Random thoughts put together in a Post

Life has felt really busy and tiring recently. I blame my poor time management skills. I also blame working 40 hour work weeks, half of which happen before a lot of people are even out of their cozy beds for the day. As a result of my busy-ness and lack of sleep, I don't have some grand, comprehensive thoughts about life right now. But here are a few random thoughts that I've been kicking around on drives to and from work:

Ways to save money:
a. Wash your hair every other day. This way, your hair doesn't need conditioner (the natural oils suffice to keep your hair from getting dried out.)
b. Eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. The PB fills you up; the jelly makes you feel happy.
c. Get the smallest portion while eating out. It's usually only .50 cents difference or so, but it all adds up.
d. Drink less coffee (I haven't figured out how to do this yet but it seems like a good life goal.)
e. Instead of buying an air freshener for your car, use the little perfume samples that come in magazines and stick it in your car for a week or so. Amazing results.

Ways to make life interesting:
a. Save the good fortunes from inside fortune cookies then plant them in strategic places in your workplace or tuck them into library books; they might be inspiring to someone.
b. Take a different route to work. ( I do this somewhat unintentionally on a regular basis. What an interesting life I lead.)
c. Try talking to yourself in your second language.
d. Listen to a new style of music; you just might like it.
e. Write a letter to a friend instead of sending an email. (One of my friends has been rocking this.)
f. Try to use interesting and more academically challenging words. (The Addingtons are the inspiration on this one.)
g. Make up some new and interesting words and try to use them naturally in your conversations.
h. Play a new game.
i. Invent a new game. Teach people the rules, then play a round or two.
j. Wink at random people... use discretion.

On Friendship

Recently, I have been blown away by my friends. In the past couple of days alone, a couple friends have showered me with random acts of kindness. One friend wrote and sent me a letter; it was so moving, it made me cry. Another friend has hooked me up with an amazing job possibility. One newer friend called me today just to chat about life. And this has just been in the past couple of days. But on a consistent basis too, I have friends who read my blog and comment on it. Another friend often sends me little text messages. And finally, another friend frequently reminds me of all my good qualities when I'm feeling blue. Yes, I feel the love from friends. I am definitely blessed.

C.S. Lewis in his book The Four Loves describes friendship like this:

"But in friendship...we think we have chosen our peers. In reality a few years' difference in the dates of our births, a few more miles between certain houses, the choice of one University instead of another, posting to different regiments, the accident of a topic being raised at a first meeting--any of these chances might have kept us apart. But, for a Christian, there are, strictly speaking, no chances. A secret Master of ceremonies has been at work. ..The Friendship is not a reward for our discrimination and good taste in finding one another out. It is the instrument by which God reveals to each the beauties of all the others. They are no greater than the beauties of a thousand other men; by Friendship God opens our eyes to them. They are, like all beauties, derived from Him, and then, in a good friendship, increased by Him through the Friendship itself, so that it is his instrument for creating as well as revealing." (89-90).

I couldn't sum it up better than Lewis. Through my friends, I experience samples of God's loving kindness even when I am sometimes tempted to think (but for a moment) that he has forgotten about me. Here's a shout out to friends; you guys rock! Thanks for all the encouragement.

Poem Post #3

This is an older poem I wrote to my grandparents I think shortly after Grandpa Strasser passed away; the poem is dated 12/31/08.
While living in China, I mourned the death of 3 grandparents; maybe this poem was somewhat prophetic. Regardless, death stings and takes away part of our hearts and part of who we were to and through that person. I feel annoyed when people pretend like death is okay because we will all be together in Heaven someday. Yes, maybe true...but that does not make the present reality feel any more complete.

A Poem for My Grandparents:

I just want to sit with you for a whole day straight…

And talk

or rather listen.

I have very little that needs to be said.

Right now, I just want to listen

Listen to your stories of good times and bad ones.

Even the stories I have heard every Christmas for the past 3 years.

I don't even care; I just want to be with you and hear your words.

And let you know how much I love you,

and also that I’m listening.

And if there are no words, that’s okay too.

I’ll just hold your pale, blue-vesseled hand.

I love both your gentle ways and your abrupt ones I don’t understand.

and even when you say something crazy and your voice starts to slur

I just want to sit with you

…and listen.

and maybe if I would just pay better attention,

I’d even understand your abruptness.

For in your words, I understand family traits

quirks that previously eluded me.

In your words, I find reasons of priority and motivation

both in what you say and in what you leave unsaid.

In your eyes, I see my parents.

with opinions and lifestyles different from your own

Yet strangely enough, as I listen, I respect both of you all the more.

I just want to sit with you,

and listen

and hear

And understand.

Dearest Grandparents,

If your energy is enough, and this world hasn’t left you too tired, will you please wait to go

Until I can sit with you for a whole day straight

and just listen

and hear

and gingerly hold your hand.

Poem Post #2

This poem also took me about 10 minutes total to compose so bring on the Constructive Criticism. I've seen a lot of these types of women since starting to work at the airport. At first, they are off-putting, but now I see that they are just people. Maybe even sad people.

Curious to be someone else today.

To be pressed, and coiffured

pampered

and assembled together,

with every accessory matching

the face painted on,

…and flawless.

What thoughts go on underneath that creaseless brow

and perfectly golden weaved hair?

Her silver, sequined tank-top,

and gold-studded ears.

The channel handbag and Ralph Lauren fitted jeans

that demand respect

and a sugar-free, skim milk latte.

What does she think about her life?

Who asks her about her day?

Who loves her soul

masked by outward perfection?

Poem Post

Hey all. I want to join some poetry writing contests. Why not? Life is short!
So, I'm looking for some hard-core comments and suggestions about this poem. I just plunked it out; it took me about 5 minutes or so, therefore, your comments are substantial. I'm going to try and crank out a poem a day for the next week. Let me know your thoughts or at least throw some verbal tomatoes at your monitor. :)

Here I sit

perplexed and haunted.

Alone, yet surrounded

and covered in thoughts

my own…

and others’ too.

I want to run away from myself

from my mind.

I can’t turn it off…

it ticks through useless information

about words spoken

glances cast

and words spoken

in jest.

To be here

punched out, yet mentally

working always.

Perplexed, and haunted

yet somehow content.

Still wanting an escape

from you and your glances

and your words spoken

in jest…or not?

On Being Woman

Sometimes, I hate being a woman. I think too much; I analyze everything. I cannot turn my emotional / relational processor off. Recently especially, I have felt that the best kind of vacation would be one where I could escape my womanhood, to be completely wrapped up in some task and not allow my thoughts to drift for a moment to the relational.

And yet, here I sit...completely or mostly woman.

However, the other night, I did have a mental escape from myself. I attended a murder mystery dinner with a group of other 20, 30 somethings from the church I attend. The theme was a 1920's, Chicago mafia type scene. My character was MeMe Wannabe, and I was a matchmaker. Throughout the evening, I talked to people and tried to suggest they use my match-making services to find true love. My "husband" Don Wannabe and I were the hosts of the party. I think my husband was perhaps the most stoic, party-pooper I have ever met. Yet, our character information said that we were deeply in love. So, I continued to call him "honey" and "dear" and tell people we were deeply in love as he mostly avoided me and looked at me as though I were crazy. It was comical and not completely surprising to me; I would be matched with the one person who appears scared of women. But seriously, who could be scared of this?

Outfit breakdown: The Addington's had this white fur coat from the 1960's. I guess Louise's sister wore it to prom one year. The dress is a classic, black dress I've had since I was 19. The long pearls and the head piece were accessories I bought to help completely the look. And finally, the make-up was compliments of the Addington's 13 year old daughter. She did an excellent job; I hardly recognized myself underneath the coating of blue eye shadow.

State Fair Stuff

Today, my friend Kate and I went to the State Fair with a group of Chinese students. I was dreading it because I was afraid of crowds and getting lost (which I do quite frequently.) But luckily, our 2 groups refused to separate into the recommended 4 -5 persons and we kept it at 10 people with 2 group leaders, Kate and I. It seemed that everyone felt happy with this arrangement. No one got lost because they were following me, everyone got to meet more people, and Kate and I got to catch up with each other.

Highlights of the day? Perhaps watching our friend here milk a goat for $.50 or cheering on another student as he joined the milk drinking contest. After the fact, I remembered learning that many Chinese people are lactose intolerant. Well, this guy rapidly consumed 3 or 4 cartons of milk after he had eaten strawberry ice cream, and he was still able to participate the rest of the day...maybe it's a myth or maybe he has built up a tolerance.



The first snack purchase of the day, cheese curds. Oh man, soft, white cheese, amazingly light batter, fried to perfection.
Someone forgot to take their "I visited the Oink booth" crown off.
This amazingly awesome ribbon says, "I milked a goat today." We encouraged him to wear the ribbon to his first day of classes.

Roasted corn was a big hit. Many people in China eat corn like this everyday for breakfast so it probably tasted like comfort food to them.

We wanted to see the infamous huge pig at the fair. But what a bummer, it had gone home. We were all very upset and rolled around on the hay and poop covered floor in protest (yeah, maybe not.)

Photos from the Lake

I wanted to post some positive photos on here after feeling kind of dooms-dayish in the last couple of posts. These photos are from 2 week-ends ago when I got to hang out with some really cool Chinese and Uzbekistan students at a lake.


Tomorrow, I am going with the same group (Hospitality Center for Chinese) to the Minnesota State Fair. I'm anxious to experiencing the MN state fair for the first time while starting to build some friendships with students :)