Del Fuego

I'm sure I would feel just as helpless if I was in Texas as I do right now, but I've been reading about the California fires and just wish I could do something!!! Jane, Toby are you ok? Is Paul ok? Daniel, Jared, Kellie? We havent even finished cleaning up from Katrina have we?

Wow. I can't believe floods and fires in 3 years. All those people who lost their homes, and all those trees destroyed. I remember feeling this way on September 11th. I just wanted to get in my car and go help. But I was in college, with a thousand excuses, and didn't even know where to begin. Same with Katrina, just wanted to pack a bag and go. But you know something? I never did. Even when we had refugees staying in our stadium in Dallas, 15 minutes away, I didn't go and help. And we can justify this behavior till the cows come home with..., "They have enough volunteers", "there's already too many people there", "I'd just be in the way", "I'd be putting myself in danger", etc... But maybe there is something to that instinct inside us that innately reaches out when another human is suffering? Maybe thats the Spirit we quiet with excuses? Maybe thats the difference between people who have stories to tell and people who read them? And, maybe they are sorted by those who listen to the voice inside and those who suppress it. Ugh I just feel helpless. Keep me posted.

Stick Shifts and Safety Belts

We have an upcoming adventure that will require every protective angel that can be summoned. I was 16yrs. old the last time I tried to learn how to drive a stick shift. My brother was sweet and patient, but I stalled his truck twice and got really nervous and quit. I haven't tried since, and much to my shagrin...that was TEN years ago, a freaking decade! (*sigh* 16 was a great year for me.)... Anyways, New Zealand already rented out all of their automatic transmission campervans, so not only will we be on the left side of the road, I'll have a third pedal and a stick to ask for my attention too! We plan to practice on a car before we go though, so don't worry too much. All part of the adventure!! Lucky for us I found this police uniform so I can just write myself tickets when this whole plan goes up in smoke.

And now the moment you've all been waiting for...this is ETHEL!!! I came around the corner and she had lunch ready for me on our lady and the tramp table. She is so wonderful. Did I mention how much I like Maurice and everyone else we work with too? And to think, I was actually trying to make myself stay in that bakery!
Sunday we got to feed opossums at the Botanical Gardens with some new friends! Isn't that amazing? They just come right up to you and eat out of your hand! Except thats not my hand since I was the photographer. Judging by phalange length and position, I'd say that was Geoff's hand. Oh I need to get a picture of Geoff on here, he's my favorite!
Until next time lovely!

Such Great Heights

Shaster and Clarice's Big Rockin Tea!!

We come up with the best days off ever! We went ROCK CLIMBING yesterday. This was my first time to do this outdoors, and at Kangaroo Point...incredible. It's just next to the Brisbane River so the view while you're up there is breath-taking. Nevermind the fact that Im totally afraid of heights. I loved being outside too and I even got a little battle scrape on my knee! I want to get a membership at Exposure indoor climbing the minute I get home. That little green spec in the picture is my butt. I really wished I had official rock-climbing pants and shoes, and the helmet was unflattering, but I guess amateurs don't get to look like they just climbed out of an Athleta magazine.

Yesterday was also Andrea's birthday so a bunch of us girls went to a "High Tea". It was SOOO cool. I feel like every tea party I ever attended during childhood was just practice and build-up for all the LOVELY I experienced yesterday. It was at this English pub type place, and we got dressed up and I got to wear high heels for the first time in 2 months! I had "Cinnamon Orange" and Shasta had "Lady Grey". Ooowee its fun to be a girl!

And the food comes out on three tiers of plates. You start with the finger sandwiches on the bottom, scone-jam-&-cream in the middle, then assorted tiny cakes on top.

This is Andrea, isnt she beautiful? I just adore her, she's gorgeous. See they put a sparkler in her cake for her birthday! We had quite the Jane Austen dreamy afternoon.

To top it off we did a lil babysitting last night and when the kiddies were nestled snug in there beds I opted for a movie. But after some digging around, I found none other than a dvd compilation of Michael Jackson Music Videos!! SCORE!!

Ecology

This is Maurice! He's probably my favorite co-worker. He's the head chef at the Seafood Restaurant and is hilaaarious. He cracks me up all day long and I think I shall put him in my suitcase and bring him back to America. This is also a picture of an Oleander flower, because there are SO many pretty plants around the city now that its springtime. Our agricultural friend Victoria, just told me this flower is extremely poisonous.

On a completely different note lets talk about my thoughts for this evening. Upon recommendation we saw "11th Hour" produced by Leonardo DeCaprio. I'd need to see this movie another 6 or 7 times to understand everything. I found it overwhelming with facts and images and a lot to take in on a late Sunday night, but it still got me thinking about changes I want to make in my life. The best quote I can remember from the movie was, "Frugality is not poverty. Frugality is the wise use of resources."

1. Vanity-...My hair has not seen a straightener since August and you know what?...I'm still alive, the world has not stopped turning. In November it will have been one year since I decided to start cutting my own hair and its actually not too bad. I'm not saying I'll never use a stylist again, I'm just saying at $65 for a decent girl haircut...well I just think I spend money on unnecessary luxuries.

2. Fashion-...I brought one suitcase and a backpack here and did you know that there are about 4 shirts I haven't even worn yet on this trip? What does this tell me?...That I don't need a closet full of clothes. I need a few clothes, enough to get me from one laundry to the next, but no more. And when those clothes get holes in them I should; patch them, re-invent them, or give them. Leaving them in my closet for a few more years out of sentimentality is not an option. I'd actually really like to learn to make some of my own clothes! Not just to reduce mindless shopping, but for creativity as well, the lost art. ALSO eliminating fear that I might be supporting some child labor in a sweatshop somewhere.

3. Produce-...I am interested in making the effort to attend farmers markets on a regular basis and buying local produce. I'd also like to learn and buy only the produce that is actually in season. It's kind of absurd to eat produce out of season and geographic location isn't it? And if I live in an apartment I wonder how much I would be able to grow myself? Not only to eat organically, but also to be able to watch things grow and develop a green thumb. My grandpa had a green thumb, and my parents have a big garden at their house, so my genes should be able to pull something off.

If I was super rich I might look into electric cars and solar paneled houses but since I am currently a backpacker, I think I'll be doing my part to pay more for the eco-friendly electricity company, or be conscious of water usage and recycling. Maybe I'll look into riding the Dallas bus system when I get back and compare and contrast it's costs with my car? If the Dart was good enough for my dad for 35 years, it should be good enough for me...I'm not about to turn into a hippie that burns incense and stops shaving...However, I do think we have a responsibility to the limitless expansion we seem to think we have unending resources for. I also believe there are alternate reasons for living more like a tree hugger...like when did convenience become the ONLY method? Sure its convenient and nice to be able to buy a skirt off the rack quickly for an interview the next day...but there is also great reward in creating a sewing accomplishment. There is nothing wrong with grabbing things from the grocery store...but why not throw away the lazy excuse and get our hands dirty in the soil, be educated about seasons and rainfall? Living a life that is slower, might also be richer?

Instead of waiting 15 minutes before my work shift to leave my apartment, get in my car, drive like a maniac, get angry at anyone in my way, and then apologize for being late...what if I left much earlier, took advantage of public transit, and read a few pages of a book on the way there, maybe meet someone new, not to mention a little extra walking that burns extra calories? There is beauty in creativity, beauty in slowing down, beauty in embracing nature over controlling it. No wonder I am so impatient all the time! No wonder I have the attention span of a gnat! Today I can have anything I want whenever I want it...and because of this I have thrown all discipline and frugality out the window. I use because it's there and not because I need. I think God is teaching me just how okay it is to slow down. I don't have to be the best, most successful, or trendy. Matt. 6:26 is repeatedly teaching me about the lilies in the field and how they are pretty naturally, because He made them, without anything added. I can only pray to learn to live like the sparrows, who don't have refrigerators or Walmart's, but continually have things to eat and places to sleep each day of their entire lifespan. For those of you who haven't read Shasta's insightful blog, she brought to my attention that we have not paid for a single night's stay since we've been here. We've also cooked for people and been cooked for a LOT. Lilies and sparrows...connected with nature and aware of a sight we have lost.

Schlameel Schlamazel

Pardon the PMS outburst in my previous blog. Except that I meant it, all of it! Mwahaha. And leave it to my mother to be aware of such random research. Thank you for your patience. And now...Shaster and Clarice's Big Sunny Day!!!

SURFER'S PARADISE,
Part Deaux

Good Food. Loud Music. Running by the beach. Parasailing, Jestski, "Speedboat", (more like SLOWboat). Overboard. Indecent exposure. Red Rooster. Shasta Flower. Gelato trumps Ice Cream. Buses, way dumber/slower/later than trains. Rain needed. Gilmore Girls = greatest show ever.

"Date"

My favorite pictures are the one's captured candidly, unknowingly, and in motion. They are able to achieve beauty from the lens of the viewer far richer than any smile has propped a fist under it's chin and posed at Sears. I'm absolutely in love with this picture to the right. We have no idea what sort of relationship this couple has, but we can infer that in that moment in 1945, that man was so passionate about that woman, that he couldn't help but kiss her, even in the public streets of New York. I wonder if this woman was giddy for days? I wonder how many times she replayed this sweet declaration in her head? And, I wonder what happened to guys like this.

I got asked on a real date by one of the chefs in the kitchen. He's cute, 29, and painfully shy. He knows I'm leaving in a month, and can't expect this to go anywhere. At best I will have a new pen pal, so why did I say "yes"? Because he had the COHONES to ASK me for a "date" thats why!! This is a foreign word to guys nowadays. Today they want to "hang out", and be able to keep their options open...and in doing so, create confusion and socially awkward moments when paying for dinner (I don't want him to think I'm after his money, but I dont want to imasculate him by paying), door opening (I'm certainly capable of opening my door, but will I seem like less of a lady? Who made these rules anyway?), and end of the evening departure (do we shake hands? high-five? You're certainly not getting kissed without first a series of dates followed by a vocalizing of your affections). With little affirmation and mixed signals, what am I supposed to think? Don't get me wrong...I thoroughly enjoy "hanging out" with my platonic male friends, who at some point or another, have been labeled platonic. I love knowing it will go un-noticed who pays, drives, or has something in their teeth. But as far as couples go, I think Song of Solomon paints the prettiest picture of how a man pursues and woos a woman. And thats how it should be. I think thats how it was designed. I think thats the very reason guys love the chase, and girls love to be chased. God is explaining through picture.

I think girls today lack gumption (see 'the Holiday'), and allow themselves to be strung along on a leash, hoping for a guy who is only half-interested. If you are a girl reading this, and you have been questioning some guy's feelings for a while now, I plead with you...reach within and find some resource, remember what makes you shine, let it go, stick him in your friend-zone and move on! No...no more 'what ifs'? Just do it!!....Why? Because there ARE men out there who will like you enough to forgo other options and pursue a REAL date. You won't have to question anything. It seems to me that when men know what they want, they generally go for it. And if you're a guy out their reading this...and you've been hanging out with a girl and keeping her at arms length to make sure she doesn't feel attached...too late, and why are you doing that?! The only words I can find for that are 1.-Jr.High, and 2.-Bullshit. Love her or let her go. Life is too short to make a game of it.

I'm probably coming across as a feminist, which I am not at all...I've just been mingling with Jane Austen lately. I am also fully aware these roles can be reversed among the sexes. My point is this; I am 25 and single, yes. But I have a choice in this matter you see. I can whine and wallow about it and wonder if something is wrong with me...OR, I can live my life in adventure, make as many friends as I can along the way, and think of men no more than a grain of salt...UNTIL the day I'm standing in Times Square, New York and a sailor walks into my life and dips me.

Big Day Off

There are no words in the English language to describe my weekend, therefore I shall be forced to make one up...Scrumtrulescent. I have decided to take you through a visual nut-shell of our weekend trip. Buckle your seatbelt!!!

DISCLAIMER: For those of you who have ever thought me mildly attractive (thanks mom), I beg you to prepare yourself for the bucket of UGLY that you are about to see. Geez, these pictures are so hideous I can't believe I'm putting them on the internet. But they crack me up, so maybe you will too.

We drive to Tin-Can-Bay with our lovely friend Victoria and set up the biggest tent ever to sleep in....Victoria did most of the setting up. Just next door to the crazy drunkard.

Through a series of unmentionable events we end up in an ambulance...non-neck-related. Shasta got on my nerves one time too many.

Yo, ho, ho, the Pirates of Tin-Can-Bay Arrrgh!...and I saw a wild dolphin.

What's that I see in the distance? Is it Moby Dick?

It IS a great, white, something!...Shasta caught a carisse-codfish.

This is Rainbow Beach. The name comes from all of the different colored sands, which you can clearly see in the distant cliffs...that somehow didn't make the picture.

Gympie is one of the most BEAUTIFUL places I have ever seen. I was so sad that the picture couldn't capture reality.

It's SO, so big. The grass looks like green velvet. It's springtime here, and I wish I had a horse to ride around on.

Tune in next-time for "Adventures of Shaster & Clarice".