Run

Run
To move swiftly on foot so that both feet leave the ground during each stride.

I went and watched "North Country" on Monday night with my roomie and my dad. I thought it was fantastic, perhaps qualifies as a chick flick, but I have been thinking about it since. As a quick summary; A woman is abused by her husband, leaves him and takes a job as a miner which pays great but is not welcoming to women. The movie is a look at what she had to face in the mine, at home and in the courtroom. "Inspired by a true story, North Country follows Josey’s journey on a road that will take her farther than she ever imagined, ultimately inspiring countless others, and leading to the nation’s first-ever class action lawsuit for sexual harassment."

The thing about the movie that really got to me was that although every woman at the mine had been faced with harassment and they had each encountered moments of fear, Josey was the only one to stand up for herself. There's a point in the movie where Woody Harrelson's character questions the courtroom, "what will you stand up for?" Hmm. What will I stand up for? What will I not back down to? What will I allow myself to be bigger than? Where is my fight? How will I win? Hmm. This inspired me. I got all teary, as I tend to do, and as I tried to quickly catch the tears before they fell and anyone could see, I kept thinking about where my own integrity lies. Hmm.

I hope that I never come to the same place where Josey ended up - stuck in a courtroom, defending my name and fighting for my rights. But at the same time, this is perhaps a symbol of what our lives are... "Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses" (1 Timothy 6:12). "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize" (1 Corinthians 9:24).

My hope is that I will run with my eyes constantly on the prize. I want to know what I'm running for, where I'm running to. This life is a fight of faith. I am proud of the fight I'm fighting and the race that I am winning. When trouble comes and the odds are against me, my ultimate hope is that I too will stand up.

"In order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing."
- Philippians 2:16

Final

Final
Forming or occurring at the end; last.

This is my last week of classes for the semester... which is crazy! Finals start soon and this part of the year is always crunch time, hence my lack of blogging these days...

Its so bizarre that this season has already passed. Fall has come and gone, winter is beginning and half of the school year is already at a close! Join me in the ever so familiar phrase - "where has the time gone?" September seemed to drag on a bit, which is what I find happens at the beginning of change, but these last few months zoomed by at Superman speed.

There are some important questions to ask at this time of year.

1. Were goals accomplished?
2. I am ready to set new goals and challenge myself in new ways?
3. Have I grown, did I learn, am I changed?

I'm excited for this season to come to a close. I'm looking forward to going home for the holidays and touching up the little areas that I have still to work on - there's always time! This year was full. It was a good year, a hard year, a fun year and a blessed year. Looking forward to what's in store for me next!

"Life can be wildly tragic at times, and I've had my share. But whatever happens to you, you have to keep a slightly comic attitude. In the final analysis, you have got not to forget to laugh. "
- Katharine Hepburn

Geriatric

Geriatric
An aged person.

My last blog about the newspapers would be fun in a movie, but this morning's adventure was such a movie moment for me. I had class at 8:30 and got out just before 10:00. My day was packed with a couple outings. I have been craving a new hairstyle, mostly a new color. This spring/summer was a little rough on me hair wise. I went from brown, added some blond streaks, then had a mega blond moment, a little pink for a day, bright bright red and then toned down the red and left it a bit auburn-ish. Lately its been rather blah. A friend came to visit and her hair is freshly black, which just looks awesome. I was again inspired to touch up my own locks and go a little dark.

So, I made my way to the mall - with sandals on of course - and headed to the one and only hair salon in there. I told the man at the counter what I wanted, he seemed rather confident, price was fair enough, so I took the plunge. As I'm sitting in the chair, towel and cape around me, waiting for the dye to be made, I start to look around. No word of a lie, I was the youngest person in the salon by at least 50 years!!! People were getting their hair done in wheelchairs and those fancy motorized chairs that grandma's drive around malls in. I suddenly realized that I was VERY out of place. By this time, it was too late. I had committed and the deal was made. My "wanna-be-trendy" hair was in the hands of a lady who was a likely candidate for my Oma's neighbor. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with this scenario - but at the same time it seemed SOO wrong. This is when I went into movie mode. I could hear the creepy organ music in the background, the hairstylists began to move in slow motion, everyone stared in wonder and the laughter turned into evil mockery. So it wasn't that bad, but it was weird...

The good news is that I ended up with the chocolate brown hair that I was craving and a little trim to satisfy my anti-split-ends attitude. My hair was teased a bit beyond my comfort, but I was able to tone it down right before I met my dad for lunch. Perhaps in my movie, a character can leave from the salon and spot a newspaper truck on fire on the way home... I totally think it could work!

"Cletus: I don't want to hear about you old-ass geriatrics
Granny: Oh, yeah Cletus? Me and Isaac might be dried up geriatrics, but ain't nothing wrong with Isaac'a love tackle."
- Nutty Professor II: The Klumps

Newspaper

Newspaper
A publication, usually issued daily or weekly, containing current news, editorials, feature articles, and usually advertising.

Yesterday evening, around 6:27 p.m., we left for a cheap show. "March of the Penguins" to be exact (it was sold out, so we still have yet to see it). On the way, along a busier strip, I could see that there was some sort of excitement up ahead. My eyes aren't equipped with the best prescription, so at first all I saw was a little flicker of orange beside a truck in the middle of the road. The truck looked like a postal vehicle. As I got closer, I soon understood what my eyes were trying to piece together... A small truck was kinda-sorta pulled over to the side of the road, the driver had his door wide open and he was literally chucking stacks of fire out onto the pavement. He was the driver of a newspaper truck. Somehow a fire must have started and all of his newspaper stacks were catching on fire. As horrid as this was - it was a little funny at the same time. I had never seen anything like this before! The driver jumped out from his side of the truck (traffic's side) and ran to the other side, flinging open the door and frantically hurling burning newspapers from his truck. We followed traffic and passed this poor site. As I watched in my rear-view mirror, the truck got smaller and smaller, but the outline of orange continued to grow and surround him. I didn't see any remnants of this mini-disaster on the way home, so I'm assuming that he was able to salvage his vehicle - his job is perhaps another story.

This adventure made it to the top of my list for "exciting weekend endeavors". I am sure that the next time I read the newspaper I will have no choice but to offer out a sigh to the mystery fire-throwing man. Oh dear...

"Some newspapers are fit only to line the bottom of bird cages."
- Spiro T. Agnew

More

More
Being one of a large indefinite number.

How do you define your life?

I wake up every morning, I have breakfast, I get ready for class, I go to class, I eat supper, I watch a show, I make a call, answer the phone, go out for a while, I read, I play piano, I sleep.
This is what I do, but this is not who I am.

What do you live for?

Lately, I keep hearing people's "goals". The majority of them include; "I want a family", "I'd love to build my own home", "I hope to travel", "I will wake up tomorrow morning, Lord willing". Living from day to day, paycheck to paycheck - and then we wonder where the time has gone.

What's your purpose?

It makes so much sense to believe that talent of yours should extend beyond yourself, your gifts are to be used, your mind has power to change things, your hands can help restore, your heart can create miracles and your words have possibility to build. But, we stay home, we busy ourselves with mundane acts, we sit, we stay quiet, we simply live.

What's next?

"Gotta be something more to life."
- Ginny Owens