Hey God, what are you doing?

Post grad life has me up and down. I'm constantly either

or

with some of this in between...

Alright, now I'm just getting funny here.

With all seriousness, life hasn't exactly turned out the way I wanted it to in the last 5 months. I trying to deal but I'm often defeated and lacking motivation.

I'm looking to the Book for help and found this nifty --not really nifty; more like RAW--book, Habakkuk.

Short and sweet, Habakkuk is like -WTH God?!? He's real and overtly genuine. He tells God that He doesn't like what He's doing and respectfully asks God to respond to Him. God faithfully responds (I'm still getting through Habakkuk so pardon my too brief summary) and Habakkuk ends with this:

Though the fig tree should not blossom,

nor fruit be on the vines,

the produce of the olive fail

and the fields yield no food,

the flock be cut off from the fold

and there be no herd in the stalls,

yet I will rejoice in the LORD;

I will take joy in the God of my salvation.

GOD, the Lord, is my strength.

This is how I'm having to respond to my life situation right now. It's a challenge but I do find strength in remembering these words.

A great practice: Add your own words to this or any verse. It can make the verse easier to connect with and remember.



Manners

I've been a bit perturbed since last night.
NO, it's not because the Mavericks lost at home to Oklahoma City Thunder yesterday, tying the series at 1-1. Or because the season finale for The Office yesterday was a total cliffhanger...(just tell us that Jim Carrey's replacing Carrell already!).

Last night, a priest and his family made plans to come to my house for dinner. Now this wouldn't be a big deal if I didn't have the father I have. You see, most of his identity comes from food. He's the guy who's known for his cooking--indian and barbeque. Though it comes off as smothering at times, he prides himself on being the best host. Therefore, this visit was an EVENT.

My father made barbeque (chicken, pork and steak), salad, potatoes and fresh strawberries and grapes for dessert. Now this would all be fine and expected IF the priest showed up WITH his family.

Priest man apologized, said that daughter did not get home from school until late and still had homework to do; so the family stayed home.

This still would not have been so bad IF priest man stayed to have dinner.
That's right. He left with two take-out bags, it was almost 10 and I still had no food in my stomach.

Friends, let's remember, if you make dinner plans, keep them. If you can't, then have the decency to call and tell your host before they slave over a hot, smoky grill for 2 hours and marinate meat for you the night before. That way, you also won't have an angry girl writing about you and your ill-manners, eating charred meat for 3 nights in a row. 
Best.

"Sah-prise, sah-prise."

Gomer Pyle, anyone?

Trump is out. Who called it!? Evidently, he's announced he's running and bailed before. More than once. I never heard about it until this year. When did you know that it was over? I figured it was after that correspondence dinner Pres. Obama hosted. 

The one when Obama took jabs at FOX and Trump all the while he knew that he had Osama.

Can I say badass without being judged? 

Badass. 

I know it's been a sometime but let's recap that dinner, shall we? And pay our respects to dear old Trump. You may never be Commander in Chief but you still got your TV show. 

Putting my foot down...

(Note: this is a very self-absorbed post. Tonight, that's ok. I'm experimenting. Bon appetit.) 

on my hair. Oh this head of dense, dead stuff. It grows (?) too fast. Really. My hair stylist (lady at Pro-Cuts) vouched for me two weeks ago. I can't go one month without taking scissors to the darn thing. Whatever, I realize this is the last thing I should be complaining about. My hair is the only thing I got going for me. If I was keeping count (AND I'M NOT), I can assure you it's what I get the most compliments on. Love/hate relationship I guess.

Well, new advancement in my hair coming soon. I was inspired by the new cut revealed by Dianna Agron.

From Dianna Agron's tumblr. 

Yea? Nay? C'mon, you can't be against this. Well, that's it. I'm gonna save 50 dollars and run to Toni&Guy next week. Thanks for working through that with me, guys. Best. 

Full circle.

Last night, a lot of people felt closure for the first time in 10 years. People had reason to celebrate as news came out about Osama bin Laden's death. We all know that it will be one of those "where were you?" moments when we're 40 and our kids ask us for their school project.

It was ironic that I was getting ready for bed when my brother knocked on my bathroom door to tell me the news. I had no words in reply, just a shake of my head and a sprint for the television.

We turned on CNN and behold, the headline in all caps, OSAMA BIN LADEN IS DEAD. The anchor was spewing out facts, entertaining us until the President was ready to deliver his address. It was way past our bedtime on a Sunday night, but we waited.

That's when I remembered where I was 10 years ago.
When the news of the terrorist attacks came out, I was 12 years old and incoveniently living in my father's home thousands of miles away in South India. It was way past midnight when I tried my hardest to ignore the phone ringing off the hook. What seemed like 20 minutes later, the television lit up the bedroom, forcing me to get out of bed and find out what was wrong.

I sat there for hours, staring and crying in horror and denial of what I was seeing. The clips of the planes crashing into the towers, the people running covered in ash, the people jumping from who knows how many feet from the sky to their deaths.

All I wanted at that moment was to be home.
10 years later, here I am. I may not have been here to mourn with my friends but I am here for the relief.
Last Sunday night, things came full circle. And even if it's only for a brief moment, it seems that everything's in order.

I leave you with Anderson Cooper's remarks from yesterday's show.

"After nearly ten years of waiting, ten years of imagining where he was, what his life was like, wondering if he would strike again, it is a relief to know he's gone. It's like exhaling after holding one's breath for a painfully long time. We all want to hear as much detail as we can, and that's natural and understandable. Someday, however, in the not too distant future, I hope we no longer give bin Laden the satisfaction of ever speaking his name or even remembering him in our nightmares."
"As the years pass and the years ahead, I hope it's not the wasted life of this mass murderer we remember. I hope instead we recall the lives of those we’ve lost."