Mr. Garbage Man

Dear Mr. Garbage Man,

I appreciate what you do. Truly, I do. However, you are driving me to distraction (not in a good way). Your work is a tad loud. Much like an atomic explosion caused by an earthquake in the middle of a thunderstorm. Also, that vehicle of yours makes my apartment shake. I worry that my picture on the wall may be in danger of falling. How is it that I’m always at home whenever you come around? Maybe we could work something out. Perhaps you could come when I have class? Or at least only come in the afternoons?

Sincerely,

Me.

On Dating

I've been feeling lately a distinct lack of originality in dates. Disclaimer: I have not BEEN on any dates recently, but that doesn't mean I don't hear about the dating adventures of people I know. Anyways, I thought I'd put together a list of things to do on dates. This is not a comprehensive list, mind you, because I excluded anything that I didn't think I'd personally like to do.

A note before the list: I'm old fashioned. I think it's the man's perrogative to ask the woman out. When he does this, he should plan ahead what they'll be doing and when they'll be doing it. Then he should call her and tell her the plan and only then ask if she'll be available to go with him. Surprises are fine, but let her know what kind of clothing to wear (should she dress up? dress warm? Plan on her clothes getting dirty?) When on the date, the guy should have follow-up activities to proceed to if the date is going well (if not, he can end it after the main/first activity and it's all good). Also keep in mind that you don't have to spend much money to have a good time and going in groups can help elimate awkward moments.

Old standbys:

• Dinner (more fun is a picnic)
• Movie (more fun is a drive-in)
• Concert
• Watch Sports
• Watch comedy (stand-up - the cleaner the better)
• Theater

Better Ideas:

• Laser Tag
• Play a sport
• Dancing
• Service project (can be more fun if it's a little secret thing for someone you both know)
• Prank somebody/something (don't do anything illegal or too mean though)
• Go to a fair or festival
• Shooting/skating/mini golf/bowling/frisbee golf
• Museum/art gallery/aquarium/zoo
• Hiking (not a long or hard hike though, and have a destination in mind)

Creative Ideas (these can be the most fun, but you run the risk of it getting awkward or lame if you don’t know the person well):

• Bigger/better
• Scavenger hunt
• Geocaching (bring something to leave for the next person)
• Make something (paper mache, pottery, finger painting, sidewalk chalk...)
• Science experiments (rockets, oobleck)
• Color/write something together
• Cook (experimental is best - make pizza, decorate cookies, make an exotic dish neither of you have ever had before)
• Make a video (music video would be fun!)
• Star-gazing (only on a clear, warm night and have some constellations to look for)
• Bad weather? Snow sculpture, sledding, puddle-jumping

Little Extras (these will make for short dates w/o other activities)

• Sand castles
• Fly kites
• Board games
• Take pictures
  

Dear lil' sis of mine

Nikki is about 22 months younger than myself. Since I don’t remember the first 22 months of my life, she’s been around as long as I can remember. When we were little, we lived in The Little Red House and she went by Coley-Bear. She went through a ‘Nicole’ phase at some point when she decided she hated the nickname Coley-Bear. Now we call her Nikki. We’ll see how long that one lasts….j/k hun!

I think when we were really young we got along reasonably well. But for most of our childhood, we couldn’t stop getting on each other’s nerves. I remember when she teased me for needing medicine I hated. There’s a home video of me coming home on the bus after my very first day of kindergarten where she tries to hold my hand ‘cause she’s so excited that I’m home and I don’t let her – I pull my hand away. I remember once when a chandelier got broken by a chair during one of our fights. And I remember considering hiding all the knives once when I was babysitting – just in case.

Despite the fighting, we loved each other (“but we love each other, Mom!”). Once, Nikki got a not-perfect grade on her report card. When dad found out, he wasn’t so thrilled. In fact, Nikki was in pretty hot water. I remember feeling so bad for her. I never once thought that she was less for that grade. I got mad at my parents though and emphatically told them that they couldn’t expect Nikki to be the same as I was – I was convinced that they were measuring her against me and that it just wasn’t fair. Another time, my principal called me into his office to…I guess testify against Nikki for something and when he asked if he should punish her I got upset and told him 'no' to which he was very surprised.

Looking back it didn’t matter how much I fought with Nikki – I loved her more than she annoyed me. And no one else was allowed to do anything to her if I had anything to say about it. As the years have passed, I’ve learned not to be annoyed by her. I don’t think she’s perfect, but she’s certainly a sweet spirit and I miss her much of the time. We’ve learned to be friends as well as sisters, and that’s a friendship we both treasure. Nikki’s going to have a minor surgery soon – the first time she’s ever seriously hurt herself (aside from that time she stepped in a bee’s nest, though that was more emotionally traumatizing than physically). In light of this scary event that she’s going through away from home and family, I dedicate this post to her and want her to know that I love her and wouldn’t be who I am without her. See you soon Nikki. Love, Sara.

Invictus

There's this poem by William Ernest Henley (later entitled 'Invictus' meaning unconquered) that you may have heard of. Henley wrote it from a hospital bed in 1875 after having one leg amputated from the knee down due to tuberculosis. It goes a little something like this:


Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.



I like this poem. As Daniel K. Judd stated, "Henley's poem rings with a certain strength." However, there's another poem I'd like to share alongside Invictus. This one was written by Orson F. Whitney of the Quorum of the Twelve in 1926 as a response to Invictus.



Art thou in truth?
Then what of him
Who bought thee with his blood?
Who plunged into devouring seas
And snatched thee from the flood?

Who bore for all our fallen race
What none but him could bear. -
The God who died that man might live,
And endless glory share.

Of what avail thy vaunted strength,
Apart from his vast might?
Pray that his Light may pierce the gloom,
That thou mayest see aright.

Men are as bubbles on the wave,
As leaves upon the tree.
Thou, captain of the soul, forsooth!
Who gave that place to thee?

Free will is thine - free agency,
To wield for right or wrong;
But thou must answer unto him
To whom all souls belong.

Bend to the dust that head "unbowed,"
Small part of Life's great whole
And see in him, and him alone,
The Captain of thy soul.



For all the strength that the former rings with, I think it's utterly eclipsed by the truth in the rebuke of the latter.

Dandilion Boy

First of all, this was a much bigger event in my mind than it will be to you. But you're the one choosing to read this at all, so it's your own fault if you aren't so impressed you can't bring yourself to even blink for a whole minute. Second of all, I'm going to go into too many details so you get the full impact. There's nothing you can do about this. Just in case you were wondering.

On my last shopping trip before leaving school for the summer, I wandered on down the toy aisle. There I found some rather nifty little kites for a reasonable-poor-college-student price. I purchased two, one for each of my little brothers.

Upon returning home, one night I surprised aforementioned brothers with said kites. The elder brother was excited. The younger less so. And if we're putting things in order, I probably qualified as ecstatic in comparison. Luckily, I don't make a habit of letting other dark clouds cast shadows in my personal sunshine. Translation: I didn't care if they weren't bouncing off the walls and yammering to try the kites immediately despite the dark and cold and lack of wind. I still thought they were cool.

Days passed.

Yesterday morning, elder and younger brother awoke before school as they usually do. Soon, a squabble ensued over a few legos. From what I heard, someone had stolen some legos. The other someone retaliated by destroying whatever was constructed by the first someone using the stolen goods. Well, you can imagine what happens when a couple of young gents have an issue involving such precious and sacred items. The squabble quickly escalated. The mother was brought in. Tempers skyrocketed. Fists were thrown! Tears were shed! Kids were grounded to their rooms for the rest of the day save school and dinner and family home evening!

Alas. Yesterday also happened to be the first blustery day since the life-altering Giving of the Kite Gifts. I mentally noted this fact throughout the day as I quietly went about my business.

Evening came. I suggested to my mother that, perhaps, it could be fully AWEsome to take the kites to a nearby park and fly them as our family activity that night (a weekly tradition, treasured at the Lazy U Ranch where I currently reside). My mother didn't appear to grasp the utter brilliance of the plan, so I suggested the plan to all my siblings. They (especially perhaps the brothers who'd been in their rooms all day) understood my intentions and saw the potential of such an event. We politely put it to a vote (mother was in favor of a trip to the local library) and the flying of the kites came out on top.

Soon we were on our way. The suburban was full, we were singing our songs, we were burnin' rubber. Our journey took us over a small bridge in town where we chanced upon a car. Stopped. Pulled over in the middle of the bridge. It didn't look good.

Dad parked just off the bridge in a local daycare parking lot as did another car just behind us. Dad, a sister of mine, and the other driver hopped out to help the stopped car on the bridge. Later dad informed me that the other driver at this time said, "you must be Christians too." Warm fuzzies all around.

The three rescuers pushed the car off the bridge an into the parking lot. Here the identities of the persons within the car were revealed at last. A father an his son (I'm guessing the kid was about 6 or so) in their taekwondo outfits. They'd run into some trouble on the road, but it had happened before and the father proceded to call for some help. While doing so, the boy swung himself out and demonstrated his sweet moves to my sister by doing them on her. I believe he actually kicked her in the leg. Fits of giggles broke out amongst the onlooking siblings and mother in the suburban. The father distractedly told his boy to be nice, so the kid immediately dropped the impressive attack mode and hugged my sister. And as she and my father turned to get back in the suburban and continue on our way, the taekwondo tyke picked a dandilion and presented it to my sister as a token of his affection. More fits of giggles.

Well after that we made it to the park, flew some kites, ran around a lot, and went back home again. I must admit however, the dandilion boy was my favorite part about the evening.

Good Timber by Douglas Malloch

The tree that never had to fight

For sun and sky and air and light,

But stood out in the open plain

And always got its share of rain,

Never became a forest king

But lived and died a scrubby thing.

~

The man who never had to toil

To gain and farm his patch of soil,

Who never had to win his share

Of sun and sky and light and air,

Never became a manly man

But lived and died as he began.

~

Good timber does not grow with ease:

The stronger wind, the stronger trees;

The further sky, the greater length;

The more the storm, the more the strength.

By sun and cold, by rain and snow,

In trees and men good timbers grow.

~

Where thickest lies the forest growth,

We find the patriarchs of both.

And they hold counsel with the stars

Whose broken branches show the scars

Of many winds and much of strife.

This is the common law of life.

HAPPY BIRTH-shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Today is my roommate's birthday. And according to a time-honored tradition, guess what happened last night at about 12:00? Allow me to explain.

It is perfectly natural to celebrate birthdays with much excitement. Imagine how this is compounded when you are in college and living with 5 other crazy single girls who're also in college. Also (perhaps you may have picked up on this trend), loopiness tends to increase exponentially as people become more sleepy. Thus, as the minutes tick on, the level of hilarity rises. Combine this with college girls celebrating enthusiastically. What do you get?

After apartment prayer last night, Birthday Girl was tired and feeling ever so slightly under the weather so she headed on in to bed. I quietly plotted with another roommate to jump on her as soon as it was her birthday (12:00) provided she was still awake. At 5 minutes 'til, my accomplice came into my bedroom to wait and at the penultimate minute we sneaked down the hall on tip-toes trying to stifle our giggles. At the doorway into Birthday Girl's bedroom we dashed inside - only to see her kneeling on her bed saying prayers. Oops. My accomplice tripped over me in her haste to retreat and we regrouped in the hall in silent fits of laughter as we heard Birthday Girl trying not to laugh as well. A minute later she was done and we ran in and amidst much guffawing yelled our birthday wishes.

The element of surprise may have been lost somewhere in there, but let's face it. That could not have been any better. At least we didn't jump on her and yell before we realized what was going on!