onehundredseventyone. january 1, 2011. "spoons."

onehundredseventy. december 31, 2010. "surprise, everyone. this picture was taken before those things were handed out for midnight. happy new year!"

onehundredsixtynine. december 30, 2010. "goal: achieved."

(series: the book i just finished).

three men in a boat - jerome k. jerome

well, it's done. i read 31 books this year. one more than i read last year. this one was pretty ridiculous. a ridiculosity that i truly admire. a quote:

"I don't understand German myself. I learned it at school, but forgot every word of it two years after I had left, and have felt much better ever since."

onehundredsixtyeight. december 29, 2010. "yesterday's picture."

my camera lacked battery power yesterday, so i missed a day. but look, i fixed that. (how do you like that mouse pad?)

onehundredsixtyseven. december 28, 2010. "someone left their farm on my fireplace."

the family i live with had their visiting family members stay in my apartment while i was gone. i came back to find a few artifacts of their presence left behind. i loved finding this...so classic! no blinking lights. no annoying songs. i think i used to have one.

onehundredsixtysix. december 27, 2010. "joy."

Niece Two. my kisses are all over that face. i couldn't help myself.

onehundredsixtyfive. december 26, 2010. "what child is this?"

that'd be me.

onehundredsixtyfour. december 25, 2010. "Christmas."

december 25, 2010. "Christmas."

onehundredsixtythree. ecember 24, 2010. "political views: moderate."

(series: the book i just finished).

read 100 pages in "God's Politics" today.

"September 11 shattered the American sense of invulnerability. But instead of accepting the vulnerability that most of the world already lives with, and even learning from it, we seem to want something nobody can give us - to erase our vulnerability. We want it to just go away. If the government says more wars can do that, many people will say fine. If they say suspending civil liberties can do that, many will say fine...But we simply can't erase our vulnerability, not in this world and not with the human condition being as it is."

applications:

airport security.

monitoring of internet activity.

what next?

onehundredsixtytwo. december 23, 2010. "texas."

the end of the year is nearing. the trees are still covered with green leaves here in houston. and the houses are covered with pretend winter.

onehundredsixtyone. december 22, 2010. "wrapping paper that doesn't make me want to throw up."

i'm not a fan of red and green, or snowmen, or santa. but my mom is always nice enough to include some neutral wrapping paper for me to use to wrap gifts. notice: there are no tags on the gifts to indicate whose is whose. thats because my 24 year old sister inspects each gift to determine what they are. so several years ago i stopped putting tags on the ones i wrap, so she can stop ruining Christmas.

onehundredsixty. ecember 21, 2010. "it wasn't even wednesday."

i got back from work, and look what i found on my bed. a mango just for me.

onehundredfiftynine. december 20, 2010. "hospitality."

i stayed with gabe for a couple of days. i wasn't sure what room i was going to be in. good thing she made a sign!

onehundredfiftyeight. december 19, 2010. "the essentials."

i remember when i first started going on trips in middle school, and my mom made me make packing lists. the habit persists to this very day. and it's a good one. the problem is when i forget to put things on the list. which has happened.

onehundredfiftyseven. december 18, 2010. "i own this."

my grandma gave me this. there's a long list of bizarre things i've gotten from my grandparents. (including a membership in an indian tribe for Christmas one year). one time when the family was gathered, i was arguing with my only cousin about who would inherit an interesting structure my dad made out of toothpicks when he was younger, once our grandparents, you know...well anyway, he's MY dad, you see. my grandma heard us discussing this, and said "oh i have plenty of his old art projects!" and brought this out of somewhere. my cousin said she wasn't interested. i said...heck yes. give me that. it's too fantastically random to pass up. that needs to be on a shelf. prominently displayed.

so it is.

onehundredfiftysix. december 17, 2010. "let's do this again sometime."

i learned a new trick tonight.

onehundredfiftyfive. december 16, 2010. "winter, meet your match."

i have this recurring nightmare. i have to go to work around 6am. it's dark. it's cold. and there's ice on my car. sometimes even snow. but wait. it's not a nightmare. IT'S REAL LIFE. i lost my old scraper somehow. this one is ten times better. it has a brush, for the snow! i don't have to touch the snow! bliss!

onehundredfiftyfour. december 15, 2010. "opensesame."

i saw this photographer who had a lot of pictures of doors. so i tried to see if i could take a good picture of a door. it's harder than it looks. he took pictures of pretty doors. interesting doors. but this is still incredibly lame compared to them. i just thought it was interesting...making art out of something so seemingly mundane. something people don't pay attention to.

onehundredfiftythree. december 14, 2010. "i like gold."

(series: the book i just finished).

eh. not my favorite. there's a "follow your heart" theme woven through it. which is a stupid thing to do. the heart is deceitful above all things. there's actually a page in the book that addresses that, but i was still not crazy about that idea. but i did like the ideas about following your dreams and not letting fear guide your decisions. so, you know. 3 stars. whatever.

onehundredfiftytwo. december 13, 2010. "out of character."

i forgot to post this last night. i don't know why, since i hate cold weather, hate it, but i decided to walk from my house to ugly mugs. in the snow. and the cold. it was cold. but it was also fun...

onehundredfiftyone. december 12, 2010. "i need a new scraper."

she scraped my car for me tonight. when i say "jump" people say "how high?" just kidding. i don't know why she did it for me, but i was definitely grateful.

(it may have been all the whining i did about scraping, before we got to my car).

onehundredfifty. december 11, 2010. "christmas on 18th avenue."

onehundredfortynine. december 10, 2010. "that hideous strength."

(series: the book i just finished).

the last of the space trilogy. i always think of c.s. lewis as a non-fiction writer....mere christianity. the four loves. surprised by joy. the weight of glory. but he writes INCREDIBLE fiction.

a quote:

"There are a dozen views about everything until you know the answer. Then there's never more than one."

onehundredfortyeight. december 9, 2010. "traffic."

tonights titans game stole an hour and a half of my life.

an hour and a half.

i can't even talk about the frustration.

onehundredfortyseven. december 8, 2010. "fire."

i started the evening planning to finish a book. i turned on the fireplace. grabbed a blanket. sat in a comfortable chair. got my book. and...took a nap. it was a long day, what can i say. i think sometimes when i'm worrying or feeling anxious, instead of having to listen to me pray without ceasing, God just puts me to sleep for a bit.

onehundredfortysix. december 7, 2010. "settled."

well, the magnets and family pictures are on the fridge. i'm all unpacked.

onehundredfortyfive. december 6, 2010. "charm."

so, that's a rose i gave myself for my 25th birthday. forever ago. ok, not quite 2 years. i just kind of threw it on this windowsill as i was unpacking. then when i finished unpacking i realized...that's basically the perfect spot for it. i keep looking over there thinking "i like that. i really like that." an ugly window. and a rose. it works.

onehundredfortyfour. december 5, 2010. "tree whisperer."

tree. screwdriver. hammer. sounds like it's Christmas time!

onehundredfortythree. december 4, 2010. "priorities."

boxes and junk everywhere, but my scarves are all hung nicely on the closet door.

onehundredfortytwo. december 3, 2010. "i know this baby."

this bouncy, friendly, smiley, adorable baby belongs to one of my college roommates. his name is nolan. i went to visit them today after work for an hour of fun.

onehundredfortyone. december 2, 2010. "soft and juicy mango."

been thinking about this bag o' mango all day. been saving it all week. gonna eat some now. gonna eat some later. gonna eat some tomorrow. then it'll be gone.

onehundredforty. december 1, 2010. "what lies within?"

you might not be able to tell, but this is a very little door. a person would have to crawl to get through it. i've only cracked it open once. as i was moving things around, i remembered i'm a terrible person. it is the site of the worst joke i've ever told. when i was moving in, my roommate was showing me around. she pointed out the little door. and i said...no, i can't even tell you. holocaust humor is not good.

the movie "life is beautiful" is VERY good, though.