No, it wasn't icy.

I am under the belief that blogs are no fun unless you take the opportunity to make seriously self-deprecating posts. Like the following:

I somehow managed to completely wipe out on the way inside my house tonight. It was dark, I was holding a purse, some books, newspapers, mail, a giant tupperware container and my keys, then apparently my shoes and the sidewalk decided to have a disagreement. I was about a foot away from the (concrete) porch, tripped, hit my knee on one stair, dropped all my stuff and tried to catch myself on the next, did the customary try-to-save-yourself with the wrist, and slammed my chin right onto the top step. Then I laid there and felt sorry for myself for about a minute before I decided that being cold and being outside at night was worse than the pain, so I hobbled inside and surveyed the damage. My jaw now pops, my wrist doesn't work, and my knee is raw, purple and about twice it's normal size, but other than that, I'm A-okay! (which is great news, considering I'm uninsured until January.)

Peter Jenkins

So, every Wednesday at my office, we have speakers come in for what are basically devotionals. This week our speaker was Peter Jenkins, author of A Walk Across America, which is basically the Into the Wild of the 1970-80s. I remember reading it years ago in junior high or something after scouring my parents' bookshelves for summer reading. (because I'm a nerd)

On Wednesday, Jenkins shared some stories from the beginning of his trip, including how he arrived at the decision to begin what ended up being a 5-year walk across America. Most of his talk revolved around stories from that trip, but eventually he focused on fear--the fear he faced as a recent college grad from Connecticut beginning a journey straight into the South, where every pick-up driver was a cast member from Deliverance. How he ended up living in an all-black community for 5 months, and what it felt like to be a minority for the first time in his life.

Jenkins was fresh from Woodstock and had the mindset that America was completely screwed up. Which is what I think a lot of us think. We're part of a generation that's been given everything and desperately wants to give something back. But our generation sees what some of the leaders before us have done, how they've corrupted societies, how they've destroyed the environment, and we get the impression that it will take some massive force or some political savior to change the world. Jenkins set out to prove himself wrong--to see if America really was beyond hope. I wonder if sometimes we only see America and the world in a big picture sense, and forget about the people who actually live in it. That it's not a government that makes a country, but the people.

Stuff Christians Like

Today, I heard this guy speak at work. He was great. He had a lot of good things to say, but he was also one of the funniest speakers we've had so far. Most of you are probably familiar with stuffwhitepeoplelike, and this is in much the same vein--except it's about Christians. (if you grew up in church or went to a Christian college, there's definitely some stuff you'll relate to.)

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

beautiful.

tragic.

what should i be for halloween?

go.

am I a terrible person if...

I don't vote? I know it's a rejection of the democratic process, etc. But, I'm not a huge Obama fan; sure, he's charismatic and I'd rather listen to him than someone else for the next 4 years, but I don't really agree with all of his platform. Now McCain--I just don't like McCain. At all.

The funny thing is, I'm completely ready to vote. I'm registered in Tennessee; I even looked up the locations of the early voting places, then realized that I don't even know who to vote for.

So do I vote for someone I like but don't agree with, do I vote for someone I despise, or do I throw my vote away on third party candidates that I don't know anything about?

come visit me!

welcome to to world of carpooling

It's wonderful. Given, I have to get up and leave my house a little earlier, but it makes up for it in gas and general commuting enjoyment. Melissa (my marketing assistant and music star coworker) and I trust in the good graces of the church we park at that they won't tow us, and make the trip down to Franklin every day. Okay, so it's only day 3 or so, but we're loving it.

i'm ready for december.

i swear...if John McCain says "pork barrel" or "cronies" one more time...

obligitory star-sighting blog post

For people who live in Nashville, there's always the somewhat shameful game of who has the best star-sighting. Someone in the crowd always mentions Ben Folds or Alison Krauss (I've yet to hear Jack White, but I feel like he's someone that wouldn't get out much.) As far as this game is concerned, I've hit the jackpot. Nicole Kidman + hubby not once, but twice. First time: summer of 2006 at a Tommy Emmanuel concert; second time: last night in a movie theatre lobby. That's right, 3 feet away.

I'm in the market for a banjo

I think there should be a book Netflix. Like Netboox or something. (okay, maybe not the cleverest of names.) I did find this. But it costs 10 bucks a month. Mine would be FREE. because the library is free, no? The only day I have to go to the library is on Saturdays, and the library in my neighborhood is just plain sad. They have about 15 computers and about two shelves of books. Sad. Who wants to market this with me?

Last night, my roommate and I spent some quality time on Craigslist laughing at the missed connections and looking for cheap banjos. After much searching, we decided that this was the winner: the manjo.

sawdust and senators

This week I've begun a unhealthy addiction to new-to-me albums of The Killers. I haven't listened to them since Hot Fuss, but Sam's Town and Sawdust have been my best friends this week.

I work here, for the LiveEvents part of the company. We're in most ways a financial company, so needless to say, this past week has been a little crazy (thanks to the current financial state of the country). From what I understand about economics, which is not much, but steadily increasing the longer I'm at Dave Ramsey, this bailout plan is going to screw up the country. Way to go, US! I'm so ready for the weekend.

i am an old, old woman

I was going to write a real blog tonight, but I looked at the clock (which currently reads 10:14 pm CST) and realized it's 14 minutes past my bedtime.

so.....future blogs to look forward to (if i ever get around to writing them):

human cycles (involving wars, anthropology and various things I read in a book by a rabbi)
my thoughts on 'My Name is Asher Lev'
coming to terms with whether i'm living in a high-crime area of nashville to be trendy or not
my job and baby steps 1234567
what post-grad aloneness looks like and how it's so much better than college aloneness

move over devendra.

The avett brothers have stolen my music-loving heart.

I have a stack of ten books to read for work. Literally.

I like to think that I have a commuter friend. This morning I sat at a stoplight waiting to get on 65-S next to a guy who was on a bike and wearing a striped tank top. Tonight, as I rushed from work to my Financial Peace class, I drove next to the same guy, wearing the same tank top, riding away from downtown on Gallatin. Maybe we'll be friends. Who never actually meet.

naturally,

McCain picked a woman.

it's time to bring out the death cab

Does anyone else have seasonal music associations?

For example, today was pre-autumn-ish, misty, cloudy, etc. Which meant that I suddenly got Death Cab's Plans stuck in my head and I had to listen to them all day. Kings of Leon, also good in autumn. Feist, Andrew Bird: only in the summer. Ryan Adams' Love is Hell, Snow Patrol, Jimmy Eat World's Futures: winter. Radiohead: usually winter as well. This doesn't really work with all of my music, but those for sure.
Apparently I don't like music in spring.

(After I wrote "misty" at the top, I had the urge to follow it up with "may." The Olympics have taken over my brain.)

ABBA

I went and saw Mamma Mia! with my mom, some friends, their mom, and all of our moms' friends. They loved it. I just think Pierce Brosnan should probably never be allowed to sing.

some thoughts on time travel...or not.

Occasionally I get introspective. Just occasionally. Anyhow, I was thinking about what it would be like if we could go back in our lives and edit and tweak things. There's about two years of my life that I debate about. If I could go back, would I be friends with different people, spend more time doing different things, (take less hours)? In some senses, looking back, my life would be a lot easier. Even now--as the result of those decisions. But here's the catch: if we could go back, if I could go back and delete and change and alter situations, would I be happy? I'm not talking about a reincarnation of "the butterfly effect"...we all know how that ended up. However, maybe it's the stuff that we learn to adapt around, and the things that we laugh about and regret and worry and grieve over that make us understand ourselves better. That make us--not necessarily immediately happy--but content. Because I think contentment is not so much about complacence, but about grace. Having grace towards others, and most importantly, towards ourselves.

I've been reading this book by Salman Rushdie called The Ground Beneath Her Feet,* and in one part the main character was talking about how people in love only hear what they want to hear. He says something to the extent of: "love beats earplugs any day," which in context was humorous, but in reality is probably rather true. There's this point in friendship and relationship where no matter what our friends may say, we will still be in denial that anything is amiss. We can nod our heads all day in agreement, and say, "yes, you're so right, i do need to...etc.", but deep down we ignore every word. I've thought about that, wondering how true that is in my life (which, if you know me well, i'm sure you know the answer to, but I'd like to think it has also been true for most people). I've come to the conclusion that maybe it's okay. Perhaps sometimes it's okay to believe the best in a person or a friendship. (obviously, there are unhealthy situations...) But I wonder how our attitudes and interactions would change if we suddenly tried our best to ignore each others' faults. I'm sure we would all walk all over each other, but maybe we would learn a little more about what it is to love each other unconditionally. And maybe we would become emotional wrecks and annoy our friends ad nauseam.



*i'm not entirely sure that i recommend this book...i'm only about halfway through. we'll see...

it's true

big foot exists.