The Other Hand

This is the story of how my grandparents met. It was such a sweet story i wanted to write it and put it up here.

“A penny for your thoughts,” she asked him playfully as they walked hand-in-hand across the quad. He paused, looked off into the distance for a moment as if pondering a great decision, then leaned forward and kissed her.
“…and I suppose that’s what he was thinking about,” ended my grandmother, matter-of-factly. She had been telling me the story of their meeting all afternoon. They had met her first year of college at a small Christian university in Tennessee. He was sophomore biological sciences major and she was a spunky freshman who wanted to be a lab assistant. While learning to mouth pipette acids, she met him in the lab. She quickly overcame his shyness and they became close friends.
“One night,” she continued. “We were studying for chemistry in the library. We had apparently hidden ourselves away in stacks quite well, because when we came out the library was deserted. Your grandfather walked up to the door and declared it locked. We were stuck and late for dinner. Now at that school, if you missed dinner, everybody noticed. And if we missed dinner together…well. Your grandfather and I ran around the entire library trying all the rooms without any luck. Visions of being forced to spend the night in the deserted room began to fill my head. Then, and I’m sure this was God’s grace, he spotted an open window! Now I wasn’t much of an athlete, so he had to help me down out of the window after he had jumped down…but he didn’t seem to mind too much.”
She giggled to herself and then proceeded to tell me that they had indeed been late to dinner and got quite a talking to afterwards from their professor who apparently had no appreciation for the fact that they librarian had locked them in. So they decided to start dating the second semester of my grandmother’s sophomore year. My grandfather was double-majoring at the time and was incredibly busy, yet he always seemed to have time for grandma. By the time my grandfather was in his senior year, he was fairly certain that she was the one for him.
“Late that night, he took me out by the fountain and we were walking hand-in-hand. Oh, it was quite taboo in that time to do so, which was just silly, but we figured nobody was watching. We talked and talked and I could tell he was getting at something but he never quite got up the courage to ask me straight out. Well, we kept walking when suddenly Dean McClelland walked up behind us, pointed to our clasped hands and said, ‘What are you saving for marriage, Mahley!’ Now your grandfather turned around, looked him the eye and said, ‘The other hand, sir.’ That was quite saucy, but fortunately Dean McClelland thought it was funny. So did I.”
I later found out that my grandfather did not propose to her that night, but he did eventually. He dropped to his knee, held out a ring and offered her his other hand.

My Dad is looking into getting one of these...

A Bit of Narnia News

A don't think very many people will care about this...but i'm gonna write it anyways.

The voice of Reepicheep the mouse has just been cast as...Dun da da da -- Eddie Izzard!

Chelsea and Kelsey, now is your time to rejoice.

PS. I'm an evil giraffe....

GYRAD

So there is this tradition at Biola called a GYRAD...or Get Your Roommate A Date (oh yes, we are so creative here!) The idea being that the entire floor of a dorm goes out on a group date and you get your roommate a date for it. All very casual (just to clarify...for any concerned Fathers who may be feeling the urge to get out their gun collections...hehe)

Well, said tradition took place Friday night to the enjoyment and excitement of all. So I got Kaitlyn a date with Jon, a guy we know from film classes, and she got me a date with Nathan, a guy I know through Torrey. Chelsea went with Barak, another Torrey guy who is in the picture. (Just a side note, I feel I need to take a moment to say how incredible the guys in Torrey are. A bunch of the girls on our floor had dates who backed out either one or two days before the GYRAD and just left them hanging. They were left without any idea of what to do...since they had already paid to go...so, thanks to phone calls from Irene and Chelsea, the Torrey guys stepped in at the last minute so these girls would not be left without dates. It was quite kind of them, since most of them had other things they could have been doing. So yeah, Torrey guys are awesome!)

Anyways...back to the GYRAD. Our theme was "Unbeleiveable" so couples were encouraged to dress up. Nathan and I went as hippies and he drove me and "Mary Poppins" and "her dear chimney sweep" in his old bug that was actually from the 70's. We went to Ripley's Believe It or Not and did a scavenger hunt....well, some groups did scavenger hunts...and others were geeks who went around reading all the signs. :)

The Museum was quite interesting....not too much that was really all that unbelievable, but put in context of the early 1900's I can see how a lot of the African tribal stuff would seem really extraordinary. I guess that with all the cultural awareness, the novelty of things like that has faded. But I learned a lot of random trivia facts...and had fun Chels and Nathan and Barak.

So for dinner we drove to In-N-Out, sat at a table across from the Greek gods (aka. Irene and Charlie...yes they actually wore bedsheets and bathrobes and looked quite godlike if i do say so myself). After that we went back to campus and watched Big Fish. I actually really liked that movie...it was an interesting way of looking at mythic truth. Except that the actor who played the dad looked a lot like my grandpa who spun tall tales and it was hard to watch him die at the end...it kinda brought that whole experience back, so I just didn't watch.

After that Nathan and I went over to the game night Milton was hosting and I played Halo with the guys for a while (Bryant said my cool points went up just for playing...even though i got slaughtered). Then Nathan left for word as some of the girls I knew showed up, so I hung out with them for a while. Went on a musical walk around campus with Brian and Bethany...and finally went to bed. All in all...a good day was had.

I've Been Practicing Photography Lately...

...and thought I would share some of them here. I'll try to give some background to them to update you all on what's been going on and who I'm getting to know down here.

This is Brian chilling in Emerson (one of the dorms). I took this during Torrey Bible Conference, where the entire school cancels classes for three days and and brings in speakers to focus on the spiritual part of our lives. It was such a refreshing and convicting time...I prayed for God to really convict me there...and let me tell you...He has. Please keep me in your prayers if you think of it, as I'm trying to re-order my life.
Another pic at Emerson [same day].


Okay so, honestly, who can pass up a beautiful brick wall. My friends were very patient with me. I asked Becky to model for me and she willingly obliged. :)


Another of my brick wall victims. Blake is another PK from NorCal. His parents lead a Vineyard-like church up near Redding . He and I have been planning Movie Nights for some of our friends down here [including one night when we stayed up till 4am watching Gladiator and Braveheart]. You gotta love weekends :D Chelsea in "Frequency". I already posted about that, so no need to tell you more, but I did get a plug from Felicia [one of the girls who worked on the film] at the film society on campus and ended up getting a job as an extras co-ordinator on a music video for an indie group called Sometimes Y that was filming on campus!
Turell and Blake at one our trips to Disneyland. Turell lives in my floor and is one of the sweetest girls I know here.

No worries, it's only a nerf gun! While walking to the park one day [Chelsea got about 20 of us to go walk to the park and play on this amazing playground...people looked at us strangely, then, when they realized we were really just going to play at the park thought we were very cute] Barak and Christian asked me to take this picture for them. It turned out pretty well.


My mom actually figured out how to take this picture. this is actually my necklace in front of the lens and not a shadow. I can't tell you how many people ask me if I'm Jewish down here becasue I wear this everyday. I tell them I'm part, but want to learn more about the traditions. I actually met a girl who is the head of the Jews for Jesus group down here and as soon as I get a chance I want to start getting to know her better. She's offered to take me to a messianic synagogue sometime during the next year. So that should be exciting :)

So that's about it. Right now I'm bogged down in writing a paper...and being sick. :( bleh, i don't like being sick, except that it gives me a good excuse to blog :)

Praying for all of you back home and can't wait to see you when I get home for Thanksgiving!!

Vote For Insomnia Films

Sorry this is late in getting up, but here are the links to two of the films that Biola students made, there were four, but these two were my favorites. "Until I Return" is the project a number of my friends worked on (Hannah and Evangeline) and "Suburban Tea" is just hilarious and my friend scored it. So please, please, please take the time to register and vote. It seriously only takes 5 minutes (well...8 if you watch the 3 minute film...haha) to vote and we could use all the votes we can get!!!!! Thanks guys!!

SARAH!!!!

Is coming today...it is now 6:31...and I get to go pick her up at 10. Hmmm...that's 3 1/2 more hours. Can I wait 3 1/2 more hourse....I don't think so. I think i'm going to explode...yep, yep, that's what I'm gonna do. I'm just going to explode from happiness and not being able to wait till 10. Haha. That would be unfortuante, because then how could I talk to her if I have exploded. I guess I'll just have to wait then...and keep writing my paper...

HURRY UP AND BE 10!!!!!!!!

Frequency Take 2

So a few of you have been having trouble watching the video in the post below, so I'm went ahead and just uploaded it to YouTube and will stream it from here. I guess Google's video uploader is still flukey.

Frequency and Insomnia

The film you...hopefully...just watched [if not, stop reading now and watch the film!] is the final product of my insane Saturday. It's a long and happy story, with a very sad ending. So keep reading....

Well...I'm about to go to bed...finally. A good night's sleep will do me good. I've only slept 4 hours in the past 48. Why may you ask? It's because I'm an insomniac! No...I don't have a sleeping disorder, I was working on a 24 hour film festival called Insomnia. The competition was sponsored by Apple and required that teams write, produce, edit, and submit a film in 24 hours. I was, greatly against my better judgement, recruited for a production team last Thrusday for what turned out to be the most exciting project I've ever worked on. So on Saturday morning I met with Kendall (our producer and cinematographer), Blake (our director), and Bryant at 5:45 to begin on pre-production. At 6am Apple revealed the elements that we had to incorporate into our film [they give us certain locations and production techniques that we have to incorporate creatively into the film] and we began writing. By the time the cafeteria opened for brunch at 10:30 we already had a story written and planned out [Also, our final team member Felicia had joined us by that point]. At brunch, I got a call from my friend Grace who is a music composition major who offered to score some of the music for us!!!! So she ended up spending the day scoring the two songs for the dance scenes. At 2 we started filming :D

Filming went SO well for the first few hours. The lighting was perfect, the actors were brilliant, our crew was working together perfectly and the entire experience was so exciting and totally surreal. And then we hit a hitch. The next location we were going to shoot at was completely locked. And we had eleven extras coming in three minutes. I ran out to try to gain access into the building and spent an hour going from campus safety office to campus safety office until i finally found someone working in one of the halls [i must take the opportunity to say how very safe i feel knowing that every safety office is closed over the weekend]. After finally getting in touch with a security officer and being throughly interrogated about who i was and what I was doing...I was denied access to the building. So now an hour behind in our production schedule we set out to set up at another location.

The filming however did go on, and somehow or another our crew managed to make up most of the lost hour. At six we took a break for dinner and then went on to shoot the dance sequences. I choreographed the two dances with Chelsea and Josh (with some invaluable help from Chelsea N. on style) while Blake and Kendall and some other crew members set up the lighting. I'll admit it was so much fun to finally be able to dance again!! [For those of you who don't know, Biola does not allow dancing on campus. grrrr. however, there is an exception for choreographed dance sequences :D ] It was here that things started to become probematic, since we were not able to get the lighting right and ran into snags concerning candles for the Waltz (Felicia had to run back to Wal-Mart to buy some more). So between those two scenes we got a good two hours behind schedule.

Timing aside though, the sequences were so beautiful to watch! Chelsea and Josh picked up the dances so quickly and were able catch the knack of acting while they danced. The set for the Waltz was beautiful! I wanted to lie down on the ground and just soak in the moment of white tables, candles, and dancing while gazing up at the blue and red and yellow lights reflecting off the sweeping white fabric set against the sky.

It was just after midnight when we finally wrapped produciton and we then went literally running to the Production Center to start editing. Alyssa (chelsea's roommate) had just gotten off work and agreed to come and edit for us since she knew how to use the program better than all of us and made the process go so much more smoothly. The next five hours went faster than any I can remember as we frantically made decisions about editing, re-recording audio, and overlaying dialogue (quick note of interest...the dialogue for the Horror Film is Blake and I ...yes I got to scream at the top of my lungs at 3am!!! Fortunately there were no dorms filled with sleeping people nearby). Other insomnia teams were also editing and it was so much fun to see everyone working together to get their projects finished. By 4am the deadline was just two hours away. Everyone was exhausted, frantic, and ready to snap at any moment. We were able to hold it together and at 5:20 our film was done. All that was left was to compress and upload the film. We had given ourselves 40 minutes for what we supposed to be a 20 or 30 minute process. The film started compressing. Twenty minutes later...and much pacing....the film was only about 40% done. At this rate we were gong to miss the deadline. Kendall sent everyone out of the room. We sat nervously in the adjoining room and tried to make small talk about how the filming had gone. At 5:50, ten minutes before the deadline, Kendall walks through the door and tells us that the film is still only about 60% uploaded. There was no way we were going to make it.

The crew took it well. Nobody cast blame. We all accepted it knowing that we had done the best we could. But it was disappointing. There was no denying that. We had worked so hard, and then not to be able to enter due to a computer problem was beyond disheartening.

However, because we never submitted it to Apple, we still own the rights to the film so we're considering fixing up some glitches in the film and making the audio better and then submitting it to the Biola film festival. And, even though the film isn't in the competion, I learned so much from the experience and had one of the best days of my entire life. So I hope you enjoyed watching the move and reading about my day. I miss you all [except of course for those of you who i go to school with who are reading this...but for everyone back home]

~Karyn

PS. And also, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE go to apple and vote for one of the other Biola made films in the competition. Our school is gaining a reputation among other more well known film schools and a win in this competition would be awesome!! So tell everyone you know to vote!

To Explain Where I've Been...

...well, I haven't actually been anywhere unusual. But life has been so crazy these last few weeks. I have mid-terms this coming monday in addition to another film project that happened to fall on the same weekend. So the last week or so I have been working like crazy trying to get everything ready for that. So I probably won't be posting much for the next week at least. But just for a quick update:

My family came down this weekend and it was SO great to have them here. I have missed seeing them so much and was so glad that they could come down. They were able to meet everyone down here and got a glimpse of my life here at Biola. Went to Disneyland on Sunday...and it was gay day...so that was intersting to say the least. But we still had a wonderful time and many meaningful conversations :)

Yesterday I got offered my first internship!! Well...maybe. It depends on what they want and if I can actually figure out a way to make an internship work with school and my lack of car. haha...maybe i could walk. But anyways, it was a really cool story. I was studying in the library with Evangeline and this small film crew walks in and asks if I can walk in the foreground of their shot. So I do and mention that I was a film student. It turns out that they were filming for Lee Strobel (who i had failed to recognize....yay for me. Aaron would be proud...haha) Anyways, they said that they were from Revolution Studios and that they need student interns so I'm going to talk to my film professor tomorrow about how to respond and then go from there. But I was (and am) SO excited.

Finally, I made a short film today that was an advertisement for Ticonderoga pencils. Some guys in our class needed to make it for their English class so we checked out cameras and spit into three units. My unit went down into a parking garage and we filmed a scene where my roommate, Kaityln, and I were dressed as thugs and attacked this guy with a briefcase. He then is miraculously handed two stunningly beautiful Ticonderoga #2 pencils which he throws at us with some force and stops us as we fall dramatically to the ground. The thing I love about film is that it's always the most painful scenes that we get to shoot over and over and over and over. My elbows are still quite sore, but I got off easy since Dan was thrown into a wall on multiple occassions (by yours truly) and skinned his arm pretty bad and Kaitlyn got a huge scrape/bruise on her side. Ouch! The things we do for film. ;)

So that's been my life lately. The next post is probably going to be along the lines of PRAISE BE TO GOD!!! MIDTERMS ARE OVER!!!! Until then!

Arizona

So this weekend I went on a floor retreat to Arizona. About 30 of us went and I got to know some of the girls on my floor so much better. On Friday, we took about 6 hours to drive there....lots of time to listen to music. :D

Once we got there we ate dinner, watched 'The Holiday' (because what do you do on a girls retreat but watch sappy chick flicks), and played the 'sign' game until 3 am!! The sign game, for those of you who were like me and ignorant to the world of the game, is where you throw an invisible ball by making signs at one another and the person in the middle has to guess where the ball is at any given time. It sounds lame, but it was really fun. Thus, playing it till all hours of the night...or morning.

On Saturday, I went swimming, and read Thucydides and Plato in the mall with the 'we need to do homwork group' while the 'let's go shopping' group went...well, shopping. We then went out to dinner and totally swamped the restaurant with girls. It was pretty fun. :D

Sunday included house cleaning and worship before the drive back home. The car ride was...interesting. Turell and I were trying to read for class on Monday all the while Katie and Erin are plotting to kill me, somehow all the sand made Erin want to bury me on the side of the road. And then when I accidentally told them to turn left off the freeway and we ended up in Anaheim instead of La Mirada, they wanted to kill me even more. But in my defense I told them to go the opposite way of what I suggested, but they didn't listen to me.

So that was my weekend, and I'm still alive so it appears that Katie and Erin were only kidding. :D So family, be happy.

And on a side note, I've taken up running with some girls on my floor. We go run and then do sit-ups and other exercises on the track. It's fun and makes me want to exercise instead of read all day. Which is really tempting right now. So I need to go and do notes before class tomorrow--until the next post!

New Blog

Just to let you all know, I'm starting a new blog called Where is the Fourth

The blog is going to be a place where I write down what I've been thinking about and hopefully discuss ideas with those of you who would be interested in talking about them. Updates and the like will still be on this blog. So feel free to check it out, I'd love to hear what you all think.

~Karyn

MoonShadows

This is going to be my first attempt at posting poetry on this blog. Hopefully as time goes by, it will get better, but here it is in any case. Any comments on ways to improve it would be greatly appreciated.

MoonShadows

Moon casts light
But darkness gains
Shadow of the past
Our pain remains

Standing in the cold
Behind me falls
A patch of dark-
My past it calls

The darkness surrounds
Between the stones
The harsh ferns grow
The cold wind moans

Watching specters
Of times gone past
The shimmering light
On water at last

Dimly dancing
Near to me
Then farther on
Brightness I see

Shadows behind,
The light's ahead
Its beckons me
For my past is dead.

Follow the shimmer
The glisten beyond,
And leave all the fears
Of which I'm so fond.

A flower blooms
White like a star
The shadow beneath
Calls hope from afar

I leave the dark
For brightening skies
Moon shadows behind
The sun will rise.

Photoshoot

For my Visual Aesthetics class I had the most amazing assignment... I had to take 16 photos demonstrating 16 different types of lighting. At first I was incredibley nervous about it...the last assignment that involved lighting....not a pretty picture (literally). I won't even post it on this blog it was so bad. I was afraid that this project would turn out the same, but armed with professional lights and the help of some friends (Kaitlyn, Evangeline, Laurie, and Bryant you guys rock!), the project actually turned out to be really fun and I really started to get the hang of lighting after working on three projects yesterday (mine, Kaitlyn's and Evangeline's) and two more today (Laurie's and the rest of mine).

Mr. Yamada gave us the option to tell a story with the photos, so I chose to tell the story of two lonely hoodie wearers who fall in love. So I hope you enjoy these pictures, I'd love to hear you're comments on them!

Hard Day

Hey everyone,

So I'm posting to ask for prayer. I've been having a really hard day today. Actually, it started last night, and now it's worse. I think that I've been riding a wave of emotion that has finally crashed. All the stress of school, and moving, and being away and alone has really hit me and it hit hard. On top of that I'm getting sick. I have a headcold that is making me miserable, so much so that all I want to do is climb into bed and read (even Thucydides is sounding good at this point, which is good because that's what I have to read).
Which leads me to also say that it has been so wonderful being in Torrey, I really feel blessed by God to be here, but some of the subject matter that we are covering in these books...I pray before I read it, while I read it, after I read and at times I still feel this deep heartbreak. I grieve for the people who lived under such lies, and to know that these lies are still at work today is heartbreaking. Also, everything I believe is being questioned. The foundations (and may i say, only the foundations) of who I am and what I believe are still firm, but everything else is is crumbling beneath me. I feel this is good, either my beliefs will be shown to be true and they will be rebuild with a stronger foundation or they will be shown false and fall away. It's a good process, but it's so hard. I feel so unstable, so lost at sea. (and I pray there is no albatross flying by my ship).
I have been learning so much here, but lack the time to really explore it throughly. A friend of mine, has been sharing his love of poetry with me and I am truly learning to love it, too. But I just don't have the time to sit and read...it really frustrates me to no end. The same is true with my film classes. I have so many ideas that I want to write down and develop, but I am lost in the chaos of school to find the time to sit write.
So as you can see, I could really use some prayer. Prayer that I would be able to sort through my emotions, prayer that I would get over this cold quickly, prayer that I could read and learn without picking up a spirit of heaviness from these books, prayer that I will find the time I need to accomplish everything, prayer that I will be able to develop the friendships I'm forming here, and most importantly prayer that I would remain steadfast and faithful to staying close to God as my life is being shaken.
So, sorry that this is not a nicer post, but this is how I am right now. Thank you for reading this and caring to get through it. I love you all.

~Karyn

Coming Soon....

Had my first film shoot on Friday! I came up with the story and directed it with Evangeline (I do the story, she does the shots). As soon as we're finished, I'll post it here. So be on the lookout!

Homer-athon

Warning: the following post contains very nerdy material presented in an incredibly fun and exciting way. So if you don't want to become a nerd or think that nerdy events are fun, I would caution you against reading this post. It is a hazard to your coolness.


Last weekend I went to the annual THI (Torrey Honors Institute) Homer-athon. And may I say, it was AMAZING!!!! The Homer-athon is an event where all the Torrey students (well, the cool ones who actually go) meet at Dr. Reynolds house and read the Iliad and Odyssey out loud. It took about 19 hours, from 1pm on Sunday afternoon to 8:30 am Monday morning. Needless to say, we were Zombies by the end. So on Sunday, I met up with James (see guy with silly expression in picture) at the library and he walked me over to Dr. Reynolds house (i get lost easily, so he was nice and showed me how to get there). We all sat outside in the 110 degree summer heat (we were told it was so we could experience the heat of battle). So each person signed up to read a book (just fyi, the chapters in the Iliad and Odyssey are called books and there are 24 books in each poem). I read book 16 of the Iliad, it was a war chapter so many people died. It was sad. *sniffle* The best part about reading, was that Dr. Reynolds would randomly start singing some silly song about the wrath of Achilleus or "Glory, Glory, Diomedes" while you are in the middle of your reading. You learn to just keep going and laugh along.

So it eventually got so hot, I was driven to the pool. I thought that it would be a relaxing break, but no. I was drawn into the epic battle between Hektor and Achilleus. As luck would have it I was Hektor. Bryant was Achilleus. We fought over the body of Patroklos (a pool noodle). I died. And then Becky (see picture of girl in pool)built me a funeral pyre out of a raft. Chelsea (see picture) took a lot of pictures and they look really cool. Again, check out her blog to see more of them.

The real battle occurred between Josh (Hektor w/ orange noodle) and Tim (Achilleus w/ green noodle). I actually filmed it so i could put it up here, but somehow i don't have the video anymore. Even so, it was a tragic battle as spear noodles flew through the air. Actually, Hektor was doing very well this year. Some of the older students thought he might win this time. but alas, as always Achilleus won. And Josh died. Like everyone in that book. The Odyssey is so much better in that regard.

At about 2 am, James, Nicole, Brian(see picture of guy passed out by morning), Hannah and I got hungry and decided to go to Wendy's. But as luck would have it, it was closed. (yes, i know, it was 2 am, but it was worth a try). So we decided to run through sprinklers instead and sing songs from musicals. It was amazingly fun. After that, we were still hungry, and since Ben (see picture) informed us over the phone that it was illegal to walk through the drive through at Taco Bell. We walked back to Biola and raided our dorms. Fortunately both Hannah's and my roommates were out of town. So we ate in the basement of Horton and played pool.

After that we went back to Dr. Reynolds house and joined back in the epic tale of Odysseus. I was cast as Nausikaa, the king's ditzy daughter, as well as a seductive sea goddess. But at least I wasn't Paris (Strange Man!). hehe :D

So the reading continued through the night. Many people fell asleep, curled up on the sidewalk. Slowly the sun rose and so did our hopes. We were almost done. YAY!!! At seven in the morning, Mrs. Reynolds brought us donuts! She's the nicest lady. :) And then....Odysseus killed the suitors and we were done! We all read the last line together, woke up the sleepers, and after helping the Reynold's clean up the yard, we went back to the dorms. I slept till 5 that afternoon. Yay for me.

So if you actually read all of this, I'm amazed. Hopefully I didn't bore you all too much.

Hall Competition!!!

Last night I went to an all campus dorm competition. It was one of those AWESOME school spirit events where we all dressed up in our hall colors and went to the gym and sreamed and shouted while we played dodgeball. It was quite amazing. My dorm is Horton and our color was black (as you can imagine i had fun with that...see picture). Kaitlyn, my roommate, used eyeliner to So Ho on the cheeks of a few of us (So Ho standing for South Horton). We looked fairly intimidating, and then we got out to the hall and met the Men of Horton. They were dressed like black gladiators of doom. It was incredible, they were wearing black face paint and capes and helmets, the whole deal. And much cooler than, may i say, Hope, the pink dorm. The guys dressed up as pink fairies...not scary...very disturbing. Unfortunately, pink fairy men took the competition and beat us, but we still looked the coolest. And now i have no voice. Oh well. I put a few pictures up on this post, but i didn't want to bring my camera to the gym since I was going to actually play dodgeball :) But Chelsea took a bunch so I may steal a few from her, or if you guys want check her blog (it's Cendrii on the link list) and she'll probably have her pictures up in a few days!!!

GO HORTON!!!!!

(on a side note: commendation is due to the amazing commuter student team. there were about 20 of them, and they beat the entire Alpha Dorm. That, may I say, is some serious skills.)

Homesick

I don't know why, but suddenly I am feeling really homesick. This morning I was doing really well, but now, I just want to cry I miss home so much. Maybe it's because I finally slowed down today. I spent most of the day by myself in the library doing homework, and I guess without the social hype I realized how much I missed home. Kind of makes me afraid of slowing down, but I can't be constantly "on". Oh I don't know...I would really appreciate any prayer. I'm just having a hard time.

The Purpose of Art

So this is an essay that I wrote, I've been told that I should post it here (sorry english class people, you'll just have to read it again or ignore this post [i would adivse the second option :) ] So here it is:

The Purpose of Art

When I was younger, my grandparents regularly took my sister and I to fine art museums. Unlike many children who thought of these museums as the epitome of boredom, I found them to be fascinating. I would stand for hours gazing at the gorgeous paintings and admiring their beauty. At times, I would stand in front of a single painting for so long that everyone else would get board and eventually tear me away so we could continue our visit. It was during one of these visits that I first came to realize the ability of art to grapple with difficult questions. While I was walking through a Vincent Van Gogh exhibit I asked my grandmother why all of his paintings seemed so sad. She explained that Van Gogh had been a sad, depressed man and that he tried to work through his feelings in his art. Looking at his paintings, I began to wonder what it must feel like to always be so sad. The thought frightened me, and yet I could not stop thinking about this man’s sad life.

In Dorothy Allison’s essay “This is Our World” she puts into words exactly what I was feeling at that moment, “Art should provoke more questions than answers and, most of all, should make us think about what we rarely want to think about at all."(1) Art has an undeniable ability to create questions in a person’s mind and leave a lasting impression long after their initial encounter with the art. Artist’s like Vincent Van Gogh and Pablo Picasso are particularly know for the probing nature of their works. However, art also has an intrinsic ability to answer questions and to be used as a powerful teaching tool. The ornate icons of the church and the hieroglyphic art of Ancient Egypt served this purpose. They were meant to answer questions about religion and life. In light of these two uses of art, I would agree with Allison, but with a qualification. Art can raise questions and cause us to think about things we would otherwise not see only when it is the artist’s intention. The true purpose of art can only be found by exploring the individual artist’s reason for creating his artwork.

To thoroughly explore Allison’s statement and the purpose of art in this essay, I shall limit my discussion to include only visual art and discuss paintings, sculpture, and photographs. While there are many different types of art ranging from murals to motion pictures, I cannot adequately examine them all within the scope of this essay.

When Allison says that art “should make us think about what we rarely want to think about at all”(2) I believe that she is referring to problems, both individual and social, that abound in this world. These problems are many times hidden from our view, and when we finally uncover them, they are often difficult for us to see. However, a problem never resolves itself by being left alone. Other times the problems lie within society. There are times when the traditional way of seeing things can become harmful. Artists are then able to come in and ask questions about the prevalent views of the society.

During the Renaissance, artists started to question traditional methods of artwork as well as traditional ideology found in the Roman Catholic Church.(3) While giving figures and landscapes depth by using the artistic technique of perspective they simultaneously began to question the long held beliefs about man’s depth of relationship with God. The great artist Michelangelo, who lived during the beginning of the Protestant Reformation, dramatically illustrates this shift with his frescos on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. In his fresco The Creation of Adam, Michelangelo paints Adam lying on the ground with his hand outstretched to God, who is reaching back towards Adam from the sky. By showing the creation of Adam as a personal encounter with God, Michelangelo began to question the Catholic teaching that said it was necessary to have a saint mediate between a person on Earth and God. Though not a radical thought today, during that time, the belief that God could be accessed without the aid of a saint was revolutionary. Artwork like Michelangelo’s began to raise questions about established ideas about God.

In addition to raising questions about religion, art can also cause people to look inward and ask questions about themselves. The art of Van Gogh provides a vivid example of art that raises questions about one’s self. Throughout his life Van Gogh struggled with feelings of depression and loneliness. Of his paintings that deal with these issues Fishing Boats on the Beach at Saintes-Maries speaks most strongly to me. In this painting Van Gogh paints eight boats in four pairs symbolizing friendship. One of these boats is named Amite, which means “friendship” in French. To further emphasize the friendship two pairs are on the beach and two are at sea. Even the two seagulls fly in a pair. Then, off in the distance, there is a single red boat. Using the color red to represent himself, as he often did, Van Gogh shows how he was feeling removed and far from the world of friendship. Van Gogh gives another indication of how lonely he felt by painting two yellow boxes far from each other on the beach. By signing one of the boxes, he identifies with that idea of being distanced from others like him.(4) Looking at this painting, one cannot help but think about this man’s life and then while thinking about his loneliness, come to see her own. Often, these feelings are things we would prefer not to think about. In fact, that person might never have realized that part of herself had it not been for the questions raised by the painting.

Not only can art raise questions about individual emotions, but it can also ask questions about difficult circumstances and their impact on us. The Italian artist Umberto Boccioni created a group of paintings in 1911 called States of Mind. These paintings seek to ask questions about what happens when we leave and what happens to those left behind. In his first painting, The Farewells, Boccioni sets a scene at a train station. Dark, swirling colors and faces swept away in smoke create a sense of confusion and chaos that relates to the process of saying goodbye. Those Who Go, his second painting, contains faces that are being tugged across the midnight, blue canvas by thin, oblique lines symbolizing the anguish and confusion they feel as they leave. In his final painting, Those Who Stay, thick, vertical lines pull the faces to the bottom of the canvas showing the sadness and heaviness they feel from being left behind.(5) These three paintings bring up poignant questions about the mental and emotional process of leaving and staying behind. The feelings of confusion and heaviness are emotions that we all are able to relate to since everyone has had to say farewell in some way. These works of art cause us to look inside ourselves and see what impact those difficult situations had on our lives.

Difficult situations can be social as well as individual. Art allows an artist to expose social problems by bringing them to the attention of a larger audience and then raise questions about the situation. The photographer David Goldblatt uses his photographs of the buildings and structures of apartheid South Africa to represent the mental and ideological structures in the nation. In one of his photographs he features a beautiful stairway outside a wealthy vintner’s house. A large white scroll runs along the textured wall, flaunting the owner’s wealth and lofty social status. In another photograph, the opposite extreme is found. A poor woman and her young child lay outside in a worn bed surrounded by their meager belongings. With nothing but sparse brushwood and bushes in the background, the picture creates a sense of poverty and despair. In the caption, Goldblatt explains that the government had literally taken the roof from over their heads. Their small shelter made of brushwood and discarded plastic had been lifted off the ground and destroyed just moments before.(6) Seeing the extreme affluence and poverty side-by-side brings into stark realization the extreme injustice in that part of the world. Things like injustice and poverty, things that are hidden, uncomfortable, and even at times ugly, are often best communicated though art. As we are exposed to these things, we begin to ask questions about how these people feel, why they live the way they must, and what we can do about it.

Art can be a stirring medium through which artists can ask questions and bring to realization the problems of our world. However, in addition to asking questions about life, art is also able to answer those same questions. This property of art was especially utilized during the Medieval Era. In the Middle Ages, Latin was the language of the Church and of the Bible. Unfortunately, only the educated upper class and religious leaders were able to understand and read Latin. The rest of the people only understood the local dialects of their countries and most could not read at all. In response to this problem raised by the illiteracy of the people, he Church turned to art.(7) By creating artwork that depicted the lives of biblical figures and events, they were able to teach the people about their Christian faith. Inside the Roman Catholic Church in Velemér, Hungary there is a fresco that shows the death of Christ.(8) He is shown hanging from the cross with His hands and feet nailed to the wooden beams. His eyes are closed in death. His body hangs thin and emaciated. Blood flows from a wound in His side made by the spear. Two women weep at His side. This picture powerfully displays the way that Christ died for the sins of humanity. Anyone looking at this painting could understand what was happening. Using this visual illustration, a priest could then explain the Gospel message and help lead someone to a saving knowledge in Jesus Christ. It was works of art such as this that helped the Church to educate the common people about the stories of the Bible.

Biblical stories are not the only stories that have been communicated with artwork. The Ancient Egyptians used their art to tell stories about their gods and to record their history. The paintings and sculpture of the Egyptians usually showed the strength of their gods and pharaohs or told stories about them. Surrounded by hieroglyphics, these pieces of art provided a visual history of the Egyptian way of life. The Metropolitan Museum of Art has in its collection a sphinx with the head of the pharaoh Senwosret III. At just over a foot high, the lion’s body is in a crouching position showing it as a protector of a sacred place. The linen headdress covering the pharaoh’s head symbolizes his position as king. On top of the headdress sits the likeness of a cobra, representing Udjo, the goddess who provided protection for the kings.(9) This sphinx records for all of history the strength and the reign of the pharaoh whose head it bears. It was through sculptures like this and other artistic marvels, such as the intricate reliefs in their temples, that the Egyptians recorded their glorious history for all to see.

I believe that Allison captured an essential aspect of art when she explained its probing nature. If fact, much of modern art is concerned with asking questions of society.(10) David Goldbatt asks many penetrating questions about South Africa though his photography. Additionally, Van Gogh and Boccioni depict the difficulties of human life and ask questions about our emotions and the effect of situations on our lives. However, the art that serves to answer questions obviously cannot be excluded from the realm of visual art. The frescos of the Roman Catholic Church and the sculpture of Ancient Egypt are only a few examples of the many types of art that was created to answer questions and to teach. Since both types of art are seen as fine art, then both purposes of art are equally valid. The most important aspect to be aware of when evaluating a piece of art, is to know the artist’s reason for creating it before we can determine it’s purpose. With that in mind, we can truly appreciate the art as the artist intended us to.

Endnotes

(1) Atwan, Robert and Donald McQuade. The Writer’s Presence: A Pool of Readings, Fourth Edition. New York: Bedford/ St. Martin’s, 2003. pg. 594

(2) Atwan, Robert and Donald McQuade. pg. 594

(3) Anthony, Linda. 40 minute telephone interview with Master Art teacher. 16 December 2006.\

(4) Art lecture at Art Museum in Los Angeles. 1994.

(5) Museum of Modern Art. “States of Mind Gallery Text,” Museum of Modern Art, http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?riteria=O%3ADE%3AI%A5&page_number=61&template_id=1&sort_order=1 (accessed Dec. 13, 2006).

(6) Kismarc, Susan. “Introduction to David Goldblatt: Photographs from South Africa” Museum of Modern Art, Moma.org/exhibitions/1998/goldblatt/index.html (accessed Dec. 13, 2006).

(7) Anthony, Linda.

(8) Fine Arts in Hungary. “Crucifix,” Fine Arts in Hungary, http://www.hung-art.hu/index- en.html (accessed Dec. 16, 2006).

(9) Metropolitan Museum of Art. “Description of Sphinx of Senwosret III,” Metropolitan Museum of Art, http://www.metmuseum.org/Works_of_art/viewOne.asp?dep= 10&viewmode=0&item=17.9.2 (accessed Dec. 16, 2006).

(10)Anthony, Linda.


Bibliography

Atwan, Robert and Donald McQuade. The Writer’s
Presence: A Pool of Readings, Fourth Edition. New
York: Bedford/ St. Martin’s, 2003.

Fine Arts in Hungary. “Crucifix,” Fine Arts in
Hungary, http://www.hung-art.hu/index-en.html
(accessed Dec. 16, 2006).

Kismarc, Susan. “Introduction to David Goldblatt:
Photographs from South Africa” Museum of Modern
Art,
Moma.org/exhibitions/1998/goldblatt/index.html
(accessed Dec. 13, 2006).

Metropolitan Museum of Art. “Description of Sphinx of
Senwosret III,” Metropolitan Museum of Art,
http://www.metmuseum.org/Works_of_art/viewOne.asp?
dep=10&viewmode=0&item=17.9.2 (accessed Dec. 16,
2006).

Museum of Modern Art. “States of Mind Gallery Text,”
Museum of Modern Art,
http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?
criteria=O%3ADE%3AI%
3A5&page_number=61&template_id=1&sort_order=1
(accessed Dec. 13, 2006).

Interviews and Lectures

Anthony, Linda. 40 minute telephone interview with
Master Art teacher. 16 December 2006.
Art lecture at Art Museum in Los Angeles. 1994.

Apologies

I'm really sorry for all the tech glitches on the movie, it should be working now. Please let me know if it is not. Usually, it wouldn't take me so long to get it fixed, but I had to have The Odyssey read and finished by this morning, so I didn't have any time to mess around on my blog these last few days. But thanks to all of you who tried to watch it :D

I'm posting it down here again, just to make sure it wasn't a problem with the old link. So hopefully it will work...

Finally....

...I'm posting my first video blog. Being my first attempt please be aware that this blog is really pretty horrible. So do not expect anything amazing, because it isn't. Excuse my um-ing if you can. :)

But at least it's up here. :) Also, if you want to see more actual people check out my facebook because i uploaded some pictures and if you click on the album that I got tagged in by Evangeline you can see even more. :D

Can You Smell Me Now?

Without any further ado....the long awaited blog debut of "Can You Smell Me Now?" (in other words, what happens when david is the only guy at mel's party)

enjoy!!

First Post From Biola

Hey everyone!!!!! So I've gotten all moved into my dorm room (pics are coming). Right now i'm sitting in another dorm hall getting instruction on how to set up this random internet server called BUBBS that is supposed to organize all the stuff you need to know for school so that nice, but things are taking forever to download so i'm posting. yay.

I moved in yesterday and then had a lecture with Dr. Reynolds, the guy who is the director of Torrey. The lecture was actually really awesome and inspiring. so that was really nice for me. :) but after that we had a "mingling" event. special. we all stood around feeling awkward and eating watermelon (wally!!). but i did meet two great girl who live in my dorm. I haven't asked them if i can put their names online yet, but one of them is a girl Sam knows and we ended up meeting and after talking for like 10 minutes i burst out with "Hey, you know Sam!". and we ended up living next to each other. she's so nice. totally God. and the other girl i met is also cool with purple streaks in her hair and she lives across the hall. so it's been good.

Well, i need to go eat dinner. miss you all terribly!!!!!!!

~me

Quick Update

I'm leaving for college this Monday!! So blogging will be even more sporadic than usual (yes zach it's shocking that i could possibly post less, i know). But after orientation week and the first few weeks of class I think that things will probably settle down into more of a routine. So yep, I'll try to keep this blog updated. Upcoming posts will include "can you smell me now" (i'm sorry it's taking so long guys...almost done!) and hopefully a video blog of my dorm and the campus.

Also a few quick prayer requests, please be praying that I'll get everything together before i leave, that i won't break down too much when i say goodbye to everyone for the last time on sunday (ie tomorrow), and that i'll finish all my homework before classes start (odds are not in my favor on that one). and of course that the trip down and moving in will go well. Thanks so much for your prayers!!!

~karyn

Questions

Jesus said that the greatest love is when someone is willing to die for a friend. Sacrificial love. It's so hard. Really. What can you do when you wake up in the night crying because you want to help the person you love but don't know what to do? How can you give more when you've already given all you have? How can you give the situation to God, when you care so much you're afraid to let go?

I don't know. And i've been pleading with God to help me, but sometimes i just don't know what to do.

If you guys could be praying, I'd really appreciate it.

The Heart of Worship

Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised! - Psalm 48:1

To live a life that is a constant praise to God - that's my goal in life. I want my every action to worship Him and bring Him glory. It's a lofty goal and one I'll never be able to accomplish fully on this earth, but i sure want to give it a good shot.

But how exactly does it work? I mean, how can we worship God in everything we do? Some things just don't lend themselves to feelings of worship: chores, cleaning up after the dog, dealing with difficult people. We all have our lists of things we don't like doing. So how can we worship God while doing these things?

I think it has a lot to do with the attitude with which we approach the situation. When I'm dealing with a difficult person (personally one of the hardest times for me to worship God) my initial reaction is to just tell them off. I can't tell you how fast cutting remarks jump into my head and try to get out of my mouth. Obviously, this is not a godly response, so over the years I've been learning to bite my tongue (a few times quite literally).

Well, that keeps me from sinning, but I felt God challenging me to go even further- not to just keep from sinning, but to worship Him in that situation. I wasn't really sure how to do that so I asked him to help me and (as always) He did.

He started by explaining that I needed to see the situation the way He did. Dealing with these people was not a hassle to get away from as quickly as possible but an opportunity to show God's love to someone. I asked God to show me His heart for these people and help me love them. Slowly, ways to encourage them began to come to my mind instead of cutting sarcasm. In fact, I started to get excited when a disagreeable person came my way because I knew it was a chance for me to try to encourage them. I even found myself thanking God for the conversation...and then I realized it - I was worshiping God! Not with a song singing "Hallelujah, praise Jesus!" but in my actions and attitudes that were honoring God and the thankfulness that had found it's way into my heart.

Now do I treat every person God brings my way as He wants me to? Unfortunately, no. But with God's help my heart towards them is changing and becoming a heart of worship.

The great thing is, this attitude of worship is not confined to showing God's love to annoying people. It can apply to any aspect of life! As I mentioned before, we've all got our lists of things we hate. I would encourage you to pick something off that list (be it washing the dishes to respecting your parents even when their decisions don't make sense) and ask God to show you His heart for the situation. As you seek His heart He will change yours and before you know it, you'll be worshiping Him through your actions. It's not an easy journey, seriously it's one of the most trying things God's asked me to do, but the reward is well worth it.

Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised!

New Website

Hey guys, just writing to let you know I started up a new website. I'm gonna use it to practice some basic programming (very basic let me tell you since i've never really done this before). But if you ever care to stop by and take a look the URL is karyn.cubedwater.com Criticism is welcome and if you have any coding suggestions do tell!!

Also, I'm working on a post about myspace and should have that up in a few days.

The Journey

This is the second part to my previous post "Salvation"

“Beloved,” he whispered. “There are still those lost in the forest. Now that you know the way, I want you to seek them out and lead them to me at the river. Don’t be afraid. I’ll be there with you, always ready to help you. You’ll be dirty when you return, but you can always wash in the river. Will you go?”

“Yes, I will go.” She rose to her feet, took a breath, and excitedly ran into the dark forest to find those who had been wandering, lost as she had been. She delved deep into what she had remembered as the darkest parts of the woods, but even among the thickest trees she could see clearly what was there…and more importantly there were no shadows to trick into seeing something that was not there.

It was not long before she saw someone stumbling through the trees. It was clear this person couldn’t see well for they tripped and fell over obstacles she saw clearly.

“Hey you there!” she called out. “I can show you the way out. Follow me.”

The other person looked around, but couldn’t seem to see her. So she stepped closer and took the person’s hand just as he had done for her. They traveled hand-in-hand until they reached the fringe of the forest where he stood waiting. She passed the person’s hand to him and then rushed back into the forest to find someone else. When the brought the next person to him he stopped her and said, “Wait, come and get clean.”

“There’s no time,” she answered as she ran back to the forest. It seemed a bit darker than before, but she didn’t give that any attention. She spotted the next person, but as she stepped out to help them she tripped on a branch she hadn’t seen. The person disappeared into the darkness and she was left alone. She stumbled about trying to find her way out, but she was utterly lost.

“Help me,” she tried to say, but she was so afraid that it barely came out as a whisper. Within moments, he was by her side.

“Why didn’t you listen to me?” he asked while he helped her up.

“I’m so sorry, I thought I could bring more to you by staying here.”

“If you are not washed by me, how can you be any help to them? The darkness will surround you, too.”

She followed him back to the river and he washed her again and then sent her back into the forest. She never again forgot to return to the river after being in the forest and she brought many to him until the day he called her to follow him past the river.

Greek Mythology

I have now been reading the Iliad for four hours straight. It is very confusing because I know next to nothing about Greek Mythology (it was just something that my parents didn't see as very important so it got glanced over in homeschooling and since I never did like that TV show Hercules...i really have no background in it). If it was a book about Egyptian mythology however I'd be fine. Not that homeschooling covered that any more than the Greek stuff, but i watch a lot of a TV show called Stargate and it relies heavily on Egyptian mythology and me being the skeptical person that i am decided to research it myself to see if it was actually accurate (which to my delight it was!). But anyways...this book is not about Ra and Hathor but it in fact about Zeus and Achillies and other annoying Greek people. *sigh* I'm learning a lot though. And it is actually quite interesting...i mean all the gods basically do is sit up on Mt. Olympus and squabble over their family dinner while the mortals are killing each other down below. It would make a great sitcom. okay...so i must now return to the wrath of Achilles and the cunning of Odysseus so my professors don't yell at me when i get down to school without having read this book.

Packing

Hey guys,

I'm starting to pack up for college and have been having such a hard time. I'm back and forth between tears and could really use some prayer. Specifically that I could do the stuff i need to get done and that God would just give me the strength i need to do this (not just the packing but also the whole dealing with reality thing...) Thank you so much. You are all so amazing and it means the world to know you're there.

~me

The Alpha-Beta Girls

All I can say is just watch the movie. It's better if you just see this...

Salvation

I'm working on a post about Turkey, but in the meantime, i'm posting the first half of a story that I wrote on the airplane.

"Salvation"

The night was dark around her. The wind whipped at her face, it’s icy fingers gripping and tearing at her skin. Desperately she pushed forward, following the voice in front of her. She took another step forward but caught her foot on an unseen tree root. She fell and began to slide down the mountain. Her hands grasped for a handhold among the roots and moss but every time she caught hold of something it pulled out of the ground and fell with her. Her right hand grasped a vine protruding from the mountain, it stopped her fall for a moment but it too eventually failed her and broke under the weight. Then in her final attempt to stop her fall she reached out blindly and grabbed onto a rope with her left hand. She tightened her grip and held the rope close as she was pulled up the mountain.

“Stay close to me,” the voice said as she reached the top. He took her hand in his and led her through the night.

As they reached the river, the sun began to rise. Looking down at herself, she saw her scrapes and bruises. Her clothes were dirty and torn from the fall. She looked tattered compared to him. She hung her head in shame, embarrassed to even look at him. Gently, he lifted her head and led her to the water. The gentle rays of the new sun reflected off the surface of the flowing river. He sat her down on a moss-covered stone and took her foot in his hands. With the running water, he began to wash away the filth, even using his shirt to wipe off the blood crusted between her toes. She watched him in gratitude and wonder as he cleaned all her wounds. His strong yet gentle touch not only cleaned her cuts but also quieted the voice inside her telling her she wasn’t worthy, that she should return to the dark forest and hide away from him. The next time he looked at her she smiled and gazed straight into his eyes instead of evading his look. His hands kept working but his eyes never left hers. Though he said nothing, she felt a love deeper than she had ever before.

In the dark lands, love had touched her heart, but always it was lacking something. No matter how self-less the person had been, there was some condition. If she didn’t perform right or love back enough the love could disappear. But this was not the way it felt with him. This love not only touched her heart, but her whole being. Though she hadn’t known him long, she felt safe and completely at rest. There was nothing she could ever do to make him lover her any less…or any more.

He lifted her up to her feet. She looked down at herself and saw in the place of her ripped clothes a white dress. Her skin was clean, the blood gone, and with it her shame. Emotions overwhelmed her: the warmth of thankfulness, the swirling of excitement, the peace of love. She looked up at him and saw him laughing. Joy filled her and she began to giggle, then laugh. He came near her, gathered her in his arms, then tossed her into the water. She came up feeling clean and refreshed. He dove in after her and they splashed and played before finally crawling out and collapsing on the grass growing near the river.

He turned to her and said, “Welcome to my family, my beloved.”

A Parting Gift

So...after a haggard three days of having to get ready to leave on Wednesday...I find out that our plane doesn't actually leave until 7pm. So what do I do with myself for the hours of time spent not packing since I spent the last three days working so hard on it?? Why, meaningless posting of course!!! I found this video on my friends MySpace and if you like classical music or any music really, it's hilarious. Just a quick disclaimer, the guy swears once in the middle and then a few times at the end, so if that bothers you at all, just watch the first half. So while I'm off flying for hours on end...enjoy this movie!

Turkey

Hey guys, so just a heads-up I'm gonna be in Turkey for the next two weeks so I won't be posting much (or nothing at all really!). I'll put up a long post about the trip when I get back--with pics, and lots of cool buildings for TJ ;)

So until then -- gilay gilay (which is goodbye in Turkish, but i'm sure i butchered the spelling there).

Hitch

I watched the movie "Hitch" last night (with some fastforwarding), but I found it interesting how the movie talks about relationships between men and women. Obviously the film is not based on a Christian view point, yet it brings up some very interesting ideas.



1. "No woman wakes up and thinks 'I would really like not to be swept off my feet today'." -- So true. That's all there is to say there.



2. "Women beleive that they can figure out anything about a relationship from the first kiss." I don't know about other women, but since I don't plan and really kissing anyone until I get engaged I would hope there are other ways to figure out a relatioship. Like having a conversation--i find conversations communicate much better than kisses. A kiss can say 'i love you' but a conversation can say why. Also, there is the effort each person puts into the relationship. If someone is going out of their way to spend time with someone else...that communicates something. And, from a Christian perspective, is God coming first? The amount of commitment that a person gives to God is a good indicator of how commited they will be to you. If God comes first, everything else falls in line (not always easliy mind you...but it will).



3. "Women respond to you when you respond to them". Again, true. We do really like people to listen to us and then be able to repond inteligently. It shows respect. And I'm pretty sure the same goes for guys, too. Everyone wants to be heard and respected.



4. Okay, so I must take issue with the fact that marriage was never mentioned in the film (i didn't actually get to finish it, but unless someone got married in the last 10 minutes--and it didn't look like anyone would--no marriage mentioned). Any Godly relationship should be focused on finding someone to share your life with. Not right away of course, but the end goal shouldn't be having someone to live with until you get fed up with them and then ditch. I did like, however, the strong stance they took against one-nighting. This is a much needed lesson in our world of instant gratification. Will Smith really does take a stand against problems in our culture and I respect him for that. I don't agree with everything he does or stands for, but its certainly a step in the right direction.

{June 18th edit} okay so that'll show me to write a review of a movie i didn't finish. They do get married in the end. go figure.

Changes

Some of you will notice that my blog layout will start changing very frequently. I'm spending the summer trying to learn some HTML coding so I'm using my blog as a place to practice. So if it looks horrible at some points--forgive me. I'm just learning :)