second night

There's only a handful of movies that I've ever seen twice while in the theater. Today, The Dark Knight was added to this short list. I first saw it a month ago with my brother and my parents while David was gone backpacking. I was worried that all the hype had heightened my expectations too much and that on some level I would be a little disappointed. This was not at all the case....it met every expectation and then some. After the credits started to roll, I knew I would be seeing this movie once more before it left the big screen.

This afternoon, I finally took David with me to once again see what I think is definitely the best movie of the summer, if not the year. Seeing this film twice has now confirmed for me what a masterful work of cinema it is. The plot is full of non-stop action AND intelligence --two characteristics that don't usually go together in a movie. The tone of the movie sucked me completely into the dark and mysterious atmosphere of Gotham City. And I know that Heath Ledger's performance has been praised ad nauseam, but I'll do nothing but add to that praise: I strangely look forward to every scene the Joker is in because Ledger has created a character that is mesmerizing to watch.

There's already a lot of talk about whether Christopher Nolan will sign on to direct a third "Batman" movie. However, I could understand if Nolan is somewhat hesitant...because how do you top something as amazing as this?

two completely unrelated items

One thing I like:


Fiber-One bars have changed how I view granola bars. My dear friend Rachel Blaine informed me of the existence of these wonderful food items a month ago, and after hearing her endorsement of these fiber-filled delectables, I rushed to Costco and bought a box. She wasn't lying, they truly are a healthy granola bar that tastes like a candy bar! And they come in a variety of different flavors, which I was pleased to discover while strolling through Target the other day. I seriously look forward to having one at work each day. Scrumptious.

One thing I don't like:

Focus on the Family, a Christian group I'm growing more and more disappointed with, asked their supporters in a YouTube video (which they now have pulled) to pray for rain of "biblical proportions" when Barack Obama gives his acceptance speech outside tonight at Mile High stadium in Denver. What's ironic to me is that today is also the 45th anniversary of MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech, a historic call for respect and unity within America. Forty-five years later, it doesn't really seem like some of the Focus on the Family folks understand this message.

of challah bread and a Savior

To avoid getting stuck in a 'reading rut', I made a list of different fiction and nonfiction books I wanted to read this summer, and I finished the first book off that nonfiction list this weekend--"Girl Meets God" by Lauren Winner. Winner chronicles her unique spiritual journey in this memoir that is a very approachable and interesting look into her former life as an Orthodox Jew and her conversion to Christianity. I knew next to nothing about Orthodox Judaism before reading this book, so in addition to having fun reading it, I also learned quite a few things as well. Winner puts a fresh spin on several Christian traditions like Advent (that have become routine to me) because she reflects on the meaning of these events both from her Jewish and Christian perspectives. I would definitely recommend this book, it was thought-provoking without being overly theologically dense and I appreciated Winner's authenticity in sharing her struggles and triumphs in her process of conversion.

Capturing the moment

Another awesome Olympic highlight: claiming the gold over China in women's beach volleyball.

The 29th Olympiad

The Olympics have always been an exciting time for me. I grew up with a family that considered watching the Olympics a must-watch nightly event for the entire duration of the games. I have always been enthralled by all the different back stories of the athletes--each has their own unique journey that bring them to a place where they hope to win a medal and make their country proud.

During these summer Olympics, I think I've hit the point of being obsessed. Obsessed with seeing the results 'live' (ok, well not really thanks to NBC's stupid West Coast time delay), which has meant that the entire last week I've stayed up past midnight every night to see who's going to win the gold in gymnastics or swimming. Needless to say, my boss started to notice on Thursday how tired I looked. But the bags under my eyes have been worth it. I've watched swimming, gymnastics, beach volleyball, diving, badminton, track, rowing, and yes, even the trampoline competition (seriously? this is in the Olympics?)

So far, the most exciting moments of these games have come from watching the women's all-around gymnastics final (I was ecstatic that our women took gold AND silver) and of course, watching Michael Phelps write history with his 8 gold medals. My stomach was in knots watching the 4 x 100 meter freestyle relay---Jason Lezac came through at the last possible MILLISECOND to beat the French and win it for the Americans. Then there was last night's 100 meter butterfly race. Absolutely heart-stopping. The difference between Phelps' gold and Cavic's silver: one-hundredth of a second. The group we were watching with was all screaming at the TV and then was in disbelief at the photo finish. Some in our group did not think Phelps had done it. But the electronic touch pad doesn't lie...and Phelps won by literally the length of a fingernail. You couldn't ask for better Olympic moments than these. And to think, there's an entire week left...here's to more amazing victories yet to come!

the moon is a magnet

"Lately music has been my compass: it's neither the map, nor the road but a steady constant that can help me make sense of the both. Most of the time, the songs that I write are more honest than I am."
~Jon Foreman

On Tuesday, I went with my bro and his friends (I was the elder of the group...haha) to catch Jon Foreman's show at Cafe du Nord in San Francisco. I hesitated at first about going because the show didn't begin until 9:30, so I knew I'd get home around 2 am. But then my brother hit me where it hurts with a comment about me being old and losing my college vitality...so obviously then I knew I had to go to prove him wrong!

Jon Foreman is the lead singer of Switchfoot, one of my favorite bands, and during the last year he has released 4 solo EPs for each season - Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer. Like Switchfoot songs, his solo stuff is insightful and introspective but the musical sound is way different---on some tracks he definitely has a Sufjan Stevens vibe going. For his live show, he was accompanied by a cello and drums and it was a wonderful, stripped down sound.

Some of his songs sounded even better in person and he threw in a few Switchfoot songs as well ('Only Hope' and 'Dare you to Move'). He is such a gifted songwriter and it's hard not to be convicted by his lyrics. However, his songs never sound preachy because you can tell he wrote them for himself as an outlet to articulate his mixed feelings towards American Christianity and the church and the pain and hurt in life.

Again, another concert I'm so glad I didn't miss....live shows re-energize me in a way not many things can!

Waiting for Jon to play

My brother's beard is frightening

law and order: part 2

After a long lunch break, we met back in the jury room only to be told that both lawyers needed more time to look over the questionnaires. I guess I shouldn't have expected the judicial process to be timely....ha. An hour later, we finally went back down to the courtroom and this is where the fun began.

They called 18 people up at a time, 12 to sit in the jury box and 6 to sit in the alternate row. Both sides then questioned these people about the answers they gave in their questionnaires, which as you can tell from my previous post had great potential to be uncomfortable. After all 18 had been questioned, the D.A. and the defense could say which people they wanted to excuse and then more people were called up to fill the now empty spots.

I should mention that both lawyers were younger woman, no older than 35. I found this interesting....I was expecting the defense lawyer to be a man. I wondered why this woman would defend this sleazy creep and then I realized a core truth of the justice system: I needed to be presuming this guy was INNOCENT until proven guilty, not the other way around. Both the judge and the defense would remind everyone of this multiple times. The prosecution must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was guilty of a crime and not just some guy who had anal lube in a Motel 6 (which is gross, but not a crime).

A favorite question of the defense was to ask each person if they would want themselves as a juror if they were sitting in the defendant's seat. A lot of people responded with an honest "no" and were then made to explain why. "I had a family member in a similar situation." "I'm a mother of a 17 year old daughter." "I work for a women's organization that has to report situations like this." "I just couldn't be impartial due to my personal beliefs."

After each reason, the defense lawyer would reemphasize that the law calls us to be impartial and fair and set our personal feelings aside and determine a verdict based on the evidence alone and not our preconceptions. She then would ask each person one last time if, as mandated by the law, they could give her defendant a fair trial? Most feebly replied "Well, I hope I could be fair."

Another highlight of the questioning session was when the D.A. asked one of the potential jurors to further explain what he wrote on his questionnaire about his thoughts toward district attorneys. He then snarled "I think they're all pathetic!" Everyone in the room tried to stifle their laughter. Then the D.A. asked if there were previous experiences that this man had had to justify his feelings. Again, he retorted angrily, "That's none of your business!" Needless to say, he was excused.

Well this is going to be anticlimatic, but I wasn't questioned. After two and a half hours, they finally settled on 12 jurors and 2 alternates and the rest of us were excused. As I walked down the courthouse steps, I pondered over the fact that those people chosen would decide a man's fate. Ordinary people like myself get to play a crucial role in choosing the path of someone's life: imprisonment or freedom. But my time to play that role had not come yet and my day as a potential juror was over.

law and order: part 1

A few weeks ago, I received my first jury summons. At first, I groaned and thought "this is going to be a colossal waste of my time". However, my dear husband reminded me that it is my civic duty and I shouldn't be complaining about serving our justice system. "And besides," he said, "I think you'll find the process really interesting."

Well after yesterday, I have to say that I agree with David. For six hours, I got a glimpse into the jury selection process and had my own little taste of being in the ensemble of a courtroom drama.

(cut to the Law and Order intro):

"In the Criminal Justice System, all defendants are innocent until proven guilty, either by confession, plea bargain, or trial by jury. This is one of those trials."

So I was assigned to report to the Woodland Courthouse at 9 am yesterday. Walking up to the courthouse, I had a subtle case of deja vu of being in Washington DC and walking up the steps of the Supreme Court. I arrived a few minutes late (as normal) and was shuffled into the jury assembly room with about 60 other people. What really struck me was the variety in the room--everyone from grandmothers to businessmen in suits to one random guy who came in pajama pants and a fleece robe----seriously. The assembly room gave me the feeling of an airport waiting area....everyone was either reading magazines/books or listening to their iPODS and was anxious to go somewhere. I brought the new book I'm reading "Girls Meets God", and settled into my chair for a little while. After waiting for an hour, we were taken down to the courtroom. The judge was completely the opposite of how I pictured: instead of an intimidating authority figure, he was a jovial fellow and seemed keen on trying to make all of us laugh with his corny jokes ("does anyone feel like they've won the lottery yet?"). He then explained that we were going to be his guinea pigs for the day and try a new process. The D.A. and defense would give a short synopsis of the case and then we would be given a long questionnaire relating to the case's subject matter. After both the prosecution and defense looked over our questionnaires, we would be further questioned to decide who the jury would be.

Then we are told this is a criminal case. My heart beat a little faster after hearing this...a criminal case? What if we have to be sequestered like in the OJ trial? Well, this case wasn't quite the scope of the OJ case. In a nutshell: the defendant had text-messaged a 17 year old girl saying "Want to make an easy $200? Be with me for a night." The girl showed her parents the text, the parents contacted the police, and the police then decided to text him back pretending to be the girl and asked him to meet at a Motel 6. No surprise, the police find him at the Motel 6, all ready to go (we were told he had anal lube in his toiletry bag.....um disgusting), and they arrest him for solicitation of a minor for sex.

The awkward part was that the defendant was in the room when this was being described and it was hard not to look at him and think he wasn't guilty. He had these beady black eyes that were definitely creepy. We then were taken back to the jury room and given these mammoth questionnaires that had questions like this:

Which of the following do you find morally offensive? Explain.

1) Pornography 2) Nudism
3) Premarital sex 4) Masturbation
5) Exhibitionism 6) Homosexuality

Do you believe that two 17-year olds can have consensual sex? Explain.

What is the first word that comes to mind when you hear "district attorney"?

Let's just say it was a load of fun explaining why I found things like pornography morally offensive or how I feel about statutory rape. We were then adjourned until the afternoon and I took this time to explore the Woodland Library (their DVD selection is amazing!) and walk around downtown (not very exciting).

Since this post is getting a little too long, and my stomach is growling, I'll write more later. We'll be back after these commercials!

You can't stop the beat

I'm in an extremely chipper mood. Want to know why? Because I'm listening to my favorite Broadway showtunes! My showtune craze began today after watching "Dr Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog", a made for the internet musical created during the writers strike. Due to this, I have formed a new crush on Neil Patrick Harris. Starting at around 3:41, you will see why.




Well after watching this, I had to feed my hunger for people suddenly bursting into song by putting together a playlist on Imeem of my favorite songs from recent gmusicals. Legally Blonde, Avenue Q, and Wicked just to name a few. I know people say laughter is the best medicine but sometimes for me, a good Broadway melody will do just as well.

Cause I'm free...

There's not many things better to me than seeing a live show. Especially if John Mayer's playing. Last night was my 5th (or maybe even 6th?) show seeing John and each time there's always a different undertone to his show from everything to the set list to what kinds of solos he plays. This show I would label as "contemplative". Sure, he still had some playful banter with the crowd but there were several moments where he showed a more vulnerable side (well, as vulnerable as you can be with thousands of people). He played "Wheel", an introspective and melancholy song from his album Heavier Things, and in the middle he said that he normally doesn't do dedications...but that he would like to dedicate the meaning of the song to Randy Pausch, who passed away last week at 47 years old. [tangent begin] In case you haven't heard of him, Randy Pausch is the man who captivated many with his 'last lecture' that he gave while a professor at Carnegie Mellon and this lecture later became a world-wide phenomenom spread all over the Internet. The 'last lecture' about how to make the most of life was inspired by the fact that Pausch was terminally ill with cancer and he wanted to depart some of life's little wisdoms to his three young children before he died. [tangent end] Anyway, John said that Pausch's words were "stuck in his head and heart forever" and that he hoped when he got to be 47, he knew half as much about the world around him as Pausch did. It was definitely a 'softer side of John' moment.
Other unique parts of the show included a good amount of covers: Cream's quintessential blues rocker "Crossroads", snippets of The Talking Heads' "Burning Down the House", "Today" by Smashing Pumpkins, Duffy's "Mercy", and most notably, "Free Fallin" by Tom Petty. It's awesome how John puts his own spin on the song and yet is still able to stay true to the original version simultaneously. The night ended with one of my favorite JM songs, "Gravity" and I left on a concert high.
Here's to many more John Mayer shows to come!

We were noticing how John looks like a tanned chump in this poster

My fellow John Mayer fanatic, Aubrey

Had so much fun with these girls!

Balancing act

Over the last year, I've become more and more convicted by my materialism and continue to be amazed at just what a strong grip American consumerism has on me even though I try and fight it. So I have tried to make a conscious effort to discern whether I really need something before I buy it. But let's be honest, all I really physically NEED in this world is some food, a place to sleep, and a few items of clothing. So then the question really becomes "what degree of frivolity is this purchase?" Also, as many of you know, I will usually not buy anything on impulse. Most anything I buy must be carefully researched to make sure I'm getting the best price, etc. Well both my fight against materialism and lack of impulsiveness were challenged today as I was notified (by my fellow deal-watcher Dan Brown), that 30 G refurbished iPods were being offered on Woot.com for $130 for one day only. Now Dan knows (after we visited him and Krystle a few weekends ago) that I have a 6-gig iPod mini that I've definitely outgrown. My iPod still works fine but the poor lil' guy simply cannot hold any more music. Which, for a music fanatic like myself, is not an ideal situation. I hate having to pick and choose what albums I can put on it because it's so hard to know just when I'll feel like listening to that old Jars of Clay album or rocking out to that compilation of Queen songs I made years ago.

So when Dan brought this deal to my attention, it peaked my interest. I had told myself a few weeks ago that before the end of the year, I would purchase a new iPod, but I hadn't really done any research yet. And now I was presented with a 24 hour window in which to purchase this iPod for only $130. The 30-gig iPod can hold up to 8000 songs, but would this be enough or should I just wait and buy the newer 80-gig iPod classic for a hundred dollars more? But then again, a hundred dollars is hundred dollars and Dan promised me that both players were the same as far as durability goes.

After being a slacker at work and looking in multiple Apple forums and reading cNET reviews, I reluctantly pressed the "buy" button and purchased the 30-gig iPod. This reluctance is a natural reflex that happens when I spend more than $50 on something...I always second and triple guess my decision. But now that it's been a few hours, I am happy and looking forward to expanding my musical horizons beyond the 1500 songs I've been able to have on my current iPod. I still struggle with the question of whether I've just fallen into another trap of 'acquiring more stuff', but the decision to go with the older refurbished model instead of buying the flashier new version (because really, will I ever have 80 gigs of music?) makes me feel like I was able to loosen consumerism's grip just a little. And even though I don't physically need to have an mp3 player with all my music on it, I would say it really is an emotional need....music is one of my lifelines!

Down to earth

FINALLY saw "Wall-E" and it was quite a unique cinematic experience. It's hard to compare it to other Pixar faves like "Finding Nemo" or "Ratatouille" because it's just so.....different. How can a robot that only says one word the entire movie be such an endearing character? That's the magic of Pixar, they take anything and make it brilliant. I laughed, I teared up, I was in awe at the utter beauty of some particular scenes, and at the end of it all, as Peter Gabriel sings over the final credits (a great song to end the movie with) I was filled with a sense of hope, a hope inspired by such an overwhelming demonstration of human creativity. When a movie can cause THAT to happen, it's got to be something special.

brain food

Every morning, one of my former campus supervisors sends out a quote of the day and today's was:

If you wish to travel far and fast, travel light. Take off all your envies, jealousies, unforgiveness, selfishness, and fears.
-Glenn Clark

Since I'm definitely in a traveling mood (56 days to Disneyworld and 123 days to Costa Rica!) this was a good metaphor for me to think about.

In other random news,I finished my first book of the summer last week, Three Junes. This was a great read largely because the story took place in several locations - Ireland, Greenwich Village, and Greece -- and so I felt like I was able to travel with the characters to these places. The main characters in this novel were richly developed and by the end, I felt like I had gotten a good insight into their lives, even if they were fictional. I would definitely recommend it.

I am currently doing a quick read of Roald Dahl's "The BFG" because it is one of my favorite children's books. I was reading on the bus yesterday and there was a family a few seats next to me. One of the little girls whispered (not so softly) to her mom: "Why is that woman reading a kid's book?" Her mom replied: "Because a good story isn't meant for just kids!" Amen.

Next, I will finally be reading a book my dear friend Kate has recommended to me for YEARS: Peace Like a River by Leif Enger. I'm gladly taking any other recommendations as well!

Things that go boom

Last weekend we took a little vacay to Southern California for the 4th of July holiday and it was a combo of friends, family, and fireworks. Here's the re-cap of our weekend o'fun.

To fuel up for the drive down Interstate 5, we stopped at Nugget to get gloriously delicious sandwiches that only Nugget can make. I am salivating just thinking about it. My signature sandwich is not the healthiest, because it consists mainly of lots of meat and cheese, but oh how I love it. I get focaccia bread with a basil ailoli spread, brushed with a little olive oil, piled with prosciutto, genoa salami, smoked gouda and fontina cheese. Since the sandwich is so freakin huge, I ate half for lunch and had the other half for dinner...scrumptious!

First stop was staying at my Aunt Becky and Uncle Chuck's place in Huntington Beach. David had been driving 8 hours, and I had been sitting restlessly in the car for 8 hours, so we were both quite tired upon arriving around 10:30 pm. However, somehow we got into a lengthy discussion with my Aunt about the state's decision to legalize same-sex marriage (she is against, we are for) and this caused us to stay up until a little after midnight. But I'm glad we chose to have this conversation instead of pushing it under the rug to avoid being uncomfortable. I'm hoping she can think about some of the points we brought up, mainly how the real issue isn't about how the state defines marriage but rather how we as Christians treat the homosexual community---with judgment or with love?

The next morning Becky takes us to Cappy's Dinner off of PCH in Newport Beach for brunch and then since she's a hair stylist, she takes us to a special store that sells expensive hair products at their wholesale price...and you have to be a licensed stylist in order to get in. I ended up buying Paul Mitchell's tea tree lavender mint shampoo...it smells awesome and I think will help repair my hair from all the flat-ironing I do! Becky even convinced David to buy a new jar of hair gel...after opening up several bottles and enthusiastically trying them all on his hair! Needless to say, David was just a tad annoyed at all the hair product put in his hair and was eager to take a shower afterwards.

We left Huntington and met up with one of my favorite couples: the Rickmans! I know that whenever we spend time with them, there will be lots of laughs. Our first night with them, we went to their favorite Thai place for dinner and had the amazing coconut milk and sticky rice dessert....mmmmm. We chose to rent "Vantage Point" and I have to say I was disappointed---definitely a '24' wannabe but didn't quite hit the mark. The next day, we joined Mark in his 4th of July ritual of watching the annual ESPN Hot Dog Eating contest. It is absurd how serious this competition is, it truly is given the same treatment on ESPN as any other major sports event! The first round resulted in a tie, so there was a 5 dog "eat off"---first one to swallow 5 hot dogs AND buns was proclaimed the champion. Just watching this whole thing made me want to vomit, but it was strangely entertaining as well.

We then went to Golden Spoon for a mid-day frozen yogurt run and decided to mull around Whole Foods. As you can tell, our outings all revolve around food. We ended up buying some awesome blue cheese (a Spanish variety) and a Tillamook sharp white cheddar...along with a fresh baguette and some wine to have before we went to go see an Anaheim Angels game later that evening. Since Mark works for Wells Fargo and Wells Fargo is a sponsor of the Angels, he was able to use his corporate connections to get us good seats for the game AND for the fireworks show afterwards! So we went to the stadium and had a very yuppie-ish tailgate session with our wine and cheese, and then went up to the Knothole, an exclusive club-level restaurant for special Angels guests only (which thanks to Mark, included us!). I'm not a huge fan of baseball, but it was good to catch up with Ashley and discuss our future life plans (or what, at this point, we think are our future plans). During the 8th inning, we went down to join the rest of the Wells Fargoians in order to get our special wristbands needed to be on the field for the fireworks show. That's right, we got to watch the fireworks on the field beside the players and their families...pretty awesome. We came back to their place

The next morning we met up again with my Aunt Becky and Uncle Chuck for breakfast before heading down to Sandy Eggo to see the Browns! Krystle and Dan just bought a condo in SD and I looked forward to seeing the Brown Bungalow. We were greeted by their new kitten, Pixel, and were given the official tour (I loved how Krystle had made a proud display of her Starbucks city mugs in their kitchen). Then we had Dan take us to his office at DivX, a tech company that he works for in La Jolla. Normally, taking someone to your office would be boring but Dan's work setup is awesome and designed with a younger workforce in mind---it's all one huge office space with lots of work stations and lounge spaces with flat screen TVs and Playstations. I laughed when I saw open bottles of alcohol on people's desks.....a little different than the university environment I work in. We came back to their place and changed to go to Chelsea's wedding ceremony. Chelsea is one of the girls who was on the 2004 Italy mission trip with me and through that experience, became a dear friend. I was happy we were going to be in SD the same day as her wedding, and I was also happy to be able to see Nicole (the other girl who was on our team) and catch up with her briefly. We didn't stay for the reception because we didn't want to neglect our already short time with the Browns but I was SO happy I could see her in her wedding dress, beaming with joy as she came down the aisle.
That night, we went to Cafe Coyote in Old Town and enjoyed the margaritas and carnitas....Mexican food always hits the spot. Then we took a little drive around Coronado Island and ended the night by playing some MarioKart on the Wii....I failed miserably. The next day our vacation came to an end and we made the long 10 hour trek back up to NorCal. However, NPR saved the day...we listened to several of their podcasts and were able to not go insane on the long drive (my podcast recommendations: "This American Life" and "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me!").

Overall, a very enjoyable and jam-packed 4 day weekend...if only the drive to see our SoCal friends wasn't so long, otherwise, we would do it more often!

i write you visions of my summer

Since this week marks the start of summer on the UCD campus, I was reflecting yesterday about what the season of summer for me used to be like 10-15 years ago. This would be my typical routine:

My brother and I would wake up about the same time (around 9:30) and would roll out of bed to go have a nutritious breakfast of Captain Crunch or some other cereal with a million grams of sugar.

Then we would rush to turn the TV on to catch "Price is Right", where we would watch Bob Barker in all his fake-tanned glory. During these summers, I became quite knowledgeable of what the cost of random household items were due to such games like:

The Grocery Game

Pass the Buck

After Price is Right, my brother and I would play hours of the latest video game on our high-tech gaming system (either Super NES of Nintendo 64). My favorites included:

Then we'd maybe swim in our backyard pool or play a game of rollerblade hockey with other neighborhood kids until dinner.

It's comical to think back about what my summers used to be compared to working 8 hour days during my summers now. However, I wouldn't necessarily say that one is better than the other. Sounds crazy, right? Well I think of it this way: working during the summer allows us to afford to be able to take a cool vacation somewhere versus spending all day watching TV and playing video games. So anyway, cheers to the summer of old and here's to the summers of new!

A change is gonna come

This weekend, Obama became the Democratic nominee (well, technically that won't happen until the convention in August, but let's not be too nit pickey here ok?). This is amazing. He beat the Clinton machine and all of it's ruthless, polarizing tactics. When he first announced his candidacy back in February 2007, I was hopeful, but I felt that I was also being naive to think he could honestly beat a Clinton. It seemed like all their power in the political arena would just CRUSH him and he wouldn't stand a chance. But people got excited at the prospect of someone who wasn't already jaded or corrupted by the political arena. And people showed this excitement by actually participating in the political process of VOTING. Imagine that!
Now I know Obama has his flaws, I've said this before. He's not a messiah, he won't solve all of our problems. But I do believe that Obama can evoke change---a change in the pessimistic attitude towards our country that has permeated the thoughts of many US citizens for the last few years. I think that despite what he does policy-wise, this may be one of the most important changes---from pessimism to hope. Have we all heard that word, "hope", a million times throughout all of his speeches over the last 16 months? Yes. Will it ever get old? To me, I think not.

a moment of levity

What a random party I went to tonight. I sampled 6 different wines, 4 different cheeses, talked to a woman from Uganda studying International Ag Development, congratulated a couple who got engaged 30 minutes before the party began, met people who were in the Peace Corps in Samoa with a friend I knew from high school, and danced giddily to N'Sync and Michael Jackson songs.
With everything going on in the world right now, it was nice to just have an evening of carefree fun.

biting off more than i can chew

There's a lot of things to process lately. The following headlines come to mind:

"Rain deepens Myanmar misery; death toll spikes" (Washington Post)

What is so utterly frustrating about this situation is that the the junta (military regime of Myanmar) are only allowing a FRACTION of the necessary aid items like food and water to go through to the cyclone victims and have placed restrictions on the movement of most international aid workers. To me it seems helpless. The death toll is already at 78,000 and thousands more will DIE if the junta don't open their eyes, swallow their pride, and allow aid to flow freely through the country. I mean, from the picture below, how could anyone think that not allowing to let aid come into the country would honestly be a good thing. Ridiculous.

China earthquake tops 50,000 (The Guardian)

Then there's the earthquake in China. So many tens of thousands dead and the government is now predicting that it will take 3 years to rebuild all the affected villages and towns from scratch. They are also saying the biggest problem now is the issue of not having enough clean water and how this could lead to a major health epidemic. Looking at pictures of the destruction there leaves me feeling overwhelmed. But I have to believe that each individual can help in the midst of tragedy is this large. Otherwise, it would be easy to be swallowed with despair.

Gay couples 'ecstatic' over ruling (USA Today)

And of course, there is the whole metaphorical whirlwind surrounding the CA Supreme Court's decision to make same-sex marriage legal. I have heard many opinions about this and am still forming my own. However, I will say that even though gay marriage does not fall into my Christian worldview, I do think that for equality purposes, gay marriage should be recognized by the state. I know that seems like a paradox, but this is a complicated issue. One of the best quotes I've heard on this issue is from Sullivan's blog:

"This is the same point I've made in the past; isn't constructing a separate and distinct category an example of pure animus (hostility)? You have conceded the substance, but cannot concede the name. Since no heterosexual couple's rights would be affected in any way, what exactly is the rationale for maintaining the distinction? Except bias?"

Essentially, gay couples in California have all the same benefits as a marriage under the category of domestic partnerships, so therefore why can't it be legally recognized as a marriage? And quite honestly, there are other issues I'd rather focus on (the economy, the war, education) rather than quarrel over why I agree or don't disagree with two people being married.

workin for the weekend

This is an ideal scenario: go to Monterey for 3 days with your hubby, have a wonderful hotel room with a great view, eat at fantastic restaurants (here and here), and have your employer pay for it. Well, this was MY ideal scenario thanks to the UC Student Advising Conference! While it was a good time of professional development, it was also a nice getaway from it all. And back to reality on Monday....

In other news, I've been neglecting to update the recent films I've viewed. I don't have enough energy to give in-depth reviews of them, but here are a few words or phrases that I would use to describe each one:

Atonement - perception is key, the plot was complex yet unfulfilling, strong acting performances
August Rush - music makes you soar, cute yet unrealistic love story
We Are Marshall - inspiring yet cheesy
I am Legend - freaky, depressing, Will Smith can carry a movie by himself
Michael Clayton- predictable, anti-climactic, Tilda Swinton did not deserve an Oscar
There Will Be Blood- read previous post: not worth your time.
Dan in Real Life - enchanting, delightful, put a smile on my face
Gone Baby Gone - disturbing, too many f-bombs,
Across the Universe - colorful, hopeful, creative


Current movies on my queue:

-Juno (can't wait to see it again!)
-The Savages
-No Country for Old Men
-American Gangster
-The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
-Before the Devils Knows Your Dead

As always, recommendations appreciated!

if i only had a brain

Want to spend some time learning about something that matters? Instead of watching a brainless reality show (I'm not trying to sound superior, I watch my share of reality TV) or browsing YouTube for yet another video of a baby laughing...check out these educational and INTERESTING resources on the web and learn something new about America's health care system compared to other countries, the patterns of production and consumption in our world, the back story behind the war in Iraq, or the genocide occurring in Darfur. Time for some brain stimulation:

Sick Around the World

The Story of Stuff

Bush's War

On Our Watch