The Outer Limits is way understated in comparison to The Twilight Zone

    A few weeks ago, I forgot why, but my friend from school told me about one of the blogs listed down there on the right side of the screen.  It's a pretty sweet place to hang out, as far as loitering on the interwebs goes, so I suggest you take a gander.  

    So I went there a couple seconds ago and had myself a nice little look-see, and read this.

A few weeks ago I had dinner with a friend of mine named Brad Lomenick. He’s the Catalyst Conference guru and has been incredibly kind to me. Basically, every few months we get together and I ask him questions about leadership and changing culture and how not to completely fail at whatever it is God has going on with Stuff Christians Like.

Last time we met, he told me that one of the things I need to actively work on is “celebrating my rivals.” He said there are going to be people I’m jealous of and that jealousy is poison. He said a great way to work on that is to ask yourself, “How can I help this person win?”

I thought that was really good advice and I want to live that out today.

So below are four of the people I find myself jealous of. I want to tell you about them because they’re actually great people and hopefully you’ll go check out what they do. And then, I’d love to hear who you’re jealous of and if they’ve got a link or a blog or anything, tell us all about it. Help that person win.

    And, again, I don't know why, but it struck me as an awesome idea, so I think I'm going to follow suit, if only because it's a Saturday night and I can tell by the jitters in my fingers that I'm going to be awake for a considerable bit longer.

1. Claire Marie

  

Friends since junior high, Claire and I have had a lot in common over the years.  We both had older brothers who seemed to excel at a lot of things at an emotional time period when it was not convenient to have an older sibling who seemed to excel, we both enjoy arts of many varieties, and we had similar tastes in such things as television, books, and hobbies.  We were both big fish in little ponds, so to speak, but from the onset I knew that Claire was the bigger fish, even in constantly expanding ponds.  She's an artistic Midas to my mere gilder.  

I kind of chuckle at the absurdity of it; why would I want to be better than her?  Just today, I was reading a note she had written on facebook (I had written it first and tagged her in it, and as per tradition, she recopied and retagged like the good conformist these things make us) and I was laughing and smiling and thoroughly enjoying myself.  Whenever I try to be witty and fun like she is naturally, I frustrate myself and am never fully happy with the result anyway.  It's so much easier to sit back and watch her sprezzatura.  So I definitely encourage you to do the same.  She's going to be massively famous one day, so start fangirling now.  It's what she would do if she were you.

2. Christopher Paolini

  

I don't particularly like his books, but I've always been annoyed by the fact that he was in his teens when his first was published.  His life was my dream for a long while (yes, I even had a short-lived aspiration to be home schooled, once upon a time) and I'm sure I'm not alone, but it really is impressive to be where he is when he is, and, from what I've heard, he's really come a long way, and, literarily speaking, any progress is a sign of excellence.  So if you haven't read his books, you should not let a poorly made movie or over-zealous anti-fans (like myself, on occasion) stop you from at least forming your own opinion.  Everyone's a critic.

    Sadly, or maybe not, I can't think of two more people.  Don't get me wrong, I'm an insanely jealous person and I struggle with my insecurities hourly, but past these two, my other jealousies are more general and have to be handled through internal struggles.  For instance, I am immediately saddened by anyone who looks like they can fit into awesome clothes I'll never be able to pull off, and I feel more anxiety than awe towards contemporary writers who take my breath away, and I secretly hold unhealthy grudges against people who are excellent at things I enjoy, but choose not to do them because they think they're boring.  All of these things have to do with my own self-image, which will forever be a battlefield, and there's nothing you girls can do about it.

<3>

EDIT:

Funny story. I follow my friend, CariMus on Twitter and have her updates auto-texted to my phone. I also have it set up so that I can text to Twitter and auto-update my status. However, Cari and I kind of had a conversation earlier about possibly getting together, so when I got the text of her status update from twitter, I thought it was a direct text to me. In short, I'm over-tired and should look at who I'm texting...



(P.S. If you're kind of lost and you don't understand how twitter works, try reading the updates from the bottom one to the top one. If that still doesn't work, I'm sorry; the humor's lost on you, but it was more of a laugh-at-me moment than a laugh-with-me one, and you weren't really missing out.)

Everybody Poops

    My cousin and uncle are coming in tonight and I'm waiting for them to arrive by listening to tunes, (not going to tell you what is currently playing...) charging my phone, and blogging.  The perfect way to end a day, methinks.

    We were watching a movie about a group of poorly dressed revolutionaries this afternoon, my family and I were, and my hair was strikingly similar to one of the [more ditzy and annoying] actresses in the program, and, since the movie was a boring one that I had lost interest in watching, my mind wandered to the subject of celebrities in general.  And I came to a startling revelation:

If you want to imagine someone as human, no matter their position in life, try to think of what they look like as they get ready for bed.

    Before you get gross or nitpicky, let me more thoroughly explain.  It's just been a regular day for them, be it stressful or restful, emotionally taxing or what have you, whatever is average.  For whatever reason they're going to bed alone (whether that's normal for them or not...but for the sake of this exercise it helps if there is no reason for them to be impressing anyone, even a husband or a dog) and they don't sleep in the nude (because I'm not trying to lead anyone down a road better left untraveled).

    

    So they're brushing their teeth.  Do you see it?  They're making that weird face in the mirror that everyone makes to check for missed plaque or broccoli or something.  Maybe they floss.  Maybe they walk around the bathroom for a full 45 seconds with Listerine in their mouth, having an internal battle against the big part of them that wants to spit prematurely.  Then maybe they brush their hair, or if they're a girl, perhaps they braid it or stick it in a ponytail.  Maybe they put that awkward zit cream on.  

    Depending on the obscure, larger-than-life figure you picked for this demonstration, they may have a few extra routines to perform before hitting the hay (checking in with the hired help, turning on the white-noise machine, drawing the curtains around the four-poster) but forget those things.  I'm betting, one night in their life, they slept in a normal bed.  Maybe it was in a last-minute hotel stay, or maybe they stayed at a relative's house, or they were trying to relate better to the common people.  

    Suddenly, after all this, doesn't this person feel more like they could be your next-door neighbor and you wouldn't even notice the difference?  I'm sorry, but when I see Osama bin Laden grinning stupidly to himself in the mirror, even if it is just a reflection in a pool in a cave and he can't even spell Listerine...maybe it's fake and a total impossibility, but he still feels more down-to-earth.  I laugh out loud when I imagine Prince William pulling the covers over his head after a long day, his boxers not even attempting to cover up all his awkward polo tan lines.  He becomes a real person who is experiencing something right now, halfway across the world, but there's still something going on over there.

    My boyfriend's in Germany right now.  There's a seven-hour time difference, so it's...almost 5:00 am there right now, and he has a class at 8:30, which will probably be about the time my family gets in tonight, so I'll be going to sleep about the time he pulls out his notebook (or computer, I suppose) and starts his week.  This sort of activity I've found is necessary if I'm going to believe that all of my friends really do exist, even if they're in different states, time zones, countries, political parties.

    Just a tip.  In case you feel lost.  Or just solipsistic.

<3 spadeALLcross

Do you hear me? I'm talking to you across the water, across the deep blue ocean under the open sky. Oh my. Well, baby, I'm tryin'.

    I've been staying away from this blog lately, and to anyone who has been upset by that, I apologize.  For an array of reasons, the pressure to write witty, intriguing, well-put-together posts has upped in the past month, and, as I am wont to do, I've just been putting off the inevitable attempt at composure in the face of tribulation.

    No more my friend.  Just call me Rayford Steele.

    That's actually a nice segue into a topic that has touched my heart recently.  You know, the Bible is a fascinating piece of literature, history, art, and science.  All my life I've had pastors and parents and friends and revivalists on the street corners telling me that, but I guess what they say in Psych 101 is true: the lightbulb has to really want to change.

    I've taken to reading from the Bible every day.  I'm currently working through Luke, and I'll hit up Acts next, dropping in on the Psalms every now and then and maybe busting out the old Genesis if I get around to it...It sounds more spasmodic than it actually is, I promise.  You see, I went to a summer camp (for high schoolers, ironically enough) last weekend, and it really changed my outlook on life.  I'm not sure if that was the point, but I don't think the staff would mind if they found out.

   So it turns out, I actually like being Christian.  Shocker.  Yeah, I don't know what I'd do without it.  And it's odd, but I'm getting a lot more out of this Bible thing than I actually thought I would.  Way to go Mary.  I guess I just forgot about the whole Superstar thing.

   Another thing I've gotten [back] into lately is Pandora.  I struggle through the mandatory playlist of a sandwich artist all day (consisting of, to my deep chagrin, Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, bad hip-hop and awkward country), and then I come home, kick back with a fresh, cool Facebook and maybe a couple Acolytes (not that I like the Undead Scourge...I'm just slowly hacking away at that particular campaign right now) and turn on the tunes that keep on rocking all the night long with titles I've never heard before but can't wait to hear again.

   Anyway.  I can't remember the original intent of this post, so I'm going to just quit while I'm...where I am.  Make good choices. 

<3 spadeALLcross

P.S.  I just noticed that all my other blogging friends happened to update recently.  Outer-Limits-y moment...I assure you, I am not a poser.  I'm psyched, but not a poser.