Make-Up Lesson FTW!

So, I grew up as a tomboy. A SEVERE Tomboy! I hated dresses, skirts, the colors pink and purple, loved sports, knives and martial arts. My role model in life was my pastor's wife who severely disliked dressed and skirts, and only ever wore a dress on her wedding day. But, things change I suppose.

I had my second make-up lesson today. I figure I should learn how to use make-up. It's something every girl is supposed to know right? Stereotype much yeah? but...It is something useful to know. So....I caved. My best friend has been teaching me about make-up and today she took me shopping.

We bought:

• Brushes (& Sh*t as she puts it)
• eye shadow - nudes and natural colors like I like and some blues that she think will look good...
• some type of powder finisher thing....(see how much I know about make-up?)
• eye liner
• mascara

After we got back to her house, she made me practice. Yeah...I poked my eye many many times and I kept making myself into a raccoon...make-up just does not come natural to me.

anyway...here's a picture of a cute doggie!

It looks like there's a stuffed animal next to me rather than a dog...

The Truth, The Lies and Everything in between.

I have always wondered why I prefer fiction books to non-fiction. I have also always wondered why I would rather stay up all night long to read rather than sleep and dream. Well, I just finished a book about facing the truths and so I thought I'd write a little truth.

I prefer fiction books to non-fiction because they help me escape. I escape my life and my world in favor of other lives and worlds that I would much prefer. For every fiction book, even the ones with sad endings seem to be more exciting and better lives than mine. I find my life boring and unsatisfying. I was once told by a very bright person to beware that slipping of worlds. She was right.

The truth about staying up at night is not always because of depression. I have always blamed it on that. But part of the truth is I do not wish to face the new day. Nor do I wish to face my dreams or to end my day the way it is. It seems to me that I do nothing worth remembering, I talk about nothing in particular and I want to stay up in hopes that something interesting will happen. It's is a child's folly.

So in essence, I prefer the fiction and I stay up all night because I am afraid of my life and bored of it too. I wish to be someone else, to live someone else's life and I dislike mine. What a wonderful discovery, eh?

As I've always been one who touts honesty as the best option, so much so that I am honest enough to hurt everyone's feelings, I hope I can sleep now that I have posted to anyone who wants to read that I am dissatisfied with myself and my life at 5am in the morning.

Let sleeping dogs lie with my foot.

Marshall Garrett Arrest - Occupy Wall Street

So to be fair, I know there are illegal arrests too. Here is one that from the arrestee's perspective I can see it is definitely illegal.

Marshall Garrett Arrest - http://preview.tinyurl.com/3undhru

• Protesters went to CitiBank to protest student loans and other financial corruption
• Undercover Police Officer (or hirelings by another source possibly) turned the peaceful protest unpeaceful
• Protesters did not leave when asked by Bank employees giving the Bank the right to call the police
• Bank Security and "White Coats" locked all the protesters inside the Bank until the Police got there
• Question: Did the Bank Security and "White Coats" have this authority to detain?
• Answer: Probably Yes
• Process was prolonged unnecessarily

Garrett in his interview said the White Coats were undercover police officers. I'm not convinced that is who they were, but I don't know that for sure. Also, he seems to think that since they were protesters they were not real inmates. At the time they were arrested, they became an inmate of the legal system. So this comment, "We went to prison in chain link cuffs, as if we were real prisoners instead of just protestors. After that, we were put in correction cells" (Thrasher, 2011) shows a little ignorance because in effect they were inmates until they posted bail or were processed.


At the same time, there is definitely something a little sketchy going on here. I would like to know who those "White Coats" as Marshall refers to them are.

Thrasher, Steven. "Marshall Garrett Tells the Voice About Being Arrested For Occupying Citibank - New York News - Runnin' Scared." The Village Voice Blogs. Villare Voice LLC, 17 Oct. 2011. Web. 19 Oct. 2011. .

Occupy Protests and Cops

Since this blog is a place for my contemplations and ramblings, I thought it was a perfect place for this.

I've been thinking a lot about Occupy Wall Street and Occupy D.C. I even visited their websites and looked at news posts about what they've been doing, what celebrities have been showing up and who has been arrested. A lot of people have been commenting about how the police are just arresting people for no reason and taking away their first amendment rights to free speech. So here's the question:

Is it a violation of the First Amendment to be arrested while you are protesting?

My Answer: It depends.

So I ask another question, In each case what are they getting arrested for?

• Author Naomi Wolf - http://preview.tinyurl.com/3gqwk77
• Police was ordering the protesters to stay off the streets and to stop blocking the side walks
• Wolf told the police the protestors didn't need a permit for the megaphone and they were not blocking the sidewalk.
• Police told Naomi Wolf to leave. She stayed.

Without knowing what she was arrested for, there's really no way to answer whether or not it was right for the police to arrest her. But from the video I can see that the police officer gave her a direct order to leave the premises. As far as I am aware, it is unlawful to disobey a direct order from the police. It is not free speech to disobey a police officer. And to be honest, he did give her fair warning that she was going to be arrested for disobeying him, which he didn't have to do. So I would have to say, specifically for disobeying the police officer Naomi Wolf was arrested legally and rightfully.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone!

He is Risen!

Instead of just writing down about my day celebrating Easter, I thought I'd comment on Lent and what it has done for me. I know when you fast or give something up for God that you are supposed to focus on collecting your reward in heaven which is why many say people should not say anything about fasting and Lent and such. But I feel like from some of the comments I've gotten during Lent, I would like to reflect about this year's experience.

This year was different for me. I thought about what I would give up long and hard. During Lent, many people thought I was crazy for giving up so many things. I actually only gave up 3 things in my life that are important to me. I knew I wanted to give up things that I would truly feel the need to rely on God for when I was tempted. To be honest, I failed many several times and cheated many times. In a couple of instances, I was almost legalistic about how I was participating in Lent, which was wrong of me. But overall, the experience was good and it led me closer to God. I have created several spiritual habits that should have been habits before this, and leaning on God is never a bad thing.

Two people in my life made comments about Lent that really affected how I thought of Lent. The first was my friend Vincent who asked me why I participated in Lent and if it was biblical. He also wondered at the reason why Christians actually chose to participate in Lent. It led me to much thought and this is my answer. Everything that you do for God, should be between you and God, it should be done only after much prayer and communion with Him as well as guidance from your Christian brothers and sisters. Lent is similar to Fasting in which you give up something in order to focus on God. Many people fast when they need spiritual guidance. For me, Lent is the period in which I give up whatever is most important in my life so that I can refocus my life, reorder what is important to me and give God the glory he deserves. I do not have scripture to back up my thoughts, but I believe my thoughts are in the right direction at least. Carmen, another friend, reminded me that Lent is pointless if I make a point to announce to people what I'm doing. She helped me to see that compensating for my meatless-ness was wrong when I would tell people what I was doing for Lent so that they would accommodate me. I was reaping my rewards on this earth. I did find that participating in Lent gave me opportunities to bring up God with many people I wouldn't normally talk to about Him. So there were many blessing in Lent this season.

What is Boredom?

I find myself perpetually bored. But the thing that I most wonder when I'm bored and when I'm not, is What the heck is boredom? Is it the feeling of laziness? Is it a lack of challenge? Maybe a lack of interest? Whenever I ask someone what their definition of boredom is, I get a long rant of nothing and then a shoulder shrug.

So I ask, What is Boredom? Why do we have it and why are so many people of my age and younger bored? Why do we lose interest so quickly and what can we do to fix it? I have no idea.

I wrote this because I'm bored. My boredom has always been quite funny to me. When I am bored, I putter around playing mindless games like tetris until I get SO bored that I actually go do something like write a blog post on boredom. Yeah so.....That's my contemplation and rambling for the day. PEACE!

Lent

Yesterday started the official period of Lent. Lent is the period between Ash Wednesday and Easter which is for the purpose of sacrifice and cleansing for The celebration of the death and resurrection of Christ. I encourage anyone who believes in Jesus Christ and the Gospel to participate in Lent. The 40 days in which Lent is traditionally practiced is comparable to the 40 days in which Jesus Christ fasted and prepared for his ministry to the World. During this period, Satan tempted Jesus but Jesus prevailed. So, in imitation and emulation of Jesus, during this period, it is encouraged the Christians give up something that is extremely important in their lives, something that could be an idol in your life. Also, during this time, we should be focusing on God, on his grace and mercy and bringing ourselves closer to him as well as seeking to understand Jesus' great sacrifice.


This year I have given up meat, facebook and reading for pleasure. It's been tough and it's only been one day, how weak am I. But it's alright for God has my back.


"No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it." - 1 Corinthians 10:13

Westboro Church prevails in Snyder v. Phelps

Today, The Supreme Court's decision came out on the case of Snyder v. Phelps. I have mixed feelings and am overall sad about their decision. There are three reasons:

1. The First Amendment is being used by hate groups to hide.
2. The Westboro Church will view this as a victory from God, and further the persecution Christians must face because of their use of Christianity to support their hateful views.
3. More military families will have to face these people while trying to get through their grief of losing a loved one.

The First Amendment has been used by many people as protection against persecution. It has been used for both good and bad. The Supreme Court has gone through great lengths to protect the broad protection of the First Amendment because Freedom is what our Country has been built upon. But at what point is too much freedom a bad thing? Is it when groups like the Westboro Baptist Church can throw hateful messages around and antagonize military funerals as long as they talk about national issues and follow the rules given to them by the authorities? Or do we have to wait until complete anarchy has overrun the earth? I am not saying that our country is moving to anarchy, but it is possible. I just want to know, when does freedom become too much?

The Reason I am most sad, is because the Westboro group is calling themselves a baptist church. I would like to know, just what part of their mission, their message, is baptist? What part of it is even remotely Christian?

I understand that the Westboro Church believes they are doing the right thing and that they believe that God has turned away from the U.S. But don't these people deserve the privacy of their grief? If God did indeed strike down these men who have died because of homosexuality and others issues, should they not leave indiviudal members alone and go on a national level? Go into politics, the media, and other public sources without preying on private matters such as funerals.

Washington Post Article:
http://tinyurl.com/4maccpv

Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother

Just read the book, The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. Before I even read it, I heard about it from all sorts of people. The first place I heard about it was from some reference a friend wrote on Facebook. I had no idea what they were referring to, so I googled it. Thus ensued my study of, as I call her "the tiger-mommy". A most elusive creature.

I read article upon article, even reading the letter that her daughter Sophia sent to the New York Post, in defense of her mother. What I find interesting is that everyone seemed to have a different opinion of Amy Chua. Some were horrified, some were overly critical, some hadn't even read a single article about the controversy and hated Chua's guts. All of this only made me want to read the book more, but I was broke and couldn't buy it, so I settled for obsessing over this topic and talking to people about it.

Here's a link to the article that includes Sophia's letter. http://preview.tinyurl.com/6227a32


Last week, I went to my father's baptism. A wonderful affair, but not the point of this blog post. At the dinner we had after, The Amy Chua came up. Evelyn, a friend of my parents, is going to giving a talk about the Tiger mother, had read the book, but not heard about the wall street journal article that started all this controversy. So of course I had to state my opinion about that! I was thinking, who reads a book but doesn't look up the source of the controversy! I dove headfirst into the debate and my father followed. And so, this is how I learned that my dad in fact had a copy of the book and did not tell me of this fact.


So, this whole long story, is all pointing to the fact that I have now read the Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. I found "the tiger-mommy", and I rather like her. I am referring to Chua's mother of course. But, I also like Amy Chua, her personality and her life lessons learned, truly flow out of this memoir and into the hearts of people like me, who can understand her. My mother was something like Chua. My mother married an americanized man, a "westernized" Chinese man. So, I grew up ethnically Chinese, but my mother was thwarted at every turn when she tried to raise my sister and I like Chua raised her children. I regret it in many ways, because I now know the lessons my mother was trying to teach me. I didn't learn them, and am only now trying to instill them into myself...and IT'S HARD!! 


So, while i disagree with the harshness that Chua may have used against her children, all parents are human and make mistakes. Chua even agrees that she may have been harsh at times. But I agree with her parenting style because, her children are better off for it, and I regret my father thwarting my mother from instilling the principles that Chua's children have into me, becuase I really really wish I had them now. And I can only hope that one day, when I have kids, that they will turn out half so well under my parenting.

The Golden Compass Daemon Test

Your result for The Golden Compass Daemon Test ...

The Honest Soul.

You are a talkative, open kind of person. You wear your heart on your sleeve, and you trust people not to break it. In a way, you are as honest and trusting as a child. You are comfortable with who you are and have a strong sense of self, but you are also a little sensitive. Hurtful remarks, especially from people whose opinion you value, have the power to wound you terribly.

You tend to be open about your thoughts and opinions, and you find it difficult to hide your emotions from people. You like to share your thoughts, opinions, and emotions with people, and to hear theirs in return. When someone disagrees with you or offends you, you will take them up on it, whether they are friends or strangers. You don't mind a friendly debate, but become upset when things get hostile. You wish that people wouldn't take everything so personally, but simply think calmly about things.

You have a close knit group of friends and family for whom you would sacrifice almost anything. You don't like big parties full of strangers - you would rather spend your time with the people whom you really care about. You need a private spot where you can retreat when the world gets to be too much, but you want to be able to emerge from your "den" and find your loved ones there to heap love and affection upon you.

Your daemon would represent your loving, open nature, and he or she would probably spend a lot of time encouraging you to be independent and to do the right thing.

Suggested forms: Dog, Otter, Marmoset, Saw-Whet Owl, Songbird, Chinchilla.

Take The Golden Compass Daemon Test

New Year, New Resolutions

Okay, so, This is the time of year when everyone starts giving new years resolutions and for many Christians, it's a time to recommit their lives to God. So, Every year, I go to One In Love Conference (OIL) and recommit myself to God just like everyone else. But it used to be all about the hype. The last three years I would come back feeling really full of God, like a really long adrenaline rush. Then about a week or so after, or even a month later, I would be back to my old ways.

This year, I want it to be different. So I'm starting out small. I have committed myself to reading the bible everyday and praying everyday. Not a big commitment right? Dr. Min Chung  preached that we all fail in our commitments to God because we are human. However, by failing, repenting and coming back again, we grow each time to be more faithful in the Lord.

The passage I have been meditating on recently is Ephesians 2:8-10. there has always been a great debate between good works and by faith alone. I have always believed because it is true that it is only by faith alone that we are saved. For by faith, which was given to us by God can we be saved. But Good works is the outward sign, the proof to all that we believe. Good works alone will do nothing towards our salvation, but even those who do not have faith in God want to be good to do something towards the greater good, because we were made to glorify God in all things, and good works is the venue in which we can.


For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. - Ephesians 2:8-10.