“Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely.” – Auguste Rodin
Happy Friday!
Blessings.
Category: Random Thoughts
Revising My Bucket List
I have been wanting to revamp or streamline my bucket list especially since my weight loss. To keep myself accountable, I am doing it here. I am not placing order on the items as when I have the opportunity it will happen, right?
Original post in August 2012 – with updates
- Travel (anywhere)– Just travel
- Tandem jump
- Parasail
- Ride in a Hot Air Balloon
- Learn to speak German (take a class)
- Open a store or tea shop
- Write a cookbook/book
- Conquer Algebra (still in process)
- Participate in a Disney 1/2 marathon (walking)
- Fit into a size 10-12
- Crochet or knit a blanket
- Speak in front of a group of people
- Learn how to can vegetables, or make jam and fruit preserves
- Learn more than 6 words in sign language
- Live in Europe
- Own a Corvette
- Go to a Dallas Cowboys Football game
- Attend a gymnastics or ice skating Olympic event
One of my favorite things to do is eat at famous chef’s restaurants. My list so far is below, and really don’t have a bucket list for them until we travel somewhere.
Emeril’s, Delmonico Steak House, Las Vegas
Chef Art Smith – Art and Soul, Washington DC, and Homecoming, Disney Springs
Morimoto’s, Asia, Disney Springs
Cat Cora’s, Kouzzina, now closed, at the Board Walk, Disney World
Wolfgang Puck’s, the Dining Room, Disney Springs
Gordan Ramsey’s, The Savoy, London
Paula Dean’s, Lady and Sons, Savannah, GA
Updated list for now anyway. What is on your list?
Blessings.
Sunday Thought
“Be careful how you live; you may be the only Bible some people will every read.” – Unknown
Everyday I need a reminder of this. My walk, my actions are viewed by many. All of our steps are viewed by our loved ones, coworkers, and strangers. Our actions speak louder than any words you may say.
I struggle with this. Who doesn’t? But I am trying to be a better person. To my husband, children, friends, and just those small encounters with strangers. Don’t they deserve the best in us?
“This is the path I have set before you. As you follow it wholeheartedly, you experience abundant Life and Peace.” Peter 1:2 (Jesus is Calling) Are you walking the path set before you? Am I?
Blessings.
Today
Behind today…not feeling well.
Resting.
Blessings.
Persistence
Grit…
Persistence…
“Just because I am tired, doesn’t mean I am going to give up.”
Blessings!
Carmen’s Thoughts – Guest Post
Hey, y’all! I’m Carmen, Jerry Ann’s daughter, and I have the pleasure of being today’s guest blogger!
One of the many hobbies I have when I’m not studying (which I need to do more of) is playing some of the Nancy Drew computer games. I started playing them when I was around ten years old, and was going through my closet this summer and found them, so I decided to replay (and finish) a few of them, and I got hooked again.
These games scared me when I first played them. I was/am a wimp. The first game I played, I wasn’t paying attention to clues (Nancy Drew No-No #1) or trying to pick up random objects that you might need for a later challenge (ND No-No #2), and somehow I blew up a high school because I couldn’t figure out how to fix a boiler and ended up dying. My brave ten-year-old self shoved the games in a box and never played them again.
Fast forward to the present, where people smarter than me figured out not only how to play these games, but made YouTube tutorials for them and online walkthroughs. I totally looked these up on my phone while playing, and I conquered not only the dreaded boiler room (maintenance elevators are Nancy’s downfall in many a game), but also caught the culprit. So much adrenaline, so many weird looks from my family when I jumped up and down.
Dad got me a few of the more recent games, and some of them scare me (am I an adult? that’s really debatable), but they’re so awesome. Much like reading the books when I was younger, I love finding out the plots and drama between the characters and the case. I always come back to a few questions though: why can’t Nancy go on a vacation without diffusing a bomb? Why isn’t she in the CIA or something yet? Is her dad okay with her going all over the world sticking her nose in other people’s business?
I would love to go into more details about the games, but I have exams to study for that don’t involve solving other people’s problems (wait…I’m in accounting…that’s EXACTLY what the exams will involve…). Until next time!
Sunday Thought
“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” – Leo Tolstoy
I was in New Orleans for the U2 concert with Carmen over the last few days. Home now, and need to do homework, but first this post.
We spent Friday exploring Cafe’ Du Monde, and Jackson Square. We had the famous beignets (and water not coffee), and wandered around looking for a cheap protein for me to eat. We found a cafe (that also had beignets), and ordered ham and cheese croissant, and a turkey and cheese on French bread. Carmen and I only ended up eating half of each sandwich (I only had the meat and cheese off of a half). It was a ton of food.
As we were sitting and waiting on the food to be delivered, we talked about the homeless and despair in the city. I had taken pictures of the inside of the cafe (ceiling tiles) and outside – just in general pictures.
I had noticed a guy sitting on the corner with a handwritten sign. What did it say? I don’t know. But the discussion of what was on it was typical. Don’t give him food, he will just throw it away. They only want drug money. Or they only want money for booze. I kept trying to read his sign. 
My heart was heavy. I had eaten half of this sandwich, and was unable to finish it. Carmen was unable to finish her other half as well. We were just going to throw it away. We didn’t want to carry the leftovers around with us. I got a to-go box, and placed both of our uneaten halves of food in the box. Well, I said, if he throws it away, I tried. I at least would give him the opportunity to eat. Something kept telling me to do this. No one else was noticing him. He was just sitting there. People kept walking by—avoiding eye contact. Most of the time with his head in his hands. Tired. Dirty. Hungry. I heard “you don’t know his story. it isn’t for you to judge. just love.”
As I walked up to him, I was bothered. I didn’t want to do this. I didn’t want to look at him. It was leftovers. I had touched it. …wasn’t my choice… all I could read of his handmade sign said… anything will help. Looking straight at him, green eyes. I asked if he would mind that it was my leftovers. “No, ma’am. I haven’t eaten in 3 days.” It’s not much, but I am happy to help. “God bless you.” I walked away sadder than I did going over with the food. I didn’t look back at first. I couldn’t. I didn’t want to know what he was doing with the food. I didn’t want to be proven correct.
By the time I got back to my chair in the cafe, he had already eaten one of the sandwiches per Carmen. He was very hungry. Eating everything in front of him. My heart was sad, but felt good about not just throwing away our food. Carmen and I needed more water, so we bought an extra. As we were leaving the cafe’, I noticed he was still there finishing off one of the sandwiches. I took over my bottle of water, and as I was walking towards him, his head was shaken “no.” “you have done enough” – I said not near enough, and I had given you bread, but nothing to drink. “someone kicked my cup and broke it.” I am not sure that I heard him correctly, but again, not for me to even think about what was being said —just gave him a small bottle of water.
Drugs. Alcohol. Dirty. Poor. I prayed for him then. I prayed for him on Saturday, and again this morning. I can’t seem to get him out of my head. My heart was heavy sitting there with a plate of food that I couldn’t finish. How many others did the same thing and ignore that man sitting there hungry? Something so simple. Not for me to judge, just love.
I had a great time with seeing a band that I love their music. But now, and for as long as I can remember, has a mission of helping others. Many may not agree with what they do, or how they go about helping, but they give. My heart always wants to help, but I have gotten burned but people that have abused that gift. This weekend, that man, helped my heart give willingly again even if it was only a leftover sandwich.
“That one day is today.” – Thega-Alem Berhe
God has a way…always. Sometimes we listen.
Blessings.
Life
Blessings!!
Transcendence
Oh boy, another post by David! 🙂 (For those of you who are only here for Jerry’s posts, she’ll be back tomorrow, I promise…)
So, today’s post has to do with spirituality, the paranormal, and other things that we lack the ability to experience with our physical senses.
I am very much of two minds when it comes to such things. On the one hand, I am fairly certain that the vast majority of “supernatural” experiences, if not all, can be explained in completely natural terms. The human brain is an incredibly complicated piece of kit, and we are only beginning to comprehend all the things it can do, and how it is affected by its environment. And given that all of our perceptions of the world and its workings (natural and otherwise) are dependent upon the processes that take place entirely in this poorly understood lump of tissue we all carry around on our shoulders, it is absolutely conceivable to me that the things that go “bump in the night” are, in the end, simply glitches in our internal software.
On the other hand, there is nothing that I would love more than concrete evidence that such experiences are real. The thought that the universe is “not only stranger than we imagine, but stranger than we can imagine” gives me great hope. The desire to push back the veil of reality and discover that it is just the barest of veneers covering what’s really going on holds an amazing appeal for me.
My friend Tayo asked me a very difficult question one day. He said, “David, what do you want?” (Actually I believe that is probably one of the most difficult questions you can ask anyone.) I thought about it for several weeks (truly!), and finally came back that what I wanted was for people to like me. Or, more to the point, I wanted people to not dislike me. (I never had a problem with people remaining neutral about me… 🙂 )
But I was never really satisfied with that answer. And so, I have continued to cogitate on the question, some decades after it was originally asked. And though my answers continue to change as both I and my circumstances do, one aspect of my internal response has become fairly fixed: I want to experience transcendence.
If you look up “transcendence” in the dictionary (or, more likely in this day of Wikipedia and blogs, on dictionary.com…) you will find the definition is “the quality or state of being above and independent of the material universe”. Sounds positively supernatural! 🙂
And I suppose that is why I have such a fascination with such potentially idiotic things as UFOs, Bigfoot, and life after death. Because if any of those things actually exist, then they do “transcend” what we understand as making up our material world. And experiencing them, or even learning about their factual existence, would definitely be a transcendent moment.
However, there is an exquisite zen-like twist to this line of thinking. If any of those things were proved to actually exist, then they would instantly become part of our material universe, and so lose their transcendent quality! Reality is an elastic concept, and once something is “proven”, reality adjusts itself quite comfortably to include the newborn “fact”.
So maybe that is why I continue to enjoy the edges of the supernatural, without wanting to seek out the heart of any mysteries. Once the mystery is solved, it’s no fun anymore. 🙂
National Day of Encouragement
Today, September 12th, is the National Day of Encouragement.
Blessings!
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