Football!

I played soccer tonight with a bunch of foreigners. Iranians, Palestinians, and Germans. And you couldn't have found a group of more good-natured, hilarious people. A particular highlight of the evening was when I realized we had an equal number of blonde and black-haired people...so we split the teams, towheads vs blackheads, to determine which was the superior race;). The darkies won! I decided that this is my preferred method of exercise - running and screaming and laughing and scoring and sweating and kicking with fun, pleasant people. Forget treadmills, lets play soccer!

Some Things That Make Me Happy...

Mmmm. So I walk in the house very late in the evening, nearly ten-ish, and my dear darling little brother Jacob (his pet-name I can't disclose here) is making snickerdoodle cookies! Sweet precious little punkin that he is! He immediately wants me to check the consistency of his batter, which of course I do. Then he hospitably invites me to help him roll out the balls to dip in cinnamon/sugar, and of course I do. He is 12, ok? And just the sweetest little cookie-maker you ever did see! And they turned out so, so lovely! I was praising his melt-in-your-mouth masterpieces and you know what the little darling said? "That's why I like cooking with you! We've got to start teaming up and cooking together more!" Of course we do! Precious little lamb of God!!

He even accidentally mixed up the recipie and confused some of the ingredients...but they turned out so nice that he decided it's his secret recipie! A late-night sporatic cookie maker...child after my own heart!

WATCH THIS!!!

Friends, today is a great day, because my friend Bekah (who I just spent 6 weeks with in her home of Calcutta, India) finally posted our world-famous COCKROACH MOVIE on  her blog!!!!!

This epic three-minute film gives you a glimpse into the harrowing reality of daily life in India. Part comedy, part tragedy, part action/fight/war, part suspense/horror/thriller, this movie encompasses it all. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll sit at your computer and watch it over, and over, and over again, just like I do. To view this monumental cinema accomplishment that will change your life forever, go to:

bekahslifeinindia.blogspot.com and click on the first video. The title is, shockingly, "Cockroaches In My Closet - Aghhh." 

And aghh it is, friends. Aghh it is.

The List...

There are some things that I've definitely got figured out for my future. Not many, but they are important. Such as:

*At my funeral, I want my sister to sing "As the Deer Panteth for the Water"

*On my tombstone, I want this description of a delicious FairTrade coffee that we got from Trader Joes in Indianapolis: "Bright, Sweet, and mildly Nutty."

*If I get married, at my wedding rehersal:

~Everyone will walk down to aisle to the original Ompa-Lumpa song.

~I will deliver the "Maiwage" (marriage) speech off Princess Bride.

~At the real wedding, I'll come down the aisle to "I am the rose"...you don't know it, I'm sure. But there's this great climax where the doors will fling open and BOOM, BABY! There I'll be. I'll sing it for you sometime. 

*I won't have pets, probably. Except maaaaybe goats. And then I'd milk them and make cheese.

*Whatever I do long-term, it will involve public speaking, world travel, writing, and counteracting social injustice. Passionately. 

And many more things. But that's all that comes to mind at the moment. 

Friiiied Chicken

I think I should assign these blogs a title based on the homework that I should be doing instead. For example, yesterday's would've been "studying for statistics exam," and todays would be "psychology research assignment." 

But it's fried chicken. 

I made fried chicken tonight. I invented it too. Kinda. Well I decided what spices to put in it. We also had corn-on-the-cobb, and mashed potatoes 'n gravy, and...here's the kicker...APPLE FRITTERS! Dang, that should've been my title! With homemade apple butter! You get the picture? What a scrumptious, yumptious, and altogether good dinner! Which made me realize, yet again, that I truly adore it when things come together. There's a lot of satisfaction in all these random elements called ingredients being assembled by my hands to be enjoyed by others. It's my small, silly, Southern relation to God of creation. Taking nothing, bringing it to order, to fullness, to that swell of mmmm. That's why we've got the Wedding Feast of the Lamb to look forward to. Not the food so much as the fulfillment of everything coming together to the best and most and fullest it can be, for us to partake, to enjoy, to revel in the perfection of it. 

~just please let there be apple fritters. 

***Tears

I cried today...and I cry frequently, truth be told. 

I have rules for my tears, of course. Like they're never ever to be indulged in if I'm:

 a.) feeling sorry for myself, 

b.) overwhelmed due to my own negligence or procrastination, and 

c.) if I'm only doing it because I think I should, rather than feel I should. 

Inversely, there are sort of Un-rules for tears too. Like I don't have to be able to put words to why I cry. Don't have to be able to label, explain, justify something into a tidy little therapy package with a "here's how this helped me" tag attached. Crying is good, and we do it for a reason; emotions exist for a purpose. But it's only good when it's real; when it's deep, and you can feel it burning in your face or throbbing in your chest or swelling in your throat. Or there's the peaceful tears that slip, drip, glide beautifully and serenely away from your eyes. When you can feel the sadness filling up your soul and brimming over in that most cherished expression of what's inside coming out. 

I suppose the simplest rules for tears are: don't ever make them if they're not there, and don't ever stop them if they're waiting. But do cry, dear. 

To market, To market

I just went to the ri-ver mar-ket, la la la la la la laaa, LA! (that's a song i just invented i hope you like it). And even though the day is dreary and grey, I still feel like skipping and singing, because markets just make you feel that way! Not to mention the glorious experience of waking up late and going home to my house to eat apple pie and ice cream and baguette with apple butter and coffee with fresh-from-the-cow cream for breakfast. Mmmm. All home-made, by the way. Then I waddled myself to the market with a very dear and delightful friend, and we ate basil and bought tomatoes and smelled flowers and skipped around singing my 'river market la la la' song. 

Ok we didn't do the skipping thing, but as an afterthought, it would've been terribly cute. Or corny. Oh i bought some corn too!

Fat cats.

Typing is a little difficult, because there's a fat cat sitting on the keyboard. Sleeping was also a little difficult, because there was a fat cat hogging my pillow. Even coffee was a little difficult, because I had to guard my steaming cup of morning glory with my life, since leaving it unattended for more than 3 seconds exposed the valuable beverage to the insatiable curiosity of yet another fat cat. 

I'm cat-sitting! That's right, as of this evening I'm a full-time, highly professional fat cat sitter! (the recently used adjective was referring to the cats, not the sitter. hopefully.) The next two weeks of my life will be spent mostly at school, as usual, but also in a lovely spacious condo that I'll be sharing with three fat, soft, little-ball-of-fur friends, Doug, Georgy, and...I forget. Trudi. So I'm looking forward to lots of time of quiet reflection peaceful introspection. Ever-acompanied by a trio of fat cats. It will be lovely. 

Testing...1...2....3

Welcome, welcome to my newest excuse for procrastinating my homework!

Whenever you read this, rest assured that it's either absurdly late at night, or there's a paper I should be writing instead...terrible, but true.