But it's the PRINCIPLE of the matter!

I was driving back from work tonight, thinking the usual random thoughts intermingled with country song lyrics, when it hit me:

I know what my "strength" is! (As in "Tell us about your strengths and weaknesses.")

Are you ready for it?

Really, really ready for it?

Righteous Indignation!

I am quite apt with this skill, or as I like to call it, spiritual gift. In fact, I may have made it an art form. I can express righteous indignation about someone driving too close to me, cutting in line, making a bad call in flag football, and not picking up after their dog...just to name a few. Now that I think about it, righteous indignation might just be my favorite past time.

Bring on the internship interviews!

To submit or not to submit...

I recently had my students interview friends about the opposite gender to stimulate a conversation about strengths, confusion, and stereotypes between men and women. One of them wrote:

My friend John Doe replied to the same question and said that women's strengths include "...their ability to relate to God better because of their role in a relationship to submit to the man."

I about fell out of my chair. Then I composed myself and decided to consult my husband on the matter.

R: [read the passage to Ben] What do you think about that? Have you ever thought I could relate better to God because of "submissiveness"?
B: Maybe if you actually knew how to submit.
R: Shut your face.


Hmmm...clearly not one of this woman's strengths.

The Referendum

Applications are submitted. Dissertation edits are pending.

So, I wait.

And I catch up on blogs I've neglected for weeks, if not months (my, how they pile up!). And I read interesting articles posted by interesting friends. This one seems particularly pertinent. (Whoops... my addiction to alliteration strikes again...but this isn't a formal essay, it's my blog, so suck it.)

I've faced my share of forks in the road and have wrestled with plenty of "what if" thoughts. But more than anything, this essay resonates with me because of my relationships with people who have chosen such different paths than my own. Just think of it - life in a parallel universe. Fascinating.

Distractions

As I'm typing away on a case conceptualization example for my internship applications, Ben informs me (as he's passing through the living room), "I would like to own a gorilla suite. I think I would get a lot of use out of it."

Okay...noted.

Back to typing.


And then I hear a horrible commotion from the guest bedroom. He broke my beautiful dish from Israel.

Sigh.

Back to typing.


I better get a trip to Israel before he gets a gorilla suite.

Literal

I hope to resume normal posting in a few weeks, once all my applications are turned in and I get back from my conference in Hotlanta...oh, but then I'll be preparing my dissertation defense...hmmm. It might be awhile, Internet. But I miss you.

Here's a little something to tide you over. Because the video for Total Eclipse of the Heart was so bizarre, some talented soul decided to reword the lyrics to match the video. Enjoy.

The 4 Most Dangerous Words

Ben and I were standing in line at Trader Joe's the other day, me holding flowers for a dear friend's birthday party, him holding beer (a picture that nicely sums us up, I dare say), when I noticed a woman wearing an adorable dress one cash register over. I studied it for a second and then I uttered them: the four most dangerous words.

"I could make that."

Never mind that I don't know how to operate a sewing machine. Never mind that I don't know what a bias cut is from ... [another clothing term] cut. Never mind that I have spent a small fortune on projects that have ended up in various stages of disaster... or that never even get started because I become too intimidated when it's time for the rubber to hit the road. Remember the pillows? Yep...that adventure also started with those words.

So, maybe I'll just skip all the madness and just buy myself the blasted dress. Only not from Ross. Not yet.

New Plan

One of the bloggers I regularly read recently got sponsored by Intel to accomplish things on her bucket list.

Sponsored.

As in paid for the crossing off of things on her life's to-do list. Things like "swim with bioluminescent plankton in Puerto Rico," "participate in a giant food fight," and "watch the sunrise over the Aegean."

Ahem.

I'll type it again. Aegean. That would be the sea off the coast of Greece. GREECE.

Screw grad school - I'm dropping out to be a sponsee.*


*Sponsee (spawn-see) n: one who is sponsored, preferably by an entity that is filthy rich and indiscriminate of how their monies are spent.