For the record

You know that yogurt container that splattered in the aisle at Target? Yeah, I know nothing about that.

My poor left side

Every time I get injured, it's the left side of my body.
Cases in point:
1. (by far the most serious) Tripped up the stone stairs in my friends dorm, slamming my knee against the edge of a stair, moving my knee cap and hitting the actual knee underneath, causing permanent damage.
2. Smashed my finger between a cart and a counter at work causing a blood blister beneath the nail, as well as my heart rate to drop to about 40 as I almost fainted.
3. Slammed the back of my thigh on the counter at work, as I gracefully fell off of it, making me unable (for a couple weeks) to sit.
4. Was attacked by a 50lb box of potatoes that fell off of a shelf at work, giving me a nasty nasty bruise on my calf.
5. Banged the back of my hand against a cupboard at work, pinching the nerve or something, making it nearly impossible for me to bend my fingers enough to grab anything.
6. Cut myself on the saran wrap cutter thing at work (a few times now) drawing blood.
And my one last night (this took talent):
7. I had squatted down to get something off one of the shelves by my bed. I then stood up. Small problem - my knee was under the bed frame. The knee cap moved (down this time, instead of up), and holy crap, ow. Ow ow ow. Today as I gimped around work all I could think was, "'OOOOOOWWWW. Can somebody get the knife and fork out of my leg, please? Can somebody please remove these cutleries from my knees?'"
I don't know what it is with my left side. Maybe since I'm right-handed I don't think my left side is that important. Maybe I had a silent stroke and instead of being paralyzed, I just have no left-side awareness. Maybe I figure that if I'm gonna need knee replacement surgery, I'd rather only need it on one knee. I don't know. But right now, my knee very much hurts.

My Top 10 Classic Book List (almost)

After doing my top 10 book list and my top 10 fiction book list, I decided to do my top 10 classic book list. The only problem is, I couldn't think of 10. There are those I've liked well enough (Anne of Green Gables), and those I had to read for school (The Crucible), and those that would be fine except for the fact that they're 200 pages too long (Jane Eyre), but I couldn't think of ten I would read again. But there are so many books out there for me to read still! I just haven't found those last two yet. So this is my start.

*Little Women, Louisa May Alcott

*Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen

*Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte

*The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Victor Hugo

*Les Miserables, Victor Hugo

*Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thackeray

*Ben-Hur, Lew Wallace (not necessarily one I would read again, seeing as he's extremely intelligent, which makes it hard at times, but it was very good)

*The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde

Dear Target Field,

I am very perturbed at you right now for being sold out on June 30th. I wanted to take my nieces to a day game, and I managed to get off work, but no, there are no tickets, so we can't go. Next time you get built, please have another 10,000 seats or so (or at least 3).
Sincerely,
Lucy

Take that

"There must be something very wrong with a person who would prefer that there were no God. 'Well,' says one, 'I don't care much whether there is a God or not; I am an agnostic.' A gentleman once told me that he was an agnostic. I replied, 'That is a Greek word is it not? And the equivalent Latin word is ignoramous.' Somehow, he did not like it in Latin nearly as much as in Greek." - Charles Spurgeon

Book Review: "The Last Empress," by Anchee Min

Usually when checking out a book from the library, it's one I've already decided to read and have had on hold. Once in a great while, though, I browse the shelves. This time the book I came across was "The Last Empress." It's a novel based on the life of Empress Yehonala of China.

It was okay. It was nice to read a different kind of book, but it may have been a little helpful to know a bit of the history behind it. It felt a bit disjointed, but that may not have been the case if I knew more about China in the late 19th century so I could fill in the blanks. Once I just accepted the fact that I wouldn't know everything that I might like to, I liked the book better.

Overall I think it was a fine book. The author knew her subject well, which lended it credibility, and she had a fairly poetic voice. If you're looking for any old thing to read, it's worth it, but if you have other books in mind, I'd probably go with those first.

Probably not the intended effect

This guy makes me want to throw up.

Happy Easter!

You will say in that day:
"I will give thanks to Thee, O Lord,
for though Thou wast angry with me
Thy anger turned away
and Thou didst comfort me.

"Behold, God is my salvation;
I will trust and not be afraid;
for the Lord God is my strength and my song,
and He has become my salvation."

With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. And you will say in that day:
"Give thanks to the Lord,
call upon His name;
make known His deeds among the nations,
proclaim that His name is exalted.

"Sing praises to the Lord, for He has done gloriously;
let this be known in all the earth.
Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion,
for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel."
- Isaiah 12

Grad school Easter

When I was in college, I was close to home. There was no question as to where I would spend any holiday. When I was in grad school, however, I was farther away. While, yes, obviously, I went home for Christmas, Easter was a different story. Just a weekend wasn't really long enough to make the trek worth it. And so I was prepared to spend the holiday alone. I bought some ground lamb, having no idea what I was going to do with it, but figuring whatever it was would be easier than making something with a real hunk of lamb (considering that I hadn't [and still haven't, actually] ever done lamb).
But then, one by one, I heard of girls from my Bible study who weren't going home for Easter. Suddenly I was hosting Easter dinner for six. I loved it. But I didn't have enough lamb. So I saved the lamb for a different day, we pooled things together, and we ended up with shepherd's pie. We figured shepherd's pie -> sheep -> lamb -> close enough. It wasn't the best shepherd's pie I've ever had; I think that whole 'too many cooks' thing, in addition to our constantly changing the recipe to go along with people's food preferences, took its toll. But don't get me wrong, it was still good, and we had fun making it.
The whole day is one of my favorite grad school memories. I'd never gotten to spend a holiday with friends before. I love my family, but this was nice, too. I liked it.
I also really liked when Chelleybutton came over and we made stuffed peppers with the Easter lamb. Those were yummy.

Easter dinner

Why on earth do Christians eat ham on Easter? It's Passover, for heaven's sake. Shouldn't we be eating lamb?
While you may claim I'm biased because I don't like ham, that's not the real issue. (Though it might be a valid one, I'll save that argument for Christmas.) The issue is that we're celebrating the sacrifice of the Lamb of God. Through the blood of the Lamb, we have been delivered. This is the fulfillment of Passover. In Exodus, God says that the Israelites are to celebrate Passover forever. Forever. He didn't say "until Jesus comes to deliver you from your sins." He said forever, as a reminder of all He has done for us. Us. Gentile Christians are grafted in to His people Israel. Thus it only makes sense that we would celebrate Passover and it's Fulfillment the proper way; which includes lamb, not unkosher ham. Hopefully someday I'll get to.