I had some extra time before class the other night, so I started reading some of the stuff tacked on a corkboard near my classroom. Most of it was the usual - "We buy back books!" "Looking for a roommate? Go to this website," and "Join the athletics club today." What caught my eye was a flyer that said, "Want to start a Latino Christian group at your campus?"
Below it, someone had scrawled in permanent marker, "NO! Is racial exclusionism a Christian concept?"

It made me laugh.

I'm a receptionist/doer of whatever needs to be done, and I just got the most annoying call from a telemarketer. Well, a recording of a telemarketer. The message went like this: "This is a call for telemarketing purposes from [the evil corporation]. Please call us back at 1-800-tactless for an important message." Important message? They just said it was for telemarketing purposes! That's almost as bad as the recorded messages we get from time to time from Governor Arnold regarding an important vote. Important? He just said it was a vote!

So, as I'm sure you've heard, Ashley Smith, the lady who was practically admitted to sainthood after "sharing the gospel" with a fugitive and getting him to turn himself in, actually shared meth with him. Nice. It's funny, because she said she was a reluctant hero, but if she'd told the truth in the beginning she wouldn't have had that problem. Although I do think many Christians are too quick to proclaim stories that sound like it's "score one for our side."

The Santa Ana winds are blowing today. It's easy to tell because the trees outside my work are bent over and plastic bags and debri occasionally fly past. It's this time of year that I become extremely aware of the need for moisturizer, and plenty of it.

It Really Is That Small!

It Really Is That Small!
Originally uploaded by mosaiclife.

Yaaaay! I got my birthday present early. My husband is the bestest ever. :)

I joked with him that since he'll be putting some of his music on there as well, the Ipod Nano was a Homer Simpson gift. You know, the episode where Homer buys Marge a bowling ball with his name inscribed on it. However, my Ipod has my name inscribed on it, so I can't doubt his sincerity. Yay for birthdays and wonderful husbands! Well, specifically, yay for my birthday and my wonderful husband.
:-D

My math book is so politically correct. And I'm sure the makers are proud of themselves, proud that they aren't racist in their math-hood. Want to know why? Because they used such names as "Twylene" and "Ahmed" in their word problems. What kind of name is Twylene? Yes, I apologize if by freak coincidence Twylene is reading this. But c'mon, it sounds like a name that would be used this way; "Twy-lene! Git in this house and sweep the dirt floor!"

I'm sorry, but it doesn't come as a surprise to me that Twylene is having difficulty figuring out just how many apples and oranges she can buy with her three dollars and fify-three cents.

I had a dream the other night that I was a ghost. I was haunting an old victorian era house, which is probably the default sort of house to haunt. But the weird thing was, I wasn't invisible. I had to concentrate on being invisible, or else people could see me just fine. And to make it worse, I wasn't even a scary or intimidating ghost.

For some reason the family living in the house was selling tires. Some people walked in, looking for them, and saw me. Instead of screaming, they asked where the tires were. I muttered, "I'll show you" and, slightly indignant, floated outside to the tire display. Once I got back inside, I began to really focus my efforts on becoming a better ghost. I wasn't great at floating, and had to sort of flap my arms to get any height. Also, I couldn't go through floors or walls. I kept running smack into them, and getting annoyed because being a ghost wasn't nearly as much fun as I thought it would be.

I would tell you about my dream where my friend stole an ice sculpture and we had to work at Macy's to pay off our debt, but I figured the Casper dream would give you a better idea of what I have to put up with once I drift off to sleep.

I so wish I had the ability to do this. It sounds like it's straight out of a comic book. Watch out, kids! Here comes Static Electricity Man!

So Pennsylvania will be screening youngins for obesity at school. I mean, it's cool and all to encourage children to be healthy, but if you're a fat kid, you probably don't need a test to tell you that. I'm pretty sure the other kids have let you know it already. Plus you'll have the added fun of an adult weighing and measuring you and saying, yep, you really are porky. I guess there was some truth to it when those kids called you jelly belly.

The Library Thing is a pretty cool site, especially for people like my husband. Now Brandon can compete directly with all kinds of fellow book-nerds. Yay!

So, my birthday is less than a month away, and I thought I should take the opportunity to say that the Ipod Nano looks really cool.

Just thought I'd mention that. :)

Know what I hate? The way when I call to check my voicemail, the recording says, "You have one unheard message. The following message has not been heard. First unheard message."

Okay, Verizon. I get the fact that I have one unheard message. I don't need it rephrased two more times. And why don't you tell me the time that the unheard message was recorded? I'm thinking I should call Verizon, and leave the message that, "You have one unheard complaint. The following complaint has not been heard. First unheard complaint."

I was reading Kristen's post on 50 things she loves and I started thinking about what I would put on a list like that. I don't really have a lot of time, so here are six things that I love:

1. Brandon's sleep-frown. So cute.
2. My Baybies!
3. My cat that lives in Alabama with my mom (fatty cat).
4. Playing Uno with my mom, sister, and husband.
5. Nights that I have something from Netflix and no school.
6. Brandon's mountain lion voice.

My mom and sister are on a plane right now flying home to Alabama. They came to visit for the holiday weekend. It was a more laid-back visit this time, since we did all the touristy things last year when they visited. This time we simply went to the beach, went shopping, played board games and watched countless episodes of tv shows on dvd.

I went home for lunch and noticed that my sister had forgotten her pumpkin candies. You know, the ones that taste like caramel corn. My mom had left some cantalope in the fridge. It's silly, but it made me miss them already. Seeing my family once, perhaps twice a year is hard to get used to, even after I've lived in California for over three years. But at least I get to see them that often.

Growing up, my sister and I did chores for my dad to earn extra money. The most memorable of which was mowing the lawn.

It's important to note that my dad's yard is about the size of a football field. It was my dad's requirement while mowing the lawn that we wear protective glasses (the big square black ones that people wear when they get their pupils dilated and old people wear when they drive) an ugly trucker hat (at a time when this was not hip), and a white dust mask. This was certainly not stylish, and it resulted in horrible tan lines. Also, it was blazing hot during the summer in Alabama, and the humidity was suffocating. But mow the lawn we must, because we don't want anyone seeing overgrown grass in the yard if they happened to drive down my dad's big long driveway and actually get near his house.

Dad had a John Deere riding lawnmower, which made it slightly easier. As those of you who have had the chance to mow in style may know, the John Deere lawnmower has two main speeds, turtle speed and rabbit speed. There's also a middle speed, but my sister and I generally ignored that one. The turtle speed (which is obviously slowest) was used for when Dad was watching. The rabbit speed (faster, but not fast enough) was used for when he was not watching.

There were also obstacles in mowing the lawn. There were holes in the ground, sticks lying in the grass below trees, etc. The sticks were easy to handle, because we simply ran them over at full speed. The lawnmower would hack on the wood a bit, and then spit out some woodshavings. Same with tree roots.

After we'd finished with the lawnmowing, we were rewarded with $20. At the time, this was quite a fortune and well worth the misery. Now, not so much.