Gossip

Every place I’ve worked has always had gossip. Always. Normally it doesn’t bother me but this job at the Mac Grill seems to be so much worse than usual. The servers especially tend to have the most difficulty keeping absurd juicy rumors to themselves. It’s actually quite humorous to watch them make a transformation from talking with a guest at their table. Refined, professional, dignified…..




To….




These girls are mort attractive than I see in my head but if you can imagine them 20 years older, snapping their gum in between pulls from a cigarette, you'd catch more my drift.

Every time they open their mouths to spread idle (and sometimes hurtful) gossip I get this image in my head. It’s so unattractive. What’s hilarious is when I catch myself participating in the same crap and I see myself in that same get up. It’s really a very effective method for breaking the habbit.

My New Favorite Band

I just found these guys and I'm pretty sure they are fairly new considering their touring is mostly local and they aren't backed by any huge labels yet. I have a feeling they are going to make it big time though!

For Laura

We still need matching posters.

Thanks Brent

I am proud to be a member of a church so inspired and focused on serving others.

Heidi Inspired

My cousin Heidi had this on her blog and I thought it was the most unique music video I've ever seen. And thats saying something with all the repetitive themes of music videos these days. No originality! This one was truly one of a kind in my eyes. Very well done!
Thanks Heidi!

Forced Anorexia

So I picked up this new job a few weeks ago working in the nursery at my gym just for a couple hours a week in the mornings. My shift runs right through lunchtime but not a problem, I think to myself. I’ll just bring lunch along with me. They have a microwave and a mini fridge after all. I’m sure people do it all the time! Even though there wasn’t any trace of food around. Humm...

Next day at work, everything’s is going according to plan. We get a little bit of a lul in business. Not that many kids, perfect time to break out some fettuccini in garlic cream sauce from the Mac Grill. I warm it up and give it a stir thinking how spoiled I am that my leftovers come from a nice restaurant and I didn’t have to cook. I dig in and take my first bite. Right as I’m about to swallow, little Will comes over with a river of thick green snot, oozing out both nostrils. The thickness and consistency of it is enough to make me loose my appetite mid-bite. I look away, choke down what I have (almost not making it) and grab a tissue. He’s off to play again but I know I won’t be able to look at my beautiful fettuccini alfredo until I can wipe that image from my mind. ….it’s been 2 week, and I can still see it plain as day.

Now I may not be the brightest bulb in the chandelier, but I learned my lesson enough to know that slimy stringy things for lunch aren’t going to work. So I pack a cold cut sandwich for the next day hoping I won’t run into anything unappealing that reminds me of ham on whole wheat. I didn’t. Phew! But as I’m eating, one of the little girls named Hanna asks if she can sit on my lap and read me her story. Sure I think. Whats the harm in that? …apparently her breath wasn’t within my range at the time for this little darling dear had THE most putrid smelling stench wafting out of her mouth that I have ever encountered. Like sour milk and throw up kinda mixed together. And in her moment of exuberant animation she literally spits one of the words at my face and all I can think is “IT’S ON ME!!! IT’S ON ME!” I smiled, scooped her off my lap, and as I scrubbed my face in the sink I sigh quietly to myself at the fact that if I ever have a little girl, I'll never be able to name her Hanna. The half eaten sandwich goes back in the ziplock where is stays for the rest of the day. Humm….no contact with children while eating….check.

I’m starting to see why there was no food in the fridge on my first day.

The next week, I forgo the thought of lunch altogether and think more along the lines of snacking til I get home. I search high and low for something… ANYTHING that is not wet and gooy. Cheddar Cheese fish crackers is what I decide is safe and I eat them while the kids are distracted with a movie. I focus intently on the cold hard steel of the building next door. Nothing soft or mooshy that would remind me of the 10 goopy noses I’ve already wiped today. But I’ve forgotten one more element. So easy, so obvious, the ultimate weapon at their disposal to ruin my desire for food altogether. It was in that moment when the potent certain smell of someone else’s poop came drifting into my nostrils that I gave up completely. I decided from that moment on that I would rather starve than eat anything at this place. No more planning or ideas…. because poop trumps all.

The Holy Bible....ugh.

I used to write more blogs like this, about spiritual things, when I first started. Lightly. But I’ve been spending a lot of time in the Bible these days studying our Savior’s life and ministry. I know there are a number of people who aren’t of my faith who read my blog so for you, I’m warning you now that there is no quick wit or good humor to find here today (sort of). Just some thoughts about scripture that I wanted to get on paper that I hope you’ll be interested in reading anyway.

These are just a few versus out of Matthew 5. I usually find no particular excitement in reading the Bible because… to be utterly honest… it bores me sometimes. But I think that’s because whenever I’ve tried to get through it, I start with Genesis. I’m pretty sure I’ve got Genesis memorized for all the times I’ve tried to read the Old Testament and never got past that first book before I awoke to uncrinkle the pages that had become imprinted on my face and wipe away the drool. Then I pick in up again, months later, and start at the beginning….again. So this time, I broke all the rules and started in the middle.

I like reading scripture and then trying to put in in everyday language. It makes it come to life and helps me make sense of all the old language. You may read these and think “you’re totally missing the point of that scripture!” But there can be many interpretations to one verse. I am merely sharing one of many that I liked. These verses aren’t in order either. I’ve never been one for order… just as my laundry room.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs in the kingdom of heaven.”
At first when I read this I thought “poor in spirit? Like…sad? …So I should go around moping, and then I get the kingdom? Well that doesn’t sound right!” And of course it isn’t. Poor in spirit refers to humility. And since my pride happens to be my number one nemesis, that makes the game a little more interesting.

“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”
I thought I knew what meek meant until I read the reference for this specific verse. It describes it as gentle, forgiving and benevolent… but not only that. It also says that they are characterized as the humble who have suffered.
I think there are people in this life (myself included) who become jaded by life. But this verse plainly tells us that becoming hard and callused from the world is a choice. There ARE people who choose to be meek- and to me, from this definition, they deserve to inherit something huge like a planet! Because they aren’t described as someone who has had a fairly easy life. No, it’s talking about people who have suffered, yet still CHOOSE to be gentle, forgiving and benevolent. That says volumes about them.

“Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God.”
In the footnotes it says peacemaker is to be identified with contentment. Again I thought… what they heck? What does contentment have to do with peacemakers? Then I thought of it on a larger scale like nations at war. Why do we ever go to war? If you think about it, most of the time, it’s because someone somewhere isn’t content with what they have. They want more. More power, more money, more respect etc. And suddenly, they are willing to disrupt the peace to get it.
On a smaller scale, this scripture is for the individuals who are content with what they have, for they help keep the peace and are therefore truly worthy to be related to God through such an intimate title.

“Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted.”
My first reaction to this verse was “…that’s it?” Everybody else in these versus get all these massive amazing gifts like inheriting kingdoms and worlds and titles …and all these guys get is a hug? ….this is why I have to really STUDY scripture. Otherwise, I wouldn’t stop to realize that it’s so much more than that.
I think about the times in my life when I’ve really suffered. Times in my life when I’ve watched people I love suffer. Suffer through things that I can’t help them with. Do you know what that’s like? Trying to help someone when you know there is nothing you can do? It’s in times like those that I am most thankful for this scripture because it gives me hope that even through the most sorrowful events, they will be comforted. We all can be comforted. And that’s no small gift.

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.”
This one strikes home for me. There are things I’ve done in my life that I’m not proud of. Things that deep down I feel like I haven’t been a whole person since because it’s created so much pain for others. I know I wouldn’t feel that way if I truly let the atonement do it’s job and that’s something I’m working on. But that’s why I love this verse so much, because in the meantime, I feel like there is something I can do to “regain points in heaven” and that’s be merciful to everyone else who crosses me. Maybe what this verse SHOULD mean to me (since I can’t think of anyone I hold malice for right now) is that I should be more merciful to myself as well. Humm…that’s food for thought.

More food for thought later! It’s time to get on with my day and stop trying to make sense of the world.