I'm Back!

Hermione's power cord broke and I realized that I have forgotten how to share a computer. Instead of relearning I just stayed off the computer, almost entirely. After throwing up in front of the $80 power cord at Office Depot, I found one on E-bay for $14 and got it today. Sing with me--"I got it on E-Bay!"

I've been doing a lot of reading. I re-read "A Voice On the Wind" and "An Echo In the Darkness" and finally read "As Sure As the Dawn". I'm also reading "The Victory of Reason".

I did a deep cleaning of my desk--rearranged, filed, dusted, and threw a lot of stuff out. Now to maintain it.

Mama and Naomi had a joint, 68th birthday party Friday evening at the Pizza Hut. Lots of wonderful people came and we had a lot of fun. I'm glad we did a party. We don't often but we sure have fun when we do.

I have a lot more peace about my job hunt since the sermon mentioned in my last post. I haven't been very productive in my job hunt since but I don't think it's related. I think I've been under the weather, busy with other stuff (said birthday party and cleaning), and am now suffering doubly from menstrual cramps and a swollen throat. When it rains it pours. Despite that, I did do some networking tonight both for my job hunt and the county party--reception for a Ryan Leonard who is running for state attorney general.

I'm very excited about Christmas shopping. I sure hope everyone likes what they're getting! And I'm even more excited about Jen being here for our week-late celebration!

Ken Ham was at FBC of BA this weekend. I made it to 2 different talks. I'm pretty familiar with his materials (but's it's always good to hear again!), so the only new thing I heard about was a research study he and a behavioral science research group did on the people in their tweens who went to conservative churches through high school and then stopped going in their 20s. I went out on a limb and bought the book summarizing the study without asking Mama with her money. She's ok with it now though.

I got a henna tattoo at the State Fair Saturday when I went with Naomi and Caleb. It's a star of David with a cross in the middle on the inside of my arm just below the elbow. I wanted it up on my forearm, but it was so cold that the lady wouldn't let me take my jacket off, so I had to pick a spot reached by rolling up my sleeves.

I started Hebrew classes Monday night at the Tulsa Jewish Community Center. I was disappointed to find out that the beginner class works only reading and writing Hebrew, no speaking. But, I liked the teacher and the attitude of all the other students. I caught onto this first lesson really fast, but I think that's because I'm already familiar with a vowel-point system from Arabic lessons with Amani.

I need to get somethings printed and ready to mail in the morning, so I'd better wrap this up. I still had 2 other big things to write about, so I shall just have to continue this later.

Mama's Hair

Mama's Hair
Originally uploaded by Purple Palindrome

I took this with BonnieJean's Iphone.

Mama has what we call "the Pryor girls' hair". Pryor is her mother's maiden name. All of the women descendants have thick, glossy, healthy hair that either waves or curls. I don't know if you can tell from such a close up shot, but Mama's hair waves at the ends.

Mama's hair has been going gray for a couple of years now. I say gray--it's more silver. I think it's even prettier now with so much silver than it has been in the past. I'm so glad she's not one of those ladies who dyes their hair.

Something you cannot tell from the picture is that Mama's hair is also very soft. She prefers to fix her hair and then spray it with hairspray, but Dad doesn't like the texture of it when it has hairspray in it. He plays with her hair a lot. So, she goes without styling most of the time.

Bavido Banditos

Bavido Banditos
Originally uploaded by Purple Palindrome

Here ya go, JC! I apologize for taking approx. forever and a day to get this to you!

We took this on August 22nd, right before Dad left.

Back to front, left to right: Samuel, Caleb, BonnieJean, Isaac, Joshua, Naomi, Anna, Mama, Dad, and Ethan.

:) and :(

It is so awesomelly wonderful to have Chera here! I'm used to her visiting, but not this long. So every morning I get up and see her I'm just thrilled all over again that she's STILL here!

My job is totally stressing me ought right now. It's kinda coming to a showdown between me and Melissa over coverage in Muskogee. Please pray it resolves itself.

Mama and I were talking about this stress with a long-term perspective on my work history. I have ended up just getting run over by bosses at pretty much every job I have had. Why is this? Is it because I'm young? Short and cute looking? If you're good at what you do will every employer out there just work you to death unless you throw a hissy fit? I have always hoped that being a good worker got you promoted, earned you raises, etc., but, for me personally, it has always just ended up with me being used. It's not in my work ethic or personality to ever do less than a good job, but this certainly isn't the reward I wanted for it.

103

That's the current temperature here in sweltering NE OK. Yuck.

The Rogers County Republican "Government Serves the People" Cookout was a success! We raised over $400 net profit--that is more than what we've had in the past 3 years!

Poor Joshua has poison ivy. It was so bad this morning that his eyes were swelling shut. Mama packed him off to the doctor this morning where he got a steroid shot and cream. He's already looking better much.

We have had baptisms the last 3 Sundays!! Praise God! I'm so excited to see God working!

Also on a church note--I'm helping with the Missions room at VBS this year. Shawn Hines will be in charge of it. I did the missions room 3 years ago and just loved it, so I'm excited to get to do it again. Mama has already said she'll help me with posters for each country.

I get to go shopping with Mama this evening--fun!

This and that

  I love my praying friends!  I have friends that I haven't seen or even maintained contact with, suddenly reconnecting with me and praying for me.  I have a group of ladies older than me in age and in faith that all pray for each other.  My Sunday school class prays for me.  My karate class prays for me.  My parents pray for me.  The Teagues pray for me because of the Friday Bible study.  Chera and JC pray for me.  I'm sure there are many more people that pray for me that I don't know about or just don't remember.

  It seems like I'm suddenly much more aware of who's praying for me.  I think even this is an answer to prayer.  I've been praying for a new understanding of God's love and working in my life.

Ice!

  We're all home today, staying off the icey roads.  We lost power for about 6 hours last night, but it's back.  Even if it does go out, we have a generator so we're all set.

  I love reading Chera's blogs and her notes on facebook!  I wish she was here today.  We could bake cookies or snuggle on the couch with fleeces and watch a chick flick and do other wintry-no-school days activities.

  I'm going to go listen to Mama tell us a story.

29 Years

They sit on the couch reading

Their companionable silence is content

Sometimes they hold hands

Occasionally they read a thought aloud

Their companionable silence is content

When they share a laugh the walls glow

Occasionally they read a thought aloud

Their minds like iron to iron

When they share a luagh the walls glow

He's an artistic engineer, she an architect artist

Their minds like iron to iron

So very different but growing the same

He's an artistic engineer, she an artchitect artist

She was in ROTC, he was a hippie ten years late

So very different but growing the same

They were and are determined to make it work.

She was in ROTC, he was a hippie ten years late

They never should have made it

They were and are determined to make it work

God must be determined, too

They never should have made it

He makes her breakfast, she irons his shirt

God must be determined, too

They snuggle and pray together in the mornings

He makes her breakfast, she irons his shirt

Sometimes they hold hands

They snuggle and pray together in the mornings

They sit on the couch, reading.

One down

fifteen to go.  Yep, I survived my first week back.  Alas for my readers, my topics will probably be severaly tilted towards school news for these next fifteen weeks.  The good news is that my classes look very interesting, so y'all shouldn't be too bored with school posts.

I'm eating some very luscious potato soup and annabread.  Yum!  Mama is an amazing cook!

I heard "Starlings", one of the new songs by Brave Saint Saturn, the other day.  It's about the tragedy of senseless death, even those of starlings.  I think I'll play it for people when I tell them that what I look forward most to in the new earth is the people that will be there and the lack of road kill.  To me, road kill is a perfect picture of how bad we've broken our world.

Exciting baby news!  Number one, Sandy Gilliland is pregnant!  She's just ten weeks along, due in August.  She and Jamey will make excellent parents.  Number two, Erica went in for a routine check-up today and came up as preeclampsic.  Eek!  So, they induced labor and we're waiting on pins and needles for a phone call.  This is 24 days early, which isn't too bad compared to eclampsia.   I'm barely sitting still!

Tomorrow, Lord willing, Mama and I are going to go buy all my painting supplies.  I can't wait to start fiddling around with the stuff.  I want to get really familiar with my paints before we do our first canvas piece in a couple of weeks.

We wrote a pantoum today in Poetry class.  I think I really like that form and I was relatively pleased with what I wrote, but not pleased enough to post it here.

I have been really good about working out this week.  I have been really sore, but I can tell it makes me feel better generally.

Tomorrow is our first day of BonnieJean's Bible study with us and the Teagues.  I'm excited about it!

I'm going to bed now.  Love y'all!

Another late night post

  Why are most of my blog posts written late at night?  I do tend to be more contemplative in the evenings.  I think that's a good thing.

  Punyou had two seizures this evening.  The first one was about a mintue and a half and the second was a little less than a minute.  They were about thirty minutes apart.  His whole head would shake, back and forth not up and down, and his eyes wouldn't blink.  We'll call the vet in the morning.

  I think I'll go take the computer and U.S. history II CLEPs tomorrow.  Yeah for CLEP tests!  Everybody pray for me.

  Mama found my old violin shoulder rest--hallelujah!  I haven't been too happy with my new one.  It pops off whenever I really start hugging the violin to me.

  Hillcat basketball is having a great season!  The men are 6-0 in conference play, 12-0 overall.  The ladies just won their 6th game in a row last night and are 4-2 in conference play, 10-4 overall.  They both play St. Gregory's tomorrow.  I'll have to leave right in the middle to go to band practice at church, but I'm hoping to catch most of it.  I sat with Ethan, Mae, and her boyfriend Aaron at the last home game.  Mae played basketball in high school, so she was able to explain all the ref's calls, which was awesome because they're totally incomprehensible to me.

  I had a very productive day today.  I applied for 6 different jobs, filed the quarterly report for the Rogers County Republicans with the State Ethics Commission, renewed the club's registration (with the $52.50 fee) with said Commission, took the sample U.S. history CLEP, cleaned my room (some), worked out, and stretched.  I should have cleaned my desk, but I didn't.  Oh, well, tomorrow.

  I now have three of my textbooks in: Orientalism and Comparative Politics for my Comparative Politics class, and an Anthology of 20th Century Native American Poetry for my Poetry Writing class.

  I'm really enjoying a book Julie lent me called Stealing Elections by John Fund.  It's challenging my some of my views on absentee ballots and extremely interesting.

  I try to remember to ask this something-resembling-annually: who all reads my blog?

Cozy night

  I'm making sleepty time tea right now, perfect for a late night cap.

  BonnieJean made the most luscious guacamole this evening.  I didn't know I liked guacamole.  I had never even tried it, because I had assumed it was spicy.  I discovered, however, that it's actually quite mild and I like it.

  I got to do some quill work with Mama this evening.  Writing with a quill is twice as fun as writing with a regular pen.  We got to having fun rhyming and making up silly poems.  I'm not going to put any up here because Mama's going to put them up on her blog.

  For the first time in three years we have neighbors to our right!  They're Paul, Evette, and Nathan.  Nathan is 9; he and Caleb seem to be hitting it off well.  Evette is originally from San Antonio.  They are here for Paul to attend the Spartan School of Aeronautics in Tulsa.  They were living on the wet side of Washington state and poor southern Evette is very glad to have left.  I don't think I would survive long on the wet side of Washington, either.  I need my sunshine!

  Samuel starts his full internship tomorrow!  We're all so excited!  Everybody pray for him!  Do I have enough explanation points?!

  Dad goes back to work tomorrow. :(  He's had the last 2+ weeks off and we've all gotten spoiled.  Going back to work wouldn't be so bad I guess if he liked his job more.  I wish I could just wish the perfect job into existence for him.

  I installed Age of Kings on my laptop today.  I love that game!  Everyone hold me accountable to uninstall it on the 13th when I go back to school.

  I'm going to go sip my tea and read some out of Ephesians.  Love y'all!

Merry Christmas!

  We're doing Christmas a little different this year.  We've all been taking it in turns to be sick with one bug or another since before Thanksgiving.  This means that nobody felt like shopping, wrapping presents, or cooking.  So, we decided to postpone Christmas to January 1st.  Or, rather, we're spreading Christmas out over several days.  We did our big Christmas breakfast of pancakes, bacon, orange, etc. today.  Either Saturday or Monday we're doing the big turkey dinner thing.  Sometime this weekend, I think, we'll drive around and look at Christmas lights.  Tomorrow and on other days throughout this week we're taking advantage of post-Christmas sales to buy presents.  Thursday we'll open presents and read the Christmas story.  We might do this again next year whether we're sick or not--it has distinct advantages.

  I don't know if any of y'all outside my family know them, but Katie Sova and Ryan Deckard have finally made it official and set a date of October 10th, 2009!  I think that's too far away, but I'm sure they have their reasons.  I don't know Ryan very well, but Katie is unadultered perfection and she's very happy with him.  Congrats, guys!

  Happy 19th birthday to my favorite teddy bear, Johnny!  I remember getting him as a present on my third Christmas when I was only two years old.  Very long life for a teddy bear and he's still going strong.

  The fam is watching Jingle All the Way (great movie!) and Mama had planned to watch it with us, but she's gotten a terrible ear/toothache from sinus trouble.  So, I'm going to go sit and read with her back in her room.  I'm reading The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett, the Gospel of John, and Do Hard Things by Alex and Brett Harris.  I think right now I'll go with the Bible and Terry Pratchett.

  

It's December 1st!

Happy Birthday, Mama! I love you!

Back to the salt mines

  I'm feeling much better, but not quite 100%.

  Happy Birthday, Naomi!  17 and insane, baby!

  We celebrated Mama and Naomi's birthdays today.  The carrot cake with cream cheese icing was so luscious.

  I don't know if it's on youtube, but y'all should try to get a hold of the UFC fight between Chuck Liddel and Rashid Evans.  Awesome knockout.

  I need to write a paper for Campaigns class tomorrow.  I think I'll move into my room, find some headphones for my really loud rock music, and git 'er done!

Show some interest

Two different recent incidents prompted me to write about the topic of showing interest.

Sunday, Isaac and a friend his age were sitting in the church foyer. The friend's mother and I walked over to them at almost the same time. I greeted them and asked them what they were doing. Isaac said that his friend was telling him about a computer game called spore. The friend's mother tisked and rolled her eyes.

I was early to a gathering at a friend's house last week, so I sat their kitchen table and split my time between reading Tolkien's essay on fairy stories and laughing at my friends who are quite funny, especially when they cook. They asked what I was reading and I told them. I then tried to go on to tell them about it and they simply refused. I told them it had great spiritual applications and they were still totally uninterested.

Something Mama has always told us is that you show interest not because you care about the subject but because you care about the person. I probably would not have ever developed more than a passing interest in grammar, but Chloe loves it and Samuel had a difficult time with his college grammar class. That made me care about grammar. I'm learning a lot about grammar and I'm interested in talking about it with them, because I care about them. I am not interested in writing java programs and BonnieJean is not interested in politics, but we both will pay rapt attention to the subject for the other person's sake.

Back to the family at church...why did that lady think it was ok to show disdain for what her son was interested in? She may think she's making a statement about Spore or computer games in general, but the message she's sending is "My son is silly and inappropiate, because he cares about this." She would never tisk and roll her eyes at another adult. For some reason, people think it's ok to treat children as nonpersons.

As far as my friends go, I know they don't consider me unimportant or silly, but they do think it's ok not to care what I care about. I certainly don't expect casual aquaintances (sp?) to be willing to listen to whatever I want to talk about, but these were close friends. And it's not like I'm just didactic and wanted them to listen to me to talk. I think Tolkien's essay is a good thing to know and I think it's beneficial spiritually for Christians. I wanted to benefit them. They were both older than me, too, so I wanted their opinion on it because I value their opinion.

So, next time someone wants to tell you about turbo chargers or the inner political workings of the Star Wars Galactic Senate, show some interest.