Sunday, April 29, 2012

Fish Toastmasters Zodiacs Mail Job

What the hell Blogspot???! You changed on me. I hate when the Internet does this. "Oh people have been using our site for a while they must be getting bored of the layout they have come to know and love. Let's update." It's like a maid coming into clean and instead they rearrange the living room. Not happy...

So I guess this most is the first of many updates. I'm going to start with the fish.

FISH

For my birthday I was given a fish tank and some things to put in it. YAY! Then I went to put some actual fish in it and found out I needed to get "filler fish" to put in my tank until they gunked it up enough for other fish to inhabit it. Yay...

Then a month went by. 2 fish died. Then I started getting concerned that the tank was too murky. I got a new filter sponge to put in there and asked to get a sucker fish. I was told I needed to give the fish store a water sample to make sure the ph balance was correct before they'd give me new fish. Fish are so high maintenance...

Then my sister came over to help me clean the tank since it was wayyyy too murky. During the process the rest of the 5 fish started to turn over on their bellies or go "belly up". It was a frantic period of time. We managed to save all but 2. So at this point I'm down to 3 fish. Great.

Next morning I wake up and 2 more have died. Really great. Then when I came home from work the last of my fishes had passed on. Apparently 7 fishes were too many for my tank size and they ended up polluting their own water and depriving it of oxygen. Fish are suicidal. Now I have to start all over again. They should have just gotten me a hamster.

TOASTMASTERS

Last Wednesday I show up at 6:30 to start arranging tables and passing out papers for the meeting to start at Carrows. Unfortunately as I pulled up to Carrows I noticed that all the lights were off. I was like, "That's never good...". Then I found a note on the door announcing that 1. They were hiring and 2. They were having a managers get together that Tuesday and Wednesday at another restaurant. So my brain, not functioning particularly well in the morning but still maintaining some level of competency, decided that 1. The lights were off and 2. Nobody was home that day. 3 other members showed up around that time and came up with the same diagnosis: Meeting adjourned.

So I head into work and fill my day as expected. Then I come home and check my email. The restaurant decided to open after all at around 7am -their new opening time- and people set up the meeting without me and carried on. 8 people were absent from the meeting and the VP of Education gave out a sorrowful chastising saying, "I don't know why people said they were going to be here and then weren't but those people need do better. They made the Toastmaster's job harder and blah blah blah..." It went on a tangent of Guilt Trippery.

So yah... that was fun...

ZODIAC

Today my mind really decided to make the link between seasons and people's personality types. I don;t know why but this theme of seasons keeps coming up so I figured I'd mention it just for the record.

Spring (The Beginning): Aries, Taurus, Gemini
Summer (A time of Warmth and Love): Cancer, Leo, Virgo
Fall (A time of Change and Preparation): Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius
Winter (The End): Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces

It's interesting - Aries, Taurus, and Gemini are the youngest souls just starting out in terms of maturity. Then it's Cancer, Leo, in terms of emotions and being "kid" souls. Then Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, and Sagittarius in terms of adulthood and having a career sort of maturity. Then come the old souls -Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces and in some cases the Aries again. They do tend to reflect the weather/seasons they are brought into.

MAIL

I got this thing in the mail. "A sign from the Lord about your future". A Church Rug Prayer was in it -made of paper not actual rug. There was also a piece of paper saying how people who had prayed to Jesus using the prayer rug had gotten "blessed" with money afterwards. One quote said, "God blessed me with over $5000 dollars". "Our Lord has blessed us with a big 6 room house..." "Received $10,000 in a financial blessing". "God made it possible for us to buy 17 acres of land..." "The Lord has healed my throat".

So I figured I'd try it out. Actually I just looked at the rug, respected it, and then put it on the ground -because I figured that's where rugs are suppose to go. Then I went back to opening the rest of my mail. Then I opened a letter from my car insurance company. I got $500 back from the car accident that happened last September. I don't know why I got an extra $500 -it didn't leave a note or anything saying why. Just a check. So I figured the rug worked so it said to pass it on or send it back to the church after filling out a prayer request. I had to check a box to say what I wanted to be prayed for.

Do I want people to pray for my health? No, my health is good.

Do I want people to pay for my finances? The could be better but it seems like a pathetic thing to pray for.

So I checked the box that said I wanted to have closer relationship with Jesus -because it's pretty true. I wonder what I'll get in the mail next...

JOB

So a woman working at my dad's company named Kim just changed jobs. Her job just opened up. She was sort of in marketing. Being that I work with Alex who is in charge of marketing to come up with brochures, GUI designs, and web pics for our products she thought it would be good  give me a test run at the job for the next month to see if it's a good fit. So far it's looking pretty easy and things are flowing along smoothly. I'm working on a LOT of graphic design stuff right now which is pretty great. My dad is out of town for another week on vacation. There's no more work to do in "production" aka putting displays together and I only ship stuff out on Thursdays so this week is looking to be very Artastic.

CAR ALARM

My stupid car alarm keeps going off in the parking garage a my appartment. From my window I can click the lock button on my keys to shut it up, but I don't know why it keeps going off. I suspect that my trunk hasn't been closed all the way. Will inspect further later. (Also Oakdale was fun, got to see Chelsie and chillax -but the part for my car that it sort of needs has to be ordered so I will be returning back there next Saturday to get it put in my car).


Sunday, April 8, 2012

Easter Church :)

Out of tradition for my Grandma, I always go to church on Easter Sunday.

My sister decided not to go. She didn't want to visit with my dad or step-mom. She said Grandma wouldn't mind.

Anyways, I got dressed up, hopped in my step-mom's car, and headed out. Initially I thought we were going to my grandma's church, but instead we drove right past it. Then it dawned on me e were going to the "rich people" church.

My parents live in Los Gatos so there's a church out there that rich people go to. Along the drive I kept looking at all the mansions we were passing and thinking, Great. I'm going to go to this church and be distracted by all the bling....

Then I thought, Well at least God made this a beautiful SunnyDay.

So we pull up to the church and there are a bunch of kids all dressed up running around and parents strolling down the sidewalks. The church was so big I thought we'd need to get a map to find the entrance. Then we went in and found 3 seats and sat down like we do at the movie theater keeping a respectful distance from other people sitting in the same row. I wishthey'd told us ahead of time, "Hey, Scoot down. We're all one people. You can sit together without fear. We don't have metal detectors but I'm sure no one has a gun or a bomb. It is o.k. to sit close to strangers."

What ended up happening was the Christian bad started playing some really good music I was getting into and then one of the church people kept telling us to scoot down to make room for people arriving late. It pissed me off. What if I'm having a moving religious experience here and you disrupt it to tell me to make room for tardy people???

Then the pastors started speaking. There were two of hem. The first spoke of his journey and how God had found His way into his life. He was 6 when his father died and had felt an empty hole inside himself he later tried to drown out with alcohol. He said he knew alcohol was making things worse but he was afraid to let over the reigns of control to God. He said he didn't want to become anything weird like a pastor. Finally he gave over control one night and after that his life completely changed. He says it hasn't been an easy journey, but it has been deep and meaningful.

The second man who spoke talked about the Bible -which he called a Romance Novel of God's Love. He said, like a play or any series of events or life it can be divided into several parts. Since some people aren't necessarily familiar with the Bible since you have to guided through it, he wanted o make sure everyone at least got the main points.

Part 1: God Creates Man.
Part 2: The Fall
Part 3: God Sends Christ The Savior
Part 4: God Prophecizes About Sending Christ The Judge
Part 5: Us Today

Many gerat points were brought up that I will mention later. A lot of what he said almost moved me to tears. It was just Truth.

He also mentioned the difference between reading and acknowledging Jesus and God and actually living In Faith with them in your life. He says it's not about religion or impressing your friends or stating your opinion or trying to fit in. He says it's God trying to form a personal relationship with each individual He created.

He said, God is so compassionate and loving that He created Hell. For every person that honestly wants nothing to do with God despite the fact that He loves them and created them, there is a place where they can go and be completely free of Him. As it turns out, Life without God is Hell.

The pastor also mentioned what happens when people choose the selfish path of deciding what to do with their lives instead of letting God lead them to theur true path of purpose. He said, You can live your own life by your own rules. You can build a company, call it Apple, and proclaim it your legacy. You can seek fame and fortune and romance. You can travel the world and worship other gods. But at the end of your time what will you have truly accomplished for your Soul? People focus too much on embettering their physical lives and then they leave nothing for their true selves. The Soul has nothing building it, guiding it, feeding it, loving it, or supporting it.

He also mentioned the 5 kinds of love. I was sooooo happy. It was awesome.

He mentioned how from birth kids reach out to find Familial love from their parents. Then Teens turn to Romantic love and Physical love. Then people get older and have families of their own and they seek love from their children. Then when they become elderly they seek the solace and love of close friends. And then, at the end, if they are lucky enough to see old age, they seek the love of their Creator. He said, the love of God will fulfill all other kinds of love and without the unconditional love given by God -to know His love and to love Him and yourself in that love -You will not love others that way and they will not be able to love you that way. You cannot give what you do not have.

For me it was definitely re-affirming. I loved the service. I don't like at the end of these sorts  services they make people pray and then raise their hands if they love Jesus and have Him in their life. I don't like the feeling of being obligated to pray -I'd rather do it on my own time when I genuinely want to connect to God, and not just because somebody told me to. I don't like being asked to raise my hand for loving Jesus. It seems like too much of a show. For me that kind of love and appreciation is internal and not something to be put on display because somebody asks you to.

All-in-all it was a very moving experience and I loved going. When it was over and we were leaving I thought, This is how you find people to connect to. Real people who share your passion or spirituality for the things you feel matter in life. You don't go to bars. You don't go to night clubs. You go to the places where you feel whole. Where you feel welcomed. Where you feel you belong.