AIDS and Christmas--Great Article

Today is World AIDS Day, as well as the first day in December, a month where we count down to Christmas.
I just read this article about Christmas and AIDS. It's beautiful. Read it.

HEY DECEMBER!

Everyone else was saying hello to this cold, Christmas-y month, so I thought I should too.

Hello.
Nice to see you again.
Let's have a lovely 31 days together.
And maybe in about thirty days, we'll plan a rendezvous for about this time next year?
Okay.

thankful

I am thankful for many things each day of the year, but since tomorrow is Thanksgiving, a day dedicated to eating tons of food before shopping with 1,000 other people at your local Target, I thought I'd list out a few things I am thankful for this year specifically. For the purpose of this list, I am leaving out the more usual suspects, though that in no way means I am less thankful for them. I just feel that they deserve more than just a bullet point on this list on my blog. Maybe someday I'll do a post for each of those important things..
Anyway, back to the list of Ten Things I Am Specifically Thankful for in 2010 (and Possibly Was Not Thankful for in Previous Years):

1. A job that provides me with endless amounts of Twitter material. And it's mostly fun. And I actually use my degree (who even knew that was possible?). And, hello! it's a job. I didn't have one of those at this point last year. (not to mention it's at a church, which means so much in terms of coworkers and purpose.)
2. Pandora. Free music that is catered to my taste all day? (and only $.99 when I run over 40 hours in the month?) Yes, please. And thank you.
3. My refillable coffee cup from Thornton's, along with their lovely selection of flavorings, creamers, and cappuccinos. I bought it for $1.99. Now every refill is $.69, and they don't care if half of my cup is filled with half-and-half. Every 5th one is free. Sorry, Starbucks (I still love you for the tea!).
4. Free Rent. I sometimes complain about living at home, but if I couldn't do that, I'd probably have to live in a bad neighborhood, or be in debt. Going back to school would have meant having to take out a loan.
5. Nashville. I love this city. I am so glad that my free rent is near such a place.
6. My car. Sure, it had a moment this weekend, and it has a few other small quirks, but it is newer than my old one. It has AC, too, which is nice. And fewer dents.
7. Twitter. Seriously, I have found out about concerts, music videos, blogs, coupons, free music, etc. through this social media outlet. Plus, it's entertaining.
8. Lamps for my office. Not having the fluorescent overhead lighting on has increased my productivity amazingly. They also have the added bonus of making the gray concrete block (they are actually painted gray...) walls look somewhat cozy.
9. School. While it is awful to have to do so much homework/read/watch lectures, at least it's fascinating stuff. It's good to at least have some general plan for my life, too. Even if that plan is extremely vague and flexible.
10. My iphone. Having twitter, facebook, the Bible, Spider Solitaire, a Dictionary/Thesaurus, email, voice memos, pandora (see #2), a camera, an ipod, the internet, google maps all handy is just worth it.

So, there you have it. Kind of unusual, but very true. I am thankful for all of those things.

What random thing(s) are you thankful for this year?

Things I Like Tuesday: Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

Seeing the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade live is not just on my bucket list, it's on my next-year-for-real-this-time list.

I have watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade on Thanksgiving morning for many, many years. It's a tradition. Really, it's the one Thanksgiving tradition in my family that has endured for so long. We change meal times, menus, and locations, but I always watch the parade. While I'm really the only one to consistently watch the parade from the ribbon-cutting all the way to end, my dad and sister usually join in for at least a little while. I have told my mother, as she toils in the kitchen while I relax on the couch, that when I'm in charge of the cooking, we'll have to move the meal to a later time. I'll have to watch the parade first.

Why I like the parade so much, I'm not really sure. It is amazing, though...

The floats, the balloons, the bands, the Broadway performances, Harold Square, Al Roker, the Rockettes, the celebrity guests, the tradition, the excitement...

oh, and this guy:

This guy officially marks the beginning of the Christmas season. And as soon as he makes an appearance, usually around 11am Thanksgiving Day, I wish everyone a Merry Christmas.

the flute

When I was 10, I joined a band. [I would say "the band" to clarify that I mean more the marching type than the rocking type, but I'm not sure I can claim that, since we never marched and we were homeschooled. So, it was never really "the" band just "a" band.]
It didn't take me long to decide that I would play the flute. My parents and I went to the local music store and, because my parents are intelligent human beings, we rented a flute.
I went to the next band practice and learned the very basics of flute-playing. Armed with some sort of instructions (I don't think I even had sheet music at this point) on how to play "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and my little flute case, I went home at the end of band practice with dreams of Carnegie Hall.
I practiced the next day. Two minutes after assembling my flute and beginning to play, I had to sit down because I had hyperventilated. I tried to play a few more times, seated, but continued to get light-headed. After the next band practice, I decided to give up on my dreams of becoming a world-renown flautist and quit the band (and the flute).

You know that song, "Everybody Plays the Fool"? For a long time, I thought it said "Everybody plays the flute...sometimes." At first I thought this was a very specific experience to apply to humankind universally, but after my flute playing days, I totally got it. I specifically remember turning to my dad one night as the song played on the car radio and expressing what I thought at the time to be a deep thought: "It's so true. Pretty much everybody does play the flute at some point. I mean, I did and a lot of people do in school..." Either my dad didn't hear me, misunderstood me, or thought I was joking, because he didn't correct me. So, my belief was cemented.
Upon learning the real lyric, I found that the song made a lot more sense. I did know a lot of people who had never played the flute, after all.

Things I Like Tuesday: my room

I couldn't decide what to write about today, then I realized that I'm sitting here, right inside something I like very much. 

I don't have a whole house, or condo, or apartment to myself yet, but I do have a room. And I like it.

Here are some of the things I like most in it:

These are some travel photos, all taken by yours truly.

The quote in the middle frame is one my roommate sent me when I was in England: 

"The world is a book and those who do not travel read only a page." --St. Augustine

This is my desk. And my green chair.

I write here and watch lectures and sometimes waste time on facebook and twitter :-)

This is my brain.

My bulletin board hangs above my desk and holds lots of important notes--quotes I don't want to forget, Bible verses that are especially important in my life at this moment, ideas for stories/poems/essays--as well as a few bridesmaids bouquets, some fun stickers, and other memorabilia. Fun fact: I've had that button in the top right corner since I was 2 or 3. It says "A friend loves at all times. Prov 17:17" and was given to me by my best friend at the time.

My friend Jo gave me an invisible bookshelf. I hang my heaviest books on it, the dictionary and thesaurus (also my little rhyming dictionary)...I guess I like the danger it imposes on the helpless mugs below?

My mom bought me this typewriter somewhere one summer. She saw a picture or something of a famous author's house. They had the typewriter that this author used to type all of his books. She wanted me to have one for when I became a famous writer. I told her she could just save my computer. I really like the typewriter for decoration, though. It still reads "Welcome Home Elizabeth" on the top sheet of paper.

These hang above my bed. If I could somehow manage to only have paper lanterns for lighting in my entire house, I would.

what. a. week.

The last seven days of my life, in outline form. [btw, I do know the rules on outlines. I chose not to follow all of them.] You're welcome.

• At the wedding of my life-long friend, Joanna
• "Three times a bridesmaid, never a bride" please don't apply to me.
• My friend's mom told me "Yours [meaning my wedding, though it took a second for me to grasp that] is next year. Are you ready for that?" What?? (<-Which is, literally, what I said to her.)
• After the wedding
• I was asked at least twice what I was planning to do with my Master's degree.
• I surprised myself by knowing the answer
• That answer was extremely vague
• Sometimes you just need a friend to tell you you aren't crazy
• On the way to and from the wedding, I listened to a dramatic reading of Screwtape Letters. I highly recommend both dramatic readings for long car rides and the letters of Screwtape.
• At work this week:
• I was asked on Monday to write the intro to the sermon
• I was actually asked if I could "Script out the sermon." I later found out this meant the intro only.
• It's about lying. So, if you should ever need an intro for a talk about lying, let me know. There may or may not be a small fee.
• I made a Justin Bieber wig for a stuffed beaver.
• Justin Beaver--get it?
• I tweeted about it
• I got a Reply Tweet from one @elusivebeaver (whom I do not follow, nor does he/she/it follow me) accusing me of wrongly harassing the beaver population
• It was kind of a lame attempt at a wig, therefore, no picture
• I learned what a "gnome sky" looks like
• It looks like colored tissue paper wadded up and stapled to a wall
• This is not scientificly proven
• I spent approximately 20 minutes lodged behind a desk, sitting on a milk crate (because I'm short), with sock puppets on my hands, performing a puppet show with the children's minister.
• We had to literally slide on our stomachs to get under the desk. The one day I didn't wear jeans this week.
• Were there kids present? No.
• This is on film. Well, the puppet show is, not the sliding under a desk part.
• I went to a website training seminar all day on Thursday
• It was dumbed-down for church secretaries, so I understood everything.
• except the conversation between the media minister/graphic designer next to me
• I think they were making fun of my mac
• The seminar wasn't boring. 
• I actually enjoyed learning all the cool stuff we can do with our website
• I realized that if I actually did all of this cool stuff, I would have no time left in my work week to write scripts for sermons and put on puppet shows in the choir storage closet.
• All of this somehow falls under the "other tasks as assigned" category on my job description.
• This is the fourth blog post this week. 
• crazy.
• don't get used to it.
• most viewed post in one day ever on my blog? Things I've Learned Being Friends with Boys

So there you have it--the last seven days in my life.
How was your week? Anything exciting/interesting/completely mundane happen?