Too annointed to be disappointed

That's what a friend said yesterday.

"Cole, you're too annointed to be disappointed!"

Wasn't exactly applicable yesterday ("you're too blessed to be stressed!" was far more appropriate). But it's right on the money for today.

I want and I fear. My two most frustrating feelings. Trying to figure out how much of those to shut up, rationalize, and allow. Many thanks to a dear sister in Christ for helping me with that one.

Stupid feelings.

Last day of classes! Next is dead days, the most stressful weekend of the semester, and then finals week. So 2 papers and 3 exams to go. God help us all.

Worst fear

Since childhood, my worst fear has been throwing up.

Spiders? Psh. I smoosh them.
Snakes? Some of them do good things. I avoid them all, but no overall hatred.
Things under my bed? Ok, so that's pretty scary, but that's for another post.

Throwing up, though... Trembling, paralyzing fear.

It doesn't happen often at all (praise God for that incredible blessing), but the very idea that it may happen has the power to ruin my day.

So the girl sitting next to me comes into class late, looking pale and frail. She looks at the professor and explains with hand motions and mouthing words that she is sick. That throw up kind of sick. But she, being the academic martyr that she is, has braved the natural elements to grace us all with her infected presence.

This is so incredibly not ok with me. Please, for the grace of God, if you are sick, do not--DO NOOOOOOOT--come to class sick.

My weak unrested body is not prepared to fight off throw up. It's 5 days til finals week, miss. You infect me, and you will pay for your ill deeds. Now go home.

Pooping

Yep. This post is going to be about poop. The bodily function. But not my OWN poop, but rather the poop of my roommate.

So she and a group of guys are hanging out in Austin at a film festival. Lots of standing in lines and sitting in movie theatres. Not a lot of time for, YA know, private time. Time on the throne. Blessings from the bowels.

But these things must happen.

There's a small line in the ladies room, and for those of you who are familiar with the lines in ladies rooms, you know how seriously we take these things. That turnover rate has got to be GO GO GO! So a stall opens up, the handicapped stall, and my roommie walks in.

She's in the middle of doing her business, when she hears the most frightening thing one can possibly imagine:

"Maybe you can use one of the other stalls..."
and a feeble voice replies
"But I need the handicapped stall..."

My roommie, right in the middle of dropping a stink bomb into the handicapped toilet, felt her heart plummet to her toesies.

She had been in there for an understandable amount of time, considering the deed being done, so who knows how long this elderly woman had been waiting, and she was just going to have to wait a minute longer. You can't really stop natural processes halfway through and switch stalls. THIS IS ALL OR NOTHING TIME!

So roomie finishes as fast as nature would allow, and she frantically ran around the stall trying to clear the air, but it was too late. Her presence was known.

So she dashes quickly out of the stall and scurries past the legitimately old woman who was shuffling desperately with her walker toward her relief. Little did she know what she would encounter upon entering that handicapped stall.

Meanwhile, roommie feels on about the same humanitarian level as Nazis and Klan members. For about 5 minutes, you know that every woman who enters that bathroom sniffs the air, turns to her friend (because women use the bathroom buddy system), and--temporarily forgetting that she, too, poops--says, "Can you believe that someone would do that? I mean REALLY."

So be careful in such situations. Unless you use a wheelchair, walker, or cane, try desperately to avoid contaminating the holiness of the handicapped stall.

We're down to single digits on the days between here and freedom. We can make it.

Hm...

Does anyone else find it ridiculous that I just looked up--on the Internet--how to decrease eye exhaustion and headaches due to looking at a screen for too long?

Just checking.

By the way, a few answers include:
- increase the light levels around the screen itself (turn on a lamp to the side of the screen)
- decrease the brightness and/or contrast on your computer
- kiss your computer screen very tenderly and ask it to be gentle with you
- oh, and rest your eyes every few minutes by......

(wait for it).......
.....
....
...
..

NOT LOOKING AT THE SCREEN FOR A FEW MINUTES!

BRILLIANT!

I often experience when walking, whether for exercise or to class, an uncomfortable moment when I realize that someone is coming toward me, also walking, and we are going to cross each other. I have to decide in that moment if and how I am going to acknowledge that person.

Think about it.

Do you A) smile, B) wave, C) ignore, D) both A and B, E) give the acknowledgement nod, F) give a “hello” or G) dig for your phone or something similar to be preoccupied with to make C feel less rude?

Those are obviously not all the choices available, but I’ve found those to be my most common “go to” actions in such a situation. There are an infinite number of factors that go into that decision, but the decision must be made, and often very quickly. Sometimes I walk away thinking that I picked the perfect option, but other times I feel like the smile and wave was a bit much, or I remember why the person looked familiar and I feel bad for getting so preoccupied with my iPod.

When I got a bike last summer, I realized that passing another cyclist is far less complicated, possibly due to the faster pace of the activity and, thus, the shorter amount of time that it takes to pass the other person. Also, sunglasses make a big difference. It is much easier to continue people watching while also ignoring the passerby when wearing sunglasses.

Yet another scenario: let’s say I am sitting on a particular bench along the Trinity Trails. The section along University Drive across from the Botanic Gardens, more specifically. Let’s imagine that as I have a view like this:



As I am sitting on this bench on a warm afternoon, bikers, walkers, joggers, and dog-walkers all pass me by. Who acknowledges me, and who does not? Who feels the need to shift focus to the side to nod, smile, wave, or speak? Also, how do these people interact with one another when they pass? These are the phenomena that I study.

I don't have children and I don't sell jewelry.

It's getting to that point where I feel ridiculous addressing this blog to "you." There is no "you." I've also realized that blogspot seems to be full of "look we have children!" blogs and "look I make creative things like very simple jewelry!" blogs. Have you ever clicked the "next blog" button? I have. Many many times. It's so discouraging. There are a couple of good ones, but there are far more "I HAVE CHILDREN! I NEED AN OUTLET!" blogs than anything else.

(Side note, though, if you know those children, it is MORE THAN worth it to read them. I am guilty of cooing over my cousin's kiddo's pictures. The difference between Britanny's blog and most of the others? She writes well. I enjoy it immensely.)

List of things that this blog is NOT for:
1. showing off my children
2. displaying jewelry that I have made myself
3. angsty preteen ventilation (been there. done that.)
4. posting pictures of my 73 cats
5. cheesy flash sparkley images of cupcakes and ladybugs (it's disheartening to realize how many of those are out there)
6. Pioneer Woman style cooking step-by-steps (that woman must have 3 arms to take pictures with a nice camera WHILE USING A MIXER and still produce tasty food)
7. slamming Jesus down your throat (I loves the Jesus. I do not loves the blogs that are so saturated with scripture that it's tedious to read)
8. one post a year. Maybe two. (I hate flipping to a cool blog and seeing that there's a year's gap between some of the posts. or maybe the most recent post was submitted in 1999. Really? I was 10 that year.)

Mkay. Now that that's out there, I need to go find the other childless, not-into-crafts, mildly clever blogs that are stranded on an island in the ether.

Music on my mind

Ingrid Michaelson - Men of Snow


Regina Spektor - Dance Anthem of the 80s


Rilo Kiley - Breakin Up



Rehearsal time :) Enjoy those in the meantime.

Things that make me happy:

1. my sister
2. massages (not messages. well, those too, but specifically massages)
3. thinking of next next next Thursday (May 6th)
4. Grace Kelly (watching The Country Girl)
5. butternut squash cake
6. seeing a car turn it's lights on while driving down the road (I feel like we share a little secret just for that brief moment)
7. hearing a random passerby say "bless you" when I sneeze
8. going to the grocery for a specific food and finding it on sale