Science (non) Fiction

Try this out - my answers are listed below - it’s so fun!

Google image search the following:
1. The age you will be on your next birthday.
2. The place you live.
3. Your favorite color.
4. The place you want to get married.
5. Your first love.
6. Your favorite fruit or vegetable.
7. Your favorite animal.
8. The last name of your favorite actor or actress.
9. The name of a pet.
10. Your favorite song.
11. A bad habit of yours.
12. Your middle name.

Email me (arockel@gmail.com) your answers if you try it out!

age - 26 - not sure what this is though!

Winston Salem, NC - where I live

pink - fave color of course!

Charlotte - I would probably want to get married in my home church there

My first love - well currently - the bug I study - yep, I’m a geek, but I’m certainly not going to write my first love’s name here anyway!

Berries - all berries
(pic didn’t copy - no time to fix it now!)

Manatee - fave animal - isn’t he cute?!?!

Colin Firth - can we just say, hello Mr. Darcy!

Dinah - kitty’s namesake

Love me tender - like the song, love this pic! (but I like Norah Jones’s version of the song best)

Procrastination - my biggest fault…

Beth - middle name - also the name of some skate apparently…

So much fun - give it a try!

Why is it that relationships are so hard? What is it about us as people that makes it difficult for us to communicate well with each other? I mean, I assume it’s because we’re fallen people, and so our relationships can’t be the optimal kind until we reach heaven, but come on, it’s just down right hard sometimes! These kinds of problems go on in all kinds of relationships of course, but I’m specifically thinking now about guy/girl relationships, in which there is either the potential or the reality of a romantic connection… these seem to be especially tough, and I’m talking from my perspective now. We’ve been talking about relationships some in my Bible study group (young adults, mostly single - 20s-40s) and we’re going to have a sit-down-and-talk-about-relationships talk next week, specifically addressing the guy/girl relationship in the context of our group - which might seem like a good idea on the face of it, but once we actually sit down, I’m thinking it’s going to be rather weird, but maybe that’s just me… Part of my thinks it’s just so official and rigid to have to set up a time to specifically address something that could just come up in conversation, but on the other hand I don’t want issues like this to stay unresolved if people think it will drag the group down…hmph…
One of the best things about this group is the diversity of the ages, backgrounds, experiences of the people in it - we’re all coming from different places trying to learn things together and from each other - it’s good to get different people’s perspectives on issues and hear other opinions apart from the things I’m used to hearing - but it’s also what makes things like relationships difficult sometimes, since not everyone is looking for the same thing, both in the sense that everyone may not be looking for a guy/girl relationship and also that people are certainly looking for different things in a potential mate. So conversations about relationships can get kind of hairy, and it’s certainly difficult to make generalizations even about our small little group of people…
And maybe one of my friends is right - we should just go to non-verbal communication to indicate interest in a person - something like flashcards that would eliminate the whole awkward ‘wanna go out sometime’ conversation… but maybe I’m just a sap, but I think that would be horribly un-romantic - and maybe without the risk, there wouldn’t be as much contentedness with the relationship (should it develop)… but I don’t know, seeing as how I’ve never really been in love… maybe skipping the part with the potential for hurt would make more sense sometimes…
Sorry this has turned into a bit of a rant/blab on relationships - any insight from people would be helpful…
I’ll repeat a CSLewis quote from an earlier post since it’s appropriate here and I need to hear it quite often anyway:

Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want
to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an
animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all
entanglements. Lock it up save in the casket or coffin of your selfishness.
But in that casket–safe, dark, motionless, airless–it will change. It will
not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To
love is to be vulnerable.
C.S. Lewis

On a lighter note, and for Beth’s update purposes, I’m having lunch with nurse Pettitt (otherwise known as Amy!) and we celebrated Kari and Wendi’s B-days last night at YAF - well, except Wendi couldn’t be there, but we celebrated with her in spirit! Rebecca made cake and cupcakes and would have made you proud Beth! At least Becky and I are going to go to a Warthogs game tonight - and the summer students will be there too, so that should be interesting - thirsty thursday!

Also, my Dad will be back in the states from Africa next Thursday, so prayers for safe travel and a good finale for his trip would be greatly appreciated - I’ll be glad to have him back safe and sound!

I’m out…

Found this when cleaning out my email inbox - cracked me up a bit, so I thought I’d share - and yes, I know it’s not theologically or doctrinally or church-ily sound, but I still laughed…
Will try to share more on a (at least slightly) more serious note in the next few days…

A man, his wife and mother-in-law went on vacation to the Holy Land.
While
they were there the mother-in-law passed away.
The undertaker told them, “You
can have her shipped home for $5,000, or you can bury her here in the Holy Land
for $150.00.”
The man thought about it and told him he would just have her
shipped home.
The undertaker asked, “Why would you spend $5,000 to ship your
mother-in-law home, when it would be wonderful to be buried here and spend only
$150.00?”
The man replied, “A man died here 2000 years ago, was buried
here,and three days later he rose from the dead. I just can’t take that chance.”

I have seen a lot of movies in the last few weeks - new ones (Batman begins was awesome!), old ones (Blazing Saddles was, well, funny, but shocking…), and in-between ones (Tommy Boy and Happy Gilmore last night - both hysterical, especially with other people who enjoyed them!) - plus I saw Funny Girl for the first time - can’t believe it took me this long to see it - very depressing ending (I don’t think that spoils anything in particular) but really good music (ie Don’t rain on my parade, people who need people, etc…). Plus I’ve been watching the 100 greatest movie lines (AFI) that I taped last week, and I realized how many of the movies they listed I haven’t seen - like the Godfather movies, and Citizen Kane - some of which I’m not sure I want to see, but maybe…
Update for Beth: I didn’t do much with the group Fri or Sat, but we had a big group for Japanese lunch after church Sunday, and then David had people over to watch Tommy Boy and Happy Gilmore - actually he just had us over for the first movie, but we all stayed to watch the second - loads of fun!
Picture below is from Nertz (card game) Night at Kari’s last Wed - trying to use Rebecca’s camera timer, so that partially explains the funny looks on most people’s faces! hehehe

Silliness at Kari’s house for Nertz Night :-) 

Just wanted to give a quick shout-out to my friend Beth, who is on her way tonight to spend the next week with one of her best friends before she gets married - I’ll miss you while you’re gone, but I’m sure you’ll have a great time with all your friends down there! Make sure you get lots of pics of you in that cute dress - we’ll expect to see them when you get back, ‘k?!?! I promise to keep this updated at least as long as you’re gone so you can keep up with what’s going on, although I imagine the emails will keep you going pretty well…
To everyone traveling in the next few weeks - have a safe trip(s) and good times while you’re gone - not sure what my plans will be for the 4th of July, but I hope to spend some quality time with friends and/or family (and maybe with my bed - sooooo tired still!)…
Happy Friday y’all!

This is what my summer students have been saying all week - copying something a scientist said at a recent convention one of my labmates attended - someone was questioning his data or interpretation of said data - and the guy actually responded with the above quote (or something similar) - anyway, it cracks us up, so the guys have been using it in any situation - now it’s stuck in my head!
This week has been crazy busy with stuff going on after work each night - two volunteer shifts, Wed night card night with the YAFers, now a hair appointment tonight - no early nights this week! But it’s all stuff I enjoy so that’s better than having to do stuff in my free time that I disliked…
I’ve been making mixed CDs - decided over the weekend that I needed to simplify my CD repertoire, so I figured I’d make some mixed CDs with my fave songs and I wouldn’t have to take so many CDs along everywhere - good idea, but my computer didn’t cooperate, so it’s taken until just yesterday to actually get functional CDs that will play in all of my CD players… They’re nice for me, and I made one for one friend already - I love giving them almost as much as I like getting mixed CDs! Whoohooo! I have a ‘brooding/sad’ song mix, and a ‘love songs/songs about love’ mix, plus I want to put together one with my fave ‘praise/God’ music, but I have to upload a few more of those songs yet- iTunes rocks!
I should get back to work - lots to do yet to finish up before I can leave tonight - hope to catch up on sleep and work this weekend!

Well, it’s been a long day and it’s not quite over yet - I’m working a volunteer shift at the Ronald McDonald Family Room in the Children’s Hospital - it’s actually quite peaceful and enjoyable for the most part - good time to get some stuff done, if I don’t waste too much time surfing the web (hehehe!). Several things:
- Great weekend! Got to hang with my bro and a few of his friends and see the show he did lights for (see earlier post) - it was very funny! He got me the 1st season of ‘That 70s show’ on DVD for my birthday (belated obviously) and we watched a few episodes - sooooo fun! Love the show! I came back Sat afternoon/evening and was all set to make some mixed CDs so that I could simplify my music listening, but I discovered that somehow my computer didn’t like the CD burning program on my laptop anymore, so I spent several hours trying to rectify this (with a dial-up connection at home no less!), with the end result being 11pm, no software, no mixed CD - grrrrr…
- Sunday was also fun, church, then lunch with friends, little power nap at home before going to the $3 movie theater in Kernersville to see the new Batman Begins - quite good, especially with Christian Bale (can we say, yummmm!) - and funny in the places where it wasn’t extremely dark…then some tasty treats at Arby’s, before continuing the party at Becky’s apt to watch ‘Blazing Saddles’ (it took a while to get the guys to let the girls watch it with them - very innappropriate in places, but funny!) - several of us ended up staying up talking til 4am! ACK! That’s the latest I’ve been up since college days while pledging a sorority probably… so let’s just say I’m running on less than a full tank of gas today! But we were having such good conversations, I didn’t want to stop talking and laughing…
- You have to check out this link, especially if you liked Napoleon Dynamite - Beth sent the link, which is promoting a festival in Idaho - all about NapDyno! It’s hysterical! Too bad Idaho is so far…
- I’m attempting to compile a list of books and movies that I haven’t seen/read but think that I probably should, in order to be a more well-rounded, pop-cultured person - any suggestions for necessary books/movies? Like I haven’t seen any of the Godfather movies, or any of the Matrix movies for that matter…
- I’m starting to re-read the Chronicles of Narnia, in an attempt to get ready for the Christmas release of Lion, Witch and Wardrobe, which looks like it could be very good - but seeing the trailer (on the Star Wars III previews) made me realize how little of the books I remember, so I’m going back to them - I bet I’ve read the LW&W several times, but I know that I only read the later books once, so I barely remember them at all - they bring back all kinds of memories from when I was reading them at a much younger age - the Chronicles and Madeleine L’Engle books for some reason - very strong memories attached to them…

OK, I’ll finish up now - and leave with another set of lyrics of a song, this time a Derek Webb song from ‘She must and shall go free’ - the words are great, but with the melody it’s absolutely fabulous! Quite vivid and strong language, but a wonderful picture of Christ’s redeeming work in His people, the Church - enjoy!

The Church(words and music by derek webb)

i have come with one purpose
to capture for myself a bride
by my life she is lovely
by my death she’s justified

i have always been her husband
though many lovers she has known
so with water i will wash her
and by my word alone

so when you hear
the sound of the water
you will know
you’re not alone

(chorus)
‘cause i haven’t come for only you
but for my people to pursue
you cannot care for me
with no regard for her
if you love me you will love the church

i have long pursued her
as a harlot and a whore
but she will feast upon me
she will drink and thirst no more

so when you taste my flesh and my blood
you will know you’re not alone

(chorus)

there is none that can replace her
though there are many who will try
and though some may be her bridesmaids
they can never be my bride

Fun and exciting weekend ahead for me! I’m heading to Fayetteville tonight after work (hopefully I can leave a little early and miss traffic) to spend the night with my brother (Matt) - haven’t seen him in a while so it will be nice to catch up and hang out! We’re going to see Idols of the King tonight when I get there - show about two fans of The King (yes, I’m talking about Elvis, not God!) - they have an actualy Elvis impersonator for the show - how fun is that?!?! Matt designed the lights for the show (which is at the theater where his wife normally works, but she’s working the summer theater program at East Carolina so she’s gone a lot this summer) - so I’m looking forward to it on a number of levels! Sad that I won’t be able to see Candace (sis-in-law) but I’ll hopefully be taking a trip over to ECU sometime soon to see her and maybe one of her shows!
I’ll be coming back from Fayetteville probably Sat night - since I think I might be needed in the nursery at church this week - not sure, gotta go call the church when I wrap this up… Since Dad is in Africa, we’re not celebrating Father’s Day til he gets back - it shouldn’t be weird for me to celebrate holidays on different days than the rest of the world celebrates them, since that’s what my family does best - I think we celebrated Christmas ‘04 three different times! But it is weird with him out of the country…I’ve heard from him by email, and it sounds like he’s doing well - can’t wait to see the pics when he gets back!
I got some good news in lab today, something worked that has been giving me a lot of problems, so I’m pleased with that - and Doug (summer student) is still making good progress so things are moving along quite swimmingly (fun word!)…
And as a follow-up on my last post, I got Derek Webb’s first CD (She must and shall go free) - I really like it - kind of different than most ‘Christian’ music, but really good lyrics and beautiful melodies - especially if you like a kind of bluegrass, folky sound, although I think his later stuff is not quite the same style - several of them are stuck in my head right now… plus they make you think and examine your beliefs in a way that most (even ‘Christian’) music doesn’t…
I’ll leave you with the lyrics for Trade my Love - it’s on Sandra McCracken’s CD from the last post (Gypsy Flat Road) - beautiful lyrics and the music is also great - all about the best way to love someone who’s struggling - it might not be trying to cheer them up or trying to explain and rationalize thing away, but just to be with them and listen and let them know you’re there and praying…

As dust on the scales
As grass of the field
So are our days with
the
serpent on our heels
The reed is bruised
The sky is cracked
You wear
your pain as a veil of black

Proverbs of ashes
Smear you with
lies
The one who changed your name has touched your
side.
Fortune and
favor
You have not known
What is the vine, you
have not grown?

I will not sing songs when you’re heavy
I will not
speak words
to make it clear
I will stay with you and all that you carry
I would
trade my love, for all your fears.

If I speak or refrain
You
may not be changed
For your deliverance your days are arranged
To the
roots of the mountains
You sink down
Hurled into the
deep, spit onto the
ground

Severe mercy
is your one great hope
It is well, it
will be well with your soul

I will not sing songs
I will not speak words
I will stay with you and all that you carry,
I will trade my love…
For all your fears