I was talking with a friend of mine the other day on IM, and we began by joking but moved into some more serious subjects.  I reminded him (as if he didn't know!) to keep in mind that I'm not perfect.  He replied, "but you are striving and that is more than i can say about a lot of people i see."

The fortunate thing about having an online conversation with some one is that you don't have to get your mouth shut before you can go on, because I probably looked something like this O_o and said, "it's a lot more than I can say of myself too often".  Which was completely true!  There are way too many times when I, if I am being honest at all, have to say that I am not really making an effort to please God.  Sure, I'm not doing anything BAD, but that isn't what He wants.  He wants me, living for Him with everything I have... striving after Him...

Last night I was reading a prayer from The Valley of Vision and part of it says, "My sin is not so much this or that particular evil, but my continual separation, disunion, distance from Thee, and having a loose spirit towards Thee."  It's a question which I need to ask myself constantly.  Am I striving after God?  Or do I have a "loose spirit" towards Him?  Am I consciously trying to please Him?  Or am I just not committing sins of comission?

I was thinking about it again tonight.  It's a really hard concept to wrap your mind around... that the spirit which moves the body which I'm in now will someday be cut free from its bondage to the earth, free from its shameful craving for sin, and be able to be totally God's. 

That is an awesome thought.

It is enough to keep me striving.

do a lesson on David and Bathsheba in a class of mixed gender.  BAD IDEA!!!  But funny quotes.

~~~

Abbey:  She didn't have a shower curtain?!?

~~~

Antion:  Now we have DNA testing...

Josc:  Now.

~~~

Mr. K:  Uriah was just this guy and Bathsheba's husband --

Sean and I:  Lucky.

~~~

Antion:  I was wondering if the number of sheep [in the story which Nathan tells David] was proportional to the number of concubines whom David had...

me:  *weird look*

Honestly, I don't know where he comes up with that stuff!

~~~

me:  *looks at words on projector to the song*

The words should have said Glory, glory, hallelujah...

instead, they said, gorly, gorly, hallelujah

me:  *cracks up*

Josc:  Narie!  Are you laughing about... um... the words?

me:  *nods and starts laughing even harder*

Josc and I:  (who, por supesto, were both in the FRONT ROW) *both laugh hysterically*

Antion:  *gives us look like OK I know you're happy but what is wrong with you... er... ok...*

(and he has informed me that it was his older brother who typed them that way.

~~~

Andrew:  It's not that I hate little kids, it's just that I'm not crazy about them.

me:  I remember when you were one.  (Which, of course, I'm less than three years older than him!)  You were pretty much the same as you are now... just smaller.

Andrew:  Yeah... shorter... and smaller... and...

me:  I think louder, actually.

Andrew:  I believe it.

~~~

And then there were the few moments when I was trying to talk to David about the movie Eragon and to Sam about the book Ivanhoe at pretty much the same time.  Ooh, funness.

Tonight I noticed that David is as tall as me.  What is this?  Some sort of commie plot by my friends to make me feel both short and old?  =P

*sighs*

----- Warning, spoilers on Spider Man 3 follow -----

Last night I was talking to Antion on AIM, and all of a sudden he says, "a bunch of the youth group is seeing Spider Man 3 tomorrow at the theatre at 7 if you want to come". 

Hmm, okay, a little short notice-wise, but as the theater/theatre (depending on if you're English or American!) is a four minute walk from my house, it wasn't like getting there was a problem.  =)

Dad and Mom gave thumbs up, and *drumroll* for the fourth time in my life, I found myself in a movie theater!  Woo!  (Although the prices do dissuade me from making it a habit.  =P )

Anyway, the movie was... incredible.  Okay, maybe I'm just out of it on action movies, but WOW.  Although the guys were all raving about a lot of it, so it can't have been that bad, right?

Something about the way that a lot of worldview was presented blew me away.  There's one part *spoiler* where Peter is putting on his new suit and a man warns him that it seems to be made of a symbiotic material which thrives off its host and that he ought to be really careful to not allow it to get on him. 

Well, of course Peter (being the idiot he is) used his suit anyway with dire consequences... the dark side of Spider-Man kind of thing!  The suit was BAD NEWS...

and that's just how sin is.  It grows into our lives and we can't get rid of it!

So that's that for movie review for now; I'm really hoping that I don't dream about black slime and being stuck in cars 80 feet up in a web and... yeah.

Now for some quotes, if I can think of any...

~~~~~

Josh:  I haven't got my permit yet.

me:  Me neither.  Wow, that's a scary thought... you with a permit...

Josh:  I had to work.

me:  But I've been 16 for almost a year.

Josh:  O_o But I want to drive!

me:  You know, if you learn to drive, I may have to too.

Josh:  Why?

me:  Because you're younger than me!

Josh:  Sooo....?

Alicia/Josc (don't remember which one!) and I:  *exchange glances*

~~~~~

Andrew:  WOW!  And Mary Jane actually did something smart!!!  She saw the truck falling so she jumped out of the car and I'm like Oh my goodness I don't believe it!  She just did something intelligent!

Alicia:  Andrew!

Andrew:  It's true!  It took her until the third movie to find something bright to do.

~~~~~

me:  Phone.

Antion:  What... my phone... huh?

me:  I'd like to use it...

Antion:  My phone is at your service.

~~~~~

Sam:  What is with all the penguin movies???

~~~~~

someone:  Well, Sam's car broke down, and Josclin's car broke down, sooo....

~~~~~

Antion:  *sees me*  *sticks tongue out*

What a greeting!

~~~~~

every girl in theater:  *jumps/screams*

~~~~~

Pastor B:  And now for some of the Spider-Man powers...

Antion:  *tries webbing me*  Hey!  It's not working!

me:  Sorry, telepathy only.

~~~~~

all the girls at one point or another:  PETER!  You're such an IDIOT!!!

Today we were going to watch a movie (no evening service as we had it in the afternoon!) so Dad asked me to cue it up.

Well, much to Mom's surprise, it was Lady Jane!  Apparently she and Dad had decided that we'd watch Pirates of the Caribbean, which message was not relayed to the cuer-upper, who had merely heard LJ mentioned.  *cough*

Anyway, we ended up sticking with LJ.  So here's a bit of analysis.

They did a very nice job tying up the loose ends (for the most part) and going full circle.  Lovely, lovely.  *gives kudos points*

They never actually showed the severed heads *ughshudderugh* but unfortunately, that's not worth points, it just didn't lose them any. ^_^

Jane was pretty, but she was also sort of a brat.  =P

Guilford was... um... very... let's see.  He really reminded me of Westley from the Princess Bride!

What?  You say that Cary Elwes does have a tendency to look... well... like himself?  What a novel thought.

OK, some more serious thoughts.

The romance which they had going between Jane and Guilford was nice, in a Hollywood-ish fashion, but it really spoiled a lot of other stuff.

First of all, it is completely historically inaccurate.  =P  Jane hated Guilford. 

Secondly, it stole much of what she stood for as well as her reason for dying!  At the end of the movie (right before her head comes disconnected >_<) Jane whispers, "Guilford!"

She did not die so that she could be with Guilford.  She died because she refused to renounce her Reformed faith!

Anyway... now that I have that rant out of my system...

I did have a hard time watching Cary Elwes in a "serious" role.

  In fact, I added a few quotes from the Princess Bride in... "It was a strange wedding."

So it really was a pretty good movie, it was a lot of fun to watch the interactions between characters, especially King Edward VI and and Jane when she is queen.  ^_^

But for a more, erm, historically accurate (I think) and also interesting book, I highly recommend Coronation of Glory by Deborah Meroff.

One other thing about this movie:  I came away with appreciation for the separation of church and state.  Yes, it's been much mis-used, and mis-interpreted, and so on, but the movie gives a very clear picture of some MAJOR problems with what happens when the state determines the religion!

Let's see. 

Just because... this was sort of mildly amusing...

me (6:22:24 PM): My sidebar ad thing has the Chinese character for HORSE up... *is amused*

Abby (6:22:45 PM): Yup.

Abby (6:22:48 PM): That be me.

Abby (6:22:53 PM): Ad thing?

me (6:23:19 PM): I think that's what it is.  I'm sort of confused.  I just installed this, like, 7 minutes ago.

Abby (6:24:35 PM): HAHAHHAAHA

Abby (6:24:38 PM): It's an icon. XD

me (6:24:48 PM): OOOOOH. *smacks self in head*

Abby (6:24:50 PM): And it's mine. ^^

me (6:24:52 PM): Wait.

Abby (6:24:52 PM): Giggle.

me (6:24:56 PM): OH!

me (6:25:14 PM): It's the old character, not the simplified one.  I know that much

me (6:25:19 PM): *Chinese

Abby (6:26:10 PM): Yup.

me (6:26:37 PM): The little dot things are fire dots, because horses produce heat.  What doesn't?

Abby (6:26:51 PM):

me (6:27:09 PM): Never mind, that may have been a bad question.

me (6:27:14 PM): How do you get an icon?

me (6:27:27 PM): I'm going Roman Catholic here.

Abby (6:28:00 PM): Uhhh.

Let's see.  Other news.  I seem to have survived another week of school, although I still need to do my Physics test tomorrow.  =P

I'm still working through my Spanish books.  It is fun, but I can't speed-read in Spanish.

And as for random people hollering at me lately?

Well, I think there was someone yesterday as I was out in the backyard reading, but as I wasn't expecting it, I was a bit slow on the uptake.  ^_^

And then there was most DEFINITELY someone who yelled out their car window at me tonight as Dad, Atara and I walked home from the mall, but it didn't sound complimentary, so I ignored.  =P

Hmm... I guess that's it for now...

Oh, The Rebelution is now back.  ^_^

*notices that people are online*

*goes to talk to them*

Goodnight!

Technically, this post was last night's post -- I typed it up then, and it refused to post it, so...

we'll give it another go.

me: So... anything happening...?

A.W.: nope

me: Do you ever get off the computer?  =P

A.W: occasionally

me: what, between 2 and 8 am?

A.W: That’s actually true…but sometimes more than that :-p

and another round...

me: I haven't heard from you in a while; how're you doing? 
  
  (we all know that I just miss having someone to trade educated
insults with... ^_-)

A.W.:  I'm doing great! I'm also not studying very hard, which means that in a
few days, I won't be doing great at all...

Comment allez-vous?

me: Non! Je déteste le français! 

Autre que celui, je suis très bien.  Mais j'ai monter méchant d'essai de physique, un bon nombre de trigonométrie.  =P 

La semaine dernière une de mes amis emailed me seulement dans l'Espagnol. 

Est-elle ainsi cette semaine française?  =)

A.W.: The scary thing is I was actually able to understand most of that without using a dictionary or translator :-p. 

What was the purpose of this email, again?

me:  Uh...to reinforce the fact that I hate French?  And don't speak it?

A.W.: Ah…c’est bon, I guess…

Why not just shoot at a French dictionary with an air rifle or something?

Pretty much I just email him when I'm bored... but the really amusing part is is I try running that ^ email which I sent him in French through dictionary.com.  It translates as

No! I hate French!

Other that, I am very well. But I have to go up malicious of test of physics, a good number of trigonometry. =P

The week last one of my friends emailed me only in the Spaniard.

Is it thus this French week? =)

For some reason, that translation really amuses me.  "Malicous of test of physics"???  It's almost as good as David's "whack charismatically" of ancient renown.

Oh, and the latest development...

me: anything you want me to add to my post, since it's random emails of the A.W. nature?

A.W: *shrug*

:-p

me: OK then. 

BE that way. 

*can't help it and cracks up* 

Actually, I'm linking David's old Latin translation which he pulled the phrase "whack charismatically" out of... funness. 

why do you always stick your tongue out at me?  If you do that again, I will draw on it.  =P

A.W.: :-p 

Draw on that!

me: Ha.  I deleted that email TWICE, intending to reply..  

*gets out purple sharpie* 

I'm sorry to disappoint you, but there's no way that I will risk ruining the blue one by drawing on your tongue with it.  *shrug*

And now he seems to have gone away, and I must do the same.  Goodnight!!

So, yeah, that was last night's post.  And now for the news from tonight.  ^_^

We had youth group, and Antion was back from the Dominican Republic, so things were, presumably, a bit crazier than... um, well I can't really say than usually.  *cough*

The sound system went haywire during one of the songs, causing Antion a good deal of worry as he thought that those were its I'm-About-To-Blow-Up type sounds.    The song actually still sounded okay.  *shrug*  We had a lesson on triumphant prayer from I Samuel 1 and 2, where Hannah is given what she asked of God -- a son.

At times, I am afraid it becomes obvious that our youth group is a little on the ... silly end.  Alright.  We were talking about envy (as in, between Hannah and Peninnah).

Mr. K:  "So what happens if you and another guy like the same girl?"

Sean:  "Get married!"

~~~~

Mr. K:  "And what if your husband, who already loves her more than you, give her twice as much of everything?"

me:  "Call her fat."

~~~~

Antion:  *talking about heaven*  "It'll be more better...

Sam and I: *crack up*

~~~~

Toasty:  *tries to pull out the poker or shovel to whack me with*  *grabs a handle*  *grabs the handle of the carrier-thingy which they're in*

me:  *laughs unmercifully*

~~~~

Toasty:  *glares intimidatingly at me*

me:  "Er... you know, it would look more intimidating if you got the frosting off your face first."

~~~~

me:  "So, how was the Dominican Republic?"

Antion:  "Oh, it was GREAT!  Lots of Spanish!"

me:  "What was the best part? ...the Spanish?"

Antion:  "THE PEOPLE!  The people who spoke Spanish!!  Actually most of them spoke English (except one, who was my favorite) but as soon as you'd say, "Yo hablo Espanol" they're all like "No hablare ingles mas" [he said something like that] and wouldn't say another word in English so I was lost half the time.  But it was good."

~~~~

McKenzie, who apparently missed me after not having seen me since Saturday, came running at me tonight.

Although, on second thought, maybe she just missed my cloak.

~~~~

Oh yes, the cloak.

Mr. F [Antion's dad]:  "It ought to be red."

me:  *blank look*  "Oh!  I actually had a red one when I was little."

*we stand there for a minute*

Antion:  *bounces in*  "Have you read Lord of the Rings?"

me:  Duh.  I'm wearing an Elven cloak. "Yeah..."

Antion:  "You know that part in book five --"

me:  *looks blank*  "Oh --"

Antion:  "Each book is --"

me:  "Yeah, I know."

Antion:  "When Pippin dies I was like NOOOOO!  How can he die?  This can't happen!!!"

me:  "Um... yeah..."

Antion:  "I LOVE Pippin!"

me:  "Yeah, I like him too.  One of my favorite parts is when they're having a bath and Pippin splashes his water all over the floor..."

Antion:  *looks confused*  "I don't think I'm to that part yet."

me:  "It's in the FIRST BOOK."

~~~~

*rolls eyes*

So, there it is.  The mega-long post.  Goodnight!

Oh, and here is a cool LotR clip movie.  ^_^ http://s95.photobucket.com/albums/l145/Elven-Archer/?action=view&current=IWillCarryYou.flv&refPage=&imgAnch=imgAnch1

“I like the doors.  They just don’t understand me.”  ~ Beth
 

*watching tanks on TV*  “I want to buy one of those.” ~ Andrew
 

 “Next year we’re quizzing on Gollotions.”  (Galatians and Colossians)

*later on, reading what she had written*  “Galican?  Oh!  Gollotions!” ~ Beth
 

*after being told that something she was looking for was right under her nose*

“It’s not under my nose.  My finger’s under my nose.” ~ Beth
 

“Don’t sing along.  Especially when it’s kinda in another language.”  ~McKenzie (aka Kenny)
 

“I just took a bite out of my plate.”  ~ Beth
 

“AAAAAAH OH MY GOODNESS I almost just said…. That’s… depressing.”  ~ Kenny  (We banned that phrase, since Antion overused it so extensively last year!)
 

“I don’t think the windows understand me either.”  ~ Beth
 

“Beware the skipping guys!!!!!” ~ me, Kenny, and Beth, trying to pretend that we did *not* know Josh and Sam, who were skipping across the parkinglot.
 

“Mulch is not exactly a weapon.” ~ Mrs. B
 

“With many other woids, er, many other words…” ~ Johnny D
 

“I feel more like having a nap than doing two more quizzes.” ~ Mark, my captain
 

“We seriously cried.  It was hilarious.” ~ Kenny

“I’m not sure anyone wants to be me!” ~ Beth
 

Only at Districts…

*CRUNCH*

everyone in car:  “WHA--?  Oops, that was a water bottle (which we just drove over and which exploded)”

Kenny and I:  *exchange glances*  *laugh hysterically*

Beth:  “Let’s turn on the light!”

Kenny:  “Push the button.”

Beth:  *pushes and pushes*  “It’s not a button!”

me:  “Try twisting it.”

*light snaps on*

Beth:  “AAAAAH!  BRIGHT!”

Kenny and I:  *laugh hysterically*

me:  “Josh… are you BITING your pop can?”

Josh:  “Actually… yeah.”

Kenny:  “WHY?”

Josh:  “I’m trying to make a hole in it!”

Beth:  “… has it worked?”

Josh:  “Well, I’ve made a dent in it…”

Beth:  “Why don’t you use a fork?”

me:  “Because he wants to do it with his teeth!”

Kenny:  “We are NOT a good group.”
Beth:  “And we are not good together.”

Kenny and I:  O_o

Kenny:  “That what I just said!”

Josh:  *pretends to shut door on me*

me:  *hits Josh with backpack*

Josh:  “That’s not very nice.”

Quizmaster:  “And just because I’m interested… can anyone tell me what a proconsul is?”

Alex:  “Some sort of Roman official… Mark, clarify.”

Mark:  “What?!”

Alex:  *standing up to try answering the question*  “Stop it, Mark!”

Quizmaster:  What?

Alex:  “He was smirking at me!”

me:  Is that a camera in the back?

Molly:  WHAT?

Mr. G:  So just jump.  We have nothing to lose.

me:  Except points...

Molly:  *laughs*

As tonight was the last practice before Districts... it was... crazy.  Josh is probably as wound up as I've ever seen him.  This will be his first Districts ever and... you can pretty much tell.  Actually, Andrew, I, and Josh were all bouncing off the walls; Sam was mainly just giving us "you're crazy" looks.

Josh:  "So why is it, that when the angel strikes Peter, he just wakes him up, but when he strikes Herod, he is eaten by worms and dies?"

Mr. G:  "Um... Peter was tougher than Herod?"

Sam:  "He just struck Peter.  He struck Herod DOWN!"

Pastor B:  *in Obi-Wan voice* "And if you strike me down... well, you know."

me:  "I will be eaten by worms and die!"

Pastor B:  "So please please don't strike me down!"

~~~~

Josclin and I commiserated over Chinese.  We agree that 1. It is very hard to learn.  2.  We can prounounce it exactly the way our native-Chinese-speaking friends tell us to, and they say, "NO!  That's wrong!"  3.  That your throat only makes certain sounds if you learned them shortly after birth.  4. We do not instantly recognize if a character is written wrongly!  Sorry!  There is nothing programmed into our brains which screams Ahh no the radical points the other way!!!  *sigh*

And, I was quite pleased with myself... we played a Frisbee game... and I caught the Frisbee!  ^_^

Um... goodnight.  =)

While Madeline was gone, Atanvarne (her younger sister), knowing that I would be missing my most loyal commenter/ person to talk to on xanga/ person to ... um... be random with... (well, that category is a toss up!)... where was I?  Oh yes, Australia. 

Atanvarne decided to amuse me by sending me LotR pictures which she captioned. 

Eventually, I started sending some back to her.  And the whole thing WAS most amusing.  These are a *few* of the pictures which she sent to me... 

GET OFF MY LAWN!!!!

From right to left...

Billy Boyd:  "I love having my picture taken!  Isn't it a nice day out?"

Elijah Wood:  "I wish Orlando would stop screaming in my ear.

Now I'm sure I'm gonna be deaf for life."

Orlando Bloom:  "WOOOOOOOO!"

Dominic Monaghan:  "Whoa buddy!  Orlando.  Orlando!  Orlando you're

cutting off my blood supply!  I think I'm being choked to death!

*gack*  *wheeze*  "Gah! Help me!  Medic!" *choke* *cough*

~Sanctus Real.

But, as Sandy (Elijah Wood) says on Flipper, "It's true!"

We were doing our devotional tonight, and our hymn was There is a Fountain Filled with Blood by William Cowper. 

That is one hymn which always leads my mind into another train of thought entirely!

In this case, Robin Hood!  I begin thinking about a fountain filled with blood and then about people being bled and yep, my mind just jumps to Robin Hood, who was bled to death.

Now, some other hymns which I can think of which also get me instantly off track are His Eye is on the Sparrow and Softly and Tenderly Jesus is Calling.

His Eye is on the Sparrow getting me off track can be attributed (with some justice) to a young man named Ethan and his sister Madeline.

Ethan was, for a long time, a firm believer that the chorus went "His eye is on Jack Sparrow." 

I think that's understandable; Jack can certainly use the watching. 

And as for Softly and Tenderly... well...

once upon a time, Mom and I were discussing this hymn.

Mom:  "The problem is, every time we sing that and get to the part about death beds are coming, I begin picturing these great lumbering beds!"

I began laughing and said that I had the same problem.

Not too long after that, I guess, we got together with family in a KFC (I hate KFC's...) and began complaining to my uncle Ross about our problem. 

He went off into a long story about a man being followed around by a coffin, THUMP.  THWOMP.  THONK.

I think that for the rest of my life, every time I hear that hymn, I will be envisioning a man pounding the table in KFC. 

See what I mean about getting off track?