I made a startling realization today as I accompanied a friend driving through KFC for their new teriyaki boneless buffalo wings.
Boneless buffalo wings are really just chicken nuggets. Let that sink in for a second. We’re being charged for bone out wings. It’s a chicken nugget with the sauce on them instead of on the side.
I don’t know why that struck me as incredible insight, but it did, so now out of my benevolence and desire to share, I pass it onto you.
I just learned a very inconvenient lesson from U-Haul.
I used their handy-dandy online reservation system to make sure I had a truck to move on Sunday. Well they routed me to a store in Tustin, about 25 miles away from where I am moving to and even further from where I live now.
I opted not to pay the .79 a mile, an extra $39.50, simply to go get the truck and take it back, and cancelled my reservation. But for the joy of using the online reservation system I was charged a non-refundable $5.
It’s not the amount, it’s the principle of the matter. They charged me to use the freaking web site? How ridiculous is that?
Lesson learned: Call your local U-Haul rental place directly. It is cheaper and faster.
Our homework in counseling this last week was only three questions, but they required that you bare your soul on a piece of paper.
The first was why do you want to be a church counselor? Pretty inocuous.
The second was, list three areas that God has worked in your life in the last three years. That’s easy too. I’ve learned to accept his love, live in grace and the value of community. Those three things revolutionized my life, but are easily stated. It’s always easy to state the positive.
But the next one was a doozie, what life experiences do have that would help you be a good counselor? Yikes. I could either be open and honest or be superficial and cop out.
Graduation was amazing.
At one point I wasn’t sure if I wanted to participate and I’m so glad that I did. It was meaningful, exciting and really felt like appropriate closure to one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.
It was great to have my parents and closest friends share it with me. I realized that I didn’t make it to that day alone, but that God gave me a most incredible support system that provided me encouragement, love and frequent kicks in the butt to keep me moving.
I didn’t torture everyone by asking that they attend the graduation ceremony but they did meet me for lunch afterwards at Cafe Santorini in Old Town Pasadena. I was blessed to have all these key people in one place just for a couple of hours.
All weekend I was just on a high. It was a great time to really be grateful for what God has done and how he’s changed me through this experience. I always tells friends that my grad school time was just really expensive therapy. By going to a seminary I gained a new perspective, picture and idea of who God is. Getting a degree from the school of psychology I was able to integrate that new notion into my view of humanity and how we can be healed and made whole, restoring that image of God withing our own understanding of who we are.
Seeing this time and season of my life come to a close is a little bittersweet. I will miss the constant stimulus of being in class with other people passionate about the subject matter. I will miss learning from key researchers, philosophers and mentors.
At the end of the day I just realize how blessed I am. God is good. Now I get to go help others through everything God has shown me. I can’t wait.
I had the best weekend!! The time with my family, time with friends and most amazingly the graduation itself. It wasn’t a boring ceremony. it was a commissioning service. I’m even more excited to see what’s next.
I haven’t finished processing everything, but once I do I’ll write more and post some pics. We had way too much fun with the hood.
I’ve lived in my place now for 10 months.
Unfortunately I never really moved in. Few pictures are on the wall. There is barely any furniture in the place. My second bedroom is affectionately known as the box room, because it is full of unpacked and empty boxes. At one point the goal was to turn it into an office. I even got as far as putting the desk in the corner, but the unconnected desktop and peripherals are just sitting on it.
It doesn’t feel like a home at all. Now my parents are going to be here on Thursday for my graduation. I’ve obviously known about the graduation for a while. I’ve known they were coming for months. Now three days before their plane lands I’m starting to wonder if I should have unpacked and settled in.
This was supposed to be a temporary location. For a while the plan was to get married and move to Memphis. Then I was going to be transfered to Nashville for work. Now I realize I may be here a while. So I want to be comfortable. I want it to be cute. I want it to have a personality, right now it just feels blah.
No more blah. Time for it to be my place. I want to hang pictures. I want to get new furniture. I want have people over. Can I do all that before my parents get here? We’ll see.
I just got back from Pasadena with my graduation regalia in hand. WHI HOO!!
My hood colors are white, blue (theology) and goldenrod yellow (psychology).
Graduation is real and actually happening!! Althought I have to say graduation robes are ugly and made for men. They don’t take into account a woman’s natural curves AT ALL! And what’s with the hangy-down part on the sleeves? They look like uvulas attached to your arms. Bizarre.
I modeled it for a friend here in the office, it was fun to play dress up. Now I just have to figure out the right way to wear the hood. It is complicated, there are hooks and buttons on it with no apparent match or place to connect on the robe or to itself. I figure I’ll wait for day of and see what everyone else does.
While in the area I had lunch with a dear friend from my World Vision days. We don’t get to see each other that often but when we do we catch up quick and have great conversations. She is such a delight and what a treat to get to hang out with her, even if the time went by way to fast.
In happy news, I got my graduation announcements in the mail yesterday. WHI-HOO!! More proof that I am really done.
I’m much more excited about this graduation than any other. Well maybe just undergrad. I was thrilled to graduate from high school, cause it meant I got to leave Mexico.
I sent the first announcement to my parents today. I can’t wait. I don’t even know anyone else I’m graduating with but I don’t care. I want to wear the fancy, heavy robes and I think for your master’s you get the cool scarf thing. I’m sure there is a technical name but you know what I mean.
I get to go pick up my regalia at the end of the month. I’m going to wear it everywhere - the grocery store, to watch tv…you think i’m kidding just wait.
Talking to one of my freelancers today I learned a new journalistic genre - literary journalism.
She’s applying to j school and came in today to fill me in on the details. Since my B.A. is in journalism, it still holds a soft spot in my heart and I love to talk to people about grad school in general. As she told me what she wanted to do with the degree she mentioned that her B.A. is in literary journalism. I had never heard of that before. Apparently it’s known also as new journalism, creative non-fiction and literature of fact.
It’s basically the art of storytelling using literary devices such as narrative arc, suspense, foreshadowing, etc. That sounds fascinating. It’s the art of writing, as opposed to just the inverted pyramid. UCI has a great program I wonder if I can take some classes. This is perfect for feature writing or perhaps memoirs.
Maybe I’m just going through school withdrawl. I’m jonesing to learn something new. Since everything else is up in the air I want to go back to school.
But I do want to move into an editorial field and I wish my writing skills were stronger. Something to think about it.
I arrived home yesterday to find the diploma for my master’s degree on my doorstep.
It was kind of weird and very anti-climactic to receive it in the mail. I also expected the diploma to be fancier. It’s on special paper, but for the cost of my education I thought my name would be embossed and that the design would be more ornate. But instead it looks like something I could have created with a Word template.
I still have to wait until June to walk. I briefly entertained the idea of skipping the graduation ceremony, but I really want to wear the hood.
LA LA Land
