the 25 things of facebook

1. My obsession in making mixed tapes/CDs transferred itself into making playlists on iTunes... I have 171 playlists.

2. I dislike how self-focused I can be... For example I really like doing things like this and started to think of what I would write before I was ever tagged.

3. I made no New Year resolutions this year... I'm still working on last years: Pay Attention, made because of #2.

4. I could never tell you what my single favorite book, movie, song was. There will always be at least three answers.

5. I had a few traumatic experiences with stage make up as a child and to this day will not use an eye liner pencil.

6. God catches my attention using the numbers 11 and 44.

7. I have memorized 5 books of the Bible and there was a time when I could quote Hebrews and 1,2,3 Peter without making a single mistake.

8. I still love to memorize things and could rattle off about a dozen poems.

9. I used to do a paper route and would make the hours go by quicker by pretending I was delivering messages for the Jewish Underground during WWII.

10. My favorite game to play with my sisters and brother when we were little was loosly based on the Boxcar Children and a movie called On Our Own.

11. I was an extremely imaginative child... something I haven't quite grown out of.

12. For example, I love story in any form I encounter it and I tend to become quite entwined in what I'm reading or seeing. Once as a child I was so caught up in a book I was reading I just caught myself before asking for prayer for the main character. I still have to remind myself that "it's just a movie."

13. I probably know more children's songs than anyone I (or you) know. And have taken great delight in singing them incessantly to annoy my friends.

14. I'm a bit of a pack rat but clutter REALLY bothers me, so all my stuff is neatly organized.

15. I didn't discover how much I love travelling until I was 23.

16. I am absolutely hopeless at video games. I babysit for three boys who love to play Mario Kart on their Wii. They always make me be on a seperate team so I won't bring down their score.

17. I frequently crave dill pickles.

18. I could probably quote the entirety of You've Got Mail.

19. I've come to realized that a lot of my fashion choices are inspired by movies that I like.

20. I am on a continual hunt to find the perfect facial cleanser and moisterizer, I've tried dozens to no avail.

21. I secretly take great delight in shocking people with the fact that I've never seen Star Wars or James Bond or Indiana Jones. And that I can't swim.

22. For my 7th birthday we went to the circus and I formed a little crush on the lion tamer.

23. I imagine that when I retire I will have a little house in the mountains and spend my days wandering the hills, gardening, painting, throwing pots, and reading. And maybe writing poetry.

24. I secretly wish that I had curly hair.

25. I don't really like diamonds, or roses.

my favorite quote

"Once I read a story about a butterfly on the subway and today, I saw one. It got on at 42nd and off at 59th where, I assume, it was going to Bloomingdale's to buy a hat, which will turn out to be a mistake, as almost all hats are." ~You've Got Mail

ballet shoes

One of my favorite movies is "You've Got Mail." I know it's a rather typical girly movie, but I'm not even going to classify it as a guilty pleasure, I just really like it.

In one of the best parts Meg Ryan's character, Kathleen Kelly, goes into the children's section of the chain store that's putting her independant children's bookstore out of business. She just sits and looks around, quite sadly. Then, she over hears a conversation between a customer and a rather unknowledgable sales man.

Woman - "Excuse me, do you have The Shoe Books?"
Sales man - "The Shoe Books, who's the author?"
Woman - "I don't know, my friend told me my daughter had to read The Shoe Books, so here I am."
Kathleen - "Noel Streatfeild. Noel Streatfeild wrote Ballet Shoes, Theater Shoes, Skating Shoes, and Dancing Shoes. I'd start with Skating Shoes, it's my favorite. Although Ballet Shoes is completely wonderful, but it's out of print."
(She's fighting back tears by this point.)

Anyway, there's more to the scene, but you get the point (one of them being I've seen this movie a lot). And my point is that working at the OxFam shop this week I found a copy of Ballet Shoes! I had never heard of the books outside of the movie, didn't even know they were real. But apparently they're classics in British children's literature. I'm so excited!

a little rant

Today I feel like Meg Ryan in "You've Got Mail" when she's sick and Tom Hanks comes to visit her and he says, "It wasn't personal." And she says, "What is that? I am so sick of that. All that means is that it wasn't personal to you. But it was personal to me. It's personal to a lot of people. What is so wrong with being personal anyway? I mean if nothing else something should begin by being personal!" (I've seen this movie a lot!)

And I just want to say (not only in regard to the red and pink holiday that just past but also about the red and green holiday and just things in general) that just because something has been over commercialized doesn't mean it can't be celebrated in a big way and enjoyed for what it really means. And it doesn't mean you're hip or cool or special because you moan about how much you aren't going to celebrate and how overrated all of these things are. (Really, everybody does that. It's like these groups of teenagers who think they're so different from everyone else when really they're all clones of one another.)

I think the really hip and cool and special thing to do is celebrate, celebrate BIG and not let commercialism or cynical party-poopers spoil something that has the potential to be something siginifcant and wonderful. I mean isn't that what Jesus wants us to do anyway? Live a celebratory life? Live life to the full? Live a life full of wonder and excitement? Enjoy one another? Remember things that are important?

At least don't spoil it for those of us who want to try!