Thoughts from Middle-earth

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i'll put my disclaimer here - if any of these pictures are copyrighted, let me know and i'll remove them immediately. as for my profile? 'i'm just a boring example of everybody else.' - steve burns

Monday, May 30, 2011

my emotional progress - pt. 2

after writing that post last night, i headed for bed. and while i was getting ready, i suddenly burst into tears. i cried about everything, even about how ugly i was going to look this morning after crying for so long last night. i told GOD again how hard it is for me to trust that HE would give me a man or a job or other things HE hasn't provided. and i was thinking about the fact that the healing i was hoping for in february hasn't come yet. i kept crying.
and then i remembered that tears you cry when you're sad release endorphins. and was comforted. GOD did that. HE knew that when we'd be sad, we'd need our spirits lifted. and so HE figured out a way to make that happen. it's amazing really. HE never said we'd be happy while we were here. and HE may never provide any of the things i think i want, but HE gave me tears, and the healing power they possess. GOD, in HIS infinite goodness and wisdom, gave me tears. Dayenu

:)

http://video.yahoo.com/editorspicks-12135647/featured-24306389/playing-with-an-otter-25345251.html#crsl=%252Feditorspicks-12135647%252Ffeatured-24306389%252Fplaying-with-an-otter-25345251.html

Sunday, May 29, 2011

my emotional progress

i love how part of the reason i don't journal is because it's too personal, and yet here on my blog i feel free to go ahead and spill it all out where all of you can read it. ah, the feeling of anonymity which the internet provides.
so way back in february i had that great emotional awakening in which i learned that it's okay to be vulnerable, it's okay to cry, it's okay to hope and dream. while i do think that awakening broke a serious chain, i still don't know that i've made much progress. it's like i'm unchained but standing in the same place. i'm still guarded with people and i'm still guarded with GOD. i guess i can see a little bit of change, but not as much as i would like. the problem is that i have no idea how to really change it. and i suppose i can't just *poof* be better after 30 years of building up walls and shutting down my emotions.
i did, however, shed a tear whilst watching 'p.s. i love you' just now. that's something, i think. i've always refused to cry at movies because only wimps like hobbitsister cry at movies (well, unless it's 'up' - then it's totally okay to cry). but that's the first step i've seen. i did just start reading 'two kisses for maddy,' though, by matt logelin (http://www.mattlogelin.com/), during which i fully intend to cry my eyes out.

Friday, May 27, 2011

from my tolkien class

“You can see whenever you push very hard on Tolkien’s concepts, whenever you begin to really start asking ‘what are the implications of this statement,’ ‘what are the implications of this term that he uses,’ you pretty quickly get down to his Christian worldview.”

“The law by which the human soul yearns after its true heavenly home is as inescapable as the law of gravity that pulls rocks down to the earth. That’s what we’re made of. That’s where we come from. And that’s where we long to return to.” - Corey Olsen

so is it totally wrong to review a memorial service?

ok, i guess i'm not really reviewing it. i'm commenting on it. so i guess that's allowed.
•rod carew was the most moving speaker. it's hard not to be touched when a man gets choked up.
•torii hunter was the cutest speaker. i miss his smile.
•but don't get me wrong. my cuddyer was wonderful. it's just the difference of he read his speech and his was more serious, whereas torii was smiling at the camera the whole time he spoke.
•paul molitor was the best speaker. and he mentioned JESUS, so extra points there.
•jim thome going up to the 520 mark at target field with a killebrew game-worn jersey to show how long killebrew's hugest homerun at met stadium was could've been cheesy, but it wasn't. it was a creative and fitting way to honor him.
•whoever the guys were who sang at the end were horrible.

•mudcat grant on the other hand...seriously, even you girls who aren't baseball fans should hear this. mr. mudcat, sir, okay, so you had a 3.63 career ERA and 2442 innings pitched and 1267 strikeouts and you're in the hall of fame and all that, but are you sure you didn't miss your calling?

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

dear twinsbaseball.com

josh hamilton is not a former mvp. he's the reigning mvp.
give the man some respect.

not to be mean but...

i think this guy might be an elf

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

mostly unrelated to that

i don't want to go to bed. :(

ps to that one

so i'm listening to this music and it's all so pretty i don't want to quit listening and go to bed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUlijgwKYPk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h03mnYHiwNU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CewyTGQR9Pw
but then one came on called 'gollum the sneak,' and it was so creepy it was definitely time to quit listening. only problem is now i'm gonna have scary dreams about gollum the sneak.

i found a new tolkien website

but that's not actually the whole point. it has its own online radio station, with different movie scores and songs that mention middle earth and other instrumental things and whatnot. this was the first thing i heard upon my discovery.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtBll0rh4nM
i like it.

Good job, Handsome!

Oh, how we needed that.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

oh, so the sirens mean 'go to your basement'?

i live in minneapolis, which means i have no fear of weather. nothing happens here - no hurricanes, no earthquakes, no floods, no mudslides, no forest fires, no blizzards, and no tornadoes. sure we might get a little water in our basements sometimes, and there may be times with too much snow, but living in the city we're pretty well sheltered from everything. tornado warning? ih, whatever. i don't get too concerned. i might go to the basement, i might stay in the tub. tornadoes don't hit the city. (unless the lutherans are deciding to let gays be pastors. then they get hit, but no one else.)
so when i heard the sirens go off, i sauntered to the bathroom. and when my parents told me to go to the basement i stopped in the kitchen to grab some lunch. and then i got to the basement and they said there was actually a tornado touching down in north minneapolis. what!?! in the city!?! that hasn't happened since i was like 2. maybe i should take warnings seriously after all. i mean, with the rapture happening yesterday and all, clearly we're in the end times. the weather's bound to get even crazier.

i love my family

i do. but 10 days straight of brandybucks is a bit exhausting. actually 1 day straight of brandybucks is exhausting. by 2:00 Christmas day i'm usually pooped and ready to be done. there are just so many of us, and we're loud and rambunctious, and if it were possible to love people to death, the brandybucks would surely be capable of doing so. for an introvert it's a bit overwhelming, even if i have grown up with it.
add to all this both my and everyone else's emotions this past week and a half, and i think it's more than understandable that i would be drained. and so i called my boss to ask if i could have tomorrow off. we're allowed 4 berearvement days, and i used 3 last week (since tues was my regular day off). i wasn't going to take the 4th, because i felt like that would be taking advantage of the situation, but then i thought, 'you know what? i'm pooped. i haven't called in in over 5 years, and gall dang it, if i'm allowed a 4th day, i should take it to recoup.' and so i called my boss, explained the situation, told her i'd find a replacement, and asked if i could take the day. and she said yes. i am so so thankful that.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

also also...

i love boys :)
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/Video-College-baseball-players-joust-during-rai?urn=mlb-wp6617

also...

i think there should be a black ribbon on the chair at moa

speaking of harmon killebrew

did you know that the mlb logo can be viewed as either a left- or right-handed batter?

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

May you rest in peace, Harmon Killebrew

Monday, May 16, 2011

on a different note

i love this commercial :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgIZHvMWVao

Practical and emotional thoughts

Grandma passed away this afternoon. Thankfully, I was here. She died when I would've been on the plane. After spending more time with her yesterday, I think I would've decided to stay anyway, but Aunt Dairy Princess had decided to fly in today, so that had already made my decision for me. I was relieved, and now I'm glad.
It's been a hard few days, just having to wait, but it's been a good few days, getting to say goodbye and spending time together as a family. It's amazing how at peace we all are, and yet it's not surprising. She was such a godly woman, and she raised us all so well in the Truth that we can't help but be happy for her. Yes, we'll miss her, but the Glory of Where she is now outshines any grief we have here. I'm so very thankful for that.

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Emotional thoughts (to be read after the practical ones)

When Enrique's dad died a couple months ago, Hobbitsister mentioned to me that she was feeling bad for his youngest niece, as she looked very alone. Her sister is married, so she had her husband and son, her parents had each other, Enrique and Hobbitsister had each other, Erma and Scout had each other, and Enrique's dad's girlfriend had her family, thus leaving the single girl who's my age alone. I agreed that it was sad and felt bad for her. Then, as my uncle drove my mother and me to my grandma's nursing home on Thursday to be with her, I couldn't help but think 'My parents have each other. My aunts and uncles have each other. My sister has my brother-in-law. My nieces have each other. My cousins are all married or little with little siblings. My brother is about as emotionally supportive as a, idunno, something not supportive. So yep, this would be how Enrique's niece was feeling. Dang, it sucks.'
Of course, this was after I had already thought, 'I like being on the Baseball Chapel prayer team. I do. But here I pray for these guys and their wives, and I can't ask any of them to pray for me. Not one. I'm alone in this.' I then went to someone's blog  (one of those where you don't actually know the person except in the blog world, but you wish you knew them in the real world because they're awesome and maybe they would think you are, too), because someday soon I should be warranting a mention due to a wonderful thing I did for that person, and I was thinking, 'You know, it would be so nice if he would mention me today, because I could really use a pick-me-up, and I'm feeling alone in the world and while I know it wouldn't actually mean anything cuz he doesn't actually know me, it would just be a nice little thing to make me smile and feel slightly less invisible.' So I went to the blog, and there was no mention of me, and while I knew I shouldn't be disappointed cuz it doesn't really matter cuz he doesn't actually know me, it just made me feel even more that I was alone in the world with no hope of that ever changing.
And I know I'm not alone. I have a huge, wonderful family and they all love me dearly. It's been so nice spending time together these last few days. And they've shown me that they love and appreciate and understand me. When I went into my grandma's room and was composed on Thursday, Uncle Zubas commented that when his family got there they wouldn't be so calm. Auntie Auntie immediately spoke up saying that some of us just aren't criers and there's nothing wrong with that, and that doesn't mean we won't cry, it just means that we aren't the type to break down like that. I appreciated that. And then yesterday when I was there for a little bit, Uncle Zubas told me that he loved my attitude and how I'm handling the fact that I'm missing out on the vacation that I was so looking forward to. I appreciated that, too. And I've had hugs and loves and all that, so I know I'm loved and very not alone. We have a huge, overwhelmingly loving family and I'm thankful for them all.
I just right now wish that I had a shoulder to cry on that was all my own and two arms to hold me and no one else.

Practical thoughts

Grandma Brandybuck had a stroke on Thursday and won't be with us much longer. Really, I'm doing okay with it. She has dementia, and the Grandma I grew up with has been gone for awhile now. I've done my grieving. That doesn't mean it's not sad now, it just means that I've already accepted the loss, and being a very matter-of-fact person, I can be very matter-of-fact about it. She has lived a full life and for the last 10 years she's wanted nothing more than to go Home. Not being one who likes things to be drawn out, I hope HE takes her Home soon.
Also, to be perfectly honest, as a practical person, I would like her to go soon so that I don't regret not going to Tacoma. See, I was supposed to leave to visit Uncle Cocoa and Aunt Dairy Princess on Monday. Those plans have now gone caput, as Cocoa is here and the Dairy Princess will be coming when Grandma dies. They have said I'm welcome to go out there still, and then if she goes, we'll just all come back together, but if she dies while I'm on my way out there it would be pointless for me to get there just to turn around and come back. But if she lingers til Friday or something, I'll be disappointed to have missed out on going out there for the Twins game. As it stands it'll cost $150 to change my plane tickets, I'll have lost $110 on the Twins tickets I'm not using, and if I don't get to go, I still want to go somewhere, which would probably be Kansas City, which would be another $100 at least. Which brings us to $360. Which was the price of my plane tickets in the first place. So I could just go out there, go to the game, and come back, and then buy tickets to go out there for real sometime later on and I wouldn't lose any more money than I'm already losing. But not knowing about Grandma, I'm just not comfortable with that. So to be perfectly, horribly, selfishly honest, I really want Grandma to go tonight or tomorrow before I get home from work. It would make this decision so much easier.

Not a good time to be a Minnesota sports fan, though

In addition to, you know, all the game losing,
our prayers must now go out for Harmon Killebrew and his family as he enters hospice (please stop being Mormon and come to love the Truth soon),
and for the family of Derek Boogaard, who died suddenly at 28.

Monday, May 09, 2011

And I would just like to take this other opportunity to say...

What a great year to be Swedish and British

i would like to take this opportunity to say, "DUH!"

headline on yahoo:

Signs of the U.S. middle class in crisis
A new report offers stunning evidence that the average American family is struggling.

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/america-middle-class-crisis-sobering-facts-141947274.html

Sunday, May 08, 2011

hallmark got it wrong

while their valentine's saying made me want to gag ("valentine's isn't about saying 'i love you,' it's about saying 'i love us'"), their mother's day one made me indignant: "mother's day isn't about moms, it's about what our moms have done for us." wow. that is so selfish and devalues mothers completely. what a perfect reflection of our culture - we have to make everything about us. not, "mother's day is about how great your mom is," no, "mother's day is about what you can get from her."
and it makes me think of how we do this to GOD. we claim we're praising HIM when we thank HIM. thanking HIM is not wrong. HE loves and deserves it. but we can't call that praise. praise is telling HIM how awesome HE is in HIS own right. we don't do enough of that.
it makes me think of the chorus that chris tomlin put to 'joy to the world.' something about joy welling up inside my soul and whatnot. way to take the focus off the fact that the song is really about how amazing HE is and the reverence HE deserves.
we don't do enough praising in our society at large, but also, more specifically, inside the church. which is sad, because we, of all people have Reason to praise.

Other royal wedding thoughts - A (sorry these posts are individual, the pictures won't go in the order I wanted them to all together)

I like that the Queen looked like a proud and happy grandma.

Other royal wedding thoughts - B

I like to see royal families having moments of normalcy.
Oops.

Other royal wedding thoughts - C

Crown Princess Victoria wins for Best Dressed Guest, in both the Hat and Dress categories.

Other royal wedding thoughts - D

I would've loved to have thrown some sort of wedding party for the residents.

Other royal wedding thoughts - E

Harry looks more like a Slowey than a Windsor.

Church

John Piper once mentioned a girl who chose to go to school in Minneapolis because she wanted to go to Bethlehem Baptist. Some people found that strange, but he said that people choose where to live based on where they want to get a job, where they want to go to school, etc., why shouldn't they choose where to live based on where they want to go to church? Why is that strange?
Based on that logic, I'm moving to Nashville.
http://www.cbcnashville.org/

Saturday, May 07, 2011

And another happy wedding...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110506/ts_yblog_thelookout/at-100-and-93-worlds-oldest-newlyweds-arent-slowing-down

The Royal Wedding

What can I say that hasn't been said, now that it's been a week? Basically nothing. So I'll just say what everyone else has said.
♥Kate looked beautiful. The dress was perfect, and I loved the tiara and veil.
♥Pippa was fetching. Some say she upstaged the bride, but I disagree. I think she complimented her just right.
♥William looked dashing, and while I at first questioned the red, one look at this and I was converted.
♥Harry was charming. From sneaking a look at Kate for William to looking out for the children in the carriage he was just plain charming (no other word for it).
♥Hobbitsister may have mocked them, but I liked the trees.
♥Will and Kate looked so happy and relaxed together, and I loved William's doofy grin.
♥I liked when William saluted and Catherine bowed her head as they passed the memorial to Britain's war dead. Not only was it a nice gesture, she also looked very queenly as she did so.
♥I liked Kate's curtsy to the Queen, too. Graceful and lovely and very respectful.
♥Good thing I didn't blink when they were on the balcony. I would've missed the kiss. As it is, I now know that they'll live happily ever after.

Wednesday, May 04, 2011

ok, i'm still not getting there (cuz i'm spending all my time looking for pics)

so i'll just say this:
if things don't work out with carl phillip, i'd be more than willing to settle for harry.

and this is why the wedding post has taken so long

apparently when you have a sore throat it is not wise to go sit outside at a ballgame (that ends up taking 4 hours plus time walking to and from the far away car) in damp (sometimes sprinkly) 40 degree weather. nor is it wise to stay up most of the night to watch a wedding after that. it kind of makes you sicker.