I just received a message from an old college friend with whom I was part of the campus’ Christian group. He is preparing me for a call he’s going to make next Tuesday, asking for a donation to our college chapter now that he is employed by the fellowship and his salary comes from chapter funds.

He said one thing in his message that often bothers me about conversations I have with other Christians. He would like me to donate towards the chapter only if I feel like God wants me to give. So, if I’m not getting any message from God one way or another, I shouldn’t give, right? What if I want to give because an old friend is asking? If God really wanted me to give to the chapter, I wouldn’t even need an email from someone to propel me to do so, right?

I guess the part that bothers me boils down to this: why can’t I take credit for wanting to do something nice for a friend? Honestly, even when I was very heavily into the Christian life, I rarely did things against my will, just because I thought God wanted me to. Certainly a part of me would have to “agree with God” in order to do it. But that part of me still made the conscious decision, so why does some one else get the thanks? If I decide not to give, does that mean God told me not to or that I just didn’t listen?

This goes so much further than this one example. Historically, Christians give God the credit (or “glory”, if you will) for the great, wonderful things that happen to them. But then when bad things happen, it seems that the blame is always directed towards the sin or wrongdoing of the person. If the person gets the blame for bad things, shouldn’t they also get the credit for good things?

Lots of questions, I know. And I can’t say I’ll ever really know the answers, but I’m not content with the ones I’ve been given so far. So, I guess I’ll keep questioning until the answers are irrefutable and absolute.

You’re the reason why scooter and motorcycle accidents are up in Nashville. I hope you made it to work a few minutes early as you sped around me with tires screeching. Seeing how I was only going the speed limit or 5 mph over, on a residential thoroughfare, I could see how I was really holding you up. However, I have my doubts that it did you much good because a mile later you were still only 2 cars ahead of me. Too bad those cars weren’t skinnier, because I’m sure that would’ve given you room to cut the corner around them too.

Seriously people. I understand that it sometimes looks like scooters are going slower than the speed limit, but unless I make a mistake and head down Franklin Rd (which I’ve done once), I’m always going the speed limit or above. I could barely see this bitch in my rear view mirrors because she was so close. I was really hoping I’d see her pull into my same parking building, so I could say this to her face, but she sped by the entrance heading to West End. I purposefully stay away from the main roads to avoid jerks like her, but she was on my turf this time. It just really pisses me off.

And besides, who wants to be the woman on the news who hit a girl on a scooter because she was following too closely, or was so impatient she had to speed around her while making a left-hand turn? That move may have saved her 20 seconds on her commute, but I highly doubt it was worth it. Amazingly enough, I wasn’t the only one going close to the speed limit in a residential neighborhood and she just had to get up on someone else’s ass a few seconds later. Well done.

Some relatively distant co-workers told me today that I gave a good presentation in our Operations Meeting. Yay!

As I mentioned in a recent post, I take the shuttle back and forth to campus multiple times a day and there are sometimes some very interesting conversations going on. Usually about people’s weekend activities or the buzz around campus, but nothing ever too private. To add a little perspective, the seating in the shuttle is two long rows down each side of the bus, so its not like people sit in their own rows and can control how loudly they talk. Pretty much, if you have a conversation, you should expect that everyone can hear it.

So, on the way back to my office today, a couple people were talking about their grad school classes and other benign topics, but then switched to talking about some interviews the man had recently conducted. The woman obviously knew what the position was and had an option about who should fill that spot. Then, they actually start using FULL NAMES of employees who have interviewed and how they think they would do. Normally I wouldn’t say anything, but after they mentioned a friend of mine’s name, I really couldn’t help myself. After all, we are supposed to uphold a certain “credo” at Vanderbilt and you really just don’t need to be talking like that.

I leaned over and said, in what I thought was a nice, quiet voice, “this probably isn’t a conversation you really want to have on the shuttle”. Well. You’d think I’d asked the woman to take off all her clothes and dance around the parking lot. The look she gave me was a mix of incredulousness and shock. I felt like I had to defend myself immediately and I just said, “you know, about interviews and stuff”. And she goes “Oh, well, we work on the same team so….”. I thought for a moment and then said, “Well, you never know who is listening and all I’m saying is you probably don’t want to mention people’s names in this kind of atmosphere”. She continued to look at me like I was completely out of my mind and “who was I?” to say something to her.

I can understand the defensiveness one instinctively gets when someone you don’t know challenges whatever you’re doing. Even if you’re in the wrong, you feel like somehow the other person as wronged you. That woman is probably telling all her office mates about a nosy goodie-two-shoes who chastised her on the shuttle. And I thought far enough ahead to consider that might actually happen, but ran the risk anyway. This really was inappropriate! If they hadn’t used people’s names, I wouldn’t have said anything, but, come on! Right!?

It doesn’t seem like a whole year since I wrote this post, but it appears another year has passed. In keeping with my little tradition, here’s another story about my dad.

My dad was a member of many social groups, one of them being the Elks Club. Yearly they would have variety shows at Christmas time. I don’t remember everything but I remember this one skit where my dad played the part of this guy who was peeing in the bathroom and ran into one of those typical awkward situations while peeing. Like I said, I don’t remember the details, I just remember being very embarrassed that my dad was supposed to be peeing on stage, like it was a really shocking event. He didn’t mind making a fool of himself, though, if it meant it would make a room full of people laugh till they cried.

Another small memory: my dad’s impatience for wait staff was on the verge of embarrassing. If he felt like we weren’t being served fast enough or given enough attention, he would take his napkin and wave it over his head to get the server’s attention. Yeah.

It does make me a little sad that I only have a few select memories. On the upside, almost all of them involve laughter, culture, charity or the mix of all three. If I leave lasting impressions on my future children, I hope they are made of the same components.

On a 2nd (or 1st or 3rd) date, don’t mention my obsession with “Gossip Girl”, either the TV series or the books series. Noted.

Some times I do stupid shit, not because I think I’ll enjoy it, but because deep down I know I’ll be able to tell someone who appreciates how stupid it was. Well, now that I work in an office of one instead of eight, I don’t really have anyone to tell! So I’m going to bore the general public with my stupid story.

It’s really not that exciting…that’s why it’s stupid.

My new office is about 1 mile from the main campus, so I take a shuttle back and forth multiple times a day, depending on how many meetings I have on campus. The shuttle ride takes about 10 minutes to get there, but like 20 minutes to get back because of all the stops. I had just missed the 12:15 shuttle from campus and decided, you know what, I’m gonna walk. I know its hot, I know I’m wearing business-casual attire, but I have on comfortable shoes and I don’t have another meeting until 3pm so I can handle being a little sweaty for a bit.

So, I did. And I am. Sweaty. Very. Like a slick pig. And it only took me 25 minutes, only FIVE minutes longer than the shuttle. The cool, air conditioned, cushy seated shuttle. Yeah….

I have been TAGGED by Lyndi to share 6 random facts about myself so here goes:

1) Most mornings I have to blow dry my hair, straighten it, and then curl it a little.

2) I watch the Disney Channel. A Lot.

3) This is the first time I’ve lived alone EVER in my LIFE.

4) There are 5 clothes closets in my place and they are all full with my clothes.

5) I like going to the Humane Society on Saturdays to walk the dogs and pet the kittens.

6) When I write in fun colors at work, it makes everything seem more exciting.

I TAG Annie, Jeffraham, Katie, Rachel, and Megan.

The rules:
1. Link to the person who tagged you
2. Post the rules to your blog
3. Write 6 random things about yourself
4. Tag 6 people at the end of your post and link to them
5. Let each person you have tagged know by leaving a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is posted.

Last weekend I went home to California for my 10 year High School Reunion! It was actually a LOT of fun and it was great to see people I hadn’t seen in 10 years. My weekend started out on Thursday night, when my flight was delayed 2 1/2 hours in Nashville. So I didn’t make it home until 11pm instead of 8pm, but at least it was the same day. My mom met me at the airport and then we stayed up until about 1am just catching up.

Friday we went and saw a matinee, Vicky Christina Barcelona, the new Woody Allen film. I thought it was quite perfect and Javier Bardem sold himself as a romantic Spaniard following his role as a serial killer. Scarily, both were very believable. Scarlett Johansson was superb as always, and Penelope Cruz was a raving lunatic, which she does quite well. Anyway, the story had a few flaws, or maybe there just wasn’t enough time to show the full character development, but I found the lead’s role a little hard to believe.

Friday night we had dinner with my best friend Meredith and then she and I headed to 2nd Street for a few drinks without mom. We ended up at a bar where they were playing the Titans vs. Raiders game, so I had a good time watching the Titans win in the last few seconds. As always, it was wonderful to see Meredith, I just wish I could’ve stayed longer!

Saturday mom and I saw another movie, this time one with a little more hilarity. Tropic Thunder. Ben Stiller. Robert Downey Jr. What else do you need? It was pretty ridiculous, but we laughed the whole time. I love that I can watch stuff like that with my mom.

Saturday night was the actual reunion at the Queen Mary and it was a pretty nice event. There were probably about 175 people there (out of a class of 650), and I recognized all but maybe 5 people. Although not too many of my theater friends were there, I did get to see a few of them and then a whole bunch of people I “kinda” knew.

After the main event, we went down to Seal Beach and hung out at O’Malley’s, a local Irish Pub, until they closed. It must be a pretty popular hangout because it was packed with people our age. I made some new friends and chilled with some old friends and overall had a great night.

Next….my 5-year college reunion! That’s already coming up in October, I can hardly believe it! I’ll know even less people from my college class, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be just as much fun! Plus, my friend Angelo is coming down from Chicago since he graduated the same year, so I’ll get to see him again! Stay tuned!

Golly gee I haven’t blogged in a while. I have a few posts started, but was too lazy to finish them. At the current time, I am waiting for my delayed flight home to California. According to the last overhead announcement, the plane that was to depart from NYC at 5pm is not leaving until 7:30pm, and thus my 5:55 flight won’t be leaving until 8:30. Which is not too far away now. I spent some of my delay at the Tootsie’s bar nearby, listening to live music and chatting with others at the bar. As long as I get home tonight, I’ll be okay. Of course I wish I would’ve known there’d be a delay so I could’ve changed out of my work clothes, but now I’m still outfitted in my dressy grays. Oh well.

In case you’re wondering why I am going home (like one needs a reason to go to California!), this weekend is my High School reunion. I’ll let you guess how many years. I’m pretty excited. I haven’t really seen anyone from HS since…well, HS. Should be quite a trip. I hope a lot of people go to the event. We’re having it at the Queen Mary, which should be an elegant location. It may be a little weird at first, showing up alone, but I’m sure I’ll get over that quick enough. I’ll be sure to post an update when I return!