Monday, March 22, 2004

My Top 100 Things About Me List, in no certain order:

100. I am recently a huge fan of the colors brown and grass green.
99. I love Stewart’s Peach Soda
98. A lot of things I think about in metaphor to make more sense of them.
97. I’ll have a man of honor as well as a maid of honor in my wedding.
96. Volleyball is my favorite sport.
95. I absolutely love to sing.
94. Damien Rice is one of my “new” (as in the last year or so) favorite musicians.
93. I’d like to move away to somewhere like California and start over again.
92. I’m a middle child
91. I decided not to transfer from IU sitting at Senior Night of the Men’s basketball game in Assembly hall second semester of my freshman year.
90. Due to a strange fear of failure, I have trouble finishing things I start.
89. I’m a voracious reader.
88. I’m anal-retentive about written grammar and typos.
87. Anywhere in the house of 820 could be considered one of my favorite places to be.
86. I’m creative.
85. I’d be a lot happier if I lived close enough to the ocean to visit often.
84. I don’t like to be scared.
83. I’m very sarcastic.
82. Nickel Creek is hands down my favorite band ever. It could be classified as a borderline obsession.
81. My grandma once said to me and I quote, “Sure hope I’m around when you get married.” And she was serious. Nothing like the thought of Dead Grandma to make you think about your singleness.
80. I really like fuji apples.
79. I think Newsies is one of if not the best musical Disney ever did.
78. My little sister is the coolest 10 year old I’ve ever met. She once told me all I had to do to find a boyfriend was wear skirts and chew bubble gum.
77. I really like pickles wrapped in muenster cheese.
76. I don’t think I fit in the Midwest.
75. I really like the world melancholy.
74. I’ve taken college classes on a variety of subjects including Prisons in America, Visual Culture of the 1950’s, Financial Accounting & Chemistry.
73. One of the absolute coolest presents I’ve ever received was a yellow bucket of sprinkles.
72. I wish I had a closer relationship with my father.
71. I sing really loudly in the shower.
70. I got a black ribbon for my placing in sectionals for discus my senior year of high school.
69. I’m obsessed with shoes.
68. I really enjoy acting even though I haven’t done much of it.
67. I still hang out with the same boys regularly that I have since junior high.
66. I love the flower Lily of the Valley.
65. One of my absolute favorite worship songs of all time is the Vineyard song “Beautiful” from the UK Burn service.
64. My favorite book is The Giver.
63. My favorite restaurant is the cheesecake factory.
62. I talk to my mom almost every day of the week.
61. I love the smell of fresh cut grass.
60. I’ve kissed 3 guys named Jason.
59. I’d give anything for another note from Rex the dinosaur to be waiting on me when I come home too late.
58. I hate the dentist.
57. I was voted best personality of my senior class.
56. I’m a virgin.
55. I’d love to learn to play violin.
54. I get tired of winter around December 26.
53. I hide insecurities people would never guess I had.
52. I was a fantastic roller skater as a child.
51. My first tape was Cyndi Lauper’s “She’s so Unusual”.
50. My kitchen is decorated with oranges, lemons, & limes.
49. I can be somewhat obsessive compulsive about adding things.
48. I have an insane phobia of burning people.
47. I think someday I’ll be a really great wife, but sometimes I fear I won't have the chance.
46. My theme song could often be “Reasons Why” by Nickel Creek.
45. My mom’s homemade bread is my favorite food in the world.
44. I find 4-leaf clovers all the time.
43. My friendship with Emily actually made working at Target bearable.
42. I like disturbing movies that make me think.
41. I really like Blue Moon Beer.
40. I’m a romantic at heart even if I often hide it.
39. Tang and Kool-aid are two of my favorite drinks even though I don’t drink them often.
38. I want to learn how to do emulsion photography.
37. One summer my sister and I rented Girls Just Want to Have Fun nearly every week.
36. I really like the German Romantic painter Caspar David Friedrich.
35. I think that Adam Duritz is a genius lyricist.
34. I could sit in bookstores for hours because the smell relaxes me so much.
33. I think iced caramel macchiatos are the best coffee drinks ever created.
32. I get weirded out when people really like me before I have a chance to form my opinion on them.
31. I enjoy going to movies by myself.
30. I absolutely adore my nieces and nephew.
29. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is one of my absolute favorite movies, and I can sing just like Veruca Salt.
28. Daisies make me happy.
27. I love feta cheese.
26. I’m what some would consider to be abnormally close to my mom and sisters.
25. I’ve had better conversations without a word ever uttered, than I could ever have with two people talking aloud for hours.
24. I can watch happy chic flicks over and over again and never get tired of them.
23. In the past 6 months I’ve developed a very strong liking for buffalo wings.
22.The first book that ever made me cry was Bridge to Terebithia.
21. I think McDonaldland cookies are the best cookies ever made.
20. I like pink flamingos.
19. Blowing bubbles releases a lot of stress for me.
18. I’d rather run in warm spring rain than any other weather.
17. Some of my fondest memories are sitting with Chad and Craig at Brian’s house on a Friday night playing cards.
16. Sunshine makes me happy.
15. I’d make a fantastic editor.
14. When someone pinches me, I get so angry I cry.
13. I love collages.
12. The weekends I spent at Jason and Kevin’s apartment were some of the funnest weekends I’ve ever had.
11. I loved my AP English field trips in high school.
10. I’ve only ever really been in love once.
9. I really enjoy roadtrips.
8. I still wear my hair in pigtails a lot.
7. Slimey the worm was and still is my favorite Sesame Street character.
6. I love knee socks.
5. Even if I introduce myself as Elizabeth, it always becomes Liz by the end of the conversation, and then Lizzy if I become close friends with the person.
4. I’d like to get my masters degree is children’s and young adult literature.
3. My community right now is very scattered and I hate it.
2. I wonder if I’ll always be this restless.
1. Most people have a very narrow understanding of who I really am.

Friday, March 19, 2004

I guess I haven’t done a very good job of writing this month. Actually to be honest, I’ve done a lot of writing then deleting. We’ll try to make this one stick.

Took the day off for St. Patrick’s Day this week. And what a day it was. I think it’s best to not elaborate as fully as I could on this day. While Chaddy seems to think that I should tell all for the sake of journalistic accuracy, some things are best left not mentioned. So I’ll just say, it was a lot of fun. It was cold, but it wasn’t terrible. We met a nice guy selling some contraband beer in the lobby of his apartment complex. I have a feeling he made a small fortune. Nicole and I got some nice shamrock glitter headbands. We also were given new nicknames, "scrunch" for Nic, "toothpick" for Chaddy, and "flash" for me. Don’t worry dear reader, I didn’t do any actual flashing. We spent the afternoon at the fire station downtown and met some of tony’s friend’s from his unit. Some were more interesting than others. Some were more entertaining than others. Enough said. Wow, was all of that ever vague. It was a lot of fun though, and is now going to be a tradition so says Nicole and myself.

Went to see Secret Window Sunday. I thought it was great. I had no idea it was a Stephen King short story. Besides, Johnny Depp is great in whatever he does, so therefore it was a good movie. Can’t wait to see him as Willy Wonka. I’m interested to see what Tim Burton will do with that one. Since I’m such an incredible fan of the first, one of the only ways you could get me interested in the second is by making it so incredibly different, as in Johnny Depp, Tim Burton, and no music. And since Dahl’s family was so disappointed with the first, hopefully they’ll enjoy the second version. I’ll always have a special place in my heart however for the first one. I’m not sure you could find a more homely Charlie, or a Veruca that is better than the first. Ahhhh we’ll see. C’mon June ’05.

I also went to see The Lion King on Broadway a couple of weeks back. Great show. Amazing costuming. I really enjoyed it. Then again, when don’t I enjoy Musical theatre? Granted that question is rhetorical.

So I decided (On Jenny’s behalf) that we were going to California for vacation this year. Good news, she was up for the idea. We’re going to plan it around a conference- Soul Survivor ’04. Does it get any better than camping on the ocean front? I’m going to go with a no on that one. My dear friend Alys has offered kindly not just 1 but 2 free travel vouchers, therefore it’s now officially affordable. I may never come home. So from June 16 until the end of time as we know it (or the 22nd if I have to come home) I’ll be spending my time in sunny California. Just the thought is enough to make me breathe a little deeper. Ahhhh.

I'm almost finished with my 100 things about me list that I saw on Ty's blog that she say on someones and someone saw on someones.... It's actually rather random. I guess that's the usual when you're writing 100 things about yourself. I'll try and get that one done sooner rather than later.

Happy last day of winter, it's about time.

Monday, March 15, 2004

Wow, sometimes I sure am proud to be from Indiana.... I mean what better way to spend your time making a difference in the world.

Big Ball of Paint

Tuesday, March 02, 2004

Blasted spoilers…

This weekend I went to visit my dear Pretty, one of my bestest of friends. (yes, I know bestest isn’t a word. Lay off.) We typically find some really random obscure craft to keep us busy or at least moderately entertained. This weekend it was the making of homemade t-shirts by taking random images off the internet that we’re absolutely positive no one has put onto a shirt before… Case in point: Jason now owns a shirt with a picture of Parker Posey in her fantastic pink dress suit complete with pillbox hat from The House of Yes. I now own (or will as soon as the iron-on is applied) a nice shirt with the movie poster from the timeless classic “Over the Top”. Yes I just used the words timeless classic and Over the Top in the same sentence. As the writer I have certain liberties I can extend as far as I’d like. Granted, I don’t know that this iron-on really fits any surface better than a nice wife beater. So we’ll see how it turns out… As I digress… back to my subject- spoilers.

We decided that we’d make ourselves some nice Twin Peaks t-shirts. So there I sit looking up some nice images of Agent Cooper, many of which are definitely t-shirt quality when I spot it. That’s right. The last scene in the entire series. I’ve been watching this show for months now. We should’ve been finished with the viewing months ago I know, but that’s beside the point. I’d seen 24 of the 29 episodes. That’s right, a mere 200 minutes shy of the ending when I stumble across this spoiler. Don’t worry, for those of you who haven’t seen it and plan to at some point in your life, I’m not going to tell you what the image was of. And I know that I still don’t know how it gets to that point. And truly, it’s not as if I expected a happy ending. This is David Lynch we’re talking about here. But for Heaven’s sake, did I have to stumble across it NOW? So I’ll just say, it’s with a heavy heart that I’ll be completing my viewing of Twin Peaks. I’ll just wear my Agent Dale Cooper shirt with pride and know that I was close. I was real close.

I had hoped to leave a little of life behind for my mini-vacation this weekend. What I found was that it followed with me, and hung over me like a heavy cloud hanging so low it nearly brushes my face. I avoid the feeling as much as I can. I try not to entertain the notion that something is just not right, but I can’t seem to get away. It manifests itself in my sleep and in my wandering mind. The weather was beautiful. The kind of spring warm that makes you breathe deeper and wish you never had to go inside. But it left a nagging feeling of something. Something missing, something more, something hurting, something lost. I fear sometimes I’m losing my childhood. When did I become someone who can’t seem to shake the crap of everyday life and just be? I don’t like it. I want to go back to the way I’ve always been. I don’t want the weight of the world. I don’t want to worry. I don’t want the fear of missing something important, the fear of never following through, the fear that I may go through my life and miss the very thing He’s calling me to open my eyes to. But I’m searching now. I can honestly say I’m searching. The more I find Him, the more I’ll find myself. I guess that’s the way it should always be.

Too bad it hasn't always been.