Ignorant Historian

1.  If you were on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, whose names would you submit as your three lifelines, and what subjects would each person be your go-to person for?

Let’s see…I’d definitely put my dad on the list for all things mathematical/scientific.  I’d also choose my college roommate, Dana, as she’s familiar with a ton of movies (and a ton of other things…she’s well-read as well) that I’m not.  I’d also want to pick someone who’s good with pop culture, but I can’t think of anyone off the top of my head that would be a good fit.

2.  What food grosses you out just by its texture?

Grits.  Definitely don’t get them.

3.  How long would it take you, via the quickest means available, to get to the place of your birth from where you are right now?

If someone chartered me a flight and had it waiting for me at the airport right now, I think I could be there in 3 hours.  I think it’d take just over 2 hours to fly direct to Wichita (not that I’ll ever know that!).  Driving it takes 20 hours.

4.  From what store is it impossible for you to emerge empty-handed?

Target, for sure.  There is always something that I “need.”

5. What do you usually use to mark your place in a book?

A piece of paper from a notepad.  It doubles as a place for me to record quotes.

Which do you think I should have chosen?

December 16, 2005

Here is a selection of user names MSN offered when the ones I entered were unavailable:

Gyrate_thrower

tilled_agate

InstalledChain

WarpedOhio3

WoodyHyperion3

Varyingpage

ComplicitEight

caustative_star

haywirebeatle3

BlaringSpark

JeweledFawn9

Loverly_Hornet

draughtjoker6

unbated_mussel

PremedZebra3

Plucky_ronnica

Any of those sound like me? If you interested, apparently they are available.

While I was preparing  last week’s 1000th post, I realized it’s been a while since I’ve opened up and let you ask questions.  Over a year in fact.

Since I have had some new readers since then, it seems like a good time to do open up again.

So, what questions do you have for me? Anything you’d like me to address?

Can be just about anything you want to know!

If you’re lucky, perhaps I’ll answer a question or two in a vlog.

Maybe.

Photo by Leo Reynolds

Ever since I heard about the Game On! Diet on Twitter, I knew that I’d have to play.  Anyone who knows me in real life (and has had the pleasure of playing a game with me) knows I’m a wee bit competitive.

So what better way to establish good health and life habits in a competitive way than to play a game?

So, my roommate and I are each captaining a team (there’s 9 of us total)in this 4-week game.  There has been a little trash talk going on…that’s just who we are.

You can follow the link above if you want to know more about how the Game On! Diet works (we’ve customized it a little bit–particularly the food portion), but basically you get points for food choices, water, exercise, sleep, and replacing a bad habit with a good one.

It’s exactly the motivation I need to make these changes…and not just for the 4 weeks.

So all I’ve got to say is: Game On.

My team is totally winning.

Photo by ohnoitscoco

“We order our worship services around our age groups, with music designed to remind each generation of whatever was playing at the youth rallies of their college days. Our congregations are made up of people who look, talk, and think just like we do. And it never occurs to us that this is the same kind of unity the world has to offer. Even in our churches, we seem to identify ourselves more according to the corporate brands we buy and the political parties we support than with each other.” – Adopted for Life by Russell Moore, p. 38

“Becoming a Christian might look more like falling in love than baking cookies.” – Searching for God Knows What by Donald Miller, p. 155

“Beauty often seduces us on the road to truth.” – Wilson
“And triteness kicks us in the nuts.” – House, House, “Occam’s Razor”

“…it makes me wonder if secretly we don’t wish God were a genie who could deliver a few wishes here and there.  And that makes me wonder if what we really want from the formula are the wishes, not God.  It makes me wonder if what we really want is control, not a relationship.” – Searching for God Knows What by Donald Miller, p. 12

“The quiet scares me ’cause it screams the truth” – “Sober” by Pink

“There’s something about patience that God deems necessary for our life in the age to come and so, whether through agriculture or discipleship or bodily development or eschatology or procreation, God makes us wait.” – Adopted for Life by Russell Moore, p. 142

“And I’ll praise you in this storm
and I will lift my hands
for You are who You are
no matter where I am
and every tear I’ve cried
You hold in your hand
You never left my side
and though my heart is torn
I will praise You in this storm.” – “Praise You in This Storm” by Casting Crowns

“He had forgotten how American children slept. They stretched out long and wide, dreaming of sugar-plums while they waited for handouts from tooth fairies.” – Run by An Patchett, 100

“It seems like, if you really knew the God who understands the physics of our existence, you would operate a little more cautiously, a little more compassionately, a little less like you are the center of the universe.” – Searching for God Knows What by Donald Miller, p. 38

“…the masses of the people could not be held back from Nazism, so powerful was its appeal, and this same priest, who would not leave his people, went with them to Nazism, too.” – They Thought They Were Free by Milton Mayer, p. 219

1.  Where do you like to sit on a plane?

First class!  Okay, they’ve only offered that to me once, when they cancelled my flight.  I was 17.  Yeah, they definitely don’t do that anymore, unless you’re a dignitary or something.

Seriously though, I like to sit as far front as possible (last on, first off).  I prefer seat “A”, the window on the left (when you are sitting down).  I’ve done a lot of experimenting, and I’ve determined that that’s the best seat for me to feel like I have room as my left side is not against some stranger (I’m left-handed).

I also have a trick of changing seats at the last minute.  I frequently fly without someone beside me by doing this!  I have the best of luck…if there is one empty seat on the plane, there’s about a 50% chance it’ll be next to me.

And no, I don’t think it’s because I smell.  Thanks for asking.

2.  What sound irritates you?

Tapping and buzzing noises.  I don’t like the sound of fans in bathrooms.  Any buzzing sound will set me on edge and I will be unable to concentrate on anything else.  And no, I haven’t always been like this (thankfully!), but it would be distracting while trying to concentrate in class the last few years I was in school.

3.  What’s something in your life that just isn’t colorful enough?

My car. Unfortunately, all my options really ran the spectrums of grey, so I went for more of a graphite.  I like my car, but it lacks the zest of my last car that was electric blue.  I’d also love to drive a purple car one day.

4.  What’s a film you were sure you would dislike but ended up liking?

Get Smart.   Saw it with the family when we were on vacation, and I thought it’d be super stupid.  Turned out to be quite funny.

5.  What kind of grades did you get in school?

All A’s until AP Calculus. (Wow, I realize how pretentious that sentence sounds.)  And then in college and seminary I had a good mix of As and Bs (and that one C in a freshman-level class in my major in my last semester), trying to get no more than 1 B a semester.

Do you remember when I asked you for words so that I could spin them into a story?

No?  Perhaps that’s because that was 4 MONTHS ago, when I was still knee-deep in taxes.

So, about that…here goes.

You know those nights where you remember more than one dream?  Tonight is one of those nights.

In my first dream, I am dancing in a golden wheat field with my husband (that I don’t have), when I fall down a small hill caused by erosion.  Of course, this causes me to exclaim something vulgar, “Abominable, scrumtrulescent goofball!”

Yes, I tend to be verbose in dreams.

Next thing I know, I am in a discussion about antidisestablishmentarianism with Betty White, Edward from Twilight, and Mark Wahlberg.  They are surprisingly astute…I’d love to have another conversation with them.  You’d be surprised to hear the technical words they are throwing around…perhaps I should suggest to my History of the Church and State professor to invite them as guest lecturers (well, except for Edward).

After that, I am sitting at my kitchen table, eating an insipid noodle dish.  All of a sudden, my biology professor is there and anointing my head with oil.  Then he starts blabbering on and on about something controversial: abortion, same-sex marriage, or the war in Iraq.  It’s all a little unclear…what do phenotypes have to do with any of those?

Slam!

“Ms. Thomas, did you have a good nap?” I hear my biology professor–the same man who only moments before was anointing my head–say.

“Wha, huh?”

“I believe you may have been dreaming about the abominable snowman, perhaps?”

Photo by bernat

This is it.  THE big one. My 1,000 blog post.

And while I don’t blog primarily for you, I don’t think I’d still be at it without your readership (yes, you too, young lady in the back) and your comments.

So as a thank you, I’m offering you this vlog.*

You read that right: a real-live VIDEO of yours truly.

And thank you, YouTube for that hilarious screen shot. (And I may be a YouTube newbie, but I actually know how to change it…but didn’t.  That might be the funniest part of the whole video.)

(If that doesn’t work, you can see it here.)

Things I meant to say in the video but got too nervous and forgot:

• I have trouble putting words together OUT LOUD.  I hope you’d agree that I can do a decent job in writing.
• This was filmed at the end of a long day.  Just another part of my realness straight from me to you.
• That stain was from a cookies and cream milkshake from Chick-fil-a.
• My hair, jewelry, and makeup looked nice so I decided to shoot the vlog today, not the other way around.  I know that I don’t have to get dressed up for you all.
• Speaking of dressing up, those PJ bottoms are one of the pairs my mom made and sent me a couple weeks ago.
• I think my lovely blue room makes a lovely back drop, don’t you?
• I used a big stack of library books as a tripod.  Glad I had them handy, but I suppose I should get reading them again.
• I might not be so opposed to doing future vlogs…if only I knew what to do them on.  If you have any ideas, hit me.

Thanks again, truly, for reading!

*If my 1,000th post is a vlog, is it really a BLOG post?