Sunday Summary #45

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1|  WOW.  Paulette Perhach tells an all-too-possible story that immediately convinced me to start an FU Fund (yes, that stands for what you think it does).  Women!  Start a savings account!  Don’t let your need for money keep you in a job or relationship that is harmful to you.

2|  My former Baptist pastor posted a link to this blog about why people are leaving the Baptist denomination, and I totally agree.

3|  I’m in love with this guy’s story.  He was diagnosed with Asperger’s late in life, a label which helped him appreciate his obsession with building adorable walkways and hideaways for his four pet cats.

Letters Between Friends: 2 DAYS…

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Dear Tricia,

HOLY 2 DAYS!

I am actually rather surprised that I am so ready, but I am going with someone WAY more organized then me, so she’s helping with that process!  Love it.  I am trying to prepare my mind for Athens, but I honestly don’t know.  I’m still in the “WING IT” mentality.

My list of “To-Dos Before 10/29” is fairly short…mostly just finish the girls’ Halloween Costumes & close all my Mary Kay sales for October, and go Grocery shopping…and lay out clothes for the girl…well, and a few more other things, BUT IT’S SHORTER than it was!

My Mary Kay ladies are SUPER excited about my trip.  They were so encouraging.  They brought me LOTS of free GOODIES to leave.  I hope we have WAY too much fun.  I may have to take off my proverbial consultant hat for an hour and try some of this stuff myself.

I keep getting giddy for all this extra time I will have soon.  My brain has set such high expectations for wanting to write like CRAZY and read books and reflect on life and Jesus and veg, but I’m trying to lower them and take the “SUCCESS” odometer out of the trip. It’ll be a FREAKIN’ awesome success when I land in Athens.

Last random thought…I’m still trying to think of another tattoo JUST IN CASE…  I’m kind of clueless right now, which I can hear my mama (and your mom & Cheryl) saying, “Well, then maybe you shouldn’t get one…,” but let’s get serious.  I’m getting one.  *psh*eye roll* I’m SOOO 30 years old.

Ok, Love.  See you in 2 Days!  WHAT?! Next LBF we will be IN THE SAME SPACE!!!

*sorry no pictures.*  Here.  I’ll make one..

piatoathens

Love,

Lindsay

Podcast Recommendation List | PART 3

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Can’t stop, won’t stop…listening to podcasts.

I recommended five my favorite podcasts in May and another five in August.  The wait times between rec posts are shrinking because there are SO MANY great podcasts out there.  It’s getting to be quite difficult to put all this great material into my ears, but I try.  Hopefully you’ll find something you want to try listening to during your commuting, cooking, or cleaning times!

2f670f04e37c565171566f49c7d30a8c1|  Imaginary Worlds

Imaginary Worlds stands out amongst hour+ long podcasts by being between 20-25 minutes each episode.  Host Eric Molinsky delves into all things fantasy and science fiction, sometimes veering historical, other times cultural or just flat-out nerdy.  Some of my favorite episodes include “Heroines,” “Politics of Thrones,” “Undertale,” and “Fantasy Maps.”

600x600bb2|  My Brother, My Brother And Me

Lin-Manuel Miranda mentioned this podcast in the Hamiltome Continue reading →

Bucky Barnes Fanvids

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Every once in a while, a girl has to binge herself on fanmade videos of Bucky Barnes.

This is a thing, right?

It all started with this video I found on Tumblr, which was captioned “this is so erotic” and THEY WERE RIGHT.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BKQPTpQBHO6/

My fav is problematic Pt. 143.  I’m a pacifist, okay!  But I still get turned on by powerful men working out their toxic masculinity in tight-fitting leather outfits because they don’t know how to express their feelings and be proper humans!!

It helps that the editing of this video is SPOT ON and wow, does the synchronization of punching/music beats really make the whole thing pop.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuiLpqJuuHM

I moved on to this video, which did a great job of transitioning from sad “omg Steve lost his BFF Bucky” to screeching “I’m alive and I want to punch people to death!!!”

These are the two things I love most about Bucky.  There’s the tragedy of his story (and Steve’s story).  They are people manipulated by governmental powers into becoming something other than themselves (sometimes for good, but always something foreign).  Steve takes that confusion and anger and buries it, Bucky takes that confusion and anger and expresses it.

Maybe my fav is not so problematic!  Through the character of Bucky Barnes, I get to see expressed anger, to vicariously live through someone who is like, “THIS SUCKS AND I WILL FIGHT MY WAY OUT OF IT” which is so NOT my natural reaction.

I might be pushing this a little too far, because let’s be real, this is mostly about dat body.

Anyway, I fell down the Bucky Fanfid rabbithole, and eventually I was left with not very well-crafted videos, so I need your help!  Do you know of any great Bucky Barnes (or other Marvel-themed) videos to recommend?

IRL vs. Online Persona

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Recently, a person who mostly knows me through the Internet called me an Enneagram 7. For those not well-versed in the Enneagram, a 7 is a personality that is FUN and ENERGETIC and ALWAYS MOVING.  I (virtually) laughed in this person’s face and said I am a 4, the personality that is MOODY and EMOTIONAL and DEEP.  This person was shocked and argued with me, and I realized…my internet persona IS a 7.

On Facebook, I intentionally try to keep things positive.  There is some internet pressure there, to show the best of your life, but I do try to keep things real with silly selfies or self-deprecating jokes.  But even the “realness” is framed optimistically.  I rarely complain on Facebook, or get into arguments, or share the deep things I’m thinking about.  I’ll occasionally get into those things here on my blog, but on Facebook?  It’s curated to be a safe, fun place for people to mentally and emotionally check out.

I am fine with this, and people who know me well know that this is not every part of me.  It’s not even the most important part of me!  But then there are the people who met me once or twice and then only keep up with me via Facebook.  I don’t really mind that they don’t know me, so long as our relationship stays online.  But when we meet in person?  I’m suddenly all “Let’s stay in and watch five hours of TV and then discuss what emotional themes struck us especially hard and why” and they’re like, “Um, jokes?”

This is why I am very skeptical of online relationships and why, for me, online dating is IMPOSSIBLE.  I cannot meet someone as a 7 and then reveal myself to be a 4.  Especially because, as a 4, it hurts SO MUCH to see someone start to like a version of myself that isn’t actually me.

But I have to say,  I like my online persona, and I’m not going to change it.  I want Facebook to be feel good and entertaining.  I’m comfortable with the knowledge that the people who matter to me know me beyond the Happy Fun Times version available online.

What about you?  Do you have a split personality?  How do you feel about it?

Sunday Summary #44

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1|  Beren and Luthien are my #relationshipgoals, so I am THRILLED that their story is getting lifted from The Silmarillion to have a book of their own.

2|  If you don’t know who I’m talking about, check out this wonderfully titled post about J.R.R. Tolkien’s radical female character, “Luthien: Tolkien’s Badass Elf Princess.”

3|  Donald got booed a lot at the Al Smith dinner, but Hillary was a superstar!  She’s funny and inspiring, and I like her a lot.  Haters to the left, please.

 

Sunday Summary #44

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1|  If you didn’t already see this, watch it now!  America has its flaws, but it’s still pretty great.  Thanks, Canada!

A Week in Greece #41: NOT A GREEK, ROOMMATES LEFT, MUCH MOPING

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This week was all over the place, so we’re going to go day by day.

SUNDAY

After the service, there was a church lunch at Cosmovision.  In the sanctuary, I found myself with a couple other ex-pats saying, “Are you going?” “I dunno, are you?” “I guess.”  “I guess I will too, then.”  This level of enthusiasm continued throughout the entire experience.

I don’t blame the Greek church for doing Greek things, but it does make me wonder why they are so keen on ex-pats joining in.  It’s funny, the little things that make you feel like an outsider.  We arrived early and chose to sit by the windows for the view.  Someone came by to tell us that they were going to close the windows soon, and we were all basically a shrug emoji.  It turned out they were closing the windows because the old people like to sit without a breeze, so soon we were surrounded by all the oldest members of the church who, coincidentally, are the ones least likely to speak English.

Before the food was even served, I leaned over to Mercy and said, “I’m ready to go home.”  “Me too,” she agreed, and then we tried to eat our feelings of loneliness with lots of rice, potatoes, and bread.

It got a little better two hours later when I found Dawn and Kendra, ex-pats that I am friendlier with, and we kind of rolled our eyes at each other at all the Greek in-jokes and anyway, it was super nice to get home after FOUR HOURS of introvert hell.

MONDAY Continue reading →

Letters Between Friends: CHALLENGE UPDATE

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Lindsay and Emily are coming to visit in just nine more days!  Their arrival reminded me to get serious about the challenge Lindsay extended before I moved to Greece – ten things I have to do, OR ELSE.  I wrote to Lindsay this week with an update…8 down, 2 to go!  Head over to her site to see what I still need to do.

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Running Away From God is a Good Thing

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I was talking to a friend recently about fear, doubt, and faith.  We’ve both come to realize that having and expressing our “shameful” feelings is better than hiding them or trying to conquer them.  But then my friend paused.

“I feel like God is coming closer to me, and I am away.”

“You’re going away from Him?”

“Yes.”  After a half hour of confident expression, she’d finally said something that she was ashamed of.

I’ve gotten to know this friend well over the past several months.  I know that she struggles to be close to people, and that she would prefer to have fortress-like walls around herself to keep herself safe.  So I immediately realized:

“Maybe it’s a good thing.”

“To run away from God??”

“Yeah.  Because that’s how you treat people.  When they get too close, you run away, right?”

“Yes.”

“So if you run away from God when he gets closer, that means you see him as a person.  Otherwise you could just keep going through the motions of “serving” God and assume that he’s some lifeless thing to manipulate.  You’re acting like you’re in a real relationship.  That’s pretty awesome.”

“Is it??”

“I mean, let’s not stop here.  I want you to be in a place where you feel safe with God.  But I do think it’s a really good sign!”

My favorite thing in the whole world is to turn shame into hope.  It’s much easier for me to do this for other people, so I’m writing this here both to encourage others and to remind myself that it’s true.