re-thinking many things

I've gotten into a bad habit of running into dilemmas lately. The big one right now: to teach, or not to teach? I keep telling people this, but the more I go through my undergraduate career, the more I realize that an undergrad major really doesn't seem to matter too much (unless you are going into a very specific field). I don't see myself getting as excited about teaching as I used to. Don't get me wrong - I still love kids - but I just don't see teaching as being, for me, the best medium of relating to them - I don't think I'm creative enough.

As a history major/spanish minor, I have a pretty wide (or narrow, depending on how you look at it) field of options. I won't, for example, be able to be an engineer with this kind a major. But I don't want to be an engineer. I might, however, be able to take on a more people-oriented position (not that engineers aren't people-oriented; I know plenty who are, and much of what they do centers around the needs of people - my hat goes off to you engineers). I'm still really interested in translational work - being able to translate languages always gets me pretty excited (though at this point spanish and english are the only two that I really have under my belt).

In some ways I feel like I could really choose to "panic" at this point, but I'm not. In fact, instead, I have this refreshing feeling of freedom in some ways. I think I had narrowed my focus down so much to teaching that I forgot how many other options I had, and I panicked slightly when I realized it might not be for me. It is a little nerve-wracking to think that I might not know exactly what I'll be doing when I graduate (teaching or not - still working it out), but I know that God has plans that He knows thoroughly - I think I need to ask Him about those plans a little more. Yay for hope!

yes...these are my friends...

This post is simply for laughs. I need them, you need them...laughing is healthy (most of the time)! Some of these were taken a while ago, some more recently. All in all, I am really blessed by God to have friends who cause me to embarass myself in public by laughing out loud as I walk alone across the Diag, thinking about their hilarious stories (and faces :) ...and don't start thinking that I don't have more where these came from :)

curious creatures and God's sense of humor

this bird made me crack up the other day when I went with some of the other IV girls to the Toledo Zoo. We walk into the bird room, and there he (or she) is, just chillaxin' there on the vent, getting warm. I just had to laugh.

Anyway, this post is being written mostly to appease Hattie, who reminded me that it's been a while (almost 2 months!). Way to be a faithful post-checker, Hootis, way to go :)

We were talking in Bible study the other night about how God has a sense of humor (this was after reading the book of Jonah...don't know why it was funny really). Mark Twain once said something along the lines of "Well, of course God has a sense of humor...just look at the platypus". It got us into this whole tangent about how the English animal biologists must have laughed and laughed at the drawings that got sent back to them from their cronies who were exploring Australia, probably thinking it was a joke. Ha. Kinda like the way we think of jackalopes in the States today. And then when they got sent the taxidermied version, it was probably like "hmm...now how did they fake that?" It's just funny to think about. I think Mark Twain is right - God thouroughly enjoyed making creation, and said it was good. I can't imagine that he wouldn't have a sense of humor if he made all of that...and if we as human beings are made in his image, and we have senses of humor (though skewed sometimes), it makes sense that we reflect what is his sense of humor. Not that I've really doubted that, but it's interesting to really think about it and know that God even created our sense of humor! He likes to see us laugh...pretty sweet guys, pretty sweet.

Ok, I really gotta get some sleep, but I'll see y'all on the flip side.

drawing up memories

this is the drawing that I made at bible study last week. it was me and the three art students (hattie, liz & juliana) all drawing ravens and lilies. yep. this was mine. I'm putting it up here because it reminds me of the days when I used to come home from school with some new "art" project, and my mom would hang it right there in the kitchen, which was probably the most populated room in the entire house at most times of the day. one time, she told me, I came home with this self-portrait that (in her eyes) looked more like George Washington because I had white hair. I explained to her that it was me, but that we had run out of brown paint in the art room, and hence I chose the next best hair color: white. yep.
but I don't have mom to come home to anymore, so I have to display my own "artwork" (courtesy of Hattie, who scanned this in). and since I don't have that many people walking through my room everyday, I figured this was probably the most "populated" place I could display it...so, enjoy! And happy almost Thanksgiving...

a proposal

Lauren Winner is coming to Grand Rapids on January 13th to speak @ Calvin College...anybody want to come with?

uncooperativeness...by blogspot

ok. so if you happen to click on the links to the websites of my friends at the right, you'll notice that "john" leads you to http://www.livejournal.com/users/jooohn/. While I know that jcollman's website is actually http://www.livejournal.com/users/jooohnn/ (notice the extra "n" at the end), blogspot refuses to believe me. so I am stuck with a link to the website of some poor chap that I don't know, whose name is probably john. I realize, dear blogspot.com, that we've only been at this thing for two days now, but I think you're being a little unreasonable. sorry john...

*edit*: I kid you not. Blogspot decided to cooperate about 30 seconds after I posted this. the "john" link now leads you to the correct john. hooray for me (who doesn't even know HTML!)

don't be walkin' the plank!

in my wanderings through the blogging walls of friends, I came across a hilarious website that can translate your blog into "Pirate Speak". Yeah. While most appropriately used on National Talk Like a Pirate Day (already in the past), it can serve for a few good laughs at almost anytime. check it out: how t' talk like a buccanneer

Thanks to Emily for the site...