Ding! Round Two!

Ladies and Gentlemen, it’s been too long…

Jimmy’s Quotes, Round Two

On Relationships…
“It’s not a control thing, it’s an ‘I don’t want this to get out of control thing.’ I want to be in control, but not in a controlling way.”

“I’m not looking for cute girls.”

“I’ve seen enough cute women, hot women, beautiful women to last a lifetime.”

“Once I find a woman I’m in love with, nothing will stop me from getting her.” – J
“Unless she gets a restraining order.” -L
“Well, I’ll probably be a cop by then so I can just get it rescinded.” – J

On My Green Suede Boots:
“You’re taking the green thing pretty serious these days. I see you’re dressing as wood nymph today.”

On His Relationships:
“This girl is super-fundy. She is like Stuart on crack, snorting Joshua Harris on the side.”

“That’s what I valued about that… just the crucible of awkwardness I went through that weekend. It really made me a better person.” – on his weekend of ‘fun’ with a potential mate’s family

“Well, it’s definitely not time to start ringing the church bells.”- trying not to get me too excited about a new relationship

Misc & Other:

“My back really hurts.”- me
“Get some V!”- James

“It’s a subliminal burden off my back.”

“I would not want to be cop in the UK, they have so much less respect there….. andtheydon’tcarryguns.”

“I’d love to go to one of their family Christmas parties, I bet it’s a blast.” – James on un-jovial people

“This is wrist-slitting music.”- on Damien Rice

“Homeschoolers have yellow teeth.”

“Clearly one of the great minds of our time.” – James on a girl who posted a Facebook comment with a spelling error

“I’m having a creative block with this whole logo thing, there’s just too many damn pictures of trees in this world.” – on creating a logo for some Green work I requested

Raindrops on Roses.

I can play Sound of Music on the piano… all the songs. At one (low) point in my musical career I could sing Edelweiss, while I played some chords with my left hand and the melody with my right. I never quite mastered the yodeling puppet song, but that was sort of a weird moment in the movie anyway.

My favorite things….

These rocking gloves from my dear friend Lisa, the ultimate Renaissance woman. She is a physicist and an artist. Gaw, why did the good Lord give her so much talent?! They are amazing because they go almost to my elbow and they match my coat!

And this birthday present from Angi, who is finally starting to post on my blog. She gave me this a year ago and I’ve been pulling out these affirmations one by one. Last week I just said “forget it” and started reading them all, I love the random mix of notes from other friends and Jack Handey quotes along with beautiful affirmations.

I have this weird thing about hospitality, sometimes it gets me in trouble because I err on the side of the ‘the more the merrier!’ There was a period of about two months where every weekend I would tell my dear friends Matt and JZ (ie: Jessica Z) “I want you to meet some people!” and we’d all go out. I had a lot of visitors but it got to a point where they were like “seriously?” I said “I feel like I’m dating you both (they’re a couple), because I’m always making you meet people.” JZ (nickname courtesy of me, now used even in her workplace, thank you- taking a bow) “You’re not dating us… we’re your parents!”

And thus a new style of friendship was born! Well, Mom and Dad, I’m glad you found this blog, keep coming around and maybe make a comment or two.

Ok, Ok.

That’s my haircut, I love looking at pictures of myself on my blog- so there you go. One of my roommates from college and I used to say “oh my gawsh, i am SO PRETTY.” in a certain very dry, awkward (acting natural!) voice. I wish I could send that over my blog, but just imagine it, I’ve been told I have pretty distinct voices and facial expressions so it shouldn’t be that hard.

In a much more interesting note, I am reading “Love Poems from God” with Christian, Islam, Sufi, and Hindu mystical love poetry. I recently went to a conference on writing love poetry to God, it was awesome. I read this yesterday, and it hasn’t left me…

Just
sit there right now.
Don’t do a thing. Just rest.

For your
separation from God
is the hardest work in this world.

Let me bring you trays of food and something
that you like to
drink.

You can use my soft words
as a cushion
for your
head.

-Hafiz

I had a scary realization when I was in Kolkata in 2005 at the end of my Servant Team that all the time I’d been following Jesus I thought I knew His face, but I was only looking at the back of His head. I felt like I didn’t know what He looked like at all. I’ve been feeling like that through this past month and a half as well, ways that I heard Him speak to me have been so amazing that I’ve been asking myself “Why me, Jesus? How can You reveal something this beautiful to me? I’m not worthy to see You in this way.” The Trinity encompasses so much mystery that I should not be surprised at how many different character qualities Jesus has. I couldn’t comprehend them all at once, so He is giving them to me piece by piece. This latest look at His face, as a lover- as my lover, has been life-changing… Let’s talk about it next time I see you.

Funny Pictures and a Life Lesson.

I wanted to make use of my photobooth… Mai was not so excited.

“Use my picture.” – Angi

Not sure why we didn’t argue, but apparently we thought it was an acceptable substitute…

Finally!

I hate change. If you ask any of my close friends or family they will tell you that. You would think that after moving so many times, and this or any of the three years growing this out, a hair cut would not be a big deal. But, when I called my dear friend Larry today and said “I got a hair cut.” her first response was “oh gosh.” I had a nightmare recently where I went crazy like that bridezilla on YouTube and cut off all my hair. When I woke up I was so relieved “phew! I still have hair!”

Today I went to the hair dresser on a whim (bad idea number one), and said “I like my length.” To which she replied “do you want something funky?” The obvious answer here would be “NO! I hate change!” Instead I think I said something like “I love funky!” (bad idea number two)

Then she started cutting off all my hair… Possible scenarios at this point include:

“I like Reba-style big, long, frizz hair” because I actually do.

Or possibly, “I’m growing my hair out.”

Or maybe, “I’m not a snazzy person, I’m more of a hippie.”

Or even, “What are you doing?!!!“

Instead I didn’t really know what to say so I said “I wouldn’t want someone to tell me how to do my job, so I trust you.” (bad idea number three!)

Fortunately I actually really like it (or will after the three week honeymoon period), but I’m still pretty traumatized. And I have chunks of hair that are literally shorter than my hand. So, moral of the story is that if you don’t want short hair, don’t get a funky hair cut!

Just resign yourself to a decade of homeschooler hair… seriously.

Extroverted Roommate from Hell.

I found a cat a couple years ago, and named her Sydney (after the city, not the creepy movie with Sally Fields). I asked my Grandma (who I was living with at the time) if we could keep her for a few nights, but we both knew she was staying. Syds had a rough start, she was almost euthanized by Grams because she was so sickly a few months in. However, she stuck it out and has been moonlighting with me while Grams was traveling (to China! and Arizona). At first I loved it, Syd is warm and likes to cuddle and be loved. She has an annoying habit of biting your hand, which I assign to some repressed oral fixation that came from being abandoned as a kitten, but even that was cute in September when she moved in.

Ok, I love Syd, but the charm has seriously worn off.

I wake up in the morning to Sydney trying to cuddle up on my face and lick my hair. I sit down to eat and Sydney is crawling all over my lap. I try to read a book and she climbs on top of it or right up in my face, ‘kissing’ me. No matter how many times I push her off, she is right back or getting into something troublesome. Fortunately she doesn’t meow, but she is all over my space, I cannot do anything without Sydney underfoot.

This week I realized that living with Sydney is like having the extroverted roommate from hell. Except when I tell her “Syds! Leave! Me! Alone!” she just starts purring. I feel like I need to leave my apartment to get alone time… from my cat. What is wrong with this picture?

Nexus of the Universe,

I just found out that two beautiful, strong women I’m privileged to know share a birthday (even year!)… February 7, the nexus of the universe!

Lisa, you are a listener, in every sense of the word. You listen to people, to the Holy Spirit, to your own heart. You are gifted as a translator- God has given you the ability to translate what you hear into beautiful word pictures. You have a passion to read and know Scripture and a true burning heart for the poor, in Kolkata or around you. You are glib (and funny). You make me laugh with every single sidenote until my stomach and face hurt. You combine the vision of an artist with the intelligence of a scientist. You explain concepts that confuse me and make things like methane emissions interesting. You love deeply.

Kara, you are a storyteller. No one can ever hear one of your stories and walk away with a straight face. You are calming, I don’t have to be high energy around you. You say “Oh Ganta!” but then feel guilty about it. You are open to Jesus even when He is far away from your comfort zone. You are constantly growing and willing to do things that are difficult. You are affirming and ask questions that allow vulnerability. You make me feel like I can offer you things of value when you borrow my clothes and believe (or at least pretend to believe) that I offer solid relationship advice.

So if you see either of these women, over the internet or in person, you are pretty lucky!

Two Pictures and Three Thoughts.

I’ve been in a picture mood lately, I think it’s because I love to look at other people’s pictures… but it might just be that I like to look at myself. These are from family vacation at Disney. Today I got choked up on the phone talking to my Dad about family vacations. Time for vacation has always been really important to my parents; we went on vacation every year. I think they knew that they needed it as much as we do. Now, it’s truly the only time we spend hours together, because even holidays get full and the big kids aren’t around as much as the Little Girls. I will miss this next year if I’m not home…

I have been doing a lot of reading lately, and really thinking. I took a decent amount of poli sci courses in college, and I sometimes have wondered when a bad government is being replaced by a revolution that will probably turn out to be corrupt as well, who should we support? Should Christians even engage in politics? Should we be more like the Amish and less like the Religious Right? Clearly the Kingdom will never come through a political party….

“… [Our Majority World brothers and sisters] have every right to opt for revolution to transform their own unjust situations, [and] they have every right to enlist our help, not only in supporting their goals, but in changing those aspects of our own society that continue to thwart the achievement of their legitimate goals. Sometimes this will need to be done by direct confrontation….” (Robert McAfee Brown, ‘Liberation Theology’)

Wow. This is a new way of looking at revolutions, seriously. It’s not idealistic, it’s just a call to legitimate (in terms of human rights) action. I wonder if I would have the courage to confront unjust structures with the intensity of Stevie Biko, Romero, Joan Chittister, Martin Niemoller, or even (yes this is for you Lisa) Martin Luther?

I also have been wondering about the paradox between the fact that the Kingdom does not come through human structures and our call to work for justice and utopia. Brown talks about how utopias and work for justice allow the Kingdom to come, they prepare the way for the inbreaking of the Kingdom. Ahhh! That makes so. much. sense.

Finally, I’ve been thinking about this statement: “Christians are never entitled to say that any situation is totally devoid of hope.” We always have hope and can never abandon it. So, I think instead of ending letters with “Peace” or “Love,” we should bring all the virtues together… something like this; “Peace.Hope.Love.Justice.Redemption.Forgiveness.”

That may make me a hippie, but I guess no one of them can truly exist without the others.