Your humor makes me, makes me nauseous.

"Whoa, when I take off my glasses you all got smaller."
-intense laughter-
"Who knew the number one mood killer is taking off your glasses? Dear Erica: note to self -- get contacts!"
(The summary of why I shouldn't speak around my friends... Lol).

Not going to lie, I'm pretty sick of seeing plaid. And big glasses that serve no real purpose. Not that I'm sad that the hippie trend has moved on to the hipster trend, just that I'm sad that the vast majority of people I know still follow trends. I feel like we're old enough to have self-defined by now, without the use of trends and fads.

Someone mentioned to me a few weeks ago that my group of friends and I are more like a family than friends. I think that's true. We do have a frame in our living room that says 'our family' full of pictures of us. I am very grateful for these friends. Even more than that, I'm grateful for how real and deep they all are. It's a huge blessing.

I've also come to realize this week how much my three best friends from high school mean to me. It's tough for us to all be moving on, but I feel that if I devote enough time and effort, I can hold on to these friendships forever.

Lately I've been enjoying foreign films and independent films. I hope everyone who reads this checks out a few in their lifetime. Here is a small, 20-minute film that may have changed my life last night.

Discretion's Not What I Need to Sell.

Quote of the year... courtesy of Personality Psychology and Dr. Hackney.
"The Hackney Dirty Slut Index: On a scale of prude to hooker, where would you place yourself?"

Marvelous.
Simply marvelous!

Be a part of an institution, lead the way in a revoloution.

I realized yesterday that I am going to need a year off after school just to swallow and process all the information I will have absorbed during my 5-year long adventure in Bachelor of Arts with an Honours French Major, Psychology Minor and Bachelor of Education.

I love my house. I live with some of the best guys around; Richard, Kevin, Corey, Chad and Nathan, as well as my stellar roomie Amanda. Two weeks ago at devos, we spent all night making jokes about Richard making porn and Corey being a pedophile. This week at devos we spent almost two hours discussing whether Deedz was doing God’s work or not. Just based on the fact that we can be laughing in both of those discussions means that I have found a crowd I can fit into, have fun with, grow with and learn from. I think that is as good as it gets.

One of my goals for this school year is to have 100 coffee dates. So far I have managed to squeeze in 5. I'm so excited for all of these coffee dates. So many people here are so amazing and have a lot of wisdom to offer.

Apparently many people from my school no longer believe in short-term missions. Anyone who doesn’t believe in short-term missions needs to move past “numbers” and “results” and look up God’s commandment to take care of the widow and the orphan. I’m pretty sure He didn’t specify how long we had to spend with them to ‘take care’ of them. And I’m also pretty sure He didn’t tell us to ensure “results”. And how can we measure efficiency, change or worth? Certainly not the way He measures efficiency, change or worth.

Everyone who thinks choral music is lame should listen to Crucifixus by Lotti and O Magnum Mysterium by Lauridsen.

Today was “Random Act of Chocolate Day”, in the world of my I.T. Boss. Score!

When it's Not Worth Dying For

This has been quite the time...

After naming my year the "Year of Accountability" I got to fight through mess after mess of defining accountability and judgment, being held accountable, and holding others accountable. Though I'm grateful for the lessons of the year so far, I'm hoping it's a little smoother sailing as I move into my third year at Redeemer.

I learned a lot about people by stirring the pot in our little faith community, that's for sure. When people feel that their way of life is threatened, I find there are two basic reactions; they either consider the validity of this new viewpoint, or they automatically declare it wrong and fight back viciously. I think that as Christians we need to be careful of this. God has called us to correction, and yet we have to be sure we are being corrected and not led astray. It reminds me of the song 21 Guns, by Green Day (honestly, I love this group and really appreciate their honest lyrics) which asks "Do you know what's worth fighting for?"

This year was tough, because only some people took correction very well, and even took it upon themselves to correct me on my own failings. Moments like these made me glad to be a Christian. (Not to mention I ended up with a boyfriend out of the deal, who just may be the greatest guy on earth). However, there were some people that refused to consider correction and lashed out in every way possible against this threat to their way of living. There were times when I was confused because I didn't even know who was fighting against me, and there were times where I was afraid because I felt everyone was fighting against me.

Luckily, though, I made it through the year relatively unscathed. This year (which is still the "Year of Accountability" until New Years) will hopefully pick up in a very different place than it left off.

Just Last the Year.

It disturbs me that sometimes people actually don't WANT love/peace/joy/friendship/simplicity/honesty.
They'd rather raise hell.
They'd rather be right.
They'd rather cause problems.
They'd rather get attention.

...

Disturbing.

A Combination of God and Chess Pieces.

Our world is interesting.
Twitter and micro-blogging are phenomena which I will never understand. I know what it's like to want an audience (clearly, otherwise the things I write in here would just go in a journal of sorts), but why the need for affirmation and disconnected connection all the time?
Facebooking, MSN, email, texting, Twitter, blogs, myspace... why the need for constant connection? Not that I haven't fallen into it, too. But why is my worth measured on how many people comment on my new Facebook picture? I find it interesting, comparing our generation to the one before us.
In any case, I've decided that I do, in fact, like personal connection better. Like the single-serving friends I get from standing in line for food with someone else who gets the 'veggie delite' and talking about why we don't eat meat. Or going out for coffee with someone I've seen around but not really gotten to talk to. Or heck, going for a walk at Webster's Falls with an old friend who I've known for years.
Yep. Real connection.
Speaking of connection, here's an interesting website; this artist has truly captured 'disconnected connection', though not in the internet form. The pictures, taken in NYC, show a way in which the subjects all share something without knowing it, such as all being in a rush, or all carrying flowers.
Below are my favorites from the collection. Here's the link to the wepage:
http://www.v1gallery.com/artist/show/3

Someone Makes Love; Love Makes Someone.

Speak with passion and others can feel the power of your words. Stop making sense and start making love. Sometimes I think speaking and dancing were separated at birth and are longing to find each other again.
--Ben Lee.

People around here just need to calm down, take a breath, check themselves and remember love.