Ah, now if I started to write about shoes, I don't think many people would enjoy it as I neither wax philosophical about them nor do I claim to be a fashion expert whose advice should be heeded. I do, however, adore shoes to the level that only fellow shoe-lovers would understand. I think the word "shoe-gasm" says it all.

Suggestion #4 from Jesse: Write me a short script featuring romance and violence and a philosophical theme within a rural farm-town setting.
Hmm. Now this may have some potential, seeing as how if I won't wax philosophical about shoes I may be able to do so in a script about romance and violence and a rural farm town... except for the fact that this idea would definitely take longer than one blog post. However, it sounds an awful lot like my life already, minus the violence, of course, so that's probably even more incentive to write it... eventually. :)

Suggestion #5 from Mike: Write a romance novel about people living like pirates in an underground cove, but its Truman Show style, so they're constantly being watched. Also, they're robots. And they're in Disney World.
But they're in LOVE, damn it!
I think you pretty much gave me the perfect way to end this blog, Mike.

Read More

The time I wrote after nearly two months.

It's been almost two months since I wrote. These have been an exciting two months.

Nick and I stayed home for Christmas and celebrated the day with Katie and Jesse, champagne, Scrabble, Settlers of Catan, and a sexy, ridiculous, B (maybe C?) grade movie called Bandidas starring Penélope Cruz and Salma Hayek. Those combined into a very unique Christmas day.

Nick and I finalized the purchase of our very first home on December 31. We had a lot to celebrate that night as we looked to the new year. We were moved in completely by the end of the second week of January. There will be pictures to come. :)

Nick also finished up his job at Fareway and started working full-time only at Alpha Omega as a technician in the technical support department. He realizes what a fantastic opportunity this is for him to advance in the computer and customer service fields. Plus, I'm not going to lie, it's nice to see hubby on breaks and during lunch.

I have successfully kept alive two plants, one normal ivy plant that when flourishing grows so rapidly I've come to call it Rapunzel for the sheer length of the vines that hang out of the pot, and one neanthebella palm named Plant in honor of Wall-E. My friend Trish also bestowed on me a bamboo owned by our dear friend Jess, who couldn't take Angelica (the bamboo) back with her to Canada. In addition, at our housewarming party at the end of January, I inherited yet another ivy plant that I plan to name if I can keep it alive, as it is already withering even with being fed plant food once a week and water every other day.

It's the small things in life that need to make me happy.

Read More

The broken record vs. the Grammy-winning album.

It's time for an update.

I act like my life is so busy and that I don't have time to write. I really do have plenty of time on my hands; I just don't handle it correctly. Does this mean that I don't want to write anymore? Am I even a writer anymore?

What I need to do is start carrying some sort of a journal or small notebook and write down whatever random thought comes to my mind. Maybe that will keep me actively writing.

Part of the problem I honestly believe is that I sit at a desk for eight hours a day and grade other people's writing, and I think by the end of the day I'm sick of writing corrections for those writings. I don't feel like starting my own pieces for someone else to critique and therefore put them in a similar, stale spiral that I'm currently in.

What I really need to do is learn to handle my time better.

However, there is hope. I am slowly doing little things more and more often during the day that show that I'm not just coming home and becoming a couch potato in front of a grossly addicting TV show (which still happens, but not as regularly). For example, I went shopping on Saturday with a few of my girlfriends and I literally got 2/3 of my Christmas shopping done.

Right, so that wasn't a work day.

Anyway, I do honestly get things done after a day at work. Today, for example, I started packing a few more things, cleaned up just a little bit around the house, and also wrapped all of Nick's Christmas gifts. So I do get things done. Yay for me.

How many times have I said, "I think I'll start to write more tomorrow"? I sound like a broken record.

What I need to aim for is not sounding like a broken record, but like a Grammy award-winning album. Or a New York Times bestseller. Because that is honestly what I'm worth if I put my mind to it. Boost that self-esteem!

I have some good ideas rolling around in my brain. I think I can do it. I know I can do it.

Read More

The shorter-than-intended blog.

I meant to write a longer blog than the one I shall write now. However, what started out as a good intention was quickly thwarted by fatigue, so this blog will be rather short.

My original plan was to write about either office politics or my new idea to write a memoir about life in Iowa as a young, newly-married, West-coast woman. Either would have been more interesting than this post, so I assure you I will indeed write about these two topics in the future.

But for now I the main thought on my mind is Oxford. I miss it something terrible. I want to go back. But if I went back to study for and receive my Master's degree, what would I study? I have too many interests at this point for me to choose just one: linguistics, creative writing, fantasy/science fiction, women's rights, film/cinema/media, culture, and even Egyptology. What a ridiculously cultured mind I have (I know, I am definitely bragging at this point).

I don't mind life here in Iowa right now. But I know I will get sick of it, and Nick knows this as well. We are aiming for moving to Colorado or Oxford, and after seeing how many of my friends that I met in Oxford on my semester abroad trip are already back in school earning their Master's degrees, I really want to aim for my advanced degree, as well. I feel like I am "behind" them, that I'm not where I should be, because I could in fact be earning my very own Master's degree.

Ah, well. God has a plan and it will be revealed eventually.

I always wish that my blogs will turn out more humorous than they usually do; it's disappointing that they don't!

Read More

The church home dilemma.

What do you look for in a church? Do you aim only for doctrine, or do you also pay attention to the sincerity and passion in the music and singing, the genuine fellowship before and after the service, the care and compassion that Christians are supposed to show even outside of Sundays?

These questions keep coming to my mind as I get more and more frustrated with Nick and my church here in Sioux Center. The URC always seems to have doctrine very indicative of the Bible's true teachings, but it lacks in so many other areas. Here, for instance, the people do not seem to sing with their hearts. Every song sounds forced, even pained at times. And I know this is not true with every URC, but it is for this town. In addition, this town's URC seems friendly enough when I look around after a service, but hardly any of the families talk to us (by "families" I mean anyone married and with children or people we didn't know previously from Dordt). This limits our fellowship to only a few college kids in the church, which to me seems sad as Christians should be able to commune, fellowship, and worship together no matter what our ages or stages in life.

What ticked me off the most about our "church" recently was the fact that I mentioned Nick's surgery twice to one of our elders, and he did not once ask about it or how Nick was doing. Not once.

I do our church's newsletter layout. I asked the elder on Friday afternoon if I could postpone doing the newsletter to the next week (I admit that was a last minute request as the newsletter is usually completed and sent to this elder by Saturday morning). I had no idea Nick's surgery (including the unexpected ER visit) would take such a toll on my mental and physical state of mind. The elder said he'd prefer I don't postpone the newsletter release because there were schedules in there that people needed, but if I had to postpone, I could. I felt guilty, as I always do when I make a promise to someone and want to/have to cancel. So I did it.

I was up until 1:30 a.m. Friday night to get the newsletter done, and one of the pages turned out cut off, so part of the text couldn't be read. The elder called me about it. I fixed it. And he still didn't ask about Nick's surgery or how he was doing. This does not give me any confidence in our church's supposed leadership over its flock.

This is almost the last straw I have had with this church. Is my temper too short? Am I being too unforgiving? Am I being sinful and selfish in this way of thinking? I don't know. I only know that the preaching and doctrine is good, and everything else is seems like shit. What kind of church doesn't give at least some kind of visible effort to its singing, and what kind of congregation rarely talks to any of its younger members, and what kind of church council doesn't ask about one of its member's surgery and recovery?

Read More