I found a perfect way to share my Christmas List with friends and family...social networking style.

New Phone

I'm definately a proponent of technological devices, but I hadn't actually gone as far as getting one myself...

until this weekend!

I am now a proud owner of a T-mobile Shadow with Windows Mobile.

Now I'll be even more addicted to email...

Fairy Tales: Are they Over for Us?

In his discussion of "The Golden Compass" ( a movie based on a book by Phillip Pullman), Jeffrey Overstreet makes this comment:

"Christians have become so suspicious of fairy tales, fantasy, and
imagination that we have created an environment in which it is very unlikely
that we will see another imagination like Tolkien and Lewis emerge."

...which, if this is true, makes me very very sad, because if this is true, then the recent death of Madeliene L'Engle means that there are very few good storytellers out there with a Christian worldview.

Who wants to prove this statement wrong?

I do, for one.

...and I think Overstreet is also out to prove himself wrong.

The Plan for T-Day:

1. wake up

2. bake bread and turkey in oven

3. go to my brother's in-in laws' house

4. eat a little turkey and stuffing

5. eat pumpkin pie

6. watch football

7. eat pumkin pie

8. sleep

9. eat pumpkin pie

10. eat turkey sandwiches

11. play games with relatives

12. eat pumpkin pie

13. eat pumpkin pie

Food Drive 2007

On Saturday the annual food drive was a success! We got food boxes out to 117 families, plus a lot of food donated to the local food bank! One thing I noticed is that we didn't get as much food donated as usual. I wonder if the economy plays into that at all? Or if it was just because of the rain?

Some Useful Things Found on the Internet

1. Blendie - a blender that runs when you Growl at it.
2. Cake Generator- for when you want to bake a cake for someone - virtually.
3. Chalkboard Vase- for writing messages when you give flowers.
4. Good Rules to Follow when Travelling to Foreign Countries.

adding Superfast Reader to my links...

Things of Note Today:

1. Leaking Battery Acid in the Lab causes Headaches and Loopy-ness. (and phrases like: wow, my heart hurts.......oh, wait, maybe its just gas.)

2. New favorite found phrase: "Pants-On Head Retarted" (thanks NoHippos) --oh and in case you don't know the British definition of pants... look here.

3. Superest.com ...need i say more?

4. Why is it that we just carve pumpkins at halloween? I want year 'round carvings! demand!

Vent above.

is it just a part of human nature to want to belong somewhere?

vision, direction, purpose is all very important, but without relationships, people, belonging, love...it seems pretty pointless.

yet, when someone or someones get too close, often that's when the defenses come up, in whatever your form of your favorite metaphor that may be: a wall, thorns, monster trucks..

we want (i want) to belong and yet, we isolate (i isolate) ourselves (myself). odd. yes, we are odd creatures. very odd indeed.

Desert Island Books

1. English Oxford Dictionary
2. The Holy Bible
3. Shakespeare's Complete Works
4. Wilderness Survival Book
5. Calculus Book
6. Grimm's Fairy Tales
7. "The Waste Land" by T.S Eliot
8. The Lord of the Rings by Tolkein
9. Joy of Cooking
10. Astronomy Book

What are your ten desert island books?

Movies

I pulled out a bunch of my old books from my last few years in grad school because I am working on writing a paper which is on movies and how young people choose which movies they watch. It's interesting to see just how many books I have accumulated on film, cinema and movies.

Sometimes it feels like film critique, theory and etc has almost become a bigger deal than the study of literature. In so many ways, films have replaced novels as our main form of storytelling in our current American culture.

How do you choose which films you watch? Do you go by the previews? Or perhaps by the recommendations of friends? Do you read reviews? Online or in newspapers? Or maybe you just head to the theatre and pick one to watch?

I have a friend who loves previews. She gets so exctied during the previews and usually this becomes her starting place for movie choices. I am a little more skeptical about previews as I tend to see them as marketing schemes tricking me into seeing films that I would not normally even consider.

How do you react to movie trailers and teasers?

November 6

Also known as voting day.

However, for me one event overshadowed all others. The release of the xbox 360 game "Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga."

I will add that I found myself addicted to Lego Star Wars last March. So much so that I went out and bought myself a 360 console.

Yes.

And to this day, other than a few arcade games, my video game library consists now of TWO Lego Star Wars games and one Halo 2. (yah, I am not so good at Halo, so I am not sure if I will ever get around to purchasing Halo 3)

I hear that there is a Lego Batman game in the works...

Brilliant.

A Perfect Evening...

...consists of friends, a cozy crackling fire, homeade soup and bread, poetry and stories. And that is what just occured at my house.

For those who did not make it, you missed the ever famous Jessica Bradford reading the recipe "Mustard-Glazed Meatloaf Special." Other highlights included readings of Poe, Tolkien, Billy Collins and a Rap song.

...ah, the beauty of the spoken word.