Leaving on a jet plane

Yeah for me. Vacation again. Some of you may be thinking, "Wait...didn't she just go on vacation?" Yep, I went to Disney World in March and it was amazing. But I try to plan vacations every 2-3 months to keep me sane. And it seems to be working so far. I leave here stressed and overwhelmed and I return rested and ready for what's next. Even if it's just for a few days...it sure helps. Everyone should do it. Jobs should require it. I think we'd all be more productive.

Anyway, I'm going to visit my best friend Elissa and her hubby Mike down in So. Cal. E and I plan trips to see each other a few times a year, whether they come up here or I go down there. It's always good times. Here is what I plan on doing this week: sleeping, reading, jogging, sleeping, eating, catching some summer flicks, napping, journaling, soaking up some sun (it's been cloudy here and I miss the sun), sleeping, shopping, having good, deep talks with E, and did I mention the all-important task of sleeping? I love vacation!

And if I think about work at ALL, I am going to punch myself in the face.

Ha ha.

amazing picture

Let's look at this picture together and reflect on how awesome college students are...even when they don't mean to be.

We celebrated the end of the school year with a party night. We had games, slideshows, videos, a pinata, and a dance party (complete with lights, balloons, and a disco ball). I took this picture during the dance party and caught these 3 students totally unaware. Let's focus on each of them:

First of all, check out Libby's face. I think she was just walking through and didn't realize I was taking a picture. Shock and puzzlement times 10. Classic.

Second, look at "Elmo the Pinata" eating Ricky's arm. It's already halfway gone. Love it.

And last, please note Brian. He was headbanging. The picture caught his hair at the perfect time. Another student saw this picture and said he looked like one of the Yu-Gi-Oh characters which gave me a full 2 minutes of belly laughter. It's so true!

College students...god bless 'em.

Genesis

I am reading Genesis. And not just reading it. I really want to wrestle with it. Go back to the beginning and write down questions or comments I have. Talk with people about it. Work through some doubts. This personal study has nothing to do with the basics or foundations of my faith...I just want to do it. So without further ado, here are some questions/observations I've had so far (i'm up to chapter 9):

* When I pictured the beginning, I pictured darkness and nothingness. In Genesis 1:2 it says "and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters". So...I guess water has always been here?

* It looks like humans and animals were all vegeterians before Noah. Gen. 1:29 God gives plants and trees for food. After Noah and his fam exit the ark in Gen. 9:3, God gives them plants, trees, and animals to eat and we all got to become omnivores. Thank goodness because I really enjoy a good steak. That sounds weird to say in this context, but movin' on...

* Did ALL animals talk before the Fall? If not, wouldn't Eve have freaked out and said, "Holy crap! A talking snake!"

* Did she know the serpent was Satan? Did she even know there was a Satan?

* There's always been tons of speculation about where Adam was during the temptation. Had he just mosied in and took a bite of fruit his wife gave him? Or was he mutely there the whole time, watching everything and not speaking up?

* I think it is interesting that Even sinned first (and God knew that) and yet it is Adam he calls after in the garden and asks an explanation from.

* People lived forever in the OT! Well, I'm exaggerating, of course, but still! Chapter 5 is all about the descendents of Adam. Methuselah (fun name) looks to be the oldest man ever, clocking in at a ripe 969 years of age. Good lord. He also happened to be Noah's grandpappy.

* Speaking of Noah, he was 500 when his 3 sons were born. Ack! No piggy-back rides for those boys!

* Onto Noah and the flood. Here's something I LOVE: I learned that the Hebrew word for "ark" is the same word used to describe the basket Moses was put into as a baby. AND there had never been a "flood" before, so no one knew what that word meant. So basically God was saying, "Noah - I want you to build a 45 foot tall basket because I am going to make it sxhgeqtm." Poor Noah probably had no idea what God was talking about. BUT he still trusted God even if he didn't understand. Which is always a good lesson for me to remember.

* Personal comment: I think it is funny that Noah's ark is taught all cutesy and colorful. Parents have "Noah's Ark" themed rooms for their babies. Sunday School shows us pictures of Noah and the animals smiling as they walk into the ark two-by-two. What a great story! Right? Um, that's because no one ever focuses on the fact that millions of people died horrible, painful deaths. I'm not gonna dwell on this, because it's super sad to think about. I just wanted to make a comment on the irony of Noah's Ark being seen in such a cute, fun light when the more I think about it...it really isn't.

* I added up all the days and months the Bible said it rained, flooded, the ark chilled on the water, etc. It came out to about 6 months. 6 months! It wasn't just 40 days and nights like we sang about as kids. Noah, his wife, 3 sons, and their wives had to live in that big, smelly, floating, wooden "basket" for 6 months with all those loud animals. And then it looks like it took another 6 months for the water to recede and they got to feel dry land again. One whole year total. Dang. I wonder if Noah ever felt God had forgotten about him during that time?

* Personal question - why the heck did Noah have to bring mosquitos on the ark? All they do is suck blood, make us itch, and spread the West Nile virus. I think we'd be ok without them.

Well, that's what I've gotten so far. Feel like sharing your thoughts on these questions? Or add some of your own?

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

In honor of Pirates 3 opening tomorrow, here are some fun pictures one of our students took last weekend at the Disneyland premiere. Ohhhh Johnny and Orlando...

Nerf Assassins

Have you ever played Nerf Assassins? I remember playing in college. Basically, anyone who wants to play goes out and buys a Nerf gun. When the game starts you are given a name. Your job is to hunt that person down and shoot them with one of your darts. If you are successful, the person you shot is now "dead" (out of the game) and they have to give you the name of the person they were going to hunt. You then go after that new name. And you keep playing until there is only one person left.

We thought this would be a fun activity for the college group to do. So we got 25 students to sign up and the game began! Paranoia ensued. People would walk to school, work, home, college group with their Nerf guns held tightly in their hands and looking around as if any minute someone would pop out behind a car and get them. It was hilarious. The first day after the game started I picked up a student and we were driving to the church to meet everyone for a bowling night. We pulled into the parking lot, talking. I parked and then reached down to grab my bag. When I lifted my head, I looked out my left window and screamed. This is what I saw:



The, I looked to my right to see if we could jump out that side of my car and make a run for it. And we saw this:



So we were stuck inside my car. Good times.

Pictures of life lately

I wanted to post some pictures of life recently. Pixs of Mexico, some of my students, the triathlon, etc. Enjoy.

Bumper cars in real life is not fun

I had my first car accident this week. Scary. Let me set the scene for you. I am driving to work. Beautiful morning. I am behind a red Mitsubishi. We come up to the street light right before the on-ramp to the freeway. Just as we approach, the light turns yellow. The guy in front of me makes every indication that he is going to go through it and onto the freeway...and so am I! Yeah!

However.

Then, he happens to look to his right and sees two police cars. He freaks and thinks he'll get pulled over if he runs the yellow light (even though everyone and their mom knows once your front tires make it over the line, you're fine. Right? Everyone knows that, right??). He had plenty of time to make the light and I had plenty of time to make the light. Heck, the car behind me could have made it too! Sorry, I'm ranting.

So.

He slams on his breaks. Not expecting this, I slam on mine and I proceed to have my first world-in-slow-motion experience. Have you ever had one? It's very strange. It was like in that .5 second amount of time, everything slowed down and I knew I was going to hit him and there was nothing I could do about it. My tires squeal, I skid, and them *BAM* I hit him forward just like in bumper cars. But this was real.

And this all happened in front of the cops.

Sweet.

So the cops come over to us and bring us into a nearby parking lot. The guy gets out of his car and we introduce ourselves with me constantly apologizing. Once the officers make sure we are ok, we start exchanging information and they take off. The guy's name was Matt and he was so cool. I think if he had been some raving lunatic shouting obscenities at me, I would have been crying. But Matt and I were both friendly and still in shock of what had just happened. Good combination.

Here's the good news: it could have been a lot worse. His car only has some scratches on the rear bumper and he said it's so old and has so many dents/scratches already he is just going to get a new car. So I don't have to pay for any of that damage. My front bumper has dents, scratches, a bent license plate, my hood is a little unaligned, and there's some red paint from Matt's car. BUT it could have been a lot worse. My car could have been totaled. My hood could be all scrunched up like an accordian. Our air bags could have gone off (it's a couple thou to stick those bad boys back in the steering wheel) or we could have had other people in the vehicles with us.

So now I've had my first car accident. I hope I never have another. They are scary. The bad news from all of this is I have whiplash. My neck and upper back hurt soooo much. I want to make an appointment to see someone, but I have to wait till Monday to see if I'm covered through my insurance.

What life lesson should I take away from this experience? Anticipate people breaking at yellow lights? Don't drive so close to cars in front of me? Only hit old cars to give their drivers excuses to buy new ones?

Wildflower Triathlon

I just got back from completing my fourth Wildflower Triathlon at Lake San Antonio! Woot. Here's is why I love Wildflower:

1) It keeps me motivated to work out during the year.

2) I get to train with my roomates and friends.

3) I love getting away for the weekend and camping at the lake. We always have a big group that gets together for this weekend and it's a fun time to catch up with friends.

4) Crossing that finish line is the BEST feeling.

Ok, so here is one of my highlights of this year's tri: I saw the Bachelor! Hopefully you don't watch The Bachelor on ABC because it's super cheesy. But if you do, you'll know who I'm talking about. Ok, so on the show, Andy Baldwin (aka: The Bachelor "An Officer and a Gentleman") was talking with one of the girls and she said, "I know you're a triathlete and I'm training for my first one." He said, "Oh really? Which one?" She said Wildflower and he said, "I'll be there too. I'll see you there." So all my roomates and I knew he was going to be there and we were going to try and find him. (We've bumped into Survivor contestents at Wildflower before so it seems to attract reality TV stars or something)

Anyway, all weekend I had my eye out for Andy. No dice. Oh well, there is a million people here, I thought. I doubt I'll see him. So on Saturday morning I had my race. The swim was great...I felt better about it than I did last year. My bike was challenging, but still felt good. When it came to the run, I started feeling really low on energy and dehydrated. I was heading back to the finish line and I was looking down, breathing. I looked up for a second and all of a sudden, The Bachelor ran right by me! I fully stopped running and did the whole turn-around-with-gaping-mouth. (The chick behind me almost ran into me) But it was him. We shared air.

It seems so silly to get so excited about that. But I guess it's always weird to see someone in person when you've seen them on TV. He's a bit shorter than I thought (he looks taller on TV) but super cute. So then when I saw everyone afterwards, I kept saying, "I saw the Bachelor!" Some random ladies overheard me telling my friends and they said, "Ooooo, you're so lucky!!" and they were genuine about it. They must be fans of the show. It was so funny.

Another great year at Wildflower. I'll post some pictures in about a week. It takes me forever to download pixs to my computer. Peace out.

oh man, I love this video