'Men and women can't do housework together without quarreling. Different methods, my dear. Men can't help in a job, you know. They can be induced to do it: not to help while you're doing it. At least, it makes them grumpy.'

'The cardinal difficulty,' said MacPhee, 'in collaboration between the sexes is that women speak a language without nouns. If two men are doing a bit of work, one will say to the other, "Put this bowl inside the bigger bowl which you'll find on the top shelf of the green cupboard." The female for this is, "Put that in the other one there." And then if you ask them, "In where?" they say, "in there, of course."'

--C.S. Lewis, That Hideous Strength

Life Is Like An Amusement Park

People often compare life a roller coaster. Up, down, twists and turns, you go upside down, right side up, you never know what coming or what just went, a short 90 second ride and by the time you catch your breath... it's over.

A couple of weeks ago I had the most interesting experience of visiting my first real amusement park and riding my fist roller coaster, and for some odd reason it effected me deeply, and although I didn't intend to discredit "those who who know" I now disagree, let me explain:

Life experiences have ups, downs twists and turns, yes, but life, at least mine, seems to be comprised solely of impossible to make choices and then slow, and agonizingly long waits. Strange as it may sound, but during my fist amusement park visit I noticed several uncanny resemblances to my current situation.

We were lucky enough to be at Six Flags with a private party and compared to normal summer nights the park was relatively empty, and lines positively nonexistent. We had 6 hours to do what ever we pleased as many times as we wanted, a safe thrills seeker's dream come true! As I gleefully ran past long empty waiting areas, hearing horror stories of three hour waits, and of spending an entire day there only to go on a couple of rides. I freely expresses my opinion : I would never do that! I would die of boredom if I tried, and I wouldn't even try to ride if it wasn't as easy to get on as our current 10 minute wait.

And I then considered that to be true, in theory.But... I know deep down that I would wait.

I would complain like crazy and regret my choice like mad, but I would study the twists and turns from afar and know that the adrenaline rush would be worth it because eventually, I would make it to the front of the line, because that's what one does. Like the patient perspective rider you see your life dreams from a distance, excited and anticipating, waiting to live them. But there's nothing you can do, you can't make life move any faster than you can make that line move any faster than it is, and no cutting in line. One is essentially powerless.

You dream of the day when you finally get to the head of the line, strapped in and then off you go! It takes your breath away, everything that was expected but nothing like it! Frightening and entertaining, thrilling and wonderful. No matter how hard you studied it from the ground, and thought Boy, that's high! when actually up there all one can think is, Boy! That IS HIGH! Then the drop... and BAM!

It's over.

You move on laughing, talking, reliving it, on to the next ride, the more wait and then the next adventure. That's the dream anyway... but that doesn't really seem like my life, with all the thrill and adventure. I'm still the person waiting in line.

I think the worst job in the world would be to work at an amusement park. Here is a group of people who spend all day watching other people have fun. The attendants move quickly in, out and around securing harnesses, wishing us, by words and actions a safe and exciting ride. Then watch us go, hear our cries of happiness, see us return, help us out and then do it all over again. It's a worse fate then those waiting in line because there's nothing for them even to wait for, because they never ride. As my favorite author once said, their "Life is a succession of busy nothings."

Yeah. That's sounds a bit like me.

I always seem to be watching the ride up close. Always seeing everyone I know getting on, but never me, never fulfilling dreams, never actually experiencing anything, only living vicariously through other people's happiness because, for some unknown reason, I'm not allowed on the ride until every thing's right. The right day, the right time, the right seat, the right person to ride with... and I don't ever see all those things coming together. Nothing is ever just... right.

I want to be able to "ride" life the way I treat an amusement park. I run from ride to ride, screaming, laughing, planning, always moving, always trying things. Not sticking to the tame thrills, but going boldly toward what scares me, and doing it several times. And when I get to the top, hundreds of feet in the air I was to be sitting with someone who I trust, who's hand I can grab and yell "This is SO frightening, but BOY is it FUN!" And most, importantly, when I leave the park I want to know that I rode every ride I could, that I did things that thrilled me with people who I care about. But first, when every things finally right I’ll get out of line, strap in, and finally go on my ride. I can't wait.

Interesting...

ENFP - "Journalist". Uncanny sense of the motivations of others. Life is an exciting drama. 8.1% of total population.

Free Jung Word Choice Test (similar to MBTI)
personality tests by similarminds.com

This is for you Elizabeth! :-)

I'm One of Them :-)

This afternoon while innocently watching the Dilly Bar eating contest, I unintentionally overheard the conversation of the three people standing next to me:

Guy: "So the man that owns Dairy Queen has like 20 Kids."
Other Guy: "Really?"
Lady: "No, that's the family on TV."
Other Guy: "There has to be at least 15 of them then."

Me: "It's 9." all turn to stare at me "He has 9 kids."

Guy: "Oh yeeeaaah! I knew that."
Lady: stares at me for a moment "OMG, aren't you one of them??"

Me: smiles

awkward silence

they walk away

"Anything real has flaws."

"He remembered hearing once that it was hard for people to ever know what they really looked like. Reflections in mirrors weren't accurate, because when you stare at yourself in a mirror you subconsciously composed your face in a way that wasn't your natural expression. He wondered if it was that way with strangers too, maybe you only looked like your true self with people you loved. And maybe that was a face you yourself hardly ever get to see."

~Elise Broach

"That Looks Like Something Lydia's Family Would Do." "Umm... that IS Lydia's Family."

The quote in the title was said by two co-workers of mine who just happened to be passing by a local park on Labor Day afternoon and noticed a group of people oddly posing like famous paintings, eating, laughing, talking and in general, just having a ton of fun.



In other words:

BEST. LABOR DAY. EVER.

Enjoy!

Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte Originally by Georges Seurat

Us:


"Opening of the Mouth Ceremony" from The Book of the Dead of Hunefer

(Sarah Beth is suppose to be Pharaoh Tom's head)

The Creation of Adam Originally by Michelangelo

(Sorry about Adam's clothing, or lack thereof,but I guess it's biblical!)

"The Hands"

Silly Adam, if he would stretch just a little it would work! Something I guess I could learn huh?

Huh?

1) Why does the sun lighten our hair but darken our skin?
2) Why is “abbreviated” such a long word?
3) Why do doctors call what they do “practice”?
4) Why is it that rain drops but snow falls?
5) Why is lemon juice made with artificial flavor and dish-washing liquid made with real lemons?
6) Why isn’t there mouse-flavored cat food?
7) What hair color do they put on the driver’s license of a bald man?
8) Why is it called “tourist season” if we can’t shoot at them?
9) Why isn’t “phonetic” spelled the way it sounds?
10) If a firefighter fights fire and a crime fighter fights crime, what does a freedom fighter fight?
11) If you squeeze olives to get olive oil, how do you get baby oil?
12) Why don’t sheep shrink when it rains?
13) Why are they called “apartments” when they’re all stuck together?
14) Is there another word for synonym?
15) If you try to fail but instead succeed, which have you done?
16) Whose cruel idea was it for the word “lisp” to have an “s” in it?
17) Would a fly without wings be called a “walk”?
18) Why aren’t eyebrows considered facial hair?
19) If slices of bread are square, then why is sandwich meat round?
20) If milk goes bad when not refrigerated, why don’t we refrigerate cows?
21) If parents tell their kids “Never take candy from strangers” then why do they celebrate Halloween? (I have a smart family, we never went out on Halloween, and were thus saved the expense of costumes, but we've discovered that the candy is 1/2 price about two days later, JACKPOT!
22) If Mars had earthquakes would they be called marsquakes?
23) Do glow-in-the-dark objects stop glowing when someone turns on the lights?
24) Do you wake up or open your eyes first? (I think it depends on the person, but I know I wake up and then spend a while trying to convince myself to open my eyes.)
25) How much deeper would the ocean be if sponges didn’t grow in it? ( I don't think those type of sponges, ya know... sponge at all. But I could be [read: probably am] wrong.)
26) Why are dog’s noses always wet?
27) Why is it that no matter what color bubble bath you use, the bubbles are always white?
28) Why doesn’t Winnie the Pooh ever get stung by bees?
29) If someone owns a piece of land, do they own it all the way to the center of the earth?
30) In libraries, do they put the Bible in the fiction or non-fiction section? (I am most proud to report that our library has it in non-fiction)
31) How old do you have to be before people can say that you “died of old age”?
32) What happens when you put a light saber in water?
33) If nobody buys a ticket to a movie, do they still show it?
34) Do butterflies remember life as a caterpillar?
35) If you soak a raisin in water, does it turn back into a grape?
36) How important does a person have to be before they are considered “assassinated” instead of just murdered?
37) Why is it that people say they “sleep like a baby” when babies wake up every two hours?
38) Do the Alphabet song and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star have the same tune?
39) Did you just try singing the two songs above? :)
40) What is the speed of dark?
41) Why didn’t Noah swat those two mosquitoes?
42) Why ARE Trix only for kids?
43) Why do people talk about ‘girlie’ things but never ‘boyie’ things? (It's boy-ish)
44) If Pinocchio said “My nose is about to grow”, what would happen?
45) Who copyrighted the copyright symbol?
46) Can fish drown?
47) Can you get cornered in a round room?
48) What does OK actually mean?
49) What came first – the fruit or the color orange?
50) If a person suffered from amnesia and then was cured, would they remember that they forgot?