Look out Tulsa here we come

I hope the Rialto Bible Quiz team makes it to this event !

Being Real

Sometimes life doesn't give you what you want when you want it. Sometimes you get more than you ask for. Either way, we are told to be content with what we have, cause somewhere in the world there is a person who would love to be in our shoes. But once that person got into our shoes would they want to stay in them? or would they realize that they were better off wearing their own?

I am not sure that I would trade footwear with anyone, but it would be nice if somethings in life would just come easy.

Winter Retreat

This weekend past weekend Caleb and I helped chaperon the ILC youth winter retreat. We went up to the mountains on Friday afternoon and came home Sunday morning. This retreat was so much fun ! There was several inches of snow on the ground, the weather was beautiful, and church was phenomenal. I am really excited about going again next year. (Lord willing of course)

He needs a little practice.

Here are a few pics of Caleb holding little Elayna (hope I spelled that right). This is the first time Caleb ever remembers holding a new born. I guess from the look on his face that is very obvious. When someone finally rescued him, he was in shock for a while. LOL he said his forehead had begun to sweat.

OH WOW!

I just sold my first book on amazon.com. I made $42. That is like, five times more than what I made on EBay! lol.

Look out AMAZON here I come !

Ok, so the whole "selling on EBay" thing didn't work out for me, but I have a new plan; I am selling all my books on amazon. I know I am not going to get rich doing this, but at least I can make back some of the money I spent buying these books. The student book store at Valley is horrible, they only refund about 30% of the value of textbooks during the buy back period. Then they resell used books for about 75% of the new book price. It is all a big scam. I am trying to break up that crime ring by selling my books on my own. So, wish me luck, and yes I will tithe on whatever I make. It is sad to think I have not had anything to tithe on in the last two years, because it has been at least that long since I last had a JOB.

what a rip

Last week I had to return some stuff to Ross Department Store. While there, I decided to do a little shopping, you know since I had the extra money (from my return). I looked around for a while, but could not find anything that I wanted to spend my new found money on. Then, as I was walking between an aisles of house wear and plastic plants, a FABULOUS idea struck me; why don't I take my new money and use it to make money? How? well I decided to buy some cute dresses and sell them on EBAY! of course. So, thus began my ventures into entrepreneurialship.
I started off with great enthusiasm. I made really cute and professional looking pages for each of my items. I listed them each at a cheap price with low shipping cost, and then I waited, and waited, and waited. No one wanted my dresses. I thought maybe all these 35 year old homemakers were just trying to trick me by pretending they did not want to bid, and then at the very last minute, they would all begin a great bidding war in an effort to capture my prized pastel green Easter dress size 0-3 month. Unfortunately, as I found out today, that was not the case at all. These people really just did not want my dresses. I did sell two of them, but it was for the base asking price coming to a grand total of $8.30. I guess I am just not cut out to get rich on EBay.

University of Michigan teachs a course on how to be gay.

Correct me if I am wrong. Please. This is the course discription of a course being offered at the University of Michigan. Here is a link to the site so you can check it out yourself.
http://www.umich.edu/news/index.html?BG/317descr

ENGLISH 317. Literature and Culture.
Section 002 — How to be Gay: Male Homosexuality and Initiation.
Credits: (3; 2 in the half-term).
Instructor(s): David M Halperin (halperin@umich.edu)
Course Description:
Just because you happen to be a gay man doesn't mean that you don't have to learn how to become one. Gay men do some of that learning on their own, but often we learn how to be gay from others, either because we look to them for instruction or because they simply tell us what they think we need to know, whether we ask for their advice or not.
This course will examine the general topic of the role that initiation plays in the formation of gay male identity. We will approach it from three angles: (1) as a sub-cultural practice — subtle, complex, and difficult to theorize — which a small but significant body of work in queer studies has begun to explore; (2) as a theme in gay male writing; and (3) as a class project, since the course itself will constitute an experiment in the very process of initiation that it hopes to understand.
In particular, we will examine a number of cultural artifacts and activities that seem to play a prominent role in learning how to be gay: Hollywood movies, grand opera, Broadway musicals, and other works of classical and popular music, as well as camp, diva-worship, drag, muscle culture, taste, style, and political activism. (WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!) Are there a number of classically 'gay' works such that, despite changing tastes and generations, all gay men, of whatever class, race, or ethnicity, need to know them, in order to be gay? What is there about gay identity that explains the gay appropriation of these works? What do we learn about gay male identity by asking not who gay men are but what it is that gay men do or like? One aim of exploring these questions is to approach gay identity from the perspective of social practices and cultural identifications rather than from the perspective of gay sexuality itself. What can such an approach tell us about the sentimental, affective, or subjective dimensions of gay identity, including gay sexuality, that an exclusive focus on gay sexuality cannot?
At the core of gay experience there is not only identification but disidentification. Almost as soon as I learn how to be gay, or perhaps even before, I also learn how not to be gay. I say to myself, 'Well, I may be gay, but at least I'm not like that!' Rather than attempting to promote one version of gay identity at the expense of others, this course will investigate the stakes in gay identifications and disidentifications, seeking ultimately to create the basis for a wider acceptance of the plurality of ways in which people determine how to be gay.
Additional note. This course is not a basic introduction to gay male culture, but an exploration of certain issues arising from it. It assumes some background knowledge. Students wishing to inform themselves about gay men and gay culture in a preliminary way should enroll in an introductory course in lesbian/gay studies.
English 317 info page >

Whimp

Update on the whole "eyebrow" situation : I never went back to the salon to ask for a refund. I did have intentions to, but on Sunday as Caleb and I were driving home I asked him to take me to get a refund. He ignored me and kept driving home, so I assumed that he did not want to hassle with it. Then the next day the scab fell off and my eye looked a lot better. So because I thought Caleb did not want me to go and mess with the people, and because my eye was looking better, and because four days had passed I just let the whole thing go.

My mom hated for us to say we were bored.

infact, she would spank us if we said it too much. No joke.

Boredom: the desire for desires.
The two enemies of human happiness are pain and boredom
"The cure for boredom is a good book"
"I've got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom.”

Ok, so, I am losing my mind. I am on winter break until the 14th of Jan. and today is only the second day I have been without someone home with me or some kind of planning to do. Basically, I have two weeks of absolute nothing. No planning, no where to be, no one home with me, nothing. Now, most people would love to have this much time alone, but I hate it. I don't know why, but when I am alone at home I get really lethargic and bored. I know I have lots of things to do, but it is not the same, when all day long my mind is not being challenged or inspired to do something. I love to be over the top busy and so when I am not busy I am completely lost. So, here I am trying to think up things to do. Blog has just been done, so I am not sure where I will go from here, probably just go to my Mom's or clean the backyard.

SURPRISE !

So, apparently my brother DAVID went off and got married with out telling anyone. This is not a bad thing, it is just a surprise. David came over to my mom's house this afternoon to share the news. He said they got married, on December 27th, because he did not want his baby born out of wedlock (Honorable). The baby was then born on Dec 30th. Close call. Congrats to David and Stephine on your new marriage.

Starting Off With a Bang

WHHOOOHOOO! yesterday night was so much fun! It started off ordinary, Caleb and I went to a party at my Brother's house. That was cool, we played games and what not. The real fun began after 12. My sister in law Kim and her daughter Justine came up with a GREAT plan to bring in the new year. That was, to go and see "The Watchers" in yucipia. The watchers are a pair of weird people that literally watch their street. They have a camera set up in front of their house, and if you stop in front of their house (not matter what time of day) they will come out raging mad with a flashlight and newspaper. In all honesty, it was one of the scariest situations I have ever been in.

So, we go see the watchers and as luck would have it we get pulled over by the sheriff cause they said we were harassing the watchers. (apparently, a lot of people had been by there yesterday) We tried to play it cool, but Kim, the driver, did not have her license cause she had forgotten her purse at the party. The Sheriff is being a jerk and tries to look Kim's license up on the computer, but comes back and says she can not find Kim's License number. She then asks Kim if she even has a license. After about five minutes of sitting in the car, we are let off with a lecture.

Next, we decide to go to the "scary road". Supposedly it is hunted by some woman who died. All that aside, Kim claims it has a gorgeous view; I never looked up long enough to see it. The watcher's house