and yet...

hi, yeah it's me. it's been awhile, eh? i make no excuses for my blogging slumber or promises not to beat a hasty retreat back into blog silence.

but this. this i had to share with you. it is haunting and piercing. and brings me great hope.

the confession of an un/believer

yes we can...

the enemy of the enemy is my friend...

interview me...

so i was reading my friend nate's blog the other day, and he had this little blog game posted. the rules of which were these:

1. Leave a comment saying, “Interview me.”
2. I will respond by asking you five questions of a very intimate and creepily personal nature. Or not so creepy/personal.
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

in an instance of curiosity killing the cat, i thusly commented. and here we are.

my responses to nate's five questions are written as if to him directly.

1. How do you feel about the Spurs getting taken down by the Lakers in only five games?
first of all, you suck.

second of all, i am actually relieved that if we were going to lose, it only lasted five games. if it had dragged out to seven, i would literally have exploded. i have all manner of thoughts and opinions on this series, but this website nails it so well, i'm just going to refer to them.

2. How many Brian McLaren books have you read, and which is your favorite?
um, haven't i already disclosed this information to you before? and if so, this is a totally unfair question. because it forces me to confess the fact that i have read only 2 1/2 of brian's books - ANKOC, more ready than you realize, and 1/3 of secret message. if it counts for anything, i own them all (which it doesn't, because i got them all for free). as far as my favorite, i have a feeling that once i read secret message and generous orthodoxy, those will be my favorites. but the most revolutionary to me was ANKOC, because of where i was in my life at the time - a couple years out of Baptist college and rethinking everything.

3. Missouri or Texas? Why?
i've said it before, and i'll say it again. i'm a horrible texan. i have zero state pride in comparison with other texans - for example, i would never to this to my house at christmas. plus the college team i cheer for is in kansas!

it's difficult to compare the two states because my experience in each has been so different. i've lived in four cities in texas, and only one in missouri. i've lived in texas for 28 of my (almost) 32 years, so i've had a lot more time to nit-pick. and because my recent dallas experience was what it was, texas and i have a bit of making up to do.

Texas (an evaluation of the whole giant lot of it)
PRO: no state income tax (!), two of my three nieces, and (of course) the san antonio spurs. austin has to count for something, as do the big six, central market, and the profusion of truly spectacular tex-mex. lady bird's wildflowers. my fabulous hair stylist, omar. in-state tuition.

CON: it is so damn hot here (and humid, depending on where you are) for so much of the year. summer i can handle. nine months of it is just too much. also, all of our metropolitan areas are all concrete and cars (mostly giant pickups and suburbans).

Missouri (kansas city specific)
PRO: fall and spring. and winter. my yoga studio. the city market. room 39. the fact that it doesn't take me longer than 15 minutes to get anywhere. it's closer to wisconsin, where my other niece lives. the good people i know in KC are all concentrated into one place, whereas in texas they're all sprawled out. loose park. the plaza library.

CON: state and city income tax. and property tax on my car. none of the lights in downtown kansas city are timed correctly. TIF. midwesterners (as a generalization) are too nice - now don't get me wrong, i love friendly people. but i'd rather you be honest with me than tiptoe around an issue, trying not to hurt my feelings. anything out-south.

so mostly it's a draw, but i like the weather better in missouri. adv - MO (sorry, i've been watching a lot of tennis lately).

4. Do you like Pat Green?
not particularly.

5. What do you think about Edward Norton playing the Incredible Hulk?
i was a scaredy-kid, and the incredible hulk freaked the hell out of me. i mean, i still watched it, but the process where he burst through his shirt and got all mean - yikes. so, i have no intention of seeing the incredible hulk - movie version. but ed norton, he's beautiful. and an environmentalist. and while it seems to be a weird fit (don't you think the rock or dwayne johnson or whatever he's going by these days would be a more natural choice?), anytime i have opportunity to see more of ol' ed on the big screen, i'm in.

an update...

just about this time last week, i described to you my truly hellish moving day. but i neglected to give you any details of WHY i moved, and where i'm going from here.

well, here's the skinny:

dallas and i, we're just not that in to each other. it's okay, we both knew it, and so it was time for us to quit trying to make it work and just move on. but there is this one teeny little thing that keeps me hanging on. oh yeah, that damn thesis.

and, to be fair to dallas, school was fantastic. i have an a-number one new advisor, whom i adore, and who wants to get me the hell out of school ASAP. this right here, friends, is the textbook definition of a good advisor. and believe me, i know the difference. experienced it first-hand.

so in another instance of win-win-win, here's my plan: i'm spending the summer back in kansas city, working with the jellybean conspiracy on their annual fall fundraiser, and doing a bit of temp work. AND WORKING ON MY THESIS. my goal is to be done writing by the end of august. though as it is now june and i haven't actually engaged in much writing, my deadline may have to be extended a bit. but as i live and breathe, by the time i leave for my mountain vacay at the end of september, i will be done.

i have no idea what i'll be doing in october. or november. or december. hopefully, i'll be starting back to school in january, working on a second masters (non-thesis!) in health education.

so, that's the plan. we'll see how it actually shakes out. but i'm hopeful, and eager to see what the summer holds.

but mostly, i'm just eager to finish this damn thesis...

to my friends at TNT...

it's MANU (mah-nue) not MANO (mah-noe) ginobili. please adjust accordingly.

thankyouverymuch.

go spurs!

there and back again...

i'm sitting here watching the celtics get absolutely mugged by the pistons (the pistons have cut a twenty-four point lead down to nine), with my feet on the coffee table. i am pooped.

why, you ask? well...

• yesterday i drove from dallas to wellington (apx 4.5 hours). here i collected my MVP parents.
• we then got up at 5:45 AM and drove back to dallas (another 4.5 hours)
• where we picked up a moving truck.
• we then loaded said moving truck with the contents of my SECOND floor apartment. it was shockingly hot and humid and we almost died (only a slight exaggeration). (apx 2.5 hours)
  
• we grabbed a quick sandwich from subway (30 mins)
  
• and proceeded to make the return trip to wellington (apx 5.5 hours - frequent stops were required on this trip as my dad and i both were partially comatose)

needless to say, no one was interested in unloading tonight (my stuff's going back into storage). my dad said the only thing he was lifting tonight was a frosty shiner bock. which leaves me here, watching basketball, with my very tired feet up. homeless once again.

i already miss my kitchen.

oh, and the pistons lost by fourteen.