Further Up and Further In ...: June 2009

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Here's a hole-in-one.

I went with some friends to the U.S. Open last Monday during their practice rounds. I've never been a huge fan of golf, although I can appreciate the technique and skill it takes to play, and have for some reason found myself entranced watching it on tv, which in retrospect sounds rather unfathomable. Oh, but I did get hooked on Hot Shots Golf on the PSP one summer, so perhaps that explains it.

But one of the entrance requirements that Bethpage has is absolutely no cell phones. As we wandered around I kept returning to that thought - here am I in the midst of the age of technology, milling about with thousands of others - and none of us have our cell phones. How freeing that was! Overhearing businessmen (this isn't a sexist remark, it's just simply fact that my gender was outnumbered at least 4 to 1) discuss how their companies may be trying to reach them all day and they'll get nowhere, because they're actually forced to take the day off.

How attached are we to our technology? Perhaps I have my phone on me only in case of emergencies - but really I'm waiting for that text or that person to call me back about what's going on later. Maybe I take the day off, but is it really a day off if my phone is still on? It's really as if everyone's walking around with those funny child-leashes that some people think are cruelty to children, they just happen to be invisible this time.

I sometimes wonder what the total effect cell phones have on society is. Psychologically - are we worse at making decisions, because we have easy access to checking with other people first? With the iPhone and all it's upgrades, do we rely too heavily on technology for all our needs? With GPS, do we have any idea where we are anymore? I'm thoroughly convinced GPS makes people stupider - we should be able to read maps.

And lastly, I like Golf Courses (not for environmental reasons, I actually hate them for their water usage, etc., but we can get into that another time) since they are really large fields. Bethpage is huge, and as we walked from course to course, it was peaceful. Not having anyone on their cell phones (txting etc) means we actually get to talk with each other (what a delight!). It's a beautiful park, and how much time do we spend in parks these days? Go out and enjoy those trees. I don't care if it's raining, sometimes that makes it more special.

P.S. I LOVE my host family. We just spent some time competitively hula-hooping in the rain. Excellent.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Whirlwind

One week back in New Jersey, and it has been absolutely phenomenal. Update? You got it.

1. Dave Matthews Band on the Today Show - My friend's dad is one of the producers for the Today Show, so we had the hook up for seeing him play last friday! WOOHOO! Aside from the fact that the entire time I was home it didn't rain once and I returned to Jersey for rain, and the fact that I was rather stuck behind a bunch of guys well over 6' tall, it was an awesome experience. I even saw the inside of the studio for the show! And Matt Lauer was there!!

DMB!!!

MATT LAUER!!

2. Puppy sat Bristol. Didn't take any pictures because my time was spent catering to Bristol - Puppies take a lot of attention! It was enjoyable, although I am very releived that it is over. I spent a good amount of time watching movies and 1.5 seasons of How I Met Your Mother. OH, and seeing UP! SO GOOD!

Good friends and 3-D glasses.

3. I moved to Westfield, NJ. It is awesome. My job is awesome (Youth Min. position for a multitude of trips we will take over the summer - awesome). I think all in all, at the moment, my life is awesome. I have an incredible host family, that cooks incredible food, and we have incredible conversation. Incredible, are you getting the picture? I hope so because I haven't taken many pictures here yet so you're going to have to use your imagination.

4. I had to pee into a cup for a drug test in order to work at the church. There is a first time for everything.

5. BEST CONCERT EVER - The factors:
---a. Josh Ritter
---b. Played with the NY Pops (orchestra) - amazing.
---c. FREE
---d. In Central Park
---e. Glen Hansard accompanied
---f. I got a sweet poster.
---g. Did I mention it was Josh Ritter?!?!?
---h. Oh, and we saw Chet from the Real World: Brooklyn, on the way back to the subway.

Yes, that is Ritter, the band, the orchestra, and Glen is over there on the right. The weather called for thunderstorms, but God knew better. PTL.

Monday, June 01, 2009

I have a confession to make.

I love people. I know, I know, this may not sound new, but hear me out. I'm the person who actually figures they can actually somehow know everyone in the city of Seattle. I think my favorite day would be walking around town, and never going a block without stopping to chat with a familiar face. In Seattle. This city is very large. But some part of me totally feels like it's possible - pure optimism. But how can you not hope for that? People are so interesting, and each person has their own story to tell. I love people's stories. The only problem is there are so many people in the world, and only so many hours. Yet we press on.

I dreamed a dream ...

A place for documenting the strangeness that radiates my imagination while I slumber. Oddly enough it is not due to any medication, go figure ...

18Oct2010
It happened. I've reached a new ... low? I am currently taking a class about the Doctrine of God. We've recently been reading Thomas Aquinas, and discussing the simplicity of God. My dream the other night involved me going for a jog (which I never, ever, do ...) and during said jog I recall a conversation with my jogging buddy, in which I say, "Ah, so the fact that God is good supersedes my ability to comprehend His goodness." That is right. My subconscious is actively processing theology while I sleep.

11March10
In real life, my friend got married in January, but I was unable to attend. HOWEVER, in my subconscious, I dreamed that she redid the entire wedding for us on campus - it was half so we could be there, and half so it would be documented (photography and video) because they didn't do it the first time. WHAT a party.

11/04

Weirdest dream - we are in an alternate universe exactly the same as this one only different. You following? I feel like all the people from seminary here are with me, and we're in some sort of lodge that's out in the woods. It's huge, because it houses like, 400 people comfortably, but this isn't the weird part. We have to be very careful about venturing outside, because there are these evil people out there waiting for us - they want to trick us, manipulate us, and make us one of them. How do we tell who they are? They always come as sets of identical twins. The thing is we somehow all ended up here, and we're trying to get back to our world, so we need to get outside the lodge and search for the path back. But every encounter with these 'people' is SUPER risky, because they are very persuasive - like sirens (the mermaids, not the ambulance noises). It was scary/awesome/crazy.

10/10
IT HAPPENED. I dreamed I was a part of High School Musical live. Along with a couple of my friends here at PTS, we were some sort of dance ensemble extras, but I'll take what I can get. But what I do remember is something more along the lines of not actually being hired to do it, but they felt like they'd let me prance around pretending I'd be in it. In other words, I had no idea what I was doing, but while doing that no one kicked me out ...

22/10
My mom is always paranoid that I'm gonna get that flesh eating bacteria and my whole face will disintegrate. Well, I dreamed that I was checking out a scab that was on my leg, and realized that it had become quite a dent. THEN I saw that I had a scab on my ankle that was really quite deep (although healed, nothing gross, it was all just regular skin) that when I tried to see how deep it was I found out it went ALL THE WAY THROUGH MY FOOT and I could see out the other side. Straight through my ankle. I even caught a glimpse of bone. WEIRD.
I also had a brief dream about this show we were filming that was kind of a contest between nuns and cops - the cops had to run through this kind of supermarket area grabbing the things they would need on doing their rounds or whatever you call it. Since nuns don't really bring a lot of stuff with them on their ... rounds? more like they don't have those ... they had to run around grabbing beads and things for putting together necklaces and rosarys, only they had to attach them together using blue masking tape. The nuns were getting all mad because the cop's task was much easier, and much less tacky.

8/10 (that's october...)
I can't remember all the details, just that it was happening Indiana Jones/National Treasure style. We were doing some sort of ancient biblical treasure hunt (thank you seminary?) and I was traveling alongside this main guy (no idea who) who was dragging along with him two young boys. They had a special title, because they were like, kid geniuses. Innate sense of direction and ridiculously good memory for every kind of fact. The kind of person you want at trivia night. The guy was yelling at them, "Come on! you've got to remember the stuff from Leviticus!" ... ??? I have no clue. We're on some beach somewhere and I'm more or less tagging along for the ride because I think I was initially kidnapped, but now I'm like that girl in National Treasure who's just too curious to leave. I'm sitting on the bank, looking up at this sort of stone wall that runs parallel to the water (not into it) and I end up picking out one of the stones and when I turn it over ... hark a clue! It has a swastika sign on it (hello Indiana influence) with a halo above it ... I don't know how I feel about that, but in any case, I yelled, "I found something!" and then promptly proceeded to wake up ... boooooo.

16/6
Apparently we are family friends with Nelson Mandela. He came to stay at my house, which is a lot larger on the inside than I remember, and the backyard is absolutely enormous. I was also hosting a student group of African American students for a meeting at my house, who were delighted to have Nelson Mandela visit for a little while, and then he went to the kitchen to do some dishes ... I was also called racist by one of the students there because I had used the phrase 'What kind of people' when saying something like 'what kind of people would do such a thing?' which doesn't really sound racist but does ask the question do I categorize people by their actions more than
I should ... anyway, I wish I really did know Nelson Mandela, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't let him do the dishes ...

7/6
So I'm working at the INN in Seattle apparently, and Ryan Church asks me to make some sort of interactive deal as a part of his talk. He's preaching about prostitution and the dangers of selling sex or us buying into the current trends that just promote sex, so I decide to make a type of quiz that makes people aware of the way humans function in relation to the reality that 'sex sells' (in case you haven't read it, the book For Women Only has some eye opening facts and figures). He hands me a tape with parts of his talk already prepared, and we're talking VHS, but that doesn't even phase me I just go looking for a VCR. I find on in a common room somewhere, a TV/VCR set hanging from the ceiling and there are people socializing and eating in the room, but I just grab the closest thing to stand on (a miniature trampoline?) and move to put my tape in. I put it in and push play, and realize it isn't rewound as it's playing something taped off the TV, all in German. I rewind some more, and it is a clip from Oliver Twist (I don't think I've ever actually seen Oliver Twist) where Oliver is encouraging another orphan in the orphanage that they aren't stuck here for life, they can be whoever they want to be. This is communicated by the song my subconscious created, which I will entitle, 'You Can Be A Man'. This is what I woke up to - with it stuck in my head ... You can be a man, if you want make a plan, you can be a man ... I can sing it to you sometime if you want. I love that my subconscious is capable of writing songs, it gives me hope for my conscious ...

29/5 (I'm in Europe so I have to write it like that)
There was an ambulence running by outside our hostel this morning, and I think I dreamed that there was an airplane flying overhead that was losing pieces of itself all around us - but in my dream is more frustrating that scary. Like "really? it's losing chunks of airplane over MY street? can't it move one block over?" I am SO proud of my thoughtfulness of other people that may have been on the plane in my subconcious.

27/5
I was climbing a mountain with Bill and Claire and some other WSU students, only the mountain was pretty much a vertical pile of sand for most of the top, and you had to stick your arm in it and twist a little to get a good 'grip' in order to pull yourself up more and more. IT was CRAZy. But I got to the top with the rest of the.