Well Written

This morning I was reading Romans (one more thing I love about Italy)! But this verse really hit me in a theatrical way.

"6You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

Now watch this:

Warning- It will ruin the end of a really great movie.... if you havent seen it, it might still be worth it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfwH0kgIigs&feature=PlayList&p=C86CE7133BAE4082&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=12

Now read this again:

6You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

I am so thankful there was no re-writing.

"The man who knew he was going to die, he died willingly, isn't that the type of man you want to keep alive?"- Stranger than Ficton

Thank Jesus He is ALIVE in our hearts. Kinda strange, right?

Happy Friday!

Do actions speak louder than words, what if I yell?

"The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug" -Mark Twain

I appreciate those who are good with words. I hope I can be poetic, articulate, accurate, and well, right when I choose my words when I speak or write. But how far do my words go? Until the end of the sentence? The end of the conversation? The end of this post? I'd like to think not. I'd like to think that you or whoever I talk to value my words. But the more debates, the more posts, the more papers, conversations, messages, poems, the more me comes out. Yes, in our society I want to make a name for myself, I want to be known, I want to be quoted by an expressive student 100 years after my death. And in this case my actions could get that much attention as well, if not more. I could go down in the history books (like Columbus!) for what I do and what I say throughout my life.

But hold the blackberry,
How many times did I just type I, me, or my? Don't count.... it's embarrassing.
This Satan-Damn World, as I like to call it, has convinced me to doodle my name all over my paper, mount my trophy on the wall, display all virtues and good deeds on online profiles and resumes, yet not blame myself for any of this.

Let's face it, we are a selfish, pleasure seeking society. Go on, face it. Literally. Look in the mirror and ask yourself what you do or say that's not for your own pleasure or name. And while you're at it look up the lyrics to Man in the Mirror by Michael Jackson and get inspired to change the world. But my point actually isn't to get you to "turn up the collar on your favorite winter coat" while seeing those who are freezing on the street and feel like an awful person. It's to get you and myself to realize that "I've been a victim of a selfish kind of love."

But the irony in it all (I'm starting to think that seeing the ironies of life may be my spiritual gift) the irony is that the only reason we know how to love, to love ourselves, is because we are the "victims" of the most selfless love this world has ever and will ever know.

So while I go ahead and take credit for that or any other profound thought, kind action, impressive grade, or cute outfit combination, I can become more and more proud of myself.
The things I'm not proud of, at this point in my life all (quite ironically) can be traced back to my pride.

When Jesus asks us to take up our crosses does He mean our baggage, our biggest struggles and sins, our name, or our words? To answer that question I think we should look at what it meant when Jesus took up His cross. The action was two fold: a display of Him willingly walking to His own death, and He was carrying our baggage, our biggest struggles and sins, our name and our words to die. So does the answer lie in our words or our actions? The right word or the almost right word still won't do here. Here, all we have to do is follow suit.

The suit is hearts, if you were confused.

those who can't do....

i have come to realize this semester that a good professor can really challenge you in all areas of your life outside the walls of the classroom; but a whiny professor is a challenge.

"i have over 100 emails in my inbox," "i have a lot of papers to grade" "i have to bring up the powerpoint i wrote 7 years ago and review it before i come to class"

the worst part about some of these lines is that they are used as excuses for why they have come to class unprepared.

don't get me wrong. i complain. i am a complainer. i do want your sympathy for how much i have to do in college, but what i don't ask for is extensions. so i do not understand one particular professor's 4 week response delay to an email i sent. and i believe there is a quite obvious difference between the employed party here and the, well me. so here is my bitter, sarcastic, juvenile, mock, email to professor____.

Dear Prof ____.
You are wonderful.

Go ahead and take your time getting back to the three emails I sent you regarding my grade. It's fine, really. I know that answering emails from students is very difficult, especially when they have written you in regards to your lecture that made no sense, your test score error, or your inability to post important course items online. I would not want to deal with it either. But might I suggest that next time you address your delayed response level that you exaggerate a tad more. By saying you have "100 emails in your inbox" I assume (and prove me wrong, I dare you- email me the right answer) that you have actually spent your office hours counting the number of emails in your inbox instead of responding. Another helpful tip would be to have an auto response sent out to all students saying "I do not actually know this information." It may save you a lot of time of telling us you will eventually respond when we know you will not. Also, might I suggest that you not allow questions during class? It is an awkward time for us students when you refuse to answer questions by sharing a story from twelve years ago, or saying a nice cliche. It would be better to have the students email you questions, and this way your auto-response can kick in. See, every cloud does have a silver lining. Problem solved.... well averted. Finally, I would suggest throwing out the time in class when you say "this is just my personal opinion, it is not fact." First of all, you usually do not need to preference this to many of your statements. Your statements would never be taken as fact. They are illogical and often irrelevant. They often involve two cliches awkwardly thrown together. Secondly, we would rather not hear your opinion. We would rather you explain dead experts' opinions in the field who physically are unable to respond to our emails. Well, that is really all I had to say. I appreciate your time you took to read this entire email instead of the first and last sentence:

I love your class.
~your student.

the examined life

this semester i have a professor that encourages us to see the world around us. last semester, i felt like i saw the world. but there are a world of things to be seen in my life here, in bloomington, indiana... so i found it only appropriate to blog these feelings, foods, and findings, just as i did while "living in italia." this time, "my so called life" (though lacking the best part of the television series- Jared Leto) will cover the frustrations and funnies of my life as i know it. enjoy.

tbe pits of pity

"we are all victims of our own pity"

that's pretty quote-worthy in it self, or maybe it should just be left written in a moleskin.

we were told growing up by parents, friends, and Forest Gump that "shit happens"
but i think we always assumed we could deal with shit. we are familiar with shit. we encounter it everyday. i just don't think i can shit out anymore papers or tests that don't actually resemble shit.....said with a sigh, "shit."

i would apologize for the excessive and out-of-character cursing but frankly, i don't give a ---
you're catching on.

luckily this ish (now censorship begins as the clouds are parting outside my window while i'm also becoming more and more aware of my mother's frequent views when any blog or facebook update occurs).. luckily this ish, at least my ish, does not really matter. yah it adds up and creates a bad day often. (ish*ish(raised to the xth power)=bad day) but bad days are solvable with chocolates, girl talk, and fmylife.com (where other people's ish is actually really entertaining). so cured, right? sure, i mean...if every time we say "whatever," we actually mean it, than ya.

instead, i believe we have a couple options here,
1. typical quick fixes (girl version mentioned above)
2. pity party (mine include streamers to wipe my tears and lots of chocolate cake)
3. friend sympathy or even block sympathy parties (you can often find other friends on the 7 bus, who are also listening to 9 crimes by Damien Rice, staring out this window upon S. Walnut, in hopes a tear may fall as they replay the conversation, right answer they had switched and got wrong, or the misinterpreting text flirting over and over again as the song repeats the 8 minute ride)
4. take advice from one of two artists whose songs are sung by an annoying friend who doesn't understand how to handle your phone call. instead they sing to you. 1. "Dust yourself off and try again." or 2. "and even when your hope is gone, move along, move along" (kayla i see why you love lyrics so much)
5. write a blog entry that details the ideas of how to deal with the situations we encounter daily, in order to distract you from whatever just happened.

like i said, "we are all victims of our own pity."
so, dust yourself off and move along, i need to go pout in a corner.