Author: Trish

Looking Back on 2015: Overview!

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2015 was a big year, though it was largely one of transition.

I graduated from Dallas Theological Seminary with a Master’s in Biblical Counseling, bringing to conclusion three awesome years in Texas. Moving from Dallas meant saying goodbye to my friends at DTS, at Trinity Fellow Church, and at the Saranac House.  I never felt more fully myself than when I lived in Dallas, and I will miss the security of having so many amazing friends.

I moved back to my hometown of Peoria in July, where I reconnected with family and my home church. I had a bit of an existential crisis, which always happens when I return home.  It’s hard to leave and change and bring that change back to somewhere familiar.  But in the midst of my own confusion, I reconnected with friends from my old church and my old high school.  And I got to relive old jobs, first as a church secretary, and later as a public librarian.   Continue reading →

Sunday Summary #12: What’s On the Internet

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Articles

1|  I went to a baby shower this weekend, so Amanda Machado’s article about the cultural values we learn by celebrating weddings and babies and bypassing career accomplishments and life experiences hit especially hard.  I live for the day that I can attend a Travel Shower or a New Job Shower.

2|  WOW, what a beautiful description of the pain that comes at the intersection of mental illness and faith.  Molly Polig opens up about her lifelong struggles with depression, anxiety, and self-harm, and how trusting in God through all of that makes it both better and worse.

And now, the Star Wars-related things on the Internet!

1|  S. Jae Jones has the same reaction I did while watching the movie: delighted disbelief at seeing herself (as a female) all over the screen!

2|  Tasha Robinson counters the claims that Rey is a Mary Sue with the admission that hey, haven’t male characters been overly competent/skilled/suave FOREVER?   I’m perfectly happy to sit back and enjoy a female character that is too good to be true.

3|  John Green nerds out about how The Force Awakens brings back the mythic quality of the original trilogy that was so lacking in the prequels.

Workout Week #4

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Progress Report

Last week I said I was giving myself a holiday break from working out, and that definitely happened!  Although my family went hiking on Monday and burned a lot of calories, I did nothing else exercise-y the rest of the week.  Plus, there was Christmas food and drinks everywhere.  It’s no big deal, because I firmly believe that healthy eating/living includes the occasional feast.

Goals for Next Week

However, the feasting period is over!

Family time is over, I’m back in my everyday routine, and I can return to regular workouts and tracking my food intake.  I think I’m still going to go easy on myself – I might have lost some muscle strength and endurance over this week.  I won’t increase my goal; instead, I’m going to repeat it.

I want to do at least two workouts more often than not this week.  We’ll see how it goes and re-evaluate next Saturday!

I Cried During The Force Awakens, and It Wasn’t When You Think

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I finally saw The Force Awakens!  I waited until my brother came home for Christmas so we could see it as a family.  Since so much of the Star Wars universe revolves around family, I think this was the right choice.  Thankfully, I successfully avoided spoilers before walking into the theater, so I got to watch wide-eyed and delighted as my 27-year-old self regressed twenty years and became enraptured in the world of my childhood.

If you haven’t seen it yet, STOP READING.  SPOILERS AHEAD. Continue reading →

Letters Between Friends: HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVE!

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LettersBtwnFriends

Last week Lindsay answered some hilarious questions in her letter to me.  This week I complained and celebrated in my letter to her!  Check it out on her blog, Wild Ginger.

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First & Then by Emma Mills

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23310751This book was so cute!  And despite our protagonist Devon’s love for all things Jane Austen, I was two-thirds through the book before I realized I was reading a Pride and Prejudice retelling.  Maybe I am super dumb, but I like to think that it was also pretty subtle.

You’ve got the proud Ezra with barely any facial expressions but ‘apathetic,’ and you’ve got the prejudiced Devon, who cannot believe what a jerk he is.  But as they are thrown in each other’s paths more often, they learn more about each other and realize they were wrong about their judgments.  Okay, that doesn’t sound subtle.  What Mills does so well is incorporate so much more into her story.  There’s Foster, Devon’s cousin whose addict mom sends him to stay with her, giving her the little brother she never wanted.  There’s Cas and Lindsay, and Devon’s growing awareness that just because the boy she’s crushing on likes The Perfect Girl doesn’t mean Devon has to hate her.  There’s Devon working through her fear of the future by getting excited about college at Reeding.   Continue reading →

I’m Officially Moving to Greece!

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As of yesterday, all of my paperwork is in place, and I am set to move to Greece in just seventeen days!

stay calm

I thought that fundraising was hard, but the last couple months of visa-planning and document-acquiring have driven me up a wall.  Maybe someday I will write a blog post about what a headache it is to get a student visa, but right now I’m still feeling the emotional headache and I don’t want to relive a second of it.  (That’s not true, I totally want to complain about it all the time.)

Now I have my passport, my visa, and my one-way flight itinerary.  I AM MOVING TO GREECE.  I always knew I was, but also….I worried.  Moving to another country is too good to be true, so something was bound to keep me from it, right?  But it turns out that I CAN have good things, and I intend to enjoy this one as much as possible.

The next couple weeks will be a whirlwind of last-minute purchases, packing, and goodbyes.  It’s going to be crazy, but I am so excited.  It’s happening!!

My Life as a Nerd

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My Google Drive is full of drabbles, short pieces I’ve written and quickly abandoned before they got anywhere significant.  This one was called “My Life as a Nerd,” and I totally forgot I wrote it last summer.  I will never finish it, and I wanted someone to see it, so Here, Blog!  Enjoy.

I’ve spent my whole life being a nerd because I learned, from the very youngest of ages, that fantasy is better than reality.  It’s not like I had an oppressed, horrible life.  I grew up in a firmly middle-class family: not rich enough to fly somewhere for vacation, but rich enough to afford the newest technological gadget that interested my dad (a case could be made for inherited nerdiness).

The thing is, I was an introverted, extremely shy kid.  Life was hard for me, even when “life” just meant standing in front of the preschool to show off a possession for Show & Tell.  I would agonize about what to bring, worrying about what each possibility would make people think of me.  My stuffed animals seemed to baby-ish, I would probably lose my Polly Pocket, and people would laugh if I told them my Scar action figure was my favorite character in The Lion King.  I couldn’t handle a 30-second presentation designed to create opportunities for tiny children to make friends.

In addition to being terrified of people, I have also always been desperate to impress them.  Reading was a great way to do both.  I could sequester myself in my room for hours at a time, and when I finally emerged to socialize with human beings, nearby adults would always coo and say things like, “Wow, you read more than me!  You’re so smart!”  To prove them right, I would pick up a new book and head back into hiding.   Continue reading →

Ten Years Ago…TEENAGE THOUGHTS ON LOVE

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TEN YEARS AGO

Friday, December 23, 2005

Last night was my favorite moment of Roy/Carrie visiting.  Why?  Because Roy asked Mom and I to watch some Lost with him (he’d watched the first six episodes while sick).  So we watched one, and when it was over, Roy sad, “Well, we can’t stop there!”  We really are siblings, after all.  So we watched another.

Today they’re gone for who knows how long.  It’s nice to be back to only-child status, being lazy, eating junk food, and using Roy’s computer and the TV all day without fear of disapproval.  Maybe I’ll miss them later.

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Here are some of my recent thoughts on my relationships with others: Continue reading →

The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson

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100 year old manThis book is absolutely delightful.  Its protagonist, the titular 100-year-old man, is a sweet, mild-mannered guy who hates politics and loves drinking and making explosives.  An odd combination, but this book is a Forrest Gump-esque romp through history, and Allan Karlsson is distinctly created to affect history without ever being affected by the consequences.  He gives atomic bomb advice to Americans, Russians, and Iranians.  He spends years in jail, which is okay by him so long as he has a place to sleep and perhaps a bit of vodka.  He is utterly unflappable, even as chaos reigns around him.

But that’s just his past.  The book goes back and forth between his past unexpected adventures and fancy dinners with various famous politicians around the world and throughout history and his present circumstances:  bored with life in an nursing home, he climbs out the window, spontaneously steals a suitcase full of money, and manages to outwit and escape a gang while making friends during his escape.   Continue reading →