Blog Stalking

Admit it. We all do it. And people who say they don't are lying to themselves and the rest of the world.

It's not necessarily a bad thing, though. It's how you find friends, get ideas, and waste time: three of my favorite pastimes.

Through some of this "browsing," I came across a duo who have a goal to post a picture with their posts everyday for a year. So my New Year's resolution is to post a picture a day for the next 365 days.

Psyche! (Yes, I'm trying to bring that back). I love the picture-post idea, but I'm not sure I want to commit to a such a long-term endeavor. However, I can commit to seven days.

My resolve for this seven-day picturethon is so strong that I will not even let my current lack of camera stop me (it's currently hanging out with a friend). "But Courtney, how will you have pictures with no camera?" Well, astute reader, I will temporarily use the built-in camera on my MacBook.

"But Courtney, are we just going to get lame pictures like this?"


Well, mean reader, no. Tonight I will use it to showcase my new radio. One of my hidden talents is that I am a licensed amateur radio operator. As part of my Christmas, I have a new radio.

Fatso!

Today I scoured multiple Walgreens with my mom in search of uber-cheap Christmas sales. There was an unfortunate encounter at one store where a lady walked in beside us while yelling at some random car, "And a Merry Christmas to you, too, Fatso!" When's the last time you heard someone use the term, "fatso?" It's like I was in an Archie and Jughead comic. (Note to self: Would I be Betty or Veronica? Additional note to self: Probably don't need to dwell on this.) Naturally this woman ended up on the same aisle as us and spoke to me (twice). In honor of the spirit of the season and being in the Christmas section, I pretended that I wasn't scared.

I also made sure to have some black-eyed peas tonight to bring me luck in the new year. It's a tradition in my family, plus I LOVE them.

The Bare Necessities?

This Saturday I went down to Fair Bluff to continue the Christmas festivities with my family. I-95 was quite crowed due to holiday travelers, and there were tons of RVs on the highway. This one caught my eye:


If I was going to camp, I would want to do it with satellite TV, too.

Christmas at Courtney's

This year I got to host Christmas at my house. Exciting! As my Uncle Bobby left, he said, "Courtney, you're one of us. You're an adult." Well hey, better late than never ;)

I loved having everyone over. We ate, had a spiritual thought/program, sang, opened presents, played a game, and all agreed that we were stuffed. Things got a little out of hand when Uncle Bobby tried to pass out presents – that's always my job. Fortunately, I set him straight and told him how the tradition worked. Close one.

Merry Christmas!

Lines

Lines: We draw them, cross them, push them, ignore them, and endow them with meaning (both deserved and otherwise).

Sometimes we continue to embrace self-imposed lines merely out of habit. But when does evaluation call for change? It's easy to determine action in many situations, but perhaps those who think it's always black and white haven't a.) experienced life in certain ways or b.) given deep thought to a matter before slapping on a prescribed label. There's usually an easy way out, but is that really the point? Shouldn't we be trying to grow and seek individual edification?

Courtney's Carols

My heart is not really into blogging right now. I considered putting up a post that said, "I won't be blogging until the new year." But I'm trying to plug away at life instead. "Trying" would be the operative word. I'm surprised by how high my stress levels continue to elevate. Just when I think "well this is it," I get another life surprise. Plus, my friend Elisia has this theory about how to deal with hardship, so I'm giving that a go. Basically, it's as follows: "Just because you choose to not dwell on your pain doesn't mean that your pain is any less valid. Sometimes we fall prey to thinking that for our feelings to be justified, we have to continue to feed them." I'm paraphrasing, but that's the idea.

This Sunday was our congregation's Christmas program. The music was beautiful. I was excited that the choir sung all my favorite carols. I was less excited that I had to speak, but that's okay. My topic was "Prophecies of Christ's Birth and How They Were Fulfilled." Brief summary: there were many prophecies about Christ's birth, and they were all fulfilled. Ta-da!

I thought I would share my favorite Christmas songs:
Traditional Category
1. O Holy Night. Not in the hymnbook, and that's a crime. I should start a petition to get it in.
2. What Child is This? Also not in the hymnbook. I see I now have 2 petitions to begin.
3. The First Noel, but the version with Pachebel's Canon in it. That sounded snobby.

Less-Traditional Category
1. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen by the Barenaked Ladies and Sarah McLachlan. Love it!
2. Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree. Makes me feel like shopping.
3. The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late) by Alvin and the Chipmunks. My favorite part is Simon's "naturally" and Theodore's chuckle.
4. All I Want for Christmas is You by Mariah Carey. Guilty pleasure.

Least Favorites
1. So This is Christmas. It makes me feel like I'm watching one of those commercials about starving kids in Africa. Not that I'm against starving kids in Africa. I'm just against poorly done, overtly manipulative advertising. And since those commercials used to utilize this song, the association is firmly in place for me.
2. Anything with barking dogs.

Success!

Hooray!! Project Crap (a.k.a the final project for my M.A. in English, concentration in American and British Literature) is over! The last few weeks have been pretty crazy (it's like I've been in a time warp with all-nighters, etc.), but as of yesterday, my final piece was approved! I still have to do a presentation on my research at a symposium Wednesday, but according to the director of my program, "the hard work is over. This should be relaxing and fun." Now, "relaxing" and "fun" are not two words that immediately come to my mind when preparing presentations, but I'm going with it!

My final piece is entitled, "Missing Mothers and Proxy Parents: Surrogacy in William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying." It has been a long trip (with unexpected detours) to get here, so I'm very excited to be finished and can't wait to hang my new diploma on the wall!

I'm now going to pretend like I'm giving a speech at an awards show: I want to thank everyone who has helped me out with this. First of all, I have the best advisor. Ever. He has been exceedingly understanding, supportive, helpful, and energizing. I honestly couldn't have done it without him. He's listened to my pain, frustration, and excitement and helped me in ways that go above and beyond the requirements of an advisor. I next need to thank my biggest cheerleader, my mom. She's wonderful, as I believe I have indicated previously in this venue. Thanks for listening to my boring ramblings about Faulkner and why he's difficult and wonderful all at the same time. Also, thanks for making me feel smart ;) Thanks go to my friends who have been so supportive of my endeavors. All the phone calls, texts, and 4am check-ins were so appreciated! I'm also grateful for a blessing I recieved when being set apart for my most recent calling. It helped in ways I wasn't expecting, so I'm thankful for the ways the Lord works, even when I don't fully understand them! And Bill (that's Mr. Faulkner, for those of you who don't know), I continue to be amazed.

If anyone wants to come gaze at the diploma when I get it, let me know. I'll also be happy to sign autographs ;)