Ten-Four, Good Buddy

So today was a great one at my new job! I finally (after a week and a half, haha) "covered a load." This means I talked to a carrier who had a truck available, and negotiated a rate to get a load of freight moved. I got all their paperwork in order, and got the driver on his way! He should be delivering first thing tomorrow morning.

I feel myself warming up to my co-workers, and vice versa. I think we are going to have a fun, positive work environment. I have already learned so much, but I'm excited about all that I still have yet to learn.

...Plus, my boss told some people I met at our parent company that I am a "jewel"! Awwwww!

The Yummiest Lunch Ever

Today I had jury duty, but the trial I was selected for got rescheduled. Yippee! I was free as a bird by 11:15 or so. I called my sweetness to see if he had any plans for lunch. He didn't. Did he have any ideas of where we could go? He suggested the lunch buffet at Terra, the Mediterranean restaurant in the West 7th development-thingy.

Oh. My. Goodness. I was so impressed. Yes, $13 per person is a bit steep for a lunch buffet, but this buffet was exceptional. Everything looked, and tasted, fresh. My plate looked like a gorgeous rainbow of yummy delights. I had...

-Babaghanoush: smoky, eggplant-y, and whipped to a lovely consistency

-Some sort of seasoned pita bread encrusted with herbs

-Tabouleh: cool and refreshing

-Mediterranean salad: cucumbers, red onion, and tomato chunks enlivened by olive oil and lemon juice

-Saffron rice: fluffy and a little poppy (just how I like it!)

-Vegetarian Moussaka: Chickpeas and eggplant in an irresistible tomato sauce

-Spinach: cooked the perfect amount of time

-Roasted vegetables: beautiful and, again, not over- or under-cooked

Would I have gone back for seconds? Yes, had I not seen something on my first trip that I wanted to save room for. It was rice pudding. I have never had rice pudding, and this kind was topped with sprightly green pistachio pieces. It turns out that this dessert sealed the deal for this being my yummiest lunch ever. It was ice-cold. It was creamy. It had a flavor like flowers and honey. It was the perfect way to refresh my palate after a meal on a hot day. I never thought I'd write this sentence, but that pudding was amazing. Some Google-sleuthing leads me to believe it likely contained orange blossom water, hence the floral flavor. It looked just like this pic I found online:

Sweet 'n' Sour

I got 2 bits of news this morning regarding employment, one good, one bad:

1. My "skill set" was not deemed "advanced enough" for a graphic design position I interviewed for. This is kind of a downer, it was at a great company. Plus, I enjoy design. It almost added insult to injury that the HR rep told me she'd forward my resume to their recruiter who hires for "degreed, lower-level positions." Oh, thanks! That sounds great!

2. I got a job offer for a sales position at the freight brokerage I've interviewed at. The fact that you basically build and run your own business is so exciting to me. Plus, the money you can make...yeah. It makes all the things I want to be able to do seem not-so-distant.

So, as I begin my career in commissioned sales on Monday, I'll post a motivating song I heard recently. (I can almost hear one of my students, "Oooh, das ma jay-um!")

Nice.

Just another reason why I don't shop at Wal-Mart. I realize that discrimination isn't the point of the author's article. She was just frustrated that they manipulated their price-matching policy. Neither of these things surprise me coming from the Wal- the manipulation nor the discrimination. Check out Wake Up Wal-Mart for more reasons to steer clear of their "rollbacks." Ugh.

PS: For the record, I buy all my produce at a "Mexican" store. It's cheaper, and better!

Last Day of School

Today was my last day of tutoring science at the middle school. Well, that isn't exactly accurate, because not a whole lot of teaching has been going on in the last 1-2 weeks. It was my last day there, and the last day of school for my students.

Other than the seemingly incessant, "What are you going to do this summer/next year?" questions from teachers and students alike, I was able to forego admitting to myself that, come June 5, I would be sans job again.

But, as I write this, the tidal wave of this fact is smacking me upside the head. I have a couple potential opportunities, but they are just that: potential. Nothing is certain yet. I don't want to count my chickens before they hatch. I am trying to master "cautiously optimistic."

A handful of my 8th grade girls were crying this afternoon. Two were full-on sobbing unabashedly. I asked their teacher what was up. She said, "Oh, they're just sad they're going to miss each other." As if they're not all neighbors, or texting each other constantly, or all would probably list Myspace as a hobby!

As ridiculous as I found their tears, I later realized that I could relate. We were all forgetting that everything would be ok. We all needed to remember that new things, or changes, can be great things. And we all could use a reminder that God has a plan for each of us.

...Tough realizations aside, my kids taught me a fun new game today called Ninja.

It might sound cheesy, but I'll miss them. All of them. I hope the best for all of them. And I hope I have made even the tiniest positive impression on their lives.

New Photo Series

I've been thinking about this for a while now, but I'm going to finally do my series of photos called I Don't Understand It, But I Love It. It's pretty self-explanatory. I just want each photo to be intriguing both in its image composition and its subject matter. I want it to be a testament to the idea that life may not always make sense, but there's always something in it to appreciate. You can click on them to get a larger view.

Here's the first, One of Two in My Spinach.

And here is The Floor Was Pink, Too.

Busy McChaos

Hi friends! There has been a lot going on in my lil' world recently. Not bad stuff (in fact, all potentially good), just a lot of it. I promise to write a more thorough post soon. For now, I leave you with a song I heard on Sirius last night that gave me goosebumps. It just reminded me to keep that eternal/Biblical perspective, even when my surroundings might be changing. Enjoy!

Crossed Paths

I love when the things in my life connect in some way. It gives me a sensation I can only descibe as "positive heebie-jeebies." Maybe a new acquaintance quotes one of my favorite movies. Maybe a co-worker mentions a band I am presently gaga over. Who knows!

Today I had a moment like this. The Big Bang Theory is one of my favorite shows. Sheldon in particular cracks me up (even though there are unfortunate moments when his neurotic remarks remind me of myself). I am also a huge fan of Cake Wrecks. Imagine my surprise and happiness when I read the CW post featuring this beauty!!! Has something like this happened to you recently?

Another Lovely Song

J.J. Heller's "Your Hands". The graphics are cheesy, but the song is great.

I want to get the chords, it doesn't sound that hard to play.

A Beastly Day, With a Beautiful Ending

Today was a Monday after a very busy weekend for me. By the time I awoke this morning, my sweetness was already en route to Boston. As I listened to my alarm, I yearned to hear his, "I landed and I'm here" phone call. I got ready for work, noticing that my daily Claritin was no match for the latest batch of allergens blowing through North Texas.

At school, I was still struggling to get the morning groggies from my head. Between classes, I sat in the teacher's lounge with the other science tutor. One of our teachers came in, and congratulated her. The teacher left. I turned to the other tutor. "What did she congratulate you for?" She said, trying to be delicate, "I got a teaching job...here. They offered it to me on Friday." Of course, I acted all squeal-y and excited about it. But I couldn't shake the conversation I'd had with our principal a couple weeks ago. When I inquired whether he'd be needing to hire any science teachers for next year, he'd said he didn't know yet. Today, it was clear that he'd made up his mind.

Feeling about three inches tall, I went to my auditorium duty. Since there has been an increase in kids skipping and leaving campus recently, all the campus monitors have been assigned to outside posts during lunches. That leaves yours truly the only one supervising the auditorium. It is a huge old room, seating at least a thousand. It has a stage, which is off-limits to the kids. It also has two sets of stairs leading to a balcony of seats, also off-limits and even more enticing to the troublemakers. And today was the day that my assistant principal decided to walk in, when a rebellious student was refusing to come down from the balcony. She, for lack of a more eloquent phrase, griped me out in front of a group of students. She ended with apologizing for leaving me in there by myself. "This is too big a space for one person to watch." I told her.

For the last three class periods of the day, I had to go "babysit" the substitute for one of my science teachers. I don't know why the other teachers thought this was necessary. He was doing a great job, and all the kids had to do was complete a personality/career profile test. It would have made for an easy afternoon, had it not been ridiculously muggy, and 80-something degrees in that classroom. Woof. In 9th (last) period, I overheard something aggravating. A usually sweet student of mine blurted out to her friends, "I don't give a f*** about teachers!" The best response I could muster up, to let her know I'd heard her: "Thanks, Marlene."

Finally, the bell rang, and I made my way to the gym. My plan was to do the 5:30 spin class. I was a little nervous. This would be the first exercise I'd done in over a week, since I'd gotten sick, fainted, etc. However, I felt fidgety and ready. It was amazing. It felt so good to sweat, to use my muscles, to fight for breath. I made it through the whole class, and did better than I expected I would!

And as if spin class wasn't great enough, my dinner was delicious. First, I had a salad. The spinach, grape tomatoes, and baby carrots looked like a confetti used to celebrate summer. Then I made a cheese quesadilla. I used a heavenly homemade tortilla from Jesse's mom, and even whipped up a smidge of guacamole. Yum!

2 Corinthians 5:6-10, 5:17-21

⁶Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. ⁷We live by faith, not by sight. ⁸We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. ⁹So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. ¹⁰For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

This passage has really resonated with me over the past few days. I've really not been feeling "at home in the body" while dealing with intense pain, one scary fainting spell, some anxiety, the urge to do some late-night eating, etc. While I could take this Scripture as a validation for wallowing in the shortcomings of my earthly body, there are a few things stopping me

1. That's only part of the equation. Verse 8 says we'd prefer to be at home with the Lord. Do I have that longing in my heart? Have I been pursuing Him in my everyday life?

2. Verse 9 adds further conviction. Am I making it my goal to please Him? Honestly, in the midst of pain stabbing in my belly, I'm just hoping I don't black out again. How do I glorify God in those moments?

3. This passage is quite probably referring to "the body" as a metaphor for this world. And, as we Christians know, we are supposed to be "in the world, but not of the world." So, how am I doing in that department? Further conviction: I'm gossiping, judging others, being impatient... Ouch.

All this, coupled with the promise of judgment in verse 10, is very depressing. This is the point in which most cases, including other religions, we want to work off these bad things. What can we do to make it right? What can we accomplish to clean the slate? Amazingly, nothing. Further on, Paul writes:

¹⁷Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! ¹⁸All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: ¹⁹that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

What?! God's letting me off scot-free? This is fantastic! But that's not all:

²⁰We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. ²¹God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

So God has done this ridiculously wonderful thing for me, and said, "Mkay, go tell your friends." Nooo problem! No pain or frustration of this world, or this body, can change the fact that I have been redeemed. This lovely song sums up the sense of perspective and joy I feel when I remember this. (Unfortunately it has embedding disabled, so I had to just link to it.)

ADDENDUM: I wrote this post, and was so proud of it. Immediately I realized I'd forgotten a very important element: that of sin-repentance-forgiveness. Well, we'll just say this one deals with overall redemption/Grace. I'll look for appropriate Scripture for the rest later...

Fainting*

*potentially bad pseudo-poetry/venting

Three, four hours later.

I searched the bathroom walls.

Which corner snatched skin from my thigh as I fell,

In exchange for a bruise?

I looked for the surface

Where I bumped my chin.

Must've supported me for a moment,

gave me a red spot, too.

Did I call out his name loud enough?

Did I form the sounds,

push them out with my lungs?

Blackness was surrounding me-

I had no time to wonder.

I must have.

"What happened?"

He said, rushing in.

"Did you hit your head?"

He was nowhere to be seen.

I heard him.

I felt his arms around me.

I hung on with all I had.

Sorry, "People of Wal-Mart"...

But this site just robbed you of the my-current-favorite-website title.

Still Surprised

If I were more like this blogger, I would have quit being surprised by things by now. However, I am still taken aback when...

• A student asks me, "Miss, how do you spell 'area'?" (I teach middle school, BTW.)
• People think it's an ok idea to pull out in front of me in traffic. Vroom!
• I am proved wrong when I'm so certain I'm right
• I was told that one of our students (again, middle school) is a father
• A crummy day is nearly always followed by a fantastic one
• I laugh ridiculously hard at things like this

...And so on. What surprises you?

Movie Review: Zombieland

Let me begin this review by first saying that this is not the sort of movie I usually go for, er, for which I usually go. In fact, I never would have seen it, had my mom (like-minded regarding this type of movie) not first seen it and, surprisingly, recommended it!

In turn, I must recommend it too. Yes, it's gory, but not in a realistic way. While it is suspenseful, it's far more funny than scary. Plus, how great is a movie that features a list of rules? Rule #1 for surviving the zombie attack: cardio!

The soundtrack is awesome. As you watch the movie, you hear everyone from Mozart to Van Halen to Hank Sr. to Metric!

The cast members complement each other well, and make up a great enesemble. Woody Harrelson is the bristly Tallahassee. (The best good-bye he can muster up: "That'll do, pig.") Jesse Eisenberg seems to have studied Michael Cera's acting quite a bit. He nails the soft-spoken, nerdy, neurotic humor of his character. Emma Stone (Superbad, The Rocker) has the smoky eyes and voice that bring to mind Mean Girls-era Lindsay Lohan. And Abigail Breslin gives a solid performance as her little sister! She's come a long way from Olive (Little Miss Sunshine).

The quality, humor, and storyline of this movie were all pleasant surprises. I can't believe I'm typing this, but, you should see Zombieland!

A Song I had to share

So, the past few weeks, I've really been struggling with my anxiety/panic attacks again. It comes and goes. I met with my church counselor this afternoon. (Yes, my church is awesome and has a fantastic Biblically-based counseling center.) She mentioned, among other things, that I look up this song. It brought me to tears, in a good way. It's "If You Want Me To" by Ginny Owens.

Grammar/Spelling

THAT'S what I'm talking about! Clever, funny, and true.

Wildflower time!

Yesterday, I saw the first blossoms of Texas wildflower season: Henbit (above), and Crow Poison (below). Hooray!

Can you guess what these are?

I just took these photos this afternoon. Then I messed with the color, contrast, etc. a little bit. I don't have titles for them. They may or may not become my inspiration for abstract paintings, we'll see...

No new car...yet.

Blitzen's lease is up in about one month. I want to purchase my next car. I have been ogling an uber-cute Jetta I found online. It has all the options I want, low miles, etc. Plus, it is red, with a tan leather interior.

Being the awesome father and tough negotiator that he is, my dad went with me to the dealership to see it today. We inspected it thoroughly. I found a couple rock chips on the hood, and he estimated that the front brake pads might need replacing. The tires were practically brand new. We learned, thanks to Carfax, that the car was originally a rental, and bought by the dealership at an auction (aka probably for nuffin'!). Its former gig as a rental did mean that all the maintenance was performed, but that it was potential victim to all kinds of crazy drivers.

The test drive was fun. The Jetta wasn't as peppy as Blitzen, but was no Mildred either. Mildred was my Chevy Cavalier who had the zip of a giant tortoise. The salesman informed my dad and I that it was because of its five-cylinder in-line engine. A five cylinder?! Those Germans think of everything.

Then came the part that is likely a beating for all parties involved: the price haggling. Dad was great. Not only did he get them to come down considerably from the price, he got them to throw in the 2-year warranty extension for free! However, the price wasn't quite where we wanted it.

We said we'd think about it, a move that prompted the salesman to get his manager. I knew that would happen! He told us this sad story about how he overpaid for it. Riiiiight. And that is my problem how? The salesman piped up, "It needs a new home!" I was thisclose to firing back, "Not that badly, apparently."

Then he tried to tempt me into looking at some other cars on the lot. I was getting hungry, and Dad saved the day with, "I've gotta get back to the office." We were out.

Dad and I left, and had lunch. During the course of our meal, the salesman left me a voicemail about an "identical" platinum-gray Jetta that was, well, the price I'd wanted on the red one. I did not return his call.

Today may not have yielded a new car, but it did provide me a lot of time with my dad: one of the smartest, funniest people I know. The drive to and from the dealership, lunch, and even the car-shopping process were great because he was there. It might sound cheesy, but I am so grateful to have a dad like him!