the Parrot of Destruction strikes again!

So Dell had this random contest in which you can design a simple "skin" for the back of a laptop display.

It was hard to be really creative because it gave you pregenerated shapes and colors - a whole mess of random stuff. You could only move, enlarge or shrink, or delete shapes. You couldn't add a shape or change a color once it had generated the beginning random junk. But, this was my creation - the Parrot of Destruction. Here's hoping it wins their contest and makes it onto peoples' laptops for real. :-)

Good conversation

A friend of mine has been involved in a production of "The Music Man" this summer. We were talking, and she'd mentioned she was off to Iowa soon, so of course:

Me: Iowa? I thought you were from Garey, Indiana?!! Besides, I hear there's trouble in River City.

Her: Oh, we've got trouble, all right. And I'm sure you already know what letter "trouble" starts with...

Me: Trouble that starts with "t" which rhymes with "p" and that stands for "pool" - all of which implies that the trouble in River City is much like the trouble here: that it is Ridiculously Hot outside, and one must go jump in a pool to cool off. That is the only solution. Either that or it's trouble that starts with "t" which rhymes with "b" and that stands for "Billiards."

Her: I commend you for that very thorough analysis of the Trouble song. How very Mudderish of you. Well, you know what they say about Mudders-they are like no udders. ;)

Me: You may be surprised to learn that rather than do a chemistry-related thesis, I chose to do one entitled: "Trouble in River City: Charismatic Leadership, Misdirection, and Moral Politics in the Post-9/11 Midwest."

See?

Not that bad at all. The little black rubber side-bumper did its job, and there's some white paint-marks below it and one or two above it. But there's no "dent" at all. Amazing.

The streaks in the foreground are finger-marks, serving only to illustrate how badly my car needs a wash. :-) Five minutes of hot So. Cal. rain just get everything filthy.

The good news is,

I'm fine. And so is my car. I mean, it has some paint from some guy's minivan on it, but other than that, we're fine. I was picking up Melinda and Joe from LAX tonight and this minivan decided it wanted to be in my lane... right where I was. Thankfully, we were not going that fast. Neither car was even dented, I was amazed. It made kind of an "errrrrr" sound... but I guess that's what minivan bumpers and the Geo's side-panels are made to spring back from. God was watching out for us - the owner of the minivan was a nice older guy and the minivan was 13 years old itself, and there was no real damage to his car either... so we just let it go.

My poor Geo, though. Between the heat and half-rain this weekend, and now a new stripe on the door, it's looking kinda sad. Anybody want to repaint my car for me? Or else, just wash it? :-)


In other news, nobody tell me anything more about Lady in the Water or Pirates of the Carribean: DMC. I will just go see them sometime and if they stink, they stink, oh well. But I'd rather keep an open mind. And, does anybody want to go with me?


I'm thinking of starting a "random Claremont alumni in LA" club - if anybody had ideas to keep from being bored, they can just submit them and we'll set a time and place and see who shows up. :-)

Another week gone by...

And I wonder how much I have to show for it. This summer feels like it's going by so quickly, and I keep trying futilely to hold onto time. It really does just slip by. And it's not like I'll hit September and suddenly things will be changed again - rather, work will continue on the same as always and as hard as I try to hold onto being 24, that too will pass soon.

I think part of what I'm experiencing is not being in love. I have been, before - when one is in love, even just sitting around at home can be quality time, and one looks forward to every evening walk or trip to the store. Rain cannot dampen one's spirits. I'd like to be in love, again, and it's kind of sad to think that I don't have those years to live over again, and that perhaps I never will be in love again.

On the other hand, I'm really not in such a bad state as the preceding paragraph might sound. I'm not depressed; nor am I desperate (though, I have this thing where I like people, and like being around people, and yet I'm an introvert and have no social skills - so I probably come off pretty needy. Whatever. I got over getting weird looks a long time ago.) Anyhow, as I was saying, I've been thinking lately and thanking God for a lot of things. It's been good to just be childlike with him. It's been freeing to know that even if I am circumstantially stuck for the rest of my life, however long that is, that I would not be ineligible to hear "well done, good and faithful servant." I do pray he'd give me more direction and closer community to pursue him in, but I get the feeling that that may just be me being selfish. Either way, it's up to God.

Which highlights another difference between me and past-me: that I've learned some lessons along the way. It may sound funny for me to say, "oh, I'm so wise" because really, I have a long way to go before I really internalize even half of what I "know" about God. But it's been good to rest on what I do know. For instance, I don't have to "find somebody" - that's God's job, if he wants me with somebody. That takes some pressure off. And another example might be knowing to just tell things to God. You out there in internet-land may think you're getting the scoop on my life, but really God has heard all this clunking around in my brain for a long time now. So anyhow, I have a lot of hope, because I have a better sense of who God is.

Also, Greggy once told me of a guy whose theory was that the longer a guy stays single, the weirder he gets. I have found this to be true. :-) And I don't mind. I'm more me than I was.

And through it all, I have held onto God, and that's one thing I definitely don't regret. I can look back and say I have a better idea now of who I am and who God is.

May I keep finding ways to live it out well.

"Not long after my rescue,
I let my failures get me down.
My sin had robbed me of the joy I had in you -
Then you saved me from that too.

Now all I wanna do is talk about Your grace
I don't wanna go unless I go Your way
Get a little closer to You every day
I'm gonna turn around and go Your way."


"I'm learning that nothing worth anything is cheap.
I'm learning the path is thin and the grade is steep,
and that the altars where we lay ourselves will crack when tested
and that there's only one that turns our hearts to gold.

Hold on to Jesus
tell Him about everything -
your dreams and your troubles;
pure hearts desire one thing
and mine is to know You,
mine is to break down
and shatter to pieces
and lose everything I've found."

(guess who)

Courtesy of "Married to the Sea"

Happenings.

I suppose it's been a little while. I have good excuses, my adoring public, regarding why I haven't been posting more...

Saturday of July 4th weekend, my car broke down. A bearing burned out on the right-front wheel while Peter, Kathryn, Mike and I were on our way to the beach. It was quite the bummer. But, I got the chance to hang out around Claremont for the weekend, eating scrumptious food with them and watching fireworks at Pomona on the 4th. It was restful.

I've watched some interesting movies lately - the Russian film "Night Watch" was very weird but overall pretty good, and fun to watch. Yay for Josiah and finding us good movies.

Also, I finally got around to seeing "The Village," that movie from a few years back. Two thumbs up! It was a great movie, suspenseful, engaging, endearing - visually and emotionally involving in all the right ways in all the right places.

I saw it last Friday, which is also when my internet went out. Tonight, it is back - the phone company accidentally pulled some wire, and our line was dead, but now it's been fixed.

I wish I could say the same for my car. I got it back last Wednesday, with bearings replaced and all, so it's driveable, but over the course of the last week I've noticed an odd noise that it didn't used to make. So, this weekend, it's back to the shop... and I'm going to minimize the amount of driving I do before then.


Random other news (it seems to be the only kind I have, huh):

John Matsui invited me to go with him to England in February of 2008. I currently have no other plans, and would really like to see the UK at some point anyhow... so it's penciled in. :-)

I correctly predicted that if Italy won the World Cup, Stephen Colbert would make a huge deal out of how the US was co-champions (since we tied with Italy, previously).

I like getting mail, especially awesome postcards with cute pictures on them.

LAUP visiting day is this Saturday! but my car will be in the shop! who else is going, and has an extra seat? (to either, or both!)

I seriously need to get more exercise. :-(

Has anybody else had odd friends recommend you watch PCD music videos? You've got to be kidding me.

I've gotten to play the game "Broadside" twice in the last few weeks! Such a cool board game. My record as the British is 1/1, though. :-)

Pomegranite frappucinos? Ugggh.

I picked up a copy of "The Princess Bride" on DVD! Who wants to watch it with me?

Cooking for just myself is so boring and unfun. What do you do when you're an introvert and yet you don't really like your own company?