A cat poster

This is AWESOME!!!

some things...

I felt like I MUST share this comic with as many people as possible. I am not entirely sure its legal for me to post it, but i did - so whatever. this comic sometimes absolutely rules. Like many others, sometimes it doesnt. I am also going to put my favorite postsecret so far on here. it was perfect because it was on just as I started class on Sexuality and Pastoral care and was in a relationship that made me wish it was appropriate for me to print this out and hand it to those of the appropriate gender... Its just not that hard, and I have never understood why we are so afraid of our bodies, of each others bodies and why we cant be comfortable with sexuality. You would think that since American culture has sexualized absolutely everything that we would be a little more comfortable with it. Instead, we cant just have regular relationships because EVERYTHING is sexual. It stinks, makes life awkward and
boring because there is no mystery when you know whats coming every time. Its just weird how we do. We cant touch without wondering what was behind it, men cant sit directly next to each other, hugs can be considered overstepping your boundaries. In Brazil everyone gives a hug and two kisses every time they see you. It was great. If you need 10 touches a day to be human, then Americans are robots. I am getting off the soap box now, but one last thing. I just think its sad that you have to second guess why you would put your arm around someone to comfort them. ya know?
I mean, who ever made this one was a genius. It think its fantastic. I guess its gonna be picture sharing time. I have another one i really like. I stole it from the Rethinking Youth Ministry blog. Its just wonderful, I LOVE the image of the leaning rusty broken cross. I think it speaks to what has happened to Christianity when we domesticated it.
Its towering, still visible, but decaying and hollow and i question whether there is still life to it. When i look at this picture I wonder if it used to light up at night and if it still does - because that would give leave a glimmer of hope to me. I got one more, then i HAVE TO DO HOMEWORK - which lets face it is lame. well its not lame, i have to learn how to preach. HAVE TO. so i guess its good homework. here is a picture i took at the beach in Mississippi on the Highland Pres mission trip this summer. That was such a good trip for me. I love mission work, anywhere. This is what was left of the Pier after Katrina, 2 years later. I have no idea what that sheet on it is, but it sure looks like a ghost or something. so... i lied and there are a few more pictures that need on here. I took these on the snow day. I dont know what was up with my camera but it took these amazing pictures. The one to the right is the first one. IT IS CRAZY. thats a tree outside out library. the tree is dead. they have been having all these arguments on campus about what to do with it, because it might fall over or whatever. A tornado came through a few weeks ago and other HUGE LIVE trees fell on campus, and that one was completely fine. The next picture is also a little out there. I didn't edit these at all or anything. they just came out of camera land like this. What is going on here? Your guess is as good as mine. homework time!!

dinosaurs r us

umm. this is the most hysterical thing i have seen all day. well, in a long time anyways. JESUS WITH A T-REX!!!!
HOLY CRAP! made my day! I wonder if "all are welcome at the table" includes dinosaurs? maybe just the plant eaters? I mean, I wouldn't want to get eaten by a valosa raptor or a pterodactyl while gathered around the lords table. but who knows, Jesus could and should love dinosaurs. and honestly, i hope its a real advertisement, because that would make it more funny. we do have to have to let politicians to the table, and politics, but we don't have to let personal beliefs impact working for the people. aye? i dont know about that, because its my beliefs that make me want to work for the people. hmmm. i dont want the church to guide the state, in any way. doesnt work. I would prefer that those who are governing would keep in mind they dont work for themselves, they work for the people. ok im done. homework now!


holy crap! now check this out:
http://www.christiancentury.org/

its dinosaur week!! how fantastic!!!

i suck at this...

well, i suck at this. being sick, i haven't really left the house all that much and i still manage to over my spending limits. not on food, but on stuff. i had to buy books, glasses, medication and some other stuff that i apparently couldn't resist. ugh. I so badly need to be in a world of simple living, where having more stuff doesn't make life easier. I don't think i ever realized how much all of this effects all the parts of our lives. i want to be somewhere i just get up and put on clothes in the morning and go about my business. i don't want to worry what i look like, what other people are thinking about what i am wearing and how i look in it. i want to have to have a thousand pairs of shoes, ten hundred shirts and like eleventy billion other kinds of things so i can be trendy. i dont.
BUT then i go into the mall and all of a sudden im a fashion expert and im wanting to purchase everything i see. sure i like to look nice, i dont mind wearing clothes that make my body look nice, but i dont want it to run my life. i so frustrated with myself. ugh. things keep happening.

yep...

I am always astounded by the uncreativity involved in the titles of my blogs... Seeing as how they are few and far between, you would think I could come up with something a little better. I am still stuck on all this financial stuff. Obviously I am still appalled with my own spending practices. I have been chronicling every expenditure that I have made since January started, because the simple living dude made me understand that I am living the ridiculous, hypocritical life of a typical American Christian. I can talk until i am blue in the face about poverty, hunger, food deserts in the city, classism, oppression of the poor and the next moment spend 5 dollars on coffee and 50 dollars on nothing at target. The thing is that having more stuff isnt helping anyone. The desire for more things really is just perpetuating a system that depletes the world or resources so a bunch of things can pile up in my house then they can go sit in a dump somewhere polluting the world we attempt to live in. We are like locusts. I am completely disgusted that the government is now trying to jump-start the economy by giving everyone money and encouraging us to spend it on things we probably don't need. Well, I'm going to damn the man and pay off my credit card with it. woo! Why don't they find another way to make things work? Why are we cloning animals to eat? Why not instead encourage better eating habits so we don't need the excess? I guess I, because I am American, deserve everything i want at the moment, and in large quantities.
I am also astounded at how everything costs money. I forget because I guess I have been programed to get my credit card out and swipe it. Maybe I am even addicted to the habit! the doctor costs money, insurance costs, the phone costs, the internet, coffee to sit in the cafe and have internet costs money, groceries cost money, hanging out with friends inevitably leads to spending money, eating out is ridiculous these days, getting sick costs, staying healthy costs, school costs money, books, pens, pencils, paper, pictures, drawing, art, gas, car repairs... what is free? I went over my 50 dollars a week with a doctor's visit. Is that ok? Kt says its find because I have to get better for school, but if I really only had the 50 bucks, I would not have had the money for the doctor and would have been screwed. So now I just feel guilty. Luckily we have had snow days so I haven't even been tempted except for buying books, because I had to. Honestly, I haven't even been tempted to leave my apartment feeling this way, so whatever its all good. I start over tomorrow so, maybe it will go better.
I just get so frustrated with so many things in the world I live in. I hope i survive my simple living experiment. Well, more than survive, I hope I am changed by it. More later.

Just American I Guess

I have gotten like 4 Lenten devotionals in the mail so far and I find this a bit frustrating. Am I really going to read these? No, I dont even have time to do all my reading for school. Why did someone send me this? Were they that concerned that I would need help reflecting during this period? Lets face it, probably. I do need help focusing all the time, particularly during lent. It seems that when I have to think about giving up something, or doing something extra, then I just want to do it less.
This year for lent i am going to start doing more of these reflections (time permitting, I'm taking an ass-ton of hours this semester) on my Lenten practice. Last year i started riding my bike everywhere, which is fabulous. I start that again tomorrow. Cold or not, I need to keep that up. Just giving it up makes me feel crappy because I like riding the bike and I typically feel guilty for driving around town. This year, in an attempt to further my understanding and actually practice simple living, I am going to try and only spend 50 dollars a week on stuff and 50 dollars a week on food. Having this allergy to wheat makes 50 dollars a week for food a hazard because I cant compromise on the cheap stuff if it has a wheat protein in it anywhere.
So far it hasnt been bad because I just havent been anywhere or in a crunch. Grocery shopping is going to be a challenge because I am going to have to plan my meals out pretty well before I go, so that I wont be tempted to buy things i don't need. I feel a little weird needing to experience simple living though, because I am doing it by choice. Other people that I would like to be in solidarity with are not choosing, they are just existing. I guess I feel a little fake, but at least now I might have a more clear understanding of what it is like for some people everyday, not just 40 days of a year.
So I have always been obnoxious in stores, ask my mom. I have no idea how it got programed into me, well i guess i have some idea. But when I would, and now do, walk around places like walmart (sorry) and target I pretty much want everything I see. I don't know why, but I also like to point this out to the people i am with (normally my mother). I may not actually have any intention of purchasing an item, but I still want it. Today it bothered me in the store that i felt that way. I went there to get pens, so i could write things down in my apt, because i had no pens for some reason, and i ended up in the craft section, the video section, the curtains section, the underpants section and the clothes section. What is my deal?! Its like a rush, looking around at all those things, it was like an adrenalin rush, because I am always get so tired about an hour into shopping... must be the adrenalin wearing off. I could have justified buying any of that stuff if I didnt have this spending limit. it makes me mad that i think this way and i think part of it is because its the American way. individualism and materialism. It is so frustrating that I have been impacted so deeply by these two "ism's." I wonder how i will pull myself out of it? I think my lent thing will for sure help me break the cycle of senseless impulse purchases.
I think part of it also comes from the fact that I always have the cushion of support that is my parents, should i mess up too badly on any front. That is wonderful, but I guess knowing that i'm tight rope walking with a net causes me not to be as careful as i would be otherwise.
It must (well i know it is, ive been there a little i guess) be SO frustrating to walk around in stores and know that you cannot buy any of these things even if you wanted to. I mean giving gifts is impossible, tithing is impossible, even eating is sometime difficult. You cant eat organic, you cant have natural food products, you cant even avoid transfat, but when do you have time to do the research to find out what you should and shouldnt be eating if you are working all the time to pay rent, bills, for gas and then have 50 dollars left over to spend. ugh.
Ill keep thinking, we will see. Simple living seems to be the way to go, especially if after just a few days i am completely disgusted with whatever fever i seem to catch when i get into these huge box stores. I certainly dont want to be elitest about what ive decided to do, or to be all in peoples faces about it, but I feel almost called to this experience. i dont know how this will work out, but we will see.