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04.09.01 >1107 Whew! I'm wondering if I'm trying to purposefully kill myself this week. Woke up around 5 this morning for prayer at the church. Tonight they've got girls' Bible study. Tomorrow is the "Ladies Night Out" at someone else's house, Wed. is Impact (youth group meeting), Thurs. is Xian club at my old high school, and Fri. is Good Friday service. So maybe it does seem like I'm overdoin' it some. But a lot of things - unseen and spiritual, that is But anyhow, last night's service was great, and actually, Sunday was pretty relaxing. As for today? Don't ask - apparently my Dad wants me to run around with him. (I knew it was a bad idea to come home!) Ack! 04.08.01 >0046
I've decided on silver. *grin* Went to two birthday parties today . . . er, yesterday, I mean. It didn't rain, but it was freezing! Cold and windy - not the best combination, that's fer sure. But anyway, the parties were kool. The first one was for one of my little cousins . . . she turned One last week. (Hehe, lotsa "one"'s in this sentence.) The other one was for the 18th B-day of one of the girls from my youth group. She's very assertive, very outgoing, and lives in this ritzy house that looks like a mini mansion. I laughed a lot during this party, too, but played the wallflower for a bit and even stayed out of the living room on purpose just so I wouldn't have to play Charades. Yes, sometimes I can be that shy. The last game we played, however, had a lot of us trying to yell over each other and laughing : we were split into two teams and had to pass this CD player-like device around the room - but it wasn't electronic or anything. You had to hit the button on the side to make a different word or phrase pop up on the tiny slit of a screen on the front of it. (I think the game's called "Catch Phrase" or something like that.) Anyway, you had to make the members of your team try to say the word you got, but you couldn't say it yerself. You couldn't say "It begins with the letter 'a'" or include it in another word (say you got the word "shoe." You couldn't say somethin' like "horseshoe" to make people try to guess what the word was). And you were timed! It's actually pretty fun, esp. when you've got a big group of people playing. Also watched the guys play basketball in the backyard. My brother's team lost, but it was a great game. I realized how much I miss playing this sport. That party was the best, IMO, out of the two. And, oh yes, my folks got me a cell phone. *roll eyes* I dunno why. I hate carryin' those things around, much less answering them. Gotta head fer church in several hours, so I'd better crash. Laters! (Yes, I realize I haven't been posting up any verses lately. Sorry 'bout that! Will start again tomorrow - I hope.) 04.06.01 >1221
I'm feelin' extremely tired still, but I think I'll get through the day all right. Spring Break is officially here! I think a lot of folks have already gone home. I'll be headin' out of here tonight and goin' home tomorrow. Can't wait to get outta here, too. Hmmm . . . I think silver goes well with my entries here. What do you guys think? I fergot to mention at the beginning of this week that I went to two youth conferences. One was at my church, one was at Shiloh Christian Fellowship in Oakland. The one at my church was actually pretty kool - we just had a few other youth groups join us for a service. But man . . . the one at Shiloh was awesome! They have this great youth ministry there called Impact, and every Saturday nite they hold a service that's geared towards young people. Young people who're seeking a radical relationship with God, that is. I love their services. The worship is just beautiful. Could go on forever . . . and oh yes, they've even come out with their own worship albums. Beautiful. 04.05.01 >2340
Ended up watching about half of "Remember the Titans." It's actually a pretty good movie - was recommended by both my brother and another friend of mine. I don't even know why I'm still up. Roommate and her friends are watching "Center Stage" right now. Another great movie. Think I'll join 'em, and then hopefully they'll leave so I can sleep . . . I can't function well with only three hours of shuteye that I managed to grab this morning. I am never pulling an all-nighter again. (Uh huh, Rhe, sure.) >1911
Hmmm . . . I'm debatin' about whether or not I wanna go see that movie. Nope, didn't nap, either. That means I'm gonna be noddin' off pretty early tonight. Ah, well. I can always rent the movie later. Ya know, I haven't come across any Christian bloggers yet. Am I the only one out here?? Oh, please, say it ain't so! Ack. Which reminds me - I didn't do my 15 minutes! Well, before I do, I just wanted to comment on several things. Read up on some pretty deep entries today, first at Bruce's page, then at Nathalie's. Nathalie, what you pointed out is somethin' I never thought about when I first started blogging. I sure as heck don't want my audience to be a big factor when I post on this page. I wanna write for myself, whether or not someone likes what I hafta say. (Uh, whose site is this?) So if yer gonna be critical about my opinions, I will politely listen to what you have to say, and perhaps email ya or contact you somehow to get a dialogue goin' about whatever that opinion was about. However, it is my opinion, my point of view Ñ not yers. You may disagree with me, and that's okay, but don't push yer beliefs or views on me. *ahem* Nathalie, write fer yerself. Your page should be for your thoughts. And Bruce? I've felt that way sometimes. Growing up can be so . . . I dunno - so depressing. Yeah, that's it. I want to always remain a kid at heart and be optimistic about everything around me. Heck, I'm just happy to be alive! I wanna be simple and carefree. I don't wanna conform to the norms of society. Who gives a care if I stick out like a sore thumb? I wanna be me. I wanna be who God made me to be. So there. >1542
verse for today : ". . . a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot . . ." ecclesiastes 3 : 2 Ohh, man - *sigh* I am finally done with that wonderfully annoying project! I think I need a nap . . . but my eyes refuse to shut now. Irony. Sheesh. They're gonna be playing "Remember the Titans" tonight downstairs. Think I'm gonna go watch it. So yes, Rhe, you need a nap. Git ta bed already. (Of course, I'm probly not gonna follow my own advice . . .)
>0435
Yes, I'm still awake. Okay, partly awake. I've decided to stay up all night to finish this stupid paper. I'm only on the 2nd page, but I figure that since about a third or half of it is going to be my personal opinion, I'll be okay. Still, some shut-eye would be nice. Real nice. *looks longingly at messy bed* Ack! Must - resist . . . >0028
Cripes . . . I really hate porn - or anything that has to do with illicit sex right now. *grimace* Okay, sorry 'bout that. (Stupid movie. Ew.) Well, it's almost 12:30 in the morning, and I cannot get motivated to write this krazy paper! It's driving me NUTS! And on another note . . . this whole thing with China has really got me worried. Remember when those three American soldiers got ambushed in Kosovo, and Milosevic wouldn't let 'em go 'til Jesse Jackson persuaded him to? Well, you have no idea how much I worried about those guys. And now this. Sheesh! It's the only time I really feel patriotic. Ever. O' course, I could just be saying this because I'm getting tired and I'm not exactly in a great mood right now, but really . . . 04.04.01 >1529
verse for today : "there is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven . . ." ecclesiastes 3 : 1 Had the chance to talk with Roger Aronoff, a media analyst with Accuracy In Media, a media watchdog group. He was one of my interviewees for my project, and his views were most enlightening. I think this project is finally starting to shape up (yeah, thank goodness - I only have about 24+ more hours to write this crazy paper!). And oh, yeah . . . help me choose a permanent color for all my blog entries! I'm gonna run out of colors pretty soon . . . 04.03.01 >1749
Hmm, this project is finally startin' to get interesting. I hafta write a 10+ page research paper on an ethical issue in journalism, focusing on a certain event that demonstrates this issue. It's taken me awhile to gather my thoughts about this, only 'cause a lot of stuff's happened that's distracted me ("uh huh, suuuuure, Rhe, yer just procrastinating again"). And I think I've narrowed my choices down to a chosen few : a> the Algerian civil war; b> the hunt for Osama bin Laden; c> the concerns re : militant Islam in general. Since the N.Y. Times has published lots of interesting articles on all of the above, I'm gonna focus on their coverage of this topic and issue. Make sense so far? Only problem I have now is trying to contact some folks who know a lot about these subjects and interviewing 'em. And I've only got about 24 hours to find dem experts . . . *slapping hand* Bad girl, Rhe, you procrastinator, you . . . The Algerian civil war is actually an event I've been keeping tabs on since my senior year in high school, when I had to do research on it for another paper back then. I figured it's a good choice ta do for this project, since the civil war is still in progress. Well, okay, lemme correct that : the war is actually over, but the militant Muslims are still causing trouble. It really is a sad situation. These extremists can't see that they're losing (or rather, have lost) the war, but they're still slaughtering innocent folks as they try to set up their "pure" Islamic state. I mean, it's like, cripes, give up already, you fools! The journalistically ethical issue in question is distorting the truth. Most news reports focus on the crazies like Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden, who hate us Westerners and are kinda insane, anyway. However, you don't hear anything about more moderate Muslims and the gentler aspects of Islam, which is forgotten 'cause everyone cares more about trying to catch these nuts. I mean, really . . . And oh yes, before I forget : "as water reflects a face, so a man's heart reflects the man." proverbs 27 : 19 >1150
Remind me to never try to figure out HTML at 1 in the morning! Gonna rant for a bit, and then I have a few phone calls to make. I guess my main grievance right now is our screwed up government. As of this moment, I don't like it a bit, even if Dubya is president. I think some good laws have been repealed by the current White House administration Ñ like backing out of the Kyoto Treaty (ok, so this is an international agreement; my mistake). I read an article on why conservatives are so anti-environmental in the U.S. News and World Report. I'm equally puzzled as the critics are. You'd think conservatives would want to conserve something as precious as our planet! But Dubya is all for big corporations and oil companies. Oh, I like our prez well enough, but some of his policies bug me. And I usually don't think of myself as an overt environmentalist (really, I ain't one), but I've become very concerned lately after seeing the kind of stance he's taken on different environmental issues. *sigh* Deep breaths, Rhe, deep breaths. And now for those phone calls. I don't feel like working on this paper, but hey, ya gotta do what ya gotta do . . . (Eek.) 04.02.01 >1630
I am a total Blogger nut now. Do you know how many fantastic blogger sites I've got bookmarked!? Aaaugh! Well, if ya can't beat 'em, join 'em. C'mon, my pretty . . . resistance is futile . . . *evil laughter* Ahem. Um, yeah. And now we return you to your regularly scheduled program, which has always been in progress - you've just never noticed. >1504
Am kind of in a reflective mood right now. I guess that's helpful, since I hafta start on a research paper that's due later this week, and the reflective angle (compared to an analytic angle) will be good to include. Bein' a procrastinator again right now, however. Did I ever mention that I work best under pressure? Anyway . . . just checked out Jeff's page, which is just one of the many wonderful blogs I've found in recent days. But it's his entry for 03.28.01 that caught my eye. As I noted before in a couple of earlier entries, I am a struggling Christian. I won't beat ya over the head with my Bible or try to act like I'm on a spiritual high by pretending that I'm in a choir, singin' all day long, but Ñ I do not like hypocrites. Esp. those who seem to give the rest of us Xians a bad rap without realizing it. Religion in general is such a touchy issue right now. Folks want their brand of religion to be at the top; they want everybody else to join their group and serve their God. Same thing happens with Xians, too. I wonder what Christ would think if He came by for a visit and saw all this? I guess the point of writing this is to point out that Xians aren't perfect. They're as human as the next guy (or gal) - they make mistakes, too. It's just when they do things they shouldn't and claim God told 'em to do it that I get mad. Some more mature Christian friends of mine have told me that the world hates us anyway, because they hated Jesus, too, and still do. I believe that . . . but what about all the stupid little things that we do (in the name of God) without thinking? Is it because we have too much pride in ourselves that we can't admit that we made a faux pas and try to put the blame on someone else? Most Xians are described as judgmental, narrow-minded, fundamental, even fanatical. And very intolerant. Hey, buddy, I don't tolerate a person's sins, that's all. And even I sin. I'm just His servant and child, His vessel. I sure as heck ain't perfect. I may act "holier-than-thou" sometimes, but that's 'cause He wants me to BECOME holy. If you have a bone ta pick with someone 'bout that, take it up with Him. IMO, religion and politics should stay separated. They just don't mix. Look at what the Muslim and "Christian" extremists are doing in Indonesia and what's happening in Algeria and tell me that that's right. Look at what's happening between the Jews and Arabs in the Mid East and tell me that I'm just going nuts. *jumps off soapbox and saunters away* >1341
I couldn't think of a good April Fool's trick yesterday. Dang! Or maybe that was the idea . . . to make ya think that I'd pull a trick and didn't actually do it. Well, in that case, a belated April Fool's to you. AS is dead. (*sob*) Long live PanHistoria! I hope it lasts longer, anyway . . . I've no idea what it is with science fiction/fantasy and me . . . maybe it's because you can let yer imagination run free in this realm that makes it so appealing for budding writers like Ñ like myself. I've been writing fiction since seventh grade (eight years ago now), and it's just . . . I dunno, fun! It's kinda why I picked journalism as my major. I'd go with a degree in creative writing, but that field just doesn't pay enough money to foot all the utility bills, ya know? And interviewing people is actually pretty fun . . . But anyway. Sci-fi and fantasy. I fell in love with Star Wars while in middle school and began writing fanfic, using my English classmates as characters and just having a blast blowin' TIE fighters out of the sky. As for the fantasy part: I picked up a few books from Tamora Pierce's ongoing series about a young woman who secretly began to train for knighthood by disguising herself as a boy. She has the "Gift," magical abilities that allow her to heal people (healing is her specific gift); as an accomplished and famous knight, she was an excellent fighter during both times of peace and war. A great series, really. It's meant for teenagers, but I still read 'em. If yer interested, check out the "Song of the Lioness" quartet and the sequel, "The Immortals." There's also a new series out (it's the sequel to the sequel!) called "Protector of the Small" that's worth a read. |
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© 2001 - 2002
Sarah Navarro
