Brackets II

Well, I must say I didn't do too bad. If only UK would have pulled it off last night. I have 2 of the 4 final 4 teams picked but the two that I have are not the 2 I chose to play in the final. So the final game is definitely not going to be the way I chose it either. Sad day. So I already know my final count of mistakes: 16. Oh well.

Locks of Love

I found a page where you can view recipients of locks of love wigs with their before and after pictures. I also read that it takes 6-10 ponytails of hair to make one wig! Wow! Anyway, check out the pictures. It's so cute to see these kids smiling in their new hair. And if you can't grow out your hair, you can buy a bear named Curly for $10 and make a $1 donation to Locks of Love.

Brackets I

I must first be honest that I didn't fill out my brackets before the tournament began. I was in Florida on Spring Break and then someone said, "Kentucky plays Eastern tomorrow at 12:20" and I was like, "What?!?" I was so upset! So prior to filling this out I knew Kentucky beat EKU and Cinci.. and I knew that Florida lost, but I put them winning the second round b/c I knew that I would have thought that and I didn't want to use any outside knowledge. While other scores may have been said or shown, I couldn't recall any of them. So, Patrick found me a blank bracket so I could fill it out. I missed 6 of the first round games. Unfortunately I had Alabama playing in the final game so that's out too. Sad day! For the second round I already know I've missed Alabama, Florida, and Kansas. Luckily my other misses weren't who I chose in the next round. We'll see how it goes.

Stupid Me!

Today I went to an Indian restaurant and I ordered my food hot. Not the smartest decision. I was ordering malai kofta, which isn't a really hot'n'spicy dish... It's actually usually kind of sweet. I've eaten some leftovers with Sandhya and Manoj so I figured that was authentic... but it wasn't like this! I think the guy thought, "She says she likes it hot... we'll show her hot!" It looked like I was crying!! My nose was running my eyes were teary! It's sooo hot!

I'm back!

Just wanted to let everyone know that we made it back safely from Spring Break. I hope to write more about some of our adventures soon. Today I'm a little too spacy to do such thing. I can't keep focuses at all!

Worst Book to Order on Audio Cassette

I was looking up "Material World" on Amazon because I thought it would be interesting. Then I saw this book that was part of the "buy this book along with..." deal, "Women in the Material World." So I went to look at it. The first thing I notice is it's available on audio cassette. Since most of you may not be familiar with this book or the concept, this is part of the product description: "The rewarding result is a multicultural portrait in words and images that illuminates the hopes, dreams, sorrows, and joys of women around the world. 375 color photos" Why would you listen to a book with 375 color photos! The whole idea of the Material World is this guy goes around the world and asks people to put all of their possessions in front of their house and he photographs them. This book focuses on women, but still with the same idea. As if the idea of having it on audio wasn't weird, what's even worse is it costs more to buy it on tape! I would like to some day see them both, but I want them on paper!

Not a Skier

I tried it once and was pretty horrible- mostly because I would get scared if I went faster than a walking pace. For some reason, I thought maybe I wouldn't be as scared the second time, but I was wrong. Once again, I shed tears. Though I realized it wasn't as much because of my being slow as it was for feeling bad about keeping others from having fun while waiting for me. Anyway, I headed back to the lodge but thought maybe ski school would be helpful. The first time I just tried to listen to everyone else's instructions (maybe that was my mistake since everyone has different thoughts on what "helps"). So I took part of a lesson and I must say, I was pretty good at turning... But I must also admit I was still going at a snails pace so it's not that hard to turn when you're going so slow. It was much better than the first time I think, but I have decided that I'm just not a skier and that's ok. Some people play basketball, some don't. Some play tennis, some don't. Some play soccer, some don't. Some are runners, some aren't. Some are skiers, I am not.

Worst Door locker in the world!

I just got this new "job" of locking the doors. I started on Wednesday. That night I found this lady inside who had come in a door that didn't close when someone left. She seemed to have some problems and was crying and asking for cigarettes and a lighter. That wasn't such a big deal, but still a little drama for my first night. Tonight was my second night, which was met with more drama. Tonight as I was walking back from the youth building I saw another light on inside and I thought I'd go ahead and go back in that door since it was closer and kind of cool outside. Well, I broke my key off inside the door! So then I had to call someone to come and let me in so I could go turn of the rest of the lights. What a night! I hope they won't regret giving me this job. Hopefully I won't have this much drama every time!

Tips for Girls I

I figured I could offer some tips for girls too to go along with the post for boys. Some of these might be more in the context of a relationship, but I hope they will be encouraging anyway.

1. "Above all else, guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life" (Prov 4:23). This is so hard, but so important!

2. Don't make assumptions or try to figure out a guys intentions. Treat them all as your brother in Christ. They don't think about things like we do so don't try to read into his actions. As hard as it is, try your best to go by what he says and not what he does. If he doesn't tell you he has "feeling" then treat him as if he doesn't.

3. Be a lady and allow guys to treat you like one. In fact, I'd like to say demand it but some guys would never get the clue. I know we are all capable of opening doors but allow him the privledge of doing it for you.

4. Don't try to be "one of the guys." God has created us differently and that's a blessing! I also might add here, that if you don't feel ready for a serious relationship, then spend your time and energy by investing in relationships with other great women you can learn from.

5. Let him initiate the relationship and the level of intimacy in the relationship. While it's good to share things, be careful about trying to make the relationship more intimate by sharing things with him (this goes for non-defined as well as defined relationships).

6. Be responsive to his actions. Our relationships are to mirror that of Christ to the Church. As Christ lavishes His love on us, we respond to Him with praise. Lately I've been trying to determine what I can do in my relationship. I came to the conclusion that as a single, it's much easier to be a guy. If you like a girl you can ask her out. You don't have to go through the "wondering stage," and countless other advantages to being a male. But then I decided that within a relationship, the guy has the hard end of the deal. For both sexes, as singles we have to learn to be submissive to God. Boy, is that incredibly tough! Then as women in a relationship we have to learn to do that with the man too. Well, if we get good at being submissive to God, that shouldn't be as hard as it would be if we weren't allowing Christ to rule our life. Well, the guy in a relationship still has to submit to God's authority and allow Him to lead, but he also has to be a leader and initiator! Guys, I'm praying for you! That must be incredibly tough! And then I can think of all kinds of things guys can do to "woo" their lady properly, but what do we do? Just sit and wait? So as I was pondering a list for girls, I realized that this (#6) is something I can do. I have an incredible guy and I want to be sure he knows that. :)

Free Ice Cream Today Only

Go to Yahoo.com today if you have a yahoo account and you can get free ice cream at Baskin Robin's. Today only!! So don't miss out! Happy Birthday Yahoo!

Tips for Boys I

Patrick made a list of tips for girls on how to catch a guy. As I was commenting I decided that I would make a list of tips for guys. This isn't a list on how to catch a girl, but rather how to treat girls. Maybe I'll be further inspired to write another list (hence the Roman numeral in the title). These are tips for all guys concerning all girls, according to my experience and knowledge from other girls:

1. Be consistent in how you treat girls. Treat us all as your sister in Christ. If you open doors for one girl, you better do it for all girls. Otherwise you will make one girl think you like her or another think you hate her. Yes, we read into things too much. If you know and believe that, you'll be a step ahead of most males.

2. Don't spend extended amounts of time alone with a girl unless a. you want her to think you're interested in her (and in which case you need to talk to her about that), b. she's your relative, c. you have clearly defined your relationship (even if it's just a friendship), d. You didn't plan to be alone with her (ie. You're walking back from class and you are going the same way).

3. Communicate! I know it may not come easy, but it will help all of your co-ed relationships if you talk about things. If you don't verbalize your thoughts/feelings (no matter what they are), she will make assumptions. Assumptions are bad! Take away our guess work. If you like a girl, talk to her about it. If you are study partners with a girl, make sure you talk about that so she won't wonder if there's more.

4. Don't be afraid to be a gentleman (see #1). If boys are gentlemen that makes it easier for girls to be ladies. Manners are a great thing to posses. We don't expect these things, but when a guy does them, we notice. Some examples of things I've seen: opening doors, standing at the table until all the ladies are seated, leading her into a room by the small of her back, walking on the roadside of the sidewalk, putting on her coat,

I also found this interesting links, Robert's Rules of Chivalry". Now, back to work. More "tips" may be coming so stay tuned...