The Living Room

thelivingroom76: *coughs up lung*

PerfectBlueDave: *splat* 

PerfectBlueDave: ewwww.

thelivingroom76: uh, could you pass me that, please?

PerfectBlueDave: *picks it up with tongs*

PerfectBlueDave: “Class, notice the small patches of black as a result of smoking clove cigarettes.”

thelivingroom76: haha.

thelivingroom76: can i have it back? it’s getting a little hard…to…breathe…

thelivingroom76: *dies*

PerfectBlueDave: “Is there anyone out there cuz it’s getting harder and harder to breathe?”

PerfectBlueDave: don’t die!  *”Heal” spell*

thelivingroom76: *comes back as ghost*

PerfectBlueDave: ["WIZARD NEEDS FOOD BADLY"]

thelivingroom76: GIVE ME BACK MY FREAKIN LUNG

thelivingroom76: *floats around your head*

thelivingroom76: *steals your coffee*

thelivingroom76: okay, i think we’ve carried that far enough

Being sick on Ash Wednesday feels wholly appropriate–dust I am, to dust I shall return, and in the meantime I have a hacking cough and feel as though I’ve been hit by a Mack truck. We are fragile beings.

In forty days comes the resurrection. I’ll wait for it.

This week: 13 good movies. Not your top 13 of all time (that’ll take too long to come up with…), just good movies.

1. The Philadelphia Story.

2. Moulin Rouge!

3. Magnolia.

4. LA Confidential.

5. The Graduate (which is so wrong, but it’s a great movie).

6. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.

7. Robin Hood (the animated Disney one).

8.  Gladiator.

9. The Patriot.

10. Monsters, Inc.

11. Spirited Away.

12. Romeo + Juliet.

13. Big Fish.

Idea blatantly stolen from Teacher Dave.

1. Mitch & Mickey – When You’re Next to Me

Valentine’s Day is on Wednesday. I will be spending most of it in meetings and rehearsal and class. Real exciting.

I’ve been thinking lately about how I want to find completion in everything but God–somehow I think that He won’t really do it, that He’ll disappoint me, which is utterly ridiculous, but that’s the kind of thought that fallen minds hold easily. But yeah, I’ve been thinking about how I want a boyfriend, but how it wouldn’t fill some of the holes I feel in my soul, holes only God can fill. A guy can only know me so well; there are places in me only God can know. And that’s somehow comforting.

But Valentine’s Day still sucks.

2. Stop Thief! Quartet – Spring or the Fourth of July

I graduate in three months, and yet I feel like I haven’t really gotten to explore Waco all that much. (Having non-adventurous friends and no car has a tendency to do that.) I haven’t seen the Dr. Pepper Museum! I haven’t been to Lake Waco! I haven’t been to the zoo! I haven’t seen a Waco Co-op concert (of which Stop Thief! are a part).

This is all very disconcerting.

So here’s my plan: Get out there and see as much of this city as possible before I get out of here. If I can drag some people along with me, so much the better. Waco may be a dump compared to some cities, but I kind of like the place. Come and visit.

3. Ben Folds Five – Army

Another scary thing about graduation: I don’t know what I’m doing afterwards. I have some ideas, it’s just a matter of actually getting there. Joining the army is obviously out (I am definitely hardwired to be a lazy bum), but there’s so much out there I want to do. Travel. Teach. Get a degree. Get a good job. I don’t know! It’s sort of bizarre, actually. Unlike Ben, though, I know that whatever happens God’s always gonna be there with me. So why am I still so worried about this?

reading: Roughing It by Mark Twain (for class), a lot of essays (for another class), Prayer and the Art of Volkswagen Maintenance (for fun), and maybe starting on another one soon. Oh, and lots of craft blogs. And Luke.

doing: Lots of crazy girlie dancing (for Sing), editing papers (for The Pulse), knitting wristwarmers (for the roommate and another friend), working (for the library)

considering: God’s sovereignty, what the gospel looks like translated into living, what the heck I’m doing after graduation, boys

eating: Italian food (seriously, we’ve had chicken parmesan and lasagna all weekend, and I’m making spaghetti tonight)

listening: Podcasts, my whole iTunes library (I made it to the B’s yesterday)

needing: A new phone, Sing to be over, to see somebody from Houston, more hugs

It’s about time for one of these. Ready, go:

1. Bebo Norman – Cover Me

2. J.S. Bach – Air (From Orchestral Suite #3)

3. Various Artists – Good Morning

4. The Velvet Underground – Oh! Sweet Nuthin’

5. Ben Folds Five – Your Redneck Past

6. U2 – Stuck In a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of

7. Iron & Wine – Such Great Heights

8. Vertical Horizon – I Believe In Father Christmas

9. Pedro the Lion – Rehearsal

10. Counting Crows – American Girls

11. Sufjan Stevens – To The Workers Of The Rock River Valley Region, I Have An Idea Concerning Your Predicament

12. The Decemberists – The Soldiering Life

13. Charlie Hall – God of Hope

14. Johnny Cash – Hurt

15. The Choir – Monkey Board

16. Unknown Artist – Take Me Away (I don’t even remember who did this, but it’s a good song)

17. Finger Eleven – Obvious Heart

18. Caedmon’s Call – Friends In Low Places

19. Ceili Rain – Bliss That I’m Swimmin’ In

20. Charlie Hall – Sweep Me Away

this week: 13 things you know you need.

1. The grace of God.

2. Reminders of that grace on a daily basis.

3. Community to give me those reminders.

4. Time to think, to process, to breathe.

5. Less wasted time.

6. A place where I feel safe enough to be myself.

7. More thankfulness.

8. Sunshine after rain.

9. Less clutter (both spacial and mental).

10. More ability to accept grace whenever it’s offered.

11. More hugs.

12. Writing time.

13. Better shoes for walking.

1. I haven’t had much to write these days–I mean, I’ve been busy, I’ve been doing schoolwork, so there hasn’t been a whole lot of deep or creative thought going through my head in the past few days. I’ve let my writing life go to pot along with everything but my school life (and TV-watching habits…), so it’s probably not surprising that I don’t  have anything to say. I feel more or less  terrible about this. Things will probably be better once Sing is over, but it IS still up to me to be intentional about this sort of thing.

2. All you non-Baylorites are probably thinking, What the heck is Sing? Well, let me explain: All-University Sing is Baylor’s knock-down, drag-out talent show. Greek organizations (and the occasional non-Greek group, like the one I’m in) come up with a seven-minute act, with a theme, in which they sing and dance and wear fun costumes. It’s the largest university talent show in America, and a long-running Baylor tradition, and everybody’s parents come down to watch people dance perkily (almost to the point of maniacism). It’s fun. I’ll have pictures up once it’s over (we’re supposed to keep our theme a secret…if I talk about it here, the chairpeople might find me and kill me).

3. What else is there? Well…um…nothing. Writer’s block is quite possibly the bane of a blogger’s existence. I might shut it down for a while (not forever, just a while), but we’ll see what happens in the next couple of weeks. Later.

Congratulations to my favorite Scottish-American couple, Scott and Lori, for the birth of their first kid, Fiona Esther. They have pictures up, so go look–she’s a really cute kid.

Congratulations also to Bryce (or should I say Rev. Hales?) for passing his ordination exam. *high five*

Oh, yeah: Harry Potter 7 comes out July 21.[/geek]

This week: 13 things you’d want to have with you on a desert island, besides food and shelter and fire-making devices, assuming you’ll be stuck there a good long time and don’t know how to a build a boat/raft.

1. Water-filtration system.

2.  Box full of big books.

3. Notebook and pen.

4. Bible.

5. Knitting supplies (if I run out of yarn, I can always make some from coconuts…right?).

6. Fishnet.

7. Guitar.

8.  Extra strings for the guitar.

9. Swiss army knife.

10. Paint–so if I have a volleyball on hand, I won’t have to paint it with my own blood…

11. Candles.

12. Big blanket.

13.  Really, really durable flip-flops.