12:55 PM

on easy isolation

life has been pretty crazy the last couple months. basically my weeks consist of five fourteen hour days and then sleeping the weekend away. friends are not on the top of my list right now. yet, i can't shake the feeling that even if i didn't have fourteen hour days, i still wouldn't have friends. my crew left me over some misunderstanding and even after i fixed it they chose not to associate with me. i have to admit that stung. i cried. i was bitter. i moved on despite their periodic interruptions into my life. that took care of about seventy percent of my social life. then my friend r fell in love. i couldn't be more ecstatic. but as experience has taught me, it is only a matter of time before the strain of love takes care of our friendship too. this one, is a peaceful separation. who do i have left? ah yes, habibi. i do not say that name with bitterness. i just find it all too funny that everything he ever said was a lie. "i'll wait for you," "you're worth waiting for." only to have him surprise us all with his new girlfriend at a christmas party. my sides still hurt from how hard i laughed. i guess its my fault, i stopped even wanting to be his friend a very long time ago and i guess that he picked up on it. then there is cypher. who masochistically persues a relationship with the vindictive siren, also known as my soul's worst human enemy. i think i'm going to just leave him to his pain. we are at ninety percent. the last strange kindred soul is athena. why she wants anything to do with such a sad little person as myself is beyond me. but ill be waiting, because as i have stated before...everyone leaves, everyone. the oddity of it all is that for the first time in my adult life, i relish isolation. its pain is a balm. if it weren't for my family, i'd just pick up and leave. lolololol. 

12:39 PM

on the wise confounding the foolish

you know there comes a time in a person's life when they think that their parents have lost touch with reality and have no idea what your life is like. you completely throw out the window their experience because our lives are definitely and completely different. we have absolutely nothing in common. if you haven't figured out i am being sarcastic by now, i don't blame you. sarcasm on screen isn't a very easy thing to do. i have been holding on to so much. i finally broke down in front of my mom and made a futile attempt to explain the struggle i have been going through between hating humanity and this pissant desire to have a genuine friend that can depend on me just as i can equally depend on them. oddly, the parent i least expected consolation from was able to put my feelings into words and minister to my heart in less then fifteen minutes. it wasn't my mom. it was my dad. he understood everything just like that. he gave me a hug. prayed for me, and made the pain go away. if you knew all that has gone on between me and my dad, you'd realize what an epic moment this was. they say there is nothing new under the sun. that word came to life today as my father explained his own struggles and feelings identical to mine. i know there are some God awful sucky parents out there. but mine aren't. today i am truly blessed. dad, this one's for you. those, dear readers, are my unscientific observations on the wise confounding the foolish. 

9:01 AM

on human capabilities

humans are capable of almost anything, good and/or bad. having worked with them for almost seven years now, i have seen all kinds of things. you learn about all different personalities, faults, strengths, weaknesses, virtues. but lately, i have seen such a side to humanity as pains my heart. how people who once called you friend, can dispatch you with haste and then have the nerve to call you when their life goes to pot and they need help. what's worse? God blessed me with a heart made of compassion, even for my enemies. the result? spending friday night alone after having helped out a now enemy the night before. no thank you's. no updates. nothing. just this feeling of being used. so i hide in my room blogging, finding all manner of unimportant chores to do, to avoid going into the outside world. because humans are also capable of feeling emotion to the point where it can kill them. and right now that capability is personally being made known to me. if this is the level of pain i feel, imagine God's pain at our disdain when His soul is infinite and His heart will never burst. Those, dear readers, are my unscientific thoughts on human capabilities. 

8:23 PM

on unrequited love

i could use a friend right now, but i am a little short on them at the present moment. i have no clue if it is my fault or not. maybe it is, maybe it isn't. its still all very sudden and confusing. blogging will just have to do. but my lack of a social life isn't the topic of this blog. no its something a little sadder. i am horrendously in love with the worst possible matched man of my life. he is my entire opposite. worst yet, he hates me. im sure he hasn't even thought of me in the months since our last freak encounter. i won't get into much detail, but i will say this, being in love with someone who hates you, sucks dirty stinky five year old never been washed sweat socks. and hurts like having open heart surgery without anesthesia and the terror of the paralysis. ive fasted, prayed, tried to condition myself to not think about him. tried to go over the little time we spent with each other in my mind and show myself how he didn't have feelings for me. nothing seems to work. it wasn't like it was even a long time either. for me it was love at first sight. the worst kind too, unconditional love at first sight. my soul aches for him and i have no clue how to cure that. my only solace... knowing that God suffers my same predicament. He loved everyone enough to put His blameless Son Jesus on the line and people spit on the beauty of that deed everyday. just like the pureness and beauty of my love was spit upon and made a joke. i would have done anything for him. anything. i still would. ive even thought of writing it all out in a letter. Jane Austen style, you know? tacking it to his front door with my signature pink duct tape. idk what to do anymore. basically this just really sucks. to make matters worse everything reminds me of him. it doesn't help that no one stable in my life is even remotely interested in me as anything more than a sister type. its like big and brainy=unattractive. so im stuck pining after a drunk, drugged out, suspender wearing, giant redneck, jerry rig your car with anything he can find, occultist who doesn't even like using his real name so the man can't find him because his past is just that sordid. there HAS to be something wrong with me. and those dear readers are my unscientific observations on unrequited love. basically that it sucks.... really really really bad.... really bad.

10:30 PM

on teaching spanish

So far.... i am having a total blast being a spanish teacher. the kids are a lot of fun. i haven't laughed this much in one week for a long time. not knowing how to do lesson plans and figuring out a very scattered and enigmatic book is a little bothersome, but i have two awesome veteran teachers on either side ready to help me out. it helps to live with one of them (hi mom!) 


i find it absolutely hilarious on God's part that i ended up in the EXACT same situation my mom did not shy of eleven years ago. she had a job dropped on her lap out of the blue and not having a clue forged a new career for herself. my mom has only had half a semester of college experience. basically she is my hero. for so many reasons. i love her. she is teaching me something new everyday and whenever i have a ton of questions she is patient enough to answer each one.

i do have some nerves because they are paying me a LOT of money. way more than i am used to having. i want to make sure that i do my job well and that these students leave out having a great solid foundation in spanish. that is a daunting task considering i have over seventy students, but i am really starting to get attached to them and oddly i am pretty calm about the whole situation. i have a lot of catching up to do so i probably won't write another blog for a while (like anyone is reading) 

so far my job rocks. and those, dear readers, are my  unscientific observations on teaching spanish. -phoenix

11:07 PM

on new beginnings

so i should probably be in bed right now, but i don't think i will sleep very well. two things weigh heavy on my mind. the first one has to do with the title of this blog, and the second doesn't.

i start my new job tomorrow. i am now a spanish teacher. i have no degree in teaching, and i have never officially been a teacher. lets just say now more than ever im constantly talking with God. ;) did i mention that i am also teaching high school students! im not so concerned about discipline or them playing pranks on me. im concerned about doing a good job. spanish is my co language. i learned it right alongside with english. i think in spanish on some days. i want them to leave being able to survive if they were suddenly dropped in a spanish speaking country.... like miami. i want to know that they can talk about what they did yesterday and have not sound like its what they are going to do tomorrow. (preterite v. future tense). most of all, i want to be able to be a carrier of God's presence to them. i want them to know that it is possible to be young and separate from the world. 

separate from the world. that brings me to my next pondering. lately, i've read my past blogs and i have seen a change. i guess my concern starts with the scripture that says "be in this world and not of it." and i thought to myself, what separates me from the world? do i allow God to be such a part of my life that my very presence causes a change in people, not because of me, but because of what God has done in me? can people tell that i am a christian by the way i speak and carry myself? basically, am i walking the walk and not just talking the talk? 

its not such an easy question when you have been brought up with church culture in your veins. there is a difference between being a christian because you know how to be one and being a christian because you really are one. i believe, i hope, that these changes are the later. i am a missionary. it is my call. for a missionary, it is as important as breathing to be in tune with God. to listen more than speak. im so hungry to move, to reach the lost, but im out of shape spiritually. its like a person that used to play soccer, the sight of a ball gets their heart going, but as soon as the start to kick the ball around they are doubled over huffing and puffing. the good news is, i have a whole manual that tells me how to get back in shape and actually does it at the same time (thats the Bible people). the wonderful thing is, im hungry for God again. not munchies hungry like i have been the past couple years, im talking golden coral hungry. yes its sad to not have a human companion, but im starting to realize how up to the task God is when it comes to filling the empty space my friends used to occupy. those, readers, are my unscientific observations on new beginnings. 

5:50 PM

the smell of bread and solitude

im currently sitting at the panera down the street from my house. taking in all the wonderful smells and basking in the sounds of people relaxing on a saturday. im taking a break from doing three hours straight of simple math. why? because in all honesty i dont even have anything to procrastinate with. so i figured id do my work. 

im also listening to nature boy by nat king cole. this song. something about it makes me lonely and pity the lonely. am i listening to it because im lonely or am i lonely because im listening to it? its strange that surrounded by people, i find my self feeling utterly alone. well not utterly. i have Jesus, but even He knows what loneliness feels like.

unfortunately for me, God made us to be social creatures. "it is not good for man to be alone" and He knows why. solitude has a way of making even the brightest day seem dismal. the sweetest smells acrid. its even raining outside to boot. like something out of the sad part in a movie. all the of the people that tolerated me have left. i am become a socially awkward shadow of myself. what's left but to figure out why God has me alone. i have some theories. 

facts so far: it sucks when your friends get together, everyone leaves eventually, and politeness can be an emotional soul killer; falsehood dressed in silk. why can't people speak in truths? what prevents us from saying what is on our minds? why is it so hard to be real? 

11:05 PM

nursing v. medicine (aka journey to my call)

yes, contrary to popular belief, nursing and medicine are two different animals. medicine is often times one tracked, rushed, and based on drugs, cutting, burning, and other such painful remedies. a doctor spends all of fifteen minutes with a patient during their stay at a hospital and who ends up implementing a good 95% of it? you guessed it! nurses. to think, a long, long LONG time ago i wanted to be a doctor. i was sadly mistaken.


to make a long story short, i felt a call to medical missions at thirteen. my first job was as a nursing care assistant at sixteen (yeah i totally missed the point and spent all my focus on the docs). it has taken one botched freshman year in college, one associates (soon to be two), a useless B.S. in Biology (b.s.... about all you can do with that degree), a CNA course, and three missions trips to figure out that medical missions isn't just for doctors, and nursing is more a field that describes what i want to do. nurses don't just say " rm 309 has pneumonia and needs 325 mg of augmentin three times a day," they say "mr. fields has trouble breathing and is in a lot of pain due to some other conditions, he also just lost his wife so we might want to take that into consideration." if we see a homeless man that is hungry, we don't just treat his illness and give him a prescription for drugs he can't afford, we feed him, we get him fresh clothes if he needs them, find a shelter for him, get him a program that can pay for his meds and follow up on him. that is what true nursing is all about. sure there are some that are only in it for the money, but at its core, that is what it is about. 

don't get me wrong, doctors are important. they do the surgeries, help with research, they are the walking PDA's (physician's desk reference), they focus on the diseases and treatments so we can focus on everything else about patient care. its just not for me. i've never been this excited about my future. i had no idea that nursing was so versatile. furthermore, nurses can go on to be nurse practitioners and have their own specialized practice, without the help of a doctor! God has opened up a whole new world to me and i can hardly contain myself. its been a long journey, but its good to be on track. seven years is a long time. huh... that's interesting... isn't seven the number of completion? 

so i hope to go on to get an MHA (masters in health admin.) and my MNP (masters in nurse practitioner) without having to get a BRN (bachelors in registered nursing) and it looks like in about three years and 75% less money i can do the same thing a family doctor does and then some because with an MHA i can open and run my own hospital ( a little ambitious i know). looks like Medicrates (C) is on its way to reality! did i mention that Jesus rocks my socks!?!?!

11:29 PM

Return of the iPod and other misadventures

i got my ipod and it seems to be in working order as i am keeping it as far away from that evil radiobobmajig as possible. i am also feeling better. which is cool cuz i tried some new stuff like, vaseline on the inside of my nose (sounds bad, but feels so nice) making sure to use sudafed (not that crappy stuff you can get straight off the wall, this stuff you got to sign for) and not taking meds that are combined (aka cold medicine that has extra stuff you don't need) plus taking buttloads of vitamin C in the form of the fizzy drink powder stuff Emergen-C, that stuff is awesome. i also got a couple days off of work cuz the bosslady took my hours. so thats nice. 

so, um, yeah, i got a couple days off of work cuz the bosslady took my hours, and now i won't have enough to pay next months credit card bill and have enough gas to drive to work. well "de tripas corazones" ill do what i can. i can't breath through my right nostril, i can't even say nostril it comes out like dostril cuz my right dostril is all stuffed up. r got back with his girl. which is great for him, buuuuut not so great for me cuz that means its basically a matter of time until he gets his hands all muddied up with relationship issues and im on my own cuz hes the only friend i got left, im working on some new ones but my personality at present is not en vogue so i tend to be socially awkward. maybe ill understand when i get in my first relationship one day. i just hope she treats him right, cuz he really doesn't need the drama. i mean who does? at the end of the day, i still got Jesus so everything adds up just fine. (contented sigh) basically... Jesus rocks my socks! :D 

yes i realize that those sentences have nothing to do with one another but i am heavily medicated right now and this is the best your gonna get.... :D 

12:21 AM

Student Generosity and Vicks

so one of my students was generous enough to share her cold with me. i want to call in but i feel bad because i have to quit two days earlier than planned. i caved on the whole "having the last word plan" and i didn't even give smiley the letter i planned to give him. basically, this week is shaping up to be a doozy. 


strangely, im not depressed. which is amazing b/c i watched at least three lifetime movies. being single, 24, and never having had my first boyfriend, kiss, or date, being ditched by all my friends and getting sick the week before i start a new job i have no clue how to do. its like asking for one giant emo tantrum. but all i can do is laugh. laugh till my sides hurt and take in giant gulps of vicks scented air. goes to show you, when Jesus is your main focus, even sucky weeks look like fun. on the brightside, its fun to say moon when your nose is all stuffed up. as mine is. with a wad of toilet paper hanging out of it to stop the flow of cold juice. lol. lol. man life is great. ahhhh life. right now mine is so God awful sorry you can't help but see the comedy in it. nothing like a good laugh at yourself to keep things in perspective. :D

12:53 AM

Boldly Finding Closure

its strange to think that my third life is at a tragic and tumultuous end. i call them lives. periods where the people i love turn on me and leave me in a desolate place. left me. this time is different. thanks to smiley. God is with me every step of the way. this next life must be important. He has given me the boldness to demand the closure i need and deserve. yes it is all very vague. basically, as opposed to past times where i could not speak what needed to be spoken, i am standing up for myself. recognizing the value that God himself places on me. fixing mistakes, taking back my life, boldly finding closure. i may not have the last laugh, but i will have the last word. not words of anger, sadness, bitterness, but words of encouragement, love, and truth. before i was a timid, little girl shining light into the shadows, then i was a little girl finding solace in the shadows, then i was a little girl afraid of the light, and now at the close of this third life and the beginning of the fourth, i am a woman taking in light as if it were my next breath, with it devouring the shadows that so readily consumed my life, dark thoughts now turned bright in the fullness of His love.


how easily i was fooled into believe that i had no worth. it wasn't very hard, especially when your friends treat you as if you had no worth. but i know now that they weren't friends. i know now to cherish the word. i understand now that a friend is someone with whom you share mutual influence, whom you want to influence and by influenced by. 

how easily i was fooled into believing i was too low even for God's love. He kept me and i never acted on this low opinion of myself. i also never acted to remedy the situation. i became numb. now that i am awakening, the feeling is like as if a limb that has fallen asleep regains sensation. first come strange feeling of near death, then come the sharp pricks of life, then the sudden rush of blood and relief. im in the sharp pricks part. a flood of emotion. mostly good, all be it intense. 

i must admit, i am hungry. i am hungry for God's presence. i am hungry for true companions. i am hungry for true friends. i want something real. i need something real. i am alive now, but for how long can i stay alive? when it seems like most of the christians i can share with are in their own dark stupor. i want to scream at the top of my lungs, " DO YOU NOT REALIZE WHOM IT IS YOU CLAIM TO LOVE AND FOLLOW!?!?!?!" 

there is so much that must be done, and very little life to do it in. if only time could slow down, until i boldly find my closure. 

9:27 AM

Soulical Rehab

Just like in rehab (from what I have heard), some days are better than others. The hard days are made more bearable knowing that God loves me. He has really been working in my heart. Reviving my self-esteem and reminding me of who I really am in Him. "He who began the good work in you is faithful to complete it." 


I keep daydreaming. I daydream when I'm hurt and I am trying to resolve the unresolvable.  I really had no idea how attached I was to my friends and how screwed up my priorities were. Having virtually no friends, save r, to confide in and hangout with and realizing that they left me without warning really does a number to my heart. The upside is that "God works things out for the good of those who love Him" I am now distractionless. My prayers have gone from "dear God don't let my parents find out" to "dear God, I'm lonely, can you fill this hole in my heart." I think the latter is more conducive to spiritual growth. 

More and more, my ear is tuning in to what God has to say. He has my full attention. Yes, I am a little hurt and saddened, as much by my actions as by the actions of the others. To say that I am not would be falsehood, but as always God is there to rescue me. Each day seems a little bit brighter. A little less fuzzy. A little clearer. 

9:17 AM

Death of an iPod

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. OK now that that is done and over with. My iPod has died for the THIRD time, but as is the case in medicine, a couple have to die before you figure out what is really going on. I finally connected that this stupid malfunctioning radiobobmajig burns out the battery if you aren't careful and watching. So now, my much beloved Redi (named after the first scientist to dispute spontaneous generation, Francisco Redi ....NERDPOINTS!) has to be sent back to the apple company to be replaced, and I am left with my choiceless shuffle (say that ten times fast and you'll end up sounding like a true puerto rican). Needless to say, I am crestfallen. Sigh, tear, sniffle. sniffle some more. 


PS I really don't have emotional attachments to inanimate objects.... that's just silly. I'm not silly (that would be sarcasm)

11:07 PM

the leaves aren't the only things that change in october parte dos

hola!

so i have some interesting things. more change. it is october after all. i am pretty sure im going to end up celebrating it in some form or another. i applied for a new job and it looks like i might be the next spanish teacher at a private high school not to far from my house. its great because i can finally pay off a lot of my debt now. it also has benefits. 

i guess the most wonderful part of all is that now i have no choice but to become an adult. if i don't the little teenage darlings will eat me alive. not only that but i have to be a good role model which, in conjunction to other things i will explain in a bit, forced me to face and evaluate the current condition of my soul. needless to say, it was in terrible shape. i mean... did you read the poem i wrote!?! 

up until now i have had it easy. being morally ambiguous, but then i met this guy. i dont think he knows quite what an effect he has had on me. we haven't really talked much, but his effect on me is a testament to the importance of a christian shining his light without even uttering a single word. 

i am a very good judge of character. i have a gift for reading people. God gave me this gift, i have no doubt about it. it is very rare to find an unspoiled by life real honest to God virtuous christian. it reminds me of that statement in the prestige "pardon me, but its not everyday that i see real magic" it was kind of like that with this guy. i cant quite put my finger on it, but there was something so knowledgeable and virtuous about him. ive never been near a soul this clean, this intoxicatingly in love with God. resolute in faith.  the only thing i can say is his smile crash carted my soul. 

i found myself praying to God that if my future husband was anything like this guy, i had better shape up. i started to take a good look at myself and realized that not only had i lost all self esteem, but i had forgotten all the values i held dear. i started to pray. which was big for me. i really didn't want to talk to God. not that He had done anything wrong or that i was mad at Him. i had just become numbed to everything. i kept seeing this guy in my head, well more like his spirit, and i became convicted. i was finally able to verbalize what was going on to my heart. i had a break through. 

its so different this time. no empty promises. no stupid schedules or lists to better myself. just action. i asked God to forgive me of a multitude of emotional and mental sins and after i was done i felt so clear headed. im not an ecstatic the world is rainbows and puppy dogs ninny. its as if God reached down into my heart and pulled out the weeds to discover that despite the struggle, a beautiful strong oak had grown there. i felt release, like i could stretch my branches and breathe again.  im so taken aback at His mercy. im speechless. i can get a thousand academic degrees and never know the depth of God's love. i am blissfully stupid to know that in my nothingness He finds pleasure to love me. and all because one guy was brave enough to love God and let it show. i dont know if ill ever have the courage to thank him and tell him how breathe takingly rare and beautiful he is. may God bless him a thousand times over. 


11:32 PM

Ode the Complacent Pew-Warmer

I

Am
Morally Ambiguous
my soul is deciduous
consistently bathing 
in the lukewarm waters
of the land between white and black
I freely falter and never look back

Am
God's walking vomit
now I vomit
and I return to it
it's the foul familiarity of 
my darkest desires I seek
I exude the stench and wreak

Am 
Discontentment
dire dissidence, indifference
numb to the world
numb to myself
long ago 
I put my conscience on a shelf

Am
Affection grown cold
the embodiment of Laodecia
the soulical snot
hacked up by deviant society
invisible, only God wants me

I
Am
eternal dissonance

8:26 PM

leaves aren't the only things that change in october

i have no clue why, but octobers tend to be months of great change for me. last year in october, i chopped off all my hair, i got my nose pierced, and i decided to get a puppy. this year is a little more drastic. i cancelled my myspace, facebook, and msn messenger accounts without warning, single handedly cutting myself off from the world. my close friends are for various reasons not talking to me. in fact, at present i only have one friend i confide in. the only one that reads these blogs. a, al, g, n, and s have all ditched me as i planned and b is on a vow of silence for God knows how long. r is the only one left and he is super busy. there is always family, but right now they don't really know who i am or understand me or are trying to understand me. 


im all alone in the world. partly because i choose to be and partly because well its kind of hard to have friends that don't want you. (lets out a dry sarcastic laugh) in it all i keep thinking that this is too simultaneous for it to belong to no one else but God. maybe He is trying to tell me something. 

whatever the reason. there is no such thing as a coincidence and i welcome the pain of solace heartily. its the first thing i've felt with certainty since i fell in love a while back. still not quite over that, but i guess ill have to eventually. it was all very glass menagerie. 

so what will i do with all this free time considering the fact that i have also come to loathe the church i grew up in? feed my intense desire for knowledge. of myself, of God, and of the world around me. maybe i might imitate b and take my own vow of silence. im sure no one will mind since no one is around to talk to anyway (cept for r and my family). maybe finally being still enough to learn how to be comfortable being alone might help me relate to humans better. we shall see.... sigh, leaves aren't the only things that change in october. 

7:50 PM

whites

whites in this case.... do not refer to undies that may be bleached. nope. i am getting my uniform ready. i am altitudinally challenged. i had to cut off six inches and thats with the waist band rolled up because the crotch is to far from the waistband. thankfully, being the well trained puerto rican girl that i am, i know how to sew. so i am hemming not only my pants but my shirt sleeves as well, because i live in a land of giants as my mother would say. my shirt looks like a tent so i am going to rig a nice little stretchy band with well placed suspender clips so that i can pull it in some so i dont look like im prego. 


basically im saying all this because i am very very excited to go on my first clinical as RN student this sunday. its going to be a long day, but im one step closer to being a nurse. and if that isnt exciting enough, hold your breathe, i get to take pharmacology and nursing math next mod. which means i will be learning which meds do what like a real nurse. because you know we save the doctors rears half the time. i have never been this excited and sure of myself ever. i feel like God has led me to where i need to be and i am finally listening. in less than one year i will be a full fledged nurse. i cant wait! i am even the owner of a very proud stethoscope. my parents are going to get me a blood pressure cuff. this is so awesome! 

ever since i was a kid i have always been patching people up. due to my observative nature i also pick up on diseases very well and i am pretty good at subtleties. so its like my dream is that much closer and all the pain of the first six years of college is quickly fading away. ill be able to move out, pay my bills off, and save money to go on plenty missions trips while i figure out what goes into starting my own free clinics. i might get an MPN i don't know yet. i still have to finish up my BS in Biology. I only have four credits ( a semester so i can raise my grades) left.  Most of all, when my friends need me, I can help them. God is so awesome. His mercy really leaves me breathless sometimes. no matter how much of a spaz we are, He takes care of us. 
neato...

4:07 PM

Hallucinations and Sleep Deprivation

so i havent hallucinated yet, but it is def around the corner. i have had about seven hours sleep in the past two days. im not exhausted either which is the sad part. even sadder is the fact that i stay up late watching sappy korean love movies. my mom said that when someone cant sleep it is because their soul is out of peace. i have to say i agree. when i am alone. i tend to have morally ambiguous behavior. i know what is right. i know how to act right, but its kind of like losing weight. i know what i have to do, but i am content in my own skin. a better word would be complacent. 


complacent. that word seems to embody the very times we live in. complacency can be caused by a lot of things, but in my case its one parts lazy and two parts busy. i cant seem to snap out of this fog to do what i have to do as a christian and a person. im doing better. im not as uptight about things as i have been, but that may be the further signs of my complacency. i just dont care how my friends treat me anymore. if they care or they dont. 

thankfully in all this i am reminded constantly by that persistent voice that keeps telling me that i need to hang on. that this wont last forever. that my time will come when i must burst forth out of hiding and grab onto my destiny by the horns. but i guess what disturbs me is, if i cant grab life by the horns now, what makes me think that i will be able to grab life by the horns later? right now, the only thing that makes me roll out of bed in the morning and maintain some kind of semblance of sanity is that i know Jesus loves me despite myself. He really truly loves me. sigh. i have no clue why, but im not one to stare a gift horse in the mouth. i say it out loud now and it makes me want to laugh uncontrollably. 

ted dekker describes way better than i do in his books Black, Red, White. i highly recommend. he allegorically and successfully not only describes Christ's love for us, but also its effects on one so complacent and clueless, such as my self. i cant wait to graduate. twelve months and counting and i will be an RN. i will grab life by the horns and give it something to reckon with. God help the man that has to reckon with me. ;)

3:56 PM

sleep on it

so i talked things over with one of my good friends b. i love b. hes made of awesome. hes got a good head on his shoulders. he turned me to Jesus and was like WWJD? and to be honest i did kind of stop and think about Jesus' life and how he handled things and i realized that most the time he spent, he spent alone. if he was with people it was because he was ministering to them not because they were his friends and he wanted to hang out. he didnt even call the disciples his friends until after the resurrection if my memory serves me right. there were many times where he would just go off by himself to pray. cant say i blame him. i mean i would want to disappear two when im telling my disciples the keys to life and they are too busy arguing about who is greatest in the kingdom. what does all this have to do with anything? 


well unlike e, who i was able to completely cut off with no incident and without opportunity to reconcile (she broke cardinal rule number one, lying). there is something that draws me to the crew (a, al, g, n, and s) and even though our friendship may probably never be the same. i forgive them for the way they treat me, and ive decided to apply seventy times seven. sure i probably cant count on them as confidants. i cant tell them my deepest darkest emotions and hope that they understand, but maybe that was too much to expect of them in the first place. they are all much younger than i am, and their walks with Christ are ..... and well maybe i need to take up jesus' example of unconditional love. "no matter what you do or say, i love you anyway" so if they need me, ill be there. thats what a true friend is. a giver with no strings attached and when no one else is there for me God is. and i need to learn to use that to its maximum value until God does provide someone who can talk with me on my level and understand me emotionally and spiritually. someone who can be there. 

10:44 PM

chief of all fools

i hung out with my friends n and a today. n i dont mind so much. hes a cool guy. hes very neutral which is an important thing to be when you have such diverse characters for friends. they need to know someone isnt going to take sides when they talk to them. i dont know how to feel about a. a is like one of those exs that your not quite comfortable around but you have to be around them because you run in the same circles. im really contemplating just pulling out of it all. its awkward enough that i have to leave or do something else when they decide to hang out with g, (g is like an ex that makes you want to cry, puke, and kill all at the same time)  but then a and al started to ignore me like three weeks back. there are two things that will easily make me not want to even think of your existence. one is lying, be it to me or behind my back and the second is ignoring me instead of just telling me what is going on be it negative or positive. 


i guess it all started when i was trying to tell them some deep dark emotions i was feeling and they shrugged it off and even laughed at me. friends shouldnt do that. i forgave them because im a complex person and its not easy to understand what im saying all the time because i dont speak like your average twenty something. but then i tried calling and no one picks up. i try messaging and no one but n answers back and if they do answer back its not in the best of spirits. true they have their issues i understand. but i have been there for them before. i helped them through a lot and in return i get ignored and ditched for g. 

i know what your saying. what the heck? why are you still friends with them? thats true. the average person would have just used an explicative to describe an action they should do to themselves and forget they even existed. i really like n though. hes a good friend. and it would be sad to lose him. but push comes to shove. i think this tiny break from solitude is making me want to dive deeper into it and hope that at some point its waters will fill my lungs and make me numb to human existence. even today i had to listen to more of a spouting out her constant barrage of drama. im just tired of it. im not nineteen im twenty four and i guess im craving something more on my level.  ive turned into an expertise friend (ill blog about that later). 

im just tired of constantly being betrayed and abandoned. i guess king david was right when he said that he who puts his trust in man is a fool. and i have been the chief of all fools. 

1:31 PM

Movie Review: Music and Lyrics

I thought the movie was all around great. It's not my favorite but it had some very funny moments. I love when Hugh Grant spills his heart out about some insights and Drew comes back and says " I didn't expect that, especially from someone who wears such tight pants." and Hugh replies, "it forces all the blood to my heart." It was really the witty banter that saved this movie. I didn't really feel the chemistry between Drew and Hugh. They seemed more like friends than lovers. Not like Ricci and Macavoy in Penelope. Their acting was so good you wondered if it was really acting. The way Macavoy looks into Ricci's eyes still stops my breathe every time I watch it. But this review is about Music and Lyrics. It had a wonderful commentary on todays stereotypical pop princess through the character of Cora. It really does make me wonder if strippers and half naked teeny boppers will be at the center of the middle school generations' entertainment from now on. We cringe when we hear that some child was caught with pornography yet music videos go on unchecked. Music and Lyrics was also a wonderful anecdote on how no matter how different people are if you stick them in a room long enough and they are even remotely attractive, they will fall in love. People don't understand that love is not some little magic moment. Love, true love that is, is like a seed that we plant and grow with the water of our time and the sunshine of our words. Attraction is merely how fertile the ground is that we are planting the seed of our love into, but any plant can grow with the right attention.


7:04 PM

observations on solitude

so i find myself alone on a friday night again. the smell of nostalgia lingering heavily in the air again. it brings me back to when i was kicked out of church for the first time. my whole life had been centered around fridays. meeting family. they were the only family i knew. that was the first true taste of isolation. i felt like my whole world had crashed down on me. why? because my family was punished for taking my father back. the pastor of this congregation didn't agree and had been advising my mother that she should get a divorce. when she refused. the pastor told my mother she would be better off in the american service with her husband from now on. i didn't quite understand what was going on. i do now. i harbor no ill will towards that pastor. but i remember solitude. i remember feeling so alone. 


despite the one or two friends that have remained with me. i still feel alone. one is far away and our friendship is long distance, and the other is busy. my closest friends have deserted me. once again another anecdote from these bittersweet rendezvous with humanity. so i sit here on a friday night in my early twenties blogging. waiting for my shuffle to finish charging so i can fill my empty minutes with mind numbing tasks like laundry. hoping that the repetitive folding of clothes will keep the tears from my eyes or at least absorb them. i have to get out of this house but to make things better payday is a weekend late and i have absolutely no gas and the gas is going up to five dollars a gallon tomorrow. the early signs of america's virus. 

but i blog on. knowing fully well that most will stop reading at the end of the period finishing the last paragraph. if anyone is reading at all. its strange to think that i live in a city, i have neighbors and family and yet i am completely and utterly alone. i guess im experiencing "the scald of solitude" i don't think i'll ever get over its initial sting. i can't remember the last time i had a friend for longer than two years and he was the longest. hes gone now. as i predicted very early on. i dont know why i hung on so long. everything before that was one year max. 

most the time i am deserted, abandoned, rejected. i look in the mirror. i stare in the mirror. hoping to see what flaws keep me from making the friend i look for. the flaws that keep me from being the friend i need. not someone that is a friend because i can buy them things or because they want to have a romantic relationship with me, but just a friend who's there when i need them. when i call and say i need to cry, can we go to the beach? they drop what they are doing and drive. i have been that friend. is it so much to ask for that in return. then there is God. which makes me feel even worse, because i should go to Him, but He seems so far away. I pray to Him, He consoles me. Yet He knows just how powerful two warm arms are. He knows how soothing it is to look into a face with lips that say "i know your pain" why did He create me with such a desire? why did He create me to need my fellow man knowing how evil they can be? why when i pray, He cant just take the pain away and fill me with so much love id never cry over another friend who has abandoned me again? i know the answers. but asking the questions help.

my shuffle is done charging. i dont think the blogging is helping because im crying now. i think ill get my chores done and escape somewhere. anywhere. id give a lot to have a full tank of gas to drive around with. drive till i lose the road and my pain. 

10:34 PM

Slipping into Solitude

The early signs of winter are upon me. I sense the cold breezes. This season...once again. I have to decide whether I should hold out until the chill numbs my essence or if I should retreat before the pain is more than I can bear. I look upon that steaming water once again. I see it. I smell it. It's heat calls me nearer. I can see the leaves are turning brown. Heralding the death of winter. I crave it. I crave the caressing waters of solitude. I slip in. Its heat sends screams through my body. It hurts. It scalds. Will it ever end? Soon, my nerves adjust. Solitude, once again I bathe in your protection. I would not wait until the winter pierced my very soul. I would not wait until the oak tree, the willow, and the maple bed adieu. I would not wait for the green of friendship to completely desert their leaves. I smelled the early autumn and I ran to your warmth. Yes, at first you feel more like pain, but I know better. I knew that the pain would subside. I knew that the colder I was the more it would hurt. I left the autumn. I left the oak, the maple, the willow. I left them before they left me. I ran to you sweet solitude. I cannot stay forever. Your warmth, like all seasons, will pass. Should I stay until you are look warm and the summer leaves spring green from tender branches, I would surely die. For now, I submerge my head and let your heat run over me. Mixing tears with solitude. Until the oak, the willow, and the maple come once again. Until the come, perhaps in different form, until they come again. 


12:35 AM

DC or BUST!!!!

So I'm going to this massive pro-life/ pray for spiritual revolution in america rally saturday called.... TheCall. What looked like an awesome weekend with friends, turned into a lonesome quest for truth. I am going to DC no matter what. It will take some creative planning for the parents.... (aka I might have to fib a little so they won't blow up my phone every five minutes, I'm the baby and a girl so that automatically means that I'm fifteen until I move out, then I will be eighteen) BUT it will be worth it. I'm going to be part of something bigger than me, something I feel is important. I want to meet with God in a way I haven't before. 


I can't wait. I hope I can get a least one person to go with me, but if I can't it just means that it will be one interesting Saturday. Hey, nobody said doing the right thing had to be a group effort. Well... it will be, just not the way I thought. Ce la vi!

12:21 AM

Conflicting Chromosomes and WomanSpeak

I'd like to take this blog to expound on my aversion to the female gender. Yes this kind of sounds like a black man belonging to the KKK, but there are girl girls and guys girls. My aversion is to the former, or what I like to call "ultrafemmes." You know the ones of which I speak, the heart breaking, over bearing, might as well pee on the guys she likes and mark her territory, super girly girls. People have no clue how true the movie Mean Girls was. 


My Anatomy and Physiology teacher was covering the chapter on genetics and was explaining the importance of sex chromosomes. He went into a rant over why men can't understand women and why women can't understand women, and why women can't even understand themselves. Basically the difference between men and women, genetically speaking, is that men have a Y and women have an X. You know this, or you should. What you probably didn't know is how different these two chromosomes are. According to Mr. Molesky, there are only 36 genes on the male Y compared to the THOUSANDS of genes on the female X. Basically, its not in your DNA to understand us guys, you just don't have enough. The way Mr. Molesky put it, women have such a hard time because they have "conflicting X's." (What I alluded to in the previous blog as "double X action") Its like two women arguing inside one woman's head all the time. One is rational and one is irrational, you'd think the rational one would win more often..... you'd think. 

To me, the difference between guy's girls, or the girls that can hang with the guys and don't mind chipping a nail, or a tooth for that matter, and the girls that eat Estrogen-Oh's for breakfast is that the rational one takes over more for the former, and the irrational one claims the throne for the later. How do I know this? Because I speak WomanSpeak. Very few men speak WomanSpeak. It is a cruel language of subtle seemingly innocent remarks loaded with undertones and biting sarcasm. A language I had to learn to survive, a language I loathe. 

Example: I have this guy friend. Cool guy. I went to hang out at the Starbucks last week, and being the Delphic personality I am, I like to observe people and see what I can read. There was this one chick there, she seemed to have a flash of attraction in her eyes. I watched more, by the end of the night, she was totally feeling him. Which was cool, I was glad. Only problem was that I had no idea how MUCH, I also had no idea that she was an "alpha ultra femme." Alpha ultra femmes are like guys on steroids with all the roid rage, but instead of steroids its insecurity and paranoia. I went with them to go watch a play and I noticed a strange look. It takes a fluent speaker in WomanSpeak to understand this look, it takes a sensitive guy to pick it up. It's the look of territoriality, the look of stay back or I'll make you pay. I guess this chick was expecting it to be date, I still don't know if my friend told her me and my girl (the one girl I hang out with) were coming. Now if it was just one grumpy night, I'd let it slide. I'm a pretty laid back person.  Basically, it takes girls like her to bring me out of my angry shell. Girls like her ruined high school for me. God needs to deal with me about girls like her, because girls like her make me want to be very inhospitable. 

Why the intensity? Because, tonight she spoke WomanSpeak as only an alpha ultra femme can speak. Not only do I HATE that language, I hate when it's used so frivolously. Sometimes, its necessary to speak WomanSpeak (aka when trying to apologize without apologizing to maintain ones dignity and without instantly becoming a mat to be walked over, this action mainly occurs between to alphas of different subspecies utlra femme and g.i. jane) , but this is unwarranted because this guy is just my friend with whom I have no romantic attraction, there is no way I am any kind of "threat" to her. It's as simple as this. My friend alludes to us having hung out earlier in the week (I noticed the tension and tried not to speak directly to her), she says "oh did he tell you about the dinner we cooked together." Guys tend to hear "oh did he tell you about the dinner we cooked together." In woman speak it can be translated as " I cooked for him. We are in love and going to get married. Stay back or I'll shank you. I know him better than you do. See even now his little 36 genes bow to my every whim. Bla bla bla bla bla di dah."  Now if she were to be confronted. She could say Oh all I said was, and repeat the above, sans smug smile, and territorial glint in the eyes.  She would go on to seal the deal with a vindictive "I don't understand why she doesn't like me. most girls don't, I think she is just jealous." Guy says, see she wasn't saying anything wrong. You shouldn't jump to conclusions, and I go try to pop my ear drums in hopes that I never have to hear WomanSpeak again.

DO YOU SEE THE MALICE AND EVIL OF WOMANSPEAK!!!!!!!! It's so slimy and subtle, and even the above is a poor description. I'm sure this AUF will give me more fodder for this rant. I'll try to pay attention, so I can give a more clear example. This is why I get all tense when my chemoreceptors pick up high levels of estrogen. This is also why I limit my contact with specimens of the same gender falling under the subspecies of ultra femme. Contact with the sub sub species Alpha Ultra Femme results in rants such as the above. I must say, blogging is highly therapeutic. Especially when you know no one is reading....

7:16 PM

Hypothermic Metatarsals

Hummm. Having second thoughts now. Is it fair to ask a 20 year old to make the commitment of courtship? Am I even ready for courtship? I mean according to the guidelines I'm supposed to be physically, financially, and spiritual stable. Physically, yeah sure, I'm not dying anytime soon, Spiritually, getting to know God more and more everyday. Financially, STOP HERE, DO NOT  PASS GO, DO NOT COLLECT $200! Not to mention that I am in the middle of a rigorous RN program. See, as much as I would love to enter into a relationship for the first time in my life ( I think I'll blog later on "the nevers"), and as emotionally attached as I am, I can't seem to shake this feeling of foreboding. I can't help but think that I am doing an injustice to both of us. I guess what I am saying is that I have decided that for now courtship isn't for me. 


It's a good thing all but one of my friends are guys or I'd be paying attention to the whole "YOUR EGGS ARE GETTING OLD!!" voice in my head. At this point, I am going to have to take a leap of faith and say that if God wants me to get married, He will introduce me to some sweet blind fellow that doesn't mind me being fat and wrinkled. JK. I won't get wrinkles for a while. This is such crazy double X action. I mean do you WANT to hear what is going on in my head right now. 

"He's too young, but he's lived a lot in his short life time. What if he goes back to smoking pot again, it wouldn't be the first time. Your getting old, guys like him are few and far between, isn't he the first one in four years that has ever even been bold enough to state his feelings and want to speak to your father? Are you crazy? So what he's not a virgin, you should take what you can get. He will treat you like a queen. Follow you to the ends of the Earth. But is that what you want? Some yuppie puppie bowing to your every whim? Will he survive the field, will he survive what is coming? Can he handle cannibals, witch doctors, exorcisms? Would he be able to provide? Would your family starve?" 

This is what I go through. Maybe, maybe, its just Hypothermic Metatarsals (aka cold feet). But maybe it's God's voice telling me to wait for the one He truly has for me. Maybe Habibi is the one, but not right now. We shall see. I guess I just don't want to be like my fellow desperado double Xs that are so desperate they'd bite another females head off for even looking at a guy they are looking as well. I mean girls my age can be serious crazies. I just refuse to bow down to the whole, you have to get married and have kids at least once. I'd rather be single than marry the wrong person, because when it comes to being a missionary, it only takes one person that doesn't belong to get the whole team killed. It's happened. I mean how much worse would it be, if you're married to the wrong person. I'd rather go solo. At least I'm not allergic to the whole idea of marriage anymore. 

9:27 PM

Projectile Vomit, Mammoth Wigs, and Courtship

So its been an absolutely amazing week! Highs and lows as usual but still amazing. God has been really shaping and moving me in ways I had forgotten He could. I guess it all started Sunday. I actually rolled out of bed in time to go to early service and I felt something was coming. At church I ended up in the overflow by myself. It was awesome, alone with God I felt so free like I could worship with everything I had and I knew none of my motivations were based on reactions of other people. I felt like crying and I didn't know why. I went into service after worship was over and pastor Russell preached like there was fire shut up in his bones. He too like me was tired of the complacency and pettiness devouring our church. I was so hungry to feel God's presence. I suddenly started laughing like for no reason. They call this the joy of the Lord, it wasn't the first time, but it was the first time in a very long time. Then I felt like electricity all over me. Pastor Russell's wife Sylvia called me up. Both entrances to the pews were blocked. Do you think that stopped me? HAHAHA no. I climbed the pew like a crazy woman and did what I had to do to get to the altar. I met with God like I hadn't since will...it doesn't matter. I reconnected with God. 


I felt like fasting for the first time in years. Every time I had tried it just didn't work out, my flesh got the better of me. But this time I am on file like I haven't been in such a long time. What does this have to do with my subject? well...

I was talking to my good friend Byron (HI BEEGE) who was telling me about the call. I thought I had class and couldn't go. Turns out that TheCall was on the one Saturday I didn't have class, the day before my birthday, and the last day of my fast. Coincedence? I think not.

I decided to seek God's face and I felt drawn to this "solemn assembly." So I'm currently doing some phone line shaking to get ahold of folk to go to TheCall with me. So far it looks good.

Now I have been making prayers, not thinking that God would deign to answer me. Let me tell you that not only does God answer my prayers He does it with a great sense of humor. Yesterday I woke up and I started praying while I got dressed. I said "Lord, I don't want to be grumpy like yesterday, grant me the grace to be patient with these children. I pray a Spirit of Peace over them and I pray that you would help them to listen and not let them act up. Amen"

That morning our worst class trouble maker came in with his mother. His mother was infuriated about his behavior the day before. She firmly told him to strand next to her and apologize to us the teachers. Right before my eyes, there was a miracle. One: The kid puked super far and none of it got on me or my co worker. Two: He had to be sent home, which ended up in the calmest day we have had all summer. I know it sounds bad that the kid got sick, but if you know anything about kids, their nerves are connected to their stomachs Stan from southpark style. He wasn't really sick, he was nervous that he got in trouble. He was fine all day. LOL. man that was a funny way for that prayer to get answered.

Now for the Mammoth Wig. There is this little girl in  my class, now I have seen some crazy stuff working for DCA the past five years, but this was a first. For some reason on God's green Earth, this child's mother decided to let her wear her giant wig to school. Now picture this, a little girl no taller than two feet, total, tomboy, with the goofiest five year old personality ever, walks in with a wig of hair down to her little tush so heavy that her head tips forward. She looked like she got into her mom's closet. I never laughed so hard in my life. It sounds bad, but I made double sure none of the kids teased her. I couldn't help but giggle though.

Then during work, the third miracle of the week happened. One of my close friends, whom I care about very much, asked me when would be a good time to ask my father permission to court me. :O That doesn't seem like much of a miracle, but let me give you some evidence as to why it is:

1) We have only physically seen each other once at a Christmas party last year.  We talked almost the whole time, but thats it, and I was looking busted at the party.
2) I'm a little large at the waste, which seems to be the same thing as having leprosy here in NN, cuz guys just don't go for it, but he really doesn't care.
3) He's not crazy, he is a normal young (might I add good looking) guy that is also planning on going into ministry.
4) he LIKES me
5) HE likes me
6)he likes ME

I've run the gamut of emotions today. We shall see how it all turns out, but I'm determined to give it the best shot I got. Good Luck Habibi!!

Viva la vida!!!