Oatmeal

Ode to Internship

2009-08-11T18:29:00.000-07:00

I have now finished year one of the New Life
Internship program. This is my intern family.
And these are the things I love:

I love that Nina is such a trooper and puts up with all us kids, even when I'm sure there are moments when she wants to punch us in the face. I love that Brennan will dance forever whether or not anyone else is dancing with him...and I love that he is going to be my buddy for year two! I love that Rachel will fight anyone for any reason or no reason at all...but mostly in good clean fun; I also love that she really takes God at His Word. I love that Pastor David falls asleep anytime we are showing a video in the classroom, but when he wakes up he catches up instantly, as if the information was telepathically implanted into his memory. I love that Pastor Mat hired me for a season and gives casual compliments in the middle of a normal conversation, almost like a sneak attack...I'm also excited that I got to hear one of his first sermons at Family Camp! (Also I love his wife.) I love that Hannah was the best second year intern to ever walk the face of the earth...and I love that she's my iron, my futon friend, that when I stay at her house I always feel like I could stay up all night talking, and that she brings blessing to my life (she's my inspiration). I love that Nick grew so much over the course of the internship but that sometimes he acts liberal anyway...I also love that he will eat bacon for the sake of his team's getting 10,000 extra points at summer camp - that's real commitment! I love that Pastor Caleb doesn't just preach it, he lives it...and I kinda like the fact that he gets mad at us; it makes us more of a family.

I love that we scooped ice cream together, cried together, twitched together, and learned how to fart publicly together. PTL!

Sabbath

2009-03-21T19:35:00.000-07:00

Today was my almost Sabbath!

Lately we have been talking in Internship about busyness and its relationship to burnout. It turns out that the most amazing men and women of God can fall into issues just because they spread themselves too thin. It also turns out that a lot of us interns are spread pretty thin too. But I refuse to burn out! So I had a big chunk of day free today, which I devoted to the idea of Sabbath - a rest from work and a trust that this rest is actually a form of worship. We work six days a week and rest on the seventh day. My idea of rest was having no plans and doing whatever seemed like a good idea at the time. My Sabbath included:

1.) Buying mascara. It turns out I'm a ridiculous girl and had no idea what to buy. So I bought something pretty much at random, and now my eyes look like I killed a spider and pasted it to my eyelids. Perfect.

2.) Driving home. Rocked out to "Would You Go with Me" by Josh Turner. Sorry, Ann. But when driving to nowhere, you need country.

3.) Dying my hair. It was pretty much a whim, but I've decided to be completely the person that I am, and the person that I am dyes her hair on a whim. This time it's black. Next time I hope it's pink.

4.) Playing the piano. I forgot that I know how to play 3 Ben Folds songs in their entirety! So today I remembered, and I played them. Playing the piano is arguably the most relaxing thing I do.

5.) Watching Runaway Bride. Sometimes you just want to be a girl, especially after you had no idea what kind of mascara to buy. So I watched it all the way through the credits, and for the first time I saw the part at the end where Julia Roberts and Richard Gere are playing in the snow. It was epic! Not epic when compared to the Ten Commandments, but few things are.

And that's been my day so far. Nothing happening, no plans. I could do this every week!

Good Sabbath

Finding Mountain Time

2009-03-07T19:45:00.000-08:00

Lately I've been working on self-discipline. If you know me very much at all, then you know there's a lot of work to be done. I don't enjoy cleaning, being punctual, or going off by myself when there are amazing people that I could be hanging out with. And unfortunately I do enjoy being messy, procrastinating, and hanging out with people all day every day. So God's been calling me out on my behaviors.

The interns recently received the rod of correction to the seat of learning. Apparently we can be pretty messy. And apparently we can be pretty tardy. Both of those things are unacceptable to God, I'm thinking, because at the heart of these issues is lack of self-discipline. And God's already given us a spirit of self-discipline (or self control/sound mind), so all we have to do is utilize it. Not only so, but being messy in someone else's space (like a church building or your parents' house) really shows a lack of respect for that person whose space you are invading. And that's terrible! I would hate for my pastors or my parents to feel that I was disrespecting them. Likewise, lack of punctuality shows a complete disregard for the other person's time.

But the really hard one is not hanging out with a group of friends but rather retreating to be alone. That's hard! Now I'm not necessarily prone to being the center of attention in a group of people. And honestly, I'm way more of a small group person. But even so, if the opportunity arises to hang out with people, I'm there. It's hard to say no because I genuinely want to be there. But Jesus would go away from the crowd and be alone. He'd go away to pray. And if we really want to live out a walk that's worth anything, then we have to find time to be alone with God. I have to climb up the mountain every morning and every time He calls. Otherwise, it's not much of a relationship, it's just a religion. So unless I value being with God more than I value being with friends, then my priorities are off.

All this is easier said than done. But I think that self-discipline is doable, and somehow I'll do it! If I can be faithful in this little then maybe I can be faithful in much.

GU Round Five...or Six?...I just can't tell anymore

2009-02-19T21:09:00.000-08:00

Two things. One, I love things that are wrapped in rice. Why is it that rice just makes everything better? It's like barbecue sauce but in a bland, grainy form. That's what I liked about China, while we're on the subject. A never-ending supply of rice. And a very small supply of skinny, terrified kittens.

Two, GU was glorious, as you can tell from this picture of myself, Corrinne, and Sierra. Donna Lasit was my favorite, as you would assume. Renee and Lynsey were my second favorite, as you would also assume, although in many ways far superior to Donna Lasit. Would she go late night water rafting with me? I don't think so! And my third favorite (because I'm anal retentive and like to numerically order my thoughts) has to be doing sweet tricks with Corinne off of the parking lot islands. Needless to say, we do ninja kicks like no one else. But it turns out it's pretty hard to jump, kick, and take a picture at the same time, so I give you this authentic bus photo instead!

Noel or Navidad

2008-12-30T12:46:00.000-08:00

Christmas is a time for family, presents, being snowed in, and generally consuming as much tooth-rotting sweets as humanly possible. You'll be glad to know that this exactly describes my Christmas experience of 2008.

No Christmas season is complete without a formal Christmas party. That said, this was my first formal Christmas party ever, so this was my first time experiencing a complete Christmas season. My favorite Christmas party moments were: (a) Aimee coaxing Mat onto the dance floor and (b) pushing Ann's car up the driveway in my little red dress while she yelled "push" out the window. Additionally, I got to eat salmon and all of Cody's mushrooms, making the evening perfect!

Christmas did as it does and snowed. A lot. On Christmas Eve and Christmas, we locked ourselves in from the snow and ice and were basically hermits for 48 glorious hours of nothingness. This provided the perfect excuse to play Sorry, The Sims, and to eat. Finally the day after Christmas dawned bright and beautiful. Sometime in the afternoon, we roused ourselves from our chocolate pie and egg nog induced stupors to explore the world outside...and to take pictures like this one!

It turns out that Elk is a winter wonderland. I call this one "Winter Whimsy."

The joy of Christmas overwhelmed Phil to the point of song. Here is his rendition of "I Believe I Can Fly."

No winter excursion is truly an excursion without an old fashioned snowball fight. Phil was delighted to oblige.

What you don't know is that while pretending to fall (or dance, or whatever it is that you interpret this photo as) Phil did, in fact, fall into the snow. That snow took him down a notch!

Finally, Shem took a stroll with Ginger. This is my favorite photo, because it's just so epic and wintery. All in all, Christmas was fantastic. There was even a moment or two when we stopped ripping through packages, baking pies, eating brownies, and generally being capitalist consumers to recognize the sweet baby Jesus. Isn't it cool to think that there was one day, one moment really, that changed the entire course of the world? And that moment was the most human, relational moment - the birth of a baby.

Merry Christmas.

Turkey, Pie, and That Thing in My Eye

2008-11-28T21:30:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving ended as most do - lining up for awkward pictures after stuffing ourselves with turkey, rolls, mashed potatoes that I made myself, pie, and a lot of other food items that my parents like to eat but no one else touches. The turkey was delicious. And, according to our dog Ginger, so was Shem's hand.

After being licked by Ginger, Shem lost himself in the whimsy of dance. Phil felt uncomfortable, as Phil does.

And then the real fun began - shooting things. That's right, when in North Idaho on Thanksgiving, we owe it to ourselves to shoot things. Preferably helpless animals wandering by, but an abandoned old milk jug will do.

When the gun was produced, Dan began to clap with glee. It turns out the fairly democratic, independent, headstrong firstborn is the only true North Idahoan, as he was the only child to be truly excited about the opportunity of embracing his Idahoan roots. The rest of us were scared and hid behind our cars. Wahoo for guns.

And the end result was the death of this poor milk jug.

Then Shem climbed on top of the car to escape the coming tsunami. It makes sense if you think about it long enough, but you'll become exhausted in the process.

The strange festivities continued with a rousing rendition of "Lonesome Polecat" complete with Broadway-quality pirouettes and some impressing axe swinging. Phil is surprisingly agile and Shem's flexibility knows no end (literally, it's terrifying). And let's just take this moment to proclaim that if you haven't seen "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers," then you haven't begun to live.

Finally, the singing stopped and things got really creepy. It turns out that Phil thought "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" ended with a good old-fashioned slaying in the style of "Saw" and "I Know What You Did Last Summer." Okay, so I have never seen either of those movies, and I don't plan to see them. But Phil's face is enough to scare the most desensitized of movie watchers. As such, I cried myself to sleep.

Paradox is Greek for Swimming in a Sea of Poo

2008-11-13T12:04:00.000-08:00

Why is it that so many things in life just make this weird circle of never achieving anything? Let me clarify, as that was a long sentence and may have stumped you with its vagueness. In order to buy a car, you need to have money. In order to have money, you need to have a job. In order to have a job, you need to get a car. Do you see where I am going?

I have yet to apply for my degree. I have already met the necessary requirements, but in order to apply for my degree, I have to have a certain amount of money. In order to have that certain amount of money, I have to have a good paying job. In order to have that good paying job, I need the degree. Vicious circle.

But let's step back for a moment and get philosophical, because that is how I feel today. Philosophical. You can tell by the lack of fish face photos (sweet alliteration though, eh?). Why do we so badly need money? In order to impress our friends? In order to go to Applebee's with them every Wednesday or a movie with them every Friday? Friends who only exist in the realm of spending money may not be friends at all. It seems to me that friendship should exist outside the realm of any sort of money. If I am with my best friends, then it should be okay that I have no money. Not only so, but I should be able to spend as much time with them without the money as I would if I had money. But in my experience, when one has little income, then one has less time with their friends. I don't know if that's because the friends themselves stop inviting you to the activities that cost more - which doesn't necessarily seem likely unless it's a Ben Folds concert or something - or if it's that I (or that ambiguous hypothetical person with the low income) take myself out of a situation where people might feel obligated to pay for me.

While we're on the subject, money is the world's curse. May the Lord smite me with it, and may I never recover. Go watch Fiddler on the Roof. Now.

It seems to me that we rarely view things in the realm of reality. My perceptions of everything are skewed by... well by my perceptions, I guess, by my own emotions or insuffuciencies. I interpret a situation as positive or negative or welcoming or hostile. A group of people who are outgoing and fun-loving are often intimidating to me. Don't get me wrong, I am all for fun. But being less outgoing, I assume that said group is functioning perfectly without me, and I take myself out of the situation. But then that group could easily interpret my lack of interaction as anger or indifference or superiority - who knows? We are all led by our own perceptions, but our perceptions are not based on reality. Maybe if I let myself go and joined the group, in spite of my introverted, cautious nature, it would function at an even higher, more enjoyable level. And maybe they would interpret my participation as approval. Or maybe by stepping into that group, the functioning would decrease, and then I would know that it wasn't all that I thought it could be. Then I would be able to move on, without feeling left out.

I think we should stop judging each other so harshly and just be who we are. Afterall, I don't think it's possible for me to be anyone else.

You gotta check out the bathroom!

2008-11-11T21:23:00.001-08:00

Can we just make it known, right here in the privacy of this blog that is open to all but read by few, that I can keep a secret! This last weekend one of my best friends in the world and former roommate, Renee, came into town. But Ann had no idea. So we hatched the plan - Renee would hide in the Starbucks bathroom, and I would get Ann to go in there! Okay, so problem 1: Ann and I were gonna be at her house, complete with latte technology, so it was gonna be hard to justify going to Starbucks. So I sucked my awesome friend Aimee into the mix, who invited us at just the perfect moment to go have "girl time" at Starbucks because her husband said she needed it. Thanks, Aims! Problem 2: How do I get Ann to go to the bathroom? How does it fly to suggest a potty break to a grown up? Luckily, Renee and Lynsey decided to hide behind a newspaper instead. Who knew that hiding behind a newspaper still worked?

This photo was taken post Starbucks surprise. These are my women.

Renee, having been away from the glory of Rathdrum for several months, became uncontrollably excited and decided to crown herself its new princess.

Here's the thing I love about Renee, while we're on the subject. When I'm with Renee, I feel like I really laugh. You know how there are people that you politely laugh with, people that you smile with, and people that you belly laugh with? Well with Renee it's always a belly laugh.

It took multiple tries and several minutes spent staring in the mirror, but eventually we achieved our fish faces with our friend Tobias the wooden replacement fish (he replaced a beta fish named Darwishy that Ann killed and then left to rot for a week...but that's another story). Okay, so my fish face was the suck, but Renee's was so good that I had to stop taking photos and revel in its glory.

Just think, I used to see this beautiful face every morning.

Lynsey was mesmerized by the flashing light called a "camera."

The conversation was intense, as you can tell. With varied discussions on prophecy and the mating habits of the iguana, we got beneath the surface and saw to the heart of each other. It turns out that going to Bible school gives you a glow, because Lynsey was really glowing. Take that, pregnancy!

All in all, it was a good weekend. We love you, Renee and Lynsey!

David Hasselhoff

2008-11-03T17:53:00.000-08:00

I really like to title things. When I paint, I get really excited about what I am going to name my masterpiece. In the same way, I get really excited about naming each of the blogs that I write. I like to write titles that are little inside jokes for me but that few others would ever understand. I also really like the titles to various songs (for example, Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town) or to sermons (Crouching, Craving and Chasing). Hard to say why; maybe it's similar to how having your name spoken is validating. Writing a title brings validation to the message or painting or blog. Anyway, this one is titled "David Hasselhoff."

For those of you who have never gotten to experience the glory of driving to the Middle of Nowhere, it looks kinda like this. Occasionally kamikaze deer try to die for whichever reigning emperor buck told them it was a good idea. They plunge in front of your car and freeze, an epic dare to hit them if you must. Maybe we should all live a little more that way - face danger head on instead of always trying to live life like we need to make it out alive. Sometimes I think I just play it too safe. Take a risk, run in front of that proverbial car, and stare it down! If you splat, you splat. So what? At least you ran. Hmm...deep thoughts about kamikaze deer. But in between deer dodgings you do get a nice view on the Road to Nowhere. I recommend rockin' the Bishop T.D. Jakes or Belle and Sebastian along the way.

Intern field trip: Panda Express. Okay, so we did hit a leadership seminar along the way in which we learned and then learned what we learned (transitional growth periods and challenges in church bodies - that's what I learned). Panda Express's orange chicken is delicious. Incidentally, Brennan is now an intern. We welcomed him by not buying his meal.

Welcome to the Space Jam!

2008-11-01T21:03:00.000-07:00

This is Nick losing at checkers.

The day at ALPHA began as most days do...we ate, drank coffee, ate some more, ate some more, listened to a reportedly funny British man with a fantastic accent talk about the Holy Spirit, ate some more, talked to some people, had a good old-fashioned prayer and worship time, and ate some more. I don't know about you, but that's how I start most of my days.

We then entered a period whispered of by school children across the globe: recess. That's right, our ALPHA retreat had break time. Nick, Hannah, and I chose to spend that recess drinking chai tea, playing this game of checkers (please note from the level of concentration that Hannah is totally winning), declining free beer, and playing mad arcade games. It turns out that arcade games give you tickets which give you cheap jewlery. I recommend it to anyone looking to propose soon. It's both fun and cost effective - way better than that whole diamond set in white gold thing (aka crap).

This is Nick after recess in the conference room, still completely stoked from our arcade experience. If you look closely, you can see a panda pin on shirt. It only cost him 10 tickets and a dream to buy! With hard work, you too can win a panda pin.

Hannah decided it was a good decision to loosen up her voice before her big moment in the spotlight - singing Blessed Assurance at church. Let it be known that Blessed Assurance is one of my favorite hymns, if not my favorite. That said, I can only think of three hymns offhand that I really like. Wait, is that "we are the circumcision" song considered a hymn? Because that definitely puts it to four! We finished up the ALPHA Weekend with a variety show minus the planned Intern dance "Space Jam" which was destined to be a classic along with a politically incorrect skit simply titled "Safe Place." Instead, we let Hannah lead worship and ate some awesome fish. Then we hung with the Holy Spirit some more.

And in the end, we decided to be friends. Or at least to pose for this picture.

Ann and the Art of Tire Maintenance

2008-10-26T16:04:00.000-07:00

This is my friend Ann. As I write this, she is sitting next to me shredding very important papers. Now, if you are anything like me, you thought that people were done shredding papers in 1992. But no, rest assured that it still happens in places other than the CIA. Unless she is a CIA agent? Maybe; she's got mad ninja skills. You may notice the sweet headgear we're wearing. That's because we were in a parking lot, alone, late at night (so probably 8pm), babysitting Ann's broken tire. Thanks to Kevin Reese for rescuing us, changing Ann's tire, and making it so that our faces were not permanently stuck like this.

The Nineties, The Ots, and the Tens

2008-10-20T19:06:00.001-07:00

Good news friends, Romans, and countrymen. This is a picture of the Intern Class of '08. On the left is Mat, our director. He's really good at pointing out chairs that need to be moved and profound thoughts that need to be examined. Next is Hannah. She's good at being my friend and carving pumpkins. Then it's me. I'm good at being a person, though not always on a scale of Carl Rogers. Then Caleb. He's good at abstract thought and killing impalas, though not always at the same time. Next is Rachel. She's good at being awesome and moving chairs while wearing kitten heels and playing Tap Tap. And Nicholas is in the back. He's good at asking lots of questions (which I think is a sign of intelligence) and supporting the pandas. Together, we make Team Intern...or something like that.

So what's the plan for 1.19 years from now, when that glorious dawn arises, when all that we once held dear is gone forever? That's right, I am talking about the fateful day when it becomes...The Tens! Or perhaps it will be called the Double Digits or the Time Before the 20's. Of course, we have not yet even established this current period which we are inhabiting. I like to call it the Ots. My friend Kira hates the word ot for some reason unbeknownst to me. Maybe it's because we remain relatively unsure of what ot means? Or maybe it's because I got the term from The Music Man, and she hates both musicals and trombones. Can't really fault her on the trombone front, have you ever seen a trombone player emptying out his little spit tube after he's done playing? It's real gross.

Shem can scratch his head with his right foot.

Productivity and the Art of Doing Nothing

2008-10-17T20:49:00.000-07:00

Here's the thing about writing a blog: it is a way to be both productive and unproductive at the same time. Brilliant! And since I have had a generally productive day, I continue my productive streak while stimultaneously taking the time to do absolutely nothing.

My productivity began with an early appointment to play the part of a judge for my brother's debate class. As it turns out, Global Warming is not real. But the oceans are raising at the rate of 2mm per year, so watch out. And at the end of it all, it was established that nobody quite knows anything about anything and the Medieval days may or may not have been the hottest days ever. Or that could have been in 1940, I'm not sure.

I then proceeded to exegite I Corinthians 1. More on that later, but suffice it to say that the Bible is cool. Read it and feel happy, or convicted, or whatever. It's just plain good. Anytime I get to stop and look at words like logos or dunamis, I get excited. I mean, who wouldn't? Someday I will read the New Testament in Greek. It's on my bucket list.

Next I worked and discovered that there is no candy at Safeway that costs less than $.63. What is up with that? At the very least there should be $.25 bubble gum! Oh how sad the days have become. There was a time (this is the part where I get really old) when a nickel was worth something. There was a time when a quarter meant treasure! We need to get back to our roots, people! Buying ridiculously cheap things for pittance should be completely natural, like a gorilla beating its chest or an airplane making circles around the sun. Yeah, I said it.

Then I travelled to Elk and discovered that Pastor Judah loves his kid. Way to be, Judah. Also, of everything in the world, he is most proud of his wife. I thought that was super sweet - not that it made me cry or anything! :)