DAY 2

I will have a photo to add by the end of the weekend. I'm just too tired to upload photos right now.

Why the world is beautiful today:

Reunited love.

My dear friend, Heather, and her husband, Mike, were reunited after a few months of his deployment in Afghanistan. Unfortunately, he's only home for a couple of weeks. Heather is a special sort of lady (we're very similar, if that makes "special" any clearer, haha), and Mike is her prefect complement. It's so fabulous to see them together again!

These Forty Days

Hello, readers!

Ok, I've promised to blog consistently, well, since I've had a blog. I have also failed every single time.

While considering how miserable I'd be giving up meat for Lent, rationalizing just giving up land animals, blah blah blah, I realized that sacrificing is lame. I generally have an ulterior motive of something very selfish (e.g. weight loss). Was Jesus selfish? Nah, he was nailed to a giant piece of freakin' wood so I wouldn't spend forever in a fiery world playing poker with Hitler. So why should I make my Lent all about me?

Conclusion: For every day of Lent, I will document one beautiful thing in the world that makes me happy. I'm going to try to add a picture for each one, too. That part will begin tomorrow.

DRRRRRUMROLLLLL

Today, March 9, 2011, Ash Wednesday:

ashes on strangers' foreheads

I love to see ashes on other people's foreheads. It's wonderful to share a knowing smile that we love the same God, share the same traditions of celebrating our faith, and enjoy the same sideways looks from non-Catholics that always say, "um, there's some stuff on your face."

Happy Lent, folks!

late night post

I thought I'd post a nice blog after a wonderful night with friends. It was Kathy's birthday, and we had a fabulous fiesta with fajitas and all the fixin's (except guacamole, which is a sore subject--I will never buy organic avacados again). On to the real post:

I have thought a lot about marriage lately (please be prepared for a very honest post). The only successful marriage i know well is the Cookes. I spent a week with them last week. They VERY graciously flew me down for a week, and I had the time of me life. I was pleased to see they were still the happy, goofy-in-love couple I remembered, but it made me a little sad. I am a bitter, jaded, anti-marriage woman at 23 years old. I'm sure many of you would laugh and say this is a phase, but I'm convinced it's very justified. The only really positive example of what a loving, happy, FUNCTIONAL relationship I have is the Cookes. I don't mean to put them on the spot, and I certainly don't mean to discount anyone else's relationship, but when I think of the marriage I want, Laura and Andrew come to mind. They're SO different. I'm SO much like Laura. They give me the slightest amount of hope that I won't be the crazy cat lady with 12 adopted children. If you're a reader I don't know about (or one I do) that has a happy marriage, please tell me your tips. I can't even commit to trying a new brand of whole wheat pasta (I'm loyal to Ronzoni), let alone commit to dating someone for more than two weeks.

Dear readers, if you're in a less-than-happy marriage, I'm praying for you; however, if you're in a marriage that makes you thank God every day, please let me know. I'm in need of some positive stories right now. "Mr. Right" is a silly idea to me, so some practical advice/words or encouragement are needed more than fairy tale promises.

If 5th Graders Had My Job

As the final portion of my internship, I have the task of choosing ten outstanding and creative essays (or, as one little girl called them, "S.A."s) from the 5th graders in Monroe County. Their prompt was: "How would you end hunger & homelessness?"

OH

MY

LORD

they are cute.

and weird.

In many of the essays, the parents' political persuasions are pretty obvious. In others, I can tell that one proud kid annouced, a bit too loudly, his/her perfect idea, which was then repeated in ten other essays. Little shits. Many of the essays are just repeats of the same few ideas, but I thought I'd share some of the gems I've found so far:

• have a charitable "festibal," featuring a show of volunteers with "wacky talents," and give all of the proceeds to the homeless to go to college for at least two, but no more than four, years. With this education, they could get jobs that pay "proximy [approximately] $15-$25/hour. That's over $100/day!"
• have a charitable marathon (the marathon for cancer research, a huge event in Bloomington, was the week before they wrote the essays)
• make the homeless and hungry wear identifying tshirts so people would know who to help (reminiscent of Nazi Germany, but maybe they haven't covered that in History class yet...)
• a little socialist after my own heart wants to make huge charitable donations (to the hungry, homeless, and poor ONLY) mandatory for millionaires (remember the parents' political persuasion thing?).
• make signs that say "end homelessness" and "feed the hungry"
• make tshirts that say "end homelessness" and "feed the hungry"
• make tshirts with turkeys on the front that say "feed the hungry"
• make tshirts that say "will eat for food" (???)
• create a caveman-like society for the homeless and hungry so they can "work together to hunt, fish, and search for fruit[s] and vegetables."
• hire experienced, professional survival specialists to help said society
• migrate said societies in cold states to "sunshine states" in the winter (ok kid, turn the tv off. you've had enough Bear Grylls for a lifetime.)
• give every veteran $100 because they served our country and deserve a fresh start (remember the parents' political persuasion thing again?)
• every sale imaginable: lemonade, bake, garage, car wash, used clothes "that aren't all tore up for the homeless to wear"
• collect food for people who "have to live on the streets or have to live in boxes."
• give the hungry food so "they can be happy and not look grose [gross] because you can see their rib cage."
• "if you have any scraps left over, you can put it in a container and give it to the homeless." The table scraps idea was pretty popular.
• put the homeless in nursing homes
• stop firing people from their jobs
• give a stimulus package to hungry and homeless people (why are you watching CNN, little girl? Watch some freakin' cartoons!)
• have teachers and college students tutor the homeless (it should be noted that this young boy's explanation of the cause of homelessness was when parents are uneducated and fight, then th mother moves in with her parents, then the grandparents can't handle the kids in the house anymore and kick them out--bam. homelessness. experience speaking?)
• install solar panels for heating and air conditioning on metal shipping crates and let the homeless live in them. Arrange the shipping crates in a circular neighborhood with a community garden in the middle. (How freaking adorable--and weird.)
• collect canned goods for the hungry, recycle the empty cans of food, then give the money to the homeless.

Ok, these kids are a complete riot. I can't say I've found more than five solid, unique ideas, but the idea of the essay was to get the kids thinking about the issues.

I did discover one very important thing through reading these essays:

MY CHILDREN WILL NOT GO TO PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

The composition, grammar, and punctuation is so atrocious that I feel nauseated. I will speak no further on the matter. HOMESCHOOOOOOL

I hope you enjoyed these little dears' ideas as much as I did!

Sitting in Class

I'm sitting in class, learning NOTHING, and resisting the calculation of how much I'm paying per minute to blog through class. Piece of paper. Piece of paper. Piece of paper. Once I can add that additional line to my resume, some idiot will be willing to pay me several thousand dollar more each year. Grad school is an investment, right? Riiiight?

My professor keeps talking directly to me because I am one of the, hm, three people who ever comment or ask a question. He's a genuinely nice guy, but I think we're all SO sick of theory. We're going to graduate and have little more knowledge of how to run a nonprofit than when we did before we came to SPEA. That's freaking concerning.

On an entirely separate note, I've started a pretty solid gym routine, and my thighs HURT. I can't really move them inward or outward without a whimper. I'm hoping to combat the big scary weight gain that come with Depo. It already makes me an emotional freak (I cried during a cell phone commercial last night because they used picture messaging to find a little girl's puppy). I talked to the doctor about it, and she said, "oh, hunny, that's pretty much exactly what you'll be like when you're pregnant. It's the same amount of the same hormone--you better get used to it." Get used to it? Get used to it?! She better get used to a punch in the face. FIX ME, LADY! I feel bad for the poor schlub who knocks me up. God help that poor man.

My brother comes home from Iraq really soon! Mom drove up to NY to hang out with Steph and Anthony, and Doug will join them in a couple of weeks. Between Christmas and New Year, Doug, Steph, and my adorable, chubby-cheeked nephew are visiting Ohio! Many of you know that I haven't met little Anthony yet, so you can imagine how pumped I am! I am the aunt that smothers her babies in hugs and kisses and messy toys that annoy their parents. I can't wait to snuggle this little guy. I feel sorry for everyone else around, because I'm snatching my nephew up and never letting him go.

Oh, sweet Jesus, I still have 20 minutes left of class. Shoot me. I'm going to Facebook for a while and gchat with the rest of the people in the room. Oh, higher education.

I Have a Crush On My Job

I love my internship. I have a big giant crush on the work we do. If it was an above average-looking, brown-haired man with ambitions and a strong love of family and God, I'd marry it.

My coworkers are hilarious, our residents are the sweetest kids God ever put on the planet, and I also spend my day laughing and playing. I spend a good portion of my day trying to look busy. I have my gmail up on another tab, and frequently click back to it and mutter things like, "Jesus, why haven't these people emailed me back?" and "Ugh, why does no one care about homeless youth?" Everyone knows I'm just faking it, mostly because they're faking it, too. It's a fun game we all play. Working in this business has a lot of down time and a lot of fast-paced get-your-shit-together time. It's an interesting balance. Working with these kids is a lot like parenting--screw all of you older folks who complain about teenagers all the damn time--I love them! They call contantly for silly reasons, have life-altering problems (like being late to a movie or running out of orange juice), and get into friendship-ending fights that are forgotten the next day. I couldn't ask for a better group of people to hang out with.

That's really all I had to say. Sometimes I just have to gush. :o)

Another Summer of Saving the World

My internship freaking ROCKS. I think I should probably begin with that bit of information. I wear jeans and flip flops, we have a full kitchen, my coworkers are total riots, and part of my job is to just hang out with a bunch of teenagers. DANG. I can NEVER find a job like Freedom Schools, but I think this summer is going to be wonderful. I have already built a bit of rapport with a couple of the kids, and I spent an hour this morning just talking with one of them.

I have a BAD habit of vocalizing my critiques of grammar and punctuation, and I was doing it today. One of my coworkers very calmly said, "You know, Suzzy, that's a really long document, and although it may need a lot of work, you might want to be kind of careful about critiquing out loud in case someone's feelings are hurt." I realized I was a total jackass. I would never want to hurt someone, so I'm glad she pointed it out to me. She was very sweet, but got the point across. If that is an indication of how the organization is, I'm hooked.

On another note, I'M GETTING A CAR! It's no Ferrari, so don't get all excited that I'm going to visit you every weekend (those of you who live outside of Btown), but I can go Kroger any time I need groceries instead of waiting for a friend to need to go. I can also drive to work on rain days (I have discovered that I love taking the bus to work). A really importantpart of my job is being a useful resource for the kids, including driving them to appointments, job interviews, or just shopping. I am SOOOOO thankful to Aunt Laura and Uncle Don for giving me such an AMAZING gift (and Michael for giving up his old baby)! YOU ROCK and I LOVE YOU!

I have a ton of take-home work to do, so I'm going to wrap things up.


Until next time,

TA-TAAAAA!