References

I wanted to drop by and give a shout-out to Anne and May who had the great Sex and the City post which inspired my post yesterday. They link to a review of the SatC movie by Today's Christian Woman. And oohh! the heat! That poor writer got her some hate mail! She gave Sex and the City a 3.0 and Prince Caspian only 2.5. Yikes, that's like giving promiscuous sex a 3.0 and Jesus a 2.5.

(I dunno...can you hear the sarcasm through the screen?)

I.M.H.O

I have a new guilty pleasure. On my break between semesters my fabulous friend Tim and I spent several hours on the couch watching Sex and the City DVDs and now I can't go more than 48 hours without checking into my DVR for my TBS censored version of Carrie Bradshaw and her urban antics. Not that I don't covet the DVD version f-bombs and all. But alas, my fixed income doesn't allow it.

I understand this is, for many, a counter-Christian activity. But I say the show is brilliant. I dare any Christian to watch it critically. Not as in, critical...like, "oh they're always fornicating...shame on them." But watch it with an eye out for Truth. Carrie Bradshaw, a sex columnist, narrates through the disasters that ensue after she and her friends try to figure out what it means to love, be loved, be selfish, be compassionate, be independent and so on. Carrie's writing style is mostly in the form of asking her readers rhetorical questions. I find that they are all the right questions. I strongly disagree with their methods for finding answers, I disagree with the answers she comes up with more often than not. BUT...sometimes her answers scratch the surface of Truth. And Truth, remember, with a capital T is God's Truth.

I'm certainly not condoning the behavior of these fictitious women. There are plenty of ways to go about asking the right questions and searching for answers that don't involve sex on the first date and handing entire paychecks to Monolo Blanik. But asking the right questions is a first step.

So when we run into the real life version of these characters maybe our jobs as Christians is to love them enough to keep our mouths shut about their sinful lifestyles and listen for the questions. If we love them, truly love them where they're at, maybe they'll trust us enough to listen for the right answers.

Decompressing

I had exams in both my classes today. I added up the total number of hours I spent studying and got a whopping 13.5 hrs. This human embryology class is hard. I'm a good memorize-er so I think that saves me. Foundations of Catholicism is not so bad because I've been studying Catholicism for several years now and it's not so unfamiliar. Science is just not my bag, baby.

Since I've been focused on sex organs and the Church for 3 days my house is in disarray. This is common when I've got school stuff to work on. But my sink-full of dishes is still not clean as I have been pleasantly distracted by the blogosphere.

I've found a particular literary agent (whew...haven't href -ed in a while...scary) who dispenses the wisdom of the publishing world in the manner of Dave Barry. His post today (see link) was about the single greatest writer-ish problem. Plot. I posted a comment because I seriously think that's my biggest issue. I have all the deeper meanings and messages of all the books I want to write but no plot. This is not workin' for me. Must develop plot.

So anyway, in my obsessive refreshing of the comments page (maybe this literary agent will comment on my comment directly!) I found another blogger who commented. She is published and writes...wait for it...Cool/real/Christian Chic-Lit. I commented on her blog too.

And the networking begins!

Dumbfounded by Extravegance and Greed

I have always felt that it is a person's right to accumulate wealth. It is what one does with that wealth that falls under the morality umbrella. Let's say a person is a gazillionaire and donates millions of dollars to causes that protect human dignity throughout the world. (that's more than I've ever given!) Can I begrudge them a nice house and maybe a Jaguar? I don't think so.

Excess is a relative term anyway. If I remember the numbers correctly, the average American 10-year-old paper boy is in the upper 6% of the world's income. That's crazy. Is it wrong for him to buy baseball cards when 94% of the rest of the world is starving? Of course it's not wrong.

But I did come across something that made me rethink this just a little.

As many of you know I'm a big fan of What Not To Wear. I really like the way Nick Arrojo does hair and I've been frustrated with my own lately because it's in that awkward growing-out stage. So I'm watching the show while I'm eating lunch and decide to Google Nick to see if he has a salon or whatever. Sure enough there's his salon. His website has a list of service and prices.

If I want to get my hair cut (just a cut...no color), by Nick himself, which will last in it's original state for about 2 weeks and then enter the growing-out stage in no more than 2 week after that, I would have to shell out wait for it....
.....
.....
.....
$500.

I don't care how much money you have or how much you and your gazillions protect human dignity. If you spend $500 on a haircut you should be shot.

First Session

I have two classes everyday for the next five weeks. Foundations of Catholicism is going to be great. It's my first theology class ever and I can't wait to get into it. The professor is a young man
(probably younger than me) with a wonderful dry wit. He had some artwork displayed while he lectured today and one of the images was the God/Adam Sistine Chapel fresco. He talked about how man was created out of the divine mind of God...blah blah blah. Then he said that he just showed that picture because if word got out that he showed pictures of naked people in class, it might be more popular. Which is interesting because...

I learned all about the male reproductive system in my human embryology class right before Foundations.

My day came full circle. Very nice.

I called Steubenvill "Home" the Other Day...It Scared Me

OK kids, I'm back. I promise to be a better blogger for all 5 of my regular readers. I love my fans. Hahahaha!

No seriously...I was so fried by the end of the semester that I couldn't put two words together. But my little vacay and time away from the books has refreshed my brain. I'm ready to study and I'm ready to write super duper intelligent stuff here on my blog. (hehe)

So get ready for some mind expanding B.S.