What happens when I get bored


Which Peanuts Character are You?
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?? Which Of The Greek Gods Are You ??
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In this imperfect world, all we can do is pray that we do and say the right things. I feel like it's really hard to do the right thing when the world is telling you one thing and your heart is telling you another. Because while listening to your heart is the best things, we still have to survive in this world. This world that we are supposed to be in but on of. I've decided that it's natural to be down sometimes. But I still feel guilty because I'm so much better off than a lot of people in the world. Or am I?

The Passion
I thought I was going to write a long review after I saw The Passion of The Christ, the new contraversial Mel Gibson movie detailing the last few hours of Jesus' life... but I'm not. Mostly because I really don't know what to say about it except that it was really intense. Really really intense. In general, I would recommed seeing it. Just prepare yourself to watch some extremely gruesome scenes. I would recommend it even more so if you're from a Christian background. Except for a few minor things, I think it is a pretty accurate depiction of The Passion... and if you're a believer, its very moving. The last thing I will say is that I completely understand why people are worried about anti-semetic feelings that could result from this movie. The movie really provides no context about the life of Jesus, and if you go into the movie with no background, you definitely might come to the understanding that the Jewish community was responsible for the death of Jesus. But we know that's not true. Paraphrasing Rabbi Summit (one of the university chaplins here), just remember that Jesus' true message was one of love... [now my words] and that the movie depicts the ultimate love of self-sacrifice.

Respect. A single word comprised of 7 letters. Simple, and generally understood. Or is it? It, like so many other words, is defined differently by different people. Despite the many interpretations, I feel like respect is something that each person deserves. May it be for a good reason or an obscure one. I will say though, that in my definition, respect does not equal agreement. I think it is entirely possible to have respect for a person or association but not agree with them. Take our president. I respect that he has a very difficult job right now, and that he makes decisions and sticks with them. But by no means do I agree with some of his actions, rulings, etc. Just a clarification.

afterthought: Words are very powerful. Be careful how you use them. That's something that all of us could stand to remember sometimes, me especially included.

"Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards."
~Soren Kierkegaard

a bit of randomness
JESUS LOVES FEMINISTS!!! .... I wonder if I'm still on his buddy list .... wow, I just made an ass of myself .... sorta sad that he asked what my name was, I guess I didn't really talk to him that much at practice anyway .... woah, that cello-type instrument has 6 strings .... mmm, I love cello .... I can't wait to get my guitar .... I really don't feel like doing comp sci, maybe I should just drop it already .... what to I want to major in? .... Yay to stacy for giving up chocolate for Lent with me! .... singleness is a gift from God ....

further reflections
We had a new teacher as tonight's ballroom lesson by the name of Dale. Right now he's one of the head coaches for the BU team (the other head coach is a woman by the name of Helle). He made a few remarks that really summed up what I've been feeling recently. I'll try to paraphrase them as best as I can. He talked a lot about the difference between being a good competetor and being a good dancer. Dale told us about how when he still competed, he was a very good performer. Helle on the other hand, who competed against him, was a not as good as a performer as Dale, but she was a better dancer. Whether this story may be true or not, I think it's important that he made the distinction. I really love to dance, and I want to be a good dancer. But I want to be a good dancer not for the sake of competeing, but because I love to dance.

I decided previously that I wouldn't compete in Harvard, and possibly for the rest of the year... but that I still wanted to go to lessons. The lessons are great, but I don't know if I'll be able to spend the extra 4 or plus hours a week practicing in addition to lessons. But I had so much fun dancing at tonight's lesson that it made me rethink my decision. I was talking to Kerry about the difference between dancing and competing/performing, and I think it's a little bit harder in this situation because you can't really practice ballroom without a partner. And since I'm not competing, I don't have one... but I still really want to dance, and continue to get better at dancing... but not neccesarily compete all the time. I feel like stressing preparedness for competitions take some of the fun out of dancing. I guess it's impossible to seperate the two right now though.

Monday's ASL class makes me so sad sometimes. Today Dr. Clark lectured about hearing loss, what causes it, etc. It was all really interesting and informative, and I'm glad that she lectured about it. It definitely helped me further my understanding of my "disability." Well, to a certain extent. I guess I just get frusterated at the fact that I really don't know why I lost my hearing. And since I don't know what caused my hearing loss, I don't know if I'll lose more of my hearing down the road. ::shrug:: I really shouldn't pity myself about my hearing. After all, I only have hearing loss in one ear... and it's not complete hearing loss at that, only 70%. It's just so frusterating when you know that something's being said but you can't make out what it is.

random fact of the day:
No Doubt's (semi-) new release, It's My Life, is not an original, it is actually a cover of a song released by the group Talk Talk in 1991.

you know what I miss so much? Old computer games!!! Like all those games that we played in middle school like the Incredible Machine, The Island of Dr. Brain, Oregon Trail.... they were the best games ever! And what about Logo in Elementry School? With the little turtle, and making all the fun shapes.... ::big grin:: so much fun!!! Oooo, and do you remember 5" floppy discs? I was so mad when they stopped being used because some of my favorite games were on 5" floppy discs! Like the FisherPrice firetruck game, and my old Mother Goose game... ahhh.. childhood memories :)

A Lesson From Coffee
By: Jeff Lappano, Jeff@tddm.org

“For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him, shall not perish, but have eternal life."
~John 3:16 (NASB)

Having dinner at my grandparents is always a blast. It’s even so much better when my aunt comes. The best part of course is the desert time. Coffee with whatever deserts my grandparents happens to have. Me, being the youngest and all, I love coffee with cream and a lot of sugar. My aunt and grandmother likes just cream. Grandpa, on the other hand likes his “cup of Joe” totally black. Of course there are little comments between us of the different ways we drink the coffee, but never have we gotten into a huge brawl.

Turn to 1 Corinthians 1:11, 12“For I have been informed concerning you, my brethren, by Chloe’s people, that there are quarrels among you. Now I mean this, that each of you is saying, “I am of Paul”, and “I am of Appollos”, and “I am of Cephas”, and “I am of Christ.” The people were fighting about the different teachings by the different men of God. All of these men were teaching accurately the life changing Gospel. Yet the church was arguing about who was teaching right, and who was teaching wrong.

What in the world does this have to do with us living at the end of 2003? The word I’m thinking of is denominations. We have so many denominations in the world today. From personal experience, I know that we have an attitude such as the church at Corinth. If we want to life as brothers and sisters in the Lord, we so just got to get over the denomination beliefs.

How does the scriptures and illustration fit together? It doesn’t matter if you put cream and/or sugar in it, or the amount thereof, its still coffee. Hebrews 9 tells us that Christ took His own blood into the holy place, and put it on the mercy seat. God gave his begotten son for the shedding of His blood. That is salvation. There is no other way to the Father but by the Blood of the Lamb. Lets get over our denominational doctrines and come together in the unity of the blood. Lets get over the fighting and remember that the only way to the Father is accepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior.

Amen to that.

woohoo!!! I just got a guitar! Oooo yeah baby! For 30 bucks too... what a steal! :)
So... who wants to teach me to play? ;)

okay, the wrong reason to have a positive outlook... but i still think it's funny and somewhat true.
"A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort."
~Herm Albright

*Dates to Check Out section updated

As overused as this cliche is, it's still great advice. Don't assume, it will only make an ass out of you and me.

Ahhh... so nice to be home. Being the nerdy geek that I am, I went to the American Museum of Natural History today. It was absolutely fantabulous. Em and I got to see an awsome space show in the omnimax type theater that they have in the planetarium, find out how much we would weigh on the sun/moon/etc, and revisit all of the other exhibts of our childhoods. One touring exhibit that we didn't get a chance to see is the Petra exhibit... but it's leaving in July, so I'll definitely get a chance to see if before then. During the 3 or more hours that I spent in the museum, decided that I want to be a geologist.... and then an astrophysist.... and then a minerologist.... bah, who really knows? Being an astrophysist would be sooooo cool though....
plans for tomorrow? Church and then a few solid hours spent at Barnes and Nobles, arguably one of the best place on earth. Feels so good to relax....

random fact of the day: you should not rely on the "extra calcium" in the special tropicana orange juice because the calcium in the OJ is in its solid form (not soluble form), so it takes a lot longer for the body to absorb it. The best thing to do would probably be drinking tap water, which has calcium in its soluble form.... but then again, that doesn't mean that all tap water is good for you... just food for thought, care of Geo 2

drinking is stupid. well, no, drinking isn't stupid, getting wasted is stupid. put the problem is that many many people do not know there limits. people that do not know their limits should not drink. at all. so therefore, why drink? I'm sure you can find something else better to do with your time... something better than destroying your liver (or kidney or whatever) and making a fool out of yourself.
today's rant was brought to you by all the letters of the greek alphabet :)

Music of the heart
(yeh. I know, cheesy title, sorry)
Last night the TSO, Chorale, and Chamber singers had their [postponed] fall semester concert.... It was great! the Concerto movements were great, (yeah Dan Brown!) and the Beethoven and Mozart went off without any major hitches... I had such a good time :) except for the fact that it was as hot as what on stage. Damn having to wear wrist length-sleeved shirts... Ah, but I was listening to the Sibelius, it was so gorgeous. It was the first time that I had music move me that much in such a long time. Thank you so much to everyone that came, it means more to me than you can know :)

just incase you missed it the first time
Come hear an exciting evening of music with the Tufts Symphony Orchestra, University Chorale and Chamber Singers!
BRAHMS: Academic Festival Overture
GRIEG / SIBELIUS: Concerto Movements with Student Competition Winners
BEETHOVEN: Elegischer Gesang (Elegy)
MOZART Requiem
~Kristen Watson, soprano
~Ja-Nae Duane, mezzo-soprano
~Krishan Oberoi, tenor
~Alok Kumar, baritone
Tickets: $5 students
Feb 7th (this saturday), 8pm, Cohen Auditorium
The concert should really be great everyone! The Requiem is such a magnificent piece to being with and our soloists are really really talented.... you won't regret it!

Some quotes from Xenith
"For most of history, Anonymous was a woman."
~ Virginia Woolf

"Yes, I am a dreamer. For a dreamer is one who can find his way by moonlight, and see the dawn before the rest of the world."
~Oscar Wilde

"When you judge another, you do not define them, you define yourself."
-- Wayne Dyer, author

I think this particular quote is so true and has so much relevance in my life right now. I talked about in mass on sunday about how before I went to St. Francis' Inn, I had a problem with judging people, and how my week spent there helped me work out some of the issues I had. I feel like you cannot truly understand that which you do not know, and pre-Philly, my knowledge of "druggies," "prostitutes," and "homeless" people was very... skewed. By looking past the titles that society puts on these people, you are able to learn about them as human beings. And Fr. Fran is right, you can see Jesus in every one of them.

Come hear an exciting evening of music with the Tufts Symphony Orchestra, University Chorale and Chamber Singers, rescheduled from our December 7th snowed out concert!

BRAHMS: Academic Festival Overture
GRIEG / SIBELIUS: Concerto Movements with Student Competition Winners
BEETHOVEN: Elegischer Gesang (Elegy)
MOZART Requiem
~Kristen Watson, soprano
~Ja-Nae Duane, mezzo-soprano
~Krishan Oberoi, tenor
~Alok Kumar, baritone

Andrew Clark & Malka Yaacobi, conductors
Tickets: $5 students

Me: Now I still don't understand why they call it football? How does that make sense?
Megan: Well football players aren't that smart, so maybe they mixed up what part of the body they were using...