Author: Trish

A Week in Greece #13: House Hunting, Class Planning,and Nafplio

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So much happened this week but in exactly three categories:  house hunting (!), class planning, and Nafplio.

House Hunting

I’ve been thinking about moving into my own apartment for about a month now.  It would save me money, put me closer to HD, and give me some much-needed introvert time.  I thought that when I brought the subject up, everyone would talk about and think about it and a few months from now, something would happen.  NOPE.

I told Anthi about it last week, and the next day she called to say, “I found a 2-bedroom apartment for only €300!”  I freaked out, because I was not ready to make this thought a reality, but I broached the subject with Dina and Argyris last Sunday.  “This is a wonderful idea!” Dina said.  “We knew you would spread your wings and fly,” Argyris said, “But we did not expect you to want to fly this soon.”

Long story (aka I whined and stressed for several days) short, on Friday Anthi and I visited the apartment she saw and it is AMAZING.  Beautiful, newly renovated, private, so much amazing.  There is a random tiny room that is kind of like a walk-in closet without shelves, and I immediately pictured it covered in pillows and converted into a comfortingly claustrophobic Reading Room.    Continue reading →

Let’s Talk About … Tom Hiddleston as James Bond

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with Elizabeth

I have used snippets of my Messenger conversations with Elizabeth twice now on my blog.  I am convinced that we are hilarious, pathetic, and witty, which are three of the things most necessary to creating a blog series.  Presented occasionally:  “Let’s Talk About…” with Elizabeth! 

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Elizabeth:  A reporter in DC is interviewing Tom Hiddleston on TV right now and it is not me.  Life is unfair.

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Tricia:  Whoa, there’s so much going on here!  First, obviously, how dare he dance with and/or touch anyone but you or me!?  But also, is he going to be the next James Bond???  I don’t know how I feel about that!
Elizabeth:  Yeah, there are rumors, apparently, but I’m not necessarily down with that.  Mostly because I want him to do comedy, but also because I’m not a huge James Bond fan.
Tricia:  The role just seems like everything he is not.  Whether he’s playing villains or heroes, he’s always very emotional, and that’s why I love him.  James Bond is always emotionless.
Elizabeth:  And a misogynist.  You can’t redeem Bond.
Tricia:  Unless he REMAKES James Bond. 

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Elizabeth:  Remember all the furor over “blond Bond” Daniel Craig?
I’m so glad we’ve moved into an era of acceptance where Bond can be a blond chiseled and sexy white guy instead of a brunette chiseled and sexy white guy.
Tricia:  I see your sarcasm, but I really liked Daniel Craig’s Bond.  HOWEVER, I feel it is important to say that although I want Tom Hiddleston to be in everything, I actually think Idris Elba is the best Bond choice.  We need some racial diversity while maintaining the Bulky Man Box aesthetic.
Elizabeth:  Idris Elba!   Continue reading →

Letters Between Friends: MENTAL BREAKDOWN

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LettersBtwnFriends

Lindsay and I once bonded over the realization that we are both external processors – we can’t make decisions without talking things out first.  Usually repeatedly.  So now that multiple decisions are looming in front of me….I needed to externally process with my friend!  Head over to Wild Ginger Blog to read my mental breakdown.

Lindsay's Blog Logo

 

Sunshine Blogger Award

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Leannaatc at Short Story Long nominated me for The Sunshine Blogger Award.  Thank you!  I am legitimately excited to answer your questions!

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The rules for the Sunshine Blogger Award are:

  1. Answer the 11 questions from the blogger who nominated you.
  2. Nominate some wonderful bloggers and write 11 questions for them to answer.

Short Story Long’s Questions…

  1. Who is your favourite Youtuber?
    Longtime favorite is Grace Helbig, but I’m currently pretty obsessed with JoshuaDTV and PsychoSoprano (aka the cutest married couple in the world) and her alter ego Miranda Sings.

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  2. You have been captured! The protagonist(s) of the last book you read is coming to your rescue. What are your chances of survival?

    Adelina from The Rose Society is going to help me out!  With her power to create illusions and her growing comfort with….killing people….I think I will be rescued very easily.  However, I will want to leave her company asap, because of the aforementioned comfort with killing people.   Continue reading →

The Rose Society by Marie Lu

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23846013I LOVED The Young Elites, and while its sequel delivered more of what I loved (young female protagonist with an abusive past joins a group of heroes and becomes…the villain), it didn’t quite captivate me in the same way.  I think this was, for me, because Adelina’s villainy got REAL.  Her attraction to darkness and power are beginning to overwhelm her, and while in the first book I could understand and approve of her actions….this time around I wanted to pull her out of the book and sit her down for a counseling session.  Which was totally the point, so job well done, Marie Lu!

Now that I’m thinking about it, I guess I really DID like how Adelina slides to the dark side.  She kills her enemies in defense…and then as punishment…and then pre-emptively so that they cannot hurt her later.  This is very smart!  But it’s also pretty evil, and I liked how Lu explored the moral complexity of power.  I also loved Adelina’s sister Violetta.  She’s the “good girl” who doesn’t participate in evil…but she also doesn’t stop Adelina and tacitly gives approval with her silence.

And then there’s Magiano, who is a DARLING.  He can mimic any other Elite’s powers, making him crazy powerful.  He’s joyful and funny and sweet…but he’s totally willing to kill people to help Adelina take the throne.  So often in YA books, the group of heroes somehow manages to overthrow corrupt authorities by knocking people out or maybe killing just one Very Bad Person.  It was really interesting to see Adelina’s group of “heroes” unflinchingly doing whatever was necessary to accomplish their goals without making them all simplistically evil.

It’s only later, as they look back on what their actions have done (to others, to themselves) that they realize perhaps they went too far…

Okay, I definitely talked myself into giving The Rose Society a higher score!  This is such a unique series, and I can’t wait to see what happens next (even though I assume it will be awful and will make me cry).   Continue reading →

Elijah’s Depression (originally written 10.1.13)

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I’m starting a new bi-weekly series where I will share some of my favorite papers written when I was in seminary studying counseling.  They will be about faith, science, and faith + science!  

The Bible is not a psychotherapy manual, but the story of Elijah in 1 Kings 19 reveals much about depression, both in how humans experience it and in how God reacts to it. After Elijah witnesses the mighty power of God in burning up sacrifices (1 Ki 18:38-39), wiping out the Baal prophets (1 Ki 18:40), bringing rain after a drought (1 Ki 18:41-45), and empowering him to escape the wrath of Ahab (1 Ki 18:46), one would expect Elijah to feel strong and confident. Jezebel’s death threat (1 Ki 19:2) doesn’t sound all that threatening when God has just performed multiple miracles. Yet Elijah’s response to the threat is to flee to the desert outside Beersheba and lay down to die (1 Ki 19:3-4). This incongruence between experience and reality is normative for depressed persons. Although Elijah has every reason to trust God, he feels weary of his burden and wants his life to end.

Many Christians do not understand depression and therefore react badly to those suffering from it. Well-meaning Christians can give very bad advice that often leads to more guilt rather than deliverance from depression. How comforting, then, is God’s response! Rather than impressing upon Elijah his stupidity in not trusting the almighty God, He sends an angel to feed and care for Elijah (1 Ki 19:5-6). For forty days and nights, the angel gently leads Elijah through the desert to Mount Horeb (1 Ki 19:8-9). God takes care of Elijah’s needs for a month and a half, treating him with over-kindness and silent support. It is not until this loving foundation is laid that God speaks to Elijah and says, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” (1 Ki 19:9). This too is telling. God does not list all the ways in which He has been there for Elijah or guilt Elijah for his lack of trust. Instead, he invites Elijah into a conversation, meeting him where he is rather than demanding more from him than Elijah is capable of giving. Continue reading →

Sunday Summary #23: What’s on the Internet

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Articles

1|  Blasphemy can be a good thing!  The former Archbishop of Canterbury says so, and I like his style.

2|  Yikes!  I’ve seen a lot of bad reviews of Batman vs. Superman, but this one is the most scathingly intelligent.

BVS is an unerring pastiche of who we are at this moment in time: scared, angry, violent, disjointed, poisoned by hiraeth (Batman keeps a Joker-defiled batsuit in a Plexiglas display case like a mad hobbyist), driven by emotion rather than logic, by ideologies rather than reason. It’s polarized, xenophobic, hyper-sexualized, hyper-desensitized, and, in the final analysis, more than a little psychotic.

Videos

1|  Two bros test girl products, and watching them try to figure out how tampons work is SUPER ADORABLE.  Boys take notes.

2|  Because I spent one hour of my life watching Seth Meyers perform in person, I am inappropriately proud of the fact that he’s now a father!

A Week in Greece #12: HD Planning, Agatha Christie, and the Beach!

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Language Update

Short Version:  *mouth fart*

Long Version:  I have pretty much used zero Greek this week, and I can feel the pieces that I know slipping away from easy recall.  The problem is, I want to talk to people!  The thing I bring to the world and to relationships is TALKING – having deep, long conversations about anything and everything.  That might sound like a very good reason to learn Greek, but everyone in my life speaks pretty much fluent English.  So when we’re talking, I have two options:  struggle to express 10% of my thoughts in Greek, or else express 90% of my thoughts in English.  So why did I even spend two months learning Greek?  I don’t knooooow.

(I do know.  It’s just that the gap between “enough to get by” and “fluent” is SO BIG.)

Everything Else Update

This week has been SO GREAT, for me personally and for HD generally. Let’s start with me!  The past couple weeks, there has been some mild conflict brewing between HD staff, mostly because we are all working on our own (until we have our office set up) and that is a great recipe for miscommunication.  This weekend, I started daydreaming about how I am a counselor!  And I could see how I could fix everything!!  But after slowing my brain down a little, I felt like God was telling me to step back and do nothing.  It’s not like my idea was bad (it was phenomenal, as all my ideas are), but I wanted to be the savior.  I wanted to control everything.  Story of my life!  So instead, I started praying about what my role at HD is…and it’s not to be in control.  It’s to serve, and by that I mean actually serve, not pretend like I’m serving while in reality I’m manipulating the situation so that I look good.

So on Monday Continue reading →

Netflix Rec: What I Watched in March

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What's_Your_Number?_Poster

What’s Your Number?
2011
Rated R

Anna Faris and Chris Pratt are a celebrity dream couple (and their few scenes together in this movie are hilarious), but I’ve been largely unfamiliar with Faris’s movies.  I’m so glad I gave What’s Your Number? a try!  It’s relatable (am I too old to find someone? too slutty? too picky?) and genuinely affirming.  Instead of being a romantic comedy that preaches the misleading promise that you should find someone you “deserve” who will make you the Best You….it teaches a really heartwarming lesson that you should be with someone who loves you for who you are, weird art habits and impulsive trespassing included.  And if that person just so happens to be Chris Evans…?  So much the better!

BONUS:  Because Faris is going through her list of ex’s, we get some really phenomenal cameos with famous Hollywood hunks, like Zachary Quinto, Joel McHale, Anthony Mackie, Martin Freeman, Andy Samberg, and the aforementioned Chris Pratt.

Road_to_el_dorado_ver3

The Road to El Dorado  
2000
Rated PG Continue reading →

Letters Between Friends: SPRING BREAK

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Okay, I either misread my Greece Scavenger Hunt OR I am wrong about what kind of tree I found.  We’ll count this as half a point??  

LettersBtwnFriends

Dear Tricia,

How come when we take Spring Break it’s not really spring break at all?!

I’m supposed to be sleeping in and the girls and I are supposed to be watching movies all day being LAZY and do NOTHING!  But, HANDS DOWN, this is one of the busiest weeks so far this spring!!!!

The weather here is on the brink of nice.  As you enjoy your 70 degree days (you suck), our weather is like…(And I can hear it talking), “Oh, you like this, well I’m going to pour down rain so as soon as you get your daughter in clothes to go outside, I’m going to sprinkle and make all the equipment wet and muddy!  HA Ha HAA!”   Continue reading →