Halloween

Halloween '07 - Yes, I'm pretty sure that's the face Little Red Riding Hood would make if she had to pose with someone who looked like that.



Halloween Night '08 - Mostly a night of taking pictures. =)



Halloween Party '08 - Trying to get a cape-flying-in-the-breeze shot. Bahaha.

I'm excited. =)

Remember Who You Are

These words spoken to Simba in The Lion King always just sailed right over my head. Whenever, in movies or in conversation, people always talked about "finding themselves", I just didn't know what that meant. I still don't know. Do I not know who I am? How does one for sure know oneself? Must you know your purpose in life, or what you will do in every possible situation, or just what you like? Why do you often have to Ieave your home or your place of comfort to find out who you really are?

I guess, in a broader sense, this applies to us as children of God. We are here to "find ourselves" on Earth. To find how we act with our agency and not in close proximity to our Father. To find what kind of people we act like and what we will do in our free time and what we think about when we can choose to think about anything at all. We can choose to act like our Father's children, or not.

With these things applied to our Earthly life with our parents, and how I suppose one often "finds oneself" at college, how am I defined? Do I like acting who I act like, or am I ashamed of finding their characteristics in me? Am I willing to be defined by what I do in my free time? Am I ashamed of what I think about when I am alone and responsibility-free? Would God be ashamed to claim me as his Child?

Who Am I?

Supercentenarian

I finally received my first Newsweek here at my new address, but the story that really caught my attention was the backstory on why women typically live longer than men. What I thought was interesting:

- Testosterone increases levels of bad cholesterol (LDL) and decreases good cholesterol (HDL). Estrogen does just the opposite.

- Men more commonly suffer from fatal conditions like cancer and heart disease while women more likely suffer from chronic nonfatal conditions like arthritis, osteoporosis, and autoimmune disorders.

So I asked Kurt what would happen since he will probably die first, and this is scary to me. He tried to comfort me by saying we could die at the same time from a carbon monoxide leak, but I told him that was silly and highly improbable. I don't want to live by myself until I'm super old after he dies. (68 of the 72 known "supercentenarians" are female.) I also read once that boys' hearts beat faster (which I have tested and found to be true, at least with Kurt, haha), so they run out quicker. Why is this?

I know there's no way you can know when someone will die, there are far too many contributing factors. But we plan on not living in a gangster town or owning a gun or committing suicide, so maybe that will help? I want to live a good, long life with my husband.

The Audacity of Hope

Obama wrote a book with the title of this post, but alas, I have not read it (although it is sitting on my bedside shelves). But seeing it often has started me thinking... is hoping audacious?

audacious (adj.) - intrepidly daring, recklessly bold; marked by originality and verve

I hope. Today, I hoped that my professor will be compassionate and let me make-up my quiz. I hope that our FHE tonight will be fun. I hope that Kurt and I will last. Is hoping foolish? Is hoping something nobody else does? Is hoping painful? Is hope good or bad?

I always thought you should hope. Sometimes what you hope for doesn't happen, but doesn't hope make you feel happy inside? You're looking forward to something. You can imagine the outcome. You're believing in the best in people.

Which maybe is why Obama said it was audacious. In the world today, I can see that people don't believe in the goodness of humanity anymore. That maybe people are born evil, with no good or righteous tendencies. I'm better than everyone else, or I can only trust myself, so I'll treat everyone around me like crap. Maybe it's harder to believe that people are good. It takes work. It's easy to hate everyone around you; but to believe in people, to hope in their goodness and Christlike gifts; that's hard, especially when they themselves don't.

I'd like to keep daring. I'd like to keep being intrepid. If I must be bold, let me do it when I hope. Because I think the happiness of hope outweighs any feelings of failure.