I think someone's confused...

New Huffy Disney Princess Bike Commercial:

Girl 1: "Where's the prince?!"

Girl 2: "He's stranded in the castle! We have to save him!"

Both, throwing fists into the air: "Princess to the rescue!!"

Enter heroic music: Girls save Prince Teddy Bear

Girl 1: "The prince is safe now!"

Both: "Time for another adventure!"

At what point did princesses begin saving princes? And since when did princes start getting stranded in the castle and unable to get out? Are our princes so oppressed by princess-led feminist revivals that they can no longer defend themselves? Or do our princesses feel that they cannot trust their princes to take care of themselves?

I'm just kind of in awe of the whole thing. Never before has a commercial gotten me to think so long after it aired. (Currently, probably 4 hours ago) Don't the Huffy marketers know that the prince saves the princess, not usually the other way around? Or are they picking up on some trend in society that the woman needs to 'save' the man and are subliminally teaching 'our' children this? (I say subliminal because the two people I showed this to didn't even notice the dialog behind the advertisement)

Putting 'prince saving' behind, I would think that the background music would match more of a princess theme, not 'knights storming the castle' theme. So at the end of the commercial, when the announcer says, "With Disney Princess bikes, every girl's a princess!", I fully expect to hear "hero" instead of "princess", based off the music.

Maybe I'm going too far with this. Maybe I need to actually put my thinking behind the multitude of assignments and exams that I DIDN'T do this past week. But this commercial thoroughly bothers me. Gender remodeling at it's finest.

(To see the commercial: http://www.huffy.com/Default.aspx and click on "see our new commercial" at the bottom left)

Aw, man. I suck at being funny on purpose.

There's really no reason to tell you this, other than the fact that it's true. I've seriously contemplated blogging several times the past few weeks, but all I've got is a few updates that could be accomplished in a few sentences. Nothing amusNO WAIT!

Since it was the Friday before Thanksgiving Break and my student teacher for recitation knew that no one was going to show up, we watched a History channel special on "The Black Plague!" It started out talking about how nasty the plague was and how you could catch it even if someone breathed on you if they had it. (Thank goodness, you don't catch the plague from people just breathing on you even if they don't have it....although when raunchy breath is involved, sometimes you feel like you could) Oddly enough, some people survived for no apparent reason; they just had this crazy immunity to the disease.

enter Danielle's amazing ability to sleep anywhere at any time....

I wake up half an hour into class to deep thumping music and gyrations on the screen. Um....gross. Somehow they made a segue-way from The Black Plague to the AIDS virus... And now I'm thoroughly awkwarded out. Turns out some people, no matter what "risky" behavior they've involved with, cannot catch the AIDS virus. Ah, there's the connect.

Unfortunately for me, after that class, I just felt weird all day. Nothing like waking up from a nap to male gyrations and retro photos of men lounging pool-side. ~shudders~

Now for the update:

• I'm cool if God moves me to Denison. I'll still have my connect to Cornerstone, and who could complain about that?
• I'm packing my apartment. It's slow-going, but not because there's so much. It's because there's almost nothing to pack and it just feels weird seeing everything...empty.
• I'M GOING TO CHINA.
• 3 weeks of school. And then I will no longer hold the status that I have clung to (exaggeration) for the past 18 years. When asked for my occupation, I'll actually have to put an occupation. What will I choose?! There's just so many....
• Speaking of which, I've only applied for one job and it's not looking promising that there will be any others. So here's to praying I get the job? (By the by, I did get a second interview. December 2nd. Pray. for. me.)
• I'M STILL GOING TO CHINA.
• I got new glasses. Way excited. :D
• Still LOVING this November weather. Screw snow.

Yep, that's pretty much it. See you in 3 weeks.

allow me to be vulnerable... and lengthy

I'm terrified into oblivion. And it makes me cry, but not the "weeping and sobbing" kind, just the "single tear that rolls down your face" kind. Much more mature.

Rest assured, I'll probably be ok tomorrow. Or in an hour, after I've read me some Jesus.

What am I terrified of?

Not being happy.

I'm paralyzed into indecision because I'm afraid that if I take the job (that, by the way, hasn't even been offered to me yet. yeesh! I'm ridiculous...) and move to Denison, away from my amazing church and close friends and all the support anyone could ever need, I'll fall apart into a small pile of lonely, unhappy Danielle-crumbles.

I desperately need people, like I need food and water and sleep. I become a very crabby mess if left by myself for a day or two.

This isn't to say that Denison is inhabited by antisocial aliens, plotting to ostracize me in response to my coming and disturbing their peace. I know that people are there and maybe even a few Christians.

But I'm afraid. What if there aren't people in my demographic? (20-something, fresh out of college, taking the world by force [clearly me]) What if I find that no one can relate to me? What if there isn't a Cornerstone Church there? (ironically, there is. But I bet you anything, it's not my Cornerstone Church)

Or even scarier... what if this is all just a disguise for me not wanting to trust God in this area?

The tears that are welling up say I may have hit the nail on the head.

I don't think that it's that I don't WANT to trust. It's that I've become comfortable where I am, and just like anyone else, I'm uneasy when it comes change, especially the radical variety. Things will be much different. Things will be much harder. (more sniffles) But God can still challenge me and grow me and love me, even 2 hours and 29 minutes away from the body of Christ I've become a part of.

Have you noticed that I keep referring to a certain church? Mom dropped me in our wrestling match (metaphorically speaking) when she said, "You need to start worshipping God and stop worshipping Cornerstone Church." Sucker-punch. More introspection.

I had, essentially, rejected everything else she had said up to that point (because she just doesn't understand [rolls eyes now]), but this.... this made me stop and think. Am I really 'worshipping' Cornerstone and not God? The fact that I fell prostrate on my face during worship and wept uncontrollably (man, this post is making me look weak!!!) tells me differently. But then again, any time I refer to what God's doing, it's in reference to a group affiliated with Cornerstone or Cornerstone itself. Oh, I know it's all from God. But I tend to mention the church more than the true source.

That begs the question... If I claim to know it's all coming from God, couldn't those same things be happening in Denison? Assuming of course, that God is in Denison. By resisting the move because God's moving in Cornerstone and I'm a part of that, implying that I wouldn't be used in Denison like I am here, am I putting God in a box? (That, by the way, was not what my mom told me last week... [clears throat loudly])

Clearly, I have issues. And answers.

So I'll give Denison a chance. Who knows, just maybe, God will push me out of my comfort zone to share the gospel with all those unbelieving Denisonians.

And how bad can a town be that has an open burning of all their leftover pumpkins from Halloween?

Ever get excited about something and forget about it the moment someone/something distracts you?

All the time.

My frozen pizza has been sitting on TOP of the stove for half an hour 'cooking'. Yay me. :) I don't even remember what distracted me...

I know I do this frequently though. I'll think to myself, "Ok, I've GOT to get this done today! As soon as I get home, I'm going to make that phone call/finish that paper/reply to that email!" And then I'll get home and all I can think about is those wonderfully soft warm blankets calling my name. (cause it's so cold here...[sarcasm]). Phone calls/emails/papers are forfeited for ... man, I don't even know. I just forget.

I should probably call the next time they have those infomercials for My Lil Reminder.

Man, I love cheese.

So our family group (Bible study for international students) is going well, but not as well as I would prefer. We've talked about who God is, His characteristics, what Jesus did and who He is, and everyone seems to have a good grasp of it. They're understanding and forming their own (sometimes very difficult) questions to better understand what's going on. But there's a huge gap between making the jump from head knowledge to heart knowledge. I almost wonder if this feels more like a class where you're learning new philosophy, and not about the God who can change your life.

A huge thing I've picked up in Theology of the Gospel is that the depravity and sinfullness of man MUST be explained! The international students see no need to be saved if they don't realize that they need to be saved from something. We posed the question, "Do you think man is overall good, or do you think all men are evil?" Only one out of 10 internationals said man is evil. They have no concept that they've sinned against God and need to be saved.

In two weeks, I'll be doing the lesson, and I think I want to take this on. It's something I've been convicted about through the past few weeks, and I feel like it really needs to be said. So PLEASE, be praying for me. I'm way intimidated (I don't feel that I'm eloquent or have the gift of evangelism, but then again, neither did Paul) and I want to share this critical part of the Gospel in love. By the by, I'm glad I have 2 weeks to do this. :)

In other news, I'm finally being faced with the big decisions that I knew would inevitably come. Do I leave Ames for what appears to be the perfect job? Or do I hold out in hope that God will provide me a job here? The biggest concern I have is my spiritual life. I feel like I still have far to grow with my walk with God and I KNOW Cornerstone will continue to push me and challenge me. I don't have that assurance in Denison. I also don't have the strong spiritual support of a group of women who know me and where I struggle and know how to encourage me.

So tough.

Any advice on either matter would be much appreciated. Honestly.

tmi?

Yesterday as I was cramming Kleenexes in my nose to keep from blowing every 5 minutes, I thought to myself about how attractive colds are. And how good of an excuse it is to do something dumb and maybe (hopefully) gain sympathy instead of ridicule.

Today, Mr. Cold took it to a whole new level. While we're not full blown I'm-taking-over-your-face yet (and I'm going to try to keep it that way), we're starting the aches, joint pain, and chills. I don't remember colds being so hard on your body! Anyway, I'm staying home tonight to try to give my body a rest since I was up and out all day. Hopefully we still have some DayQuil in the cabinet...

In other news, I love love love my dad. I met up with him in Ankeny to watch Lauren's volleyball game and it was so good to hang out with him. He took me out for dinner and grocery shopping and we had a lot of good talks. I'll definitely miss him a ton when I eventually move away. ~sigh~ If only I could take all the things I love with me when I leave... It would make everything so much easier!

Update:
The pathetic frozen popsicle has returned; I've resorted to wearing my big sweatshirt and thick socks, sitting on the kitchen floor next to the oven while my frozen pizza cooks while keeping my warm laptop in my lap.

Winter is SO going to kick my butt this year.

Still freezing. So cold. What happened to sweatshirt weather? We went from warm t-shirt days to needing the big winter coat. I miss the comfy sweatshirt days. :(

I took my guitar in to Reimans to get the neck on my guitar straightened (it was really bowed and it made playing very hard). A few minutes later, the guy came out and said it was much better. And then:
Him: "There's a little problem with your strings though; [plays a few chords, and one of the strings buzzes really bad] one of your strings is broken."
Me: "Yeah, I need knew strings. I plan on getting them soon"
Him: "And, um.... do you even HAVE a tuner?"
Me: [embarrassed] "Well, yes, but...."
Him: "Cause it's REALLY out of tune. One string was an entire step off, a few were sharp, a few were flat..."
Me: "Yeah, I'm learning a song where I have to drop the A to a G."
Him: "No, it's just out of tune. Badly."

Yeah, so I'm the guitar chick who clearly doesn't actually play her guitar. Fantastic.
On the flip side, I was referred to this guy on youtube who will walk you through a song and teach the strumming patterns and everything; he's kind of amazing. I learned "Flood" by Jars of Clay in half an hour. I feel way cool now. :)

I'm loving the missions internship! I've got the Perspectives website up and ready (just need to make a few changes) and I'm really excited to get registration started. With that said, go recruit family and friends! Send them to www.perspectives.org/ames!! The class is totally worth the cost! (Or, for those of you not in ames, you can search for a class nearest you - Pella, Des Moines, and Danville all have one. There are more too!)

Battery dying. Bye