Its the End of the World!

Dear World,

I'm sorry, but it's the end of you. I tried to log onto Tumblr to post something funny one of my friends had said, and TUMBLR WAS OFFLINE!!! The entire website was just gone. POOF! Vanished. It is the end of the world. Now how am I supposed to make my friends laugh? I NEED my Tumblr!

Well, now that I've gotten that little rant out of my system, I think it's time for an update. I noticed today that I posted three times in November! I think that's actually a record for me - let me check... Yep! New record! The most times I've posted in a month was three times!

Wow... My life is kinda depressing. It revolves around some offline website where I post funny quotes, and I don't have more than three profound things to say in a month, and usually less. One of my friends today was also mentioning how boring his life is. He was tweeting about how he'd been looking through the past year on his Facebook timeline. Poor guy.

Wait a second... Why is he saying his life is boring? He did lots of adventurous stuff this year! He took a step of faith moving to a new place before God had provided a job for him. Then he got learn more how to lean on God to supply his needs. (Which, of course, God has faithfully done for him.) He got to make a lot of new friends and meet many new brothers and sisters in the Lord. He had an amazing year!

Me on the other hand, not so amazing. Oh wait... there was that month long trip that I took (yeah, long and exhausting, but still amazing). And then the training in film production was also pretty cool. And Thanksgiving? Nothing happened, but there were some really amazing times of reflection.

Alright, alright, so maybe it isn't so much that I have a boring life. Maybe it's not the end of the world if Tumblr goes offline for a day. Maybe it's just that I don't have the right perspective. Maybe it's just an opportunity. An opportunity to catch up on a good book. Or an opportunity to have a family game night. Or an opportunity to finish working on a Christmas project. Or an opportunity to call up a friend I haven't seen in ages. Or... Oh! Oh! I know! An opportunity to write a blog post! Oh wait... that's what I'm already doing.

Well, I hope this post has been entertaining. Mostly though, I hope it makes you remember to evaluate your perspective every once in awhile. Someone once told me that if I go into something with a bad attitude, of course it's going to be bad, but that if I choose to have a good attitude about it, it may just turn out to be pretty good. I think that was my dad, maybe mom, but in either case I have found it to be true. (I have also found that I need near constant reminding about it, so maybe, just maybe, there's someone out there like me who just needed this little reminder.)

Anyway, I hope you all have a merry Christmas! Enjoy the season, keep your family close, and remember the reason for all the warm fuzzies: because this is the time of year we celebrate our Savior's birth.

Merry Christmas,
SingingGem

Giving Thanks

Dear World,

Happy belated Thanksgiving! I should have posted something sooner in observation of the holiday, but didn't think about it. Maybe I'll be on top of things for Christmas. Maybe.

This year, like most years, I flipped through a list of things I was thankful for as I encountered them throughout the day. I woke up thankful for soft mattresses and warm blankets. I logged onto Facebook and was thankful for my friends and family (both those with, and those without Facebook). I took a picture and was thankful for my camera. I played with the dog and was thankful for her. I washed the dishes and was thankful for running water. I wished we'd used paper plates and was thankful for the beautiful pattern on the "new" ones we'd inherited from Granny. But this year I also felt sincerely grateful for bad hair days.

I love my hair and love when it does what I want it to. But sometimes it decides to be... "artistic" and try doing things it's own way. Thanksgiving day, I felt thankful for bad hair days. We are to give thanks in all thing right? So that includes the little irritating inconveniences too. Like bad hair days.

I had an analogy brewing earlier. About how I'm trying to shape my hair into something beautiful (like what God is trying to do with my life). And how when my hair resists I have to pin it back with more or stronger hair clips or use hair spray (in either case, it's less comfortable) and how when I resist God's direction He has to use more forceful means to get me to follow Him, etc... But I got distracted in the middle of my musings and that's as far as the analogy making got.

Grateful for the season,

SingingGem

 

I Can See Clearly Now!

Dear World,

My glasses broke today. One of the ear pieces snapped off. My first reaction was mild sorrow and slight irritation. I'm fine now though. Anyway, to share what happened:

I'm sitting at the table, looking blankly at my now broken glasses. Step one: call the ophthalmology office and learn what my options are. Step two: decide which option is the best. Step three: follow through on decision. I go to the phone to call the ophthalmologist and figure out what my options are. I spoke to a lady who informed me the optician would have to see the glasses to evaluate if the were repairable or not. So I decided to drive down to the office and talk with the optician. 

Because I'm nearsighted, I had to dig out my old glasses to drive down there. The optician mentioned one option would be to switch the lenses with my current prescription into the frames from my previous prescription, but she couldn't do it at this branch - I would have to drive out to the other office to get it done. This seemed to be the cheapest option. This took care of steps one and two. So after she got me a temporary ear piece for my regular prescription, I drove with my normal glasses down to the other office to get step three taken care of.

By this time I was starting to get a headache from switching between no glasses, to current prescription, to old prescription, to no glasses, to current prescription, to... you get the idea. Thankfully the main office lab was able to switch the lenses with minimal trouble. There was something technical about the shapes being different and having to heat the frames to shape them or something... but it all worked out.

I have to laugh no since it's almost like I got my own little object lesson from a conference I'd been to on Saturday. It was a conference for the young adult Christian homeschoolers in my state. The speaker shared about worldviews. About how important it is to see the world through the right worldview.

Well, right about now I'm getting writer's block. It's not that I don't have anything to say, it's just that I don't know how to say it. So I'm just gonna cut to the chase: It hurts to see through the wrong prescription lens - whether it's glasses or your worldview. So make sure your vision is correct, both literal and metaphorical.
Anyway, there's a mini-analogy along with a personal update. Two birds with one stone - booyah!

Goodnight,
SingingGem

Voting Without Fear

Dear World,

Here in the United States, it's election year. Mom keeps saying this is a big election, I keep telling her that all of them are. But truth be told, I find myself becoming more and more anxious over each Presidential election. I know in my head that the anxiety is useless, but that doesn't really stop it from washing over me.

Today I watched the most recent Blimey Cow (aka Messy Mondays) video on YouTube. One of the things Jordan said really encouraged me:
“I guess I just don’t understand the Christians that get so fearful during election time. As if life hangs in the balance. It’s like they think the country is the only thing protecting them from persecution or death or something. If you need to pledge allegiance to a nation for your safety and security, your God isn’t big enough.” 
It was a good reminder that, ultimately, God is in control. Two things really jumped out at me from this quote:

1. "It’s like they think the country is the only thing protecting them from persecution or death or something."
Is it really such a bad thing if we do come under persecution? Don't get me wrong! I love the thought of a persecution free life. But at the same time, persecution is a gift. "Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven..." Matthew 5:10-12 [emphasis added]. We are commanded to rejoice in persecution.

2. "If you need to pledge allegiance to a nation for your safety and security, your God isn’t big enough." 
Why put your confidence in politics and politicians when God is the one who is really in control? Romans 13:1 talks about how it is God who allows those in leadership to rule, "...For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God." It doesn't matter who is ruling the nation, because ultimately God is ruling the ruler. Proverbs 21:1 states that, "The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will." 

Now please don't use this as an excuse to be lazy. It is still important to get involved in politics. Because we have been given the right to vote, we are held responsible to do our part in electing a God-honoring President. You know that Spiderman quote about the person who is given many gifts having lots of responsibility? Guess what, the Bible came up with that idea first, "...For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required..." (Luke 12:48) If we are given the power of deciding who is President, then we are partly responsible for who is elected. 

So bottom line, what am I trying to say? Voting is a big deal. We are blessed to live in a country that allows us to dictate who dictates us. Go vote! But once you've voted, don't become fearful about the results. Once we have fulfilled our responsibilities, the rest is in God's hands. And He doesn't make mistakes.

May the peace of God which surpasses all understanding dwell in your hearts richly as you seek to follow and honor Him.

Voting tomorrow,
SingingGem

I'm Alive! (barely)

Dear World...
I just commented on a friend's blog telling her that she needed to post again since it's been way too long since she posted anything... and then I felt like a hypocrite so I decided to come over to my blog and post something.
First, I've been busy. Actually, that's an understatement. I've been out of town and have been in 5 different towns (two of them twice at different times) located in 4 different states in the past 3 weeks - and that's only counting the places I stayed overnight. I've had some whirlwind traveling this month.
Second, I've got some things on my mind that I'm mulling over right now. I hope to turn one or two of them into blog posts eventually. But other things are calling for my attention right now (namely, my sister... she wants help with something).
TTYL,
SingingGem

What's in a name?

Dear World,
A name is a very important thing to a person. Remembering or forgetting someone's name can speak volumes. Correctly or incorrectly pronouncing a person's name can be of paramount importance. Shortening a name to a disliked nickname can have dire consequences. A name is very important.
Today I forgot to wear my name tag to work. It's part of our uniform; you'd be surprised how few people actually read the name tag. Even fewer people will actually use our names. One day years ago I went in to work with my name tag on upside down, nobody (not even me) noticed until sometime after lunch break. Today I had a patient whose mother greeted me by name. I was surprised that she wasn't dependent on that little plastic plaque to tell her who I was.
I have worked on the braces of both the mother and the daughter in the past, and so I knew who they were. I had to know who they were - it was part of my job. But for her to know who I was meant something to me. Immediately my respect for her grew. In her simple courtesy of taking a genuine interest in those around her, she had made me feel more respected and valued as a person. And all she did was remember my name!
Not only did she make my day a little brighter, she made me want to do my absolute better than best job. I knew that my name would be attached to the work I did. I wanted that name to be a good one.
I struggle to remember names. Even with the patients I am responsible to know, it's difficult to keep everyone straight all the time. Between patients, relocated friends, extended family, teammates from various events and conferences, there are a lot of names for me to remember and over the years some of them fade from memory. I think my struggle with names is why I appreciate Psalm 147:4, "He telleth the number of the stars; He calleth them all by their name." There has been estimated to be about 100 thousand million stars in the Milky Way galaxy. That's just one out of several galaxies, and He knows them all by name! Not only that, but he knows all of us by name. Every person that has lived, is now living, and is yet to be born. He is bigger than time and space and He knows you by name. Doesn't that make you feel special?
Sweet dreams,
SingingGem

Contemplation after Coffee

Dear World,

It was a dark and stormy night. Actually it was rather pleasant weather, and it was early afternoon. The sun was bright and just warm enough to prevent the gentle breeze from chilling too much. The tall Vanilla Latte was precisely warm enough to make me feel happy and relaxed without burning my taste buds off. I was rather content with the temperature of everything around me: clothing, weather, and coffee.

Where was I? What was I doing? I was sitting outside a rather attractively built coffee shop reading homework and waiting to meet with a friend. The coffee meeting had been planned for three, but due to circumstances beyond her control, our third friend had to cancel. Originally I was feeling guilty about continuing on with the meeting without Cassie, but she and I had already agreed to meet another time. So for the moment, I decided to let go of that guilt and enjoy the beautiful weather.

Renee soon arrived and ordered a Pumpkin Spice Latte. We sat and chatted. While we were friends, it almost felt like a "getting to know you" session. We met a few years ago through a homeschool group that met for Frisbee every week during the summer. It was a great way to meet new friends, but wasn't always the best environment for really getting to know someone. We knew each other's personalities and family members, but little of each other's likes and dislikes or even  past and worldviews.

As we sat discussing our childhood, teen years, and up to date "outside of frisbee" life, we learned much. For my part, some questions weren't always easy to answer. "Where do you work?" for example. "Well, for the next week and a half I'm employed at ___, but after that..." After a few such instances of "it's complicated" answers to ordinarily simple questions, Renee told me, "Your life is complicated." At the time, I laughed and agreed. But later, I started to ponder the statement.

Was my life really complicated? It has been, but usually when I'm forgetting to listen to God. It's like trying to put together a bike or play set without reading the instructions. Maybe you can figure it out, maybe you'll get it right, but it takes a lot more time and energy and it isn't a sure thing the outcome will be correct. Looking at where my life has been over the last 5 or 6 years, I'm surprised at how so many things just fell into place. Those five years look like they were perfectly orchestrated and planned (because they were perfectly orchestrated and planned... just not by me). When I was actually living those 5 years they felt so chaotic.

I feel like I'm back to the place I was then, searching for a job and wondering what God has for the future. My life may seem complicated, but when I take a step back and look at where things were in the past, I see that God was in control the whole time. He had a plan and all I had to do was obey.

Yes, my circumstances may seem complicated, but really life becomes simple when I remember to just trust and obey.

Waiting on Him,

Singinggem

Dear Tooth Fairy...

Dear World,

Apparently orthodontic assistants are experts on the whims and isms of the tooth fairy. At least, that is what the young sister of one of my patients thought today. She asked me if she left an elephant's tooth under her pillow, would the tooth fairy leave her a pony? I told her that the best person to ask would be the tooth fairy and maybe she should write the tooth fairy a letter to find out.

Now of course the curiosity of my patient got me curious. What is the largest animal tooth? What is the tusk of an elephant worth? Would the tooth fairy leave something other than a dollar under a pillow in exchange for a tooth?

I was raised by parents that did not believe in out-sourcing the raising of their children. We did not have a Nanny to raise us. We were not handed over to the government for our educational needs. Santa did not teach us the meaning of Christmas. And the tooth fairy was not needed to dispose of our lost baby teeth. (While my parents did not out-source the raising of their children, my mother did make an exception when we were old enough to drive. She felt our car was ill-equipped when it came to that extra brake pedal on the passenger side. After a bit of research, it turns out to be cheaper to send your child through drivers ed. than to install an extra break pedal in your car.)

Seeing as the tooth fairy's services were not needed at our house, these questions the patient raised were ones I didn't have the answer to. So where was I to turn? The place I always turn to with questions of this sort: Google.

Question #1: What is the largest animal tooth?

If you guessed elephant, you would be right! (I actually guessed the Narwhal.) While I was not surprised to learn that the tusk actually is a tooth, I was surprised to learn that tusks are not always the canine teeth I assumed them to be. While this certainly is the case with walrus tusks, it is not the case with elephant tusks. Elephant tusks are actually modified incisors, and not canines. (On a human, the incisors are those front four teeth, and the canines are the pointy ones next to them.)

Question #2: What is the tusk of an elephant worth?

I found multiple answers to this question! One site stated $1500 a kilo (2.20462 pounds) while another site stated ivory is worth about $95 a pound.

Question #3: Would the tooth fairy leave something other than a dollar under a pillow in exchange for a tooth?

The answer is yes! While most of the time the tooth fairy will leave money under children's pillows, she is not unknown to leave other items in exchange for the teeth. A friend of mine received a very nice pocket knife in exchange for one of his baby teeth.

My curiosity being settled on these matters, I worked back to my patient's sister's original question. If she left an elephant's tooth under her pillow, would the tooth fairy leave her a pony? As it turns out, the tooth fairy leaves the gift with the person (or animal) who lost the tooth. So if the elephant lost it's tooth and the young girl put it under her own pillow, the tooth fairy would leave the token with the elephant. The reverse is also true, if the girl lost a tooth and the elephant put it under it's pillow, the girl would be the one to receive the gift.

Now I want to know, if she had the money to go out and buy an elephant's tooth, why didn't she just buy the pony instead?

I hope this post has been both entertaining and educational.

Until next time, 

SingingGem

P.S. - Below are some links to some websites I found interesting.

Largest Animal Teeth

Oakland Zoo "Tusks of Terror: The Truth About Ivory" article

Narwhal Horn/Tooth History and Theory

Patience with the Patients

Dear World,

Last week I had the sweetest patient. A young boy who asked lots of questions. It was one of those times when you don't want to squelch curiosity, but at the same time you just really wish he'd quit asking questions so you can hurry up and get your job done. I work at an orthodontic office as a chairside assistant. During the summer it gets pretty busy and when my patient is talking, I'm not able to work. 

With this patient I was half entertained, and half straining to stay polite. I'd been running behind all day due to several patients needing more work than they had scheduled for. While I enjoyed talking with this patient, he was making it difficult to catch up with the schedule. I was relieved when he was finally quiet for two minutes put together! As I was inserting the wire through his bands and brackets he started talking again. My hands instinctively moved away to allow him to talk.

"You have beautiful eyes."

I melted. I still tried to hurry the task at hand along, but I no longer had to work to reign in my temper. Four simple words and a random 11 year old had made life a little easier for me. The part I find fascinating? He probably forgot completely about it the minute he walked out of the office. I'm still grateful for it nearly a week later. I'm even posting an entire blog post about it!

So if anyone wants to know what I'm thankful for this week, it's for that little kid and his penchant for talking. Sometimes those things we see as being in the way turn out to be the blessing.

Good night world!

SingingGem

I'm still alive.

I haven't posted in awhile. Mostly because I have been too busy to post, but also because I can't think of anything interesting for now. But I was determined to post something as I'm trying to get into a regular habit of blogging. Well, now that this is done I can check another thing off my to do list and move on to something else.

To blog or to journal?

Hello web world. I basically will be just putting down a few thoughts since I'm trying to get into the blogging habit, but haven't really anything interesting to say. So here goes:

Have you ever noticed how blogs have become the journals of the modern generation? It used to be that people would write down their innermost thoughts and feelings in a private book sometimes referred to as a diary. Some of these diaries would even have little locks on them to emphasize the privacy of what was contained within. Being a book lover, I miss the journals. Mainly for two reasons: books feel more tangible than web pages, and you can limit who sees your most private thoughts and feelings and favorite memories.

Journaling is something I enjoy to do. I now consider it almost an art. It used to be just a way to write down what was happening in my life. Seriously. No thoughts or feelings, just facts. And sometimes drawings. That was when I was 12 or so (I started journaling at the age of nine). As I grew into my teen years, I looked at the drawings as childishness and my journals were strictly for thoughts, memories, and the like.

Picture I drew in my journal of one
 of our  garden decorations.

While at college, I was able to watch a friend work on her journal. One day she was lightly drawing with colored pencils to give a background to whatever she'd written. Another day I saw her cutting away at a program from an event we'd been to. When she pulled out the roll of clear packing tape and started taping parts of the program into her journal, I thought, "That's pretty cool!" and soon found myself taping in various odds and ends of my life.






Anything from a train ticket, to a dried flower, to a photo would add to the fun of journaling and the uniqueness of the book (as well as the tangibility of the memory). You know how graduates and engaged couples send photos of themselves in their announcements and the photos usually end up on the fridge for awhile before somehow ending up in the trash? No more of that for me! When I write about the event (be it graduation or wedding) the photo of my friend gets taped in alongside the tales of their big day.

Photo that came with a wedding announcement/invitation for two of my very good friends.

Now I am by no means a faithful journaler. I don't chronicle every little detail of my life, but I do enjoy writing down things I wish to remember. And looking back on what I've written in the past, I'm glad I did pick up this hobby. There are a lot of things I would have otherwise forgotten. The original entries I would write differ so much from the ones I make now. The handwriting is different, the thought process is different, the way I embellish the pages with stickers and drawings and clippings is different. And I have a feeling it will continue to change as I continue to change.
I have a blog (several blogs, actually... inactive xanga, active tumblr, and... whatever this is). And I have a journal. In my mind, they are separate entities for separate purposes. The internet is not where I share my innermost thoughts (musings maybe, but nothing personal). My journal is not where I write what I want the whole world to know. Journaling can be a wonderful adventure if you choose to try it.

Sticker from a birthday party.

A card given to me for my college graduation.

This post on a friend's blog (yes, the same friend who got me started with taping things into my journal) has several ideas for either starting journaling, or adding something extra to your journals:
Intro to Journaling, Part 2
My next ambitious goal is to be able to make my own journal (binding the pages, decorating the cover, and everything) just like these girls did:
August Bookbinding Class

So to answer the question posed in the title of this post: both. Blog and journal. Good night!

I hope this hasn't been too boring of a post! I actually spent quite a chunk of time writing and rewriting it and finally decided it would just have to do as is. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some scratch and sniff stickers my Mom gave me today that I think will be super fun in my journal!

Curiosity MIGHT have killed this cat...

Ever get curious about how easy it would be for a random person to find you on the internet? Well, I did a google images search on myself to see if I showed up. Most of the pictures were not me... on the first page there was a random person who was not me but could have been my cousin's twin, and on the second page there was one random photo of me. So then I decided to do a google images search with my full legal name. Absolutely no pictures of me. I'm safe from stalkers.

I then decided to look up my college roommate's name on google images. The first two photos were of her. Then there were three other random people with presumably the same name. Then her again. Then my program adviser... how did his picture come up with a search for her name? Well, it gets crazier: the next photo is of my two best friends from back home. They don't even go to the same college! I mean, at least my program adviser was connected in some way (through the school) to my roommate. The next picture was another of the school's faculty followed by three maps of the United States, by now, I'm no longer surprised. But wait! What are those next five photos? GRAVESTONES? This just keeps getting weirder and weirder! I think I'll just stop looking before I begin to fear for her life (if I haven't already).

I believe I have learned my lesson. Several lessons in fact. One, the internet is very confused when it comes to the identity of my roommate. Two, I (thankfully) do not have a very high chance of being stalked online (hopefully). Three, my cousin might have a twin that she was somehow separated from at birth (but probably she doesn't). Four, the word "gravestones" looks more sinister when written in both all caps and italics. Five, sometimes it's better not to satisfy your curiosity. Well, that pretty much wraps up the story!

Back again...

Well, I started this thing out of curiosity. A friend who shuns Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites decided to get a... blogspot? blogger? (what is this place called?). Anyway I tried it. All of two posts. Unfortunately I didn't pick the best of times to be adding something new into my life and quickly gave up.

Recently however, at the insistence of another friend that this really is the best blogging site out there, I decided to spend some quality time with it and try to figure it out. So here I am typing up a rather random post just to figure out how to use and navigate this site. All that to say that I may (or may not) be back on here again.