Radioactive - Lindsey Stirling and Pentatonix (Imagine Dragons Cover)

Yes, that is a dude beatboxing while playing the cello.

We were watching this live last night and this moment was so frustrating to watch but she just kicked it right out of the park! AND THE BEST NEWS EVER…they won! It took them several hours and a ton of fighting but they ruled that the vote started after midnight and was invalid! So awesome!
A huge thank you to Wendy and Leticia and Judith for standing up for women last night! You are such an inspiration to future girls interested in politics. Also major props to all the senators who fought hard and with passion to have your voices heard. Democracy is pretty cool.

I watched the filibuster in Texas tonight like some people watch sports games. Yelling, cheering, trash talking and staying up far too late. I executed at least one decent germane/Jermaine Jackson joke and about 11 really horrible ones.

It wasn't exactly the outcome I was hoping for, but I'm proud to see democracy in action. Hopefully I will be able to see repercussions for those who seemed to bend and twist the law to their own liking, but even if we don't see those repercussions immediately, I have faith in the internet to never forget jerkiness.

Roller coaster

This week has been...hard. I don't like change. I don't like confrontation. I don't like social situations where I can't leave. I've spent the week stressed out, sad, scared, angry and any number of 100 different emotions. Now, I'm just tired. Tired of all the situations, tired of all the emotions and tired of myself.

Why isn't it easier for me to trust God? Or rather, why isn't it easier for me when I trust God to stop beating myself up in emotional pain? Because I do trust God. I trust that He will take care of all these situations this week. I trust that if I obey, He'll take care of me. I even trust that despite feeling like it at times, He won't actually let me die of embarrassment. The trusting God part seems almost easy at times when compared to dealing with my own emotions. Why is that? What is it about me that makes me hold onto those feelings, especially when I know they hurt me?

My relationship with God is so different than where it was just a few years ago. The fact that I just typed that trusting God seems easy is pretty good evidence. That sort of statement would not have been something I said before and that's awesome. I love that I feel more confident in my relationship with God. I love that I trust Him easy, I talk to Him quicker and that my obedience comes with far fewer arguments. (Fewer. I'm not perfect!) But times like this past week remind me that no matter how far I've come, God always has more to teach me.

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20

I need to remember this verse today for two reasons. The first is that it's not my job to get people to see me, to get them to accept or like me. My focus shouldn't be on me, but Christ who lives in me.

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:7

I once typed out this section of verses (4:4-7) and posted them all over the house to memorize. It was good practice and it helped me a lot. I praised God for lots of things that I would have never done before and I learned to go to God first instead of stewing in anxiety over a situation or person. But apparently I need to refocus on the last part. I'm sure while God is happy with me learning to rejoice and to come to Him in prayer, He doesn't want me to stress and worry after that. He wants me to trust Him, to rest in Him and to have His peace. A peace that isn't temporary, that doesn't fail when things go wrong and that lasts longer than I could ever sustain myself.

As I end this week, I hope that I do it in a different frame of mind. That instead of riding this emotional roller coaster any longer, I guard my heart and mind in the peace of God.

Pot luck and paper mustaches

We had a going-away party for my aunt this weekend and it was the first time in a long time that most of my family was all together. In between catching up on who had a new kid and who was working at a new job and how many mini cupcakes we could eat, I found I had forgotten one important thing. The fact that I have a pretty awesome family.

We are such a big family with such different people but there are times when none of that matters and we are just one awesome group. The fans of MacGyver, the fans of video games, the ones who make silly jokes and the ones who laugh at them. The people who teach their kids to walk like penguins and who snort when they laugh and tease little old ladies about their height.  The family that not only tolerates me teaching four year olds to make paper mustaches, but then takes pictures of various people wearing them.

I’m incredibly blessed to be a member of this family and I can’t wait till we can get together again.

Man of Steel review

Superman is boring, or at least that's my opinion. I like my superheroes to be flawed, to struggle to do the right thing and to be average people who are stupidly courageous. I love Hawkeye, Spiderman, the Black Widow, Iron Man, Captain America, Robin (all of them!) more than I like Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Thor, any of the X-Men or Superman.

I also like my superhero movies to be fun. I love explosions and fights and epic CGI battles that are as awesome as they are ridiculous, but I want those things to make me laugh and cheer and sit slack-jawed in amazement. I want to come out of a theater laughing and feeling good. The least upbeat of the Avengers series has been Captain America: The First Avenger and even that had feel good moments and humor. I'm not a fan of the Nolan Batman movies simply because they are so dark. (also, no Robin) There was never anything happy or uplifting about the Batman trilogy and that doesn't mean they weren't good, just not what I want in a superhero movie. (Although that whole 'twist' at the end of the last film with "Robin" was horrible and lame and we shan't speak of it any longer)

Which, all that to say, I didn't expect to like Man of Steel. I'm not a fan of dark superhero flicks, and I'm not a fan of the character of Superman. The film was well made, the explosions were...there were a lot of them! I am a big fan of disaster movies too and this sort of ticked both boxes. Metropolis and Smallville were decimated to the extent that I was sure there had to be a retcon moment involved. You know the kind, when things are so bad that they write in a way to fix the problem. Think of the time in Doctor Who when a 1/3 of Earth's population was killed off and their solution was to just erase the last year and make it never happen.

The movie ends with it looking like there's no problem in Metropolis. No giant gaping crater where the center of the city stood, no massive funereal atmosphere mourning the lives lost, not a single scene showing the aftermath. I'm not saying I want an additional 30 minutes of post-fight construction work, or even a scene talking about the cost or aftermath of the destruction...but if they aren't going to talk about it, maybe they shouldn't just show other scenes that make it seem like nothing happened.

I'm glad I went and I did enjoy aspects of this film. It really was very well done and I loved all the Krypton backstory. The scene in the spaceship explaining the history of what happened in all the lovely depression-era art was pretty awesome. Oh! And the Lexcorp tanker truck was fun to see as well. Sure, it wasn't my favorite superhero movie...or even one that I would watch again. But it was an okay way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

For another review that explores the actual character of Superman and problems with this movie, check out this review by Mark Waid, a writer for DC who has actually written Superman comics. Be aware, it's very spoilery.

Entrepreneur

Today in the stationary aisle at Target I listened as a young boy tried to convince his mom that he needed pencils. When it looked like she wasn't sure, he launched into an intricate plan on how he could pay her back for the pencils. He would use the pencils to draw dinosaurs and then sell them to people because "people love my dinosaurs". The boy was positive that he would have enough money to pay his mother back for the pencils in no time.

I was so tempted to buy the pencils for him. Who wouldn't want to be on the ground floor of a flourishing dinosaur drawing business?

New music for my ears!

This is going on my summer playlist!