I'm pretty well convinced that the only thing more beautiful than worship is the One we give it to.
Gwen organized a Passion of the Christ movie night, and the attendees comprised myself, Aaron, Abby, Jon, T.J., and Laura Mortensen. We spent the afternoon playing Call of Duty (yes, really) and watching Sherlock (of course), and then we hunkered down for Passion. We were all appropriately equipped with blankets and stuffed animals and tissues.
We sat on that couch for two hours and – insanely untrue to character, for us – nobody said One. Single. Word. For two hours. We barely even moved (unless crying counts). We sat through the credits, and three minutes of the menu screen, before T.J. ventured to break the silence with a joke about how that was "the clean version." We all tittered a bit, got some ice cream, and then someone said something about how we should sing hymns. Aaron said, "Where's a guitar? I'm not kidding," and then, since we didn't have a guitar, T.J. and Aaron started singing "See His Love" a cappella, which was amazing, and then I dug out my laptop and we lay on the floor and listened to worship music for almost two straight hours.
We all feel a little bit emotionally exhausted, and strangely physically exhausted, now. But it was amazing. Just, just, Jesus. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.
Friday, January 27, 2012
a little infinity: thursday
In no particular order (really, I wrote them and then rearranged them as much at random as a conscious mind on top of a subconscious mind is probably able to):
A particular pair of my friends have been veritable blogging machines this week. My poor dashboard can't seem to keep up, as per its usual finickiness.
I think there's an actual chance that I might have aced my ridiculous conceptual physics exam this afternoon.
I got all of my math homework done four days earlier than it needed to be done. (Admittedly, this was only because I was stuck in a coffee shop for three hours with no other source of written anything.)
I read John Green's newest book, which is also the only novel of his that I actually love. It was also the only book that I've read in one day in a few months. It's the only novel that almost made me really cry in a very long time.
I found this while hunting for new indie music.
My room smells like sand and imagination because of a candle I got for Christmas and burned today.
Somebody wrote me a really nice review of part of a story I wrote.
A dinner-table discussion was had about the proper use of the archaic forms of English second-person pronouns.
I watched "Blink" and was able to appreciate the humor because I wasn't scared saliva-less.
My sister and I had a nice, albeit brief, rare bonding moment over a book we hadn't read.
I sang hymns while walking down Gull Road from Wal-Mart to Panera.
I had an argument with my English study group about whether Aslan or Gandalf would win a cosmic duel.
I made lots of interesting and enigmatic literary connections of my own accord.
My phone didn't die on me even though it's been running on one bar of battery for almost three days.
I met actual strangers who are Whovians, and I met somebody else who's read the whole of The Silmarillion.
Lots of things made me laugh.
Conclusion: it was quite a good day.
A particular pair of my friends have been veritable blogging machines this week. My poor dashboard can't seem to keep up, as per its usual finickiness.
I think there's an actual chance that I might have aced my ridiculous conceptual physics exam this afternoon.
I got all of my math homework done four days earlier than it needed to be done. (Admittedly, this was only because I was stuck in a coffee shop for three hours with no other source of written anything.)
I read John Green's newest book, which is also the only novel of his that I actually love. It was also the only book that I've read in one day in a few months. It's the only novel that almost made me really cry in a very long time.
I found this while hunting for new indie music.
My room smells like sand and imagination because of a candle I got for Christmas and burned today.
Somebody wrote me a really nice review of part of a story I wrote.
A dinner-table discussion was had about the proper use of the archaic forms of English second-person pronouns.
I watched "Blink" and was able to appreciate the humor because I wasn't scared saliva-less.
My sister and I had a nice, albeit brief, rare bonding moment over a book we hadn't read.
I sang hymns while walking down Gull Road from Wal-Mart to Panera.
I had an argument with my English study group about whether Aslan or Gandalf would win a cosmic duel.
I made lots of interesting and enigmatic literary connections of my own accord.
My phone didn't die on me even though it's been running on one bar of battery for almost three days.
I met actual strangers who are Whovians, and I met somebody else who's read the whole of The Silmarillion.
Lots of things made me laugh.
Conclusion: it was quite a good day.
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Reflexive
I just sent an email to someone I haven't talked to in a long time, and I'm kind of nervous.
It was someone I was friends with for about a year a half, but we fell out of touch awhile ago. The last few months, I've been thinking about her a lot, and praying, and wondering if she's doing okay. I felt really compelled to be her friend before—like, even though she put up the impression of being independent and confident and fine, there were a few things that she said, or that happened, that clearly said she was not okay. Her family was kind of a mess, too. I spent the night at her house once, and after even a couple of hours I wanted to just get out of that atmosphere. (I didn't, and we had fun, but it was a little like walking on eggshells around either of her parents, even though they were really nice to me.) As I got to know her, I felt so compelled to just love on her, you know? I just felt like she needed unconditional love so much—not even mine, although I loved her too, but Jesus'. I felt honored to think maybe I was meant to be the one to show that to her. And I felt absolutely awful for not trying to stay in touch more. I worry about her a lot, honestly. For a little while after we stopped talking, I thought maybe we were just meant to be friends for a season, but I think God's contradicting me on that point.
So now that she's been on my mind so much lately, I decided I'd try to remake friends with her. Frankly, I'm a bit terrified. I'd really appreciate it if you guys could pray for wisdom and the Holy Spirit in this, and pray for her, too. Grazie!
It was someone I was friends with for about a year a half, but we fell out of touch awhile ago. The last few months, I've been thinking about her a lot, and praying, and wondering if she's doing okay. I felt really compelled to be her friend before—like, even though she put up the impression of being independent and confident and fine, there were a few things that she said, or that happened, that clearly said she was not okay. Her family was kind of a mess, too. I spent the night at her house once, and after even a couple of hours I wanted to just get out of that atmosphere. (I didn't, and we had fun, but it was a little like walking on eggshells around either of her parents, even though they were really nice to me.) As I got to know her, I felt so compelled to just love on her, you know? I just felt like she needed unconditional love so much—not even mine, although I loved her too, but Jesus'. I felt honored to think maybe I was meant to be the one to show that to her. And I felt absolutely awful for not trying to stay in touch more. I worry about her a lot, honestly. For a little while after we stopped talking, I thought maybe we were just meant to be friends for a season, but I think God's contradicting me on that point.
So now that she's been on my mind so much lately, I decided I'd try to remake friends with her. Frankly, I'm a bit terrified. I'd really appreciate it if you guys could pray for wisdom and the Holy Spirit in this, and pray for her, too. Grazie!
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Can I Say, Preposterous?
There was a crazy man on the Gull Road bus today who sat behind me and swore his way (loudly) through phone conversations with his wife, his girlfriend (!), his cell phone service provider, and his plumber (?), and then yelled at the bus driver for ten straight minutes about how he was a terrible driver and how he deserved to be fired, and threatened to sue and/or assault him because he was an idiot and didn't care about people and [I quote] "I'm on disability and have a smart pass, so I can do whatever I want, and you can't ask me to get off the bus and you can't tell me what to do, so you better shut up and listen to me, because I already got kicked off the bus once for jumpin' one of you morons, and I'll do it again if you don't stop tellin' me to be quiet and you just do your job." All nicely peppered with lots of f-words, naturally. A gaggle of girls in the back started shrieking after four minutes just to drown him out. (And he wouldn't stop kicking the back of my seat.)
(I have serious respect for the bus driver, who kept his cool remarkably well and even apologized to the rest of the passengers after the crazy man got off.)
The bus driver's error that brought this on? The wheelchair ramp on the bus stopped working, so we had to switch buses and were a few minutes late leaving the depot, and the higher-ups instructed the driver to skip one of the regular stops to make up the time—a very small change in route which didn't affect any of the people on the bus.
How do (ahem) people like this get anywhere in life?
…
…
Probably best not to answer that question.
*shakes head sadly*
———
On another note, the Stadium bus was extremely packed, and this elderly couple got on and nobody could give them a seat. The lady was too short to reach the overhead bar, so her husband (who could reach) wrapped his free arm around her and tucked her up under his chin, and they just grinned like they were twenty-somethings. It was incredibly adorable.
(I have serious respect for the bus driver, who kept his cool remarkably well and even apologized to the rest of the passengers after the crazy man got off.)
The bus driver's error that brought this on? The wheelchair ramp on the bus stopped working, so we had to switch buses and were a few minutes late leaving the depot, and the higher-ups instructed the driver to skip one of the regular stops to make up the time—a very small change in route which didn't affect any of the people on the bus.
How do (ahem) people like this get anywhere in life?
…
…
Probably best not to answer that question.
*shakes head sadly*
———
On another note, the Stadium bus was extremely packed, and this elderly couple got on and nobody could give them a seat. The lady was too short to reach the overhead bar, so her husband (who could reach) wrapped his free arm around her and tucked her up under his chin, and they just grinned like they were twenty-somethings. It was incredibly adorable.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Inbound (Or, I Don't Know Why This Post Was So Absurdly Late in Coming, Since It's Been Ready For Publishing For Almost A Week .) (Or, Have I Mentioned Lately That I Hate Navigating HTML Code?)
Kiersten's Ultimate Accomplishments of Awesome List, 2012 Edition: (yes, I purposely used a sans serif font here.)
- Finish writing at least two novels. (I have very specific ones in mind. It will happen.)
- Memorize cool stuff.
- Don't procrastinate on volunteer work.
- Finish reading Unfinished Tales and The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún.
- Become reconciled to the idea of Lee Pace as an elf and Richard Armitage as a dwarf.
- Complete NaNoWriMo again.
- Write and send those letters of appreciation to people that I mentally drafted last year and never wrote.
- Finish reading the Inheritance Cycle, just because I feel it must be done.
- Keep a journal specifically for intercessory prayer.
- Continue overcoming phone fears.
- Make at least a semi-consistent effort to exercise and eat a balanced diet.
- Become more reliable in following up on promises.
- Don't let my reading habits take second fiddle to my mindlessly-surfing-the-Internet habits, like they kind of did in 2011.
- Succeed reasonably at the French language.
- Do a lot of praying about my prophetic words.
- Pray and fast about my heart and boy stuff. A lot.
- Don't lose my mind when we move twenty miles closer to civilization in the summer.
- Habitually be more joyful, in a God-filled way and not an obnoxiously chipper way.
- Sleep.
- Plan something.
- Money: Do a better job with it.
- Vividly visualize punching anyone in the face who demonstrates unforgivable ignorance of ancient Mayan civilization by claiming the world will end in December.
- Keep in touch with my grandmother.
- Do more prophetic art at home and not just at church.
- Learn to ride a bike.
- Acquire a driver's license.
- Acquire a pair of glasses that a) are super cute and not from the kids' section, and b) have a prescription that actually allows me to see clearly more than eight feet in front of me.
- That Thing.
- That Other Thing.
- Make bread.
- Hair.
- Write down super craft ideas for later that have been stockpiled and abandoned in my closet over the last few years.
- Befriend R_______.
- Get my wifi card replaced in my laptop. (it's been broken since April. Why yes, I do procrastinate.)
- Makeup: Acquire? Learn to wear?
- Act on preparations for potential post-KVCC academic plans (e.g., make decisions and apply for stuff).
- Don't second-guess myself so much.
- Use my vintage chocolate pot to make chocolate. (Perhaps have tea party? Except with hot chocolate? My teapot only makes two cups, and I can make five with the chocolate pot.)
- Make you laugh. Yes, you.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
You should all see this movie. It's beautiful and clever and quirky and moving and funny and unpredictable and gorgeously acted, and I think that I really love it.
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
This post has no title. I do not know why.
So, basically I alone, among my small group of peers who keep blogs, did not post on new Years' weekend. I almost feel remiss, especially since what I was doing instead was sleeping and playing on the computer (and watching Pixar shorts with the Demskes before the snow came [late *cough cough*]). I listened to the obligatory Death Cab For Cutie song, and watched Inception, and did a little bit of knitting, and not much else.
I should do an update/redux on the Accomplishments of Awesome List soon. But it might be a day or two. I feel that last year I sort of impulsively transcribed a list of grand things I would like to do, and then shelved it. I want to give it more thought this year—not just determining what is feasible, but also (I shudder to say the word) prioritizing. Oh man—I know. Hierarchy is not my area of expertise. Sticking with projects is not a thing of mine either (as I recall, tweaking that might actually have been an item on the 2011 list. Oh dear).
In other news, this is my last week of Christmas break. I will be very sad to see it go. I desperately do not feel ready to dive back into the boiling cauldron of academia, English course or no. Therefore, I shall have to make the best of this next few days.
I should do an update/redux on the Accomplishments of Awesome List soon. But it might be a day or two. I feel that last year I sort of impulsively transcribed a list of grand things I would like to do, and then shelved it. I want to give it more thought this year—not just determining what is feasible, but also (I shudder to say the word) prioritizing. Oh man—I know. Hierarchy is not my area of expertise. Sticking with projects is not a thing of mine either (as I recall, tweaking that might actually have been an item on the 2011 list. Oh dear).
In other news, this is my last week of Christmas break. I will be very sad to see it go. I desperately do not feel ready to dive back into the boiling cauldron of academia, English course or no. Therefore, I shall have to make the best of this next few days.
starting a different morning.
1He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall remain stable and fixed under the shadow of the Almighty [Whose power no foe can withstand].
2 I will say of the Lord, "He is my Refuge and my Fortress, my God; on Him I lean and rely, and in Him I [confidently] trust!"
…
14Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him; I will set him on high, because he knows and understands My name [has a personal knowledge of My mercy, love, and kindness--trusts and relies on Me, knowing I will never forsake him, no, never].
15He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.
16With long life will I satisfy him and show him My salvation.
(Psalm 91 1-2, 14-16, Amplified Bible)
———
4Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He will give you the desires and secret petitions of your heart.
5Commit your way to the Lord [roll and repose each care of your load on Him]; trust (lean on, rely on, and be confident) also in Him and He will bring it to pass.
6And He will make your uprightness and right standing with God go forth as the light, and your justice and right as [the shining sun of] the noonday.
7Be still and rest in the Lord; wait for Him and patiently lean yourself upon Him; fret not yourself because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked devices to pass.
(Psalm 37:4-7, Amplified Bible)
———
God's love is meteoric,
his loyalty astronomic,
His purpose titanic,
his verdicts oceanic.
Yet in his largeness
nothing gets lost;
Not a man, not a mouse,
slips through the cracks.
7-9 How exquisite your love, O God!
How eager we are to run under your wings,
To eat our fill at the banquet you spread
as you fill our tankards with Eden spring water.
You're a fountain of cascading light,
and you open our eyes to light.
(Psalm 36:5-9, The Message)
2 I will say of the Lord, "He is my Refuge and my Fortress, my God; on Him I lean and rely, and in Him I [confidently] trust!"
…
14Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him; I will set him on high, because he knows and understands My name [has a personal knowledge of My mercy, love, and kindness--trusts and relies on Me, knowing I will never forsake him, no, never].
15He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.
16With long life will I satisfy him and show him My salvation.
(Psalm 91 1-2, 14-16, Amplified Bible)
———
4Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He will give you the desires and secret petitions of your heart.
5Commit your way to the Lord [roll and repose each care of your load on Him]; trust (lean on, rely on, and be confident) also in Him and He will bring it to pass.
6And He will make your uprightness and right standing with God go forth as the light, and your justice and right as [the shining sun of] the noonday.
7Be still and rest in the Lord; wait for Him and patiently lean yourself upon Him; fret not yourself because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked devices to pass.
(Psalm 37:4-7, Amplified Bible)
———
God's love is meteoric,
his loyalty astronomic,
His purpose titanic,
his verdicts oceanic.
Yet in his largeness
nothing gets lost;
Not a man, not a mouse,
slips through the cracks.
7-9 How exquisite your love, O God!
How eager we are to run under your wings,
To eat our fill at the banquet you spread
as you fill our tankards with Eden spring water.
You're a fountain of cascading light,
and you open our eyes to light.
(Psalm 36:5-9, The Message)
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