Happy memorial day, may all the families of the men who have given their lives for this Country be blessed today!
For those of you who saw the season 3 ending on May 23rd and those who watch the show regularly, please share your thoughts on my suppositions.
As we all know, hopefully, season 3 was a bit of a bust. Not as good as the previous two seasons... a little disapointing. I don't think it's the fault of the acting; it was more that the story line didn't seem to go much of anywhere. I am impressed that they (the writers) started picking up the pieces, finally, about 4 episodes from the end. However, I am not sure that this 'Top Secret Experiment' that Sydney is supposedly involved in will pann out to be anything substantial.
On the other hand, they have been building towards this for quite a while. If you remember the First Season, which I have the felicity of owning, the storyline dealt with the fact that Sydney had been betrayed by her father in some way as a 6 year old...after her mother left/died. They explained this as being the 'Project Christmas' operation which Jack tested on his daughter. This was not explained until the Second Season however, when Irina questioned what her daughter knew.
In re-watching First Season:Episode 4 (A Broken Heart) this weekend I noticed an interesting sequnce of events. Jack went in for his regular psych eval at SD-6 and was under hypnosis, he had just seen Syd in the hallway and this was before any real relationship developed. As he 'went under' he saw a woman, who I think was supposed to be Syd's mom, holding a baby. Then the image faded and came back, but this time you saw full into the woman's face and when she looked up, it was Sydney and she was still holding the baby. She looks straight at Jack and says 'I am going to find out some day.' Jack then wakes up and leaves the session....
This early indication, along with information Irina supplied, and even when Sydney was trying to regain her lost two years and imagined herself as a 7 year old at her own birthday party, seem to point to an issue more sinister than Project Christmas. I thought perhaps she was a 'created' or 'test tube' baby but that doesn't make much sense, her age pre-dates the earliest 'test tube' baby by at least 7 years. Genetic manipulation has come a very long way since it was discovered in early 1970 and I doubt that she could be the product of something that deep. I am assuming it is something that has to do with Project Christmas, but is must deeper. She was recruited because she 'fit a profile' and one might wonder what that profile was...
Does anybody have any items deeper than what I think might be the issue? Mine are no deeper than what one might suppose just by hearing about the series and putting interlocking pieces together....
PS my mouse is broken, do you know how annoying it is to nativagate the computer and the internet by hand?? tab, tab, tab...I never realized how many links there are on one page...
So last night I finally watched the movie Daredevil, starring Ben Affleck and, my personal favorite, Jennifer Garner. After hearing about how absolutely horrible this movie is I wasn't expecting much - and that seems to be the key to enjoying a bad movie. Most of the people who didn't like it said the acting was horrible. I didn't take issue with the acting so much as the directing... that and the fact that you could tell Ben Affleck had rehearsed his fights. Jennifer Garner is such a natural fighter that in their fight together you could totally tell the difference between natural and rehearsed fighting. The special effects were not so great, but I blame this on producting and directing. I mean really... it's not Ben Affleck's fault that half of his fighting is done by a computer generated carbon copy. There were some sound issues too - because of DareDevil's hearing thing, which made it interesting but also hard to listen too. It had the typical comic book plot, and compared to other films of the genre was about the same. Which was probably the problem; it had nothing new to reccommend it and the old facets of a comic book story were badly done. Which brings me to the question, if there budget was so much why didn't they do the special effects better??
So on the whole I'd give the movie a C, not a film created for repeated viewings but not as horrible as everybody claimed.
I'd recommend watching X-Men or Spiderman over this movie. I am looking forward to Spiderman 2, but I wonder if it is actually going to be good.
I have to say I'm not really looking forward, as in wait in line looking forward, to any movie this summer. Movies seem to be going downhill for some reason and I just don't want to watch another one full of the same old crap. Is there even anything worth watching coming out this summer? I know I'd watch anything starring Jennifer Garner...
Caribou qualifies as v 2.0, in case you wondered... so I hope you can guess what v 1.0 is. Anyway, I had an interview on Tuesday (May 25) with them and I had another interview yesterday with them. The position I was aiming for was Store Manager or Assistant Store Manager, however my apparent lack of actual retail management experience prevents me from getting either of these positions at this point in time. They have interviewed me for Shift-Supervisor, which is fine for a while I suppose. The store manager I interviewed with yesterday (Ed) is opening his store in July, which is a little late for me. But I would get hours at other stores during my training period, which would be beginning June 14th at the latest. If I got the job I would just have to do some temp stuff for a while. Ed is supposed to call me on Tuesday about whether I got the job or not, however I have a good feeling about getting it... (knock on wood).
I guess at this point I'm trying to decide what I want to do. I don't want to shut the door on IT, but I was pretty bored at Bethel before I left. What I really enjoyed was my student workers and seeing them grow and change through the college experience. That, and the fact that everybody I know who's worked in a coffee shop loved it, was the reason I decided to apply to be a manager at the Evil Coffee Corp v 1.0. Plus v 2.0 doesn't exist over here...
Everyone keeps telling me the 20s are the time to experiment, and I can afford the paycut for a little while. It's not as bad as I thought it was going to be.
Ed, if he hires me, would want to fast-track me to management. He said he's seen people hired as baristas become store managers within a year. This gives me a lot of hope on moving up, plus I don't have tons of experience to be a manager anywhere else (even though I know I can do it because I'm awesome).
Anybody have any opinions on what I should do?
As most of you know, I attended Woodlandhills Church (WHC) before moving here. I had attended that church since I was a freshman, for some reason I was just drawn to it. But now that I've moved here I have been going to my Mom's church, which leaves much to be desired. Now that I am used to the WHC worship all the other ones just seem flat, boring, non-celebratory. Granted it took me a couple of years to get used to the style there, but now the white-bread style just seems so boring. I know that each church has a different style and now I am just trying to get used to this one.
The paster is odd too, not really sure if I like him yet. Today he spent most of the sermon preaching about, or rather against, homosexuality and homosexual marriage. It is very odd to be back in a church where you are constantly hearing about political items. Personally I don't think that church is the place for politics; I am firmly in the camp of 'seperation of Church and State'. I don't question people's Christianity because of what their politics are. Greg Boyd just finished a series on Christianity and politics at WHC and maybe that is why I am so sensitive.
Anyway it's really easy for this pastor to pick on homosexuality, or any sexual sin, which is usually apparent. But he said a couple weeks ago that it was ok to smoke and be a Christian, but God-forbid that you struggle with anything deemed 'more sinful' by the Christian community. The pastor didn't mention the sin of gluttony or greed, which are forbidden in the same verse as the sexual sins. I am not saying that rich people are going to hell, I am just saying that all of us have different struggles in life and we can't point at others... something about logs and splinters.
That, along with the pastor's cracks against women, caused me to almost lose it by the end of the service. Anybody know a good church in the Seattle area? I need to find one...
I went to work today so happy because it was going to be my last day at this job. (I have way outgrown administrative positions, not that I wouldn't do it if I had no money, but seriously I am going to crash my head into the iMac on my desk pretty soon if I don't get out of there.) Anyway, so I was all happy... la, la, la....last day of work...when my 'boss' askes me if I can work the entire next week. Being the super strong person I am I said no, and then he asked if I could just work Monday because he wouldn't be there to train in another person...arrrrgggghhhh!! So of course I had to say yes because I have a strong sense of responsibility, or self torture, whichever... so now I ONLY have one more day left.
MJ came and visited me today. He is in Seattle visiting his quasi-girlfriend, I don't know exactly what she is, but we had lunch at this cute little deli I found. Cute and expensive...$10 for my meal today. I should just be glad I have a job to pay for all that food. If I packed food more often I wouldn't have this problem.
Today was the last day of finals at Bethel, I hope all of you did well on your finals and passed all your classes. Good luck on all your summer jobs, especially those who are working at Bethel!
Well after Monday, and me saying it was busy at work, Tuesday hit and by noon I was staring at the computer screen like a moron because I had nothing at all to do. So I asked on of my co-workers if he had anything he needed me to do; unfortunately he did...and it took me until 4pm today to finish the project he gave me. Craig, the guy who worked the position before me, walked me out of the building today...he asked what I was planning on doing after Friday and mentioned the people in the office really like me. That might mean that they are going to offer me a job...but maybe not...I don't want the job so I hope they don't offer it to me right now.
I wore my orange shoes today, and everybody liked them...even the straight guys... :)
The first job I interviewed at called me today, they had a few job opportunities for me (they are an employment agency also), I will have to call them back and let them know I will be interested in a couple weeks. Maybe I should just give up and take an administrative position, even though I want to bash my head on the computer screen after a while. I am beginning to wish I had majored in Computer Science because then I could get a computer job and be a super smart geek!!
I always have more to say when I am not writing the blog...I need to start keeping a post it notes with things I want to write about on it...
If everybody could please pray for my friend Laurel as she is in the hospital right now it would be appriciated.
It was my 3rd day at my temp job today. It was a lot better than the other few days and it seemed more confusing, which makes me think I am becoming stupid... but that's okay I guess. At least it was busy, since it is an HR firm I spent the day staring at about 50 different people's resumes. I like the people who work there, but I am ready for some time off too...but that's a week away...
I have been reading the book The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis the past few days. It is really good and I highly reccommend it to anybody that wants to understand love better. Mr. Lewis gave me a great idea for a book, it is on p. 30 of the version I'm reading and states:
If ever the book which I am not going to write is written it must be the full confession by Christendom of Christendom's specific contribution to the sum of human cruelty and treachery. Large areas of "the World" will not hear us till we have publicly disowned much of our past. Why should they? We have shouted the name of Christ and enacted the service of Moloch.
I watched the movie Mean Girls this weekend and it was alot of fun, but I liked 13 Going On 30 better... maybe I just like Jennifer Garner better. Hopefully everybody is planning on seeing Shrek in a week :-)
Well these are my thoughts on the DaVinci Code, but as Megs said earlier - it is just a work of fiction and isn't to be taken literally. The Christian circle gets it's panties in a bunch probably because it discredits the Bible and treats Christ as non-divine. For my purposes of reviewing this book I am not going to argue what is true in the book and what isn't, except in relation to history and the preconceived principles embraced by the book; which means this is more of a book review than a truth review. To borrow what another review on Amazon said of the book: 'I like my historical fictions historically accurate and my mysteries suspenseful.'
The book is one dimensional, to say the least, and the characters are less than one dimensional, if that were possible. In reading this book I had no caring of the characters, I did not perceive their motivation from a point of understanding. That is to say in many cases during the reading of a book you may understand that the character is doing something dumb and you want to reach out and shake them, but you care about the character and you understand why they made that choice. This book carried no character development or dimension of characters. They were clearly split into three camps: good with bad motivation, bad with bad motivation, and good with good motivation.
Onto the historical accuracy, it was not the divinity of Christ was put to a vote at the council of Nicea in 325 CE. It was the Arian (lead by Arias and thus named for him) belief that the Christ had a beginning and therefore there was a time when He was not. There were no Christians who believed he was not fully God, Arias would not even have embraced such a foreign view. He believed Jesus to be God, but also unlike God; created by God as a God, if that makes some sense. Most of the arguments in the early church were regarding whether Jesus was fully man, not fully God. This is why most of the existing heresies, like the Monophysite/Coptic tradition in Africa, believe that Jesus was fully God (not fully man) and does not still act as a mediator between us and God Almighty, that he was absorbed back into the God after the sacrifice and there is no Holy Spirit. Here is a link about the vote in 325 CE.
There are some other random historical inaccuracies, like Emperor Constantine picking the books of the Bible… um, does anybody remember Augustine? He picked out those books, which brings up its own conundrum since we don’t hold to his belief of baptism. The fact that Emperor Constantine was also responsible for incorporating pagan beliefs into Christianity; I don’t think it was so obvious, if you were being told what to believe you probably wouldn’t believe it. Hence the reason most pagans didn’t commit to Christianity and chose death instead following Christianity after it’s inauguration in 385 CE as the official religion of the Roman Empire. Christianity naturally became incorporated into native pagan rites and rituals. There is a long tradition of believing certain places to be holy; when I was in Carmarthen (Wales) the first church in the area (built circa 1100/1200 CE) was built onto of a henge (akin stonehenge most likely) because that area was ‘more holy’ than the surrounding countryside. Also there was a cult of Catherine, one of the Celtic goddess, in Wales which the church tried to absorb by making her a saint. They absorbed the cult, but also succeeded in absorbing the pagan beliefs associated with the cult and it existed within the Catholic Church for hundreds of years following that.
My only other main problem with the book is that it purports that following the ‘goddess’ Mary Magdalene and claims the Catholic Church has denied the cult of the goddess when it is in fact the truth. A) The Catholic Church does have a cult of a goddess, the ‘goddess’ is Mary, the mother of Jesus and B) why is it better or more right to follow naturalistic religion with sexual rites than to follow Christ? If only listening to the message, was not Christ more correct? I am, of course, looking at this from a historian’s perspective… I need both reasons and support for those reasons to believe something. This book gives neither and as a work of fiction falls far from the tree of ‘good literary work’ even for light reading…
So I rejoined the working class today and went to work for an HR firm in downtown Seattle as a receptionist. It's right off of Pike's Market and it was really fun to go walk around the market during my hour lunch break. But it's hard to fill a whole hour when you don't drive around at all. I actually have to take the bus to downtown Seattle and that is fun, not too many nuts on the bus.
Here is my rant against psychosis, every girl out there will know what I am talking about. And every girl has experienced this at some point in her life or another, but I think I am worse than some and better than others. I guess psychosis isn't the right phrase, maybe excessive anxiety and worry is the correct phrase to describe what it feels like to freak out. I worry about the choices I make and how they will affect my life tomorrow. I am anxious about whether people will like me or not and if I am doing the right thing with my life. Actually this usually only happens when I am changing for some reason - not if I am in the same job, place or with the same people. I think when I took this temp job it just really hit me that I wasn't in Minnesota anymore and I miss everyone and everything there so much. Even though I know it was God's will that I made those choices and I was pretty misraeble in Minnesota despite all those wonderful people there... (sorry ya'll but you just aren't my mom)...
I will probably take another week off after this temp job ends because I don't think I can handle working full time yet. It's just too much stress on my soul... you don't have to assure me I made the right choices, I know I did. But if you think of it pray for me that I'll have enough strength to finish making all my choice and that God will lead me into a great job opportunity.
This weekend I spent with family, although my mom is the only one I am actually related to. My step siblings are probably the most annoying people on earth, especially when you consider that you have to hang around them because they are 'family'. I have three step siblings: Melissa (a little younger than me, with a baby Brianna), Robert (around 19 and living here), and Gabby(the nine year old). Gabby and Robert are the two I had to hang around all weekend, and I had to babysit Gabby on Saturday when the 'rents went out. I just plopped her in front of the TV, which seems to work really well. She's annoying in the way that most hyperactive 9 year olds seem to be.
Robert is living here with us, and is quite annoying in his own right. My mom and I can't quite figure out what is 'wrong' with him. He is slow and says really dumb things sometimes. Like the other day he said he wanted to 'bring a laser pointer to a movie theater'... maybe he should because someone in the audience would kill him. But he says things that make no sense at all for no apparent reason and then gets defensive when you tell him that the idea is 'not so smart'. Like buying things for cheap and selling the through a catalog for more....
Onto other more exciting news, I finished my book Angel-Seeker and it was quite good. A refreshing break from the rest of the Samerian Series which sometimes gets bogged down in descriptions of music. I am reading The DaVinci Code right now and it is intriguing, but I find parts of it hard to believe. It embraces ideas which are sometimes laughable at best, and blatent lies at worst. Some of the items could be true, and are very believable... but others are not. I will write something about it when I am finished perhaps and ruin it for the rest of you... those three that read my blog...
Job Seek (v1.0) got underway today, I must've applied to 12 places. Which is more impressive when you consider I had to write or edit a cover letter to fit each one. I have one interview set up for Wednesday, but it's with a temp agency and I don't prefer those...at this point anyway.
So I am now finished watching the Friends finaly tonight and it was a decent end to a decent show. Ross and Rachel got together (big surprise) and Monica and Chandler got their babies...
Enough about TV... my mom and I went into Seattle today to buy some stuff for her stall at the Farmer's Market. She's going to be selling some of her artwork and stuff there. She's a little nervous about it because she's not sure it will really 'be accepted', but I don't think there's anything for her to worry about. We and Glenn (my step dad) went down to a seafood place for dinner, which is really a dive... but dive's always seem to have the best food. It was great!
My Pepe died today, he was my dad's dad, and it's pronounced pe as in pepper. It's a old French term for grandfather. He was 85 and had outlived my Meme by 9 years. He had a stroke a few years back and moved into a retirement community. Don't be sorry for my loss... I'd only met him twice, when I was 2.5 and 15 years old.
I actually got some unpacking done today and some reading... Lo the book is awesome so far... I'm about half way through it...
I don't have much else to say... so much for trying to end on a happy note :-)
Well I had my first interview (v1.0) today. It was with an employement agency, I actually interviewed with a Bethel Graduate for the administration side. But I really would like to be a manager, not an administrative assistant. I am going to keep looking and I'll call her back in a month if I haven't found anything. I just would hate to settle for something through an employment agency and then leave it right away.
The drive over was ok. The Cheat would go off everytime I hit the rumble strip! It was quite funny. Plus I could lean back and hit him every time I got frustrated. I have some interesting stories from the trip, but I don't want to write them all out right now... maybe another time.
My Bethel mail was broken over the weekend, courtesy of someone who will remained unnamed, and so I had to email everybody who had emailed me and tell them to email me again.... good thing no employment people emailed over the weekend. I still haven't heard back from the Starbucks guy, though I hear he is really busy, so I think I might just apply and go for it. My problem is that I am horrible at interviews. I've only aced a couple...
I am tierd and need to unpack.... have a good day!
I shall not pass this way again -
Although it bordered by with flowers,
Although I rest in fragrant bowers,
And hear the singing
Of song birds winging
To the highest heaven their gladsome flight;
Through moons are full and stars are bright,
And winds and waves are softly sighing,
While leafy trees make low replying;
Though voices clear in joyous strain
Repeat a jubliant refrain;
Through rising suns their radiance throw
On summer's green and winter's snow,
In such rare splendor that my heart
Would ache from scenes like these to part;
Though beauties heighten,
And life-lights brighten,
And joys proceed from every pain,-
I shall not pass this way again.
Then let me pluck the flowers that blow,
And let me listen as I go
To music rare
That fills the air;
And let hereafter
Songs and laughter
Fill every pause along the way
And to my spirit let me say
"O soul, be happy; soon 'tis trod,
The path made thus for thee by God.
Be happy thou, and bless His name
By whom such marvellous beauty came."
And let no chance by me be lost
To kindness show at any cost.
I shall not pass this way again;
Then let me now relieve some pain,
Remove some barrier from the road,
Or brighten some one's heavy load;
A helping hand to this one lend,
Then turn some other to befriend.
I love the beauty of the scene,
Would roam again o'er fields so green;
But since I may not, let me spend
My stength for others to the end,-
For those who tread on rock and stone,
And bear their burdens all alone,
Who loiter not in leafy bowers,
Nor hear the birds nor pluck the flowers.
A larger kindness give to me,
A deeper love and sympathy;
Then, O, one day
May someone say-
Remembering a lessened pain-
"Would she could pass this way again."
This was a poem by Eva Rose York. And I'll miss you all more than I can ever say.