The things that have happened

In no particular order…

• I have another new job… well a seventeen month old new job
• My sister and I went on a road trip
• and we went to Epcot Food and Wine
• and I went to visit her again at her new house
• I barely did any theater
• I took a seminary class
• I preached one of the last nights of our departed Evening Vespers service
• I had minor surgery
• that let me gain back most of the weight
• Ryan Bradley won the US Championship
• Many hours of “So You Think You Can Dance” were watched
• More youth got confirmed
• I agreed to help with Youth Sunday School
• so I am going regularly to the contemporary service at church
• I cut my hair short
• I cried my eyes out too many times
• I took a 12 week Biblical Greek class
• I put up a half done online dating profile… then took it down
• I applied for about 20 jobs… got one phone interview and no jobs
• I finally turned some acquaintances into real friends
• Visited Lakeland to go to FTC see old friends, waive at FSC, and see my beloved drama teacher get a distinguished career award
• I got lots of books
• I nominated myself to be a delegate to General Conference and did not win the vote
• I saw the first national tour of the Hair revival
• I spent holidays at home
• I picked up a bad YouTube watching habit
• I got asked to speak at next year’s Women’s Retreat
• I rode lots of roller coasters
• I went to the PCC reunion
• I went to my ten year HS reunion
• I help organize an emergency cold weather shelter for homeless people
• I got a new car
• I had a Seder meal at my house
• and more… can’t decide if that’s a lot or a little

It has a name

I have watched exactly 3 minutes and 25 seconds of Made of Honor.  They are talking about the “coffee collar.”  The thing that keeps you from burning your hand on a paper coffee cup.  Now I know for a fact that Patrick Dempsey did not invent that.  That thing is actually called a zarf.  And it’s been around as long as there has been coffee.   It used to be these brass handle things to use on a glass cup.

How do I know that.  The potty paper and the book of lists.  When I worked in the counseling center my fellow student assistant and I were in charge of making the potty papers (it’s not as gross as it sounds.)  They were the counseling center’s news letter that got hung in all the campus public restrooms.  You know for some reading material.  So they’d have announcements and info, but they also had interesting information.  Our favorite place to get the fun info was the book of lists.  And one list we used was the list of things that you didn’t know had names.  My favorite word… zarf.  So there you go.

Update: Man that was one bad movie.  I have liked many that critics haven’t like Because I Said So, and Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, but this is really bad on so many levels. Besides the bad acting, camera work, and sight gags, I’m like “Tell her you fool.” Stupid.

A Heavy Thing

Seven years ago was my second week of college.  I was being so good I was up early to get ready to go to my nine o’clock class.  My roommate was in the shower. I turned on the TV to Good Morning America to see the smoldering first tower.  Charlie Gibson was speculating about what had happened; no one even knew it was a plane at that point.  I was making my bed and was looking over just as the second plane hit.  The two burning towers made it pretty clear that it was no accident.  That always strikes be because I can count on two hands the number of times I’ve watched morning news shows since then.

I went to class (Psychology 101), and things went on as usual.  I got back from class and 50 girls were all siting around watching the coverage on the TV in the lobby.  By that time the plane had hit the pentegon and the commentators began talking about the fact that the towers were going to collapse.  Then it was time for our eleven o’clock classes.  I went but by that time everyone knew and we got released early.  I don’t remember much more from that day, I know we got an email from our psych professor saying that he was sorry but he didn’t know what was going on.  I’m sure that I spoke with my parents, and I think that I spent a lot of the time in the lobby with a bunch of these girls whom I’d just met.

That’s what happenend the fifteenth day that I lived alone, the fifteenth day I was a grown up. The world changed just as mine changed.  So it’s sometimes mixed up in my mind why things are different than they were.  Is it me or the world?  I’ll never know.

I Remember That: It’s My Story

Inspired by this video.

The summer after my freshman year of college I went on a mission trip with bunch of friends to Atlanta.  Each day we service work and each evening we’d throw block parties with the help of an organization that ran mini missions for immigrants and refugees in apartment complexes through out the city.  We had our band play and we would feed everyone and we talked to people about Jesus.

On the second day we were with a group of refugees from Chechnya, a region in Russia that saw fighting between the Christian and Muslim ethnic groups.  At the block party I was talking to a young girl; we were sitting on a stoop and looking at a track that I had (that’s another post) that had a picture of Jesus on the cross on it.  The girl looked at me and the picture and said “That’s what they did to my dad.”  Man, that did me in. I was sitting there crying and praying and talking to her.

Just as that was happening another one of our group, J, came around to take pictures and just check on everyone.  I called him over and told him the story and we sat there and talked to the girl.  It was really an amazing and touching experience for all of us.  We came back to the church we were staying at and shared it with our group.

So 4 months went by and then we were back in school together.  One of the first things we did was to have a church service where we share our pictures and stories with people who did not come with us.  J was going to be the big finally.  So he started telling this story about how on the second day he’d met this girl who saw the picture of Jesus and said “that’s what they did to my dad.”  But the funny thing was that I was totally removed from the story.  In his mind it was all him and I wasn’t even there.  Funny, especially since there were pictures that he took of me sitting with the very girl.  So I asked him about it and presented the evidence and he was totally baffled; he completely thought it was just him. Crazy.  My memory got coopted.

A tough assignment

I worked in the scene shop of the theater department for a while in college. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, but I learned so much. We worked on everything. Whatever was next on the check list got to be your job. And if you didn’t know how to do it, you got a lesson. We cut wood with all sorts of saws, be did tons of fastening and we worked on scenic painting. But the thing was you really only got one lesson and there wasn’t much forgiveness if you messed things up. You had to do things right because of the limited time and resources. And working with power tools can be really dangerous. One of the other professors, who was not our supervisor would come down about once a month and show us how he had cut the tip of his finger off on the table saw. Scary.

I got assigned building a hand rail for the escape steps of the back of a 10 foot set. Our professor Jim told me to use 1 by 4s and cut them down the middle (making 1 by 2s.) For some reason (I can’t really remember why, I guess I thought he was just making a suggestion rather than giving me strict direction) I used 2 by 4s instead. Well I got through ripping down some 12 foot stock when the table saw quick working. I had burned out the motor or something. Boy did I hear about that. Luckily whatever was wrong with the saw was fixable. And after we finished the other side with the one by fours it was a little flimsy and our professor said I might have been right after all.

I also got in trouble once for painting the stair risers too meticulously. I was trying to do a really neat job but I was told the you couldn’t even see the small slip-ups and drips from the audience. I was helping someone who accidentally used the circular saw to cut its own cord. There were lots of sparks.

But I also got some complements. I still remember them. When I leaving one day Jim said, “Erin, you’re getting to be quite a good carpenter.” And I got to be the official jigsaw specialist because I had some sort of natural gift for doing the precise cutting. I got to do a whole car cut out once by projecting a picture on it to trace the edges and then cutting it out. Jim told me that I was better at it than he was.

Jim was a pretty stern guy. And he excepted a lot from all of us. That’s what made the compliments that he gave all the more meaningful because they were hard to earn. And when he said something to you, you knew he really meant it.

What bad habits sound like

I am watching the High School Musical reality show (I’m a reality show junkie what can I say) and I am noticing how awful the sound mix is on the performance segments. It’s almost like the levels were not checked at all. I’ve also noticed the same issues on the other new performance reality show (I know, I know) The Singing Office. The problem sounds like crackling, almost like you hadn’t tuned in a radio station just right. And it’s caused by having microphone sensitivity set too high. And you are forced to do that if the performer isn’t projecting. That’s forgivable in the first time singers on The Singing Office but the folks on HSM are supposed to be experienced and even if they don’t know better someone ought to be telling them.

PS. Shout out to the Lakeland (home town of my alma mater, FSC) Ledger who is the only sight on the web to point this out.

Burger Building

I submitted a recipe to the Sutter Home Burger contest. It’s in honor of my FSC days. Here it is.

Florida Sunshine Burgers

Erin blogs about golf

The Buick Open started yesterday. Who cares, right? The commercials are all over (you won’t catch me watching ESPN outside of college football season.) They say “Can Rocco Mediate continue his hot streak?” (That is Rocco Mediate of recent second place US Open fame, as well as a FSC graduate.) Rocco lost to Tiger Woods, but he came heartbreakingly close to a upset victory. They say it was like David and Goliath. Everybody likes Tiger (what’s not to like) but it was good to see him have some competition. The world loves Rocco.

The thing is you can’t have a David without a Goliath. It’s just something about having something to clash with, someone big to come up against. You can’t be an underdog without a champion to beat.

Maybe Rocco will win the Buick Open, maybe not. But there won’t be anymore commercials. Not until Tiger comes back from surgery and they meet again.