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Scotland 2008

My big trip this year has been to Scotland for the second time. I traveled with Beth's family once again. Like my 2005 journal, I have formatted this to be read from top to bottom so ignore the post dates. The actual dates of the trip were August 6 - 22.

Day 1 - The Scotland Adventure Begins

The trip tried to start out stressful with a last minute issue at work, but I made it to the airport in plenty of time. All three flights - Tulsa to Chicago, Chicago to Manchester, and Manchester to Edinburgh - went off without a hitch. I watched the movie "Made of Honor" on the long flight but didn't like it because it disparages Scottish traditions. About half the service people in Manchester were sour, and it was hard not to be sour back on no sleep. I wasn't able to actually sleep on the plane and only managed a couple of hours of "shut-eye."

Once I finally arrived in Edinburgh, I still had a long wait at the airport because it had rained giant buckets over the city the night before. Several roads and trains were closed due to the high water. Beth, Laura, and Molly had been trying to get across town to pick me up since about 9:30 in the morning -- a good 4 hours before I arrived. They didn't reach me until 4:30 or so in the afternoon. The highway they had tried to take wound up being closed after they had sat on it pretty much not moving for a good long while. They managed to get off and find a train into Edinburgh city centre and a bus from there to the airport. I was so happy to see them when they finally arrived. We got a bus back to the train station. There they told us the train we wanted wasn't running due to water on the tracks so we took another bus to another train station where we managed to navigate the chaos of the situation and find the right train. We took the scenic route home and it was nice to see the Scottish coastline. Upon arrival (finally!) it was nice to be welcomed into a little Scottish home and meet Beth and Laura's uncle George.

Day 2 - Dublin Day

I got up at the crack of dawn to fly to Dublin. Jim and Laura were gracious enough to get up to take me to the airport. Once Alvina and I met up in Dublin, we tooka bus into the city centre. We got ourselves oriented, and Alvina enjoyed a nice Irish breakfast. (I had eaten a Cornish pasty in the airport earlier.) After breakfast, we walked to Dublin Castle taking in the sights along the way: the Dublin Spire, the General Post Office, the O'Connell Statue, the River Liffey, and the Ha'penny Bridge.

When we got to the castle, I was ready for my lunch so we sat for a short while in the cafe. Then it was off to explore the castle grounds. We didn't feel like taking the guided tour so we didn't go into the actual castle. The castle garden had a thin celtic knot maze brick path laid out on the lawn. I enjoyed walking that.

Then we went over to Christ Church Cathedral. It was beautiful and had lots of interesting artifacts including a mummified cat and mouse from the church organ. The cat and mouse were referred to in James Joyce's Finnegan's Wake.

Next we walked several blocks to see the Book of Kells display and some other similar works like the Book of Armagh. Upstairs was the Old Library which had the lovely scent of old books. There were several glass cases displaying more historic texts. The oldest known existing harp in Ireland is housed there too. It was a wonderful setting with all those tall shelves full of old texts and those neat spiral staircases.

After Trinity College, we caught a bus out to Sandymount Beach. I got a little turned around but we eventually found it. Unfortunately it smelled so bad that we didn't stay very long. That gave us more time to shop along Grafton Street where we saw the Molly Malone statue. Then it was back to the airport to go our separate ways.

52 Weeks Later

I thought it would be interesting to fill out the exact survey I filled out on December 29 last year every year to see how things have changed. I took a few out that I doubt will ever change. Here's the link to last year's:
http://ssarah5.blogspot.com/2006/12/what-happens-when-you-have-too-much.html

1. Name one person who made you smile today? The sacker at Reasor's because he was so careful with my ginger beers.

2. What were you doing at 8 this morning? Sleeping, but I don't remember what I was dreaming about this time.

3. What were you doing 15 minutes ago? checking Facebook

4. What is something that happened to you in 1995? I went to ORU's High School Math & Science Camp.

5. What is the last thing you said aloud? '96

6. How many different things did you drink today? So far just one, water, although I have a mind to get some white grape juice in a little while.

7. What color is your hairbrush? Which one? I have 5.

8. What was the last thing you bought? Shortbread, a can of cream of chicken soup, fettucine florentine, and freezer bags

9. What was the last gift you received for your birthday? Ribena and a frozen pizza

10. What color is your front door? Dark green.

11. Where do you keep your change? In my purse.

12. What was the weather like today? partly cloudy

13. What is the best ice-cream flavor? At the moment, I am quite fond of Cold Stone Creamery's cinnamon flavour.

14. What is something you are excited about? My new digital camera

15. When was the last rainbow you saw? I'm not sure if I saw any this year.

16. What size shoe do you wear? 8.5

18. Are you very random? Caramel coloured 7-Up bubbles

19. Do you want to cut your hair? Probably soon. It's in its tangly stage.

23. Does your screen name have an 'x' in it? no

24. Do you know anyone called Steve? yes, do you know anyone called Joe

25. Do you make up your own words? yep, such as "scrumptumtious"

28. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter 'A': Annie/Annica

29. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter k. Kristen

30. Who is the first person on your missed call list? Alvina (that's the same as last year :P)

31. What did the last text message you received say? It's a party invitation, but I won't quote it exactly since it has semi-private info.

34. What is the next concert you're going to? The Edinburgh Tattoo in August

36. What is something you say a lot? fiddle 3

7. What is the last thing you ate? sunflower seeds and ranch dressing

40. Is marriage in your future? well, the tarot cards said yes, but my star chart says no... (kidding, for anyone who doesn't know me well enough to know I don't subscribe to such nonsense) Seriously, I don't know yet, but a positive would be nice.

41. When was the last time you said 'I love you'? Either this morning or last night.

42. What should you be doing right now? fixing dinner

43. Do you have a nickname? Sideways

45. Are you a heavy sleeper? Apparently not, what with bats and distant earthquakes waking me up this year.

47. What is the best movie you've seen in the past two weeks? Holiday in Handcuffs

48. What kind of mobile phone do you have? Samsung

49. When was the last time you did the dishes? Be honest! Last night

50. Name 3 things in your purse/wallet: receipts x 3

52. Name 3 favorite fruits: clementines, red grapefruits, red plums

53. Three names you go by: Sarah, Sarah5, Sideways

54. Three things you are wearing right now: sweatshirt, jeans, long thick green socks

55. Who did you last talk to on the phone? Alvina

57. Where do you wish you were right now? Scotland

58. Where do you live? United States of America

59. Where do you sleep? in a loft bedroom

60. Where did you get the shirt you're wearing? Eighth grade pep band - what are the odds? Shirts both from around the same time so many years ago both times I've taken this survey.

61. What is the closest item near you that is blue? my jeans

62. What is your favorite color? Green

63. With whom did you last see a movie? My mom and dad

64. What song are you currently hearing? None, hey I need to go put some music on.

66. When did you last go to the mall? Way back in mid-November at the Riverwalk mall in San Antonio. That's when I hurt my foot, and it hasn't been up for mall-walking since.

67. When/where was the last time you bought a pair of pants? Last January I think.

68. When did you last burn a candle? During the ice storm when the power was out, so December 11.

2007 in Review

((( End of 2007/Start of 2008 )))
Calendar Year Review…
JANUARY: How did you ring in 2007? Details! Where, who, kiss, etc???:	Listening to Prairie Home Companion New Year's Eve show on the radio.
FEBRUARY: Were you in a relationship for Valentine’s Day and what'd you do:	Yeah, went to McNellie's and As You Like It
MARCH: Did you celebrate St. Patty’s Day by getting drunk?:	Of course not.
APRIL: Did you have to walk in the rain (or any month in 07)?:	Mist and mud at the Remnant project at the Victory Dream Center - close enough.
MAY: Did you fail any classes?:	Not applicable.
JUNE: Did you buy a new swimsuit?:	Not in June, in April.
JULY: Did you party on 4th of July?:	Yes, in Haskell. It was a blast, literally and figuratively.
AUGUST: Did you go to the beach?:	No.
SEPTEMBER: Did you start school again?:	Nope.
OCTOBER: What did you dress as for Halloween?:	A medieval peasant lass.
NOVEMBER: What did you do for Thanksgiving?:	Hobbled around my parents house with crutches. We spent much of the afternoon playing Rummoli.
DECEMBER: What do you want/what did you get for Christmas?:	A digital camera.
Personal Reflection
Did you reach your goals for 2007?:	Not really.
Beside your set goals, what else did you accomplish?:	Something, I'm sure.
What is something you learnt about yourself?:	I'm a poor communicator.
Did you do anything you’d never though you’d ever do?:	Run screaming out of my apartment half dressed and being chased by a bat.
In 2007, Did You…
Change your appearance?:	I went all out and changed the shape of my glasses. Oooh.
Move to a new place?:	Nope.
Go to a concert?:	Robert Randolph & the Family Band and Switchfoot
Go to a sporting event?:	Oh yeah! The PGA Championship! And the LPGA event in BA.
Get a new job?:	Nope.
Get a new addition to your family?:	Nope.
Gain new friends?:	Yeah.
Loose old friends?:	I hope not.
Get into a fight (verbal or physical)?:	Verbal.
Puke from drinking too much?:	Never.
Travel?:	To Anaheim for a tax conference and San Antonio for fun.
Go to a wedding?:	No.
Go to a funeral?:	Sadly, yes.
Go to the hospital?:	Not for myself, but for my dad.
Have any run-ins with the law?:	Not personally, just remotely.
Start a relationship?:	Yeah.
End a relationship?:	Yeah. :(
Spend over $1000 on something?:	A ticket to Scotland for August 2008!
Favorite 2007…
Month?:	Possibly November.
Season?:	Autumn
Holiday?:	4th of July
Memory?:	Being in the 1st tee starting tent for the golfers and caddies Thursday afternoon of the PGA Championship.
Party?:	4th of July
Event?:	The PGA Championship
Club/Bar/Hangout?:	McNellie's
Moment you laughed so hard that you cried?:	I can't remember what it was about.
Movie?:	The Water Horse
Song?:	N/A
Worst 2007...
Memory?:	Mary's passing.
Day at work or school?:	We're not gonna go there.
Embarrassing moment?:	If anyone had been around, it would have been when the bat chased me out of my apartment.
Fight/Disagreement/Argument?:	Driving back from San Antonio.
Pain you felt?:	Trying to walk on my foot after speedwalking around downtown San Antonio in flip-flops.
Person you met?:	Hmm, I don't know.
Movie?:	I was fairly discriminating in what I watched, but of what I did I guess the worst would be Premonition
Song?:	N/A
Place?:	Lost in North Anaheim/South Fullerton.
For NYE 07-08…
Where will you be?:	I do not know yet.
Who will be there?:	See above.
Do you want to kiss someone at midnight?:	Not at this point.
What are you wearing?:	Maybe a black & white sweater with silver sparkles.
In 2008...
What are your goals?:	To declutter my apartment.
What do you look forward to?:	Scotland and the Edinburgh Tattoo.
Take this survey Find more surveys Bzoink - The Original Survey Site

Oklahoma: A Travel Journal

Howdy! My name is Nikki. I have decided to write a blog about my recent trip to Oklahoma with 5 friends from the Glasgow Line Dance Club.

The flight was loooong. We finally arrived at the Tulsa International Airport a little before 21:30 Tulsa time on the 8th of June. Lottie, our dance teacher, rented a van. We all piled in and headed to our cute little cottage on Route 66 in a place called Bristow. The cottage even had a cute name: Hummel Hide-a-Way Home. Since it had been a long day, we fell fast asleep as soon as we got to the cottage. I shared the sofa bed with Tom & Lottie's daughter Emily.

We started Saturday out a bit slow getting used to the time change. After lunch, we headed to Oklahoma City. In the daylight, riding in a van on the "wrong" side of the road seemed pretty weird, especially when we got into the busy city. After a few wrong turns we found the Bricktown District where we did some preliminary souvenir shopping. We took a ride in a "Water Taxi" down a canal to the mega outdoors store Bass Pro Shop just to look around and see what it was like. The boat driver acted as a tour guide telling as about the history of the area as we went along. For supper, we simply had to check out Toby Keith's I Love This Bar and Grill. The menu was a bit pricey so we stuck to the sandwiches, but it was well worth it. We enjoyed a live country band while we ate. Besides the pound to dollar exchange rate is great, so we didn't really have to worry too much.

On the way back to Bristow, we ended up on Route 66 sooner than planned so we took the opportunity to stop at the Old Round Barn in a little place called Arcadia. The barn was closed up for the night so we just got out to look around for a little while and snap some photos before heading back to the cottage for the night.

Coming soon to a blog near you!

Namely this one. I have started an outline for "Oklahoma: A Travel Journal." This will be a series of blogs similar to my Scotland 2005 blog. The places will be entirely real, but the people and events are fictional. The blogger in this alternate reality will be Nikki Harris of Glasgow, Scotland, who visited Oklahoma this past June with five friends from her line dance club.

Disclaimers: (1) These characters are not intended to represent any real people. According to www.yournotme.com there are 10 real Nikki Harrises in the U.K. None of these are my Nikki Harris. (2) I do not claim to have a good grasp of a Glaswegian's dialect as opposed to an American's. I will make my best effort to avoid Americanisms except when my character intentionally writes them (i.e. the opening "Howdy!" being intentional). I will attempt to use British terminology where it fits.

A very bloggable business trip

My 3-day trip to Anaheim this week had several notable points.

<> Racing across the Dallas airport only to miss my connecting flight because it was one of less than a handful of flights actually not delayed by weather. This resulted in me having to fly into LAX instead of OC and eventually arriving at my hotel at 4AM CT.

<> Discovering a toilet brush inside the toilet once I made it to my hotel room.

<> Sitting in line for a tax workshop as if it were a rock concert.

<> Dragging my colleague on one of my typical quests for some obscure place I just have to check out. In this case it was a British pub called The Olde Ship. After some navigational difficulties left us wandering around a seedy part of town, we finally found the pub only to discover it was closed for renovations until the day we were leaving town.

<> Waking up to an 3.7 magnitude earthquake 45 miles away at 4:30 Wednesday morning.

<> Visiting a Lego store in Downtown Disney with some pretty cool models on display -- R2D2, the Empire State Building, and a life-sized Duplo giraffe -- just to name a few.

<> Touring the Crystal Cathedral. Did you know it doesn't have air conditioning?!

<> Discovering a new drink at a Mexican restaurant. Agua de Jamaica is sweetened, hibiscus-infused water that tastes like black currant juice flavoured with rose water. Delicious!

<> Riding in an open air trolley with locals with their car windows rolled down chatting with us tourists at red lights. Downright Southern in their friendliness.

<> Riding in the elevator with 2 of the world's strongest men from Yorkshire, England.

Yes, this was a memorable first visit to California, indeed.

My Celebrity Look-a-likes

My cool celebrity look-alike collage from MyHeritage.com. Get one for yourself.

What happens when you have too much free time off of work

1. Name one person who made you smile today?
My grandpa

2. What were you doing at 8 this morning?
Dreaming about people adopting a bunch of orphans or something like that.

3. What were you doing 15 minutes ago?
browsing the web

4. What is something that happened to you in 1995?
I took a van trip to a youth conference with a bunch of teenage boys I had never met before and their youth pastor and his wife.

5. What is the last thing you said aloud?
Probably talking to myself about something on the computer.

6. How many different things did you drink today?
So far just one, water, although I have a mind to get some black currant juice in a little while.

7. What color is your hairbrush?
Which one? I have 4.

8. What was the last thing you bought?
A picture frame.

9. What was the last gift you received for your birthday?
Going to see MI:iii, I guess.

10. What color is your front door?
Dark green.

11. Where do you keep your change?
In my purse.

12. What was the weather like today?
grey and windy

13. What is the best ice-cream flavor?
At the moment, I am quite fond of Cold Stone Creamery's cinnamon flavour.

14. What is something you are excited about?
The start of a new fantasy golf season. (I think that's my first public admission that I'm a fantasy golf nerd.)

15. When was the last rainbow you saw?
Well, I've probably seen one since June 2005, but I like thinking about Scotland so I'll go with that one.

16. What size shoe do you wear?
8-8.5

17. Do you have a sister?
Nope

18. Are you very random?
So random that at the moment my randomness merely feels like answering yes to this question.

19. Do you want to cut your hair?
Not yet.

20. Are you over the age of 25?
yup

21. Do you talk a lot?
Only to a very select few.

22. Do you watch The OC?
no

23. Does your screen name have an 'x' in it?
no

24. Do you know anyone called Steve?
yes, do you know anyone called John?

25. Do you make up your own words?
yep, my favorite being frabjosity, of course.

26. Are you ticklish?
yes

27. Are you typically a jealous person?
I don't think so.

28. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter 'A':
Alvina

29. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter k.
My childhood best friend was Kallie. (Well, her name is still Kallie, but I haven't seen her in years.)

30. Who is the first person on your missed call list?
Alvina

31. What did the last text message you received say?
"Finish the description...plz" Like I can reply with an adequate description via text messaging?!

32. Do you chew on your straws?
Yes, but not excessively.

33. Do you have curly frizzy hair?
no

34. What is the next concert you're going to?
i don't know..

35. Who is the coolest person in your life?
My brother's pretty cool.

36. What is something you say a lot?
the

37. What is the last thing you ate?
Lean Cuisine Chicken Pecan meal

38. Have you seen the movie 'Donnie Darko'?
no

39. Do you have work tomorrow?
no

40. Is marriage in your future?
well, the tarot cards said yes, but my star chart says no... (kidding, for anyone who doesn't know me well enough to know I don't subscribe to such nonsense) Seriously, I don't know yet, but a positive would be nice.

41. When was the last time you said 'I love you'?
Sometime in the last couple of weeks, I imagine.

42. What should you be doing right now?
house-cleaning

43. Do you have a nickname?
Sarah-5-who-used-to-have-a-blue-car-but-now-has-a-red-car-who's-26. You can just call me Sarah.

45. Are you a heavy sleeper?
Yes, no, I don't know.

46. When was the last time you used a skateboard?
Maybe 15 years ago.

47. What is the best movie you've seen in the past two weeks?
I think I've only seen three, so I'll have to go with Apocalypto.

48. What kind of mobile phone do you have?
candybar

49. When was the last time you did the dishes? Be honest!
yesterday

Name 3 things in your purse/wallet:
a coupon x 3

Name 3 things you do when you're really stressed:
get snippety, eat a donut, drink a room temp bottled Frappuchino

Name 3 favorite fruits:
lychee, black currants, tangelos

Three names you go by:
Sarah, Sarah-5-who-used-to-have-a-blue-car-but-now-has-a-red-car-who's-26, Sarah5

Three things you are wearing right now:
shirt, jeans, ankleless socks

Who did you last talk to on the phone?
my mom or Alvina

Whose birthday is next?
Tiger Woods... Okay, okay, of people I know: Molly

Where do you wish you were right now?
Scotland

Where do you live?
North America

Where do you sleep?
indoors

Where did you get the shirt you're wearing?
Lerner NY (NY&Co. these days)... Penn Square Mall... in OKC... in eighth or ninth grade... That's right... My shirt is over 10 years old... And I still remember where it came from.

What is the closest item near you that is blue?
my jeans

What is your favorite color?
Green

With who did you last see a movie?
My dad

What song are you currently hearing?
Forgiven... sung by the good folk of City Harvest Church in Singapore

When's your birthday?
May 8

When did you last go to the mall?
Wednesday

When/where was the last time you bought a pair of pants?
I think the last pair I actually bought came from Gordman's in the late summer.

When did you last burn a candle?
Christmas Eve

Do you like the person who took this quiz before you:
sure.

Friends, Meet Kiriath

I took advantage of some time off last week to get a little reading in. The Legends of the Guardian-King series by Karen Hancock is some of the best fiction I have read in a good long while.

The Light of Eidon introduces the reader to the land of Kiriath and its two predominant religions, the Mataians and the Terstans. Both religions claim to be the true followers of Eidon. Their approaches to their faith in Eidon are significantly different. Abramm Kalladorne, 5th son of the king of Kiriath, finds himself in a struggle to find Eidon while also struggling to survive a life of gladitorial slavery after his brothers and spiritual mentors betray him. There was only one thing I really did not like. The story seemed to rationalize and even condone an extra-marital sexual encounter that took place.

In The Shadow Within, I was rewarded with meatier spiritual truths and more relatability to Abramm as he learns how to walk the true believers life. The mystical fantasy adventure element of these books has given them a delightful twist on the traditional Christian allegory. I look forward to picking up book 3, Shadow over Kiriath, from the library on my next visit.

The Wild Side of Sarah5

So, last year I was wondering what I would do if all my friends jumped off of a bridge. I have an update to that answer. If the bridge was a maximum of 40 feet above the water and the water was deep enough, as demonstrated by others jumping safely first, I would do it in a heartbeat. Having now experienced the incredible thrill of jumping off of a 40-foot cliff, I can say this with certainty. And it would have to literally be in a heartbeat because I don't like the idea of spending much time standing on a little ledge high up in the air. The adrenaline rush of the free fall was such that I didn't even realize that my arms slapped the water pretty hard until generous bruises started showing up a few hours later.

I've been demoted!

In the past, I've had my share of being mistaken for a store employee, but I had an encounter today that takes the cake. At other times,I've no cart and no purse or only a small purse and I've been browsing the aisles. This time, I was walking out the door of Wal-Mart with my big straw purse over one shoulder, my keys out, and a shopping bag with a big roll of wrapping paper sticking out. Out of nowhere, a store employee holds out a couple of DVDs and says to me, "Can you hold these for a second?" Obliging person that I am, I start to reach out my hand to comply. Reality begins to dawn on her, and she asks, "You do work here, don't you?" When I give a negatory response, she turns to an actual employee and I am able to go on with my day.

Cottonwood Borer

I had a little run in with one of these fascinating creatures over the weekend. Innocently standing in front of IHOP visiting with Remnant friends before we headed to Weleetka, I suddenly felt a thud and something clinging to my shoulder. I reached back and tried to flick it off, even tugging gently on its antenna. The thing didn't budge, so I calmly turned around to ask what was on my back and immediately someone leapt to get it off. The creature was 1 & 1/2 inches long, just a little smaller than the image shown here.

Belated Birthday Blog

Well, I had a good birthday. Like a little kid, I woke up way too early. Everyone made sure I didn't feel ignored. Most of my coworkers crammed into my office around 10:15 for bagels and chips and a couple rounds of the "Happy Birthday" song. An hour later they took me to Bennigan's for lunch. After work I ran over to church to pay some bills before meeting up with Dad to check out a car I had found online. Another buyer beat us to the car*, so Dad took me to see M:I:III instead.

Interesting notes on my last few birthdays:

~ This birthday was the first since 1997 that I have had either work or school on my birthday.

~ 2005 - Shared the day with Mom for Mother's Day and a couple of family friends celebrating their high school and college graduations. We also managed to squeeze in a trip to the zoo.

~ 2004 - Visited Rooster Days while catching up on old times with Chadana.

~ 2003 - My family sang "Happy Birthday" as Old Faithful went off during our trip to Yellowstone.

~ 2002 - Ropes course week for my New York missions trip, so for my birthday I was forced to stand on the top of a very tall pole. That made the pregnant tarantula I nearly sat on seem quite friendly.

~ 1998 - Senior prom was the same day as my birthday.

~ And since I'm talking about memorable birthday's, I can't leave out 1988. That was the first time my birthday was on Mother's Day when I mistakenly put both orange juice and milk on my Life cereal.


*No problem. I got a great deal on a bright red Kia Rio at the end of the week. On that note, I think I probably have the longest, most dynamic nickname this side of the Mississippi. What started out as "Sarah-5-with-the-blue-car-who's-24" is now "Sarah-5-with-the-red-car-who's-26." With the timing of my car purchase, it changed twice in one week.

Lightening the mood

A survey. Because I can't resist this kind of thing.

1: Grab the book nearest to you, turn to page 18, find line 4. Write down what it says:
"administration noun" (Roget's Thesaurus)

2: Stretch your left arm out as far as you can. What do you touch first?:
A manila file folder

3: What is the last thing you watched on TV?:
CSI:NY

4: A good drink is…:
One that no one else is drinking and doesn't make me gag.

5: Grooming product you don't want to be without:
Colored chapstick

6: With the exception of the computer, what can you hear?:
People conversing downstairs.

7: When did you last step outside? what were you doing?:
This morning when I walked from the car to the office.

8: What are you currently reading?
I'm in between books right now. I have a book from the library sitting in my kitchen, but I don't remember the title.

9: What are you wearing?:
A white tank under a beige blouse with a brown skirt and my tall brown boots.

10: Did you dream last night? What about?:
Of course I dreamed. It was sort of a retelling of Peter Pan - no clue where that one came from.

11: What did you last eat?
Shepherd's pie (Mmm, mmm, mmm) and whole grain club crackers.

12: What is on the walls of the room you are in?:
My old dance shoes, a print of a living room, a caricature of me in my office, a calendar, a print of ships in harbor, and a Serenity cross.

13: Seen anything weird lately?:
My dance friends being themselves.

14: What do you think of this quiz?:
Good time waster.

15: What is the last film you saw?:
Serenity

16: If you became a multi-millionaire overnight, what would you buy first?:
A house on Swan Lake.

17: Tell me something about you that I don't know:
I can sing "This Old Man" in anagram.

18: If you could change one thing about the world, regardless of guilt or politics, what would you do?:
I'm starting to over-analyze this question, so I'm skipping it.

19: Do you like to dance?:
If you don't know the answer to that, you certainly don't know me.

20: Would you ever consider living abroad?:
Yes, I think it would be neat to retire to the Isle of Arran, but of course moving to Scotland can be tricky.

21: Will you pass on this survey?:
Here it is.

Relevant Dreams and Other Opinions

Apparently I do my deepest thinking on current events when I'm asleep. I had quite an interesting dream the other night:

My family were legal Bulgarian immigrants in Russia. In this alternate universe, the Russians relied on Bulgarian oil but treated the Bulgarians like dirt. We considered closing down our oil refineries and leaving the Russians to their own devices but decided to stay when we really thought about the negative impact such a decision would have on innocent people. Meanwhile, a couple of cute little Mexican girls without immigration papers showed up at our factory right before an immigration inspector showed up at our factory. We lucked out and got an inspector that was friendly to the Bulgarians and gave us little grief. He firmly but kindly took the Mexican girls with him, and then I woke up.

Make of it what you will. I'm not thinking too hard about it myself. The dream was just interesting with both oil and immigration in it.
_________________________

While I'm talking about current events, I have a stronger opinion about something else I heard on the news this morning. The ACLU is taking on another Ten Commandments case in nearby Stigler. The thing that really caught my attention was that the ACLU is saying that such a monument supports Christianity and no other faith. Am I missing something here? When did the Jews cut the Ten Commandments out of the Pentateuch? And the Mormons aren't really Christians either, but I'm guessing that the Ten Commandments are still in their version of the Bible as well. Also, while the Ten Commandments are not directly in the Quran, they do correspond pretty closely to the teachings of Islam. All other arguments about the Ten Commandments aside, this idea the ACLU is putting forth is simply ignorant propaganda.

For the World

Dear God, Who makes all light on earth,
I want to be a sunshine.
I want to show the world some love
To show them what it's like above.

Dear God, Who makes all color here,
I want to be a rainbow.
I want to show the world some joy
For every little girl and boy.

Dear God, Who makes all silence 'round,
I want to be a whisper.
I want to show the world some peace
Not known to earthly man or beast.

Life Is Like a Gay Gordons

So somewhere in all of the random words and phrases that spill out of my mouth when no one else is around, I found myself saying "dancing with God" last night as I went to bed. This led my mind down a trail to what Scottish dance would be a good analogy for life, and Gay Gordons seems quite appropriate. A quick run through of the dance for all you Scottish dance innocents: Promenade (walk with your partner) forward 4 steps; Promenade backward 4 steps; Repeat both promenades; Lady twirls under her partners hand; Waltz (ed: polka actually); and Repeat all. (Sorry, guys but this analogy only works right if you let God take the "man's" role in the dance.)

Joining the dance at God's invitation to dance with Him, you have times when life is pretty normal and straightforward, nothing complicated. Then there are times when everything seems backwards, so it's a good thing God's right there by your side. When life gets crazy hectic, you could spin out of control if you don't put our hand in His to keep you centered on track. And then there are the times when you just follow God's lead as He guides you through life (at least that's what you're supposed to do for things to go smoothly).

2006 has definitely been a twirling season for me. Keep that hand up, Sarah.