C'est La Vie

What a beautiful piece of heartache this has all turned out to be. Lord knows we've learned the hard way all about healthy apathy. And I use these words pretty loosely. There's so much more to life than words..
I really think I'll be ok. They've taken their toll these latter days.
-- Over the Rhine, Latter Days

Home

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Contact Me

by email
change to proper format: pattyt81 at hotmail dot com
(I hate Spam)

By mail
(contact me for my new address)


Other Weblogs I enjoy
(In no particular order)

Katy Raymond
Beth-Annie
Kaly
Matt
Andrew
Alex
Steve/Opie
mel
Kcaarin
Brandy
Caren
Compassion

Ishy
Dawn
Katey
Sco
Kristen
Caren

Recommended Readings

A Grief Observed
C.S.Lewis

Wishful Thinking
Frederick Buechner

Divine Conspiracy
Dallas Willard (may never finish)

Rich Mullins: An Arrow Pointing to Heaven
James Bryan Smith


Recommended Listening
(from my collection)


The Hymnal, Arkadelphia
Randall Goodgame

Land of the Living
Eric Peters

Laryngitis, Longing
Katy Bowser

Walk [EP], Carried Along, Clear to Venus, Love and Thunder, and live bootlegs
Andrew Peterson

In the Company of Angels
Caedmon's Call

Delusions of Grandeur
Fleming and John

The entire CD catalog
Eddie From Ohio

Bootlegs including Eddie From Ohio, Rich Mullins, David Wilcox, and Andrew Peterson


Things I love
(AKA: Ways to win my heart)
Music, gift certificates, ice cream, music, chocolate, meatballs, music, books, knowledge, music, good movies, music, animals, art supplies, music, cotton candy, fajitas, music, safety, music....


Things I wish I owned and could listen to or read
found at Relevantmagazine.com,
and at pastemusic.com, too


Wednesday, September 26, 2001

Out of twelve new emails in my inbox today (not counting the many that got filtered to the bulk/junk mail folder) 1 was a newsletter, none were personal, leaving 11 spam emails.

Blah.

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I got an A on my privacy essay for English.

Yay.

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Tuesday, September 25, 2001

The nice thing about typing 75-80 wpm is that when your job is typing and when there's a certain limited number of things to be done within a month, based on what someone typing 20wpm could get done, you can get that amount done much more quickly. So then you can do what you wanna do during work hours, because there's nothing else for you to do but they can't just tell you to go home like they could at certain other jobs (ie, waitressing) when there's nothing work-related to be done.

I like this job. :)

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I'm not gonna get a cell phone. When you break it down and do the math, and if you're not concerned with the convenience of them, they're just not worth it. A regular ground line (With the standard unlimited local calling) and 5 cents per minute long distance make for a much better deal.

So, not treachery for me today. Not in that area, anyway.

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Today during a Bible study about trusting God, particularly focused on Philippians 4:6,7 (the parts in bold are the leader) --

"Instead of being anxious, what are we to do?"

"Pray"

"How?"

"With Thanksgiving."

"What will we get when we do this?"

"Turkey!"

(And as if that wasn't funny/bad enough.. another student answered more seriously)

"Peace."

"Yes, we'll get peace."

(and then the same student continued.)

"Because peas are a great side dish to turkey."

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Friday, September 21, 2001

It is entirely too difficult for me to stay motivated when I'm bored outta my mind.

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I think I'm gonna get a cell phone.

Traitor as I'd be, it's just more practical for someone in such a situation as mine.

I dunno, though. They're still not as cheap as ground lines when LD is only 5 cents a minute. One of the best plans offered works out to something more like 12 cents a minute over all. Hmmm..

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Wednesday, September 19, 2001

right, right, left, left, heel, heel, toe, toe, cross, touch, step, turn...

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Granted, the fact that I had well over 100 emails in my inbox to be lost is a sad sign in and of itself. Not new emails, either. Beloved, read, unfiled emails. Silley me.

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Tuesday, September 18, 2001

I really wish that my local postal service knew what a forwarding order meant.
Or that I had a real address for me, personally, to send stuff to.
If the latter was true AND the former was thus more relevant and true, I wouldn't have to have people send stuff to my church. I feel bad for my church, as if they didn't have enough mail to deal with already. But that's ok, because they're loving people and they're very much ok with it.

Ah well.

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Over 100 important and beloved emails disappeared from my email inbox today.

I suppose that's my punishment for yelling about Spam.

All the same.. STOP SENDING SPAM!!

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Monday, September 17, 2001

At least the ignorant silley heads that send Spam took a break of two or three days before coming back full-force. One would think that, perhaps, a tragedy of such outstanding proportions might make people have different priorities in life.

I recieved one Spam-type letter disguised as a certain email newsletter I subscribed to by choice that had the gall to state, in bold noless, that those that are against mass emailings of the unsolicited variety are against free commerce, free speech, etc, etc, etc.. (Yes, I know multiple etcs are redundant. So is Spam.)

If your product is good enough, it will either appear on my store's shelves or I will hear about it via word-of-mouth. If your web site is something I want to see, I will find it on my own. Don't insult my intelligence or my skills by sending Spam about it. That is rediculous.

Friends, on the other hand, are more than welcome to tell me about their websites. Indeed, strangers that have been given my email address by a mutual friend or come across my blog or my site are certainly welcome to email me their own URL's.. in fact, one of the earliest blogs I ever read was sent to me that way and I enjoyed it greatly.

But Spam, which is unsolicited mass-emails, is very rude and inappropriate. It has NO place in the internet world, just as the Spam product is more a joke for Monty Python fans than a food for people that can afford better these days. (Before you flame me for that one -- I have eaten Spam out of necessity many times in the past, and my grandmother was very grateful for it when she could get some during the Great Depression. But it is not a food that many, if any, people eat by choice.)

Stop sending Spam!!

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Friday, September 14, 2001

A personal update now. I'll address my concerns about Tuesday's tragedies at another time when I don't have to go.

I may or may not have a place to live now, at least for a little while. I've got a couple of options. They generally hinge on finances, of course, which are questionable. I did get a work-study job, so that will certainly help. But I still have to wait for my checks, which will not be coming immediately.

But it looks like I may well have a place. Maybe. Please continue praying for that, because it's been a rather long and unsettling process for me. Last time I was homeless, it was more intentional because I had to wait 'till I was 18 to move in with anyone lest they be charged with harboring a runaway or kidnapping. Now, there are no concerns of that sort keeping me from my various options. There are just a group of very important jr. highers, and a set of college classes keeping me within this town.

I don't mind that part of it. In fact, I rather like it here now, as I have since shortly after moving here. Not a place for me forever, but a pretty decent place for now. However, I do need a place to live within this area, and crashing on sofa's and living out of my suitcase just isn't doing it this time around. Last time I made it for three months. This time it's been a month and a half and it's been a much worse struggle already.

For those that have been praying for my twin brother: Thank you a million times over. He's still not fully healed (that will only come when he realizes that he has a problem and decides to act to fix it) but there is more hope, and he certainly does not have the same access to the same things that got him into trouble. Please continue praying for him, and for me to be able to deal with his situation, because my concern for him has not made it easy to focus on my school work or other things.

Meanwhile, the jr. high group has finished its summertime transition, last year's 8th graders have moved up into the high school group, and our new 6th graders are in. They're a very wild bunch, with more girls than I was expecting and much more hyper folks than I realized were coming our way! They're a delight, though. I'll miss the now-freshman incredibly, but I'm glad that I have such a great bunch moving in.

And, finally, school. I got my first English essay back with a C on it. :( .. Not that I don't think a C is a decent grade, but just that I had never gotten lower than a B+ on English essays in high school, 'cept my sophomore year when I was going to one of the best public schools in the nation and attempting to build on a foundation that was not laid my freshman year at another school. This was a shock to me, honestly. Humbling. Making me realize how much harder I'm gonna have to work than I had realized. Already I've been swamped by the reading assignments, and this is considering that my course load would be laughable to most full-time students! I took it easy this year and am still struggling to keep up. People told me that if I took time off between finishing high school and starting college, I may never want to go back. It all came from the idea that I wouldn't even want to start.. the reality is that I wanted very much to start and that was no problem. It's keeping with it that's the problem.

But then again, I had 4 high schools and dropped out (to get my GED) my senior year. Keeping with it in school hasn't been all that much of a tradition for me, has it?

Ah, well.

Need to go make phone calls and be productive now.

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As I type, I'm listening to the new Caedmon's Call album, "In the Company of Angels: a Call to Worship". This is an excellent CD. It comes out September 25th, so be sure to get it the day of release (a week and a half from now) or pre-order it for cheap at http://www.grassrootsmusic.com/caedmon/caedmon10.htm

One of the songs on this CD is called Warrior, which is about our God's might. "The Lord is a Warrior. He is Mighty in battle." This song is mostly taken from Biblical passages, but putting words to music always makes them stick more in my mind.

(This is, by the way, exactly why Rich Mullins said he wrote music rather than writing sermons.)

This song was particularly comforting and relevant today.

"So I cry Holy only begotten Son of God.. Ancient of Days.. I cry Holy only begotten Son of God.. I sing of Your Praises, as the One Who has saved me, and the promises He made before there was time."
-- Caedmon's Call, Before There Was Time, from the In the Company of Angels worship CD.

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Wednesday, September 12, 2001

Yet, as with every tragedy or other such incident, the massive amount of ignorance displayed by the average American is astounding.

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In lieu of commenting on yesterday's incidents -- because every time I think about them my ulcer starts going wild and I have to go find some bread, zantac, water, and something to distract me -- instead I will share some of my favorite jokes. I did NOT make any of these up.. these are the ones that I have heard, been told, read, etc over the years that I enjoy retelling because they still make me laugh.

(I am really fighting my often morbid sense of humor here. It's so tempting to adjust the jokes or my statements to reflect my thoughts, or to cope with the tragedies of yesterday. However, I will spare both of us that adjustment and get on with the jokes.)

Why did the squirrel fall outta the tree?

Beause it was dead.

Why did the second squirrel fall outta the tree?

Trying to catch the first squirrel.

Why did the third squirrel fall outta the tree?

Peer pressure.

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What does a general do with his armies?

He puts them in his sleevies.

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What do you call a boomerang that doesn't work?

A stick.

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What's brown and sticky?

A stick.

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Why don't sea-gulls fly over the bay?

Because if they did, they'd be begals.

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What does an eskimo get if he sits on an ice cube for too long?

Polaroids. (ok, ok.. that's the worst one that I still enjoy........)

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What do you get when you cross a snowman with a vampire?

Frostbite.

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Don't worry, forks.. there's a lot more where that came from.

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Monday, September 10, 2001

Those were not completely unrelated random statement, by the way. They are very much related.

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I need a place to live.

Anyone got a van for sale?

There's a river not far from here.

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Friday, September 07, 2001

Today was a beautiful day.

My college was having a "student appriciation picnic" today, with free hamburger and hotdogs and (the best part) free ice cream. Free food is always a good way to show appriciation.

There was music and a game show, too, but I had class right in the middle of this shindig and an appointment with my guidance counselor towards the end.

It was a BEAUTIFUL day.

The sky was blue and cloudless, yet it wasn't too hot, nor nearly so humid as it has been lately. (Even a former Floridian like myself was getting grossed out by how humid it's been.)

In the shade provided by trees (what a wonderful creation, eh?) it was cool and breezy. A more beautiful day couldn't have been had unless it was about 5 degrees cooler.

Yesterday, since I don't have classes on thursday, I sat inside and read Prince Caspian (by C. S. Lewis, part of the Chronicles of Narnia) all day long, and got some productive stuff done as well, none of which had to do with school or with the frustrations I'm having in my personal life, which was really excellent.

All in all, I've got a peaceful, easy feeling. 'Cause I know God won't let me down. After all, I'm already standing on solid ground.

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Wednesday, September 05, 2001

The story of two children: Part One (out of who knows how many..)

Once upon a time, there were two children.

They were twins.

One was a boy.

The other was a girl.

They grew into very different children, and from there into very different adults.

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Meanwhile, time is running out on a place to live.

I have to be out of where I'm staying by the end of the week.

The other girl I was gonna stay with for a while went and got married. . now why would she do a silley thing like that?

So, with no car and with no money for the bus line (which isn't all that great in my fair city anyway) and with no real idea of where I'm gonna be living within the next couple of weeks, the pressure is really on to find a place within walking distance to my school, and/or somewhere cheap enough that I can get a car as well.

Anyone out there got a car they wanna give me?? :)

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I have now turned in my first "REAL" assignment in my college career. That is, the first one that will surely count towards a grade in and of itself, rather than as a small fraction of a combined grade for little bitty things.

Ok, so I haven't turned it in, but it's ready to be turned in. By the time many of you read this, it'll already be in.

Or so goes the theory.

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Hippie: (after hearing Max wants to avoid the draft)You still have options man.
Max: Yeah, jail or Canada and they both suck. I mean I could never come home, so what is it, it's a choice of a 6x4 cell or an endless wasteland of frozen tundra.
Hippie: Montreal is cool.
Max:Man, they speak French there.
Groupie: So learn French. Learn French or die.
-- Across the Universe

"So how do i do normal
The smile i fake the permanent way
Cue cards and fix it kits
Can't you tell - I'm not myself
-- Frou Frou, Hear Me Out

"It's been known for a train to jump its track. It's ok, so you'll know, most times they come back. It's ok to lose your life, when you finally see your birth. It's ok to say, "I love you," and figure sometimes it's gonna hurt.
Don't forget to bring kindness, don't forget to say thanks. Don't forgot to spend your love, no it will break the bank. Don't forget to bring some empathy, for the saints and the sinners. Don't forget to bring encouragement. Yeah, we're all just beginners."
-- Bill Mallonee, Bank

"As a comedian, you have to start the show strong and you have end the show strong. Those are the two key elements. You can't be like pancakes, all exciting at first, but then by the end you're sick of 'em!"
-- (The late) Mitch Hedburg

"Hey, this is weird! I ordered one frozen yogurt and they gave me two. You don't happen to like frozen yogurt, do you?" "I love it!" "You're kidding! What a crazy random happenstance!"
-- Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

"Only one more trip," said a gallant seaman,
As he kissed his weeping wife,
Only one more bag of the golden treasure
And 'twill last us all through life.
Then I'll spend my days in my cosy cottage
And enjoy the rest I've earned;
But alas! poor man! For he sail'd commander
Of the ship that never returned.
Did she never return? She never returned,
Her fate, it is yet unlearned,
Though for years and years there were fond ones watching
Yet the ship she never returned.
--The Ship that Never Returned, Henry Clay Work

"It was Flannery O'Connor who said that 'grace must wound before it heals.' Her words help me to separate what is most true about life from the things we want to be true. We want life to be painless. True grace is a hard sell because in order for the human heart to understand forgiveness and love, it must first experience darkness and isolation. A life lived under the rule of grace is a life of need which allows us to receive an appreciate the gift of the giver of grace. This is why we will always have the poor with us; this is why God will not allow us to ignore injustice; this is why we are called to a life we cannot handle alone, which can and will break us in the effort to live it -- because grace must wound before it heals."
-- Justin McRoberts

Regarding 2007:
"the year has gone quick, but most of the days haven't"
--melvanini

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind ?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And days o' auld lang syne


CHORUS:
For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

And surely ye’ll be your pint-stoup !
And surely I’ll be mine !
And we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

CHORUS
We twa hae run about the braes,
and pou’d the gowans fine ;
But we’ve wander’d mony a weary fit,
sin’ auld lang syne.

CHORUS
We twa hae paidl’d in the burn,
frae morning sun till dine ;
But seas between us braid hae roar’d
sin’ auld lang syne.

CHORUS
And there’s a hand, my trusty fiere !
And gies a hand o’ thine!
And we’ll tak a right gude-willie-waught,
for auld lang syne.
--Robert Burns, "Auld Lang Syne"

I thought Christmas Day would never come. But it's here at last, so Mom and Dad, the waiting's finally done. And you gotta get up, you gotta get up, you gotta get up, it's Christmas morning.

Did my sister get a baby doll? Did my brother get his bike? Did I get that red wagon, the kind that makes you fly? Oh, I hope there'll be peace on Earth, and I know there's goodwill towards men, on account o' that baby born in Bethlehem.
--Rich Mullins, You Gotta Get Up (Christmas Song)

O little town of Bethlehem,
How still we see thee lie,
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep
The silent stars go by;
Yet in thy dark streets shineth
The everlasting light
The hopes and fears of all the years
Are met in thee tonight.

O Holy Child of Bethlehem,
Descend to us we pray,
Cast out our sin, and enter in,
Be born in us today.
We hear the Christmas angels,
The great glad tidings tell,
O come to us, abide with us,
Our Lord Emmanuel.
--L.H.Redner, "O Little Town of Bethlehem"

Walk humbly, son
Walk humbly, now
And cherish every step
For a life well spent
On this earth we're lent
Will be marked by the void you have left

May you conquer (not curse) challenges
May you hold back the dark like a dam
May you lead your life with lion's roar
May you leave it like a lamb

Don't await rewards for your good deeds
A reward won't make them good
Don't await judgment of any foes
They'll receive just what they should

When you find the axis of this world
Don't tread too far inside
Run away as far as you think you can
Be well and enjoy the ride

Walk humbly, son
And store your pride
When you need strength later on
For your life's work will be judged if earth
Is saddened when you have gone

Walk humbly, son
Walk humbly, how
And forget not where you are from
May you go further than those before
And provide for those to come

Will you walk humbly, Son?
--Eddie From Ohio, Walk Humbly, Son

Strings of lights above the bed
Curtains drawn and a glass of red
All I ever get for Christmas is blue

Saxaphone on the radio
Recorded 40 years ago
All I ever get for Christmas is blue

When you play my song
Play it slowly
play it like I'm sad and lonely....

Weatherman says it's miserable
But the snow is so beautiful
All I ever get for Christmas is blue

It would take a miracle
To get me out to a shopping mall
All I really want for Christmas is you
--Over the Rhine, from Snow Angels

"In a little while I'll feel better
Gonna travel around the world
Gonna see it all

Gonna go to Paris, maybe Rome
But I'll feel better miles away from home,
Gotta figure some things out

So sell all my things, I'm not coming home
There's nothing there to keep me there
Just heartache and panic and worries and things that'll bring me down
My head feels much clearer being here

In a little while I'll feel better
Gonna spill my heart to every stranger in every town
I'll visit castles in Ireland, have some fella play the violin and play a song for me

So sell all my things, I'm not coming home
There's nothing there to keep me there
Just heartache and panic and worries and things that'll bring me down
My head feels much clearer being here
--Rosie Thomas, Sell All My Things, from Only With Laughter Can You Win

"Please tell me once again that You love me. That You love me. Please tell me once again that I matter to You and You really care. Please tell me once again that You're with me, forever. It's not that I could ever doubt you, I just love the way it sounds. I just love the way it sounds."
--This Train, I think it's from a song on Emperor's New Band.

"Every once in a while, a bannerzen posts."
--Me, during the 2002 Boredeys at Cornerstone Festival

"7:30. What kind of people have to be at work at 7:30?"
--Mr. Holland's Opus

have you seen my love
is he far away
have you seen the one for me
whose face lights up my day
i won't let one boy steal a kiss
or call me his instead i'll wait
for his voice to call out to mine
and carry these daydreams away
have you seen my love
is he far away
have you seen the one for me
who won't let me get away
please tell him that i'm
waiting for him praying for him
night and day for now i'll be a
lonely girl just longing for his sweet embrace
--Rosie Thomas, Have You Seen My Love, from When We Were Small

Traveling is significant because it takes so much effort. Either you're going to some place you love, or you're leaving some place you love. Usually it's both.
--Friend of a friend of a friend

I think I have Bond's ability to get into trouble but not his ability to get out of it. Someday I'll be in some foreign country with 5 thugs with automatic rifles pointed at me, and I'll just.... fart
--Peter, my twin brother, while we were talking about bicycle accidents.

"You had no alternative .. We must work in the world. The world is thus." --- "No .. Thus have we made the world."
-- The Mission (a movie)

The summer ends and we wonder where we are And there you go, my friends, with your boxes in your car And you both look so young And last night was hard, you said You packed up every room And then you cried and went to bed But today you closed the door and said "We have to get a move on. It's just that time of year when we push ourselves ahead, We push ourselves ahead."
And it was cloudy in the morning And it rained as you drove away And the same things looked different It's the end of the summer It's the end of the summer, When you move to another place
--Dar Williams, End of the Summer

Looking out the bedroom at this snowy TV.. ever since commencement, no one's asking 'bout me. But I bet before the night falls, I could catch the late bus.. take small provisions and this Beethoven bust. I could find work in the outskirts of the city, eat some fish on the way.. befriend an old dog for a roadside pal, find a nice couch to stay -- a pull-out sofa, if you please!"
--Eddie From Ohio, Fifth of July.

Ooh! Get me away from here I'm dying
Play me a song to set me free
Nobody writes them like they used to
So it may as well be me
Here on my own now after hours
Here on my own now on a bus
Think of it this way
You could either be successful or be us --belle and sebastian, Get Me Away From Here, I'm Dying

"The trouble with folks like Brownie is they hold their life in like a bakebean fart at a Baptist cookout and only let it slip out sideways a little at a time when they think there's nobody noticing. Now that's the last thing on earth the Almighty intended. He intended all the life a man's got inside him, he should live it out just as free and strong and natural as a bird."
--Leo Bebb in Frederick Buechner's "Treasure Hunt"

"Life is a phantasmagoria .. It is a pell-mell of confused and tumultuous scenes. We try in vain to find a purpose - to bring an order, a unity to life. I suppose that is the appeal of art. Art is the blending of the real and the unreal, the conquering of nature. It is real enough for it to reflect life, but has the unity that life lacks."
--D., in a recent email.

"in time memories fade.
senses numb.
one forgets how it feels to have loved completely."
--Pedro the Lion, The Longest Winter

I've always had this feeling about Patty that she's complex and intriguing...I like Patty alot. She's got a good heart and tells terrible squirrel jokes.
--Julie, from her blog on 4/8, after a large group of friends from all over gathered at my house for the weekend.

"Try to remember that world-weariness isn't necessarily a bad thing. In the book of Mark, I think its Mark, Jesus looks at a blind man and sighs. Jesus sighed before even telling the man he would be healed. He sighed, and I'm not sure that there's a much more human expression of frustration than this. Faced with the horrid picture of a cursed earth and looking into the white eyes of a man blind from the day he was born, He sighed. The Creator of the universe in human form was sad "of the evils of this world," the world He created. Your Creator sighed for you in the same way before He healed you and made you His."
-- Jesse, in response to my Weltschmerz blog entry

"After the last tear falls
After the last secret's told
After the last bullet tears through flesh and bone
After the last child starves
And the last girl walks the boulevard
After the last year that's just too hard
There is love

-- Andrew Peterson, After the Last Tear Falls

"when you most need people, you don't need perfection - just to know someone gives a damn"
--Jamie, during a recent IM conversation

"A CALL TO ACTION:
How will you answer when, years from now, your child asks you: 'Mom or Dad, what did you do to combat the evil of squirrel hazing?'"
--From Dave Barry's Blog

"My brother's always [telling me], 'You should be more mysterious--boys like that.' But I'm not good at that. It would just make me more uncomfortable."
--Rosie Thomas, in an interview with Kathleen Wilson

"Loners want to kill you, but not for any particular reason, and they'd probably like you if they weren't being guided by the violent voices in their head."
--The non-box result from a random quiz I took today. (No, I frankly can't recommend this quiz site, but if you're really bored and you're not seeking to remain pure, go right ahead..)

"No one wants to oil a snake these days!"
-- Emmett Otter, Emmett Otter's Jug Band Christmas (Found under the Specials section of the TV section of the Henson website.)

Jamie: "I am one of the greatest criminal masterminds in the world."
--
Her mom: "We're all safe."

-- Jamie Bevill and her mother during Christmas-Decorating dinner, December 20, 2002

"and if i were a jetson
i'd throw out all my shoes
i'd set up cans for friends
to dump their shoes senseless shoes
a pioneer of callouses
lordy-be and bless my soul
i'd be a barefoot spaceman
the first you'd ever know"
-- Eddie From Ohio, If I were a Flinstone

"The best way to have God's will for your life is to have no will of your own!"
-- Charlene Potterbaum, Thanks Lord, I Needed That!

"Generations circle and each one atones. The sins of the father are seperate from my own. In Pilgrim's Progress, it's forgiveness that makes whole, and as time levels and consoles, I place the daisies in your bowl."
--Jan Krist, Daisies in Your Bowl

"For a moment he just stared at her. Then, with an urf-urf-urf of laughter, he turned back to the controls."
...
"They made good time, despite the lingering tenderness of Mara's ankle and the distractions inherent in a faceful of itch."
-- Timothy Zahn, Star Wars: Heir to the Empire

"It's on the internet.. so, then, it must be true."
-- Five Iron Frenzy, The Untimely Death of Brad

"Be at least as interested in what people can become as you are in what they have been."
-- Steve Griffin

Blessed be the rock stars!"
--Justin Dillon Stevens

Get up for the shower.. wash and scrub and scour every part as if a cleaner man could better bear the shame..
--The Waiting, Look At Me

"She was eating gnarly amounts of calcium."
--Samuel Hernandez

Homeless man to girl trying to give him money: "No, thanks, ma'am. I never work on Sundays."
-- Amilie, the movie.

"Wow! I never thought I'd need a radar-guided spatula!"
-- Larryboy, Larryboy and the Angry Eyebrows

"Isn't it great that I articulate? Isn't it grand that you can understand? ... I can talk, I can talk, I can talk!"
-- Wilbur, Charlotte's Web (the movie)

I believe that people laugh at coincidence as a way of relegating it to the realm of the absurd and of therefore not having to take seriously the possibility that there is a lot more going on in our lives than we either know or care to know... I suspect that part of it, anyway, is that every once and so often we hear a whisper from the wings that goes something like this: "You've turned up in the right place at the right time. You're doing fine. Don't ever think that you've been forgotten.
(and in another entry)
When we close our eyes to the deep needs of other people whether they live on the streets or under our own roof -- and when we close our eyes to our own deep need to reach out to them -- we can never be fully at home anywhere.
(and in another entry)
Maybe at the heart of all our travelling is the dream of someday, somehow, getting Home.
(and in another entry)
The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet. -- Frederick Buechner, Wishful Thinking: A Seeker's ABC

When I lay these questions before God I get no answer. But a rather special sort of "No answer." It is not the locked door. It is more like a silent, certainly not uncompassionate, gaze. As though He shook His head not in refusal but waiving the question. Like, "Peace, child; you don't understand."
-- C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed

CCM: You've spoken a lot more about crying than I ever thought you would.
JK: Oh, I've cried a lot. Truthfully, I've cried a lot more this past year than I've probably cried in five years.
CCM: Why?
JK: It's fun to feel.
-- An Interview with Jennifer Knapp in the January Issue of CCM Magazine

"Youth is not a period of time. It is a state of mind, a result of the will, a quality of the imagination, a victory of courage over timidity, of the taste for adventure over the love of comfort. A man doesn't grow old because he has lived a certain number of years. A man grows old when he deserts his ideal. The years may wrinkle his skin, but deserting his ideal wrinkles his soul. Preoccuptaions, fears, doubts, and despair are the enemies which slowly bow us toward earth and turn us into dust before death. You will remain young as long as you are open to what is beautiful, good, and great; receptive to the messages of other men and women, of nature and of God. If one day you should become bitter, pessimistic, and gnawed by despair, may God have mercy on your old man's soul."
-- General Douglas MacArthur

""Don't go matchmaking for me, Ilse," said Emily wit a faint smile... "I feel in my bones that I shall achieve old-maidenhood, which is an entirely different thing from having old-maidenhood thrust upon you."
-- Emily, from the Emily books by L. M. Montgomery

"I wish Aunt Elizabeth would let me go to Shrewsbury, but I fear she never will. She feels she can't trust me out of her sight because my mother eloped. But she need not be afraid I will ever elope. I have made up my mind that I will never marry. I shall be wedded to my art"
-- Emily, from the Emily books by L. M. Montgomery

"Tomorrow seems like a long ways away. But it will come, just like any other day... Deep inside, where the wounded creatures hide, I am afraid. Maybe I got lost somewhere along the way somehow. Please rescue me... Yea, though I walk through the valley of the dark shadow of death, I will fear no evil. For you are with me... Though I fear, though I am afraid, You are with me. Though I'm angry, tired, broken down and confused, You are with me. Though I sin like I've never sinned before, lose myself right out an open door, You are with me."
-- Waterdeep, You Are With Me

"The invisible people agreed about everything. Indeed most of their remarks were the sort it would not be easy to disagree with: "What I always say is, when a chap's hungry, he likes some victuals," or "Getting dark now; always does at night," or even "Ah, you've come over the water. Powerful wet stuff, ain't it?"" -- C. S. Lewis, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

"When People object... that if Jesus was God as well as Man, then He had an unfair advantage which deprives Him for them of all value, it seems to me as if a man struggling in the water should refuse a rope thrown to him by another who had one foot on the bank, saying, "Oh but you had an unfair advantage." It is because of His advantage that He can help."
-- C. S. Lewis

"But, you know, as a Christian, one of the big questions you always ask yourself is, "So we believe in Jesus, we believe in the teachings of the church, but what does that look like when it's lived out?" Because surely, one of the things that Jesus said that I think we often overlook is, "The person who hears my words and does them is like the wise man who built his house on the rock." He didn't say "the person who hears my words and thinks about 'em" or "whoever hears my words and agrees with it." But he said, "Whoever hears it and does it."
-- Rich Mullins, during a radio interview, as quoted in An Arrow Pointing to Heaven

"find that which gives you breath and grants you more to give
because life ends not in death but with what dies inside while we live"
--Christopher Williams, Breathe

"I have packed all my belongings. I don't belong here anymore. This pair of sandles, one pack to carry, this old guitar and this tattered old Bible. And I know I won't be afraid. 'cause I know, I know Home is where You are."
--Dog Named David, Heavenly Rain

"Open up your weepy eyes, everyone is dancing. Angels peer through sweet disguise, through a fire of cleansing.
--My Brother's Mother, Finest Hour

"Long hair, no hair; Everybody, everywhere: Breathe Deep, breathe deep the Breath of God!"
-- Lost Dogs, Breathe Deep

"You may be bruised and torn and broken, but you're Mine!"
-- Asiam, Relentless Love

"I don't deserve to speak, and they don't deserve to hear it. It's makin' me believe that it's not about me."
-- Justin McRoberts, The Story Stands Alone

"Kickin' against these goads sure did cut up my feet. Didn't your hands get bloody as you washed them clean?"
-- Caedmon's Call, Here I am Again

"They say God blessed us with plenty. I say you?re blessed with poverty. ?Cause you never stop to wonder whether earth is just a little better than the Land of the Free"
-- Andrew Peterson, Land of the Free

"Computers will know everything in the 21st century. They'll be like me in the 20th century."
-- Crabby Road