goodbye yesterday

another year is drawing to a close, remember when 2003 held so much promise? although new year's eve carries celebration, it also brings introspection with it.

did i do everything i ought to have done? did i treat people how i should have? did i do all i could have? did i seize the day? did i celebrate and mourn at the right times? did i make a difference? did i have the right relationships? were there things i should have handled differently?

while i do think there is value in learning from the past, often i think that perhaps, instead of dwelling on the past and wondering how things should have been, we should look to the future.

what can i do that i ought to do? how should i treat people. seize the day. carpe diem. celebrate. mourn. laugh. cry. make a difference. be who i am meant to be. seek God's direction.

i started this post with something else... blogger ate it. i wrote about how i'm not sure where this next year is going. i'm trying desperately not to be anxious. His perfect plan will be revealed when it needs to be. when it's right.

thank you Father for your perfect love, your perfect timing.

end of the year

taking a que from andrew over at bloggedyblog, i am posting a year-end list. Here is my list of my top five...

Favourite CDs Purchased in 2003

5. Downhere's "So Much for Substitutes"
Favourite Songs: Starspin and In America

I was pretty excited for this CD to come out. In fact, I even conned all the programming staff at camp to wait until the day it came out in June to make our trip to the Christian bookstore to pick out our devotional material... and, you know, get this CD. Although there are three songs I really like on, "So Much For Substitutes" overall was a big disappointment. But, it still makes my list because Downhere's pretty cool and they're the closest I'll ever come to personally knowing rockstars (they went to my college even while I was there).

4. Starfield's "Tumbling After"
Favourite Songs: Can I Stay Here Forever and Cry In My Heart

I saw Starfield twice this year, in March and in September. I love Starfield. But sometimes, their album is even too sickly sweet pop-ish even for me. But overall, it's a very good album. It was hard to pick just two favourite songs. "Cry In My Heart" is a good worship tune.

3. Switchfoot's "The Beautiful Letdown"
Favourite Songs: On Fire and Twenty-Four.

I saw Switchfoot in concert the weekend before "A Beautiful Letdown" was released. It was an awesome concert. I went to get the new CD shortly after it came out, but it was already out of stock. I didn't end up hearing it until the summer, and borrowed it numerous times from my cool friend Mike, and I bought it sometime in the beginning of August when I finally decided that it was time to get my own copy. It was a very wise purchase.

2. Plumb's "Beautiful Lumps of Coal"
Favourite Songs: Boys Don't Cry and Go

Definitely the most expensive single CD I've ever purchased, I had to special order it for over $27 (Canadian) because the school bookstore didn't have it. However, being a big Plumb fan, it was well worth it. I'm never disappointed in Tiffany's music. I especially love the intro on "Real."

1. Jars of Clay's "Who We Are Instead"
Favourite Songs: Show You Love and Sing

Jars of Clay is, without a doubt, my favourite band. However, I never thought that they would ever create another album that would even come close to their first one on a scale of how much I liked it. But, "Who We Are Instead" has done just that. I love it. It's a very different Jars sound, but definitely a good one. I love the lyrics. Very sound album. I'd recommend it's purchase to anyone.

permalinks

okay, i think they should be working now, thanks to neely. she's the greatest!

advertising rates

i've been making further inquiries into this whole closed captioning thing (see post below).

this is the email i got back after visiting the official ctv advertising page:

This is an automatic reply:
Thank you for requesting information on CTV. If you are an advertiser looking for a password to our new sales site please let me know the company you are with and I will be happy to provide you with one. If there is already a company name provided in your initial e-mail please ignore this message as you will hear from us shortly with a password. If you are looking for additional sales information, please send me the details of your campaign and I will be happy to get you in touch with someone who can better assist you. Please also include the region (local, provincial or national) you wish to advertise in. However, if you are a student, I'm sorry but we are unable to release the sales site password or advertising rates to the general public.
Thank you and have a nice day.
CTV Marketing

my quest for information goes on. can i provide closed captioning? do i have to be advertising something?

i will let you know.

closed captioning provided by

i don't know if anyone else has noticed this... or maybe it's just me because i'm home and have been watching a lot of tv and we only have two channels... but i think it must be pretty cheap to pay to provide closed captioning on tv. because ryan malcolm's new cd "home" has been providing the closed captioning on pretty much every stinkin' show on ctv while i've been home.

i suppose it's part of their big world idol push.

but ryan's not going to win world idol. but that won't stop millions of canadians from buying his cd i suppose.

but, someone seriously should crown him "closed captioning king."

:)

so this is Boxing Day

so here i sit on this day we call "boxing day" in Canada, the day where you "box up your leftovers for the poor" (or something like that)... or go shopping or look over and play with all your gifts... thinking of how often we are never content with where we're at.

here i am, at home, surrounded by family, waiting for friends and people i love to get on msn messenger so i can talk to them, because they aren't here and i miss them.

Merry Christmas

hope you all are having a wonderful Christmas day with family and friends.

on my way

i'm leaving in a few minutes to go home for Christmas and will be home tomorrow afternoon sometime. not sure when i'll next be online... so may you and yours have a wonderful Christmas remembering the joy and wonder of the birth of Jesus, the One whom we can call Saviour.

maybe i should have

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maybe i should have just called them... you know, instead of spending 6 1/2 years in post secondary education earning rather than just buying the "benefits and admiration that comes with a diploma!"

and perhaps it would have saved me a few tens of thousands of dollars as well. ;)

top picks

little women
home alone 2
wild hearts can't be broken
the bourne identity
serendipity
brokedown palace

i think these are my favourite movies.

because of Christmas Day

this Christmas, i am going home. home to northern alberta, home to my parents' house. i've never actually lived there, because my parents moved after i finished high school and i've spent most of my summers in various parts of the world inbetween college years and seminary. so... i pretty much only know my family there.

this Christmas, my whole family will be home. my older sister, her husband, my younger sister, and my little brother. i guess technically he's not little anymore, now that he's 20 and is taller than me, but i think he'll always be "little" to me.

i don't know what i'm getting for Christmas this year, i would like a bigger lens for my camera, but i am kinda doubtful that that will happen. i think that i got people some pretty good gifts this year, i framed some pictures i especially like for my older sister and my mom in some really cool frames, and i made my dad this cool 3-D sheep picture thingy (he's a sheep farmer, he likes anything with sheep on it), and my brother-in-law some personalized golf stuff (apparently, or so i've been informed, he likes to golf), and then i got my younger siblings what they wanted. i made some scarves as well and sent them to various people. and i made cards and sent them to a bunch of people as well. i like making homemade stuff better than buying gifts usually. it's more fun to make stuff than buy stuff.

i don't come from a Christian family (well, they go to church, but that's about it), so Christmas isn't really a time of deep spiritual significance, we go to church Christmas Eve, and say grace Christmas day, but that's about it. sometimes i wonder what it would be like to celebrate Christmas with a whole family of believers. cherish it if you have it.

two thousand years ago in a town called Bethlehem, a young girl gave birth to a child in a stable. God came to earth as a tiny baby to bring salvation to mankind. 30 years later he died on a cross.

and today i live because of Him.

here i am

i am currently in a little town south-east of calgary, at my sister and brother-in-law's house. they left this morning for my parents' house. i am here until tomorrow when my younger sister and i are leaving for home too.

so, right now, i'm sitting on a dial-up computer enjoying the wonders of the internet, albeit very slow, but having a lovely time. :)

i tried to fix my permalinks... but i don't think they're working still. this frustrates me. i like my permalinks.

my roomdawg

my montanan roommdawg jodi is leaving tomorrow morning for her sister's wedding in brazil.

that means jodi gets a tropical summer Christmas wearing shorts and hawaiian tropic suntan lotion... meanwhile, i will be at home where it's -25C and light from about 9 or 10 am until 3 or 4pm-ish.

"hello, baby."
- jodi's future brother-in-law's first greeting to her

santa clause 2

the s.w.a.t. boys redeemed themselves.

:)

lyric

so, this afternoon me and my roommate jodi listened to bebo norman's cd "ten thousand days" for oh... about 4 hours straight.

A page is turned by the wind to a boy in curly grin
With a world to conquer at the age of ten
But as history unfolds and the storybook is told
He finds salvation but not at the hands of man

And the God of second chance
Picked him up and He let him dance
Through a world that is not kind
And all this time, preparing him, the one
To hold him up when he comes undone
Beneath the storm, beneath the sun
And now a man, here you stand
Your day has come

A page is turned in this world to reveal a little girl
With a heart that's bigger, as it is unfurled
By the language in her soul, that's teaching her to grow
With a careful cover of love that will not fail

And the God of second chance
Picked her up and He let her dance
Through a world that isn't kind
And all this time, preparing her the one
To hold her up when she comes undone
Beneath the storm, beneath the sun
And grown up tall, here you are
Your day has come

Beneath the air of autumn, she took him by his hand
And warm within the ardor, she took his heart instead
And high upon the mountain, he asked her for her hand
Just for her hand

A page is turned in this life, he's making her his wife
And there is no secret to the source of this much life
When the grace that falls like rain is washing them again
Just a chance to somehow rise above this land

Where the God of second chance
Will pick them up and he'll let them dance
Through a world that is not kind
And all this time, they're sharing with the one
That holds them up when they come undone
Beneath the storm, beneath the sun
And once again, here you stand
And once again, here you stand
Your day has come
- "A Page is Turned," by Bebo Norman

another road

have you ever thought of blogging using a pseudonym?

when i fist started blogging, i thought about it. i never used my last name. i wasn't sure i wanted people i knew finding me on the internet.

but, whatever, eventually i threw all caution to the wind and here i am. more and more people know about my blog. a professor told me the other day that they found it over the summer. my cool friend mike reads it sometimes (see, i mentioned you, i told you i would). and my roomdawg jodi. and my friend holly. someday, they'll all have blogs. chuckle chuckle.

sometimes it makes me nervous that this is just out there... on the net... for anyone i know to read (what if i wrote something self-incriminating?), and sometimes i think whatever. i blog, therefore, i am cool. ;)

but sometimes, i still think, maybe i should give this all up and go under a pseudonym. i thought of a cool one the other day.

get ready

i just got a spam email with the subject line "get ready... summer 2003".

i wish i could have been ready, only summer 2003 has already passed.

silly spammers.

chuckle chuckle

i took these photos of the "booming arts community."

that makes me laugh.

question

what is it that you'd really really really like for Christmas this year?

good day

so i just mailed about 2/3 of my Christmas cards. i haven't sent Christmas cards in, hmm... oh, about 4 years i think. but this year, i decided to make cards. it sounded like a good idea at the time, it just ended up taking forever. :)

i got my MRRP (thesis) proposal back today. my professor liked it. really liked it. not bad for typing it up in a couple of hours.

now i have three and a half months to pound out 40-60 pages.

i think i can do it.

i got an emailed entitled "new year's resolution" today. it was spam, but wasn't it a bit early? i don't make new year's resolutions anyways.

does anyone actually keep new year's resolutions anyways? sure they're cool in january, but by february, and certainly by march, who remembers them and who talks about them anymore?

saturday i'm taking the bus to southern alberta to visit my sisters for a couple of days, then on the 23rd i'm driving home with my younger sister home, we're staying overnight in edmonton and then getting home on the 24th. i'm not sure yet how long i'm staying home... we'll see. i don't have to be back for anything in particular, but i'll probably come back the first week of january.

anyways, i think i'm going to go home and do a little Christmas baking for little exam snacks for some of my college friends who are unfortunately stuck doing exams, and i need to finish a couple more Christmas cards.

have a great day.

goodnight

this says it all.

illegal break

i'm in the yearbook office... still. i was here all afternoon. i'm here all night. this is me.

well, until midnight at least.

and i'm taking a break. i shouldn't. but i am. or i'll go crazy. ;)

ptl i'll be done tonight sometime. it's unfortunate it's exam time for the college or i'd at least have someone to help me.

okay... i'm going. back to work.

late night

look at the time. it's late. i've been working on the yearbook since 5pm-ish.

and i'll be working on it all tomorrow.

i need to remind myself that it's fun and i like it.

because it gets tiring and boring.

but in the end... i think that i appreciate the work that i do. hopefully others do too. :)

only alive

i'm a fair-weather friend
i'm a colorless view
but i'm willin' to make a deal
if you think you can make some faith here inside
i'll drive off and marry you

i'm only alive with you
i can't get by and i won't get through
so put me in the river and let me say i do
i'm only alive with you

you're a sight for sore eyes
and a newborn cry
in a year where there are so few
if you throw me a line, i'll show you in time
i'm fallin' in love with you

though my heart has been torn
the loves i have worn
and i'm tempted by them ever still
i tremble inside when you walk in the room
you hold my affections and will
- "only alive," by jars of clay, off of their new album who we are instead

santa meter

"Michelle: Nicer than nice. A real champ! I was really proud of all the hard work that went towards changing those "naughty" habits of last year. Treated friends nicely and was exceptionally honest (which happens to be one of my favorite traits!) It's amazing what a good old fashioned "I'm sorry!" can do for a rating. Keep up the good work!"

from santa's nice-o-meter.

link via neely.

days and nights

last night my roommates and i had our little christmas gift exchange, which was fun. i gave scarves and a serving bowl and drinking glasses. i recieved a stocking, homemade raspberry jam ("gram jam"), the christmas issue of mary englebreit home companion magazine, a cool deep brown wood picture frame with three picture slots, and the coolest green mini-scrapbook ever. now i need to do something cool to do a little mini scrapbook of.

then last night i went with my roommate jodi and three guys to see a movie... we ended up killing over an hour at winners waiting for the movie to start. winners is one of those "brand name bargains at prices you love" kind of stores... that really sells a lot of crud. too bad none of us brought a camera, because we would have had some beautiful shots. jodi and i found some really lovely fur coats and all sorts of other bargains.

i wanted to see "seabiscuit," but i got outvoted by the two guys who wanted to see "s.w.a.t." (the other two abstained from voting!!!), so yeah, we saw s.w.a.t., and yeah... it was a shoot-em-up-action movie.

part way through the movie i was thinking to myself i need to know more of those quality guys who take girls to quality movies (not that the guys we were with weren't quality guys i'm sure, it's just they had poor choice in movies when females are present).

and when we exited the movie i watched the people from seabiscuit leaving as well, and lamented that i was not one of them.

but i had a fun evening, and today i slept through the afternoon... and now i'm here to work on yearbook.

yay yearbook.

i'm going to be here a long time.

jobs and dreams, etc.

so you may remember that i was supposed to have a job interview dec. 10th... but my younger sister was also supposed to have a job interview with the same company 8 days earlier. it was a phone interview. and they never called. and the number we had to get in touch with them is no longer in service. so they didn't call her, and they also didn't call me.

the company still exists, we just figure that they switched their telemarketing companies or phone-answering service companies, whatever they call them.

i take it as a sign that the job would have been cruddy and wouldn't have been a good idea for me.

but, i'm staying here at school for another while anyways, so a job wouldn't have worked out. how long this "while" is i'm not exactly sure. i still have to finish my MRRP (thesis) and do my oral comprehensive exam (which will occur sometime between the beginning of the last week of january and the end of the second week of february).

but, today i got offered work for the end of april or beginning of may. that is good.

grad is at the end of april. then i'll have my masters degree.

then i think i'll go on my vacation for a week or two.

i'm thinking i'll go to abbotsford, and seattle. i have a bunch of friends in abbotsford, and i've never been to vancouver, and i'd like to meet carly ryan (except travis won't be there, but he's in poland and that's cool).

but this is all hypothetical at this point.

but it would be cool. :)

and then i'll go and begin the rest of my life.

recently seen

the majestic

about a boy

conspiracy theory

hmmm

sorry for the lack of personal content lately. it's interesting how this "blogging thing" goes in phases.

sometimes i don't feel like i have anything to say.

spirituality test

i saw the spirituality test over at food for fish so i decided to do it and got...

You are a Sage, characterized by a thinking or head spirituality. You value responsibility, logic, and order. Maybe that's why you were voted "Most Dependable" by your high school classmates. Structure and organization are important to you. What would the world be like without you? Chaos, that's what! Your favorite words include should, ought, and be prepared. What makes you feel warm and fuzzy? Like Tevye from Fiddler on the Roof it's tradition! tradition! tradition!

Because you love words, written or spoken, you enjoy a good lecture, serious discussions, and theological reflection. Prayer for you usually is verbal. You thrive on activity and gatherings of people, such as study groups. Sages on retreat likely would fill every day with planned activities, leaving little time for silence or solitude.

We need Sages for your clear thinking and orderly ways. You pay attention to details that others overlook. Sages make contributions to education, publishing, and theology. You often are the ones who feel a duty to serve, give, care, and share with the rest of us.

On the other hand, sometimes you seem unfeeling, too intellectual, or dry. Can you say "dogmatic"? You may need to experience the freedom of breaking a rule or two every now and then. God's grace covers Sages too, you know!

i'm often surprised at how accurate these quizzes sometimes are in some areas, but i'm not too sure they're that accurate in others. but interesting nonetheless.

go here

so, i've been on the hunt for interesting stuff to see/do/read on the internet for awhile now. because there's a lot of junk on the internet and i don't want to waste my time with that stuff.

so, hence, all the cool stuff on my sidebar... blogs, and also the stuff listed under "i like fun". i'm a fun person. well, i like to think i'm a fun person. people actually always tell me i'm funny, never fun i guess. so maybe i'm just a funny person.

but, i digress.

somehow tonight i got to dave simpson's site funnypancake. i like the categories. i spent a long time there.

too long. but i had fun.

a short quote

"It will be apparent from the contents page and the size of this book that it is not intended to be an exhaustive treatment of the topics which are taken up."(p.5)

- Herbert H. Farmer, M.A., in "Experience of God: A Brief Enquiry into the Grounds of Christian Conviction," London, UK: Student Christian Movement, 1929, 218 pages. 231.042 F233

random thoughts on love and like and lust

a collection from random surfing on the web...

"Dear future wife,

Please hurry things up. I'm tired of waiting for you. I'm tired of waiting to hug your neck, and love you for the rest of your life.
your future husband,"

Josser

"You walk away kissless and unfrustrated because life is longer than a moment. You are content to wait. And want."
-jason killingsworth

"When you love, the whole world should know."
-carly

"Is there anything more magical then a kiss that makes your knees buckle?"
-ryan

" i am here by myself. and for most nights for the next year or more, i will end my day much the same. and that's more than okay with me, i guess. but i still wonder when it won't be quite like this....when i'll lie in bed and hear the cadence of another's breathing...when i'll have in-laws and babies and a mortgage....and i'll be called by another name....

and maybe by then, my heart will not remember so well these moments in the dark, me sinking under the covers, waiting for warmth to surround me....the loneliness and freedom intermingled in the center of my chest. breathe in. breathe out. it's just me. God...will it always be just me?....

thank you that it's just me.

please don't let it always be just me."
-sarah

" In the past I felt like I was the only one and at one point I thought I was crazy for even speaking of such things, because some of my friends just did not want to talk about it. I truly believe the more we talk about things in our lives, the more we ask questions, the closer and closer we can get to God."
-travis

"It's not a game. Romance is fun, three hour phone calls are lovely, midnight strolls and cuddling is great, but it's not enough to build a life on. There's a reason the divorce rate in this country is so high, and I think part of the problem can be traced back to people falling head over heels and not thinking clearly enough to evaluate their choice of a life partner soberly."
-sarah hatter

"i carry your heart with me(i carry it in my heart)". -e.e. cummings
-matthew

"And I am once again, alone. Eleven months in line to ride the big roller coaster and when I get to the front of the line and they closed the ride."
-stacey george

what is love anyways?

"Love isn't the tingly sensation you feel when you hold someone's hand for the first time. Love isn't the breath-catching feeling you have when you think someone thinks only of you. True, lasting love comes after struggling together through the hard times, remembering the good times, and having faith that God will help you over one more hill together. Ture love is accepting yourself, with all your strengths and weaknesses, and accepting the other peson in the same way. Rembering that God can fashion anything out of a simple lump of clay, and He can fashion a strong lasting love out of two very different individuals."
- brenda s. hogan

you'd better not loose them

so i bought my brother-in-law personalized golf tees and golf balls (and they cost a fortune) because my mother was informed the other day that he likes anything to do with golf... and i got him extra large sweatpants for the last couple of years for Christmas and thought something new was in order.

i've know the guy for 5 years, and he's never golfed that i've ever heard of.

spring winter cleaning

I cleaned up my sidebar to more accurately reflect my reading habits.

And I added some new stuff. It’s cool. Check it out. :)

* youth min blogs *


i'm committing these to my archives.

randy bennett
michaela forbes
jay huff
caleb lapointe
juniorhighpastor
james @ whatisthis.com
re-imagining youth ministry

missing

So, I put this book on hold at the library (i.e. requested that when the current borrower returned said book, I would be notified it was returned and thus would be able to pick it up at the circulation desk and sign it out for three glorious weeks) about five weeks ago…

Except two weeks when I got the notice it had been returned, I immediately went to the library to pick it up… and they couldn't find it.

I went and looked at the point in the library shelves where 259.2 C271 should have been had it been accidentally shelved, and it was not there. It was also not anywhere on the hold shelf, or anywhere on the reserve shelf, or anywhere on the book carts.

Then two other librarians came to assist the first librarian looking on the shelves behind the circulation desk (of which there are not many), then Mean Librarian (all names have been changed to protect those presumed innocent) looked at my hold notice and declared it to have been printed two weeks previous to that days date and I should have known that holds expire after three days.

But, I informed Mean Librarian, I had only received the hold notice that day.

"That is entirely not possible, Michelle," Mean Librarian informed me.

But, it somehow was. Exactly where the hold notice had spent the last two weeks, I do not know, but I do know that in that time the book had disappeared.

In fact, it's still somewhere other than it’s proper place at 259.2 C271 on the library shelves. And I’ve looked around in the study carrels as well, it’s not there. But the library's computer system still says it's checked in. So it should be on it's shelf.

So, if you’re the person who is with holding 259.2 C271 from it’s rightful place on my desk whereupon I could use it for my current homework project, I ask you to return it. Please.

259.2 C271
eMinistry: Connecting with the Net Generation, by Andrew Careaga.

i need it.

maybe i should just break down and buy it.

question asked

joanne: but what if he meets someone?

michelle: joanne, i am that someone.

home

"I miss not having to figure out where "home" is, because it's clear that it's the place where you've always lived."
- cocqui

the plug

so i sent jay of the plug some fanmail...

but my question is, why did it arrive so mutilated?

is it part of canada post's conspiracy to take over the world via delivering mutilated mail and sending packages into oblivion (like holly's birthday package that jodi never recieved?).

or was a jealous u.s. postal service employee not able to let go of this postcard without a piece of it for him/her self?

or did a cruddy postal sorting machine get hungry and attempt to eat aforementioned fanmail?

because i would like to know.

BONUS: random link for if you've been wondering where you can get your very own outfit, just like theirs. :)

and, in case you were wondering, i also accept fanmail.

fun vrs. lame

i'm at the computer lab killing time. someone is supposed to come and find me in the computer lab and we're supposed to go and decorate a tree in the chapel foyer. but i've been waiting for a very long time.

this morning i slept in and then i called my mom, like i do every saturday morning, and she wasn't home. what's up with that? they were supposed to be going couch shopping today, but i don't think they would have left by then, and plus it's an hour earlier in alberta than it is in saskatchewan.

last night was the seminary christmas banquet. it was very "adult." not "adult" as in triple-x, but "adult" as in dry humour, dry jokes, and singing christmas carols out of the carol song insert from the moose jaw newspaper. as much as i am excited for this next stage of life, whenever it comes, you know, the "out-of-school i-have-a-job" stage where you hang out with other like people and young marrieds, i do not look forward to the lame parties. i will always throw fun parties. i can't wait to have a "real apartment" when i have a job, not a "fake apartment" like i have now at school... i will throw way cool dinner parties.

i have to go... my tree awaits.

update: 4:20pm. it looks stinkin' fabulous. :)

vacation

so, it's like one of my biggest dreams to go on a vacation. because i never have. i've only travelled for conferences and for work, and i went on a missions trip to mexico once. but i've been to quebec, ontario, manitoba, saskatchewan, alberta, british columbia, the yukon, washington state, oregon, idaho, montana, north dakota, minnesota, wisconsin, illinois, ohio, indiana, pennsylvania, new jersey, new york, massachusetts, maine, missouri, mississippi, arkansas, texas, louisiana, tennessee, and a few other states that i am at the moment forgetting.

but i've never been anywhere just for fun.

and today i was thinking i'm going to do that. in may. after i'm graduated and done school forever.

so, i'm taking suggestions on destinations.

joanne

"have you ever just had a day where it takes all your energy to not cry b/c your life sucks so much, so much that you can;t even imagine it getting better. i'm just saying."
- my friend joanne

confessions of a geek

tonight i finished a Christmas present for my dad, it's a framed 3-D picture I made him of two ewes and a lamb in a field. i think it looks pretty cool actually, and he pretty much likes anything with sheep on it and anything i have made, so i'm all set! ;) the frame wasn't really what i would have liked, but it is hard to find frames that will accomodate something that isn't quite so flat.

i bought a new scrapbook on tuesday. the two that i've made so far (one was from summer 2001 when i was a youth intern and my fourth year of college, and the other one was from my first year of seminary) i used a 10x10 book with white pages. my new book however is i think 9" tall by 12" wide maybe... i'm not sure, and with ecru coloured pages, and i am so excited. i can't wait to start it. but all my scrapbooking stuff is at home, so i have to wait until Christmas to pick it up. but, i'm planning already.

if you've never scrapbooked or you've only seen those creative memories scrapbooks that all the church ladies make, then you won't know why i'm so excited. but my scrapbook is cool and not geek-ish. i hope. well, people usually tell me that it's cool. and i love cutting stuff out and arranging it and making neat colour combinations and neat backgrounds and stuff.

anyways, i'll quit typing now. i'm a scrapbooking geek. i just love cutting paper.

"To Him who bleeding offered mercy
To Him who weeping offered praise
To Him chained yet offered freedom
To Him who branded offered grace

I go, when I am wounded
When I am chased
I go, where I’m surrounded
Where I’m embraced"
- "Bleeding Offered," by Matthew Christopher Davidson

gone

they demolished the root cellar yesterday.

it was one of my favourite buildings on campus, left over from when this town was a war base in the early 1940s. it was behind my old house, the perfect spot for impromptu photo shoots. it was basically just a big roof sticking out of the ground... but you could climb up on top of it (even though you weren't supposed to) and lie dow and look up at the stars... or stand on it and look around and see as far as the eye could see on the saskatchewan prairie.

i have some good memories on that roof. i'm going to miss it.

i think people are cool

today i'm doing research for my class "Junior High Youth Ministry" that i took early in november. i am doing a research project on internet use amongst junior high students and “becoming more knowledgeable in an area of current thought regarding junior high ministry, with conclusions related to how one approaches actual ministry with students.”

I’m not sure exactly how to become more knowledgeable in an area of current thought that doesn’t really exist… there isn’t much out there on junior high internet use, other than statistics. What do youth workers think about junior high internet use? Is anyone out there addressing it? Are there any specific ministry issues? This is what I need to know.

I found an internet message board posting from last January and emailed the author to find out whether or not she had found out any more information on her search for teen internet use information, and she emailed me back right away with all kinds of helpful stuff. That was nice.

That’s what I love about the internet.

passionate and energenic

every once in a while i do a quiz that i've found off of someone's blog, but i've never posted the results before. but i always find it interesting what they have to say about you.

you are gray #808080

Your dominant hue is red... you are passionate, energetic, and unafraid of life's changes. You're all about getting out and trying something new, even if it means taking risks that other people would be afraid of. Hey, if they're afraid and you're not, more power to you, right? Your saturation level is very low - you have better things to do than jump headfirst into every little project. You make sure your actions are going to really accomplish something before you start because you hate wasting energy making everyone else think you're working. Your outlook on life can be bright or dark, depending on the situation. You are flexible and see things objectively.

the spacefem.com html color quiz

link via andrew.

by popular request

it's snowing in mikao's world.

spicing it up

i decided to go for a new colour scheme. i had time. and it's sort of evergreeny-Christmas-ish.

and i attempted to clean up the html, so i hope it loads better for some of you. :)

searching

* 8.86% of people who come to this website through a search engine are looking for "scary websites."

* 2.81% are looking for photos of angela gossow

* 4.83% are looking for either jars of clay or starfield lyrics.

* .44% are looking for michaela forbes

* .44% are looking for sarah perkonig

* .35% are looking for jason killingsworth

* .35% are looking for michelle kao.

sorry to anyone i may have disappointed. i'm just me.

conversation

joanne: i hate life.

joanne: that's because i don't have one.

michelle: well, you could get one.

joanne: why? are they selling them somewhere?

joanne: can i charge it to my sears card?

it's over, it's on

i survived my stint as a choir member for the school christmas musical... three dress rehersals and four performances, plus uncountable practices have added up to general exhaustion. i think the correct word is actually "pooped," but i'm not sure if i should write that on my blog.

i phoned my mom yesterday and told her it was all over... and she was wondering exactly who was involved. so when i explained the 130 voice choir, plus all the cast and crew, etc., she asked "um... so, did more people come watch it than were involved in it even?", and so i explained to her that 12 000 came, she was a little surprised. i guess she just thought it was a little musical.

and now, after an afternoon of flurried paper-proposal writing (and not a very good proposal at that, which i blame on procrastination and general tiredness), i am going home to lounge on my bed and maybe knit and consider making a phone call or two tonight.

au revoir.