Photo Blog- Operation Puppetstravaganza

I won't kid myself or you, dear reader, it's probably going to be nothing but photo blogs for awhile. Less brain power, more pictures!

Admit it, you love the reveal, the exposure...it's slightly voyeuristic and a lot easier than reading. Consider this my present to you for Monday morning.

OPERATION: PUPPETSTRAVAGANZA!

Last night I was privy to the awesome experience of a ShawnDate^TM. For those of you not lucky enough to know what a ShawnDate^TM is, basically Shawn comes up with some creative wacky idea for a date, assures you it will be absolutely lame and then won't tell you what it is even if you beg and plead and try to trick him into it. Normally I hate surprises, but this one was definitely worth it.

It was (*drum roll please*)....

SOCK PUPPETS!

(You're probably rolling your eyes and saying "Whaaa?" But truth is, when I was little I wanted to be a Muppeteer/marry Jim Henson's son so this was an incredibly exciting adventure for this nerd. :-) )

That's right ladies and gentlemen, last night we embarked on a four hour sock puppet making extravaganza. I'll break it down for you, just in case you want to make your own...

First, cut the toe off the sock and insert a cardboard piece for the mouth

It helps if you look skeptical apparently...

Once the mouth pieces are in place, you should be sure to take a cute picture

Attach ping pong balls for eyes-

Add feathers, felt and pipe-cleaners to create a bird...

Or add a jacket for a more dapper looking puppet...

It's also important that you make a mess of your living room and eat only jelly beans while creating your sock puppet.

You should probably feed your puppet, lest it start eating your date...

And voila! Operation: Puppetstravaganza complete!

(If you could see the clock you could tell it says something like 2 am...Operations do best late at night when everything is an entertaining, brilliant idea)

Some how my parrot puppet took 3rd place in the Operation: Puppetstravaganza competition.
Yeah, I don't know either...

Photo Blog-O-Rama! Pt. 2- Sushi Train of DOOM!

(Not really..it just sounded sort of catchy.)

Another day, another brain drain. This time it was a discussion in my Women and Violence class about the feminization of society leading to emasculinization of men and whether or not men actually can communicate about emotions/care about women without feeling the need to subject them to paternalization (lots of -zations!).

Then tonight in Theories and Methods we had an in depth conversation about sacrifice, violence, religion and the inherent anger in all mankind, which resulted in me agreeing to write an email to Rene Girard concerning his opinion on virtual human sacrifice (i.e. video games and gory movies) as an outlet for violence and whether or not he hates his daddy. *Whew*
(Side note to SB- Now maybe you understand why I thought it was "really cool" to stare at the screen while you worked on Illustrator for an hour? ;-) )

Anyway... all of that was a round-about way of saying that you, dear reader, get another photo blog! YAAAAAAAY!

You may remember that back in February I gave up fish for Lent. I wish I could say I was completely successful and made it the whole 40 days, but that would be against my new "Honesty is the best policy" policy. I only slipped up three times because I desperately needed protein and tuna salad just sounded so much better than beans or eggs. But technically Sundays in Lent aren't included in the count, so I did go for 40 days. Technically...

Kat and Meghann helped me break my Lenten fast on Wednesday with some yummy sushi from the Sakura sushi train. Observe...

The train rounds the corner and the anticipation is overwhelming! I drooled...just a little.

What to choose? What to choose?!

The fast gets officially broken with a piece of salmon nigiri. Mmmm!

Happy sushi eaters- Meghann and Katherine!

A job well done!

The night could have ended with tattoos and a possible new piercing, but alas Freaks on Broadway was busy (on a Wednesday night?). Perhaps that's a good thing though, because in the near future I'll have more photo-blog material for those brain dead days.

Photo Blog-O-Rama!

My thinking power has been expended on papers/research/preparing for class this week, so dear readers I give you a photo blog!

Leia and I decided to put our modeling skills to good use over Easter weekend-


Dear Tyra Banks,

Leia Marie and I would like to show you why we should be America's Next Top Models.

Reason #1: We can do the snobby "high fashion" aloof look

Reason #2: We have the acting thing down. Check out these sad faces!

Reason #3: Leia is pretty much the cutest 13 year old dog ever... Seriously, what more do you need?

Tune in tomorrow when Lindsey in Lawrence brings you adventures with the Sakura Sushi Train.

Same blog time, same blog channel.

The Easter Bunny Gypped Me...

Seriously!
It's not fair.
I mean how else am I supposed to celebrate the arrival of spring and the start of Christianity unless I'm laying sugar-coma-ed and twitching on the living room floor surrounded by half-eaten hollow milk bunnies and Starburst jelly beans?

Soo...Easter thoughts-

Looking around church this morning I realized just how much we need spring time celebrations. We need an Easter or spring equinox or whatever celebration to help us throw off the dull snowy winter and celebrate new life.

Maybe Christianity stole it from the pagans, but this morning at service I was glad they did. People were cheery and smiley and wearing bright colors and we got to yell "Alleluia!" I always forget spring is right around the corner and I especially forget how much I love it. This morning, snickering my way through "In the Garden" and surrounded by generations of the people I love, was the perfect way to usher it in.

---

I have this little tradition that I started way back in high school. Every Holy Weekend I listen to the 2nd CD from the Jesus Christ Superstar soundtrack. It starts out with the Last Supper and ends with Judas' death and the crucifixion and it always put me in that sort of Maundy Thursday/Good Friday mindset.

I'll admit it (because this blog is apparently is where I admit things) I cheated this year. Sorry Jesus, but I wanted to skip ahead to Easter because I was in such a good mood that instead of doing my usual second CD run down, I just listened to my favorites. Yeah, yeah I know...

Those of you who know me well probably know that JCS is my favorite musical because I so strongly identify with Andrew Lloyd Weber's portrayal of Judas. However, this time through my favorites I actually listened to the other characters and was struck by something interesting- each of them is desperately trying to make Jesus into what they want him to be.

Mary doesn't know how to love him- he's "just a man" right? Simon the Zealot is looking for a messiah who will over throw the Romans. Herod wants to be entertained by a miracle worker. Pilate wants an innocent man that he doesn't have to punish...etc...etc... And each of them gets frustrated or disappointed when that's not who/what he is. Mary goes so far as to ask (with Peter) "This was unexpected/What do I do now?/Could we start again please?" when things don't turn out like what she had thought.

It made me wonder about the congregation sitting around me in church this morning. What are they expecting and looking for? Who do they want Jesus to be? And more importantly... are they finding what they're looking for? 100 people in church and I bet you I would have received 100 different answers.

That's the beauty (and frustration) of religion.

In other news- I just broke a glass candle holder all over my bathroom floor and I don't want to clean it up. That was never my job.

Eternal Return

Greetings from fabulous Tulsa, Oklahoma...

Tonight my brother and I went to go see my friends Travis and Brian perform at a coffee house. Travis, Brian and I were all interns at good ol' Camp Tawakoni a few years ago and survived quite an interesting summer out there. Both of them are very talented and it was great to catch up and enjoy some wonderful music.

(Grainy camera phone picture courtesy of Nate. Brian is playing the keyboard and Travis is on the bass.)

I always find it amusing and interesting how much I connect my memories with music. The right (or wrong) song can bring back a flood of memories with very little effort, all it takes are the first few notes and suddenly you're back to...well, wherever.

Tonight it was "Doubting Thomas" by Nickel Creek. (The song is on their Myspace and you can listen to it if you click the link. If you haven't heard it you should definitely check it out.) Brian promised me he'd play some Nickel Creek after I whined about him not playing his mandolin (I love hearing NC's song "The Fox") but I wasn't expecting him to make me cry.

You see, there are two very distinct memories that song takes me back to-

One is camp, sitting around a campfire while communion is taking place. Travis is playing guitar and trying to sing, but his voice isn't quite there. The inky black humid night, lit by stars and the occasional airplane was so comfortable for me. There's a certain connection that seems to happen only at camp- an experience of "that which is beyond life". After camp it fades into a vague memory, only to be conjured up in a coffeehouse in Tulsa of all places.

But then your memory takes you someplace else-

To a lake, and a beautiful stormy Sunday morning at an unfamiliar church. A young man is singing his heart out for a congregation who loves him, as I try to hide my tears and Pete plays poker on his phone in the seat next to me. There's a certain ambivalence to the moment- acceptance and peace full of nervousness and excitement; a weekend beyond words and yet so full of them.

Both memories quickly fading and seemingly so far away, I have to decide where to reside...what to remember...

Ah! What about now? I take a breath and allow myself to enjoy the music in the context. Good friends, good chai, good conversation. No need to go someplace else, everything I need is here.

And as Brian finishes the song the way only Brian can, I applaud.
I'm always where I need to be.

----

Easter weekend always makes me contemplative.

So um...here's a picture-

Leia says Happy Easter!

On the Road Again

Last night I had the opportunity to hear Devi Tide, the head of the Sufi Healing Order of North America speak. She had some very interesting ideas, and I want to post about it, but I need a bit more time to let it roll around in my head.

In the meantime, I'm off to Tulsa for the weekend to celebrate Easter with the family and my brother's 21st birthday on Sunday. Should be a fun time. :-)

A Model Cross-Stitcher

Check it out!!
What is it you ask? That ladies and gentlemen is the first 201 stitches of the 229,450 stitches that will make up my cross-stitch opus. It's the top left corner of the ceiling of the room in DaVinci's "Last Supper".

Yeah yeah I'm a nerd, but it's pretty exciting to be roughly 1/1147 of the way there. Here's the bigger picture-
It looks pretty impressive until you realize that the majority of the aida cloth is rolled up and folded under on the scroll frame. Like I said, if I finish this before I get my Ph.D., I'll be pleasantly surprised.

In other news-

The weather here in Lawrence was gorgeous today. I was blessed enough to have a wonderful lunch/Mass street coffee with Kassie, and afterwards I put my iPod on and went on a long walk. You can always tell at Pier 1 when I've been watching too much "America's Next Top Model" as I start strutting around with my hand on my hip like I'm on a catwalk. Apparently I was still in model mode today, because as I rounded the corner of the sidewalk on to busy 15th street I decided to treat the next 3 blocks up to my apartment as a long runway.

I noticed something interesting as I walked fiercely to the tune of I believe it was the "1812 Overture"- of the 20 or so cars that passed, only 2 people looked at me. Now you may say "Well yeah, you're no big deal...just some pedestrian", but it was surprising to me.

I realized that I'm so hyper aware of everyone else around me- the vibes I'm getting, the conversations I'm over-hearing, the body language I'm seeing- and I just figured everyone else is the same way. I assumed everyone else is just as acutely aware of the people around them. But I think what is more true is that most people are too wrapped up in their own lives and own concerns to notice other people. Not that there's anything wrong with that...it was just something I'd never thought of before.

It's that sort of realization I find so freeing. If the majority of people driving down the street don't really care what you do, why worry about it?

If you need me, I'll be out walking my new runway. I'm the girl in the huge cheap sunglasses walking to the beat of "The Anvil Chorus". See you out there....or will I?

Holdin' Out for a Hero

This past weekend found me experiencing an interesting dichotomy of film- 10,000 B.C. and Be Kind Rewind all in one night. One film choice was mine (the girl who has no taste) and one was Shawn's (the film major)...I'll let you figure out who picked what.

Be Kind Rewind wasn't bad. Not the Science of Sleep/Eternal Sunshine Michel Gondry style I expected, but it was a sweet movie and I think maybe I laughed a few times...maybe. Still, I'm not a big Jack Black fan.

The religion major in me loved some of the themes in 10,000 B.C., however. Myth, prophecy and religious beliefs, killing man-made "deities", love and interconnectedness...etc. There was even a brief moment (I swear!) where, once the hero realizes his destiny, we see a group of thorns. Not a crown per se, but it still seems pretty symbolic to me.

10,000 B.C. and the rash of superhero movie previews I had to sit through got me thinking. Why is it our culture has a need for such violent savior figures? Superheros, war heroes, everywhere you look there is some good guy who saves the day by kicking ass and taking names. Very rarely do we see a hero who saves the day through self-sacrifice or non-violence.

This is not a new theme by any means. The Jews were waiting for a savior to conquer and destroy the Romans, and the ancient Greeks gave us Odysseus who is the hero archetype embodied.

If this is not a new theme, then what does that say about our human nature? Are we born with an inherent understanding of archetypes?

Is it the society (perhaps patriarchy) we've created that requires a hero willing to use violence?

Is violence a necessary condition to be a hero?

Can anyone name me one pop culture "hero" who doesn't use violence?

Will Lindsey ever stop asking questions?

In other news-
I love Easter weekend because the Discovery/National Geographic/History Channels play all sorts of religion nerd shows. I also love that Pier 1 is currently a pagan symbol mini-mart of sorts...

Yeah you know, Easter...that holiday when we celebrate Jesus' resurrection by gorging ourselves on chocolate symbols of fertility!

Ruminations of a Pier 1 Pirate

It isn't a good truck day at Pier 1 unless you come home smelling faintly of sewage...
Damn Lawrence sewer system...

Tonight at work I received the perfect opportunity to practice my new "Hey I remember you!" routine, and I didn't even have to pretend because my two of my favorite customers came into work. Interestingly enough, they both have purchased Buddhas from me and actually enjoyed discussing the characteristics of said Buddhas. One of them also happens to look rather like Sean Connery, but that's neither here nor there...

There's so much anonymity in our current culture. I'm guilty of enjoying it (putting on my dark shades and popping in my iPod ear-buds for the short walk to class lest I run into anyone I may know from high school) but maybe it's not all it's cracked up to be.

There's something to be said for walking into a store and having the sales associate know who you are and what you like. There's something to be said for finally feeling appreciated 6.5 hours into an 8 hour shift when a customer finally treats you like a real human being and asks you how classes are going.
Pier 1 might be a corporate store, but that doesn't mean I can't make it feel a little more personable.

In other news, Nate (my brother) and I might actually be the same person...at least when it comes to relationships. Go figure.

Retail Therapy

I had a rather blog-able weekend this weekend, but rather than get it all done in one droning blog entry, I might as well stretch it out and keep you (the three readers that I have) anticipating the exciting adventures of Lindsey and her death-defying...er...well...never mind.

This particular train of thought begins on Friday, the day I decided to single handedly jump-start the economy. Nothing to do+pay day+Lindsey needs a little attention= Shopping spree!

Nothing major, just $20 worth of embroidery floss to get me started on "The Last Supper", some groceries, a ceramic hair-straightener, a little Jasmine Vanilla indulgence, some sunglasses, work shoes, play shoes and oh that maple sugar flavored lip gloss which was a complete necessity! Ohh I would be a bad socialist.

(Watch as I now try to justify my shopping)

When I'm at work, I love actually being able to do my job. I love it when someone actually lets me help them, lets me suggest items that may work and gives me a challenge to solve. So, my role as a shopper is to allow people to do their jobs in such a way that they can feel good about themselves at the end of the day.

Take my new favorite barista at Starbucks on Saturday-
After taking my order for a tall soy raspberry latte and a piece of iced lemon pound cake, he asked for my name.
"Lindsey" I responded
"Oh! Lindsey! How have you been?" he exclaimed. He then dug a little deeper into the pile of pound cake in the case to find me one that wasn't dried out.

I have no idea who this guy was, but perhaps that Starbucks re-training that happened last month actually did some good. I think maybe I'm going to start pretending to know people at Pier 1, see if that ups my sales (or just confuses people). At the very least I'm going to continue to give people the sort of customer service I enjoy, even when they get annoyed with me. Someday someone just like me will walk in to my store and appreciate the attention I'm willing to give.

If a girl's going to change the world, she'd better have some cute shoes to do it in. So thank you, Nordstrom's sales guy for running back and forth to the stock room all those times and putting up with my indecisiveness. You rock.

Enter Sandman

My subconscious has been doing a number on me lately.

3 of the past 4 nights I've had nightmares, or at the least very suspenseful dreams.

Last night I watched one of my ex-boyfriends get eaten by a hoard of zombies. Ironically, it was the ex who has his own reoccurring nightmares about zombies. I woke up in a bit of a panic, managed to laugh at myself a little and then fell back to sleep trying my darnedest to think about cute puppies or rainbows or anything peaceful and pleasant.

Instead, I dreamed I was in a department store full of people milling around. Suddenly, all the TVs and speakers in the store started announcing this competition that would be happening in just a few minutes, some sort of scavenger hunt. The winner would get a million dollars. The person I was apparently with in my dream leaned in close and whispered "I love you, but I have to win this". I've never heard this person say that before so it caught me off guard, but before I could react he was gone.

Looking around me, I instinctively knew something was wrong. Instead of joining in the competition I calmly climbed out a nearby open window, scaled down a few stories and safely jumped to the ground. Suddenly my "point of view dream camera" swung outside of myself and I was looking at myself walking away from the store. It became one of those slow motion movie moments set to music- the heroine of the story casually sauntering towards the camera as the whole building blows up in the background. Stunning really. I wish I'd had a way to record it.

---
Maybe we shouldn't read too much into dreams. Maybe they really are just the left-overs from the day rolling around and working themselves out, but I kept coming back to the way the relationship between me and the (ex/unexpected) love interest played out in the dreams. I'll spare you the gory details of my internal analysis, but eight hours of plowing through boxes at Pier 1 left me with an interesting question.

Would you rather have a good relationship with an indefinite time-line and no real knowledge of what could end it?
Or a good relationship with a definite end and clearly defined, openly admitted excuses to break it off? Perhaps knowing the details would allow you to relax and actually enjoy the other person?

I'm not asking which is better, because I don't think one is over the other and both have their perks... but what would YOU rather have?

Photo Blog: Operation Bald Eagle

I'll admit it, I'm a bit of an enabler. When someone tells me they want to do something and they seem serious about it, I do what I can to help them achieve that goal.

Last night my enabling took the form of something called "Operation: Bald Eagle". My friend Shawn has been contemplating shaving his head and doing the "bald by choice" look, and when we found ourselves looking for something to do last night, I offered to go ahead and do it for him.

A Wal-Mart adventure, a Wahl Color Coded Hair Cut Clipper and some gentle reassurance later...we were ready to roll.


Shawn carefully read over the directions while I played with the pretty color combs and tried to remember those couple of times I sort of did this before. Sort of... It couldn't be that hard, could it?

Apprehension is a good look for you...

I'm pretty impressed that I can cut hair and take a picture at the same time. Shawn, not so impressed.
I let him finish up the last part. Personally, I think it was a good choice- very Lex Luthor. Bald is the new hair extensions.

Having changed Shawn's hair last night, I'm fighting the urge to do something to my own. It's one of those emotional release/personal expression/I'm still young and can do silly things things. Nothing drastic I assure you, and I'll probably talk myself out if it, but I like the idea of changing things up a bit.

Everything else in my life is changing...why not my hair?

Thanks to Shawn for trusting me with his head. If anyone else wants me to shave theirs, well... I actually know how to do it now!

Don't need nothin' but a good time...

It's official, I need to stop eating before I go to bed. I'm going to blame this dream on the nectarine/strawberry juice and the pizza. Oh and my unfortunate love of crappy reality "dating" shows...

I dreamed last night that I was a contestant on "Rock of Love", you know- that VH1 reality show with Bret Michaels from Poison as the "eligible bachelor". I apparently had been playing the game pretty well, as the other girls in the house seemed to hate me for winning a fair amount of the "challenges" and "dates" with Bret. I spent the first part of the dream scheming with a few of the other contestants about to get the girls we didn't want in the house anymore eliminated.

Everything seemed to be going well, until we reached the nightly "elimination". You can imagine my shock when Bret told me my "tour ends here". Apparently I'm a pretty sore loser in my dreams as I pulled Bret aside and in some sort of brilliantly scripted monologue (that I wish I could remember!) convinced him that I'm the one. I think I even agreed to get breast implants if he'd keep me around.

The dream continued on for a little while longer until I got kidnapped by a producer who looked like Lyle Lovett and I thought- "Wait...Lyle Lovett? I must be dreaming!" and woke up.

So what is my subconscious trying to tell me?
I can persevere and compromise to get what I want?
Even the seemingly unattainable is within my reach?

Or am I just an attention whore? ;-)

It's always something...

Strange how it took me so long to notice it was missing.
Maybe it just snuck out on me, silently and gradually.
Well whatever happened, now that it's back I know now just how much I missed it.

How is it that I haven't been laughing all this time?

I mean, I enjoy entertaining other people and I get a big kick out of making other people laugh. Even on my worst days I'll try to make other grin. But to actually let my guard down and giggle until I snort and squeak like a guinea pig is currently my new favorite feeling!

All it took was a little openness to the unexpected, a willingness to have silly adventures (like a late-night coloring contest at Java Break) and actually letting myself do things for myself (more on that later...perhaps).

For so long I had people telling me "Life is good", but what I really needed to hear (or maybe I just needed to tell myself) is "Life is enjoyable!"

In other news, tomorrow I embark on a journey to begin my cross-stitch opus. For some crazy reason I've decided to attempt a cross-stitch version of DaVinci's "The Last Supper". It's going to be something like 3 feet by 2 feet. Yeah it might be rather "grandma" of me, but damn if I won't be proud of it once it's finished. (Which might be after I get my Ph.D)

I'll take pictures. In fact, I should take more pictures in general. Expect, nay demand, photo-blogs from me! It's been too long.

Maybe there wasn't a real point to this entry, but I wanted to let you know I'm happy.
I think I'll just keep laughing and enjoying and see where this takes me.