Friday, July 22, 2011

Overheard

Waitress: So do you guys want this check separate or together?
*simultaneously*
Guy: Together.
Girl: Separate.
*awkward pause*
Girl: No just make it separate, it's fine!
Guy: No, no, no.
I got this.
*hands waitress his card*
Girl: Okay well I'll get it next time.

Cue me and SB laughing conspicuously two tables over. Awkwarddddd.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Never Let Me Go

"I was weeping for an altogether different reason. When I watched you dancing that day, I saw something else. I saw a new world coming rapidly. More scientific, efficient, yes. More cures for the old sicknesses. Very good. But a harsh, cruel world. And I saw a little girl, her eyes tightly closed, holding to her breast the old, kind world, one that she knew in heart could not remain, and she was holding it and pleading, never to let her go. That is what I saw. It wasn't really you, what you were doing, I know that. But I saw you, and it broke my heart. And I've never forgotten...
You poor creatures."
--Madame, Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Extraneous Lyrics

My friend Emma posted this on her blog--priceless.
(PS If you aren't familiar with popular songs, this won't make much sense to you.)

Friday, July 15, 2011

Part One: Life, VI

If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain.
--Emily Dickinson

Thursday, July 14, 2011

The End of an Era

Today is the day.
Tonight I will be attending what is likely my last official Harry Potter event.
For those of you who aren't Harry Potter fans, you may not understand how big a deal this is. So let me tell you (and if you don't care to read my love letter to Harry Potter (ahem, Jon Horner. RUDE.) then just don't. and let me ramble in peace):
I remember my first Harry Potter experience vividly. I was in second grade, and we were in Grafton, Vermont for Thanksgiving. I had a fever and had to stay in the house all day, and, as was usual for me, I had completely run out of books to read. I was a reading fiend as a kid, and I went to my mom tired and bored. She was reading Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone. I looked at it, asked what it was about, and said, "Hey, can I read this?"
And so it began.
I was fascinated by everything. By Harry and his story, by the magical world of Hogwarts, by the friendships in the story....I could go on and on.
Harry Potter hasn't been a bandwagon thing for me. It's been a part of my life. I grew up with the characters, waiting for the midnight opening of each book, waiting to spend all night reading.
I think there are so many great things about these books:
The relationships between the many characters, whether it's Harry, Ron, and Hermione, or Harry and the Weasleys, Snape and the students, or Hagrid and the creatures he cares for--they are all full of ups and downs, but they are real. They're relatable.
The humor--sometimes I just laugh out loud when I read these books. There are these moments that are just priceless.
The way the characters grow. They are so imperfect. They make mistakes, they are tempted, they don't always do the right thing. But they learn from it, they apologize, they love each other through all the ugly things.
And lastly I love how good triumphs. It's an age old story, but J.K. Rowling does things in a way I absolutely did NOT expect. Don't worry, I won't spoil it. There's a really redemptive aspect to this story, and it isn't subtle, it's clear and for me it was shocking.
Call me dramatic, but today is a big deal. It's like a coming of age moment (for my 7th grade class, I'm having a Bildungsroman moment....thanks, Mr. Henderson!). My childhood ended awhile ago, but it's like I have to actually face it today.
Bittersweet.
Feel free to laugh at this post, I know who you are. :) I am laughing at myself! Books aren't normally this big a deal to people, but hey, that's why I'm becoming the Literature professor, and you're not!
And for those of you who haven't read Harry Potter--give them a chance! Clearly, I think they're wonderful. :)

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Quality Chinglish

For your entertainment! :)

"Caution, slip"
"do not be scared funny movie scared children"


"movie free feeding yor safety"

Reminder

Life has been weird lately.
I haven't exactly felt like myself for one reason or another, and I'm pretty complacent about it these days. I am kind of okay with this fading into the background of life, this feeling of apathy.
It's a sort of numbness, to be honest.
And then God, using my friend Alex, who by the way is not a believer, wakes me up.
He does it subtly. He hasn't yelled at me through Alex. He has just said, "Hey. Remember me? I made you. I have loved you. I died for you. And I have redeemed you.
Remember me."

I don't usually like talking about God in such conversational ways or putting words like that in his mouth, because he is so much greater than just a "hey, remember me?" But something that he has graciously brought to my mind this summer is that I am his daughter. I am a part of God's family, adopted into his church, a co-heir with Christ. So while he is my Lord and King, completely sovereign, Creator of the world....he is also my Father. My friend. My strength and my refuge. My portion, deliverer.
But ultimately he's my Savior.
And oh how I need a Savior!

He is faithful and good.
What a beautiful life we have in Christ!

Sunday, July 03, 2011

I miss....

...a lot of things. But today it's these boys.
Ryan is the one down front, then Deacon in the grey, Nazim in the middle, Dino on the right, and Macwin up in the top left.
Oooh I love them.

Friday, July 01, 2011

Part One: Life, X

A precious, mouldering pleasure 't is
To meet an antique book,
In just the dress his century wore;
A privilege, I think,

His venerable hand to take,
And warming in our own,
A passage back, or two, to make
To times when he was young.

His quaint opinions to inspect,
His knowledge to unfold
On what concerns our mutual mind,
The literature of old;

What interested scholars most,
What competitions ran
When Plato was a certainty,
And Sophocles a man;

When Sappho was a living girl,
And Beatrice wore
The gown that Dante deified,
Facts, centuries before,

He traverses familiar,
As one should come to town
And tell you all your dreams were true:
He lived where dreams were born.

His presence is enchantment,
You beg him not to go;
Old volumes shake their vellum heads
And tantalize, just so.

--Emily Dickinson