I've Got Your Boarding Pass!

Hello and it's good to back on the blogosphere :)


Okay, so, I spent this past week going back and forth between Wisconsin and Illinois for the Thanksgiving holiday and for the wedding of my older brother. One might think, "Oh, a week off from work to have Thanksgiving with the family of your brother's fiancée (now wife) and for the wedding! How relaxing!" Oh, how I dreamt of relaxing! We baked and cooked for all the people who were coming into Wisconsin the day of Thanksgiving, then after that, we had to do all things wedding: rehearsal dinner, tuxes, shoes, manicures, pedicures, hair, make-up, pictures (I slipped and fell into mud when we were taking wedding party pictures and barely missed getting mud onto my dress), so on and so forth and it was all so beautiful!!

Anyhow, though I enjoyed myself greatly at the wedding, the wedding itself and all things related are not the purpose of this blog.

This past Monday was the day that a majority of my family left Wisconsin and left all things cold, wet, cheese, and beer related to come back to the great and beautiful Land of Enchantment known as New Mexico. First, we flew out of Milwaukee to Pheonix (why there was no direct flight to Albuquerque, I don't know), then from Pheonix to Albuquerque. Well, we had a nearly two hour layover in Pheonix, so we all had lunch and hung out, and sporadically, a few of us decided to take a walk before our flight home. My cousin, Andrés, and I were a couple of the first people to decide to take a stroll (anyone who knows the two of us will agree that we can be a dangerous pair, due us not always being the most observant people).

First, we stopped at Starbuck's for coffee, then we walked wherever there were those escalator-like walkways (I saw a guy who looked very much like Robert Downey, JR on one of them ... I didn't say anything 'cause I didn't want to embarress myself ... it probably wasn't him), then we strolled into the Borders that was there in the airport and schmoozed with the employees there and we both made a purchase, then I bought a bottle of water and he looked around in the electronics store. Then Andrés said that we should probably head back (I'm assuming that he looked at his cell phone (I have not concept of time because I somehow forgot my phone charger at our hotel in Illinois, therefore, was forced to let my cell phone die a slow death)) and it's at this point that everything gets interesting.

We head back in the direction that we came from and when we got to the corridor that we had made a turn in was when we realized that we had not only walked away from our gate, but had completely walked out of customs and past security into the main concourse (which is why we were able to go to Borders and buy stuff). So, the only way for us to get back to our gate was to go through security ... again. Now, Andrés was smart and had his boarding pass and I wasn't so smart and didn't have my boarding pass, so we were pretty sure I wouldn't be able to get through without my boarding pass, but we still decided to ask if I could still get throught without it ... it was a no go. Andrés decides to go through security and wait for me and I decide to go down to the 2nd level (security and all of the boarding gates were on level 3) and go to the airline check-in and have a new boarding pass printed (mind you, I have no concept as to what time it is and no concept as to how much time I have, all I know is that I need to get a new boarding pass and get back to my gate as quickly as possible).

When I get to the check-in line, there was an employee directing people and he asked if I had any luggage to check in and I told him my pathetic story and he said just to go back up to the 3rd floor and go the kiosk and he said to either insert my driver's license or debit/credit card into the kiosk and it should allow me to print a new boarding pass without having to enter my flight confirmation number, so I went back to the third floor and followed his directions. The stupid kiosk wouldn't do anything. So I tried again. And again. Every single time I entered my driver's licensed into the kiosk, it only gave me options for rapid rewards or enter confirmation number, and a couple other options I don't remember, and I was definitely not going to insert my debit card out of fear of something getting charged to my account. I then attempted to my dad on the cell phone of a stranger who was nice enough to allow me to use his fancy blackberry (it took me a little while to figure out how to use the stupid machine) just to get my dad's answering machine.

I go back to the airline's check-in and the man who gave the directions to me sees me walking back to him and we get back to talking and I explain what happened and he directs me to the "express check-in" outside (mind you, this the end of November in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the sky is overcast and the temperature is 40 degrees F at best), so I go outside and stand in the extremely short line of the express check-in and take notice of an extremely attractive employee (how could I not notice? He was very handsome and had the most beautiful eyes). So, there I am waiting for the next person to help me when Mr. Handsome walks up to me and asks how he could help me (many things crossed my mind, but I decided to stick strictly to business), so I responded that I lost my boarding pass and all of my things had already been checked on, so if he print me a new boarding pass, that would quite nice. So he prints me a new pass and says to me with a straight face, "So, it's $25 for a new boarding pass, and that's without tax, then there's gratuities, which would be quite nice if ..." and while he's saying this, I'm thinkging, "No frieking way! Are you kidding me?" There many other things that went through my mind, but I'll keep my blog child friendly. I reach down for my wallet, I'm still looking at him and I must have this look that says "Take back your statement or go to hell," because before I get my wallet out, he smiles this big smile, begins to laugh, and says he's kidding, and tells me to hurry to my gate before the plane leaves and God bless.

So, I then sprint up the stairs to the 3rd level and get to security, then right when the officer finishes checking my id and boarding pass, the security supivisor, whom Andrés and I had spoken to earlier about me possibly getting through security without a boarding pass, comes rushing over to me saying, "Ma'am! I've got your boarding pass! I've got your boarding pass!" Bless her soul! I think she was stressing about me getting through as much as I was! What happened was, after time kept creeping by and I hadn't come through security yet, Andrés had ran back to our gate and got my boarding pass and ran back to get it to me. I get through security and didn't put my flops back and Andrés asked why I didn't put them on and I responded that there was no way I could run with them on, so we run back to our gate and we were the last two people to board the plane.

What a lovely way to end vacation.

Possibilites of Life and Living

Hello world!!

It's been far too long since my last blog. I'm feeling rather rusty in terms of writing down my thoughts for the whole blogosphere to read, but hey, whatev. So, I guess welcome back to the musings of a muse, for there is definitely plenty to muse over ;0)

Many may know this, while at the same time, many may not know this, I am currently in the application process of joining an organization called Servant Partners, though the actual application has been finished, there are a few things I must do before sending that paperwork in. What, or who, is Servant Partners you ask? Well, let me tell you the basics. Servant Partners is an organization that gets people plugged into slum communities in the U.S. and countries around the world, and not only do they get plugged into the communities, but they try to work with the people in the communities and build them up that will bring benefit to them and work with the people in ways that the people need help in and in ways that the people feel like they need help with and not following the thought process of "one mold fits all." Another thing that the organization does is bringing up strong, biblically based pastors from the communities to lead local churches instead of bringing in pastors from elsewhere that are unfamiliar with the culture of the specific communities that the churches are located in, and possibly, the countries the churches are located in. So that's the extremely basic gist of what the organization does.

A few people have asked me how I came across this specific organization and I feel that this question is a total legit question. Back in 2006, went to missions conference called Urbana and Urbana is put on every three years by InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, then I heard about Servant Partners again in 2007 at a Latino conference called La Fe, which is also put on every three years by InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. The whole process definitely has a God-ordained feel to it, though I will have to wait and see when I finish all of the odds and ends, but from 2006 till now, though the excitement I am feeling is very unique because I don't think I have ever experienced excitement quite like this before. I do believe the whole process began when I was in Thailand during the summer of 2006, volunteering at a Christian rehabilitation center for prostitutes and former prostitutes, teaching basic English and math, doing Bible studies, helping with the micro-businesses that the rehab center has so that these women can have a source of income, among other things, then having gone to Urbana later that year, then having gone to La Fe then next year and having met someone from Servant Partners at both conferences, I do believe that my situation is God-ordained, not coincidence. I guess it depends on perspective.

So, may the musings begin.

Con Paz, Paciencia, y Fe (With Peace, Patience, and Faith)

Cynthia

Bring Thy Glory, Lord Jesus! We Await Thee!

So, today is Ash Wednesday. For those of you who are absolutely clueless as to what that means, it means that today is the first day of Lent, which means that after today, there are 39 days left till Easter. For those of you who are absolutely clueless to what Lent is, it is a period of abstinence, reflection, and drawing closer to G - d (kind of like Ramadan, but we don't break our abstinence at the end of the day. There are actually many differences and similarities, but I really don't know enough about Islam to go into that discussion).

For many people, Lent is just something that is done every single year before Easter and they give up something because they have to because the church says so, not really drawing closer to G - d or really thinking about what G - d did and why Easter even exists. They do Lent because it is Tradition. Now, there is absolutely nothing wrong with tradition, but there is something wrong when tradition is what it's all about and people put tradition over G - d. I have a problem with that. I know many people who are Catholic and Eastern Orthodox, a lot of the people in my family are Catholic and there a few people in my family who are Russian Orthodox and at Lent it's a bit obvious (well, I think it's obvious) who is giving up something because they have to and who is giving up something because they want to draw closer to G - d. For some people, it's like a show, who can complain the loudest, who is the "most holy," while others don't really talk about it because they feel it's something that's between them and G - d or they don't talk about it all because "it's none of you business, thank you very much ((that's the edited version of what a Catholic classmate said to me in a college English class))."

Now, I'm officially not Catholic, but I do have Catholic tendencies. I do follow the tradition of Lent not because it is a tradition that my family has done generation after generation, not because my family has done for centuries (literally, centuries), but because it brings a different dynamic to my Christian faith, there is a beauty to giving something up and learning to live without something and "suffering" a little bit and seeing G - d through the hunger and desire for the thing and learning to rely on Father more. The things I'm giving up are sugar, beef, and pork, things that I've already been giving up for a month or so, but feel that I should continue to live without. I do not bring this up because I want pity or because I want to make myself look pious and have people think, "Oh, she's setting lofty goals." No, that's not why I mention what I'm fasting, I mention this because I want the accountability. It's easier to fool one person than to fool five or more people.

There are many things that can be said on this topic, but I won't go there. I leave this topic to be contemplated by others who are more willing to tear it apart and put it back together in a tactful manner.
I leave you with this: The prayer that G - d listened to was not the prayer that was prayed by the proud, conceited religious man, who prayed so that people would look at him and say, "Oh, he is so holy and loves G - d." No, G - d listened to the prayer that was the most sincere, and not only was it the most sincere, but it was prayed by the least respectable person.

Paz

The Whereabouts of a Certain Alley off of Memory Lane

Today has been a day for me to relax and stroll down memory lane, which is nice because I haven't had much opportunity to thoroughly go through the archives of my mind in awhile. There was one alley off of memory lane that I was reminded of this past Thursday evening. Some people may remember this and some people may not know this, but I spent six weeks in Thailand during the summer of 2006 and four of those weeks I spent volunteering and helping at a rehab center for former prostitutes in Bangkok, called The Well. Well, this past Thursday, one of the ladies that I met at the rehab center who was also volunteering, but through a different organization, Celeste, is in the U.S. and visited the college group that I'm currently apart of and spoke about prostitution in Thailand.

After the meeting, she and some of others that went to Thailand and I spoke for awhile and set up a time to meet for dinner the next day. So, Friday we went to this really good restaurant called Cervantes and met up with another lady that I had met at
rehab center who had volunteered there the same time I did, Tara, and we all talked, ate good food, remembered, laughed and fell in love with Thailand all over again. Tara and I were talking and she asked me if I would ever go back to Thailand and I though about it for a moment and realized that there have been moments over the past couple of years where the thought of going back had come into my mind without my bidding, and I told her about this and told that I wasn't sure when I would go back if it truly was the will of G - d for me to go back.

Many different conversations were had Friday night, memories of people, memories of excursions, of gross things that had happened to us. It was fun to see old friends and relate with each other.

Now today, today I've been thinking about all of these things and have re-discovered my pictures of Thailand and have re-told the stories behind each picture to myself and remember all the joy and happiness that I experienced with new found friends and remember all of the pain and despair in the eyes of the women and some of the men that I met who were in, possibly still are, prostitution and the desire to help them is brought back.

Curbsided Prophecies and Whatever Comes With Them

"I'm just a curbside prophet with my hand in my pocket and I'm waiting for my rocket to come."

- Jason Mraz

"Could you be loved? And be Love?"

- Bob Marley

"Don't worry about a thing 'cause every little thing 'gon be alright."
- Bob Marely

Sometimes I feel like a prophet standing on the curb, ready to speak the words of God and take the world by storm... then I realize I'm not so prophetic and I'm sometimes just another person standing on the curb. (Now, I'm not saying that I'm unimportant and I'm not doing the whole "Oh! Woe is me!!!" I'll do that silently. At a different time.) When I come upon the realizations that I'm not the curbside prophet speaking out to people, it's at these times that other realizations come upon me that I'm the curbside prophet with the chalk in hand drawing things on the ground, steps and walls. It seems like the times that I'm able to speak in any kind of way that is influential, helpful, or "prophetic"/spiritual are when I'm doing art or music. God always seems to create a connection in the art that He inspires in me and the point He wants to make to me and/or to other people.

There was this one art class that I enjoyed, absolutely loved it. The class was 2-D Design. Totally awesome. Now, one of the assignments in the class was to do a "series" of paintings, two abstract and two "still life." We were given a list of options that we could do for the abstracts and a list of options to choose from for the still life paintings. One of the options for the still life was the topic of "war." When I saw this, I thought to myself, "I'm going to try this, though I have no idea how to do a still life on war." Well, the painting ended up being slightly abstract, but my instructor accepted it as it was and I got a really good grade on that particular painting. Now, the reason why I mention this painting on war is because it seems like, a lot of times, hatred is one of the roots of war. I may be wrong, I have not really studied anthropology or history or anything of the like, but I am human, when I don't really like someone, I don't always treat them right, even though I should. There is absolutely, positively no love in the concept of war. It's extremely easy to not like someone, it's extremely easy to hate someone and be mean to someone, but when it comes to love, love is so, extremely hard. It's hard loving the people that a person truly loves and cares about, let alone loving the people they don't like. And being lovable, that's pretty hard as well. What else can I say? It's hard. And it hurts.

Now, it's all going to be okay. I think that we as people can stress a little too much about things... especially if a person is a perfectionist, because there is that drive to do things right and to keep it that way. Things are bound to go wrong, things are bound to break, I know at some point I'm going to say something totally stupid and off the wall right in front of an extremely handsome man that I am extremely attracted to and after I make the stupid comment, I know I'm going to turn ten different shades of red and then run to the bathroom and cry. Life happens and because life happens, we just have to let it roll off our backs like water rolls off of a duck's back and keep walking forward and not stress the little things or the big things.

Peace

Beautiful Music Only Happens When Community Happens

There are three things that I absolutely love. Aside from my love for God, my family, and friends, there are three things that I talk about. A lot. Those three things? Soccer, music, and art. People who know me always fall prey to my ranting about these three things and I'm quite surprised no one has told me to keep my trap shut about them yet. Now, I have played soccer and done track and field, I have had some formal training in music and art, so I have experienced a little bit of the community that surrounds these walks of life. Community is huge, it is beautiful when it is done right, and it is absolutely necessary.

I love the soccer community, I really do. I've only been to two international "friendly" games (basically, scrimmages for international teams), but I've watched European club games and important international games on the television and to hear the chanting and the songs being sung (and I can imagine the insults and cursings being flung at the opposing team) and people hugging each other and waving banners and screaming until their voices go hoarse when their teams score, I see something beautiful, I see community.
In the summer of 2008, one of the biggest tournaments in European soccer happened:

The UEFA - EURO 2008



(Now, I know all of you American football watching men are all yawning at the thought of soccer, but this stuff is amazing!! 3 billion + followers can't be wrong.)

The Sunday of the Final, my twin brother and I went a local Italian restaurant, Saggio's, which is the place to go for all major televised sporting events like this. We were there about an hour before the game started just so we could get a seat, otherwise we'd be standing the entire 90+ minute game. And the community we experienced with other soccer lovers of all ethnic and linguistic backgrounds! Basically, it was amazing.

The video I posted, I feel, speaks clearly how community should be: cooperative, willing, sometimes free-wheeling. There are some people that are extremely easy to work with, to talk with, to "be in community" with, whatever that means. People that are approachable no matter what and that are able to approach you no matter what (I'm not sure if I'm one of those people). There are also people that are extremely hard to work with, hard to talk to, are un-approachable, and repell people like a skunk does he walks through a campground.

As Eric Cantona says in the video, "You can only make beautiful music if you know how to play in an orquestra."

To create a good, functioning community, people need to know how to work together, support each other, use their talents and abilities not only for themselves, but for everyone around them.

Who Knew? I Didn't.

I've never understood relationships.


Never.


With this lack of understanding, I tend to wreak havoc on the relationships that I desire to maintain and the relationships I need to maintain in a healthy way. Especially my family. Honestly, I'm quite surprised I haven't been given a notice of eviction yet. So here I am, sitting at my computer bawling my eyes out because I can't seem to hold a normal conversation with my own mother without it turning into an argument over who knows what and why.

Relationships are just so hard to maintain in a healthy, appropriate way because every single person deals with situations differently. I am one of those people that needs an hour or two or three to think over what had just happened and why it happened and how it turned so sour so quick, whereas a majority of the people in my immediate family are, for the most part in their own individual ways, the kind of people that usually come out of a fight/argument/disagreement, then five minutes later are trying to reconcile themselves with the other person. This is something that doesn't go over very well with me because of my needing extra time to process everything.

Communication is another huge issue. I am constantly failing in this department because I internalize. My thinking process doesn't help at a lot either because, for the most part, I think in general concepts, ideas, and pictures, and when a person thinks way, it's a little bit harder to translate the thought into words, it takes a little bit longer to get the information out. This gets me into a lot of trouble sometimes because I start rambling on and on, trying to find the right words, causing the listener(s) to either become uninterested in what I have to say and stop listening or become annoyed by my rambling. I'm not really one of those ramblers that try to fill the silence.


I don't mind silence. . . actually, I prefer silence. I like silence because silence doesn't require me to talk.



I feel that I have rambled enough about nothing and now feel that I must say goodnight to the world wide web and all who inhabit it.

So until next time, Buenas Noches.

Entertainment Titled 'E-mail'

I always enjoy funny and cute e-mails and I love to spread the joy of those e-mails with the internet community by forwarding them to people I know. This is an e-mail that one of my co-workers at the credit union sent me and I thought it was quite amusing. So enjoy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank God for church ladies with errant keyboard skills. These sentences actually appeared in church bulletins or were announced in church services.

Weight Watchers will meet at 7 PM at St. Martin's Church. Please use the large double doors at the side
entrance.

The Fasting & Prayer Conference includes meals.

The sermon this morning: "Jesus Walks on the Water."
The sermon tonight "Searching for Jesus."

Our youth basketball team is back in action Wednesday at 8 PM in the recreation hall. Come out and watch us kill Christ the King.

Ladies, don't forget the rummage sale. It's a chance to get rid of those things not worth keeping around
the house. Don't forget your husbands.

The peacemaking meeting scheduled for today has been canceled due to a conflict.

Remember in prayer the many who are sick of our community. Smile at someone who is hard to love. Say "Hell" to someone who doesn't care much about you.

Don't let worry kill you off - let the Church help.

Miss Charlene Mason sang "I will not pass this way again," giving obvious pleasure to the congregation.

For those of you who have children and don't know it, we have a nursery downstairs.

Next Thursday there will be tryouts for the choir. They need all the help they can get.

Barbara remains in the hospital and needs blood donors for more transfusions. She is also having trouble
sleeping and requests tapes of Father Jack's sermons.

The Priest will preach his farewell message after which the choir will sing "Break Forth Into Joy."

Irving Benson and Jessie Carter were married on October 24 in the church. So ends a friendship that began in their school days.

At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be "What Is Hell?" Come early and listen to our choir practice.

Eight new choir robes are currently needed due to the addition of several new members and to the
deterioration of some older ones.

Scouts are saving aluminum cans, bottles and other items to be recycled. Proceeds will be used to cripple
children.

Please place your donation in the envelope along with the deceased person you want remembered.

The church will host an evening of fine dining, super entertainment and gracious hostility.

Potluck supper Sunday at 5:00 PM - prayer and medication to follow.

The ladies of the Church have cast off clothing of every kind. They may be seen in the basement on Friday afternoon.

This evening at 7 PM there will be a hymn singing in the park across from the Church. Bring a blanket and come prepared to sin.

Ladies Bible Study will be held Thursday morning at 10 AM. All ladies are invited to lunch in the Fellowship Hall after the B.S. is done.

The pastor would appreciate it if the ladies of the congregation would lend him their electric girdles for
the pancake breakfast next Sunday.

Low Self Esteem Support Group will meet Thursday at 7 PM. Please use the back door.

The eighth-graders will be presenting Shakespeare's Hamlet in the church basement Friday at 7 PM. The
congregation is invited to attend this tragedy.

The Priest unveiled the church's new tithing campaign slogan last Sunday: "I Upped My Pledge - Up Yours!

The First of Many Musings

Now, who knew that I would start a blog? Definitely not me, but since I'm not always coming into contact with my friends and family on an extremely regular basis, this might be a good thing. Hopefully.

Now, many people have known that I have been working, but it seems that I have failed to keep people up to date on my whereabouts in concerns to work. As of October of this past year, 2008 (it's so weird to call 2008 last year!), I've been working at a credit union as a teller. Mind you, working at a financial institution as a teller is no easy thing, because, especially in the economic turmoil the world over is in, people want their money to be safe and, especially if dealing with a large sums of money, it can be very easy to make a mistake. Trust me.

I definitely cannot complain about my job, I can't, it's not possible. Now, there are days when I'm just not in a good mood and I don't want to deal with people and there are days when some of the members of the credit union get on my nerves and days when my co-workers annoy (and no doubt days that I annoy my co-workers). These are normal. I can't complain about the job because it's a good job, a better paying job than the other jobs that I have had, and it is a blessing job because there a people all across the United States, and all across the world, that do not have jobs. I am truly blessed.

So, the day was a short workday because of my having to go to some extra training for work and it did not take as long as was expected, so I'm able to hang out for pretty much the rest of the day and hem my too long pants for my too short legs. Being short is not fun at times because I'll find pants that I like, but cannot find pants in the length that I need. It always seems to work out that way, all the pairs of trousers and pants where the length is correct either don't fit me properly or I don't like them, then the trousers and pants that fit me for the most part and that I like, the length is too long. Interestingly though, I was talking with my supervisor, who is short like myself, and my manager, who is tall unlike myself, and we got onto the topic of hemming pants and they both told me about this stuff that could be used to hem pants without having to actually sew the pants! And it's cheap!! With this stuff, you would prepare the pants for hemming just like you would normally do, fold the pant legs to the length needed, iron them so they stay in place, get this stuff and place it in between the pieces of fabric and iron it!
Bada Bing. Anyhow.