Chocolatey Peanut Butter Goodness
September 10, 2009 § Leave a comment
As I sat down on the couch on Monday with my breakfast/lunch of Reese’s Puffs in skim milk, I glanced at the back of the box for any interesting reading material. It featured a checklist of “18 Things To Do Before You Turn 18.” I didn’t realize cereal could be age-ist…eighteen seems like so long ago.
I turned on the TV and noticed that Fairly OddParents was playing on Nickelodeon — my favorite cartoon! To my delight, it was an episode I hadn’t seen yet. During a break in the program, a commercial for Reese’s Puffs played, starring two teenage boys consuming the breakfast food. It was then that I realized I was watching cartoons geared toward pre-adolescents while enjoying a cereal I am officially too old for. A sad revelation, but not one that stopped me from eating my fill while finishing the show.
I’d also like to note that Reese’s Puffs has more vitamins & minerals than the Kashi Strawberry Fields cereal I was eating before. Sure, there’s a lot more sugar in Reese’s Puffs, but I was surprised that the Kashi cereal [despite having all those whole grains] did not have any more vitamins than the paltry bit it contained. Therefore, I shall stick to my sugary indulgence!
Grammarsaurus
September 8, 2009 § Leave a comment
One of the classes I’m taking this semester is Magazine Editing, a major part of which is grammar, because it’s impossible to effectively edit writing without being knowledgeable in the rules of the language.
Spelling and grammar have always come naturally for me because of the sheer amount of reading I did in my younger days. I am guilty of silently judging people who can’t spell — I will never forget when Roomie #2 wrote “whipped” when she meant “wiped” in a FB message — but I also have great respect for those who can carve out beautiful sentences. Because grammar is mostly instinctual for me, I’m not terribly good at diagramming parts of speech and such, so I am learning quite a bit in this class.
While showering on Sunday morning, I had Eminem’s “We Made You” stuck in my head. One line from the chorus kept repeating in my mind: We’re the ones who made you.
I suddenly found myself trying to identify the different parts of the sentence: The independent clause is “we’re the ones.” “Who made you” is not a phrase but a dependent clause, and the “who” makes it relative. What the hell am I doing?
I don’t think I want to do my capstone in magazine editing, but I’m certainly well on my way there should I change my mind.
Music Makes The People Come Together
September 5, 2009 § 3 Comments
Wednesday night as my first time leading worship. I’ve been singing with praise teams for about four years, but only as a secondary vocalist.
There was an unprecedented number of people who showed up for our first Asian Christian Fellowship meeting of the year — almost 50. It was also amazing to have a full team for the first time in ACF history: four vocalists, keyboard, bass, two guitars and tambourine. I had imagined myself leading worship on keyboard, mostly because I felt like I would have more control over where the music went. During practice, however, it proved too much of a distraction for me, and EN played much better than me anyhow, so I will just stick to singing.
We sounded pretty good, although I could not hear second guitar and our voices were not perfectly in tune. I was not nervous to be onstage, but my mouth became extremely dry, which increased my anxiety somewhat.
Looking out at the rows of people standing, I felt blessed to have such a fellowship. I saw some people singing whom I did not expect to see singing — a moving sight. Is ACF really affecting these people who do not consider themselves Christian? What a privilege it is to be here.
A friend sent me a song request for next week and my visceral reaction was to shut her down. After all, I’m a worship leader, not a DJ. Sets are put together deliberately, not haphazardly according to what I feel like doing. But this is an example of my control freak tendencies — I don’t like the idea of somebody usurping my “power.” Does God really care whether the songs we sing directly relate to the Bible study? Probably not, as long as the worship is sincere. Letting go of my pride in this aspect will definitely continue to be a struggle for me.
Chasing Cars
September 2, 2009 § 1 Comment
The laptop has not yet been fixed, but I felt compelled to share this story.
My current place of residence is a house located in the neighborhood behind frat row. The fraternities face College Ave., a four-lane street that makes up the eastern border of campus. there is a great migration of students across this street every morning, most of whom don’t bother walking down to the stoplights. I will probably get hit by a vehicle one of these days while crossing, but until then, I will take the more efficient [though illicit] path.
Yesterday as I stepped onto the street, a policeman drove right past me on the other side. We made eye contact. I know jaywalking isn’t a criminal offense, but I still felt awkward.
I forgot about this incident until this morning, when I noticed that there were two guys wearing reflective vests — crossguards, essentially — sitting right across College Ave. at the exact spot I had crossed yesterday.
Crap, I thought. Crappity crap.
Was there a correlation? I didn’t bother finding out. What if they ticketed me for jaywalking? How embarrassing. I really hope they are gone by tomorrow.
UPDATE: MU Student Hit While Jaywalking
auradis 