Don't have much time...

...just wanted to make you laugh.

And we thought they were SO cool...

There are a lot of normal people who are made into celebrities by the masses, who, just because of their search for the "perfect person" and the ideal life, have pursued and exposed them to the world. But those people are normal people, too. That's what I want to do today: to show you that these people are normal. Here you are:

"Smoking kills. If you're killed, you've lost a very important part of your life."
- Brooke Shields, during an interview to become spokesperson for a federal anti-smoking campaign.

"If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure."
- Dan Quayle, former U.S. Vice President

"I owe a lot to my parents, especially my mother and father."
- Greg Norman, Golfer

"You guys, line up alphabetically by height."
- Bill Peterson, Florida State football coach

"That's just the tip of the ice cube."
- Neil Hamilton, BBC2

"A bachelor's life is no life for a single man."
- Samuel Goldwyn

"I may be dumb, but I'm not stupid."
- Terry Bradshaw, Former football player/announcer

Silly Rabbit! Trix are for kids!

Ok, ok. So this has absolutely nothing to do with rabbits, or cereal...
But I wanted to say the word silly, so that I could segway into this hilarious video. (Yes, I said segway.)
The reason for this post is simply that I wanted to share a laugh, and this video reminds me of me... for some reason... I guess I'm a bit ADOS, just as Steven says I am.

P.S. "ADOS" means "Attention Deficit... Oooh! Shiny!"

One more thing... I liked the suggestion that one of my "friends" made for Apple. Their suggestion was that Apple should make an iPhone shuffle. It has no screen and just calls people randomly.
Hahaha. Have a great day.

Superheroes

When you think of the word "superhero", what image comes to your mind?

If you're like me, you first consider the answer you should give. Your train of thought might run something like this: "Well, she's probably getting at something here. I should probably say someone that I look up to, maybe a pastor or something. Or maybe I shouldn't say anything, and just wait for her to make her point."
For those of you who are thinking that, I really am just wanting you to think "superhero".

As in...

and, of course...

Good ol' Superman, fighting for truth, justice, and the American way.
I love that guy, don't you? He just stands for everything good, and looks great while doing it.
Today, though, I was really thinking about superheroes, and especially the Spiderman movies. You know how, everytime something was going wrong in the city, Spiderman knew about it, and he came to the rescue? He was a little unsure of himself at first, but he eventually found that he could use his powers for good, and he did it. It kind of reminds me of these guys, who I saw at work in real life today.

I mean, think about it. These guys respond to the 911 dispatch (kind of like the Bat Signal) and rush to the scene of the accident. No matter how small or how large the injury, they work to heal it or settle it as best they can, before rushing the injured to the hospital. They don't shy away from danger; in fact, they run towards it, full speed. And they get personal. They'll ask the injured person's name, how she's doing... they'll give their own names, and try to cheer her up, all while doing the best they can to save her life.

They are superheroes. In every sense of the word. They do everything that Spiderman or Batman ever did. I know. I saw it.

Hey, if you know anyone who is a paramedic, thank them, ok? I know I'm going to.

(ok, ok. i know i did end up making a point out of all of that. but wasn't it a good one?)

hahaHaHaHAHAHA HA HA HA HA.......

That was a laugh of victory, kind of like "hahaha, i totally just triumphed. so there!" Because, I did.

I won NaNoWriMo.

For those of you who don't know what this means, it doesn't mean that I won a physical prize, like a car or a trip for four to Tahiti.

Hey, I didn't say that I didn't win a prize at all, did I? I mean, who needs a car.... um, i meant to say "who needs a trip for four to Tahiti?". 'Cause man, I could use a car.

I wrote a book, 'k?!
I did. In a month. Oh yes I'm proud. Don't even. You don't know at all, unless you've ever written a book in a month. I am ON TOP OF THE WORLD!!!
And rightly so, I guess.
Life is good. I hope you are doing alright, too.

Speechless? Does that word even apply to me?

I guess it doesn't, really. Or, if it does, I am certainly not "thoughtless" at the time. Actually, if you really want to get technical, those thoughts are 'speech' in my head, and often they translate into verbal speech. As in, I talk to myself. Ok... so, I prove that even when I'm speechless, I talk a lot. Greaaaaaat.

Anyhow.
Last night was pretty much amazing. "Wild Bill" Johnson is at our church... (and of course, Hannah might be the only one who reads this, in which case, you already know. Also, that little piece of info kind of makes me want to just say things that are pertinate to you, Hannah. Such as...) I think David had a good time. :) He was a bit nervous about getting prophetic words for people, but he sure did! Holy cow. It was so great. Awesome timing on God's part. It was funny too; at one point he was like "Woah, my dad's name is Fred, and he's a pastor, too!"

So that was fun. And... yeah. Love you!

P.S. That had to be my most random blog post ever. So, just to add to the randomness...

NaNoWriMo.

I don't know whether or not you have heard of "NaNoWriMo", although I am willing to bet at least one of you has. NaNoWriMo is short for National Novel Writing Month, which takes place in November every year. Basically, the point of this event is to try to write a 50,000 word novel, in the course of one month. It doesn't have to be perfect; in fact, the website "headquarters" states that it is about "quantity, not quality". The point is just to whip out 50,000 words in some sort of novel-esque form by the 30th of November.
And of course, I have undertaken the task (along with thousands of other folks around the world.) I'm a bit behind at the moment, with only 16,000 words instead of 20,000. However, I can see myself finishing in time. With this vision, I am moving forward.
I feel kind of silly doing this, but I think I may post a bit of the novel here. Laugh if you will, just don't tell me that you did so. =)
I love you all.

The King looked at the boys, his own eyes now filling with tears. “Oswald, you have done well. You have represented my character and held yourself to firm discipline. Please, bow, that I may honor you officially, and before this witness.” He gestured to Ander and then continued. “I have little to offer you that you do not already possess. There is one thing that I have, however, that you do not. It is the only thing I own that is of any value to anyone in this kingdom. It is… my name. Wear it proudly, my son.” He lightly tapped the boy with his sword on either shoulder, and then rested the weapon lightly on his head.
“Benjamin, stand up into your new identity.”
The boy stood, unbelieving and seemingly unsure of his feet. “Sire… your Highness. I…I don’t know what to say. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Majesty!” He bowed and kissed the hem of the King’s robe, while Ander looked on and smiled. “And what can I do for you, my Liege? Surely there is some way that I can repay you for such a kindness. I will give anything, do anything, to be worthy of this name.”
The king just shook his head. “You needn’t do anything, child. You have already done it, by obeying me, by staying close to my throne when your heart seeks to roam far and wide. I want to bless you, and I am glad to see that you have been blessed. Go, and represent me further, in your studies, in the hunt, and eventually, on the quest. I look forward to seeing what you do in my name.” He turned to Ander, and continued to speak. “My son, my heir, you know that I have always loved you more than anything that exists in this world. This is still true. My heart has expanded to include Benjamin, and yet, you are truly mine, completely and fully. You are a part of me, as I am the same to you. Never doubt my love for you. It grows increasingly, day by day. Always remember that. You are me when I’m not present.” The king sat back in his throne, satisfied. He looked at both boys, and breathed a sigh of contentment. “My sons, you are free to go. Prepare. Do what you must to get ready for the big day. I have much to do, and I don’t know whether I will see you before that day. I have no doubt that you will do well. You may leave; you are dismissed.”
As the boys left the room and went back to their studies, they were both quite overwhelmed with the emotion of what had just happened. Ander was silent, considering his father’s words. Benjamin was in shock, shaking and crying tears of joy and wonder. Why would any king want him as a son? Yet, the King had called him "son”, and had even given him a new name. He was undoubtedly a son of the King now.

The Supernova... this is it.

As you can probably tell, I've been looking at pictures of space lately. Aren't they amazing? I can't believe that such things could even exist. The cool thing about these space formations is that God created them out in the middle of nowhere, for no one but Him and the angels to look at until we finally found them. I'll bet that there's a lot more in this universe that we haven't seen yet. He's still creating, widening the edges of the universe, birthing more stars and planets... filling up the heavens with creations to bring Him glory. For what other purpose could they have?
On a more solemn note,
I have something I want to tell you about myself. I doubt that many will read this, but those of you who do are learning something about me that no one else knows.
Several years ago, before I was ever interested in "space" or anything seen through a telescope, I wrote a song. I had just heard of a Supernova - an exploding star - for the first time. It sounded familiar to me; a supernova blows up from the core outward into a billion little pieces. I felt like that was an explanation of my life right about then. I was about 14 years old, and I felt like my life had just exploded. Everything was going wrong. I wrote a second song, later on, that reiterated my feelings on my life "as a supernova" I kind of felt like everything was wrong.
But God can make the best thing out of the very worst thing. He brought me through that trouble, and I didn't think again about the supernova for a long time. One day, though, I stumbled across a link to a picture titled, "The Supernova: A Glorious Death." I was wondering what that meant...
This star is exploding, as you can see. Its beginning to supernova. Watch what happens as it "dies"...

This star (above) is a supernova, dying.
And this star is a "dead" star. Notice it is the most colorful of the three. However, I think the star really looks the coolest in the middle picture. Its in the process of dying...
An even cooler part of all of this is that the star doesn't just die, but creates new life as well. This is the radioactive remnant of a supernova, which comes together to create more stars!! To me, this is unbelievable. (This is a picture of new stars being "born".)
To me, this says two things. The first is that I wasn't so very wrong when I compared my life to a Supernova. My life did feel like it was exploding into a billion little pieces. But it was a glorious death, and birthed new things. The secong thing that I have learned is that God can take any circumstance and make it beautiful. It certainly is amazing what He does with the stars. And of course, if he can do this much for the lights in the sky, how much more does He care for us?

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." (Gen. 1:1)

"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the works of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech, night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the end of the world." (Ps.19:1-4)
"I am the one who made the earth and created people to live on it. With my hands I stretched out the heavens. All the stars are at my command." (Is. 45:12)
"You alone are the Lord. You made the skies and the heavens and all the stars." (Ne. 9:6)
"God is more glorious than the moon; he shines brighter than the stars." (Job 25:5)
"The Lord merely spoke, and the heavens were created. He breathed the word, and all the stars were born." (Ps. 33:6)
"The heavens proclaim his righteousness; every nation sees his glory." (Ps. 97:6)

"You are dressed in a robe of light. You stretch out the starry curtain of the heavens..." (Ps. 104:2)

"His brilliant splendor fills the heavens, and the earth is filled with his praise." (Hab. 3:3)

"The Lord has made the heavens his throne; from there he rules over everything." (Ps. 103:19)

"...even the highest heavens cannot contain you." (1 Kings 8:27)

"O Sovereign Lord! You made the heavens and earth by your strong hand and powerful arm. Nothing is too hard for you!" (Jer. 32:17)

"God is higher than anything and anyone, outshining everything you can see in the skies. Who can compare with God, our God, so majestically enthroned, surveying his magnificent heavens and earth?" (Ps. 113:4-6)
"When I view and consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained and established, what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You care for him?" (Ps. 8:3-4)

Grand Rapids Choir Festival

Yesterday was one of the best days I've had in a long, loooong time. It was a "grand" trip to Grand Rapids, about an hour away from here, to participate in a choir festival with the concert choir at my college. Besides the singing, of which there was quite a bit, we also were able to spend some time just hanging out around the city. I took some pictures:

The Sad Truth...

...is that it looks as if my readership is down to zero once again. I'm the only one who gets on my site consistantly... if anyone is out there, please please PLEASE leave me a comment and let me know.

What, no "Hallelujah"?

"For many in the United States, the phrase Smoky Mountain conjures up images of breathtaking beauty in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park between North Carolina and Tennessee, the most visited national park in the country. For most in the Philippines, Smokey Mountain conjures up images of the last place on earth anyone would want to visit.
Hundreds of families live on the edge of the city’s garbage dump nicknamed Smokey Mountain because, during the summer months, the mountain of rotting garbage often ignites underground and sends out toxic clouds of smoke that hang over the area like a blanket.

This is the rainy season, so the smoke is drowned out by the rain. Of course, rain just brings on a different kind of misery — thick, stinking mud.

Smokey Mountain is one of the five poorest places in the world. The people who have built homes here make their living by scavenging through the city’s garbage looking for items that can be recycled for money. The average return on a hard day of ripping through bags of stinking trash is around 200 pesos — about $2 in the United States.

In the 1970s, what was once a small village by the sea became the growing, burgeoning city of Manila’s primary dumping site. By the early 1980s, Smokey Mountain became an international embarrassment to then President Ferdinand Marcos. He had the site bulldozed, and new public housing was built for the poor about 25 miles south of Manila. The dump was closed in 1995, and the "new" Smokey Mountain opened a mile away.

Families who could not make the minimum $8 monthly mortgage payments in the government-built apartments were forced once again into shacks along the new garbage heap."
(Kathy L. Gilbert, www.umc.org, 10.17.07)

I want to tell you that it ticks me off - more than a little bit - how ungrateful we can be. I'm not saying "everyone else is ungrateful", because I am as well. Overall, we are one of the most ungrateful people groups on the face of the planet. We have so much to be thankful for, and yet, we forget it all when things get difficult. We complain and whine and wish things were good for us.
I am especially disappointed right now in those of us who have been complaining about the raise in gas prices, but now that they are down, we haven't even whispered a hallelujah. I don't care if the drop in price is temporary or not, it is still a blessing. Will we complain to the Father when things are bad, and then not even praise Him when they are good?

I hope this makes your day so much better...

"Jenny"

"Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of the party"

"People need to stop being concerned with whom I am involved with, and focus on the economy."
- Richard Nixon (during Watergate)

Sound Familiar?

I'm sorry if this is too pointed or unsupported for your liking, but I think we need to realize what is happening here. It seems as if history is repeating itself...

An apology

I just wanted to say sorry to anyone who watched the video that I had posted previously (about 2 posts down from this one). I have replaced it with another one, which is harder to understand, but there's nothing in it that requires "beeping". =)
I should have previewed the other one before I uploaded it.
Again, I apologize.

"168 Killed in India Temple Stampede"

Just a word on my local newspaper:

I'm not sure whether every newspaper blindly scrapes the bottom of the barrel-o-lame and prints completely unnecessary stories, but our newspaper certainly does at times. Here are a small sample of real-life headlines from yesterday's newspaper:

"2008 Boy Scout Popcorn Sale Kicks Off"
"Man Saves Dog From Shark In Fla. Attack"
"Overwhelmed Mail Carrier Accused Of Hiding 9,000 Items"

and last, but not least,

"Dolphins Go On Diet At Japan Aquarium"

Let me just give you a little sample of the article that follows that last headline. Check this out.

"Dolphins at a Japanese marine park are going on a low fat diet after developing pot bellies and failing to look sharp in their aquatic performances. Kinoski Marine World in western Japan said Tuesday that all its 19 dolphins have been on a low fat diet since late August, when they started failing to hit jumping targets and keep upright while treading water." (From wire reports)

As you can see, our city newspaper has found their niche - in the world of "global-inquirer-esque" reporting. Good thing too, or I would be totally uninformed about overweight dolphins in Japan.

This is a test... (this is only a test)

I've been trying out some different things with my blog, just to see what I can do. If this post goes through correctly, I may soon be making the transition into... TRI-MEDIA BLOGGING!!! (Which just means I'll be adding video to my blog.)
I'm sorry about posting so many articles, so often. I know that It's difficult to keep up, and becomes annoying if you have to read more than one at once. Still, stay with me. It only gets better from here.

I hope you enjoyed the video. Let me know what you thought.

"It's a small world after all..."

Just a little update to what I told you the other day about meeting Ty Pennington. I found it strange, as I have met him so recently, that I have been riding the metro with his cousin for almost two months now. She told me this morning of her relationship to him, and that she rarely gets to see him. (Except on TV, I suppose.) What a strange 'coincidence'. Just thought you'd like to know. It certainly is a small world, isn't it?

Extreme Fakeover: Home Edition

I had a little taste of TV yesterday, when I met Ty Pennington from "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition". I was at LCC, where he and his crew were to show up and film for a "spot" on the show. Lately, the Extreme Makeover crew has been hanging out in the Lansing area, building a house for a Holt family who lost their husband and father to Hepetitis C.
I was on time to the filming, and Ty was late: an hour and a half late, to be exact. 150 students and staff waited on cold concrete benches in the ampitheater, waiting for the event to begin. After a while, anxiety was building, but not around the excitement of seeing Ty. People were just plain bored. The result of this was that, when Pennington finally did show up, people were unable to keep still. They simply wanted to take a picture, shake a hand if possible, and leave. However, this was not a possibility. The camera crew and director insisted on keeping the crowd for an hour, filming the shoot twice, and then several parts of it over again. I found it quite interesting that this is called "reality tv" when it's obviously so scripted and put together. Every step, every smile, every handshake is scripted and timed. I even found myself wondering if Ty's "compassion" is real.
I can hardly wait to watch the episode (which should air in November), to see if I made it onto the show. However, I know that if I did, it will be a simple 3-second crowd shot, and I will have to tape and re-wind it 12 times to actually find myself on the screen. Maybe, though, I'll get my 1 and a half seconds of fame after all.
"Reality TV"? TV, yes. Reality, I think not.

a little experiment...

As I stepped out of class yesterday and stared into the seemingly vast stretch of time ahead of me, I knew that I needed to do something to liven up the next three hours. I called a few friends to see if anyone wanted to hang out, but apparently everyone else's schedule is much more packed than mine (or they were all avoiding me). So I decided to treat myself to a good time by doing a little experiment. Instead of getting off the Cata bus at my usual spot, I got off a bit early, outside of QD [a little convenience store located all over Michigan, for those of you who don't already know]. I pulled $5 from my checking account, and set off to see what I could do with $5 in 3 hours, without a car. I had only my cell phone and a semi-empty messenger bag over my shoulder (which came in very handy).
Instead of going with my first option (5 cheap paperbacks), I ended up with this:

Material:
*5 antique books, including a hymnal dating back to the 1800's
*an old Dymo labeling system
*a mug from an unknown company
*a Barbie book from the 70's
*an old Transformers movie from 1984
*a little boxing guy action figure with 3 arms and only 1 leg
*a Speedway slushy
*a cup of orange-spice coffee

Non-Material:
*3 very interesting conversations
*4 new stores that I haven't been in previously
*1 guy hitting on me as i walked down the street
*a long walk
*played an arcade game
*an extremely fun afternoon

I would recommend this adventure to anyone who lives in a moderately safe area of town. It's also good to have a cell phone, in case you get lost. ("'Stoner Rd.'? Where am I?")

(By the way, GoodWill is off-limits.)

"Tim Ho - what??"

Funny story.
(I seem to start a lot of stories off that way.)

First, I have to tell you that I was going to write about the number of wolf whistles I heard directed towards myself yesterday, and how many times I heard, "Boy, she's fine!" No, I wasn't flaunting ANYTHING. I was in downtown Lansing, otherwise known as "ghettoville". Fun times, I know.
Anyway, funnywise, last night has nothing on what happened this morning. I love it when things happen that are so ridiculous that you think to yourself, "Didn't I see this in a movie once?" This morning was a good example.
I was at a ...well, a clean and reputable coffee house... with a friend. We didn't have a whole lot of time before church, so we went through the drive-through to save time. My friend gave my order first: "Ok. I want a medium butter-toffee hot smoothie...." I kid you not, the guy says, "And what size would you like that? Small, Medium, or Large?" Not wanting to
embarrass him, she says,"Medium, please." and then "Also, I would like a number 3 combo, with orange juice and a blueberry muffin." And he answers, "And would you like anything besides the smoothie?" (What?!) So she repeats it all, "number three, orange juice, blueberry muffin," and he says, "what kind of yogurt would you like?"
I was laughing hysterically. What the heck was that guy doing back there, that's what I want to know. I thought it was maybe his first day, but when we finally got up to the window (after pulling some japanese-fire-drill type action), we thought he looked like a manager.

Man, I love people.

Happy is a Yucky Word.

I wanted to make a comment on misunderstandings, which ties into what happened to me this morning and yesterday as well.

Ok, I guess I really just want to tell you what happened, and also why I wrote the title the way I did. I was listening to Switchfoot (obviously) at work, but everyone was being kind of loud, and it sounded like they were saying "happy is a yucky word", which actually kind of sounds like a song that Oscar the Grouch would sing.

AND...

Both yesterday and today, as I have been on the bus, two different girls have thought I was someone they went to school with, at Waverly and at Grand Ledge. Hmm... so do I really have one of those "universal faces"? Therein lies the question.

Actually, if you really want to hear about misunderstandings, "universal faces", and thinking someone is somebody else, go on YouTube and search "Flight of the Conchords, Jenny". It's worth watching, albeit slightly... weird, I guess. (I wanted to put it in the sidebar for you, but this site doesn't allow me to post single videos.)