I am down in southern California this weekend for Billy Jack's wedding. I met Billy Jack at my first job after college 10 years ago. And he has been one of my dearest and closest friends ever since. I am so excited to see him get hitched!!
I'm dead.
Here's what happened.
It was a beautiful Saturday. I was sitting at our kitchen table, eating lunch, talking with a roomate, reading the paper, the sun was streaming through the window.
All of a sudden, I noticed some movement outside our kitchen window so I looked over and to my horror...I saw John, one of my college students. Oh crap. Two things ran through my mind in half a second:
1) Oh my gosh, John is my assassin.
2) Oh my gosh, he is going to KILL MEEEEE!!!
He said my eyes got as big as dinner plates as I screamed "NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!" and jumped up from the table. I ran upstairs to my room to grab my nerf gun. As I came (slowly) back down the stairs, I heard him talking with my roomate. I cocked my gun and waited. I heard him come down the hallway.
"I hear you!!!" I screamed as menacingly as I could from around the corner. "And since I can't do any pre-emptive shooting, you're gonna have to shoot me and MISS so I can kill YOU!!" (that's one of the rules)
He literally walked right up to me and just shot me with his nerf gun. It was awesome. I should have ran outside and given him a run for his money. (Or I guess it would be a "run for his kill")
After some laughter, high-fiving, and explanations as to how he found out where I lived, we took a picture. 
Not only did John have a nerf gun, he had a nerf sword that he had cut down to dagger-size. This guy is in it to win it! Also, please note the shirt he is wearing. Three Wolf Moon. So classic. I hope he wins the game.
It's that time of year again.
Nerf Assassins.
If you ever want to play, here's what you do: Get a list of people who want to play (at least 10 or 15 for a good game). Everyone must buy a nerf gun. On the day the game begins, you are emailed a name. You must hunt down and shoot your target. You cannot kill them if they're at work or class. If you "kill" them, they are out of the game, and you receive their target. That is your new target to go hunt down and kill. The last assassin living WINS.
We play every year in the college group. It's hilarious. Everyone is SO paranoid. I see college students walking everywhere with their guns in their hands or on top of their books. They peek around corners, check around their cars before they get in, constantly look behind them when they're walking.
Usually I die the first day, first hour. I am proud to say I have made it through the first day!! Yessss. No doubt I will die very soon (these students are CLEVER) but I always try. I'm not a very good assassin though. For example, here's a facebook message thread between myself and my (unknowing) target today:
Student: "Hey Sarah, make sure Ryan (our adult leader who is leading the game) knows that i am the nerf battle."
Me: "Has Ryan sent you your target yet? He sent everyone's targets out by midnight last night. Do you have a weapon? Good luck!"
Student: "yeah i have a awesome nerf weapon :P. I am sooo ready!!!! :D lol. good luck sarah!! O ya how was last night i couldnt make it :/. I have a huge test on friday and yeah i know lame lol."
Me: "Last night was good. After the talk, we played Rock Band in the garage. We missed seeing you though!
Hey, I just realized I don't have your email address or any info to send stuff to you. Can you send me your address, cell number, and email? I'll put you in our database. Then you can start getting my weekly email I send out to everyone telling them what's going on with the college group.
Have a great Thursday. Good luck on your test tomorrow! Have you been studying a lot?"
Student: "Haha nice try sarah. i will give you my address when i want you to come kill me. But yeah I been studying my butt off like i always do lol."
DANG IT!!!!!!!! I was trying to be so suave. I have no idea where he lives and I want to kill him at his house this weekend. Was I obvious when I asked for his info? Dang it! And now he KNOWS I'm his assassin!!!
That cloud of volcanic ash halting air travel? It is sentient, evil, & wants to escape the island: 
I had such a great weekend. (I'm kind of sad it's Sunday evening and the weekend is over) On Friday, we had Girls Night Out with some ladies from the college group. We had dinner at In N Out (my fav) and then went to Comedy Sportz. It's like "Whose Line Is It Anyway" with players up on stage playing different improv games and the audience gets to shout out suggestions. It was SO funny! 
Then yesterday it was time for the monthly barn dance. Yeehaw! There's a farm north of us that has a work day, potluck, and barn dance the third Saturday of every month. We're big fans. We took some friends who had never been there before, so it was great to see their excitement. The caller was awesome, the barn band was rockin', and we danced the night away. 
Hope you all had a good weekend, too!
Oh my gosh.
I found the song "Like A Prayer" from next week's Madonna-themed GLEE episode. It gave me CHILLS. It is SO good. You can listen to it here. Let me know what you think!
After my last intense post, I thought I'd do a more light-hearted one.
A little over a month ago, I blogged about how one of my students (Travis) is going to be famous because he wrote, produced, and performed a song on a techno cd that had just been released.
Another guy in the group (Michael) wanted to make a fun video, using that song. And here it is! You can fast-forward to 0:45. Michael is just sitting at a desk until then. Enjoy!
We've all seen them.
The protesters with their signs.
Some are good - teachers who want to keep their jobs, nurses who work in hospitals but don't even have good health insurance, etc.
But no, I'm talking about those other protesters with their signs. The ones aimed directly at homosexuals. Or abortion clinics. Or people who aren't Christians.
I was in church today and our pastor was telling us how he took his kids to Disneyland during their spring break. As they were walking down the street to the entrance, there were some guys holding their stupid signs. On one side the signs said, "TURN OR BURN" and the other side said "REPENT OR GO TO HELL!"
As soon as the pastor shared this, I felt my face get hot. I could almost feel my blood boiling. I honestly don't think I heard a word the pastor said after that. I don't even remember why he shared that story. (Sorry, Mr. S) I don't hate many things in this life. But I HATE those signs. They make me so angry.
I mean, Disneyland is one of my favorite places in the world. And I was just imagining little kids holding hands with their moms and dads, wearing their Mickey Mouse ears, full of excitement, about to enter this magical place. And to see a sign like that...it makes me sick. I am ill.
Any time I see a sign like that, I want to go right up to the person carrying it and yell. "You are a JERK. JERK. How dare you. You are doing nothing but making people upset and angry. You are actually turning people AWAY from Christianity with your judgmental and offensive sign. GO.HOME."
Man. I just don't think that's how Jesus would share His love with the world. He didn't pick up the children, put them on his lap and say, "Repent or go to hell, Timmy." Jesus was all about love. He was the epitome of love. And these people with their stupid signs might think they're helping others see the light or change their mindsets or whatever...but they're NOT. Grrr.
I have not been blogging much the past couple weeks. This is the part of the year where things get really crazy as the end of the semester draws near. I only have 6 weeks left and then WE'RE DONE! (at least till our summer program begins) And I have committed to finishing strong this year, instead of going out with a whimper.
Last night we started a new series at the college group. It's all about the REAL WORLD and what to be prepared for. I spoke on finances. HUGE topic. Someone shared this with me: Jesus said more about money than about almost any subject. The bible offers 500 verses on prayer, fewer than 500 verses on faith, but more than 2,350 verses on money and possessions. Why have we never taught on this subject before??
Anyway, outside of work, things are going well. Still loving my roomates, my hip hop class, this sunny weather, the final season of LOST, and prepping a little side area for a garden. Oh, and some fun news: my friend Laura taught me how to knit. I love it!
I am going to leave you all with a request. My sister Emily is auditioning to be a new cast member on GLEE (for Season 2). If you have a MySpace account, can you go vote for her? (Or I should say "Can you go give her a gold star?") You can see her audition videos here. Thanks friends!
Last month I blogged about Progressive holding a contest to see who would be Flo's assistant in a new commercial. Well, I made my video and submitted it:
Sadly, I did not make the top 10 finalists, but that's ok (I didn't think I would). I had fun making the video and watching the other submissions. If you want to check out the top 10 and vote for your favorite, head over to helpflo.com. (Which one is your fav? I like the guy "Ri" on the bottom left)
This week has been super busy. It was the college students' spring break so we had a lot going on. Usually for spring break, we go on a short-term mission trip to Mexico (or last year we went to inner-city LA) but this year we decided to serve in our own community. We worked at a nearby camp, building a bridge that goes over their creek. And we also worked at a non-profit garden that employs homeless people to teach them job skills and help them get on their feet again. 
Everyone had such good attitudes and it felt so good to be out volunteering in our community. A personal bonus for me is that I've been getting the gardening bug, so to work at an organic garden was a huge highlight.
I hope you all had a great week and Happy (early) Easter to you all. HE IS RISEN!
