chapter 2: before there was the bad tom, there was the good tom

i’ve blocked out most of the memories of my childhood. either that or a have a bad memory. either way, i don’t remember much of it.
as a small girl, i lived in the richest county in virginia. you’ll remember what i said about being underprivileged and i will say again how hard it was. instead of having our own pool, we had to go to the community pool. but we grinned and bore it, and i think i’m a better person because of it.
you see, when i was 2 years old, i thought (rightly so, i might add) that i was invincible. i still think this today, which is why i have no insurance, jump out of planes, and have black friends. as it turns out, invincibility is skill that is only perfected by practice and isn’t simply acquired at birth or caused from being a super hot alien with x-ray vision (that’s right alf, i’m looking at YOU).
at any rate, when i was 2 years old, i almost drowned in the underprivileged community pool. luckily for me, it was at the precise moment of my almost drowning that i mastered the art of being invincible. in fact, for a brief stint, i was the black knight in monty python but i ultimately had to leave for contractual reasons. (john cleese was ripping me off)
once i became invincible, i decided that the only course of action was to pursue a life of daring physical feats or as american housewives so unglamourously call it ‘tom boyism’. being a tom boy meant doing all the fun, cool stuff that the boys were doing like sports and collecting nails and bolts found in home depot.
i also climbed trees when i had the chance. i once saw a cat in a tree that couldn’t get down, so i climbed up, sat on the limb next to it and laughed. i then climbed down the tree, leaving the cat to a horrible fate of a diet of only oak leaves and sap lite. he’s still there today, and he’s grown a beard and holds council sessions for all female birds who don’t understand why their husbands are so much more attractive than them.
another part of the tom boyism was shunning all things girly. all the tom boys in my neighborhood would hold weekly meetings (of which i was the overseer and treasurer, of course) to talk about how we hated tea parties and the colour pink. these meetings often evolved into riots and we once took out an entire chain link fence in our frenzy. only 3 people were severely injured.

i still don't know the difference between an autobiography and a memoir

chapter 1: facing hardship in uncertain difficulties of bad times
i was born to a terribly underprivileged family. i later was the sole reason that they rose from obscurity to be the american royalty that they are today, but i’ll get into that later. right now, it’s only important to understand that i was a poor downtrodden soul. well, nothing besides the incredible talent that very few people have; the ability to make everyone think you’re amazing at something, even when you suck.
this may have been from my dazzlingly good looks. as a child, i was often cooed over and admired by the adults. i would sit in my high chair and smile, wink, and every now and then give kissy lips to my group of admirers who were my parent’s friends. they laughed and cooed some more. much like in those unrealistic flash back moments in sitcoms where everyone is laughing like a bunch of morons and though the situation might be conceived as humourous, you can’t help but feel an air of superiority creep into your soul as you watch.
this was my entire childhood. but please remember, i was underprivileged. because the fact that i’m underprivileged establishes me as the underdog protagonist, which no one can help but root for. when i win the nobel prize for being awesome in chapter 17, no doubt you will cry when i once again remind you, i was underprivileged.

friendship is a very comforting sort of thing

i recently got to spend an entire weekend almost exclusively with one of my dear dear friends. sure, we saw old friends and meet new ones, but i got to spend the vast majority of my time with her.

i'd forgotten what a wonderful thing friendship was. i really had. i see my friends all the time, but there's just something about sitting down and spending hours of uninterrupted talking, laughing, praying, being silly and serious together. it's delightful.

there really is a reason that the Bible is such a proponent of community. for all my extrovertedness, i actually can become very reclusive and isolate myself in my own little world where it's all about me. it takes true friends slap me upside the head and say, hey! there's a great big world out there that needs Jesus!

oh how i value those friendships! those friendships that force me to take my eyes off ME, encourage me to be selfless, point me to Christ. those friends who have seen me as i really am; broken, proud, in desperate need of the cross, and who love me. i thank God for those friends, who show me so well how to love like Jesus.

i had a rather extraordinary experience this weekend.

i've been to washington dc more times than i can remember. i've been to the monuments, visited the museums, played in the parks, walked the streets. i've seen dc. but i've never really seen it. this weekend, for the very first time, i was made aware of the stark contrasts within the city; a wealthy city with desperate poverty, a bed of crime in the capital of justice, successful businessmen next to unemployed homeless men.

last saturday, one of my best friends and myself took a very brief trip down to the nation's capital to interview for an internship. we sat in on meetings, ate ethiopian food, meet a whole slew of people, went on a prayer tour of the city, and managed to exhaust ourselves to the point of near collapsion. these were all fantastic experiences (ok, i could have done without the exhaustion), but the thing that will stand out as the most memorable experience of the trip involved no people, no food, no sound. at the end of the prayer tour, we went to a spot that overlooked the city. you could distinctly see a thousand quietly twinkling lights and the less subtle washington monument and capitol building. as beautiful as this picture was on its own, it paled in comparison to what i saw.

there was a lightning storm that was ongoing throughout the tour and when we got to the lookout, you could clearly see every magnificent streak.



when i was in the domincan republic, there were times that you could plainly feel that there was a spiritual battle going on. as i saw the lightning streaking down towards the capitol building, it was like i was actually watching a spiritual attack on the city. it was one of the most awe-inspiring things i have ever witnessed.

THE MONTHLY CHALLENGE CHALLENGE - april

well folks, it's that time again. the beginning of a new month. i would have posted yesterday, but everyone would have though it was an april fools joke.

ok, that's a lie. i didn't post yesterday because i'm lazy/i forgot.

either way, i'm posting now and that's the important part. anywho, as it is a new month, i have a new MONTHLY CHALLENGE!! quick update on last month: i only bought gas once, deodorant once, and a gift for a friend that really couldn't wait. all necessities. month of march = SUCCESS!!!

the challenge for this month is to go off facebook. i find my challenges are much more attainable when it involves me NOT doing something. a friend who shall remain nameless has changed the password of my facebook and has been quoted saying that "if you ask for it before the month is over, i'll post on your status that you're a closet yankees fan!!" (she never actually said that) i must never been accused of that, so i plan on never asking. until may that is.

as for my spiritual challenge, i'm going to read the Bible every single day. this may not seem like a challenge for some of you, but it's never been easy for me, so i think this should be quite good. and [BONUS] my accountability partner is doing it with me. moral support for the win!!

sometimes i hear improbable dramatizations of life

listen to all these pretend people
listen to them talking
laughing
wishing

listen to them trying to breathe meaning into their lives
but they can't quite.......
do it


listen to all these pretend people
listen to their stories
jokes
complaints

listen to them trying to impress you with their lives
but they can't quite.....

do it

listen to all these pretend people
listen to their embellished lies
exaggerated exploits
inconceivable experiences

listen to them trying make up utterly unique, distinguished lives
but they can't


quite...



do it

i get philosophical sometimes o' nights

now is one of those times. it's usually after i've watched a movie or youtube clips of famous people being all famous and whatnot. i start to think about how pointless fame is, and yet at the same time how powerful it is. the famous are a force to be reckoned with. whole countries listen to them, and for what? so we can be influenced by the extremists in the media and take notes on how they live so we can do likewise?
oh america. how silly you are. you exult fools and folly, and in so doing, condemn your children to further foolishness. but what then?
will we continue in a downward cycle until the only people in the public eye are those willing to lower their standards?
will we try to better ourselves?
will we turn to emotion, art, ideas, or other ultimately useless knowledge?
will we seek truth?
will we value goodness?
will we abandon all former discernment and chase after only the new, exciting thing?



only God knows.