Smallsimplicity's Weblog

Africa

smallsimplicity — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 01:30:52 +0000

It is so hard to focus on writing a paper about Grant Wood and to study for a test about all these naked pieces of art when I read about Kate and her amazing ministry in Uganda. Why do I care that the Rococo period of art was all about pastels and people cheating on their husbands when there are so many children out there wanting to be hugged and kissed and loved? What am I doing that is so important? Things pale in comparison to Africa.

I learned

smallsimplicity — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 05:07:07 +0000

I learned a lot today
I learned that dancing by yourself is harder when you want someone to be watching.
I learned that kissing trees is entirely okay.
I learned that earbuds and climbing mix.
I learned that alone walks with unplanned music are sometimes the best balm there is.
I learned that watching is okay when no one knows who you are.
I learned that boys are nice creatures. At least some of them.
I learned that my floor is caring.
I learned that people like to dance.
I learned that you can trust people.
I learned that everyone does not look at me, but some people do.
I learned that even shy people come out in unexpected ways.
I learned that they will take care of me.
I learned that I will take care of them.
I learned that college DJs know what dances are about more than high school-hired ones.
I learned that most good dancing songs are profane.
I learned that it isn’t okay to walk by yourself at night.
I learned that staying in is sometimes less fun than going out.
I learned that I love.

Trees

smallsimplicity — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 04:04:03 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/v/fY-ZoVMwGKM&hl=en&fs=1&”> name=”allowFullScreen” value=”true”>http://www.youtube.com/v/fY-ZoVMwGKM&hl=en&fs=1&” type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” allowscriptaccess=”always” allowfullscreen=”true” width=”560″ height=”340″>

OR, in case the coding/wordpress continues to be faulty:

http://vimeo.com/5583313

From, well, she’s not really my friend because I’ve never met her, but I read her blog.

Well, wouldn’t you?

smallsimplicity — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 20:24:15 +0000

So Susan Boyle. There’s no doubt that she looked horrid, because we had a conversation in Pysch class all about the stigmatization of people after her television debut. So she was a fabulous success and then she got a makeover (ehhh… More so to say she plucked her eyebrows and got glasses?). And then everyone went crazy. But REALLY, why the heck wouldn’t she? I mean come on. People who don’t look half as bad as she did get a makeover if they’re on television. Not to say she had to to be made to look like a typical television star to be one, but you know it helped because we is what we is, and we isn’t the most rational and discerning of peoples.

So what I’m saying is please stop making a Big Deal out of her because you know you would have done it yourself.

What a day for a day-dream

smallsimplicity — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 03:55:23 +0000

So I was playing basketball with some friends from Virginia in my drive way to-day, and all of a sudden they were yelling “ELLEN ELLEN LOOK!” and there was a
Sheep
In the middle of Alameda street
In all its black and white glory
About thirty seconds later a police car, an animal control van and my friend Dave came around the corner. Dave was bicycling along behind the chase, which seemed like fun so I decided to join along. Unfortunately we lost the sheep and the police, so Dave filled me on what was up with this
Sheep.
It escaped from a farm in Waterloo TWO weeks ago, and people have been chasing it ever since. They seemed pretty hot on its trail today though. Dave also saw the sheep scale a full grown man in order to escape…

I’m really hoping there is a Courier article on this phenomenon. How exactly does a sheep in the middle of a city escape capture for a fortnight?

But all in all, it was the most Iowa moment I’ve ever had.

Caravan

smallsimplicity — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 22:26:00 +0000

So I’m off on Caravan till next Sunday, in Colorado. We’re at this lodge place, and I’m going white water rafting and hiking and all sorts of stuff . If you’d like to message me (you should, it’s really fun to get the letters people send ), then you can just slip on over to http://cedarvalleystudents.org/mailcall.html and away you go!

Good Morning

smallsimplicity — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 14:45:56 +0000

So Good Morning America came to Cedar Falls this morning. It was cool… I got up at five, because they started to film at six, I guess. I don’t suppose I would have gone, except Crazy Girl knitting shop was having a knit in which I was going to be in, but then I got there late so I knitted on the side . I had no real asperations of being on television, but I did quite enjoy watching everyone. The girl with the upside down sign was my favourite. I didn’t know the man who came? His name was.. Sam? I think. Anyway. He looked rather pretentious and made me laugh. I couldn’t really hear much of what he was saying during the taping part, but I may have misheard “something something revitalizing downtown something something dragging people in to perform something something”. Oh well. I hope I was wrong. Cedar Falls is quite a nice place.

The best part was the 5:30 AM bikeride in. But the standing wasn’t bad.

Running

smallsimplicity — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 20:21:03 +0000

I think it might just be summer and being home more than usual, but I am feeling quite large and sedentary. In any case, I also feel the need to be more generally fit. Forrest runs, rather all the time, and there is a team of people at my church who are training for the Boston Marathon. Based on the glowing reviews I’ve gotten from everyone, running is fun and you get fitter. Yay.

I’ve decided to start with some basic goals:

I want to run/walk a mile three times a week
I’m not going to try and up my distance until I can run a whole mile without walking
I’m going to get a decent pair of running shoes, because I don’t fancy having back problems and such
Slow jogs=FTW

Realisations:

I’m kind of a lazy person, so this will take getting used to
I remember when Forrest started running, and his legs HURT REALLY BAD for about two weeks until he got them trained up
Running costs a little bit of money, for shoes and stuff, and I’m quite frugal. I’ll have to get over that, I expect.
I will need a LOT of patience. I’m not very good with that sometimes. I KNOW I’ll just be horrid at it when I first start, and I’ll probably run a block and then be absolutely just panting and gasping. But eventually I’ll get over it and be able to run a decent mile.
I have a few issues with sticktoitedness. I need to stick to this. That’s all.

I created an account on Runnersworld.com so I can log miles and such. I’m also supposed to log meals, but I don’t know how well that will go. I’ll try it out.

So. I’m going to go find some gym shorts, put a This American Life on my MP3 player, put my hair in pigtails and put on the most athletic-y shoes I own (I think someone told me they were soccer shoes? They don’t have cleats on them… But they were $1.25 at Goodwill ) and eh… Go at it?

Wish me luck…

POST FIRST RUN:
Haha. Well, I was dumb and calculated how far a mile from my house is… And forgot about coming back. So I ran/walked two miles. But I can deal with that. I walked most of the second one. Another thing: What does one wear running? I have this pair of gym shorts that I’d never worn before, and they fit quite ill… And then these ratty old white tanktop deals… Yeah. I think I cut quite the figure :-p. So. I think maybe I’ll walk the two miles tomorrow, just to warm up? Or walk first and then run a lot of the way home? I don’t know. I think this may be a discovering experience. But I like it

Personal Culture

smallsimplicity — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 22:06:37 +0000

Pending the imminent release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Emerson and Melissa were invited to have an exclusive no-holds barred interview with J.K. Rowling herself. Being the good webmasters that they are, they asked on one of the most queried points of the series: Do Harry and Hermione fall in love, or is it Hermione and Ron? When asked, Rowling laughed and said”Yes, we do now know that it’s Ron and Hermione. I do feel that I have dropped heavy hints. ANVIL-sized, actually, hints, prior to this point. I certainly think even if subtle clues hadn’t been picked up by the end of “Azkaban”, that by the time we hit Krum in “Goblet”…”.

Heavens. You’d have thought she was saying James and Lily weren’t even in love. The Ron/Hermione shippers (relation-SHIP), otherwise known as Herons (hahaha) celebrated in the streets. The HMS Harmony, however, was left to flounder. And did they. They got every last bit out of their disappointment they could, directing spite not only at Emerson and Melissa, but at J.K. Rowling herself, from slurs and libel to (currently still in operation) petitions to make her write it another way. All of this was ridiculous. Just out there. And it has shaped me into who I am today.

I think it is an amazing thing how each of us, while we are all part of the same world culture, the same country culture, the same state and town culture, are all wildly different when it comes down to personal experiences. I’ve had my pet cat die in my lap when I was ten, and that shaped me. Some of my friends have been on trips to Europe and seen amazing things that have shaped them. People have been whitewater rafting and almost drowned and never forgotten it. I went on the Hulk rollercoaster at Universal Studios which was a big deal and taught me that I can do things I’m petrified of. My friends have also gone on it and might have just taken away another positive rollercoaster riding experience.

It’s just so unique, you know? I love watching people I don’t know walk down the street and just thinking about how just like I have all these stories about going to Grandma’s house when I was eight and moving five times and the time I fell off my bike, they have stories too. They’re not just random people, they are people who have done things and seen things and who are completely different from everyone else. Isn’t God cool, how he did that? I still have a really hard time comprehending that no two snowflakes will ever be alike ever in the history of Iceland and Antartica and the North Pole and Iowa combined. I mean, that’s not an amount of snow to sneeze at.

$21 million

smallsimplicity — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:43:54 +0000

So Shaquille O’Neal has been traded to the Cavaliers (and there my knowlege ends), and in the article I read about it in it was mentioned that he will make $21 million next year. Twenty-One million. And since he’s well known (you have to be pretty out there for me to know your name), that means he’s been playing for a while. I know he didn’t start at $21, but he’s gotten there now and my big question is: What does he do with all that money? I mean, yes, you buy a house, you buy a nice car, you buy some cool clothes and you give some to charity. We’ll say that costs about $21 million. But then what? You already have a house, so that’s a decently one time cost (I would assume he doesn’t have a mortgage), and then clothes… Well I know people can have a lot of clothes, but he’s a man, so he can wear the same suit twice and no one will faint from overexposure. You buy a car, or heck, two cars. You know, a ferarri or something like that. And then you have them to drive to and from practice with. And then you start your own foundation and give money to that. Right. Good. Now we’ve MAYBE taken care of the $21 million. Except he make that in just one year. So what is he going to do with the rest of the years he’s played? As far as I know they don’t have an overwhemling gambling problem. So.

And then I hear about players being really put out that they get a paycut (Say from $21 million to $18 million). Whoa. I feel like their intrisic motivation for playing their sport has really been undercut by money here. What does it matter if you get a LESS-exhorbatent amount of money for doing something you love? What are you going to do with it all except save it?

Basically I wish that they would stop bellyaching about how hard their lives will be if they make $3 million less. Give me $3 million and I’ll live off that till I die.