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


Friday, October 31, 2008

Happy Halloween!!














And: See, I really am trying to gain the weight back....




This, ladies and gentlemen, is (purported to be) a camel burger! Used to be that when you ate one of these puppies and its side items, you'd get a tee-shirt that said something about how, believe it or not, the wearer had eaten a camel burger at such-and-such hotel/restaurant. Eight of us went tonight, and I think we all finished the camel burger and sides (even myself, and also even the little Japanese woman with us! ... which may not be surprising after the recent Hot Dog Eating Contest win.... ) ... no one walked away with a tee, though, so one of the guys thinks they're not doing it anymore.

It was a fun night out, good little escape, lots of good photos.

And, also, I'm guessing that someone in my building has a snake. That's the only way that I can explain the fact that the only cricket I've ever heard of even existing in this entire country has taken up residence under my fridge... I thought my fridge was breaking (like many other things in this flat have since I moved in) but was glad to find that the really high pitched whirling sound was just the now-unfamiliar sound of a very confused cricket. I'm trying to catch him humanely and put him outside, but I'm also tired of the headache I've been getting (crickets under fridges in marble-and-mirror kitchens tend to echo a weeeee bit) and I'm not sure he'll survive too long outside either.

Anyway, it's late here now, most of you guys are about to be another hour further away time-wise on Sunday, and I have some face paint to go wash off... goodnight, and since it's well past midnight here, Happy All Saints' Day!


(And Happy Birthday, Victor!)

(3) comments
Sunday, October 26, 2008

I now weigh less than I did in high school.

And I was not very large in high school.

I think I need to find a new stres coping mechanism... I still eat ice cream a lot, but obviously that's just not doing it for me anymore. Perhaps I should eat only pasta??

(0) comments
Wednesday, October 22, 2008

I remember now. It was Popcorn.

I remember, of course, the old tall, yellow popcorn-poppers of the eighties and seventies... and the little foil-wrapped stovepacks, and I know families who pop popcorn in large pots on the stove... But for much of my life, microwave popcorn has been standard, and the saltier and more buttery, the better, in my humble opinion. I love getting the remnants of salt and butter coating off the side of the bag.

I brought some microwave popcorn over to my international friends', and they were surprised and happy and excited... apparently it's rare for them to even see this in stores, much less actually cook it. Some of them plan to take a bunch home with them to give/show to friends when they leave here. They didn't even realize that we sell it on base, because they didn't ever think to look for it since it's just not a part of their lives.

The girl stood right near the microwave and watched it every second, laughing and clapping. I gave them the micro-popcorn 101 lesson about listening for the three-second gap in pops to know it's done and not burn it. It was just so surreal to me to see folks who are in my generation, though a few years older than I, who were so impressed by microwave popcorn!

(0) comments
Tuesday, October 21, 2008

More fun experiences in English attempts and different cultures:

Many places here use fun text, such as "on Sunday the 21th" routinely. I love saying them how they spell them. Twenty-firth. It's just so great!

When my international friends and I went out for some Indian food the other night (which was absolutely delicious!!!!), we had large plates full of yummy nummies... so afterwards, one of the guys says "I'm so full" and I responded "me, too" of course.. the French guys burst out laughing and the French female explained to me that in France, the females do not say things like this. I think she was saying it had something to do with lady-like discretion. I explained that I'm an American lady, and so I'm full. Also, I learned some time ago that in France, it is not ok to burp around others. Guys don't do it as a competition in a group of only guys (I would think maybe some of the younger ones are learning to do so now, but not the guys my age) and you don't do it around your family, either. So when these French friends got around Americans here for the first time, they were very shocked at first (and now somewhat amused) by all of the burping that can take place.

There are many words that are in one language a regular, every-day word (like the Arabic word for "your book", for example, which is kitabich) that can sound very similar to bad words in other languages (the way kitabich is pronounced is more like get-a---- and you can imagine the rest)... I have run into this often with Arabic, French, Hindi, Tagalog, and some other languages frequently spoken here, and many of them have pointed out English/American words that sound not so friendly within their languages.

The regional TV networks (multiple channels each) here are great examples of really good tries at marketing their products in English but just not quite hitting it square on the head.... Two of the main ones copy from imdb or other reviews, but they'll cut off mid-sentence or leave out really important key words. Sometimes it's pretty cute. One also comes up with great headings for their shows, which are sometimes pulled from imdb plot lines and sometimes are not... For example, their headline for Gray's Anatomy says "Medicine Nor Relationships Can Be Defined in Black & White" or for Dr Phil it says "Development of Life Strategies to Be Adopted by Others".

They've been mostly getting better recently, but there have still been some pretty funny ones from time to time. I'll try to remember to post some of them whenever they come up.


----------------

There were a couple of other things that happened over the last few days that I wanted to blog about, but I forget now what they were. Ah, well, perhaps it will come to me another time.

(1) comments
Saturday, October 18, 2008

ok, I just can't for the life of me get the pictures to line up the way I want them to, so please bear with me since they're all strewn about the page in happenstance style. Should've just centered thm and commented below like normal.

So, now it's time for me to leave for my Arabic final this evening, and then it's Oktoberfest on base. Maybe I'll grab some more giant mugs for my collection.

(0) comments




These pictures are from that evening when I mentioned staying for dinner. They're also to show you another aspect of the quasi-European diet and why it's so effective at weight loss. Eating dinner with my international friends that evening, the French were kind enough to share with me the Saucisson they had received in the mail that week. Yes, in the mail. Not, from what I could understand of the conversation, in a refrigerated special delivery package... and from the looks of the actual sausage, it couldn't have been stored very specially. But they were really excited to received it, and really glad to be eating it, and savored every moment.

(I found this article while trying to figure out exactly what it was I was eating:
http://www.davidlebovitz.com/archives/2006/03/saucissesauciss.html




Just in case you can't get the full appreciation for how scary this item looked (and you can imagine the smell, too!), here is a closer cropped version.




So, can you see why I'm losing weight here now?!?










Another aspect is how things over here are just not what they are back home. Take, for example, this French dressing. Seriously, this is straight off the shelf, not a reused bottle. I tried to explain to them that this is ranch dressing, maybe a garlic ranch after I tasted it, but certainly NOT French dressing. They said the store just did it to sell more. Because, of course, if it's associated with the word French, everyone will buy lots of it!











Apart from the saucisson, we also had some nice hot saucisse, lamb chops, and a few other dishes. So to cook the other meats, they fired up the grill. I took lots of shots, but this is my favorite... to me, it looks like a clown jumping on a trampoline. See the little legs and the big belly and the arms flailing in the air?









After dinner was a lot of sitting around and lounging by the pool, as usual. They swiped my camera from me, so I figured I'd show you how I'm looking these days.













And, finally, here is the moon from that night. This was one of only three pictures I managed to take where I didn't only get a white shape, so I really need to get back into studying my photography rules/tricks. Anyway, it was a beautiful moon that night and I always think of Fievel and the song "Somewhere Out There" when I'm looking at the moon here.

Oh! And I found out tonight that Get Smart and The Dark Knight are both still playing at the theater here, so I'm probably going to see at least one of those unless you guys tell me that it would be a waste of time... but I imagine Get Smart should be pretty good. Let me know, guys. Thanks!

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Ok, first my Navy Ball pictures.

It started out with getting my hair done, and then getting ready for the evening, my two bodyguards arrived to pick me up:

























And we enjoyed the ball, complete with new friends at the table (one of whom is here, but there were six others) and a whole new appreciation for American ceremonies on behalf of my foreign companions. They don't have a Prisoner of War ceremony/rememberance table in most other services, and were particularly impressed by this symbolism.

Some other parts of the ball were not so impressive, particularly the dj (who broke most of the cardinal rules of dj'ing, like making it about him instead of the music), so we left there earlier than expected to go to our favorite local haunt.

I had to get extra fun out of the hair since I paid a decent bit for it and I'm compusively against short-term expenses in general... it looked pretty nice the next day when I let just a few ringlets out, and then that night I took out more than fifty pins from my hair since my scalp finally hurt enough to not keep them in. Seriously, more than fifty. It was a large stack. No wonder my hair didn't come out that night!

(2) comments
Sunday, October 12, 2008

Got caught up in napping after lunch, and then stayed for dinner, and now it's way later than I should be going to bed since I have to teach early tomorrow. So instead, tomorrow evening I will post the pictures and some other stuff.

Kaly and Paul, the Filipino restaurant I went to today kind-of reminded me of the sign from your trip... nothing that drastically odd, but still some things that just weren't quite good translations. And they were watching Pinoy TV there (the Filipino channel), which had "Celebrity Duos" on, and so it was fun listening to, as you said, the very interesting language experience of the mix of Spanish, English, and the native tongue. What I've always loved about Tagalog is how when they are saying a word in English that is not in English in Tagalog, the have a very strong accent and you can easily place the word as being spoken by a Filipino. But when they are speaking Tagalog and a word that is in English in Tagalog is said, it is said with the nuetral American accent, such as "steamer" or "seven days a week" (real examples from today's TV shows), where they would sound thickly accented as foreign words to the speaker but as native words they sound like a regular announcement. Before someone says this is part and parcel of TV programs, I have heard the same thing about my Filipino friends, where in speaking English the accent is very strong (pood sale, pundraiser, and froblem being some of my favorite FilAm words) but in speaking English-within-Tagalog there is, by US standards, no accent at all.

Anyway, as I said, it's way past my bedtime. So, goodnight to you all, and God Bless!

(1) comments

Ok, putting off posting the pictures till later today, because now it's time for lunch. Before I post them, I should use this disclaimer: I've lost weight again over the last few months because of both my work schedule and also because I've unintentionally gone on the American-in-quasi-Europe diet... which is that as an American (and specifically one who gets up way too early), I expect to eat dinner sometime between 5 and 7pm, and when I make plans with my European friends here, I generally will still eat my lunch at about noon (if I remember to eat that day) and then be ready to eat again during the normal American timeframe. Since I'm with Europeans, though, they expect not to eat dinner until roughly 8 or 9 pm (later for Spaniards) and even if we plan to eat earlier, things are so, shall we say, easy-going that we don't end up really eating until later.

Right now, for example.. I woke up around 9 this morning (sleeping in is loverly!!) and had some coffee, because I'm not much of a breakfast person and because I was planning on lunch at noon with some French and Filipino friends... the Filipinos had to bail and one of the French guys slept much later than planned, and so it's now almost an hour later than planned and they're just now starting to take their showers and get ready. My stomach is growling like crazy, and they haven't even picked me up yet! So it'll be probably another thirty minutes to an hour by the time we get to the restaurant, order, are served, and my belly is satiated. Then I won't be hungry again, hopefully, until later in the evening and will probably just have something small since it'll be so close to bedtime.....

So, just thought I'd share since that's what's on my mind right now and since the dress I was wearing to the ball did NOT fit me when I bought it at a thrift store here (I was more interested in the fabric than the actual dress at the time) and it pretty much fit me this time around... and clothes that fit me just fine when I left Jax to come here are now a lot baggier on me. Which is sad, since I really liked my wardrobe and since I hate spending money... but then, I'm still wearing my old size-12 pants with safety pins all around the waistline, because I really don't care about the fashion so much as the comfort.... so there you have it.

(0) comments
Saturday, October 11, 2008

There is a movie on right now (on the +1 channel, but I just finished watching it on the regular channel and now the +1 version --- which means the same programming delayed by one hour --- is on for background noise) called Broken English, which is about a New York girl who randomly meets a French guy one evening and about their relationship, but also about her best friend and about her own self-discovery... some of which takes place in Paris. I really enjoyed this movie, especially because so much of it mirrors some of the interactions (especially with accents) that I've had with some of the friends I've made here. Some of the accent jokes were exactly like experiences I've had (having them tell me they're hungry but it sounds like angry, so that I responded "why are you angry?" and it took a while to sort everything out) .... and some didn't work for me at first because I've gotten so used to the accent.

This has been perhaps the best weekend I've had here in a while. We had an extra session in Arabic class on Friday, so two days in a row I had that class, and the Navy Ball was last night, so I'll post pictures of that soon (I'm meeting a friend for a beer in a minute) and today apart from class was very relaxing, and then tomorrow is a third day off which is fantastic.... I didn't have to refuse to think about work so much this weekend like I usually struggle to do, because a lot of the issues that made for very late hours these past three weeks got mostly cleared up this past week, and some of the others my Chief ordered me to get apathetic about for my own health, especially if they involved people who could have taken care of their own issues and neglected to do so.

Anyway, it's time for that beer, so I'll post some more pictures later or tomorrow. 'Nite!

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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