Why I Blog... (also titled, Justifying my Whims)

I started this blog for many reasons, hopefully none of them for mere vanity, though that may be the first impression anyone (myself included) has when they first view any blog.

Blog rationale #1: Writing practice. I’m not a professional writer, as any fool can see through mediocre sketches I produce, but as an 8^th grade English teacher who wants to keep the door open for something higher someday, I want to prevent the mental wheels from rusting out completely. Therefore, I continue to read classics and review them when I can (blog on Tale of Two Cities coming soon). I also am a huge fan of writing as an art form, and though I’m not delusional enough to believe I am a gifted artist, I believe it’s beneficial to exercise the cerebral muscles. I greatly enjoyed writing essays in college because it’s only through writing that one slows down enough to organize thoughts, work them into a logical argument, and therefore truly learn from a work of literature; this is a process I regret leaving behind, and since I’m not entertaining the thought of grad school for awhile so I don’t totally tank as a wife, blogging occasionally absorbs me in the intellectual hobby I miss.

Blog rationale #2: To help/save my marriage. Kind of kidding here, but for real, I am a weirdo who houses pint-up thoughts that compile and build to the point where they just may erupt at any given moment if I don’t release them in due time. My hubby Chris is a busy guy who doesn’t need to hear all my endless rants, musings, analyses, “level 6ness,” etc. while he’s studying for his chiropractic career or editing photos. So when I get to the point of near self-destruction from too much compressed activity upstairs, I spill it out on the computer instead of to his deer-in-headlights/glazed over countenance. As Chris puts it, the blog is my therapy, which is probably his excuse for not letting me get weekly massages. J

Blog rationale #3: Feedback. Why don’t I just keep a journal? This opinion may be totally wrong, but I feel a journal is more selfish than a blog because no one would read it but me. Also, I’m not as motivated to write something no one will read: my time is better spent elsewhere. And thirdly, I’d most likely be more negative and self-pitying if no one were to read my journal, and who needs more avenues for woe-is-me-ness. I doubt many people read my blog, but it’s a way to share my ideas, convictions, or silly musings and see what people think about them, if they think about them at all. It doesn’t take many posts to reveal how opinionated I am, but suffice it to say that there’s a difference between believing something because you want it to be so and basing your beliefs on what you’ve read and read and have found to be logically consistent and true. I do appreciate feedback, even in the form of criticism, as long as it’s not just attempts to pick holes through every detail of an argument; no one needs that either.

Eventually this will be a blog about our family, so people we’ve met in the places we’ve lived can keep up with us. I love watching my friends’ children grow up and letting them know how cuuuuute pics and happenings are! Maybe someday we’ll have cutie-patootie little Barnezys for everyone to fawn over.

So to sum up, don’t expect anything crazy-mind-blowing, and don’t expect perfection in print, but do expect some thought-provoking, entertaining, sarcastic, random “streams of consciousness” from this gal.

This Chick Digs Scars

2 Corinthians 5: 1-10 - 1 For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. 2 Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, 3 because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. 4 For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5 Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

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

This past year the Lord has taught me a lot. Not as much in means of intellect or theology as application and practice. Being an athlete, I’ve experienced episodes of pain, from broken bones to shin splints to muscle spasms, but it was ironically after my athletic career that I had a bout with real chronic pain. This past calendar year I had chronic fatigue that doctors couldn’t figure out, ovarian cysts that are still causing me pain, Morton’s Neuroma in my foot and undefined pain in my hip. that halted my running, and, of course, two shoulder surgeries. Prior to 2010, my health insurance liked me. Now, not so much.

Through what has seemed like wave after wave of “what else could go wrong with this stinking body?” the Lord has been faithful, and all this has driven me to Him as my sole comforter and hope. Some positive aspects of these trials include:

1. Recognition of the frailty of this earthly tent. At the ripe old age of 25, I’m reminded that this ain’t no heavenly body, and aches and pains make me even more grateful that this isn’t all I have to look forward to. In a weird way I’m simultaneously more cognizant about my body (multiple issues does that) and yet less focused on it superficially (which is a big struggle for me).
2. Empathy for others in pain. I had never understood how much pain consumes you and changes your personality. When so much is going wrong and you’re scheduling a multitude of doctor visits and various tests and no one seems to believe that you’re really feeling what you know you are, it’s hard to stay sane, positive, and unselfish. Before all this, my heart was pretty callous toward people plagued with these kinds of trials. Now, hopefully, I can be more help to others in need.
3. Choosing joy and hope over worry. I can’t really put a check in this box yet, but I know this is something God is still working in me. To me, the unknown is the worst part of health issues, and like I stated above, it’s hard to take your mind off it. Indefinite MRIs, doctors who misread ultrasounds and then tell you “Eh, it’s probably no big deal,” and multiple blood tests that show no reason why you feel this way are all frustrating. This makes me feel terrible for people who have nothing else to live for but the here and now, for I don’t have to read far into the scriptures to return to the joy of my salvation.
4. Rejoicing in the drudgery. And by drudgery here I mean the slow and steady road of recovery. Right now I’m thankful that I’m not trying to get back to a sport, because shoulder surgery (especially mine where they redid everything except the bones) is the most difficult surgery to rehabilitate (because it has the most range of motion and is a smallish joint). I can see why many people become depressed in Physical Therapy (it’s been three months and I can only lift three pounds… are you kidding me?!), but I’m so thankful that I have a great PT and that self-discipline is my middle name – or OCD, whatever. Needless to say, PT is fun for me, even though it sucks, and I try to spread a little joy and humor to those who are going through the Valley of Death-by-Endless-Rehab with me.
5. My husband and family have provided me with so much encouragement, stability, and Kleenex. Trials bring us closer together, showing us how we really do and should depend on each other.

Physical difficulties and victories can teach us so much. I think the main struggle is that we tend to make bodily circumstances more than what they are. There’s so much we learn through athletics, through pain, through triumph, through sickness, through healing, through scars, that we can derive metaphors and lessons for life, but the physical is not life itself, just part of it. Adverse physical circumstances should draw us closer to the One who makes life more than just physical.

ProKindle – ConKindle

I love reading. I wish I read more. I’ve been told to get the Kindle, and my mom even was going to get me one for Christmas, but I’ve been hesitant and reluctant toward the device. Currently, I carry big fat books around with me everywhere – right now I have Dickens’s Tale of Two Cities/Great Expectations – I love the feel of books, the smell of books, the look of books stacked up on the shelves, trophies of my victorious literary achievements. With the Kindle, I’d lose those sensory pleasures, but would I gain enough make the swap worthwhile?

Pros:

• Fits in my purse – even a small purse!
• I could have multiple books with me at one time (the Bible is most appealing in this point). This is especially ideal for light traveling.
• Pre-1923 books are free to download – I read mostly classic works, so I’d spend waaaaaay less on books.
• The Kindle can read to you (I didn’t know about this feature!), so it turns into audiobooks (for free), for when I’m driving or whatever.
• You can search your library for key words or phrases – great for looking up quotes or Bible verses.
• You can highlight or bookmark, though I doubt this really has the same effect as doing so in an actual book.
• The font is adjustable – I’m thinking this would be great for the gym, where I can enlarge the font and place the Kindle on the elliptical/stair-of-death/bike and not have to wear out my shoulder holding my big fat novel (drudgery I currently inflict on myself).

Cons:

• Sensory aspects of an actual book, listed above. I’m pretty sure I’d really miss that. There’s something personal and emotional to me about books, weird, eh
• Seeing my books – and others seeing them – conversation starter – ok, pride.
• Feeling the book – turning the page, etc. Each page stores the ideas and emotions experienced on that page’s story, or the sweat produced at the gym while reading that page on the bike (haha).
• Smelling like old books – I’m okay without this one. :)
• My bookshelf wouldn’t bolster my pride. I phrase it this way to convict myself – this should not be a con. :)

What do you think? Other pros/cons? Should I ask for a Kindle for my birthday?

As seen in my closet...

So I'm a sucker for those stinking persuasive infomercials that seem (and usually are) too good to be true. What saves me is my stinginess: no I will NOT spend my hard-earned three installments of $19.95!!! However, I do have a Magic Bullet food processing thingie that I asked for at our wedding (if someone could show me how they make those amazing dishes with it, please do so!), I rocked to Turbo Jam (which may have been what shredded my shoulder), I cancelled a speed reading program because I suffered too much buyer's remorse before it arrived, and Friday night I purchased the latest "As seen on TV" item: the Magic Hanger closet organizer.

Why? I was set to buy one of those hangers at Bed Bath and Beyond that hangs 6 blouses on one hanger - I have a few for pants, and they are a must if you refuse to rid yourself of attire you donned in high school - when I turned the corner, and there was the Magic Hanger that I remembered seeing some happy lady organizing her stuffed closet on TV. I don't usually succumb to these things, except there are 8 of these miraculous devices in a $10 box! The one hanger that I was going to buy was $7, so the infomercial wonder was worth a shot.

And it was! See 4 of the 8 here: http://yfrog.com/h3jgztj Not only does this little piece of plastic conserve much-needed closet space, but it helps me organize my styles as well - cardigans here, t-shirts there, etc! I'm sure this Magic hanger will really benefit my travel garment bag as well.

I'm so stoked, it makes me wonder if I should give the speed-reading program a second shot!

Camping Trip to Clinton Lake

Clinton State Park is a great park for KS. Many of the sites are pretty much in open fields, but many are tucked into wooded areas. There are many clean bathrooms and showers. The lake is bigger than I expected, and this park would be awesome for a Sea Doo or boat get away. :)

This was Chris's and my first time camping together without anyone else, so as expected, we encountered some problems:
1. Thanks to the faithful GPS and the wrong address selection (who knew there'd be 4 "Clinton State Park"s?), we got lost on the way there and ended up on the opposite side of the lake, so it took about an hour extra to get there Fri night.
2. I didn't bring charcoal, thinking we'd gather firewood for our brats and smores (I'm the more old-fashioned type of camper), but this idea terrified Chris and we had to go to the store to get charcoal and lighter fluid.
3. The worst happening was the air mattress going flat. We were in Chris's Avalanche tent, and didn't bring our sleeping bags (or their air mattresses), and the truck bed is hard and has ridges. Needless to say, we didn't sleep much at all. I recall tossing and turning, my butt finally hitting the floor, thinking 'Surely it's almost morning as I've woken up about 30 times,' and then looking at my watch: "1 A.M! You've GOT to be kidding me!"
4. We had to leave at 7:30 to go pick up a chair that Chris wanted to buy (off Craigs List) from a guy in Topeka. We got a great Zero Gravity chair (worth $1300) for $350. It was pretty much a steal, so worth it, but we didn't get to hike any of the park's many trails like we had originally planned for that morning.

I'm thinking it was good for us to experience the kinks of our first camping experience alone together, so we'll be more prepared next time!

Archetypal Wonderings

The other day, I was talking with a friend who showed me a short film he was in, where a girl dreams that he overcomes many obstacles in quest for her. I made the observation that it’s true: all girls want to be rescued. Each woman wants a man to be willing to fight a battle for her, pursue her at any cost to him, slay the dragon, climb the tower, and rescue her from the evil witch’s spell. All those Disney movies didn’t make bank for nothing. The same storyline that we find over and over in fairytales, legends, and folklore across the globe is written on our hearts for a reason. It’s the gospel.

I first heard the word “archetype” when I was assigned as a summer project for my preAP 10th grade English class a paper on the archetypes in The Lord of the Rings’s prequel, The Hobbit, and in the Star Wars trilogy. My research of the assignment’s prompt led me to the Latin roots: arch, meaning ‘first’, and typ, meaning ‘print’, or of course, ‘kind’. So an archetype is the first of its kind, or really, a model for a reoccurring character-type, symbol, situation, etc. For example, in Star Wars, Darth Vader is an archetypal Satan (devil/evil) character, the light saber is an archetypal symbol of magic/knowledge/power, and Luke goes on an archetypal quest of self-discovery while in pursuit of The Force. You get the idea.

It has since intrigued me that most – arguably all – archetypes are not confined to culture, but span across the globe, which has caused many scholars to inquire of the human collective conscious, or subconscious if you’re Freud. Why do we all have these same ideas of truth, beauty, love, fulfillment, etc? I would argue that the best archetypes are written on our hearts because they are a portrait of the gospel.

The ‘plot’, if you will, of the gospel (put in fairytale-ish terms), starts with the King choosing a bride, for His Son (Eph 1:4). As all princess brides should be, she is to be pure, beautiful, and faithful. Of course, it doesn’t take long into the Bible to see that she (we) mess that up, and through evil’s deception, she is placed under a curse and unable to save herself (hence, damsel in distress). Like Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, et al., we are unresponsive, “dead in [our] trespasses and sins” (Eph 2:1). Here’s were the climax of the story comes: our Prince, Jesus Christ, despite our imperfections and even outright rejection of Him, tackles unfathomable obstacles to get to us. He leaves His throne and condescends to humanity, he blamelessly overcomes fleshly sin, and he even defeats the real archetype of evil himself, Satan. But this tale doesn’t end there because He still has to release the curse’s grip on His beloved. He buys back her purity by giving her his own through taking her sin and shame on Himself on the cross, dying the death she is sentenced to, and receiving the wrath of a holy God on Himself. Prince Charming can’t go this far, though, because if he dies, then the princess would have no one to marry; so to die for the princess is noble, but it doesn’t make for a good story. However, Christ our Savior did die, and then rose from the dead because sin and the grave had been conquered; our debt has been paid in full, “tetelestai” (John 19:30). The princess (believer) is saved from evil and free to marry her Prince, sin/death is conquered, and the Prince is exalted.

Sadly, I didn’t make this connection during the conversation, as I rarely do, but thought about it late into the night afterwards. What if the Author and Perfector of our faith planted the archetypal storyline into our “collective subconscious” to preach the beauty of His salvation to our aesthetic psyche?

The Number Game

The game is to list as many numbers as you can connect to your life. I got to fifty, which took me a while, but it was really fun! Comment about your favorite, and try your own!

1 – is for the “Audience of One” – I live for the Soli Deo Gloria!
2 – is for my incredible two parents, Stan and Candy, who reared me in fear and knowledge of the Lord.
3 – is for the holy Trinity – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
4 – is the average number of meals in a day for me, the fourth being the most important, ice cream.
5 – is for my age when the Lord called me with His irresistible grace to serve Him.
6 – is for the sports I’ve played/coached competitively: Golf, Softball, Basketball, Soccer, Cheerleading, and Track.
7 – is for the pairs of flip-flops I own. Chaco flip-flops are the best things my feet have ever known!!!
8 – is my favorite number. Reason: as a catcher, I loved the 8th Commandment: “Thou shall not steal.”
9 – is for the number of FCA camps I’ve attended: 5 as a camper and 4 as a huddle leader. FCA camps rock!
10 – is for how many minutes it takes me to run a mile. 
11 – is for my anguish if I’m ever up this late on a school night. My bedtime is 10 pm (hey, 5 am comes early!)
12 – is for the months Chris and I knew each other before he proposed You can see the video on youtube (search “Proposals” and we’re #1)!
13 – is for my age when I received my first kiss. How scandalous!
14 – is for how many days Chris and I knew each other before he told me he was going to marry me. Yeah, that’s hard core. Refer to #12: now that seems like a long time to wait, doesn’t it?
15 – is for my age when I decided to pursue golf. I realized that I’m white, short, and slow, so I’d have a better chance on the links than on the court. I’m sure Pat Summit is still mad at me, but she’ll get over it.
16 – is how many hours Chris and I spent climbing and especially descending Longs Peak – elev. 14,259 – in Rocky Mnt. Natl. Park. I’ve never felt so awesome and foolish – awesome when we summated, foolish when I spent the whole way down throwing up.
17 – is my age when I got into my first car accident. I slid on ice with my brother in the car. After it was over, he told me that I swore like a sailor, but I don’t remember a thing. It’s also the year I found out I was a Calvinist in American Literature class. The teacher talked about TULIP, and I thought, “So, isn’t that what the Bible teaches?” ha!
18 – is for the number of holes on a golf course, the age I went away to college, and how those two merged to bring me to Oklahoma State. Playing golf there disciplined me in the art of perseverance, drive, and humility.
19 – is for the birthdays of my mom and brother. I just realized that.
20 – is how many friends I have on facebook. Times 100.
21 – is for my age when I moved into the Pi Phi house and met my roommate and now best girlfriend, Joy.  That’s also the same year I was engaged and married to my best boyfriend, Chris.  What a year!!!
22 – is for Asher's baseball number. After elbow surgery, I'm thankful God had another plan for him.
23 - is for Colossians 3:23 - "Whatever you do, do it with all your heart, as serving the Lord and not men." One of my all time faves.
24 - is for my basketball number, which I chose because 2 x 4 = 8 (ref. #8). I know, but I think I was 12 when I thought that was cool. I also know a lot of other numbers add or multiply up to 8, but 24 was the prettiest.
25 - is for the number of resolutions I made this last New Years.
26 - is for the number of months of blessed and incredibly fun matrimony!
27 - is for the movie, 27 Dresses, of which I am the complete opposite! I'm praying to be a bridesmaid in one wedding in my lifetime!
28 - is for the time I spent every morning in the car on the way to school either: talking to Mom, listening to John MacArthur via bott radio network, or dancing; but I'm always drinking coffee in my Kind Coffee tumbler!
29 - is for the of books in my "to read this summer" list.
30 - is for the minutes of jam session I have in my classroom every morning before my kids enter at 7:20... If they only knew... But let's keep it where they don't.
31 – is for the number of minutes I can spend on a tredmill, stair-stepper, or gauntlet before I lose focus and start thinking about all the other things I could be doing right now. My threshold on the elliptical is about 12.5 minutes. (I don’t like it very much.)
32 – is for how many verses I memorized in Philippians until I gave in. Sorry, Lacey, I’m such a loser! For those of you who might check, that’s to chapter 2, verse 2.
33 - is for the number of times I said "fixin' ta" in front of Zac until he finally broke me of it. Thanks, by the way.
34 - is for Asher's high school football number. A few concussions and a broken foot later, I'm glad he finished that one, and baseball, too.
35 - is for my basketball number in 6th grade (because 3 + 5 = 8, see #8), but then I came to the conclusion that 24 was such a prettier number.
36 - is for the average par in nine holes of golf. Why was the front nine always so much harder for me to break this?
37 – is for the number I throw out there when I mean a lot. For instance, I’ll tell my students, “There were about 37 essays that did not follow instructions. Prepare to be dominated.” Something like that. If I’m giving a made up statistic, it’s 87%, just because it sounds like a randomly overwhelming majority.
38 – is for the number of students in my 5th hour. Okay, there are 28, but I think a few of them have multiple personalities.
39 – is for the year before 40. I cannot imagine being that old. I hope I have my Masters before then.
40 – is for the score I’d usually record on the front nine. I figure that it’s because I don’t like math, and it’d be easy for me to figure out what I’d need to shoot on the back nine to keep it in the 70’s.  That was the biggest load of bologna ever.
41 – is for the number of books on my bookshelf right now. Yep, I just counted.
42 – is 24 backwards. So if you saw me in my basketball jersey through your rearview mirror, this is what you’d see. Well, kind of.
43 – is how many items my husband has bought (or as he says, “Stole”) on ebay this year.
44 – is how many he’s sold. In the black, baby!  haha
45 – is how many minutes I spent running with my parents’ dog, Aggie, the other day. It was the longest run of my life to-date. I’m still amazed!!!
46 – is for the approximate amount of time you’re actually watching an hour-long program. Fourteen minutes of commercials is about thirteen minutes and 59 seconds too long for me.
47 – is the ugliest number in my book. Bleh!!!
48 – is the number of minutes a child in my class gets to behold BRILLIANCE every weekday.
49 – is the age of my grandma. She’s been 49 for what seems like forever, and that’s what I convinced her to put on her license plate: 4EVR49. You rock, Mimi!
50 – is the age of my amazing mother, who will kill me because I just called her “mother,” but probably not since she most likely won’t read this far… Just kidding, Mom. You know you’re the best thing to happen to energy since sugar.

I could think of more, but I doubt you’d want to read it.

Memoirs #9: Home Sweet Home

The last day at Jackson, we posed in front of the sign after dropping off Mom and Dad's luggage at the airport (and successfully weighing mine in at 48 pounds - woo hoo!!!). We had a few hours to burn, so we hit the town one more time and...
indulged in the best burger EVER at Billy's Giant Hamburgers, shopped the stores that Mom and I had missed, and...

rode the Alpine Slide!!! The Alpine Slide is a bobsled/gocart-like ride that twists and turns down a ski-slope. I'm going to put a video of it up soon!

I arrived home to my Beeb about 9:45 Thursday night, and we're both so happy I'm home! We went off to St. Louis for a baseball game Saturday, and Sunday brought us (I guess really this time) home for a while. Whew! What a summer! I'm so thankful that I got to embark on this wonderful traveling adventure. It's almost unbelievable that I got to do something so cool. Thank you, Joy, for hosting me in Estes, and thank you Vicki, Mom and Dad for making Jackson possible.
Thus ends the Memoirs of Mountain-Ali and her Whyorado adventures!

Memoirs part 6: Joyous Estes

I decided to upload some pics of my time in Estes apart from the hiking adventures. :) For some reason, blogspot will only allow me to upload three pictures in a post, and if anyone could help me figure out how to do more, I'll buy you ice cream!

Joy and Nate bought hammocks at a concert the night before I flew in, and here's a pic of Joy and me trying it out. We hung it up in a little park of downtown Estes and read for a bit. Well, I guess we spent most of our time taking weird (on my part) pics and laughing. So So fun!


Joy met Nate through his daily 6:30 devotion times in Kind Coffee. The first thing she told me about him was that he brings his copy of My Utmost For His Highest by Oswald Chambers and The Bible to the coffee shop every morning. Well, that sold me! I got to meet him the night before I left Estes, since he'd been working a camp for his church's youth group all week. They are Cute!





This is at some (I'm told) big burger chain restaurant in Denver. I can't remember the name, but our ketchup sure is happy!

I was so sad to leave my friend, especially since I don't know when I'll get to see her again! [Wow, I'm seriously about to cry]. BUT if she chooses to move out to Colorado for good, I guess I'll just have to come visit her every summer. Man, that'd be a chore.



***See more pics on my facebook albums: Album1 and Album2

"Baby Got Book"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTYr3JuueF4

This video is hilarious. I'm not saying I agree with everything theologically, but I laughed out loud multiple times. Jen C, I think this video describes you!

Slow-Mo + Water = Randomness

We were playing golf Saturday when lightening forced us to abandon the links... so what do Jared and Chris elect to do? But of course, take my camera and start filming randomness. It didn't take me long to join in... and thus, may I present to you my second video-editing adventure.

All of clips used in this video were shot in slow-motion (180 fps), and I haven't tinkered with the speed of any clips... promise. I'm sure blogspot can't do justice to the clarity of the slow-motion feature on this camera, but it's great nonetheless!

Inquiry Journal

The homework for our Advanced Studies inservice meeting is to begin an inquiry journal where I investigate how I think and what about. Well, I think I've got a head start on this one, since that the primary purpose of this blog, but I'll give it a more stream-of-consciousness feel today.

The last few days I've been curious about my seeming intellectual backslide lately. As the temperature outside has been rising, my thinking trends have been lessening. I'm not sure if this data correlates, or if there are other factors weighing in, such as: exhaustion from the end of school (likely), distress of creating a summer school cirriculum about 5 days before classes begin, golf lessons, and tonight's dinner. Nevertheless, it seems that even though I (in theory) have more time now to spend reading and thinking deeply about important issues, I in reality am spending less. Thus, my quest for time begins. What is it that sucks all the minutes out of my day?

To be honest, time-stealers that can be removed are:
1. The Office - Chris and I have watched an episode (or four) per day lately, mostly just while doing dishes after dinner and starting whatever we're doing next (ie, facebook). I HATE getting sucked into shows! Solution: Take care of household tasks (laundry, cleaning, etc in order to kill two birds with one stone)
2. Facebook - though I'm not a junky like most, I do spend a few minutes too many creeping on the book. Solution: Get a life.
3. Working out - I need to find a more efficient way to keep myself a physical specimen. :) The solution I've already inacted is to read while engaging in cardio, which works out (unintended pun) splendidly. Another Solution: Don't eat so much ice cream, and then I won't have to work out so much.

What's weird is that I really don't do much else. I'm still sticking to my previous hypothesis - As the amount of time to spend increases, so does the amount of time wasted. So the question remains - Where does all the time go? And how do I get it back?

"You Got JELIED"

My first editing adventure, this video uncovers the behind the scenes on the greatest serial prank scheme in Campbell Middle School history. Ok, maybe that was a little over the top, but it was fun to do! This video is why I haven't posted anything profound lately... I guess the media/brain function ration is true! Anyway, check out the video, and post your comments! :)

Guitar Flipping-Amazing Hero Video

My hub's newest creation, featuring a few friends and ourselves. Check out the genius of the imaginative green screen. You can also check out this in higher quality or some of his other creations on youtube.com. His username is "barnezydotcom".

I'm not going to glorify this stuff by trying to add any "level 6 thoughts" - it is what it is... Rock on!

Ben Stein's "Expelled" receives 2 (designed) thumbs up

My parents, Chris, and I saw Ben Stein's movie Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed this afternoon. This documentary exposes the unscientific methods of academia in calling evolution fact and burying its head in the ground whenever an opposing view (Intelligent Design) is presented.

Artisically put together, this entertaining and thought-provoking documentary related the two camps to the Berlin Wall, because there is "academic freedom" only if you are on the right side of the wall. What that means is that if one proposes anything other than the prevalent view, one is ostrasized, persecuted, and "expelled" from academia (fired and prevented from future hiring). A case of this recently happened at my alma mater, where one of the university's (and my) most beloved professors was not tenured.

Having studied Darwin at Cambridge for a study-abroad course, I was glad to see him address the fact that the logical conclusion of the theory of evolution is eugenics and genocide. Hitler and the Nazi party were not crazy. Their practices of exterminating what nature would "select" anyway in order to create the perfect race are the rational applications of the evolution mindset. That's how horribly sad/dangerous/unethical this theory can be.

The pinnacle of the movie was Stein's interview with Richard Dawkins, scientist and author of The God Delusion. Dawkins, a raging atheist who claims that anyone who believes in a God is an idiot showed himself to be a complete idiot when asked about the beginning of life. The Darwinian Theory of Natural Selection does not account for the first living cell, just somewhat what happens after that living cell somehow came into existance. Dawkins said that it is a possibility that alien lifeform designed this living cell and brought it to Earth. No, I am not kidding. He actually thinks that believing in aliens is scientific. WOW. And even worse, after raging against "intelligent design", he himself stated that some intelligent being may have designed this single-cell organism and put it on Earth. But that "intelligent designer" must have itself evolved through some sort of Darwinian process. Or else it must have been placed wherever it was by some other evolved intelligent designer, in perpetuity... With all due respect, Mr. Dawkins, I think you are the one under delusion.

I wrote my paper (for my Cambridge course) on how Darwin intended to make science arreligious (without religion) - because before him, science was intended to discover God's revelation through creation - but what he did instead was change the religion of science from a judeo-christian endeavor to a Nature-and-therefore-SELF-as-God religion. Dawkins, as Darwin was before him, is not an unbiased scientist, but a self-centered man angry with God, and he would rather believe anything else designed the world as long as it is not a Righteous Judge who holds us accountable for our actions.

**Note on how these men do not follow the scientific method.
1)Darwin threw out evidence against his theory (I saw some of it with my own eyes). This is against the scientific method, because if something does not fit the theory, then the theory should change to fit the evidence, not vice versa.
2) "Scientists" consider Evolution (def: that all known life evolved from one single-cell organism) FACT. Most of the evolution-upholding scientists in the documentary called it such. In the scientific method, there is no fact; one should always consider a theory as something that has just not been disproved YET.
3) No one has ever successfully duplicated evolution, just like no one has ever duplicated the beginning. Therefore, it is nothing but a weak theory, maybe just hypothesis.

See this movie. I give it 2 (opposing) thumbs up.

Students deserve better than easy

Maybe I'm a big nerd -- okay, maybe? -- but I can't help making connections, hypothesizing, philosophizing, evaluating and all that other level six stuff. While studying and taking the GRE (entrance into grad school exam), I couldn't help to feel ashamed at my lack of literary repertoire. Even as an English major and one who's thoroughly enjoyed reading (some of my best memories were spent up in the tree reading Hatchet, Boxcar Children, etc), I am clearly not what people who made this test would call well-read. I am not completely discouraged at this, since now I have a vast book list filled with items to grow my intellectual compasity and expand my understanding of the world and human endeavors (of good and evil).

What I connected this to, however, is the growing emphasis on young adult novels being adopted into my teaching curriculum. Just a small chunk of low-down-info, for the honors class I'm teaching next year, we are required to teach a teen novel. Right now, my fellow teachers from across the district and I are choosing one of three delightful little reads (sarcasm inserted). Now I'm not against teens reading teen novels by any means. What I am against is using valuable classroom time (of which I'm becoming more and more aware of its brevity) and valuable instruction time for kids - who choose to be in an honors class - to read something that they could easily read on their own time and could easily deduce the profound (sarcasm again) meanings without my help. The argument by the team who gave us this requirement for the teen novel is that the students need diversity, whether that diversity of old vs. new or hard vs. easy, I'm not sure. Maybe I'll find that out in meetings to come.

My arguments, keeping in mind my connection to the GRE, are the following:

1) Students who choose (as they do in our district) to be in an honors class are signing up for challenge and rigor. The object of most teen novels is to reach out to kids who usually don't like to read by giving them easy-to-understand storylines about topics that interest them. These kids should already like to read if they enroll in honors class, and therefore the purpose of the teen novel is a moot point.

2) There are so many great works out there that have stood the test of time because their themes and ideas are universal and long lasting. Teen novels are usually pretty narrowly focused and deal with current, selfish, or trite issues - hence the simplicity noted above. Teen novels usually aren't "real life" as their promoters say. They usually focus on the tough problems that plague maybe 3% of teens. And worse, they usually promote self-centeredness, which is so prevalent already that it should not be encouraged even more.

3) I want my kids to read something that will benefit them having read it. These future AP or IB students should have guided access to as many works as possible that will help them succeed. I remember when I was given an AP reading list of about 100 books in high school, I was overwhelmed because we only read like 3 in class, and so I was expected to read as many as I could on my own. When studying for the GRE, I was likewise overwhelmed at all the works and authors I was expected to know. Therefore, why not give these young scholars as much deep literature as we can while we have them under our guidance. I would much rather be able to help my students through Orwell's 1984 than expect them to read and understand it on their own time because I'd rather teach them something that is more fun, easy, and "applicable" to them.

Softening them up is preparing them for failure, or at least overwhelmedness, like me.

"The idea of God has problems" for sinners

Today I caught a broadcast of the American Center for Justice on BOTT radio network, and Jay Sekulow was discussing a college student’s email. This college student is in an Intro to Philosophy course at a secular university, and her professor has created a class blog in which all students must participate. As I understood the broadcast (thought I didn’t catch the whole thing) the professor started the blog string with the statement “The idea of God has problems,” and I’m guessing that he wanted all the students to accent and show the problems or something. Weird. Anyway, knowing what I know now (because of course I didn’t back when I would’ve taken such a course), I tried to call in to share what I think she should do (which includes not dropping the class), but I was too late to get on the show – to the detriment of all. However, I tried to email Mr. Sekulow, and my email had to be confined to 50 words or less. MAN THAT IS REDICULOUSLY HARD TO DO. So, knowing that God has given me wisdom and experience to share, I requested that he come here to see my thoughts. I pray he does, because I humbly think my point of view on the prompt could really help this young lady defend and further the Faith. Here’s my full letter (before I chopped it to two sentences)…

Mr. SeKulow~

I am writing in response to the question posed by a listener today. A college student wrote you of her philosophy professor forcing a web discussion with “The idea of God has problems.” I hope I am correct in this, since I did not catch the entire broadcast. I am a recent grad of a secular university myself, and I know too well the affront our faith faces at this level by cynical professors and fellow students. However, the statement “The idea of God has problems” is not at all a declaration that one should denounce her faith, but on the contrary, I would argue that it is an excellent spring board for the gospel.

Now I don’t know what else the professor said or wrote to this student, but if this is the prompt for the discussion, I would love to encourage her to take it in this philosophical light: of course the idea of God causes problems, because the idea of something holy, perfect, and omniscient makes we people see that we are not those things (which is a huge problem for us, since we [especially philosophers] are so prone to think highly of ourselves). The very fact that we like to think well of ourselves (romantic views of human nature, etc.) brings us into conflict with something that so obviously shows us that not only are we not what we think we are, but we are also guilty of all kinds of evil and deserving of death and hell. The God Who is perfect likewise demands perfection (for why would He accept anything less?), and if there is one fact that Christianity and any other worldview can agree on, that fact is that there has never lived one perfect human being. Therefore no one can earn his way to God. Philosophically, there is no way for us to gain the only thing we need. Metaphorically, people are up a creek without a paddle.

BUT (the biggest but in history) that is not the end of the story, because that is where the goodness of God Himself steps in as the only perfect person who ever lived to earn the perfection we need so that He might switch us places (in God the Father’s righteous judgment) and to die the death we deserve. Therefore He saved us from what we deserve and has given us what we cannot possibly earn. What an amazing plan! However, salvation is only possible for those who can admit they cannot earn it on their own, and therefore “The idea of God is has problems” only for those who want to be their own God. Because those who claim to not believe in God really just don’t want to submit to anything other than themselves, and that for sure is a problem.

I don’t know if this young woman of the faith plans to stay in the class, but because it wasn’t long ago that I was in her shoes, I’d really like to help her out and encourage her to be a real light for Christ in this situation. I wish I knew then what I know now; I think it would be invaluable for her to hear (or in this case, read) my stance on the issue. I am only a 23 year old 8th grade English teacher, but I am a woman who desperately seeks after God and who also thoroughly enjoys discussion about things of God. I believe that I got into my car at the particular time I did today in order to be a help to this young lady, and I hope that you will forward my email to her, or give her my email.

Thank you so much for your time!

Soli Deo Gloria,

Ali Barnes
ali.barnes24@gmail.com