A Confused Society

After reading recent entertainment headlines, I began to understand the mixed messages that are being fed to children today. Whether we like it or not, kids will always look up to celebrities. And honestly, that isn't such a bad thing. What is a bad thing is how these celebrities are portrayed by the media. We all know that those trashy magazines we all secretly read are not full of the truth...more fiction made to look like the truth!

Lately I have been disturbed by the headlines and accompanying photos of Lindsay Lohan. Pictures showing her in a dress with her ribs showing through her back. No one should be that thin. And really, it isn't up to us to judge why she is that thin. We all know thru the media that her life isn't picture perfect and it appears she tries to deal with it partially through eating or the lack of. Now, what shocked me was the headline I saw this morning. I turned on my computer only to discover, Lindsay is in Hawaii showing off her "sexy bikini body". Wait a minute! So last week, the girl we though was dangerously thin is now, this week, looking sexy in a bikini! No wonder teens of today have such trouble with body image! Look how it is portrayed in the media. They are constantly flip flopping their ideas of a beautiful body from one week to the next.

The other night, I was watching Britain's Next Top Model...I don't know if I should admit to watching it, but it was entertaining. One thing that caught my attention was this cute little skinny girl. She kept talking about how she hated how skinny she was (even said this to the judges) and that no girl should ever be as skinny as she is (that's what really got my attention). Wait! People actually understand that no one in their right mind should be as skinny as models?!?

I really do hope that some day the media will be able to portray a healthy body image to the world. That we will learn to understand that a size zero is not healthy or natural for most people. That being 5'10" generally only happens to models and being 5'4" is okay. That eating more than 1000 calories a day is a must. That children will grow up in a world with a healthy body image, rather than being told one week that 85 pounds is too thin, and being told the next week that it is sexy. Oh, I can only hope!

Spring Makes Me Happy

I never remember being the type of person who loved spring. I mean, I was excited because it meant summer was coming (which is my favorite season). But I don't recall being so into the flowers before. Maybe its because I have never lived in a place where the winters are so stifling...and the spring seems to bring hope. Maybe its because I have never lived in a place that flowers bloomed absolutely everywhere. Maybe its because I am growing up. Either way, spring this year looks so beautiful to me. Flowers blooming on the ground. Flowers blooming in the trees. It is absolutely spectacular. I am loving it!

Tootin-Car-Men

I was on the bus and see this truck in front of me...

Now this seems to be about the weirdest ad ever...Only Irn-Bru can stop tootin-car-men. My question is, what exactly are tootin-car-men? I tried google, but it only came up with tootin carmen as a song, and this ad definitely has a hyphen between car and men (car-men). So the mystery still remains, what exactly is tootin-car-men?!?

Dreams

Usually I relish having dreams. They seem a fun thing to happen while you are asleep and generally mean I got a good night's sleep. Lately, I have been having crazy dreams. Nothing nightmare-ish or anything like that. More just weird.

Last night, the bus drove past me two different times without picking me up. So, I decided since I was running late, I would drive to work...it can't be that hard anyway, right? I was walking to my car (which happened to be my old SAAB convertible) and just as I was unlocking it, Ian walks up behind me and tells me he thinks it would be a bad decision and I need to go wait for the bus again. It was totally random.

Another night, another dream. I decided Ian and I should go to a nice dinner and went to a restaurant to make dinner reservations. It was the middle of the week and I wanted reservations for Saturday. As the lady was writing in my reservation, I noticed the reservation above ours was some really good friends of my parents. Totally random! (In real life, my mom has talked about them on the phone with me lately, but still totally random for them to show up in my dream!) Then, as a thank you for making a reservation, the hostess gave me a fruit basket...I have no clue what the fruit basket is about!

Seriously, I can go on and on with these dreams. Two nights ago, it was me getting in trouble at work. I just think it is all too weird. Who has dreams every night? And WHO actually remembers them? And since when did they get so detailed? Maybe the nice (you know, low 60 degrees) weather over here has gone to my head!

More Important than ANYTHING

Tuesday is free cone day at Ben & Jerry's! And for my sake people...someone PLEASE go get a free cone between 1pm and 5pm. You can look up participating locations on their website. Something always (well, except for in 2007) stands in the way of me and free cone day. I am so disappointed I have work! So go get your free cone and tell me about it afterward!

An Accident of Entertainment

Today Ian and I headed out to lunch with some friends. Sitting in the park nibbling, we were able to witness a bus sideswipe an illegally parked car (with the driver still in it). Some "buzzed" (and by buzzed, I mean drunk at 1:30 in the afternoon!) park goers decided to "do good" and run out to yell at the bus driver and "help" the car driver. It was chaos at its finest. The bus was still stuck on the car and trying to move, the "do gooders" were running up and screaming at the bus driver and the lady was sitting in her car. After the bus moved from the side of the car, these "do gooders" took over the ladies car and changed a tire, which popped in the accident, while she was exchanging details with the bus driver. And the "do gooders", being the "great" people that they are, asked for money for their good act by saying, "It's nice to do something nice for someone, but if you've got any money, that would be great." Are you kidding me?!? If I was in that situation, I wouldn't have let those crazy people near my car...they were digging though the whole thing...I am guessing looking to steal stuff. It was a sight to be seen!

In the photo: The car's owner on the left and the three "do gooders" on the right

Pickles

I bought this bottle of pickles (or cucumber spears, as the bottle was labeled) last week and rather quickly devoured it. As I was drinking the juice from the bottle today (I know, so gross, yet SO GOOD) I noticed an interesting "warning" on the bottle:

Once removed, do not return cucumbers back into the jar.

Why? That doesn't even make sense. Is it due to cross contamination? If so, if I'm the only person eating from the jar, what does it matter? I need to know people! I need to know!

Oh, and pickles aren't called pickles over on this side of the pond...they are gherkins.

Happy Easter!

For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.
John 3:17

It is interesting spending holidays in another country and learning how they celebrate. First, as Ian noted, Easter is kind of like Scotland's Thanksgiving. It is the busiest travel weekend of the year, and the Friday before happens to be the busiest shopping day of the year. Odd! Also, it seems that whether Christian or not, you "celebrate" the holiday somehow. In talking with people at my work, I discovered there were many a "punishments" that went on in their houses on Good Friday. Things like no TV, no playing with friends, making wreaths to lay at Jesus' cross and more...and all this happened in homes where they weren't raised going to church!?! Then there is the egg rolling tradition. Decorate hard boiled eggs (sounds familiar!) then have contests rolling them down hills (and mountains in some cases!). In talking to some friends today, we discovered this tradition came about as the rolling egg symboling the rock from the tomb being rolled away...and this is taught to the kids in school!!! Also, there is Easter Monday here, which I don't get at all. It really seems just like an excuse to get an extra day off work. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the most interesting part of all...pretty much every professional business around gets a four day weekend to celebrate the holiday. This DEFINITELY doesn't happen in America! Then there are the hot cross buns that only make an appearance for Easter. They are basically sweetened rolls with a marzipan "x" (or cross) on them. Interesting...this really is the only response I can come up with!

One thing that resonates in my mind through all this is America practices less religion than other countries. I don't mean we percentage wise have less believers in Jesus or anything like that, but we tend to shy away from old school religious practices. Why is this? (And I definitely don't consider it a bad thing when I ask this question.) Is it because we are a country founded on religious freedom? After all, the colonists were trying to flee from the people I am talking about above! Or is it because of Christianity not being allowed to be taught in schools? I just find it very interesting how much unchurched, un"religious" people know over here about the most important holiday for Christ followers. I mean come on, easter egg hunts have only made their way over here in the past few years!

But to end all this madness, I would like to say Happy Easter! No matter how you or I celebrate Easter, the bottom line is I am certainly glad God sent His only son to die for me! It is an act I will never forget.

The Puzzle of Life

I am a person who believes we will never know the full impact of our lives, of our actions. Sometimes it takes years to get a "result" out of something we did. Sometimes we never know the true purpose behind something we did.

In 2001, my dad and I traveled to Southeast Asia to meet up with some missionary friends. Our travels took us to a few countries, but my story today is going to focus on Burma. I don't remember a lot about the country. I do remember feeling oppression from the minute we got there and being a bit freaked out the whole time we were there. Being a Christian there is illegal. The government is so freaky and controlling that there are no schools in the country. While there, we went to a couple churches and met some of the leaders. We also went and saw their Bible college. At one point, we had a meal in one of the leaders homes. None of the women were allowed to sit at the table and eat with the men, with the exception of myself and the missionary wife. Awkward! To make matters even worse, the women walked around the table fanning us to keep us cool while we ate! And, in case you are wondering, the women and children ate in another room. But back to the true purpose of my story...

Back to 2009...this week, a friend of my parents called and said he had bought something off ebay that was in LA. He knew my parents were down there and asked if they could swing by and pick it up, as it was a fragile item and he was afraid it would break in transit. My parents, being the great friends that they are, said yes. When they went to pick up the item, they met a really nice Southeast Asian man. Since my family has traveled the area so much, my dad asked where he was from. Turns out he was from Burma. So, my dad told him he had been to Burma and talked about what he was there for. To make a long story short, one of the pastors/leaders we were with over in Burma (even spent the most time with), was his uncle! Such a small world! Then, the guy found out my dad works for the Foursquare Church and told my dad his parents were former Foursquare pastors! Since his parents lived with him, he had his parents come meet my parents. His parents were thrilled to meet them.

What I really want to say from this story is that had my dad never gone to Burma, he would have never connected with these people. They felt so blessed having met and prayed with my parents. So what was the true purpose of the trip? Was it what actually happened while we were in Burma? Or was it for this connection to happen 8 years later? That's the greatness about life. You never know how the puzzle fits together!

America

Growing up in America, you always hear of American classics like apple pie, hot dogs and Chevrolet, but I never really thought of America as having a culture. It is such a mix of people from different backgrounds, with different cultures that it has created its own culture without me even realizing it.

My first crash course in American culture really came when I moved to Scotland. Learning to do things differently, say things differently, spell things differently and eat different foods...I realized I had been raised a certain way, and that was the American way. Then talking to people over here and realizing that most people think life is like what they see in the movies. They think most Americans are gun toting, Christmas caroling, car driving, big portion eating, obese people. But, there is so much more to America than that.

Ian and I started watching a BBC series, Steven Fry in America, where this British guy drives a black cab (common taxis over here) through all 50 states. Many of the things he does along the way are interesting, and some quite random. But, things other people find odd, make me feel nostalgic and miss the place I call home. It's things like Friday night football games, Thanksgiving, Abraham Lincoln, immigration, hot dogs and more that I see on this show that make me miss my home. It makes me realize that America really does have a culture. Living there, I never really thought we did. But not living there, I realize how much we truly do.