Why Facial Hair is Often Wrong

What is up with Neil Gaiman's beard?

You might not actually see it if you click on the link, because the pictures are randomized...but click around the site a bit, you'll find it.

For those of you who actually care, I'm sure you've already seen it.

Quarter Life Crisis #2 (ish?)

Working full time for 20 months straight in jobs that I am less-than-passionate for has made me begin to freak out. I will probably try to resolve this cognitive dissonance by going back to school. Possibly to get an English degree. (?!?) That way, I can either be a teacher or a travel writer.

It doesn't really change the way my life will look in the short term. I was going to go back to school next year in any case. But the MTS (Master of Theological Studies) idea is beginning to look less and less attractive. Mostly because I am getting sick of church. I can't really explain it, but I am. I'm not getting sick of God, or of the people at church, or of the leadership at church, just of church. I figure this is not the way to get started in ministry. Although, if I could work at a church AND take courses in liberal arts from a secular school, I think that could be a good balance...we'll see.

Baraka

Since Jan is the boss of me, and she said this, I'm posting now.

The title of this post is Baraka. This is an Islamic word for "blessing". It is also the title of a super-rad movie.

There are several reasons that make this movie awesome:

1. no plot
2. no dialogue
3. shot in 24 countries
4. cool musique
5. beautiful scenery
6. makes several excellent points. Without using words

I know that numbers 1 and 2 don't seem to be assets. But they are. So there.

Quote of the Day

"That book sucks"

- Paul McIlwraith, Lead Pastor, WMB, when he saw me reading The Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard in Starbucks. The funny thing is that I didn't realize for a second that he was joking. I thought I was going to have to change churches. :) It would have been even funnier if I had been reading the Bible.

Next time I see someone reading the Bible, I'm going to say: "that book sucks."

Uh-oh...too sacrilegious?

Batman and Son

Yesterday, while waiting for a ride to small group, I witnessed this:
A Young Man and a Small Child, both wearing capes, run into the lobby. They then used their "super-vision" to look for and finally spot the van they were waiting for pull up outside. Another boy was dropped off by 'Nana', and the small boy admired himself in the window while whispering "batman...yeah...batman" to himself.

I was confused by this scenario...I thought the young man was the cool babysitter, possibly the cool uncle, to this small child. And I thought "Nana" was picking the small child up to take him home with his older brother. But...could it be? Could this guy, who looked younger than me...possibly be the father of these two? My confusion ended when the older one called him "Dad."

Coolest, Cutest Dad EVER.

Pink Thongs do NOT Belong in Yoga Class

Or, really, any thongs.

Especially not in the front row.

They just don't.

Buy Nothing, Create Something Week

Back at our fall retreat in September, our Regeneration (College and Career) group at WMB decided that we wanted to do something to raise awareness about consumerism in our lives. So we decided to have a "Buy Nothing" week, during which we don't buy anything (other than a set budget for food). We also discussed how the fact that few of us know how to make many things for ourselves impacts our need to consume. So we changed it from simply "Buy Nothing" to "Buy Nothing, Make Something"

Last night, my Mom taught a group of us how to make soup and biscuits and we made a huge batch so we all have a couple lunches for the rest of the week. Quantity cooking is better and so much cheaper! The rest of the week will include "Trick or Eat" reverse trick-or-treating (collecting food for the food bank), a community meal, Urban Croquet (sounds fun eh?), a night of learning to sew/knit/etc and a movie night.

Maybe this week you could think about how you can buy less and make more...

A Narrow Escape from Certain Death

So, I'm sitting at my desk, when I hear a HUGE crash coming from outside. I get up to investigate and see our 7-foot long, steel (read: enormous and very very heavy)sign on the ground. It is not supposed to be on the ground. It is supposed to be hanging at the top of the second storey of our office. The wood it was attached to apparently rotted and down it came. My first thought was: "That could have fallen on my HEAD! I could have DIED!" I was just about to go out and get the mail after all. Providential Timing is all that has saved me!

LOOK OUT!

Weekend from Heaven

I had the best Thanksgiving weekend ever! Normally I don't go in for the "and then I did this" type of blog post, but I ask for your indulgence this one time:

Friday night, my cousin Jaime came over for a sleepover, we watched What Not to Wear, drank some wine, and she taught me how to smoke a pipe. I felt like I needed to ponder something (think Sherlock Holmes).

The next morning my dad picked us up and we went fishing. We wore waders, which Jaime thought were "like a home" because they were so big. We got to the river and it was really really high. So we couldn't fish at the spot we wanted to because we would have had to cross the river and we couldn't because it was too high. Walking in the water was fun though. We ran into a small child on our way back to the car and he remarked excitedly "Dad, I see some FISHERS!" I am a fisher. We tried another spot and my dad and Jaime saw a fish.

Saturday and Sunday were full of family and food. Good times.

Monday I got to call Carley and catch up on her England adventures. I finished off the night with some Friends watching accompanied by some knitting.

Best weekend ever.

Good Jobs and Good Books

I like my jobs. That's pretty much all I have to say about that. My favorite project right now is creating a mural of all the MBMSI missionaries. i get to work on a world map (yay maps), plot the locations, and make it all pretty.

Right now, for some reason, I am reading 4 books. I keep starting new ones and reading whichever one suits my fancy at the moment.

The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne. Don't read this. Not unless you want to get seriously messed up. Seriously. Also don't check out The Simple Way. Because you might get ideas and want to do that too. :)
Under the Overpass by Mike Yankowski. Similarly Up-Messing, although not to the same degree because I don't think I would actually do it.
In the Name of Jesus by Henri Nouwen. Little but powerful.
The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood. You either love her or hate her, I love her.

Uh-oh, Even Lolo is Posting More Than I Am.

I guess this is a good chance to catch everyone up on the state of my life.

1. I am not crazy, nor am I going crazy, nor having a major breakdown, although I had a close call on the weekend.
2. I will not go crazy in the near future due to the fact that I have a new job as a part time admin assistant at MBMSI. This brings my job total back up to three again, however, the MBMSI job is at the same place as the Conference job and will end up being just less than full time put together. Pretty much 8-4 Monday to Friday. Which is Almost Normal. Hence the Not Going Crazy if you define crazy as abnormal. Zehrs is now relegated to one shift/week, which is very close to the ideal of none.

But I Didn't Even J-Walk! I Swear!

Today I got picked up by a policeman.

I was just walking home from work, minding my own business when I hear this voice over an intercom. I couldn't hear what the voice was saying but I turned around to look just as a police car pulled up beside me. I bent down to ask what he wanted trying frantically to figure out what I had been doing wrong. Turns out it was Lolo's cousin Jeremy! He drove me the rest of the way home in the squad car...he wouldn't let me put on the sirens though.

My love life takes yet another hit

John Mayer, who was quite possibly my most likely love prospect, is rumored to be dating Jessica Simpson. For my sake, lets hope he is sending a cryptic message to the world on that topic via this blog post.

Pedestrian Adventures

I've been walking to and from work a lot because I don't own, or have access to a car. While walking, I've noticed that pedestrians seem to be invisible to the rest of the world. In three weeks I have been:

1. Sprayed by lawn sprinklers.
2. Doused by passing motorists driving through puddles.
3. Almost run over by inconsiderate and/or blind motorists attempting to execute right hand turns.

I have also almost been late for work several times.

This makes it seem like walking has created a soaking wet, half-dead, fired-from-her-job Stephanie. In fact, it has made me healthier, more aware of time, and less stressed. I highly recommend it.

Another very good reason for walking is the fact that it is good for the environment. Which isn't really true, it would be truer to say that it isn't bad for the environment. I recently did an ecological footprint quiz and discovered that mine is 5.6 global hectares (compared to the 1.8 global hectares available for every person alive right now). This essentially means that it would take about 3 earths to sustain those living the way I do. And I DON'T DRIVE. Pretty scary. I actually filled in the quiz again to see what my score would be if I did drive and it wasn't as different as I thought it would be: a 6.3 (three and a half planets). The biggest part of my score was actually the food part. After filling the quiz in several different ways I determined that it is practically impossible for anyone to acheive a score close to the 1.8 ideal without being vegan, eating 100% locally grown food, not having electricity and walking everywhere. It really opened my eyes to how unsustainable my lifestyle is. And it made me feel a lot less smug about all the "good" I'm doing by walking.

Slaves to Telecommunication

First, for your reading pleasure, excerpts from a written transcript of my telephone call with Rogers, in which I attempt to clarify and change my cellphone plan:

Rogers guy: how can I help you?
Me: I'm interested in maybe changing my plan.
RG: ok
Me: first, can you tell me what the "Wireless Essentials Discount" is that I see here on my bill?
RG: I don't see that here it must be on your bill. [?!]
Me: yes. What is it?
RG: I don't know.

This exchange didn't give me much hope for the rest of the call, and, unfortunately, I was correct in my negative assumptions. Turns out the Wireless Essentials Discount is what I got for having both call display and voicemail on my phone together as a package. I found this out AFTER I removed voicemail from my account. At which time this [edited for length, which was too long, and clarity, which was not present in any way] conversation transpired:

Me: so, I just removed my voicemail feature, at $5.00/month, but in doing so, lost a $6.00/month savings? That adds a dollar to my bill.
RG: Yes.
Me: Why didn't you tell me that before?
RG: I don't think I can add it again.
Me: Well, please find a way.
RG: Ok, I added it again.
Me: Will I get the discount again?
RG: no
Me: then please remove it.
RG I can give you voicemail free for a couple months.
Me: no thank you. Could you please tell me what the Airtime Option fee is?
RG: I don't know. Can I put you on hold while I find the information I need?
Me: Yes
[hold music}
RG:Ma'am?
Me: yes?
RG: it means you get more minutes in a month,
Me: What does that mean, how many more minutes?
RG: I don't know, it would take me an hour to find that information.

Deep. Cleansing. Breaths.

So, I never did find out what the Airtime Option was. As frustrated as I was, I realized after the call that I shouldn't have been frustrated with RG. No, he didn't have any useful information, and yes, he ended up making my bill more expensive. Despite all this, however, I believe he handled my call as well as he could have. It really seems like it was hard for him to find any information. I didn't get the impression that he was deliberately trying to be unhelpful, although it did seem as though he didn't care. That apathy felt familiar to me, it is what happens to me when I feel like I have been left alone in left field, unequipped for the task I have been given. I'm pretty sure that was the case here too. I'm really sick of the way many companies seem to have decided to stop investing in people, employees and customers alike. I ended up feeling enslaved to this plan that I know nothing about and can't get any information about. And poor RG is a slave to frustrated customers because his company doesn't see fit to equip him to do his job properly.

In conclusion, I've decided to break free from the tyranny of Rogers Telecom and cancel my plan altogether. If, after months of being cell-free, I decide I need one for whatever reason (I never did want one in the first place!) I will look into getting a new plan. Not with Rogers. Although, phone companies are not looking all that good in general (hey, 313, remember the MTS debacle?). Hopefully I can do without one and remain free of the scourge of wireless telecommunication.

Honestly! What do I think I'm doing!

Yikes.

I'm starting a blog. The whole idea of posting things for all to see is quite scary. Although, I suppose no one but people I know will ever read it. The possibility is, however, still quite daunting. Carley definitly gets the credit for the idea of using this as a place to practice my writing, which has always been something I've wanted to improve. I totally stole her idea. Shameless, really. So, you know who to thank (or, more likely, blame) for this...