Friday, November 19, 2010

a day to be me.

i had whole entire day, thanks to our veterans, to do whatever i wanted. so this is what i did:
it was lovely. the new camera actually does a pretty good job of revealing a little of the beauty and majesty of the woods in Georgia.  i could have walked for hours and actually i did. so therapeutic and restful and just what i needed. i dreamed and talked to myself, to God and stole a pinecone, a very big one. it felt like a treasure i had found. i practiced setting the timer and used tree stumps to jump off of and made goofy jumping pictures with my tongue involuntarily hanging out. i can prove it, but i won't. 

Friday, November 12, 2010

missionary's have the best facebook status' ever

Teena Paul


We thought we'd seen some pretty shocking vehicles in Africa -- until we hired James and the green truck to fetch some bricks. This truck was in a class of its own. It reeked of petrol, had no first or second gear, had only gaping black holes in the dashboard where instruments had once been, no handbrake, and of course no registration. Once loaded with bricks, it was unable to get going in 3rd gear. After 20 mins of revving and wrestling with the gears, it ran out of petrol. We left them to it and walked back to the building site 1km away. An hour later, we were astonished to see the truck approaching -- backwards! He'd reversed all the way from the brickmakers, passing a police roadblock along the way.

19 hours ago ·LikeUnlike · Comment2 people like this.

Friday, November 5, 2010

Here you go, Mary.

My friend Mary tagged me. You know, those crazy quizzes that ask if you have ever been skinny dipping or what kind of animal would you most want to be?  I actually like these. Especially when they are answered well. Just yesterday I found where I had answered a 50 question one asking if you had done a long list of things like been to Hawaii or seen one of the Wonders of the World or held a brand new baby.
I was quite surprised to be able to check off over half of them. But I don't think I ever sent it to anyone because then others feel obligated to answer back and a 50 question questionnaire is a huge endeavor.  And that is the best part after all, when you get to read about others. Typically the last question is, "Who do you think will be the first to respond?". I couldn't think of a soul who had the time to sit down and fill all that out, so I saved the file and gave up. Now no one will know that milk is my favorite beverage and that I have never been bungee jumping. When I saw that Mary tagged me to answer these, I felt compelled to give it my best. Here I go.


1. What actor/actress would you want to play you in a movie?
I would want Catherine Zeta Jones to play me, because she is the most beautiful woman I can think of. However, we are nothing alike really. If she were truly playing out my life, she would need to be goofy and quirky and a little odd and quite silly and even a little spastic. Tina Fey might be a much better fit. 





2. Who is your favorite author and what is your favorite book by them?


This is such an impossible question. It is like asking your favorite song. Every day brings a new favorite, every mood, every season. But off the top of my head, I really like Kaye Gibbons. I read almost everything she wrote in just a few weeks once I discovered that I liked her. So all her books run together for me. So I think On the Occasion of My Last Afternoon and Charms for the Easy Life and Virtuous Woman and A Cure for Dreams were all my favorites and just became one long story about women in the South. However, her newest book was a disappointment. I bought it in autographed hardback version. I actually gave it to Carla for her birthday. She didn't like it and gave it to me to read and I never even finished it. She has been compared to Faulkner, but I don't like Faulkner much. A huge fan I remain.


3. Where would you go on a dream vacation?
Sometimes I feel like I am not creative enough to dream up new places to go. I think Australia would be fun or New Zealand. I have seen pictures of Fiji that take my breath away. Oh! and Iceland too. But I have so many other questions with this one. Who is with me on this dream vacation? How much time do we have? Do we have to come home from there? What is our budget for food? Accommodations? Are there children in tow? Is this like a honeymoon vacation? Or am I with girlfriends? Or am I solo, backpacking, looking for a cute European doing the same?
I guess one answer is that I have always wanted to go back to Zimbabwe. On random days I will ride by a random building, walk a busy street, smell a certain fragrance, and suddenly I am back in Zimbabwe. One night while there, we slept in this amazing thatched roof house on top of a mountain. We could wake to overlook vastness and watch the kudu graze. We built a fire in a pit on the veranda. I ate the best mashed potatoes I ever put in my mouth. I watched the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen. I dreamt of getting married on that mountaintop and leaving the ceremony on an elephant, as a couple had done the weekend before. I want to go back there. Marry in white linen. Take my whole family. Eat mashed potatoes. But that would not be a vacation. That would be a wedding. So maybe Fiji. But then I would have to wear a bathing suit. Eeek. Iceland then.

4. What are you most afraid of?
Snakes. Cannot EVEN post a picture. I don't even fear death itself. Not bugs or rodents. Kind of fear vomit. But snakes way worse. Petrified. Try to psyche myself up. But tremble in fear. Climbing up walls, fetal position Fear.

5. If you could have all your friends on a deserted island, what are three things you would all do together?
1) Swim! (We have snorkels and masks too, right?)
2) Pray and Sing and Worship and Dance
3) Catch Lobster and Conch and spear Grouper, collect coconuts and gather around for delicious meals and good conversation. Is there a Whole Foods on the island by chance? We will need Chardonnay. 

 
Is the deserted island near Fiji? If so, I will want to take that off my potential vacation spots.


6. What's something people don't know about you?


I have freckles between my toes. There is no way people know about this because I just found them myself a few days ago. (Photos available upon request. )


7. What is your guilty pleasure?


According to Wikipedia, THE authority on all things, "A guilty pleasure is something one enjoys and considers pleasurable despite feeling guilt for enjoying it. Often, the "guilt" involved is simply fear of others discovering one's lowbrow or otherwise embarrassing tastes, rather than actual moral guilt. Fashion, music,[1] and food (especially unhealthier foods high in sugar and/or fat) can be examples of guilty pleasures".[2]


It used to be Reality TV, but everybody else started making it their guilty pleasure so now it no longer meets the definition. I don't think it qualifies because others no longer see it as "lowbrow" or "embarrassing". It has become an absolute norm to rush home, grab a bowl of cottage cheese, sautee' some spinach, throw it in with the cottage cheese, get under a fuzzy blanket in green yoga pants and a grey tshirt, open up the laptop to check Facebook while watching the Real Housewives of Atlanta, and eating 70% cocoa dark chocolate chips for dessert.


If checking out books at the library is deemed "lowbrow" or "embarrassing", I do that all the time. I even get online and pick out books I want and put them on hold at my library right down the street. But that is not lowbrow, that is "resourceful" and an excellent service provided and utilized by my taxpayer dollars. So that won't count either.


Some women would say, "Shoes". But I hate shoes. I pretty much always drive barefooted. I take my shoes off time I get in the car and at any given time most all of my shoes are in the back floorboard of my car. Most every morning, I leave the house barefooted and then just pick the shoes I want when I get in the car. I hate a sloppy car, so I rotate 2 or 3 pairs at any given time. Heels, Slides, and a pair of flats can usually be found, somewhat neatly behind the passenger seat. When I get to be Governor of Georgia, if and when I decide to run, I will make it a law that you don't have to wear them. Ever. Grocery stores, work, escalators. "No shoes? No problem." That motto is way better than, "Wisdom, Justice and Moderation".