going away party/wedding shower

Someone asked me today if I was also going to have a blogger going away party/wedding shower.

What do you mean?!! I'll still be in the blogosphere!

But I got to thinking about what a blogger going away party would be like.

Here's a game I devised ... play along if you like:

If Today Tonight/Current Affair (for the Aussies) or 60 Minutes (for the Americans) were to do a segment about Mike and Christine, what sort of scenes would they have (example: Mike walking along the beach looking woefully out across the ocean obviously distressed that his love is not by his side).

If they interviewed you/someone else, what would you/they say?

How do you know Mike and Christine?

What would you say about Mike or Christine before they "met"?

What would you say about Mike or Christine after they "met"?

Have you personally met either Mike or Christine?

Madahooha?

Me - "My name will be Christine (sly smile, slight snigger, holding in a laugh) Jolly."

Jim - "Is that how it's pronounced in Madagascar?"

Me - (blank look)

Jim - "(makes snigger noise) Is that how Jolly is pronounced? ... (looks to girlfriend) She is the one marrying a guy from Madagascar, right?"

Everyone - (BWAHAHAHA!!!)

i can't look at you and take you seriously

So I decided to dress up as Katy Luther tonight for our Reformation Costume Party at Cassey and Jiri's ... although they didn't know they were throwing a costume party ... and I don't think anyone else knew either ... hmm, oh well.

But it didn't take long before my character was transformed from this remarkable historical figure to a pagan Goddess of the Wood. After Jiri crowned me with a berry wreath, no one could take me seriously.

Throughout the night I attempted to take part in multiple serious conversations. "When speaking to those immersed in legalism, one can rarely use logic to convince them of their error..."

"Pfgthfffft! Sorry, Christine. It's just so hard to take you seriously with those berries on your head."

At one point I pouted, which made people laugh even harder.

Bwahahaha! I enjoy making people laugh ... even if it's not on purpose.

crazy fun date ideas

Hat tip to Rodeo Clown for sending us this link for date ideas. I forwarded it to my parents and they are trying out number 16 tonight.

Would you add any to the list?

my boyfriend and i are ...

h/t Sharon

2 chicks, a couple of guys, and a camp fire

Adam: (leans back, places hands behind his head) "So, if you could choose three weapons to kill a wolf, which would they be?"

My eyes grew wide. Seriously?! THIS is going to be the next thread of conversation?!! Cassey and I were highly amused. This weekend's camping trip has truly been an answer to every girl's wish to be a fly on the wall in a guy's room. (What do they talk about?!!)

Answers varied from javelin, long finger nail, bow and arrow, tank (that was my choice), etc.

Mike added his vote via SMS ... his trusty block of wood has never let him down thus far.

As the glow from the fire's flames cast odd shadows on our faces, Ben shared a story he had heard of an entire village's population (located not to far from the camp site) that had been massacred by a pack of wolves ... no survivors.

Jiri: "Then how do you know what happened?"

Ben: "Diaries"

Me: "So ... what? The last entry read ... 'We've held them off for a solid week, but rations are low and we've run out of water. They've surrounded the house. There is no escape. Are we the last one's alive? I can see them pacing outside the window, yellow eyes glaring ... as if ... ACK! One just crashed through the window. Where's Pa? Oh no, it's chaos! I'm being wrestled to the ground. No, not my Jugulaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr (gurgle)'?"

Brian: "When did this happen?"

Adam: "Yesterday."

Ben: "1850"

Brian: "Ooooooo ... nice. 1850's a nice creepy date."

and then SOMEHOW ... no one will ever to be remember quite how ... someone began to associate our names with the different sound-effects some of our weapons of choice would make. As a result, *this* story was invented with our camp mascot, Goldie (Cassey and Jiri's dog), playing the heroine.



Goldie, the Wolf-Slayer

The moon was full as Goldie pulled up to the campsite in her Harley.

(Briaaaaaaaaan Bri Bri Bri Bri Briaaaaaaaaaaan) [ok, so his was the only name not associated with a weapon]

She screeched to a halt when the pack of wolves ambushed her in the darkness. Grabbing her gatling gun she cranked out a couple of rounds to keep the savage pack at bay.

(adamadamadamadamadamadamadamadamadam)

When she ran out of ammo, she reached for her bow and arrow.

(ben .... ben .......... ben ben ben ...... ben)

Her supply of arrows exhausted and the raging hoards closing in on her she drew her sword.

(ChriSTINE ... ChriSTINE ...... ChriSTINE)

Oh, no! Goldie's sword got lodged in the spinal column of one of the attacking wolves.

Unable to remove the weapon, she abandoned that hope and found herself backing up into a tree.

The pack surrounded her, inching closer and closer.

"Wait!"

The snarling wolves stepped back unsure ...

With a flick of her paw, Goldie revealed her last resort.

(cassey)

The wolves flinched at the sound of Goldie's lightsabre being unsheathed.

Wounded wolves were scattered left and right as the female canine unleashed her fury on the ambushers.

(Jirrrrrrrrri ... Jirrri ... Jirrrrrrrrrrri ... Jirrrri)


And THAT is what seminary students talk about around camp fires.

obsessed with variety

i give up

... you can use LYNX deodorant ... if that's what it REALLY does to the chicks.

Mr. Bean Goes to Church

thanks, Craigs.

girl's conference theme

Be merciful to me, O God, for men hotly pursue me;
Psalm 56:1a

Due to Justin's recent comments on Bible exposition and the encouragement of my partner in ministry, Amanda, I have decided that my first big Girl's Conference that I speak at should be centered around the theme laid out in the verse above.

What do you think?

We could even have T-shirts.

(front) Be merciful to me, O God ...

(back) for men HOTLY pursue me.

Hmm ... how should my outline look? What topics should I cover?

my independence

Mum and Dad raised me to be independent ... so what did I do this Independence Day?

I went to the rain forest.

Sadly there were no speakers behind the plant life streaming Disney theme park jungle sound effects. So I provided my own monkey chatter and squwaking of brilliantly colored ...

... WHOA! was that a parrot?!!

No. It was a suicidal sparrow that flew into the side of my windshield. I watched in my rearview mirror as the limp bird was flung up into the air by the force of the hit and then spiralled into a splat on the asphalt behind.

DID YOU SEE THAT?!!

See what? asked my two fellow missionary friends.

The kamikaze bird.

What?

Two minutes later we watched in shock as another fool of a bird flew smack into the side of the RV in front of us ... spiralling to it's death as the other had.

Wide-eyed we stared at each other.

What's with the birds?!!

It's as if they got into some red-neck's 4th of July beer stash and decided to play a game of dare.

Ok ... wait for it ... wait for it ... now, fly now ... SPLAT!

oops.

Here are my pics.

memories from Kamp Kursa

As little Sophie arrived at camp, she exclaimed:
"Sweet Mother of Pearl!"

Pastor Mike commenting on my sweet little brown hat:
"I think this is the first time we get to experience a little Christian Dior here at our camp. You would do Jackie Kennedy proud."

Camper to his counsellor when they couldn't find a ping pong ball:
"Wait! I learned something today ... what was it ... I know! Don't focus on what you want, but be thankful for what you have!" With that he made up a completely new game with a few odds and ends he found lying around. Supposedly it ended up being loads more fun than ping pong.

A verse from Pastor Kerry's song:
"I think I'm going to throw up
I think I'm going to throw up
I think I'm going to throw up
... my hands to the Lord"
(the other verses involved "hurling" and "doodoo")

superstar summer missionaries and their band Washington:
"Sweet home, Kamp Kursa
Where the skies are barely blue
Sweet home, Kamp Kursa
I'll come back next year to you."

perfect 10

I was a judge at this year's Kamp Kursa Bellyflop Contest.

I've never seen anything quite so perfect. Ah, the wonders of photography.

are you English?

In the middle of one my sessions I looked at this little girl and blurted out,

"Are you English?!"

"Me?"

"Yes, you."

"Um, yeah. My dad is!"

"I knew it!"

And then I went on with the rest of the lesson. Weird, I know.

Afterwards, she came up to me.

"How did you know?"

"Your head."

"My head?"

"Your blond hair, lovely freckles, and your face ... your face just looks English."

That didn't seem to be enough for her. She came back to me a number of times during the younger kids camp and asked how it was I knew.

I've been known to mess with kids heads before ... it just happens ... i don't stop and think ... the words just come out!

"It says so on your forehead."

"What?!"

"Here, I'll show you."

I took the little girl to a mirror.

"See the little blue veins in your forehead. They spell out the word 'English'."

"Where?"

"See the 'E' here?" I traced out an "E" with my finger over a group of veins that very well could resemble a letter "E".

"Cool!"

This morning before she left camp I offered to trace out the veins that spelled "English" in ink for her.

I'm just glad I won't be there when she explains to her dad why she has the word "English" written on her forehead.

such pathetic whining ... it's pitiful

My friend Casey and I were discussing the pitiful state of popular music today (i won't even go into Christian music here!) ... particularly that song "You're Beautiful ... such pathetic whining! ugh!

That's when she made me aware of this parody.

logs

ckhnat 2006

It’s definitely logging country up here. I snapped this shot on the way up to see the Ocean. The trucks lugging the logs reminded me of Brian Regan’s sketch about logs.

"You see weird things driving... I've never understood log trucks, sometimes you'll be out on the highway, you see two big giant trucks loaded up with logs, and they pass each other on the highway... I don't understand it. I mean, if they need logs over there... and they need 'em over there, you'd think a phone call would save 'em a whole lot of trouble."

Brian Regan

Macs are like ... Calvinism

I think its like arminianism and calvinism. In one sense people find arminianism easier because it has complicated rules of do this and do that and you'll get there, whereas calvinism puts people off because it's already all taken care of.Obviously PCs are arminians and make you do lots of stuff before you get anything and Macs are calvinists - it's all done for you.And the reality is it takes a long time for arminians to shake off their heritage and fully embrace calvinism.

courtesy of an anonymous response to Ruth the Beloved

tonight's activity

I remember being scared of rabbits for a while after I watched this movie for the first time.

the Mormon version

Pride and Prejudice: a Latter-Day Comedy

Yet another adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice ... however, this one is different. This P&P is like ... um ... what My Big Fat Greek Wedding was. It's chalk full of sub-culture.

Yes indeed, Jack Wickam is a polygamist.

Ha!

Oh ... and Collins is just back from his 2 year mission and looking for a wife to multiply and replenish the earth with.

The girls? A bunch of Brigham Young University roommates. Jane is from Argentina.

Ah ... and Darcy ... he wouldn't be Darcy without the make-any-girl-weak-in-the-knees British accent.

If anything, watch it because *my goodness* it's a freakin' Mormon Pride and Prejudice.

Visit the official website here. Be sure to watch the trailer.

the meltdown

Just got back from seeing Ice Age 2 at the cheap theatre ... with a friend. What can I say ... We won't see each other for 2 months. It didn't seem right to go alone.

Ice Age 2 is outrageous! Dawn and I laughed ridiculously through the entire flick.

I couldn't handle it when the vultures went all Rodger and Hammerstein.

Sid: Maybe we could rapidly evolve into water creatures.
Diego: That's genius Sid.
Sid: Call me, Squid.

Traffic Vulture: Parents: Please do not leave your children unattended. All unattended children will be eaten.

Ellie: [to Manny] You ain't repopulatin' the species TONIGHT, or any OTHER night!