Batman Movie Inconveniences Me

The next instalment of the Batman series is being filmed in downtown Chicago right now and I'm sick of it! Twice now I have not been allowed to walk down the street because of some "dangerous scene" taking place. This Saturday after going to the House of Blues, Megan and I were walking around and decided to go see Navy Pier... and we couldn't! Why? Because of a low flying helicopter stunt (okay that does actually sound dangerous). And a few weeks ago I had to go the long way to Union Station because of a bunch of GPD (Gotham Police Department) cars were driving around. When will the madness end???

Zoos, Blues, and Cardboard Boats

I know everyone out there is dying to here what I did this past weekend, so are you ready?? I went to the Brookfield Zoo, the House of Blues, and, along with the other Leadership Residents, David and Aaron, jugded the Stuco cardboard boat race in the retention pond outside CCC. How about that for a good time.

The zoo was great! We saw polar bears, gorillas, otters, hippos, monkeys, alligators, penguins, fish of various sizes and types, rhinos...The animals were so entertaining. I saw John Wasem Jr. at the House of Blues, and he does a great live show. The cardboard boat race was hysterical. Some kids put a lot of time into it, others just covered a box with duct tape. And then they got into the goose poop filled pond - yuck! Just a sampling of the interesting thing to be done in the Chicagoland area.

I Miss You!

Having recently moved far away from everyone I care about, I was thinking about what it means to miss someone. What is it about close proximity that heals the hole in our hearts that distance creates? Talking on the phone, seeing pictures and video, it all helps but nothing is the same as standing face to face, the same as hugs and kisses. So much of who we are is wrapped up in that need for closeness, both physical and emotional. Even as I create friendships here, my thoughts are often with leaving for New York, or with people back in Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama (even Idaho). Why do I get to meet amazing people where ever I go, only to have to say goodbye? It's hard to be fully present here knowing I'll be saying goodbye in a few months. How am I supposed to keep doing this for an entire year? Arghhhh!! God is using this, I will be stronger, more loving, more pastoral, more of who I'm meant to be. Wow, this blog was kind of a downer, but it was very cathartic. Thank you.

Office work? Oxymoron?

I am currently getting no work done. Once again proving that the office is not the most efficent place to be. What I have done:

• watched three youtube videos
• talk to people (which could count as ministry)
• watch people shop for fabric online
• go to lunch
• write in my blog
• discuss the virtues of pleather furniture (Charissa)
• David mentioned "beaniebabies" a lot in order to make the list

Hmmm, maybe I should leave.

Don't Leave Tofu in Your Car Overnight

On Sunday we had a girls' night out beginning with dinner at my new favorite restaurant, Joy Yee. I had a dish called, "Japanese tofu and two mushrooms" (exactly what it sounds like, in fact, you can see it at the bottom of the lower picture) at it was amazing! After more food than any of us could eat, we headed over to the movie theater to watch Becoming Jane, a satisfying but depressing story of Jane Austen's early years, as imagined by Hollywood writers. The guy that played the lead was also in The Last King of Scotland and the Chronicles of Narnia which seems like pretty big genre leaps, but he manages to act has convincingly in all three: a faun, a naive Scottish doctor in Uganda, and a lovesick 19th century law student (with a British accent everything sounds good).

Anyway, back to the title of this entry. I forgot my leftover in the backseat of my car. It now reeks of garlic, mushrooms and tofu. It has been raining consistently so I can't put down my windows. I'm going to try putting drier sheets in the car tomorrow and hopefully that will help. If not, I can always leave a banana in the car, those always seem to overpower anything.

You Know What Assuming Does...

I wonder how much of the world's problems are cause by misunderstandings or simply different expectations. What for one person is the most important thing in life, can be inconsequential to another. What happens when those people interact, when they have to depend on one another? Someone gets hurt, someone gets blamed and neither side understands the other. I'm going through a bizarre situation like this, and while I can't go into detail, it is so frustrating to be misunderstood, to have assumptions made about you that aren't true. My priorities are in one place and theirs are in another and I guess I just have to leave it at that.

DuPage Demolition Derby

On Sunday night I went with some friends from CCC to the DuPage County Fair. It was reassuring to know that county fairs are the same all over the country. I could have easily been in Guyton, Georgia or Montgomery, Alabama as I was in Wheaton, Illinois. The food is the same, so are the booths selling t-shirts with dragons and scantily clad women, the plethora of goats, and the inordinate amount of people wearing cowboy hats.

The main attraction at the fair that night was the SOLD OUT demolition derby. That's right, people living in the suburbs of Chicago will pack out a high school-sized stadium to watch cars smash into each other... and now I can see why. That series of slow speed accidents was memorizing, pack with suspense. Which car will survive the longest? Is the liquid leaking out of the front flammable? All this is to say, if a demolition derby comes to town, put on your cowboy hat, grab the goat and go.

Brother Bear 2: Secret Bear Plot!

SPOILER ALERT. Warning this blog contains spoilers for Brother Bear 2.

I watched Brother Bear 2 the other day because the adorable children that I live with asked me too. Not a movie I’d recommend, the animation was nothing special and plot was painfully transparent to any veteran of the Disney genre (and I am thank you Aladdin and the Lion King). The main female character, a human, chooses to become a bear to live, assumably, happily ever after with her true love, another bear-turned-human. Why would anyone in her right mind choose to become a bear? Everyone knows that according to Steven Colbert that bears are the number one threat to us today. This is obviously a thinly veiled bear plot to lulled our children in to a false sense of security. Beware!

Taste of Chicago

Where can you find perogis, goat in coconut sauce, pizza, ribs, ice cream, frozen bananas, gyros, John Meyer, Kenny Rogers (Kenny Rogers look-a-likes) and the Budweiser horses all in one place? Taste of Chicago!! I went yesterday and it was awesome! The weather was great, the food was good and the crowds weren't too bad. It was a great place to people-watch. We walked all around the lake shore, saw the planetarium and aquarium, lots of yachts and goofly dressed people. Chicago is such an interesting and beautiful city.

Mastodon in Montgomery

For those of you who I haven't seen in a while, I've moved from Johnson City, Tennessee to Montgomery, Illinois! I'll be here six month doing a Leadership Residency at Community Christian Church. One of the highlights of the area is Phillips Park that features part a mastodon skeleton was in the 1930s, I visited it on my day off Monday - riveting. I'm going to revive my blogging for the sake of all those I've left behind. This move has proved to me that fake deer are popular everywhere (check out the latest youtube video for proof). I'm enjoying the staff and atmosphere here at CCC. I really miss everyone from JC and the perceived closeness to Atlanta and Savannah. Hanging out with a variety of small groups is helping me get connected with some really great people. Please, anyone with a southern accent call me, I'm terrified of talking like a Midwesterner!!

A New Post

For all my fans, sorry I haven't posted in a while but life got busy, and when things like sleeping and eating start to go, I think blogging goes too. So I'm now trying to get final assignments done, bills paid so I don't get kicked out of my apartment while I'm gone, my fish's tank cleaned, and host of other exciting things taken care before I GO TO THE MIDDLE EAST!! I'm so excited about the trip. Mostly I'm excited about the location, but getting to meet new people will be great too (Check out one place we are staying in Taba, Egypt). Unfortunately everyone gets sick on this trip, a fact they fail to mention until you get selected. Evidently any water/fruit/vegetable will send you to the bathroom for a while and when you're on a bus in the middle of Syria that isn't something to look forward too.

Caren's Opinion #48: Sexual Songs in Public Places

I was in the bank the other day when Melissa Eltheridge's classic song "I am the Only One" came on over the loud speaker. I found myself looking around and wondering if anyone else in the bank realized how bizarre it was to be listening to someone belting out about their lusty desires while trying to deposit paychecks. No one seemed the slightest bit disturbed. Don't be fooled into thinking this is an isolated occurance! I was in an Indian resturant in Kingsport, Tennessee when what I'm pretty sure was a Dance, Dance Revolution soundtrack started playing. Steph, Paula and Drew all agreed that it was highly inappropriate music to be playing in a resturant, let alone an Indian resturant on a Sunday afternoon in Eastern Tennessee. I don't want to here about people's longings or loves or how they want to shake it when I'm eating.

Great Weekend Means Bad Test

For all of you wondering, don't have a social life in seminary if you want to make good grades in Greek. My wonderful, beautiful sister and her equally wonderful husband came to visit me this weekend. We ate, and ate, and watched Shaun of the Dead (great movie!!) and ate and then hiked to Laurel Falls in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (I took the picture myself thank you very much) and played cards and then ate some more. Needless to say with all the eating and fun times I didn't study for nearly enough for the Greek test I had today. Why couldn't the Bible just have been written in English!! Or anything other than Greek. I liked Hebrew, I won't complain about Hebrew.

New Slogan For Anti-Tobacco Campaign

I discovered this poem in a delightful little collection called Poems that Bless and Inspire by Elmore "Pop" Cornewell. This poem is making its internet debut, go ahead and google it, you can't find this gem (a shout out to the Emmanuel book sale) anywhere else.

"Tobacco"
Tobacco is a filthy weed,
And from the Devil sprang the seed.
It soils your hands and stains your clothes
And makes a chimney of your nose.

Other poems by Pop include: Golden Days of Pop, Tea Kettle, Dirty Dishes, Monkey's Viewpoint, and Dear Teen-ager (Not really a poem, it is an admonition for teenage girls to avoid messing around with boys, because its like "sticking your head in the oven and turning the gas on." Which I don't necessarily disagree with).

Shoe Inserts Change Lives

I would like to report that the Dr. Scholl's shoe insert things really do work. My Achilles tendon was really hurting and my chiropractor told me to get them and lo and behold they work! I thought the commercials with the people saying "I'm gelling" were really stupid, but it's true, the world is a better place with shoe inserts! My feet feel fantastic (nice alliteration, if I say so myself). I would recommend them to everyone.

Nothing Exciting to Report Except a Bruise on My Knee

I haven't posted in a week because nothing exciting or weird has happened to me. What do you do on a blog when that happens? In the past week I have worked at Cokesbury, went on a Senior High Retreat (where it snowed about a foot, and I guess that was exciting to me, but I don't know about anyone else), wrote a paper criticizing H. Richard Niebuhr's use of relativism in his last chapter of Christ and Culture, learned about Process Theologians from the Chicago School, and worked at church...does any of this interest anyone? My guess is no. So what should I write about when this happens? I have really gnarly bruise on my knee from attempting the Roger Rabbit dance on a slippery floor (I am such a cool youth minister!!). Be sure to ask to see it. Maybe I'll take a picture of it and post it...hmm

It's Official: I am a hill person

My brief stop in Atlanta yesterday on my way back to Johnson City from Auburn made be realize I am have assimilated to country living. I was mesmerized by the billboards, the amazing variety of stores, and fact you can eat Thai noodles, buy a wedding dress, chemical supplements, linens, books and get you nails and taxes done all in the same shopping center! No wonder city folk have to earn so much money, there is so much to spend it on (the use of 'folk' is a deliberate attempt to present myself as a hill person). On I-26 between Asheville and Johnson City there aren't any billboards, no one is trying to sell you anything, it's just the mountains. I think that is what I've gotten used to, without cable TV, without constant internet access, without the billboards (just the occasional j.crew catalog) I forgotten how much people want you to buy stuff.

I Heart Auburn

I love Auburn! Now I know that is not news to anyone who has known me for more than 5 minutes, but I am currently writing this post in...Auburn! I'm in my old office at ACF, listening to John Wasem (special thanks to Stephanie), and experiencing deja vu. When I left Johnson City yesterday it was snowing, and today in Aubrn it's 80 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. I've eaten at Veggies-to-Go and now feel like I'm going to throw up but it was totally worth it. I haven't seen so many pro-Bush bumperstickers since the last time I was in Auburn. Crazy how being 20 and driving a BMW makes you a Repbulican. I'll back to Johnson City tomorrow, the land of snow, ice, and NPR. Being here makes me realize seminary has aged me at least 20 years. I might as well be 45. All my little freshman are juniors now, my old roommate has a baby, and there is a Hooters on College Street. A Hooters of all things! I hate Hooters. But I still love Auburn, War Eagle.

Learning to Garden

This summer I am going to grow food. Gardening in Arizona consisted of nothing but giant zucchini that we would throw into our neighbors pool. I don't remember anything else actually surviving the heat. In Georgia my mom grew tomatoes, and in Auburn growing food is the last thing on anyone's mind except for the people working in the experimental gardens with the big signs that say "Don't eat. Experiment Garden" or something like that.

So now that I am all grown up and know basically nothing about surviving outside of Western civilization I am going to learn how to grow food! Probably all I'll be good for is pulling weeds, but I'm still really excited. The most exciting thing about the whole garden for me is that we will be growing my great-grandfathers tomatoes (he was a botanist for Rutgers University). Here is what the Catalpa Tree Seed Co. had to say about the tomatoes: "Rutgers has proven itself for years to be highly productive. Large, attractive fruits with thick, solid flesh. Superior flavor, delicious in salads, unsurpassed for home canning. Indeterminate. " Isn't that nice! You can see how beautiful they are in the picture. I'll try to keep everyon updated on my progress as a gardener/theologian.

Spring Break No Fun in Grad School

In undergrad spring break is all fun and games. The nation's youth, having worked hard all winter on their abs and fake tans, escape their troubles (bad grades and credit card bill caused by all the ab workouts and time in the tanning bed) by going Mexico. If you are especially pious you might go on a mission trip to Mexico, but somehow you always end up in Mexico.

Alas those days have passed and now for me spring break means:
1) studying A LOT
2) working
3) sleeping, though not as much as I'd like because I'll be doing 1 and 2.

I can't really complain because I am going to Auburn for a few days (and the Middle East in May), but somehow spring break still fills me with nostalgia.