June 30, 2003
Random Musings
...when I first started working full time, I thought that getting sleep was more important than having fun. Everyone else would go out and have fun, but I was getting ready for bed. Well, I've adjusted to life on less sleep now. It's not like I'm living on 4 hours a night or anything, but I've decided I'd rather hang out with friends than go home and go to bed. Of course my definition of "late" is much different now than it was 2 years ago, but I've noticed that I never want to get up when my alarm goes off, no matter how much sleep I've gotten, so I might as well have some fun.
...I took my notary exam on Saturday. I feel like I did pretty well, but I'm trying not to be too confident. There were a lot of people in the exam who had failed it last time. I was told that 17 out of 24 people who took it last time failed it. You'd think I was trying to pass the bar exam or something. Sheesh. I won't know if I passed for six more weeks. At any rate, I'm very happy I don't have notary class 4 hours a week anymore.
...Saturday night, I went out to Enoch's with a bunch of people: Bart and Jen (the birthday girl), Patrick, Shannon, Courtney, Lisa, Josh, Lacey and Matt). You know, Enoch's has terrible service, expensive drinks, and uncomfortable seating, but you just can't beat the atmosphere. There's something about it that keeps us going back time after time.
...my little niece was baptized on Sunday. It's a very happy time for our family!
...I feel like I've had a relaxing weekend for the first time in a while. It's the beginning of a four day week. It's payday. It's three weeks until the Dave Matthews concert and 4 weeks til I'm on vacation. Have I mentioned that I don't have notary class anymore? Life is good.
Don't You Agree?
Emily and I watched part of Jane Austen's "Northanger Abbey" yesterday afternoon. I've often noticed that Austen's characters frequently refer to rude people as "impertinent," a word we don't hear very often. Emily pointed out another term they use a lot: "agreeable." A girl meets a man she likes, she says he's agreeable. A man meets a lady he likes, he comments on how very agreeable she is. I agreed with Emily when she said that being agreeable is highly underrated these days. Agreeableness is really a good quality in a person. Don't you agree?
June 27, 2003
TGIF*
I was going to write all about how much I like Friday's, but I'm trying to keep this from being the dullest blog in the world, so I'll just say, "I'm really glad it's Friday."
*I really hate saying "TGIF" too, as it always reminds me of Full House, a show I absolutely detest, but I couldn't think of a better title.
June 26, 2003
Under the Influence
I very rarely watch TV anymore. I've been staying so busy with work and class and other activities lately that even if I do sit down in front of the tube, it's not to watch an entire episode of anything.
I've recently realized just how much impact my previous TV viewing has on my brain. I'm not sure how this happened. I've lived about 5 of the last 8 years without a television, but somehow I've managed to make up for the lack of viewing with the time I have been around one.
I've discovered that I have this Seinfeldesque habit of giving certain people and certain situations pet names. I know I'm not the only one of my friends who does this and I know that this isn't an entirely recent development, but I still think it's funny that I have this subconscious habit of cataloging people and events as if they were television episodes.
These may not be funny out of context, but here are a few of the "episodes" that I have named:
The Vampiress
Banking Clothes
Wedding Hair
The Mumbler
The Bank Crush
Illegal Shoes
The Driveller
Wife Hunters *a phrase I believe I coined 6 or 7 years ago, but it has swept the nation so much that I'm not sure I'm the one who came up with it after all*
That's all for now, but there are more where those come from.
June 25, 2003
Another Quiz
I'm feeling terribly uncreative today, so here's one more quiz. I promise I won't post any more quizzes for a while!
| You are 27% geek | You are a geek liaison, which means you go both ways. You can hang out with normal people or you can hang out with geeks which means you often have geeks as friends and/or have a job where you have to mediate between geeks and normal people. This is an important role and one of which you should be proud. In fact, you can make a good deal of money as a translator.
Normal: Tell our geek we need him to work this weekend. |
Geography Quiz
You should go take this quiz on US geography. Unfortunately, it doesn't have a little picture to post on the blog or a witty rating system, but I got a 143...but seriously: who really needs to know where Delaware is anyway? I was in the vicinity!
June 24, 2003
Riddle Me This
You know how people say "selling like hotcakes"? What's that all about? Are hotcakes really that popular? If there were a list of top 100 foods sold in America, I bet hotcakes wouldn't even be on there. Maybe there was a point in history that I am not aware of when hotcakes were the thing. Does anyone know where this phrase came from?
June 23, 2003
Orange Barrel Storage
I drove to Nacogdoches on Saturday to see the fam. I always enjoy the drive between Monroe and Nac...okay, actually, the drive from Monroe to Shreveport is nothing to write home about: it's just straight interstate, which is good for expedience, but the smaller highways are more scenic. Of course, Louisiana has its charms, and I certainly don't claim that the whole of Texas is pretty, but the Nacogdoches area is very nice. The roads in Texas are, in general, much nicer than those in Louisiana. However, I've noticed 3 particualr places on highway 59 (in Texas) where they have been doing road construction for at least 2 years. I've never seen anyone working in those spots, but they always have the road blocked off and I always have to slow down and I'm sure they would increase the fine if I were to get a speeding ticket. I've come to the conclusion that they are not actually working on the road, but they don't have anywhere else to store those orange barrels so they just leave them there thinking no one will notice what's really going on...but I'm on to their shenanigans: they're going to have to come up with a new orange barrel storage system now.
Fortune Cookies
I think the fortunes inside of fortune cookies should have an expiration date. That way, if it doesn't happen by the set date, you won't keep your hopes up...not that I bank on my fortune cookies, but it's kind of fun to see if something happens. Of course, the fortunes are always so vague you can interpret anything that happens as the fulfillment of your fortune. For example, a friend of mine recently got a fortune that said, "You will have a romantic encounter." That could mean anything from someone flirting with you to falling madly in love...and again, what is the time frame for this romantic encounter? It could mean "today" or it could mean "at some point in the future." I demand expiration dates!
June 20, 2003
Anyone Up for a Round of Triangulate!?
I am:
*One part Seinfeld
*One part Jeopardy!
*One part What Not to Wear
June 18, 2003
50 Things You May or May Not Know About Me
1. I am a middle child.
2. I am not natually bossy, but I can be if I need to be.
3. Sometimes, people think my sister and I are the same person.
4. Sometimes, she does things just like I would, which makes me wonder if we're the same person.
5. I skipped 8th grade.
6. I was a cheerleader in 9th grade.
7. In high school, I was voted "most likely to succeed."
8. Sadly, I just might be the most successful person from my high school.
9. I made up for skipping 8th grade by taking 5 years to graduate college.
10. I wrote my senior thesis on philosophy in Jane Austen's novels.
11. I lived with my brother for my first 2 years of college.
12. We lived in the upstairs of Deacon's parents' house.
13. I read Augustine's City of God in one week.
14. I remember very little of it.
15. I can name all 50 state capitals.
16. I have been in 34 states and the District of Columbia.
17. I lived in Arkansas briefly.
18. I am not necessarily proud of that fact.
19. I have karaoked on more than one occasion.
20. I accidentally started a bar fight once.
21. I love planning parties.
22. I don't understand why people don't RSVP even though it is plainly requested on the invitation.
23. My favorite movie is "The Sound of Music."
24. For some reason, I am slightly embarrassed by this.
25. I own about 20 purses.
26. I own about 70 pairs of shoes.
27. Most of them are black.
28. I have only bought 2 pairs of shoes in the past year.
29. I accidentally stole bowling shoes once.
30. I took them back because I felt guilty, but I've always kind of wished I still had them.
31. I wear black most of the time.
32. It's not because I'm "goth" or because I'm sad...I just like it.
33. I would rather be fashionable than comfortable.
34. I would rather be cold than hot.
35. I don't really like to chit-chat.
36. I like to take care of business.
37. I am not mellodramatic.
38. That doesn't mean I don't care.
39. I have never gotten a speeding ticket.
40. I would like to keep it that way.
41. I love driving.
42. I don't mind riding though.
43. I almost always listen to music in my car.
44. I sing along loudly when I'm by myself.
45. I always say my favorite album is "August and Everything After" by Counting Crows.
46. I'm not sure if that's true.
47. I can be indecisive like that.
48. I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up.
49. My life is nothing like I thought it would be.
50. I'm happy nonetheless.
This Is How Noah Must Have Felt
Who ever designed the city of West Monroe must have wanted to remind the residents of The Great Flood every time it rains. You would think the city planners would be aware of the flash floods we frequently have around here and made the appropriate drainage system. But no. In less than an hour of raining, Cypress St, N. 7th St, and Arkansas Rd (three of the city's major roads) were all under water.
It started raining as soon as I got off work yesterday and an hour later, when I had to go to class, the standing water in my parking lot was almost to the bottom of my car doors. My poor car: driving through all that water was not good for it. The flooding of the car made my air conditioner stop working so my windows were fogging up because of all the moisture in the air. So there I was, driving out to ULM in the torrential rains on the flooded streets with my windows down and my windshield fogged up. I'm not sure it was worth risking my life to make it to class, but I made it there alive.
Most of the floods had subsided by the time I was out of class, but as I was driving to the store last night, I had to re-route to avoid a lake in the middle of Parkwood Drive. People with large trucks were stuck in it, so I didn't think my car could handle it. The old Sentra Aaron and I used to share could have handled it: it was an all-terrain vehicle. My current car is more like a some-terrain vehicle.
It's supposed to rain more this week. Hopefully, I'll be able to stay home and enjoy the rain in the comfort of the house rather than braving the downpour in the less-adequate shelter of my car.
June 17, 2003
It's Not That Complicated
I go by my middle name. I'm neither proud nor ashamed of the fact. That's the way its been since day one.
While I don't recommend making your children go by their middle name, I don't understand why people make such a big deal out of it: I can't tell you how many times people have acted like that was the single weirdest thing they had ever heard of. I admit, it's not the norm. It's probably about as uncommon as left-handedness. It does not make me a freak.
It does not bother me at all for someone who does not know me to call me Sarah. I expect to be called Sarah at the doctor's office or the DMV or in an e-mail from someone who doesn't know me (my e-mail address is sarahchristin@hotmail). Every now and then, people think it's funny to call me Sarah, and that's fine (it's not really funny, but it doesn't bother me).
The only thing about it that really annoys me is when someone says, "So your REAL name is Sarah," or "why do you want to go by your middle name?" (as if I named myself). I, like everyone else in the world (except for Peekaboo Street), was named by my parents (who both go by their middle names). They decided which name I would be called. I had no say in it.
It's really not that confusing or weird if you think about it for about 2 minutes.
June 16, 2003
Quote of the Day
"A fruit is a vegetable with looks and money. Plus, if you let it rot, it turns into wine, something brussells sprouts never do." - P.J. O'Rourke
Weekend Update
I thought of several things to blog about this weekend, but alas, I have forgotten, so I'll just give a run down of the weekend instead.
My parents came in Friday night to see their children---help Aaron build a deck see Sophie. I spent the evening visiting out there.
I had to work Saturday morning, but that was okay because I opened several more accounts, which puts me even closer to my monthly goal. I had a leisurely Saturday afternoon and night. I watched The Cable Guy with Emily, Caleb and Jordan. I hadn't seen it since it was in the theatre in 1996. I don't think I liked it the first time I saw it, but I enjoyed it this time. I guess my appreciation for dark comedy has developed. I was also surprised to see Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson and Jack Black in it. I guess I didn't remember them because I didn't know who they were in 1996 (except Ben Stiller, who I sort of knew).
Sunday, I went to church, of course. Rich Lusk preached in the morning and former blogger Duane Garner preached in the evening. Both were excellent service-oriented sermons...the kind that makes me realize what a bum I really am and encourages me to do better.
I watched The Godfather last night with Josh, Lacey and Jonathan. It's a classic, of course, and it's Josh's favorite movie of all time, but I had never seen it. I enjoyed it and I'm looking forward to the other two...but probably not this week since I have my whole week planned already.
This is my last week of notary class (!!!!). I'll also be able to see the famous AAPC softball team for the first time in several weeks. I hope they don't get rained out. I'm hosting a dinner Friday night, then I'll drive to Nacogdoches Saturday and back here again on Sunday.
Meanwhile, I'm trying to decide if I should rearrange my vacation schedule so I can go to Florida in November to the so-called "Family Advance." I love going to Florida and that's a pretty fun conference, but I'm not sure if I really want to spend the money and rearrange my schedule. Any advice?
June 15, 2003
Advertising Genius
I've come up with a new ad slogan for Books-a-Million:
"A million books. A million customers. One cashier. Books-a-Million."
June 13, 2003
Quote of the Day
"No cause more frequently produces bashfulness than too high an opinion of our own importance. [A man] considers that what he shall say or do shall never be forgotten; that renown or infamy are suspended from every syllable; and that nothing ought to fall from him which will not bear the test of time." - Samuel Johnson
Thank you notes
Many thanks to Josiah Q for hooking me up with this new blog. Not only did he offer to host my blog, he was also kind enough to move my old stuff over and get everything set up just right, and he has (IMHO) one of the coolest blog titles I've run across: Irresponsible Journalism.
I would also like to give honorable mention to Lucy for being the fastest one to move the link to my new site. Way to be on your toes.
June 12, 2003
Everything is Personal
You make some concessions when you marry at 19. Postponing college and working long hours to make ends meet are a sacrifice you may have to make when you marry so young. By the time my dad was my age, he was supporting a wife and two children by working as a jeweler. Only a few years later, he continued those jobs and added not only another child, but also started working part time as a pastor.
The fact that he did all these things may not sound impressive unless you know my dad. He can't do anything half-way. He's passionate about everything he commits to do.
He may have been working two jobs, but he always made an effort to put us first. I have countless memories of my dad reading, teaching, praying and playing with us. He still answered those phone calls which pastors sometimes get in the middle of the night. He still got up in the morning to make jewelry, but he was never too busy for us.
Many of my peers come from broken homes, or they don't know their fathers, or they're scared of their fathers, or they just don't respect their fathers. In that sense, they are not my peers. I have been richly blessed with a father who loves his wife and has spent his life caring and providing for his family. I've never spent a day worrying that my family wouldn't be together.
Besides his devotion to the family, my dad is also a man of many talents. I often joke that my parents should have their own home improvement show. Both of them excell in craftsmanship. Dad's not a jeweler anymore (he's been a full time pastor for what? 15 years, I think), but he uses the detail of a jeweler when he's woodworking or gardening or cooking. Not only is he artistic, his knowledge extends to theology, history, economics, logic, psycology, computers, and beyond. My dad could beat your dad in Trivial Pursuit anyday, but it's not like he only knows a little about each subject. Like I said before, he's passionate about everything he does.
I remember someone using the cliche excuse, "Nothing personal" one time. My dad responded by saying, "Everything is personal." That could not be more true of him. Beyond all his talents and his care for our family, he has put many years into pastoring. It's not any easy job. There have been many difficult times along the way, but he has dedicated himself to the ministry, preaching weekly, writing, starting mission churches (at least four that I can think of), running Covenant Media Foundation, and loving the people of the congregation, all the while caring for his own family as he should.
I could write on and on about the greatness of my dad, but I'll try to conclude. For as long as I can remember, my dad has had two main criteria for the men my sister and I can marry: (1) he has to be a solid Christian and (2) we have to respect him more than we respect Dad. I don't know if or when I'll get married, but if I do, he's going to have to be close to perfect for me to respect him more than I respect Dad.
Thank you Dad, for all you do. I can never repay the time or the money you've invested in me, but I'll try to make you proud.
As Good As It Gets
Some things just can't be improved upon. Take an umbrella, for example: you can get a big one, a medium one, or a small one in your choice of color. Those are your choices and those are the only choices you need. However, if someone could come up with a procedure to close the umbrella, get in the car, and get the umbrella into the car without getting water all over the driver and the car, I would call that person a genius and give him a dollar.
June 11, 2003
Another Quote for Another Day
"Some luck lies in not getting what you thought you wanted but getting what you have, which once you have got it you may be smart enough to see is what you would have wanted had you known." - Garrison Keillor
How true.
June 10, 2003
Party Police
I've got to stop having fun. It makes it so tough to get up in the morning.
Quote of the Day
"Fatherhood is pretending the present you love most is soap-on-a-rope." - Bill Cosby
Four Degrees of Separation
She's my brother's wife's brother's wife. She's the mother of two very cute kids (Wrenn and Eli). She's the wife of Patrick, who invented Triangulate!, the game that's sweeping the nation. She's Shannon. She's blogging. You should go see her.
June 09, 2003
Blogger hates me
My blog broke. I didn't change anything on it, it just stopped working. I'm trying to fix it, but I don't really know what I'm doing. Hopefully, I'll get it fixed soon. If you have anything to tell me in the meantime, you can e-mail me at sarahchristin@hotmail.com
Fashion Police
I turned eleven in 1990. Wow. I remember thinking the 90's were going to be the greatest decade ever. I especailly remember thinking the fashions of the 90's, unlike those of the 80's, were timeless. While I've never been on the cutting edge of fashion, I've always known what was in style. I thought I would look back at pictures from those years and be proud that I lived through such a classic fashion period.
I was wrong.
I watched a movie from 1994 and the clothes and the hair just cracked me up. What were we thinking? (I'm guilty of at least 25 of these trends.)
It's hard to believe clothes will be so easy to date when I'm wearing them, but I'm sure I'll look back ten years from now and wonder why I dressed so funny in 2003.
June 06, 2003
Salon Day
Words cannot express how much I love having someone else wash my hair. Someday, when I'm rich *evil grin*, I'm going to have someone wash my hair for me everyday.
Impromptu
My dad sent me some quotes this morning, one of which reminded me of something funny. When I was a freshman in college, we had to do impromptu speeches in rhetoric class. We were given a quote and then had about 30 seconds to begin speaking on it. I like to think I'm better at giving speeches now than I was then, but man, I was really bad at it then. I doubt anyone else who was in that class remembers my speech, but it certainly made an impression on me. I had made very few speeches before and I was relatively shy (or at least self-conscious) so the thought of making up a speech on the spot terrified me. Here's the quote I was assigned:
"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." (Albert Einstein)
I got up there, read my quote, and proceeded to do a stand-up comedy routine on human stupidity which included many examples I had encountered in my seventeen years of life. I don't know why I remember that speech more than any others I gave in that class, but the fear of the impromptu speech certainly made an impression on me, which was, I guess, the idea behind the assignment.
What's a Game Cube?
I am, quite possibly, the worst video game player of all time. I don't know why, but for some reason, I'm just plain bad at them. Maybe it's because I'm a girl. Maybe it's because I've usually opted to watch instead of play. Maybe it's because I just don't care enough to learn how to play any better. Maybe it's because everyone I play against has played a lot more. I don't know what the deal is. I guess it's just one of life's mysteries.
June 05, 2003
I'm an aunt again!
Well, I'm a psuedo-aunt anyway. Emma Elizabeth McIntosh was born to Jonathan and Annie yesterday. I can't wait to meet her!
June 04, 2003
Quote of the Day
"To really enjoy the better things in life, one must first have experienced the things they are better than." - Oscar Holmolka
June 03, 2003
Triangulate!
Patrick recently told me about a new game he came up with called Triangulate!. Inspired by the phrase, "a little bit country, a little bit rock n roll," the idea of the game is to identify three facets of your personality. You can use 3 movies, 3 musical genres, 3 songs, 3 authors, 3 cars, 3 occupations, etc. to try to shows different sides of who you are. For example, I would say I'm one part banker, one part interior designer, and one part English teacher. Of course, these three things don't entirely define who I am, but they give you some idea of what I think about myself. This game is more difficult than you might think. It's tough to come up with different things that define your personality. It might be little easier to identify aspects of someone else...you can play it that way too. I believe this game is intended to be a roadtrip game...it can take a while to come up with three songs that tell who you are. It can also be a blog game or a party game. Think about it. You'll like it.
I hear that Patrick is already working on Triangulate 2!. Maybe it'll be a board game. Milton Bradley is going to be all over this!
Go ahead, try it. Define yourself.**
**Don't you think "define yourself" would be a good slogan for this game? I just came up with that. Maybe "identify yourself" would be better.
June 02, 2003
Random Musings(to be written stream-of-consciousness
Random Musings
Yesterday was my one year anniversary of living in Monroe. It's hard to believe I've been here for only a year. I've forgotten what everyday life was like in Nacogdoches and Moscow life is growing dimmer by the day. I've lived in two different places here and had two different roommates. I've made lots of friends and learned a little more about life. I like it here. I'm not saying I'll live here forever, but for the present (and the foreseable future), Monroe is home. Tomorrow will be my one year anniversary of working at the bank. Wow. I've had a real job for a year. I've been a grown up for a year. Who knew I would actually get a job that requires me to get up early and therefore go to bed early?...and I usually don't mind....except for this past week when Emily, Matt, and Josh (my roommate and our neighbors) were all out of school/out of work for the week. They all got to stay up late and party like I did when it was 1999. I had to cash in my proverbial chips at midnight and the partying was just beginning for them. I was jealous. We did get Matt pretty good for his birthday Saturday. It was no "sugar and birthday candles in the car" as has happened to someone else, but we did manage to fill his apartment with a lot of balloons and an enormous banner. The best part was the old "shoe polish one the car" trick. He was not too proud of that and washed his car immediately...but deep down, he knew it was funny. Today is Amy's birthday. I don't intend to sabatoge her in any way. I sent her a real gift instead. I thought about going out to their house tonight, but I already went Friday and Saturday. They might get sick of me hanging around. Today is also the day Annie's baby is due. I can't wait to find out if she has a boy or a girl. I'm looking forward to seeing pictures. I'm also looking forward to having them only 5 hours away instead of 35 hours away. This week should be fairly uneventful for me (for a change). I still have the notary class, which is eating away my social life. Oh well. I volunteered to take it. It's only for 3 more weeks anyway. I'm finally back in the comfort of my own office this week. The lack of blogging last week was due to the fact that I was filling in for a nearly indispensable person. What a week. I've still got lots of summertime events coming up. Next up is the mystery dinner I'm planning for Matthew and Christie...should be fun. And finally...blogspot is killing me. They're going so slow. I'm tempted to change sites, but I don't want to do all the work involved with moving. Maybe they'll pick up the pace soon.
That's all.
Quote of the Day
"In India, 'cold weather' is merely a conventional phrase and has come into use through the necessity of having some way to distinguish between weather which will melt a brass doorknob and weather which will only make it mushy." - Mark Twain