Tuesday, May 31, 2005

out of the mouths of.....demons???

i have discovered a new phenomenon here in the new town where my family lives. after growing up in midland for over a decade, with a "rather popular" older brother, one can get used to being asked about my relation to him. ditto with a&m. minus the decade part. i find that my family has begun a new life in a new town where apparently matt and i are out of the picture. o sure we are referenced and spoken about, but for the most part our family starts with jennifer to most people. imagine my glee when my parents friends mention to me that while they have never met me, they always keep up with jennifer since she....get this....writes for the paper.

it mostly reminds me of a story found in acts 19, where the seven sons of a jewish priest are overtaken after trying to cast out an evil spirit, with the evil spirit saying to them, "Jesus I know and Paul I know; but who are you?".......

"Jennifer I know and Bekah I know, but......who are you??" i guess nobody really knows. but i tell you one thing, i refuse to write for any newspaper.

Monday, May 30, 2005

did ya know?

i was born in california....my parents joke that that's why i like the northwest so much, because its my natural time zone

four of the chapters in the book of lamentations all have 22 verses, serving as an acrostic of the hebrew alphabet. the other has 66 verses, a multiple of the number of letters in the hebrew alphabet.

the pound key symbol (#) is also called an octothorpe.

When two words are combined to form a single word (e.g., motor + hotel
= motel, breakfast + lunch = brunch) the new word is called a
"portmanteau", thanks to Lewis Carroll? check it out here
.portmanteaus

the title of this blog 'a day from the eighties' comes from a conversation i had with some of my upstream freshman at sbisa:
freshman: did you have a good day?
me: nah actually it was more like a day from hades.
freshman: really? a day from the eighties?
me: no, hades. sheol. hell.
other freshman: a day from the eighties? cool! i'm gonna wear long socks and big hair
and thus, a blog was born

Sunday, May 29, 2005

and that's why i love it....

i'm a little embarassed at how disappointed i am that 24 and Alias tv shows have come to the end of their seasons, both with excellent finales. its really good that they have taken a break for the summer, because it would have been hard for me to follow them over the summer, but i must confess that i'm still pretty sad that i wont be able to enjoy them for the next few months. here's some quotes from alias that make me laugh. between the witty dialogue, tight technology gadgets, and michael vartan, alias has pretty much got it made.


Syd: It was around dinner. I brought her a sandwich.
Mr. Foster: Where were you before that?
Syd: Buying her the sandwich.


Syd: Some people go miniature golfing with their parents. We go to India to look for nukes.


Weiss: When we're sharing a cell in federal prison, I'm not giving you a drawer!


Jack: Personally, I would have found it anticlimatic. That after expecting to assemble a weapon of ultimate power, you ended up with a revelation you could have acquired from a fortune cookie.

Vaughn to Syd: You talk in your sleep. You said ‘Don’t frost the pie’. It seemed really important.


Vaughn: i didnt know you wore glasses
Jack: only during surgery


casino guard: sir, i have an urgent message for you....outside
dixon: yes, of course
[guard throws dixon against wall]
dixon: hold on! what is the meaning of this?
guard: your attache just called. apparently, you're stuck in jamaica
[long pause]
dixon: i suppose there are worse places to be stuck


syd: my math skills are above average, but i cant do advanced calculus in my head
sloane: thats why you're going in with marshall
marshall: marshall who?


marshall: we're verifying the data now sir, but it looks legit...legitimate
kendall: yeah, i know what "legit" means


syd: you look great...you lost weight?
weiss: oh, thanks, yeah. i sort of gave up all the foods that i enjoy. i'm miserable, but i look really good


Weiss: vaughn you can stay with me for a while since your house is.. ashes

Jack: It must have got lost in the mail.
Syd: Your invitation?
Jack: Unless it was an e-vite. I don't read e-vites.

Weiss to Syd & Vaughn: Guys. You don't have to analyze everything you do. You can just decide to have fun. It's okay.
Syd: We're fun.
Weiss: Yeah. You guys are about as spontaneous as my grandparents. And they're dead."


Marshall: SPORK! I've got a spork!
Jack: what's a spork
Marshall: its like a half spoon half fork - will that work
Jack: that will work

vaughn: so this is where your dad lives?
syd: what did you expect?
vaughn: a bunker or something

syd: what? she's supposed to be dead
jack: so are a lot of people.

Wednesday, May 25, 2005

dog eat dog

a wimpy little guy comes into a coffee shop, leaving his wimpy little dog outside, a miniature poodle. a huge, heavily tatooed biker comes in--eyes the guy, and tells him, "you might want to go check on that little excuse for a dog. i left my german shepherd out there, and i doubt that you'll have much of a dog left."

the little man goes out, comes back in, and says to the biker, "i don't know how to tell you this, but my dog just killed your dog."

"no way. how?"

"he got stuck in your dog's throat."

--from john ortberg's book, everybody's normal till you get to know them

Monday, May 23, 2005

my mom is cooler than your mom so....HA

i didnt want this weekend to end. i met up with my mom friday nite at my mawmaw's house and the fun started there and didnt stop. early saturday we headed to the big s.a. to meet with my apartment locator, who turned out to be quite nice and also quite capable. suggestion: always use a locator when moving, this makes things much smoother. we hit up several places, and the fifth and last one i knew was the place ever since we drove by it on our way into town and my mom knew it from the basketball decorations for the spurs game in the clubhouse. add one very nice and capable apartment staff member, and i've got a reservation for a new place in the fall just like that.

then the real fun began. we searched for a hotel which proved to be more difficult than one would imagine due to a apparently very large neurological convention going on (who knew??) and poor service from one hotel lady...eventually found a place for the night. then we headed back out, to pappadeaux we thought but seeing as the rest of the world was there, we hit up 'the magic time machine' where all the waitstaff was dressed up as characters....like Lilo from Lilo and Stitch was our waitress. it was a great concept for a restaurant but overall non too impressed. then we found a movie theatre and saw monster-in-law. you may be wondering why i'd go see a movie twice, and if thats the case perhaps you forget that michael vartan is my fave. besides i knew it was a guaranteed laugh to end our evening.

sunday we went and visited oak hills church, where max lucado preaches and were excited to get to hear him preach. i was impressed from the parking lot till the end of the service. they had visitor parking and friendly people to greet you in the parking lot and direct you to the right place, but even those not designated as 'greeters' all welcomed us as we walked to the building. the service was great, the sermon profound. it was cool. actually, the whole weekend was super hot, the hottest of the year i believe. which makes me all the more ready to hit up oregon next week!!!!

thats mostly all we did i guess. we went back to the apartment i liked and signed some papers, left some money, gawked at the massive USAA complex one last time, and drove back and ate dinner with mawmaw. i guess sometimes when you do stuff, you have fun, but figure you might have had more fun if you could have done it with someone else. but this weekend was incredible, and there's no one i would rather have spent it with!

this week little L and i are gonna have some maaajor quality time the next several days before i leave. this will probably remind me how much i love spending time with him, but also reinforce to me that i'm not interested in having a little baby for myself for a looooong looooong time. i like giving him back!



forbid it Lord that I should boast
save in the death of Christ my God
all the vain things that charm me most
i sacrificed them to His blood
--isaac watts

Wednesday, May 18, 2005

little tiny pieces

i'm sitting here plotting how to destroy the mud wasp nest that has seemingly appeared overnite on the doorframe of my apartment. i've been gingerly bounding up the stairs (all 3 flights of them) the past few weeks so as to avoid the regular wasps that have built nests in the stairwells, knowing that i only have to put up with them for a few days. but this, this has gone too far. how am i to lock my door safely without getting stung? i have a fear leftover from my childhood having been stung by both types of wasps. its sorta like shots, which, NEWS FLASH, dont really hurt hardly at all, though if you were to rely on your childhood memories, you'd think getting a shot was the worst thing in the world. perhaps it would just be best to go ahead and be stung to relieve me of my ridiculous paranoia. i think i'm gonna go after it with a swiffer mop handle, and knock it to the floor and beat it over and over again from inside my doorway, and if mr. mud wasp happens to be home, then i shall slam the door shut and either stay in my apartment forever or climb down the side of the apartment building from the balcony like i'm jason bourne or somethin.

thats not the only thing i wish i could beat into the ground over and over. my roommate again left her alarm set and left town and LOCKED her bedroom door so nothing can be done. last time this was only for a few days, thankfully, because it was set for 8am. this time it has the potential to be for about 12 days, yet its set for 11am, a much more agreeable time. so everyday from 11:10am to 1:09pm, i have a nice beeping goin on around the place. it reminds me of an episode of friends when phoebe's smoke detector wont stop beeping and she ends up smashing it into little tiny pieces, etc. i want to do that to this alarm clock. i NEED to do that to this mud wasp nest. but i'm kinda scared to. so maybe later....

Monday, May 16, 2005

my first post as a college graduate

well, that was college. moving on. haha just kidding. i finished everything up on wednesday and then spent all thursday feeling a little bit emotional as i said goodbye to some friends and threw away alot of stuff.

the fam and my g-parents came in town for graduation this weekend. we had a nice lunch at outback on friday (thanks dad!) complete of course with bloomin onions and such. i was a little nervous about graduation friday night, that it would be insanely boring. but it turned out to be less horrid than i expected. when i was walking across, shaking hands with all the important peoples, no lie that the pres. of the association of former students, asked me "are you matt's sister? thats just great". and i was thinkin, uh yeah that is just great. i'm literally walking across the stage picking up my diploma and THATS what you have to say to me?? o well. what can you do. after i walked across, i was able to sit right next to markum & will and we could talk so it passed by quickly. our speaker, the CEO of Pier1 Imports wasnt too shabby. in fact, when we mentioned his name, my g-ma was like ohh class of '61? yeah, i know him (my g-dad was class of '61). and i was like uhhh hellooo? why arent we fostering this relationship!?!?! haha just kiddin. sorta. couple quotes from his speech:

"yeah we all had not only guaranteed jobs back then, but also choices. see, we could choose the air force, the navy, the marines, or the army...."

"my final piece of life advice for you is this: always shop at Pier1."

on saturday my uncle graduated with his masters (yay!!) and we celebrated our graduations some more with a cookout. then my mom and the kiddos, we went shopping and then to my place to swim. i'd forgotten that saturday afternoons my apt. complex has 'margaritaville' complete with dj and drinks, etc, so we had quite a different experience than i had imagined when i suggested the idea. of course sat. nite we hit up wings n more. then 2 of my sisters and i hit up a late showing of michael vartan's movie "monster in law". you may think of it as j-lo's movie or jane fonda's movie, but i think of it as michael vartan's movie. and thats why i went and saw it. and enjoyed it. i'm not sure its really that great of a movie. but it did make me laugh. and it had michael vartan.

this week is going to be nice i think. i'm in college station just chillin, taking care of some stuff. today i became a proud new owner of an iPod shuffle, a graduation present (thanks mawmaw!). i've spent most of the afternoon messing around setting up my iTunes and all that jazz. i'm not sure about the product yet, it seems pretty tight, but i'll give a product review later i suppose. i also got a picture montage of my little cousin, made especially for me by M&R....i'm gonna miss that little dude! and m&r too! another graduation present is from my parents, and that is one very expensive piece of paper put in a frame. my diploma. it kinda gave me some chills when i opened up because it looks tahiight. i cant wait to hang it on my wall in my new place.

thats all for now, because in about 30min team awesome is gettin ready to have one krunk nite!

Wednesday, May 11, 2005

been there, done that.


your mom goes to college. but i DONT. muwahahahahahaha.
the good, the bad, the funny

the good:
- hanging with my brother
- fun family times
-laughing at the same old stories with lolly and shawna
- 2-on-2 basketball and one quite intense game of horse
-watching baseball
- watching 24 on one sweet television with my friends!

the bad:
- chicken nuggets not showing up to play their softball game
- george fowler, again. next week he will be forgotten.
- rockets v. mavs game 7

the funniest:
"o you're moving to san antonio?....isn't that where c.s. lewis' church is!?!?!........errr max lucado."

Saturday, May 07, 2005

tuesday nite team awesome had one incredibly awesome road trip down to houston for an astros game. when we were purchasing our tickets, the agent informed us that the "$5 tickets are $1 tonite" so we got $1 tix!! then, there was quite a few empty seats so we "upgraded" our seats to the next level, and found ourselves in very nice seats. we had lots of laughs and ate ballpark food. and hit up starbucks on the way home. this was one fun fun time with team awesome.

so my brother flew in last nite from london! he's in a friend's wedding this weekend, then tonite we're making the trek to our parents house together. so i'm sure we will enjoy our car time together. if one thing is true about matt and me, we are never at a loss for something to talk about with each other, thats for sure. so, get excited!

also get excited that graduation is 6 days away, and only 1 test remains!!

i'm currently "taking down my room" as i'm going to take half of my stuff to storage (i.e. my parents house) today and the rest next week. i'm not going to lie that i'm a little excited about the prospect of not moving every three months. the thought that my entire life wont change every 3 months is a little unnerving. because at least for the past few years, if you dont like something, you know that you should just hold on because its bound to change in about 15 weeks anyway. but here's to venturing into the unknown world of consistency, hoping that its gonna be good! at any rate, there will be less packing and stuffing all my worldly belongings into the grand am.

Sunday, May 01, 2005

from "the interpreter":
nicole kidman: "what do you do when you cant sleep?"
sean penn: "i stay awake."

you should see the movie, its very intense, nice dialogue, and overall most interesting.


friday i went to the bank and a car wreck happened right next to me. it rather shook me up. i literally did the jaw drop, cover your mouth thing as i saw two cars slam into each other right next to me with the smell of burnt rubber as the tires screeched and that sickening crunch that sounds so much less disgusting in movies somehow. and yes, i did talk to the police as a witness, being the good citizen i am. but only after i deposited my checks at the bank!... being the good self-centered american that i am.

so this sunday was my last official sunday at fbc bryan. it was really sad. if you would have told me at the beginning of this year that i'd be this sad about leaving this church, i dont think i really would have believed you. last sunday they recognized the librarian for FIFTY years of being the librarian at fbc brayn. this sunday, they gave me a shout out for ONE year of running the multimedia screens. i was kinda embarassed. the librarian started the library in a small closet, and today it has over 11,000 volumes. i wonder what the "media screens" will be like in 49 years?

since i dont have anymore classes, and its much too early to begin studying for finals, i borrowed 'the bourne identity' to read, the book that is. its pretty different than the movie, and the most significant disappointment to me is that matt damon is nowhere to be found in the book.

countdown to graduation:
days: 12
classes: 0!!!!
tests: 3


"let every man abide in the calling wherein he is called and his work will be as sacred as the work of the ministry. it is not what a man does that determines whether his work is sacred or secular, it is why he does it." -a.w. tozer