Another Reason I Could Live Without Facebook

Every couple of days I get an email from "Compare People"

These emails tell me what apparently, my friends' friends are saying about me. That's all fine and good I guess, but more often than not they are telling me who my hottest friends are.

I have two friends who are the hottest each with about a million votes and then it drops off dramatically to the next three. I think those two friends are voting for each other. And that's just the females.

This all knowing (relationship and self-esteem destroying) entity "Compare People" also tells me who among my male friends is most desirable to date (because girls don't care about hotness, you know, we just care about the relationship). I have to admit the top two guys are fab guys and I can completely understand why a girl might desire to date them. Absolutely. But guess who number three is? Wess Stafford!!! The CEO of Compassion International. It's not that I don't think he's a wonderful man, but he's married! And also, I'd like to point out, a bit older than the other guys in this pool.

Ha. Well anyway, "Compare People" gets ignored by me everytime. I never add this application. (though I don't know how they started sending me emails) I just don't see the need for such a thing in our world of delightfully unique and wonderful people who all have something important to contribute to the planet. Something which probably can't be measured or sometimes seen on the superficial level of a facebook profile.

PS. I am still dreadfully addicted to Scramble and Scrabulous, though.

I Remember With Great Fondness Paying 3.73 for Gasoline

You may judge me for reading a lot of books and watching TV. But can I just say something?

Do you remember the days when gas would go up like a couple of cents? Last week, I was paying 4.06 for gas. Today I paid 4.39.

I really just absolutely do not want to go anywhere. It's just so expensive! It doesn't help that I live in a very spread out area where all the people I know are not really all that close. I think it might be time to get to know the neighbors. Because I can talk to them for free. Won't even cost cell phone minutes.

There are other benefits to hanging out at home. If I'm home, I'm not buying stuff I don't need! I'm not adding to my huge collection of unread books! I'm not going through the drive-through for my large diet coke! I'm not paying outrageous money for movie tickets, dinner out, or play tickets! I'm not sweating to death in the heat!

So if for now, the blog is a little boring and home entertainment centric, it's because I'm choosing to have no life. It's very possible that this will also inspire all sorts of deep thoughts in me. Then I can blog about those. :)

*this is supposed to be read with humor. Please do not take me too seriously.

My Brain is Dead

For real. But tonight all my stuff should be from point A to point B. Yay!

And then I'm going to sleep for three straight days before getting rid of half my clothes, because WOW do I ever have a lot.

Anyway, I don't think the writer's strike helped television much. I am just not feeling the tv shows anymore. For example, I lost interest in Ugly Betty, Bones had the worst twist ever (which I actually predicted based on one rumor I read that a certain actor was leaving the show), and I just couldn't get excited about Meredith and Derek being together. This means come next year, I'll have more time to read! Ha. Also, I'm worried about LOST. I'm hoping that it won't disappoint. At least David Cook won American Idol.

It rained here yesterday and we had tornadoes!! Isn't that weird????? It's 50 degrees outside and last weekend it was 103. This is the kind of stuff that makes you think....global warming.

And finally, I just finished a really great and heartwarming debut novel by Sherri Sand called Leave it to Chance. If you head over to The Friendly Book Nook you can see how you can win a copy of the book and a five dollar gift card to Starbucks.

I have a lot of blog posts in development, I really do, that are hopefully about a thousand times better than this one. Once my life is back to normal, i.e. internet is up and running and I've tossed half my clothes from the window, I'll be back for discussion!

Have a great weekend everyone! What are your plans?

I'm Procrastinating Again

So, yeah, I'm moving this week. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate moving? I hate it. Part of the problem is that I have an incredible ability to accumulate stuff. Very very quickly. I don't really understand how one moment I have nothing, and the next there is all this...stuff. Take for example, the most difficult thing in the world to move is also the thing I love best...books. They are heavy! They come in different sizes! I don't even want to tell you how many books I acquire a week (mostly due to blogging). It's an embarrassment of riches.

Secondly, we don't run the a/c here at the homestead and the temperature has escalated into the 100s. On the weekend I'm supposed to be packing. So after I put like three books into a box I need to take a break. So I don't pass out.

Thirdly, I am not at all organized, so while I'm packing my room looks like it threw up. Stuff is everywhere and somehow I have to get that stuff into the boxes. In the meantime, it's getting on my last nerve sitting out instead of being tucked away in a drawer or a shelf.

So as you can see, I hate moving. And it's 2:27 a.m. and I keep telling myself I need to sleep, but the computer is enticing me into procrastination. I have caught up on my reader, read about a zillion LOST theories, and found the following two videos of the TV shows I am most looking forward to this next television cycle. This past week was the unveiling of the networks schedules and while it was mostly a bit dull these videos have found their way to me. Tell, me they look fantastic do they not?

What do you do?

Gas stations always seem like the place to run a con in movies and on tv and admittedly, I often get hit up there as well.

In fact, I would say that gas stations and my local CVS are the two places I most often get asked for money.

Normally, in the past, I always said no. I had a friend when I was in high school who would actually pick people up who had the will-work-for-food signs and take them to her house to do work. She never really had any successful experiences with it, as they would often disappear or fabricate an excuse as to why couldn't help in her yard. So the seeds were sown that these people weren't seriously in need.

I had another experience working with the homeless in Atlanta. We prepared bags of food and took them to the streets, passing them out to the homeless. It wasn't much you know, some rice and sausage, a packet of cookies. Shadowing those with more experience, I watched when some would ask for more food. "For a friend," he said. My initial reaction was..."no way!" But the guy I was with, chuckled and said, "A friend, huh?" and gave him another bag.

There's a verse I've struggled to understand all my life. It seems so hard and it flies against all logic and reason.

This verse rattled around inside my brain when I said no to the guy at CVS who wanted to wash my car windows for some change. I was in a hurry to go grab my lunch and didn't want to take the time. He's asked me for money before, but at least this time he was even willing to do some work for it! As I drove away, I felt seared by the words in this verse.

This same verse popped up immediately Friday night when I stopped for gas, and a woman approached me. She claimed she was bleeding, though I couldn't see any blood and had just escaped from her abusive alcoholic husband, but needed some gas. I didn't believe her. But those words...those words were pounding in my head.

They come from Matthew: Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.
So I bought her ten dollars worth of gas. Was it a con? Yes, but I knew that going in. I especially knew it when a man walked by with a gas can as I was filling up my own car and pointed to the car and asked for some help to buy gas. (was he the alcoholic abusive husband?) Even though they lied to get some gas, I don't know what was really going on in their lives. I don't know God's purpose for our lives intersecting that night, or for the sense I had that I needed to obey and give them money against my better judgement.

Could I have given that ten dollars to an organization that would have used it more wisely, like Compassion? Perhaps, but in truth I might have ended up spending it on Diet Mountain Dew or something.

I'd love to know what you all think about this verse, how you apply it to your life and what you do in these situations. I think it's worth talking about and I'm hoping to get a little discussion.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Birthdays are like New Year's Eve...a chance to examine your life and see if you like where it's going. At least in this stage of life....maybe when I'm older I'll be able to merely relax and celebrate.

I'm 28 today. Only one more birthday after this one until I'm 30. (I can't really believe it...how did this happen???)

I have one hope for this new year of life...a single minded focus on loving God. I think I've had this hope all along, but I am so completely ADD (just read this blog) and it always seems to come back to me how much time, energy, money, and emotion, I still throw at useless things.

In the meantime, I can already imagine the flood of emails I'm going to get about what you guys can get for me for my birthday, and I'm touched really that you care so much, so here are some bloggy gifts you can give me.

You can add my blog to your favorites on Technorati!



You can add me to your blogroll or give me some other linky love!

You can join my Read One Book Challenge!

Or you can just wish me a happy birthday!

Thanks for reading my blog everyone....you make my day with your comments! :)

So That's Not Gonna Help

I love playing Scrabulous on Facebook and have enjoyed battling it out with friends.

But it's not really much of a battle because I'm terrible.

In fact, at the moment, one of my friends is beating me with a score like 350 to 120.

Yeah.

So back at the after Christmas sales, I picked up page-a-day calendar with Scrabble grams to improve my game. It was only a dollar! What a bargain!

I'm not sure it's going to help much because check this out:
Letters provided: AUHHRBR
Solution: RHUBARB

Do you see what's wrong?