Tiger Repellant Works

2006-11-02T20:15:00.000-06:00

Have you ever been really excited about something, I mean really excited? You're all happy and can't wait to see what will happen next. Let's take relationships as an example since we all know that's exactly where this is going. So, things were going swimmingly with Phillip. Nothing to really talk about. Well, I finally convinced him that he had just enough time to go to lunch with me again. Today we went to the same Chinese restaurant we've been to before. I actually had an agenda for this lunch. I was bound and determined to find out if he was a Christian or not. That's right, my brazeness has gone up a notch. Now, I mentioned in another post that I was pretty sure his answer was going to be no and that I wasn't going to be too happy with it. Come on, with my luck that's the only answer that I would expect to get. Anyway, we start talking about what he believes, and I realize that I have just driven head-first into a steel-inforced concrete wall at 100 miles per hour. Now, remember that on-cloud-9 feeling I mentioned at the beginning? Here's the curve ball...he said he's an atheist. WHAT!!! I seriously thought he was joking at first (he plays jokes all the time -- it's really hard to know if he's serious or not some of the time). But he was serious. So, before I ever broached the subject, I knew I wasn't going to like his answer, but I asked anyway. I guess I just never knew how much I wasn't going to like his answer. I mean, how can you even prepare for that? His answer wasn't just a no, it was more like a hell no. Talk about putting you in a funk. I turned into a girl for the rest of the day. It was bad...I moped around at work and didn't really talk to anyone. I yelled at several idiots on the road while I was driving home (not good to be angry and drive). I walked straight into my room, changed into my pajamas (instead of my gym clothes), and crawled into my oh-so-comfortable bed to decompress, which actually turned into a tear fest. I never thought I would cry over a boy, much less one that I wasn't even dating, but I did. And the only thing I could think of was asking God why he let me have feelings for someone like Phillip when nothing could ever happen in the end. I don't have an answer for that yet.

2006-10-29T17:54:00.000-06:00

So, apparently I've been slacking off on the updates lately. Sorry! I guess that happens when you work 50-hr. weeks for the past month. No excuse though, right? So, updates?

Like Angie's last few posts, I've been a little lonely. The time I spend by myself these days because the friends I have in my immediate area have no time for me and don't return my phone calls is boring me to death. My mom thinks I don't ever go and do things with my friends because I don't ever try to call them. Wrong! They just never return my phone calls. Angie, you're right. There is something about that desire to be wanted and/or needed. I mean, how often can you call them without becoming creepy or pushy?

Other than that, I'm just counting down the days until my birthday, and then, of course, Christmas. I'm pretty excited about my company Christmas party. I get to wear by dress I bought back in June again. I've been working for this company on and off for about 3 years now, but this is the first time I've been able to attend one of these party. This year, it's being held at the Galleria. Exciting! Anyway, that's not until December 15.

2006-09-25T21:30:00.000-05:00

Nothing is really going on down here. Phillip and I are sort of on a no-talking hiatus. It's been about 3 weeks since we've had any real and meaningful conversations. Everything's just a hey-how's-it-going, I'm-fine-how-are-you everyday. I don't know what's going on. I've done everything in my power to squeeze another lunch out of him so I can ask the all-important questions, like is he a Christian, but I have yet to get a response. As perfect as he is without my knowing the answer to this question, I fear his answer will invariably be no. Boo! What a bummer. I've let go of this situation, saying there's nothing more that I can do and that maybe it's not meant to be. But with the boldness that I had to start this whole journey, I'm pretty sure I won't stay quiet for too much longer.

Update on the Phillip Front

2006-08-20T17:56:00.000-05:00

Well, I've tried several times to upload a picture of Phillip and me on here, but it keeps crashing my Web browser. So, that will still have to be a part of your imagination. I think there are two things I've found out that are worthy of disclosure. Prepare yourself because this first one left me speechless.

1. Phillip has a daughter. Yep, a daughter. She's 6. This totally freaked me out when he told me this. But after thinking about it for a while, I think I've come to terms with it. It's totally possible that someone who is 27 would already have a kid these days. Hmmm. I still have to get some more background though.

2.He's sort of in a relationship right now. These are his words, not mine. He said they haven't spent much time together recently, and he's seriously considering calling it off. Who knows? Until then, we're just hanging out.

I have hope though. I invited him to a department party Friday afternoon. He stayed for several hours and said that he had a great time. He told me earlier in the week that this weekend was totally dedicated to his daughter, and yet he called me Saturday afternoon and talked to me for about 20 minutes. I'm not sure what to think about all of this. Like I said some time in the last few posts, I might be reading into all of this too much. We'll see.

The Lunch

2006-08-02T21:15:00.000-05:00

Phillip and I went to lunch yesterday. We went to a Chinese restaurant right across the street from our building. I've been there before, and I think it has pretty good food. Conversation came very easily for both of us. Great! It would have been terrible if we didn't have anything to talk about. The whole time we were out he had the chivalry thing going for him, holding open doors for me and letting me order first. He scored points with that one. Through the course of the meal I found out that he loves to read and study every chance he gets. Fine by me. I love to read, too. He loves history (hello? my minor). We actually talked a lot about money and banks and credit cards (I know, it sounds really boring). He thinks kids should be taught two things while they're in school: self-esteem and what a credit card is (more like how to use it to benefit you). He's responsible. Always a plus. He likes to play the guitar and take pictures. He explained the deer-in-the-headlights look, though. He said he wasn't fishing for an answer. It was shock. He said he didn't hear me change the topic of conversation from business to personal. I can live with that. At the end of the meal, he suggested that he take care of the bill. I actually said I was considering paying since I was the one who asked him to lunch, but he insisted and said I could take care of the next one.

My reaction to this lunch, which might be surprising, is a total of 5 words: I want to marry him. That's how well this lunch went. Even though I know very little about him (only what I got from this lunch), if he asked me to marry him right now, I would with no hesitation. Crazy, right? Anyway, I wrote him an email this morning thanking him for going with me and for paying for everything. I told him that I had a great time and said I'd love to do it again some time. Well, he wrote back and said that he enjoyed lunch too and he'd like to go again. Wow! He actually said that he was thinking about asking me to join him when he walked downstairs to pick up a really late lunch, but he didn't want to bother me. So, right before I left work this afternoon, I wrote him back and told him to bother me. I'm always looking for an excuse to get away from my computer.

That's it. I'm totally hooked on this guy who is sexier than I could possibly imagine. We'll see what else happens. I'll let you know.

Breaking All of My Own Rules

2006-07-30T12:42:00.000-05:00

I never thought I'd ever be a gutsy person. In fact, I consider myself a big, fat chicken when it comes to some things. I have a very hard time doing anything out of the box. Rules are rules. They are made to be followed, not broken. But I seem to be breaking some of these constraints I've set up for myself lately. For example, I drink now. I never thought I'd see the day that I would crave alcohol, but here it is.

There are two big events (and I may be totally blowing them both out of proportion, making them into something more than they really are) that have happened recently that are spurring this blog today.

1) I told the guy I have had a mad crush on since high school that I liked him beyond just being friends. Blake...the first guy I could ever see myself marrying. I told him so I could move on. What if I was missing out on something or someone because I was closing myself off from the possibility of there being something or someone else for me? Anyway, to make a long story short, I've moved on. And the surprising thing is I'm happier than I can ever remember being before I told him. Weird. So, that makes me think that if there really is someone out there for me (I'm not a big believer in the "there's someone out there for everyone" phrase), he's going to be one hell of a guy because, in my mind, Blake was about as close to perfection as you could possibly get. So, I move on, and what happens? Event #2.

2) I meet someone at work that I'm absolutely taken with. What are the odds of that happening? I know absolutely nothing about him other than his name, Phillip, and the fact that he's gorgeous. He's one of the IT guys that works on the service desk at work, and he's one of the only two normal IT guys in the entire company that I actually don't mind talking to. Did I mention the fact that he's very pretty? I'd tell you more about him if I knew anything, so I'll tell you about the massive brain fart I had on Friday. OK, so I called Phillip to come pick up some IT equipment we had stashed in some file cabinets. We weren't using them, and we need the space for our new auditing managers. He came and packed everything up in a box, and then he asked me if there was anything else he could do for me. I told him there was, but it wasn't business related. Then it just fell out of my mouth. I had practiced this conversation in my mind all morning before he shows up, but it just came out. No warning, no preparing him for the very sharp change in the conversation. I just asked him if he'd like to have lunch with me sometime. Oh my gosh!! Did I really just ask that? I don't even know this guy. Am I making this into something more than it really is? It's just lunch, right? Well, he said yes. Now I'm really freaking out. Wow, my asking actually worked! Before he said yes, he paused for about 2 seconds with a deer-in-the-headlights look on his face. Am I supposed to interpret that as meaning something (like he was quickly trying to figure a way out of this), or do I just let it go as a mere contemplation of the question? I think I'm going to have to go with the latter. Otherwise, I'm going to start hoping that this will progress into something much more than just lunch next week. I can't have any of that because it will drive me crazy and distract from everything else in my life. I'm already nervous enough about this lunch.

So, there you have it. I'm stepping out of my self-created social constraints, and it's scaring the hell out of me. I'll let you know what happens after we go to lunch. Until then, it's back to the mundane tasks of my everyday office life.

Changes

2006-06-26T19:47:00.000-05:00

Recently, this past Saturday to be exact, I was invited to a surprise runway 30th birthday party. I know what you're thinking...what's a runway party? Well, the person who was turning 30 really enjoys fashion. So all of the decorations were fashion mag drawings, mannequins, and red and black balloons. All of the invitees were "dressed to impress" as the invite read.

So, since I have absolutely no social life, I decided to change things up. Throw people off their rockers with what I was going to wear. Now, this exposition would be a whole lot better if I had a few pictures to throw in every once in a while, but I'm not in possession of these pictures as of yet. Anyway, in order to change things up a little, I decided to buy a dress. Yep, I said it...a dress. If you know me at all, you will recall that I hardly ever wear a dress. I won't say never because I do on occasion. So, I went out and bought this dress that I, surprisingly, fell in love with. It's totally not my style. I don't think I've ever revealed so much skin in my life...even when I'm in a bathing suit. Anyway, this dress is a light heather gray, deep-plunge (!!!) halter that comes down to the bottom of my knees (the hem part, not the deep-plunge, obviously). I was wearing silvery flip-flop heels, and yes, eye makeup. Again, totally not me.

We went to a club in Houston that night. a38 is its name. While the pics on the Web look high class and modern, the club itself was a little slimy. Not as clean as it was portrayed. It was fun nonetheless. And this is where the entertainment for the evening came. When we walked in at a little past 11 Saturday night, I noticed the silhouette of a guys head as he was dancing. I only noticed it because it reminded me of my little bro's head of hair...punk, long, bed-head look. I didn't think anything of it at the time. We went back to our booth, and because there is no amount of money in the world that could get me out on a dance floor, I sat there and did as much people-watching as I could in a very dark club. From where I'm sitting, I can see straight down the counter at the bar. All of the sudden, I see that head again, and before I had a chance to react (i.e., get up and go to the bathroom) the guy made a bee-line to the seat to my right. No joke, he covered about 30 feet in less than a second. My first thought is, "Crap!" I'm already in a group of people where I only know 2 of them. I don't need to be talking to a complete stranger who is most likely drunk and who is totally not my type.

Anyway, he sits and tries his utmost to get me to dance. NO. Oh, come on. NO, THANK YOU. Why not? BECAUSE I DON'T DANCE. Oh, everyone dances. NOT ME. Sure you do. I don't dance, but I'm still getting out there. SORRY, NO. But you're just sitting here looking all lonely just watching people. EXACTLY, THAT'S WHAT I DO.

After about 5 minutes of going back and forth over that, he changes the subject. By this time some of the girls in my group (who know how I am) start watching this kid talking to me. By this time he's telling me how he almost didn't get into the club that night because of what he was wearing. Picture this: black and white Converse, old-man tube sock up to the knees with green stripes at the top, black pants that have been cut with scissors into shorts, a black t-shirt, and bright red hair with...hold your breath...butterflies all up in his do. So, during his story about how the guy at the door wasn't going to let him in, the girls are standing there looking at me with questions in their eyes. "Are you OK?" "Do I need to come save you?" If anything else was going on other than his talking, and if he hadn't been the most flaming guy in the entire club, I would have nodded a "YES!" But he was just talking, so I let it slide. Finally, the birthday girl's sister couldn't take it anymore and came to save me anyway. She sat down on my left side and interlocked her arm with mine. This guy (Nicholas, I think) turned to the girl to his right and started talking, so I thought it was all over. One of the other girls saw me and Rebecca sitting close and wanted to take a picture of us. We lean into each other, and, get this...the guy practically lays on top of me to be a part of the picture. I hope I can get a copy of that picture because something worth never forgetting.

It was just so strange that he picked me out of all of the other people in the club. One of the girls I work with at work said something this morning. She said that when you're quiet and sweet and unassuming in a club setting like that you attract all of the weirdos. So true. I was not aware until he sat next to me and tried to make me his new best friend that there had been a gay-pride parade in downtown Houston that day. Sure, of all of the people I get to talk to at a club in Houston, TX, I get to talk to a gay guy. I'm hoping this doesn't become a trend.

There's No Place Like Home

2006-05-07T19:20:00.000-05:00

Yay! My brother is coming home from Spain next week. I can't wait! It's amazing how much I actually miss him. I haven't heard his voice since New Year's weekend. Weird.

Reading

2006-04-29T19:56:00.000-05:00

Every once in a while I forget how much I love reading a really good book. I have come across a few things lately that have just floored me. I'll start with my journey through the OT. Back in January I said that my resolution for the year was to read through the Bible, cover to cover. While that's a very doable task, it's not going to happen in a year. It's April 29, 2006, and I'm on Exodus 24. So, the resolution has been amended to just get through it, no time limits. Three things have stood out for me in my readings.

1. Don't try to read the Bible with a King James Version. While it's all well and good if it's all you have, you miss a lot because of the lofty language. That's all I had for a very long time. I didn't realize until now how much I really missed. I'm reading through a New American Standard Version now. Much better.

2. Exodus 6:20 -- "Amram married his father's sister Jochebed, and she bore him Aaron and Moses..." THE Aaron and Moses. OK, I grew up in church, and I never knew that.

3. Exodus 15:26 -- "And He said, 'If you will give earnest heed to the voice of the Lord your God, and do what is right in His sight, and give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians; for I, the Lord, am your healer.'" I'm totally adopting this as the theme to my life. While I rarely get sick (my annual cold is about it), because of my battle with my back and neck over the last 8 years, this verse stood out like a giant neon sign.

So, that's one of the good books I've been reading recently. There are a few more that I want to pass on, ones that I just couldn't put down.

1. "Nephilim," "The Unholy Deception," & "The Revealing" by L.A. Marzulli: OK, I'm totally skeptical when it comes to the topic of aliens. The thought of there being little green men with big, bulging, vacant eyes who are just a step ahead of us when it comes to technology just doesn't interest me. I was surprised when I found these books at the Christian bookstore. Trust me. Read through them before you totally dismiss the idea. The theory proposed in these fiction stories is that the aliens that everyone talks about and says they see are really demons sent to deceive us all when it comes to the ultimate good vs. evil battle. It's totally plausible. And if you don't want to think of it as a plausible idea, then just read them for their entertainment value. There's plenty of that. There were many times when my imagination got the better of me and I imagined long bony fingers reaching over my shoulders from behind me. Creepy!!

2. "House" by Frank Peretti and Ted Dekker: This book is almost 400 pages long, but I read it in 3 days. I couldn't put it down. This book is a horror story, like all of the creepy slasher movies they keep putting out. People being chased and told to kill each other in a seemingly haunted house. Again, I'm totally surprised at what I'm finding at the Christian bookstore. This book is totally worth buying. One of the critics that read it said he couldn't wait until the movie comes out (2007). Me either!

Check all four of these books out. They're totally worth it.

There you go. There's your post with substance.

Howdy

2006-04-25T17:57:00.000-05:00

Man, I'm really bad at keeping this updated lately. I do think about updating it, but the problem is that I can't ever think of anything to say. When I do think of something, it's totally ridiculous, something I don't want you to waste your time reading. 99% of the time it's something so simple that a child would say it, like "I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich today, and it was yummy!" See, did you really want to know that I really enjoy having a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch? I didn't think so.

What else? I finished (finally) painting the main part of the dresser my grandma gave me. It's so cool! You would think that I built the thing if you saw the goofy grin on my face. My grandma gave me her bed and dresser that she got when she was 16. Wow! This furniture is 47 or 48 years old. And now it looks like I just bought it.

OK, I have to go boil some eggs. I'll post something with more substance later.

"Be Our Guest"

2006-03-22T18:36:00.000-06:00

I will forever and always remember the words to that song from my favorite Disney movie, "Beauty and the Beast." I demonstrated that fact for my brother Sunday night when I took him to see the play. Fantastic. Funny. I sat there and sang along during all of the musical numbers while my brother sat there amazed that I actually remembered it, seeing that it's probably been at least 10 years since I've seen it. Anyway, I had a blast, just like I always do when I go see plays. I need to go see plays more often.

Ladder 49

2006-03-04T11:40:00.000-06:00

This happened almost a week ago, but this is the first chance I've had to tell you guys about it. I didn't even have to go to Calgary to get an exciting story for you...here it is. My parents, my brother and I went to my grandparents' house to have lunch last Sunday. At the end of the meal, my grandma noticed some smoke down the street. We all looked at it and thought someone was grilling or something. A few minutes pass, and my grandma thinks it's getting worse. My mom got up to look out of a window where we could actually see down the street. "Uh, about four houses down across the street, the house is on fire!" Huh. Needless to say, we all bolted out of the house. That was when we saw all of the really bad black smoke coming out of the top of the house. We tried to help the neighbors keep their houses wet, but by that time there wasn't much we could do except wait for the firemen to get there. Unfortunately, they didn't show up until about 20 minutes after we showed up.

I can totally understand how people can turn into pyromaniacs or arsonists. I was totally hypnotized by this fire while we were standing there. The front door was blown off by the explosions that started the fire, so you could see straight into the house. Watching the body of that fire moving in that house was amazing. I told my dad, "Man, that's one amazing creation - fire." There's nothing else like it in the world. I feel totally terrible for the people who lived there (no one was home when it started) because they lost everything they own, but that was the coolest thing I've seen in a very long time. The flames that were shooting out of the upstairs window were 25-30 feet long, and we could feel the heat from the fire where we were standing next to the house across the street. WOW!! We stood out there for several hours, resulting in what I'm diagnosing as a slight case of smoke inhalation for me. I had a pretty persistent headache for the rest of the day. I took a deep breath when I was going to bed, and I felt some crackling in my chest. NOT GOOD! Fortunately, it was all gone when I woke up Monday morning.

This whole situation should result in several lawsuits, especially one against the gas company for negligence. I haven't heard anything about it sense then, but I'll keep you updated when I hear anything.

Blah!!!

2006-02-24T20:09:00.000-06:00

I just had one of those days where you wish you could rewind everything and crawl back into bed and pretend like none of it happened. And I say that when everything that happened today wasn't even close to being my fault. Almost everyone in my department was in a pissy mood today. One person, who I love to death because she's one of the funniest and craziest people I've ever met, went so far as to completely ignore me when I was trying to get her to clarify something for me. I'm talking about her knowing that I'm talking to her and her not even acknowledging that I was speaking...like I had taken my invisible pills this morning. She was so preoccupied with the massive failure of a project she was working on that she couldn't lower herself to give me an answer to a question that would have taken sub-30 seconds to answer. I wanted to smack her!! But after thinking about that and reminding myself how much of a wimp I am when it comes to confrontation, I realized that I would never be able to get mad at her and confront her about that before I burst into tears. Seriously, I'm a wimp!

The day got better when my parents, my baby brother and I went to dinner. Mexican food...YUMMMMMMMMM! So, I feel really good right now. Or maybe just really full. I'm going to be lazy the rest of the night...take a shower, climb into bed and watch some movies. I will probably be up at 7 in the morning (BOO!). If that's the case, then I'll be out walking somewhere, trying to make some progress on this weight loss regimen I'm on. I know I've made some progress since the last time I wrote because I can't wear a pair of pants I used to have to wear. I can't even get away with wearing them with a belt. Awesome! So, I'm just going to keep up the eating like a rabbit and staying active.

I was able to win some tickets to the rodeo this year from my company. They raffled off somewhere around 250 tickets this year. I scored 4 tickets to see Sheryl Crow. Now the problem is trying to find people who can go with me.

That's about it here. Sorry it's so boring. I'll probably be travelling to Calgary again sometime in March. Maybe I'll have some cool stories from there. Until then...

A New Leaf

2006-02-07T20:55:00.000-06:00

First, I must say that I'm not saying any of this to toot my own horn.

I was in my Sunday school class a few weeks ago, and our leader asked us to go around our tables and tell about one of our New Year's resolutions. OK, maybe it was more than a few weeks ago. Anyway...I decided that my resolution was to read my Bible from beginning to end, Genesis to Revelation. I was thinking about it, and I was surprised to find out that I have never done that. Sure, I've read everything for my religion classes in college, but I've never just read it to read it. Let me tell you, in the week that I've been doing this (yeah, got a late start), I have come up with so many questions...stuff I've never thought about before. It's actually pretty cool.

I guess my other resolution (this one will take a long time) is to lose 40 pounds. I know...you're probably thinking, "40 pounds? You don't look like you could lose that much." I appreciate the thought, but oh, how wrong you are. I've been busting my backside for a few weeks now by staying on the treadmill for an hour and by eating more fruits and vegetables and less sugar. I'm also trying to eat 5 times a day. That's the hard part. By about 8:30 in the morning I'm absolutely famished. I feel like I haven't eaten in a week. So, now I'm trying to find a happy medium between quantity and quality so I don't feel like I'm starving myself. Any suggestions on things to eat?

And that's what's going on with me.

Catching Up

2006-01-12T20:07:00.000-06:00

Well, it's been almost 2 months since I last wrote, so I thought I'd try to dust off my computer keys.

Big family news...my brother, Kyle, left last Friday for Spain. He's studying abroad in Sevilla until May. I linked his blog to mine ("Spain 2006"), so you should check it out. I think he writes a lot like I do (just like we speak), and that makes what he writes funny. He loves it over there. I'm going to try to save some money over the next few months so I can go visit. Won't that be fun?

I will be leaving for Calgary again on Sunday for my job. I get to stay for two whopping weeks. Maybe I can convince someone to go skiing with me over the weekend. How cool would that be?

For Christmas, I got some tickets to see Beauty and the Beast. I'm looking for someone to go with me. It's not until March, but I'm putting some feelers out there. Whoever wants to go see what I've heard is a great play, speak up or forever hold your peace.

I guess that's about it. I'll try to find something to say much sooner than I have in the past. Don't want to keep you crazies waiting too long. :)

O, Canada...

2005-11-14T19:25:00.000-06:00

Leave it to a demanding business trip to reveal a new place for me to live. Calgary, Alberta...the NY or LA of Canada. So fantastic I can't wait to go back, even if it is just for business. The first thing I liked about Calgary was that it was cold, not surprising since it's winter now. It's just a shock to my system coming from the highs of the day at almost 90 degrees to the highs right about 40 degrees. Beautiful!

I just so happened to be on this trip over my birthday weekend. I drove over to Banff with the girl I'm working with and went up to the top of the mountain for lunch. How cool is that? To go have lunch on the top of a mountain when it is snowing...wow! Then we drove down to the city of Banff, which is in the middle of a national park, and went shopping. Have you ever seen the movie "Dante's Peak"? The little town in the middle of the snow-capped mountains? That's Banff.

Anyway, moving to Canada...definitely on the list. Now I'm in the very small town of Yankton, South Dakota. The other half of the 2 week business trip. November is turning out to be a very busy month for me. 1 week in Calgary, 1 week in Yankton, Thanksgiving in Amarillo and another business trip for a few days the week after Thanksgiving. Whew! I'm tired just thinking about it.

Christ makes God knowable

2005-11-03T19:06:00.000-06:00

Hey guys! Sorry it's been such a long time since I've posted anything...almost a month to the day. Work has been wicked-busy, to the point where I barely have time to breathe for myself. Anyway, I had to get this down before I forget it--but I don't know how I will ever forget it because it moved me like nothing else I have ever heard. This all refers to the title of this post: "Christ makes God knowable."

God created the universe. He spoke it into being. There may not have been a "Big Bang," but that was a big deal. His universe contains billions upon billions upon thousands of billions of stars, not to mention planets. And in the middle of all of that is the speck of dust we so affectionately call Earth. And in the middle of that is the speck of dust we call humanity. And all of that--the universe, the Earth and humanity--sits in the palm of God's hand as a speck of dust. But despite his bigness, he lowered himself in Christ and came down to the speck of dust where humanity resides to be crucified on a cross. And with that, God said, "Here I am, guys."

Proverbs 9:10 says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. That whole explanation was given to me last Sunday in Sunday School. And while I have always understood that basic concept, that explanation almost made me cry in public. I just thought I'd share it with everyone else.

Zoom, zoom, zoom...the aftermath

2005-10-05T12:23:00.000-05:00

I have always said that if I had all of the money in the world, I would buy Pottery Barn. While that is still an option, I would like to amend that statement. I want to buy racing equipment for my car. I need racing slicks if I'm going to do these races anymore. They make such a difference because they grip so much better. I was slipping and sliding on my stock tires. They did a good enough job, I suppose.

I haven't had that much fun in a while. The race was so much fun, in fact, that I can't get the track out of my head. I have memorized every turn, when to break, when to step on the gas...I loved it!

I got to race this track four different times. Keep in mind that I have never done this before. Each time I completed a run, I knocked off 3 seconds from the run before it. I thought that was pretty good, and, apparently, so did everybody else. My best time ended up being a little over 72 seconds. While it wasn't anywhere close to getting me a trophy, I was only 3 seconds behind the guy in front of me. Anyway, I should be getting some pictures back soon from the guy I raced with, so I'll post them when they come.

Zoom, zoom, zoom!

2005-09-30T21:21:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow morning I will be racing my car in an official race. Can you believe that? There is a sponsored event going on tomorrow at Gulf Greyhound Park. They set up a 50-second track in a parking lot with cones. When the races start, they let one person go and then wait about 20 seconds before letting the next person go. That way, there's plenty of space between drivers just in case one person spins out or something. They'd be able to get back on the track and going before the person behind them catches up.

Anyway...I'm so excited! I have to wear a helmet and everything. Lucky for me, I don't have to buy one. I can just use my motorcycle helmet I bought a few years ago. I have no idea about what to expect, but that just makes it even more exciting. I'll update you on all of the fun and excitement tomorrow afternoon.

I need a rita!

2005-09-24T19:42:00.000-05:00

Forget the hurricane. Give me the drink! You would think that I would be happy not to be at work...not to have any obligations whatsoever. No sir! I've never been so bored with an extra-long weekend in my life. Give me some alcohol so I can spice things up a bit!! I have gotten a chance to catch up on my much needed sleep, but even sleeping gets boring. Every one of my friends that live down here is gone...Dallas, Florida, etc. There aren't any restaurants open where we could go eat. There isn't any gas anywhere. And where there is some, the lines are a mile long. The mass exodus of 2.7 million people will return very soon, and I'm pretty sure it will be the same scene as Thursday...chaos.

Sorry, we're very short on nerves today. I guess it's a good thing we didn't have a direct hit over here in Sugar Land. I can only imagine what it would have been like. No power, storing water, dying of a heat stroke...things like that. I'm grateful we don't have to deal with that. Now I will go enjoy an ice cold beer (or a few of them) and some tacos and bury myself in my so-called room and watch whatever is on TV that isn't related to the current weather situation. :)

Tigerrepellant Needs A Boat

2005-09-22T18:30:00.000-05:00

Hurricane Rita has added a lot of excitement to this household. Early last night, we were all thinking we would just hunker down in our apartment and wait out the storm...high winds and all. Then, as we watched the news, they told us the storm grew to a massive category 5 hurricane (175 mph winds, 215 mph gusts). We are about an hour inland, and they weather guys predicted that even we would have sustained winds of between 100 and 120 mph. Talk about freaky! We decided to sleep on it and figure out our plans early this morning.

I really wanted to stay for a few reasons.

1) I actually wanted to experience a storm of that magnitude. One of the weathermen actually said that if there was such a thing as a category 6 hurricane, Rita would be one. I don't know...call me crazy. Maybe it's because I always wanted to be a storm chaser.

2) I just wanted to stay there to keep an eye on all of my stuff. Call me materialistic if you must. I won't agree with you. I really value my books and my movie collection. I'd hate to leave and come back to nothing.

So, this morning we decided that it wasn't worth the risk to stay in our little apartment with 100 mph sustained winds. We packed up what we wanted to take with us and booked it to the freeway. The booking stopped there. To make this story nice and short, we went no more than 2 miles in almost 3 hours. 3 HOURS!!! And in a standard car no less. We finally heard that Rita had decided to turn more to the east of us. Yippee! Not so much of a threat anymore. So we got off of the freeway and headed back home. And here we will stay until Rita is finished with us.

I don't know if you have seen the pictures of the traffic on the freeways down here, but it is crazy! I've never seen a mass exodus like this in my entire life. It is unreal! It is just like the scenes in Deep Impact, Independence Day and all of the other end-of-the-world movies. You would think that a comet is hurtling toward the city of Houston as we speak. You really have to see it.

Anyway, so far so good. I'll keep you posted with further developments as I am able. I'm hoping we won't lose any power. With the 100-degree heat down here, that could be bad.

Just Thinking...

2005-09-01T20:45:00.000-05:00

Have you ever just sat still to think and then suddenly some off-the-wall idea pops in your head and you decide to run with it? Well, I did today, and here's what I came up with:

I think I'd like to be a window washer. I'd get to stand on a platform, with rails that come up to my waist, that hangs precariously from two cable pulley systems attached to the roof of some random 50-story skyscraper. Occasionally, I'd encounter a crazy hawk or other carnivorous bird that would circle over my head and think I'd make a tasty meal. Not this time, crazy! Maybe you'll have your chance if I die in the middle of a desert or am left on the side of the road in the country. Anyway, back to the window washing. I'd make my way up and down the sides of these random skyscrapers in whatever city I'd happen to be living in at the time and make it easier for the people stuck in their offices all day long to see out across the vast expanse of the cityscape--the cityscape that now has a yellow cloud hovering ominously close to the ground threatening to choke everything in its path.

New word

2005-08-26T19:10:00.000-05:00

Schlemiel: an unlucky bungler; a chump

Sadly, there are too many of these around.

3 Feet? Whatever!

2005-08-13T22:00:00.000-05:00

Is there no such thing as 3 feet of personal space anymore? I think that is becoming one of my pet peeves. This all stems from the fact that I use public transportation to get to and from work. Obviously, I'm going to be in close poximity to a complete stranger or two on each leg of the trip. I might even touch the person sitting next to me, especially if that person is as well endowed in their nether region as I am. I can handle that. But there are two instances that have occurred recently that I must comment about.

1. Standing in line for the bus: This is a single-file line, people. Only one person can get on the bus at a time. You are not making anything go any faster by getting 6 inches off of my back side because you want to make sure you get on this particular bus. If I can feel or hear you breathing, you are entirely too close. We are all adults (or we should be), so no one is going to cut in front of you. Take one step back, please. And keep in mind that the next bus will be around in five minutes.

2. Sleeping on the bus: If you are going to sleep on a swaying bus, start out in a position that prevents you from slumping over onto the person sitting next to you. The other day I was sitting innocently in my seat listening to Jason Mraz and reading Vanity Fair when the woman sitting next to me started swaying. I was sitting next to the window and she was leaning and swaying toward the aisle -- fine. Lean away from me all you want. She was jolted awak, sat up straight and proceeded to nod off again -- this time in my direction. Come on! I want to listen to my music and read my book without having to worry about whether or not the person sitting next to me is going to end up in my lap.

So, everyone please keep this in mind: think about the person you are next to. They might not like having a total stranger take a nap in their lap for 30 minutes or breathe down their neck.

One Word

2005-08-07T00:16:00.000-05:00

Phantom = Fabulous
I absolutely loved it. The seats were great...we could see everything. Although, there is a but...I actually liked the singing in the movie better than what I heard in the play. I think Emmy Rossum sang her "Christine" character better than this girl. Other than that, fabulous.

Other news...the bros, a cousin and the grandparents are heading to Cancun tomorrow morning. I'm totally jealous. I mean, come on, I only got to go to NYC. But this is a boys' trip, except for my grandma since she's paying for it. Cameron, the youngest, was so excited to be going. I'm just jealous that my entire family will have been out of the country before I have. Soon...I'm hoping the job sends me to Canadia (yes, I know I put an "i" in there; that's what we all call it at work.) That's just like Sarah saying Lubbuttock. We have our own little "isms," and that's one of mine.

I might have a chance to go see Coldplay when they come to Houston. I'm not sure about it yet though. We'll see.

Finally...

2005-07-26T22:38:00.000-05:00

Friday night...me and two girly friends (and by that I mean friends who are girls)...dresses...makeup...The Phantom. I have waited so long to see The Phantom of the Opera. And we'll even listen to the movie soundtrack in the car on the way there. More details when the event actually takes place.

Minneapolis was great. The weather was fabulous (bright and sunny, 75 degrees). That was 10 degrees lower than the 6:30 AM temperature in Houston the morning after I got back. Imagine! I didn't get to ride the rollercoasters at the Mall of America. Maybe next time.

Friday evening thoughts

2005-07-15T23:58:00.000-05:00

1. It's a great thing when you finally get to see sunshine after 4 long days of torrential rain.

2. How could anyone have ever thought the Earth was flat?

3. I'm going to the Mall of America in Minneapolis on Sunday. How cool is that?

4. I'm going to kick Jeremy (a guy I work with) and tell him to be normal and walk off without another word. ;P This brings me much happiness, but requires much planning...must have audience.

5. Angie brings a smile to my face like no one else can.

6. New goodies for everyone: "Girl With A Pearl Earring" (movie) and "Life of Pi" (book). The book moreso than the movie, although the movie is excellent. But wouldn't you rather read a story about a boy who survives the sinking of his ship on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger than watch a movie about a maid who inspires her master (a painter) to paint a masterpiece?

Wedding Bells

2005-06-19T00:31:00.000-05:00

Linsday and Landon got married today. It's hard to explain what this day was like, but I'll try. It was the smoothest flowing and most beautiful wedding I've ever been to...mainly because I was in it. J/K The church was absoluted gorgeous. I loved it! Lindsay was beautiful, just like she always is. No one was nervous, and if they were, it wasn't for very long. All of the bridesmaids and the groomsmen looked great. Like I said last time, I slapped myself with a pretty stick. Yes, I caved in and wore makeup and fixed my hair. Actually, I had my cousin do it, and it all turned out perfectly. You'll have to see the pictures when I get them back.

My only responsibility at the wedding was to take extra pictures. The photographer was going to be gone before Linsday and Landon left the reception, so her mom wanted to have someone take some pictures of them getting into the limo. I don't think I did so well on those pictures, but I took 4 rolls of film throughout the course of the reception. I'm hoping those turn out well.

I'm exhausted, so that's about it. I had to be at the church at noon and didn't get home until about 9:00 tonight. My feet are killing me. I have several blisters. I better save some energy so I'll be able to get this eye makeup off. :P

Muy cansada!

2005-06-16T00:13:00.000-05:00

I'm sitting here staring at this computer screen trying to think of something to say, but it's just not happening. I do love my car! I'm taking it on a long trip July 4th weekend. That will help me get it out of the break-in period a little quicker.

My best friend, Lindsay, is getting married Saturday, and I'm one of the bridesmaids. I get to slap myself with a pretty stick and actually wear makeup. Oh my gosh! It freaks me out when I have makeup on. I don't look like me. I guess that's why everyone in my family stared at me when I put it on during the test run last Saturday. Anyway...everyone's really excited. I'll have lots of pictures because Lindsay wants me to be the "photographer" when the professional leaves. That means I have two hours of shooting to do. Let's hope I do a good job.

OK, sleep is calling my name-hence the title of this post. I'll try to come up with something interesting to talk about next time. Buh bye!

It's about time!

2005-05-20T12:34:00.000-05:00

The car is on the horizon. I'm 23 1/2 years old and I'm finally getting my own car. No more being carted all over the city. No more depending on friends to drive on road trips or to take me to the grocery store. I'm sure you all, and by all I mean Sarah, are very happy about that.

Anyway, I'm picking up my 2005 MINI Cooper S this afternoon. I've been all smiles for the past few days. I can't wait to get behind the wheel!

It's over (or starting)...depends on how you look at it

2005-05-15T12:15:00.000-05:00

It's official. As of about 4:00 p.m. yesterday, I became a Red Raider alumnus. It's kind of weird. I was sitting on the arena floor (not literally) during the ceremony and I thought that it seemed like it was just yesterday that I moved into the dorms, that my mom and grandma cried as they left me there not knowing anyone, and that I started my college career thinking it was going to take forever to get through this. Now here I am 5 years later, finished. There is a part of my that's throwing a huge party. I mean, come on! No more tests, no more buying textbooks, no more riding my bicycle to and from campus, no more professors criticizing my pictures. Hallelujah!!! Then there's a part of my that wants to stay in this time in my life without having all of the tests and classwork. That's not happening, so I better embrace the former option unless I want to chase down the plane my grandparents are going home on to get all of the suitcases that have all of my clothes in them.

Anyway, I really want to thank everyone who had a part in my college experience. Everyone's support means more than I can say. My grandparents, for all of the financial support and for providing us with a house to live in up here. My friends (you know who you are), for keeping me sane during these 5 years. I don't know what I would have done if I hadn't had you guys to talk to through various forms of communication. And most importantly -- my parents, for raising me in a way where I could grow up and be my own person, independent from you guys, and be as successful as I have been. Thank you so much for your love and support. You're the best parents anyone could ever have.

OK, I have to go finish packing all of my stuff. I'm heading back to H-town on Monday, so I better get cracking.

A New Chapter

2005-05-12T00:22:00.000-05:00

I thought I would try this for a while instead of writing everything down. You accumulate a lot of paper when you write down everything that comes to your mind. And I tend to be a little verbose sometimes, so you can imagine how much paper I have stored in various places. Anyway...

As the title suggests, I'm starting a new chapter in my life. I'm graduating from college on Saturday. I never thought this day would come, but here it is. It has been a labor of love for the past 5 years of my life, and these last 5 months have been torturous. Senioritis reared its ugly head and followed me all semester. Just to give you a picture...I was up until 4:45 the morning that my final 3 articles for my journalism class were due (@10:30). I wasn't just getting my stuff together -- I was writing the articles. So, now that all of that is done, I have about 2 weeks of laziness. Sleeping in never sounded so good.

When I get home, I have about a week before I start my job. I'm going to be working for an oil and gas company in its internal audit department. No, I don't have any auditing or accounting experience. I'm graduating with a degree in photo journalism. But I interned with them last summer, so I have some idea of what's going on. I'm hoping this will last a little while at least. I need to buy a car, and this job will help me do that.

So, I guess this is a start. It's way past my bed time, so I'm out. I have to be all rested up for the relatives coming in about 12 hours. Hasta la pasta!